Chapter 75 – Splendid Twentysomething Puberty

Office Manager Yeom tilted his head after looking at the note Ju Yong-hae handed him.

“First ask if she can be registered as an administrative staff at the Bar Association? Why did he write that? If she’s experienced, she would register on her own after joining the company anyway, wouldn’t she?”

“Exactly. That’s why he’s like a ghost.”

“What’s like a ghost?”

As Ju Yong-hae spoke increasingly incomprehensible things, Office Manager Yeom came close and sat.

“At first, I didn’t know either. He wrote to ask that, so I wondered why on earth he did…

But when I just called an office manager I know at Jepyongyang, everything fell perfectly into place.”

“Why, what did they say?”

“Kim Ae-ri. This woman. She has a criminal record. And for obstruction of business and embezzlement at that.”

“What? A criminal record? When her resume is so perfect?”

“A criminal record and personality don’t show on a resume.”

Ju Yong-hae let out a low sigh and continued.

“I don’t know how she behaved at Kim & Chang, but when she was at Jepyongyang, she got angry while fighting with a rookie attorney. Unable to hold her temper, she formatted all the case trial records, left the company, and went into hiding from the next day.”

After that, the company was naturally in an uproar.

It seems she even ran off with some of the stamp duty fees clients had left in cash.

Because she wiped out dozens of case records, they had to go to court and copy all the paper cases again,

and since she formatted the hard drive and poured hot coffee on it, they had to call a company to recover it, which was a mess.

Some parts couldn’t be recovered at all.”

“What? Is such a thing possible?”

“Right… Even I was dumbfounded hearing it. She didn’t respond at all even though they sent dozens of calls and texts to return the stamp duty the client left.

The amount wasn’t much, but because they couldn’t contact her, they couldn’t get it back either. In the end, they had no choice but to sue her for obstruction of business and embezzlement.

I heard she received probation later on.”

“Wow… My goodness. Embezzlement on top of obstruction of business? Amazing.”

“Right? I guess that’s why she moved around from place to place… She might not have written down several companies she quit midway.

When you apply for administrative staff registration with the Bar Association, they run a criminal record check there, so of course her probation would be exposed.

Small law firms or individual offices don’t register you right away unless you go to court, so she just works as an employee, and then runs away when told to register as an administrative staff.”

“Wow…”

Office Manager Yeom couldn’t close his mouth in disbelief.

“Since rumors about her criminal record spread, she can’t enter large firms, and she seems to go to interviews mainly at small and medium offices like ours where rumors haven’t spread yet, individual attorney offices, or offices where people don’t inform them due to having many enemies. It seems she tried our office just in case.”

“Whoa… That’s really chilling. A personality defect and a criminal record, a completely bizarre person almost came here, didn’t they?

But did we not hear it because we are a small and medium office slow to get rumors? Or because we have many enemies?

Surely we aren’t treated like Gangyeok in the industry now, are we? Hahahahal.”

Office Manager Yeom slapped his knee as if suddenly realizing while laughing.

“But thinking about it… Brother Ju is really goosebump-inducing, isn’t he?

When that woman first came for the interview, you said she looked like she had a lot of anger, her energy looked strong, and ‘her physiognomy is not good and something is off’… As expected…”

Ju Yong-hae waved his hands and said.

“Chilling my foot… Mine was just a feeling, but the truly amazing one is Attorney Geum.

For general companies, it is illegal to run criminal record checks or request documents while hiring employees.

Because of the Bar Association rules, we can only find out indirectly through them, but the fact that Attorney Geum detected something fishy in advance and thought of a way to check if there might be a criminal record in advance is what’s truly chilling.”

Kim Mi-yeong, who had come close to the partition and was listening, chimed in.

“I know… ‘Ask first if she can be registered with the Bar Association.’ That one line meant he already guessed she was a person with some kind of problem, right? Oh my…”

Office Manager Yeom shook his head and said.

“Sigh… He is really nothing short of a ghost, is he? But how did Attorney Geum know?”

***

The day of the staff interview for Kim Ae-ri and Cha Ra-ri.

Cha Ra-ri sincerely wanted to make a good impression on Geum Na-yeong and join Teum again.

So she did her absolute best, exaggerating even more to appeal with her sincerity.

“So my dream now is Teum! A administrative position right here!”

Geum Na-yeong recalled Cha Ra-ri’s usual personality.

Cha Ra-ri had an honest personality, and when she lied like now, her pupils always shook anxiously.

It was the same this time. He saw clearly that the pupillary dilator muscle was activated and trembling minutely.

Assured that her answer was either not sincere or exaggerated, Geum Na-yeong steadily deducted her points.

On the other hand, Kim Ae-ri was unusually calm.

Her cold eyes left a small question in Geum Na-yeong’s mind instead.

‘…There is no Social-Desirability Bias?’

‘Social-Desirability Bias.’

Since all humans are social beings, they possess a desire to look good to others.

Thus, they often speak differently from their true feelings or act to appear positive.

However, Kim Ae-ri was different.

Her physical response showed no trace of falsehood at all, and there was not even an effort to wrap herself nicely.

Furthermore, this was an interview spot where she had to compete in front of strangers.

For most job seekers, it was natural to show social-desirability bias to the interviewer to some degree.

Yet her answer was somewhat suspicious.

‘She has walked only one path’ was a common answer, but when a person who repeated frequent job changes said so, it lacked persuasiveness.

Moreover, she did not even state the reason for those job changes clearly.

Falling into thought for a moment, Geum Na-yeong quietly wrote down the score in the GQS column of Kim Ae-ri’s scorecard.

GQS: +20 points

Next item.

While Cha Ra-ri was talking about obtaining the confirmation letter, Geum Na-yeong glanced at Kim Ae-ri.

Mostly, if it was an experienced clerk in this industry, they would appeal to their past duties or specialized fields when talking about their strengths.

For example, mentioning specific fields like ‘civil,’ ‘criminal,’ or ‘family.’

Since lawyers assess the applicant’s scope of work through these answers, job seekers naturally reveal the areas they excel in.

Yet, despite being a law major, Kim Ae-ri did not even mention the main areas of work she had handled.

There was no way Kim Ae-ri, who worked at leading law firms, did not know such basic principles of the industry.

Unlike Cha Ra-ri, who emphasized her experience of persuading clients to lead lawsuits advantageously,

she appealed with stories far from the duties of a legal clerk, such as supporting Geum Na-yeong’s broadcast appearances or assisting with consultations.

GQS: +30 points added.

Geum Na-yeong’s gaze stopped again at a line on Kim Ae-ri’s resume.

‘Hmm… Secretary Grade 2.’

A person who already had practical experience went out of her way to obtain a Grade 2 Secretary certificate. Except in large law firms, a secretary license does not help much in salary negotiations for an experienced administrative worker.

‘With these specs, it is rather more advantageous to receive administrative staff training from the Bar Association.

If so… what is the reason Kim Ae-ri had to acquire a secretary license?’

GQS: +20 points added.

Kim Ae-ri’s GQS was 70 points in total.

GQS (Geum Na-yeong’s Question Score) = ‘Geum Na-yeong’s Index of Doubts.’

In Geum Na-yeong’s view, if the GQS of something was 70 points or higher, it was cognitive evidence that it was highly suspicious.

Although Kim Ae-ri received far higher scores than Cha Ra-ri in legal expertise, experience, sincerity, understanding of work, document drafting and management ability, diligence and responsibility, attitude, and so on…

‘If GQS is 70 points or higher, it must undergo verification by a public institution or credible figure without exception.’

So that day, Geum Na-yeong left a note for Ju Yong-hae saying, ‘When notifying of acceptance, check first if registration as an administrative staff at the Bar Association is possible.’

Accordingly, Ju Yong-hae notified Kim Ae-ri of her acceptance.

However, he set the condition to ‘proceed with registration as an administrative staff with the Bar Association immediately.’

And after that call, Kim Ae-ri went into hiding just like that.

***

Clack, clack.

Morning at Teum Law Office.

Someone came to work first and pressed the light switch forcefully.

Click, click, click.

Then, after opening the window to ventilate, she placed down a cup of coffee, looked out the window for a moment, and soon sat in her seat.

The clean morning air and the scent of coffee were aromatic.

She took a book out of her bag.

[Easy to Understand Civil Procedure Act]

Rustle, rustle.

She drew lines as she flipped the pages.

Just then.

“Oh? Did someone arrive early?”

Assistant Manager Kim opened the door and entered, feeling slightly surprised at the lit office.

“Uh? Ms. Cha Ra-ri?”

“Assistant Manager Kim! Are you here?

“Wow, I heard you failed the interview, what happened? Anyway, it’s so good to see you again like this!”

“Me too.”

Cha Ra-ri smiled and shrugged her shoulders.

“Oh… then are you going to bury your bones here now?”

“It was a brief wandering… but how should I put it… a splendid twentysomething puberty at the end of my twenties… please think of it as something like that.”

When Assistant Manager Kim asked playfully, Cha Ra-ri added with a slightly worried expression.

“I don’t know the reason well either, but they said Attorney Geum accepted me as an additional pass. Though on a six-month probation.”

“A six-month probation? That’s what you do when you first join the company… A probation when you’re returning now?”

“Well, I walked out on my own feet. The reliability score must be low by that much. Seeing that it’s a probation, my reliability score is probably below 70.”

Assistant Manager Kim nodded.

“Haha. Ms. Cha Ra-ri, now you even estimate scores… you look completely like Attorney Geum’s employee.

Anyway, it’s really good to see you after a long time. You will have to work really hard for six months. Is that why you came so early?”

“Of course. Probation is scary. They can refuse the contract later. As you know, it’s Attorney Geum, who has neither blood nor tears.”

Cha Ra-ri laughed playfully.

While the two talked excitedly, the staff began to arrive at the office one after another.

“Oh, you’re here? I heard from Manager Ju. See, I knew you would get it! Hohoho! Let’s have a cup of coffee!”

When Kim Mi-yeong spoke, Cha Ra-ri smiled broadly and nodded.

After well-wishes from the staff regarding Cha Ra-ri’s re-employment were exchanged, the morning at Teum Law Office, which Cha Ra-ri joined, began energetically again.

“Now! Naver reservations on the left, walk-ins who came straight today on the right!”

***

On her way home that day.

Having finished her duties on the first day of probation well, Cha Ra-ri was walking down the stairs to take the subway.

“The train now entering is bound for Sadang.”

Along with the announcement, the subway train entered the platform.

Cha Ra-ri quickly descended the stairs and barely boarded the subway. Since it was rush hour, there was not even room to breathe inside the train.

“Ugh… there are too many people.”

Shoulder brushed against shoulder, and someone’s bag pressed against her back. The scent of sweat and perfume mixed from somewhere, stinging her nose.

It was then.

A woman’s voice coming from among the people.

Perhaps she was quite short, her face was not visible, but her voice on the phone was heard quite clearly.

“Sigh… I’m dying. There are only a few days left for that appeal period or whatever, but today is a waste again.

My goodness… I don’t know why everyone shakes their heads when I just mention the name of Law Firm Gangyeok.

What kind of sin did I commit in my past life to suffer like this…”

At the word ‘Gangyeok,’ Cha Ra-ri’s ears instantly perked up.

“I went to six places today too, but they all said they won’t do it. Saying they don’t want to fight Gangyeok over a case that is only worth a few tens of millions, they are disgusted everywhere I go.

No matter how I look at it, the building owner and the first floor colluded. I am just dying from injustice.”

In the cramped subway, the woman’s grumbling was heard in detail unusually.

In an instant, Cha Ra-ri opened her bag without hesitation.

And then, a business card she pulled out of her wallet.

Her hand squeezed through the crowd. Cha Ra-ri held out the business card slightly toward where the sound came from.

Tap, tap.

The woman turned her head at the feeling of something tapping her shoulder.

At that moment, a business card held up close entered her view.

‘Teum Law Office, Office Manager Ju Yong-hae’

“Oh, what is this? Who gave it to me? Office Manager Ju Yong-hae? Where are you?

By any chance, did you hear my call and are offering to help?”

The woman hung up the phone and shouted into the air.

“Office Manager Ju Yong-hae! Where are you?”

“I gave it to you.”

At that moment, Cha Ra-ri’s voice was heard from among the people.

“Office Manager Ju Yong-hae? Ah, you’re a lady!”

“No. I am not the office manager. I don’t have my business card right now… so instead, it’s our office manager’s card.

If the opponent is Gangyeok, we will take it for you. For your information, our winning rate against Gangyeok is 100%.”

“Oh my goodness, Hallelujah! Really? I have to get off next, so I will contact you right away after getting off!”

Cha Ra-ri nodded and replied briefly.

“Since work has ended for today, please contact us after 9:00 AM tomorrow.”

The subway train rattled as it ran toward the next station.

Amidst the packed crowd, the corners of Cha Ra-ri’s mouth were slowly rising.