Prosecutor Kim Seo-Jin - Chapter 8

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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 (6)
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“I will win.”
The next morning, in the CEO’s office of JTJ Law Firm.
Attorney Koo Sang-jin opened his mouth toward CEO Jang Taek-jun.
CEO Jang Taek-jun turned his body and walked toward the window, then lowered the blinds with his fingers to peer outside.
Reporters crowded in front of the lobby came into view.
What those reporters were eagerly awaiting, drooling with anticipation, was none other than Attorney Koo Sang-jin.
CEO Jang Taek-jun’s gaze slowly turned toward Attorney Koo Sang-jin.
“Quite the spectacle.”
Attorney Koo Sang-jin, who had always posed as righteous, was now defending the sister who killed her brother.
This news was reverberating across the entire nation.
-So it was true that they’ll defend the devil himself if the money’s right.
-And he seemed so righteous on television….
-Is there anyone left who still thinks entertainment shows are real?
-I never liked Koo Sang-jin from the start.
-You can tell his true colors from how he left the Prosecutor’s Office to join JTJ.
-He sold his soul for money.
-JTJ? Birds of a feather flock together.
“I apologize.”
CEO Jang Taek-jun shook his head firmly.
“There’s nothing to apologize for. I don’t care if you defend a stray dog.”
“….”
“But losing—that I cannot forgive.”
His voice turned glacial.
Attorney Koo Sang-jin swallowed hard without realizing it.
CEO Jang Taek-jun walked briskly toward Attorney Koo Sang-jin.
Then he tapped the attorney’s shoulder lightly and continued.
“Package that sister as pitiable. Portray the dead brother as someone who deserved to die. And paint that prosecutor as a demon.”
“…!”
“The public’s heart will waver at that sister’s tears. Someone will demand her release. Once public opinion shifts, the judges will feel the pressure. The legal arguments come after that.”
CEO Jang Taek-jun’s hand, which had been tapping Attorney Koo Sang-jin’s shoulder, suddenly stopped.
And his chilling voice pierced through the attorney’s ears.
“This case is drawing public attention. You must win. Remember—our clients aren’t the bastards cursing us on the internet.”
“….”
“Our clients don’t care whether we’re righteous or evil. They only care whether we’re competent or incompetent.”
“….”
“Win. If you can’t even win this trivial fight, there’s no place for you here.”
Jang Taek-jun tapped Koo Sang-jin’s shoulder once more.
Then he turned and walked toward the window.
Koo Sang-jin slowly bowed in Jang Taek-jun’s direction.
With his head lowered, Koo Sang-jin’s expression twisted into a grimace.
To remain here, I had to win—no matter what.
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Reporters swarmed like a cloud, their camera shutters clicking in rapid succession.
Their target was Koo Sang-jin.
“Attorney Koo Sang-jin! Did you have any reservations about taking this case?”
“There’s talk that you’re a lawyer who only cares about money. What do you make of that?”
Koo Sang-jin opened his mouth with a stern expression.
“Who exactly is the guilty party? Has a verdict been finalized? What evidence do you have? Your pens are painting someone as a murderer!”
The reporters flinched.
But these were seasoned journalists who had seen it all.
Questions poured forth immediately.
“Do you believe your client is innocent, Attorney?”
“What’s your reasoning?”
“Tell us!”
Koo Sang-jin shook his head.
“Everything the prosecution has presented is mere assertion and suspicion. Not a single fingerprint was found at this murder scene. Have you considered the grief of the older sister who lost her sibling? Yet before that grief could even fade, she was arrested and branded a murderer!”
“….”
“Journalists, please remember the presumption of innocence. Even if a guilty verdict is handed down in the appellate court, the presumption of innocence remains until that judgment is finalized. Yet this unfortunate woman is being branded as her sister’s killer before even the first trial concludes. The prosecution created this narrative. And you may be complicit in spreading it. I ask that you exercise some restraint. Please.”
Koo Sang-jin bowed deeply toward the reporters.
Camera flashes erupted in a blinding barrage.
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Shortly after, in the attorney visitation room at Dongnam Police Station.
Koo Sang-jin sat across from Woo Su-jin, the victim’s older sister.
Koo Sang-jin slid his phone across the table toward Woo Su-jin.
“Read this.”
Sensational article headlines appeared—accusing the older sister of murdering her sibling.
Dongnam Murder Case: Older Sister Arrested, Conspired with Boyfriend to Kill Sister
Sister Who Murdered Her Own Sibling Also Has Loan Shark Debts
After Killing Sister, Embraces Nieces and Nephews Saying “I’ll Raise You”—Shocking Statement
The Sister Was Alive. But Wait Until She Dies. No Remorse for Inhumane Crime
Woo Su-jin’s body trembled violently.
Then Koo Sang-jin smiled faintly and tapped the screen.
Another article headline catches my eye.
Attorney Koo Sang-jin: “A case without a single fingerprint. It’s merely a traffic accident.”
Attorney Koo Sang-jin: “I took this case to prevent the wrongful imprisonment of an innocent person.”
Attorney Koo Sang-jin’s eyes shift toward Woo Su-jin.
“The insurance payout is one billion won, isn’t it? Give me half of that. I’ll make sure you’re acquitted.”
Woo Su-jin’s eyes waver.
“…Acquitted?”
“I have the ability to do it. But I need to receive half the insurance money.”
Woo Su-jin, whose hands had been fidgeting, nods.
Then Attorney Koo Sang-jin smiles faintly and leans toward Woo Su-jin.
“Why did you kill her? How did you do it? What was your plan? I’m on your side. So tell me honestly. That’s the only way I can make you innocent.”
“…I had debts to pay.”
“Debts?”
“I wanted to live with dignity. But my sister took out a life insurance policy and told me I was the beneficiary. She said that since the children are young, if anything happens to her, I should use that money to help them. So I must have gone mad. Still, I wanted to take care of my sister’s children. My sister felt sorry that she couldn’t send them to good academies, so I thought if I sent them to good academies, that would be enough. I’m so sorry. I miss my sister.”
Woo Su-jin cried for a long time.
Then she lifted her head with difficulty.
And with a voice full of sorrow, she barely managed to open her mouth and ask.
“…But can I really be acquitted?”
Attorney Koo Sang-jin smiles faintly.
“Yes.”
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“Ah, don’t worry.”
A few days later, in the morning, I prepare for work while talking with my mother on the phone.
The whole nation is in an uproar over the case where an older sister killed her younger sister—and it was a contract murder for insurance money.
And the prosecutor handling that case is me.
There’s no way not to worry.
-Have you eaten?
“Yes, I have.”
I glance toward the dining table.
An elegant table that would suit even Louis XIV’s dining, of course reflecting my mother’s taste.
On that table sits a bowl of instant ramen.
-You didn’t make ramen again, did you?
“I made beef bone broth.”
It’s not a lie.
It was beef bone broth ramen.
-Really?
“Yes.”
-Hold on, your father wants to take the phone.
I was about to hang up when my father’s voice came through.
-Today’s the hearing, right? If anything’s difficult, tell your old man.
My father’s reassuring voice continued.
After the call ended, I lowered my phone and smiled faintly.
‘I envy that.’
I don’t remember my parents’ faces from my past life.
I was abandoned in front of a grilled meat restaurant the moment I was born and spent half my life in an orphanage.
That’s why I never knew what unconditional parental support felt like.
I only learned what that emotion was and how reassuring it could be from books.
But now, reborn, I’m experiencing it firsthand.
I felt envious and sorry.
After washing the empty ramen bowl, I stepped outside.
As I entered the elevator, my eyes gradually turned cold.
Today was the first hearing.
Koo Sang-jin, the defense attorney, would argue that the defendant Woo Su-jin had no intention whatsoever of murdering her sister and had nothing to do with the traffic accident.
The same applied to Jang Dong-ik, the driver named as an accomplice.
From the beginning until now, he’s been denying everything.
Today, I had to dismantle the carefully constructed lies they’d prepared.
The elevator stopped and I stepped out.
My phone rang again.
This time it was my younger brother Jin-young.
“Yeah, Jin-young.”
-Hyung, have you seen Jung-woo hyung?
“Jung-woo?”
-I told you about him before.
I paused to search my memory.
Lee Jung-woo.
A high school friend of mine who graduated from the Police University and currently works in the Dongnam Police Station Violent Crimes Division.
I’d heard there was a good chance he’d be transferred to Seoul in about a year.
According to my younger brother Jin-young, he was so carefree that you’d wonder how he ever got into the Police University.
“Oh, I remember. Why?”
-I ran into him at the neighborhood coffee shop yesterday.
“And?”
-I’ve got a big mouth, you know. I had a drink and went into the coffee shop, and I was pretty tipsy when I saw Jung-woo hyung. I guess I was happy to see him. I told him about your accident, how you fell from the fifth floor of an apartment. Then…
Jin-young said Lee Jung-woo had dragged him around the scene of the apartment where I’d fallen.
Here and there, without stopping, until 2 AM.
Picturing my younger brother’s pitiful state, I couldn’t help but laugh.
“You must have had it rough.”
-I don’t know, he said he’d see you right away at dawn and drove to Gangwon Province. You know how he is, right? Well, anyway, thanks for your hard work.
I put my phone in my pocket and turned toward the parking lot.
That was when it happened.
“Kim Seo-jin!”
A thick, gruff voice called out.
A large, sharp-featured man approached me.
I’d seen his photograph before.
That bastard was Lee Jung-woo.
Lee Jung-woo walked toward me with his hands shoved in his pockets.
“Heard you were hurt?”
“Yeah.”
“You remember me?”
“I know who you are.”
Lee Jung-woo lit a cigarette and exhaled smoke like a sigh.
His rough features twisted as he spoke.
“…I’m going to find that bastard who pushed you, I swear it.”
“How do you know he was pushed and didn’t just fall?”
“A violent crimes detective’s intuition. That spot at the redevelopment complex—perfect for dropping someone.”
I’d been wondering about that too.
Everything about my past self’s fall from the fifth floor of the Redevelopment Apartment Complex—the circumstances, the details—all of it was a mystery.
I’d checked the surrounding CCTV footage, but nothing turned up. Even the person who called 119 had no record.
I wanted to hear more from Lee Jung-woo, but it was time to head to court.
“You said you were on vacation?”
“Yeah?”
“Get in the car.”
I climbed into the driver’s seat, and Lee Jung-woo settled into the passenger side, fastening his seatbelt as he spoke.
“But man, you’ve gotten so serious. Can’t you joke around like you used to? You loved girl groups! You always said girl groups are always right!”
“Hold on…. I have something I need to focus on right now.”
“Ah, that Woo Su-jin case? That’s famous at our station too. Koo Sang-jin’s lawyer is going all out on it, right?”
“Yeah, so let’s just stay quiet for now and talk after the trial ends.”
I pressed down hard on the accelerator.
The car glided toward the courthouse.
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“Is the prosecution really just shadowboxing like Attorney Koo said?”
“It’s very likely. The prosecutor who indicted this case is a rookie. This is their debut.”
The quiet courthouse had erupted into chaos.
Reporters were spewing cigarette smoke and voicing their own theories.
“So they just took their first case and worked unnecessarily hard? It’s just a traffic accident, but they think they’re Sherlock and invented a whole crime.”
“That makes sense.”
The reporters chuckled among themselves.
JTJ Law Firm had been releasing press statements day after day.
All of them contained the same message: the defendant Woo Su-jin was, in fact, innocent.
-Woo Su-jin had lived diligently, preparing breakfast for her nephews right up until her arrest.
-She had wept for three days and nights after her sister’s death.
It was emotional manipulation masquerading as news, utterly disconnected from the facts of the case.
Yet public opinion wavered, whispering, “There’s no way someone like that could be the culprit!”
“The Prosecution’s Office is going to take a beating this time. No matter how I think about it, a rookie beating Koo Sang-jin is nearly impossible.”
The veteran journalist’s words carried weight, and the other reporters nodded in agreement.
That was when it happened.
The clamorous hallway suddenly fell silent.
Footsteps echoed—steady, deliberate.
Every journalist’s gaze shifted in that direction.
It was Seo Jin.
And in that same moment, the veteran journalist who had just declared that a rookie couldn’t possibly defeat Koo Sang-jin muttered under his breath.
“…Is he really a rookie?”
He had spent years grinding through courtrooms.
He knew all too well how nervous a prosecutor was on their debut case.
But Seo Jin was different.
He paid no mind to the journalists surrounding this place, nor to attorney Koo Sang-jin.
His demeanor was unhurried, composed.
The veteran journalist licked his dry lips.
“Koo Sang-jin might actually be humiliated.”
And as Seo Jin walked down the corridor, he lifted his gaze.
The whispers of the journalists never reached his ears.
His vision held only the courtroom ahead.
Seo Jin grasped the cold door handle and twisted it open.
‘It begins.’

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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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