Casting the Bait

“Have you been well? You look even more radiant.”
“It’s all thanks to you, Director.”

Seok Juho looked at me as if to ask what I meant.
Seok Juho had not refused my suggestion to meet.
It was our first meeting since I had become the face of the Bar Association, but he treated me as familiarly as if we had met just a short while ago.
I, too, raised the corners of my lips into a slight smile and continued.

“Just as you suggested, Director, I’ve become well-known since taking on the association’s work. Thank you for the good suggestion.”

Whether my words had appropriately buttered him up more than I thought, he replied without hiding his pleasant disposition.

“That’s what our Bar Association is all about. A place with power, a place that empowers. I’m a little disappointed that you seem to have only just realized that, Attorney Cha.”

A very Seok Juho-like answer.
Instead of empty words like, ‘It’s all thanks to you,’ Seok Juho immediately asserted his authority.

‘If he comes out like this, it’s easier for me.’

To Seok Juho, the Bar Association was literally his pride.
I left my own cup empty and, pouring warm tea into Seok Juho’s empty cup, smiled once more.
Brighter than before.

“Lately, I’ve been grateful for the fact that I am a lawyer and not a prosecutor.”

Seok Juho, who was about to drink the tea that had been served at a perfect temperature, stopped and looked at me.
It was almost lunchtime.
I wanted to accomplish my purpose for being here before then.
So that Seok Juho could immediately share a table with someone other than me.

“What do you mean by that?”
“If I were a prosecutor right now, I wouldn’t be able to show my face for the past few months, would I? Especially now that my face is so well-known.”

Clink.

Seok Juho placed his cup on the table.
As a silent urge to get to the point.

“As I’m sure you’re aware, since it’s a matter I know of, Director, I recently heard about a ‘ledger’.”
“…Continue.”

Unlike Seok Juho’s full cup, my cup was still empty.
I looked into the empty white cup that reflected nothing and opened my mouth.

“I happened to hear something a while ago.”
“What is it?”
“‘ES has been continuously receiving bribes from Chairman J, and these bribes have become ES’s political foundation. He intends to enter politics based on that foundation.'”

A plausible truth mixed with a well-crafted lie.
Seok Juho scanned me from behind his transparent glasses, his eyes sharp.

“Here, ES is Prosecutor General Nam Eunsuk, and J is Chairman Jo Hyeokjun of Korea Defense.”

I deliberately lowered my gaze as if I were troubled and avoided looking at Seok Juho.
I simply let him observe me as much as he wanted.
To judge my intentions, my thoughts, to his heart’s content.

“Chairman Jo has recorded all of these facts, and the police recently obtained that ledger and are investigating it. I’m sure you, Director, were not unaware of what I know.”

Swoosh.

I raised my gaze for the first time since I started speaking.
I made direct eye contact with Seok Juho.

“…You seem to have a good source of information.”

The words that came out of Seok Juho’s mouth were neither an affirmation nor a denial.

‘It’s an answer that doesn’t reveal his hand.’

There was no reason to show hostility to a seasoned opponent.
A method that scatters their concentration would be more effective.

“I only have one pair of ears, but there are countless people who want to talk. I keep picking up things like this.”

The steam no longer rose from the cup in front of Seok Juho.
The gentle atmosphere was cooling down along with him.
He simply kept his eyes on me with a blank expression.
But I knew that Seok Juho was meticulously calculating behind the shield of that emotionless face.
I deliberately looked at my watch as if to show him and opened my mouth.

“Ah, it’s getting late. Shall we go for a meal? I’d like to treat you this time. It’s a restaurant I’ve carefully chosen to express my gratitude in many ways.”
“…I have a meeting at lunch. I don’t think I can make it for a meal. I’ll contact you next time.”

The dismissal was concise and ordinary.

“That’s a shame. Thank you for your time. I’ll be sure to treat you next time.”

I bowed to Seok Juho and left the room.

[His expression is the same, but his eyebrows are a bit more honest. It seems he took the bait, right?]

‘Of course.’

An employee bowed to me as I left the room.

“Goodbye, sir.”
“Have a good day.”

My steps felt as light as if I were floating.

Across the table laden with lavish food, the two men were steeped in silence.
A work of art was spread out on each and every plate, but they had no leisure to appreciate the scene.

“…So you’re saying you heard that from that bastard lawyer, Cha Yohan.”

Breaking the deep silence, it was Nam Eunsuk who spoke first.
Seok Juho nodded and replied.

“Yes. But there was no other intention in his tone. He’s not old enough to be that brazen either.”
“Age has nothing to do with it. You know as well as I do, Director Seok, that this field is full of bastards who act like children no matter how old they are.”

Nam Eunsuk fell silent for a moment after those words.
He brought a glass to his lips as if his throat were dry, then swung his arm without taking a drink.

Thud!

A sound that couldn’t be a ceramic breaking echoed through the room.
Despite the commotion, Seok Juho maintained his posture without a single flinch.
As if it were a familiar occurrence.
But it wasn’t.
Nam Eunsuk was a person who controlled his emotions better than anyone, the type to use emotions as a weapon.
He knew better than anyone how his anger could wear down an opponent, and he used that fact as a clever move.
Seok Juho was now realizing why a person can’t react at all when they are extremely surprised.

“Hoo.”

Nam Eunsuk’s deep breaths were occasionally, quietly, ragged.

‘I’m just as confused.’

But the other person was the Prosecutor General.
Instead of revealing his confusion, Seok Juho hid it.
How could a person treat another person with only affection?
Especially in this dog-eat-dog world, in this narrow domain where people only wished for someone else’s downfall.

‘If I’m not careful, I’ll get dragged into this too.’

The reason Seok Juho had cooperated with Nam Eunsuk so far was not because of his feelings for the man, but because of the power he held.

‘Of all the times…’

Luck often played a larger role in life than one might think.
And that luck was mostly created by timing.
He already held the key position of Secretary-General of the Bar Association, but it was a position too small to satisfy Seok Juho’s ambition.

‘How did I endure it until now?’

Seok Juho hid the sweat beading on his palms and adjusted his glasses.
His goal was the prosecution.
But if a problem arose for Nam Eunsuk in a situation like this, Seok Juho’s dream would turn to bubbles before it even began.
Like a duck on the Nakdong River, literally.
While Nam Eunsuk was lost in anger, Seok Juho was also lost in thought.

‘How much do the police know? Should I have prodded Cha Yohan a bit more? No, if I had, it might have been revealed that I’m connected to Prosecutor General Nam.’

He had told Nam Eunsuk that he didn’t sense any ulterior motives from Cha Yohan.
However, not sensing any ulterior motives was different from not sensing ‘anything’ at all.
While observing Cha Yohan, he had been surprisingly unable to read anything.
Except for the feeling that his smiling face was not smiling at all.

‘If he knows these facts, there must be a reason he came to see me.’

When his past with Nam Eunsuk was revealed, he couldn’t even guarantee the preservation of his Secretary-General position.
It was a dilemma if there ever was one.
The fact that Cha Yohan, whom they had considered a disposable pawn, had come with this information was also a situation that did not exist in their calculations.

‘Just a mere lawyer…’

The number of pawns below Nam Eunsuk and Seok Juho was incomparable to those above them.
Ultimately, that meant that there were just as many enemies above and below.
From below, they pushed their heads in to overthrow, and from above, they stomped down with their feet to avoid being overthrown.
Seok Juho thought of the people who had been openly aiming for his position for some time now.
And he glanced at the now somewhat calmed Nam Eunsuk.

‘…Should I start cleaning up now?’

If he started getting rid of the evidence little by little from today, it wasn’t impossible.
Nam Eunsuk vaguely sensed the meaning behind Seok Juho’s gaze as he scanned him.
But he did not open his mouth.
It was difficult to expect a good outcome from adding words at a time like this.
And since he had accepted everything Jo Hyeokjun had casually offered, a denial was also impossible.

‘Damn it… The cleanup was almost finished.’

Nam Eunsuk had been putting in considerable effort to clean up for the past few months for his target position of Minister of Justice.

‘The hearing is a month away.’

The position was his own, to the point that he had gladly heard that he had already been unofficially appointed.
If that ledger were to really surface in a situation like this, it would be like throwing ashes on a fully prepared meal.

‘The President will probably turn a blind eye.’

The new administration was currently preparing for a large-scale personnel change.
Nam Eunsuk was a hidden contributor to this administration, to the point that the President had secretly called him in a few days ago to praise his efforts.
But if a problem arose, he would be cast aside faster than anyone.

‘He’ll console me by saying it’s a shame to my face, then use me as an example to purge the previous administration.’

When his thoughts reached that point, the anger that had filled him instantly turned to cold calculation.
It was the unique rationality that had placed Nam Eunsuk in the Prosecutor General’s seat in such a short time.
He stared at Seok Juho, not with eyes clouded by anger, but with a clear gaze, and after a long pause, he opened his mouth.

“Director Seok.”
“Yes, senior.”
“Let’s strike before the ball comes to us.”
“…What do you mean by that?”

Nam Eunsuk looked at the fragments of the glass he had broken with a gentle gaze, as if admiring a work of art, and added.

“Because the side that speaks first is usually considered the truth.”

He just had to become the accuser, not the accused.
Under the pretext of justice.

I parked the car across from the Korea Defense headquarters with Lee Ilwoo and waited for the right moment.
Two days had passed since I met Seok Juho.
Someone must have been very busy during that time.
Lee Ilwoo checked the side mirror and spoke.

“They’re coming.”
“Our timing is perfect.”

Screech!

Soon, a line of black cars came to a stop in front of the Korea Defense headquarters.

Tap-tap-tap!

People dressed in black poured out of the cars.
Holding numerous boxes in their hands.

“Move aside! We’re from the prosecution!”
“Oh my, what’s going on?”
“The prosecution? The prosecution?”

The grand, showy entrance effectively stole everyone’s attention.
Because the people who were out in the lobby for their lunch break hurriedly took out their phones and started contacting people here and there.
The security guards protecting the lobby hurriedly blocked the entrance to the building.

“Outsiders are not allowed!”

The man at the front rummaged through his inner pocket as if he had expected this.
He soon took out a piece of paper and waved it gently.

“Well, this outsider is in the middle of executing official duties. Here’s the warrant. Now let’s move aside.”

At the prosecutor’s firm rebuke, the security guards stumbled back while exchanging signals through their earpieces.

Swish!

Following the prosecutor’s gesture, a large number of personnel disappeared into the building.

‘Nam Eunsuk is playing a pretty strong hand.’

Which, for me, was a delightful development.