The Prosecutor’s Office’s Proposal Chapter 200

“…You sound like a pervert.”

“I think it would be better if you called me hyung or just used my name. If we had met when we were younger, wouldn’t you have called me hyung?”

“Why would I call Mr. Taeson hyung….”

I stopped mid-sentence and thought about it carefully. He was right.

If President Kang Woosung hadn’t been murdered, we probably would have met and greeted each other for the first time at the casino opening ceremony, and I would have naturally called him hyung. My father had told me several times that if I went to the opening ceremony with him, I could meet his friend’s family, and that it would be good to greet President Kang Woosung.

As I reached the end of my imagination, I started to feel sentimental. I hadn’t dropped the formalities or changed how I addressed him in the office because I was afraid of making a mistake, and it had been the right decision after all. To suppress the rising emotions, I shook my head even more vigorously.

“We didn’t meet when we were young, so I won’t call you hyung.”

“Hyung is the correct way to address me.”

“Let’s stop obsessing over titles and go, Prosecutor. Unless you want to stop hearing the name Taeson, too.”

“I don’t know why you can say whatever you want but can’t call me Taeson.”

“There’s an age gap, so there’s a hierarchy.”

“…I don’t really feel like you’re respecting that hierarchy lately.”

“Work, let’s work.”

“Yeah, let’s go…. To work. You really have surpassed your master.”

Joo Taeson, who sighed while telling me to work, was unbearably awkward. I shook my shoulders, laughed, and picked up my coat.

Lee Mooncheol lay on the cold steel bed in the autopsy room. The body was in an advanced state of decomposition, and the peculiar smell that only occurs when a person dies vibrated all the way to the hallway. Ordinary people don’t know this smell. However, detectives recognize the signs of decay unique to human remains even from outside the door of a house where a murder has taken place.

Seeing an actual body up close after a long time felt a bit frightening, but since Prosecutor Joo was by my side, I summoned my courage and observed it closely. It was almost certain that the cause of death was cyanide. The livor mortis, which should have been dark, had a bright, vivid red hue. Judging by the degree of decomposition, it seemed the estimated time of death would be concluded as about three days to a week ago. This was because rigor mortis had completely worn off, the limbs moved softly, and the skin was on the verge of collapsing.

The forensic examiner’s findings were the same.

“I’ll have to perform an autopsy for the details, but it seems he ingested cyanide. As of now, the possibility of suicide is high, Prosecutor. Looking at the exterior, there are no defensive wounds or traces of a struggle at all.”

Prosecutor Joo replied, observing the body with a cautious expression.

“I see. Detective Ma, how was the body discovered?”

Detective Ma answered immediately.

“The motel owner discovered Lee Mooncheol dead and reported it. He went to check because the motel bill was a few days overdue, but there was no answer from inside, and he became suspicious when he smelled a strange odor, so he picked the lock.”

“You don’t have to follow the formal procedure, so could you submit a brief report right away?”

“Yes. Even without me asking, the detective on duty at the station is already writing it up.”

“Good.”

Prosecutor Joo bowed lightly to the medical examiner and left the autopsy room. As I followed him out, I looked back at Lee Mooncheol lying on the bed once more. Standing by the door, I could only see the soles of Lee Mooncheol’s large feet; the decomposing body beyond them wasn’t clearly visible.

If I hadn’t let him go, he wouldn’t have died.

I let out a small sigh, closed the door, and came out. Prosecutor Joo and Detective Ma were already standing in the hallway, conversing about the case.

“Prosecutor, would you like to check Lee Mooncheol’s belongings as well?”

“I should. The suspect of a case already transferred to the prosecution has died, so I will check the belongings and take them as evidence.”

“Let’s go to the parking lot. I brought them because I figured you would.”

The three of us walked under the dull fluorescent lights that were barely suppressing the heavy darkness. When we opened the hospital door and went outside, a night even darker than that greeted us.

Detective Ma opened the door of a black sedan and handed over a red backpack contained in a plastic bag. The backpack that had been on the motorcycle rack. It was the belonging I had seen on the day I let Lee Mooncheol go. The backpack, seen up close, was filthy with traces of soot, as if it had been carried on the motorcycle without being washed for years. If it hadn’t been such an intense red color, the color would have been swallowed up by the grime long ago.

The detective briefed us on the brief information. The late autumn dawn was cold, and thin wisps of breath stretched out, cutting through the night air.

“The backpack and a soju bottle were found. The fact that Lee Mooncheol always carried a soju bottle was mentioned several times during the initial investigation stage of the fraud case. Because he had an alcohol addiction.”

I, who had been quietly keeping my place, asked the detective a question first this time.

“That means there were many people who knew that Lee Mooncheol carried a soju bottle.”

“That’s right.”

“Was there nothing said about the red backpack?”

“There was. When Lee Mooncheol fled, there was a tip that since he always carries a red backpack on his motorcycle, we should look for a similar vehicle.”

“Is that your informant, Detective?”

“Not exactly an informant, but a friend of Lee Mooncheol was incarcerated in the police detention center. For a different fraud case. When I told him the news of Lee Mooncheol’s escape, that’s what he blabbered about.”

While I was conversing with Detective Ma, Prosecutor Joo opened the plastic bag and examined Lee Mooncheol’s modest belongings carefully under a streetlight. I stole a glance at his profile as he concentrated, moving his fingers clad in white gloves. The streetlight flowed along his silhouette, and his sharp, black pupils moved delicately, following the evidence.

As I barely turned away the gaze that was about to be captured by Joo Taeson, Detective Ma’s voice, which had seemed distant as if coming from far away, rang out loudly again, piercing my ears.

“Wouldn’t it be suicide, Investigator? He died alone in a motel.”

“Statistically, the probability is high. Are there any traces of intrusion?”

“It’s clean according to the motel CCTV. I checked it by fast-forwarding while securing the video. I put it on a USB.”

Prosecutor Joo lifted the head he had been bowing the whole time and closed the plastic bag again. As the white gloves were removed, his long fingers with thick knuckles were revealed.

“Let’s go, Officer Lee. It seems we’ve checked everything.”

“Yes, Prosecutor.”

At Joo Taeson’s words, Detective Ma looked up at him with a surprised expression.

“Prosecutor, are you leaving without receiving the autopsy report verbally?”

“Yes.”

“You usually wait and listen before leaving.”

“Lately, I’ve been consciously working less. I thought I might die of overwork if I kept this up. There are plenty of other important things to do, too.”

At the last remark, a hot, red flush rose to my cheeks before disappearing. I was thankful it was night.

Detective Ma nodded his head more vigorously than usual and replied in a spirited voice.

“You’ve thought it out well. You must be tired.”

“I will request a forensic analysis for all the belongings at the National Forensic Service. I see a piece of fabric inside the soju bottle cap.”

“Wouldn’t that be Lee Mooncheol’s clothes?”

“It could be, or it could not be. Go on in.”

Prosecutor Joo, who answered so cleanly it was embarrassing for the detective, turned his back toward the car we came in. I tried to take the evidence from my superior, but Prosecutor Joo refused my goodwill cleanly as well, moving the paper bag containing the envelope to his other hand.

In the past, he would have told me to carry the bag and glared at me, asking what I was doing. I turned my head to see if Detective Ma had seen Prosecutor Joo guarding the paper bag, but the detective was in a corner of the parking lot on his phone, not even giving us a glance. It’s natural, as nothing good would come from making eye contact with Joo Taeson. It would be fortunate if I didn’t receive any more work instructions.

We had only performed a brief inspection and brought the evidence, but by the time we entered the branch office, put the envelope in the cabinet, and came back out, it was already past 10 o’clock. Prosecutor Joo checked the time accurately on his wristwatch, was lost in thought for a moment, and then stretched his gaze toward me.

“Shall we just sleep at this apartment and go to work tomorrow?”

“Let’s. It’s late, anyway.”

“Take your car separately.”

“Yes. There are many eyes watching, after all.”

Prosecutor Joo, who had gone down to the underground parking lot, sighed when he saw my precious car while opening the door to his Mercedes. I defended myself actively before he could open his mouth.

“This car is appropriate for a civil servant’s salary.”