Chapter 81 Wilder
In front of Stars & Stripes Bar, the girls who had been waiting in line for a long time gradually dispersed amid bursts of complaints.
There is no way, a closure sign has been hung on the door of the bar. The reason given above is that an unexpected situation occurred in the bar, so it is closed today.
No matter how the girls complained, this reason was generally accepted. After all, the so-called unexpected situation happened in front of them. Shortly after the bar owner appeared, not only the foreigner's lawyer arrived, but Even the police were called in.
Obviously, even if the closure sign is not posted, everyone present knows that the bar will not be open tonight.
The police did come to the bar, and the police who came did not belong to the Itaewon Police Station, but to the Yongsan District Police Department. The reason for this was because the Yongsan District Police Department received a lawyer named Thomson Arlin complaint.
This is really a barrister, affiliated with Baker McKenzie, an international law firm. Most people don't need him in lawsuits or anything like that.
The police actually have a lot of headaches dealing with such disputes because people on both sides are not easy to mess with. Lawyer Thomson’s client is the chief financial officer of Costco Korea and has an unusual background.
As for the owner of the "SSB" bar, although she is Korean, she has American citizenship, and her husband is a deceased American soldier. Her bar is well-liked by American soldiers at Yongsan Base.
Therefore, the police did not look at the arrival of the people, but they just had a bystander attitude from beginning to end. They did not even have the opportunity to participate in mediation.
The US military stationed in South Korea enjoys judicial immunity. This is an obviously discriminatory legal provision. That is, if US soldiers break the law in South Korea, South Korean law has nothing to do with them.
Why do older Koreans think Itaewon is not a good place? The fundamental reason is that the current Yongsan base has not been moved, and a large number of American soldiers are enjoying leisure and entertainment in Itaewon. They engage in drunken driving, provocation, molestation, and even rape. There are more than 400 such incidents every year. On average, there is still more to do together every day. How can this place not be in chaos?
So, to a certain extent, today's Itaewon, and even the entire Yongsan District, is almost a lawless place. Of course, this is for American soldiers.
If the person who was beaten today was just An Rusong, and he did not have a friend like Mike to support him, then it would be easy for the police to handle the matter. Just give An Rusong some money, or even give him no money, just threaten him and drive him away.
But the problem now is that the party being beaten also has a background and has hired a barrister, so this matter will be difficult to handle. After all, although American soldiers committed crimes here, they have judicial immunity, but the targets of the crimes cannot be Americans. Therefore, even though the bar has a military background, they cannot use this influence. Ruiya Song can only talk to the representative Mike's Thomson attorney negotiated.
An Rusong didn't know how lawyer Thomson negotiated with the bar, because after the lawyer arrived, the police who followed arranged for him and Mike to go to the hospital for treatment.
At Hanyang University Hospital, An Rusong had a comprehensive examination. The results proved that everything was fine. There was no injury to the head, but there was some congestion on the face where he was hit. It took two days to heal. It's a problem, and I don't even need medicine.
Today's conflict was an unforeseen disaster for An Rusong. Oh, that's not accurate. If he hadn't moved up himself, this fist wouldn't have hit his face.
However, if we make a comprehensive assessment, this conflict is not only not a bad thing for An Rusong, but it has brought him more opportunities. At least, the relationship between him and Mike, It has become closer.
"An, you should stay here for two days before further examination," Mike said with complaint as he walked side by side with An Rusong in the parking lot of Hanyang University Hospital.
After just completing the examination in the hospital, the doctor had suggested that An Rusong be hospitalized for two days for further observation, but he rejected it. For this reason, Mike kept nagging all the way.
Actually, Mike was quite blaming himself that night, because he was the one who invited An Rusong to Stars & Stripes Bar to celebrate, but he was beaten at the door of the bar he chose, and it was because of him Got beaten.
According to Mike, Stars & Stripes Bar has always been a bar he frequented in the past. He liked the atmosphere there, but he never knew that this bar had racial discrimination rules. If he had known it earlier, He wouldn't go to that kind of place at all.
An Rusong believed what Mike said, but he also knew very well that the reason Mike didn’t know there were racially discriminatory rules in the past was because he never paid attention to them. , after all, that kind of discrimination has nothing to do with him, and he is even the beneficiary of this kind of discriminatory rule.
Of course, he had no intention of telling the truth in front of Mike. People who always tell the truth tend to have no friends.
The two of them came to the hospital in a police car before, so they naturally had to go back in a police car as well.
When the two got into the car in the parking lot, Mike's cell phone rang, and the caller was lawyer Thomson. Mike pressed the answer button, turned on the external speaker, and listened to lawyer Thomson introducing the negotiation situation on the phone.
According to lawyer Thomson, if Mike does not choose to settle with the bar, but takes legal action, the final result is likely to be that the bar closes for one month for rectification. At the same time, the black man who committed the crime was sentenced to less than 2 years in prison and a fine of less than 3 million won.
This is clearly stipulated in Article 257, paragraph 1, of the Korean Criminal Code, and there will be no doubt about it.
In order to avoid unnecessary trouble, or in other words, to reduce the impact of this matter, the bar hopes to resolve this dispute privately with compensation.
According to Thomson's lawyer, if Mike can accept the settlement, the bar is willing to pay him $50,000 in cash compensation, and at the same time, the sturdy black man will also be fired from the bar.
Furthermore, if Mike is not satisfied with either outcome, then Attorney Thomson can also provide a third solution, but in the end this solution will require a relatively large expense. , as a friend, he does not recommend Mike to choose this option.
On the phone, Lawyer Thomson did not say what the third option was, and Mike did not ask. Obviously, this third option was not a conventional one, but both of them knew it well. .
When we were at the door of the bar before, Mike had said that he would sue the bar and the black man to ruin everything, but that statement was just a moment of anger, or maybe a third option was needed. By this time, Mike had calmed down and would naturally not be so impulsive.
"An, what do you think?" In the police car, after hanging up the phone, Mike said to An Rusong sitting next to him, "Should we choose to reconcile, or formally prosecute them."
"Let's reconcile. , Mike." An Rusong's face was hit with a big bump, which was red and bright and looked a bit ugly. "After all, it's just a small conflict, and it's not worth continuing to dwell on it."
After saying this, he patted Mike's shoulder with relief and said with a smile: "Think more about happy things. As you can see, our stock has risen again, to $1.9, ha, a Cadillac Escalade is already here I waved to you.”
Originally, Mike had already thought about reconciling with the other party, but after hearing his words, he hesitated. He felt a little sorry for his friend.
"Ann, we can make another choice," Mike thought for a while and said, "It's the third option Thomson mentioned, but it will cost more money."
"Oh?" An Rusong looked at the other party curiously.
“Thomson’s law firm is powerful and they can get a lot of information,” Mike said. “The business done by Stars & Stripes Bar cannot be completely legal, and the black man just now cannot be completely innocent. We can get more information. Spend some money and entrust Thomson to collect information in this regard, and then accuse them.”
This is a good idea!
An Rusong thought to himself, but he still had to say generously: "It's not necessary, Mike, it's just a small conflict, why make it too complicated?"
< br>Mike thought about it again, and finally spread his hands and accepted his suggestion: "Okay, An, I will do as you said, but even if it is a reconciliation, they must show more sincerity, just for a mere We will never accept $50,000.”
An Rusong didn't say anything more this time. After all, he just wanted to show his magnanimity, not pretend to be a coward.
The police car quickly returned to Itaewon. Because the inner street is actually on the hillside of Namsan Mountain, the car could not drive directly through it, so the group had to get off the car on Itaewon Street and meet An Rusong. Just like before, walk there.
Because there was a closure sign at the door, there were no customers queuing up outside Stars & Stripes Bar, and the stocky black man from before was nowhere to be seen.
The person guarding the door is an American soldier in camouflage uniform, who looks like he is in his early thirties. Seeing Mike and his group coming, he smiled and greeted him from a distance: "Hey, Mike!"
But Mike was not so enthusiastic. He said with a complicated expression: "Wilder , are you also that woman’s lobbyist?”
The guy named Wilder came forward and hugged Mike directly. Then he stretched out his hand towards An Rusong and said, "Mr. An, right? I am Wilder, Wilder DeWitt." , I am very sorry for what happened to you tonight, but we have already taught you a lesson about the black man who attacked you. If you are still not satisfied, you can do it yourself later."
(End of this chapter)