The Prosecutor’s Office’s Proposal Chapter 138

Even with the pain of someone he had been close to right in front of him, Tak Sung-woong’s gaze only grew colder. His tightly pursed lips twitched, as if he wanted to spit something out. The face revealed as I peeled back the mask of Chief Tak layer by layer glistened with a coldness like snake scales.

Finally, Chief Tak muttered quietly, as if talking to himself.

“I was merely observing. Is that a crime?”

“What?”

“And I also liked hearing you say thank you.”

“…What kind of bullshit is that?”

Even I, standing beside them, wanted to pounce and cover his mouth, wondering what on earth this person was saying. But once Tak Sung-woong’s floodgates were opened, he didn’t stop.

Everyone wants to speak the truth. Because of that instinct, they inevitably mix a little bit of truth into their lies. That proposition, which is usually helpful for investigations, was currently dragging Prosecutor Joo’s heart into the abyss.

“I don’t know why being fond of a friend’s sons is something to be resented for. I even paid for your first semester of university tuition. Weren’t you grateful back then? It was nice to see.”

“…Right now, are you really saying you enjoyed watching us be grateful, not even knowing you were the perpetrator? Was that an extra form of entertainment for you? Is that why you toyed with people for over 10 years?”

“…Taeson, ask only one question at a time. You’re too worked up, I can’t say anything.”

Tak Sung-woong muttered quietly in a voice mixed with a sneer, answering as if he were simply glossing over it.

The large fist resting on his knee was trembling violently. If this continued, he would explode. An interrogation room or a prosecutor’s office draws a line not just for the suspect being questioned, but for the person doing the questioning. The narrow, studio-apartment-style residence we were sitting in could not play that role.

If we continued the conversation here, it felt like we would cross a critical threshold. If things went wrong, only Joo Taeson would be harmed and hurt. My brain, accustomed to misfortune, began to spin.

I couldn’t just sit still anymore, so I grabbed Prosecutor Joo’s wrist, and only then did his black eyes turn toward me. Emotions that were about to burst into flames were churning on his face.

Unlike me, his traffic light, which was usually turned off—the red warning light—was emitting an intense glare and sounding an alarm. I received the gaze that was burning with flames, stood up, and pulled him along.

I thought he would push me away because he was so agitated, but Prosecutor Joo followed me to the entryway just as I led him. I grazed his red-rimmed cheek—a sight I rarely saw—met his eyes again, and whispered softly.

“Let him go.”

I spoke so quietly that one would almost have to read my lips to understand.

“Why.”

Conversely, the voice of the agitated Prosecutor Joo scraped roughly against his throat as it escaped. I did not let go of the wrist I was holding and said again, barely audible.

“You’ll get hurt, Prosecutor. It’s unfavorable for you.”

“Forget it. I’m going to arrest him.”

Even though he said he would arrest him quite loudly, Tak Sung-woong showed no reaction.

I pulled Prosecutor Joo further toward the entryway, made him stand with his back to Chief Tak, and stood facing him. Since he was a head taller than me and had a larger build, he perfectly blocked Tak Sung-woong so he couldn’t see my face. I held onto the strap of the bag I was still wearing, stood on my tiptoes, and looked up at him from even closer.

“If you do that, it will only give people more to gossip about us for no reason. It doesn’t look like he brought a weapon, and there are no signs of forced entry since he came in by entering the password. Moreover, the higher-ups can easily bury charges of this level. You shouldn’t waste your strength on this; you need to arrest him for an important case later. If you arrest him for no reason and then let him go due to insufficient evidence, public opinion will only turn for the worse. This is a matter that could end up looking like we grabbed an innocent person and framed them.”

“Lee Chaeha.”

“Think about why Chief Tak is staying still without a word even though you just said you would arrest him. Think about why, when you said you’d handcuff him, he didn’t resist to the end even though there was a possibility you would arrest him.”

“…So you’re saying Chief Tak wants this, on one hand.”

Even in a situation where a typhoon of emotions was raging, Prosecutor Joo understood my words. I nodded desperately. My hand gripping his forearm tightened.

“If you arrest him and he gets released, it becomes us trying to frame him. There’s no law saying people won’t think the same for other charges. Do you want to be held back by a public opinion war?”

It was the intuition of someone who had been bullied for a long time. I knew well how much malice people could invent behind one’s back and how much they could gossip.

Who would believe the statement of Lee Chaeha, who said that the good-natured Tak Sung-woong, and a Chief Prosecutor at that, broke into the house of investigator Lee Chaeha and went so far as to strangle him? Moreover, the only witness was Joo Taeson, who had specifically picked Lee Chaeha to work as his investigator. He was a prosecutor who suffered from rumors that he had betrayed Chief Tak without knowing the grace he had been shown.

It was a fight we shouldn’t have.

“Let him go.”

“But….”

“And if this continues, you’re going to resort to violence, Prosecutor.”

The fingertips resting on his thick forearm trembled. Prosecutor Joo’s gaze finally fell upon those fingers. He was usually so sensitive, but now, encroached upon by his own anger, he realized my fear only belatedly.

The skin around Prosecutor Joo’s reddened eyes furrowed, and I took the handcuff key out of my bag and held it out to him. His hesitating palm took the key.

Prosecutor Joo walked back with long strides, unlocked the handcuffs, and grabbed Chief Tak’s arm without mercy.

“Get out now.”

Chief Tak barely managed to put his shoes on, and was dragged out of the residence, passing by me as I stood behind Prosecutor Joo. Worried that Prosecutor Joo might do something, I also hurriedly followed him down to the first floor.

Outside, the rain was still falling. Prosecutor Joo shoved Chief Tak out of the villa as if pushing him away. Standing in the rain without an umbrella, he looked at me as I followed behind. A sense of betrayal that could not be controlled was still boiling in his eyes.

His broad shoulders stepped one pace closer to Chief Tak. Heavy rainwater fell onto both of their heads.

“I could take you to the detention center right now and book you as a flagrant offender, but I’ll let it slide. You’ll be arrested alongside Oh Jahyeon anyway. I should have known sooner that you were such a disgusting person.”

“Taeson, why not just arrest me cleanly? Didn’t you plan to arrest me when you put the handcuffs on?”

“Don’t call my name. How brazen.”

“…”

“Go. I will make sure to throw you in for murder. Please look forward to it.”

It was fortunate that Prosecutor Joo did not fall for the opponent’s provocation and accepted my advice.

The shabby middle-aged man glared at Prosecutor Joo for a long time while being rained on. Then, eventually, he turned his staggering steps. Prosecutor Joo Taeson, who had been watching Chief Tak’s back for a long time from behind, could not hold it in; he left the villa entrance and hurriedly followed him.

It was a connection and relationship built over a long time. It seemed there was something left to say.

This time, I didn’t step forward and stood watching them beyond the flowing rainwater. Of course, with the determination to run out at any moment if something happened.

I heard the sound of Prosecutor Joo shouting something while following and occasionally grabbing Chief Tak in the rain.

Prosecutor Joo’s voice, spitting out words like betrayal, disappointment, pain, and father, pierced through the thunderous sound of rain and flowed into my ears intermittently. I clenched both hands and stared at his painful-looking profile as he stood holding onto Chief Tak.

“Lee Gilyoung was your friend too, yet you framed him and made him commit suicide. Don’t you even feel sorry for Lee Chaeha?”

The sound of the rain falling between the words he spat out mixed in like sobbing.

“I was at least nineteen, but Lee Chaeha was only thirteen. Did you happen to watch Lee Chaeha’s ruined life all this time, too?”

Prosecutor Joo kept grabbing him and demanding answers.

On behalf of young Joo Taeson and young Lee Chaeha.

Until his suit was soaked through with rainwater.

Before I could even hold it back, hot moisture began to permeate my eyelashes. Sorrowful tears flowed down my cheeks.

It was because of the heart towards me carried in Joo Taeson’s voice, and the pain we shared.

The emotions I had barely hidden by mobilizing all my cold rationality, and the emotions I had forcibly suppressed so as not to be hurt ever again, were churning. My loneliness, which I had suppressed with all my might all this time, could no longer endure and began to erupt.

Like a crater that had finished its eruption.

As if it were going to melt every path I had thought was the way for me to survive.