The Prosecutor’s Office’s Proposal Chapter 27

“My personality is so foul that sometimes I go completely off the rails. Since it’s my first time killing someone, I was a bit flustered. I wasn’t in the right state of mind to take his ring.”

“You were very calm for someone in that state. You checked the victim bleeding, and you walked away instead of running.”

“I don’t really run. I’m quite heavy because I’m fat.”

The pressure exerted by Prosecutor Joo and me was quite good, but the gangster held out well, and the interrogation was at a standstill.

We pressed him for several hours after that, but the former gangster didn’t back down from his initial claim. He insisted that they had gotten into an argument, he had impulsively stabbed the victim in the thigh, and the victim had simply been unlucky and died.

I left the interrogation room with Prosecutor Joo, feeling quite exhausted. By this point, I wondered if I had a prejudice against former gangsters. Prosecutor Joo grabbed my arm. I shouldn’t have let it bother me, but I flinched and shuddered at his touch again.

“Let’s go in after smoking a cigarette.”

“Yes, Prosecutor.”

We went up to the rooftop like last time. Since our coats were in the office, the wind that rushed in as soon as we opened the rooftop door was unbearably cold. Prosecutor Joo didn’t tremble even a finger, as if he didn’t feel the cold.

The silver trash can in the corner was piled high with cigarette butts that people had discarded throughout the day. It was a popular spot for smoking. However, because it was close to quitting time, not even a sparrow’s shadow remained on the rooftop.

He pulled out a cigarette pack and fumbled in his inner pocket as if looking for a lighter, so I pulled mine out from my jacket’s inner pocket first. He looked at the lighter I held out and pulled one corner of his mouth upward.

“You’re well-prepared.”

“I always prepare cigarettes and a lighter when interrogating. Because suspects often want a cigarette when they confess.”

“Oh, so it wasn’t prepared for me? That’s a bit disappointing. I thought, for a moment, that you were thinking of me, Officer Lee.”

It seemed he had developed a new method of being sarcastic. I thought of Prosecutor Joo every day, but since I wasn’t a smoker, I soon forgot about the lighter that had run out of fuel.

His neat lips held a long, white cigarette, and I lit the lighter, blocking the cold winter wind with my palm. As Prosecutor Joo tilted his head to light it, the orange glow from the flame stained the area around his cheeks.

Prosecutor Joo pulled out one more cigarette and held it toward my lips. I silently parted my lips and took the tip into my mouth. Prosecutor Joo’s gaze lingered on my lips for an strangely long time. The sensation of that gaze was more vivid than the texture of the cigarette filter beginning to get wet inside my mouth.

As I tried to light the lighter again, he stopped me and brought over his own lit cigarette. I silently put the lighter in my pocket and inhaled the fire he offered. The pulse in my ears rang loudly. I inhaled the smoke deeply as best as I could, then turned my head to exhale before speaking to him, pretending to be composed.

“You can just use the lighter.”

“I wanted to see your pretty face up close.”

He gave a somewhat slick answer that didn’t suit him, and then asked out of the blue.

“Did that senior who followed you around, saying he liked you, say he liked your face, Officer Lee?”

“He was just a strange person. Why would anyone like my face?”

“It seems there wouldn’t be much left of you if you took away your face, Officer Lee.”

He flicked the cigarette ash and added,

“Perhaps I am a strange person, too.”

I couldn’t understand at all what he was talking about. Our rhythm had been quite good when we worked together in the interrogation room, but outside of that, it was never easy.

It was fortunate that I had already developed a callous on my heart. I didn’t get deeply hurt even when I paid attention to him.

I was still only puffing on the cigarette without inhaling. He inhaled the smoke deeply, exhaled it, and looked up at the sky, which had begun to turn a deep navy blue.

“Officer Lee, are you going to investigate that person further?”

“Well… the evidence is clear, and the statements have been consistent. In my gut, I suspected there might be murderous intent, but his financial records are clean, and there’s no connection to the victim. Rather, I think we might have had too much prejudice because he’s a former gangster.”

“…So that is your thought, Officer Lee.”

“Does the Prosecutor think differently? If you have an opinion, please tell me….”

“Officer Lee, I thought you were someone who knew how to deduce things boldly…. I am quite disappointed.”

Prosecutor Joo inhaled the smoke deeply, exhaled, and suddenly extinguished his cigarette, which wasn’t even half-burned. I looked up at him, leaving the cigarette burning between my fingers.

“What should I do so you won’t be disappointed?”

“Well. Try inhaling the cigarette smoke more deeply. That’s why your smoking skills aren’t improving. You’re still only puffing.”

“What does that…”

“It’s the same with your attitude toward cases. You need to put thick, harsh smoke deep into your lungs and then exhale it, but that damned smoke of yours only ever reaches your mouth.”

“…”

“Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“Yes.”

“It’s not that processing it quickly is what’s important….”

Prosecutor Joo cut off his voice as if he wanted me to finish the sentence. The ash hanging at the end of the cigarette scattered in the strong, cold wind. I hesitated, then opened my lips, which had become numb from the cold.

“…Is it important to process it accurately?”

“No, you’re wrong. You have to process it cruelly.”

Prosecutor Joo continued the conversation, enunciating each word as if crushing them.

“We must demand the maximum sentence possible for that bastard who killed a person. Even if the judge at the trial imposes an absurd sentence and tears my logic apart.”

“…”

“Until the trial prosecutor takes the case file to the courtroom, that bastard is on my scale. I want to put the heaviest weight I can on the other side of that balance scale. That’s the only way the balance of the world might be maintained, even if just a little. Don’t you agree?”

In his piercing black eyes, I could easily read his hatred for someone who had killed a human being. This time, the pulse in my ears throbbed for a different reason. It was because I felt as though the fragments of hostility and rage Joo Taeson harbored toward the murderer might also splash onto me, the son of Lee Gilyoung.

I hid my trembling and answered with difficulty.

“…That is so.”

“That is my job, and since you are my assistant, Officer Lee, find another way. The statement you wrote is my document that goes up with my name on it. And I don’t believe that bastard committed injury resulting in death.”

“Understood. I will investigate further.”

Is it possible to find a murder motive that the police couldn’t find after spending weeks on it? Does one even exist in the first place?

It felt hopeless, but if the police had obediently believed the former gangster’s words, they might not have exerted much effort, contrary to what I thought. Just like me a moment ago.

I rubbed out the cigarette, which still had a long trail of ash since I hadn’t smoked much of it, and followed behind Prosecutor Joo.

“Prosecutor.”

He, who had been descending the stairs ahead, stopped and looked back.

“What if it really is injury resulting in death?”

“That’s impossible. If you don’t change that way of thinking by today, Officer Lee, my offer is canceled. That would mean your ability is below my expectations.”

“Understood.”

Perhaps because of the question I had just asked, his gaze seemed to distrust me more than before. But it was a question I had judged to be absolutely necessary to ask.

While I had lost some of Prosecutor Joo’s trust through our conversation, I had gained certainty. The certainty that he had seen something that led him to conclude it wasn’t injury resulting in death.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have said that my mind had to be changed by the end of the day.

I hurriedly followed him down a few stairs to finally catch up. Prosecutor Joo seemed to be planning on taking the stairs all the way to the 5th floor. I moved my feet busily to keep pace with his long, steady strides, then turned my head sideways with difficulty and spoke.

“If I were Chief Song, would you have told me exactly what you are thinking right now, Prosecutor?”

“Yes.”

I barely swallowed a sigh that threatened to escape. Since I was thirteen, the world had lost all mercy toward me. Ever since I left the surface and sank into the deep sea, the deep, dark currents that enveloped me only stole away my body heat, and Prosecutor Joo was no exception.

When I returned to the office, Chief Song and Officer No had already left for the day. I truly regretted the absence of my colleagues, as Prosecutor Joo was at least a little kinder to me when others were around.