Chapter 10 – I Will Handle It

“Is this bastard crazy? Who are you talking to? High school?”

The man stood up abruptly.

Thud, thud.

He approached Geum Nae-yeong and glared at him high-handedly.

“Do you know who I am to act like this?”

Then, Geum Nae-yeong said calmly without blinking an eye.

“Of course I don’t know. If you want to know that, you can check your family relation certificate at a nearby community center, or consider procedures such as a lawsuit for affiliation or a lawsuit to confirm parent-child relations.”

“What? You crazy bastard?”

“I am not crazy. Rather, a psychiatrist diagnosed that I have an outstanding intelligence close to unmeasurable.”

“This guy? What is he saying!”

The moment the man was about to swing his fist at Geum Nae-yeong’s face.

“Stop!”

A low, firm voice.

“Get in here quickly.”

Representative Attorney Seong Seok-yeon was glaring at the man with an angry expression.

The man’s name was Seong Tae-gyu.

He was the youngest son of Seong Seok-yeon, the representative attorney of ‘Teum’.

Seeing that Attorney Seong’s expression was full of anger, Seong Tae-gyu eventually lowered his hand, glared at Geum Nae-yeong once, and entered Attorney Seong’s office.

“Whew, I thought something was going to happen.”

“Why did that loafer come again… He makes a scene in his father’s office at every turn…”

The staff sighed in relief as if they were used to it. According to their reactions, trouble caused by Seong Tae-gyu seemed to be a fairly frequent occurrence at ‘Teum’.

As Seong Tae-gyu entered his father’s office, Geum Nae-yeong spoke to Cha Ra-ri as if nothing had happened.

“The next person for consultation. Please let them in.”

The tension, which was like a brief storm in the office, subsided in an instant.

***

Representative Attorney’s Office.

“Why did you come and make a scene again?”

“A scene? What did I do? I just came because I had business, but a guy I’ve never seen before suddenly acted cocky and jumped at me.”

“What do you mean jumped at you! When will you grow up, huh? I wouldn’t wish for more if you were even half as good as your brothers. Can’t you live with your head on straight?”

“That’s because you always compare me to my brothers, Father! What did I do so wrong again?”

Seong Tae-gyu raised his voice. He seemed to have no idea what his wrongdoing was.

“Don’t ever come to the office again! There is a limit to dragging your father’s name through the mud!”

“Damn it… I just won’t come, okay!”

Seong Tae-gyu stormed out of the office, slamming the door as if he couldn’t control his temper.

Attorney Seong let out a sigh as if talking to himself.

“Since he was the late-born child, I raised him with indulgence… and he has turned into a scoundrel like that.”

After his son left like that, he suddenly recalled the sight of Geum Nae-yeong confronting Seong Tae-gyu earlier.

‘Geum Nae-yeong… he has quite a temper. His attitude of standing up and matching him… he is no ordinary guy. Perhaps it would be better for Seok-ju to also go through real combat by bumping into things like that, and then open a law firm later…’

***

That day, after completing over 30 legal consultations, Geum Nae-yeong returned home with a refreshed mind.

“Are you here, Nae-yeong?”

“Yes, Mother.”

“Wait just a moment. I’m making spam and fried eggs, which you like, for dinner.”

Geum Nae-yeong put down his bag out of habit and headed to the sink.

“Where is Father?”

“He said he went to wallpaper a large place today. He’ll be late.”

“Ah, I see.”

After washing up, Geum Nae-yeong sat at the dining table and faced his mother.

“It’s hard, right? When you first go to a firm, you have to watch your step… isn’t that so?”

“Not at all.”

Nae-yeong placed a golden-brown piece of grilled Spam on top of warm white rice and rolled it up with his chopsticks. The savory and salty taste of the ham blended with the rice grains and spread throughout his mouth.

“The office assistant started her first day of work today.”

“Ah, really? What kind of person is she?”

“She seemed like she would be good at PR. She has an outgoing personality, and she seemed to have qualifications that fit the position perfectly, so I hired her for now.”

“I see. And is the office work alright?”

“Yes. The number of consultation clients has increased a lot. Today, they even stood in line… By the way, there was a person who hadn’t learned rules and basic grammar, so I gave him advice.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. I corrected him kindly, but I don’t know if he understood.”

“There are always kids like that, right? The basics are the most important. They don’t keep the basics themselves, but they say things to my son.”

Rules.

Human order that must be observed in individual thoughts and behaviors. There is no punishment even if not observed, but it is a thin and easily bent line that exists for humans to be human-like.

To Geum Nae-yeong, that thin line was the standard for evaluating humaneness.

Therefore, whether it was the president, a beggar, the wife of a conglomerate owner, or the son of a representative, there was no difference to him.

The important thing was not what kind of person he was, but what kind of line that person had.

His mother watched Nae-yeong eating his dinner deliciously and asked.

“But Nae-yeong, are you going to keep eating lunch with a lunchbox? Isn’t there anyone at the firm asking to eat lunch together?”

“Yes. I want to focus on work for the time being. It’s good to eat quickly in the office and work.”

“Alright, I understand. Is there any side dish you want to eat?”

“Stir-fried spicy pork.”

“Okay. Mom will pack a lot for you.”

Like that, dinner time passed with the simple conversation of the mother and son.

***

Morning at Teum Law Office.

After a few weeks of processing a massive number of consultation cases, the consultations began to decrease again little by little.

Although he took on a few minor cases linked to free consultations, it was still insufficient to yield large profits after paying office operating expenses and staff salaries.

The office morning was quiet today.

Office Manager Ju, who was drinking a cup of coffee, suddenly muttered to himself.

“After being frantic for a while, consultations are slowly decreasing. But… I feel like something else is going to happen?”

At that moment, creak.

The sound of the door opening slowly was heard.

“Excuse me… Anyone here?”

Someone was lingering at the entrance, opening the door slightly and calling the staff.

“Yes? How can I help you?”

“Um… I came to get a consultation.”

“Yes, yes. Please come in.”

Assistant Manager Park, who sat near the entrance, welcomed the guest.

“Did you not decide on a lawyer to consult with?”

“Yes, yes…”

“Then shall I take a look at what kind of lawsuit it is?”

Assistant Manager Park flipped through a few documents the woman brought.

“Hmm. It’s an application for a restraining order?”

“Yes… I am a bit…”

The middle-aged woman trailed off, as if there were some complicated circumstances.

At that moment, Office Manager An Jin-gyeong, who was in charge of Attorney Seo In-ja, stepped forward as if she had a hunch.

“Please come this way. I will consult with you first.”

“You said you are already divorced?”

Office Manager An Jin-gyeong, who was calmly taking notes of the case details, asked the client again.

“Yes, we broke up after living together for 10 years. At first, he was a really good person… but that gambling is truly scary.

At first he only extorted money, but later, since I wouldn’t give it, he demanded it and we got into scuffles which escalated into fights…”

Office Manager An nodded and went through the various documents the woman brought one by one.

“Later, he came drunk and made scenes. Eventually the police came…

I demanded a divorce while reporting him for domestic violence. Then he said he would divorce me if I withdrew the lawsuit, so I withdrew it conditionally and we got divorced.”

“Ah, I see… You’ve gone through a lot.”

Office Manager An continued recording for a moment and then raised her head.

“But it seems it has already been about 2 years since you divorced? Looking at the documents…”

“Yes, but… I originally ran a small rice cake shop in the neighborhood. Since the year before last, yakgwa became popular, so our shop’s yakgwa became famous.

People even line up to buy it. Branches opened and my income increased, so my divorced ex-husband heard the rumors from somewhere and comes regularly to make scenes.

Demanding money… saying he let me off too easily when we divorced.”

“Oh dear… Is that so.”

Scratch, scratch—

Office Manager An moved her pen again.

“So I tried to take various measures like a restraining order… but other law firms wouldn’t take the case after hearing the circumstances.

It is too hard for someone like me who doesn’t know the law to work and prepare for it…”

“Other places won’t take it?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm, why? …It’s not a big deal.”

However, as Office Manager An flipped through a few pages of the documents, she found out the reason.

“…Ah. Gankyeok.

The litigation representative for the husband’s side here is Law Firm Gankyeok.”

Hearing the sigh from Office Manager An’s mouth, the woman also let out a sigh. She seemed to intuit that this office would have the same reaction as other places.

“Is it not possible here either…? Everyone said so. No office will take a case entangled with that law firm representing the husband.”

“Hmm… Probably… you must have heard that in other places too, but…”

As Office Manager An started to speak, the woman’s voice became urgent, as if it were a rejection story she had already heard several times.

With desperate eyes, she pleaded to Office Manager An.

“Please, don’t just say it’s not possible… Please consider it just once. Please.”

Office Manager An’s heart wavered at the woman’s desperate plea.

“Hmm… Then first, can I ask our attorney and contact you tomorrow? Please don’t expect too much.

Since we only have older attorneys here… we don’t really do cases that go to court.”

“Anyway, please just ask.”

“Yes, understood.”

The woman nodded as if holding onto a thread of hope.

After she went back, Office Manager An immediately moved her steps to the conference room.

Because she had heard the news that the attorneys were gathering today to discuss the issue of establishing a new notary office.

Knock, knock.

Inside the conference room, Geum Nae-yeong was distributing meeting materials to the attorneys and having a conversation.

“I am sorry for interrupting the meeting. This is a case that came for consultation today, but the case is a bit of a special case… I was wondering if anyone would handle it.”

Perhaps because it was a joint office where cases were precious, the attorneys showed curiosity simultaneously.

“A case? Even so, cases are precious to us… If Office Manager An received it, isn’t it a case to be taken by Attorney Seo In-ja?”

When another attorney asked, Office Manager An Jin-gyeong said.

“Ah… this case has a few cases entangled… and the representative for the opposing side is Law Firm Gankyeok.”

Instantly, the air in the conference room turned icy cold.

“Ga… Gankyeok…?”

“Sigh, there is a bit… I also matched them boldly when I was young, but now… I have no energy.”

“Me too. I don’t even want to deal with them… Just thinking about 5 years ago makes me sick..”

“Do I want to go to the next world because my blood pressure rises? I won’t do their cases either.”

In the atmosphere where everyone waved their hands, Attorney Geum Nae-yeong raised his hand.

“Could you show me the case materials for a moment?”

Office Manager An quickly handed over the documents.

Rustle, rustle—

“Hmm… The divorce is already done, and the ex-husband kept making scenes. They decided on no property division…”

Geum Nae-yeong was organizing the case quickly, as always. Senior Attorney Seo In-ja, who watched that sight from the side, muttered in her mind.

‘Since he is a young fellow, he must be hungry for cases. But is he organizing the process and litigation direction right on the spot while looking at the documents? Very smart… Still, I should tell him about Gankyeok, right?’

Attorney Seo In-ja tapped the table.

“Excuse me, Attorney Geum Nae-yeong.”

“Yes?”

“It seems you don’t know the rumors yet… Law Firm Gankyeok is a notorious law firm. They do anything, whether using expedients or illegal methods, to win. They use people, and don’t hesitate to bribe.

Once you clash with them, they drain your soul, so everyone is reluctant to deal with them. That’s how high their winning rate is.

If it is your first time, it will be hard to fight them. It’s a place that completely drains a person’s mind. Unless Attorney Geum builds up experience later, don’t accept it this time.”

The moment he heard Attorney Seo In-ja’s words, Geum Nae-yeong’s eyes flashed.

‘A law firm that everyone is reluctant to deal with, and a case that no one wants to take…

If it’s Law Firm Gankyeok, it is one of the TOP 10 law firms in the rankings. What if I step forward to specializedly take only cases against such an opponent?

A market where demand overflows and supply is non-existent… This is a blue ocean.’

“This, I will handle it.”