9th Political Lawyer 1
A feeling only we know (1)
“Kang Dong Hyuk!”
The door opened suddenly and a familiar face entered without knocking.
One that I hadn’t seen for so long I had stopped counting. Is this the first time since graduating from university? Did we meet after graduating?
Having mixed the jajamyeon I picked up a bunch of noodles before putting down the chopsticks.
“”What is this, appearing out of the blue…..?”
I might have said it unenthusiastically but I was glad inside and couldn’t stop the smile spreading on my face.
“ You jerk! It’s the first time you’re seeing me since graduation, can’t you pretend to be a bit happier?”
Park Seong-tae strode into the office and looked around before perching himself on the sofa.
“I heard you became a lawyer. As expected, our Donghyuk. You had smarts that didn’t belong in our shit school.
“What smarts, I’m the lowest scorer in the institute. I’m a bonehead who got lucky enough to pass the bar exam.
“Can you do that with luck? In the old days you would’ve passed the state examination. You would’ve made a splash.”
“Your mom, success is……”
I wiped off my smile and looked up and down at my college classmate that had suddenly appeared with a grim look.
He was definitely a standout guy at a school where only the same sort of guys were gathered. Everyone struggled with high tuition fees at the local private universities, but he was the exception.
He bragged about his expensive watch, which easily exceeded the tuition fee for the semester, and drove a sports car worth that of a local apartment.
When everyone looked at him warily and wagged their tails like a dog in front of a snack, I kept away from him with the excuse of hiding my inferiority complex behind my pride.
Maybe because Park Sung-tae liked crazy dogs better than obedient ones he approached me and we easily became friends. Since then we were stuck together throughout the entirety of our university days.
However, just because the school that we were from and the region we lived in was the same didn’t mean that we were of the same social class. Park Seong-tae and I lived in the same locality but the places where we lived were distinctly different.
Park Seong-tae with his piles of money lived in a fancy and bright place whilst I barely lived day by day in a dingy and dark place.
We, who seemed like we would be together until we died, established ourselves in our respective worlds after graduation and lost contact.
The public defense attorney Sunbae was right.
Passing the bar exam was just the key to getting out of the door of the prison, not a pass card to enter a glamorous world.
“ So, to what honor do we owe your visit to this squalid place? It wouldn’t be another drunk hit-and-run like when you were younger? Even if that’s so, I don’t have the capabilities to get you out. I’m just a local lawyer who deals with simple civil cases at the traditional market to make ends meet.”
In this manner I beat around asking what business he suddenly to me for.
“ How much do you earn in a month?”
“ What?”
“ How much is your monthly income?”
“ You son of a … What is this?”
“ Help me for two months. I’ll give you ten million won “
Whilst, when I heard ten million I almost jumped up and shouted ‘Thank you, sir!’ I firmly suppressed my true colours.
“ You, are you really caught up in a lawsuit? Even so, there are plenty of good lawyers at your father’s company?”
Park Seong-tae’s father is a powerful local property owner who dominates this region. It was so much that you couldn’t walk around without stepping on his family’s property and based on that he managed civil engineering and construction firms that had him soaking in money.
Is there anything that park seong-tae, the second son of a gold spoon family, can ask for from a lawyer dealing with traditional market traders like me?
“Oi! Do you think I still go around getting myself into trouble?”
Part Seong-tae knit his brows whilst biting a cigarette he’d taken out.
“ It’s because I don’t have people, my people…..”
His words said out of the blue made me nervous and on edge.
“ Dong Hyuk, just for two months be my hands and feet…no my eyes and ears. Looking at your state you don’t look like you’d be busy…. Isn’t that so?”
Park Seong-tae said whilst pointing his finger to an empty bowl of cup noodles lined with dried broth and an empty water purifier.
Still his wits are at least useful.
Well, looking at the state of this office even someone senseless let alone being busy they would wonder if it was possible to maintain it.
Park Seong-tae, who might have read my embarrassed expression, said without missing a beat.
“Just two months, ten million after tax. You can think of it as a harmless highly paid part time job. I’m saying this just in case but if it hurts your pride I can give you more.
Not ten million in two months but ten million after tax? Than twenty million?
I wanted to exaggeratedly nod my head right away but I intentionally put on an awkward expression.
“ I don’t know what this is about but I’m a lawyer. Not a fixer.”
“ Dong Hyuk, I’m not asking because you’re a lawyer. You’re one of the few guys around me who is smart and trustworthy. You know it as well that they’re all blockheads who mess around believing in their fathers backing.”
You’re one of those guys dude.
I couldn’t bring myself to say it but it was my honest feeling. But right now with a twenty million won client, isn’t it being considerate to pretend to give in.
“ All right, let’s hear it first. What’s going on?”
After seeing this positive attitude, Park Seongtae lit the cigarette he’d bit in his mouth with a more relaxed expression.
Park Seong-tae briefly read my face before opening his mouth to speak carefully.
“ Actually I’m running for office. So…..”
“ What, running? For an election…?”
Park Seong-tae might have nodded his head but my eyes kept blinking in disbelief.
I thought something bad had happened to his fathers company and he was looking for someone to trust. But what do you mean running for office? An election?
No matter how much of a mess politics was, this kind of punk is jumping in?
Ah…he might have been a close friend but evaluations are meant to be done cold-heartedly.
Although he’s advantageous in having a broad-minded and refreshing personality, I know all too well that apart from that there is not a trace of usefulness in there.
But politics?
Park Seong-tae who read the look of absurdity and ‘what the’ look in my eye continued to scratch his head.
“ There’s a local election coming up. You know that right?”
“Of course I do. You can’t be running for mayor right?”
“Oh please…what mayor….”
Park Seong-tae hurriedly waved his hand.
“ Not that high, I’m running for city council. Firstly, since our region elects 3 people, I don’t think it’s as impossible as a congressman or a mayor…..”
It’s not impossible, but it’s something that’s just as hard and close to impossible as can be.
Hwangdong City, where the two of us live, has a population just shy of a million but is a special metropolitan area.
Outside of the local mayoral election the voter’s interest drops sharply, which makes it difficult to win unless you belong to a strong party.
Since there is a lack of information about individual candidates for city council elections, it’s common for voters to look at your affiliated party and vote that way, ultimately it’s natural then that either the ruling party or the leading opposition candidate ends up winning.
“Did you by any chance get a nomination? Did you use your fathers strength?”
There’s no reason to come and suddenly talk nonsense and considering Park seong-taes family getting a nomination isn’t difficult.
Hwangdong city council has approximately 25 people. Their nominations were controlled perfectly by three congressmen who had Hwangdong city as their constituency.
If we’re talking about Park Seong-taes father, whom he boasted about being the best local property owner in the region, he may have coaxed all three congressmen into it.
When I asked with a sparkle in my eye, Park Seong-tae let out a deep sigh and shook his head.
“In fact I was first promised a nomination. In the ruling party at that. So I thought I’d run as my father told me too. If you come out as a city council member wearing symbol number 1 you know it’s a guaranteed win.
“Seeing you say that you must have fallen out?”
“Yeah. The ruling party and their minions said some nonsense about some democratic process.”
“ Are you going to at least run in the local provincial election?”
“ Yeah. The show through which regional party members vote and canvassed opinions decide the representative.”
Show? An election isn’t a show but it’s perfectly natural and normal.
Well..when has politics in this country ever worked normally?
“ Let’s be clear. Is this a real election? Or is this another way to make money off of your father?”
“ Hey! The election is a show! Those bastards have already selected someone. They’re telling me to play second fiddle!
Park Seong-tae repeatedly puffed his cigarettes in a fit of rage.
“ You know what those bastards said? This time I should show my face within the party to show my presence and come back in four years. Fucking bastards, how much more money are they trying to extort in four years whilst shaking the bait in front of our eyes……
“Didn’t your father already hand over quite a bit of money to you?”
Park Seong-tae nodded his head cautiously.
“Who in Hwangdong city hasn’t been stuffed with my fathers money?”
“ Well then why are you running? Not only city councilors, the mayor and even congressmen should be your fathers people?”
“What people! Those fucking jerks, they’re just blood sucking leeches. When it’s election time they wag their fucking tails, and when their elected you won’t neither hide or hair. That’s why I told you I’ll be a city councilor, then take charge of a district before becoming a member of the National Assembly.
What in the world…well something like that.
With so much money, it’s even possible to think absurdly about buying lawmakers and the national assembly almost like shopping. Unbelievably, it doesn’t seem difficult to put that idea into action.
“So you’re directly running for office yourself and it isn’t easy?”
“My father is so pissed off that he’s stubbornly trying to teach me a lesson. I’m…going to join as an independent candidate.”
“ Independent? Oi! I might not know much about politics, but isn’t running as an independent candidate just a waste of money? Most people don’t care so they just choose either candidate 1 or 2.”
Park Seong-tae grinned.
“ Its different depending on how much that money is”
“ Yo, what kind of world are we living in to be able to buy votes with money? You’ll be going to jail if you violate election laws. I know this well because I’m a lawyer.”
However Park Seong-tae didn’t stop grinning.
“Then should I start with buying a lawyer who knows the law well?”
“What?”
“You still haven’t answered yet. I’ll buy two months of your life. Deal?”
“”What will you do with two months of my life?”
“ I told you. I’m asking you to be my eyes and ears . Ah… It’ll be even better if you become my brain. Lend me that smart brain of yours too.”
At first I had assumed this darn guy would use me for election canvassing. Because I’m a lawyer in this neighbourhood, so at least I could gather the votes from all the market traders.
However, I could see that he had other intentions with the word ‘brain’.
This punk is currently looking for a campaign strategist now.
Footnotes:
Jajangmyeon is a Korean-Chinese noodle dish with black beans. https://www.koreanbapsang.com/jajangmyeon-noodles-in-black-bean-sauce/
State Exam: During the Goryeo and Joseon Dynasty refers to the national civil service examination. According to wiki Noble status during the Joseon Dynasty was decided by education level; generally, passing court exams led to an easier path into upper class status.
Sunbae: A classmate or colleague that started school or work before you did.
He offers 천만 won which directly translates to 10,000,000 currently that’s like 10K in dollars.
