The Ultimate Inspector, Kang Ji-hyeok - Chapter 77



Only Noblemtl

The savory smell of beef wafted out of the store. Hajin grabbed my shoulder and said as he led me inside.

“The beef smells amazing. Is the inspector shooting today?”

“Okay. I’ll shoot. Eat as much as you want. And what’s the inspector? Call me hyung.”

“I’m shy. I don’t usually call just anyone ‘hyung.’”

“That’s true.”

“I will enjoy the beef, Inspector!”

“Yes, Detective Kim Ha-jin. Eat as much as you want!”

“Old story, toothbrush, madecassoside!”

“Foot.”

It was funny when Hajin said that.

I thought it would be funny if someone who likes dad jokes did it.

That’s how I met Hajin again.

I felt excited, like I was meeting an old girlfriend.

My best partner.

It was nice to be with him again.

Sizzling.

As soon as Hajin put the meat on the grill, he put it in his mouth.

“Kaaa. This is beef after all. Inspector, please have one too.”

“Okay.”

We got pretty drunk while giving each other soju.

Hajin said while chewing the meat.

“That kid was in the PC room I was talking about back then. He was trying to hack into the bank server and steal money.”

Hajin began to tell the story of the incident with the Dark Black Storm.

No one asked me to do it, I just started doing it.

“My partner… Ah. Her name is Detective Jeon Ji-hyun.”

“Jeon Ji-hyun? That Jeon Ji-hyun?”

“No, sir. Everyone says that, but detective Jeon Ji-hyun is a total man. Her name is Jeon Ji-hyun, her name is······.”

Sigh.

I smiled at Hajin’s antics.

Hajin has always been like that.

He was a guy with a charm that easily opened other people’s hearts.

He was usually serious, but he was also very affectionate in his personal relationships. He was truly a master of interpersonal relationships.

Thanks to that, everyone liked him.

“Detective Jeon Ji-hyun grabbed that kid by the scruff of the neck. I was pointing my gun at him. Detective Jeon was trying to knock him back nicely and put handcuffs on him······.”

Hajin brought the chopsticks he was using to eat meat close to my neck.

It was so sudden that I just watched.

“The guy was holding a sharp dagger to the detective’s neck and trying to cut it. So… I put the gun to his head and shot him.”

“The first shot is a blank bullet, right?”

“No. I fired a warning shot before I entered the PC room to find that guy.”

Hajin, who had been talking up to that point, stopped talking with a serious expression on his face.

I drank all the soju in front of me in one gulp.

Slurp.

I filled the empty glass in front of him with soju.

“Inspector. I met the guy’s eyes as he was spinning around with a bullet in his head······.”

“How was it? Are you sorry?”

Hajin shook his head, putting the soju glass to his lips.

My eyes became moist, either because I was drunk or because I remembered that moment.

“Are you sorry? No. I know it’s a bit weird to say this, but… Honestly, I was relieved. You might end up being a devil who commits countless crimes in the future, right?”

Hajin’s words were correct.

I already knew, so I wanted to tell him that what he said was 100% true.

‘Honestly, I want to tell you that you did a good job, Hajin.’

“My partner would have died if I hadn’t cut off his head. If the knife had gone in just a little further, it would have severed an artery.”

Hajin’s words of relief resonated and shook my heart.

Hajin poured the soju he had put in his mouth and raised his voice as he placed the glass on the table with a noise.

“I mean, Inspector. I don’t want my partner to die. How dare a criminal kill a detective? I will never forgive him. Especially not my partner.”

Bam.

After saying that, Hajin collapsed on the table.

“Oops. I forgot.”

I turn my head and count the bottles of soju we drank.

There were five bottles in total.

Hajin drank about two bottles.

“If Hajin drinks more than two bottles of soju, she just passes out······.”

Drumroll.

Hajin fell asleep, snoring loudly.

“Don’t fall asleep like that. Hajin······.”

I whispered quietly while watching Hajin sleeping soundly.

“Mommy. I’m touched. Thank you for saying you can’t stand seeing your partner die. And I missed you, Inma.”

Swish.

I patted Hajin’s head, whom I hadn’t seen in a long time.

His hair still smelled like nice shampoo.

“Thank you, Kim Ha-jin. Thank you for appearing in front of me… and thank you for blowing up the worst hacker.”

I looked at Hajin’s sleeping face and recalled those days.

It’s a time I want to go back to, but I know I can’t.

“Hajin-ah. I will complete my revenge. So I can’t go back to that time. You too, live a better life. I will support you.”

* * *

I went to work at the Western District Prosecutors’ Office in the morning.

I exchanged greetings with the inspectors I met on my way out of the taxi.

“Kang Ji-hyeok. Did you handle my case well?”

“Yes. That case was prosecuted as an excessive defense.”

“I was going to sue him too, but I felt so uncomfortable that I didn’t do anything about it.”

“But we still have to deal with it. Then, wouldn’t the defendant, Jin-Man Park, feel better?”

“Park Jin-man had a four-year-old child. He had a strong desire to protect that child.”

“I know, but the goddess of the law is blind. And your lawyer will do a good job of that.”

“Anyway, that spicy kid. He has no sense of humor.”

It felt dirty.

The suspect wants a quick decision on whether to indict or not to indict.

From the perspective of having to go about daily life, it would be better to have something decided so that you can prepare.

After I prosecuted the case, I asked Cheon Je-gu to take charge of the case.

– Prosecutor Kang. Isn’t it illegal to ask a lawyer to take charge of a case?

“Is it okay for me to just complain as a friend that it’s such a sad incident? Is the world that bleak?”

– But, Prosecutor Kang, I have to pay a lot of attorney fees. What should I do?

“Mr. Park Jin-man must be having a hard time raising a child alone after getting divorced······. Oh, right. I have a feeling that POSCO’s stock price will double in the next two months.”

– Oh, thank you for that information. Then, I will defend you for free without any attorney fees. I was thinking about donating my talents these days.

Cheon Je-gu accepted the incident willingly(?).

“Mr. Park Jin-man divorced his wife and is raising his four-year-old son alone. So, please give him the minimum sentence, no matter what.”

– Do you have a child? Then it’s easier. You leave him to me and I’m watching over him, so just stay quiet.

“Rumors in the legal community really spread quickly.”

Since Cheon Je-gu said so, the case would be resolved cleanly. I had no intention of appealing the results.

‘But if I get a prison sentence, I plan to appeal. That way, the sentence will be reduced.’

In fact, the law is cruel to those without money or connections.

Perhaps this incident will make the media talk about the coldness of the law.

However, the goddess of law who ‘closes her eyes’ originally has a warm heart.

So much so that you would have to deliberately gouge out your own eyes.

“good morning.”

When I entered the office, everyone was surprised.

“You look great in a black suit. You look like a killer.”

“What’s going on today?”

“Oh. Are you going to the funeral today?”

My office colleagues, dressed in black suits, spoke one by one.

He said this while receiving the coffee Hyuna gave him.

“Yeah. I’m going to the funeral.”

“Did your friend’s father pass away?”

I picked up the remote control and turned on the TV.

The funeral scene appeared.

[(Exclusive) Funeral held for suspect who committed suicide after being unable to endure pressure investigation]

A funeral hall in Sincheon full of men dressed in black was shown on TV.

“I’m going there.”

Nin said, sipping his coffee.

My office colleagues were wide-eyed and speechless.

“Are you saying that you are going to Lee Hyun-joo’s funeral?”

“Hey. Are you kidding?”

As the bitterness of the coffee coursed through my body, my mind cleared.

“You should go. We’re not strangers. That’s what my parents said. You don’t have to go on happy days, but you have to go on sad days.”

I left the office with my ID card hanging around my neck. In one hand, I was holding the Aa that Hyun-ah had given me.

“I’ll go to the funeral. I’ll have lunch before I go, so eat first.”

Ji-cheol said in a embarrassed voice.

“Go ahead. I’ll give you a ride.”

I shook my head.

He indicated with his hand that it was okay.

“It’s okay. I’ll go alone.”

“Still, everyone there must be resenting the inspector······.”

“So I’m going alone.”

I calmed down my worried office colleagues and set out.

* * *

It was as if the place was a gaping maw of black darkness.

Damn it.

Damn it.

At each end of the hallway stood a huge number of mismatched figures.

‘Even in such a large company?’

It’s hard to believe that even large corporations have sent condolences.

I stood in front of a particularly striking sight.

“Gangnam Heo Hospital. I guess they have some sense of duty. Even those punks.”

Damn it.

Damn it.

After passing a few bridges, we stopped again.

I squatted down and read the written words word by word.

“Dream Castle Yoon Tae-soo. Look at this? Are you blatantly revealing that you’re a cartel?”

I remembered the look in his eyes as he looked at me like a bug when I fell into his trap and died.

The eyes of darkness that seemed endless, like a snake.

“It looks like you took some drugs, Chairman. Yoon Tae-soo.”

The faces of those guys I had almost forgotten about for a while came back to my mind.

“What is it? Why are you sitting there like that?”

The tone of his speech got on my nerves.

I stood up from my spot.

Just hearing the thug’s speech gives me goosebumps all over my body.

“You don’t have to know, so don’t worry about it.”

The pig in the black suit had a very angry expression on his face.

I pushed the guy out and went out.

“Get out of the way. Don’t block the road.”

I put the white envelope in the box and wrote my name on it.

[Prosecutor Kang Ji-hyeok]

“Do you know where this place is and come here?”

“Stop squeaking. It’s noisy.”

I ignored him and went inside.

A few people gathered around him.

“Get out of the way. Let me pass.”

“Don’t go in! Our Hyunju! How dare you!”

“Fuck. Go back.”

They stopped me and started talking to me one by one.

Kuk.

I grabbed the ear of the guy who had been following me for a while and turned it with my finger.

“Ugh.”

He whispered in her ear.

“Should I just put him in jail as a criminal? Threatening the prosecutor for obstructing official duties?”

“Ah… no.”

“If you know, then get out. I’m already feeling uneasy.”

A path appeared before me like the Red Sea parting.

A white chrysanthemum was placed in front of Lee Hyun-joo’s photo.

“The bean curds are nice. Kang Ji-hyeok.”

Lee Han-soo spoke as quietly as possible.

I looked into his eyes.

The darkness of the abyss.

He had those eyes too.

“Lee Han-soo. Stop taking drugs. They say that people who sell drugs live like humans, but people who are weak are taken away by the devil.”

“Kang Ji-hyeok. You’d better keep your mouth shut. Do you know where this place is? Why did you come here? Did you come here to handcuff my brother who committed suicide?”

Lee Han-soo said coldly.

It felt like a few snakes were slithering around my neck.

I looked into Hansoo Lee’s eyes and said.

“This is Lee Hyun-joo’s funeral. I came to see which brazen bastard killed my suspect.”

I bowed my head once again to express my condolences to Lee Hyun-joo.

Lee Han-soo was still glaring at me with reddened eyes.

It’s anger.

And it seemed like jealousy.

“We’re currently investigating whether it was suicide or not. I’ll catch the bastard who killed your brother. So, wait.”

“What, what did you say? You’re saying that now······.”

“Your brother. He got an air shot on a rainy day. That caused his lungs and heart to stop for a while.”

Lee Han-soo’s pupils shook.

Yeah, that’s it.

Lee Han-soo.

I mean,

You’ve been through hell and back.

I want to execute you all with my own hands.

Instead, don’t worry.

I won’t get stabbed in the street.

I will stab you deeply with the sword of the law in front of everyone in the court······.

“After that, it seemed like he was pushed from above and dropped. It was a rainy day, so all the evidence would have disappeared, but would I give up just because of that? I’m Kang Ji-hyuk.”

Bam.

I held Lee Han-soo’s shoulder and comforted him.

“He’s a terrible guy. He would have been sentenced to life imprisonment anyway, but seeing as he went to the trouble of killing him······. What was he trying to hide?”

The eyes of Lee Han-soo, which I had thought were a dark abyss until just now, changed.

“Who said what?”

Lee Han-soo spoke to me softly, his voice trembling.

“What you’re saying is… some kid killed his brother? It wasn’t suicide?”

In that moment, the air between that kid and me changed.