Hardboiled Scenario

Chapter 9

 

His attitude is arrogant but his tone is lethargic, making him all the more unpredictable.

Seeing the nonchalant Seo Muyoung who dared to barge into someone else’s workplace, she thought this man was on the boundary of rudeness and affection.

Is that why? Even though he gave her a lecture about being wary of strangers when meeting a woman for the first time, he brazenly acted as if he wasn’t in that category, and now he’s hitting the back of her head like this.

When she made a troubled expression, he grinned broadly as if proving his innocence. Then he shrugged his shoulders and brushed off his forearms.

“It was snowing outside, aren’t you cold? Your nose and ears are flushed red from the cold.”

Jae-in was just as cold. Although she wore a thick knit sweater over her shirt, her only outer garment was a thin doctor’s gown.

However, she still couldn’t decide if it was a good choice to take him into her office.

“I don’t know if you’re not cold, but I’m a bit creeped out. It’s definitely a place where dead people gather, right? Maybe some resentful ghosts are wandering around.”

It seems he decided to be rude from the start today. Regretting that she had told him her name, Jae-in took out her tightly clenched fist from the pocket of her gown.

When Jae-in stood in front of the door, he came up right behind her. Then he spread his coat wide open and wrapped it around her body, almost embracing her.

“What are you doing?”

“You looked cold. I’m sharing my body heat.”

Her frozen body was enveloped in warmth, momentarily disarming her defenses, but the ensuing embarrassment was greater.

If someone happened to pass by and see them like this, there might be all sorts of rumors spreading behind her back. The words people say behind her back deosn’t matter if she ignores them, but if they approach with curious faces and start questioning her, it will only put her in an awkward position.

Instead of pushing Muyoung away, Jae-in decided to unlock the door first.

Once they’re inside…

After opening the door and entering, Jae-in slowly brought her right hand to the pocket of her gown.

“You’re quite peculiar.”

Just as a short laugh burst out near the top of her head, making her wonder, he obediently stepped back, raising both hands beside his head.

“You seem reckless while strangely innocent, and when I think you’re fearless to the point of recklessness, you’re also quite thorough in your own way.”

The array of people Muyoung has directly met and investigated so far has been diverse—from petty thieves stealing candy to vicious criminals murdering people with knives.

“It’s the first time I’ve encountered someone I can’t quite figure out to this extent, so I keep getting interested.”

Since his job mostly involves interrogating those kinds of people face-to-face, he naturally learns about their tendencies as he probes into what they’re hiding.

But with this woman, that doesn’t work. It seems like she knows, but she doesn’t.

It’s not just because he’s only seen her once, but rather a hunch that there’s something else he can’t grasp that’s piquing his curiosity.

“Were you going to stab me with that?”

Muyoung’s gaze fixed on Jae-in’s right hand, raising his eyebrows. In Jae-in’s right hand was a fountain pen.

“It was meant as a threat in case you tried anything silly, I didn’t actually intend to stab you.”

“If stabbed wrongly with that, it could kill someone. As a forensic doctor, you probably know that better than me.”

“So?”

“Murder is my area of expertise.”

“……”

“In this situation, it wouldn’t be self-defense, but involuntary manslaughter.”

Even though she said she had no intention to kill, a thought suddenly crossed Muyoung’s mind.

“By the way, where were you going to stab?”

“The carotid artery.”

Jae-in casually made the chilling remark as she put the fountain pen back into the pocket of her gown.

“…That would be premeditated murder, not involuntary manslaughter. You’re a doctor.”

“If I stab without uncapping the pen, your legs will go limp instantly. Since it’s a vital area, the pain would be severe and it would be hard to breathe too.”

“Wow. Jae-in-ssi seems quite scary, contrary to her appearance.”

She’s threatening to stab the carotid artery just for slightly provoking him.

“I guess I should wear a neck brace next time I come here, if I don’t want to die.”

However, as frightening as her words sounded, he didn’t seem fazed at all. In fact, he even added a joke.

“These days, people keep cursing that I’ll die a miserable death, so I’m being cautious.”

Muyoung shrugged and laughed. Jae-in gave the man a slightly pitying look.

If he were really stabbed, he wouldn’t be able to joke like this.

If the carotid artery is strongly compressed, not only breathing but even making a sound becomes impossible.

Moreover, judging from the fact that he came all the way here, he didn’t seem like the type to simply turn around and leave obediently.

“Alright then. How did you know I work here and find this place?”

“Before that, let me tell you something too, in the spirit of fair play, since you seem to like that.”

Muyoung handed Jae-in a business card, which he took out of his pocket.

Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, Prosecutor Seo Muyoung.

It was a neat business card with the prosecutors’ office emblem printed in the top left corner.

“A prosecutor?”

She never expected that. With those intimidating eyes and actions reminiscent of a street thug…

Then again, he had been unusual from their very first encounter.

Recalling his stealthy movements like a predator stalking its prey and the somewhat arrogant air he exuded after initiating conversation, his identity as the owner of this business card seemed plausible.

“……”

Not knowing what Jae-in was thinking, Muyoung leaned in close to her face with a smug look, bending over dramatically.

“You don’t believe I’m a prosecutor?”

Startled, Jae-in took a slight step back, but when he stretched out his arm to support her waist, he closed the distance even further.

A refreshing scent as cool as the winter wind clinging to his body tickled her nose, causing Jae-in’s pupils to tremble ever so slightly.

She was someone who rarely showed expressions. Even for a poker face, there are always subtle movements, tiny as an ant’s footsteps, that would go unnoticed without close observation.

However, to Muyoung whose job was to observe people, it was clearly visible.

An emotional stir. No sense of rejection towards me. It would be nice if she felt favorably instead.

He was confident that there weren’t many people who could read her expressions as he could. So he felt rather pleased.

“You easily meet guys who called themselves banana-flavored condom, but I wonder why you keep trying to draw a line with me.”

Muyoung’s intense gaze traveled down from Jae-in’s eyes, past her pretty upturned nose, landing on her slightly parted lips.

The trajectory of his dark gaze made his intentions clear. Jae-in swallowed a short breath and pressed her lips tightly shut.

“I’ll ask about that next time.”

After moistening his dry lips with his red tongue, he eventually averted his gaze. His eyes left her lips and looked back up to meet her eyes again.

“I feel like if I lose focus for even a second, my visit here would be for nothing.”

His eyes, filled with a stillness like the deep night, calmly observed her autumn-sunlit eyes. After a moment, he tilted his head slightly and whispered into Jae-in’s ear with his lips brushing against it.

“Today, I felt like properly disciplining a high-ranking official, but for that I absolutely need the help of you, Dr. Jae-in.”

Contrary to his husky, raspy tone laced with a faint smirk, his pitch-black eyes were disturbingly bold and unwavering.

🍓

A few hours earlier, Muyoung knocked on the deputy chief prosecutor’s office door after being summoned by Deputy Chief Prosecutor Gu Young-gwang.

“Come in.”

Permission was immediately granted from inside. Just before turning the doorknob, Muyoung swiftly wiped away his displeased expression.

“I heard you were looking for me.”

“Ah, Prosecutor Seo. Have a seat here.”

As soon as Muyoung opened the door and bowed, a dignified voice welcomed him.

Looking up, the Deputy Chief was seated on the visitor’s sofa, while a man in his late 50s occupied the upper seat. His face seemed familiar.

And Muyoung immediately realized why. Barely stifling an instinctive sigh, he maintained his poker face and approached them closely.

“Hurry and sit. I know you’re busy, but I wanted us to have tea together. It would be good for us to get acquainted, you see.”

“Yes, I was just getting thirsty for tea.”

Feigning ignorance, Muyoung took a seat in front of Deputy Chief Gu.

Sensing the sharp eyes of the man in the upper seat observing his face, Muyoung put on a polite smile.

Deputy Chief Gu Young-gwang. The former head of the Special Investigation Department, he was a strong candidate for the next Prosecutor General before the organization’s restructuring. And most special prosecutors had political ambitions to enter government.

A year ago, he, unfortunately, lost his position due to the change in administration, but rumors swirled that he was aiming to reclaim that seat.

‘More than a rumor, it’s a foregone conclusion.’

The man in the upper seat was also a three-term member of the National Assembly. A former lawyer.

In this country, where the separation of powers is almost a joke, the long-standing connection between prosecutors and lawmakers is as old as time itself.

With prosecutors becoming presidents and their cronies becoming ministers of justice, this level of connection was unsurprising.

Feeling the urge to burst out laughing, Muyoung tightly clenched his fist, resting on his knee.

“Isn’t it today? The day that celebrity or whoever is coming in for questioning?”

🍓

Thank you for reading! ♡