Did it flow from the video analysis room to Director Baek’s side?
“No. It’s a different matter I’m looking into personally. It’s a trivial case.”
“Where is there a trivial or non-trivial case? If it’s something big, don’t tackle it alone and report it promptly. You could end up completely screwed. You saw it, right? Even the most insignificant bastards running wild claiming to be assemblymen.”
“Yes. I’ll be careful.”
“Always report when you go to secluded places. Bow down flat when you meet bigshots. Do I have to nag about every single thing like this?”
“I’m sorry.”
“You answer well. Go on.”
The bald turtle waved his front paws dismissively as if annoyed. Jaeha bowed his head and left.
Before the analysis data came out, he was thinking of visiting the car center that repaired the Land Rover.
*
Not many days passed before Section Chief Joo sent an email with the analysis data. It was much faster than expected.
-Director Baek came by the investigation department. He told them to do this data first and send it, they said.
“The director?”
-Seems like Prosecutor Seo really caught his fancy. I wonder how old Director Baek’s daughter is.
“The eldest is still a kid in high school. Don’t say such nonsense. Anyway, thank you for your hard work.”
Jaeha quickly hung up before Section Chief Joo could spout more nonsense. The so-called “legal prestigious family”—to put it bluntly, privileged class who desperately clung together somehow to maintain their vested interests among legal professionals.
It would be best if their own child became a judge or prosecutor, but child-rearing doesn’t go according to plan easily. That’s why they usually prefer to bring in legal professionals whose abilities have already been proven as sons-in-law or daughters-in-law.
Especially the chain connecting father-in-law and son-in-law was extremely powerful. Because of this, Jaeha’s name would occasionally come up among higher-ups who had daughters of marriageable age. Along with the assessment that it would have been better if he had more competitive drive and ruthlessness. Of course, it was an assessment made only looking at his appearance.
“Still, not a high schooler. Who are they trying to turn into a criminal?”
After all the staff left work, he thoroughly read the data he received in the office. He secured the vehicle type and license plate number, and also estimated the hit-and-run victim’s gender and age.
“For the perpetrator’s vehicle, I can check car centers. The victim…”
Jaeha contacted the nearby police station using the office phone.
“Ah, thank you for your hard work this late at night. I’m Prosecutor Seo Jaeha from Criminal Division 2. I’m trying to find something out.”
The detective who answered the phone was kind. Jaeha gave him the date the video was taken.
“Since this date, were there any reports of casualties near National Route 26? Or were there any missing person reports among residents near National Route 26?”
It was quite a broad question. The answer to the first question was no, and there were results for the second question.
“Really? A missing person? Please give me the reporter’s address and phone number. Yes, yes. I received a tip on my end. Thank you. Keep up the good work.”
Jaeha, who received the number and address, immediately stood up from his seat. While leaving the parking lot, he called the number he received. The person who answered was a young female student.
-Hello?
“Hello, I’m Prosecutor Seo Jaeha from Branch Office Criminal Division 2. I’m calling regarding a missing person report. Is the person answering the phone the reporter?”
-Yes.
It was an excited voice that seemed a bit startled. Jaeha was also slightly surprised.
“Excuse me, but what is your relationship to the missing person? Are you a student by any chance?”
Then came the answer that she was the missing person’s granddaughter and a high school student. She said her parents weren’t around. She said it was a grandparent-grandchild household, and since her grandfather disappeared, she’s been living with her grandmother and younger brother who attends elementary school.
When he visited the house, a female student wearing school gym clothes with her hair tightly tied up was pacing in front of the house holding an old smartphone. When he parked the car and got out, the student bowed her waist deeply to Jaeha. Jaeha unconsciously bowed back with the same gesture.
The inside of the house clearly showed that this household was in the near-poverty class. The parents hadn’t died but had gone to another city to make money and lost contact, so they couldn’t receive much government benefits either. She said they managed to get by thanks to various scholarships from industrial complex associations and a grandparent-grandchild household caregiver program centered around the village women’s association.
The sick grandmother only greeted him when she saw Jaeha, then went back to another room to lie down. The elementary school younger brother stuck right next to his noona, unfamiliar with Jaeha, and stole glances at him.
“Did you find grandfather?”
“No. Um. A tip came in, but I need confirmation on whether it’s your grandfather.”
Jaeha took out his cell phone and trailed off, saying “Your younger brother should…” Although it wasn’t really a video to show even a high schooler, she said she had no contact with any other relatives whatsoever, and since the student was the reporter herself, there was no other choice.
“You, go massage grandmother’s legs.”
When noona ordered crisply, the younger brother quietly stood up from his seat and went to the opposite room. She was a student with a firm attitude and manner of speaking.
“There’s no guarantee this is your grandfather. It’s still under investigation. So don’t be too shocked.”
“Show me.”
Trusting the student who had a resolute look in her eyes, Jaeha showed her the video. The student who was watching from the side at first soon took the cell phone from Jaeha’s hand and looked closely at the video. Her two eyes that looked strong filled with tears.
“That’s… that’s our grandfather. His clothes and the way he walks…”
The student who returned the cell phone then took it back again and stared intently at the video once more. Then she pulled her t-shirt sleeve long and wiped her eyes.
Jaeha also felt bad and couldn’t continue speaking. After some time, the student who had wiped her tears opened her mouth with a red nose.
“The culprit… did you catch them?”
“I’m going to catch them now. I need victim confirmation.”
“Please find grandfather. You must.”
“I will. Don’t suffer too much and stay strong. And I have a few things to ask.”
The student who kept wiping flowing tears nodded. The victim, presumed to be dead with high probability, would often go to the next village at night to drink rice wine. Since he had no car and buses stopped running late at night, he would come staggering on foot.
The student who said he ended up like this when he didn’t listen even though she told him not to because he might get into an accident, finally collapsed on the spot and wailed. Because of that, the younger brother who came over from the opposite room grabbed his noona and wailed together. The sound of grandmother crying could also be heard from the next room.
The entire house was a sea of tears.
A moment later, Jaeha, who had received unwashed shirts and socks that grandfather had used in a bag to secure DNA, sat in the driver’s seat for a bit.
While working as a prosecutor, he had seen many victims’ tears, but most were adults, and even for unfortunate stories, he encountered them through documents, so the impact was relatively less. But this time, he witnessed right before his eyes the wailing of young grandchildren who confirmed for the first time their blood relative’s unnatural death. His mood sank.
“Is it because they’re young kids?”
At the same time, disgust toward the hit-and-run homicide slowly crept up. Whether that bastard was from Taeryoung or whatever, whether there was a president behind them instead of a chaebol, it didn’t matter.
“I will definitely catch and lock them up.”
As soon as he went to work the next day, he immediately handed over the evidence to the investigation department. A few days later, after lunchtime, a reply came from the investigation department.
They said they found the body by checking genetic information with an unidentified body nearby. They said it was a body found in a mountain in a fairly distant area.
“Now I just need to secure the car.”
He needed to secure the perpetrator’s vehicle and find evidence of the accident. He had to search the car center, and the key was finding out where and from whom the person currently driving the vehicle received that car.
“They said he works at Taeryoung?”
Even though Daeyoung said so, he had to verify it himself. If he moved wrong, they might scrap the car and get rid of the evidence. Although the license plate number came out, if they insisted they just gave someone a ride and dropped them off elsewhere, it could conclude as accidental injury. The body had already entered re-autopsy as soon as Jaeha contacted them.
“I need to check with CCTV whether the license plate was captured near the point where the body was dumped.”
He needed investigative cooperation from other agencies and a warrant. It was a bit much to handle alone. Inevitably, Jaeha briefed the case to the Criminal Division 2 director and requested support.
“I’m busy. Go up.”
In the end, he knocked on the branch office chief’s door. The bald turtle touched on the key point as soon as he heard Jaeha’s report.
“This, don’t tell me it’s Taeryoung’s side?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“You must have looked up the vehicle registration.”
Of course he did. The previous owner was listed as Taeryoung Chemical.
“You’re poking a beehive as soon as you arrive. A hornet’s nest at that.”
The branch office chief stared up at Jaeha while sitting.
“I heard you originally rode Taeryoung’s coattails? Did you lose your mind after getting dumped?”
“I never rode their coattails and never got dumped. I’m just doing my job.”
The turtle’s eyeballs changed slightly to a half-moon shape.
“It’s been a while since I’ve seen a prosecutor-like bastard. I see why that bastard Baek can’t let you go. Good build, lots of hair too. How about it? Want to meet my daughter once? She takes after her mother, so she’s pretty. Long hair too.”
That damn hair. Normally he would decline by putting it nicely, but on this topic alone, he cut it off with one stroke.
“I’m grateful for the words, but I have someone I’m seeing seriously.”
“Really? What a shame. Contact me if you break up.”
Saying that, the branch office chief closed and returned the report Jaeha had presented. Just as disappointment was rising inside, thinking he was getting rejected just for declining the marriage talk, the turtle said while keeping his gaze fixed on the document he was originally looking at.
“Use whatever you need. Say I told you to. If you’re going to catch hornets anyway, you need to prepare.”
“Thank you.”
“Nothing to thank. I’m a prosecutor too. And these young punks coming and going around the industrial complex lately need to cause some incidents. Take this opportunity to scare them into snapping to attention. You’re not someone who’ll be stuck here forever anyway, so what is there to be afraid of?”
“Yes.”
Jaeha left the branch office chief’s office in a good mood after receiving a refreshing go sign.
*
An angry roar erupted from Taeryoung’s chairman’s office.
“What? Kyunghyun did a drunk driving hit-and-run?”
“Yes. And it’s a fatal accident with body disposal too.”
“That crazy bastard!”
Taeho lost not just his voice but his energy after shouting. Jung Kyunghyun was Vice Chairman Jung Taesu’s eldest son, his younger brother. He thought he was doing well quietly after joining Chemical, but who knew he had been doing such tremendous things?
The chief secretary reporting the incident also had a pale complexion.
“Block the media.”
“The thing is… at the point when search and seizure entered Chemical’s vehicle management team, an internet article came out.”
“What? Why didn’t we know about that?”
“It wasn’t a major media outlet but a so-called Sunday newspaper, so the media response team didn’t catch it in time…”
“You call that an excuse!”
Taeho shot up from his seat and shouted at the top of his lungs. As if that wasn’t enough, he threw the laptop mouse he had in his hand at the chief secretary.
