Do Chae-hee blinked at the text message she received.
"Hmm."
The woman who introduced herself as N hadn't contacted Do Chae-hee first since that incident. But this time she came forward with a contact for some reason.
And the content was ridiculously simple.
Meet with lawyer Hong Nan-hee, it said.
Do Chae-hee grumbled inwardly. Telling her to go meet a lawyer out of the blue? Shouldn't she at least write the reason why she should meet her?
'What am I supposed to do when I meet her?'
She couldn't just go find a lawyer and pick a fight, after all.
What would a police officer like her have to talk about with a lawyer?
Do Chae-hee didn't particularly like lawyers. Especially those who handled criminal cases. Even though it wasn't her job, she got angry seeing the criminals she worked hard to catch being released.
No matter the circumstances, to Do Chae-hee's eyes, lawyers looked like nothing but corrupted gatekeepers of hell who release the devils she had worked so hard to put away.
'...That's how I thought back then.'
So there was no way Do Chae-hee would be pleased with lawyer Hong Nan-hee. Do Chae-hee glared at the text message, but the message didn't suddenly change into a different message or anything.
The fact that she couldn't even send a question because it was an untraceable message complicated Do Chae-hee's feelings even more.
Is it possible? That this person has something fishy about her.
For her, who was killing time in the empty Team 1 office, all she had left was time.
Do Chae-hee looked at the empty office and soon made up her mind.
"Well..."
It wouldn't be bad to look into this lawyer first.
Do Chae-hee searched for Hong Nan-hee in the database.
43 years old this year, her career was quite impressive, graduating from Korea's top university and law school. She started her career by immediately entering one of the top law firms in South Korea. But that brilliant career started to fall apart from her fourth year as a lawyer.
In her fifth year as a lawyer, she opened an office under her own name... Unfortunately, that office didn't seem to do well. Do Chae-hee tapped her fingers as she saw the office address gradually being pushed from the city center to the outskirts, and later even to Gyeonggi-do.
'Why on earth did she tell me to meet this person?'
What did this person do?
Do Chae-hee looked at Hong Nan-hee's ID photo on the monitor. Her large eyes that stretched long to both sides without double eyelids were so fierce that their unique spirit could be felt even through the poor quality screen. A face that seemed to scream "I'm not an easy person" at first glance.
No matter how you look at it, rather than a lawyer, her face seemed much more suited to a prosecutor who beats down criminals...
Do Chae-hee swallowed hard at her stern-looking impression.
'Well. Her criminal record... What?'
She thought she obviously wouldn't have a criminal record, but she surprisingly had quite a few. Whether she was an intense racer or not, she had several speeding tickets, parking tickets, and even had her driver's license suspended for accumulating demerit points.
It's fortunate there was no drunk driving, at least.
But the criminal records that followed below were bad.
'Restraining order against a specific individual?'
Along with participation in prohibited assemblies and such. The more she dug, the more petty misdemeanors came up that were far from the corrupt lawyer she had imagined.
She certainly committed a lot of crimes, but well, could this person really be that kind of bad guy?
There was a limit to what could be known from this information.
"...I'll have to go meet her."
Do Chae-hee wasn't originally this impulsive. Well, probably. But her guardian turned out to be a minion of bad guys, and the team she cherished was all gone.
So, well.
'What's there to lose?'
Do Chae-hee quickly took out her coat, put it on, and left the office. There was no one to stop her early departure.
Do Chae-hee got in her own car and drove to Hong Nan-hee's office.
Lawyer Hong Nan-hee had an office under her own name. The problem was that the office was very small and located in the most complicated alley in Seoul.
Do Chae-hee, who barely managed to park her car in a nearby parking lot, struggled to find her office.
Unfortunately, the information provided by the portal site wasn't much help. Dozens of small shops were messily clustered in the alleys that were tangled like spider webs.
Only after entering the wrong building several times was she finally able to find the right building.
Do Chae-hee swallowed hard at the office embedded on the 4th floor of a 5-story building without an elevator and without even a proper sign.
She wondered if this could really be the right place, but no matter how much she looked, this was it. Do Chae-hee exhaled and knocked on the old, rusty iron door.
Knock knock.
"Come in!"
At the husky voice heard from inside, Do Chae-hee took a deep breath and opened the door.
Creeeeak-
A terrible sound came from the rusty iron door. Do Chae-hee closed her eyes tightly at that awful sound. The state of the office she saw after entering was no better than the state of the building.
White paint peeling off, furniture worn and tattered. There wasn't even proper space for clients to sit and rest in the narrow office that seemed to be barely five pyeong.
The only space Do Chae-hee could sit was a blue plastic chair without a backrest.
The rest of the space was all filled with documents, so there wasn't even proper space to move around.
Hong Nan-hee was sitting in the very center of this cramped office, in front of a large desk. On both sides of her were piles of paper so large that they would crush her if they collapsed.
Even at this moment, her gaze was on those papers. As if she wasn't curious at all about the visitor who opened this iron door and came in, she didn't even cast a glance.
"Um..."
Do Chae-hee opened her mouth towards her, but didn't know what to say.
Really, what on earth should she say?
At that moment, the door opened once again behind her. Creeeak. Do Chae-hee unconsciously turned her head back.
And there was an unexpected person there.
"Oh?"
"Oh?"
The two looked at each other and made foolish sounds.
Then, Hong Nan-hee sitting at the desk opened her mouth.
"There's only one chair, so if you need a consultation, we'll have to move to a nearby cafe?"
Hong Nan-hee's expression as she said this looked stern without even room for a needle to enter.
"No, I..."
Do Chae-hee was about to wave her hands saying she didn't come to request a case from Hong Nan-hee, but Jeong Ho-san was different.
"Yes, let's move."
* * *
It was surprising enough that Jeong Ho-san appeared here, but to think he came to request a case. Did something happen?
With Hong Nan-hee leading the way, Do Chae-hee approached Jeong Ho-san and asked in a low voice:
"What on earth is going on? Did some problem occur that you need to hire a lawyer?"
"What about you, Inspector Do Chae-hee? What brings you here?"
"Me? I just..."
Do Chae-hee changed the subject.
"I asked first. So Ho-san should answer first."
Ah, Jeong Ho-san, who opened his mouth slightly, nodded and answered Do Chae-hee's question.
"I need a lawyer for a case I'm in charge of. I looked into public defenders, but they said the success rate for this kind of case is almost 0%..."
"Oh, oh."
Do Chae-hee blinked.
"But if it's a case Jeong Ho-san is in charge of, does that mean you're looking into the defense for the person you arrested, I mean, the defense for the criminal?"
"Yes."
Do Chae-hee rolled her eyes in surprise at those words. Why go to such lengths? Ah, of course, he might listen to their circumstances more carefully since it's his first case...
But to go as far as looking for a lawyer personally?
"But that way, they might not pay the proper 'price' for their crime. What if the criminal you worked so hard to catch gets released?"
At Do Chae-hee's words, Jeong Ho-san scratched the back of his neck and said:
"To be honest, I don't think there's any chance that guy will be released. Well, he committed murder, staged a hostage situation, and was caught at the scene."
"Then why?"
Shouldn't you avoid thinking about getting him a proper lawyer even more in that case? At Do Chae-hee's words, Jeong Ho-san said:
"But I want that guy to receive a proper trial."
Why on earth?
While Jeong Ho-san and Do Chae-hee were having such a conversation, Hong Nan-hee was already entering the cafe. Do Chae-hee quickly followed her inside. Like all the shops here, the cafe was old, but at least it was in much better condition than Hong Nan-hee's law office (if you could call that an office).
"I'll give you a simple consultation for free, so you buy the coffee. A vanilla latte with two extra pumps of syrup. One hot cup."
"Ah, yes!"
Jeong Ho-san immediately headed to the counter at Hong Nan-hee's words. Hong Nan-hee looked at Do Chae-hee sitting still and said:
"It's one order per person here."
"Ah, yes!"
Only then did Do Chae-hee get up from her seat and go to order. Even as she ordered an iced Americano, Do Chae-hee's mind was still complicated.
But for now, she was planning to listen to Jeong Ho-san's story once.
After all, if he came wanting to request a case from Hong Nan-hee, he would have no choice but to spill everything in front of her.
Hong Nan-hee finally made an expression like she could live as she received the vanilla latte Jeong Ho-san handed her.
"Thank you. I'll enjoy it. Hmm, I can give you about 15 minutes for the coffee price."
"15 minutes?"
Jeong Ho-san exclaimed in surprise.
"The case I'm handling right now is quite big. It's taking ages just to organize it. Oh, time is passing even while I'm talking like this now?"
At Hong Nan-hee's words, Jeong Ho-san became flustered.
Thump, Do Chae-hee hit Jeong Ho-san's side.
"Calm down for now."
"Ah, yes yes."
Jeong Ho-san took a deep breath and said:
"I heard you also work as a public defender."
"Hmm, when I have time and mental space."
Hong Nan-hee shrugged.
"Unfortunately, I don't think I have either right now."
"C-could you please listen to that friend's story just once?"
"14 minutes left."
Hong Nan-hee said that and sipped her latte. It meant she would listen to you for 14 minutes.
Jeong Ho-san swallowed and opened his mouth.
"That friend is 16 years old, an orphan. He left the orphanage last year with a subsidy, but his situation isn't very good. He's a D-rank awakener, but he couldn't enter Hunter Academy and regular schools rejected him..."
"What crime did he commit?"
At Hong Nan-hee's question, Jeong Ho-san gripped the glass cup and said:
"Robbery, murder... These are just the major ones, and there's also assault, obstruction of official duties, special violence prevention act... There are so many charges I'm not sure."
"If he's an awakener, he won't be able to get out for life. You said he's sixteen?"
"Yes."
"Unfortunately, awakenera don't fall under the juvenile protection law. Awakeners are punished under the same laws as adults regardless of age."
Slurp, Hong Nan-hee drank her vanilla latte and said:
"For the police officer who arrested that friend to come and say this, there must be a pitiful story."
Glance, Hong Nan-hee checked her watch and said:
"Well, tell me that story in the remaining time."