Prosecutor Kim Seo-Jin - Chapter 169

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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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Sinking Into the Swamp (2)
“W-wait, Seo Jin? What are you doing here at this hour?”
Lee Jung-chul couldn’t hide the alarm in his eyes.
His pupils trembled as if an earthquake had struck.
But Seo Jin remained composed.
The more my opponent wavered, the colder my mind became.
“That’s what I was wondering. Why are you here at this hour, Prosecutor? Could it be…”
Seo Jin smiled quietly and shifted his gaze.
His eyes landed on the Interrogation Room where Chief Prosecutor Jung Jun-woo was.
At the same moment, Lee Jung-chul’s pupils contracted sharply.
He felt it with certainty.
Seo Jin had come here knowing everything.
Why Lee Jung-chul himself had come here.
Who he had met.
Seo Jin’s gaze returned to Lee Jung-chul.
“I’d like to have a word with you.”
Lee Jung-chul shut his eyes tightly.
Seo Jin was his junior by several years.
If he had his way, he’d crush him to pieces.
But it was impossible.
Standing behind Seo Jin was Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun.
He was a predator who devoured everything.
To fall from his gaze meant being torn apart mercilessly.
Then everything would crumble to dust.
Lee Jung-chul had no choice but to nod.
*
*
*
Outdoor Break Room.
As Lee Jung-chul exhaled a long plume of cigarette smoke, Seo Jin handed him a canned coffee and spoke.
“I’ll ask you directly. How many are there?”
“What?”
“Why are you playing dumb? You know what I’m asking, don’t you?”
Those beneath Chief Prosecutor Jung Jun-woo, waiting for the sweet taste of power—I was asking about their numbers.
Lee Jung-chul only let out a strained, pained groan without answering.
Seo Jin observed Lee Jung-chul quietly.
‘Lee Jung-chul…’
A man who graduated from a provincial university and became a prosecutor.
He had neither academic pedigree nor wealth.
He had clenched his teeth and studied hard to become a prosecutor, but this place was one of South Korea’s most elite institutions, where graduates from prestigious universities were packed so densely their feet barely touched the ground.
It’s difficult to stand out with merely ordinary skill.
And Lee Jung-chul possessed neither the ability nor the talent to catch anyone’s eye.
Here, he was simply unremarkable—part of the fringe.
A man destined to retire at the rank of Chief Prosecutor.
‘But….’
His greed ran deep.
He refused to stop here, yearning for far more.
To satiate that hunger, he’d wagged his tail before Chief Prosecutor Jung Jun-woo.
In other words, he was exactly the sort of man I needed.
A creature who would wag his tail faithfully whenever you tossed him scraps.
Not a prosecutor—a dog.
A dog who would bare his fangs for profit only as long as the scraps kept coming.
I decided to gift Lee Jung-chul a collar of my own.
“Congressman Yeo Dong-soo of the Opposition Party—a man who joined hands with Chief Prosecutor Jung Jun-woo.”
The moment Congressman Yeo Dong-soo’s name left my lips, Lee Jung-chul’s eyes widened in shock.
Chief Prosecutor Jung Jun-woo had been arrested today.
His expression betrayed confusion—he couldn’t fathom how the investigation had advanced so far so quickly.
“There’s no need to be surprised. We’ve been monitoring Chief Prosecutor Jung Jun-woo’s movements for quite some time.”
“…!”
“Chief Prosecutor Jung Jun-woo stands at the cliff’s edge. He’s been swept up in treacherous currents. Yet he still clings to hope, doesn’t he? The hope that if he survives this ordeal, he might wear the badge of a congressman.”
Lee Jung-chul’s lips trembled.
The conversation he’d just had with Chief Prosecutor Jung Jun-woo in the interrogation room—its contents were now spilling from my mouth.
“But you know what? For Chief Prosecutor Jung Jun-woo, this is the end.”
I extended my phone toward Lee Jung-chul.
A message that had arrived from Congressman Baek Ki-ho’s office.
Congressman Baek Ki-ho wielded power several tiers above Congressman Yeo Dong-soo.
He’d reached out to me.
“What, what did he say?”
“Predictable.”
I answered with a quiet laugh, and Lee Jung-chul lowered his head with the expression of a man for whom everything had ended.
Of course, I hadn’t actually spoken with Congressman Baek Ki-ho yet.
I’d only received his message.
But the weight carried by the name Baek Ki-ho was considerable.
Lee Jung-chul began to laugh bitterly.
“…Predictable?”
“Yes.”
“So I’m just a hunting dog?”
“Yes.”
“Ha….”
Lee Jung-chul exhaled cigarette smoke with a wretched expression.
Seo Jin had merely said “predictable,” yet Lee Jung-chul’s mind was already spinning through countless possibilities.
Should I continue standing with him? Or should I betray him here?
In that moment, Jung Jun-woo’s voice echoed through Lee Jung-chul’s thoughts.
“Jung-chul, if I open my mouth, you die too. Now your only path is to follow me.”
There was no turning back.
Lee Jung-chul had spent years alongside Jung Jun-woo, and his own compromises were laid bare just the same.
Seo Jin tossed a crumpled document onto Lee Jung-chul’s lap with a hollow laugh.
“Is Chief Prosecutor Jung Jun-woo using this to blackmail you?”
Lee Jung-chul’s eyes darted urgently toward the papers.
He stubbed out his cigarette and hastily unfolded the documents.
“…!”
They were his own misconduct.
From the trivial to the grave.
From bribes accepted to advantages extorted through his position as a prosecutor.
Everything was there.
If this came to light, it was over.
My life would plummet into ruin.
“H-how could you…?”
“It’s pathetic, really. After all these years together, he resorts to blackmail with this. Let me promise you something. Chief Prosecutor Jung Jun-woo won’t be able to utter a word about these materials. And if he does, I’ll make sure it looks like nothing more than a desperate criminal’s last gasp.”
“…What?”
Lee Jung-chul couldn’t comprehend what Seo Jin was saying.
The man before him was the Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office.
Even detained in an interrogation room, his power wouldn’t simply vanish.
But as Seo Jin continued, Lee Jung-chul found himself nodding in agreement.
“Did you forget? My uncle is the Prosecutor General. And I know his nature well. He repays in kind.”
Lee Jung-chul stared at Seo Jin blankly.
He dreaded what would come next.
Then Seo Jin extended his hand toward Lee Jung-chul.
“Bring me the evidence that will silence both Chief Prosecutor Jung Jun-woo and the Opposition Party figures at once.”
“…!”
“And I’ll make you another promise. The misconduct I have on you—I won’t expose it. I understand that a bullet is most dangerous when it remains in the gun.”
Lee Jung-chul didn’t take Seo Jin’s hand.
He simply blinked, over and over.
Seo Jin continued in an even tone.
“Take my hand. If you’re thinking about compensation for defection, then comparing a man whose end is in sight with someone whose future is guaranteed seems rather pointless, doesn’t it?”
“….”
“Or is it a problem that I’m a younger junior? That’s amusing—a man who called himself a hunting dog now standing at a cliff’s edge trying to become human. Once you’ve finished your mental calculations, make your choice. Will you take Chief Prosecutor Jung Jun-woo’s hand and go to court, or take mine and cut his throat?”
Lee Jung-chul’s eyes shifted between the documents on his lap and the hand Seo Jin offered.
And he made his decision.
Rather than preserve loyalty in an interrogation room, he would seize this opportunity to align himself with the Prosecutor General’s faction.
Seo Jin had called me a hunting dog, but pride was a luxury I couldn’t afford.
What mattered now was my future.
Lee Jung-chul gripped Seo Jin’s hand firmly.
“I have a recording file. It contains a secret conversation between Congressman Yeo Dong-soo and Jung Jun-woo. If we trace it back, it could snowball into a major scandal.”
“You’ve made a good decision.”
Seo Jin smiled faintly.
The goal was to seize all power in my hands.
The first step was to manipulate dirty men through my own hands.
To build my influence.
*
*
*
“Prosecutor? Prosecutor?”
At the familiar voice, Seo Jin opened his eyes.
Investigator Lee Dong-soo came into view.
“Goodness, did you sleep here again last night?”
“…What time is it?”
“8:30.”
In a small room set up in the corner of the office, Seo Jin had been sleeping on a cot he’d placed there.
The night before last, I’d stayed up catching Kim Seo-young, and yesterday I’d monitored the interrogation room, then spoke with Lee Jung-chul.
Over two days, I’d managed less than four hours of sleep.
“When did you last eat?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Goodness, you’ll ruin your health like this. Go out and grab some soup, will you? Come on!”
“Let me wash up first.”
Seo Jin left the office while listening to Investigator Lee Dong-soo’s nagging.
After washing his face at the sink, he looked in the mirror—his face appeared gaunt and pallid.
‘I really should eat something.’
*
*
*
I stopped by a soup restaurant near the District Prosecutor’s Office.
As I sat down and began massaging the back of my neck, I felt the weight of people’s stares.
There were times when people recognized me before, but never like this.
Even on the walk to the restaurant, and now sitting here—constant glances.
Every eye seemed glued to my face.
I could guess why—yesterday’s events.
From the briefing to the scene of Jung Jun-woo’s arrest, my every move had been captured on camera, and even now my face was appearing on the morning news.
‘Damn it.’
I lowered my head and picked up my phone.
I found it more comfortable to avoid making eye contact with others and simply scroll through articles on my phone.
But then.
‘Sigh….’
Seo Jin exhaled without realizing it.
As I flipped through the politics and society section, the headlines of the exposed articles were absolutely ridiculous.
[Lookism Now Extends to Prosecutors? Prosecutor Seo Jin’s ‘Handsome Appearance’]
[Prosecutor Seo Jin’s ‘Suit Fit That Rivals Actors’]
[Unsolved Case Specialist, Rising as the Number One Ideal Husband?]
My name even appeared in entertainment articles, not just politics and society sections.
My face flushed despite having done nothing wrong.
I decided I should sue every journalist who wrote such embarrassing articles and continued scanning the news.
There was a small part of me curious about what was said and how it was phrased.
But then I noticed a strange headline at the bottom of the article.
[Who is Prosecutor Seo Jin? Nephew of Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun, Son of Jaejeong Construction CEO Kim Jun-man]
I scrolled down to read the article’s content.
There was nothing negative in it.
It simply explained my family relationships from top to bottom.
‘This….’
I had known such an article would eventually appear.
But the timing wasn’t good.
Right now, my name was rising rapidly.
Just as the saying goes that supporters create critics, it was natural for people to start criticizing.
Even within the Prosecutor’s Office, it was the same.
The more prominent my accomplishments became, the more people disliked me, and in this situation, an article like this could breed resentment depending on who read it.
I checked the comments section.
It was as expected.
Though the article hadn’t received much attention and had few comments, most of them were spreading conspiracy theories.
-Silver spoon kid.
└Didn’t you know? It was famous.
-He was related by blood to the Prosecutor General? Giving cases to family?
-Right… otherwise, how could one prosecutor solve all those unsolved cases? He probably just added his name to already-solved cases.
└Then that’s a huge scam?
└Staying neutral.
My mental fortitude wasn’t weak enough to be shaken by a few comments.
Compared to the insults I endured when I was Seo Jun-kyung, being accused of sexual assault, this was cute.
But I continued reading the article.
‘Something’s off.’
Looking at the timestamps of the comments, they had been posted in quick succession at 1-2 minute intervals after the article was written.
Only the last comment saying ‘staying neutral’ was written 3 hours later.
In other words, this article was written specifically to criticize me.
The comments were undoubtedly written by the media company as well.
I scrolled down and found the company that had written the article.
‘Kuko News?’
A media outlet I’d never heard of before.
When I searched their past articles, they focused exclusively on sensationalist celebrity gossip and tabloid-style coverage.
There wasn’t a single article about politics or social issues.
‘Why here?’
I ran my tongue across my lips.
Something smelled off.
‘A place that benefits from attacking me. A place that can obscure the true nature of the case by dragging out family matters.’
I narrowed my eyes and fell into thought.
Several puzzle pieces clicked into place in my mind.
‘The Opposition Party and Baek Ki-ho.’
I moved my phone screen back to the portal site.
Then I entered the same headline as the article I’d just seen and searched for it.
Different media companies—unfamiliar ones I’d never seen before—articles clearly generated by a program using only keywords began appearing in succession.
The company names were different, but all these articles were undoubtedly written by Kuko News.
Of course, whether Kuko News even existed as a real entity was uncertain.
That was when it happened.
My phone screen changed as an incoming call number appeared.
It was Congressman Baek Ki-ho’s aide.
That bastard was calling me.
“Yes, this is Seo Jin.”
-Have you seen the article?

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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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