The Prosecutor’s Office’s Proposal Chapter 54

I found myself gradually drawn to Lee Chaeha, who appeared quiet on the surface but held on desperately within. Even as I felt guilt, I was inevitably captivated. After all, Lee Chaeha’s way of life was a reflection of my own.

And, though it might be a delusion, Lee Chaeha often looked at me with a similar gaze. Even though he would recoil if our fingers just brushed, he looked as if he were waiting for me to touch him. Lee Chaeha disguised himself with a rigid, expressionless mask, but his pupils, which clearly reflected his emotions, would occasionally linger on my fingers for a long time.

‘What are you thinking when you look at me?’

Whenever I discovered his cheeks flushing crimson even from a small kindness of mine.

‘Do you also want to confirm if I exist, Officer Lee?’

I was often seized by the urge to ask Lee Chaeha that.

Today was the same. Lee Chaeha was standing next to me, pretending everything was fine despite the fierce argument we had at the playground yesterday. We were in the room watching the polygraph investigation of a former miner who had come forward claiming to have disposed of the body of the Koryo-in Mr. Kim.

The miner’s confession, as expected, was a lie. Naturally, I had assumed he would know Oh Jahyeon, but the polygraph results came out contrary to my belief.

He doesn’t know Oh Jahyeon.

Unlike me, who had been obsessed with this case for a long time, Lee Chaeha began to harbor different suspicions. Doubts such as whether Oh Jahyeon was truly the culprit.

“It’s too early to conclude. It’s possible Oh Jahyeon didn’t appear in person. There’s a possibility he only met an errand runner. It’s certain there was an accomplice who helped with the disposal.”

“We should also consider the possibility that it’s not Oh Jahyeon.”

“No, it is Oh Jahyeon.”

“…Isn’t that too presumptuous? No matter how certain it seems, you shouldn’t conduct an investigation after reaching a conclusion.”

Theoretically, he was right, but I had been buried in this pile of dirt for too long, and I could no longer think that the painful weight covering my body wasn’t dirt. Lee Chaeha was someone I had hurt and pulled in because I needed the gaze of another person to help and watch over me, yet in the end, I pushed away his opinion at a critical moment.

“If that old man doesn’t know Oh Jahyeon, I think there’s an errand runner.”

“It could be someone else, Prosecutor.”

Lee Chaeha didn’t easily bend his opinion.

Unable to reach a conclusion to our argument, we returned to the prosecutor’s office. Chief Song and Officer No were away, so there was no one else in the office.

I tossed the file I had been carrying onto the desk and tapped it with my fist to call Lee Chaeha. Lee Chaeha, who had been sitting and reaching for some documents, looked up.

“Check the miner’s call logs for the past month again.”

“What points should I look for?”

“Check if anyone who contacted the old man matches the base stations near the disposal site on the day the body was dumped. Also, check if any burner phones under foreign names appear. If any come up, track them.”

“Understood.”

“By today.”

“…Yes, I’ll do it right away.”

Watching his round eyes fixate on the wall clock, I logged into the prosecution portal. Lee Chaeha bit his lower lip slightly before releasing it; having calmed his mind even at the unreasonable demand, he quietly grabbed his mouse.

I quickly wrote the indictment opinion for a husband who killed his wife with nicotine and checked the deposition shared by Chief Song. It was a young man who had stolen from a department store more than five times, and an opinion was attached that he should be indicted for habitual theft under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes. Since he wasn’t a repeat offender, it was a case that should have been handled as habitual theft under the Criminal Act.

“You’ve been in the field for years, yet you still can’t do simple things properly.”

Perhaps thinking it was directed at him, Lee Chaeha, who had been staring at his monitor until his eyes looked like they might pop out, glanced in my direction. I responded without meeting his gaze.

“I’m not talking about you, Officer Lee. You’ve been working well lately.”

“Thank you, Prosecutor.”

“I’m going out for a bit, so tell the others to leave when they arrive. Officer Lee, I’ll buy you a lunch box for dinner, so wait for me.”

“Yes? Yes, thank you. You’ve been providing dinner lately.”

“It’s to make you do more work, Officer Lee.”

“Yes…”

Listening to his slightly deflated voice, I put on the jacket I had taken off. Lee Chaeha firmly believed he was maintaining an expressionless face, but he didn’t know that he was still revealing quite a lot of emotion through his eyes. His round eyes tilted slightly downward before looking up.

Adjusting my tie and pulling an envelope from my drawer, I asked Lee Chaeha again.

“Have you made up your mind about whether to continue the investigation?”

“…You asked me that not even two hours ago.”

“You seem a bit slow.”

Not wanting to respond this time, he pressed his lips together and turned his head. Ever since our fierce argument at the playground—even before that—every element of Lee Chaeha that had bothered me touched me more sharply.

Is it because I heard last night that he lived while being beaten by his uncle?

I wondered if that was the reason he made such expressions, and if that was how he could endure my harsh treatment as if it were nothing. I asked the question with an air of indifference.

“Did your uncle beat you badly, Officer Lee?”

“…No. It was just to the extent of him knocking my head when he was angry or making me hold a plank. It was a level of physical abuse that wouldn’t even count as a report for child abuse in this country.”

It was an unexpectedly candid answer.

“Realistically, even if there’s no punishment, abuse is abuse. You’re saying it happened every day.”

“That’s true.”

Lee Chaeha hesitated for a moment before adding.

“I think I shouldn’t have said that.”

“Why.”

“It’s awkward. Talking about things like this. And it’s not even a good thing. I’ve forgotten it all now.”

His voice was firm, not matching his delicate and fragile appearance. As expected, my heart was swayed by that point.

“What’s the point of regretting it after you’ve already said everything because you were angry?”

“…That’s also true. Where are you going, Prosecutor?”

“I’m going to go to another office for a moment and act like a ‘bad’ prosecutor.”

“Prosecutor Joo, you’re a ‘good’ prosecutor.”

“That doesn’t sound like something someone who argued with me like that yesterday would say.”

As I intentionally held his gaze for a long time, as expected, a slight flush bloomed on Lee Chaeha’s cheeks.

“Anyway, I’m going to make an exception today.”

“Please go ahead.”

I left room 512 and moved to the 6th floor. As I opened the door to the office of Prosecutor Yoon Gyu-ho of the 2nd Violent Crimes Division, I made eye contact with one of the clerks. Since Prosecutor Yoon, unlike me, used the inner office as his personal workspace, I pointed toward it and asked.

“Is Prosecutor Yoon in?”

“Yes, Prosecutor.”

It was only after repeating the act of knocking and opening the door once more that I met Prosecutor Yoon. Upon seeing me, Prosecutor Yoon, as usual, straightened his hunched posture while clearly revealing his displeasure.

“What is it, Prosecutor Joo? Coming all the way up here. We’re not on the kind of terms to meet like this, are we?”

“What a grand welcome. I came because I have a favor to ask.”

“A favor? Does the great Prosecutor Joo have something to ask of me?”

“There are two bastards that bother me, and I need to clear them out.”

I pulled a chair from the corner and sat in front of his desk. I then handed him the document envelope I had brought from my office. Prosecutor Yoon pulled out the materials from the envelope, scanned them, and twitched his eyebrows.

“Baek Youngjun… he’s from the police academy, isn’t he? Does he have any charges against him?”

“I have intel.”

“Why aren’t you handling it yourself, Prosecutor Joo?”

“In some respects, I’m an interested party. Baek Youngjun once touched someone important to me.”

“Uncharacteristically, you’re meeting important people these days?”

“I suppose so.”

The tip of my tongue felt bitter as I answered.

“What’s the charge in the intel?”

“There’s an allegation that he sexually harassed a suspect at the police station where he worked before, and it seems to be true. It looks like he used his connections to bury it, so please investigate it again. For reference, the victim is a man.”

“But for someone at the executive level…”

“To be precise, he was at the executive level. He was demoted after taking bribes at his previous police station. So now, he’s working in the Scientific Investigation division against his will.”

Even though he was demoted, it was true that it was uncomfortable to touch a police officer. The relationship between the prosecution and the police had been strained for a long time. It was because the prosecution had wielded its power unilaterally.

Prosecutor Yoon sighed heavily while reading Baek Youngjun’s career record, but it didn’t seem like he would refuse my request. This was because the statement of the person claiming the damage was quite concrete and clear.

“And what should I do if it comes out as sexual harassment?”