Prosecutor Kim Seo-Jin - Chapter 128

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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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Arrogance Continued (1)
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In Hannam-dong stood a grand mansion appraised at 4 billion won, its walls towering higher than the fifth floor of any apartment building. It was the residence of Shin Moo-hak, Chairman of Shinma Group.
Chairman Shin Moo-hak—a rare case of someone who rose to chaebol status relatively late, beginning with a bus transportation business.
He seized every opportunity during the real estate boom, buying and selling land indiscriminately until his wealth accumulated beyond measure.
Yet becoming rich was never enough for him.
His next prey was always business itself.
From construction to automobiles, electricity to retail—acquisition and merger after merger.
Through such expansion, he had grown into a giant commanding over seventy subsidiaries.
And now.
As the saying goes, time is impartial; Chairman Shin Moo-hak had aged, waiting for life’s final chapter.
Yet greed knows no end.
Even now, the chairman remained active in the field, his eyes sharp and predatory as he hunted for his next acquisition.
He had three sons, including Shin Il-seung, and a daughter named Shin Ji-yeon, but he entrusted them with only a handful of subsidiaries.
Shinma Group remained firmly under Chairman Shin Moo-hak’s control.
The chairman set down his teacup and clicked his tongue disapprovingly.
His brow furrowed with displeasure as he spoke.
“I told you not to associate with those lacking in refinement…”
Shin Ji-yeon sat across from her father.
She opened her mouth, her expression deliberately bitter.
“Father, while Il-seung was seeing actress Lee Sol-ah, he dragged an idol singer into a hotel. The actress must have felt betrayed. If he hadn’t laid hands on her, it could have been handled discreetly. But…”
“What’s the atmosphere like?”
“Not good.”
Public sympathy for Lee Sol-ah was swelling, and calls for Shin Il-seung’s arrest were growing louder.
-Boycott Shinma Group now.
-When did Lee Sol-ah ever hit anyone? If he even wielded a knife, that’s attempted murder. Arrest him!
-What good is money? I earn daily wages but I don’t harm others.
-If you commit a crime, you must face punishment.
-That bastard probably manipulated stock prices too.
-Right. Because of him, so many people went to the Han River.
-Arrest, arrest, arrest, arrest.
└Will he even be arrested? He’ll definitely whine and say “I’m sorry” before walking free.
└Don’t fall for the tears. He must be arrested no matter what!
└The more I think about it, the more disgusting it is.
Yet Chairman Shin Moo-hak’s reaction was lukewarm.
He knew, as if quoting from some film, that the noise would eventually fade away.
And the chairman understood well that incidents like this had to be buried.
“Call the newspaper and portal site executives and take them out to dinner. Then throw them something trivial to report. Make sure they don’t publish a single word about Il-seung.”
Dictionaries define newspapers as publications meant to convey facts about events that have occurred.
But for Shin Moo-hak, they meant something entirely different.
Propaganda and manipulation alone.
The media was a tool to control the common people.
“Bring Il-seung back appropriately. Why is the Prosecutor’s Office disciplining my son? Parents should be the ones to discipline their children.”
“Understood.”
“And the man Il-seung arrested….”
The conversation was about to turn to Seo Jin.
Shin Ji-yeon quickly opened her mouth.
“I already handled that by calling the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office and had him removed from the case.”
Shin Moo-hak’s gaze shifted to Shin Ji-yeon.
“Is that what you call handling it?”
His eyes asked why she hadn’t had him exiled instead.
Shin Ji-yeon spoke with a slight smile.
“There are many eyes watching right now. The current administration is also nearing its end. Since we don’t know what will happen in the future, I thought it was better to preserve the Prosecutor’s Office’s pride.”
Shin Moo-hak chuckled darkly.
“Ji-yeon, there’s no need to preserve the Prosecutor’s Office’s pride. Wait until they’re hungry, throw them some scraps, and they’ll wag their tails like dogs. Do you really think those bastards have any pride?”
Shin Moo-hak reflected.
The strong never consider others.
They move only according to their own will and thoughts.
Humans are ungrateful creatures—show them kindness and they forget to be thankful.
When dealing with people, never show them mercy.
“Show them our power. Make them fear us so much they never dare touch our family again—rip out their teeth and gouge out their eyes if you must.”
“Understood.”
Shin Ji-yeon nodded, etching her father’s words into her heart.
And she resolved to follow them.
Of course, the target for displaying that power wasn’t the Prosecutor’s Office or Seo Jin.
It was Shin Il-seung, who had been hiding his claws.
Shin Ji-yeon left.
Shin Moo-hak, who had remained on the sofa sipping tea a moment longer, rose from his aged frame.
Leaning on his cane, he spoke.
“Jun-tae!”
His voice rang out powerfully, belying his elderly body.
“Jun-tae!”
Lim Jun-tae, the Chairman’s Chief Secretary.
He hurried out and bowed before the Chairman.
“You called for me?”
Shin Moo-hak’s gaze shifted toward the window.
He could see Shin Ji-yeon’s car pulling out of the garage.
Shin Moo-hak’s eyes gleamed with a cold, piercing light.
“There’s something I need to do.”
“Please, go ahead.”
“Keep an eye on Ji-yeon for me.”
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At that moment, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office.
I walked down the hallway carrying documents and glanced out the window.
The weather was beautiful.
The kind of day that made you want to spread out a mat and go on a picnic.
But we had to hold back and work—that’s the reality of our lives.
Then, at that moment.
Thud!
I collided hard with someone’s shoulder.
The force was strong enough to carry emotion behind it.
My body twisted, and I looked ahead.
“I’m sorry.”
I apologized first since I’d been looking out the window, but the man in front of me stared at me with cold eyes.
I didn’t miss that gaze.
He’d deliberately bumped into me to start a confrontation.
It was Han Chang-hee, the prosecutor who received spending money from Shin Il-seung.
He poked my chest with his finger and opened his mouth in a low voice.
“Not paying attention to where you’re going?”
In that instant, my vision turned to black and white.
And the world of psychometry unfolded before me.
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Prosecutor Han Chang-hee had entered the interrogation room with Shin Il-seung and was scheming.
“…What does the Prosecutor’s Office do? Create crimes that don’t exist! I told you it was hunting! Hunting!”
Then Shin Il-seung hung a massive sum of 30 billion won around my neck.
And as Prosecutor Han Chang-hee left the interrogation room, Shin Il-seung spoke to him.
“Want me to give you a scenario? Seo Jin’s father works at construction sites, right? Do you think our people trust construction companies? Even if it’s a clean company, if you play it up in the media as shoddy construction, people will curse it first and ask questions later.”
Prosecutor Han Chang-hee stopped and turned his gaze.
Then Shin Il-seung laughed wickedly and continued.
“Seo Jin prevented the corruption from shoddy construction. How’s that? The father commits the crime and the son prevents it. People will love that.”
Prosecutor Han Chang-hee’s pupils sharpened with intensity.
Shin Il-seung continued.
“Believe in the lemming effect. Our people have high university graduation rates, they say. Nah, that’s nonsense. They’re all from third-rate schools. Stupid. Just like lemmings. If someone curses, they’ll curse without thinking.”
Lemmings are rodents called “wandering mice.”
When their population explodes and they migrate elsewhere, they have the habit of following only the leader.
Even when they encounter cliffs or fall into seas and lakes, they continue chasing the leader and all perish.
That’s why blindly following others without verifying one’s own thoughts and facts is called the lemming effect.
And when suspicions of shoddy construction at Jaejeong Construction emerge, people will undoubtedly curse collectively without thinking.
“Don’t worry about the prosecutor general’s mood. Even if you strip naked, I’ll guarantee you a job at our company. Frankly, once you take off your clothes, you’re just the guy next door, right?”
But Han Chang-hee’s eyes betrayed his anxiety. He spoke carefully.
“However, that could… spread false information, or something like that could put me in danger.”
“Then we’ll use foreign media and just slip them the source. There are so many foreign media outlets hoping our country fails. They’ll snap it right up. Just remember one thing: falsehood defeats truth. You know that, right?”
Han Chang-hee nodded.
“Understood.”
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The psychometry had ended.
Murderous intent flickered in my eyes.
‘Look at these bastards.’
These insane fools were plotting some pathetic scheme together.
A prosecutor nodded in agreement at the words that falsehood defeats truth.
Another one added to the list of those who needed to die.
Then Han Chang-hee opened his mouth again.
“Your name’s been in the media lately, so now I look like an idiot, huh?”
It wasn’t worth answering.
I walked straight past Han Chang-hee without stopping.
Then Han Chang-hee grabbed my shoulder hard.
“Hey, you bastard? Your senior’s talking to you and you’re just leaving?”
My gaze fixed on Han Chang-hee.
Looking at his hand gripping my shoulder, I spoke in a low voice.
“Prosecutor Han Chang-hee? Where did you spend the pocket money you received from Shin Il-seung?”
“…What?”
“Isn’t it difficult to cover international school tuition on a prosecutor’s salary?”
Han Chang-hee’s face began to rot from within.
Like a thief whose feet itch, his heart sank.
“You… you bastard!”
“Bastard, bastard… Is this how a prosecutor should speak?”
Han Chang-hee grabbed my collar.
He glared at me with fierce eyes.
“What’s with that tone to your senior!”
“Senior? You’re just a dog wagging its tail for money.”
I shook off Han Chang-hee’s hand forcefully.
Then I walked steadily toward Han Chang-hee, who stumbled backward.
Han Chang-hee’s eyes began to tremble uncontrollably.
I stood right in front of him and spoke in a quiet voice.
“I’m giving you 24 hours. Destroy the evidence. Wipe away every trace of the money you received. Starting with your call logs with Shin Il-seung, the hotel CCTV footage from every meeting, and even the CCTV in our District Prosecutor’s Office hallway. And finally, you’ll need to prove the source of every penny you’ve lived on.”
“You… you…”
“Why? Curious how I found out?”
Han Chang-hee bit his lip.
And he recalled every moment he’d spent with Shin Il-seung.
Yet no matter how hard he thought, there was no instant where I could have caught his tail.
He’d hidden himself thoroughly—so how on earth…?
I smiled coldly and tapped Han Chang-hee’s shoulder twice.
“Don’t you know the old saying? The birds hear what you say by day, and the rats hear what you say by night.”
Han Chang-hee’s body trembled slightly.
I twisted my wrist to check the time and spoke.
“One minute’s passed. Twenty-three hours fifty-nine minutes left.”
Han Chang-hee’s vacant gaze snapped toward me.
My intention was painfully obvious.
If he started destroying evidence, I’d chase after him and pick up every speck of dust.
But staying still and not destroying evidence was a problem too.
Han Chang-hee thought to himself.
That I possessed some unknown evidence.
That after twenty-four hours, that evidence alone would cut his throat.
It would’ve been nice to know what evidence I had, but my expression revealed nothing.
‘Damn it!’
And my irritating voice drove itself into Han Chang-hee’s ears.
“Twenty-three hours fifty-seven minutes fifty-five seconds. Fifty-four. Fifty-three. You’ve got plenty of time? I know exactly what thoughts are running through your head… Since you’re going to die anyway, shouldn’t you be hiding everything you can right now?”
“You bastard. I’ll remember this.”
Han Chang-hee brushed past me.
And I watched his retreating figure before bringing my phone to my ear.
“Could I ask you for something other than security?”
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Shortly after, I sat across from Shin Il-seung in the interrogation room.
Shin Il-seung chuckled and opened his mouth.
“You filed the arrest warrant?”
“Not yet.”
“Good thinking. It’d be pointless anyway. An arrest for just using drugs a few times and hitting some women? And on me, of all people?”
“We’ll see when the time comes.”
“You know there’s barely any time left, right? Just one day, correct? Then I’m walking out of here.”
Shin Il-seung rose to his feet and leaned toward me.
Then he fixed me with vicious eyes and spoke in a menacing voice.
“When I get out, you’re dead.”
I began laughing with a soft chuckle.
I laughed for a long time, as if genuinely astounded.
Then I spoke at a leisurely pace.
“You think you’re getting out? Sorry, but the detention center’s going to be your home. Your next move will be to the prison. You’re not even thirty yet, right? When you turn forty, I’ll let you out as a birthday present.”
“This is driving me crazy. This is actually fun.”
This bastard is confident he can see this through to the end.
He’s counting on Shin Moo-hak.
He thinks he’s only being held for drug possession and assault.
And the window for emergency detention is roughly twenty-eight hours.
But a smile played at the corners of my lips.
His Chief Secretary has joined hands with me.
Evidence of corruption is accumulating steadily through the Chief Secretary.
Prosecutor Han Chang-hee, who pocketed the bribes, is scrambling desperately.
Moreover, Attorney Lee Du-jin has filed charges for stock manipulation, and public sentiment has turned thanks to Lee Sol-ah’s situation.
Every arrow is being aimed at Shin Il-seung.
When all these bombs detonate simultaneously, not even Shin Moo-hak’s grandfather could save him.
I found myself curious for a moment.
When this arrogant bastard’s packaging is stripped away, when he stands naked before the masses, how will he change?

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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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