The Prosecutor’s Office’s Proposal Chapter 34

I knew about my father’s case, so I had expected that he would know about my family circumstances. I just hadn’t wanted to answer.

I wondered if he had made me drink for this, but because of the soju, it was becoming increasingly difficult to even lift my head. Before I knew it, my knees gave way, and I rested my weight against Prosecutor Joo’s legs and bowed my head low. He didn’t pull away; he accepted my weight.

“I lived… at my uncle’s house.”

“Did he treat you well?”

“No, not really…. I went to the Police Academy to get out of that house. Because it had mandatory dorms and the tuition was cheap. Anyway, I don’t want to talk about that anymore. Please talk about yourself, Prosecutor Joo. Why do you need my help?”

“…Because I want to know if I’ve gone mad.”

Suddenly, the murmur I had thought I misheard on the day we first talked on the rooftop came back to me.

‘I thought I had gone mad.’

I parted my lips and tried to push the janchi-guksu into my mouth, but failed. I couldn’t move my chopsticks properly, so the noodles slid right out.

“Officer Lee, you’re like a fool when you’re drunk.”

“You’re the one who made me drink a bottle and a half on an empty stomach, Prosecutor.”

“Let’s drink one more bottle.”

“I’m… not even sure if I can walk right now. I’m going home…. I have to go to work tomorrow.”

I lifted my wrist to check the time, but the hands of the clock were shaking dizzyingly. Prosecutor Joo grabbed my wrist and checked the time for me instead. I was startled and tried to pull it away, but I couldn’t because I was being forcibly held by his large hand.

Prosecutor Joo caught my arm as I tried to flee and looked me in the face. Those sharp eyes, like honed blades, kept piercing through me. That was the problem.

“We’ve only been drinking for 30 minutes.”

“It’s been a bottle and a half in 30 minutes….”

I had felt it during the last company dinner, too—the people in this prosecutor’s office had an insane speed of drinking. They would drink two or three bottles in an hour.

Having been made to drink a bottle and a half in 30 minutes, I was beyond caring and stood up as I pleased, despite him holding onto me. The remaining janchi-guksu and tofu kimchi were of no concern.

After saying goodbye, I stepped out of the pojangmacha. I thought I was walking forward, but suddenly a heavy grip held me back, as I had somehow started walking backward. I looked to the side, and naturally, it was Prosecutor Joo.

“You’re the first person I’ve ever seen walk backward because they’re drunk.”

“Ah, this is tough!”

Staggering, I bent my waist, which just wouldn’t straighten, and grabbed my knees. My alcohol tolerance was one bottle, but I had consumed a bottle and a half in 30 minutes, so my body was collapsing rapidly. Moreover, it was on an empty stomach.

I needed to go to the official residence and pass out, but in the meantime, the intoxication surged even further; I felt like I would be sprawled on the pavement in a moment. Prosecutor Joo leaned down and looked at me, unable to even keep my lips closed.

“Do you feel like throwing up?”

“Nooo, I don’t throw up….”

“Well, that’s a relief.”

“…Prosecutor Joo makes things hard for me.”

“Me?”

“I get scolded every day.”

I muttered while holding my knees. It had been a while since every muscle in my body had escaped my control. The rebellion of the lips that were currently blabbering was not my will, either. Prosecutor Joo replied.

“I scold you because you deserve to be scolded.”

“I don’t knowww…, I get scolded every day. I work late on weekdays, and do extra shifts on weekends.”

“That’s because you’re still clumsy.”

“Ever since I was thirteen, I get scolded everywhere I go…. I want to do well, too….”

“…Surprisingly, I do think you are doing well, Officer Lee.”

Prosecutor Joo’s arm slid under my armpit, and my bent waist was forcibly straightened. However, my feet were broken, so I couldn’t alternate stepping on the ground properly.

In the end, I was transported to the official residence like a prisoner, with my two feet dragging behind me. Turning the corner, I spotted a convenience store and raised my index finger.

“Ice cream.”

“Let’s just go.”

“No…. Go buy it. Go and buy it….”

“Good grief. You’re a real handful. Officer Lee, can you stand?”

“Yes….”

“I don’t believe you.”

Looking around, he dragged me to a bench placed in the alley. He sat me down and hurried to the convenience store.

In the meantime, I witnessed the strange sight of the ground rotating 90 degrees. It turned out I had just tilted over and collapsed. Prosecutor Joo, who was approaching with ice cream, placed both hands on his waist and let out a sigh.

“You have your superior run errands for you while you lie down and sleep. It’s minus 10 degrees, do you want to freeze to death like that?”

“I’m dying….”

“…I shouldn’t even bother talking. Do you remember the passcode to your residence?”

“Yes…, the ice cream….”

“Here.”

Even while out of my mind, I took the ice cream well and tucked it into my coat pocket.

My body, which had been lolling on the bench, was plucked back up into the air like a carrot harvested by a farmer’s hand. Prosecutor Joo climbed to the third floor of the villa without much effort and entered the passcode I was calling out intermittently. Fortunately, the door opened on the first try.

He sighed, turned on the lights, laid me on the bed, and took off my coat and socks. He then brought the pajamas I had folded in the morning, and just as he was about to undo the buttons of my shirt, he swept his hair back and sighed.

“…I can’t do this while in my right mind. I won’t be able to restrain myself.”

From then on, my mind grew hazy, and my voice wouldn’t come out properly. Through trembling eyelashes, I barely saw the sight of his long fingers, having covered me with the duvet, picking up the medicine bag on the bedside table. Since no one ever came to the official residence, I didn’t bother hiding it. After all, as he had guessed, I didn’t have a single friend.

“Do you take sleeping pills?”

“Yes….”

A groan-like answer barely flowed from between my lips.

“I thought you were asleep, but you are answering. Officer Lee, you even have drool on your lips.”

“I will… correct that.”

“You should swallow your drool properly. You’re an adult, can’t you even do that?”

It’s not that I don’t know how to swallow. It’s because I’m drunk.

I wanted to complain, but now every muscle in my body refused to move. My eyelids were almost completely closed, and it felt as if I were peeking at Prosecutor Joo through a crack in a door.

The look in Prosecutor Joo’s eyes as he sat on the edge of the bed and looked down at me was somehow different from how it was in the office. Was it because I had been drinking? Just like when we were sitting at the pojangmacha earlier, he had a stinging, sharp expression, as if his eyes might fall out.

As someone who had even shared cigarettes with me, he didn’t seem to mind the saliva, as he rubbed my wet lips with his thumb. His thumb seemed to enter my mouth slightly, but it slipped out without invading the inside. Several times.

Drunk and out of my mind as I was, I felt a nervous tension for no reason and curled my toes under the blanket. I knew I should dislike it, but the fact that it made me shiver every single time bothered me. I was so afraid that Prosecutor Joo would interpret and notice the signals leaking from me that I couldn’t even take a deep breath.

“Officer Lee, did it not bother you to share a cigarette with me?”

Prosecutor Joo smelled like alcohol, too. I couldn’t think of anything to answer.

It was an expression that didn’t seem to expect a response, as if he were just speaking while drunk. He seemed to already know that I was in a state where answering was impossible. The smooth fingers that had been rubbing my lips moved to my earlobe this time. He grabbed the thick flesh and let out a light sigh.

“…I should go now.”

With that notification, Prosecutor Joo’s touch left me. At the same time, the tension left my toes, which had been curled painfully. It felt as if his body temperature had given me a burn.

His voice, loosened by alcohol, bade me farewell.

“Sleep well, Officer Lee.”

“Get home safe….”

I let out a long breath. I felt as if I had faintly heard the sound of a suppressed laugh.

📄🖊️

I died.

That was the first thought that came to mind the moment I woke up in the morning.

I snapped my eyes open and sprang up as if bouncing, but fortunately, I wasn’t late. Seven o’clock in the morning, the same time I usually woke up out of habit.

Looking around, Prosecutor Joo was, of course, gone. It was a beat later that I remembered his face as he hesitated while holding my pajamas. Amidst the fragments of a headache that felt like it would shatter my skull, the scenes from last night came back vividly.

I bowed my head and looked down at my body. Fortunately, my attire was exactly the same as when I had left for work yesterday. Whether I had tossed and turned all night, my white shirt and black suit pants were wrinkled, rumpled, and a mess.