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Title: Apology
Series:모범택시/Taxi Driver
Characters: Kim Dogi, Kang Hana
Summary: Perhaps he also needed to ask for her forgiveness for all of the misunderstandings that he had about her.
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Series:모범택시/Taxi Driver
Characters: Kim Dogi, Kang Hana
Summary: Perhaps he also needed to ask for her forgiveness for all of the misunderstandings that he had about her.
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"If my method did not work, I'll use yours."
He stopped the recorder once he received enough of Prosecutor Kang Hana's revenge request statement. Dogi sneaked a glance at Kang Hana from the rearview mirror to see that she has now eased back onto her seat and was staring blankly out of the window.
Will you be all right?, he wanted to ask. But then again, how could she be all right? After all, the victim who died was her colleague. Her investigator even. He remembered seeing the man with her quite a few times.
He couldn't erase his memories of her on how devastated Prosecutor Kang had been when she saw that the dead body that had been found turned out to be her investigator. His heart still hurt as he recalled how much she had cried and wailed over her colleague's dead body. He knew how it felt, to have someone so dear be taken away from him so suddenly. It was something, he didn't want anyone—let alone her—to have to face by herself.
Aside from taking revenge, is there anything more he could say to her right now? It'll still be a while until he could take the next turning and exit the highway; before they would reach the karaoke parlour that hosted one of the hidden machines from Rainbow Taxi service.
Usually, after recording the revenge requests from their clients, he tends to just drive the taxi in silence afterwards until they reached their last destination. But this time, his client was none other than Prosecutor Kang Hana. Not only was she an officer of the law, but she was also someone he already knew even prior to this request. How could he treat her... the same way he did for any other of his Rainbow Taxi revenge clients?
After everything that has happened between them until now, how should they treat each other from this point on? Was his decision to approach her as a revenge client the right one?
"I used to say this... to Mr Wang, after finishing an interview with an inmate at the Central Prison." He glanced up, as he saw Kang Hana staring back at him through the rearview mirror. "That at times I felt like violence worked better than the law; when dealing with notorious criminals. What would he think now, if he knew that I resorted to this to get into the bottom of the case? He did say that he liked the notion of innocence before being proven guilty. That even if the other party had done the evilest things, we shouldn't stoop down to their level just to punish them. Because it was humane. Because that was the right thing to do."
"But what else could I do? I don't think I would be able to get any headway on this case if I only depended on the law. If this case really ends up becoming a permanent cold case, I wouldn't be able to live with myself for letting it happen."
Dogi bit his lips. "It won't become a cold case. I'll see to it that you get to the truth of the case and make sure that justice is done."
"I promise."
xxx
"I'll apologize for what I said last time."
"Mr Kim, you're someone who thinks about the victims first."
"I'll show you how the law can work to mete out a punishment that everyone can deem just."
Kim Dogi turned to face Prosecutor Kang Hana completely. After their last confrontation at the Northern Prosecution Office, hearing those words coming from her meant a lot to him. Because he disliked the idea that he did all the things he had done merely to channel his anger elsewhere, just because the person whom he was supposed to channel that hatred was already dead. He didn't want to think that deep down at the core, that he turned out to be no different than Mr Jang—who could pursue anything out of revenge, regardless of whether or not the methods were wrong. He didn't want Kang Hana to think that he was such a shallow and petty person.
He smiled weakly.
"I think... that I also owed you an apology."
"Huh?" Hana raised an eyebrow at him. "What did you mean?"
He shrugged. "I thought that you're just a nosy and stubborn prosecutor who just likes to do whatever she wants. I thought that you're just a prosecutor who just barged into things without any plan, not thinking how those brash actions would affect other people around you."
"But I realised now that you're the kind of prosecutor who would give your very best to do your work no matter what obstacles you may face, for the sake of the victims."
Kang Hana just stared blankly at him as he finished talking, before hurriedly turning her face away.
"What're you talking about suddenly... that was so sudden," she started stammering before running a hand over her cheeks. "This is my job after all. What else could I have done but do my best on the things that I should do?"
He continued to smile as he found the sight of her being flustered endearing. Hana sighed.
"Though to be honest, there was a moment when I almost wanted to give up. Because I couldn't stand it at the thought that I had to let go of a case, just because I had to 'appease' a former senior who happened to be involved in the case I'm pursuing."
"But Mr Wang stopped me from doing that. Because he wanted me to continue being the kind of prosecutor who'd fight for the victims like the one from that case. So he told me that I need to stand strong if I'm to survive long in this line of work."
Dogi frowned at her before he suddenly remembered the Udata case. He recalled reading on the papers that the lawyer who served that company used to be a former prosecutor. He remembered Goeun telling him how her deputy chief put a stop to the case.
Also, the day when he received the torn up casefiles for Seo Youngmin, had been the day when...
"Was that why you got those ice creams back then?"
Hana smiled weakly before nodding her head. "I was really burning up that time. I even ended up needing to threaten my chief with my resignation to get him to give me permission to work on the case. Not to mention getting a warrant for it."
His eyes widened as he heard that... and then he remembered how Kang Hana used to get angry at him when her initial raid on the Strategic Planning team went bust.
"Oh! I didn't realise how much trouble I've caused you back then. But I had to do it in order to drive Park Yangjin's suspicion away from me. They had started to suspect my intention of joining the team at that time. I'm sorry..."
Hana just waved the concerns away before a thought suddenly crossed her mind.
"Were the things you said back then, was because of that case? Now that I thought about it, when I tried to look for my case files that got torn out by Mr Cho... I couldn't find it anywhere. Did Mr Jang give those files to you? After all, he was there when I was being chewed out."
Dogi nodded. "I'm sorry that I got really harsh to you back then. I heard from Mr Jang about what really happened, and I know that you're not at fault that the case was dismissed. Yet that time I scolded you as if you're the one who was responsible for everything that went wrong with that incident."
She let out a shrug. "It's fine. It's not like that was the first time I got scolded and blamed on everything. And I guess you had to do that for some reason. I heard from Mr Jeon about how the Udata executives plant spy apps on their employees' phones so that they could monitor everything they do and say. It was fine."
"It wasn't like I wasn't used to being scolded or shouted at for meddling on things that I wasn't supposed to get involved in. It wasn't like anyone else hadn't accused me to be no different than some other bad prosecutors that might've crossed some people's path. It wasn't like I haven't heard anyone say that prosecutors are just a waste of the government's paychecks."
Dogi cocked his head towards her, as he thought he saw her lips quivered when she spoke out her thoughts.
"Everyone probably thinks that prosecutors lived an easy life. That court trials and proceedings are just mere games for us to win or lose. Because that's what people think all prosecutors do, right? Who cares about putting criminals to prison or administering justice? The only thing that matters is winning, right? Prosecutors... only care about maintaining their own reputations!" Hana snorted at that, before wiping a stray tear from one of her eyes.
"Heck, I was even accused of doing that recently. Isn't that so convenient? It's so easy to think that prosecutors only care about themselves rather than the work they should be doing. Sometimes I wonder if there was a point to keep fighting a losing battle like this. Should I even continue in this line of work even?"
Dogi just shrugged. "But aren't you still fighting right now? You still remained a prosecutor to this very moment. And you did uncover a very big case today."
She smiled weakly. "It's because Mr Wang used to tell me to keep on fighting this battle. Because he said that I was a good prosecutor. And as for Ko Donghee's case, it's the least I could do after so many casualties coming from this incident."
"You ARE a good prosecutor, not just for this case. I am glad that there's someone like you in the Prosecution Office," said Dogi without hesitation as Hana stared at him sceptically. She turned away from him and started leaning against the railing.
"Act like a bamboo tree... but think like grass, that's what Mr Wang used to say. I wonder if I can actually do that."
Dogi kept on watching her as she continued to talk. All these times, he always thought that Prosecutor Kang was a very strong woman who wouldn't be defeated by anything. But like him, they can only go so far in acting and pretending to be strong until they were met with obstacles that they couldn't quite handle by themselves. He realized now that as much as Prosecutor Kang may appear to be strong, she might not be all that inside. Like him, Prosecutor Kang Hana was still just a human. She may look strong now but in reality, she was barely holding it out on her own.
Hana suddenly let out a snicker. Dogi cocked his head at her as he wondered if she had just snapped.
"Never can I imagined that I'd reach this point, just because I wanted to look for some missing criminals. Because of Cho Dochul, I ended up discovering the existence of that deluxe taxi... and then meeting you," She turned around to face him and shrugged. "Do you know what else that Mr Wang used to say?"
Hana started doing something with her hands and placed them over her eyes the way she remembered her colleague used to do. "He said that you're like Batman. Now that I think about it, perhaps he WAS right. You ARE like Batman."
Dogi smiled weakly as he tried to force himself to laugh. "What kind of silly thing your investigator think I was? Why did you have to agree with that statement? Is that something someone in your line of work supposed to think?"
He grinned at the idea, regardless. "I didn't know your colleague was into superheroes stories like that..."
"I know, right—?" said Hana lightly, as she struggled to keep her tears at bay. "Mr Wang was so silly... why did someone like him have to leave so soon—"
As Kang Hana started to cry again, Kim Dogi took that chance to step closer to her and pulled her into an embrace. It was something he'd been meaning to do ever since the first time he saw her broke into tears.
He stopped the recorder once he received enough of Prosecutor Kang Hana's revenge request statement. Dogi sneaked a glance at Kang Hana from the rearview mirror to see that she has now eased back onto her seat and was staring blankly out of the window.
Will you be all right?, he wanted to ask. But then again, how could she be all right? After all, the victim who died was her colleague. Her investigator even. He remembered seeing the man with her quite a few times.
He couldn't erase his memories of her on how devastated Prosecutor Kang had been when she saw that the dead body that had been found turned out to be her investigator. His heart still hurt as he recalled how much she had cried and wailed over her colleague's dead body. He knew how it felt, to have someone so dear be taken away from him so suddenly. It was something, he didn't want anyone—let alone her—to have to face by herself.
Aside from taking revenge, is there anything more he could say to her right now? It'll still be a while until he could take the next turning and exit the highway; before they would reach the karaoke parlour that hosted one of the hidden machines from Rainbow Taxi service.
Usually, after recording the revenge requests from their clients, he tends to just drive the taxi in silence afterwards until they reached their last destination. But this time, his client was none other than Prosecutor Kang Hana. Not only was she an officer of the law, but she was also someone he already knew even prior to this request. How could he treat her... the same way he did for any other of his Rainbow Taxi revenge clients?
After everything that has happened between them until now, how should they treat each other from this point on? Was his decision to approach her as a revenge client the right one?
"I used to say this... to Mr Wang, after finishing an interview with an inmate at the Central Prison." He glanced up, as he saw Kang Hana staring back at him through the rearview mirror. "That at times I felt like violence worked better than the law; when dealing with notorious criminals. What would he think now, if he knew that I resorted to this to get into the bottom of the case? He did say that he liked the notion of innocence before being proven guilty. That even if the other party had done the evilest things, we shouldn't stoop down to their level just to punish them. Because it was humane. Because that was the right thing to do."
"But what else could I do? I don't think I would be able to get any headway on this case if I only depended on the law. If this case really ends up becoming a permanent cold case, I wouldn't be able to live with myself for letting it happen."
Dogi bit his lips. "It won't become a cold case. I'll see to it that you get to the truth of the case and make sure that justice is done."
"I promise."
xxx
"I'll apologize for what I said last time."
"Mr Kim, you're someone who thinks about the victims first."
"I'll show you how the law can work to mete out a punishment that everyone can deem just."
Kim Dogi turned to face Prosecutor Kang Hana completely. After their last confrontation at the Northern Prosecution Office, hearing those words coming from her meant a lot to him. Because he disliked the idea that he did all the things he had done merely to channel his anger elsewhere, just because the person whom he was supposed to channel that hatred was already dead. He didn't want to think that deep down at the core, that he turned out to be no different than Mr Jang—who could pursue anything out of revenge, regardless of whether or not the methods were wrong. He didn't want Kang Hana to think that he was such a shallow and petty person.
He smiled weakly.
"I think... that I also owed you an apology."
"Huh?" Hana raised an eyebrow at him. "What did you mean?"
He shrugged. "I thought that you're just a nosy and stubborn prosecutor who just likes to do whatever she wants. I thought that you're just a prosecutor who just barged into things without any plan, not thinking how those brash actions would affect other people around you."
"But I realised now that you're the kind of prosecutor who would give your very best to do your work no matter what obstacles you may face, for the sake of the victims."
Kang Hana just stared blankly at him as he finished talking, before hurriedly turning her face away.
"What're you talking about suddenly... that was so sudden," she started stammering before running a hand over her cheeks. "This is my job after all. What else could I have done but do my best on the things that I should do?"
He continued to smile as he found the sight of her being flustered endearing. Hana sighed.
"Though to be honest, there was a moment when I almost wanted to give up. Because I couldn't stand it at the thought that I had to let go of a case, just because I had to 'appease' a former senior who happened to be involved in the case I'm pursuing."
"But Mr Wang stopped me from doing that. Because he wanted me to continue being the kind of prosecutor who'd fight for the victims like the one from that case. So he told me that I need to stand strong if I'm to survive long in this line of work."
Dogi frowned at her before he suddenly remembered the Udata case. He recalled reading on the papers that the lawyer who served that company used to be a former prosecutor. He remembered Goeun telling him how her deputy chief put a stop to the case.
Also, the day when he received the torn up casefiles for Seo Youngmin, had been the day when...
"Was that why you got those ice creams back then?"
Hana smiled weakly before nodding her head. "I was really burning up that time. I even ended up needing to threaten my chief with my resignation to get him to give me permission to work on the case. Not to mention getting a warrant for it."
His eyes widened as he heard that... and then he remembered how Kang Hana used to get angry at him when her initial raid on the Strategic Planning team went bust.
"Oh! I didn't realise how much trouble I've caused you back then. But I had to do it in order to drive Park Yangjin's suspicion away from me. They had started to suspect my intention of joining the team at that time. I'm sorry..."
Hana just waved the concerns away before a thought suddenly crossed her mind.
"Were the things you said back then, was because of that case? Now that I thought about it, when I tried to look for my case files that got torn out by Mr Cho... I couldn't find it anywhere. Did Mr Jang give those files to you? After all, he was there when I was being chewed out."
Dogi nodded. "I'm sorry that I got really harsh to you back then. I heard from Mr Jang about what really happened, and I know that you're not at fault that the case was dismissed. Yet that time I scolded you as if you're the one who was responsible for everything that went wrong with that incident."
She let out a shrug. "It's fine. It's not like that was the first time I got scolded and blamed on everything. And I guess you had to do that for some reason. I heard from Mr Jeon about how the Udata executives plant spy apps on their employees' phones so that they could monitor everything they do and say. It was fine."
"It wasn't like I wasn't used to being scolded or shouted at for meddling on things that I wasn't supposed to get involved in. It wasn't like anyone else hadn't accused me to be no different than some other bad prosecutors that might've crossed some people's path. It wasn't like I haven't heard anyone say that prosecutors are just a waste of the government's paychecks."
Dogi cocked his head towards her, as he thought he saw her lips quivered when she spoke out her thoughts.
"Everyone probably thinks that prosecutors lived an easy life. That court trials and proceedings are just mere games for us to win or lose. Because that's what people think all prosecutors do, right? Who cares about putting criminals to prison or administering justice? The only thing that matters is winning, right? Prosecutors... only care about maintaining their own reputations!" Hana snorted at that, before wiping a stray tear from one of her eyes.
"Heck, I was even accused of doing that recently. Isn't that so convenient? It's so easy to think that prosecutors only care about themselves rather than the work they should be doing. Sometimes I wonder if there was a point to keep fighting a losing battle like this. Should I even continue in this line of work even?"
Dogi just shrugged. "But aren't you still fighting right now? You still remained a prosecutor to this very moment. And you did uncover a very big case today."
She smiled weakly. "It's because Mr Wang used to tell me to keep on fighting this battle. Because he said that I was a good prosecutor. And as for Ko Donghee's case, it's the least I could do after so many casualties coming from this incident."
"You ARE a good prosecutor, not just for this case. I am glad that there's someone like you in the Prosecution Office," said Dogi without hesitation as Hana stared at him sceptically. She turned away from him and started leaning against the railing.
"Act like a bamboo tree... but think like grass, that's what Mr Wang used to say. I wonder if I can actually do that."
Dogi kept on watching her as she continued to talk. All these times, he always thought that Prosecutor Kang was a very strong woman who wouldn't be defeated by anything. But like him, they can only go so far in acting and pretending to be strong until they were met with obstacles that they couldn't quite handle by themselves. He realized now that as much as Prosecutor Kang may appear to be strong, she might not be all that inside. Like him, Prosecutor Kang Hana was still just a human. She may look strong now but in reality, she was barely holding it out on her own.
Hana suddenly let out a snicker. Dogi cocked his head at her as he wondered if she had just snapped.
"Never can I imagined that I'd reach this point, just because I wanted to look for some missing criminals. Because of Cho Dochul, I ended up discovering the existence of that deluxe taxi... and then meeting you," She turned around to face him and shrugged. "Do you know what else that Mr Wang used to say?"
Hana started doing something with her hands and placed them over her eyes the way she remembered her colleague used to do. "He said that you're like Batman. Now that I think about it, perhaps he WAS right. You ARE like Batman."
Dogi smiled weakly as he tried to force himself to laugh. "What kind of silly thing your investigator think I was? Why did you have to agree with that statement? Is that something someone in your line of work supposed to think?"
He grinned at the idea, regardless. "I didn't know your colleague was into superheroes stories like that..."
"I know, right—?" said Hana lightly, as she struggled to keep her tears at bay. "Mr Wang was so silly... why did someone like him have to leave so soon—"
As Kang Hana started to cry again, Kim Dogi took that chance to step closer to her and pulled her into an embrace. It was something he'd been meaning to do ever since the first time he saw her broke into tears.
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