The Mad Prosecutor Picked Up AI - Chapter 71
Only Noblemtl
Episode 71: I’m a Coward
Vice President Nam Woo-joong’s face hardened terribly.
“That’s too much. An employee discount?”
“Am I being too harsh? Or is the prosecution’s behavior too harsh? Are you saying that Kim Kyung-soo was the only one who received the hospitality and caused trouble by himself? Are you expecting me to believe that?”
“There is no evidence, no evidence! The Inspector General investigated, but the rest of the people were all found not guilty!”
I crossed my arms and looked at Vice President Nam Woo-joong with a quizzical look.
“Really? Should I grab each one and give it a proper look?”
“You’re not an inspector general, you’re a trial officer. What are you…?”
“What if it’s a trial? Can’t you investigate on your own? Or can you report to the media? These days, YouTube news channels are popular, so you can report there. Do you think I can’t do it? Yes?”
The eyes of the Nam Woo-joong deputy chief who was glaring at me became cold. You must be confused. Is this guy lying or is it true?
He’s a guy who’s good at doing crazy things, so I think he’ll really dig in and try to break in.
As expected. It seemed like the seed of fear that I had sown during our last phone conversation, that ‘Do Hyeon-gwang is a crazy guy who will do anything,’ was slowly growing in Vice-Chief Nam Woo-joong’s mind.
Vice President Nam Woo-joong seemed to be still contemplating what to do. He had three options.
First, stop all interference immediately. If you do that, Kim Kyung-soo will be caught for corruption. Even if you don’t know it, Jung Min-goo and Nam Woo-joong’s right-hand man, Kim Jong-hyuk, who are in the same department, will also be caught. Since he doesn’t want to lose his loyal subordinates, he won’t choose this.
The second is to get rid of me who keeps stirring things up. Either by transferring me to a distant place or by cutting me off completely. Vice President Nam Woo-joong has the power to do that.
In fact, you’ve probably used this method up until now. So why are you hesitating now? It’s probably because you don’t know what kind of person I am. No, it’s because you know me too well.
I don’t know what this crazy torai will do it.
Of course, even if you report it, they will block it with force, but there is a possibility that a situation may unfold where you end up blocking something that could have been blocked with a hoe with a sickle.
So, instead of taking the hard way, you could choose the third alternative.
The third is to make a deal with me to protect my subordinates. Discipline only the youngest, Kyungsoo Kim, and accept the conditions I suggest.
If we look at the results alone, the third choice would be the most reasonable. I wonder which choice Vice-Chief Nam Woo-joong will make. Surely he’s not really trying to kick me out, is he? If he fires me, will he really dig up the case and spread it to the press?
[But even if I were to dig into it, there probably wouldn’t be any evidence. Since it was exchanged in cash to begin with, there’s not much evidence to be found. And since quite some time has passed, even the little evidence that was there would have been erased.]
‘I know, too.’
[So what about now?]
‘You’re just bluffing. You have to lie to this extent to get what you want.’
Anyway, for now, we can’t catch Kim Jong-hyeok, the right-hand man of Vice-Chairman Kim Kyung-soo and Nam Woo-joong. The best we can do is to find fault with the banquet and suspend him for a month.
But wouldn’t it be a shame to back down like this? Even if we postpone catching them until the next opportunity, we have no choice but to gain as much as we can this time.
Vice President Nam Woo-joong spat out with a cold, sunken face.
“Aren’t you going too far? There must have been many people who fell over after doing that!”
“Oh, are you threatening me? Go ahead and try. Are you going to transfer me to another place? I was already in the Gunnae-myeon branch office, so where else would I be able to go? Or are you going to frame me and fire me?”
“Why, now that I think about it, am I scared?”
“The deputy chief must be scared. You never know when this time bomb-like bastard might explode, right? You must be so nervous and scared to watch him right next to you. Oh my, what can I do if I’m that scared and frightened? The deputy chief should either run away or surrender. If you try to fight me head-on, you’ll get hurt. You made a good decision.”
“What are you talking about? Who said you were scared?”
Nam Woo-joong, the deputy manager, slammed the sofa handle with an angry face. Even then, his anger did not subside, and he continued to tremble for a long time.
‘Oh my. My hands must hurt.’
[That’s right. But I can’t say I’m sick because of my pride.]
‘Aliotta. Can I play a song on my phone?’
[Of course. What should I play?]
I asked Aliotta, who was already able to use my phone as if it were my own, to play a song for me. Suddenly, the song filled the quiet and still office.
– It’s getting better~.
Vice President Nam Woo-joong asked me with a look of bewilderment.
“What?”
“Oh, it’s my cell phone ringing. I forgot to turn it off. Sorry.”
I hurriedly took out my cell phone from my suit pocket. The song that was soft because it was in my pocket became louder when I took out my cell phone.
– I’m a coward.
“What are you doing instead of turning it off?”
“Yes, I’m trying to turn it off, but it’s not working properly. Why?”
As I fiddled with my phone, the sound got louder. In addition, the song was repeating one verse as if it was lagging. At first glance, it sounded like rapping. Of course, all of this was Aliotta’s work.
– I’m scared, I’m a coward. I’m a coward. I’m a coward!
“Oh my. It’s finally turning off. Sorry.”
I replied in a sarcastic tone and put my phone back in my pocket.
“Where were we talking, sir? Oh, right. We were talking about you being a coward, sir?”
“I’m not a coward!”
“Oh, that’s a surprise. If not, then why are you so angry?”
[But do you really think that if we do this, they will just leave Hyeon-gwang alone? Couldn’t we really send him to Oji?]
‘Now that you’ve laid the groundwork, whenever someone tries to demote me to another place, you’ll think, ‘Oh, am I going to get rid of this guy because I’m scared?’
[Will this operation really work?]
‘To some extent. If it makes them pause even for a moment, then it’s a success.’
Since he was such a proud gentleman, he might be afraid of me spreading rumors behind his back, saying, “That guy kicked me out because he was scared of me.”
After glaring at me for a while, Vice President Nam Woo-joong finally opened his mouth.
“You want to dig it up yourself, or report it to the press? Well, you can do that more than that.”
“You know very well.”
“But if you’re still quiet, then you have no intention of reporting anything, right? Perhaps you want to make a deal with me.”
That’s right! You made the third choice. Good job, Namttang!
“Wow~ As expected. You must have done a lot of these secret backroom deals. You know how to do it like that.”
“… … .”
“Hmm. That was just a compliment. Please relax your eyes.”
After closing his eyes and taking a few deep breaths as if trying to calm his mind, Vice President Nam Woo-joong finally opened his eyes and spoke.
“Let’s just let this Samgu Construction case pass like this. If we do that, the 5th trial division won’t discriminate in the future.”
“Is this discrimination?”
“I won’t be sending you only small cases, and I won’t be assigning you too many cases. I’ll just treat you the same as the other four departments. What do you think?”
I snorted.
“Hey, Manager, you’re going too far.”
“what?”
“I won’t just pick out small cases and send them to you, I won’t assign you too many, I’ll treat you the same as the other four departments. Isn’t that obvious? In the world, where else would you embellish something obvious as if it were a favor?”
The 5th trial division, which barely had two people before I came, is overloaded with cases. There is a lot of work piling up.
I went in and the backlog has been somewhat resolved, but it is true that Chief Shin Hyo-jin and Kang Jin-gyu are pushing themselves to the point of collapsing. It is because Deputy Chief Nam Woo-joong is pushing the case in order to ruin the 5th trial division.
Even if it is a small case that does not require much effort, if the absolute number is large, people tend to get tired. The number of trials that one person handles in a month is 400 to 500.
To handle all this, you have to be in court four days a week, sometimes five days a week. It’s a grind, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., handling dozens of cases a day.
Do you just go into trial? Before going in, you have to look at the case materials and understand them, and during the trial, you have to prepare for the defendant, defendants, or witnesses, and prepare for the opposing lawyer’s counterattack. Also, after the trial is over, you have to prepare and submit various reports.
So, what about the other two people who don’t have Aliotta? That’s why Nam Woo-joong, the deputy chief, said he would reduce the unreasonable case allocation, which was a very, very good thing.
But that doesn’t mean I should just say thank you here. I have to get more. Nam Woo-joong, who was briefly stroking his thick chin with his fingers, asked.
“It seems like there’s something else you want?”
“Now it makes sense. It goes without saying that we should reduce the number of cases and eliminate discrimination. In addition, there is one more thing I need you to hear.”
“what?”
“Please add some personnel.”
Even so, what’s wrong with having only one manager and one prosecutor in a department? Right now, I’m here, so we only have one manager and two prosecutors. Can the department be run like this?
Vice President Nam Woo-joong chuckled.
“What else can I say? Yeah, the 5th trial division is short on personnel. I’ll pick out the ones who are good at their jobs and fill the positions.”
“No, no. No no no. Not just someone who is good at his job. Someone I want.”
A look of doubt appeared on Vice President Nam Woo-joong’s face.
“Was there someone you wanted? Who was it?”
“Prosecutor Park Jeong-se. He is currently at the Wonju Branch of the Chuncheon District Prosecutors’ Office.”
“Park Jeong-se?”
“Yes. That prosecutor, Park Jeong-se, whom you personally showed off your power and banished to the provinces.”
“… … .”
Nam Woo-joong, the deputy manager, seemed troubled. In fact, from his perspective, sending and calling someone was an easy task.
He readily said that he would add personnel to the 5th trial division, so it can’t be because he doesn’t like to add people. The reason he’s hesitating is because that person is none other than Park Jeong-se.
[Why Park Jeong-se?]
‘When you bring back someone you kicked out, it feels like you’re carrying something behind you. I think it means that you were wrong at the time.’
[Oh. That could be possible.]
Moreover, I heard that Park Jeong-se is exactly like Chief Shin Hyo-jin, so much so that he is called the second Shin Hyo-jin. I am not talking about appearance or gender. I am talking about personality and temperament.
He cannot stand injustice, he boldly takes on what he feels is wrong, and he speaks his mind despite the persuasion and pressure from his superiors. The reason he was kicked out to the Wonju branch office was because of that personality.
Of course, it is true that Vice President Nam Woo-joong deliberately kicked out his subordinates in order to pressure Manager Shin Hyo-jin, but it is also likely that he did so in order to trample on Park Jeong-se before he grows up to be like Manager Shin Hyo-jin.
But Park Jeong-se is coming back? And under Chief Shin Hyo-jin? That would give Chief Shin Hyo-jin wings. Wouldn’t the 5th trial division fly high?
[Oh. I see.]
‘Looking at your worried face, it seems like you’re really scared of Park Jeong-se coming back.’
“Your reply is late. Are you afraid of Prosecutor Park Jeong-se’s return?”
“What are you talking about? Why am I scared?”
“If Prosecutor Park Jeong-se returns, it will be like giving wings to Chief Shin Hyo-jin. Well, it is understandable that he would be scared.”
“This person now… … .”
At that moment, a song started playing again from the cell phone in his suit pocket.
– I’m a coward, y’know, a coward. A coward! I’m a coward, a coward! I’m a coward. Ah~.
Vice President Nam Woo-joong’s eyebrows arched like a bow, and he slammed the armrest of the sofa again.
“Didn’t you turn off your phone? What kind of crappy manners is this!!”
“I’m sorry. I definitely turned it off earlier. Is it because my phone is old? Why is it like this?”
I quickly took out my cell phone and fiddled with it for a while, pretending to try to turn it off.
– Coward, coward, coward, coward. I’m a coward.
Every time the word ‘coward’ came out on the phone, Nam Woo-joong’s plump body flinched.
Finally, I turned off my phone, put it in my pocket, and bowed my head to apologize.
“I’m sorry. I should have bought a new cell phone a long time ago. Unlike Kyungsoo Kim, I am a very honest prosecutor who never accepts any favors.”
“… … .”
Deputy Nam Woo-joong, who was breathing heavily with his nostrils wide open, suddenly shouted.
“Yeah, call me! Do you think I’ll be scared by a mere inspector coming?”
“No. Of course not. Who would be afraid of the manager? Other people would be afraid of the manager.”
“But why are you… … .”
“yes?”
“… … No.”
Vice President Nam Woo-joong smacked his lips with a complicated expression.
“I would appreciate it if you could handle the things you just mentioned as quickly as possible.”
“Let’s do that.”
“Okay, I’ll be going now.”
As I was greeting them with a cheerful mood and trying to stand up, Vice President Nam Woo-joong glared at me with cold eyes and said.
“Don’t think I’ll let you off like this next time. This is the last time I’ll let you run wild.”
“Don’t expect me to make a deal next time. From now on, I won’t give you any more.”
“You’re saying you won’t look after them? Are you in a position to look after someone or not?”
I looked at Vice President Nam Woo-joong, who was snickering, and became serious.
“Just wait. From now on, if you get caught, you’ll go straight to the goal.”