Chapter 79 – If You Do That in Front of the Judge, It Might Be Considered

Whirrrr.

Seong Seok-ju rolled down the window.

Beyond the car window stood a young man with a face full of irritation.

“What is it?”

“Excuse me, if I honk from behind, shouldn’t you go quickly?”

“The traffic light is currently green. And this is a school zone.”

As Seong Seok-ju spoke calmly, the man’s voice grew even louder.

“Who doesn’t know that? You should drive flexibly while looking at the situation.

No, if there is no one crossing, you should quickly go by judging the situation, why are you standing blankly?”

“What if a child or a person suddenly runs out then? Are you telling me to just hit them?”

When Seong Seok-ju asked back, the man stood with his weight shifted to one foot and looked around.

“My goodness! Look around here! Is there a person right now or not? I’m saying this because there isn’t!

I’m in a hurry right now and need to go quickly! Go faster!”

At the man’s brazen attitude, Seong Seok-ju unfastened his seat belt.

Click.

And he got straight out of the car.

Geum Nae-yeong watched that scene indifferently from the passenger seat.

“Look here, you shouldn’t speak so recklessly. I am complying with the law, is that wrong?”

However, the man’s attitude did not yield in the slightest. Rather, he cocked his chin up to the maximum and raised his voice.

“Why did you suddenly get out? Are you trying to show off your strength with me? Did I say anything wrong? Is it that hard to judge the situation and go when there is no one? How great are you that you are talking about the law in that state?”

“…Sigh.”

Seong Seok-ju let out a short breath.

This was not a conversation.

“Excuse me.”

He opened his mouth again.

“You violated the Road Traffic Act earlier, didn’t you?”

“What?”

“My car has a 4-channel black box. I saw it all earlier. I will report it myself.”

“Report what! What did I do wrong!”

“You used your cell phone while driving before getting caught by the light.”

Strength went into Seong Seok-ju’s voice.

“A driver must not use a cellular phone while driving a motor vehicle or a streetcar.

A fine of 60,000 won and 15 demerit points. Since I’m going to report it, you’ll get a fine of 60,000 won.”

He continued speaking as if reciting.

“And every driver must temporarily stop when a child, a disabled person, or an elderly person crosses the road. The regulation is clearly there, why don’t you keep it?”

When Seong Seok-ju finished speaking, the man’s voice exploded.

“What? Are you lecturing me right now? What? Regulations? What kind of trashy bastard is this? Having picked up some random knowledge from somewhere… you look ignorant but you’re pretending to know things on the street!

Are you acting all high and mighty because you drive a good car in that state? Who doesn’t know the traffic regulations? Hah! How absurd.”

“What did you say?”

Seong Seok-ju’s face stiffened.

“I am saying I know because I know enough. And what did you just call me?”

One by one, people stopped in their tracks and began to watch.

“Fine. Shall we argue this out properly? I can’t just let it slide now, either.”

Seong Seok-ju opened the car door and searched for his cell phone.

However.

“Huh?”

Geum Nae-yeong, who should be in the passenger seat, was not there.

“What’s this?”

The moment he looked around, Geum Nae-yeong was already standing in front of the man.

He said calmly.

“I have to go eat pork cutlet.”

“What?”

“Time has been delayed. I am busy because I have a consultation reservation this afternoon. Let me wrap this up for you quickly first.”

“W-What?”

The man asked back in confusion.

“First of all, the 60,000 won fine is confirmed. Whether there are other violations of the Road Traffic Act will be handled by the police station on their own after video analysis.”

Geum Nae-yeong calmly continued speaking.

“And we are currently fighting on the street, do you see the people watching from over there?”

The man looked around.

Nearby drivers rolled down their windows and watched, and a few standing on the street were filming with their cell phones.

“It means publicness is established.”

“Pub… Publicness?”

“When you just said ‘trashy’ and ‘looking ignorant,’ you accurately designated Attorney Seong Seok-ju as ‘you.'”

“What? A… lawyer?”

“Yes. Precisely, my associate lawyer.”

Geum Nae-yeong continued speaking with a calm attitude.

“It seems possible to claim damages of about 1.5 million won from you.”

“O-One point five million won?”

“Yes. You just committed the crime of insult. And this is informing you of the civil lawsuit amount, separate from criminal punishment.”

Geum Nae-yeong took out a notebook from his chest and neatly wrote down the man’s physical description and license plate number.

“This is a memo for witness confirmation to be submitted as evidence later, so you don’t need to worry about it.”

“Yes? What? …Criminal punishment?”

The man’s mouth instantly fell wide open.

Seong Seok-ju was standing blankly nearby, then laughed as if it were absurd.

“Excuse me… Attorney Geum, I haven’t decided whether to sue or not yet?”

Geum Nae-yeong continued speaking resolutely.

“Yes, but I extremely dislike my schedule being altered.

I must quickly eat lunch, and after that, I have to conduct a consultation.

Rather than arguing here, resolving it in a direction that benefits each other through a lawsuit is rational.

However, looking at it in terms of benefits… we must hope that this person insulted Attorney Seong in accordance with his own economic circumstances.”

At those words, the man’s expression completely stiffened.

As if feeling that the atmosphere was strange, his voice changed.

“U-Um, I did that because I was in too much of a hurry. Please just move the car.”

“Yes, we will move the car.”

“…Then… you aren’t going to sue, right? Or… let’s talk for a moment over there and go.”

Geum Nae-yeong replied with a cold face without a trace of a smile.

“If you need time to talk, the police will contact you sooner or later, so you can meet Attorney Seong then. I don’t have time to listen. Let’s go, Attorney Seong.”

At those words, Seong Seok-ju blinked. Geum Nae-yeong added indifferently after that.

“While you two were fighting earlier, I finished writing the complaint on my tablet inside the car. Please ask the office to file it immediately when we get back. Got it?”

Seong Seok-ju nodded.

“Ah… ex… excuse me. What do you mean a complaint… earlier I was just too angry for a moment… so my voice rose briefly. It seems you have misunderstood a lot.”

The man continued speaking in a flurry.

“Saying it was a misunderstanding with reflection might be considered for sentencing if you do it in front of the judge. Goodbye then.”

Geum Nae-yeong got into the car and gestured to Seong Seok-ju.

“Let’s go.”

Seong Seok-ju grabbed the steering wheel with a small laugh.

The red brake lights turned on, and the car departed smoothly.

The left-behind man just stood blankly on the spot, staring at the vehicle disappearing from his sight, completely stupefied.

***

“Here is the hire-katsu.”

When the staff brought out the well-fried pork cutlet, Geum Nae-yeong wore a satisfied expression, raised his chopsticks, and quickly picked up a piece.

The golden-brown fried batter crunched crisply, and the glossy meat juice glistened between the cut cross-sections.

Geum Nae-yeong dipped it slightly in the sauce, took a large bite, and nodded.

“Attorney Geum, did you like pork cutlet? Since I’ve only seen you eat the packed stir-fried pork every time…”

Seong Seok-ju, who was watching that sight, asked.

“Yes, I like it. However, it is not a menu that can be packed as a lunch box, and moreover, it is difficult for my mother to make… so I only eat it occasionally.”

“Aha.”

Seong Seok-ju also nodded, placed a bit of wasabi on top of the pork cutlet, and took a bite.

Crunch.

“This place is delicious, Attorney Geum. But how did you find out about this place too?”

“I search for good restaurants occasionally. On days when trials end early, I stop by alone too.”

Seong Seok-ju laughed and continued.

“It doesn’t match your image, Attorney Geum, but you seem to know quite a lot of good restaurants?”

“…..”

“But by the way, you helped me earlier, didn’t you? If I got uselessly entangled and raised my voice, it could have escalated into a fight… Haha.”

“No. Not at all.”

Geum Nae-yeong’s reply was short and cold.

“I calculated strictly based on efficiency and economic feasibility. Only when my time is efficient can the associate’s schedule be well adjusted.

Also, only then can we process cases quickly and contribute to maximizing profits.

In that process, what I did was just writing a complaint. It was very economical.”

“…You always say it plausibly like that, but in conclusion, you let an incident that almost became a big fight pass smoothly. Thank you.”

As Seong Seok-ju spoke with a smile, Geum Nae-yeong gulped the udon soup without making any reply.

Seong Seok-ju- ate a few more pieces of pork cutlet, then asked, as if remembered.

“But Attorney Geum, you must be quite well off economically nowadays compared to before… Can’t you take it a bit easy now?

Seeing you, you are still doing a lot of cases. Since you rehired Ms. Cha Ra-ri, it seems to mean you will take on more cases…”

Seong Seok-ju set down his chopsticks for a moment and looked at Geum Nae-yeong.

“You crushed Gangyeok today too, didn’t you. But honestly, aren’t cases involving Gangyeok always a big headache?

Even for this case alone, you might not have known until the end that the Gangyeok lawyer and the judge were family… I also wonder if we have to keep taking Gangyeok cases like this.”

Seong Seok-ju hesitated slightly and then threw the final question.

“…Do you happen to have a reason for needing a lot of money?”

At Seong Seok-ju’s question, Geum Nae-yeong, who was eating a large piece of pork cutlet, raised his head.

“My parents’ building. I will buy it for them.”

“…A building?”

“Yes.”

Geum Nae-yeong’s tone was consistently calm.

“I heard the building owner was acting unreasonably and asking to raise the rent.

Actually, such things are very common in reality, and in some cases, they escalate into lawsuits.

However, since my mother would be uncomfortable just by experiencing such a situation itself.”

Geum Nae-yeong paused for a moment.

“So, I plan to prevent such a thing from happening in the first place.”

“To prevent it?”

“Yes. I can just buy the building for them. So that my mother can comfortably do what she wants to do.”

A brief silence flowed.

Seong Seok-ju stopped his chopsticks and stared at Geum Nae-yeong.

Without realizing it, the corners of his eyes gradually turned red.

“…Ah, so that was it.”

He muttered while wiping the tip of his nose.

“Indeed, my thoughts were right.”

“Your thoughts?”

Geum Nae-yeong looked at Seong Seok-ju with questioning eyes, but Seong Seok-ju took another big bite of rice instead of answering.

‘…He is a good guy. On top of that, he is even filial.’

While Seong Seok-ju was lost in thought about Geum Nae-yeong once again,

Buzz.

A cell phone vibration sound rang from Geum Nae-yeong’s pocket.

“Yes, hello?”

“Yes! Boss! I sent you the completed version by text message, but there was no reply, so I called.”

“Ah, I was too distracted with work. Please proceed as is. I like it.”

“Yes, then we will start the delivery right now!”

“Yes.”

Click.

As soon as Geum Nae-yeong hung up, Seong Seok-ju stopped his chopsticks.

‘What call was that?’

Although his expression was full of doubt.

Geum Nae-yeong just nodded silently and dipped the remaining pork cutlet in salt to eat again.

***

“Excuse me, is anyone here?”

While Geum Nae-yeong’s mother was holding a spatula in the kitchen, she turned her head at the voice coming from the door. Geum Nae-yeong’s father, who was wiping the hall, went out to the door.

“Yes, how many in your party?”

“No. We came to deliver this.”

“Delivery?”

A truck loaded with something was stopped in front of the store.

People wearing work clothes got off from inside.

“Mr. Geum Nae-yeong ordered it, and payment has also been completed.”

“The work will be finished within an hour.”

“W-Work?”

Geum Nae-yeong’s mother and father stared at each other blankly at the same time.

Drrrr. Clack, clack, clack, clack.

Soon after, the sound of drills and hammers echoed loudly outside the shop.

“Is it level? Check it! Okay?”

“Done, raise it!”

Geum Nae-yeong’s father went outside in confusion.

“No, no, why are you tearing this down? This is perfectly fine!”

However, the workers continued to run the electric drill. Soon after, with a cracking sound, the signboard was dismantled and slowly lowered.

And after a moment, a new signboard was hung.

The [Geum’s Stir-fried Pork] signboard disappeared, and in its place hung a new signboard shining with red letters.

[Pork Bulgogi Restaurant with a Lawyer Son Who Graduated from Hanguk University]

As the red neon light flashed and turned on, Geum Nae-yeong’s parents tilted their heads at the same time.

The father looked up at the gate-sized signboard for a long time with a bewildered expression.

“No… is it okay to write something like this so large…? It seems a bit unlikable…”