A Somewhat Unusual Lawyer - Chapter 2

My late grandfather had once told me.
That death is not extinction, but shedding one’s physical body.
Nam Da-reum felt as if he could finally understand the meaning of those words.
When he opened his eyes, there was an endlessly stretching pure white space.
It was a bizarre place where height, direction, and even depth could not be gauged.
He also felt as though he could smell something akin to incense at the tip of his nose.
In the center of the pure white space, a single pavilion stood alone.
On the pavilion’s signboard, the characters [Hall of Seated Meditation] were glowing strangely.

‘Hall of Seated Meditation…?’

The moment he read the letters, his left eye burned.
It was then.

“Have you regained your senses?”

A young woman’s voice could be heard calmly from somewhere.
Turning his head toward the sound, he saw a young woman wearing a black dopo (traditional Korean overcoat) standing there.
Her appearance was exactly like that of a Grim Reaper.

‘Am I… dead?’

He slowly retraced his memories.
He definitely remembered up to the point of being stabbed with a weapon by a mysterious assailant.

“Where… is this place? Am I dead?”

At that question, the woman gently raised the corners of her lips.

“Yes. This is a place where only the dead can come.”

At those words, his heart went ice-cold.
The moment of being stabbed flashed by like lightning, and soon, Nam Da-jeong’s face came to mind.
Thinking of his younger sister who would be left all alone, his chest felt tight.
At that moment, the woman’s voice was heard again.

“This is the Hall of Seated Meditation. It is a place where those whose lives were cut short before fulfilling their destined lifespan briefly stop by. I am the manager of this place, Ryu Soo-young.”

Before he could fully understand the meaning of her words, a long bundle of scrolls dropped with a thud in front of Nam Da-reum.

“Mr. Nam Da-reum. You have many uncompleted bonds and unresolved karma. For that reason, King Yama commanded that you be given a choice…”

At that moment, the sound of urgent, thumping footsteps echoed from beyond the unfathomably distant space.
Soon, a scribe clutching a fist-sized scroll ran in, panting heavily.

“Manager Ryu!!! We have a huge problem!!!”

Ryu Soo-young blinked.

“What brings the Scribe of the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva all the way here?”

The scribe held out the small scroll to Ryu Soo-young.

“It’s a disaster. That person!!! He’s not dead yet! They say his heartbeat has returned! We have to send him back down. Hurry!”

The manager of the Hall of Seated Meditation stuttered as if flustered.

“Uh…? That can’t be…”
“We don’t have time to delay like this. Send him down immediately!”
“It’s not that… I’ve already… finished allocating the Left Eye to him…”
“Excuse me? Just now? You’ve already issued the Left Eye?!!!”

Both of their gazes simultaneously locked onto Nam Da-reum’s left eye.
A cold wind brushed past his eyelid, and then his left pupil burned fiercely.

“Mr. Nam Da-reum.”

Ryu Soo-young called his name in an urgent voice.

“There is no time, so listen carefully. You have been granted the mission of ‘Executor of Unpunished Crimes’ by King Yama. Originally, this is a role only bestowed upon the dead, but… the situation has turned out like this. Still, the goal of resolving karma remains the same.”

Da-reum clutched his burning left eye. It felt as if hot lava were churning inside his eyeball.

“To carry out this mission, you have been granted the Left Eye by King Yama. If you use that eye to reveal the unpunished crimes of humans that have yet to come to light and ease the grudges of the wrongfully wronged, that merit will also extend to your family members who have already departed for the afterlife. It will be a path to hastening the reincarnation of those who could not live out their destined lifespans.”

The scribe shouted, almost like a scream.

“There’s no time! Sending him back!”

Along with the scribe’s desperate cry, the world turned upside down.
Even amidst that, Ryu Soo-young’s voice lingered in his ears like an echo.

“Mr. Nam Da-reum. With that eye, sever the hell entangled in your bloodline.”

Beep- Beep-
The regular electronic sound pounded inside his ears.
When he opened his eyes, the white light of the fluorescent lamp pierced his corneas.

“Oppa…! Are you awake? Do you recognize who I am?”

Beyond his blurry vision, Nam Da-jeong’s heavily swollen face came into view.
She had cried so much that even the tip of her nose was swollen red.

“You look so ugly… Stop crying, you punk.”

As he spat out those words in a cracked voice, Nam Da-jeong burst into even louder tears.

“Waaaaah… Oppaaaa… I thought you really died… sniff… What am I supposed to do if you leave me… How am I supposed to live all by myself…”

Behind Nam Da-jeong, who was clinging to him while shedding streams of tears, someone’s shadow flickered.
Turning his head, he saw a man in a black suit standing there with his hands shoved in his trouser pockets.

‘Huh?’

Nam Da-reum squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them again.
As his focus adjusted, the man’s face became clear.
It was Ma Sang-hyun.

‘Why is that person…’

Nam Da-reum stared fixedly at Ma Sang-hyun without saying a word.
Then, Nam Da-jeong sniffled and chimed in.

“Oppa, if it hadn’t been for Lawyer Ma Sang-hyun, really… you would have died, you know? He helped move you to the hospital, and he helped with the registration and the payments too…”

It was a situation where he should readily offer his thanks, but Da-reum ultimately couldn’t lower his guard.
It was because the bizarre auditory hallucination he had just heard and the burning pain in his left eye were pushing him to the edge of a cliff.
Da-reum hesitated for a moment before barely squeezing out a greeting in a voice as dry as if it were burning up.

“…Thank you.”

At that moment, the hospital room door opened, and a man with a sturdy build walked in.
After confirming that Nam Da-reum’s consciousness had fully returned, he spoke.

“Oh my. You’ve woken up. That’s such a relief. I know it must be hard for you, so just listen for now, okay? I am Inspector Jang Joo-young from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s Mobile Detective Division.”

In a clear voice, he calmly explained the situation at the time Nam Da-reum was attacked.

“Mr. Nam Da-reum, you were unconscious after being attacked in front of your door, and fortunately, the report was made quickly so you passed the critical point. The assailant is currently on the run, but we will absolutely catch them and bring them in.”
“…The assailant is…”

At the question squeezed out with difficulty, Inspector Jang Joo-young shook his head with a gloomy expression.

“Not yet. Your statement is desperately needed, Mr. Nam Da-reum, but for now, recovery is the priority. And if it weren’t for Lawyer Ma Sang-hyun, things could have been really bad. They say you collapsed while clutching his business card tightly, so your sister contacted him. It’s truly a stroke of heavenly luck.”

The moment his gaze reached him, his left eyelid was engulfed in a sharp pain, as if it were being pricked by needles.
One side of his vision wavered and distorted, as if submerged in water.
It was when this abnormal sensation was gnawing away at Da-reum’s reason.
Clack, the hospital room door opened with a heavy sound, and the attending doctor walked in.
The doctor shone a penlight into Nam Da-reum’s pupils a few times and tossed out a few questions.

“Pupillary response is good. Patient. You can hear and see well, right? The penetrating wound to the abdomen was severe and caused heavy bleeding, but because there was no organ damage, it stopped at this level. Your vitals are also normal, and if you rest like this, your recovery will be quick.”

It was a dry, emotionless tone of voice.
But at that moment, black letters bloomed above his forehead.
The letters, which rose up creepingly like smoke, soon embedded themselves clearly onto the attending doctor’s forehead.

[Assault]

Nam Da-reum rubbed his eyes reflexively.
However, the letters did not disappear.
The doctor continued speaking as if nothing was wrong.

“You’re currently on painkillers, so there shouldn’t be any pain, but if you do feel any, press the button next to the bed. I’ll administer more painkillers.”

Nam Da-reum drew in a sharp breath.
The letters embedded in the doctor’s forehead. They were definitely engraved as ‘Assault’.
Even if he turned his head or rubbed his eyes, the letters remained in place without wavering.

‘What the… Is this a hallucination caused by the painkillers?’

His vision sloshed like a wave before becoming clear again.
The doctor spoke with a tranquil expression while looking into the chart.

“Well then, please rest. If your condition is okay, you might be able to be discharged around next week. Also, Detective, and guardian, let’s step outside to talk for a moment.”

The doctor called Nam Da-jeong and Inspector Jang Joo-young out to the hallway.
As the heavy hospital room door closed, only Nam Da-reum and Ma Sang-hyun were left in the space.
A terrible silence descended.
Nam Da-reum slowly turned his head to look to the side. Ma Sang-hyun was still standing by the window without making a single movement. The cold fluorescent light settled over his silhouette, which had its back turned to the darkness outside the window.

“You just saw it, didn’t you?”

Nam Da-reum tried hard to feign ignorance as he answered.

“What are you talking about?”

Then, Ma Sang-hyun’s gaze slowly shifted to Nam Da-reum’s face.
He pointed at Nam Da-reum’s left eye with his finger and said.

“I asked if you saw that doctor’s crime with your Left Eye.”

At that moment, Nam Da-reum was certain.

‘Lawyer Ma Sang-hyun is a supernatural entity.’

Suddenly, his left eye flared up hotly. Nam Da-reum instinctively covered his eye.

“It’s not a hallucination.”

Ma Sang-hyun’s voice was low and clear.

“Right now, you’ve seen the unpunished crimes of other humans with your Left Eye.”
“Unpunished crimes…?”
“Yes. Crimes that have been committed, but not yet punished.”

Nam Da-reum caught his breath and asked back in a hoarse voice.

“Does that make any sense?”

Ma Sang-hyun let out a low chuckle.

“Why wouldn’t it make sense? Mr. Nam Da-reum, you died and came back to life, and you even went to the Hall of Seated Meditation and received the Left Eye, the eye of King Yama.”
“…King Yama’s eye?”
“Yes. That is the Left Eye. Didn’t Manager Ryu Soo-young tell you?”
“…How do you know that name…”

Nam Da-reum’s throat dried up on its own.

“Most people who wake up after going to the Hall of Seated Meditation are like that. They don’t believe it on the first day.”

Ma Sang-hyun took a step closer from the window.

“But you will know soon enough. That you can’t pretend not to know what you see.”

Nam Da-reum remained silent. The heat on his left eyelid gradually subsided.
The letters he had just seen still flickered in his vision like afterimages.

“So, what are you telling me to do about it?”

Ma Sang-hyun approached the foot of the bed.

“That is something you will gradually figure out, Mr. Nam Da-reum. Until you adapt to the Left Eye, how about working at our law firm?”
“…?”

It was a truly out-of-the-blue proposal.
Ma Sang-hyun continued speaking with a smile.

“I heard that nearly all law firms rejected your application before you were attacked. It’s strange, isn’t it? To think they would all turn away the top scorer of the bar exam.”
“…”
“Your grandfather was a judge, right? Former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Nam Jong-taek.”

In an instant, Nam Da-reum’s eyes widened.

“How… do you know that?”

Ma Sang-hyun’s voice lowered solidly.

“‘The dignity of the law is completed when it protects the weak.’ He was a man with a thorough sense of justice, and more resolute than anyone else when it came to the weak. Your father was Prosecutor General Nam Gi-hoon. Is that correct?”

Nam Da-reum choked up for a moment and swallowed his answer.
Ma Sang-hyun stared intently at Nam Da-reum, then added his words.

“There aren’t many accidents in this world. Especially for those who have dealt with law and justice for a long time.”

Ma Sang-hyun’s voice was strangely definitive.
Nam Da-reum quietly drew in a breath.
His heart beat fast, but his fingertips had rather gone cold.

“If that… wasn’t an accident.”

They were words he spat out as if muttering to himself.
At that moment, Ma Sang-hyun spoke in a low voice.

“However, there is one thing I can tell you for sure. The fact that I went to find you, Mr. Nam Da-reum, is probably not a coincidence.”

That single phrase remained as a bizarre echo in Da-reum’s ears. The boundaries of reality were crumbling like a sandcastle.
His vision swayed precariously again, as if submerged in deep waves.

“If you really don’t feel inclined, you can start with a short-term contract first.”

He finished speaking and tossed an envelope onto the bed.
It was a familiar envelope.
It was the envelope he had opened before being attacked.
The cold case of a murdered prosecutor.
Nam Da-reum’s gaze consciously brushed past the envelope.
Ma Sang-hyun continued indifferently.

“The victim’s family wants to file a request for an investigation review. They believe the case wasn’t resolved due to problems with the fairness of the investigation process. Our office took on this case.”
“Are you entrusting this to me?”
“Yes. No matter how short the contract is, you can’t just play around, right? Think it over while handling that case. Who knows? It might not end with just a request for a review, and you might even solve the case.”

He smiled and pointed at Nam Da-reum’s left eye.
A long sigh escaped him.
For some reason, he felt as though he absolutely couldn’t refuse his proposal.
Nam Da-reum chose his words as if putting up a wall.

“Understood. However, I have conditions. The contract period will be three months. With no implicit renewal. If you agree to these conditions, I will work under you, Lawyer Ma.”
“So you just want to dip your toes in for a bit? Well, fine. Let’s do that.”

Ma Sang-hyun smiled and held out his hand.
The two men’s hands met in a short but heavy handshake.
At that moment, the fluorescent light flickered with a tick.
Ma Sang-hyun’s lips twisted into a smirk for a moment before neatly smoothing out.

“I look forward to working with you. Lawyer Nam Da-reum.”