Prosecutor Kim Seo-Jin - Chapter 162

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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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No Different (1)
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I stepped out of Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae’s office.
‘A serial poisoning case….’
A case so difficult it drew a heavy sigh.
With no apparent connection between the victims, identifying the perpetrator would be nearly impossible.
‘And there’s a deadline attached.’
The case had to be closed before the summit taking place a month from now.
Quietly too—discreetly, so the media wouldn’t catch wind of it.
As I continued down the hallway lost in thought, that’s when I saw him.
Jung Jun-woo, the Chief Prosecutor of Criminal Division 3 which handled violent crimes, was walking toward me.
“Good morning.”
I lowered my head respectfully.
Jung Jun-woo—a man widely regarded as unlikely to make the jump to Senior Prosecutor.
His promotions had fallen behind not only his peers but his juniors as well.
Most people predicted he’d be leaving the Prosecutor’s Office soon.
‘And….’
Jung Jun-woo was one of those who disliked me.
He always looked at me with cold, contemptuous eyes.
Today was no exception.
“So you took on a case?”
Jung Jun-woo’s voice was glacial, devoid of warmth.
But I answered courteously.
He was a Chief Prosecutor—a world apart from a regular prosecutor like me.
“Yes, I just received the briefing.”
“Do well. Though I’m not sure how long that luck of yours will hold.”
His tone made it sound like he was saying, ‘I hope you fail.’
But I had to respond with, “I’ll do my best.”
That was the end of it.
Jung Jun-woo twisted his lips and brushed past me.
And I slowly turned my gaze to watch his retreating figure.
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The next day, at the Outdoor Break Room.
Jang Ji-hyuk, a prosecutor who’d been looking at me with a troubled expression, finally spoke.
“So you took on the poisoning case?”
News that I’d taken on the case had spread throughout the entire District Prosecutor’s Office.
Those who had disliked Seo Jin were celebrating with the fervor of setting off fireworks.
Of course, there were more people like Jang Ji-hyuk who genuinely worried about me.
But Jang Ji-hyuk’s expression was far from pleasant.
As I stared at him, Jang Ji-hyuk placed a cigarette between his lips and spoke.
“The case they dumped on you—it came from Jung Jun-woo, the Chief Prosecutor.”
“What?”
“Jung. Jun-woo. The Chief Prosecutor.”
Jang Ji-hyuk enunciated each syllable with deliberate force, and a bitter smile tugged at my lips.
I knew he disliked me, but I hadn’t expected a Chief Prosecutor to orchestrate such behind-the-scenes machinations against a mere prosecutor.
“That’s absurd.”
It truly was absurd.
A Chief Prosecutor had countless ways to torment an ordinary prosecutor if he set his mind to it—so why resort to something like this?
Of course, taking on a case wasn’t inherently bad.
In fact, given the current circumstances, I thought it might actually work in my favor.
It was certainly a difficult case, but I needed to reduce my workload to focus on Kim Young-jun’s Wife and Eom Seon-ju.
“Damn it, I was embarrassed just hearing about it. Why would he dump Criminal Division work on you?”
Jang Ji-hyuk exhaled cigarette smoke and seethed in silence for a long moment.
A stream of curses poured from his lips.
Then, after a pause, Jang Ji-hyuk released a long sigh and looked at me.
He hesitated briefly before speaking.
“I shouldn’t be saying this, but I’ve heard something through the grapevine. Your case can’t be made public, right? But… it might be difficult to keep it that way.”
“…Difficult?”
I narrowed my eyes and turned my gaze toward Jang Ji-hyuk.
The confidential investigation was ordered by Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun.
With high-ranking foreign politicians visiting, there was a determination not to show anything unsightly.
Yet Jang Ji-hyuk was saying the covert investigation would be hard to maintain.
Jang Ji-hyuk smiled bitterly and continued.
“It seems Chief Prosecutor Jung Jun-woo has aligned himself with the Opposition Party.”
“…!”
Chief Prosecutor Jung Jun-woo was a man preparing to shed his prosecutor’s badge.
He was even preparing to move from Seocho District to Yeouido.
He wanted to wear a congressman’s pin.
“A national event prepared by a major figure from the Ruling Party. But what happens when the media learns about a serial poisoning? How do you think the Opposition Party will move?”
The moment the media erupts, the Opposition Party will mobilize radical protest groups as if they’ve been waiting for this.
They’ll hang banners wherever foreign politicians travel, making it clear they’re saying ‘We’ll poison them!'”
“With the media screaming that drinking anything will kill you and protesters screaming they’ll kill you, how could anyone peacefully drink even water?”
Everything unfolds exactly as the Opposition Party wants.
The talks fail, and they blame the Ruling Party for the failure.
“Then they’ll say this can’t go on, and appeal to the people that they’ll restore the damaged diplomacy. Never mind that they’re the ones who damaged it in the first place. Anyway, that’s the political situation. And Jung Jun-woo, the Chief Prosecutor, is the one preparing the paint and canvas to draw this picture.”
I let out a hollow laugh.
‘I feel like I’ve been stabbed in the back.’
If Jang Ji-hyuk’s words come to pass, it would be a national disgrace.
They would be broadcasting to the world that in South Korea, you can’t even drink water with peace of mind.
But politicians care nothing for national prestige.
Their only goal is to tarnish the Ruling Party and secure victory in the upcoming presidential election.
Jung Jun-woo, the Chief Prosecutor—he’s no different.
A man who’s spent over a decade as a prosecutor, yet regardless of what happens to the nation, he dreams only of becoming a hero to the Opposition Party and moving to Yeouido.
My gaze slowly turned toward the Prosecutor’s Office building.
And I fixed a sharp stare on Chief Prosecutor Jung Jun-woo’s office within it.
‘This won’t do.’
In my mind, methods to resolve Jung Jun-woo’s situation—ways to exploit the circumstances—flickered in and out of focus repeatedly.
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“I’ll contact him.”
Chief Prosecutor Jung Jun-woo sat across from a prosecutor he considered his trusted subordinate.
The subordinate picked up his phone and searched his contacts.
The contact he found was an Opposition Party congressman.
Just as the subordinate was about to press the call button, Chief Prosecutor Jung Jun-woo shook his head.
“Wait.”
At those words, the subordinate’s thumb froze.
He slowly looked toward Chief Prosecutor Jung Jun-woo.
Chief Prosecutor Jung Jun-woo spoke, placing a cigarette between his lips.
“I want to think about this a little longer.”
Chief Prosecutor Jung Jun-woo crossed his legs and fell into thought.
The poison serial murder case—eleven deaths over two years, and four more deaths in rapid succession over the past two months.
Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun had classified it as a serial murder targeting unspecified victims and ordered an investigation.
‘But is it really a serial murder?’
This doubt filled Chief Prosecutor Jung Jun-woo’s mind.
Nothing could be confirmed with certainty.
It could simply be a coincidence—like the saying that when a crow flies, a pear falls.
‘Then…’
The Opposition Party could dismiss Chief Prosecutor Jung Jun-woo, claiming he wasted effort on something meaningless.
Moreover, if it became known that Chief Prosecutor Jung Jun-woo himself was the whistleblower, he would have no standing left in the Prosecutor’s Office.
Then, the subordinate spoke toward Chief Prosecutor Jung Jun-woo.
“Chief Prosecutor, if it’s not a serial murder, the situation would be far more advantageous for us.”
“How so?”
“If there are multiple perpetrators…”
People would lose trust in each other, and chaos would ensue.
The chaos that would unfold before the presidential election is exactly what the Opposition Party desires.
My subordinate’s words were entirely sound.
However, Chief Prosecutor Jung Jun-woo did not permit him to press the call button.
“That’s true, but…”
Chief Prosecutor Jung Jun-woo rose from his seat.
He walked slowly toward the window, his gaze shifting to the view beyond.
I could see Seo Jin sitting in the Outdoor Break Room.
Chief Prosecutor Jung Jun-woo fixed his stare upon Seo Jin and continued.
“What if—what if Seo Jin actually resolves the case before the summit?”
Then all his efforts would be rendered meaningless.
He would be helping that thorn in his side, Seo Jin, become a hero once more.
But my subordinate’s thoughts diverged from mine.
He dismissed the concern as trivial.
“Chief Prosecutor, the police couldn’t solve this in two years. You think he’ll solve it in a month? That’s absurd.”
“….”
“And why overthink it? We simply obstruct him.”
I am Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, specifically overseeing Criminal Division 3, which handles violent crimes.
Manipulating the police to prevent Seo Jin from accomplishing anything would be effortless.
My subordinate continued with a cold smile.
“The police will follow our lead. They despise Seo Jin as well.”
Seo Jin was the man who brought down the Jongno Police Station Chief.
And he was the man who exposed the senior officials at Gangnam Police Station who had covered for him during the Jeo Hoo-an incident.
From the police’s perspective, Seo Jin is the enemy.
They won’t cooperate willingly with him.
“Without police cooperation, he’ll solve the case in a month? His reputation as an unsolved-case specialist ends here. His luck runs out now.”
Unsolved cases can only be resolved if there’s at least some evidence.
Indiscriminate murders like these, with a time limit imposed, are absolutely impossible to solve.
“Chief Prosecutor, think about why you recommended Seo Jin to the Prosecutor General. This is a win-win situation.”
I could achieve my ambitions and reduce Seo Jin to nothing.
“There’s no reason to hesitate.”
Chief Prosecutor Jung Jun-woo nodded.
With that, my subordinate gripped his phone and unhesitatingly found Congressman Park’s number, pressing the call button.
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Gangnam Police Station.
I was meeting with Detective Jin Yu-kyung.
Detective Jin Yu-kyung was the detective I’d met during the residential area fire incident in Gangnam last time, when there had been a confrontation with the profiler.
She was now secretly investigating Lee Du-jin and Shinma Group with a lawyer.
Detective Jin Yu-kyung opened her mouth with a genuinely apologetic and troubled expression.
“…I’m so sorry. What can I do?”
Seo Jin glanced around the surroundings.
No detectives in sight. Not even the one who’d been handling the poisoning case for the past two years.
“…I suddenly got assigned to it. The detective who was originally in charge said he’d see it through to the end, but orders came down from above. To step back.”
I could understand the situation.
Chief Prosecutor Jung Jun-woo had thrown up obstacles.
It was something I’d anticipated anyway.
Seo Jin nodded indifferently.
“That’s fine. But you did receive the handover, correct?”
“I made sure to get it. However….”
Detective Jin Yu-kyung pointed to her desk with her finger.
There was no mountain of documents.
Just the victim’s personal information and cause of death—the same as what I’d seen at the Prosecutor’s Office.
“That’s all there is.”
Though things were already becoming complicated from the start, my expression remained composed.
I’d anticipated from the beginning that this wouldn’t be easy.
“The incident that broke recently was a week ago, correct?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll need to do some legwork then.”
Seo Jin brushed his hands together as he spoke.
There was no crime scene without evidence.
It was simply that the evidence hadn’t been found yet.
Besides, it was a case that had only happened two weeks ago—there had to be something.
Seo Jin decided to visit the scene himself.
Seo Jin turned his body toward the Parking Lot, and Detective Jin Yu-kyung fell into step beside him.
“There were no unusual findings in the surrounding CCTV footage. The victim was continuously holding a takeout cup.”
“The cyanide was in that cup?”
“Yes.”
“Purchase records?”
“The victim didn’t purchase it. It appears she received it from someone. And we checked the Coffee Shop in question, but so many people were ordering the same coffee that….”
That was when it happened.
Seo Jin’s phone vibrated.
“Excuse me for a moment.”
Seo Jin asked Detective Jin Yu-kyung for permission before bringing the phone to his ear.
It was Do Gwang-hyun.
-Just got word. That person you told me to keep watch on? He’s on the move.
I’d asked Do Gwang-hyun to look into something.
To carefully monitor Chief Prosecutor Jung Jun-woo’s every move.
And now Chief Prosecutor Jung Jun-woo was making his move.
-He just went into a Korean Traditional Restaurant in Gangnam.
“Find out who he’s meeting. And if you can, secure the restaurant’s CCTV footage.”
Chief Prosecutor Jung Jun-woo, a man who abandoned honor for greed—his end as a prosecutor will be tragic.
Seo Jin intends to make it so.
First, I’ll use him.

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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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