The Prosecutor’s Office’s Proposal Chapter 127

I filled the new glass cup I had bought with cold water from the refrigerator. As I drank, the cold moisture condensing on the cup soaked into my palm.

I had washed up, thinking I might feel better, but the mirror reflected a face that looked even redder from the rising fever. After some hesitation, I picked up my phone and submitted a sick leave request. I didn’t want to, but I figured if Prosecutor Joo rejected this as well, I would have to call him and explain that it wasn’t an excuse, but that I was truly ill. I dried my hair thoroughly and burrowed back into my narrow bed.

I closed my eyes, consumed by fever, and when I woke up in surprise, the time for work had long passed. Fearing I might be late, I immediately logged onto the intranet, and fortunately, the sick leave I had newly uploaded had already been approved by Prosecutor Joo. There were no text messages from him. I put down my phone listlessly and asked for sleep, which had been deferred until lunch.

The entrance bell rang a little past 12 p.m. I woke up with a start, throwing off my blanket.

Only one person came to mind who would press the bell to my studio apartment. Joo Taeson.

Wondering if Prosecutor Joo had come, I walked quickly to the entrance, which was only a few steps away. I felt foolish for being unable to hide my impatience even after fighting and lashing out at him like that yesterday. I checked the small mirror hanging next to the shoe rack to tidy up my disheveled hair and asked.

“Who is it?”

“It’s me.”

Unexpectedly, I heard the voice of Chief Song Haneul. I felt secretly relieved that it wasn’t Prosecutor Joo, whom I was uncomfortable facing right then, but I was quite surprised by the unexpected visit from my colleague.

I quickly shoved my feet into my shoes without putting the heels on properly and reached out for the door handle. As soon as I opened the door, Chief Song stood there with his usual expression.

“Hello, Chief. What brings you here?”

“I heard you were sick.”

It seemed Prosecutor Joo had told him. I nodded readily.

“Yes. I think I caught a cold.”

“I’m sorry to barge in. I just wanted to drop off some porridge before I leave. I thought you wouldn’t have been able to eat.”

“No, not at all, please come in. But I’m in my pajamas….”

“I don’t mind. Since you live alone, Officer Lee, I was worried you wouldn’t be able to eat.”

“It’s fine, so please come in.”

I welcomed Chief Song into my home. Although heat was still spreading across my face, I didn’t dislike his visit. Inwardly, I was even happy. I was so used to suffering alone when sick that I had never imagined a situation where a colleague would take care of me.

I quickly tidied up my messy bed and opened the curtains to ventilate the dim room. As I pulled back the thick blackout curtains, sunlight flooded in through the glass window.

I unfolded a small tray and sat across from Chief Song. He pulled two containers of porridge and two rolls of gimbap from the paper bag he had brought.

“I brought some for myself too, in case you wanted to eat together, Officer Lee.”

“You didn’t have to. Thank you for taking care of me. Even though your lunch break is short.”

“It’s nothing. I bought extra so you can eat it for dinner if there’s any left.”

I stirred the rice grains with a spoon to cool down the porridge, which was emitting a full cloud of hot steam. The menu was white rice porridge.

It was a large portion, and since it didn’t matter if I left some over at home, I finished about half at a moderate pace. I had no intention of touching the gimbap. Chief Song ate the hot porridge at quite a fast pace and asked.

“Officer Lee, aren’t you sick because you’ve been overdoing it with the investigation lately? Your face looks terrible. It looks like you had a high fever.”

It wasn’t a wrong statement. The reason I was sick was because of the truth I had learned during the investigation.

Every time I thought about whose son Prosecutor Joo was, I felt as if black hands were choking my throat. The pressure of the shadows grew even stronger when I thought about the dark emotions he must have felt while thinking about and watching me all this time.

Feeling the corners of my eyes grow hot, I swallowed a mouthful of cold water and answered in a painstakingly calm tone.

“No. I just catch a cold like this sometimes.”

“Even so. I heard you worked until late yesterday. You didn’t have any trouble with Prosecutor Joo, did you?”

“Why would there be trouble? He treats me very well.”

I couldn’t even indirectly confide my troubles to Chief Song, who was worrying about me. I was happy and grateful that a colleague was taking care of me, but leaning on someone else was a fortune that would never exist in my life.

Suddenly, I remembered the time Prosecutor Joo asked if I hadn’t heard rumors about his wealth from Chief Song. I had meant to ask Chief Song subtly someday, but now I could infer the answer without asking.

As the son of Kang Woosung, the first president of the casino, he must have inherited an enormous fortune. I wondered if I could have obtained clues about him if I had asked Chief Song about Prosecutor Joo’s rumors earlier. Of course, since he had even changed his surname, most people would not know the fact that he was the son of President Kang Woosung.

Chief Song stayed for about 30 minutes to soothe my boredom before getting up from his seat. I intended to see him off to the first floor, but Chief Song strongly dissuaded me, so I followed him only to the entrance with a heart full of regret.

“Thank you so much for taking care of me. See you tomorrow.”

“If your fever doesn’t go down, make sure to take extra sick leave. Don’t force yourself to come out. If you feel up to it, go see a doctor.”

If Prosecutor Joo had a gentle personality like Chief Song’s, everything between us would have been much easier.

When two people who have suffered pain meet, difficult emotions pile up like a snowball, and sharp icicles hang where the ice crystals melted. Every time they brushed against each other, a sore wound was created.

“I will.”

I watched Chief Song’s back as he went down the stairs until it disappeared, then closed the door. I was cleaning up the traces of eating the porridge and wiping the tray when the bell rang again. Thinking perhaps Chief Song had left something behind, I ran straight to the entrance and opened the door.

“Why did you come back…”

The moment I looked up while speaking in a welcoming tone, I made eye contact not with Chief Song, but with Prosecutor Joo. From the tips of my fingers holding the handle to the tips of my toes, I froze stiff with tension. My whole body pulled taut vertically.

Prosecutor Joo, whom I looked up at blankly without even being able to greet him properly, stood before me looking much more exhausted and tired than usual. He looked like someone who hadn’t been able to sleep.

“How is it that I’m always second place at every crucial moment?”

The voice I heard was bitter. I grasped the handle tightly with a hand that had not yet regained its sensation.

“…Were you waiting?”

“Can’t you tell? Let’s go inside and talk. Are you going to leave me standing outside?”

Even after what happened yesterday, I stared blankly up at his face, which was still as assertive as ever. My fingertips grew tense until they turned pale white.

I had vowed to myself over and over all night long that I would treat him calmly, but now that Joo Taeson had appeared before my eyes, my emotions fluctuated so much that my resolve became meaningless. Even so, I at least didn’t move my facial muscles. Just as life had trained me,

“Could we talk tomorrow?”

I barely requested in a monotonous voice. I wanted to delay the words I had to say, even if just by one day.

Perhaps because it was an unexpected refusal, Prosecutor Joo’s brow twitched and narrowed.

It was to be expected. In our relationship, I was always the one clinging, and Joo Taeson was the one holding the decision-making power. The refusal flowing from my mouth sounded strange even to me, so there was no way he would be used to it.

A large hand blocked the door so I couldn’t close it.

“Let’s not do this here.”

“You don’t have anything urgent to talk about anyway. It’s obvious it will just be a repeat of the conversation we had yesterday….”

“Chaeha, this is the official residence.”

I stared blankly at the shabby villa stairs visible over his broad shoulders in response to the final persuasion he threw out while cutting off my words. It was a time of day when it wouldn’t be strange if another staff member’s footsteps appeared. Since it was when people were returning after finishing lunch. Many people also visited the residence during their lunch break.

I had no choice but to withdraw the stubbornness I had been trying to hold onto.

“Then please come in. But I’m in my pajamas….”

“I know. I came up one step later than Chief Song, so I heard everything you explained.”

As I opened the door wider and stepped aside, he strode inside. I had been to his house many times, but the number of times he had come to my house could be counted on one hand. This was because the residence was small and had too little furniture, so I mainly chose to go to his house.

I awkwardly closed the door behind my back and barely pulled out my feet, which felt as heavy as if I had been submerged in water, from the shoes I had shoved on haphazardly. Prosecutor Joo sat down in front of the tray I hadn’t folded yet. It appeared he had bought food as well; now that I looked, he had a bag in his hand.

“Sit.”