I Became a Law School Genius

Chapter 13
『 Translator – Divinity 』

“Who am I?”

Lee Ha-ru proudly puffed out her chest.

“The ‘number one’ in the Hankuk University Law School Civil Law quiz.”

“Yeah, yeah, well done.”

“I roughly understand now. The level of Hankuk University… It’s so boring I want to die.”

“Don’t get cocky. Have you already forgotten that we almost missed first place by a hair because of you?”

I scolded her, but Lee Ha-ru just stuck her tongue out and buried her face in the gratin bowl she was eating from.

The gratin in this cafeteria was indeed a delicacy.

I also took a spoonful of the gratin, which had cooled down just enough to eat.

Delicious. Is this the taste of victory?

Han Seol, sitting next to me, nudged my arm.

“Hey, why don’t you brag a little? It’s amazing that you got that score without any prior studying.”

Han Seol looked at Lee Ha-ru with admiration, as if she were her own daughter.

Well, she wasn’t entirely wrong.

Our scores, which we checked on the website, were 88 for Han Seol, 86 for me, and 75 for Lee Ha-ru.

The group average was 83, naturally putting us in first place.

Essay questions generally give low scores even if you write them well, so this meant we all received top-tier scores.

For reference, the second-place group, Shin Seo-joon’s group, had scores of 95, 72, and 70, averaging 79.

It might seem like Shin Seo-joon stumbled while running with sandbags on, but even a score in the 70s was enough to be in the top ranks.

“But I won, didn’t I?”

Lee Ha-ru, full of pride, boasted.

Of course, Lee Ha-ru hadn’t yet acquired the skills or depth of understanding to match her score.

It was only possible because she repeatedly tackled the limited scope covered by the cheat sheet I made, with the premise that all the questions would come from it.

Considering Lee Ha-ru’s brainpower, she could have gotten an even better score if she had just memorized the answers.

It meant that she wasn’t fully invested in studying yet.

“Still, you couldn’t beat him in individual scores.”

Han Seol added with a hint of regret.

Shin Seo-joon was indeed a monster.

To think we couldn’t surpass him even with the cheat sheet, a handmade cheat code.

Well, I couldn’t get the model answers for the essay questions.

There might have been some precedents I missed in the process of creating the answers myself.

But what did it matter?

“But I won, didn’t I?”

I also added with a bright smile.

This exam was a system where the group average, not individual scores, was reflected in the grade.

Clearly, the first place belonged to our Group 10.

Indeed, our group evaluation score had jumped significantly, reflecting the quiz scores.

[Park Yoo-seung (Group 10) / Group Evaluation (37/40)]

The group score, out of a total of 40 points, had already reached 37 points.

Although there weren’t many days left until the end of the pre-law program, we only needed 3 more points to reach a perfect score.

This was more than enough to make up for the disastrous first evaluation.

‘The rest depends on the second evaluation.’

The second evaluation, which was foretold to be different.

I didn’t know how it would be conducted, but… I was determined to do well.

It was at that moment,

“Mr. Park Yoo-seung, is that you?”

A female student appeared at our table and spoke to me.

“Who might you be…?”

“My name is Yoo Ye-seul. I’m in Group 9, in the same class.”

“She’s in the same group as Bae Hyun-jung,”

Han Seol whispered.

‘Yoo Ye-seul? That Yoo Ye-seul?’

I immediately became wary.

“…Is there something I can do for you?”

Yoo Ye-seul was, so to speak, the main villain of the first part of the original story.

She was the only daughter of the head of ‘Taejong’, a famous law firm, who cherished her dearly.

As if practicing the art of ruling, Yoo Ye-seul, who would one day inherit that position, always built her own kingdom around her.

What she hated most were people who didn’t do as she pleased and situations that didn’t unfold as she predicted.

In the original story, she saw Shin Seo-joon as a thorn in her side and constantly clashed with him, trying to pressure him using her wealth and connections.

“I heard that Group 10 got first place in the quiz. Congratulations.”

“We were lucky.”

“Lucky? You raised your score so much… Did you have some kind of ‘secret’?”

There was a strange emphasis on the word ‘secret’.

‘…Look at this.’

“Or is it family influence after all? Mr. Park Yoo-seung, you’re the nephew of Dean Kang Chang-soo, the former Supreme Court Justice.”

Her sly smile and probing tone were quite insidious.

Only a fool would take her words at face value.

Yoo Ye-seul was openly implying, ‘You’re related to the Dean, aren’t you doing something shady?’

It seemed like Yoo Ye-seul had set her sights on me as her next target.

“If you’re talking about ‘secrets’…”

This was very, very annoying.

“Are you talking about the ‘secret’ you used when you won the grand prize in the Ministry of Justice’s law essay contest in high school, Ms. Yoo Ye-seul?”

“W-what?”

For a moment, a crack appeared in Yoo Ye-seul’s composed expression.

“H-how did you…!”

“I read the winning essay. The in-depth understanding of complicity in negligent crimes was impressive.”

I added, driving the point home,

“Just like Ms. Yoo Ye-seul’s father, who is also renowned as a researcher in the field of criminal law.”

“…!”

Yoo Ye-seul clenched her fists.

It was a topic she couldn’t argue against.

The essay Yoo Ye-seul submitted at that time was basically a direct translation of a paper her father had contributed to a small overseas journal a long time ago.

Since it was a very old journal, there was no record of it left on the internet.

The number of copies published was also very small, and Yoo Ye-seul had collected all of them, so there was no evidence.

But those with something to hide tend to flinch at the slightest possibility.

‘I know about you too. Let’s not make things difficult for each other and just go our separate ways.’

That was the message I conveyed.

“Oh my, while we were having such a pleasant conversation, the food has gotten cold. This gratin is best when eaten warm… May I continue eating?”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Please do.”

When I gestured towards the exit, Yoo Ye-seul glared at me and then quickly left as if running away.

“What was that about…?”

“It’s nothing. Let’s finish eating.”

If Han Seol knew about Yoo Ye-seul’s plagiarism, she wouldn’t let it slide.

If she formally raised the issue and things escalated, there was no telling what they might do to cover it up.

To protect her, I glossed over it and silently focused on picking out the chicken from the gratin.

Even though it had cooled down a bit, the gratin here was still the best.

***

After lunch, it was time for Criminal Law class.

“As you all may have already heard, we’ve decided to change the format of the second evaluation.”

Professor Jang Yong-hwan tapped the microphone to get everyone’s attention.

“You’ve already taken quite a few exams since coming to law school. How was it?”

“Difficult.”

A sincere answer came back, and the students burst into laughter in agreement.

“You there. What’s your name?”

That laughter disappeared instantly.

“It’s Yoo Tae-woon, Professor.”

“Which part was difficult?”

“Well…”

Yoo Tae-woon sweated.

“There was so much to memorize. Without memorizing anything first, I couldn’t even grasp the issue before developing the logic…”

“You had a hard time because you were forced to memorize excessively?”

“N-no! That’s not what I meant…”

“Why is that?”

“…Excuse me?”

“Why do we force you to memorize excessively? Answer me.”

Yoo Tae-woon’s face turned pale.

“It feels like he’s being interrogated, doesn’t it?”

Han Seol whispered in a chilling tone.

“He’s a former chief prosecutor.”

While I responded casually, Yoo Tae-woon, who had been rolling his eyes for a while, finally opened his mouth.

“Uh, I think it’s because all the exams we’ll be taking require that. The bar exam, the prosecutor’s exam, the law clerk selection exam, all of them.”

“That’s exactly it.”

Jang Yong-hwan nodded.

“All the law exams you’ll be taking in the future will be conducted in that way. Logic, brilliant ideas, the ability to grasp and summarize facts, they’re all secondary issues. To show those abilities, you first have to cram an absurd amount of knowledge into your head.”

“It’s a shame.”

Jang Yong-hwan sighed, adding that.

“You are about to enter Hankuk University Law School. You are expected to be more outstanding than anyone else. We must be the best in bar exam passing rates, produce the most prosecutors, and have the highest number of law clerks.”

To be the best in all those exams, we have to struggle to memorize even one more thing than others.

If we can’t do that, we won’t even be qualified to bear the name of Hankuk University.

Tension filled the air among the students.

They were realizing anew what kind of ground they were standing on.

“But, but you see,”

At that moment, Jang Yong-hwan’s eyes flashed with a strange light.

“Is that enough?”

It was a remark that threw cold water on everyone.

He had just told them to be the best, and now he was asking if that was enough.

It was impossible to understand what he was trying to say.

“Memorizing well, neatly solving problems within a defined scope, and fulfilling the requirements of this polished education track, will that make you a good legal professional?”

“Are you denying the meaning of those things, Professor?”

Someone dared to ask.

“No, that’s not it. I, too, stand here because I passed a worn-out memorization-based exam decades ago, and I have pushed countless students into such exam halls. That is a necessary process in its own way.”

However,

“It’s not enough.”

“…I don’t quite understand what you’re trying to say.”

“That kind of studying is, so to speak, the foundation of a good legal professional. Those of you who do well in that will be able to proudly boast that you graduated from Hankuk University Law School. But… some of you have to aim higher.”

Jang Yong-hwan declared,

“Not to make Hankuk University Law School your pride, but to make Hankuk University Law School proud of you.”

“…!”

Those were words too grand for us to grasp at this moment.

Silence fell, and only the sound of gulping could be heard in the lecture hall.

“Unfortunately, with the current curriculum and exams alone, we cannot know if you possess such qualities… nor can we cultivate them. So, this insignificant exam that you take before even entering…”

Jang Yong-hwan clapped his hands.

“It’s alright for it to be a bit out of the ordinary, isn’t it?”

Whirr. Click.

A screen descended behind Jang Yong-hwan, and a beam projector cast an image onto it.

The homepage of a precedent search engine, familiar to any law school student, appeared there.

“…Professor, what is this?”

“This second evaluation is open book.”

“E-excuse me?!”

Confused voices erupted from everywhere.

An open-book test at a law school that valued memorization and recall as sacred?

Even I was shocked and stared at Jang Yong-hwan with my mouth agape.

“Of course, you can’t bring books in, but you will be provided with this precedent search engine in the exam hall. You can look up anything you don’t know, and you can cite references. However,”

Jang Yong-hwan clapped his hands again.

“The problems you have to solve are… these kinds of things.”

With a whirring sound, the beam projector began to spew out countless videos.

A woman lying collapsed, bleeding.

A bloodstained kitchen knife with fingerprints on it, stored in an evidence box.

A real estate register with numerous strikethroughs, its ownership changing hands countless times.

An old man explaining something while looking at a screen.

A desolate land with only a lonely flagpole bearing the owner’s name.

And thick stacks of documents, dozens of pages long, containing records of all of this.

“In this exam, you will become practitioners. You could be a lawyer, or a prosecutor. And… instead of neatly organized facts tailored for exam-oriented law, you will delve into numerous pieces of evidence and records, discover the issues yourselves, and build your own arguments.”

It was a completely new type of exam.

“Don’t worry about the difficulty. As I said before, this is a relative evaluation, and what you can’t do, the person sitting next to you can’t do either.”

The students stared blankly at the screen, dumbfounded.

“Each person will take one subject. Those who are more comfortable with civil law can take civil law, and those who are more confident in criminal law can take criminal law. Submit your choice of subject to my email by tonight.”

“P-Professor, I…”

“The exam date is the last day of the pre-law program. I will not… accept any questions related to the exam. That is all.”

Leaving only those words behind, Jang Yong-hwan turned and left the lecture hall.

As if in exchange, a teaching assistant from the administrative office entered and nervously relayed the message, stammering.

“Uh, well… he said today’s lecture is for you to think about the second evaluation subject and for self-study…”

“W–,”

As soon as the teaching assistant finished speaking,

“Waaaaaaaah! W-what is this!”

The lecture hall turned into chaos.