With a mug of hot coffee in his hand, the old guardian Kim Mun Ho headed toward his worktable. The old man was happy that night, as each quiet night at work, when he could afford the luxury of leaving his workplace for a while to serve a coffee, which he would have enjoyed while watching the TV later. That night was definitely a quiet one. He hadn’t had such a perfect time since long ago because, generally, he had many prisoners to watch out for. Yet, that night there was only one prisoner, and this one was extremely quiet.
Actually, because of this, the old Kim Mun Ho loved the night shifts. They were quiet because the majority of the prisoners were sleeping and there weren’t any visits at all. That’s why he was working the night shift for many years already and had no intention to give up, even if he was about to retire. For him, being alone at work was a piece of Heaven. Yes, his workplace was perfect, far away from the curious people’s eyes and especially from his talkative wife, who was all the time scolding him if she saw him in front of the TV, watching football instead of helping her with housework or finding another job to bring more money at home.
„As though money brings happiness,” he used to tell his wife each time she mentioned them. „Money never brought luck or happiness to anyone. Even if they brought it, it was only for a short time. After this, when you have nothing in your pocket, you realize that you are wasting your time for sure. Don’t you also think so, prisoner?” The old man asked the one whom he was guarding. After that, he sat at his desk, frowning because he once again remembered the argument he had with his wife that afternoon. The reason? The same as always: the money.
An answer to his question, the old man didn’t receive. The prisoner didn’t even move from his place. He continued with his back to the bars and Mun Ho. This made the old man reproachfully shake his head. Then, he shrugged, mumbling, „Each of us with his demons.” After that, sipping from his coffee and extremely happy, he turned the TV on because an important football game was on the TV that night and he didn’t intend to lose it.
Eventually, realizing that maybe the high volume could have bothered the prisoner, the old man looked at the cell again. The prisoner was still with his back to him. This seemed strange to the guardian because he had been working for years in that area and knew that the prisoners weren’t as quiet as this one. At least those were moving or making a certain noise when the volume was high. Yet, the one he was guarding that night did none.
Yet, even if Mun Ho understood this, he didn’t bother too much because he loved to watch football games at high volume. However, as he was conscious that it might have caused him problems with his bosses if the prisoner had complained later about this, he decided to at least check it with him and make sure the TV volume didn’t bother him. That’s why, seeing that the prisoner didn’t answer any of his questions, Mun Ho stood up from his chair and approached the bars, slowly hitting them to make his presence felt. After that, he said, „In case the TV’s high volume bothers you, don’t be shy and tell me, okay?”
The prisoner kept silent again. He also didn’t move. „What the hell?” The guardian thought, understanding this. „Is he deaf or what? Well, in this cell, one can go deaf because they have nothing else to do but to sleep. Or… is he sleeping so tight that he doesn’t hear what I say?”
Finding no logical answer to his questions, old Mun Ho shrugged again and returned to his place. Then, enjoying his coffee, eyes on TV, he carefully watched the game. Later, at halftime, looking at the prisoner, he saw him in the same place, something that made him frown again, and think, „What the hell is he doing? Isn’t he bothered by the volume or numbed?” Answers he didn’t receive again, just as he saw that the prisoner had not moved, not even this time.
This concerned and made him stand up again, approaching the bars. Not even this time, the noise of his steps bothered the prisoner. Because of this, he hit the bars with the truncheon again, trying to make that one watch him. Yet, not even this time did the prisoner react, something that made Mun Ho loudly ask, „Prisoner, are you okay? Does something bother you?” Questions that remained with no answer again.
That silence made old Mun Ho so suddenly anxious. He had to check what was going inside, he was sure of this. Yet, as it had happened to him before when one of the prisoners pounced on him when he entered the cell unarmed, the old man squeezed the truncheon in his right hand, opening the cell with the left one. Yet, not even the noise of the keys and the lock that had been opened made the prisoner react. This made Mun Ho yell at him again, „Hei, I asked you if you were okay. What about answering at least this time?”
Not even at that time, did the prisoner move or say something. Because of this, Mun Ho started to approach him in a slow step. Yet, he carefully approached him, somehow afraid because he was sure that if a guardian had to be afraid of something, he had to be afraid of prisoners, from whom one didn’t know what to wait for. Nevertheless, one step from the prisoner and pushing him with the truncheon, Mun Ho got really scared because the man he guarded didn’t move at all. This made the old man swallow hard, then ask again, „Hei, what’s wrong with you? Wake up! Do you hear me? What happened to you?”
His questions remained unanswered for the umpteenth time. At least, Mun Ho didn’t receive a verbal answer. Yet, he received a mute one when he saw the white liquid that drained from the prisoner’s mouth on the floor, just as he saw the tray with food that was not that far from the prisoner, turned upside down as if the prisoner pushed it from him.
Seeing this, Mun Ho shuddered. „Poisoned!” He yelled. „The prisoner was poisoned!” After that, running out of the cell, the old guardian started to blow his whistle so hard, asking for help.
***
Holding SolHi to his chest while lying next to her, under the same blanket, DooSan suddenly kissed the top of her head. He did that somehow involuntarily. Even so, it hadn’t been a clumsy kiss but a natural one, as though they had slept together daily, and he was already used to kissing the beloved woman’s forehead, considering this a simple daily routine. At the same time, the kiss filled the man with beautiful feelings, and, for the first time in so long, he felt comfortable with himself and with the whole world.
„Even so, I still feel as though I have been sleeping for years while having the same nightmare,” DooSan suddenly murmured, remembering everything through what he had been in the last few years. Then, when SolHi moved in her sleep, pulling closer to his chest, the man smiled. „Still, this nightmare had its good sides. It brought us together, even if both of us had to live so many nasty things and suffer so much.”
Eventually, nostalgic, DooSan also pulled closer to her, and covered her with the blanket, hiding his face in her hair just to deeply breathe in her scent. A perfume that made him smile again. Then, unwillingly, his eyes filled with tears.
His eyes had been bathed with tears when DooSan remembered YuSan and what Marie told him a few days ago. „Even if she’s your brother’s woman?” Words that resounded like a curse for him at that moment. At the same time, it was a curse for his love because it meant that if it was true what his mother told him, it meant his love was forbidden. This didn’t mean he didn’t start to want more: to want her by his side, for an entire life, loved and protected in his arms. Yes, he wanted her by him, even if the whole world was against them and even if… she was guilty of his nightmare.
„Still, SolHi, what happened that night?” The man asked in a whisper. „More than this, why are there so many secrets between us?” A whisper that made him shudder because SolHi was too tightly sleeping to hear what he said or feel his concern.
Yet, his whisper didn’t only make him shudder inside but it also turned him nostalgic. Then, step by step, memories took over him. Memories from those times when he was still living in Marie’s house and YuSan was still alive, times when DooSan was still happy, having no concern about tomorrow. That day instead, seven years after his brother’s death, DooSan felt he missed something. Yes, he missed YuSan so much, his advice, his laughter, his hug, and… to have him close to him.
His longing wasn’t random or sudden. No, DooSan had always missed YuSan. Yet, at that moment, with SolHi by his side and after Marie had told him that she might have been YuSan’s woman, made DooSan feel that he was badly missing his brother. The reason? He wanted some answers, which only YuSan could have given him. Yet, YuSan wasn’t there to respond to his questions or make him worry less.
Thinking about all this, DooSan suddenly winced when he heard himself, the one who lived seven years ago, telling YuSan in a playing voice when that one returned one evening home earlier and found DooSan playing basket in the front yard of their house, alone, „Ooo, Prosecutor Han YuSan honors us with his presence today. Well, a real miracle this one, honestly. Even so, tell me: is it because they finally understood who you are and fired you?”
Hearing his little brother joking like that with him, YuSan smiled. „Of course… not! Or what, do you think everybody is like you… lazy and with no further plans?”
„Well…,” DooSan stalled the answer, juggling with the basketball, „…you aren’t right,” he told YuSan eventually, suddenly throwing the ball toward him. „And, to show you that I’m not lazy, accept to play tonight. Thus, you’ll understand for sure who the lazy one between us two is.”
„Do you think so?” YuSan replied, smiling. After that, leaving the ball down, he took his jacket off with lazy moves. And, looking on the sly at his brother, he asked, „Do you think you can win, brother? I assure you that’s nothing like that. So… don’t waste your time and… catch me if you can!” After that, unexpectedly, YuSan marked. „1-0, brother,” he cheerfully told DooSan, who was frowning. „So, are you ready to lose tonight, Mister Han DooSan?”
„Only in your dreams!” DooSan responded, smiling. After that, attacking YuSan, he took the ball and scored. „Now it’s 1-1, prosecutor Han! Something that tells me that you are losing. So, if you don’t want to be beaten up, you’ll do yourself a favor if you stop wasting our time.” Then, really happy, DooSan stared at YuSan, who was rolling his sleeves, cunningly smiling. A smile that made DooSan attentive. „Are you trying to cheat on me or something?” DooSan asked his brother.
„I? To cheat on you?” Said YuSan, smiling too. „I can kick your ass without tricks, Han DooSan!”
„Really? It’s not exactly what I’ve seen earlier! When I took the ball from you, and you didn’t even realize this.”
„The beginner’s luck. At the same time, I wasn’t warmed up yet. Now, catch me if you can!” After that, attacking his brother, YuSan took the ball and scored again, making everything not letting DooSan have the ball again.
They played a lot that night, around two hours. Yet, none of them felt tired or that he wanted to give up. No, they felt so well that night, playing together because those games, mostly of the time childish as they named them sometimes, helped them to be closer to each other than ever and that they weren’t alone in the world.
„A game that was the last one,” murmured DooSan sadly when he remembered that night. „If I had known that a few days after this you would leave us, I would have followed you like a shadow, and maybe you wouldn’t have died, YuSan.”
He looked at SolHi again when he felt her moving in her sleep. What made him attentive was to hear her whispering, „Maybe you’ll stay?” Who exactly she was asking to stay, SolHi didn’t say, and this made DooSan jealous. Yes, he was jealous of everybody, by the way. He was jealous even of YuSan, who wasn’t there but who could have been the one SolHi was asking to stay. This made DooSan think eventually, „I would have liked to be the one who you are asking to stay, SolHi,” putting his forehead to hers. „If it had been so, I would have stood by your side forever. For an entire life. And, if YuSan hadn’t died that night, I would have been the happiest man in the world today.”
Eventually, he winced when he remembered the same night again when he and YuSan played basketball. They were sitting on the warm asphalt this time, exhausted after those two hours of intense play. Thus, while DooSan was looking at the sky full of stars, YuSan was looking at his brother. YuSan looked at DooSan for a long time that night, as though he was trying to fix his image in his mind to have it there forever. And, while looking at DooSan, he looked as if he wanted to ask his brother something, but he didn’t dare do that.
Catching his brother’s glance focused on him, DooSan frowned. Then, in a playful voice, he asked, „What? Will you reproach me again for the fact you’ve lost in front of me?”
„It’s not that,” YuSan rushed to answer. After that, somehow ashamed, he looked elsewhere.
DooSan didn’t leave YuSan alone, but insisted on finding out an answer and asked, „Why do you look at me then?”
„I was just curious.”
„About?”
„That… girl?!” YuSan stuttered while staring at his red palms after the game. DooSan looked confused at him, not understanding whom YuSan was asking him about. That’s why YuSan saw himself forced to explain his question and said, „I was asking about the girl with whom you… you know… with whom you spent that night in a motel room.”
„Aaa,” replied DooSan drily. Then, leaning on his back a little and supporting himself on the elbows, he looked at the sky again and said, „Honestly, I forgot about her. I thought you did the same.” Yet, even if DooSan tried to seem indifferent while saying such words, the sadness in his voice betrayed him.
YuSan looked at him, confused. „Why? I mean, why did you think that I didn’t remember that night?”
„Because… I forgot about her. I forgot what she looked like. And, honestly, I don’t remember her face. I only remember the moment I left the room. It’s when I looked at her, for a few moments. I was curious to see her face. Yet, I couldn’t because she was sleeping with her face hidden in the pillow and with the blanket up to her ears. I even think that it’s the best that could have happened to me because… I don’t feel guilty for what happened then. At the same time, I’m not forced to deal with her once I don’t know what kind of woman she is. I’m content with only knowing that she has brown hair, the color of the ripe chestnuts, and that she smells like lavender.”
After such words, nostalgia took over both of them. Especially, it influenced YuSan, who looked at his brother eventually. Then he asked, „And… wouldn’t you like to see her again?”
„What for?” DooSan asked, laughing.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
„What do I know?! To at least know with whom you spent that night?! Thus, you won’t ever feel guilty because, as far as I remember, you said that you didn’t say goodbye to her when you left.”
DooSan loudly laughed again. Then, he suddenly yelled, „Ia, Han YuSan, are you serious now? To say goodbye to the woman with whom I spent the night. And, what should I have told her when I left: thank you for spending this night with me? Or maybe… should we repeat it? Don’t be naive! If not, I’ll think you’ve never slept with anyone, ever!”
„Are you crazy?” YuSan also yelled, somehow ashamed. „I’ve been about to get married, remember?”
„Yeah, I remember. And, I think you are right, once I know that So Su Yon isn’t the kind of woman to hold a man’s hand only. Moreover, knowing what she did to me and…” DooSan suddenly swallowed hard when he realized that he talked too much and that YuSan got upset again. „Sorry, I was just…”
„Forget it!” YuSan said drily. He was right in being upset and not wanting to talk to his brother about this. Eventually, they were talking about his ex and his brother, and about a weird love triangle that made YuSan cancel the wedding.
Unlike YuSan, DooSan seemed to want to continue that talk. He wanted this because he felt weird after those words and guilty in front of YuSan, even if he wasn’t guilty in that story with So Su Yon. Even so, this was killing him inside, thinking that if he had apologized once again in front of YuSan, it could have changed things between them. That’s why he eventually said, „YuSan, don’t take it personally! What I’ve said before…”
„Yes, I got it,” YuSan cut him off. „I don’t want to talk about this. Yet, I’d like to tell you that it’ll be a good idea to look for that girl though.”
„What for?” DooSan asked, confused.
„To at least make sure no child of yours will grow up without his father if it’s not because you are curious to know what she looks like.”
DooSan laughed again. „My child? Mine?”
„Not mine! Or what, did you forget already that you were both so drunk that night when you went to the motel? You could have not used protection and she could have gotten pregnant. Didn’t you think about this? Or what, if this happened, will you allow your child to live without you?”
Such words irritated DooSan, even if he didn’t know why. After this, he sat on the ground and, suddenly looking at his brother, he confidently told YuSan, „Do you think I’m as irresponsible as you think I am? Yes, Han YuSan: maybe you are right and I can be irresponsible sometimes. Yet, I’m not that stupid to have children with God knows with whom. You should take better care of yourself because you have more chances to have children than me, once you want them. So, make your own children, and don’t beg for nephews!”
„What if you are wrong and is it as I said?”
„Well, it isn’t! At least, I don’t think that it is. No, I’m sure it’s not like that because I used protection that night. And, related to what she looks like, I’m not interested in finding out. I don’t want to know her! It’ll be better for all of us to be like that!” After that, nervous, DooSan stood up, took the ball with him, and left without looking back.
YuSan didn’t follow his brother as he used to do each time they fought. On the contrary, that night he sat on that asphalt and looked in the distance, thoughtful and not knowing what to do. He stood there for so long that DooSan saw him in the same place even when he got out of the shower. Yet, although he had a lot of questions about what could have happened to his brother that night when he asked him about the woman with whom he spent that night in a motel room, DooSan didn’t ask YuSan that. He preferred to wait, convinced that time would solve the things between them.
Time didn’t solve things though, just as it didn’t protect any of them. They also didn’t talk about that stranger after this. What they talked about was So Su Yon when YuSan, who came back home one evening, irritated and drunk, reproached his brother that his fiancée loved DooSan and not him. That night they had an ugly fight. Then, DooSan left home and didn’t return home for many days, not wanting to see his big brother again. He even stopped answering YuSan’s calls, although YuSan called him so many times after that fight.
DooSan didn’t pick up the phone, not even on the night of YuSan’s death. „Something I regret so much,” DooSan murmured. „Just as I regret so much that we didn’t talk about that woman the night YuSan asked me. It seemed he knew her. If I had done this, I would have had at least an answer to so many unanswered questions.”
Yes, there was nobody there to answer any of DooSan’s questions. His brother was dead and SolHi was sleeping. She was sleeping so tightly that night, with her head on his chest and so calm, something that made DooSan happy because at least one of them could sleep that night. Then, deeply breathing in, to avoid a painful sigh, DooSan said, looking at her hair, which was so beautiful smelling, like lavender, and had the color of the ripe chestnuts, „You know, SolHi: if I had asked YuSan on that night who that woman was, I wouldn’t have probably wondered now if she was you. At the same time, I would have known now if you had been his too, or only mine. Yet, no… I don’t want to think about this anymore. I won’t ever think about this. I should have you by my side rather than far away from me, and I’ll have you… at least while life still allows us this.”
Eventually, chasing the thoughts that tormented him away, DooSan wrapped his arms around SolHi, sticking her to his chest. Then, deeply breathing in her perfume, he allowed dreams to take over him… dreams about them, about a future together, so far from problems and difficulties. Dreams that were so pleasant that he forgot about everything. Yes, DooSan didn’t even hear the vibrations of his mobile phone that night, which he left on the couch in his room, a phone that vibrated for so long, insistently…
***
„I would rather wake a dead man than reach Prosecutor Han at night,” murmured Kan furiously, slipping his phone into his chest pocket. „Well, I think it’s possible! Why not when he has SolHi as a nurse?! Of course, he won’t answer his phone, even if I call him for something important like a suicide!” Kan kept mumbling, heading toward the cell where the forensic doctors led by GhiYon were still investigating the place.
Once in the cell, Kan cooked his nose, hearing GhiYon saying, „I doubt he did that to himself.”
„Well, I don’t doubt this, but I’m sure. It’s obvious, doc! And… let’s not forget that he was guarded. I don’t think someone is so stupid to enter the police station at this hour just to poison this one.”
„I never said he didn’t drink the poison alone,” said GhiYon, staring at Kan. „I only said that I doubted he did that alone because, once he was so well guarded, how did he get the poison then?”
„Well…,” mumbled Kan, scratching the back of his head. Eventually, he didn’t have an answer to that question. At the same time, the lover of dolls was right: it was definitely curious how the prisoner got the poison, a thought that made Kan frown again. Then, snapping at the forensic doctor, Kan asked, „How did you know that he died because of poison?”
GhiYon smiled. „Let’s say he’s not the first dead prisoner I „visit” in the cell. At the same time, he’s not the first one whose weird death I investigate.”
„I believe that’s not the first death you investigate,” Kan murmured randomly, looking at the forensic doctor from top to toe. „Yet, to be able to answer your question „how the poison got to him,” I’ll carefully investigate it.” After that, Kan cooked his nose again because he definitely hated not having answers to the questions others asked him.
Unlike Kan, who wasn’t convinced of anything, GhiYon was sure of his theory, telling Kan eventually, „Maybe you are right, Detective! Yet, let’s not forget one thing: the truth cannot always be found out, just as a thorough investigation doesn’t guarantee the desired effect.”
„What the hell are you talking about?”
„Ian SolHi?!” The forensic doctor’s answer made Kan stop, who walked up and down through the cell by then. Then, seeing GhiYon smiling, satisfied, Kan cooked his nose again because the triumphant smile of the doctor wasn’t something he liked. Yet, as he couldn’t do anything else than cook his nose and scratch the back of his head, Kan decided to keep silent and looked elsewhere. This gave GhiYon the perfect chance to continue his thought and said, „I’ve been right, it seems to me. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have stopped when you heard my theory.”
To GhiYon’s great surprise, Kan smirked. „Well,” the detective said eventually, „if you hadn’t been right, you would have felt the sweet caress of my fist between your eyes already because you have been really insufferable lately.”
„Tell me something new,” murmured the forensic doctor, grinning. „Nevertheless, I’m right. That’s why I’ll be grateful to you if you tell me what Detective Ian and you have found in the abandoned warehouse.”
„None of your business,” replied Kan drily. After that, he turned his back to the forensic doctor, intending to leave the cell.
When Kan turned his back to GhiYon, he finally saw the two forensic doctors who were taking the prisoner out of the cell, inside of a mortuary sac, which was zipped only half. And, seeing the prisoner’s face, Kan remembered YuSan and that night when they found him dead in that abandoned warehouse. In Particular, Kan remembered the moment DooSan unzipped the mortuary sac when Kan and Gi allowed him to approach his dead brother.
Such memories made Kan frown again. He definitely hated seeing dead people. Yet, as it was his job, he had to cope with it alone. Even so, he thought that maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea to talk about this as GhiYon suggested and told the forensic doctor after this, „I don’t think that’s the right time to talk about it. Let’s talk about important things now.”
„Like?”
„Like… excluding the theory that the prisoner had the poison with him when he got to this place. Well, that idea of… you know „If they catch me, I have a chance to kill myself?!” If it had been so, we would have found it when we checked his things.”
„Sounds logical. Yet, there is a chance that someone has „helped” him, and the evidence wasn’t found at the body search.”
„Less likely! I know the people who work here. Very well, by the way. That’s why none of them can have done this. This makes me so sure that this one is dead, not because of them.”
„He’s been visited, then.”
„Most likely yes. Ia, Oh Yoon Suk, what time did you say you visited the prisoner?”
„Around four o’clock in the evening, sombe. Why?”
„Because… I have an idea,” murmured Kan when Yoon Suk came to the cell from the next room where he was taking the guardian’s declaration. „And… Did you see something strange then? Someone who visited him before or after you?” Insisted Kan.
The detective’s question made Yoon Suk take thought. Yet, after a few moments of thinking when he cooked his nose repeatedly, as though this helped him remember something, Yoon Suk nodded and said, „No, sombe! It was quiet! Why? Do you think he’s been „helped” to do that?”
„This is also a probability because… I don’t think he has magic powers. You know: he vanished from the cell for a short while, went to the drug store, bought a dose, returned to the cell, and… hopa, let’s check what the Underworld looks like!”
„Why? Would you have done this if you were him?” Yu teased Kan when he appeared in the cell too.
Seeing the Inspector, Kan slowly growled, „So smart you are. And… to answer your question: I wouldn’t have done this. I don’t kill myself to hide things.”
„Yet, if you can guess what others could have done, this means you have thought about this at least once in your life.”
Kan grinned. „Well, Inspector, tell me: what do you eat lately that you know so much? People?” The detective mumbled, feistily. He was really furious because he didn’t have time to pass by home lately. He would have liked to go home that night. Yet, he hadn’t been that lucky because, after leaving the DEA building, they were summoned to the Kanam police station instead of going to sleep. That’s why he was so irritated, especially with Yu, as though the Inspector was to blame that they had to work so much. This, along with the fact that Yu was all the time with him, started to make Kan doubt that he made a good choice when he started to work as a detective.
Inspector Yu didn’t lose his temper after such words but grinned and said, „Perhaps I don’t eat people, but I have good masters. Like you, for example.” Saying this, Yu started to check the cell.
His answer and indifference irritated Kan eventually. He, suddenly entering the cell behind Yu, asked, „And, once you say you learn so much from me, what about telling me what I’ve taught you this time? Or… what your dog’s nose smelled this time.”
„That you are blowing down my neck more often than ever?!” Replied Yu, grinning. Yet, seeing Kan about to get enraged, he changed the tone and said, „Not only this. I just… have the feeling that he has been threatened and forced to take his life. How? His family! This was the only valuable thing he had. I don’t think he intended to lose it once he entered this dangerous game.”
„Yet, sombe Yu: if you are right and the threat is real, it must have been received after he’d been closed here.”
„Most likely yes, Yoon Suk. Let’s not forget that Iun Dja Iun’s boys and even SolHi support the idea that the driver has tried to run from the scene. So, his first thought must have been something like: if I run, they won’t ever catch me.”
„Sounds logical what you say,” murmured Kan. „If they intended to take him out of the country, he might have tried to run. Yet, what interests me now is to know who has visited him.”
„The guardian must know,” said GhiYon, sarcastically.
„I think we have the same thoughts,” replied Kan in the same sarcastic manner. After that, he called the officer’s name. When this one appeared in the room, Kan asked, „Officer Kim, do you remember if someone visited the victim in the last few days? Especially in the few hours?”
Mun Ho took a few moments to think after hearing the question. „Honestly, he had visits, but nothing out of the ordinary. Only the detectives came to ask him things. And… ah, someone from the Prosecution. If I’m not mistaken, I think his name was Oh or something like that.”
„It’s me!” Murmured Yoon Suk, stunned, finding out that the guardian didn’t remember him.
The guardian’s answer irritated Kan, who suddenly hissed through his teeth, „If you don’t remember the one who has visited the victim recently, I don’t know what you are doing here, Officer Kim!” After that, Kan reproachfully shook his head. And, turning toward Yoon Suk, he asked, „What exactly did the deceased one tell you when you saw him?”
„Nothing important. He only said that he had nothing to add.”
„Something that smells like a good instruction to me,” murmured Yu.
Kan grinned instead. Then, he suddenly yelled, taking everybody by surprise, „Bingo! I like how the pupils learn nowadays!” After that, taking the notebook from Officer Kim’s hand, Kan started to check its content, still mumbling, „Pupils that are worse than we’ve been once.” Then, seeing the others’smile, Kan suddenly turned serious, saying, „It wasn’t a joke if something!”
„We never thought it could have been one,” GhiYon teased him. „Even so, it’ll be a good idea if you tell us what you are looking for in that notebook. It’ll remain leafless soon.”
„Ghosts,” the detective growled. „I missed the target, yet,” said Kan furious, throwing the notebook on the table. „We have nothing solid about this case.”
„It seems to be so,” added Yu.
„What about the cameras?”
„Nothing by now. SuJin is still on this.”
„Wait a minute!” Murmured Officer Kim, taking everybody by surprise. „If I think about this, the deceased was strange since a few days ago.”
„Strange? How?” Yoon Suk asked.
„Scared… worried… What do I know?! He became so after his lawyer’s visit.”
„His lawyer? Didn’t you say that nobody visited him except ours?” Kan asked him feistily.
„Well, I missed this one,” murmured Kim, grinning.
„Damn! You are good at missing things it seems to me. And… what did you say the lawyer’s name was?”
„I’ve never said that!”
„Then?! Take your notebook, or where you note the visits, and check! Or… don’t tell me that you didn’t note this!”
„Of course, I noted this. I always do,” said Kim, upset because he thought that Kan scolded him undeserved. „Look, it’s here! Ian Hion Uk! Yes, yes, the lawyer’s name was Ian Hion Uk! He visited the deceased three days ago. I remember this because he came when I started my shift, around 6 pm.”
„A little bit late for social visits, don’t you think so, Kan?” Asked Yu.
„Yeah, I also think so. Especially knowing who Ian Hion Uk is and whom he is working for,” growled Kan. „Let’s pay him a social visit too!”
„At this hour, sombe?” Yoon Suk asked, eyes wide open. „It’s five o’clock in the morning!”
„We’ll wait for him then. Right in front of the door until he opens his office. I love to be a morning client!” Said Kan mockingly. Then, looking at Yu, Kan told him in a serious voice, „You, follow me! Once you are sticking to me like the chewing gum, I say not to split now. I love it when we make a good pair. And… not to disappoint those who consider us soul mates too.” Then, still mumbling things, he turned his back to the others, heading toward the exit door.
Kan’s behavior made the others exchange glances because none of them knew what exactly was in the detective’s head at that hour. Only Yu knew why Kan was acting like that and smiled. Then, telling Yoon Suk to check the place once again just to make sure they didn’t miss anything, the Inspector followed Kan. Eventually, they were „soul mates,” he couldn’t deny this because there was friendship between them for sure. Yes, they became friends, even if none of them looked for this.