The Ultimate Inspector, Kang Ji-hyeok - Chapter 51



Only Noblemtl

Episode 51

【Red blood blooming in jealousy】

Zeus & Venus Building.

The entire building was occupied by the Zeus & Venus company.

As expected from a company ranked 4th in the domestic entertainment industry.

It was late at night so there were few people in the lobby.

But since it was an entertainment company, there was a lot of traffic.

“This is prosecutor Kang Ji-hyeok.”

I showed my ID card at the lobby and they gave me a temporary pass.

The top floor of the nine-story building was the president’s office.

So, there was a police line around one of the elevators that seemed to be the scene of the crime.

“What is this?”

I showed him my ID and asked.

The policeman saluted and gave a brief answer.

“This is an elevator that goes straight to the 9th floor.”

“okay.”

“We are currently conducting fingerprint and on-site verification here… Please use the elevator next door.”

I turned my head and looked at Cheonjegu.

Cheon Je-gu had an anxious look in his eyes.

I said, pointing to the emergency exit.

“Let’s walk. It won’t take long to get to the 9th floor.”

“······.”

It took me a little over 20 minutes to get to the 9th floor, walking a little faster than my normal pace.

The emergency exit was connected to the 10th floor, or even the rooftop.

Rattling.

I opened the door at the emergency exit and went out.

The neon signs of a splendid city unfolded.

“The rooftop view is nice.”

Cigarette butts and ashtrays were scattered everywhere.

I held onto the railing at the end of the rooftop and looked out at the beautifully spread out city.

It seemed like a pretty sweet scene to many who dream of becoming celebrities.

“I guess the rooftop is a place to relax.”

After looking around the rooftop, I went down to the 9th floor through the emergency exit.

“Ugh. Ugh.”

As Cheon Je-gu entered the 9th floor hallway, he held his knees and cried out in pain.

Since I have fast feet, even if I walked slowly, I was still fast.

“Wipe the broth with a handkerchief. Don’t contaminate the DNA for no reason.”

“Ugh… Ugh. Anyway… Ugh… I know, but you really hate what you say.”

I walked slowly down the hallway, leaving Cheonjegu behind, panting and wiping away the sweat, and quickly scanned.

It triggered quick eyes and insight.

‘There are four CCTVs in total. They are spread out with almost no blind spots. So they were broken since that evening?’

On the 9th floor there was the president’s office, two practice rooms, and a bathroom.

When I first saw the report, I thought there was only one president’s office.

I met two trainees in the hallway at this time.

“Even though the incident happened right now, people are walking around······.”

After checking the time, I showed my ID and asked a passing trainee.

The two of them said it was no big deal.

“This is Kang Ji-hyeok, prosecutor of the Western District Prosecutors’ Office. Was the company notified that the CCTV was broken on the day of the incident?”

“There was no separate notice, but it was announced over the building’s public address system at around 6 o’clock. That’s why I knew.”

“By the building announcement?”

“Yes. Right?”

“That’s right. I’m sure. I already broadcasted it twice. The CCTV is broken, so be careful with your belongings.”

The two checked with each other.

“Where is the president’s office?”

“It’s at the end of the hallway.”

“okay.”

“But we don’t go near it.”

“yes?”

“Whenever I make eye contact with the CEO, he starts swearing. He asks if I’m practicing······. So I say I’m a trainee······.”

“is it so?”

“If possible, I try not to go near it.”

Another trainee next to me said to me.

“I told the police about this too.”

But it was clearly missing from the report.

The police didn’t seem to think it was important.

“The boss has a foul mouth.”

“That’s right. The trainees are afraid of the boss.”

“It’s too rough.”

“Yes. Thank you for talking to me.”

Click.

I turned off the recorder that was recording the conversation between the two people.

“A thousand changes. Is it okay to move now?”

“It’s okay.”

“Did you hear the testimony of the two people?”

“Yeah. I heard.”

The president’s office was at the very end of the hallway.

It was a form where the interior could be seen through the window in the hallway.

“It’s a place that can be clearly seen from the hallway, but a murder occurred here······.”

I shook my head at Cheonjegu’s words.

“No. This is a place where trainees would never come. So it must be considered a secret room for the people inside.”

There was a police line around the office.

The police guarding the place are glaring at us.

When I showed him my ID, only then did he salute and step aside.

“This is Kang Ji-hyeok, prosecutor of the Western District Prosecutors’ Office.”

“yes.”

“I came to take a look inside.”

They gave up their seats.

Cheonjegu followed me, grumbling.

“The lawyer pushes until the end, but the prosecutor steps aside?”

“I used the inspection cheat key, so take a good look.”

“okay.”

We toured the president’s office.

I put on rubber gloves on my hands and shoes and started to memorize every single one of them in my head.

Cheon Je-gu took the report out of his bosom and looked at it, saying in disbelief.

“It would be good if all the crime scene photos were included in the police investigation report, but I don’t understand why they left them out.”

“Detectives have a tendency to only show traces of the criminal they think they know. They hide or throw away photos that could confuse the investigation if left unnecessarily.”

“So, from the prosecutor’s perspective, sometimes difficult cases arise.”

“Bingo. That’s called contamination of evidence.”

When I was a detective, I heard it over and over again from my seniors.

I told you never to attach any irrelevant photos from the scene of the incident.

“There are no unrelated photos at the crime scene.”

There was no trace of a fight at all.

“Wasn’t this something that was organized separately after the incident here?”

“Yes, sir. The crime scene is still preserved.”

In fact, the clean crime scene itself is also considered evidence.

Even Cheonjegu would know.

“He died sitting down?”

“When he was first attacked, he must have fainted from shock.”

“fainting?”

“If not, I could have walked around. If I had been stabbed in the neck like in the picture, I would have felt a lightning strike in my head as the nerves connecting to my brain were cut for a moment.”

Cheon Je-gu looked at the photo carefully and said to me.

“So that could be because it’s where the carotid artery passes through?”

“There are no other signs of attack. That means they didn’t knock him out first and then kill him.”

The sofa he was sitting on.

There was still blood spurting around.

“A human has about 4 liters of blood. If you lose 75% of that, or 3 liters, you die. If you lose 2 liters, you lose consciousness.”

I crouched down and looked at the bloodstain.

Bloodstains were also visible that had sprayed far away.

“I didn’t poke it with a sharp object and pull it out right away.”

The bloodstains that had splattered far away were still staining the opposite wall.

“When the weapon was removed from the temporarily blocked artery, blood would have gushed out like a waterfall.”

“Is this the skill of a professional killer?”

I shook my head at Cheon Je-gu’s words.

“A professional killer wouldn’t be spewing blood like this. Instead of piercing the neck, just cut it off. Like this······.”

Sigh.

I made a motion to cut the side of Cheonjegu’s neck with my fingers.

“Then, the blood will flow down and soak your clothes······. It’s harder to stab the neck because you’ll die as well.”

As he tried to hit Cheonje-gu’s neck with a rolled up Kleenex tissue in his hand, Cheonje-gu defended himself with both hands.

The tissue got caught in his fingers and got crumpled.

In that state, I spoke quietly.

“If it’s like this, you have to be stronger than your opponent to break through the defense with both hands and pierce the neck with a sharp weapon.”

“Does that mean… she’s not a woman?”

“CEO Yoon Seok-ju is an adult male, 182 cm tall and weighing 89 kg. He goes to the gym twice a week.”

Damn it.

Damn it.

I approached the president’s desk.

There I saw a red envelope.

The envelope was open.

Above all, the handwriting on the envelope caught my eye.

[Lee Se-hee contract renewal]

– Breakup

Letters that appear to have been hand-written.

The ink dried beautifully, as if the ends of the letters were flying.

“Is this written with a fountain pen?”

I opened the envelope and looked at the contract.

The president’s signature was there, but Lee Se-hee’s signature was not there.

“Breakdown means the contract renewal fell through. So you two fought because of this and there’s a scene of you slapping each other on the hallway CCTV the day before?”

Let’s look at the contract.

The president’s signature and the writing on the envelope were in the same font.

Besides, the writing instruments used were the same.

“It’s a fountain pen······.”

He put down the contract envelope, muttering.

Let’s take a look at the table in the president’s office.

Traces of notes here and there.

Everyone had the same handwriting.

“Attorney Cheon Je-gu. Have you ever used a fountain pen?”

“No. I don’t like it because it’s annoying.”

“Yeah. I hate it too, it’s annoying.”

There was no writing instrument visible on the desk used by the president.

The incident that had been clouded has become clear.

“I found it. I’m telling you, the weapon that’s at the heart of this case.”

Cheonjegu looks at me with surprised eyes.

“You found a weapon that the police haven’t found yet?”

“It’s a fountain pen. The weapon used in the incident······.”

“But where is it?”

At Cheon Je-gu’s words, I scratched my head and answered with an embarrassed expression.

“Yeah. That’s not there.”

“···Prosecutor Kang. He’s surprisingly a cool guy.”

“Really? I guess I’ll have to try that fountain pen magic.”

I stood in a place with a clear view of the president’s desk, looked at the bookshelf, and muttered.

Cheon Je-gu crossed his arms and spoke worriedly.

“Even if the weapon was a fountain pen, there’s a possibility that Se-hee is the culprit, right? If he’s an acquaintance, and if he’s a close friend, it’s possible that he pretended to sign and then suddenly stabbed the neck······.”

I gave a thumbs up to Cheonjegu’s words.

“As expected, Cheonbyeon is smart. Yes, it is possible. So, I am also going to confirm her as a suspect and interrogate her, right?”

“what?”

“I’ll interrogate you tomorrow. So bring him here in the afternoon. I’ve decided to take charge of this case.”

“Prosecutor Kang! Are you saying you’re going to personally interrogate Mr. X’s friend?”

Nod.

I nodded and spoke to him with a cold face.

“Let me ask you one more thing. There was a witness to this incident······.”

“Yes. That witness is a crucial issue.”

“Attorney Cheon Je-gu, meet the witness and send me all the testimonies. Let’s help each other out.”

Cheonjegu looks at me as if he is dumbfounded.

“We have to fight in court again, and you want witness information?”

“Wouldn’t it be better to give it to him? And you should really do your best to research it. About that woman.”

Cheon Je-gu asked with a slightly surprised expression.

“What? The report doesn’t list the witness due to privacy issues, so how did you know it was a woman?”

“It’s just a feeling. A woman’s enemy is another woman. Don’t you know that saying?”

“Ugh, crazy······. That’s something else.”

“The way the world works is to connect as one. Isn’t that right? A thousand changes?”

Thus, the field verification was concluded.

As expected, the famous saying from my days as a detective was no different.

Everything about the crime was at the scene.

* * *

The next morning.

As soon as I got to work, I decided that I would take charge of this case.

That alone caused an uproar in the Western District Attorney’s Office.

In fact, it was a case that no one wanted to take on.

“Are you really taking on the role of Kang Ji-hyeok?”

“Yes, sir.”

The senior prosecutor acting as interim chief prosecutor called me in urgently.

“Why on earth? Even though you named his daughter, Lee Se-hee, as the suspect?”

“All the evidence points to her. It’s not a difficult case. I think we can wrap it up with one interrogation today.”

The senior prosecutor thought for a moment and then nodded.

“Yeah. If someone is going to get cursed at anyway, it’s probably better for you to get cursed at. Since you’re a star prosecutor… you can’t just cut them off or something, right?”

That’s why I took charge of this case.

The transfer of Chief Prosecutor of the Western District Prosecutors’ Office, Lee Cheol-jung, to our Western District Prosecutors’ Office has been temporarily put on hold due to this incident.

[Shock! The daughter of the nominee for the Western District Prosecutor, Lee Cheol-jung, is Yuni]

[Did Yuni, the daughter of the nominee for the Western District Prosecutor’s Office, Lee Cheol-jung, murder her agency’s president?]

[Prosecutor Kang Ji-hyeok of the Western District Prosecutors’ Office. Rumor has it that he is investigating his own chief prosecutor’s daughter as a suspect again.]

[Unlucky Uni. She got caught by Prosecutor Kang Ji-hyeok!]

This incident was sensational enough to make it to the news headlines.

At the end of lunch time, she came into the interrogation room.

“Welcome, Mr. Lee Se-hee.”

Sehee came wearing black top and bottom and no makeup on her face.

Choosing pants instead of your favorite skirt was a good choice.

I sat in the interrogation room and handed Sehee a cafe latte.

“Talk while you drink. I asked for more milk.”

Sehee liked to add more milk to his cafe latte.

Because I was a kid who enjoyed having bubbles in my mouth.

Sehee looks at me, holding a cafe latte with both hands.

“Kang Ji-hyeok, you bad boy… Did we have to meet like this? Are you the only prosecutor in the world? Why did you do that?”

Tears flowed from Sehee’s eyes.

I thought my double eyelids were well positioned and I looked prettier.

“Ms. Lee Se-hee. Why did you fight with the victim, Yoon Seok-ju? There is evidence that you fought, so please tell me honestly.”