Prosecutor Kim Seo-Jin - Chapter 4

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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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Rebirth (2)
“…I’m asking for your help.”
What appeared through psychometry was the interior of a car.
A woman’s voice came through as the sun set beyond the windshield.
“You’re the only one I can ask.”
A man’s hollow laugh echoed.
Then he spoke in a rough tone.
“Help? That’s not help—that’s business. So what matters is you’re offering 200 million won, right?”
“Yes.”
“200 million is a bit light. Let’s go with 300 million including attorney fees. Then I’ll help you.”
The woman hesitated before answering with difficulty.
“…Okay.”
“Good. Even day labor pays around 100,000 won, so 300 million? That’s a thank you.”
The world regained its color.
Seo Jin stared at the glass fragment in his hand, replaying the psychometry he’d just witnessed.
‘Could it be connected to the case I’m handling now?’
If he’d seen their faces, it would have been certain, but unfortunately the vision only showed what was outside the window.
Still, the suspicious conversation was unmistakably there.
‘A request? 300 million won?’
Various thoughts raced through Seo Jin’s mind, and a strong suspicion took hold—this might not be a simple traffic accident.
‘Something else.’
Seo Jin searched for another glass fragment and gripped it in his hand.
He held out hope that the psychometry ability would activate again.
But it didn’t appear.
Only the distant sound of a dog barking echoed—woof, woof.
Seo Jin didn’t give up, repeatedly picking up and releasing fragments from the accident scene.
Finally, he placed his hand against the utility pole that the SUV had crashed into and closed his eyes.
Anyone watching would think he was insane.
At that moment, an unfamiliar voice called out.
“What are you doing?”
A mid-sized sedan had pulled up, and two people—a shabby-looking man and a rather attractive woman—approached Seo Jin.
Seo Jin recognized both of them.
‘Shin Jong-seung, Lee So-hee.’
They were his classmates, going through the trainee prosecutor program together.
He knew nothing about Lee So-hee except her face and name, but he knew a bit about Shin Jong-seung.
He was a university friend of Kim Yun-hwan, the son of Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun.
A silver spoon born to wealthy parents.
Just as disagreeable as Kim Yun-hwan, or so his younger brother Jin-young had told him.
Shin Jong-seung, hands in the pockets of his black padding jacket, spoke with casual arrogance.
“It’s been a while. What was wrong with you? Even Yun-hwan said he didn’t know.”
“Here and there, you know. But what’s going on here?”
“What do you think? You said you were heading to the scene, so we got kicked out too. You know how much the people at the Local Prosecutor’s Office hate us. Damn it, why do we have to show up at someone else’s debut case?”
Shin Jong-seung grumbled while lighting a cigarette.
True to his words, the staff at the Local Prosecutor’s Office despised both Seo Jin and Shin Jong-seung.
The two of them were silver-spoon kids, and rumors circulated that they would be transferred to Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office immediately after their apprenticeship ended.
This place was their exile.
To the prosecutors who fought against the establishment, the two were thorns in their sides.
Shin Jong-seung exhaled cigarette smoke as he spoke.
“According to the records, it’s just a traffic accident, right? Let’s wrap this up quickly. This isn’t some winter training exercise. You hate being in places like this anyway.”
“If you’re cold, wait at the Coffee Shop nearby. I’ll call you when I’m heading in.”
“Let’s go.”
“There’s something I need to check.”
“Just go.”
At the sudden confrontational tone, I turned my head to look at Shin Jong-seung.
He was glaring at me with a petulant expression.
‘What?’
I could read several emotions in Shin Jong-seung’s oppressive gaze and tightly pressed lips.
One was that the old me had obediently followed his orders.
The fact that I was now defying his instructions—me, who used to move at his whim without complaint—clearly irritated him.
And the other reason was that he was conscious of Lee So-hee.
He wanted to demonstrate his male dominance in front of her.
‘Look at this bastard….’
Picking a fight over such trivial reasons—if I wanted to spend the rest of my time at the Local Prosecutor’s Office freely, I’d need to deal with him first.
This type would keep grabbing your hair and shaking you if you indulged them once.
I didn’t know what the old me was like, but I had no intention of playing along.
“This is my case. I need to be here. And you’re not interested in this anyway, are you? Go ahead and leave. Did I say something wrong?”
“You… you?”
“Yeah, ‘you.'”
Shin Jong-seung laughed as if in disbelief, placing his hand on his forehead.
“I’m going crazy. Do you want to ruin your debut case? Your opposing counsel is my father’s friend. You didn’t know? When were you begging him to look favorably on you, and why are you acting like this now?”
At those words, I found myself laughing despite myself.
At that scornful smile, Shin Jong-seung’s lips twisted.
“You’re laughing?”
“Are you serious? A man over thirty, a prosecutor no less, threatening me by bringing up his father’s friend? Who would believe this story? I can’t even believe it, and I’m watching it happen.”
“You, you bastard….”
“Go. And when you get home, make sure to tell your father’s friend about this guy named Seo Jin at our office—tell him to punish me without fail.”
“Hey!”
“You said I’d ruin your debut case? If you’re capable, go ahead and ruin it. Don’t just talk about it.”
The atmosphere was growing cold.
A chilling voice cut through the space between us.
“Got it. I’ll be at the coffee shop up ahead. Call me when you’re coming in.”
It was Lee So-hee, who had remained silent until now.
She despised the noise escalating further.
As she cleared the oppressive atmosphere, Seo Jin raised his hand slightly toward her.
“Yeah, I’ll call you.”
Seo Jin answered in a parched voice, then turned away as if there was nothing more to say.
He resumed searching the ground for traces left at the scene.
Lee So-hee did the same, walking toward the car.
Only Shin Jong-seung remained in that spot.
There was nothing he could do alone.
All he could manage was to clench his fists, trembling with rage, and glare at Seo Jin once.
Then he chased after Lee So-hee.
“So, So-hee! Let’s go together!”
Lee So-hee was already standing in front of the car.
As she opened the door to get in, she turned her gaze back toward Seo Jin.
She had been watching his hands all this time.
His hands, which had picked up glass and been exposed to the cold wind, had split open in the brief moment.
And yet he continued examining the scene.
This was not the Seo Jin she knew.
Lee So-hee’s large eyes narrowed.
‘Why is he working so hard?’
But she didn’t dwell on it deeply.
The Seo Jin she had known until now was a pathetic man who boasted about his fortunate parents.
People don’t change.
Today was just strange.
Lee So-hee fastened her seatbelt as she got into the car and opened her mouth.
“Then let’s depart.”
“Wait a moment.”
Shin Jong-seung was huffing and puffing as he found someone’s contact information and pressed the call button.
After the dial tone continued and he heard the other person’s voice, he spoke urgently.
“Hey, Yun-hwan. It’s me. Did that bastard Kim Seo-jin hit his head? Why is he acting like that? So what happened was….”
Shin Jong-seung’s conversation partner was Kim Yun-hwan.
He was rattling off a report of what had happened.
This and that.
After ending the call with Kim Yun-hwan, Shin Jong-seung spoke to Lee So-hee.
“Kim Yun-hwan is the son of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office chief, haha.”
“I see.”
Lee So-hee turned her gaze out the window with an expression of disinterest.
*
*
*
The two of them left.
I held my phone to my ear.
Curious about my relationship with Shin Jong-seung, I’d called Jin-young.
Until now, I had assessed my past self as someone with a dry sensibility and sound judgment.
But meeting Shin Jong-seung today, something felt off.
“…I followed his lead well and we seemed to get along well. Doesn’t make sense, right?”
I desperately hoped my eyes were deceiving me.
But Jin-young was adamant.
-No, I got along well with Shin Jong-seung. I got along well with Kim Yun-hwan too.
“Really? You got along well?”
-Yeah.
“Really?”
-I’m telling you.
A sigh escaped my lips.
“Why would I?”
-That’s what I found strange too. You’re absolutely not the type to mesh with those guys. But you did get along, and you’d even cause trouble sometimes. Want me to tell you what kind of trouble you caused? After hearing that story, Father said our eldest son had finally become a real man….
“Enough. I hate who I was.”
Quiet laughter came through the receiver.
-You must have had your reasons. You weren’t the type to act without thinking.
“Got it. Get back to work.”
-Yeah, talk later.
I ended the call with a bitter smile.
In Jin-young’s voice just now, trust dripped through, and I could clearly feel that he was always on my side.
‘Damn it, I feel sorry again.’
Though I didn’t choose to inhabit this body, I felt guilty for somehow robbing them of their son and brother.
The only way I could repay them was to live with genuine dedication.
To return that love to my family.
Nothing else came to mind.
As I was putting my phone away with a wry smile.
“What are you doing?”
Grandmother, carrying a black bag, noticed me as she passed by.
I smiled gently and greeted her.
“Police.”
“Police? Did you come to check on the accident here? Ah, only the dead are wronged….”
Grandmother clicked her tongue as she looked at the scene.
I stood beside Grandmother and asked.
“You knew the deceased well, it seems?”
“Of course I did. She went to school with a backpack from here, so naturally I knew her well. She was such a pretty girl.”
“Then what’s so unfair about it?”
“Looks like a lot of insurance money came through. That husband who never showed his face suddenly appears demanding cash, and now he’s making a fuss about wanting to raise the kids. Only the dead one suffers in the end. I bet she’s pounding her chest in the afterlife, frustrated as hell.”
As I listened to Grandmother’s voice, I stroked my chin.
The voice I’d heard through psychometry brushed against my ears.
“Two hundred million is too little. Let’s go for three hundred million including attorney fees. Then I’ll help you.”
My eyes twisted.
Perhaps it was a filthy transaction.
The worst kind of deal—killing someone for money and collecting insurance.
My gaze slowly turned toward Grandmother.
I asked slowly.
“Grandmother, did the person who was driving that car and the bereaved family already know each other?”
“Oh, Su-kyung’s older sister and that bastard were elementary school classmates.”
I quickly organized everything I’d learned so far.
-Su-kyung is the victim’s name.
-The victim’s older sister and the perpetrator were elementary school classmates.
-They received a large insurance payout. Or are about to.
-The husband came back because of that money.
-There was a transaction involving three hundred million.
-In that monochrome world, I heard a man’s and woman’s voice.
-A contract killing for insurance money?
The puzzle that had been scattered in disarray began to fit together.
After saying goodbye to Grandmother, I moved to my car and held my phone to my ear.
“Chief, I need a favor. Please investigate the financial situation of the bereaved family and the perpetrator. Especially the victim’s biological sister’s debts, call records, and…”
I quickly relayed the information I needed.
My eyes gleamed sharply.
A simple traffic accident was transforming into a contract murder case.
When the case flips, the Local Prosecutor’s Office flips with it.

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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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