Chapter 231
"Welcome, Lawyer Cha."
She had arrived before me. I gave a brief nod of greeting and sat down across from her.
Lee Se-hwa looked much brighter than the last time I'd seen her. I suddenly recalled what someone had said at lunch today in the restaurant—that only Lee Se-hwa had been passed over.
"How have you been?"
"I'm doing well. Ever since Park Younggi got promoted, everything's been sailing smoothly, like a ship with the wind at its back."
"It's not because of Park's promotion. It's because you handled the situation so beautifully, Lawyer Cha."
Lee Se-hwa said it with a peculiar smile. With the man in question absent, I couldn't tell if she was putting him down or building me up.
I didn't respond and just took a sip of water to wet my throat.
"I hear Lee Jeongchan is stepping down as leader of the Minwoo Party."
"I heard. Embargo until the day after tomorrow."
"You really do have the fastest information, Lawyer Cha. Even I, the leader of the first opposition party, only found out this morning."
"Isn't that why you wanted to meet?"
Lee Se-hwa playfully narrowed her eyes at me.
"Lawyer Cha, you seem to know me too well. I guess I should just die right here."
I let out a small chuckle. If the target hadn't been Lee Se-hwa, I might have laughed a bit louder.
"Whatever the deal between Lee Jeongchan and Kang Jongmyeong, it looks like it wrapped up successfully. There must've been some noise along the way, though."
She said it while neatly rearranging the utensils in front of her.
"Wasn't splitting the Minwoo Party your plan, Lawyer Cha? Too bad it doesn't look like it'll happen. What now?"
Lee Se-hwa gazed at me again with that interviewer face. Even though we were cooperating on this case, I wasn't her strategist. It was problematic for her to look at me like, 'Things aren't going the way you said—what are you going to do?'
"It's unfortunate. Kang Jongmyeong turned out to be more capable than expected. Or maybe he has capable aides."
I replied as if it were no big deal.
Lee Se-hwa stared at me blankly for a moment. It felt cold, but her face revealed no other emotions.
'I'm not in the mood for jokes right now?' Something like that might pop out.
"Haha, ahahaha!"
But contrary to my expectations, she soon broke into laughter, her expression softening.
I watched her silently, not opening my mouth rashly.
"Lawyer Cha, you're such a master of putting on airs—ninth dan level."
Lee Se-hwa couldn't hold back her laughter even as the server knocked and came in to set the dishes on the table.
"You must feel burdened by how much I covet you, Lawyer Cha. That's why every time I expect something, you respond like, 'Don't get your hopes up.'"
Once the server left, Lee Se-hwa continued.
It wasn't wrong. More annoying than burdensome, though.
"Or maybe you've laid down enough groundwork for me, so now it's 'handle the rest yourself, and I'll see how you cope. Time to test you out'—is that your mindset?"
The first time I met her, I'd predicted that completely toppling the Minwoo Party would be tough. So I suggested cutting off Lee Jeongchan and splitting the party in half. She accepted it.
That's why I'd shown her my hand like a favor—revealing how deeply Lee Jeongchan was entangled in the Myeonghwa Pharma case.
I thought that would be the end of it, but unfortunately, only the party split failed. My original goal had been Lee Jeongchan's downfall, not the party's—not the Minwoo Party's—so even in this situation, I'd achieved my objective.
Which meant I had no more reason to cooperate with her.
Still, the reason I'd shown up here was simple. Lee Jeongchan needed to be crushed so thoroughly he couldn't rise again, but Kang Jongmyeong had soothed him too well, leaving him an opening for recovery.
Even so, in this situation, who was more desperate? Obviously Lee Se-hwa. I could sabotage Lee Jeongchan's comeback timing later, but with the presidential election looming, she couldn't afford the Minwoo Party uniting.
So, just as she'd tested me first, wasn't I in a position to test her now?
"Hearing you say that makes me feel like I'm being too presumptuous."
But since I'd already put on the act, I decided to play it out a bit more.
"Actually, you're right. I called you because I figured Lawyer Cha had another card up his sleeve. And yeah, the sparks are flying at my feet right now."
Lee Se-hwa admitted it more readily than expected. She had no choice in her position. I'd set this board, and she'd only been let in on it.
Coldly speaking, her role in this case was little more than a megaphone.
"So, I thought about what I could offer you, Lawyer Cha."
What could Lee Se-hwa offer me? Nothing.
I had no intention of entering politics—at least not now. What could the opposition leader give me that I couldn't get elsewhere?
Even outside politics, anything she offered, Kang Gwanung could provide too.
I took a sip of tea, anticipating what she'd say.
"But... nothing."
She answered crisply.
"I racked my brain, but there's nothing. I even considered offering you a spot as Blue House spokesperson. But to do that, you'd need to join our party and build some more career anyway, so that fell through too."
Blue House spokesperson. For someone with scant prosecutor or lawyer experience like me, she was even thinking of promising that.
The Blue House spokesperson was also a public face. It usually went to someone who could earn public trust—often well-known anchors or media figures.
They exploited the subtle assumption that journalists stayed neutral.
Offering it to me, who fit none of that? I hadn't seen it coming.
"To think you'd consider something like Blue House spokesperson for me—I'm grateful."
"But one thing. Even if you're not interested in politics right now, Lawyer Cha, people change their minds eventually. They all do. Lee Jeongchan, me, Kang Jongmyeong—even the professor. No one enters the judicial world planning to go into politics from the start."
"I see."
"When you eventually want to enter politics, I'll help you. Hmm, 'help' feels a bit light. 'Push you forward' is more accurate."
No one can predict even the very next moment of their future. What to do for a living, what path to take... Most people die still agonizing over it.
Trading on that future was a surprisingly solid strategy. Not some middling position, but one guaranteed by the opposition leader and future president.
Even if it was a field I had zero interest in now, most would pocket the promise figuring it couldn't hurt.
"I appreciate the offer, but I'm good."
The unfortunate part? This was my second life.
I'd already lived through enough. Based on that, I'd planned how to take down Wooshin. Entering politics wasn't in it.
Even thinking about life after Wooshin, I didn't want politics. I'd already made plenty of money and just wanted to live out the leisurely.
"You're still young, Lawyer Cha, so maybe that's why. But no one knows the future. Won't you regret cutting it off so decisively?"
The moment I realized how much power came from having something to offer. For someone like Lee Se-hwa, it was her social status.
With it, she could guarantee positions and futures to get what she wanted. Lee Se-hwa, Lee Jeongchan, even Go Sangjun—they'd all used it as a weapon to get their way easily.
Of course, such positions were limited, and she was selective, so she couldn't overuse it. But it had surely been a huge help at key moments.
People craved positions for one reason: the unknowable future. The path their future selves should take, unclear with their current selves.
They wanted to make that blurry picture clearer.
But Lee Se-hwa couldn't persuade me with that weapon now for one reason. Just as she had social status, I had the future.
I didn't need to clarify any blurry picture. Mine had been crystal clear from the start.
I wanted to achieve my goals, not hand her hers on a platter.
"I have personal reasons for not wanting to enter politics."
Lee Se-hwa looked visibly disappointed. She'd apparently interpreted my closeness to Kang Gwanung as some interest in politics.
In the end, she'd