Prosecutor Kim Seo-Jin - Chapter 6

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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 (4)
Instead of answering, I pulled out the USB drive and placed it on the table.
Jang Dong-ik’s gaze locked onto the USB drive.
I didn’t tell him what was on it, but as the saying goes, a guilty conscience needs no accuser.
His pupils contracted, and he swallowed hard.
The shift in his expression happened in an instant, but the eyes never lie.
Jang Dong-ik was afraid.
I seized that fleeting moment and struck with my words.
“CCTV footage. Jang Dong-ik, you were sitting at the Coffee Shop near the Raw Fish Restaurant where the victim worked on the day of the incident, weren’t you?”
“Pardon?”
Koo Sang-jin’s lawyer shot up from his seat again.
“So you have evidence and suddenly you’re just tracking his movements on the day in question? By that logic, everyone at that coffee shop would be a suspect. Stop asking questions unrelated to the case. This matter can be resolved by reviewing the dashcam footage.”
“…I did mention it could be a different case.”
“No, it’s a traffic accident.”
Koo Sang-jin’s lawyer answered in a heavy voice, then glared at me with an oppressive gaze.
When I met his eyes, he continued slowly.
“Prosecutor… how long has it been since you were appointed? I’ve been grinding in this field for 15 years.”
“…And?”
Koo Sang-jin’s lawyer gripped the table with both hands and leaned toward me slowly.
His eyes bulged as he opened his mouth with a more threatening tone than before.
“After grinding away for so long, I can see what you’re thinking. The victim’s older sister is the insurance beneficiary, right? So you suspect she conspired with our client to commit murder for hire?”
“…”
“The family is already suffering enough—don’t go poking around. Your name might end up in the media.”
“…”
“So if you want to make such claims, bring solid evidence, not mere possibilities. Otherwise, let’s just talk about the traffic accident.”
Koo Sang-jin’s lawyer stared at me hard.
Just from that gaze alone, I could tell.
He was looking down on me.
There was even a hint of confidence that he could crush me whenever he wished.
Koo Sang-jin’s lawyer’s classmates occupied key positions in the Prosecution Service.
People he drank and dined with worked in important posts throughout the Republic of Korea.
A greenhorn prosecutor who’d just been appointed, still unable to tell his ass from his elbow—he could snap my neck anytime.
That’s what Koo Sang-jin’s lawyer thought.
But it was now that he sensed something was off.
‘What is this?’
My demeanor had been unhurried and arrogant from the start.
It wasn’t the attitude a rookie trainee should have.
That was strange enough, but now my eyes had changed.
“I appreciate your concern about my name trending, counselor. But I’m the one who decides whether to prosecute. If I investigate and determine it’s not a traffic accident, that’s how I’ll prosecute. If it turns out to be a traffic accident, I’ll prosecute it that way. I don’t think I need your permission for such matters.”
I didn’t raise my voice.
As calm as before, yet in that moment, attorney Koo Sang-jin felt an unsettling pressure bearing down on him.
This was no trainee.
Beneath the mask of a novice prosecutor stood a seasoned veteran who had clawed his way up from the cliff face.
As attorney Koo Sang-jin swallowed hard, Seo Jin’s gaze shifted back to Jang Dong-ik.
Attorney Koo Sang-jin urgently signaled him not to answer anything.
‘Keep your mouth shut. Don’t give this bastard an opening. Let’s play defense for now.’
Jang Dong-ik nodded, receiving that look.
But in that instant, Jang Dong-ik’s eyes widened.
Because Seo Jin was uttering words that only Jang Dong-ik could understand.
“Two hundred million is a bit light. Let’s go for three hundred million including attorney fees. Then I’ll help you.”
Jang Dong-ik’s eyes went wide.
“H-how did you…?”
But that wasn’t the end of it.
Hell was only beginning now.
Seo Jin’s voice pierced into his ears again.
“Even doing manual labor, you make about a hundred thousand won, so three hundred million is a thank you.”
He had spoken Jang Dong-ik’s exact words—the ones he’d heard through psychometry.
Seo Jin’s piercing gaze fixed on Jang Dong-ik as he continued.
“Haven’t you heard what I just said somewhere before?”
Jang Dong-ik’s face was turning ashen.
The look of someone who had glimpsed something horrifying—something inhuman.
Jang Dong-ik, forgetting attorney Koo Sang-jin’s instruction to stay silent, muttered.
“I-I didn’t kill him.”
“You did.”
“I didn’t kill him!”
Seo Jin opened his laptop and inserted a memory card.
Dashcam footage appeared on the screen.
Jang Dong-ik got out of the car and rushed toward the victim, checked the situation, and made a phone call to someone.
Seo Jin paused the video at that moment.
Then he asked in a chilling voice.
“Who did you call?”
“T-the police? Or the insurance company? Was it 119?”
Attorney Koo Sang-jin stepped in again.
“Would you have been in your right mind at the moment of impact? It’s natural not to remember. According to the records, Jang Dong-ik called 119 immediately.”
Seo Jin’s gaze turned toward attorney Koo Sang-jin.
“The dashcam shows 1:40 AM, but the Fire Department received the report at 1:46 AM. Did the call connection last six minutes?”
“Do you think the dashcam time is accurate? Plenty of people don’t adjust it! You’re making a baseless argument, Prosecutor!”
Seo Jin tapped down the call log.
“The time Jang Dong-ik called the Fire Department was 1:46 AM.”
“Yes! It’s baseless!”
“That’s correct. Jang Dong-ik called at 1:46 AM.”
“Then that settles it!”
“At 1:40 AM, shown on the laptop screen, he called Woo Su-jin, the victim’s older sister. While waiting for the victim’s breathing to stop….”
Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the interrogation room, someone was watching Seo Jin’s interrogation through the glass.
It was Lee Myung-soo, a prosecutor.
Lee Myung-soo, narrowing his eyes as he studied Jang Dong-ik’s expression, brought his phone to his ear.
“Administrator, do you have the materials that prosecutor Seo Jin investigated? Could you bring those over? Yes, all of them.”
After ending the call, Lee Myung-soo turned his gaze back toward the interrogation room.
He muttered to himself.
“…A murder case?”
Shortly after, an administrator appeared, pulling a cart.
Lee Myung-soo flipped through the materials Seo Jin had investigated, one after another.
And he laughed incredulously.
“Ah… this crazy bastard.”
After laughing for a while, Lee Myung-soo brought his phone to his ear again.
The dial tone connected, and the smile vanished from Lee Myung-soo’s face.
He opened his mouth with a cold voice.
“Chief Prosecutor, this is Lee Myung-soo. I’d appreciate it if you could come down for a moment.”
That was how the call began.
Before long, not only the chief prosecutor but also the head and deputy head of the Local Prosecutor’s Office were standing before Lee Myung-soo.
All of them wore bewildered expressions as they reviewed Seo Jin’s materials.
The head of the office waved the stack of papers and asked.
“We thought it was a traffic accident, but it was a contract killing? And by her own older sister? Watching her younger sister struggle to raise two children?”
“Yes, it appears to be almost certain. There are still a few gaps, but once we arrest and investigate the relevant individuals, it should become clear quickly.”
The head of the office clicked his tongue and looked at Seo Jin beyond the glass wall.
“But how did that bastard figure this out? Looking at the details, it’s so meticulously planned that even if it remained unsolved, there’d be no excuse.”
Lee Myung-soo agreed with that assessment.
A traffic accident in the early morning on a rural road.
The victim’s circumstances—having to leave two sons behind—were tragic, but it was difficult to suspect murder in this case.
Even if he had taken it on, it would have ended as a traffic accident.
Lee Myung-soo exhaled lightly and spoke.
“Head of the office, would it be alright if I wrote up a light scenario?”
The head of the office’s gaze turned toward Lee Myung-soo.
“A scenario?”
“Our office has been quiet for a long time. I thought it might be fine to stir things up once. And in doing so, let everyone know that we’re still part of the Prosecution Service.”
“That’s all?”
“Koo Sang-jin is my classmate. I’d like to scratch his reputation a bit.”
Back when Koo Sang-jin was a prosecutor, he represented the powerful.
He had made money by cozying up to the wealthy while collaborating with politicians.
Now he appears in the media, pretending to be intelligent and righteous.
The Local Prosecutor’s Office director, deputy director, and chief prosecutor here may have the dull eyes of rotting fish, but they were once swordsmen who wielded their blades with skill.
Koo Sang-jin could never have pleased them.
The Local Prosecutor’s Office director set down the documents he’d been holding and opened his mouth.
“A scratch? How are you planning to create one?”
“An older sister who killed her younger sibling. Sensational content. The media will pay attention. But Koo Sang-jin is involved in this. That Koo Sang-jin gets defeated by a rookie making their debut while defending the older sister’s side. If the press learns about that, won’t they snap to attention?”
The Local Prosecutor’s Office director chuckled softly.
“That’s good. Whether you create a scratch or break a spoon, do as you please.”
“Thank you.”
Lee Myung-soo bowed at the waist.
After the Local Prosecutor’s Office director, deputy director, and chief prosecutor left, Lee Myung-soo brought his phone back to his ear.
“Reporter Kim, are you aware that Koo Sang-jin is at our Local Prosecutor’s Office? Yet he’s fumbling against an intern….”
*
*
*
“Did you know Prosecutor Kim Seo-jin is having his first summons investigation today?”
Shin Jong-seung and Lee So-hee, Seo Jin’s classmates, were walking down the corridor.
Lee So-hee shook her head.
“I didn’t know it was today.”
“He picked the wrong opponent. The matchup is bad. Do you know who the opponent is? Attorney Koo Sang-jin. You know him, right? Attorney Koo Sang-jin? The one who appears on television a lot.”
Lee So-hee was uninterested.
She thought Seo Jin and Shin Jong-seung both lived off talent that came from having good parents.
That was all they had.
They made no effort to develop further.
They’d rely on their parents and cause trouble, then end up here.
Shin Jong-seung continued speaking with a quiet laugh.
“Seo Jin is going to have a rough time this round. He could even be humiliated in court. It’s hard for a rookie to beat Attorney Koo Sang-jin, after all. It seems like he’s close with the local judges too.”
At that moment, the two fell silent.
Reporters entering and exiting the Local Prosecutor’s Office came into view ahead of them.
As the two closed their mouths, the reporters were speaking urgently.
“Who? Koo Sang-jin? Why is Koo Sang-jin here?”
“He must have been paid a lot. Haven’t you heard the rumors? Koo Sang-jin will defend the devil himself if the price is right.”
“Ugh… I really hate that sluggish face of his.”
Hearing their voices, Shin Jong-seung laughed with satisfaction.
“Just as I predicted. The reporters are in an uproar just because Attorney Koo Sang-jin came to this rural area, aren’t they?”
Before Seo Jin took medical leave, Shin Jong-seung had regarded him as a subordinate.
A younger brother who did everything he was told and gently smiled to match the mood.
But this bastard had gone crooked.
And right in front of Lee So-hee, whom he had his eye on….
Shin Jong-seung felt he had been insulted.
That’s why he couldn’t tolerate it.
“…I’ll probably make it into one article, but my debut will be remembered as a lifelong embarrassment.”
That was when it happened.
Shin Jong-seung’s ears caught the shocking voices of the reporters.
“Wait, Koo Sang-jin is falling apart?”
“Yeah, apparently this trainee prosecutor is something special. He dug up a case that was about to be shelved as unsolved. Koo Sang-jin is floundering in front of the trainee prosecutor right now.”
“No way….”
“I’m serious. The person who gave us the tip isn’t someone who would spout nonsense.”
Shin Jong-seung tracked the retreating figures of the reporters with only his eyes.
Unable to grasp the situation, he could only blink repeatedly.
‘What’s going on?’
All of Shin Jong-seung’s expectations were crumbling.
After standing dazed for a moment, something suddenly occurred to him, and he bolted up the stairs.
Straight to the Interrogation Room.
Where Seo Jin and attorney Koo Sang-jin were.
He wanted to see it with his own eyes.
And just as he arrived at the floor where the Interrogation Room was located.
Bang! The door burst open as attorney Koo Sang-jin stormed out.
Attorney Koo Sang-jin, his face flushed crimson with rage, spat a curse toward the Interrogation Room.
“Damn 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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