Chapter Text
25 years later …
Nari breathed in deeply, suddenly regretting the very generous breakfast that she had eaten just a couple of hours before, and which she was now struggling to keep down. The trousers of her brand new pantsuit dug uncomfortably in her stomach, and her shoes, costing too much and allegedly made for the working woman to achieve her dreams in comfort! painfully pinched her toes. It was barely ten a.m., and her heels were already blistered.
Bloody advertising. Bloody her for falling for it .
It was her first day as a prosecutor, assigned to the Western Seoul office. In line with the custom introduced by the current Supreme Prosecutor General, all new recruits had been invited to his office for a formal meeting before being officially mandated to commence their work in the various district and branch offices.
The official reason for such a meeting was for the Prosecutor General to welcome them to their new roles. The unofficial reason - and one which was shared amongst all prosecutors who had been subjected to this tradition - was to instill in them the fear of God and Lady Justice. The general consensus amongst them was that it worked.
Hence there she was, standing outside the office of the Supreme Prosecutor, accompanied by the equally nervous, inexperienced but disproportionately ambitious new prosecutors assigned to Western Seoul, and waiting to be summoned by Prosecutor General Hwang Si-mok.
Her Dad.
Hwang Si-mok had occupied the role of Supreme Prosecutor General office for the past ten years. Overlooked and disliked for most of his professional life, it had taken one Minister for Justice, surprisingly made of the same mettle and ethical standing as her father, to realise that he was the man who could finally provide the country with the juridical clean-up it so sorely needed.
For the past decade, her father had worked tirelessly to propose judicial reforms, mend bridges with the police force, and turn the prosecutor’s office into a trusted and well respected agency that continued to attract the brightest legal minds. He remained steadfast in his convictions, refusing to be bought, unwilling to compromise, but leading by example the young generation of prosecutors that year after year, strived to live up to his ever increasing professional expectations.
He was now sixty-four years old, and should have retired a few years ago, but he still remained at his desk, amidst the many rumours and conspiracy theories circulating around this decision. However, Nari knew the truth behind said choice, and it was truly endearing in its simplicity. Her father refused to leave the office until her mother retired as well, admitting unashamedly that he simply didn’t know what to do with himself at home without her. Since finding each other again when Nari was just three, they had been inseparable; loyal, devoted and committed to making each other happy. While eomma loved loudly and demonstratively, appa was quiet and discrete, marking his love with little acts and gestures that her mother continued to appreciate and cherish.
They were total opposites that made one beautiful whole, and the passing of the years only served to bring them even closer together. Her father was planning a long trip to Europe for them in a few years’ time upon their joint retirement, and they were even taking language lessons together, with results that she and her brother Hyun-shik found to be hilarious.
Until then, however, he remained at his desk, overseeing the work of thousands of civil servants tasked with putting criminals behind bars.
It was rumoured that Prosecutor General Hwang’s opinion of each recruit was made during the first meeting on their first day, with every introduction giving him an initial impression of each recruit, setting the scene for their future within the prosecution.
Against this background, Nari could understand why everyone around her was so tense. She was nervous too, very much so, but she also knew that she found herself in a privileged position that she had never asked for . Nari could thus understand why her new colleagues kept staring at her with open resentment and very badly disguised jealousy.
That did not mean, however, that she could not feel upset about it.
She tried hard to avoid eye contact with her future colleagues and stared steadfastly ahead, until the door to her father’s office opened, and one of his assistants invited them in. They filed in silently and found themselves in a grand, tastefully furnished room, with a desk situated at the far end of it, and the formidable Prosecutor General standing next to it, looking at them dispassionately behind a pair of frameless glasses. He had once told her that desks should be placed as far away from the door as was physically possible, since it gave one the opportunity to learn a lot about each visitor, just from their stride and from the way they approached said desks. She couldn’t help but wonder what he was making out of the nervous shuffling that accompanied her entrance and that of her new colleagues.
He stared at them wordlessly for what seemed like an eternity, and Nari could actually hear someone gulping next to her. Truth be told, this version of her father was unnerving her as well, so she used the time he was taking to make them wish for a speedy death, to quickly scan his office.
She was surprised that he actually had picture frames placed strategically around the room, but noticed that, unlike the pictures at home which were carefully curated by her mother, the ones in his office showcased exclusively formal family occasions. He appeared tightlipped and stern in the photo of her mother’s promotion to Superintendent, as well as in that from her graduation ceremony at the Seoul National University, and that of her brother from the National Police University. The only very noticeable exception was an old picture of him, her mother and herself taken when Nari was almost five years old, a year after her parents’ wedding, when - according to applicable Korean law at the time - he could formally register her as his daughter.
It was the day when she had officially become a Hwang.
They were all smiling widely in that selfie, taken by her mother, who was glowing and pregnant with Hyun-shik. Nari was being carried by her father, with her arms and legs wrapped tightly around him, clearly still in her Koala Bear phase, which had lasted embarrassingly long.
She hoped her colleagues had not noticed that picture, but the glares that she was getting her way seemed to indicate otherwise.
Her father cleared his throat and picked up a pile of folders that was neatly stacked on his desk. He opened the top one, overtly, showing that each folder contained their resume and grades achieved at the Training Institute.
“Good morning,” he began. “Western Seoul group, am I correct?”
Nari fought the urge to roll her eyes. He knew very well that this was the “Western Seoul group”. She had received her official summons to work in the Western Seoul office two weeks before, and her mother had gushed for hours about the fact that when she met her father he had been working at that same office. Her father had smiled that little shy smile of his and had held eomma’s hand for the rest of the evening as they watched TV together on the couch. The following morning had been one of those in which eomma woke up smiling and hungry and appa woke up smug. It was disturbing and scarring and yet another reminder that she and Hyun-shik needed to move out, fast.
She mentally chased those thoughts away and focused on the little speech that her father was giving them all; about pride and integrity and their role of servants to justice first, country second. It was a good speech, and by the end of it, she was feeling better, empowered, and reared up to serve and prosecute. However, the meeting was not quite over yet, and to Nari’s dismay, her father was really taking the time - as they had all been warned by their predecessors - to have a word with each and every one of them after scrutinizing their file.
It took a long while, and a lot of bowing and deference and shaking of trembling hands, before he finally got to her. He thankfully did not go through the charade of going through her grades, but just gave her a long, thoughtful look.
“Hwang Nari, this is not going to be easy for you. You are aware of that, correct?” he began cryptically.
Nari frowned, and gave him a questioning look, but she did not dare reply.
“I expect you to work three times as hard, and achieve twice the success of your colleagues, in order to be taken seriously,” he continued seriously. “Your achievements are yours to cherish, but your failures are mine, and I will thus not accept any from you. Neither will I tolerate any special treatment towards you from your peers or superiors. In fact, I will make sure to intervene personally, should you receive any assistance that goes beyond that which is strictly required for the carrying out of your duties to a standard that I find acceptable. I trust that this is clear, Hwang Nari.”
Nari could feel her face burn from the humiliation she was feeling. She swallowed the lump that was threatening to form in her throat, and blinked rapidly to keep her tears at bay. She could not understand why her father was treating her this way, until she … did. She saw the little blink-and-you’ll-miss-it half smile that was followed by an even more discreet sideways nod, before he turned away to launch himself on another victim. She looked quickly in the direction that he had nodded towards, and saw that her colleagues were once again staring at her, but their previous resentment was now transformed into looks of actual sympathy and support.
Seo Kwang-Sun, her main rival for academic success since middle school, and with whom she shared a very fluctuating love-hate relationship, actually gave her a shy, open smile. He was the youngest son of Chief Prosecutor Seo Dong-jae.
And he was also rather cute.
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Later that morning, when Nari finally found her way back to her new office, she found a text from her father.
Love you and proud of you. Good luck on your first day. Now go make friends.
She grinned and quickly thumbed her reply.
Thanks Dad. Making friends will be much easier after that horrible speech you gave me v_v.
Was it too much?
Yes!!!! But now I won’t have lunch on my own, so it’s ok. :)
Good.
A few minutes later, Nari’s phone vibrated again with another text from him. Was he having a slow day? Didn’t he have any corruption to fight?
Your mother found another cat.
Dad, we have enough cats. Can you put your foot down?
I don’t put my foot anywhere when it comes to your mother. The cat’s already in her office.
Nari chuckled at this. Dad was not able to say no to eomma. She had kissed him and hugged him into blissful submission for the past twenty-five years, and he did not even try to deny it.
What is she going to call this one?
Why don’t you hazard a guess?
Nari thought for a moment. All cats that had entered the household since they had moved from Dad’s apartment had been named after classic kdramas that her mother had binged on while nursing her and pining for Dad. They already had the North Korean captain, the Seoul heiress, the cat called after that girl from Coffee Prince who had passed some time ago …
Oh no.
Dad, don’t tell me it’s Ryan Gold?
Indeed.
Can you buy some toys on the way home? Don’t bother with a bed, he will have to fight Seri for my pillow like Hyeoki does.
Fine. See you later. Have to work now. Prosecutor Lee needs me to start compiling an affidavit.
Ok.
After a beat, he texted again.
Nari, why was Seo Dong-jae’s kid smiling at you?
SPEAK LATER APPA <3 :) :).
Nari laughed, shook her head and placed her phone face down. With a light heart, she reached for the first file from the stack on her desk, and officially started the first day of the rest of her life as the new Prosecutor Hwang, from the Western Seoul Office.