The Inspector Is Getting Promoted! [EN]: Chapter 59

Prosecutor, You’re Going Places! – Episode 59 (59/341)

The Judge (2)

“What?”

Detective Kim Hyung-seok, jolted awake by a phone call in the dead of night, was instantly alert.

“Choi Seo-jun actually caught the Judge?”

– Yes. They’re currently interrogating the suspect at the investigation headquarters. It’s a woman around 170cm tall [approximately 5’7″], just as we suspected. From what I’ve gathered, she seems to be confessing to all nine charges.

“Is he setting someone up? How could he suddenly catch her without any evidence?”

– I don’t know the exact details, but the officers who accompanied him said they apprehended her at the scene.

“He took detectives with him too?”

– Yes. He seems to have taken about ten detectives and a whole team of investigators.

“But why wasn’t I informed!”

– I, I’m sorry. The head of the investigation unit authorized it, and only those who could be trusted to keep quiet were called in, so it was difficult to find out…

“That son of a bitch, really!”

Detective Kim Hyung-seok, forgetting his wife was asleep beside him, shouted and leaped out of bed.

“Stop the news from leaking to the media! If it gets out that he caught her, the police will look incompetent!”

– Ah, well…

The officer on the other end of the line hesitated.

– It seems that articles were posted online almost immediately after the arrest, and countless related articles are flooding the internet.

“…What?”

– I don’t know how they found out, but much of the content praises the head of the investigation unit… no, Prosecutor Choi Seo-jun.

“This is a disaster!”

Detective Kim Hyung-seok, unable to contain his anger, slammed his fist against the closet.

“I’m going to the investigation headquarters right now, so find any evidence that proves the person Choi Seo-jun caught isn’t the real Judge. That way, we can immediately request a review of the legality of the arrest!”

– Understood.

Detective Kim Hyung-seok cursed under his breath as he hurried towards the investigation headquarters.

***

“You’ve arrived?”

“Where is everyone? Why are there so few people here?”

“Ah, the chief told everyone to go home except for the essential staff since the Judge’s arrest was completed, so only a few of us are left.”

“These crazy bastards!”

Detective Kim Hyung-seok trembled as he headed to the interrogation room.

Just as he was about to burst through the door in a fit of anger, it opened, and Prosecutor Choi Seo-jun emerged.

“Oh, Detective Kim, what brings you here so late?”

“You caught the Judge?”

“Yes, I did.”

Choi Seo-jun pointed to Song Hana, who was being led out of the interrogation room by an investigator, with a smug smile.

A black-haired woman around 170cm tall, just like in the black box footage secured by the police – the footage Kim Hyung-seok’s team had worked to obtain.

She matched the person in the evidence video he had seen, so he couldn’t deny it.

Prosecutor Choi Seo-jun looked down at Detective Kim Hyung-seok, taking advantage of his superior height, and said,

“Ah, Detective Kim, you said you were looking forward to me doing things my way. You were eager to see my methods.”

Detective Kim Hyung-seok looked up at him silently, and Choi Seo-jun twisted his lips into a wide grin.

“I’ve proven it – the skill of star prosecutor Choi Seo-jun.”

He casually placed his hand on Detective Kim’s shoulder and said,

“Well, I’ll mention at the press conference that the police also contributed significantly. Of course, the reporters will only be focused on me, though.”

Choi Seo-jun couldn’t suppress his chuckling laughter and walked away.

“…Are you sure you caught the right person?”

Detective Kim Hyung-seok glared at him as he turned around.

“If you’re just trying to appease the media and forcing a confession…”

“Detective Kim.”

Choi Seo-jun looked down at Kim Hyung-seok coldly and said,

“I’m not a police officer, so why would I do something so pointless?”

“…”

“The table is set, so just bring a few side dishes. Don’t get any crazy ideas.”

***

“Hehehehe.”

As soon as he closed the door and entered the chief’s office, he burst out laughing alone.

Detective Kim Hyung-seok’s hollow eyes when he saw the Judge, his deplorable expression when he realized that the Judge’s arrest had been stolen from him, remained vividly in his mind.

“Is something good happening?”

Surprised by the sudden voice, he turned to the side and saw Yoon Seol-ha, who was picking up fallen documents under the desk.

“Ah, I thought Seol-ha had already left.”

“How could I leave before the prosecutor?”

“I forgot. I was with the other investigators in the interrogation room.”

She smiled faintly and stood up.

“By the way, what happened that made you laugh like that?”

“Detective Kim came.”

“Kim Hyung-seok?”

“Yes. He must have rushed over as soon as he found out I had arrested the Judge. You should have seen his face when he saw the Judge in handcuffs… hahaha.”

“Ah, I really wanted to see that.”
Yoon Seol-ha also made a regretful expression.

“Detective Kim must be really pissed, huh?”

“That’s right. Articles are already circulating online, and tomorrow, the morning and 9 o’clock news will all be filled with stories about the Judge’s arrest, so it will be even more fun to watch.”

“Good. I really wanted to punch him in the nose every time he acted cocky.”

I smiled gently and called her over.

“Seol-ha, can you come here for a second?”

“Yes?”

I unlocked my drawer and took out a document envelope that I had placed in the deepest part of it.

“What is this?”

“It’s evidence.”

The artificial tears I received from Park Soo-hyung.

I knew this would happen, so I moved it to the investigation headquarters in advance.

“Evidence?”

“Yes. Originally, it had no legal standing because it was collected by a civilian instead of the police at the scene, but that changed recently.”

“Changed…?”

I winked.

“It gains legal standing if she admits to it during interrogation.”

I smiled and handed Yoon Seol-ha the document envelope.

“Hand over the entire bottle of artificial tears to the NDFC [National Digital Forensic Center] and ask them to check the DNA on it.”

“DNA analysis instead of fingerprints?”

“Yes. There won’t be any fingerprints at all. Just in case, be careful not to leave any fingerprints.”

“Understood. You meant the NDFC, not the National Forensic Service, right?”

“Yes. Our prosecution should go to the NDFC.”

She smiled and nodded.

“Of course.”

NDFC.

Short for National Digital Forensic Center.

In other words, it’s like the prosecution’s version of the National Forensic Service.

Generally, the prosecutor only directly requests it when additional analysis is needed in cases sent from the police to the prosecution, but in this case, it would be more effective to hand it over to the NDFC rather than the National Forensic Service to further enhance the prosecution’s achievements.

I’m sorry to the police, but the prosecution had to completely monopolize this case.

That’s the only way I can properly save face.

“Please pay special attention to this and ask them to collect the DNA as soon as possible since it’s related to the Judge case.”

“Understood. Then should we compare it with the victim’s DNA?”

“No. Song Hana’s DNA.”

Yoon Seol-ha’s eyes widened at the mention of Song Hana.

“Prosecutor.”

She said seriously.

“I don’t think I can ever catch up to you, no matter how hard I try.”

“Haha, what would I do if I became a prosecutor and was told I was more incompetent than an investigator?”

“You’re really something, Prosecutor.”

Yoon Seol-ha smiled brightly.

“It’s a shame that I won’t be able to follow you as an investigator if you become a senior prosecutor.”

She was saying that because investigators don’t typically get assigned to senior prosecutors.

“Don’t worry about that.”

I winked at her.

“There’s always a way.”

***

As expected, a request for a press conference came in the afternoon of the very next day.

However, I postponed it for another day because the interrogation wasn’t over, and scheduled the press conference for today, the day after that.

Of course, it wasn’t because the interrogation was insufficient, but rather to buy time for the NDFC to produce the DNA analysis results.

They said it would be difficult to accurately analyze the DNA in just two days, but I heard that they had secured and amplified DNA presumed to be from a woman.

It’s highly likely to be the Judge’s DNA.

Thanks to the press conference being postponed by a day, Park Soo-hyung, who wrote the exclusive article, only gained more momentum.

I heard that it rose to the top of the weekly best articles just two days after it was written.

In other words, it surpassed the traffic collected by other articles over a week in just 48 hours, so the Judge case must be quite significant.

As expected of a case that became a hot topic worldwide, the press conference hall was packed with people.

“Shall we go now?”

“Shall we?”

I got up from my seat at Yoon Seol-ha’s words.

I was about to head straight to the press conference hall when the door burst open and a man came in.

None other than Detective Kim Hyung-seok.

“Prosecutor Choi.”

Why is this guy calling me ‘prosecutor’ for once?

“Are you going to claim that Song Hana is the Judge?”

“Of course. Because Song Hana, whom we caught, is the Judge.”

“Prosecutor, you know the corroboration rule, right?”

He glared and explained.

“According to Article 310 of the Criminal Procedure Act, Admissibility of Disadvantageous Confessions, a defendant’s confession cannot be used as the sole evidence of guilt. Isn’t the presumption of Song Hana being the Judge entirely based on her confession?”

I listened to him quietly.

“We can’t confirm the previous eight cases except for the last one, so how can you be sure she’s the Judge?”

I wondered what he was getting at, but he was trying to undermine the case somehow.

Tsk tsk.

I told the police to catch the culprit, but they’re trying to hold me back.

“Didn’t you hear the analysis that the weapon matches the second victim?”

“That could be a coincidence, couldn’t it?”

“Anyone can see that Song Hana directly modified that hammer-like mallet. It’s not a common tool.”

“But since it was assembled with off-the-shelf products, there’s a possibility that it could be another culprit…”

I interrupted him and let out a deep sigh.

“Oh, Detective Kim, really.”

I scoffed at him, who was making a very unpleasant face.

“I told you to bring a few side dishes, so why are you trying to steal the whole meal?” [referring to taking credit for the entire case]

“…”

“Ah, prosecutors and police are on different levels, so it wouldn’t even be a fair fight for the meal. Should I say you’re trying to steal the main course?”

At those words, Detective Kim Hyung-seok’s face turned red and blue in an instant.

“What?”

As expected, he immediately rolled up his sleeves.

“Are you showing off because you’re a prosecutor? Investigate properly. It’s in the law, in the law! You have to investigate according to the principles.”

“Haa, Detective Kim.”

I looked straight down at him seriously and lowered my voice.

“I’m the one who passed the bar exam and became a prosecutor. Do you think I know less about the law than you?”

I saw Kim Hyung-seok flinch at those words.

But without stopping there, I pushed him even further.

“I’m Choi Seo-jun. You’re not seeing me as some unprepared fool who came out like this without any preparation, are you?”

“…”

“I’ll take it as a declaration of war that you’re trying to challenge me this far.”

I gave him a sneer as he glared at me.

“You’ll regret today. You underestimated me too much, Detective.”

I wrinkled my nose at Kim Hyung-seok and went straight into the press conference hall.