I Became a Law School Genius

Chapter 7

『 Translator – Divinity 』

The Hankuk University Law School library was equipped with a considerable number of study rooms.

As a rule, many law students were sensitive to noise and movement from others, yet wanted to stretch out their legs and study comfortably themselves.

Therefore, no matter how many study rooms there were, it was never enough to accommodate those who wanted to relax, chat with friends occasionally, and study comfortably.

Han Seol had also managed to successfully apply for a reservation after overcoming fierce competition.

And in that hard-won study room,

“What? Why is this wrong?”

Park Yoo-seung, the number one delinquent of Hankuk University, was sitting across from her.

“…Why are you here?”

“We’re in the same group. Let’s help each other out. If your group members do well in their studies, you get presentation points, right?”

It was hard to kick him out since he subtly emphasized his contribution.

“Don’t you know it’s cooler not to brag about that kind of thing?”

“Someone who’s going to be a legal professional should get into the habit of finding and using anything advantageous. If you think modesty is a virtue, how are you going to win a trial?”

“Ugh, you never miss a beat.”

Han Seol pouted.

Well, it was true that she was grateful.

For her, who had always been first and at the top of her class wherever she went, losing the top spot upon entering to Shin Seo-joon was a strange shock.

She was even behind him in the first exam scores.

To turn things around, she needed a lot of group points.

Whether it was by sheer luck or not, it was a fact that Park Yoo-seung had struck a blow against that annoying top student and brought in points.

Therefore, she was willing to tolerate him using the study room.

“Let me see.”

“Huh?”

“You said you don’t know why it’s wrong, right? I’ll take a look.”

As she subtly held out her hand, Park Yoo-seung widened his eyes and handed her the answer sheet he was working on.

Han Seol took it and carefully read through it.

“Let’s see. ‘A, while intoxicated, drove an electric scooter and hit a person, causing injury…’ But then the Road Traffic Act was revised, and electric scooters were no longer classified as ‘vehicles’ under the Road Traffic Act, but as ‘personal mobility devices’ or ‘bicycles’, resulting in a lighter sentence.”

“Then, wouldn’t the issue be Article 1, Paragraph 2 of the Criminal Act, the motive theory, and since the revision of the Road Traffic Act is not a result of reflective consideration of the injustice of punishment, the previous law would be applied and the punishment would remain the same?”

“…What?”

“Isn’t it?”

Park Yoo-seung’s question dumbfounded Han Seol.

“Park Yoo-seung, are you kidding? The motive theory has been abolished!”

“…Huh?”

The ‘motive theory’ was a theory about how to handle cases where, after a crime occurs but before a final judgment is rendered, the criminal law is amended to either decriminalize the act or reduce the punishment.

Article 1, Paragraph 2 of the Criminal Act states that in such cases, the new law should be followed.

However, the previous Supreme Court precedent held that the ‘motive’ behind the amendment of the law should be examined first.

It argued that the new law should only be followed if the amendment was made out of reflection that the punishment was unjust or excessive.

The problem was that this ‘motive theory’ had no basis in the law.

The specific definition of what constituted ‘reflective consideration’ was also ambiguous.

It was only natural that it was criticized as a groundless theory.

And then, it was finally abolished through a change in precedent around last year, wasn’t it?

Any student studying law with the prospect of entering law school would have learned that the motive theory had been abolished.

“Really?”

“Look, it’s written here.”

When Han Seol showed him the latest edition of [General Theory of Criminal Law], Park Yoo-seung stared at it blankly.

Then, he resolutely pushed back his chair, stood up, and exclaimed,

“…Let’s go.”

“Go?”

“Thank you, Supreme Court Justice grandfather! This damn trash theory is finally abolished!”

‘…He’s such a strange guy.’

Han Seol let out a chuckle.

Come to think of it, it was quite fascinating.

During their undergraduate years, Park Yoo-seung, whom she had observed from afar while serving as the class president of the Department of Business Administration, was a true delinquent.

Then, somehow, he entered law school, and now he spends hours every day sitting at his desk, staring at law books.

Even during class, he always arrived earlier than Han Seol, opened his textbook, and prepared for the lecture.

He would point out issues that even she didn’t know, and then, like now, react as if he had never heard of basic concepts before.

This was especially true for relatively recent precedents or changes in legal principles.

‘It’s as if a ghost who died studying for the bar exam in the past has possessed him.’

Of course, Han Seol had no way of knowing how close that was to the truth.

“Alright, this is getting interesting.”

Regardless, Park Yoo-seung now rolled up his sleeves and began enthusiastically flipping through the study guide.

***

More than half of the pre-law period had already passed.

I was gradually getting used to studying law again after such a long time.

It seemed like the brain also had muscle memory.

In the first place, studying law was like pouring water into a bottomless pit.

There was so much to memorize, and it was so volatile that it was not uncommon to forget what you had studied the day before when you woke up the next morning.

The only way was to keep pouring water in, filling it faster than it leaked out. And that was my specialty.

“I didn’t know there would be so many new precedents and legal principles…”

It wasn’t like I had reincarnated into reality; I had possessed a body in a webtoon world, but this aspect was surprisingly realistic.

There were countless precedents added since I stopped studying.

Honestly, judging by the sheer volume, it felt like there was much more to study now than when I was studying for the bar exam ten years ago.

That’s what made it even more interesting.

“You came early again today?”

“I’m ranked 139th. I have to work hard to catch up.”

As I was reviewing the textbook for today’s lesson before class, as always, Han Seol arrived.

“…You’re not bothered by what that guy said back then, are you?”

“That guy? Ah, that Bae something?”

“Studying is a mental game. There’s no need to listen to words that try to scratch and shake you. Don’t push yourself and go at your own pace.”

What’s this? Is she worried about me?

In the original story, I only saw her acting stiffly, so I didn’t know, but Han Seol was unexpectedly a caring type.

It was an unnecessary worry since I could barely remember that Bae something’s name anymore.

But if I had to be nitpicky, I was a bit concerned about his last words, something about ‘earning points will be over soon’. What was he planning to do?

“Today it’s about the tort liability of a legal entity. So the requirements are, ‘Rep’ ‘Dir’ ‘Illeg’, ‘Rep’ ‘Dir’ ‘Illeg’…”

Han Seol, who sat next to me, opened the same page as me and started reciting mnemonics.

It was similar to chanting “Su He Li Be B C N O F Ne…” when memorizing the periodic table.

About ten minutes later, as the class was about to start, my classmates rushed in.

Only at this time did the classroom become as noisy as it was during my undergraduate days.

‘Well, is there really any difference?’

When you’ve graduated from university and are attending a professional educational institution like law school, you feel like a proper adult.

But the reality was different.

Most of the people sitting here were so-called “fresh graduates” who entered law school right after graduating without any work experience.

It meant their mental age wasn’t much different from their undergraduate days.

Since I had also only focused on studying during university, there wasn’t much difference compared to my high school days either.

While reading “In the Law School,” I thought the characters were quite childish, but after actually meeting them, including Bae something, I clearly understood.

These guys were just kids.

It would be perfect to call them high school seniors plus 8, plus 9, instead of just high school seniors.

I suddenly wondered if law school students in reality were like this too.

“Now, let’s take attendance.”

Professor Park Soo-geun, who was in charge of the Civil Law lecture, started calling out the students’ names.

“Group 1. Kang Doo-seong.”

“Here.”

“Yoo Tae-woon.”

“Yep.”

And so on, until it was our group’s turn.

“Group 10. Han Seol.”

“Here.”

“Park Yoo-seung.”

“Here.”

“Lee Ha-ru.”

“…”

As always, there was no response. Han Seol looked at the empty seat next to me and sighed softly.

“Hey, is she never coming?”

“Maybe not.”

“Ugh.”

“No problem. You’re always doing the work of more than two people anyway.”

“That’s! The! Problem!”

Actually, it wasn’t ‘maybe not’, this Lee Ha-ru character really wouldn’t show up for the entire pre-law season.

Even after the regular semester started, she rarely appeared in the story, and only made her grand debut by dropping a bombshell in the scenario around the midterm exams of the first semester.

‘Well, that’s something to think about when the time comes.’

Since Shin Seo-joon would take care of that bomb anyway, it wasn’t something I needed to worry about.

We (mostly Han Seol) were doing our best with the group presentations and Q&A sessions, so there was no problem.

It was just a matter of treating her as a non-existent person and continuing to work hard as we had been doing.

“Now, today… it’s time for the tort liability of a legal entity, right?”

Professor Park Soo-geun started.

“First of all, what is a legal entity? Anyone want to answer?”

Han Seol’s hand shot up.

“It refers to an entity that is not a person but is recognized as having the capacity to be a ‘subject of rights and duties by law’.”

“Well said. In civil law, a person is considered to have legal personality from birth and becomes a subject of rights and duties. In other words, they are called a natural person.”

Professor Park Soo-geun looked around the room and continued,

“On the other hand, there are entities that are not originally people, but are treated as people due to various practical needs. That’s a legal entity.”

Since it was a basic question, there were no bonus points.

Han Seol clicked her tongue in disappointment.

“For example, let’s think about a company. It takes a lot of money to run a company, right? They’ll receive investments, and in some cases, they’ll borrow money. Then, who should the creditor who lent money to the company receive the money from?”

Professor Park Soo-geun continued his explanation.

“From the CEO? Then the creditor would be very anxious. If it’s funds to be used at the company level, they’re lending a very large sum of money. What if they lend it based on one person’s face, and that person runs away with it?”

To prevent this, some kind of safety device was needed. The question was how to provide that.

“Then, how about making it possible to receive it from all the members of the company? The creditor would have insurance and feel secure, but wouldn’t this be too harsh on the employees? To have debt that they didn’t even borrow themselves…”

Professor Park Soo-geun added that the compromise reached after such concerns was the ‘legal entity’.

“Then, how about making the company itself have legal personality, own property in its own name, and be liable for debts? Would that student like to answer?”

“Um… wouldn’t it make the creditor trust the debtor a little more? Since the company is the one in debt, after all.”

“Correct! The creditor can simply receive the money from the assets in the company’s name later, and they can also feel less anxious about default as long as the company doesn’t go bankrupt.”

It was a basic but easy-to-understand explanation.

When you’re immersed in studying for exams, you don’t have the opportunity to pay attention to basic concepts and the reasons for their introduction.

This is because they don’t directly appear in exams.

Therefore, many textbooks omit them, and they are often not covered in commercial lectures.

‘But it’s a necessary process.’

If you know the legislative intent and purpose, in many cases, you can see the conclusion without having to memorize precedents.

For example, among the legal provisions related to legal entities, there are many cases where precedents are interpreted in favor of the counterparty.

Such as the registration of restrictions on representative authority or the job-relatedness of tort liability…

If you don’t know the reason, you have to memorize what should be interpreted in favor of whom. Naturally, the burden of memorization increases explosively.

But if you know that the purpose behind the legal entity system is the safety and convenience of transactions, everything falls into place neatly, like solving a puzzle.

Therefore, it was a very desirable teaching method to touch upon these basic principles once in the first-year lectures, or even before that, in the pre-law program.

In my personal opinion.

“…So, that’s it for this part. Any questions?”

After covering all the topics for the day by explaining various concepts in an easy-to-understand manner, Professor Park Soo-geun asked at the end of the class,

“Now then, assuming you all understood everything. Shall we have some time for group problem-solving?”

It was time.

Han Seol stretched next to me. In our group, Han Seol was the one who would go out most of the time.

I was still in the process of filling in the gaps in my knowledge, and Han Seol hardly had any gaps in the scope covered in the pre-law program.

Occasionally, when I felt it was too noticeable that only she was going out, I would subtly take her place.

Han Seol scored points. I cheered and sometimes substituted.

It was a perfect division of labor.

“Division of labor, my foot…”

It was at that moment when Han Seol grumbled,

“Ah, there’s one announcement I need to make.”

Professor Park Soo-geun scratched his head.

“Um… there have been complaints that the current group evaluation method only requires one person in the team to do well, and some people are unfairly receiving points just because they were in a good group.”

Oh?

“So, I’m going to change the method a bit.”

The new method Professor Park Soo-geun explained was as follows:

The professor would randomly select one person from each group to come forward.

Then, the problem they would be solving would be revealed.

Each person would solve their assigned problem and receive feedback from other students.

If they got the answer right or defended their points well, they would receive bonus points; if there were shortcomings, they would receive penalty points.

Both the bonus and penalty points received by each group member would be directly added to the group score.

Theoretically, no matter how well a group member did and earned points, if another member messed up, it would all be for nothing.

“Ah, and also, I’ll be adding individual attendance scores to these bonus and penalty points from now on. There have been strong requests to do so, saying that attending class is the most basic of basics.”

Of course, due to the principle of non-retroactivity of law, it wouldn’t be applied until tomorrow.

Professor Park Soo-geun added.

Han Seol and I involuntarily turned our gazes to the side.

To the empty seat assigned to the ghost member of Group 10, which had been vacant every day since the first day of the pre-law program.

And our eyes met in mid-air with someone looking at the exact same spot.

“Pfft.”

Bae Hyun-jung was looking at us and bursting into laughter.

…Huh, look at this guy.

Actually, I had a relatively generous heart towards the characters in this world.

As I said before, they were just ‘kids’ who had studied for a few more years.

It was pointless to get genuinely angry and have an emotional confrontation with them.

That’s why, even when Bae Hyun-jung openly picked a fight with me, I just gave him a scolding and let it go.

I mean, it’s pathetic.

To still be pestering a girl who rejected him.

But this was different.

He didn’t just sulk and whine; he schemed to directly harm me.

It was especially infuriating that he knew our group had a ghost member and specifically filed a complaint about attendance scores.

Fortunately, the professor gave us a grace period, so we haven’t actually suffered any damage yet.

But even the attempt itself was way over the line.

…It seemed like I needed to give him a proper warning.