Chapter Text
All through college and law school Ga On has been dreaming of this day – his first day of work. It wasn’t just any job he got, which was all the more exciting. His professor Min Jung Ho recommended him for the judges panel of the Live Court Show. The show was all about live trials in the means to engage the whole nation in the verdicts. He wasn’t too sure about it at first, thinking that he wouldn’t be a good fit to become such a public figure, but professor Min practically begged him to take the job.
He raved all about how many strings he had to pull to get this job for someone inexperienced, which made Ga On feel bad. He didn’t want to feel ungrateful, so he decided to take the offer.
Turns out professor Min didn’t want him for the job because he thought it was a good idea, that it would be a good opportunity, no. He made Ga On take that job so that he would have someone on the inside.
Why? Because he didn’t trust the main judge – Kang Yo Han, and he needed someone to spy on the man and report back everything there was to know.
Ga On had to admit, he didn’t like that idea at all. First of all, he felt bad actually doing it, because he was a good person in nature, so spying on somebody didn’t seem like his proudest moment. Second of all, because he kind of felt used by the professor.
He decided not to question it though, not wanting to seem ungrateful. Besides, from what professor Min told him, Kang Yo Han was an interesting person. Or, more like a lunatic. That’s why the professor wanted Ga On to spy on him, because he thought the man was absolutely crazy.
Who was Ga On to judge though? He hasn’t even met the man yet. He only heard some stories from people all around, a few things from the people who were interviewing him for the position.
But obviously to make the best judgment, Ga On needed to meet him himself. That’s why after visiting Min Jung Ho as soon as he came to work, he decided to head to Kang Yo Han’s office next.
He knocked on the door and when he heard a voice calling him inside, he stepped into the office and was immediately met with an intimidating vibe from the older man. Kang Yo Han was standing by the floor-to-ceiling windows, staring at the streets of Seoul. He was dressed in a neat, impeccable suit, looking nothing but powerful. Ga On already knew that Kang Yo Han came from a wealthy family, so it was only natural that he looked the part.
And when the man finally turned to look at him, Ga On was met with an intense stare that suddenly made him feel small.
“Nice to meet you, sir,” he said and bowed in front of the older man. But Kang Yo Han didn’t say anything. He just took a few steps towards him and stared at his face intently for a moment. Ga On felt a little stupid then. “Is something wrong?” He asked awkwardly.
“No,” Kang Yo Han shook his head. “You must be Kim Ga On.”
“Yes,” Ga On nodded right away. “I—“
“Welcome to the battlefield, Kim Ga On,” Kang Yo Han cut him off, extending his hand in greeting. “It’s your first job, isn’t it?” He asked, scanning Ga On’s face carefully.
“It is, Chief. I’ll do my best not to disappoint,” Ga On said with a serious tone.
“I’m sure you won’t,” Kang Yo Han spoke, his lips quirking in a hint of a smile.
Ga On had to admit that besides being intimidating, the man seemed incredibly charming, which is probably why he was chosen to be the head judge of the show in the first place. He was rich and good-looking, people ate up stuff like that on TV.
The thing is, he didn’t give off the crazy vibe at all. He was put together and seemed kind, calm. Ga On figured he’ll probably find out more about him along the way, but the first impression was quite good.
Maybe even too good. Maybe that was the problem. That could definitely be the problem. He needed to pay attention and figure out Kang Yo Han’s intentions to know if his plan was to destroy the country with the show, just like professor Min thought.
“I’m really looking forward to working with you, Judge Kim,” Kang Yo Han spoke again.
Hearing someone call him Judge Kim was a new thing. Of course he officially became a judge sometime ago, but nobody has ever called him that. It felt nice, to be called by the title he worked so hard for.
But besides that, Ga On was just intrigued. He was very serious about Kang Yo Han’s persona. Which is why, he had to admit that he was really looking forward to working with Judge Kang as well.
“Likewise,” Ga On just said, smiling at the older man.
As if out of curiosity or maybe on impulse, Kang Yo Han’s gaze averted to what seemed like his lips, when he smiled. Not too long after that Judge Kang turned away from him, walking over to the windows again.
“You should start preparing for the first trial,” he said, with his back to Ga On. “You’ll find our colleague in your office, I’m sure she’s dying to meet you.”
That was all he said and then he just kept staring at the window, so Ga On took it as his cue to leave. He quickly bowed, though he was pretty sure the older man didn’t see him anyway, and then left.
His next destination was the office he shared with the third judge from the show.
As soon as he got there, he knew from the start that he and Judge Oh would get along quite well. All because she seemed really bright and excited, and it was exactly what Ga On needed in that serious place the Supreme Court was, with the calm Judge Kang, who was apparently plotting something bad, and paranoid professor Min, who wanted to expose him.
~
The work day went by pretty fast, with Ga On preparing for the first trial with Oh Jin Joo, studying all the documents that were sent to their office. It was quite a big pile of them (or more like piles), so they’d definitely stay some extra time this week to study everything perfectly until their first Live Court Show.
But today was Ga On’s first day and he was already set up to meet Soo Hyun after work, so he left the court right on time. When he walked outside, slowly on his way to the subway, he noticed something he didn’t expect to see at his first day at work.
There was a bus speeding, on the way to Supreme Court, not seeming to stop at all, almost like it wanted to collide with the building. What alarmed him the most though, were the children walking right in front of the speeding bus – more importantly, a little girl that tripped on the street and stared at the bus in fear.
It was only natural for Ga On to run and save her when he realized that there was not even a single person around that thought of doing that. So he ran to the girl and tried to lift her off the ground, to avoid the speeding bus, but just when he was standing up, he suddenly heard a gunshot that made him kneel down again, covering the little girl with his whole body.
Another shot and he raised his head out of pure curiosity to see no one other than his new boss standing a few feet away with the gun he took from one of the bodyguards. Ga On frowned at the man, surprised that he’d do something like that, but he didn’t get to stare a lot, because suddenly there was a loud noise and when he turned around he noticed that the bus driver completely lost it and the bus toppled over right next to him.
It all happened in seconds, but then all of a sudden the little girl ran away from him and the bus set on fire. Without thinking rationally, just purely on impulse, Ga On let go of his things and ran to the bus to save the driver, seeing as nobody else was interested in doing that.
Thankfully he managed to get out of that bus with the driver just in time before it exploded. The blast was so strong that he collapsed on his front and his face crushed on the ground. He grimaced loudly, already feeling a cut or a bruise on his face. When he looked up from the ground his gaze stopped at Kang Yo Han, still standing there, but without the gun now. The man looked a little annoyed and when their eyes met, Ga On noticed that the man was shaking his head at him and then he moved his head to the side, motioning that Ga On should follow him.
He saw Kang Yo Han going back inside, but before he actually opened the door to the courthouse, he turned around to Ga On and raised his eyebrows in question. Ga On understood that he was supposed to go after him, he just didn’t understand why.
Obviously he didn’t want to anger his Chief the first day, so he followed him as quickly as it was possible, considering that he needed to get up from the ground and he didn’t really feel steady on his feet just yet.
When he finally went inside, Kang Yo Han turned to look at him with a serious expression on his face.
“Do you want to die, Kim Ga On?” He asked him.
Now that’s something Ga On didn’t expect.
“Excuse me?” Ga On raised his eyebrows, genuinely shocked.
“Are you suicidal? Is that why you basically ran into a speeding bus?” His Chief asked. “Tell me, because if that’s the case, maybe I made a mistake hiring you for the bench.”
Ga On’s eyes widened at that even more. “No, Chief, I’m—“
“So you’re just stupid,” Kang Yo Han said with a firm voice, like he was stating a fact.
“I was trying to protect that little girl who tripped,” Ga On said, trying to explain himself, his reasons for doing what he did.
“That included running inside a burning bus?” Kang Yo Han raised one of his eyebrows in question, looking annoyed.
“He’d die if I didn’t go get him!” Ga On protested.
“Maybe he should have died,” Kang Yo Han said.
And that was the very first thing that made him doubt the older man. The first thing that told him that professor Min’s accusations may have been right, that Kang Yo Han was heartless and didn’t care about anything or anyone, unless it was for his own benefit.
But then there was this other thing.
Like the fact that the driver almost hit him and that little girl with the bus, if it wasn’t for Kang Yo Han who miraculously appeared in front of the court and was ballzy enough to grab the gun (that he apparently knew how to use) and stopped the driver, saving Ga On and the little girl.
He did something nobody was brave enough to do.
Just like Ga On, with saving the driver and the girl.
Maybe they were similar, somehow.
“Thank you for saving me, Chief,” he decided to say, not wanting to question Kang Yo Han’s intentions about the driver’s life.
He noticed the older man’s lips quirked a bit, like he almost wanted to smile, possibly proud of himself for doing that. “Go back to your office and ask Judge Oh for the first-aid kit,” his Chief said to him, touching his own cheek lightly, probably to signal Ga On that he was hurt.
And when Ga On touched his cheek he was met with a bit of blood on his fingers.
He could already picture Soo Hyun yelling at him for ten straight minutes. After all, he promised her not to get hurt, ever again.
“Take care of those cuts, I’ll see you tomorrow,” were the last words Kang Yo Han said to him, before he disappeared to his own office.
Ga On didn’t get to say anything else, and maybe that was a good thing. It did make him think though, about his boss. Maybe he needed to pay closer attention to him, maybe he needed to do an investigation of his own. He should find out who this man really is. And maybe Soo Hyun would help him with that.
Eventually he stepped into his office for a minute, told Oh Jin Joo about what happened in front of the courthouse and stayed for another ten minutes to let her tend to his little wounds. Ga On thought that she seemed like a really nice person and he couldn’t wait to find out more about her.
His main goal for the rest of the day was to go back home in one piece and meet Soo Hyun, who was probably dying to hear all about his first day at work.
Of course the first thing she noticed when she came to see him were the cuts on his face, and just like Ga On predicted, she yelled at him for quite a bit. The evening obviously couldn’t end without Soo Hyun telling him that she loved him.
She tends to do that a lot.
Ga On hates it.
He loves Soo Hyun, of course he does, she’s his best friend. They’ve known each other ever since they were little, they’re basically like brother and sister. At some point in his life Ga On thought that there may be more to it and he actually thought of acting on it, but he didn’t want to ruin their friendship, so he stopped himself.
Obviously he knows Soo Hyun loves him romantically and he’s flattered by that, but he can’t bring himself to actually accept her feelings. He’s a bit scared and a bit unsure, insecure. He thinks it’s better to just stay friends. Then again when he thinks about Soo Hyun dating someone else, he doesn’t like the idea, so maybe that speaks for itself.
~
The next day, Ga On really wanted to talk to his Chief and thank him for saving him again. More so, he wanted to know more about where he stood when it came to that incident. Particularly because Ga On wondered why Kang Yo Han thought that the driver should just die and everyone should move on with their life. That sounded inhumane and Ga On was really hoping to find some humanity in that man, humanity he thought Kang Yo Han had, despite professor Min’s protests.
“Sir,” Ga On spoke, stopping his boss from entering his office. Kang Yo Han seemed surprised to see him first thing in the morning. To add to that, he seemed in a rush, so Ga On decided to get straight to it. “Thank you again for saving me yesterday.”
Kang Yo Han turned to him briefly and spoke, “Don’t mention it.” Then he turned to his door again.
But Ga On wasn’t done.
“I was surprised to see that you didn’t hesitate to shoot,” he spoke. “And you basically said that the driver deserved to die. Was it your aim to kill him?”
Thankfully, that seemed to get Kang Yo Han’s attention. The man turned around and stepped right in front of Ga On, looking amused. “I’d kill him if I had to,” he shrugged. “It didn’t make sense though, since the bus would have crushed you then anyway.”
Ga On frowned at that. “So you decided to shoot to scare him,” he noticed. “Even if that meant he’d die after the bus crashed.”
“That’s math, Kim Ga On,” the older man pointed out. “Two is bigger than one. I had a choice to either save you and that little girl, or the driver. What would you have done?” He asked curiously.
“I wouldn’t shoot at the driver, knowing it was possible to kill him,” Ga On said sternly.
“Well, I’m an excellent shooter, so I wasn’t worried about that,” Kang Yo Han said with a smirk.
An excellent shooter. Ga On wondered what that meant. Was he a shooter in the army? Was going to the shooting range his hobby? Or maybe he liked to hunt. Or maybe he was just a psychopath who had a gun, for some reason. The possibilities were endless and Ga On really wanted to know the truth. He wanted to know everything about this man, purely because he was an enigma and he was dying to figure him out.
“Before you come to any conclusions in that head of yours, I’m not a criminal,” the man said then.
Oh. Well, that was good to know.
“You would become one if that man died because of you,” Ga On pointed out.
“Thankfully you and your stupidity were there to save the idiot,” his Chief spoke, and Ga On didn’t know if he liked the man using that tone, as if he was mocking him.
“You should actually thank me for saving your ass, Chief,” Ga On said, getting a little annoyed at his Chief’s behavior.
“And what did I just say?” Kang Yo Han said innocently. “You better go to your office and worry about the upcoming trial, Kim Ga On,” he added then, walking into his own office, slamming the door shut behind him.
Right after walking out of that corridor, Ga On decided to go see Judge Min, to talk to him about his first impression and observations about Kang Yo Han.
Did Ga On want to be honest with him? Of course.
But was he going to be? Not really.
He didn’t want to tell him all about his own judgment about Kang Yo Han, because he wasn’t sure of it himself. He definitely needed more time to figure him out. It’s only been a day, but the man hasn’t done anything suspicious just yet, not really.
That’s why professor Min clearly wanted to seed some doubt in Ga On.
“You’ve met Kang Yo Han. What’s he like?” The man asked as soon as he saw Ga On.
But Ga On couldn’t really tell, still unsure.
“I don’t know.”
Then professor Min went on all about the first trial and why he thinks Kang Yo Han chose Jo Il Do as the first defendant and how the whole thing was literally a show, a game to him.
And what was Ga On supposed to do? He listened to him, absorbed all the information and decided to focus on just that, to prove that the trials weren’t real, just like professor Min assumed.
But why would he need Ga On to prove it? Why couldn’t he do it himself? Why did he want to use Ga On to expose Kang Yo Han?
He decided not to question it just yet, determined to help his professor as much as he can. It’s not like he actually knew anything about Kang Yo Han, not like he had a different opinion than Judge Min. He should just listen to him and help him and stop overthinking and complaining.
When he got back to his office he was met with Oh Jin Joo still at her desk, preparing for the upcoming trial. She seemed really ambitious and hard-working and he liked that about her.
She even encouraged him to read the trial’s statute, which she already read like three times.
She was definitely too ambitious.
And when Ga On read that statute, he had to admit he wasn’t happy with it. Maybe Min Jung Ho was right, maybe it was all a game to Kang Yo Han, something fun and basically illegal. That’s what it looked like. The whole idea of the show was ridiculous and Ga On actually started questioning his part in it.
Was Kang Yo Han playing with him too? Why else would he hire him for the job? Did he hire him because he thought he was stupid and he wouldn’t catch on?
That couldn’t be it, could it?
Or maybe there was more to the story. Maybe Kang Yo Han truly wanted to change the system and it was his way of doing it, thinking that engaging the public in the trials was a brilliant idea.
Or maybe his plans were totally different and Ga On just needed more time to figure it out.
More importantly, he somehow needed to know more about Kang Yo Han’s intentions regarding the first trial. That’s why he called Soo Hyun and asked her for some equipment, wanting to put a listening device in Kang Yo Han’s office, so that he could listen on to all of his private conversations that surely must have been about work anyway.
~
Having the listening device, Ga On decided to go to work extremely early the next day, so that he could put those devices in Kang Yo Han’s office without anyone noticing. And since it was pretty early, he was convinced that he was basically the only one at the courthouse.
Little did he know as soon as he planted those devices, that Kang Yo Han would walk right into his office.
It all happened in seconds and the only thing Ga On could think of while being there was to run to the bookshelf and reach for whatever book he was able to, to back up his lie somehow.
When his Chief saw him, he looked startled. “Kim Ga On,” he said, looking at him carefully. “What are you doing here?” He asked, frowning deeply.
“It’s too early for the library, so I thought I’d try your office for some literature. After all, we have a trial to prepare for,” Ga On quickly explained himself, with a light smile on his face.
“Why are you reading with the lights off then?” Kang Yo Han asked, clearly not satisfied with his answer.
“I have good eyesight,” Ga On shrugged, not really knowing what to say to that.
And damn it, it seemed like Kang Yo Han didn’t buy it, because he grimaced at him. “Do you?” He raised his eyebrow in question.
That made Ga On realize that he should get the hell out of here because he actually blows his cover. “Yes, and I should probably get back to work, so,” he said in a hurry, basically speeding for the door.
But he didn’t get to actually reach the door, because after he took two steps, Kang Yo Han grabbed him by the shoulder and harshly slammed him against the bookshelves. Ga On was too startled to speak, he just stared at the older man with wide eyes, not knowing what to do.
Kang Yo Han held him by that shoulder, pinning him to the bookshelf, scanning his face carefully.
He probably wanted to see if Ga On was telling the truth.
But damn it, his gaze was so intense and intimidating and electrifying, Ga On noticed that he was holding his breath, this whole thing too intense, so much so that it made him forget about actually breathing.
He held his Chief’s gaze, despite being intimidated by the older man’s charming demeanor. It was a weird thing, because right then and there, Ga On noticed that his boss was actually really attractive. He knew Kang Yo Han was nearing forty, but he actually looked pretty young, probably because he had all the money in the world to take care of his appearance.
And damn it, the man truly looked good.
It’s no surprise women like Oh Jin Joo are crazy about him, Kang Yo Han is truly an attractive, charming man. And funnily enough, Ga On feels so small in front of him, so mesmerized by his appearance, by his aura, that he actually felt himself starting to blush.
He just fucking blushed right in front of his boss.
Then he noticed Kang Yo Han shamelessly smirk, like he noticed, which made Ga On all the more stressed. He needed to get out of here, right now.
“You live alone, don’t you?” His Chief asked all of a sudden.
Why was this relevant? Why did he need to know that?
“Yes,” Ga On nodded stupidly and noticed the older man’s hand move from one of his shoulders to the other slowly, smoothing out the creases in his white shirt. Ga On stiffened at the touch, not expecting it. It felt weird, almost inappropriate.
“Your shirt is crumpled,” Kang Yo Han noticed.
And of course he fucking noticed, he probably had his socks pressed as neatly as his shirts. He was very put-together and he paid attention to the details. He was probably ashamed of having Ga On work with him, with his cheap suits and crumpled shirts. Ga On suddenly felt even worse.
“I-I don’t really have the time to care about things like that,” Ga On admitted, somehow wanting to say something, to break this weird tension that was between them, standing in this close proximity.
“Maybe you should ask your girlfriend to iron your shirt sometimes,” the older man proposed with a light smile.
Now, what the hell. That made Ga On wonder if he actually knew anything about his life, or if he was just guessing. Maybe he simply wanted to know stuff about Ga On too?
“I don’t have a girlfriend,” Ga On stated, still keeping his gaze on the older man, not backing down, even though it all started to feel a bit uncomfortable. That was his boss, for fuck’s sake, and he stared at Ga On with such intense eyes that Ga On almost wanted to die right on the spot.
It felt oddly intimate.
Then he heard the man hum in acknowledgement, and he actually sounded satisfied with the answer, for some reason. And like nothing happened, he suddenly pulled away from Ga On and headed in the direction of his desk.
“Get back to work,” Kang Yo Han said then, clearly signaling that it was the last thing he wanted to say.
Ga On basically ran out of that office as if he was burnt. It was one of the weirdest things he’s ever experienced.
He had to quickly pull himself together and go back to his own office, because he was curious about Kang Yo Han’s phone calls. So as soon as he was by his desk, he nodded at Oh Jin Joo and started looking through some papers, and in the meantime he put in his earphones and wasn’t disappointed, because Kang Yo Han was in the middle of a conversation with Cha Kyung Hee.
The minister. Why would he call her before the trial? Was she part of his plans? That seemed odd.
Throughout the whole day, Ga On heard the man talk to two other people, but he had no idea who they were. He did hear his boss ask someone about talking to a doctor, whatever that meant.
It seemed like all of those conversations concerned the trial and he scribbled some notes on a small piece of paper while listening to it, needing to remember everything to report back to professor Min.
And Ga On was too suspicious about some of those phone calls, so naturally, he decided to follow Kang Yo Han after work. It was good that he did, because he found him on a meeting with Jo Il Do’s lawyer.
After that, he went to professor Min to tell him all about it, and while they analyzed all of it, Ga On realized that professor Min was right from the very beginning. The Live Court Show was staged, it was Kang Yo Han’s game that he invented for whatever reason, and it was in Ga On’s interest to expose this man.
He didn’t go to law school to be a part of something like that, but he’d gladly bring justice and put someone like Kang Yo Han behind bars, since apparently, he decided not to do things by the book. He was a fraud, and Ga On hated people like that.
~
The first trial took place the next day, and Ga On had mixed feelings about it.
There were a few things he knew for sure – like the fact that Kang Yo Han was apparently working with Cha Kyung Hee, who had Jo Il Do’s best interest at heart. That meant the verdict was probably already made and the trial was just for show, literally. Kang Yo Han wouldn’t put Jo Il Do behind bars, because he must have promised Cha Kyung Hee he wouldn’t do that.
What was the whole point of the show then? Ga On didn’t understand a thing.
But when the trial ended and Kang Yo Han sentenced Jo Il Do to two hundred and thirty five years in prison, Ga On had more doubts than ever. He completely didn’t expect something like that, and hearing it, he almost cried from the genuine shock.
He must have been wrong about Kang Yo Han working with Cha Kyung Hee, because he’s pretty sure she’s furious at him right now. The verdict may please the public, but Ga On is certain that Kang Yo Han is on Cha Kyung Hee’s radar now. It’s possible that he did that to piss her off in the first place.
Ga On can’t quite figure him out.
It made him think that maybe he was wrong about Kang Yo Han after all.
But then he witnessed the man talking to one of the victim’s family and he had the audacity to yawn while talking to the elderly woman.
Now what the hell was that about?
Ga On looked at the scene, even more confused than before, and when the woman left the courtroom and it was just him and Kang Yo Han, Ga On felt the need to confront him.
“What the hell was that?” Ga On asked, sounding irritated.
“I beg your pardon?” Kang Yo Han turned to him, clearly surprised himself.
“What game are you playing here, sir?” Ga On frowned at him, not understanding a thing.
“A game?” Kang Yo Han smirked. “What do you think I’m doing, Kim Ga On?” He asked, tilting his head curiously.
“I don’t know, but whatever you’re doing is wrong,” Ga On pointed out.
The man took the last couple of steps separating them, looking intensively at Ga On with a dark gaze. Ga On suddenly felt all the air leave the room, overwhelmed with Kang Yo Han’s presence so close to him.
“How can you tell it’s wrong when you don’t even know what you’re talking about?” The man raised one of his eyebrows in question, mocking Ga On.
“I don’t—“
He started to speak, but he didn’t finish, because Kang Yo Han raised his hand then and reached out to touch Ga On’s chin, literally shutting his mouth up.
“Think before you talk, Judge Kim,” his Chief said with a warning tone.
Ga On felt a bit uncomfortable then, feeling Judge Kang’s touch. To add to that, he felt like a scolded child, like he couldn’t say whatever was on his mind. He honestly didn’t know what to think of the man anymore, but one thing was for sure – Ga On was incredibly frustrated when he was around him.
The thing is, Ga On just basically exposed himself in front of his Chief. The man knows now that Ga On is somehow suspicious of him, he probably also knows that he’s keeping a close eye on him. It’s not ideal, but Ga On was stupid enough to confront him just now, so he has to live with the consequences now.
And since he already exposed himself, he was dying to ask more questions, but on the other hand, he was actually scared of Kang Yo Han’s reaction.
And thankfully he was saved from this current uncomfortable situation, because the cleaning crew just walked into the courtroom. Seeing that, Ga On took the opportunity and ran out of the room, feeling suffocated by Kang Yo Han’s presence.