You Are Defended - Chapter 526



Only Noblemtl

Episode 526

“Thank you for your hard work coming all the way to Korea.”

“Thank you for your hard work. Thanks to you, I was able to come comfortably.”

“Would you like to unpack and rest for a bit before we talk? I think you might be tired.”

“No. You booked me a business class flight, sent me a nice car, and even booked me a nice hotel. Why would I be tired? You can talk to me right away. More than anything, I’m just curious.”

Choi Jong-hyun sent an email to reporter Kirihara immediately after our agreement was concluded.

I couldn’t tell it as it was, so I made some variations.

The content was that during the process of investigating corruption of Korean politicians, they discovered a connection with a Japanese politician, and asked if I could help with this.

She replied to my email less than 10 minutes later, accepting the meeting.

It is said that she asked when and where she could meet more readily than expected, whether it was because she was in the same group and had no resistance, or because she expected to be able to obtain new information related to Japanese politicians.

Whatever it is, barring any other disqualifications, she may return with more sauce than she could ever imagine.

“Ah, this side… … .”

“Are you Attorney Cha Ju-han?”

She pronounced my name awkwardly.

“Oh. How did you know?”

“I also looked into Reporter Choi before coming here. He had a lot of impressive activities, and Attorney Cha Ju-han often showed up in the search results. Reporter Choi must have looked into me too, so it’s not rude, right?”

“Oh, of course. It’s not rude at all.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Sachiko Kirihara.”

“This is Cha Ju-han.”

“You’re much more handsome in real life, aren’t you?”

After shaking hands with me, Kirihara turned his gaze towards Kang Su-il, who was standing next to him.

“This person… … . Oh, he looks familiar. I’m sure I’ve seen him in pictures.”

“It’s Kang Soo-il. I came here as an interpreter in case you need some interpretation.”

“I don’t think you’re just an interpreter?”

“I’m just an interpreter.”

They had been conversing in English, but when Kang Soo-il suddenly answered in fluent Japanese, Kirihara burst into laughter.

“Since both of you are so good at English, I guess I just have to speak English well.”

Although he speaks modestly, Kirihara also speaks English quite well.

It seems that Choi Jong-hyun’s preparation for the TOEFL wasn’t overdone when he joined the ICIJ.

This is the first time I have met a non-English speaking reporter who has joined the ICIJ, but it is obvious that Kirihara speaks English so well.

If Choi Jong-hyun couldn’t speak English, his application might have been rejected.

I was glad that he spoke English well.

“Considering that Attorney Cha is also here, I think the topic that Reporter Choi is talking about is a joint project with Attorney Cha. You’ve done a lot of investigative reporting in the past. Especially about Wooshin.”

The world has really become a better place.

If there had been no function to translate Internet pages, both we and she would have had a hard time finding information.

“Yes. This is my first time meeting with you, reporter. I apologize for not asking for your permission in advance to have Attorney Cha present. Security is a major issue.”

“I understand. Well, then I guess Reporter Choi and Attorney Cha still don’t fully trust me?”

Kirihara asked with a big smile.

I don’t mean to underestimate her, but she seems like a very intelligent person.

“If I had known in advance that Attorney Cha would be coming with me, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you because I was afraid that the story would leak out.”

“I apologize if you found this rude.”

“No, not at all. You don’t need to apologize. We’re both reporters. It’s only natural that we care about security. The issues you two handle always become big topics in Korean society. If you even contacted me, this issue must be huge. Am I right? I hope you two like it and I can get some information.”

Kirihara opened a bottle of water and quenched his thirst.

As expected of a veteran reporter, she was very relaxed.

Give the impression that you are very interested in the topic, but don’t make the other person feel pressured.

The skill of continuing a conversation is quite good.

“I am afraid I will ask you a rude question. I apologize in advance for this.”

Choi Jong-hyun glanced at me and added.

“Attorney Cha is a bit direct.”

“It’s already scary. But I usually get along well with straightforward people. I’m pretty straightforward myself.”

[truth]

Even though I’m speaking in English, the truth and lies are printed out in Korean.

I didn’t need to use my skills for this, but I was curious so I gave it a try.

“Do you support any political party?”

“In Japan?”

“yes.”

“Well, personally, I have.”

This time, Kang Soo-il seemed quite surprised by Kirihara’s answer.

Could it be because Kang Soo-il judged that she did not seem to support a particular politician?

“But as a journalist, I don’t. And personally, the party I support is a minority party, and the number of seats is counted on one hand… No, even if you count them on one hand, there are still more. I’ve hardly ever written an article about that party, and I have absolutely no personal contact with it.”

[truth]

As soon as Kirihara answered, Kang Soo-il took out his cell phone and started searching.

I guess she wanted to get a feel for what the minority parties she was talking about felt like.

He searched for a moment, then lowered his head toward me and whispered quietly.

“If you count them on one hand, that means they have less than five seats, and there are several parties like that. I can’t look into it in detail right now, but most of them have big differences in opinion with the ruling party. There are some parties that seem crazy, but given Kirihara’s personality, I don’t think he would support them.”

“If you have any questions, feel free to ask me.”

Kirihara smiled faintly as he watched the rain pouring down.

Then Kang Su-il coughed in vain, perhaps feeling embarrassed.

“Which political party would be disqualified simply because reporter Kirihara supports it? Please write in Japanese.”

I asked Kang Soo-il.

Then Kang Su-il wrote the party name in a notebook and handed it to me.

“I don’t care which party you support, as long as it’s not one of these two.”

When I showed the notebook to Kirihara as it was, she burst into laughter as soon as she accepted it.

“Oh, that’s really rude. This is really rude. I personally think that people who support these two places have no brains.”

[truth]

The party she supports is a minor party, and she did not use her position as an influential journalist to support the party.

He said there was no personal interaction, so it seemed like his support was limited to just as a citizen.

“What do you think about the current ruling party?”

“As you know from your research, Japan has had one party dominating the cabinet for a very long time. It has been in power for most of the time since I was born. In addition, Japan does not have frequent changes in the ruling and opposition parties like Korea. So the most realistic and immediate solution I can think of is not to change the ruling party.”

Speaking of the best that can be done realistically, I am reminded of the concerns that others expressed when they first heard about Kirihara.

Including Choi Jong-hyun, who is here now, weren’t they worried that Kirihara would be shunned by people because of his image as an idealist?

“Japan is currently facing a ruling party presidential election. In Japan, Onodera Masao is seen as a strong candidate, and I agree with him. I really can’t stand this. Onodera Masao is the head of a faction called Keiminkai within the ruling party, and the current Keiminkai is of very poor quality. I’ve said enough because Onodera Masao is below par.”

[truth]

I heard that Onodera comes from a prestigious political family with a long history in Japan.

I don’t know if the family will tell the whole story, but I thought they would take care of their image that much.

“What if he comes from a good family or graduated from a good university? He is not a person who should be a politician. However, his father was the prime minister, and at that time, Japan was fortunate enough to prosper because of this. Because of that, many people support Masao Onodera. I think they think he will do well just like his son.”

It seems that Kirihara harbors considerable resentment towards Onodera.

It’s a plus.

“Furthermore, there was the Onodera family scandal 15 years ago, and I think he’s conscious of that, so he keeps trying to appeal to his family image. He even brings his cute grandson around and acts like a loving grandfather, which is really disgusting.”

[truth]

Moreover, the grandson she is talking about seems to be the child who will receive a heart transplant this time, so it is another plus that she brought this up.

“Oh, did I get too excited? But I really hate that person, so without realizing it… … .”

“Then what will you do if the information we give you turns out to be beneficial to Onodera?”

Kirihara looked troubled by my question.

Of course, what I have is not information that is advantageous to Onodera, but rather information that could be used to harass her, but it is a good question to see how she would handle issues that are at odds with her personal ideology.

“I’m really worried. In fact, I’m someone who wants Onodera Masao to disappear from politics, so if it’s information that’s advantageous to him… … . Well, it’s not just a simple good story about Onodera, it’s probably information that’s disadvantageous to his rivals or those involved. So I think Onodera is getting a windfall… … .”

Kirihara leaned back on the sofa, crossing his arms.

Then, after tilting his head back and thinking for a while, he straightened his posture as if he was bouncing back and looked straight at me.

“But we have to let it out as is.”

[truth]

“I have no intention of asking for other irregularities because I am afraid that Onodera will benefit from it.”

[truth]

It seems like he is the type of person who thinks that the basic attitude of a reporter is to report things as they are, regardless of personal opinions.

“Then, let me ask you one last question. What will you do if you are threatened because of an article you wrote or information about an article you are going to write is leaked?”

“What level of threat is it? An attack?”

“If you assume that your life could be at risk. Maybe even your family.”

“First of all, I don’t have a family. My parents are not here, and I’m single. I have an older sister, but she lives in Switzerland now. So I guess I’ll have to leave that alone.”

“yes.”

“Um… … . Oh, there’s something I want to show you. Don’t be surprised.”

Kirihara stood up from his seat.

And I took out the shirt I had been wearing tucked into my pants.

Although she warned him, Choi Jong-hyun seemed quite surprised.

But Kirihara paid no attention and pulled his shirt up to above his belly button.

“Do you see the scar here?”

She asked, pointing to her left side.

Although it had lightened a lot, there was a scar that had turned brown and was clearly different from my original skin color.

“Ten years ago, a far-right group attacked the Kyokuto Shimbun. Actually, that was aimed at me. At the time, I was continuously investigating the connections between far-right groups, Japanese conglomerates, and politicians. I was stabbed, and… . . It really hurt. Fortunately, the Kyokuto Shimbun protected me and kept my identity a secret, so many people don’t know that I was the victim.”

[truth]

At this point, there seems to be no need for further verification.

She and I have had similar experiences.

Having your stomach pierced is more painful than you might think.

In fact, pain is a secondary issue.

Once you experience something like this, it is natural for humans to fear that they will be involved in the same thing again.

Just like I carry Taesik with me wherever I go, and wear a bulletproof and sword-proof vest.

Despite this, Kirihara did not give up and continued his career as a reporter.

Even if faced with an emergency, the likelihood of opening one’s mouth seems significantly low.

“You must have had a hard time. Are you seriously injured?”

Choi Jong-hyun asked Kirihara, who was sitting with his shirt tucked into his pants, with concern.

“That was the case back then. That was 10 years ago, you know. It’s nothing like that now.”

“Have you ever thought about quitting this job?”

“It would be a lie if I said I never did it. But I can’t live with my mouth shut. There are pathogens everywhere in society, and I know that too well, so how can I stay still? If there are people who don’t know yet, I have to tell them. You can’t stay quiet in a burning building, right? You have to shout for them to evacuate. But it’s true that I joined the ICIJ because I was a little scared. I thought I could get some help.”

[truth]

Enough is enough.

“Sir, please take out your laptop. I will explain the incident to you.”

I spoke to Choi Jong-hyun in Korean.

Then Choi Jong-hyun looked at me and snickered.

“Do you like it?”

“I like it quite a bit.”

“But can you believe everything that person says? What if he’s lying?”

“I’m not lying. That person is a victim of the Kyokuto Shimbun terrorist attack.”

In fact, I trusted him more because all the other words were proven to be true, but I decided to only say things that would convince Choi Jong-Hyeon.

“Not many people know, so how did you know?”

“I asked Ms. Kim Mi-ja to look into it.”

First of all, since I’m the only one who has direct contact with Kim Mi-ja, I don’t think I’ll get caught right away.

If I get caught later, I’ll just have to say I don’t remember.

Ah, so that’s why criminals are so consistently ignorant.

He’s invincible.