Along with the God of Law - Chapter 371



Only Noblemtl

371.

A small junkyard in Asan.

When Baek Hoon-sik asked about that day based on the scrapping records, the old man who appeared to be the president immediately pretended to know.

“Oh, that’s right, that’s right. It was the day that a mini excavator and a truck came in together.”

“Yes! That’s right.”

“The reason I remember that is because the people who scrap excavators and forklifts don’t come and do it themselves. They ask us to send a technician and a truck. The excavator arm also has to be disassembled, which is annoying. But they just load it all onto the truck and bring it to us for scrapping, including the truck. They said it was urgent…”

“Was it scrapped on the same day?”

“Aha… That’s… No, but, who are you to ask such a thing?”

The old man was talking loudly, but then he looked at Baek Hoon-sik with a wary look and stopped talking.

“Oh, that’s it. Usually, when you scrap a car or construction equipment, you have to go through paperwork. In order to proceed with the deregistration, you have to check if there are any liens or mortgages attached, so it probably took a while, but from what I’ve found out, it seems like they were all scrapped in one day.”

“Ah, that’s how it is.”

It seems that he has sensed that he is involved in some incident.

Or maybe he thought Baek Hoon-sik, who kept asking questions like these, was strange.

“Huh? No, wait a minute. That’s not how it is. Please answer me properly… Isn’t this an officially licensed junkyard?”

“I don’t know. Don’t ask any more questions. He’s like the CEO of a company or something. If you have a personal grudge, report it to the police. So don’t do this.”

“Oh, that’s not it.”

In fact, Baek Hoon-sik had never been on set before. So he hesitated for a moment, not knowing whether it would be right to show his ID and identify himself, or whether he should just leave.

‘Manager Kang Hyeon is watching me.’

I can’t just turn back after coming this far. He cleared his throat and lowered his voice as he spoke.

“I am a prosecutor at the Central District Prosecutors’ Office. I am currently investigating.”

“…What is it?”

“I said I’m a prosecutor. I’m investigating, so please cooperate. This is a murder case.”

“…?”

“… Seriously, I said? Here’s your ID too… .”

‘Ah! This is it.’

I don’t have my ID. I probably left it in the car.

‘It’s always like this.’

He said that things were going well. The president suddenly widened his eyes in front of Baek Hoon-sik, who was flustered, and started to leave the place with quick steps.

“Hehe, the weather is a bit cloudy today.”

“Huh? Excuse me. The conversation isn’t over yet… .”

“I have no work to do.”

“Wait a minute, I said I have ID! I said I’m a prosecutor?”

The president’s mumbling voice was heard from afar by Baek Hoon-sik, who was flustered.

“Tsk, I guess this isn’t normal… Oh my, how pitiful…”

*

anyway.

At a junkyard near Asan, it was confirmed that Ahn Il-gyun had scrapped a small excavator weighing less than 3.5 tons and a truck that could be used for transport on the date of the alleged incident.

As soon as Baek Hoon-sik showed the ID card he had barely found, the owner of the ‘Asan Junkyard’ was startled and suddenly changed his address to ‘Sir’.

He bowed his head and admitted his own mistake. The excavator scrapping procedure was not carried out through a formal request.

“You can’t accept scrapping like this. No matter how small the business is, in just one day, when the paperwork is incomplete.”

“Actually, there are many places like this. I’m really sorry. Sir… If you could just take a look once…”

So far, that’s certain.

As a prosecutor, it was true that Baek Hoon-sik’s intuition was right.

A victim whose death is confirmed, but who is in a peculiar murder case without a body.

In this situation where there is strong evidence that defendant Ahn Il-gyun hid the body, he claims that the victim is alive and has fled overseas.

To break it, the body had to be found, or the circumstances surrounding its concealment had to be reconstructed in a way that was credible enough to satisfy a court.

In the end, there was only one answer.

‘I buried the victim. In that mountain.’

In Baek Hoon-sik’s mind, a cruel picture was drawn of a pit being dug with a truck and a small excavator in a secluded place on a nameless mountain in the neighborhood where the victim and the defendant lived, and the victim being thrown into it.

And this was likely to be somewhat true.

At the time, defendant Ahn Il-gyun was confessing, so they were not focused on finding the body, and time continued to pass.

Eventually, after he changed his story and claimed he didn’t kill her, it was quite some time before the police began a full-scale search.

Unless you suspect they dug a hole deep in the mountain and threw the victim in, it’s unlikely the search went that far.

And now the mountain itself has been developed into a small hiking trail, and the terrain has changed a lot, and even asphalt has been added.

‘It’s too late to turn the mountain over. We need to have solid evidence.’

One thing was missing. I searched for something more, but in the end, I went around and around and came back to square one.

Instead, we got something else. In addition to the scrapped excavator and truck, there was one more piece of information left.

“What is this?”

“It’s the car that came in with us. This one is fine, but I asked that it be scrapped.”

Baek Hoon-sik’s eyes widened after seeing the data.

‘As expected. In addition to the two trucks, one more truck was scrapped. It was under the name of the business corporation that An Il-gyun was running.’

“Please submit this.”

“Oh my! Of course. Just take it.”

“I need to get a random submission confirmation, so if you come later, I’ll give you the supporting documents.”

“Oh my… .”

Baek Hoon-sik obtained the business registration certificate and corporate seal of the spare office corporation ‘Anil Manpower’ through the president. Then, something suddenly occurred to him.

“Then, isn’t there only one person here?”

“yes?”

“Three cars. The excavator was loaded onto a truck, and you said another truck came in.”

“ah….”

The president, who had been rolling his eyes and watching Baek Hoon-sik closely, wondering if there was something wrong, eventually said this to him.

“Of course there were two. One of them was an old lady.”

Woman? What does this mean?

“Was the knight a woman?”

“That’s right. They’re about the same age.”

Baek Hoon-sik nodded silently as if he had sensed something.

‘The deceased victim said she was divorced, and the defendant was close to the victim. Is that possible?’

I had a feeling it was magical. I had a feeling I might be able to find out who that woman was.

* * *

The day after Kang Hyun declared that he would stop leading the An Il-gyun case and let it go.

The lights in the office of the 5th trial division chief were off and it was quiet.

It was the same the next day, and the day after that.

“Is Director Kang Hyeon here? I have something to report to you from the trial department regarding the quarterly report.”

“I heard you used up your vacation days?”

“When you were in the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were you the person who never took a break?”

“I heard you went abroad.”

“Overseas? What happened?”

“You said you came to play.”

“Hey, no way.”

“It’s true.”

The trial staff whispered. Kang Hyun disappeared like the wind, saying, “I’m going abroad,” and then disappeared after taking a vacation.

The inspectors were also surprised.

“Is this okay?”

“Aren’t you upset because of Chief Ahn?”

“In other words, can’t we see this as Chief Ahn Ji-won defeating Director Kang Hyeon?”

“I don’t know. I was just a bystander from the beginning.”

“Hey, me too. Want to go get something to eat?”

Two other prosecutors from the 5th trial division, Jeon Yun-woo and Choi Jeong-woo, are from the same 8th law school class as Senior Prosecutor Ahn Ji-won.

It is true that they, who had been loyally following Ahn Ji-won’s instructions up until now, were at a loss and floundered after Vice Chief Prosecutor Kang Hyeon took office as the head of the 5th Division.

So, the fact that Kang Hyun disappeared without a trace, as if he was tucked in, brought them relief and peace. It felt as if the shadow that had been cast over them was gradually being lifted.

Right then.

“Hello, Manager 1!”

From my seat outside the office, I could see the youngest working-level official in the 5th trial division standing up and making a big gesture to greet me. It was Chief Prosecutor of the 1st division, Jeong Ji-eun.

Jeon Yun-woo and Choi Jeong-woo also naturally stood up from their seats and bowed their heads.

It wasn’t that common for the head prosecutor of the first division to show up, but since there had been a long period of vacancy in the fifth division, not only the head prosecutor but also the deputy head prosecutor positions, her appearance was familiar.

“Are you here, manager?”

“hello.”

“Uh, I’m the swordsman, Choi the swordsman. Is Kang Hyun there?”

“Oh, Manager Kang Hyeon is currently on vacation.”

“Really? Then I can come tomorrow, right?”

“That’s… Tomorrow is your annual leave day too.”

“Huh? Then I guess I’ll have to come the day after tomorrow.”

“excuse me….”

Choi Jeong-woo, who had a little more respect and sympathy for Kang Hyeon than Jeon Yun-woo, scratched his head and answered her.

“It seems like you have some household chores to do. Manager Kang Hyeon is on long-term leave.”

At his words, Jeong Ji-eun frowned with a strange expression. In an instant, Jeon Yun-woo and Choi Jeong-woo’s faces darkened.

There was a misunderstanding. They thought that the reason Jeong Ji-eun was angry was because Kang Hyun went on vacation.

However, the reason Jeong Ji-eun was angry was, of course, because they were lying. What kind of housework was that?

“… No way. What’s going on?”

“Oh, that. What happened to your family?”

“Kang Hyun’s mother is doing well. I heard from her on the phone three hours ago that she was in very good health.”

Surprisingly, Kang Hyun and Jeong Ji-eun seemed to be close friends.

According to Senior Prosecutor Ahn Ji-won, the two were born different, had different natures and essences, and were like oil and water.

Choi Jeong-woo realized his mistake and hesitated for a moment, wondering whether he should make excuses or be honest.

Kang Hyun’s unreasonable consecutive absences were a huge thing that was not easily understood in the world of prosecutors. Especially now that hundreds of cases were pouring in every day, and he was the chief prosecutor of the trial department that was in charge of the overall management of all of them.

“Oh? That’s right, my mother, but my father is a bit unwell.”

“… Choi Geum. If you’re going to lie about family, shouldn’t you at least know the other person’s family relationship? If not, then don’t do it at all.”

In an instant, the tail went down. Choi Jeong-woo lowered his head.

“I’m sorry. Actually, Chief Kang Hyun didn’t tell us the reason. It’s not like he’s absent without permission! Senior Prosecutor Ahn Ji-won is thoroughly reviewing the case and is leading the way, so we’re minimizing the number of cases that require prosecution or cases with special circumstances…”

“No. The current situation in Section 5 is serious. Manager Kang Hyun has gone abroad to play.”

A somewhat cold woman’s voice was heard from afar, cutting off Choi Jeong-woo’s clumsy excuses.

It was Chief Prosecutor Ahn Ji-won.

“At the beginning of the third quarter, when the number of pending cases was at its peak, Chief Kang Hyun left his post without carrying out his duties.”

“okay?”

“Yes. You even took charge of the defendant Ahn Il-gyun case, which was called a ‘murder case without a body’ and the entire department was struggling, and reassigned it to the youngest prosecutor.”

Chief Jeong Ji-eun looked at Ahn Ji-won with a strange expression, leaving behind Jeon Yun-woo and Choi Jeong-woo, who were frightened by Ahn Ji-won’s bold voice.

‘what…?’

Of course, it wasn’t the picture that An Ji-won had expected.

Because the righteous Chief Jeong Ji-eun, whom he respected, was the kind of person who would listen to his words, become furious, and fly Kang-hyeon to the countryside right away.