The Prosecutor’s Office’s Proposal Chapter 81

He stopped smoking for a moment after hearing what I said. With the filter, wet from both of our saliva, held still between his lips, he seemed to be scanning through his mind every child murder case he had personally experienced.

His gaze drifted upward at an angle, then slowly descended. The sharpness that had suddenly appeared in his eyes felt as though it might pierce right through my body, but I continued to speak, pretending that my heart wasn’t racing.

“Parents usually murder their children in their own homes, and since they also have to take on the role of discovering the body and reporting it themselves, the psychological burden is immense. That’s why they are reluctant to find the child’s body alone. They want to set up another witness who will state that they saw the child’s body first. As a result, they often drag in relatives or neighbors as witnesses. Compared to other murderers, they tend to feel greater guilt, so they are sometimes afraid to face the children’s bodies alone.”

“…That’s right.”

Prosecutor Joo nodded slowly. It was the phrase he only used when I gave the correct answer. The eyes that had been lost in thought for a moment stared directly at me.

“Then it also explains why she took her older sister along, claiming they should have coffee at 11:00 PM. It also makes sense why she made a strange excuse about wanting to introduce her sister to her husband, even though their relationship was bad. She must not have wanted to face the children’s bodies alone.”

“Prosecutor, you were suspicious from the beginning about Han Sujin taking her older sister to the house, weren’t you?”

Prosecutor Joo’s voice came back to me.

‘Ms. Han Sujin, why did you come to the house with your older sister?’

I clearly remembered the question he had asked Han Sujin. I was curious.

“Prosecutor, were you leaning toward Han Sujin from the beginning?”

“I couldn’t be that certain, so I saw it as a fifty-fifty split between Ahn Dong-jin and Han Sujin. Lee Hyun-soo’s motive for the murder was too weak.”

“That is true. After all, that couple would get life insurance money if the children died.”

“Exactly 150 million won. That’s why Han Sujin followed them when they went to Lee Hyun-soo’s house. If Ahn Dong-jin were the culprit, there would be no reason to take his wife along at all. There would also be no need to buy a gift like a watermelon—which doesn’t fit the season—to create an excuse to touch a large knife. Since it was a friend’s house they visited often.”

Prosecutor Joo extinguished the cigarette, which had become short quickly because we were sharing it, and tossed the butt into the iron trash can standing in the corner.

We returned to the Danhyeon Branch and ate a late dinner in the cafeteria. Because it was a late hour, there was almost no one in the branch. These days, quite a bit of time had passed since the personnel appointments, so the glares were not as stinging as before, but it was more comfortable to avoid running into people from the fine section if possible.

In Prosecutor’s Office 512, for some reason, Chief Song remained. Because it was past 8 o’clock, I had assumed he would have already left, so I greeted him happily.

“Chief Song! If I’d known you were here, I would have had dinner with you. Have you eaten?”

“Yes, I have. I am waiting because there is a witness examination scheduled for late today. They said they could come at 8 o’clock. They are a bit late.”

Feeling a fixed gaze, I turned my head toward the window. Prosecutor Joo’s eyes, as he stood in front of his desk and stared intently at me, were quite sharp.

Is he acting like that because I didn’t get back to work immediately and played around for a moment? Since we had been busy all day, one might think a short conversation with a colleague would be forgivable.

I grumbled slightly to myself, but, aware of the atmosphere, I quickly shut my mouth and returned to my seat.

While Chief Song met with the witness to hear their statement, Prosecutor Joo and I checked the CCTV footage together at his desk. However, contrary to the owner’s testimony, Han Sujin did not appear at all in the footage from the day after the shaman ritual. Since this happened often, I didn’t waver and checked the footage from the day of the ritual, but it was a wasted effort as well.

After checking one day before and after, I found Han Sujin in the footage from three days later. Since it was a memory from three months ago, three days wasn’t such a large margin of error.

The owner’s testimony was accurate. She showed the owner something on her phone, and when the owner selected a knife and brought it over, she nodded her head to signify approval.

“It’s definitely Han Sujin.”

“Should I apply for a warrant and call her in, or should I request a witness attendance for tomorrow?”

“For now, let’s search the crime scene again tomorrow. The face is already captured on video and we have the hardware store owner’s testimony, so getting an arrest warrant won’t be a problem. We need to find the murder weapon, the knife, to win the trial.”

I was about to ask why he was suddenly using formal language, but I realized Chief Song was still there and closed my lips.

Well, I supposed I should be grateful that he didn’t ignore me in front of others.

At the moment I was re-checking the footage, Prosecutor Joo pulled his chair closer and pressed the pause button.

“Officer Lee Chaeha, that person passing by outside the door right now.”

My eyes, which had only been looking at Han Sujin and the owner, shifted to the person outside pointed out by Prosecutor Joo. My jaw, which had been set, dropped down.

Surprised by his sharp eye, I looked at him. Prosecutor Joo opened his eyes wide and stared as if he were going to be sucked into the monitor, then ground his teeth.

“Isn’t that Koryo-in Mr. Kim?”

It really was. It was Koryo-in Mr. Kim, whose whereabouts we hadn’t been able to fully track.

Prosecutor Joo slowly straightened his upper body, which had been leaning in as if to fall into the monitor, and leaned his back against the chair.

“Officer Lee, seize all the surrounding CCTV and investigate if there are any witnesses. It was three months ago, so there is a high possibility that no CCTV remains other than this, so inquiries are important.”

“Yes, Prosecutor. Should I proceed after closing the child murder case?”

“That’s what we should do. What on earth was he doing on the opposite side of the casino?”

I was curious about that, too. We stared at the man passing by in the same attire as Koryo-in Mr. Kim for a long while. Perhaps evidence that could link Oh Jahyeon and Koryo-in Mr. Kim might remain there. Near that hardware store.

Prosecutor Joo slowly leaned his body toward me and set up a wall with his palm near his ear. Then, he blew a small breath into my ear hole and whispered.

“Officer Lee, from now on, don’t trust anyone.”

The fine hairs around my ear stood on end.

“…Yes.”

“From now on, it might be dangerous.”

Now that I think about it… everyone who stood in Oh Jahyeon’s way around her died.

Prosecutor Joo had intentionally suppressed the Koryo-in case. For so long, until the other side could not bear but to react. If the investigation were to resume now, after even the miner grandfather had come forward to make a false confession, what kind of reaction would they show?

Afraid that the strange witness might overhear our conversation, I ended up turning on my notepad and typing.

Do you think something will happen where you and I are in danger?

No, Officer Lee is in danger.

After thinking carefully, I typed again.

Because I am not a prosecutor?

Yes.

Prosecutor Joo picked up his ballpoint pen and bit the end slightly. Looking at the monitor, he had a more troubled expression than any I had ever seen on him.

Not just worried, but anxious, as if anticipating something ominous.

As if he had discovered a single misaligned small gear.

It was that kind of gaze.

The search of Han Sujin’s house was conducted with Chief Song. Usually, searches were conducted among the investigators, and when conducting large-scale seizures or going to arrest suspects, we received support from other prosecutor’s offices. Prosecutor Joo had other tasks at the prosecutor’s office to handle outside of investigations, and it was a day when the chief prosecutor had convened a meeting, so regrettably, he could not accompany me to the scene.

I was finishing preparations to head out and waiting for Chief Song, when Prosecutor Joo kept looking at me unnecessarily while flipping through documents. His gaze was not gentle, to the point where I wondered if he had changed his mind after saying he wanted me to come to his place tonight. Even though he had pushed me against the inner office wall and kissed me right before leaving yesterday, he was too cold during the day.

Many Danhyeon Branch employees lived around the prosecutor’s office and the government housing. So, we did not recklessly hold hands or touch each other even inside the car. We had to be careful as someone might spot us through the window.

Even in the prosecutor’s office, unless we locked the door to the auxiliary office late at night and went in, we did not touch each other at all, even if Chief Song and Officer No had both left. It was a rule implicitly agreed upon for the past few days.