The Prosecutor’s Office’s Proposal Chapter 113

So, if you could narrow down the suspects, the burner phone could somehow be found. Because the burner phone that moves along the same route as the suspect’s main phone is the one used for the crime.

I nodded at his instruction.

“Yes, I understand. But, Prosecutor.”

“Yes.”

After checking one more time to ensure no one was around to overhear us, I looked up at him.

“Prosecutor… how are you able to compose your emotions so quickly?”

This is a case involving someone close to you. An intimate associate you have known for decades.

I thought it would take at least several days or weeks for Prosecutor Joo to be able to act again, but it took him less than two hours to rationally deduce the situation and issue instructions.

Of course, I could read the pain in his voice, in his gaze, and at the tips of his trembling fingers. I didn’t even know if that level of pain was the limit that someone like Joo Taeson could show on the outside. Perhaps he was just accustomed to suppressing things tightly, like I am.

But it was astonishing that his way of thinking remained logical to the very end. How could a person possess such an iron will? How could he keep moving forward without wavering, even though he wasn’t a direct party involved in this case?

Prosecutor Joo narrowed his eyebrows and then smoothed them out. Agony condensed within his black pupils, which seemed to have no end. I heard a small sigh, and he whispered while tugging at the Prosecutor’s Office ID card hanging around my neck, then letting it go.

“Because living with my emotions scattered all over the place is enough for one lifetime.”

I wanted to ask why that was the case, and if that was why he couldn’t nurture his feelings for me either, but the place I was standing on was the gray hallway of the Danhyun Branch. I was aware of that fact and had enough reason left to distinguish between what to say and what not to say. I arduously composed my messily scattered emotions and stepped one pace to the side.

Prosecutor Joo passed through the path I had opened and moved his feet toward the office of the Chief of Criminal Division 2. Watching his broad back, I traced back, step by step, the moments he had revealed his emotions to me.

When he criticized me for being Lee Gilyoung’s son while offering me the investigator position on the rooftop.

When we bumped into each other at the playground.

When he proposed that we enter into a relationship.

Various other moments came to mind, but not one of them was a warm instant. I quietly rubbed my trembling lips with my fingertips.

His straight, sleek hand knocked on the door of the Chief’s office. A voice, quite agitated and different from usual, flowed out from inside.

“Come in.”

We stared at each other’s eyes for a moment at Chief Tak’s voice, which sounded as if he were excited. A strange tension stretched out. He opened the door immediately, and I followed quietly behind him.

Chief Tak was not the only person in the office. The Chief of Criminal Division 1 was also there.

Chief Tak, who seemed to have just finished an argument with the Division 1 Chief, greeted us with a somewhat reddened face. When I only heard his voice, I thought he was angry, but the Chief Prosecutor’s face I actually encountered had a look that was quite flustered.

“How do you do?”

“How do you do?”

Prosecutor Joo and I greeted them side-by-side and sat at the table. The Division 1 Chief and Chief Tak continued the conversation they couldn’t finish because we had entered, while standing in one corner of the office. They tried to narrow their differences while talking in low voices, but it seemed they didn’t finish properly in the end.

In the meantime, I quickly scanned the inside of the office. The photos Prosecutor Joo mentioned were placed on the bookshelf, and near a small refrigerator, bottled water and paper cups were prepared, perhaps brought by a secretary.

Pretending to set the water on the table in advance, I stood up and glanced at the photos Chief Tak had taken overseas. Whether he had chosen the photos with care or if it was just a coincidence, I couldn’t find a single one that showed the country’s signs or characteristic buildings.

Just as I sighed to myself in disappointment, large potted plants placed in a row on the floor caught my eye. Most of them were plants that purified the air. I thought if I dawdled any longer, I would draw attention, so I took my eyes off the plants, filled a tray with bottled water and paper cups, and returned.

I poured the water and placed one in front of each of my superiors. Of course, that included Prosecutor Joo. And from under the table, I secretly crumpled up one perfectly good, new paper cup and threw it into the trash can.

‘What are you doing.’

Prosecutor Joo’s lips asked, but I just shrugged my shoulders.

The Division 1 Chief and Chief Tak, who had been standing at a distance, soon sighed and walked over to take their seats side-by-side in front of us. Both Chief Prosecutors had sour expressions on their faces. The atmosphere had frozen cold, and I felt like the only one for whom the sofa felt like a bed of thorns, rather than a prosecutor. I felt a bit intimidated inside, but I didn’t want to show it, so I straightened my back even more.

Chief Tak rubbed his chin with a troubled look, sighed, and broached the subject first.

“I called you at the wrong time. I had something to say regarding the Oh Jahyeon investigation case, but my opinion differed from the Division 1 Chief’s.”

“If there are grounds for suspicion, you investigate; is there any room for differences of opinion?”

Prosecutor Joo responded calmly.

I observed the expressions of the two Chiefs. It seemed that the one who was feeling awkward was not the Division 1 Chief, but Chief Tak. Regardless of what was going on behind the scenes, Chief Tak had consistently taken a stance of supporting Prosecutor Joo to his face until now.

On the other hand, the Chief Prosecutor of Criminal Division 1 had never once been favorable to Prosecutor Joo. It was an open fact among the investigators in the prosecutor’s office that the conflict between the Division 1 Chief and Prosecutor Joo was deep because Prosecutor Joo tended to push ahead with investigations without following the directives of those above him. The results of my observations from up close were the same. So, I had vaguely assumed that this time, too, Chief Tak would outwardly take Prosecutor Joo’s side and that the Division 1 Chief would take the opposing stance.

Chief Tak brought the conversation straight to the point.

“Regarding the Oh Jahyeon case, as I told Prosecutor Joo last time, I would like to end it with a violation of the Narcotics Control Act. I checked, and it seems like Prosecutor Joo is trying to frame him for abandoning the body of the Koryo-in, but the evidence is insufficient and it’s too much of a stretch. The Division 1 Chief also agreed with my opinion until yesterday, so I called you, but just now, suddenly…”

“I’ve changed my mind. Do as Prosecutor Joo wants and dig into it together with Prosecutor Yoon. The seller died on the day Oh Jahyeon bought the drugs, so what are we supposed to do if the prosecutor doesn’t suspect this? Moreover, it’s certain that the body was abandoned afterward. There are grounds for suspicion.”

“No, Division 1 Chief. Even so…”

The corners of Chief Tak’s eyes, which had always been gentle, were fiercely furrowed. He pointed out, point by point, that Oh Jahyeon could not be charged with abandoning a body, and stood in opposition to the Division 1 Chief.

Seeing that the Division 1 Chief’s attitude had changed, it seemed that the line from the Chairman of Osong Construction had reached him in some way. Since rumors were widespread that he liked receiving money, he might have been receiving ‘pocket money’ from Osong all this time. On the other hand, as we had just realized, Chief Tak was, deep in his heart, one of Oh Jahyeon’s people.

The argument between the two Chiefs did not end. Prosecutor Joo let out a small sigh, and in the meantime, Chief Tak drank water to moisten his throat. It seemed he was burning up inside because things had gone wrong after trying to block the investigation by persuading the Division 1 Chief, who was usually hostile to Prosecutor Joo.

The Division 1 Chief didn’t waver and even encouraged Prosecutor Joo.

“Anyway, Prosecutor Joo, proceed with the investigation. Let’s just leave it, Chief Tak. Prosecutor Joo isn’t a prosecutor who fabricates crimes that don’t exist, is he?”

Chief Tak had a very anxious expression, but he couldn’t find a justification to put forward. If the Division 1 Chief had grabbed Prosecutor Joo like he usually did, he could have maintained his usual gentle appearance and steered the conclusion the way he wanted.

Cornered with nowhere to go, Chief Tak surprisingly resorted to a cowardly tactic. He attacked me.

“By the way, is it all Prosecutor Joo’s instruction for Investigator Lee Chaeha to go around rummaging through everything? Or is Officer Lee swaying Prosecutor Joo? The Oh Jahyeon investigation currently underway all started after Officer Lee joined, and you are being too unreasonable. Are you collecting evidence legally?”

There were no civil complaints directed at me, so this was an unfair accusation. All the evidence that needed to be handed over for trial was collected legally by obtaining warrants.

Because of the difference in rank, it was difficult to protest, so I kept my mouth shut and endured the unreasonable attack. However, Prosecutor Joo did not tolerate it. I felt a nervous and sensitive energy in the way he ran his hand through his hair.

“Why are the sparks suddenly flying at my subordinate?”

“That’s because I know that Prosecutor Joo specifically requested Officer Lee’s reassignment…”

“As I have told you several times, he is a former police officer, so he is good at investigating and is competent. He also processes work much faster than the other chief investigators.”