The Prosecutor’s Office’s Proposal Chapter 28

I sighed in secret, then carefully reviewed the documents again and replayed all the CCTV footage that the police had already checked. The victim, having finished the company dinner, was seen walking unsteadily through a dark alleyway. The victim disappeared into a blind spot of the CCTV.

A moment later, the former gangster appeared on another CCTV. The streetlight where the trash bag was supposedly placed was standing in a position not captured by the CCTV. Not long after, the former gangster ran in the direction of the streetlight. There was definitely no knife when he went in that direction, but when he walked back out, a knife was held in his hand.

And the scene where he chased the victim and stabbed his thigh was vividly captured by the camera. There was no footage of the two getting into an argument or the scene where he pulled out the knife, but his claim that he picked up the weapon seemed to be true.

“Would he have known it was a knife just by looking at the handle?”

I muttered to myself, replaying the CCTV footage several times. Prosecutor Joo seemed busy; he didn’t pay any attention to my side and was busy flipping through documents with his fingers, which were covered in thimbles. The rustling sound of paper being turned and the sound of me pressing the spacebar to watch the CCTV again were the only noises in the prosecutor’s office.

I hadn’t been able to eat dinner, and by 11:00 PM, I hadn’t achieved any significant results, but Prosecutor Joo hadn’t left work. I remembered Prosecutor Joo’s threat that he would be disappointed in me if I didn’t change my thinking by the end of the day.

If I stood up with my bag to leave work before Prosecutor Joo, he would surely ask if my thoughts on it being injury resulting in death had changed, but I hadn’t found anything yet. So, I had to choose one: find it out and then leave, or leave work later than Prosecutor Joo.

The reason I was obsessed with Prosecutor Joo’s proposal—the details of which I didn’t even know yet—was simple. No matter what that plan was, if I ended up in Prosecutor Joo’s bad books, I would be ostracized by other staff at the prosecutor’s office, rendering my personnel transfer completely pointless. On top of that, I was always thirsty for others’ recognition.

‘Where on earth did Prosecutor Joo get the conviction that there was intent to murder?’

While looking at the documents forwarded by the police for the second time, I carefully examined the suspect’s criminal record report attached to the very bottom. This was the only document I hadn’t checked thoroughly today, so it was my last hope.

The former gangster had 12 prior convictions. They were mainly for assault and injury.

As I read the charges, I felt a strange premonition, so I accessed the prosecutor’s office portal and downloaded all 12 judgments the former gangster had received in the meantime. They totaled several hundred pages.

I scrolled the mouse wheel while listening to the sound of Prosecutor Joo turning pages. When I had read about nine precedents, I saw that the former gangster had once been punished for aiding and abetting injury. Looking at the criminal record report, it was a charge that didn’t stand out at all, buried among other assault and injury charges, but once I actually read the judgment, it wasn’t like that. He had been present at the scene where a fellow organization member stabbed another organization member’s thigh with a knife, causing death.

In other words, the former gangster knew from experience that a person could die if their thigh was stabbed. Since it remained in the records, it could be proven in court as well.

This was the basis for Prosecutor Joo’s conviction of the former gangster’s intent to murder.

I couldn’t believe the fact that he had searched for every single case, even those that appeared in the criminal record report, for a case that was to be assigned to me.

‘He’s suffocatingly meticulous.’

After checking all the remaining precedents and finding the necessary materials, I spoke to him. It was past midnight.

“Prosecutor, I have found evidence that allows us to infer that there was dolus eventualis regarding murder in this case.”

Prosecutor Joo looked up. I continued speaking.

“I have read all the precedents for which the suspect was punished. He was present at a scene where a fellow organization member killed someone, and at that time, the victim died of hemorrhagic shock after being stabbed in the thigh. Since it was a case from several years ago, the main culprit was punished for injury resulting in death. However, last year, a precedent emerged where a similar type of gangster crime was punished as murder. In the Supreme Court.”

“Go home. It’s past midnight, but since you couldn’t leave, I’ll count it as today.”

“Did I pass?”

“Yes. I won’t need to doubt you in the future, Officer Lee.”

It felt like I had climbed another mountain pass. I felt like I definitely knew what Prosecutor Joo wanted from me. Look closely, and look at it again with a fresh perspective.

If it had been another prosecutor, they would have just sent this case to trial as injury resulting in death, if only because it was troublesome. Because the culprit had already confessed, and the physical evidence was perfect.

However, Prosecutor Joo Taeson was not that kind of person. No matter how much he might deny it, he was ultimately a just person. Someone who works hard to make criminals pay a fair price for their crimes. What evidence is clearer than one’s actions when it comes to understanding a person?

Of course, I didn’t take into account his attitude toward me when judging Prosecutor Joo. Even a kind person was bound to treat me badly, and compared to that, Prosecutor Joo wasn’t on the bad side. I felt disappointed sometimes, but it wasn’t enough to tear apart my hardened heart.

I tidied my seat, stood up, put on my coat, and asked.

“Aren’t you leaving work, Prosecutor?”

“I’ll go soon. I only need to read this. So, are you starting the investigation tomorrow?”

“Yes, I think I need to do some on-site questioning. And look for more CCTV footage, too.”

“Let’s go out together tomorrow.”

He paused for a moment, then added.

“Thank you for your hard work until this late hour.”

“Thank you.”

“Take this.”

I approached him at his call and looked down at his hand, which was stretched toward me. Two blue thimbles lay on his large palm.

“You have to wear thimbles. If you flip through a lot of paper, even if it’s okay for now, your fingers will get hurt.”

“Thank you.”

I received the new thimbles carefully, gripped them tightly, and then let go. The thimbles, which had been squeezed, quickly stretched and regained their original size.

After putting the thimbles in my desk drawer and saying goodbye once more, I left the prosecutor’s office. The hallways of the prosecutor’s office, where everyone had left and the lights were off, were dark. I exited the square, upright building and stepped into the dark winter night, which felt as if it had swallowed ink.

While tightening my scarf and walking quickly with my hands in my pockets, I discovered a street vendor selling walnut cakes near the staff residence. I hesitated, then bought a bag, thinking I might give it to the late-working Prosecutor Joo. I don’t know why, but the side of his face, focused for hours on bowing his head and flipping through documents, kept flickering in my mind. Along with the greeting that I had worked hard, and the two thimbles that had been resting on his wide palm.

It was clearly Prosecutor Joo’s kindness that he had praised me and given me the thimbles. It wasn’t the kind of remark I heard at my previous workplace instead of sarcasm; it was genuine recognition. So—though I shouldn’t have—my heart softened immediately.

I walked back toward the prosecutor’s office holding the walnut cakes, but when I looked up at room 512 from outside the fence, the lights were already off. Since it took about 20 minutes round-trip, it wasn’t strange that Prosecutor Joo could have left work in the meantime.

I squeezed and released the mouth of the bag from which hot steam was leaking, looking up at the sparsely lit windows of the building. Joo Taeson was a man who could accurately read my scarlet letter. What on earth was I trying to show or gain with something like this against a man like that?

It was fortunate that Prosecutor Joo had left work before I could reveal my sincerity with a small, worthless gesture. I looked quietly at the dark windows, cooling the mind that had become excessively heated.

I soon turned my back and threw a piece of my unguarded heart into the street trash can without regret. The trash can made a heavy sound as it swallowed the walnut cakes in my stead.

“Let’s not get weak.”

Loneliness was my way of surviving.

At least if I wanted to avoid being kicked out of the pack.

I shoved my hand, still warm from the walnut cake bag, into my pocket and turned my feet toward my small studio apartment.

At lunch the next day, none of the prosecutor’s office staff sent me a message. I tentatively asked Chief Song Haneul if he was eating lunch, but he replied in an apologetic tone.

“I’m meeting a friend outside for lunch today. Let’s eat together tomorrow.”

“Yes, Chief. Enjoy your meal.”

I greeted him as brightly as possible, as I didn’t want to make Chief Song feel burdened.