Prosecutor Kim Seo-Jin - Chapter 165

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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 (4)
I swallowed dryly, studying the woman seated across from me for a moment.
Completely vacant.
“Is there something on my face?”
She smiled slightly, seeming embarrassed by my stare, and opened her mouth.
Now that I thought about it, I’d been staring rather intently.
I lowered my head in apology.
“Ah, my apologies. I was lost in thought for a moment.”
The woman’s name was Kim Seo-young.
Age: thirty-three.
She graduated from the same middle school as the sixth victim and attended university with the final victim.
Her mother died in childhood, her younger sibling five years ago, and her father three years ago.
She now lived alone.
I examined Kim Seo-young’s face once more.
‘…The perpetrator?’
But I couldn’t be certain.
This was the first time psychometry had manifested in such a manner.
Until now, psychometry had always revealed the crime scene or something that could identify it.
But this was different.
All I’d seen in the psychometric vision was Kim Seo-young sitting here, gazing out the window, fiddling with her mobile phone.
‘Moreover….’
The coffee from this Coffee Shop hadn’t been found at the crime scene.
The victim had been holding a completely different brand at the end.
‘Then why did psychometry activate?’
Questions cascaded through my mind relentlessly.
Every action of Kim Seo-young’s seemed suspicious.
But that was as far as I could go.
I decided to set aside the psychometric vision for now and instead ask Kim Seo-young about her alibi.
‘After all.’
I needed to treat psychometry as merely a supplementary ability.
It was an ability that could surface at any moment and was difficult to control.
In other words, finding decisive evidence and building an airtight case was my responsibility.
“But why did you call me in, Prosecutor?”
Kim Seo-young asked cautiously, and I responded with an apologetic expression.
“Among your middle school classmates, there’s someone named Shin Yu-a. Do you happen to know her?”
“…Shin Yu-a?”
Shin Yu-a was the sixth victim.
Kim Seo-young’s eyes rolled upward as she tried to recall the name.
Then she tilted her head slightly.
“…No. I don’t remember the names of my middle school friends. But why do you ask about her?”
Up to this point, it was a typical reaction.
Seo Jin thrust his words forward like a blade.
“She’s dead.”
“Pardon?”
A prosecutor arrives asking about a deceased person—a guilty party would inevitably betray themselves through some reaction.
And Kim Seo-young lowered her hands from the table to her lap.
‘Creating distance.’
A psychological response—she wanted to put space between herself and Seo Jin.
Or a behavior that emerges when concealing something.
And Kim Seo-young denied it.
“…Why are you asking me that?”
“I apologize if I’ve offended you. But there’s one more thing I’d like to ask. Do you happen to know Oh Ye-won?”
“…Oh Ye-won? Yes, I know her. Did something happen to Ye-won too?”
Oh Ye-won was the final victim.
The person who died at the Bus Stop across the street.
A university classmate of Kim Seo-young’s.
Upon hearing that Oh Ye-won had died, Kim Seo-young’s face drained of color.
But Seo Jin continued without regard for her reaction.
“A series of deaths targeting indiscriminate victims is ongoing. So, I’m truly sorry, but I’d appreciate it if you could tell me where you were on the day of the incident.”
“…”
“Specifically, the most recent one. On the day Oh Ye-won died, could you tell me where you were and who you were with?”
Upon hearing of Oh Ye-won’s death, Kim Seo-young—who had been frozen until now—slowly turned her eyes toward Seo Jin.
And she opened her mouth, her tone tinged with displeasure.
“…Are you suspecting me right now?”
“No, not at all. If I suspected you, I would have brought a warrant and taken you to the District Prosecutor’s Office, not here. I’d appreciate it if you’d think of this as simply a routine verification procedure.”
Seo Jin provided the date of the incident.
Kim Seo-young, lost in thought, shook her head.
“I can’t even remember what happened yesterday, so how would I remember something from weeks ago?”
“You have card transactions and messages, don’t you? If you check those, wouldn’t it help jog your memory?”
Kim Seo-young exhaled a sigh and pulled out her phone.
An ornate case decorated with jewels came into view.
Kim Seo-young glanced at Seo Jin, then accessed her card app and placed the phone in front of him.
“I don’t remember clearly, but I think I was home. I had pizza delivered at 2 PM.”
“May I take a look?”
“Yes.”
Seo Jin took the phone in his hand.
If Kim Seo-young were the culprit, she would have deleted all her messages before coming to meet the prosecutor.
Now was the time to examine her expression while handling the phone.
But that was the moment.
But that’s when it happened.
My vision flooded with monochrome once more.
*
*
*
The location: a Mobile Phone Store.
Kim Seo-young wore the same clothes as now.
The clock on the shop wall read 6 PM.
The moment just before meeting me.
“Please dispose of the box.”
Kim Seo-young, having just purchased a new phone, swapped out the SIM card and left the store.
Once outside, she held the old phone and frowned in contemplation.
“What a hassle.”
She turned and headed back to her apartment.
Hammer in hand, she brought it down on the phone—crack, crack.
The screen shattered and the device crumbled instantly, yet she swung the hammer several more times.
She tossed the destroyed phone into a garbage bag.
Then she tied the bag shut, grabbed it, and stepped outside.
*
*
*
“Honestly, I’m not feeling great, so could I get up if you’re done checking everything?”
With Kim Seo-young’s voice, color flooded back into my vision.
But I couldn’t focus on her.
Only one thing.
‘The phone, the phone…’
Two instances of psychometry had surfaced since meeting Kim Seo-young.
Both times, they seemed to center on the phone.
That meant something was there.
While I remained lost in thought, Kim Seo-young’s voice pierced through again.
“Is there anything else you need to check?”
“No, nothing. Thank you for your cooperation.”
I stood and bowed respectfully toward her.
Kim Seo-young gave a slight nod, then turned and left the Coffee Shop.
I watched her depart before quickly shifting my gaze.
To the two people seated at the adjacent table.
Detective Jin Yu-kyung and Detective Hwang Ki-seung.
Just as I was about to call them over, I felt a chilling stare on my back.
I slowly turned my head to locate it.
Kim Seo-young stood by the window, watching me.
It was only a moment, but her eyes were disturbingly cold.
That gaze swept across Hwang Ki-seung and Jin Yu-kyung’s faces after mine.
But wait.
The expression shifted instantly to something cordial, and Kim Seo-young bowed her head toward me again.
Then Kim Seo-young left.
I bit my lip.
‘Was she watching?’
If so, that meant Hwang Ki-seung and Jin Yu-kyung’s faces were exposed too.
I had originally planned to tail Kim Seo-young through Hwang Ki-seung, but that plan would have to be scrapped.
Someone I could turn to for help in a situation like this.
I brought my phone to my ear.
The person on the other end was a bodyguard.
“How about doing some surveillance work—or rather, a tail job—for once in a while? It’s the woman who was sitting with me. Yes, the one in the floral skirt.”
*
*
*
I arrived near Kim Seo-young’s Apartment with the two detectives.
Kim Seo-young’s Apartment was in a Residential Area.
Streetlights cast their glow, but the darker corners looked desolate and eerie.
‘The problem is….’
There were three Garbage Disposal Areas near Kim Seo-young’s Apartment.
The volume of trash was enormous, and a putrid stench hung in the air.
The one saving grace was that it hadn’t been collected yet.
I rummaged through the garbage bins without hesitation and pulled out a pay-per-use trash bag, when Hwang Ki-seung asked urgently.
“What, what are you doing?”
“There might be a phone in here.”
At my words, Hwang Ki-seung stared at me with a bewildered expression.
“…In the garbage? Out of nowhere?”
“Yes, I know it doesn’t make sense….”
I couldn’t tell them about my psychometry ability, so I had to fabricate a plausible explanation.
“Kim Seo-young had a new phone. If she’s the culprit, she would have likely discarded her old phone. Given the route from Kim Seo-young’s Apartment to the Mobile Phone Store and then to catch the bus, if she were to dispose of trash….”
Of course, a hastily constructed explanation wouldn’t hold up.
I tried to continue persuading them, but bewilderment remained etched on Hwang Ki-seung and Jin Yu-kyung’s faces.
“…That’s right. Would you believe me if I said it was intuition?”
“Intuition?”
“Yes, baseless as it is, but intuition.”
Hwang Ki-seung rolled up his sleeves and chuckled.
“I trust your intuition, at least. You’re a specialist in cold cases, after all. If we can catch the perpetrator this way, I’d wade through sewage if I had to.”
It was because of the track record I’d built up over time that they could follow my lead.
Jin Yu-kyung also sighed and picked up a trash bag.
“We should. But should we buy gloves first?”
While searching through the Garbage Disposal Area for the phone, my cell vibrated.
It was the Bodyguard tailing Kim Seo-young.
-Prosecutor, I think we’ve been spotted.
“What?”
-She’s very perceptive. Keeps glancing around….
I didn’t need to hear more to understand.
We’d been made.
In some ways, the worst possible scenario.
But I chose to view it positively.
“That’s perfect.”
-Sir?
If Kim Seo-young was the perpetrator, she’d be in a heightened state of anxiety right now.
It wasn’t perceptiveness—it was pure paranoia about everything.
She’d believe a Prosecutor had come looking for her, with a Detective on her heels.
I could exploit that anxious psychology, drive her to the edge of the cliff.
Until now, Kim Seo-young had committed her crimes under meticulous planning, but if she believed she was being hunted, she’d inevitably make a desperate move.
“Make sure she can hear you—repeat what I say, as if you’re startled.”
-What should I say?
“That different DNA was found.”
The Bodyguard repeated my words verbatim.
“Cover your mouth like you’re shocked.”
-Ah, her pace is quickening.
“Keep your distance and follow her.”
As the call ended and I slipped the phone into my pocket, it happened.
“Found it! It’s really here!”
Detective Hwang Ki-seung was holding up a phone, laughing loudly.
It was the same phone I’d seen in my psychometry—Kim Seo-young’s phone.
Smashed by a hammer, utterly destroyed.
*
*
*
A road near Kim Seo-young’s Apartment.
A vehicle with its hazard lights blinking sat parked there.
Do Gwang-hyun frowned as he handed me three shopping bags from the trunk.
“What were you doing out here at this hour? Wow, the smell….”
“Treasure hunting.”
“In a garbage bin?”
“Yeah.”
Do Gwang-hyun looked at me with a puzzled expression and asked again.
“Drugs… something like that?”
“No.”
The details were difficult to explain.
I turned away from Do Gwang-hyun’s questioning gaze and checked inside the shopping bag.
I could see clothes for myself and the two detectives to change into.
“I’ll express my gratitude properly later. I’m swamped today.”
“Take it easy. You’ve got money and looks—why do you push yourself so hard….”
“See you later.”
I waved my hand without listening further to Do Gwang-hyun and walked toward the two detectives.
Their clothes were in terrible condition from rummaging through garbage.
They were covered in all manner of filth and grime.
Walking around in that state would be nothing but a nuisance.
I handed the shopping bag to the two detectives and spoke.
“We can work through the night again. You can change clothes in my car. Detective Jin Yu-kyung, could you handle the phone restoration?”
“Yes.”
“And Detective Hwang Ki-seung, you’ll come with me to surveil Kim Seo-young.”
Detective Hwang Ki-seung took the shopping bag and asked what had been bothering him all this time.
“…Is Kim Seo-young the perpetrator?”
“Probably.”
Detective Hwang Ki-seung’s face twisted menacingly.
His face flushed red and his breathing grew ragged.
If Kim Seo-young had been there, he would have strangled her on the spot.
But he held it in.
Waiting for that moment when he could actually twist her neck.
Shortly after, Detective Jin Yu-kyung left to restore the phone, and Detective Hwang Ki-seung went into my car to change clothes.
I leaned against the vehicle and held my phone in hand.
The recipient was Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae.
“It’s Seo Jin. I need a warrant.”
*
*
*
Kim Seo-young’s apartment was a small two-room unit.
She hurriedly opened a drawer.
A small medicine bottle for children came into view.
Kim Seo-young took the bottle and headed to the restroom, opened the toilet, and poured the contents of the bottle inside.
‘This can’t happen, this can’t happen….’
She then held the empty bottle in her hand and glanced around.
She wanted to dispose of the empty bottle, but couldn’t find a suitable place.
‘Maybe I’ll just leave it….’
If a search warrant came through, she’d be caught.
But it was also difficult to throw it away outside.
I opened the window and peered outside, but every passerby seemed like a detective to me.
‘…What do I do? How?’
That was when it happened.
Knock, knock, knock.
A knock sounded from beyond the door, and Kim Seo-young’s pupils trembled.

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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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