Prosecutor Kim Seo-Jin - Chapter 104

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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A Necklace as a Gift (1)
“…Seo Jin? What are you doing here!”
Jang Ji-hyuk’s voice was savage.
“Jo Woo-jae sent you to watch me, didn’t he! Huh!”
Seo Jin was Kim Young-jun’s nephew, and Jo Woo-jae was part of that faction.
He assumed Seo Jin was also connected to Jo Woo-jae.
“Answer me!”
Seo Jin exhaled slowly.
Jang Ji-hyuk wasn’t someone Jo Woo-jae would concern himself with.
He was clearly convinced he’d just encountered a madman.
But I couldn’t tell him that.
After all, he was a senior prosecutor—I had to maintain basic courtesy.
“I came to verify something. That’s all.”
Seo Jin stepped aside.
Jang Ji-hyuk then rose to his feet.
But his suspicious gaze never wavered.
His voice remained twisted.
“Fine, verify? What exactly are you trying to verify?”
“Nothing much. I also believe Kim In-yong is the culprit. But I was curious why you were so desperately opposed to it. And what if we branded someone as the perpetrator, sent him to prison, and then years later the real killer gets caught? That wouldn’t be right, would it? That’s all.”
Jang Ji-hyuk’s eyes narrowed, but Seo Jin paid no mind and headed toward the warehouse.
‘Kim In-yong is insisting.’
“I did go to the warehouse!”
“I received a message from my girlfriend saying she’d wait for me there!”
“So I went, and… she was dead. Only her head remained! That’s all there is to it!”
“A saw? A blade? They were nearby, and I panicked and touched them. I was trying to figure out which bastard used it to kill my girlfriend!”
Seo Jin’s hand touched the entrance door.
In that instant, the world drained into black and white.
Screeeech.
The door opened with an ominous sound.
It was Kim In-yong.
He muttered to himself.
“Damn, discovered this fast?”
He ripped open his jumper.
A black plastic bag tumbled out.
When he opened it, his girlfriend’s head emerged.
“Ah, I’m in a hurry. So busy….”
With a dry expression, he rummaged through his pocket.
A 500ml water bottle filled with blood was in his hand.
His lips twisted as he spoke.
“Good thing I kept this stored away just in case.”
Then he sprayed blood around his girlfriend’s head.
He was fabricating the scene to make it look like a murder had taken place here.
Next, he tossed the plastic bag and water bottle out the window, muttering to himself.
“I need to put away the saw and knife too. Why did I leave them here…”
Now I just needed to proceed according to plan, but that’s when it happened.
“What? Is someone there?”
The warehouse door creaked open.
And then.
“Huh? Huh? Huh!”
With a man’s startled voice, Kim In-yong’s face contorted in horror.
The psychometry had ended.
Seo Jin bolted outside immediately.
“Hey, where are you going?”
I heard Jang Ji-hyuk’s voice from behind, but Seo Jin ran toward the back of the warehouse.
Outside the window where he had thrown the water bottle.
I swept the area with my phone’s flashlight.
The back of the abandoned warehouse was littered with garbage and cigarette butts.
Jang Ji-hyuk’s eyes widened.
“What? Is there something?”
“Jang Ji-hyuk, do you happen to have gloves? And a plastic bag?”
“Huh? Gloves? A bag?”
There was no way he would.
But Seo Jin’s voice was resolute.
“If you don’t have them, go get some! Right now!”
Seo Jin was clearly my junior.
Moreover, Jang Ji-hyuk didn’t think highly of Seo Jin.
But.
“Huh? Yeah, okay.”
Jang Ji-hyuk found himself answering without thinking.
Surprised by his own response, he hesitated, then muttered, “These Seoul guys don’t even respect their seniors,” before turning away.
After about ten minutes, Jang Ji-hyuk returned from a nearby convenience store with vinyl gloves and plastic bags.
“Why do you need these?”
Instead of answering, Seo Jin hastily put on the gloves and gathered every plastic bag and water bottle from the garbage heap.
Then I surveyed the surroundings.
Considerable time had passed since the incident.
There was a high probability that the water bottle Kim In-yong had thrown had been carried away by the wind.
“Jang Ji-hyuk, please collect everything around here—all the water bottles and plastic bags—and put them in.”
“So what’s the reason!”
“He’s going to confess.”
“What?”
“Kim In-yong will confess.”
*
*
*
Interrogation Room.
Kim In-yong, seated across from me, opened his mouth with a truly pitiful expression.
“…It wasn’t me.”
“The water bottle.”
“What?”
“Your fingerprints came back. There was blood on it too.”
Kim In-yong’s face crumpled.
I tossed the forensic report in front of him and continued.
“Over the past ten years, South Korea’s murder case clearance rate has been 98.2%. You were nervous when your girlfriend’s body was discovered at Sihwa Lake, weren’t you? You thought you might get caught. So you staged that warehouse to look like a crime scene, trying to redirect the police’s attention elsewhere?”
It was true.
“Where was the actual murder location? I think we’ll find that soon enough.”
“I, over there….”
“Confess and show remorse. Beg with every fiber of your being. That’s the only way you’ll receive any leniency in sentencing.”
Kim In-yong began to cry.
Following my words, he wrung his hands desperately.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”
“So you’ve confessed?”
“Really? You denied it all the way through before, didn’t you? You’re just pretending to be remorseful to get a lighter sentence since you’re getting life anyway?”
“Lighter sentence my ass—he killed someone and collected their blood. Where’d he get that idea, some mystery novel? Psychotic bastard.”
“What? How did you know that?”
“Seo Jin dug through the trash and found the evidence. The fingerprints were preserved too.”
Seo Jin again.
The senior prosecutors smoking cigarettes felt their chests ache.
If this continues, promotions really might get reversed….
“Damn it… Should I get a lawyer’s number? They say the Chief Prosecutor won’t acknowledge credentials unless you have connections.”
“But wasn’t it a long time ago? How are the fingerprints still there?”
Fingerprints fade over time due to the oils on fingertips.
However, in special circumstances—such as when blood is present—they can be preserved.
“Really, he’s got the makings of a winner. Finding evidence in trash.”
“What about Jang Ji-hyuk?”
“Why?”
“That bastard was going around insisting Kim In-yong might not be the culprit.”
“I heard he even clashed with Jo Woo-jae, the Chief Prosecutor, recently?”
“Idiot.”
Yet Prosecutor Jang Ji-hyuk was smiling faintly.
“Ah, it’s fine. At least he’s the real culprit. That’s what matters.”
Seo Jin was on a call with his friend Lee Jung-woo.
Lee Jung-woo was a graduate of the Police University.
Since Prosecutor Jang Ji-hyuk was also an alumnus of the Police University, there was something he wanted to know about him.
-Jang Ji-hyuk? Yeah, I know him. He was a senior way ahead of my time, but he was famous even back then. As a lunatic…. I heard a professor desperately recommended he become a prosecutor instead of embarrassing the police force?
The phrase “instead of embarrassing the police force” struck me as odd.
But I didn’t ask further and simply listened to Lee Jung-woo’s voice.
-His brain is all muscle. No flexibility. He probably should’ve done his mandatory service in full before going to law school. Ah, but I heard he’s not a bad person.
“Thanks. But one more thing. Do you happen to know where he’s from?”
Judging by how he constantly spoke of Seoul, I suspected he came from a region with a strong local identity.
But.
“Goesan, Chungbuk. That’s famous too. He keeps saying he’s a Chungcheong man….”
Seo Jin ended the call and turned his gaze toward the window.
‘Jang Ji-hyuk….’
My plan required many people.
Among them, I hoped there would be someone reckless.
Someone who would charge in without hesitation, a prosecutor who would rush toward even the mightiest power like a moth to flame.
If I could just control him, he would make an excellent blade for me.
‘If I could just control him….’
Then Seo Jin’s phone vibrated.
It was Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae.
‘Another one I need to control.’
Seo Jin smiled quietly and brought the phone to his ear.
“Yes, Chief Prosecutor.”
-Come up to the Prosecutor General’s Office.
Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae’s voice was cheerful.
He was delighted, standing once again at Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun’s side as if he had gained the world.
*
*
*
At that moment, in the Prosecutor General’s Office.
Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae faced Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun.
Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun spoke with a cigarette between his lips.
“He went to the scene?”
“Yes, he went to the scene directly a few days ago and found decisive evidence there, they say. This bastard wouldn’t confess until the end, but….”
Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae was reporting Seo Jin’s every move.
He was excitedly boasting about Seo Jin’s accomplishments.
Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun tapped ash from his cigarette and asked.
“So, what about Seo Jun-kyung?”
“Seo Jun-kyung?”
“Yes.”
Kim Young-jun believed Seo Jin was the man who should remain at the Prosecutor’s Office in his stead.
For that to happen, he had to be obedient.
He couldn’t harbor unnecessary thoughts.
Only then could Kim Young-jun continue to wield his power.
Jo Woo-jae fell into brief contemplation.
‘Sigh….’
From what he’d observed thus far, Seo Jin seemed to harbor little emotion toward Seo Jun-kyung.
But if he revealed that fact, it might become difficult for him to enter this office again.
Because Kim Young-jun was the type to discard people once their usefulness expired.
And so.
‘I’m sorry, Seo Jin.’
Jo Woo-jae opened his mouth with a subtle smile.
“I’m not entirely certain yet. But even if the stain has set, there is one way to remove it.”
“What is it?”
“…Shake Lee Dong-young.”
Kim Young-jun saw right through Jo Woo-jae’s intentions.
A petty scheme to preserve his own position.
But Kim Young-jun wanted to hear it anyway.
“How?”
“The man has no money, no power, no backing—shaking him with a few suspicions is child’s play.”
“And then?”
“While proceeding with the case, I tell Seo Jin.”
-Lee Dong-young is actually innocent.
-But for various reasons, he needs to be eliminated.
-That’s how we continue to survive.
“Of course, given the years spent together with Lee Dong-young, his heart will ache. But to achieve success, he’ll learn that sometimes sacrificing others is unavoidable. And frankly, it’s about time he learned that lesson.”
“What if Seo Jin takes Lee Dong-young’s side?”
Jo Woo-jae licked his dry lips.
“If things reach that point, whatever stain exists won’t matter. We’ll wipe the slate clean this time. And don’t worry. Even if he leans that way, I’ll give him proper education.”
Kim Young-jun didn’t answer.
But Jo Woo-jae understood his silence immediately.
‘If things go wrong, you take responsibility. I never approved this.’
Jo Woo-jae saw it as another chance given to him.
Then came a knock—tap, tap, tap—and Seo Jin entered.
“You called for me?”
Jo Woo-jae’s expression transformed completely.
He slapped the seat beside him with his palm and broke into a bright smile.
“You’re here? Sit, sit.”
The moment Seo Jin sat beside Jo Woo-jae.
The world drained into black and white, and the scene before my eyes came into focus.
“…Should we shake up Lee Dong-young?”
The psychometry ended, and Seo Jin’s gaze shifted toward Jo Woo-jae.
‘Look at this bastard….’
He spoke with a nauseating smile.
“How’s life in the Dedicated Team? Are you enjoying it?”
Seo Jin chuckled softly.
‘Corrective education?’
*
*
*
A few days later.
Jo Woo-jae had come to Gangdong-gu after work.
A rented apartment—the place where he could meet a naive college girl.
Jo Woo-jae lay naked on the bed with the Female College Student.
“Are you busy these days?”
The Female College Student whispered in a coquettish voice while touching Jo Woo-jae’s chest.
“Why?”
“I want to buy some clothes, but I don’t know which ones are pretty. Could you come with me and help me pick them out?”
It was an indirect way of asking him to buy them for her.
Jo Woo-jae laughed wickedly.
“Clothes? Wait a little longer. I’ll get you a car.”
“A car?”
“Yeah, I have an investment that should be ready to liquidate soon.”
Land in Chuncheon that he’d scraped together by mortgaging not just his house, but his in-laws’ relatives and even his wife’s family.
What he’d bought at 140,000 won per pyeong was now approaching 300,000 won.
Even after taxes and paying off debts, he’d pocket over 8 billion won.
“How about a Mercedes? Hmm?”
The Female College Student squealed with delight, and Jo Woo-jae gazed at her with satisfaction.
Then he lit a cigarette and picked up the remote.
On the television screen, Lee Se-moon, the Gangwon Province Governor, appeared with a scowl.
‘Why is that bastard so angry?’
Politicians were always like this, so he was about to change the channel without much thought when—
-The Ruling Party says they’re going to develop this area.
Jo Woo-jae’s eyes widened.
The land where the governor stood was the very land Jo Woo-jae had registered.
-Speculators have flooded in! Land that was worth only a few hundred thousand won not long ago—do you know how much it costs now? This is outrageous!
Jo Woo-jae’s eyes filled with anxiety.
He stared at the screen, unaware that the cigarette in his mouth was burning down.
And then came words he didn’t want to hear.
-I will stop this by any means necessary! Don’t spout nonsense about legitimate investment. You stole land from poor farmers!
That voice struck him like a death sentence, and Jo Woo-jae froze in place.
Ash from his cigarette scattered across the bedding, but he could only stare blankly, his eyes darting about.
Then.
“Damn it!”
He hurled the remote control at the television.
With a sharp crack, the screen fractured, and the Female College Student beside him shrieked, “Ah!”
“Shut up!”
Jo Woo-jae barked the command.
That pretty face from moments ago now grated on his nerves terribly.
Jo Woo-jae turned toward the trembling Female College Student with a menacing tone.
“Don’t even breathe.”
The Female College Student nodded frantically, and Jo Woo-jae hastily grabbed his phone.
He began searching for the real estate agent’s contact.
He had to sell it, even at a loss.
Money was one thing, but the real problem now was the presidential election looming ahead.
‘In the worst case….’
The Opposition Party might release the list of speculators.
If the Chief Prosecutor’s name from the Central District Prosecutor’s Office was exposed, they would celebrate without restraint.
He would become a political tool until the election ended.
-A prosecutor stole land from a poor farmer!
The thought alone made him dizzy.
‘Damn it! Pick up! Pick up the phone!’
But the real estate agent didn’t answer.
Only the dial tone continued relentlessly.
Then it happened.
Bang, bang, bang! The sound of knocking on the door.
This place was usually empty—no one should be coming here.
He tried to ignore it, but the doorbell and knocking continued persistently.
‘Who the hell is this….’
Jo Woo-jae pressed his throbbing forehead with his hand and staggered toward the entrance.
“Who is it?”
“It’s me, Seo Jin.”

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