Prosecutor Kim Seo-Jin - Chapter 229

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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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When the Waves Crash (1)
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The psychometry revealed Kim Young-jun’s office.
Eom Si-young appeared there and tossed a USB drive onto Kim Young-jun’s desk.
Then she smiled and opened her mouth.
“You… planted people at Jaejeong Construction and made quite the haul, didn’t you? If you don’t release Kim Yun-hwan, I’ll pin everything you’ve done on your brother.”
Eom Si-young was blackmailing Kim Young-jun. She was threatening to send Seo Jin’s Father to prison unless Kim Yun-hwan was released.
Kim Young-jun glared at Eom Si-young with terrifying eyes, but she continued speaking without restraint.
“You thought of your brother as a goose to be plucked eventually, didn’t you? You were planning to devour him someday?”
Kim Young-jun shook his head.
“I’ve never thought of my brother that way.”
But the two couldn’t continue their conversation. Kim Young-jun’s phone vibrated—a corpse had been discovered in Yangpyeong, the land where Eom Si-young had committed murder.
Kim Young-jun lowered his phone and looked at Eom Si-young, his expression contorting. He gripped the USB and spoke in a low voice.
-A corpse has been found.
-I can’t move. If I do, it reaches the Ruling Party’s ears.
-So. Call your brilliant father and ask for help.
Eom Si-young tried to deny it to the end.
“He’s alive, you said. He didn’t die then, you said. You sent him to another country…”
But Kim Young-jun refused to indulge Eom Si-young’s tantrum.
“Get out!”
Eom Si-young bit her lip and turned away.
And as Eom Si-young slipped out, Kim Young-jun stared blankly at the USB in his hand.
“Insane…”
Kim Young-jun reached toward the trash bin. He was about to throw the USB away. But his hand hesitated. He couldn’t bring himself to discard it.
“Sigh…”
Kim Young-jun exhaled and shook his head. He opened a drawer and tossed the USB inside, muttering to himself.
“It’s not me.”
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The world regained its color.
I stared blankly at the laptop screen.
What appeared on the screen was a message from Choi Ji-beom.
-Manager Choi: The matter regarding Jaejeong Construction has been approved by the Chairman.
I closed my eyes tightly.
What I saw through psychometry was fragmented, but the picture was becoming clear.
‘Kim Young-jun embezzled money from Jaejeong Construction. And he didn’t destroy the USB that Eom Si-young gave him.’
Kim Young-jun was envisioning the worst scenario. When even Chairman Um crumbles, when he can’t get his hands on that money, he’ll shake Jaejeong Construction to fill his own pockets.
‘That crazy bastard….’
Seo Jin’s face contorted with disgust.
He had suspected as much. Kim Young-jun was the type who would do anything for success—a man willing to slit the throats of his own brothers and children and offer them as sacrifices.
But suspicion and confronting the reality were entirely different things.
A demon wearing human skin. The revulsion was so overwhelming that bile rose in my throat.
Seo Jin rose to his feet.
‘Right now….’
I had to break Kim Young-jun’s blade aimed at my father, Kim Jun-man.
Otherwise, there was no telling what weapon that USB drive in Kim Young-jun’s possession would become.
Seo Jin picked up his phone.
“Gwang-hyun, let’s meet for a moment.”
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That night, at a barbecue restaurant.
They hadn’t ordered yet. Only a bottle of soju and side dishes sat on the table.
Do Gwang-hyun, having heard of Kim Young-jun’s greed toward Jaejeong Construction, twirled his chopsticks pensively before muttering to himself.
“It’s been a while since I’ve had to use my specialty.”
Do Gwang-hyun was a first-time offender, an architect of financial fraud and money laundering. He knew this world intimately.
“Construction companies are perfectly optimized for this kind of scheme. Small-scale: millions siphoned from meal expenses. Medium-scale: tens of millions by inflating project quantities. Large-scale: hundreds of millions by extending timelines, diverting materials, and juggling daily labor costs.”
“I know all that already. Next.”
Seo Jin was well aware of the corruption endemic to construction companies. There was no time to hear the whole lecture.
Do Gwang-hyun nodded and continued.
“There will be people in key positions at Jaejeong Construction who serve as Kim Young-jun’s hands and feet. Starting with an audit team to blind your father’s eyes, down to the actual workers. I just can’t pinpoint how many yet.”
“….”
“Either way, if those people decide to move, they could siphon hundreds of millions without your father knowing. He can’t check the ledgers every single day. There are so many daily laborers—he can’t count them all. He can’t walk around the site tallying bricks and weighing them either.”
Do Gwang-hyun poured soju into Seo Jin’s glass as he spoke.
“The problem is, when corruption like that surfaces, the person who gets hurt is….”
“My father, right?”
Do Gwang-hyun, who had been watching Seo Jin’s expression carefully, nodded with a grave look.
“When the corruption breaks, you need someone to stand in front of the cameras. Someone to take all the blame and go to prison, someone to pacify public outrage….”
“….”
“If I had designed it, I would’ve put that money on your father’s shoulders. Once he becomes the scapegoat, everything else stays quiet.”
Seo Jin crossed his legs. The problem was clear. Now I needed to find the solution.
“Enough. Tell me how to fix this.”
“Let me go through Jaejeong Construction’s documents. I’ll bring in some artists from my field and comb through everything. Give me three hours, and I’m confident I can find every single discrepancy.”
“Okay. Order whatever you want.”
Seo Jin slid the menu across to Do Gwang-hyun.
Do Gwang-hyun picked up the menu and glanced at Seo Jin’s expression. The gravity had vanished from his face. It meant he trusted Do Gwang-hyun, no matter what came next. Do Gwang-hyun opened his mouth with satisfaction.
“Pork belly, miso stew, and steamed eggs.”
“Order it.”
Do Gwang-hyun pressed the bell and called for a server.
Shortly after, the pork belly arrived and began sizzling over the flame. Do Gwang-hyun flipped the meat as he spoke.
“In a few moments, you could have hundreds of millions of won in your hands, yet you’re delighted by pork belly… What do you think people would say about that?”
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A few days later, at a Korean Traditional Restaurant in Gangnam.
Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun sat across from Congressman Baek Ki-ho.
“The dust clinging to my body has been swept away. Now it seems time for a proper transaction….”
Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun refilled Congressman Baek Ki-ho’s glass as he spoke.
Congressman Baek Ki-ho nodded quietly with a faint smile.
“Indeed.”
Having overcome the crisis, Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun’s approval ratings had rebounded. He hadn’t even announced his presidential bid, yet he already ranked among the top contenders.
If Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun extended his hand to Congressman Baek Ki-ho, the congressman’s entry into the Blue House would become a foregone conclusion.
Congressman Baek Ki-ho raised his gaze and opened his mouth.
“Isn’t it amusing how the people of this nation work? What have I done that they should support me?”
Since becoming a congressman, Baek Ki-ho had achieved nothing remarkable. He had merely appeared frequently in the media and offered a few sharp criticisms.
Yet the people supported him nonetheless.
“I have an exceptional talent for crafting an image. If you take my hand, I’ll transfer that skill to you, Prosecutor General. I’ll use the Blue House office cleanly and then hand that position over to you.”
Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun shook his head.
“I’ll craft your image myself. During the presidential campaign, I’ll summon every prominent figure in the ruling party. I’ll paint the party as a den of corruption while portraying you as a paragon of integrity.”
“….”
“So, give me what you promised. The dowry you said you’d provide once the wedding takes place—your secrets. Hand those over, and I’ll push you forward with full force.”
Congressman Baek Ki-ho laughed heartily.
“That’s the dowry. Marry Seo Jin to Lee So-hee. Then I can give you as much as you want. It’s only natural to trust family over partners, isn’t it?”
“I thought the same way, but our household’s circumstances aren’t favorable. A wedding seems impossible right now. I’ll arrange the marriage later and provide the dowry first.”
Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun set down his glass and spoke.
“I think you’re under a misunderstanding. The one in the superior position right now isn’t you, Congressman. If I suddenly decide to run? Or if I join hands with the ruling party and spread the story of you and Lee So-hee through the streets? What do you think would happen?”
“….”
“Your approval ratings would plummet. No, they’d collapse. You’d become the target of criticism, and your presidential dreams would vanish.”
Anger flashed in Congressman Baek Ki-ho’s eyes. But Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun didn’t stop.
“I’m remembered as a man who continued to cherish Kim Yun-hwan even knowing he wasn’t my son. But you… abandoned him.”
“Prosecutor General Kim….”
“I need solid documentation, and you need me. There’s no need to deliberate on this matter.”
“Prosecutor General Kim!”
“And I’d appreciate a notarized agreement. Once you become president, among the appointments you’ll control—the Minister of Justice, the Prosecutor General, and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court—I’ll select those positions.”
Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun intended to hold the law in his grasp. He understood well that it was the key to moving the world. With those positions in his hands, he could overcome any crisis that lay ahead.
“You have no choice, Congressman.”
Congressman Baek Ki-ho clenched his fist. Then he laughed coldly and opened his mouth.
“That’s why I never liked Attorney General Kim.”
“Why concern yourself with good and evil? In a life-or-death struggle, victory comes first. Hitler said it himself—for the sake of one’s goals, one must shake hands with the devil.”
Congressman Baek Ki-ho extended his hand.
“Let’s do this. Shake on it.”
Their hands met in a firm grip.
Congressman Baek Ki-ho continued.
“Clear your schedule this week. I’ll introduce you to my people and share what I know. Get acquainted with them.”
Attorney General Kim Young-jun nodded.
“I’ll bring my people as well. They’ll be a tremendous asset to you, Congressman.”
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The meal had ended.
As Attorney General Kim Young-jun stepped outside, he gazed up at the darkening sky.
The memory surfaced—the day after his parents passed, when he’d received the land compensation and entered Seoul.
As a child, he’d been looked down upon by adults. There were times he was treated like a thief for having no money. He’d yearned to stand above them, and even after becoming a prosecutor, his hunger for power knew no bounds.
And now that power was within reach. Everything he’d dreamed of was close enough to touch.
Attorney General Kim Young-jun murmured to himself.
“Fortunate.”
He’d shaken hands with Congressman Baek Ki-ho. Now all that remained was to extract Chairman Um’s fortune through Seo Jin.
Everything was proceeding according to plan.
Then Attorney General Kim Young-jun felt his phone vibrate. He pulled it from his pocket.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
‘Why?’
It was the audit team leader he’d planted at Jaejeong Construction.
“Speak.”
-Sir, Representative Kim Jun-man informed me there will be an external audit tomorrow.
“…An external audit?”
Attorney General Kim Young-jun’s face twisted.
“Out of nowhere?”
An external audit—of course, an audit wouldn’t uncover anything. He’d hidden everything too well, covered his tracks too thoroughly.
But Attorney General Kim Young-jun was a man who’d lived a life riddled with corruption and conspiracy.
For reasons he couldn’t explain, he sensed the plan beginning to creak and strain.
“Who’s conducting it?”
Just moments ago, Attorney General Kim Young-jun had been reassured that he didn’t need to touch Jaejeong Construction.
But now it was different. He didn’t like the thought of someone else’s fingerprints on the company he was meant to consume.
“I asked who’s conducting it.”
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At that moment, the audit team leader at Jaejeong Construction shook his head, cold sweat beading on his brow.
“I… I’m not sure about that. I’ll look into it and get back to you.”
The audit team leader ended the call and lifted his gaze forward. Seo Jin sat before him.

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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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