Starting from the day he reported for duty and continuing until the weekend of the following week, drinking gatherings continued day after day. The city councilor the employee said he’d arrange a meeting with was one thing, but why were there so many associations in the region? Moreover, all the company presidents based in the industrial complex seemed intent on meeting Jaeha. There was a limit to drinking—if he kept drinking like this, his liver would melt and he’d end up taking sick leave.
“They want to make a good impression on the guy who sent off Assemblyman Hwang.”
The senior prosecutors and prosecutors from other branch offices who met at lunchtime chuckled when they saw Jaeha.
“Even if they’re scheming behind the scenes, don’t they have to grovel in front to survive?”
“Anyway, we don’t know anything, so handle it yourself. We might have to endure more here in the future, so we don’t want to get unnecessarily involved.”
“Nothing to give each other, nothing to receive. Got it?”
The branch office prosecutors and employees drew a line. They were people who had no reason to look kindly on Jaeha, who had suddenly dropped in. A young prosecutor who was demoted for catching a sitting assemblyman while at the Central District Prosecutors’ Office Special Division. For that reason, they classified Jaeha as an elite different from themselves. Their main demand was for him to make sure they wouldn’t get entangled with him from the start.
“I’ll make sure not to cause trouble.”
“Your very existence is trouble.”
“I’m sorry.”
Though there was absolutely nothing to be sorry about, he still kept saying sorry. He understood their position of being suddenly stirred up. Of course, that didn’t mean he really intended to quietly cater only to their tastes. Which is why he apologized even more politely.
While handling work, he took time to look through existing cases. He especially dug through cases related to Taeryoung, even pulling all-nighters.
“This one’s wrong too.”
Jaeha closed the last case record.
Major cases were handled from above, so they were unrelated to small branch offices. The small cases handled at the branch office showed how meticulously the work had been processed—not a single case had any loopholes. Whenever something seemed suspicious, they had created ordinances in the city council to avoid it.
“It seems I need to find cases that haven’t been revealed yet.”
Just then, despite it being late at night, his cell phone rang. When he answered, it was a city councilor he’d had drinks with before, telling him to come out to a golf gathering on the weekend.
“I can’t play golf.”
—If you can’t play golf, you can learn. If you don’t like the field, shall we go to a practice range?
“I’m busy getting a handle on my work, so it’ll be difficult for a while. I’ll contact you first next time.”
—Ah, Prosecutor Seo. Don’t be like that.
“It’s late, so get home safely. Then.”
After hanging up, Jaeha frowned. He actually had good athletic ability and played golf quite well. Because of the long drives from his physique, he’d even been jokingly praised as semi-pro among amateurs. But was now the time for such things? He hadn’t even brought his golf clubs when he moved.
“If I can’t find anything at Chemical, should I look more into Assemblyman Hwang’s side first? I should look at city council materials.”
Just as he was about to get up from his seat, the phone rang again. He was about to not answer, thinking it was another drinking invitation, but an unexpected name appeared on the screen.
“Hello?”
—Seo Jaeha?
“What brings you here?”
His stiff expression gradually relaxed.
—You went to a branch office, right? Without even reporting to hyung-nim. That’s too much.
It was Gu Daeyoung. He was quite glad.
“Sorry. I came down too suddenly.”
—Do you have time this Saturday? I’m going there for coverage, and while I’m at it, I’ll see you.
“Mm. Nothing special going on.”
—Then I’ll call around dinner time. Don’t drink with other guys, wait for me.
“Got it, man.”
He hung up with a smile. Come to think of it, it was too late. Everyone in the office had left work, and he was alone.
He gathered materials related to cases he needed to look at immediately and left the office. He got into his car parked in the nearby parking lot and loaded his briefcase and bundle of materials on the passenger seat. Then, just as he was about to go around to the back of the car, the headlights on a car on the opposite side turned on and off.
“What? Was that a mistake?”
Since prosecutors working late was nothing new, he got into the driver’s seat without thinking.
After Jaeha’s car left, the car in the darkness moved with its headlights off. The car that followed Jaeha at a distance eventually reached the apartment entrance.
After confirming that Jaeha’s car was parked in front of one building of the small apartment complex with only a few buildings, the car circled around the entire apartment complex and returned to its original spot.
The black car that had been standing there for about 30 minutes eventually quietly disappeared.
On the weekend, Jaeha met Daeyoung and went to a raw fish restaurant that was famous in the area.
“What’s famous on the west coast these days?”
Daeyoung, who was being theatrical, ordered an assorted raw fish platter and two bottles of soju before Jaeha could even open his mouth. As soon as he received the soju that came out before the raw fish, Daeyoung, filled with delight, filled Jaeha’s glass. Jaeha, who inadvertently received the glass, took the soju bottle and filled Daeyoung’s glass while opening his mouth.
“Didn’t you drive here?”
“Tomorrow’s a holiday.”
“Are you staying over?”
“Isn’t your place big?”
Daeyoung, who smiled shamelessly, raised his glass saying, “To my friend’s move.” Jaeha clinked glasses with a hollow laugh.
Appetizing raw fish came out. Perhaps because he was a bit hungry, only after stuffing two or three pieces of raw fish at once and swallowing several large wraps did Daeyoung accept the next drink.
“Is your wife doing well?”
“Of course. She was thrilled today when I said I was going on a business trip. She’s going to enjoy a Friday night with friends, so she told this baggage not to come home until tomorrow night.”
Seeing Daeyoung grinning happily, Jaeha said, “You’re living well,” and smiled back. After that, small daily life reports continued. They planned to have a child after saving more money, so both were working hard.
“That’s why I came all the way here. I have to collect travel expenses and add to the household budget.”
“What kind of motel is my house? You’ve really decided, you bastard. But what brings your newspaper all the way here?”
Feeling a sense of crisis seeing the raw fish plate quickly emptying, Jaeha asked while defending his share of raw fish.
“I found an interesting post on the internet. The editor-in-chief is making a fuss saying if we dig into it, it’ll make money.”
“What is it?”
Daeyoung, who had just picked up his soju glass, drank the clear liquid in one gulp, then made a satisfied expression with a grimace before rummaging through his camera bag to pull out his cell phone. After operating it for a moment, he showed Jaeha the screen.
“This.”
It was a capture from an anonymous site. Some student said they thought they had witnessed a murder case. Along with that, they uploaded several black photos that were barely visible. Jaeha returned the phone to Daeyoung.
“Isn’t it a lie?”
The probability of this kind of post being real was slim.
“At first, there was also a video. But maybe because they were scared, they deleted it right away.”
Daeyoung, who swept more raw fish into his mouth again, spoke while chewing.
“If it’s fake, we can write an article saying kids these days are strange. Either way, travel expenses come out. But you know, it’s strange.”
While Jaeha was distracted by those words while desperately trying to defend the last piece, Daeyoung snatched the last raw fish. Watching Daeyoung swallow it with a victorious smile, Jaeha put down his chopsticks and called for an employee, thinking he should at least eat seodal tang.
“What’s strange about it?”
“People these days are merciless with fakes. If they think something’s off, they dig in at a level that rivals the FBI, and a famous video analyst on that site looked at the captures and video the kid uploaded and said it didn’t seem to be manipulated. They said it looked like speeding and drunk driving, even revealing the car model. White Land Rover.”
“Land Rover?”
“A guy driving a Land Rover in a rural village with rice paddies and fields. Isn’t that strange?”
Land Rover was a popular foreign car these days. Although its popularity had waned after some issue was discovered, people still drove it a lot. Limited to the metropolitan area.
“A Land Rover in the countryside, not even a city. Someone who came down from above?”
“I thought so too.”
Daeyoung pointed at Jaeha with the chopsticks he was eating with. While Jaeha grimaced at that sight, an employee brought a burner with seodal tang on it. Daeyoung added two more bottles of soju.
“People claiming it’s fake, people saying it’s real, police, court, lawyer-related relatives popped out and it was about to become a battlefield when the person who wrote the post either got sleepy or deleted and ran.”
“But how did you know it was this region?”
“When someone deletes and runs, the probability it’s fake is high, right? A network expert who can’t forgive fakers dug up the IP again. It’s the neighboring town.”
“Anyway, everyone’s become judges of justice. Really.”
Looking at the bubbling seodal tang, Jaeha picked up the ladle. After generously putting some on his plate, he passed the ladle to Daeyoung.
“There’s a big golf course there. I went there and came back. When I subtly asked if there was a president who drives a Land Rover, they said quite a few young presidents doing business in this industrial complex or presidents’ children drive them? There were actually two in the parking lot.”
“Well, since there are major corporations here and all, it’s possible.”
“If it’s true, a case with drunk driving, speeding, and even a victim was buried? Then it’s worth digging into. We only have to hint at the smell and someone somewhere sticks money in telling us to stop.”
While saying this, Daeyoung was gleeful as if he’d hit big. After polishing off a plate of seodal tang with soju, he suddenly looked around as if about to reveal a big secret and lowered his posture. As he leaned forward along with him, Daeyoung whispered so only Jaeha could hear.
“But there’s a guy who recently changed from a white Land Rover to a Benz.”
“Rich people have many cars. Didn’t he just drive a different car?”
“He had the bumper repaired though?”
“What?”
“I’m on my way back from checking out all the nearby car service centers, man. How many car service centers in this area would handle new foreign cars that aren’t even Benz or BMW?”
“So?”
“I found it. A guy who clearly wasn’t the car owner came and paid cash for bumper repair. And that’s not small change.”
“The license plate number?”
“A car service center wouldn’t tell a passing reporter that far. It’s even questionable whether they recorded the license plate number.”
“It’s only suspicion. Too weak to open an investigation.”
As Jaeha shook his head and ladled more seodal tang again, Daeyoung suddenly spoke as he was putting fish meat on bean sprouts and putting it in his mouth.
“What if the guy who came to get it fixed works at Taeryoung Chemical?”
Pfft.
“Ah, that’s disgusting. You bastard!”
Daeyoung shuddered. Jaeha hurriedly wiped his mouth with a wet towel while looking at Daeyoung.
“How did you find that out?”
“At a nearby PC room?”
“PC room?”
“PC rooms are like kids’ hangouts these days. If you want to dig up a pretentious bastard, PC rooms are the best. They just want to brag nationwide. Anyway, the PC room part-timer said there’s a guy who brags like crazy that he got a Land Rover really cheap. A guy who manages vehicles at Taeryoung Chemical.”
“Name.”
“How would I know that?”
“You found out at the PC room. That’s why you’re telling me. Or do you want to pay for the raw fish?”
At those words, Daeyoung grinned.
