Seeing Jackal leaving Min SinJu’s club and looking toward the place where she was hiding, Ha Rin pulled back into the shelter, behind a car. Then, squatting, she tried to keep an eye on the entrance to the club, not to lose anything that could have happened there. Thus, she saw Jackal approaching the motorcyclist who stopped in front of the club only a minute after Jackal left it. Yet, even though they seemed to know each other, Ha Rin didn’t see Jackal talking to the motorcyclist for more than five minutes, before entering the club afterward.
„Damn it!” Ha Rin hissed through her teeth when she realized that, once again, spying on the club didn’t give them anything. More than this, she’d been forced to lay on her stomach behind the same car where she’d been hiding when the motorcyclist passed by there at full speed. Then, when she made sure she wouldn’t be discovered there, Ha Rin sneaked beside the cars parked there, looking for a new shelter closer to the club. Once there, she made a phone call, furiously hissing through her teeth, „Where are you?” when the one she called picked up the phone. Then, hearing an answer to her question, she calmed a little down. And, deeply breathing in, she said, „Yes, I’m still here. Yet, I haven’t seen Min SinJu tonight. Only my Jackal is around and… your Hamster too. So, if you want to catch a Hamster today, you should make sure you’ll be here any time soon.”
Saying this, Ha Rin sneaked the phone into her pocket, pulled the collar of the jacket closer to her neck when she felt the cold wind intensifying and pulled closer to the car to shelter. By doing this, she thought she’d stay there for other many days without result, as it had happened in the last week. Yet, she’d been wrong because, five minutes after the first motorcyclist left, she saw another one approaching the club. Peering there, she saw the motorcycle stopped in front of the entrance. He was just staying there, with the engine on, doing nothing suspicious. Even so, the fact that he was there made Ha Rin suspect that he was probably waiting for someone.
„Whom is he waiting for this time? More than this, who’s this new guy anyway?”
Suddenly, Ha Rin winced when remembered the guy with whom she’d seen Jackal only a few days ago. This one was shorter than Jackal, and a little chubby, something that made her attentive. This didn’t happen because, all of a sudden, she seemed interested in him but because this reminded her of someone. Of whom in particular? She didn’t remember. She only felt that if she had kept spying on Jackal, she’d also find out who the chubby guy was, whom she named „Hamster!” She also took the photos that SolHi gave to HanSol to identify them.
Why exactly did Ha Rin call that man Hamster? Because when she saw him for the first time, he was chewing an apple. Then she saw him throwing peanuts and sunflower seeds into his mouth and many other things he was finding in his large pockets. Thus, he got to chew all the time. „Like the hamsters before running on the wheel,” she told SolHi when she showed her the photos. „Honestly, I’m still surprised that he doesn’t look like a barrel because he’s eating so much that I have the feeling that he’ll roll on the ground soon - one less problem for us or to be someone to be afraid of.”
Hearing Ha Rin talking like that, SolHi smiled. „Or… he eats us first. Thus, they get rid of problems.” SolHi said that, chortling.
When she remembered SolHi’s joke, Ha Rin smiled. Then, seeing one of Min SinJu’s bodyguards leaving the club and approaching the motorcyclist, Ha Rin sheltered again, afraid not to be seen spying on them. After that, lying on her stomach, she took the phone out of her pocket and started taking pictures, especially of the envelope the bodyguard gave to Hamster.
Staring at the envelope, Ha Rin frowned. „Documents! Yes, judging by the size, it has to be full of documents. Yet… what kind of documents can we find there?”
Feeling someone touching her shoulder, Ha Rin winced. She even involuntarily put her hand to her pocket intending to take the dagger and defend herself. Seeing SolHi next to her and grinning, satisfied, Ha Rin showed her the fangs.
„Couldn’t you show up differently?”
„Like? As a prince on a white horse?”
„No! Like any other normal people and not sneaking around like death just to scare someone,” Ha Rin furiously growled because SolHi managed to scare her to death by showing up next to her so unexpectedly. Yes, Ha Rin was scared a lot, although she knew that SolHi was heading toward that place already because SolHi told her that when they talked by phone a few minutes ago.
„I’ll keep this in mind next time I need this,” replied SolHi smiling, at all bothered to see Ha Rin upset. „Not to show up next to you as Death, I mean.”
„For this to happen, you should survive. Why? As you look today, I have the feeling that you’ve met death already.” SolHi looked at her, confused. „I’m talking about the scratches on your face and neck. Who did that to you?”
„Han DooSan,” replied SolHi calmly, making Ha Rin frown. SolHi smiled instead when she said, „Let’s say that I deserved that! This is a kind of reward for trying to kill him today.”
Ha Rin widened her eyes too much. „You have definitely lost your mind,” she hissed through her teeth. „Don’t you have enough heads to cut? You had to go after Han DooSan’s head too, didn’t you?”
„Let’s just say that it has been a necessary evil.”
„Necessary? For who?”
„For our mission, Ha Rin. I wanted to scare him and make him join HanSol’s team. What I hadn’t expected was that he is brilliant at getting others into trouble and cunning enough so as not to allow others to deceive him easily. Thus, when I tried to surprise him while he was sleeping, I was the one surprised. That’s why I look as I look right now.”
„Hm! Should I take this as a yes to the question that… more people know about the ghost named Ian SolHi?”
„Something like that. Anyway, this is not important or if he is the one to be afraid of, but… those. What’s the deal with them?”
„Should I know that too?”
„You are the one spying on them, don’t you?”
„Yes, SolHi, I’m spying on them. I’m not a Shaman to know what’s the deal with them. Yet, I saw the envelope. It seems to have documents inside. What kind of documents? I have no clue.”
„Let’s find out then,” said SolHi, sneaking beside the car in the same direction from where she approached Ha Rin.
Seeing SolHi leaving, Ha Rin got angry. „Which way?” She hissed through her teeth. „Ia, Ian SolHi, at least once in your life listen to others and don’t look for unnecessary problems!” Yet, SolHi didn’t listen to her advice but kept sneaking in front, forcing Ha Rin to follow her afterward. Not silently but growling for herself, „She never listens to others! Then, when she gets in trouble, others have to watch out for her back!”
„Not that alone,” whispered SolHi when Ha Rin got next to her, hearing part of what Ha Rin said. „About „others saving my ass” - this is not necessary. I can handle this myself.”
„Yeah, right?! You handle this: like the last time in the DOC parking lot when Kim HanSol sent you to hell, right?”
„It’s been necessary, Ha Rin!”
„I also saw that. Where? On your body… five small bruises caused by bullets. If those bullets had been real, you would have grabbed the devil by the throat a long time ago, mistaking him for Min SinJu.”
„Not that Min SinJu isn’t a devil, but… you are also right,” said SolHi, smiling. Then, seeing the motorcyclist heading toward them, she motioned to Ha Rin to pull back to the shelter. After that, when the motorcyclist passed by there without looking at the place where they were hiding, the two women ran toward a dark blue BMW X5 that was parked not that far from that place. And, getting inside the car, SolHi followed the motorcycle at a respectable distance, trying not to be spotted by him.
***
Following Hamster seemed to be more difficult than Ha Rin and SolHi had thought. Yes, SolHi found it difficult to stay close to the motorcycle, although she was sure the young man didn’t notice them following him. Even so, Hamster was racing at full speed on Seoul’s streets, forcing her to step often on the gas pedal.
Seeing SolHi changing gears so assiduously and seeming irritated while chasing the motorcyclist, Ha Rin reproachfully shook her head. Then, she hissed through her teeth, „You are definitely nuts!” She said that the moment SolHi suddenly changed lanes to bypass the car in front of her. Thus, she forced Ha Rin to grab the handle with both hands. After that, calming down, Ha Rin asked, „May I know why or where are you racing?”
„To catch up with that idiot?” SolHi drily replied.
„Or with Death, something that follows on our steps for a while. You should be afraid of Death, SolHi.”
„I don’t see why I have to do that. I mean, why I should be afraid of it when ghosts aren’t afraid of anything.”
„Of course, ghosts fear something. Do you know what?”
„The Sun?”
„Something like that. What you should be afraid for, SolHi, is your life because you have only one.”
„In case you didn’t know that, others have always controlled my life. Now it’s time to do this for myself. That’s why I decided to do everything I can for this to happen.”
„Like… finding Scar, don’t you?”
SolHi grinned, glancing at Ha Rin. „What have you been eating lately that you can read other people’s minds: people?”
„I leave this skill to you. Meanwhile, I’ll be satisfied if I eat a Hamster. That one over there, whose neck I intend to twist as soon as I put my paw on him.”
„Why? Do you like the chubby ones?”
„Hell no! What I like is to have hard soil under my feet while that idiot over there, with his damn race, made me curse my life for entering the same car with a crazy bitch like you today.”
„If you say so,” said SolHi, smiling. „Yet, this crazy bitch knows what she’s doing.”
„Really?! And… what about telling others what you are doing, huh?”
„I intend to catch that one, for starters, and find out what he’s planning. Then… I find Scar. Once I get rid of that one, sending Min SinJu behind bars will be a piece of cake.”
„If you survive, of course. Something I doubt, you know. That we see the Sun tomorrow. Why? Because, besides catching that one in front of us, we have to get rid of the tail first.”
SolHi squinted at her, frowning. Then, finally spotting the five patrols that were following them at full speed, she smiled. „It’s exactly what I was waiting for - to start the show!”
„What someone should start is prescribe you some medicine. Why? You have definitely escaped from an insane asylum,” growled Ha Rin, grabbing the handle when SolHi changed gears again and stepped on the gas pedal, making the engine roar.
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Racing one after another, the line of cars finally got to the highway. There, things really got out of control because of the speed limit that practically didn’t exist in that area. At least that was what those involved in the racing seemed to think at that moment because they cared about nothing else than changing lanes and gears, considering the other cars as simple accessories. Even so, SolHi still felt that she was in a trap at one point, and this happened because of the patrols that had suddenly appeared there from everywhere.
„Patrols that upsetting our plans today,” SolHi growled, changing the lanes again.
„Not only our plans are messed up but that one’s plans over there too,” said Ha Rin, pointing at the motorcyclist. „I think he saw us following him.”
„Impossible not to be noticed with all the fireworks behind us.”
„Friends of yours, right?” Ha Rin ironically asked, making SolHi squint at her. „Don’t look at me like that! You know very well what I mean because… you’ve been part of that gang, right? The gang of turkeys because… I know you’ve been a cop once.”
„Something I’ve never hidden, by the way. Just as I’ve never hidden that those cops and I haven’t ever been in a good relationship.”
„Why? Couldn’t you share the worms between yourselves or something like that?”
„Rather than that, they couldn’t swallow me. Let’s say that I’ve always been a chubby worm they couldn’t catch.”
„Because of Han YuSan?”
„Yes. Yet, not this is the problem now but that idiot. I think he is trying to get rid of us and we will allow him to do that.”
„Have you lost your mind?” Ha Rin yelled at SolHi. „If you allow him to escape, our effort and all the damn difficult moments we’ve been through will be in vain. Besides, if you leave him to run away, we’ll fall for sure into your „friends” trap.”
„Not if we do everything by the book,” said SolHi, taking her phone out of her pocket, which he threw into Ha Rin’s lap. „The number you should dial is on 2.”
„Kim HanSol’s number?”
„No. It’s of someone who’ll watch out for our backs for sure,” SolHi growled. She was damn furious because, even if she had wanted a clean quiet chase, she’d been caught in such a race. „The one you’ll call not only will help us but he’ll also take care of your Hamster not to ever be caught. If this happens, we won’t ever find out who’s behind all this.”
„This goes without saying,” replied Ha Rin, looking back at the line of patrols that kept chasing them. „That we don’t have to allow the cops to catch Hamster. Yet, we should also take care not to fall into their trap. Still, I have no idea how to get rid of them.”
„Just… hold that handle tight!” Said SolHi, suddenly turning left.
By doing this, she made Ha Rin see her entire life passing by in front of her eyes. The reason? By changing the lanes, SolHi drove against the direction of travel, heading straight toward the line of patrols that followed them. Seeing this, Ha Rin started to swear, yelling at SolHi to stop looking for their death at that high speed, not while they still had so many things to do.
SolHi less cared about Ha Rin’s swearing though. All she cared about was to escape that trap and find a safe shelter. For this to happen, she had to get to a safe place first, one that would have helped them to vanish afterward. Yet, to have that chance, she had to give some headaches to her former colleagues. How exactly? By heading straight toward them, forcing the driver, whose car SolHi was about to hit frontally, to pull the wheel suddenly when only twenty meters were left between his and SolHi’s car.
When the driver pulled the wheel so suddenly without telling his colleagues about what he intended to do, he managed to cause a chain reaction. Not only did his car suffer in that accident, which overturned eventually, rolling on the asphalt for a few meters, but other four patrols and a few cars of civilians. „Innocent people I feel sorrow for. Yet, they have to help me this time,” SolHi growled, changing lanes again and heading in the opposite direction to the one she headed before the accident.
Looking behind them, at the accident caused by SolHi intentionally, Ha Rin frowned. „This won’t help us in anything. So, get us out of here, now!”
„It’s what I’m trying to do, Ha Rin!” SolHi shouted, furious. „Yet, the cops disliked the grill I’ve prepared for them. What to do? I can’t get rid of them!” SolHi growled this when she saw a few patrols bypassing the cars involved in the accident and following them at full speed.”
„Then… you should have killed someone! They would have listened to you for sure!
„Have you lost your mind? My intention isn’t to kill someone, Ha Rin. Not innocent people!”
„Something you’ll be forced to do eventually if we keep racing like that, SolHi. Why? We are definitely in a trap with all these cars around.”
„What would you like me to do then? We can’t vanish! Only if the earth cracks and swallows us. Or… we vanish in case this car will be out of gasoline.”
„Damn it!” Ha Rin yelled when she looked at the other cars and saw them still behind them. „What do you intend to do then?”
„Taking a drastic action?”
„Like?”
„Mmm… visiting hell, for example?” SolHi smiled when she looked at Ha Rin. She had a weird grin on her face at that moment, something that hinted to Ha Rin that SolHi was capable of everything at that moment. Ha Rin understood that, in particular, after she dialed that number and SolHi said to the one who answered the call, „I need your help! Now, and… stop questioning me because I really don’t have time for that! Just… do what we agreed upon!” After that, throwing the phone into Ha Rin’s lap, she pressed the gas pedal again, trying to move as far as possible from her chasers.
***
That part of the road, where Riu Te Jun’s car got eventually, was too quiet for that late hour at night. It was quiet all over and the street was empty, although, generally, the detective was sure that enough cars could be seen there. Particularly, that area of the city was known for illegal car or motorcycle races. Yet, nobody was seen there that night, not even the owls were heard around.
„Something damn weird, I think,” the detective told himself, frowning. „It’s damn strange, something I haven’t ever seen before.”
Saying this, the detective looked around, through the front windshield and the windows of the doors. Yet, no matter how hard he didn’t try to see something around, all he saw was the road and the forest to his right. Then, three minutes later after he and his partner, Ma Jun Ho, had gotten there, the sirens of the other patrols were heard approaching that place. „Too late already,” said Jun Ho. „Why? I’m sure they are far away already.”
„Tell me something new,” snarled Te Jun. „To be damn if I had thought about such an outcome.”
„What exactly? That they will vanish eventually?”
„No, that there are still undergoing maintenance on this part of the road,” said the detective, showing his partner the warnings „Maintenance work. Don’t pass!” that was seen on both the edges of the road. „These warnings should have been in the middle of the road and not there.”
„Something that bothers you.”
„Something like that,” said Te Jun, intending to leave the car. He gnashed his teeth eventually when one of the patrols, whose driver didn’t have time to brake, hit the back of their car. Thus, once Te Jun was without the safe belt, which she took off right after Jun Ho stopped the car, slammed his forehead by the torpedo, and then his head by the headrest afterward. This made him dizzy for a few moments.
Eventually, when the dizziness passed, still touching the back of his head that he felt cracking, Te Jun stepped out of the car. He didn’t do that to scold the driver who injured him but to look around. Yet, he didn’t see a big deal around because of the thick darkness. Seeing this, he shouted to the other drivers to turn the headlights on and head the light toward the road where the warnings „Maintenance work” were seen.
„Do you think they took that path to run away?” His partner asked Te Jun, approaching him.
Looking at Jun Ho, Te Jun saw that this one also had a huge bump on the middle of his forehead after hitting the wheel. „Most probably yes,” said Te Jun seriously. „That’s why I say to check that part of the forest. Today, Jun Ho, today!” The detective growled. After that, when Jun Ho approached the patrols to tell the other police officers what the order was, Te Jun took the lantern out of his pocket and headed toward the warnings.
Arriving next to the warnings, Te Jun stopped and carefully looked around. Nothing betrayed the fact that someone passed by there. Yet, this didn’t deceive the detective, who felt that those warnings weren’t there for simply being there. Why? The BMW’s driver vanished too fast, and not in an isolated place but in one where there were a lot of places to hide, places Detective Riu knew very well.
Feeling a slight movement behind him and recognizing his partner by the noise of his footsteps, Te Jun asked, „What about the aid I’ve asked for?”
„It’ll be here soon. Even so, they’ll need about half an hour to get here because of the accident on the highway.”
„We’ll start without them then!”
„Have you lost your mind? We don’t know what waits for us there, Te Jun! We can’t take that risk!”
„What do you want then? To leave them run away? Of course not! Not even dead I’ll allow this, do you hear me? That jerk won’t escape from me. Not after he made me traverse all the circles of hell to get here.”
„Some of the officers say that the driver was a woman,” said one of the cops, approaching the two detectives. Such words made both of them wince.
„Are you sure?” Asked Te Jun.
„Honestly, no, Detective Riu. I only heard on the radio that the driver involved in the accident saw a woman behind the wheel of that car right before the impact.”
„Could he identify her?” Jun Ho asked.
„No, Detective Ma. It’s been too fast and…”
„…he’s probably still in shock. Something that won’t help us eventually even if he remembers her afterward,” growled Riu. „Why? She’s probably far away from here. That’s why we must find her today. So, everybody starts to sweep this forest right away!” He yelled this at the other officers, who left the patrols and were heading toward them. „Even if you have to check into the snake’s hole too, find her and fast! She can’t be too far from here!” Then, not waiting to see if the other officers shared the same ideas as him, Te Jun entered the forest, followed by his partner. The rest of the officers walked behind them because they had an order to follow and couldn’t deny it.
To find the car SolHi drove, they needed about half an hour. Yet, to find it, they traversed all the circles of hell again because the forest was thick and full of traps, something that forced them to change the route often. Eventually, they found it in an isolated place, covered with branches and other things, not to be seen if someone passed by there.
„They hadn’t probably expected that we’d find it today,” Te Jun growled, taking the gun and running toward the car. „They didn’t find any idiot here to believe that because… we found it.”
Nobody was inside the car though. Actually, there was no trace that someone had been there. This enraged Te Jun, who swore again, starting yelling after this, „If I find her, I’ll skin her alive!”
„We have to find her first,” said Jun Ho. „Yet, I don’t think that it’ll be easy, Te Jun. Why? Because… everything points that she’d been helped to escape, and this means only one thing…”
„…we won’t find either fingerprints or DNA in this car.”
„Something like that.”
„Damn it!” Growled Te Jun again, kicking the car.
„Sombe,” Jun Ho sternly told him, seeing the other officers whispering to each other. Then, he approached his partner and whispered into his ear, „Calm down! This isn’t the place or the time to show your nerves. There are enough witnesses around. Or what… are you trying to give us away?”
„I’m not stupid,” hissed Te Jun in his partner’s face. „I’ve been working on this case for so long. I won’t give myself away now. Just… find out whose car is this and you’ll tell only me about this. Only me, did you hear me?” Jun Ho nodded, although he wasn’t totally convinced of this. „We’ll make sure after this that she won’t tell anybody about us.”
When Ma Jun Ho’s phone rang, Te Jun winced. Then, he squinted at his partner’s phone when this one showed him the screen, saying, „It’s the Captain!”
„Answer the damn call!” Detective Riu growled after a few moments of silence. „And… put him on speaker!”
When Jun Ho answered the phone call, everybody heard the Captain yelling, „Riu Te Jun, son of a…, move your ass back to the police station! Now, or I swear I’ll kill you!” Then, not waiting for the answer, the Captain hung up the phone call.
„Do you think he found out?” Detective Ma whispered, hiding the phone in his pocket. „The reason why we are out, I mean.”
„I don’t think so. Most likely, he’s pissed off because we are on the streets without having told him about this first. Anyway, I don’t have time to waste with him. Let’s find the idiot who played us today. We’ll take care of the rest later.”
„What I think it’s that it would be safer for all of us if we return, sombe. Why? Something tells me that the Captain is pissed off not because we are here but because of something else.”
„What makes you think this?”
„Just a hunch. So, listen to me at least this time, and let’s go back! Not empty-handed but with this car. Who knows?! We might be lucky and find some evidence inside.”
Te Jun cooked his nose. He didn’t like to accept that, but Ma Jun Ho was eventually right. His boss wasn’t the type of person to yell at his workers for trivial reasons like the one of leaving the police station without telling his boss first. Even so, it was also an idea because he still hadn’t handed the report to his boss, which that one asked him for a few days ago: a report related to a murder, something he’d been investigating for months but with no result.
When he remembered the report he still hadn’t finished, Te Jun gnashed his teeth. Then, he looked at one of the officers to whom he said, „Call the crane and take the car from here! And… nobody touches anything inside it without my permission, did you hear me?” The officer approvingly nodded. „Now, everybody goes back to the police station!” Te Jun demanded the rest of the officers, also leaving that place along with Jun Ho. Only a few cops remained there to wait for the crane because they knew already that this was important evidence for Riu Te Jun, whom everybody knew as an ogre and didn’t want to mess up with him by losing the car.