Chapter 81 Wilder
Chapter 81 Wilder
In front of Stars & Stripes Bar, the girls who had been queuing for a long time gradually dispersed amid waves of complaints.
There was no way. A closed sign had been hung on the door of the bar. The reason given was that an unexpected situation had occurred in the bar, so it was closed today.
No matter how the girls complained, this reason was generally accepted. After all, the so-called unexpected situation happened right in front of them. Shortly after the bar owner showed up, not only did a foreign lawyer arrive, but even the police were called.
It was obvious that even if the closure sign was not hung up, everyone present knew that the bar would not be open tonight.
There were indeed police officers coming to the bar, and they were not from the Itaewon Police Station, but from the Yongsan District Police Station. The reason for this was that the Yongsan District Police Station received a complaint from a barrister named Thomson Yarlin.
This is really a great lawyer, affiliated with the international law firm Baker McKenzie. Most people don't need him when they are involved in lawsuits.
The police are actually very troubled to deal with such disputes, because the people on both sides are not easy to deal with. Lawyer Thomson's client is the chief financial officer of Costco Korea, who has an unusual background.
The owner of the "SSB" bar, although she is a Korean, is an American citizen and her husband is a deceased American soldier. Her bar is well-loved by American soldiers at the Yongsan base.
Therefore, even though the police had arrived, they just stood by and watched from beginning to end. They didn't even have the opportunity to participate in mediation.
The US troops stationed in South Korea enjoy judicial immunity, which is a legal provision with obvious discriminatory characteristics. That is, if American soldiers break the law in South Korea, South Korean law cannot do anything to them.
Why do older Koreans think Itaewon is not a good place? The fundamental reason is that the Yongsan base has not been relocated yet, and a large number of American soldiers are having fun in Itaewon. They drive drunk, provoke, molest, and even rape. There are more than 400 such incidents every year, an average of one incident a day, and there are still more. How can this place not be chaotic?
So, to some extent, Itaewon today, and even the entire Yongsan District, are almost lawless places. Of course, this is for American soldiers.
If the person being beaten today was just An Rusong, and he didn't have a friend like Mike to back him up, then the police would have been able to handle the situation easily. They could just give An Rusong some money, or even not give him any 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 big lawyer, so this matter is difficult to handle. After all, although American soldiers have judicial immunity when they commit crimes here, the target of the crime cannot be Americans. Therefore, although the bar has a military background, it cannot use this influence. Song Ruiya can only negotiate with attorney Thomson who represents Mike.
An Rushong didn't know how lawyer Thomson negotiated with the bar, because after the lawyer arrived, the police arranged for him and Mike to go to the hospital for treatment.
At Hanyang University Hospital, An Rusong underwent a comprehensive check-up, and the results showed that everything was fine. There was no head injury, just some bruises on the face where he was hit. He would be fine after two days of rest, and he didn't even need to take any medicine.
Today's conflict was a complete disaster for An Rusong. Oh, that's not quite accurate. If he hadn't moved forward, the punch wouldn't have hit his face.
However, if we make a comprehensive assessment, this conflict is not a bad thing for An Rusong. Instead, it has brought him more opportunities. At least, the relationship between him and Mike has become closer.
"An, you should stay here for two days and do further examinations," Mike said complainingly as he and An Rusong walked side by side in the parking lot of Hanyang University Hospital.
After the examination in the hospital just now, the doctor suggested that An Rushong be hospitalized for two days for further observation, but he refused. Mike kept nagging about this all the way.
In fact, Mike felt quite guilty that night because he was the one who invited An Rushong to celebrate at Stars & Stripes Bar, but in the end, the other party was beaten at the door of the bar he chose, and it was for him that he was beaten.
According to Mike, Stars & Stripes Bar was a bar he frequented in the past. He liked the atmosphere there, but he never knew that the bar had racial discrimination rules. If he had known earlier, he would never have gone to such a place.
An Rushong believed what Mike said, but he also knew very well that the reason why 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 had nothing to do with him. In fact, he was a beneficiary of such discriminatory rules.
Of course, he had no intention of telling the truth like this in front of Mike. People who always tell the truth are likely to lose friends.
The two of them came to the hospital in a police car, so they naturally had to take a police car back when they left.
When the two got into the car in the parking lot, Mike's cell phone rang. The caller was Attorney Thomson. Mike pressed the answer button and turned on the speaker to listen to Attorney Thomson's introduction of the negotiation situation on the phone.
According to attorney Thomson, if Mike does not choose to reconcile with the bar and instead takes legal action, the final result will most likely be that the bar will be closed for one month and the black man will be sentenced to no more than two years in prison and fined no more than 1 million won.
This is clearly stipulated in Article 257, Paragraph 1 of the Korean Criminal Code, and there should be no doubt about it.
In order to avoid unnecessary trouble, or to reduce the impact of this incident, the bar hopes to resolve the dispute privately by means of compensation.
According to attorney Thomson, if Mike accepts the settlement, the bar is willing to pay him $5 in cash, and the burly black man will also be fired by the bar.
Furthermore, if Mike is not satisfied with either of these two results, then Attorney Thomson can provide a third solution, but this last solution will require a relatively large expense. As a friend, he does not recommend Mike to choose this solution.
On the phone, Attorney Thomson did not say what the third option was, and Mike did not ask. Obviously, this third option was not a conventional option, but both of them knew it well.
Before, when they were at the door of the bar, Mike did say that he would sue the bar and the black man until they were bankrupt, but that was just a momentary angry remark, or maybe he needed to adopt a third option. At this time, Mike had calmed down, so he would not be so impulsive.
"An, what do you think?" Mike said to An Rusong who was sitting next to him in the police car after hanging up the phone, "Should we choose to reconcile or formally sue them?"
"Let's make peace, Mike." A big bump appeared on An Rusong's face where he was hit. It was red and bright, and looked a bit ugly. "After all, it's just a small conflict. It's not worth continuing to entangle over it."
After saying this, he patted Mike's shoulder in relief and said with a smile, "Think more about happy things. You can see that our stock price has risen again, to $1.9. Ha, a Cadillac Escalade is already waving at you."
Originally, Mike had been thinking about reconciling with the other party, but after hearing what he said, he hesitated. He felt a little sorry for his friend.
"Ann, we can make another choice," Mike thought for a moment and said, "It's the third option that Thomson mentioned, but it will cost more money."
"Oh?" An Rushong looked at the other party curiously.
"Thomson's law firm is powerful, and they can get a lot of information," Mike said. "The business of Stars & Stripes Bar can't be completely legal, and the black man just now can't be completely innocent. We can spend more money and entrust Thomson to collect information in this regard, and then sue them."
This is a good idea!
An Rusong thought to himself, but he still had to say magnanimously: "It's not necessary, Mike, it's just a small conflict, why make it so complicated?"
Mike thought about it again, and finally spread his hands and accepted his suggestion: "Okay, Ann, let's do as you say, but even if it's a settlement, they have to show more sincerity. We will never accept a mere $5."
This time An Rushong didn't say anything more. After all, he just wanted to show his magnanimity instead of portraying himself as a coward.
The police car quickly returned to Itaewon. Because the inner street was actually on the hillside of Namsan, the car could not drive directly there, so the group could only get off the car on the streets of Itaewon and walk there just like An Rusong had done before.
Because of the closed sign hung at the door, there were no customers queuing outside Stars & Stripes Bar, and the burly black man was nowhere to be seen.
The man guarding the door was an American soldier in camouflage uniform, in his early thirties. When he saw Mike and his group coming, he smiled and greeted them from a distance: "Hey, Mike!"
Mike, however, was not so enthusiastic. He said with a complicated expression: "Wilder, are you also that woman's lobbyist?"
The guy called Wilder came up and hugged Mike directly, then stretched out his hand to An Rusong and said, "Mr. An? I'm Wilder, Wilder DeWitt. I'm very sorry for what happened to you tonight. However, we have already taught a lesson to the black man who attacked you. If you still feel dissatisfied, you can do it yourself later."
(End of this chapter)