In Divorce Attorney Shin, Sung-han changes his profession and becomes an attorney because he knows that his sister, Ju-hwa, was wronged and that she did not simply die in a car accident. Kong Hyun-ji plays Ju-hwa.
When Sung-han was a pianist and a professor in Germany, his sister, Ju-hwa, was forced to marry into a rich family by her father. She kept asking Sung-han to convince their father not to get her married to Jeong-guk, but back then, for Sung-han, getting his doctorate degree was more important.
Ju-hwa divorces Jeong-guk after a few years of marriage. The divorce and the custody battle over their son, Gi-yeong, do not go well for Ju-hwa.
Even then, she wants to keep fighting for her son, but unfortunately, she meets with an accident and passes away. Sung-han finally returns from Germany, but it is already too late to help her.
Ju-hwa’s divorce
When Ju-hwa got married, Sung-han told her mother-in-law, Ms. Ma, that Ju-hwa is a kind-hearted woman, and she advised Ju-hwa not to be kind because it is a weakness. It turns out that Ms. Ma was not wrong.
Ju-hwa’s husband, Jeong-guk, grew up with a woman named Yeong-ju; the two went to the same school. Years later, Yeong-ju deliberately finds a job near Jeong-guk and even takes a loan to follow him to New York and live with him.
Ms. Ma thinks of Ju-hwa as her own daughter because Ju-hwa was there for her in her most difficult times. Due to this, Ms. Ma intervenes, which leads to Jeong-guk and Ju-hwa’s divorce.
During the divorce, Ju-hwa does not have her family by her side, as Sung-han is in Germany. She struggles to find a lawyer, as the lawyers that she hires lose their jobs soon after.
Sung-han’s childhood friend, Jeong-sik, decides to help her find a lawyer on Sung-han’s behalf. He introduces her to Yu-seok because he thinks that Yu-seok is a competent lawyer who would be able to help Ju-hwa.
On the other hand, Yeong-ju is the PR director at Keumhwa Law Firm, the same firm that is representing Jeonk-guk in his divorce case. Yeong-ju wishes to take Ju-hwa’s place in Jeong-guk’s life in every possible way.
In order to do that, Yeong-ju offers to make Yu-seok a partner at Keumhwa in exchange for Yu-seok betraying Ju-hwa, which is against the law. Yu-seok knows that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, as he is not capable of becoming a partner at one of the top law firms in the country on his own.
Yu-seok breaks the law and tells them about Ju-hwa’s psychiatric records from the time she was studying in the US. Even Ju-hwa’s family is not aware of these records.
Using these records, Jeong-guk and Yeong-ju manage to get Gi-yeong’s custody after Jeong-guk and Ju-hwa’s divorce gets finalized. Yu-seok claims that he did his best while representing Ju-hwa, but Sung-han knows that Yu-seok is not only incompetent, he is also corrupt.
Ju-hwa’s accident
Although Ju-hwa loses Gi-yeong’s custody, she refuses to give up. She starts studying law for her son’s sake. One night, Ju-hwa gets a call that shakes her to the extent that she crosses the road without looking and gets into an accident.
She does not survive the accident, and Sung-han returns to Korea. Additionally, Jeong-guk comes to her funeral as a guest, not a family member. He does not even bring Gi-yeong to pay his respects to his mother, upsetting Sung-han.
Sung-han watches the footage of the accident and knows there is more to his sister’s death than this. Ju-hwa seemed fine when she left the convenience store that night. It was only when she got the call that she seemed to be in shock, which resulted in her accident.
Sung-han requests the police to give him Ju-hwa’s call records. They tell him that the last phone call she received was from a friend regarding a favor. Since it is a hit-and-run case, the police could not bring them in for questioning.
Sung-han wishes to investigate more, so he tries calling that number, but to no avail. Years later, when he gets a call from Yeong-ju, he finds out that it is her number.
Additionally, Ms. Ma confirms that Yeong-ju was in Hawaii on the night of Ju-hwa’s accident, which confirms that it was indeed Yeong-ju who called Ju-hwa before her death.
Ms. Ma had also heard their conversation, but she never told Jeong-guk or Sung-han about it. When Sung-han files a case to become Gi-yeong’s guardian, Ms. Ma finally reveals to Jeong-guk what Yeong-ju said to Ju-hwa.
Yeong-ju told Ju-hwa that she and her daughter are in Hawaii because Yeong-ju wanted to be there. Similarly, if she puts her mind to getting Gi-yeong disinherited, she can do that as well.
Ju-hwa did not want a share in Daenam Electronics; she just wanted her son, and that is why she had started studying law. At the same time, Yeong-ju wanted Ju-hwa to disappear from Gi-yeong’s life as soon as possible; she did not want him to remember his birth mother.
Yeong-ju tells her that it is pointless to study law, as nothing is going to change. Furthermore, she threatens to make Gi-yeong suffer if Ju-hwa did not stop. The phone call shocked Ju-hwa, and minutes later, she was hit by a car while crossing the road.
When Jeong-guk finds out about the phone call, he decides to be Sung-han’s witness in court, knowing that this would cost him his parental rights. He still goes ahead with it because he understands that Gi-yeong would never be able to live happily with Yeong-ju.
Although Sung-han could not protect Ju-hwa, he did not let her son suffer the same fate. He was there for Gi-yeong when he needed him the most and was able to give him a good life.
Also Read: Jun-hui’s case in Divorce Attorney Shin explained
