When she finally got to the edge of the forest, SolHi’s heart started to pound in her chest. Even her hands were badly shaking at that moment and she couldn’t understand why. In fact, SolHi couldn’t understand why her hands had been shaking in the last few days. Even though, she was sure that it wasn’t because she escaped prison along with Min Ha Rin or that she regretted having done that. No, she didn’t regret it, although she thought that at first and that it had been a hasty decision. Then, thinking about this, SolHi understood that it had been the best choice she had had at that moment. The reason? She was still alive, and this was victory already. At the same time, she had time to think about all that happened and decide what she wanted to do because she already knew that her life had turned into a nightmare lately, something that didn’t allow her to breathe freely.

Because of the same anxiety, SolHi told Ha Rin that night, a couple of hours before she got to the edge of the forest, „I have to talk to him. Yes, I must do that, Ha Rin because he has the right to know that I’m still alive.”

To her great surprise, Ha Rin didn’t oppose her idea but asked her, „Are you sure? I mean… are you sure that he won’t betray you eventually?”

„Yes, I’m pretty sure of that,” replied SolHi. Yet, she lied because she didn’t know if DooSan was still with her or not. He could have changed his mind eventually, especially after her snap decision. Even so, she decided to trust him and ask him for help. „Something I should do no matter what, at least once in my life.” Then, she sighed.

Honestly, SolHi was sure that DooSan wasn’t the only person she could trust. There were also Kan and Yoon Suk. If she had called one of them, they would have helped her for sure. Yet, SolHi was also sure that Kan wasn’t young anymore and he wasn’t also influential enough to be involved in her escape and her further plans. She also knew that she couldn’t count on Yoon Suk because DooSan already told her that he stopped working for the police after she’d been arrested and didn’t return. In the meantime, he could have also changed his number. If it was true and she had called the number she knew, it would have been suspicious and the police would have found them right away.

The only credible variant was still DooSan. Yes, DooSan was the only one she knew she could count on and whose information was still true. Thus, „If I call him, I’ll reach him for sure and not another person because, in Yoon Suk’s case, his former work number might have been assigned to another officer. If this has happened, we reach hell for sure.” After that, although she wasn’t totally convinced that her plan was the best, SolHi went to the edge of the forest.

She headed toward there having a well-made plan. She also had a map, one that Ha Rin sketched for her on wet soil to make sure SolHi wouldn’t get lost eventually. Ha Rin also told SolHi what path to take to get to the public phone and how to act so as not to be seen by anybody. Even so, arriving at the edge of the woods, SolHi suddenly became a coward and started fearing to make that phone call, although she wanted that so badly.

When she finally decided to call and took a step in front, toward the asphalt road she intended to cross, SolHi had been forced to hide again. The reason? A black off-road car, so similar to the one that caused the accident of the ambulance, suddenly passed by there.

„It can’t be,” SolHi murmured, staring behind the car. „It can’t be the same individual. At the same time, I don’t think he’s the one looking for us because, from what Ha Rin said, Jackal is on her side. Even so, something tells me that not everything is that simple. I also think that both of them hide something, but… what? What are they hiding from me?”

Such questions increased the anxiety in SolHi’s soul. Yet, she didn’t have time to get rid of them or find a credible answer because this would have meant staying there for longer, which might have endangered her. Yes, the police could have left someone there in case they had showed up. That’s why SolHi decided to make that phone call fast and withdraw in the shadows again. And, determined to do that no matter the consequences, SolHi finally crossed the road.

Arriving at the phone booth, SolHi hesitated again. „What if I endanger him too?” She wondered. „Yes, I might endanger DooSan too because… I’m a fugitive and he’s a prosecutor eventually. If I call him and he doesn’t tell anyone about this, and someone finds out later, he’ll get in trouble for sure and… gets behind bars along with me.” Yet, although she did that with a shaking hand, SolHi still dialed DooSan’s number.

For someone to answer that call, SolHi needed about two minutes of waiting. Yet, those had been two damn long minutes when she felt her heart pounding in her chest and a strange buzzing was heard in her ears too. Buzzing that intensified later when she heard „Hello” at the other end of the wire. Even her breathing involuntarily stopped halfway through her throat. After that, DooSan said nothing more.

The man kept silent after answering the phone but didn’t hang it because SolHi clearly heard his calm and rhythmic breath. Eventually, she heard his footsteps and she understood that he moved away from someone. „He probably does that because he’s not alone,” SolHi thought. „Yes, there must be someone with him and, if I tell him who is calling, I might endanger him.” Understanding this and that it was time to do something to protect him, SolHi wanted to hang up the phone.

Halfway through hanging that phone, SolHi’s hand froze in the air when she heard DooSan whispering, „SolHi, are you there? If yes, say something! I’m alone and we can talk.”

Such words filled SolHi’s eyes with tears. Yes, tears bathed her cheeks after that because she thought he didn’t miss her and that he hated her after she escaped. Yet, she’d been wrong because she felt longing in his voice and it was felt the same in her voice when she said, „I just… wanted to tell you that I’m fine.”

„Thanks God!” She heard him saying. „I’ve been so afraid these days. And… are you okay you say?”

„Yes, I’m okay now. And, DooSan, I’m sorry.”

„What for?” The man asked, confused.

„For everything. For what happened eight years ago and a year ago. For making you suffer so much because of me and… because I had run. I didn’t have another choice though. I had to do that because… it’s been necessary. I can’t tell you why I’ve done that. I just… have to do it.”

„I understand,” the man replied after a few moments of silence. „Even if I don’t agree with your choice, I still understand you because… it might have not been easy in prison and… in your case. Even so, I understand… everything, SolHi. And… where are you?”

„In a safe place,” SolHi rushed to say. „Away from here and problems. Where exactly I am? I can’t tell you. Not now and not without endangering you.”

„Still, I have the right to know, SolHi. I have the right to know that you are okay. I have the right to see you because… I miss you.”

SolHi wanted to tell him that she also missed him. Yet, there wasn’t the right moment or the place for such a confession. At the same time, she felt sad to talk to him about longing, not when both of them were in danger with so many hungry crows spying on them from the shadows.

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Suddenly, SolHi winced when she heard DuSik’s voice in the receiver. „Give it to me!” He said. Then, strange sounds were heard at the other edge of the wire and she understood that DooSan was probably fighting with DuSik for that phone. After that, she heard other footsteps approaching, a hint clue that she had to hang up the phone.

She didn’t dare to do that though because she was too scared for DooSan and she also wanted to find out what outcome that story would have. SolHi also felt that she had to find out what San DuSik’s plans were, the one who told her eventually, „If you don’t want him to pay for what you’ve done and lose his head for helping you, do us a favor and surrender, Ian SolHi! If not, I swear that Han DooSan will be killed in your place.”

SolHi didn’t answer but only listened. Thus, she heard DooSan yelling at her not to surrender because it wasn’t worth it to listen to the advice of a dog like San DuSik. After that, she heard DooSan’s voice further and further from that phone, somehow heavy and forced, a hint that he had been taken out of the office by force at DuSik’s order. Only after that did SolHi tell DuSik sternly, „Do you think you can convince me to surrender this way? By using DooSan as a bait?”

„It should be this way, don’t you think so? He sacrificed for you. He even sacrificed his good name for someone like you. This is something that must be rewarded, Ian SolHi. How? By… surrendering because it’s the only way he escapes the punishment he deserves for his betrayal and you pay for what you’ve done.”

SolHi suddenly burst into laughter, taking DuSik by surprise. „You are actually right this time, San DuSik. It’s really the time to „pay” for my sins. And… I’ll do that… in my own way.”

„In your way? What is this supposed to mean?” DuSik pretended not to have understood her words.

„You’ll see,” replied SolHi calmly this time. „Very soon, the moment your head will fall off your shoulders, San DuSik. And… don’t worry, I won’t run away from you or problems. I’ll face them by looking into your eyes. All you have to do is wait for me because… I’ll come for sure. Yes, I’ll definitely come to see you, having a single aim in my mind: to see your head falling off your shoulders and rolling to my feet. This is what will make me really happy.”

„Bitch,” DuSik shouted in the receiver. „Don’t you realize that, through everything you say, you sentence yourself to death?”

„Don’t worry because I realize it. Even so, I won’t keep my mouth shut, DuSik. Not as long as I know who you are and what you can do. And, once I’m a good pupil and you are a stupid teacher, I assure you that I’ll find a way to prove to you that… all the lessons I’ve learned because of you are well learned. I’ll also teach you back those lessons - thousands of times more. That’s why I tell you to wait for me because… both of us will pay for what we’ve done for sure.”

Saying this, SolHi let the receiver hang in the air for a long time. A receiver that allowed DuSik’s voice to be heard all around while he kept threatening SolHi for all the bad things that happened in the world. Even so, SolHi heard none of those threats because she was far from that place already, heading with sure and quickened paces toward freedom and, why not, toward all those who had to pay with blood for what they had done to her and for all those times they made her suffer.

***

Running through the forest to get faster to their hideout, SolHi felt her heart strangely pounding in her chest and that she lacked air at one point. She didn’t feel that because of the effort but because of fear. Yes, she was afraid. She feared what could have happened to DooSan after that call. „An undoubtedly wrong call,” she said through her teeth when she stopped for a few moments to catch her breath. Then, supporting her palms on her knees and powerfully breathing in and out through her mouth, she looked back, trying to see if she had been followed. SolHi looked back, even though, before entering the forest again, she carefully looked around but saw nobody there.

„Yet, everything might have been an appearance only,” she murmured. „It might have been a mask of the forest. Otherwise, I can’t explain how they have understood so fast that I’ll call DooSan and that he’s the only one they can use to catch me. Even so…”

…she was lying to herself. SolHi was lying to herself with such thoughts, trying to blame others for her mistake, although she was pretty sure that she was the only one to be blamed for what happened. The reason? She didn’t take into account the cunningness of others and the fact that they knew about DooSan’s beautiful feelings for her and that she felt the same for him. Yes, she had beautiful feelings for him, a thing known by everybody. „That’s why it wasn’t difficult for them to put everything together and realize that he was the first one I would call to tell him that I was fine. It wasn’t difficult at all, not after he visited me practically daily in those two weeks before my escape. They knew that for sure because San DuSik decided to get rid of both of us in one shot. That’s why he kept an eye on us all this time.”

Carefully looking around, but seeing only the lonely leafless trees that seemed scary giants from terror stories, SolHi shuddered. Then, for seconds only, she felt that her blood froze in her veins because she compared those trees with all those people who judged her over the years. The reason? She didn’t trust herself or the fact that she was safe even in an isolated place.

Yet… „Am I really safe?” SolHi caught a thought suddenly crossing her mind, something that made her shudder again and look to her left at this time, toward that narrow path that led toward their hideout. „Yes, it may be that I haven’t ever been safe. Not as long as Ha Rin is with me.” SolHi smiled then, bowing her head. „How I didn’t think about this before? Yes, how the hell I haven’t thought about the fact that I won’t ever be safe with her? Not as long as she is still the one who tried to kill me in prison eight years ago and weeks ago when we met each other again. Why? Because… she is still someone whom others hired to kill me, considering me her prey. Ah, Ian SolHi, ah: how stupid can you be?” SolHi hissed all that through her teeth, sitting on the cold ground and leaning her back against the thick cold trunk of a tree, although she knew that it was wrong to stay there when she should have kept running.

She should have… Yes, she should have undoubtedly run away from there, but… „Where?” She wondered again. „Where should I go now? Where? There isn’t any sure port where to anchor the boat of my life. I really have nobody whom I can count on. They erased any name off the list of the people who could have supported me in such tough times and given me some power. They have left me alone with a pack of hungry wolves that are barely waiting to stub their fangs in me and break me into pieces. Yet…”

…SolHi wasn’t ready to give up. No, she didn’t want to give up at that moment because everything was different. It was definitely different from last year when she entered prison like a stupid for allowing others to deceive her through words. At that moment, she already knew the truth and that she was on her own. SolHi also knew that she got DooSan in trouble that night because of her call and that she had to help him get out of that mud. How exactly? She didn’t know. Yet, she intended to find it out later.

„For the moment, we have to take care of close calls,” murmured SolHi with hatred, standing up again. Then, feeling that the fresh wound still hurt her, she frowned. She even gnashed her teeth after that, hating to feel powerless and in pain. Even so, she knew that she didn’t have time to complain, just as she hadn’t ever had time only for her. She didn’t have time for herself since she was still little and had been forced to work just to have bread to eat instead of wasting that time playing with kids of her age in the sand or on the beach.

When she remembered her unhappy childhood, SolHi felt hatred sneaking into her soul again. She felt it for sure because she once again realized that others had always seen her as a victim and that’s why they trampled her under their feet, although she hadn’t ever done anything wrong to them. „I was just… breathing,” she murmured, squeezing her fists. „I was just trying to survive, as I could. Yet, they didn’t care about that. They - people. Just as it seems that my enemies don’t care about this - that I don’t live but survive. Yet, all they want is to see my lifeless body at their feet. Even so, I am sure that they won’t be happy not even then but will do something more to make sure I won’t talk even if they also know that dead people never talk about what they know.”

Undoubtedly, dead people don’t talk. At least, they don’t use words to talk. Even so, they have a story to tell, an interesting one if they find someone smart enough to listen to what they say. Who exactly? Detectives or simple people, those people who still have a sense of duty in their blood and desire to do justice to others. Something that SolHi also intended to do for her and for those she loved - to do justice for everybody. How exactly? Destroying everything she would have met in her way, starting with her worst enemy… the one who had always breathed behind her and never cared that she was a simple human being who also deserved to live her life fully and not only breathe with fear while thinking about tomorrow…