The Ultimate Inspector, Kang Ji-hyeok - Chapter 73



Only Noblemtl

“Case No. 2008gohap2599 Planned Murder Under the Pretense of Suicide.”

The judge simply checked the case number and began the trial.

The judge had a cold expression.

There was no way the prosecution would look kindly on the case of assisted suicide, which should have been simple, and turn it into a premeditated murder through reinvestigation.

‘This is probably the part that the lawyers will dig into. The fact that they have reinvestigated a case that was already going to end in aiding suicide and scraped it.’

The judge looked at me with a cold face.

“Inspector. Give me an overview.”

“Yes, Your Honor.”

I stood up from my seat and tried to walk toward the center of the courtroom.

“Prosecutor Kang Ji-hyeok. Speak right now.”

The judge stopped me.

He still seemed a little dissatisfied with the prosecution.

But that doesn’t mean I’m going to back down.

“This case is a planned and vicious murder of the victim, Ji In-hu, by deceiving the other party into planning to commit suicide together and using various methods prepared in advance.”

“Objection! The prosecutor is manipulating the case by calling it premeditated and malicious even before the trial begins.”

“I admit it. Prosecutors, please be careful with your language.”

“Okay, I’ll be extra careful with my word choice.”

I gave a brief apology to the judge.

“The prosecutor already knows the basics of this case, so ask the defendant questions.”

The judge continued the trial without making any further progress.

I moved closer to the defendant’s seat and started asking questions.

“How did the defendant get to know the victim, Mr. Ji In-hu?

“I found out about it by chance at a suicide club.”

“Did you find out by chance?”

“Yes.”

Beep.

The evidence screen displayed the secret message she had sent.

The contents of the note Lee Hyun-joo sent to Ji In-hu were revealed.

“It’s a small internet bulletin board run by a club. There’s a function for users to exchange private messages. The one who greeted the victim first was the defendant, Lee Hyun-joo. Is that right?”

“That’s right. After seeing the post written by Mr. Ji In-hu, I felt like committing suicide and for some reason I believed in it.”

“So, you were the one who contacted him first to ask to meet him? By chance.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

I said, waving the papers.

There were a few cell phone messages there.

It was a message and a time promised to meet each other.

“They met about five times at cafes and restaurants. We confirmed this. About five times before the suicide attempt? Isn’t five times a month a pretty frequent occurrence?”

“I saw it often because I was contemplating suicide in a similar way.”

“The atmosphere must have been dark since we met while contemplating suicide?”

“Mr. Ji In-hu was having a hard time because of his parents’ problems and the things he experienced while working as a civil servant.”

“The defendant was also afraid to go outside because of the stalker who was following him?”

“Yes.”

The judge nodded and looked at Lee Hyun-joo.

I spoke as if I was puzzled.

“However, unlike the victim, Mr. Ji In-hu, the defendant has considerable assets and does not seem to have any reason to consider suicide······.”

Lee Hyun-joo reacted immediately to these words.

“No. Around that time, I had a stalker. I told the prosecutors about that. When a stalker like that follows a woman, most women feel pressured and hide in their house. They are afraid to go out.”

Attorney Jang Ji-geun immediately raised an objection to those words.

The judge also nodded while reading the interrogation room transcript.

“Does the prosecution suspect suicide itself, even though the defendant spoke about it directly?”

“I told you that I went out to meet Mr. Ji In-hu five times while being stalked.”

Attorney Jang Ji-geun immediately stepped forward to object to what I said.

He was definitely a lawyer who knew how to strike at the right time.

“Meeting the victim, Mr. Ji In-hu, is a different case from a stalker. Ms. Lee Hyun-ah must have thought it was safe enough to meet him.”

Lee Hyun-joo also nodded at those words.

“Mr. Ji In-hu was fine. He was a person who was thinking of suicide anyway, so he wasn’t interested in women.”

I said with an apologetic expression.

“I see. Aside from meeting Mr. Ji In-hu, the defendant must have been careful because of the stalker.”

“Yes, I was so scared because of the stalker. I’m not like that now, but at the time, I was so scared that I thought about suicide.”

Lee Hyun-joo lowered her head with a face full of fear. Attorney Jang Ji-geun spoke to me with a serious face.

“I don’t know about you, sir, but when young women are stalked, they become so fearful and anxious that they even consider suicide.”

“Okay, I understand. I fully understand the defendant’s side of the story.”

I tilted my head and pressed the remote control.

“But then, this evidence screen is even stranger.”

Beep.

The evidence screen showed several CCTV footage photos of Lee Hyun-joo entering the club, with the date stamped on them.

Male.

Male.

The audience was stirred by the photo of Lee Hyun-joo entering the club in fancy attire with a bright smile.

“This is a place called Dancing Queen Club in Sincheon. It’s a hot club. If you look at the CCTV dates, they are all the days when I met the victim, Ji In-hu, and talked about suicide. But, you know. After breaking up with him, the place Lee Hyun-joo went to was not home······.”

Beep.

Several CCTV footage photos taken in the early morning hours have emerged.

There was a scene where Lee Hyun-joo was leaving the club in a good mood with a drunken look on her face.

“It was a club. I would go to the club five times a month, party all night, and leave at dawn.”

Lee Hyun-joo’s lips trembled.

The judge also squinted for the first time since the trial began.

“Well, Ms. Lee Hyun-joo, who was afraid because a man she met at a club was stalking her, was playing at the club until dawn like that.”

widely.

I slapped the documents I was holding with my hand and spoke more firmly.

“Every day I met Mr. Ji In-hu, I always went to the Dancing Queen Club in Sincheon.”

I turned my head and made eye contact with Lee Han-soo, who was in the audience.

The eyes behind the sunglasses were deep and dark.

‘Lee Han-soo. Are you watching? You will be accepted as a witness.’

I looked at the defendant’s seat again and asked seriously.

“Did you go to the Dancing Queen Club for another reason? Not to have fun, but to meet your older brother, the club owner, or something······.”

Lee Hyun-joo hesitated for a moment and then closed her mouth.

I pushed her a little harder.

“Isn’t that common sense? The defendant, who was mentally unstable because of a stalker and was about to commit suicide, wouldn’t have gone to a club… Isn’t it more likely that she went to see her older brother? Defendant, answer me.”

“I object. The prosecutor is now pressuring the defendant.”

The judge shook his head.

He too was a person who, as a lawyer, was expected to have a conscience and fair trials.

As a judge, if I had any doubts about a suspect based on evidence, it was a situation where I had to clear him.

“The defense’s opinion is dismissed. The defendant should answer the prosecutor’s questions.”

Lee Hyun-joo shook her head and strongly exercised her right to remain silent.

Lee Han-soo, who was watching the scene, got up from his seat and turned around as if to leave.

I pointed at him with my finger and shouted loudly so everyone could hear.

“Excuse me! I would like to request her older brother, Lee Han-soo, the club president, who is sitting in the audience, to be a witness at the next trial.”

All the audience turned their heads and looked at Lee Han-soo, who had stood up.

The judge also turned his head to help gather attention.

“If the defendant exercises his right to remain silent, this part should be asked of Lee Han-soo, the club’s president and older brother.”

The judge thought for a moment and then nodded.

The judge also probably felt that he needed more information about the defendant, who had already lost trust.

“I admit it. I hereby permit the application of Mr. Lee Han-soo, the club president and my older brother, as a witness at the next trial.”

Attorney Jang Ji-geun looked at Lee Han-soo with an embarrassed expression.

Lee Han-soo nodded with an angry face and went outside.

Boom!

He closed the courtroom door and left.

“All right.”

Attorney Jang Ji-geun also answered while biting his lower lip.

So the next trial witness was decided.

In a slightly chaotic atmosphere, the judge declared a recess.

“We will take a 20-minute break. After that, we will proceed with the details of the incident.”

bang.

bang.

So the recess was declared.

While everyone was leaving the courtroom, I was looking at the door through which Lee Han-soo had exited.

‘Lee Han-soo. How are you? Is your heart pounding? You son of a bitch. Are you scared?’

I felt a thrill.

In fact, securing the CCTV footage of the Dancing Queen Club was something I never thought possible.

A few days after Kim Ha-jin killed Dark Black Storm, the guide spoke to me for the first time in a long time.

〈The dark black storm that was trying to hack into the AI ​​system has disappeared. It was a very dangerous situation, so it was difficult to secure your information. However, we are able to talk again. Kang Ji-hyeok.〉

“Is that how it happened?”

〈Dark Black Storm, the leader of the rebel group that constantly attempted to hack AI systems, suddenly disappeared from history.〉

“A detective of this era had his head blown off a while ago.”

The guide appeared after a long time and offered his help.

〈In the past, the materials of the Dancing Queen Club were stored in a nearby PC room. It was managed by Dark Black Storm, and only the erotic videos of pretty female customers were edited and sold on overseas sites.〉

We were able to find the CCTV footage thanks to investigator Kim Ji-cheol raiding the PC room and collecting all the hard disks.

‘Thanks to you, I was able to obtain a lot of information about the Dancing Queen Club. It won’t be used in the current trial, but it’s information worth keeping in my secret drawer.’

As I gathered evidence from other trial materials and blew away Park Chan-jin, the traces left behind by the evil cartel were filled one by one in my secret drawer.

These materials will be used to fly them someday.

“Thank you, Guide. You were a great help this time too.”

〈No. We are grateful. The Black Dark Storm Rebellion forces are gone, and our systems remain safe.〉

Thanks to Hajin, the future world became better as expected.

〈Thank you for proving that our choice was right. Kang Ji-hyuk.〉

* * *

The trial resumed.

Afterwards, a dispute began over the incident itself.

“Defendant, please take the witness stand.”

As I sat on the witness stand, I comforted and soothed her, and continued to present the evidence I had collected so far that showed that I had planned to murder the victim, Ji In-hu.

“The defendant made all the preparations. He prepared all the gases and also purchased propofol from an acquaintance for a whopping 3 million won.”

“That’s something the victim, Ms. Ji In-hu, prepared because she was a busy civil servant.”

“Anyway, is it true that the defendant prepared it alone?”

Jang Ji-geun closed his mouth while arguing again.

The judge frowned several times, but now asked Hyunju Lee on the witness stand with a face full of doubt.

“Is it true that the defendant was trying to commit suicide with Mr. Ji In-hu?”

For the judge, a fatal question arose.

“Yes. Ji In-hu and I decided to commit suicide together and headed into the forest.”

I got out of there.

Thankfully, the judge ruled in favor of us.

I dug into that moment and questioned the witness.

“Just two people?”

“Yes.”

“So you both got propofol before using the helium gas and the nitrogen?”

“Since Mr. Ji In-hu got hit first, the propofol dose was too small. That’s why I think I woke up.”

It was similar to what happened to me.

It was a testimony like his that he survived because he lacked cyanide.

“So, did the witness kick the front door glass with the high heels she reported and leave? It would have been difficult for a woman to break the glass by kicking it by herself?”

I said so and presented photos of the scars on my feet as evidence.

“Our investigator, who was a detective, also broke a car window by kicking it, and got a scar around his ankle like this, but the witness didn’t have any scars around his feet at all?”

Hyun-joo Lee, on the witness stand, explained the situation as calmly as possible.

“I held my high heel in my hand and hit the car window with my heel, breaking it, then I scraped it clean off the car window and got out.”

“I see. It would be possible to break the glass while holding a 10cm high heel in your hand.”

Hyunju Lee’s face changed into one of relief, perhaps thinking that her testimony had been accepted after a long time.

I walked up to her and asked her seriously.

“But, you know, were there really only two people in that car: the victim and the witness?”