Prosecutor Kim Seo-Jin - Chapter 144

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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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Beneath the Surface (3)
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Jeo Hoo-an, the manager overseeing Chinese capital investments.
He sat in a dimly lit space draped with curtains, speaking with Anna Roux over the phone.
“The Siheung Industrial Complex?”
-Yes. I’d like to meet you there.
Jeo Hoo-an gestured with his hand.
His secretary, standing beside him, searched for “Siheung Industrial Complex” on a tablet PC and turned the screen toward Jeo Hoo-an.
Jeo Hoo-an smiled faintly as he studied the map.
The planned industrial complex had streets laid out like a checkerboard.
A place where one could flee in any direction, and where even if gangsters were deployed, they could be spotted from a distance.
She seemed to have put considerable thought into her survival.
“So, you know who the traitor is?”
-Yes, I’ve been wronged.
“Wronged? If you have nothing to feel guilty about, you should be fine meeting anywhere. Why insist on meeting in such a suspicious-smelling industrial complex?”
Jeo Hoo-an continued speaking, carefully observing Anna Roux’s reactions.
Those built on lies always slip up eventually.
But Anna Roux’s words remained consistent with her initial statement.
-The industrial complex? After the fire, I can’t trust anyone anymore. That’s why I don’t want to stay in Korea any longer. Let me leave. All I’m asking for is a passport, a ship bound for Japan, and fifty million yen in cash. Once you prepare those, I’ll tell you who the traitor is.
“You want to make a deal?”
-Yes.
At that moment, his secretary approached and placed a memo in front of Jeo Hoo-an.
As you suspected, it’s a burner phone.
During the brief call with Anna Roux, Jeo Hoo-an had verified the phone number’s registered owner through his secretary.
Jeo Hoo-an opened his mouth with a quiet laugh.
“I’m glad to hear a healthy voice. I’ve been hoping you were alive.”
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At the hotel,
Anna Roux, sitting across from Seo Jin while speaking with Jeo Hoo-an, suddenly felt a chill run down her spine.
‘Hoping I was alive?’
That affected tone alone made her skin crawl as if insects were crawling all over her body.
As Anna Roux wore a cynical smile, Jeo Hoo-an’s voice continued.
-Then, wait a little while. I’ll contact you after arranging the passport and ship. I hope you’ll be happy.
It was exactly as Seo Jin had anticipated.
Jeo Hoo-an had only instructed her to wait, without committing to a specific date or location.
The call ended there, and Anna Roux set down her phone while breathing out a tense breath.
Anna Roux’s gaze shifted to the notebook lying on the table.
The notebook contained the talking points she needed when speaking with Jeo Hu-an, written out like a script.
And remarkably, those questions and answers aligned perfectly.
“May I ask just one thing?”
“Anything.”
“How did you anticipate this question?”
“It’s obvious, isn’t it?”
Obvious? Seo Jin spoke casually, but it was anything but obvious.
The Jeo Hu-an that Anna Roux knew was a monster.
To predict such a monster’s thoughts, one would have to be a monster themselves.
‘Come to think of it….’
Seo Jin is a Prosecutor.
Day after day, I peer into crime and face those filled with lies, excuses, hypocrisy, and shamelessness without pause.
‘There’s a saying that those who fight monsters must be careful not to become monsters themselves in that struggle.’
But Prosecutors are those closest to becoming monsters.
Anna Roux felt that Seo Jin was like a monster riddled with suspicion and distrust.
‘Then, I can’t trust him.’
Such people have a characteristic—once they obtain what they want, they disregard all promises and shamelessly laugh while devouring the hunting dogs.
Moreover, as a criminal, Anna Roux didn’t need to keep promises from a Prosecutor’s perspective.
Seo Jin, seeing the light in her eyes, smiled slightly.
“Look… I know what you’re thinking, but it’s not like that.”
At Seo Jin’s side stands Chief Prosecutor Kim Young-jun.
Chief Prosecutor Kim Young-jun is a cold-blooded man who exploits not only his brothers but even his children and wife—a sociopath several levels above someone like Jeo Hu-an.
Chief Prosecutor Kim Young-jun trusts no one.
Not even himself.
Since I dealt with such a Chief Prosecutor Kim Young-jun back when I was Seo Jun-kyung, I could easily read Jeo Hu-an’s thoughts.
Anna Roux, gazing at Seo Jin’s eyes, asked carefully.
“…Then, you’ll keep your promise?”
“Five years?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t worry.”
But Anna Roux seemed anxious and asked several times, and each time Seo Jin answered with the most amiable smile he could muster.
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“I’ve checked Anna Roux’s movements multiple times, but the last trace ends at the Hospital. Neither the Police nor the Prosecutor’s Office has any record of securing Anna Roux.”
Days later, in a dark room.
Jeo Hu-an nodded as he listened to his Secretary’s words.
“Then, was the cleaner we sent caught by coincidence?”
Jeo Hu-an had sent someone to confirm and eliminate Anna Roux.
But that bastard was caught by Seo Jin in the commercial district in front of the hospital.
Pathetically anticlimactic.
“Seo Jin was also pursuing Anna Roux. Their paths crossed, and luck wasn’t on his side.”
“Luck?”
In other words, Seo Jin had been fortunate.
“A lucky bastard, huh….”
Jeo Hu-an’s Secretary rubbed his chin, his mind drifting back several years.
The day an unexpected call had come from the Chairman.
-There’s a prosecutor named Seo Jin. Kill him, quietly. Make it look like an accident or suicide.
I didn’t know what had made the Chairman take such a dislike to Seo Jin.
All I knew was that a newly appointed prosecutor had a blade pressed against the Chairman’s throat.
“Still, he’s a lucky bastard. Falling from that height and surviving.”
I’d heard the news that Seo Jin had miraculously survived.
But I’d lost interest when I learned he’d lost his memory, yet now that blade was pointed at us.
“If we’d made sure to kill him back then, none of this would be happening now.”
Jeo Hu-an’s Secretary exhaled a regretful sigh.
Then, after a moment of thought, his eyes narrowed.
“Wait….”
The attempt to kill Seo Jin had been only a few years ago.
Yet in that short span, Seo Jin had solved unsolved cases and clawed his way up from Dongnam to the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office.
He’d become someone with influence, unlike before.
‘But what if more time passes?’
Jeo Hu-an’s Secretary swallowed hard.
He could become someone with real power, transcending mere influence.
The possibility of him wielding authority was substantial.
Weeds left unplucked at the root become a perpetual nuisance.
By then, killing him might become impossible, no matter how much I wanted to.
“Seo Jin… I need to kill him.”
Prosecutors are human beings.
Stab them, and they die.
Besides, the suicide rate among prosecutors is hardly low.
Write a suicide note, have someone high up cover it up, and the matter is resolved cleanly.
After rooting out the traitor, Jeo Hu-an set his next target on Seo Jin.
“But setting that aside….”
Jeo Hu-an’s Secretary rose to his feet and moved toward the window.
As he drew back the curtains, bright light seeped into the room, and Jeo Hu-an’s Secretary gazed out the window before speaking.
“Do you think there’s a traitor among us?”
His secretary didn’t answer.
It was the boss’s role to make such judgments.
When no response came from his secretary, Jeo Hu-an exhaled cigarette smoke and smiled bitterly.
“The organization has been decimated.”
Seo Jin appeared at Anna Roux’s officetel, and both the Arsonist and the janitor were arrested.
The police officer who had been covering for them was taken into custody, and the publishing house connected to political circles was torn apart.
All of this happened within mere days.
Impossible without inside information.
“There are a few suspects. But I can’t kill all of them.”
I need to meet with Anna Roux.
“Find a suitable location.”
“Will you go there personally?”
“I have to go.”
“Then, what about the passport and ship that Anna Roux requested?”
Jeo Hu-an exhaled cigarette smoke and laughed desolately.
“Look into a columbarium.”
In the darkness, Jeo Hu-an’s eyes gleamed with an icy blue light.
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At that moment.
Seo Jin sat in his office, reviewing documents.
“Prosecutor? Did you perhaps skip lunch?”
During lunch hour, the administrative staff member who had just finished eating looked apologetically at Seo Jin, buried under papers.
“I’m not hungry yet. I’ll grab something appropriate later, so don’t worry.”
“Should I bring you some toast?”
“No, really, I’m fine.”
Then his phone vibrated in his pocket.
The only person who would contact him on this phone was Anna Roux.
Seo Jin stepped into the hallway and brought the phone to his ear.
Then Anna Roux’s voice came through.
-Jeo Hu-an contacted me. He says to meet somewhere other than the industrial complex.
Once again, it unfolded exactly as Seo Jin had anticipated.
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That night.
Seo Jin found the hotel where Anna Roux was staying.
Anna Roux looked haggard.
She hadn’t slept properly in days, consumed by the terror of death—the fear that those men might kill her.
But now that she was about to meet Jeo Hu-an himself, she was seriously anxious.
Anna Roux trembled faintly before Seo Jin.
“Many prosecutors, police officers, and investigators are entangled in those people’s money. If we gather the investigators according to the arrest date, word will reach Jeo Hu-an’s ears one way or another. Then he’ll know I stood beside you. What… what should I do?”
“….”
“What am I supposed to do? The only people I know are politicians, and the only investigator I have is Kim Jae-hoon….”
Anna Roux trailed off mid-sentence, her expression turning blank and vacant.
Her voice grew even more anxious as she continued.
“…Even in prison, I won’t be safe.”
“Look… I think you’re misunderstanding something. Our country isn’t that easy to manipulate.”
It was absurd—a foreigner, an illegal resident no less, speaking to the Prosecutor’s Office and Police of South Korea in such a manner.
But Anna Roux continued to deny it.
“No, the people I’ve met so far….”
“You’ve only encountered worthless bastards, that’s all. Anyway, I’ll handle that myself, so don’t worry. Now we need to discuss how to deal with Jeo Hu-an.”
Anna Roux blinked.
Listening to Seo Jin speak, she felt as though that entire organization would be uprooted completely.
It was the same when she heard the explanation of the operation to capture Jeo Hu-an.
Seo Jin spoke as though he had perfectly grasped Jeo Hu-an’s every thought.
After continuing to speak for some time, Seo Jin flicked his pen down and said.
“Of course, this plan isn’t perfect. People are always variables. But even in the worst-case scenario, I won’t let you die.”
Criminals must not die by their own hand or be murdered.
Seo Jin’s belief was that they must be sent to prison by any means necessary to face the full weight of the law.
And Anna Roux was a criminal—an illegal resident who had been bleeding South Korea dry.
She naturally had to go to prison.
But Anna Roux found reassurance in Seo Jin’s words.
“Thank you.”
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“There was nothing on the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office investigators’ schedules related to Prosecutor Seo Jin. The jurisdiction police are the same—there were no support documents.”
It was the day Jeo Hu-an and Anna Roux were supposed to meet.
Jeo Hu-an was confirming his safety one last time.
That was the reason he had survived committing crimes in this land for so long.
As Jeo Hu-an exhaled cigarette smoke, his secretary continued speaking.
“As for unusual movements among the investigators, there’s one search and seizure warrant today—they say it’s going to a venture company called Duit.”
“Duit? Who’s the prosecutor in charge there?”
“Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae, sir.”
The secretary set down the tablet PC.
The screen displayed the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office personnel assignment chart.
Jo Woo-jae was a chief prosecutor in a different department from Seo Jin—he had no connection to Seo Jin.
But Jeo Hu-an asked his secretary again.
“What is Seo Jin doing?”
Seo Jin’s movements made him most uneasy.
He was the one who had created this entire situation.
“I heard she’s in the office.”
“The office, huh….”
Jeo Hu-an pondered.
It seemed Anna Roux and Seo Jin had no connection after all.
With his arms crossed, Jeo Hu-an nodded after a long moment of thought.
Then he rose to his feet and headed toward the door.
His secretary opened the door as if waiting for this moment.
Outside the office hallway, men dressed in various styles stood in a long line.
Jeo Hu-an opened his mouth toward them.
“Let’s go.”
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A coffee shop in Gangnam, Seoul.
Anna Roux licked her dry lips as she stared at an iced Americano with all the ice melted away.
She only checked the time occasionally through her wristwatch, making no other movements.
Then Anna Roux’s phone vibrated.
It was Jeo Hu-an.
-Traffic’s backed up, so let’s change the meeting location.
A man plagued by paranoia was trying to change even the venue.
He was trying to eliminate every single possibility.
Yet Anna Roux didn’t panic at the sudden change of location and smiled faintly.
She felt that he was dancing in Seo Jin’s palm.
Seo Jin had already anticipated that he would change the location.
Anna Roux replied.
“Where should I go?”
-I’ll send a taxi to the front. Come out in five minutes.
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A new city in Gyeonggi Province, a place in the final stages of development, yet still filled with construction sites, and each building fluttered banners reading “Lease Inquiries” and “Coffee Shop Opening Soon.”
The fifth floor of a building.
Jeo Hu-an stood in an empty vacant space with exposed cement flooring.
In those cold eyes was reflected the image of Anna Roux stepping out of the taxi.
Jeo Hu-an brought his phone to his ear.
“You got out of the taxi, right? Go into the coffee shop in front.”
-…But it hasn’t opened yet?
“The door’s open, so just go in.”
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Anna Roux moved only her eyes, scanning her surroundings.
Jeo Hu-an was nowhere to be seen.
But she could feel the construction workers’ glances flickering toward her.
They were the ones who had come with Jeo Hu-an.
Anna Roux exhaled a tense breath and headed toward the coffee shop.
Jeo Hu-an’s Secretary was sitting inside the coffee shop.
The secretary rose to his feet and looked at Anna Roux, who had just pushed open the door and entered.
“You’ve paid your respects?”
Anna Roux nodded at the secretary’s words.
He then pointed toward the back door of the coffee shop with his finger and continued.
“You know how it is? Our boss is paranoid. You’ll exit through the back door and move to another building.”
Anna Roux’s eyes darkened with tension.
If this happened, Seo Jin might lose the trail.
With all these detours and evasions, even Seo Jin would have difficulty pursuing.
‘What do I do?’
Anna Roux was at the point where she could flee right now.
Seo Jin’s voice echoed through her mind.
“Don’t doubt. Trust me to the end.”

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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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