The Lawyer Who Reads Tomorrow - Chapter 66
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 66
“It’ll be tiring.”
It had multiple meanings.
Anyway, the main culprit in this child abuse case is Park Mu-hyun.
The evidence I found while kidnapped by the cult was also limited.
In the end, even if this case goes all the way, there won’t be many who receive proper punishment.
“Knowing that, you’d still endure the fatigue?”
Lim Sang-jin was subtly testing me.
When Lim Do-hyuk tried to block his father again, Lim Sang-jin suddenly made a loud noise and slapped Lim Do-hyuk’s cheek.
It’s not easy to do this even in front of others.
What an impressive old man.
Lim Do-hyuk’s cheek swelled red.
He bit his lip and looked at Lim Sang-jin.
“…Father.”
“Stop. I don’t want to hear it. It’s noisy, so go outside and take care of your business or something. While I’m talking with an old family member I’m meeting for the first time in a while…”
Old family member? Don’t tell me that’s me?
When I blinked in bewilderment, Lim Sang-jin showed an affectionate smile again.
His facial expression changed instantly with acting ability worthy of winning this year’s star award.
“…Sorry about that. My son is still young, so there are unavoidable aspects. Please understand.”
Lim Sang-jin spoke gently.
Lim Do-hyuk seemed greatly shocked as he kept his head down.
I could see blood slightly seeping between his lips.
That must hurt quite a bit.
This is sincere.
“I have a rather tender heart.”
“…?”
“So seeing the violent side of Lawyer Lim Sang-jin, whom I used to respect in the past…”
“…”
“My heart is trembling so much it’s hard to talk about the cult.”
After a few seconds of silence, Lim Sang-jin burst into hearty laughter.
“You knew me?”
Whether Sung Tae-hyun knew Lim Sang-jin or not, only Sung Tae-hyun would know. I don’t know.
But I, as Kim Wook-han, know.
Not only did he get cursed at by the Court Chief, but there was even a colleague who used to write his name in red letters as if cursing him.
Such superstitions are of course excluded from the realm of law.
“Of course. Lawyer Lim Sang-jin. Even now, you’re too vigorous to be called a ‘back room old man.'”
When I deliberately borrowed his words to mock him, Lim Sang-jin’s eyes darkened.
“…Lawyer Sung Tae-hyun.”
“Yes.”
“You’re too arrogant. I’ve heard that’s how young lawyers are these days, but you’ll get your nose broken if you keep that up.”
Good observation.
It’s true that I’m arrogant.
There was no reason for me to act meek toward him.
“I see. Then there’s probably no need for you to mention the cult either…”
“…”
“I have business with Senior Lim Do-hyuk. Would you please leave?”
I was going to take Lim Do-hyuk and leave, but thinking about it, this was Lim Do-hyuk’s house.
Not Lim Sang-jin’s house.
Lim Sang-jin’s face turned red, blue, and white.
It seemed his anger had risen to an unbearable level.
“You don’t seem to fear much of anything.”
Lim Sang-jin spat out in a low, sunken voice like a curse.
Looking back on both my past life as Kim Wook-han and my current life as Sung Tae-hyun, those weren’t particularly frightening words.
“That can’t be. Since I’m human, I do feel fear.”
So I stated the obvious.
Lim Sang-jin shook his head as if that wasn’t the answer he wanted.
“Do you know the characteristics of religion?”
“As much as is known to people, I do.”
“I’m talking about Cardia, which you call a cult.”
Lim Sang-jin continued speaking slowly.
He never once took his eyes off me.
Like a predator lying flat on the ground, watching for an opportunity to target its prey.
Lim Sang-jin still has composure.
“Those who belong to Cardia aren’t just bound together by faith alone.”
“Is that so?”
Lim Sang-jin looked at me with gleaming eyes.
“Young people with your kind of personality, yes. I suppose you wouldn’t know.”
He muttered as if reproaching me.
“But, yes. That’s literally a community. If you carelessly mess with it…”
Lim Sang-jin slowly rose from the sofa without taking his eyes off me.
“People who know each other’s ugly faces completely, what wouldn’t they do to hide their shameful secrets?”
Ah. I see.
This is literally a warning and a threat.
The Kardia Community.
So that fanatic cult group isn’t bound together by faith alone.
They have deeper connections that are inseparable from their lives.
So if someone touches one of them.
Others who share shameful secrets will rise up for that person.
That’s roughly what it sounded like.
“That’s excellent advice.”
I said sincerely.
However, it must have sounded sarcastic to him because Lim Sang-jin’s smile was quite twisted.
“When one falls, another will appear.”
“I’m so scared I don’t know what to do with myself.”
“Don’t ignore my warning. Lawyer Sung Tae-hyun. Still, you are…”
Lim Sang-jin met my gaze with darkly sunken eyes.
“…young, after all.”
Lim Sang-jin opened the front door and left just like that.
A man who can’t let his guard down until the very end.
I evaluated Lim Sang-jin that way and turned around.
Lim Do-hyuk was frozen in place, still bearing the slap he’d received from Lim Sang-jin.
“…?”
I slowly approached Lim Do-hyuk.
I wondered if he had fainted while standing from the shock, since he hung his head without moving at all.
“Senior.”
I shook his shoulder, but Lim Do-hyuk didn’t respond.
I leaned my face under his to see if he had fainted while hanging his head.
“Senior, are you crying?”
And then.
“Fuck.”
Eyes consumed by rage turned toward me.
* * *
His vision turned bright red.
Lim Do-hyuk grabbed the collar of Sung Tae-hyun, who was standing there shamelessly looking at him as if he knew nothing.
The emotions he had been holding back exploded all at once and he couldn’t suppress them at all.
“Why of all people…”
You.
Why does it have to be you?
His voice came out trembling.
His entire body shook with unbearable rage.
‘Why?’
Sung Tae-hyun wasn’t someone who should see him in such a pathetic state, getting slapped by his father.
Lim Do-hyuk swallowed down the nausea that surged up from his throat.
His pride was hurt.
“Fuck…”
The curse came out crushed and spilled from his mouth.
Damn Sung Tae-hyun was looking at him again with that innocent face as if he knew nothing.
Now Lim Do-hyuk couldn’t understand his own feelings.
Was it damn inferiority complex? No, at first Sung Tae-hyun wasn’t that kind of existence. But.
The guilt that had been suddenly visiting him since that day rose up suffocatingly.
“Senior.”
“Just shut… up.”
Even though oxygen must have been lacking, Sung Tae-hyun spoke to me calmly.
Lim Do-hyuk finally released the collar he had been gripping tightly and roughly set him down.
Still, it seemed he hadn’t completely lost control yet.
A mixture of anger, guilt, and irritation that would be difficult even for himself to understand came pouring out all at once.
“Are you taking out your frustration because Father scolded you?”
The changed Sung Tae-hyun asked.
His face showed no sign of being affected by the emotions that had been poured out.
Lim Do-hyuk stepped back several paces from Sung Tae-hyun.
He raised both hands and rubbed his face several times, and the anger that had been consuming him subsided little by little.
“…Sorry.”
“Why do something you need to apologize for?”
He only says what’s right.
Sung Tae-hyun, who had lost his memory, had completely changed.
He had changed so much that he acted as if he had already forgotten what I had done.
My hands trembled again with an inexplicable sense of guilt.
Guilt, really. Is that truly the emotion I feel toward Sung Tae-hyun?
“Ha…”
Lim Do-hyuk pushed away the suffocating emotion and hung a shameless smile on his lips.
Using the people beneath his feet like chess pieces.
That was something he could do well.
“You.”
“I won’t tell anyone.”
“Ha…”
“That the Haeil Successor got slapped by Father and grabbed an innocent junior’s collar.”
Lim Do-hyuk bit his lip.
Sung Tae-hyun had become a different person.
The previous Sung Tae-hyun and the current Sung Tae-hyun were different. That was real.
The current Sung Tae-hyun was someone who could even threaten his position.
No, perhaps already.
“You…”
“Senior.”
Sung Tae-hyun coughed several times as if his reddened throat was uncomfortable.
Lim Do-hyuk almost offered him water without realizing it, then stopped.
With the changed Sung Tae-hyun, his body reacted first like this.
It felt as if he could be in a position to become his rival.
As if he was no longer someone beneath his feet, like that.
“…Why.”
Embarrassing.
Lim Do-hyuk was embarrassed.
At some point, Sung Tae-hyun had started acting as if he was at the very top.
Since he said he had lost his memory, I wondered if it might be a lie.
But it wasn’t that – he really acted like he had become a different person.
“You shouldn’t hit others just because you’re embarrassed.”
I felt deflated.
Lim Do-hyuk’s hand wandered somewhere in the empty air.
Why does this bastard talk like he’s the same age as Father now?
“Stop looking down at people from the top too. Senior, how old are you?”
It felt like every piece of my flesh had been completely exposed.
Had that been so obvious?
Since when. No, actually Sung Tae-hyun knew that better than anyone.
Had his memory returned?
Lim Do-hyuk let out an unstable breath and made eye contact.
However, Sung Tae-hyun just looked at him with those same blank eyes as usual.
As if he had no regrets whatsoever.
“You, your memory…”
“What, are you going to ask again?”
Lim Do-hyuk slowly exhaled.
If he made even the slightest mistake, the memories of that day seemed like they would consume him.
He steadied his breathing and looked at Sung Tae-hyun.
“Senior, do you owe me anything?”
“…No.”
“Then why do you keep asking?”
Sung Tae-hyun’s memory had not returned.
Not at all.
That much was certain.
Because I’ve been watching all this time.
Even so, Lim Do-hyuk was anxious.
“If your memory returns…”
“I’ll tell you, so don’t worry.”
Sung Tae-hyun answered calmly.
“If you feel sorry for me.”
“…”
“Hae-il, why don’t you try some, senior?”
I had known for a while that Sung Tae-hyun had been inciting me.
But to say such things even in this situation.
“Haha.”
Lim Do-hyuk’s eyes slowly regained their original light.
It wasn’t that he hadn’t thought about it, but it was still too early.
Nevertheless, Lim Do-hyuk thought.
The time when Sung Tae-hyun was one of the caterpillars crawling at his feet had passed.
“Right.”
Lim Do-hyuk answered.
Sung Tae-hyun patted his shoulder a couple of times as if praising him.
“Because that’s rational.”
Drive out father’s people.
Not because of Sung Tae-hyun’s incitement, but because it’s rational.
And once again, take the upper hand.
Lim Do-hyuk made a comeback plan.
* * *
A few days later.
“Oh, hello Attorney Sung Tae-hyun!”
A strange woman appeared in the office.
On the table that Associate Noh Hae-min and Yoon Ha-young had quickly set up, tea cups were placed along with some refreshments.
Earl Grey tea that seemed to be opened for the first time was giving off its fragrance, perhaps reflecting their excited hearts.
“Wow, I’ve actually never been to a law office before.”
The woman holding a large camera was with Reporter Lee Na-yoon.
Lee Na-yoon, wearing her familiar smile, was eating rabbit-shaped apples that Noh Hae-min had carefully carved.
“Good thing you came, right?”
Even at Lee Na-yoon’s empty words, the woman nodded brightly.
Unlike the business at hand, she was truly a bright woman.
Should I say she’s similar in nature to Noh Hae-min?
Anyway, she’s excessively bright compared to the work that needs to be done.
“Hello.”
When I greeted her and sat down, the woman changed the atmosphere with a few insubstantial questions.
Associate Yoon Ha-young and Attorney Noh Hae-min were also sitting together on the sofa across from us.
This was essentially the story of our entire office.
“Well then, shall we begin?”
The woman placed the large camera in front and began operating it.
The lens turned toward me and the office staff.
Before pressing the record button, the woman first handed us a question sheet.
“It’s the same content I sent you by email beforehand, but I thought it would be good for you to read it once more.”
“Thank you.”
Was this Lee Na-yoon’s consideration?
Anyway, the woman had prepared thoroughly.
After a few minutes passed, she first looked at me and opened her mouth.
The large camera was rolling, and the background clearly showed that this was our office.
There probably aren’t many offices with interiors this fancy and gleaming.
“Well, first of all, thank you so much for agreeing to this interview, Attorney.”
The woman began speaking in a composed voice, different from before.
“You reported to us about a religious order called ‘Cardia.’ Could you tell us how you approached the inside of this order?”
“I was kidnapped.”
“…!”
It was the opening of some documentary.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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