The Prosecutor’s Office’s Proposal Chapter 109

So I asked Prosecutor Joo first.

Lee Chaeha: Prosecutor, you’re going to meet me this weekend, right?

Prosecutor Joo: Why are you asking something you never used to ask? Did someone ask to meet you? Chief Mr. Song?

He was quick-witted. Since I was biting my lips firmly, he sent a reply.

Prosecutor Joo: Come during whatever time is left over after you meet.

Lee Chaeha: I didn’t mean meet during leftover time…. You know that.

Prosecutor Joo: I don’t know, though. Set the time and notify me.

Every single word felt sharp. Perhaps because he has a tendency to control even outside of sex, he seems sensitive about me meeting other people.

Lee Chaeha: If it bothers you, we don’t strictly have to meet.

Prosecutor Joo: What kind of relationship do we have for me to care. Go have sex or whatever if you want before coming.

As expected. Conversations outside of work never proceed smoothly.

Feeling angry, I didn’t reply to him and immediately sent a response only to Chief Mr. Song.

Lee Chaeha: My time is free for Saturday lunch. I have something to do in the afternoon.

I felt pathetic for not being able to let go of Prosecutor Joo even after hearing such words. It wasn’t as if I were a slave to my emotions. Wanting to spend time with Prosecutor Joo at least from the afternoon onward, I pettily restricted the appointment with the other party to lunchtime.

Chief Mr. Song: Great. Let’s meet at the official residence.

Lee Chaeha: Yes, Chief.

Having set the appointment, I pulled out a file to look over another case, but because I was angry, the letters didn’t enter my eyes for a moment. I don’t know why my insides are boiling to such a petty extent.

Ultimately, I got up and fetched cold water from the water purifier. After gulping down three mouthfuls, I opened the file again. Prosecutor Joo’s gaze rested on me from time to time, but I deliberately ignored it and didn’t make eye contact.

The next day, at the lunch hour arranged with Oh Mihyeon, I ate a meal with Prosecutor Joo and moved to Osong Construction. Although it was a well-to-do local enterprise in Danhyun City, Osong Construction was not as large as expected. The headquarters building was only about seven stories high.

“You’ve been pouting all day since yesterday.”

Having boarded the elevator and pressed the button we were guided to at the entrance, he finally muttered a word. I looked up at the floor indicator, pretending not to know.

“How could I possibly pout toward the Prosecutor.”

“Is that why you haven’t smiled even once while eating?”

“I am originally on the expressionless side.”

“Thank you so much for telling me a fact I didn’t know. Because you’re acting sullen, you look truly unsightly. The only thing even worth looking at is at least your face.”

“My face is originally unsightly, so I don’t care.”

“As if.”

Alongside Prosecutor Joo, who was cynically bantering toward me for nothing, I got off the elevator.

We were guided to a small meeting room. Oh Mihyeon made her appearance at the appointed time. Her features resembled Oh Jahyeon, but with salt-and-pepper hair, she looked her age. She was dressed in a neat pants suit, and her impression was also far gentler. Prosecutor Joo rose from his seat and offered a handshake.

“Hello, I am Prosecutor Joo Taeson from Criminal Division 1 of the Danhyun Branch Office.”

“Hello, I am Investigator Lee Chaeha.”

“Nice to meet you. Both the Prosecutor and Investigator are truly handsome.”

Exchanging pleasantries, she released Prosecutor Joo’s hand and took a seat at the head of the table. And she opened her mouth first.

“I heard about the trouble Jahyeon caused. They said she did methamphetamine.”

Since it was decided that Prosecutor Joo would lead the conversation when meeting Oh Mihyeon, he nodded his head.

“That is correct.”

“In truth, if my father were healthy, it would be difficult for me to meet a Prosecutor like this as well. It’s possible because he is currently in an unconscious state. I have suffered too much heartache because of Jahyeon and there is no affection between us as siblings, so if she committed a crime, I hope she pays the price fittingly even now and snaps out of it. That’s why I am cooperating.”

“Thank you. A few months ago, the person who sold drugs to Ms. Oh Jahyeon was discovered dead. The body was abandoned.”

“…Are you saying Jahyeon abandoned the body?”

Chairman Oh Mihyeon quickly understood the underlying intent behind the question.

“It is a stage where we cannot say for certain just yet. By any chance, do you know anyone around Ms. Oh Jahyeon who would be likely to help her? A hired hand, or a friend.”

“Even hired hands only do dirty work when their superior is reasonable. Jahyeon does not have the capacity to command that much trust or give appropriate rewards to subordinates.”

The returning explanation was considerably logical. Prosecutor Joo slowly entered the main subject.

“I heard Ms. Oh Jahyeon wanted to return to Osong a lot…. Why did her relationship with your father turn so bad?”

“It’s a considerably old story…. Is it a question necessary for the investigation?”

“It is a question necessary to understand Ms. Oh Jahyeon. Among the stories you inadvertently tell us, there might be information we consider a clue.”

The ultimate goal for Prosecutor Joo and me was to uncover the truth regarding the deaths of President Kang Woosung, Oh Jahyeon’s husband, and the former obstetrician-gynecologist grandmother. Therefore, the old stories were more important. Although both of us had mentally solidified our conviction that Oh Jahyeon committed murder, we didn’t know where on earth to start digging for physical evidence and motive.

Chairman Oh Mihyeon crossed her legs and leaned back against her chair. Lost in thought for a long while as if retracing the past, she opened her mouth.

“There was a man Jahyeon dated during her high school days. He was a student at the same school, but the man couldn’t graduate and dropped out. Because he was swept up in a rumor that he killed his own noona.”

“His own noona?”

Prosecutor Joo asked back, and Oh Mihyeon nodded her head readily.

“He almost went to trial for injury causing death, but perhaps because evidence was lacking, the case ended up being cleared of suspicion in the end. Still, at any rate, the very fact that he faced a suspicion of injury causing death at that young age leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Yet, Jahyeon wouldn’t break up with that man. It was no use even if my father tried desperately to stop her. She even conceived a child once in her 20s and had it aborted, and they went to different universities, but no matter how much he obstructed them, they really stubbornly kept meeting.”

“By any chance, do you remember which OB-GYN clinic she received the surgery at?”

“Well. I don’t remember the name exactly, but I think it was a female doctor…. If there’s someone who would remember for sure, it’s only Secretary Han. He worked with my father and then came under me, taking care of all the household affairs.”

“Could we get Secretary Han’s contact details later?”

“That would be difficult. He is in a nursing home due to a stroke.”

In the end, it meant there was no one who could verify it. If it was an abortion, there was no way it would remain as a medical insurance record either. Swallowing a bitter breath, Prosecutor Joo carried on with his questions.

“Since they kept meeting, what was your father’s reaction?”

“He was absolutely furious. That conservative man went as far as to force his daughter to get rid of the child. He was a man who would have married her off under normal circumstances, but even if he died, he couldn’t allow that murderer’s son. I don’t know why either, but my father was certain that the man had killed his noona intentionally. Although it ended up being cleared of suspicion, it seemed he had heard something from the prosecutor who investigated….”

“But the specific turning point where Jahyeon and my father completely fell out was separate.”

Oh Mihyeon, who had been neatly recounting the past history, paused her words for a moment and shifted her body as if uncomfortable. She looked quite reluctant to utter the story that would come next. Sweeping back her short bobbed hair, she took a sip of the water placed in front of her, and even after dragging out some time, she parted her lips.

“Nowadays, people seem to call that kind of thing intermittent explosive disorder or a psychopath, but Jahyeon seems to have intermittent explosive disorder. There is a way her eyes roll back when she gets angry. When we were young, she fought with me and once put bleach in my beverage. She also once broke a female classmate’s arm. Because the bleach was a small amount, I passed over safely after receiving treatment, but we completely fell out right then and there, and I still don’t think of that child as family. I consider her a human being who was born wrong. Then one day….”

Putting bleach in an older sister’s drink. I wondered exactly how old she was at the time, but it wasn’t the right timing to interrupt Oh Mihyeon’s words. I checked mentally to ask later.

Oh Mihyeon coughed dryly for a moment and cast her eyes down.

“To completely separate the two, my father sent that man abroad as a last resort. Knowing that fact, Jahyeon’s eyes rolled back, and while fighting, she stabbed my father with a knife. So my father was hospitalized.”

“Where did she stab him?”

“The left chest. After that, my father’s heart also turned away and he pushed Jahyeon out of Osong, but he found an appropriate family to marry her off, and later even looked into a casino director position for her. Even so, a parent must be a parent. The influence of my late mother might have been large too.”