TWO DAYS BEFORE THE „BOX” CASE

SolHi simply loved the roofs. She loved them so much because it gave her a certain confidence in herself and that she was safe there, especially after spending some time on the streets. Why? Because she hated to be watched from everywhere or hear gossip about her. Moreover, she hated the fact that people still recognized her on the street and were insistently looking at her, something that bothered her so much, just as it bothered her to be judged and sentenced for something she didn’t remember.

Because of all this, the roof became for her an oasis of tranquility. It started six years ago, after being released by the Supreme Court of Justice. And, this habit, of spending time on the roof, wasn’t only something that calmed her down, but also something that made her happy. A „weirdness” she was so proud of, in fact.

In time, SolHi even started to joke about her weirdness. Actually, she was often heard saying, „The best place for hiding is the roof for sure.” She was generally joking this way when someone was asking her where she had been after a long period of time when she wasn’t found anywhere. Yet, even if she often joked this way, nobody ever knew what was in SolHi’s soul or why she used to hide on the roof. There… She simply found herself while hiding from the entire world and from the monster from inside her, a monster awakened by a painful past that was still hunting her.

Actually, the first roof SolHi turned into her retreat was the roof of the building where Mina was living. There, she spent many days that she couldn't spend on the streets, running from the crowd that still wanted to lynch her, each time they were seeing her somewhere. Yet, even if she was hiding there, on the roof, SolHi was aware that her chase wouldn't ever stop because, after the trial, people didn't stop judging her, insulting her, or attacking her. They just kept accusing her of more awful things like the one of buying the judges for being left free. Threats and insults she never heard while being on the roof… the only place where she could be herself while trying to understand the whole world.

SolHi also hid on the roof that day after DooSan's visit to the police station. She stood there for more than two hours, alone, until she heard Yoon Suk's voice behind her, „Hiding again?" A question that made her wince and look back, where she saw Yoon Suk approaching her.

„I wasn’t hiding,” she told Yoon Suk in the end. „I just needed some space to think.”

„To think? About what? Or… don’t tell me: about our boss, who tries to force you to work for the „devil?” Am I right?” Yoon Suk asked this while sitting next to her and giving her the juice, he bought for her.

Taking the juice from Yoon Suk’s hand, SolHi smiled. „Yeah, I was thinking exactly about those two. Yet, I have more things to think about, honestly. And… the best place for this… it’s definitely this roof.”

After saying this, SolHi kept silent. She preferred to look at the red sunset seen at the horizon than talk about things that hurt her heart. At the same time, she found that sunset so beautiful and worth looking at it, just as she preferred to enjoy the warm gust of wind that caressed her skin while she looked at the red sun that rushed to sleep at that moment. A romantic view, in fact, which was seen by two people that had no feelings for each other.

Actually, only SolHi had no feelings for Yoon Suk while he had. Yoon Suk was interested in her and he even talked to her about his feelings, but SolHi rejected him, thinking that she wasn’t worth being loved. It was something she decided long ago, something she didn’t want to change. Yoon Suk knew this too, just as he knew that if SolHi decided something, it was forever.

The first time when Yoon Suk declared his feelings to SolHi was two years ago after they started to work together. He told her then that he would like to be more than friends. Yet, instead of a „Let’s try!” SolHi said that, being only colleagues, was more than fine for her. An answer that the young detective disliked, being as stubborn as she was or even more. That’s why he decided to insist and didn’t calm down until SolHi didn’t use her fist to let him know that she was serious in what she said. More than that, after that punch, poor Yoon Suk had a big purple eye for more than two weeks, something that made him understand that he should be more cautious in expressing his feelings for her. If not… he could suffer more than a simple punch.

After that punch, Yoon Suk never told SolHi again that he was still in love with her. He preferred just to be by her side, convinced that one day, when she would forget her painful past and her wounds would heal, they would have a chance together. Something that didn’t happen in the end, but still something that could have happened if he had had patience. And, as he was stubborn, Yoon Suk remained there, waiting for her to see him and his love.

Eventually, when SolHi asked, „Yoon Suk, do you still love me?” the young detective widened his eyes, staring at her because… that was a question, which he never expected to hear from her. He even, because he’d been so thunderstruck by her words, drowned with juice, splashing everything around with sweet drops.

Only in the end, after coughing for a couple of minutes, to regain normal breath, he had been able to stutter a „What?” Then, understanding that his reaction could have offended her, he shook his head to clear his mind first, and only after that he asked again, „I mean… Why do you ask this so suddenly? As far as I remember, the last time we talked about this, I had a purple eye for two weeks if not more. Don’t tell me that something changed now and you accept to…”

„Don’t be an idiot, ok?!” SolHi rushed to say, interrupting his bold thoughts. „It was only a question, not a confession. And… I just wanted to make sure you still don’t suffer because of me.”

Her words made the young man burst into laughter. A reaction of his that made SolHi squint at him. Thus, seeing her piercing him practically with her glance, he calmed his laughter a little and said, „Yeah, I’m dying because you refused me. Don’t you see? I’m like a walking ghost, looking for you all around the world.” Yet, even if he said such words, trying to make her think that he forgot about her, he was lying. A lie he decided to keep for him only. For as long as possible.

Hearing him talking like this and understanding that somehow he was trying to make fun of her by saying such words, SolHi frowned. „You know, you are such an idiot sometimes. And… at all funny, by the way.”

„What wasn’t comic was your question, by the way, sombe. Why? Because… asking such questions to someone who you are sure that has or had feelings for you, it’s a little bit… cruel. And… I think your question has something to do with our new „boss.”

„With Han DooSan? What makes you think so?”

„Recent events? The truth?” Said Yoon Suk, smiling even if he wasn’t that eager to smile at that moment, realizing that something definitely happened between SolHi and Han DooSan in the past, something that wasn’t finished yet and could revive, taking him the last chance of having her eventually. Yet, even if he knew that, he preferred not to mention this to her, realizing that his words could have hurt her feelings. What he said was only, „I saw that it bothered you that he started to hang around us, bringing such bomb-news like „working together.” Something that actually brought you here in the end. So, tell me, what’s the deal with you two? Feelings? Former lovers? Something more than that?”

„The third variant?” Murmured SolHi, looking in the distance and sipping from her juice. „A crime.”

Her answer made Yoon Suk look at her with pumped eyes. He was definitely surprised by her words, something that made him stutter eventually while asking, „What? Are you that crazy that you prefer to have an argument than normally talk to each other?”

„You can say so… that we’re crazy, arguing for this. Why? Because… it wasn’t a simple crime, but… his brother, who’d been killed, supposedly by me.”

Her confession made Yoon Suk freeze for a few moments. Yes, he remembered that when he started working with SolHi he heard something about her „dark past.” Something he didn’t believe, considering that the other detectives were simply envious of her because SolHi managed to become so good in only a year of work. Yet, it seemed that the gossip was true while SolHi confirmed his suspicions that day.

„Actually, Yoon Suk, I don’t talk about the gossip you’ve heard about all these years,” SolHi said eventually as though reading his mind. „I talk about what happened 7 years ago… the day prosecutor Han YuSan was killed and I'd been accused of his murder. Something I don’t remember, honestly, but still something it's supposed I’ve done, even if I’m free now because of lack of evidence.”

Confused, Yoon Suk shook his head eventually. „What surprises me is that his brother has been a prosecutor too.”

„Not only his brother, his mother too. Actually, I think that is a kind of „family business.” Well, I am not that sure about this, just as this isn’t the point now. The important thing here is that Han DooSan seems not to have given up on his idea of making me guilty for his brother’s death, even if he has no evidence about this. Yet, he’s still looking for it, for the evidence, just as he seems to be after me again.”

„Something you can’t stay against, right? I mean… you have no words to say about everything that happens. You can only watch, accept, and bow your head when it’s necessary, allowing him to play with you like the cat with the mouse before eating him.”

„Yeah, something like that. And… honestly, today as never I consider that it has been a damn bad idea to enter the police. But, it’s still something I can’t change, just as I can’t turn back time and do something else. I have to only accept what’s written for me because… you know that nobody will accept me to work elsewhere, not while Han DooSan and his mother still control my life. Thus, I must work for him, even if I don’t want this.”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Looking at her partner, SolHi saw him watching in front. He did that not because he started to hate her so suddenly or judge her for what it was supposed that she did, but because he felt sorrow for her. More than that, he finally understood why SolHi denied so much the idea of loving again: it was because she suffered a lot in the past. Thus, the last thing she needed at that moment was to be involved in a love affair, something that generally brings more problems, just as she definitely didn’t need his mercy or him to feel sorrow for her. And, understanding all this, Yoon Suk asked her eventually, „What will you do now? Will you accept his offer?”

„Probably yes. At least, this way, I’ll see how one of us dies and the second one goes to jail for his crime. Yet, this time, there won’t be any suspicion about who’s guilty of the murder. And… I… in the office.” Saying this, SolHi stood up. She didn’t take any step in front, but, looking in the distance, at the red horizon, she told Yoon Suk eventually, „No word about this to sombe Kan. I don’t need to hear him complaining about this again.”

„What about you telling me about your plans, SolHi?” She suddenly heard Kan’s voice behind her. Something that made her frown eventually, understanding that what she didn’t want had happened eventually: to explain things to her sombe. Even so, even if she understood that she would have been unable to go off the roof without telling Kan about what she meant by saying those words to Yoon Suk, SolHi preferred not to look at Kan, but in front. Thus, she didn’t see him staring at her with eagle eyes while moving the lollipop from one corner of his mouth to the other one.

What didn’t see SolHi, saw Yoon Suk: Kan’s sign to get off that roof and let him and SolHi alone. A hint Yoon Suk understood right away, almost running off that roof. Yet, the young detective didn’t go because he was afraid of Kan, but because he knew that the detective was the only one able to control the monster from inside SolHi, one that made her think about such things as killing Han DooSan.

Eventually, seeing that SolHi wasn’t eager to explain things, Kan approached her. And, while looking in the same direction, he asked, „What about those plans, SolHi? Something interesting that I have to know about?”

„Actually, no, sombe! There’s nothing new about this. Just those you know already. Or… is this also prohibited to me? Having thoughts and plans, I mean.”

„You know that there’s nothing prohibited to you, SolHi. Yet, there’s something you promised me, remember?! Three years ago when you entered my team. You promised me then that you wouldn’t do anything crazy and that you’d do everything to clean your name. Something you insisted on doing alone, even if Gi and I tried to help you with this. That’s why I’m talking about this to you right now because not even after three years of investigating things, you found out something about what happened then. You haven’t been able not even to convince Han DooSan of your innocence.”

„And do you think I didn’t try, sombe? Cleaning my name, I mean. I tried, but it’s not my fault that there isn’t evidence to clear my name or lead us to the real criminal. And… related to Han DooSan: I don’t really have a reason to convince him of anything. I don’t really care what he thinks about me, honestly.”

„You should, SolHi. Care about Han DooSan, I mean because, working together… you can help each other and find the evidence you both need.”

„Working together,” SolHi repeated Kan’s words in an ironic tone. „Sombe, you forgot a damn important thing right now: that I’m still the suspect in his brother’s case. Something that makes me doubt that he’s eager to work with me to find another suspect. Why? Because he wants me dead or in jail, and I don’t really think that something will change soon.”

„What if you change those things, huh?” Said Kan in a sure tone. „You can manage to do this if you find the right evidence. Something you can find working for the prosecutor Han. Thus, he finds the evidence to send to jail the real criminal of his brother while you clean your name. Thus, you both will be happy in the end and… each of you can live his life as he wants after this. Far away from each other, I hope, because you two… working together… are really like Tom and Jerry, honestly.”

SolHi smiled. „It’s so easy for you to talk so, sombe. For others… It's damn difficult: living and forgetting. Why? Someone abused me that night and changed my life completely by turning me into an assassin. Someone I don’t remember, but who made me suffer so much all these years. What’s related to Han DooSan: well, he’s worse than the monster that hurt me that night. This one not only hunted me for 7 years but… he also tried to asphyxiate me that night. Something that I will never forget, sombe, and something that won’t ever make things work between us.”

***

PRESENT

Getting out of the building where Mire was living, with a big box with the things Yoon Suk and she used for the experiment, SolHi spotted DooSan staring at the building. A view that made her frown eventually, mumbling, „I told him that he’s odd, but he doesn’t believe me.”

Then, reproachfully shaking her head, she decided to pass by him, leaving the box in the trunk of the car. She stopped eventually, right next to DooSan, when she realized that he looked as though deep immersed in thoughts. Moreover, when she heard him mumbling, „Yet, I don’t think this really happened.” Thus, aware that if he was odd, something bad could happen to her for sure, SolHi told him, „Something happens?”

„Yeah, we lost our time.”

„Time?! Now the problem is that we’ve lost our time here?” She asked him in a slightly mockery tone. Then, spotting him staring at the building, as though it was to blame for something, SolHi teased him, „What’s your problem with the building that it became your object of research?”

Her words made DooSan show her his fangs. Then, hissing a „witch” through his teeth, he left her to understand that he definitely hated her joke. A reaction of DooSan that didn’t bother SolHi and forced him eventually to explain what he meant by what he said before, „I talk about the case and about the fact that even if we know how the victim died, we have no chance to accuse anyone of this. Why? Because the General Attorney denied my request of signing a judicial order with Min SinJu’s name on it.”

„Why am I not even surprised?! Actually, it seemed weird to me right from the beginning. Min SinJu’s behavior, I mean. He seemed overconfident and now I understand why: he has someone protecting his ass.”

„Something like that. And, it seems to me that we’ll need something more than playing with the golf sticks and mannequins to win this case. Something like…”

„…alive cameras?” Said SolHi, grinning. Something that made DooSan curiously look at her. „I mean… the neighbors, those you called „cameras” while we checked Ha Ni’s apartment, remember?! Well, those who live here… are damn good cameras, by the way!”

***

A FEW MINUTES BEFORE. HALL.

Walking out of Mire’s apartment, after she finished gathering all the stuff they used for the experiment, SolHi saw herself surrounded by ten women. And, from their eagle eyes and their clothes, something that one generally uses while being home, SolHi understood that they were neighbors. Furious neighbors actually because they looked at her as though they were ready to kill her there and at that moment if SolHi hadn’t answered their questions.

Interrogatory that started with a „Finally, we see each other face to face, Miss,” hissed through her teeth by one of the women. Then, approaching SolHi a little more, she looked at her from top to toe, with superiority. The same superior tone SolHi felt in the woman’s voice when this one asked her, „And this? A party? Actually, it doesn’t even surprise me. Not after last night when you made an infernal noise and didn’t allow any of us to sleep. Something definitely „interesting” I think, judging by the „things” you have in that box.” After that, grabbing a mannequin’s head by the hair, with two fingers only, the woman looked with contempt at it.

Finally understanding the hint of the neighbor, SolHi smiled. This let her understand that if she continued to play the neighbours’game, she would have found out something damn interesting. That's why she preferred to keep her mouth shut. A silence that gave a chance to the women to consider her weak and attack again. Actually, the same neighbor that talked to her moments before, who was still insistently looking at SolHi, continued her thought right away, „Slammed doors, loud music, parties, yells at midnight… all heard from your apartment, actually. Something that makes me wonder if you are the owner of this building or not. Or… do you really think that you are the only one living here? That you have been allowed to kill others’nerves only because you can do that? No, lady, you can’t! Why? Because we also live here,” the neighbor finished her speech, shouting. „So, if you need „diversity,” rent a damn motel room!”

After yelling all this, the neighbor wanted to grab SolHi’s hair to teach her some manners. Yet, when she saw SolHi’s ID and what was written on it, she right away pulled back, swallowing hard and looking elsewhere. A reaction that made SolHi triumphantly smile while saying, „What about using nice words and keeping our hands off while talking to each other, huh?! More than that, what about telling me what happened here a few nights ago? Something I’m sure you know very well because I see it in your eyes.”

Yet, even if they knew that a detective was talking to them, none of the women said anything. They only exchanged glances, asking each other what they should do. Eventually, understanding that SolHi won’t go away without finding out what happened in that apartment a few nights ago and, more than that, that SolHi could have summoned them to the police station, the same talkative neighbor that said those words to SolHi not that long ago said, „It’s a long story, actually. But, cutting it short, I can say that it’s not the first scandal we witnessed. It happened every month and more often recently, since the red hair started to come to this one’s door every day, telling her to leave her man alone and not blow down her neck because it was damn insufferable.”

„As far as we understood, they shared the love of the same man,” said another neighbor. „And, as none of them looked decently, we understood that it was a trio or something like this.”

„A few nights ago,” the talkative neighbor said, „the red hair showed up again. She was dead drunk when she knocked on the door. Even so, right after opening the door, the one that lives in this apartment grabbed her by the clothes and pulled her inside the apartment when the red hair started to yell and insult her. After that, yells and shouts had been heard from that apartment. Then… falling things. It didn’t last long this time. Only about ten minutes and it was past eleven already. After that, a dead silence was heard from that apartment. A silence that lasted for two minutes, I think because one of them screamed as if she met the devil. Later… nothing more was heard from there. Not until the tattooed one appeared at this beauty’s door. And, right after she opened the door, he slapped her. Twice actually because… I’m not sure of this, but I think that one had a temper tantrum or something like this. She said something, but I’m not sure if I heard right. Something like, „I didn’t want this. It was an accident.”

„I didn’t want this. It was an accident,” murmured SolHi, as though she tried to remember those words. „Then? What happened after that?”

„Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Only an hour after the tattooed one came, they both went away, happy as though nothing happened between them.”

„They just left? What about the red one? Didn’t she ask for help? Or maybe you saw her leaving after them?”

The neighbors looked at her with pumped eyes. „If she left? Isn’t she still there?” The talkative one asked.

„What? What do you mean?”

„That nobody left that apartment except for those two. Aaa, now I remembered, when they left, the tattooed one carried a carpet on his shoulder. It was rolled and the „sweetie” next to him was looking around as though making sure that nobody saw them doing something bad. Or as though she tried to hide something.”

Hearing all this, SolHi wrote a few notes in a hurry. After that, staring at Mire’s apartment, she looked preoccupied because, in that apartment, they didn’t find a carpet or blood. It means someone has cleaned it. Someone that was actually dangerous.