Chapter Text
“Today we are gathered here in the Family Court for the annulment of marriage between Choi and Baek Saheon”
The judge named Braun was clearly bored out of his mind though it was only just the beginning of the hearing.
Both parties had to be present in court for the annulment.
Baek Saheon was sitting at one side with a female lawyer.
Her name is Eun Haje whom he was told was a reporter before being a lawyer. Her reason for switching careers was that she was so tired of bullshit in the articles she’s writing that she decided to get better material for traction and she became a lawyer specialising in family court matters.
However Choi didn’t have a lawyer with him.
In fact he had no idea who his lawyer was. His parents said that they got this and that he didn’t need to worry about a single thing.
And so he sat there alone, waiting for a lawyer who was late for the hearing.
Doors were then heard from behind.
Look who finally decided to show up to this case.
“Sorry. I’m late.”
Hold on.
That voice.
Choi knew that voice very well.
He turned around to see Ryu Jaekwan appearing in a suit and briefcase walking towards him????
Since when did Ryu Jaekwan study to be a lawyer??? Wasn’t he studying engineering?
“Jaekwan… You… When did you…????” Choi was clearly speechless over the whole situation.
Wasn’t Jaekwan also supposed to be in university right now? It’s the middle of the semester for him.
“Sorry for being late. I was held back by traffic on the way here, Your Honour.” Jaekwan tidied his tie as he set the briefcase on the table before him while standing next to Choi.
“Ok, you’re excused.”
Wow, this Braun guy was very surprisingly chill for a judge.
“Now we are all gathered here.”
The deputy then annouced the start of the court session with a short description of the case to everyone in the room.
“The plantiff, Choi, filed for annulment after finding out the person he was married to was also a man, not the woman whose profile was shown to him during the setup. Baek Saheon, the defendant, had used his sister’s picture and name to deceive the matchmaking agency for his selfish need for a relationship and had involved the Choi family into his disguisting fantasies. Your honour, please make sure justice will be served to the Choi family and the humiliation they faced when discovering that the marriage was a fraud.”
Baek Saheon’s jaw dropped.
Deceiving? Selfish? Fantasy?
He was just as much as a victim in this fradulent marriage as Choi was. Why was he portrayed as the villain in this scenario?
Who came up with this narrative???
He then looked over to Choi and Ryu Jaekwan with all sort of eye signals, praying that it wasn’t just him experiencing this fever dream. Choi looked back at him with an equally confused expression about the deputy’s introduction to the case.
clealrly they werent in on this then who did???
meanwhile the audience and jury all gasped in unison over the supposed truth of the court case before them.
“How could he? He ruined their happiness just like that all for his sick homosexual greed.”
“The Choi family son looks so fine. I prayed he get to drain every bit of money he can get from that eyepatch guy.”
“Can we get that homo arrested?”
“This is more entertaining than I expected.”
That last remark made Baek Saheon turned his head.
There he saw his boss, Kim Soleum, sitting right at the front row directly behind him, wearing shades and eating popcorn.
First of all, he didn’t think Kim Soleum would show up to the court session. Second of all, why was he wearing shades indoors? And last of all, weren’t food not allowed in the courtroom??? Who allowed him to bring a box of popcorn in???
“Your Honour, as Baek Saheon’s lawyer, I first would like set the facts straight by saying that the description of this case by the deputy is very misleading and does not truly convey the whole situation at hand.” Eun Haje immediately spoke up.
“I agree with her, Your Honour. This doesn’t fully describe the case at hand here.” Ryu Jaekwan added in.
Braun made a very big yawn, using a hand to carry the weight of his head upright. “Then what’s the true story?”
Eun Haje made her case first. “You see, Mr Baek here, was told that it would be a blind date but ended getting married to some random man.”
Baek Saheon nodded his head profusely.
“He didn’t consent to signing the wedding certificate at all. Hence, that’s why this marriage should be nulled.” Eun Haje then turned to look at Kim Soleum’s direction. “Let me call up the first key eyewitness to the stands to provide his testimony. Mr Kim Soleum, please.”
He then removed his shades, stood up and proceeeded to walk towards the stands.
When Kim Soleum stood up, he could feel the judge staring right at him.
And he was right. Because right there and then, Braun thought he saw the most beautiful man in the world.
“So, Mr Kim, please give your testimony to the best of your abilities from the days leading up to the ‘blind date’.”
“Sure. Mr Baek is an employee in my car maintenance shop. During the week before the ‘date’, he couldn’t shut up about it. He was thanking the stars, sky, moon and whatever gods out there for this opportunity everyday. And I, being the only other person in the shop, had to withstand his gushing. From time to time, he even asked me for advice for first impressions, which based on my personal opinion wouldn’t matter cause his personality sucks.”
“Thank you. Mr Kim. You may return back to your seat.”
When Kim Soleum was about to leave, he heard a whisper behind him.
“Hey!”
It was the judge. Braun tried to discreetly drop a piece of paper near the spot he was standing.
“I think you’re cute. Call me.” Braun mouthed as he formed a call hand signal at Kim Soleum.
Kim Soleum was amused that he managed to bag a judge while being at a marriage annulment court session. Talk about irony.
Braun called out to the deputy standing near him. “Do you think he will call me?”
“However, my client was also a victim.” Ryu Jaekwan turned to face Eun Haje.
“His parents had went through the whole process with the agency and was there to witness the signing of the certificate by the other party and yet, was still refused of a wife and a daughter-in-law. What else do you have to add to that, Mr Baek?”
Braun looked past both of them, staring at Kim Soleum. “Yeah, yeah… That makes sense. It does seem to be reasonable to have all the blame on the defendant. And can you move a little to the right, defendant?”
“But Your Honour!”
“He’s guilty as charged. I think Mr Kim would think so…”
At that, everyone froze on the spot. They took a look at Braun, then at Kim Soleum, back at Braun.
Confusion was written all over their faces. Why was Kim Soleum’s opinion important in this court session?
“Hold on! Your Honour, I noticed an important detail on the certificate when I was examining it. The name signed on the certificate is not Baek Seonmi but Baek Saheon. This meant that while it seemed like my client cheated them by using his sister name on the matchmaking profile but the name written on the certificate was clearly different than the profile they had chosen. I would note that the plantiff was partially at fault for this.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Let me present evidence #…, the wedding certificate.”
Eun Haje then passed the certificate to Braun.
“It does appear so that the name signed is Baek Saheon instead of Baek Seonmi. Plantiff, was there an explanation as to why did you not notice this?”
“Um. Well…” Choi didn’t know what to say.
He weren’t even present to sign the certificate…
His parents had signed on his behalf…
“Cause I wasn’t there to sign it…”
“What?!” Jaekwan turned to Choi, wide eyed.
“I beg your biggest pardon?!” Braun shouted.
Another big gasp echoed through the room.
“According to the Civil Act, Part IV Relatives, Chapter III Marriage, Section 2 Formation of Marriage, Article 812 (Formation of Marriage), Paragraph (2) that when reporting a marriage, both parties and two adult witnesses must be present for the co-signatures for the marriage to take effect.” Jaekwan explained to Choi.
"I didn’t know…” Choi seemed resigned.
“Your Honour, as you can see both parties were at fault and clearly this marriage didn’t follow the legal process in the first place. Thereby, I hope to get this marriage annuled for the sake of both victims and also to do a thorough investigation into the agency in question.” Jaekwan concluded.
“True. True. But there has to be someone who was truly behind this fraud marriage.” Braun raised an eyebrow, eyeing both Eun Haje and Ryu Jaekwan.
“Your Honour, I believed that would be my sister…” Baek Saheon admitted.
“Why didn’t you mention this detail to me at all?” Eun Haje pinched her nose ridge while shaking her head slightly.
Everyone turned their heads to Baek Seonmi and she blinked innocently as if she had nothing to do with this whole marriage.
“Alright, Ms Baek Seomi, you’re call up to the stands.”
All eyes were on her as she tooked each step up to the stand.
“Do you have anything to say for yourself?” Ryu Jaekwan asked her immediately.
Her face showed no remorse for the incident she had caused. “I simply wanted to help my little brother find a partner and I thought what better way than through an arranged marraige. It’s simple, efficient and direct, precisely achieves the goal at hand.”
“Then how did you do it?” Ryu Jaekwan interrogated further, eyebrows frowned.
“It was easy actually. I put my name at first but every detail I put was my brother’s. This is how I make sure that whoever chose me would be alright with my brother. I used an old photo where I looked like my brother. When I signed the certificate, I forged my brother’s signature.”
“You do know that your brother wears an eyepatch and you don’t. People would have realised it when seeing your brother at the first meeting.”
“I know, but he wears that for fun. He didn’t have any serious eye injury to require it. He was simply being himself.”
“And the forgery?”
“It was easy. He always liked to copy my signature. And so, I simply signed as if it was me.”
“Your Honour, I’m done with the questioning. Please consider the most appropriate offense and sentence for Ms Baek Seonmi here for forgery of documents and illegal marriage procedures.”
“WHAT?!” Baek Saheon shouted at Ryu Jaekwan. “SHE DIDN’T MEAN ANY HARM!”
“You’re right, Mr Baek. She didn’t do any wrong.” Eun Haje reassessed the situation.
“Thank you, Ms-”
Eun Haje stepped forward“Your Honour, from here on, I will be representing Ms Baek Seonmi in this case. Mr Baek, you’re on your own now.”
“Wait… WHAT?!”
“Oh my! I think you should continue representing my brother. I’m fine on my own.” Baek Seonmi hid her shocked expression behind her hand.
“Your Honour, I say Ms Baek Seonmi is innocent of all charges because I support all women’s rights and wrongs.”
“Hm… What do you think, Mr Kim?” Braun looked directly at Kim Soleum.
He was still enjoying the popcorn he have.
Everyone’s eyes turned to him.
He stopped his eating, lifted up his shades and said, “I say Ms Eun is right. Let’s support all women’s rights and wrongs.”
“Alright. Case closed. Everyone is innocent. This marriage is now officially annulled. And if you will excuse me, I have a date to go to.” Braun slammed the gavel down several times and hastily got away.
“Just like that?” Baek Saheon said those thoughts out loud. Everyone in the room had the exact same thoughts.