Chapter 145
Chapter 145
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 145
Chapter Title: If You Cut the Washing Machine's Power (3)
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Bang. In a corner office on the sixth floor of the perpetually stormy Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office.
A senior prosecutor who hadn't even bothered changing his slippers for shoes. He abruptly halted his comical waddle and kicked the door in front of him with all his might, bellowing.
"Hey! You crazy bitch Park Eun-ji, where the hell are you right now!"
With his shout, a deathly silence instantly enveloped the office.
They had all foreseen that this day would come eventually, but no one expected the typhoon to hit so soon.
Inside Investigator Park Eun-ji's office, her subordinates and the others sat frozen, mouths sealed like padlocks.
That is, until the senior investigator—a father of four—finally mustered the courage after a long hesitation to offer some excuse.
"Ch-Chief... Senior Prosecutor, sir, um, well, you see..."
"Ah, forget it! What can you guys even do? Get out of my way. I'll go myself!"
The senior prosecutor shuffled past the scattered chairs littering the floor, making his way to the desk positioned horizontally by the window.
Like a ginseng hunter digging for wild roots, he thrust his hand from above into the space beneath the desk.
And there, immediately within reach, tangled like ginseng roots—someone's long, disheveled hair.
"Ow!"
Screaming the moment she was yanked out, just like the legendary mandrake plant—she was none other than Investigator Park Eun-ji.
"Dear me, our esteemed Investigator Park Eun-ji is truly multifaceted. She handles cases brilliantly, screws over the higher-ups brilliantly, and..."
Pulled up by his rough grip, Investigator Park Eun-ji came into full view.
The senior prosecutor, thoroughly exasperated by the sight, showed no intention of releasing her hair.
"...even plays mole perfectly. Is there anything she can't do?"
"G-Good morning, Senior Prosecutor."
"Good morning, my ass. Hey, Park Eun-ji! I specifically told you not to go after that Pan Deok-sul Clinic warrant, so why the hell can't you listen!"
Frustrated, he pounded his chest like a gorilla.
She was from the prestigious old Park family of Goryeong—no less than his fifth cousin by blood—and he'd had such high hopes. But against his wishes, Investigator Park Eun-ji was poking every hornet's nest like a thunderbolt troublemaker.
"The ruling party's floor leader personally begged the Prosecutor General! I told you, didn't I? Crimes by those Yeouido aristocrats get settled through politics, not the law!"
"Yeah, you did. I know, I just forgot."
"Forgot, my foot!"
As if she could forget. Investigator Park Eun-ji, with her shining record as runner-up in the judicial exam.
In the end, unable to hold back, the senior prosecutor resorted to his final option.
A method that might even be considered somewhat humiliating for a prosecutor.
"Hoo... Whatever! Drop every single case you're handling. Not just the Pan Deok-sul Clinic one—the A Group heiress's marijuana case too, all of them!"
"No, those are my cases, why...!"
As expected, Investigator Park Eun-ji revved up for a fierce protest.
But.
'Wait a second, wait.'
For some reason, the calculator in her head suddenly sprang to life.
In the rare calm that washed over her, Investigator Park Eun-ji began flicking the abacus beads one by one.
Those shiny new abacus beads freshly provided by the man calling himself the chairman of Ammunition Group just recently.
'Either way, teaching a lesson to Pan Deok-sul Clinic and that A Group punk is off the table now... So wouldn't it be better to just properly set up a whole new game?'
Sure, he nagged a lot, but the senior prosecutor was family—her side, an elder from the same house.
If he was replacing her as the lead investigator on those cases, it meant even she couldn't do anything about it.
In that case... Instead of chasing unattainable justice on that front, pursuing it on a new front would be the best option.
'And rather than going toe-to-toe with our old geezer until one of us drops dead, working with that handsome guy Han Seo-jun would be better for my eyesight too. Yeah, yeah.'
A dash of strange personal bias mixed in, but she quickly rationalized it away.
As she shut down the calculator in her mind, the sight before her was the senior prosecutor droning on like a principal's morning assembly lecture.
"I get that you're committed to being a devoted prosecutor, Eun-ji. But! You have to understand there's such a thing as proper timing and circumstances, why can't you..."
"I understand. I'll comply."
"...What?"
The senior prosecutor's elongated eyes widened like jawbreakers. He blinked in disbelief as her unexpectedly obedient reply rang in his ears.
"I'll do as you say, Senior Prosecutor."
"Whoa, what's gotten into you? I figured you'd flop down on the floor in a big X and throw a fit."
He instantly reverted to his usual affable uncle persona, looking as relieved as if a decade-old lump in his throat had finally gone down. To him, Investigator Park Eun-ji raised one finger and began bargaining.
"But in exchange. Just one. Exactly one."
That day, in the lounge bar at Yeouido's K Hotel, the promise made to Kim Beom-ho.
When Investigator Park Eun-ji first handed over her business card with her personal number scribbled on the back, she couldn't hide her skepticism.
A chaebol she couldn't trust anyway. Especially since he'd even demanded she witness him in action on the front lines—trust was even harder.
However.
'Investigator Park. This is Han Seo-jun.'
'What, how long since I gave you the card and you're already giving up?'
'No way. There's a good article in the economic papers I wanted to show you. With on-site footage too.'
After saying he'd attached the files to an email, the call ended.
Dumbfounded, Investigator Park Eun-ji clicked her mouse indifferently, muttering to herself.
'What the hell, I'm swamped right now. Huh...?'
Then, the scene from the site that entered her eyes.
The drama at the officetel construction site, where Joo Gwak-yul's money laundering route was tied up in one fell swoop.
From center stage in that perfectly scripted play, the protagonist had shouted this to Investigator Park Eun-ji.
That the realization of the just society she so desperately desired... might be something he could unintentionally help achieve.
*Sniff*. "You're making me uneasy, Park Eun-ji. What are you trying to squeeze out of me?"
And that shout from the video became the driving force to overturn the senior prosecutor's distrust standing before her now.
Unlike moments ago, something sparkly gleamed in Investigator Park Eun-ji's eyes.
Filled with the zeal and conviction that always surged when starting something new—something guaranteed to succeed—she made one request of the senior prosecutor.
Proclaiming in advance a massive incident of a different caliber from before.
"I'll handle just one case off the record, so back me up quietly without anyone knowing."
* * *
The car interior was filled only with silence.
Nak-gu, who had cut off his own finger. Joo Gwak-yul, who had directly ordered it.
And his closest confidant, the brother-in-law, watching the entire scene from a safe distance.
"It was... a bit excessive, I think."
On the highway from Bundang's outskirts toward Seoul's Gangnam. Only after entering the tunnel, bathed in the evening glow, did the brother-in-law cautiously speak.
"The matter is serious, yes, but handling Nak-gu that way seems inappropriate. The organization's morale might waver..."
"I know."
Joo Gwak-yul, sitting in the center of the back seat with arms crossed.
As his tightly shut eyes opened, an eerily calm voice flowed from his lips.
"I know. That's why I did it. Deliberately."
"Hyung-nim...?"
"Sigh. Looks like you still don't get it."
As they exited the long tunnel, deep indigo darkness began to settle.
Who could imagine the face of a man who'd just witnessed blood would brighten like this?
Joo Gwak-yul, a sinister smile on his lips, extended his clasped hands forward and slowly continued.
"Have you ever seen a lizard regretting the loss of its severed tail?"
"......!"
An unnatural incident in an unnatural time.
A chaebol group's decision that would never accept losses lightly.
Yet the man calling himself Ammunition Group's chairman had readily taken the hit under the guise of "management accountability."
Having crossed the line of death countless times in his past life, Joo Gwak-yul instinctively sensed it. Something... was going wrong.
And to evade the shadow approaching him steadily... he could toss Nak-gu aside as field bait anytime.
"I didn't put Nak-gu's name on the Black Dragon Construction registry for nothing. And besides."
The car halted on the road due to a signal.
Tonight, the orange streetlights cast an unusually chilling glow, painting the road in hazy strokes.
As the signal changed and the car began moving slowly, the streetlight glow settled on Joo Gwak-yul's sinister face.
As if adding three-dimensional cruelty dyed orange.
"Aren't you curious how Huni would react if we pinned the entire blame on Nak-gu?"
"......!"
The brother-in-law gripping the wheel must have felt shock and a chill.
The car swayed ever so slightly at the lane's edge.
Only after the brother-in-law steadied his shaken heart did the faint vibration vanish, returning to normal.
"You should do as you intend."
"You think so too, huh."
"The real organization lies with Huni, after all. Even if we shift the money laundering from construction to something else."
"Right. This washing machine wouldn't have lasted long anyway. So for a new unit, what we need is..."
Joo Gwak-yul nodded.
He opened the small refrigerator in the center of the back seat and pulled something out.
A bottle of golden whiskey, to somewhat soothe his current boiling excitement.
"New booze, that's what."
He took a sip, slowly savoring the taste and aroma.
The whiskey, aged for decades in oak barrels with spices, lived up to its name, assaulting his senses with diverse notes.
A bitter first taste like Nak-gu, followed by the sharp rush of spicy aroma.
Like the Han Seo-jun who led Ammunition Group and had thoroughly humiliated him today. Joo Gwak-yul swallowed the rather harsh liquor and slowly spoke.
"...Is it certain that this mess was stirred up by that kid Han Seo-jun targeting me?"
The spear tip advancing toward him.
Staring at that tip prodding his throat unpleasantly, Joo Gwak-yul questioned himself.
Was this drop of blood trickling from his neck mere coincidence? Or... the precise result of something aimed at him.
"We lay low for now. We'll find out soon enough if we watch patiently."
Calm and cold reason had kept his neck from falling below his shoulders in the world of shadows.
Forcing down his impatience to regain composure, Joo Gwak-yul wiped his lips stained with liquor using his sleeve.
And then, a strangely different scent wafted, unlike before.
A somewhat crude aroma like a buzz-cut youth, evoking Huni—and with it, his phone rang.
"Sigh, looks like even Huni's no saint. Yeah, Huni. Hm, what?"
What did he hear?
Joo Gwak-yul's lips curved all the way to his ears.
Covering the cruelty beneath with a layer of boisterous laughter, he let out a hearty guffaw.
Gazing at the wooden box stained with blood beside him.
"Hahaha, got it. Then come straight to the office. I've got a gift lined up for you."