Chapter 167
Chapter 167
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 167
Chapter Title: Not on the Same Line
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"Next."
Flip!
Kang Hyun quickly turned past the report on Park Min-seong he was holding, along with the personnel summary cards for the two people who would be joining from Room 323, and focused on the next item.
"Your vacation is one month. Normally, you'd return to Division 2 after that."
"I understand."
"But instead of going back to Division 2, join the KW Construction investigation. Before that, wrap up the no-arrest investigations on those fourteen subcontractors, so for the next month, just help organize the evidence, then investigate freely afterward. You're on free rein."
"Yes? But..."
"No buts. By then, I'll be acting branch chief with signing authority."
This was beyond exceptional—it was shocking.
'He says... not to go back? Acting branch chief?'
Park Min-seong had said it casually, but the implications were profoundly shocking.
Even if Park Min-seong's team shifted direction and swept through the subcontractors, the evidence against Branch Chief Gu Ik-hwan and the 'branch chief line' attempting to quash the investigation was still just circumstantial.
Pushing forward with the search and seizure at KW headquarters as momentum would mean the fragile coexistence between Criminal Division 1 and the branch chief was already over—a risky, unrealistic guess.
Yet Park Min-seong was treating it as nearly a foregone conclusion.
In other words, he knew pursuing KW meant "baring hidden fangs at the branch chief" and "staging a rebellion against him," and he'd done it anyway.
Now, as the investigation progressed, he was openly drawing his dagger.
"You're saying Branch Chief Gu Ik-hwan will be suspended in a month?"
Nod.
"Did you plan all of this?"
"There were constant obstacles, but yes, I've been thinking about it for a while. Things went according to plan after your exploits."
"By any chance... is there something you want to tell me about the branch chief situation?"
Kang Hyun asked in a low voice, more seriously than ever, but Park Min-seong remained silent on this point.
He had no intention of giving any more hints or clues.
With no response forthcoming, the conversation was wrapping up.
But Kang Hyun wanted—no, needed—to know more.
'No choice. Even if it exposes me, I have to ask.'
This was the moment he had to pose the decisive question to Park Min-seong.
"Whose orders are you here on? In this Namyangju."
...
A loaded question.
"By any chance, are you here on Prosecutor General Jeong Jung-hun's orders?"
Gu Ik-hwan's enemy?
That would make him Jeong Jung-hun's ally.
In this prosecutorial world where no one could be trusted.
A cautious moment, hoping this binary judgment wasn't wrong.
Kang Hyun had asked with his whole heart whether he could truly trust Park Min-seong.
A brief, tense silence passed, and then he spoke.
"I see what your question implies."
"Then tell me."
Park Min-seong's expression grew enigmatic.
"Coincidentally..."
...
"I'm not on your line."
His answer seemed to precisely grasp the inner intent behind Kang Hyun's question.
...!
Kang Hyun waited for his explanation.
"The Prosecutor General..."
Kang Hyun immediately caught who "Prosecutor General" meant.
It was none other than Jeong Jung-hun, Central District Prosecutors' Office Prosecutor General—the man wielding the greatest power in the prosecution aside from the Prosecutor Chief.
"He hopes you'll shine in a major case, return unscathed without a single blemish, trumpet victory, and enter Central as a hero. Like Jeong Min or Han Geom."
Jeong Min referred to Deputy Chief Prosecutor Kim Jeong-min, and Han Geom to Deputy Bureau Chief Han Tae-woong.
Park Min-seong had casually named two of the three law school grads being pushed by Jeong Jung-hun.
In any case, what he'd learned from this:
'Prosecutor General Jeong Jung-hun sent me to Namyangju to take out Gu Ik-hwan.'
With that, the puzzle pieces began falling into place.
Jeong Jung-hun's view of him, why seniors like Kim Jeong-min stood by without helping.
It was because they wanted him to shine on his own under everyone's eyes, ascending smoothly in the center without backlash.
Youngest head of division, youngest deputy bureau chief, youngest bureau chief, deputy chief...
Charging unimpeded to the top.
That's the path they wanted for him.
Park Min-seong's words seemed to align with theirs.
But then.
His next words delivered an even greater shock to Kang Hyun.
"However, we're the opposition."
...?
"Especially I hope you'll wrap it up moderately and return quietly."
Kang Hyun knew it for certain in that moment.
'Oh no.'
Park Min-seong belonged to a third faction, different from his own.
'Deputy Chief Prosecutor Park Min-seong is on the opposite side from Prosecutor General Jeong Jung-hun.'
He was no longer a lone wolf.
He was a top leader in a massive wolf pack.
Moreover.
He'd been dispatched to Namyangju on orders from a 'third power'—not Jeong Jung-hun—to eliminate Branch Chief Gu Ik-hwan. When the rising star Kang Hyun arrived, stirring a storm in this small Namyangju on Jeong Jung-hun's orders, he'd been constantly weighing whether to tie him down, use him, or join forces.
He was subtly revealing all this through these few words.
"But since it's come to this, why not go at it fair and square."
"Fair and square..."
"Whether you claim the big merit or I do. And whether we can take down the head of this branch office."
As he said it, standing and gazing steadily at Kang Hyun, Park Min-seong's expression was profoundly meaningful.
Kang Hyun internalized his realizations, imprinting them in his mind as he met his gaze.
First, Park Min-seong was from a different faction than Jeong Jung-hun.
Second, even with a common enemy, Park Min-seong's faction and Jeong Jung-hun's competed relentlessly.
Third, thus, Park Min-seong had to 'compete' with Kang Hyun, for good or ill.
Like the warm spring sunlight filtering behind him, the final respite before war.
He was giving Kang Hyun just a glimpse into the inner workings of the prosecutorial world.
Nod.
Kang Hyun folded the materials Park Min-seong had given him—the intelligence report on Branch Chief Gu Ik-hwan—slightly and closed the approval pad.
"Thank you. I'll do my best."
"Good."
"But let me add one more thing."
...?
At Kang Hyun's words, Park Min-seong twitched an eyebrow and looked back at him.
"I'm not part of Prosecutor General Jeong Jung-hun's faction."
...
"I just ran hard because Branch Chief Gu Ik-hwan in front of me had criminal suspicions. Nothing more."
Among all his conversations with Park Min-seong so far, this was the clearest statement of his own thoughts.
He walked his path proudly and steadfastly, never bending his principles, never abandoning his chosen road even if an easy, well-paved one lay ahead.
That was Kang Hyun.
Before Park Min-seong, he could voice the resolute heart he'd held since stepping into the world of law.
...
Park Min-seong, who had worn an enigmatic expression at first, then a strange one, finally smiled faintly.
It wasn't a smirk of mockery, hostility, or pity.
Just a smile.
"Whether Prosecutor General Jeong Jung-hun likes me or not, whether Senior Kim Jeong-min is in his faction or not—that doesn't matter."
"Is that even possible?"
"It is."
"Junior, that's not for you to decide."
"I can't agree. I decide it. I've built my tower for that until now, and I'm still doing it."
"Look at this guy."
Smirk.
Their gazes lingered in each other's eyes for a while.
It felt like their sparking energies were transmitting to one another.
The grand opening step to navigate the brutal prosecutorial world.
Kang Hyun was pushing forward on his own convictions.
On the way home.
Kang Hyun was barely catching the bus back.
He'd thought joining Division 1 cases would give him breathing room, but Park Min-seong had dumped major work on him.
At this rate, he'd get home, shower, nap briefly, then head back to work—exhaustion seemed inevitable just thinking about it. Better to pull an all-nighter at the office.
'Still, I need to check on Mom.'
She'd been suffering from a cold lately, worrying him.
In this late hour with nowhere selling even porridge, he needed to at least see her face and ask if she was okay to ease his stuffy heart.
Then.
Vrooom!
"Damn it..."
Honk!
The furious driver started blaring the horn nonstop.
Honk honk!
Not just once or twice.
Kang Hyun was right behind the driver.
He craned his neck at the incessant honking to check the situation.
'The car ahead is acting weird.'
Something was off.
A sedan in front of the bus was swerving as it drove.
Slow speed, but crossing lanes repeatedly—dangerous as hell.
The bus driver was honking in anger too. Yet the sedan showed no sign of snapping out of it.
'What the...'
Then, suddenly.
"Huh?"
Time seemed to freeze for Kang Hyun.
An ominous sign.
It had been an utterly ordinary night, but this moment was flipping everything.
Screech-.
But such moments didn't come with warnings.
Screeech!
They happened in an instant.
"Huh? Huh! Why's that car..."
The driver's unfinished startled words.
"Huh, huh?"
"U, aaaaah!"
An explosive scream.
Vroooooom!
A mad engine roar slicing the night's silence.
The very sedan the bus driver had been warily honking at was suddenly surging forward wildly!
"Huh? Huh! Watch out...!"
"Aaah!"
Screeech!
Boom! Crash!
Kablooey!
Bang!
Like a scene from an action movie come to life.
Through the bus's left window, Kang Hyun watched a car flip and fly straight at them.
"Duck, duck your heads!"
Boom! Thud!
Kablooey! Whoosh!
The flying car smashed into the road, parts exploding like shotgun pellets everywhere.
Screeeeeeech!
Screech! Hiss.
The front car, which had sudden-accelerated and hit several vehicles ahead.
It spun wildly a few times before finally stopping, its front half demolished.
"Ugh, ugh..."
The bus had luckily avoided it, but the driver was still in shock, nearly losing his mind. The few passengers pounded on the doors to escape in panic.
Everyone was shell-shocked by the horrific accident right before their eyes.
"What do we do!"
"Help, save us!"
In just ten seconds, the intersection became a hellscape.
Clatter.
Chaos reigned: people fleeing their cars in terror, pedestrians frozen in horror or screaming as they scattered.
"Th-this..."
Before he knew it, Kang Hyun had instinctively rushed to the driver's seat.
"Open, open the doors."
Hiss!
Spotting the rear door handle, he yanked it hard and shook the dazed driver.
"Driver, driver! You okay?"
"Ughhh."
The driver could barely hold himself up. Kang Hyun hoisted him with all his strength and got him out.
But the real problem was elsewhere.
'Wh-what the hell...'
People poured out like a flood, leaving the bus empty.
Kang Hyun stood alone inside.
Outside, the intersection: thick black smoke rising from wrecked cars.
'Just now, clearly...'
Amid the crash, he'd seen that flipped car airborne.
Someone trapped upside down inside, unable to escape.
'I have to save that person!'