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"Hey, it's the prosecutor who was kidnapped."
Dong-jae contemplated turning around, but he had to admit to himself he was not up for some kind of confrontation that day. So he stayed waiting at the desk for whatever officer had randomly been assigned to take his statement. Unfortunately, his picture had been plastered up all over the police headquarters for a week, and across social media, and if anyone had any doubts it was him, the still-healing wounds over his head and forehead, the bruising on his face, and his arm sling were pretty much a giveaway.
Dong-jae knew there was some kind of turf war between police and prosecutors, but he was out of the loop as to how far it had been pushed over the last few days alone. Suddenly an unfamiliar cop was approaching him with a cruel grin. Having been a participant and often main perpetrator of workplace bullying and manipulation himself, on more occasions than he wanted to admit, Dong-jae recognized the guy's intention in his stance and expression. Sure he had a lot less style than Dong-jae had, but that just meant he'd be more blatant- he was in a building surrounded by his buddies who all had an increased tribe mentality thanks to the recent events.
"So there is a rumor the prosecution set this whole thing up to frame us cops," the guy said. Cutting right to the chase. Dong-jae gave him his best 'you lowlife' glare and didn't respond. He was still in pain, every movement hurt his neck and his head and his arm, and he didn't feel like going at it with some idiot cop with a chip on his shoulder.
But then there was another cop coming up from the side. A little thicker, a little better built. The guy had the audacity to give Dong-jae a light push as he walked by him, and Dong-jae was caught off guard.
"Obviously that's not true," Dong-jae started in, his voice a little raspy, but he tried to remain cool and professional despite his anxiety telling him he was in danger and he should fight or flee. "All the details are already coming out. There's nothing to pit the police and prosecutors against each other. I'm sure you all have nothing to worry about." He stood his ground, but he could hear even more footsteps coming up behind him.
"So what are you gonna put in that statement huh? If there's nothing to worry about you can definitely tell us." Said a new voice behind him. They now had him surrounded and suddenly everyone else seemed to be looking in a different direction. "Maybe we can give you a few... tips."
"How much work can these prosecutors really get done in such fancy suits?" Said the first guy to his buddy in a fake-whisper. They both snickered at him. "Aren't they worried their expensive clothes will get ruined if they come down here?"
Dong-jae swallowed a bit nervously. These guys probably wouldn't do anything serious here in the middle of the day in the middle of a police station, but his heart was starting to race. He just spent a week tied up and repeatedly beaten, and he was still having weird and irregular reactions to even innocuous things like turning off the light switch at night, or taking a shower. Now that three cops where here poking fun at him and trying to intimidate him, that anxious part of his brain was kicked into high gear. He felt like adrenaline was starting to course through him. He considered throwing his briefcase at the biggest guys face and then just running out of the station, but then he'd have to reschedule giving a statement.
"Look how nervous he is. Is he starting to sweat?"
"He must be intending to pin it all on us again."
"Tell us, what are you gonna say?"
---
Across the station, young detective Park Soon-chang spotted a strange group through the doors to one of the waiting rooms. It looked like a bunch of field officers were talking to someone in a fancy suit. This configuration of people was unusual for headquarters, especially when this part of the building had a lot of detective offices. And that guy in the suit looked familiar.
He tucked the phone records he was supposed to be reading under his keyboard, then went to stand by the door so he could have a better look.
Detective Seo Sang-won spotted him and went to stand shoulder to shoulder, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall. He stroked his beard faux-thoughtfully to tease his colleague. "What's up- oh hey, is that Prosecutor Seo?"
Soon-chang nodded. "He looks like he's having a problem with those officers."
"Are they pushing him around?" From a distance, they could make out one of the officers giving Prosecutor Seo a slight push on the shoulder, and some of them were laughing.
Jang Geon came in through the doors they were staring out of, hauling bags of takeout. He did a double-take, not expecting to see his coworkers standing a few feet inside the door and just standing around. "Okay guys you were supposed to be working, that's the last time I go get the food for my underlings-"
"Underlings? You think just because you get a promotion you're too good to get the takeout?"
"What are you even doing over here? Just wasting time-"
"We were watching Prosecutor Seo getting pushed around by these cops."
"What? Prosecutor Seo?"
Still holding the takeout bags, he adjusted his angle so he could see through the two sets of doors they were looking through. It was indeed Prosecutor Seo, in an arm sling, surrounded by a bunch of field officers looking much too pleased with themselves.
With the three of them congregating, Captain Choi Yoon-soo's innate sense for his underlings getting into trouble finally started to go off. From in his office he observed his three detectives, conspiring together and failing to bring the food over so they could finally have lunch. He definitely had to do something about this. Checking that he still had a good forty minutes before his next meeting, his stomach practically rumbling, he got up from his desk, left his office, and made his way over to the group.
"What are you three stooges doing? I'm starving."
"Oh geeze captain," Sang-won said, putting a hand over his heart, "you scared the crap out of us. How do you sneak up like that?"
"Is that Prosecutor Seo?" The captain had to squint a bit to see that far, but the man had a distinctive style, and he had still never seen him wear anything but nice suits. If they'd have let him wear nice suits during his time in the hospital he would have.
"Yup," said Detective Jang Geon, "I think he's supposed to be here to give an official statement about the kidnapping."
"Are those guys bullying him?"
They all took a moment to watch as the officers all took a beat and then laughed again- the sound didn't carry all the way to their offices, but they could imagine the cruel laughter was probably rattling Prosecutor Seo, who was not used to being outnumbered.
"Should we go help him?" Soon-chang asked.
"Should we? Isn't he technically a criminal? He hid and destroyed evidence. He helped Hanjo Group on like three different occasions." Sang-won brought up a good point.
"But we worked so hard to save that guy's ass." Jang Cheon pointed out.
"Yeah, I don't want to watch him get bullied after we spent so long tracking him down. He's an asshole but he's kind of our asshole now." Soon-chang said with resignation. They all nodded at the sentiment. You work to save a guy's life and you feel a certain desire to keep protecting him.
"You know Investigator Han did most of the work." Their captain reminded them.
"And Investigator Han would not stand for someone being intimidated in her building." Jang Geon said.
"Should we maybe let him sweat a little?"
Captain Choi glanced at his watch. Thirty-six minutes to save Prosecutor Seo and eat his lunch before his meeting. "How long has this been going on?" He asked his underlings.
They all kinda shrugged. "Who knows, we've been watching for maybe ten minutes."
The captain nodded with some finality. "Alright, he's sweat enough, and I've got a meeting coming up. Let's go save him."
--
Dong-jae didn't know how he got caught up in such a mess, but he was seriously considering just walking out of headquarters even if they got pissed at him later. He could file a complaint about these guys at least, ruffle some feathers. A small revenge but it would be something. But he was getting so jittery he couldn't even focus enough to read the names on their badges.
"If we get word you've said anything bad about cops-" One guy was saying, stepping even closer to Dong-jae. But then suddenly his expression changed. He stood at attention and gave a small bow, and his buddies stood at attention as well. Dong-jae was confused- what was happening?
Then there was a strong hand on his shoulder. "What's going on here?" Said a voice.
Dong-jae turned to see the captain of the detectives who were always working with Investigator Han back in the day. The captain came forward along his right side, and Detective Jang on his left. The field officers were looking pissed but a little nervous. But then Dong-jae realized the arm on his shoulder was yet another detective; there were four guys crowded around him now, standing shoulder to shoulder with him as he clutched his breifcase in one hand. Sauntering forward with that fake-casual body language, flanked him on both sides so he was standing in the middle. Even though Dong-jae was several inches taller than all of them, they had the intimidation of a team who was confident they could take the other guys in a fight, be it literal or bureaucratic. And they were surrounding Dong-jae like he belonged to them, like they were his protectors, and that gave Dong-jae an immense and satisfying pleasure. He looked back at the field officers with a new sense of confidence, curious what their next move would be.
"Are you three idiots trying to cajole a victim into falsifying a statement?" The captain said with reproach. "Should I go to your captain about this?"
The cops shook their heads and their ringleader piped up. "Just some good-natured joking, sir. We didn't mean anything by it."
"And you know very well who this prosecutor is, so you're kicking the hornets nest to rile up the prosecution. Your supervisors will be hearing about this. Get out of here, I'm sure you should be doing something productive instead of wasting your time harassing witnesses."
The three field officers gave curt bows to try and repair the damage and then high tailed it out of there, deeper into the building.
Dong-jae gave a sigh of relief. So he was still surrounded by police- even higher ranking ones now- but these four were faces he recognized at least. He was nervous and jittery from the incident, but he did not get the same anxiety from people he knew and recognized. He bowed to them as gracefully as he could with his arm in a sling. "That you detectives, I didn't know what I was going to do when those three surrounded me." Dong-jae said earnestly, feeling grateful for them literally chasing his problems away. If only most problems could be banished so easily.
"Did they hurt you?" The kind of chubby one asked, finally removing his hand from where he'd been grasping Dong-jae protectively. "This is mine" is what that hand on his shoulder had meant.
Dong-jae shook his head. "I'm alright, thank you, it was just some disgruntled cops, I am sure they had their reasons,"
The youngest one- gosh he looked like a kid- rolled his eyes and Detective Jang said "I've had enough of this cops versus prosecutors nonsense for the day."
The captain nodded, looking impatiently at his watch. "Okay, I am starving, let's go grab that food Detective Jang left on the floor before someone else decides it's theirs."
"What else was I gonna do, bring it here and intimidate those guys with fried rice?"
Looking in the mood for a victory meal, the four of them started to walk back to their side of the building. Dong-jae gave another bow and watched them walk away, much more jovially than they had come.
The young one glanced back at Dong-jae. "Ah, Prosecutor Seo, do you want to join us?"
Dong-jae turned back to them, surprised. What was this? An invitation?
The four of them exchanged the kind of meaningful glances that people who have known each other a long time can do, where they can have an entire conversation without using any words and all in the span of only a few seconds.
"We got more than enough takeout for another person," Detective Jang said. The captain made a point to look at his watch again.
"Thank you for your generosity, but I have to make a statement-" Dong-jae pointed back the way the cops went, where he was still supposed to be waiting for another police to come and guide him to a private room.
The captain waved his hand dismissively. He went over to the admin desk about twenty feet away, talking to the young man behind the desk, in impatient tones. The other three guys returned to a comfortable distance from Dong-jae, including him in the flock by proximity. The captain came stomping back only a minute later. "They will call my office when they're ready for you." And with that he walked off toward his office, eager- nay, desperate- for some food before this particularly boring meeting.
The other guys glanced at Dong-jae, waiting for him to make a move. Feeling flustered but immensely pleased- he had never in his life been rescued from bullies and then invited to lunch by his rescuers, it was like a childhood dream come true- he gave an appreciative nod and said "Okay, let's have lunch!"
--
And so Dong-jae found himself crowded by four other guys, all sitting around a too-small table in the captain's office, having takeout containers of dumplings and friend rice and fried pork passed to him. They all dug in to the small feast without much decorum, all their eyes watching him until he started eating too. They gave him approving looks as he ate and kept shoving food at him in some kind of way that was both grandmotherly and aggressive. Dong-jae ate what he was given, fumbling a bit with his dominant arm in a sling, but they were patient, holding out cartons for him and making sure he got a little of everything. It was the kind of meal he ate alone in his office, dreaming of being invited to the fanciest restaurants, cursing the cheap takeout boxes and how they represented his lack of success. But it was surprisingly delicious now. Maybe he didn't realize how hungry he was, or maybe it was the chubby guy- Detective Seo Sang-won, he corrected himself- patting him on the back as he slurped down some noodles. Maybe it was that he was surrounded by guys who seemed at ease and relaxed and kept making jokes. Maybe it was just actually being invited to a meal, for once. How long had he tried in desperation to make this kind of thing happen with the higher-ups in the prosecution offices? And in that moment he was willing to bet this cheap takeout was infinitely more delicious than their expensive beef intestine.