Expansion (14): The Prosecutor's Shadow
I opened my eyes to the warmth beside me. Song Miju was asleep next to me. I gave her a gentle hug, then rose and stepped into the living room. My mind felt blank. Out of habit I checked my phone—KakaoTalk notifications had piled up past +999. There were over a hundred missed calls. Half of them were from people worried about Miju, and the guilt crept back in. The rest were from the Ocean World team, university schedules I could put off, and the usual spam.
The Ocean World group chat was mostly dinner photos and daily updates, so nothing major had gone wrong. They were handling imports, though I had no idea what exactly. They would manage. When I unlocked the drawer and checked my work phone, there was a message from Director Ha along with an attached file. Shit. A prosecutor. The two below him were investigators.
Name: Seo Myeong-deok
Date of Birth: 1992
Occupation: Prosecutor
Education: Busan Yeongdo Elementary – Busan Nam Middle School – Busan Nam High School – Seoul National University – 56th Judicial Examination
Notes: Five years in the prosecution service. Strong record in violent crime cases. Participated in social movements during university. Known for resisting external pressure; classified as hardline within the organization. High sentencing standards. Will likely invoke recusal or request reassignment.
Quite the résumé. Why was someone like that looking for my brother?
So he had looked into them after sending the résumé and evaluation. From what he said, my brother had rotten luck. The police and prosecution had a system that flagged certain individuals upon entry. My brother’s passport had been registered in that database—not because of anything he did, but because the forger who made it got caught in another case and the entire database was seized. Once the passport was flagged on the police network, they identified the user and realized he was connected to the prosecutor’s case. Now the prosecution was actively searching for him.
That meant we were in danger too. Still, how had my brother managed to leave the country? If it were me, I would have blocked that passport immediately.
?? He was supposed to be looking for my brother. Yet when I heard the details, it made sense. A year ago the organization my brother belonged to clashed with his senior’s group and both were wiped out. The authorities had expected a Chinese syndicate to move in. Instead, a domestic group had quietly taken the territory, and they still didn’t know its true identity. What they did have was plenty of evidence—distribution records. Of course. The sheer volume moving through Incheon and Bucheon alone would leave traces. With our middle and lower ranks still getting picked up, the evidence had to be mounting. The only saving grace was that we hadn’t been specifically identified yet.
When we handled the BS matter, we had pushed the investigation priority down and weakened the working-level police connections, but this prosecutor was too hardline for that to work. Besides, there was no domestic organization operating at our scale anymore—especially in retail. I froze for a second.
That much was obvious. I asked for more details—when exactly had our organization reached that level?
They estimated national drug consumption by multiplying seized quantities by a factor of twenty to thirty. If two kilograms were confiscated in a year, actual consumption was around forty. Our market share was calculated by dividing our sales volume by that estimated total. According to the report, our share of cannabis and psychotropic substances exceeded ten percent. In reality, our dominance over raw materials on the market was probably even greater. When I asked why, the reasoning was sound.
Right. We never cut product to inflate volume.
“Oppa?”
“You’re up?”
Even her sleepy, tousled look was pretty.
“Let’s have breakfast.”
The porridge and kimchi I had made the day before filled my stomach, but it still felt empty. After five days without food, my gut was protesting that this was all it got.
“Want to go out? Let’s take a drive. I need some fresh air.”
“Sure. I’ll go wash up. Drop me off at school on the way back.”
“Got it.”
While Miju showered, I glanced outside. No cars had been parked for three days, and the curtains were drawn on the opposite studio. I contacted my brother and told him the prosecution was after him, adding that he should ditch the passport. During the conversation I finally understood why he hadn’t been caught.
My brother was lucky.
Since we were already talking, I asked for a report. The hotel was doing well—low vacancy, plenty of Korean tourists, and the staff were working hard. The downside was that illegal activity was so rampant it was hurting the hotel’s image. There was a legal casino in the basement, but it was small and catered only to tourists, so it didn’t make real money. Professional gamblers had set up junket rooms, online gambling was running, and our own product was being distributed through the place. They were trying to manage the image through blogs and SNS, but it still felt like a waste of nearly a hundred billion won. My mind was too occupied with the prosecution to think it through properly.
I wasn’t trusting him so much as I was overwhelmed. I sat on the sofa with a bitter smile until Miju, now ready, spoke up.
“Oppa, let’s go.”
“Yeah. I’ll go start the car. It’s been a while since I drove, so come down slowly.”
She always said she was ready and then took another five minutes. As I reached for the doorknob, tension coiled through my body. I took a deep breath and opened the door. The hallway looked the same, yet every step felt heavier. Down the stairs, through the main entrance, I saw my car and the alley. I scanned the surroundings naturally—no footsteps, no sense of being watched. I approached the car and opened the door.
“Ah, shit.”
A cat that had been under the car bolted out. A laugh escaped me. Why was I so on edge? I hadn’t been caught. It was just bad luck that our paths had crossed.
“Oppa, your face suddenly looks better. I’m glad.”
It must have shown. The weight on my mind had eased a little. Craving something greasy, we drove to the king donkatsu place in Seobinggo. I ordered two plates; Miju couldn’t finish even half, so I ate the rest. Once the oil hit my stomach, I felt alive again, my head clearing. We stopped at a nearby café for an espresso, then I dropped her off in Sinchon. When she got out I thanked her, told her I loved her, and held her hand. She smiled brightly.
Since I still had to attend class, I parked in the school lot and walked in. The Ocean World team greeted me.
“Hyung, you’re okay, right? I heard you went to the police station.”
What? Were these kids stalking me?
“The rumor’s everywhere. Those people were police, right? Dragging someone like that in this day and age—who does that?”
They showed me their phones. An SNS post had been cleverly edited: me being pulled into an alley by two large men, police arriving, and the three of us getting into a patrol car together. I was the one who had thrown the punches, yet it looked like I was the victim. The comments below were something else.
Looking at those comments, an idea came to me—an idea that could take down Prosecutor Seo.