The Inspector Is Getting Promoted! [EN]: Chapter 109

Prosecutor, You’re Going Places! – 109

Check (5)

Opening the office door, I scanned the interior.

I noticed prosecutors working in the common area, even though they had private offices.

Definitely a different atmosphere from the Special Investigations Department.

“Ah, so this is what the Public Security Department is like.”

As soon as I said that out loud, all eyes turned to me, and everyone stood up. Among them, one of the prosecutors from Line 1 approached me with a welcoming expression.

“Good to see you, Chief.”

“Oh, Kim Pro. Long time no see.”

“Yes. How have you been?”

“I’ve been struggling to solve a troublesome case.”

“Ah, I saw the article. You’re amazing.”

Unlike him, who greeted me warmly, the other prosecutors in the Public Security Department simply greeted me and returned to their seats.

Understandable enough.

After the confrontation with Viper in the conference room over the assignment of the serial murder case of women, the Public Security Department and the Special Investigations Department had formed a rivalry.

I’m not too worried.

Once Viper falls, they’ll all be groveling again anyway.

“By the way, what brings you to the Public Security Department?”

“I came to see Chief Kang. Is he in his office?”

“Yes, he is. But he seems a bit busy.”

“He doesn’t have a guest inside, does he?”

“He’s alone.”

“Okay, Kim Pro, get back to work.”

“Yes.”

He bowed and returned to his seat, and I headed straight for Chief Kang Jung-sik’s office.

Knock, knock.

I knocked lightly twice and opened the door before hearing a response.

“I didn’t even answer, who…”

Chief Kang Jung-sik, who was hastily talking on his phone by the window, turned around with a touch of annoyance, and our eyes met.

I smiled and nodded.

“You seem very busy.”

As soon as he saw me, his expression hardened, and he turned to face me.

“What brings our Chief Choi all the way here?”

“I came to greet Chief Kang.”

“What happened to calling me ‘Senior’?”

“Ehey, you’re being such a *kkondae* [a Korean term for an older person who is condescending or acts superior].”

I openly mocked him, wrinkling my nose.

“You seem incredibly busy right now; should I come back later?”

“No, say what you have to say now.”

“Ah, I thought you were super busy.”

I shrugged and added.

“Aren’t you supposed to be cleaning up after your close colleagues getting arrested?”

However, Chief Kang Jung-sik nonchalantly scoffed.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“So, it’s okay if I stay here for a while?”

I sat comfortably on the visible sofa, crossing my legs, as if to provoke him.

“Isn’t it polite to offer me a cup of coffee?”

“It’s not polite to sit down before your senior.”

“Oh my, then please sit down quickly.”

I patted the space next to me with my hand.

His face was hardening, showing that he was getting annoyed.

“I wish you’d leave soon. I have a guest coming.”

At that moment, a strong Busan dialect slipped out of his voice.

Proof that he couldn’t maintain his composure.

I barely suppressed a laugh and nodded.

“Then I’ll just say what I need to say and leave, so please sit down. We should at least look each other in the eye when we’re talking, right?”

“Haa.”

He sighed deeply and sat on the sofa.

Even then, his phone kept ringing incessantly.

The name ‘Kim Byung-tae’ was briefly visible on the screen of the phone he was holding.

The same police inspector who had scouted So Hyung-seop, the suspect in this case, as an actor.

In the end, I couldn’t help but smile.

“Senior, until I came here, I was unsure whether our Viper had directly used an actor, or whether he had taken advantage of the police using an actor.”

I pointed to his phone with my chin and continued.

“But now I see exactly how it is. Who was behind it.”

I wasn’t really sure, so I was just going to give a warning and leave, but thanks to coming here, I got confirmation.

“So, what do you want to say?”

I winked and said just two words cheerfully.

“Check.”

Chief Kang Jung-sik’s eyebrows twitched.

“Since you said check, I came to say checkmate.”

He managed to control his expression as if he couldn’t believe it.

“Is that all?”

“No.”

I smiled again and continued.

“I have a bad temper, so if someone throws a punch, I’m not satisfied with just dodging it.”

I lowered my voice and continued.

“This time, I came to say checkmate.”

“…….”

“I don’t know how you managed to build such a solid relationship so soon after coming to Seoul, but I’m going to cut off all those limbs for you.”

I was already planning to deal with the police officers involved in this case, but knowing that they were in Kang Jung-sik’s grasp, I’m going to crush them even more mercilessly.

If I give them any chance to come back to life, they’ll just stick to Kang Jung-sik again.

“Just because you keep shouting Viper, Viper, don’t think Seoul is the same as the countryside. This place is scary. You get robbed blind here. If you’re a country bumpkin, you should live within your means. Don’t you think?”

Chief Kang Jung-sik finally couldn’t maintain his poker face, and his eyebrows began to tremble.

Understandably. A young punk is openly mocking him in front of his face, and he can’t say anything.

He gritted his teeth and then opened his mouth.

“Are you done?”

“Yes.”

I smiled brightly again and got up from my seat.

“I’ll be going, since you’re busy.”

“I still have something to say.”

He sat on the sofa and looked at me very sharply.

“You don’t think this is the end, do you?”

“It seems you still have a gift for me.”

“It’s not that the other prosecutors don’t know about the dirt on you. They’re just pretending not to know.”

“Do you think I don’t know that?”

I twisted my lips as much as possible.

“They’re not pretending not to know; they know, but they can’t touch me. Everyone knows they’ll be screwed if they do.”

I looked down at him and said as if I had forgotten.

“Ah, I guess the Busan country bumpkin doesn’t know.”

Chief Kang Jung-sik scoffed as if he wouldn’t lose in the battle of nerves.

“The scariest thing is a guy who’s lost all sense of fear. What’s the point of cleaning up other people’s dirt if you don’t manage your own?”

“Well, when a man plays in the world, it’s natural to get a little dirt on him.”

“You know better than anyone that more than one or two guys have gone down because of that dirt, right?”

“Chief Kang Jung-sik.”

I called him in a cold, low voice.

“Let’s play within our means. We’re not playing in the same league.”

He also got up from his seat and took a step towards me.

“You won’t know who’s longer until you measure.”

“Try measuring again and getting broken again.”

I took another step towards him and looked down at him with my superior height.

“I don’t know about other things, but at least I seem to have a longer reach.”

I smirked and left his office.

***

The dirt on me……

I slowly repeated what Viper had said in my head.

To be honest, the money I received from the companies wasn’t small.

This money exists, but the companies can’t reveal it, and I have no intention of revealing it either.

One thing that bothers me is that I succeeded in laundering the money I received from SL Group and Hanwool Group perfectly, but when I was handling the 12 billion won I received from Juok Group, I was a newbie who had just come to Seoul, so I revealed a few flaws.

Of course, not the entire 12 billion won, but when I was dividing it up and handling a portion of it—1 billion won—I made a mistake.

Afterwards, I joined the line and learned how to handle black money from people, and I hid it more secretly to cover up the revealed flaw, but that 1 billion won is funds that could be revealed if someone dug into it persistently.

I’ve covered it up with a path that would take quite a while to figure out, so Viper Chief Kang Jung-sik probably hasn’t figured it out either, and is just guessing that I received money.

In the worst-case scenario, if that 1 billion won is revealed, the image I’ve built up so far will be shattered, and even my life as a prosecutor could be shaken, so I had to hide it as much as possible.

The best defense is offense, so the best way is to cut off his head before Viper figures it out.

However, I had to move very carefully this time.

Viper must have felt a crisis in this situation, so he won’t move carelessly.

I have to find his weak spot and dig into it.

If it goes to a long-term battle, that 1 billion won could strangle me.

While I was calculating various scenarios in my head.

“Chief.”

Yoon Seol-ha approached me with a bright smile.

“Did you see the article?”

“Article?”

“Yes. After yesterday’s press conference… the reaction online is crazy. You have to see it for yourself.”

She handed me a tablet PC with a pleased smile.

On the tablet PC that Yoon Seol-ha handed me, an article on the main page of a portal site was displayed.

The impressive title, written in very short but large font, caught my eye first.

-As Expected, Choi Seo-joon!

-It has been revealed that the serial murder case of women was not committed by the real culprit, but by a fake culprit created by the police. The police officers who arrested the culprit are denying all charges and saying that they have no relationship with the suspect, but So Hyung-seop, who was the suspect, said that he was instructed by the police in everything. Amid conflicting statements, So Hyung-seop, who was the suspect, testified that he paid off 300 million won of his debt with 500 million won he received from the police, and spent the remaining 200 million won on entertainment and illegal gambling, which was confirmed to be true as a result of the prosecution’s investigation. ……(Omitted)…… Police credibility is recording the lowest level since the 21st century. When will the police be able to become the people’s support?

-WK Daily Reporter Park Soo-hyung

“Soo-hyung wrote this for us.”

Yoon Seol-ha also knows about the relationship with Park Soo-hyung, and I said this because I was embarrassed, but she shook her head.

“That’s not important. You have to see the comments. You’re completely trending right now.”

-9reundaBane: So when are you going to catch the real culprit? You incompetent police.

-WantToPlayLOL3741: They’ll probably set up a joint investigation headquarters between the prosecution and the police again and ask the prosecution to catch them. LOL

-PingdaMonGoingOutSS: Police officers, are you watching this article? The Commissioner General of the National Police Agency should apologize to the public!

-WangsimniLOLPlayer: Choi Seo-joon is really the light.

-FreshmanFossil0f16: Choi Seo-joon is completely trending. He’s the best prosecutor of the 21st century. I admit it.

-EntertainmentExtra: Now people call Han Ji-yoo Choi Seo-joon’s boyfriend, LOL. This is a fact. I was watching the Three Meals a Day broadcast recording in my neighborhood a while ago, and an *ajumma* [a Korean term for a middle-aged or older woman] didn’t know Han Ji-yoo, but she knew Choi Seo-joon’s boyfriend.

“Your recognition is about to become higher than Han Ji-yoo’s.”

“Oh, come on.”

“It’s a shame you’re so young. Frankly speaking, if you ran for president, you’d be elected right away. It’s like if there was Hiddink in 2002, there’s Choi Seo-joon in 2020.”

“Hahaha.”

I burst out laughing when the Hiddink story came out of nowhere.

“Seol-ha, you’re going too far.”

“That means the reaction to you is really good.”

“You’re being too kind. It’s thanks to Seol-ha helping me from the side.”

“Cree, you’re even humble.”

Yoon Seol-ha raised her thumb and continued.

“It’s an honor to be able to work under such a chief.”

She showed me her fingers, embarrassed after saying that.

“I said it, but it’s cheesy.”

I laughed heartily and then continued.

“By the way, how is the investigation into the police going?”

“Yes. From what I’ve heard the police say, the other police officers didn’t know, and it seems like Inspector Kim Byung-tae planned it all by himself.”

“He’s going to take all the responsibility alone, is he?”

“Yes. I think they’re trying to acquit the rest.”

“Then let them.”

Yoon Seol-ha hid her surprised expression and asked.

“Are you saying we should let them go free?”

It was obvious, but I had no intention of letting them go.

“Of course not.”

I winked and explained.

“They have to be punished for the poor investigation. Isn’t this all a kind of negligence of duty?”