The Prosecutor’s Office’s Proposal Chapter 124

I moved one step with feet that had been frozen like stone. Then, I pushed away the arm of Prosecutor Joo Taeson that had been blocking the space between me and Oh Jahyeon.

Prosecutor Joo did not seem to expect that I would make such a decision. His eyes, long and horizontal without double eyelids, opened wide, and an unmistakable look of shock permeated his dark pupils.

It was natural for Prosecutor Joo to be surprised. Until now, I had always believed his words unconditionally, followed every order, and acted submissively.

Whether at the office or in bed, I moved as he wished. But I could not do that now.

“Officer Lee.”

“Ms. Oh Jahyeon is right.”

“…”

“…I don’t think I can believe what you tell me, Prosecutor. I’m going to listen to what Ms. Oh Jahyeon has to say.”

“What?”

“I think… you know the reason.”

Until now, Prosecutor Joo Taeson had never honestly revealed himself to me. He hid his own emotions behind the title of prosecutor and the position of my superior.

That is why, if nothing else, it was difficult for me to expect the truth from Prosecutor Joo Taeson. Of course, I did not intend to believe what Oh Jahyeon said at face value either. She was a criminal, and she had sufficient motive to create lies that would drive a wedge between the prosecutor and the officer, or to rattle the son of Lee Gilyoung.

However, since it was at least true that she called me ‘the son of Lee Gilyoung,’ I was curious about what would follow. In any case, since Oh Jahyeon was my father’s classmate, she might know another secret about my father that I, his son, had failed to hear—a secret that included Prosecutor Joo.

Therefore, it wouldn’t be too late to hear the secret about Joo Taeson coming from Oh Jahyeon’s mouth first, and then judge the veracity of it later.

I moved past his arm and approached Oh Jahyeon. A large hand stretched out from behind me and gripped my arm tightly.

“Hear it from me.”

The voice was almost desperate. However, I ignored it and pulled my wrist from his grasp. I couldn’t win against him in terms of physical strength, but I was able to get free because Prosecutor Joo could not hold me back any further.

I walked a few more steps, stopped, and looked straight at Oh Jahyeon in front of me. Oh Jahyeon’s lips and chin were still trembling, and she could not hide the excitement that colored her gaze.

“You’re Lee Gilyoung’s son, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

As I nodded obediently, Oh Jahyeon began to laugh out loud. Like a madwoman.

Clutching her stomach and bending over, she burst into loud, successive peals of laughter as if she would collapse on the spot. I waited for Oh Jahyeon to calm down. Prosecutor Joo carefully grabbed my arm again, but my resolve to face the potential truth did not waver.

I still had courage left.

Oh Jahyeon laughed at the top of her lungs with frightening intensity, then finally calmed down and straightened her back. She then pointed a finger at what was behind me.

“Then whose son is Joo Taeson?”

“…”

“Do you know who Joo Taeson’s father is?”

“I don’t.”

“How could you not know? You idiot, you moron. Others may not, but at least you should know.”

A voice that sounded frustrated flew from behind my back.

“Oh Jahyeon, stop.”

“What do you mean ‘stop’? The son of Lee Gilyoung has the right to know who Joo Taeson is.”

My heart hammered wildly, but I answered nonchalantly on the outside. It was a skill I had trained for a long time.

“I do not know the name of Prosecutor Joo Taeson’s father.”

“Really? I know it.”

“…”

“…Listen clearly to the name of Joo Taeson’s daddy, which I am about to tell you.”

Oh Jahyeon took a step toward me, lifted her head, and brought her hand to my ear. An unpleasant, chilly breeze rushed into my ear.

“Kang Woosung.”

I stopped breathing for a moment.

“President Kang Woosung, whom your father drove to his death, is Joo Taeson’s father. That bastard also approached you knowing that. To take revenge on Lee Chaeha.”

The misfortune that had quietly approached my feet bit down cruelly on my heels once again. My flesh was strewn across the empty lot in front of the Danhyeon Branch, and red blood dripped from my skin. The only person who could stop that blood was Prosecutor Joo. But he did not argue that Oh Jahyeon’s words were wrong.

I moved my trembling pupils. Looking down at Oh Jahyeon, who had pulled her body away from me, I barely parted my lips.

“What does that….”

The voice flowing from my lips did not sound like my own. It felt as if snake venom had risen to my throat, and all my senses were paralyzed.

“Joo Taeson was adopted by his aunt after his father died. As a result, he took his mother’s surname.”

Oh Jahyeon laughed for a moment with a look that seemed to enjoy my expression, then cast her gaze over my shoulder. Her voice continued to be laced with a snickering laugh.

“Taeson, I’m glad it seems you’ve been able to speak well since then. You said you were so shocked seeing Woosung’s corpse that you even developed aphasia. They said your younger brother was fine, but seeing as you lost your speech, you must have been the weaker seed. Right?”

“Stop.”

Prosecutor Joo Taeson strode forward and stood between Oh Jahyeon and me once again. Still, Oh Jahyeon did not shut her mouth.

“Do you think you can hide that you’re Kang Woosung’s son, no matter how much you change your name? Like Lee Chaeha, you can’t escape your father’s tag either. We all know!”

Oh Jahyeon shouted with a venomous voice, but her voice sounded blurry, as if it were coming from far away. It was vague like a thick fog, and faint like a ridge at dusk.

The sentences echoing in my dazed head were not Oh Jahyeon’s, but Prosecutor Joo’s.

‘Thinking that you are the son of a murderer, I just don’t have the slightest intention of using honorifics.’

‘If you dare to babble that my father wasn’t that kind of person, or that you don’t believe it ever again, don’t expect me to let it slide.’

That was why.

Prosecutor Joo’s behavior, which had been the only one to treat me roughly, finally made complete sense.

Before I knew it, I had bolted out of the branch and was running frantically. The evening wind, its warmth long gone, brushed my cheeks, and the sound of Oh Jahyeon’s insane laughter grew distant and faint until I could no longer hear it.

Only the voices of the two of us echoed in my head.

‘…Why are you so curious about this case, Prosecutor Joo?’

‘…Because I am a person who wants to know the truth and has a sense of professional duty.’

The lies Prosecutor Joo Taeson had told me.

In front of my eyes, the pink sleeping pills he had been taking for over ten years danced. On the day President Kang Woosung died, his eldest son, who woke from his sleep, discovered his father’s corpse. Surely, ever since that moment, he, like me, must have been unable to sleep.

It was obvious. There was no one who could sleep soundly after experiencing such a thing. No one at all.

‘It shouldn’t be like this between you and me. That’s why I didn’t want to see your face.’

‘Because we are superior and subordinate?’

‘No… because you are Lee Chaeha.’

The points that Prosecutor Joo had personally pointed out, saying it couldn’t be because I was Lee Chaeha.

‘I hate that you are Lee Chaeha.’

It was all because he was the son of Kang Woosung.

By the time I was running until my breath was at the tip of my throat, a faint voice that had followed late began to knock on me.

“Officer Lee!”

But I could not stop my feet.

“Lee Chaeha!”

I did not stop and kept running even at the second call. Hot sweat was seeping from my skin like blood.

And the third.

“…Chaeha!”

Prosecutor Joo’s voice finally pulled me back. I barely stopped the feet that had been hitting the ground incessantly. I gasped for air, standing toward the dark alley leading to the official residence.

Unable to turn back, panting and stuck like a pillar of salt, Prosecutor Joo finally caught me. A hand filled with strength gripped my elbow from behind.

“Lee Chaeha.”

The low voice shook me once again.

Now that he had caught me, I wanted to run away again. But if I shook him off and left like this, I felt as if I would be crushed by the pressure of misfortune and explode in loneliness. So, I had no choice but to ask Prosecutor Joo. My voice, escaping my lips, was as feeble and miserable as a leaf soaked in rain.

“Prosecutor, you are President Kang Woosung’s son, aren’t you.”

“…Yes.”

It felt as if even my heart, which I should have sat down with, had disappeared from my chest. The voice that flowed out was freezing.

“Did you want to take revenge on me?”

“…Revenge? Are you believing Oh Jahyeon’s nonsense at face value?”