Dear Lawyer

5 - Business trip (iii)

"Despite being an intern, your reaction when encountering such things for the first time really exceeds expectations. Don't you think so?"

Jimin, in his head, said: Yeah, well. You aren't wrong about that.

But his mouth already started spouting nonsense. This person was so adept at talking nonsense that he didn't even need time to fabricate excuses; words poured naturally as soon as he opened his mouth. "I don't believe I've ever said that this is my first time encountering such things, right?"

Jungkook looked at him.

Jimin began to blather, "My father was a lawyer as well. I had encountered all sorts of things with him. Several times I had accidentally overheard him on call in the study without an earpiece on, and the words were ten times more vicious than this. I was still young the first time I came across it and got a great shock. Hearing it again afterwards, it no longer has the same impact."

The esteemed Professor Park was well-versed in the art of telling lies. He knew that he couldn't go too deep into the specifics. Only those who were clear that they were scamming others would dive into a lengthy essay to convince the other, and deliberately craft some details to make it more believable.

This was similar to sticking a 'there isn't any treasure buried here' sign above a hidden trove; the more one tried to hide, the more glaring the signs of a guilty conscience.

When making actual small talk, unless in the mood, such stories would be quickly tided over with a few sentences. Because what was spoken was the truth, so there wasn't any need to worry if the other believed it.

Once he finished his story, he peeked at Jungkook's face out of the corner of his eye.

He couldn't quite see his face clearly, but in any case, Jungkook wasn't using any kind of 'penetrating gaze' to stare at him. His footsteps didn't pause, as if the question he asked earlier was merely a passing thought, and his interest in the answer equally perfunctory.

"Did you cry?" There was a short pause after he finished, then Jungkook abruptly pitched in with such a sentence.

Jimin, "???"

"What I'm asking is, did you cry after listening to all that when you were young?" Jungkook asked him indifferently.

Jimin, "..."

Hey, dear student. Turn your head and ask me straight; who did you say cried?

It was more than obvious that the distinguished Lawyer Jeon was, once again, simply traversing time to mock the 'him when he was young', and wasn't actually concerned about waiting for his reply.

By the time he came back to his senses, Jungkook had already walked on ahead of him.

But it was just because of that question earlier that Jimin realised his laidback nature was perhaps too unsuited for discretion. If he continued running amok like this, sooner or later, the gig was bound to be up. Frankly speaking, he couldn't care less about anything else—but the only thing he couldn't accept was losing face.

Especially when it was losing face right in front of his own student.

Wine City's courthouses were fairly near the detention centre, taking them less than ten minutes by foot.

The local people's court was the lowest-level court of law. It handled all sorts of trivial, messy procedures and cases every day. It wasn't as dignified and solemn as people imagined it to be, and would sometimes even make a mess of things, such as in areas concerning the application for bail.

This wasn't Jimin's first time here, but every time he came, he wanted to heave a deep sigh at how hard the staff at the local people's court in Wine City worked. Only people with eight hundred lifetimes of accumulated misfortune running through their veins would be assigned to work here.