“You goddamn son of a b*tch! You can’t do this!”
Kim Tae-hoon lunged forward, intent on striking Choi Ji-gang, but the police officers standing nearby restrained him before he could.
Amused by the spectacle, I turned to Lee Hae-jun, who had remained silent until now, and inquired.
“Lee Hae-jun, what will you do? Do you share Choi Ji-gang’s sentiments?”
“Yes, I… I also… please reduce my sentence as much as possible.”
“You goddamn bastard, Lee Hae-jun! You can’t do this too! How much have I done for you?!”
“What do you mean, ‘done for me’?! You always treated me like a flunky and looked down on me!”
‘What a profound friendship, one that could bring tears to one’s eyes.’
Clapping my hands, I rose from my seat.
-Clap clap clap-
“Mr. Kim Tae-hoon, your touching devotion to your friends has been clearly conveyed to me.”
“No, goddammit, when did I ever say that?!”
“In honor of your sacrifice, I will specifically reduce Lee Hae-jun’s and Choi Ji-gang’s sentences by ten years each.”
‘Wow, to sacrifice forty years of his own life for ten years of his friends’ — now that’s what I call a true lifelong friendship.’
“Shall we all give a round of applause for Mr. Kim Tae-hoon, who so willingly sacrificed himself for his friends?”
Initially, everyone remained silent, but then one or two people began to clap.
Soon after, nearly everyone in the courtroom, with the exception of Kim Tae-hoon, started to applaud.
-Clap clap clap clap clap clap-
“Ah… truly moving, Mr. Kim Tae-hoon.”
“Now, I will deliver the final, final verdict.”
The applause subsided, and the courtroom swiftly fell silent once more.
Clearing my throat, I brought my mouth as close to the microphone as possible.
“Defendants Choi Ji-gang and Lee Hae-jun, from your original sentence of fifty-five years, ten years will be subtracted, and you are hereby sentenced to forty-five years in prison.”
Although it was still an incredibly long prison term, likely not to their liking, the defendants appeared to be in slightly better spirits than before.
‘Of course, the only defendants whose moods had improved were Choi Ji-gang and Lee Hae-jun, not Kim Tae-hoon.’
“Finally, for defendant Kim Tae-hoon, who made a tearful sacrifice for his friends, his original sentence of fifty-five years will have forty years added, resulting in a ninety-five-year sentence.”
-Bang bang bang.-
‘I distinctly remember there being no gavel last time, so when did it appear?’
I personally struck the gavel three times, just as I had seen in dramas.
“Yes, this concludes today’s trial. Thank you all for your valuable time.”
Seon-ah and I bowed simultaneously.
Just before exiting the courtroom, my gaze drifted towards Lee Jeong-woo’s mother, the victim I had met yesterday.
People do not cry solely for negative reasons such as fear or hardship.
One can also shed tears when deeply moved or overwhelmingly joyful.
Hoping her tears were of the latter kind rather than the former, I offered her a smiling eye-greeting, just as I had before the trial began.
When our eyes met, she smiled brightly, indicating that she was, thankfully, very pleased with today’s verdict.
As I was about to leave through the same door I had entered, I thought I heard Kim Tae-hoon’s curses from behind me.
‘The sentencing was already over; swearing wouldn’t change anything, so why bother straining his throat?’
****
The moment we exited the courtroom, Seon-ah grabbed my shoulder and began to shake me vigorously.
‘What’s wrong with her? Why is she acting like this?’
I pondered whether I had made any verbal blunders, but nothing specific came to mind.
“W-what is it, Ha-yeon? Why are you speaking so eloquently?”
“Are you really ten years old…?”
‘Ah… so that’s what this is about.’
Indeed, I had been rather talkative during today’s trial.
Consequently, I must have unconsciously uttered things that a ten-year-old wouldn’t typically say.
“I read a lot of books, so the words just flow out naturally.”
Offering a casual excuse, I pretended nonchalance and looked straight ahead.
‘Still, from now on, I should exercise a bit more self-restraint and behave in a manner appropriate for my age.’
“Um, by any chance, Ha-yeon…”
“Yes, what is it?”
“Are you perhaps a regressor, or… possessed by a spirit…?”
“And the last one, what was it? Ah, reincarnation! You’re not one of those, are you?”
‘This is why quick-witted people are such a pain.’
“Hehe, there’s no way I could be something like that, Unnie~”
I deliberately clung to Seon-ah, my voice laced with aegyo (TL Note: Aegyo refers to a display of cuteness, often expressed through a baby-like voice, gestures, or facial expressions, common in Korean culture.).
“Right? There’s no way our cute Ha-yeon could be like that.”
‘She’s so foolish and simple-minded.’
The way she beamed, delighted by a bit of aegyo, was quite amusing.
With Seon-ah happily caressing my soft hand, her suspicions seemingly vanished, we made our way to the judge’s chambers.
Upon returning to the chambers, I quickly discarded my judicial robes and dove onto the leather sofa.
‘Now that the trial is over, I can finally relax and play on my phone.’
“Ha-yeon, if you jump like that, you’ll damage the sofa.”
“I’m light, so it’s fine. Unnie, come over here and rest too.”
“Unnie has a few things to take care of, so I need to work a bit.”
After casting a brief, pleased glance at me as I lounged on the sofa, Seon-ah sat down at her desk and began reviewing some documents.
Deciding not to disturb the diligently working Seon-ah, I turned on my phone.
However, the problem was that this phone offered no entertainment whatsoever.
‘Seriously, how could an elementary school student possibly live without mobile games?’
Shaking my head, I entered the Play Store app.
I downloaded a game that had been installed on my phone back when I was living as a s*ave, but which I had barely played due to lack of time.
It was a fairly popular subculture game, essentially an adventure game featuring pretty characters.
Having already seen the initial story, I skipped it and navigated to the gacha screen, which could be considered the highlight of any subculture game.
I only had twenty gacha tickets left.
The probability of pulling that super beautiful and incredibly powerful character within twenty attempts was roughly five percent.
‘Theoretically, I could even pull twenty of my desired characters with just twenty tickets.’
‘Alright, let’s go.’
Harboring such futile hope, I pressed the ten-pull button twice.
However, the golden light I wished to see never appeared; only purple and blue hues filled the screen.
‘Tsk… I really want to spend some real money.’
‘Come to think of it, since I’m working as a judge, wouldn’t I get a salary?’
I scampered over to Seon-ah.
“Unnie, I get a salary, right…?”
“Hmm… probably. Check your messages or something.”
‘Oh, so the Korean courts aren’t so shameless as to make a ten-year-old child work without pay.’
With a fluttering heart, I checked the messages on my phone.
Twenty-eight days ago.
[8,973,200 won has been deposited into Lee Ha-yeon’s account.]
‘Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, hundred thousands, millions…’
‘Huh…?’
‘What the hell… N-nine million won…?’
I was utterly astonished by the unexpected sum.
A smile stretched across my face, reaching my ears, as I felt incredibly pleased.
‘Just you wait, real money purchases.’
I entered the game’s payment screen and, grinning widely, attempted to make a purchase.
‘Whoa… with this much money, I could get full constellations and a full signature weapon.’
Imagining my character becoming incredibly powerful, I reached the final stage of the payment process.
‘Now, if I just press this button…!!’
[Users under the age of 14 are restricted from making paid purchases.]
‘Huh…?’
“Don’t lie to me… this can’t be happening…!!”
Lost in despair, I found myself unable to breathe.
As I wallowed in despair, a certain phrase caught my eye.
[Paid purchases are possible with parental consent.]
‘Oh… parental consent…?’
I shot up from the sofa and scurried over to Seon-ah once more.
“Unnie!”
“Yes, what is it~?”
“Unnie, isn’t work very tiring? Shall I massage your shoulders?”
“Really? As expected, there’s no one like our Ha-yeon.”
Unaware of my true intentions, Seon-ah beamed, simply delighted at the thought of receiving a massage from me, and offered her shoulders.
“How is it? Does it feel refreshing?”
“Oh, you’re quite good at this, Ha-yeon?”
After approximately three minutes of massage, Seon-ah became pleasantly languid.
‘Now, shall we get to the main point?’
“Unnie, there’s something I really, really want in a game I like~”
First, I laid the groundwork.
“Hmm, and? Oh, that spot feels good.”
“You see, if you’re too young, you can’t make purchases… So, I was wondering if you could give your parental consent? Hehe.”
‘Is it possible? Please say yes. I never thought I’d have to massage you in my life.’
‘This much build-up should be more than enough.’
“Hmm… so this massage is actually like… a bribe, isn’t it?”
“Aww~ why would you say that? I’m just giving you a massage out of my affection for you, Unnie.”
“Oh really? So, from now on, if I ask for a massage, you’ll always give me one?”
‘What a scoundrel.’
I wanted to hurl insults at Seon-ah, who was eyeing me with a sly look.
However, Seon-ah was currently in the position of power, and I was the supplicant.
‘For now, I’ll just say yes and then deny it later.’
“Of course I can, Unnie~”
“You’re not just saying that and planning not to do it later, are you~?”
‘What is it? Why is she so perceptive today? She’s not usually this quick-witted.’
“Haha, what are you talking about, Unnie~ I’ll do it every day.”
“Alright then, shall we write a contract?”
‘Just like a legal professional, always playing dirty.’
Through some means, I managed to secure Seon-ah’s parental consent via a verbal agreement.
“But how much are you planning to spend, Ha-yeon?”
“For now, I’ll just do a little bit, lightly.”
Having already achieved my objective, I had lost interest in Seon-ah and replied vaguely without even turning my head.
“How much is ‘a little bit’ in Ha-yeon’s terms?”
“Well, maybe around 1 million won?”
Gazing at the countless radiant gacha tickets displayed on the screen, I felt as if I could fly.
“Uhm…? What did you just say, Ha-yeon…? You’re spending 1 million won on a game…?”
Seon-ah’s mouth gaped open, her face etched with shock.
“Why? Is there a problem?”
‘Surely, for a gamer, spending around 1 million won as a starting point is standard, isn’t it?’
‘What could possibly be strange about that?’
‘I really don’t understand. I should just hurry up and pull some gacha.’
