The Lawyer Who Reads Tomorrow - Chapter 77
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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 77
“What the.”
No matter how many times I read it again, Sung Tae-hyun’s Diary didn’t change.
[Kim Su-yeon has fallen into a coma.]
“Why?”
[….]
Of course it stays silent at times like this.
It was difficult to properly contact Kim Su-yeon.
I had seen before how the perpetrator remotely controlled Kim Su-yeon’s mobile phone and hung up calls at will.
“Damn it.”
A coma.
No, this is tomorrow’s event.
Sung Tae-hyun’s Diary always only told me about tomorrow’s events, and it could change if conditions were met.
‘It’s not too late yet.’
But not being able to contact the client was quite unsettling.
If it’s a coma, there must be a cause.
That could also mean she might be injured or left in danger right now, leading to the result of being found in a coma tomorrow.
“What’s wrong? Attorney Sung, aren’t you going home?”
Noh Hae-min asked with an innocent face.
Ho-shin Senior was already… right, there’s no way that guy would still be here.
He left work faster than anyone else.
What remained were Noh Hae-min and me.
Manager Yoon Ha-young had stopped by the court in the afternoon on Ho-shin Senior’s errand and went straight home.
“Senior.”
“Yeah?”
“Let’s assume there’s someone in a coma. What do you think the cause might be?”
“What?”
Noh Hae-min shook his head as if bewildered.
How would he know.
What comes to mind right now are mostly bad things.
The client suddenly collapsed due to an underlying condition, or had an accident—
“…Why are you asking something like that. Tae-hyun, are you sick somewhere?”
Sure enough, my heart suddenly started pounding.
As if Sung Tae-hyun’s body was about to act on its own again.
“Your face is really pale.”
Noh Hae-min’s hand touched my forehead.
No, there’s no time for this.
I grabbed Noh Hae-min’s hand and pulled it away from my forehead.
He was holding out a bottle of Woohwang Cheongsimhwan that he had gotten from somewhere.
“What is this?”
“…You seemed like something was wrong.”
“Nothing’s… ah.”
Sung Tae-hyun’s Diary can change.
It had happened several times before.
I took the bottle of Woohwang Cheongsimhwan from Noh Hae-min and gulped down the contents.
“Senior.”
“Yeah?”
“Do you have plans?”
“No, why? Is there something you want to eat?”
Even to my sudden question about whether he had plans after work, Noh Hae-min answered kindly as usual.
His tone was gentle enough that the client wouldn’t be too surprised if we suddenly visited her at this late hour.
“I don’t want to eat anything, but there is somewhere I want to go.”
“Oh, really? Where?”
“The client’s house.”
“…!”
This client is someone we can’t even contact carelessly.
The way she trembles is like—
“This client is like a roe deer, so you’ll get along well with her, Senior.”
Right. Herbivores recognize other herbivores.
No matter how much we’re lawyers, if we suddenly visit at night like this, a client who’s being threatened by digital stalking would be bound to be startled.
So Noh Hae-min was somewhat of a safety measure.
“What’s going on?”
However, I had no answer for this kind of question.
How could I look like a sane person while saying that the client would be rushed to the hospital in a coma tomorrow?
Ah, if I mumbled that my great-great-grandmother was a shaman, Noh Hae-min might believe it.
“Huh? Sung Tae-hyun.”
“….”
“Attorney Sung?”
Instead of lying, I kept my mouth shut.
* * *
“Who is… oh, Lawyer?”
Fortunately, the client was fine.
At the officetel in Goshi Village that we visited again, the woman immediately opened the door to our knock.
She actually looked better than before.
Noh Hae-min was also staring at the woman with a blank expression.
“I stopped by to check if everything was alright.”
Indeed, I had to be a bit shameless about this kind of thing.
Noh Hae-min had an expression that seemed bewildered, but it was better than finding someone in a coma.
However, what should I call this?
I couldn’t keep waiting in this house.
The woman’s slightly surprised face relaxed smoothly.
“Ah… I’m sorry for worrying you. Um, this place is a bit awkward and…”
“I’ll wait at the cafe on the first floor.”
Kim Su-yeon soon nodded and went inside.
Only Noh Hae-min was making a bewildered expression while grabbing and shaking my shoulder.
“Why?”
“Attorney Sung… no, Tae-hyun. I’m still your senior, aren’t I?”
“So what?”
“An inappropriate relationship with a client is-“
What’s gotten into his head?
I thought he lived in a fairy tale, but he was tainted by worldly thoughts.
Perhaps I frowned without realizing it, as Noh Hae-min quickly reached out and rubbed my forehead.
“It’s not that?”
This guy, does he know how old I am right now?
Sung Tae-hyun might be one thing, but from my perspective, Kim Su-yeon is young enough to be my daughter, with just a little exaggeration.
And a client at that?
A sigh almost escaped me.
“Senior.”
“Hmm?”
When I asked seriously, Noh Hae-min’s playful expression instantly turned to worry.
I must have seemed strange since earlier at the office.
Well, whether it was Sung Tae-hyun’s reaction or whatever, I didn’t want to see someone die again.
Moreover, she was a client who had become acquainted with Ho-shin Senior.
If she were to be harmed, Ho-shin Senior would blame himself too.
I didn’t want to see that side of him again in this life.
“I’m not mixing emotions with the client.”
“…No, I’m not talking about me but you-“
“That’s why I’m saying I’m not.”
What a ridiculous guy, really.
When I playfully pushed away his forehead, Noh Hae-min grumbled and followed behind me.
Before I knew it, we were at that cafe on the first floor where I had come with Ho-shin Senior.
“Haven’t reported to the police yet?”
“She said she tried several times but they wouldn’t accept it.”
That was right.
Client Kim Su-yeon had said she reported to the police several times before meeting me and Ho-shin Senior.
She seemed to have prepared her statement quite well, saying that threatening messages were sent by remotely controlling her mobile phone, and that Bae In-jun appeared wherever she went.
“There was no evidence.”
“Exactly.”
Noh Hae-min has grown up a lot too.
Anyway, Kim Su-yeon kept reporting to the police, but the police, who had no particular evidence, withdrew without taking any special measures.
And when this was repeated, combined with Kim Su-yeon’s unstable appearance, they seemed to have treated her completely like a mental patient.
Of course, after that meeting, I contacted Kim Su-yeon and requested that she meet with a psychiatrist for a mental evaluation.
In any case, since I was her lawyer, I needed to secure the credibility of her testimony.
“…Well, the client seemed to be in danger and we couldn’t contact her well… so I was a bit worried.”
To realize that only now.
Noh Hae-min let out a long sigh as if he had realized the seriousness.
The soft and sweet aroma rising from the rooibos tea prepared in advance for the woman helped calm the nerves.
No matter what, if it had been a normal situation, I wouldn’t have come all the way here.
[Kim Su-yeon has fallen into a coma.]
If only that phrase hadn’t been in Sung Tae-hyun’s Diary.
“…Oh, Lawyer.”
Before I knew it, Kim Su-yeon had arrived and taken a seat across from us.
It was her first time meeting Noh Hae-min, so she could have been flustered, but the woman seemed completely unfazed.
As expected, herbivores recognize each other.
I carefully asked the woman, who looked more stable than before.
“I was curious if you’d had any trouble lately, so I stopped by for a moment.”
“Ahaha… Yes.”
“You seem to be feeling better than that day, which is a relief.”
Come to think of it, today she was only wearing a mask instead of a hat.
Since it was late, there weren’t many people in the cafe either.
She was definitely more stable than when I came with Ho-shin Senior.
The way she looked around warily had also disappeared.
“Yes… Actually, I haven’t received any threatening messages from Bae In-jun for the past few days.”
“…!”
Was this good news?
The client’s eyes were slightly curved.
It seemed like a faint smile was visible behind the thin mask.
“I see. And he hasn’t come looking for you or anything like that?”
“Oh, yes. Usually, even if I just stepped outside my door, he would contact me like a ghost.”
As the woman continued speaking, Noh Hae-min’s expression changed moment by moment.
Right, hearing it directly certainly felt more real than just reading a series of words recorded on paper.
Noh Hae-min’s face turned serious as he asked the woman.
“Are you really okay? I heard about it from Sung and the Representative too… If it’s true, it’s such a serious situation…”
“Oh, I’ve gotten used to it now.”
The woman pulled down her mask slightly and drank the rooibos tea.
She seemed quite pleased with Noh Hae-min’s choice, wearing a gentle expression.
“And… you came because of this, right?”
Kim Su-yeon took out several documents and handed them to me.
“Here, the medical certificate.”
[Diagnosis: Anxiety disorder, panic disorder, sleep initiation and maintenance disorder (insomnia), suspected trauma-related stress reaction]
“…Fortunately, I’ve been going to the hospital continuously since before I quit my company.”
“I see.”
That was fortunate.
In my experience, psychiatry departments often had difficulty issuing medical certificates during the first visit.
Due to the nature of the diseases they dealt with, having gone to the hospital in advance and left records was a good thing for Kim Su-yeon.
[The patient complained of persistent severe depression, mood swings, anxiety, sleep disorders, and panic attacks (palpitations, shortness of breath, sweating, etc.) from ■■, ■ 20■■ to ■■, ■ 20■■, and continued interview and drug treatment at this hospital under the above diagnosis]
“…You’ve been going for quite a long time. It must have been difficult.”
When Noh Hae-min spoke while reading the medical certificate, the woman carefully nodded.
“Yes… It’s been over a year since the harassment started in earnest…”
[The patient detailed that she was repeatedly harassed (stalking, surveillance, threats, verbal violence, etc.) by her direct supervisor (company president) during treatment at this hospital, and this stress factor is judged to be the main cause of symptom deterioration]
[Objective findings showed sleep disorders, elevated anxiety scales, and observed panic attacks.]
The medical certificate contained specific details of the circumstances.
With this much, it was certain that the victim had been suffering for over a year because of Bae In-jun.
[The patient currently denies specific suicidal ideation and immediate intention to act, and no suicidal attempt intention is observed. Rather, there is a clear will to solve the problem through treatment and legal remedy]
“Oh, you added this.”
“Yes. As you mentioned last time, Lawyer, I asked them to objectively assess and clearly add suicide-related matters.”
Good. My anxiety decreased by about 1%.
It was an official medical certificate issued by a doctor, and since Kim Su-yeon had been going to this hospital continuously for over a year, it should be reliable.
So, in the end, I was leaning toward judging that Kim Su-yeon’s coma that Sung Tae-hyun warned about in his diary was not something she caused herself.
[As a result of interviews and examinations, the patient’s cognitive functions (memory, fact judgment ability) and reality testing ability are generally maintained, so no significant defects in reality testing ability of statements are observed.]
[Recommendation: Continuous medication and psychotherapy, regular follow-up observation recommended.]
“There are no problems with cognitive function either…”
“…Yes, I really am…”
Good, this should be enough.
The court and investigative agencies would question whether Kim Su-yeon’s testimony as a victim could be distorted due to these psychiatric symptoms.
As written in this medical certificate, the boss continuously caused harm to her.
The fact that Kim Su-yeon was diagnosed with conditions like anxiety disorder or PTSD as a result.
Could ultimately serve as indirect evidence supporting Kim Su-yeon’s damages.
“Ms. Kim Su-yeon.”
“Oh, yes.”
“Do you happen to have any other medical conditions? Please tell me if you can think of any minor illness you might have.”
Noh Hae-min, who had just placed the medical certificate on the table, poked my side and whispered.
“Attorney Sung, are you switching careers to become a doctor? Why the sudden interest in medical conditions?”
“Just in case. We need to identify any other factors that Bae In-jun’s side might exploit in advance.”
Kim Su-yeon fell into quiet thought.
She looks to be in her early thirties, so generally there shouldn’t be much… but you never know.
“Um… occasionally gastritis? Aside from getting stomach cramps when I’m stressed, I don’t think there’s anything special.”
Gastritis wouldn’t put someone in a coma overnight.
I pondered for a moment, then handed my mobile phone to Kim Su-yeon.
“This is…?”
“It’s my mobile phone.”
Given how things have turned out, I must prevent Kim Su-yeon’s coma that was foretold in Sung Tae-hyun’s Diary.
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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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