The Laws Of Attraction

5

Back at his apartment, Taehyung sat alone at the kitchen table, with his third cup of coffee half empty next to him and a sole lamp lit to enable his reading. As he went through the additional documents his client had sent him, he blamed himself for the millionth time that he forgot to do a thing as simple as checking his Spam folder. Because these three documents, that his client hadn't even deemed important at first, completely overturned one of Taehyung's main arguments. 

The thought of simply ignoring the documents in his pleading did briefly cross his mind, but he dismissed the thought as soon as it formed. He wouldn't choose the easy way out. Plus, if he was in possession of these documents, that meant the opposing counsel could easily get access to them as well, and use them to undermine Taehyung. He had to make sure he left nothing out, nothing that could turn against him in court. 

He looked over his notes once again, taking a sip of coffee. He had extracted the main points from the additional documents, put them together into an argument, but it was weak. Even combined with the rest of the pleading, he was aware that it was not convincing enough.

He cupped his jaw, looking out of the window to think. He needed something more definitive, more difficult to combat, just... more. And he didn't have it. He had so much information at his disposal, yet so little he could actually use. And time, as always, wasn't on his side. Just four days. Four days until he had to walk into the court room and present a solid pleading, that he did not have. 

He groaned, tugging at his hair. This wasn't supposed to be a difficult case. Some boring, run-of-the-mill tax evasion, he had worked dozens of those in the past.

Taehyung absently caught his lip between his teeth, wondering if he was getting lazy. Before, he would have solved cases like this in days, not weeks. He would have had three solid arguments, not two shaky ones. And he would have had confidence in his work. The more he thought about it, it was that, he missed the most in this case. The certainty that he was on the right path, instead of second-guessing his every step. 

He worked night and day, yet he made no progress. He was tired all the time. Tired and frustrated and, honestly, worried. If he lost a case like this, his title of 'prodigy' would be ripped off of him in a heartbeat. And while he didn't normally care about social status or titles, he needed this one.

This gave him strength to push through twelve-hour work days, or excruciating meetings with his team, because it reminded him that he was capable of it all. He was good at his job, born for it even, as some would say. Kim blood ran through his veins, and his father, Kim Euncheol, had been a brilliant attorney, one everybody in the branch admired and esteemed.

If he, Taehyung, couldn't handle a case like this, then his father would have been right all along. And he should have never pursued a career in law.

He took off his glasses for a second, rubbing them with the hem of his shirt, then put them back on, hoping he would miraculously gain some clarity if he did so. What he gained instead, however, as soon as he placed his glasses on the bridge of his nose, was a brief pain at the base of his skull, a sensation so faint, it was barely even there.

Overlooking it for the time being, Taehyung tapped his pen against his memo cards, trying to find new connections between the bullet-points he had listed there. As if to defy his ignorance, the pain suddenly intensified. It felt as if an invisible hand was applying great pressure on the back of his head, as if to pierce through it.

His hand instantly flew to the aching spot, and he let out a small grunt as he pressed on it lightly. When it disappeared entirely a few moments later, he was left with a confused frown on his face, continuing to rub the painful area and wondering what that had just been.