„Still… I should have impeded SolHi from entering this case,” murmured Kan, who kept wandering the streets after the fight with DooSan in the parking lot. Yes, he wandered those streets for hours but without being able to calm down or think normally again. „Not after all that happened to her. It’ll be too cruel for her to pass through something similar as it happened seven years ago. No, she won’t survive after this, like… Chion A.” Saying this, Kan wiped a tear that ran down his cheek because his heart hurt him too much to think about tears or something else.

Suddenly he stopped when he felt his heart madly beating in his chest. Then, right in the middle of the street, Kan squatted and supported his head with his palms, paying no attention to the passers-by, who were squinting at him as though they were seeing a crazy man in the middle of the street and not a simple citizen. They even started to ask each other questions, somehow muttered but still heard by Kan, questions like „What happened to this poor man that he got to collapse in the middle of the street? More than this, how can he look for calmness and solitude in the middle of the street where there are so many strangers but no familiar face?” Questions about which Kan cared the least. All that mattered to him at that moment was to catch his breath. Then, when he would have been able to control himself again, to stand up and move on.

Something he did eventually: he stood up, intending to go. Yet, Kan didn’t do that because he recovered his strength but because he saw, so suddenly, two barefoot feet… of a woman that was hanging above a fallen chair… no one other than his wife… whom Kan found lifeless one day when he turned back home late. „A death that I don’t want to see or feel next to me again,” the detective confidently said. „No, I don’t want to see SolHi as I’ve seen Chion A. I’ll defend at least her if I hadn’t been able to defend my wife. I’ll do that for sure.” After that, determined to make justice at least to SolHi, Kan quickened his pace up the street, toward the club where it was supposed that SolHi would be that night undercover, an operation that Kan decided to end no matter what.

***

Getting out of the car she parked not that far from the club, SolHi saw DooSan. He wasn’t that far from the car, on the walk side, somehow hidden by the tall bushes, which DooSan seemed to have chosen to hide in case a familiar face would have been seen around. Not that someone could have recognized him at that moment because he seemed a very different person, wearing different clothes and a cap, just to make sure he wouldn’t endanger SolHi if someone had seen them together. He did that knowing that SolHi’s safety was his priority.

To make sure he’d succeed, DooSan chose clothes he wouldn’t have ever worn generally - a jumpsuit used by the garbage men but black, a cap also black that he pulled over his eyes, glasses even if DooSan had good eyes, like an eagle as SolHi used to tease him sometimes, and old boots. Shoes that pinched him so much that he was often heard gnashing his teeth.

Seeing the garbage man, when she passed by him, with huge hedge shears in his hand, although he had no idea what they were used for, SolHi smiled. How not smile when she hadn’t ever imagined that DooSan could have fulfilled such a „role” in the future?! Yet, besides the fact she was amused to see him like that, she also felt calm knowing him there. She even felt that she could breathe with all her chest knowing him close to her. That’s why, when she passed by him, SolHi stopped for a few seconds, pretending to look for something in her purse. Then, she told him, „I’m glad you are here, DooSan. Even after the small fight we had in your apartment today.”

DooSan cleaned his voice at first and then looked at her on the sly. „I’m also glad you haven’t forgotten what I’ve told you today: that I won’t ever lose sight of you. Something I intend to do, actually, even if I won’t be with you in the club but here.” Then, a little nervous, he glanced toward the entrance to the club where he saw the „fly” surrounded by many individuals. „Just as I keep an eye on the one over there. I really hate his face.” SolHi smiled, making DooSan frowning. „Don’t you believe me or what?”

„It’s not that. I just… find all that strange. Especially, your reaction: somehow clumsy if not protective. I must accept that.”

„Actually, it’s not the first time I am acting that way with you. Protectively, I mean.”

„You are actually right: I’ve felt your protection on my skin so many times before,” SolHi told him ironically. She didn’t do that because of anger or to piss him off but because she felt, even if she also didn’t know why, a mad desire to keep playing with DooSan. At the same time, she felt that it was the only way DooSan could take her seriously, a game that they successfully played so many times before. Just… „It’s not the right moment yet.”

„For what?” The man frowned, hearing her talking like that.

„For our usual game: the cat and the mouse?! Yet, we’ll have time to play it again, after this mission, I mean. A simple one, in my opinion.”

Her words turned the man serious so suddenly. He did that because he felt that SolHi let her guard down. That’s why he suddenly told her in a serious voice, „Don’t do that!”

„What?”

„Don’t consider this mission a simple game. You know very well that any mission involves risks. Especially, not knowing anything about the individual over there.”

„It’s why I’m here, right? To find out more things about him. And, with a little bit of luck, we send him behind bars, just to make sure we have time for our favorite game: to tear our furs apart and hurt our hearts. We are damn good at this, right?”

DooSan stared at her, frowning. „This didn’t sound well, you know?! Especially, since when I do things only to hurt you? You know that I…”

„Yes, yes, I know. Don’t worry: you are a man who likes to take care of all those who surround him. Even so, in many of the cases, you are exaggerating. It’s what you are doing now, considering me an inexperienced newcomer who enters the lion’s cage without a B plan.”

„And you aren’t doing this? Aren’t you entering that club without a Plan B?”

SolHi cooked her nose. She must accept that Han DooSan was right at that time because she didn’t have a Plan B in case things didn’t end as she wanted. Yet, she didn’t talk about this to DooSan because she didn’t want to concern him. At the same time, she kept silent, aware that if she had told him that she had no Plan B, he would have grabbed her hand and closed her hell knows where just to make sure she was safe. She only told him, „I don’t only have a Plan B but also C and D. I have all the necessary plans. And, if you don’t believe me, just wait: I’ll show you how wrong you are. And, Mister Gardener, use some emotions while cutting those poor bushes. No other, but they really look in the style of Han DooSan.”

„What the hell is this supposed to mean?” He asked her, bothered by her commentary. Yet, looking at the place where he knew SolHi, he didn’t see her there. SolHi was a few meters away from him already, heading toward the club. „Something that drives me crazy. Not her commentary but her stupid confidence: in throwing herself in the flames with no protection. Something we’ll talk about once this game is over, Ian SolHi! Then… you’ll hear all I want to tell you. Now just… damn, this bush really looks bad!” He growled, seeing that the hedge shears bit too deeply, making a deep hole in that green fence, something that hinted to him that SolHi was right when she had scolded him about his negligence.

***

Entering the club, SolHi frowned. She did that, seeing so many unknown faces there. At the same time, she saw faces that seemed to be against her because, as she thought, they were glaring at her from everywhere, „As though they are looking to kill me here, no matter what.”

„That’s why I told you that it wasn’t the right time to enter that club,” she heard DooSan’s voice in the headphones. „Yet, no, you are that kind of woman that even if she sees that the wall is hard, she keeps hitting it with her head.”

„What about not exaggerating right now? I’m not as stubborn as you say I am.”

„Really?! Should I remind you now of all the data you acted like that? Impulsively and without thinking about the consequences, for example?”

„Not necessary. I also remember them. Even so, I think that your concern, „daddy,” is exaggerated. Not to forget that we aren’t the only ones who can hear this conversation. So, if you don’t want to be forced to marry me after this, I suggest you stop gossiping about us and keep your commentaries for you only.”

„As though such cheap tricks can force me to do things,” he mumbled. Even so, his whisper had been well heard in the headphones, making SolHi smile. She did that not because she managed to get DooSan in trouble again, but because she felt that DooSan cared about her. This was something she had been longing for so long, a care she found in her „declared enemy” eventually.

Finally realizing that it was time to be serious that night, especially because she didn’t want to be heard talking alone because this would have been a sure clue she wore headphones, SolHi cleared her voice and told him, „Well, be as you wish: if you don’t want to accept obvious things and the truth, it’s up to you. I won’t force you to do anything. Not now but when I’m out of here. It’s when I intend to try the trick with „Han DooSan drunk.” Who knows?! Maybe I can see Batman this time and not Superman playing the guitar!”

„What I intend to do once you are out of that club is to twist your neck because you are really insufferable lately. And… Hello? Ia, Ian SolHi, don’t tell me you turned the headphones off!”

SolHi didn’t answer, although she heard his question. She only smiled. After that, seeing the „fly” waving at her while heading toward her, she forced a smile and headed toward the group of young people the fly seemed to be accompanied by.

***

„Damn cobra!” DooSan hissed through his teeth the moment he realized that SolHi really turned the headphones off. After that, to show his anger, he kicked a stone, sending it far on the sidewalk.

The stone didn’t get far eventually, only under Kan’s sole, who stopped it as though stopping a soccer ball. Then, seeing DooSan squinting at him and with his arms folded over his chest, the detective asked, „What?”

„Nothing. I just… had no idea that the great detective Kan Gi Yon loved to bounce the ball. During important operations, I mean.”

Kan showed him his fangs. „The first one in „bouncing the ball” was you, Prosecutor. Or… was it only my imagination? I don’t think so because, as your stone ball was bouncing on the sidewalk, it would have gotten to the moon if I hadn’t stopped it.”

„If you say so?!” DooSan replied drily. „And, leaving the bouncing of a ball for later, what about telling me why you are here, Detective Kan! Didn’t you say that you wouldn’t join this operation even dead? Or… don’t tell me: are you dead and who is here is your ghost? Detective Kan’s ghost, the one who was ready to kill us only to make justice!”

„Is this what you are looking for here?”

„What exactly?”

„My death?” Kan asked through his teeth. Seeing DooSan „stepping back” from that battle, Kan showed him his teeth again, saying, „For your bad luck, Prosecutor Han, I’m damn alive and with my eyes on you. From close, like a guide for telepaths.”

„Funny, but not that much,” said DooSan, also showing his fangs. „Now, seriously, why are you here, Detective Kan?”

„To relax the spirits,” growled Kan. „And to make sure the bomb inside me won’t explode before time. The one with Ian SolHi’s name on it. And, where is she, by the way?”

„Inside. She has just entered. And, on top of that, she turned the headphones off, ensuring none of us hears anything from what happens inside.”

„Smart girl,” said Kan proudly, making DooSan squint at him. „I’m not talking about what happened at the coffee shop when you showed your jealousy in front of everybody but because she camouflaged herself well. Or what, have you already forgotten that there are advanced surveillance cameras inside the club? Thus, if she’s caught entering with the headphones on, she won’t ever leave that club alive. Yet, turning the headphones off, she made sure this would happen. Something she learned from me for sure.”

„What you didn’t teach her is to turn them on again after passing the filter, which I’m sure she passed a while ago. She entered that club many minutes ago,” DooSan reproachfully growled.

„I’m sure she has a good reason for this. Just as I’m sure she’ll turn them on again. Don’t worry: it’s only a camouflage tactic, a damn efficient one, I think.”

„I rather think that’s because of her stubbornness. One she got from you, by the way. Thus, acting like that, it seems like you two are born by the same mother.”

„Not that bad, by the way. This means I won’t be accused of having feelings for her. Only for having fraternal feelings, maybe?!” Seeing DooSan about to pounce on him, Kan pulled back a little. „It was only a joke, dude. You don’t even understand jokes lately. Well, be as you wish because I don’t have time to waste with your games. Better, tell me who is inside with SolHi.”

„Some of the boys from Kanam Police Station, led by Mo. The rest are in the van over there, that one with the inscription „Carpet cleaning.”

Carefully looking around, Kan finally saw the van that DooSan talked to him about. Then, a little bit farther from it, he saw two of the detectives he had worked with in the Kanam Police Station. They seemed agitated, and this made Kan cook his nose, saying, „All this business smells bad.”

„Why exactly?”

„Because I don’t see the monkey here, whom you punched in front of Kanam Police Station when he assaulted SolHi.”

„Nam Yun Ho?!” Kan nodded. „Honestly, I don’t get the point: what does that idiot have to do with this operation?”

„Of course, he has, and a lot. He and his boys control this area. People he knows very well, just as he knows all the gang „bosses” around. That’s why it surprises me not seeing him here, and this means only one thing: he’s not with us in this operation and he knows about SolHi.”

„I won’t be that sure, Kan! Let’s not exaggerate now. Yes, maybe he doesn’t like SolHi, but he’s not stupid. He won’t hang himself with only harming her.”

„I must agree with that: Nam Yun Ho isn’t stupid. He’s just an idiot with feelings. One that I’m sure felt offended by being rejected by her and punched by her new „lover.” DooSan frowned again. „Even if you don’t like this, it’s the truth, Prosecutor Han. A truth that’s on everybody’s lips nowadays.”

„An invented truth because SolHi and I aren’t dating.”

„This is already something you haven’t accepted. Not yet, even if you act like two in-love pigeons for a while already. However, this isn’t important now: whether you are or aren’t with SolHi, but what Nam Yun Ho might do tonight. Let’s not forget he feels wronged. And that punch in his face and the threats… well, I’m sure it hurt him more.”

The moment a jeep with tinted windows passed by them, Kan became attentive. It happened when the Jeep increased its speed while passing by them, making a deafening sound around, especially when turning right at the next crossroads. Kan’s reaction also made DooSan attentive, just as it made him attentive that the Jeep increased its speed at the crossroads. „Another Schumacher on Seoul City’s streets?”

„Nothing new or that could surprise you, Prosecutor Han. Why? The bosses here don’t really care about the police or fines. They know other bosses, that’s why they don’t care about this, bosses that will do everything to make sure they won’t ever step by the police station or be under investigation.”

„Something that makes me wish so badly to start investigating these „bosses.” At least, to know with whom we are dealing.”

„You’ll only waste your time. It’s not your problem to start fighting with the street mafia.”

„I can at least try. Nobody was killed for that, right?”

„I won’t be that sure,” growled Kan. „Yet, once trying isn’t a sin, you might also be right. Yet, let’s leave this for later, investigating the mafia bosses, I mean. Now, let’s check what’s the deal with the mice over there. They started to move too quickly, something I don’t like.”

Kan’s words amazed DooSan a lot because he couldn’t understand what kind of „mice” the detective was talking about. Only when he saw So running toward them and that she looked scared, did DooSan understand that the old wolf from inside Kan awoke again and didn’t fail in smelling tracks. Why exactly? Because he heard So, suddenly saying, „Ian SolHi is gone! We cannot find her, Prosecutor Han!”

„What the hell are you talking about, Detective So?” DooSan shouted. „What do you mean by she’s not inside? I saw her entering that club, for God’s sake.”

„Well, she didn’t get to the finish,” said Kan confidently, although he boiled inside. He’d been right in suggesting DooSan keep SolHi away from problems. Warnings the Prosecutor had ignored. For that, Kan intended to make him pay back. Not now. For the moment, he only said, „Let’s go inside and check how things are going on there. Later, I’ll make you all pay for this.” Then, paying no attention to DooSan and So, who exchanged glances, Kan ran toward the club, fighting with the bodyguards to be let in.

***

The hustle and bustle from inside the club was terrific. How could it not be like that when the small fights between the police officers, detectives, and the clients who tried to get out of the club as fast as possible continued? At the same time, law enforcement had to deal with the employees of the club who were accusing them of entering the club with no judicial order and scaring the clients.

The only one who seemed not to care about all this was DooSan. He was standing in the middle of the club, staring in front but seeming not to see anything. This happened to him because he was confused and couldn’t understand anything from everything that happened that day. Especially, he felt like that because of SolHi, whom they couldn’t find there, although they looked through every single corner of the club… she had simply vanished.

„This isn’t possible! It can’t be! It’s unfair!” DooSan murmured, frightened. He even started to shake from top to toe, understanding that Kan had been right in accusing him of endangering SolHi, even if all he wanted by involving her in that cause was to take her out of the chasm she seemed to have fallen into after her mother’s death. „A bottomless chasm I created with my own hands. With… my hands!” DooSan said in a shaking voice, staring at his hands that were badly shaking at that moment.

Suddenly grabbed by the collar by Kan, DooSan looked at him with empty eyes. Yet, even if he was staring at the detective, he heard nothing of what Kan shouted at him, that „SolHi should have stood away from this place. I told you that! I told you to keep her away from this case, but you didn’t listen to me. You didn’t listen to me, Prosecutor Han! You are the only one guilty of what happened. And, if something happens to her, I swear I will kill you. Did you hear me? I’ll kill you for sure!”

Kan’s shouts made DooSan shudder even more. He even felt that he lacked air. Yet, he didn’t dare to breathe at that moment, feeling that he didn’t deserve that, not after SolHi vanished. Only at the moment, when he remembered the black Jeep that passed by them not that far ago, DooSan turned back to his senses, murmuring, „The car, Kan!”

„The car? What car?” The detective asked, understanding nothing of DooSan’s mumbling.

Not the same happened to Prosecutor Han: he knew very well what he was talking about, even if he seemed absent and incapable of understanding what was going on. It was a simple mask because DooSan simply closed inside, clearly seeing the car that passed by them when they were still not that far from the club. The „bosses’car” as he told Kan at that moment. „The Jeep from the crossroads. They took SolHi, Kan! Must be they!”

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„Damn!” The detective shouted, releasing DooSan. „How didn’t I think about this? That’s Nam Yun Ho’s car and not of his boss, Prosecutor Han. He took SolHi! So, if we want to find her alive, declare him dangerous and ask everybody to look for him. Now!”

With shaking hands, DooSan took the phone out of his pocket and called Iun Min Hiok, asking him for help. He even begged his friend to help him find SolHi and catch Nam Yun Ho. Otherwise, DooSan was sure he’d turn himself into a criminal and he even told Min Hiok about this. After that, suddenly hanging up, without explaining things to Min Hiok, who shouted at him to tell him what was going on, DooSan ran out of the club, following Kan. They didn’t leave alone, but with Gi and two of his detectives, feeling guilty about SolHi’s disappearance too.

***

THE CENTER OF STREET SURVEILLANCE. MONITORING ROOM. 30 MINUTES LATER.

„I’d be grateful forever if we solve this faster,” Kan told the officer who was changing the images on the screen. Yet, on none of the videos, they could see the car they were looking for. Because of this, the detective was damn agitated, feeling he lacked air, although the Air Condition was to the maximum. He wasn’t the only one feeling all this. The same happened to DooSan, who was even more nervous than Kan. Even so, the detective didn’t have mercy on him because he considered DooSan the only guilty person for what happened to SolHi. Even so, he didn’t have time to kick the Prosecutor’s ass or reproach him for not believing him. All they could do at that moment was to forget about rivalry and cooperate. And, as Kan was a pro first of all, he swallowed hard eventually, looking at DooSan, whom he asked, „Do you see something that can be useful to us?”

DooSan shook his head. „Nothing. As though the earth swallowed them. Damn!”

„No, he’s right over there!” The officer shouted, showing them to look at the big screen to their left. „They turned right at the viaduct. It’s a straight road toward River Han if I’m not wrong.”

„No,” DooSan confidently replied. „There are three roads that lead to River Han. Even so, I don’t think they head toward the river.”

„What makes you so sure?”

„Because… Detective Kan, if they wanted to get rid of her, they would have killed her right away. They wouldn’t have bothered themselves with kidnapping her. No, I’m sure they have something else in their mind, and this gives us a little bit of time to find her.”

„I hope you are right, Han DooSan,” said Kan through his teeth, forgetting about rank and respect and everything. „Otherwise, I will surely turn you into food for fish!”

DooSan glared at him. „What about giving me a break? At the same time, it’s a good idea to keep your threats and revenge for later, don’t you think so? Plus, there are too many witnesses here. If something happens to me, you are the first suspect.”

„Something that seems fair to me because I’ll be the first one to get rid of you.” Saying this, Kan turned his back to DooSan, heading toward the door.

„Should I send you the coordinates?” The officer asked DooSan, who was still staring at the door.

„Absolutely! It’s the only track we have to find her!”

„Or the only track toward our grave,” said Gi, passing by DooSan. „I just hope that we won’t get buried in the water of River Han, by anyone other than the ogre that left without us.”

„Nea, he didn’t leave anywhere. He won’t leave, not until we find SolHi. It’s the only way he has to twist our necks.”

Saying this, DooSan turned his back to Gi and headed toward the door. He was confident while walking toward that door, although his heart still madly beat in his chest. Why exactly? He was afraid of what could happen to SolHi if they hadn’t found her quickly.

***

„It’s the same dizziness I felt seven years ago,” SolHi told herself. She still had her eyes closed, but even so, she felt that everything spun around her. Even the bedding under her was moving at that moment, making her feel a bitter taste on the top of her tongue. All this caused her nausea, making her shudder from top to toe.

Soon after this, she felt she lacked air. Even so, stubborn as she was, SolHi tried to sit on the bed. All she managed to do eventually was to intensify the feeling of nausea she had in her stomach and that her head was cracking. And, on top of that, she realized her hands were tied.

„It can’t be,” the shaking voice from SolHi’s head suddenly said. „This cannot happen again! No, the event seven years ago cannot be repeated. Yes, it’s not real! It’s only a dream. Only a dream,” she kept repeating this in her head, even if she felt that her blood stopped flowing through her veins and a big knot was pressing over her stomach. She felt all that because she stubbornly tried not to cry, not wanting to let others know she was awake just to have time to understand what happened to her that night.

The moment she remembered fragments from the fatal night seven years ago, SolHi shuddered. „It’s the same darkness. Then… it had also been a butcher. Or… is he the same as the last time?” No, they couldn’t be the same. It cannot have been the same man. That’s why SolHi kept shaking her head, trying to chase away the black thoughts that impeded her from normal thinking. Something she didn’t manage eventually but was forced to touch the pillow with her head again and close her eyes when she felt she lacked power again.

That state of dizziness and nausea didn’t last long, only for a few moments. After that, struggling with herself, SolHi managed to turn to her right side and opened her eyes. She only half-opened them at first, staring in front after this, at the blurred wall that had been white once, on which several inscriptions could be seen, most of them obscene. In bad taste, SolHi also found the curtains of dark red and the painting with two lovers in… an interesting position.

Not the painting made her curious eventually but the silhouette she saw in front of the window. Yes, it was undoubtedly the silhouette of a man there. Who was he? SolHi couldn’t understand. She only saw that he wore elegant trousers, of a dark gray, and a jacket of the same color. Under that jacket, he wore a white shirt. And, judging by the position of the shirt collar, SolHi realized that he wore no tie and that two or three buttons were unbuttoned. Then, moving her eyes along the man’s right arm, SolHi could see the golden watch and the massive silver ring on his pinky. Not this made her attentive but the fact that the individual kept sipping from his whisky and that he smoked a cigar, which he held in his left hand.

The image of the individual wearing an „expensive” suit reminded SolHi about DooSan because she saw him wearing a similar suit when they had seen each other again a few months ago. That day, she thought the same about him: that he acted „cheaply” even if he wore expensive clothing, and through „cheap” tricks, she meant the guy in front of her, who brought her to a motel, apparently. „A cheap and in bad taste motel,” thought SolHi. „At least, he could have chosen something more delicate; to fit the idiot suit he’s wearing. Yet, he seems to be as cheap as the motel he brought me in.”

The pain in her wrists, which she felt when she tried to stand up, made her moan at first. Then, she gnashed her teeth. This movement was also seen by the guy, who finally turned toward her. He said nothing though: he only deeply breathed in the smoke from his cigar, which he extinguished in the same whisky glass he had been drinking from. After that, he weirdly grinned when he turned his back to SolHi again.

„I’ve seen him before!” SolHi caught a thought crossing her mind. „But… where? The same happens to the perfume: it’s a cheap one that seems so familiar. From where do I know it? Where did I see him?”

She didn’t manage to understand where she knew the guy from because the individual didn’t allow her this. Weirdly grinning and making her wince, he asked her eventually, „Are you sure you are already awake?”

„Nam Yun Ho?” SolHi stuttered, supporting her body on the right elbow while trying to sit on the bed. She didn’t manage even that because of the thick belt Yun Ho used to tie her off the bed. A belt SolHi stared at eventually, shaking like hell because this reminded her of the attacker seven years ago, who played with his belt just to let her know she’d been the victim of a rape, as it seemed to have happened to her again.

This thought made SolHi close her eyes. She tightly closed them, wanting to cry because she felt so disgusted with the man in front of her and with life. She felt disgusted with her former colleague, who had preferred to be a coward instead of accepting he had lost, as a real man would have done. This caused her a big pain in her chest, making her wish to have died just not to live again the shame of being with someone against her will.

Suddenly, she remembered what DooSan told her after the first night they had spent together in his apartment, „Last time I checked I used to sleep with a woman wearing no clothes and not abusing her through them.” This made SolHi shake her head. „Yes, it’s possible to have black thoughts for nothing. It’s possible that nothing happened and nothing is lost yet.” After that, squeezing her fists to encourage herself, SolHi stared at Nam Yun Ho, who was in front of the window again.

Eventually, when he finally decided that it was time to continue his sick game, Nam Yun Ho turned toward SolHi and smiled. He weirdly smiled, something that made SolHi feel a hot iron piercing her chest, letting her know that her pain barely started that night. She even shuddered when he kicked one of her shoes after stumbling over it. Thus, when the shoe hit the wall eventually, its heel broke into two.

SolHi didn’t pay attention to this but to the man’s eyes that were sparkling because of hatred. He was outraged because of her shoe, something that made SolHi feel sick with him. That’s why she suddenly hissed through her teeth, staring at him, „Did someone ever tell you that you are trash, Nam Yun Ho? A trash that deserves only slaps because he prefers to be a coward instead of being a real man?”

Her words didn’t seem to have offended the man because he, right after sitting on the bed, stretched his hand in front to caress her hair. Understanding what he wanted to do, SolHi suddenly pulled back. This made her feel dizzy, laying her head on the pillow again when she felt her head heavy. At the same time, she felt she lacked the power to fight with him. Yes, she couldn’t fight with him at that moment, not when she felt her body so heavy. Even so, everything boiled inside her, and all this happened because she wanted to kill him for daring to try to subdue her and knocking her down by using a fake cocktail.

In the end, realizing that all this worked against her and that there wasn’t anybody to help her, SolHi looked at him with hatred. This seemed to have spurred Yun Ho, who suddenly grabbed her from the back of the head and squeezed. He powerfully squeezed while pulling her toward him, hissing through his teeth the moment their foreheads touched each other and their eyes looked into each other’s eyes, throwing fire arrows through them, „There is no point in staying against me, baby! Not now when we finally have a chance to be happy: with no flies around us, with no useless obstacles, and no stupid ideas like the one that you are disgusted with me, not when the only thing I want right now is to make you happy.” Then, with delicate movements, he caressed her hair, moving his hand toward her neckline.

The man’s touch, without her will, made SolHi shudder again. She even felt the nausea in her stomach again, just as she saw memories about what happened seven years ago when she’d been also a victim against her will. Not only did the images of that night come back to SolHi’s mind but also the feelings she had at that moment. Thus, even if she was lying in bed, she felt as though she was staying on a cold cement floor. All this made her feel terrified, especially the tied hands - a clear clue that she couldn’t escape from there, not until being again the victim of a rape or something worse. No, this was too much and beyond her powers: that a sick man like Nam Yun Ho could have her body without her wanting this. Because of this, she started to struggle with him as she could, trying to release her hands and run away.

Yun Ho’s shout, „Don’t move or I’ll kill you!” made SolHi stop her involuntary move. Then, with the eyes of terror, she looked into Yun Ho’s eyes, which were only a few millimeters from hers while his right hand kept tightly holding her from the back of her head. Thus, staring into his eyes, SolHi decided: it was him or her, his life for her life. That’s why, determined to die rather than be the victim of a dement, she told him:

„You’ll kill me, Nam Yun Ho? You’ll do me a favor because I’d rather die than allow you to touch me with your dirty hands.” Then, so suddenly that Yun Ho shuddered, she spat his face. After that, taking advantage of the fact that he had his eyes closed while cleaning his face, unpleasantly surprised by that turnabout, SolHi kicked his stomach, throwing him to the floor. Then, feeling the adrenaline madly flowing through her veins, she started to struggle in her desperate attempt to release her hands.

She didn’t manage to release her hands eventually because the belt was wrapping more and more around her wrists because of her effort to untie it. This made her agitate more, especially when she saw Nam Yun Ho standing up. After that, taking the belt off, the belt from his trousers, he squeezed it in his hand, intending to hit her with it. He even yelled at SolHi, once he was back to his feet, „Do you think that’s that easy to escape from me, Ian SolHi? From me? Of course not because I never release the prey I have in my hands. Not the one I wanted for an entire life.” Yelling these words, Nam Yun Ho looked as though he really lost his mind. His eyes were strangely rotating on the orbits while his hands were badly shaking and a powerful gnash of teeth was heard after this, a sound that made SolHi feel she was in danger and shake even more than she was already shaking. She wasn’t at all wrong in thinking she was in danger because she realized that the man wasn’t normally thinking and that all he wanted that night was her body, no matter the cost. Because of this, Yun Ho suddenly approached her and, touching her beard, told her through his teeth, „A pleasure I intend to enjoy at slow speed tonight. After that, I can leave this dog’s life behind.”

„A dog’s life? Do you mean you’ll throw yourself off a rock after this?”

„You’d like that, SolHi, but no. It’s not what I meant. What I am trying to say is that I’ll leave this life as a police dog behind, a life I have always hated. A life I accepted only to make sure that sooner or later nobody is trying to impede me from having what I have always wanted. Which one? To make you pay for Han YuSan’s death, for example.”

SolHi frowned. „What the hell are you talking about? Especially, what’s your deal with Han YuSan?”

„None. Yet, I have a deal with his brother. Do you know which one? A job! He hired me to make you pay for all the suffering he and his family had been subjected to because of you. And… he’s not the only one who asked me for this: Detective Kan asked me for the same.”

„You are lying!” SolHi shouted, shuddering from top to toe. „DooSan won’t ever do something like that. The same goes for sombe Kan. They, if they had really wanted that, would have taken revenge on me on their own, without using the help of a hyena-like you. Or what, do you consider me stupid to believe all this after DooSan smashed you in front of me?”

„He looked for this: for you to trust him,” Yun Ho confidently replied. „He simply acted in front of you, to make sure you’d blindly believe in every single word he tells you. He did that because he wanted to find evidence that you killed his brother. Yet, let’s say he’s already tired of waiting. That’s why he decided that it was time for everybody to return to his life and that others should pay for old sins. Even so, that punch… uh, I’ll make him pay for this because it really hurt.”

„You aren’t more than a coward, Nam Yun Ho. A son of a bitch that is capable of lying to others only. And… no, I don’t believe you when you say that DooSan hired you to hurt me. Why? Simply because we have a deal.”

„You are really stupid then,” Nam Yun Ho said, laughing. „If you believe you have a pact, I mean. Why? Because Han DooSan isn’t stupid to stain his hands with the blood of someone like you… an easy woman whom only those like me can teach some manners. You know, if you had accepted that night to be mine, maybe I would have treated you more kindly now. Yet, once you love everything to be tough, let it be so.” After that, hungrily, Nam Yun Ho tried to kiss her.

Another kick in his stomach threw him away from SolHi. This time she used her knee to kick him down. This drove the man crazy, who yelled like possessed by demons, „Ah, you, bitch! How a… like you dares to kick me? Me! The one who only wanted to make you feel like a woman!” After that, unable to control himself anymore, he squeezed the belt and raised his hand to hit her.

He didn’t hit her eventually because, the moment he was about to do that, he heard the door deafeningly hitting the wall after being kicked down by Yu. Then, without thinking too much about this, the Inspector aimed Yun Ho with his gun, yelling at him, „Put the belt down or I swear I’ll shoot you, Nam Yun Ho”

„Your problem!” Yun Ho shouted, after that he hit.

Yun Ho hit the bed eventually because SolHi managed to crouch on time. Yet, even if she waited for a second hit, convinced that Nam Yun Ho wouldn’t lose that chance, it didn’t happen. Why exactly? Because, instead of feeling the deep bite of the belt on her skin, SolHi heard the noise of falling things on the floor. This made her open her eyes and saw Detective So approaching her to release her arms.

Feeling her freedom close, SolHi burst into tears. She was shaking like hell, held by a stranger to her chest because, even if they worked together, So Hi Na was a stranger to SolHi eventually when she would have liked DooSan to be there. Yet, he wasn’t there.

She was wrong though because DooSan was there. The moment Nam Yun Ho hit for the first time, DooSan pounced on him, punching and kicking him, although he was on the floor already. Not even Gi and Mo, who tried to separate them, couldn’t take Nam Yun Ho from DooSan’s hands, who seemed completely out of control and ready to kill. Anger SolHi saw at him only at the moment Hi Na took her out of the room, followed by Kan, but not from close.

Actually, Kan had been the one who wanted to approach SolHi after they entered the room. Yet, he didn’t do that because of Yu eventually. This one, understanding what the detective wanted to do, grabbed his arm and told him, „If you don’t want to kill her, don’t touch her, Kan!”

„What the hell are you talking about?”

„That SolHi doesn’t need to be touched by you, Kan: a man. That SolHi doesn’t need us, but her.” Then, when Kan looked at So Hi Na, the Inspector made a sign toward the detective, letting her know that she had to approach SolHi. That’s why she ran toward the bed, understanding that the Inspector was right: SolHi was the victim of abuse, something that always left deep wounds on a woman’s soul, wounds that couldn’t be healed by the touch of a man, at least not at that moment.

***

Bleeding and barely standing, Nam Yun Ho was finally taken out of the room by two police officers. Not only did he need help to stand up but also DooSan. Even if he had been the only one who hit the most, this one still received a few blows back. That’s why he also looked bad after the fight he had with Gi and Mo when the two detectives tried to take him away from Nam Yun Ho. Thus, with his hair a mess and his clothes all sloppy, DooSan kept looking toward the door for a while. He didn’t see the door but the moment when he entered and saw SolHi crouched, about to be hit. It’s when he completely lost his mind and understood that he was more than able to kill for her.

He came back to his senses when Gi touched his arm and told him, „I’m sorry, Prosecutor Han. We thought that…”

Staring at Gi with the eyes of a beast, DooSan said through his teeth, „You believed what? That nothing will happen to her?”

„Yes. The mission seemed safe. We… we haven’t ever thought about Nam Yun Ho and that he’d been involved in this.”

„He hadn’t only been involved in this,” shouted DooSan, ready to pounce on Gi too. He would have pounced on the detective for sure if Yu hadn’t stopped him. Even so, staring with hatred at the detective, DooSan shouted again, „I don’t want to see any of you here or I swear I’ll finish what I’ve started with that jerk. What? You are looking for criminals when you have one in your own team?”

„I think you’ve crossed the line already, Prosecutor Han,” said Mo. „We had no idea that that jerk planned something against Detective Ian.”

„Yet, you should have had that idea,” growled DooSan at him. „Why? Because lives depend on this, you… idiots! You no: you preferred to investigate all superficially, looking for wins where only death was lurking on us. So, if you don’t want to see what jail looks like along with that dog whose back you protected, I am waiting for a detailed report from you. If not, I swear I’ll show you what idiots like you, who hurt people, can receive from people like me.” After that, releasing himself from Yu’s hands, DooSan left the room, slamming the door behind him.

When DooSan left the room, Mo cooked his nose. „I understand that he’s pissed off but… this is already too much even for him. What? We’ve watched someone’s back? Of course not! We aren’t to blame for what happened to Ian SolHi.”

„Of course, we are guilty, Mo,” said Gi, staring at him. „It was our job to make sure Detective Ian was safe, once she accepted to help us with the mission. Yet, we preferred to ignore obvious clues, thinking that we were after idiots when the idiots we were. And… I don’t even want to think what could have happened if we had been here a few moments later. It would have been awful.”

„It’s already awful, Gi,” said Yu. „I’m not sure Ian SolHi will ever be able to leave this nightmare behind.” Then, paying no attention to the others, who were staring at him, Yu also left the room.

***

„What do you mean by Detective Ian left already?” DooSan shouted. He was outraged after finding out from one of the paramedics that SolHi refused medical care. She not only refused this but also went God knows where, telling nobody where she went eventually.

„I’m sorry, Prosecutor,” murmured the paramedic. „I couldn’t stop her. It probably happened because of the drugs they gave her because she was violent. I couldn’t even understand what was going on when she was already gone.”

„Drugs?” Kan’s voice had been suddenly heard behind the two, making the men wince. The detective instead, paying no attention to the exchange of glances between DooSan and the paramedic, asked again, „What exactly did they give her?”

„We don’t know! We just suspect that it has been a cocktail of drugs.”

„Even so, you left her to go.”

„We couldn’t do anything to stop her because Detective Ian…”

„…was your patient,” shouted Kan. „If you had to tie her to stay, you should have done this, not allow her to wander the streets like crazy.”

„Do you at least hear what you say?” DooSan asked. „To tie her? For God’s sake, that idiot has already tied her up. What do you think she would have felt if they had tied her up again?”

„She would have been safe.”

„And who told you she won’t be? Let’s not forget that SolHi did well the last time Min SinJu gave her a cocktail. She’ll be fine this time too.”

„Are you sure, Prosecutor Han?” Kan shouted again. „That she will be fine? After your cheap play that managed to remind her about the hell that happened seven years ago? A hell that can make her end up worse than if she had suffered what Nam Yun Ho had prepared for her?”

„What about keeping your mouth shut? SolHi will be fine. She’s strong. She can make the difference between good and evil and…”

„…you are really stupid, Han DooSan,” said Kan with contempt, taking DooSan by surprise. „Just as you have no idea what SolHi suffered then.”

„Of course, I don’t know anything about what happened that night because none of you says anything!” DooSan shouted as though he had also lost his mind. „Anyway, no matter what happened to her that night, she can get over it and move on.”

„Nobody can get over a rape, you… piece of… you are!” Kan hissed through his teeth, making DooSan look at him like a dumb. Paying no attention to him, Kan added, „It’s why I didn’t want her involved in this mission. I didn’t want to see her suffering again. Yet, you’d been stubborn to make her pass through something similar: like the loss of her child, the rape, and the fact she’d been about to die. What can I say, Han DooSan: you made it! You took revenge on her for everything you lost because of her.”

The disappointment seen in Kan’s eyes was limitless. He felt disgusted with the life he was living, just as he was disgusted with the people that surrounded him… those who really didn’t deserve to have true friends with them. Yet, it was too late already to change something: he couldn’t protect SolHi, although he tried to. That’s why he also considered himself a jerk, one of those who brought her to her knees in front of Fate again.

Eventually, when DooSan murmured, „A rape, Kan? What the hell are we talking about?” The detective sadly smiled.

„We are talking with the truth, Han DooSan: SolHi has been the victim of rape in that abandoned warehouse and not an assassin. And, once you have asked me what SolHi and I found in that place, I will tell you: blood. This is what we found there: her blood, proved by the blood work we’ve done.”

DooSan stared at the detective, thunderstruck. „What? Her blood?”

„Yes, Han DooSan: we found blood in that warehouse. Right on the cement pylon from the middle of the first floor. There was a huge black stain. That wasn’t made by mud but by blood. A big enough stain that makes me understand that SolHi lost a lot of blood that night. Something that makes me ask you this, Mister Prosecutor omniscient: if SolHi has been taken in pieces out of that warehouse, how has she been able to kill your brother? More than this, who was with them that night because I don’t think that Han YuSan killed himself?! No, Han YuSan was killed, but not by SolHi. Who killed him? I don’t know, but I’ll find out. And, when I find this out, who killed YuSan, I’ll come after you too, Han DooSan. It’s when I make you pay for what you’ve done to her: for destroying such a wonderful woman as SolHi is.”

Saying this, Kan left. He didn’t even look back, not caring about what could have happened then. He just left, leaving DooSan behind, who had gone mad after finding out the truth about SolHi: kneeling next to the ambulance and sobbing like a child. He felt so bad at that moment, feeling that he lost everything in life and was forbidden to be happy.