A Trial of Decades Past

Eventually, the words disappeared, and a man appeared within the square frame.
Photos were layered on top of the screen, which quietly showed his current appearance in his old age for a few seconds.
On top of the old man’s expressionless face, photos from his youth were layered one by one.
Expressionless, emotionless, sad, and then a smiling young face.
The moment the man, who had slowly gone back in time as if reminiscing, smiled brightly, the white color filled the wall again.

<32-year-old Jonghyeok had to run around busily today.>
<Because the company he had been working at a few days ago had gone bankrupt.>

A narration quietly echoed along with the man’s busily moving feet.
The people who were filming were instantly drawn into the screen.

<Burdened by debt, he hurriedly looked for a job. It was a factory located quite far from his home, but Jonghyeok thought he was lucky.>

“Thank you for giving me a good opportunity.”
“Let’s do well in the future.”

The man’s clothes kept changing inside the car.
As if to illuminate his numerous commutes.

<A three-hour round trip commute by car, a job he had gotten because he was in a hurry, but Jongseok had been going back and forth on this road every morning and evening for three years.>
<Then, one spring.>

“Oh? Mr. Park isn’t here.”
“I know, right? He’s not answering his phone either.”
“I hope nothing happened.”
“He probably just got sick from drinking.”
“Haha.”

<Mr. Park was one of the people who had helped Jongseok, who was an outsider, to get attached to this factory.>
<The next day, which he had spent in worry, this time, Mr. Lee, who had talked with Jonghyeok yesterday, was not to be seen.>

“Hello. Oh? Mr. Lee isn’t here today either?”
“Hey, Jonghyeok. It’s not just Mr. Lee and Mr. Park. There are more than just a couple over there. It’s already about thirty people. What on earth is going on…”

One by one, the people who had been walking busily around the man standing on the screen disappeared.
One, two, five, seven…
And so, everyone.
The man, who was standing alone in a pure white background, looked around.

“Aah!”
“Who, who’s there!”
“Help me!”
“My leg! My leg is gone, honey!”

Different screams and cries scattered around the man.
The voices were layered several times, several folds, and filled the entire space where the man was.
Among them, there was also Mr. Lee’s voice.
The man covered his head with his hands and collapsed to the floor.
On top of him, the man from now appeared.
The old man moved his lips with a tired expression.

“Paralysis, hallucinations, seizures… Not just me, but suddenly the employees, and dozens of people in the village where the factory was, became like that. At first, everyone thought there was some kind of epidemic in the village.”

The old man’s lips trembled several times as if to hold back his welling tears.

“But the gentlemen who came from the state said it wasn’t. Since I was in a hurry to find a job, I looked for another job with that body.”

The screen had now changed to a background of a shabby hospital.
This time, three other men appeared.
They were people from the village where the factory was.

“Doctor, please save us. We see things every day, we have no strength in our bodies, and we can’t live. It seems like it would be better to die, but we can’t die because of our families.”

The man in a white doctor’s gown frowned, nodded, and asked the three men in front of him.

“Do all three of you have the same symptoms?”
“Dozens of people in the village are in the same situation, but the state just keeps saying there’s nothing wrong.”
“The village? Is there a river in the village?”
“Yes.”
“How do you use the water from that river?”
“What? What kind of obvious question is that… We drink it, and we use it for farming.”
“Please wait a moment!”

The young doctor ran to the hospital’s storage room and began to frantically rummage through the books.

<The doctor in Seoul, Choi Unho, whom the villagers had gone to as their last hope, got a clue from their conversation.>
<Eventually, he discovered that the villagers’ symptoms were a disease that appeared when they continuously ingested a large amount of heavy metals in the polluted water, which was industrial waste.>

Soon, the scene from that day long ago appeared on the screen.
The quality was old and faded, but the passion was clear.
They, who had been employees of the factory and the families of the deceased employees, shouted in one voice.

“Bring the victims back to life! Bring them back to life!”
“Give us back our river!”
“The devilish Wooyang, stop discharging polluted water!”
“Stop!”

<The employees, with their sick bodies, tried to inform the public of the factory’s atrocities through strikes and protests.>
<As the factory’s non-response to the strikes and protests grew longer, the number of people who died also increased.>

“Oh my, what to do.”

Someone’s sad sigh flowed out.

<Jonghyeok, who had joined the first strike and protest, still had a debt to pay.>
<A short while after starting another job with that body, Jonghyeok heard a piece of news.>

“That they lost, in that lawsuit. So many people died…”

People lying in hospital beds, an endless stream of funerals, someone’s scream…
All of those scenes were connected in a continuous stream, as if sharing a memory.
The old man’s face appeared again.
A sadness that was even deeper than a few minutes ago crossed the screen and into reality.

“That the factory did nothing wrong, the state said so. The sound of wailing still hasn’t stopped…”

The screen, which had shown the old man’s crying face, instantly turned black.

“How could something like this…”

The female announcer, whose eyes were red, muttered with a sob.

“How can there be such an unfair thing?”
“So sad…”
“This is a true story.”
“I really didn’t know something like this had happened.”
“Then the victims are still…”

The panelists sitting in the audience exchanged various words.
What was contained in those words was all sadness and pity.
When the right atmosphere was created, the MC nodded and spoke.

“So today, we are going to reopen that trial from decades ago in this courtroom.”

Along with the seasoned hosting, new people soon appeared.
I followed them with my eyes, as if they were appearing in a real courtroom.
They each walked to the judge’s bench and the witness stand.
Finally, a person with a somewhat pale complexion approached me.

Bow.

I bowed my head to the man sitting at the plaintiff’s table.
And then I fixed my gaze on the front again.

‘Huh?’

[What’s wrong?]

I was not sure when I saw his side profile, but the person sitting on the judge’s bench was someone I knew.
My eyes sparkled.
But it wouldn’t be good to be caught.
And I could feel Jeong Myeonggyu constantly looking at me.
I hurriedly lowered my head and fixed my eyes on the file.

‘That is, that person is…’

The trial began immediately.
Unlike a variety show, the procedure was also quite solemn, like a real trial.
They bowed to the judge and recited the case number.
As I listened to the number that began with the year the actual case had taken place, not now, I inwardly nodded at PD Yoo Jihyeong’s direction.
The judge pointed to the witness and spoke.

“Witness, please swear in.”

The witness raised one hand and solemnly declared.

“I swear that I will speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, without hiding or adding anything, and that if I lie, I will be punished for perjury.”

At that serious appearance, Jeong Myeonggyu couldn’t hide his awkward expression.

‘It feels like I’ve really entered a trial.’

“Defendant’s counsel, please examine the witness.”

But a lawyer is a lawyer, and Jeong Myeonggyu quickly composed himself, stood up from his seat, and headed for the witness stand.

“Witness, what is your occupation?”
“To put it simply, I’m a mechanic. I worked at Wooyang Rayon.”
“Are you satisfied with the work environment at Wooyang Rayon?”
“…I’m satisfied.”
“Could you please tell me specifically what you are satisfied with?”
“…My salary is paid on time, and I’m well-fed.”

Since it was based on a true story, it seemed they had cast actors whose faces were not well-known to increase immersion.
I recalled the contents of the document that I had now memorized.

‘It seems they’re going to follow the flow of the actual trial.’

It’s natural, since I’m the lawyer for the defendant, Wooyang Rayon.
Wooyang Rayon had argued from the beginning to the end of the trial that the direct cause of the employees’ illnesses was not ‘only’ the polluted water.
It was to make it seem like a personal illness.

“Witness, I have a question for you.”
“Yes.”
“If a person whose health has deteriorated due to repeated bad living habits gets an upset stomach after eating a meal as usual, is the cause the food, or the person’s living habits?”
“Uh… I think it’s because of the habits.”
“Then what were the living habits of your colleagues?”
“…There was no one who didn’t smoke or drink.”

Swish.

Jeong Myeonggyu glanced back at me with a confident expression. Because the flow was following his wishes.
I just stared at him.

“Then do you, witness, smoke or drink?”
“Not at all.”
“You have a healthy lifestyle. Then, are all the factory employees or all the villagers complaining of that ‘illness’?”
“Uh… not… all of them.”

The witness spoke after a moment of hesitation.
Jeong Myeonggyu’s questions poured out again.

“Witness, besides Wooyang Rayon, how many other factories are there in Namseon Village where you live?”
“As far as I know, there are three more.”
“Then do you know the working conditions of those factories as well?”
“Since I’ve worked at two of those three places before… I think the working conditions are similar to Wooyang Rayon’s.”
“I see, witness. Did your health deteriorate when you worked at those two factories and now at Wooyang Rayon?”
“…It’s similar.”

After nodding once, Jeong Myeonggyu took the documents from his seat and spoke confidently, looking at the audience.

“This is the result of the health checkups that the witness had when he worked at the previous two factories and during his tenure at Wooyang Rayon.”
“Oh.”

An exclamation of admiration flowed from the audience, who were now engrossed in the trial.
Jeong Myeonggyu, as if enjoying the admiration, flipped through a few pages and added again.

“Yes, then let’s take a look together. All three test results are normal with similar values. Even his weight is similar.”

Our gazes met in mid-air.
I wanted to at least try to understand why Hyeon Yeongje had brought Jeong Myeonggyu to Justice.
Because Hyeon Yeongje also had a great attachment to Justice.

‘He’s definitely good at riding the flow.’

Swish.

Jeong Myeonggyu turned around and moved his lips, his gaze fixed on the judge’s bench.

“According to the plaintiff’s argument, the witness’s health should have deteriorated after Wooyang Rayon was established, Your Honor.”
“Hmm.”

The judge also checked the test results while listening to Jeong Myeonggyu’s words.
His expression was complicated and subtle.

“That’s all.”

Jeong Myeonggyu returned to his seat and sat down.
His shoulders were even higher than before.
The judge, who had closed the documents, gestured to me.

“Plaintiff’s counsel, please examine.”

As was my habit, I bowed once to the plaintiff and then stood up from my seat.
And I looked around once, met the eyes of the plaintiff, the defendant, and the witness one by one, and then spoke.

“Before the examination, I have two things I would like to say, with the understanding of everyone in this courtroom.”

And I bowed to the judge.

“First, it is an honor to meet you again like this. Judge Hwang Yoonhak.”