Prosecutor Kim Seo-Jin - Chapter 190

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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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Your Past (3)
As I listened to Jang Seok-min’s continued words, a thick smile gradually spread across my lips.
“Do it that way.”
-Pardon?
“Move according to what Kim Yun-hwan wants.”
-B-but you said there are drugs?
Jang Seok-min’s voice was urgent.
Drugs were a serious felony.
If drugs were found in my vehicle and the results showed drug use, even a prosecutor would have difficulty escaping the charges.
But I remained composed.
“Never mind. Let’s grab a drink soon. I have things to discuss, so keep your schedule open.”
-Ah, yes.
I ended the call and shook my head in disbelief.
‘Foolish bastard.’
Kim Yun-hwan had set a similar trap before.
Though drugs had been added this time, the overall context remained unchanged.
‘Yet again with a woman and alcohol?’
If a plan failed, regardless of the reason, one had to find a different approach.
Even a beast rarely fell into the same trap twice.
But Kim Yun-hwan was attempting to repeat the same mistake.
His imagination had such limited scope.
I stretched leisurely and dismissed my thoughts of Kim Yun-hwan.
Now was the time to work.
*
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*
“You’re Prosecutor General Kim’s nephew, aren’t you?”
The next day, I sat in Hwang Yun-sung’s Office.
Hwang Yun-sung—the man who had lived off bribes from gangster Kim Hyun-bong and whom Yeo Dong-soo had designated as a target.
I had wanted to see that face the moment Kim Hyun-bong was arrested, but with complications piling up, I had only now come to see him.
Hwang Yun-sung greeted me by invoking Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun’s name.
Unaware of what was about to unfold.
“But what brings you here?”
Hwang Yun-sung asked as he took the seat across from me.
A prosecutor’s visit should have made him nervous, yet he maintained an air of composure throughout.
He even smiled gently as he brought the teacup his secretary had brought to his lips.
But instead of answering his question, I looked toward the Chief of Staff standing beside Hwang Yun-sung.
A look that asked him to leave.
Hwang Yun-sung nodded.
“You step outside.”
The Chief of Staff twisted his body and slipped out of the room.
Once only two people remained in the space, Congressman Hwang Yun-sung set down his teacup and opened his mouth.
“You show up without a call, and you ask my Chief of Staff to leave—it doesn’t sound like pleasant conversation, does it?”
“Yes, it may be uncomfortable for you.”
At my words, Congressman Hwang Yun-sung’s face stiffened slightly.
But that was all.
He carried himself like a man of consequence.
“It’s fine, speak freely.”
I studied Congressman Hwang Yun-sung’s expression carefully.
He was a three-term congressman.
He had quite a number of first and second-term representatives following him.
If I brought him down, five or six small fish would fall into my hands automatically.
‘Which is precisely why this won’t be easy.’
Scum of his caliber didn’t crumble under ordinary corruption charges.
He possessed the resilience to endure even a torrent of accusations hurled against him.
Moreover, he had the power to sway public opinion through the media and orchestrate a reversal of circumstances.
‘But….’
Still, I was confident.
This was the presidential election period.
The only time when the nation’s voice was truly heard.
If his corruption was exposed, he wouldn’t fall alone.
People would point fingers at his party and condemn it.
Support would plummet, and the presidential candidate representing that party would face scrutiny.
In other words, he couldn’t fully exercise the power he possessed.
It was the perfect moment to catch garbage.
I spoke with maximum contrition and deference.
“…There is a man named Kim Hyun-bong.”
The moment the name Kim Hyun-bong was uttered, Congressman Hwang Yun-sung’s brow furrowed.
But only briefly.
He kept his face impassive like a steel plate, rolled his eyes, and played dumb.
“Kim Hyun-bong? Who’s that?”
His tone suggested he was hearing the name for the first time.
“A gangster recently arrested. But he’s been clinging to you, Congressman.”
“A gangster? A gangster knows me?”
“Yes.”
Congressman Hwang Yun-sung chuckled and shook his head. Then he struck the armrest of the sofa with his palm and spoke.
“Do you know how many years I’ve been sitting in this position? More than a decade—long enough for mountains to change. The moment my name becomes profitable, all sorts of flies swarm in. Someone impersonates my relative to commit fraud, another tries to evade a drunk driving charge by claiming we’re acquainted….”
I had no desire to listen to more of Congressman Hwang Yun-sung’s nonsense.
I pulled Kim Hyun-bong’s ledger from my bag and tossed it onto the table.
Congressman Hwang Yun-sung’s eyes immediately shifted toward the ledger.
He flipped through the ledger with his fingers, and an unpleasant tone spilled from his lips.
“…What is this?”
“It’s the ledger that man handed over. Your name was written in it.”
Hwang Yun-sung’s body trembled violently. He bit his lip and opened his mouth.
“Do you believe that?”
“Of course I don’t.”
“Then why did you come all the way here…!”
“I simply wanted to hear your side of the story before reporting it to my superiors.”
“Report? Ha! Is my name appearing in some thug’s ledger evidence? If your name were in here, would that make you an acquaintance of gangsters? You need to talk sense!”
His face flushed crimson, his eyes glaring fiercely—Hwang Yun-sung was trembling with excessive agitation.
A heavy silence hung in the air for a moment, and Seo Jin exhaled a sigh before speaking.
“I apologize. So you’re saying it’s not true?”
“It’s not.”
“But there’s a shell account that Kim Hyun-bong uses. Your Chief of Staff’s face was captured in the process of withdrawing money from it. How do you explain this….”
“Then the Chief of Staff must have received it. Ah, the Chief of Staff. That bastard was selling my name and pocketing money! I had a feeling something was off!”
Hwang Yun-sung was throwing his Chief of Staff under the bus without hesitation.
He was tearing apart the Chief of Staff who had worked like a dog beneath him.
His acting was quite superb.
He trembled with his fists clenched as if genuinely enraged.
Even more so.
“Chief of Staff!”
He summoned the Chief of Staff in a voice dripping with fury.
The Chief of Staff rushed into the room urgently.
“Yes, Congressman!”
The Chief of Staff stood before Hwang Yun-sung without understanding the situation, waiting for orders.
But what came was violence.
Hwang Yun-sung hurled a box of tissues at the Chief of Staff’s face.
Smack!
The Chief of Staff’s eyes widened in shock, unable to comprehend what was happening.
But this was only the beginning.
Hwang Yun-sung slapped the Chief of Staff’s cheeks with such force that they made sharp cracking sounds as he shrieked.
“You bastard! You sold my name and pocketed the money!”
Handprints bloomed scarlet across the Chief of Staff’s face.
But Hwang Yun-sung continued swinging his hand.
Slap! Slap!
As the Chief of Staff staggered, Hwang Yun-sung grabbed the ledger and waved it.
“You insane bastard! You took money from that son of a bitch Kim Hyun-bong? Don’t even think about making excuses. Your face is clearly captured in it!”
Only now could the Chief of Staff anticipate what had transpired.
The bitter end of serving like a dog.
Discarded like a worn-out shoe.
But a dog cannot bite its master.
The moment it bares its fangs, its family could suffer the consequences.
It can only bow its head helplessly before the club that strikes it down.
“…I’m… I’m sorry.”
Seo Jin caught a glimpse of Hwang Yun-sung’s Chief of Staff and the expression etched across his face.
Anger, betrayal, and the anxiety of potentially being dragged before the Prosecutor’s Office.
The thought crossed my mind that securing this Chief of Staff might prove more advantageous than controlling Congressman Hwang Yun-sung, who had grown accustomed to power.
A chief of staff monitors every move of the congressman he serves.
He also holds in his grasp the misconduct of others connected to the congressman.
‘If I secure Congressman Hwang Yun-sung….’
Five or six small fish would come along with him.
But if I secure the Chief of Staff, there exists the possibility of catching a bigger fish beyond Congressman Hwang Yun-sung.
The phrase “to catch a congressman, start by shaking down his chief of staff” flashed through my mind.
“It seems I’ve caused some discord.”
As Seo Jin spoke, Congressman Hwang Yun-sung slowly turned his gaze toward me.
Congressman Hwang Yun-sung’s eyes gleamed.
He had found an escape route from the cliff’s edge.
Seo Jin continued speaking as he placed the ledger into his bag.
“I’m mentioning this in case there’s any misunderstanding, but I didn’t come to blackmail you or request your appearance at the Prosecutor’s Office. I simply wanted to advise you to be careful given these circumstances, but it seems I’ve only ruined the atmosphere. I apologize.”
Congressman Hwang Yun-sung let out a forced cough.
“I’ve been so focused on listening to the people’s concerns that I’ve neglected household management. I’ll teach my Chief of Staff more strictly.”
Seo Jin didn’t miss the way the Chief of Staff’s jaw clenched tightly.
*
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Having left Congressman Hwang Yun-sung’s Office, Seo Jin now stood in the Rooftop Smoking Room.
The downtown sprawl visible through the railing was nothing but chaotic.
Creak.
The sound of the rooftop door opening reached my ears.
Turning to look behind, I saw the Chief of Staff entering.
The cheek he’d been struck bore a vivid bruise.
And as the Chief of Staff approached the smoking room with a cigarette between his lips, he startled upon noticing Seo Jin standing there.
“…You haven’t left yet?”
“No, I have something to tell you, Chief of Staff.”
Standing beside Seo Jin, the Chief of Staff lit his cigarette and opened his mouth.
“I’m grateful that you covered up the investigation.”
“There’s no need to investigate innocent people, is there?”
A deep sigh escaped the Chief of Staff’s lips along with cigarette smoke.
Everything had just been summed up in a single phrase.
Seo Jin knew of Congressman Hwang Yun-sung’s crimes but had buried the case for the sake of the Chief of Staff.
“So, what did you want to say?”
“Are you planning to continue working as Chief of Staff?”
“I have to. I need to eat….”
“From what I’ve heard, you have quite a bit of experience. You could even challenge central politics, couldn’t you?”
“It’s difficult to escape from the congressman’s grasp. Even if I did, no party would nominate a runaway servant.”
“What if there were a way?”
The Chief of Staff exhaled cigarette smoke and chuckled.
He had grasped the meaning behind what I said.
“You’re telling me to stab the congressman in the back? He’s a three-term congressman. A seasoned snake who’s been crawling through this world for over a decade.”
“….”
“If I may speak boldly—you know those politicians dragged into the Prosecutor’s Office? They don’t get arrested because they’re corrupt. They get arrested because they lack power. The Prosecution Service cannot touch living authority.”
“….”
“Congressman Hwang Yun-sung has power. Even if I do my job brilliantly, even if I stab him in the back, it’s impossible.”
Catching ordinary people is easy.
Find evidence of their crimes and present it—case closed.
Or, you can fabricate crimes even if none exist.
But there are only two ways to catch a powerful person.
Wait for their power to wane.
Seize greater power than theirs.
“I understand. I cannot catch the congressman.”
When I acknowledged this, a bitter smile crossed the Chief of Staff’s lips.
He simply smoked quietly.
“But this time, I’d like to share something I know. We’re facing a presidential election, after all. What do you think would happen if Congressman Hwang Yun-sung’s misconduct were delivered to the Ruling Party?”
“Pardon?”
“Kim Hyun-bong—that bastard who seduced children and led them into prostitution. Precious evidence that the congressman accepted money from such a man. If that were handed over to the Ruling Party, would they still think of you as a runaway servant? Or would they treat you as a hero? I’m curious.”
“…!”
The Chief of Staff’s face grew grave.
He stared at me blankly, unaware that his cigarette was burning down, leaving a long trail of ash.
A presidential election—a season when demons run rampant, tearing apart their opponents’ weaknesses by any means necessary.
Escaping Congressman Hwang Yun-sung and embracing the Ruling Party would draw no criticism.
I watched the conflict flickering in the Chief of Staff’s eyes and drove the wedge deeper.
“As you know, receiving a nomination under Congressman Hwang Yun-sung will be impossible.”
I lifted the briefcase in my hand and continued in a low voice.
“Once you’ve made up your mind, come find me. I’ll be holding onto the gift for the Ruling Party.”
The Chief of Staff’s choice was obvious.
Ambition blazed in his eyes, and cracks formed in his trust with the congressman.
But he would need time to wrestle with the guilt of betraying the congressman he had served.
I smiled as if nothing had happened.
Then I turned and brushed past the Chief of Staff, leaving the rooftop.
*
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*
I climbed into the car. As I turned on the ignition to head to the office, my phone vibrated.
—This is the Genetic Testing Center.
The paternity test results, which were supposed to take two days, came back immediately.
I glanced at the hat resting on the passenger seat, then spoke.
“I’ll be right there.”
*
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*
Coffee Shop.
I put on the hat and stepped inside.
The employee I’d met yesterday was sitting in the corner, nursing a coffee.
“You came?”
The employee recognized me and greeted me warmly before handing over a yellowed envelope.
“Since I had to handle this discreetly, I couldn’t call you to the office.”
“It’s fine. I’m actually grateful you processed it so quickly.”
That was the end of it.
Now that I had what I came for, there was nothing more to discuss with the employee.
The employee bowed and slipped out of the coffee shop, and I took a seat.
Then I picked up the envelope.
My expression had grown rigid.
I was someone who rarely lost composure, yet here I was, feeling the weight of tension.
My mind churned with countless thoughts.
If the results confirmed that Kim Yun-hwan was not Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun’s biological child.
Would the Prosecutor General already know?
If he didn’t know, how should I tell him?
Would he suspect me of conducting a secret investigation?
If he already knew, how should I approach it?
How, how, how….
My thoughts spiraling endlessly, I licked my dry lips.
First, I needed to confirm the results.
Everything else could wait.
I opened the envelope and unfolded the document.
And….
‘Insane….’

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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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