The Inspector Is Getting Promoted! [EN]: Chapter 70

Prosecutor, You’re Going Places! – Episode 70 (70/341)

Deepening (5)

A moment later, a knock sounded, and Prosecutor Lee Doo-hyung entered the office.

“Hello, Senior Prosecutor.”

“Oh, you’re here?”

“Prosecutor Lee, it’s been a while.”

Yoon Seol-ha, knowing he was now under my command, greeted him warmly.

“Investigator, how have you been?”

“I’m doing well.”

“Clerk, you’ve become even more beautiful.”

Jo Ah-ra smiled brightly and stood up.

“I should make your coffee with double the sugar.”

“Ah, that’s the best news I’ve heard all day.”

I chuckled and guided him to the table.

“Have a seat over here.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I heard you’ve taken on a difficult case?”

“Yes. I never thought it would fall to me… but after looking into it, it’s a real mess.”

He placed the file he was carrying on the table.

The words on the cover of the file were large and clear:

‘Saint Harper Stock Manipulation Case.’

I questioned my eyes and asked him,

“Wait a minute, this Saint Harper case fell to Prosecutor Lee?”

“Yes. I don’t know why they gave me such a big case, but that’s how it turned out.”

Upon hearing that, I burst out laughing.

“Hahahaha!”

Chief Prosecutor Kang Hyun-soo, you son of a bitch.

I knew he was trying to avoid assigning the case to me, but I never imagined he’d give it to Prosecutor Lee Doo-hyung.

Look at the way he thinks.

That’s why he can’t escape from my grasp.

Puzzled, Prosecutor Lee Doo-hyung tilted his head, and I smirked as I asked,

“Do you roughly know what kind of case it is?”

“Yes. I’ve seen it a lot in the news.”

“Did you check the data?”

“Yes, I did, but this isn’t an ordinary case. There are powerful figures involved, so it won’t be easy to handle at my level…”

I stated firmly,

“They sent you to die.”

“……Excuse me?”

“Chief Kang gave you this to sacrifice you as a ‘nongae’ [a Korean term for a woman who sacrifices herself to harm the enemy].”

For a moment, he paused.

After a brief silence, he let out a soft exclamation as if he had finally realized it.

“Ah…”

“It’s obvious. You’re not part of his inner circle, so why would he give you this big case to solve and build achievements?”

Since I already knew the whole story, I could figure it all out, but from Prosecutor Lee Doo-hyung’s perspective, who unexpectedly received the case, there was no way he could have thought this far.

If a case that has become a national issue fell to him, who is always treated as an outcast in the Special Investigation Department, he would normally be overjoyed, thinking it was a chance for promotion.

In short, it’s like a Korean beef gift set with poison in it.

“I thought prosecutors from Senior Prosecutor’s or Chief Kang Hyun-soo’s line would take this case, but they assigned it to me, so I wondered what kind of windfall this was…”

He chuckled dryly.

“I realized it thanks to you, Senior Prosecutor.”

Prosecutor Lee Doo-hyung clenched his teeth.

“Since I have no connections or backing, I must have been the easiest target to sacrifice and get rid of.”

“That’s right. Besides us, no one knows that you’ve joined hands with me.”

When I looked at Yoon Seol-ha, she winked, and Jo Ah-ra, who was bringing coffee, also smiled and answered for her.

We had firmly instructed everyone not to disclose it to anyone except Prosecutor Lee Doo-hyung’s people and our people.

He frowned and asked,

“Then what should I do?”

“What do you mean, what should you do? Chief Kang sent you to die, so you’re not going to knowingly swallow poison, are you?”

“In that case…”

“Spit it out before the poison spreads. You have to pass it on to someone else.”

Prosecutor Lee Doo-hyung replied with a serious expression,

“But Chief Kang’s line of prosecutors will already know that, and the other prosecutors will also think it’s suspicious if I suddenly try to pass it on, and they won’t want to take it, will they?”

“Of course. If they accepted it readily, they’d think they were rebelling against Chief Kang.”

Prosecutor Lee Doo-hyung sighed deeply and ran his hand through his hair.

“It seems like this isn’t a simple problem to think about. It’s become quite a headache…”

He quickly racked his brain and continued,

“No matter how hard I run around, it’s impossible to deal with the involved conglomerates or chaebols [large family-owned business conglomerates], and if I stay still, I’ll obviously be sacrificed…”

“There’s no need to think so complicatedly.”

“Yes?”

I broadened my shoulders towards him, who was looking at me with surprised eyes.

“I’m here, aren’t I?”

“You mean…”

“Pass it on to me. I’ll take care of it.”

“Ah.”

His eyes widened.

But he soon asked worriedly,

“Are you going to be okay, Senior Prosecutor?”

“Chief Kang?”

“Yes. That man won’t stay still.”

“He just needs not to know.”

“Yes?”

I smirked at him, who didn’t understand what I meant.

“Keep it under your name. You can transfer it to me the morning I start the press conference.”

He slowly opened his mouth.

“You can transfer the case with the Deputy Chief Prosecutor’s authority, right?”

“Ah!”

Soon, Prosecutor Lee Doo-hyung exclaimed.

As a junior prosecutor who always receives cases from the Chief Prosecutor, his thinking is bound to be limited.

He knows that it’s possible to transfer cases through the Deputy Chief Prosecutor, but if he receives a case without the Chief Prosecutor’s permission, he’ll be marked by him, so it’s not a practical method.

That’s why he couldn’t think of it.

“But if Chief Kang objects afterward…”

“Let him object if he wants. It’ll be too late then.”

I was going to reveal that I had joined hands with Prosecutor Lee Doo-hyung around the time I was promoted to Chief Prosecutor, but it seemed like the timing would be sooner than expected.

Of course, it doesn’t matter much.

Because once this case is over, I’ll be cutting off Chief Kang Hyun-soo’s head anyway.

“Pass the case to me.”

He bowed his head with a guilty expression.

“I feel like I’m unnecessarily burdening you, Senior Prosecutor…”

It was originally my case to take.

It was a case I had to take because I had received something.

That way, I could fully enjoy the effects of joining hands with the Hanwool Group.

Of course, from Lee Doo-hyung’s point of view, it was saving him from a situation where he had no choice but to resign, so his loyalty would inevitably deepen.

It’s like killing two birds with one stone.

It goes without saying, but I have no intention of telling Lee Doo-hyung this.

He needs to maintain his admiration and loyalty to me.

“We promised to go together, so we have to do this much together.”

I patted him on the shoulder and called Yoon Seol-ha.

“Seol-ha, come here for a moment. It seems like we need to review this document together.”

“Yes.”

Yoon Seol-ha hid the smile she was wearing and sat next to me.

“Let’s handle it.”

“I welcome big cases.”

An attitude of readily accepting.

Prosecutor Lee Doo-hyung’s eyes, looking at me, were trembling greatly as if he was deeply moved.

I threw a counterpunch at him, who seemed about to fall over.

“Prosecutor Lee, I’m always on your side.”

He swallowed hard and bowed his head.

“Thank you so much, Senior Prosecutor!”

There’s no need to do anything more now.

He’ll even pretend to die if I tell him to die now.

All that’s left is to screw over Chief Prosecutor Kang Hyun-soo.

With this case, I’m taking the deepening (深化) process as a prosecutor, going down the path to becoming the king of this world….

Chief Kang Hyun-soo will be boiling with deepening (心火) [simhwa – burning anger or frustration].

***

-This is Choi Seo-joon, Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Special Investigation Department, who will be in charge of the prosecution’s investigation into the Saint Harper stock manipulation case. This case is extremely serious and the amount of damage exceeds 1 trillion won, so we will actively investigate….

“What is this?”

Chief Kang Hyun-soo doubted his eyes.

He was clearly reported last night that Prosecutor Lee Doo-hyung would be holding a press conference regarding the Saint Harper stock manipulation case.

Since the scale of the case was so large, he thought nothing of it, even if he held a press conference.

After all, the prosecutor in charge would collapse anyway, and if his face was exposed in the process, it would become even more certain.

So he was trying to watch the press conference with peace of mind, but Choi Seo-joon popped out unexpectedly.

Prosecutor Lee Doo-hyung was nowhere to be seen.

‘What the hell is going on?’

At that moment, one of the reporters on TV raised his hand and asked.

-Is Prosecutor Choi Seo-joon solely in charge of this case?

-Yes, that’s right. I’ve been in meetings with the previous prosecutor for the past few days, and this morning, I was assigned to it alone in accordance with legal procedures.

The moment he heard the words ‘legal procedures,’ Chief Kang Hyun-soo’s head exploded.

“These crazy bastards!”

He slammed the table and stood up.

“Lee Doo-hyung! Where is that Lee Doo-hyung, you son of a bitch!”

Chief Kang Hyun-soo stormed out of the office in a rage.

The clerk was startled and stood up, but after seeing Chief Kang Hyun-soo’s eyes narrowed fiercely, she didn’t dare to stop him.

“Lee Doo-hyung!”

He shouted and headed straight for Prosecutor Lee Doo-hyung’s office.

Bang!

He kicked the door open as if it would break, but Lee Doo-hyung, who was sitting in his seat, didn’t seem surprised at all.

‘Just like I learned from Senior Prosecutor.’

Even if it was in front of Chief Kang Hyun-soo, he had no intention of being intimidated.

He had already grabbed onto the line called Choi Seo-joon and had decided to turn his back on Chief Kang Hyun-soo.

He nonchalantly stood up from his seat.

“What’s wrong, Chief?”

“Lee Doo-hyung, you son of a bitch! What the hell have you done?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You bastard!”

Chief Kang Hyun-soo came closer, veins popping out of his neck, and grabbed Lee Doo-hyung’s collar.

“What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong? You’re asking me what’s wrong now?”

He shouted with bloodshot eyes as if he was about to kill someone right away.

“How dare you pass that case to Choi Seo-joon?”

“Ah, you’re talking about the Saint Harper stock manipulation case. The Deputy Chief Prosecutor said he would handle it because I was too burdened, so I passed it on to him.”

“You should have reported to me before passing it on!”

Prosecutor Lee Doo-hyung smirked and replied,

“I know that the regulations say that if you go through the Deputy Chief Prosecutor, you don’t necessarily have to report to the Chief Prosecutor, do I?”

At that moment, Chief Kang Hyun-soo felt like he had been hit in the head with a hammer.

“Huh.”

He was speechless with disbelief.

“This, this bastard…”

“Is there any problem?”

“So, you’re saying you’ve attached yourself to that Choi Seo-joon, is that it?”

“Hey, attached? It’s just that the case was too much for me, so I had no choice but to pass it on.”

He smiled mockingly and looked down at Chief Kang Hyun-soo’s hand.

“Let’s talk after you let go of this.”

Unable to contain his anger, Chief Kang Hyun-soo slammed Lee Doo-hyung, who was holding his collar, into the chair.

He shrugged his shoulders as he sat down.

“If you’re done, I’d like you to leave. The case I’m currently working on is so complicated that I can’t concentrate unless I focus.”