The Inspector Is Getting Promoted! [EN]: Chapter 256

“Ahem.”

As expected, Minister Park Chang-sik couldn’t hide his discomfort.

He seemed thirsty and reached for his glass, but Kim Seok-won didn’t offer to fill it.

“I’ll pour you a drink.”

“It’s alri…”

Minister Park Chang-sik started to decline, but I immediately grabbed the bottle and poured soju into his glass.

He still looked uneasy as he tossed the soju back.

“Haa.”

After a deep sigh, he began to speak.

“Chief Prosecutor Choi.”

“Yes, Minister.”

“To be honest, I’m very uncomfortable in this setting.”

“I figured you might be.”

I replied smoothly.

“But I like you, Minister.”

“That’s what I don’t like.”

Minister Park Chang-sik frowned as he spoke.

“Meeting secretly like this, trying to do something… Were you planning on making some dirty offers or threats?”

There was a hint of anger in his voice.

“It’s obvious, seeing as even Senior Kim Seok-won left the room.”

“It seems there’s been a misunderstanding.”

I smiled brightly and straightened my back.

“I don’t have the slightest intention of doing that.”

“…You don’t?”

“Yes. I simply wanted to meet you, Minister, so I asked for this favor.”

However, the suspicion in Park Chang-sik’s eyes didn’t disappear.

As the Minister of Justice, he was directly connected to me, whether he liked it or not.

Of course, Seong Tae-hyun would have warned him several times to be careful of me.

Park Chang-sik shook his head.

“You and I are like water and oil. We can’t mix.”

“I’m not saying we should mix. I’m saying we should coexist.”

I continued smoothly, despite Park Chang-sik’s prickly tone.

“Since we’ll be working together for the next two years anyway, I came to say I want us to get along.”

Today was just a friendly call; I had no intention of swaying him or making him my ally.

I was simply hinting that I was favorably disposed towards him.

That was the goal.

The real moves would come after his speculation case surfaced.

But.

“There’s no need for that.”

He touched a nerve.

“No matter how urgent things get for me, I don’t want to get my hands dirty.”

Dirty, huh.

That word brought a sneer to my face.

I was planning to let it slide today if possible.

But to say something like that to my face.

It seemed things wouldn’t go smoothly after all.

“Minister.”

I narrowed my eyes, which had been softly curved like crescents, and stared straight at him.

“Just because I was trying to be agreeable, do you think I’m beneath you?”

“You son of a bitch!”

He jumped up from his seat and shouted.

“I knew it! I could see the black snake hiding inside you!”

Park Chang-sik pointed his finger at me, agitated.

“And the Minister of Justice is naturally above the Chief Prosecutor! How dare you…”

I said sternly.

“Why are you here, Minister?”

“What?”

He glared at me and said.

“I came because of Senior Kim Seok-won. If it weren’t for you…”

“You had plenty of opportunities to leave. That’s why Minister Kim Seok-won left the room.”

I twisted one corner of my mouth.

“Aren’t you staying here because you’re hoping I’ll make some kind of offer? Or do you have something to hide?”

“There’s no way!”

He picked up his coat, which he had taken off.

“If that’s what you want, I’ll leave.”

The moment he took a step out onto the terrace.

“Kopino.”

The single word made him stop in his tracks and turn back to me.

I didn’t even look at him as I continued.

“You know what Kopino means, don’t you?” [A portmanteau of ‘Korean’ and ‘Filipino,’ referring to children born to Korean men and local Filipino women, often in the context of prostitution.]

“…What?”

“Sit down, you bastard.”

“…….”

When I pointed to the chair in front of him with my chin, Park Chang-sik quietly sat down.

Kopino. A portmanteau of ‘Korean’ and ‘Filipino,’ referring to children born to Korean men and local Filipino women.

And most Kopinos are born through prostitution in the Philippines.

“I see you have a record of departing from Incheon Airport on December 13, 2010. Destination: Manila Airport in the Philippines. You stayed for about a week and then came back, right?”

His eyes widened.

“They call that an emperor tour, don’t they?” [A derogatory term for sex tourism.]

The situation reversed.

I leaned back in my chair and put my feet up on the table.

However, Minister Park Chang-sik couldn’t say a word.

“Was his name Joseph?”

“…….”

“He’s about to enter high school, right? One of my investigators went to see him in person, and he’s doing well. I don’t think you need to worry.”

He bit his lip.

“You know better than anyone, Minister. The Special Investigations Unit has far better intelligence than the people at the hearing.”

Hearings mainly investigate domestic corruption or overseas golf trips; they have no intention or manpower to investigate this kind of thing.

“It’s not like I didn’t know anything, so I stayed quiet during the hearing.”

“Then why are you saying it now?”

He asked, his eyes blazing.

“Is it because I became the Minister of Justice and you want to use me?”

“No. Not at all.”

I lowered my legs from the table and pulled my chair closer to him.

“Because.”

I put on a bright smile again.

“I like our Minister Park Chang-sik.”

I leaned my upper body over the table, getting close to his face.

“I told you, I want to get along with you, Minister.”

I could see that his mind was in chaos.

He probably had no idea why I was doing this.

“I respect you, our Minister.”

“…What?”

“There are only two prosecutors I respect in this field. One is our former Minister Kim Seok-won, and the other is our Minister Park Chang-sik.”

He wouldn’t believe that my words were 100% sincere.

“Otherwise, would I have stayed still? Seong Tae-hyun, who’s already hateful, targeted our Minister, and I’d love to blow it up.”

I leaned back in my chair again.

“If that happened, your wife would be asking for a divorce, and what would happen to your three daughters… I can’t even imagine it.”

Realizing that I had control of the situation, Minister Park Chang-sik lowered his head as if in resignation.

“What do you want?”

He said earnestly.

“Tell me what you want. As far as I can…”

“I’ve been telling you since earlier, why do you keep asking?”

I replied innocently.

“I want to get close to you, Minister.”

“…….”

“Frankly speaking, no one has ever taken the initiative to befriend me like this in this field. You’ve never heard of that either, have you?”

“Well, no, I haven’t…”

At this point, he’d slowly start to wonder.

“I’m really innocent. I don’t know what you thought of my image until now, but I give everything to people I ‘like’.”

When I emphasized the word on purpose, his eyes, which had been shaking wildly, calmed down for a moment.

“I apologize for speaking so harshly. I was just worried that my pure heart would be misunderstood.”

“…I understand.”

“Would you like a drink?”

“Y-yes.”

Minister Park Chang-sik accepted the glass.

“Pour me one too.”

“Alright.”

I personally clinked glasses with him and toasted.

He closed his eyes tightly and took a shot.

“By the way…”

He asked cautiously.

“Is that respect thing… real?”

Humans are truly materialistic.

To ask such a question in this situation.

I’m an idol to others, the number one role model for prosecutors.

For such a person to say they respect him, he can’t help but feel proud.

There’s no way I’d respect a man like you who goes abroad and sows his wild oats.

“Of course.”

I nodded vigorously.

“How admirable is it to handle cases silently in your position, Minister? I also respect your unwavering determination to push forward with anything, regardless of the opponent.”

The corners of his lips slightly lifted and then lowered.

He felt good, but he couldn’t show it too much, and he probably thought it wasn’t a situation where he should.

No matter how much I said this, it was impossible to completely dispel Park Chang-sik’s wariness.

No, it might have even tightened the string of suspicion a little more.

However, today’s conversation wasn’t about loosening that string of suspicion, but about sawing at it in between.

In other words, it was about subtly laying the groundwork for the justification of me helping him later on.

It went slightly awry in the middle, but the plan was successful enough anyway.

Today’s goal was to make him ‘not dislike’ me.

From now on, he would be more nervous and cautious when dealing with me, but the thought that ‘Choi Seo-joon isn’t such a bad guy after all’ would be planted in his mind.

“Minister, you’re busy, but I think I’ve kept you for too long.”

“No, it’s alright.”

“The hearing is over, so you’re really becoming a minister now. You should spend happy time with your family on a day like today.”

I immediately tidied up and stood up.

“Thank you for your consideration.”

As I walked out the door with him, I said cheerfully again.

“Minister.”

“Yes, Chief Prosecutor Choi.”

“I don’t want anything else. Just know that I like and respect you, Minister.”

“Alright. I understand.”

“I hope we have another chance to meet.”

“Go in carefully.”

“Yes. And congratulations on your appointment as Minister of Justice.”

***

With the face-to-face meeting, all the planning for the Minister of Justice was over.

However, to shake this board further, I needed someone skilled in media warfare.

Someone to fill the void left by the Hand of God, Go Seong-tak.

PD [Producer] Song Jae-hoon and Reporter Park Su-hyung could step up for me at any time, but their identities were now too exposed.

Not only did the Daehan Party and the Minguk Party know, but the fact that they were responsible for most of the initial reports of important events related to me was also openly spreading among the general public.

Perhaps it was because those two were the biggest contributors to ousting Choi Gyu-hyun.

When breaking stories in the future, I had to pay attention not only to broadcasting but also to social media.

But if Seong Tae-hyun noticed that the incident I was preparing was slowly heating up, he would naturally make a move first.

Unless I was directly attacking the government, if the Blue House was determined to stop me, there would be fewer ways for me to intervene.

That’s why, before Go Seong-tak left for surgery, I asked him if he could find a suitable person to take charge of the media warfare in place of Park Su-hyung and Song Jae-hoon.

“There’s a guy with the nickname ‘Loach.’ He’s better than me in the media. I’ll contact him.”

He received this answer just before he left the country.

It wasn’t because he slipped through the investigative net like a loach [a type of fish known for its ability to evade capture].

Just as one loach stirs up the mud and muddies the entire pond, it meant that he had tremendous ability to bewilder the public while blocking other media on his own.

And finally, today.

-From: Unknown

-This is Loach. I will visit you on my way home from work this evening.

I received a message from him.