Prosecutor Kim Seo-Jin - Chapter 60

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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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An Unsolvable Problem (2)
“Fraud.”
The man’s voice was sinister.
I wished I could see his face, but all that appeared before my eyes was the bag in his hand.
He dropped the bag with a dull thud.
Then came a heavy sound—thunk.
Inside were various tools.
He pulled a sickle from the bag.
And there, on the kimchi-storage plastic sheeting.
A woman sat naked, bound with rope.
Her mouth was covered with green tape, and dark bruises marked her skin where she’d been beaten.
She shook her head desperately, her eyes pleading.
“Mmph! Mmph!”
The man let out a grotesque laugh.
“Now you finally want to pay attention to me?”
“Ugh! Ugh!”
“Too late!”
The man slowly raised the sickle in his hand.
And then.
Thwack!
Thwack!
Thwack!
The psychometry ended.
My eyes were bloodshot and inflamed.
‘Insane bastard.’
My work as a prosecutor had exposed me to countless brutal crime scenes and photographs—I’d grown accustomed to them.
But witnessing murder itself was revolting.
I wiped my face and took a moment to compose myself.
And then.
‘A sickle and kimchi-storage plastic.’
I recalled what I’d seen through the psychometry.
But there was nothing distinctive about them.
All of it was readily available.
My gaze turned toward the door the man had emerged from.
The old door was rotting.
‘Let’s go in.’
I pushed myself up, relying on my phone’s flashlight.
As I opened the door, a room came into view.
The space felt eerie, as if no one had lived here in ages—a chill pricked my skin.
“Hah….”
Seo Jin exhaled a tense breath as I entered the room.
I fumbled through everything in the space, desperately hoping my psychometry would activate, but….
‘Damn it.’
Only silence greeted me.
Nothing emerged.
I brushed off my hands and stood up.
What I’d discovered here today was:
-Kimchi-making plastic wrap.
-Tools and a sickle.
-The Serial Killer called the Victim a con artist.
-He uttered the words, “Have you finally decided to look at me?”
-He was an acquaintance of the Victim.
-Murder driven by jealousy or resentment.
I stood and headed for the exit.
But the moment I grasped the doorframe, the world dissolved into monochrome once more.
A second psychometric vision in succession.
As I furrowed my brow.
The Serial Killer crouched in the darkness.
“You cheated on me? After all the money I’ve poured into you?”
The Serial Killer interlaced his gloved fingers, producing a sharp cracking sound.
His gaze shifted toward the doorway connecting to the kitchen.
“You’re next. Let’s see if you’re happy in hell too. You bastards.”
The Serial Killer sobbed.
The world snapped back to normal.
Before my eyes lay not the Serial Killer, but a doorknob wavering in the phone’s flashlight beam.
‘Serial murders?’
I pressed my hand to my forehead and shook my head.
I couldn’t tell if they’d already happened, were in progress, or hadn’t begun yet.
But if they hadn’t started, I had to stop them at all costs.
*
*
*
Last December, human remains were discovered in an abandoned house used by an herb gatherer.
The remains belonged to a woman in her twenties.
She was found two months after her disappearance was reported.
The scene lay deep in a mountain where even hikers rarely ventured.
Naturally, there were no surveillance cameras, and the Police Scientific Investigation Division combed through the area meticulously, yet found no traces—no fingerprints, nothing.
After months of investigation, the case effectively closed, branded as an unsolved mystery.
But.
“October?”
“Yes.”
“Around that time, people buy kimchi-making plastic in bulk, so it’s hard to remember each customer.”
“He probably bought various tools too. A sickle and….”
“…it doesn’t seem like he had one.”
Several days had passed since I visited the crime scene.
In the meantime, I’d been stopping by the Hardware Store Owner’s shop whenever I had a chance.
“A tall man with a large build—you don’t remember him?”
The Hardware Store Owner shook his head.
His expression made it clear he had no idea.
I exhaled a sigh and stepped outside.
An X was marked through another entry in my notebook.
“Only two places left.”
I was systematically checking every hardware store in Chuncheon.
The killer had possessed kimchi-making plastic and tools.
While kimchi-making plastic could be bought at supermarkets, he’d also had a large quantity of tools.
Moreover, judging by his modus operandi, he would have deliberately avoided supermarkets with CCTV.
It was almost certain he’d used a hardware store.
Yet I couldn’t find any trace of him anywhere.
Only two hardware stores remained.
‘It has to be one of them.’
I got into my vehicle with fervent hope.
Then my phone vibrated.
Lee Dong-young’s voice came through.
-I checked nationwide. There’s no case like that.
I’d asked Lee Dong-young to search for similar cases that might have occurred elsewhere.
If he’d committed another murder as he’d promised, the method would have been the same.
“There isn’t one?”
-No.
But there are no similar crimes.
There are two possibilities.
-He hasn’t killed yet.
-Or it hasn’t been discovered yet.
I continued speaking.
“Then please check the contacts saved in the Victim’s phone—see if any of them are reported missing.”
-Understood. And?
“Could you extract just the male contacts from the saved numbers?”
-I’ll do it.
After the weekend passed, Lee Dong-young’s attitude had shifted slightly.
Not exactly warm, but he was becoming more proactive.
I ended the call, reassured by his reliable tone.
It was time to move to the next hardware store.
Shortly after, I stood before the final hardware store.
In front of a military base, roughly an hour’s drive from the crime scene.
“Excuse me.”
I posed the same question I’d asked at every other location.
Had anyone purchased kimchi-making plastic and tools back in October of last year?
The owner’s eyes blinked.
The movement of his pupils suggested he knew something.
Then.
“Ah, I remember now. Most of our customers are soldiers, and I know all the locals here. But.”
That day, a stranger had walked in.
“Kimchi-making plastic, a saw, a sickle, pliers, and what else?”
“He also bought clothesline and a torch.”
As the owner spoke, his wife sitting beside him chimed in.
Both my gaze and the owner’s shifted to his wife, who sat at the counter.
“Here, the ledger.”
She waved the inventory log she meticulously maintained.
I examined the ledger.
Everything he’d purchased was recorded in stark detail.
He’d paid in cash to leave no trace.
“You remember quite clearly?”
“There aren’t many hardware stores around here. But it was strange that he’d come all the way out here and buy so much. That’s why I remember.”
“If you saw him again, would you recognize his face?”
“I’m not sure about that.”
The owner’s wife tilted her head uncertainly.
It had been so long that remembering each facial detail was difficult.
Still, I’d confirmed his footprints for the first time.
If I followed that trail, I would eventually come face to face with his vicious visage.
Gangwon District Prosecutors’ Office.
As I entered the office, Investigator Lee Dong-young spoke up.
“There was no missing person report.”
The Serial Killer intended to murder the person who had been the Victim’s boyfriend.
But if there was no missing person report….
‘There’s a high probability he’s still alive.’
If I moved quickly, I could prevent the second murder.
Investigator Lee Dong-young approached me and handed over a thin file folder.
“What you mentioned. The personal information of the man stored in the Victim’s phone.”
The Victim and the Serial Killer were acquainted.
So I thought the killer might be among these records.
But.
“There aren’t many saved contacts to begin with, but among them, there were only three men. Her father, her brother, and an insurance company employee.”
“Three?”
“Yes.”
Considering this was a case involving a romantic relationship and gender-based conflict, the Victim’s phone should have been filled with contacts of the opposite sex.
But three.
And those three being her father, her brother, and an insurance company employee at that.
I could almost hear the case getting more complicated.
Seo Jin flipped through the file folder, studying the insurance company employee’s face.
No matter how I looked at it, he didn’t match the man I’d seen through psychometry.
That man had been heavily built, but the insurance company employee had a lean frame.
Still, it was worth checking.
Seo Jin tapped the insurance company employee’s photo with his finger and spoke.
“Please summon him as a witness for questioning.”
“Yes.”
With that, I picked up the ledger I’d brought from the hardware store.
As I stepped into the hallway heading toward the Chief Prosecutor’s Office, someone draped an arm across my shoulder.
It was Lee Myung-soo.
“Where have you been all day? Did you find anything?”
“I think I’ve seen the shadow.”
“Huh?”
I showed him the ledger I was holding.
Lee Myung-soo’s eyes widened in surprise as he took the ledger and flipped through it quickly.
“…This?”
-Latex gloves, a hat, and plastic sheeting…
It was difficult to call it conclusive evidence.
I couldn’t be certain the perpetrator had purchased these items.
But it felt like a case that had sunk into deep waters was slowly revealing itself.
Lee Myung-soo’s expression grew brighter.
Soon he burst into loud laughter.
“Kahahaha!”
When word spread that Seo Jin had taken on the cold case himself, the District Prosecutor’s Office was filled with both concern and anticipation.
‘What will this lucky bastard who solved consecutive unsolved cases show us this time?’
But as days passed, the anticipation faded and only concern remained.
“He hasn’t even met with the detective in charge yet, apparently.”
“Really? He hasn’t even properly reviewed the records? Then what’s he doing running around?”
“Seems like he’s playing detective, going back and forth to the crime scene.”
“Is he making a movie? A drama?”
“Stop cursing. When you’re inexperienced, you want to try things like that once.”
“Detective play might be fine depending on the case, but this is a murder case? Ugh, it’s so embarrassing I hope he doesn’t tell anyone he’s from our office.”
I’d heard such talk myself.
But I’d expected this reaction, so I remained unmoved.
I knew that once I solved it, their mockery would turn to admiration.
Lee Myung-soo, however, was different.
He suddenly grew irritated, his face contorting.
He was actually worried—worried that Seo Jin, who had performed so well until now, might stumble on this one critical moment.
Seo Jin was young.
At an age where he hadn’t yet learned to master his emotions.
I thought it would be difficult for him to withstand the scrutiny and criticism of others.
He might shrink back timidly, reading the room too carefully.
And if that happened, he’d lose the very advantage that let him act on his own terms and solve cases.
That’s why I was worried…
“Pointless concern.”
“Sir?”
“Never mind. Go see Ji Se-heon. He’ll be thrilled.”
Lee Myung-soo laughed heartily and patted Seo Jin on the shoulder.
Chief Prosecutor Ji Se-heon shot to his feet.
His eyes wide, he stared at the ledger.
“…Already?”
This was a case the police had been hammering at for months without turning up a single lead.
Yet Seo Jin had brought in pieces of the puzzle in mere days.
A smile crossed Chief Prosecutor Ji Se-heon’s lips.
“This bastard…”
Ji Se-heon had borne the brunt of the harsh scrutiny.
Every time he faced the other chief prosecutors…
“You didn’t want to be embarrassed, so you’re being selfish? Now you’re actually being selfish? Sacrificing some fresh recruit? You’re insane.”
…that’s all he heard.
When a case went cold—especially a murder—a sacrifice was needed for the bereaved family.
Someone to stand before them, bow their head, and say “I’m sorry.”
Someone to absorb not mere criticism, but the raw emotion they poured out.
“Did you investigate properly?”
“Would you have done the same if it were your own child?”
“If we had been people of power, we’d have mobilized the entire police force!”
“Keep going! Catch him! Don’t stop the investigation. Please…”
Of course, Chief Prosecutor Ji Se-heon had never intended to use Seo Jin as a sacrifice.
He’d planned to shoulder the burden himself.
If they succeeded, he would place the credit on Seo Jin’s shoulders.
But he couldn’t say that to the other chief prosecutors.
So he’d been taking all the abuse—until the situation changed.
Suddenly, Seo Jin looked endearing to me.
“Hey, come here. Let me give you a big hug.”
“Pardon?”
Seo Jin shook his head with genuine urgency, momentarily taken aback.
“No, thank you, but it’s repulsive.”
“You little… I was just saying. I find it repulsive too.”
Chief Prosecutor Ji Se-heon tossed the ledger aside and opened his mouth.
“So, what do you need?”

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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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