63
The enemy’s corpse floats downstream
The situation was resolved with the police who arrived after a report from the neighbor. The responding officers looked bewildered at the scene: me looking like a thief, the woman appearing to be a rape victim, and the department head who seemed to be both the homeowner and theft victim, as well as a sexual assault suspect. I couldn’t prove my identity as I had nothing with me when I came here, but the department head was able to show his ID. Ah, shit. That damn Security Bureau. As soon as they saw the Security Bureau employee ID, the police were about to drag me away based on his claims. A vile smile flashed in the department head’s eyes, and just as I thought I should have snapped that bastard’s neck…
The woman, now dressed, walked briskly over and presented her ID to the police.
“I’m a prosecutor.”
…So, this is how it turns out?
People are such shallow beings. The police and I simultaneously forgot our positions and grudges, our eyes sparkling with interest at this fascinating situation as we looked at Layer. As expected, Layer’s face had turned ashen. Even at this moment, he still thought I was the problem and never imagined that woman would be the issue.
Layer shook his head.
“Why, why, prosecutor – that’s a lie!”
Hmm, good. The first stage of the five stages of despair is denial. Or was it the five stages of grief? Whatever it is, whether he grieves to the point of despair or despairs to the point of grief, the only place that greedy fool is headed is straight to hell.
“Why? Is it a lie?” the woman asked, arms crossed, still holding her prosecutor ID in one hand.
“What kind of prosecutor dresses like that? Are you impersonating a prosecutor? You bitch, do you want to die-”
As Layer approached, grinding his teeth, I subtly stepped in front of the woman. I couldn’t let a scratch appear on the face of this benefactor who had created such an interesting situation. When I blocked his path, Layer’s eyes bulged.
“Get out of the way. Move!”
“I don’t want to.”
“I’ll kill you, you son of a bitch!”
“Wow, you, a little puppy, are going to kill me? I’m really curious. How are you going to do it?”
This is too much fun. Actually, this situation would have been fun even if Layer and I weren’t enemies. Have I been wronged by Layer too much? Has this bastard been acting up quite a bit? But experiencing this while we’re already at odds is just too refreshing. This refreshing feeling, as if everything I’ve been choked up about my whole life is being cleared away! I grinned as I hooked my right index finger around a knife and twirled it.
“You fucking bastard, you think you can act up because you have a rich boyfriend?”
“No, I’m acting up because I believe in myself. Come at me, Layer. Just try it once. Then I’ll show you what I’ve been…”
I took a step towards him, and he stepped back as if his earlier threats were a lie. Oh, why are you like this? Don’t be so boring. I took another step forward, smiling with my eyes. He retreated two more steps when he saw my smiling face.
“For your sake, I’ll demonstrate what I’ve done to your enemies. Don’t be so scared. When you spoke to me like a dog so many times, when you waterboarded me, when you slandered me, when you tried to kill me – you didn’t expect this situation at all, did you?”
As I was smiling, a sharp voice came from behind me.
“I don’t know what’s going on here, but I’m not done. Would you mind stepping aside?”
It was the prosecutor from earlier. Yes, ma’am! I immediately moved aside. The prosecutor then walked towards Layer in her stiletto heels, each step echoing.
I could see why Layer had tried to seduce her at the bar and thought he could get away with touching her. She had a fashion sense similar to the women who look for clients in hotel lounges at night. A short skirt and an overly revealing suit. The kind of outfit that makes you think, “Who would wear that to work?” But given that she had a legitimate prosecutor ID, and judging by the atmosphere where one of the police officers seemed to have verified her identity amid this chaos, it appeared to be her personal style. Well, while Rotman has a conservative atmosphere, the Rotman Prosecutor’s Office is not like that. Rotman is a country with such poor public safety that prosecutors have been shot dead by the mafia on the streets, so they don’t dare to care about dress codes. The two things the Prosecutor’s Office wants from prosecutors are competence and safety.
And again, Rotman is a very scary place to be a prosecutor. So, the combat power of each prosecutor is far above the global average.
Pow-
Wow, even when a woman slaps, she uses her fist. Good angle.
“Hey.”
The prosecutor called out to Layer. Simply. Layer couldn’t respond. Judging by the sound, Layer’s jaw was broken now. When you hear both a “pow” and a “crack,” there’s a high probability that the jaw is broken. It’s not just dislocated. Our prosecutor who did this with one hit. That’s right, to be a prosecutor in Rotman, you can’t just rely on ordinary toughness.
“Prosecutor, this is a bit problematic,” one of the police officers called out to her. He meant that assault was unacceptable, but fat chance. As expected, the prosecutor glared at him.
“Problematic? Did you just say problematic? Me being tied to that bed in my slip, unable to resist at all, wasn’t problematic? I clearly pressed the emergency button right before that happened to me.”
Rotman prosecutors often carry emergency buttons because they frequently face danger. As soon as the button is pressed, nearby police track the GPS location and rush over. The problem is that this system malfunctions more often than expected. It’s an item they have to carry all the time in their daily lives, so you can imagine how troublesome it is. As a result, the police response has been getting slower and slower. And until now, it probably wasn’t a problem even if the response was slow, for the most part. Honestly, if you get shot on the street, where’s the time to press a button?
But this time, the signal sent by the button was a call for help, and the police ignored it. If the prosecutor decides to make an issue of this, probably everyone from the police chief down in this neighborhood station will be fired. Police officers being dismissed is a very sad thing. Our country still has special benefits for civil servants. Especially for police officers, it’s quite a popular job because they receive a lot of bribes from local citizens. I’m so used to our country that when I first worked abroad, I couldn’t understand that giving bribes to civil servants doesn’t solve problems but rather gets you arrested. Isn’t it good for both of us if they take a bribe and let me go? There was a time when I thought like that. I know now that it’s not like that, but many Rotman citizens still think that way.
The two police officers turned pale at the mention of the emergency button. Realizing this was beyond what they could handle, they suddenly whispered to each other, and then the one who looked more experienced needlessly picked up his radio.
“Understood, we’re on our way.”
He said this into the empty radio even though no call had come in, and as he dragged the younger officer away, he shouted, “We’ll assume the three of you will come to an agreement!” As they were closing the door on their way out-
“Leave the door open, please.”
A familiar voice was heard. It was my future fiancé.
Sebastian only glanced at the unknown woman beating up Layer. With a completely disinterested face, he held out his hand to me.
“It doesn’t seem like you achieved your intended goal.”
“It was more than that.”
I may not have instilled fear, but I gained joy, so it was worth it. And didn’t I gain some fear too? It might not be fear of me, but a prosecutor appearing who’s going to crush Layer, a civil servant, was real fear. Judging by her current beating frenzy, this prosecutor seemed like the type who wouldn’t be satisfied even after tearing Layer into 360 pieces. Layer’s life had already entered a week of terror. I was about to slip away when I asked the prosecutor,
“Prosecutor, I’m leaving. Would you like to come with us?”
She had, after all, experienced something unpleasant in this house. It felt a bit cowardly to leave the two of them alone in this house. Was it excessive interference? I was ready to leave quickly if she told me to get lost, but the prosecutor who had been beating Layer suddenly seemed to come to her senses and turned to look at me.
Her panting appearance was quite… it felt like she had exercised too much.
I have nothing to say.
While I remained silent, the prosecutor started gathering her belongings. She picked up her handbag and said, “Let’s go.” Her face was stiff, and I could see her fingertips trembling. She must have been really shocked. Pretending not to notice these aspects of her, I gestured for her to go first. She smiled faintly at my “ladies first” gesture and said, “Thank you,” but then suddenly turned back towards Layer, kicked him hard in the face, and returned.
“Ah, it’s broken.”
At my comment about his nose being broken, Kouri, who was behind Sebastian, muttered, “His tooth came out too.” Sure enough, Layer coughed and spat out a tooth.
Phew-
The prosecutor, who had returned in front of me with a satisfied look, led the way out of Layer’s apartment. As I was about to follow her out, Sebastian took my padded jacket from Kouri and put it on me. Then he took off the cleaning company cap from my head and handed it to Kouri.
Just by wearing the long padded jacket, I became a different person from before. As we were leaving the apartment, we saw a police car parked in front. The two police officers we had seen earlier jumped out of the car when they saw us.
The prosecutor was about to approach the police when she turned to look at me.
“I’d like to express my gratitude. Where can I contact you?”
She clearly started by looking at me when she first spoke, but by the time she finished her question, her eyes were directed at Sebastian. It was disconcerting that her gaze seemed to be looking at him as if he were my guardian. Even though I’m engaged to Sebastian, he’s not my guardian, is he? No, we haven’t even told her we’re engaged, so why is this prosecutor naturally asking Sebastian for contact information?
While I was confused, Sebastian answered in a matter-of-fact tone.
“If you give me your business card, I’ll have my secretary contact you.”
“Ah, secretary.”
The prosecutor smiled as if she understood and haughtily handed over a business card. It had her name, contact information, and office location. After giving Sebastian her card, she turned her attention to me as if she was done with him. And for a moment, she smiled softly.
“Thank you.”
Her voice was cracking, and I thought that perhaps for the first time this night, she was showing her true emotions. I didn’t want to receive excessive thanks since I hadn’t really tried to save her. I said, “It was just a coincidence,” and stepped back towards Sebastian.
