Prosecutor Kim Seo-Jin - Chapter 48

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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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Who Are You? (1)
But Lee Dong-young didn’t know Seo Jin.
He assumed Seo Jin had simply misheard his name when he’d said “…Lee Dong-young?”
So.
“Yes, I’m Lee Dong-young.”
He introduced himself once more and found a seat.
And that was the end of it.
Lee Dong-young didn’t say another word, focusing intently on his work.
It was the same even when Seo Jin spoke first.
“The weather’s nice, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
He only offered curt replies.
Seo Jin narrowed his eyes, studying Lee Dong-young carefully.
He wasn’t always like this.
He’d been warm and kind to everyone.
Especially to Seo Jin, who’d grown up without family—he’d been like an older brother.
He’d even joked about naming Seo Jin’s future children when he got married.
But that man’s expression had grown dark.
*
*
*
Break Room.
Seo Jin stood face to face with Han Jung-ah.
He’d asked about Lee Dong-young, and Han Jung-ah spoke decisively.
“He’s been exiled here.”
“…Exiled?”
An investigator who took orders being exiled—it didn’t make sense.
Seeing Seo Jin’s confused expression, Han Jung-ah took a sip of coffee before continuing.
“You know about that prosecutor at Seoul Central who sexually assaulted a staff member?”
“…Ah, yes.”
I couldn’t help but know.
That person was me.
Seo Jun-kyung.
Seo Jun-kyung’s end had been miserable.
He’d been accused of sexually assaulting a staff member and subjected to a witch hunt.
It was all a conspiracy.
There was no clear evidence—everything was circumstantial.
Moreover, even those circumstances were flimsy.
But a woman’s tears held more legal weight than evidence itself.
He’d said it wasn’t true, but no one believed him.
And so Seo Jin found himself cornered, ultimately forced to stage his suicide by jumping from an apartment rooftop.
The Prosecution Service remembers the name Seo Jun-kyung as the “sexual assault prosecutor”—a mark of shame.
That’s why one of Seo Jin’s goals is to restore the honor of “Prosecutor Seo Jun-kyung.”
Prosecutor Han Jung-ah’s voice continued.
“Investigator Lee Dong-young insisted until the very end that the prosecutor was not the kind of man who would commit sexual assault.”
“….”
“He even begged for an investigation, saying there were too many questions about the suicide itself—that it was absolutely not something he would do. But when no one moved, he eventually stepped forward on his own.”
“….”
“And the result was exile.”
An investigator who didn’t follow orders.
An investigator who tried to solve cases independently, regardless of his duties.
This place was the end of that path.
Prosecutor Han Jung-ah smiled slightly.
“I don’t know what the truth is, but isn’t it rather admirable? He wanted to protect the honor of a prosecutor he worked with. And I’ve heard he does excellent work too.”
*
*
*
Seo Jin returned to the office.
The administrative staff member was still nowhere to be seen.
Only Investigator Lee Dong-young was working alone.
Seo Jin stood in the doorway, gazing quietly at Investigator Lee Dong-young.
It had been months since I’d seen him, and it seemed he’d suffered greatly in the meantime.
His face was lined with wrinkles, and he looked exhausted.
A pitiful sight.
But when I saw the new wrinkles etched across Investigator Lee Dong-young’s forehead, irritation surged through me.
‘The living should live. Why are you pushing yourself this far? What about Sung-ah? Ugh….’
Sung-ah is Investigator Lee Dong-young’s daughter.
She’s in her third year of high school now.
It’s only natural she can’t concentrate on her studies when her father keeps getting transferred around.
‘You should think about the child first.’
Seo Jin frowned and walked heavily toward Investigator Lee Dong-young’s desk.
Then I set down a honey water drink with a soft thud and spoke indifferently.
“Have some before you continue.”
“Ah, thank you.”
Honey water is Investigator Lee Dong-young’s favorite drink.
Shortly after, Seo Jin left for the Chief Prosecutor’s Office for a meeting.
Investigator Lee Dong-young, sitting alone, lifted his head toward the drink.
But Investigator Lee Dong-young’s eyes began to change gradually.
He stared at the drink Seo Jin had brought as if it were a repulsive insect.
A dry voice escaped from Investigator Lee Dong-young’s lips.
“…Kim Young-jun’s niece?”
Chief Prosecutor Kim Young-jun was one of the key figures Seo Jun-kyung had been dealing with.
It wouldn’t be strange if Chief Prosecutor Kim Young-jun had something to do with Seo Jun-kyung’s death.
Yet that niece had appeared right before his eyes.
Moreover, she was buying drinks and mimicking the very actions Seo Jun-kyung had taken.
Investigator Lee Dong-young’s hand slowly reached toward the beverage.
He gripped it tightly, trembling as if barely containing his rage.
His eyes gleamed with lethal intent, as though he might hurl it at any moment.
But.
“Ha….”
Investigator Lee Dong-young shook his head and tossed the drink Seo Jin had given him into the trash.
*
*
*
“Sweetie! I brought chicken!”
That night.
Investigator Lee Dong-young stepped through the entrance, hoisting the chicken aloft.
His daughter, her hair tied back in a single knot, burst out with a delighted cry.
Investigator Lee Dong-young had been raising his daughter alone for ten years since his wife’s passing.
His daughter’s name was Lee Sung-ah. She was now a senior in high school.
She had grown up without a mother, yet she had grown up well.
She had navigated adolescence without incident and now studied diligently while being her father’s steadfast supporter.
She did the laundry and cooked.
“Were you studying?”
“Yes, but Dad, what about you?”
Lee Sung-ah pressed her nose against Investigator Lee Dong-young’s clothes and sniffed.
Then she frowned.
“…You smell like alcohol.”
“I only had one drink. Just one.”
Lee Sung-ah crossed her arms and shook her head.
“That’s not one drink. You drank alone again, didn’t you?”
“No, I drank with people from work.”
“Who from work? You don’t even have anyone to drink with, yet you lie every single day.”
Investigator Lee Dong-young answered with a laugh instead.
Fortunately, Lee Sung-ah didn’t press further. Humming to herself, she spread out the table and set down the chicken.
Investigator Lee Dong-young sat beside her and removed his socks before speaking.
“How’s school?”
“It’s fun.”
“Are your classmates treating you well?”
She had transferred in as a senior in high school.
It would be difficult to maintain close friendships.
Yet Lee Sung-ah found herself worrying about Lee Dong-young instead.
“I’m fine, really. My teachers favor me because I study well. So don’t worry about me—why don’t you make friends with Dad instead? That way you won’t drink alone.”
Another lecture seemed imminent.
Lee Dong-young retrieved a bottle of soju from the refrigerator and brought it to the table.
“You’re drinking again?”
“Just one glass.”
“Sigh… when Seo Jun-kyung was around, at least you had someone to drink with…”
Lee Sung-ah’s words trailed off abruptly.
Realizing her mistake, she watched Lee Dong-young’s expression carefully before speaking quietly.
“I’m sorry.”
Seo Jun-kyung’s name was forbidden in front of Lee Dong-young.
At the sight of his daughter’s worried face, Lee Dong-young smiled bitterly.
“It’s fine.”
With that, Lee Dong-young brought the soju glass to his lips.
Yet hearing Seo Jun-kyung’s name conjured the image of Seo Jin.
Kim Young-jun’s nephew, Seo Jin.
Even being in the same space felt unbearable.
Lee Dong-young sat rigid for a moment, exhaling a long sigh before muttering under his breath.
“Enough. What fault is it of a young man?”
He had no intention of becoming close.
But neither did he intend to interfere.
Simply the relationship between prosecutor and investigator as defined by law.
An appropriate distance.
Lee Dong-young had set the boundaries between himself and Seo Jin.
*
*
*
A few days later.
“Could you take on a trial?”
The Chief Prosecutor summoned Seo Jin and spoke without preamble.
Seo Jin nodded.
“Yes, I can.”
“Without even asking what the case is?”
“If you’re swamped, I should help.”
Investigating prosecutors also appear in court.
It was uncommon, but it happened with cases one felt personally invested in.
Or when the case was so complex that only the person who directly investigated it could explain it adequately, they would head to the courtroom.
But at the Gangwon District Prosecutor’s Office, it was hardly unusual for an investigating prosecutor to stand trial.
There were simply more cases than people.
A trial prosecutor had been assigned, but the limitations on the cases we could handle were unmistakable.
And I understood well enough why we were stretched thin on trial prosecutors.
“Thank you for understanding.”
The Chief Prosecutor set down the case file in front of me.
A male high school graduate—accepted to university and awaiting enrollment—had fallen from an apartment building.
A security guard on patrol around the apartment complex discovered the victim and reported it to the police.
It was around 2:30 in the morning.
The police immediately recovered the victim’s body and found a suicide note in his possession.
It could have been closed as a suicide, but the victim’s hands bore multiple lacerations from a blade.
“The apartment was old—there were blind spots in the CCTV coverage, so we couldn’t trace the victim’s movements. The victim’s parents testified that their son received a call from a friend at midnight and went out.”
The police identified the friend who made the call as a suspect and arrested him hastily.
Shortly after, bloody footprints matching the suspect’s shoe size were discovered throughout the apartment building.
“And we found the suspect’s jacket 500 meters away in a mountain area behind the complex. The victim’s blood was on it.”
I rubbed my chin.
“You found footprints?”
“Yes.”
“What about the shoes themselves?”
“No shoes. They vanished without a trace—no idea where he dumped them.”
My gaze continued toward the case file.
The defendant’s statement:
He did make the call.
They planned to meet at night and go to a PC Bang.
But the victim never showed up, so he waited about an hour and went home.
He had no idea why the bloodstained jacket was there.
He’d lost it days before the incident while drinking.
The defendant’s statement had evidence to support it.
Convenience store CCTV footage showed him waiting in front of the PC Bang for the victim.
Moreover, the defendant in that footage was wearing a different jacket.
“There’s also a record of repeated calls to the victim that went unanswered.”
The Chief Prosecutor finished speaking and rubbed his chin for a moment.
Then.
“Can you handle this? I know it’s a heavy case. If the defendant is innocent, he could end up in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.”
That’s why the Chief Prosecutor had put me on the case.
I’d just arrived here and had no prior knowledge of this case.
In other words, I could view it with more objectivity than anyone else.
Besides, he wanted to see firsthand the abilities that were only rumored about me.
I looked up at the Chief Prosecutor.
“Would it be possible to conduct a fresh investigation?”
“I told you—do it freely, just like you did in Dongnam County. And if you need anything, just say so. I’ll help however I can.”
“Thank you.”
Returning to the office, Seo Jin slipped on his jacket and spoke to Lee Dong-young.
“You received the records, right?”
“Ah, yes.”
“I’m planning to verify the scene based on the police investigation records.”
“The scene?”
“Yes, I’m not certain about the defendant. If we’re careless, we could arrest the wrong person. So we need to verify.”
Seo Jin answered as though it were obvious.
And at that response, Lee Dong-young blinked.
It wasn’t easy for a prosecutor to visit a crime scene.
Buried under enormous cases, the work never ended even after reviewing the records.
Going to the scene was practically the same as giving up on leaving work.
‘What?’
But that was the moment.
Lee Dong-young’s eyes distorted as he watched Seo Jin’s behavior.
What Seo Jin did while waiting for Lee Dong-young, having carelessly thrown on his jacket.
Lost in thought, Seo Jin tapped the records with his fingers.
Occasionally he fluttered the records and looked out the window.
That habit, that gesture, and finally that gleam in his eyes.
Lee Dong-young knew.
It was identical to Seo Jun-kyung.

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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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