Chapter 20
Prosecutor Yang turned pale and shouted.
"This is evidence not agreed upon in advance. We can't accept it!"
"We obtained this evidence just now during the recess, so we couldn't apply for it beforehand. It's decisive proof—please allow it."
"Hoo.... Both sides, approach the bench."
Judge Go Ilguk was already rubbing his forehead, as if his head ached just from this.
At the podium, Prosecutor Yang spat as he yelled at me.
"Your Honor, this is evidence not agreed upon in advance! We can't adopt evidence whose contents are unknown!"
"Counsel. What is the nature of this evidence, and what does it contain?"
"It's decisive proof that the defendant is innocent. It's a video."
"A video?"
Prosecutor Yang turned ashen and stared at me. Hearing it was decisive proof of my client's innocence must have made his legs go weak.
"That's right."
"Then we'll first view the evidence and decide whether to adopt it through the court's deliberation."
A heavy silence fell over the courtroom as they waited for the video to play. Kim Hyeongjun pressed his trembling hand with the other to stop the shaking, while Kim Yeonjun looked at me in utter confusion.
Weeeeng— The sound of the computer recognizing the USB drive echoed. Though not loud, it rang out noisily in the courtroom, amplified like through a speaker.
A video player popped up on the monitor. As soon as the play button was pressed, a man's bellow filled the air without delay.
"Fuck, just talk to me, goddamn it!"
It looked like footage from a hidden camera somewhere. The top and bottom edges of the screen were blacked out. But the terrified couple was exposed in stark clarity.
Thud! Thud! The door to the master bedroom shook from kicks, the doorknob rattling as if something was about to smash it open.
"If you don't open this door, I'll fucking smash everything in this house!"
Startled by the words, Yeo Hee-sook approached the door, but Kim Cheol-hwan blocked her, shaking his head—no, don't. Yet she squeezed her eyes shut and unlocked the door.
"I'm just asking to talk, why won't you listen? Huh?! Look me in the face and talk straight!"
And there, squeezing through the door, was Kim Hyeongjun holding a baseball bat.
A murmur rippled through the gallery. Relatives gaped in disbelief, and the maternal grandmother covered her face, beginning to sob.
"Hyung! Don't! Talk it out, okay? Talk it out!"
Kim Yeonjun rushed in after him and grabbed the baseball bat in Kim Hyeongjun's hand. Kim Hyeongjun's hand, gloved in thin latex, roughly shoved him away. Pushed by the force, Kim Yeonjun slammed his back into a drawer corner and winced in pain.
"Get out of the way, you orphan bastard!"
"Hyeongjun, why are you doing this.... Put down the bat. Calm down and talk to Dad, alright?"
Kim Cheol-hwan hugged the panicking, trembling Yeo Hee-sook and spoke.
"You should've just raised your own kid right instead of wasting money adopting some orphan piece of shit like this, fuck!"
"Hyeongjun, your business—"
"Shut up!"
Kim Hyeongjun kicked Kim Cheol-hwan, sending him tumbling under the bed. Then he began swinging the bat down.
"Urk! Ugh!"
He didn't even give time to groan properly—the beating continued relentlessly.
"Honey!"
Yeo Hee-sook's scream tore through the air like it was ripping apart, and Kim Yeonjun charged at Kim Hyeongjun again.
"Stop, please! Don't do it! This is gonna end badly!"
"Let go, you fucking prick! Who the hell do you think you are, butting in with no roots!"
Kim Yeonjun tried to wrest the bat away again. The angle didn't show it clearly, but it seemed Kim Hyeongjun elbowed him in the solar plexus. Kim Yeonjun collapsed in agony once more.
With the obstacle cleared, Kim Hyeongjun raised the bat again and resumed beating the fallen Kim Cheol-hwan on the floor.
"Hyeongjun, please.... Please stop! Honey, honey!"
Yeo Hee-sook wailed. She crawled to Kim Cheol-hwan, who was convulsing on the floor, and embraced him, sobbing.
"We'll do whatever you want, so please stop, Hyeongjun.... Just stop!"
"What the fuck are you saying, you bitch? Move!"
Kim Hyeongjun kicked Yeo Hee-sook aside. She toppled over, and he brutally struck the prone, convulsing Kim Cheol-hwan.
Squeak! Splack! Blood sprayed with every swing of the bat.
"Please, stop, hyung! Please! Waaah, stop!"
Kim Yeonjun sprang toward Kim Cheol-hwan. He hugged him protectively.
"Dad, Dad, come to your senses.... Dad!"
Kim Yeonjun shook him while sobbing. He frantically checked for a pulse, pressing here and there.
"Mom, ca-call... call an ambulance... Mom."
Kim Yeonjun stammered in panic, but Kim Cheol-hwan already seemed gone.
Yeo Hee-sook raised her phone at his words. But Kim Hyeongjun didn't miss it.
"What the fuck are you doing, bitch."
He grabbed her by the hair and slammed her to the floor.
"Fucking! Bitch! Talking shit!"
Blood splattered anew with every bat swing at Yeo Hee-sook.
"Aaaagh! Ack!"
Kim Yeonjun tried to shield her, but Kim Hyeongjun kicked him away.
"Stop.... Please, stop.... Hic, sob."
Kim Yeonjun clung weakly to him, but Kim Hyeongjun ignored it and kept swinging. Soon after, she stopped moving entirely. Not even a twitch.
Kim Hyeongjun quietly approached the couple and checked if they were dead. Kim Yeonjun stood dazed, staring blankly.
"How.... How could this...."
Kim Yeonjun muttered the same words over and over, out of his mind.
Panting roughly, Kim Hyeongjun jolted at the sudden doorbell and bolted to the living room. From afar, police pounded on the door, shouting.
Kim Hyeongjun rushed back to the master bedroom and thrust the bat at Kim Yeonjun.
"Hold this for a sec."
"......"
Kim Yeonjun, completely out of it, took the bat as handed to him. Kim Hyeongjun peeled off his latex gloves and slipped his hand into his pants pocket—hiding them in his underwear, it seemed.
Once ready, he dashed to the front door. The screen stayed fixed on the couple's corpses and Kim Yeonjun standing there dumbly with the bat.
But moments later, Kim Hyeongjun's wails echoed from afar as he cried to the police.
"Please, sob, save my parents! Stop Yeonjun! Kuuuh...."
The video ended there.
A frigid silence enveloped the courtroom. Even the judge seemed speechless, and Prosecutor Yang couldn't hide his fluster.
I glanced at the gallery. Kang Minjae was quietly giving me a thumbs-up.
"Oh, Lawyer?"
I'd stayed at the office preparing for trial instead of going home, and there was Kang Minjae, coming in before dawn.
"You're out early? Wait, same clothes. You didn't go home?"
"Prepping for trial and had some thinking to do."
"Whew. Because of the camera, right?"
Kang Minjae set down his bag and headed to the coffee pot.
"I thought about it at home too. If we bring up issues with Kim Hyeongjun's business and push a strong motive for the crime, we can probably get a second hearing date. Better to find the camera or figure something out by then, yeah?"
As he brewed coffee, I smoked and watched the sunrise. Knowing the video evidence existed but not finding it—dragging this out was unbearably frustrating.
"By the way, Yeo Hee-sook's story is so tragic. People need an outlet for stress. Her hobby was watching movies, but even fabricated cursing sent her into panic, robbing her of that too. She couldn't even vent her stress. And it wrecked her daily life."
He handed me a cup and lit his own cigarette.
"She must've died with all that stress pent up. It's heartbreaking."
"Yeah."
"I rewatched the program she was on at home—left me speechless. She was so lively, always smiling."
Kang Minjae leaned on the veranda railing and shook his head. Like me, his mind was probably uneasy, so he'd come in early. Hoping to do more, find something else.
"The doctor said even hearing cursing triggered panic, making her reflexively search for the camera."
"Yeah."
"Making daily life impossible."
"Right."
"But Yeo Hee-sook had more broadcasting gigs than therapy sessions. Enough to need a manager."
"And?"
"She panicked at cursing sounds, ruining her daily life. But broadcasts don't have cursing. If she'd just warned people around her not to curse, she could've kept working."
I sipped my coffee, piecing thoughts together. A vague idea floated, almost connecting.
"Do broadcast staff curse a lot during prep?"
"Dunno, never been on one. But yeah, they probably do. We do."
"The Happy Home director was cursing at the assistant director."
I suddenly recalled my first visit to the station. The assistant seemed used to it, unfazed even when profanities leaked out of the editing room.
"During Happy Home filming, at Yeo Hee-sook's request, she checked footage and fixed makeup every take. Doubled the shooting time, must've pissed off the director. Probably chewed out the assistant right there with double curses."
"......Then."
"Cameras were set up all over the house for filming. If she panicked hearing the assistant get cursed at..."
"She'd reflexively hit record."
"And that moment would've been caught on one of the shoot cameras."