Prosecutor Kim Seo-Jin - Chapter 17

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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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A Friend (1)
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Someone was watching as Seo Jin stood surrounded by reporters.
It was Jeon Dong-guk, the head of the Dongnam District Prosecutors’ Office, and Kim Gwan-yong, the chief prosecutor of the Criminal Division 4.
Jeon Dong-guk gazed out the window and spoke.
“Gwan-yong, how many years have you been trapped here?”
Kim Gwan-yong let out a bitter laugh.
Did he really need to count the years of his exile?
At first, he had endured the days believing he would return to the central office, but now he persisted simply to send his salary to his family in the city.
Jeon Dong-guk continued.
“Watching Kim Seo-jin reminds me of the old days. When he would charge around recklessly, claiming he’d build a fair society without compromise. Maybe that’s why I’m starting to feel like a prosecutor again. How about you?”
“I’m feeling it too. From the sister murder case to Yoo A-sung now, the quiet office has become lively again.”
“Gwan-yong, I’ve been giving up until now, but I think I need to go back to Seoul.”
“Sir?”
“I said Seoul. I don’t have many days left in this profession, so I want to make a move once more.”
Jeon Dong-guk raised the blinds and turned his body.
Then he spoke slowly in a low voice.
“Create a scenario for me.”
Kim Gwan-yong unconsciously clenched his fists.
Jeon Dong-guk was a principled prosecutor who had imprisoned the son of the ruling party’s leader, wielded his blade against the political establishment, and taught his juniors what it meant to say “follow the law.”
But the result had been bitter.
A transfer to the Dongnam District Prosecutors’ Office… After that, he had lived as if dead.
And now Jeon Dong-guk was drawing his blade once more.
Kim Gwan-yong slowly bowed his waist.
“Understood.”
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“Cheers!”
Criminal Divisions 3 and 4 of the Dongnam District Prosecutors’ Office gathered for a dinner together.
It was both a welcome for Seo Jin and Lee So-hee, who had just shed their trainee status and taken their new positions, and a gathering to organize the Special Investigation Team that would soon begin.
The venue was a raw fish restaurant not far from the office.
With prosecutors, investigators, and administrative staff—roughly forty people in total—the assorted sashimi was prepared by variety.
Starting with assorted sashimi, squid, sea cucumber, abalone, king crab…
Seo Jin had been looking forward to this considerably.
He hadn’t eaten much raw fish before, and when he had, it was only flounder, rockfish, or tuna.
So he had resolved to try different varieties today and picked up his chopsticks, but…
“Kim Seo-jin!”
Kim Gwan-yong, the chief prosecutor, called for Seo Jin.
He was the chief prosecutor of the Criminal Division 4 where Seo Jin would be working going forward. Seo Jin set down his chopsticks and moved to sit beside him.
“We’ve got a new junior member in Criminal Division 4, so I should buy the first round.”
Kim Gwan-yong poured from the bottle.
The empty glass filled with a soft trickle of alcohol.
“Your briefing was solid. You didn’t even seem nervous.”
“Thank you.”
“You’ve closed two cases recently, haven’t you?”
“I was fortunate.”
“Right, you need luck. Luck….”
Kim Gwan-yong chuckled quietly, murmuring the word “luck” several times before turning his gaze toward me. His eyes held the gleam of someone who had made a decision.
There was something resolute in that look.
“A fortunate person. Yes, I like that.”
With those words, Kim Gwan-yong slid the full glass across the table toward me.
“Drink.”
“Yes.”
The moment I grasped the glass to drink, the world shifted.
Everything drained into black and white.
Kim Gwan-yong approached the District Prosecution Office director and placed a document on his desk.
“This is the roster for the Special Investigation Team on serial killer Lee Jae-hwan.”
Though I was at the bottom of the list, my name was naturally included.
The director nodded, and Kim Gwan-yong sat across from him, tapping my name on the document with his finger.
“For the Special Investigation Team on serial killer Lee Jae-hwan, I plan to keep Seo Jin’s name on the roster while assigning him to other tasks.”
“What? You’re trying to steal the kid’s credit?”
“No. The credit from this case will still be reflected as is… I’m planning to have him pursue Park Sang-young secretly.”
With those words, color returned to the world, and the glass in my hand trembled slightly.
Kim Gwan-yong’s voice reached me.
“…Come to my office when you report in tomorrow.”
I looked at Kim Gwan-yong.
According to what I had just seen through psychometry, Kim Gwan-yong had said, “I plan to keep Seo Jin’s name on the roster while assigning him to other tasks.”
“I’ll visit you tomorrow morning.”
I nodded and brought the glass to my lips.
The strong alcohol burned down my throat, sharpening my mind even further.
And I recalled the words Kim Gwan-yong had uttered during the psychometry.
‘Park Sang-young?’
I set down the glass and lit up my phone screen beneath the table, searching for “Park Sang-young.”
Nothing particularly notable appeared.
But as I scrolled down, a small article caught my eye.
Hyungje Construction Park Sang-young, Executive Director
Far too young for such a position.
Seo Jin furrowed his brow, pursuing the name.
I found his SNS account and could see a photo of him with his arm around Kim Yun-hwan’s shoulder.
I licked my dry lips.
‘A friend of Kim Yun-hwan’s?’
I couldn’t yet determine exactly what this was about, but if it connected to Kim Yun-hwan and could give us leverage, this side would welcome it.
However, I couldn’t continue my train of thought.
Someone had called my name.
“Kim Seo-jin!”
This time it was Prosecutor Lee Myung-soo.
I set down the raw fish I was about to eat and stood up.
As I sat beside him, Prosecutor Lee Myung-soo smiled faintly and filled my glass with alcohol before speaking.
“You haven’t even seen your office yet?”
I had been formally assigned an office.
But after wrestling with serial killer Lee Jae-hwan all day, I hadn’t even seen the faces of the investigators and administrative staff I’d be working with, let alone visited my office.
“I’ll put the nameplate on your desk.”
“Thank you.”
Prosecutor Lee Myung-soo and I clinked our glasses together.
After drinking, Prosecutor Lee Myung-soo continued.
“Right, let me know if there’s anything uncomfortable. Sorry I haven’t taught you much so far.”
“I look forward to working with you going forward.”
“That’s enough. I’d like to keep you longer, but a lot of people are looking for you. Go on.”
I looked around.
As Prosecutor Lee Myung-soo said, many people were looking for me.
From here and there, people were calling my name and raising their hands.
“Kim Seo-jin!”
So this time too, I couldn’t eat the raw fish.
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“You can hold your liquor well?”
When many people’s faces had flushed and their tongues had grown thick, I had stepped outside for a moment to feel the sea breeze.
Lee So-hee stood beside me.
I shook my head at her words.
“I can hold it….”
“You can have one more drink, right? I need to share a drink with you too?”
“Of course. I can’t refuse a drink from my classmate.”
I smiled slightly.
And turning toward her, I asked what I’d been curious about.
“But… why are you here?”
Lee So-hee was supposed to be going to the main office.
But then, out of nowhere, I received orders to transfer to the Dongnam District Prosecutors’ Office, and here I was at the company dinner, gulping down drinks without restraint.
Lee So-hee shrugged her shoulders.
“Well, there must have been a reason.”
Lee So-hee spoke casually, but in truth, such a difficult transfer was impossible without either backing or someone actively sabotaging the process.
But Seo Jin didn’t press further.
Her bitter smile made it clear she was hiding something, yet I saw no reason to pry it out of her.
My gaze shifted toward the sea.
With alcohol warming my blood and the sound of waves rolling in from the dark ocean, my thoughts grew heavy.
Seo Jun-kyung’s righteous life, my desire as Seo Jin to seize control of the world.
And my resolve to crush everything in my path.
As those thoughts consumed me, Lee So-hee’s voice overlapped softly.
“Good.”
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When we returned to the Raw Fish Restaurant.
The prosecutors, their blood warmed by alcohol, were gathered around something, giggling uncontrollably.
Regardless, I settled comfortably into my seat with the intention of eating raw fish.
After being dragged around for so long, I’d barely managed to eat a handful of pieces.
So after sitting across from Lee So-hee and pouring drinks, I brought the glass to my lips—
“Look at Kim Seo-jin’s expression! Puhahahaha!”
An ominous voice reached my ears.
I looked at the gathered prosecutors with a displeased expression and asked.
“…What’s wrong?”
Lee Myung-soo, usually so composed, was laughing so hard he was wiping tears from his eyes.
“Hey, Seo Jin. A video went up online—I’ll send you the link. Check it out. The title is ‘Prosecutor Kim Seo-jin’s Rotten Smile After Being Attacked by Reporters.’ Kahahaha!”
A message arrived on my phone.
I checked it immediately.
The title was literally “Rotten Smile.”
But the channel name of the person who uploaded it was “Lee Jung-woo.”
It was a scene from the lobby where I’d been cornered by a reporter and forced to smile.
Apparently, that smile looked rotten.
The comments were a mess of laughter.
‘Damn it….’
I immediately pressed the call button.
But he didn’t answer.
Only another message arrived.
-Sorry.
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“Two hundred thousand views…”
Kim Yun-hwan’s eyes gleamed with irritation as he watched the video.
Seo Jin was becoming a star in a remarkably short time.
Even those who had paid no attention before now remembered the name “Kim Seo-jin” as the person who solved an unsolved case.
This was something that couldn’t happen without heaven’s blessing.
‘Sigh…’
That was when it happened.
The phone screen changed, displaying Shin Jong-seung’s name.
An incoming call.
Kim Yun-hwan, curious about what could have happened, immediately pressed the answer button and spoke.
“Hey, Jong-seung. What’s up? You haven’t been in touch. Did you come to Seoul?”
-I don’t know what’s going on.
“Huh? Have you been drinking?”
Shin Jong-seung’s speech was slurred.
-Yeah, a little.
Then, without coherence, Shin Jong-seung began rambling about Lee So-hee.
-What is it? Is there a backer? But it’s strange. If there’s a backer, she shouldn’t have stayed in Dongnam County, right? But why did she stay? Why? What’s the reason!
Kim Yun-hwan assumed Shin Jong-seung was talking about Seo Jin.
“What are you saying? A backer?”
-It seems like there was a backer we didn’t know about. Otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense.
Kim Yun-hwan’s eyes narrowed.
Come to think of it, Seo Jin had been under the influence of Prosecutor Kim Young-jun all this time.
He acted and responded as ordered.
But not anymore.
He was slipping out of Prosecutor Kim Young-jun’s grasp.
Kim Yun-hwan swallowed dryly.
He decided to keep it secret from Prosecutor Kim Young-jun for now and observe him covertly.
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The next day.
Seo Jin stood before Senior Prosecutor Kim Gwan-yong’s office.
After adjusting his clothes, he knocked, and Senior Prosecutor Kim Gwan-yong’s voice came from inside.
“Come in.”
Seo Jin turned the doorknob and entered, bowing respectfully.
Then Senior Prosecutor Kim Gwan-yong pointed to the sofa and spoke.
“Sit.”
Seo Jin sat on the sofa.
Senior Prosecutor Kim Gwan-yong placed a coffee in front of him and continued speaking.
“Two more people will be arriving. Just wait a moment.”
Then came a knock at the door—tap, tap, tap—and it opened slightly as Lee So-hee and another prosecutor entered.
“You called for us?”
Seo Jin straightened in his seat, waiting for Kim Gwan-yong to continue.
Now it was time to hear the story of Park Sang-young, the man who had posed for a photograph with his arm around Kim Yun-hwan’s shoulders.

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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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