Kyungwoo really couldn’t understand that crazy bastard’s reaction. His despicable gaze and sinister smile were disgusting.
“…Are you insane right now?”
“At first, you seemed weak and I didn’t like it, but at this level, I think it’d be fine to get to know you. Let’s do well going forward.”
“Are you conducting an interview right now?”
He was dumbfounded and snorted as he asked back. Then Seo Jaeha tilted his head slightly and soon nodded.
“Thinking about it, it’s a kind of… Let’s say it is. If you don’t state the conditions, I’ll present them first.”
“There are no conditions like that.”
Kyungwoo cut off his words.
“Handle the Kim Gilsu case. The compensation? Going back alive nicely today? That’s already being very generous.”
“I think differently.”
“You’re persistent.”
When he showed a hint of annoyance, Seo Jaeha took out his cell phone from his chest. Then after quickly manipulating something, he floated his thumb in the air.
“Right now I’ve gathered all the reporters I know in a group chat room. Among them are many people eagerly waiting for something to be posted on the public petition site. Someone will post it.”
“Seo Jaeha! That won’t change the general situation. Even if it gets troublesome, it’ll eventually be buried. Only you’ll get hurt. Should I make it so you can’t even work as a lawyer after being stripped of your position?”
Kyungwoo brought up reality. However, Seo Jaeha didn’t back down.
“Seeing you make such a fuss just to bury me alone, it lacks persuasiveness. I already know that opposing Taeryoung is like throwing an egg at a rock anyway.”
“Does someone who knows that act this recklessly?”
“If I’m going to be trampled to death anyway, I should at least make you feel dirty to relieve my anger.”
Seo Jaeha’s attitude as he said this didn’t waver even an inch. It wasn’t a joke.
“You’re scarier than I thought. Much more twisted too.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Silence blocked the space between them. Kyungwoo glared at Seo Jaeha. It was obvious his determination to never die alone cleanly was sincere.
Damn it.
The fact that cleaning up the aftermath itself would be troublesome was certainly an important reason, but more than that, his father Jung Taeho was the bigger problem. Just recalling that gaze that looked him up and down as if he were pathetic made his heart grow ice cold.
It was time to end this game. He didn’t know how much risk there would be in joining hands with such a sinister bastard, but for now, it was better to shake hands and move on.
“Fine. I’ll give you up to two.”
“Two?”
Seo Jaeha didn’t immediately understand Kyungwoo’s proposal.
“Big ones.”
“2,000?”
“Does Taeryoung look like a corner store to you?”
“Ah, 200 million.”
While saying that, Seo Jaeha nodded. At a time like this when it was difficult to move slush funds, it was a large amount to offer to a mere civil servant.
“I’m especially giving you a high price.”
“That’s giving me a high price? You’re really undervaluing my career.”
Now an empty laugh burst out.
“200 million isn’t enough? Ha. You’re greedier than I thought, Prosecutor Seo.”
While saying that, Kyungwoo thought for a moment. He could somehow secretly handle 200 million. But mobilizing more than that while under audit carried a high risk of being caught.
Then Seo Jaeha spoke up.
“It’s hard to stake my entire career on money that doesn’t even cover an apartment rental deposit. Is there nothing else?”
“Like what?”
He hadn’t intended to offer anything else. He had just asked, but Seo Jaeha narrowed his eyes as if he’d been waiting.
“There should be at least one vacancy opening up at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office or the Ministry of Justice.”
A personnel request for a key position.
Who said Seo Jaeha had a timid personality with no guts? The guy who submitted that report should be fired immediately.
This person was someone with more upward ambition than anyone, someone full of greed.
“Do you have the ability to go to the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office or Ministry of Justice?”
It was inevitable that mockery showed in Kyungwoo’s voice. Even Seo Jaeha seemed to feel bad about that much, as his expression hardened.
“That’s something you know after going.”
“If you parachute into an elite position that doesn’t suit your station, you’ll end up taking off your clothes even faster. That’s not a position you can endure with confidence alone. You know that?”
“That’s why I’m trying to join hands with Taeryoung.”
“Why should Taeryoung join hands with you?”
“Stop going in circles. It’s tedious to keep repeating what we’ve already said.”
While saying that, Seo Jaeha shook his cell phone.
Kyungwoo also disliked the unpleasant situation continuing. His patience wore away with every moment he was in a separate space with this disgusting bastard.
“This is qualitatively different from a simple money transaction. It’s not something you can handle once and shake off cleanly.”
That was why personnel requests were difficult. Once he placed him, Seo Jaeha would be classified as a Taeryoung connection parachute until he took off his clothes.
In other words, whether at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office or the Ministry of Justice, wherever Seo Jaeha took any action, there was a high probability it would be misunderstood as reflecting Taeryoung’s will. It was troublesome to carelessly accept a human who couldn’t be perfectly controlled.
“Really? Then it can’t be helped.”
“Look, Prosecutor Seo. When people make transactions, they coordinate with each other and such. With that all-or-nothing attitude, it’ll be hard to survive in this rough world. I don’t know how you’re trying to go to a position where everything is about getting along with such a childish mindset lacking political negotiation skills.”
Kyungwoo couldn’t help but reveal his irritation. An emotional response was far from advantageous. But the anxiety from the enclosed space had reached its peak, so there was nothing he could do.
Because it was a tone of hectoring a clueless child, he expected the other party to respond with equally dirty behavior. However, surprisingly, Seo Jaeha was calm.
“A civil servant… Is it an occupational disease?”
It was quite a cautious tone. When he cast his gaze, slight embarrassment crossed the face that had been full of fierce energy.
He discovered a weak point at an unexpected spot. He shouldn’t let that slip away.
“The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office and Ministry of Justice are positions where even sly foxes fully armed with blood ties, regional ties, and school ties can’t endure and drop out one after another. Of course, the risk is also big for companies that stepped up as sponsors.”
“I know.”
Perhaps his pride was hurt, as Seo Jaeha tried to harden again. It was important to wrap things up at an appropriate point before he insisted stubbornly for no reason.
“Prosecutor Seo, you’ve only been in the Criminal Division, right?”
“…So what?”
“If you want to go to a high position, you need to accumulate various experiences and such. I can send you to another division within the district prosecutors’ office. Since you’re at the Central District Prosecutors’ Office anyway, I think it’s not a bad condition.”
“To the Special Division or Public Security Division?”
“If that’s what you want.”
When he slightly raised the corner of his mouth, Seo Jaeha’s eyes became fierce again.
“You can decide that so easily? That’s impressive.”
“When is it someone else’s turn to say such things, when it’s the person who made the request?”
“Anyway, chaebols are cancerous lumps.”
“Does a civil servant who’s putting in all their passion and effort to advance by relying on that chaebol have the right to say such things?”
When Kyungwoo shot back, Seo Jaeha closed his mouth. After a moment, Jaeha asked.
“How do you prove it? You’re not going to write a memorandum or anything.”
“Prosecutor Seo, you don’t trust me?”
“I’d trust a 12-time fraud convict.”
“Then don’t trust me.”
Seo Jaeha, who responded to the sarcasm with silence, eventually pressed the lock button on his cell phone. While doing so, he put the wristwatch he’d been holding back on his wrist.
“I’ll consider myself fooled this time.”
“But I don’t know why you suddenly started speaking informally since earlier.”
Seo Jaeha, who picked up the jacket that had been hanging on the doorknob, cast his gaze this way.
“Aren’t I your hyung?”
“We’re not even friends, so what does age matter?”
“Since we’ll be close from now on, I’m dropping the formalities.”
“Who’s being close with you?”
“You’re speaking informally quite well too.”
He kept getting swept up by that bastard Seo Jaeha. Kyungwoo would rather shut his mouth.
“Today is late, and tomorrow I’ll handle work. Contact me in two days. Then I’ll also give you the answer you want.”
While saying that, Seo Jaeha wrapped himself in his jacket. His casual words and actions were like a husband on his way to work asking his wife for something.
“Then.”
Without even hearing a response, Seo Jaeha opened the iron door and left. It was an attitude of being certain that this Jung Kyungwoo would do as he said.
“Boss?”
Seeing Seo Jaeha come out fine, Director Oh and Choi Dohyun called for Jung Kyungwoo.
“The talk is over, so escort him.”
Director Oh, who had been holding a hammer, smiled slyly again.
“Prosecutor, let’s go this way.”
Bowing and scraping like a room salon prayer, he put Seo Jaeha back in the car and disappeared.
“Are you alright?”
Choi Dohyun approached and asked.
“That bastard. He’s formidable.”
Kyungwoo only said that. He got back in the car with Choi Dohyun. While the two left, the remaining personnel cleaned up the stolen car and other equipment.
The large sedan went down the mountain road. Jung Kyungwoo cast his gaze toward the dark mountain shadows.
He pretended to be fine, but his hands trembled. Having a private meeting with a man ready to use violence at any moment was still difficult. He needed a tranquilizer right away, but it had been quite a while since he’d carried medicine around.
Damn it.
Kyungwoo clenched his trembling fingertips. Then Choi Dohyun noticed his condition and sped up.
The luxury sedan drove roughly down the rough road.
