Chapter 93
Through the back of a server setting down side dishes on the table, a familiar face came into view. Kang Minjae shot to his feet and waved his arm.
"Ah, I’m a bit late, huh? Sorry about that."
"No, no. We all know how busy you are, sunbae." Prosecutor Lee Ye-jin sat down across from us, setting her bag off to one side. She even gathered up the briefcases around Kang and me, stacking them neatly on top. Not satisfied with that, she scanned the bustling restaurant interior and abruptly stood again.
She pushed through the crowd, chatted briefly with some customers at another table, and came back dragging an extra chair. Placing it beside her own, she finally focused on us.
"It’s so hard to even catch a glimpse of your faces these days, right?"
"Is someone else coming? Why grab an extra chair?"
Kang Minjae asked, and she laughed it off like it was no big deal.
"Yeah, someone is. They’ll be here soon."
"Who?"
"It’s a secret."
She grinned happily, glancing around the table. It had to be her husband, I figured. We’d met before, and she’d mentioned him briefly during a call the other day.
"No booze? Why haven’t you ordered any?"
"We haven’t even ordered food yet."
"Oh, come on. At a yangdaechang spot, it’s two servings of yang and two of daechang—add more if it’s not enough. Don’t you know? Boss, two servings each of yang and daechang here, plus a bottle of soju and a bottle of beer!"
"What soju?"
"Huresh! Oh, and four glasses."
With an excited look, she popped a few side dishes into her mouth—then her eyes went wide like she’d seen a ghost.
"What the hell? These sides are amazing. No way, Cha Byeon. There’s a place this good in Seocho? Why didn’t you tell me?"
"It just kinda happened that way."
"This place is packed. Business must be booming—the owner’s gotta be raking it in with a pitchfork."
Well, yeah, but he’d lose it all later because of his sons. I’d given him some advice last year, but whether he’d listen was anyone’s guess.
"Their rice dishes are great too."
"Knew it. You can tell from the sides. Oh man, I’m pumped."
She seemed starved, kept picking at the sides even before the mains arrived.
"Haven’t eaten today?"
"I scraped by lunch with cup ramen and a kimbap triangle, then suddenly they call me in for a meeting at the Ji Myeong-ho case office—something turned up. Total bust. Waste of time."
"Ah, right, you’re handling the Ji Myeong-ho case?"
Kang Minjae asked with a sly grin. But Lee Ye-jin was too busy devouring sides to notice.
"Yep. First case I got after joining Special Crimes, and it’s this. What gives? Gotta have a word with Youngchan. Ask him why he shuffled me over all of a sudden—does he hate me or something?"
"Pfft, riding the elite track."
"Minjae, I don’t need the elite course. Thin and steady wins the race—that’s my style. You know that."
"Still, congrats."
"Congrats my ass. Screw this up, and I’m off to Nonsan District Prosecutors’ Office or some backwater. Only four prosecutors there. Waaah. My 25th class seniors all just got promoted to deputy chief—meanwhile, I’ll be stuck in Nonsan watching buzzcuts do basic training while my batchmates move up... Wait, I’ll get promoted too. Nice. Super nice. Deputy chief at Nonsan? Might as well be chief prosecutor!"
I nodded along moderately. Her face screamed misery despite all the "super nice" talk—no words of comfort came to mind.
"Pfft, just nail it. You’re always so good at this stuff."
"How the hell do I nail this? Do it right, and the bosses bitch about not reading the room. Slack off, and they bitch about incompetence."
"Upper brass putting on the pressure, huh?"
I asked as the server laid sizzling meat on the grill.
"You think? High-ups not tangled in that shitshow? Second-in-command’s terrified his name’ll slip from Jo Hyeonseok’s mouth—pops into the interrogation room every five minutes to check. Guy never shows up otherwise."
"Doesn’t that stir up rumors if he’s there so often?"
"He coughs it off as ‘caring about a high-profile case.’ Pathetic. Makes me wanna rip out what little hair I’ve got left."
Lee Ye-jin took the tongs from the server and flipped the meat vigorously. Kang Minjae offered to help, but she smacked his hand and claimed them.
"Have I been talking too much about me? How’ve you two been? Any big cases?"
"Oh yeah, we’re killing it."
Kang Minjae shoveled the meat she’d plated for him onto my dish.
"Ah, save some for Cha Byeon. Eat your own, you Cha Byeon superfan."
"No, you won’t even let me grill, and now you’re giving it to me first..."
"That’s how it works with elders—you feed the kid first. Eat up."
"Kid? You ever seen a thirty-something kid?"
"Look at this—thirty-something kid right here."
I barely remembered Kang Minjae as my intern—had these two always been this chummy?
"Ha, you guys are so young and fresh. Sitting here, I swear I smell phytoncides coming off you. Maybe I should jump ship to your office. Wanna work in a flower garden too."
First time I’d heard "fresh" applied to someone in their mid-thirties.
"Flower garden? Come on, we’re swamped."
"Busier than me?"
"...Sorry."
I wanted to grill her on Jo Hyeonseok right then, but with her and Kang Minjae chatting so merrily, it was tough to cut in. Plus, rude to dive straight into business after so long apart. And she was eating like she was on a hunger strike protest—bad timing.
By the time we’d cleared the grill and ordered more...
"I’m here."
A man popped out of the crowd and plopped down next to Lee Ye-jin.
"...Team leader?"
It was Oh Yanghun, the team leader. I’d assumed her "someone" meant her husband.
"Prosecutor, long time no see. She said she was meeting you, so I tagged along. Hope I’m not intruding?"
"Not at all. It’s been ages."
"Prosecutor Kang too."
"Team leader!"
Lee Ye-jin took his bag and coat, setting them on the empty chair.
"Team leader, watch the titles. I’m the prosecutor. These two are lawyers."
"Right, sorry. Lawyers."
"No worries."
She distributed the glasses from the corner, mixing soju and beer 1:1 for everyone.
"1:1? Prosecutor, isn’t that pushing it? You’ve got Jo Hyeonseok’s interrogation tomorrow."
Jo Hyeonseok interrogation? News to me. I knew her Special Crimes Unit 1 was on the Ji Myeong-ho case, but not that she was leading on him. This could yield more than expected.
"Exactly. Wouldn’t dream of inconveniencing you, team leader."
"No, I’m the one who’d hate to hold you back..."
Oh Yanghun said uncertainly. Lee Ye-jin just laughed and turned to me.
"Ah, Cha Byeon doesn’t know? Team leader’s with me now."
"Is that so?"
"But weirdly, the way he looks at me versus you feels different. Am I not his prosecutor?"
Oh Yanghun yelped in surprise.
"Prosecutor! What’re you saying? You think I see you as a woman?"
"Huh? No? I mean, you look at Cha Byeon with total adoration, but not me—so I’m jealous."
Maybe a touchy topic. Oh Yanghun, shoulders heaving from his outburst, gave an awkward chuckle.
"What’re you talking about? You’re all prosecutors to me. And FYI, I’ve got a foxy wife and bunny-like kids at home..."
"Yeah, yeah. Got a bear of a husband myself. Skip the stale toasts—one shot, everyone. Cheers."
I’d forgotten. Lee Ye-jin was Central District’s biggest booze lover—and the strongest drinker. No one had ever beaten her in a drinking battle.
"Ugh, burns."
After a few rounds, the table was littered with uncountable soju and beer bottles. Kang Minjae had puked outside three times already; Oh Yanghun’s face was beet red. I held my liquor decently, but a few more and I’d feel it. Only Lee Ye-jin looked unfazed.
"No way, why’s Kang Byeon such a lightweight?"
"Lightweight my ass! It’s you who’s... insanely strong! Hic! I’m strong too, y’know? And I’m not a kid!"
Her "kid" jab had stuck with him. He couldn’t hold his head up, but his voice got louder. I just nudged his head against the wall.
"Th-thanks... World’s less spinny now... Heh heh heh."
Lee Ye-jin tsked at him and asked me,
"How’s working with Minjae? Good fit?"
"Sharp as hell. Full of passion. Bit of an attention hog, though."
"No wonder your cases always seem massive—Kang Minjae’s picks?"
"We take plenty of no-names too. Just flies under the radar."
"Fair enough. Glad it’s working out. Not many go solo young like you and thrive. Seems like you’ve settled in nice."
"Getting by. You and team leader meshing well?"
They exchanged glances and laughed.
"Ah, his take probably matters more than mine?"
"Nah, yours trumps mine."
Oh Yanghun stonewalled. Lee Ye-jin narrowed her eyes.
"You have no idea how much he sings Cha Byeon’s praises on this case. Makes me feel useless."
"The Jo Hyeonseok case?"
"Yeah. ‘If it were Prosecutor Cha Juhan, he’d do it this way, that way.’ Apparently. And I was his senior!"
"No, prosecutor—you asked me first what Cha Juhan would do."
They bickered a while, then clinked glasses and made up. Watching, I felt relieved. Oh Yanghun was a grizzled investigator from before I joined prosecution, but with my fallout there, I’d worried he might get dragged down.
"How’s the Jo Hyeonseok case going?"
"Jo Hyeonseok! That motherfucking..."
I’d barely said his name when Kang Minjae—head lolled against the wall, seemingly asleep—suddenly yelled.
"What the—?"
"Son of a bitch... Nom nom. Son of a bitch..."
"Some grudge there."
Lee Ye-jin chuckled softly at him.
"Going great. Pressure from above, he won’t talk. Search turned up squat. There’s gotta be a list, but nada. Ji Myeong-ho shredded everything, looks like."
She sighed. All public info from the news.
"What about the lie detector?"
"Tried it. But can’t target specifics. Can’t straight-up ask, ‘Did you pimp for Wooshin Group? Taeseong?’"
She shoveled the last of her fried rice.
"Jo Hyeonseok played for Yangjin Rangers basketball. Yangjin Group might’ve gotten tributes too."
"Hm... Not really my place to say."
She set down her chopsticks and asked,
"Hey, Cha Byeon—anything on Yangjin Group?"
Her constant smile turned serious as she eyed me.
"I’d be disappointed if you were?"
I gave a small laugh. I’d told Jeong Yeongjun not to tell prosecution the cameraman was Jo Hyeonseok, but things had changed. Lee Ye-jin kept secrets. She navigated internal politics but never lost her prosecutor’s core. No slip-ups while she was one—post-chief at a firm, who knows.
"I might have some info on Jo Hyeonseok for you."