The Inspector Is Getting Promoted! [EN]: Chapter 232

Showtime for Prosecutor -232

Showdown (3)

“Chief Prosecutor.”

Lee Doo-hyung looked at me with shaking pupils.

Having learned about the accident that happened to his daughter, it wouldn’t be easy to maintain his composure.

I quickly gestured to him.

“Go quickly.”

“Yes.”

Lee Doo-hyung immediately got up from his seat and rushed out of the conference room.

I gave instructions right away.

“Clerk, tell Investigator Gong to drive Chief Lee. He’ll get into an accident if he drives in that state.”

“Understood.”

Since something happened to Lee Doo-hyung’s daughter, who is like family, I couldn’t just stay in the conference room.

“Chief Jang, proceed with the meeting and wrap it up.”

“Understood.”

I also got up from my seat and headed to the hospital.

***

While going to the hospital with Yoon Seol-ha, I slowly organized my thoughts.

It could be a simple accident.

There’s no evidence yet that Park Jae-pil was involved.

However, my intuition still pointed to Park Jae-pil’s scheme.

“How much longer?”

“We’re almost there.”

Soon after, we arrived at the hospital and went inside. As expected, loud noises were erupting in front of the operating room.

“Her nose bone is shattered, and you’re telling me you don’t know who did it!”

Lee Doo-hyung seemed to be at the peak of his anger, shouting at someone.

“I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. I have nothing to say.”

The people bowing their heads in front of his scolding were two women.

Judging by their appearance, they seemed to be the kindergarten teacher and the principal.

At that moment, Gong Jin-hyung, Lee Doo-hyung’s investigator who was standing far away, discovered me and approached.

“Chief Prosecutor, you’ve arrived?”

Looking at the troubled look on his face, he must have been unable to stop Lee Doo-hyung and was just pacing back and forth from a distance.

Before stopping Lee Doo-hyung, I asked Investigator Gong about the situation.

“What happened?”

“First of all, Chief Lee’s daughter is in the operating room, but fortunately, her life isn’t in danger.”

“That’s a relief.”

“Yes, but her nose bone was completely shattered, so the surgery will take quite a while.”

As soon as I heard that, I felt complicated and sorry.

Lee Doo-hyung’s daughter is just four years old, three months younger than my son. If you count by the Western age system, she’s not even 36 months old yet.

My heart ached that his daughter’s nose bone was broken and she was undergoing surgery. I couldn’t imagine how the parents must feel.

“Is it an accident or an incident?”

“According to what we confirmed before the surgery, it doesn’t seem like it was just a fall. They said that the bone couldn’t have shattered to this extent unless it was struck with a blunt object or an adult man’s fist.”

“And you don’t know the culprit?”

“Yes. Those two over there are kindergarten teachers, and they said they only found out after the accident happened.”

“Doesn’t the kindergarten have mandatory CCTV cameras these days?”

As expected, the moment I said that, Lee Doo-hyung shouted.

“Bring out the CCTV. I need to see it myself.”

“Yes.”

The kindergarten teachers cautiously headed to the car, and Lee Doo-hyung followed behind them, exhaling sharply.

I immediately approached him and blocked his path.

“Chief Lee.”

“Ah, Chief Prosecutor…”

His eyes were bloodshot, and his jaw was trembling as if he hadn’t calmed down yet.

“You stay here.”

“But…”

“You should hear Soyoung’s surgery results. Besides, your wife is still on her way, right?”

“…”

“I’ll go see it myself. Soyoung will look for her mom and dad as soon as she wakes up. Shouldn’t you be by her side?”

He opened his mouth with a look as if tears would flow at any moment.

“Chief Prosecutor, I can’t live if something happens to my daughter.”

“I know, I know.”

Lee Doo-hyung reached out and grabbed my hand tightly.

“Please.”

***

“Do you think this makes sense?”

Gong Investigator argued, as if it were his own business.

“The CCTV happened to be broken at this time, so it wasn’t recording?”

“Yes. To be exact, we confirmed it was broken yesterday, and we called a technician, but they said they were busy and couldn’t come for two days. So, the other classrooms are being recorded, but the CCTV in the classroom where the children are napping was turned off.”

“Didn’t you guys deliberately delete the video? You made a mistake and got caught!”

“No, check it out. It wasn’t even recorded!”

As Gong Investigator reached for the computer, the kindergarten principal cautiously pushed his hand away.

“That might be a little difficult.”

“What?”

He glared at her, but the kindergarten principal spoke calmly.

“The hard drive is the private property of our kindergarten. If you want to check it, get a search warrant and take it legally. Otherwise, it’s hard to give it to you. More than anything, there are still children in the kindergarten. If you take the hard drive and an accident happens, will you take responsibility for not having video footage?”

The nuance was that if they were forced to take it, they would cause the same thing to happen again and blame the prosecution.

“…Huh.”

Gong Investigator chuckled.

“Do you not understand how the situation is unfolding? At this kindergarten. Also, during nap time, our Chief’s daughter’s nose bone was broken. And we don’t know the cause. But right now, the principal is…”

While the principal and Gong Investigator were arguing, Yoon Seol-ha cautiously said to me.

“I have a bad feeling about this.”

I crossed my arms and slowly nodded.

“Park Jae-pil probably intervened.”

No, it’s definitely certain without a doubt.

This situation cannot be explained otherwise.

Of course, they would know that the injured Soyoung is the daughter of the chief prosecutor, and they couldn’t possibly not know that I am the chief prosecutor of the Central District Prosecutors’ Office.

But the fact that they’re arguing like this can’t be explained by mere guts.

If it were a normal kindergarten, they wouldn’t even dare to turn the prosecution into an enemy like this.

“As expected, that mad dog…”

She sighed deeply.

“I knew he was crazy, but what kind of person does that to a child who’s only two years old…”

It’s something only a mad dog could do.

Yoon Seol-ha took out her phone and asked.

“Shall we issue a search warrant? Then we might be able to get the hard drive.”

“No. It probably wasn’t recorded in the first place.”

If they had decided to harm Lee Doo-hyung’s daughter from the beginning, they wouldn’t have bothered with the troublesome task of deleting the recorded video.

They would have made it so that it wasn’t recorded in the first place.

They would even have a record of reporting the breakdown for A/S [After Service, meaning repair service].

Because Park Jae-pil isn’t a sloppy person.

“This seems like things are going to get complicated.”

“What should we do?”

“Assign the minimum number of special investigation unit personnel who won’t disrupt the ongoing cases and deploy them here. And contact the 4th Deputy Chief Prosecutor to bring in personnel from the Women and Children’s Crime Investigation Department.”

“Yes.”

“Additionally, have the prosecutors contact the parents of the kindergarten children by the end of today to find out if they saw anything or not, and report the initial findings by midnight.”

“Understood.”

And most importantly, the problem is the two female teachers who seem to be related to Park Jae-pil.

If they stay here, they will definitely be hindered when the prosecutors move.

First, we need to make sure these two can’t stay here.

I approached them and said.

“Since you said the CCTV isn’t working, let’s go to the hospital together for now.”

“Yes?”

The two seemed unwilling to go to the hospital again, and they looked flustered at my words.

“But…”

I said firmly.

“Soyoung’s surgery isn’t over yet. Surely, the people in charge of the child won’t irresponsibly turn a blind eye, will they?”

I said coldly with my hands in my pockets.

“Or do you have something to do here? Like contacting someone…”

“No. Let’s go.”

The principal said, trying to control her expression.

“We were worried about Soyoung and wanted to go to the hospital too.”

***

“Does that make sense?”

As expected, Lee Doo-hyung, who had heard the situation, was angry at the kindergarten teachers.

“You don’t know who did it, you weren’t at the scene, and the CCTV was broken?”

His face looked like it was about to convulse.

“What is this? I entrusted my child to you, and not only do you cause an accident…”

The two female teachers were still repeating that they were sorry.

But that was only for a moment.

The kindergarten principal checked her phone and suddenly changed her attitude.

“But in fact, when you think about it, it doesn’t seem like it’s 100% our fault.”

What kind of nonsense is this?

Lee Doo-hyung was dumbfounded and inhaled sharply.

“What?”

“Of course, we acknowledge our fault for not taking care of the child, and we will take responsibility for it. However, we can’t rule out the possibility that she fell on her own, can we?”

The fact that she suddenly changed her position like this means that she must have received some kind of instruction on her phone.

I immediately called Yoon Seol-ha.

“Track the principal’s phone call history.”

“Understood.”

Yoon Seol-ha immediately took out her phone and moved to the corner.

Lee Doo-hyung continued to raise his voice at the kindergarten principal.

“Didn’t you hear what the doctor said earlier? It’s certain that she was hit with something!”

“She might have fallen from a high place and landed face down. We leave the classroom after putting the children to sleep so as not to disturb them, so we can’t confirm if they actually moved.”

“Huh…”

Lee Doo-hyung put his hands on his waist.

He tried to calm his anger by taking a few breaths, but he couldn’t hold it in and finally burst out.

“Damn it, do you know who I am? My precious daughter has been in the operating room for over four hours and hasn’t come out, and you’re saying it’s not our fault? Is that what you’re saying now?”

He raised his voice, even pointing his finger.

“Do you think I’ll just stand by and do nothing? Can you do the same if your child is treated like this? Can you!”

People were starting to gather in front of the operating room, hearing the loud noises that kept erupting, but as parents themselves, they couldn’t bring themselves to stop Lee Doo-hyung.

In the end, I called Investigator Gong and gave him instructions instead.

“Prevent others from approaching, as there’s nothing good for them to see.”

“Understood.”

As Investigator Gong was trying to disperse the crowd, a man with a familiar face caught my eye.

I feel like I’ve seen that person somewhere.

I watched him cautiously, feeling uneasy for some reason.

The man seemed to be holding his phone and resisting as if he had to film even as Investigator Gong pushed him, but then he put his phone in his pocket and headed to the lobby.

Then, he sat down in a suitable spot and opened his laptop.

I don’t remember his face properly, but with that kind of behavior, the answer was obvious.

A reporter.

A reporter sent by Park Jae-pil.

So that’s why I know that face.

He’s 100 percent trying to write a bad article about Lee Doo-hyung.

I have to stop him.

If his agitated appearance is reported in the media, Lee Doo-hyung will inevitably be at the center of controversy, even though he’s the victim of the accident.

Just as I was about to approach the reporter.

Beep beep.

Twice briefly.

The vibration went off.

-Sender: 38

-Video