Episode 3
Reincarnation Test (1)
The trunk of the car opened and closed with a thud.
Seo-jin turned to face her parents.
“I’m leaving now,” she said.
Her mother, who had been quietly smiling, suddenly looked serious.
Seo-jin seemed to be experiencing amnesia.
The thought of going alone to Gangwon Province felt like a heavy burden.
“Are you sure? Should I come with you?” her mother asked.
“It’s okay.”
“Really, are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“If anything happens, call me. Take some time to rest when you have time.”
Her mother continued to worry and give concerned advice.
“It’s really okay. I’ll call you often,” Seo-jin said with a gentle smile.
Although not her birth mother, she felt it was proper to show respect in this way.
“Okay,” her father coughed and then put some fifty-thousand-won bills into Seo-jin’s pocket.
“Buy yourself something nice on the way.”
“I’ll call you when I arrive,” Seo-jin said.
She got into the car, a domestic mid-sized car that her mother had bought for her when she became a prosecutor.
Her mother had originally wanted to buy her a Benz E-Class, but Seo-jin had strongly opposed it.
She started the engine and pressed the accelerator.
As the car smoothly left the parking lot, Seo-jin glanced at the rearview mirror.
Her father and mother were still standing there.
As she left, they waved their hands towards Seo-jin’s car…
Seo-jin smiled bitterly.
“Sorry…”
***
Dongnam County in Gangwon Province has a population of 40,000 and is known for its rural image.
However, with recent expansion of the national highway, accessibility has improved, and the city is working on promoting its brand through various festivals.
The Gangwon Provincial Prosecutor’s Office, Dongnam Branch, is located here.
Although it’s a branch office, it is significant in size, with about thirty prosecutors investigating and prosecuting a variety of cases, from advanced crimes to environmental offenses.
However, prosecutors tend to avoid working here.
Most of the prosecutors working here are those who have fought and been destroyed by powerful figures such as politicians and business people.
Outside, this place was called the exile of Dongnam County.
As the sound of the car engine stopped, the world fell silent.
Seo-jin got out of the car and headed towards the trunk.
After putting the Boston bag over her shoulder, she looked up.
She could see a 15-story apartment building.
This was Seo-jin’s studio apartment.
Standing in front of the entrance, Seo-jin pressed the secret code her younger sibling had taught her, 1018.
As the door made a creaking sound, she cautiously stepped inside.
It was a 34-square-meter apartment. Seo-jin put down her bag and looked around the house.
The sofa, the television, and the dining table were all high-quality furniture, all in her mother’s taste.
“Is this from France too?”
It probably was.
Her mother’s taste was firm.
The other noticeable thing was the piles of books scattered all over the place.
On the sofa, next to the dining table, and even in the bathroom, books were everywhere.
Seo-jin sat on the sofa and picked up a book.
She wanted to check which books the past Seo-jin had read, to release the tension of just arriving.
But at that moment, the world lost its color and turned black and white.
“Not again…”
It had been happening since she was reborn.
The world turned black and white, and sometimes certain images would come to her mind.
Just like now…
“Debut? Caught. Traffic accident death case. The family wants strong punishment, but I don’t know…”
Seo-jin stood by the window in the living room, talking on the phone with someone.
“Okay, then let’s meet later.”
After ending the call, Seo-jin sat on the sofa and started reading the book quietly.
And that was the end of it.
The world regained its color, and the book from the vision was in Seo-jin’s hand.
Furrowing her brow, Seo-jin closed the book.
“A black and white world…”
At first, she thought it was just a hallucination and didn’t pay much attention to it.
But the phenomenon repeated, and when she tried to figure out what it was, it turned out to be events from the past.
Like psychometry, reading the memories of an object…
So, she pondered.
What could a black and white world be?
Am I going crazy?
But there was no clear answer.
Still a mystery…
Seo-jin organized the hypotheses she had set up so far.
– The black and white world cannot be controlled.
– It pops up unexpectedly when touching an object.
– It allows seeing the past.
– She decided to call it the black and white world or psychometry.
Thinking this far, Seo-jin shook her head.
“Enough.”
It’s a problem with no answer no matter how much I think about it. It will naturally be resolved as time passes.
Seo-jin stopped thinking and lay down on the sofa.
“Tomorrow…”
Tomorrow, she will go to work at the local prosecutor’s office.
It will be her first day at work as Kim Seo-jin, not Seo Jun-kyung.
She had memorized the faces and names of the people she would meet.
As long as she is careful and there are no variables, she should be able to pass through naturally.
Seo-jin drew a faint smile.
She had become a prosecutor through relentless studying, but was falsely accused of sexual assault and it all ended.
She thought she would never wear the prosecutor’s robe again, but now she was becoming a prosecutor again…
“It’s a little exciting.”
***
“Is everything healed?”
“Yes.”
The next day, on the 7th floor of the local prosecutor’s office.
Seo-jin stood in front of the Dongnam County Prosecutor.
Prosecutor Jeon Dong-guk is someone Seo-jin knows.
He is the person who rejected tens of billions of won in earnest money from one of the major law firms, S Law Firm.
He is the chief prosecutor who once grabbed the son of the ruling party’s chairman by the collar and put him in prison when everyone said it couldn’t be done.
So, she wanted to meet him once and was really curious about what kind of person he was.
But the prosecutor did not look at Seo-jin even though she came in, and was just trimming his nails.
Then he said…
“Okay, then go.”
“Yes?”
“Do you have something to say?”
There was no willingness in the prosecutor’s voice.
The formidable prosecutor she had imagined was not here.
After leaving the corridor, Seo-jin went to greet the Deputy Prosecutor and the head prosecutor of the Criminal Department 4.
But the atmosphere was the same.
They all seemed to be sitting and living because they were born, and it felt like they were just sitting in their chairs after coming to work.
“Room 602.”
A little while later, Seo-jin stood in front of an office after walking down the hallway.
She checked the room number again while looking at the organization chart on her phone.
This is the office of Prosecutor Lee Myung-soo, where she will learn practical work during her probation period.
As she opened the door and walked in, the practical affairs officer was sitting alone.
When she saw Seo-jin’s face, her eyes widened.
“Are you starting work today? I heard you were very sick, are you okay now? Where were you in pain?”
“I was a little unwell.”
Seo-jin found the desk with her name on it.
The probation desk is always tucked away in a corner.
She placed her bag there and asked, “What about the prosecutor?”
“He hasn’t come in yet.”
The practical affairs officer casually replied and then shifted her gaze to the monitor.
She didn’t seem to be working.
There was a 99% chance she was shopping online.
Seo-jin sighed.
When she was in Seoul, she was so busy that she even developed dry eye syndrome, and her daily routine was to go to work in the early morning and leave in the early morning.
But this place was different.
It was excessively relaxed.
Of course, the reason was predictable.
This place is like exile.
Once you enter, you can’t leave.
Even if you work hard, if you can’t catch a lucky break, you can’t escape from here.
The office door creaked open.
Prosecutor Lee Myung-soo entered the office with disheveled hair.
He glanced at Seo-jin.
“You’re here? I won’t say to take it easy, but you need to prepare for your debut, right?”
Seo-jin recalled what she had seen through psychometry.
The past Seo-jin was preparing for the debut with a traffic accident death case.
It was a suitable case for a rookie prosecutor’s debut.
Prosecutor Lee Myung-soo continued, “I’m really begging you, don’t embarrass me. I’m already someone who doesn’t want to live the life of a prosecutor. But if you make me feel ashamed, I might really quit. Then our daughter, who is about to enter high school, will have to quit her private tutoring, right? So, do well.”
“Yes.”
“If you don’t know something, ask. Don’t pretend to know it all.”
“Yes.”
Seo-jin just answered, “Yes, yes.”
But Prosecutor Lee Myung-soo looked at Seo-jin with displeasure.
He didn’t like that a probationer had missed three weeks before her debut, but what he disliked the most was the fact that Seo-jin’s father was the chief prosecutor.
He would finish his prosecutor career in this district, but Seo-jin was sure to rise under the wing of her prosecutor father.
He envied that, and his feelings of resentment showed.
“The kid answers like a robot…”
Prosecutor Lee Myung-soo roughly opened Seo-jin’s desk drawer and took out some documents, slamming them on the desk.
“Read this.”
The case of a woman in her 40s, who was heading home while intoxicated and died in a traffic accident.
The accident occurred at 1:40 am.
The driver was driving an SUV and adhered to the speed limit of 80 km/h.
Defense’s argument:
It was dawn, and it was a quiet rural highway.
It was a two-lane, one-way road with no other vehicles.
The road made a sudden turn to the right, making it difficult to spot the victim.
The victim, who was 160cm tall, was hard to see.
The victim emerged from a narrow alley and was walking on the shoulder rather than the sidewalk, making it difficult to spot.
It was an act of God and not guilty.
Prosecutor Lee Myung-soo leaned on the desk with his arms crossed.
“Isn’t it a typical case? Let’s sketch out the background that will unfold in court. You weren’t just lying in the hospital for three weeks getting injections, right?”
Seo-jin responded immediately, “The prosecution has charged the driver with a breach of duty of care, while the driver claims it was an act of God. In such cases, the prosecutor must reasonably prove that it was not an act of God.”
Prosecutor Lee Myung-soo flinched. He had intended to scold the guy who had been absent for three weeks, but the words came out unexpectedly harsh.
But he quickly changed his expression and asked, “What’s the expected sentence?”
According to the law, causing a person’s death in a traffic accident can result in imprisonment for up to five years or a fine of up to 20 million won. However, judges rarely impose the full five years. It depends on whether there is an agreement and a judgment of gross negligence under the Road Traffic Act…
“If there is an agreement, it would likely be a one-year prison sentence with a two-year suspended sentence. However, because the victim’s family strongly demands severe punishment, I think he might receive more than one year.”
Once again, he was right. He had tried to find fault, but it was perfect.
Prosecutor Lee Myung-soo ran his hand through his disheveled hair and chewed on his lips.
“Kid… Did you spend the last three weeks getting private tutoring from your stepfather?”
Suddenly, something came to Prosecutor Lee Myung-soo’s mind.
Urgently, he asked, “Did you go to the scene?”
“Yes?”
“You didn’t go, did you?”
Prosecutors rarely go to the scene.
“Yes.”
Finally, Prosecutor Lee Myung-soo had caught something.
“A kid whose ink on the ID card hasn’t even dried yet is already turning away from the scene? When you’re a rookie, you should go see it yourself! Is the case a piece of cake? Is the court a joke? Go out right now! Go to the scene and come back!”
Before she could even get used to the atmosphere at the local office, she was sent to the scene.
She didn’t mind. In fact, she was grateful.
Seo-jin liked going to the scene, so she would have gone even if she hadn’t been told to.
The chill and eeriness of the scene, the unknown tension and atmosphere were different from seeing it in photos, and she could find a twist within it.
The scene was quiet, with only the chirping of birds heard.
Seo-jin imagined the situation at the time, looking around the road.
The SUV was traveling at 80 km/h and encountered a sharp curve.
As she imagined the scenario, Seo-jin furrowed her brow.
“Are they saying the car was going 80 km/h and took a sharp curve here?”
It was unbelievable.
The road is wide, but it’s literally a sharp curve, so it’s normal to slow down.
But the driver kept going.
Seo-jin looked around again.
There were traces of the accident on the road, such as glass fragments.
She knelt down and picked up a glass fragment, gazing ahead.
The impact happened here, and the car bounced off over there.
“The driver got out of the vehicle….”
It was the moment when Seo-jin was reenacting the incident.
The world lost its color, and her psychometry abilities began.
