The Mad Prosecutor Picked Up AI - Chapter 28
Only Noblemtl
Episode 28: The story of discovering an illegal gambling den
The conference room in Gunnae-myeon branch office. The conference room, which was covered in dust every day, was scheduled to see people for the first time in a while today.
Na Kang-jin was furtively looking around the empty conference room.
There was also a whiteboard at the front of the conference room. On the whiteboard, there was a long piece of A4 paper taped together, and today’s agenda was printed on it.
Whether or not there was a mistake when printing, there were A4 papers taped together scattered all over the floor.
The titles were so long that the taped papers not only stretched across the whiteboard, but also flapped and stuck out slightly from the sides of the whiteboard.
Na Kang-jin, who had been watching the scene from behind the door, let out a snicker and secretly picked up his cell phone to take a picture of the whiteboard.
As he left the conference room and looked around, he saw three or four people gathered in front of a coffee machine at the end of the hallway. Na Kang-jin pretended to look at the notices on the wall and listened to their conversation.
Messy hair, dark beard, broad shoulders, active jumper.
At first glance, they were detectives.
“Fuck, I’m so busy I could die, why are you calling the police all the way here?”
“That’s right. What kind of joint investigation is there in a remote local police station like this?”
“Didn’t you hear? This time, the Civil Service Office requested cooperation.”
“What the hell! What kind of cooperation request is this from Minbongsil?”
“They keep asking for cooperation. They think we’re their puppets.”
“I guess the higher-ups had no choice because it was the prosecutor who caught the serial killer last time.”
“Nimi, are you done with the inspection?”
“What I’m saying is.”
“Once you go in, you have to turn it over to use it.”
Na Kang-jin, who heard the disparaging remarks about the prosecutor, let out a snicker.
‘You’re talking nonsense by yourself, you’re a total idiot. Go get beaten up by the police.’
Na Kang-jin headed to the office, grumbling.
“So, how’s things going these days?”
“Yes. We are doing well.”
The proud look he had shown in front of the conference room was nowhere to be found; Na Kang-jin was bowing his head in front of Chief Park Seong-min in a somewhat humble manner.
A friend of my father’s whom I had known since I was young, before he became the chief of police. I knew very well that he had been helping me in many ways.
However, he was frustrated because the results did not go as well as he had hoped. He even felt sorry towards the branch manager who had been pushing him.
“Last time, we caught a factory that falsely labeled its country of origin, but then the Monam Enterprise agency incident broke out.”
Normally, he would have had good results that would have made it into the newspapers, but unfortunately, a nationwide incident broke out and his case was buried.
“What else?”
“We’re solving murder cases and other big ones, but the last serial killer case was so big.”
“hmm.”
When you climb Jirisan Mountain, you can’t even see the hill behind your neighborhood. Because the serial killer Kim Deok-su case was such a big deal, other murder cases didn’t even attract people’s attention.
“I’m pushing you, but it only makes sense if you produce results, you know what I mean?”
“Yes, I know.”
“Don’t make stupid mistakes, and keep solving big problems. Then good days will surely come.”
“thank you.”
Na Kang-jin bowed his head.
“Oh, that sword.”
“yes.”
“The first deputy chief prosecutor said that they are conducting some kind of joint investigation with the police. Do you know anything about it? Is there anything that the Civil Service Office can investigate jointly?”
“Oh, that’s it.”
Na Kang-jin let out a sly laugh.
“I just went there a little while ago. Don’t worry about it. Just look at this.”
Na Kang-jin took out his cell phone, pulled up a photo, and handed it to Chief Park Sung-min. A sly smile appeared on the Chief’s face as he stared at the photo.
“It’s brave of the police to accept it.”
“It’s obvious. He would have threatened me by bragging that he was a prosecutor who caught a serial killer and a prosecutor who received a commendation. This is also all bullying.”
Chief Park Sung-min looked at Na Kang-jin, who was laughing out loud, with a cold expression.
“Is it funny?”
“yes?”
“That guy who graduated from a local university that you’ve never heard of caught a serial killer and even received a commendation. He’s even asking for cooperation from the police while working at the civil service office. He’s being pushed around by such a lowly guy. Is that funny?”
“Oh, no.”
Chief Park Sung-min clicked his tongue quietly.
“Next time, I have to be a pro. Someone in the spotlight. Got it?”
“Yes! I will keep that in mind!”
Na Kang-jin bowed his head even deeper.
* * *
As I entered the conference room, the seats were almost all taken. Most of them were large men wearing active jumpers, and their appearance alone was indistinguishable from the big guys I had seen in the billiard hall.
[But those people are all detectives.]
‘I guess so. Judging from the murderous eyes looking at me.’
Detectives have always disliked prosecutors. My father was one of them, so it’s not surprising.
But that doesn’t mean you have to stare at me so openly.
I went to the front of the conference room and started the meeting formally.
“Thank you to the detectives who took the time out of their busy schedules to be here. I am Do Hyeon-gwang, a prosecutor from the Public Service Office.”
A detective asked me from his hunched position.
“They say it’s a request for cooperation, but what kind of cooperation is this from Minbongsil?”
“Oh, your posture is not good.”
“Mercy?”
“Do you have a herniated disc? Sit up straight. Otherwise, you’ll slip out of the chair.”
The detective who had been questioning me cleared his throat and straightened his back.
“If you have bad eyesight, you can come here and sit in front.”
“Don’t worry, my eyes are fine. The inspector wrote the text.”
“I wrote today’s agenda on the whiteboard here. Have you seen it?”
“… … That thing?”
Since everyone’s reaction was lukewarm, I turned my head and looked at the whiteboard. On the long piece of paper pasted on the whiteboard was written this.
Oh, I can’t help but misunderstand. You must think I’m just asking for your cooperation to resolve a parking complaint.
I quickly turned to look at Wi Jun-woo, who could only be the culprit of this situation. Wi Jun-woo scratched his head with a calm expression.
“There’s more writing underneath. I put it up, but it must have fallen off. I was busy installing the laptop video. You can just pick it up and put it up on the floor. No, not that one. The long one over there. Is that it?”
Among the numerous A4 papers lying on the floor, I picked up a piece of paper that was taped together in a long length and stuck it to the second line of the whiteboard.
“her.”
A collective gust of wind blew out from among the detectives.
“Oh, that’s not it. It’s something else. I think that’s the thing that fell behind there.”
Wi Jun-woo’s words became faster as he panicked. I picked up what Wi Jun-woo was pointing at and tried to put it on.
“No, I was just joking. There must be something else besides that.”
Wi Jun-woo stuttered and rummaged through the papers that had fallen on the floor. For some reason, Chief Jang Gi-tae turned around with a flushed face.
What’s wrong, boss?
Please don’t be shy.
Our Wi Jun-woo is good at his job.
“Okay. Let’s go in.”
“Yes? But.”
“This will do.”
I removed all the papers stuck on the whiteboard, except for the words “ILLEGAL GAMBLING PLACE.”
“Okay. As you can see, the case we’re going to work on today is an illegal gambling house. I’ll answer all your questions later, but first, I’ll explain the case.”
I explained about the illegal gambling den disguised as a billiard hall as if nothing had happened.
* * *
Dohyeon Gwang connected his laptop and displayed the photos he had taken inside the billiard hall on a large screen. Inspector Kang Hong-sik was sitting in a conference room chair, arms folded, watching everything as if he was absorbing it all.
Well, I was planning to thoroughly investigate each and every one of them, such as how great the cooperation was that they came out of Minbongsil and why they brought so many police officers with them.
The police are not soldiers who come when the prosecutor tells them to come and go when he tells them to go. I don’t know if they got lucky and caught a serial killer last time, but they won’t let a young prosecutor ignore the police.
Prosecutor Do Hyeon-gwang began his briefing while he glared at him with eagle eyes.
“This is the inside of the casino. As you can see, all kinds of gambling are taking place, including Hwatu, Yabawi, and ‘Hula’ card games. The amount of money moving around each table seems to exceed several million won.”
“Did you take a picture of that on watch? Or was it tipped off to you?”
He went in after checking the legitimacy of the tip. It could be someone’s trap, or it could be false. If it was obtained illegally, then everything you see on the screen now is useless.
“I went into the billiard hall myself and took the pictures secretly so as not to get caught.”
“Are you saying that you’re doing an undercover investigation right now?”
“It’s not an investigation. I just went to play billiards. After work hours. That shouldn’t be a problem.”
“… … .”
Going to play billiards is not a problem. Inspector Kang Hong-sik smacked his lips.
“The key is to strike quickly. We need to get in there quickly, secure the evidence, and catch them all before they notice and destroy the evidence.”
“Even so, aren’t there too many detectives?”
Although he said he would take questions later, Kang Hong-sik raised his hand and asked a question on purpose. It was to interrupt the other person’s flow and take the initiative.
But Do Hyeon-gwang was not flustered, but instead asked him.
“Please identify yourself first and then ask questions.”
“Oh, that’s right. My name is Detective Kang Hong-sik. I know that catching them quickly is important, but I still think there are too many of them. As if the prosecutor didn’t know, they’re all really busy people.”
Looking around, everyone nodded in agreement. Investigating the gambling house was important, but it didn’t seem necessary to call in so many police officers and detectives for a case like this.
“I didn’t tell you that. The billiard hall is on the second floor, but that’s not the only place we’re going to search. We’re going to search the third floor as well.”
“The third floor? It’s empty, isn’t it?”
“It may look like an empty office on the outside, but it’s actually a place where VIP gamblers gather.”
Do Hyun-kwang responded to the sudden question without any embarrassment. A prosecutor as young as that would not be used to such briefings. Especially in front of detectives who were openly hostile to him.
He stutters and shakes his hands because he’s nervous. It’s normal for his eyes to go blank when he’s asked a question unexpectedly. But Do Hyun-kwang continued his briefing as if nothing happened, no, very skillfully.
Even Kang Hong-sik, who asked the question, was impressed.
‘If the youngest member of our team had done as much as that, I would have carried him around.’
As he was tasting the regret, Do Hyeon-gwang pointed to the screen.
“Here’s a picture we took.”
The screen showed photos of Cho Byeong-sik, a retired baseball player and entertainer, talking to two big guys and then disappearing behind a curtain.
“That curtain is the entrance to the VIP room. I assume there are stairs behind the curtain that lead to the third floor.”
“You don’t know if Bensokan is behind you?”
Although he tried to be stubborn, Do Hyeon-gwang presented the following evidence without any hesitation.
“I also heard what the staff said. I recorded it, so listen to it.”
A man’s voice came through the laptop’s speakers.
– It’s better for a kid like you not to go upstairs.
– The minimum bet there is ten million won.
– Even if you go upstairs, you’ll just get robbed. It’s best to just play downstairs.
A murmur of conversation was heard among the detectives listening to the recording.
“You just said ‘upper floor’? I guess you meant the third floor.”
“I guess this is a real VIP room since the minimum bet is 10 million won?”
Everyone seemed to agree with Do Hyun-kwang. Some even went over to Do Hyun-kwang and made friendly remarks.
“If we had raided the second floor without knowing anything, we wouldn’t have been able to find any evidence and all the key figures would have escaped?”
“The inspector did a good job of conducting the preliminary investigation.”
Kang Hong-sik also had no choice but to add a word. Not as a compliment to the prosecutor, but as a compliment to the gambler.
“The gamblers must have been rolling a lot of money.”
“As you can see from the screen, the walls inside the billiard hall are covered with curtains. It’s obvious that they put up curtains like that. If they were simply for blocking out light, they could have just covered the windows. But they’ve blocked all four sides from the ceiling to the floor without any gaps? This is intentional.”
“Intention?”
“The intention is to make it difficult for anyone coming to the billiard hall to easily find the entrance to the VIP room on the third floor.”
There were exclamations of admiration here and there. Although he didn’t want to admit it, Kang Hong-sik had no choice but to nod his head at his logic.
“He’s a rookie. But I guess he didn’t get tested just by hitting on him.”
‘I’m dragging praise out of my mouth. Isn’t Do Hyun-kwang the lawman?’