I Became a Law School Genius

Chapter 4

『 Translator – Divinity 』

“That’ll be 339,800 won.”

I received the heavy bag of books from the cashier.

The reason for visiting the bookstore early in the morning was simple.

In Park Yoo-seung’s studio apartment, there was only one law book, “Untying the Knots of Civil Law.”

It’s undeniable that study guides are efficient for studying.

However, to properly understand and apply legal principles, it’s also necessary to have several basic books to refer to and supplement your knowledge whenever you get stuck.

[Principles of Civil Law – by Ji Yeon-rim]

[Summary of Criminal Law]

[Criminal Law General Part – by Kim Seon-don]

[Criminal Law Specific Part – by Kim Seon-don]

A welcoming smile spread across my face at the titles that reeked of the Sillim-dong exam village.

After taking the first exam, I realized how much I was lacking.

I tried to prepare by frantically flipping through the study guide, but it was impossible to review the entire scope of civil law in just a few hours.

I had no choice but to skip all the multiple-choice questions.

Instead, I focused on the essay questions, where I could use the law book.

This is because I could look up the articles and try to recall the information while solving them.

Even then, most of my answers were vague because I couldn’t clearly remember the wording of the precedents or the scholarly concepts…

Fortunately, the last question was a type of trap I had encountered countless times during my exam preparation days, so I was able to write the conclusion reflexively.

Last night, after returning to Park Yoo-seung’s studio apartment, I compared the exam paper I brought with me to “Untying the Knots of Civil Law” and spent the whole night filling in the gaps in my memory.

I also searched for and organized a list of books I needed to study.

I had no other tasks to do or people to meet anyway.

Park Yoo-seung had a reputation at Hankuk University as a hopeless case since his undergraduate days.

He would enter the lecture hall drunk and point fingers at the professor, or he would hit on a freshman and end up in a fistfight with her boyfriend and get detained.

His behavior was so terrible that there was no one at Hankuk University who hadn’t heard rumors about him.

Therefore, no one with common sense would try to associate with Park Yoo-seung.

And I wanted nothing to do with the ‘friends’ of someone without common sense.

In other words, I was currently no different from a deserted island with no one approaching.

“Well, it’s good that I can buy books without worrying about money, though.”

In my past life, this would have been an exorbitant amount that I wouldn’t even dare to spend, but compared to the money piled up in Park Yoo-seung’s account, it was a mere speck of dust.

I left the bookstore with a satisfied smile, hugging the bag of books.

The second day of the pre-law program was about to begin.

I had to hurry.

***

[Pre-Law Class A Lecture Hall]

From the second day onwards, the program was divided into three classes of 50 students each.

It was only natural, as they couldn’t cram 150 people into one lecture hall.

The class Park Yoo-seung was assigned to was Class A.

The same class as Shin Seo-joon, Han Seol, Jeong Min-sik, and other main characters from the original story.

With a click, I opened the door to the lecture hall and entered.

The eyes of the students who had arrived earlier briefly focused on me, then quickly turned away as if they had seen something unpleasant.

Some were whispering amongst themselves after seeing my face.

A wry smile automatically formed on my face in the chilly atmosphere.

Among the new Hankuk University Law School students this year, nearly 100 were from Hankuk University’s undergraduate program.

At least a hundred people who had heard of Park Yoo-seung’s notoriety, even if indirectly.

Most of the students from other universities had also interacted with Hankuk University students through private law academies or joint law societies.

One day was more than enough time for the Hankuk University students, who had spotted their school’s worst scoundrel in the grand hall on the opening ceremony day, to warn their friends from other universities.

Of course, there was no need to worry about it.

I wasn’t Park Yoo-seung, but I was in a position where I couldn’t and shouldn’t prove that.

And anyway, studying was a lonely battle fought alone.

The cold stares from those around me were not even as important as a speck of dust compared to this dream-like situation where I could study law again.

I checked the seating chart posted at the front of the lecture hall and moved towards my seat.

The three people seated around me on this chart were the ones who would be in my group for the duration of the pre-law program.

Of course, if things followed the original story, I already knew who my group members would be.

“…What?”

Sitting next to the seat with my student ID number was none other than Han Seol.

“Why are you here?”

Han Seol’s expression crumpled.

“Because this is my seat.”

“You… here?”

As if she couldn’t believe it, Han Seol counted the seats with her finger. But the ending set from the original story couldn’t change. After narrowing her eyes for a while, she soon realized the tragic fact that she and I were in the same group.

“No, this can’t be…”

Han Seol and Park Yoo-seung were classmates in the Department of Business Administration.

Therefore, Han Seol knew all too well that the rumors about Park Yoo-seung were not exaggerated, and that he was a good-for-nothing with an empty head beyond imagination.

It was beyond her comprehension how such a person could have graduated from the same university and ended up in the same law school as her.

Han Seol, who was holding her head in her hands, suddenly looked up.

“Park Yoo-seung.”

“What?”

“I won’t ask you to work hard. I don’t even expect that. Just… I’ll take care of everything, so please don’t cause any trouble. Please.”

Her expression was quite desperate.

According to the original story, Han Seol was determined to take first place in the pre-law grades at this point.

For her, who had always been the best, losing the top spot to Shin Seo-joon was the first defeat she had ever experienced in her life.

To avenge that, she had to get the best grades in both the exams and the group evaluations.

However, Park Yoo-seung, feeling humiliated by Han Seol’s request, would cause a commotion in the classroom.

Shin Seo-joon, who happened to arrive at the classroom at that moment, would subdue him and rescue Han Seol.

It was the starting point where something other than a one-sided rivalry would start to mix in.

Of course, since I am not the real Park Yoo-seung, I have no intention of participating in such a childish farce.

“Alright.”

“…Really?”

“Now that I’ve come to law school, I’m thinking of turning over a new leaf and starting fresh. I promise I won’t hold you back.”

Han Seol looked dubious at my overly compliant answer.

You? Turning over a new leaf? The message that she couldn’t believe it was plastered all over her face, but it wasn’t my concern.

Believe it or not.

“Whew…”

Han Seol breathed a sigh of relief as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

“You don’t have to feel pressured. I can handle most things on my own, and if it really doesn’t work out, I’ll cooperate with the other team member. There won’t be anything you need to do.”

Han Seol’s voice was a little brighter, like someone who had found a sliver of hope in the depths of despair.

But Han Seol doesn’t know.

That the ‘other team member’ she’s looking for is currently sound asleep in the dormitory and won’t be showing up for a while.

‘Unfortunately, it’s just me.’

Of course, I don’t intend to hold Han Seol back either. I promised her that.

Yes.

I have no intention of holding you back, that is.

***

Criminal Law.

First class. A middle-aged professor, dressed in a stylish suit, abruptly wrote two Chinese characters on the blackboard.

“Nice to meet you.”

No one expressed any questions.

Because anyone entering Hankuk University Law School knew who he was and what he did.

“I’m Professor Jang Yong-hwan, who will be teaching you. And this is what I’ll be teaching you.”

Jang Yong-hwan. Former Chief Prosecutor. A god of criminal law, practically a guarantee for turning his mentees into prosecutors.

Feeling the pressure from his name, some students gulped.

“Do you know what criminal law is?”

Han Seol’s hand shot up.

As the class started without the remaining member of our group, she clutched her head again and declared her firm resolution to score points on her own.

She would probably try to appeal as much as possible whenever she knew something.

“Okay, the student with her hand raised.”

“It’s the law that defines criminal acts and all the legal provisions for their punishment.”

“You memorized it well. What’s your name?”

“Han Seol, Professor.”

“Good. As Han Seol said, criminal law defines what constitutes a crime and how and to what extent it should be punished. So, all you need to be able to do as students of criminal law is to judge that.”

Is this a bad act?

If it is, does it deserve punishment?

If it does, to what extent should it be punished?

“Simple, right? But the things you have to consider for this simple judgment are by no means a small amount.”

Jang Yong-hwan said so and wrote a new Chinese character under the first two he had written.

General Part.

“Here, you will learn the basic concepts and general legal principles for criminal law judgments. Most law schools teach this in the first semester of the first year.”

Once again, two more characters below that.

Specific Part.

“And then you learn the rules about the subject, act, and object that constitute each ‘crime’. This usually corresponds to the second semester of the first year.”

Jang Yong-hwan continued.

“The vast majority of you would not have studied law during your undergraduate years. If you managed to go through civil law before entering, that’s decent, and if you’ve studied the general part of criminal law, you’re a very excellent and diligent student. What about the specific part? If anyone here has studied that far, that guy is definitely a pervert.”

The students laughed.

Not because Jang Yong-hwan’s words were funny, but because they were relieved by his message.

‘So it’s not that I’ve studied particularly less, the kids sitting next to me are all similar, and the professor is aware of that.’

So, at least during this pre-law period, they would take into account the students’ level and proceed slowly. That’s the conclusion they seemed to have reached.

“Now, so…”

But that was a gross misunderstanding.

“I want you to answer without fear of being wrong. Whatever you don’t know, the person sitting next to you doesn’t know either.”

Just as the students’ faces started to stiffen, sensing that something was going awry…

“It’s time for your first group evaluation of the pre-law program.”

With a clatter, the beam projector shot light towards the blackboard. A screen of light overlaid the dark bluish-gray surface.

A paragraph of text appeared on it.

‘A’ is a university student who frequently uses the school’s online community app.

• While cleaning the schoolyard, he found a flyer on the ground, which contained an accusation that ‘B’, a candidate for student council president, had engaged in cheating on exams and assaulted other students.

• To make ‘B’s true nature widely known and ensure a fair election, ‘A’ uploaded the contents of the flyer to the school’s online community. As a result, ‘B’ lost the election.

And then, Jang Yong-hwan asked,

“Now, what is the issue in this case?”

Glancing to the side, I saw that Han Seol’s face was pale.

It was no wonder, as her strength was her overwhelming memorization skills.

Within the scope of what she had studied, she could answer anything, but she lacked the flexibility to solve unfamiliar problems.

And this question was blatantly asking for knowledge from the specific part of criminal law.

Han Seol was a monster of diligence who had studied not only civil law but also the general part of criminal law in advance, but even she couldn’t have already digested the specific part.

In fact, it was the same for me.

The Criminal Act of Korea has a total of 372 articles, and there are also articles defining crimes and their details in various other laws, such as supplementary provisions and special laws.

All of that is the specific part.

Naturally, most of it had long since drifted beyond the river of oblivion.

The same scene appeared in the original story, so I knew he would ask this question and who would answer it and how, but that wasn’t knowledge as a law student, was it?

It was a memory as a reader of the original story.

In the end, there was only one person in this room who could answer Jang Yong-hwan’s question.

“What’s your name?”

“Shin Seo-joon.”

“Shin Seo-joon… Group 6. Alright, try answering.”

Shin Seo-joon took a deep breath and then proceeded to answer smoothly.

“A, through the online medium of the school community, damaged B’s social reputation, causing him to lose the election.”

Grasping the situation.

“Therefore, we first need to examine the applicability of defamation under the Information and Communications Network Act… but that crime requires the ‘intention to slander another person’. We can exclude that since A had a public interest purpose.”

Confirming the applicable legal provision.

“Then, we need to examine whether the act of stating facts can be applied under Article 307, Paragraph 1. The issue here is whether the facts were stated ‘publicly’.”

Presenting the issue.

“According to the ‘possibility of dissemination theory’, which is the precedent’s stance, the school community can be disseminated to an unspecified number of people, thus satisfying the publicity requirement. Therefore, the elements of Article 307, Paragraph 1 are established.”

Intermediate conclusion based on precedent.

“However, there is a special provision, Article 310, for defamation. Even if someone’s reputation is damaged, they are not punished if the content is true and solely for public interest purposes. Therefore, in this case, A is not punishable under any charges.”

Finally, pointing out another issue and concluding.

The classroom fell silent.

The students looked at Shin Seo-joon as if he were an impossibly distant being, and Jang Yong-hwan was also looking at him with an intrigued gaze.

“Have you studied criminal law before?”

“It’s embarrassing to say I’ve learned it confidently, but I have studied it to some extent.”

To some extent?

If that’s ‘to some extent’, what does that make the rest of the students?

“Excellent. The points you raised are all correct. If I had received this as a midterm answer sheet, I would have given you an A+.”

“Thank you.”

“However, it’s not ‘first place’.”

Exclamations erupted from the students.

“It was an excellent answer, but to be the best practitioner, the best law student, there was one more issue you needed to address. You should be able to do that much to say you studied at Hankuk University Law School.”

Jang Yong-hwan asked again.

“Does anyone know what it is?”

There’s no way.

Shin Seo-joon was the only one who had reached the level where he could discuss the specific part of criminal law. There was no way the other students could grasp the issue that he had missed.

To be honest, I didn’t know what Jang Yong-hwan considered the “correct answer” in this scene.

In the original story, no one ever got the correct answer, and Jang Yong-hwan simply glossed over it, saying they should try to find the answer during the semester.

A question with an undisclosed answer.

But…

“Oh, yes. You there.”

I quickly raised my hand and stood up from my seat.

“Hey, are you crazy!?”

Han Seol, horrified, tried to stop me, but I lightly ignored her.

Actually, Shin Seo-joon had already solved the truly difficult parts.

Which legal provision should be applied? And what is the basis for the interpretation taken by the precedent?

To answer these, one had to have a thorough knowledge of the vast scope of the specific part of criminal law.

I couldn’t give that kind of answer yet.

But it was certainly possible for me to add a spoonful to the meal Shin Seo-joon had already prepared.

It wasn’t that difficult of an issue if you looked closely.

“Park Yoo-seung.”

“Park Yoo-seung… Group 10, right? Alright, what do you think?”

I confidently opened my mouth.