„There is the other „cat!” SolHi hissed through her teeth when she saw Kan and how he looked, after the fight with DooSan. Not only did she see him looking like hell but also Yu. Yet, how the inspector looked at that moment wasn’t very interesting to SolHi. She just glanced at Yu, and, right away, she glared at DooSan. SolHi did that when she realized that his wounds were damn similar to those she saw at Kan.

All this made SolHi think. Especially, it made her wonder, „What are these two planning? Moreover, behind my back.” After that, she glared at DooSan again, a hint that the „cat” inside her had awoken again. This was a bad sign for DooSan for sure because he right away understood that he would suffer a lot in the evening because if cat SolHi sharpened her nails, it meant only one thing: she was about to tear apart someone’s fur. Whose exactly? His fur for sure.

Seeing DooSan and SolHi exchanging glances, and seeing her showing her fangs to DooSan, Kan frowned. „What happens between you two? I thought you made peace last night.” He asked DooSan eventually.

„I also thought so: that we were fine. And we were until she saw the „cat” that painted my lower lip. This made her go crazy again.”

„Should I understand that the „cat” is me?”

„Undoubtedly. Now, tell me: what’s the deal with the basement? Did you find something there?”

It was Kan’s turn to cook his nose. „Nothing out of the ordinary. Just… an invitation to play.”

„Invitation to play? What the hell is this supposed to mean?” DooSan asked. Then, he kept silent, seeing Kan pointing with his head toward the inspector. Not only did DooSan see Yu there but also the bear’s head, which Kan had taken care to make look so bad. This made DooSan attentive, especially when he saw the pieces from a camera, or what remained about it, on SuJin’s desk.

SuJin had been as surprised as DooSan was or more. Seeing his father with the teddy bear’s head in his arms sitting on his desk made the boy damn attentive. He even took his earphones off and, frowning, he asked his father, „What’s that?”

Yu smirked. „We are calling this evidence.” After that, putting the pieces of the camera on the desk, Yu grinned again.

SuJin didn’t fall into the trap though because he found his father’s behavior damn suspicious. How not think so when Yu behaved like a teenager who did something wrong but didn’t know how to tell his father about this?! Yet, even if he felt that something wrong was going on there, SuJin still asked, „Well, maybe you are calling this evidence, but I don’t understand why it looks like this. More, what’s the deal with your face? Did you fight for this „evidence” or what? Oh, no, wait, let me guess: you tried to be the gentleman and all you got in the end was a teddy bear’s head as a trophy?”

„What about keeping your mouth shut and not yelling?” Yu hissed through his teeth at his son. After that, he carefully looked around to make sure the others weren’t watching them. Yeah, right?! Those from DooSan’s office were too used to being careful when spicy gossip was around. That’s why they were carefully listening to each word said by SuJin and his father. Because of this, Yu decided that at least what he said after that should remain a secret, and, leaning over the table, he asked his son, „What do you think: can you make it look as new?”

„Do you think I’m God or something? Or maybe a witch with a Palantir? No, bro: I’m an IT specialist. I repair things not revive dead souls, and this one… is a dead case.”

Soon after this when he heard A Rim mumbling, „The Palantir shows us the future not turns back time,” SuJin showed her his fangs, a hint to stop poking her nose in his business. A Rim instead, damn good at pissing him off, stared into his eyes when she told him, „I’m telling the truth and teaching kids about life because the spells aren’t made using a Palantir but old buckets. Yet, you should try it. Who knows?! Maybe you make it.” Seeing SuJin moving toward her, still sitting on his chair, staring at her and grinning while supporting his beard with his palm, A Rim frowned. „What now?”

„Nothing. I was just wondering why you know all this. About spells, I mean. Is this because you’ve tried this before?”

„I haven’t only tried this,” A Rim replied, not losing her temper. „This is something I perfectly do. Like… turning kids like you into toads.” After that, feisty, she pushed SuJin’s chair with her leg, turning him back to his place.

While his son and A Rim exchanged venomous remarks and threw arrows with their eyes, Yu carefully looked at both of them. After that, he calmly said, „While deciding what kind of spell you’ll use for reviving people or turning time back, I suggest you start with repairing this thing.” And, smirking, Yu put his phone in front of SuJin: a phone that had its screen broken, although he received it only a few days ago.

Suddenly, Inspector Yu’s ears buzzed the moment SuJin yelled, „Dad! You could have been more careful with this. It was a gift for your birthday.”

„Tell me something new!” The inspector said, cleaning his voice. „Anyway, it wasn’t my intention to destroy it. Only… a small accident.”

„A small one?” SuJin shouted again.

Instead of the inspector, Kan had the brilliant idea of answering SuJin’s question by mumbling, „Of course, a small accident: he rolled on only ten stairs. That’s why, boy, you should be grateful for that broken phone instead of yelling at your father.”

„May I know why?”

„Because if the phone hadn’t broken, your father’s head would have been broken for sure. Or what, you noticed the phone but not his broken nose? If yes, you are blind, kid!”

Yu showed his fangs to Kan. „What about staying away from this? I handle this with my son, alone.”

„Yeah, I see how great you’re doing: he’s scolding you for a broken phone as though he’s the father and you are the son. Yes, what can I say: you have a damn grateful son!”

„I would have been grateful if he had come with the phone in good condition and not like that,” growled SuJin. „This cost me my salary for a month! Yet, my father preferred to break it and even had the shame of asking me to repair this! Something I won’t do ever!” After that, furious, he put on his headphones again, turning the music on while mumbling unintelligible words. Even so, Yu was sure his son was „nicely” talking about him at that moment.

Seeing his son so feisty, Yu reproachfully shook his head. After that, deeply breathing in, he approached Kan, in whose ear he hissed after that, „Just wait, dude! Starting today, all your secrets will be known by everybody! And… I’ll start this right now because… SolHi,” Yu suddenly shouted. A shout that had been eventually only muttered because of Kan, who covered the inspector’s mouth with his palm, pushing this one out of the office.

Staring behind them, SolHi understood that she didn’t understand a thing from that Circus. That’s why she looked at DooSan again, asking him by a glance what happened. Yet, DooSan wasn’t stupid to tell her what was going on. That’s why he only shrugged. After that, he left the office in a hurry, with „important business.”

„Am I the only one who found their behavior strange?” SolHi asked A Rim.

„Strange? Our men? No, never! It couldn’t be so, once they don’t have a… brain!” After that, nervous, she started to slam things on her desk, pretending to clean it.

Only SolHi stood calm after this. Yet, she kept staring at the door, having a mad desire to follow DooSan and start the fight she had prepared for him for the evening. Eventually, when she remembered his threats, she decided that it was healthier for her to stay quiet and do her job, leaving everything else for later.

***

Seeing that Nam Yun Ho kept giving him vague answers and nothing concrete about the investigation, Captain Lee got mad. „Damn idiot!” He hissed through his teeth, suddenly grabbing Yun Ho by the collar and pushing him against the wall. „You won’t talk, will you?”

„Why should I do that?” Replied Yun Ho, ironically grinning. „It’s my right to keep the silence. Otherwise, all I say can be used against me at the trial, right? Plus, what you are doing is called abuse, Captain! I can complain about that!”

„Your problem!” Lee growled. „Yet, I’m sure you won’t be able to prove anything against me, once I haven’t made any wound on your skin. And, even if I’d done several, you still couldn’t have proved that it was me who did that to you. Do you know why?”

„Yeah, you turned the camera off. About the wounds: you can tell that Han DooSan did them to me in the motel room.”

„It was his right to do that to you. Or what, should he have caressed your head for what you’ve done to Ian SolHi?”

„It was my right too.”

„Really?! And… may I know since when do you have rights over someone? Especially, since when do you have rights over SolHi?”

„Since I know her before him and I’ve told her about my feelings also before him. This gives me rights over her.”

Lee burst into laughter. Then, allowing Nam Yun Ho to breathe, Captain Lee took a few steps up and down the room. „Rights?” Lee ironically said, making Yun Ho squint at him. „Over Ian SolHi and all this because you told her about your feelings?”

„Yeah, and… I don’t see a reason for this laughter,” Yun Ho murmured, sitting down.

„Of course, I have a reason to laugh because if you imagine you have rights over everybody in this world, you are damn stupid!” Captain Lee yelled this time, hitting the table with both palms. „Or what, did you forget Lee Da Hi already? As far as I know, you’ve also declared your rights over her.”

„Lee Da Hi? Who is she?” Yun Ho asked, faking amazement.

„The one whom you abused with no mercy in the basement of the club, the same basement where you kept Ian SolHi after kidnapping her.”

Nam Yun Ho grinned. „I can’t believe that. Did that bich accuse me of abusing her? I? The one with whom she spent her nights in positions that hadn’t been that… godly? Then, if she has done this, she’s stupid because she can’t prove this.”

„Of course, she can, once we have witnesses.”

„Who exactly? Ian SolHi?”

„Yeah, and not only her. We also have important evidence, like… a body. Lee Da Hi’s body, which you took care to get rid of after the „hot positions” you used to spend some time with her, „positions” you are so much bragging of, but which killed her eventually.”

The weird happiness seen on Nam Yun Ho’s face by then suddenly vanished, and he turned serious. Then, frowning, he asked, „She’s dead? What the hell are you talking about?”

„I talk about her,” Captain Lee hissed through his teeth, throwing a few photos of Lee Da Hi in front of Yun Ho, photos with her in the dumpster, which he took from one of the files Lee had in front of him. „She was someone’s mother, of a child, whom you left orphan, sentencing him to a cruel life alone. Why? Because you couldn’t keep in check your savage instincts, dog.”

„Oho! Stop! That’s too much already! Yeah, I accept that maybe I’ve exaggerated a little when… you know, but… she was still breathing when I left that room.”

„Then? How do you explain the fact we found her in the dumpster… dead? She killed herself or what?”

„Most likely yes. What do I know?! All I did to her was declare my rights over her once I paid her. That’s all. How she got into the dumpster, it is her problem and not mine.”

„No, dude, it’s your problem. Why? Because all evidence points to you. Also, the forensic expertise shows you as the main suspect and author of the crime because… you were high last night. That’s why you forced her to do certain things and also get high, something that provoked a heart attack on her, killing her eventually.”

„Drugs? I didn’t give anything to her!”

„Can you prove that?”

Nam Yun Ho swallowed hard: he couldn’t prove that he didn’t give drugs to the young woman he abused, and he couldn’t prove that because he was the one who asked for the cameras to be turned off in the basement, just to make sure he wasn’t leaving any evidence behind related to Ian SolHi’s disappearance. Something he started to regret later because it meant he sentenced himself for being stupid, buying a ticket straight to the scaffold. Even so, aware that his only chance to survive was to keep silent about his accomplices, he suddenly stood up and, in a fit of anger, threw the chair to the floor. After that, he yelled at Lee, who calmly watched him… so calm that not even a muscle moved on Captain’s face when he heard Nam Yun Ho saying, „What? Am I guilty now because a b…ch got to the dumpster like fertilizer? Of course not! When she entered this business, she knew what she was doing.”

„Yeah, maybe she knew what she was in. Yet, she didn’t deserve to die like that, don’t you also think so?”

„I don’t know that, okay? I don’t know if she deserved or not what happened to her. You should ask her this if you are so smart of accusing people. Plus, am I guilty that her bastard is an orphan now? No! If she had a kid, she had to stay home, and not wave her tail in front of the men, provoking them. Only a… can do that!”

Lee smiled, although he wasn’t at all in the mood to do that at that moment. Then, he said, „You don’t feel any sorry for what you’ve done, right?”

„Hell no! I only paid others what they deserved.”

„Just as others will pay to you eventually: also on good merit. Do you know how?”

„Life imprisonment?”

„Death!” Lee calmly said, staring into Yun Ho’s eyes, something that made him swallow hard again. „I don’t have to move a single finger for this to happen. Do you know why? Others will take care of this… for you not to leave this place ever. If this happens, I’m sure of something: that we won’t find you in a dumpster, but God knows in what hole of a stinky rat, as you deserve.” After that, Lee stood up and headed toward the door, thinking that the interrogatory was useless. He did that because he didn’t want to waste his time anymore, once Yun Ho said nothing useful to him.

Once next to the door, Lee stopped when Yun Ho said, „What if you are wrong, Captain? That all that happened wasn’t my idea but someone’s order. I don’t talk now only about Ian SolHi but also about Lee Da Hi.”

Lee smiled. He was sure that he didn’t win and that Nam Yun Ho only checked him, just as Lee was sure that the one who watched Yun Ho’s back by then was an important person and the ex-detective wouldn’t have betrayed his boss so easily. He wouldn’t have done this if he wanted to survive. Even so, Captain Lee decided to play the same game and said, „If you give me names, we can talk about your sentence. Negotiate.”

„Names?” Nam Yun Ho smiled, lifting the chair and sitting on it. Then, staring into Captain’s eyes, he said ironically, „Find out alone if you are so smart, Captain! Do you know why? I’m not stupid to hang myself alive. You said that: I won’t leave this place alone if I talk. Yet, if you promise to release me and do whatever I want after this, we can have a deal.”

„Then, you can rot here, Nam Yun Ho! I’m also not stupid, even if others think differently.”

„Really? Well, yes: I must accept you aren’t stupid. Yet, I can’t name you intelligent either because… only an intelligent person can accept my offer, something that can assure him a prosperous career and promotions.”

„I’ll say no to that!” Lee calmly said. „I didn’t arrest you for promotions but to bring justice to others. That’s why I won’t accept your offer. Yet, you’ll accept mine for sure, the moment you’ll understand that’s your only chance to survive.” After that, smiling, Lee left the room, carefully closing the door behind him.

„Damn idiot!” Yun Ho growled. He was really pissed off because his trick didn’t work and he didn’t escape jail. All this started to enrage him because this meant his life was coming to an end so quickly.

Alone in the room, Yun Ho suddenly felt fear sneaking into his bones. He was right in feeling this because he knew very well who he was working for and what was waiting for him. Yet, he was more afraid of the fact that he dared to threaten his accomplices, thinking that it was his only way to make them help him. If they hadn’t done this, Yun Ho was sure Lee would have accepted his offer and he would have had a chance to escape. Yet, all his plans failed that day and he started to walk with sure steps toward death.

Understanding this, Yun Ho grabbed his hair with both hands and squeezed. After that, he slowly hit the table with his head, making that small Interrogatory Room resound. And, while hurting himself, the ex-detective started to murmur, „I’m really stupid. I’m undoubtedly stupid if I’ve fallen so down. Especially, I’m stupid for allowing myself to be caught when all I wanted was to teach someone some manners. Ah, Ian SolHi, ah: you are my burden for sure, as you’ve told me once. Yet, for stupid, I’ve never believed your words, something I should have done. Thus, I wouldn’t have ever gotten here.”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Yet, it was too late for regrets. At the same time, it was too late for those tears that were bathing his cheeks. Those tears were born from his heart, from fear and regrets, although they didn’t mean too much. Just as it didn’t mean too much at that moment if he had denied the fact that he tried to take Min SinJu’s business, thinking that SinJu knew nothing about this, even if it wasn’t anything like that.

„Damn you all!” Yun Ho murmured eventually, stopping to beat the table with his head. „You are simple dogs! Dogs that pounce on one’s jugular even if you see him hurt, and you won’t let him go if he’s still alive. Actually, why am I complaining when I knew with whom I’d been involved to… with stinky dogs and not with friends, although I trusted you all so much.”

Saying this, Nam Yun Ho was lying to himself. Yes, he was lying to himself because not trust buried him eventually but his stupidity. Why exactly? He thought he was so smart to do business with Min SinJu. At the same time, he trusted his greed and started to accept bribery, closing his eyes when he saw illegal things done by others. Thus, he got involved in dirty businesses, and he did that because he loved easy money while, being an honest cop, he wouldn’t have had that much, just as he was sure that this wouldn’t have helped him to get really high as he thought he would get someday when he entered the Police Academy. Also, he lied to himself when he told Lee that someone asked him to get rid of Lee Da Hi when it was nothing like that.

Actually, he caught Lee Da Hi purely by chance. She was in the street, in an area that was forbidden for looking for clients. That night, after taking everything she won, Yun Ho let her go. Yet, liking her, he managed to „hire” her into one of Min SinJu’s secret clubs. For her „job,” Yun Ho had a good percentage of her earnings and also the club paid him for having her there. This hadn’t been enough for him though and this happened because he wanted her more and more often. Da Hi instead started to avoid him, something Yun Ho hated. That’s why he decided to teach her a lesson she wouldn’t have ever forgotten.

That night, when SolHi’s mission in the club took place, before being informed by one of his people that she’d be in the club, Yun Ho decided to teach Da Hi that lesson and let her know that it wasn’t a good idea to be his enemy. For this, he called her into the booth he had each time he needed to spend some time in the arms of a girl or for the use of certain substances. Then, when one of the bodyguards, using force, had brought Da Hi in that room, she saw Yun Ho sniffing white dust. And, right after seeing her, scared and shaking like hell, he told her, „Clothes off!”

Lee Da Hi refused to take her clothes off, aware of what kind of demons were dancing around Yun Ho when he was high. For this, she’d been punished by being kicked and punched until she lost consciousness. Yet, this wasn’t enough for Yun Ho, who decided to have her again. And he had her, so many times that night, until he stopped feeling hungry for her body. Even so, he was sure she was still breathing when he left the booth to take care of SolHi.

Nevertheless, although he knew all this, he was still surprised when Lee told him that they found Da Hi in the dumpster because of an overdose. „Something impossible,” he told himself. „Lee Da Hi hadn’t ever been high because she always said that she had to be sober to take care of her child. Even so, they found her breathless because of the same substances she had always refused to take. This means that someone forced her to take drugs. Yet, who? Why? Who won with her death? And, more than this, why do I feel that she died because I had to be the patsy for this? Is this because of Min SinJu? If yes, why? Did he do that because I was about to take one of his businesses? No, I don’t think so because… this is something known only by me and my people. Even so, I feel that they want to get rid of me by accusing me of that b…ch’s death.”

Such questions didn’t help Yun Ho to clear his mind. At the same time, all this didn’t make him feel better. On the contrary, he felt damn nervous, and, on top of that, he needed another dose, something he wouldn’t ever have while being in a cell. Yet, getting out of there was an impossible dream already because, „Ian Hion Uk, that bastard, just washed his hands with me when he sent a newcomer from his office to defend me. A lawyer he has sent only to make sure I’ll keep my mouth shut if I want to survive. What? Do they think I’m that stupid to accept being manipulated by them at their will? Of course not! I’ll get out of this as I’ve done so many times before… alone. Yet, once out of here, be careful, you all because I swear I’ll turn you all into meat for worms. Especially you, Min SinJu: be careful with what you are doing because I know too many of your secrets, something that tips the balance toward me for sure.”

***

Although Lee demanded his people not to lose sight of Nam Yun Ho, and not to leave him alone no matter what, a few hours after the interrogatory the ex-detective was found dead. The cause of his death? Strangulation. He had actually been strangulated with his own laces. Yet, who did that, they couldn’t find out because the cameras at the cells suddenly „broke” and nobody knew why this happened or how exactly Nam Yun Ho died.

***

The slammed door, the one from the Prosecution Roof, made the horizon resound the moment the metal hit the cement wall. Who slammed the door? SolHi! Finding out about Nam Yun Ho’s death, still in the office, she felt she was lacking air. That’s why she ran out of the office and headed toward the only place where she could have regained calmness: the roof.

Once on the roof, she didn’t feel the fresh air entering her lungs but salty drops on her lips: tears that were bathing her cheeks and she couldn’t control their flow. Not only couldn’t she control the flow of her tears but also herself and that panic attack she felt so suddenly, something that made her agitate and murmur, „This can’t be! No, it’s impossible! It can’t really happen.”

A few moments after SolHi appeared on the roof, DooSan showed up there too. He got out of the office behind her, after he told everybody about Nam Yun Ho’s death, which he found out about from Captain Lee. Seeing SolHi leaving the office, he thought she would go to the gym to punch the bag and cool her soul. Instead of this, she got to the roof, where she could any time collapse, and, God didn’t want this, but she could have also fallen off it eventually.

DooSan’s worries weren’t an exaggeration for sure because, arriving on the roof and seeing what SolHi looked like, he grabbed her by the arms and shook her so hard to make her turn back to her senses. He even shouted at her at one point, „I said that’s enough, SolHi! You don’t have to lose your mind for a bastard like him.”

„You know nothing!” SolHi said, sobbing. „I’m not crying because he’s dead but because I couldn’t do myself justice.”

„I know. I know how much it hurts, SolHi. I also know that’s not fair. Yet, you can’t kill yourself just because that bastard wasn’t punished as he deserved.”

„Perhaps, DooSan! But… why? Why was he killed when we were so close to making him pay for everything he did to me?”

„I don’t know that! Yet! But we’ll find out, I promise! We’ll find out this together because I won’t leave this case to be solved by someone else. Plus, you are stronger than this, SolHi! You can’t collapse! Not now! Just pass over this and focus on the important: to make all those who hurt us pay!”

„How?” SolHi shouted. „How to pass over all that has happened to me, DooSan? How to forget the pain that kills me inside? I can’t pass over, I don’t know how.”

„I also don’t know that,” whispered DooSan, holding her to his chest and allowing her to sob. „Yet, we’ll find out this together. I promise.”

SolHi seemed not to hear his words but kept saying through sobbing, „I feel I’m dying, DooSan! That’s too much injustice around me that I can’t handle all this anymore! I can’t handle this because I haven’t done anything wrong to deserve all that! I really haven’t hurt anybody to allow this life to punish me so cruelly. It always slaps me and puts thorns in my way when I’m thinking that I’m about to see the sun again. Instead of that, I’m surrounded by more darkness, chained, and forced to pay again and again for something I don’t remember. I can’t understand why.”

„Even so, you aren’t alone!” The man said, forcing her to look at him, even if he still held her to his chest. „You can’t give up, not because of a jerk like Nam Yun Ho. Not now when he confessed that he did what he did to you because someone told him to do that.”

„Tell me something new, DooSan! I know that Min SinJu is to blame for all that, but we can’t prove this. Why? Because I’ve been forced to stay away from this investigation. Or… have you forgotten this already?”

„No, I didn’t forget anything! Just as I don’t forget that you haven’t been allowed to investigate this case because Nam Yun Ho was alive. Now he’s dead and you aren’t a victim anymore who wants to take revenge on him. This means you are back in the team.”

„I’ve always been in the team, DooSan! I was there when Dja Iun died, even if I hadn’t been allowed to bring justice to him either. Who kept me away from the case? Sombe Kan and you! The reason? I could have altered the evidence if I’d investigated that case. I? The most interested in catching the bastard who killed my friend was accused of being interested in manipulating the evidence that could have led us to the real killer.”

„Nobody ever said that. You cannot accuse us of this, SolHi.”

„Of course, I can, DooSan, because it’s the truth! Plus, Nam Yun Ho is dead. Why keep looking for evidence against him?”

„I didn’t say to find evidence against him but against the one he worked for. It’s the only way we can bring justice to you.”

„Something we aren’t sure will help us in something. Plus, how can you be so calm knowing that that bastard, Nam Yun Ho, is dead?”

„What should I do, SolHi? To fall into despair?”

„No, not that. Yet… even so, I can’t understand why I’m reproaching you all this when it has nothing to do with you. The one who suffered last night was me and not you. Well, except for your injured hand because of me, which… is something you still haven’t asked me to pay for too.”

„SolHi!” DooSan shouted. He was furious.

„What? Did I cross the line?” She also shouted.

„Yes, because I don’t ask you to pay me back for everything. Not you. Yet, be sure I’ll ask others to pay us back for everything they did to you. I won’t forget this. I swear.” After that, forgetting about everything, DooSan held her to his chest again, whispering, „I won’t ever forget your sufferance, SolHi. I can’t! I really can’t forget this.”

„DooSan,” she finally murmured, trying to push him away from her. „It’s not worth it, to be involved in this. I can’t allow you to be killed while investigating this. I can’t lose someone else.”

„What about me, SolHi? Can you really think I can stay away while you are in danger?”

„It’s my duty, DooSan! All they did they did to me. My problems with Nam Yun Ho and the rest have nothing to do with you.”

„Of course, they have to do with me. While I… I,” DooSan stuttered, not knowing how to tell her about his feelings. That’s why he just said eventually, „Just give me a chance!”

„A chance? For what?”

„To show you that I care about you! Even if you don’t trust me and suspect me of everything… just give me a chance, SolHi. A chance to stay only one step from you.”

„DooSan, I…!”

„I don’t care, okay?! I don’t care if you see me as your friend only, as one of your colleagues, or as a stranger. All I want is to accept me close to you and…” He looked into her eyes: with love, fear, and pleading eyes… „…and try to understand what a heart that fears to lose you feels.”

SolHi looked into his eyes for a while, trying to read truths in them, trying to understand what DooSan tried to hide at that time behind that kind look… the glance of an in-love person. Yet, all she managed to see was deep care and sadness. Even so, she released herself from the trap of his arms eventually, and, taking one step back, she told him, „Let’s not exaggerate! Yes, I accept that Nam Yun Ho’s death took me by surprise and I acted foolishly. Even so, I don’t need mercy! Not yours!” She turned her back to him, intending to go.

Suddenly grabbing her by the arm, DooSan impeded her from letting him there alone. Then, after moments of waiting, moments he considered an eternity, SolHi looked at him. It’s when he told her, „It’s not mercy what I feel for you, SolHi.”

„Then?”

„Just… feel if you can’t believe my words!” Then, putting her hand over his heart, he allowed her to feel his heart beatings, which was rhythmically touching his chest… in the rhythm of love.

For a long time after that, SolHi seemed absent. She was staring at her palm, which felt the heartbeats of the man in front of her. She seemed not to care about the fact that DooSan was waiting for her answer or for a small gesture that would have let him know that he wasn’t another man for her. Yet, she said nothing. She just closed her eyes the moment she remembered a fragment of a past she didn’t remember: her palm touching the chest of a stranger, a man who wore a white shirt, next to whom she felt so well that night. That night, she seemed to have felt the same as she felt at that moment when she touched DooSan’s chest… that she felt those heartbeats dancing on the skin of her palm before.

„It can’t be,” SolHi murmured, pulling back. Then, when DooSan called her name, she looked at him, confused, because she couldn’t understand if what she saw was a memory or simple imagination. Yes, SolHi really seemed unable to understand what she was doing at that moment. Then, so suddenly, she surprised herself watching at DooSan’s lips while murmuring in her head, „That man had similar lips. He also wore a white shirt. Yet, this is impossible because… that man cannot have been DooSan.”

Eventually, SolHi closed her eyes again, allowing DooSan to hold her to his chest again. She also allowed him to caress her hair, wrap his arms around her body, and even kiss the top of her head. And yes, she felt loved by him, even if she told herself so many times before that love was something forbidden to her. How not feel all this when the one she wanted next to her, whom she got to love and want with her all the time was nobody else than her victim’s brother?!

***

„I didn’t know they were dating,” murmured Yoon Suk sadly, staying in front of the door of the roof and watching that romantic scene between DooSan and SolHi. If he was there, it was because he came there to comfort SolHi, thinking that he was the only one who cared about her, the only one who knew what SolHi needed, and the only one SolHi needed with her. Yet, he’d been so wrong because SolHi didn’t wait for him there and she wanted not the juice he brought to her, something he bought from a machine, but the arms of someone else wrapped around her.

Finally accepting that cruel truth, Yoon Suk felt so deserted and so empty inside. He felt he lost, even if he fought so much to be with her. Even so, despite all his efforts, Yoon Suk didn’t win even a battle in his „war” with Han DooSan because, even if he knew that SolHi and DooSan were living together, Yoon Suk kept lying to himself that all he knew were formalities and that SolHi didn’t feel anything for the other one. Yet, „I’ve been so wrong, all this time,” murmured Yoon Suk, turning his back to the two lovers and heading toward the stairwell - with his head bowed, with his soul in fire, and feeling trampled and so dirty.

On his way to the stairwell, Yoon Suk stopped when he saw Kan. The detective was only a few steps from him, staring at his younger colleague. He wasn’t reproachfully looking at Yoon Suk but with sadness, knowing very well what was in the man’s soul at that moment. And, because he knew this very well, Kan followed Yoon Suk, knowing that he’d go to the roof eventually, where SolHi and DooSan were and he knew about this. Kan hadn’t been wrong in thinking that because it was exactly where Yoon Suk had gone eventually.

The pain seen in Yoon Suk’s eyes at that moment, pierced Kan’s heart because Yoon Suk was also his „child,” as SolHi was. Yet, he couldn’t help him with his pain because he knew that a man couldn’t control a woman’s heart or ask her to love him, even though Kan would have liked this: SolHi to choose Yoon Suk and not DooSan. The reason? He knew she would have been safer with Yoon Suk, far away from problems.

Yet, once his plan failed and his wishes were simple wishes eventually, all Kan could do at that moment was to be with Yoon Suk and support him in everything. That’s why he kindly told him eventually, „Let’s have a drink together. I’m sure you’ll feel better after that.”

„No, sombe! All I want now is to be alone,” said the young man. After that, quickened his pace after he gave Kan the juices he bought, Yoon Suk practically ran down those stairs.

Looking behind Yoon Suk, whom he saw hunched and with his head bowed, Kan frowned. „This love is so weird,” murmured the detective. „It never listens to what the mind tells it and never chooses based on logic. That’s why we lose so much in life.”

Eventually, Kan followed Yoon Suk. On his lips, a sad smile could be seen, born from the sadness felt in his soul. A smile that was due to memories too, those he thought he had forgotten. Memories about an old love - about the only woman Kan really loved: his beloved wife, Chion A, whom he lost so suddenly and tragically, and who sentenced Kan to suffer for an entire life.

***

„See you in the parking lot,” DooSan read Kan’s message. He received that text message when he and SolHi left the Prosecution, intending to go home.

„It’s all that was missing,” DooSan murmured, understanding what happened and why Kan asked him secretly see him. Yet, once he couldn’t give up, he told SolHi, „See you at home! Something urgent happened and I have to handle this.”

„Urgent? At this hour?” SolHi asked, not believing a word of what the man said. She was right in thinking this because she noticed DooSan hiding his phone behind his back. „Give it to me!” She told him. „If not, I’ll cut that cat’s ears.”

„It’s not Kan!” The man lied to her. „It’s… something personal!” Then, seeing SolHi heading toward him, DooSan hid the phone in his pocket.

To his great surprise, SolHi didn’t insist to see what was the deal with the message. She just asked for the keys to his car. After that, passing by him, she hissed through her teeth, „I can’t believe that a certain „cat” made you forget about feelings so easily.”

„I’ve told you already that’s nothing as you think,” DooSan tried to apologize. Yet, SolHi didn’t even want to hear such an excuse. She just turned her back to him and headed toward his car, a black BMW X6 Vantablack, parked a few cars away from the place where they were. „If you don’t believe me, it’s your problem. I’m just speaking with the truth.”

Paying no attention to what he said, SolHi entered the car and left. This amazed DooSan more because he thought she’d be after him, like a shadow, just to make sure a certain „cat” would remain blind and furless. Yet, once this didn’t happen, DooSan could breathe a sigh of relief because „It’s been that close.”

„Still, it’s suspicious!” He heard Kan’s voice behind him, something that made him wince. „And I’m sure she won’t leave us alone or that she has given up on her plan of finding out what we are hiding from her.”

„What makes you think that?”

„I’m an old wolf, Prosecutor Han! One that trusts his sixth sense and… I have known her for a lot of time already. Yet, let’s go!”

„Where exactly?”

„You’ll see!” Kan said, heading toward his Skoda, the color of the fresh grass. „And, quicken your pace, Prosecutor Han, or we’ll see the sunrise, together again!”

„Something I hope that won’t happen. Why? Because, if I see the sunrise with you and I’m not in my bed, I swear I’ll make SolHi’s „curse” real.”

„Curse? What curse?” Kan asked in amazement. Then, he stopped and looked at DooSan, who took one step behind him. „Come on, tell me: what she blessed me with this time?”

„With leaving you earless because… she understood what „cat” scratched me this morning.”

„Aaa, it’s because of that! And I wondered all day long what I did to her that she glared at me: she was defending her territory. Too bad… that I didn’t stub my nails deeper into your face this morning. If I had done this, I would have been avenged. Yet, it’s still not too late once SolHi isn’t around.” The detective burst into laughter, seeing DooSan suddenly pulling back. „Don’t worry!” Kan said, laughing. „If one single strand of hair falls from your head, I’m sure my fur will be in danger for sure. Even my eyes. That’s why, I have no intention to enter this dangerous game with the cat Ian SolHi.”

„I’m glad you understood that, on time!” DooSan replied, grinning. „And, let’s go at once! If I don’t come home today, I’m sure my neck will be in danger and not yours.”

„Something I doubt. That SolHi will do something to you. Not after she threatened me with death to protect your back. Plus, even if you don’t sleep at home tonight, it won’t matter too much. Why? You are on her blacklist, remember?! You won’t sleep in the same bed as she.”

„For the moment! Something I intend to change very soon… as soon as I make her trust me. So, don’t get me into more trouble and enter the damn car at once!” DooSan hissed through his teeth while passing by Kan. The detective, reproachfully shaking his head, followed him eventually, getting behind the wheel while DooSan was on the passenger’s side when the car left the parking lot.

***

„Personal my ass, Han DooSan!” SolHi mumbled when she saw Kan’s car passing in front of her and DooSan inside that car. „I was right in thinking that you two are planning something behind my back. Yet, don’t worry: if you don’t want to share with me what you know, I’ll find this out on myself. And… I think that’s more than „personal.” If not, you wouldn’t have shared punches and kicks with each other this morning.” Then, stepping on the gas pedal to the brim, she followed the two.

Even if she wanted not to be noticed while following them, and for this she stopped in a blind spot not that far from the Prosecution’s yard, she still couldn’t do that. Who noticed her following them was Kan, watching in the rear mirror. And, when he saw her, Kan smirked, saying, „Mouse on board! And she doesn’t even try to follow us from „the shadow.”

„But… how did she find out? I thought she left.”

„To leave? SolHi?”

„Aga! You saw her leaving. With my car, by the way.”

„Well, it’s what you wanted to believe. Yet, I was sure she was somewhere close, spying on us. I told you that this morning, right? Her dog nose won’t let us investigate this without her to be involved.”

„Then? What we do to lose her?”

„Just: hold that handle tighter!” Saying this, Kan pressed the gas pedal to the brim.

„Have you lost your mind?” DooSan shouted. „Are you trying to kill us all or what?”

„No! And, don’t worry: I won’t kill anybody. Not when I know SolHi because… it’s not the first time she „races” someone. So, hold tighter that handle, I said!” Then, Kan pressed the gas pedal to the brim again.

He didn’t manage to get rid of SolHi though because she knew Kan very well. „Something that works for me, sombe: knowing you that well! And, as I know you so well, I assure you that you won’t get rid of me, at least not that easily.” After that, she increased the speed too.

It was SolHi the one who started that race with Kan because she didn’t want to lose in front of him, not that night. She did that because she felt that something bad could have happened while Kan and DooSan were together. That’s why she decided not to lose sight of them no matter what and keep them both far away from problems.