Episode 21

The law school cafeteria was quite deserted on a Saturday morning.

It wasn’t just deserted, it was to the point where not even a single ant was hanging around.

Even the students at Korea University Law School took breaks on the weekends, and unless they were crazy, there was no reason for them to come to school on their days off.

“You eat well, student.”

Of course, I was a crazy person.

“I really like the gratin here.”

A person who was crazy about gratin.

I diligently spooned the gratin into my mouth and answered the nutritionist.

She usually just quietly made the food, but today, thanks to the rare free time, she was striking up a conversation.

“I’m grateful that you’re enjoying it. Would you like another bowl?”

“Oh, is that okay?”

“Of course. There aren’t many students using the cafeteria today anyway, and if the ingredients are left over, we’d have to throw them away in the end. I can’t serve students food that isn’t fresh.”

“I’m grateful.”

Indeed, the secret to this taste was a combination of the freshness of the ingredients and the heart that cared for the students.

As I was eating another bowl, the nutritionist suddenly let out a sigh.

“Haa, I wish my son was like you, student. Eating well and being so sharp.”

“You have a son.”

“It’s as if I don’t have one. He’s so weak and makes all sorts of mistakes. This time, he couldn’t even manage his rented house properly, and he’s about to get his deposit swindled.”

“What do you mean?”

Then the nutritionist began to complain.

Her son was a lecturer at a rather famous academy. It was an academy that existed in real life.

I had also used materials from there to study when I was preparing for the college entrance exam in my previous life.

Since his workplace was quite far from his parents’ house, he had started living on his own since two years ago, and he was the type who got cold easily, so he excessively used the heater all day and night.

As a result, a small crack had appeared in the wall.

He had been flustered and had looked into repairs, but the contractor had said that the building was a bit special, so it was difficult to fix with just a repair, and they said that the entire wall would have to be torn down and reconstructed.

“They said that it would cost 8.5 million won to reconstruct it like that.”

The problem was at that point.

The rental contract was ending, and he had to get his deposit back and move out, but the landlord said that he would deduct the entire 8.5 million won from the deposit and that he couldn’t return the deposit.

“Does that make sense? They’re going to take hundreds of thousands of won from the deposit just because there’s a fingernail-sized crack in the wall.”

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“We’re not a rich family either. If I look into lawyers, the attorney fees and the deposit are the same…… and even if I do look into it, I’m not sure if we’ll even be able to get the deposit back.”

“You can get it back.”

“Huh?”

I continued to spoon my gratin and added nonchalantly.

“In cases where repairs are impossible, the amount of decrease in the exchange value is seen as ordinary damages. The value of the rented house wouldn’t have decreased by 8.5 million won just because there’s a small crack in the wall. You can have the remaining deposit returned after deducting only the decrease in value.”

“I, is that how it is?”

“The problem is whether your son has enough time to go through the legal process since he has to move out right now, but…… you can go to the court and get an ‘Imcha-gwon Registration Order’ for that part.”

After finishing my meal, I got up from my seat.

“If you get an ‘Imcha-gwon Registration’ done, it’s as good as advertising to the entire neighborhood that ‘this rented house is in the middle of a fight over the deposit,’ you know? That way, it’ll be difficult to find a new tenant, and it’ll be difficult to sell the building. In the end, the landlord will be the one who gives up and returns the deposit.”

“Th, thank you, student! How can I ever repay this kindness……”

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

If I was already a lawyer, I would have received money for the consultation, but it would be an eyesore for a mere test-taker like me to put a price on advice.

It was enough for me to have a free bowl of gratin.

Besides, it was also a form of review for me to apply the knowledge that I had studied, so it was also a benefit in itself.

Memories that I had refreshed like this wouldn’t be forgotten easily.

When I was preparing for the bar exam in my previous life, I would train myself by finding the legal issues from the various incidents that were in the news.

Since this was a tip from someone who had passed the second stage, you could trust it.

“I don’t feel comfortable just letting it go like this. Is there something I can do for you?”

“If you really feel that way, ah. How about this?”

Something suddenly came to mind, and I asked the nutritionist for something, and the nutritionist readily nodded.

“You’ll become a good legal professional, student.”

Those were the last words that the nutritionist said, as she thanked me again and again as I was leaving.

“A good legal professional, huh.”

It wasn’t a bad thing to hear.

Let’s not forget this feeling.

“Okay, then I’ve had my meal.”

I opened my smartphone and checked the tasks that I had to do.

First, the midterms were a few weeks away.

The scope of the tests themselves wasn’t easy, but I had already finished reviewing the basic textbooks.

Now, I just had to analyze the past internal exams and the professor’s lectures to figure out the trends of the questions.

‘I have to find a way to deal with the Legal Clinic case too.’

The nursing home fall accident case that I had encountered at the previous Legal Clinic had now completely become my responsibility.

Professor Choi Sung-chul had tried to trap me, but he had instead given me an opportunity to accumulate achievements faster than anyone else.

In fact, the client, Oh Gi-tae, had succeeded in contacting the caregiver in question.

When he had been pressured a bit, he had cried while admitting that he had tampered with the walker.

‘The problem is, that caregiver doesn’t have any money.’

He was a person who had been buried in debt after investing in coins with borrowed money.

His bank account had been seized, and all of his salary was being used to repay his debt.

Therefore, even if we were to receive a damage settlement, there was no way to receive it.

Of course, that didn’t mean that there was no way to do it.

We could hold the nursing home responsible as the employer.

• Article 756 (Liability of the Employer for Damages) ①A person who has another person engaged in a certain business shall be liable to compensate a third party for damages caused by the employee with regard to the execution of such business.

It was similar to the tort liability of corporations that I had dealt with previously.

Since your employee did something bad to me, you have to be responsible and give compensation.

But the nursing home side was stubbornly acting like they didn’t know anything.

They said that it was just a personal act of misconduct by the caregiver, and that they had provided enough training and supervision, so they didn’t have any responsibility.

• If you really want us to give compensation, then don’t bother us like this and just file a lawsuit. Isn’t it enough to determine the right and wrong in court?

If it went to a lawsuit, we would win in the end.

Even in the original story, where the important evidence had been lost, they had ended up winning in the end.

But a court battle was the worst way to go.

For an ordinary person who didn’t have much time or money, a legal dispute was more burdensome than one could imagine.

They would have to go back and forth to the court for the court dates, and they would have to prepare dozens or hundreds of documents and submit them without fail and on time.

Even if it ended quickly, it would take at least several months or even years in most cases.

Oh Gi-tae was a security guard who had to work three shifts, and his father was still an elderly man who needed to recover.

It was too much for them to drag out such a difficult court battle against an institution.

‘If possible, I wish there was a card that I could use to pressure the nursing home and get an agreement.’

A card like the Imcha-gwon Registration Order that I had told the nutritionist’s son about, that is.

Unfortunately, nothing was coming to mind right now.

‘Let’s put this on hold for now.’

There was a more urgent problem.

I swiped through the screen and opened the message app. The latest message was at the top.

Just looking at it made me feel like I was suffocating.

[Come to the main house. I have something to tell you. I’ll send Driver Choi.]

It was a message from Park Yoo-seung’s father.

• Your brother-in-law will be calling you soon.

Kang Chang-soo had said that on the day of the entrance ceremony, hadn’t he? That soon was today, it seemed.

“Father, huh……”

In the original story, Park Yoo-seung’s father, Park Geon, was described as a successful entrepreneur.

He had grown his business, which had started as a small soap factory, into a giant conglomerate that encompassed subsidiaries in all sorts of fields, and he had married the daughter of a prestigious legal family, creating a strong marriage alliance.

In this world, it was safe to say that there was no one who didn’t know Park Geon and the ‘Yuseong Group’ that he had created.

Because he was a man who had never known failure, his expectations for his children were also high.

Park Yoo-seung, who had failed to meet those expectations, had been despised by his father since he was young. And the more that happened, the more crooked and rebellious he became…… or so I remembered from the story.

It was a pretty solid background story for an extra character who was only going to appear briefly at the beginning.

There was a simple reason for that.

Long after Park Yoo-seung’s exit, Park Geon’s entire family would reappear as major antagonists in the latter half of the story, becoming entangled with Assemblyman Jeong and falling.

“What is it that he wants to say.”

In the original story, Park Yoo-seung was kicked out after causing trouble around this time, so there was no way to know what it was.

I didn’t particularly want to know either. Couldn’t they just leave me alone to study quietly?

“……Still, I guess I have to go.”

Although we were living as if we were strangers, my tuition and living expenses were all coming from the money that Park Geon gave me.

It would be a problem if I rubbed him the wrong way and he cut off the support.

Actually, considering Park Yoo-seung’s actions up until now, it wouldn’t be strange if the reason he was calling me was to say that he didn’t want to see my face anymore and that I should take the money and leave.

That couldn’t happen.

I thought that this was a good opportunity to raise Park Yoo-seung’s stock price, which was probably at rock bottom right now.

Operation Name: Our Delinquent Has Changed.

First, let’s start with this ‘Driver Choi’ guy. You had to catch the soldiers before you could take down the general.

* * *

You couldn’t fix a person and make them better.

People were like delicately crafted porcelain, you could break them but you couldn’t fix them.

That was what the master that he had served for so long would always say.

Especially when the master’s sunken gaze was directed at the foolish second young master, Choi, the driver, would clearly remember.

“Haa…….”

That was why he was sighing.

Right now, Driver Choi was on his way to pick up that second young master.

“He was such a warm person when he was younger.”

Driver Choi had been working under the master since a long time ago, when the master was running a soap factory.

Driver Choi, who had lost the use of one of his legs due to a small accident at the factory, had been willingly taken in by the master and hired as a driver.

Now, rather than a simple driver, Driver Choi had become a trusted confidant who was in charge of all sorts of menial tasks.

Of course, he had also watched the two young masters grow up right beside them.

The young master who had shared the ice cream that had come out for dessert, saying that he was working hard in the heat, had turned into a delinquent who was drunk on alcohol and entertainment and would only speak harsh words.

Driver Choi felt his foot on the accelerator become unusually heavy.

Still, he couldn’t let go of the hope that the second young master would reform, that he was still a good person, that he was the master’s son.

But that was also reaching its limits.

‘Can you really not fix a person and make them better?’

These days, he would often feel doubtful at such thoughts. Of course, that didn’t mean that he could refuse the job.

Driver Choi had a daughter who was taking the college entrance exam, and when he thought of his child who was studying day and night, he had to endure any kind of humiliation.

Right after arriving at the apartment where the second young master was living.

Just when Driver Choi had closed his eyes tightly, wondering what kind of harsh words he would hear today, and was about to open the car door.

“You’ve had a long trip, Driver Choi. Please take this.”

“?”

“I heard that your daughter is taking the college entrance exam this year. Please give this to her, and tell her to gain strength while studying.”

Suddenly, a tear ran down Driver Choi’s hardened eyes.