ᴬᶜᵃʳᵒⁿᵃʳ ~ The Devil Judge

XI

Yeong-min trial is next chapter!

"Judge Oh, meet Judge Jung In-seok."


That was what Eun-mi told Judge Oh when introducing the young woman to the young male in glasses and black hair that was cut close to his hairline and swooped to the left. Or right, depending on which side you were standing on.

"He'll be standing in for Judge Kim until he finally recovers." Eun-mi continued while holding her hand out to gesture at In-seok.

The male next to her bowed lightly to Judge Oh, who seemed a bit unnerved by In-seok. Eun-mi wasn't all that impressed or bothered by the man since he looked like a majority of fresh out of law school students and was much more obedient than Ga-on was.

"Nice to meet you, Judge Oh." In-seok said to Jin-joo with a warm smile on his face.

"Wow, you look too much like a judge." Jin-joo said it in a moment of random bluntness.

The friendly atmosphere instantly turned sour at Jin-joo's random moment of speaking without a filter. In-seok looked over at Eun-mi for help, only to see that the brunette looked disappointed at Jin-joo. He then looked back at his new co-worker, who still had that unconvincing smile.

"Pardon?" In-seok asked her in case he misheard her.

"Nothing." Jin-joo said to him with a shake of her head. She then held out her hand to him and finally gave him a real smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Yes, sure." In-seok said in return. He put down his box of personal belongings on the floor and then shook her hand, only for Jin-joo to grab his hand.

"Thank you for taking the courage to help us out in this crisis." She told him, sounding as sincere as could be.

"No, it's an honor to be part of the Live Court Show. I'll do my best." In-seok reassured Jin-joo.

Eun-mi let out a quiet sigh of relief at seeing them get along with no issue, even with Jin-joo's little slip-up. She reached up to the bandage on her forehead before remembering that no one knew that she had gotten injured from the explosion as well, and she quickly ran her fingers through her hair instead.

"I'm glad to see you two getting along. Judge Oh, I'll leave it to you then to get Judge Jung acquainted with the office and our upcoming trial." Eun-mi said it with a smile on her face. "Then please excuse me."

"It seems that Detective Yoon Su-hyeon is onto something." K spoke into the phone.

"Don't lose her." Yo-han told him while walking into his now-empty office. "Eun-mi?"

"The detectives on our pay roll say that she's working on the angle that whoever planted the bomb did so back when we first received the painting." Eun-mi said while writing out the checks for their spy's.

"That's not good. We need to get to them before the police." Yo-han told the two before hanging up the three-way phone call.

He looked around his empty office with a prominent frown on his face. He had only ever seen the blueprints of the barren office from Eun-mi back when she needed his stamp of approval for the look, but he had never actually seen it so empty in person. While it was the same black tiling and walls as before, without all the furniture that Eun-mi picked for him, it felt incredibly larger and more cold than before.

"Yo-han?"

Yo-han looked over at his open doors to see Eun-mi staring at him with curiosity and slight worry on her face. She looked around the empty room as well and frowned in disapproval once more. If Yo-han felt that the room was strange-looking without all the furniture, then she must have thought it looked absolutely out of place. She quickly shook her head and then looked up at him.

"Are you okay? You ended the call pretty early, you know?" She asked him before taking a few steps into the empty room.

"You ask me that too often." Yo-han told her, sounding cold and meant to keep her away. "You do remember that I'm your senior, right?"

"If you stopped giving me reasons to worry, then I wouldn't ask you so often. And seniority hardly matters considering the trouble we get into and our abnormal relationship." Eun-mi calmly retorted, as she was used to his odd methods as well. "Do you plan to go to whatever place that detective goes to?"

"Yeah, and I'll need you and K to come as well. So change into some flats or something." Yo-han told her. He then walked out of the empty office before he had to hear her complain about another road trip with K.