Chapter 06
“Mr. Eom, this is Attorney Yoo Hyun-jae, who’ll be sharing the office starting today. I mentioned him before, right? Mr. Yoo, this is Attorney Eom Ji-seong.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“Hello.”
Attorney Eom Ji-seong shook my hand once and immediately returned to his office.
Since his office door was left open, he could still talk with us in the lobby.
The personal offices were small, so it seemed to be the norm to keep the doors open.
“Let’s grab lunch together later.”
“Sure.”
At Attorney Kim Chang-soo’s suggestion, Eom Ji-seong sat down in his office, placed a thick stack of documents on his desk, and replied.
As if he had a backlog of work, he quickly put a rubber finger cot on his thumb and began flipping through the papers. Even that busy 모습 looked enviable to me.
“Mr. Yoo, in our office, we split the rent, Manager Kim and Assistant Oh’s salaries, as well as copier and fax rental fees and paper costs equally. You know that, right?”
“Yes, you told me before.”
A shared-cost office like this was a system used by solo attorneys who found it burdensome to cover office expenses alone.
While searching for such an arrangement, I was introduced to Attorney Kim Chang-soo through my university friend Sang-jae.
“Client consultations rotate daily, you know? It goes by office order. Let’s see… whose turn is it today?”
Attorney Kim looked at the whiteboard on the wall.
Assistant Oh was just erasing the name “Attorney Eom Ji-seong.”
“Eom was last. Then today it’s Attorney Park… Oh! Assistant Oh! Attorney Park isn’t coming in today, right?”
“Yes, he won’t be in this week.”
“Right? Then we’ll switch the order with Mr. Yoo. Mr. Yoo, are you okay handling consultations on your first day?”
Attorney Kim smiled warmly.
“I’ll give it a try.”
“Good. That’s the spirit. If anything’s difficult during the consultation, ask either Eom over there or me.”
He pointed toward Eom Ji-seong, who was buried in paperwork.
Eom didn’t even look our way—whether he heard or not, it was hard to tell.
“Thank you.”
After greeting them, I entered my office and sat down.
I would be using the wallpaper, desk, and chair left behind by the previous attorney.
It seemed like they had filled the office with the cheapest items, ready to leave at any time.
Still, buying even these basic office furnishings would cost money.
That was why I decided to move in immediately after visiting a week ago—there were almost no startup costs.
I did have to pay my share of the office deposit, but compared to renting a private office, it was quite reasonable.
Once I earned enough, I could move to a nicer office.
For now, this was more than enough.
And being able to get advice from senior attorneys was reassuring.
As I sat there, I saw Assistant Oh writing “Attorney Yoo Hyun-jae” in large letters on the whiteboard.
When consultations come in, the key is turning them into actual cases.
I had only imagined it while studying, so I felt a bit excited about how it would go in reality.
I took out the book I had been reading from my bag and placed it on the spotless desk.
It was a book on American law.
Unfortunately, no one disturbed my reading until lunchtime.
“Mr. Yoo, let’s go eat.”
Only after Attorney Kim called me did I realize it was already past 12:30.
—Hey, are you just going to wait around like this? What if no clients come? Didn’t you step into something seriously unlucky?
The Red Eyes frowned.
A sudden sense of crisis hit me.
If I wasted today, I wouldn’t be able to take general consultations for the next three days.
Senior attorneys had regular clients, so general consultations weren’t that important to them—but for a beginner like me, it was the only chance to take on a case.
—If your turn keeps passing like this, a month will fly by.
‘I know.’
I tried to calm the Red Eyes.
Attorney Kim put on his coat and said,
“There’s a decent Chinese restaurant across the street. How about Chinese for lunch?”
“Sounds good.”
I stood up after replying.
The ones ready to go out were Attorney Kim, Attorney Eom, and me.
Assistant Oh stood up from her desk and greeted us.
“Have a good meal.”
“Won’t you and the manager come along?”
“Mr. Yoo, don’t call her ‘Assistant Oh-nim.’ Just call her Assistant Oh. Someone has to stay and watch the office. The manager and Assistant Oh will go eat after we return.”
Attorney Kim answered instead.
“Have a good meal.”
Assistant Oh politely clasped her hands and waited until I left.
Her excessive politeness made me feel a bit awkward.
I shook my head as if to clear it and followed the senior attorneys out.
The Chinese restaurant across the street, Yangtze River, had one of the best spicy seafood noodle soups (jjamppong) I’d ever had—easily in my top five.
It was a bit expensive, but it came with a whole small octopus, making it a premium dish.
“How is it? Good, right? See? You won’t regret listening to me.”
Attorney Kim laughed loudly.
Next to me, Attorney Eom was eating jajangmyeon.
He said he couldn’t handle spicy food.
Whether he was naturally quiet or not, after his noodles arrived, I could only see the top of his head as he buried his face in the bowl.
“Mr. Yoo.”
Attorney Kim called me.
“Yes?”
“You’re worried, aren’t you? Nothing’s happened all morning. You’re thinking, ‘What if I can’t even pay the office bills at this rate?’”
I couldn’t deny it and gave a bitter smile.
“Don’t worry too much. We all went through it. Right, Eom?”
“Yeah.”
Eom replied briefly, stuffing pickled radish into his mouth before returning to his noodles.
“I heard that with so many lawyers these days, even public defender positions are competitive. But don’t worry. No one goes bankrupt—we all get by.”
“There really are a lot of lawyers now.”
I couldn’t help but envy those who had established themselves earlier.
“Mr. Yoo, everything will work out. Don’t worry.”
“Yes, I’ll try not to rush things.”
Kim grinned and slurped his noodles again.
—Attorney Kim seems like a good guy. Look how he cares about his junior. You’ve got good fortune with people.
‘I’m not sure.’
—Not sure? That’s harsh. Even if you’re seniors and juniors, you’re still competitors. Where would you find a senior this considerate?
Objectively, Red Eyes was right.
But something still felt off.
I checked the aura surrounding Attorney Kim.
It was a dark green color.
Since I gained the ability to see auras at seventeen, I’ve seen countless people’s aura colors.
Each person’s aura is different, and the color reflects their psychological state, personality, or health.
From experience, people with that kind of color tend to be jealous and hard to trust.
In other words—they’re good liars.
Even though Kim had treated me well, I couldn’t fully trust him because of his aura.
I had felt uneasy when I first met him, but thought it would be fine as long as the contract was solid.
But the uneasiness grew with time.
Red Eyes couldn’t see auras like I could, so it didn’t understand.
Just then, Kim’s phone rang.
“Hello? Yeah. Yeah. Really? Criminal case? Oh.”
Leaning back, his expression subtly changed.
He glanced out the window, as if checking my reaction.
“What should I do? I’m having lunch with my colleagues… Oh, really? Then I guess I should go. Alright.”
He hung up and stood up.
“This is unfortunate. A close friend entrusted me with a case, and something urgent just came up. I have to go. You two finish eating, grab some coffee, and head back slowly. This one’s on me, okay?”
He quickly grabbed his coat and left the restaurant.
Something felt off.
—No way he’d steal your client, right? That’s a bit much.
Red Eyes shook its head.
Maybe I was overthinking?
“Go ahead and eat.”
“Yes.”
Eom finally lifted his face from the bowl, and I was about to continue eating.
At that moment, the office manager appeared in front of us.
“If you’re done eating, I can show you a great coffee place.”
His aura came into my view.
A dark, murky green.
At that instant, alarm bells rang in my head.
I immediately put down my chopsticks and grabbed my coat.
“Huh? Where are you going, Attorney Yoo?”
“To the office.”
“But you haven’t finished eating…”
“I’m done.”
“Why don’t you have coffee first—”
He tried desperately to stop me.
Looking at him closely, I suddenly realized he resembled someone.
“Manager, are you perhaps Attorney Kim’s younger brother?”
“…Ah, yes. That’s right.”
At that moment, everything became clear.
Had Kim intentionally hidden that fact?
“I see. I’ll head back to the office now. You should finish your meal.”
I left before he could stop me again.
—Whoa… they’re brothers? So he was secretly helping his own brother?
Ignoring Red Eyes’ shock, I rushed back to the office, torn between betrayal and the desire to trust Kim.
“Oh! Attorney, why are you back already?”
Ignoring Assistant Oh’s surprise, I looked straight into the consultation room.
My lingering doubt instantly turned cold.
The manager and Assistant Oh were in on it with Kim.
Inside, a young man sat across from Kim.
“Oh, Mr. Yoo? Done eating already?”
Kim looked flustered.
I didn’t answer and looked at the man.
He seemed about my age, wearing a flashy wide-collared shirt and a gleaming watch—like a model straight out of a magazine.
He spoke first.
“Are you Attorney Yoo Hyun-jae?”
“Yes, I am.”
“I heard you weren’t here, but here you are.”
As he glanced at Kim, Kim laughed.
“I didn’t say he wasn’t here—I said he was out eating. And now he’s back.”
It was obvious he had tried to take my case, yet he acted shamelessly.
“How did you hear about me?”
“I heard you’re good at solving cases.”
“…What?”
Who spread that rumor?
I haven’t even handled a proper case yet.
