The Lawyer Who Reads Tomorrow - Chapter 87

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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 87

 

 

A few days later.

Finally, Lee Seol-rok contacted me.

 

[Lee Seol-rok contacted me.]

[But]

[Do I really need to know this?]

 

Sung Tae-hyun’s Diary had already informed me of this fact a day earlier.

So I knew that Lee Seol-rok would contact me.

 

[I also found traces of Bae In-jun’s persistent stalking.]

[All that’s left is to wrap up the litigation properly.]

[But it feels unsettling.]

 

Sung Tae-hyun wrote extensively in his diary as if he was about to explode.

For some reason, he wasn’t bothering to hide his emotions, so I was able to prepare myself mentally.

 

So I wouldn’t be surprised no matter what bizarre facts I learned.

But.

 

“You missed me, didn’t you?”

 

A warm cup of green tea sat in front of Lee Seol-rok, who spoke playfully.

Noh Hae-min had brewed it.

 

When Lee Seol-rok contacted me, I was going to visit his office, but he beat me to it.

 

“There was a forensics company I commissioned nearby.”

“Ah, is that so?”

“Heeng, Tae-hyun. I get sad when you talk to me so coldly.”

 

Heeng?

It was too disgusting to be a sound made by an adult man in his mid-thirties, giving me goosebumps.

Lee Seol-rok giggled at my reaction and sank deep into the sofa.

 

“This sofa is totally comfortable! From the outside, I thought this place would be similar to my office too…”

 

It was fortunate that Ho-shin Senior wasn’t here.

 

Ho-shin Senior had notified us this morning that he was taking sick leave, claiming he had the flu.

Saying that now that the weather was getting cold, his body wasn’t listening to him either, Ho-shin Senior poured out a hundred different guidelines about health management before literally passing out, and we hadn’t been able to contact him since.

 

“Right. Speaking of this sofa-“

 

Noh Hae-min was also a problem.

Pleased that his father’s company’s furniture was being praised, Noh Hae-min grinned and clung to Lee Seol-rok.

 

A fantastic duo, no. Let’s call them a maddening duo.

When my eyes met Manager Yoon Ha-young’s, she and I simultaneously let out sighs.

 

“So, hyung. Tell me. How much did you find out?”

“Ah, mm.”

 

It was time for Korea University Sherlock to shine.

 

“Living in this world… you know there are things like that. Things that don’t go my way. I wanted to become a cool detective following in my master’s footsteps…”

 

The preamble was long.

 

I looked incredulously at his packed bag, wondering what kind of documents he carried around so much of.

Lee Seol-rok continued speaking while rummaging through those documents as if looking for something.

 

“But the world isn’t easy. Huh? You know, Tae-hyun. Since you’re the top student, you’d know even better.”

“What do you mean, hyung?”

“So… I mean… this case was so disgusting that it almost caused problems for my mental health-“

 

What ridiculous nonsense.

 

Anyway, Lee Pil-bong was annoyingly asking for more money.

I had to give him more anyway since I needed to add the forensics costs.

But to be this talkative.

 

I spoke to Lee Pil-bong, who finally seemed to have found what he wanted, his eyes lighting up.

 

“Cash?”

“I will serve you properly, customer.”

“How can you be a detective when you’re so transparent, hyung?”

“Ah, Tae-hyun. You don’t realize that even this is part of my intention… what a shame-“

“Enough, get to the point.”

 

Lee Pil… Lee Seol-rok smacked his lips.

His face, which had been all smiles since mentioning cash, sank back into a sharp atmosphere.

 

Wouldn’t Lee Seol-rok be better suited for acting?

If he built up acting experience, maybe someday he could play the role of Sherlock Holmes that he likes so much.

 

Anyway, the idle thoughts quickly disappeared.

Lee Seol-rok scattered several photos from his bag onto the table.

 

“Can you see?”

 

Noh Hae-min, Manager Yoon Ha-young, and I. We all fell silent.

 

“I saved them separately on a disk, and I printed these out to report.”

“This woman.”

 

The photos Lee Seol-rok scattered showed a face that was already familiar.

That woman I had seen on Bae In-jun’s SNS.

But this time, that woman was with a different man.

 

Looking closely, their faces were very similar.

So, they didn’t seem alike but they were alike?

 

“Wow, I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere.”

 

A face that even Noh Hae-min found familiar.

 

The man was someone I already knew.

Representative Choi Hyun-wook of Cheondong Future Innovation.

 

So, he was something like a paternal uncle to Choi Yoon-ki.

 

“…No way.”

 

Cheondong Group had several affiliated companies.

Among them, Cheondong Holdings, the holding company, served as the central axis of the group, and Choi Yoon-ki was the eldest son of the Cheondong Holdings Chairman.

 

Cheondong Future Innovation was Cheondong’s tech affiliate.

And it revolved around Choi Hyun-wook, who was Choi Yoon-ki’s paternal uncle and the younger brother of the Cheondong Holdings Chairman.

 

So in the end, this woman was.

 

“…Choi Hyun-wook’s daughter?”

 

No way.

The lips and eyebrows that resembled Choi Hyun-wook – thinking up to that point, an absurd laugh burst out.

 

Choi Ji-young’s profile photos gave off a completely different atmosphere from the photos posted on SNS.

Back then, I hadn’t even thought about any connection with Choi Hyun-wook or Choi Yoon-ki.

 

The representatives of the remaining subsidiaries, excluding the holding company Cheondong Holdings, were generally brothers of the Cheondong Holdings Chairman, and they didn’t disclose any information about their children.

 

“Oh, you already figured that out?”

 

Korea University Sherlock giggled.

 

Of course I had to figure it out! Anyone could see they had similar faces.

Choi Hyun-wook’s features had blurred with age, but Choi Ji-young’s hadn’t.

She even had a similar atmosphere to Choi Yoon-ki.

 

Enough that you could tell just from a few photos.

 

“Right. The woman who filed a lawsuit against Kim Su-yeon, Choi Ji-young. She’s the daughter of the Cheondong Future representative.”

“The common-law marriage is real?”

 

I asked, feeling a bit anxious.

 

Could the reason the M&A proceeded smoothly even after Bae In-jun’s accident really be because Bae In-jun and Choi Ji-young were in a common-law marriage?

If so, it also made sense why she suddenly filed a lawsuit against Kim Su-yeon.

 

Either there was a truth she wanted to block at all costs, or she really thought Bae In-jun loved Kim Su-yeon and was seeking revenge.

 

But Lee Seol-rok let out an awkward laugh.

 

“That’s a bit ambiguous-“

“Hyung, I’m being serious.”

 

A woman who would be Choi Yoon-ki’s cousin. Choi Ji-young.

It was a face I had never seen before.

 

Of course that was possible.

No matter how close I was with Choi Yoon-ki, I didn’t know about his cousin relationships.

 

My heart raced.

I held my breath for a moment, feeling like an uncontrollably big smile might leak out.

 

“Really. It’s ambiguous.”

 

Lee Seol-rok, now completely serious, took out his tablet.

Noh Hae-min asked curiously.

 

“Is there a reason you printed out the photos when you have a tablet?”

 

Oh no.

A few seconds of silence passed.

 

It was a harsh question for Lee Seol-rok.

At Noh Hae-min’s purely innocent question, the area under Lee Seol-rok’s eyes trembled.

 

“…Because there were no tablets in the era when Sherlock lived.”

 

Lee Seol-rok was serious.

I bit my lips and held back my laughter.

Only Noh Hae-min was looking at Lee Seol-rok in bewilderment.

 

“…Anyway, here.”

 

The detective who had abandoned his concept displayed the report he had prepared on the tablet.

 

“Bae In-jun, 38 years old. Bylonics representative…”

 

I knew up to this point.

The report Lee Seol-rok had made included Bae In-jun’s photo along with the currently ongoing Cineser project and even a non-disclosure agreement with Cheondong Future – though I wondered how he had obtained it.

 

“And this.”

 

Lee Seol-rok took out his tablet stylus and underlined part of the report.

 

“…!”

 

Noh Hae-min’s eyes widened greatly.

Surprisingly, I was the same way.

 

“…Is this true?”

“Yeah.”

“So… Bae In-jun was a hostess bar employee?”

“Bingo!”

 

Lee Seol-rok cheerfully snapped his fingers.

 

“Amazing, right? Aren’t I cool?”

 

Lee Seol-rok giggled and put a piece of apple that Noh Hae-min had peeled in advance into his mouth and chewed it.

It seemed like a sweet reward.

 

Soon the video included in the report began playing.

It was a video of a neatly dressed man being interviewed in a place where the signboard of a hostess bar was clearly visible.

 

-Uh… In-jun, I know him. He was the ace of our bar.

 

When Lee Seol-rok, who only appeared as a voice in the video, asked for detailed facts, the mosaic-processed man answered awkwardly.

 

-But you’re keeping this anonymous, right?

-That woman… ah, there was a woman that In-jun always requested…

 

The man hesitated and continued speaking.

 

-That woman is scary. Ah, well, she ordered a lot of really expensive champagne, which helped In-jun a lot in maintaining his ace position…

 

-But from one day on, he quit work. Him.

 

-And he said he was going to do some business, but I’m not sure.

 

-Ah, that woman still comes to our bar often. Our bar wouldn’t run without that woman, you know? She’s such a big spender… Ah, these days she requests me a lot-

 

The video stopped.

Noh Hae-min asked with a bewildered expression.

 

“Then what about the common-law marriage? What happened with that?”

 

Lee Seol-rok’s smile deepened even more.

 

“I don’t know that! How could I know all the details of their personal affairs!”

“Hey!”

“But I did bring evidence that it’s not true!”

 

Proof that the relationship between Choi Ji-young and Bae In-jun was not a common-law marriage.

It was a difficult matter for outsiders like me or Lee Seol-rok to handle.

 

“Ta-da!”

 

Then Lee Seol-rok turned to the next page of the report on the tablet.

 

To think that Bae In-jun, the representative of Bylonics who’s even being called a unicorn company due to the M&A with Cheondong Future, was from a hostess bar.

 

It was a fact I didn’t particularly want to know.

Sung Tae-hyun’s diary was right for once in a while.

 

“This is interviews with Bae In-jun’s colleagues and university classmates.”

 

There were several videos and photos.

 

“I also secretly contacted some Bylonics employees.”

 

Lee Seol-rok, I acknowledge you.

He did his job well.

It was good that I bothered to dig through my memories to find Korea University Sherlock.

 

All the interviews about Bae In-jun that Lee Seol-rok brought showed that he had been acting single.

In other words, he had never officially appeared with Choi Ji-young at any gathering.

 

Rather, he had even personally contacted some of his university classmates asking to meet privately.

 

“What about Choi Ji-young’s side? Even though they’re not in a common-law marriage, she’s been protecting Bae In-jun and even filed a lawsuit against Kim Su-yeon first.”

 

At my words, Lee Seol-rok nodded with a smile.

 

“Right, it’s totally weird. I think that woman is also crazy.”

“….”

“But it could make sense.”

 

Why?

The question was resolved not long after.

The next page of the report that Lee Seol-rok turned to had Choi Ji-young’s activities detailed.

 

“…Investment?”

“Yeah. Literally, Choi Ji-young must have quite liked Bae In-jun whom she met at that bar.”

 

What kind of story is this now.

Just as Noh Hae-min and I were forgetting even our surprise at this uncontrollable morning drama-like development.

Lee Seol-rok played a new video.

 

The file name was Choi Ji-young_Friend_D Group Chairman’s Granddaughter.mov

 

-This will be anonymized, right?

 

The woman soon opened her mouth.

 

-That’s Choi Ji-young’s hobby, that is. Um… how should I put it? She’s always liked pitiful things.

 

Pitiful things?

Bae In-jun didn’t seem pitiful to me.

As I watched the video with doubt, Lee Seol-rok winked with one eye and made me shut my mouth.

 

Noh Hae-min’s eyes were sparkling as if this absurd development was interesting to him.

 

-It’s exactly like this, you know? Look, she was drinking and found a guy she liked. That was this Mr. Bae. Getting him a house and buying him a car? That’s nothing to Ji-young.

 

…Does that mean she picked up Bae In-jun and raised him?

 

-But then this Mr. Bae had some coding skills? Ah, sorry. I’m weak in this area. Anyway, he had ability, right? Since she wouldn’t inherit the company because of her older brother anyway, Ji-young was thinking about her future too.

 

Lee Seol-rok in the video asked her with a puzzled look.

 

‘So she made what you’d call an investment in Bae In-jun?’

 

-You could say that! Bought him a house, bought him a car. A guy who seemed only good at pouring drinks turned out to have unexpected ability? So she invested in him.

 

-Of course, Ji-young was the type who would buy more stocks even after burying her previous stock purchases in the red, saying she was averaging down. She has no sense, no sense at all.

 

-And Ji-young was completely excited about preparing for this M&A to screw over her older brother.

 

‘Did you know about the common-law marriage?’

 

-What common-law marriage? Her fiancé is alive and well with his eyes wide open.

 

Right, that was it.

Choi Ji-young’s fiancé.

According to the woman who claimed to be the granddaughter of D Group’s chairman, Choi Ji-young already had a fiancé.

And that was.

 

“This is what we need, right?”

 

Lee Seol-rok’s eyes gleamed sharply.

Choi Ji-young’s fiancé.

 

Of course, we needed it.

I smiled back at Lee Seol-rok.

—————
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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