Prosecutor Kim Seo-Jin - Chapter 158

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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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Hidden Secrets (3)
“Still, being with you makes me less nervous, sir.”
Do Gwang-hyun’s words drew a slight smile from me.
I understood his nervousness well enough.
Get caught, and we’re dead. Just as Jeo Hoo-an said, there’s a good chance we’ll be incinerated at the crematorium.
But if we succeed, we can grab those bastards by the throat and drag them into the light.
Besides.
“There’s got to be at least five billion won, right? That’s why eight men are guarding it day and night. With an operation this scale, there has to be five billion to make it worth it.”
Success means a fortune. Failure means hell.
Everything comes down to extremes.
Do Gwang-hyun swallowed hard.
“Still no call?”
“No. I heard the actors arrived, but there’s been no contact yet.”
I nodded.
As long as the plan goes smoothly, there’s no problem.
Everything will unfold in the palm of my hand.
I thought this while briefly recalling a few days prior.
*
*
*
A few days ago at 2 PM, I stood on a Rural Road.
I’d parked my car and waited quietly.
This was the area where Eom Seon-ju’s Slush Fund Warehouse was located.
There was only one reason Eom Seon-ju didn’t use urban buildings or structures as warehouses.
She was a criminal with too much to hide.
The fear that investigators could raid at any moment and seize everything.
So Eom Seon-ju chose this place.
The property was registered under someone else’s name.
Officially listed as a mutton storage facility.
Without insider information like Jeo Hoo-an’s, no one could find it.
Cash that would restore her comfortable life even if she served time in prison.
But all those plans had been exposed to me.
Soon, Eom Seon-ju would face the worst situation of her life.
‘A single-lane road barely wide enough for one car to squeeze through. No streetlights or CCTV….’
I took in every detail.
‘Definitely….’
A place befitting a slush fund hideout.
Difficult to access, and the warehouse itself sat on a slightly elevated hill.
In other words, positioned where the beginning of the Rural Road could be spotted from a distance.
‘This won’t be easy.’
I walked down the Rural Road like someone emerging from a drink, my hat pulled low.
Five minutes on foot to the Warehouse.
Two residential houses visible along the way.
Left side was a Mountain, right side was farmland.
That’s how I arrived at the Warehouse where Eom Seon-ju’s slush funds were hidden, and as I passed by, I caught a glimpse of the men guarding it.
Just as Do Gwang-hyun said, quite a few men were watching the Warehouse.
‘But….’
They were just killing time.
Some of them were smoking cigarettes and drinking beer.
Even as I passed by them, no one paid any attention.
Literally slack.
There was no tension whatsoever.
The Warehouse had never been raided before, and they believed it never would be.
‘Just as expected.’
The more perfect the security, and the more that purpose fades, the lazier humans become.
They relied on others with the thought: ‘You’re watching anyway, so I don’t need to.’
‘Still….’
I let out a sigh.
Even if those men were a ragtag bunch, robbing the Warehouse wouldn’t be easy.
‘One entrance, farmland behind it, eight men guarding the Warehouse.’
Plus the countless CCTVs dotting the Warehouse roof.
Even for a master thief, it would be impossible to slip past all those eyes, get inside, and steal the money.
‘Could I use that place?’
An Abandoned House stood right next to the Warehouse.
It looked good for hiding, but the problem was that those men used the empty lot in front of the Abandoned House as a Parking Lot.
The vehicle’s dashcam was gleaming.
Just as I was narrowing my eyes and surveying the surroundings.
An unfamiliar voice reached my ears.
“Ha. I got it, I got it. I’ll pay it back! Just wait a week.”
My gaze snapped urgently in that direction.
A man leaning against a parked car in the empty lot in front of the Abandoned House, talking on the phone.
His expression was rotten.
The conversation content was nothing but money, money, money.
“Hey, do I look like someone who’d skip out on a debt?”
The man had gambled and lost a lot of money.
He’d even borrowed his last reserves.
The moment I heard his call, I could predict the entire situation.
‘The gambling den this man is sitting in….’
It was run by Eom Seon-ju’s Loan Shark Gang.
One of their vicious methods.
They pay a salary, but deliberately seat him at gambling tables and take even that away.
Then they work him like a slave within the chains of loan interest.
“Damn it….”
The man ended the call with a grave expression.
He placed a cigarette between his lips and exhaled a deep sigh.
He realized he’d sunk into a swamp, but it was too late to escape. The man knew this fact all too well.
But I smiled faintly.
‘Found it.’
A vulnerability in the warehouse’s security.
A structure where both sides could win.
The man would get money, and I could deliver a fatal blow to Eom Seon-ju.
I slowly pulled out a mask and put it on.
With the hat pulled low and the mask, even my parents wouldn’t recognize me.
And when the man’s call ended, I approached him with heavy footsteps.
“Wait a moment.”
At my voice, the man pocketed his phone and turned his head.
And immediately his expression twisted.
A natural reaction—a masked figure appearing in a place where almost no one passed through.
But I approached him slowly regardless.
“There’s no need to be wary.”
“W-who are you?”
I stopped walking.
If I got any closer, his voice might grow louder.
Then the men clustered together smoking cigarettes in front of the warehouse would likely come over.
There was only one thing that worked in situations like this.
I pulled a white envelope from my pocket and tossed it toward the man.
Packed with fifty-thousand-won bills.
Money was the best introduction.
As the man’s pupils trembled, I opened my mouth.
“I’ll give you a generous severance package if you help me with something.”
“…What?”
The man’s gaze shifted toward me.
Someone who approached this way never had good intentions.
But the man needed money and decided he could listen to what I had to say for a moment.
When the man nodded, I spoke.
Why the gambling operation was opened.
Who was behind it.
The man’s face flushed crimson and his body trembled uncontrollably.
I didn’t miss that moment and spoke with a subtle smile.
“Want me to help you get revenge?”
*
*
*
“We got the call. They’re ready.”
At Do Gwang-hyun’s words, I tore my gaze away from the memories of the past.
Do Gwang-hyun continued with an unusually serious expression.
“Shall we begin?”
I nodded.
“Let’s do it.”
*
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Kim Gwang-eun, the security team leader.
He was chain-smoking, one cigarette after another.
He kept thinking back to the strange man he’d met a few days ago.
The man whose face had been hidden behind a hat and mask.
That man had been me, but Kim Gwang-eun couldn’t have known that.
‘He said it would be today.’
Back then, I had grilled Kim Gwang-eun about the security system in meticulous detail.
How the rotation worked, what contingency measures existed in case of an incident, and finally—
-Do you know what’s in that warehouse?
As Kim Gwang-eun recalled my voice, he turned his gaze toward the warehouse.
Now that he thought about it, he knew nothing.
He’d simply drifted here while struggling with labor shortages, and he’d taken the security job because he was told to.
Kim Gwang-eun exhaled a tense breath, thinking, ‘I really have lived without thinking.’
That was when it happened.
“F-Fire!”
The alarm went up.
The abandoned house next to the warehouse had caught fire.
Whether gasoline had been poured or not, it erupted in flames within moments.
“F-Fire extinguishers! Grab the fire extinguishers!”
“Call it in!”
Kim Gwang-eun hastily pulled out his phone.
If anything happened at the warehouse, his duty was to immediately contact his superiors.
“This is the warehouse in Siheung! There’s a fire at the abandoned house next door, and it just happened suddenly…”
At Kim Gwang-eun’s urgent and disjointed words, the voice on the other end of the line was furious.
-What are you talking about!
“There’s a fire!”
-Suddenly?
“Yes!”
-What about the warehouse? How’s the warehouse?
“Not yet….”
The moment Kim Gwang-eun spoke, flames spread to the warehouse as well.
Whoosh!
Tremendous flames twisted like a demon of fire.
“…It’s caught fire.”
At Kim Gwang-eun’s despairing voice, curses poured relentlessly from the other end of the line.
-You bastard! Do whatever it takes to stop it!
“S-sir, I’ve already called the Fire Department. First, I need to save our people.”
-What?
“Human lives come first, after all.”
-Hey! You bastard!
Kim Gwang-eun ended the call.
Then he shouted toward the people running about trying to extinguish the flames.
“Get away! Evacuate!”
Kim Gwang-eun lowered his head.
Anyone watching would have thought he was suffering as he gazed at the burning warehouse.
But Kim Gwang-eun was smiling.
*
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*
At that moment, in a room salon in Gangnam, Seoul.
Eom Seon-ju was meeting with Congressman Park from the Education Committee.
There was no better place for confidential discussions.
Eom Seon-ju picked up the bottle and filled the congressman’s glass, then spoke.
“If I just state my business and leave, you’ll be able to have more fun with the younger girls, won’t you?”
The congressman laughed heartily.
“Ah, I actually prefer spending time with you, Eom.”
“Come now, don’t say things you don’t mean. I find it more enjoyable with the younger girls myself.”
“That’s why I like you, Eom. Your heart matches mine perfectly. Haha.”
The congressman drained his glass in one gulp and looked at Eom Seon-ju.
Eom Seon-ju refilled the congressman’s glass and continued speaking.
“Would it be alright if I adjusted your schedule a bit?”
“My schedule?”
“I’m planning to send gifts to the Orphanage and nursing homes under your name. I’ve already given the dates to your chief of staff, so you just need to go take some photos and come back….”
“Of course I should go.”
This time the congressman filled Eom Seon-ju’s glass.
It was the law of the world—if you receive something, you must give something in return.
There was no reason for someone like Eom Seon-ju to pour money into orphanages and nursing homes without expecting something in return.
The congressman set down the bottle and asked.
“So, what is it you want?”
“I think it’s time for me to prepare for retirement. I’d like to do something good before the end—could you help me with that?”
“Something good?”
“I want to build a school. These days, rural areas are losing students, and many schools are closing, right? So I thought—what if we had a place with full dormitory facilities that could accommodate students from various neighborhoods?”
Eom Seon-ju was thinking about acquiring state-owned land at a bargain price.
He’d heard something through unpublished information.
That area was slated for development.
He would proceed with establishing a school under the pretext of helping rural students.
But for various reasons, the project would stall.
Then, with evidence that he had the intention to establish a school, the land would remain entirely in Eom Seon-ju’s hands.
Later, he would sell the land to construction companies and split the profits with the Congressman who had supported the project—a perfect crime.
‘At least 300 billion.’
Eom Seon-ju had told Kim Seo-jin’s aunt that the projected profit was 200 billion, but he was planning to keep 300 billion for himself.
“We’ll build dormitories, gymnasiums, and create a school in the countryside so impressive that people would wonder if such a place could exist….”
Eom Seon-ju’s words trailed off.
The Congressman wasn’t someone to be taken lightly. He shook his head and spoke.
“Director Eom, do you really think I became a Congressman to serve the nation?”
“Pardon?”
“I spent hundreds of millions just to wear this badge. I went around shaking hands and wearing out my shoes. Why would I do that? At least I need to break even, don’t I? So forget the surface reasons—tell me what’s really behind this. I’m not that narrow-minded.”
Eom Seon-ju broke into a broad smile.
The Congressman sitting across from him was someone who understood.
“I was planning to reveal that gradually, but you want to know already?”
But this time too, Eom Seon-ju’s words couldn’t continue.
His phone vibrated.
He rejected the call, but it rang again.
Eom Seon-ju gave the Congressman a slight smile and asked for his understanding.
“Just a moment.”
Eom Seon-ju stood up.
He stepped out of the room and brought the phone to his ear.
“What?”
-Director! Director!
At the urgent voice, Eom Seon-ju’s brow furrowed.
“What is it? What’s happened?”
-There’s a fire at the Siheung warehouse! The fire trucks arrived, but there’s a broken-down vehicle blocking the Rural Road, so they can’t get through!
“What?”
*
*
*
Seo Jin and Do Gwang-hyun had entered the warehouse through its glass window.
Outside, chaos erupted from the fire.
There was no time to check who had entered the warehouse.
Do Gwang-hyun licked his parched lips.
He dragged both hands down his face and opened his mouth.
“Prosecutor, this place is insane.”
Apple boxes were stacked everywhere.
Every single one was filled with cash.
Even I, who rarely showed surprise, found myself biting my lip.
“This is a disaster. It’s beyond what I anticipated.”
Moving this much cash would require a truck.

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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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