The Inspector Is Getting Promoted! [EN]: Chapter 7

Prosecutor, You’re Going Places! – Episode 7 (5)

Whistleblower (5)

After the briefing, Senior Prosecutor Park Seung-soo chuckled and said,

“They really milked it for all it’s worth.”

Song Hyun-sung was also wide-eyed with admiration, but Chief Prosecutor Kim Seok-won alone maintained a poker face and opened his mouth.

“Choi Seo-joon, was it?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Does it seem certain to you?”

The question, devoid of any playfulness, rang in my ears, and cold sweat automatically poured down.

Does he think these pieces of evidence aren’t enough?

No.

Generally, with this much evidence, a prosecutor wouldn’t just resign.

They’d submit their resignation and then be subject to further investigation.

I’ve reviewed it repeatedly.

Wait a minute, literally, for a typical prosecutor, this would be enough, but this case is special.

Im Sung-jin is the one who managed to climb to his current position while committing this much corruption without a single scratch.

He must have had more than one person who felt the same way as Shin Yong-ho.

Yet, he survived, very cleanly.

I need to think coldly.

I need to judge from the perspective of an objective prosecutor, not from the standpoint of Shin Yong-ho’s unfairly treated friend.

The decision won’t be made by me but by a third-party judge.

While I was organizing my thoughts, Kim Seok-won spoke again.

“If you were Im Sung-jin, what would you have done?”

If I were Im Sung-jin.

If I were Im Sung-jin, would I have committed such corruption on such a large scale without any safeguards?

Absolutely not.

No matter how much he trusts his subordinates, he wouldn’t have left any room for them to dig up his corruption, knowing that he would eventually get rid of them.

That means there’s a way out.

Even if it’s not visible in the evidence I have, it can’t be considered perfect unless I look into his cards.

He must have something he’s relying on.

I’ve been thinking too simply until now.

When you think about it, the evidence of corruption that Shin Yong-ho prepared isn’t evidence of Senior Prosecutor Im Sung-jin’s corruption, but evidence of the Economic Crimes Investigation Department’s corruption.

Im Sung-jin may be the head of the Economic Crimes Investigation Department, but that doesn’t mean there’s clear evidence against him.

Damn it, I was short-sighted.

I took a deep breath and opened my mouth.

“It’s solid enough to hit the Economic Crimes Investigation Department, but I don’t think it’s enough to bring down Im Sung-jin.”

Only then did Kim Seok-won nod.

“That’s right.”

Startled by those words, Song Hyun-sung examined the data once more and let out a faint exclamation.

Kim Seok-won looked at me and continued.

“Of course, I’m not trying to blame you. This much is already tremendous evidence and will be a great help to me. If we play this card, we may not be able to take down Senior Prosecutor Im Sung-jin, but we can make him falter.”

He twisted the corners of his lips once more.

“If his arms and legs are all cut off, even Im Sung-jin will lie low and stay quiet for a while.”

Senior Prosecutor Park Seung-soo, who was gauging the atmosphere, opened his mouth.

“For the time being, I’ll organize the evidence myself. It wouldn’t be good if it leaked to the outside.”

“Don’t do that, work with this friend here.”

Kim Seok-won pointed at me with his chin and asked.

“You don’t have anything urgent in Gwangju, do you?”

“Ah, no. I don’t.”

“Good. Come up and stay here for a while.”

***

I was worried about having to go to work at the Gwangju District Prosecutors’ Office, but Kim Seok-won solved it with a single phone call.

I wasn’t officially transferred to Seoul, but it was processed as a business trip for work support.

His power is truly amazing.

It seems that when you reach that level, you gain authority that I can’t even imagine.

I rented a room near Seocho Station and spent several days commuting to the Seoul High Prosecutors’ Office, planning how to corner Im Sung-jin.

However, what’s disappointing is that I don’t know his cards [hidden strategies or connections].

If I knew that, I might be able to bring him down, not just make him falter.

“Prosecutor Choi, what’s going on with this?”

The data Park Seung-soo handed me was the content I had checked while working overtime last night.

“Yes. The other accounts are nominee accounts [accounts held under false names]. When the Han Dong Group sends money, they withdraw it through homeless people and use it, but this account is uniquely sending money to another place.”

“You don’t know who the recipient is?”

“Yes. It seems to be someone behind Im Sung-jin, but I couldn’t confirm it on my level.”

Park Seung-soo chuckled and said.

“It’s a kickback [bribe]. If it’s Im Sung-jin’s line, it’s probably flowing to the chief prosecutor.”

“Are you talking about the Seoul Central District Prosecutor General?”

“That’s right. Im Sung-jin is in that guy’s line [faction or network].”

That was something I didn’t know.

I had speculated that there must be someone behind him because the scale of his actions was different, but I didn’t know he had the Seoul Central District Prosecutor General, the most coveted position in the prosecution, as his background.

It’s more intertwined than I thought.

As expected, you have to come to Seoul. Things that I couldn’t see in the provinces are slowly starting to become visible.

“This could become a bigger game than I thought?”

Park Seung-soo twisted the corners of his lips and wore an intriguing smile.

“Rather, it might be more interesting if we don’t take down Im Sung-jin’s head this time.”

I could fully understand what he meant.

If his arms and legs are cut off in this case, Im Sung-jin will surely try to rely on his superior, the chief prosecutor, in his line.

If the chief prosecutor accepts him and gives him a chance to recover, we might be able to seize the opportunity to climb up Im Sung-jin and blow away the chief prosecutor as well.

If the chief prosecutor abandons Im Sung-jin, he will collapse as he is, which would be good in its own way.

“It seems appropriate to only attach a respirator so he can barely breathe.”

“That’s right. Don’t disclose this account and hide it. If they think we haven’t noticed, they’ll continue to use the account.”

“Understood.”

***

“Oh, Yong-ho.”

-I did some investigation, and Im Sung-jin and Professor Jung Jae-won are constantly in contact.

“Really?”

-Yeah. There’s no specific cycle, but they definitely call or text each other at least once every month or two. And additionally…

While I was preparing in Seoul, Shin Yong-ho wasn’t just resting in the provinces.

The connection between Im Sung-jin and Professor Jung Jae-won that I saw in the text message.

Hoping against hope, I asked him to investigate, and sure enough, Im Sung-jin and Professor Jung Jae-won had been in contact with each other since graduation.

That alone would have been plausible enough to pass over, but what was surprising was what came next.

-While I was digging through Im Sung-jin’s call history, I separately investigated the lists added to the call history since the bar exam questions started being created, you know?

No way.

-Among them, there were about eight times when the call origin was caught in a very remote area. So, I went to all those places one by one, and one of them was a restricted area.”

That means the restricted area is the place where the bar exam questions are created.

In other words, it can be said that the fact that Im Sung-jin is in contact with the creator of the bar exam has been confirmed.

There’s no need to say more if they’re contacting each other even though electronic devices are definitely not allowed.

He’s probably trying to leak the exam questions.

The unidentified text message only showed Im Sung-jin passing the bar exam questions to Professor Jung Jae-won, but in this situation, it was certain that he was trying to pass the exam questions not only to Professor Jung Jae-won but also to other people.

Otherwise, there’s no way that circumstances of trying to leak the exam questions could be captured even in the current situation where we haven’t told Professor Jung Jae-won.

-Are we going to blow this case up together too?

“No, let’s hold off for now. Let’s keep this to ourselves. I won’t report it separately to the inspection department.”

-Then what are you going to do?

“If it blows up now, the Ministry of Justice will definitely be able to handle it, so it won’t be a big controversy. They’ll try to quietly get through it somehow. So, we have to blow it up right after the bar exam questions are created.”

That’s how the effect will be amplified.

Above all, it’s the last bar exam, so attention is focused on it, and if we blow it up like this, the test-takers who don’t have good results will rise up and become a big topic.

You have to know when to blow up the case.

The most important thing is timing.

-Okay. I’ll keep that in mind. I’ll try to capture additional evidence for now. The cell phone used at the bar exam question site is presumed to be a burner phone [a disposable phone used to avoid tracing], so I’ll find out the actual owner as well.

“Thanks.”

-No thanks, I’m more thankful.

“Okay, go in.”

Although there is a big goal of becoming a chief prosecutor, I felt sorry for Shin Yong-ho that I couldn’t take down Im Sung-jin with this case, but he found even more solid evidence to take him down.

If a current senior prosecutor, not a regular person, is caught up in the bar exam question corruption, his roots will be suspected.

I never thought I would grab his lifeline like this.

The situation is turning out to be so interesting.

***

The day of the decisive battle dawned.

Today is the day.

Finally, it was D-day to hit the Economic Crimes Investigation Department.

I suffered from working overtime every day for more than ten days with Senior Prosecutor Park Seung-soo to prepare evidence, but from today, even ordinary prosecutors from the inspection department will join.

From today, I will be able to breathe.

Of course, this fact will be heard in Im Sung-jin’s ears in a few hours, but our tempo will proceed faster than he thought.

And the Economic Crimes Investigation Department will be destroyed.

“Did you sleep well?”

Park Seung-soo asked, tapping me on the shoulder, as if he had already arrived.

“Yes. Did you sleep well, Senior Prosecutor?”

“No, I didn’t sleep well.”

He shrugged and said.

“That bastard Im Sung-jin, thinking about how the guy who used to strut around so proudly will distort his face, I was so excited that I couldn’t sleep.”

I didn’t know Park Seung-soo hated Im Sung-jin.

When I made a surprised expression, Park Seung-soo chuckled and lowered his voice to explain.

“That guy is in the same line as Chief Baek Seong-tak.”

Chief Baek Seong-tak is the chief prosecutor of the inspection department.

Park Seung-soo’s direct superior.

If the Economic Crimes Investigation Department is destroyed, Im Sung-jin will falter, and of course, the aftermath will spread to his line.

If Chief Prosecutor Kim Seok-won goes up to the High Prosecutor General before the shock subsides, Baek Seong-tak will naturally be pushed out, and Park Seung-soo, who is in Kim Seok-won’s line, will naturally take the position of Chief Prosecutor of the Inspection Department.

So, he can’t help but be happy.

He tapped me on the shoulder once more and turned back to the conference room.

“Let’s go in.”

“Yes.”