Lawless Lawyer 5.3 Bong Sang Pil versus The Interloper

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BONG SANG PIL

VERSUS

THE INTERLOPER

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THE VISIT

📷 Contrary to popular thinking, curiosity doesn’t always kill the cat. The cat, having nine lives, survives. Ha Jae Yi‘s insatiable curiosity had spurred her into action and driven her to Seoul to find Choi Dae Woong, the head of the Dae Woong gangster group. She didn’t come to a sticky end though. In fact, her fact-finding trip landed herself a collection of information about Bong Sang Pil's dark past.

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Ha Jae Yi had gone to Seoul without knowing about Choi Dae Woong and Bong Sang Pil’s relationship. Her curiosity had gotten the better of her.  She had bought into the idea that she could learn more about the man who was obsessed with her if only she could dredge out his past from the gangster head. Intrusion and invasion of privacy. Choi Dae Woong was now in a legal business. He was the proud owner of an art gallery. Like the passionate lawyer that she was, Ha Jae Yi had come prepared. ‘Armed’ would be the exact word. She left no stone unturned. As she sat with Choi at his art gallery, she must have wondered why a criminal like him would appreciate art and beautiful paintings. It was incomprehensible. If she kept him talking about art, the supposed art lover would soon be out of depth. Choi neither looked cultured nor knowledgeable about art but he may be a culture vulture who had contributed to the arts in some ways. Probably, he was trying to take the straight and narrow path. The lawyer, who was dead set on ferreting information out of the gangster, attacked him at once. Why, he was a criminal boss! Choi Dae Woong was the boss of the Dae Woong gang, the largest gang in North Seoul. He had 12 criminal records. Out of the listed five major crimes in Korea, he neither murdered nor robbed. So, what were the three major crimes that he had committed? Assault? Fraud? Drugs? She was forthright in her comments - she was not afraid to call a spade a spade. He had a proclivity for violence. It just meant to the audience that although Choi Dae Woong had the propensity to commit violent acts like fighting and intimidating his victims, he was not inclined to commit first degree crimes, to kill his victims or enemies. Unlike, Chairman Ahn Oh Ju, he was not a brutal or savage animal. Then, their conversation headed in the direction of the couple’s affairs. It focused on Bong Sang Pil and Ha Jae Yi’s meeting. Choi asked the naïve Ha Jae Yi whether she believed that her meeting with Bong Sang Pil was a coincidence. Perhaps, even fated? 

He told her in no uncertain terms that it was not a coincidence but what he did not say was Bong Sang Pil had meticulously planned their meeting and executed it with military precision.

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When she left, Choi Dae Woong lost no time in phoning his nephew about her visit. It was just what Bong had expected.  Ha Jae Yi was nosy and liked parking her nose in his business. His uncle, like what his mother had done in the past, advised him not to trust anyone in Ki Seong but Bong insisted that he could trust Ha Jae Yi since he had observed her for a long time.

📷 📷 📷 📷 📷 📷 📷 📷 📷 📷 📷 Bong Sang Pil was again studying the images on his interactive wall. He was deep in thought. One image was about the fake newspaper report on the suicide of his mother, a Human Rights Lawyer. His escape from death on the night of his mother’s murder could be attributed solely to the courage of Ha Jae Yi’s mother.  The events of that night swirled like a storm in his brain.

📷 📷 📷 📷 📷 📷 📷 📷 📷 📷 📷 📷 His uncle’s solid advice against violence, ‘Revenge begets revenge’, which had a kernel of truth, crept into his mind. A cycle of revenge did nobody any good. It was ironic that his violent uncle had preached against violence to him. Perhaps, Choi Dae Woong had regretted his life of ferocity and brutality. Bong Sang Pil was struggling with a tough choice. 'To seek revenge or not to seek revenge', that was the question.  The sorrow his eyes was heart-breaking. He was lonely and devastated by his sad memories.

It was an unusually quiet night. One cannot but sympathise with him.

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In Bong Sang Pil’s dark hours, a low ebb in his life, evil was creeping in to make it even darker. Chairman Ahn Oh Ju’s arrival at Bong Sang Pil’s office was captured on CCTV. The interloper, Bong Sang Pil’s worst nighmare, was his mother’s murderer. The sicko was blatant enough to encroach on Bong's territory - his office and his dead mother’s office. The malevolent gangster Chairman’s guilt didn’t keep him at bay. His visit was not aimed at offering apologies to propitiate the spirit of Bong's dead mother.

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Bong, despite looking pale and weary, was smart and handsome in his blue suit. A trace of sorrow and grimness could be detected in his handsome features. When the gangster Chairman entered,  an evil odour permeated the office.

Ensconced in his swivel chair, Bong Sang Pil was ready to face the lowlife. Appearing calm and collected, Bong fixed him with a steely stare. His jaw was set.  Ahn Oh Ju had made his living by intimidating people, and that had become second nature to him. So, what was the first thing that he did when he tottered through the door? The self-important Ahn Oh Ju did not spare Bong Sang Pil his trite reason for dropping in. Friendliness was not part of his agenda. After looking around, Ahn declared loudly that it was the office of Bong's mother. He cawed that the address seemed somewhat familiar.

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The minute Ahn opened his offensive mouth, he made Bong snap with deadly seriousness that, ‘The killer always returns to the scene of the crime.’  It is believed that some killers return because they derive sick pleasure from their recollection of their evil acts.  Others revel in the chaos and sorrow that they had caused; it was a demonstration of their power. Both applied to Ahn Oh Ju. The presence of the man was nauseating. Bong eyed him warily. Mercurial shadows crept over Bong's face. He had a vivid recollection of that horrendous night.

📷 📷 Then, Ahn Oh Ju asked whether he got sick after swallowing the memory card. Athough Bong Sang Pil stared at him levelly, he did not answer.

📷 📷 📷 Ahn declared that Bong Sang Pil was somewhat extraordinary since he was a kid. Was he praising Bong’s present qualities as well?  Ahn was intent on provoking the lawyer. He did not keep a respectful distance but had purposely moved in front of Bong’s table.

📷 📷 📷 Ah Oh Ju's intention was to flex his evil muscles. His next verbal attack was like a sucker punch - swift and surprising. The brute’s provocative comment was about his discovery of 10-year-old Bong Sang Pil who had hidden himself in the cupboard. He implied that Bong was a coward and did not protect his mother. It was a sharp slap on Bong’s face. Although Bong had been calm throughout the man’s goading, Ahn’s browbeating had finally got to him. The gangster had brought him to the edge of his patience. In fact, the piercing power of his put-down drove Bong almost to irrationality. His unspeakable sorrow and guilt had been dredged up.

📷 📷 📷 📷 📷 📷 📷 📷 Goaded beyond endurance, Bong's impulse was to rise to punch the other man in his face. However, he rose from his seat with cold deliberation. When he rose to his full height, Bong Sang Pil still looked calm and composed. But, his mood was turning foul. His eyes bored coldly into the gangster boss. The memory of his mother’s brutal murder by the hands of the savage beast in that office had come back to haunt him. Ahn, pretending to be fearful of Bong's rising anger, urged him to stay seated. 

📷 📷 📷 📷 📷 📷 📷 📷 📷 Ahn Oh Ju, a demon, had come to mock him. Next, came Ahn’s provocative confession, ‘You knew that I killed your mother!' Bong's fury was rising with each passing second. A crime of such enormity called for the severest punishment but the savage murderer had remained unpunished.  Bong, arched him a disdainful look at him. But, his eyes suddenly morphed into missiles. He articulated the other man's name with precision. AHN OH JU. It was a warning that the gangster head couldn’t ignore. Even before the villainous Ahn knew it, Bong had grabbed hold of his collar and stared down frostily at him. The tight stranglehold had put Ahn in a precarious situation.

📷 📷 📷 📷 📷 Bong’s eyes had taken on a metallic gleam. They were unmoving but one could feel the goosebumps as he stared unseeingly at the evil man. He was turning his head ever so slightly to study the man, perhaps trying to gorge the man’s evilness out with his eyes. Ahn Oh Ju was like the vicious virus that won’t go away. ‘I can just kill you now, right here!’ Bong's mouth twisted as he mouthed those words. ‘Just like how you killed my mother!’ The twist morphed into a smirk and ended into a grim pressing of his lips.  ‘You want to take revenge on me with the law, right? That’s why you became a lawyer and came to Ki Seong.’  Bong’s iron grip on Ahn Oh Ju had tightened considerably. Did the gangster Chairman feel a conflicted mixture of anxiety and fear?  The gangster Chairman yelled for him to let go and to talk like a gentleman.

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‘You have the law but I have money.' He added boastfully, ‘I have the law too. I’ve Judge Cha Moon Sook.’ That meant Bong lost to him because he did not have that kind of big money. Anyway, the thing he had, the law of justice, was not as powerful as Judge Cha Moon Sook because she was the law, a law unto herself.  Judge Cha Moon Sook could ignore justice and ethics. Bong Sang Pil was lawless – he was wild and had no respect for the law.  One was a judge, the other a lawyer, yet both were 'lawless' in their own ways.

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Bong Sang Pil’s threat had little ill-effect on his nemesis. Although he had physically caught Ahn in a chokehold, he was not ready for an all-out war.  Bong collapsed into his black leather swivel chair. Despite exuding a stoic air about him, in reality, Bong seemed spent. In truth, by any stretch of imagination, he had mentally boxed himself into a stupor. That was the impression that one got.

📷 📷 At one point in the conversation, Bong, having sunk deep into his chair, looked pale and seemed almost sucked out his breath. He seemed jaded. However, his expression was impossible to read. The set of his jaw was grim.  One would have thought that Dracula Ahn, who was dressed in his maroon and black vampire clothes, had sucked the life force out of Bong Sang Pil. The only thing missing in Ahn's costume was his set of fangs.

📷 Bong Sang Pil could have killed him but he had let go. Ahn was sarcastic when he declared that Bong had saved his life, so he would not forget his kindness.

📷 📷 Bong Sang Pil watched him for a moment or two. He was thoroughly exhausted.   Ahn Oh Ju, having a sizable ego, had imagined himself to be the winner in his struggle against Bong. He crowed that Wu Hyeong Man might have a change of mind.  Bong, his Defense Lawyer, was advised to visit Wu in prison. That was his exit line. The agenda of his visit was now obvious.

📷 📷 📷 📷 📷 Bong Sang Pil, turning his swivel chair to face the door, stared after the evil man as he left his office.  Ahn Oh Ju had thought that his little outing to Bong’s office had given him the upper hand. He expected Bong to cave in to his threats. Instead, it strengthened Bong’s dogged determination to bring Ahn Oh Ju to justice.

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Bong Sang Pil, like Judge Cha, should have got himself some Dettol spray to kill the stink  and germs in the air. The muscles on Bong Sang Pil's face and neck must have twitched considerably as he mulled over the man’s words.  He reached out for a small tower statue on the table. He fingered the very sharp end of the paper weight, probably mulling over whether he should have used it as a weapon to stab the demented gangster. 

📷 📷 📷 📷 📷 Bong was hunched over his table. With elbows propped on the table and fingers laced together, he mulled over his future strategies to fight the evil pair.

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