A total silence took over the corridors of the Department of Organized Crime. It started to feel overwhelming, especially after the fight Captain Lee had with his boss, the Colonel Kim Chang Hoo, a fight that ended when Lee slammed the door behind him, leaving his boss’s office. Then, another door was slammed: it was the one leading toward the stairwell because Lee, feeling that he was burning inside and too eager to get out, decided to descend the stairs rather than wait for the elevator.

Then, seconds after the stairwell door had been closed behind him, the door of his office suddenly opened with a bang, pushed by a young man about 20, who ran as fast as he could toward the elevator. Arriving in front of it, the young man feverishly looked up, trying to see what floor his boss got out of the elevator. Yet, the only thing he saw was that the elevator was defective. This made him understand that Lee finally took the path of stairs and not the elevator, doing the same shorter after that.

Descending the stairs on the run, while feeling his heart madly beating in his chest, the young man had only one thought spinning in his mind, „I have to stop him! I must do it! Otherwise, something bad will happen for sure. Boss, wait for me! Just wait! Do not dare to do that! Do you hear me? Do not…”

He stopped eventually and even his breathing stopped halfway through his throat when he heard a shot. Then… the silence took over that place again. Only the eyes of the young Hyun Shik were slowly blinking, moved by an uncontrolled reaction… up-down, down-up, and again up-down while he seemed a simple lifeless doll whose eyes were programmed to move his this way, giving the one who was seeing them the feeling that he was looking at an alive creature.

Then, suddenly, a painful sigh came out of his chest when he felt that he was not capable of keeping that air inside him anymore. After that, feeling himself lacking power, he squatted, to sit on those ladders later, still grabbing the railing with his left hand while the other arm was hanging next to his body. His head was also hanging on his neck and he felt a strange buzzing in his ears, something similar to the ticking of a clock. All this was something difficult to bear up with eventually while his own heart was beating so fast in his chest… It was partly due to the scare after hearing the gunshot and partly after the run down the stairs.

The young man winced eventually when he remembered the shot. After that, he raised his gaze and looked in front… with empty eyes… with terrified eyes. „What was that?” He asked. Nevertheless, Hyun Shik did not listen to an answer because his mind, rushing to think about everything that happened and too scared to find a reason for all those strange events, was stubborn at that moment. That’s why Hyun Shik shook his head eventually, trying to chase that unpleasant thought away, a thought that started to squirm through his mind like a worm looking for food.

Eventually, he saw himself forced to give up on his idea of self-protection and stop the useless fight with his mind too when he understood that the thought „What the hell has just happened?” was bothering him more than he thought. That’s why he jerked to his feet eventually and, as fast as he descended the stairs, he climbed them back.

Arriving in front of the door, the one that was leading to the main corridor, Yoon Shik stopped. Even his hand froze on the doorknob and the thought, „What if…?” started to spin in his mind again. A thought that the young man decided not to let it lead his will. That’s why he suddenly shook his head and said, „No, it’s not possible! Captain Lee cannot do that! No, never! He won’t ever do something like this. Now more than ever because we have a lead. Yet… I’m sure I heard a shot. I’m sure of this. Someone used his gun. Who? Why? Against who or for what?”

He swallowed hard in the end when he felt a bitter taste on the top of his tongue, something damn unpleasant in fact. Yet, after swallowing that pill made from bitter saliva, another one appeared on his tongue, forcing him to swallow it again while that saliva was so stubborn to appear over and over again on the top of his tongue. A process that didn’t last for long because, soon after this, he heard footsteps behind that door… Yes, someone was there, running in the corridor. Who? Hyun Shik couldn’t understand. That’s why he forced his mind, trying to understand at least something or whose footsteps those were. Nevertheless, he couldn’t understand anything even if he hardly tried this. Then, listening to other footsteps and then to the footsteps of a third person, Hyun Shik decided that it was the right time and opened the door. Thus, he saw about 15 agents, heavily armed, heading toward the office of the colonel.

Hyun Shik froze. „To be damn…,” he thought while his head was mechanically turning to the left and to the right, looking at the agents that were running as fast as they could toward the colonel’s office. „What the hell means all this?” The young agent thought. Then, soon after that, he also rushed toward the colonel’s office.

To enter that office he couldn’t because the agents didn’t allow it. Yet, while struggling with the other agent, whose face he couldn’t see because of the mask, Hyun Shik saw the colonel sitting on his chair, with his head laid on his left shoulder while his right hand was on the table. What scared him a lot and amazed him at the same time was to see the blood dripping from the right temple of the colonel and staining the collar of the white shirt he was wearing, to later run down his neck and chest. Then, Hyun Shik saw the gun, which had been used for the crime… it was on the table, also stained with blood.

This made him widely open his eyes and feverishly look around. All he saw were unknown faces: of the agents from the Operative Group 25, those who were known as the Black Dragons and who were taking care of the safety of the Department of Organized Crime. At the same time, they were also taking care to protect the witnesses and were involved in the most dangerous missions, those called „top secret.”

One of those „top secret” missions was the reason why Captain Lee and the Colonel had that argument only a few minutes before the Colonel pressed the trigger and took his life. At least this was the first impression the crime scene let Hyun Shik have. Yet, all that seemed too easy to Hyun Shik, too complicated, and weird at the same time. Why? Because Colonel Kim Chang Hoon was left-handed. Yet, the gun had been found in his right hand.

Understanding this, Hyun Shik shook his head and murmured, „Ei, I don’t think this is possible.” After that, staring at the ground and not paying attention to the fact that the masked agent pushed him back, forcing him to withdraw thus, the young agent looked confused because, being part of the Colonel’s group, he should have been let in. However, nobody was left to enter that office, supposedly because it was necessary „Not to ruin the evidence.”

Hyun Shik composed himself the moment his colleague, Moon Joon Won, about two or three years older than him, but who came to be someone important within the organization, grabbed his hand and forced Hyun Shik to follow him. Yet, before forcing this one to follow him, he told the masked agent, who was still trying not to let Hyun Shik enter the Colonel’s office, „Don’t pay too much attention to him. He’s just shocked. That’s all.”

Even if he heard what Joon Won said, Hyun Shik didn’t understand very well what this one was talking about. That’s why, while Joon Won was dragging him after him as if he was a child, Hyun Shik insistently looked at the back of his colleague’s head, there where white baby hair was seen, a hint that this one got a haircut recently. Nevertheless, not this was the important detail that made Hyun Shik attentive, but a small red stain, which was seen on his neck. That’s why Hyun Shik suddenly touched Joon Won’s neck, mumbling, „Are you injured, Joon Won? There’s blood on your neck!”

Feeling the touch on the skin of his neck, Joon Won winced and released his colleague’s arm. Then, staring like a pitbull at Hyun Shik, he hissed through his teeth, „Did you lose your mind? How the hell can you touch me so gently? Do you want others to think I’m… gay or what?”

Amazed, Hyun Shik often blinked his eyelashes. Then, smiling, he said, „And? What’s wrong with this?”

His words confused Joon Won a lot, who squinted eventually at his younger colleague. Then, he muffled, „What’s wrong with this? Maybe for you it’s not important because you are used… to such… „jokes.” For me, my manhood means a lot. That’s why, don’t turn me into your „doll,” Hyun Shik!”

What Joon Won said hurt Hyun Shik a lot. That’s why, forgetting about the madness seen around them and stopping hearing the murmurs of their colleagues that were gathered in front of the colonel’s office, in a moment of rage, he grabbed Joon Won by the collar of his vestment and hissed through his teeth, „If you don’t know anything, keep your mouth shut!”

Joon Won did not delay grabbing Hyun Shik by the wrists too. And, squeezing them, he tried to push his colleague away from him. Something that appeared to be not as easy as it seemed to be because Hyun Shik looked as though he lost his mind. Even his eyes were rolling in small circles in his orbits while small red veins were seen all over his eyeballs. However, this didn’t intimidate Joon Won, who eventually managed to push Hyun Shik away from him. Yet, seconds later, he grabbed him again by the wrists when Hyun Shik wanted to attack him, and told him in a severe tone, „I’ll keep my mouth shut when you keep your hands away from me, you…”

„I told you to keep your mouth shut!” Hyun Shik shouted, outraged. Then, in a moment of uncontrolled anger, he punched Joon Won, forcing him to take a few steps back while trying to keep his balance. Then, staring at him like a mad pitbull, Joon Won prepared for another attack, being aware of what Hyun Shik hated the most, and this was to hear that someone doubted that he was a real man. Nevertheless, to Joon Won’s great surprise, Hyun Shik didn’t pounce on him again. He only kept staring at him, even though he gave the impression that he was looking past Joon Won. That’s why Joon Won turned and looked in the same direction. Seconds later, seeing Captain Lee behind them, Joon Won stretched his back, freezing in a command position, and waited for what Lee would tell the two „fighters.”

Lee, finally managing to control himself, reproachfully shook his head while saying, „Are you cooled right now?” Yet, even though Lee tried to seem calm, Joon Won still saw his sparkling eyes because of anger, something that happened each time someone from his team was fighting.

Unlike Joon Won, who seemed amazed seeing the Captain’s reaction, Hyun Shik kept staring at Lee. Joon Won also noticed this insistent glance, something that amazed him a lot. Then, seeing that that one wasn’t reacting, he slapped his hand, trying to make his colleague pay attention to him. Something that didn’t work in fact.

Nevertheless, it worked for Joon Won, who finally saw what Hyun Shik was staring at: Lee’s hands that were stained with blood, a stain seen only on his right wrist, even though his hands were stuck into his pockets. At the same time, Joon Won seemed amazed by Lee’s reaction: he seemed calm, too calm in the young man’s opinion because he knew that Lee and his boss were close friends. And, hearing about Colonel’s death, he should have at least shown that he felt sorrow. Something that didn’t happen eventually because Lee seemed at all impressed or grieving. More than that, what made Joon Won attentive was not specifically the stain of blood seen by Hyun Shik but the blood that was dripping off the Captain’s right arm.

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Eventually, Joon Won winced when he heard Hyun Shik’s mumbling, „Captain, did you… pull the trigger?”

Lee, at all bothered by that question, looked at his right hand. Then, he took it out of his pocket and, rolling the sleeve, he let a deep wound be seen on his arm: it was a wound made by a knife that was still bleeding. Yet, Lee seemed not impressed by that, just as he didn’t seem to be eager to bandage it either. He only covered it with the sleeve again and, poking his hands in his pockets, he passed by his agents, telling them, „Something unimportant! Don’t pay attention to this and do your job! I’ll take care of the rest!”

„But, Captain…,” tried Joon Won not to obey the order. Eventually, he kept silent, seeing that Lee kept advancing along that corridor.

Not the same happened to Hyun Shik, who couldn’t stay calm. He, seeing Lee moving away, quickened his pace till he got to him. Then, grabbing him by the arm, he forcibly took it out of the pocket. After that, he rolled the sleeve and looked at the wound: it was deep, perfect, as though a surgeon did it with a scalpel. Then, taking the handkerchief out of his pocket, he bandaged the Captain’s wound, telling him without looking at him, „Even if you did that, don’t let them know! Not that easy!”

Saying all this, Hyun Shik turned his back to Lee and Joon Won and headed toward his office, without looking back. The only thing he did was to clean the bloody hands of his vestment, hands he stained while bandaging Lee’s wound. Eventually, entering his office, he carefully closed the door behind him, taking care not to leave traces on the doorknob.

The only one whom Hyun Shik’s reaction amazed was Joon Won. Lee reacted as calmly as possible, something that made Joon Won attentive in the end. That’s why he looked at the Captain’s hand while he covered the bandage, unrolling the sleeve. After that, without looking at Joon Won, Lee kept advancing till he got to his office where he entered without looking back. He didn’t even go to see what happened to his mentor and his best friend… Colonel Kim Chang Hoon, something that seemed damn suspicious to Joon Won, who right away mumbled:

„All this smells like gasoline.” He said this while staring at the Captain Lee’s office door. Then he smiled. A large smile was sketched on his face while trying to hide the big blood stain seen on the collar of his shirt, a collar which Joon Won hid eventually by pulling the hood of his anorak just to make sure that nobody would realize that he got it while killing someone. Who exactly? It was a secret.

***

„I didn’t kill him,” Lee confidently replied to the prosecutors when he was summoned for investigations.

„Yet, he’s dead,” said Iun Min Hiok calmly, carefully looking at each of Captain’s movements.

„Mmm, he’s dead,” replied Lee drily. Then, he suddenly passed his fingers through his hair. Thus, he let the prosecutor see those stains of blood on his hands because the calmness seen by Joon Won when the Captain entered his office was just a mask. In fact, inside him, there was a big storm, a storm that made him feel so anxious, as he had never felt before. „I didn’t want this to end this way, just as I hoped he wouldn’t do that,” he said eventually.

Lee’s answer amazed and confused Min Hiok a lot. That’s why he supported his hands on the table eventually, holding his hands in a fist and carefully looking at Captain’s face, on which he saw two red lines, marks left by the blood seen on Lee’s hands. Then, when he finally managed to take his eyes off Lee’s face, he stared into the pale eyes of this one and confidently asked, „Why? No, I want to know more about what you two were hiding, not why.”

Lee winced and looked at the young prosecutor. In his mind, a single thought was spinning, „He knows! What Chang Hoon and I were hiding. But… what exactly does he know?”

He forced his mind to be silent eventually when Min Hiok added, „I was right, right? That you two were hiding something. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have been injured and you wouldn’t have had that deep wound on your arm either.” After that, the prosecutor looked at Lee’s bandaged arm.

Looking at the same thing, Lee smiled. „Aaa, you mean the wound. Nothing important. Yes, that’s nothing.”

„I wouldn’t be that sure if I was you,” said Min Hiok, cunningly smiling. After that, supporting his back on the back of the chair and crossing his arms over his chest, he said, „Honestly, I’m sure of what I’m saying, just as I’m sure that what you are hiding is something damn important. Something that can blow up the entire Department of Organized Crime. Correct me if I’m wrong.”

„Damn, jackal! He knows for sure. Yet… how much does he know?” Lee mumbled in his head. After that, also stretching his back, he deeply inhaled, trying to make his breathing easier because he suddenly felt a pressure on his throat. Later, crossing his arms over his chest, he looked at Min Hiok and said, „I don’t know what you are talking about, prosecutor Iun.”

„Ei, Captain, let’s not pretend to be angels when we are demons. We know each other so well that there is no need for pretending. That’s why, as we are among friends now, let’s say the truth, what do you say?” Min Hiok kindly smiled after that. Yet, his smile was cunning, a conspiratorial one, because, for an unknown reason, Lee’s behavior seemed suspicious to him.

„Among friends,” murmured Lee, widely smiling. „Honestly, I haven’t felt this since long ago, just as I don’t feel myself at home being here.”

„Don’t you think that’s because you deserved it?” Iun said, suddenly turning serious.

Lee stared at him. „What do you mean, prosecutor? Am I suspect of something?”

„A suspect? Of something? Ei, let’s not go that far. Yet… I’m sure you are hiding something. I feel it.”

„Really?” Asked Lee, still smiling. „Do you know, Prosecutor Iun, only feeling something doesn’t help you always. At the same time, it doesn’t help you solve your case. At all.”

„Maybe you are right. Yet, in my case, feeling and smelling have always helped me to solve my cases. I’m sure that neither this time I will fail if I lead my actions after my smell. At the same time, my nose, the one which always smells stinky things and which can be compared with the nose of a bulldog, is damn good at solving cases. Even so, I must accept that it’s only a vague copy of your nose, Captain, the one considered the Hunting Dog of the Organized Crime Department. Yet, I don’t understand one thing and I’ll be always grateful to you if you help me with this.”

Lee didn’t lose his temper, not even this time. He, after carefully looking into Iun Min Hiok’s eyes, a glance in which he saw so vividly blinking the curiosity, he smiled and said, „If I can help you, why not?!”

Min Hiok smiled inside. „I got you,” he thought. After that, supporting his arms on the table again, he deeply looked into Captain’s eyes and, in a severe but sure voice, he said, „I’m sure that you are more than capable of helping me to clear my mind. Especially, to make me stop doubting one thing. Thus, as I hate to go around the bush, I’ll ask you this openly: why the hell did you decide to get rid of Ian SolHi a year ago?”

The hatred felt in Min Hiok’s voice made Lee attentive. More than that, it confused him a lot. That’s why he stared at the prosecutor, trying to understand what was in that one’s mind. Yet, accustomed to tough interrogatories, Lee could control his emotions, and, clearing his voice while looking elsewhere, he said, „I don’t know what you are talking about. All I did was to close a criminal inside a cage. That’s all. One who the police and the Prosecution let go eight years ago.”

„Way too easy, in my opinion.”

„Easy? Do you think so, Prosecutor Iun Min Hiok? Way too difficult, in my opinion. Even for me, who was late to make justice for a good friend. It took me seven years to make justice for my good friend, who lost his child because of her, a criminal who killed that boy for nothing.”

„Bullshit!” Hissed Min Hiok through his teeth. Then, throwing fire through his eyes, he looked at the window that was behind Lee where he knew that San DuSik, Kan, Yu, and the other two prosecutors, who were working with him in that case, were. After that, so suddenly that everybody winced, Min Hiok turned the mic and the camera off and went to lock the door. This movement made Yu and Kan jump off their seats and run out of the room, heading toward the Interrogation Room. Yet, they couldn’t enter there because Min Hiok was too angry to listen to them and open the door. What he did was approach Lee, grab him by the collar, and lift him off the chair. After that, pushing him against the wall, he stared into the Captain’s eyes without saying a word.

Lee didn’t do anything to protect himself. He did nothing not because he was afraid, but because he understood that if he had done something, things between him and the prosecutor would have gotten worse. That’s why he preferred to look at the door only, behind which Kan and Yu’s voices were heard, „Prosecutor Iun, open the door! Prosecutor, open the door! Don’t make things worse!”

„You should listen to what they say and open that door,” Lee calmly said eventually, looking at Iun’s face, on which visible traces of anger were seen. „Honestly, I don’t understand why you act like that. As far as I remember, Ian SolHi is nobody for you. Or… am I wrong?”

„No, you aren’t,” mumbled Iun, squeezing the collar of Lee’s shirt around the Captain’s neck.

„Then? Why are you doing this show?” Lee looked eventually at the prosecutor’s hands that were squeezing his shirt.

„Show?” Hissed Min Hiok through his teeth. „If you had had a heart, you wouldn’t have named all this a show.”

„I don’t understand where my mistake is,” said Lee, confused.

His reaction enraged Min Hion more. Because of this, he pressed Lee against the wall, squeezing the collar around his neck more while hissing through his teeth, „Hypocrite.” After that, pushing Lee aside, he let him fall on the floor and poor Lee went head over heels eventually. He even overthrew a chair that was in his way. Seeing all this, Min Hiok did nothing to help Captain Lee. He only carefully fixed his shirt and went to open the door. He did that so suddenly that Kan and Yu had been about to tumble one above the other because they were trying to take off the door at that moment, pushing it with their shoulders.

At all surprised to see them there, Min Hiok carefully looked at the two, who were standing already on their feet, carefully looking around while trying to make themselves „invisible,” even though, before that, they screamed like desperate souls while asking Iun to open the door. After that, reproachfully shaking his head, Iun crossed through that door. In the doorway, he stopped and looked at Lee, who was already on his feet, picking up the chair to sit on it. Then, piercing the Captain with his glance, Min Hiok said, „If you had cared about your best friend’s son, you wouldn’t have done what you did.”

Lee looked at him, confused. „I don’t understand what…”

„I talk about DooSan. The son of your best friend. The only one who is still alive. That’s why I said that if you had cared about him, you wouldn’t have done what you did. At least you wouldn’t have left him alone after what you did. You, however, let him alone in Hell.”

„I did him a favor,” murmured Lee, looking elsewhere.

„Are you sure about this, Captain? That your choice was the best you could take?”

„Yes. I’m sure about this.”

„Allow me to think differently because… Ian SolHi isn’t DooSan’s death, but his life. By taking her away from him, the only thing you managed to do was to kill his soul too.”

„He’ll forget her,” Lee sighed. „He must do that! If not, we all die. All of us.” For the first time since he was in that room, Lee looked into Iun Min Hiok’s eyes, confidently. „So, if you are sure that I’ve been wrong doing what I’ve done, Prosecutor Iun, prove it! Only this way, you can turn the wheel of time back and… maybe she will also escape prison.”

„Idiot!” Hissed Min Hiok through his teeth and left the room.

Kan and Yu, thunderstruck, exchanged glances, asking each other this way, „What the hell are these two talking about?” Then, they looked at Lee. The Captain, however, looked elsewhere. He felt ashamed to look at them because… they had been part of someone’s life, of someone whom Lee destroyed for reaching personal aims, even though he knew that that person wasn’t guilty. He didn’t care about this. He didn’t ask her if she knew his reasons and agreed to do that to help him. Lee didn’t even explain to SolHi his reasons. He only forced her to do what he wanted. He forced her to accept a fate that was so cruel to her by throwing her into the tormented sea that was also known as life, with no life preserver in her possession.