The Prosecutor’s Office’s Proposal Chapter 14

“Yes, Prosecutor. However, I can confirm that there was definitely someone who abandoned the body. I went to the market alley myself, and it wasn’t a suitable place to conduct a large-scale drug deal.”

“In the end, it means Koryo-in Mr. Kim paid the fare to the afterlife with a foolish price, that’s what it is.”

Prosecutor Joo set the report down, crossed his legs, and leaned back. His gaze, looking at me, lingered on my face for quite a long time. His black eyes met mine and then cast their gaze over my nose tip and lips for a while. It was long enough to blink twenty times.

Receiving that thick, unexplained gaze, I tightly clenched the fist resting on my knee. I found it difficult to gauge whether he wanted to criticize my hypothesis or whether he liked it.

Prosecutor Joo sighed faintly, took his time, and then uncrossed his legs. During that moment, his body leaned toward me, as my shoulders had stiffened significantly. Sunlight that had pierced through the blinds passed over his clear features, drawing a transparent line.

“Chief Lee Chaeha, we were supposed to meet at 7 PM this evening, right?”

“Yes, Prosecutor.”

“Why do you think I called you early, Chief Lee?”

Perhaps not expecting an answer, Prosecutor Joo immediately continued.

“It’s because I liked Chief Lee Chaeha’s report. It matches exactly with what I had been thinking.”

That meant Prosecutor Joo had sensed from the start that the deceased Koryo-in Mr. Kim was a drug mule. Prosecutor Joo continued with the unfamiliar praise.

“It was also good that you researched and attached the case of the Nigerian national who was arrested at Incheon Airport while smuggling drugs in a similar manner. I wondered if I was having absurd thoughts, but it was about time the body packing method was imported to our country as well.”

“Thank you.”

“Chief Lee, are you interested in working as an investigator under me?”

My eyelashes trembled at the unexpected proposal. Was that the reason he had assigned the investigation to me, who had merely been the person on duty for the unidentified body autopsy?

Mr. Hwang’s chat message popped into my head, mentioning that one of Prosecutor Joo Taeson’s investigators was leaving to study abroad. In other words, it was a realistic proposal.

Swallowing through a tightened throat and gripping my palms, which had started to sweat, even tighter, I answered with emphasis.

“If you, Prosecutor, are offering, then….”

“I haven’t made up my mind yet. I’m asking if you, Chief Lee, have any interest.”

“…I do.”

“Then tonight at ten, I will go to your staff quarters, Chief Lee. I’ll check the address on the intranet. That’s okay, right?”

“Yes, that time is fine.”

I felt as if I had just finished an interview. Since he had already come to a similar deduction himself and still asked me to submit a report, this must have been a sort of test.

And that report had pleased Prosecutor Joo. There would still be more verification stages left to solidify the suspicion that I could be used as an investigator.

“Prosecutor, I know that by regulation, an 8th-grade official can become an investigator, but by convention, it usually starts from 7th grade to be assigned as an investigator in a prosecutor’s office….”

“As a prosecutor, if I say it’s fine, it’s not an issue for you or anyone else to worry about, Chief Lee.”

Prosecutor Joo cut off my sentence, answered, and smiled at the corners of his mouth again. It was a cold expression that invited tension, to the point where it might have been better if he hadn’t smiled at all, just like before.

I wondered if he smiled that way at others as well. I wished it weren’t only me he was cold to.

It would be too cruel if life showed him the scarlet hue that hovered around me as well. I reassured my heart, which was trying to grow weak, that since I had even received an offer to be an investigator, it wouldn’t be the case, and that it would be okay at the Public Prosecutors’ Office. I could endure it, just as I had until now.

I stood up from my seat, following Prosecutor Joo.

“Prosecutor, then are you disposing of the Koryo-in Mr. Kim’s case as a non-indictment, as the police suggested? Since it is only a suspicion and there is no physical evidence, after all.”

“Don’t worry about the progress of the case, Chief Lee. That is my jurisdiction.”

He opened the door, stepped toward his desk, and turned back to look at me. In the office, there had been an atmosphere of him praising the report while still being displeased with me, so I was surprised that the gaze extended toward me in the prosecutor’s office had changed to be quite soft. Was it because the other investigators were there?

“Good work, Chief Lee.”

“Thank you. Then I will head down. Have a good evening.”

Following the reverse order of when I entered, I greeted Prosecutor Joo and the senior staff and exited the prosecutor’s office. As my stiff shoulders finally relaxed with the sound of the door closing, a sudden, tingling—electric sensation resonated through me. I covered my face with both hands.

My hypothesis was acknowledged. Although I received a minor reprimand to print it out, I even received an offer to work together. It seemed like there were more verifications left to undergo, but I was relieved as it seemed I had done well so far.

‘Let’s do it right this time.’

The faces of senior detectives who didn’t like me, saying I was a police academy graduate with a pretty face, and the colleagues who looked down on and bullied me throughout my time at the academy, scratched painfully through my mind. The deep, old wounds lingered in my ears as an annoying tinnitus, but fortunately, they soon faded.

I can do it.

I clenched my fist, opened it, turned, and looked up at the nameplate of the prosecutor’s office. And I briefly dreamed of a nameplate that read ‘Investigator Lee Chaeha.’

However, I did not get greedy. Because just being acknowledged by my superior was more than enough to make me happy. Prosecutor Joo’s generous proposal was the best thing that had happened to me in the last few years.

Suppressing a relieved smile that was creeping up the corners of my mouth, I headed toward the elevator.

📄🖊️

After work, I stopped by a small mart nearby to prepare to welcome Prosecutor Joo. This was because I remembered a time in the past when a senior came to my studio apartment and grumbled about not being treated to a drink. That male senior was someone who had strange intentions toward me.

Trying not to think about it further, I shook my head to clear away the distractions, just as I had when my Aunt-in-law called not long ago, and pushed the cart. Not knowing Prosecutor Joo’s preferences, I put in alcohol of various types and also bought cigarettes and a lighter. I also packed a balanced selection of snacks such as dried squid, beef jerky, apples, and strawberries. I also bought my favorite milk-flavored stick ice cream.

Thinking that a guest was coming to the staff quarters where I thought no one would ever visit, I felt a little regret that I had only put a bed and a small low table in the studio apartment. It would have been nice to have at least a two-person dining table.

“I should go quickly and at least clean up.”

I clean the house every morning before going to work, but I was quite concerned since I was receiving a guest. I left the mart, struggling with the standard-size trash bag that was about to burst with the items I had bought.

Since I was a pedestrian without a car, I had to walk to the staff quarters. My fingers, holding the bag handles that felt like they were about to snap, were frozen red in the early winter wind.

As luck would have it, there was no elevator in the staff quarter villa. It is said that the accommodation for bachelors where investigators live is much poorer than the staff quarters for prosecutors, and that Danhyeon City is particularly bad. It was a relief that I at least lived on the 3rd floor.

Only after neatly organizing the food I bought at the mart and tidying up the house did I realize how pathetic my household goods were. Cutlery was no exception; my eyes, which happened to land on the dish drying rack, shook violently.

“This is a disaster. I should have bought cups at the mart too.”

Two mugs with cat and dog footprints the size of a palm were all the cups I owned. They weren’t exactly my taste, but I bought them thoughtlessly because they were on sale cheap, and since I hadn’t felt any inconvenience, I didn’t buy any more. I didn’t have a single glass.

Looking at the clock, it was awkward to go out and come back again, so I gave up immediately. I unfolded the low table and laid out the blue cushion I had bought last time for interior design.

Prosecutor Joo arrived at 10 o’clock as promised. I was startled to the point where my chest ached at the sound of him knocking on the door with a loud bang, bang without hesitation, but I soon calmed down, ran, and opened the door.

“Hello, Prosecutor.”

Prosecutor Joo’s handsome face, looking down at me in my casual clothes, was tilted to the side. I slightly regretted not having dressed neatly. However, it seemed the point Prosecutor Joo felt was strange was not my attire.

“You open the door without checking who it is? Did you not see the dead bodies after they were killed like that?”

He spoke harsh words casually in his unique, relaxed tone.

“…I have seen them.”

“There’s no elevator here either. It was heavy to carry up.”