Prosecutor Kim Seo-Jin - Chapter 136

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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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One Step at a Time (6)
‘Business?’
She was talking about money games.
As expected, Kim Young-jun’s Wife had not severed ties with her family of origin.
She even seemed to be involved in illegal loan sharking.
But it was difficult to pursue the thought any further.
The coffee shop door chimed open, and Kim Young-jun’s Wife entered.
And when she saw Seo Jin holding his phone, her eyes widened.
“You….”
A murderous glare.
But Seo Jin remained unruffled and spoke with casual composure.
“Just a moment. Kim Young-jun’s Wife has arrived. I’ll hand it over to you.”
Seo Jin passed the phone to Kim Young-jun’s Wife and continued with an innocent expression.
“There was a call. I was about to tell them you weren’t here, but you’ve arrived.”
Kim Young-jun’s Wife took the phone with deliberate slowness.
All the while, her eerie gaze continued to study Seo Jin’s expression.
But Seo Jin’s face remained perfectly composed.
Kim Young-jun’s Wife would glean nothing from his expression.
And her attention shifted to the caller ID.
The name Eom Seon-ju.
Kim Young-jun’s Wife bit her lip tightly, then held the phone to her ear and spoke in a cold voice.
“We’ll talk later.”
And so the call ended abruptly.
Then Kim Young-jun’s Wife turned back to Seo Jin and shot at him in a low voice.
“Don’t you dare touch my things.”
“Yes, I apologize if I’ve upset you.”
Seo Jin lowered his head with an apologetic expression.
But Kim Young-jun’s Wife did not soften her cold gaze.
She swept out of the coffee shop like a chill wind to check on the minor accident.
Watching Kim Young-jun’s Wife leave, Seo Jin immediately pulled out his notebook.
And he wrote down Eom Seon-ju’s contact information that he had memorized.
To avoid forgetting, he had to record it immediately.
‘010….’
The truth seemed to be revealing itself, piece by piece.
*
*
*
Shortly after, Seo Jin finished his meeting with Kim Young-jun’s Wife and was heading to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office.
When he hit a red light, he called Lee Dong-young, the investigator who would be in Gangwon Province.
A call after a long time.
Detective Lee Dong-young’s voice was thick with kindness and warmth.
-Ah, Prosecutor. It’s been a while.
“There’s something I need to ask of you.”
It was something I couldn’t do from the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office.
There were too many eyes watching, and word could reach Prosecutor Kim Young-jun’s ears through any number of channels.
That’s why I contacted Detective Lee Dong-young.
-Go ahead. Anything is fine.
“My aunt’s name is Eom Si-young. I’d like to know about her family relations on her side.”
I didn’t just want to know simple family connections.
I wanted to see into everything—what they did, their assets, all of it.
And Detective Lee Dong-young answered readily.
-Understood. Is there anything else?
“No, that’s all.”
About twenty minutes had passed since I ended the call with Detective Lee Dong-young.
I arrived at the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office.
I came up to my office and was spreading out documents to get to work when my phone vibrated.
An international call. I knew exactly who it was.
Kim Yun-hwan.
‘That bastard.’
I had informed my aunt about Kim Yun-hwan’s cohabitation.
My aunt, who cherished her son dearly, wouldn’t sit idle hearing such news.
She would have called him immediately, and Kim Yun-hwan would have heard every bit of nagging.
I smiled faintly and brought the phone to my ear.
“Isn’t it dawn there? If you want to study, you need to sleep. Why are you calling?”
-Hey, you bastard! You’re investigating me? Who I meet—!
“You paid good money to study abroad, so study hard. Get some sleep.”
I hung up abruptly.
Talking to an airhead was a waste of time.
As I turned my attention back to the documents, my aunt’s face suddenly came to mind.
‘Illegal loans?’
The person who had contacted my aunt was Eom Seon-ju.
From what she had said, my aunt was involved in illegal loans.
Of course, she probably wasn’t directly operating the loan shark business and lending money herself.
‘It would be in the form of investment.’
Illegal loans guaranteed minimum returns of twenty percent.
If you put your hands into illegal ventures, you could expect returns in the hundreds or thousands of percent.
Literally money breeding money.
‘Insane…’
I bit my lip.
How could the Prosecutor General’s wife have her hands in illegal loans, of all things.
No matter how they disguise it as investment or how far the investigation’s reach extends, they’ve made sure it doesn’t surface easily. But this is absolutely insane.
Then my phone vibrated.
It was Lee Dong-young.
-I sent it by email.
The family relations from Kim Young-jun’s Wife’s side of the family had arrived.
I thanked him and opened my laptop to check the email immediately.
‘There it is.’
A person named Eom Seon-ju exists.
Kim Young-jun’s Wife’s younger sibling.
Occupation: unemployed.
But I wasn’t fooled.
Eom Seon-ju is a loan shark.
I moved the mouse and continued reviewing the documents.
Revealed assets totaled approximately 80 billion won.
All of it tied up in buildings.
This too is false—they’re hiding wealth in gold, paintings, or under false names.
I examined the buildings Eom Seon-ju owned.
But something odd stood out.
Among Eom Seon-ju’s buildings, there’s a small three-story building embedded in the heart of Gangnam.
Yet the basement level has been vacant for a long time.
That period spans eight years.
‘Does that make sense?’
The probability they deliberately didn’t rent it out is high.
This is something I need to see with my own eyes and judge.
I opened my notebook and wrote down ‘Eom Seon-ju’.
Then I filled the remaining space with the names of Kim Young-jun’s Wife and Anna Roux.
Though no connection between Anna Roux and Kim Young-jun’s Wife has been revealed yet, I decided to draft a scenario.
‘Kim Young-jun’s Wife’s family made a name for themselves as major players in Jongno since the military dictatorship era. But then foreign capital entered.’
The name “major player in Jongno” is disappearing from the Illegal Loan Shark Market in South Korea.
Japanese funds flowed in and the market fell under their control.
Most of the loan companies featured in television advertisements are Japanese-affiliated.
And they didn’t stop at draining the blood of ordinary citizens.
They absorbed savings banks and the financial sector, and are even eyeing our nation’s corporations.
‘The situation is heading toward an extreme.’
But the government turns a blind eye.
They spout some absurd logic: ‘If we crack down on the Illegal Loan Shark Market, ordinary people will have difficulty borrowing emergency funds.’
I drew a circle around Anna Roux’s name.
‘Bribes worked.’
Dozens of National Assembly members have met with Anna Roux.
People who care only about filling their own pockets, regardless of what happens to the nation.
They had taken money and joined hands with Anna Roux’s organization.
And they were backing them up so those bastards could wield power in the illegal loan shark market.
‘But would Kim Young-jun’s Wife’s family have simply watched this happen?’
I immediately shook my head.
That family’s roots ran deep in the loan shark business.
When it came to greed, they were second to none.
They wouldn’t have merely stood by watching foreign capital siphon blood from our nation’s people.
They must have partnered with those bastards and received massive investments, sucking profit alongside them.
Whether the country collapsed or not.
I set down my pen with a soft tap.
‘The scenario ends here.’
Once I met with Eom Seon-ju and captured Anna Roux, I would be able to see the hidden truth obscured by fog.
*
*
*
A few days later.
I was at the headquarters of a company called GA Telecom.
While sitting in the lobby checking my watch, a man came down.
Jeon Chang-hyun, the son of a National Assembly member.
He spoke with irritation in his voice.
“What’s this about? Why are you coming all the way to the company?”
Jeon Chang-hyun was one of those who belonged to the Elite Children’s Circle.
Because of me, Shin Il-seung had been destroyed and the circle was falling apart, so he wasn’t happy to see my face.
But I smiled pleasantly and opened my mouth.
“There’s a coffee shop nearby. Shall we have a sweet coffee?”
“I don’t think we’re at the stage where we should be having coffee together. What? Are you going to threaten us again with some pseudo-religious cult bribery ledger or something?”
I merely shrugged my shoulders.
Then Jeon Chang-hyun glanced around to confirm no one was nearby before growling in a low voice.
“Listen here, Prosecutor. Back then we stayed quiet because we were caught off guard, but that’s not the case now, is it? Think about it. Our parents can block every article you publish. We have that much power too.”
“….”
“And your uncle is the Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office, right? He’s in the same boat as our parents. Would he allow an investigation into our parents? Do you think he’d permit it?”
“….”
“And you think we don’t have connections in the Prosecutor’s Office? The uncles and aunts of people in our circle are vice chief prosecutors and chief prosecutors at each district prosecutor’s office!”
I listened quietly to his words and nodded.
“That’s right. The Chief Prosecutor wouldn’t cast aside a reliable ally just because he received a little political funding.”
“Exactly! Someone who understands!”
As he clenched his teeth, I shook my head.
“I think you’re misunderstanding something. First, let’s have that coffee. I’ll buy, so don’t worry.”
I brushed past Jeon Chang-hyun without waiting for his response.
Jeon Chang-hyun clutched at his hair in frustration.
‘Ugh, seriously….’
Jeon Chang-hyun disliked how Seo Jin acted on his own whims.
But he wanted to hear the reason he had come all this way.
He twisted his body and followed Seo Jin.
*
*
*
It was a Coffee Shop.
The moment Seo Jin set down the coffee, Jeon Chang-hyun asked urgently.
“So… if you tell us my father’s schedule, you’ll destroy that ledger?”
He was referring to the name preserved in the bribery ledger of the pseudo-religious cult.
Seo Jin nodded and opened his mouth.
“Yes, that bribery ledger is a bomb I can’t handle. As you said, there’s no way my uncle would approve of it either. But having this ledger remain isn’t exactly comforting for your side, is it? Even if it’s a bomb I can’t detonate, a bomb is still a bomb—if it goes off one day… ugh, I don’t even want to imagine it.”
As Jeon Chang-hyun licked his dry lips, Seo Jin whispered in a low voice.
“So if you help me, I’ll hand it over cleanly. Of course, excluding everyone else—just your father’s name, Assemblyman Jeon Yu-gon’s.”
Seo Jin had analyzed the dates and frequency of Anna Roux’s meetings with politicians.
And he had determined there was a high probability of contact with Assemblyman Jeon Yu-gon, Jeon Chang-hyun’s father, within days.
That’s why he was trying to find out through Jeon Chang-hyun.
Of course, it would be easier through Assemblyman Jeon Yu-gon’s aide.
But Seo Jin wasn’t yet in a position to make direct contact with them.
Jeon Chang-hyun drank his coffee as if his throat were parched.
Then, after glancing around cautiously, he asked in an even quieter voice.
“…You’re saying you’ll delete only my father’s name?”
“Yes.”
Jeon Chang-hyun’s eyes narrowed.
Deleting only his father’s name while leaving others was an opportunity.
It was a bomb that could go off anytime, but when it did, only his father would remain untouched.
Then power could concentrate around his father.
‘The problem is….’
What Seo Jin was asking for was his father’s unofficial schedule.
From Jeon Chang-hyun’s perspective, Seo Jin was absolutely untrustworthy.
Moreover, an unofficial schedule was the perfect environment for misconduct to be exposed.
Jeon Chang-hyun smiled bitterly and shook his head.
“That’s difficult. I’m not my father’s secretary—how would I know his unofficial schedule?”
“I’ll make you a promise. Even if I discover the Assemblyman’s misconduct in this matter, I’ll turn a blind eye.”
“How can I trust a prosecutor’s word? I’d sooner trust a stray dog passing by.”
At the man’s snide remark, Seo Jin let out a sigh.
“I’m not targeting the Assemblyman—I’m just trying to confirm someone else.”
“That’s enough.”
“Then I suppose I’ll have to resort to threats. It’s not really my nature to threaten people… but the situation is rather urgent right now.”
“Ha! Another pseudo-religious cult ledger? Didn’t I already tell you? You can’t expose that.”
Seo Jin shook his head slowly.
“There’s someone acting exactly like they’re in cahoots with Shin Il-seung. They were staying long-term at the Daejeong Hotel—what do you think they were doing there with entertainment trainees? Playing that game?”
“…!”
Jeon Chang-hyun’s face drained of all color.
Every word Seo Jin spoke was about him.
“That, that….”
Seo Jin continued speaking, leaving Jeon Chang-hyun’s panic-stricken face behind.
“What if a post went up on social media with a title like this: ‘Son of a National Assembly member calls three entertainment trainees to a hotel room’? Don’t even think about going to delete the CCTV footage—I’ve already secured it. If you want those video files, you’ll follow my instructions.”
“You fucking….”
“Stop cursing and make your choice. Do you want to become a social media sensation? Or will you hand over your father’s unofficial schedule? If I were you, I’d trust the word of a prosecutor—even one as worthless as a stray dog—rather than risk that.”
Jeon Chang-hyun bit his lip and spoke in a low, vicious voice.
“Prosecutor!”
But Seo Jin ignored his savage tone.
He smiled benignly while his voice turned demonic.
“Jeon Chang-hyun, you promised, didn’t you? That if I discovered any misconduct this time, I’d turn a blind eye. So if you don’t want to get slapped by your father, nod.”

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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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