The Unseen Evidence

In arguments, silence is necessary.
Just as it is in conversation.
The one who is skilled at using silence always gains the upper hand.
People don’t want to open a closed mouth; they have little interest in what is already laid bare.
The jurors were no different.
Their bodies leaned forward.
That’s when I pressed the button.

Swoosh.

The video rewound at the touch of my fingertips.
The police disappeared from outside the door, the frantic Lee Ilwoo vanished, and only Kim Hojung brandishing the knife and Jeong Eunyoung remained.

“As you saw in the video, the first person to be attacked with a ‘knife’ was my client and the defendant, Mr. Lee Ilwoo’s mother.”

Swish, swoosh.

And I gestured a couple of times with the remote, as if cutting through the air.

“The defendant was also the first one to be injured. The wound on his arm, that is.”

Everyone’s eyes turned to Lee Ilwoo’s cast.
Conscious of their gazes, Prosecutor Jin Jaehyun raised his hand.

“The prosecution may speak.”
“Thank you, Your Honor. Yes, Lawyer Cha Yohan. Has the authenticity of the video been verified?”
“Yes. It has already been confirmed that it is the original CCTV footage from the client’s mother’s store.”
“But the defendant’s injuries seem excessive compared to the video.”

At those words, I returned to my seat and picked up the top two documents.
I could have stood up with them from the beginning, but this too was a calculated move.
Arguments aren’t just about words.
Dramatic actions like this also have a great impact on the proceedings.
Instead of answering Jin Jaehyun’s words, I politely handed the first document to the judge.

“I submit as evidence the expert opinion that the wound on my client’s arm is a ‘defensive wound.'”

Then, with a look of having just remembered, I handed over the second document as well.

“Ah, and I will also submit the medical report from the date of the incident.”
“Hmm.”

While the judge reviewed the documents, I quietly returned to my seat.

“The prosecution claimed that the defendant intentionally used excessive defense to injure the plaintiff.”

As if not expecting an immediate rebuttal from me, the once-triumphant Jin Jaehyun was now clenching his teeth.
I glanced at the dazed Lee Ilwoo and spoke again.
The judge would have more than enough time to finish reviewing the documents.

“However, excessive defense is a term that can be applied when one uses a physical means of redress that is more severe than the opponent’s.”

Cha Yohan was a diligent person.
To the point where I didn’t understand how he had lost so many cases in a row.
I pulled out the arguments I had prepared in the car on the way to the court.
It was all thanks to the framework the original Cha Yohan had laid out.

“I have requested the victim as a witness for this trial today.”

People’s heads whipped towards the door.
I put on a look of apology, placed my hands on my thighs, and bowed my head.

“Direct witness examination is difficult, so it will be replaced with a video inquiry. I ask for the jurors’ understanding.”

I checked the time on my watch once and nodded.

“The appointed time has come, so I will now connect.”

I gave a polite nod to the clerk in front of the judge’s bench.
Shortly after the clerk touched his hand, a face filled the monitor screen.

[What, is it on? Hey, can you hear me? Aish, how do you work this thing?]
“Good afternoon, witness Kim Hojung. I am Cha Yohan, the lawyer for Mr. Lee Ilwoo, who requested this witness examination.”

An answer came back immediately.
It was a loud voice that seemed to threaten to blow out all the courtroom speakers.

[What, afternoon? F*ck, in the eyes of a fancy lawyer like you, this state of mine must look like a good afternoon, huh?]

I didn’t answer on purpose.
Instead, I glanced at Lee Ilwoo, who was staring at the screen.
Anyone could see he was suppressing his anger. And he had every right to be.
The person who had brandished a knife at his mother in front of his eyes had now put him in this courtroom.

“What, why is he so brazen?”
“This whole thing wouldn’t have happened if that person hadn’t committed the robbery in the first place, right?”

The murmuring of the jurors, who had been quiet all along, gradually spread.

“Jurors number 4 and 7, please be quiet. Everyone, please be quiet.”

The commotion subsided only after the judge issued a warning.
The prosecutor’s investigator, who was at the hospital, looked flustered and moved the broadcasting laptop a little away from Kim Hojung.

[What! I can’t even say what I want to say? Just because the prosecutor sent you?]
[Please, just calm down a little…]
[F*ck, who’s the one who came here to bother someone who’s already in pain and about to die?]

The judge and jurors frowned.
I didn’t miss that moment and spoke in an even more polite tone.

“Witness, although you are not present in person, this is a sacred trial. As you have been previously informed, please proceed with the oath against perjury.”
[What do I care, f*ck! Oath? Why should I do something like that? Who’s the reason I’m lying here like this!]

Clang, clang!

Kim Hojung thrashed about.
The handcuffs on his wrists banged against the bed, creating a racket.

[I’m going to do everything I can to ruin the life of that bastard who did this to me!]

The judge opened his mouth with a weary expression.

“Counsel, it does not seem like the witness is in a state to be questioned. Do you wish to continue?”

This was the effect I had been hoping for.
I nodded with a look of regret.

“The judge is right. I will conclude the witness examination now. Witness, thank you for your cooperation.”
[What? Conclude what! I’m not done talking,]

The silence that followed the loud commotion felt twice as loud, even if it was just a small sound.
I laid out my final argument upon that silence.
The monitor was already showing a black screen, but everyone in this room knew.
What two videos we had just seen.

“The woman in the video who was robbed by the victim, Kim Hojung, is my client’s mother, Ms. Jeong Eunyoung.”

So, this was the time to appeal to their emotions.

‘This is probably the picture Cha Yohan wanted to paint.’

I slowly looked at the jurors and opened my mouth.

“Ms. Jeong Eunyoung is currently suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder with anxiety, to the point where she cannot operate her store, which is her livelihood.”

I extended my hand and gently pointed to the sparsely filled spectator seats.

“Not only that, but she is also unable to go outside. So much so that she couldn’t even come to her son’s trial.”

I then changed the direction of my hand to the monitor.
So that people’s gazes would follow my hand.
And so that they would be reminded once again.

“Because she witnessed with her own eyes the ‘robber’ who tried to kill her, try to kill her son next.”
“……”
“But if my client had not responded ‘appropriately,’ Ms. Jeong Eunyoung would have suffered from even greater post-traumatic stress disorder. No, that’s not right. She might not have suffered at all.”

I shook my head, looked at the floor, and then raised my gaze again.
While a greater silence hung in the air after my last words.
In this silence, everyone in this space was thinking the same thing.
A thought that even the prosecutor could not deny.

“If my client had not appeared, in the worst-case scenario, Ms. Jeong Eunyoung, and even my client’s younger sibling who was hiding in the storage room and reporting to the police, might have died.”

A trial is a place arranged to publicly consider numerous possibilities.

“Or it could have been the other way around.”

And I am the lawyer who must represent those possibilities.

Step.

I faced Lee Ilwoo and took a single step towards him.

“This trial might not have even been held in the first place. If my client had not been able to take the weapon from the ‘victim.'”

Now, here, the scene needs to change once.

Swoosh.

I turned around smoothly and faced the jurors and the judge.

“This is not a case, but an ‘accident’ that occurred when the defendant tried to stop the victim who was brandishing a knife at the defendant’s mother while committing a robbery.”

Without blocking the jurors’ view of Lee Ilwoo.

“Therefore, I maintain my initial claim of my client’s self-defense.”

A familiar atmosphere began to seep in from behind me.
It was the premonition of victory.

Lee Ilwoo couldn’t even blink in this unbelievable scene.
The nickname of the lawyer who had brought him even more despair in this absurd situation where he was already in despair.
A timid demeanor and voice that couldn’t even make eye contact, as if crushing all hope.

“I-I’m Cha Yohan, the public defender in charge of Mr. Lee Ilwoo’s defense…. I-I’ve reviewed it, and for the trial, it seems we should have a public….”

But the lawyer he had met during the consultation and the lawyer bowing to the judge in front of him seemed like different people.
Like a savior.

The premonition was not wrong.
There was no upset in the result.

“Regarding the charges, all seven jurors unanimously acknowledged the defendant’s self-defense.”

Lee Ilwoo, who had been clenching his prison uniform because he couldn’t clasp his injured hands, snapped his head up.

“This court sincerely respects the jury’s verdict and will now deliver the sentence. Case number….”

Hope appeared in Lee Ilwoo’s eyes.

“In accordance with Article 21 of the Criminal Code, the defendant Lee Ilwoo’s self-defense is acknowledged, and he is hereby sentenced to not guilty.”

And it became firm.
The judge, the jurors, and the prosecutor left the courtroom.
Lee Ilwoo spoke to me with a trembling voice.

“…I had actually given up. There was only despair, but thank you so much. I will repay this kindness someday, somehow.”

Lee Ilwoo bowed low to me in gratitude.
I waved my hands to stop him.

“I only did what I had to do. It’s alright. Now, live happily with a peaceful mind.”

After such a heartwarming conclusion, I left the courtroom.

Vibrate.

A vibration came from my inner pocket. I checked it without stopping and found an unexpected message.

[Greetings. This is the law office ‘Dike’. Congratulations on passing the document screening.]

After that, a standard phrase followed, asking for a reply if I was available for an interview next Wednesday.
Passed the document screening?
Just now, Office Manager Jeong Donghyeok said Cha Yohan was going to quit being a lawyer.
And the name of the law office was quite familiar.
Because there wouldn’t be many people who would use the name ‘Dike’, the goddess of justice, for their law office.
The feeling of bewilderment and the vague sense of familiarity were fleeting, as the hologram, which hadn’t appeared once since I entered the courtroom, suddenly appeared before my eyes.

[I applied a few months ago, but I don’t know why they contacted me now.]

Ah, you startled me.
Can’t you make some kind of sound?
Like a notification sound.

Ding.

[Yes. I will reflect your opinion.]

The customer service is faster than I thought. I like this one thing.

Vroom.

“Hello.”

I got on the bus as the hologram guided me.
I didn’t know it could also function as a navigation system.
I sat down, looked at the message again, and fell into thought.
Getting a call from a place I applied to not a few weeks, but a few months ago, was not a good sign.
It could only mean that a sudden vacancy had occurred and they couldn’t find a suitable experienced person, or that someone who had been accepted had run away.
But as the saying goes, do you have to taste it to know if it’s bean paste or sh*t?

‘It’s because I’m so desperate that even sh*t looks like bean paste.’

With Cha Yohan’s current reputation, he probably couldn’t go anywhere anyway.
This was an undeniable fact.
Just a while ago, there were countless people who, instead of greeting me, openly called me ‘Zero-Wins’ to my face.

‘Should I go for the interview? Or is it better to continue as a public defender?’

Ding.

[You must get off at the next stop.]

Those words sounded like I had to decide quickly.
There is no law that a decision made after long deliberation is not a bad move.
I nodded and pressed the bell.

‘Public defenders have limited choices in picking their cases.’

My life was on the line in this job.
The overwhelming situation since I opened my eyes had pushed it to the back of my mind for a moment, but it had clearly said that I would die if I lost.

‘I was lucky today.’

There was no guarantee that the client in the next case would be in a similarly unfair situation.
If I were to take on the defense of a heinous criminal, I would eventually lose, and then I would die.

‘A situation where I can choose my cases, no matter how bad, is better than being assigned one.’

At the same time as that decision, an announcement came from the bus.

<This stop is….>

Vroom.

I got off the bus and stared at the sunset sky for a moment.
I tore my gaze away from the distance and opened the search bar.

Yes, it seemed familiar for a reason.
I didn’t expect to see this name here.
Won Youngoh was my senior at the Judicial Research and Training Institute, and a partner lawyer who had suddenly left ‘Justice.’