The Ultimate Inspector, Kang Ji-hyeok - Chapter 50



Only Noblemtl

Episode 50

“Mr. Saehan. Speak slowly. Even if you get caught, it’s not like something will happen to you anyway, so let’s sit down and talk for now.”

I took Manager Kim Sae-han into the examination room.

“Ms. Lee Hyun-ah. Two iced Americanos, please.”

Saehan sat on the sofa with an anxious expression on his face, constantly fiddling with the index fingers of both hands.

“If it’s a police station, it wouldn’t be a sudden accident, so what kind of incident was Se-hee involved in?”

“It’s a murder case.”

“Is Sehee a witness?”

“No. The police said they were investigating the suspect in the case.”

“That’s impossible. I’m the kind of person who uses up an entire bottle of mosquito repellent because I can’t kill a single fly.”

Rattling.

As I said that, the door opened and Lee Hyun-ah came in.

“Here are two cups of coffee.”

“thank you.”

“I will look into Geumcheon Police Station.”

“Please, Hyuna.”

As she left, Saehan nodded and said.

“As expected of a lover, you know Se-hee well.”

“We’re not lovers, but I know a little bit about him.”

I know for sure.

Were you newlyweds?

I once stayed up all night trying to catch a single cockroach.

It was really hard for me to be so annoyed at how much I had to go to work.

That Se-hee murdered someone?

No. I couldn’t smell any blood, so I couldn’t do it even if I wanted to.

“Who the hell died?”

“This is the president of our agency.”

“The president of your agency is dead?”

“Yes. He died in the CEO’s office two days ago. The company was in chaos.”

“How did you die?”

“I don’t know exactly. I think he died from excessive bleeding after being stabbed in the neck. All the employees were investigated at the time, and it was chaos.”

“You said you would call me then?”

“···Sehee cried a lot because the inspector’s phone number changed. Even her father wouldn’t tell her······.”

The whole time Saehan was talking, he felt sorry towards Sehee.

My father is a prosecutor and my long-time friend is a prosecutor, but I felt like I couldn’t properly comfort him about something like that.

“Okay, then call me first. Tell me your name and I’ll take care of it.”

I took Cheon Je-gu’s business card out of my pocket and handed it to him.

“Attorney Cheon Je-gu?”

“Yes. He is my acquaintance.”

“Why don’t you handle it yourself?”

I took out the ID tag hanging around my neck and handed it to him.

“I am a former prosecutor. I cannot defend the suspect in this case.”

“I told you, you’re not a suspect. Sehee······.”

“I know that. So call this lawyer right away.”

Saehan fiddled with Cheonjegu’s business card and then stood up.

“I understand. Are you bothered by this? You’re going too far. But Se-hee did such a good job······.”

He tried to leave with an angry face.

chin.

I grabbed his shoulder with my hand and spoke firmly.

“Hey, Manager. I’m a prosecutor. I catch criminals, and Se-hee is standing on the other side of me!”

Saehan looked back at me with surprised eyes.

Only then did he bow his head.

“I understand. I apologize, Inspector. I can see it clearly with this hand. I overstepped.”

He grabbed my hand and slowly pushed me out.

I walk down the hallway and call Cheon Je-gu right away on my cell phone.

I just looked at his back.

“Hello. Are you attorney Cheon Je-gu? I’m contacting you through the introduction of Prosecutor Kang Ji-hyeok of the Western District Prosecutors’ Office… Yes. That’s right. I’d like to meet you right now and talk to you… Yes? You’ll come to the police station right away? Thank you.”

Saehan’s footsteps quickened.

Only then did I feel relieved and close the door.

“Phew.”

I took a sip of the iced Americano I was holding.

The stuffy feeling inside seemed to have eased a little.

Ji-cheol, who was looking at me like that, asked with a worried face.

“Are you the manager of actress Yuni who came to greet me when I was discharged from the military?”

“You have a better eye for detail than I thought.”

“How could I forget that? I met you in person, Yuni… Oh, right. Look at this picture.”

Ji-cheol took out his wallet from his pocket and held out a photo he had taken that day.

“Really? That Uni?”

Even Hyejin and Hyuna gathered and looked at the photos in surprise.

They both looked at me at the same time.

“You two are lovers??”

“No way. A blunt man like this?”

“No. It seems to me that Yuni likes you, sir.”

The office atmosphere became tense at Ji-cheol’s answer.

The two women had faces that said they could never believe it.

“She’s been my friend since we were kids. Her real name is Lee Se-hee. She’s the daughter of the new chief prosecutor.”

Everyone in the office shouted at the same time except me.

“Huh? What did you say?”

“It’s not a sitcom, and it’s not like we’re doing this at the same time.”

Huruk.

As I was taking a sip of my iced Americano, someone else came by.

This time everyone looked at him with surprised faces.

Hyuna said with a serious face.

“Hey, Prosecutor Lee Cheol-jung?”

“It’s been a while. Was it Secretary Lee Hyeon-ah? Did the secretary from Prosecutor Choi’s office come to see Prosecutor Kang?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Did Prosecutor Choi send you on a transfer when he went to the special department?”

I approached Prosecutor Lee Cheol-jung and invited him inside, saying:

“No. I begged Prosecutor Choi to send him to me. He is the talented person I brought with me.”

“Well, it makes sense if it’s Secretary Lee Hyeon-ah. She’s a talented person who can be ranked in the top 3 among the secretaries of the Western District Prosecutors’ Office.”

He stood still.

‘Well, considering the personality of Prosecutor Lee Cheol-jung, he’s not the kind of person you would ask for something from.’

“I’ve left my daughter’s affairs to Attorney Cheon Je-gu for now. Don’t worry.”

“A thousand changes? The lawyer who gave up his argument midway through your last confrontation?”

“Yes. He is an excellent lawyer.”

“I know that too. I’m glad I got a good lawyer······.”

Only then did Prosecutor Lee Cheol-jung look relieved.

“Then, come play again next time.”

“If you come to the Western District Prosecutor’s Office, I will go see you first, Prosecutor.”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

Bam.

He tapped me on the shoulder once and turned around.

It was a strong back.

Hyuna Lee spoke to me with a surprised face.

“Is Yuni’s father Chief Prosecutor Lee Cheol-jung?”

“That’s right. That’s what happened.”

“My old friend’s father is coming to be the chief prosecutor… Kiya. As expected, the prosecutor really makes people’s luck go down.”

Ji-cheol was so impressed.

Clap clap.

I said, clapping my hands.

“You two, go meet the victims of the fraud case as I mentioned earlier.”

“All right.”

Hyejin left the room holding a recorder and notebook.

Ji-cheol followed after him.

“Hyejin, you don’t seem to be interested in this case?”

“That’s good. Investigators need to focus on their work.”

I know that’s not true.

Hyejin’s desktop background was a picture of Sehee.

I knew because sometimes when I glanced at that screen, I felt like I was meeting Sehee.

“Let’s get to work first. The Bongcheon-dong mass fraud case is also important, isn’t it?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Oh, just in case, please organize this incident report and give it to me.”

“I’m organizing it. I’ll hand it over to you soon.”

“As expected, Secretary Lee Hyeon-ah.”

The Western District Prosecutors’ Office receives numerous cases and accidents.

Most of the work is corporate-related, but I mostly get criminal cases, such as murders.

“These kids, they beat up grandma and ran away?”

The case I am currently handling is a case of electric blanket and health food fraud jointly filed by about 30 grandmothers from Bongcheon-dong.

Although it may seem small, it was an incident with a total amount of over 1 billion won.

* * *

That night, I was looking at the printed version of Se-hee’s case in an empty office.

The whiteboard was filled with materials related to the ‘Bongcheon-dong grandmother fraud case.’

I just stand there and watch.

“This will be finished in a week······.”

Binggle.

I turned the whiteboard around.

On the back, there were several post-it notes with the words ‘Zeus & Venus’ attached.

Kuk.

I drew a blue line there.

At the end of the line, I attached one by one the photos I had selected for the report.

So, on the back of the whiteboard, there was a list of Sehee’s cases.

“Zeus & Venus. It’s the fourth largest entertainment company in Korea, and its CEO is a guy named Yoon Seok-joo.”

He was stabbed in the neck with a weapon.

The estimated time of death is between midnight and 2 a.m.

The exact cause of death was excessive bleeding.

There were signs of a struggle, but other than scratches on the neck and ears, there were no other external injuries.

“In the photo in the report, the deepest wound is behind the ear? I guess it was scratched by something like a thick ring?”

That is, he was stabbed in the neck with a weapon and was not found bleeding profusely until the morning when the employees came to work.

“What a poor guy. To be stabbed in the neck with a weapon in his own room at this hour······.”

There was only one detail.

Stabbed with a sharp, pointed weapon.

It definitely wasn’t a knife.

Kuk.

I took a picture of the wound on my neck and put it on the whiteboard.

And drew a question mark.

Even the National Forensic Service was unable to find the exact weapon.

“It doesn’t look like a knife, judging by the round hole. I’ve seen it countless times, but it’s definitely different.”

As someone who has personally witnessed numerous cases during my time as a detective, this was the first time I had seen such a detailed story.

“What is this wound······.”

I was looking at the photo intently when someone touched me from behind.

Bam.

I quickly turned around and tried to hit his Adam’s apple with my hand to subdue him.

“Ugh. Please save me, Inspector.”

“Attorney Cheon Je-gu?”

“Like that day when I blew that son of a bitch Park Chan-jin away in one blow, what Jackie Chan? Lee Kyung-kyu? What the hell.”

“I did taekwondo when I was young because I was weak.”

“That damn Taekwondo. I’m also a 2nd class.”

“Really? I quit at Ilpoom······. Because my knees hurt.”

“Wow, how much of a joke is this······.”

chuck.

He handed me the iced Americano he had brought.

I said as I received it.

“You brought me exactly what I needed? Thank you. Why did you come here without even calling?”

“I heard it was the lighthouse of the Western District Prosecutors’ Office, so I came to see if it was true.”

“You said you’d never do a criminal case again?”

“That’s right. But isn’t Ms. Yuni your client? The best fresh heroine of our time! How can you not handle that case? I’m still a bachelor after all······.”

I glared at Cheon Je-gu, who was shaking like that.

‘Did I just have to punch you in the throat and make you speechless for an hour?’

Cheon Je-gu said, squinting his eyes.

“Why do you look at me like that? Like someone whose girlfriend was stolen.”

“Isn’t that your girlfriend? It’s wrong that she was taken away.”

“What? Prosecutor Choi’s girlfriend? Miss Yuni?”

“She’s my girlfriend who grew up in the same neighborhood as me since I was little.”

“Oh, so you also know that she is the daughter of Prosecutor Lee Cheol-jung who is coming to the Western District Prosecutors’ Office?”

“I know. Because we’re BulgX friends.”

“···That’s a dirty word. The inspector······.”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying. What’s so bad about X-Friend? A lawyer······.”

Cheon Je-gu shook his head and sat down on the sofa with a gesture of disbelief.

He looked at the whiteboard for a moment and was amazed.

“By the way, you’ve already finished investigating this far? As expected, Prosecutor Kang is no ordinary person.”

“If you’re going to do it normally, don’t bother checking. Just go to a Chinese restaurant or something.”

Cheon Je-gu took a sip of his iced Americano and said.

“First of all, Ms. Yuni… no, Ms. Lee Se-hee went back home. I’m a lawyer who’s good at that kind of thing, right?”

“That’s fortunate.”

“I haven’t taken on the case yet, but I’ve decided to only talk to you from now on.”

“Good job. But, why did Se-hee kill President Yoon Seok-joo?”

“I don’t think she was killed. She was home at the time, right?”

“What about alibi evidence?”

“Of course not. There’s no way there’s a CCTV inside the house······.”

If a popular celebrity, Yuni, told the police that she was home at midnight on a Friday, they wouldn’t believe her.

“Then, what is the decisive reason why she is suspected?”

“It looks like the president and the author had an argument over the renewal of their contract.”

“You had a fight with CEO Yoon Seok-ju? That’s perfect bait for the police.”

Cheon Je-gu nodded while looking at the whiteboard.

“That’s exactly what’s on the whiteboard. What’s not in the report is that the two people I just mentioned had an argument over a contract renewal, and Se-hee slapped him twice. In the hallway of that company’s office······.”

“I guess that was on CCTV?”

“I think so. I think the police are going to use that as a crucial piece of evidence.”

“Then, why don’t you just check the CCTV that night?”

“I’m on my way back after checking that too. They said the CCTV was broken at 9pm that night? They fixed it the next morning.”

It was quite exquisite considering Se-hee fell into a trap.

I stood up from my seat.

“I have to go to the scene of the incident now.”

“I’m a lawyer. Even if I go to the scene, I’ll just get chased away by the police.”

“Attorney Chun. Don’t worry and come with me. I’ll give you the prosecutor’s cheat key.”