Thoughts. Many thoughts ran through SolHi’s head at that moment, as though clouds of grasshoppers would have attacked a grain store. Yet, unlike the real grasshoppers, which were capable of destroying an entire field in seconds only, those thoughts that spun in SolHi’s head only made her hear an infernal noise with her internal ear while her mind seemed a white sheet of paper. Something she always dreamt about… to have no dream and sleep comfortably. Yet, the recent events, mixed with her memories of what happened seven years ago, overwhelmed her more than she ever thought. That’s why SolHi kept looking through the window at that moment, at the houses and buildings that their car left behind while heading back to the Prosecution.
„You know, it doesn’t do anything good to you. Thinking about what happened. It would only overwhelm you more than you want,” Yu told her when he saw her so immersed in thoughts.
„I know. Yet, I can’t think about this. It’s beyond my power because… each time I remember the past, it shakes me inside. It’s a state of mind I haven’t felt long ago, which I hoped to never feel again, but…”
„State of mind? What kind of…?”
„That I can’t breathe?! I feel like I lack space and that everybody stares at me when it’s nothing like that! Many call this Paranoia. I call it part of me, a dark one, which appeared when I was still in prison and which I hoped I’d get rid of with Mina’s help at therapy. I’ve been wrong in thinking so because I still feel this. Even stronger than when I was behind the bars.”
„Yet, you aren’t, SolHi! Behind the bars, I mean. You are free now: you can go wherever you want, to eat whatever you want, and even to make your own decisions. Like… the roof?! I know you love that place and you go there each time you need fresh air.”
SolHi smiled. She did that when she realized that Yu had no idea why she went so often to the roof. He thought that SolHi went there to breathe fresh air when she was going there each time she felt overwhelmed with sadness. And… maybe Yu was also right because, on the roof, SolHi felt free and confident. At the same time, she never felt alive there. Yet, she never told anybody about this. She kept that feeling only for her because… the roof was her shelter in stormy times when she felt worse than ever.
At that moment, with Yu in his car, SolHi felt the necessity to talk about what she felt because the inspector made her feel confident with him. That’s why, after a long time of silence, she said, „You know, inspector, not everything that shines is gold. At the same time, not every open space makes one feel free. At least… it never happened to me.”
„Even so, you climb on the roof often. Why?”
„Because… it gives me a certain peace. You know… that calmness you need in stormy times?! It’s a kind of oasis in the desert for me. Nothing real, but still a good place for me to calm my soul. Even if there is another desert in my soul, one that appeared six years ago when I left the hospital.” SolHi sighed, lowering her eyes. „Then… I felt this inner desert overwhelming me for the first time. And it got worse after each session with Mina. It’s when I started to remember fragments of the fatal night when it actually started my nightmare.”
Yu stared at her, confused. He couldn’t understand what nightmare SolHi was talking about. Yet, he wanted to know, but he didn’t dare to ask her for more details when he saw sadness in her eyes. Unlike him, SolHi knew very well what nightmare tormented her for years: the one of the anxiety crises and epilepsy. A nightmare, which she got to live in silence, alone, thinking that it would help her in time. Yet, what she didn’t know was that by living this way she was just punishing herself for what happened then… for mistakes that maybe weren’t hers.
„SolHi?” The inspector called her name when he saw her immersed in thoughts again. His voice made SolHi wince. Then she looked at him with pleading eyes because she would have liked to keep silent. Yet, seeing the determination in Yu’s eyes, to take her out of that hole in which she jumped alone or at least to make her talk about this, SolHi sighed. She was wrong in thinking that Yu wanted to torment her more or make her talk about that night to share the information with DooSan after that because she thought about this too. However, nothing of this was true. What Yu wanted was to tell her that he was there, for her. That’s why he told her, „I know that’s damn hard for you to leave everything that has happened to you behind, SolHi, but you have to do this. It hasn’t been your fault. At least this is what the investigation shows, one the police and the Prosecution did before and after the trial. At the same time, it doesn’t do any favor if you keep remembering that night. However, if you still remember what happened then, it must be for something, right?! Maybe it is so because your subconscious tries to help you survive and move on later. To live because… it’s normal to live when you are free.”
„It’s nothing like that in my case, inspector. It’s not easy to live.”
„Who says that?”
„The world? People? They never forgot what happened that night.”
„Well, people always look for a reason to make someone’s life impossible. It’s the law of nature, I can say because it’s easier to judge others than live your life.”
„I know this, inspector. Yet… this doesn’t make me feel better. It’s just hard. It’s damn hard to live after being accused of murder. And not of a random murder, no: the victim in my case was a prosecutor. More than that, it’s almost impossible to live when you are still a suspect. Thus, as I’m sure that we won’t find the real criminal once we haven’t been able to find him in so many years, I’m sentenced to live with this cross over my shoulders.”
„Maybe you are right and we won’t ever be able to find that son of a bitch. Yet, this doesn’t mean you have been forbidden to be happy, SolHi. You are young, beautiful, and free and you deserve to live. At the same time, it’s worth fighting to prove the contrary of what others think about you. It’s the only way you’ll feel free.”
„Free in chains, inspector because… even if I pretend that I’m fine, this won’t chase the pain away. It won’t erase the scars from my soul as if it’s a laser. I’ve gathered these scars in my soul and on my skin over the years. It’s not easy to get rid of them. At the same time, it’s not easy to stop thinking about what happened or stop asking myself what would happen if it’s proven that I killed Han YuSan.”
„Simple,” replied Yu, making SolHi wince. Seeing her insistently looking at him, confused, Yu rushed to explain what he meant. „I was talking about what will happen to you if it’s proven that you killed YuSan: simple - you go to prison to pay for what you’ve done. If this happens, you will be at least aware of this and that’s fair to be treated like that. Now you just suffer for something you aren’t aware of, swallowing insults, feeling the blows of people on your skin. Something that you maybe don’t deserve.”
„Yeah, inspector: I don’t remember what happened then and this makes me vulnerable. It makes me afraid.”
„Afraid? Of what?”
„Of a promise I’ve made once.”
„What kind of promise?”
„To end everything with my own hands,” SolHi whispered, looking through the window from her right. Even if she didn’t want this, Yu still heard that whisper, one whose meaning the inspector didn’t understand.
It was enough that SolHi knew that meaning. She clearly remembered the promise she made to DooSan that day: that if it was proven that she killed Han YuSan, she’d jump off the roof too, paying for what she did this way. No, SolHi was lying to herself at that moment because she wasn’t afraid of this, just as she had never been afraid of death. She was only afraid that Han DooSan could turn into a criminal to make her keep that promise. Better to say, he told her that day that he would be the one pushing her off the roof to avenge his brother’s death. „A revenge I hope you will never have, Han DooSan. Not for protecting myself, but for your own inner peace because you have no idea what it feels to know that you committed a crime.”
SolHi said such words in her mind only. She said them while looking through the window at those black monsters known by others as trees or buildings, those monsters that Yu’s car left behind while running onto that street, monsters that made SolHi suffer so much. Why? Because SolHi saw the ghosts of her past in their silhouettes, those shadows that still lived inside her, shadows that became part of her. Yes, they and SolHi were one body, helping her not to collapse… not yet.
***
Shortly after the conversation she had with Yu in the car, SolHi received a text message from Cha Yoon. „Detective Ian, I remembered the name of that guy whom So Ra met that night. His name is Kan So Jun. You can find him in the club „Smile” where he loves to spend his free time.”
„Smile, my ass,” SolHi hissed through her teeth, making the inspector, who was driving, wince.
„Who pissed you off this time?”
„Kan So Jun. He’s the idiot that stepped on my tail. The one who may be the father of So Ra’s kid.”
„He may be? Aren’t we sure of this already?”
„Everybody is innocent until proven otherwise, inspector.”
„And, to prove this, we have to catch him, right?”
„Right, inspector! And… damn, you are good at intelligently thinking when you want.”
Yu grinned. „It didn’t sound nice, actually.”
„I just said what I felt. I’m free, right?”
„Well, be as you say! So, where are we heading this time?”
„Club „Smile.” it seems that our „lover boy” loves to spend time there.”
„Smiling, I hope. If not, he definitely meets the devil today,” Yu jokingly said. Seeing that SolHi didn’t smile and that she seemed preoccupied while staring at the phone’s screen, the inspector asked, „Or maybe he meets a she-devil today? You, for example, because… I don’t know why, but I have the feeling that you’ll tear his eyes out right after seeing him.”
„It’s not that. Not Kan So Jun preoccupies me so much, but the fact that he loves to spend time in a nightclub.”
„Where he could have taken So Ra that day.”
„Exactly. Or, if they didn’t go clubbing together that day and he let So Ra return to Cha Yoon’s apartment, alone, this means…”
„…we are dead because the list of suspects will be damn big and we are back from where we started.”
„Something like that. Yet, not the list interests me, but what could have happened to So Ra after that. Nevertheless, let’s think about this after talking to Kan So Jun. The club is right over there. So, pull over, somewhere where we can talk to him with no camera or witnesses.”
„Are you going to leave him without his head?”
„Only without… certain… tools?!” Yu stared at SolHi with pumped eyes. „Softly, of course.” After that, when Yu stopped the car, SolHi got out, taking a few steps away from the vehicle, in the opposite direction to the club.
„Aren’t you going with me into the club?” Yu asked, confused. SolHi shook her head. „I might need your help.”
„And you’ll have it. Outside of the club, undoubtedly because… I’ll take care of him not to escape from you. Through the back door?!” Then, throwing a chewing gum in her mouth, SolHi shrugged and turned her back to the inspector, heading to the back door of the club to make sure Kan So Jun wouldn’t run using that door. Why exactly the back door? Because it’s the perfect place the criminals love to use to run away.
Looking behind her and seeing her so confidently walking, Yu growled, „I thought I’d have my back assured once I’m old. Yeah, right… with such partners, I don’t even need enemies.”
***
Ten minutes after SolHi and Yu split in front of the club, the inspector exited through the front door. Not alone, but along with a young man, whom he grabbed by the collar and forced to follow him toward the place where SolHi waited for them. Being pushed from behind, the young man started to yell at the inspector to leave him free or he’d beat him up if they met again.
„I doubt this,” SolHi told the young man, showing her badge to him. „Just as I doubt you’ll have the courage to attack a police officer when so many flies are around you. Something that hints to me that something „stinks” around you.”
„What hints to me… lady, is that you dare to insult an honest man only because you have a badge, officer…”
„Detective. Ian SolHi. He’s inspector Yu DoJin, Seoul PD. And you, I guess, are Kan So Jun, right?”
„Depends!” The young man tried to be clever. Seeing SolHi’s bitter face, he right away changed the tone. „Yeah, Kan So Jun in person. What I don’t understand is why the cops look for me and why I have been taken out of the club as a criminal. I did nothing illegal there.”
„Nobody said you did something illegal,” SolHi told him in a mocking tone, something that made So Jun confused. „Not inside of that club. Outside of it… I’m not sure you didn’t.”
„Yet, I’m sure because I clearly remember that I’ve been a „good” guy. Just as I’m sure that the police don’t have a reason to be after me, girl!”
„Not… girl, but detective, and not the police, but the Organized Crime, bro!” Yu hissed into the young man’s left ear, making this one wince. „And we aren’t here because you’ve done something forbidden, but because you killed someone.”
„What?” So Jun yelled. „What are you talking about, old man? What crime?” He shut his mouth when he saw SolHi clenching her fists. He even took a step back, forcing Yu to take one too, and this was because he saw SolHi’s eyes sparkling with hatred.
„Old man?” She hissed through her teeth being only one-step from So Jun. „This man is on the streets before your birth, and this forces you to show some respect, idiot, not to call him „old man.” Did you hear me, puppy?” So Jun mechanically nodded. He did that when he spotted SolHi touching the gun she had at her back. „Glad to see that we understand each other so easily. If not, you would have seen what prison looks like for sure.”
„I doubt this: that I did something that bad to be sent behind bars. Yet, as I realize that I won’t get rid of you without talking about the „thing” you want to talk about, I’ll be calm. So, what about telling me who is supposed I’ve killed?”
So Jun’s ironical tone, with a fit of anger felt in it too, made SolHi attentive. She disliked the young man in front of her. Nevertheless, feeling a certain vibration in his voice, something that was generally felt in the voice of an innocent person accused of something bad, she became attentive.
SolHi didn’t allow him to play the fool though. She didn't do that because it wasn’t the first time she met a good actor, one that was actually studying to be an actor as Cha Yoon told them. That’s why, still staring into his eyes, SolHi told him, „I like that you don’t try to fool us too, but want to cooperate. Did I get it right?”
„Depends. Of conditions.”
„They are very simple,” Yu told the young man. „You can start by telling us about all you know about Han So Ra.”
„And she is?”
„Someone you definitely know, but you try to fool us that you don’t know her, and… I really don’t like this,” SolHi told him in an irritated tone. „That’s why, as I don’t have time to waste with your games, I’ll explain to you who Han So Ra is: the minor you met on the 14th of December. Apparently, you took her to the „cinema.” So Jun frowned. „Looking at your bitter face, I understand that you have remembered who she is, right?”
„Yeah, I remembered because… I don’t meet dwarves every day,” So Ju nervously growled. Yet, seeing SolHi staring like a pitbull at him, So Jun understood that he didn’t use the right word to describe the girl, and rushed to say, „It was just a remark. Don’t take it personally, detective!”
„If you say so?!” SolHi told him, hissing the words through her teeth because that „dwarf” reminded her about the fight with the motorcyclists in front of Min SinJu’s club. However, understanding that it wasn’t the right time for „personal revenge” with a guy like Kan So Jun, she deeply breathed in, to calm down. Then she said, „Now that you remember who the „dwarf” is, what about telling me where you have been that night.”
„Here, at the club. Where else could two adult people meet?”
„In the park? Like any other normal people?” Yu told him ironically.
„If I had known she was minor, I would have taken her to the park. Yet, as she hid this from me, I brought her here, like the rest of the girls with whom I met.”
„Do you mean that you didn’t know she was underage?”
„Absolutely, detective! I’m not stupid to strangle myself. Yet, I understood that I’d been a fool for not asking her age when we came here and the bodyguards from the entrance didn’t let her in.”
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
„And? What happened next?”
„I just sent her for a walk?! What else could I have done? I don’t have time to play with dolls with minor girls. I prefer those with a hot body, if you understand what I mean,” So Jun said, drawing the curves of a woman’s body.
SolHi frowned. „You just sent her to hell? At night? In front of the club? Are you sure we are speaking about the same night? The 14th of December when it was supposed for you two to go to the cinema?”
So Jun burst into laughter. „To the cinema? With a girl? And… what should I have done there: waste my time? I would rather go to the club where I can touch a hot body and have some… hot moments too,” he proudly said eventually. Seeing Yu clenching his fists, So Jun took a step aside. „Or maybe not,” he murmured, confused. Then, realizing that he won nothing by acting like a frightened chicken, he deeply breathed in and looked at the two detectives in front of him. After that, he told them. „Anyway, not this is important, but what I said about her: we came here, we found out that she was underage, I sent her to hell, and I went to do whatever others do in the club - I hooked a hot pretty girl, a red hair actually, with whom I spent the night, by the way.”
„Can you prove this?” SolHi asked.
„Yeah! If you don’t believe me, you can ask the bodyguards. Tonight are the same guys from that night.”
„And you know that because?”
„I have a good memory, detective! So, can I go now?”
„For the moment. Meanwhile, we’ll check your alibi. So, you go with us, my friend!” SolHi told him, grabbing him by the arm.
„To go? Where?” So Jun asked a little bit scared, seeing Yu also grabbing him by the arm and pushing him in front.
„To the Purgatorium. And, if there’s not a good place for you, I can buy you a ticket to hell,” SolHi replied harshly, using more force to squeeze his arm and make sure So Jun would be obedient while they headed to the front door of the club.
***
The talk with Kan So Jun wasn’t definitely what SolHi expected. How could it not be so when she had to let him free even if she wanted to send him behind bars, at least for one night, for what he did to So Ra when he left her alone on the streets on the night 14th of December?! Yet, having no other choice, she let him go. This didn’t mean she was calm, and everybody understood this when she and Yu entered the office. Poor DooSan even winced when she slammed the door and threw her things on the desk after that. Looking at Yu, DooSan asked, „Bad news?”
„The most dreadful news, Prosecutor Han! We are back to the starting point.”
„What do you mean, Inspector?”
„That this case stinks worse than we had imagined?” SolHi replied to DooSan’s question instead of Yu. She even used a little bit of mockery when she said that. „Actually, we can't accuse Kan So Jun of anything. Not even after we found out that he left So Ra alone that night. On the streets, at night, and alone, with a lot of delinquents spying on her from the corner of the street. Something that tells me that’s a lost cause.”
Understanding that SolHi wasn’t in the mood for jokes and that she wouldn't calm down no matter what he said, DooSan decided to make her understand on her own that she was wrong. How? By pissing her off or, by asking her questions, to make her find out the answer alone. A difficult job, but still one DooSan wanted to do. That’s why, to be easier for him, DooSan took a comfortable position, laying on the back of the chair and, folding his arms over his chest and smiling, he told SolHi, „Only because a guy like Kan So Jun let the poor girl alone on the street that night doesn’t mean that’s a lost cause, don’t you also think so?”
SolHi gave him a bad look. „And, if this isn’t a lost cause, what’s then: serenade under the moon?”
„It can be,” DooSan calmly replied. For this, SolHi showed him her fangs. „Yeah, I know you love me that much, but… this won’t make me think differently.”
„May I know why exactly you think so?”
„Because it’s a logical thing?! There is no crime to leave someone on the street at night, actually. Why? Because there are taxis to take you home in such cases.”
„It is possible that Han So Ra could not have afforded to pay for a taxi.”
„We don’t know that,” DooSan insisted just to piss SolHi off. This made SolHi nervously move in her chair. By doing this, she let DooSan know that he was doing great in making her feel miserable that night, even if he wasn’t sure that his theory was also good. Yet, even if he didn’t know what was the correct thing and which one was the wrong thing, he was happy because he had at least the chance to pay SolHi back for every single bad joke she made with the vandalized car. Even so, he decided not to cross the allowed limit, aware of what SolHi could do if she had crossed that line: SolHi could have left him headless. That’s why, seeing her eyes sparkling because of anger, he told her, „Let’s talk now about what the bodyguards told you.”
„Nothing new or extraordinary,” the inspector responded. „Actually, they only confirmed what Kan So Jun told us: that he and So Ra came together to the club and that she refused to give them her ID when they asked her to do that. The reason? She didn’t have it or she lost it. This seemed suspicious to them.”
„Suspicious? Why?” Kan asked.
„Because a person that often goes to the club, as So Ra kept saying that she did, would have had that ID with her. Yet, she didn’t have it. In the end, they made her accept that she had no ID because she was underage.”
„Then, our Kan So Jun left her alone,” SolHi hissed through her teeth. „Why? To hook a red-haired hot girl, with whom he spent the night as the bodyguards and his friends said.”
„At least someone had fun that night,” Kan jokingly said.
„Sombe!”
„What? It’s the truth, SolHi. He had fun, it’s normal to do that once he is young. So, don’t be jealous.”
„I’m not jealous, ok?! I’m pissed off and convinced that a guy like Kan So Jun should be locked in jail forever for taking a minor girl out of her house at 12 a.m. and leaving her alone after that when he understood that he could have been in problems if… have had fun with her.”
„On merit, I would say,” A Rim murmured. SolHi gave her a bad look too. „Yeah, I know you love me as much as you love prosecutor Han, but… I’m still right.”
„About what?”
„That Kan So Jun had the right to leave her alone that night, prosecutor Han. Why? She lied to him. She accepted that she was a minor only in front of the club, right?”
„Yeah, he did that. Yet, he could have lied to us too.”
„I don’t think that’s the case, SolHi,” said Yu. „He’s not stupid, even if he’s shameless. Why do I think that he didn’t know that Han So Ra was a minor? He invited her to the club where the bodyguards asked her for her ID. If he had known that she was underage and he still had wanted to… have some fun with her, he would have simply taken her to an isolated place, with no witnesses.”
„Inspector Yu is right,” said Kan. „Kan So Jun, even if he is a bastard, is not stupid. Yet, this doesn’t mean we don’t have to check how his bad „joke” ended.”
„I don’t see how we’ll make it, Detective Kan. There isn’t too much information about his date with Han So Ra.”
„Not now, prosecutor Han. Yet, things can change after we see the records of that night. I’ve already sent Yoon Suk to bring the records from the Street Surveillance Department. Who knows?! With a little bit of luck, we can find out what happened that night.”
„Or it’ll be worse checking those records.” Kan squinted at SolHi. „I was just saying. Nobody was killed for that, right?”
„I wouldn’t bet on that,” DooSan said, making everybody stare at him. „I was talking about the fact that many people nowadays are killed for saying what they think.”
„Are you saying this because you know how it feels to be killed for what you say?” SolHi teased him.
„Not me. The statistics say it. Those you love to ignore, even if they are a good source of information, by the way.”
SolHi deeply breathed in. Not to calm down, but to show DooSan that he was about to cross the line of her patience. She even stood up and took a few steps toward him, staring at him like a pitbull thirsty for blood while saying, „The statistics also say that many of those killed „by accident” are victims because they tried to play the smart guy even if it was clear that they were the fools.”
„This sounds like a threat to me!” DooSan said, not losing his temper.
„No way! I am not threatening, prosecutor Han. I was just proving to you that I read the statistics. Those you can be part of very soon if you keep playing the smart guy and piss me off when I only try to do my job.”
SolHi’s remark made Kan and A Rim smile because SolHi’s insidious threat seemed to be taken into account by DooSan. It had been seen in his eyes when he looked around, asking for help in case SolHi would have pounced on him. Yet, DooSan’s neck didn’t suffer that day because SolHi gave up on turning him into a victim when Yu said, thoughtful, „Actually, now that we talk about this, I remember that one of the bodyguards has mentioned that So Ra hasn't taken a taxi that night, but entered someone’s car. A few minutes after Kan So Jun left her behind. It seemed to be the car of someone whom she knew.”
„A friend?”
„It can be, prosecutor. I’m not sure. It could also be the car of someone who tried to lure her and made her trust him.”
„Or maybe she asked that person to give her a ride to her friend’s house?!”
„At night?” SolHi hissed through her teeth, making everybody wince and insistently look at her. „Only if she was looking for trouble.”
„Honestly, I don’t get your point, SolHi.”
„I was just saying that it seems you have never dated someone, prosecutor Han. At the same time, you have never tried to think like a girl. Why? Simple: no normal girl enters the car of someone when it’s night and she’s alone in the street. Only if she wants to end up in a trashcan after this.”
„SolHi is right,” said A Rim. „Nowadays, you enter a man’s car only if he’s gay, your boyfriend, or your brother.”
„Or if you trust that man enough,” said Yoon Suk when he entered the office and heard their conversation. „Just as we can find out if the one from the car was gay or her boyfriend once we know that Han So Ra didn’t have a brother. How? By checking the records.” After that, Yoon Suk took many memory cards from his pockets, which he put on the desk in front of Kan. „Today is the big day, sombe!”
„Yeah, I see: it’s the big day for atoning for our sins,” Kan growled, furious because once again he wasn’t able to go home and sleep.
„If you say so?!” Replied Yoon Suk, smiling. „I just hope you have clean underwear and socks, sombe. Otherwise, tomorrow morning it’ll be damn unpleasant to breathe while standing next to you.” After that, still grinning, even if Kan gave him a bad look, letting him know that he could end up badly if he kept mocking him, Yoon Suk took a hand of memory cards and went to his desk to check them.
SolHi did the same. Yet, she didn’t smile as Yoon Suk was doing. She, grabbing a hand of USB sticks, whispered an „idiot” addressed to her younger colleague, and went to her desk, throwing the sticks on the table. Thus, she let everybody know that it was just time for all of them to stop pissing her off because it had been enough for her that night.
***
Even if everybody thought it wouldn’t take more than a few hours for them to find something by checking those records, it eventually took them an entire night. Even so, they found nothing in those records, nothing related to Han So Ra or the car she entered that night. „As though earth swallowed her that day,” Kan hissed through his teeth. He was damn furious that morning. „Just as we found nothing that can send Kan So Jun behind bars. And, on top of that, it was a rainy night that day, and half of the records are unclear.”
„Not all, sombe,” said SolHi, making everybody attentive. „Inspector, what time did Cha Yoon say So Ra returned that night?”
„Around four o'clock in the morning: soaking wet, with her clothes torn apart, and stained with blood.”
„Any sign of violence?” Asked DooSan.
„Cha Yoon said nothing about this,” replied SolHi instead of Yu. „She said only that So Ra mentioned a puppy she and Kan So Jun saved that night after the poor soul was hit by a car.”
„The good Samaritan saved a puppy but left her alone in the street. I want to accuse him at least of this.”
„Stay in line then,” SolHi told DooSan. „To punish others for doing „illegal!” things. Why? Because we can start with you, boss! Do you know why? Because you forced us to do extra hours without even buying us dinner. This is what I call cruelty.”
„Should I have also fed you? I paid for the extra hours.”
„Hours I would have preferred to spend in my warm bed and not here, dead tired, for nothing because we found no evidence eventually,” Kan mumbled.
„Not in vain we spent this night, anyway,” Yoon Suk said, smiling.
Kan gave him a bad look. „Don’t tell me that you have found something we haven’t! If yes, tell me: is it a kind of NL or something?”
„Better than this: a fight between Kan So Jun and Han So Ra.”
SolHi jumped to her feet, approaching Yoon Suk right away while the others exchanged glances, extremely surprised. SolHi, paying no attention to them, grabbed the mouse from Yoon Suk’s hand, zooming the image to see the fight better. Then, she hissed through her teeth, „I said that something stank in this story. And this bastard, Kan So Jun, didn't mention the fight he had with So Ra.”
„I think he said nothing because he wasn’t proud of this,” Yoon Suk said, looking at her with a wide smile sketched on his face. „I mean, I don’t think he is proud that a girl has kicked his ass. That’s why he preferred to keep his mouth shut,” the young detective said, changing the time of the record and showing SolHi the moment when So Ra kicked So Jun between his legs. Poor guy even knelt touching the sensitive part of his body while yelling like a wolf at the moon. So Ra, without paying attention to him, just simply walked away. „Just as I bet that the guy was more than eager to make her pay for what she did to him.”
„Then, let’s pick him up!” SolHi suddenly said. Yet, she didn’t take any step from Yoon Suk when he grabbed her hand, forcing her to stay there. „What now?” SolHi asked him, pissed off. „You are who said that Kan So Jun wanted revenge.”
„Yeah, I said this, but he didn’t do this.”
„Why are you so sure of this?” DooSan asked, approaching them.
„Because… there is another video, this one, where I could see the driver’s face, in whose car So Ra entered after the fight she had with Kan So Jun. This proves Kan So Jun’s innocence.”
„Still, it’s an unclear image,” said SolHi, grouchy. „Image that isn’t too informative to say it like that.”
„I believe the exact opposite,” DooSan hissed through his teeth, zooming the image to see the face of the driver. „Doesn’t he seem familiar to you?” He asked SolHi.
„Should I know him?”
„Yeah, once we both saw him the day you interrogated Ko Cha Yoon in the coffee shop.”
After such words, SolHi became attentive. She even approached her face to the screen to see that face better. „To be damn, but you are right. That’s Ko Cha Yoon’s boyfriend.”
„A boyfriend that has a name too,” said DooSan proudly. „So Min Ho. Junior, last year of high school. A familiar face to the prosecution. He was investigated several times for hooliganism and violence.”
„Something that makes you think he's our guy, right?” Kan asked, sipping from his coffee and yawning after that, a sign that he would have slept rather than drunk coffee at that hour.
„At least I suspect that he’s our guy. We can be sure of this if you bring him here, though,” DooSan whispered into Kan’s ear, making that one wince. „Actually, I’m sure he’ll talk if you, Detective Kan, use your sixth sense to make him talk. You can make sure of this while you bring him here.”
„Now?” Asked Kan, frowning. „I was going to relax after the long night.”
„You’ll have this chance after that,” replied DooSan, smiling. „Meanwhile, I’ll keep this coffee warm for you… until you're back. In my stomach, of course.” After that, still smiling while Kan frowned, DooSan took the mug from Kan’s hand and noisily sipped. DooSan’s playful sip made everybody smile. Not Kan, who was about to commit a crime at that moment. He was more than able to do that actually once DooSan took that right from him… to have some rest with a steamy coffee in his hand.
***
„Ah, to be damn!” Kan hissed through his teeth after he stopped at the door of the classroom of Min Ho. Inside, a tremendous noise was heard once the teenagers, instead of preparing for the next class, decided that it was funnier and healthier for them to play the fools and throw things toward others. Thus, too focused on what they were doing, none of them noticed the two detectives watching them. „I would have preferred the coffee rather than the noise.”
„Actually, I have the same thought. Unlike you, I would have preferred Ian SolHi here rather than you.”
Kan grinned. „And this „honor?”
„Honor? Well, sombe, you are absolutely right. Why? It's an honor to be with her because she never complains when we have to arrest an idiot. I can’t say the same thing about you.”
„This is because I prefer my integrity and my comfort to making others feel comfortable. When I’m happy, I can make others happy too.”
„The opposite of what a good cop should do, sombe. Yet, as I’m not here to teach you how to work, I’ll do this in your place.” Saying this, Yoon Suk turned his back to Kan and entered the classroom, calling So Min Ho’s name.
The young detective’s shout had no effect instead. Only when Kan threw a chair to the ground, did the teenagers keep silent and look at them with wide-open eyes. The same thing Yoon Suk did because he had never expected such a reaction from Kan. This one, sweetly yawning and happy to be in the spotlight after throwing a simple chair, ironically said, „If I had known that’s that easy to make someone see me, I would have thrown chairs since long ago. And, to make our job even easier, what about one of you tell me which of you is So Min Ho? I don’t need the rest of you.”
Instead of telling him which of them was So Min Ho, the students calmly looked at Kan. Not even a muscle moved on their faces. Only when Kan showed them his badge, trying to hint to them that it was time for them to be serious, So Min Ho ran out of the class through the front door. Seeing Min Ho running, Kan slapped his forehead. „To be damn! I really didn’t want to do exercises right now! And… catch that bastard, Yoon Suk!” Kan shouted at his partner when he saw that Yoon Suk was still next to him.
Yoon Suk, right before running after Min Ho, reproachfully shook his head, telling Kan, „I would have definitely preferred sombe Ian here.” After that, without paying attention to Kan’s bitter face, Yoon Suk followed Min Ho. Behind him, not only Kan appeared, but an entire bunch of onlookers because… it was definitely interesting to see what would happen eventually. How can they not be curious when they haven’t seen the show „The Police at Work” every day? At least not in their school.
Unlike his colleagues, who watched that run as though they were at the circus, Min Ho seemed familiar with all this. He even seemed to be used to the run too because he knew all the paths to take while trying to escape the two detectives. To make sure he wouldn’t be caught eventually, Min Ho started to push his colleagues out of his way or throw things in front of the two detectives, trying to delay them this way. This didn’t help him eventually because, getting out, through the backyard door, he’d been about to be knocked down by Yoon Suk.
Seeing the young detective pouncing on him, Min Ho threw himself to the ground and rolled a few meters. Yoon Suk, because of the force used to pounce on the young man, had been also forced to roll on the ground, but in a different direction. Because of this, when they stopped rolling, Min Ho had the chance to stand up first and run, after only a couple of seconds of deep breathing in and out. A wrong thought because, by doing this, he gave Kan the chance to catch up with them. Yet, even if he’d been about to grab the young man by the collar, Kan failed eventually. This made him yell at Yoon Suk, „What the hell everybody runs off us? Are we so ugly or what?”
„I don’t know about you, but… I’m pretty cute,” said Yoon Suk jokingly. Then, he turned right when they got to the front yard where Min Ho ran while trying to escape. Min Ho initially chose the backyard thinking that it would be easier to escape that way. Yet, when he saw a lot of his colleagues there and that it was even harder to escape by taking that path, he ran toward the front yard.
A bad decision in fact because, looking around to make sure the detectives weren’t behind him, Min Ho missed a step and got to roll on the stairs that led to the sports field eventually. Thus, Yoon Suk had the chance to get next to him until Min Ho had been able to stand. And, while cuffing him, the young detective told Min Ho, „So, running rabbit: only this far you were able to hop, huh?”
„You caught me because I tripped. Don't flatter yourself, okay?” The young man snapped at Yoon Suk. Then, the moment Kan grabbed his left arm and squeezed, to help Yoon Suk to make Min Ho stay on his feet, the young man gnashed his teeth. „What now?” He asked the detective when he spotted Kan staring at him.
„I just wondered if you were stupid or only pretending to be one. Why? Because it seems to me to be stupid once you dare to talk like that to the police after you have run away from them.”
Min Ho burst into laughter. „Maybe I’m intelligent, don’t you think so?! Otherwise, how would I have been able to be admired by so many idiots around while penguins like you were running after me, sobbing?”
„Admired, you say?! Well, maybe you are right because, brother-rabbit, after such jokes, you see prison for sure.”
„I don’t have to. I did nothing to get behind the bars.”
„It’s what you say!” Yoon Suk whispered into Min Ho’s ear. „I won’t bet on that. Why? Because… we are sure that you will get behind bars once we have seen Han So Ra entering your car on the night of 14th of December.” Min Ho swallowed hard, something noticed by Yoon Suk too. „I see you know what I’m talking about. So, what about confessing and making our job easier? Not here, but at the section, where you get for sure before sending you behind bars.”
Saying this, Yoon Suk pushed the young man toward the exit, making room through the students gathered around them. While heading toward the exit, Yoon Suk was surprised to see that Min Ho stopped and swallowed hard when he was grinning satisfied by then. Why did Min Ho stop? He saw Cha Yoon not that far from them, looking at them with teary eyes. She wasn’t crying because Min Ho was arrested, but because she understood that he was to blame for what happened to So Ra. That’s why she gave up on her big love eventually just as Han So Ra suggested to her months ago.