The Prosecutor’s Office’s Proposal Chapter 150

“The only person who could have fed him the drugs at the time of the incident was Oh Jahyeon. It will be important testimony.”

It was also the basis for our speculation that Oh Jahyeon might have orchestrated the series of murders.

At the very least, it was certain that Oh Jahyeon was the one who fed the drugs to her husband.

Chief Tak did not have the opportunity to feed the drugs to Oh Jahyeon’s husband. Therefore, even though their relationship had been revealed, the primary murder suspect remained Oh Jahyeon, not Chief Tak.

It was easier to find consistency in the serial murders if we viewed it as Oh Jahyeon orchestrating all the killings, with Chief Tak playing an auxiliary role as an accomplice. The circumstances suggesting that Oh Jahyeon personally plunged the nicotine-filled syringe needle into the neck of the Koryo-in also supported our premise.

Prosecutor Joo looked at the medical examiner.

“Is there anything else that seemed strange?”

“Well. Hmm…, at the time, Ms. Oh Jahyeon was a director at the casino, right? She still is.”

“Yes, that is correct.”

“This isn’t information related to the medical examination. I heard a rumor that was circulating at the casino at the time from an acquaintance: Ms. Oh Jahyeon had been living separately while saying she would divorce her husband, but about three months before the husband died, she ended the separation and they moved back in together.”

“They were separated?”

“I heard that the couple had separated quite often from the beginning of their marriage. That is why the rumor was widespread among the casino employees who heard the news of his death that Oh Jahyeon had reunited with him just to kill him. This kind of content is not something that can be written in a report, so Prosecutor Joo probably hasn’t seen it.”

We ended our brief meeting and left the office.

It was faint, but there were results. The fact that even if Oh Jahyeon murdered her husband with the missing drugs, it wouldn’t have been caught in a blood test, and the fact that Oh Jahyeon had often separated from her husband. If she had been separated for a long time, she would have had the opportunity to give birth in secret after marriage.

Oh Jahyeon’s father clearly confirmed that she had an abortion. Therefore, any pregnancy and childbirth would have been after that. In other words, it was highly likely to have been after the marriage.

We parked the car near the place where we had promised to meet the deceased old lady’s younger sister, and decided to walk to clear our heads. The setting sun was hot, so I took off the suit jacket I was wearing. Fanning myself with my hand, I looked up at the deep blue sky with resentment. When I was a police officer, I could at least dress comfortably, but the Prosecutor’s Office had an atmosphere where one had to adhere to at least business casual, so it was painful as summer approached.

“Are you hot?”

Prosecutor Joo didn’t seem to be affected by cold or heat; not a single drop of sweat flowed, and his skin was dry and cool.

“I should have taken off my jacket sooner.”

His thick fingers grabbed my arm and led me to where the trees were lined up. I wondered if it would have an effect, but since the shade of the trees covered my head even occasionally, the situation was at least slightly better.

“When we search and seize tomorrow, we will raid the Chief’s side, and the investigators under Prosecutor Yoon will raid Oh Jahyeon’s side.”

It was questionable whether we could leave the search and seizure of Oh Jahyeon’s side entirely to Prosecutor Yoon Gyuho, but since we had started working in cooperation, it wasn’t possible to exclude him.

“Are you going too, Prosecutor?”

“Yes.”

“I hope something comes up.”

“I’m most worried that she might have secretly disposed of the weapon since she must have already sensed that we are going to search and seize.”

“Since she must have sensed that she was being staked out, it would have been burdensome for her to throw it away. And wouldn’t she have hidden it in a place that is difficult to find from the beginning? Then she might have judged that it was better not to dispose of it.”

“I have to hope that’s the case. Officer Lee, keep a close watch on Chief Song Haneul tomorrow.”

“Yes, Prosecutor.”

“Are you still hot?”

While we were walking, Prosecutor Joo fanned my face with his hand. I still wasn’t used to dating, so heat rushed to my face, making me sweat even more. Prosecutor Joo examined my complexion as if worried, then discovered a convenience store across the way and pointed at it with his index finger.

“If you’re hot, shall I buy you some milk ice cream?”

“I’m fine.”

“I guess you only crave it when you’ve been drinking.”

“That’s usually the case.”

His neat lips twisted crookedly and then returned to normal. I must have sounded too stiff when I answered.

I was concerned about his expression, so while walking side-by-side, I stealthily tapped his hand with my fingertips. Prosecutor Joo glanced down at me, briefly clasped his palm against mine as if holding my hand, then quickly pulled away, conscious of our surroundings. It had only touched for a moment, but I felt like an electric current was flowing, so I curled my fingers that were left in the air.

The place where we were to meet the witness was a pharmacy she operated. The deceased older sister was an obstetrician, and the younger sister was a pharmacist. It seemed both sisters were smart.

One old man bought a pain relief patch from the small pharmacy and left. Only after the customer disappeared did I approach the counter and present my Prosecutor’s Office ID. The pharmacist checked the official identification, and tucked her silver hair that had fallen down behind her ear. It was a neat bob cut. She soon raised her head and returned our IDs.

“You said you were looking for my sister’s belongings, right?”

This time, instead of Prosecutor Joo, I answered.

“That is correct.”

“Since her house is upstairs, I went up after receiving the call and brought them down. You may take them.”

She handed us an old box. She said these were the personal effects the police had returned after the case was closed.

I opened the lid to check if the mobile phone was inside, along with Prosecutor Joo. Inside, the mobile phone the deceased had used was in a clean condition. My heart pounded with excitement. I raised my head and parted my lips.

“By any chance, were there any special words your sister left before she passed away?”

“In relation to what exactly?”

“Have you ever heard the name Oh Jahyeon or Tak Seong-ung?”

“I have heard of Oh Jahyeon. In the newspaper. Tak Seong-ung…? I don’t recall a name like that.”

“His profession is a prosecutor.”

“I wasn’t that close with my sister. There was a big age gap between us.”

She was an uncooperative person in the inquiry. It would be better to proceed with a separate witness interrogation at the District Office later for this type of person. We gave up cleanly, greeted her, and left after receiving the belongings.

I wanted to open the phone right away, but it was an old, older model, so it needed to be charged, and the gloves were in the car. We put on gloves to ensure the evidence wasn’t contaminated and reopened the box. Inside, the victim’s clothes, a wallet, a notebook, and a mobile phone remained. It was simple.

After charging the phone for a while, I turned it on with expectation, but soon let out a small groan.

“Prosecutor, the call history is….”

It looked as if someone had meddled with it; the grandmother’s mobile phone call list and messages had been cleanly erased. Prosecutor Joo stared down at the phone screen and muttered in a low voice.

“Damn it….”

A look of frustration spread across his face. The rabbit we thought we had caught had escaped right before our eyes and hidden in the bushes. Prosecutor Joo leaned his head against the driver’s seat headrest, placed the back of his hand on his forehead, and let out a long sigh.

After being silent for a while, I cautiously opened my mouth.

“What do we do?”

“What do you mean, what do we do? We have to do forensics.”

Prosecutor Joo took his hand off his forehead and let out another deep sigh.

“They thoroughly erased the evidence. They even made the miners give false confessions, and now they’ve even wiped the phone clean….”

“The elderly men from a mining background who are imprisoned for false confessions won’t budge no matter how much we persuade them. They only respond that they committed the crimes themselves and that they have never met Oh Jahyeon.”

“Since their children benefited from both, they have no choice but to hold out. Anyway, since the phone is in this state, Officer Lee, you must examine all future evidence yourself. Do not entrust it to anyone else, whether it’s Chief Song or Prosecutor Yoon. There’s no harm in being careful.”

“Yes.”

“…I am particularly worried about Prosecutor Yoon Gyuho.”

Finally, the situation reached a point where he even had to doubt the friend he had known for a long time, whom he had guaranteed was someone he could definitely trust. Feeling sorry for Prosecutor Joo, I quietly held his hand. His large palm gripped mine in return.

We both knew well that investigating old cases was not easy. However, since the opposing team included someone who could tamper with the Prosecutor’s Office evidence, it was truly difficult to untangle the knotted thread.

Lastly, I flipped through the grandmother’s notebook. It would have been helpful if she had written something like a diary, but the inside pages were mostly empty.

If it had been a misfortune that could have been easily escaped from the start, Prosecutor Joo and I wouldn’t have been struggling for 15 years.