Returning from the hospital, outraged, DooSan started to look through SolHi’s things. He did that not looking for evidence related to his brother’s death but because of another crime that she had committed: deceit. Not any kind of deceit, but one with adverse effects for her because she had been admitted to the hospital for… malnutrition. The reason? Well, DooSan wasn’t so sure why SolHi did that. He was sure only that SolHi had considered him a fool, at least lately when she had refused to eat with them, apologizing in front of them and telling them that she had eaten already or that she had urgent things to do at that moment and she’d eat something after this. Yet, even if SolHi lied to them, none of her colleagues realized this.

SolHi’s attitude and the fact she lied to all of them made DooSan feel deceived eventually. He couldn’t understand „How could she play like this with her life?” Thoughts that accompanied him all the way home from the hospital, for which he would have liked to find an answer. Yet, he didn’t find that answer, not even when he got home and looked through her things, where he found a lot of empty recipients of ramion, and nothing more. Because of this, he completely lost his control, throwing a ramion casserole against the wall eventually, yelling, „She played with all of us as though we were stupid or children. And we were, once none of us realized what she was going through. But, why, SolHi? Why?”

Eventually, understanding that he wouldn’t be able to find an answer from those four empty walls, DooSan sat on the couch. He did that, feeling a deep pain in his chest, something that made him support his head on his palms and his elbows on his knees. Then, he sighed. He painfully sighed, understanding that not SolHi fooled them all, but they allowed her to deceive all of them so easily because, even if they saw that she acted strangely, especially in the last few days, none of them tried to find out what was going on with her.

DooSan didn’t ask anything because he knew very well who SolHi was and what she could do when she felt surrounded: she was closing inside or running away from him. „As she’s always doing,” the man suddenly murmured, leaning against the back of the couch. „She always runs away, especially when it’s necessary to make important decisions. At the same time, she hides her problems from everybody, even if she knows that we are capable of helping her. And, damn it: I can’t understand this woman. I really can’t because…” Eventually, he kept silent, feeling strange. He felt deserted and deceived because he thought they got closer, especially lately. Yet, as always, he’d been wrong.

„Even so, I shouldn’t have left her alone,” DooSan whispered, understanding this cruel truth for the umpteenth time. „The freedom I gave her didn’t serve for anything because, even if I thought that this would make her tell me things or get closer to me, all this pushed her further from me. And… this truth hurts, SolHi! It hurts like hell! It hurts!”

Yet, even if he understood that SolHi’s behavior hurt him, DooSan also knew that she also suffered: in the past, in the present, and maybe she’d suffer in the future. „She’ll suffer more if she’s stubborn and does everything alone.” Even so, understanding all this, DooSan didn’t know how to help her, how to make her trust him, and how to make her understand that she wasn’t alone anymore because „We live together now, right? She should have told me if she had problems, if she needed help, not to drag all these problems behind her. She shouldn’t have run out just to get to the hospital for malnutrition. We aren’t in Africa, for God’s sake where people have so little food. We live in Korea, in the XXI century. I really can’t…”

He kept silent again when he felt the anger asphyxiating him. He was angry with himself more than with her because he didn’t realize on time that something bad happened right in front of his nose. Especially, he couldn’t forgive himself for the fact that while he was eating meat, she was starving. And… „I also don’t have any idea how this woman wanted to survive,” he yelled eventually, feeling the anger taking control over him. „Feeding herself with air maybe? Or maybe with beautiful memories about what has been once? Or…”

A punch on the door made him wince. Soon after this, he heard a woman yelling, „Ian SolHi, you, shameless woman you are, open this door! I know you are there!” Screams that made DooSan squint at the door. Then, he frowned when he understood that the visitor didn’t knock on the door like any other normal visitor, but punched the door while continuing to yell, „I know you are there, Ian SolHi! So, open the door and don’t make me lose my mind! Or what, are you avoiding me now, the one who…”

The moment the door had suddenly been opened, the woman about fifty pulled back. Then, when her sudden „scare” vanished somewhere, because she thought SolHi would punch her once she opened the door like that, the visitor widened her eyes when she saw DooSan in the doorway, squinting at her. She did the same, unpleasantly surprised to see a man instead of her tenant, something that made her ask through her teeth, „And you, who the hell are you?”

DooSan disliked both the woman’s glance and the tone of her voice. He also disliked her screams and that she insulted SolHi. That’s why, without thinking too much about the answer, he replied, „I’m Death! I’ve been living here lately!”

His words made the woman swallow hard. After that, a little bit scared, she looked at DooSan from top to toe, trying to understand who the hell that crazy man was. Even so, she didn’t understand too much because even if he seemed familiar to her, she couldn’t remember where she saw him. And, honestly, it didn’t interest her too much. All that interested her at that moment was the money, for which she came there.

Even so, understanding that the man in front of her wasn’t in the mood for jokes, and this was clear only by watching DooSan’s sour face, who stared at her like a mad dog, the woman decided that it was wiser for her to change the tactic. That’s why she suddenly smiled, saying, „Ei, you are too young to be the Death. So, stop joking like that, young man.”

„Who told you that I was joking?” DooSan drily replied. „On the contrary, I’m more serious than seriousness itself. So, if you don’t want to see the one with the scythe by my side just to invite you for a walk, I suggest you change the tone of your voice. Or what, do you use to talk to SolHi like that each time you see her?”

The man’s sure voice and the anger in his eyes let the woman understand that he wasn’t a random person or a simple „visitor” in that house, a „passenger” as she used to call all those she had ever seen around her tenant. On the contrary, this one seemed to be a serious man, capable of protecting the „shameless woman,” someone who was undoubtedly against her. That’s why she finally decided that if she wanted to win that battle with him, she had to be strong. If not, she wouldn’t have ever seen the money she thought that „belonged” to her, once she had allowed to „shameless SolHi” live in her house. Yet, even if she understood that she had to be strong and serious while talking to the stranger, she couldn’t find the courage to reply to him. Not after the joke with the „Death” made by DooSan before that.

Eventually, when she could finally regain control over herself, she straightened her back and hissed through her teeth, „ If you are Death, I’m the devil! So, we are even, young man! More than this, you’ll do us a favor if you tell me who the hell you are and what you are doing in this apartment. As far as I remember, I rented this apartment to Ian SolHi, not to you.”

Not losing his temper, not when he understood who the „clown” in front of him was, DooSan smiled. This made the woman frown, wondering what he was planning at that time. A right thought this one because she suddenly heard DooSan saying, „Who am I? Just someone who’s living here, for the moment.”

The woman disliked such an answer. Because of this, she snapped at DooSan soon after this, yelling, „You are living here? Without my permission?”

„As though the tenant should tell the landlord with whom she or he spends his nights,” DooSan drily replied. „Not while he paid the rent on time. Or… am I wrong?”

The man’s words made the woman attentive because if he knew that SolHi always paid the rent on time, it meant he knew her very well. Yet, who was he, the woman didn’t know. „A lover?” She wondered. „Or… maybe someone who loves her and tries to protect her? No, I don’t think so because if he was someone close to her, I would have seen him more often. Yet, I don’t remember having seen him before. Then, who the hell is he?”

As if reading her mind, DooSan smiled and said, „I don’t think that asking such questions is something proper for you. Just as I consider that it is necessary to tell me who you are once I have presented myself.” These last words, DooSan spoke in a serious tone, letting the woman know that he wasn’t in the mood for playing, long talks, or jokes and that she would have done them a favor by answering that question. Yet, seeing her keeping silent, he decided to „rush” her a little or at least to make her pay back for that „shameless woman” she said about SolHi. That’s why DooSan said eventually, „At least educated people do that: they present themselves in front of others.”

His arrogance made the woman cook her nose. Especially, she disliked the fact that he said those words to let her understand that she didn’t have the right to talk like that to him or about SolHi, just as DooSan hinted to her that he wouldn’t tolerate any insult related to her tenant. Yet, even if she understood his intentions, the woman told herself that it was a bad idea to give up in front of him or let him know she was afraid of him. That’s why she said eventually, confidently, „I’m the landlord! This apartment belongs to me, a place you entered without my permission. An apartment in my name, Oh Min Suk, to whom SolHi ows a lot of money.”

These words made DooSan frown, finding them weird. Especially, it seemed weird to him to hear about money when he was sure that SolHi paid everything and didn’t have any debt with this Oh Min Suk. How did he find out? Simple: he poked his nose in her business and checked her bank account. He did that before moving to SolHi’s house, hoping to find some suspicious transfer or something to link him to the one who killed YuSan. He found nothing strange though. Even so, he found out something about those who were related to SolHi at that moment. It’s how he found out about this Oh Min Suk, someone who he had never seen before or after that. Actually, he saw her once in the photos the detective brought him, but DooSan didn’t remember her face. That’s why she could take him by surprise.

Yet, this amazement didn’t last long, only until he could remember the investigation he asked for. Thus, aware that SolHi didn’t owe anything to Oh Min SinJu, DooSan grinned and said, „Invented debts because I’m sure that’s nothing as you say.”

His remark made Min Suk nervously move, understanding that her plan was about to fail. Even so, she decided not to give up and told him, „She didn’t owe me anything before that. Now instead, since I decided to increase the rent, she didn’t pay. That’s why she has debts.”

„Aaa, I see,” said DooSan drily, taking another step outside the apartment and making Min Suk move a little back. „I understand now why SolHi was so nervous and anxious lately. It was because of the Devil, who came to her door today, insulting her and yelling at her in the hope of intimidating her and making her pay for everything you ask. Yet, lady, surprise, because, instead of the „Shameless SolHi,” you met the devil, ME, who won’t allow you to make fun of her, not while I’m here. Just as she won’t pay more than it’s already stipulated in the rent contract.”

„That’s what you think,” Oh Min Suk hissed through her teeth. „That she won’t pay. Of course, she’ll pay, every single extra cent I ask for, by the way, if she wants to continue to live here because… the game’s rules have changed, just as I have the right according to the Law. Plus, I haven’t increased the rent so suddenly, but three months ago. That’s why she owes me, for not paying me the difference,” she told him in a defiant tone. „More than this, once she doesn’t live here alone, I consider she has to pay me more. Plus, a three months advance, because I’m not stupid to suffer losses or stain my reputation because of her easy behavior.”

Hearing the word „easy behavior,” DooSan exploded. „What? Easy? Reputation? Wait a minute to follow you: how the hell could SolHi stain your reputation when she has no relationship with you except for the one landlord vs tenant? More than this, I don’t know who stains whose reputation when I know that the one who came to her door, punching it to let her know you were here, were you.”

„If I did that, it was because she stopped answering the phone. So, young man…”

„Don’t you think she has done this because of your behavior?” DooSan said through his teeth. „I think so, once she has paid the rent on time, which you so suddenly raised, by the way.”

„Not that suddenly because I did all that because of her. It’s better to say because of her shamelessness and of her scandal that can chase future tenants away.”

„Scandal? What scandal?” DooSan asked, confused.

„The one that has appeared in all the newspapers lately,” Oh Min Suk replied in mockery. „The scandal that appeared after she’d been caught after a night spent in the arms of a man, a night about which everybody knows today.”

She winced eventually and pulled back when DooSan punched the door. Then, taking another step toward her, he hissed through his teeth, „Listen to me carefully, Mrs. Oh Min Suk, or what’s your name: stop talking nonsense until I haven’t lost my mind! What? Because of the scandal? Stained reputation and that’s why you decided to raise the rent? Yeah, right! Why? Because you don’t have a reason to increase that payment while your theory of „it chases my future tenants away” has no logic once on the news nobody ever mentioned your name or this place. So, stop asking for moral damages, once you haven’t been affected because of the „scandal,” DooSan shouted.

Min Suk also yelled, because that „you have no right to ask for moral damages” was something she couldn’t understand. That’s why she said, „Of course, I have the right to moral damages. Or what, do you think I don’t know my rights?”

„Of course, you don’t know your rights. Why? Because you have no idea about the Constitution or what’s written there. And, as I’m a man who loves telling others about the Law, I’ll explain to you some articles if you need them. Who knows?! It might be useful for you in the future… to scare your tenants legally, I mean.”

„Are you making fun of me right now?”

„Yes, because I love to pay others back for all they deserve. And, the one who started making fun of me was you, right after appearing at this door. So, before I have completely lost my mind, I suggest you hit the pike.” After that, feeling that if he had stood there for longer, he would have pounced on her, DooSan tried to close the door.

He couldn’t close that door eventually because, understanding what he tried to do, Oh Min Suk put her leg between the door. After that, like a wild cat that’s been attacked, she hissed through her teeth, „Not that fast, young man! First, pay me!”

The determination seen in the woman’s eyes and the fact that he knew he didn’t have time to waste with her, made DooSan give up. That’s why he suddenly asked, „How much?” Yet, he asked this only after calming down a little.

His „withdrawal” from that battle, made Oh Min Suk smile, thinking she won that battle. More than this, she smelled that she had a chance to win more. That’s why she murmured after a long time of thinking, „If calculating everything she owes me…”

She did that not considering one thing: that Han DooSan wasn’t at all stupid. Something she understood soon after this, the moment she saw him squeezing his fists, and then saying through his teeth, „How much she owes you for one month’s rent, Lady!”

„Aaa,” Min Suk played the fool. „I thought that… well, be as you wish: before, she paid me 730 thousand won. Now, with the raise, it’s 1.500. Or maybe 2 thousand?”

The rounded-off sum of money, proudly whispered by Oh Min Suk, made DooSan growl eventually, „Greedy charlatan!” Then, loudly he added, „This time, be as you wish because I don’t have time to talk about this with you. Only this time! So… the account!” He said this, giving his phone to Min Suk to write her account number.

The woman hesitated at first. She even squinted at DooSan, feeling that she’d have problems because of that man. Yet, greedy for money, and more - understanding that if she had stalled for more, she could have lost more, she grabbed DooSan’s phone and quickly wrote the number of her bank account. Then, she gave DooSan his phone back.

While DooSan transferred the money, she looked at him with eagle eyes, thinking she’d receive more after this. Yet, the moment she heard DooSan saying, „I transferred only the payment for three months,” she frowned. DooSan didn’t seem impressed, but told her, „And, if I see you around SolHi again, asking her to pay for „inexistent debts,” I swear you’ll see what a Court looks from inside.”

„Are you a lawyer?”

„Worse,” replied DooSan, grinning. „I’m a prosecutor, one of those who can check the criminal activities of those like you. I assure you that it won’t be at all difficult for me to check what you are hiding, Mrs. Oh Min Suk. That’s why I suggest you not show up in front of me again if you have things to hide.” After that, DooSan slammed the door in front of her.

„Idiot,” Min Suk hissed through her teeth. After that, smiling, she took her phone out of her pocket and checked the balance. Seeing the big sum received from DooSan, she turned really happy. She even kissed the phone’s screen at one point. Then, overjoyed, she turned her back to the door and headed toward the stairs, whispering to herself, „As long as I’m paid, I don’t really care who protects this one. Anyway, next time I’ll find another reason to ask her for more money because I haven’t sacrificed myself for nothing when I accepted an assassin to live in my house.”

***

One hour after the fight he had with Oh Min Suk, DooSan showed up at the hospital, bringing a small bag of food and other snacks with him. Yet, even if he kept telling himself to be as calm as possible and have an argument with nobody, especially with SolHi, whom he intended to scold for her stupidity but later, right after he stepped out of the car, he remembered the fight he had with the landlord of SolHi’s apartment, something that made him hiss through his teeth again, „Damn cobra! Where did SolHi find this snake, anyway? And more than that, how did she bear with her for so long? If I were her, I would have twisted that cobra’s neck right from the beginning.”

Thus, mumbling and scolding the imaginary SolHi, he got in front of the ward where SolHi was admitted. Once there, he stopped, deeply breathed in, several times to calm down, and only after that did he slowly open the door and enter the ward. Already inside, he stopped again, looking at SolHi because he couldn’t understand if she was still sleeping or had already awakened. It happened because SolHi was with her back at DooSan at that moment, something that forced him to close the door eventually. Then, supporting the crutch against the wall, he moved toward the bed, barely touching the floor, afraid to awaken her.

Once next to the bed, he stopped again and carefully looked at SolHi’s face, who was still sleeping. Seeing her beautifully smiling in her sleep, bathed by the warm light of the sun, DooSan smiled too. Then, carefully pulling the chair closer to the bed, he sat on it and looked for a long time at the sleeping woman, whom he got to love so much, even if he was afraid to accept this in front of her.

Yet, it was enough for him that he was aware of that love. Especially, what mattered to him was that he stopped lying to himself that he was with her only to get revenge. Because of this, he stopped scolding himself each time he caught the thought „She’s beautiful” crossing his mind. A thought that made him always smile.

He winced eventually and even withdrew his arm, which he stretched in front to caress her hair, the moment SolHi opened her eyes and looked at him. He even stuttered at one point, seeing her frowning because she understood what he was trying to do, „Weren’t you sleeping?”

„Mmm,” she whispered. Then, moving in bed a little, she managed to sit on it. „I woke up when I felt you here.” An answer that made the man smile. „With no hidden meaning, okay?” She told him when she spotted his smile.

„What did I do wrong this time?” He asked, confused. „I smiled only. It’s what beautiful people generally do, right?” He murmured, trying to change the subject because he didn’t want to explain why exactly he smiled. And, to make sure of his success, he pulled the table closer to the bed and put the casseroles with food that he brought with him.

„What’s that?” She asked in amazement, seeing what he was doing.

DooSan smiled again. „I just… thought about feeding my alien with normal food because, after so many sandwiches and ramion, his ribs are seen through his skin.” He said that jokingly, trying to scold her at the same time. A joke that SolHi disliked and cooked her nose after this when she told him:

„Should I take this as a yes: that you poked your nose through my things again? Looking for secrets maybe?”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

„Absolutely,” DooSan growled, barely controlling himself not to start a fight. „Secrets that killed me, like the one that the „Devil” raised the rent, so much that you hadn’t been able to pay it, but even so you said nothing about this. You rather preferred to starve than let others find out about this.”

Calm, too calm on DooSan’s opinion, SolHi said, „I see that Mrs. Oh stopped by the apartment.”

„She not only stopped by,” said DooSan, irritated. „She kicked everything down because… ah, damn woman. She’s the woman of the devil for sure, one of those who love to punch or kick a door to let others know she is there. Has she always been like that?” SolHi shrugged. „I’ll take this as a yes. And… I really don’t understand why you haven’t twisted her neck already. As I know you…”

SolHi laughed. „Why twist innocent people’s necks? I have enough with you.” After that, pulling the table closer to her, SolHi started to eat, paying no attention to DooSan’s mimics, who was about to explode, a hint that he wasn’t calm after the fight he had had with Oh Min Suk.

„Yes, I’m aware of that because, if I had done what your innocent Mrs. Oh Min Suk has done, I would have been thrown off the roof for sure. Yet, no: she doesn’t suffer but receives triple rent. Eh, if I had had more free time, I would have checked what this lady had been involved in. I’m sure I would have found something stinky in her name because she hasn’t presented herself as the Devil in front of me for nothing.” Seeing SolHi struggling not to laugh, DooSan frowned again. „What now?”

„Nothing. I was just trying to figure out how you introduced yourself in front of her. Prosecutor Han maybe?”

„It would have been better if I had done this,” a reply that made SolHi stare at him. DooSan looked elsewhere instead, mumbling, „The Death.”

„What?” She asked him, confused.

„I just introduced myself as the Death. She deserved this, by the way, for how she knocked on the door. And… I assure you that as soon as I have free time, I’ll investigate her.”

Face-palming, SolHi reproachfully shook her head. „I guess that next time I see her, it’ll be damn funny. And, related to checking her past, I suggest you don’t even try it!”

„Why? Because she can kick you out?”

„Does this seem little to you? She’s been the only one who received me in her apartment when others simply turned their backs on me, not even letting me say a word.”

„Maybe! Yet, this doesn’t permit her to raise the rent when she wants, SolHi. More than this, she doesn’t have the right to punch your door as though she’s from the police, looking for a criminal. And…”

„Ia, Han DooSan, in what world do you live?” SolHi asked him, irritated. „In Wonderland where everybody is kind and good people? If yes, I have to disappoint you because, in the real world, people pay even more not to be kicked out and live in the street. More those considered criminals, to whom others turned their backs on them by only seeing them in the street. So, if I don’t want to live in the streets, I have to accept this. Otherwise…”

The moment DooSan grabbed her hand and forced her to look at him, SolHi kept silent. Then, barely controlling himself, he asked her, „To live in the street? Why? Why do you have to live in the street when I’m here, SolHi? We are living together, for God’s sake. Why? Because you are afraid? Are you ashamed or maybe you consider me a nobody to ask for my help?”

„To ask for your help? Do you really hear what you say, DooSan? How the hell to ask you for help? I owe you forever for your brother’s death. I can barely look into your eyes because of this. I can’t ask you for help, the one who I’m afraid that…” She kept silent again when she realized that she was about to tell him about her feelings. Then, trying to stop that useless fight, she murmured, „Just as I think that’s not the right moment to…”

„No, SolHi, it’s the right moment,” DooSan shouted. „It’s time to have it out with each other. Otherwise, I feel I’ll explode because I’m boiling inside. Do you know why? Because I’ve been blind and I haven’t realized that you were killing yourself in front of me, allowing me everything. This is what I can’t understand. I can’t understand how you can endanger yourself for others, how you can feed others while you are starving. This is what I can’t understand and I ask you to explain to me: why?”

Shaking all and with her eyes bathed with tears because she understood that DooSan had never understood her real intentions but even so he kept asking her to explain things to him, SolHi said eventually, „What should I explain, DooSan? I don’t think I have to do that when it’s obvious: I was paying for my debt. The one you asked me to pay it back.”

„Yes, I accept that: I asked you to pay it. Yet, I didn’t want to pay it with your life, SolHi. It’s not what I want.”

„What do you want then, Han DooSan? What exactly do you expect me to do? I… I can’t understand you. I can’t understand you since you moved to my apartment, asking me to pay a debt I don’t remember. I knew this, but even so, I said nothing, I accepted everything and tried to please you. I tried to pay for what I owe you, as I know because it’s the only way I know to pay back for what I owe to others. I don’t know another way.”

„Of course, you know and it’s something damn simple: trusting others. Or what, is this that difficult for you?”

„Yes,” replied SolHi, unrestrained. „It’s difficult, DooSan. It’s damn difficult for me to trust people. To start trusting them again, those who always trampled me, spat at me, didn’t believe me, and treated me like a criminal. It’s difficult to trust those who allowed me to starve even if they knew I couldn’t buy food, and all that because they wanted me to die, paying for the guilt I don’t remember. So, once I have had the chance to pay back for that guilt, for the guilt all of you keep accusing me of, I said to accept it and do everything I can to survive, no matter what you asked me to do.”

Hearing her confession and seeing her eyes bathed with tears, DooSan felt his eyes wet too, eyes bathed by the drops of a soul in pain. Then, in a shaking voice because of the emotions that he could barely control, he asked, „Why didn’t you tell me about this? Do you really think I wouldn’t have helped you if I had known this?”

„For what, DooSan? To tell you, I mean! I don’t need someone’s mercy or begging it. Do you know why? Because I’ve always done this: I survived on my own. I’ll always do that.”

„Begging?” DooSan asked. He was disappointed. „You what… didn’t you ever trust anybody? Even your friends?”

„Friends? What friends, DooSan? I have none. I’ve never had a good friend, except Mina, of course. She’s definitely my only friend, but not even she could teach me to trust people. She didn’t have a reason to teach me when my own parents didn’t do that. Why? Because my father, the one who should have taught me to trust others, had other plans in life than raising me or teaching me something. My mother? She didn’t have time for that while she considered her own life important. People? They simply didn’t care. That’s why I had to learn alone, DooSan. And I learned this as I could: because of others’ignore, because of betrayal, and because I’ve always received blows from life. I learned this by working, and suffering, just as I’ve learned to stand up alone. Yet, what I’ve never learned is how not to be afraid.”

„What you’ve never learned is to stop crying for mercy,” DooSan shouted, taking her by surprise. „Or what… did others always deceive you? Did they consider you a fool? If yes, you deserved this, SolHi. You deserved this because you allowed them to do that. You suffered because you didn’t know how to choose people, those who surround you today. If you had done this correctly, if you had chosen the right people, you would have understood that not everybody is a jerk. Some people can love and be with someone unconditionally.”

„If you are talking about yourself, DooSan, you are wrong because you are with me for a reason. Or what, do you think I’m not aware of the fact that you are in my apartment to take revenge for what happened to YuSan? Of course, I know and I accept this. And yeah, maybe you are also right when you say that I don’t know how to choose people. Yet, it doesn’t matter what I have or haven’t known in life, just as it doesn’t matter who survives and who’ll be food for crows. Eventually, all that matters is the aim and not the source. That’s why if I have to pay with my body to…”

„Ian SolHi! Stop this!”

„To stop what? Telling the truth? I won’t do that, DooSan. I won’t stop saying what I feel, at least once in my life. Do the same: don’t give up on your plans, those that moved you to live with me! Not for me.”

„What if I do that because I care about you, SolHi? Didn’t you ever think about this? That… maybe I’m with you because I care about you? That… I want you to be fine, not to feel threatened, or afraid to ask for my help when you need it?! Or… is this something you’ve never thought about? Or no, wait: is this something you don’t even want to think about?”

DooSan didn’t receive an answer to all those questions that had been shouted through tears and fits of anger and disappointment. Why? Because SolHi preferred to be a coward and run as she was always doing. That’s why, when she felt surrounded, she pulled the needle of the IV fluid drip and, standing up, she headed toward the door.

She stopped halfway toward the door when she heard DooSan asking, „Have you always been that coward?” A question that forced her to look at him again. „Yes, you’ve been like that. That’s why you run away, trying to avoid talks that can change your life.”

„I don’t need that, DooSan! I don’t need someone to help me change my life or myself. I’m fine how I am. I’m used to it and…”

„Then… keep running and playing the role of the victim,” the man murmured, finally standing up and looking at her this time while had looked at the wall by then. „Keep waiting for your prince on a white horse to save you and run, as you’ve always done. Or… am I wrong now?”

„No, you aren’t. And do you know why? Because you can’t be the one who can save me from this.”

„Why? Because of what happened seven years ago?”

„Not only because of that, DooSan. We… simply cannot be together. Not without destroying each other in the end.”

SolHi would have said many things at that moment, things she kept silent about by then, things she didn’t talk about eventually because she understood that it was useless: to destroy each other by using words. She also understood that it was pointless to show him that she needed him. She was afraid: of his hatred, the one seen in his eyes at that moment, of the disappointment that she felt in his chest. What she didn’t know or was too blind to see was that there was also love in DooSan’s heart. Love he hadn’t been able to talk to her about or make her feel the same.

What DooSan could do was to show her that she couldn’t rely on him, as it had happened so many times before. At the same time, he showed her that he wanted to subdue her, hurt her, and make her suffer. What for? To make himself justice without knowing that because of their stubbornness, they were both losing. A stubbornness that kept them away from each other and made them suffer so much.

Eventually, when Kan entered the hospital ward, they looked elsewhere. Even so, they couldn’t deceive the detective, who clearly see, reflected in their eyes, love and rivalry, something they hadn’t ever been capable of seeing in each other’s glance. Yet, although he saw all this, Kan only asked, „Did I interrupt something? If yes, I can go and…”

Soon after this, Kan stepped aside when SolHi passed by him without watching him. Then, Kan looked at DooSan in amazement, asking him by a glance, „Did I say something wrong?”

„Yes,” DooSan drily replied. „All we say is wrong for Ian SolHi. Even the fact we still breathe is wrong to her.” After that, furious, he also left the room.

Amazed and confused at the same time, Kan looked behind the two. Thus, he saw only DooSan’s back, who was waiting for the elevator while SolHi wasn’t seen anywhere, a hint she took the stairs eventually, unwilling to wait for the elevator. This let Kan know they argued, even if he couldn’t understand the reason, something that made him scratch the back of his head and murmur, „To be damn if I understand something of all this.” After that, taking only the bag with him, but not the casseroles with food, Kan left the ward too.

***

Brought by the guardian to the Visiting Room, Yu Ra was amazed to see Ha Na there, sitting at one of the tables. Because of the same surprise, Yu Ra stopped right next to the door. She did that not because she was afraid to meet her old friend, but because she felt certain discomfort to stay face to face with the one she practically sent to death. Even so, knowing all this, Yu Ra was aware that she couldn’t leave that place, not before facing the cruel truth of the present she was living.

Actually, that present bothered her so much lately. Present that reminded her a lot about her mistakes and victims. Especially, this reminded her of No SuDjin, whom she met in the hospital where she worked as a nurse, and all this to find „victims and clients” for SilGi’s business, of whom she thought she was in love. She was even able to give up on her life for him.

Even so, although she did everything for SilGi, Yu Ra never regretted that. It was a work she loved and she considered it easy because she wasn’t only a beautiful woman, but she also had the innate ability to make herself „pleasant” in front of people, especially of her interlocutors. Thus, she got to be friends with No SuDjin, whom she approached for the first time one day when the patient went to the hospital’s park to have a walk and think about the news her doctor gave her: that she wasn’t compatible with the heart that had to be transplanted to her. While talking to her, Yu Ra understood that SuDjin was desperate because her cardiac crises were more frequent and she also felt her death close.

The patient’s state of mind was something that perfectly worked for Yu Ra, who suddenly turned into No SuDjin’s „best friend.” She even got to give her some good advice related to the transplant. And, at one point, while talking, Yu Ra mentioned some friends, who could have helped SuJin to survive. Yet, you see, everything wasn’t that simple or legal. That’s why everything had to be done in secret. Yu Ra also assured SuDjin that if she hadn’t been her friend and didn’t care about her or hadn’t been afraid to lose her, she wouldn’t have told her about such things.

Her words had been a kind of balm for SuDjin’s soul. Because of this, she implored Yu Ra to help her because two months had passed already since she last spoke to the doctor about the transplant, but they still couldn’t find a heart for her. Yu Ra instead, cunning as always, rushed to „help” her because „She didn’t want to endanger anybody’s life.” That’s why she told SuDjin that she’d be the intermediary between her friend and those who could have given SuDjin a heart. She even told her that she’d be with her during the surgery and even after that because she couldn’t leave her alone when she needed someone close to her.

Later, finding out that SuDjin didn’t have more than 20 thousand euros, Yu Ra wanted to give up on her and find another „client.” She didn’t do that eventually because of SilGi, who, finding out that SuDjin was desperate, convinced Yu Ra to use the poor girl as a source for other „businesses.” Thus, they managed to lure No SuDjin to a secret place one day, telling her that it was necessary to make a deal for the transplant. Yet, once there and without telling anybody about this, as she agreed with Yu Ra, SuDjin realized that she had been deceived in fact.

Understanding this, SuDjin tried to run. Yet, surrounded by many fearful guys, whom she didn’t know at all, SuJin was scared to death, and, one of these, had a heart attack. She didn’t die right away because of the medical team that was there at SilGi’s command. Thus, they turned SuDjin into a donor, saving other lives, although she only tried to save herself.

After that event, SilGi and Yu Ra came up with a plan to save themselves. And, once they had the problem mentioned by Dja Iun to SolHi and DooSan at that time when Yu Ra had to be exchanged for his debts, they decided to declare Yu Ra dead and escape problems thus. For this, Yu Ra needed a new identity. Once it was risky to use SuDjin’s identity, after everything they had done to her, Yu Ra decided to use her old friend Ha Na, whom she approached eventually only to take advantage of her.

***

„Why are you here?” Yu Ra asked Ha Na after she sat down in front of her and remembered everything she had done to SuDjin in the past.

Such a question made Ha Na smile. Yet, she bitterly smiled at that moment because of the disappointment she felt seeing that Yu Ra betrayed her once again as she had done so many times before. Yet, as always, Yu Ra found a way to approach her and sent her to death in the end. Even so, Ha Na told her calmly, „To see your face. Yet, I’m not sure I’ve made the right choice by coming here.”

„Why? Don’t you like what you see? Or… not like this did you want to see me eventually?” Yu Ra hissed through her teeth, furious this time because she remembered Hion Uk’s words, who told her that she had been arrested because of Ha Na, who told the police about every single deal Yu Ra had been involved in, including her disappearance.

Of enviable calmness, Ha Na replied, „No, Yu Ra, you are wrong: your failure doesn’t make me happy. I mean, I’m not happy to see you in problems, but I can’t say the same thing, understanding that if you are here is because you deserve this for sending me to die. And you look good, you know?! Despite the fact you are here while I look as I look after being through the hell where you’ve sent me. A hell of drugs and prostitution, in whose trap I’ve fallen because of you and SilGi. Even so, it’s a hell I’ve managed to escape, and I’ll live my life, forgetting this nightmare eventually and even the fact that I’ve been your friend.”

Saying this, Ha Na stood up, intending to leave. She stopped by the door when Yu Ra asked her, „Ha Na, do you really think you’ll be able to forget everything we’ve passed through? Together?”

„Yes, I’ll forget that. I’ll forget everything because you’ve been right when you said that life is a boomerang and someone pays for everything he has done on this earth, and not after death. The same you’ll do by being here.”

„What about you, Ha Na? Have you already paid for what you’ve done?”

Yu Ra’s question made Ha Na swallow hard. Then, looking at her former friend, she confidently told her, „At least, I didn’t kill anybody, Yu Ra. I haven’t sold someone like a slave as you’ve done. What for? Because of blind love, one that sent you here eventually, a love that never made you happy. Yet, I’m nobody to judge you, Yu Ra. Just… pay for what you’ve done. And, if life gives you another chance and you’ll get out of here one day, live your life honestly, proudly walking on the streets and not looking at the heels of those who walk in front of you.”

Saying this, Yu Ra left the Visiting Room. She left it with a light heart and with the desire in her soul to never turn back there and forget everything she had to pass through because of her „former friends.” Not the same happened to Yu Ra: she couldn’t forget that love killed her eventually, the same love that bathed her cheeks with tears at that moment.

***

On the way to her cell, Yu Ra had her head bowed, her soul in fire, and her heart drowned in tears, and all this because she realized that she closed herself in a cage, sentencing herself to oblivion. Yes, she was the only guilty person for her failure and fate. Because of this, she decided not to blame others because „I’ve sentenced myself to oblivion, having faith in a love that destroyed me eventually.”

Such words made the guardian that was accompanying her to the cell look at her in amazement and ask Yu Ra, „What did you say, Prisoner 075?”

„Nothing,” whispered Yu Ra. After that, she stopped in front of the cell door, waiting for the guardian to unlock it. Then, she entered the cell and withdrew to one corner, although she used to join her cellmates and have a poker game with them. She didn’t do the same that day because she didn’t have powers for that.

Yu Ra spent the whole day staying in that corner, with her knees touching her chest and immersed in thoughts. She even hid her face at one point, trying not to let the other prisoners discover her weaknesses because, thinking about all that happened to her, tears bathed her face again. Eventually, she had been forced to stand up when another guardian brought her a letter. Yet, seeing that SilGi sent that letter, Yu Ra drily said, „Send it back! And, if I receive more such letters, don’t receive them because I’m not interested in what he wants.” After that, disappointed, she lay on the bed, with her back to the door.

At that moment, with her face hidden in the pillow, she heard again the words her mother told her when she visited Yu Ra a few days ago. „Why, Yu Ra?” Her mother asked her. „Why have you done all this when it wasn’t what we’ve taught you? We’ve worked a life to raise you and educate you. We’ve been honest. Yet, you’ve done so many bad things to others, killing and selling people. You even lied to us, making us think you were dead. Why?”

Yu Ra didn’t answer these questions. She only sadly looked at her mother. And, with her eyes bathed in tears, she asked, „And dad, won’t he come?”

„No, he won’t,” her mother replied her. „You’ll do yourself a favor if you don’t wait for him, Yu Ra because he said that he doesn’t have children anymore and that his daughter died a year ago.”

After that visit, Yu Ra prohibited her mother to come to see her again. She even told the guardians not to announce her mother’s visits. Yet, at that moment, after Ha Na’s visit, she understood that she had been so wrong because, by doing this, she sentenced herself to solitude, something that made her murmur eventually, „They won’t ever come here! My dad, my mom, and even my friends won’t come! Why should they come here anyway when I’ve done so many evil things to all of them?” After that, with her face in the pillow, she cried a lot, wishing to have died a year ago for real. If this had happened to her that day, she wouldn’t have ever felt so lonely and so betrayed in the end, that everybody turned his back on her.

Actually, not only life and people turned their backs on Yu Ra, but also SilGi. He did that the previous night when he hung himself in the cell. He told Yu Ra about this in that letter she didn’t receive, a short letter, but which said a lot of things at the same time:

„Forgive me, Yu Ra, for dragging you in this dangerous game, although I was sure I’d die in the end. That’s why I feel that we’d been wrong being together, just as I feel that we’d been the failure of the other one in this life. A failure I intend to correct because… I won’t spend my life in a cold cell or dragged from one Court to another, where they’ll always sentence me to death. That’s why I tell you this now: choose on your one what you want to do after this because I’ve chosen already - death, which I embrace today. Even so, I’ll wait for you there, in the Underworld, just to tell you one more time, „I love you, Yu Ra!”

***

„Finally, it’s over,” murmured Ha Na when the prison’s gate closed behind her. Yet, right after taking a few steps away from it, she stopped and, closing her eyes, looked at the sun.

She didn’t stay like this for long because of the memories that took over her, memories about everything she passed through, and the fact that before visiting Yu Ra, she went to visit Gu SilGi. She wanted to see him first just to reproach him for everything he did to her and Yu Ra. Yet, arriving at the prison, the guardians told her that SilGi killed himself. This made her feel disappointed and growl, „Idiot! Coward!” She didn’t say this because of her, but because she realized how much Yu Ra would suffer finding out about his death.

Yes, Ha Na felt sorrow for her former friend, whom she still cared about. Especially, she felt sorrow that Yu Ra had to pay for everything SilGi did, and all this because he’d been a coward and chosen death. It wasn’t anything new or strange, anyway, because Yu Ra always paid for her lover’s failures and mistakes. She hadn’t only once been beaten or forced to spend the night with guys whom SilGi owed money. Even so, Yu Ra didn’t leave him because she loved him. Yet, he found it so easy to abandon Yu Ra in the end when he understood that there wasn’t anybody else capable of paying for what he did and that he had to be sentenced for all he did.

„Even so, there is a divine punishment for everything, Gu SilGi,” murmured Ha Na while heading toward the taxi she paid to wait for her in front of the prison for women. „You’ll pay for everything after death, Yu Ra pays in that jail, and I’ve paid already.” Saying this, Ha Na got in the taxi and asked the driver to take her home, to her grandmother, whom she swore to protect and be always with her if she’d be saved. She swore that because she was sure that she had paid already for the fact she lied to her grandmother and for every single bad thing she did for Yu Ra.

Ha Na was also calm because of other things. What kind of things? Unknown things to others, but so familiar to her, like the fact that she had also done bad things in the past: stealing her grandmother’s pension, spending her time with different suspicious guys, and even getting to use drugs or drinking so much. Actually, in one of these, along with her „friends” with whom she used to drink, Ha Na got to beat someone so badly that they sent him to the hospital, for weeks, where he’d been in a coma, someone who died eventually. Yet, nobody ever found out about that crime or that Ha Na had been involved in this. That’s why she was grateful to God that the crime hadn’t been discovered. If not, if someone had found out about what she had done, Ha Na was sure she would have shared the same cold cell with Yu Ra.

„Yet, nobody ever found out about this, and it’s fine for me,” Ha Na murmured eventually. „Anyway, I’ve paid for this, through all I’ve passed through eventually because I’ve seen what hell looks like, the one where those like me pay for everything they’ve done in life.” After that, Ha Na silenced the voice of her mind and looked through the window at the houses and the streets that were left behind, streets where so many secret crimes happened, but about which nobody ever found out…