Episode 26

I was an avid fan of ‘In the Law School,’ practically memorizing it scene by scene.

That meant I remembered almost every character who had appeared in any way.

Therefore, among the application messages that had flooded Han Seol, I could definitely filter out the ‘guys who shouldn’t be picked.’

‘Let’s see. First of all, this guy is a no-go.’

Among them was a womanizer who hit on all sorts of female classmates and got rejected.

In the second semester, he even ended up stalking a senior a year above him, which led to a huge incident.

Han Seol and Lee Ha-roo were objectively quite attractive.

There was no guarantee that this guy wouldn’t go crazy if I brought him in.

‘In the first place, that might be the very reason why he applied.’

This person was cut. Next.

‘Hwang Gyu-ho? He’s okay.’

He was a guy who was obsessed with grades, and I remembered that he even passed the clerkship exam later on.

If he could get good grades, he was the type of person who would take off his shirt and jump into a frozen lake in the middle of winter.

There was no reason to reject him.

As I scrolled down, I saw the name of Yoo Ye-seul, who had tried to pick a fight with me but ended up running away empty-handed.

Why did she apply with such a thick face, knowing that I would be behind Han Seol?

Honestly, I didn’t like her very much, but she wasn’t a threatening enemy to me.

‘Because I hold this woman’s weakness.’

The award she received at the legal essay competition, which she used as her admission credentials.

It was a serious issue that could lead to her admission being revoked if it was revealed that she had committed fraud.

The magazine that was published at the time had been completely recalled… but that didn’t mean that there was no way to prove it.

If so, there was no reason to avoid her.

Rather than letting her cause trouble somewhere else, it might be better to induce her to confront me head-on and then control her firmly.

Okay. She’s a keep for now.

As I was classifying the names, I suddenly stopped.

“What.”

My gaze was fixed on one name.

“Why is this person here?”

[Hello! This is Kim Seung-pil, 202x0011! I’m contacting you to ask if it’s still possible to join the Constitutional Law study group ㅎㅎ]

No matter how many times I reread it, it was the same message.

“……That Kim Seung-pil? There’s no way.”

Kim Seung-pil.

He was a person with a rather unique background.

Kim Seung-pil was originally a reporter for a famous media company.

He was a nobody, a low-ranking rookie, but he succeeded in reporting on the allegations of drug use and sexual favors at a club run by a certain celebrity through an exclusive interview, and he rose to stardom overnight.

Just when everyone was sure that Kim Seung-pil would have a successful career as a reporter, he suddenly announced his resignation and entered Korea University Law School.

After that, he didn’t show any particular movements, but in ‘a certain incident,’ he got involved with Shin Seo-joon and provided him with great assistance.

‘He’s not the type of person who would study for internal grades.’

In the original story, he was a character who had no interest in grade competition.

Kim Seung-pil always seemed to be pursuing something else, and he was indifferent to the internal problems of the law school. He only appeared when he lent his strength to Shin Seo-joon after being persuaded by him.

But he had moved.

…It bothered me. A lot.

‘Rejecting him would be a bad move.’

Although he only made a brief appearance, Kim Seung-pil was a key figure in the latter half of the original story.

If he had a change of heart, it could have a big impact on the plot.

I had to keep him close and observe his intentions.

I couldn’t help it. You’re a special hire.

It wasn’t like he wouldn’t be helpful.

Whatever Kim Seung-pil’s intentions were, he would definitely do his job well.

Considering the way I planned to run this study group, Kim Seung-pil was actually the perfect person.

After organizing my thoughts, I handed the smartphone back to Han Seol.

“Contact only the people I’ve noted here and tell them to gather in the study room after the afternoon class tomorrow. If they can’t come due to personal reasons, well, there’s nothing we can do.”

“What about the rest?”

“Rejected. The criteria are up to me.”

“Hmm, okay. Since it’s your thing, there must be a reason.”

It was a level of trust that was like a sea change compared to our first meeting.

* * *

After the afternoon class, six or seven students gathered in the study room.

They weren’t a group that usually hung out together.

The one thing that tied these people, who had nothing in common, together was, of course, one thing.

“Seriously, why do we have to have an interview to pick study group members? This is so extra.”

A short male student grumbled.

“Hey. Don’t say things you don’t know.”

“Huh?”

“Who do you think is gathering this study group? It’s Han Seol!”

On the contrary, a tall, lanky guy rebuked him.

“I admit that she’s good at studying. That’s why I applied. But is it really necessary to go this far? It’s not like we’re creating some kind of authoritative organization.”

“Ugh, you’re so frustrating.”

The tall guy clicked his tongue.

“She’s not just someone who’s good at studying on her own. She got first place in the pre-law mock exam, and she got a perfect score in the group evaluation! And even that troublemaker kid in her group had his grades skyrocket as if he had changed his soul. That means.”

The tall guy paused, and the short guy asked impatiently.

“Means?”

“It means that they have it. A great secret that can make anyone get good grades in law…!”

“Oh…!?”

“Think about it. Honestly, what’s worse about you or me compared to that idiot Park Yoo-seung? Even he got up to 5th place while hanging out with Han Seol. If we learn that secret, what will happen?”

“Ooh…!?”

The tall guy got excited and started talking.

“The rumors are spreading like wildfire among the students. If you can get into Han Seol’s study group, it’s a piece of cake to jump to the top ranks. It’s much more important than getting into any academic society or internship interview.”

“Now that I hear it, it’s true. Even that moron did it, so if it were me….”

The short guy agreed, and at that moment, the study room door creaked open.

Immediately after that, Han Seol and I entered.

“Ah, ahaha.”

The tall guy, as if he had been caught talking behind my back, covered the short guy’s mouth and sneakily glanced at us.

I pretended not to notice and pulled up a chair to sit across from them.

“Did you wait long? Let’s start right away.”

“Y, yes. Haha.”

The tall guy tried to gloss over it while sweating, but the short guy was the problem.

“Wait.”

The guy twisted his stubborn-looking mouth and interrupted.

“Why are you leading this? Like you’re someone special.”

“This body. 5th place in the pre-law final rankings. And you?”

“……Ugh.”

The guy’s face contorted for a moment. I asked again.

“And you?”

“6, 64th… place.”

“Which one of us is the one who didn’t become someone special?”

The short guy shut his mouth.

“I don’t care what you say about me. You can chew me up and spit me out as much as you want. You can think that I’m just a guy who got lucky with a good group member and got good grades, or you can underestimate me and say that I’m full of hot air.”

But, I added.

“The more you think that way, the more you should have valued this study group, right? If even a guy like me, just because I was ‘lucky’ enough to be here, got these kinds of grades.”

I chuckled.

“Then you should be more desperate. You should be more careful about what you say, even after coming here.”

“Wait. Could it be.”

“You two are rejected. You can go back.”

“What…!”

The short guy’s eyes widened.

“Do you know? It’s something you’ll learn next semester, but in our country’s litigation law, there’s a distinction between the requirements for litigation and the subject of the merits of the case.”

The requirements for litigation refer to the conditions that must be met for a court to make a substantive judgment on a lawsuit when someone files it.

The party must have the right to file and pursue the lawsuit, and the lawsuit must have been filed in accordance with the proper procedures.

On the other hand, whether the content of the lawsuit is valid, and whether there is sufficient reason to win, is a matter of the merits of the case.

If there is a defect in the requirements for litigation, the lawsuit is dismissed without even going into the merits of the case.

It was the same principle as a racehorse that didn’t pass the preliminary round not being able to run in the main race.

“Studying ability, diligence, talent, those are matters of the merits of the case, and a person’s character and behavior are like the requirements for litigation.”

As I said, I don’t care what you think of me in your heart, or what kind of stories are going around behind my back.

But at least you have to have the decency not to get caught saying it to my face to be considered.

If I accepted guys who couldn’t even watch their mouths even after coming this far, I didn’t know what kind of trouble they would cause.

“There’s no need to interview people who don’t even have the basics.”

The short guy’s face turned red.

He trembled as if he was at a loss for words, and then he barely managed to squeeze out a word.

“No, are you allowed to decide that on your own?”

“I’m choosing the people I’m going to study with, is there a problem?”

“It was Han Seol who called us here! Don’t just stand there, say something!”

The guy yelled at Han Seol.

“Well? I’m in charge of recruiting, I don’t have any other authority.”

But Han Seol just shrugged her shoulders.

“In the first place, the secret you’re looking for is with him. I don’t know much about it.”

“Wh, what does that….”

It meant that the person they had to be nice to was the wrong one.

“Okay, okay. We need to proceed with the interview, so outsiders, please leave.”

I kindly pushed the two people out the door.

“Wait, please give me one more chance. I was just agreeing with him to persuade him, I didn’t mean to insult you. It’s true!”

“You bastard, you’re trying to get out of this on your own!”

“Shut up. I can’t miss this opportunity because of you!”

The two of them bickered until the moment they were kicked out, but I didn’t even pretend to listen and closed the door.

“Okay then.”

I smiled.

“Now that we’ve dealt with the troublemakers, shall we continue?”

There were only four people left in the room.

Kim Seung-pil, Yoo Ye-seul, Hwang Gyu-ho, and one other student I didn’t know well.

‘The first two are people of interest, so I’ll check them myself… I can ask Han Seol to take care of the other two.’

Fortunately, the study room next door was also reserved under our name.

We could divide into two groups and proceed.

I stayed in this room, and Han Seol moved to the next room.

The interviews would be one person at a time. Since they were people whose intentions were unknown.

Who should I talk to first? Honestly, Yoo Ye-seul was an unimportant person, and what was really important was Kim Seung-pil.

‘I want to deal with Kim Seung-pil after I’ve organized my thoughts.’

If so, it would be reasonable to meet with Yoo Ye-seul first.

“Kim Seung-pil, would you please wait outside for a moment?”

“Of course.”

Kim Seung-pil readily opened the door and went out of the study room.

Finally left alone with Yoo Ye-seul, I waited for the right moment and blurted out.

“It’s been a while since then?”

“Y, yes….”

Then, Yoo Ye-seul replied, trailing off.

‘Huh.’

I felt a sense of incongruity.

‘She feels a bit different from last time?’

When we had met before, she had been in a state of mind to crush anyone she didn’t like, but now, for some reason, Yoo Ye-seul was looking at me nervously and fidgeting.

‘Is she not here to fight?’

Maybe it was just my imagination. I decided to check Yoo Ye-seul’s intentions first.

I asked in a cold voice.

“Why did you apply?”

“Y, yes?”

“It’s not like Yoo Ye-seul would apply to our study group with pure intentions. I know that, and you know that very well yourself, don’t you?”

“Th, that’s right….”

Yoo Ye-seul agreed in a subdued manner.

‘No, why is she really like this?’

The Yoo Ye-seul in the original story wasn’t this kind of character.

She would try to control and manipulate others, but it was very rare for her to act so submissively.

Her current attitude was like… a debtor groveling to a creditor who had come to collect money.

Just like I often did in my past life.

I stared at Yoo Ye-seul without saying anything.

As if she was pressured by it, Yoo Ye-seul sweated and turned her head, avoiding my gaze.

“……I.”

After a long time, Yoo Ye-seul finally opened her mouth as if she had made up her mind.

“I?”

“I’m really sorry about last time! Please allow me to contribute to the big picture that Park Yoo-seung is drawing!”

“……?”

What was this all about?

While I was dumbfounded, Yoo Ye-seul even got off her chair, knelt down, and bowed her head.

“Please!”

No, what the heck was going on?