Prosecutor Kim Seo-Jin - Chapter 199

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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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Struggling (1)
Before Jang Ji-hyuk’s murderous gaze, Kim Yun-hwan found himself retreating without realizing it.
He felt the futility of resistance.
Now there was nothing left but to pray.
Then Jang Ji-hyuk held up the warrant before Kim Yun-hwan’s eyes and spoke to the investigators.
“Let’s verify it.”
The investigators moved into action.
They took the keys from Jang Seok-min’s subordinate, who was disguised as a valet, and opened the vehicle’s doors.
Then they began searching meticulously—from the trunk to the glove compartment, even beneath the seats.
As the sound of rummaging echoed with unsettling clarity, Kim Yun-hwan clenched his lips and shut his eyes.
‘Please….’
The drugs had been thrown inside the sunroof’s blind compartment, just in case of unforeseen circumstances.
In other words, if they didn’t open the blind, they wouldn’t find it.
No—they mustn’t find it.
If word reached Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun’s ears, there was no telling what he’d say.
No, he’d beat him senseless.
Brutally and mercilessly.
‘Who would think to look inside there?’
During my time as a prosecutor, I’d gone out on vehicle seizure searches a few times.
But not once had anyone ever checked the sunroof’s blind.
‘This time will be the same….’
Kim Yun-hwan prayed fervently once more and exhaled a tense breath.
But that thought had to be abandoned immediately.
“Prosecutor? There’s something here.”
“…!”
Jang Ji-hyuk’s gaze snapped toward Kim Yun-hwan.
Kim Yun-hwan could only lower his head and mutter quietly, “Damn….”
Moments later, Jang Ji-hyuk approached with a small drug packet in hand, waving it before Kim Yun-hwan.
Kim Yun-hwan’s face was filled with irritation. Unable to contain his anger, his hands trembled visibly.
Jang Ji-hyuk, standing before him, opened his mouth.
“I’ve caught countless bastards over the years, but this is the most entertaining yet. A former prosecutor—no, the son of the Prosecutor General—stripped of his position and caught with drugs. I’m embarrassed on behalf of the entire office.”
“….”
“Come to my office by 10 a.m. tomorrow. Why aren’t you answering? Don’t you like that? If you don’t, should we go now?”
Kim Yun-hwan glared at Jang Ji-hyuk with cold eyes and spoke in an icy voice.
“You’ll regret what you did today, Prosecutor Jang.”
“Really? I think you’re the one regretting it.”
“We’ll see how long you keep smirking.”
With that, Kim Yun-hwan turned away.
As Kim Yun-hwan disappeared, the investigators approached Jang Ji-hyuk’s side.
“Will you be alright? His eyes were dripping with venom.”
“He’s the son of Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun.”
The investigators’ voices were filled with concern, but Prosecutor Jang Ji-hyuk answered nonchalantly.
“A prosecutor who arrests the Prosecutor General’s son and gets exiled—doesn’t that sound cool? That’s the stuff of dramas.”
“Sir, this isn’t the time for jokes….”
“Don’t take it so seriously. At worst, I’ll just get exiled.”
“What?”
Prosecutor Jang Ji-hyuk twisted his body and flashed a grin at the investigators.
“Before I get exiled, should we grab a bowl of soup for a late-night snack? A shot of soju at dawn really hits different, you know. Is Officer Oh treating us to the soup? Hehe.”
The investigators let out hollow laughs.
Prosecutor Jang Ji-hyuk was treated as a lunatic among his peers because his reckless investigations always caused trouble.
But the investigators believed there had to be at least one prosecutor like him.
*
*
*
“By the way, did you see that?”
“See what?”
In the Hotel VIP Room.
Seo Jin and Jang Seok-min were waiting for Kim Yun-hwan.
Jang Seok-min popped some nuts—prepared as appetizers—into his mouth as he asked.
“That thing. That.”
“What thing exactly?”
“Vodka warning. Do you know how much my heart was pounding when I wrote that? The moment Kim Yun-hwan stepped out to greet the prosecutor, I pulled out the memo and went straight—bam!”
Seo Jin chuckled and shook his head.
“Ah, sorry. Honestly, I didn’t understand what you meant at first.”
“Huh? But how did you not drink the alcohol?”
“When you urgently handed me that note, it meant a variable had appeared, right? So I was careful. I couldn’t predict what Kim Yun-hwan might do. And….”
I was about to explain how I’d recognized the initial consonants of ‘vodka warning’ when looking at the vodka Kim Yun-hwan was holding.
The door burst open and Kim Yun-hwan walked in.
His face was flushed crimson. From Kim Yun-hwan’s expression, I could instantly tell something had happened.
But I didn’t speak first to avoid provoking him.
Waiting for him to collapse from exhaustion was also a strategy.
Kim Yun-hwan sat on the sofa and put a cigarette in his mouth.
His hands trembled as he continued exhaling smoke with an anxious expression.
After he’d calmed down a bit, he opened his mouth.
“Hey, Seo Jin. Does Jang Ji-hyuk have a girl these days?”
“Huh?”
Caught off guard by the unexpected question, I was momentarily flustered.
A girl? That’s….
Looking for a girl in his mid-thirties—the absurdity of it left me speechless and dazed.
“Answer me!”
“Ah, sorry. I don’t think I have it.”
“What? You don’t have it? How can you be so confident when you don’t?”
“That’s just how it is. But did you already come to seize and search the vehicle? Did something happen?”
Kim Yun-hwan’s brow furrowed as he watched Seo Jin ask with feigned innocence, as if he knew nothing.
“Fine. I don’t have it.”
Kim Yun-hwan exhaled another plume of cigarette smoke, and Seo Jin studied his expression.
Right now, Kim Yun-hwan was searching for an escape route.
Planning to find whoever had informed on him and use blackmail.
A way to break free using the connections that reached the Prosecutor’s Office.
All those filthy schemes.
And the moment he realized he couldn’t solve it alone, he would undoubtedly come crawling to Kim Young-jun or his wife, begging pathetically.
A crime committed, solved with a few beatings.
A man who would strut through the world, not prison.
I couldn’t let this continue indefinitely.
From now on, I had to scramble Kim Yun-hwan’s mind into chaos.
I intended to send him to prison in a daze, unable to think of anything.
‘Let’s begin.’
As I made my decision, I glanced at Jang Seok-min.
And Jang Seok-min, catching that gaze, nodded.
The words I had spoken moments earlier.
“When Kim Yun-hwan comes back in a bit, I’ll watch for the right moment and send that message. Save the photo and lead him to see it.”
Jang Seok-min held his phone, remembering those words.
Soon, a screenshot of the Jirashi was transmitted from my burner phone to Jang Seok-min’s phone.
Jang Seok-min confirmed the message.
It was about Kim Yun-hwan’s biological father.
‘Misfortune upon misfortune…’
I recalled the idiom.
An idiom meaning that misfortunes pile up and pour down all at once.
I intended to teach Kim Yun-hwan the true meaning of that idiom.
And Jang Seok-min feigned surprise.
“Yu, Yun-hwan?”
Kim Yun-hwan’s pupils, which had been chain-smoking, shifted toward Jang Seok-min.
“What?”
“This, this…”
“If you called me, speak!”
Jang Seok-min quickly handed over his phone, and Kim Yun-hwan glanced at the screen without much thought.
Jang Seok-min’s behavior was odd, but he thought there was nothing worse than the current situation.
But his eyes widened as if they would split.
Recently popular Prosecutor A, who has a son B, also a prosecutor. The glory of father and son serving together as prosecutors was short-lived. Son B tried to boost his record through case manipulation but got caught and fled to the United States. Recently, Son B has returned to the country, but there are rumors that B is not A’s biological son.
“This, this isn’t about you, is it?”
Jang Seok-min’s acting was crude.
But Kim Yun-hwan couldn’t hear Jang Seok-min’s voice.
He was simply buried in his phone, reading and rereading the text.
And he asked in a hollow voice.
“Where… where did this come from?”
“It’s… it’s Jirashi.”
“That’s not what I’m asking! Where is this from! These insane bastards, have they lost their minds? Don’t they know what fear is?”
“This isn’t real, right? Right?”
“This couldn’t possibly be real…”
It was when Kim Yun-hwan was answering Jang Seok-min’s question.
Kim Yun-hwan’s eyes, which had naturally assumed it was false, suddenly shifted toward Seo Jin.
And he stared at Seo Jin as if time had frozen.
A story Seo Jin had told him not long ago was surfacing in his mind.
About a well-known acquaintance who had taken a paternity test and discovered the man wasn’t his biological father.
The words Seo Jin had spoken struck his ears like shattered fragments.
“How should I comfort him?”
“If you were in that position and someone told you to measure your parents by money, how would you feel?”
Those words felt as though they were directed at him alone.
Kim Yun-hwan’s eyes widened.
“You bastard, you know something, don’t you?”
“What?”
When Seo Jin feigned ignorance, Kim Yun-hwan violently threw the cigarette he was holding and continued.
“You know, don’t you? Answer me, you bastard!”
But Seo Jin didn’t answer this time either.
He simply remained silent with his mouth shut.
He had to think for himself.
He could only agonize and agonize again.
The path ahead would be hell.
“Answer me!”
Kim Yun-hwan approached Seo Jin with a murderous glint in his eyes.
If he had a blade in his hand, he would have wielded it—such killing intent dripped from Kim Yun-hwan’s gaze.
Jang Seok-min quickly stepped in front of Seo Jin.
“Yun-hwan, what are you doing? Calm down! Stop it, stop!”
Jang Seok-min was a former gangster. For Kim Yun-hwan, who had only studied, escaping that iron grip was difficult.
“Let go! I said let go!”
It was as Kim Yun-hwan was struggling.
In that moment, Kim Yun-hwan saw it.
Over Jang Seok-min’s shoulder, Seo Jin smiling quietly.
The murderous glint in Kim Yun-hwan’s eyes instantly became turbulent. And with a pallid face, he stammered.
“Is… is it real?”
“Brother, you’re going to believe that? It’s just Jirashi. Let’s call it a night. I’ll look into it first thing when I get to the office tomorrow.”
I stepped forward in front of Kim Yun-hwan with a composed voice. Then, brushing past him, I spoke again in a low tone.
“It won’t be true. Don’t worry.”
I left the Hotel with those words.
But Kim Yun-hwan remained standing there for a long time.
His eyes, devoid of spirit, rolled as he tried to distinguish whether this was a dream or reality, what was truth.
Getting caught with drug possession while trying to set me up.
An absurd piece of Jirashi.
What I had said.
The smile I had shown at the end.
Kim Yun-hwan’s bloodshot eyes fixed on the direction I had left, and he let out a scream-like curse.
“Damn it!”
*
*
*
Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun sat in his study, his thoughts tangled and complex.
The new life that would unfold after leaving the Prosecutor’s Office.
Looking at his current position, entering politics wouldn’t be difficult.
But what Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun was aiming for was not merely the status of a congressman.
Power that transcended the critical threshold.
The pinnacle he had dreamed of since childhood.
To realize that dream, he needed funds to maintain his influence, and that money was essential.
And there was only one place such vast sums could come from.
Jaejeong Construction.
‘But….’
His older brother Kim Jun-man wouldn’t hand over all that enormous wealth willingly.
A sigh escaped from Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun’s lips.
‘I need to settle things with my brother while I’m still at the Prosecutor’s Office.’
Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun turned his body and grasped the cigarette on the table.
The relationship with his brother, the problems if it didn’t resolve well.
The thought that his brother might turn his back on him.
‘If it doesn’t come to that, I’ll restore everything later, so I wish he would understand….’
Cigarette smoke drifted from Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun’s lips along with a sigh.
Then, the study door clicked open.
It was Kim Yun-hwan.
He stood in the doorway with a haggard expression, bowing his head slightly.
“Father… you’re still awake?”
“Come back early.”
“Um, Father?”
“If you’ve been drinking, go to bed quietly. You have to go to work tomorrow. Don’t bring shame to your uncle’s face.”
Kim Young-jun opened his mouth coldly.
His son, full of bluster and weakness—at his age, he should be acting like a man, yet he still hadn’t matured.
In Kim Young-jun’s eyes, even Lee So-hee, the concubine’s daughter, was barely acceptable.
But despite being told to leave, Kim Yun-hwan did not budge from his spot.
He watched Kim Young-jun quietly through the crack in the door.
“Father… I…”
It was the moment Kim Yun-hwan was about to say something.
Buzz—Kim Young-jun’s phone vibrated.
The caller ID showed the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office Chief Prosecutor.

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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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