#197

Lee Seon-jae contacted Prosecutor Baek at the entrance of the Prosecutor’s Office. Soon after, an investigator working with Baek Gyu-ri came out to the main gate to greet him. The investigator’s face was covered in fatigue, and he yawned incessantly.

The investigator opened the door to the prosecutor’s office, allowing Seon-jae and Yong to enter first. Baek Gyu-ri glanced up and unwrapped something in foil. It was kimbap.

“Chief Kim, you’ve worked hard. Go home now.”

“Ugh, my back. Can’t you ease up a little? Prosecutor, you’ll end up bald like me.”

The investigator, called Chief Kim, made a self-deprecating joke and quickly grabbed his bag.

“Prosecutor, I’m leaving. It’s okay if I’m late tomorrow morning, right?”

“Of course. Come in slowly after lunch. Go to the sauna.”

“Why, are you trying to take my desk?”

“How did you know?”

The two men exchanged corny jokes, flaunting their camaraderie.

The investigator glanced at Seon-jae and Yong, then said, “See you tomorrow,” to Prosecutor Baek and left the office. Prosecutor Baek waved innocently at the investigator.

There was no need to worry about clothing. Prosecutor Baek was wearing a tracksuit, and it looked like she hadn’t washed her hair in at least three days.

Baek Gyu-ri, with her bobbed hair tied up, munched on the kimbap wrapped in foil.

“Security has become tight because of Jeong Jae-jin, so it’s quite annoying. Please, sit down.”

That’s roughly what she seemed to say.

Instead of sitting down, Seon-jae looked around the office. It was similar in size to Jeong Jae-jin’s office, with piles of filed documents and papers stacked everywhere. In addition, the air conditioner was off, making it stuffy, and the smell of kimbap, even with the windows open, was slightly nauseating.

Prosecutor Baek, whether she noticed or not, scratched her head vigorously with a pen.

Why the hell is that son of a bitch growing his hair out?

Seon-jae frowned openly.

This was only the second time Seon-jae had actually seen Baek Gyu-ri, whom the detectives called ‘bbakkyu’ or ‘ppeokkyu’ and the prosecutors called Baek-gura. The first time they met, she had a buzz cut, so he wondered what wind had blown her to grow it out like that. With her height and build, she looked like a pervert with that bobbed hair.

Prosecutor Baek shoved the remaining kimbap into her mouth, crumpled the foil, and threw it into the trash can.

“But who is that man?”

Prosecutor Baek asked, looking at Yong. Of course, her pronunciation wasn’t clear because of the kimbap, but that’s what she said.

“Bodyguard.”

Seon-jae answered briefly, matching her short words.

“Ah. Bodyguard.”

Prosecutor Baek, having swallowed all the kimbap, finally showed proper pronunciation.

When Seon-jae’s gaze remained fixed on her bobbed hair, Prosecutor Baek smiled. Then, she suddenly let her hair down and shook her head, imitating a shampoo commercial. Even though her hair didn’t flow smoothly because it was greasy, she wore a satisfied smile.

That son of a bitch, really.

Seon-jae twitched his lips.

“I started growing it because I lost a bet, but it suits me pretty well, right?”

She asked nonchalantly.

“By the way, Seon-jae, you’re still beautiful.”

Prosecutor Baek didn’t forget to flirt with Seon-jae while tying her hair back up.

Prosecutor Baek, two classes senior in the prosecution but a college classmate of Jeong Jae-jin, knew that Jeong Jae-jin had almost been strangled to death during his first meeting with Seon-jae, and often flirted like that. It wasn’t because she actually had feelings for Seon-jae, but she seemed to be under the illusion that she was quite a funny person by acting that way. Frankly, compared to Jeong Jae-jin, she was a funny guy.

“Is Jae-jin okay? When I went, he was conscious and talking.”

He belatedly asked about Jeong Jae-jin’s well-being.

“He’s touch and go.”

Seon-jae answered honestly.

Jeong Jae-jin would pull through, but it was true that he was in critical condition.

Still, Seon-jae couldn’t quite grasp the fact that Jeong Jae-jin was seriously injured. The sight of him lying in bed wearing an oxygen mask looked like an act. He even wondered if he was actually healthy but pretending to be sick on purpose to show Lee Seok-doo. Perhaps that’s what he wanted to believe.

“Well, he was conscious enough to tell me to go see you, Prosecutor.”

As he added this, Prosecutor Baek nodded lightly.

“Please, sit down. This is going to be a long conversation.”

This time, Prosecutor Baek spoke with a serious face, devoid of all playfulness.

“You there, bodyguard, please step outside. We have something to discuss privately.”

Even Yong couldn’t refuse a prosecutor’s request.

He left the office without looking back.

“You’ve got a bodyguard, you’ve really made it.”

Prosecutor Baek sneered.

“I made it a long time ago.”

Seon-jae didn’t back down.

Prosecutor Baek dragged two chairs to the center of the cramped office, sat in one of them, and pointed to the other.

“Please, sit down.”

Seon-jae sat facing Prosecutor Baek.

“Why did you call Detective Oh Dae-Ho?”

Judging by her expression, it seemed she was asking not out of curiosity but to confirm something she already knew.

“I was curious what information he sold to Lee Seok-doo.”

“You haven’t received any calls since then?”

“As you know, no. Detective Oh must be worried. He only has one life.”

Prosecutor Baek nodded slowly at Seon-jae’s answer. After a moment of silence, “Detective Oh Dae-Ho is involved in the attack on Jae-jin.”

She revealed.

Seon-jae let out a hollow laugh. It was hard enough to believe that Park Dong-Hee had stabbed Jeong Jae-jin, but now Detective Oh Dae-Ho was involved too? How could he not laugh?

“Lee Seok-doo is behind Oh Dae-Ho.”

That made more sense.

But no matter how much Lee Seok-doo had requested it, it was still hard to believe that a police officer would stab a current prosecutor. Of course, if he had thrown money that could last a lifetime as bait, it would be a different story, but even so, the fact that Park Dong-Hee and Oh Dae-Ho, whom he knew, had harmed Jeong Jae-jin sounded like a terrible joke.

“Has Detective Oh been arrested?”

“Not yet. I’m deliberately leaving him alone to see what he does. Well, the media has been taken care of.”

“Ah.”

Now Seon-jae’s curiosity was satisfied.

It had been two days since Jeong Jae-jin was attacked, but no information about it had leaked into this world at all. Seon-jae only found out after receiving a call from Jeong Eun-hee.

The fact that the media, which would have been in an uproar by now, was silent meant that the police and prosecution were properly controlling the information. Of course, bigwigs like Chairman Shin would have been tipped off through informants, but they would have pretended not to hear it because it was such sensitive information.

In particular, Chairman Shin kept his mouth shut even though he knew that Lee Seon-jae had worked with Jeong Jae-jin. It was to prevent unnecessary sparks from flying, as Seon-jae could have been suspected of being behind it.

“What did Park Dong-Hee say?”

“He’s rambling. But it’s consistent. Would you like to see it?”

Prosecutor Baek handed over the indictment and investigation records for Park Dong-Hee, as if she was too lazy to explain.

“Are you allowed to show me internal documents?”

Seon-jae asked, taking the documents. He opened the investigation records first.

The reason Prosecutor Baek showed him the investigation records was because Seon-jae knew how Il-gwang pulled off scams, and how to spot them. So, she wanted him to check if there were any familiar names or patterns in the records.

“Beat Karaoke.”

Seon-jae said.

“It’s been a while.”

He said.

“It’s been closed for two years.”

“That’s probably right. That’s about when they pulled off their last scam there.”

Park Dong-Hee had been properly scammed.

“The CCTV wouldn’t have been working, of course. Am I right?”

“Well, Park Dong-Hee wandering around near Beat Karaoke and Oh Dae-Ho going in and out of the store in that direction were caught on camera, but as you said, we didn’t get any important scenes. The crazy bastards cut all the CCTV lines even in front of the Prosecutor’s Office.”

This was a common tactic used by most gangsters who pulled off scams, not just Il-gwang. However, it was rare to take such a risky gamble as tampering with the area around the Prosecutor’s Office.

“What about the car that the Chief Secretary was riding in?”

Prosecutor Baek leaned forward, drawing Seon-jae’s attention.

“Coincidentally, it was rented from a used car dealership run by Kim Byung-chan.”

Seon-jae looked up at Prosecutor Baek.

“Kim Byung-chan does rentals too?”

Prosecutor Baek shrugged.

“Well, he says he just started a few days ago.”

Seon-jae recalled his visit to Kim Byung-chan’s used car dealership. The only decent vehicles were trucks like Porters, and there wasn’t a single foreign car among the passenger cars brought in to fill the ranks.

“Where did Kim Byung-chan get that car?”

“Kim Byung-chan’s boss gave it to him three days ago. Saying, why don’t you try starting a rental business?”

“Of course, the boss would have said he never did that.”

“Bingo.”

“Kim Byung-chan got properly involved too.”

Tsk. He clicked his tongue.

Park Dong-Hee, Oh Dae-Ho, and even Kim Byung-chan, corrupt detectives, were all involved. Lee Seok-doo had properly screwed over the detectives.

“Kim Byung-chan and Detective Oh were only investigated as witnesses and sent back for now. Of course, while pretending to be accommodating, we allowed Oh Hyung and Park Dong-Hee to meet briefly.”

Seon-jae waited for Prosecutor Baek to continue.

“Of course, Detective Oh denied all charges. He said he had never met Park Dong-Hee, never introduced anyone, and certainly never instigated such a terrible thing.”

Of course, he would have. Which detective would confess to being involved in a case where a dismissed police officer stabbed a current prosecutor, of all things?

But Prosecutor Baek wouldn’t have let him go so easily.

“But after listening to their conversation, it’s true that Detective Oh introduced Park Dong-Hee to Lee Seok-doo, and it’s also true that he met that Chief Secretary at Beat Karaoke first and waited for Park Dong-Hee. But there were exactly two differences.”

Saying this, Prosecutor Baek held up her index and middle fingers.

“One is that Detective Oh knew the man Park Dong-Hee knew as the Chief Secretary as Sales Manager Lee Young-man.”

And she folded her index finger.

Because of that, only her middle finger was raised, making it look like she was flipping Seon-jae off. It was obvious without asking that Prosecutor Baek had deliberately raised her index and middle fingers to make it look that way.

Prosecutor Baek glanced at her middle finger and smiled slightly. Then, she told the remaining difference.

“The work Lee Seok-doo wanted him to do.”

Prosecutor Baek folded her middle finger after a time lag and then straightened her posture again.

“Detective Oh had no idea that Park Dong-Hee was going to stab Jeong Jae-jin. No, at least he claims he didn’t know.”

“Then why did Detective Oh introduce Park Dong-Hee?”

“Yoon Ki-beom.”

Prosecutor Baek said the man’s name without hesitation.

Yoon Ki-beom. Seon-jae raised his eyebrows.

So, this was why Jeong Jae-jin had told Seon-jae to go see Prosecutor Baek.

“He said he had something to ask the Ansan Police Station about the Yoon Ki-beom case.”

Seon-jae made a displeased expression.

Detective Oh’s words didn’t make sense at all. There was no way Lee Seok-doo would have given Detective Oh such a large sum of money, 100 million won, just for insufficient documents. Detective Oh must have handed over something concrete, so Lee Seok-doo would have compensated him in cash without any conditions. But he sent Park Dong-Hee because he had something to ask about Yoon Ki-beom? That was a flimsy excuse that anyone could see through.

Reading Seon-jae’s expression, Prosecutor Baek added an explanation.

“Lee Seok-doo had something to ask the Ansan Police Station about Yoon Ki-beom, and he said that a current police officer would get a more lenient response, so he asked him to introduce someone. Of course, he didn’t say that to me, he said it to Kim Byung-chan. Anyway, as Detective Oh was saying that, it felt strange. He clearly handed everything over himself. He suspected that there was something else to ask the detective in charge about, belatedly.”

Detective Oh, who must have handled hundreds of criminal cases, had passed his junior to Lee Seok-doo because of Lee Seok-doo’s clumsy excuses. Detective Oh must be bitterly regretting his mistake by now. But that wouldn’t change anything.

“What’s the reason for calling me?”

Seon-jae, who had already heard enough about the case, asked directly.

“Meet Detective Oh.”

It was an unexpected suggestion.

“Me?”

“You were going to meet him anyway, weren’t you?”

“That was before I knew Park Dong-Hee stabbed Prosecutor Jeong Jae-jin.”

“Don’t you need information? Didn’t you want to know what case Yoon Ki-beom was involved in?”

Prosecutor Baek asked in a challenging manner.

Seon-jae chuckled.

“How much do you know, Prosecutor?”

Seon-jae probed, and

“I can’t tell you that now. You’re quite the fox, Seon-jae. Aren’t you?”

Prosecutor Baek slipped away like an eel.

“How about it? Are you willing to meet him?”

It was closer to an order than a request.

But it didn’t feel bad. Since he was going to meet him anyway, Seon-jae had no reason to refuse.

“Sure, why not. But will he meet me? He should be going after Lee Seok-doo.”

“He already tried.”

Prosecutor Baek said this and made a gesture of slitting his throat with a hand chop, making a ‘snick’ sound.

“Typical Lee Seok-doo.”

Seon-jae mocked.

Did Detective Oh really not know that Lee Seok-doo would react like that?

He knew better than anyone else what kind of person Lee Seok-doo was while carrying out this operation, so it was pathetic that he was completely taken in by Lee Seok-doo.

The fact that Lee Seok-doo immediately cut off Park Dong-Hee and Detective Oh meant that he had already obtained all the information he needed. In other words, it also meant that he would never see them again.

Detective Oh, who would have been turned away by Lee Seok-doo, would naturally be on pins and needles. The 100 million won that would not have been exposed if it weren’t for the Park Dong-Hee case was now a bribe and it was only a matter of time before it was confiscated. So, Detective Oh sold not only information but also his junior for 100 million won that he couldn’t even have.

Park Dong-Hee had already been arrested and indicted, and his family was looking for a lawyer. But given the nature of the case, he would probably have to settle for a public defender.

Prosecutor Baek was deliberately letting Kim Byung-chan and Detective Oh loose in order to uncover the mastermind behind the attack on Jeong Jae-jin. He was going to dig into the case in that way until he found evidence to link Lee Seok-doo to this case. That’s probably why Jeong Jae-jin called Seon-jae.

But was it safe?

The subject of safety was not Prosecutor Baek, but of course Detective Oh and Kim Byung-chan.

Well, they’ll take care of it themselves.

Seon-jae got up from his seat.

“The sooner the better. The pressure from above is no joke.”

Prosecutor Baek followed suit, pointing to the ceiling with his index finger.

Seon-jae said he would and grabbed the doorknob.

“By the way, Seon-jae, how much do you know about the case involving Yoon Ki-beom?”

Prosecutor Baek asked, speaking to his back. He seemed to know that Seon-jae had received the police data by express delivery yesterday.

“Where can I contact you?”

Seon-jae asked a different question instead of answering. Then Prosecutor Baek replied, “Mobile phone.”

“I’m not often in my office.”

Prosecutor Baek didn’t ask any more about Yoon Ki-beom.

“Shouldn’t you give me something for this?”

Seon-jae turned around and asked.

“Oh, we’re wiretapping, but Lee Seok-doo is doing it too, so there’s a lot of confusion. We get tangled up with each other when we’re tailing someone. You know?”

As if I didn’t know.

The two parted without saying goodbye.

Yong, who had been leaning against the wall with his hands in his pants pockets, straightened up as soon as he saw Seon-jae.

“Busy day ahead.”

Seon-jae said playfully and nodded for him to go. Yong, who had taken off his sunglasses because it was the prosecutor’s office, frowned and followed. Seon-jae laughed out loud because he found Yong’s instinctive expression of emotion funny.

It was time to warm up in earnest.

Seon-jae strode out of the prosecutor’s office.