„Run! Now! Try not to stay behind!” Ha Rin kept yelling at SolHi, seeing that she didn’t keep up with her. The two of them were trying to climb a pretty steep slope at that moment, somewhere in the middle of the forest.
Although she clearly heard her cellmate’s urges, SolHi struggled to keep up with Ha Rin. She was barely breathing, feeling the harsh pain in the right side of her belly more intense than ever. Even so, she tried hard not to show that the pain was taking it out of her. Only her livid lips and her pale sunken eyes were the perfect proof that SolHi was at her wits’end. This wasn’t at all an exaggeration because, soon after this, the inevitable happened, and SolHi fell to her knees at first. Then, lying on the cold wet ground, she curled up and, touching her belly with both palms, she gnashed her teeth. She wanted to scream like a wolf at the moon at that moment, feeling the pain cutting her inside. However, SolHi didn’t do that because she understood very well that any noise, no matter how low it wouldn’t have been, would have betrayed the place where they were.
Not feeling SolHi behind her, Ha Rin looked behind. Seeing SolHi lying on the ground, she cursed and descended the slope as fast as she climbed it. Then, kneeling next to SolHi, she demanded, „Let me see!”
SolHi stood against Ha Rin’s idea of laying her on her back. „Not necessary,” she eventually said. „I’m fine. I just need a few moments to catch up with my breath. So, don’t worry and leave!”
„Have you lost your mind?” Ha Rin hissed through her teeth. „To leave you behind? Never, did you hear me?! Why? Because… you are my ticket to freedom! So, don’t ever think about dying! If this happens, I swear I’ll look for you in the underworld just to make you pay for this because… you can’t die, Ian SolHi! Not until I reach my goals!” Then, not paying attention to SolHi, who tried to stand against the idea of Ha Rin checking her wound, she laid her on her back and pushed her hands away.
Before lifting her shirt, Ha Rin sighed because she saw the cloth soaked in blood in the area of the belly. Thus, the blue shirt of the prisoner seemed so sloppy and dirty at that moment. Not this bothered Ha Rin but the fact that the wound opened again and bled worse than it should have been bleeding. Something that made Ha Rin curse through her teeth again, more when she saw the thick blood gushing out the wound and from under the thick bandage seen on SolHi’s belly. „Something that shouldn’t have happened,” Ha Rin growled after that. „The wound shouldn’t have been open now. At least not that fast.”
SolHi gasped when Ha Rin pressed over the wound. Then, she whispered, „Actually, it hasn’t ever been closed. Your friend didn’t do anything for this to happen. She just… put the bandage on.”
Ha Rin squinted at SolHi. She did that, not because she didn’t believe her but because she finally understood that Kuk Mi Hi betrayed her. This made her swear that the moment she’d see that bitch again, she’d crack her head. Yes, Ha Rin intended to make the doctor pay for her betrayal because she clearly told Mi Hi to sew that wound. Yet, Mi Hi did what she wanted. Thus, she let Ha Rin understand that she hadn’t ever been by her side, but she had only been afraid of the one that demanded both of them get rid of Ian SolHi as of the devil.
Even if she understood this, Ha Rin said nothing about this because she didn’t have time to bother with something like that. At the same time, she knew that it wasn’t time to tell SolHi about her plans. She only frowned and squinted at SolHi when she told her, „It’s time to leave, Ha Rin! We are free now. So, each of us is on our own. Leave as long as you still have time to do that. I’ll… stay here!”
„You definitely lost your mind,” Ha Rin growled. „To leave you here? Do you at least know where we are?”
„Mmm. In the middle of the forest. A damn dark one, cold and wet. The Heaven of Monsters, Ghosts, and Wild Animals.”
„Even so, you ask me to leave you here. Why?”
„Because… it’s fair for you to do that. It’s the law of nature, something that even animals do: leave those who are injured or weak behind them. Nobody will judge you if you do that, just as nothing will happen to me here. At least… it won’t be worse here than it’s been in prison.”
„Allow me to think differently,” Ha Rin confidently said, frowning. „Why? Because… Here is hell for sure, Ian SolHi. Yes, here is hell and not in the prison as you think. You… you don’t know what it really means to be devoured by wild animals. I do know that though. So, stop talking nonsense and help me leave this place until a wild animal hasn’t smelled the track of blood and come here.”
SolHi smiled. „If this happens, he’ll at least have a good meal,” SolHi had the brilliant idea of joking. Something that didn’t impress Ha Rin at all. She only squinted at SolHi for a while, seeming thoughtful. Yet, she didn’t think about what SolHi said but about something she saw at that moment in front of her eyes - that SolHi was almost powerless and that she couldn’t leave that place on her own. Something that Kuk Mi Hi seemed to have anticipated when she didn’t close that wound. Even so, Ha Rin said that it wasn’t time for any of them to give up but to leave that place as soon as possible because she really didn’t want to meet the bear or give the fox the chance to lick her lips after tasting their meat. That’s why she suddenly asked SolHi:
„On a scale from 1 to 10, how much power do you still have left?”
„0?” SolHi replied, forcing a smile.
„A bad sign then,” murmured Ha Rin, looking into SolHi’s eyes, which seemed so pale. Then, she kept silent for a while.
SolHi also said nothing all this time. She just stood crouched, trying to keep the little strength she still had inside. Then, seeing that the minutes passed but nothing happened to her and Ha Rin was still there, she opened her eyes and looked at her companion. Thus, SolHi saw that Ha Rin had her eyes closed and arms folded over her chest. Yet, even if SolHi insistently looked at her, Ha Rin didn’t react, making SolHi ask eventually, „What are you thinking about so intensely?”
„At fate,” Ha Rin growled in a low voice. Then she shuddered when she saw, only for a few instants, the image of a man that was dragged on a steep slope. Who was dragging that man was a wild animal - a wolf, who stabbed his fangs deeply into the man’s arm while the victim was unconscious and with deep wounds all over his body. „At how to survive too!” Ha Rin added. „Now, let’s go!”
„Where?” SolHi whispered.
„As far as possible from here because… I really don’t want to feel the wolf’s fangs stubbed into my skin again.”
SolHi didn’t hear the last words Ha Rin said. She only heard, „We don’t have time to waste.” After that, everything was only a kind of echo because she really didn’t have powers for more.
„Not even to breathe,” she murmured at one point.
„What I don’t have powers for is to run while I’m chased by the wild beasts,” Ha Rin told her, climbing SolHi on her back.
The sudden movement made SolHi gasp because of the harsh pain that suddenly pierced her stomach. She even lost consciousness for a few moments. Then, when she came back to her senses for a short time, she felt her head swinging in the rhythm of Ha Rin’s footsteps, who was climbing that steep slope so easily even if she carried such a burden on her back and even if she had some troubles climbing it before.
„Now she does that so easily though, even if she carries me on her shoulders too,” SolHi thought. „Something damn strange… for a woman to have such a force.” Then, still staring at the black soil under Ha Rin’s soles, SolHi felt dizzy, losing consciousness again.
***
When SolHi awoke from the lethargy, it was already night. Even so, the place was pretty illuminated and warm, something that amazed her a lot because she thought that, once they were out of prison, they’d spend their days in darkness and where it was cold. Instead, they got to a comfortable place, as it seemed to her, something that gave her some confidence. What made her calm in particular was the warmth felt to her right.
Looking over there, SolHi saw a small pyre, fueled by thick logs. „A primitive pyre, in my opinion, one made in a rush,” she thought after that. SolHi even smiled because of the calmness felt inside her that was so pleasant at that moment. It was as pleasant as the thought that someone had taken care of her in such difficult moments for her when she needed a good person by her side the most.
Soon after this, SolHi felt her head heavy again. It was undoubtedly because she stared at the pyre for so long. This made her close her eyes at one point. Then, when she felt her head clear again, SolHi opened her eyes and looked at the ceiling.
Looking over there, she saw that it was primitive, built from white wet stone, yellow or black in places, something that gave her the feeling of an unshaped construction. Thinking this, it wasn’t at all wrong because the moment she could take her eyes off the ceiling and looked to the right, she saw the door of that place. It was an oval door, also built from stone that had the same color as the ceiling. Yet, the stones from the door weren’t washed by water but only wet by drops a little, something that let her know that the night was cold and wet. Something that didn’t bother her. On the contrary, this intrigued her. Particularly, she seemed charmed by the semi-oval shape of the door, which was also grossly carved by God knows what kind of individual that lived his life there.
This thought made SolHi wince because the construction of the door seemed really interesting to her. To see that door better, SolHi struggled a little with herself to sit on the bedding. An effort she regretted later because she right away felt a sharp pain in her stomach. Yet, this also let her know that she was tied with thick ropes that were wrapped above a sleeping bag. „What the hell is that?” She thought, carefully looking around, at the sleeping bag and the ropes.
„It was for your own safety,” she heard Ha Rin’s voice to her right, a little behind the place where she’d seen the pyre. Looking over there, as she sat bolt upright, SolHi found it difficult to see who was talking to her. That’s why she laid down again. And, rolling her eyes, she stared at the place where she heard the voice that seemed to be of Ha Rin.
Ha Rin was sitting on a big rock at that moment, not that far from the pyre. She had her eyes closed and yawned repeatedly while holding a bag with blood a little raised above SolHi’s head. Then, SolHi saw another package with a white liquid inside that was hanging in something that seemed to be one support from a tent or something like that. This made SolHi frown because she couldn’t understand what was going on. Also, what made her think were those two thin transparent cables, through which the blood and the white liquid flowed toward her. And, moving a little, SolHi felt the needle that was stabbed into her right hand while the puncture point was slowly pulsating. Her feet also pulsated, probably because of the ropes tightly wrapped around her, something that made her cook her nose eventually.
Seeing SolHi frowning, Ha Rin smiled. „Don’t take it personally,” she said. „Just precautions!”
„Against who?” SolHi asked through her teeth. She felt nervous because of the strange feeling that sneaked into her soul, something that made her feel like a captive again.
She eventually winced again when she heard Ha Rin saying, „Against death! Against whom else I could have taken precautions? Not against you!”
„Don’t you think you should have taken them though?” SolHi asked. „To take some precautions against me and make sure that you are safe with me. I could have killed you in your sleep only to take revenge for everything you did to me in prison: eight years ago and the last days when we saw each other again.”
Eyes still closed and seeming a little bored, Ha Rin yawned. „Yeah, I must accept you could have done that,” she said, standing up eventually and taking a few steps toward SolHi. „If you had had the strength to do that, of course. Yet, once you weren’t even able to crawl like the worm, I doubted you could get rid of me.”
„Even so, you tied me. Isn’t it because you are afraid?”
„You are actually right: I’ve been afraid. Yet, not of you. As I said, I’ve been afraid of death - your death. It was the only way I could avoid you leaving this world.”
SolHi frowned again. „And… May I know how I could have gotten to the other world if I wasn’t even able to crawl like a worm?”
„What do I know?!” Replied Ha Rin, shrugging. „I’m not a witch to know such things. I only thought that it was a good idea to take some precautions. As I could, of course. That’s why I tied you up, trying to deceive death and letting Her know that she didn’t have the right to touch you. Not as long as you are mine.”
SolHi burst into laughter. „Not to touch what’s yours? I didn’t know I belonged to someone in particular.”
„What I didn’t know was that those who return from hell have such power to talk. I’ve been wrong, it seems to me. And… don’t move!”
Seeing the sharp blade of a dagger in Ha Rin’s hand, SolHi shuddered. „What do you try to do?” She asked Ha Rin in a shaking voice, trying to release herself.
„To get rid of you?” Ha Rin replied with another question. This time she seemed serious. Yet, seeing SolHi’s scared glance focused on the dagger, Ha Rin burst into laughter. „Ia, Ian SolHi: did you stop thinking lately or what? If I intended to get rid of you, I would have left you in the middle of the forest as food for beasts. Or… I would have twisted your neck while still being in jail.”
„Not that you didn’t try that!”
„Yeah, I must admit that: I tried it. Yet, it was for the sake of both of us.”
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
„Really?! And… May I know how all the wounds received from you and your threats helped me?”
„They kept you alive!”
„And… seriously talking right now?”
„I’m as serious as possible,” Ha Rin drily replied, cutting the ropes that kept SolHi inside the sleeping bag.
The sudden move made SolHi gasp. She also did that because she’d been so tense while Ha Rin cut those ropes. Then, relaxing her body a little, she gasped again, feeling the blood flowing so rapidly through her veins. This didn’t impede her from looking at Ha Rin’s hands, who unzipped the sack first. After that, she pulled the needle out of SolHi’s vein, seeing that the white liquid and the blood in the two packages were finished. In the end, she lifted SolHi’s T-shirt, checking the bandage. Seeing it white, Ha Rin smiled.
„What now?” SolHi asked, frowning again.
„Nothing. I simply enjoyed that my effort wasn’t in vain.”
„The effort? Which one?” SolHi pretended not to have understood the hint. Seeing Ha Rin yawning and seeing her pale eyes because of tiredness, she finally understood what effort Ha Rin had told her about - she’d been taking care of her for hours.
Not only did this make SolHi attentive but to see that her prison clothes vanished somewhere and, instead of them, she wore black sports pants and a T-shirt of the same color. Above the T-shirt, she wore a dark blue anorak, pretty thick to keep her warm. Then, carefully analyzing her new clothes, SolHi smiled.
„What now?” Ha Rin asked, confused.
„Just… thoughts. I never thought that, once I got to Heaven, I would be changed out of clothes by someone.”
Ha Rin frowned, hearing what kind of thoughts could cross SolHi’s mind. „And… what did you think? That once getting to Heaven, you’ll wear the same clothes as you’ve been wearing while still being alive?”
„No, I thought I’d be naked. Yet, I like the earthly version more.”
„What I think is that your mind does not work properly.”
„Why exactly?”
„Because… you didn’t notice the difference. If you had gotten to Heaven, you would have worn white clothes. Yours are black, in case you haven’t noticed this yet.”
„Does this mean that I’ve gotten to hell?”
„Perhaps. Yet, think about this when you have time… alone. Meanwhile, I’ll have a nap because I have lost enough energy taking care of the devil. Not that I’m not one, but… anyway.”
SolHi said nothing after this, for minutes in a row. She did that because Ha Rin’s words reminded her about DooSan. Those words reminded her about the night when he washed her hair when she dislocated her shoulder falling off the roof, in particular. That evening, just as it happened with Ha Rin, they had a similar talk. „One that I miss so much now,” she thought after this, realizing that she also missed DooSan.
Not hearing SolHi saying something after what she said, Ha Rin sat in bed. Before that, she lay in another sleeping bag to SolHi’s right. Looking at SolHi, she saw her having her eyes closed and seeming to meditate. And, judging by SolHi’s mimics and the way she was frowning, Ha Rin understood that thoughts took over SolHi, sad thoughts apparently that caused her pain. That’s why she said eventually, „You know, other people would have been happy realizing that they are still alive. You instead seem to think the opposite.”
SolHi squinted at her. Yet, she said nothing, not even at this time. She only looked at Ha Rin’s tired face for a long time, who was insistently looking at her at that moment.
Looking at Ha Rin, she found it really different. SolHi even thought that her cellmate was a totally different person at that moment, one whom the jail had changed a lot, as it had happened to SolHi. Undoubtedly, jail changed SolHi, leaving deep wounds on her skin and in her soul. It changed her that she was unable to recognize herself, making her tougher and someone feared by others. „I think I’m even wilder than other people in my situation,” she murmured eventually.
„What exactly do you mean?” Ha Rin asked her, zipping her black sports coat. Then, waiting for SolHi’s answer, she covered herself with the dark blue plaid blanket, which was next to her, not that far from the pyre. Yet, not even after she finished this ritual, did not SolHi answer her question.
Only when she felt Ha Rin next to her, did SolHi look into her eyes and say, „I’m talking about us. I’m also talking about all those who suffered a lot in their life because… pain changes people. It makes them savage, toothy, and someone to be feared by others.”
„Honestly, nothing out of the ordinary, SolHi. It’s logical for people to change during their life. Especially for those who have experienced what we’ve experienced.”
„Maybe you are right, Ha Rin. Yet… not everybody changes as we’ve changed. At least… Nobody has changed himself the way we’ve changed until today. I feel as if I’m a totally different person. I feel as if I’m someone I haven’t ever thought I’d meet one day. This… is not me.”
„Still, you are a valuable person, in my opinion,” Ha Rin whispered, making SolHi wince. Yes, she winced because the answer from her new friend amazed her a lot. Just as she’d been amazed to hear Ha Rin adding, „Honestly, the way you are has kept you alive until today.”
„What exactly do you mean? That… you couldn’t hurt me because of who I am?”
„Yes, you are right. You know, it’s been so easy for me to take other people’s lives. Yet, I couldn’t hurt you,” murmured Ha Rin. Then, she sighed.
After such words, both women kept silent. SolHi said nothing because she didn’t dare to find out more about what could have crossed Ha Rin’s mind at that moment. Ha Rin instead kept silent because she understood that she might have said more than she had to say in front of SolHi. Especially, she felt awkward after accepting that she’d been unable to take SolHi’s life. That’s why she turned her back to SolHi, trying to end that talk that might have started after what she said.
Eventually, Ha Rin whispered, „I’ll have that nap, anyway because I’m exhausted. Meanwhile, once you are awake, keep an eye on that door and watch our backs from flies.”
SolHi smiled, understanding the reason for Ha Rin’s last words. She understood that it might have been difficult for Ha Rin to accept the truth, just as it was hard for her to accept that she might have rushed to consider Ha Rin being the devil in that story. Not that Ha Rin would have been different from the devil in many cases but still… she’d been a kind devil for SolHi.
Eventually, she sighed, hearing Ha Rin saying, „Besides being careful while I’m sleeping, I recommend you avoid any useless effort. The wound might open again. I also inform you that the pain might be back soon. If this happens, squeeze your fists because… we don’t have more painkillers. And… I’m going to sleep now!” Ha Rin said this, lying with her back to SolHi, who was staring at her at that moment.
Not even after such words, SolHi said something. She didn’t say anything because the pain wasn’t something to scare her anymore. People also didn’t scare her because she came to recognize their faces behind the masks they wore, just as life stopped scaring her. Particularly, she wasn’t afraid of living without medicine, something she didn’t have while being in prison. Medicine that Ha Rin stole from the prison and gave SolHi to make sure she’d survive that day.
Thinking about this, SolHi frowned. Yes, this thought that someone struggled for hours to keep her alive made her shudder again, even if she also didn’t know why she did that. At the same time, the thought that she’d been „fed” with medicine for hours bothered her. This happened because she would have liked to be lucid, at least as possible, to be capable of running away in case the danger would have lurked on them again. „Not that I would have gotten too far in the condition I was in. Even so, it would have been better this way than to face death while sleeping. Yet…”
„…you are overthinking it,” said Ha Rin when she felt SolHi agitated. „Stupid things particularly.”
„Do you think so?” SolHi drily asked. „That it’s a stupid thing to think that I’d have been safer lucid than sedated?”
„Yeah,” Ha Rin replied right away. „Do you know why?”
„Surprise me!”
„Your body was too tired to cope with the consequences of the last events, SolHi. Your mind felt the same. That’s why if you had been lucid when you were practically lacking powers and if you had faced danger at that moment, you would have undoubtedly given up in front of the enemy, allowing him to catch you. Now, with your head clear and with much more strength in your veins, I think that it’ll be easier for you to make decisions and defend yourself when it’s necessary.”
Ha Rin was right in saying this eventually. SolHi has been definitely too tired lately: both physically and mentally. The last events ran her out, making her life and thoughts a mess. Even her will has been affected because of this. And yes, maybe she would have collapsed if she had met the enemy in the state she was in after the accident. Yet, at that moment, Ha Rin took care of her and helped her to recover both physically and emotionally. Even so, she still felt that she wasn’t strong enough to make decisions alone.
Understanding this, SolHi sighed again. This also happened because she heard Ha Rin slowly snoring, a hint that she had fallen asleep. „Too easy,” SolHi thought after this because she needed hours to fall asleep while Ha Rin did that in just seconds. „With all the ghosts that seem to spy on us right now. Others instead…”
…allowed themselves to fall prey to thoughts, as it had always happened to her. She also allowed her demons to leave her powerless each time she had a problem. And, once she couldn’t fight against that, SolHi thought to herself that maybe it was better for them for this to happen: Ha Rin to sleep tightly and she to have time to think.
Eventually, when Ha Rin stopped snoring and only her calm rhythmic breath was heard around, SolHi sat on the bed after she finished unzipping the sleeping bag. Then, she stood up. Lifting the T-shirt and the anorak a little, SolHi looked at the white bandage that covered her wound, a pretty thick one used by Ha Rin. A bandage that suddenly bothered SolHi, even if she also didn’t know why she felt that. Even so, she didn’t take it off, although this had been her first thought, and she didn’t do that because she was afraid to see the wound and shudder again. On the other hand, she understood that it wasn’t fair to do that and that she would have endangered the titanic work Ha Rin did that night when she saved her life.
Ha Rin really saved her life that night when she could have simply left SolHi behind when she asked for that - to be left prey to the wild animals. Yet, Ha Rin ignored this request, carried her on her back, and took her far away from the place where the wild animals could have come, lured there by the smell of blood.
„She also saved my life after she brought me here where it is warm and safe,” SolHi said in her head, taking a few steps toward the door of that small grotto where they were. She headed there, although she felt a little dizzy because of the fresh air that was coming from the door and because of the effort she made while standing up.
Even feeling this, SolHi didn’t give up on her intention to approach the door. She, with sure steps, approached the big rock in front of the grotto, sitting on it eventually and looking into the distance. There, somewhere on the horizon, she finally saw the red of the morning sky.
„I slept a lot it seems to me,” whispered SolHi, still looking at the horizon. „Enough hours, by the way, because… when the accident happened and the ambulance overturned, it was around nine or ten o’clock p.m. Now… It has to be around five o’clock in the morning. A whole night has passed since then.”
When she remembered the accident, SolHi sighed. She also remembered that after coming back to her senses after the accident, she stood against Ha Rin’s idea of running away from there. On the contrary, SolHi asked her to call for help for the four guards who were unconscious at that moment. Yet, she couldn’t convince Ha Rin, who told her eventually, „Are you looking for your death at any cost or what? Or… will you stay here and wait for the idiot that wants to kill you no matter what?”
„I don’t see what else I can do,” SolHi whispered.
„Fight! This is what you can do. And… stop being stupid and pity yourself, Ian SolHi. By doing this, the only one whom you harm is you.”
Even after such words, SolHi didn’t willingly follow Ha Rin. She knew that it wasn’t fair to run from the accident place. She knew that if she had done that, this would have added years of prison to her sentence and would have impeded DooSan and the rest to appeal it if they had found evidence of her innocence. Even knowing this, SolHi didn’t fight with Ha Rin when this one grabbed her by the arm and forced her to enter deeper into the woods. Then, running after Ha Rin and looking back at the overturned ambulance, she saw a black off-road car stopped at the shelter of the trees not that far from the accident place.
„A black car that had been following us since we left prison,” thought SolHi, sitting on that rock. „Yes, I clearly remember this - that a black car appeared in front of us at the turn, forcing the driver to suddenly pull the wheel. Then, we overturned. What surprises me more than this is that the ambulance took this road through the forest and not the main highway toward the nearest hospital. This is strange. Or not…”
Yes, SolHi wasn’t sure of anything at that moment: neither if the accident happened because someone wanted her dead or maybe both of them nor of that it had actually been an accident. It also didn’t matter the reason why the driver of the ambulance decided to take that road. Why? Because they were in a safe place at that moment and it was an important thing for her.
„Even so, it’s strange,” murmured SolHi. „That it’s quiet all around and nobody looks for us. It’s been hours since we ran away. Yet, nobody could find a track toward us. It’s so quiet. Too quiet to my taste. Or… is this a hideout or something, chosen by Ha Rin to make sure nobody finds us here?”
„You are actually right,” she heard Ha Rin’s voice to her right. This made her wince and stare over there. Ha Rin didn’t look at her though but into the distance. Eventually, she said, „This place is known as the „Hill of the Bear.” A place that I like so much.”
„Honestly, I’ve never heard about this place before. Yet, I think that’s strange that you know it.”
Ha Rin smiled. „There’s nothing strange about this place but it’s interesting. Or… maybe it’s strange because I remembered it when I shouldn’t have done that. Still, it saved our lives and we are safe.”
„For the moment only. Why? Because… I have the feeling that we are close to the main road and that the authorities will smell our track and will get here soon.”
„Something I doubt. If they haven’t found this place after eight hours after we ran away, they won’t find it very soon.”
„Why are you so sure of this?”
„Because… I have known this place for a very long time. It’s a hidden place and difficult to find, by the way. A place that had been loved by the drug traffickers in the past, about which the authorities hadn’t ever found out. That’s why I’m sure they won’t find us here.”
„You forget one thing, Ha Rin.”
„What exactly?”
„The police dogs can smell the blood tracks, and… I’ve been bleeding a lot all the way here. Thus, it is only a matter of time until they find us.”
„Their problem then. I mean… to try to find us. Something I doubt they’ll manage to do eventually because… I’ve taken care of those tracks to vanish. How? Don’t ask! You don’t want to know this. Just… eat and gain power! We’ll leave this place soon.”
„You said this place is safe!” SolHi murmured, catching a small package on the fly. That one was a package wrapped in aluminum foil, with something round and soft inside. It seemed to be bread. Still, SolHi thought that it might have been something different. Only when she unrolled one of the edges and looked inside did she see that there were kimbap rolls inside. This made her frown at first and then ask, „Where did you get this? Don’t tell me that you’ve stolen it from the prison kitchen”
„I am not crazy to hang myself, right?! Not when I have someone to help me.”
„Whom exactly? The one with the off-road car?”
Ha Rin frowned. „How do you know that? Did you see him?”
„For a few moments, yes. I saw him while we ran from the ambulance to the woods. Still, I couldn’t understand if he’s a friend or an enemy to you.”
„Either of those things,” replied Ha Rin drily, sticking one kimbap roll into her mouth, just as SolHi did. „He’s only someone who owes me a lot. Someone you shouldn’t bother about. To find out who he is, I mean. Just… eat because… I’ll take care of the rest… alone.”
„If you say so!” SolHi whispered. Then, for minutes in a row, they silently ate. Only in the end, when she finished the last kimbap roll and deformed the aluminum foil in her hand, she said, „I won’t insist on you talking to me about this if you don’t want that, Ha Rin. Just… I’m curious to find out which side he is: with us or against us.”
„Honestly, I have no idea. Still, he should be with us.”
„The reason?”
„A very simple one: he cares about his life! Actually, we should pray for him to be with us.”
„Why?”
„Because… if he’s against us, we are dead, SolHi!” Saying this, Ha Rin stood up and, turning her back to SolHi, she entered the grotto.
SolHi didn’t follow her. She just looked behind Ha Rin for a very long time because her behavior concerned and bothered her. Then, when the dawn turned clearer, SolHi looked at the horizon again. She did that when she understood that her cellmate was right in saying those words eventually: the prayer was all they had left at that moment.