The Prosecutor’s Office’s Proposal Chapter 208

We checked everything: the CCTV footage of Lee Mooncheol leaving his house and stopping at a convenience store, the moment he fled from the villa, the scene of him running through the alley, and the situation when he darted toward where the motorcycle was. After scanning every important moment once, we widened the timeframe to examine the recordings before and after his escape. Even something very small would do. I needed some sort of clue—something that could solidify the suspicion that Lee Mooncheol’s death wasn’t suicide.

Even after watching for hours, there was no particular gain. In truth, I didn’t even know what I was looking for, and I couldn’t be sure if there would be any clues at all. I couldn’t even judge if clinging to the CCTV footage was the right thing to do.

After watching the video until my eyes ached, we agreed to take a break. We went outside the police station together, and as the cold wind hit us, I took out a cigarette. I handed the old Zippo lighter I had pulled out of my jacket’s inner pocket back to its original owner.

I looked up at Prosecutor Joo as he familiarly flipped the Zippo open and lit the flame, then I put a white cigarette between my own lips. After lighting his own, he bowed his head toward me, and I naturally leaned in to catch the fire from his glowing ember. The red spark transferred, and white smoke rode out on his breath.

Feeling the autumn air cooling my skin, I inhaled deeply on the filter once more. I exhaled the acrid smoke that had been lingering in my mouth and tapped the ground with the toe of my shoe.

“Now that I think about it, when are you going to your father’s gravesite?”

“Hmm. After the result of the first trial comes out?”

“This trial, in particular, is taking a long time to reach a verdict.”

“They’ve hired a former high-ranking judge as their lawyer and are dragging it out in a messy way. Delaying the procedures.”

“I wish the results would come out quickly. …I don’t even know what to look for in the CCTV.”

“Something different from the usual.”

“It’s a neighborhood I visited for the first time.”

“You know what I mean by that.”

He exhaled a long trail of smoke and grinned.

He even smiles while working now. Thinking that it was a good look on him, I chuckled slightly and put the cigarette back in my mouth. I could feel Joo Taeson’s gaze settling gently on my cheek.

“Your expression has finally softened a bit. Was that police academy peer from earlier someone you were uncomfortable with?”

I wondered if my face had really been that stiff, and I answered without much thought, in a calm tone as if talking about someone else’s affairs.

“Moderately?”

“What does ‘moderately uncomfortable’ even mean?”

“Back then, there really wasn’t anyone I felt comfortable with. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good either.”

“I see. I thought you might have left behind some debt you needed to pay back without me knowing.”

An unexpected chuckle escaped me at his reaction.

“The Prosecutor has already paid off all my debts.”

“You never know. Whether there’s more debt left.”

“There really isn’t. Not unless there’s some debt I don’t even know about. You really paid it all off, Prosecutor.”

“Perhaps. Or perhaps not.”

“What do you mean ‘or perhaps not’ when the person involved says it’s true?”

“Sometimes people get confused about whether they have more credit. Sometimes you find land you didn’t even know you owned.”

For the first time in a while, we exchanged lines that felt like seonmundap (Zen riddles), which had become less frequent lately. In times like these, it is difficult to grasp Prosecutor Joo’s intentions.

I could have pressed him further, but when Joo Taeson—who usually prefers clear instructions and straightforward conversation—starts speaking in riddles, it is useless to dig deeper. I have no choice but to wait for the moment he decides to give me the answer. So, I quietly kept my mouth shut.

“Since you mentioned the first trial earlier, I received a call from the public prosecutor last week. They said the sentencing for Tak Sungwoong and Oh Jahyeon is coming up next Friday.”

“Why are you telling me that now?”

The fact that he hadn’t told me until now was so absurd that the corners of my mouth dropped. I barely managed to exhale the shallow smoke I had clumsily inhaled. He explained in his characteristic calm tone, a man who hides his emotions much better than I do.

“Originally, I intended to tell you later. Around next Thursday. If you know too early, you just get anxious and stressed.”

“That goes for you too, Prosecutor.”

“I’m a person who is used to stress.”

“That goes for me too.”

“Still, I want Lee Chaeha to have a little less of it now. Even for trivial things, even if it’s just for a few days.”

“…”

“But thinking about it, I figured you might need to prepare your heart, so I decided to tell you now.”

Knowing he was concerned for me, I didn’t protest any further. I also know that, beyond this, there are many things he covers for me and helps me with in my work life without me even knowing. He even blocks unnecessary news that I wouldn’t know how to handle from reaching my ears. It was the biggest reason why life at the prosecutor’s office had become comfortable.

So, I decided to focus on the news Prosecutor Joo had delivered.

“It’s finally happening.”

“Yes, finally.”

“…”

“The result could be different from our expectations. I’ve seen countless disappointing verdicts during my life as a prosecutor.”

“I know.”

“I just wanted to make sure you didn’t get your hopes up.”

“As if. I have some experience myself, you know.”

We stood in silence, each of us taking a puff of our cigarettes. There was no need to say anything more than that.

Joo Taeson extinguished his cigarette, which was only half-smoked, and snatched the long cigarette I was holding in my mouth. I thought he was going to throw it away, but he deliberately put it back in his own mouth, took a puff of smoke, and then put it out. Surprised, I glanced around. Fortunately, I didn’t feel any eyes on us.

I decided to keep my protest about him being a pervert to myself. Since we were at the police station, I was worried there might be hidden ears and eyes.

We returned to the empty room at the police station and secretly spent a long time spying on the Lee Mooncheol case behind Prosecutor Yoon Gyuho’s back. By the time the lowered sun sent the twilight through the gaps in the window blinds, I stared intently at the video I had watched several times, then took a deep breath.

How did I miss this? The hidden image was right there in the open.

I immediately paused the CCTV footage and pointed to a spot on the screen with my finger.

“Tae… no, Prosecutor. This handcart passing by in the corner—it looks like the handcart belonging to Ms. Ji Youngsook, who came in for the wine theft case.”

His sharp gaze shifted to the corner of the monitor. A brilliant light flashed in his eyes as he confirmed the handcart.

“You’re right. Looking at the sign on the handcart, I’m certain.”

The handcart had a sign with the trade name ‘Maeseol Gamatang’ attached to it. It was a sponsorship sign that had been on Ji Youngsook’s waste-paper handcart.

“It was right before Lee Mooncheol darted out, so he must have run into us as well. Did you see the handcart at the scene, Prosecutor?”

“No. What about you, Officer Lee? Anything you remember in particular?”

Resting my chin on my hand, I peered at the low-resolution CCTV screen and began to trace back the memories of that day.

Children passing by on scooters, a truck passing by selling goods, the large fruit and vegetable store, the person passing by carrying a load of waste paper….

Something else tried to surface, but I couldn’t pin it down. Only a sense of unease felt vivid amidst the gaps of a memory that remained somewhat blurred after several weeks. I clearly had a memory of seeing a handcart. But the sense of incongruity the scene had left me with was something more than that. Something else was different.

However, just like when I had been watching the CCTV all day today, I couldn’t tell what I was supposed to pull out of that memory. With my lower lip firmly bitten, I excluded the uncertain feeling and conveyed only the clear facts.

“I did see a handcart loaded with waste paper.”

“Who was pulling it? Was it Ms. Ji Youngsook?”

“I didn’t see properly who was pulling it.”

People weren’t captured well on the CCTV. Only the handcart was barely caught on the corner. Since there was no other CCTV in this alleyway besides the one secured by the police, the fact that the person pulling the handcart wasn’t captured was a truly regrettable result.

Slowly fitting the given puzzle pieces together, we confirmed any possible possibilities.

“Regardless, a ‘Youngsaengsu’ buyer appeared at the scene where the motorcycle Lee Mooncheol used to flee was located, so it’s hard to view it as a coincidence.”

“According to the information Detective Ma passed on, he said it’s a well-known fact that Lee Mooncheol usually carried soju around with him.”

“Do you think the grandmother knew that too?”

“We have to assume the probability is high. It seems she also frequented the Youngsaengsu office.”

“There’s a possibility that the grandmother put the soju mixed with potassium cyanide into his bag.”

“The one question remaining is how Ms. Ji Youngsook managed to track Lee Mooncheol down.”