CI 2.8

[How can I eat without my husband~ I have no appetite at all. What are you having for lunch?]

Just then, a message came from Won Hee-yeon. Son Yeo-il immediately replied while sipping his coffee. 

[A sandwich.]

Sure enough, Won Hee-yeon made a huge fuss, saying how that couldn’t possibly be a proper meal, and that when he returned to Yongju, he would slaughter a whole cow to feed Son Yeo-il. As Son Yeo-il was chuckling while checking his phone, another gentle question followed. 

[Is everything okay?]

[There is something.]

After sending the reply quickly, Son Yeo-il changed his words. 

[Well, maybe it’s not that important.]

The news of Koo Dae-hyun’s marriage truly wasn’t a big deal. Originally, he had wanted to tell him how unbothered he was by the news, but bragging about such a thing might seem like he was still fixated on it, so it seemed better not to mention it. Besides, Won Hee-yeon wouldn’t enjoy hearing about Son Yeo-il’s ex-boyfriend anyway.

[What’s going on?ㅠ]

When his reply was delayed due to these thoughts, Won Hee-yeon sent a message full of concern. After considering his answer carefully, Son Yeo-il simply said: [I’ll tell you when you’re back.]

[Oh my. I want to come right now~~ My heart is already right beside you, but what can I do about this work?]

While snickering at his cheesy response, Son Yeo-il suddenly realized that the seat across from his table was empty. Perhaps because a man as big as a door was usually sitting there, the empty space felt particularly large. After staring blankly at the empty chair for a long time, Son Yeo-il suddenly felt strange and quickly wolfed down his sandwich.

I need to work hard. If I keep busy, everything will be fine.

Son Yeo-il returned to the office, reminding himself of this model-student resolution. As per his naive belief, a relatively peaceful time continued for a while afterward.

Though he had to work late on Friday night, Son Yeo-il handled cases without complaint. When he returned alone to his dark room, the urge to drink beer surged strongly, but he managed to resist it. On Saturday, he finished the household chores that had been postponed due to the hectic previous weekend.

It had been a fully packed weekend. Yet, the persistent feeling that something was missing was probably due to the silence that filled the room. From Friday night through Saturday night, no sound came from beyond the wall of the adjacent room.

It’s quiet and nice right now.

Despite forcing himself to think this way, Son Yeo-il checked his phone screen like lightning whenever a notification sound rang. From Friday to Saturday, Won Hee-yeon asked about his well-being at every opportunity and reported his whereabouts in detail.

Nevertheless, it seemed he couldn’t help being overwhelmed with work, as he informed him that he could only return around Sunday lunchtime. Son Yeo-il responded with feigned nonchalance and subtle prickliness. 

[You must be busy. Stop getting distracted with messages and focus on your work.]

[This isn’t a distraction. What’s more important now? Work? Or talking to my baby?]

Then just come back. Son Yeo-il instinctively typed this reply before deleting it in surprise. He had no reason to tell Won Hee-yeon to come or go. Nor was there any reason to feel empty because someone he’d only known for a short time wasn’t around.

It’s quiet…and nice, I guess.

After sending a vague reply, Son Yeo-il sat on his bed and leaned his head against the right wall. He gently bumped his head against the silent wall a couple of times, then chuckled as he remembered calling such sounds “Morse code.” Then he startled himself again. Laughing alone, getting lost in thoughts alone, retreating alone. His current state was definitely not normal.

At that moment, Won Hee-yeon sent another message. 

[How can I miss you this much after not seeing you for just two days? I’m dying thinking about you.]

Looking at that message, Son Yeo-il quietly echoed the words “Miss you.” He felt an indescribable tingling and fluttering feeling inside.

I should just think about work instead.

Son Yeo-il lay down on the bed and reviewed his schedule for the next week. He needed to submit applications for provisional attachment for the divorce and adultery lawsuits, go on a business trip to another region with Director Bae, and handle the sexual offense case of his thug-like client.

He said he’d bring evidence of his lost phone by Monday, so I should organize everything and submit another opinion letter before the case is transferred to prosecution. Getting the case dismissed seems unlikely, so it will most likely go to court. If so…

He must have fallen asleep while pondering various scenarios in his mind. Son Yeo-il woke up several hours later when there was a sharp sound coming from his phone.

Is that my alarm? No, it’s a phone call.

It was even set to the “work mode ringtone”. He had a bad feeling about this. Director Bae dumped all kinds of work on Son Yeo-il, but he was never one to contact him about work on a weekend morning. Someone who was indifferent to work even on weekdays wouldn’t care about office matters on holidays.

When he picked up the phone, the screen showed the number of the photography case client’s mother. With an even stronger sense of foreboding, Son Yeo-il quickly answered the call.

“This is Attorney Son Yeo-il. Mother, what’s the matter…”

“Attorney! Something terrible has happened. Oh my, what should we do about this?!”

She delivered shocking news in a voice that sounded as if she might pass out.

“My son has been arrested!”

At that moment, Son Yeo-il’s vision went dark. Mentally reviewing the criminal procedure law articles about arrest and detention, he tried to ask calmly. “Arrested? He attended the police station just the other day, how could they suddenly arrest him without a warrant…?”

“I don’t know the details either. That girl, you know, my son’s girlfriend. I think she reported our boy. I knew all along that wench would cause trouble! She even looks like a fox!”

It seemed he had been arrested for a separate incident. He wanted to correct her, saying it wasn’t the woman but her son who had caused the trouble, but feeling there wasn’t time for eveb that, he tried to gather as much information as possible.

“When was he arrested? He’s at Yongju Police Station, right? Do you know what kind of case it is? At least the charge…”

“Yes, yes. Yongju Police Station. Can you come now, Attorney? You can get my boy out, right?”

When Son Yeo-il said he would need to assess the situation first, the woman sobbed as if the world had collapsed all around her. She also made unsympathetic statements like, “How can they arrest someone so carelessly when he didn’t even commit murder?” and “You know how good my boy is, don’t you, Attorney?”

Son Yeo-il quickly ended the call and hurried to the police station. Upon arrival, his client, locked in a detention cell, was also visibly angry, breathing heavily. Ignoring him as he shouted to be released, he approached the officer in charge and checked the arrest documents.

The on-site arrest form showed the same charge as the case previously under investigation: Violation of the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes (Using Cameras, etc.). And below it, other charges were listed in succession.

What on earth did he do?

According to the documents, the circumstances of the arrest were as follows: The client and his girlfriend entered a motel together around 1 a.m. today. The girlfriend thought it strange when the client carefully placed his phone on the table right in front of the bed, so she excused herself to the bathroom saying she would wash up first.

When she was about to use the toilet, she discovered something that looked like a power bank on the bathroom sink. Upon closer inspection, it wasn’t a power bank but a miniature camera set up with its lens facing the toilet.

When she called 112 in shock, Son Yeo-il’s client began banging roughly on the bathroom door, throwing furniture, and getting angry. The commotion continued even after police arrived at the motel, and it appeared he was finally arrested after swinging his fists at police officers while yelling.

As he read further down the document, Son Yeo-il’s face lost its color. While the situation was certainly embarrassing as an attorney with a client who had caused such a major incident, what troubled Son Yeo-il even more was the sudden memory that resurfaced.

It’s so similar to back then…

He recalled the terrible wound that he had deeply buried, deliberately ignored, and even smugly believed he had largely overcome until just the other day.

Stay calm. Stay calm. This is just a work-related matter. It didn’t happen to me.

The investigation proceeded afterward. Although he was present at his client’s request, Son Yeo-il couldn’t focus on the conversation. He only noticed that his client was spouting absurd sophistry and that the investigating officer seemed very angry.

While he should have been thinking of excuses for his client, it was simply impossible. Over the voice of his client loudly protesting his innocence and claiming injustice, he seemed to hear Koo Dae-hyun’s voice from that day overlapping.

<Yeo-il. It’s a misunderstanding. I’m telling you it’s not true.>

Son Yeo-il clenched his sweaty palms, but he still felt as if something was continuously leaking through his tightly clasped hands. Seeing his client speechless before the police’s questioning, just opening and closing his mouth, another scene came to mind right then.

<Honestly, you’ve been too much all this time. Are you saying this is all my fault?>

He remembered thinking that Koo Dae-hyun’s words when he changed his expression completely the moment he was cornered, after clinging to him as if he might kneel and beg for forgiveness, was unsettling. Feeling dizzy, Son Yeo-il couldn’t say a word until the investigation was over.

Just as the investigation was wrapping up, the client’s mother also rushed to the police station. She caused a scene upon seeing her son sitting behind bars.

“What did my child do wrong to be locked up? Where is that girl? If you’re going to lock up my child, you should lock up that wench too! That honey-trapping wench!”

“You can’t do this. Please be quiet!”

“Let go of me! Do I look like I can stay calm? Attorney, when can my child get out? He can get out, right?”

Pushed back by the police officer, she spotted Son Yeo-il and approached, sobbing. Son Yeo-il found it difficult to speak readily. He felt nauseous and could hardly breathe.

“…I don’t know yet. If no warrant is requested, he’ll be released today or tomorrow, but if a warrant is requested, we’ll have to wait for the court’s decision. The detention decision will probably be made on Tuesday.”

After barely composing himself to answer, the woman went even more berserk, asking what sort of nonsense detention was. Son Yeo-il couldn’t remember what he replied or how he was able to escape the police station.

With his vision intermittently blurring and a ringing in his ears, Son Yeo-il somehow managed not to collapse and boarded a bus. Even in this state, a sense of responsibility remained, and he first called Director Bae to report the situation.

Son Yeo-il couldn’t hide the trembling in his voice, but Director Bae’s response was calm, as if he had anticipated this event as well.

“Ah, I see. A repeat offense during an investigation means a warrant request is likely. Detention cases are on a different scale. I should tell Manager Kim to guide the client about the fees again.”

“Will he be…detained? What should I do…?”

“The warrant issuance is decided by the court, and there’s nothing specific for you to do, Attorney Son. Don’t worry too much. As lawyers, we see all kinds of cases. It’s not like the lawyer did anything wrong for things to turn out this way.”

Perhaps noticing Son Yeo-il’s dazed state, Director Bae added this without him asking, “There wasn’t anything urgent, right? Since you worked on a holiday, come to the office in the afternoon tomorrow. Go home and rest quickly.”

Despite these considerate words, his churning insides didn’t settle. Only after ending the call did he discover that Won Hee-yeon had tried calling him three times. When he didn’t answer, he had even sent a message.

[Sorry for calling repeatedly, Attorney Son, but I was getting worried that something must’ve happened to youㅠ Please reply when you see this.]

Seeing the affectionate message, Son Yeo-il’s heart beat even more fiercely. He now understood. This churning and surging feeling was the emotion of missing him and wanting to lean on him.

Perhaps for quite some time, Son Yeo-il had always felt this throbbing sensation whenever he saw Won Hee-yeon. The clear, pounding heartbeat shook Son Yeo-il as if he were experiencing an earthquake.

Son Yeo-il’s small, small heart had been tattered by all sorts of wounds over the years. He had tried desperately to build a hard wall over his ruined heart. Because that would be the only way to protect himself.

But somehow, the wall of the heart that Son Yeo-il had built up was now full of small cracks. If the cracks spread, the wall would collapse, and then Son Yeo-il’s torn and crumbled heart would scatter in all directions. Shattered beyond recovery.

[I was busy with work.]

Son Yeo-il quickly typed out the message. Though no one was watching, he tried hard to maintain an icy expression on his face. Like forcibly locking the bolt on his heart. 

[I need to go home and rest. I’m tired.]

It seemed like some reply was coming, but Son Yeo-il didn’t check it. Partly he did this deliberately, but it was also true that he was too drained to do anything. Arriving home, Son Yeo-il barely managed to change his clothes before collapsing onto the bed.

After falling asleep like that, Son Yeo-il woke up Monday afternoon. Though he had slept for nearly a full day, his head still throbbed and his body felt heavy.

He seemed to have had recurring nightmares. Each time he jolted awake, the empty ceiling felt unusually low. Even knowing that closing his eyes again would bring back those painful dreams, Son Yeo-il repeatedly dozed off in the same spot.

What time is it?

Checking his  phone screen, he saw it was around the time he would normally have almost finished lunch. There were two missed calls and several messages from Won Hee-yeon.

He must have been waiting desperately for Son Yeo-il to contact him again all day yesterday. And today, he had stood him up for lunch without any prior notice.

Son Yeo-il simultaneously felt the urge to rush to him and the desire to run far, far away. If he could have gone back to sleep, he might have just collapsed back onto the bed. Because while sleeping, he didn’t have to choose anything.

I should go to work.

Son Yeo-il set his expression firmly to avoid showing his distress and headed to the office. Having rested for half a day meant more work had piled up, and Son Yeo-il spent his time mindlessly working without even replying to Won Hee-yeon.

After lunchtime, there were no more contacts from Won Hee-yeon. He couldn’t tell if he was angry, tired of him, or being considerate of his attempt to put up walls.