Prosecutor Kim Seo-Jin - Chapter 242

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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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Cutting Throats (8)
Then, as if time itself had frozen, Park Jung-gil—who had been sitting motionless—began to move. He rose from the bed and stumbled backward, grasping at the table. But he lost his balance, and the table toppled with a deafening crash.
“Ah, ah, ah….”
Even from his crouched position, Park Jung-gil thrashed and retreated further. Whimpers laden with terror spilled from his lips. Seo Jin tilted his head at this unexpected reaction.
“…Why?”
“Y-you’re dead.”
“Listen… Park Jung-gil?”
“You should be dead!”
Park Jung-gil’s voice grew louder. If an employee heard it and came in, word of my presence here could reach Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun’s ears.
I furrowed my brow and approached Park Jung-gil with heavy steps.
“You’re not dead, so keep quiet.”
“Damn it!”
Park Jung-gil spat the curse with bloodshot eyes wide open. I clamped his mouth shut. Then I leaned close to his ear and spoke in a chilling voice.
“I told you to keep quiet….”
In that instant, my vision drained into grayscale.
*
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*
Footsteps echoed.
Park Jung-gil was climbing the apartment stairs. He passed the fifth floor and headed toward the rooftop door. The door, which should have been locked, creaked open, and Park Jung-gil stepped onto the rooftop.
A desolate wind swept through his hair. Park Jung-gil lit a cigarette with an anxious expression and exhaled the smoke like a sigh.
“Why are you calling me to a place like this?”
A familiar voice came from behind Park Jung-gil. He turned slowly, and I came into view. I approached him and spoke.
“I thought you were in Wonju?”
“Th-that was a lie. I actually have it.”
“Give it to me.”
I extended my hand and stood before Park Jung-gil. But he neither answered nor moved—he simply continued smoking. I furrowed my brow and spoke.
“Don’t tell me you have more demands? I thought I’ve compensated you sufficiently….”
“Just a moment…. I need time to think.”
“Five minutes to think. That’s all you get.”
I stood beside Park Jung-gil. Then, surveying the surroundings, I continued.
“Let me be clear—nothing bad will happen to you. So think of it simply. Right now, you’re just cleaning up the monster you created.”
At my words, Park Jung-gil laughed softly and shook his head.
“You’re mistaken. Prosecutor Kim Young-jun wasn’t a monster I created—he was a monster from the beginning.”
My gaze shifted to the side. I regarded Park Jung-gil with an indifferent stare. He flicked ash from his cigarette and muttered.
“I’m sorry.”
At his cryptic apology, my eyes narrowed—just as the rooftop door swung open and disheveled men poured in. Their eyes blazed with murderous intent. They were clearly hostile.
Bewilderment flooded my previously composed face. I shook my head and looked at Park Jung-gil.
“Did Kim Young-jun send you?”
“They say even rolling in a dung heap is better than this life. I’ll spend the rest of my days confined. But if I have the ledger, I won’t die—I’ll just barely survive. I wanted to live, even like that. I’m truly sorry.”
In the meantime, men in grimy clothes had positioned themselves before me. I forced a smile and stepped backward, tilting my head slightly to gaze down at the vertiginous drop below.
This was the rooftop of a low-rise apartment building, the dark asphalt appearing dizzily distant. I shifted my gaze toward the men standing before me and opened my mouth.
“Let me smoke just one cigarette. Even in movies, they wait for someone to finish smoking….”
The man in front nodded and handed me a cigarette and lighter. I turned my body, placed the cigarette between my lips, and discreetly pulled out my phone without their notice. Then I lowered my head as if lighting it, and with one hand, I rapidly composed a message.
-Seo Jin at Dongnam District Prosecutor’s Office. False sexual assault accusation against Prosecutor Seo Jun-kyung.
Everything was condensed into fragments. I was summarizing as much as possible, believing the recipient would understand even this much.
-…Chief of Staff Shin Ju-eon. Once the false accusation is cleared, it goes straight to Kim Young-jun. Deputy….
Remarkably, the contact was Investigator Lee Dong-young. I had a premonition of my own death and selected Prosecutor Seo Jun-kyung, someone I’d never met, as the person to confront Kim Young-jun.
Though Prosecutor Seo Jun-kyung was under investigation for the false sexual assault charge, I believed that once his name was cleared, the blade would inevitably turn toward Kim Young-jun.
But I hadn’t even finished composing the message. The hand of the man who’d given me the cigarette suddenly shot forward.
“…!”
His rough hand snatched my phone away. He looked at me with contemptuous eyes and let out a mocking laugh.
“For someone who only studied, you’re quite cunning, aren’t you?”
His accent was foreign. He wasn’t Korean.
I didn’t answer, only bit my lip with an expression of despair. His gaze slowly shifted to the phone’s screen.
“Once the false accusation is cleared, it goes straight to Kim Young-jun. Deputy? What’s deputy?”
“….”
“Well, we don’t need to know anyway.”
He spoke dismissively and turned his body. Then the men approached me with heavy footsteps, their eyes brimming with murderous intent, and seized my body. I forced a smile to hide my fear and spoke.
“See you in your dreams, you bastard.”
Park Jung-gil watched it all unfold, continuously smoking cigarette after cigarette. My body, gripped by the men, was effortlessly hurled beyond the railing.
Soon came a dull ‘thud,’ and Park Jung-gil squeezed his eyes shut.
*
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When the psychometry ended, Park Jung-gil appeared before my eyes. He was trembling violently, his entire body shaking with terror, wringing his hands in a plea for his life.
I licked my parched lips and opened my mouth toward Park Jung-gil.
“If you make a sound, I’ll kill you right now.”
Through psychometry, I had witnessed his obsession with survival. As a thug who had taken countless lives throughout his criminal career, he understood the value of life better than anyone.
“If you understand, nod.”
At my voice laden with killing intent, Park Jung-gil nodded vigorously. Then I removed my hand from his mouth and spoke.
“What you promised to give me… I’ve come to collect it.”
But Park Jung-gil didn’t answer. He only exhaled tense, labored breaths. Even in this situation, he remained terrified of Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun.
This room had no television, no phone or devices to obtain information. In this completely controlled space, he was cut off from the outside world.
Then I had to tell him the truth. I pulled out my phone, searched for articles about Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun, and held the screen to his face.
“Look carefully.”
Park Jung-gil’s eyes widened. The articles displayed on the phone screen all foretold Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun’s downfall. That he was under investigation by the Special Prosecution Team on suspicion of embezzling Jaejeong Construction’s funds. That they had conducted a search and seizure at Chairman Um’s residence, and their relationship had fractured.
“This, this is….”
Park Jung-gil’s voice faltered. Kim Young-jun was a monster who had clawed his way up through this cesspool of a world. He had never imagined he could collapse like this.
I gripped Park Jung-gil’s shoulder lightly and spoke.
“Kim Young-jun will disappear. You’re just the spark that ignites it.”
“….”
“I’ve won. So now, stand with me. Then I’ll let you keep breathing.”
*
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“Tomorrow, please go to Wonju. I’ll send you the address.”
That night, I sat in a hotel in Chuncheon, speaking with Prosecutor Jang Ji-hyuk on the phone. Jang Ji-hyuk was part of the Special Prosecution Team where attorney Lee Du-jin worked, and he was someone who needed to be on the front lines when we brought down Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun.
I had decided not to step into the spotlight in this situation. As Park Jung-gil had said, Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun was a monster. I couldn’t afford to loosen my grip on vigilance until the very end. For now, I had to move with every danger in mind.
-What’s there?
Decades ago, Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun received 100 million won from Park Jung-gil. Considering the prices of that era, it was an astronomical sum—several times more than what he’d received as land compensation.
And a copy of the bankbook from when he received that money, with Kim Young-jun’s name clearly stamped on it, was hidden in a rural house in Wonju. But I hadn’t told Prosecutor Jang Ji-hyuk even that much. As I’d said before, this was a time to conceal everything.
“Then please move carefully. It’s dangerous, so don’t forget to contact Jang Seok-min.”
The call with Prosecutor Jang Ji-hyuk ended. I exhaled a tense breath and gazed out the window. In my mind, every danger that lay ahead appeared and disappeared in endless cycles.
‘No one can get hurt….’
Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun would be cornered. He’d stop at nothing to survive. My eyes darkened with worry.
Moments later, my phone vibrated again. This time it was Lee So-hee. Since we’d decided to spend the night in Chuncheon, we’d agreed to have a casual beer together.
-I’m off work. Where are you?
“Let’s meet at the usual pojangmacha. I’m heading there now.”
-Not the pojangmacha. Let’s go somewhere private.
*
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*
It should have been a pleasant drinking session, but it couldn’t be. I sat with Lee So-hee at a Korean traditional restaurant, planning what lay ahead.
“I’ve passed all the misconduct I’ve gathered to reporter Lee Eun-ha. Starting tomorrow, she’ll expose them one by one.”
The media outlet where reporter Lee Eun-ha worked had caught the scent of Baek Ki-ho’s collapse. They’d decided to actively lead the charge in destroying him, so they could demand their share when the new administration took power.
I flipped through the documents and looked up, gazing quietly at Lee So-hee.
“You okay?”
I knew that Baek Ki-ho had come looking for Lee So-hee and what kind of disturbance had occurred. So I asked with concern, but Lee So-hee shrugged with a light expression.
“I’m fine except for my mom calling constantly. I think I got thirty calls today.”
Lee So-hee’s phone was still ringing. She silenced it and continued speaking.
“Anyway… so tomorrow you’re pushing the Prosecutor General to the cliff’s edge?”
“Yeah.”
Silence fell between us. The future was now painfully clear. We were bringing down a presidential candidate. We were going after the Prosecutor General. But no one would praise us for it. The end would be exile or stripping away our positions.
Lee So-hee broke the mood with a bright smile.
“A toast.”
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The next day.
Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun bit his lip hard, his expression grim as he read the newspaper.
“Those insane bastards…”
The headline blazed across the front page: “Assemblyman Baek Ki-ho, Backroom Dealings with Upright Judge,” and beneath it, a photograph showed Baek Ki-ho wearing a sinister smile.
Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun crumpled the newspaper with such force that it crackled audibly. Nothing was going right lately. Everything was spiraling into chaos. He’d thought it was merely a passing wave, but its aftermath proved far more devastating than he’d imagined.
Then his phone vibrated. Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun reached for it and checked the caller ID, his brow furrowing. It was the care facility in Hongcheon.
“Yes, speak.”
-Sir, Park Jung-gil has disappeared.
Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun’s eyes widened.
“…Disappeared?”
-We reviewed the CCTV footage. He escaped through a window in the early morning hours.
“Arrest him immediately! Right now!”
Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun barked the command with thunderous fury before ending the call. He ran his hand roughly through his hair.
“Suddenly?”
Park Jung-gil, who had been quietly detained all this time, had now fled. And at precisely the moment when his own power was being swept away by a tempest. Then, Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun’s mind turned to Prosecutor Jang Ji-hyuk.
Prosecutor Jang Ji-hyuk had said he was going to Wonju. When asked for a reason, he’d claimed it was merely a trip—but Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun was no fool to accept such words at face value.
‘Him?’
Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun considered it. Beginning with Jaejeong Construction and culminating with Assemblyman Baek Ki-ho, while he’d been reeling from the relentless barrage of attacks, Prosecutor Jang Ji-hyuk had moved quietly in the shadows.
And the moment that thought crystallized, Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun’s face twisted with rage. He urgently seized his phone and searched for Prosecutor Jang Ji-hyuk’s contact information.
“Jang Ji-hyuk, where are you?”

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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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