One week after SolHi told DooSan about what So Ari could have hidden online, SuJin finally found something that could have helped them solve the case or at least have a starting point. Yet, it was a damn difficult week and full of adventures. Even so, he unblocked Ari’s Cloud account one evening at about 10 p.m. He found there many documents, a big part of them handwritten statements, where So Ari accepted her guilt of having killed Do Ian Jun and a video. Yet, even if he found all this, SinJu didn’t have anyone to show them because nobody was in the office at that late hour.
Although nobody was in the office, SuJin decided to watch that video and carefully listen to it to find out details about that case. Then, when the video was over, SuJin thought for a long time, wondering, „Is it true what she said? I don’t think so. It seems too simple and… way too suspicious. And… okay, I understand that Captain Lee Do Hun planned everything. Even so, all this seems damn suspicious because… it’s too simple when I expected it to be hell complicated.”
Suddenly, he winced when he heard that the door opened. This made SuJin suddenly block his computer. After that, raising his gaze and looking at the door, he saw Yoon Suk staring at him. What made Yoon Suk act like that? SuJin’s reaction, which seemed way too suspect to him. What Yoon Suk didn’t know was that SuJin was right in reacting like that once he was doing something he shouldn’t have done without the supervision of one of the detectives. Plus, Yoon Suk entered the office so suddenly that forced him to hide the evidence from the young detective instead of showing it to him. That’s why, squinting at him, Yoon Suk asked SuJin, „What the hell are you hiding at this time?”
„I? Nothing!” SuJin rushed to say.
„And I was born yesterday,” Yoon Suk hissed through his teeth. Then, he supported his hands on the table and stared at SuJin, who looked everywhere but not at him. Because of this, Yoon Suk finally shouted, enraged, „Yu SuJin, stop going around the bush and tell me what you found!”
„I told you already: nothing!”
„Just as I told you that I’m not a child for you to deceive me with a lollipop. So, sing!”
SuJin showed him his fangs, whispering, „And I’m not a soprano to start singing when you ask me to do that!” Then, the young man winced and swallowed hard when Yoon Suk punched the desk. This made SuJin feel surrounded because it was clear that Yoon Suk knew that he was hiding something. That’s why he told himself eventually that it would be better for everyone if he had said what he knew. Anyway, he had no chance to hide it. The reason? Oh Yoon Suk was that type of hunting dog who, if he smelled something, didn’t give up until finding out the truth. „One of Kan’s best pupils,” as DooSan used to joke when SolHi acted the same. He also knew that Yoon Suk was a good detective and that he had also been trained in Kan’s school of investigating cases. That’s why he didn’t move away from SuJin or let this one breathe until this one didn’t show him the video. After watching the video, Yoon Suk seemed like a stone statue while staying behind SuJin for a very long time.
Eventually, tired of waiting for that one to react, SuJin asked, „What do you think, Hion? Is it true what So Ari said in the record?”
Yoon Suk didn’t answer for a long time. Only eventually, still staring at the computer’s screen where So Ari was seen, he said, „Do you have a shovel in your car?” A question that made SuJin jump off his seat and stare at him as though he’d seen the devil.
„A shovel?” SuJin asked after that in a shaking voice. „Why do you need a shovel, Hion? Do you intend to bury me because I found out the truth?”
Detective Oh squinted at him. „Have you lost your mind?” Yoon Suk suddenly hissed through his teeth. „What should I bury you for? Am I a hit man or what? I just… need it. And… you’ll see what for if you follow me!” Then, not waiting for SuJin’s answer, Yoon Suk headed toward the door.
Not at all convinced if Yoon Suk said the truth or not or what that one wanted to do, SuJin followed him. He followed his hion, but he still felt cold drops of sweat running down his back because even though he joked when he said, „Do you intend to bury me?” he still started fearing for his life.
Once next to the door, SuJin stopped and looked at DooSan’s desk. „Nea,” he murmured eventually. „If he catches me, I’m a dead man.” Even so, he still approached the desk and took a 9 mm gun from one of the drawers, which was open at that moment although it shouldn’t have been. After that, hiding the gun behind his back, the young man ran out of the office, following Yoon Suk, whom he caught up with, in the parking lot, already in his car, adjusting the safety belt. Then, when SuJin was already in the car, Detective Oh pressed the gas pedal to the brim, leaving the Prosecution parking lot at full speed.
***
An hour and a half after leaving the office, Yoon Suk and SuJin got to a field, not that far from that poor neighborhood where So Ari was seen before death. Yet, even if they got there, none of them knew where to start searching or what they should have looked for. That’s why SuJin scratched the back of his head eventually, asking Yoon Suk, „Now what? Are we looking for a snipe hunt or the day of yesterday?”
Yoon Suk didn’t answer. He only took the metal detector out of the trunk, which he took from the Office of Arms and Ammunition, and, approaching SuJin, he stopped to his right. After that, he looked at the field that was barely illuminated by the weak light of the headlights of his car, saying, „Look for everything that cuts and shines.”
SuJin squinted at him. „And… if talking the language of simple people and not aliens like you, what should I look for?”
„Lethal weapons,” said Yoon Suk, grinning. „Something you also heard about in So Ari’s video.”
„Of course, I heard that. Yet, I didn’t hear where she hid it. She only said, „Somewhere on the field.” It might be everywhere. This place is huge. And, I have the feeling that even if we look for an entire life for it, we won’t find anything concrete.”
„Are you in a hurry or what?” Yoon Suk teased him.
„No. I just…”
„…you just are in the mood for calling someone to help us, right?”
„Something like that. Not the other, but I really don’t want to reach my old age while digging this field.”
Yoon Suk burst into laughter. „Not that much,” he said eventually. „We don’t have to dig the Lands of Hell. Just a field of a few acres. So, I think that before the one with the scythe looks for us, we are done here.”
SuJin cooked his nose. „I say no to such a brilliant idea. Why? I intend to live this life and not dig while seeking „worms.” Evidence, I mean. Anyway, I don’t think that we’ll help Nuna too much if we look for the evidence forever. I would rather „plant” something on this field than die looking for it.”
„If you do that, you’ll keep company with your Nuna for sure,” Yoon Suk told the young man in a stern voice this time. „The reason? You have just accepted in front of a man of law that you intend to manipulate evidence.”
„I said that it might be a good idea, and not that I’d do that. So, don’t put more wood on the fire and ask for someone to help us here.”
„Do you say so?! I say that we are grown enough and can handle this alone.”
„Do that alone then. Meanwhile, I’ll live my life,” SuJin hissed through his teeth, turning his back to Yoon Suk and intending to leave.
SuJin didn’t go too far because of Yoon Suk, who suddenly grabbed him by the arm. Then, reproachfully shaking his head and forming an emergency call, Yoon Suk said, „Doubting Thomas! Seriously: worse than a girl!”
„Well, it’s good that at least you are a real „male!” SuJin furiously growled. Then, understanding that he wouldn’t leave that field that night, at least he wouldn’t be able to do that until they found the evidence, SuJin leaned against the car, and, folding his arms over his chest, he stared at that huge field that seemed as big as the world. „The field of temptation and punishment,” as SuJin called that field in his head because he really thought that he’d pay there for each „bad” thing he had done in his life and for his father’s gray hair because of so many „good deeds” he did in his life.
Well, Yu hadn’t also been a good boy in his life, but nobody knew that because the Inspector wasn’t the type to accept that in front of others. He was the kind of man who preferred to keep secrets only for himself, and he did that because he also thought that it was the only way he could teach his son good manners. At the same time, Yu had a lot of things he hated, things related to his youth. One of these things was that he didn’t have enough time to spend with SuJin, who practically grew up without him, even if he had a father. Not the same happened to Yu, who grew up without his pap, something he tried to avoid - that SuJin felt the same on his skin. Yet, he also failed in doing this because of his job.
***
The emergency call Yoon Suk made was to their team. Thus, two hours after that call, the field where he and SuJin got had been surrounded by police officers and detectives, who were looking everywhere for the crime weapon Ari mentioned in the video. They looked with metal detectors, but it didn’t help them too much. It even seemed that they looked for the needle in a haystack because, no matter how they didn’t try to find that weapon, they didn’t find it anywhere.
„As though the earth swallowed that evidence,” DooSan hissed through his teeth when Kan told him that they looked everywhere, but found nothing.
„You are actually right this time,” Min Hiok, who was to his right, teased him, making DooSan squint at him. „Earth definitely swallowed that evidence. It’s what the boys said that they heard the victim saying in the video.”
„What about not putting wood on the fire, huh? I’m really furious.”
„Maybe it’s what I’m looking for, don’t you think so? To see you boiling on low heat. It’s the only way all of us will feel better because… brr, it’s so cold around here.”
„Then… go and look for a warm place and stop pissing me off,” DooSan growled, turning his back to his friend. „Your car is right over there.” After that, outraged, he moved away, spitting fire through his nostrils.
Min Hiok slapped his forehead, seeing the man about 34 acting like a child. Then, understanding that it was better for him to piss DooSan off than shudder because of the cold, he followed him right away. Not silent, but cheerfully saying to his friend, „Listen, DooSan, what do you think: will we find the evidence today and here or we are just chasing ghosts? You know: this field is definitely the place where the ghosts live. So, we can kiss one eventually.”
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„I think I’ve already done that.”
„Really? With whom?”
„You. Or what: do you think you are different? No, you are the same ghost that follows me for minutes as though you are a soul in pain that looks for light.”
Min Hiok smiled. „Well, you might be right because… it’s so warm next to you. And, baby, I’ll follow you for my entire life because… I can’t live without you!”
The teasing reached the target because DooSan suddenly stopped. And, staring at Min Hiok, he showed him his fangs. „I’ll live without this,” DooSan hissed through his teeth. „Do you know why?”
„Surprise me!” Min Hiok said in a sweet voice.
„Because… I would rather remain unmarried than have a „baby” like you.”
„You hurt my ego now, Han DooSan. Why? I’m a better man than you. I’m a young man whom many girls would have liked with them while you…”
„…I will save you for them though. The reason? I can’t swallow you for sure. And… if so many souls cry because of you, what about accepting their love, huh?”
„Won’t you be jealous after this?”
„Jealous? I? On you? Why exactly?”
„Because… baby, I’m the only one next to whom you can feel like a real man!”
DooSan burst into laughter. „Yeah, right! I won’t ever regret this decision. I rather change the girls like the gloves than accept you in my arms. I’m not stupid to accept death next to me willingly!”
„Hei, not that much,” growled Min Hiok this time, acting innocently. „I’m not that evil. Something I can’t say about the Beauty Beast.”
DooSan squinted at him. „The Beauty Beast? Was it about me?”
„No. About the one you go to see almost daily.”
„Ia!” DooSan shouted, outraged this time. „The jokes are good, but not this one, okay?! Don’t involve SolHi in this.”
„Why not? I only told the truth. Or what, will you deny that if SolHi finds out about what you have just said, she won’t leave you headless? Well, I think differently. I’m even sure that she buries you next to the evidence rather than allowing you to see another girl.”
„Of course not!”
„Of course yes! Why? Because, unlike you, who sees the world through pink horse glasses, which you wear all the time on your nose, I see the world through the eyes of the intelligent guy that lives inside me. That’s why I say to you that you’ll be safer in my arms than in the arms of another girl.” To Min Hiok’s surprise, DooSan burst into laughter. „Did I say something funny?”
„Absolutely! Why? Because, even if SolHi buries me one day, it’ll be because of one reason: for messing with you!”
„And this miracle?”
„She loves you? Yes! Even if I don’t want to accept that, SolHi loves you: like the cat loves the water!”
„Ia!”
„What?”
„Do I look like Tomcat or what?”
„You are who said that, right? As my „baby,” you’ll be a pretty one. So: accept the consequences of your own madness, Iun Min Hiok. And, if you care about your life, stay away from what belongs to Ian SolHi!”
„It’s good you know everything!”
„And he really knows!” They heard Kan’s voice behind them, something that made both of them wince. Seeing them acting like that, Kan grinned. Moreover, he did that because of the teasing he had heard before that, telling them eventually, „Prosecutor Iun, should I tell you how I got to learn this?”
„Surprise me!”
„On my own skin because the „cat” Ian SolHi didn’t sharpen her nails only once on my back.”
DooSan showed his fangs to the detective. „Are you looking for your death, old lonely wolf?”
„I? Why should I look for my death when I love life so much? Yet, I can’t say the same thing about you two because… one is ready to spend „every week in the arms of a new girl” while the other one „looks for his death on someone else’s territory.” Me instead… I live my beautiful life calmly and quietly.”
„You heard, it seems to me,” DooSan furiously growled.
„What exactly?” Kan pretended not to have understood the question.
„What Min Hiok and I have talked about.”
„Yeah,” the detective replied right away. „Like everybody here, by the way.” Min Hiok and DooSan stared at him with wide-open eyes. When Kan pointed with his head behind him, spurring them to look around, they saw part of the detectives staring at them with wide-open eyes while the other part was discreetly smiling. „And, if you had liked to keep your „love” secret, you should have at least turned the radio off, Prosecutors. By not doing this, you gave all of us a moment of „professional show.” Something I would have preferred not to hear ever because… you just made my old age bitter with such „foamy words.” Well, not only my old age is ruined but the young life of that child too,” said Kan jokingly, pointing with his head toward SuJin this time, who was staring at the two prosecutors and seemed disgusted by what he had just heard. Yes, it was something sure already that he hadn’t ever expected to hear such an intense conversation between Min Hiok and DooSan.
„To be damn!” DooSan hissed through his teeth when he saw Yu looking at them as though he was a wild furious animal, which had just escaped the cage. Why exactly? It was a clear sign that he had disliked the show of the two Prosecutors in front of his son. „I think we’ll meet the devil tonight.”
„Actually, I have the same feeling,” said Kan, smiling. „Now that we made things clear, what about working a little, huh?!”
„If you say so!” Min Hiok replied, straightening his back and proudly looking at the others. „Something we’ve done all this time: worked!”
„Well, yeah: all of us have heard you two talking about „work!” Yet, as I’m a person with an open mind, who understands when hormones act up in someone’s chest, I won’t judge you. At all, by the way. Like the rest of us.” The detective’s joke made the detectives burst into laughter. Not the same DooSan and Min Hiok did. They just cooked their noses. Then, staring at Kan, DooSan discreetly made the sign of a twisted head, letting that one know that Death was already lurking on him from the corner. Kan, at all bothered by DooSan’s reaction and seeming a little bored with that show, just shrugged and said, „If you say so! Yet, until this happens, I mean… until my head falls off the shoulders, I say to find evidence of your love. No, sorry, of So Ari’s crime!”
„I see you look for your death at any cost today,” Yu suddenly growled in Kan’s ear.
„Why exactly? I’m just expressing my opinion. No one was killed for this, right?”
„It’s what you think, sombe!” Yoon Suk said, smiling. „Or what… should I remind you about something you’ve said? It was exactly the same sentence, and you said that when we were investigating Lee Ha Ni’s death!”
„Not necessary!” The detective feistily replied. „I was just saying. No need for drastic commentaries. Yet, we need drastic measures because if we don’t do something concrete, we won’t ever find that evidence. Or what, did you bring us here to dig the ground so it would not be necessary to plow it in summer?”
Min Hiok burst into laughter. „Honestly, it’s exactly what we have in mind. We work for the economy, right?”
„Yeah, right!” Kan growled, hinting to Min Hiok that he pissed him off again. „Now, let’s talk about serious things like: don’t you think that the video was made to take us for a ride? A kind of bluff?”
„No, I don’t think so,” murmured DooSan. He was still pissed off after the talk he had with Min Hiok and that everybody heard that talk because of stupidity for not turning the radios off. Yet, once it was a done job already and couldn’t change anything, he had to accept the consequences of his own deeds. At the same time, he had to accept that something bothered him since they got there. Something like… „that not everything is clear here.”
„What exactly do you have in mind?” Min Hiok asked, suddenly turning serious.
„That everything is too easy and beautiful to be true? I mean now So Ari’s statement and the video.”
„It wasn’t that easy anyway,” SuJin growled through his teeth, pissed off to hear that his work was considered something insignificant. Yet, receiving an elbow from Yoon Suk, he kept his mouth shut eventually, carefully looking at DooSan when that one said:
„Honestly, as easy as we found the evidence, I consider that we can also be blind. Why? Because the evidence might be hidden right in front of our noses. Or… under the car?”
Kan and Min Hiok exchanged glances. „Under the car? What exactly do you mean?”
„The truth?” DooSan replied right away. Even so, he wasn’t at all convinced of what he said. That’s why he managed to confuse his colleagues more, who kept staring at him. He, however, pretty calm, said, „The only place we didn’t look for evidence is under the cars, right?”
„It sounds logical!” Yu murmured. „We didn’t look for evidence there because… on one hand - it’s impossible to find something under them, and… on the other hand - it wouldn’t have given us a clear result once they are made from iron and we look for evidence with metal detectors.”
„This doesn’t mean that the evidence cannot be hidden there,” DooSan stubbornly insisted on his theory.
„It might be weird though,” said Min Hiok. „Just as I don’t think that…”
„…it’s worth trying,” Yoon Suk’s voice was suddenly heard, making everybody wince. „SuJin, let’s move the cars!” He told his younger colleague. Then, entering one of the cars, he told himself, „Thus, if we don’t find the evidence under these cars, at least we can blame Prosecutor Han for that!”
Yoon Suk said such words, hoping to have a chance and take revenge on DooSan for all those times when he suffered because of him, just as he wanted a chance to take revenge on his rival because SolHi preferred DooSan and not him. Yet, he hadn’t been that lucky because after he, SuJin, and the other two detectives moved the cars, the rest of the detectives started to check that place with the metal detectors. It didn’t last long until a strange sound was heard right there where the car Yoon Suk drove to get there had been.
„To be damn!” The young detective hissed through his teeth. „Was it that easy?”
It seems so!” Replied SuJin, scratching the back of his head. „And I thought that we’ll look for the needle in a haystack.”
„Not that we haven’t done that for hours, but… at least it hasn’t been in vain.” Then, pointing with his head toward the place where the evidence was found, he and SuJin headed toward there. When they got there, the other detectives had already started to dig a hole where the metal detectors showed them that the evidence might be.
The digging resulted in being damn difficult because of the stony hard soil. Because of this, the detectives changed between them for many rounds while digging. Even so, none of them gave up on their work until they heard that Kan’s shovel touched something hard. It’s when the detective asked for more light. Yet, it was only a stone, something that made Kan swear to the four winds, starting to dig with much ambition after this.
Many minutes after that, they finally found what they were looking for - a big metal box of about 20 x 30 cm. Taking it out of the hole, Kan found it really easy, something that made him think because everything was hinting to him that all that was just a prank. Even so, he kept his suspicions to himself only, thinking that maybe he was paranoid and didn’t have a reason to stress others too.
Leaving the box on the freshly dug earth, Kan wanted to open it right away. He stopped when DooSan told him in a stern voice, „Wait! It might be a trap! So… let’s not rush!”
„It won’t be a bomb!” Kan feistily said. „It’s too easy to keep such… surprises inside!”
„Even so, I don’t think that it’s not worth it to be cautious, Kan!” Min Hiok said. „Let’s at least use latex gloves so as not to leave fingerprints on the content that might be inside.” Then, putting the gloves on, he tried to open it.
All of them winced the moment DooSan’s phone rang. This even made them stare at him, nervously waiting to see what would happen after that. DooSan instead, at all bothered because of all those glances focused on him, calmly said, „This might be important! So, the box waits!” After that, taking a few steps away from the others, he answered the phone call.
That phone call had been really important. It even made DooSan freeze for a few moments. Then, hearing a squeak behind him, DooSan turned his head and saw Min Hiok opening that metal box, although he told them not to open it yet. Even so, DooSan said nothing. He, still holding the phone to his ear, saw Min Hiok unfolding an A4 sheet of paper, which he read with a shaking voice, „I, So Ari, am the one who killed Do Ian Jun the night of…”
The rest had been just useless words for DooSan. Nothing mattered to him anymore, especially what was written on that sheet of paper. Why exactly? Because of what he heard a few moments ago told by the one who made that phone call: Ian SolHi broke out of prison that night! Why? It wasn’t clear. All he knew was that she ran and this ruined his plans. Yes, DooSan knew that everything was lost already, even if they found out the truth that might have taken her out of jail. What SolHi did instead was to sentence herself to death and maybe to the life of a fugitive…