Chapter 180
Chapter 180
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 180
Chapter Title: Team Dinner and Morning Routines
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The dinner with Kang Hyun, Seong Tae-o, and Choi Tae-ri came together surprisingly quickly.
If it had been a company dinner proposed by a boss, it would typically be a dull affair of downing shots of soju while droning on about work-related stories.
But the dinner Kang Hyun suggested felt a bit different.
A quiet, upscale Italian restaurant with dim yet luxurious lighting over each table.
There, Senior Investigator Seong Tae-o and Clerk Choi Tae-ri pored over the menu with furrowed brows before finally speaking up to the server.
"Um... I'll have the endive puttanesca spaghetti?"
"I'll have the white ragu truffle tagliatelle."
"Got it. And how about some scallop carpaccio and beef tartare? Wine as well?"
"Sure."
"I've never tried it before..."
"Then pair it with your recommended wine. Thank you."
Kang Hyun handed the menu to the server and turned to them with a pleased expression.
"Just in case there's anything you don't eat, I hope I didn't order arbitrarily..."
"No, no!"
"This is great. I've never been to a place like this..."
"Good to hear. I've tagged along a few times since Prosecutor Hwang Jae-eun and Prosecutor Kim Si-hwan love pasta."
Hearing Kang Hyun's words, Seong Tae-o and Choi Tae-ri exchanged glances and shared a silent signal.
'Something feels off.'
'Is it okay to eat stuff like this?'
Their bewilderment at the unfamiliar situation lasted only a moment—until the food arrived.
"Whoa, this is insane."
"I-I'm trying something like this for the first time."
As their eyes widened at the exquisitely plated dishes, Kang Hyun gave them a slight smile.
"It's on me. Enjoy."
"Yes!"
"Thank you!"
In a quiet upscale restaurant tucked away in a corner of the city, the three began devouring the gourmet cuisine with gusto.
Slurp, slurp.
What was a company dinner anyway? Eat good food, chat a bit about each other, then go home.
"Wow, this is delicious too."
"It's so good, I'm losing my mind..."
Choi Tae-ri and Seong Tae-o ate heartily, tossing in comments now and then.
A bite, then an exclamation.
A bite, then a sip of wine.
Even better, Kang Hyun didn't bring up work even once.
No talk of what judges were up to, recent legal system changes, prosecutors, investigators, clerks, or anything of the sort.
Not a single topic that someone working at the Prosecutor's Office might expect.
Kang Hyun was their team's prosecutor—their boss—yet he steered clear.
Instead, he mostly talked about things like this.
"I want to treat my mom to a nice meal—any recommendations?"
Family talk.
"One of my friends has a seafood allergy. Any foods you can't eat?"
Friend talk.
Or,
"...It's supposed to rain tomorrow."
Weather talk.
Utterly mundane, everyday stuff. Otherwise, they focused intently on the meal, savoring every bite.
After about an hour of wielding forks and knives diligently, the dinner wrapped up.
"See you tomorrow. Good work."
"Ah... Good work? We ate so well, Prosecutor!"
"Is it really okay to just leave like this...?"
Seong Tae-o still seemed dazed.
"Yeah, I don't have a car, so I need to catch the bus. If I don't go now, I'll have to wait thirty minutes."
"Ah... Yes!"
"I hope we get to know each other better going forward. Thanks for making time."
Bow.
At Kang Hyun's polite and courteous bow, Seong Tae-o and Choi Tae-ri flailed their hands awkwardly, flustered.
"Oh, no need. Looking forward to working with you, Prosecutor."
"W-We’ll work hard!"
They just watched from afar as Kang Hyun hurried out.
The Prosecutor's Office.
An organization infamous for company dinners where they stacked shot glasses into pyramids while eating and drinking.
For such a place's gathering to turn into an Italian restaurant dinner.
It was a bit disorienting, but nice.
They could focus on enjoying the extravagant food without pressure, no burdensome topics came up, and they saw Kang Hyun wasn't a bad guy.
In short, it was a great dinner—one they could have every day.
"Uh..."
"Um..."
Left alone in front of the restaurant, the two stood awkwardly, avoiding each other's eyes for a moment.
Then, almost simultaneously, they spoke up with sheepish expressions.
"...Since things turned out like this, let's do good work even if we bicker."
"Yeah... Let's just both work hard and help each other."
They shook hands—a brief clasp before letting go—but in this situation, it was huge progress.
The two notorious for bad blood had naturally called a truce.
A major breakthrough.
A few days later, in the morning.
The revival of Prosecutor Kang Hyun's Room 323 began.
First, Kang Hyun made what could be seen as a fairly bold proposal to Senior Investigator Seong Tae-o.
"Did you do judo, Investigator?"
"Well, I did a bit back in the day."
"Then you're good at teaching it too?"
"Huh? Oh, I've taught some kids before. Why?"
"How about a talent swap?"
"Huh? I've heard of talent donations, but..."
Seong Tae-o looked a bit baffled when Kang Hyun casually brought it up right after a prosecutors' meeting.
But he understood the intent at Kang Hyun's next words and nodded slightly.
"I'll teach you the basics of handling criminal case records. In exchange, teach me judo."
"Is that... okay?"
"Of course. I've got decent athleticism. There's a martial arts training room on the top floor of the office building. How about an hour in the mornings?"
"Ah. I'm fine teaching, but... I don't have much experience with criminal cases, so learning might be..."
He mumbled uncertainly.
"I'll teach you for an hour after work. Nice and easy."
He'd only handled arrests without building proper investigation experience, but Seong Tae-o was a veteran staffer.
If he lacked skill and confidence in case handling, it was probably because he'd never learned or tried to.
So, wasn't it a matter of will?
'If he takes responsibility, he'll work hard.'
If he was someone's teacher, he'd have to be a diligent student too.
That was how Kang Hyun came up with the 'talent swap.'
Learn exercise from Seong Tae-o while teaching him work skills.
This preserved his pride, built confidence, and eliminated any thoughts of giving up.
"Hmm..."
Seong Tae-o pondered briefly, then nodded firmly, accepting.
"Alright. I'll teach you with all I've got."
"Then I'll learn hard and teach well too."
"Ha, but I'm kind of a blockhead."
"It's fine. It's just a little help in exchange for judo lessons. But... do we need judo uniforms?"
And so began the daily routine at the Prosecutor's Office.
Six-thirty in the morning.
An early hour when barely anyone was in the building.
Thud! Crash!
"Huff, huff, haa, haa!"
"Stamina is national strength! Just a bit more!"
"Haa, haa!"
Seong Tae-o started with basics and taught Kang Hyun earnestly as they worked out together.
It turned out he'd been coming in early every morning for his own workouts, so Kang Hyun naturally joined.
"You're pretty fit!"
"Haa, haa, thank you!"
Kang Hyun started at about two-thirds the intensity of Seong Tae-o's usual basic stamina routine.
It was interval training—short bursts repeated multiple times—so not easy.
Kang Hyun, out of practice, found it tough.
"Haa, haa."
But with his history of steady tennis, running, and other sports, plus his gritty determination to push through, he completed every set impressively.
"Good work!"
"Whew!"
Thud! Kang Hyun collapsed spread-eagled in the middle of the training room, while Seong Tae-o chuckled warmly, looking pleased.
In a way, Seong Tae-o was older than rookie prosecutors and had more years at the office.
Yet as an investigator under their command, he might harbor some resentment.
The gap between prosecutors and regular investigators was common, so they rarely mixed personally.
Watching Kang Hyun sprawled and panting, Seong Tae-o realized he was smiling contentedly and tilted his head, feeling odd.
"Not bad..."
"Haa, haa, thank you..."
"I mean, hanging out like this with the prosecutor."
"Haa, haa... Pardon?"
"I wanted to learn the job too. But I was too embarrassed."
Seong Tae-o seemed to have an epiphany.
That evening, in the office.
Seong Tae-o dove into the work lessons from Kang Hyun.
"Yes. Like this, the document copies are ready. We keep one here. Usually goes to the case handler—here, the case division. The rest to court."
"Got it."
Kang Hyun and Seong Tae-o's evening study was straightforward.
Overview of case processing procedures, handover forms for criminal cases.
But weighted differently—deep dives where he was strong, slow steps where he wasn't.
"Any parts unclear?"
"None."
"Then let's wrap up here. Good work."
"Thank you, Prosecutor!"
Nod.
A small mutual understanding formed between Kang Hyun and Seong Tae-o.
It was empathy for 'potential.'
'Good. Keep it up like this.'
It might be bumpy at first, slow to apply.
But Kang Hyun knew the power of learning well, so he was confident Seong Tae-o's skills would rise steadily.
Next, Kang Hyun targeted Choi Tae-ri, naturally.
She actually needed less hand-holding than Seong Tae-o.
She objectively handled tasks better.
Watching quietly, the rumors of her sloppiness didn't hold up.
"Clerk, what are you up to?"
"Oh... Crime ledger. Checking for omissions."
Choi Tae-ri diligently reviewed the number-heavy data on her computer.
Five times over.
Kang Hyun watched her tapping away in oversized blue-light glasses, matching figures, then spoke.
"You're thorough."
"...Huh?"
"Yes?"
"Oh, were you talking to me?"
At the unfamiliar praise, Choi Tae-ri looked up with a weird squeak, flustered. Kang Hyun smiled.
"Everyone makes mistakes sometimes. Don't fear mismatched stats or missing docs too much. And ultimately, I'm the approver, so no worries."
Anyone errs; what's key is how they improve.
Self-blame or fear leads to repeats and saps fix-it energy.
Kang Hyun knew this, shifting from demanding impossible 'perfect 100%' to enabling 'solid 90%.'
"So, Clerk, don't worry—just go all out. I'll handle it."
"Whoa... Pro-Prosecutor."
Touched by the sweet words.
"T-Then, back to it!"
Gulp.
She clenched her fist as if resolving herself, then dove into reviewing data with fiery passion.
She couldn't send error-ridden work to someone like that.
Couldn't show passivity to him.
That seemed to be her thinking.
'They're not as problematic as thought.'
Kang Hyun smiled inwardly.
His assigned staff were the office's problem children, per investigators. The first day meeting had been honestly bewildering.
'People need experiencing.'
They just had minor flaws plus stigma.
Not fundamentally bad—quite capable, even.
An office run by such talent.
'A bit more, and it'll stabilize.'
The promised month had passed; office and case situations dragged.
The branch chief lurked like a shadow; Criminal Division 1 Chief focused solely on cases.
Cases don't always go smoothly, so whatever.
With two new staff.
If he could delegate somewhat, he'd free up for full KW case focus—a solid foundation.
'Yeah, time to test them.'
Perfect cases to try them on always came.
Ears tuned to the TV news in the corner as he watched them.
"Used goods trading scams are growing more sophisticated lately, with victim losses rising daily. However, systems to protect victims remain inadequate, critics say..."