Side story 2 The Ditched Prosecutor

The ringing of the alarm cut through the air. As soon as he opened his eyes, he was in a bad mood. This hadn’t happened in a very, very long time. 

In fact, Yeon Woojeong’s mornings were always rough. He wasn’t a morning person, so waking up to the alarm was often a pain in the ass, and it wasn’t until he got to the prosecutor’s office that he felt like himself again. He had been like that until he started living with Kim Jiho. 

As soon as he woke up in the morning, the sleepiness slowly and refreshingly receded when he saw Kim Jiho. He used to think the idea of living with someone and sharing a bed with them was far from him. He had no desire, no plan, and no wish to do so, so sometimes his daily routine with Kim Jiho felt like a novelty. 

But today, there was no Kim Jiho. Yesterday, after sending him to the training center, it was his first day away from Kim Jiho. Yeon Woojeong frowned and reached for the nightstand. Yes, the alarm. The sound of what would normally have been off early by Kim Jiho’s hand was loudly announcing its presence.

“Hahh…”

He raised his body, which felt exceptionally tired. It was only natural since he had gotten up early in the morning to drive six hours round trip. Besides, after sending Kim Jiho off, he stayed there until the sun went down. He couldn’t easily go back home, obviously looking like sending his child off to war. Even though it was only for five weeks. 

“Only”, but when it came to Kim Jiho, was there ever a time when the word “only” applied? 

He couldn’t stay dilly-dallying anymore. Yeon Woojeong slipped out of bed and got ready for work. 

As he drove to the prosecutor’s office, the last image of Kim Jiho kept coming back to his mind. The place was bustling with people. They were all around his age, but in the midst of them, Kim Jiho looked exceptionally young and mature. Although Yeon Woojeong had tried to let go of his worries, knowing that it would happen anyway and that Kim Jiho would return home in good health, it felt weird to see him leaving.

Kim Jiho, who was about to walk through the gate, suddenly turned around and rushed up to Yeon Woojeong, pulling him into a tight embrace before leaving. 

Yeon Woojeong sometimes realized what it meant to be crushed in a hug through his hug with Kim Jiho. As if he could still feel the warmth and force of that moment, Yeon Woojeong shook his head and tightened and loosened his grip on the steering wheel. 

At least, when he got to work and started working frantically, the feeling of emptiness was quickly dispersed. There was a lot of paperwork to look at and work to do, and it wasn’t until after lunch that he was able to relax, but when he saw the defendant in front of him, his body tightened up again. Although he had been doing this for a long time and had developed his own know-how and tricks, he couldn’t relax when it came to dealing with people. He looked carefree outside but intensely scrutinized the defendant inside.

“Gosh.”

The defendant sighed loudly, shaking his legs. The man had been showing a disrespectful attitude ever since he entered this place. Yeon Woojeong looked down at the report. The man was in his twenties. He was the same age as Kim Jiho.

“How long do I have to be here?”

The man who kept saying “I don’t know” and “I don’t remember” throughout the interrogation as if he had some sort of strategy, was clearly looking eager to go. Perhaps, he had nothing to say, not that he didn’t know, because he had just assaulted a classmate whom he had bullied throughout the school years, causing him to suffer 24 weeks of severe injuries, at a bar. 

“Come on, Prosecutor, you know it, don’t you? I have a clean record, so it’s my first offense, and I’ll get a settlement. Moreover, I’m a young man with a bright future ahead of me, a young man. I’m sure you’ll understand because you also went to a good school.”

The victim had no intention of agreeing to a settlement. Since it was not a simple assault, but a planned assault, the offender could still be punished even if the victim settled, but it would affect the sentence. Although it wouldn’t have been easy to fight back against the violence he had been subjected to since his school days, the victim’s will remained strong. 

When a bastard with money and power said something like this, it would evoke a fighting spirit, but when a bastard with nothing came out and said it proudly, Yeon Woojeong couldn’t even laugh. If this defendant was smart, he should have bowed down and shown signs of remorse, even if he was not remorseful in the slightest. 

Twenty-one years old. Yeon Woojeong stared down at the date of birth in the report.

He remembered Kim Jiho clenching his fists tightly, biting his lower lip in anticipation of his disappointment as he confessed his past mistakes. With a look of despair and expectation on his face and a choked voice, he confessed as if he had done some sort of evil deed. 

Yeon Woojeong had no intention of telling Kim Jiho what he had done was not his fault, but after meeting this kind of asshole, Kim Jiho’s fault hardly mattered. Even if he’d done something worse, it wouldn’t make a difference. 

Yeon Woojeong drummed his fingers on the papers on his desk.

“Yes.”

“…”

“Everyone says that.”

With his right foot forward and his back against the chair, Yeon Woojeong raised his eyes, causing the man across from him to flinch. He was past the point where he’d be outraged by something like this. Well, not that he’d been that passionate in his early days. 

“It’d be nice if we all got the results we wanted.”

He reached out his index finger and carelessly pulled the papers back together.

“Too bad, huh?”

He knew how his impression would make his lighthearted remark come across to the other man, even if he didn’t try very hard to be sarcastic. The man pursed his lips in momentary bewilderment.

There was no way he was going to have any fun with this worthless bastard. Yeon Woojeong shot a glance at the investigator. If the man wanted it so badly, it was time to let him go. Though it would be the last time he’d get what he wanted.

.

.

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It was a little past nine o’clock when he arrived home. It felt awkward to take off his shoes in the empty entrance. Although he had been living alone for a longer period of time, the short time he had been living with one person must have become ingrained in him. Yeon Woojeong brushed his foot against the slippers that Kim Jiho wore when he went outside briefly before walking inside. 

After turning on the light in the living room, Yeon Woojeong undressed and went into the bathroom. Once he got out, he felt a little hungry, but he didn’t really feel like eating anything. However, if Kim Jiho had been there, he would have opened his eyes wide and headed to the kitchen if he heard that he hadn’t eaten dinner. 

Yeon Woojeong laughed to himself. Since he had promised him, he went to the refrigerator and opened the freezer. The freezer was filled with frozen white rice.

“Mr. Yeon, you know what?”

“What?”

“They say it’s not good to heat up plastic.”

He recalled a conversation they had at the butcher shop before Kim Jiho left for the training center. His words had sounded out of place. Yeon Woojeong looked around to see if there was any plastic on the table, but he couldn’t find it. Then, it must be something he suddenly remembered. Whenever Kim Jiho would tell Yeon Woojeong something he’d picked up somewhere, or something he didn’t think he would know, he would ask him if he knew it. This time, it was something Yeon Woojeong also knew.

“Really?”

“Yeah. Speaking of the lunch box you eat, isn’t that made of plastic?”

Yeon Woojeong laughed lightly, realizing what Kim Jiho was trying to say. In other words, he was telling him to not barely have meals with lunch boxes.

There were times when he felt particularly touched when Kim Jiho worried about his meals. For anyone who had ever experienced extreme hunger, it was an indispensable part of life and sometimes represented a great deal of affection.

“I think the amount of rice you’ve frozen is enough for a month.” 

“It’s not that much.” 

“There’s no place to keep a lunch box in the freezer.”

“Well, it was really stuffy.”

Yeon Woojeong burst out laughing at the way Kim Jiho proudly nodded. There was nothing much different then and now. He laughed often when they were together, but even in his absence, Kim Jiho still made him laugh.

Yeon Woojeong took out the bowl of rice and let it thaw, then grabbed a few side dishes from the refrigerator and sat down at the table. It was too quiet in the house, and it had been a while since he’d felt desolate while eating. Still, the side dishes they had bought together weren’t bad. He thought that he should at least finish them and not throw them away. He diligently worked his chopsticks to finish the meal. 

The rest of the night felt unusually long. As he thought about what to do before falling asleep, his gaze drifted to the locked door. Without thinking twice, Yeon Woojeong walked through and entered Kim Jiho’s room. 

Flipping on the light, he found a tidy room. He glanced at the grayish-blue wallpaper, navy blue bedding, and solid wood desk before approaching the desk. He poked the teddy bear’s belly on the corner of the desk. The fingers that pressed against the plump belly moved to the side and skimmed the neatly stacked books. He pulled out a book on a subject he didn’t know and flipped through it. There were traces of fervent studying everywhere, and he laughed at the messy but diligent handwriting. 

You worked hard, Kim Jiho.

Yeon Woojeong knew it, but he felt proud to see it again. After putting the book down, he pulled out something that stuck out. It was an album, and it seemed that Kim Jiho had printed a few pictures and collected them like this, following his example. 

Yeon Woojeong smiled when he saw a picture of him that he didn’t know of. Kim Jiho really did something cute, whether in front of him or not. Yeon Woojeong wasn’t too interested in looking at his photo, so he skimmed through it and put it back. 

The last thing he reached for was a thin file holder on the edge of the table. He opened it without much thought but then paused. The very first page contained the proof of his declaration that day in front of the field of reeds.

Kim Jiho had been so nonchalant when he’d handed it over, so he never thought he’d keep it like this. Yeon Woojeong stared down at the paper for a long time before flipping to the next page. There was a GED certificate and then a completion certificate from the institute. 

Should I buy a frame and put this up? 

Yeon Woojeong looked around the room, wondering where to put it if he bought a frame, and then smiled as he thought of Kim Jiho, who would probably ask him why he had put it up upon his return. He could see how he would say it and the look on his face. 

Apparently, it was impossible for him to sleep early today. With a light sigh, Yeon Woojeong put the file back in its place and left the room.

TN: Though I guess some of you may have noticed, the proof of promise mentioned is adoption papers.