His Match

Chapter 7 - Check Mate ... For Now

Finally the day of the retrial has come. The others were confident since all of Jipuragi's witnesses were out of play. But I wasn't so sure. I didn't make the mistake of underestimating Vincenzo anymore. Speaking of Vincenzo, I noticed that he wasn't attending and that made me a little nervous. However, I couldn't help it.

"Our" doctor Jong-Moon testified that the plaintiffs' claims were all lies and put the blame on the researchers' own bad health. After he finished his testimony it was Cha-Young's turn and I was curious about what she would bring now. But I wasn't prepared for what came next. She announced a last-minute-witness. Who could that be?
The doors to the courtroom opened and in came none other than Vincenzo. That's the reason why he wasn't there from the start. I frowned when I saw that he was handcuffed and accompanied by two police officers.
But he threw me his signature smile nonetheless.

Cha-Young called him to the witness stand, naming him both witness and assailant against Babel. He said that he beat up a group of Babel Chemicals employees in a public space and accused Babel of cutting costs by neglecting to install a proper disposal system for BLSD that led to their researchers getting sick.
Even though Judge Heo yelled at him for testifying before he was accepted as a witness, Vincenzo didn't seem too bothered. He just held up a phone from one of his apparent assault victims, who was the head of the research team and claimed that the phone was found. It so happened that he read the texts and found incriminating evidence. Coincidental of course. Coincidental my *ss.
Judge Heo relucantly accepted the submission of this dubious evidence.
Then Vincenzo got a little cheeky by requesting an ambulance in advance for his next assault victim: Doctor Gil Jong-Moon. Claiming he had been lying about the cause of the Babel employees' illness.
That was the cue for Cha-Young to swoop in and announce another last-minute witness: Yeo-Won. Of course I knew who she was. I stumbled over her name in preparation of the trial: The wife of Mr. Gil and also a leukemia expert. Well, that was it. We were officially f*cked.
I glanced over at Mrs. Choi and it was almost like seeing the five stages of grief reflecting in her face: First their was recognition, then realization and denial, followed by anger and lastly defeat.
Just like her I knew when the fight was lost so I just leaned back, watched it all unfold and enjoyed the view of Vincenzo every now and then.
Han-Seok also seemed to realize what that meant for us. "Do something", he hissed in my ear. "Like what? Deny it all you want, but we've lost that one. Again", I retorted and he looked at me like he wanted to rip my head off. Then he fixed his gaze on Mrs. Choi, but she just shrugged her shoulders indifferently.
Meanwhile a shocked Mr. Gil was dragged out of the courtroom for his wife's testimony, because he made a scene. Understandably so.
Mrs. Gil showed E-Mails of Mr. Gil's discussions with Dr. Ramos from UCLA on how to treat BLSD. Mr. Gil explicitly acknowledged BLSD's link with blood cancer and even specified the cause of illness, which in this case was inproper toxic waste disposal. The E-Mails apparently were sent to her by Dr. Ramos, who just happened to be an old friend of her's. How convenient. That's why Judge Heo had no other choice then accepting them as evidence instead of getting them dismissed due to illegal procurement. Well done.
And to make it all worse she whipped out a bag of methamphetamines she found in her husband's desk. Of course Cha-Young accused him of habitual drug use, discrediting him as a witness. Check mate.
By that time Dr. Gil made his way back into the courtroom, yelling at his wife and the fight of the century broke out when she hit him with her purse repeatedly. Holy Maccaroni. Remember me to never get married.

After the trial, that we of course lost, everyone went to the car. When I spotted Vincenzo outside I made my way towards him.
"Just a second", I said to Mrs. Choi.
"Well done in there, Vincenzo."
"So we are back on first name basis again, Su-Mi?", he asked with a cheeky grin.
"I was competitive, okay?"
"Not anymore? That would be disappointing. I just love competing against you." My heart rate picked up. "Didn't you say, that I shouldn't overestimate myself when it came down to you and me? What about now? Did I overestimate myself or are you admitting that I was better than you?", he said while stepping closer.
"Okay, I admit it. You were better than me. This time. But still, I'm impressed."
"Careful with the praises, Su-Mi. Otherwise it might get to my head", he warned with a little smirk. "I just enjoy being praised by you too much."
„Is that so?"
"If I may be honest?" He stepped even closer so our chests were almost touching. "There is nothing better than a woman who can keep up with me. Especially in court", he said in a low voice. Heat began to spread through my body, concentrating right between my legs. He said out loud what I was thinking.
Suddenly we were rudely interrupted by someone grabbing my arm and pulling me away. Han-Seok.
"What the h*ll are you doing?", I said and wriggled my arm out of his grip.
"Su-Mi, are you gonna be alright?", Vincenzo stepped in, looking a little concerned.
"Sure. Don't worry." I gave him a reassuring smile. I turned back to Han-Seok, glaring at him in anger.
"Get in the car, Su-Mi", he said with clenched teeth. Who the h*ll did he think he was, talking to me like that?
"It's Miss Kim to you", I retorted. "Don't treat me like your property, because I'm not. I come with you whenever the h*ll I want." I walked passed him towards the car, beyond p*ssed that he interrupted me and Vincenzo. How rude!
To my surprise he moved to the driver's seat, seething with anger. That's why I decided to rather squeeze in the backseat with Mrs. Choi and Mr. Han.
But before I could do so he stopped me. „Get in the passenger seat", he ordered.
„What if I don't want to?", I asked defiantly. I've just had it with his attitude lately.
„Just for once, do as I say. Miss Kim", he said calmly. Too calm if you asked me. The only reason why I did as I was to told was, that I was in no mood to fight with him on this any longer.
„Satisfied?", I asked. But instead of answering, he just hit the gas, so that I was pressed into the seat.
Mr. Han almost peed himself out of fear while Mrs. Choi tried to appear calm and I ... I just asked myself how long it would take before I could go home. Fortunately Han-Seo came in his own car and therefore wasn't with us.
Han-Seok drove us out of town to the middle of nowhere, where he got out and walked towards the trunk.
Mr. Han wanted to get out too but I turned around, and shook my head in warning. I thought that we would be saver inside the vehicle, because we could lock it, if necessary.
And then the whole ordeal started: Han-Seok began to smash his own car with a golf club. I guess he got enough money to buy a new one.
I decided to wait it out, scrolling through TikTok in the meantime. Seriously. He behaved like a child.
"Mr. Han?", I asked. "Ye ... Ye ... Yes?", a tiny voice replied from the back seat. "Would you kindly lend me your briefcase?", I asked sweetly. After some silence, he answered: "Su ... Sure." After Mr. Han handed it over, I used it as a shield. Just a precaution after Han-Seok moved to unleash his anger on the windshield. I mean, no one wants cuts on their face, right?
After quite some time I looked up into the rearview mirror to check on the other two. Mr. Han returned my gaze pleadingly, silently begging me to do something. Even Mrs. Choi looked a little shaken up. I rolled my eyes but got out of the car to finally stop that madness, because seemingly no one else would and I had places to be.
"Get back in the car, Miss Kim", Han-Seok said inbetween hits.
"No. You need to calm down." I stood my ground while his eyes where boring into mine.
"I said, get back in the car, Su-Mi!", he yelled and tried to push me back inside.
"F*ck you! Don't tell me what to do! I've had enough of your childish outbursts!"
Then he suddenly grabbed me by my neck and pushed me against the car. Didn't that seem familiar.
"If I tell you to get back in the car, you f*cking do what I tell you!", he shouted, squeezing my throat. And this time I was really struggling to breathe. D*mn. He really got me there. I couldn't use my legs to fight him off, because he was leaning on me, putting all his weight in and the only defence I had were my hands. So I punched him in the side of his neck with full force. His grip loosened instantly and he started violently coughing. Using the opening I pushed him away from me, causing him to stumble backwards. Then I followed up with a roundhouse-kick to the back of his neck, causing him to pass out.
Turning around, I saw the others looking at me in shock, with their eyes wide open.
"I don't know about you, but I'm gonna call a cab. You wanna tag along?", I asked like nothing happened, while smoothing out my clothes. They nodded their heads and scrambled out of the car.
"What about him?" Mr. Han pointed at Han-Seok.
"He has a car right here", I said, pointing to what was left of his Cadillac. "Oh and one more thing", I turned back around to face them. "I think it would be best if we would keep what just happened between us, ok?" They both nodded their heads. "And if Mr. Jang doesn't remember and askes you about it, then tell him, that you don't know what happened. We clear?" More nooding. "Great", I said with a smile.
The cab arrived shortly after and we drove back to Babel.