Chapter 69 – Money – Part 10

Chapter 69 – Money – Part 10

Kim Cheolung chuckled.

“Of course. I really like people who are calculating. Please continue to be good with the bottom line, alright? Let’s go!”

Woojin entered the Central District Prosecutors’ Office building with Prosecutor Kim Cheolung, whose exact title was Deputy Division Chief Prosecutor.

Entering the lobby, Woojin saw many people.

People with uneasy expressions, those who looked worn out.

And the faces of the prosecutors he had already identified.

Woojin had recognized the organizational chart of the Central District Prosecutors’ Office and the faces of the prosecutors.

Prosecutor Kim Cheolung smiled.

“It’s the same outside as it is here; people live everywhere. There’s nothing special about it.”

Woojin slowly nodded his head, taking in his surroundings.

Seeing the prosecutors moving around in groups of two or three, it was clear that a hierarchy had formed within the Prosecution.

Their expressions said it all.

Just then,

Kim Cheolung bowed his head to someone.

“Department Head.”

The Division Chief Prosecutor, who had nodded, looked at Woojin and asked,

“Who is this?”

“Oh, he’s the nephew of a close older brother. He dreams of being a Prosecutor, so I brought him along for a tour.”

“He could be a celebrity. Being a Prosecutor used to be fun, but now it’s not fun and you don’t make money.”

Saying that, the Division Chief Prosecutor casually placed a hand on Prosecutor Kim Cheolung’s shoulder.

“Are you that free? You even have time to give tours. How long has it been since you became Vice Department Head…? Tsk.”

Despite his scolding, Kim Cheolung smiled broadly and bowed.

“I’ll work hard!”

By the time Kim Cheolung straightened up, the Division Chief Prosecutor was already far away.

Kim Cheolung watched the Division Chief Prosecutor’s retreating back with a smile.

That smile was interpreted differently in Woojin’s mind.

Prosecutor Kim Cheolung’s gaze was not pleased.

Kim Cheolung then turned around, looked around, and said,

“Our Profiler, where should I show you first?”

“I’d like to see the office where Prosecutor works. Would I be intruding?”

“No? Why? It’s not difficult at all. Let’s go.”

Woojin got into the elevator with Kim Cheolung and got off on the third floor.

People pushing carts were sparsely seen in the hallway, and the documents piled on them were abundant.

Prosecutor Kim Cheolung knocked on the office door and went inside.

Woojin followed him.

“Deputy Department Head.”

The junior prosecutor, who looked to be in his mid-30s, widened his eyes.

It was because Deputy Department Head Kim Cheolung was not someone who would come to his office like this; he would usually summon him to his own office.

“Are you busy?”

“No. I’m fine.”

He said that, but documents were piled high around the junior prosecutor.

“But Deputy Department Head, what brings you here…?”

Kim Cheolung said in a playful tone.

“I came to supervise, why?”

“Would you like a cup of coffee?”

“That’d be great. Where is everyone?”

“I ordered something. But who is this…?”

“A nephew I know. He said his dream is to be a prosecutor. I was showing him around.”

The junior prosecutor smiled and extended his hand.

“Nice to meet you.”

Woojin shook his hand and bowed slightly.

“Hello.”

The junior prosecutor released Woojin’s hand and said,

“Being a prosecutor isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”

He chuckled and headed to the refrigerator.

Woojin looked around the office once more.

It didn’t seem like anything special for a prosecutor’s office. There were just a lot of documents.

At that moment, Kim Cheolung, looking at the documents piled high on both sides, said,

“Hey, Taeho, are you still separating them like this? I told you not to do it this way. You’re doing double work.”

“It’s become a habit… I’ll try to fix it.”

“Fix it quickly. This is just wasting your time.”

Suddenly, Kim Cheolung’s head, which had seemed to be scolding, turned to Woojin.

“Um, nephew. Can you tell if this should be dismissed or if they should be arrested?”

He was someone who had memorized the laws by heart.

Even the amendment dates.

“Oh, come on, Deputy Department Head, don’t give my nephew a headache already.”

Well,

Just because he memorized laws like a machine didn’t mean he could apply them in practice.

Kim Cheolung let out a chuckle, wondering what he had been expecting.

“Can I look?”

“Oh? Of course you can. Do you want to take a look?”

Woojin took the documents Kim Cheolung handed him.

And he started flipping through them, rustle, rustle.

Less than two minutes passed like that.

“Based on Article 25, Paragraph 1, this is grounds for arrest.”

Kim Cheolung blinked.

Prosecutor Chae Taeho was also surprised, and he spoke.

“Wow… He knows just by glancing through it. Hahaha!”

Of course, he thought Woojin had just guessed. But that thought was only for a moment.

‘Did he just mention Criminal Law?’

Conversely, Kim Cheolung, as if to confirm something, handed him another thick document.

“And this one?”

Rustle, rustle. Rustle…

This is also enough reason for an arrest.

Chae Taeho mumbled without realizing it.

What is it, this guy…

Woojin said.

Can I see everything?

Kim Cheolung ran his hands through his hair, as if he couldn’t believe it, and replied,

Yes. Take a look. Look at everything.

Woojin approached the stack of documents.

He began by checking the documents stacked on the right.

After checking half of them, Woojin picked up the documents on the left.

Woojin, who had been examining about half of them just like the first time, let go of the documents.

This was because he had discovered a pattern divided into left and right.

There were no interesting cases either.

In other words, they were of no value to him.

There were only miscellaneous cases such as fights while drunk, minor copyright infringements, and fare evasion.

Soon, Woojin said,

You’ve categorized them, arrests on the right and non-prosecutions on the left.

Prosecutor Chae Taeho scratched his head, trying to understand the current situation.

Scratching can be a form of self-harm, an act to relieve stress.

These were the documents he had reviewed for two days without even being able to go home.

He wanted to deny that everything was being guessed so accurately.

Woojin said,

Actually, I just guessed.

Chae Taeho’s expression relaxed for a moment.

However, his pupils were still dilated.

“How can you just guess like that, you’re not a shaman or anything…”

Kim Cheolung, who was scratching his cheek, cut off Chae Taeho’s words.

“My nephew is pretty good at guessing. Let’s go. Let’s go.”

Kim Cheolung quickly went outside as if to hide Woojin.

Chae Taeho, who had been staring blankly at where Woojin had gone out, fixed his gaze on the documents Woojin had looked through.

“What is it?”

* * *

Woojin walked around the Central District Prosecutors’ Office building for an hour.

At first, Prosecutor Kim Cheolung led the way as if guiding him, but gradually Woojin’s steps went ahead of his.

Kim Cheolung couldn’t help but gasp at Woojin’s eccentric behavior, even looking at the bathroom.

Woojin’s back view made Prosecutor Kim Cheolung think a lot.

His discernment was incredible, and on top of that, his speed reading was insane.

He was well-versed in law and even profiling…

Isn’t he an amazing talent for the Police and Prosecution?

Shin Woojin seemed to be perfectly specialized in this field.

If you don’t think this way, it doesn’t make sense. It’s just a mystery.

Kim Cheolung spoke up.

“Oh my… I’m out of breath after exercising for a long time. What did you say your major was?”

“Business Department.”

“Are you going to do business administration later too?”

“No. I wanted to go to a normal university.”

Kim Cheolung let out a hollow, mechanical laugh.

“Hahaha. Normal, that’s good.”

His true feelings were different.

‘Are you kidding me, old man?’

Then, Woojin said,

“Now we just need to see the Interrogation Room.”

Kim Cheolung laughed like someone who had given up on everything.

They passed the District Chief Prosecutor’s Office Hallway, then the 1st Deputy Manager’s, 2nd Deputy Manager’s, 3rd Deputy Manager’s, and even the 4th Deputy Manager’s offices.

If he had known this would happen, he would have assigned an Investigator much earlier…

“Prosecutor Kim Cheolung, it’s dinner time. Can we order food in the Interrogation Room? Sundae-gukbap, please.”

Kim Cheolung stared at Woojin as if his thoughts had stopped.

Since yesterday, he really couldn’t, absolutely couldn’t, get a handle on him at all.

‘Why is he doing this…? What’s the reason for this…?’

***

Prosecutor Chae Taeho and a Junior Prosecutor were looking at the Interrogation Room.

“Why is Deputy Department Head Kim Cheolung acting like that? And who is that person?”

“He said it’s a nephew he knows, but I don’t know why he’s acting like that either.”

Deputy Department Head Kim Cheolung was eating gukbap with the student, who he claimed was his nephew, in the Interrogation Room, and Woojin’s appearance was quite a sight.

Blowing on the gukbap and eating it with kkakdugi was a Righteous Path that made one’s mouth water.

It was as if he was someone devouring a hot bowl of gukbap in the dead of winter.

Soon, Woojin, having finished his dinner at his desired location, left the Interrogation Room with a satisfied expression.

And he immediately headed to Kim Cheolung’s Office.

No one was in the Office when he arrived.

This was because Kim Cheolung had instructed everyone to leave on time.

“Here.”

Kim Cheolung opened the door to a small Break Room.

Woojin peered inside.

Investigation records were piled up immensely.

“Quite a lot, right?”

“Did you say it was a little less than 5,000 pages?”

“Yes.”

“That’s a good amount.”

“Think of today as a warm-up, and just slowly go through it. Let me know if you need anything.”

“Can I have some of that candy over there?”

“Oh, of course!”

Kim Cheolung grabbed a handful of candy from the small basket and handed it to Woojin.

“Thank you.”

“Alright, let’s do our best, shall we?”

Woojin, who had unwrapped and eaten a candy, sat on the sofa.

He then picked up the documents in front of him and rustled through them.

The order of the cases didn’t matter.

He just had to look at them and piece them together like a puzzle anyway.

Rustle, rustle.

Had twenty minutes passed like that?

Kim Cheolung was startled to see Woojin emerge from the break room.

‘Could it be already?’

“I’ll be right back from the bathroom.”

“Uh… yes, go ahead.”

As Woojin left, Kim Cheolung rubbed his forehead with his palm.

He couldn’t understand why he was surprised, or why he felt relieved now.

He felt disoriented, as if possessed by a ghost.

After going to the bathroom, Woojin returned and re-entered the break room.

Woojin unwrapped a candy and put it in his mouth, slowly nodding his head as he looked at the pictures.

Fifteen years ago, the female president of a bar was found in Wooded Hill.

The bar president’s car was found near the murder scene, and the police deduced that she was kidnapped and transported in her own car.

There was no blood in the car, and no signs of sexual assault on the body.

However, different DNA was found in the car.

The police investigated with romantic entanglement and grudges in mind.

Woojin looked at other photos.

They were pictures of the criminal at an ATM.

The photos showed cash being withdrawn from various locations using the victim’s card on the day of the incident.

However, the criminal’s face was perfectly covered by a hat and mask, making identification impossible.

The police conducted an active investigation by questioning people based on the discovered DNA.

They also secured several witnesses.

However, the witnesses’ statements had significant discrepancies, making them unreliable.

A man who was named as a strong suspect was soon excluded from the list of suspects.

This was because his DNA did not match.

Five years passed, and another murder case occurred in the same place.

The police achieved the feat of arresting a criminal, and although they investigated him as a strong suspect in the bar president’s murder case, he turned out to be unrelated to that crime.

Thus, the bar president’s murder case from 15 years ago remains an unsolved case.

Woojin looked at the various photos and nodded his head once more.

“Coffee?”

Prosecutor Kim Cheolung, standing at the door, peeked his head in and asked.

“No. There are two criminals.”

Kim Cheolung’s eyes widened.

It hadn’t even been an hour.

No, more importantly, they shouldn’t catch them now.

Before catching the criminals, PD Choi needed to create a story and broadcast it on Room Song, and they needed to throw bait to reporters to create an issue…

Kim Cheolung, whose mind had gone blank, asked with a pounding heart.

“Not one person? You’re saying there appear to be two criminals? You can’t identify them?”

“No. I can identify them.”

Kim Cheolung raised his voice as if to contradict Woojin’s words.

“It’s an unsolved case from 15 years ago!? You can identify them after an hour of looking!”

“Yes.”

“Really!? Why don’t I believe it!?”

“Then shall we make a bet?”

Woojin recalled an impressive comment he had seen on YouTube and spoke again.

It seemed appropriate to use in this situation.

“I’ll bet everything but my underwear.”

Woojin’s expression was serious.