CH 49

Yoonshin didn’t find Sehun particularly difficult or scary. It wasn’t because Yoonshin had nothing to lose. It was the opposite since he needed to stay at Doguk for the time being. Yoonshin could act as he did entirely because of Sehun.

Sehun was surprisingly patient and had good judgment since Yoonshin entered the firm, at the first test, when asking for advice on the pro bono file, and to now.

He was very level-headed, but he also left room for Yoonshin to breathe. When Yoonshin put in a lot of effort, Sehun didn’t ignore the efforts and recognized them. Instead of only coldly criticizing his mistakes, he also taught him how to fix them. Sehun was always annoyed, but he was attentive.

It seemed easy enough to do on the surface, but this was a difficult feat for Sehun, who was practically billable by the minute.

Yoonshin could start to see why his sister chose Sehun to be his guardian.

“Most big law firms probably wouldn’t take my case.” Her composed and resigned tone from last night replayed in his head, and he swallowed dryly. ‘If Sehun Kang took the case, then wouldn’t my sister have a chance too? It’s Sehun Kang, of all people.’

Ikyung couldn’t trust her brother with her case, but maybe she could rely on Sehun if he willingly stepped forth. However, persuading Sehun in the first place would be difficult. The opposing party was a corporate giant, and she was bound to get hurt in the process. A highly reputable and well-earning lawyer didn’t need to throw himself into that impending pandemonium.

Moreover, Sehun didn’t take on family law cases and other relatively small cases. There had to be something that appealed to him for him to throw himself at it.

‘Is there no way at all? How can I convince him to represent Ikyung?’ Yoonshin fidgeted his fingers. He started wanting something from Sehun, so he couldn’t bring himself to glance at the older man anymore. Left with no other choice, Yoonshin turned to look outside the window. He watched the leaves waltz away in the wind and filled his vision with the view of the morning hustle.

* * *

Yoonshin peered at the laptop screen sincerely.

The memory card he had received from Sehun regarding the pro bono case was a gold mine, so to speak. However, some areas looked more like landmines designed to guard the pots of gold, so he couldn’t help but tread carefully.

Starting with easy money from their business partners to a plethora of various derelictions of duty, tax evasion, laundering funds, and illicit solicitation—there was an overwhelming amount of evidence. Not only was there business-related corruption, but there were also a lot of unspeakably scandalous incidents related to the family. If Yoonshin spread any of these to shake up the opposing party, this would become a huge scandal.

“Defrauding an auction using his young daughter… And various other things. It’s amazing he never got caught.”

Given his track record, it wouldn’t be surprising if this wasn’t the opposing party’s first s*xual crime. The level of sophistication that was revealed when they traced back the destruction of evidence confirmed that fact. Yoonshin gave the man’s photo a scornful look before flipping to the next page, which listed various counts of the man’s abuse of authority.

“Bribery of a high-level official… gift cards, golf clubs, resort passes… Delivery of paintings and precious gems through his wife. It’s in the millions. After these funds were passed on… The leader of the ruling party, a long-serving opposition assemblyman, and a minister currently in office,” Yoonshin mumbled to himself.

Each link hooked onto each other like a chain, and as he continued to read, faces that he had never imagined seeing popped up like moles in a whack-a-mole game. From assemblymen so well-known that Yoonshin knew their names to party leaders—they were all there. With this information alone, he could cause an uproar in Korea.

Yoonshin wondered if he should just hand this over to the police.

Yoonshin drew a circle in the air like he was circling the faces of familiar politicians and rubbed his chin. This information was indeed a gold mine, but the scale was growing out of proportion. Besides, Sehun didn’t give this info for Yoonshin to release it to the public like some hero of justice, but to use it as a sword to earn something for his client. Sehun’s warning to use this dangerous material carefully was proof of that. On that note, no matter how hard Yoonshin thought about it, it seemed too dangerous to nose about in the world of politics.

Besides, it wasn’t like people didn’t spread this because they didn’t know. It just showed that political and financial cartels were deep-rooted. The company of the opposing party wasn’t a large corporation. Such a sound mid-sized company was involved with this many people of power; a larger company like Soohan would have even more.

“While he’s at it, he must want to watch how you use it.” Mulling over the hint from Attorney Song, he tried to envision Sehun’s method. Sehun had a major in duress, but his minor was in conciliation—that was how skilled the older lawyer was at negotiation. He must have used that skill effectively to arrive at a settlement instead of litigation in the several cases he handled. It wasn’t simply a matter of winning; Sehun would have tried to earn a benefit during the process of negotiation.