No Surprises

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The overcast skies reminded you of many things. None of them exactly pleasant.

London immediately came to your mind—as gray and gloomy as you remembered it. It was your birthplace, your upbringing, and the place where you earned both your law degree and your master’s in criminal law. Yet, your prodigious talent had also earned you more enemies than you desired, of the most dangerous kind.

Aside from that, you remembered, of course, the day you landed there in Seoul for the first time. A different continent, a different culture, a different language. An escape from all the shit you’d left behind in the UK. Of all the options you considered at the time it was the least practical, that was true, but at the same time the safest. None of those Bellerose bastards could touch you there.

Or so you hoped.

A deep breath filled your lungs as you looked out at the vibrant streets of Itaewon, standing by the window with your hands clasped behind your back. The diffuse light of the gray day filtered through the large windows of the main conference room at Trinity Legal, a law firm housed in a modern, multi-story building nestled among the luxurious bars and restaurants.

The aroma of freshly brewed coffee and paper permeated the air, and in the distance you could hear the murmur of voices and footsteps in the firm’s always busy, bustling hallways. That day, however, the conference room was unusually quiet. The team wasn’t complete.

The sound of the conference room door opening behind you made you turn and face your colleagues: Jang Wonyoung, senior attorney, sitting cross-legged in front of an open laptop; to her right, Anna Tanaka, an intern, with an open folder on the table and a pen between her fingers; Enami Asa, the legal assistant, standing next to a stack of documents in a corner, and the one who had just entered, Jeon Heejin, senior attorney and second-in-command.

“Oh, you finally decided to grace us with your presence,” Wonyoung remarked, closing her laptop and pushing up her glasses. “Where is everyone?”

Heejin took a couple of steps forward and placed the tablet she was carrying on her chest on the long rectangular table, her tight suit highlighting her fit figure and her eyes evoking a mixture of authority and more than justified fatigue. She scanned all of you with a penetrating gaze over her glasses.

“Kyungsoo and Baekhyun left an hour ago with a box of files,” Asa interjected from her corner, meticulously organizing folders. “They mentioned it was urgent, which must explain why it’s just us today.”

“Perhaps they went to court?” you mused from the window, arms crossed. “I can’t recall if Eunbi’s second trial was scheduled for today or tomorrow.”

“No more speculation, please,” Heejin said with her contrasting deep voice, settling gracefully into her seat. She interwove her fingers and rested her elbows on the table. “The others are busy. It’s just the five of us today, and that should be enough.” She picked up her tablet, turned it on, and set it horizontally on its stand. “It’s been an exhausting year, and we need to get things in order.”

Wonyoung snorted.

“Exhausting doesn’t even cover it,” she said, tapping her fingers on the closed laptop. “Deadlines really bring out the worst in me. Last month I was completely swamped with those darn SK Group contracts.”

“That case was a mess because of the sloppy records,” you added, leaning back in your chair with a hand resting on the table. “I did my best to sort them out, but we really need to step up our evidence organization.”

Anna, normally quite reserved but polite, raised her hand with her pen before speaking.

“Oh, well,” she said, putting her pen down. “When I got in today, I was updating the records by date in the folders. But honestly, I still think we really need a new system, because the way I’m doing it now is pretty old-school.”

Heejin, still staring at her tablet, nodded and frowned as she read something.

“That’ll do for now,” she said. “Wonyoung-ah, anything else to add?”

“Not much,” Wonyoung said, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow, a bit of a snooty look that was typical for her. “We gotta go over and organize these pending files before they stack up again.”

Heejin looked at you.

“I’m with her on that,” you said. “I don’t have anything else to add, except that we need to get a company in to build us a decent system.”

“We’ll talk about that later.” Heejin stood up, tossing her long, wavy silver hair back. “Well, there’s no real reason for us to be here alone. Let’s get to my office, come on.”

Heejin grabbed her tablet and walked to the door, where she waited for yall to gather your things and follow her.

Heejin’s office shone with its intimate and orderly feel, a complete contrast to the conference room and the other offices—including yours. The walls were lined with dark, varnished wood shelves, filled with books and knickknacks, and right in the center was a glass table that reflected the light from the white ceiling lamp. The faint scent of rain drifted in, as Heejin always kept one of her windows ajar.

Heejin sat in her stern black leather chair, facing her Mac and a steaming cup of coffee she had just poured. You were seated in one of the two chairs opposite her, legs crossed, while Wonyoung sat to your right, placing her laptop on Heejin’s table with a thud. Anna chose the couch by the window, and Asa stood between you and Wonyoung.

“Sure you don’t wanna sit?” you asked Asa, looking back at her.

“Nah,” Asa said, shaking her head with a shy laugh. “I’m good standing.”

You shrugged before turning your attention to Heejin, who was engrossed in her computer. A moment later, her gaze met yours.

“Okay, new case just landed this morning that needs someone on it,” Heejin said, holding out her tablet for you to see. On the screen was a document with a passport photo. “The defendant is Park Seungmin, works at HanTech. He’s charged with theft and data breach. The prosecution is already moving, so we must be quick.”

Wonyoung leaned forward with her elbows on the table as you read the document on the tablet.

“What do they have against him?” she asked. “If the prosecution has already stuck their nose in, they must have something solid.”

Heejin held out her hand for you to hand over the tablet. She took it in both hands and slid a finger to her left.

“The prosecution sent the reports this morning. Emails and server access logs,” she said, reading. “HanTech accuses him of leaking confidential data to LG Electronics. But the details are sketchy for now and need to be unraveled. Asa, if you would be so kind.”

Asa gently put a small stack of documents on the table.

“Those are HanTech’s first reports,” she mentioned. “From what I could tell, the access times don’t quite line up.”

“Then we’ve got something to go on,” you replied, grabbing one folder and passing another to Wonyoung without looking.

“Huh, weird, right?” Wonyoung mumbled, flipping through the papers in her folder. “Looks like someone’s messing with things.”

“We have to double check the sources then,” you sighed. “I can take the case,, but I need full access to the logs. What’s Seungmin’s take on all this?”

“He swears he’s innocent, but the public defender doesn’t have much to back that up,” Heejin said. “The case is yours, Isaac,” she looked at Wonyoung. “You and Anna will be working with him. But please, if I ever find out you two are arguing again, I’ll make sure Eunha puts you out of work for a month.”

Wonyoung snorted under her breath and crossed her arms.

“Okay, I’ll back him up,” she said. “But don’t expect me to keep quiet if he screws up.”

“That’s putting us in the dystopian scenario where I screw up,” you said, picking up the entire stack of documents Asa had left to skim through them quickly. You were good at a lot of things, but modesty wasn’t one of them.

“Arrogant bastard,” you heard Wonyoung say under her breath.

Instead of paying attention to the projected brat, you looked at Anna and handed her one of the folders.

“Can you dig up any connections between both companies from the last six months?” you asked her, your voice steady. “That’ll give us a starting point.”

“I’ll work on it,” Anna nodded with an enthusiastic smile.

“These reports have copies of every email HanTech provided,” Asa piped in, standing between you and Wonyoung, pointing at the folders in your hand.

“Great, can you sort them by date?”