Prosecutor Kim Seo-Jin - Chapter 107

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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 Misplaced Belief (2)
I couldn’t fathom why Lee So-hee, who should have been in Gangwon Province, had suddenly appeared here.
‘What is this?’
As I continued my thoughts, Lee So-hee reached the entrance.
She steadied her breathing and struggled to open her mouth.
“Wait. Just wait a moment….”
The three men who had been in a tense standoff with me seemed to recognize Lee So-hee as well.
I calmed the barking mongrel and retreated, and in that moment, Lee So-hee opened the barred entrance and stepped outside.
“Do you know her?”
Lee So-hee nodded at the man’s question.
“Yes, she’s my friend. My friend.”
“Then proselytizing?”
“Ah, well… yes.”
The moment Lee So-hee answered, the men’s expressions transformed once again.
Just moments before, their eyes had been fierce.
They’d dragged out the mongrel with murderous intent, acting as though they would kill.
But now they smiled gently.
“You should have said so.”
“If you came with our sister, you are all disciples of our master. Welcome.”
“We apologize for our mistake. There have been so many unfortunate incidents lately. We hope you understand.”
Virtuous faces, kind expressions—anyone who saw them would mistake them for genuine believers.
But to me, it was far more terrifying.
Their smiles were nothing but the visages of madmen consumed by lunacy.
They bowed repeatedly to Lee So-hee and me, then withdrew.
“Please, have your conversation.”
Yet I detected something strange in their eyes.
The way they looked at Lee So-hee—subtle, but tinged with suspicion.
Whether it was because she was with me, or because they’d disliked her from the start, I couldn’t say.
What was certain was the unease.
“Let’s go.”
Lee So-hee’s voice reached me.
When I turned my head, Lee So-hee stood there with an embarrassed expression.
“Go?”
“Yeah.”
“Aren’t you going to proselytize?”
“Hey, I was just saying that.”
>”Never mind. We should talk, don’t you think?”
Lee So-hee opened her mouth slightly, avoiding my gaze.
“…Can’t we just not do this?”
I shifted my gaze to the three men who had just confronted me.
They walked along the wall as if conducting a search.
I opened my mouth, watching them.
“If you don’t talk, I’m going to arrest those people. Intimidating a prosecutor with a vicious dog—that’s more than enough grounds to haul them away. What do you say? The choice is yours.”
Lee So-hee muttered “You’re really something,” and nodded.
“Fine. Let’s do it.”
Lee So-hee grabbed my collar and pulled me along.
*
*
*
The coffee shop was far from the church.
Most of the shops around the church were run by believers, so we’d come all this way.
But Lee So-hee remained silent for a long time.
She sat there blankly, ignoring even her favorite cookies and cake.
I didn’t press her.
The Lee So-hee I knew wasn’t the type to fall into such a religion.
I’d never heard her mention faith once, neither in Dongnam nor in Chuncheon.
Besides, she wasn’t weak-willed enough to depend on false beliefs to get through life.
There had to be a reason she was here.
With that thought, I waited for her to speak.
Finally, she did.
“My mother is a member of that church. Our family has some… complicated history, and she was suffering because of family issues. I think that’s when she started relying on it.”
It was somewhat what I’d expected.
“So I come along sometimes. Not because I believe, but for my mother’s sake. If I don’t go to church, she struggles. She says I’ll go to hell, that a demon of doubt has possessed me. So for the sake of family peace, I attend when I have time. I’m on vacation now. Satisfied?”
Lee So-hee’s nature was calm and composed.
But her expression now looked pained.
“Thanks for telling me.”
“Sigh…”
Lee So-hee exhaled and picked up her coffee.
She drank quite a lot—her throat must have been parched.
And when she set the cup down, I opened my mouth.
“I’ve heard what I wanted to hear as a friend. Now I have something I want to hear as a prosecutor.”
“What?”
I picked up my phone and placed it in front of her.
The article appeared—seven believers who died in Gapyeong.
I tapped the article with my finger and spoke.
“Do you know anything about this?”
Lee So-hee’s brow furrowed. She spoke firmly.
“Don’t.”
“Why not?”
“Believers will come to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office. And they’ll shout at you, telling you to go to hell. It could be for a day, two days, maybe months or even years. Those people—they’ll do far worse than that.”
“Hell?”
I smiled faintly.
“I don’t care. Hell sounds even better—plenty of bad people there. If I catch them all, I become king, right? Someone told me once that if you catch the king of hell, that place becomes heaven for you.”
“That’s not what I meant!”
“No, I’m right. If I catch that bastard Shin Ji-seok, that place becomes heaven for me. So, is there anything you know that you can tell me?”
“No.”
Lee So-hee shook her head and began to rise from her seat.
As if our conversation had ended, she moved to leave the coffee shop.
But I grabbed her wrist.
Lee So-hee’s eyes shifted toward me.
Her pupils were trembling.
Yet her voice was ice-cold.
“Let go.”
“You’re a prosecutor. But right now you’re turning a blind eye to murder…”
That was the moment.
The world began to lose its color.
Lee So-hee sat at a desk in her Chuncheon home.
She scrolled through her phone, viewing photographs.
The images were varied.
—A dozen large dogs confined in a small cage.
—Torn clothing placed beside the cage.
—A cute boy who appeared to be six years old.
Lee So-hee’s finger stopped on the photograph of the boy.
“The missing child and…”
Lee So-hee’s gaze turned toward her laptop.
An article was visible.
Seven Buwun Church Members Dead
Lee So-hee murmured.
“…The father of the dead child.”
Lee So-hee opened her notebook and began writing something down.
It was all about Buwun Church.
Then she opened her phone’s contacts and found Seo Jin’s number.
Lee So-hee hesitated as she reached for the call button, then shook her head while biting her lip hard.
“No, it’s too dangerous. I have to do this alone. He’ll stay in the Prosecutor’s Office, but I won’t. This is my work. I have to do it.”
Buzz.
Lee So-hee’s phone on the desk vibrated.
The caller ID showed Mom.
Lee So-hee stared at the caller ID with weary eyes.
“I’m sorry, Mom. I’m going to destroy Buwun Church. You can hit me, curse me—I don’t care. There were two reasons I became a prosecutor. I have to finish one of them. Wait. I’ll save you soon.”
Lee So-hee picked up her phone.
The psychometry had ended.
I stood there in a daze for a moment.
‘What is this.’
Lee So-hee was conducting her own investigation.
She wasn’t visiting Buwun Church because of her mother—she was desperately trying to solve this on her own.
Now I understood the suspicious glances from those men I’d seen at the entrance of Buwun Church earlier.
“Let go.”
Lee So-hee’s cold voice cut through the air.
I hesitated for a moment, considering my options.
But the moment of deliberation was brief.
Those men already suspected her.
The suspicion in their eyes wasn’t overt, but they would certainly continue to watch her.
Eventually, they’d catch her in the act, and she could face serious trouble.
‘That can’t happen.’
I snatched the phone from Lee So-hee’s hand.
“Hey!”
She cried out and tried to snatch back her phone, but it was too late.
I was already opening the gallery.
Then I showed her the photo of the boy she’d seen during the psychometry.
Instantly, her movements froze.
Her large eyes trembled.
“…What?”
I smiled faintly and spoke.
“Let’s go together, to hell. It’ll become heaven.”
*
*
*
It was a room with a nameplate reading “Homeroom.”
A middle-aged man with neatly combed hair sat at his desk, turning the pages of a Bible.
His name was Seo Dong-sik.
He was one of the pastors at Buwun Church.
However, they didn’t use the title “pastor”—they called him “teacher” instead.
A knock sounded, and the door opened.
The man who entered was the one I’d had words with—the one holding the leash of a Dosa Gyeon dog.
Seo Dong-sik removed his glasses and looked up.
“What is it?”
The man approached hesitantly and spoke carefully.
“Teacher, Lee So-hee…”
“Lee So-hee?”
Seo Dong-sik’s wrinkled eyes narrowed.
Lee So-hee had been visiting the church more frequently of late, photographing various locations throughout the building.
Her suspicious behavior prompted me to issue orders for her to be monitored.
Yet now her name had surfaced in this context.
“Why? What’s the matter?”
“Lee So-hee has been proselytizing. She’s currently guiding a new member to the New Member Orientation Room.”
“And?”
“That’s just it… He’s a prosecutor. A prosecutor who’s been making headlines lately—Seo Jin.”
“Seo Jin?”
The man set his phone down on Seo Dong-sik’s desk.
Seo Jin’s face appeared on the screen.
Seo Dong-sik adjusted his glasses and studied the face carefully, then nodded.
“Ah, I’ve seen him before.”
Wariness permeated Seo Dong-sik’s voice.
The church’s situation had deteriorated recently.
Seven believers had died, the world condemned Buwun Church, and countless people were pressing for a prosecution investigation.
Seo Dong-sik ran his finger across his lips, lost in thought.
‘But a prosecutor came at a time like this?’
And not just any prosecutor—one with a fairly well-known name. Something smelled off.
‘What is it?’
Seo Dong-sik slowly lifted his head.
“This works out well. We might even learn what the prosecution is thinking, yes? He’s in the New Member Orientation Room? Let’s go.”
*
*
*
“Roughly four hundred billion won flows in annually as donations—the price of a ticket to heaven, they call it. A substantial portion of that money ends up in the pockets of politicians and government officials.”
Seo Jin walked through the halls of Buwun Church with Lee So-hee.
The building’s scale was staggering; the long corridors seemed endless.
“Do the remaining pastors split the rest?”
“No, that doesn’t appear to be the case. We’re still investigating, but given that new buildings keep appearing under Shin Ji-seok’s name every year….”
Most of the money flows directly into Shin Ji-seok’s coffers.
Yet even a cult leader cannot monopolize everything.
That much is certain.
“Embezzlement, then?”
“If the suspicions are true, it’s embezzlement.”
Seo Jin nodded, and Lee So-hee continued.
“Regardless, whenever a case emerges, the prosecution and police blame each other and make excuses. The tax office turns a blind eye. This is what makes it difficult, that’s what makes it hard. One wrong move and we could be touching people in high places.”
“….”
“Politicians don’t ignore this merely for money. They fear the votes—the sheer number of believers in this place.”
“….”
“But could you manage it? Even a prosecutor general would hesitate.”
I was about to answer Lee So-hee’s question.
My phone vibrated.
The caller ID read ‘Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae’.
I brought the phone to my ear.
“Yes, Chief Prosecutor.”
“Are you really going through with this?”
“Yes.”
“Hah…”
A sigh escaped Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae’s lips.
It was Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae who had brought up Buwun Church in the first place.
But he never expected me to actually dive into it.
Touching a massive religious organization was genuinely insane.
Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae tried to stop me.
“Seo Jin, let me look for something else. Not this. Okay?”
“I understand, so please just tell me.”
I had learned from Lee So-hee that I would be meeting with Seo Dong-sik.
I immediately contacted Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae and asked about Seo Dong-sik’s assets.
The answer came through.
“The disclosed assets total approximately 4 billion won. Of that, the apartment is worth 2.3 billion, the rest is land, and there’s about 300 million in cash.”
“Thank you.”
“Um…”
Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae’s voice was filled with concern.
“What’s wrong?”
“Don’t… don’t die.”
If I died, Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae’s life would be over.
So it seemed he was genuinely praying for my safety.
“Understood.”
I chuckled softly and ended the call.
Holding the leash of a chief prosecutor and wielding it was more thrilling than I’d expected.
With that, Lee So-hee and I continued walking down the hallway.
As we moved deeper into the central area, the sound of dogs barking drifted harshly through the windows, and more people filled the hallway.
They stared at me with cold eyes.
I could feel their sentiments.
‘Demon.’
‘Devil.’
They recognized my face.
And without any logic, they regarded me with hostility.
To them, a prosecutor was simply an enemy.
Lee So-hee and I spoke less.
From now on, every single word had to be carefully chosen.
One misstep, and I could find myself subjected to something unspeakable—all in the name of divine will.
This place was a congregation of fanatics.
And so we arrived at the office bearing the name “New Member Orientation Room.”
Lee So-hee gripped the doorknob, her gaze fixed on me with unmistakable concern.
Then she spoke quietly.
“Opening the door.”
“Seo Dong-sik’s assets are worth roughly four billion won. A considerable fortune. But here? Tens of billions in donations flow through this place. And every last won of it is being swallowed by Shin Ji-seok. I’m genuinely curious—what would he think about that?”
“Huh?”
Lee So-hee didn’t understand what I was saying.
She simply stared at me.
I shrugged and spoke.
“To satisfy my curiosity, I need to meet him. Open the door.”
The door swung wide open.
Inside, Seo Dong-sik sat beaming with a radiant smile.
He spread his arms wide in welcome, greeting Lee So-hee and me.
“Welcome.”
I painted on a brilliant smile of my own.
The devil had entered the stage.

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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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