The Prosecutor’s Office’s Proposal Chapter 111

Oh Mihyeon stood up, returned to her businessman-like expressionless face, and added in a light tone.

“If it is revealed that Jahyeon really abandoned the body, as the Prosecutor said, and that Chief Tak is the one who helped him, then Jahyeon is automatically disqualified from the will. Please do your best with the investigation. Osong cut ties with Oh Jahyeon a long time ago, so please do not worry about any external factors.”

I should have noticed when the mention of the will came up. It was not difficult to realize why Oh Mihyeon had cooperated with us so readily and confessed her family affairs so honestly.

I asked her:

“If it is revealed that Chief Tak and Oh Jahyeon were involved in the crime together, will you be able to attend the Prosecutor’s Office as a witness then?”

“Of course, if it leads to that, nothing would be better.”

Oh Mihyeon did not take time out of her day simply because she hated her younger brother. Businesspeople are people who move with their heads, not their hearts. Her cooperation with the prosecution’s investigation was simply to have her brother removed from the will before her father passed away. That way, the share returning to her would increase. Oh Jahyeon was one of three siblings.

Prosecutor Joo did not say a word to me from the moment he left the meeting room until we walked to the elevator. I also kept my mouth shut and maintained a cautious silence.

We stepped into the elevator in the suffocating stillness. After his long fingers pressed the buttons for the first floor and basement level 2, he handed me the car keys.

“I’m going to go have a cigarette, so wait in the car.”

“Yes, Prosecutor.”

Prosecutor Joo had not made eye contact with me once since Chief Tak’s name came up. He leaned his back against the wall with his arms crossed, staring only at the floor indicator, and got off without even looking back.

I waited for the elevator door to close once, then quickly pressed the open button and secretly followed him. Prosecutor Joo passed through the revolving door, went outside, and pulled out a cigarette, and I stood at a distance, watching him.

To think that Chief Tak’s name would come out of Oh Mihyeon’s mouth.

What must his feelings be? It was hard to even guess.

If Oh Jahyeon and Chief Tak had a long-standing connection, and if that was why Chief Tak helped abandon the body of Koryo-in Mr. Kim… there is no guarantee that he was not involved in the murder case of President Kang Woosung or the grandmother doctor.

I heard that Chief Tak attended all of Prosecutor Joo’s university, training institute entrance ceremonies, and graduation ceremonies. He was the person who always brought flowers whenever a happy event occurred in place of his parents, who died early when he was a teenager. I had never seen his graduation photos, but he was probably smiling brightly while holding flowers with Chief Tak standing next to him.

Prosecutor Joo looked up at the sky and smoked his cigarette. The suit, tailored to his body, fell while appropriately revealing his silhouette. Deep agony and torment were etched into the back of someone who always seemed strong. He tapped the ash into a silver trash can that was already piled with cigarette butts, looked up again, and let out a long breath of cigarette smoke.

Even after finishing one cigarette, he did not leave his spot. His long fingers pulled out another white cigarette. By the time the old Zippo lighter lit the tip and went out, I walked slowly toward him. Instead of passing through the revolving door, I chose the glass door and pushed it. The cold glass touched my palm, and a breeze filled with sunlight poured in through the open gap.

I opened my lips behind his back.

“Prosecutor, should I go downstairs?”

Prosecutor Joo did not answer immediately. After facing the wind in silence for a long time, he answered without looking back at me.

“I told you earlier, what did you hear that you haven’t gone to the car yet?”

“I just wondered if you needed anything…”

I thought he would scold me, but Prosecutor Joo did not do so. His heavy voice paused for a moment again before speaking.

“Then stand by my side.”

“Yes.”

I approached his side and stood somewhat awkwardly.

Prosecutor Joo did not offer me a cigarette as usual, nor did he look at me or try to touch me. The profile I glanced up at looked unusually lonely and exhausted.

He did not say a word until the second cigarette was half-burned, then lowered his head and kicked a stone with the tip of his shoe. The small stone rolled and stopped after hitting the marble steps of the entrance.

I opened my mouth with difficulty. Since it would be a difficult thing for Prosecutor Joo to bring up, I had to be the one to do it.

“Prosecutor, no one will blame you even if you stop the investigation here. If your precious relationship is ruined by chasing evidence that you don’t even know will appear or not…”

His neat lips, which had just let out a long trail of white smoke, cut off my words immediately.

“I’m not stopping.”

“…”

“Because I can’t pull my feet out.”

“Why? Do you still think that the actual truth must be revealed?”

I didn’t care if we had to be somewhat cowardly if it meant he could be at ease.

Now, it is not just Prosecutor Joo who is obsessed with this case. It was an important turning point for me, too.

It was only a short while ago that Prosecutor Joo acknowledged the possibility that my dad might not be a murderer. Until now, no one had believed my words.

Only if the investigation continues, and thus the true culprit is revealed, could I remove the scarlet letter embroidered on my dead dad’s chest and mine. This cruel scarlet letter of being a murderer and the son of a murderer.

However, even if the truth is revealed, my miserable past will not change. Moreover, I have lived for too long wearing this scarlet letter and enduring the sorrow. It was enough time for unhappiness to have become a habit.

So, if it would put Prosecutor Joo’s mind at ease, I was willing to leave half of my already broken life as it was. But Prosecutor Joo himself did not accept my proposal. Until now, he had always found me frustrating, but this time it was the opposite.

I firmly persuaded him.

“Prosecutor, you are not a direct party to this case like I am. The Oh Jahyeon cases you are currently obsessed with—you could live forgetting them if you tried to. If you start touching Chief Tak, you will lose Chief Tak regardless of the results. The same goes for if Chief Tak is found innocent. Would you still be okay with that?”

“…”

“Oh Jahyeon, no one will blame you even if you only punish him for the drug case. If it weren’t for Prosecutor Joo, there wouldn’t have been anyone at the Danhyun Branch who could have dragged the Oh Jahyeon case to the stage where a trial is possible.”

“…Don’t make me worry about you, too. I’m already too stressed.”

It was an out-of-context response. Suddenly asking me not to make him worry. I, who had been earnestly persuading Prosecutor Joo, suddenly felt my energy drain and asked back.

“What stress have I caused…”

“Saturday. Don’t do anything else that day, just come home quietly. I don’t think I can handle this in this mood.”

“…”

“The nonsense I said about it being okay to sleep with Chief Song was just that—nonsense—so just come home. I thought I could handle it, but I can’t in a shitty mood like this. Have lunch together on a weekday. I’ll endure that much, thinking of it as office life.”

I stared up at him.

“Prosecutor…”

I thought I couldn’t endure this ambiguity anymore. So, I impulsively threw out a question I had been wondering about for a long time.

“…Do you like me?”

It was the moment I crossed the boundary line once again. Just like that Saturday afternoon when I had stepped foot in his entryway.

The only difference was that this time, I crossed it on my own without his invitation and without hearing a warning. And that too, at a moment when Prosecutor Joo was emotionally distressed.

Prosecutor Joo did not answer. He spent a long while looking down at the ground, silently burning the cigarette in his mouth, and finally ground out the shortened cigarette in the silver trash can. I waited for his reaction with an anxious heart, but the other’s lips never opened.

It was unfair. If Prosecutor Joo were to ask me now if I liked him, I would have answered yes without hesitation.

I don’t hold the greed of wanting the scales to be horizontal. I think it would be fine if the tilt leaning toward my side was reduced, but he never adjusts it.

The resentment of not hearing an answer and compassion for the other person were messily mixed together, and heat spread to my eyes. My voice trembled thinly.

“Prosecutor, do you know that you are sometimes like a coward?”

I said it, boldly. To my superior, who is not even my lover.