The Ultimate Inspector, Kang Ji-hyeok - Chapter 86



Only Noblemtl

“Defense attorney. I will now tell you why this case is a murder. The TV broadcast showed the car already burning. The tape that the criminal caught on CCTV sent to the broadcasting station contained the burning scene, and it takes 20 minutes to get to the broadcasting station by motorcycle.”

TV news footage of the burning car was shown on screens inside the courtroom.

“So, before the tape reached the broadcasting station, Jeon Jun-woo was already dead and the car was burned.”

A commotion.

The audience was in an uproar.

Attorney Lee Cheon-su stood up and raised an objection to change the mood.

“He could have committed suicide and set himself on fire! He could have filmed the suicide and sent it to me later.”

Beep.

I uploaded photos of my wrists and ankles, bent to the point of breaking, to the screen where the evidence screen appears.

“What? That bone is bent.”

“Isn’t that just burnt bones?”

The audience members’ eyes widened at the scary picture and each commented:

Attorney Lee Cheon-su also looked at the photo without saying anything and opened his eyes wide.

“These are the wrists and ankles of Mr. Jeon Jun-woo, who was burned to death. He struggled so much that his bones were bent. But he couldn’t get out of the car.”

Beep.

A cable tie appeared on the screen.

“According to the coroner’s report, there are signs of struggling while being bound with cable ties. Mr. Jeon Jun-woo’s hands and feet were tied with cable ties when he died.”

The judge nodded while looking closely at the report I submitted.

“The prosecution claims that he was already tied up in the car and someone set fire to the car he was in?”

That’s what it said in the incident report I filed.

The judge reconfirms the facts.

“Yes. It is impossible for Mr. Jeon Jun-woo, who tied his own hands and feet, to commit suicide and set fire to his car.”

I walked to the center of the courtroom and held out the documents I was holding.

It was a piece of paper printed with a picture of the back of a person wearing black clothes.

“From the beginning, this murder was planned by a black-suited tape carrier. I think he’s the culprit. I can’t pinpoint him yet.”

I turned my head and looked at Heo Ji-yeon and spoke quietly.

“When the two cases are brought to trial, you will find out that the devil who murdered the two people is the suspect, Heo Ji-yeon.”

All the audience looked at Heo Ji-yeon.

A skinny, makeup-free face.

It was hard to believe that the delicate woman with her long hair tied back was the culprit.

“Inspector Kang! I tell you again, don’t be so quick to judge! I warn you.”

Attorney Lee Cheon-su shouted at me and even swore at me.

I glared at him and retorted.

“Excuse me, counsel. Do you even know what kind of person the defendant is! Or are you two in cahoots?”

“What? Are you disregarding my legal right to a defense?”

bang.

bang.

As our two voices grew louder, the judge steadied the courtroom with his gavel.

“Quiet! Be quiet. This is a courtroom. Prosecutors and defense attorneys, no emotional arguments.”

Attorney Lee Cheon-su sits down and looks at the case file.

I also let out a long sigh and returned to my seat.

‘Lee Cheon-su. If you checked the case file, you should request Im Soo-jung as a witness. You mentioned the cable tie story, right?’

Attorney Lee Cheon-su glared at him and spoke into the microphone.

“I would like to request a witness. Since I am currently in court, I think it would be okay to be a financial witness. What do you think?”

Attorney Lee Cheon-su suddenly summoned Lim Su-jeong, a financial witness.

“We are requesting that Ms. Im Soo-jung, who is a strong suspect in both cases but has not been indicted by the prosecution, be brought in as a financial witness.”

After requesting a financial witness, Attorney Lee Cheon-su glared at me and said:

“No matter how much the prosecutor’s power is the right not to indict, Prosecutor Kang Ji-hyeok, you indicted Heo Ji-yeon, who is in the defendant’s dock, not Im Su-jeong, who even confessed. Will you accept the request to be a financial witness?”

It was language full of malice.

‘Yeah, that’s what a lawyer should be like. I like it, Lee Cheon-su. Thanks to you, I’m in a position to defend myself.’

I looked at the judge, acting a little embarrassed.

The judge nodded.

“If you say so, I will accept the request for financial witness testimony. Is that okay? Prosecutor Kang Ji-hyeok.”

“Yes, Your Honor.”

Reporters quickly began reporting the courtroom atmosphere as breaking news.

[Prosecutor Kang Ji-hyeok. A suspect who has not been indicted stands on the witness stand!]

[Why didn’t prosecutor Kang Ji-hyeok indict Im Soo-jung, who confessed?]

[Suspect Lim Soo-jung, who confessed to the crime, took the witness stand]

Lim Soo-jung, who was in the courtroom, walked out and sat down in the witness stand.

“Since he is a financial witness in court, the witness summoning procedure will be omitted.”

Lim Soo-jung nodded and finished taking the witness oath. For me, it was a scenario planned from the beginning.

“Then, let’s have the defense attorney question witness Im Su-jeong first.”

“All right.”

Lee Cheon-su approached Im Soo-jeong.

“Is Im Soo-jung a novelist?”

“I haven’t made my debut yet.”

“This novel was written by Im Soo-jung?”

An excerpt from the novel written by Im Soo-jung appeared on the screen.

[He wanted to tell the world. With his death. He chose to die in the most perfect manner possible, by burning himself. He sat in his car, reminiscing about his days as a promising baseball player, enjoying the smell of his flesh burning.]

“The victim, Jeon Jun-woo, was a former baseball player, and the scene depicting him burning to death is very similar to this incident.”

I stood up and raised an objection.

Just like a lawyer.

“This novel was on Im Soo-jung’s laptop. How did the defense attorney have the novel in the works when they didn’t even ask us for evidence?”

Lee Cheon-su answered with a confident expression.

“Heo Ji-yeon, who is in the defendant’s seat, sincerely helped the witness, Im Soo-jeong, to write a novel. She allowed her to use her villa for free. So the witness occasionally sent Heo Ji-yeon a novel she was writing. This novel is also one of the files that the witness sent directly.”

The judge looked at Attorney Lee Cheon-su with a slightly puzzled expression and asked.

“So, you’re saying that the defendant and the witness are close friends?”

The atmosphere I wanted was created.

I stood up from my seat and walked towards the judge.

“Let me tell you about that.”

Beep.

The evidence footage showed photos of a villa and a sky-blue hospital.

“The defendant, Heo Ji-yeon, is a nurse working at Sky Blue Hospital. She is also the actual owner of the hospital.”

The judge found that part of the report I submitted and read it.

“Oh, I see. The owner of the hospital doesn’t have to be a doctor, but it’s surprising that he’s a nurse.”

“It’s not just that. I own several buildings in Gangnam, and the villa that I rented out for free to the witness that the lawyer mentioned is one of them······.”

Beep.

The building where the second rooftop murder occurred appeared on a screen showing evidence photos.

“We also discovered that the building near Seolleung Station, the second scene of the murder where victim Oh Hyeon-nam was murdered, is owned by her.”

Male.

Male.

The atmosphere of the audience, who had been feeling sorry for Heo Ji-yeon’s frail appearance, changed like the tide.

“Oh my? He’s that rich?”

“How could you······ at such a young age?”

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

“These two incidents are connected as one.”

The judge said a word after looking at the case materials.

“I understand that Prosecutor Kang Ji-hyeok’s argument is that the culprit of the first case is the same as the culprit of the second case.”

At that time, Attorney Lee Cheon-su came forward and raised an objection. After catching his breath, he began his rebuttal.

“There is no evidence whatsoever that Ms. Heo Ji-yeon was the one who killed Mr. Jeon Jun-woo and set fire to him.”

Attorney Lee Cheon-su turned the situation around with his first case.

I stepped forward again and quietly explained the situation.

“I want you to remember the person in black who delivered the tape to the broadcasting station in the video we saw before. And this video is the broadcasting station CCTV after he fell from the roof of the building and was killed. In other words, he is the person who brought the second incident video tape.”

Beep.

Another CCTV screen appeared.

This time, it was a video of a person wearing black clothes entering the broadcasting station.

“You’re wearing the same clothes. Black jumper, black pants······.”

The judge muttered.

Clearly the judge was focused on this footage.

“I thought so too, but after watching it hundreds of times, I realized. It’s the same black clothes as the ones in the first video, but the material is completely different.”

Beep.

Again, the scene showed the back of the man in black who was handing over the first incident tape.

“It’s a leather jacket and leather pants. It’s a bit confusing because they’re black, but if you look closely at the light bleed, you can tell.”

A few discerning members of the audience exclaimed in admiration.

“That’s right. That one is leather and the second one is just black clothes.”

I then played hundreds of videos at double speed.

“It’s a bit long, but I would like you to focus on the motorcycle and driver I’m going to show you from now on.”

The judge began to focus on the video, resting his chin on his hand.

It was a scene of a red or black motorcycle passing through the street.

The motorcyclists were all dressed in black, had the same body type, and had long hair flowing out from under their helmets.

So they were all the same people.

“In her statement to the prosecution, Ms. Heo Ji-yeon said that she rides a motorcycle to work and to relieve stress late at night. That’s why I collected all the CCTV footage I found of her riding a motorcycle.”

Afterwards, she separately presented two motorcycles she owned as evidence.

“She has two motorcycles. One red and one black. They are the same model. Since then, I have been searching through every CCTV in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province like crazy for the past two months to find all the footage of her riding a motorcycle.”

Actually, that was a lie.

In fact, all of these videos were possible because the guide analyzed them with AI from the future and told us the time and place.

“Are you saying that Inspector Kang found all of this?”

The judge said in admiration.

“Yes. Ms. Heo Ji-yeon probably thought that the prosecution could not check all the footage. So she talked about the two motorcycles she owned without hesitation, but that ended up coming back to haunt her.”

In the video, Heo Ji-yeon was always wearing black clothes.

I could tell that it was the same outfit he wore when he came to the broadcasting station.

“But you see. In all the footage, there is only one day where he is wearing leather clothes. If you look closely, that day is the day of the Jeon Jun-woo incident. It turns out that it is the same leather clothes he was wearing on the day he brought the tape to the broadcasting station.”

I looked at the judge and said.

“Why did you wear black leather clothes only on the day I brought you the first tape? Both your upper and lower body.”

The judge frowned and tilted his head.

I answered my own question.

“I wore it because I was afraid of getting burned. If I were to wear leather, even if sparks flew, they wouldn’t catch on to my clothes. Isn’t that right, Heo Ji-yeon?”

I pointed to the defendant’s seat and asked.

Heo Ji-yeon’s eyes shook as she was bewildered at having identified herself by searching through all the CCTV footage in Seoul.

‘What do you think, Heo Ji-yeon? You probably wouldn’t have thought of it. You probably laughed at the prosecutor. You probably thought that even if you gave him a hint with a motorcycle, he wouldn’t be able to provide evidence.’

At that moment, Attorney Lee Cheon-su hurriedly intervened. It must have been because he was sure that if he was pushed back here, it would be the end.

He took out the hidden card he had been hiding and threw it.

“Objection! Please look at evidence No. 22 to 24 presented by the prosecution.”

The judge hesitated for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

“Okay. Let’s check the defense’s evidence as well.”

The photos of the search and seizure of the villa where Im Soo-jung lived appeared on the screen.

“If what the prosecutor says is true, then witness Im Soo-jung is closer to the culprit. These are the pieces of evidence that the prosecutors found when they searched and seized the villa where Im Soo-jung lived. They found cable ties, paint thinner for lighting fires, and even matches.”

The judge looked at him seriously, squinting his eyes. The evidence he presented shook the hearts of the judge and the audience.

“Witness. Are you sure these items came from the villa?”