Lee Hanyeong, who had been looking at the small window, turned his head toward Prosecutor Park Cheolwoo.
"Do you think we can get in through here?"
"Is it open?"
Of course, it was locked.
"These kinds of windows open if you push in the middle and shake them up and down."
Prosecutor Park Cheolwoo let out a long sigh.
"Hey, Judge Lee Hanyeong. Did we come here to check a thief's house, or to commit theft ourselves?"
"If you don't like it, then don't. If you think I'm committing a crime, arrest me."
"Ah, seriously!"
Ignoring Prosecutor Park Cheolwoo's words, Lee Hanyeong squatted down and began shaking the small window up and down.
Just as he said, the locking mechanism was slowly shifting.
Prosecutor Park Cheolwoo stared at Lee Hanyeong with a stunned expression.
"What are you doing right now?!"
It was annoying enough that he couldn't help, but standing there and nitpicking made it worse.
Lee Hanyeong paused briefly and spoke to Prosecutor Park Cheolwoo.
"Prosecutor Park Cheolwoo, if I open this window and go inside and there's nothing, you can arrest me, right? Since it happened on the scene, you won't even need a warrant."
"Yes, got it. Today's paper was decorated by a foul-mouthed judge, and tomorrow it'll run a headline about a thieving judge. Two days in a row—how nice, you'll get famous."
Lee Hanyeong quietly looked at Prosecutor Park Cheolwoo.
"Prosecutor Park Cheolwoo, what will you do if I go inside and find something?"
"Are you trying to make a bet like an elementary school kid?"
"You do me a favor. How about it?"
"Do whatever you want."
Lee Hanyeong started shaking the window again.
A sigh slipped out of Prosecutor Park Cheolwoo's mouth.
A moment later, the small window opened.
Before Prosecutor Park Cheolwoo could stop him, Lee Hanyeong immediately bent down and climbed inside.
It was a small studio apartment with a separate kitchen.
Perhaps because no one had come and gone for a long time since Kim Sangjin was caught, the place felt cold.
Lee Hanyeong slowly looked around the room.
A clothes rack with clothes hanging on it, a refrigerator, a television, and a bathroom came into view.
Lee Hanyeong's gaze stopped at the bathroom.
'Could it be?'
Prosecutor Park Cheolwoo's voice came from outside the window.
"Is there something? There's nothing, right? Come out quickly, before I report this."
Lee Hanyeong gestured for him to be quiet and slowly headed toward the bathroom.
One step, two steps.
Standing in front of the bathroom, Lee Hanyeong carefully grabbed the doorknob.
He couldn't open it easily.
If he opened the door, there might be a dismembered corpse inside.
Feeling tense was unavoidable.
He swallowed hard.
'No matter what comes out, don't be surprised. One, two.'
Lee Hanyeong flung the door open.
Fortunately, there was no corpse.
Instead, there were shampoo, conditioner, and bleach commonly found in households.
Looking more closely, he spotted something with an English brand name.
When he moved closer, it turned out to be a bloodstain remover with clear usage instructions.
'It's definitely here.'
Lee Hanyeong came out of the bathroom and looked around the studio again.
There didn't seem to be any obvious place to hide a body.
He opened the sliding door and headed to the kitchen.
'The refrigerator?'
In movies, comics, and even real life, there were crazy people who stored corpses in refrigerators.
Lee Hanyeong headed straight for the fridge.
And flung it open.
"Shit!"
He couldn't help but curse.
From outside the window, Prosecutor Park Cheolwoo's voice rang out urgently.
"Why? What? What? Is there something? What is it?!"
At the same time, in the office shared by Lee Hanyeong and Kim Yunhyeok.
While reading the case files, Kim Yunhyeok shifted only his eyes to check Chief Presiding Judge Im Jeongsik's expression.
Im Jeongsik, sitting in Lee Hanyeong's seat, had a stiff, hardened face.
It looked as if he was ready to smash Lee Hanyeong the moment he walked in.
Kim Yunhyeok carefully opened his mouth.
"Chief Presiding Judge, would you like some coffee?"
"No."
"Judge Lee Hanyeong seems to be having a hard time. He's the type who can't show it, so he's probably suffering alone."
Chief Presiding Judge Im Jeongsik turned his gaze toward Kim Yunhyeok.
"I heard you handled your first solo trial well yesterday?"
"It wasn't a difficult case, so I resolved it easily."
"If only Lee Hanyeong had done even half as well."
Chief Presiding Judge Im Jeongsik clicked his tongue and shifted his gaze to his vibrating phone.
He brought the phone to his ear.
"Did you find Lee Hanyeong?"
—W-Well…
"Stop stuttering and speak."
The voice on the other end hurriedly continued.
—They say Kim Sangjin was a serial killer. We just got a call that a body was found in his house.
Chief Presiding Judge Im Jeongsik's eyes widened.
"What are you talking about? Explain properly!"
—So, Judge Lee Hanyeong is at the crime scene right now. We don't know why he's there, but anyway, they say he secured evidence proving that Kim Sangjin is a serial killer!
"That crazy bastard! Is he a detective? Who does he think he is, finding criminal evidence?!"
—We'll monitor the situation and contact you again.
The call ended.
Chief Presiding Judge Im Jeongsik's eyes turned cold as he stared at the phone.
But only for a moment.
Gradually, a smile spread across his lips.
"That crazy bastard, hehehe."
In front of Kim Sangjin's house.
Police car lights flashed brightly.
Police tape was set up, and neighborhood residents craned their necks toward Kim Sangjin's house.
Prosecutor Park Cheolwoo glanced at Lee Hanyeong.
"I'll roughly gloss over the fact that you entered and searched without a warrant."
"Please do."
"How did you know Kim Sangjin committed murder?"
"The evidence is telling us."
"Evidence? What kind of evidence said something so pretty?"
Prosecutor Park Cheolwoo tilted his head as he put a cigarette in his mouth.
The only evidence he had presented in court so far was the time Lee Hanyeong unlawfully entered. There wasn't a single thing related to a murder case.
He couldn't understand what evidence had supposedly spoken loudly enough to justify ransacking someone's house without a warrant.
Lee Hanyeong spoke.
"If he were a first-time offender who decided to steal, wouldn't he choose a secluded place that wouldn't draw attention? I don't think he'd break into a house on a main road just because he was hungry. No matter how hungry you are, it's natural to be scared."
"That's just suspicion, isn't it? You realized he was a murderer based on that?"
Lee Hanyeong waved his hand.
"There were many missing person reports nearby and various suspicious things, but let's just call it a judge's intuition. And from here on, it's your job to figure things out, Prosecutor Park Cheolwoo. I can't spoon-feed you everything, can I? I think the country pays you a salary to find out things like that."
Of course, he couldn't say that he already knew about this case.
He had spoken dismissively out of annoyance, but Prosecutor Park Cheolwoo seemed convinced.
After watching his expression, Lee Hanyeong said,
"You remember the bet from earlier, right?"
"You mean doing you a favor? As long as it's within reason, I'll do it."
Lee Hanyeong looked Prosecutor Park Cheolwoo over again.
Because of his stubborn personality, he had never managed to get on the fast track to promotion.
He remembered hearing that when Prosecutor Park Cheolwoo died in a traffic accident, people from all walks of life attended his funeral.
That meant Prosecutor Park Cheolwoo had built connections in many areas.
Stubborn yet well-connected—he might be of great help someday. Thinking it would be best to wrap things up simply now and continue the relationship, Lee Hanyeong spoke.
"There should be a prosecutor named Kim Jina, one year junior to me."
"Kim Jina?"
"I'd like to meet her."
"Kim Jina, Kim Jina…"
Kim Jina was the prosecutor who had cornered Chairman Jang Taesik.
Lee Hanyeong thought Kim Jina was also someone he would exchange considerable help with.
Prosecutor Park Cheolwoo, who had been tilting his head, asked,
"Is she pretty?"
"What?"
"She's a year junior, so you must've seen her in passing at the Judicial Research and Training Institute. You're contacting her because she's pretty, right? Even judges look for pretty women?"
Lee Hanyeong stared silently at Prosecutor Park Cheolwoo.
'I heard he was stubborn and heavy.'
But the Prosecutor Park Cheolwoo he had spoken to directly was lighthearted.
As soon as Lee Hanyeong entered the courthouse, he was dragged into the Chief Presiding Judge's office and stood at attention.
"Lee Hanyeong!"
Chief Presiding Judge Im Jeongsik stood up and continued in a harsh voice.
"Have you lost your mind? Skipping work to run around catching criminals? Are you a detective or a prosecutor? You're a judge!"
"I'm sorry."
Chief Presiding Judge Im Jeongsik walked straight up to Lee Hanyeong.
His face was clearly twisted in a scowl.
But it was obvious he was holding back a smile, his lips twitching.
In other words, the scolding was just for show.
Standing in front of Lee Hanyeong, Chief Presiding Judge Im Jeongsik raised the newspaper he was holding.
His expression was stiff.
"Did you see this?"
"I didn't."
Chief Presiding Judge Im Jeongsik unfolded the newspaper.
The headline article came into view.
A Judge's Excessive Verbal Abuse, Sentences a Thief to Death
"This is today's headline. What do you think?"
"I'm sorry."
Chief Presiding Judge Im Jeongsik ripped the newspaper to shreds, then burst out laughing as he continued.
"Tomorrow, the headline will be Judge Lee Hanyeong Who Caught a Serial Killer. Well done. Very well done! Hahahahaha!"
Chief Presiding Judge Im Jeongsik's large hand patted Lee Hanyeong's shoulder.
At times like this, there was only one thing to say.
"It's all thanks to you, Chief Presiding Judge."
"When you get interviewed later, don't forget to include that."
"Yes, I understand."
At Lee Hanyeong's calm voice, Chief Presiding Judge Im Jeongsik smiled brightly. Then he pulled out a chair at the table in the center of the office and sat down.
"There's one piece of good news and one piece of bad news."
"I'll hear the bad news first."
"You know that even though you secured the criminal evidence, you can't preside over this trial, right?"
Lee Hanyeong was a single-judge magistrate, making decisions alone in court.
The cases a single-judge magistrate could handle were limited to minor criminals.
To preside over the trial of a serial killer, one had to be at the level of a presiding judge.
Lee Hanyeong nodded.
"Yes, I know."
"As disappointing as it is, bear with it."
Lee Hanyeong thought that at least he had untangled the twisted threads by shouting "Death penalty!"
Still, it was disappointing.
It was only natural to want to properly conclude the trial that had become a stain in his previous life.
But he couldn't express it.
Lee Hanyeong was a single-judge magistrate. There were still many things he couldn't do yet.
Lee Hanyeong slightly bowed his head to Chief Presiding Judge Im Jeongsik.
"Then I'll take my leave."
"No. There's somewhere you're going with me. Didn't I say there was good news and bad news?"
The bad news was that Lee Hanyeong couldn't preside over Kim Sangjin's trial.
Then what was the good news?
Chief Presiding Judge Im Jeongsik said,
"I reported this to the Chief Justice, and he was very pleased. It seems he wants to praise you in person."
Lee Hanyeong blinked, wondering if he had misheard.