A Classroom Trial

Swish.

Following the movement of the hand, the soft, white chalk slowly carved letters onto the blackboard.

[Cha Yo Han]

After writing the name, I turned my gaze back to the front.
The classroom, decorated to fit the children’s size, was literally charming.
Low desks and chairs, a windowsill that only reached an adult’s pelvis, and a low ceiling.
Standing at the teacher’s desk, I could see the classroom and the children in one glance.
Of course, the same went for the children.

‘Their eyes are full of curiosity.’

It must be curiosity about a person they were seeing for the first time.
A few days ago, Won Youngoh had told me that several adults had already visited this classroom.
And that there were no overlapping professions among them.
I smiled and opened my mouth.

“Hello, friends. My name is Cha Yohan.”

Hmm, is this the right way to say it?
It was a greeting I had practiced while watching children’s show hosts.
Just as that question arose, I heard a round of enthusiastic applause from the window.

Clap, clap, clap!

It was the short-ended applause characteristic of a young child.
It was Won Doyeong.
From the moment I appeared in the classroom, Won Doyeong had not taken his eyes off me and was looking at me. I was strangely encouraged by that gaze.
Following Won Doyeong, the few children all moved their hands.

Clap, clap, clap!

Among them, there were also children who were moving their arms half-heartedly with a sullen expression.
I smiled once more and then asked the children a question.

“What is my job?”

Perhaps because of the sight of Won Doyeong clapping first, several children all gave the same answer.

“A prosecutor!”
“A prosecutor!”

I realized one thing from this scene.

‘The children all know each other’s parents’ professions. That’s probably… because of their parents.’

However, among them, a child who had been staring at me quietly opened his mouth with a calm expression that was unlike a child’s.

“A lawyer. I saw you on the news.”

It was strange enough that a ten-year-old child had watched the news, but his gaze was even stranger.
As if it were similar in nature to Won Doyeong’s…

“The news?”

The ripple that this word brought was bigger than I thought.
I opened my mouth again before the commotion grew.

“That’s right. I’m a lawyer. Then, which friend knows what a lawyer does?”
“My mom said they make a lot of money!”
“Someone who is good at talking!”
“Someone who helps bad people not go to jail!”

Among the various answers that poured out, the most heart-wrenching answer caught my ear.
Because the voice was particularly loud.
The homeroom teacher, who was watching the situation from the back of the classroom, was flustered and called out the child’s name.

“Seunghyeon, you shouldn’t talk like that.”
“Why not? It’s true.”

But the child, who was called Seunghyeon, retorted to the teacher’s words.
He was a child with an impressive rebellious gaze, wearing designer clothes that anyone could recognize, and with neatly arranged hair.
The blood drained from the face of the teacher, who already looked noticeably haggard, in real time.
The atmosphere in the classroom instantly became chilly.

[…Kids these days are scary.]

‘I know, right.’

But the most bitter pill to swallow was the fact that the child’s words were not entirely wrong.
There were certainly many good lawyers, but there were also many lawyers like the ones the children were thinking of.
Moreover, for the children of the current generation, who are exposed to the media more than ever before, that image would be more familiar.
Instead of explaining one by one, I opened my mouth for the sake of the homeroom teacher, who was looking at me with a troubled expression, bowing her head and smiling awkwardly.

“I was curious about what you all think of the profession of a lawyer, and thank you for your answers. To put it simply, a lawyer is a job that speaks on behalf of the wronged.”

I could feel Won Doyeong’s gaze on me.
I first met Won Doyeong’s eyes and then slowly scanned the classroom.

“So since I’m here today, I was wondering if there are any friends I can help. Are there any friends who need help?”

At my words, the children started to look at each other.
A child from the middle row stealthily raised his hand and asked me.

Swish.

He was a child with an impressive neat white shirt and round eyes.

“If I tell you, will you help me?”

I nodded and answered.

“If I can, of course.”

The child glanced to the side and cautiously opened his mouth.

“A while ago, I was the first to line up during lunchtime, but the other kids cut in line. Actually, it’s not just once or twice, it’s every time. And, and sometimes they hit me!”

‘They hit him? And sometimes?’

Unlike what I had thought would be a light story, according to the context of the child’s story, it seemed to be a recurring situation.
I naturally shifted my gaze to the back.
The teacher, who had looked somewhat anxious since the child had raised his hand, now had a flustered expression.

‘Looking at that expression, it seems like this has been a problem a few times.’

But why?
But why hasn’t it been resolved yet?
Just as I was thinking about how to talk to the child at his eye level, a loud voice was heard from the hallway side.
It was the child named Seunghyeon.

“Hey! Choi Wooyoung! You tattletale! I told you I’d kill you if you tattle one more time! Didn’t you get hit enough?”

To think a ten-year-old would recite such a drama-like line in front of me…
Ah, so.
The reason he kept glancing to the side, and the reason the teacher’s expression became even more troubled than before, seemed to be this.

“Hey, friend. Was your name Seunghyeon? You shouldn’t say things like that to a friend.”
“My name is not ‘friend’, it’s Oh Seunghyeon, and I’m not friends with that guy.”

Oh Seunghyeon now retorted with an aggressive tone, glaring at me.
I felt it again, but kids these days were really unrestrained.
I turned my head that way and deliberately asked with a very calm expression.
Because I remembered someone’s tip.

“You should never show that you’re flustered in front of kids. They are good at noticing things like that.”

“Okay, why did you cut in line?”
“Because I was hungry, so what.”

[Wow…]

I heard Gram’s sigh in my ear.
I almost spat it out myself.

‘How can he be so confident?’

To get the answer to that question, I asked the child who had asked me a question again.

“Wooyoung, was there anything else besides cutting in line?”

Choi Wooyoung cautiously nodded and then touched his nose.
The answer came again from Oh Seunghyeon on the hallway side.

“He kept tattling to the teacher, so I taught him a lesson. We won’t go to jail anyway.”

It seemed that the child was talking about being a juvenile delinquent.
Juvenile delinquent.
It was a topic that could be said to be one of the hottest potatoes recently.
Even when I was at ‘Justice’, cases related to juvenile delinquents had poured in.
This law, which was also an international law, was very difficult to handle.

“Hey, Eunho. Do you know how cunning kids are these days? I’m most scared of kids every time I go to a trial these days.”
“I’m more scared when you call me like that, senior. How bad is it, really?”
“Oh, I don’t even want to talk about it. I feel like the theory of original sin is right when I see kids.”

A senior who had been in charge of juvenile trials during my judge days had once said that.
A short while later, when I found out what that case was, I also became disgusted.

“Just because it’s a child’s case doesn’t mean it’s simple. To the extent that just stealing something from a convenience store or somewhere is simple.”
“Simple to the extent of theft? Does that make sense?”
“Do you know what I deal with the most these days? Violence. From simple assault to sexual violence. I’m scared that it will eventually move on to violent crimes.”

At least, juvenile delinquents under the age of 14 are subject to a ‘juvenile trial’, but ‘delinquent minors’ under the age of 10 are not even subject to that.
Though it seemed that the children of today already knew what they needed to know.
That’s why I asked the still-confident child one more time.

“Okay, was that ‘teaching him a lesson’ a punch? Did you do it alone?”

The more my question became persistent, the more the teacher showed a sign of anxiety, but I couldn’t back down now.

“I taught him a lesson alone, and, well… with my friends too. Just a few nosebleeds?”

As if Oh Seunghyeon’s still-confident demeanor had become a catalyst, even the children around him joined in. They seemed to be the ‘friends’ that Oh Seunghyeon had mentioned.
They rather held their heads high and pointed their fingers at the other children and shouted.
Oh Seunghyeon watched that sight as if he were enjoying it.

“A tattletale deserves to be taught a lesson!”
“We taught him a lesson together!”
“Kids! You shouldn’t say things like that!”

As the classroom instantly became noisy, the homeroom teacher approached the children and tried to calm the situation down.

“What, do you want to get fired like the last teacher? I can just go home and tell my dad that the teacher taught me a lesson.”

Whether the story contained in Oh Seunghyeon’s unchildlike words was all true, the teacher just lowered her head with a flushed face and did not try to stop him any further.
After that, an unknown silence fell on the classroom.
The faces of several of the children had turned pale.
Among them, the face of the child named Choi Wooyoung, who had been the first to break the ice, was the most.
I didn’t miss that part and moved my lips again.

“Now, Wooyoung. I’ll help you.”
“Hey! Shin Jiu! An Eunsu! You guys ask that man for help too!”

It was a clear sneer and mockery.
Those children pointed out a few more people and raised their voices, and in the meantime, the other children did not open their mouths.
Anyone could see that the child named Oh Seunghyeon was reigning like a king in this classroom.
I quietly shifted my gaze to the window side.
Won Doyeong, with a resentful expression that was not in keeping with his age, was clenching his fists and looking at the children who were laughing loudly.
Our eyes met as Won Doyeong felt my gaze.

‘He looks like his senior again.’

I nodded once at Won Doyeong and then opened my mouth.

“Thanks to you all, I think I can properly show you what kind of job a lawyer is at this time. Uh, teacher.”
“Yes, yes?”
“Shall we continue our talk in the teachers’ office?”

Ding-dong-deng-dong.

Just then, the bell rang.

I soon found out why the homeroom teacher’s complexion was so bad.
“Excuse me, lawyer. If you wait here for a moment, I’ll be right back.”

The fact that I was guided to the counseling room instead of the teachers’ office was a start.
It meant that it wouldn’t be good for the other teachers to know.
I cautiously asked the teacher who had returned to the counseling room.

“Teacher, it seems like there have been a few situations like the one earlier. Is my guess correct?”

The teacher nodded with a troubled expression.

“Yes… It’s embarrassing, but as you saw, it’s a situation where I can’t give guidance.”
“May I ask for the reason?”
“Because that student’s parent is a city councilman. He has also donated to the school a few times…”
“What is that person’s name?”
“It’s Oh Uiseong…”

Hmm, it was a familiar name.
Because he had visited ‘Justice’ a few times for his son’s problems.