Episode 78

The few days following the Jin & Ahn internship briefing session were quite noisy.

This was because the experience of competing against students from other schools for the first time had had a significant impact on the first-year students at Korea University Law School.

• Well, I guess I'm pretty good outside of school.

• It was just that the guys above me were monsters that's why my rank wasn't that high.

The students who had succeeded in keeping their seats thought that as they puffed out their chests.

• It happened so suddenly that I wasn't prepared!

• I was careless. I should have been studying with a sense of urgency so that I could show off my skills at any time.

The classmates who had been pushed to the shabby seats reflected on their own complacency and desperately clung to the reading rooms and study rooms.

As a result, an even more intense atmosphere of academic pursuit than before had been formed.

Originally, this was the time when the results of the Shinyoung Foundation scholarship selection, which Assemblyman Jung had scattered, would begin to come out one by one.

It meant that news of classmates who had become scholarship recipients because of their good backgrounds, despite lacking in grades or skills, would spread around.

Those people no longer tried to hone themselves or prove themselves through competition.

What was the point of studying hard when they had already received a guarantee of success?

On the other hand, there were also many students who felt a sense of deprivation after seeing those scholarship recipients and became emotionally unstable, making it a total mess.

But when a major incident occurred that attacked the pride that all of them shared, tied to the name of "Korea University," the story changed.

They could tolerate falling behind within Korea University, but they couldn't tolerate being caught by those guys outside.

That was the shared will that firmly grasped their reins.

Of course, Park Yoo-seung, the person who had caused this situation, hadn't intended it to be that far-reaching. It was just a result that had happened by chance.

From the start, he wasn't someone who particularly welcomed the pure-blooded Korea University ideology.

He was simply taking the position that he would use anything that could be used.

Anyway, in an atmosphere where many people were focused on studying.

As soon as Jang Yong-hwan's class, which was known for being particularly rigorous, ended, the students stretched out on their desks as if they were exhausted.

They had used up all their concentration.

But as soon as they were about to collapse, someone shouted.

"It's up!"

There was no fool who would ask what "it" was.

In this period, when the Shinyoung Foundation scholarship announcements were all over and there was still time before the final exams, there was only one thing that could "go up."

"The Jin & Ahn practical training application notice, it's up!"

Even though he had shouted it as if to reconfirm it, it was more of an act to calm his own trembling heart rather than a consideration for his classmates.

"Tsk, it's just a law firm internship..."

Of course, there were also those who poured cold water on the excited atmosphere.

"Most of us will start our careers at major law firms after graduation anyway. Is it really that big of a deal? Is this something to get so worked up about?"

Jung Min-shik said as he bit into a piece of chocolate.

"If you've made it to our law school, going to a law firm is easy. What you should really aim for is the court or the prosecution. But it's ridiculous to see people wagging their tails like dogs who have just met their owners just because a law firm internship announcement came out."

"Hey, then are you not going to apply?"

"…Well, I am going to, though."

When Shin Seo-joon pointed it out with a sly smile, Jung Min-shik reluctantly agreed.

"Jin & Ahn is different. It's the best law firm in this country, and it's full of external advisors who have built up their careers in all sorts of specialized fields, as well as former officials who were once the top dogs."

Rather, if you only looked at the amount and quality of data and experience related to public service, there was even a possibility that Jin & Ahn was more superior than even some district courts or prosecutor's offices.

Jung Min-shik narrowed his eyes and glared at Shin Seo-joon.

"You're thinking of going to Jin & Ahn?"

"No. I'm not going. I'll do the internship, though."

"...You would definitely get a confirmation if it was you. Your grades are top-tier, or at least they were until recently, and you're from the police academy, so you'd get extra points for the criminal team, right?"

"Ah, those are for people with investigative experience like Senior Min-hwan. A fake like me who jumped straight to law school after graduation doesn't qualify."

Shin Seo-joon spoke with his usual nonchalant tone, but he didn't seem to have much intention of going to Jin & Ahn.

"I've been curious about this for a while."

Jung Min-shik voiced a long-standing question.

"Why did you even come to law school in the first place? What do you even want to do?"

In fact, Shin Seo-joon was a very strange guy in Jung Min-shik's eyes.

He had graduated at the top of his class at the police academy, and from what he had heard, Shin Seo-joon's family was a deeply rooted police family.

His father was also an elite who had risen to the rank of Senior Superintendent at a relatively young age.

"If you had stayed in the organization, you would have been successful no matter what, right?"

Of course, being a lawyer was a good career, but someone like Shin Seo-joon was in a position where he could have been on the fast track in the police organization, like a prince.

He had never expressed any desperate desire for anything that would have made him abandon that.

He had just always worn an unfathomable smile and leisurely taken the top spot.

"...There was something I couldn't achieve with just that."

"Huh?"

"Well, it's like that. Even if you're a police officer, you're still an organization that is ultimately subject to the checks and supervision of the prosecution. No matter how well you do there, if the prosecutor says, 'You there,' you have to obey. If you want to live with your head held high, you have to go to the prosecution."

For a moment, something dark seemed to flash by, but Shin Seo-joon had already returned to his usual expression, nonchalantly stating a materialistic reason.

It wasn't something that sounded very serious, but Jung Min-shik gave up on trying to dig deeper.

From the start, it wasn't anything new for Shin Seo-joon to act mysterious.

"Okay, whatever. So you're saying that the Jin & Ahn internship is just for experience?"

"That's right. If they pick me, that is."

So let's see. What kind of task did they come up with for the application?

Shin Seo-joon said as he checked the announcement on his smartphone.

Just like many other students around him.

"...Are you kidding me?"

"Whoa, whoa, calm down. They clearly said at the briefing session that they would give us something that we couldn't solve with our knowledge level."

"Even so, what is this?"

However, all the students who read the announcement were holding their heads and groaning.

"The Serious Accidents Punishment Act? I've never even heard of that outside of the news!"

<Notice Regarding Jin & Ahn Summer Practical Training Application>

Application Period: 5.13~5.19 (7 days)

Eligibility: All first-year students of law schools nationwide

Details: Within the given period, please submit the application form, along with a report related to the task attached below, written according to the format.

<Attachment 1: Task>

Company B (a construction company) was indicted for violating the Industrial Safety and Health Act, the Act on Punishment of Serious Accidents, etc. (Industrial Accident Homicide), and negligent homicide in connection with the serious injuries sustained by employees A, B, C, D, and E of Company C (a subcontractor) at the construction site of the A apartment complex.

Review the materials, and if necessary, investigate and secure additional materials, and present a methodology that can lead to the most favorable judgment for Company B.

Reference Material 1: The Serious Accidents Punishment Act

Act on Punishment of Serious Accidents, etc. (Abbreviated: Serious Accidents Punishment Act)

[Enforced 2022. 1. 27.] [Act No. 17907, Enacted 2021. 1. 26.]

Chapter 1 (General Provisions)

Article 1 (Purpose) The purpose of this Act is to prevent serious accidents and protect the lives and bodies of citizens and workers by prescribing the punishment of business owners, responsible managers, public officials, and corporations who cause casualties by violating safety and health measures while operating businesses or workplaces, public facilities and public transportation, or handling raw materials or manufactured goods that are harmful to the human body.

……(omitted)……

Reference Material 2: Outline of Factual Relationships

……(omitted)……

"They've come up with an interesting topic."

Shin Seo-joon smiled wryly.

The Serious Accidents Punishment Act was a law that stipulated that if a company didn't sufficiently ensure safety at its industrial sites, resulting in industrial accidents or casualties, the business owner or the responsible manager, that is, the "higher-ups" at the top of the company, would be directly held accountable.

Of course, it wasn't as if there were no laws that held people responsible for poor safety management before this.

The people in charge at the site or those directly supervising and directing them were directly responsible for safety accidents.

The Serious Accidents Punishment Act simply expanded the scope of that responsibility to the highest-ranking people in the company.

The logic was that if the managers' positions were at stake with each accident, they would be more responsible and work harder for safety management.

"If you trace it back to its roots... it's half criminal law and half labor law."

The problem was that it wasn't included in the basic laws covered in the bar exam. It wasn't even covered as an optional subject.

The labor law itself, which regulated labor relations, was included as an optional subject, and the Road Traffic Act or the Act on the Protection of Children and Youth from Sexual Abuse, etc., among the special criminal laws, were sometimes linked to the exam, but the Serious Accidents Punishment Act had no connection with those cases.

In other words, it was a law that the vast majority of law school students would never even look at from entrance to graduation.

"Why are they making us do something we've never even heard of as a task?"

"It can't be helped. Corporate consulting is mostly about dealing with issues that need to be solved with special laws like this."

That was why it was difficult.

"What are you going to do?"

Jung Min-shik asked with a hopeless expression, but Shin Seo-joon had a plan.

"I have a friend at Kangseo University Law School who is a labor attorney working for a large company's legal team. I'm thinking of preparing it with him."

"...That's a scam."

Korea University Law School had a high proportion of so-called "straight-to-law-school" students, meaning students who went directly to law school after graduation.

There were few people with work experience, or people who had prepared for or passed other exams.

Their attitude was to train and nurture young blood who had a fresh sense of studying, rather than trying to bring in a complete and mature talent.

On the other hand, there were many law schools that had adopted the opposite strategy. People who had been working in society for several years.

In particular, they would scrape together office workers who had already passed other professional exams and built up experience, or managers who had passed the higher civil service exam, and use them to achieve results.

The Kangseo University Law School that Shin Seo-joon mentioned was a typical example of a place that had adopted that strategy.

Their number of students was 40, which was very small compared to Korea University's 150.

But each and every one of them was a capable person who made people say, "Why did they even come to law school?"

As such, that acquaintance of his was also someone with impressive specs.

An in-house labor attorney at a major company who had been in charge of mediating labor disputes?

Naturally, unlike ordinary law school students who didn't know the ways of the world, he would have dealt with serious accident issues several times.

If he prepared the application with someone like that, the quality of the investigation would naturally be different.

It wasn't for nothing that Jung Min-shik had grumbled about it being a scam.

Conversely, it also meant that unless you were working with that level of human resources, it was a daunting task.

"Isn't it the age of networking? It's part of my ability to know talented people and use them in the right place."

"That's true, but..."

"And you, Jung Min-shik, are also one of those talented people to me."

"...Hmm. Is that so?"

However, even while praising Jung Min-shik, Shin Seo-joon was thinking of someone else entirely.

'Park Yoo-seung...'

A classmate who had suddenly become a person of interest after showing an unexpected performance, and was now sharing the temporary co-top rank at Korea University Law School with him. Park Yoo-seung.

He also seemed to be shouting that he wanted to become a prosecutor, but that didn't mean that he would miss the opportunity to experience the practical work at Jin & Ahn, the best law firm in the industry.

If he became a prosecutor, the enemy that he would be most afraid of and would have to face most often was Jin & Ahn.

'But even you won't have it easy this time.'

To be honest, Shin Seo-joon quite acknowledged Park Yoo-seung as a person. Both in terms of his skills and in other ways.

That was why he was paying more attention to him and carefully observing his every move.

However, regardless of how outstanding Park Yoo-seung was, the task for this internship application wasn't something he could easily conquer.

It wasn't enough to just be good at studying as a law school student.

Shin Seo-joon himself might have had a hard time if he hadn't had that acquaintance.

Even though he was the youngest son of a chaebol family, Park Yoo-seung had been treated like an outcast until now.

It didn't seem like he had built a reliable network of connections that he could use at any time.

It wasn't something that Park Yoo-seung would do, to forcibly use people by using the name of the Yu Seong Group.

When it came to legal issues, having knowledge meant that you would be able to gather and review materials faster.

It meant that even if someone who didn't know anything prepared diligently at the last minute, they wouldn't be able to write a complete report within the given time limit.

It was a task that he didn't like very much. It was a method that would cause the advantages and disadvantages to be extremely skewed based on the experience he had before entering law school or other factors.

Unless you had some kind of ability to see into the future and had started preparing a long time ago, what could ordinary students do?

'This time, I might not see you on the same stage.'

Shin Seo-joon muttered with a somewhat regretful feeling.