The Ultimate Inspector, Kang Ji-hyeok - Chapter 78



Only Noblemtl

Two months have passed since the dirty funeral of Lee Hyun-joo.

I secretly hoped that there would be some kind of threat from Lee Han-soo, but time passed without anything happening.

〈There are currently no records of a reinvestigation into Lee Han-soo’s younger sister, Lee Hyeon-ju. The case has been ruled a suicide.〉

The guide gave information about future events.

“Then what about Lee Han-soo?”

〈He is the absolute ruler of our system. Any incidents or criminal information about him cannot be confirmed by AI.〉

“That must be true. You saved me to ask me to solve that.”

What I learned through my conversation with the guide was that Lee Hyun-joo’s death was simply treated as suicide and the future was moving on.

‘It didn’t seem like Lee Han-soo killed his sister. Then who on earth killed her and why did Lee Han-soo remain silent?’

I had my doubts, but this suicide case was not something to be dealt with now.

Not only was there a lack of evidence, but my insight was also used to bring down Lee Han-soo through Lee Hyun-joo’s suicide.

‘Yes. Lee Han-soo. Time will be on my side. I will watch over you, a poor thing who cannot avenge your own brother despite your apparent strength as a gangster.’

Their criminal cartel.

Even Lee Han-soo, who would become the top gangster, could not even touch the person who murdered his own younger brother.

“Why did Lee Hyun-joo die? Do they have the sense of duty to kill Lee Han-soo without his knowledge in order to cover up his crimes?”

Criminals are the ones who don’t have any sense of loyalty no matter how hard you look for it.

So, he would never have killed for his comrades.

Someone must have done it for themselves.

These are the guys who would kill even their own cartel siblings without blinking an eye for their own gain.

‘You cruel devil bastards. That’s fortunate. You can punish them without hesitation. I’m thankful that you have no humanity.’

I decided to slowly gather information and began to devote myself to my work as a prosecutor.

* * *

Beep.

Beep.

The scene of the incident I ran to after a long time.

There were police cars surrounding the area and a police line was in place.

As I entered, two police officers stopped me.

“This is not a place for just anyone to come in.”

Bam.

I pushed the policeman’s hand away and showed him my ID.

“This is Kang Ji-hyeok of the Western District Prosecutor’s Office.”

“What is the inspector doing at the crime scene?”

“I explained everything up to that point?”

“No, Inspector Kang.”

The two police officers cleared the way with puzzled faces. As I crossed the police line, the detective in charge stood there with a look of disgust on his face.

You could tell the severity of the incident just by looking at their expressions.

“Who is the victim?”

“She is a 23-year-old female college student. Her name is Lim Ye-jin. She appears to have died after hitting the back of her head on the corner of a table. The National Forensic Service has stated that she died between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. last night.”

I quickly scanned the scene of the incident and took a picture of it in my head.

‘There it is. You hit your head on the corner of the table.’

There was a bloodstain on the corner of the table in the middle of the small room.

“Did you hit the back of your head on this corner?”

“That’s right. That bloodstain is the victim’s.”

Underneath the table, shards of broken black glass were visible. Coffee was spilling out and running through the shards.

Coffee was filling up between the shards of the broken black cup. The shiny shards of black glass were beautiful.

The coffee aroma was quite luxurious.

“Is it coffee?”

“Yes. This is coffee I made myself.”

It certainly seemed that way.

A device for pouring drip coffee was seen in the sink, which was located off the table.

‘I served him coffee that I made myself. Then I got into an argument with him about something and he ended up hitting his head on the corner of the table.’

“Who is the suspect?”

“There are two suspects that can be identified. One of them is here. Mr. Koo Chang-mo.”

The detective in charge presented a photo.

It was a picture of a man with his head completely shaved.

“Mr. Koo Chang-mo is said to have been just a friend who went to the same school.”

“But why did you come to the victim’s house at this time?”

“He said he was going to join the military in a week and came to the victim’s house around 9 p.m. tonight to confess.”

“Did the confession fail?”

“No. He said he decided to date her. He said he gave her this coffee at that time. Of course, he could be lying. He seems to be lying because he was rejected and he was afraid that it would be a motive for murder.”

Koo Chang-mo appeared to be a strong suspect.

The story that he confessed his love to her before going into the military, got rejected, and then pushed her to death in a fit of anger was too plausible.

“You said there was one more suspect?”

The detective in charge handed me the cell phone and said.

“This is CCTV footage from inside the building. This is her friend, Hyunyoung Yoo, who came in around 10:20 p.m. Hyunyoung Yoo called 119 around 10:40 p.m.”

The cell phone captured the exact time of Yoo Hyun-young coming in wearing sunglasses.

“You’re wearing sunglasses? At this hour of the night.”

“I heard that he had LASIK surgery four days ago and was told to wear sunglasses for a few days.”

“What is your relationship with the victim?”

“They said they were close friends who went to the same school.”

“Why is your best friend here at this hour?”

“I got a call from Im Ye-jin. She said she had some good news to tell you.”

“What’s the news?”

“I don’t know. She said the victim was already dead when she came in.”

I went over all the clues I saw at the scene one by one in my head.

“Is there CCTV when 119 comes?”

“wait a minute.”

The detective in charge manipulated his cell phone and then handed it back to me.

“It’s here.”

“After Ms. Yoo Hyeon-yeong reported it, she waited and then went out with the paramedics.”

“Yes, I did.”

“Do you have a cut on your finger?”

In the video, red blood was seen flowing from the victim’s friend’s hands.

“I see, Inspector. The paramedic is applying pressure to the blood flowing from your finger.”

“And there’s one more thing that’s strange?”

“What is it?”

I said to him, staring at the cell phone video.

“You don’t have any sunglasses.”

I came to a conclusion in my head.

“Arrest Mr. Yoo Hyun-young. I’ll go into the office and give you a search warrant, so search the house thoroughly.”

“Yes? Ms. Yoo Hyeon-yeong?”

The detective in charge looked surprised.

“Search Yoo Hyun-young’s house right now. I’ll issue a warrant even if it’s late! We must find the sunglasses.”

Fortunately, the search results showed that the sunglasses, with one half broken, and the broken pieces were found inside Yoo Hyun-young’s handbag.

“Detective Kim Hye-jin. Take Yoo Hyeon-yeong’s DNA sample. Ask her to check the coffee with the fragments of the black glass cup collected at the crime scene.”

– Yes. The National Forensic Service’s verification results will be out soon, Prosecutor.

According to the National Forensic Service, two pieces of sunglasses were found among the broken glass shards. In addition, Yoo Hyun-young’s DNA was confirmed in the coffee.

“When Mr. Koo Chang-mo, whom she had always liked, came to her house before he enlisted in the military and confessed his love for her, the victim decided to date him.”

I submitted evidence in court.

It was Im Ye-jin’s cell phone call record.

“The victim, Lim Ye-jin, decided to meet with her close friend, Yoo Hyeon-yeong, to tell her the news. That’s why there is a record of a phone call between the two of them three minutes after Koo Chang-mo left.”

Beep.

The next piece of evidence included a certificate proving that the DNA of the defendant, Yoo Hyun-young, matched the broken sunglasses found at the scene of the crime and the blood found in the coffee.

“Yoo Hyun-young also liked Koo Chang-mo and pushed her friend out of jealousy. The victim, Lim Ye-jin, hit her head on the corner of the table and the black coffee cup fell and shattered. At that time, Yoo Hyun-young’s sunglasses also fell and shattered, mixing the two pieces of glass together.”

I turned my head and looked at the defendant and said.

“I had LASIK surgery, so I found shards of broken sunglasses and hid them in my handbag to cover up the evidence, but a few pieces of glass were left behind, and I cut my hand and the blood ended up in my coffee.”

She was sentenced to 18 years in prison for murder, but a lenient Korean judge sentenced her to five years because she was a first-time offender and had reported the crime herself.

“First offense? And since I reported it myself, they’re giving me a reduced sentence? How can something like that happen!”

Boom!

As soon as I got back to the office, I punched the wall.

Hyejin spoke carefully to me, who was angry.

“Prosecutor. It was an accidental murder, right? But isn’t it important that you reported it to 119?”

“Murderer Yoo Hyun-young tried to hide her crime by cutting her hand to find the shards of her sunglasses! If the defendant had reported it first and turned himself in, then maybe he would have been forgiven a little.”

I spoke to the two investigators, suppressing my emotions.

“Anyone can commit a crime. But if you think of yourself before the victim afterward, then I think you become a real criminal.”

I spoke seriously to the people in the office.

“I’m not going to punish the criminal, I’m going to punish the criminal. That’s why I became a prosecutor.”

He bowed his head and spoke to his office colleagues.

“So please help me. This is something that requires everyone’s help.”

Everyone told me they believed in me.

Said we’d do it together.

“I’ll buy you some beef. We’re having a company dinner today.”

* * *

A few days later, I got a call from a friend from middle school.

He was one of my few friends.

“Yes. This is Kang Ji-hyeok from the Western District Prosecutors’ Office.”

– Ji-hyeok? I’m Oh Gil-nam, but I don’t know if you remember me. We were friends in middle school.

He was a friend who had been with me throughout middle school, but after graduating, he gave up going to high school to learn about his father’s work.

I had been going to construction sites all the time to see if the job suited my aptitude.

I studied to death for revenge during my high school years, and naturally, my relationship with Gilnam was cut off.

That’s the kind of friend who called me.

“It’s been a long time. Of course I remember.”

– I was surprised when I saw it on the news. It was cool. A prosecutor······.

“I’m sorry, but I’m going to record the call from now on. I don’t like taking requests from my friends.”

– Of course. No, please record it. My little brother disappeared a week ago.

“Did you report it to the police?”

– I think he’s missing, but the police aren’t doing anything. You know, my brother limps. He had polio when he was little. Maybe that’s why he’s a little······.

When I heard that, my memory kicked in.

His younger brother, who was two years younger than him, suffered from polio at a very young age.

I remember seeing your face with a dark expression sometimes.

“It’s not suicide?”

– I’m worried that might be the case. Ugh. I thought she got better after going to a mental hospital, but when I looked through her diary and room, I saw that she had been alone all this time… Ugh. She had been suffering.

Gilnam’s younger brother’s name was Oh Hyeonnam.

Two years younger than me.

I passed some simple information to HyunA.

“Oh Hyeon-nam. Is this person involved in an important case?”

I told HyunA honestly when she asked me.

“He’s my friend’s younger brother. He suffered from polio since he was little. He even received psychiatric treatment. But I think he’s missing.”

“I’ll look into it, Inspector.”

I was so grateful to have my people, my side.

Hyuna, who was leaving work, gave me a case file.

“Here is the Oh Hyeon-nam data you requested.”

“thank you.”

Everything was as expected.

Oh Hyeon-nam lived lamenting his fate as a polio patient. He attempted suicide three times, but was stopped after being reported to 119.

“You were also gambling illegally online? You lost almost 20 million won.”

A year ago, I suffered a huge loss of 20 million won from an illegal horse racing site, and the money I borrowed from that site was directly used as a loan shark.

It was an illegal loan sharking method using online games that is still popular today.

“I wrote on SNS that I was having a hard time because of private loans with interest rates as high as 28.5%.”

Oh Hyun-nam only had four friends on his SNS at most.

Two people who clicked ‘Like’.

Although only two people were watching the SNS, the SNS filled with complaints about their current situation lasted for several years.

“Wait a minute······. Now that I think about it······.”

I found a file listing suicide club members among the recently seized and searched materials and opened it, and found his name there.

“···Oh Hyun-nam. You were using the nickname PAINKILLER.”