Wildcard Vs Tactician
This time Young woo is taking up a different kind of case that is technically different from other criminal cases. It is a case where technology is assumed to be plagiarized and a company is fighting for its rights
The episode starts with a man introducing his company’s ATM Machine to the investors that can provide the solution to the biggest problem of the current times – “embezzlement”.
The new product is from IHWA ATM company and model name: WIAQ8521. The man starts his presentation with various news like – “A bold bank clerk embezzles a billion won in cash by rigging an ATM.”, “continuous insider embezzlement.”.
He tells them the fact that 42 ATM-related embezzlements are reported in a year with damage over 10 billion. Mostly the press puts the news as negligence in management and supervision of the bank but if someone is determined, no one would be able to find and stop the crime.
So, he tells them the solution. To start with he familiarizes the investors with Cassette: It’s the compartment in the ATM where the money is loaded. And asks them what would happen if the clerk responsible for loading the money put 50 million won and records that 100 million won is put in the machine. No one would ever know until it’s too late.
So he introduces the Cassette developed by their company which could calculate the weight of each bill and the estimation of how much money is in there, and there would be a keypad for the clerk to enter how much money he has put and if there is a mismatch then the cassette would show a red light and wouldn’t even close.
One of the investors tells him that this technology is already shown to them and Geumgang’s ATM has a cheaper cost when compared to his ATMs. The man is utterly shocked and tells the panel that they are the original inventors of the technology and they have already applied for model utility rights. He is told that they don’t care who invented the technology but who provides its cheaper. And not only Geumgang but also Leader’s product is also the same and they even recalled last year.
At Hanbada, Attorney Choi asks Young woo if Attorney Kwon informed her about the new case where young woo would be working with him. She then tells her that one of her friends is from Hana university law school and at their college nickname for Attorney Kwon is Tactician Kwon Min Woo.
She tells young woo that Attorney Kwon has already started his tactics and he stopped Attorney Jung from informing her about the case and said that he will inform Young woo himself but he never did it.
Young woo goes into Attorney Kwon’s cabin and asks about the case. Attorney Kwon simply says that it slipped his mind to inform her. He then tells her that this case needs knowledge about the technical stuff of ATM and since she is a genius she would get to learn it in no time and handles a load of materials. He then informs her that there is a client meeting at 2 pm which is just 10 mins to go.
Before going in into the conference room, Attorney Jung tells them that he would be just guiding them and Attorney Kwon and Woo both have to handle the entire case and asks if they have gone through all the material. Woo goes through the material in the little time she has and Attorney Kwon brags that the materials were filled with unfamiliar jargon but he managed to understand it all. (He really is a tactician!)
In the conference room, the client introduces himself as Hwang Du-Yong from the IHWA ATM marketing team. Du-Yong takes the business card of Attorney Kwon but doesn’t even notice Young-woo trying to give her card. Young-woo then puts her card in his place. Du-Yong gives away mulberry juice to attorneys telling them he brought it from his home -Yanggu.
Attorney Kwon takes this chance and tells him that he was there when he was serving in Army and coincidently, they both were from the same Baekdusan unit. They both then salute each other. They speak about all the unnecessary things like Attorney Jung was from the Chilseong unit one of the seven famous infantries and Du-Yong even asks where Jun-Ho’s unit is from when he comes inside to distribute files for the case.
Jun-Ho notices that Young-woo is struggling to open the juice bottle and notices that everyone is ignoring her as they toast before drinking.
Finally, the client comes to the point that he wants to file a sales ban injunction against Geumgang ATM and tells that their company and Geumgang ATM are like Hanbada law firm and Taesan. Both the companies are so close competitors that it is hard for the customer to pick an Ocean or mountain. Attorney Kwon goes on telling like pour the sauce or dip in the sauce and young woo ends up saying like blue whales or humpback whales.
The client then informs that initially a similar model was created by Leaders but they went out of business. Attorney Jung asks young woo what a cassette is when the client explains it. Of course, she didn’t go through the material so young woo frantically searches through the material to find and Attorney Kwon doesn’t miss the chance to brag that he went through all the material and tells them that a cassette is a container where cash is put with the handle on the front.
The client says that they have applied for model utility rights but the results have not yet come. Attorney Kwon asks the client to share materials on the application of rights on his business card contact.
When the client leaves, Attorney Jung tells young woo that Model utility rights for the cassettes are key to the case and she should have gone through the materials before meeting the client. He asks her to not repeat it in the future and leaves.
Young woo tells Attorney Kwon that she was not able to go through the materials before because of him and asks him to inform her about the materials that the client is going to submit to him.
Attorney Kwon straightforwardly tells her that he won’t tell her and they are competitors just like Hanbada and Taesan. He continues that they are under one year contract and if they have to get renewed again after one year they have to prove their worth within this year. Each and everything counts so he will be competing with her and not helping her.
He tells her that she has no intention to continue in this law firm as she was even absent without notice. Young woo tells him that she also wants to get her contract renewed after one year. Attorney Kwon point at the card that young-woo gave to the client and tells her that even now he is winning because the client didn’t take her card and he will be the one receiving further materials.
The first-day trial starts and the Obliger start the statement by saying that he has material to substantiate that the IHWA ATMs application for model utility rights is itself false. They tell the judge that there was a Chicago International Engineering Fair in 2019 where a US company presented the model ATM. Later the company made it open source so anyone can use it. This model was used by the leaders’ company in 2019 itself and they were the ones to first launch that model of ATM in Korea and later on closed the company.
So to start with what IHWA is claiming to be their innovation in itself is plagiarized. Young-woo objects that the original model and the model of the IHWA differ as IHWA’s ATM has segmented sensors for measuring the weight of the bills. So, they didn’t copy existing technology but developed adding new technology.
The man in the opposition, Geumgang ATM CEO tells her that level of segmentation is common and unlike US bills Korean bills vary in size. He tells them that they don’t have any conscience claiming something where the key technology is developed by a US company.
The judge at the end says that ruling based on the materials given alone is not possible and they need some additional material or evidence in the next hearing.
Attorney Jung tells the judge that KIPO’s evaluation result for model utility rights has not come yet. So they have materials to submit that substantiate the novelty of the model utility rights application by IHWA.
As soon as the hearing is closed Young-woo asks the client if what the opposition says is true and if their product is not original. The client leaves as if he has a call to attend making others awkward. Young woo asks Attorney Kwon if he is not going to find the facts. He tells her that he will do it in his way and asks her not to interrogate the facts of the client to them itself or else she will get him fired too.
He then tells her that she never handled cases quietly. Even last case, young woo was taken out of the case. And gives her the nickname Wild card Woo Young-woo. On the counter young woo calls him tactician Kwon Min-Woo and succeeds in making him angry.
As Kwon and Young woo are head to head, ready to burst anytime soon they hear a commotion outside. The directors of IHWA and Geumgang are fighting, IHWA director claims that they founded the cassette system and Geumgang is shamelessly using it. Geumgang’s director bashes him for lying to his face and the security system was indeed developed by a US company and everyone is copying it.
Attorney Kwon now challenges young woo to find who is lying as she is confused seeing their catfight.
So Young woo decides to find out who is lying and her go-to place is her best friend – Ra-mi. Ra-mi and her are playing cham cham cham. It’s kind of guessing what the person in front of you is going to do and young woo is good at it and wins every time.
Young-woo has already read a handful of books to check if someone is lying and she tells Ra-Mi that if someone is lying a chemical called catecholamine causes tissue in the nose to swell up, so the tip of the nose itches. Ra-mi teaches another method of looking into the eyes and after young woo tells her that it is the most difficult thing do to for a person with autism, she asks young woo to look between the eyes.
They test this technique and Ra-mi asks the question- “Lee Jun Ho likes woo young woo”. So Ra-mi successfully planted this doubt in young woo’s mind. Ra-mi asks young woo if they went to Nakjo village during sunset to confirm the answer to her question.
Yes, of course jun-ho likes young woo, we see it during a basketball game. Jun-ho and attorney Kwon are playing basketball and Jun-ho is winning. At this time attorney Kwon gets a call from attorney Jang. (rival and friend of attorney Jung) . Attorney Kwon speaks to him as if he is shouldering most of the things in the current case as young woo is handicapped.
After the call, Jun-ho plays his game violently bashing Kwon as much as possible. Kwon is confused as to what exactly happened to jun-ho he was winning the game anyway.
The next day morning a rude woman comes to the gimbap shop and screams that the gimbap costs 3000 and 4000 won. She demands the gimbap to be cheap even when young woo’s father tells her that the costs of the ingredients have gone up.
Young woo decides to test her truth or not game here. She takes her gavel (hammer used by the judges) and questions her dad if he found the woman rude. The woman comes and bashes her dad that he indirectly humiliates the customer and asks if young woo is his daughter.
Young woo’s dad says that she is not his daughter and asks her to leave. Young woo got to know the face of a person who lies though. Young woo then leaves.
Jun-ho and young woo visit IHWA company that day to talk to its director. On their way, Jun-Ho tells various techniques to detect lies that he got to know from his Former detective friend.
Jun-Ho tells her, “The most honest part of the human body are the legs and then the hands.”. Shaky legs or sweaty palms are the ones that cannot be controlled but one can control facial expression. Other things like a person sitting like ready to bolt out of the room or Arms tied to the body as if they are tied to the chair and if a person keeps stroking their thighs with their hands all these are signs to watch.
Young woo is worried that now she has to look at the entire body and not just look between the eyes. Jun-Ho advises to keep a casual conversation and trust her instinct.
Young-woo tells him that people with autism suck at instincts, she tells him, “People live in the world made up by you and me but people with autism are most used to living in the world made up of only me . People can think differently from me or have different intention and trick me. I understand this with my head but I keep on forgetting.”
Before entering the building Jun-Ho suggests that they practice once. He is startled when young woo asks him if he likes her or not. He tells her that It’s too hard of a question for director Hwang du- yong to answer. She tells him that it was just a test question for him.
On the other side, attorney Kwon visits a restaurant to enquire about a person from Leaders ATM company. The person tells him that they manufactured the product by October 2019 though the exhibition was in April. They were in such a hurry and worked day and night that they missed an error in the main part which is in bill recognition. The company went under and all the machines were refunded and disposed of.
In IHWA company, young woo repeats to herself – “between the eyes, legs and hands “. She is utterly shocked to see that Director Hwang du-yong had a big accident and his legs hands and forehead is injured.
Thankfully they don’t question him that day but a person from their product development team, Manager Bae Seong- Cheol of the research and development lab. Any person could tell after the first look itself that something is fishy with him.
He does all the things that a lying person does- ready to bolt away from the room, holding his hands to the legs, rubbing his hands on his thighs, and even rubs his nose on questioning. Director Hwang tells them that he was a theatre artist before this job.
He doesn’t even answer clearly when young woo asks him When did he come up with a cassette security device and on what occasion he came up with the idea.
Attorney Kwon calls director Hwang and the director puts the call on speaker. They get to know that all the products of leaders were refunded and disposed of so, no matter how much Geumgang wants to nitpick they can’t do anything.
The director thanks Kwon and asks young-woo to stop the interrogation as it feels like she is not on their side. She tells them that even if Geumgang can’t provide any evidence they have to substantiate that their claim is true. She tells them that if Mr. bae gives testimony on the development process himself it will have a positive effect.
She makes up her mind that she has to win against attorney Kwon even if it means she helps the side that is lying and she starts teaching Mr. Bae how to lie.
She tells them that this case is an injunction hearing, so the jargon is a little different- Obligee instead of plaintiff, Obliger instead of defendant, Reference witness instead of witness, and the reference witness doesn’t swear in that means even if you commit a perjury you won’t be punished for it.
She teaches Mr. Bae what he should be doing and shouldn’t be doing.
The next hearing starts and as planned Mr.Bae comes as a reference witness. Mr. Bae feels like a different person and as if he has rehearsed every question. He tells her that he started the idea during winter in 2019 and during that time there were many embezzlement cases so they needed a cassette where lies and tricks won’t work. When young woo asks about the development process he tells her about the blood and tears of the IHWA development team. On one occasion his nose itches and to hide that he even acts like crying and tells her that they are a team of 5 and they worked day and night to develop the cassette and now it feels like a waste of effort when people say it’s a copy.
Geumgang CEO screams that it feels so staged and he doesn’t have found any machine of Leaders else he could have proven. The judge asks him to stay silent since he doesn’t have any proof against IHWA ATM.
When the interrogation of the reference witness is completed, Attorney Jung says that their side looks good now and attorney Kwon takes all the credits saying he prepared the reference witness for interrogation.
The next day, Director Hwang comes to young Woo’s cabin with a gift and news that the injunction was decided. He happily says that Geumgang’s Production and sales have been banned and they have no idea how to deal with it. He gives her a Painting of a sunflower saying that it brings in wealth. He removes the attorney’s code of ethics saying it is unnecessary and hangs the new sunflower painting there. Young-woo receives a letter from the CEO of Geumgang ATM – OH jin-jong as IHWA’s director leaves.
Young woo runs to find attorney Jung but he is nowhere to be found. Then she runs to attorney Kwon. He reads the letter.
It asks young woo to read it without fail and the CEO says that it is very visible that IHWA’s ATM is not the original one and they have submitted model utility rights because they wanted to monopolize it. He asks her Why is she disregarding the truth and if there is a ban for Geumgang for a longer time they would be out of business soon.
What irks young woo the most is the words- “Do you want to be a competent attorney who only wins in court? Or do you want to be an honorable attorney who reveals the truth. “.
Attorney Kwon asks if he had no presence and gives it back. When young woo asks that they should do something about it he tells her why to mess up everything at the last minute and tells her she is indeed wildcard young woo. She asks him not to call her that and asks if he likes being called a tactician.
He tells her that she is the tactician as she is the one who trained the witness and he felt like watching an American show. He asks if everything was scripted. He tells her that she already knew that their clients were lying and she chose to side with them. As an attorney, she owes that to the client.
On her way out attorney Jung asks why she was searching for him and she hides that letter and says now she has nothing to ask.
At dinner, young woo is eating at the canteen for the first time and she is with attorney Choi. Choi asks her if she already told attorney Kwon’s nickname to him. As they discuss nicknames attorney Choi suggests a nickname to her as “baby face Choi su-yeon” or “most beautiful su-yeon”.
Young woo tells her that she is not that and says she is Spring sunshine. To the startled Attorney Choi, young woo tells that ever since in law school she thought of Choi as spring sunshine as Choi always told her where the lecture hall was, when class was canceled, and when test materials changed.
Choi tried to stop other students from making fun of young woo or bullying her and even now she opened the water bottle for her. Young-woo tells that she is a bright, warm, kind, and sweet person. So, she is spring sunshine su-yeon. Attorney Choi’s eyes tear up at young woo’s words.
Attorney Kwon interrupts them and asks if young woo knows that Geumgang atm filed an appeal for an injunction and they have found evidence at some junk and they are saying there should be onsite verification.
He informs her that they should be going to Bank in Mangu-dong, Jungnang-gu. At the bank, both parties along with judges gather. The obligor shows the judge that the leaders’ ATM and IHWA’s atm are the same and the leaders developed it a year ago so IHWA can’t apply for model utility rights. The obliger asks for revocation of the injunction prohibiting the sales and production of ATMs.
Outside the bank, Attorney Jung apologizes to IHWA’s client as now the injunction is revoked and most probably they won’t get the model utility rights too. The director doesn’t seem to be worried much and he says that while the injunction was issued he completed most of the supply contracts with the banks. So, It won’t affect them much. Geumgang’s CEO is doing this because he is mad and dragging them until the end. It should hurt quite a bit as Geumgang will be following the path of leaders.
Young-woo questions if this was his plan of him from the start and attorney Kwon cut her in the middle and diverts the matter that he is glad that the director is fine.
That night at the pantry, young woo confess to jun- ho that she helped IHWA ATMs to take advantage of the law. She tells him that applying for model utility rights and the injunction was used to monopolize the contracts.
When they visited IHWA, during the first encounter itself they knew that Mr. Bae was lying and He was a lie in and of itself. She feels bad that she fooled herself pretending not to know the truth because she wanted to win.
Young woo puts her head down and says “I’m ashamed.” As her eyes tear up.
Later she goes to her cabin, removes the sunflower painting, and sticks Geumgang’s CEO’s letter which says if she wants to be a competent attorney or an honorable attorney.
At Taesan law firm, attorney Tae Su-mi is visited by Administrator Kim Yeong-il, as she is a Candidate for the minister of justice. She submits the paperwork to him which has a preliminary questionnaire for high-ranking public official candidates. She tells him that she felt nervous to write the self-verification statement though she has spent a highly decent life.
Everything was ok for Mr.Kim but one thing he wanted to confirm with her since public opinion during candidate verification is very important. He asks her if the rumor among her university friends that she has a child out of wedlock is true. He says that petty things ruin public officials and asks her the confirmation. Ms. Tae tells him that she doesn’t have any illegitimate Children.
The episode ends here. The most touching part of the episode for me was when young woo names attorney Choi as spring sunshine. I became an instant fan of attorney Choi.
Comment below if you felt the same about Choi and if there were any other incidents that touched your heart in attorney woo’s journey.
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