Prosecutor Kim Seo-Jin - Chapter 179

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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 Dangerous Meeting (5)
I opened my mouth toward Jang Seok-min, who was swallowing hard.
“What? Does it bother you when I call a thug a thug?”
“I, I….”
“A thug who lured girls into prostitution by promising them entertainment careers. That’s you, isn’t it? And now you want me to call you hyung? Hyung. There. Happy?”
The air around us seemed to freeze at the tone of my voice.
Sensing the shift in atmosphere, the women exchanged glances before quietly rising and slipping out of the room.
“W-we’ll be in the next room.”
Jang Seok-min couldn’t stop them.
My eyes had turned vicious.
The gentle facade had vanished, replaced by a demonic expression as I stared him down.
Jang Seok-min’s profession was that of a thug—a man who had lived without fear of anything in this world.
When he walked the streets, people instinctively parted ways, and no one dared meet his gaze.
But before a prosecutor, he became a meek lamb.
He knew all too well that one doesn’t act recklessly in front of a prosecutor.
Jang Seok-min opened his mouth, trying to hide the tremor in his voice.
“P-prostitution? I think there’s been some misunderstanding….”
“A misunderstanding? This is driving me crazy. Keep talking.”
“What I mean is, those girls are actually a girl group that operates in China. They’re really just ordinary performers….”
The only person Jang Seok-min truly trusted was Kim Yun-hwan.
After all, I was Kim Yun-hwan’s younger cousin.
He believed that for Kim Yun-hwan’s sake, I wouldn’t harm him.
But that assumption was wrong.
No matter how much he continued with his excuses, my gaze remained unchanged.
In fact, a contemptuous smile was even forming at the corners of my lips.
Jang Seok-min found himself drawing a tense breath.
Only now did he realize things were going terribly wrong.
I watched Jang Seok-min’s expression shift moment by moment, recalling what I had seen through psychometry.
The words he had spoken to Kim Yun-hwan.
“Are we really going to do this?”
“Are we… damn it, won’t this cause problems?”
“But his face is pretty well-known, isn’t it? I think the girls would hate it… let’s just have fun among ourselves today.”
Synthesizing all the information, he feared me.
He had reluctantly joined Kim Yun-hwan’s plan, but he was now worried about the devastation that would unfold if that plan fell apart.
He was a thug who understood the terror of a prosecutor all too well.
Moreover, I could pin the charge of prostitution on him.
Using all of this, he would release the hand he had clasped with Kim Yun-hwan and bow his head to me.
That was the moment.
Jang Seok-min’s pupils tilted toward the table before returning to their original position.
And I didn’t miss the movement of his eyes.
‘A recording device?’
The intent behind that man’s gaze was unmistakable.
Something had been installed in this place—a setup prepared to blackmail me.
It was something Kim Yun-hwan had arranged to ensnare me, but now this fool intended to use it himself.
I reached beneath the table without hesitation.
Simultaneously, his eyes widened in shock.
But I didn’t stop.
What my fingers found was a miniature recorder, crudely affixed to the underside with tape.
I pulled the recorder free and slammed it onto the table with a sharp *crack*, making my point viscerally clear.
As his face drained of color, my voice flowed like ice.
“What is this?”
“I, I can explain…”
“Are there any others installed? Answer me.”
“No, there aren’t!”
“Don’t lie to me. Finding them wouldn’t be difficult.”
“I’m telling the truth! We didn’t install cameras because our faces could be recorded too!”
Kim Yun-hwan had no desire to have his face captured on video—he feared it could be used against him later.
So only the audio recorder had been placed here.
And I could sense the truth in his words.
I leaned back against the sofa and opened my mouth.
“I’m curious about why you installed the recorder. Go ahead—give me your excuse.”
I was handing him a chance to dig himself deeper.
But he merely trembled, his lips sealed shut.
I had him completely cornered.
Now came the time for leverage.
I crossed my legs and continued speaking.
“Why were you recording? Were you planning to spread rumors that the prosecutor was soliciting prostitutes? Or was Yun-hwan trying to blackmail his older brother to get the Prosecutor General backing him?”
“…!”
“I knew you were stupid, but attempting to blackmail the Prosecutor General?”
I laughed incredulously, and his face twisted with confusion.
The Prosecutor General—where had that come from?
“No, that’s not it.”
He was shaking his head when I picked up my phone.
I pressed the call button and held it to my ear.
“Send some people over here. I’ve caught a lunatic…”
His already pallid face turned a sickly shade of blue.
In the underworld, the name Seo Jin was infamous.
I’d torn apart the room salons in Jongno and demolished the loan shark market.
He’d heard I never backed down—and now I was directly calling in investigators.
Jang Seok-min gasped in terror and rushed forward, grabbing at my pant leg.
His voice cracked as though he might burst into tears.
“It’s a misunderstanding! No! Really, it’s not true!”
Jang Seok-min was desperate.
If he were dragged to the Prosecutor’s Office and the illegal recording were recognized as evidence, if Kim Yun-hwan’s sex trade activities were exposed, Jang Seok-min’s life would be finished.
Kim Yun-hwan’s father was the Prosecutor General—he would move to cover his son’s shame.
And he would certainly send Jang Seok-min to hell under the charge of attempting to blackmail the Prosecutor General.
Erasing one thug to protect his son’s future was nothing to the Prosecutor General.
In that situation, Kim Yun-hwan wouldn’t lift a finger to help. He was too selfish for that.
“How could I possibly threaten the Prosecutor General! I’m telling the truth! Please believe me!”
Jang Seok-min begged with everything he had.
There was no swagger in his appearance now—just a man fighting desperately to survive.
But my voice remained cold.
“Trust a thug?”
“That… Yun-hwan planted it.”
“Now you’re trying to sow discord, you bastard?”
“It’s true! It’s the truth! Please believe me!”
“…The truth?”
As my voice softened, Jang Seok-min sensed an opening—a chance to survive.
He rushed to speak.
“Yun-hwan said you’d wronged him. He said he’d gather your weaknesses one by one…”
In that instant, I tapped the small recorder I’d left on the table with my finger.
“You know this is recording, right?”
“…What?”
His gaze snapped toward the recorder.
I’d simply taken it out and placed it on the table—I’d never stopped the recording function.
Which meant every word Jang Seok-min had spoken was captured.
Now he had nowhere left to turn.
As despair flooded his face, I stopped the recording and continued.
“What do you think happens when Kim Yun-hwan hears this? Don’t you hear your life unraveling?”
“…!”
I placed a light hand on his shoulder.
“Shall I untangle this knotted thread?”
“What?”
Now this man would become a puppet dancing in my hands.
He would spill every detail of Kim Yun-hwan’s plans without hesitation.
I had gained eyes to watch Kim Yun-hwan.
*
*
*
The next day.
Kim Yun-hwan entered the VIP Room without bothering to fix his disheveled hair.
Jang Seok-min sat on the sofa.
The ashtray overflowed with cigarette butts, and whatever had happened, Jang Seok-min’s face looked haggard—aged a decade in a single night. His eyes were particularly vacant, as though his very soul had departed.
Kim Yun-hwan chuckled at the sight of Jang Seok-min’s face.
“What’s wrong with your face? Didn’t you sleep?”
Kim Yun-hwan couldn’t even imagine what had befallen Jang Seok-min.
He simply teased him about whatever had transpired during the night, observing his haggard appearance.
Jang Seok-min found Kim Yun-hwan irritating, but he couldn’t reveal the truth.
“Ha… no. Did you have fun?”
Jang Seok-min answered as casually as he could manage, and Kim Yun-hwan sat across from him, placing a cigarette between his lips.
“Fun? It was fantastic. But where’s Seo Jin?”
“Oh, he just left. Said he had something to do.”
“Just left? And he abandoned that pretty girl?”
“Yeah.”
“Crazy bastard.”
Kim Yun-hwan clicked his tongue in disappointment.
A hidden camera had been installed in the private room where Seo Jin was supposed to go—positioned to capture the moment of solicitation.
Had he been caught on film, I could have cornered Seo Jin completely. But that crude scheme had crumbled to dust.
Still, it didn’t matter.
A recording device was installed here, and it should have captured the women’s affected voices and Seo Jin’s audio.
For now, I had to settle for that.
“Give it to me.”
“Give you what?”
Jang Seok-min knew exactly what Kim Yun-hwan was asking for, but he deflected anyway.
Kim Yun-hwan extended his hand and spoke again.
“What else? The recorder.”
“Oh, just a moment.”
Jang Seok-min pulled the recorder out from beneath the table. But it was powered off.
“Huh?”
He charged it and turned it on, but nothing had been recorded.
Kim Yun-hwan’s face twisted as he fiddled with the device.
“You fucking idiot… you can’t even handle something this simple!”
Jang Seok-min offered an apologetic smile, though it came across as awkward.
“Hey, sorry won’t fix this. Whoever installed this thing must’ve forgotten to turn it on. I’ll beat the shit out of that bastard today, so let it go.”
Of course, the original recording was with Seo Jin.
This recorder was merely a prop to deceive Kim Yun-hwan’s eyes.
*
*
*
“Our son is quite handsome, isn’t he?”
A few days later, on the weekend.
Today was the day Kim Yun-hwan would meet Lee So-hee.
Though it was a strategic marriage, the adults insisted the two parties meet and exchange greetings before sitting down together.
Kim Yun-hwan stood before the mirror, scrutinizing his appearance and attire.
His aunt, standing beside him and continuing her praise of her son, asked a question.
“You’ll come back after dinner, won’t you?”
“We’ll see.”
Kim Yun-hwan spoke with feigned indifference, but his true feelings were quite different.
Unlike usual, he was excited and somewhat thrilled.
He had seen Lee So-hee’s face through a photograph.
A face difficult to compare even to most actresses, and she was a prosecutor besides. Her family background was excellent too, he’d heard.
An uncommon set of credentials.
If such a woman became his spouse, he could boast quite a bit.
“Then I’ll be going.”
Kim Yun-hwan bowed respectfully toward Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun, who sat on the sofa reading a newspaper.
He had hoped to hear warm words, but Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun didn’t even turn his gaze and spoke in a businesslike tone.
“Don’t make any mistakes.”
Kim Yun-hwan smiled bitterly and replied.
“I’ll be careful.”
Leaving the house, Kim Yun-hwan got into his car and started the engine in good spirits.
*
*
*
At that moment, in a coffee shop in Gangnam.
A place slightly removed from where Kim Yun-hwan and Lee So-hee were supposed to meet.
Seo Jin sat across from Lee So-hee.
While Kim Yun-hwan was on his way here, polished and gleaming, Lee So-hee’s appearance was not significantly different from usual.
Neat business attire, hair tied back without fuss—she wasn’t paying any attention to her meeting with Kim Yun-hwan.
“Ugh, I really hate this.”
Thinking of Kim Yun-hwan, Lee So-hee shuddered as if insects were crawling over her skin.
Lee So-hee was someone who had helped me when Kim Yun-hwan was fabricating criminals.
Kim Yun-hwan, who had turned innocent people into criminals for his own achievements, could never appear normal to her.
Seo Jin opened his mouth with a slight smile.
“If you hate him, treat him however you want. You know they’re not the type to stop just because you dislike them, right?”
“Really? Then should I spit at him? Just curse him out?”
“That works too.”
Lee So-hee imagined herself cursing at Kim Yun-hwan and brought her coffee to her lips.
“Just thinking about it is fun.”
But she wouldn’t actually do such outrageous things. Lee So-hee had been raised with proper manners.
Setting down her coffee, Lee So-hee turned her attention back to Seo Jin.
“But can you really stop it?”
It was the third time she’d asked today, but Seo Jin answered without a hint of annoyance or irritation each time.
“Yes. I can stop it. Don’t worry.”
Lee So-hee smiled softly.
“Thank you. I feel a bit more at ease now.”
“But there’s one thing I’d like to ask of you too.”
“What is it?”
“It’s about Kim Yun-hwan. I tried to do something about him last time, but I failed.”
“What? Tell me. If it’s something I can help with, I will.”
Seo Jin fell silent for a moment, bringing the coffee cup to his lips.
He was deliberating on how best to phrase a request that was somewhat delicate.
But no matter how he worded it, it would certainly be difficult to understand.
Seo Jin decided to be direct.
“Could you get me just one strand of Kim Yun-hwan’s hair? One with the root still attached.”

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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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