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Chapter 58 - Legal Outland - WordExcerpt
The man seemed to have picked up bits and pieces of information or found inaccurate information. Yoonshin carefully thought through his words and slowly started his explanation. “Hmm… Frankly speaking, contributions have nothing to do with legal portions as an heir. The ‘legal portion’ is a legislated share of the deceased’s assets set aside for the heirs of an estate. This was made so that qualified heirs can get equal portions of inheritance.”
The man snapped back immediately, “Are you saying I’m not qualified? I was the one who lived with my aunt, not her children. My cousins were all busy taking care of their own family and they visited once a year at best. Don’t I have a better right to receive inheritance since I contributed to her care? She also told me before that she would give me all her possessions after she passed.”
“Do you happen to have any evidence of that in her handwriting or in her voice?”
“How could I ask a sick person to do that? It was all oral…”
Yoonshin felt for the man and said, “Then the children are always first in line. Those are the laws of succession of this country.”
“Then what should I do? I’m in a lot of debt for her hospital fees and I was going to repay them when I got my share of the inheritance.”
“In these cases, you could negotiate with all the heirs and request payment for performance, or if that doesn’t work, you will have to fight with your cousins in a family law court. Even if you litigated it at court and you win the costs for your contributions, this won’t be deducted from the legal portion of the heirs. All the children will get a set share of the inheritance. But first, read this. I found a similar case to yours.”
Yoonshin turned his screen to the man so he could read the precedent from the Supreme Court. Perhaps it was because Yoonshin summarized it in simple words, the man read it with intense concentration.
As he waited, Yoonshin checked the time on his phone and saw that there was a message from Secretary Tak. It said that the lawyer from the pro bono case was willing to settle for the amount Yoonshin called, along with issuing an apology within his company.
Here and there, the world was full of cases that the law couldn’t solve.
Yoonshin swallowed back a bitter sigh.
* * *
Upon returning from the annex, Yoonshin went to the library on the second floor of the main building. Nobody had enough free time to waste by reading in this room. Thanks to that, Yoonshin was alone.
Originally, he had planned to snap a few pictures of the pages that he needed but found himself being pulled in a different direction. He leaned against the shelves and flipped through a book of divorce precedents—by the time he looked up, one hour had already passed.
‘Oh my God, look at the time.’ Upon checking the time, Yoonshin hurriedly gathered his books and got up. Just then, he heard the door opening. He didn’t know who it was, but he was planning on greeting them anyway and moved to the hallway. But the moment he saw the person who came in, he couldn’t say anything.
It was Sehun in a clean suit.
Sehun also discovered Yoonshin as he stopped with two books in his hands.
“You look free.”
Yoonshin was surprised at this coincidence, but he soon frowned. “You always greet me like that. Yes, I’m happy to see you too.”
“As I thought, we should try to avoid each other as much as possible.” Sehun moved, about to leave at any moment. Yoonshin quickly caught up to him and grabbed Sehun’s shoulder. Yoonshin had stopped Sehun almost instinctively, but after remembering that Sehun told him not to touch him last time, he felt distressed.
Yoonshin swallowed nervously, took his hands off, and was about to apologize. In retaliation, Sehun grabbed Yoonshin’s bony wrist and pushed the younger man’s skinny frame against the bookshelf.
Yoonshin, with his back to a shelf, looked up quietly.
He considered pushing the other man away, but Sehun’s grip was quite strong, and Yoonshin was still holding the divorce precedents in his other hand, so he couldn’t move. Moreover, he was the one who made a mistake first, so it didn’t feel right to react any more than necessary. “You seem to have a habit of pushing people to the wall. Do you do this to everyone? They’ll misinterpret this.”
“It’s all right. I only do this to you.”
“Then I’ll misinterpret it. I’ll get curious for no reason, and I’ll keep thinking of you.”
“For example, you’ll think that I stare at you too intensely?”
“That was…!” A million replies popped up sporadically in his head, but he was reluctant to say it out loud. Yoonshin couldn’t answer in the end and only gawked.
As the silence continued, Sehun maintained his grip and pushed his knees between the younger man’s legs, restraining the other’s movements completely. Their breaths were too close to each other. Yoonshin awkwardly averted his eyes and carefully changed the topic. “W-what brought you here? You usually ask the secretaries when you need something.”
“Donating some books.” Sehun waved the two books before Yoonshin’s eyes and placed them on the trolley of the library. Yoonshin glanced at the cover and saw that it was Great Expectations. A flurry of emotions swirled in his head. Then, mustering up his courage, Yoonshin looked straight at the other man. As he had expected, Sehun had been gazing down at him all along.
Sehun’s deep and subdued eyes scared Yoonshin for the first time. The younger man couldn’t say anything and simply pursed his lips. Sehun brought up his now free hand. Then, he brushed Yoonshin’s eyelids lightly with his fingertips.
“You look better, not swollen. You look less gloomy.”