The Prosecutor’s Office’s Proposal Chapter 170

A moan-like sound leaked painfully from my tightly constricted throat. When I went out, I had worn my leather crossbody bag as usual. Inside it was the pair of handcuffs I had carried since my days as a police officer. Prosecutor Joo must have known that, but even for a meticulous person, it was something one might forget in a state of confusion.

Worried that Song Haneul, who had been knocked down by the punch, might get back up, I wanted him to take out the handcuffs quickly. I was afraid he might attack Prosecutor Joo.

But he was too preoccupied with tapping my cheek with his blood-reddened hands. Strangely, I couldn’t feel any sensation in my face.

“Chaeha, you mustn’t lose consciousness. You know that, right? You have to keep your eyes open, no matter what.”

However, even at his instruction, I couldn’t lift my eyes. Knowing that the probability of death was high if I lost consciousness like this, my eyelids eventually gave way, unable to bear the weight. Like a heap of earth from a landslide, like a tree struck by a tsunami.

Prosecutor Joo’s desperate voice began to fade away like a dream.

“Chaeha.”

Prosecutor, do you know?

“Open your eyes. Can you hear me?”

I actually really loved working with you, Prosecutor.

“The ambulance will be here soon. Please, just a little bit more….”

I know you felt the same, Prosecutor.

I didn’t dream. I floated alone in the familiar darkness.

It felt as if someone had cut out a few segments of my time and made them disappear. By the time I barely managed to regain consciousness, it was broad daylight.

I lifted my heavy eyelids with great difficulty, as if I had never opened them before. The first thing I saw was the white ceiling, and next, appearing in my narrow field of vision, was the face of Prosecutor Joo Taeson. I don’t recall the faces of the nurses or the doctors.

They said it had taken several days to regain consciousness after the surgery. My body felt as heavy as a lump of cheese melted by high heat. However, even while all my senses were dull, the pain in the area where I had been stabbed remained sharp and vivid.

I instinctively knew I had almost died. Because I had thought I would die.

Only after I recovered enough to drink water could I finally hear from Prosecutor Joo about what happened that day.

“I thought I would never see you again when you went into the operating room, and I almost went insane. You had lost so much blood.”

He sat in the chair next to the bed, running his hand through his hair with a gaunt face. I barely lifted my stiff, hardened hand and reached out toward him. My fingers, turned into dry twigs from being drugged with painkillers, were wrapped in his warm palm.

As soon as I felt his unchanging body temperature, I exhaled a deep breath and barely managed to move my cracked lips.

“…Was it very bad?”

“You would have died if it had gone in just one more centimeter.”

“That’s a relief. Because I didn’t want to die.”

“For someone who didn’t want to die, you were too reckless.”

“…”

“And courageous.”

His low, resonant voice quietly acknowledged my judgment. Looking back, Prosecutor Joo might have treated me roughly at times, but he never once denied my thoughts or abilities. It was the first respect I had received since my father died.

He let out a small sigh and added.

“I should have responded a little faster. As soon as the call was cut off, I felt something was strange and reported it to the police immediately. I searched the apartment and the official residence thoroughly, but I couldn’t find any traces of Officer Lee.”

The sound of the siren, which I heard faintly before it got closer, must have been the police sent by Prosecutor Joo after all.

There was something I wanted to ask Prosecutor Joo. When I coughed because my throat was dry, he noticed and carefully gave me more water. Only after sufficiently moistening my tongue could I continue to speak.

“How did you know it was the rooftop of the branch office?”

“I don’t like these kinds of answers, but I just had a feeling. The apartment was empty, and when I got the call that you weren’t at Chief Song’s residence, I was already right in front of the branch office, so I thought it would be better to check myself. Since the staff were already inside, I thought it must be the rooftop, so I ran straight up.”

“What about Chief Song?”

“He’s under arrest. And I was going to tell you earlier that we found the weapon Chief Tak used that day, but I’m only bringing it up now.”

To think we finally found the weapon we had searched so hard for.

The weapon was the only piece of evidence that could prove my father’s innocence and identify the real culprit who murdered President Kang Woosung.

“Really? Where was it?”

Surprised, I tried to lift my body by propping myself up on my hand, but my stomach and arms ached, so I laid back down. My forearm, where I had been slashed, was also meticulously bandaged.

Prosecutor Joo pulled his chair closer to the bed and sat down. His cautious fingertips touched my cheek, and his affectionate warmth caressed me, reminding me that I was alive. I felt tears gathering at the corners of my eyes, grateful to be alive and to be able to see his face again.

Prosecutor Joo opened his mouth cautiously.

“In Chief Tak’s Noona’s urn.”

Urn. A sharp memory pierced through my head. A small moan escaped me.

“Ah…, you said you saw Chief Tak at the charnel house.”

“I should have been suspicious when I heard he might have killed his Noona—at least when Officer Lee’s uncle guaranteed it was intentional—and wondered why Chief Tak came to the charnel house. But I had completely forgotten that entire incident.”

“I’m the same. It wasn’t Noona… he went there to check on the weapon he’d hidden.”

“Because it was his souvenir.”

“Was it an awl?”

“We were off by a hair. It was a screwdriver with a sharpened tip. Just as Officer Lee guessed at the very beginning.”

Prosecutor Joo took out his phone to show me the murder weapon. While examining the outwardly clean screwdriver, a thin chill ran across my cheek.

At the beginning, the screwdriver had definitely been in my head. I had even mentioned it to Prosecutor Joo, but I had completely forgotten that thought while becoming immersed in the ‘awl’ theory. My mind, too, had been entirely captivated by the awl that Chief Tak had planted as if he were putting on an exhibition.

“What were the forensic results for the screwdriver?”

“Blood was found. Both your father’s DNA and the deceased grandmother doctor’s DNA. Tak Sungwoong had cleaned it thoroughly, but a tiny amount remained in the crevice between the metal and the handle. Unless it was disassembled, he wouldn’t have been able to wash that part. Those who gave false confessions are scheduled to be re-punished for aiding and abetting a criminal once the retrial begins. Now, Tak Sungwoong and Oh Jahyeon must pay the price for their crimes.”

“Did they confess?”

“As soon as the blood test results came out.”

“Was the motive what we expected?”

“Yes. President Kang Woosung was because he interfered with the Osong Construction bid that Oh Jahyeon was promoting. The doctor grandmother was because she told Oh Jahyeon’s deceased husband about the fact that he had an extramarital son.”

“About Oh Jahyeon’s husband…”

“That, she doesn’t admit. Because there is no direct evidence.”

I nodded. Even if only to avoid getting Oh Jahyeon further involved, she would have never admitted to it.

“The branch office must be in an uproar.”

“Thanks to that, I’m under suspension, too.”

Prosecutor Joo reported the massive situation with a nonchalant expression.

I knew all about the corrupted practices of an organization that covers up crimes for each other, and the unreasonable atmosphere where you suffer disadvantages when you dig into internal problems, but I felt disgusted every time I experienced it. My eyebrows tilted sharply, feeling more indignant than when I had been suspended myself.

“Why you, Prosecutor?”

“Officer Lee and Chief Song are my investigators. A stabbing occurred, one of the two investigators is in a coma, and the other is guilty of attempted murder and abandonment of a corpse—I’m their superior, so I have to take responsibility.”

“But you’re the one with the greater merit for finishing the investigation… did you just accept it quietly?”

“Because I wanted to nurse someone.”

His handsome mouth drew a soft arc, followed by a playful voice.

“I just said thank you and told them I’d take the vacation.”

Even though I wasn’t there, I could imagine what face and tone Prosecutor Joo had used to say that, and what expression the 1st Division Chief must have made upon hearing his answer. Even I, just hearing it, felt flustered—I wonder how bewildered the 1st Division Chief, his superior, must feel every time.

Just as a laugh was about to burst out at the image of the 1st Division Chief’s sullen face, a large hand suddenly blocked my lips.

“Don’t laugh. Your stomach will hurt.”

“But, it’s funny…”

“Endure it.”

“…Yes.”

What else could I do? When a lover says do something, you do it.

Only after a long while did I barely manage to suppress the laughter about to spill out, and I asked.

“How long are you suspended for?”

“A week. But Officer Lee used up half of it just by sleeping.”

“What a waste. Since you’re a workaholic, Prosecutor, I probably won’t even be able to see your face once you go back to work.”