Goblin Library - Chapter 113

—————

This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

—————

Chapter 113.

The Prosecutor General, who had been observing the prosecutors in silence, finally spoke.
“Many former prosecutors are entangled in this, so I imagine you all feel uncomfortable about it.”
The Prosecutor General spoke while looking at the screen.
“Some of those people there were my direct superiors… so I’m uncomfortable too. I didn’t see them that way when I was active in office… but they certainly did a lot for me. Wouldn’t you say?”
“…”
Though the Prosecutor General looked around at all of them, no one answered. So he continued.
“But if we recognize a crime and don’t investigate because it’s uncomfortable, what are we? It’s our job as prosecutors to investigate when we recognize a crime.”
Then the Prosecutor General straightened his posture and spoke.
“And former prosecutors should make current ones uncomfortable, not the other way around. When you retire later and become lawyers, you need to make the current prosecutors uncomfortable to receive preferential treatment from law firms and clients and earn more money.”
Confusion flickered across the faces of several prosecutors. Why would law firms or clients give preferential treatment to former prosecutors who made current ones uncomfortable?
Reading their expressions, the Prosecutor General smiled slightly and spoke.
“If a current prosecutor treats someone from the Prosecutor’s Office coldly and harshly, how will they treat other lawyers? Won’t they come at them like they’re trying to kill them?”
“Ah…”
Now that the prosecutors understood, they nodded, and the Prosecutor General spoke with a smile.
“Current prosecutors need to be feared so that when they become former prosecutors later, they receive proper treatment. So…”
The Prosecutor General’s gaze turned to the names displayed on the screen, then back to the prosecutors.
“This time, we do what we must do as prosecutors. Understood?”
“Yes! Understood, sir.”
As the prosecutors answered loudly, the Prosecutor General spoke.
“We are prosecutors. When we recognize a crime, we investigate it. Never forget this.”
“Yes!”
The Prosecutor General turned to one of the prosecutors who answered loudly and gave an order.
“Woo Young-chul, you’ll take charge of this case.”
The man called Woo Young-chul looked at the Prosecutor General with a puzzled expression. He was a branch chief prosecutor.
Not a prosecutor working in the field. The Prosecutor General, observing Woo Young-chul’s reaction, spoke.
“Just take it on.”
“Yes! Understood, sir.”
As Woo Young-chul answered with a resonant voice, the Prosecutor General looked at all the prosecutors and spoke.
“I’ll ensure this investigation is conducted thoroughly and transparently, so everyone go out and get to work.”
The prosecutors bowed their heads and filed out one by one. And as several of them reached for their phones, the Prosecutor General casually remarked.
“While investigating, we’ll also be examining the suspects’ communication records, so be careful not to make any courtesy calls to the suspects and create explanations for yourselves.”
The prosecutors who had been reaching for their phones startled and quickly put them back in their pockets.
They had connections with former prosecutors and owed them favors… but they didn’t want unnecessary suspicion to fall on themselves.
As the prosecutors left, the Prosecutor General turned his head toward Woo Young-chul and Lim Sung-un, who were watching him.
Both were perceptive enough to sense the Prosecutor General had something to say, so they waited.
And beside Lim Sung-un stood Chief Prosecutor Lee Gun-ak. He had remained because Lim Sung-un was his direct subordinate, and he felt he should be present.
The Prosecutor General walked to the podium, sat down, and addressed the three prosecutors.
“Come here.”
Once the three prosecutors gathered, the Prosecutor General looked at Lim Sung-un.
“You’re sitting this one out. Hand all the evidence over to Woo Young-chul.”
“I’m sitting it out?”
“I spoke up for you earlier, but this is turning a blade against the Organization itself. Once the real investigation starts, your seniors and juniors will look at you unfavorably.”
He added in an advisory tone.
“You’ll need to open your own practice eventually.”
If rumors spread that he was a former prosecutor blacklisted by his colleagues at the Prosecutor’s Office, it could make things difficult when he tried to practice law later.
Then the Prosecutor General turned to Lee Gun-ak.
“You’ll get plenty of calls about this. Pass everything to Prosecutor Woo.”
“Understood.”
“And make sure Prosecutor Lim doesn’t suffer any fallout from this. Go on.”
At the Prosecutor General’s words, Lee Gun-ak bowed and left the conference room. As the door closed, the Prosecutor General looked at Woo Young-chul.
“Prosecutor Lim will have a hard time opening his practice if he gets blacklisted, but you—your wife’s family is well-off. Even if you get blacklisted, you can still practice law just fine.”
“Well… that’s true.”
A senior who’d fallen from grace could be ignored without consequence, but a senior who was thriving could call on you anytime, making them impossible to dismiss lightly. And Woo Young-chul was precisely the type with the backing to go far.
“And… you have political ambitions, don’t you?”
The Prosecutor General looked at Woo Young-chul, then turned his gaze to the screen.
“Wouldn’t this be the key that opens the door to politics for you?”
At the Prosecutor General’s words, Woo Young-chul nodded. He was right.
Even if they were former prosecutors, putting people who once held high positions in the Prosecutor’s Office on trial was significant.
It would get media exposure, and that meant he would become recognizable to the public as the prosecutor handling this case.
As the prosecutor who rooted out corruption within the Prosecutor’s Office itself. It was exactly the kind of case the public would embrace.
“So that’s why you’re entrusting this investigation to me?”
“These are men who wear the prosecutor’s badge with pride. You have no reason to be intimidated by them, do you?”
“Well… I’m a prosecutor. If I’ve discovered evidence of a crime, I conduct the investigation. That’s all.”
At Woo Young-chul’s words, the Prosecutor General laughed and looked at Lim Sung-un.
“With you as the district prosecutor, this investigation should proceed without external pressure.”
Then he asked with force in his voice.
“That works for you, doesn’t it?”
“As long as the investigation is handled properly, that’s enough for me.”
At Lim Sung-un’s answer, the Prosecutor General looked at Woo Young-chul.
“Then you can handle this well on your own, can’t you?”
“Of course.”
Woo Young-chul looked at Lim Sung-un.
“The evidence is in your office?”
“Yes.”
“Pick it up on your way out.”
At Woo Young-chul’s words, the Prosecutor General spoke.
“You go wait in Prosecutor Lim Sung-un’s office first. I’ll have a word with him and send him over.”
“Understood.”
As Woo Young-chul bowed and left, the Prosecutor General turned his gaze toward Lim Sung-un.
The Prosecutor General studied him in silence for a moment, then sighed and spoke.
“This is the first time you and I have met face-to-face like this, isn’t it?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Yet I find you quite familiar. I have the feeling I’ve seen you often—almost like watching a celebrity.”
“…”
I understood what he meant.
Ordinarily, a Prosecutor General would have no reason to know a rank-and-file prosecutor like myself. Especially not someone like me, who had never worked in the same district office or team.
Yet to feel familiar and to have seen me often meant he had heard plenty about me. And those stories were likely not favorable.
The Prosecutor General, observing me, opened his mouth.
“Prosecutors without a faction are rare. And those without factions are usually stationed somewhere in the provinces, not in Seoul. Yet you have no faction, and worse, you’re marked as a troublemaker by those around you. Do you know why you’re still in Seoul despite all that?”
“I don’t know, sir.”
“Because my predecessor, and the Prosecutor Generals before him, protected prosecutors like you—stubborn idealists.”
“Me?”
I had never heard this before. I knew there were prosecutors above me who protected me.
They wielded me like a blade.
But I didn’t know the Prosecutor General himself was among them.
“Without someone at the level of Prosecutor General, how would you still be wearing a prosecutor’s badge? You have no shortage of enemies among factional prosecutors and conglomerates who hold grudges against you.”
“Why me?”
And predecessors? Former Prosecutor Generals?
A Prosecutor General’s term is two years. My two predecessors each completed their terms before retiring—four years total. The current Prosecutor General has served about a year, meaning I’ve been protected by Prosecutor Generals for a full five years.
“Not you specifically. Stubborn bastards like you—prosecutors who ignore orders and tear into every case like a rabid dog…”
The Prosecutor General paused briefly, then continued, looking at me.
“Rabid dog is too harsh. We protected obstinate idealists.”
Obstinate idealists—plural, not singular?
Seeing my confusion, the Prosecutor General spoke.
“Yu Ki-tae in Jeolla Province, Namgung Bok in Gyeongsang Province, Ha Tae-gwon in Gangwon Province, Choi Ha-seul in Chungcheong Region. You’ve heard their names, haven’t you?”
“Yes, I have.”
Prosecutors marked like me. Men who ignored external pressure and bribes, who dug into crimes alone.
“Right. Those bastards are obstinate idealists like you, though not quite to your degree. Oh, and don’t tell them that the Prosecutor General protects them.”
“But why do you protect us?”
“What I just told you—that’s what the Prosecutor General from two administrations ago told me.”
“To become an inconvenient prosecutor?”
“Exactly. The rich, the powerful, seniors—everyone currently in office should fear and resent prosecutors. That way, when we leave office later, we live better and prosper more.”
I had thought they protected us for some greater cause, but hearing it was for their own comfort and prosperity made me grimace.
The Prosecutor General laughed at my expression.
“That’s what was said, at least. It’s a useful phrase, so I use it often myself. It’s more direct and striking than vague circumlocution.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“There must be stubborn prosecutors like you within the Prosecutor’s Office. If there were only prosecutors who climb the ranks and follow money and power, who would fear the Prosecutor’s Office? Then there’d be no need for lawyers at all.”
With that, the Prosecutor General rose to his feet.
“The reason I’m telling you this is… wield your blade outward. This is a warning.”
The Prosecutor General looked at Lim Sung-un with cold eyes and spoke.
“Don’t ignore my warning. No matter how cute a puppy is, a puppy that bites my hand… gets beaten.”
The Prosecutor General finished speaking, turned, and walked away.
Watching the Prosecutor General leave, Lim Sung-un let out a quiet laugh.
If I committed no crimes, there was no reason for anyone to charge me with them. With that thought, I glanced around the conference room once more.
The ending wasn’t entirely satisfying, but… those who had committed crimes would face their due punishment.

***

Yu Tae-poong smacked his lips as Lim Sung-un set down his book.
“The Prosecutor’s Office is quite peculiar, isn’t it?”
“Is it?”
“They were protecting Lim Sung-un because they found him inconvenient.”
At Yu Tae-poong’s observation, the Dung Carrier Goblin laughed and spoke.
“Things like that happen often.”
“Often?”
“Even in the military, stuff like that happens all the time.”
As Yu Tae-poong looked at him questioningly, the Dung Carrier Goblin continued.
“Back when one of my protagonists was in the military, his juniors treated him really well there.”
“Why?”
“Well… he was a protagonist in my style, so he abused his authority a lot and did a lot of bad things.”
“Ah… so he was what you’d call a bad senior.”
“Exactly. Still, once he made sergeant, he treated the ones he liked well… but overall, he had a reputation as a bad senior.”
As Yu Tae-poong nodded, the Dung Carrier Goblin continued.
“Anyway, even after the juniors gained experience and got promoted, they couldn’t act carelessly toward my protagonist. But there was this peer of his who was really kind. He took good care of the juniors and looked after them when my protagonist was rough on them… but once he made sergeant and it was near the end of his service, the juniors actually started ignoring him and being disrespectful.”
“I see what you mean.”
Yu Tae-poong nodded and looked at the book.
“It’s getting more interesting as it goes.”
“The Bamboo Sword Goblin really captured the protagonist well.”
At the Dung Carrier Goblin’s words, Yu Tae-poong nodded and picked up the Gluttony Goblin’s book about Oh Mi-hee, which lay beside Lim Sung-un.
“I wonder what the Gluttony Goblin’s book is about.”
Yu Tae-poong murmured softly and opened the book.

【Oh Mi-hee】
Author: Gluttony Goblin

—————

This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

—————