The Inspector Is Getting Promoted! [EN]: Chapter 128

Prosecutor, You’re Succeeding! – Episode 128 (128/341)

Reversal (8)

Park Jae-pil.

A figure currently serving as the Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul High Prosecutors’ Office, and the one behind Kang Joong-sik.

He was sitting alone on the sofa in my office, waiting for me.

If it were someone else, Jo Ara would have stayed to prevent any trouble, but understanding that he was the Chief Prosecutor, I understood her flustered retreat.

I had seen his face in news articles a few times, but this was my first time seeing him in person, and I suddenly felt nervous.

Why did he come all the way here?

Did he come to warn me about crushing the viper [a metaphor for a dangerous enemy or situation]?

“Ahem.”

As I entered the office, making my presence known, he turned towards me, resting his arm on the sofa.

“Oh, Chief Choi is here?”

Contrary to my expectations, he greeted me with a very gentle expression.

No, it felt beyond gentle, almost welcoming.

He was definitely not the type of person I had understood him to be.

However, the man before me was clearly Chief Prosecutor Park Jae-pil.

First, I cleared away my flustered feelings and bowed to him respectfully.

“Good evening, Chief Prosecutor.”

“Yes, I heard you were in a meeting?”

“Yes. I had some things to wrap up…….”

“Am I interrupting you while you’re busy?”

“No, I was finished.”

“That’s a relief then.”

He smiled broadly and raised his coffee cup.

He definitely feels different from what I knew.

I didn’t think he was such a slippery character.

Or, is he usually slippery and only changes when the occasion arises?

That seemed more likely.

Although we hadn’t exchanged many words, the atmosphere emanating from his natural tone wasn’t something that could be faked.

“Have a seat, I came to talk for a bit.”

“Ah, yes.”

Unexpectedly, he wasn’t sitting in the seat of honor, so I sat across from him, facing him.

However, Chief Prosecutor Park Jae-pil didn’t open his mouth and only stared at me intently.

Only occasionally sipping his coffee.

His face was completely puppy-like.

However, not a gentle puppy, but more like a fierce bulldog.

But I had the intuition that he was hiding that ferocity and wearing a mask of being an innocent puppy.

I caught myself from being momentarily deceived by the peaceful expression and gentle demeanor of Chief Prosecutor Park Jae-pil.

He was none other than the man who had manipulated Chief Kang Joong-sik.

In other words, the very person who had driven me to hell.

No matter how much Chief Kang Joong-sik took the lead in attacking me, I mustn’t forget that Chief Prosecutor Park Jae-pil was behind it all.

However, despite such vigilance, he opened his mouth with an ordinary attitude.

“Do you think our relationship is a bit awkward?”

“Excuse me?”

As I asked, feigning ignorance, he smirked and said.

“Let’s not hide it when it’s just the two of us. Everyone knows that you have bad feelings towards me because of Chief Kang, don’t they?”

“Ah…….”

After a moment of consideration, I immediately admitted it.

Since we both knew so much about each other, I didn’t feel the need to hide it.

“Yes. It’s true that I’m a little more uncomfortable with you than with other senior colleagues or chief prosecutors.”

“That’s understandable. I thought so too.”

He put down his teacup and looked at me with a genial expression.

“But let’s forget about it.”

A smile returned to Chief Prosecutor Park Jae-pil’s lips.

“Why should living people argue over something that happened because of someone who’s already dead?”

The only thought that flashed through my mind at that moment was.

What on earth is this guy?

It’s true that Kang Joong-sik had fallen so far that he couldn’t recover, so it was right to cut ties, but he had been his right-hand man for years.

But now he’s coming to me, the one who cut off his lifeline, and asking to forget about it and be friendly.

This not only went against the political mechanism but was also difficult to understand from a human perspective.

Why on earth?

Or, is it thanks to this kind of social skill that he rose to the position of Chief Prosecutor?

Looking at him smiling at me, I started to get goosebumps.

He’s even scarier when he acts like this.

When I didn’t answer, he even chuckled.

“If you don’t know me, it’s understandable that you’d react like that.”

I was going to observe him a little more, but I thought it would be better to be straightforward at times like this. That might give me a glimpse into the Chief Prosecutor’s true feelings.

“To be honest, I don’t understand the Chief Prosecutor’s intentions very well.”

I said slowly, watching his face closely.

“It’s only been ten days since Chief Kang Joong-sik was urgently arrested, and I didn’t expect you to come and say something like this.”

“Only ten days?”

He twisted his lips.

“It’s been ten whole days.”

The Chief Prosecutor leaned back on the sofa and crossed his legs.

“Isn’t ten days enough time to make all sorts of judgments between us?”

But at that moment, the corner of his lips twisted ever so slightly.

“It’s enough time to switch the presidential candidate you’re backing.”

For a moment, my vision went dizzy as if I had been hit in the head with a hammer.

Could it be that he knows I’ve joined hands with President Kyung Dong-soo?

Get a grip.

I mustn’t waver.

I gritted my teeth and tried to stay calm.

I tried to look as calm as possible, fearing that Chief Prosecutor Park Jae-pil might notice that I was flustered.

When I didn’t answer, he raised his twisted lips and continued.

“Chief Kang made a mistake, but let’s not hold grudges against each other and get along well. After watching Chief Kang work, I realized that you shouldn’t be made an enemy.”

He smiled again.

Until now, he had only shown his upper teeth slightly, but this time, it was a smile that showed his gums.

It seems he knows about the connection with Kyung Dong-soo.

Even if he’s not completely sure, he must at least be aware to some extent.

Of course, the fact that he said this didn’t seem to mean that he was going to touch it, but the fact that he revealed that he knew meant that he was confident.

Besides, he was smiling and talking in a slippery way, so I needed more time to explore him [understand his true intentions].

For now, it was best to follow his intentions in this situation.

Because I had poured all my strength into the viper, I needed time to reorganize and prepare to deal with the Chief Prosecutor.

I pretended to think for a moment and then nodded.

So, for now, I decided to go along with his wishes, at least on the surface.

“I understand.”

I nodded and added.

“Since you say so, Chief Prosecutor, I have no reason to be hostile either.”

“Thank you.”

He stood up from his seat with a satisfied expression and extended his hand to me.

I politely took both of his hands and bowed.

“I’m the one who’s grateful.”

“Let’s see each other again.”

“Yes. Please go carefully.”

Chief Prosecutor Park Jae-pil left the office after that greeting.

Looking at his retreating figure, I had a bad feeling.

And along with that, there was another problem.

Park Jae-pil’s eyes.

Unlike others, I couldn’t read his eyes at all.

Until now, I could read the psychology of people like President Kyung Dong-soo and Minister Kim Seok-won to some extent by looking at their eyes, but this man didn’t reveal even a bit of his inner thoughts.

Only the atmosphere emanating from his tone.

That means he’s a very cunning person.

I might get seriously hurt if I don’t watch out for that man.

Chief Prosecutor Park Jae-pil may or may not be the mad dog I saw in the future text, but in the current situation, I have to be as cautious as possible.

Because today was just a kind of exploratory battle.

***

In the afternoon after the Chief Prosecutor left, a man came to me with a file envelope, smiling awkwardly.

After asking about my well-being for a long time, he slipped the file envelope to me and got to the point.

“About this case, the culprit is 100% certain, but a friend keeps testifying that it’s not…….”

“Oh, is that so?”

I received the documents he handed me with an indifferent expression.

Of course, without even opening them, I just flipped through the pages roughly.

The man who came to me now was Goo Ho-sung, the chief prosecutor of the Construction Crime Division.

He belonged to Line No. 1 [a faction or group within the prosecutor’s office], but when I was in crisis after being bitten by the viper, he closed his mouth like a ghost and pretended not to know.

As soon as I recovered and came back up, he came back to me, pretending to be friendly and flattering me, but there’s no way I’d accept someone who stabbed me in the back.

“This is really important.”

He cut ties when he needed to, and now he’s acting friendly.

He’s groveling, asking me to talk to Chief Prosecutor Seo Ki-woong since I’m close to him.

“Yes, I understand. Leave it here. I’ll review it.”

“Okay. Thank you, Chief Choi.”

“No, it’s nothing.”

No sooner had I finished speaking than I slammed the documents hard enough to tear them.

Chief Prosecutor Goo Ho-sung noticed that I wasn’t happy with the current situation and said cautiously.

“Chief Choi, I was so busy trying to make a living last time that I couldn’t even contact you when you were having a hard time…….”

“Oh, don’t worry about that.”

I waved my hand.

“You can be busy.”

“Y-Yeah, right?”

He sparkled his eyes as if relieved.

“I’ll help you with anything you need in the future…….”

“Ah, by the way.”

However, before Chief Prosecutor Goo Ho-sung could finish speaking, I covered the documents and handed them back to him.

“I’m too busy trying to make a living these days to pay attention to that.”

“No, Chief Choi. Don’t do that…….”

He made a guilty face and grabbed my hands with both of his.

“If I don’t solve this case, I’ll really get on the Chief Prosecutor’s bad side. I can really do it if you just extend it a little bit, can’t you?”

“Ah, yes. Is that so?”

“Chief Prosecutor Seo will listen to you right away, so can you please talk to him just once?”

I looked down at my hands that he was holding and said.

“I don’t like my hands getting sweaty…….”

“O-Okay. Chief Choi.”

He quickly let go of my hands and said.

“I’ll set up a meeting soon. I heard you like the yujeong [Korean traditional restaurant] in Paju, so I’ll prepare a special course for you, so Chief Choi, just come and…….”

“Senior.”

“Oh, Chief Choi.”

“You know I’m not going because I don’t have money, right?”

“Oh, I know, I know. I just want to have a drink with you…….”

“Hmm.”

I scanned his anxious expression and crossed my arms.

Then, after thinking for a long time, I shrugged.

“Okay, I understand for now. I’ll think about it slowly.”

“Thank you, Chief Choi.”

He sparkled his eyes and nodded hastily.

“Just tell me when you’re free and I’ll book a yujeong right away…….”

“Yes, well…… you must be busy, so go ahead.”

“Okay, take a good rest.”

“Yes, Senior.”

Still, since he was a senior, I was about to get up to see Chief Prosecutor Goo Ho-sung off.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. Don’t bother coming out, just rest.”

He waved his hand and quickly left my office.

Looking at Chief Prosecutor Goo Ho-sung’s back, I couldn’t help but laugh.

As soon as the door closed, I immediately called Jo Ara and handed her the documents that Chief Prosecutor Goo Ho-sung had left behind.

“Shred these.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Jo Ara fearlessly put all the documents into the shredder.

The documents were completely shredded in a matter of seconds.

He should have done better in the first place.

Of course, I’ll delay the case he asked for and omit it when it’s important.

There’s no need for me to grant his request.

Until now, I helped him because he was in the same line, but now there’s no reason to do so.

Now that I’ve risen from someone who receives help from the line to someone who gives help to the line, it’s no exaggeration to say that there’s no need to be bound by the line anymore.

Of course, I’ll still stay in the line. It’s definitely helpful.

However, I’ll thoroughly push these sycophants [self-seeking flatterers] out of my sight.

Those guys are not needed at all to get to the top.

Thanks to the viper’s collapse and my prestige reaching its peak, I can feel that the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office is slowly coming into my grasp.

There’s not much left until I become the king of this world.

No sooner had I thought that than Chief Prosecutor Park Jae-pil’s twisted lips flashed through my mind.

Damn it.

Is there still one step left?

Chief Prosecutor Park Jae-pil.

I just need to overcome one more obstacle.