The Prosecutor’s Office’s Proposal Chapter 15

I noticed that next to Prosecutor Joo stood a document cart, the kind prosecutors often drag around. The documents contained in the blue wrapping cloth were stacked so high they topped the cart’s basket, and while they were secured with rope, I wondered how he had managed to bring them all the way up to the third floor. As Prosecutor Joo entered the hallway, he gave me an instruction.

“Carry the wrapping cloth.”

“Yes, Prosecutor.”

He had said he would pour the drinks himself, but the wrapping cloth must have been a different matter. He didn’t seem to care much that I had to go back and forth several times, struggling to carry the heavy bundle. Prosecutor Joo looked around my narrow studio apartment and sat on the cushion, while I piled the stack of blue wrapping cloths near the small low table.

“Prosecutor, shall I get you a glass of beer? I also have soju or wine.”

“That sounds good. You must like alcohol.”

“It’s average. Do you like alcohol, Prosecutor?”

“I drink well.”

With busy hands, I opened the bags of dried squid and beef jerky, placed them on a plate, and brought over two mugs and beer bottles. Prosecutor Joo picked up the mug with the large cat footprint printed on it, stared at it for a moment, and then received the drink I poured for him. I, too, received a drink from him for the first time.

“By the way, Prosecutor, what are all these wrapping cloths?”

“I selected a few cases from those that occurred in Danhyeon City over the past 10 years. I only brought the materials I wanted you to look at, Chief Lee.”

He drank a sip of beer but did not touch the snacks. His long, thick-knuckled fingers picked up one of the blue bundles and placed it on the low table. The tray with the snacks was pushed to the side. As he untied the knot, investigative documents spanning thousands of pages were revealed, and I felt as if I couldn’t breathe. There were several more bundles like this.

“I want you to look through all of these documents, Chief Lee. Let’s read them all within a week and talk afterward. Thursday at 7 AM, in the prosecutor’s office.”

Seven in the morning. That was quite an early appointment time.

“In a week?”

“For your information, there are ten cases.”

He answered the question I hadn’t dared to ask. This was work outside of my regular duties. I could only read the materials after getting off work, and the sheer volume of documents made it impossible to finish within a week.

In the past, I might have answered that it was too tight, but having gone through the National Police University and the police station, I had been tempered for years. Thanks to that, I didn’t offer any complaints. I knew by now that I shouldn’t speak up until I had tried until I was at my breaking point. This was that kind of organization.

“Yes, I will examine them. Are there any particular points you would like me to focus on?”

“Hmm…, no.”

He thought deeply for a moment and continued.

“What I’m curious about is what you decide to focus on, Chief Lee. So, I don’t think my question is necessary.”

“But there would be only one right answer, right?”

“That’s right.”

Again, he nodded like a quizmaster and stroked his chin. I picked up the deposition and flipped through a few pages, but when I looked up, I locked eyes with him precisely. Like the moment our fingers brushed in the prosecutor’s office, I was startled, but this time I didn’t avoid it and endured the pounding of my heart.

Prosecutor Joo’s eyes had turned fierce, like someone who wanted to avoid me first back then, but since I didn’t run away, he leaned forward instead. The handsome man’s face approached so closely that I had to struggle to swallow the dry saliva down my throat.

“Chief Lee, whom I met two years ago as a police officer, was so naive that I thought you wouldn’t stand a chance against the detectives. You’ve changed a lot in that time.”

“…Because of the things I’ve experienced.”

“Now you just seem to be obedient, doing whatever those above you tell you to do.”

“I was obedient back then, too. I suppose it was just obvious that I was wearing clothes that didn’t fit.”

“Even so, colleagues don’t usually frame someone for bribery, nor do rumors spread that a man is hitting on a male senior.”

How did Prosecutor Joo know about the groundless rumors from my police academy days? My cheeks burned bright red in embarrassment.

I couldn’t answer Prosecutor Joo by saying that they had merely seen my “scarlet hue.” I couldn’t say that I had been plagued by all sorts of rumors since school, and since my uncle’s attitude was even more terrifying than that, I could just endure those things.

Although I couldn’t undo the flush on the hand holding the cup, I steadied my voice to sound calm.

“I didn’t know it would even reach the ears of Prosecutor Joo. It’s all nonsense rumors.”

“I see.”

Prosecutor Joo answered indifferently and rose from his seat. He had only taken two sips of beer.

“Do your homework well. I’m curious about how you’ll be in a week.”

“I will look through all of them, no matter what.”

As I answered with emphasis, Prosecutor Joo, who was about to put on his shoes at the entrance, turned around. His gaze was the most subtle I had ever seen. As if he had seen some strange phenomenon.

“You’ve really changed a lot, Chief Lee. Back then, you used to sit in the prosecutor’s office with a look like you were about to cry.”

He was referring to the day I had visited the prosecutor’s office, having gathered evidence to prove my own innocence. I felt my wounds being scraped open one after another, but since the person who had stitched those wounds back then was Prosecutor Joo, I couldn’t blindly dislike his words that reminded me of that time.

“Thank you very much for that time.”

As I went to bow my head, Prosecutor Joo grabbed my shoulder to stop me. My heart ached in a different way at the touch refusing the greeting. Even after Prosecutor Joo withdrew his hand, his body heat, which had remained on my shoulder, traveled down my arm and was transmitted to my palm.

“Don’t do that, because I didn’t bring it up to hear formalities. Good work.”

“Let me see you off to the first floor….”

“Forget it. You’re really stuck in your ways, Chief Lee. Only someone of Chief Tak’s generation likes that kind of thing. Why would you come down to the first floor to see someone off.”

“…Yes.”

I felt so awkward that my earlobes turned hot again. Prosecutor Joo glanced back at me as he opened the front door.

“Sleep well.”

“Goodbye.”

Leaving behind an unexpectedly affectionate final greeting, Prosecutor Joo left the cart he had pulled on the porch and headed for the stairs. He didn’t look back while going down the stairs, but I stood there watching until the sensor light he had left on ran out of its glow.

Only after the sensor light flickered off and the stairs became pitch-black did I close the door and come inside. On the low table remained the beer he had left unfinished and the snacks he hadn’t touched. I picked up the remaining two glasses of beer, silently poured them into the sink, and tidied up the snacks that were left in abundance.

📄🖊️

I began fulfilling Prosecutor Joo’s command—no, his instruction—that very night. The records of old cases that had been processed long ago smelled of old paper.

Prosecutor Joo wouldn’t have given me just any random cases, but I still couldn’t grasp his intentions. I started by reading through the materials.

I wondered why I had to look at these cases that were already resolved. I also pondered what kind of questions Prosecutor Joo wanted to throw at me as I poured my labor into it without a goal. Since he had asked if I was interested in becoming his investigator, I intended to review the cases from the perspective of an investigator.

On weekends, when I didn’t go to work, I started working from dawn. My exhausted body, which hadn’t rested much due to insomnia, was shaken by the noisy morning alarm.

Even though I clung to the old documents from before sunrise, there wasn’t enough time. The volume was so vast that it wouldn’t be enough if I poured my entire weekend into it, and even dedicated every weekday evening and dawn to it.

So on Sunday, I skipped meals and organized the case summaries. I barely managed to make some time in the afternoon to go outside. I bought an awl at the hardware store and picked up kimbap from my favorite restaurant, and on the way to the staff quarters, I ran into a familiar face. It was an investigator I had seen in Prosecutor Joo Taeson’s office. Since there were many things I was curious about that I couldn’t ask Prosecutor Joo, I figured it was a good opportunity and pushed my shyness into a corner for a moment.

“Hello, Investigator.”

I greeted him first, and fortunately, he acknowledged me. He seemed to remember me. He was a young investigator who had a warmer impression compared to the cold Prosecutor Joo, even when smiling, and my first impression of him when I glimpsed him in the office had been good. He was around my age, though he looked a bit older.

“Yes, hello. You came to see Prosecutor Joo Taeson last time, right?”

“That’s right. I’m Chief Lee Chaeha from the Fine Section.”

“I’m Investigator Song Haneul. You haven’t been in the Danhyeon Branch Office for long, right, Chief Lee? I know almost everyone in the branch office, but your face isn’t familiar.”

“The Danhyeon Branch Office is my first assignment, and I’ve only been working here for two months.”

“You must be busy trying to adapt.”

“Yes. Um, Investigator?”