The Prosecutor’s Office’s Proposal Chapter 7

“…You seem a bit naive about the ways of the world. It’ll probably take some time for you to regret your own choices. If it were me, while picking up the money Oh Jahyeon threw, I would’ve thought, ‘I made a mistake, I should’ve just stuck it out with the police.’”

“Perhaps one day I will.”

I answered briefly and pressed my lips into a firm line. If he had said any more, it would have been hard to endure, but fortunately, Prosecutor Joo stopped and did not continue.

Prosecutor Joo’s attitude, which grated on my nerves, was unexpected. That was because he had clearly treated me with kindness when I met him in my capacity as a police officer two years ago, and again when we talked at the Prosecutors’ Office earlier today. Whether he was naturally like this—as rumored—or if he just felt like being cruel to me specifically, remained to be seen.

The forensic laboratory at Danhyeon General Hospital stood like a pale ghost in the rainy darkness. The morgue I followed Prosecutor Joo Taeson into was filled with the familiar yet unpleasant smell of chemicals. The detective and the medical examiner were already there, waiting for us. I had been worried that a police officer I knew might show up, but fortunately, it was a detective I had never seen before.

The detective, wearing a leather jacket, bowed his head toward Prosecutor Joo.

“Hello, Prosecutor. We meet often.”

At the detective’s pointed greeting, Prosecutor Joo replied with a relaxed smile.

“Bodies only seem to appear when I’m on duty.”

“That’s the truth. Whenever a body is reported at night, I find myself wondering if it’s Prosecutor Joo’s turn on duty.”

“Should I ask the chief prosecutor to take me off duty? Then the probability of you receiving divorce papers might decrease, Detective Ma.”

The detective chuckled at Prosecutor Joo’s joke.

“Ah, I actually almost received them once. I really need to go home so my wife will keep living with me, but I’m worried.”

“So, what are the circumstances of the body’s discovery?”

“You know the small market near the casino, right? A drunken passerby found him collapsed in the alleyway inside. There are no external injuries at all.”

On the cold bed lay a tall man with a pale blue complexion, soaked in rain. Even at a glance, he looked Korean, but given that he was in possession of a Russian passport, we had to consider the possibility that he was a Koryoin living in Primorsky Krai or Sakhalin.

Prosecutor Joo Taeson, with both hands in the pockets of his long coat, leaned over to examine the body up close. His sleek, high-bridged nose pointed downward. His black hair, unkempt from the early hour, fell naturally onto his straight forehead. He was certainly an unrealistic sight to behold inside a morgue.

He examined the body’s skin, then lifted his head and asked the medical examiner standing nearby:

“What do you think is the cause of death?”

“His tongue is deep blue and his complexion is black, so I suspect drug overdose. This person is definitely a junkie. There are needle marks on his forearm, too.”

“I think so as well. Besides, he was found near a casino, where there are many junkies.”

“Since the casino opened, the number of dead bodies has increased so much. Suicides, drug overdoses, deaths by assault. I’m exhausted; it’s hard to do this work alone.”

“What can you do? Only if they paid more would we get more applicants for medical examiner positions.”

Watching him, he seemed quite comfortable even when talking with the detective or the medical examiner. He was no different from the Prosecutor Joo Taeson I had met at the Prosecutors’ Office during the day. The feeling I had on the way to the hospital that he was trying to grate on me must have been a hypersensitive reaction born of my own self-consciousness.

“Could you give me some gloves? Chief Lee Chaeha, you come closer and take a look, too.”

“Yes, Prosecutor.”

I had been standing far away, but I quickly moved my feet toward the body. A wave of nausea rose as I saw the body up close after such a long time, but I knew that even as a prosecution official, I couldn’t avoid it, so I endured it without showing it. I wouldn’t have to see them as often as I did during my police life, so I just had to grit my teeth and bear it occasionally.

Prosecutor Joo Taeson, who had been examining the back of the head, inspected the man’s face and neck. He looked closely, then called my name again.

“Chief Lee, doesn’t this look like a puncture mark?”

Prosecutor Joo Taeson’s fingertips pointed toward the area near the Adam’s apple. The three of us—the medical examiner, the detective, and I—all bent our waists to see the spot he was pointing to. My eyes widened.

There was a very minute puncture mark on the neck. It was a hole so small it looked like a pore, but my instinct, sharpened by seeing countless bodies, moved along with his. There was no doubt. When I met his eyes to confirm, Prosecutor Joo Taeson stood up straight, took off his gloves, and said:

“It looks like a puncture mark.”

The medical examiner looked puzzled as he peered closely at the hole, which was less than 1mm wide.

“I examined the body briefly before you arrived, Prosecutor, but I didn’t spot it then. Goodness, this could be a homicide.”

Prosecutor Joo Taeson rubbed between his eyebrows with his index finger, but his voice carried no hint of reprimanding the medical examiner. It seemed he had judged that the medical examiner would have eventually found it anyway.

“At this size, could it be that someone stabbed his neck with a needle? Since there are so many needle marks on his forearm as well.”

“Perhaps.”

“The autopsy warrant has been issued. If we do the examination now, can we hear a brief briefing before we leave?”

“I can give you a short one in two or three hours.”

“Chief Lee, let’s wait and listen to it together. Detective Ma, please confirm the body’s movements.”

Detective Ma nodded and answered:

“Yes, Prosecutor. In fact, the officer on duty is currently pulling CCTV footage from the surrounding area and watching it now. We’ve also collected cigarette butts and trash that were dropped nearby.”

“Good. Please report back as soon as possible.”

“Understood.”

The detective left, and I was left alone with him in the desolate hallway of the laboratory. Prosecutor Joo Taeson headed toward a backless hallway bench out of habit. It was a situation where I could have waited and received a report later, but because the prosecutor said he would wait, I felt uneasy.

Just as my mentor said, it seemed he either had an exceptional ability to squeeze his subordinates, or he was a perfectionist who couldn’t rest until he checked everything for himself. If I were to focus only on the aspect of being thorough, it matched the personality of Prosecutor Joo Taeson that I had been thinking about since my college days. So, although it was a bit uncomfortable, I didn’t dislike that aspect of him.

“Chief Lee, aren’t you going to sit? You must be tired, so have a seat.”

His sleek, long fingers tapped the spot next to him.

“Yes, Prosecutor.”

I awkwardly moved to Prosecutor Joo’s side and sat down with a one-seat gap between us. To endure the awkwardness of being left alone with him, I fiddled with my phone, even though there was nothing to do on it.

Prosecutor Joo Taeson, perhaps exhausted, crossed his arms and rested the side of his head against the wall, closing his eyes. He seemed to have fallen asleep. I glanced at him from time to time.

Is it the aura of the prosecutor profession and the suit? Watching him wait for the results together, he looked so much like an adult that it was hard to believe he was only six years older than me. The trench coat that would reach my ankles barely covered his knees, and his legs, stretching out between the coat tails, were long. Even the layers of fatigue cast over his face felt like the weight of an adult firmly settled in society.

Two hours flowed smoothly and uniformly in the silence. Compared to the past I chewed over alone every night, this dawn spent with Prosecutor Joo Taeson, who had closed his tired eyelids, seemed much better.

The medical examiner finally peeked his face out from the morgue door—I couldn’t tell if morning had arrived or not.

“Prosecutor. Please come in.”

Prosecutor Joo rose immediately, opening his eyes as if he had been awake for those two hours straight. Had he perhaps not been asleep? Late worry crept into my mind, wondering if he had noticed me glancing at him.

The cold door closed. Struggling to look away from the dead body visible at a glance, I listened to the medical examiner’s brief report.

“The hole you found near the Adam’s apple, Prosecutor, is not the cause of death for now. It does seem to have caused a wound, but it’s unclear when it occurred. It does seem to be a needle mark.”

“Has some trend started among junkies these days to inject drugs into their necks?”

At Prosecutor Joo’s joking question, the medical examiner laughed and shook his head.

“No way. It’s highly likely he stabbed his own neck by mistake while under the influence of drugs. Junkies often have quite a few of those kinds of wounds. More importantly, Prosecutor, I discovered a unique wound on the body. At the entrance of the esophagus.”

“What kind of wound is it?”

“There are extensive scratch marks near the throat, but they aren’t large wounds.”

“Let’s see.”