After the Storm

“Don’t come near me! I’ve done enough, what more is there!”

Oh Uiseong screamed at me as I approached, his body trembling.

‘Anyone who sees this would think he’s the one who’s been wronged, and I’m the one who’s been bullying him.’

Oh Uiseong’s face, which had been flushed red and blue throughout the trial, was now deathly pale.

“Don’t be so scared, Councilman.”

I added to Kim Hyunwoo, who was looking back and forth between Oh Uiseong and me, unable to say anything.

“And you too, Lawyer Kim.”
“…What?”
“Since it wasn’t you who prepared the materials, it will be a valid reason for exemption to some extent.”

Because Hyeon Yeongje would think that he had lost, not Kim Hyunwoo.

“How…”

Kim Hyunwoo asked back without realizing it, then quickly covered his mouth.

“Well, trials are all about winning and losing.”

I smiled lightly to let Kim Hyunwoo think as he pleased and turned my gaze to Oh Uiseong.

“Well, it seems this side didn’t think they would lose at all.”

I provoked Oh Uiseong for my final plan.
Oh Uiseong shot up from his seat as if he had been launched and grabbed me by the collar.

“There’s a limit to how much I can tolerate!”
“Were you tolerating it? I didn’t know.”
“You bastard! Do you know who I am! I’ll throw you into the mud one way or another, so be prepared!”

I gently pushed away Oh Uiseong’s hand that was holding my collar.
It may have looked gentle on the outside, but due to my strength, Oh Uiseong momentarily frowned.

‘He probably thinks it’s a mistake.’

He wouldn’t want to believe that a lawyer who looked so slender had lightly pushed away his strength.
Oh Uiseong raised his index finger this time. And he pointed at me and my clients one by one.

“Because of those beggars, my son is being insulted by all sorts of lowlifes, and my stomach is all twisted up!”

At that moment, the courtroom turned cold.
The flow of air instantly sank.
Everyone’s gaze and senses were directed at one person.

“What! What are you looking at! Do you know who I am!”

‘Why do people like this always ask if you know who they are?’

[I’m curious too. It’s not like they’re someone we need to know.]

‘And when you actually hear about them, they’re not that great of a person.’

I finished my short conversation with Gram and was the first to break the silence.

“Are you referring to the city councilman?”
“Y-yes!”
“I’ve thought about it a few times, but it seems you’re a little behind on the news, Councilman Oh Uiseong. No, Mr. Oh Uiseong.”
“What? Mr. Oh Uiseong?”

Just as Oh Uiseong was about to rush at me again, someone shouted urgently and ran towards us.

“Councilman!”

It was the personal secretary whom I had mistaken for a bodyguard.
He, who had been shouting and running until just now, handed Oh Uiseong a phone with a cautious movement that was unlike his previous demeanor.
Accordingly, the people around us also hurriedly took out their phones.
Only I, who knew the whole situation, was looking straight at Oh Uiseong, not at my phone.
Someone muttered from behind me in a surprised voice.

“…Netizens reveal evidence of City Councilman Oh Uiseong’s tax evasion?”

That wasn’t the only thing that was revealed.
Tax evasion was just the beginning.
Abuse of power, concealment of assets, real estate speculation, and seizure of interests…
Oh Uiseong’s body trembled as he checked the articles that were pouring in like a flood. And then he threw his phone at me.

Whoosh!
Thwack!

“What to do! Lawyer!”

The phone that Oh Uiseong had thrown hit my shoulder with a rather loud sound and fell.
As soon as the phone hit the floor, Oh Uiseong rushed at me.

“You bastard!”

Thwack!

That hurts more than I thought.
The taste of blood in my mouth meant my mouth was definitely busted. And the corner of my mouth was already torn.
I looked down at Oh Uiseong’s still-trembling fist.
My blood was on his gold ring.

‘…I thought it would hurt more than I had expected.’

Given Oh Uiseong’s usual habit of using his hands, I could easily tell that he would soon punch me.
That’s why I didn’t avoid it on purpose.

[Ugh, but I think that would hurt a lot.]

‘Well, it’s fine.’

As I raised my hand to wipe the blood from the corner of my busted mouth, Oh Uiseong raised his fist once more.
At that moment, Choi Sanggyu stood in front of me.

“Who do you think you’re hitting! Are you even a human being? Seeing what you’re doing, I can see why your son is the way he is!”
“You bastard, you’re asking for a beating too!”
“Sir, you can’t do this. I’m fine.”

I stopped the fight that was about to escalate and pulled Choi Sanggyu towards me.
The personal secretary also held onto Oh Uiseong and stopped him.

“Councilman, you can’t do this!”
“Let go! Don’t let go! I’m going to kill all of them today!”

While Oh Uiseong was struggling, I glanced around and then nodded to the person whose eyes I met.
And I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth with a wet wipe that one of the mothers had given me.
With a blood drop on my lip, I smiled happily and moved my busted lip.

“Mr. Oh Uiseong, do you know the most visible criterion that separates assault from battery?”
“…What?”
“It’s bloodshed. And anyone can see that this is a bloody situation, right? You even threw a phone… so it would be aggravated assault.”

Only then did Oh Uiseong’s struggling subside.

“And there are so many witnesses, and we also have video evidence…”

At the word ‘filming’, Oh Uiseong, who had come to his senses, frantically looked around.
But now, everyone in the room was holding a phone and looking at Oh Uiseong.
They had been looking at the articles that listed his misdeeds, and now they were recording his misdeeds in front of them.

“Ah, and there’s direct evidence too. Your ring, Councilman.”

Oh Uiseong hurriedly looked down at his own hand with a dazed expression.
The ring, which had been sparkling with a golden light until just now, was stained red in places.

“And there’s no fine for assault.”

Countless phones, twice as many eyes.
All of those gazes surrounded Oh Uiseong as if to judge him.

“Th-this is… this is not right! It’s not right!”

Oh Uiseong looked at me with a look that said something was wrong, and looked around, but no one opened their mouths.

“No fine, do you know what that means? It means the minimum is a prison sentence. And since there are also allegations that you’ve assaulted your employees, it could be treated as a habitual offense.”

Thump.

‘I’ve been had.’

Only then did a look of realization cross Oh Uiseong’s face.
And so, Oh Uiseong collapsed in his seat.
I whispered one more thing as I passed Oh Uiseong.
Not to Oh Uiseong, but to his personal secretary.
Even as everyone was leaving the courtroom, Oh Uiseong remained sitting in his seat.
The commotion of that day subsided like that.

“It’s been cleaned up more neatly than I thought.”
“Yes, so it’s a relief.”
“How on earth did you persuade that man? When he came to the office, he seemed like… a loyal dog.”

I shrugged lightly at Won Youngoh’s question and put a candy in my mouth.
Now there was a candy basket on the table in our office. I had put it there after meeting Judge Jang.
It was also a bit of fun to see the people in the office pick one up every time they passed the table.

Swish.

I picked up a candy and offered it to Won Youngoh, but he lightly shook his head.
The words I had said to the personal secretary were very simple.

“If you stay by his side, you’ll become a perpetrator, not a victim. Get out. This is your only chance.”

I carefully rolled the candy in my mouth and answered Won Youngoh.

“I just told him what he wanted to hear. You can hide your actions, but you can’t hide your eyes. Hostility would pop out from time to time. Though it was just for a moment.”
“Hostility…”

As I had expected, the personal secretary had been gathering evidence of Councilman Oh’s risks one by one, step by step.
And he had released them not all at once, but little by little, in succession.
So that the once-lit embers would not easily be extinguished.

“It’s sometimes harder to hide hostility than goodwill. Because it leaks out unexpectedly the moment you let your guard down. And when it leaks out, you get flustered again.”

Won Youngoh narrowed his eyes.
As if he were recalling the moment Oh Uiseong had come to Dike.

“And it’s even more so with someone who has been violent towards you. Because you can never forget that.”

The personal secretary had first revealed the specific evidence of Oh Uiseong’s assault on him.

‘I was a little shocked that there were so many hospital records… And it’s amazing that he stayed by Councilman Oh’s side for so long even with all that.’

Next, he revealed the nominee accounts he had managed.
And so, he revealed in detail how much of Oh Uiseong’s ill-gotten wealth there was, and how he had obtained it.

“But the result is a relief. Thanks to that, the victims were also compensated, and the story of Councilman Oh has not stopped for days.”
“Yes, I think so too.”
“And the best news among them is probably the revocation of his councilman position.”
“Is that all? I was most refreshed by the fact that his hidden assets were also seized. He should have lived a more upright life.”
“I really don’t know why he stayed by Councilman Oh’s side after being assaulted for so long.”

I wasn’t the only one who had a question.
I brought up the conclusion I had come to on my own after watching this situation for the past few days.

“He might have been waiting for this very moment. The moment Oh Uiseong fell.”

Knock, knock.

Every time I say the word ‘moment’, it seems like the door opens or someone knocks. Is it just me?
I laughed at that thought and turned my head, and at the same time, the wind chime swayed.

Chime.

“Hello.”

Won Doyeong appeared with a neat bow.

“Doyeong.”

Won Youngoh stood up from his seat and held Won Doyeong in his arms.

“Did you come alone again today? Weren’t you cold?”
“Yeah.”
“You should have called. I would have gone to pick you up.”

Won Youngoh unwrapped his light blue knit scarf and gently stroked Won Doyeong’s red cheeks.
I waved at Doyeong.

“It’s been a while, Doyeong.”
“Yes. I came to say thank you today.”
“To me?”
“Yes. Uncle, put me down.”

Thump.

Won Doyeong walked straight up to me and hugged me tightly.

“Thank you.”
“Oh my, I’m even getting a thank you from Doyeong.”

I smiled happily as I stroked Won Doyeong’s fine hair.
Won Doyeong came out of my arms and spoke brightly and cheerfully.

“Yes. You’re not as good as my uncle, but I think you’re good enough to work with him. So I’ll call you uncle from now on, not mister.”
“What?”

At those words, Won Youngoh and I both burst out laughing.

“Uncle, buy me a cake that the noona made at the cafe below. And cookies too.”
“Did our Doyeong plan everything today? Alright. Let’s go.”
“Yeah.”

Won Youngoh, who had had a sorry expression every time he brought up Doyeong’s story, was now smiling more brightly than ever before.

‘Won Youngoh is also helpless when it comes to family.’

I thought, watching Won Youngoh bend down to hold Won Doyeong’s hand.
Just as I was about to look at my documents again, Won Youngoh turned around and called me.

“What are you doing, Lawyer Cha? We have to go together.”
“…Oh, me too?”
“What kind of disappointing thing are you saying after so long?”

I laughed at Won Youngoh’s reaction and stood up from my seat, and just then, my pocket vibrated.

Vibrate.

“I’ll just take this call and then go down to the cafe.”
“Yes, come down when you’re done.”

Chime.

The call didn’t end until Won Youngoh had left with Won Doyeong.

“Hello.”
[Why did you take so long to answer?]
“I wasn’t alone. What’s wrong?”

It was a call after a long time, but it felt like we had just talked a few days ago.

[Well, this was quite fun. It would have been easier if you had told me, but I don’t know why you chose such a troublesome method.]
“Wasn’t it too small of a pond for you to get involved in, Mr. Im Suho?”
[Haha. So you could talk like this, Lawyer Cha Yohan?]
“It was something I could handle without your help. Though I know you helped in the end.”

At my words, Im Suho burst out laughing.

[I always think, you’re quick-witted.]
“Even if netizens are great, it’s hard to reveal tax evasion or concealment of assets.”

The more specific evidence had been released by the secretary, but the things that had spread in the trial community before were Im Suho’s work.

“I’m sure you didn’t call just for that. What’s wrong? The prelude to the main point is a bit long today, so I’m a little nervous.”

As if my premonition were right, Im Suho dropped a bombshell on me.

[I found him, K.]