The Weight of a Name

Judge Hwang Yoonhak, with his low voice and precise pronunciation, asked me back.
As expected of a seasoned judge, there was almost no change in his expression.

“Counsel, do we know each other?”

From all around, I could feel a sense of anticipation and expectation for my answer.

“No, it’s just my own admiration.”

At my answer, murmurs began in the back of the courtroom.

“Admiration? What kind of person is he?”
“Huk, don’t tell me he’s a real judge?”
“Heol, like those lawyers?”
“Otherwise…”

Just as the audio filled and people’s curiosity reached its peak, I opened my mouth again.

“The ‘Seongjuwon Serial Murder Case’ that Your Honor presided over in the past led me to this legal field.”

I deliberately pronounced the name of the case slowly and clearly.
At that moment, confusion appeared on the face of Jeong Myeonggyu, who had been scrutinizing me with a frown.

“Huk, that’s the case, right? The death row inmate! He must really be the judge from that case!”

In the past, Judge Hwang Yoonhak had judged criminals who had tried to blur their crimes by claiming mental incompetence even more strictly, and he was famous for issuing verdicts without discriminating based on wealth.
As Judge Hwang just stared at me without any reaction, Jeong Myeonggyu, as if he thought it was his turn, hurriedly stood up and bowed his head.

“I-I’m also honored, Your Honor.”

Instead of accepting Jeong Myeonggyu’s greeting, Judge Hwang looked at me with a piercing gaze.

‘His presence is no joke.’

Even though he was at least ten steps away, I felt like I was making eye contact with him right in front of me.
Hwang Yoonhak was the judge I had admired the most since my law school days, that is, Yoon Eunho’s law school days.
However, from the time I was in law school until I wore the judicial robes, there was no significant change in Judge Hwang Yoonhak’s rank.
Because he was too upright.

‘The shock I felt when I heard that Judge Hwang had finally taken off his judicial robes still hasn’t gone away.’

That fact had also played a big part in my decision to take off my judicial robes.

[…So there was a story like that.]

I nodded once and continued with a few more words, turning my hands over one by one.

“Is that the only case? You’ve also left precedents for the victims of the ‘Hongdae-dong Serial Robbery Case’, the ‘Sehwa Station Weapon Rampage Case’, and so on.”

I realized that PD Yoo Jihyeong was observing this subtly flowing current with an interested gaze.

“Oh, those cases are…”

The panelists, at the same time, couldn’t hide their surprised faces and looked back and forth between Judge Hwang and me.

“So that’s the judge… At that time, everyone said it was a righteous verdict that they hadn’t seen in a long time.”
“I remember too.”
“Me too. I cried a lot watching that case.”

Bang, bang, bang!

“Audience, please be quiet. This is a courtroom. And counsel.”

As soon as Judge Hwang’s firm voice echoed, the courtroom instantly became quiet.

“I appreciate you remembering an old man like me, but your remarks so far will have no effect on this trial.”

‘This is the Judge Hwang I know.’

I smiled, raising the corners of my mouth, and nodded.

“Of course. If I have offended you in any way, I apologize. However, Your Honor, and everyone. Could you please grant me just one more minute?”
“One minute?”
“Yes, Your Honor. I still have people to greet. The plaintiff and the witness.”

Judge Hwang gave his permission with a nod of his head.

“Thank you, Your Honor.”

Step.

I stood exactly between the plaintiff and the witness.
An intense gaze flew from somewhere.
I could also see the production crew secretly exchanging conversations.
I bowed to the plaintiff.
Slowly, politely.

“You have truly been through a lot.”

The plaintiff, who had been avoiding my gaze from the beginning, lowered his head after hearing my words.

“Witness, I would like to say the same to you. You have truly been through a lot.”

As soon as my words ended, the witness’s eyes instantly reddened, and he opened his mouth towards my back.

“…I’m sorry.”

He looked at the plaintiff once and then kept his gaze on the floor.
He couldn’t even look at him properly.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”

A quiet silence fell on the set.
The panelists looked at each other, but no one could find an answer and just opened their eyes wide.

‘This is enough.’

After filling the space with a moderate amount of curiosity and questions, I moved my lips as if I had been waiting.

“From the moment he entered, the plaintiff has been experiencing continuous irregular tics and convulsions.”

During the VCR playback, he groaned as if in pain, and during Jeong Myeonggyu’s interrogation, he clenched his clothes and gritted his teeth, suppressing his anger and resentment.
At first, I just thought he was an unknown actor.
Both the plaintiff and the witness.
But that was…
It was a look that contained such a long period of time that it couldn’t be faked.
The witness was not just reciting a memorized line.
He was opening himself up, who he had buried somewhere in his memory, and showing it.
And yet, he kept looking at the plaintiff.
But the plaintiff kept avoiding his eyes.
With a face full of various emotions.

“I believe that the plaintiff and the witness were also sitting in this very place decades ago.”

At that moment, a small stir arose from all around.

“I apologize if it was my rash judgment.”

The plaintiff shook his head before the witness.

“…Wh-what the lawyer said is correct.”
“…Yes. It’s correct.”

I closed my lips, slowly nodded, and then opened my mouth again.

“I hope that this trial will not be an inconvenience to you two, and I will do my best as a lawyer.”

Jeong Myeonggyu looked at me with eyes full of astonishment.
I turned my toes without any change in expression and bowed my head again.

“Thank you for your understanding, Your Honor. I will now begin the examination. Witness. You…”

Judge Hwang Yoonhak.
After taking off the two words ‘judge’ from his name, he felt as if there was nothing left in his life.
Even after he retired, time passed in the same way.
And so, for several years, he received numerous calls.

“Judge Hwang, this time, at our law firm…”
“I’d like to ask you to be a professor at the Judicial Research and Training Institute.”

But Hwang Yoonhak never accepted any offer.
Because that was not the path he wanted.
To put it simply, he was a ‘dragon that rose from a stream’.
In his youth, Hwang Yoonhak’s dream was to be a ‘righteous person’. And in the midst of that, he found the profession of a judge.
He studied like crazy, passed the bar exam, and when he wore the judicial robes he had dreamed of, the world that Hwang Yoonhak faced had no intersection with the world in his imagination.

‘Not legal principles for justice, but only those who fill their own pockets with legal principles…’

Among them, Hwang Yoonhak was no different from an ugly duckling.
No, to them, he was like a karmic mirror that showed them the sins they had committed.

“Judge Hwang, if you act so stiff like that, you’ll be taking off your robes soon.”
“Are you the only one who’s so righteous? You’re looking at us as if we’re riffraff.”
“Being noble is only for a season. We were all like that too.”

Not only the senior judges, but also the prosecutors and lawyers were busy filling their own pockets, putting their personal connections and academic backgrounds first.

“…The defendant’s crime seems to require eternal isolation from society. Accordingly, I sentence the defendant to death.”

It didn’t matter what he heard from behind or in front of him.
I just had to do my job.
I judged sin as sin, and injustice as injustice.
Because that was the duty of a judge.
But was it because of that?
Hwang Yoonhak had to put down the nameplate of a judge earlier than his retirement age.
Even if he chose a different path outside the norm, he had neither the strength nor the will to purify the muddy water that had already become as dirty as it could be on his own.
Because there was nothing he could change in the decades he had been there.

[Tonight, to the position of a Supreme Court justice…]

Hwang Yoonhak’s classmates and seniors from the Judicial Research and Training Institute, even while committing wrongdoings, flew to even higher places as if they had wings.
And so, the years he had spent just reading books without doing anything, one day, a phone call rang.

[Hello, Judge Hwang Yoonhak. I’m PD Yoo Jihyeong. This time, at the broadcasting station…]
“I’m fine.”

And so, he had hung up the phone several times.

[Your Honor, it’s me. PD Yoo Jihyeong! Please just listen to me for five minutes. If it’s not someone like you, this program will lose its purpose.]

It was because of those words that Hwang Yoonhak’s unwavering heart was moved.
The words that it was not ‘if it’s not you’ but ‘if it’s not someone like you’.

“…Are you free tomorrow afternoon?”
[Ah! Thank you! I’m available today too!]

And so, the Yoo Jihyeong he met was a new kind of person he had never met before.
Instead of writing down the conversation on his phone or laptop, Yoo Jihyeong was holding a palm-sized notebook as if it were a treasure.

“It is an honor to meet you like this, Judge Hwang Yoonhak. You may not remember me, but I used to attend your trials frequently. …Even at your last trial last winter.”

For a moment, Yoo Jihyeong revealed his genuinely complicated expression without hiding it.

‘It seems the words that he often came to attend the trials were not a lie.’

However, instead of pleasantries, Hwang Yoonhak immediately got to the point.

“…What was the story on the phone? Whatever the reason, I don’t want to be used for a broadcast.”
“Not at all, Your Honor! I’m planning a program that re-examines past cases through a virtual trial.”
“A virtual trial?”
“Yes, we are also casting actual lawyers as the defense counsel, and the cases are also planned based on true stories.”

Yoo Jihyeong looked at Hwang Yoonhak with sincere and upright eyes and opened his mouth.

“Since it’s a pilot, additional episodes will depend on its popularity, but the first case is the ‘Wooyang Rayon’ case. I think it’s enough if I can include this case even in just one episode.”

Is there anyone in the legal field who doesn’t know about the Wooyang Rayon case?
Hwang Yoonhak’s expression instantly hardened.

“I am very curious as to why you are re-examining this case. I’m sure PD Yoo Jihyeong is well aware that it still remains as a precedent that is abused in corporate cases.”
“It’s not a grand intention. I haven’t received any back money from anywhere, and I know that not mentioning this is the only way I can hold on to this thin lifeline.”
“Then what is the reason?”
“The past is the past, no matter what. There’s nothing you can do about something that went wrong, no matter what you do.”

Yoo Jihyeong clenched the old brown leather notebook in one hand.

“But… we have the opportunity of ‘now’, don’t we? Now, where we can prevent the same situation from being repeated.”
“Are you saying there’s someone who can do that?”
“There’s a lawyer I’ve been keeping an eye on recently. You must have heard of him, Your Honor. It’s…”

Hwang Yoonhak stared at the Cha Yohan in front of him.
The more you have expectations, the more they bring poison.
That’s why Hwang Yoonhak deliberately did not have expectations.
Even as he met the shining eyes of Yoo Jihyeong, who was talking about Cha Yohan’s name, he tried to shed his emotions as much as possible.
But that lawyer recognized him.
Enumerating those cases that he thought were now forgotten by people, and only remembered by the victims and Hwang Yoonhak.
When he reflexively looked at the PD, he was even more flustered than Hwang Yoonhak himself.
It would be a lie if he said he wasn’t surprised, but that was all.
But the moment the young lawyer greeted the plaintiff and the witness, something seemed to sprout in Hwang Yoonhak’s chest.
Like the young him who first had the dream of a judge.
Without knowing how Hwang Yoonhak was looking at him, Cha Yohan threw a question to the witness.

“Witness, are you ‘currently’ employed at Wooyang Rayon?”