The First Snow

Si-Mok

Hwang Si-mok wonders, and not for the first time in the past few weeks, what kind of person he is expected to be to become the kind of prosecutor that his country demands of him. He grimaces as he looks at the time on display in his car, knowing that once again he will arrive home to find his children asleep. His wife Yeo-jin will still be up, waiting for him, but fighting the exhaustion caused by her job and responsibilities, in order to be able to provide him with the support and love she knows he needs but is unable to ask for. They will embrace, murmur a few words of comfort, and fall asleep, troubled and uneasy, only for the cycle to be repeated the following day.

This has been the situation for the past six weeks, or ever since he has been tasked with the investigation of the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff, who was arrested on suspicion of money laundering and collusion with the owner of Korea's largest news agency. With his probing, this investigation had grown exponentially into a web of illegalities that is now even putting into question the latest election results and will, after the press conference he had addressed this afternoon, inevitably lead to the resignation of the Prime Minister, the collapse of Government, and the need for early elections. Si-mok knows that his name is probably on everyone's lips, with his face plastered on every news site, hailed or cursed equally according to where one's political affiliation lies, and where one's fortune rests following the crash of the stock market as a result of this news.

No one, not even he, had expected this turn of events, and he had purposely kept his investigation under wraps from everyone, except from Yeo-jin, who had covertly supported him- both professionally and personally - as the evidence piled up, and as his remaining days as Special Prosecutor in the Supreme Prosecutors' Office of the Republic of Korea dwindled. Indeed, following his press conference, he was called, to no one's surprise, and least of all his own, to the office of the Supreme Prosecutor General together with his Chief Prosecutor. Their reaction to the conclusion of his investigation was one that he expected and was, at this point in his career, quite familiar with. It was also a reaction that he did not particularly care about, especially when he was told that as a result of his latest "success", he will be promoted to Assistant Chief Prosecutor, while being transferred to the District Prosecutor's Office in Busan.

With his phone in his pocket that contained a video sent by Yeo-jin of Hyun-Shik's first steps, which he missed , and Nari's voice message reminding him of her Christmas concert at school, which he would not be able to attend , Si-mok had resigned on the spot. He refused to be sent away again, to be punished for doing his job, and to be made to live in a marriage that would inevitably turn into the sham that most of his colleagues seemed to accept as the norm. It had taken Chief Prosecutor Baek the time for Si-mok to walk out of the office and into his car to call him and offer him an alternative proposal that would, in his words, stop this madness and be acceptable to all parties.

Si-mok had replied to his superior that he would consult with his wife and revert as needed, and informed him that he needed to take time off to go to his daughter's school concert. He had then hung up without giving Baek the time to react.

With that particular concern momentarily shelved, Si-mok breathes in deeply as he parks his car, walking to their apartment block slowly, well aware that he is slouching in a way that would upset Yeo-jin, but unable to bring himself to pretend that he is not troubled, disillusioned and tired. Tired of fighting for a more just society for his two children when the cost of such battle is that of him missing out on watching them grow, and having to one day realise that they had stopped expecting his attention, and had grown tired of asking for his love.

As he inputs the code to the apartment, he expects to find silence and darkness, but the moment he opens the door he is greeted by a high pitched squeal that is followed by his daughter's little body leaping into his arms and clinging to him, vice-like, as she peppers his face with kisses and nearly knocks off his glasses.