Prosecutor Kim Seo-Jin - Chapter 106

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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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Misplaced Faith (1)
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Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae was alone at home.
He sat at the dining table with vacant eyes, dragging his hands across his face.
He still couldn’t tell if what had happened to him was a dream or reality.
He’d wiped his face countless times and even slapped his cheeks just to be sure.
But he wasn’t waking up.
This was real.
‘Damn….’
The imperious voice Seo Jin had hurled at him moments ago still echoed in Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae’s mind.
‘…Become a dog?’
Suddenly, Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae’s eyes flew wide open.
In the same instant, he seized the cup on the table and hurled it across the room.
“Damn it!”
The cup shattered with a deafening crash.
“Damn! Damn! Damn it all!”
Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae paced the living room with a vicious expression.
He threw everything within reach.
But his rage wouldn’t subside.
“Argh!”
Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae tore at his hair.
Playing lapdog to Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun was already unbearable, and now he had to become that nephew’s pet as well.
His wretched life felt nothing but filthy.
Then came the sound of the door opening with a beep.
Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae’s fierce expression instantly softened into that of a meek lamb.
He opened his mouth with a docile tone.
“…You’re back? Where did you go?”
Seo Jin, who had stepped out briefly, returned holding a black plastic bag.
Seo Jin looked around the living room without answering.
Shattered glass fragments lay scattered across the floor.
“Three billion won. I thought I was being quite generous given your soul’s value, but it seems you don’t see it that way?”
“No, it’s just… my hands slipped….”
Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae spoke awkwardly.
Seo Jin gestured toward the dining table.
“Sit.”
“Huh? Yes.”
As Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae took his seat, Seo Jin retrieved a glass from the sink.
He pulled out soju from the black plastic bag, poured it into the glass, and slid it across the table toward Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae.
And then I sat across from him and opened my mouth.
“Have a drink.”
Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae picked up the water glass.
He was planning to drink it anyway, without being told.
It was difficult to sit here with a clear mind.
After gulping down the soju and setting the glass down with a thud, I pulled an envelope from my pocket and placed it on the table.
“Read it.”
Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae hastily pulled out the envelope and examined it.
It was a loan document.
“Let me just give you the essentials. Three billion won, with no interest.”
After all, this was money I’d earned by selling land to Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae.
I was using his own money to strangle him.
“As long as nothing happens to my safety or Investigator Lee Dong-young’s safety, there will be no debt collection proceedings. But if something does happen, you’ll need to prepare for immediate repayment. And at that moment, your name will be plastered all over the major dailies as a ‘speculator.’ Do you understand?”
“….”
“So you’d better hope I live a long life.”
In other words, don’t report my actions to Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun.
Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae nodded in understanding.
“Yes, yes.”
But after a moment of contemplation, Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae carefully opened his mouth.
“About that… I already reported the matter regarding Investigator Lee Dong-young to the Prosecutor General. What should I do?”
“Since it’s something you started, handle the cleanup yourself. Do I need to explain that too?”
“No, no. I’ll take care of it.”
Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae signed the documents with an aggrieved expression, pen in hand.
Then he exhaled a sigh and looked at me.
Now I had become his dog, and I would receive his orders.
“How much does Uncle trust me?”
Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae carefully answered, stroking his chin.
“Fifty-fifty.”
After the case manipulation was exposed, Kim Yun-hwan blamed me right up until he left for America.
No matter how much of an idiot, a son is still a son.
“He acknowledges your abilities, but he doesn’t trust you. So it’s not that he doesn’t believe in you—it’s that he doesn’t trust you completely.”
I nodded.
It was what I’d expected.
If I had earned his trust, I would have been invited to the gatherings Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun attended.
I should have been gradually recognized as his successor while moving in their exclusive league of politicians and wealthy men.
A prosecutor cannot rise through ability alone.
Prosecutors with mediocre skills are buried in this world, and to rise, you must grasp the hand of power.
But I was merely at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office.
Through Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun, I had never met any powerful figure.
“What must I do to earn his trust?”
Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae’s eyes gleamed.
“I’ll… I’ll explain it well. You know? The Prosecutor General still trusts my word…”
Seo Jin cut off Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae’s words.
“That’s a given.”
From now on, Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae would have to praise me until his tongue wore thin.
If he didn’t, he would certainly receive a gift of 3 billion won in debt and become a speculator, suffering humiliation.
I tapped the dining table with my finger and continued speaking.
“Something else.”
I intended to gain the trust of Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun through Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae.
And after acquiring power, I was planning to use Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae as a pawn to sever Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun’s neck.
I would seize everything those bastards possessed.
That was my goal.
“Tell me. How can I make my uncle trust me?”
“You have to show loyalty. Handling dangerous matters and resolving them. Ah! There’s actually something like that.”
Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae answered while licking his dry lips.
There was the Boun Church.
A church created with a shortened name meaning “believe in the destiny of revival,” it hung the sign of Christianity but was a typical cult.
A place that sold “tickets to heaven,” claiming that the more donations you made, the higher your chances of going to heaven.
Operating centered around Yongsan, their cult leader’s name was Shin Ji-seok.
And the believers called Shin Ji-seok “Master.”
‘Not long ago…’
Seven corpses were discovered in Gapyeong, Gyeonggi Province.
They were bodies that had been beaten and then torn apart by dogs, and all of them were known to be believers of the Boun Church.
Absurdly, Shin Ji-seok made a fuss claiming he would resurrect them, and after more than three days passed with the resurrection failing, he shed tears profusely.
The Prosecution Service began an investigation, suspecting that executives of the Boun Church had committed murder.
However, due to interference from approximately three hundred believers, they failed to uncover proper evidence and terminated the investigation.
I was in the Records Storage Room.
I narrowed my eyes as I reviewed the records of the Boun Church.
‘This would certainly feel like a thorn in Kim Young-jun’s side.’
Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun was aiming for the position of Prosecutor General and even higher.
That’s why this case had to be handled carefully.
‘It could become a self-inflicted wound.’
The Republic of Korea is a nation with religious freedom; the Prosecution Service’s investigation could be accused of oppressing religion.
But it was also difficult to simply ignore it.
An incident where seven people died at once, and the cult leader Shin Ji-seok shed disgusting tears claiming he would resurrect them.
The internet users were in an uproar.
-Isn’t the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office colluding with the Boun Church?
-Looking at how they’re not actively investigating, they’re all in on it together.
-But why can’t they arrest the cult leader? Seven believers died, there are signs of assault, and they even say he threw them to dogs? It’s all out there, so why can’t they catch him? But they arrest ordinary people without evidence. Ptui, ptui, ptui.
-How can you make an arrest? And threw them to dogs? Where’s the official statement? They could have been killed by stray dogs, right? Anyone listening would think the cult leader killed them.
└Yes, next Boun Church believer.
└No, let’s talk facts, not believers.
└Why would seven believers gather in Gapyeong? Some prayer meeting? They probably did something like that. Then they’d say faith was lacking and beat the hell out of them. It’s predictable without even looking.
└If we donate, do we really get free access to heaven?
└Boun Church isn’t the only one collecting donations, so why?
This was certainly a difficult matter.
There was no reasoning with people trapped in false faith.
There was even a possibility they might see me conducting the investigation as the devil and rush to kill me.
But if I resolved this, I could gain Kim Young-jun’s unwavering trust.
After all, I had extracted his aching tooth at great personal risk.
High risk, high return.
I closed the documents and turned my body.
‘It’s difficult to pin this on fraud.’
Even if they spouted nonsense about heaven tickets and pocketed hundreds of millions in cash, it was hard to charge them with fraud.
According to precedent, ‘if the purpose is spiritual comfort, even if the desired outcome isn’t achieved, it cannot be considered deception.’
What remained was murder or other illegal acts they may have committed.
I opened the Records Storage Room door and stepped outside.
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Boun Church boasted over two hundred churches nationwide and more than 150,000 believers.
Among them, Seoul Central Boun Church, their headquarters, was massive—nearly the size of twenty soccer fields.
This entire temple had been built with heaven’s admission fees.
And I was now at Seoul Central Boun Church.
On the high walls, red letters displayed signs reading ‘Religious Persecution OUT!’ and ‘Stop Distorted Reporting!’ in an eerie manner.
I stood at the barred entrance.
Beyond it, only a long stretch of road and trees were visible.
The building seemed to be much further inside.
I placed my hand on the gate and pushed with force.
Only a metallic clang sounded—it wouldn’t open.
Then a voice filled with wariness reached me.
“Who are you?”
Three men were approaching me.
One of them held the leash of a Dosa Gyeon dog.
When I didn’t respond, one of them asked again.
“I said, who are you? A reporter? Or something else?”
I still didn’t answer.
I simply observed them quietly.
They were clearly believers of this place.
All three were in their fifties, with disheveled hair and wearing worn t-shirts.
“Who the hell are you?!”
The men scowled and rolled up their sleeves.
They looked ready to force me out by sheer strength.
But the man holding the Dosa dog’s leash tilted his head.
“…Wait, where have I seen that face before?”
“Huh?”
“Oh, isn’t he a prosecutor! Didn’t you see? That famous guy lately!”
The moment the word “prosecutor” left his lips, the men’s eyes transformed.
The wariness vanished from their gaze, replaced in an instant by outright hostility and a murderous glare.
At the same time, one of them bellowed.
“You bastard, what are you doing here?!”
“So what if you’re a prosecutor? You think we’re scared of you? Hah!”
These men feared not the laws of the nation.
They feared only the will of God.
I was a demon and devil set against God.
They believed that capturing such a demon would grant them entry to heaven.
But I remained unmoved.
If they assaulted me, all the better. I could drag them straight to the Interrogation Room.
So I signaled silently to the bodyguards watching from a distance to stay put.
As the bodyguards nodded, I took a step closer to the men.
To provoke them.
“You killed him, didn’t you?”
“Did Shin Ji-seok kill him?”
I studied them carefully, weighing my words.
I needed to check if they were hiding any blades—if they were, I’d stop provoking and find another approach. But the man holding the Dosa dog’s leash spoke harshly.
“Bite!”
At that single command, the Dosa dog turned vicious.
Drool streamed from its mouth as it barked wildly, and the chain leash grew taut as if it might snap.
If the man released the leash, the Dosa dog would charge straight at me and tear into my flesh with its savage fangs.
The man holding the leash sneered.
“This isn’t a place for someone like you, so just leave. Go on, you bastard! Hah! Should I let him go? Huh?”
The tension hung in the air, ready to snap.
“Wait! Wait, please!”
A woman’s voice rang out, and everyone’s attention shifted toward it.
A woman rushed urgently from inside the entrance, her expression desperate.
The moment I recognized her face, my eyes narrowed.
She was a colleague from my days at the Dongnam District Prosecutor’s Office and Gangwon District Prosecutors’ Office….
‘Lee So-hee?’

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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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