Chapter 57
『 Translator – Divinity 』
“You’ve identified the issues well.”
In an instant, everyone’s attention focused on him.
It was Gu Min-hwan, who rarely spoke.
His low and heavy voice had a power that captured the ears.
‘Is he trying to disrupt the flow?’
“…The evidence investigation begins with the evidence submitted by the prosecution. Surely, someone as senior as you wouldn’t claim to not know the procedural law, would you?”
“That doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to speak.”
Gu Min-hwan responded without losing his composure.
“Anyway,”
He picked up the stack of documents.
“The evidence you’ll present is probably on page 23 or 64, right? Am I wrong?”
“…!”
I couldn’t help but flinch because he was right.
Page 23 contained the testimony regarding the deceased A’s attitude towards life, and page 64 was the report with the attending physician’s opinion.
Both could be used as evidence to show that this case didn’t meet the criteria of the precedent.
He was indeed a formidable opponent.
Gu Min-hwan already knew what cards I was holding.
‘But that makes it even stranger.’
If he had seen those, there’s no way he wouldn’t know that it was difficult to argue that the discontinuation of life support in this case was legal.
I couldn’t understand why he was insisting on innocence.
“Let’s look at page 23 first.”
Regardless, Gu Min-hwan started examining the evidence on his own.
“What kind of person was A?”
He turned the page with his rough hand.
“A was a very simple man.”
If he wanted to drink, he drank. If he wanted to cause trouble, he caused trouble.
He didn’t have any grand ideology, faith, or will. Just a waste of a human being living on instinct.
Then,
“The possibility of such a one-dimensional person making the decision to give up on life is extremely low.”
Gu Min-hwan looked directly at me.
“Isn’t that what the prosecution wants to argue?”
“What if it is?”
“Reading a person’s heart isn’t that simple.”
Gu Min-hwan turned his head towards the judges’ bench.
“We request to play the fifth recorded video as counter-evidence.”
“…Permission granted.”
‘Fifth recorded video?’
The waiting teaching assistant operated the remote control and unfolded a screen on one side of the mock courtroom.
The video evidence was projected onto it.
“This is…”
“It’s the video of the deceased A’s accident.”
A in the video was an elderly man in shabby clothes.
He was walking unsteadily, completely drunk.
Since this wasn’t a real case, it was probably a video created by hiring a professional reenactment actor.
But even knowing that, it was quite a realistic performance.
—Sigh… What a shitty life.
A let out a deep sigh.
—I’d rather die than live like this, huh!
The next moment, A stumbled and staggered forward a few steps.
In that direction stood a very solid-looking concrete pillar.
‘So he collided with the pillar while falling like that.’
Since the circumstances of the accident could also be confirmed in the documents, I hadn’t bothered to check the video.
The Mock Trial Competition had a tight preparation time.
It was impossible to examine everything, and it was necessary to pick and choose based on my own criteria.
But I could guess why Gu Min-hwan wanted to play this video.
‘Was he trying to show that A didn’t have any attachment to life?’
A was a retiree who had outlived his usefulness in society and an elderly man who didn’t have a good relationship with his family.
No one visited him, no one wanted him.
As A’s daughter-in-law, that is, Kim Gab-dong’s wife, had said, he was a man living on borrowed time.
But this was also just information that could be obtained from the documents.
Moreover, even if A didn’t have any attachment to life, it couldn’t be concluded that he had the will to actively embrace death or the determination to do so.
Then what was with Gu Min-hwan’s confident, gleaming eyes?
It was at that moment, as that thought crossed my mind,
“…Huh?”
—Ha, haha!
A in the video, who seemed about to fall forward, regained his balance well before the concrete pillar.
He paused for a brief moment.
—Heh…
Then, he let out a hollow laugh and, as if with determination, lunged towards the pillar and hit his head against it.
—Thud!
With a dull thud, the video ended.
“What…”
As I stood speechless, Gu Min-hwan explained,
“A didn’t just accidentally hit the pillar after stumbling.”
He added,
“He deliberately rammed into it, intending to end his life.”
“…!”
The audience also began to stir.
“Ooh, so it was practically a suicide attempt!”
“It’s evidence that he was determined to die. If he chose death over an unbearable life, wouldn’t he also be likely to refuse to live hopelessly on life support?”
This was dangerous. I hurriedly stood up.
“We can’t be sure of that.”
I pointed at the screen.
“A was intoxicated at the time of the accident. It’s highly likely that it was an act driven by a temporary and emotional impulse, not serious contemplation and disillusionment with life.”
I opened page 23, the page with the testimony of Kim Gab-dong’s wife.
“The deceased A was originally an impulsive person. Especially when drunk, he couldn’t control himself and would verbally abuse and physically assault his family. We can’t conclude anything based solely on the actions of such a person while intoxicated…”
“That’s why it might be even closer to his true feelings,”
Gu Min-hwan retorted.
“A was a man who constantly talked about how there was no point in living anymore. It’s more natural to think that the alcohol didn’t create an impulse he didn’t have, but rather pushed the old man, who had always thought about it but couldn’t act on it, to do so.”
Our gazes clashed in the air.
Naturally, a debate started in the audience as well.
‘Did I manage to prevent them from being swayed?’
Just because someone tried to die once didn’t mean they would necessarily want to discontinue life support.
It could have been a momentary impulse, and if it wasn’t based on a firm belief or value, thoughts could always change.
Therefore, the video couldn’t be considered definitive evidence of the patient A’s wishes.
‘But…’
The image of the video remained strong. For the audience, and for me.
Of course, also for Jang Yong-hwan, who was watching all of this.
‘Why did they have to make it with such high quality?’
The empty voice of the old man, who stopped and laughed hollowly.
His dry face, as if all emotions had evaporated.
The momentum with which he lunged towards the pillar.
It was clear that the scales held by Lady Justice had tilted further in that direction.
“Stop.”
At that moment, Jang Yong-hwan stood up.
“We will have a 15-minute recess. Both sides may rest and reorganize.”
***
“My mistake.”
During the short break, after returning to the waiting room with my teammates, I readily admitted,
“I missed that video while choosing the evidence to examine within the limited time.”
“It can’t be helped. But didn’t we score some points with the possibility of A’s recovery?”
Han Seol was right.
According to the precedent, for the discontinuation of life support to be legal, both conditions had to be met.
It had to be presumed that the patient wished to discontinue treatment, and the patient’s condition had to be irreversible.
We pushed forward with the argument that it was difficult to consider his condition irreversible.
According to the doctors’ analysis of A’s medical records, the possibility of his recovery was excessively high compared to the level recognized by the precedent.
Even from a common sense perspective, it was difficult to assert that it was a level of ‘absolute impossibility of recovery’.
Gu Min-hwan didn’t offer any particular rebuttal to this. I didn’t know if he couldn’t or if he chose not to.
“If even one requirement is denied, it’s not legal, right? Then aren’t we in a more advantageous position?”
In the end, it was difficult to consider the discontinuation of life support in this case as lawful euthanasia.
It would be assumed that it was an illegal act, in other words, murder, and then we would discuss the culpability of Kim Gab-dong and Lee Eul-nam.
“Well, that’s true.”
I nodded.
“We took a big hit, but we managed to deal with it.”
However,
“…That’s the problem.”
“Huh?”
“This incident confirmed it. Gu Min-hwan is a much more formidable opponent than I thought.”
On our side, three people divided the materials and records for analysis.
One of them was even a certified memorization genius, and another was running an AI program that was practically a cheat code when it came to processing documents.
Despite that, we were so short on time that we had to choose which evidence to examine.
And in that process, we missed that video.
On the other hand, what about Gu Min-hwan?
“He’s a one-man team.”
He didn’t rely on his teammates.
He examined all the materials and evidence by himself, constructed the arguments, and even completed and submitted the brief alone.
Even while doing all that, he had the time to spare to open and view the video evidence, which only contained information already present in the documents.
It was a work speed that made me doubt if it was even physically possible.
“There’s no way someone with that level of skill wouldn’t know that this alone isn’t enough to lead to the conclusion of lawful euthanasia.”
Indeed, the video of A was meaningful evidence.
Gu Min-hwan probably earned quite a few points by finding and presenting it.
But that was all.
In the end, this case was likely to be recognized as murder, and we had to continue the argument based on that premise.
That meant,
“…Gu Min-hwan’s real aim lies elsewhere.”
“Elsewhere?”
“Yes. But I don’t know what it is yet.”
The logic to make Kim Gab-dong the principal offender of murder and punish Lee Eul-nam as an accomplice was already complete.
Naturally, I had also checked the counterarguments and the evidence supporting them.
But they were all at a level that could be easily refuted.
I didn’t think Gu Min-hwan would make such a bold move of claiming innocence based on just those.
There had to be some ingenious strategy he had come up with.
“What could it be? What is Gu Min-hwan planning…?”
I pondered, staring at the materials I had brought.
Perhaps due to the recent hectic schedule, I had a headache.
My eyes also started to ache as if they would pop out.
But I couldn’t waste any time.
I desperately clung to the materials, trying to find what I had missed, hurriedly reading through the pages I had excluded due to time constraints.
“Hey, that’s enough.”
Han Seol covered my eyes with her hand, blocking my vision.
“What are you doing?”
“Give your head a rest. You’re always saying that you can’t do anything if you push yourself too hard.”
“But still, right now…”
“Ahem.”
Her voice was quite stern.
It seemed like I couldn’t force myself to keep reading.
I had no choice but to comply and slumped back in my chair, relaxing my body.
“That’s right.”
Han Seol’s fingers pressed around my eyes, massaging them.
She was surprisingly skillful. I could feel the fatigue accumulated during the preliminary rounds slowly melting away.
‘…Was I a bit too worked up?’
To be honest, I was a bit irritated.
Being treated as a substitute for Shin Seo-joon, and allowing an unexpected blow in the evidence battle.
It made me want to punch Gu Min-hwan, regardless of his background as a former police officer.
But nothing would be resolved by getting impatient.
If the answer was beyond my capabilities, it was already over, and even if there was an answer I could find, I wouldn’t be able to see it if I lost my composure.
‘Alright, let’s take a short break.’
After about 5 minutes of leaning back in my chair and resting, Han Seol finally withdrew her hand.
“…Ah, that’s refreshing.”
“Pfft, what’s with that reaction? You sound like an old man.”
“Hey.”
With my refreshed condition, I grabbed the materials again.
Perhaps it was just my imagination, but my vision seemed clearer, and the letters seemed to jump into my eyes.
“How is it? Any ideas?”
“Not yet.”
But that didn’t mean a miracle happened and an answer popped up.
If it came down to it, I could improvise and respond to Gu Min-hwan’s arguments, but my true intention was to read his moves in advance and strike a blow.
“Hmm, this is difficult.”
As I was pondering, I heard Han Seol mumble,
“He’s the type who can use the opponent’s prepared cards against them.”
“…Wait, what?”
I paused for a moment.
“It’s true,”
Han Seol replied.
“We were planning to present the legal standards for discontinuing life support based on precedents and show that A didn’t have the intention to discontinue treatment… but he used the stage we set and even used the evidence we submitted to build his argument.”
“That’s it!”
I shouted.
“Right. Why didn’t I think of that?”
“Huh?”
My mind lit up as if struck by lightning.
I almost wanted to shout “Eureka!” and jump around.
I was so excited that I jumped up from my seat and grabbed Han Seol’s hand.
“W-what’s gotten into you…?”
“I figured it out!”
“…Huh?”
“The way Gu Min-hwan is planning to argue for innocence. Seriously. To think he would use such a ridiculous trick, haha!”
“Okay, okay, calm down and let go of my hand…!”