Judgement

The law. It was something that had fascinated Kim Da Eun since she was a child. Her father had been a lawyer before a heart attack killed him two years ago. She missed him; He had been her idol, her main reason for getting into law. She was however grateful that he had lived to see her graduate, start working at a prestigious firm and win her very first case, that had been four years ago. She wished he was here now. He had always been her go to person when she had any issues and more so anything work related. Like now. She got up from her desk, glass of red wine in hand and headed to the large glass doors which led out to a private balcony. Working for a fancy law firm meant she could afford to live in Cheongdam-dong. Their clientele were usually people who in her opinion had more money than sense and would probably hire a lawyer if their dog had a fight with their neighbour’s dog. But their overflowing wallets filled hers so she did her job well, got paid well and life went on. It wasn’t often she was met with a dilemma that had her questioning her profession. As she walked out onto the balcony she took a deep breath. It calmed her frayed nerves just a tiny bit. The night was perfectly clear. A gorgeous star studded sky above a city that she called home. From where she stood, the rest of the city looked so peaceful. Thousand s of twinkling lights the only sign that there were people there. People whose lives were probably much less complicated than hers at the moment. She downed the rest of her wine, took one last look at the city and headed back indoors. Like her father always said, problems were not like people, they did not go away if you ignored them long enough.

Da Eun had known Park Min Jun for over a decade before she him. He had been a child star, debuting as an idol when he was only fifteen years old. He had gone on to become everything from musician to actor to model and scoring major successes in all he did. He was every agency’s dream artist, an impressive work record, sponsors lining up to get him to endorse their products and virtually no scandal till about two years ago. Random incidents had begun popping up, showing that he was not as squeaky clean as the public had been made to believe. It however did not help that whatever rumour that started would result in a netizen war of ridiculous proportions. On one hand there were his undying fans who believed their precious “oppa” could do no wrong. On the other hand were the social police who came out in arms saying his agency should stop cleaning up after him so the public could get to know the kind of person their idol was and not this puppeteered image peddled by the agency. In simple terms, they called him a “spoiled adult brat”, a term his fandom did not take too well. So the battle of words continued, the controversy didn’t lessen and for the rest of us life went on as usual.

That was however till a week ago. Min Jun had been accused of sexual assault, the person was pressing charges and the media was having a field day. It was just Da Eun’s luck to land the case and after getting the briefing on its main details which were not much she was scheduled to meet her new client. Since the story had broken the news, neither he nor his agency had come out to state where they stood. The most that had come was a brief statement from his agency claiming that they will get to the bottom of this unfortunate incident.

Da Eun’s first impression of Min Jun at their first meeting was exceptionally handsome childlike adult. Something about him made her think of anime character. Probably the makeup, however if so it was done extremely well. He seemed petulant; Da Eun couldn’t find a better word to describe the aura he gave off. It wasn’t that he was outright rude, but one could tell that he clearly did not want to be there and he was not going to try and hide it. It was at times like this that Da Eun wished for an out of court settlement. Unfortunately for her and

Min Jun, the plaintiff in this case was way too keen on court. Da Eun personally felt she was just out to prove a point that even celebrities had to abide by the law. It was a noble endeavour, after all that is why there was the law right? To maintain order and regulate the existence of human beings in a harmonious manner.

Da Eun had begun by asking Min Jun to tell her his side of the story. His response was not very elaborate. Apparently, the plaintiff had seen him, been star struck, come to him in an attempt to get physically close to him. He was not sure of her specific intentions and had made to “escape”. In the process he had physically handled her to get her out of his way. This had been at a high end club in Seoul. The altercation had lasted less than two minutes and witnesses had not really offered anything solid enough to count as evidence. It was basically a case of he said - she said. Her story was even less elaborate but definitely more damaging. According to her, Min Jun had approached her, forced himself on her, kissed her and she had wrestled out of his grasp. The only link between the two stories was that there had been some physical contact. Only both parties knew how much and because they were saying different things it proved someone was lying. Da Eun had pointed this out to which Min Jun had asked her if her job wasn’t to make “this” go way. She emphasised that the only way she could attempt to that was if he was honest with her and trusted that she was only after getting the best solution for him. At that moment he had blurted out.

“She is not even my type!”

Totally random, followed by a shrug then silence. Not much progress was made after that & the meeting ended with Da Eun having way more answers than questions. They were scheduled for one more meeting before the court appearance and Da Eun hoped that by then, she would have something concrete to work with.

The second meeting was on the set of one of Min Jun’s dramas where he played a young prince makeup and costume made Da Eun feel like she was meeting a new client all over again. Even the way he carried himself was different, it was like being on set made him stay permanently in character. They only had half an hour so Da Eun hoped they could achieve more than they had in their first meeting. She began by explaining to him how the hearing would go. Considering that there was no concrete evidence, both parties would have to take the stand. She ran through her cross examining questions with him as well as questions the plaintiff’s lawyer would likely ask in order to make him admit his guilt. Once more she asked if there was anything else he wanted to tell her. She had received the results of a sobriety test taken of both parties on the night of the incident and it turned out both were considerably intoxicated. This further poked holes into their stories, they were both drunk, their recollections could not be completely accurate.

 Da Eun gave Min Jun   possible plea options. An innocent plea would play up the crazy fan story, and call the physical interaction a result of self-defence. They would stick to Min Jun’s claims that the kiss had never happened. Second option, a guilty plea. They could claim the interaction was consensual and that the plaintiff changed her mind when she realised nothing more was coming out of it. Option three would be an innocent plea with a counter suing for defamation. For nearly five minutes, Min Jun did not say anything and Da Eun was starting to wonder if he had heard anything she had said. She was just contemplating whether she should repeat everything when he spoke up in an almost childlike voice.

“She called me gay.”

“What?”

“She called me gay. I told her I wasn’t. She kept saying it. I told her to shut up. She wouldn’t so I shut her up. I kissed her. I wanted her to stop.”

Out of all the possible scenarios Da Eun had tried to come up with, none had prepared her for this. As she thought about it, she realised that it wouldn’t be surprising for someone to question Min Jun’s sexuality. There was almost non-existent information on his dating life or even his interactions with either women or men for that matter. For someone who had been in the public eye for a decade, a lot of work must have gone into keep that part of his life well hidden.

“Are you gay?”

“You said you want the truth. There it is now make it go away!”

“You are not answering the question…”

“It has nothing to do with the case.”

But it does, we can use that as grounds to claim defamation and…”

“No!”

“But...”

“You cannot prove she actually said it. She’d just deny it and only give the media more information to speculate on.”

“So we go with the guilty plea then?”

“Bo. Innocent.”

“You’re looking at alt least two years in jail if this backfires.”

“Make it go away.” And with that Min Jun had gotten up and left the dressing room, concluding the meeting.

The night before the court appearance Da Eun did not sleep. In her head she kept seeing the way Min Jun’s face had changed when he said no. But he had been provoked. Bringing that up gave him way better chances of getting out of this mess unscathed. But she understood his reasoning, that was the kind of information that would open a can of worms with the media. They would literally haunt him till they got answers. Whichever way they pled, a negative result would have disastrous consequences for Min Jun. Without even bringing in the jail term, just the scandal that would ensue would be enough to destroy any showbiz career. Da Eun felt like she held his fate in her hands and it was not the most pleasant of feelings she had ever had. At around 3am she had accepted that she was not going to get any sleep so she got out of bed and decided to go over her notes and closing statement for the hearing. She had a plan; she just hoped it would work.

When Da Eun arrived at the courthouse, just before 8 a.m., there were already reporters milling around outside. The media was being kept out of the actual proceedings but they were ready for the first bit of news that would come out.

The hearing was uneventful for the most part. Min Jun and the girl’s testimonies, the questionings and cross examinations. The girl’s lawyer actually hadn’t been as hard on Min Jun as Da Eun had thought. Min Jun however did not agree. The judge actually looked bored. All went well till the closing statements. Da Eun then realised the plaintiff’s lawyer had been saving the “best” for last. All the things she had though he would accuse Min Jun of when he took the stand were in the closing statement. This was clever, in this way; Min Jun could not deny any of it. He proceeded to pain a pretty ugly picture and the longer he spoke, the sicker Da Eun felt. Once he was done, it was Da Eun’s turn to do some damage control. She took a deep breath then began.

“Being in the public eye is no easy feat. My client has had to live with that for over a decade. It is this so called celebrity life that bred the provocation which resulted in this incident. Were he an ordinary member of society this provocation would not have had as much of an effect.” In that moment, Da Eun had turned briefly to be met by Min Jun’s glare. If looks could kill, she would have dropped dead in that instant. She did not keep her eyes on him for long. After assuring herself he would just hate her but not interrupt she continued.

“It was a bar, not very well lit and my client was clearly intoxicated. When you have lived your whole life being shielded from strangers, over enthusiastic fans a stalkers, an unknown person approaching you and infringing on your personal space forces you to react. A fight or flee mode takes over no preplanning. In that enclosed space there was no way my client could have distanced himself from the plaintiff without touching her. It I situation we would like to be considered in the deliberation of a verdict.”

ONE WEEK LATER

Da Eun walked into her office and was met by a huge bouquet of peach and deep pink roses. There was a pretty card attached and inside was a simple handwritten message, “Thank you.” It was from Min Jun. Da Eun smiled. The hearing had gone well. Min Jun had been acquitted and because they had not counter sued, his secret had remained a secret.

The night before the hearing, Da Eun had thought more about her profession in a manner she hadn’t in years. Was law about following a set of rules without considering the context? Was it a law unto itself, black and white when the people it governed did not always behave in a black and white manner? Did something being “law” make it right or was it something just popularised or enforced? Was her job meant to follow the rules or put her client first? Wasn’t it after all the purpose of the law to first protect before persecute? Among all those questions, she had found her answer.