The Prosecutor’s Office’s Proposal Chapter 128

“…Yes.”

“Your face is red. It seems like you have a high fever.”

“I have a bit of a cold.”

“I bought some medicine. Fever reducers, and this and that. I also bought food, but I don’t think you’ll need it.”

His long fingertips pushed a paper bag with the name of the bean sprout soup restaurant we had visited twice to the corner. My heart ached just from looking at each other, but I forced myself to be calm and parted my lips.

“Would you like a cup of coffee? I only have mix, though….”

“What did you eat with Chief Song?”

“White porridge.”

“Did you ask him to?”

“No.”

Prosecutor Joo didn’t respond, but as I walked toward the electric kettle to boil water, he stood up and grabbed my hand from behind.

“Just come and sit. You’re sick. You don’t need to drink anything like coffee.”

“…Yes.”

“You seem to have a high fever. Your face is red.”

“A little….”

I awkwardly lowered my gaze to avoid his sharp stare.

It was the first time since my early days in the prosecutor’s office that I had felt this uncomfortable being alone with Prosecutor Joo. My heart hammered strangely at the sight of his face, so I pressed my fingertips against my solar plexus and sat on the floor with him. I regretted again that I hadn’t bought a two-person dining table.

“I received Oh Jahyeon’s phone records this morning.”

He brought up the case immediately. I kept my head half-bowed, staring at the floor, struggling to process the information in my feverish brain.

“I confirmed the circumstances of him contacting the same burner phone that was picked up by the base station on the day Mr. Kim’s, the Koryo-in, body was abandoned.”

I remembered that number.

“1225.”

“That’s right. The Christmas number.”

“It’s a burner phone, so it’s hard to trace, isn’t it?”

“But I can get the necessary warrant based on the fact that Oh Jahyeon called that burner phone. It’s definitely Chief Tak’s burner phone. If we get the numbers picked up by the base stations and search through all of them, the circumstances of it moving with Chief Tak’s cell phone will come out, and the link between the Chief Prosecutor and Oh Jahyeon will also be revealed.”

“Did you come here to tell me that?”

“…No. Because I had nothing else to say.”

I slowly raised my eyes, which had been fixed on the floor, to look up at Prosecutor Joo. He rubbed his chin with his large palm and looked down at me with troubled eyes before cautiously reaching out. Then, he touched my feverish cheek. As I moved my body slightly to the side to avoid his touch, he quickly pulled his hand away. I heard a deep sigh.

“What were you thinking about to make yourself sick? Are there words you haven’t yet poured out? Or are you still suspicious of my intentions?”

To be honest, it was both.

“Tell me what’s left.”

I hesitated before parting my lips. The emotions of Joo Taeson that I wanted to confirm and my own feelings that I had to push away were tangled like a thread, binding me painfully.

“In bed….”

However, I couldn’t finish the sentence properly. Prosecutor Joo impatiently loosened his tie with his fingertips, which was choking his neck, and didn’t wait long to ask back.

“Why did you do it so roughly when having sex with Officer Lee?”

I swallowed hard at his blunt choice of words.

“You were rough because you didn’t like being with me.”

“That’s about half right.”

I wasn’t surprised. If that weren’t the case, he wouldn’t have acted so roughly while wearing such a complex expression, especially with me, who was a novice.

Prosecutor Joo admitted it honestly.

“At that time, I believed Lee Gilyoung was guilty, so I didn’t want to be nice to you. It seems you wanted to hear that answer.”

“I thought as much.”

“And half of it is that my original taste is filthy. So, not everything Officer Lee thought was correct. It seems you want to keep driving my actions toward revenge.”

“It’s not driving, it’s reasonable suspicion.”

“And to be precise, I hated myself more than Officer Lee for not being able to refuse Officer Lee. I felt guilty, too.”

It was an emotion he naturally would have felt.

My lips wouldn’t move, so I kept silent for a while. But I knew that time would not allow for hesitation. It was something I had to say eventually.

The place was appropriate, too. A residence, a personal space rather than a company, would be more suitable for personal talk.

I struggled to move my tongue, which felt like a lump of heat, swallowed, and barely parted my lips, which had become rough from illness.

“As you already know… I like you, Prosecutor.”

The miserable feeling scratched the inside of my throat sharply as it escaped. I continued, doing my best to hide the urge to cry.

“That’s why I wanted to hear your heart all this time. You clearly seem attracted to me, but I was puzzled because there was no confirmation or promise regarding our relationship. Only yesterday did I get the answer to all my questions.”

“That is….”

“Prosecutor.”

For the first time, I cut off his words and looked him straight in the eye.

“There was definitely attraction. But you couldn’t develop your feelings for me as long as Lee Gilyoung’s innocence wasn’t certain.”

His dark pupils wavered. His neat lips, pressed firmly shut because he couldn’t find the words, felt like a fortress wall.

I expected this.

It wouldn’t be easy for him to stop the inertia of hating my existence for such a long time and make space for me by his side. That must be why he had no choice but to treat me coldly when I approached him saying I respected him.

Furthermore, not all the truth had been revealed yet. Though it seemed his suspicion had clearly tilted toward Lee Gilyoung being innocent, there was always a margin of possibility.

The possibility that Lee Gilyoung—my father—might be guilty.

Prosecutor Joo must be thinking the same thing as me. Since we are both people who conduct investigations.

That is why I knew he wouldn’t be able to acknowledge it even if he had feelings for me. Even now, if it were revealed that my father was guilty, what would happen to this incomplete relationship?

I didn’t want to be hurt by people anymore. Especially because of my father.

Taking care not to let the areas around my eyes turn red, and paying attention so that tears wouldn’t pool in my eyes, I opened my mouth with a calm attitude on the outside.

“I think the same as you, Prosecutor.”

“…What do you mean you think the same?”

“If my father is guilty, it’s difficult for me to look at you, Prosecutor. I thought about it all night, and you were right. So… let’s pretend nothing happened between us.”

After a long silence, an unfamiliar reaction followed.

“…What?”

It was the first time I had heard Joo Taeson’s voice like that. A voice and expression of bewilderment.

I swallowed the pain and said what I had to say.

“Let’s go back to being just a boss and subordinate who only do work.”

“…Is that Lee Chaeha’s proposal regarding us?”

“Yes. If I hadn’t crossed the line, it would have been less shocking than it is now when something like yesterday happened. And I wouldn’t have been hurt this much.”

It is my fault for forgetting that loneliness is the way to survive.

“If it is concluded that my father, Lee Gilyoung, is the culprit, I will resign if that is what you wish, Prosecutor.”

“Chaeha.”

“Please call me Officer Lee.”

I looked at him and responded in as firm a tone as possible. He loosened his neatly tied tie with his large hand, as if stifled.

“You really…. Are we a relationship that will all disappear if you say let’s stop here, let’s go back to a working relationship?”

“Since you haven’t been certain all this time, Prosecutor, I don’t think it’s impossible. You entered this relationship knowingly, but I didn’t, and my feelings were deeper as well. Moreover, I think everything was wrong. The fact that I, knowing nothing, stood on the rooftop of the branch office and suggested to you, Prosecutor, to look at it from a different perspective, arguing that my father might be innocent.”

“That was an argument an investigator could sufficiently make.”

“It’s a sound an investigator can make, but it wasn’t a sound a suspect’s son could make to a victim’s son.”

Prosecutor Joo tapped his knees with his fingertips impatiently, then sighed and swept back his hair. His neatly groomed hair became disheveled.

“…What if I say it’s okay even if Lee Gilyoung is guilty?”

“I know my father’s sins are not my sins. Still, I don’t have the confidence to look you straight in the face, Prosecutor. Not until it is legally and clearly concluded.”

“Is there no room for reconsideration even though I say it’s okay?”

“I’ve endured my life until now somehow, but I don’t think I can endure being hurt by the victim’s son anymore. The wounds you’ve inflicted with your words so far are enough.”

“About that, I’m sorry….”