Prosecutor Kim Seo-Jin - Chapter 75

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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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Drinking Poison First (5)
But I couldn’t keep smiling.
Someone had grabbed my shoulder firmly.
When I looked up, it was Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae.
“Come with me.”
I left the auditorium with Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae.
In the meantime, the reporters continued to press Kim Yun-hwan.
“Please say something!”
“Prosecutor!”
Kim Yun-hwan stood there dazed, unable to offer any response.
On that lonely stage, there was no father to help him.
“What? What’s going on!”
The moment we stepped into the lobby, Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae asked urgently.
Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae’s face was growing rigid.
“What is it!”
Hearing Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae’s harsh voice, I ran my hand through my hair.
And I exhaled a sigh so heavy it felt like the ground was collapsing beneath me.
“Sigh….”
My reaction made Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae feel a chill run down his spine.
He understood that what the reporters had asked was true.
“I know you’re struggling too. But think rationally. Tell me. What happened?”
“A while ago….”
-I tracked down an entertainment district woman who went missing in Hongcheon.
-I caught the suspect, and the woman was found dead.
“While investigating additional charges, it seems he confessed—that he was the real perpetrator in the middle school girl’s murder case.”
“You tracked down that woman? And another prosecutor conducted the interrogation?”
“…Yes. I thought it was just a simple murder case. If I’d known it would come to this, I should have dug deeper to the end…. That way, my senior Kim Yun-hwan wouldn’t have….”
Pure lies are easy to see through.
But when mixed with truth, they become difficult to trace.
‘If Lee So-hee just keeps her mouth shut….’
Even Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun wouldn’t be able to uncover the full truth of this case.
Moreover, the Gangwon District Prosecutors’ Office had a newly appointed prosecutor general.
He wouldn’t want to miss out on an achievement.
He would definitely turn this into fireworks and launch it into the sky.
Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae pressed his forehead with his hand.
He felt the tangled threads wrapping around his neck.
I watched Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae’s expression and my voice trembled.
Then I threw out the words I had prepared.
“But what if my senior Kim Yun-hwan really did create the criminal?”
In that instant, Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae staggered as if struck hard on the back of the head.
It was hard to dismiss it as mere coincidence.
A filthy sensation had its claws wrapped around my ankle.
And if that were truly the case….
‘Perfect!’
I watched Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae’s shattered expression and lowered my head.
‘Done.’
Now all the world’s attention would shift to Kim Yun-hwan’s case manipulation.
All I had to do was sit back leisurely and watch them scramble in panic.
That’s when it happened.
Kim Yun-hwan, who had rushed out of the auditorium, grabbed my arm forcefully.
“Let’s go!”
Reporters swarmed after us, but Kim Yun-hwan was faster, dragging me along.
“Prosecutor!”
“Did you know about this!”
“Please say something!”
The storm swept past us.
The lobby that had been so loud moments before fell into silence, as if the chaos had never existed.
Left alone, Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae felt a throbbing headache.
He had endured unbearable stress in such a short span of time.
‘…What do I do?’
Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae pressed his temples firmly, searching for an escape.
Then a familiar voice reached his ears.
“Woo-jae.”
That familiar voice was more terrifying to him than the sound of the world crumbling.
At the same time, his heart began pounding violently, and he lifted his head with bloodshot eyes.
And.
“Y-you, Prosecutor General….”
Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun was standing there.
Kim Yun-hwan had said he wouldn’t come because it would burden him, yet he had been watching from the shadows all along.
“Come with me.”
Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun turned, and Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae followed with the expression of a man being dragged to the slaughterhouse.
Slam!
The place Kim Yun-hwan and I had ducked into to lose the reporters was a small conference room tucked away in a corner.
Kim Yun-hwan locked the door and immediately thrust his face toward mine.
“What the hell is going on!”
Kim Yun-hwan’s expression was in complete turmoil.
His face had drained of all color, pale as death, and his eyes were flailing about like a drowning man grasping at straws.
“Tell me!”
The man who had been terrified on the podium now looked at me as if I were easy prey.
He even grabbed me by the collar.
“Speak!”
Unlike him, I remained composed.
I even took a moment to check if there were any CCTV cameras nearby.
‘There aren’t any.’
No CCTV.
Which meant everything that happened here would be a secret between Kim Yun-hwan and me.
My gaze returned to Kim Yun-hwan.
“What the hell is it!”
I opened my mouth as I watched his hands gripping my collar and shaking me.
“You could let go and talk about it, couldn’t you?”
Kim Yun-hwan bit his lip hard, then slowly released his grip on my collar.
“I’m sorry. I just… I don’t know how it came to this.”
He was anxious.
He acted as though the word composure didn’t exist.
He simply swallowed hard and waited for my response.
“Tell me. What happened?”
Like trapped prey sinking deeper into the mire, I grew more relaxed with each moment.
I sat on the edge of the conference room table and spoke.
“What happened was…”
I told him exactly what I’d told Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae.
I’d pursued a missing woman from Hongcheon and caught the perpetrator.
But that perpetrator was the real culprit.
As my voice continued, Kim Yun-hwan’s expression twisted relentlessly.
And then.
“It was you?”
“What?”
“You’re the one who ruined it!”
Taken aback by his unexpected reaction, I wore a bewildered expression.
“…Me?”
Well, he wasn’t wrong.
I had driven him into a corner.
But at times like this, he should first consider what he himself had done wrong—yet he continued to blame others.
“You bastard! You’ve always been like this! Whatever I do, you try to outdo me! Yeah, that’s what you’re doing now too, right? Scheming with those Gangwon District Prosecutors’ Office bastards? Trying to screw me over!”
I was genuinely curious how far Kim Yun-hwan would go.
So I watched quietly…
‘…Always been like this, he says?’
I recalled the past for a moment.
When I transferred from the Dongnam District Prosecutors’ Office to the Gangwon District Prosecutors’ Office, there was graffiti written on the wall.
In other words, notes I had written before.
-Kim Yun-hwan: Appears composed but is temperamental. He’s been that way since childhood, so his patience is lacking. He hates losing to others. If I exploit this…?
As Seo Jin read those words, he experienced a psychometric phenomenon.
And in that monochromatic world, the past version of me had uttered these words.
“If I bring down Kim Yun-hwan, Kim Young-jun’s attention will turn to me.”
And while drawing a checkmark in front of Kim Yun-hwan’s name, I had said.
“This bastard first.”
Seo Jin’s pupils darkened as he recalled the past for a moment.
‘Could it be…?’
The past version of me must have dug into Kim Yun-hwan’s background.
And then I had suffered a mysterious accident in a residential area.
I began to suspect that Kim Yun-hwan was the culprit.
Seo Jin’s gaze turned back to Kim Yun-hwan.
The bastard was still ranting.
“So, who’s the prosecutor in charge? Contact them! And tell them to announce that his confession was false! That’s the only way I survive and you succeed! I promise! I won’t get into politics—I’ll go to Seoul and pull strings for you! Got it?”
Nothing but nonsense to the end.
My desire to listen further vanished completely.
“Hey… Yun-hwan?”
“A billion? Two billion? I’ll give you whatever money you want, just make the announcement… What? Yun-hwan?”
Kim Yun-hwan’s face hardened.
His sharp eyes turned toward Seo Jin.
His pupils tilted as if trying to grasp the situation, then fixed on Seo Jin with renewed intensity.
And he opened his mouth with a vicious tone.
“… What did you just say?”
Seo Jin lifted himself from the desk and asked.
“Let me ask you something. Did you push me?”
“What?”
Seo Jin tapped his own head with his finger and continued.
“Amnesia. Did you push me?”
Veins bulged across Kim Yun-hwan’s forehead.
“You think I pushed you, so you’ve been pulling this shit?”
“No, you did push me.”
Seo Jin stepped forward and leaned his face toward Kim Yun-hwan’s.
Only then did Kim Yun-hwan see Seo Jin’s expression clearly.
It was not the usual gentle face.
His eyes gleamed with a murderous intensity, as if he could commit murder at any moment.
“Why did you do it?”
“You bastard. You’ve got the wrong number. Do you think there are only one or two people who want to kill you?”
“One or two?”
“Yeah, you bastard!”
Seo Jin offered a bleak smile.
And he leaned even closer toward Kim Yun-hwan and opened his mouth.
“Who is it? Depending on your answer, I might call the District Prosecutor’s Office and ask them to issue a false statement. Whether it’s a billion won or two billion, money solves everything, doesn’t it?”
Kim Yun-hwan swallowed hard.
Even in this situation, he was deliberating.
Whether he could trust Seo Jin’s words.
I tapped his shoulder lightly and spoke with unhurried ease.
“Yun-hwan, right now I’m the only person you can trust. You have to grasp at straws.”
“Promise me.”
“Trust me. Have you ever seen me lie?”
“It’s… loan sharks.”
“What?”
“Not just ordinary loan sharks. The big players.”
It was unexpected.
Almost apologetic to the names that flashed through my mind.
Kim Yun-hwan, sensing my confusion, let out a bitter laugh.
“You don’t remember, so you’re confused, right? Back then, there were rumors that you were combing through the loan shark market. I heard you dug pretty deep into it. Didn’t you know how scary those people are? They don’t care if you’re a prosecutor or anything else—if money’s involved, they’ll go after you.”
There was no trace of falsehood in Kim Yun-hwan’s expression.
‘Loan sharks?’
The man I’d been investigating suddenly turned out to be connected to loan sharks.
Something wasn’t connecting.
While I was lost in confusion, Kim Yun-hwan spoke.
“I told you, so call the District Prosecutor’s Office. And tell them to announce it was a false confession! Right now!”
“Ah… that? It’s all bullshit. You didn’t actually believe it, did you?”
“What? You bastard!”
Kim Yun-hwan lunged at me.
He seized my collar tightly again.
“Do you want to die? If you tell anyone what happened here, you’re dead too. Do you think my father or Jo Woo-jae would just sit back?”
“…Who would believe you?”
“What?”
At my cold gaze, he flinched.
He was a con artist who fabricated criminals.
And he hadn’t stopped there—he’d dragged me here under the pretense of working at the Gangwon District Prosecutors’ Office and was abusing his power.
“But would your uncle actually believe your words? Given his personality?”
Kim Yun-hwan knew it too.
He would never believe him.
I uttered one more word to him.
“It’s over.”
Kim Yun-hwan’s face cracked wide open.
As if glimpsing the hell that lay ahead, his unfocused eyes trembled helplessly.
And the hand that had gripped my collar grew limp and fell away, a groan escaping his lips.
“Ah….”
At that moment, my phone vibrated.
A message from reporter Lee Eun-ha.
-Chief Prosecutor Kim Young-jun is heading your way.
I let out a short laugh.
With Chief Prosecutor Kim Young-jun on his way, I thought I might as well direct a little drama.
I slowly adjusted my clothes and opened my mouth.
“You should have lived honestly. If you lack talent, then work harder. Without your uncle, you’re nothing.”
“You bastard!”
Kim Yun-hwan couldn’t contain his rage and lunged at me.
With a loud crash, the conference table overturned and chairs skidded across the floor.
Kim Yun-hwan climbed on top of me and threw his fist.
Thud!
A man who only studied—his punch didn’t hurt much.
Thud! Thud!
He kept pounding my face.
My lips split and blood dripped from my nose.
‘I think I’ve taken enough.’
This was sufficient.
I had no intention of letting him hit me further.
I shoved him hard.
His light frame flew backward.
He crashed to the ground far away, cursing as he pushed himself up.
“Damn it!”
I slowly got to my feet as well.
Then I beckoned him with my finger and spoke.
“Let’s do this one more time. It was truly humiliating that a bastard like you held the same rank as me as a prosecutor.”
“Shut up!”
Kim Yun-hwan swung his fist again.
But I easily dodged his attack and clenched my fist tight.
And then.
Crack!
I struck his abdomen.
“Ugh!”
He clutched his stomach and staggered backward.
His contorted face showed he was in considerable pain.
“What? You’re weak? That’s all it takes to knock you back?”
“Damn it!”
He rushed forward and shoved me.
Climbing on top of my fallen body, he screamed like a madman.
“Die! You bastard!”
He clenched his fist tightly….
Crack! Crack! Bang!
Kim Yun-hwan heard the unfamiliar sounds coming from behind.
He opened his eyes wide and turned his head.
And soon his pupils flooded with despair.
“Ah, Father….”
Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae burst through the door.
And behind him stood Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun.
“Close the door.”
At Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun’s low voice, Chief Prosecutor Jo Woo-jae moved quickly.
He hastily blocked the entrance so no one could enter, then exhaled a heavy sigh and lowered his head.
And Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun’s cold gaze turned toward Seo Jin and Kim Yun-hwan.
The overturned table, Kim Yun-hwan straddling Seo Jin.
That frigid stare regarded Kim Yun-hwan like garbage.
As Kim Yun-hwan lowered his head, avoided his gaze, and climbed off Seo Jin’s body, Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun’s eyes shifted to Seo Jin.
A look demanding an explanation.
I wiped the blood from my lips and pushed myself up.
“He, Yun-hwan asked me to contact the District Prosecutor’s Office. He said he’d pay me to fabricate a false confession. But when I said I couldn’t….”
“He hit you?”
“…Yes.”
I spoke in a hollow voice and swayed.
Like a man who would be dead by tomorrow.
At my behavior, Kim Yun-hwan clenched his fist.
And glaring at me, he unleashed a voice dripping with murderous intent.
“You….”
“I’m sorry… hyung.”
At my desperate gaze, Kim Yun-hwan slowly unclenched his fist and lowered his head.
He realized that speaking further would change nothing.
And.
“Yun-hwan, get out.”
Prosecutor General Kim Young-jun’s terrifying voice resonated through the conference room.

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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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