The Prosecutor’s Office’s Proposal Chapter 75

Prosecutor Joo’s voice resounded heavily through the interrogation room. His gaze as he looked at the suspect was sharp. I observed Lee Hyunsu’s face once again, carefully watching his reaction to Prosecutor Joo’s stare.

“That’s…. Ah, seriously. I told you, I don’t know how that happened!”

The suspect ran his hands through his hair with his handcuffed wrists and let out a deep sigh. His face was flushed, and his chest heaved as if he were short of breath. It looked less like the physical reaction of someone who was flustered after being caught in a lie, and more like that of someone who was truly aggrieved.

Is he putting on a high-level performance? Even though a knife with the first child’s blood was found at Lee Hyunsu’s house.

I agonized. Lee Hyunsu did not seem like the type to admit guilt just because we yelled at him, as we had planned. It seemed better to return to the conventional interrogation procedure.

Under the table, I tapped Prosecutor Joo’s leg with my palm to give him a signal. Prosecutor Joo turned his head toward me for quite a long time, then glanced once at the spot where my palm had touched him, and spoke to the suspect in a significantly softened voice. It seemed he had caught on to what I wanted. It was probably the timing when a similar thought had popped into Prosecutor Joo’s head as well.

Prosecutor Joo was the first to speak.

“Mr. Lee Hyunsu, we will ask you step-by-step from the beginning again, so if you are being treated unfairly, answer in detail. Only by providing the most detailed statement can you make the truth known.”

“…Will you really believe me? I’ve been telling the police since the start, but they won’t believe me, which is the problem. Because of that damn knife…. I don’t know why the first child’s blood is on it either.”

I immediately backed up Prosecutor Joo.

“Please tell the Prosecutor and me everything you remember. Your statement must be detailed so that we can discover parts that don’t align with the crime scene or the physical evidence, and only then can we provide an accurate interpretation of the evidence. Do you understand?”

Even if Prosecutor Joo spoke softly, his status as a prosecutor, combined with his solid build and sharp eyes, made even ex-convicts easily intimidated. It was more effective for me to play the role of soothing the suspect.

Moreover, although it was to coax Lee Hyunsu, there was a definite need to supplement his statement. The suspect had exercised his right to remain silent at the police station while denying the crime. Therefore, the interrogation material sent by the police was insufficient. Aside from basic identification information, all we had to understand Lee Hyunsu were notes that he had no alibi for that day and a criminal record check showing a prior robbery conviction.

“We will listen to everything, so please speak comfortably. In as much detail as possible. There is always room for physical evidence to be interpreted differently depending on your statement.”

After much persuasion, the suspect, who had looked sullen, barely agreed to provide an additional statement.

“Then, this time, I will speak honestly. Because it seems the Prosecutor and the Investigator will at least listen to what I have to say.”

Prosecutor Joo led the way.

“What is your relationship with the children’s parents?”

“We’re high school classmates.”

In an instant, the faces of Mr. Kang Woosung, Oh Jahyeon, and the father—high school classmates—flashed through my mind. There are connections that endure long periods only to sometimes be tied off in the worst possible way. It seemed the three people in this case shared a similar fate.

As usual, Prosecutor Joo took the lead in the interrogation of Lee Hyunsu. I focused on drafting the record on my laptop.

“Do you meet often?”

“Since I’m close with Dongjin, we definitely met once a week to drink.”

“Is there anything Mr. Ahn Dongjin said recently that you remember?”

The suspect seemed to feel that the tenor of the questions had changed significantly. We weren’t suspecting the couple, Han Sujin and Ahn Dongjin, yet, but unless the suspect confessed, we needed to know all the circumstances in detail. On the contrary, sometimes that process reveals clearly that the suspect committed the crime. If a real culprit talks too much, they fall into their own trap.

The suspect leaned his upper body forward.

“Yes, he said it seemed like Sujin was thinking of divorcing him. They weren’t on good terms to begin with because of money issues, but lately, they were sleeping in separate rooms and fighting often, so he said he was miserable. That guy, he even took out life insurance for Sujin.”

“Do you know around when he took out the life insurance?”

“About a year ago? When the U.S. stock market crashed and stocks plummeted. He took out life insurance for the kids at the same time, too. From then on, I had a feeling, just a feeling. Because a guy with no money was buying insurance. Dongjin had lost all his money doing stocks and futures around that time.”

Stocks. It was a rather common addiction these days. Prosecutor Joo continued with the necessary questions, thinking in between.

“Have you seen the couple together recently?”

“About a week before the kids died, Dongjin and Sujin bought a watermelon and came to my house. They said let’s have a drink.”

Prosecutor Joo tapped the tabletop lightly with the index finger he had been resting on it and asked back.

“Watermelon in winter?”

It was a part I had also thought was strange just now while listening. The suspect nodded.

“Yes. As Sujin and Dongjin grew distant, I’ve been avoiding Sujin lately, too. Since we’re both men, wouldn’t Dongjin and I be closer? But that day, surprisingly, the two of them came over together to buy watermelon. Sujin has a really good personality, originally. If Dongjin hadn’t made her suffer, she would have stayed bright.”

I recalled the haggard appearance of Han Sujin, who had come to the office today and shed tears. I had only ever seen her crying, so the description of her as a bright person with a good personality felt like oil dropped in water—it didn’t mix.

Prosecutor Joo asked calmly again.

“When did you eat that watermelon?”

“That day. The three of us—Dongjin, Sujin, and I—ate it together. Sujin joined in and had a glass of soju, too.”

“Who cut the watermelon?”

“Dongjin. The children’s father. I sometimes wonder if he stole that knife then and returned it….”

“Did you wash the knife after eating the watermelon?”

“Yes, I think Sujin washed it.”

“Why do you think Mr. Ahn Dongjin stole the knife?”

“Isn’t it obvious? If not, why would the first child’s blood be on that knife?”

“Is there a point in time when you actually felt the knife was gone?”

“No…. I only order delivery food at home and don’t use the knife much. Since I was stabbed, I’m afraid of using knives.”

While I was busy writing the record on my laptop, I took advantage of a pause in Prosecutor Joo’s questioning to ask Lee Hyunsu a question. I also had a point of curiosity.

“If you are classmates, did both Mr. Ahn Dongjin and Ms. Han Sujin know that Mr. Lee Hyunsu had a criminal record?”

“Yes! Because of that damn robbery record and the knife, the police wouldn’t believe a word I said…. They wouldn’t listen at all. This is the first time I’ve been asked a question like this. I, I’m really a piece of trash, but I adored my friend’s kids. It’s the truth.”

Prosecutor Joo leaned over slightly and whispered to me. Following his instructions, I opened a brown manila folder, took out a photo of a large knife, and held it out to Lee Hyunsu.

“You acknowledge that this kitchen knife is yours, Mr. Lee Hyunsu?”

“…Yes.”

“The tip of the knife is ground down. Was it like that originally?”

“As I said earlier, when I was last doing some thieving, I got into a tussle with a prison mate and got stabbed in the stomach. Not once, but twice. It really hurt like hell, no… it really hurt. Since then, I’m afraid of knives, so I cut the tip off and use it.”

“How did you grind it?”

“At a hardware store near my house.”

“But Mr. Lee Hyunsu, the forensic examiner’s findings are exactly the same. Looking at the shape of the knife mark left on the first child’s bone, it seems the tip of the knife was flat. Who else but you would grind the tip of the knife and use it? Even if the first child’s DNA hadn’t been found on this knife, you are the prime suspect.”

“I’m really not the one! You said the electric blanket was turned on. I heard it all at the police station. Then it’s not certain that the estimated time of death was after 5 PM, is it? Isn’t it possible that Dongjin killed them and then went to work?”

That was a hypothesis that Prosecutor Joo and I were also keeping in mind. Lee Hyunsu did not bend his claim that Ahn Dongjin had stolen the knife. That was likely the only hypothesis he could argue.

In the end, the interrogation was stuck on repeat. Prosecutor Joo opened his mouth again.

“Why did you stab the first child to death with a knife and suffocate the second one with a pillow? What is the reason you changed the murder method?”

“How should I know that! Maybe the crazy guy was indecisive. Go catch the real culprit and ask them. You said you’d believe me, but it’s all a lie, isn’t it?”