Day 1 — Trial
The case begins showing a mysterious man logging into the mayor's computer. He begins a monologue about how the mayor had committed actions that had been covered up for years, and claims that they will be exposed very soon.A couple of days later, on April 12, Argus Hakan steps into the defendant lobby of a real-life courtroom, presumably for the first time, along with his mentor, Karen Foster. Unable to calm his student down, the bailiff informs her that she is late to her trial. When the judge expresses mild annoyance at this delay, Argus feels guilty for making her late, and decides to redeem himself by hijacking her case and becoming the lead defense attorney. Karen tries to stop him, but the prosecutor, Haxin Payne, is overjoyed by this development, swearing that he will take this chance to get revenge on Karen. Both defense attorneys are confused as to why he holds this grudge, but the judge interrupts them to quiz Argus about the case.
After successfully answering all three of the judge's basic questions, Payne makes his opening statement. He establishes that the mayor's office was a locked room, and that the only person who could have accessed the computer to hack it was the man who delivered it, Terry Chens. The mayor then testifies about the strange circumstances his computer was delivered in; not only had the delivery boy run away, but there were a number of hammers, a rope and a lighter lying around the crate! Thinking nothing of it, he took the crate into his office and set the computer up.
While he's boasting about how big and powerful the computer is though, Argus realizes that the computer in the court record looks small and old. The mayor then remembers that the computer was supposed to come with many physical extensions that supplied it with power. However, they had not come with the delivery. Believing he was scammed, Argus asks him who it was that recommended he do business with this scummy computer company. The mayor names the secretary, Secret Eerie, who is then called to testify.
Secret claims that the company itself is clean regarding the supposed "scam" and that it was actually Terry who removed the extensions, which would make it easier to hack the computer. His basis for this accusation is that the man looks suspicious, and says no more on the matter. Upon entering the password to the computer and examining a register, however, Argus notices that Secret was absent from the town hall that day, so how could he have seen Terry?
Having pointed out this contradiction, Argus immediately, yet arrogantly accuses him of the hacking. Secret deflects this accusation by reminding him that he would have no time to give the computer a virus and therefore would have had to have entered the office - which was locked at all times. Argus suggests the only possible way into the office — he hid inside the crate itself, under the layer of bricks!
Secret laughs this ridiculous theory off, as the crate was nailed shut. Doing so would be impossible if he was inside the crate at the time, and it was also impossible for him to have any accomplices (aside from the mayor, which would be highly redundant). Just as Argus is about to give up, Karen steps in and teaches Argus about the "super objection," a technique where he presents multiple pieces of evidence at once to show a contradiction in a statement.
It's then that Argus figures out the trick: Secret had set up a device out of the hammers, rope and lighter. He hung the hammers from the light with the rope, and positioned the crate right under those hammers. He then placed the lighter underneath the rope, which slowly burned through it. In that time, Secret got into the crate and hid under the bricks. The hammers then fell, pushing the nails in. The mayor mistook this event for someone knocking on the door, came out and brought the crate inside. When he eventually left, Secret got out and turned on the computer. Since it had only been used recently, he did not need to input the password, so he simply took the top secret documents, put them on an external hard drive, then waited until morning for his chance to sneak out. Secret makes one final desperate argument, telling him that he has no proof, but at that moment a man in a trenchcoat comes in, telling the court that he found the extensions to the computer in Secret's office.
Secret is arrested for the hacking and Terry is acquitted, much to Payne's despair. After the trial, Karen wanders off somewhere, but before Argus can go looking for her, the mayor comes to congratulate Argus personally. Argus tries to ask the mayor about the top secret information that got stolen, but the mayor stays silent. Argus shrugs it off and invites the mayor to go out for drinks.
What follows that case is a disaster that Argus will never forget.
