The Ultimate Inspector, Kang Ji-hyeok - Chapter 93



Only Noblemtl

The air in the interrogation room is cold.

It is as much as the eyes of those who enter here.

I put the materials in front of them, take out my laptop, check them, and ask them questions one by one.

Suspect Um Ja-hyeon denied every unfavorable question.

“Ms. Eom Ja-hyeon, are you saying that there is no such thing at all?”

“You don’t know since you’re young. Do you know what it’s like to raise a child?”

“What is it?”

“You’re saying you’re going to kill the child you created with your own flesh and blood? How cruel!”

“But why did you do that?”

At that moment, Um Ja-hyeon stopped talking.

I continued asking questions nonchalantly.

“Ms. Eom Ja-hyeon, you worked at a nursing home 20 years ago, right? As an assistant.”

“What does that matter? I worked in a factory when I was young because they offered me a lot of money, and then I went there.”

“What did you do at that time?”

“I used to give the elderly ringers and run errands for the nurses. I think they called them nurses back then.”

“I see. You worked there for about a year, but that nursing home… what was its name?”

“Cheonsu Nursing Hospital.”

“That’s right. Cheonsu Nursing Hospital. It was a long time ago, but you remember it well. I looked into it and it went out of business 10 years ago.”

“What does that have to do with me!”

“After checking, we found that some of the elderly people who went in there had died quite strangely, and a whistleblower came forward. So the hospital director closed down, and during the investigation, he committed suicide, and the case was closed. Did you know that?”

She closed her mouth again.

Criminals tend to keep quiet when the situation is disadvantageous to them. In such cases, it is important to provide accurate information.

“There have been incidents where elderly people were injected with drugs little by little, leading to their death.”

“What does that hospital have to do with me?”

“Of course, it wouldn’t have had anything to do with Ms. Eom Ja-hyeon five years ago. Looking at the murder method, there was also the case of injecting alcohol into the ringer to make her drunk and then killing her······.”

“What does that have to do with anything!”

I quietly looked at Eom Ja-hyeon, who was raising her eyebrows.

“I understand that what happens at the hospital has nothing to do with you······. Then how about this?”

I took out some documents from an old police station.

“A long time ago, Ms. Eom Ja-hyeon was fined 1.2 million won for violating the Medical Act by selling Ringer drops in the neighborhood.”

Um Ja-hyeon’s eyes shook.

It was a face that asked how he knew that.

“It was given to an old man who had a hard time going to the hospital in a small rural village. An old man who was tired from working in the fields.”

“Well, it was a good idea to put the ringer in. Do you remember Mr. Heo Chun who used to live in that neighborhood?”

“Heochun? Who is that?”

“You don’t remember. He was a local leader who owned a lot of land, but he suddenly said he would find his lost brother. He said he would use all his money to find his brother in the North. After that, the healthy man suddenly became ill for a few days and died. He looked like he had been taking some kind of poison.”

I interrupted and took a sip of the coffee in front of me. After a brief pause, I continued my story.

“As soon as the police investigation began, he was cremated the next day. So, this case was swept under the rug. Don’t you know that all of his assets were transferred to his son, Heo Chang-jin, who was in his 30s at the time? Everyone in the neighborhood remembers······.”

I took out a photo of Heo Chun and his son Heo Chang-jin and showed it to her.

It was a case record that Hyejin had found by going down to the countryside.

We found a case report that had been left abandoned in a rural police station for a long time.

“This is a photo that our investigator found when he went down to that neighborhood. He came to the photo studio before it closed. Don’t you remember?”

The eyes of Um Ja-hyeon, who had been answering point by point, shook violently. She finally drank the water placed in front of her.

“I don’t know···”

“Hey. You can’t say you don’t know. From now on, we’ll skip using honorifics with suspects due to time constraints.”

Bam.

I threw a black and white photo in front of her.

It was a common wedding photo in black and white.

There, Heo Chang-jin, in his 30s, and Eom Ja-hyeon, in her 20s, were smiling awkwardly.

“There’s no way he wouldn’t remember. It was your first marriage, Ms. Um Ja-hyeon.”

“I don’t remember. It’s been so long······.”

“And then, you got divorced a year later, moved to Cheongju, and bought a house. Don’t you remember that?”

Bam.

He threw another photo in front of Um Ja-hyeon and spoke coldly.

“Mr. Eom Ja-hyeon. I don’t want to know how you became a demon who could even kill your own child······.”

When Eom Ja-hyeon saw the photo, her face turned pale.

“That photo was taken secretly by the photographer who was Mr. Heo Chun’s friend at the time, before he was arrested. He said he was planning to submit it as evidence when the time came to punish you. Thankfully, we were able to obtain this photo.”

Beep.

A recorded voice flowed out.

– I got a call from Mr. Park, who was in the neighborhood. He said that Mr. Heo’s body strangely smelled like peach blossoms. I thought it was strange. So I went to take pictures, and there were bright red spots all over his body… and his fingernails were blue-green. Mr. Park said that blue-green fingernails usually mean that someone died after taking medicine.

The photos he threw at her were of her with scarlet spots all over her body and her fingernails turning blue.

“If you mix cyanide in water and slowly inject it into the ringer over several days, the person will die little by little.”

bang.

I banged the table and spoke calmly to Um Ja-hyeon.

“There are three characteristics of cyanide. One is the bright red stain on the corpse, and the other is that the fingernails turn blue. But you know. Only 30% of the world’s people can smell the peach blossoms from a corpse. Fortunately, the deceased Mr. Heo Chun was able to report his death because Mr. Yeom Ha-Park was one of the 30% who could smell it.”

It used to be a common thing in the countryside.

A daughter-in-law who kills her father-in-law by mixing cyanide in her drink, or a son of a bitch who kills for the land.

She learned firsthand how easily it can be covered up when family kills family.

“The incident where you conspired with Heo Chang-jin to kill Heo Chun ended without any incident. That’s why you might have become a devil. It was easier than you thought to kill someone and not get caught. And you probably first learned that death can be profitable.”

“It happened 20 years ago. I don’t remember either, but isn’t it legally over? Hehe. The prosecutor did a lot of investigating, so what can I do if I regret it?”

“I’m sorry, but I asked because I was curious.”

“Yes. I killed him. I needed the money at the time. But Chang-jin came to me saying that his father had a backache and needed a Ringer injection.”

“So that’s why you put cyanide in the ringer.”

“It wasn’t difficult. It was very easy for me. Mr. Inspector. Let’s stop talking about this. It happened so long ago that I can’t be punished by the law anymore, right?”

Sigh.

“Are you talking about the statute of limitations expiring?”

“Yeah. That case is one that has expired. What if I did it?”

I clapped my hands and said to her.

“There’s nothing we can do about it legally. You won, Um Ja-hyeon. Congratulations······.”

I picked up my cell phone and made a call.

“Yes. This is Kang Ji-hyeok.”

-Who is the author who killed my brother?

“This is Eom Ja-hyeon.”

– I see.

“He confessed. He said he killed her by putting cyanide in her ringer. This is not something that can be resolved by law. The statute of limitations has passed.”

By 2015, the statute of limitations on murder cases in South Korea will no longer expire.

But unfortunately, at this point, there is a statute of limitations.

Of course, there is still the advantage of the death penalty being possible.

I met eyes with Um Ja-hyeon, who was looking at me with a blank expression.

I said with a smile.

“I didn’t tell you earlier, but Mr. Heo Chun has a real older brother. He was in North Korea at the time, but he came over to China and worked hard.”

“To your father-in-law… brother? You have a brother you’ve been hiding?”

“He said he was looking for his long-lost brother, and when he came to Korea, he found out that his brother had already died and had been grieving for several years. Should I transfer the call? He’s currently running a huge organization in China… Can we get a joint statement between these bad guys?”

Um Ja-hyeon shook her head with a frightened face.

“At least say hello. But he’s my father-in-law’s brother from his first marriage······.”

An angry voice came over the phone.

– Kang Ji-hyeok. Are you sure you can get that woman sentenced to death?

He was the head of the Northeast region of China’s largest black society, which I got to know thanks to a friend who used to exchange money in Myeongdong.

While investigating this case, I discovered the name of the victim, Heo Chun, and my memory kicked in, bringing up the relationship with the top leader of the Northeast region of the underworld that I knew from my days as a detective.

“I am confident.”

– That’s too bad. If I couldn’t get the death penalty, I was going to do whatever it took to chop that bitch up into pieces and scatter the pieces on my brother’s grave.

“You can do that, but as promised, you must not kill Eom Ja-hyeon. Even though he is a criminal, he is a citizen of the Republic of Korea.”

– Didn’t you say that it can’t be handled under Korean law because the statute of limitations has expired?

“But you can’t kill them.”

– I won’t kill you as promised. Moreover, the prosecutors of the Republic of Korea know about it… and it’s Kang Ji-hyeok. I will never kill you. I promise in the name of the underworld.

“Even if it is a dark society, we will not tolerate it if it kills our people.”

– I know you well, Inspector Kang Ji-hyeok. I’m watching what happens if you get caught. You’ve already destroyed two Chinese organizations. We have no intention of clashing with Kang Ji-hyeok.

“Let’s not bump into each other. Ever.”

So I hung up the phone.

“Well, that’s the situation, Mr. Eom Ja-hyeon.”

Um Ja-hyeon was so terrified that further questioning was impossible.

“Don’t worry, just go back to the detention center and wait. I’ll summon you again soon.”

The investigator came in and took the terrified Um Ja-hyeon out.

“Save me. Take me to the detention center quickly. I beg you to spare my life.”

Um Ja-hyeon was so scared that she turned around and made a strange sound.

* * *

The investigation continued.

“A hair, believed to belong to the victim, was found in a car parked at the villa.”

“CCTV footage shows the same car moving along the same route that night.”

The whiteboard was filled with evidence discovered by two investigators.

Hyuna said with a worried face.

“Should I buy another whiteboard?”

“That sounds good.”

“And the trial date has been set. It’s in two weeks.”

“okay.”

“Prosecutor Kang Ji-hyeok’s trials always seem to be held quickly.”

“I like my bag.”

“Well, from the Chief Prosecutor to the Prosecutor General, you have to kill at least one person.”

I looked at her and smiled faintly.

“I’ll organize the data well and start working all night from now on.”

“Understood, Inspector.”

I started to examine the evidence related to the case. I put all the evidence into my head by memory.

The picture began to take shape.

My insight was to reconstruct the events based on the evidence.

“It only takes a moment for an ordinary person to become a demon. If only someone had taken a closer look during that time, it wouldn’t have come to this.”

Two weeks passed as quickly as flower petals fell to the ground.

[Did Prosecutor Jin-soo Park of the Western District Prosecutors’ Office cover up his wife’s crime?]

[Is it right for the prosecutor not to indict?]

[If it involves family, is it possible for the prosecutor to indict alone?]

As the fact that Prosecutor Park Jin-soo is the husband of suspect Eom Ja-hyeon was revealed, articles accusing the prosecution were also plentiful.

– Is it true that Kang Ji-hyeok and Park Jin-su blocked her indictment?

“It’s true.”

– Are you thinking of cutting it out?

“A wound that festeres will never turn into flesh. Eventually, the festering wound will cause the surrounding area to be cut off.”

President Choi Hye-seong thought for a moment and then spoke firmly.

– Just cut out the swollen area. Kang Ji-hyeok. Please do a great surgery.

“I told you, the sword I wield is only aimed at evil.”

* * *

[Today, the trial of the Um Ja-hyeon insurance fraud murder case is held!]

[Where will the sword of Prosecutor Kang Ji-hyeok, who is said to be a cruel mother who killed her child for insurance money, go?]

Squeak.

I opened the door to the courtroom and entered.

“Why is this courtroom door so big and heavy? Since I’ve used all my strength, do I have to win and get out?”