The Prosecutor’s Office’s Proposal Chapter 41

I knew Prosecutor Joo had some ulterior motive and was keeping things to himself, but I pretended not to notice and made some vague excuses.

“Are you doing this because there’s some other suspicion regarding the death?”

“No. There isn’t.”

As soon as I answered cautiously, a notification sound played and the door opened.

Prosecutor Joo, who was just leaving the investigation room, spotted me as I stepped out with Chief Tak. Prosecutor Joo bowed his head somewhat perfunctorily toward Chief Tak, but his expression brightened noticeably. His gaze lingered on the bundle of coffees in my hand, and he immediately grasped the situation.

“Why did you make Officer Lee carry the coffee? You should be taking care of the people directly under you, Chief Tak.”

“What are you talking about? I only need to take care of you.”

It was obvious that Chief Tak cherished him like a son. The way he answered with warm eyes and even patted him on the arm, telling him to keep up the good work before leaving, was exactly like a family member. If a stranger had seen it, they would have thought they were father and son.

It was only after Chief Tak had walked down the long hallway and entered the chief prosecutor’s office that I asked him.

“Is Chief Tak married?”

It was a sudden question. I wondered if he cherished Prosecutor Joo this much even though he had his own children.

Prosecutor Joo nodded readily.

“He is. His son is probably entering his third year of high school now. He got married a bit late.”

Prosecutor Joo reached into the cup holder I was holding in both hands, took only his own coffee, and turned his back to me first. I pursed my lips at his broad shoulders, then tucked them back in. Having prepared my heart to be ground down by Prosecutor Joo again today, I followed behind him toward the investigation room.

It was just past lunchtime when an elderly man visited the investigation room. Standing next to the civil service clerk who had knocked on the door was an old grandfather. I thought he was just another petitioner who wouldn’t go home unless he met a prosecutor, as usual, but the civil service clerk’s expression was quite serious.

“He says he’s here to turn himself in.”

Section Chief Song Haneul stood up from his seat before me and greeted the grandfather kindly.

“Please, come into the inner office. Prosecutor, shall I hear him out first?”

“No. I’ll take it.”

Prosecutor Joo disappeared into the office with the grandfather. It was extremely rare for someone who wanted to turn themselves in to come to the prosecutor’s office instead of the police station. The three of us made eye contact with wide, round eyes, then looked back and forth at the tightly closed small office door.

Prosecutor Joo came out 15 minutes later.

“Officer Lee, come in.”

I was a bit puzzled that I, not Section Chief Song Haneul, had been called, but Prosecutor Joo’s following words were even more surprising.

“This is a case Officer Lee was in charge of.”

“I’ll go right in.”

Was there any cold case I was in charge of where someone would come to confess?

Tilting my head in confusion, I went in and sat down next to Prosecutor Joo.

“Please tell the investigator, Lee Chaeha, what you said once more.”

At Prosecutor Joo’s words, the grandfather lifted the water cup placed in front of him, took a sip, and opened his lips. He looked quite old; deep wrinkles were etched into his skin, and age spots were spread here and there.

“I run a small inn, and a Korean living abroad came by asking to stay. Their nationality was Russia… I think it was.”

I squeezed the hand I had resting on my knee without realizing it. A Korean with Russian nationality. It could only be Koryo-in Mr. Kim.

“But not long after they went into the room, they just died suddenly from a heart attack.”

“At what time and how did you discover them?”

When I asked, the old man answered calmly.

“I found them around 8:00 PM when I went in to bring them towels. But someone had committed suicide at the inn before. I remembered how I suffered from the police investigation back then and how difficult it was because rumors spread that a body had been found. So, I figured they weren’t from our country anyway, and if I dumped them somewhere, I could avoid the hassle, so I moved them to the market near the casino and dumped them.”

“How did you transport them?”

“There’s a large cart I use for cleaning. I put them in that, loaded them into my car, and took them out to dump them.”

“Then why did you decide to turn yourself in?”

“After thinking about it, it’s been weighing on my heart. I’ve felt like I did the dead person wrong, and I haven’t been able to sleep; I’ve been having nightmares and feeling uneasy… I didn’t kill them, but I felt it was wrong of me to do that for no reason. I came to turn myself in because I feel sorry for the deceased.”

I glanced sideways to check Prosecutor Joo’s expression. Whether he believed the grandfather’s excuse or not, he was rubbing his chin and listening to the testimony seriously. I couldn’t read Prosecutor Joo’s thoughts, but my gut feeling was that this grandfather was lying.

If he hadn’t killed them as he claimed, there was no reason to go through with the abandonment. There was also a lack of motivation to complete such a difficult task.

A dead person’s body is heavier than you think, and the psychological pressure of having to dump a body without being caught is significant, so even if an average person intends to abandon one, they usually give up halfway through.

It is a common confession among criminals who have committed murder that disposing of the body is the hardest part. It consumes a great deal of physical energy, and there is the risk of witnesses appearing or leaving traces on CCTV while moving it.

I asked about the personal information of the target, which I assumed Prosecutor Joo had already verified.

“Grandfather, what is your height and weight?”

“170cm and 60kg.”

“The deceased was over 180cm tall. Are you sure you did it alone?”

“Even though the deceased was taller than me, it wasn’t that hard because I used a cart. I have more strength than I look. I’ve done physical labor my whole life.”

“How did you put them in the cart?”

“I turned the cart so the handle was at the top, leaned it against the wall, and pushed the body in. Then I pressed the handle like a lever, and the body went into the cart.”

“What about putting them in the car?”

“There’s something that looks like a slide. There are many heavy things at the inn, so it’s easy to load them into the car.”

“Why did you choose the market as the site for abandoning the body?”

“Just so that people would find them quickly.”

The method of putting the body in the cart and the reason for choosing the abandonment site both sounded somewhat plausible. Since it wasn’t a body he had killed himself, it wouldn’t have mattered if it was discovered early.

I tilted my head again and continued with my questions.

“Did you wear a mask, gloves, a hat, or anything like that?”

I intentionally gave three examples.

A rain-soaked glove had been found at the scene. Because of the rainwater, no DNA could be extracted, so we didn’t know if it belonged to the culprit, but I was curious if a glove would appear in his testimony.

“No. I just did it with my bare hands.”

“Still, wasn’t it hard that day?”

I threw out a leading question. This was because the one important detail that a real body-dumper would absolutely have to mention hadn’t come up yet.

“It was hard because it was raining.”

The grandfather gave the answer he needed to give. I slowly leaned my back against the chair.

Could it be that the testimony is all true? Just as my thoughts were tilting to the other side, Prosecutor Joo, who had been maintaining silence beside me, asked him a question for the first time.

“Grandfather, what kind of work did you do when you were young?”

As soon as he heard that question, the old man’s withered pupils suddenly came alive with a gleam. The grandfather straightened his back and answered in a voice filled with pride.

“I am a retired miner.”

Goosebumps raced over my skin, which had forgotten how to breathe. My tightly shut lips parted helplessly. It felt as if the flesh inside my shirt was all crawling.

The test Prosecutor Joo had given me.

The case of the icepick murder of Grandma Park at the Osong apartment.

In that case, where I had deduced that the person who turned themselves in wasn’t the real culprit, the person who had turned themselves in was also a grandfather who was a former miner.

When I turned my head again to look at Prosecutor Joo, his eyes were shining even more intensely than the old man’s. Without showing the slightest bit of excitement, he calmly declared to the old man:

“You won’t be able to avoid indictment. Abandonment of a body cannot be treated as a non-indictment.”

“That’s fine.”

“And we will be using a lie detector. Do you agree?”

“I even brought the evidence, must I really go that far?”

The old man bowed his waist, then lifted the shopping bag he had brought and held it out to us. Inside was a blanket. It was very strange, as it was not common for people to come to turn themselves in while even carrying evidence.

“This is the blanket I wrapped the body in on the day I threw it away.”