The Prosecutor’s Office’s Proposal Chapter 167

My brain, seasoned by investigation, faithfully recalled the headstone of the columbarium I had passed by while coming and going. The year this columbarium was established was 15 years ago. In other words, it meant the remains had been moved here at least once.

“Why on earth… did he visit the Noona he killed so often? Even going through the trouble of moving her remains to a newly built columbarium.”

I quietly stared at her photograph. A very old black-and-white picture.

If I were to believe what Lee Chaeha’s maternal uncle said, Chief Tak killed Noona in a fit of rage. Oh Jahyeon’s father was also certain that Tak Sungwoong had killed Noona.

In fact, I now shared the same opinion. A teenage boy with psychopathic tendencies had left Noona’s body unattended for 30 days. It was a reasonable suspicion to surmise that an incident occurred between the two that could have resulted in at least involuntary manslaughter, or at most, murder.

If I had seen the non-indictment report of Chief Tak’s boyhood in the past, I would have believed he was innocent, but not now. For a long time, my heart had leaned heavily toward the claims of his high school alumni who had seen the raw, unfiltered Tak Sungwoong in person.

“A columbarium established 15 years ago.”

My pupils, fixed on the urn, wavered.

I immediately took out my phone and called the duty investigator at the branch office.

“Hello, this is Prosecutor Joo Taeson of the 1st Criminal Division. Could you process a warrant for me right now? It needs to be an emergency. I’m currently at the scene.”

My heart rate began to climb. Lee Chaeha’s face rose before my eyes. I wished I were with him right now. If only I could tell him what I suspected and wait for the warrant together.

However, he was at home now, and since the distance between the apartment and the columbarium was considerable, I had to check it myself first.

“Who is the judge on duty for warrants today? Yes…, that’s good. That judge is quick to issue warrants, so please ask immediately.”

I hung up, glared at the urn through the glass door, and went out to find the caretaker. I tried not to harbor expectations as I walked down the path following the dim streetlights. I had raided quite a few places over the past few weeks, but I hadn’t reaped anything.

Instead of the parents’ grave, Noona’s urn. Moreover, the urn of someone he had killed himself.

There was a sufficient possibility that a criminal who collects souvenirs had substituted the grave with the urn and harbored impure desires. The photo that Tak Sungwoong had shown a slight reaction to during the lie detector test was also of a grave.

I went down the long hill and met the security guard. When I showed my ID, the middle-aged man stood up and showed a quite cooperative attitude.

“A warrant will be issued soon. Please go up and open the door where the urn is.”

“Oh. Yes, I understand.”

The caretaker grabbed a heavy bundle of keys and stood up hurriedly.

Since the judge on duty today was quick to process work and was nicknamed a ‘warrant vending machine’ for issuing them indiscriminately, it would take about an hour at the latest, or 30 minutes at the fastest. Not to mention Seoul, but a district court as small as the Danhyeon Branch didn’t have many warrant applications. Especially at night.

The warrant was issued after the estimated time. As soon as he confirmed the warrant, the caretaker used a key to open the compartment containing the urn. He had to be my witness.

I took out the gloves I always carry inside my jacket, opened the lid, and reached into the ceramic pot containing human ashes. The caretaker frowned deeply.

“Goodness. What kind of madman would put something in there? In the ashes of a person?”

I didn’t answer and stirred the inside of the urn, which was deeper than I’d expected, with my hand. The ashes were dense, making it uncomfortable to move.

Just then, something suddenly caught on my finger. Something cold and hard.

As I slowly pulled it out, an object that looked like an awl followed. But what was held in my hand was not an awl.

A screwdriver.

It was a screwdriver with a tip sharpened to a point.

The voice of Lee Chaeha, which I had heard last winter, seemed to vividly swirl around my ears along with the cold wind.

‘They say that in Russia, screwdrivers and awls are used as murder weapons as often as knives.’

My heart pounded violently.

‘Because the tip of a screwdriver is sharpened.’

He was right.

Chief Tak had wanted to hide the fact that the actual murder weapon was a screwdriver and disguise it as an awl. By thrusting the awl into the necks of those who obstructed Oh Jahyeon’s life, and leaving the handle standing on the corpse like a tombstone.

I put the screwdriver, stained with bone powder, into an evidence bag and said to the caretaker.

“You are my witness.”

“Yes, yes. My goodness. What kind of madman sticks a screwdriver in an urn? The bastard will be punished by heaven.”

I took off my gloves, quickly grabbed the evidence, and got into the car. I was driving with speed when my phone, connected to Bluetooth, rang with a loud noise. It was a call from a close senior colleague at the National Forensic Service.

“Yes, Senior.”

— Prosecutor Joo. Do you remember when I said the evidence was contaminated last time? The blue jacket.

“Yes. You said you were going to compare it with the DNA of the staff at the Danhyeon Branch.”

— Yeah. It was the DNA of an investigator, not a prosecutor, you know? But it was strange that only those clothes were contaminated and nothing else, so I ran it through the DNA base and it overlaps with something strange?

“What is it?”

— You know the gloves that came out of the body abandonment scene, right? The DNA that came out as a father-son relationship with your Chief Prosecutor. It overlaps with that.

My fingertips turned cold at the unexpected result. I remained frozen in silence for a moment before slowly opening my lips.

“…What is that investigator’s name?”

— Song Haneul.

A violent shock surged like a typhoon without warning.

— That’s the investigator working under Prosecutor Joo.

Without even being able to say a proper goodbye, I ended the call in a daze and immediately called Lee Chaeha. My heart started beating loudly as if it were on fire.

While I was walking to the edge of the roof as the sharp knife point pushed against my body, my phone in my jacket pocket rang incessantly. There was really only one person who would call me repeatedly at this hour. The colleague who had occasionally called me was currently holding a lethal weapon against my side.

“Stop for a second.”

As I stopped at Song Haneul’s instruction, he rummaged through my pocket with his free hand and took out my phone. On the screen, the name ‘Joo Taeson Prosecutor’ was twinkling in the darkness. Song Haneul furrowed his brows.

“Why is Prosecutor Joo calling at this hour?”

I had to come up with a plausible excuse in a short time. My brain worked rapidly.

“There’s a matter regarding the shoes I looked at while leaving work, and I think he’s calling because of that.”

“What case.”

“Spring Flower Orphanage. I was supposed to receive contact about it, so I think he’s calling because of that.”

It was one of the things I had handled in bits and pieces, so the content was familiar to Chief Song’s ears as well. Chief Song seemed to hesitate for a moment, then flicked my phone and said.

“…I’m going to put it on speaker, so talk naturally without giving it away. I need to know why he called.”

“Yes.”

Investigator Song Haneul’s hand pressed the call button and touched the speakerphone. The deep, familiar voice of Prosecutor Joo pierced my ears.

— Officer Lee.

“Yes, Prosecutor.”

— I received important news from the National Forensic Service.

Anxious that Investigator Song Haneul might hang up the phone, I parted my lips in a tone no different from usual.

“What news?”

— Investigator Song Haneul is the son of Tak Sungwoong and Oh Jahyeon. That’s why information was leaking. Not Yoon Gyuho.

Cold sweat sprang from head to toe, and my entire body tensed up in a straight line.

I slowly lifted my gaze toward Chief Song. I could feel the trembling of the man standing beside me. Rough breathing leaked from his lips, and his pupils shook as if they would collapse at any moment.

Only now could I understand why a strange blade was touching my side.

The report from the National Forensic Service that Chief Tak’s clothes were contaminated, the notice that they would compare them with the DNA of the Prosecutor’s Office staff, the contact from Spring Flower Orphanage saying they seemed to recognize Tak Sungwoong.

All of those things were tightening around Investigator Song Haneul, revealing sharp teeth like a trap that had caught his ankle.

“I see. I’m currently under suspension, but thank you for kindly informing me.”

— …Why is your reaction like that?

The tip of the knife dug into my clothes as if telling me to answer properly. I felt the end enter slightly with sharp pain. It was not enough to threaten my life. It would just be a slight cut on the skin, enough for a little blood to flow.