CI 1.20

By now, villagers seeking consultations had taken seats in front of the other lawyers who had been slandering Son Yeo-il. The atmosphere at every table seemed uniformly poor.

True to their purpose of coming directly after waiting for the free consultation time, all the clients had serious issues and were heatedly expressing themselves, visibly displeased with the bleary-eyed lawyers who were still recovering from the alcohol.

Particularly, the middle-aged man who had first tried to sit in front of Son Yeo-il was raising his voice and pointing his finger at the lawyer across from him, apparently frustrated about something. He looked like he might grab the lawyer’s collar at any given moment.

“Hmm. That brother is a decent person, but he has some trouble communicating.”

Won Hee-yeon added a sly comment as if he had anticipated this situation all along. Son Yeo-il felt a chill in his heart at the thought that if Won Hee-yeon hadn’t blocked that man’s consultation request earlier, he would have been the one facing that finger-pointing now.

A new villager appeared at the community center. She was a middle-aged woman with a calm and modest impression, but somehow looking intimidated. Won Hee-yeon watched her enter carefully, then raised his hand high to acknowledge her.

“Deaconess Kang! It’s been a while. What brings you here?”

Looking around nervously, she quickly approached Won Hee-yeon with a pleased expression. It was amazing how he seemed to know everyone.

“My goodness. What are you doing here?”

“I’m a law-abiding citizen too, you know. What brings you here, sister?”

Though she appeared to have business here, she equivocated with typical Chungcheong Province evasiveness.

“Nothing special. Just came to have a look.”

“I see. If you need something, talk to this person. He’s very capable. Graduated from Korea University.”

“Korea University” was a magic word that inspired trust in middle-aged women. As Won Hee-yeon vacated the seat, the woman promptly sat across from Son Yeo-il. Even then, she carefully checked if anyone was listening to their conversation.

Only after confirming that everyone’s attention was focused on the adjacent table where collar-grabbing had begun did she whisper to Son Yeo-il in a small but solemn voice.

“I’m thinking of getting a divorce.”

As soon as the words dropped out of her mouth, Son Yeo-il immediately adjusted his posture. This was a chance to secure a case. Typically, middle-aged women harbored one or two reasons for divorce in their hearts, and divorce lawsuits didn’t carry the risk of complete defeat due to property division.

Furthermore, as she talked, it became clear that her husband, a businessman, seemed to have considerable assets. She was concerned about possibly being kicked out empty-handed because her husband had manipulated the books to divert assets, and Son Yeo-il responded calmly yet passionately.

“Don’t worry about it. When analyzing the documents, we can often find evidence.”

“Can that be done? My husband is a very shrewd person.”

“It won’t be simple, but it’s entirely possible. I have an accountant certification and received training at the Financial Supervisory Service. You don’t have any documents now, right? If I could see the accounts and ledgers, I could give you a more definitive answer…”

“I came out secretly without my husband knowing about it, so I don’t have anything now. Let’s see…Your office is in Yongju City, right? As it just so happens, my parents’ home is there, and I have some business to attend to next week.”

Son Yeo-il bowed respectfully and handed her his business card. Before leaving, she added that she trusted Son Yeo-il and would definitely pay him a visit. At this point, it was almost like having secured half a client.

I might land a case after all!

Though still in training, Son Yeo-il felt like a real lawyer now. While other lawyers were having a hard time calming down  unreasonable villagers, only Son Yeo-il’s eyes were shining brightly at the moment.

As he was deeply considering whether to report this news to the representative immediately or wait until Monday, he suddenly felt a warm gaze on him. Turning his head, he saw Won Hee-yeon watching him contentedly from a corner of the community center.

He wondered why Won Hee-yeon was staring so intently, and was amazed at whether this person had anticipated everything would turn out this way. Above all, Son Yeo-il felt grateful to him once again.

Is it okay to keep accumulating these debts of gratitude?

What had initially been only burdensome now gave him a sense of relief. Though uneasy about his own complacency, he also wanted to indulge in that sense of security.

“You should go home. I parked the car over there.”

When Won Hee-yeon approached Son Yeo-il, who was leaving the village after completing the consultation event, and spoke as if it were a given, Son Yeo-il almost involuntarily relaxed his expression and smiled.

“Why do you assume I’ll naturally ride in your car?”

“Oh my, naturally is far from my mind. I’m very respectfully requesting the opportunity to escort the most competent lawyer in the Chungbuk region, that’s all.”

Despite his response becoming more prim as he tried to control the corners of his mouth, Won Hee-yeon didn’t back down and continued joking. At the absurdity of his exaggerated words, Son Yeo-il finally let out a chuckle.

“Aren’t you exaggerating too much? Someone might hear you.”

“It’s not an exaggeration. There were over twenty lawyers there today, but was there any lawyer who secured a case besides our Attorney Son Yeo-il?”

“Ah, I told you someone might hear.”

“Is that forbidden? Then get in here. No one can hear us inside the car.”

After smoothly guiding Son Yeo-il to his car, Won Hee-yeon opened the passenger door and beckoned for the other man to enter. Judging by how Son Yeo-il pretended to give in to similar tactics each time, it looked like his walls had definitely weakened considerably.

Ah, I just don’t know anymore.

Son Yeo-il got into the passenger seat of Won Hee-yeon’s car, which had become quite familiar by now. The journey back to Yongju felt much shorter and more refreshing than the morning trip to this place.

Everything from the sunlight outside the car window to the clouds in the sky put Son Yeo-il at ease. The same was true of Won Hee-yeon’s voice as he kept chattering nonsense beside him.

“So? Would you like to have dinner before going home?”

By the time the car reached Yongju City, the sun was hanging low in the sky. At Won Hee-yeon’s probing question, Son Yeo-il shook his head.

“No. I want to rest when I get back. I need to go out tomorrow too, and I’m tired.”

“Oh my. Right? Tomorrow we have to travel far again. Even thinking about going out with our baby makes my heart beat fast already, so it’s better to just rest first.”

When tomorrow’s appointment was mentioned, Won Hee-yeon seemed exceptionally pleased, laughing as he fluttered his palms. After watching him silently, Son Yeo-il abruptly said as soon as the car arrived home, “Wait here for a moment.”

He got out of the car and quickly grabbed a few things he needed. When I got back in the car, he was looking very embarrassed.

“Give me your hand.”

“My hand?”

“I hurt it earlier.”

Won Hee-yeon looked at Son Yeo-il, who held out his hand to me with wide eyes, as if surprised by the unexpected turn of events. It wasn’t hard to see the man was distracted with his ear tips red.

In his hesitant hand, a crust of blood sat. It was a rough hand, scarred here and there and with thick knuckles, but it felt warm against his palm.

“If you leave it alone, it won’t heal properly. And you can’t just put acupuncture on it like everything else.”

As he applied the medicine to the wound, Son Yeo-il fiddled with his large hand, but kept his mouth shut as he gave him a stern rebuke. The other man was uncharacteristically shy, which was unusual for Won Hee-yeon, who would normally have been full of jokes and sexual harassment.

“Okay, that’s it.”

“…Thanks.”

He slapped the band on his stomach with a final, painful slap, but he only mumbled stupidly, like someone who couldn’t feel anything. 

Son Yeo-il was feeling hot and ticklish. He wanted to run away and be anywhere but here.

“Then…see you tomorrow!”

With that, Son Yeo-il jumped out of the car and ran back to his one-room apartment building. In retrospect, he shouldn’t have greeted Won Hee-yeon in the car when he lived right next door, but he couldn’t undo things now.

Won Hee-yeon must have been half-crazed too, because he was sitting in the driver’s seat, not even thinking about following. Two grown men acting like fools.

*** 

BANG BANG.

The pounding on the front door shook Son Yeo-il’s tiny studio apartment. His heart seemed to be pounding, loudly, as well. He nervously opened the door.

<What are you going to do if someone hears?>

The moment the door opened a crack, a thick, strong hand swooped in and grabbed the edge of the front door. A round face peeked through the small slit and smiled.

<So what if they hear? Your wife’s here to see his husband.> 

It was none other than Won Hee-yeon who had come to Son Yeo-il’s room in the middle of the night.