I Became a Law School Genius
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Chapter 51 Table of contents

Episode 51

The law building used by Korea University Law School boasted the largest scale among all law school buildings in the country.

The facilities were state-of-the-art, and the facility managers employed by the school cleaned it several times a day, so everything sparkled and shone.

On the first floor of that magnificent building, there was a statue of the goddess of justice, holding a law book and scales.

It was the same model as the one in front of the Supreme Court, so her eyes weren't covered.

The goddess with covered eyes symbolized objective justice, not swayed by prejudice, while the goddess with uncovered eyes symbolized her intention to clearly discern the wicked with her own eyes. Or so I had heard.

Ironically, on the wall facing that goddess of justice, there was always something that didn't seem very just.

[Announcement of Midterm Exam Overall Rankings]

1st Place: Park Yoo-seung

2nd Place: Shin Seo-joon

2nd Place: Han Seol

4th Place: Jung Min-shik

...

...

...

Ranking itself was necessary.

The positions that wield great power and responsibility in this society were limited, and the most excellent and capable people possible had to be selected to fill those positions so that things could function properly.

Those who could withstand the pressure of the throne had to be chosen.

'Still, posting it like this, as if it's a public execution, is a bit much.'

It was as if they were driving the students to study, saying that if they didn't want to endure shame and humiliation, they should study, and that if they wanted to enjoy glory and adoration, they should study.

They squeezed the young students like that, so it was no wonder that people were getting sick from studying.

And having my name at the very top of that list still felt strange.

If you asked me if I was proud of it, then yes, I was proud of it.

I also felt a sense of accomplishment.

Putting everything else aside, at least I didn't have to worry about dropping out of school because I couldn't pay my tuition anymore.

After the first match of the preliminaries, I returned home and immediately contacted Park Geon.

I took a picture of the grade report and this poster and attached them.

The reply came back faster than I had expected.

My bet with Park Geon.

He had clearly said that if I got first place in the midterm exams, he would grant me one request, whatever it was.

The right to ask anything of the chairman of one of the top companies in the country.

I couldn't use it carelessly. I had to think carefully about how I was going to use it.

As I was letting those thoughts flow through my mind and looking up at the poster, I heard someone whispering from a distance.

"Hey, over there..."

"That's Park Yoo-seung. I can't believe the day would come when he'd actually get the top spot."

"I don't know if I should call it a human victory or cry that you can't beat talent."

"Isn't he a cheetah that's actually started running now?"

Park Yoo-seung's ears were unnecessarily sensitive.

How used to being cursed at he must have been, that he could pick up even the smallest whispers about him no matter where he was.

Even so, the weight of the word 'top' was not something that could be ignored.

Despite the countless stacks of negative impressions that had been built up, the result that I had achieved was, in the end, being recognized as something amazing.

Of course, I wasn't only hearing good things.

"Sigh... is the power of connections really that great? It seems that having money and good connections is what matters after all."

"But who are the people who gave him the materials? And what about the people who are always with him? Do they have no pride?"

Because I had been bluffing all along, there were still a lot of people who were mocking me for having studied while sucking up to well-connected friends.

I couldn't complain about that since I had brought it on myself.

However, it was hard to just let it go when they were cursing at the people around me.

Those guys had stayed by my side despite the countless negative gazes that were directed at Park Yoo-seung.

I felt like I had to say something, so I turned my body in their direction.

"You pathetic bastards."

A voice as cold as ice flew from behind the group that had been slandering me.

"Oh, it's you."

"J, Jung Min-shik?"

The guys were startled and created some distance.

It was a well-known fact that Jung Min-shik's personality wasn't very good.

When Shin Seo-joon was by his side, he was somewhat restrained, but Jung Min-shik, who was alone, was like a ticking time bomb.

Especially recently, he had been frowning as if he was in a bad mood, so even the guys who were close to him were being careful around him.

"Do you think you can get first place by looking at some good materials and sucking up to people who are good at studying?"

"No, but it's Park Yoo-seung himself..."

"You're crawling at the bottom because you believe that kind of bullshit."

"What...!"

The male student who had been protesting was stunned and at a loss for words.

If my memory was correct, that guy was around 40th or 50th place...

In Korea University Law School, that wasn't a score that would make you get cursed at as if you were at the bottom.

That was why he had reacted as if he was at a loss for words, but to Jung Min-shik, everyone below him was at the bottom, so there was nothing he could do about it.

"There's nothing more ridiculous than guys who can't even answer what the professor has clearly pointed out on the exam talking about the accuracy and efficiency of materials. Does the top spot in Korea University Law School look that easy that you can achieve it with that kind of thing?"

"No, that's not..."

"That's exactly what you're saying. That you're belittling what that guy has achieved. And that's an insult to everyone else who's been crushed under him."

"That, that's not what we meant."

"That's exactly what you meant. If you're going to belittle what that guy has achieved, then you're insulting everyone else who's below him."

"..."

The guys were speechless and lost their voices.

"I hate Park Yoo-seung too. I hate him so much that I want to kill him. But the more that is the case, the more I have to acknowledge the results that he has achieved. If you don't acknowledge it... you'll never be able to catch up to him."

'Oh, he's fully recovered.'

It seemed that he had regained his strength.

After Jung Min-shik's harsh words, the guys who had been slandering me quickly ran away, and Jung Min-shik, who had finally turned his head and realized that I was there, clicked his tongue and quickly left.

Seeing that, I couldn't help but laugh.

After the commotion had passed, I sat down on the bench in front of the statue of the goddess of justice.

I was planning to meet my teammates here to prepare for the next matches.

"Hoo..."

Another week had passed since the first match.

During that time, the preliminary rounds had continued.

I already knew how the civil field was going to go, so I didn't bother watching it.

If I had the time, it was right to concentrate on our matches.

Thanks to our thorough preparation, we had swept all of the matches that had been held so far.

After the first match, all of the teams had been composed of second-year students, but we hadn't faltered at all.

After all, the second-year students weren't that different.

They had only studied Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Law during the regular semester, so they only had a difference in the amount of knowledge and their familiarity with criminal law.

That was something that we were confident that we could overcome.

As we had passed each round, time had flown by like an arrow, and we were here now.

Now we only had the last match of the preliminaries left, the finals.

Our opponent was, of course, the team led by Gu Min-hwan from the second year.

"Gu Min-hwan..."

The event that had happened after the first match naturally replayed in my mind.

In the end, I had received the information about Gu Min-hwan from Shin Seo-joon.

It was something that was as natural as it could be.

Whether Shin Seo-joon wanted it or not, I had to defeat Gu Min-hwan for my own purposes anyway.

There was no way the situation would improve just by rejecting the information.

Shin Seo-joon was already strongly aware of my existence.

If I took a step back here, he wouldn't just say, 'Oh, I see. Then I'll be on my way,' and quietly leave.

'If that's the case... then I might as well use him.'

The reason why I was avoiding getting involved with Shin Seo-joon wasn't because I was afraid of him.

It was just that I was wary of getting caught up in the main story in some way and having huge changes happen that I couldn't predict.

I knew Shin Seo-joon's real goal, and all of the groundwork that he had laid out to achieve it.

If I wanted to, I could create a way to control him.

Rather, it was also a way to take the lead and monitor Shin Seo-joon's movements, while also getting the information that I could use.

'Yeah, let's think of it as a good thing.'

I clenched my fist and made that decision.

"What are you thinking about so deeply?"

"Did you study too hard and break down?"

When I raised my head, my teammates had already arrived. I grabbed the hands that they were offering and stood up.

Let's not think about it so complicatedly.

First, let's start by winning the remaining match.

* * *

It was a rule that the classrooms that were used for classes had to be locked after all of the classes were finished.

However, among the second and third-year students who had become used to law school life, there were often cases where they would secretly occupy those empty classrooms and use them as oversized study rooms.

It was especially a long-standing practice among second-year students who were preparing for the moot court competition.

"It's already the final round."

Lee Yoon-ah was also one of those students.

She had messed up her grades in her first year, so it had become difficult for her to prepare for a public office position. She had thought of it as her last chance, and had contacted all of her classmates who were preparing for the moot court competition.

Luckily, there was a team that accepted Lee Yoon-ah, and luckily, they had already advanced to the finals.

If things continued like this, then becoming a representative was not just a dream, and she could even have a chance at winning the main rounds.

"How about it, oppa? We're going to win the finals, right?"

Lee Yoon-ah turned to the man who had made all of that possible and asked.

"...I don't know."

Gu Min-hwan replied in a heavy voice.

'Geez, he really doesn't have a tender side.'

Gu Min-hwan, a classmate from the police university who was a current police inspector, had been working as an investigator.

He always had a short, sports-cut hairstyle and a muscular body like a gorilla. He was a man of few words.

He rarely changed his expression, and it was impossible to tell what he was thinking.

In the first place, Lee Yoon-ah was also wondering why Gu Min-hwan had accepted someone like her as a teammate.

All of the matches that had been held so far had been a one-man show by Gu Min-hwan.

From analyzing the materials, to writing the documents, to the arguments and statements.

He had done everything on his own.

In fact, Lee Yoon-ah and the other teammate were just decorations to fill up the numbers.

'I wondered if he was interested in me, but it doesn't seem like that either.'

She had some confidence in her appearance, so she had wondered if that was the reason, but this wooden man never showed any reaction no matter how friendly she was.

At this point, it seemed like he didn't really care who was on the team with him, since he was going to do everything on his own anyway.

'Well, it's good for me if I can just get a free ride.'

As she was half giving up, Gu Min-hwan rarely opened his mouth again.

"I didn't expect it."

"...Huh?"

"That guy would avoid me and run away to the civil field. I thought that no matter who it was, I would win."

'That guy? What is he talking about?'

As Lee Yoon-ah stared blankly, Gu Min-hwan continued to speak.

"But... this is..."

As he said that, Gu Min-hwan lifted up the laptop that he had been looking at.

"What is it? What are you looking at?"

What was being played on the laptop was a video of the preliminary matches of the moot court competition.

In principle, all of the matches of the moot court competition were open to the public, and there were no restrictions on privately recording them.

Thanks to that, there were also cases where people would record the preliminary matches and use them as teaching materials, or find their opponent's videos and analyze them.

But it was impossible for Lee Yoon-ah to imagine Gu Min-hwan doing that.

This man had a tendency to act like a silent ascetic, and he never seemed to have a proper interest in anything.

But Gu Min-hwan was analyzing the video of the opposing team? It didn't suit him at all.

However, regardless of what Lee Yoon-ah thought, Gu Min-hwan was staring intently at the screen, as if he was completely absorbed in it.

Just who was it? Out of curiosity, Lee Yoon-ah stuck her head out.

The person standing at the prosecutor's seat in the mock courtroom was a man. He had a slightly delinquent-like impression, but he was fairly good-looking.

"...This might be a little, interesting."

Gu Min-hwan mumbled quietly next to her.

Chapter written by
Sleeping Club
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