“EUN MI GET OUT HERE RIGHT NOW !  I’m NOT Putting up with your crap any more! IF YOU WANT TO CRAP ON LIKE THAT DO IT ON THE TOILET!”  Kim Heechul hollered as he barged into his ex’s apartment.  He was sick of it, the repeated pleading and desperate phone calls of; I love you more than my husband; please don’t leave me and Heechul you were the best thing that ever happened to me. It was the same old story over and over again.  He was fed up with it, this cheating women had put him through hell and back. Heechul could not believe he had been gullible enough to fall for her façade in the first place. 

Infuriated he entered the apartment, continuing to scream out insults in an effort to covey just how pissed he was with her.  That was until he caught a strange vibe from within it.  It was bizarrely and eerily silent.  The air was still, unmoving as if it was frozen around him.  Kim Heechul was no coward but something about the morbid atmosphere resonating through the apartment sent his senses reeling. 

“Eun Mi? He called out.  “Are you even home? You said you would be?”  Heechul almost whispered.  He looked everywhere; the bathroom, the bedroom, the small home theater room.  Nothing.  All he could hear was the loud tick of the clock in the kitchen echoing in his ear, bringing him closer, almost in tune with the beat of his nervous heart.  He flicked on the lights in the kitchen and he breathed a sigh of relief, the kitchen seemed normal.  His throat parched from his panicked behavior so he walked slowly over to the sink, berating himself for feeling like this.  It was stupid what was he expecting?  She probably just popped into the store.  That’s when he saw her. 

He used to describe Eun Mi as a doll to his friends, back when they first started out dating.  He’d describe to them how she had porcelain skin, that shone brightly no matter where she was and perfect round eyes that always seemed to twinkle.  But looking at her now, Heechul felt like to throw up.  She was bashed, bloodied a searing cut tore the side of her face in half.  Blood was pooled around her coming from what appeared to be multiple stab wounds.  Heechul had watched a lot of horror films in the past, but nothing could have prepares him for this.  So he ran, he ran from the gruesome sight as fast as he could go, he bolted for his dear life in hope the very image of the murder would be out of his mind.  However, those ghost like, empty and terror filled wide eyes, that used to be perfect, round and full of life still haunted him for the rest of his life. 

Zhou mi gulped as he knocked on the door of Prosecutor Boa Kwon’s office.  He hadn’t seen the barrister in a couple of years and it made him wonder how much she had changed.   He transferred back into the Chinese branch of Soo Man & Kwon Lawyers just over two years ago when his mother had became sick.  However, the Korean office had become extremely busy lately compared to the Chinese one. Hence, it seemed natural that they send Zhou Mi back across the sea to help the firm out.  He hoped his Korean was up to scratch, he barely spoke it while he was in China and he was also worried about his lack of practice in Korean law.  There was obviously a big difference between working with criminal law in China and in Korea. 

“Come in.”  Zhou mi entered the office; it was modern and stylish yet practical much like its owner. 

“Well hello their Zhou Mi.”  Boa stood up bowing formally. 

“Hello Barrister Kwon.” He bowed deeply in return, feeling a bit uncomfortable about the whole situation.  It was so awkward, were they always like this?  He remembered the little barrister would often squeal greetings upon meeting him and insist he made her look like a dwarf, a warning to stand too close her.

“What’s with these formalities? I’m sorry Mimi, I’ve been bogged down in so much work lately I don’t know left to right.”  Boa smiled, “Now get your flat over here you giant utility pole you and let me give you a hug. It’s been far too long.”  Zhou Mi smiled, now this was the Boa he remembered, ruthless but one of the kindest and down to earth person he knew. 

“Sit, sit, how have you been?”

“Honestly, not very busy, business has been slow.” Zhou Mi smiled sitting in a chair directly opposite to the barrister.

“I wish I could say the same thing.” She sighed.  “Since the Rainey case I’ve been fully booked.”

“Which is exactly why I’m here, what do you want me to do?”

“Well, to be honest this is asking a big favour, I need you to mentor my three newbie solicitors.”

“Mentor?  No problems, when I first came here you did the same for me.”

“Well, they are fresh out of law school and two of them have egos that could rival Eric’s.  However they were the best in there year at Yonsei but they seem to be a little, unfocussed.  Our recourses are stretched so thin; I’ve got all my senior solicitors assigned to other cases already. I was forced to bunch them together to do all the legal research for me.”

“As I said before, it’s no problem that’s what the firm pays me for. Though I’m a bit worried what you mean by unfocussed.”

“Well, Cho Kyuhyun, who is the brightest out of the lot, seems to be worried more about his rank in the star craft world rather than work.”  Boa chuckled, handing Zhou Mi there profiles before continuing, “Changmin is more worried where is next meal is coming from. Finally, Victoria, how to put it, she’s not as ruthless as we need her to be plus she is a little home sick.  Her Chinese name is Song Qian and she’s like yourself and took the Korean-Chinese law program at Yonsei.”

“I remember you saying the same things me the same thing years ago.” Zhou Mi remarked, eyebrow raised.

“And look where that got you?”  Boa laughed. “I am a little worried for her, she seems more than a little lost.  Actually all three of them are and I need you to show them that lawyers can have a heart.  Before some other merciless lawyer shows them otherwise.  I’ve had enough of the arrogant pricks in the office.”

“But why me? I can be a bit cruel in cases from time to time myself.”

“Because you are one of the most kind hearted people I’ve ever met. If I wasn’t married to my wonderful hunky giant model husband I’d definitely try hit on you.”  Zhou mi nearly fell off his seat at this statement. 

“Pardon?” He coughed.

“Mimi, take it as a compliment, but seriously help the three of them out before my boss shows them out the door.” Boa sighed. "I have a feeling that they could be great lawyers, they just need a push in the right direction."

Qian stared at the information she had in front of her.  It wasn’t just this morning that she had saglared at it trying to make ends meet.  It was one thing studying these criminals but looking at this evidence in front of her, made her actually on to give up being a lawyer entirely.  It was just so confronting and it was hard not to just claim that her client was guilty on the outset.  Someone had to pay for this poor girl’s murder.

“Can you two please actually do some work instead of eating.” Qian growled irritably at her co-workers.  “I’m actually trying to get some work done.”

“It’s not our fault that you cook such good food.” Changmin said from his desk chewing on his kimbab loudly. “Makes me hungry all the time.”

“Well, if you continue like that I won’t cook for you ever again.”  That made Chagmin sit up straight.  “I’m off to work Miss~” He almost sung trying desperately to look busy.

“Changmin she’s only threatening she wouldn’t actually not do it.  She has those weird motherly instincts that make her want to feed people all the time.”

“Oh Cho Kyuhyun how wrong you are.”  Qian grinned evilly.  “If that doesn’t motivate you I’ll tell your mother that your last girlfriend dumped you because of your gaming addiction.  We wouldn’t want that, would we?”

“Ok scary Victoria.”  Kyuhyun looked sideways and dragged his chair to her desk.  

“So what do we have?”

“Cho Kyuhyun. You can’t tell me that you haven’t even read the case?”

“That’s what you do, I’m just the genius that knows what I’m doing.”  He smirked. “I wasn’t top of our year for nothing.”

“Honestly Kyuhyun I am not your mother.” Qian grumbled. “This is serious! A women has died and brutally from what the news told me.”

“You take this all too seriously Qian, relax!  You need to not take this so personally.  It’s not like our client murdered your cousin or something.” Changmin shrugged and Kyuhyun nodded vigorously in agreement.  Qian exasperatedly bumped her head against the desk, as much loved her two best friends in Korea sometimes they were just too much to handle. 

“Actually Changmin-shi you should take this seriously.”  Qian looked to see a complete stranger standing outside their office’s door.

The man was tall, dashing and impeccably dressed.  His voice was smooth and sounded strangely meticulous and Qian felt her heart get stuck in . 

“Sorry I should introduce myself, I’m Zhou Mi.”  The man introduced himself, smiling slightly.

“And why are you here?” Kyuhyun replied, almost rudely but once Qian glared at her friend and motioned for them both to stand up. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.”  Qian greeted bowing deeply.

“Sit, sit.  So you must be Victoria, Kyuhyun, and Changmin?”

“Yes, it’s kind of odd you know our names already.” Kyuhyun answered.  “Why exactly are you here?”

“I just transferred here from the Chinese branch.  I’m going to be your mentor in this case.” Zhou Mi explained.

“We don’t need baby sisters, Victoria looks after us perfectly fine.” Chanmin laughed.

“As I said, I’m here to mentor you because your obviously newbies.  A murder like Victoria said, is a very serious matter.”

“Yeah, but Qian gets caught up over the little details.“  Kyuhyun grinned. “Who said we need a mentor anyway, I was top of my class at law school.”  Kyuhyun smirked causing Qian to want to bash her head against the door.   Now why was Kyuhyun her best friend again? 

“Well, Kyuhyun, have you ever dealt with a real case before? Peoples livelyhoods are on the line here, it’s no simple matter.”

“In fact it is, it’s so easy to see that Heechul is guilty, we should just get him to plead now and he’ll get his sentence cut down that way.

“Kyuhyun, remember that’s still life in jail, it’s a long time.  Plus you can’t say that yet, Barrister Kwon has informed me that you haven’t even received all the evidence yet.”  Zhoumi “Can I have the case file.”  Qian nodded standing up to hand Zhoumi the heavy leaver arch file.  She couldn’t help but admire the way he stode across the room,  she could tell he had a nice set of long legs, he was the type of guy who was made for a nice fitted suit. But as soon as she began to admire his appearance, those long legs of his tripped, almost slow motion, over when his foot got caught on Kyuhyun’s chair.

“Zhou Mi, are you okay?” She said flabbergasted, she trying so hard not to laugh she had to bite her tongue. 

“I’m fine!” He smiled giving her the widest, dorkiest smile Qian had ever seen in her life as he pulled himself back up.  He wasn’t even embarrassed about it, which was kind of odd.  “So what do we have here?” He said seriously, as if nothing had happened.

“Just his statement and the basic outline of evidence against him.  We haven’t even met with the accused formally yet, just done his bail application.”  Kyuhyun shrugged.  Zhoumi flicked through the case files.  “So they are charging Mr Kim Heechul with murder of a lady he had an affair with?”

“Basically, we will get the rest of the evidence from the Department of Prosecution today. So, we basically need to wait till the other side gives us there stuff.  See everything is good here we don’t need you.” Kyuhyun smirked. “Everything is under control.”

“The fact that you want him to plead guilty without even seeing him first shows just how much you need my help.” Zhou Mi shook his head.  “Now I need to brush up on my Korean law, has there beenany major changes to the Criminal code since 2010?”  With that they set off to work, helping Solisitor Zhou Mi get up to scratch whilst going over the provision of murder in the code. 

S29.  Murder

279 (1) If a person unlawfully kills another person then –

1. The person intends to cause the death of another person; or
2. The person intends to cause a bodily injury in such a nature as to endanger, or likely to endanger; or
3. The death is caused by means of an act done in persecution of an unlawful purpose, which act is of such a nature as to be likely to endanger human life,

The person guilty of murder.

The words themselves seemed to bother her.  They seemed so blasé yet at the same time they held so much weight.

“So who are we up against in this?” Prosecutor Choi Shiwon said as he leaned back in his chair, relaxing.  It was an antique which his father had purchased specifically for his office at the DPP. 

“Well,” Ryeowook, his assistant, stuttered.  “It seems like the Kim Heechul case is being handled by Barrister Boa Kwon.” This perked Siwon's interest causing him to pay attention for once.

“Shouldn’t be much problem then, Boa is good but she’s got way to much on her plate at the moment.  Should be pretty easy to run rings around her in court.  What about the solicitors?” 

“Looks like a bunch of rookies are handling it.  I know Cho Kyuhyun from law school, he was top of the class.  Song Victoria and Shim Changmin are good too.”

“But they are rookies and inexperienced, much like yourself.”  Siwon grinned triumphantly.  “Looks like this Heechul character doesn’t even stand a chance.”

“Oh also Zhou Mi? I haven’t heard of him before.”  Ryeowook piped up.

“Zhou mi?  He works for the Chinese branch of there firm.  He used to train under Boa I've faced him a few times in court.”

“So he must be good! They have four solicitors working on this case, its worrying!”

“Don’t make me laugh, it’ll be a cake walk.  Zhou Mi is one of those kind of people that should never be criminal lawyers.  It’ll be easy, which is why we are pouring all the departments recourses into it.”

“P-p-pardon? But isn’t that exactly why we shouldn’t pour the departments recourses into it?  We only have so much money.”

“It’s about time that we brought Barrister Boa down.  She has been too full of herself since she got Rainey off, it’s time to show the public that she is not invincible.  Justice can't be circumvented by smart-arsed defence council.”  Choi Siwon chuckled as he gathered a pile of files and paper work together. 

“Maybe you just want to get back at her for not dating you all those years ago.” Ryeowook mumbled almost inaudibly.

“Pardon Kim Ryeowook?” Siwon growled.

“Nothing Prosecutor Siwon!” The poor clerk squealed in shock as the taller prosecutor stood up, dwarfing him almost.

“Good,” Siwon smirked before picking up a huge pile of filing and dumping it on his assistant.  You could barely see the younger’s head from behind it. “ Now file these away and I may get you doing some research if you do it efficiently enough.” 

As soon as he exited the room Ryeowook poked his tongue out in the general direction of the Prosecutor’s office.  The act whilst somewhat immature gave him relief.  He was sick of being treated as a second-class citizen by his boss and he desperately hoped that Barrister Boa Kwon would be giving this case her all. He knew Boa, she wasn't full of herself, his boss on the other hand was the most unreasonable tyranical person he'd ever worked for.  He deserved to be smashed in court. 

Author's NT

Hope you guys enjoyed that, I know it's kind of boring but I promise the action will pick up in the next chapter ! Sorry it took awhile the internet at my house is being dodgy at the moment.  As a quick side note my name is Victoria, so I tend to refer to Victoria Song and Qian.  

Shoutouts:

PurpleWildcat2010 : Hope it didn't let you down T_T The first chapter is kinda boring.  Thanks for reading Casey :) 

midnightdreamz423 ^_^ Did you find it interesting?  I have to admit the firt chapter is a little tedious but hopefully it'll get more exciting.

LightOfTruth Did my best too! Hopefully it was soon enough!

Thanks everyone for reading !

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(cr to the owner of the gif)