DERH 121 SS 01

Side Story 1

The Illegitimate Son Prosecutor, Ryu Kang-hyun

Squeak—

The office chair rolled backward, and a sharp-looking man buried beneath a mountain of documents raised his head.

“Phew…”

Kang-hyun took off the glasses resting on the bridge of his nose and dropped them onto the desk with a soft thud. Then he spread his large hands and pressed firmly against both temples. His brow furrowed from the throbbing headache.

For a whole week now, he had been organizing the cases he had handled over the years. There was a lot that had piled up over time.

Whether here or there, he could once again feel the fate of living buried beneath towers of white paper.

Kang-hyun leaned deeply against his chair to catch his breath for a moment and turned his gaze toward the window.

The ginkgo leaves that had once dyed the green sky bright yellow had disappeared without a trace, leaving only dry, bare branches.

How many times had he sat in this seat and looked beyond that window?

The seasons had come and gone, and somehow, he was already facing the beginning of another winter.

‘This is almost over too…’

An unreadable expression appeared on his face, filled with the exhaustion that had built up over the years.

He clasped his hands together and placed them over his stomach before letting out a slow breath.

It had already been six months since he finished the Crocodile Project.

It had been the first investigation Kang-hyun had taken on after being appointed as a prosecutor at the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials.

He had pointed his sword at Prosecutor Go Sang-han, who had become the Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office.

Starting with the drug case involving Hwang Yu-ra, an executive director of Daeho Group, he had dropped several bombs one after another while the entire country was already in an uproar.

Before beginning the full-scale internal investigation, he had focused on uncovering the actual cartel that existed between corporations and the prosecution.

With undeniable evidence in his hands, he had finally indicted Go Sang-han, a high-ranking prosecutor and Deputy Chief Prosecutor.

As expected, the prosecution’s backlash had been fierce.

The word they all used in unison was:

‘How dare he?’

A guy branded as a traitor by the prosecution and kicked out—

How dare he?

And on top of that, some mere illegitimate son—

How dare he?

An illegitimate son prosecutor.

It was ridiculous.

This was an institution created for prosecution reform, yet he was being called all kinds of things that he had never even heard before.

Well, it was only natural that they would dislike seeing some nobody with no place in the family registry holding and exercising the power to prosecute when they had their legitimate children whom they had carefully raised for decades.

The backlash from the group that possessed absolute power grew stronger with each passing year.

But whether they did so or not, Kang-hyun did not care what they called him.

In fact, it was more accurate to say that he had absolutely no interest in it.

He was not the kind of person who would let something like that hurt his feelings in the first place.

Go Sang-han launched a media campaign, declaring,

“This is nothing more than a targeted investigation! It is a scheme by a privileged group to keep the prosecution in check!”

Kang-hyun had expected that too.

His bulldozer-like investigative style, in which he pushed forward without considering the consequences, was so relentless that even the higher-ups, desperate for results, were left speechless.

“If you’re just going to conduct an investigation for show, the prosecution is already doing a damn good job of that. Why did you create the Corruption Investigation Office in the first place? Both are institutions created with taxpayers’ money.”

There was nothing for him to feel guilty about, so he had no reason to be shaken by persuasion or outside pressure.

“Do you know how much tax I pay every year? Even I think it’s a waste of money. What about all the other citizens?”

He said all the right things about taxes and public money, but he knew better than anyone that he was not actually filled with some great sense of duty toward the country.

It was simply that—

“Even if I’m going to leave, shouldn’t I take down at least one bastard before I go? It would save some face.”

“What do you think about Prosecutor Ryu Kang-hyun at the Corruption Investigation Office? I was thinking about it… I think it would suit you, Sunbae. He’s kind of sexy.”

He had not come to this place because of those words alone.

But still, once he had drawn his sword, he had to cut something with it if he wanted to live up to his wife’s expectations.

After all, how important was being ‘sexy’ between a husband and wife who were going to spend their entire lives together?

Kang-hyun wanted to remain an attractive and sexy man in Ki Se-na’s eyes until the day he grew old and died.

And he still had one final trump card.

The corruption files on Daeho Group that Chae Seong-min had handed over to him.

Inside were also recordings of conversations between Hwang Yoo-chan and Go Sang-han.

When dealing with people who played above the law, taking the straightforward approach could actually be poisonous.

If a show was needed, he would put on a show.

If an image had to be sold, he would sell the image.

As someone once said, a face was simply something attached to a person.

If someone was willing to pay generously for it, then using it was practically getting something for free.

All that remained was timing.

When Go Sang-han’s public opinion campaign reached its peak, Kang-hyun also launched a strategy of turning the enemy’s strength against him.

He appeared personally on Focus Nine, hosted by Cha Woo-hyun, the journalist most trusted by the people of South Korea.

There, he publicly released the recording files for the entire country to hear.

Their collusion was beyond imagination, and public anger against them grew even stronger.

Even Go Sang-han, who had boldly refused to comply with requests to appear for questioning, seemed unable to do anything against a trial by public opinion.

He had no choice but to be dragged in disgracefully by Kang-hyun’s decisive move.

The fate of Prosecutor Seo Jung-in, who had tasted the sweetness of power in exchange for his loyalty to Go Sang-han, was obvious as well.

As soon as the corruption investigation began, he was abandoned as a disposable pawn and demoted to a place that was practically exile.

He could forget about being promoted in the future.

And even if he changed careers and became a lawyer, would anyone even accept him?

It had been nothing short of a complete shutout victory for Kang-hyun.

It was also the only case in which the Corruption Investigation Office had truly fulfilled its purpose.

After that, Kang-hyun handled and indicted several other cases, but they all ended up stuck in a stagnant state without producing anything meaningful.

Because of the political games played by people too busy looking after their own interests, innocent people were the ones who suffered.

The times had changed, but the world was still run by the power and authority of the privileged.

He lived in that world, but he had no particular desire to change it.

Kang-hyun took his indifferent eyes away from the dry scenery outside the window and began sorting the documents.

Holding both ends of each stack of papers, he tapped them against the desk to straighten them before checking each case.

He kept what needed to be kept and carried the rest away.

He stood in front of the shredder not far from his desk and fed the papers into it.

The cases he had handled over the years were being shredded one after another.

After several minutes, a large pile of shredded paper that could no longer be recognized had accumulated.

With that, his role here was over.

He had seen where and how everything had rotted.

Whether the people remaining here would cut out the rotten roots buried inside that pit or pretend they did not exist and bury them again was up to them.

The people who had a greater sense of duty than he did.

Kang-hyun returned to his desk and looked at the clean, neatly organized surface.

He had no regrets.

Nor did he feel any lingering attachment.

He picked up the jacket hanging on the coat stand.

He slipped it over his shoulders and buttoned it up.

Neat and tidy.

Finally, he removed the ID tag that read:

[Prosecutor Ryu Kang-hyun]

He opened the door of the prosecutor’s office and stepped outside.

The eyes of the investigators and administrative staff who had worked with him all this time immediately turned toward him.

Unlike Kang-hyun, who looked relieved, their expressions were complicated and full of reluctance.

“You’ve all worked hard.”

Kang-hyun politely bowed his head and raised it again, greeting them simply.

“Prosecutor Ryu, you’ve worked hard too.”

“Honestly, thinking about how many times we would have been digging in the wrong place without you… I don’t know if it’s right to let you go like this.”

“Can’t you stay?”

“I heard the director asked you to stay.”

Each person said something, revealing how much they wanted to hold Kang-hyun back.

There was no one who paid less attention to what others thought and stepped forward as boldly as Prosecutor Ryu Kang-hyun.

They respected and relied on him as a colleague, so knowing that he was actually leaving left them feeling empty.

“I heard the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office made you an offer… Are you going there?”

“They say it’s an unprecedented promotion. I suppose it makes sense to establish a connection with the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office rather than dig yourself into the ground here, but… it’s still such a shame.”

After Kang-hyun had taken down Go Sang-han, the Deputy Chief Prosecutor, another faction that had disliked Go Sang-han had offered him a position.

It was a position as the head prosecutor of the Narcotics and Organized Crime Division, which had been separated from the Anti-Corruption and Organized Crime Department of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office.

“That won’t happen.”

He was interested in wiping out criminal organizations, but there was something more important than that.

“Someone who is leaving should leave, so don’t look so gloomy. I wish all of you success in the future.”

Without saying anything more, Kang-hyun left his colleagues behind and began walking away.

Just as when he had first come here, he carried nothing but a single briefcase in his hand.

And that was how Kang-hyun left the building of the Corruption Investigation Office.

“Daddyyyyy!”

Thump-thump-thump-thump!

A little child came running across the wooden floor and jumped straight into Kang-hyun’s arms.

The child, who had fluttered toward him like a cute little bird, nearly stumbled, so Kang-hyun quickly picked her up and supported her bottom with one arm.

The child, who had just turned thirty-two months old, was only about as tall as his knee.

Holding the tiny child in his broad arms, he gave her soft, plump cheek a little kiss.

“Princess. What are you going to do if you fall while running?”

“Daddy is here!”

“You’ll fall down and cry because it hurts.”

“If you get hurt, Daddy will blow on it for you.”

“It would be better not to get hurt or cry in the first place.”

“Because I’m a kid, I cry.”

“Who told you that?”

“Mommy.”

“That’s right. Mommy is always right. So you cry because you’re a kid.”

“Rite! The babies in the other class cry all the time. They’re so tiny, but they’re super noisy.”

“Really?”

“Se-ra doesn’t cry.”

“Really?”

“Yep! I’m a big sister now. I even played peekaboo with them.”

She was still such a tiny baby herself, yet she called children younger than her babies.

It was both adorable and ridiculous, making Kang-hyun chuckle.

“Did you listen to your teacher and have fun playing with your friends?”

“Yep! Se-ra got a praise sticker too! A ping-pong sticker!”

Kang-hyun tickled Se-ra’s plump cheeks with his finger and exchanged a nod with her daycare teacher.

“You should say goodbye to your teacher, right?”

“Hello.”

“Goodbye.”

“Goodbye.”

Se-ra, still held in her father’s arms, bent at the waist and gave the teacher a polite bow.

Kang-hyun took the yellow bag handed to him by the teacher and hung it over his forearm. After listening to a few things the teacher had to tell him, he left the daycare.

Se-ra turned her eyes away from the teacher who was waving goodbye and smiled brightly.

Then she said,