Episode 38

"Oh, good. Please come forward."

Park Soo-geun called her over with a delighted expression, and I watched Seo Hee-jin walk forward with a strangely confident gait.

'Was she always such a spirited character?'

I didn't remember Seo Hee-jin ever standing out, whether it was in the original story or during Professor Park Soo-geun's problem-solving time.

Rather, the her that I had observed directly had a strong impression of being timid and somewhat dejected.

A strange intuition poked its head up.

'Let's observe for now.'

Prejudgment was the worst vice for a lawyer.

"First, I'll answer question (1)."

Seo Hee-jin's presentation began.

The meaning of question (1) was simple.

It was a question that asked whether they could distinguish between a 'party' and an 'actor' in legal terms.

A party was a person who acquired 'rights or obligations' due to a certain legal act, and an actor was a person who actually carried out that act.

In many cases, the two were the same.

If I went to a restaurant and ordered food with money, then I was both the actor who carried out the contract, and the party who had the obligation to pay and the right to receive the food.

The problem was when the two were different.

In this case, the actor was Gap, who had signed the contract with his own hands, no matter how you looked at it.

However, Eul was claiming that they were not a party, and Byung was demanding money from Eul, saying that Eul was a party, so a dispute had occurred.

'In cases where these kinds of disputes occur......'

"The precedents say that the party must be determined according to 'legal interpretation'. In other words, it is based on who the other party of the act recognized the party to be."

Seo Hee-jin answered in a composed voice.

"The names and seals on the contract were all Eul's, and looking at the circumstances where Byung had instigated Gap in the first place, it's obvious that they intended to sign the contract with Eul as the other party. Therefore, the party of the contract is determined to be Eul for now."

That was the correct answer.

Professor Park Soo-geun also nodded and urged her to continue with the solution.

"Next is question (2)."

Here, they were asking about the concept of apparent agency.

Although it sounded unfamiliar, it wasn't a difficult concept.

I had already dealt with the concept of unauthorized agency in the pre-law class.

I had said that if I borrowed money in Han Seol's name without her permission, that was unauthorized agency.

It was unfair for Han Seol to have to pay back money that she had never borrowed, so unauthorized agency was, in principle, invalid.

But when you thought about it, it wasn't just Han Seol who was being treated unfairly.

The person who had lent the money was also being treated unfairly.

They had believed that they were lending money to Han Seol, and because Han Seol was a good student with a good reputation, they had trusted that she wouldn't fail to pay it back, and had lent her the money.

But what if it turned out that it was just some punk who had impersonated her at will?

If that punk ran away with the money, how were they supposed to get it back?

It was a bolt out of the blue.

Therefore, if special conditions were met, there was a system that allowed you to demand money from the party, even if it was an unauthorized agency.

That was apparent agency.

"For apparent agency to be established, the other party must have believed that the actor had the power of agency, and there must be no fault on their part."

Seo Hee-jin's answer continued.

In short, it meant that they were going to check if the person who had lent the money was truly being treated unfairly.

If they actually knew that I had just sold Han Seol's name at will.

Or, if they could have known if they had just thought about it a little, then there was no need to protect the person who had lent the money.

And the fact that there was no fault had to be proven by the person who was claiming apparent agency.

Since it was a situation where they were demanding money from Han Seol, who had no obligation to pay it, they at least had to present some evidence.

"In this case, Byung was aware that Eul did not have a legitimate power of agency, and they also failed to prove otherwise in court. Therefore, apparent agency is not established."

So far, so good.

The problem was the very last one, question (3), which focused on the issue of 'the liability of an unauthorized agent.'

Article 135 (Liability of an Unauthorized Agent to the Other Party) ① If a person who has entered into a contract as an agent of another person fails to prove their power of agency and fails to obtain ratification from the principal, they shall be liable to perform the contract or compensate for damages at the choice of the other party.

This was also not a difficult concept.

In the end, if it became an unauthorized agency, and apparent agency wasn't recognized, so that they couldn't get the money back from Han Seol, then they had to at least try to get the money from Park Yoo-seung, the impersonator.

Of course, this was the least desirable option from the perspective of the person who had lent the money.

There was no way that someone who had sold someone else's name and borrowed money would obediently pay back the debt.

It was common for them to break contact or run away.

Still, it was better to try than to give up completely.

If they won the case and obtained a judgment and a writ of execution, then they could borrow the power of the public authorities, such as having a court enforcement officer be dispatched, so it was worth the fight.

'However, there are conditions for this as well.'

② Paragraph (1) shall not apply when the other party knew or could have known of the fact that the person who entered into the contract as an agent did not have the power of agency, or when the person who entered into the contract as an agent was a person with limited capacity.

Article 135 of the Civil Act was a system that was designed to protect the other party.

Therefore, if the other party was not a person worthy of protection, that is, if they knew about the unauthorized agency or could have known if they had just been a little more careful, then they wouldn't protect them.

'And the responsibility of proving the circumstances related to that is.'

"These circumstances must also be proven by the other party, so if they fail to prove it, like in this case, then the liability of the unauthorized agent is not established."

As always, Seo Hee-jin confidently finished her answer.

But the atmosphere was a little strange.

"Uh......"

"Is that right......?"

An awkward silence and a strange stillness settled in.

The students who were sitting down began to flip through their books with puzzled expressions.

"Hmm, that was good. However."

At that moment, Professor Park Soo-geun cleared his throat and opened his mouth.

"Is there any other student who has a different opinion?"

It was difficult to just raise your hand.

You wouldn't get points just for adding words to someone else's presentation.

For this group of docile model students, pointing out someone else's mistakes without any benefit was not an easy task.

It couldn't be helped.

It was the time for a delinquent to step forward.

"There's one part that's wrong."

Therefore, I raised my hand and stood up from my seat.

"The precedents say that the liability of an unauthorized agent is, in principle, a strict liability, and that the unauthorized agent is the one who has to prove that the other party was malicious or at fault. That's how most textbooks and exam books explain it......"

I stared directly at Seo Hee-jin, who was standing on the podium, and asked.

"Where did you, Seo Hee-jin, happen to come across the information that the other party had the burden of proof?"

At that moment, Seo Hee-jin's complexion noticeably turned pale.

* * *

Actually, I had thought that it was strange from the start.

Seo Hee-jin had shed tears, saying that she had lost her textbook in the lounge.

But why would she suddenly need to take out her textbook in the lounge?

Of course, if a group of law students who were passionate about studying were gathered together, they might start talking about studying even while resting, and it wasn't impossible that they would try to take out their textbook to look up an ambiguous part, and then realize that it was missing.

'Therefore, it wasn't a problem that I could immediately conclude......'

But I couldn't shake the feeling that she had 'deliberately' chosen a place where she could show the fact that she was a victim to as many people as possible.

'The reaction afterward was also strange.'

She was in a desperate situation where she was crying because she had lost her books.

If that was the case, then when I had approached her and said that I had found a book without an owner, wouldn't a more active attitude of clinging to me be the norm?

But Seo Hee-jin seemed to check her surroundings first, and only then did she tell me her name, as if she was appealing to me.

I had temporarily overlooked that, thinking that she might just be a timid person or someone who was very aware of her surroundings.

"Even so, it ended up like this."

After class ended, I called Seo Hee-jin to a quiet place and spoke to her like that.

"Ugh......"

Seo Hee-jin lowered her head.

She quickly confessed everything.

She was the culprit who had stolen her classmates' books and materials, and she had heard my story during the Constitutional Law I class yesterday, and had thought that she had to get my materials no matter what, so she had taken them.

Since the content of the materials was neatly organized with only the important issues pinpointed, Seo Hee-jin had believed the content of the materials as if it was gospel.

She had even thought that if she studied the materials well, since they contained the problems that Professor Park Soo-geun had dealt with in his previous classes, she would be able to get a good score.

It was all as I had induced it to be.

"What is the reason?"

Seo Hee-jin didn't try to resist in any way.

She just lowered her head and trembled, as if she knew her own sins too well.

'She's a weak-spirited type.'

It wasn't like she didn't know that what she had done was wrong, and it wasn't like she was shameless enough to deny it.

But she wasn't courageous or strong-willed enough to commit such a bold act.

What had made a person like Seo Hee-jin commit a serious crime like a chain of thefts?

"I was scared."

Seo Hee-jin confessed readily.

"My sister, who everyone had praised as a genius, fell apart after failing the bar exam. I'm much more lacking than my sister, but I have to study even harder, but my grades aren't coming out at all......"

Seo Hee-jin had apparently been compared to her sister, Seo Su-jin, who was perfect in everything, since she was little.

Her feelings for Seo Su-jin were ambivalent.

She was her role model, who she respected and admired more than anyone else, but at the same time, she was also a target of envy who constantly drove her into the abyss of comparison and self-blame.

Even her sister had failed to pass through the gates of law school and the bar exam.

That fact had been a huge shock to Seo Hee-jin, and it had instilled a compulsion in her to do anything to survive.

The fact that she had received a low score in the pre-law evaluation had also fanned the flames.

'So that was it.'

She had tried everything she could, but the results weren't coming out.

So she had started to suspect that the problem was at the starting point.

The outstanding students were studying using materials and methods that she had no access to.

To catch up to them, she had to get her hands on their exclusive property no matter what.

She had reached that wrong conclusion.

That was the process that had led Seo Hee-jin to theft.

"But you were wrong."

"I know. I've hurt a lot of my classmates with my actions, and it was something that I shouldn't have done...... I'm prepared to take responsibility."

"No, that's obvious."

"......?"

"I'm saying that it's not like you can become like me just by getting your hands on those materials."

Seo Hee-jin stared blankly at me.

"All of the materials that you stole. They were all created by me personally. I imbued each and every character with my own know-how and understanding."

"Yes......?"

In short, it meant that the causality was wrong.

It wasn't like a student who had good materials was good.

It was that a good student made good materials.

Of course, well-made materials had value.

But that role was only to make it a little more efficient to prepare for the exam that was right in front of them.

It was only natural that they couldn't change the fundamental skills themselves.

What changed the skills were the time and effort that you poured in directly.

The weight of the blood and sweat that you shed, and the depth of the calluses that were engraved.

There was a level that you could never reach without paying that price.

"Th, then the fact that your grades rose because of the materials is..."

"It was obviously a bluff to catch the culprit. Did you believe that?"

"How could I......"

Seo Hee-jin had a dumbfounded expression.

"I'm not trying to say harsh things like, 'You didn't put in enough effort', or 'You were just lazy'. I'm sure that you were working hard. You as well as your sister."

I was also someone who had suffered as much as I could.

I knew better than anyone how difficult and arduous it was to study law.

"People who have failed, people who haven't achieved enough, it's not like they didn't try hard."

They also struggled and fought desperately, even as they were suffering.

It was just that there were even worse monsters.

"So what choice do we have? We can only try to push ourselves further."

There were madmen in this world who burned with passion enough to make the words 'I did my best' and 'I poured in as much as I could' a joke.

There were also monsters who crushed you with their overwhelming talent.

If a mere commoner wanted to follow them, they could only squeeze themselves further.

They would chase away sleep by scratching their hands, and read books until their eyes hurt.

If they couldn't do it by effort, then they would try to fix their methodological approach.

Like that, continuously.

Until they could.

"I understand that desperation...... but law isn't a discipline that can be conquered by shortcuts like that."

Seo Hee-jin didn't answer.

Or maybe she couldn't.

After a while, she raised her head and asked me.

"......What's going to happen to me?"

'Hmm, yeah.'

It was good that I had captured Seo Hee-jin.

The problem was, what was I going to do with her?

Right now, I had two choices.

One. I could expose all of her wrongdoings and make her take the appropriate responsibility.

In fact, my conscience was very strongly pointing to this one.

If she had just stolen my book, I could have just forgiven her or used her as I pleased, but Seo Hee-jin had already harmed too many students.

Of course, the damage wasn't that great yet, and it wasn't to the point that it was irreversible.

It was just that they hadn't been able to study for a day or two because their materials were missing.

Even so, it wasn't like I had the right to decide Seo Hee-jin's fate on their behalf.

At the very least, I had to give them the opportunity to decide for themselves whether they would condemn or forgive Seo Hee-jin.

'But the problem is......'

If I did that, then my original plan of making Seo Hee-jin indebted to me and getting model answer materials from her sister, the president of the Property Law Academic Society, would be destroyed from the start.

It would be like I had ended up reporting Seo Hee-jin instead of making her indebted to me.

Was I going to choose the targeted profit, or was I going to follow principle and justice?

It wasn't like I was doing it on purpose, but Seo Hee-jin had put me in a dilemma.

I didn't want to waste my efforts, and I also didn't want to close my eyes to injustice for the sake of my own personal gain, as someone who dreamed of being a lawyer.

While my temples throbbed from thinking, I finally realized one thing.

'......Why am I the one who has to be in the position of being tested and agonizing?'

I hadn't done anything wrong.

Rather, I had achieved the great feat of capturing the culprit of the theft case, which hadn't even been revealed in the original story.

Since Shin Seo-joon hadn't even started moving yet, the students were able to get their books and materials back much faster thanks to my actions.

I had already made a sufficient contribution to the public good.

If that was the case, then I wasn't the one who should have my morality and ethics tested.

"Let's do this."

I opened my mouth while facing Seo Hee-jin.