718: 559 Gentleman (Happy First Day of the Month!) 718: 559 Gentleman (Happy First Day of the Month!) Seoul High Court.
Jiang Chen sat in the audience, witnessing Zou Kezhao, in handcuffs and shackles, being escorted into the court by the judicial police.
Then.
It was An Zairong, also in chains.
Jiang Chen’s expression was calm.
Zou Kezhao, with his eyes straight ahead and as composed as during the first trial, indifferently took his seat in the defendant’s dock.
Only this ti, he was not the sole main character.
An Zairong, also a defendant, sat beside him – the two partners with an indescribable relationship were separated by less than two steps.
To so extent, it was like the fulfillnt of an old saying from the underworld.
We may not have been born on the sa day, month, and year, but we seek to die on the sa day, month, and year.
There was no dia allowed in the courtroom, so the audience was sparse and it seed sowhat desolate.
While waiting for the presiding judge to enter, the door of the courtroom was suddenly pushed open.
Jiang Chen glanced sideways.
He saw a young girl, gasping for breath as she ran inside.
Seeing that the trial had not yet begun, she breathed a sigh of relief and then carefully found a seat and sat down.
Jiang Chen frowned slightly.
He had never seen the girl in person, but he had seen her photograph.
Quan Shangying.
From Daegu.
An ordinary salesperson at the Lotte Group.
She was one of the over 50 million utterly ordinary Koreans, working hard with a ager salary, going out early and returning late, trying to survive in this hopeless society.
This girl had a bit of baby fat, perhaps due to having a father addicted to gambling, so she didn’t fit the narrative Gao Zhengbi described where every Korean family prepares a plastic surgery fund for their daughters.
She probably hadn’t had any plastic surgery, her natural face could not be considered outstanding, yet for so reason, An Zairong, a man full of sins, showed a human side only in front of her.
Even now, Jiang Chen couldn’t clarify why An Zairong was so special to this ordinary girl.
Perhaps this is the unpredictability of human nature that no one could see through.
But one thing Jiang Chen understood, her presence here was not good news for him.
Quan Shangying looked at the uncle sitting in the defendant’s seat with a complicated expression on her face, no longer always wearing a red tie.
Jiang Chen withdrew his gaze from her and looked toward An Zairong.
Compared to his “partner in adversity” beside him, Zou Kezhao was relatively calm, but An Zairong was far beyond that; not to ntion apprehensive or nervous, his face, which could be described as gentlemanly, even had an inexplicable smile on it.
However, when he saw Quan Shangying appear, his smile clearly stiffened for a mont before he began looking for Jiang Chen’s position.
Their eyes t.
Jiang Chen pursed his lips.
He had promised not to disturb that girl, and he had not expected the appearance of Quan Shangying.
But at this mont, he was unable to explain.
An Zairong seed not to need any explanations, either.
After glancing at Jiang Chen from a distance, he diverted his gaze, his smile growing shallower and more mocking, yet without the fury of being fooled.
“The judge is present; all rise.”
The presiding Chief Justice entered for the trial.
Zou Kezhao’s mouth curved into a smile.
“Sit.”
Che Changmin, who had shed the prosecutor’s uniform and taken his seat as the presiding judge, wore an expressionless face and sat down with a stern and commanding presence.
After he took his seat, the rest of the people gradually sat down.
Quan Shangying involuntarily exhaled slowly and stared at that back, which she could neither consider familiar nor truly strange.
Apart from the undisguisable tension on her face, there was also a hint of confusion.
She did not understand how the down-and-out uncle who had shalessly freeloaded in her ho had beco the head of a criminal organization.
Being a demon who killed without blinking, why had he helped her in the first place?
And moreover.
Were all those hateful smiles she saw also fake?
As an experienced prosecutor, Che Changmin was well-versed in courtroom procedures, and despite being newly inducted, he still displayed impeccable professional competence.
Taking the indictnt submitted by the prosecution, he read out the cris committed by the two defendants aloud in court.
Smuggling.
Illegal business competition.
Disturbing the order of the market economy.
Bullying and dominating the market.
Organizing and managing a criminal syndicate.
Intentional injury.
Intentional murder.
Human trafficking.
Severely undermining public safety.
Provoking state organs.
…
One after another, the cris were shocking and appalling.
“Zou Kezhao, An Zairong, regarding the aboventioned cris, do you plead guilty?”
Che Changmin, sitting in the presiding judge’s seat, looked down upon the two “old acquaintances.”
Quan Shangying’s face turned pale, her eyes shifting involuntarily as her mind echoed deafeningly, buzzing loudly.
So many charges.
Heinous to the last.
But…
Before, he had helped her drive away her despicable ex-boyfriend, and he had solved her family’s problem with loan sharks.
How could such a person be bad?
The courtroom was suddenly silent.
Jury box, audience seats — all eyes were focused on the two defendants, perhaps stunned by their extensive and frightening list of cris.
If this were a less developed African country,
any one of the ntioned cris would probably be enough to put them on the gallows.
“Zou Kezhao, An Zairong, do you plead guilty?”
Che Changmin asked once more,
“I plead guilty,”
ca the response.
It was Zou Kezhao.
The courtroom erupted into a buzz.
Clearly, no one had expected him to admit his guilt so readily.
Though there was no death penalty in Korea, with so many charges, life imprisonnt was the least of what he could expect behind bars.
Jiang Chen looked toward An Zairong.
The outco of this trial had been certain even before it began.
However, the salesperson’s appearance posed a risk of deviation from the written script.
If An Zairong thought he had been double-crossed and thus recanted in court, there would be trouble again.
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