A few days after the conversation he had with Min Hiok, DooSan decided that it was time to do something to help SolHi and find out the truth about his brother’s death. Yet, he didn’t know exactly what he should have done to discover the truth. He felt that he had to do something related to YuSan and the complicated case this one was investigating before his death. That’s why, one evening when he was alone with SuJin in the office, he told the young man, „I need your help!”
„What kind of help?” SuJin asked, confused.
DooSan didn’t answer right away, although he also didn’t know why he did that. Then, he took a photo of So Ari, which he kept in one of his desk drawers, and gave it to SuJin. „I need to find out things about her.”
„And she is?”
„Nobody. What’s important is to find out everything you can about her.”
„Obvious,” murmured SuJin, frowning. „Even so, I have to know at least something about her to know where to start from. Or… you don’t know anything about her?”
DooSan showed his fangs to the young man. „Who the hell do you think I am? Of course, I know who she is. Yet, I can’t tell you!”
„The reason?” SuJin innocently asked, outlining each word. Then, suddenly, that he managed to make even DooSan wince, he widely opened his eyes when he shouted, infuriated, „A new girlfriend?”
„Have you lost your mind?” DooSan growled. „Of course not! Or what, do you think I can do something like that?”
„Once Nuna isn’t around and you are a free man…” Yet, SuJin kept silent, seeing DooSan glaring at him. Poor guy even nervously moved in his place, cooking his nose because even though he knew that DooSan was a free man, he still disliked knowing that he could be with another woman and not with SolHi. SuJin also felt that the woman from the photo had something to do with SolHi, which could have also helped him find out what Han DooSan was planning. That’s why he told himself eventually, „Even if I’m right and this one cheats on Nuna, I’ll still find out things about this new girlfriend. I’ll also find out what kind of woman she is. And… when I find this out…” SuJin hissed all this through his teeth. Even his eyes sparkled when he said those words because „She has dirty laundry to wash in public for sure, laundry that might have something to do with you, Prosecutor Han. So, be careful because, once I find out your secrets, I swear I’ll tell everybody about them.”
„Your problem!” DooSan replied, smiling. The prosecutor’s calmness made SuJin attentive.
„Why exactly?” The young man asked. „Aaa, is she only a bird you have admired once and are trying to get rid of?”
„If I had had something to do with her, I would have asked you to get rid of her. Thus, you would have been behind bars now and not planning how to break my neck. Anyway, I see you are lucky in this life because, even if you had liked to get rid of her, others did that in your place already. So, Yu SuJin, find out all you can about her and about those who could have killed her too. Who knows?! You might be lucky to get rid of me too.”
„Nea, I’m not that lucky,” growled SuJin. Then he frowned, seeing DooSan intending to leave. „Which way?”
„To have dinner?!” DooSan answered, laughing. „You are the one who said that I’m a free man, right? Thus, having dinner alone, I might be lucky to hunt a young deer tonight and give you the chance to take revenge on me for your „beautiful Nuna” too.”
Feeling that DooSan was mocking him, SuJin squeezed his fists. He was damn eager to twist DooSan’s neck at that moment and get revenge for all those times he had felt jealous of him. Even so, understanding that he wasn’t that lucky to have this anyway, SuJin contented himself with only throwing the wooden cube he had on the desk toward the door, which the cube hit eventually, right after DooSan closed it behind him. SuJin didn’t go to pick up that cube after this, but put his headphones on and started working because what DooSan said about that beautiful young woman with dark hair intrigued him, whose photo he still had on his desk.
***
To find out what DooSan asked him, Yu SuJin needed only a few days. Then, one day when they were again alone in the office, he approached DooSan’s desk and put a USB in front of him. „What’s this?” DooSan asked him, amazed.
„The classified information you asked for… about your deer with black eyes, the color of the blackberry.”
DooSan squinted at him. „Don’t exaggerate, okay?! I didn’t have any deer.”
„Well, we think differently though,” Inspector Yu jokingly said, suddenly entering the office and making the two young men wince because none of them heard how the door opened. Yu wasn’t alone but with A Rim, who was squinting at SuJin and DooSan, folding her arms over her chest and insistently biting her lower lip.
„Hm, Prosecutor Han, I haven’t ever thought you could be like this: once you are a free man, you start hunting young deer again, huh?! Or should we think that you are just after them?”
DooSan glared at SuJin. „You could have kept your mouth shut.”
„I kept it shut!” The young man drily replied, shrugging. „It’s not my fault that this office has ears. Especially… the doors.”
„If that „even the doors have ears” was about us, then you might be right, son,” Yu cut his son off. „So, tell me: what are you planning this time, Yu SuJin?”
„I? Nothing. He… I don’t know. What I know is that the information I’ve got is pretty valuable. You should look at it, Prosecutor Han. Once you stop hunting young deer, I mean.” This joke made SuJin smile while DooSan growled:
„We’ll see how valuable that information is, once you have given me away so easily in front of your father just because you felt him breathing down your neck.” Then, grabbing the USB SuJin gave him, DooSan prepared to open the file and check what SuJin found so important that he felt so proud of himself. Yet, before plugging the USB into his computer, DooSan changed his mind and threw that USB to SuJin, forcing the young man to catch it on the fly. After that, DooSan said, „Why should I bother my eyes and feel tired when you have a tongue?! So, Yu SuJin, once you have found the information, I think you also deserve the title of the speaker and tell us about what you have found out. What do you think?”
„That’s a bad idea,” murmured SuJin, sighing. „After all the work I’ve done, I have to bother now giving you the report.” Then, grabbing So Ari’s photo, which he kept in one of the drawers of his desk, he put it on the big white blackboard for evidence and said, „So Ari! 25 years old, unemployed, and, recently, dead!”
DooSan slapped his forehead. „Is this all the classified information you could find out about her?”
„I’m more interested to find out from where he knows that much about the victim,” Yu hissed through his teeth. „Don’t tell me that…”
„I didn’t know her,” SuJin calmly replied. „I can’t say the same about Prosecutor Han, who seems to have known her very well. So, if you need details, ask him!”
„I also didn’t hold her hand to know more than you,” growled DooSan.
„Then, if you didn’t hold her hand, why did you ask me to find out things about her?”
„What do I know?! I was curious maybe?!”
„Or top secret,” said Kan, suddenly appearing behind Yu. „And, if you didn’t know her, I did. Not only I but also Yu, who talked to her when she wanted to talk to Prosecutor Iun and surrender.”
„I see now,” said SuJin, suspiciously smiling. „Who was after „young deer,” I mean.”
„You should better tell us what you find out and not talk nonsense,” his father cut him off.
SuJin shrugged. „There aren’t too many to say anyway. Why? Because she was really a shadow: she didn’t have social media, bank account, or membership in any of the sports clubs in our country or abroad, something that makes me think she had enough things to hide or enough enemies in her footsteps.”
„Logically, once we found her dead,” said DooSan, frowning. „Address?”
„I found none,” replied SuJin, taking everybody by surprise.
„What do you mean by… you haven’t found any address?” Kan asked, eyes widely opened. „It should have been something at the Cadastral Department or in the Police Archive.”
„Well, there’s nothing like that there because… I’ve poked my nose there too,” said SuJin, smiling. Seeing his father frowning, he did the same as though he would have read Yu’s mind. „And, before being lynched and accused of hacking someone’s account, I inform you that I haven’t done anything of this. If I entered, it happened with his help. Nothing illegal, right?! I also think so, once I have my back protected by Mr. Prosecutor here present. Anyway, not this is important now but the fact that it seems that someone has deleted all the information about her, and this has happened not long ago.”
„Do you have any idea about who might have done this?”
„Honestly, no! Yet, Detective Kan, we can find out.”
„How?” A Rim teased him, smiling. „Making the „deer” talk?”
To her great surprise, SuJin smiled again. „Why should I bother myself with making dead people talk when I can do that with alive people?” His colleagues stared at him, confused. „I mean… yeah, maybe she was a fugitive and everything you want, but she didn’t live in the jungle or on a desert island. This means at least someone has ever seen her or knows something about her.”
„It sounds logical,” murmured Yu, thoughtful. „Even so, I doubt someone will tell us something about her. At least none of those who have been involved in getting rid of her won’t say something.”
„I’ll need a little bit of help for this,” said SuJin, staring at A Rim this time.
„Not even think about this,” A Rim cut him off. „I have enough with my work to be your nanny. Yet, I’m sure that a lonely wolf won’t say no to something like this.” A Rim said that in a sweet voice, looking straight into Kan’s eyes and often blinking.
„Haven’t your back been scratched for long or what?” The detective growled. A Rim only shrugged instead, somehow bored. „Why are you getting others in trouble to save yourself?”
„Isn’t this what others generally do? I think yes.”
„Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you but not everybody gives others away to save his ass. Anyway, I have plans already and no free time to take more on my shoulders. Let Yoon Suk go with him, once he says the office suffocates him. A little bit of fresh air will help him for sure.”
„It’s decided then!” DooSan confidently said, making everybody insistently look at him. „Yoon Suk and SuJin will take care of this, under Yu’s supervision.”
„And where have I been wrong to be punished like that?”
„You brought him into this world. I think the punishment is well-deserved,” DooSan jokingly replied. „Anyway, it might be dangerous only for the two of them to investigate this track. They’ll need someone with experience to help them with this. And, who better than you, Inspector Yu, who knows what both of them can do?”
Yu nervously puffed through his nostrils. „Damn!” After that, he took his stuff, which he left on one chair, and made a sign to SuJin to follow him, leaving the office after that.
Kan didn’t follow them, although this had been his first thought. He looked at A Rim instead, who was triumphantly grinning while staring at him. And, doing the same, Kan growled through his teeth, „I told you that you were a cobra! One that always saves her tail but not for long!”
„Why? Would you like to get rid of me or what?”
„Absolutely! Actually, you don’t even know how bad I want this. Why? Just because this world will be a better place without you. Yet, once there is no point in wasting my energy and money with you, I say to let it go.” After that, happy that he had been able to piss her off, Kan left the office, slamming the door behind him.
A Rim looked at DooSan. „What? Am I the guilty one now?”
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„Sure,” she feistily replied. „You could have defended me at least verbally, once you don’t have power over others.”
„And hang myself or be the prey of the lonely wolf? No thanks, I’m not stupid!” DooSan joked. After that, smiling and reproachfully shaking his head, irrespective of A Rim’s mumbling, he returned to the file he was checking for the umpteenth time that day but with no result, and this was so because he couldn’t focus on his work. Instead of working, he was dreaming that he was somewhere on the beach, holding SolHi in his arms, and dreaming of freedom.
***
Two days later, DooSan went to see SolHi. Yet, he wasn’t that sure he’d be let to see her so easily or if the guardians would oppose his intention of seeing her, as it happened before. To his great surprise, he’d been left to enter right away and they even let him alone with SolHi, although this was against the rules of the prison.
All this amazed him a lot. Even so, he didn’t waste too much of his time thinking how weird the guardians were but focused on SolHi, who looked better already… both physically and mentally… and who had eaten almost everything he brought to her. A new feature of her that he liked, just as he liked the fact that SolHi grabbed her hair in a tail, at least as it had been possible, a habit she had had when she was still free. Even so, a few strands of hair, which were shorter than the others, were still acting up around her ears, stubborn to be left free and not stay hidden.
„Something that gives you a certain charm,” whispered DooSan, taking SolHi by surprise.
„Who exactly?” She asked, frowning.
„The ground squirrels!” DooSan jokingly said, looking at her with love. „Especially this one that sits in front of me.”
„If you say so! Anyway, they can’t be different, once you stuff them each time you appear here.”
„As far as I remember, it was about the turkeys, right? Or what, have you forgotten already with whom you compared yourself last time I threatened you with stuffing you?”
„Probably,” replied SolHi, after a few moments of thinking. „Anyway, it doesn’t matter! Once you stuff me for free, I can be whoever you want me to be.” DooSan smiled. „What? Another comparison crossed your mind?”
„It’s not that. I was just wondering who changed you so much.” SolHi suddenly turned serious. „Don’t take it personally! I was just trying to flatter myself.”
„Still, you are right in saying that I’ve changed. It’s the truth, right?! I have nothing to hide. And… tell me you found out where So Ari hides. We need her testimony to get out of here.” DooSan didn’t answer. „Don’t tell me she ran away!”
„No. Just…”
„They got rid of her, right?” DooSan winced, staring at SolHi. She just kept eating. „What?” She asked him when she saw him staring at her. „Amazed that I’m not panicking or acting like it’s the end of the world?”
„Honestly, yes! As I know you… or I knew you… I expected another reaction. Instead of that…”
„…I’m acting as though I’ve just found out that the apples are too expensive at the market. A reaction that seems strange even to me, honestly because… I’ve never thought that someone’s death won’t impress me that much. Still, the question is: how? I mean… how did she die?”
„Like people generally die: hanging!” DooSan tried to turn serious things into a joke. Seeing SolHi’s bitter face, he sighed and said, „I just explained facts. Who got rid of her… I don’t know! Yet, we intend to find out and we’ll find out no matter what!”
„That goes without saying,” said SolHi, frowning and folding her arms over her chest. „If they don’t get rid of us first, as they have done with the other witness. The first on the list: Captain Lee, whom they blew up. The next - Buffalo, and now… So Ari. Interesting: who’s next on the list - me?”
„Come on, SolHi! Things like that happen, especially in such investigations. Anyway, what I am more interested in finding out right now is who tells you everything up to the last detail: Yu? Kan? Oh Yoon Suk?”
„Lee SoRan! She passed by here yesterday. And, don’t even think about reproaching her that she told me or I swear your head will fall off your shoulders.”
„Something new,” said DooSan, smiling, covering her fists with his palms. „Something sweet and new for me, but dangerous in other cases. You are in prison, remember?”
„As though something like this can be forgotten!” SolHi hissed through her teeth. „Thus, if you don’t want to take my place in jail, I suggest you take me out of here as quickly as possible, or… I’ll rip your skin off. Related to Ari: I remember that she loved to hide things, especially when she considered them very important.”
„Things? Do you think she has evidence hidden somewhere?”
„Most likely yes. Otherwise, I can’t explain that her address was deleted from the Police Database.”
„I see that SoRan is keeping you very informed about everything.”
„This time it was SuJin.” DooSan showed her his fangs. „Yes, I know that you love the boy, but he’s right this time. So: focus on this, for the moment! I’m sure that if we find out what exactly Ari knew and hid from us all this time, we’ll be able to find a track and the real name of Scar.”
„I doubt this, SolHi. That the two of them knew each other.”
„Yet, I’m sure of this, DooSan. After everything through what I’ve been through in jail and outside of it, I’m pretty sure they have known each other. So, listen to my advice and check if Ari hid something. Especially, look for an online account. She knew very well how to hide something online. I know this.”
„SuJin checked already but found nothing, SolHi. And you know very well what kind of devil he is in such things.”
„This doesn’t mean that that account doesn’t exist,” whispered SolHi, looking on the sly at the half-open door and at the guardian that was waiting for her in the doorway, a hint that the visit was over. Then, not to let others suspect what they were talking about, SolHi stood up and left the room without looking back. DooSan instead looked behind her even after the door closed with a bang when she was already out of the room.
***
Receiving a text message from DooSan, SuJin frowned. „Hidden things? Online? What the hell is he talking about this time?”
„He? Who is he?” Yoon Suk inquired, peeping over SuJin’s shoulder to be able to read the message.
Yoon Suk didn’t manage to read a word eventually because SuJin, feeling the young detective close, hid the phone in his pocket. Then, somehow feistily, he hissed through his teeth, „None of your business! Just… something I’ll figure out later. And, before poking your nose in my business, you’d better tell me what you have found out from those with whom you talked to.”
„Nothing. None of them knows who So Ari is.”
„Most probably they know nothing because it’s not her real name.”
„No, So Ari is her real name, I’m sure of this because SolHi has known her since she was little. And… I found this out from a sure source.”
„Did Prosecutor Iun Min Hiok tell you that?” SuJin asked, grinning.
Yoon Suk frowned. „What are you planning this time?”
„I? Nothing out of the ordinary. Just… I mention things I’ve found out. I also speak about what I think because… everything related to Nuna is very interesting to me. Just as I know how many things Prosecutor Iun did to bury Nuna in that prison.” In the last part of the sentence, SuJin growled the words through his teeth already.
„He didn’t do anything out of the ordinary or bury her,” Yoon Suk told the young man, smiling, proud that he knew more than SuJin knew. Thus, he managed to make the young man curious. „I mean… forget it! It’s none of your business, anyway!”
„Of course, it’s my business. Why? Because, as far as I know, So Ari is dead because of Prosecutor Iun.”
„And, what else did you find out?” Yoon Suk asked his companion with a certain irony in his voice. Seeing the young man about to answer something sweet and that if he had allowed SuJin this, their talk would have lasted forever, Yoon Suk raised his hand, stopping SuJin’s barnstormers before it started by telling him, „It’s not that important what you think about Prosecutor Iun but what you found out. Or… better tell me what crosses your mind right now.”
„What do I know?!” SuJin growled, feistily because he disliked the fact that Yoon Suk kept cutting him off. Then, seeing that one squinting at him and understanding that maybe it was time to talk, he said, „Nothing out of the ordinary. I was just saying not to stay here and do nothing.”
„What do you suggest then?”
„To find out the truth!” The young man replied, grinning. Then, sweetening his voice, he told Yoon Suk, „Hion, can you finish the job here alone? I have… something else important to do.” Then, without waiting for Yoon Suk’s answer, he quickened his pace toward the car that was parked not that far from them. Thus, until Yoon Suk realized what he was doing, SuJin entered the car, stepped the gas pedal to the brim, and simply went away.
„To be damn!” Yoon Suk hissed through his teeth when he finally realized he’d been left alone. „Such a great partner I have! And… what? Hion? When he needs me, I’m his Hion. Yet, when he does not need me, I’m simply Oh Yoon Suk here, Oh Yoon Suk there. Ah, Yu SuJin, ah: I’ll put my paw on you one day and you’ll sing differently for sure.”
Hearing the question, „Are you talking to the ghosts?” Yoon Suk winced and, scared, he looked behind him. There, he saw a woman about fifty, staring at him. She even seemed irritated to see him there. And, thinking about this, Yoon Sulk wasn’t at all wrong because, soon after this, he heard the woman telling him, „I haven’t seen you here before. Are you a loan shark?” This new question made Yoon Suk stare at her, eyes wide open. The woman though, not paying attention to his sour face, continued her thought by saying, „Yes, you are a loan shark for sure. Something that doesn’t surprise me, you know?! I’ve seen a lot like you around here lately. What’s different about you is that you are alone and not with a group. You also don’t wear a black suit and a white shirt. Yet, this doesn’t deceive me because I know what those like you can do.”
The woman’s nonsense speech and her accusations drove Yoon Suk crazy at first. Then, realizing that she knew more than she allowed others to think about her, he smiled. After that, showing her his ID, he made her shut her mouth right away. She even took a step behind her at one point, mumbling a barely heard „I make a pardon. I thought you were one of them.” After that, she turned serious and carefully looked at the detective for a while, especially when Yoon Suk said, „You said something about loan sharks before.”
„Yes, I said that,” the woman rushed to confirm.
„For a long time? I mean, have you seen them rounding this place often?”
„Honestly, no,” the woman murmured, after a few moments of thinking about this. „Only for a few times. For 3 or maybe 4 times I’ve seen them here. A few days ago. They were looking for someone.”
„Do you remember whom they’ve been looking for?”
„No. Well, I don’t remember the name of the young woman they’ve looked for. Yes, they looked for a woman, I’m sure of this. Someone whose name is Ai or A Lee or something like that.”
„So Ari maybe?”
„It might be. Yes, I think this was her name. A very beautiful young woman, by the way. I saw her in the photo they showed me. One of those who looked for her showed me the picture. A shame, you know?! That she messed up with the loan sharks, I mean.”
„This woman?” Yoon Suk asked, showing Ari’s photo to the woman.
„Yes, they look for her. I remember her face from the photo.”
„From the photo? Haven’t you ever seen her face? I mean… in some place or walking on the street.”
„No, never. Actually, I’m sure she isn’t even from here.”
„How sure are you?”
„Pretty sure. Oh, no, wait: I saw her once. Two or three weeks ago?! Yes, something like that. I saw her passing by in front of my restaurant. And I remember her because she caught my eye. I haven’t seen her before because a beautiful woman like her cannot be forgotten so easily.”
„What about those who looked for her? Do you think you can recognize them if you ever see them again?”
„Yes,” the woman confidently replied. „Honestly, detective: I can forget names but never faces. Anyway, their faces aren’t something easy to forget, especially the tattoo.”
„The tattoo? What kind of tattoo?”
The woman thought for a few moments. Then, she said, „Was it a worm? Or maybe a snake? Yes, it was a snake. A very small one. I’ve seen it on one’s left temple. Yes, the bald one had this tattoo more evident. I remember this because… he looked different from the rest of his group because he was the only one who wore a colorful shirt. Something like those shirts that people wore in tropical areas. You know which ones… those we always see in the movies about Hawaii. Well, that one wore such a shirt while the rest of his friends wore black suits and white shirts.”
Her answer made Yoon Suk attentive. Then, looking around, he thought, „Mercenaries. Someone hired some mercenaries to look for Ari. Yet, why? Why did they need such fierce people to find someone who was suspected of killing a simple high school teacher? There is something weird here because it can’t be because of revenge. At the same time, I don’t think that’s only to avoid letting SolHi free. Then, what were they looking for?”
Yoon Suk winced again when he heard the woman calling him, „Detective?”
„Yes?” He answered with another question, staring at her.
Still staring at him and extremely calm, she asked him, „Can I go? Or maybe you have more questions?”
„No, not for the moment. Yet, in case I might have some other questions, I’d like to have your contact data. Please write it here.”
„Will I have problems after this?” The woman asked with a certain worry in her voice. „With the loan sharks, I mean.”
Yoon Suk sketched a smile. „Of course, not. Nothing will happen to you because all these are simple formalities.” Then, giving his notebook to the woman, he insistently looked at her while she wrote down her data. After that, finishing writing the little information about her, the woman said goodbye to the detective and quickened her pace back to her restaurant because it was already late and she still had a lot to do until opening it.
Looking behind her while she was moving away from him, Yoon Suk frowned. He did that not because of the woman but because he finally spotted all those crack houses around him, most of them abandoned. „A perfect place to kill someone and then hide his body,” the young detective murmured. „Even so, I don’t understand why So Ari was hiding here. She could have asked for Prosecutor Iun’s help if she felt in danger. Yet, she didn’t do that but hid here. Why? What motivated her to come here in the first place? Especially… what did she have to hide if she kept silent about this place, once Prosecutor Iun clearly asked her to leave the country?”
Eventually, Yoon Suk had to leave such thoughts for later when he heard his phone ringing. „Tell me, Inspector! To return to the office? The reason? Okay, I got it! I’ll be there right away.” Then, hanging up the phone, Yoon Suk put it into his pocket, intending to enter his car and rush back to the office. Yet, looking around and not seeing his car, Yoon Suk frowned. „To be damn! Yu SuJin did this to me again, right when I needed that car the most. Ah, Oh Yoon Suk, ah: solve this how you can! You can even fly if you feel better about this.”
Mumbling such things, Yoon Suk kicked a stone he met in his way. He was really pissed off because, besides the fact he didn’t find out too much about So Ari’s case or why she hid in that poor neighborhood, he’d been forced to return to the office. „Urgently!” by the way, and „At his boss’s order,” as Inspector Yu told him when he gave him that phone call. A „boss” that he considered a fishbone stuck into his throat eventually. Yet, once he didn’t want problems with him, not after he decided to retire from the police once that case would have been solved, Yoon Suk contented himself with only swearing through his teeth something sweet about his damn fate. Then, pissed off, with his hands stuck into his pockets, and with his head bowed, he headed down that narrow and dirty street to get as quickly as possible toward the main road.
Yet, turning his back to the place he’d stood by then and without watching back even for a second, Yoon Suk didn’t see the man with a Hawaiian-style shirt appearing behind one of those abandoned houses. The man hadn’t been there by pure chance but seemed to have followed Yoon Suk for a while because he watched behind the young detective until this one turned right at the first crossroads. Only then did he give a phone call, talking to someone in Thai, „It’s me! Still, it seems to me we have problems and that someone important pokes his nose into this job. Yeah! I think that’s the perfect time to get rid of him until he ruins our plans. And… I think I already have the perfect plan to get rid of that rat. Just do what I say and no… No, see you in the usual place, in about an hour! I’ll be there!” After that, hanging up the phone, he disappeared behind the same abandoned house from where he appeared in the first place.