The Prosecutor’s Office’s Proposal Chapter 19

Prosecutor Joo crushed out the cigarette he had borrowed. With my superior standing right there, I couldn’t even tuck my fingers, which were red and frozen from the cold, into my pockets; I simply waited for him to tell me we could head inside. However, Prosecutor Joo had more to say to me.

“Let’s work together.”

The unbelievable words flowed from his well-defined lips. Prosecutor Joo’s expression was even quite gentle.

“I’ll try my best to separate you, Chief Lee Chaeha, from Lee Gilyoung, who killed his friend Kang Woosung and then committed suicide.”

Every cell in my body froze.

Prosecutor Joo Taeson knows that I am Lee Gilyoung’s son. The secret I had kept with all my might after graduating high school and leaving Danhyeon City.

I couldn’t move a muscle, staring with trembling eyes at his lips, which had just uttered such monumental words to me. The tingling sensation I felt while sharing a cigarette vanished like a dream, and bright red blood leaked out beneath my feet once again. Whenever this happened, I realized that ever since I sank into the deep sea at thirteen, I had never once come up to the shore.

Prosecutor Joo continued to speak with an indifferent face. He knew how to hide hostility in his expression.

“I was worried because your father was a criminal, but I like the way you think, Chief Lee Chaeha.”

“…”

“I hope you’ll understand that I’ve been speaking to you informally since a while ago. Honestly, thinking that you’re the son of a murderer, I just couldn’t bring myself to use honorifics.”

He called it understanding, but in reality, it was a notification. Fortunately, I was a person who had long ago grown accustomed to being spoken to informally at work. Especially because that was the atmosphere at my previous workplace. The misfortune of my superior finding out that I was Lee Gilyoung’s son was the only problem currently at hand.

“Ever since I started working on the front lines, I haven’t exactly pitied the families of perpetrators, and I’ve become the type to hate criminals even more. Neither this guy nor that guy—none of them ever gave a damn about the victims’ families.”

“…Prosecutor, how did you… know that? That I am Lee Gilyoung’s son.”

“Well, collecting information is a prosecutor’s job. And since I’m from Danhyeon City like you, Chief Lee, I hear a few things here and there.”

It felt as though Prosecutor Joo’s large hand was tightening around my throat. My breath hitched, and I felt as if I might faint at any moment, but my mind, accustomed to shock, endured Prosecutor Joo’s words.

I bit the inside of my mouth until it hurt. I couldn’t feel the pain, but like in the past, I bit, and bit again, then viciously reined in my heart that was about to collapse, rebuilt my shattered emotions, and returned my face to an expressionless mask.

I know now. In a situation like this, I must speak as calmly as possible.

I must not get angry, and I must not cry.

“I am different from that person.”

I wondered, with agonizing weariness, when this misfortune that had become like a leech would release the flesh it was biting into. Putting strength into my eyes that were beginning to grow hot, I looked straight up at Prosecutor Joo and continued.

“If you can believe that, Prosecutor, I will work hard.”

I didn’t want to suffer because of my father anymore. I had long ago stopped making excuses for him.

His large, warm palm wrapped generously around one of my shoulders. As he leaned down to look into me, Prosecutor Joo’s gaze had already sharpened like the tip of an awl.

“You and I, Chief Lee—I think we’ll make a better team than I thought.”

Prosecutor Joo was a well-sharpened blade. A blade that knew how to cut and stab, but also knew how to yield.

He spoke with an impression that looked affable, lifting the corners of his mouth, and in a tone that sounded gentle if heard in passing.

“So, you’ve decided to accept the proposal to become an investigator in my office. Now, we’re accomplices in the same scheme.”

Accomplice.

I didn’t know what it was he wanted us to be accomplices in, but I gave an answer to Prosecutor Joo’s proposal first.

“Yes, Prosecutor.”

Whatever the collusion he speaks of is, if he tells me to do it, I do it.

That was the world I had chosen, belonged to, and had been driven into.

From that night on, I couldn’t sleep deeply even with sleeping pills. As I took the exam and moved to the Public Prosecutors’ Office, and became entangled with the Prosecutor I respected, I was even more careful so that people wouldn’t notice the scarlet hue hovering around me.

But as it turned out, Prosecutor Joo Taeson wasn’t someone who just saw the scarlet hue; he was someone who knew how to accurately read the scarlet letter embroidered on my chest. The conviction of being Lee Gilyoung’s son.

On the other hand, there was a strange sense of relief in receiving a proposal to work together even after knowing the fact that I was Lee Gilyoung’s son. Usually, once people found out about that murder case, they would push me away as if I were a cursed object. As if, if I weren’t human, they would want to throw me into a furnace and burn me to cinders.

Sometimes, if I were them, I think I would have wanted to throw myself into the fire too. In case I spoke to their own children.

Prosecutor Joo’s attitude toward me was rude, but in that regard, he had made an exceptional choice. He had proposed that we collude on something and work together.

Besides the fact that my scarlet letter had been read, one more reason had arisen for me not to be able to sleep soundly. Around that time, my aunt-in-law started contacting me repeatedly about something going on at my uncle’s house.

When I sent a text to my cousin Noona, who had treated me relatively well when we lived together, she said my uncle was angry at me. It seemed he was pestering my aunt-in-law all the time, saying I hadn’t come to greet them even for Chuseok, didn’t send pocket money, and didn’t even call.

You know Dad’s repertoire. He’s going on and on about you not knowing the gratitude of him raising you, and so on. Don’t contact him. You know he’s not the type of person to be grateful just because you, Chaeha, treat him well, right?

I know, but my heart keeps getting weak because of my aunt-in-law.

Don’t do it. You’ve endured well for years. I’ve also stopped sending Dad pocket money now. Dad’s laundry shop is doing well, so it’s not like he’s short on money. He’s just doing that to get the feeling of being catered to.

I’ll endure it. Thank you, Noona.

I finished the text with my cousin Noona and stared up at the pitch-black ceiling. I gave up on sleep, chewed over the things that happened when I was young, and endured the pathetic impulse to respond to my aunt-in-law’s messages.

The kicks from my uncle, who would kick my door and startle me awake whenever I fell asleep at night, came to mind. Just imagining that time made my body jump slightly. The reason for waking me was nothing special. They were simple errands like getting water, cooking ramen, or going to the convenience store to buy a drink.

But because of that, I tossed and turned every night, and I was hit in the head with fists for not doing the errands satisfactorily. I was also frequently punished by being made to stand facing the wall for hours until late at night. Unable to bear the criticism that I was a waste of food, I found a part-time job and handed over all the money I received to my uncle, but the abuse did not decrease. The aftermath all remained as insomnia.

It had snowed just last week, but this morning, on my way to work, a cold rain poured down again. It was a torrential winter rain that made December feel senseless.

I entered the office feeling uncomfortable because my clothes were all wet, but the gaze of my immediate superior, which I encountered immediately, was unusual. It was a gaze that was clearly glaring at me.

“Hello.”

I greeted him first, but my superior turned his head without acknowledging it. Feeling embarrassed, I tried to greet someone else, but no one met my eyes.

I awkwardly took off my coat, hung it up, and pressed the power button on my computer. Looking at the black monitor, I thought about whether I had done anything wrong in the office yesterday. I had experienced the silent condemnation currently flying toward the back of my head for too long to just ignore the sudden change in my colleagues’ attitudes.

When I was a boy, whenever I opened the classroom door to enter, my friends would turn their faces away so our eyes wouldn’t meet, and only when I sat in the front seat and looked at the blackboard would they all stare at the back of my head at once. Some gazes can be seen even without checking with your eyes.

The Prosecutors’ Office messenger connected automatically. Only after seeing the messages pouring in from my training institute peers did I learn the cause of the changed atmosphere.

Chaeha, I heard you’ve already been assigned as a prosecutor’s office investigator?

Chief Lee, why is your move to the prosecutor’s office so fast? It’s practically a promotion. Congratulations!

I drew in a light breath. Surely, this wasn’t it. I logged into the Prosecutors’ Office intranet and checked the notices.

Personnel Appointment

Grade 8 (Clerk) Lee Chaeha — Assigned as Investigator to Room 512, Criminal Division 1, Danhyeon Branch Office