The Prosecutor’s Office’s Proposal Chapter 110

“If it was the left chest, a doctor likely would have reported it to the police, but Ms. Oh Jahyeon’s criminal record had nothing except for drugs, drunk driving, and assault.”

“It was blocked with money. They probably provided a house to the police chief at the time.”

There were still questions left unasked. For the first time, I was the one to ask her first.

“When Ms. Oh Jahyeon put bleach in your drink, and when she broke her friend’s arm—how old was she each time?”

“Sophomore year of high school for both. It was after she started meeting that boy. That’s why, from the moment rumors started circulating that the boy had killed his noona, my father suspected that the boy might have instructed Jahyeon to do the previous things as well. That he manipulated Jahyeon.”

“Do you think there is a possibility?”

“…Well. Breaking an arm is something Jahyeon could have done given her personality, but for the bleach, I think there’s a possibility the man manipulated her. Because her temper is so explosive. Attacking me directly would suit Jahyeon much better.”

I diligently wrote down Chairman Oh Mihyeon’s statements into my blue notebook. Instead of me, who was busily moving my pen, Prosecutor Joo took back the initiative of the questioning.

“Did Oh Jahyeon and that man truly love each other?”

It was an emotional question uncharacteristic of him, but it was a matter that strictly required verification. We had to know if there was a possibility that the man had been helping Oh Jahyeon until now.

If they met at 17 and were forced apart in their mid-20s, they had broken up quite a long time ago. It was a matter from nearly thirty years ago. With such long years having passed, for a man to help an old lover who had even married was difficult under a normal relationship.

Chairman Oh Mihyeon nodded her head with the most certain face among the appearances she had shown since meeting today.

“Of course. It was to the point where no matter what method we used at home, we couldn’t separate them. The time they dated before he was sent abroad for study alone must have been over seven years. Even after he was sent to study, they apparently talked on the phone every day. Jahyeon is a truly selfish child, but she truly loved only that man. That man likewise loved Jahyeon terribly. Even after Jahyeon got married, that man returned to Korea, and since they were caught meeting briefly back then too, my father went as far as to change his will.”

The will. As soon as that important word was heard, I slid a glance up at Prosecutor Joo sitting beside me. His gaze had already turned as cold as a sheet of ice.

Pleasure-seeking murders committed by a few psychopaths are rarer in reality than one might think. Most murders happen because of money. If it isn’t money, humans rarely kill a person under normal circumstances, but when finances are involved, they would kill a child or a parent even for a pittance. It was even more so between a married couple.

“Can you tell us how the contents of the will were modified?”

“In all cases where she forms a relationship with that man such as remarriage, cohabitation, or contact, Jahyeon is excluded from the inheritance. And that man himself, as well as the people in blood relations with the man, likewise cannot inherit my father’s property.”

“Did he include even such conditions?”

“Yes. Because we even have to consider the case where that man brings a child he had with another woman and remarries Jahyeon. If Jahyeon remarries and adopts the child, inheritance rights as a grandchild would arise, wouldn’t they? My father blocked every single variable. Beyond that, you can assume all sorts of different clauses meant to obstruct the two are included.”

“Did he dislike him to that extent because he thought that man killed his noona?”

“There’s that too, but… by guess, I think that is my father’s vengefulness. Toward his daughter, Jahyeon. The people of our family are a bit like that.”

“Do the two still meet?”

“Not as far as I know. But one can never know. They could use a burner phone.”

“Do you remember which country that man went to for his studies?”

“No, I don’t know that either. My father didn’t inform me in detail, and it has been a long time since I haven’t met with Jahyeon either…. I don’t know if there’s anyone who would know. The study matter is a truly old affair. It’s a matter from over 30 years ago.”

“How long was the period the man went abroad to study?”

“Two years at most? It was called studying abroad, but by today’s standards, it’s about a language program. He didn’t earn a degree either. He returned quickly, graduated from the university he was attending, and took the exam, they say. Since he was merely sent away to get Jahyeon married in the meantime, there was no reason to send him to study for long. As you know, it was an era when women got married early. Mid-20s was right when people got married. I did around then too.”

Now the most important question remained. All the conversations that had continued up to this point were meant to culminate in this question.

I had no intention of asking instead of Prosecutor Joo. The protagonist unearthing this case had to be Prosecutor Joo Taeson, not me.

He slowly opened his mouth.

“Can you tell us that man’s name?”

Oh Mihyeon suddenly let out a chuckle. As if ridiculing us, lifting one corner of her lips askew.

Looking at that derision resembling a dawn frost, I realized for the first time the fact that she was Oh Jahyeon’s older sister.

Oh Mihyeon slightly rubbed the one corner of her mouth that had gone upward and opened her mouth with a voice laced with laughter.

“He is right beside Prosecutor Joo.”

“Pardon?”

When he asked back in a slightly surprised tone, Oh Mihyeon smiled and leaned her body forward.

“Because he is a prosecutor at the Danhyun Branch Office.”

“…Please tell me the name.”

Oh Mihyeon dragged it out. A considerably long time.

Only after a long while did a cold voice flow from her lips.

“Tak Sungwoong.”

Every single syllable stabbed sharply inside the ears.

“It’s Tak Sungwoong, that person.”

Tak Sungwoong. That name struck us like a bolt of lightning.

Feeling a sensation that vibrated numbingly through my entire body, I tightly gripped the pen I held. A large thunder following behind the lightning exploded a roar inside my head. I could not even dare to look at Prosecutor Joo’s face.

Oh Mihyeon made explicit the answer she had presented.

“Chief Tak Sungwoong is the love of Jahyeon’s life. A lover she cannot forget even after becoming a 50-year-old with graying hair. I believe Chief Tak is close with Prosecutor Joo, but will you be able to conduct the investigation properly? I have my own sources of information on the prosecution’s side as well, you see.”

“…It does not matter.”

Prosecutor Joo answered with surprising fortitude. However, I saw a scene where force was applied to his thick fingers resting on his knee. Even in the voice that sounded no different from usual if listened to casually, a minute fluctuation was felt.

I knew better than anyone else the situation where a person’s voice could not help but change like that.

It was the voice of a human sinking into the deep sea. The voice of one losing body heat while being swept away by cold, dark water.

It was a sensation I was intimately familiar with.

Looking down at his stiffened fingers, I recalled Chief Tak’s gentle face. He was a person completely different from the depiction that came out of Oh Mihyeon’s mouth. He was always plain and kind to every employee he ran into. It was utterly unimaginable that he was a person who was swept up in a rumor that he killed his noona in his teenage years and who associated with Oh Jahyeon.

The rumor might not be true. Because not all stories drifting around are the truth.

Oh Mihyeon’s voice broke the silence that lay low in the meeting room.

“Even now, the only person likely to help Jahyeon is Prosecutor Tak Sungwoong. If the two are keeping in contact, that is. Because I think that man is the real criminal type. I believe there must be a reason why my father was certain Chief Tak killed his noona. Everything down to his becoming a prosecutor as if to show my father after returning from studying abroad is a strange human being. Well, then, do you have anything more you’re curious about?”

“…After the will was modified, did Oh Jahyeon definitely cut off her meetings with Chief Tak?”

“Yes. Is there any match for money? Jahyeon is greedy too, and Tak Sungwoong is greedy too. After my father passes away and Jahyeon receives her inheritance, they might have an enjoyable romance in their old age. Since my father doesn’t have much time left to live, it will be soon.”

“Did your father push Oh Jahyeon as a casino director because she won the casino hotel construction deal?”

“Rather than that, it was largely thanks to Chief Tak getting married after living as a bachelor until he was called an old bachelor. Because that eyesore of a human being finally set up a family. It seems from then on, he contemplated what kind of position to give Jahyeon. It’s true he gave her a larger position than planned because of the hotel construction deal.”

“Are you saying that if Chief Tak hadn’t married, it would have been difficult for her to even reach the casino director position?”

“Of course. He was a stubborn old man. That must be why Chief Tak let Jahyeon go and got married. Anything else?”

“No. Thank you for your cooperation.”