Baek Iseok, the chief judge, burst out laughing.
"So you're saying we should join hands after both of us grow bigger? I like that Judge Lee Hanyeong has more ambition than he looks. Unlike someone else. Hahahaha!"
The person Baek Iseok meant by "someone else who lacks ambition" was Senior Presiding Judge Lim Jeongsik.
Before Lee Hanyeong entered the chief judge's office, Senior Presiding Judge Lim Jeongsik had said, "I have no intention of becoming an umbrella for the sake of climbing higher," and Baek Iseok had dismissed him as a man without ambition.
Senior Presiding Judge Lim Jeongsik gave an awkward smile.
Baek Iseok picked up a document envelope, handed it to Senior Presiding Judge Lim Jeongsik, and said to Lee Hanyeong,
"If there's anything you want, say it."
"There isn't."
Baek Iseok waved his hand.
"I believe that if something comes in, something should go out. I'd rather not be embarrassed this time."
"Then I'd like to take one day of leave."
"Leave?"
Leave technically exists, but only as something imaginary.
Even during the summer recess when court sessions are suspended, judges stay cooped up at home, busy reading backlogged case files.
And now, out of the blue, leave?
Senior Presiding Judge Lim Jeongsik blinked, and Baek Iseok nodded readily.
"You said your mother lives alone, right? Fine. Go ahead. Would this Friday work?"
"I'll check my schedule and report to Senior Presiding Judge Lim Jeongsik."
"Good. Senior Presiding Judge Lim, if Judge Lee Hanyeong applies for leave, approve it immediately."
Senior Presiding Judge Lim Jeongsik bowed his head.
"Understood."
Lee Hanyeong left the chief judge's office and walked down the corridor.
'The bait I'll throw to Chief Judge Baek Iseok. That's the case involving Reporter Song Nayeon's father.'
Reporter Song Nayeon's father, who worked as a security guard at an apartment complex in Seoul, was falsely accused.
And there was a big fish entangled in that case.
That big fish was the case Lee Hanyeong would give to Chief Judge Baek Iseok.
The problem was when exactly it happened.
'I definitely remember hearing about it…'
Lee Hanyeong furrowed his brow, trying to recall what had happened in his previous life.
And when he stopped in front of his office, a remark Reporter Song Nayeon had made in his previous life flashed through his mind.
—It was on my birthday. I was waiting for my father, and the call I got was…
Lee Hanyeong immediately lifted his phone.
—This is Song Nayeon.
"This is Lee Hanyeong. May I ask when your birthday is?"
—Pardon? My birthday? Why?
A few days later.
Lee Hanyeong obtained leave and came up to Seoul.
He was heading toward a small junk shop in a residential area of Songpa District.
He spotted an elderly woman pulling a handcart.
Lee Hanyeong approached from behind and pushed the cart with all his strength.
Perhaps sensing the sudden push, the elderly woman turned her head.
Then she broke into a bright smile at the familiar face.
"Well, look who it is. Judge, you've come?"
"Have you been well?"
"I stayed alive because I missed you, Judge."
"You'll have to stay healthy for a long time. Next time we'll meet in twenty years."
"Hehehehe, is that so?"
Lee Hanyeong pushed the handcart and went into the junk shop.
After his father passed away, Lee Hanyeong's mother ran the junk shop alone.
It was a small shop and didn't make much money, but she used that income to educate and raise Lee Hanyeong.
His mother brushed off her hands and walked toward the elderly woman.
"Granny, you must have had a good dream today. You've got a lot of boxes."
Because Lee Hanyeong was bent over pushing the cart, his mother hadn't seen his face.
The elderly woman spoke up.
"You must've been the one dreaming, Ms. Oh."
"Me? Why would I?"
At that moment, Lee Hanyeong straightened up.
"I'm here."
His mother's eyes widened.
It was only natural—he had shown up without any notice.
"What brings you here? Aren't you busy?"
"Our chief judge gave me leave and told me to treat Ms. Oh to something good."
His mother made a fuss and told him to go inside the house, but Lee Hanyeong walked toward the container box set off to one side of the junk shop.
"I'll stay here. Let's go together in a bit."
"Then go inside the container."
This time as well, Lee Hanyeong didn't listen to his mother. He perched himself on the stacked boxes.
And quietly looked at his mother.
Her wrinkles were deeply etched.
Her hands were rough, and her clothes shabby.
A small sigh escaped Lee Hanyeong's lips.
In his previous life, he had been an unfilial son.
Well, even now, since he couldn't contact her often or visit much, he wasn't exactly a dutiful son either.
But at least this time, he could not become a child who died before his parent.
Lee Hanyeong clenched his fist.
He was determined to wipe out anyone who dared lay a hand on his mother.
In his previous life, he had been dragged around everywhere.
A leash had been fastened around his neck, and whenever his master moved upward, he had been dragged along behind.
But now it was different.
For now, he was no more than a hunting dog, but someday he would stand above as a human being.
And as a judge, he would be able to judge the demons.
As he sat there like that, two elderly women entered the junk shop.
They seemed to be bickering about something.
His mother approached them.
"Why are you fighting again? Hanyeong, there's some makgeolli in the fridge inside the container. Give them each a cup."
Lee Hanyeong went into the container and headed for the refrigerator.
From outside, he could hear his mother's voice.
"Have a cup of makgeolli and calm down, all right?"
"Who's that? Did you hire someone to work here?"
"You fool, what work is there here to hire anyone? Who is it?"
"It's my son."
"Your son? The judge's son?"
Listening to the noisy chatter, Lee Hanyeong took out the makgeolli and poured it into paper cups.
When he came back outside, he saw two elderly women beside his mother—one wearing yellow pants and another with a permed hairstyle.
The woman in yellow pants took a sip of the makgeolli from the paper cup with relish and opened her mouth.
"Judge, I have something to ask."
"Go ahead."
"I bumped into this woman on the hill just now. Whose fault is it?"
The two of them abruptly asked Lee Hanyeong to judge who was at fault.
His mother shook her head in disbelief, but perhaps proud that her son was a judge, she stayed silent.
Leaning his back against the wall and stroking his chin, Lee Hanyeong asked,
"Couldn't you see in front of you?"
This time, the permed-haired woman spoke.
"When you're pulling a cart uphill, it's hard, so you bend over, right? Can you see ahead like that? No, can you?"
Lee Hanyeong turned his gaze to the woman in yellow pants.
"Make your argument."
The woman in yellow pants pounded her chest in frustration and spoke.
"When you're going downhill, you hold it from behind as you go down, right? If you've collected a lot of cardboard, of course you can't see ahead. The person coming up should've been careful."
They were bickering back and forth.
Lee Hanyeong smiled gently and said,
"Both of you do bear some fault. But if there's someone more at fault, it would be you, Granny."
"Huh? Me? I'm at fault?"
It was the woman in yellow pants.
"Yes. Normally, the person coming down from above needs to be more careful. You knew it was dangerous if you lost your grip on the cart while coming down, didn't you? But since your view was blocked by the cardboard, you're a bit more at fault. Granny wins!"
"Tch."
The woman in yellow pants frowned, while the permed-haired woman clapped her hands in delight.
Lee Hanyeong went back to the refrigerator, took out another cup of makgeolli, and handed it to the permed-haired woman.
"You won the case, so have another cup."
Holding the paper cup, the permed-haired woman teased the woman in yellow pants with her gaze.
"The judge says so, so that's how it is, ho ho ho ho."
She let out a strange laugh as she drank the makgeolli, while the woman in yellow pants just fumed.
His mother watched the scene with satisfaction.
As the evening sun began to set, Lee Hanyeong was walking with a plastic bag of pork belly in his hand.
His mother walked beside him.
"I thought your father would break out of his coffin if he heard that the kid who used to do nothing but fight became a judge, but I guess not."
"If I become the Chief Justice, do you think Father will rise?"
"You'd probably have to become president for that."
"Then I guess I'll have to become president."
His mother shook her head.
"Don't just chase after high positions. Help people who are struggling. Rather than my son becoming someone important, I'd rather you become a good judge. What's the point of being important? You just get pointed at and cursed."
"What will you do if people point fingers at me?"
His mother suddenly turned to look at him.
"What else would I do? I'd snap their fingers. How dare they point at whose son?"
A faint smile spread across Lee Hanyeong's face.
'I was planning to tear apart anyone who tried to harm my mother, too.'
They climbed the hill and arrived at a multi-family house.
It was old, but at least it was on a long-term lease.
A narrow living room where it was hard to even place a sofa.
As his mother grilled the pork belly with a sizzling sound, Lee Hanyeong sat on the floor and said,
"Don't you want to move?"
"I like this house."
"They built a new apartment next door."
"That place is expensive."
Even if it was a suburban residential area, Seoul was still Seoul.
Prices couldn't be cheap.
"If I buy that place, will you move?"
He would have to make a lot of money going forward.
In a capitalist society, money was needed even to deal with demons.
You needed money to meet people, to resolve things, and to cover things up.
Before he made that dirty money, he wanted his mother to live in a slightly better place.
"Not right away, but I'll buy that place. Move there."
"Oh my, Judge's son. Just get married already. This mother wants to see her grandchild."
At his mother's teasing words, Lee Hanyeong smiled.
But the words "marriage" and "grandchild" made him think of his wife from his previous life, Yoo Sehee.
Though there had been no grandchild, his mother had lived in a very nice house back then.
Yoo Sehee had bought a luxurious detached house in Yangpyeong, claiming appearances mattered, and moved his mother there.
She said she was taking care of her, but it had been more like exile.
Even now, thinking about it made his heart ache.
As he was briefly lost in memories of his previous life, his mother brought a plate of pork belly and set it down in front of him.
Lee Hanyeong habitually laid out the table.
"How long is your leave?"
"I have to go back on Sunday since I start work again on Monday."
"You're not going to meet those market kids, are you?"
By "market kids," she meant the local delinquents.
They were the ones he used to hang around with when he lived a reckless life.
"Don't meet anyone. Those kids are bad news. Nobody who remembers you is around anymore anyway."
Lee Hanyeong nodded lightly.
But his thoughts were different.
There was one person he intended to meet.
He needed someone who could become his shadow. Only then could he protect his mother—and himself.
Just then, Lee Hanyeong's phone rang.
The caller ID showed Reporter Song Nayeon.
'It's time.'
Today was Reporter Song Nayeon's birthday.
And it was also the day he could find out where the bait he would give to Chief Judge Baek Iseok was.
Lee Hanyeong found himself already curious about the look on Chief Judge Baek Iseok's face when he enjoyed the bait Lee Hanyeong had thrown him.