I Became a Law School Genius

Chapter 34

『 Translator – Divinity 』

“Tsk.”

Jang Yong-hwan, driving a black sedan, clicked his tongue.

‘…Another dead end?’

Jang Yong-hwan had already left the prosecution and taken off his uniform years ago.

If he had any lingering attachment, it was to a single case he couldn’t properly resolve during his active duty.

Even while retired and focusing on nurturing his students, Jang Yong-hwan continued to pursue the truth of the case personally.

This time, he had rushed out after hearing news about a new witness related to the case.

But there were no significant findings.

After cross-checking with the information from that time, it became clear that what the witness saw was unrelated to the case.

In the end, Jang Yong-hwan had no choice but to return to school empty-handed.

Screech.

It was the moment he parked his car in the parking lot.

“Oh my, if it isn’t our ace, Professor Jang.”

He had bumped into the person he least wanted to see, Vice Dean Choi Sung-chul.

“How are the preparations for the midterm exam coming along?”

He spoke in a friendly tone, but his words had a bite to them.

It was a jab at him for wandering around when there was a mountain of work to be done.

“I’ve finished everything,”

Jang Yong-hwan replied curtly.

“I’ve selected the questions for the exam, and I’ve even had the students do self-study with the remaining reserve questions. I believe I sent you the completed question file, haven’t you seen it?”

“Haha, I’ve been so busy lately… As expected of Professor Jang.”

Only then did Choi Sung-chul change his tone and make a joke.

“I have high expectations for you, Professor Jang. Especially this year’s first-year students, they’re an exceptional group compared to previous years. If you pay a little more attention and guide them, we might see record-breaking output, don’t you think?”

“I’m sorry, but that would be difficult.”

Jang Yong-hwan spat out.

“I always teach any student to the best of my ability. So it’s impossible for them to do any better than this.”

His words also had a bite to them.

It was a jab at Choi Sung-chul’s attitude of selectively investing only in valuable students, which might be rational as a manager but was a failing grade as an educator.

Choi Sung-chul’s expression momentarily contorted before returning to a smile as if nothing had happened.

“Those are exemplary words for an educator, haha.”

He couldn’t openly disrespect Jang Yong-hwan.

From Choi Sung-chul’s perspective, obsessed with achievements, he couldn’t neglect a talented individual like Jang Yong-hwan.

This was especially true because of the power struggle within the faculty.

Jang Yong-hwan maintained a neutral position, belonging neither to the Dean’s faction nor the Vice Dean’s.

Depending on where he stepped, the balance of power could shift significantly.

Jang Yong-hwan couldn’t completely ignore Choi Sung-chul, who was in the position of vice dean.

In the end, they had no choice but to maintain a superficial peace while harboring mutual disapproval.

“…Well, I agree that it’s an exceptional class.”

“Right? Analyzing the exam score data, it’s incredible compared to previous years. Especially that student, Shin Seo-joon, he’s something else.”

“He’s a capable student.”

Despite his answer, Jang Yong-hwan had a dubious expression.

It was true that Shin Seo-joon was an exceptional student.

At first glance, his interpersonal relationships seemed good, and he seemed to have decent leadership skills.

‘But somehow… I have a strange feeling about him.’

His eyes seemed to be hiding something.

And sometimes, when their gazes met, Jang Yong-hwan felt a chilling aura from him.

‘And that face of his. I’ve seen it somewhere…’

But Jang Yong-hwan soon shook his head and dismissed the thought.

His intuition was usually accurate, but it wasn’t good to rely on it and form prejudices.

He was also one of his students.

“I’m paying attention to a different student.”

So he simply said that.

“Oh, who is it? If it’s a student Professor Jang is specifically mentioning, they must be amazing.”

“It’s a student named Park Yoo-seung.”

“Ugh.”

Choi Sung-chul was genuinely disgusted.

“That, that student is a bit…”

“Do you know him?”

“Any professor who has taught an elective class in the business school would know him. Park Yoo-seung, the delinquent of the business school, haven’t you heard of him? He’s the one who wrecked my Bentley.”

“He has that kind of past?”

Jang Yong-hwan responded nonchalantly.

“But that student’s current skills are genuine. He’s a diamond in the rough. He’s not just good at studying, he has the potential to be an investigator.”

“…Well, he does seem to have talent.”

Choi Sung-chul reluctantly agreed.

He recalled the incident at the Legal Clinic.

He clearly remembered the way Park Yoo-seung, who he had assumed was all talk, had pinpointed the hidden issue of the case and instantly arrived at the truth.

The way he persuaded and reassured the client without hesitation.

But Choi Sung-chul didn’t want to acknowledge Park Yoo-seung.

Not only did he have plenty of personal reasons to dislike him, but he was also the nephew of his rival, Dean Kang Chang-soo.

Therefore, Choi Sung-chul squeezed out the words,

“But law isn’t a field that can be mastered with talent alone. Without painstaking effort, you’ll inevitably fall behind, won’t you?”

“Are you saying that student Park Yoo-seung doesn’t put in the effort?”

“Of course. He lived his whole life as a delinquent, it can’t be easy to suddenly change his ways. I don’t think it will last long.”

Then, Jang Yong-hwan’s eyes flashed.

“If you truly believe that… how about a wager?”

“A wager?”

“You know very well how deviously I set my exams, Vice Dean. I always design them so that the grades reflect the amount of studying and effort put in.”

“That’s quite well-known. The differentiation is clear, so the students are very satisfied.”

“The results of the multiple-choice exam I gave will be arriving soon. I’ll bet that student Park Yoo-seung got first place. If someone else gets first place, you win.”

“What kind of ridiculous wager is that?”

Choi Sung-chul scoffed.

No matter how smart or talented someone was, if they didn’t study diligently every day, they couldn’t get a high score on Jang Yong-hwan’s exam.

He couldn’t deny that Park Yoo-seung had a brilliant mind.

But even so, Choi Sung-chul couldn’t imagine that delinquent diligently attending the library.

Moreover, Jang Yong-hwan’s class was full of elites.

Not to mention Shin Seo-joon, the second and third-ranked students, and many other top students were in that class.

As long as any one of them got first place, it was a bet Choi Sung-chul couldn’t lose.

Therefore, Choi Sung-chul came to this conclusion:

‘Professor Jang must be making a bit of a stretch because he finally found a student he likes.’

Effort was just a basic requirement. Jang Yong-hwan had declared that his goal was to find students with true talent.

Of course, Jang Yong-hwan provided the best education to everyone equally.

But that was because he couldn’t know who the true gems were without teaching them.

There were bound to be students he favored more.

This time, it happened to be Park Yoo-seung, and it was clear that he was placing unrealistic trust in him.

From Choi Sung-chul’s perspective, this was an opportunity to strike a blow against Jang Yong-hwan, who rarely showed any weakness.

“What will the wager be?”

“If you win, Vice Dean, I will support any motion you propose at the next faculty meeting. But in return,”

“In return?”

“If I win… let’s see. Please vote for the team I nominate during the mock trial competition team selection.”

“…The mock trial competition? Out of the blue?”

“It’s not out of the blue. The in-school preliminaries start right after the midterms, so it’s not far off.”

‘Hmm. So that’s how it is.’

Choi Sung-chul looked at Jang Yong-hwan with a probing gaze.

The mock trial competition is a competition where students selected as representatives from each law school across the country engage in legal battles on a given topic, as if in a real court.

To be selected as a representative, you first have to pass the in-school preliminaries.

They conduct legal battles similar to the main competition using mock courtroom facilities, and the professors analyze and evaluate the results to decide on the representative team.

These in-school preliminaries generally have a fierce competition rate.

More than anything, students who advance to the finals and win are exempted from document screening in the future selection process for prosecutors or judicial research officers.

‘In other words, it doesn’t reflect grades.’

In places like Hankuk University Law School, where many outstanding students gather, there are quite a few students who are objectively excellent but fall behind in the grade competition. It’s inevitable because the average level of the group is so high.

For those students to pass the bar exam or get a government position like a judicial research officer, they have no choice but to compensate for their lack of grades with achievements in the mock trial competition.

Therefore, Choi Sung-chul had been selecting teams for the preliminaries based on students with lacking grades rather than those who showed outstanding performance.

Since students with good grades could achieve good outcomes without such competitions, this was more efficient for increasing overall achievements.

Students who were pushed aside despite performing well might feel it was reverse discrimination, but what could they do?

Fairness wasn’t a value Choi Sung-chul prioritized.

‘So, you’re saying don’t do that this time?’

Of course, it wasn’t something he particularly liked.

But Choi Sung-chul was more interested in the card Jang Yong-hwan offered.

To support any motion once.

At a time like this, when the power struggle between the Dean’s faction and the Vice Dean’s faction was in a tense balance, if Jang Yong-hwan lent his support, almost anything could be passed.

There was no way Choi Sung-chul could refuse such a delicious blank check.

“Alright. Let’s do that.”

It was a bet he couldn’t lose anyway.

Choi Sung-chul, with a gleeful smile, readily accepted Jang Yong-hwan’s wager.

And after waiting for a while, Jang Yong-hwan’s smartphone buzzed.

“Ah, it seems the results have arrived.”

Jang Yong-hwan handed his smartphone to Choi Sung-chul, telling him to check for himself.

Choi Sung-chul clicked on the file named ‘Grading Results.xlsx’ attached to the email from the teaching assistant.

He didn’t care about the lower ranks.

He immediately scrolled up to check the top ranks.

“Let’s see, third place is… Oh, it’s Shin Seo-joon?”

The student he thought was most likely to be first was in third place.

Choi Sung-chul was momentarily flustered, but he soon changed his mind.

This was a surprise exam that Jang Yong-hwan gave because he had to leave, wasn’t it?

Multiple-choice exams were volatile, and it was natural for the rankings to fluctuate to some extent when given unannounced.

It was also common for students who excelled in simple memorization to get better results than those who were generally good at everything.

“Second place is… Han Seol.”

This student, who was the second-ranked in the entrance exam, was one such case.

However, even though his analysis was correct, Choi Sung-chul could feel beads of sweat forming on the back of his neck.

If neither the top student nor the second-ranked student was in first place,

Then who in the world was sitting at the top of this grade chart?

‘No way. That can’t be…’

With his fingers unconsciously tightening, Choi Sung-chul scrolled to the very top of the file.

And,

“…This can’t be.”

“You made a promise.”

At Jang Yong-hwan’s words, Choi Sung-chul’s lips trembled as he returned the smartphone.

[1 / Park Yoo-seung / 97 points]