Chapter 151
Chapter 151
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 151
Chapter Title: Hazing in Room 323
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Thud! Kang Hyun stopped hesitating and slowly slung his spear on his back before sitting down in the crudely prepared spot.
"Urgh..."
The rickety old desk sitting alone in the empty room naturally had no computer, no phone. Not even a calendar, a notepad, or a single writing implement. There wasn't a single thing prepared for doing any work—in fact, it was a total mess. 'Is something wrong?' At first, the thought that something had gone wrong flashed through his mind, but he knew it couldn't be a simple systemic oversight or someone's mistake that left him dumped in a room like this. It was a blatant sign that they weren't exactly welcoming him with open arms. He could speculate it stemmed from conflicting interests, but even giving them the benefit of the doubt, it was no less than an intentional omission. 'Even when I was a student worker at the Central District Prosecutors' Office, they at least gave me tasks and event schedules.' Kang Hyun smacked his lips with a wry tch, unable to recall a time when things had ever felt this absurd, even dredging up his old experiences. Tick, tock. Tick, tock. Fortunately, there was a clock on the wall, so Kang Hyun glanced up to check the time. Eleven a.m. Not that he'd been hoping for anything in particular. Under normal circumstances, big or small, there'd at least be some kind of welcoming event by now, a glimpse of the branch chief's face, and word on the lunch schedule. That was procedure, after all—custom. But right now, incredibly, there was zero contact. Kang Hyun sat there awkwardly for a moment before comforting himself and stashing his bag in the cabinet.
"Yeah. No way they're giving a rookie prosecutor their own office."
Of course, rookie prosecutors typically worked under a senior like the chief or deputy chief as their supervising prosecutor, learning on the job in the senior's office. It was because they lacked experience in case judgments, making it impractical to assign them solo offices with equal caseloads. Yet they'd said they were assigning him his own office, only for it to turn out like this—utterly deflating. It was even worse this way. The department head might never show his face, but with not even a single senior in sight, he had no idea who his supervising prosecutor was or how things worked around here.
"Whew. Guess that's how today's gonna go."
He figured he'd spend the day alone. But then. Knock knock. Whoosh! A burly man with a baby face and short hair burst in and gave him a quick bow.
"Hello, Prosecutor! I'm Assistant Manager Lee from the Case Division!"
"Ah, yes. Hello. What brings you here...?"
"Aw, no need to be so formal."
Whether he was genuinely friendly or just putting on an act, the man who seemed to be from the admin office came in grinning ear to ear. His inscrutable demeanor suggested he'd been wheeling around a cart piled high with records. The boisterous man ignored Kang Hyun's words, stacking bundles of case files tied with iron wire in the corner of the desk. Rumble rumble. "...What's this?"
"Case assignments. No space elsewhere, so leaving 'em here!"
"Cases?"
"Yup!"
"...Why?"
"Why? Come on."
Lee tilted his head as if baffled by the question, then read from the papers in his hand.
"Room 323, Criminal Division 2 Prosecutor Kang Hyun. That's you, right?"
"Ah..."
"Have a great day!" Slam! The man came and went like a storm. Case files piled up to forehead height in an instant. A chill ran down Kang Hyun's spine, and he scowled. 'This vibe.' In the end, he had no choice but to judge the situation like this. 'These bastards are hazing me.' Yep. Textbook hazing. Whether from the department head or the vice head. He didn't know who was behind it, but it was blatant hazing. 'Eesh.' Dumping the cases meant "handle it yourself."
Giving him a solo office meant "we're not telling you squat."
Swept up in a hollow feeling, Kang Hyun forced himself to pick up his phone. He had messages from a few people, including a missed call from his mother. The one that stood out most was from Kim Jeong-min. -You make it okay? He was currently the head of Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 3, the last of the three under Central District Prosecutors' Office's 4th Vice Head. As the youngest department head, he was swamped in a relentlessly busy unit. Of course, there was even less to say about Kim Jeong-min's meteoric rise. Just the fact that his first posting after promotion was Central District spoke volumes. It showed he'd been recognized for his talents, but also proved the immense influence and favoritism from Prosecutor General Jeong Jung-hun. 'If he'd known, he could've given me a heads-up.' It went without saying that Kim Jeong-min knew all about Kang Hyun's future. -Very well. To 'lounge' 323. After replying, Kang Hyun let out a small sigh. There were traces above the door inside of a nameplate that once read "Lounge," dangling loosely. However. The fact that Kim Jeong-min was pretending not to know about Kang Hyun's situation implied this was something "Kang Hyun had to endure on his own."
If Jeong Jung-hun sending him to Namyangju had been an outrageous punishment, Kim Jeong-min would've stepped up to protect him. Finishing his thoughts, Kang Hyun skimmed through the records. At any rate, he wasn't totally alone. 'Alright. Since it's come to this.' For a moment, his eyes sparkled. He even felt a bit fired up. Scrape. He stood briefly, rolled his shoulders, cracked his knuckles, and stretched. Then he grabbed his bag from the cabinet, pulled out a pen, and neatly placed the new name stamp his seniors—including Kim Jeong-min—had gotten him on the desk. 'It's the first day, but let's give it a shot.' First day on the job, first day at the posting. In this bewildering situation, Kang Hyun's decision was one no one else could make. With an intrigued smile, he eyed the stacked case files. He was about to tackle this in a truly astonishing, out-of-the-box way.
Just as a district prosecutors' office consisted of prosecutors' offices and the admin bureau, the Namyangju Branch Prosecutors' Office was made up of the Criminal Division and the admin office.
Branch Chief Gu Ik-hwan, with Criminal 1 and 2 directly under him.
Criminal Division 1's office was perpetually ablaze, tied up in high-profile cases that kept the media buzzing.
Criminal Division 2 handled all the "miscellaneous cases," but it still wasn't nearly enough to ease the workload.
The root cause lay elsewhere.
At any rate, in the ultra-emergency Criminal 1 Head's office.
A familiar face lounged in the Criminal 1 Head's office, legs crossed on the desk, eyes quietly closed.
It was none other than Head Prosecutor Park Min-seong.
A few years back, he'd crossed paths with Kang Hyun on a massive drug case that blew up big.
Using that as a springboard, he'd risen swiftly to his current position, and when the "Namyangju construction site collapse" happened, he'd volunteered to leave Seoul for the provinces.
It was an unusual move for a typical prosecutor.
But given his personality of ignoring connections or factions and jumping at any case that came his way, no one in the office found it odd.
There were rumors it was at "Jeong Jung-hun's" behest, but that was just gossip.
Only Park Min-seong himself knew the truth.
Early dawn.
Knock knock. "Prosecutor Hwang Jae-eun here."
"Don't come in."
A woman's voice sounded, and despite Park Min-seong's curt, no-nonsense reply, the female prosecutor flung the door open. Her hair was tied back haphazardly in a plain black ponytail, as if she'd been holed up in the office for days.
"Rejected again?"
"Yeah."
She seemed unflappable no matter what, but his answer made her narrow eyes widen in clear irritation.
"...I'll stand by."
"Sigh."
Park Min-seong wasn't oblivious to her anger. Forget warrants—even summoning key witnesses was hitting snags left and right. The few references they'd managed to call in kept giving identical statements, making the case a total headache, no doubt. And the branch chief's repeated rejections. It was blatant evidence of Gu Ik-hwan's intentions. The prime example among the many infuriating things. Five prosecutors' offices on the case, headed by the formidable Park Min-seong, yet. They couldn't override the branch chief.
"What's standing by? It's a strike at this point—go home and rest."
"We don't know when the branch chief might change his orders."
"Then do whatever."
"Senior."
Park Min-seong closed his eyes again. He knew full well that Hwang Jae-eun and the rest of Division 1 hadn't been home in days, and it was stifling. Not because of evidence or investigations, but something else.
"We can't even determine shoddy workmanship, let alone pin responsibility on the parties involved. What the hell is the branch chief thinking?"
"He's fighting hard, what else?"
"Against who?"
"That's not our business. Anyway."
Park Min-seong's expression shifted subtly.
"The maknae?"
He was changing the subject, but Hwang Jae-eun was still struggling to suppress her displeasure.
"Kang Hyun? That's not our business either. Locking him up solo was the 2nd Division Head's doing."
"Sigh."
What could he say? He had plenty of gripes about that too.
"He's holed up in his room. First day yesterday, and word is he didn't even eat."
No welcoming event was one thing. But per the branch chief's orders, they'd dragged Kang Hyun into Criminal 2 without consulting anyone, and hadn't even set up a proper space. A rookie, given an empty room stuffed with dozens of cases. If the assignments were balanced by difficulty, he might snap out of it, but they obviously weren't. Yet in the end, Kang Hyun had been pulled into Division 2. For the head of 1 to make a move, he'd need to wrap up a big case first to have the leeway to defy orders.
"...Slippery weasels."
Park Min-seong muttered just loud enough for Hwang Jae-eun to barely hear. For a guy who cared about nothing but the case in front of him to say that. It showed just how twisted things were.
"What about 2nd Division's deputy heads?"
"No special instructions."
"Their chief?"
"Same, nothing special."
"You're sure you're up to date on 2nd Division news?"
"Yes."
"Alright. Go."
"If you hear anything special from the branch chief, let me know. I'll head out."
"Uh, hey, Hwang."
Park Min-seong suddenly grabbed the departing Hwang Jae-eun, who turned back hesitantly, puzzled.
"Did you call me, senior?"
"...Uh, yeah."
Hesitant, hesitant.
"...?"
"Look! You're his school junior too. Bring him some candy or something."
"Pardon? Senior."
For her, it was a dynamically shocked expression. Park Min-seong's words were just that bizarre.
"You're telling me to look after our junior right now?"
"Aw, forget it. Go on."
"...I'll head out."
Seeing her genuinely stunned face made Park Min-seong a bit sheepish; he shooed her away with a wave of his arm. Whoosh. Slam. "...Sigh." Scrape. Legs back on the desk, eyes closed again. Park Min-seong's mind swirled with all sorts of complications. And one of them was the Kang Hyun issue—which even he found a bit surprising to care about.