All is Fair in Love and Law || A Jeongcheol Story

Intro: New World

"Four years of college. Four years of law school. The most gruelling internship out there. Countless sleepless nights, missed dates, and cancelled plans. And yet here I am, lying on the floor of the courtroom with a black eye and a bleeding lip"

A peaceful job, they said"

Seungcheol had worked hard to get where he was. All through high school and college, he had always been at the top of his class. When it was time to apply to law school, he was the first one of his friends to get his acceptance letter back. In law school, he was the only one of his classmates to get an internship at the biggest law firm in the country.

And yet, three years later, here he was. Lying on the cold floor with a stabbing pain in his gut, a stinging feeling in his lips, and a black eye as purple as a grape. Trying to indict a congressman does had its obstacles, unsurprisingly.

After presenting his case to the judge and jury, Seungcheol thought he had him. Seungcheol smirked to himself seeing the judge's shocked face before unbuttoning his suit jacket and taking a seat back at his table. He looked at the jury members at the other side of the room, wondering what was going through their heads. No doubt marvelling at his glory, of course.

"The jury will take a few minutes to come to a consensus", the Judge announced. After the defence's pathetic defence, Seungcheol knew he had him. There's no way the jury would vote otherwise, right?

"After considering the words of both the prosecution and the defence, we determine that Congressman Kim is, not guilty."

Seungcheol's jaw dropped. He couldn't believe what he just heard. Not guilty? After all the evidence he brought? All the telephone records? The deleted emails? The secret rendezvous with known criminals?

The judge looked at Seungcheol with a puzzled look, but Seungcheol only looked at the jury. He was fuming and his eyes narrowed into a sharp glare.

"The bench begs that the jury reconsider their decision"

"No need, we have decided that the defendant is not guilty"

And that's when it happened. Congressman Kim's wife barged into the courtroom and slapped Seungcheol across his face.

Seungcheol was stunned. His eyes widened at her, but she only responded with another slap, and a couple whacks of her purse, which Seungcheol only had to assume was filled with cement bricks. Seungcheol fell to the floor, clutching his stomach.

"That's for trying to frame my husband."

And with that, after security (forcefully) escorting a screaming and kicking Mrs. Kim out of the courtroom, the judge called an end to this case and a recess, leaving Seungcheol on the floor, confused and in pain.

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"You have to go to the hospital you can barely walk!"

"I'm fine Jihoon, really." Seungcheol clutched his sides and tried to take a couple steps, but quickly stumbled, reaching out to grab a nearby table.

"Fine my ass. We're going the hospital and that's final." Seungcheol gave Jihoon an exasperated look, but eventually gave in.

"Come on, I'll help". Jihoon put his friend's arm across his shoulders and helped the older take a few steps at a time, eventually reaching his car.

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Jeonghan looked at the chart, and back at his attending, at the patient and back at his attending. He ran his hands through his blonde hair in frustration. He didn't know what was wrong with this patient. He had been trying to diagnose him for days, and now the time came for him to present his case, but he still didn't know. He ran every test he could think of, but everything came back negative. He prescribed fever reducers, pain killers, muscle relaxers, nothing helped. Jeonghan was doomed.

"Well...Dr. Yoon, out with it. What's your diagnosis? " His attending tapped his foot impatient on beat with the clock, reminding him that his time was running out. Jeonghan looked at the patient with pleading eyes, asking him for a sign, something, anything, that he could present.

"I...I don't know sir. I don't know what's wrong with him." Jeonghan dropped his head in defeat, and refused to look up at his attending.

"Oh that's alright Dr. Yoon. It happens." Jeonghan whipped his head up, looking at his attending. He didn't expect him to say that!

"Really?"

"Oh yeah, it's no big deal." His attending took a step closer to him, and then another. Then he whispered "But, you see, I can't just let you go. I can't have the other residents thinking I'm a pushover, now can I?"

He took a couple steps back and announced, so that everyone could hear, "Looks like you'll just have to work the night shift today at the ER. Dr. Lee is off, so you're on your own!" Jeonghan saw the devilish grin on his attending's face, and cursed him internally.

"Report to me at 10 pm. Don't be late." He glared at Jeonghan, and Jeonghan slowly nodded, accepting his defeat.

"Yes, Dr. Kang"

"Spectacular. Next patient!"

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9:50 pm

Jeonghan sighed looking at the clock. He quickly went into the locker rooms to peel off his white coat and formal attire and change into his pale blue scrubs. He tucked the scrubs top into the pants, and put his lab coat back on.

This was going to be a long night.

Before leaving, Jeonghan grabbed the case file of that patient. He was going to find out what's wrong with him one way or another.

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After running around all night taking care of patient after patient, emergency after emergency, Jeonghan was exhausted, and still had made no progress on the case. He collapsed into a black office chair at the station, and closed his eyes. He rubbed circles on his forehead, trying to ease the headache that had developed from being up for nearly 36 hours (and drinking eight cups of coffee).

He slowly opened his eyes and glared at the case file. If he didn't figure out what's wrong with this patient by rounds tomorrow, he just knew that Dr. Kang would have him for breakfast. He opened the file, and took out a textbook, and began to work, highlighting the clinical notes and comparing it to sections of the textbook.

Jeonghan became so absorbed in his work that he didn't notice someone calling his name.

"Dr. Yoon! Dr. Yoon! Hello? You there?" The woman tapped Jeonghan's shoulder, and Jeonghan suddenly looked up.

"Oh my god you scared me!" The nurse gave Jeonghan a puzzled look. She must have thought he was crazy, no doubt.

"You have a new patient in room 3, a Mr. Choi Seungcheol"

"Right okay, thanks Eun Hye." Jeonghan gave the nurse a weak smile, and quickly closed the case file and the textbook. He shrugged his white coat back on and wrapped his stethoscope around his neck, and headed to room 3.