Episode 15

When I opened the door and went inside, there was a familiar face sitting there.

It was Yoo Tae-woon, the guy who had been scolded by Professor Jang Yong-hwan on the day the second evaluation was announced.

Yoo Tae-woon waved his hand with a naive smile.

“Oh, Park Yoo-seung, are you taking the exam here too?”

“Just speak comfortably. We’re the same age anyway.”

“Okay. You’re more approachable than I thought.”

It was true that Park Yoo-seung’s face was quite handsome, but he had the typical look of a thug, giving off a somewhat sinister impression.

He didn’t have the kind of looks that made people feel comfortable.

“Lucky you.”

Yoo Tae-woon shrugged his shoulders and said.

“Lucky me?”

“This exam. It’s structured so that even if your opponent gets the right answer, you can still latch onto it, but finding the answer yourself is the most important thing.”

Yoo Tae-woon continued.

“You’re good at it, after all. Your presentation last time was amazing.”

“Some people say that presentation skills and studying ability are separate.”

“How can they be separate? If you’re skilled, you’ll perform well. And I saw it.”

“Saw what?”

“You’re studying every day until late at night in the law library. There’s no way someone who works that hard isn’t skilled.”

Come to think of it, whenever I went to the law library, it seemed that Yoo Tae-woon was always sitting in a corner, studying.

To recognize someone else’s diligence, you had to be diligent yourself.

‘Although his grades don’t match his diligence.’

Yoo Tae-woon had received a mid-to-lower score on the first evaluation.

Of course, it wasn’t my place to say anything, since I had been 139th, but still, he wasn’t the type to be rewarded for his efforts.

In the original story, his diligence only began to shine after graduation.

After working at a law firm for a year or two, he soon opened his own office.

Perhaps it was because of his unique naivety and diligence, which gave his clients a great sense of trust, that Yoo Tae-woon’s office was never short of cases.

And in just a few years, his small office had grown into a fairly robust law firm.

He was a character that I liked, if I had to choose.

There was no real reason to be at odds with him.

Besides, he was one of the few people who readily acknowledged my efforts despite Park Yoo-seung’s bad reputation.

“Let’s both do well.”

With that, I reached out my hand to Yoo Tae-woon to shake it, and he readily accepted it.

Tick-tock.

The clock hand moved and pointed to 9:55 AM.

The sound of footsteps echoed from the hallway, and soon, Professor Jang Yong-hwan appeared, opening the door with a heavy briefcase in his hand.

As if he had developed PTSD, Yoo Tae-woon flinched.

“I’ll start at exactly 10:00 AM. Don’t open it until then.”

The professor opened his briefcase, took out two laptops, and handed one each to me and Yoo Tae-woon.

He then distributed one answer sheet each and one copy of the exam law book.

‘Just one sheet.’

A real record-type exam required you to fill out two and a half sheets.

Since one answer sheet in a law exam had four pages, that meant a total of ten pages.

Since there were audiovisual materials, the burden of writing an answer was reduced.

“Before that, we need to decide who takes which position.”

Professor Jang Yong-hwan said.

“The prosecution side should argue for the harshest penalty possible, and the defense side should argue for the lightest penalty possible. Do you have any positions that you want to take?”

I glanced at Yoo Tae-woon, but he just shook his head.

Seeing an opening, I spoke up.

“I want to take the prosecution side.”

“Why?”

“I’m personally aiming to become a prosecutor… and most of all.”

I grinned.

“There aren’t many opportunities to play the role of a prosecutor without having to worry about the burden of proof.”

“……Hmm.”

In principle, in criminal proceedings, the burden of proof for the claims lies with the prosecution.

That was because the defendant was protected by the presumption of innocence.

The prosecutor had to do their best to present the evidence and prove that the evidence was valid and trustworthy.

If they couldn’t do that, the defendant would be found innocent without any effort on their part.

But this exam said that they wouldn’t ask about any issues related to procedural law.

That meant that there was no need to argue about the value of the evidence.

It was no different from removing the inherent penalty that the prosecution had.

‘You’d be a fool not to do it.’

In the case records, most of the evidence was collected by the investigative authorities to prove guilt, so the prosecution would have more weapons to use than the defense.

It was a role where there was only a return and no risk.

Therefore, giving us a choice was in itself a kind of test.

Did we know that fact?

“You also studied procedural law?”

“Only at a very basic level.”

“Good. Then it’s decided. Park Yoo-seung will be the prosecution, and Yoo Tae-woon will be the defense.”

It was as if I could see the corners of Jang Yong-hwan’s mouth twitching upwards.

-Tick-tock.

“It’s exactly 10:00 AM. You may begin.”

As soon as those words were spoken, I opened the laptop.

There were only two icons on the desktop. The problem folder and the precedent search engine.

‘Let’s start with the problem.’

When I opened the problem folder, there were audio and video files, image files, and a document file containing the records, just like in the sample problem.

First, I had to get a general picture of the case.

Let’s look at the records first.

[Seoul Central District Court Criminal First Instance Trial Records]

• Case Name

a. Attempted Larceny

b. Robbery Resulting in Injury

c. Perjury

d. Incitement to Perjury

• Prosecutor: Prosecutor Na

• Defendant: Kim Gap-dong

• Date of Indictment: April 17, 2023

• Defense Attorney: Byun Ron-wang, Attorney at Law, from the Law Firm Bit

[Problem: Examine the criminal liability of ‘Kim Gap-dong’.]

The format of the unfamiliar trial records was on the first page.

The names of the prosecutor, defendant, and defense attorney were all obviously pseudonyms.

I had heard that they also used these kinds of names in real record-type problems.

‘What kind of crimes did he commit to get four charges?’

Anyway, I knew the charges that I had to check.

I needed to look through the records, figure out the outline of the case, organize what evidence was connected to each charge, and then check them one by one.

But…

‘Why is the scroll bar so tiny?’

As expected of court documents, the records were terribly long.

The scroll bar that was used to move up and down was so small that it looked like a speck of dust.

I braced myself and started to read through the records.

Ten minutes, twenty minutes…

The tick-tock of the clock as I flipped through the pages was grating on my ears.

When I had barely finished reading through the records once and had finished organizing the facts, almost 60 minutes had already passed.

‘…One and a half hours left.’

Still, I had roughly grasped the outline.

To summarize it in an easy-to-understand way, the details of this case were as follows.

• ‘Kim Gap-dong’ obtained information that jewelry was stored in the house of A, his long-time friend.

On March 12, 2023, ‘Kim Gap-dong’ entered the entrance of the shared residence where A lived and reached the front door of A’s house, but suddenly his stomach started to hurt so badly that he gave up on the crime and went back.

• On the way back, ‘Kim Gap-dong’ joined his accomplice ‘Lee Eul-nam,’ and feeling angry at their failure, they looked for someone to vent their anger on.

Then, ‘Lee Eul-nam’ beat up a passerby B in front of ‘Kim Gap-dong,’ and stole his wallet.

• The police soon arrested ‘Kim Gap-dong,’ and he was put on trial. In this trial, ‘Kim Gap-dong’ and ‘Lee Eul-nam’ falsely testified that they had not beaten B or stolen his wallet.

Additional investigations revealed that ‘Kim Gap-dong’ had given money to ‘Lee Eul-nam’ and asked him to give false testimony.

Let's organize it based on the charges written on the first page of the records.

Going to steal A’s jewelry but failing was attempted larceny.

Beating up passerby B with Lee Eul-nam and stealing his wallet was robbery resulting in injury.

The part where he himself gave false testimony didn’t establish the crime of perjury.

That was because Kim Gap-dong was the defendant in this trial, and perjury was a crime that only a witness could commit.

However, having Lee Eul-nam give false testimony could establish the crime of incitement to perjury.

‘Hold on.’

Even after looking at just this much, I had already found one strange thing.

‘…There’s one charge missing?’

Kim Gap-dong had entered the entrance of A’s shared residence with the intention of committing larceny.

If that was the case, then the prosecutor in charge of this case should also have reviewed whether the crime of ‘trespassing’ was established.

But the charge of trespassing couldn’t be found even when I looked closely at the list of charges.

‘Was it an omission? Or a trap?’

I decided to keep it in mind for now.

Next, it was time to check the evidence that supported each charge.

‘First, the evidence that proves the larceny and trespassing is… the CCTV and the KakaoTalk capture file.’

I clicked on and played the CCTV file.

The first video was in black and white and showed Kim Gap-dong entering the entrance of A’s shared residence.

The clock on the hallway wall showed 2:10 AM, and Kim Gap-dong approached as if he was looking around, and then took out a wrench and broke the entrance.

‘…Why is the quality so bad?’

The quality was so bad that you could only properly identify the clock and Kim Gap-dong.

I frowned and played the next video.

This time, it was a video of Kim Gap-dong hesitating in front of A’s front door, then suddenly clutching his stomach and running away.

It was also in black and white.

‘So far, it’s consistent with the case records.’

Next was the KakaoTalk capture file.

[1:34 PM] Kim Gap-dong: Let’s do a job together.

[1:35 PM] Lee Eul-nam: What job?

[1:35 PM] Kim Gap-dong: I’m going to rob A’s house. When I bring the stuff out, you take it and exchange it for cash.

[1:36 PM] Lee Eul-nam: Ugh, I was just about to take a nap at home. What’s the cut?

[1:36 PM] Kim Gap-dong: 7 to 3. You get 3.

…(Omitted)……

Looking at this, it was clear that he had the intention to commit larceny when he broke in.

The problem was whether it was really attempted larceny.

Attempted larceny meant that he had started committing the crime but had failed to complete it.

Kim Gap-dong tried to commit larceny, and he failed as a result.

So far, so good.

But whether you could say that he had started executing the larceny just because he had a stomach ache and ran away from the front door, without even looking for the jewelry box or safe, was questionable.

‘The precedents… said that you had to have at least searched for the goods.’

For example, you could cite cases where they entered a room to find the item they were going to steal, or when they touched the item.

On the other hand, when they were chased away before they even had a chance to look for the item, they didn’t recognize that they had even started the execution of the crime.

Looking at these precedents, you couldn’t say that he had started executing the larceny by just loitering outside the front door.

Therefore, he couldn’t be punished for attempted larceny.

He had conspired with Lee Eul-nam to commit larceny, so you could consider preparation or conspiracy, which were acts in preparation for the crime.

But larceny was a crime that didn’t have punishment regulations for preparation or conspiracy.

In the end, there was no way to punish Kim Gap-dong in relation to larceny.

‘Okay. For now, the conclusion is that larceny is unpunishable.’

It was easier than I thought.

There were no difficult facts to interpret, and there were also no cases where the evidence was unclear.

I built up momentum and continued to review the rest of the charges and evidence.

‘There’s no doubt about robbery resulting in injury after watching this black box video… Whether Lee Eul-nam is also punished as a joint principal could be an issue, but they didn’t ask about it.’

‘Perjury is a crime that only witnesses can commit. But in cases where the defendant gives false testimony about their own case, they are not in the position of a witness, so the crime of perjury is not established.’

‘However, the incitement to perjury of Lee Eul-nam is definitely established. It’s clear that Kim Gap-dong gave money to Lee Eul-nam to have him give false testimony.’

When I had finished reviewing everything while sweating, there were roughly 30 minutes left of the exam time.

‘…No. It’s actually too easy?’

All that was left was to quickly write down what I had reviewed on the answer sheet and then give an oral explanation based on that.

To be honest, it was much easier than I had expected.

If that was the case, then I didn’t know why he had made such a big deal out of the audiovisual materials, evidence, and records.

It was actually easier than the tests that I usually took since I could look at the precedents.

There were no unique circumstances that didn’t match the precedents.

There was also no evidence where there was room for different opinions.

‘It’s at a level where they could have just given us a case-type problem.’

Of course, then it wouldn’t have been an open book test, so they couldn’t have included the specific theory of criminal law, which we hadn’t even been taught yet, in the scope.

But it was hard to believe that Jang Yong-hwan had gone through all this trouble just for that.

Was the purpose just to hide the trespassing charge?

But anyone could have found that just by looking at the legal articles.

Well, if you were being chased by the ridiculous amount of records and the pressure of time, there might be people who would miss it.

Still, it felt strange.

I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was unnatural.

‘…But I don’t have time.’

Even if I just copied the review process that I had done so far onto the answer sheet, 30 minutes was barely enough time.

There was no time to think any more about it.

I started to write the answer sheet, while still thinking about what I had missed.

“Let’s each present your answers. Since Park Yoo-seung chose the position, I’ll give Yoo Tae-woon the right to speak first.”

Whether or not I was thinking, the procedure was proceeding smoothly.

“Yes, I’ll begin. In my opinion, first of all…”

Yoo Tae-woon showed a decent ability to interpret the materials.

He had also correctly reviewed the robbery resulting in injury, perjury, and incitement to perjury.

And he had also found that the charge of trespassing was missing, just like me.

“……Therefore, it is enough to punish him for the combined crimes of trespassing, robbery resulting in injury, and incitement to perjury.”

The same conclusion.

But hearing it from someone else’s mouth made me feel even more uncomfortable.

I had clearly missed something.

And if I had missed something, it wasn’t a problem in the legal principles or precedents, but in the evidence.

Because that was what Jang Yong-hwan had focused on the most.

I went through all of the submitted evidence again.

The black and white CCTV footage with poor quality.

The KakaoTalk capture file.

The black box video where the robbery scene was slightly out of frame.

The medical certificate of passerby B, who had been injured for three weeks.

The video recordings of passerby B and witness C’s testimony.

The personal information of Kim Gap-dong and Lee Eul-nam written in the investigation records, and the surrounding circumstances.

While I was thinking with my eyes closed, something suddenly struck me like a lightning bolt.

‘…! Th, that’s it!’

I had realized it.

What I had missed.

What the right answer was.

And immediately, I gnashed my teeth at Jang Yong-hwan.

‘You sly fox. How could you play such a ridiculous trick?’

“……Prosecution side. Do you agree with the defense’s arguments?”

“I disagree.”

I declared, looking directly at the professor.

“The defendant’s criminal liability is….”