"𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐝,"
~🌙 ~
8:53 am.
I straightened my tie and looked at my newly ironed form in the mirror. There I was, Saturday morning, in my best clothes to attend a stupid court trial. No matter how much we argued there was no way to avoid it. The people at the top of the chain had already spent their precious money and we couldn't waste that by cancelling.
I ran a comb through my hair once more, slicking it back away from my face.
"Are you ready?" Eomma called from the door.
"Do you want my honest answer?" I huffed jokingly. She smiled sympathetically and took my hand.
"We will win this case so don't worry. All you need to do is stay calm and tell the truth. Your lawyer will take it from there," she comforted and I accepted her words. One day out of my life to argue for our innocent. I would rather do that than fuss about with anything else.
9:32 am.
We were sat at our table, you know, the ones at the front of the courtroom. They had the three of us sat next to each other and our lawyer on the end. The others were also very well suited, but their faces didn't match anything. Jake's lip quivered in panic and Sunghoon's leg wouldn't stop shaking under the table.
We would all take the stand today and protest our version of the story. I heard that going up there is a different world. All eyes are on you and listening to your voice. There is so much pressure that you might just slip. We really needed to keep our cool today.
10:00am.
"All rise," the judge entered and we all stood. This was it. My heart was working twenty times as fast whilst Amy was sat on the opposite side relaxed as ever. She looked like she had no care in the world, much like a spoilt child. Truthfully, that was what she was and the fact she got this far with her money showed how corrupt things really were.
"Would you like to present your cases?" the judge announced and our lawyer stepped up to take centre. I held my breath hoping that we could trust her enough to vouch for our innocence.
"Park Sunghoon, Sim Jaeyun and Park Jongseong are three high ranking students, currently in their final year of high school. They have recently been studying for their final exams, which included helping Kim Amy," she paused to glance at Amy and her lawyer and then continued, "She presented herself as a friend to my clients and they willingly accepted her despite having betrayed their trust once in the past before. They had no bad intentions that their allegations suggest. Your Honour, I am here to argue that this court session is not necessary. My clients are hard working students that have been failed by the injustice of the upper class and a female student who is wrongfully determined to get her way. That is all."
Our lawyer sat back down and I let out a sigh of relief. Her opening statement was strong and eye opening. The Judge's face hadn't moved an inch with a flat line remaining for a smile. He nodded, thanked her and then invited Amy's lawyer up to present.
"Your Honour, it is no lie that my client has difficulties with learning - as all students do. Seeking help from the best students in the class is smart. Why would you not want help from the best? Amy was victim to these school boys' manipulative act of conducting a phone call with the intention of catching her in a lie. Did she deserve such treatment for trying to better her education? I do not think so. I do not think she deserved the verbal and physical assault either,"
What did he just say? Assault? I closed my eyes, rolling them in my head. What more could these people say to make us sound like dreadful criminals. We're high school students for crying out loud!
"Thus, I argue that these boys receive a charitable punishment as they are adults that should know better. Thank you,"
The judge nodded but this time his expression changed. It looked sour, as if he had heard something that had pissed him off. His eyes wandered around the room before a frown built on his face.
"Is there a reason why you have brought a high school quarrel to my courtroom?" was all he said and the room erupted in chatter. I almost wanted laugh at how out of character he seemed. Amy and her lawyer looked baffled and that in itself was fairly amusing. The good thing was that the judge could see how idiotic this whole thing was.
Amy's lawyer stood up to speak.
"Your honour. Since the boys are of adult age, their actions are punishable by law. They are criminals!" he argued, pointing largely toward us.
"Objection!"
"You can't call anything here woman we haven't even started!" he fought back.
Our jaws locked open as we witnessed the two lawyers bite at themselves in front of the judge. They were like two dogs fighting over a chew toy. The audience looked amongst each other in confusion
Bang. Bang. Bang.
The judge's gavel slammed down as it would on tv. They stopped bickering and the attention was brought back to what it should be. The judge paused and eyed everyone with fed up eyes, a look I could relate to.
"Your arguing is clear evidence that this case does not need a court hearing. Is there no manner of professionalism here?"
"If I may," a deeper voice boomed from the audience. There he was again, Amy's father. He stood up from the front row, just like he did at Sunghoon's house. He stood with such entitlement even though he was not the highest power in the room. The judge even looked at him funny.
"The hearing fees have been paid in advance and as the primary payee, I would like to request the judge carry on with the trial," he ordered without a second movement. The judge scoffed at his demand but seeing as Mr Kim's stance didn't falter, he was taken seriously.
"Very well. We will continue - professionally. I will not hesitate to call this off if I deem it unsuitable for my court room,"
"I can assure you Sir, you will not need to do that," Mr Kim sat with a thin, evil smile. The rest of the room cowered at how he addressed the judge. Sir. This man really thought he held all the power. Well, we'll see when Amy gets the worst of things.
"You may call your first witness,"
11:32am.
"We would like to invite Park Sunghoon to the stand,"
Sunghoon stood up nervously, his hand shook like hell. I gave him a good luck nod and he walked towards the podium. I couldn't imagine how nervous he was right now. A look was plastered on his face that I had not seen before. Pure fear. His voice wavered and stuttered as he swore to tell the truth. I could almost see his erratic breaths as Amy's lawyer approached him.
"Park Sunghoon. Why did you decide to study with Park Jongseong that afternoon?"
"I-I uh... I wanted to see Jay- I mean Jongseong and Amy," Sunghoon stumbled through his words. The sweat glimmered on his forehead. Hopefully, he had remembered everything we went through with our lawyer.
"And why is that? What were your intentions?" The lawyer came closer to the stand, making Sunghoon flinch back.
"Relax, please. Mr Park," The judge called from behind him, also motioning for the lawyer to step away.
"We had suspicions of them dating," Sunghoon spoke clearly.
"We - meaning, you and Jaeyun?"
"Yes,"
"And why is that?"
"They were spending a lot of time together. Jongseong never usually misses our plans, but was to go study with Amy,"
"And when you got there were they just studying?" he continued, but his voice changed as if the pressure was about to build up from this point.
"Yes,"
"Did you study with them at all?"
"I did,"
"So why did you call the need for this secret phone call if you knew that none of your suspicions were true?"
"W-well, it wasn't my idea. But I didn't believe Jongseong's claims at first. I didn't trust her."
"But you saw them study and studied with them. Doesn't that prove that Amy had no other intentions?"
"No, it doesn't. There's more to the story that proved otherwise," Sunghoon's voice raised as he was getting annoyed by the context of the questions. It was true that they were using the first part of the story to advance their case, but who knew if the Judge bought that.
"You mean the part where you conducted a secret phone call to use as blackmail?"
"Not for blackmail-,"
"But you did make the call?"
"Yes, but-,"
"Your Honour, this phone call, now proved by Mr Park that it did in fact occur, is a similar to phone tapping or wiring a person which in this case should be punishable," the lawyer concluded. He finished interrogating Sunghoon who looked pale and shrivelled. He didn't meet our eyes when he walked back and sat down, just stared at the empty space in front of him.
11:58 am.
"We would like to invite Sim Jaeyun to the stand,"
Jake fixed his tie before getting up. If there was anything we knew about Jake it was that he was honest and true. Even if that cruel lawyer drilled into him, he could handle it. Jake was our main advocate in our case; our key to getting through this big mess.
Amy's lawyer stepped up again, his expression held more devious eyes as if he had a different plan to ruin Jake.
"Mr Sim, you are from Australia, aren't you?"
"I lived there, yes,"
"Objection!" Our lawyer emerged from the table instantly, shocking the both of us, "Relevance?"
"Sustained," the judge called out stopping the awful lawyer from using Jake's origins as a weak point. He nodded at his failed attempt, flipping over a page in his file. His next point. Jake's face remained unphased as if he was fearless. Nothing could penetrate that.
"Where were you when Jongseong made the phone call?"
"At home," Jake replied strongly. His expression didn't falter - in fact he looked comfortable and confident. His stance gave me hope that somehow they wouldn't be able to break us.
"And why weren't you studying?" The lawyer simply asked.
"A-are you asking me why I don't study?" Jake laughed right in his face. The audience followed, clowning the idiocy of the question.
"Better form your questions for the witness, please," The judge ordered, trying to rectify the embarrassing disturbance. The lawyer looked red in the face and bowed to apologise for his bad wording. After a brief pause, his interrogation stare was back.
"It is known that the three of you study together frequently, is that correct," he continued.
"Yes,"
"Is there a reason why you declined Jongseong's offer during this period?"
"I preferred not to study with Amy," he said bluntly. Brutal honesty: the key to getting past his questions.
"And why is that?"
"Because the last time we studied for an important deadline Amy was the downfall of our grade. She posed a distraction for us and I would prefer to not be distracted,"
"Amy's want to better her education is surely not a distraction here Mr Sim,"
"It is my preference to study without her. You can't argue anything more," Jake shrugged, shocking the lawyer who was now at a loss.
"He is right, can you get to the point please?" the judge urged him to carry on.
"Sim Jaeyun were you part of the phone call?"
"Yes, I was,"
"What was the intention of you joining the call if you were not present?"
"My friends wanted to prove that Kim Amy was a nice person,"
"And was that needed because you of all three were the most opposed to befriending Amy,"
"...Yes," Jake paused before answering. He was faltering now. My heart raced as our strong rider was starting to slow down. Come on, Jake.
"And is it true that you still oppose Amy?"
"Yes, but why would that change after what she did to us?" Jake tried to argue back.
"What is it she did to you, Jake?"
"Well, nothing-,"
"Kim Amy confessed to wanting to pass her exams over the phone call. You of all people would find that admirable as a student of your nature,"
"She did so in a horrible way, though. Who uses someone to get what they want. It's toxic! She has been doing this to us all year and yet you justify it because she wants to pass her exams?" Jake stood up, leaning over the podium. He eyed the lawyer trying to break him.
"Everyone needs to pass their exams. That is the point of going to school. There is no want, need or preference involved. Kim Amy consented to learning when she joined the school. If she didn't want that then she should not have asked her father to fraud her way through the system!"
The audience gasped and turned to Mr Kim who was clearly unhappy with Jake's outburst.
"Mr Sim Jaeyun, do not speak out of turn," the judge called to order. Jake sat back down, but in his eyes he wasn't finished.
"Like I was saying," the lawyer coughed to continue, "Amy is a good student who did something for her own benefit. You took advantage of that-,"
"She took advantage of us! She used her father's money to get a seat at the good student's table. Yeah, it's smart and may have worked for her, but everyone here has gone through the school system. We all worked hard for our grades, even you to be here as a lawyer! Why should the justice turn a blind eye for one girl who had the money to skip the hard part?"
The audience erupted again. Jake's explanation caused everyone to turn on Amy's defence. Members of the audience stood up to recount their high school experiences and argued in our favour.
"I worked hours and hours during my exams without money or anyone else!"
"Money doesn't get you anywhere. She committed fraud and these poor students are being framed to cover it up!"
"Isn't it the father's fault since he is the one loaded with money?!"
"ENOUGH!"
The judge stood up and smacked his gavel on the wood. The room was silenced and everyone froze in their places.
"Defence," he stated simply, "Is there evidence for Mr Sim Jaeyun's claim of fraud on Miss Amy's account?"
"Not presently, Your Honour," Our lawyer sighed.
"Then I deem there no case to be made here," My heart dropped.
"but Your Honour-," Amy's lawyer tried argue with the judge's claimed but was instantly silenced. He was getting tired of the constant bickering as I suspected from the start.
"Is there anyone here that can give me any evidence of an actual criminal offence?"
Nobody spoke up and that was the hard truth. This case was dead from the start because there was no physical evidence of anything they were accusing us of. It was our escape plan: to discredit the evidence they had, which they now proved was null. I was relieved that something was going our way and hopefully soon we'd be on our way out of here with no charges.
"Wait!"
A figure emerged from the back of the courtroom holding multiple pieces of paper.
"There is evidence," they said breathlessly, "This trial needs to go ahead,"