A large number of police dogs were seen checking the area where SolHi and Ha Rin vanished in the forest after the accident. Yet, not finding them, they decided to enter deeper and deeper into the forest. Not only the police officers, who controlled the police dogs, entered the forest but also many detectives, having only one thought in their minds and a single order to fulfill: to catch the two fugitives, who were considered very dangerous, as soon as possible.

DooSan was also there, although the General Attorney prohibited him from doing that. The reason? His physical and emotional closeness to Ian SolHi. To make sure DooSan would stay away from that place, the General Attorney even threatened DooSan with firing him. Something DooSan cared the least about because he knew what many ignored - the truth and that Ian SolHi was innocent. Yet, even if he knew that, he was also aware that SolHi’s escape complicated things a lot, endangering their secret operation.

„Something that should have been a priority for you too, SolHi,” he hissed through his teeth at one point. „You did the opposite though - escaping prison. Why? Didn’t you trust me or couldn’t wait for one more day? If you had waited… you would have been about to be released now. Your escape instead…”

„Are you talking to yourself recently?” DooSan suddenly heard Iun Min Hiok’s voice behind him, something that made him wince and stare at his friend.

Seeing Min Hiok at only a few steps from him, DooSan frowned. He was also amazed to understand that Min Hiok heard his words, although he thought he said them in his mind only. Min Hiok’s grin said the opposite though.

„You are actually right,” added Min Hiok, smiling. „That you shake inside when you feel discovered. And… what I said were just words, ignore them. A simple joke.”

„A joke of bad taste,” DooSan furiously growled. „Just as you know I’m not in the mood for jokes right now.”

„Of course, I know that,” replied Min Hiok sternly. „Yet, even if I know that, you can’t do anything. For the moment. Just as anybody can’t do anything because… Ian SolHi’s escape makes things worse.” DooSan stared at him, eyes widely opened. „Where do I know this from?” DooSan nodded. „I also know things, even if I sometimes seem indifferent. And I see things pretty well. Otherwise, I would have been buried a long time ago. I’m not the only one who knows things, by the way. San DuSik also knows a lot. And… to be more precise about him, I’ll tell you this: he asked the Court for the lethal injection for the two fugitives once they are caught.”

„Has he lost his mind or what?” DooSan yelled when he felt the blood madly flowing through his veins.

„What about not yelling, huh?” Min Hiok hissed. „It’s the last thing we need right now.”

„What do you want me to do then? Jump up because of joy after I heard such news?”

„Well, it’s exactly what I want. Why? Because… this way, you’ll get what you have always wanted: Ian SolHi’s case to be closed. This will happen eventually - when she loses her head, of course.”

„Ia, Iun Min Hiok!” DooSan growled through his teeth, staring with hatred at his friend. „I told you already that I’m not in the mood for jokes. Moreover when you know that SolHi…”

„Yeah, I know that she’s innocent. Yet, the rest of the people think she’s guilty, a woman sentenced to death, by the way. An assassin, DooSan. All this is a good reason to be hated by others.”

„Tell me something new,” DooSan growled. Then, he deeply breathed in and out to calm down because he felt his heart pounding in his chest as though it would have suddenly turned into a wild bird that was locked inside a cage. Later, when he felt confident again, DooSan looked at his friend, asking him in half a voice, „What about the evidence? Has Park GhiYon been able to prove something?”

„Not yet! Anyway, it’s too early, DooSan. He has had them for only two hours. And, to prove something, one needs months if not years.”

„We don’t have that much time, Min Hiok! You know very well that, just like me! Why? Because… As long as others work against us, time doesn’t do us a favor. On the contrary, our enemies gather power and become more influential than we are. Thus, if San DuSik manages to convince the judge that what he says is true, SolHi is dead. Something I won’t ever allow, trust me!”

„What do you intend to do then? Will you kill San DuSik just to impede him from winning the case?”

„I’ll do that if I have to!”

„Don’t be stupid!” Min Hiok grabbed his arm, forcing DooSan to follow him further from the other police officers. „Why? if you kill someone now, who’ll pay for your stupid idea will be SolHi. Why? They would think that you did that at her command. So, if you don’t want to kill her with your own hands or to be killed by her just to teach you a lesson, control yourself! And… stop talking nonsense when so many witnesses are around!”

„Trust me, I know that! Even so, I won’t change my opinion. Why? It’s the only way I think I can save her. And… where did she vanish though? They were both hurt, for God’s sake,” said DooSan. He was worried while looking at the red dawn.

Looking in the same direction, Min Hiok cooked his nose. Then, he whispered, „Not this interest me but… why here?” DooSan looked in amazement at him. Min Hiok though, not looking at his friend but around, continued his thought, „I mean… why exactly the ambulance driver took this way and not the main road to the hospital?”

„Honestly, I have no idea. Yet, I’ll ask him for sure when he awakes. If he does that.”

„I doubt that,” replied Min Hiok confidently.

„The reason?”

„Nobody with a twisted neck awakes, DooSan. Better said - nobody awakes if someone made sure that this wouldn’t happen. How? By twisting his neck.”

„What? Someone made sure the driver would die?”

„Something like that. Just as he made sure the three or four guardians who accompanied the prisoners wouldn’t make it. The only one who vanished is the doctor.”

„The doctor? Who exactly?”

„Someone who works in the prison where SolHi and the other prisoner planned their escape from. Her name is Kuk Mi Hi, 45 years old. Yet, not only is this strange.”

„Do you think something stinks here?”

„It might be because… she’s the only one who didn’t have the fate of the dead guardians.”

„She’s involved then!”

„Most likely yes. Yet, we can’t be sure without evidence. Something we’ll have if we catch SolHi and Min Ha Rin. Or… the one who caused the accident.”

„Something I doubt, Min Hiok - that we’ll catch any of them. Let’s not forget that the dash cam is broken.”

„Even so, we have a track - Kuk Mi Hi. Before vanishing from the accident place, she told the paramedics that she saw a black off-road car that appeared in front of the ambulance. She also said that she wasn’t the one who called 911 but the driver.”

DooSan distrustfully smiled. „All this seems damn weird to me, don’t you also think so? First, Kuk Mi Hi says that she has seen a black off-road car blocking their way. As far as I understand, she didn’t remember the plaque, the car type, or the driver’s face. Something damn stinky - that she’d seen all this because… generally, the doctors stay on the back side of the ambulance with the patients and not in front, next to the driver.”

„Now that you mentioned that, I have to accept that you are right. Just as I think that it’ll be the best if we catch SolHi and the other fugitive. Thus, we can say they surrender and escape the capital punishment San DuSik plans for them. So, do something to catch them and not just stay and look at the horizon! Look for them because I don’t think that they are far, once both of them were hurt! They must be somewhere here.”

DooSan said nothing. He just looked for a few moments behind Min Hiok, wondering if it was true that the best solution for SolHi was to be caught by them. No, he was sure that the best for her was to stay hidden for a while. At least, he thought that she should have done that until they found the evidence to prove that she was innocent, something that would have meant a sure ticket out of prison.

Still, all this was risky because if it was true and SolHi was hurt as Mi Ki told the paramedics, it would have been even more dangerous not to catch her. The reason? She could have died in terrible pain, God knows where in that forest of ghosts, and this was something that wasn’t on the list of must-do things that both of them had to do. That’s why DooSan decided that if he caught them first, he would make sure SolHi would be fine to be away from him and not inside a cage again.

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***

ONE HOUR BEFORE THE ESCAPE

The air inside the prison felt pretty stuffy that night. It started to be felt all around since the dinner. Yet, even if she felt that, SolHi said nothing to Ha Rin about this. SolHi kept silent because she saw her immersed in thoughts. She even heard a strange gnashing of teeth coming from her cellmate’s bed, a hint that that one also felt the danger.

Soon after this, both of them winced when the shout of one of the guardians was heard in the hall, „Everybody goes to bed! Now!” Then, not waiting for the prisoners’response, not that this would have mattered too much for her, the guardian walked along the corridor, making an infernal noise with the truncheon when she touched the bars of each cell in front of which she passed by.

Eventually, silence took over the surroundings. Then, it had been dark all around, something that stopped even the murmur of the prisoners, who were damn upset because they were forced to go to bed when it was only 7 p.m. Yet, once they had no other choice than to obey the guardian’s order and go to sleep, they had to do that.

„All this damn stinks,” Ha Rin said to herself when it was quiet all around her. „Too quiet to my taste because… I’ve never seen something like this before. Yes, never, even if I’ve been around here for a while.”

Ha Rin winced eventually when she felt SolHi moving on the bed under her. She also felt SolHi agitated as she was and that none of them would have fallen asleep that night. Actually, it wouldn’t have been anything strange if any of them hadn’t fallen asleep because that situation would have stressed even Iron Man. „Even so, it’s strange, don’t you think so?”

SolHi didn’t answer at first. She only sat in bed and looked at Ha Rin, who bent over the edge of the bed to look at her. Only then did she see Ha Rin’s eyes sparkling in the darkness and SolHi said, „Yes, it’s strange! Even so, I can’t get why!”

„Me neither! Still, I am sure of one thing: someone has stuck his nose in this. Too early, according to me.”

„Too early for what? For sleeping?”

„No, for…”

Suddenly, Ha Rin kept silent, realizing that it wasn’t yet the right time to say to SolHi that she had been planning for a while to escape from prison and she asked for Kuk Mi Hi’s help to make sure she’d succeed. Yes, they agreed on this and over each detail. What was strange though was that they hadn’t agreed for the escape to happen that night but the next month because there were still some details to put together. Even so, suddenly, what she planned was about to happen.

„Or…,” Ha Rin suddenly winced. „It feels as though someone’s life is in danger. Yet, whose life is at stake this time?”

„Do you think that… they’ll try to kill someone?” Ha Rin heard SolHi’s question, something that made her wince and stare at her.

„Do you also think this?” She asked SolHi after a few moments of silence.

„I’m not sure! It’s just something that kept spinning in my head,” SolHi whispered. Then, laying her head on her arms that were supported on her knees, she stood like this for a while. All around that cell was so quiet that even their breath was strangely heard at one point. Yet…

…it wasn’t silence in Ha Rin’s head. At least it wasn’t as quiet as it was in their cell. This happened because Ha Rin started to wonder whom they were trying to get rid of that night. As far as she knew, there were many dangerous prisoners in that jail. Even so, she didn’t hear of any of them being spied on or being the target of someone else. Even so, everything that happened that night seemed perfect to send someone to the other world. Who exactly, she wasn’t sure because…

„It can’t be!” Ha Rin suddenly murmured, sitting on the bed. Then she looked to her left where she knew that SolHi was sitting on the bed under hers. After that, Ha Rin shook her head. „No, I don’t think that he has gone that far to get rid of her with someone else’s help. Not after he asked me to do that. Yet, everything points to this because… as I know him, he’s more than capable of doing this.” Then, hearing someone’s footsteps, who seemed to head toward their cell, Ha Rin lay in bed and told SolHi, „Pretend to be asleep!”

SolHi didn’t understand right away what Ha Rin had in mind. Even so, she listened to her cellmate right away, although she also didn’t know the reason why she was so obedient that night. She even turned her back to the door and covered herself with the blanket up to her ears after lying on the bed.

Lying in bed didn’t help her to calm down. On the contrary, she felt her heart pounding in her chest and a strange buzz was heard in her ears. SolHi heard all that while listening to those footsteps approaching their cell. Yes, both of them were sure that the guardian stopped eventually by their cell, and this was pretty clear because they heard that one’s hissing breath, which seemed to be a little interrupted too. „The breath of someone that suffers from asthma,” SolHi thought, suddenly shuddering.

This sound made her heart stop in her chest because all that reminded her of the events eight years ago and the one that attacked her. Yet, something was different this time. The breath she heard that fatalistic night was of a man while that night a woman was stopped next to their cell. Even so, she stood alert because something inside her kept whispering to her that it was the only way she could survive that night.

Thinking about all this and deciding to stay alert had been the best decision SolHi could have taken that night because, soon after this, she heard the guardian hitting the bars with the truncheon. The deafening noise made both women wince. Moreover, they became alert when the guardian yelled, „Ian SolHi, someone is here to see you! Follow me!”

SolHi didn’t answer though. She didn’t even move. All this made the guardian insistently hit the bars with the truncheon, trying to „wake” the prisoner. Seeing that she didn’t manage to do that, the guard entered the cell eventually and, throwing the blanket off SolHi, she told her in a demanding voice, „I told you to follow me! Now!”

Such an order let SolHi understand that it was time to be obedient and follow the guardian. Yet, before leaving the cell, she stopped for a few moments. And, looking at the guardian, she asked, „Someone wants to see me? At this hour?”

The guardian glared at her. Then, she feistily said, „Yes, at this hour! And, if you are curious about the reason for this late visit, ask your lover because Prosecutor Han is the one who wants to see you that late! So, stop wasting my time and follow me!”

SolHi frowned. „Did DooSan come to see me at this late hour at night? Why? Why exactly did he come now when we decided to see each other tomorrow?”

Nobody was there to answer her questions because the guardian suddenly grabbed her by the arm and forced her to leave the cell. The guard even locked the door with a bang after this, just to make sure SolHi and the other prisoners understood that she was pissed off. After that, for a very long time, only the footsteps of the two women who were moving further from the cell could be heard in that prison.

Only when it was silent all around again did Ha Rin get out of bed and approach the door. She tried to see something through the bars, but it’s been damn difficult to see something because of the darkness. It was damn dark that night in the prison when it should have been at least a lamp turned on in that corridor. And… it was also too quiet, and this was what bothered her the most. All this made her heart pound in her chest, increasing the anxiety this way, something she had felt so many times before. Yet, before that, she felt that because her life was in danger. At this time though, it seemed that SolHi’s life was at stake.

„Yes, it’s definitely because of SolHi… this feeling from my chest. And… It’s strange. I also feel a weird smell all around. Especially… The guardian seemed weird because she wasn’t someone I had seen around before. I’m sure of this because I know the other guardians. I know their voices, smell, and even the noise of their footsteps. Yet, I know nothing about this new guard, I’m sure of this. Or… no, wait! I’ve seen her before! Yet, the question is… where? Where did I see her?”

Suddenly remembering the face of the guardian, Ha Rin winced. „Yes, she’s the same bastard from the Nonsan prison where I was locked up five years ago. Her name is Kam BoRam, the most corrupt and evil guardian of all those I’ve met in my life. Yet… why is she here? I knew her far away from here. However, she’s right here. Why? What does she look for here? What?”

Ha Rin was right in asking herself such questions because she still remembered the case of the prisoner Kil DalRae, with whom she had shared a cell in that prison. Kil DalRae was there for grand larceny. Yet, in time, Ha Rin found out that DalRae was also involved in human trafficking. And, because of everything DalRae knew, her bosses seemed to have feared her. Yes, they feared that she could have talked to the authorities to reduce her sentence. If this had happened, a lot of important and influential people, especially Governmental Officials, would have suffered.

They started to fear her after Kil DalRae asked for her Case Review. All this smelled like a new agreement with the Prosecution, something that could have released her for sure. And, for this not to happen, Kil DalRae was killed in prison only two days before the trial.

„Damn it!” Ha Rin suddenly hissed through her teeth when she remembered DalRae’s case. „How could I forget what happened the night DalRae died? That day, just as it happened now, Kam BoRam came to our cell and told her that someone had come to see her. Yes, I clearly remember that because DalRae followed her, thinking that her lawyer had come to tell her good news about her case. She hasn’t ever returned to the cell after this. I remember that they just came and took her stuff out of the cell the next morning and that they told us that DalRae hung herself in the showers. To be damned if I don’t find out the same thing about SolHi tomorrow morning! Damn! Damn it!”

Such memories and the anxiety from her soul made Ha Rin squeeze her fists and jaw. She also felt powerless because she remembered how fast that case was closed. This happened because of DalRae’s lawyer, who said that he saw his client the night before and told her that the case was rejected, even if she was already waiting for the trial. Something strange according to the other prisoners, just as they found the guardians’statement strange because all of them declared to the investigators that DalRae asked them to allow her to take a cold shower after her lawyer’s visit. They simply accepted, thinking that this would have helped her. Yet, if they had known that this would happen…

„…they would have helped her to kill herself faster,” Ha Rin eventually growled. She was outraged. „I’m sure they’ll do the same to SolHi. Yes, they will fake everything to seem like a suicide. How not to do that when nobody was punished for what happened to DalRae? That’s why they’ll use the same scenario to kill her. Yet… why, SolHi? What did you do when you were still free for others to try to get rid of you now? Whose tail did you step on if he wants you dead so fast? Who?”

Such thoughts overwhelmed Ha Rin so much, leaving her powerless. Because of this, she finally sat on the floor, trying to regain her strength and calm down. For this to happen, Ha Rin even told herself that SolHi was nobody for her and that she didn’t have a reason to suffer because of her death. Yet, something deep inside her started to bother Ha Rin. What exactly? She wasn’t sure. She was only bothered by that concern that started to squirm her inside worse than a hungry worm. That’s why she told herself that if she didn’t do anything to make sure SolHi was fine, she would regret that for an entire life. Or… at least how much she still had to live.

What she should have done for this to happen, Ha Rin wasn’t sure. Yet, she knew that she had to do something and fast. Otherwise, it could have been late for both of them because if they were there after SolHi, there wasn’t any other good reason for her to live too. Why? Because… Ha Rin’s mission was to kill SolHi. Thus, once the target would have been dead, the assassin was also out of the game, and it would have been only a matter of time until they would have come after her too.