Chapter 76
Chapter 76
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Translator : M.N 1391
Chapter: 76
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The man who introduced himself as Detective Seo treated Kyung-wan with considerable courtesy.
“First of all, I’d like to thank you for elevating the nation’s prestige.”
Faced with such politeness, eyes and expression so calm it was impossible to read his true intentions, Kyung-wan shrugged.
“National prestige? You mean the prestige of broadcasting to the world that a National Assembly member commissioned a prosecutor’s murder?”
“Cough! I meant stopping terrorism, not that.”
Detective Seo covered his fluster with a dry cough as he replied.
Kyung-wan continued.
“National prestige, huh. Funny, isn’t it? The country didn’t contribute a single cent, I did all the work, yet it’s not my standing that rises, it’s the nation’s prestige.”
Kyung-wan recalled a famous meme floating around online and spoke. Wasn’t there something about it being not humanity’s victory, but one person’s victory? It definitely resonated.
Governments and the media love to climb aboard the fame of someone who succeeds globally without contributing a dime. If you really think about it, that’s shameless. At least give them a fancy certificate or something.
Detective Seo replied.
“Well, a nation is formed by its citizens coming together. That doesn’t mean your own standing didn’t rise, Mr. Kyung-wan. No matter what anyone says, you’re a hero who stopped a terrorist catastrophe.”
At Detective Seo’s words, Kyung-wan thought:
Oh! This guy’s pretty good at kissing ass, huh?
Sure, even if civil servant promotions are based on seniority, you still need achievements and someone up top pulling strings. In other words, you need the sense to walk the tightrope and a tongue slick enough to latch onto a sturdy lifeline that’ll inflate your accomplishments.
But Kyung-wan wasn’t the type to jump up happily just because someone buttered him up. Everything in this world is a transaction. If someone suddenly starts licking your ass, you should think about what they want from you.
So he fired off a series of deliberately provocative questions at Detective Seo.
“A hero? I’m just a criminal who disrupted the rule of law, right?”
At that cynical remark, Detective Seo’s expression changed immediately. His pupils wavered, and it looked like he swallowed a bit of dry saliva.
Was it because Kyung-wan’s attitude wasn’t changing as planned? Professionally, he had no choice but to sympathize with Kyung-wan’s words, yet he seemed to be suppressing any outward agreement to serve his purpose.
“The past is the past, isn’t it? We should look to the future.”
“That’s the kind of thing right-wing nationalists or traitors say, isn’t it? Something only becomes the past when it’s finished. If it’s not finished, it’s just something that started in the past and continues into the present. Look at me. I’ve still got over thirty years left on my sentence.”
The end of any conflict could only be called an ending when all parties involved acknowledged and agreed to it. A one-sided declaration of closure was nothing more than violence, either ‘I don’t care, shut up because it’s embarrassing,’ or ‘I’m stronger, so keep your mouth shut.’
Present-day humanity, and the present of any individual, doesn’t exist because the past ended, but because the past continued into it.
At Kyung-wan’s words, Detective Seo fell silent for a moment. Kyung-wan could guess what he was agonizing over: what kind of ass-kissing lines he could spew to soften Kyung-wan’s firmly set resolve like silken tofu and win his cooperation.
Kyung-wan broke the ice first.
“Just be honest. If something goes out, something comes back.”
“During the investigation into Death Reporter, we identified several suspects. But the evidence is too thin to proceed.”
“So you want me to help?”
“That’s correct.”
“And what do I get?”
“...”
At Kyung-wan’s question, Detective Seo shut his mouth. From the look of it, he hadn’t prepared any concrete compensation, he’d planned to just coax Kyung-wan with his silver tongue and put him to work.
But Kyung-wan didn’t blame him. If your superiors tell you to bark, you bark. Subordinates often have no choice but to say things they don’t mean to carry out orders. If you fail, you’re told to write a statement explaining why. It’s the same as front-line welfare workers suffering because of policies cooked up by desk-bound officials.
Ask why they don’t push back against such unfairness, and all you can say is that you’ve got to eat. People say civil servants have iron rice bowls, but at the bottom, you’re basically a public slave.
Watching Detective Seo struggle to squeeze out words, Kyung-wan clicked his tongue. He understood his predicament well enough, so he spoke plainly to end his suffering.
“My demand is this. The Kim Omin prosecutor death case, and the Wang Daehan Ponzi scam, those aren’t over yet, right?”
Detective Seo rolled his eyes, unable to grasp what Kyung-wan was getting at.
“Uh… the Kim Omin prosecutor case has been closed.”
Chairman Oh Taegwang had taken the fall for everything and was serving a life sentence. Among political thugs, he could be considered unlucky.
Kyung-wan asked,
“Then what about Yang Seungtae?”
“Th-that man…”
He’d been completely ousted from politics, but his influence hadn’t vanished entirely. At the very least, he was powerful enough to swallow four hundred billion through shell companies in the Wang Daehan Ponzi case without going to prison. After all, he was a former member of the prosecution mafia that monopolized indictment power! Of course! Naturally!
“Getting stabbed is one thing, but commissioning the murder of Prosecutor Kim Omin is another. Being stabbed isn’t a get-out-of-jail-free card, right? Legally speaking.”
“So what exactly is your demand?”
“It’s simple. Trust. Credit. I need to believe that this country’s system is just. That it maintains fairness even for a mere inmate.”
Kyung-wan prided himself on being broad-minded enough to do business for no more than cost, so long as trust was solid.
But Detective Seo’s expression darkened further.
“…That’s difficult.”
From his answer, it seemed the faction Yang Seungtae belonged to still held power. They’d once tried to stop Kyung-wan from being sent to the United States, only to get a harsh lesson from Uncle Sam, and yet they were still like this. Either incredibly tenacious, or deeply rooted.
Still, that situation was within Kyung-wan’s expectations. The greedier someone is, the more persistent they tend to be. Perhaps that’s the one virtue you can learn from such people.
Facing the gloomy Detective Seo, Kyung-wan stated his position firmly.
“Then I can’t help you.”
“Isn’t there any way?”
“There really isn’t.”
“…Haah…”
“If you go back like this, you’ll definitely get chewed out. Personally, I’m sorry about that. But you can’t approach a transaction emotionally.”
“Shouldn’t people show some compassion?”
“Compassion is best reserved for alms and donations.”
“Can’t you accept this proposal with that kind of heart?”
“It’s not like you or the person giving you orders are homeless, beggars, or orphaned kids in need of support, right?”
“...”
Even after confirming the deal had fallen through, Detective Seo couldn’t bring himself to stand up. Thinking about how he’d get chewed out drained the strength right out of him.
Kyung-wan decided to toss him a small bit of hope to help him rise.
“That doesn’t mean I won’t help at all.”
“...”
At Kyung-wan’s words, Detective Seo looked at him with a bewildered glare full of unspoken curses. Then what had all that talk been for?
“Just wait. The United States will take care of it.”
“The United States?”
Detective Seo’s eyes widened. Why was the United States suddenly coming up?
“The U.S. agreed to cooperate with Korea on the investigation.”
“Why?”
“They’ll tell you.”
Detective Seo’s mind spun, but his imagination didn’t reach the possibility that an organization called Vigilance had already surfaced in the United States first.
“This is pretty high-level intel. It should be enough for you to save face when you go back.”
Detective Seo’s expression as he looked at Kyung-wan was truly complex.
Kyung-wan smirked.
“Feels weird, right? Like I’m giving you a disease and then the cure.”
“Hah. Hah.”
Detective Seo laughed, but the smile wasn’t natural.
With a smile, Kyung-wan added,
“I’ve got a detective friend myself, you see.”
“Ah… um…”
At Kyung-wan’s words, Detective Seo recalled the kidnapping case Kyung-wan had helped with. The detective who handled and solved it was named Jang Donggyun, wasn’t he?
“You’re not thinking of dragging Detective Jang into this to persuade me, are you?”
At the sudden question, Detective Seo jumped in surprise. Being so abruptly called out like that was startling.
Kyung-wan warned him in advance.
“If you do, you’ll probably say this to Detective Jang: persuade me, and we’ll clear the blockage in your promotion path. Heh heh heh heh.”
Detective Seo was so flustered by Kyung-wan’s sudden laughter that he couldn’t even respond.
Kyung-wan continued.
“Isn’t it ridiculous? They block someone’s future for doing their job, then dangle a carrot like that. If people like that are at the top, do you think I can trust the system?”
In Detective Seo’s mind, the words Kyung-wan had used, ‘trust,’ ‘credit’, passed by.
Kyung-wan’s words were a warning.
In the end, Detective Seo abandoned the idea of using Detective Jang and had no choice but to return with only the face-saving information Kyung-wan had given him: that the United States would get involved.
Perhaps because of that, he got chewed out less than expected by his superiors.