The Prosecutor’s Office’s Proposal Chapter 198

While investigators might be able to scramble and negotiate in the same company, prosecutors are subject to transfers that mandate a change of workplace every two years without exception. The regions are almost random, but since Prosecutor Joo is someone who caused internal issues at the Central District Prosecutors’ Office and was effectively cut from his line and slid down, the chances of him being called back to Seoul are high. If not a provincial area, then a location in the metropolitan area excluding Seoul. At least if he gets transferred within the southern Gyeonggi region, commuting from home is possible.

It is a huge change to suddenly work with a different boss after being huddled together in the same office every day, and if we couldn’t even see each other’s faces at home during the weekdays, I would surely be engulfed in a very lonely mood. I didn’t want to turn on the lights in an empty house after work, cook a meal alone, and eat. And I certainly didn’t want to see a different prosecutor sitting in Prosecutor Joo’s chair.

However, a transfer cannot be blocked. I might complain and feel sad, but whether it’s Prosecutor Joo or me, even if we face a situation where we are separated, we will eventually do the work assigned to us well. Our relationship, of course, as well.

Because of a temper that he couldn’t properly release, Joo Taeson’s brow had been fiercely furrowed for several hours, only smoothing out after Chief Kim left work. An hour later, the grandmother who collects waste paper and her granddaughter arrived. It was just past 7 o’clock. The granddaughter walked into the prosecutor’s office firmly, wearing jeans, a gray hoodie, and an old backpack.

It’s my case, so Prosecutor Joo doesn’t have to step in, but thankfully, he stood up from his seat first. The fact that I feel grateful to a boss who routinely makes me work overtime—perhaps a corner of my own brain is a little broken, too.

“Officer Lee, please guide them to the side office.”

“Yes, Prosecutor. Grandmother, granddaughter, let’s go inside together.”

The granddaughter entered the office with her lips tightly pressed together, having tied her hair back firmly once more.

The expression of the granddaughter sitting across from me was weary. I could feel the weight of a life that didn’t match her age. They say she’s in her 20s, but I would have believed it if someone said she was in her 30s or 40s. Not because of her appearance, but purely because of that look in her eyes. Seemingly calm on the outside, she raised a paper cup with trembling hands and took a sip of water. A weary voice leaked out.

“Can Grandmother end up with just a fine, Prosecutor?”

“That can only be known after going to trial. Recently, there have been precedents where prison sentences were handed down even with smaller damages.”

“…I can somehow manage to get the money for the fine. As long as she doesn’t get a prison sentence, that’s all that matters. As you can see, Grandmother’s health is not good, so life in prison is impossible.”

“If you want to be sure, there is no other way but to somehow persuade the victim to settle.”

“A settlement is difficult. The damage amount was about 50 million won, right? That is money that cannot come out of our house. Even if we combine all the monthly rent deposits of our family members, it barely reaches 5 million won.”

“Once the criminal trial is over, the victim will likely file a civil lawsuit for damages.”

“It’s meaningless because we have no money to pay.”

I looked at Prosecutor Joo once. We had already agreed on this. Even a conversation that seems simple can be an interrogation at any time if it takes place inside the prosecutor’s office. Taking the action of tapping the armrest of the sofa with his fingertip as a signal, I cast a light bait as if I knew everything.

“Is that so? However, unlike the granddaughter’s claim, it seems Ms. Ji Yeong-sook has money to buy Yeongsaengsu.”

“…How do you know that?”

“A bunch of empty bottles came out of Grandmother’s handcart. They are drinks that cost tens of thousands of won per bottle, but if you say there is no money to pay for the wine, will the victim be convinced? The original cost of the empty bottles alone was in the 3 million won range. But that’s not all, is it? You bought more, didn’t you?”

The grandmother, who hadn’t said a word the entire time, opened her mouth for the first time.

“I bought it by using all the money I saved my whole life. I really have no money.”

“Grandmother! I told you not to buy it anymore because it’s a scam.”

“It’s not a scam. You just don’t know.”

“If that were true, your health should have improved after drinking it. You’re still hunched over, and you can’t even eat properly because of indigestion, yet you believe the words that you’ll buy eternal life? We all die! People die, all of them!”

“There are people who don’t die.”

“Grandmother!”

The granddaughter’s scream-like cry didn’t seem to reach the grandmother’s ears. The theft suspect, who had looked infinitely weak, finally revealed a stiff expression hidden within her fragile appearance only when faced with her granddaughter in her 20s. It was the face of a zealot who decided to believe in fake vlogs and lectures instead of the earnest entreaties of a family member who truly worried for her. While clutching a paper cup with fingers she couldn’t even bend properly due to arthritis, Grandmother’s eyes were firm.

Does she truly believe it? Or is she pretending to believe it?

Unexpectedly, fraud victims are sometimes the latter. Because they cannot endure it unless they somehow deny the suspicion that suddenly rises, the coldness that freezes their hearts when left alone. There are not many people who have the courage to face the reality that they have spent the assets they collected their whole lives on buying fake eternal life water.

Prosecutor Joo stated the facts in his unique, calm tone.

“Grandmother, Yeongsaengsu is a scam. Fraud victims are gathering to prepare for a lawsuit, so look into it. The prosecution is already investigating. If you don’t participate early, you might not receive any compensation for your damages.”

“Don’t speak so carelessly when you don’t know anything, Mr. Prosecutor.”

“Grandmother, please, stop being stubborn and stop lying! You’re about to go to prison even if you beg for forgiveness for stealing the wine. Do you not understand the situation?”

“You’ll be punished for that, you brat! Yeongsaengsu is real, and I told you I didn’t steal the wine! Why are you coming here and rubbing salt into the wounds of an innocent person? I contacted your brother!”

“That ‘eldest grandson,’ that ‘eldest grandson’ again.”

“Yes, where is someone who isn’t even the eldest grandson glaring at an adult and raising their voice? After I took in and raised a piece of flesh your mother abandoned! Even though Grandmother is staying in a cold, small room, you don’t even send a single penny!”

I intentionally let out a loud sigh. I had been listening carefully to see if there was any helpful information, but the conflict between the grandmother and the granddaughter offered no gains for us, and I judged that it was better to cut it off here. Whether Joo Taeson thought the same, he tapped the sofa armrest with his fingertip at a similar timing.

To seize the initiative, I opened my mouth as soon as the sigh cut off the two’s conversation.

“Let’s both stop. This is a place to verify the relationship of the case, not a place set up for family members to fight. And Grandmother, I will give your granddaughter the contact information for the Yeongsaengsu victim group representative. Please refrain from saying hurtful things to your granddaughter who ran here from afar to help you, and get help by contacting them.”

“Well, Yeongsaengsu is real…”

“You will be contacting them.”

Intentionally cutting off her words calmly once again, I gave a faint smile to the granddaughter and held out my hand. She immediately handed me her mobile phone. I entered the contact information of the victim group representative that I had memorized in advance and explained briefly.

“If you can receive even a small amount of compensation, you can use that money to pay for the deposit, or use it for prison pocket money. It can be of at least a little help in resolving the theft case, so please make sure to look into it.”

Prosecutor Joo’s sharp gaze lingered on my fingertips as I entered the contact information, and on my slightly flushed cheeks. I was worried he might notice what the look on my face meant. I didn’t want him to find out that words like ‘abandoned,’ ‘took in,’ ‘raised,’ and ‘a single penny’ had touched on personal feelings while working at the office.

I calmed the emotions that were making my stomach churn and said in a monotonous tone.

“Granddaughter, do you know how much Grandmother has spent on Yeongsaengsu so far?”

“…I think she spent over 10 million won. She even pays money to listen to the sermons.”

“No. It’s not up to 10 million won…”

“You spent that much. It was 7 million won when we checked last time, and more empty bottles came out since then. In our circumstances, 10 million won is 100 million or 1 billion won by other people’s standards. Do you know that?”

Only after confirming once again that this case inevitably had to go to trial, and that there was a possibility that her elderly grandmother would serve time in prison, did the granddaughter rise from her seat. I waited for her to turn her body toward the door, then called out to her like someone who suddenly remembered a trivial question. I needed the granddaughter to be off-guard.

“Granddaughter, I forgot to ask you something.”