Case 3: This is pengsoo
Young Woo is up for another case and this time it is a murder case and that too the defendant is an autistic person just like Young Woo.
One night, SangJeong Pharmaceuticals CEO and his wife come home after a party and hear something unusual. They rush to the bedroom to find Kim Sang-hun (their elder son) being beaten up by Kim Jeong-hun (Younger autistic son). Sang-hun is already dead and Jeong-hun keeps on repeating “Die! Die! Stop!”.
At Hanbada, Young woo is excited to see her nameplate in the cabin that is given to her and Attorney Choi comes forward to take a picture of her with the nameplate. At this time Young woo gets a call from attorney Jung to discuss a case.
Attorney Jung informs about the details of the case and introduces the client as CEO of SangJeong pharmaceuticals. He is one of the most important clients of Hanbada. Attorney Jung then tells her that from the postmortem report, Sang-hun suffered thoracic trauma and 22 rib fractures that caused internal bleeding in his chest leading to death. There was a faint mark on his neck but doesn’t seem life threatening.
Attorney Jung reasons that front of the rib fractures would be because of the CPR but the other 11 fractures are most possibly due to assault. His blood alcohol level at the time of death was at intoxication levels. Finally, attorney Jung tells young woo that the defendant has autism.
Young woo asks if he chose her because she is autistic too and if that is the case, autism spectrum disorder as its name suggests is a diagnosis of a disorder that has a wide range of the spectrum. She is different from the defendant because the defendant falls under the severe end of the spectrum with the mental age between 6 and 10. She tells him that she has never met someone like that before.
Attorney Jung tells her that young woo’s knowledge about autism is better when compared to anyone on the team and even the defendant’s parents will be reassured if they see young woo handling the case.
Young woo is a little convinced and they leave to meet the defendant’s parents in the conference room. Again the defendant’s parents aren’t too keen after seeing young woo taking up the case but they don’t say it upfront. Their parents are too proud of their first son Sang-hun and tell the attorney team that their son was from SNU med school with a perfect CSAT score. They also confirm that Jeong-hun is never a violent kid and he never used the word Die before. The elder and younger son had a very good relationship and the mother cries saying she doesn’t know what is there in her kid’s mind anymore. They then decide on the next meeting with Jeong-hun and leave.
That afternoon Jun-Ho and Young woo have meals together and Jun Ho holds the lift for her making others restless. At the lunch, Jun Ho keenly listens to Young woo’s whale talk about what the whales would be doing at this time and where they have their lunch, and where they sleep. Attorney Choi and Kwon watch him. Attorney Choi feels sorry for Jun Ho and asks if she should stop young woo. Attorney Kwon tells her that jun ho doesn’t seem to mind it so they shouldn’t mind it too. (We can see the love for Jun-ho in attorney Choi’s eyes.)
At the next meeting, Jeong Hun comes along with his mom. He is a giant man and wearing a headphone, glasses with a pengsoo T-shirt.
Jeong-Hun is not very interactive and attorney Jung tries various things to make him speak. In return, Jeong hun makes just some weird noise from the pengsoo song. Attorney Jung then asks Young woo to ask some questions. Without thinking twice Young woo hits straight at the target and asks what happened on the day sang hun died and did he beat up sang jun. This triggers Jeong hun who was calm until that point and he starts behaving violently.
That day Young woo visits her father’s shop to enquire him about autism as he lives with an autistic person. She tells him that she needs to communicate with a 21-year-old autistic man. He tells her that living with an autistic person is not so easy. Now the situation is better but when young woo was small she never cared what he is to her or anything and as long as she was fed it was as if it didn’t matter if she was with her father or anyone else.
She asks him if still he feels the same. He tells her that now things are better and he used to communicate with her through law. In the flashback, we are shown Young woo crying heavily in front of a store and the store owner tries his best to stop her but only her father could stop her. Her father tells her that what she is doing is Public disturbance and the punishment for it. She stops crying immediately and he takes her home.
Young woo’s father asks her to dig into what he likes. He continues that it is very hard to communicate with an autistic person and only putting the effort is not enough and it takes a very long time. Before even he could finish the sentence, she leaves without minding him.
The next day Attorney Jung, Choi, and Woo are in a room fully prepared to talk and get information out of Jeong hun. As he enters the room all the three start singing the Pengsoo song and after five long minutes, they stop as they see no response. As they stop Jeong hun starts singing and they 3 continue and join him.
They then question Jung hun and this time they succeed to get the information from him that he didn’t attack his brother and that his brother tried to kill himself. But this upsets Jeong hun’s mom and she tells her older son would never do that and asks Jeong hun opposite questions like did his elder brother wanted to live and did his elder brother did not commit suicide. Jeong hun responds Yes to even these questions, making all the efforts of the attorneys in vain.
Jeong hun’s mom then leaves saying this is the last time they would be meeting Jung hun and taking him to their home.
Young woo along with Jun-Ho go to Jeong Hun’s house to find any evidence that is left by the police. Jun-ho tells her that since the case is straightforward the police might have not put any effort so there is a chance that they might find some evidence proving that sang hun tried suicide.
On their way, Jun-ho meets a junior from his college and the girl asks him if he is still doing volunteering work seeing Young woo with him. On top of it, she tells Young woo to keep fighting while she goes.
Young woo gets to know from Jun Ho that he used to help disabled people during his college days. Jun Ho is very awkward and apologizes to her for her friend’s words. Young woo tells him it’s okay since she is autistic and it might have been seen like that by a stranger.
Young woo and Jun Ho ask Jeong Hun’s mom if they could examine sung hun’s room alone and they first find the spot where sung hun was lying dead and find any rope which might be used by sung ho.
They get a camera and point it to the eye level of Jeong hun so that they might find where Jeong hun might have thrown the rope. And as they predicted they find a rope on top of a shelve and along with it sang hun’s diary.
The diary has all the answers to the case. Yes, Sang jun committed suicide not just once but several times, and each time Jeong hun tries to save him. This evidence is shown to Jeong hun’s parents by attorney Jung the next day. They both don’t accept that their son would never do such a thing.
Attorney Jung reads a few pages from sang jun’s diary, “The only thing I’ve been good at was studying. I’m not even sure what that is now. Is memorizing until I throw up studying. I’m someone who is worst at what he does best. Simply put a loser. The exam will probably continue. And I will probably continue to fail. I can’t tell the difference between life and death. I can die. If I die… “.
Jeong hun’s mom stops him and asks if he is not allowed to write such things when it is a hard time then Attorney Jung reads another page, “I do it as if it’s become a habit . I don’t care if my brother sees me. He can’t seem to get a good night sleep ever since he saw me hang myself Does he have nightmares? That idiot doesn’t even knows what dying is shakes in fear, worried that I might die. That is comforting to me.”.
Jeong hun’s father asks them if this is what they do for them- to show that their son not only had a miserable death but also miserable life. He tells the attorney that he was a national-level topper and would he break just because of academic stress.
He then asks them not to disgrace the dead. Young woo reasons that it is important to reduce the sentence for Jeong hun who is alive than to save the image of the son who is dead. They can’t let Jeong hun be someone who beats his brother to death without any reason but he was the one who tried to save him. Revealing the truth would make Jeong hun not a dangerous person.
This rubs the chairman in a wrong way and he starts to yell at her that how she could call their kids by name and judge them and after all she is an autistic person. He then tells attorney Jung that their relationship is over and he would find some other attorney who would not disgrace his older son.
As the day ends, Jun-ho reaches his home and the first thing he does is try apologizing over text to young woo for what happened on that day and he is not able to stop thinking of how his friend said wrong things. He then decides not to send the text as he wants to apologize out of guilt but it won’t change anything for young woo.
Young woo is doing another night shift that day and she is watching the news of Jeong hun online – “A male in his twenties assaulted his brother to death, has been charged with bodily injury resulting in death. Autistic person A beat his brother person B to death when their parents were out. Mr. B got perfect score in 2018 CSAT and a brilliant student attending SNU medical school.”
This news had so many hate comments saying that the autistic person living and the med school student dying is a national loss and many more mean comments
The next day, Attorney Kwon meets Attorney Choi and young woo in the lift and greet them “Peng-ha” and mockingly asks that they are fired even after singing a song. Attorney Kwon bickers with attorney Choi and young woo moves away from them. As they come out of the lift attorney Kwon notices attorney Jung and asks him about the incident with sangjeong pharmaceuticals CEO leaving hanbada.
Attorney Jung tells him that he doesn’t feel bad but young woo has put a lot of effort. Attorney Kwon then mockingly tells them fighting!
Young woo notices a cab driver holding Jeong hun outside their building and she runs to them and asks the cab driver what happened. The cab driver gives a judgemental look and doesn’t respond. The driver only respond to attorney Jung that Jeong hun asked for hanbada but now he doesn’t have money for the cab and is not responding properly.
Attorney Jung pays for the cab and asks young woo to call Jeong hun’s mom and handle the situation. Jeong hun’s mom comes and apologizes to young woo for the inconvenience caused. She then also apologizes for what her husband spoke to her last time.
She concedes to young woo that they were conflicted seeing an autistic person who is a genius but their son was different. She asks her a favor if they can take up the case again and not mention her older son’s suicide attempt. That way she can also persuade her husband. She tells young woo no one can handle the case with the sincerity that she can show and asks for a favor.
Young woo tells her that she will speak to attorney Jung about it and leaves them at the gate. While they go by lift young woo thinks, “Hans Asperger, the first person to do research on autism, thought there was a positive side to it. He said, “Not everything that steps out of line, that thus ‘abnormal’ must necessarily be ‘inferior’. That was with their new ways of thinking and experiences, people with autism can later accomplish great things. Hans Asperger was a nazi collabator. His job was to separate children who were worthy of living and who weren’t. To the nazis, the people who weren’t worthy of living were those who were physically disabled, mentally ill, or terminally ill including autistic people. ”
As they leave for home, Jeong hun’s mom asks him to apologize to young woo for causing trouble. Jeong hun greets her with “Peng-ba” and they leave.
Young woo looks at them and thinks, “Even 80 years ago autism was an illness that was not worthy of living, Even just 80 years ago Mr.Kim Jeong hun and I were people who weren’t worthy of living. Even now hundreds of people click the like button on a comment that says, “It’s a national loss if a medical student dies and an autistic person lives. That is the weight of the disability that we bear.”
The next court session starts and the attorney team has planned to not mention the suicide attempt and go by proving that Jeong hun is not mentally fit. Young woo asks a doctor as a witness about the meltdown.
The doctor explains, “It is a phenomenon that occurs to people with autism from time to time. It is when they explode due to not being able to withstand any longer the stress they have been suppressing. It is not something that is done intentionally. It just happens when they are overwhelmed by feeling of extreme helplessness.”
Next, when the prosecutor enquires the doctor he asks if he could identify that attorney woo is also an autistic person. Attorney Jung objects to this as Irrelevant and discriminatory but the judge overrules it saying it might be badgering the attorney but it is relevant and not discriminatory.
As the prosecutor goes on to claim, young woo becomes more and more anxious and starts shaking to and fro. The prosecutor says that if the defendant is unfit mentally and his sentence can be reduced because of it, then how can they expect an attorney woo to participate in a trial and be treated equally to other attorneys.
Attorney Jung objects, “Having mental or physical disorders doesn’t mean they are all mentally unfit. It is only when the disability affects one’s ability to discern things and make decisions that they are considered to be mentally unfit.”
At last, the case is twisted such that if the attorney woo is autistic and can handle court cases then a person who is autistic and commits injury cannot be treated differently and the sentence cannot be reduced.
Later that day jun ho feels worried and visits young woo cabin to check on her. He sees her trying to hang herself and saves her as she falls on her back. Young woo’s whales fly and she is bombarded with an idea. She runs to attorney Jung’s office and tells them that she tried hanging herself and jun ho saved her.
She tells them that Jeong hun would have tried saving sang jun the same way and if the front ribs are broken due to CPR then the ribs in the back are broken due to the fall. She tells them that it is the only plausible reason other than that someone has to break the rib in a straight line in a single blow which is not at all possible by Jeong hun.
Attorney Jung is accompanied by the chairman of sangjeong pharma and attorney Jung explains to him that by this jeong hun can be proven not guilty of bodily injury resulting in death though he would be guilty of assault and the sentence would be much lighter too. But for this to happen they have to reveal the suicide attempt to the court.
The chairman says ok but he has just one condition that the case should be handled by attorney Jung going forward. Attorney Jung tries to convince the chairman that young woo is the one who solved the case and she is much more capable. But young woo stops him and says that the chairman is right.
She tells them that when she goes out with jun ho people consider that he is volunteering to help her. And the cab driver who dropped Jeong hun didn’t consider that she could handle the situation and pay for the cab fare.
Only she knows the differences and similarities between her and Jeong hun and the prosecutor or the judge won’t understand it.
Young woo then tells them that she is an attorney not helpful to the defendant and feels sad.
Attorney Jung meets CEO Han and asks to convince the chairman to allow young woo to take up the case. CEO Han mocks him that he was the one at the starting didn’t accept young woo and asked about the resume and asks him now what happened. Attorney Jung answers that now she is on his team and she doesn’t lack talent or knowledge and it is pure discrimination against her.
CEO Han accepts that it is discrimination but as a CEO she has to accept what the client wants so she advises attorney Jung to not take the case and show his resistance to the chairman. Meanwhile, she assigns the case to Attorney Jang Seung-jun and asks attorney Jung to hand over the files.
Attorney Jung is clearly not happy to ask for help from attorney Jang and they don’t seem to get along too well.
Attorney Jung visits Jang and finds him standing upside down. Attorney Jang teases him and acts as if he didn’t hear attorney Jung asking for help. He then tells Jung that this time he will clean up after him and laughs it off.
At the court, Attorney Jang first questions a medical examiner from the national forensic service. She explains to the court that sang jun died due to internal bleeding in his chest due to broken ribs. She also explains to them that his ribs are broken after he died and also it is highly not possible that Jeong hun would have broken his bones at the back as it is a too perfectly straight line and it only happens through a single and sudden impact damage (Like falling from a stool). Most importantly she confirms that the rope found in sang hun’s room and that the mark on his neck matches.
The judge tests whether Jeong hun could respond properly or not by shooting various questions and comes to a conclusion that he is mentally unfit to answer straightforward questions too.
Everything ends well and attorney Jung tells young woo that the judgment would come in their favor though the prosecutor demanded 7 years of imprisonment.
Outside the courtroom, Jeong hun’s mom thanks attorneys Jung and young woo for their effort and apologies that they couldn’t handle the case. Young woo says it is ok and while leaving she looks and Jeong hun one last time.
Jun-ho buys a gift for young woo that day so that he can properly apologize to her for his friend’s behavior last time. He reaches her cabin to find it empty.
The episode ends with young woo printing her letter of resignation and packing up things from her cabin. Without forgetting the nameplate she takes it and leaves.
Though I know that young woo would come back stronger as an attorney. I felt really bad that she had so much in mind but no one around her could sense it!
Iam waiting to know how her mind would be changed to continue being attorney! Let’s watch.
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