“But weren’t you going to dinner? What brings you here?”
“I have something I want to ask Ms. Yoo-hee. If it’s okay, I was thinking of asking her while we have lunch together.”
He must be planning to ask about what happened in the conference room earlier.
Though he covered for me in front of Go Jong-tak, he was still Cha Kang-hyuk’s assigned lawyer, regardless of Attorney Ahn’s wishes.
“Then could you wait a moment? Setting up the conference room won’t take long.”
“Alright.”
With Attorney Ahn, who waited silently, I went to a humble 50-year-old traditional soup restaurant.
And we found a secluded spot in the deepest corner of the place.
“Excuse me, ma’am, two bowls of Gukbap, please!”
With my energetic shout, the side dishes were set.
I pushed the well-fermented Kkakdugi (diced radish kimchi) and freshly made Geotjeori (fresh kimchi) towards Attorney Ahn.
Attorney Ahn chuckled and pushed them back towards me.
“I have long arms, so just keep them in front of you, Ms. Yoo-hee.”
“I’m not so bad myself, you know?”
“Then let’s put them exactly in the middle.”
“Yes, that sounds good.”
With that, Attorney Ahn, who had placed the side dishes in the middle as if in a truce, let out a light sigh and spoke.
“Earlier in the conference room. What were you thinking?”
“You must know it was for Mr. Lee Chil-hong. If Cha Han Construction’s media network is leveraged, we can let the world know about Mr. Lee Chil-hong’s unfortunate story.”
Almost all large corporations are like this, but construction companies spend a lot on advertising in the media.
This is because they deal with very expensive real estate, which is one of the products a company can sell.
They might not listen to the powerless Mr. Lee Chil-hong, but it would be different if he were an advertiser.
Especially if it’s Cha Han Construction, which is among the top 10 construction companies.
Therefore, for the sake of Mr. Lee Chil-hong and Ha-eum, Cha Kang-hyuk must avoid a real prison sentence.
Only then can we contact the media through Cha Kang-hyuk.
“How could I not know after you said that? However, as I already told you, if this goes wrong, we won’t be able to save anyone, let alone Mr. Lee Chil-hong.”
“Does ‘no one’ include Director Cha Kang-hyuk?”
“Of course. If I hadn’t decided to take the case, it would be a different story, but I always do my best for my clients.”
“I know. But did you take the case knowing what kind of person Cha Kang-hyuk is?”
“If you only look at his current public image, he’s a villain, right?”
“That’s right.”
“And of course, his reputation at our company isn’t very good either.”
“Yes, that’s right. But you still took the case.”
“Because you made it so I had no choice but to take it.”
Attorney Ahn Gyeong-hun said, mimicking exactly what I had said in the conference room.
“Attorney Ahn Gyeong-hun said he would take it!”
“I didn’t add an exclamation mark when I said that…”
“Hmm, but for me, it was more than an exclamation mark. It felt like lightning struck above my head.”
…I apologize. But would it be hard for you to believe me if I said it was for our sake?”
“I believe you. That’s why I was flustered, but I decided to take it.”
Along with Attorney Ahn’s words, a hot earthenware pot was placed in front of each of us.
I bowed to the ajumma and picked up my spoon with trembling hands.
The weight of someone believing in me was that significant.
“Actually, in the conference room, I raised my hand at the end with the intention of not doing it. At that moment, Ms. Yoo-hee brought up Mr. Lee Chil-hong’s name.”
“I’m so sorry…”
“No, I didn’t say that to hear an apology. I know you’re just as desperate. But that’s not the only reason I took this case.”
“Then why?”
To my question, Attorney Ahn Gyeong-hun moved three long pieces of meat from his Gukbap to my earthenware pot and said,
“The moment I was about to say no, I saw your eyes, Ms. Yoo-hee. At that moment, I thought, ‘My secretary knows me, so why is she pushing so hard for me to take this case?'”
“Attorney.”
“In that short moment, all sorts of thoughts crossed my mind. But actually, it wasn’t that complicated. Just as my secretary knows me, I also know my secretary.”
I paused my hand as I was about to give the meat back to Attorney Ahn.
At that moment, Attorney Ahn smiled brightly and said,
“That Ms. Yoo-hee, like me, is someone who wouldn’t do anything wrong, even if the sky were to split in two.”
“And what you said to me this morning. You think there’s something to this case, don’t you?”
“Yes, I think Director Cha Kang-hyuk has some unfair aspects to his claims, from various angles.”
“Hahahaha, in Korea right now, you’re probably the only one who thinks that, Ms. Yoo-hee?”
“Director Cha Kang-hyuk himself also thinks that.”
“Yes, now that you mention it, there are two of you.”
Attorney Ahn quickly blocked the meat returning to his side and said,
“Eat a hearty meal if you want to go into the meeting this afternoon.”
“Meeting?”
“Of course. Were you planning to push me into this burning pit and just watch alone?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
I had intended to persuade Attorney Ahn to let me into the meeting, but things turned out to be surprisingly easy.
However, the biggest problem is that if I get tied up with this case, my workload will truly become murderous.
As if reading my mind, Attorney Ahn took a large spoonful of rice and said,
“Don’t worry, Ms. Yoo-hee. This time, I’ll try my best to make sure you don’t suffer too much.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I’m planning to request support from the company so that you can focus solely on this for a while.”
“Request support?”
“Yes. To be precise, it would be a request for a secretary.”
“A secretary? No way?”
“No way, indeed. Since we’ve already become Team Rocket, let’s try to get a secretary out of it this time, shall we?”
“You don’t even know what Team Rocket means.”
White steam rose from the earthenware pot in front of me.
I stirred my spoon, placed meat on top of the broth, then added a piece of Kkakdugi, and put it in my mouth.
The savory taste of the meat combined with the refreshing Kkakdugi was excellent.
“I don’t know what it is, but Team Rocket. It sounds good. It must have a cool meaning.”
“Cough!”
Team Rocket are villains…
‘Well, they are kind of cute for villains.’
They always get defeated, making them seem more pitiful than villainous.
I decided to just let Attorney Ahn Gyeong-hun continue to misunderstand.
There was no need to spoil the warm atmosphere, just like this Gukbap in the earthenware pot.
“While you’re working on Director Cha Kang-hyuk’s case, I’m planning to request that you only handle my work.”
“If you can do that, it would certainly reduce my burden a lot.”
In fact, what was most needed right now was time to dedicate to the Cha Kang-hyuk case.
As a result of searching the case records on my laptop, it was clear that this case required a lot of on-the-ground work.
However, entrusting it solely to Attorney Ahn Gyeong-hun would be highly inefficient.
This case requires prior knowledge, and it would be better for someone who already knows about it to handle it directly, rather than explaining everything repeatedly.
“But would the firm really go that far?”
“They’d better, or else I’m going to collapse.”
“Pffft. With your personality, Attorney Ahn, is that even possible?”
“It means I’m that determined. If I hadn’t taken this case, it would be different. But now that I’ve taken it, it’s like we’re cornered.”
He wasn’t just talking about the issue of responsibility.
Considering the ripple effect of this case, it was truly explosive.
A case that garners national attention naturally draws attention to the lawyers handling it.
And sure enough, it was a lawyer from a major law firm.
This meant that the criticism directed at Cha Kang-hyuk could be distributed to Attorney Ahn as well.
Could he, who had always walked the straight path, handle that?
This was another problem.
“Attorney, you also expect a prison sentence, right?”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
“Then you must know that taking this case means you’ll receive all sorts of criticism.”
“I’m prepared for it.”
“Attorney.”
“But if someone is truly wronged, it’s right for us to help them. So don’t worry about anything else and just focus on this case.”
He was indirectly saying that he was fine.
Rather, he told me not to worry about anything.
However, I also had no intention of letting Attorney Ahn be criticized.
This time, it was my turn to quickly state my resolve.
“Attorney, you also don’t worry about anything and just focus. I’ll make sure you don’t get as much criticism as possible.”
“Hahaha, just hearing that makes me feel relieved.”
“I’ll show you it’s not just words after dinner.”
“What does that…? Is there a way?”
“Let’s just eat without thinking about anything, and then we’ll talk.”
“Haha, I don’t know what it is, but since Ms. Yoo-hee says so, I guess I should.”
With that reply, Attorney Ahn began eating with gusto.
It was only natural, as he was originally someone with a strong curiosity for cases and legal theories.
Watching him, I also quickly began eating.
Now that the real battle was beginning, I needed to fill my stomach properly.
Attorney Ahn’s request was fully accepted.
His words, “We’re short on staff for the Cha Kang-hyuk case, so I’ll use a secretary,” were effective.
As Attorney Ahn said, it was probably because it would be troublesome if he were to back out in this situation.
Furthermore, he didn’t say he’d use me as his dedicated secretary indefinitely, only until the case took shape.
While there was room for interpretation, it would be a few months at most.
The firm distributed my assigned lawyers, Yoon Yi-hoon and Hyun Ah-jin, to two secretaries with available workload.
“Even if it wasn’t for this case, we should have done this a long time ago. I feel very sorry towards Ms. Yoo-hee.”
“Attorney.”
“It’s not like I have few cases, but to assign two associates with a lot of litigation work as well. You must have gone through a lot of hardship all this time.”
“Thank you for recognizing that.”
“Don’t mention it.”
It’s only a few months at most, but it’s something.
More importantly, if my plan works out, I won’t have such an overwhelming workload in the future.
If it were Yoon Yi-hoon, maybe, but I have no intention of continuing to see Hyun Ah-jin.
‘Hyun A-jin is going to be groaning starting today.’
And sure enough.
Before the briefing for the afternoon meeting, while I was frantically preparing Hyun Ah-jin’s work handover document, I heard a thud.
It was Hyun Ah-jin.
“Ms. Yoo-hee, what is this? Why is my assigned secretary changing for a while?”
“It’s as you were informed.”
“But why?! What’s the big deal about supporting one more trivial case that you’re doing this?”
“Did you just say ‘trivial case’?”
“Attorney Ahn…”
“It seems Attorney Hyun is the only one in our firm who would refer to Director Cha Kang-hyuk’s case that way.”
“I, I didn’t mean it that way. I meant that Ms. Yoo-hee has always supported your cases well and handled other duties, so there was no need to go this far.”
“She did well. She did too well, that was the problem.”
Attorney Ahn said, his expression hardening, unlike usual.
The fact that he spoke like this meant he was quite angry.
Hyun Ah-jin flinched at the sight of Attorney Ahn Gyeong-hun, whom she had never seen like this before.