Prosecutor Kim Seo-Jin - Chapter 192

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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 (5)
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A coffee shop in Gangnam.
Lee Jung-ho sat there.
Lee Jung-ho was the one who had volunteered as the contact person for the Elite Youth Gathering.
He was a minister’s son and the very person who had said such things to Seo Jin.
“My father is the representative of Jaejeong Construction and my uncle is the Prosecutor General, so why should I make an effort? Perhaps? When I got into university and law school, I used connections. Ah, it’s not embarrassing. Everyone here does the same.”
That Lee Jung-ho, with an uncomfortable expression, brought the straw to his lips and inhaled the coffee as if to drink it all at once.
“Drink slowly. You’ll get indigestion.”
Sitting across from him was Seo Jin.
Though Seo Jin spoke in a gentle voice, Lee Jung-ho felt sweat forming on his palms.
“I originally like to do shots.”
To Lee Jung-ho, Seo Jin was a powerful man who had captured the youngest son of the Shinma Group.
A devil who held the corruption of their parents and his own crimes in his hands.
A person he absolutely did not want to get close to.
“…But what’s this about?”
“It’s really been a long time since we’ve seen each other like this, hasn’t it?”
“It has.”
Lee Jung-ho laughed awkwardly, thinking he wished he’d never see him again in his lifetime.
“I called you because I wanted to ask you a favor. Can you gather the guys?”
“…Pardon?”
“And find out if there’s a drug dealer in your circle.”
“…!”
The drugs that Kim Yun-hwan had obtained—they were something that the children of the wealthy secretly purchased.
And the people Lee Jung-ho associated with were the children of the wealthy representative of South Korea.
They might know the source of the drugs that Kim Yun-hwan had obtained.
Lee Jung-ho immediately grasped Seo Jin’s intention.
He wasn’t gathering the group to find low-quality drugs.
“I’ve heard a rumor.”
Seo Jin’s gaze, which had been directed at his coffee, turned toward Lee Jung-ho.
Lee Jung-ho nodded at the look that said to speak quickly.
“I heard that high-purity drugs are spreading mainly among overseas students. That’s why you called me, right?”
Children born to good parents, those who found everything in life tedious and craved greater stimulation, drugs that they would touch.
Lee Jung-ho knew.
And strength entered Seo Jin’s eyes. In that gaze lay the expectation that he could unravel the case smoothly.
If this case were solved, he could destroy Kim Yun-hwan’s plan beforehand and instead put him in a difficult position.
There was also a high possibility it would become the starting point for Kim Yun-hwan’s arrest.
“Keep talking.”
“They contact buyers through SNS.”
“How do they meet up?”
“Dead drops.”
Dead drops—a method where drugs are left at a predetermined location without direct contact, allowing the buyer to retrieve them later.
“So anyone could use it then?”
Kim Yun-hwan had spoken to Jang Seok-min as if it were absolutely impossible to obtain.
But if contact happens through SNS, it means transactions are possible with just an account ID.
However, Lee Jung-ho shook his head.
“You need an introduction for this. The typical drug trade used to work through establishment staff—customers would get their supply that way, right? But after the prosecutor here raided several places and even had the Jongno Police Station Chief arrested, the cops started clamping down hard.”
“So they went deeper underground?”
“Yes.”
Transactions between establishment staff and customers still continue today.
But the easier it is to obtain, the lower the quality.
Those seeking greater highs couldn’t be satisfied with that.
“Someone found that market gap and started a business, taking only wealthy clients who wouldn’t get caught by the law—people with verified identities. Business expansion happens exclusively through referrals.”
“What? They’re openly revealing their identities to buy drugs?”
“They’re drug addicts. The drug matters—what’s there to fear? Besides, we don’t scare easily from ordinary prosecutors.”
These people wouldn’t even glance at a single prosecutor.
Without Jaejeong Construction and Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun backing me, I would have been dismissed just as easily.
I stared at Lee Jung-ho for a moment before asking.
“But you know an awful lot about this. Like you’ve done it yourself.”
“I’ve seen it. Heard about it too.”
“From whom?”
Lee Jung-ho leaned toward me, then whispered in a low voice.
“I can’t exactly tell you face-to-face, can I?”
“Your contact information, your father, all the garbage you’ve done—I’ll erase it. Deal?”
Lee Jung-ho’s father’s crime was taking money from a pseudo-religious cult.
Catching a minister would be difficult with just names written in ledgers.
I decided to gladly destroy the records.
As for the garbage Lee Jung-ho had done—it was a pattern of womanizing so severe it bordered on mental illness.
He might think it trivial, but Lee Jung-ho was about to get married.
If his father learned of it, it wouldn’t end with a beating.
He might lose everything he enjoyed and end up living as a monk.
“Then I’ll contact you. We don’t need to gather the others, right?”
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“This is expensive coffee, right?”
“Don’t you like something sweet?”
“Bitter tastes better these days.”
“It’s really bitter?”
“Yeah, incredibly bitter.”
Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office.
I met with Jang Ji-hyuk.
I muttered, “Bitter coffee…” while Prosecutor Jang Ji-hyuk said, “Expensive stuff…” as we walked down the hallway.
But the place I dragged Prosecutor Jang Ji-hyuk to was the Break Room again.
“Hey…”
“Black coffee, just as you wanted.”
“Wow, the rich get richer. If you’re going to feed someone, shouldn’t you give them the good stuff first?”
“This is incredibly bitter.”
Prosecutor Jang Ji-hyuk shook his head as he accepted the coffee.
“Fine. So, what did you want to say?”
“Let’s catch a drug dealer.”
“A drug dealer?”
I relayed what I knew.
High-purity narcotics circulating discreetly among the wealthy.
Prosecutor Jang Ji-hyuk’s expression darkened as he listened.
“Even if we catch them, won’t it just end with taking down a few celebrities?”
“Probably.”
Drugs were commonplace among the children of the rich.
Articles had even been published suggesting they treated drug use as a form of entertainment.
But it was rare for them to actually be arrested.
Even when enforcement actions occurred, they slipped away like loaches through the money and power their parents wielded.
Of course, there were cases where they were arrested.
When their parents incurred the political establishment’s wrath, the politicians would raise the rod against their children.
They’d have them arrested through investigative agencies and humiliated through the media.
But that was all. The ending was bitter.
Their parents would kneel before the political establishment, and the case would be closed.
These bastards would hear words like “suspended sentence” or “insufficient evidence” and continue living high on the hog without consequence.
“A commoner steals bread because they’re starving—two years in prison. A conglomerate heir habitually uses drugs—suspended sentence. Damn it…”
Prosecutor Jang Ji-hyuk furrowed his brow.
But we couldn’t let emotions drive our work.
Until we pulled up the roots, until we could finally put them away, we had to keep catching them, again and again.
“This time, let’s have Prosecutor Jang Ji-hyuk handle it from start to finish.”
“Huh? You? You’re not putting your name in as an assistant?”
“No.”
Prosecutor Jang Ji-hyuk brought the coffee to his lips and chuckled softly.
“So there’s someone else involved?”
“Kim Yun-hwan.”
“…!”
Jang Ji-hyuk’s expression hardened instantly. It was fortunate he hadn’t spat out the coffee in his mouth.
Jang Ji-hyuk asked carefully.
“…The Kim Yun-hwan I know? The Prosecutor General’s son Kim Yun-hwan? Your cousin?”
“Yes.”
“Damn! I thought you were finally adjusting to Seoul life, but now you’re getting exiled.”
“I won’t be exiled.”
On the surface, Jang Ji-hyuk had merely apprehended a drug supplier or distributor.
Kim Yun-hwan’s name surfacing was purely coincidental.
“And there’s a good chance Kim Yun-hwan never contacted the drug distributor directly. He would have used someone else’s hands to obtain the drugs.”
It was highly likely Kim Yun-hwan’s name wouldn’t appear on any list.
No matter how foolish he seemed, Kim Yun-hwan was a man who had worked as a prosecutor.
He possessed cunning.
‘Regardless, it doesn’t matter.’
I was determined to implicate Kim Yun-hwan one way or another.
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The next day, I headed to Jaejeong Construction during lunch hour.
A nearby coffee shop.
Kim Yun-hwan walked through the door.
The moment he spotted me, his eyes turned sharp and piercing.
But it was only for an instant. Soon he approached with a bright expression and sat across from me.
“Why? Come in and take a look at the office.”
“I just stopped by. This is a joining gift.”
What I placed on the table was a gift certificate from the coffee shop.
“What’s this?”
“Office workers drink a lot of coffee.”
“Pretty modest…. Anyway, thanks.”
Kim Yun-hwan pocketed the gift certificate and looked at me again. Then, with a voice that carried an undertone, he spoke quietly.
“I’ll grow Jaejeong Construction well. Don’t worry.”
A man on his first day of work saying he’d ‘grow it well’…. The words ‘you’re insane’ rose to my throat, but I simply smiled quietly and nodded.
“I’m counting on you.”
“Remember what I said back then? That our generation’s position has changed. Our fathers sometimes raise their voices, but they support and pull each other along, right? Let’s forget the bad memories and do well going forward. Me inside, you outside.”
“Yeah, do well inside.”
My words lacked a subject.
If I had included the subject, it would have completed as: ‘Do well inside prison.’
“I’ll work hard and earn money to support you. I’ll make you Prosecutor General, so work hard.”
Kim Yun-hwan was already acting as though he owned Jaejeong Construction.
Unaware that starting with this drug case, his destination wasn’t the office of Jaejeong Construction’s representative director, but prison.
“Thanks, hyung.”
“Trust only me.”
Kim Yun-hwan flashed a contrived smile at me.
But I knew what lay beneath his facade.
He was anticipating my imminent destruction.
That didn’t bother me.
If anything, it thrilled me.
Because I intended to drain the life from Kim Yun-hwan’s veins.
Just then, my phone vibrated in my pocket.
A message from Lee Jung-ho, who coordinated communications for the gathering.
I checked the caller ID and spoke to Kim Yun-hwan.
“What do you think? I was hoping for a leisurely coffee, but looks like I need to get going.”
“It’s fine. I should head back too. Can’t have some parachute-dropped nobody throwing his weight around, right? Let’s grab a drink soon.”
“Sure, go on in.”
Kim Yun-hwan and I exchanged farewells and turned away.
As I exited the Coffee Shop and climbed into my car, I brought the phone to my ear.
“Yeah, go ahead.”
-You know Unnam Food Company, right?
They control a significant portion of instant food products.
-Their grandson is Jung Hee-oh.
“Skip the unnecessary details. Get to the point.”
-I had drinks with him yesterday and checked his SNS discreetly. Tonight at 11 PM, the third stall in the restroom on the third floor of J Building in Geoyeo-dong, Songpa-gu. I’ll send you his photo via message.
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I headed toward Geoyeo-dong, Songpa-gu.
J Building—a name that promised more than it delivered. An old, cramped commercial building without even an elevator.
No CCTV at the entrance or along the street.
Just one camera in the first-floor restroom.
The perpetrator was taking meticulous care to conceal his identity.
I climbed the stairs to the third-floor restroom where the drugs would be planted.
The third stall Lee Jung-ho mentioned housed a toilet.
The drugs would undoubtedly be sealed and hidden in the tank.
‘I understand the plan…’
I slipped outside the building and surveyed the surroundings.
Two entrances to this building. I’d park at each one and use dash cams to substitute for CCTV.
Insurance in case the target slipped through my grasp.
I continued walking the perimeter, committing every detail of the street layout to memory.
Shortly after, Prosecutor Jang Ji-hyuk appeared with his investigators.
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Late at night.
A man with a cap pulled low over his head walked toward the building, a black backpack slung across his shoulders.
After stopping at the Convenience Store to buy cigarettes, the man glanced nervously at his surroundings.
Then he placed a cigarette between his lips and lit it.
Undercover investigators positioned throughout the street like ordinary passersby suddenly crackled to life over their earpieces.
-Suspect spotted.
-Black cap.
-Maintaining visual.
Meanwhile, a Part-time Worker emerged from the Convenience Store on the first floor.
After locking the door, he posted a note saying he was going to the Restroom and entered the building.
The investigators’ eyes remained fixed on the man in the cap.
A Part-time Worker using the Restroom was routine, after all.
But then the radio erupted in frantic chatter.
-Part-time Worker! Approaching third floor!
-He’s just going into the Restroom?
-Damn it, grab him!
-That bastard!
The investigators moved.
They quickly positioned themselves at the building entrance, cutting off escape routes.
The man in the cap standing on the street, smoking, felt his eyes dart left and right.
He flicked ash from his cigarette and turned his body.
Deliberately calm, unhurried.
But the moment he passed the building, his pace accelerated with desperate urgency.
He headed toward the darkness of the Alley.
‘Damn it….’
He bit his lip.
His true identity was a Delivery Man—and so was the Part-time Worker.
They had been meticulously covering for each other while distributing drugs.
‘How did they find out?’
He stopped thinking for now.
What mattered was escape, concealing himself in the dark Alley.
Once the investigators left, he would contact his superior and report the situation.
With that thought, he entered the Alley.
Now he just needed to navigate the maze of passages and slip away.
“Seems like you’re in a hurry?”
A leisurely voice echoed through the Alley.
The man felt his heart drop as his eyes widened.
He turned his gaze toward the source of the voice, his pupils trembling with shock.
A shadow leaning against the brick wall of the Alley stepped forward, walking toward him with demonic deliberation.
That demon laughs with a chilling, desolate sound.

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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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