By Zephyria 
When he gestured with his eyes for him to answer, Im Gyeong took the phone without hesitation.
Then, holding the phone between his cheek and ear, he leisurely scooped up some ice cream.
“Hello?”
Im Gyeong laughed at whatever Yoon Se-na said.
“Really? He’s more useful than he looks, why?”
Hee-shin didn’t know what they were talking about, but it felt like they were talking about him, which didn’t leave him feeling great. He left the teaspoon stuck in the ice cream container as the conversation continued. In the meantime, Kang Hee-shin tidied up the cluttered table.
“Was that so? No, I saw it too. Is he doing well?”
Im Gyeong looked incredibly relaxed. They didn’t raise their voices and sounded no different from any other pair of siblings. If anything, it was Hee-shin who felt flustered. A moment later, after finishing the call, Im Gyeong fiddled with the phone. When Hee-shin quickly snatched it away, he found that the recording of the call had been vanished without a trace.
He was speechless.
“What is this? Why are you touching things without permission?”
“Isn’t it problematic to listen to someone else’s recorded conversations, Prosecutor?”
As Hee-shin glared at him through gritted teeth, Im Gyeong stood up while still holding the ice cream.
He found the lid, covered it, and put it back in the freezer.
“Don’t throw it away. I’ll eat it next time I come.”
Next time, my foot. Before Im Gyeong could even move, Hee-shin grabbed his coat and stood by the entrance. It was a clear signal for him to get out quickly. Seeing this, Im Gyeong let out a hollow laugh.
“Am I leaving already?”
Hee-shin thrust the coat forward pointedly.
“Goodbye.”
Im Gyeong smiled as he took the coat.
“We really seem like a newlywed couple.”
“Sure, just go.”
When Hee-shin personally opened the front door for him, Im Gyeong’s eyebrows drooped. He complained about being kicked out, saying he was already leaving on his own. Even after putting on his shoes, Im Gyeong lingered at the entrance with a reluctant look on his face.
“Can I come over to play again?”
“Get home safely.”
“How is your schedule next week?”
“Yes, get home safely.”
“Fuck, are you a parrot?”
Hee-shin pushed his half-lingering body out and slammed the door shut. Thump. Once the door closed, it was quiet outside. After letting out a low sigh, he walked over to the sofa and flopped down. Belatedly, a stiffness crept up from his neck to his temples. This always happened whenever he was tense. Conversely, it meant he was tense whenever he was with Im Gyeong.
While pressing his temples with his thumbs to soothe the headache, he stood up and noticed a wallet that had fallen on the sofa. Opening the folded wallet, he found a business card along with some credit cards. Kang Hee-shin. Realizing there was nothing else inside other than the card with his own name, he felt a strange sensation.
While he was pondering how to return it, the doorbell rang.
When he opened the door, Im Gyeong poked his face in as if he had been waiting.
“The wallet—”
Hee-shin pushed the wallet through the gap in the door and slammed it shut the moment Im Gyeong took it.
A moment later, his phone rang.
-That’s too harsh.
“I gave you the wallet, so what’s the problem?”
-You took the business card, didn’t you?
When Hee-shin didn’t answer, Im Gyeong laughed and said goodbye, telling him to have sweet dreams tonight. His voice was so sweet it felt like a delusion. As soon as he hung up, exhaustion washed over him, and he lay sprawled on the sofa without even washing up.
Closing his eyes, the events of the day flashed before him.
-Now, choose. Whether you’ll catch my son, or Chairman Shim.
Suddenly, he bolted upright. He brushed back his hair, which had been messily tugged during his deliberation, took a deep breath, and searched for the name ‘Crowtit’ in his phone to make a call. After a moment, the voice of someone waking up from sleep came through the receiver.
-Ah, seriously… Do you not sleep?
5 days later—
As he entered the room, the gaze of Chief Prosecutor Jo Cheol-woong, who was on the phone, flew toward him. After signaling him to sit with a gesture, Jo continued the call. “Yes, I’ll call you back. Of course. I should.” Hearing the slightly excited tone, Hee-shin wondered who the other person was. After hanging up, Jo came over and sat down. Then, he gave a mean smile.
“Wouldn’t it have been great if you’d done this from the start? Huh? That brat’s stubbornness almost made me look like a bad guy.”
Ah, he thinks he knows who that was. A bitter taste filled his mouth. Instead of showing it, he pushed the documents he had brought forward. As Chief Prosecutor Jo took them and examined them, his expression gradually hardened. Since Jo only looked at Hee-shin with his eyes, Hee-shin waited silently for an answer.
“What is this? I thought the bomb was defused, but you’ve brought in a nuclear bomb?”
“If you permit it, I will handle it.”
“Where did you get this? Is it certain?”
“I’ve completed the verification process. I’ve also secured a witness.”
“A witness?”
“Financial Director Kwak Seong-tae.”
The Chief Prosecutor’s eyes widened as much as they could. He tapped the armrest of the sofa with his finger—tap, tap—and put an electronic cigarette in his mouth. Then, he suddenly asked an out-of-the-blue question.
“You’re not thinking of going into politics, are you?”
“No, sir.”
“Good. You shouldn’t be.”
Despite his words, he meticulously scanned the documents. After checking every page to the end, he set the folder down on the table.
“Will you be okay? The scale is too large.”
“I am prepared.”
At his unwavering attitude, Jo’s eyes narrowed.
“Did you meet Assemblyman Choi?”
This time, he was clearly testing him.
“No, sir.”
“Then why did you suddenly change your mind?”
His eyes gleamed sharply, as if trying to determine if it was the truth.
“I judged that you were right, sir. Digging further wouldn’t benefit me and would only be exhausting. And if I’m going to do it, I’d rather play in the big leagues.”
While using the expression ‘big leagues,’ Hee-shin looked at the folder in front of him.
After being lost in thought, Chief Prosecutor Jo nodded.
“Alright, just leave it and go. I have to report this to the higher-ups.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Hee-shin stood up. “I apologize for last time.” When he apologized politely, a satisfied smile spread across Jo’s face.
“If you know that, then do well, kid.”
As he walked down the hallway after leaving the room, Park Tae-min chased after him frantically.
“Didn’t you guys fight this time?”
“Where were you hiding? You appeared at just the right time. Do I even have the luxury to fight?”
“I heard the Kim Hae-sung case is being closed as a suicide.”
“You’re quick with the news.”
“Yeah. Good job. Digging into it for nothing only makes your life harder.”
His life was already hard enough as it was.
He wondered if adding one more thing to it would even make a difference.
“People like you and me need to be quick-witted. Quick-witted.”
“What do you mean by ‘people like you and me,’ Sunbae?”
“Dragons from the stream.”
It wasn’t a lie. But these days, they say there’s a difference between a Seoul dragon and a countryside dragon. What a ridiculous world. He suddenly thought of the fairy tale about the city mouse and the country mouse. In the story, the country mouse was the happy one, but he couldn’t be. He had no desire to return to the countryside. He wanted to succeed and live well here, no matter what.
Meanwhile, Park Tae-min hurriedly disappeared somewhere while taking a call. If one had to pick the busiest person in the Prosecutor’s Office, it would probably be Park Tae-min. Of course, he wasn’t just busy with work.
“Did the conversation go well?”
Chief Oh asked with a complicated expression as she looked at Hee-shin returning to the office. The Chief Prosecutor’s expression of bringing a nuclear bomb instead of a bomb might have been accurate. Looking at the fallout, this would be far greater than Choi Yoon-oh. And while this side had secured definitive evidence, Choi Yoon-oh did not. Thus, he justified it by telling himself he must do what he can now.
About ten minutes later, Chief Oh brought over her phone to show him.
-K Construction’s slush fund, surfacing?
The content of the article was relatively simple. There was no direct mention of an Assemblyman being involved. However, this would put great pressure on the opposing side. They would try even harder to find the Financial Director who fled abroad. But Financial Director Kwak Seong-tae had already been secured by Assemblyman Choi’s side. The more they moved, the more evidence they were simply piling up.
Did Im Gyeong see the article? As soon as he thought that, a call came in immediately.
When he didn’t answer, a message arrived.
-Thank you. It couldn’t have been easy to change your mind.
He felt the illusion of hearing the man’s voice. Slow, affectionate, and somehow intimidating. Just as he was about to send a reply, Yoon Se-na contacted him. She suggested having dinner if he finished early today. When he told her he’d likely be busy for a while, she sent an emoticon of herself crying.
He should have found it cute, but he couldn’t smile like he used to. He was still trying to understand why she had put a tail on him. In the midst of that, his youngest sister called. He felt that an unusually large number of people were seeking him out today. This was not a good omen.
Sure enough, when he answered, his youngest sister Min-hye’s voice sounded ominous.
-Oppa… Big brother… Big brother…
Min-hye couldn’t even finish her sentence because she was sobbing. She was a child who was always calm, unlike her age. Instinctively, he sensed that something had happened. That the thing he had always feared might have occurred. He stood frozen, focusing only on his sister’s voice.
When the call ended, the hand holding the phone dropped.
Chief Oh, who had been watching him, looked on with concern.
“Prosecutor? Is something wrong?”
Hee-shin grabbed his coat with a relatively composed face.
“Something came up. I’ll be going back to the countryside.”
Chief Oh stood up as well.
“…What happened?”
“It’s nothing much.”
However, as he stepped out the door, his face was stained with misery and sorrow.
After stepping into the hallway, his legs trembled so much that he couldn’t leave the spot for a long time.