Almost blind | Haobin

65| chaotic preparation |65

"So the main witness decides not to talk in court?" Taesan leaned back in his chair, the wood creaking under his weight as his sharp eyes studied Hanbin's expression. The boy sat stiffly across the table, his were shoulders tense, fingers twitching at the edge of a folder he had carried with him. "Not exactly," Hanbin murmured, his voice steady but quieter than usual. He reached into his bag and pulled out a stack of papers, the edges slightly bent, and a small USB drive that glinted under the light. He placed both on the table carefully, before sliding them across to Taesan.

"He didn't back out," Hanbin continued, his eyes flickering up to meet Taesan's. "That's not the problem. The problem is that he can still appear in court...only to twist his words into something that can drag us down. He can make it harder for us to win. Not really by absence but by his betrayal."

Taesan tapped the USB against the table with idle fingers, the sound clicking through the silence.

Hanbin leaned forward, lowering his voice as if the room itself could be listening. "There are things we have..things that show the truth Jaehyun once told us, before he tried to turn against us. This-" he gestured to the documents "-could still save us. But if he changes his testimony right there on the stand, it will paint us as liars. It will make us look as though we are weaving stories out of air. That risk is... enormous."

His throat felt dry and he hated how easily fear could creep into his words. "But with this," Hanbin pressed on, his hand resting on the papers. "we can show the court who Jaehyun really is. That he's the one lying. If we present it at the right moment, it could unravel his credibility completely. Still... nothing is certain."

Taesan hummed, his gaze drifting down to the neat black letters on the papers before him. He twirled the pen in his hand with the ease of someone who had sat at countless such tables, who had watched countless people wrestle with their own truths and lies. "Youre right," he said finally. "If we put this forward, it paints him as unreliable. An untrustworthy witness is as good as no witness at all."

He paused, the faintest curl of a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "That's Paragraph 264...if im not wrong."

Hanbin blinked at him in surprise, then gave a small nod. "Yes, it is." He straightened slightly, and his voice took on a recited tone as if repeating something etched into his mind. "If a witness deviates in essential points from his earlier testimony, the record of his prior statement may, upon the request of the prosecutor, the accused, or the defense counsel, be presented to him in order to explain the discrepancies."

Taesan chuckled softly, pointing his pen at Hanbin with a kind of amused pride. "So, you've been memorizing paragraphs now?" His smirk widened as he leaned back, his arms folding across his chest. It was not lost on him, the way Hanbin had begun to linger after their meetings, or how he asked questions that reached beyond the case, digging not only into Hao's situation but into the very fabric of how justice worked. There was a spark there...curiosity and almost hunger. Taesan noticed it about Hanbin.

And here he was tonight, sitting alone. No Hao beside him, no nervous parents.. Just Hanbin. "Yeah..." Hanbin admitted after a moment, his lips curving into an awkward half-smile. His hand rose to rub the back of his neck. It was a nervous tic. "I don't know. I just... found it interesting. Maybe even comforting, in a way. I think learning this could help me think sharper. To be better. To not get lost so easily in everything thats happening."

Taesan tilted his head slightly, his eyes narrowing as though he were reading a hidden message between Hanbin's words. The pen twirled again in his fingers out of habit. He always needed something to occupy his hands when his mind ran too far ahead of the moment. "You know..." Taesan began slowly, leaning back in his chair and letting his eyes rest thoughtfully on Hanbin. "If you're ever curious about law... really curious, not just superficially... you can ask more. There's a lot I can explain, a lot I can help you understand, if you want to see things from this perspective. You're in high school now, right?" He asked, studying Hanbin's reaction, as if trying to read the small hints hidden behind his guarded expression.