Chapter 52 – Lawyer, We Would Like You to Appear

The conference room of Law Firm Teum.

It was a general meeting held after a long time. Documents related to the building issues were scattered on the desk.

“No, are you saying that accountant siphoned off such a large amount of money with the landlord and fled?

Not just our floor, but all the other floors too? My goodness… This is absurd.”

Lawyer Shin Chang-ryul clicked his tongue with a sigh.

“For now, we don’t know the full story. Since the building was put up for auction… let’s talk about that part first.”

Lawyer Seo In-ja calmly reviewed the documents.

“Since we have a lower priority, it seems we will hardly recover our deposit. It would be better to move to a cheaper building instead.

As for the con con the accountant and the landlord colluded on, we can sue them separately.”

Lawyer Seong Seok-yeon took over the conversation.

“Even putting the money aside, we’ve put a lot of work into the interior design and facilities, haven’t we?

We still have contract period left, and since we have opposing power, it seems better to stay… I trusted them because we’ve known each other for a long time, but… sigh.”

At that moment, Ju Yong-hae slightly brought up the phone call he had received yesterday from an anonymous caller.

“It’s not confirmed information… but they say Gangyeok is participating in this building’s auction.”

“What? Gangyeok??”

The conference room instantly began to stir. Lawyer Shin Chang-ryul smiled bitterly.

“They must have thought this was the perfect opportunity. If the appraised value of the building is 3 billion won, it’s an amount that Gangyeok could afford to buy at a law firm level.”

At that moment, Geum Nae-yeong spoke.

“I plan to buy this building at the auction.”

Everyone sitting around the conference room looked at Geum Nae-yeong at the same time.

Everyone doubted their ears, as if they had heard wrong.

“What?”

“Buy it? Us, this place?”

“Hey… 3 billion won is not pocket change…

Besides, Gangyeok has a lot of money, so they could pay a bit more at the auction to buy it.

We are on the verge of not even getting our 1 billion won deposit back, so isn’t that a bit too much?”

Lawyer Seo In-ja shook her head while calmly organizing the reviewed documents.

“That’s right, Lawyer Geum. In our situation, that is too risky. Let’s not think about fighting them with money.”

Then Geum Nae-yeong quietly slid a sheet of paper he had prepared forward.

“The fee we can receive upon winning the current lawsuit against Gangyeok is about 500 million won.

And when calculating the expected fees for future cases, the inconvenience and corresponding risks that would arise if Gangyeok becomes the landlord, the conclusion is clear.”

Geum Nae-yeong spoke resolutely.

“It is more profitable to buy the building.”

Everyone fell silent for a moment.

After the silence, Lawyer Shin Chang-ryul folded his arms and began to speak.

“Well… Lawyer Geum has avoided it well a few times, but… you know.

Gangyeok is a law firm whose motto is ‘winning’. Everyone knows that they do anything, whether it’s lobbying or intimidation, if they set their minds to it… If we overdo it for no reason, we will get hurt.”

At his words, several lawyers nodded.

At that moment, Geum Nae-yeong spoke again.

“If it costs more, I will adjust it on my end, and I will take responsibility for participating in the auction.”

Lawyer Gil Man-uk muttered softly.

“Sigh… Really… I don’t think this is it.”

Seong Seok-ju added.

“Based on my review, in the long run, the proposal presented by Lawyer Geum also seems decent.

Since there are also bank loans… let’s look into it at around the 3 billion won mark first. We still have plenty of time.”

***

At the same time.

Seo Ki-ryong of Law Firm Gangyeok was drawing up a meticulous plan in his office.

Opposite Seo Ki-ryong, Lawyer Jo Yeong-seok, who was Seo Ki-ryong’s right-hand man and had made the anonymous call to Teum yesterday, sat with a smile.

“We make a call and scratch him first. Just as Zhuge Liang deliberately showed his troops, we play a winning card to provoke Geum Nae-yeong.”

Jo Yeong-seok looked at Seo Ki-ryong as if in admiration.

“As expected, Lawyer Seo. You are amazing. The office manager who received the call yesterday, his voice sounded very tense.”

“The reason we lost to that guy all this time was that we didn’t calculate meticulously. I am different. The world doesn’t run on brains alone; experience is also important.

With the phone call yesterday, Teum will probably do their own worrying and calculations on whether to buy the building or not.”

Seo Ki-ryong grinned.

“That guy. If you scratch him bit by bit, he always reacts.

Seeing how he even appears on broadcasts, he’s the type who is only satisfied when he shows off his smart self.

We must analyze things like that to win.”

At Seo Ki-ryong’s words, Jo Yeong-seok smirked.

“So that’s why you told me to call them right away yesterday.”

“Yes. Naturally, the calculations are already finished.”

Jo Yeong-seok tilted his head and asked.

“But is there any advantage for us in letting Geum Nae-yeong participate?”

“While pretending to throw him a chance to win, we will turn the entire board in our direction.”

On Seo Ki-ryong’s monitor, next to the auction number, the expected auction price he had already analyzed was displayed.

* Geum Nae-yeong’s Expected Price: 3.2 billion won

“We will buy the building ourselves and make him taste defeat for the first time. Extremely miserably.

Since he is a guy who has only ever won, the sense of frustration when he loses will be substantial.

We will create a branch office in that building and move in. We will choke and subdue him from the closest distance. That is true intimidation.”

Seo Ki-ryong tapped the documents with his fingertips.

“Hmm… The budget approved by the board of directors for the branch office purchase is 3.5 billion won, so even if we add a few tens of millions more, I can handle the rest on my end.

There’s no problem with the winning bid amount. The only remaining problem is.”

His eyes moved along the numbers.

“Exactly how much Geum Nae-yeong will write down.”

“Considering his personality, prediction would be impossible.”

“Indeed. That is the problem. An auction can be overturned by a difference of just a few hundred won. For now, the expectation is around the 3.2 billion won mark…”

Hmm… He let out a short breath.

“If so, we… must go with a different strategy.”

Beep beep beep beep.

He made a phone call somewhere.

“Hello? Ah, this is Seo Ki-ryong of Gangyeok. How have you been? I heard you started an actor agency? Haha.”

A meaningful smile spread across Seo Ki-ryong’s lips.

“Could we perhaps cast two elderly actors sometime soon? Haha, of course, I will make sure the payment is generous.”

***

A few days later, on Wednesday morning.

While the people of Teum’s office were anxious the entire time, Geum Nae-yeong was appearing on the morning legal corner with a very calm face.

Announcer Ban Yu-il introduced Geum Nae-yeong.

“For this morning’s Live Legal Corner, we welcome Lawyer Geum Nae-yeong!”

Clap clap clap.

“Well, Lawyer! It’s been a while. I’m curious about what kind of legal consultation you will clearly interpret for us today.”

With Ban Yu-il’s skilled yet flexible hosting, the broadcasting studio was in a bright mood.

Geum Nae-yeong familiarized himself with the script, reviewed the common legal knowledge asked by the questioner in real-time, and continued his answers.

“Well then, ‘Case Deputy Chief’ which opens every Wednesday morning. We will conclude here today.”

When the broadcast ended, Geum Nae-yeong calmly organized his bag and documents.

At that moment.

Buzzzzz.

He felt a vibration in his chest.

“Yes, hello.”

“Hello, is this Lawyer Geum Nae-yeong’s cell phone?”

“Yes.”

“This is MuseTube Studio.”

“Yes. What is it?”

“We are a YouTube content production company.

We are currently running an experimental program called *Do Bookworms Really Study as Much as Worms?*.

It’s experimental content that verifies whether our YouTuber can learn real study methods from those who study well and actually pass a certification exam.

We would like you to appear on the show, Lawyer Geum, during that process.”

“Study methods?”

“Yes. We heard that you also do public and cable broadcasts. These days, YouTube promotion is essential.

For public broadcasts, a 5% viewer rating is considered good.

We are 1 million views is basic, and if it’s a real-time live stream, tens of thousands of people watch right away.

The topicality and promotional effect are guaranteed, and it leads directly to bookings for legal consultations. As you know, many lawyers do YouTube these days.”

“Is that so?”

Since they presented figures, Geum Nae-yeong thought for a moment.

‘Indeed… Even during the last cable broadcast, almost all the participants ran YouTube channels.

Even celebrities had separate accounts for promotion.’

Empirically, it was worth a try.

“Sure. We need to do a pre-interview, right? When and where should I go?”

In that way, Geum Nae-yeong made an appointment with the production studio, returned to the office, and checked the recent videos of the YouTube channel he was scheduled to appear on.

A thumbnail reading [Which number should you guess to get the most correct answers?] caught his eye.

Click.

“Hello! This is the studying Pak-beolle. Study experiment!

Today, we will ask a current teacher, ‘Which number should we guess to get the highest score?'”

The YouTuber wearing flashy glasses walked past the gate of a high school.

“Actually, he was my homeroom teacher in high school. Teacher, which number is the best to guess? Please decide on one!”

As if a prior agreement had been made, the well-dressed teacher answered naturally.

“Well… Actually, we have test creation regulations, so we have to design the questions so that the correct answers from 1 to 5 are distributed evenly.

There’s something called a question information table, and there’s a separate section to write down the correct answer numbers and count.

Ultimately, the correct answer numbers are designed to be distributed evenly.

So, the method to get the most correct answers on a test is…”

[…Change to Premium. You can watch without interruption.]

When an ad suddenly popped up, Geum Nae-yeong’s brow furrowed.

“The method to get the most correct answers is… just to guess down with a single number all the way.”

“But if you guess with a single number, doesn’t some recognition error occur? There was such a rumor in our days.”

“That is a false rumor, and since it is done by scanning, it recognizes everything. However, if you guess all the way down with one number, you just get scolded by your homeroom teacher, you know.

In the end, even if you don’t study at all, if you guess with one number, you are statistically bound to get 20 points.

Then you will get at least a school grade rank of 8 or above. Since current first-year high school students have a 5-grade system, they would still get a grade 4…”

“Aha! Then what about kids who get a grade 9?”

“That’s the fascinating thing… You could say those guys make the impossible possible.

Even if you guess with one number, you get a grade 8, but if it is below that… they are talented in a different sense. Hahahahaha.”

Geum Nae-yeong nodded as he watched the video.

“Ju Ha-yul…”

“We will find out up to here today. If you study with the study method of a person who is really good at studying, is 1st place possible?!>

We will start the experiment next week!”

“So the person we are welcoming is—none other than! Prepare money to insult him! Lawyer Geum Nae-yeong!”

The YouTuber skillfully mentioned Geum Nae-yeong, who would appear in the next episode.

“Now, this person’s record is top of Hanguk University! They say he only got 1st place in the entire school during high school.”

So, we are going straight into the experiment to see if studying for a week with the study method of the school’s 1st place will yield Level 1 in the Korean History Proficiency Test!

For your information, I am a high school graduate who didn’t even take the Suneung (College Scholastic Ability Test). I completely let go of Korean history after my first year of high school!

Of course, as you all know, Pak-beolle also played around during high school!! So a complete, total no-base! Hahahaha!”

Opinions about Geum Nae-yeong were already being posted in the comment section.

└ Ah, that lawyer who did the staff personality evaluation?

└ I wondered why he appeared on the idol program, and it turns out he went undercover as Sniper Geum.

└ I heard that’s not that lawyer?

└ Are you an idiot? It’s obvious he targeted them.

└ Come on, seeing how he did the personality evaluation later, he still treated them nicely.

└ Anyway, if you cram by studying as much as a lawyer, is Korean History Level 1 totally possible?

└ I saw him take 1st place in the quiz show too.

└ Just teach us more about how to guess well.

Geum Nae-yeong muttered when the video finished playing.

“Hmm… For this person, Korean History Level 1… I think one week will be insufficient…”