The Inspector Is Getting Promoted! [EN]: Chapter 163

Marionette (2)

It was a little past 5:30 PM.

I grabbed my coat and stood up from my seat.

“Are you leaving already?”

Jo Ara, the assistant who noticed me, pushed herself up from her chair and looked at me.

“Yes. I have an appointment.”

“I heard from Chief Ko, who is in charge of the Chief Prosecutor, that the Chief Prosecutor is leaving 30 minutes early today. Won’t that overlap with your plans?”

“If it’s Chief Prosecutor Han Dong-min, it’s fine.”

A man who had long promised to work with me.

I’ve seen him enjoying himself with women in a room salon [a type of Korean hostess bar], so there’s no way he’d say anything about me leaving a little early.

“I’ll head out first. Leave when you have time.”

“Understood.”

Just as I was about to grab my briefcase and leave.

Knock, knock.

Hearing the knock, I opened the door myself instead of answering.

“Oh, Deputy Chief?”

The person at the door was none other than Deputy Chief Lee Doo-hyung.

Surprised by the sudden opening of the door, he looked flustered, then noticed the bag and coat in my hand and asked.

“Are you leaving work now?”

“Yes, I was about to. What’s up?”

“Well, I’ve found something good regarding the matter you instructed me on last time… Should I report it later?”

The task I had given Deputy Chief Lee Doo-hyung was to find out about Mayor Na Kyung-joon’s weaknesses.

The last thing he brought was weak, so I rejected it and told him to bring something substantial. This time, it must be a significant issue that he came to report.

I can’t just leave without listening to this.

“No, come in. I’ll listen now.”

“Yes.”

Turning back inside the office, I made eye contact with Assistant Jo Ara, who was smiling brightly.

I shrugged awkwardly and said.

“Looks like I’ll have to leave on time after all.”

“I’ll prepare tea.”

“No, it’s okay.”

Deputy Chief Lee Doo-hyung waved his hand.

“I’m going straight home to have dinner, so you don’t have to bother. Don’t worry about it.”

“Okay. Ara, finish up what you’re doing.”

“Yes.”

Deputy Chief Lee Doo-hyung and I went inside and sat down on the sofa.

“Did you find anything good?”

“Yes.”

Deputy Chief Lee Doo-hyung answered with great confidence.

“I’ve found something bigger than I expected.”

“Really?”

As I asked back with delight, he showed me a photo, as if to say a picture is worth a thousand words.

As soon as I saw the photo, I tilted my head.

“What is this?”

A man lying in a hospital bed, seemingly out of his mind, and a woman presumed to be his elderly mother watching over him.

Just looking at it made me feel sorry for them.

“He is a victim of Mayor Na Kyung-joon’s atrocities during his military service.”

Just hearing the first words, I felt like a real scoop was about to come out.

I put down the photo, looked at Deputy Chief Lee Doo-hyung, and leaned forward.

“Tell me the details.”

“Mayor Na Kyung-joon is famous for being an ROTC [Reserve Officers’ Training Corps] graduate, right?”

“That’s right. That’s how he captured Choi Kyu-hyun’s heart with his integrity and loyalty.”

“But it turns out that his integrity and loyalty were bullshit. He was just a piece of trash obsessed with promotion. Here’s what happened…”

The story that Deputy Chief Lee Doo-hyung had dug up was so astonishing that I couldn’t help but sigh.

About 25 years ago, when Mayor Na Kyung-joon, an ROTC graduate, was a captain serving as a company commander.

One of the soldiers in the company harassed a new recruit, and the abuse escalated to assault. Eventually, the new recruit was taken to the hospital, not even two months after being promoted to private first class.

However, contrary to the expectations of the unit members, who thought he would be discharged soon, the new recruit fell into a vegetative state due to brain damage.

It was natural to report to the higher-ups and punish the assaulting soldier, but this incident occurred in the 1990s.

An era when assault was rampant in the military unit, and all kinds of irrationalities were condoned.

Na Kyung-joon, who was about to be promoted to major, decided to bury the incident.

At the time, the discrimination between the Military Academy and ROTC was more severe than it is now.

It wasn’t just a typical assault case; there was a victim in a long-term coma. Reporting such an incident would be like sentencing Na Kyung-joon to never becoming a major.

So, Na Kyung-joon colluded with the unit members and concluded that the victim soldier had slipped on soap in the shower and injured his head, leading to a vegetative state.

After some time, when the traces of assault on the soldier’s body had faded, he contacted his single mother to inform her of the accident.

Not knowing the full story, the elderly mother could only grieve.

As time passed, the elderly mother, who belatedly learned the unfair story, was nearly eighty years old and did not know the detailed procedures or methods, so she couldn’t bring it to public attention and has been suffering in silence ever since.

What’s absurd in this situation is that even after doing this, Na Kyung-joon was not promoted to major and was discharged as a captain.

However, the father of the assaulting soldier was a powerful figure in the business world, so he was able to enter a volunteer organization with connections to the political world through his influence, and eventually rose to the position of Mayor of Seoul.

Listening from a third-person perspective, it was so absurd that I was speechless.

I couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief.

“These sons of bitches… Is that all?”

“No, there’s more.”

Lee Doo-hyung handed over another photo.

This time, it was a scene of the 50-year-old man lying in the hospital bed with his eyes open.

“But that victim soldier woke up after 25 years.”

“He woke up?”

“Yes. The hospital says it’s close to a miracle. They say that it’s usually difficult to wake up after being in a vegetative state for more than 5 years, but this person woke up after that long time.”

It was truly a situation that could only be described as a miracle.

“Has this patient fully regained consciousness?”

“At first, he could only blink his eyes, but now he can speak to some extent, although it’s slurred. I met him in person and had a brief conversation with him.”

“Did he report what happened in the past?”

“Yes. After accidentally seeing Mayor Na Kyung-joon on the news on TV, this patient, Jung Cheol-woong, remembered and told his elderly mother, who reported it to the police. But the police didn’t really believe it because it was such an old case, and more than anything, it was related to the Mayor of Seoul, so they didn’t even think about investigating.”

The son of a powerful figure in the business world and the captain who covered up the incident, who is now the Mayor of Seoul. To make matters worse, the police didn’t even try to properly file the case.

“These are real pieces of shit that you can’t even associate with.”

It’s a scenario that you would believe even if it were a movie.

No, it’s even worse than a movie. It’s a hotbed of corruption.

“If this gets out, the repercussions will be huge, right?”

Lee Doo-hyung replied with a confident expression.

“Didn’t I tell you I found a big catch?”

“Good job, Deputy Chief Lee.”

“Thank you, Chief.”

I repeatedly looked back and forth at the two photos he handed me and asked.

“So, has this not been reported in the media at all yet?”

“No. The hospital tried to report on the person who woke up from a vegetative state after 25 years, but Jung Cheol-woong and his elderly mother refused. The police also gave up investigating, saying they didn’t want it to become gossip in the media.”

Seeing that they initially reported it to the police, it’s not that they don’t want to reveal this fact.

If we meet them and persuade them about the part about disclosing it to the media, it should be easily resolved.

There’s no need to worry about that.

“So, how did Deputy Chief Lee figure this out?”

“I’ve been looking into Na Kyung-joon through reliable police connections, and that friend told me that he heard a story about Na Kyung-joon from his junior at school. That junior was the police officer who first received the report from the elderly mother and was dispatched to the scene.”

“Really?”

“Yes. But he didn’t even file the case because he thought it was nonsense, and he just told it as a joke at a drinking party. My connection heard that and told me. I checked the facts and found out it was true.”

Deputy Chief Lee Doo-hyung chuckled.

“I was really lucky.”

“Luck is also a skill. Like the saying ‘if you’re desperate, you’ll find a way,’ Deputy Chief Lee found out because you were so eager.”

“I’m grateful that you say that.”

I put my hands together and slowly closed my eyes, lost in thought.

Before a few minutes had passed, a wonderful scenario was drawn in my head.

I handed the two photos back to him, stacked together, and asked.

“Deputy Chief Lee, why did you become a prosecutor?”

He seemed flustered by the sudden question and couldn’t answer easily.

“That’s…”

I chuckled and explained.

“Everyone has a different purpose. Your purpose and my purpose are also different. But if you become a prosecutor, there’s something everyone has to protect.”

I twisted my lips and continued.

“Punish those who break the law. And clearly reveal the facts about the case. Isn’t that the duty of a prosecutor?”

Deputy Chief Lee Doo-hyung, who understood what I meant, agreed with a glint in his eyes.

“That’s right. Helping the socially disadvantaged is also our job.”

“Start the investigation. But not a public investigation, you do it directly.”

“Understood.”

“I’ll tell you the next steps, so remember them well. First, you need to persuade Jung Cheol-woong and his elderly mother to allow it to be released to the media.”

“Yes. I’m confident in persuading them. Leave it to me.”

“Next, report on the vegetative person who woke up from brain death as the main focus. Don’t mention anything about his military life or the reason he fell into a vegetative state, and say it’s an amazing event in the world of medicine. Something like that. Block additional contact from reporters and prevent information from leaking from the hospital.”

It’s literally about attracting the attention of the media.

However, here, we only reveal information about this person, and revealing the full story will be a matter for later.

If we damage Na Kyung-joon now, Choi Kyu-hyun might change the Seoul mayoral candidate instead.

The important thing is to detonate it right before the election.

“And then…”

***

“Ah, I’m sorry. Did you wait long?”

“Not at all.”

I was 30 minutes late for the appointment because I was listening to Lee Doo-hyung’s special information, creating a scenario, and giving instructions, but Sung Tae-hyun didn’t seem displeased. Instead, he touched the shoulder of the woman next to him and greeted me with a sly smile.

“I was also having a good time.”

He shook hands with me lightly and looked at the woman next to him and said.

“It seems like we need to have a serious conversation now, so you’ll have to leave.”

“Yes.”

As the woman working at the room salon left, he glanced at his watch and raised his eyebrows.

It must mean that it was better that I was late.

I thought the same.

While waiting for me, Sung Tae-hyun deliberately called a hostess to pass the time.

He must have created an atmosphere of a sudden meeting through subtle conversations, so when it reaches Choi Kyu-hyun’s ears, it will be conveyed that there is no suspicion that we met after planning everything.

“Let’s have a drink since you’re here.”

“Yes, good.”

We lightly drank a glass of soju [Korean distilled spirit] and started talking as planned.

“By the way, I never dreamed that you would go to the MinKook Party without even telling me.”

“When you’re in politics, there are times like this and times like that.”

“Still, you should have told me.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t tell anyone in that line and came out…”

We drank a glass of alcohol each and gradually turned red in the face, and before we knew it, our voices were getting louder.

Thus, our performance to hook Choi Kyu-hyun began.