The Mad Prosecutor Picked Up AI - Chapter 51
Only Noblemtl
Episode 51 You are not alone
The next day.
I was walking to the courthouse to go to trial. All the prosecutors’ offices are located close to the courthouse. The Seoul Central District Court, or Seoul Central District Court for short, is located just 200 meters away from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office.
I was wearing a robe because I was going to go to trial, and for some reason my heart was pounding. Normally, when I put on a uniform, my frame of mind changes, and the robe is no different.
“As expected, when I wear the robe, I feel full of fighting spirit.”
“The inspector is always full of fighting spirit.”
“Still, if I wear this, I feel like I can send all the criminal bastards to hell.”
Wi Jun-woo, who had been walking beside me, suddenly stopped and grabbed my shoulder. He looked into my eyes intently and spoke each word forcefully as if he were trying to persuade a five-year-old child.
“Not a criminal, but a defendant. Not a pit, but a prison. Okay? You can’t use words like that in court.”
“i know.”
“You can’t just say whatever comes to mind whenever you want.”
“I told you so.”
“You can’t just yell out that you’re angry.”
“… … .”
“You shouldn’t speed up the trial, Judge. It’s detrimental to the trial.”
I pulled away from Wi Jun-woo’s hand that was holding my shoulder.
“Oh, right. Chief, I can do it on my own, right? Why don’t you just go back to the office? I’m not a kid.”
“That’s because he’s not a child. A child will listen well if you give him candy.”
The distance wasn’t long, and there wasn’t a lot of case material, but Wi Jun-woo insisted on going to court with me and followed me.
“I’m saying this because I feel uneasy about letting the prosecutor go to court alone.”
“The expression is a bit strange.”
“It would be better to let the child go to the water.”
“Isn’t it to that extent?”
Wi Jun-woo nodded with his lips tightly shut, as if he had made some great decision.
“It’s dangerous for a loach to be alone. I need to be there.”
I shook my head and sighed deeply.
“Oh my.”
“But I guess there’s something you don’t like, inspector?”
“The manager is following you?”
“Other than that.”
But since we had been working together for several months, Wi Jun-woo was also quick to catch on. It seemed like he realized that I was dissatisfied with something.
“It’s because of this case. I want to investigate further, but the trial is today.”
Kim Kyung-soo, who was originally in charge of the investigation, also investigated it haphazardly, and Kang Jin-gyu also did not look into this case properly, saying he was busy with another case. The country should have investigated it properly as well.
“If this continues, I think I’ll just go to court, read what’s written in the indictment, and leave.”
I had a sour taste in my mouth.
‘There’s a reason why everyone is reluctant to be a trial prosecutor.’
The power of the prosecutor comes from ‘investigating cases’ and ‘not investigating cases that should be investigated’. In other words, everything is in the hands of the investigating prosecutor.
They say that the public prosecutor can also conduct additional investigations, but even today, I was stuck in the courtroom, reading like a cuckoo exactly what Kim Kyung-soo wrote, and then leaving.
Irritation and anger came rushing in like a tidal wave.
“Oh, I can’t do that.”
“I can’t help it. I just received the case yesterday.”
“What I’m saying is, if only we had more time, we could have looked into the case more.”
He frowned deeply and then looked back at Wi Jun-woo.
“Chief, can’t we postpone the trial? If we could postpone it for just a few days, we might be able to investigate.”
“You’re coming now? The trial starts in 30 minutes.”
“Still. Isn’t there some way? Yes?”
“Well, there is.”
“Really?”
I looked at Wi Jun-woo in surprise. In fact, I was saying it half jokingly, as if complaining. Is there a way to postpone the trial?
Oh my. Wi Jun-woo was such a capable man. I suddenly felt sorry for teasing him and calling him a magpie all this time.
“What is that?”
“It’s okay if the prosecutor gets hurt. How can we hold a trial if the prosecutor is sick right now?”
“Huh? Are you telling me to fake an illness?”
“Hey, is it okay to pretend to be sick? You have to be really sick.”
“Really?”
“I think it might work if it breaks in just one place.”
Wi Jun-woo stopped walking and looked me up and down.
“Where would you like me to break you? An arm? Or a leg? You know I’m a black belt in Judo, Taekwondo, and Jiu-Jitsu, right?”
Wi Jun-woo tilted his head from side to side, then jumped slightly in place to stretch his body.
“Just say the word and I’ll break it cleanly in one go.”
I held Wei Junwoo’s hand tightly.
“Manager, is it really possible to do it in one go?”
“Of course.”
“Then, please make yourself the judge instead of me.”
“Judge Hong Sang-jin?”
“Yes. Even if the judge is sick, the trial will be postponed.”
Wi Jun-woo grabbed my hand and pulled it away.
“The trial will be postponed and I will go to prison. I will decline.”
“My legs are okay, but your legs are not?”
“The prosecutor agreed, so he is an accomplice, but the judge is not. Besides, Judge Hong is old.”
As I was looking gloomy, Aliotta spoke to me.
[Hyun Gwang. Postponing the trial in this way is… … .]
‘If you look closely, you’re really old-fashioned. Maybe it’s because you’re a machine.’
[Isn’t it inevitable? I’m an AI that specializes in law, so I can’t break the law or use it cleverly.]
‘Stop thinking you can’t. You can do it! Ah, can you do it!! Don’t you know?’
[that…….]
Aliotta tried to say something, but I didn’t listen because it sounded like dogshit. I’ve never heard my mother nagging me in my life, so I’m not the type of person to listen to nagging about things like glasses.
“Chief, then let’s not break the judge’s legs, but just give him the gold. Is that okay?”
“No.”
“No, stop thinking you can’t. You can do it! Oh, can you do it!! Huh? Why does it feel like I’m saying this twice?”
Wi Jun-woo picked up speed and started walking ahead of me, pretending not to be with me or my group.
* * *
‘So this is what a court looks like.’
[This isn’t the first time you’re seeing this, is it?]
‘Please be careful. How could a machine understand such overwhelming emotions of a human being?’
I had been to court in Gunnae-myeon before, and had been to court a few times after coming up to Seoul to help with the Kang Jin-gyu case. But it was a new feeling for me to be in charge of the trial as a prosecutor.
Wi Jun-woo stayed in the front row of the gallery, and I headed to the prosecutor’s office with the materials. The gallery was almost empty except for a few people.
‘It’s chilly.’
[Of course. It’s not a big incident that the entire nation is paying attention to. It’s not an incident that reporters will flock to. There will probably only be a few people involved.]
‘Who are those people?’
[Are you a defense team?]
Men and women wearing expensive suits that looked like they were going to be quite expensive at first glance came rushing in. Two of them looked middle-aged, and the other four were young people.
They went to the defense attorney’s office and sat down in a row, just as Aliotta had said. One of the defendants, Min Jong-guk’s father, was a senior lawyer at the law firm ‘Bando’, and it seemed like there were quite a few lawyers working on this one case.
‘Is this a fight between one and six?’
[This is an absolutely impossible number when fighting with your body.]
A middle-aged man sitting in the front row of the suit-wearing crowd glared at me fiercely. I guess that gentleman is Min Jong-guk’s father.
A little later, defendants Min Jong-guk and Lee Seung-ho entered the dock. They were both wearing plain clothes because they were under indictment without detention. They were still in their teens, their fathers were lawyers, and there was no risk of them fleeing, so they were under indictment without detention.
‘What are those guys?’
[As a result of analyzing facial expressions, curiosity, annoyance, and boredom take up the largest portion. There is anxiety, but it is less than 5%.]
Anyone who enters a courtroom is a little nervous. Especially when they are sitting in the defendant’s chair instead of the public gallery. This is true whether they have committed a crime or not. Because they are afraid of whether they will be able to prove their innocence.
Moreover, those who have not experienced a trial do not know how exhausting it is. Just going to trial is incredibly stressful.
However, Min Jong-guk and Lee Seung-ho did not seem particularly nervous. Especially Min Jong-guk, whose father was a lawyer. They even had smiles on their faces as they talked about something.
If you think positively, you could see it as deliberately overdoing it to relieve tension.
‘Is that guy normal? His friend died, and he came to the trial and acted like that?’
[I tried to take Hyungwang’s side as much as possible. But Hyungwang asked, ‘Are you normal?’ Hyungwang isn’t that normal either… ]
‘Fine. You’re no help at all.’
As I was waving my hand towards the hologram Aliota, a court officer came in.
“Everyone please stand. Your Honor is coming in.”
As everyone stood up, the judge came in. He was Chief Judge Hong Sang-jin, whose hair was quite gray at the front. He was in his mid-fifties, I think? He wasn’t tall, nor did he have a hunched face, but he had a tremendous force.
First of all, the expression on his face is not very visible. It makes you wonder if he is really funny.
‘Well, I guess you can’t laugh while going through a trial. You might misunderstand that I’m taking the trial lightly.’
[Of course. So, Hyungwang, you shouldn’t laugh like you did during the last radio eating incident. Do you understand?]
Aliotta started nagging again.
Prosecutors and judges must take every case seriously, no matter how absurd it may be, because it is a very important case to the parties involved.
‘Okay. I told you it was a mistake back then. And I stopped right away. The only person who knew I was laughing was Kang Jin-gyu.’
[I know that too?]
‘The person who laughed. Sa. A. Ram. Okay?’
I accidentally laughed during an incident where I was following Kang Jin-gyu as an assistant, and Aliotta’s nagging became ridiculous.
Judge Hong Sang-jin may have a blunt expression, but he was a very respectable judge. He was also known for his fair trials. However, there was also a saying that he was a man who kept to his principles and was very strict.
[If someone like Hyungwang gets caught in the wrong hands, it’s going to be a big problem. It’s hopeless.]
‘It’s just a rumor. But it might not be true, right?’
[Anyway, let’s be careful.]
“Did both the defendant and the prosecutor attend?”
“yes.”
“yes.”
And so the trial began.
* * *
The first trial ended without much incident. After confirming that the defendants, Min Jong-guk and Lee Seung-ho, were the ones who were responsible, the most important thing was for me to announce the indictment. I indicted the two for negligent homicide as written in the indictment, and after each side requested witnesses and evidence, it ended.
On the second day of the trial, which will take place in ten days, there will be a series of examinations and arguments between both sides regarding witnesses and evidence.
What matters is how you spend these ten days.
“Excuse me, inspector.”
After the trial, I was going out, and when I heard someone calling me, I turned around. A slightly plump woman, who was about as tall as my shoulders, was looking up at me. She seemed to be in her late 40s or early 50s?
‘How did you know I was a prosecutor?’
[Are you an idiot? You’re wearing a robe right now!]
‘I see. Why are you getting so angry when you could have just told me?’
Instead of answering, Aliotta sighed deeply and hit her chest.
Whether AI suffers from indigestion or not is none of my concern. I asked the lady first.
“What’s going on?”
“I have something to tell you. Is this a good time for you? It won’t take long.”
[This lady was in the courtroom a little while ago.]
Aliotta showed me a picture of what I saw when I looked around the gallery in the courtroom a little while ago. She zoomed in on the screen a little bit so I could see the people sitting in the gallery clearly.
It was the victim’s side gallery.
[I think you know the deceased Seong Jun-ho.]
Aliotta gave me a heads up.
“Is this by any chance related to the deceased Sung Jun-ho?”
“Yes. I am Junho’s aunt. Sir, please help us clear Junho of his wrongs.”
“Don’t worry. I will do my best to handle the case.”
“I said it wasn’t a mistake that Junho died.”
I asked without realizing it because of the very definitive tone of voice.
“Who said that?”
Who told you? Were there any witnesses to this incident that we don’t know about?
“It’s Junho. Junho told me.”
“… …Junho?”
“yes.”
“I’m sorry, but is that… … what the dead Sung Jun-ho said?”
“yes that’s right.”
The old lady nodded vigorously. I don’t know if it was an illusion, but the hallway became quiet for a moment. Even the chatty Wi Jun-woo kept his mouth shut for now. The old lady looked up at me with earnestness as if I were her savior.
When I saw that sight, I felt an inexplicable sense of warmth.
Look, I’m not the only crazy person in the world.