The Ultimate Inspector, Kang Ji-hyeok - Chapter 91



Only Noblemtl

“Drowning is usually called death by falling into water.”

“Yes, I know.”

“Usually drowning happens when the lungs fill with water and the person can’t breathe, causing them to die. Surprisingly, some people survive for a long time.”

“okay.”

“In that case, most people die from lack of oxygen.”

Boohoo.

It’s been a while since I picked up speed on the highway, but Seoul is still far away.

Ji-cheol nodded and asked.

“But there are different types of drowning. What’s different about them?”

“It’s different. For example, there are cases where the water is too cold at the moment of falling into the water, or there are cases where the person dies from the shock and then goes into the water. This is also called drowning.”

“I see. So this person died of a heart attack or something.”

“Yes. It’s the lack of oxygen and the corpse becoming a different form. In extremely rare cases, there are cases where the fear of water kicks in and the back of the head swells rapidly.”

“Are you talking about the back of the head?”

“The human body reacts first because it does not want to inhale water, but the larynx spasms and the back of the head expands abnormally, causing suffocation. This special case is called immersion drowning.”

“Oh. There are things like that. I didn’t know, Inspector.”

“If you work as a detective for a long time, you’ll realize that there are actually a lot of deaths due to drowning. If you investigate.”

Ji-cheol turns his head and looks at me.

He said with a puzzled look.

“Life as a detective? You’ve only been a prosecutor for two years now······.”

“Oh, my mentor is a veteran detective, so why did you suddenly say that?”

“That veteran detective seems amazing. Sometimes when I see the prosecutor, he seems like a detective from a movie.”

I thought I had to be careful.

It’s definitely an inspection now.

“Drive safely. I’m bored. Turn on the radio. Let’s listen to it as we go.”

“Understood, Inspector.”

Ji-cheol turned on the radio.

Long ago, music began to flow.

I looked out the window and tried to organize the incident, and my insight was slowly coming up with answers to the incident.

‘It seems like the puzzle is being solved easily since I know about the case. Um Ja-hyeon. I have to stop you right now.’

Squeak.

Is it because I’m concentrating and thinking about the incident?

Before I knew it, I was in front of the prosecutor’s office.

“Get off work. I’ll give you the full report tomorrow.”

“Well then, inspector. Thank you for your hard work! As I always say, I respect you.”

“If you don’t want to be defamed, don’t say things like that.”

“Haha. It brings back old memories, Inspector.”

Ji-cheol went back.

I turned on the lights in the empty office.

In a dark office, someone was looking at a whiteboard.

“What are you doing here?”

“I came here because I was curious about what kind of incident this was. Kang Ji-hyuk.”

“The president himself said this?”

Prosecutor General Choi Hye-sung.

He was in our office.

Sigh.

He took a pretty bottle of liquor out of his bosom.

It was a transparent bottle of alcohol that looked like a potion that increases HP, like something out of an online RPG game.

“I came here to have a drink because I like this alcohol.”

“Isn’t that Mongjiram? It’s an M9. I like it too.”

“You know this.”

“Yes. It smells pretty good and the sweetness that lingers in your mouth is killer.”

“As expected of Kang Ji-hyeok. There’s nothing he doesn’t know. He’s like a veteran who’s over 45 years old.”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

I took out the beef jerky that I had hidden in the drawer.

“This jerky goes best with that drink.”

“As expected, you know.”

The two sat at the table and took out the glasses that were in the Mongjiram box.

Slurp.

I like the way Chinese liquor flows down in a single line in a very small cup.

“The fragrance is amazing.”

“Haha. Drinking is definitely more fun when you’re with people you know.”

President Choi Hye-seong poured me a drink and we took small bites of the beef jerky.

How many glasses did you have?

President Choi Hye-seong, who was slightly taken aback, spoke with a sly look in her eyes.

“Kang Ji-hyeok. I mean, I’ve had a lot of this kind of alcohol. Since I became a prosecutor. But today, I went to buy it myself so I could have a drink with you.”

“Go ahead, Mr. President.”

“But, this is fucking expensive.”

“If it’s not a duty-free shop, it’s around 600,000 won.”

“That’s right. It was around that price. I thought it was around 100,000 won. This kind of alcohol… Heh heh.”

“You don’t know because you’ve never bought it yourself.”

match!

President Choi Hye-seong rolled around on the sofa, clapping her hands as if she was having fun.

“Hahaha! As expected, it’s Kang Ji-hyuk. You know everything. You’re really the best. Kang Ji-hyuk!”

As he said that, for some reason, President Choi Hye-seong looked sad.

“I stand here because I want to share with you my dream of realizing justice in this world.”

I remembered the scene where he gave a speech on TV before he died.

He looked stronger than anyone else.

Wouldn’t it be okay to trust a politician with a prosecutor background like that?

When I was a detective, I saw him on TV and thought about that for a moment.

“But it’s still the same. F*ck. Do you think those inspectors ever bought you a drink? They always get it for you.”

“Well, when we eat pork belly with soju, we’re not the ones eating expensive grilled beef.”

“No. I’ll still drink soju.”

“Fuck. Those guys are drinking soju in Gangnam. They don’t even pay the bill?”

Their fellow detectives had disparaged them like that.

But I thought that Prosecutor Choi Hye-seong on TV, or rather, politician Choi Hye-seong, was a bit different… or, I wish she were different.

That Choi Hye-seong was now the Prosecutor General, rolling around on the sofa in front of me.

‘It’s not even funny. I never thought this would happen before my eyes.’

Even for someone like me who prides myself on having had quite a bit of social experience, this current situation was embarrassing.

And I understood a little bit.

“Hey, Kang Ji-hyeok. That’s what prosecutors are like. They’re the kind of guys who don’t buy a drink with their own money. You know what I mean.”

“···I don’t know yet.”

“You’re funny. Don’t you know that?”

President Choi Hye-seong sat up straight again, tore the beef jerky with her fingertips, and put it in my mouth.

“Eat it, Inma. You smart little brat.”

“yes.”

“You’re going to handle this case properly, right? I think you’ve already pictured the trial in your head.”

“To some extent, yes. If we just confirm the hypothesis tomorrow, we can go straight to trial—”

Slurp.

He filled my empty glass.

“Then you’ll be left out of the Western District Attorney’s Office. You know? One of the prosecutors here is involved in that case.”

“···I won’t tell you about the incident. Even if you are the president.”

“Hahaha. Yeah. I like it because it’s you. Kang Ji-hyuk!”

I downed the glass he gave me in one gulp and placed it on the table.

My remarkable resilience still kept me sane.

Slurp.

I poured his glass again.

“Ha. Look at this guy. He drinks really well… Drinks… Ugh. Yeah. I don’t lose to alcohol either, right?”

He also downed his glass in one gulp and spoke to me with slightly relaxed eyes.

“Can you hold out? The prosecutor who put the prosecutor in jail is from the same Western District Prosecutors’ Office? No, in the world of prosecutors?”

“I think there was a reason Chief Prosecutor Lee Cheol-jung assigned the case to me. He was confident that I could handle it.”

His eyes were squinted.

Was it because he said, “Prosecutor General Lee Cheol-jung?” Was it because he said he was sure?

“Lee Cheol-joong? How can you be so sure about your career as a prosecutor? Hehe. Is it possible to be just the chief prosecutor of the Western District? Is that it?”

“No. Doesn’t Chief Prosecutor Lee Cheol-jung trust the Chief Prosecutor?”

Choi Hye-seong shook her head as if trying to open her drunken eyes as much as possible.

“What? You trust me.”

“Yes, I definitely think so.”

“So, I will save you? You believe that? How is that possible?”

Honestly, I was waiting for this moment. It came more suddenly than I expected, but I confessed it to President Choi Hye-seong.

“Please open a separate line for me under the president’s direct control.”

Wiggle.

Choi Hye-seong’s eyebrows turned into eight characters.

It was a response to what I said.

“My direct line? And alone?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Inma, do you know what that means? It means that we will go beyond the standard and have sole investigative authority. It’s something that has never happened before.”

“That’s why, because it wasn’t there! Let’s try it this time, President.”

“Do you know what I’m saying? I’m going to become a powerful prosecutor who surpasses the special forces. You alone!”

“I’m not alone. The director will be by my side, right? And the special forces will be on my side, too.”

“Kang Ji-hyeok! Do you really think you can do something like that?”

Slurp.

I filled both empty glasses with alcohol.

And he poured the glass in front of me in one go.

Immediately after, he emptied the glass in front of Choi Hye-seong in one go.

“What are you doing? Drink both of those glasses at once! Then you die. You. Now—”

Choi Hye-seong looked at me with surprised eyes.

Don’t worry about that.

I have better deciphering skills than anyone else.

I said firmly.

“Mr. President, I will drink it all. I will do everything you want to do. And I will go alone with the events that will shake the world.”

President Choi Hye-seong.

He knows too well what he wants.

He also knows the congressman who will harass him in the future well, having met him during his days as a detective.

It is obvious that they are still putting pressure on him as the Prosecutor General.

That’s probably one of the reasons why I sometimes want to get drunk.

Even though I don’t know how they’re connected, I already know who will become my future enemies and what their crimes will be revealed in the future.

“Mr. Prosecutor General, I have something I want to do. To do that, I need power that transcends all interests. Power that only the Prosecutor General has. Please pass that line to me alone.”

Choi Hye-seong closed her eyes for a moment.

I know you have all kinds of thoughts running through your head.

He slowly opened his eyes and spoke to me.

“I can’t answer right now. You’ve made such a huge offer.”

“I know.”

“The hardest cases a prosecutor gets are fucking insurance fraud cases, just like yours. Insurance fraud is a very lucrative case for lawyers.”

“Yes.”

“Show me. Solve it as a murder case. And deal with everything related to it at once. Kang Ji-hyeok.”

“I will try.”

President Choi Hye-seong stood up from her seat.

Although he staggered a little, he walked all the way alone, as if to show me that he was not drunk.

Kwang.

I bowed my head and greeted him, then slowly raised my head.

“Phew.”

With a long sigh, the alcohol seemed to have washed away and my head cleared.

“This healing ability is killing me.”

I poured the coffee and put some ice cubes in the cup.

With my daughter.

There was a sharp crunch of ice in the cup.

Huruk.

The bitter coffee tickled my tongue and the caffeine spread.

“Let me show you, Mr. President. And also, Mr. President, prove to me that you have the heart to change the world. Is that sincere?”

Ppaaang.

A black car drove away, honking its horn, in front of the quiet prosecutor’s office.

I stood in front of the window, sipping my iced coffee, and spoke to the departing car.

“Please, please join hands with me. Not for me, but for your sake, Mr. President.”

City of Dawn.

A sharp, gray wind blew and hit the window.

* * *

“The prosecution has not prosecuted all recent cases. They say there is insufficient evidence······. And the previous cases are similar. They were all dismissed due to insufficient evidence!”

Hyejin was grumpy from the morning.

She has been copying incident reports from here and there.

“It must have been hard to get the incident report that was stuck in the police station warehouse, but you did a good job.”

“It’s too much. Does it make sense that most cases are not prosecuted due to insufficient evidence?”

“That’s the case with insurance fraud. It seems like it’s a case of suspicion, but it’s also true that there’s a lack of evidence. It was even worse in the 90s.”

Born in 1969.

Now, Ms. Um Ja-hyeon, who is exactly 40 years old, has turned countless murders and injuries into money.

“It can’t be helped that the statute of limitations has expired, but we are indicting her as a prime suspect in the Donghae murder case.”

“All right.”

I said, throwing the incident report that Hyejin had found on the table.

“Get an arrest warrant for Mr. Eom Ja-hyeon and apply for a search and seizure warrant at the same time. We’re going to attack now!”

Everyone in the office shouted.

“Understood, Inspector!”

Okay. Shall we try it? Serial insurance killer Um Ja-hyun rabbit hunt!