The Prosecutor’s Office’s Proposal Chapter 155

“Certainly. He mentioned Russia 15 years ago when he gave me the 20 million won. That’s why I remember it.”

“What did he say?”

“I don’t know why he said such things to me, but when I mentioned Osong Construction while saying I was a fellow alumnus of his, his pride seemed to be wounded, and he said he had already finished his revenge on that old man.”

The image of my uncle scratching away at others with his words even while receiving money was vivid in my mind. Chief Tak seemed to have let his guard down and revealed his true intentions in front of an alumnus with whom he had no personal ties. At the time, he must have thought he was confiding his secrets to someone who posed no risk. Because every human being wants to reveal their secrets, after all.

Prosecutor Joo asked.

“What kind of revenge did he mean?”

“How would I know? However….”

My uncle took a deep drag of his cigarette, exhaled the white smoke, and continued.

“I just assumed he was still seeing Oh Jahyeon.”

“He was married and had a child, yet you reached that conclusion quite easily.”

“Well, affairs are common. Who knows, perhaps? Seeing as he finished his revenge, maybe a child was even born between the two of them.”

We both stiffened at the sudden, accurate guess. It didn’t show on the outside, but we could each sense the other’s mood.

Prosecutor Joo hid his agitation and asked with a perfect poker face.

“Why do you say that?”

“Thinking about it while answering the Prosecutor’s questions, I remembered something. You asked earlier, didn’t you? Whether I had any doubts about him giving me such a large sum of money. I was suspicious at the time, so I probed and probed. That’s when Tak Sungwoong added that he had also been donating to an orphanage for a long time. He said he had donated hundreds of millions of won or something. And then he said since Chaeha also became an orphan, he would give me money. Asking if I couldn’t help a fellow schoolmate if he was helping children he didn’t even know.”

“An orphanage….”

“But I didn’t believe that either. Unless you have someone there—whether it’s a child of someone you know or a child you sired yourself—why would you donate? They said when Noona’s body was found after rotting for 30 days and smelling, he went around school smiling and grinning. It didn’t match the rumors at all.”

“For 30 days?”

“That’s why the police arrested him for killing Noona and the school was turned upside down. The adults in the neighborhood were even more worked up. His parents left the kids behind, moved out, and rarely came home, so only Tak Sungwoong was left in the house. They concluded it wasn’t murder in the end, but, well…. Would they have even been able to find evidence after the body had rotted and decomposed?”

We had obtained all the information we needed.

My uncle was a person who had no ties to Chief Tak, but it was thanks to that very fact that he had seen and heard so much. It seemed Chief Tak felt that my uncle’s presence was not the slightest bit threatening, so he felt reassured that his intimate secrets would never leak.

When the meeting ended, my uncle rose from his seat and bowed his head to Prosecutor Joo. As my uncle went to approach the corrections officer, Prosecutor Joo called him back.

“Please greet Officer Lee Chaeha as well. He is an investigator in my office.”

My uncle glared at me with a sour look, but he bowed briefly as Prosecutor Joo had ordered. I was bewildered by my uncle’s unexpected greeting, but I did not lower my head until the corrections officer led him away. I didn’t want to show any more courtesy to my uncle.

We followed the established procedures and exited the detention center. As soon as we got into the car, Prosecutor Joo personally fastened my seatbelt for me. I watched his thoughtful hands move until the very end, then slowly lifted my gaze.

“How do you feel? You probably feel unpleasant having seen your uncle.”

I wondered when I would ever get used to the way Prosecutor Joo treats me so tenderly.

I liked his warm words inquiring about my well-being and his affectionate touch as he stroked my hair, but I could only nod with an awkward expression. I am a person who is truly clumsy at receiving or giving love.

“I’m fine.”

“An orphanage…. I hadn’t thought of that.”

“Could he have really done that? I had thought at the very least he would have entrusted the child to a relative…. To send the child to an orphanage when they were supposedly so deeply in love with each other.”

“There are people who don’t love their children but have sparks flying only for each other. I’ve seen it often. There have been many child abusers who beat their children to death while playing the happy couple with their wives.”

“Could he have picked out a decent home and sent the child for adoption?”

“That could be. Or, seeing as he sent the child to an orphanage from the beginning, maybe not.”

“If this is the case, the incidents involving the awl lean back toward Chief Tak.”

“…That’s right. Since he spent several years in Russia, there’s a probability he was influenced by it. He wasn’t a normal person to begin with, was he? Circumstantially, I suspect he killed Noona, too. A person like that has an extraordinary speed in learning how to commit crimes no matter where they go. It’s a different situation from an ordinary person having been in Russia.”

“Where could he have kept that awl?”

“Surprisingly, it might be the branch office.”

It was an unexpected place. But, thinking it over carefully, it was possible. He is a person with high anxiety who obsessively collects objects. If he still has it, there is a high probability he kept it near himself.

In reality, there are many criminals who get caught while doing just that. I’ve even seen a criminal who killed a person, dismembered them, and left the body right in front of their own house.

As I traced the events that had passed through my mind this time, I also put forward another hypothesis.

“How about our parents’ grave? Last time, in the Han Sujin child murder case, we found the weapon in a grave, and I’ve seen criminals arrested that way several times back in my police days, too.”

“A good thought. Anything else?”

“Judging by the fact that he wrote down the amounts of drug trades in a crude pocket money ledger that you would only buy at a stationery store, it could unexpectedly be a place related to his stepson. It seems he lacks affection, but I judged that because he is still a minor, he wouldn’t be suspected.”

The stepson’s pocket money ledger eventually turned out to be a secret accounting book. It recorded not only the amounts of drug trades but also all the bribes that were exchanged.

“I’ll have to think about that, too.”

I traced the profile of his face, which was deep in thought, with my eyes, and then impulsively opened my mouth.

“I was still scared.”

“Of what?”

“My uncle.”

He lifted his back, which had been leaning against the driver’s seat, and leaned toward me.

“Still?”

“Maybe because I was beaten so much, my eyes still keep going to his hands.”

If the person had been someone else, I wouldn’t have confessed it, but I didn’t want to lie to Prosecutor Joo.

“When you looked at his hands, how were they?”

“Smaller than I remembered. Like a toothless tiger. I think you might not understand why I’m so afraid, Prosecutor.”

“…No, I understand. In fact, that’s why I went to see your uncle last time. I heard all about how Officer Lee grew up back then.”

“Did your uncle talk willingly?”

“I deceived him. As if I would do him favors with the prosecutor in charge if he told me honestly.”

My lips fell open weakly. I blinked several times and then gripped the seatbelt crossing my chest.

“Why did you do that instead of asking me? Is that why you met him? I thought it was strange when you said you had met him….”

“Are you not angry? Because I went digging into Officer Lee’s past.”

I carefully examined my heart, but rather than being angry, I felt embarrassed. I shouldn’t feel ashamed of being a victim, but I sometimes feel as if my past is a shameful secret, so it’s not an easy thing to deal with.

“It’s okay. It’s all in the past.”

“Far from doing him favors, I wanted to kill him with my own hands. If it were possible.”

“Please don’t harbor such feelings, Prosecutor Joo.”

I placed my palm on top of his large hand, which was gripping the steering wheel tightly.

Yes, I’m not even afraid of these much larger hands, so what need is there to fear an uncle who has now grown old and frail?

As I steeled my heart and moved my fingertips to his thick knuckles, his phone rang. Prosecutor Joo pressed the call button on the steering wheel.

“Hello.”

— Prosecutor Joo.

The car’s interior speaker broadcast a familiar voice. It was the Chief Prosecutor of the 1st Division.

“Hello, Chief.”

— Oh, are you having a good weekend?

The Chief Prosecutor of the 1st Division was known for being sluggish and lazy in his work. But for him to call Prosecutor Joo on the weekend—my intuition was not good.

“Yes. What is the matter?”

— You remember what the Deputy Chief Prosecutor said last time, right? It seems we have to suspend Investigator Lee Chaeha.