The Inspector Is Getting Promoted! [EN]: Chapter 12

The Negotiation (1)

After calming Jo Won-hyung down, I instructed the police to clean up the carbon monoxide-filled room and asked them to keep the situation quiet from the motel owner until everything was settled.

The motel owner wouldn’t want any of this to get out, so he would follow instructions without question, leaving nothing to worry about.

Sitting on the bed, Jo Won-hyung had lost the dazed look from earlier but still seemed to lack energy.

I opened a can of soda from the mini-fridge and handed it to him.

“Are you feeling any better?”

He drank the soda in one gulp and let out a deep sigh.

“Why didn’t you just let me die?”

“You can’t die. You have to think about the family you’d leave behind. I heard your daughter is seven years old. How could you leave such a precious child behind…”

“Do you think I want to go?”

He cut me off.

“I have no choice. I have to go for the sake of the family you mentioned, Prosecutor.”

I suspected as much, and it seemed Im Sung-jin was using his family as a threat.

A gray pallor hung over Jo Won-hyung’s face.

“Even if you take me to the Prosecutor’s Office, nothing will change. You saw my suicide note, right?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll take it all on myself. That’s what I’ll say when I’m summoned too.”

“Can I ask why?”

He clenched his fist tightly.

It looked like he had so much he wanted to say, but he soon unclenched his fist and shook his head.

“I’m sorry. Nothing will change even if I tell you.”

“It might.”

But he shook his head in despair.

“No matter what you say, someone has to take responsibility for this situation. Do you think Im Sung-jin will just stand by and let mud splash on his hands?”

“Of course not. That’s why he pushed you to the edge.”

“You understand well. If he finds out I’m alive, he’ll do anything to make me die again. If he can’t, he’ll wield the knife himself to kill me.”

Jo Won-hyung had been by Im Sung-jin’s side for a long time.

That’s why his fear of Im Sung-jin would be even greater.

He would know better than anyone how ruthlessly Im Sung-jin pushed and disposed of others.

The matter he was being threatened with must also be so critical that Jo Won-hyung chose death.

At this point, I knew I couldn’t change his mind with gentle persuasion or sweet words.

But what was certain was that Jo Won-hyung himself didn’t want to die.

If his safety could be guaranteed, he would be willing to turn to our side.

In the current situation, if Jo Won-hyung took everything on himself and died, it would only leave a small scratch on Im Sung-jin.

No, that man would probably see it as a badge of honor.

If Im Sung-jin stood firm, the connection between him and the Chief Prosecutor that I had dug up would likely never see the light of day, even if it was investigated.

The same punch would feel like a counterpunch when it was bloody, but it could be dodged or blocked when it was clean.

I had to pull out a card I had been saving for later.

If I let it go by like this, there was a high chance that it would rot in the ground before I could even use it.

“What if we prevent Im Sung-jin from wielding that knife again?”

For a brief moment, his brow furrowed and then relaxed.

“Are you here with a message from the Deputy Chief Prosecutor?”

“No. I’m acting alone today.”

He made a blatantly unpleasant expression.

“Even if you’re the one providing the information, you’re just a low-ranking prosecutor. You should be grateful that I’m even using polite language with you.”

Jo Won-hyung was trying to assert his authority, but he knew better than anyone that I was the one in control in this situation.

“So, you’re just going to end it by dying?”

“……”

“I’ll take the knife away so Im Sung-jin can’t kill you.”

“Do you think that’s possible? It’s a big mistake to think Im Sung-jin is just another Chief Prosecutor.”

“That’s why we have to take him down while things are noisy like this.”

I said, raising one corner of my mouth.

“Chief Im Sung-jin, give me the additional corruption data. Something that can definitely get him fired.”

“What?”

“As his closest aide, you should know enough, right? Where things are dirty and smell rotten. A low-ranking prosecutor might not know, but you should. If you don’t even know that, you’re not qualified to be Im Sung-jin’s right-hand man.”

He jumped up from his seat.

“Are you telling me to betray him now?”

His face turned red in an instant, so he must have been quite agitated. He probably felt a great deal of pride.

“It’s not betrayal, it’s survival.”

I said to him without batting an eye.

“You’re choosing who will die. If you die, Im Sung-jin lives, and if Im Sung-jin lives, you die.”

“What have you been listening to? My family will get hurt if I step forward. I tried to kill myself to protect my wife and daughter!”

“Tell me the reason for that too. I’ll protect you.”

“What can you do to stop that?”

“I’ll meet with the Chief Prosecutor.”

Jo Won-hyung’s eyes widened.

“What?”

“I’ll tell the Chief Prosecutor: Let’s get rid of Im Sung-jin and save you. From his perspective, aren’t you both dogs on a leash? If one of you has to go, it doesn’t matter who gets cut off. He’ll try to protect you as long as it doesn’t harm him.”

“You mean you’re even involved with the Chief Prosecutor…”

“I’ll have no comment on that.”

I shrugged and said.

“What are you going to do? Are you going to die, or are you going to kill?”

Looking at Jo Won-hyung’s expression, he still seemed shocked.

He thought I was just a country bumpkin from the provinces, but he didn’t know I had a card related to the Chief Prosecutor.

He didn’t ask about the card.

He probably knew I wouldn’t tell him anyway.

“Do you think Im Sung-jin will be even a little grateful if you die? He’ll just think he cut off one of his limbs and survived.”

After thinking for a long time, he slumped onto the bed and revealed the secret about his wife that Im Sung-jin was holding.

***

The next morning.

The evidence he brought was flimsy.

“Is this it?”

Jo Won-hyung answered by lowering his head.

“How can we take down Im Sung-jin with this? You know better than anyone that this isn’t even enough to get him demoted to a *jibang* [rural/provincial] position.”

“But…”

He said as if he was wronged.

“If it’s data that can take down Im Sung-jin, I’ll die too.”

“I told you I’d filter it out and handle it myself. Are you worried I’ll stab you in the back even after talking about it yesterday?”

“……”

“I made an appointment with the Chief Prosecutor today. Should I take it as you wanting me to cancel it?”

Jo Won-hyung raised his head with difficulty.

“Give me two days.”

“Yes, please.”

He still didn’t trust me.

But I wasn’t worried.

Loyalty to a man who would force his right-hand man to die couldn’t last forever.

Soon, Jo Won-hyung’s heart would waver.

Now, the one doing the shaking wouldn’t be me, but Im Sung-jin himself.

***

The *pan* [game/situation] that Im Sung-jin had prepared began to go awry.

He tried to silence the media and divert public attention by using Jo Won-hyung as bait.

But Choi Seo-joon overturned the *pan*.

“I’m sorry. I should have moved more carefully…”

“How the hell did that bastard find out?”

Jo Won-hyung kept his mouth shut.

He shouldn’t speak carelessly until it was over.

From now on, the line he was holding onto was Choi Seo-joon, not Im Sung-jin.

Im Sung-jin shouldn’t know that.

Im Sung-jin took a sip of cold water and glared sharply at Jo Won-hyung.

“How did you testify?”

“I testified that I ordered everything, but the situation isn’t easy.”

He didn’t tell Im Sung-jin the truth.

Yesterday, instead of testifying, he had discussed with Choi Seo-joon how to create the situation.

Just as he was beginning to feel guilty about lying to Im Sung-jin, whom he had been loyal to for nearly 10 years, Im Sung-jin asked with an anxious expression.

“When do you think you can carry out the *geosa* [mission/deed]?”

*Geosa*.

He was talking about suicide.

Forcing someone who had already attempted suicide to die again was an act that abandoned humanity, but Im Sung-jin’s face showed no sign of apology.

Only anxiety about someone digging into his past was revealed.

Seeing his attitude, Jo Won-hyung gritted his teeth.

It was just yesterday.

He didn’t even expect an apology.

He might have confessed to taking Choi Seo-joon’s hand because he couldn’t overcome his guilt if he had just asked if he was okay or said he had been through a lot, or even just patted him on the shoulder without saying anything.

But instead of worrying, he was asking when he would die.

Just one of the *chongalbatdi* [bullet shields/fodder].

There was no other way to explain it than that Im Sung-jin thought of him that way.

Betrayal.

Beyond that, humiliation.

These emotions alone were enough to justify betraying Im Sung-jin.

“It’ll be difficult for the time being.”

Jo Won-hyung said, hiding his emotions.

“It seems like the Inspection Department has people tailing me, so I keep getting followed…”

This was Choi Seo-joon’s plan.

To buy time, pretend to be loyal to Im Sung-jin, and work to cut off his head from behind.

He had no choice.

If Im Sung-jin found out he had betrayed him, he would expose his wife’s incident right now.

Im Sung-jin asked nervously.

“What about at home? They can’t come all the way there, can they?”

Jo Won-hyung barely managed to stop himself from clenching his fist without realizing it.

He told him to die for his family, and now he was telling him to die at home?

Was there any reason to traumatize his family?

Jo Won-hyung was convinced.

Im Sung-jin was definitely thinking of him as a tool, not a subordinate.

“I guess home with family is…”

“Haa, the more time passes, the more disadvantageous it is for us. At this rate, we’ll all die.”

“I understand. I’ll try to find a way as soon as possible. And Chief.”

“Why?”

“The Inspection Department seems to be trying to dig up something that’s bothering them because of the suicide attempt and this testimony. I think I’ll have to go to the High Prosecutors’ Office a few more times for the time being.”

“Okay. Keep your mouth shut.”

Im Sung-jin said as if urging him.

“Solve it well so there are no problems.”

So there are no problems.

This meant that he should handle it well on his own so that the sparks didn’t fly to him.

Not only was he telling him to die, but he was even saying this.

It was the moment when even the last bit of loyalty that remained in Im Sung-jin disappeared.

“I understand.”

With this, Jo Won-hyung completely shook off all the guilt about betrayal that remained in one corner of his heart.

And he reaffirmed his determination in his heart.

Not to be killed, but to kill.

To survive.