The Prosecutor’s Office’s Proposal Chapter 17

“It’s impressive that you read it all in a week. You searched for the legal provisions and precedents quite meticulously as well. I was even a bit impressed that you didn’t just copy the indictment opinion for cases that already have actual trial results. In the case of the first one, the perpetrator was indicted for indecent assault causing injury, not attempted murder.”

“Because the suspect confessed that she strangled the victim until she thought she was dead, I thought it should have been indicted as attempted murder.”

“My thoughts are the same. That prosecutor just looked at the case superficially. But well, having heard it all, it was a report that couldn’t find a reason to use Chief Lee Chaeha instead of other veteran investigators.”

Strength drained from my hands and feet. It was an evaluation that rendered all the time I had suffered worthless. Prosecutor Joo picked up the deposition he had been looking at before I arrived. It seemed I hadn’t found the answer Prosecutor Joo had been looking for.

At his words, I gripped the report I was holding with fingertips that had grown cold as if I’d been thrown into the sea. He seemed to have recognized the disappointment on my face.

“I’m the one who is disappointed in you, Chief Lee.”

Prosecutor Joo closed his lips tightly, then opened them again to continue.

“If you have nothing more to say, you can head out. Good work.”

“…I will head out.”

I stood up, bowed my head, and glanced at Prosecutor Joo’s profile as he looked down at the deposition. Should I be happy that I received a formal pleasantry? After all this suffering? Anyway, it wasn’t as if I had completely ruined it, and I did hear some praise. My eyes, which had become hazy because I hadn’t been able to take a sleeping pill or sleep properly for the entire week, wavered.

I had grabbed the door handle to leave the office, but I couldn’t suppress the heat rising in my chest and went back to Prosecutor Joo’s desk. I knew that even if I acted like I was being logical or righteous, like I did back at the police station, and spilled all my thoughts, I would just be ignored as someone without experience acting high and mighty with absurd deductions.

But I had reviewed a whopping ten cases over the course of a week. And it was work I had to do outside of my official hours.

I had put all my energy into following Prosecutor Joo’s instructions without even knowing why I had to do this work. So, using my graduation from the National Police University and my two years of practical police experience as a shield, I wanted to say at least one honest opinion, even if it sounded absurd. The stubborn will that had kept timid me alive until now had been activated again.

Prosecutor Joo took his eyes off the documents and glanced up at me. His eyes were calm, without a hint of blame, asking why I was doing this.

“Prosecutor, it’s about the Grandma Park awl murder case at Osong Apartment.”

At the mention of that case, Prosecutor Joo froze all movement for a moment. I did not miss the way his straight, beautiful eyelashes trembled slightly.

What I had mentioned was a murder case that occurred in Danhyeon City seven years ago. A cruel crime that unfolded with an apartment built by Osong Construction as its stage.

The victim was a woman in her 70s living alone in a luxury apartment. She had never been married, so she had no husband or children, and she didn’t date. Because she had been out of contact for several days, an acquaintance from the church the grandmother attended reported her missing to the police.

When firefighters and police officers pried the door open and entered together, the grandmother was already in a state of decomposition, having been stabbed over 20 times with an awl. The awl the perpetrator had left behind was stuck right in the middle of her neck as if to show it off.

I told Prosecutor Joo my opinion.

“I felt something was strange while looking at the case materials. I judged that the person who turned themselves in might not be the real culprit, but I thought it was an excessive deduction, so I didn’t write it in the report. I was curious, so I looked up the actual precedents for that case, and the person who confessed had indeed received a prison sentence. Since the real culprit had turned themselves in and the trial had even ended, I was hesitant to say there were questions, so I didn’t report it earlier.”

This time, Prosecutor Joo’s pupils wavered violently. Gazing at the pupils, black as the deep sea, opening toward me, I had a hunch that I had guessed the one and only correct answer Prosecutor Joo had in mind.

Suppressing my trembling, I continued. Despite my inner conviction, I was terrified that I might be making a mistake. I was also afraid that he would think I was cheeky for acting like I knew something in front of a prosecutor.

But since I had already uttered my opinion, I had to see it through to the end. I had at least that much grit.

“At first, I thought it was strange that the murder weapon was an awl. In our country, knives or blunt objects are mostly used for murder. Or strangulation. Tools like awls or screwdrivers are items burglars use when robbing a house. So, I wondered if a burglar had accidentally murdered the grandmother while stealing things, but the signs of searching for valuables were awkward for a burglar. And….”

“Chief Lee Chaeha.”

He interrupted me and stood up from his seat.

“Let’s talk about the rest on the rooftop while having a cigarette.”

“Yes, Prosecutor.”

Prosecutor Joo took his thin coat and headed not to the elevator, but to the emergency exit. We went up to the very top floor along the emergency staircase that people did not often use. The sound of two people’s footsteps echoed loudly in the empty, deserted hallway.

A large hand pushed open the heavy iron door. There was no one on the rooftop, and light snow was thinly piling up on the floor. He and I stood under the small roof attached to the entrance, looking at the falling snow.

Prosecutor Joo pulled out a cigarette with neat movements, placed it in his mouth, and offered me one as well.

“Do you want one?”

“Thank you.”

I accepted it without a word.

Actually, I was not a smoker, but I smoked when it was necessary. I used cigarettes because I wanted to get closer to my fellow detectives, or because I wanted to pick up even one clue while hanging out with a suspect under interrogation during break time.

Now was not a situation where a cigarette was absolutely necessary. But if I smoked because I wanted to get closer to Prosecutor Joo, was I having strange thoughts?

Prosecutor Joo Taeson took out a Zippo lighter that looked old. It was a lighter that you filled with oil to use.

With a click, the sparks flew several times, but perhaps the oil had run out, so it didn’t ignite properly. He clicked his tongue.

“Do you have a lighter?”

“I don’t…. Should I go down to the convenience store and buy one?”

“No. I should be able to light at least one.”

He clicked the lighter again, and after several attempts, he succeeded in lighting it. Along with the sound of him deeply inhaling the cigarette filter, hazy smoke leaked out between his handsome lips.

“Take the cigarette.”

When I followed his command-like tone, his shadow fell over my face. Prosecutor Joo lowered his head and brought the cigarette in his own mouth to the tip of the cigarette I had in mine. For a moment, I thought our lips would touch and my shoulders stiffened, but it was only the cigarettes that met.

Our faces were so close that I could feel Prosecutor Joo’s gaze and breath against my skin. The lingering scent of heavy perfume, as if mixed with his body odor, settled on the bridge of my nose. He muttered lowly in a sunken voice.

“Chief Lee Chaeha, you have to inhale for it to light.”

“Ah….”

I had momentarily forgotten the intention of this act. With his cold eyes right in front of me, I let out a moan, stunned, and then barely inhaled the cigarette filter. As I drew in breath, I saw the fire crossing over to the tip of the cigarette we had joined. I lifted my downcast gaze to look at him again. His long eyelashes and the bridge of his nose with neat lines.

The moment I inhaled and exhaled a trembling breath again, the tip of the cigarette was completely burned red, and Prosecutor Joo Taeson’s face moved away from me. Holding the cigarette with trembling fingers, I couldn’t meet his eyes for a while. A soft voice rubbed against the inside of my ear out of nowhere.

“You’re just puffing it.”

“…Yes?”

I lifted my head in confusion. Prosecutor Joo Taeson, with the cigarette still in his mouth, glanced down at me, moving only his pupils.

“You don’t seem to be a smoker. You don’t have to force yourself to smoke.”

“…No, it’s not that. I smoke occasionally.”

He didn’t seem to agree with my lie, but he tilted his head back as if he were tired and exhaled a long trail of cigarette smoke. The smoke that had swirled through his body disappeared amidst the fluttering snowflakes.

Only after exhaling cigarette smoke one more time did Prosecutor Joo bring up the Osong Apartment Grandma awl murder case.