The Inspector Is Getting Promoted! [EN]: Chapter 132

Prosecutor Hong is Climbing Up! – Episode 132 (132/341)

Invasion (2)

“Wait a minute. Tell me slowly. An internal investigation is being launched because Prosecutor Hong Seok-jang’s wife received money?”

-That’s right!

He continued to speak without a break.

-I sneaked out during the meeting, so I have to go back. Just listen.

“Okay.”

-It seems BH Construction passed the money. I don’t know if Prosecutor Hong didn’t want to receive it, so it went through his wife, or if Prosecutor Hong deliberately told them to give it to his wife, but it seems certain she received it. And the Chief Prosecutor said he got a tip, but judging by his tone, it’s a trap he set himself.

“So, when is the internal investigation?”

-Not much time left. The warrant will be issued in 10 minutes at the earliest, 30 minutes at the latest. That mad dog must have requested the warrant himself.

This crazy…!

This isn’t a problem to take lightly.

-The Chief Prosecutor has set everything up and called an emergency meeting. The atmosphere is such that they’ll leave as soon as the warrant is issued, so prepare quickly.

Song Hyun-seong hurriedly ended the call.

-I have to go back in now, so I’ll hang up. If you delay, you’ll really be cornered.

“Okay, thanks.”

With those words, he hung up the phone and stood up.

There’s no time to think for long.

Every minute is crucial, so I need to act right away.

First, I called Jo Ara, who was closest.

“Ms. Clerk! Where is Prosecutor Hong right now?”

Jo Ara, who realized it was an emergency from the moment she answered the phone, jumped up from her seat.

“Prosecutor Hong took a day off today.”

“Damn it.”

It seems like there won’t be enough time to verify the facts.

“First, connect me to Prosecutor Hong immediately and call Investigator Yoon Seol-ha.”

“Yes, I understand.”

She held her cell phone and internal phone at the same time.

I stopped in my place and quickly started thinking.

If the Chief Prosecutor has already requested a search and seizure warrant and is moving, it’s not suspicion, but certainty.

Moreover, if he designed this whole thing and brought the inspection department with him, there’s a very high probability that he has solid evidence.

If I act rashly, I might get crushed by giving them an excuse.

I need to move carefully.

However, if time is wasted, the inspection department will barge in and turn the special investigation department upside down.

“Prosecutor Hong isn’t answering the phone right now, and the investigator is…”

Knock.

“Did you call me?”

Before Jo Ara could finish her report, Yoon Seol-ha arrived at the office.

Hong Seok-jang, that bastard, doesn’t answer the phone in such an emergency… Damn it.

“Ms. Clerk, keep calling Prosecutor Hong until he answers, and connect me as soon as he does.”

“Yes, I understand.”

“Investigator, pull out all the data related to Prosecutor Hong Seok-jang and BH Construction. Also, everything related to construction companies.”

“Yes.”

Immediately after answering, Yoon Seol-ha quickly left the office.

Attacking Prosecutor Hong Seok-jang was essentially the same as attacking me.

Since he was one of my people, this internal investigation was nothing more than Chief Prosecutor Park Jae-pil launching a preliminary battle to strike me.

Kim Seok-won tried to shake me to attack Minister Kim, but failed, so he’s now targeting my line to properly drive me out.

Above all, Prosecutor Hong Seok-jang is from the Busan District Prosecutors’ Office like Park Jae-pil, but since he sided with me, his sense of betrayal must be considerable, so he was chosen as the first target.

However, no matter the reason, I was angry at the fact that he gave the opponent an excuse to jeopardize his position.

I knew there were hunting dogs aiming for us, so I should have moved carefully, but I didn’t guard against it.

But now is not the time to blame Prosecutor Hong Seok-jang, nor do I intend to.

First, putting out the fire that has fallen on my feet is the top priority.

Reprimands can come later.

Time was passing quickly even while I was thinking for a moment.

I couldn’t delay any longer.

I had to decide on a way to counter Chief Prosecutor Park Jae-pil’s attack.

Perhaps because I was so anxious, only one way to overcome this situation came to mind.

If it’s certain that he received money from BH Construction, then that’s the best way for now.

I made a decision and immediately took out my cell phone and called Park Su-hyung, a reporter for WK Daily.

-Yes, hello?

“Mr. Su-hyung, can you write an article right away?”

-What kind of article?

Park Su-hyung asked reflexively, but changed his words when he sensed the urgency in my voice.

-No, first tell me the content of the article.

“Yes. Reveal that the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office’s special investigation department has received a tip that it is conducting a sting operation regarding bribery allegations against a large construction company.”

-Is there anything else to add?

“Yes. Within 5 minutes… no, can you post it right now?”

-Wait a moment.

The sound of a keyboard being typed at an incredible speed could be heard over the phone.

-I’ve completed the short article. If you OK it, I can post it immediately.

“Yes, then immediately…”

I stopped speaking because of a sudden feeling of rejection.

At the same time, an ominous thought flashed through my mind.

What if Chief Prosecutor Park Jae-pil anticipated this situation?

Since it’s a case related to an internal investigation, even if he’s the Chief Prosecutor, he must go through the inspection department unconditionally.

But Chief Prosecutor Park Jae-pil couldn’t possibly not know that Park Seung-soo and Song Hyun-seong in the inspection department are my people.

He anticipated that Song Hyun-seong would leak this information to me, and it’s possible that the warrant he actually requested was a lie.

If that’s the case, reporter Park Su-hyung, who is gaining credibility, will lose a lot of strength due to the false report.

That would be him playing with me instead.

It would be me putting Park Su-hyung in a difficult situation with my own hands.

But I can’t not publish the article.

Damn it.

No matter what I choose, the risk is too great.

Am I thinking too much?

But it’s Chief Prosecutor Park Jae-pil, no less.

It’s an undeniable fact that even being one step behind his thinking will result in damage.

There is no best option in the current situation where there is no other way to overcome it.

In the end, I have to choose between the worst and the lesser of two evils.

Then, of course, I have to avoid the worst.

The worst is none other than if all of these situations are real.

If a search and seizure warrant is issued but the article is not published, Prosecutor Hong Seok-jang will inevitably become a corrupt prosecutor.

Then it would be difficult to save him with my power.

That’s why I decided to publish the article.

However, it was necessary to have some insurance.

-Mr. Seo-joon?

I came to my senses at his call over the phone and asked.

“Can you change the name of the article you’re posting now?”

-Are you talking about the reporter’s name?

“Yes. To a junior or another reporter.”

-Yes, it’s possible… Is it because the content is not credible?

“That’s right.”

-In that case, we have a virtual reporter name that we use on our side, so I’ll use that.

“Ah, that’s a relief.”

Even if it’s a virtual reporter name, if it’s different from the actual facts, Park Su-hyung, who posted the article, may get scolded at the company, but the impact won’t be that great.

I breathed a sigh of relief for now.

“Yes. Then post it right now.”

-Okay.

After hearing the sound of a few mouse clicks, his voice was heard again.

-The article was posted at 13:17. Since it’s a short article, it will be registered sequentially on major portal sites.

“Yes, please contact me again after everything is uploaded.”

-Yes. I’ll let you know by text. I don’t know what the situation is, but please tell me slowly when it’s sorted out.

“I will. Thank you.”

As soon as I finished the call, Clerk Jo Ara shouted while holding the internal phone.

“Chief, Prosecutor Hong Seok-jang is on the line!”

“Turn the call over to me, and Ms. Clerk, please create a document related to the BH Construction sting operation. A special investigation department’s own confidential document that is not submitted to the Deputy Chief Prosecutor.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Jo Ara turned the phone over and turned her gaze to the computer, starting to type quickly.

At that moment, my cell phone vibrated.

Twice briefly.

-Sender: Song Hyun-seong

-The warrant was just issued. Arriving at the office within 5 minutes, so be prepared.

If it was delivered by text like this, the warrant issuance time must be cutting it close to the time the article was posted.

If the warrant issuance time is earlier than the time the article was posted, it will be impossible to deny the sting operation article.

The exact time must be compared.

If a problem actually arises, it’s a problem that Prosecutor Hong Seok-jang will take responsibility for and step down, but I was furious at the fact that the special investigation department’s name was being tarnished.

I took a deep breath and picked up the internal phone.

-Chief, what’s going on?

As if the deep breath was useless, as soon as I heard his voice, profanity burst out.

“Hong Seok-jang, you 개X끼 [Gae-sae-ggi, a Korean profanity meaning ‘son of a bitch’]!”

Jo Ara flinched, and the sound of her typing that was ringing in the office stopped for a moment.

However, my curse words that had burst out did not intend to stop and continued to pour out.

“What the hell are you doing and wandering around, you X자식 [X-jasik, a Korean profanity meaning ‘son of a…’]!”

-I, I’m sorry!

Hong Seok-jang, who suddenly received the call, wouldn’t know what was going on, but he hurriedly lowered his tail.

“Come to the Central District Prosecutors’ Office right now!”

-C, Chief. I’m down in Daejeon right now, so…

“Prosecutor Hong, how much did you take from BH Construction?”

-…….

In an instant, the other side of the phone became a mute.

Prosecutor Hong Seok-jang is older than me, so I have always used honorifics until now, but this time I couldn’t stop the curse words from coming out.

“Aren’t you going to tell me quickly?”

When I urged him loudly, Hong Seok-jang answered in a trembling voice over the phone.

-O, One hundred million.

“Did you spend that money or not?”

-I’m sorry!

With anger filling me to the brim, I gritted my teeth and said.

“A search and seizure warrant has been issued, so take a plane, take the KTX [Korean Train Express, a high-speed rail system], or use any method to come to the Central District Prosecutors’ Office within an hour.”

-Yes! I’ll go right away.

After hearing the sound of him moving quickly over the phone, I put down the receiver.

Without time to rest, I called reporter Park Su-hyung again.

-Yes, Mr. Seo-joon.

“Please do a follow-up report on the short article. Make it big with the content that H Prosecutor received 100 million won from B Construction in order to deliberately conduct a sting operation in the special investigation department.”

-Yes. Should we proceed with a virtual reporter name for this as well?

“No. Post this under Mr. Su-hyung’s name. And in order to crack down on these bribery cases all at once, give it a nuance that they were collected and not revealed one by one.”

-Okay. I’ll fill in the additional details myself.

“Yes, please.”

After hanging up, I immediately asked Jo Ara.

“Is the document written?”

“Yes. The form is made, and only the content needs to be added.”

“Investigator Yoon!”

When I shouted loudly towards the door, Yoon Seol-ha rushed in urgently.

“Yes, Chief.”

“Did you find the data related to BH Construction?”

“There is one case that was investigated and closed a year ago due to Han City Construction.”

“Tie it up with that and help Ms. Clerk write the document.”

“Yes, I understand.”

At that time, a commotion was suddenly heard at the entrance of the special investigation department.

It seems the inspection department has already arrived.

I moved my feet outside and said to Yoon Seol-ha.

“Do you know where my seal is?”

“Yes. I’ll take care of it.”

“Yes. I’ll buy as much time as possible.”

I immediately finished speaking and went out of the office, and found prosecutors and investigators including Song Hyun-seong standing at the entrance.

Song Hyun-seong was already notifying the special investigation department prosecutors of the warrant details at the entrance according to the procedure.

“…Therefore, as of the current time, we will conduct a search and seizure of the office of Prosecutor Hong Seok-jang of the Special Investigation Department of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office.”

Looking around the back, fortunately, Deputy Chief Prosecutor Heo Hyung-jin and the Chief Prosecutor hadn’t come yet, so I could buy some more time.

However, seeing that Park Seung-soo was not there, it seemed that a house search warrant had been issued and he had headed there.

They were going to thoroughly crack down on Prosecutor Hong Seok-jang.

I immediately approached the inspection department people, reached out my hand, and stopped the inspection department employees.

“Let’s check the warrant for a moment.”

Deputy Chief Prosecutor Song Hyun-seong obediently stopped the inspection department prosecutors and investigators, and he showed me the search and seizure warrant.

The first thing I checked was the execution time of the warrant.

-Search and Seizure Execution Date: 2021.5.11. 13:19

The time the article was posted through reporter Park Su-hyung was 13:17.

Fortunately, it was 2 minutes earlier.

“…Hoo.”

I unknowingly let out a sigh of relief.

I prevented the worst-case scenario for now.