A FEW DAYS BEFORE LEE’S DEATH

After he stopped the car and got out of it, Lee suddenly felt someone grabbing his arm. Then, before he realized what was going on, Lee felt the coldness of the fence that surrounded his yard. Lee even moaned when his arm was twisted to his back, feeling as though the arrow of pain had pierced it. This even made him shudder more, a feeling intensified by the coldness of the wall, which his left cheek was touching at that moment.

This weird event wasn’t something the Captain liked. How to like it when he didn’t even have the chance to defend himself, something that hinted to him that he had been too immersed in thoughts lately if he hadn’t felt that someone was approaching him on the sly, intending to hurt him. Even so, Lee didn’t get anxious because he felt that the one who attacked him didn’t want him dead or injure him more than he had done already when he twisted his arm at his back, and this was a point in his favor.

Eventually, when he’d been able to react, Lee tried to see who attacked him. Yet, the Captain couldn’t look back because his attacker kept pressing with his arm over the back of his neck. Then, it was the darkness around, a thick one that could be cut with the knife, something that made it impossible to see something clear around - only a black silhouette right behind him.

Who was the attacker? Lee had no idea. He only felt that it would have been better for him to stay quiet and wait for that one to present himself. Lee did that not because he wasn’t able to defend himself or knock the attacker down while he was well-trained. Yet, he felt that it was safer for him not to look for troubles when everything seemed to be a simple reckoning of someone whom he trampled on the toes.

Lee wasn’t wrong at all in thinking so. Soon after this, he found out the name of the attacker. Who exactly? No one other than Kan, who hissed through his teeth so suddenly, „So, coward, will you look into my eyes this time or hide again?” This question made Lee wince, then frown because… Kan was the last person about whom he would have thought was capable of attacking him behind his back. And, as far as he remembered, he had never done anything to the detective. Only if…?”

Feeling Lee nervous, Kan smiled. „I see that you finally remembered who I am and the reason why I’m here, right? As you seem surprised to see me here.”

„Nea, I’m not surprised,” Lee drily responded. „I’m rather confused because… I’ve never thought that you are capable of attacking someone behind his back.”

„Let’s say I’ve learned this from the best. You, for example, because you are the first one who has stabbed us behind our back. A year ago.”

„Aaa, it’s because of this,” Lee murmured in mockery, although it wasn’t his intention. „You are here for Ian SolHi. Or… am I wrong?”

„No, you aren’t wrong!” Kan growled right into Lee’s ear. „Why? Because I’m not convinced by your reasons to „make justice for others.” Why? Because I know now what kind of bastard you are.”

The last sentence drove Lee crazy. Because of this, he nervously moved, trying to release himself. Yet, he couldn’t do that because Kan, who seemed to have completely lost his mind, kept pressing on the man’s neck with his arm. This even made Lee growl at one point, „What’s wrong with you? Have you lost your mind or what?”

„Absolutely,” Kan told him confidently, staring into the captain’s eyes, whom he suddenly turned to face him. Then, before Lee had the chance to react, Kan pushed him against the wall again, pressing with the elbow on the throat this time. The detective was damn furious that even his eyes were madly sparkling at that moment, and this was so because he felt betrayed. „Like a beaten dog, which was left behind and ignored when he needed to be protected the most. I feel the same now. Do you know why? Because… the one I trusted and whom I considered a real man stabbed us all behind our backs and spat in our souls only because he looked to get some personal profit. This is my problem! Yet, although I know what’s wrong with me, I have no idea what’s wrong with you, Captain Lee! Why? Because I thought we were friends, fighting for the same cause when, in fact, some of us were just bluffing. You for example. The reason? You should tell me why! Just as I ask you to tell me the reason why you killed all of us that day.”

„I have no idea what you are talking about!” Replied Lee, looking elsewhere. „I only did my job.”

„Bulshit! What you did was to protect your back!”

Lee squinted at him. „Do you have something to accuse me of, Kan? If yes, just tell it! Don’t go around the bush, asphyxiating normal people without a real reason to do that!”

Kan burst into laughter, although he didn’t want to laugh at that moment. „With no reason?” The detective finally asked, hissing the words through his teeth. „This is what you think? That I’m here without a reason? If yes, you are stupid! You are just a dog that bites the hand of the one who feeds him.”

It was Lee’s turn to smile. „I heard that before!”

„It doesn’t even surprise me because I’m sure we aren’t the first ones whose neck you have broken to get some profit.”

Such words drove Lee crazy. He even pushed Kan away from him, releasing himself eventually. After that, straightening his back, arms, and neck to chase the numbness away, Lee prepared for a new fight because he was sure that Kan wouldn’t have given up. Yet, he was wrong because Kan didn’t attack him after this. The detective only carefully looked at him, waiting to see what would Lee surprise him with at that time. Kan’s eyes, because of the nervousness caused by the waiting, even started to sparkle savagely.

Suddenly, when the street lamp turned on, to Lee’s right, both he and Kan winced. They did that because it had been so unexpected. It was so for Lee, who thought that it was broken and that it would pass forever until the authorities would replace it. Yet, he’d been once again wrong that night.

He wasn’t wrong about Kan though because the detective, after he could control himself after the scare with the street lamp, fixed his glance on Lee again. Also staring at Kan, Lee compared him to a real fighting dog. Why? The detective’s eyes were injected with blood as though he was drugged. Even his lower jaw was shaking at that moment, something that hinted to Lee that Kan was ready to kill if he had had the chance, and the Captain thought this because Kan looked like he had never seen him before. Even so, „It’s weird,” said Lee suddenly.

Kan frowned. „Do you think so?” Kan asked ironically. „If you think so, it means we are on the same wavelength. I hadn’t been wrong at least this time because I thought that I lost my mind with everything that happened.”

Lee smiled. „It wouldn’t have been anything strange to have lost our mind with everything we have lived.”

„I see you know what I’m talking about and why I’m here.”

„At least I can guess it if I’m not sure. Maybe I’m also sure because all those who have attacked me lately had a single reason to do that: Ian SolHi!”

The detective’s eyes savagely sparkled again. Then, he said in a slightly mocking tone, „You at least don’t forget the name of those you’ve trampled, dog.”

„I don’t like your ironic tone, Kan! Just as I don’t like your insults.”

„What I don’t like is to be fooled. Yet, you did that. You considered me stupid and played with me, just as you did to Han DooSan. Something that surprises me because you have always boasted that he’s your friend and you defend him. You did that: sending SolHi to jail, saying that you did a favor to Han DooSan when you did that favor to yourself, the one who had a lot of things to hide.” Lee frowned again. „What? Are you surprised that I know this? Or… you have thought that we won’t ever find out this, and you’ll keep acting up at your will?”

„As I said, I have no idea what you are talking about,” Lee played the fool.

The Captain’s reaction drove Kan crazy. The detective even punched the wall behind Lee. Then, shaking like hell while staring with hatred at his enemy, he told him, „Stop fooling others, Lee! I know everything. So, tell me: how much have they paid you this time?”

Lee nervously moved. „Paid? What the hell are you talking about?”

„The same thing we talked about before - Ian SolHi! So, stop going round the bush and answer the damn question: how much have they paid you for sending SolHi to jail?”

„You have lost your mind for sure,” Lee hissed through his teeth. „I haven’t sent anyone to jail. Not someone who didn’t deserve it and you know this very well: Ian SolHi accepted her guilt.”

„Or you forced her to accept that guilt. This can also be a probability, can’t it?!”

„Prove it, Kan! Find evidence, not only talk about this!”

„I’ll prove it, don’t worry! I’ll also find that evidence if it’s necessary to have them. And, if I prove that I’m right, Lee, I swear that you won’t go to jail!”

„Aaa, no?! If I don’t go to jail, where will you send me? To the grave?” Lee asked with a certain irony in his voice. Kan bitterly smiled, something that made Lee attentive. „You won’t do that! Do you know why? Because you aren’t a criminal, Kan!”

„Don’t be that sure I won’t do that, Lee. I’ll do it because nobody touches my people without paying for this. You won’t be an exception!”

Out of control, although he also didn’t know why he reacted like that, Lee pushed Kan away from him. He pushed the detective so hard that Kan stumbled to his feet, hitting himself against the car eventually, turning the alarm on. Then, still shaking, Lee squeezed his fists, hissing through his teeth, „Dog!”

Kan, at all bothered by that turnabout, only composed himself. He even strangely smiled after that, staring at the bicyclist who was stopped not that far from them and was insistently looking at them. Then, when he felt that the witness bothered him, the detective hissed through his teeth, „Beat it! This is not your problem!” He even showed his badge to the man, forcing him to go away eventually. After that, when he made sure that no curious eyes were focused on them, Kan slowly turned toward Lee.

Looking at the captain this time, who was still shaking like hell because of his nerves, Kan whispered, disappointed, „At least tell me why you have done this, Lee Do Hun! Or this one: was it worth it to lose everything for nothing?”

Lee didn’t answer. He only squeezed the phone and, biting his lower lip, he looked elsewhere. The detective’s question still buzzed in his ear, squirming him inside too. Then, when he understood that he should have at least answered Kan’s question when he didn’t answer DooSan’s, Lee said in a shaking voice, „It was worth it, you know?! I’m a father, that’s why I’ve done what I’ve done.”

Lee’s response amazed Kan a lot. „Because you are a father?”

„Yes, I’m a father because only the heart of a father can trample his ego and do what I have done, Kan.”

Even more confused than before, Kan kept staring at Lee’s face. Then, when the screen of Lee’s phone turned on, he looked at SoRan’s photo, which Lee showed him. In that photo, Kan saw SoRan on a hospital bed, all bandaged, and connected to AIT.

„This happened ten years ago,” Lee suddenly said. „Since then, my child has been in a wheelchair.”

„And?” Asked Kan resentfully. „What does it have to do with SolHi? As far as I know, SolHi hasn’t been involved in any other tragedy than the one related to Han YuSan’s death. Even so, you made her pay for what happened to your daughter. Why?”

Lee gnashed his teeth. „SolHi doesn’t pay for what has happened to SoRan but because she’s still alive.”

„What?” Kan asked, thunderstruck. „Because she’s alive?”

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„Mmm, because she’s still alive, just as I pay because SoRan is alive. Just as everybody pays for this.”

„Ia!” Shouted Kan, making the surroundings resound. „Speak clearly and don’t go around the bush! What payment? Have you lost your mind or what? Nobody pays because he’s alive. So, stop talking nonsense, Lee!”

Minutes in a row, after he said those words, Lee kept silent. He only squeezed his fists hard and as hard as he squeezed the fists, Lee bit his lower lip, feeling the salty taste of the blood soon after this. Then, when he could control himself, he looked into Kan’s eyes again, telling him, „This is my war, Kan. I’ve started this war and I’ll be the one ending it.”

„Aga, keep telling yourself that!” Kan hissed through his teeth. „You are stupid if you think that’s only your war. Why? Because, the moment you involved SolHi in this madness, you signed your sentence. So, don’t even dare to tell me that’s not so because I have evidence, Lee!”

„Evidence? What the hell are you talking about?”

„About your pact with the devil?” Kan gnashed his teeth. „We all know that devil’s name, by the way! Yet, I won’t prove to you that right now, but something else. What exactly? That you are lying more often than you breathe, Lee! Even so, I’ve been able to find out about the lie you have told SolHi to make sure you „convince” her to accept the guilt, although she wasn’t guilty of anything.”

„Something you won’t ever be able to prove,” Lee shouted. „Why? Because nobody knows what happened that night.”

„Even so, you had the effrontery to make SolHi accept that guilt. Why?”

„Because it was necessary, okay?! She had to enter prison. It was our only chance to find out the truth.”

„You could have found out this truth if you had asked the right people and not the devil,” growled Kan in a rage. Then, giving Lee no chance to ask something more, the detective turned on the record he had on his phone, making Lee attentive. The Captain even winced when he heard a man saying in the record, „It’s my brother, Min Hiok. My pain and my concern are about him and the girl DooSan has met.”

„The girl whom DooSan met? What girl?” Min Hiok asked. Then, it was heard that he opened a can of beer and sipped. After that, nothing was heard for seconds in a row.

The pause of the record gave Lee the chance to ask, „Why do you have a record with YuSan? Where did you get it?”

„This is already my problem. All that you have to do is to keep listening and understand the big mistake you’ve made, son of…!”

Gnashing his teeth, Lee focused his glance on Kan’s phone. The record was still turned on, but nothing was heard after that. Only eventually, Min Hiok’s voice was heard when he asked, „What do you intend to do now, YuSan?”

„What it’s necessary to be done,” was YuSan’s answer. This made Lee frown, feeling that YuSan’s voice shook when he said those words. „I have to do it because… I can’t allow my brother’s son to grow up without his father. I can’t allow this, Min Hiok because… part of my soul is in that girl’s womb. Yes, you heard it well: Ian SolHi is expecting a child from DooSan.”

Lee shuddered. „Ian SolHi?” He asked. Then, he shook his head. „No, this can’t be! I’m sure of this!”

„Just as I’m sure that it is true. The evidence I’ve shown you just what doesn’t lie. Or what? Do you think Han YuSan was lying when he recorded this? Of course not. What was a lie was what you and SolHi told in the Court.”

„A lie?” Lee hissed through his teeth. „What are you talking about this time?”

„About Ian SolHi, who is supposed to have killed Han YuSan because that one didn’t accept the child?!” Lee frowned. „Yeah, that’s right! And, as we have agreed now, tell me: does SolHi know about this or not?”

„To know what?” Lee stuttered this time.

„The truth, Lee. I’m asking if SolHi knows the truth or not. Or… should I ask which „truth” she knows? Wow, no, wait: should I go with her better and let her listen to this record too? Who knows?! Maybe we find out other truths this way. About you, for example!”

„You won’t dare do that!” Lee shouted this time, snapping at Kan and trying to take his phone. He failed to do that because Kan managed to put it into his pocket and take a step back, anticipating the Captain’s reaction. After that, grabbing Lee’s wrist when this one tried to take the phone out of his pocket, Kan hissed right into his face:

„I won’t only dare to do that, Lee Do Hun, but I’ll do it! Why? Because everybody has to know what class of bastard you are.”

„Why?” Lee shouted through tears, releasing himself from the trap of the detective’s hands. „For defending my child?”

„No. For sacrificing someone else’s child, trying to defend your child. I blame you for this: because you didn’t care about SolHi and Han DooSan, who are also someone’s children. Something that I don’t get, by the way: why DooSan? Why did you sacrifice him too? You have always said that you consider him your child. Okay, I understand that it was easy for you to sacrifice SolHi, who was nobody for you, but why Han DooSan? He’s the son of your best friend, the one who blindly believed in you, but whom you trampled too. Why? Don’t you have any saint thing in this world?”

Kan’s words made Lee burst into tears. Then, squatting and supporting his head with his palms, the Captain murmured, „I did what I thought was correct to be done, Kan! I wanted to save my child. I tried to do justice to her. Do I have to be judged even for this?”

„Yes,” replied Kan with contempt in his voice. „I don’t judge you for doing justice to your daughter, but because you’ve killed someone’s soul. This is something that one doesn’t do even to his enemy. Yet, as time cannot be turned back, I’ll also do what I have to do: I’ll tell everyone what you haven’t been able to tell: the truth!”

Suddenly turning his back to Lee, Kan entered his car and stepped on the gas pedal to the brim. Thus, leaving Lee alone, the detective didn’t see him crying for a long time squatting and embracing his knees. Only in the end, when he managed to comfort his soul, Lee raised his head, wiped his tears, and smiled.

Lee smiled so strangely at that moment, as though a monster suddenly awoke inside him. Then, still smiling, Lee stood up and opened the gate to enter his yard. Entering his yard, Lee froze. The reason? A few meters from the gate, he saw SoRan, looking at him with hatred and contempt. And, shaking because of anger, SoRan told him after a few moments of silence, „I can’t believe you did that. I can’t believe that you have fallen so down, Captain Lee Do Hun!”

„I did that for you, SoRan!” Replied Lee in a shaking voice, although he wanted to seem confident. „I’d do it a thousand times more if this assures me that you feel better.”

„Coward!” The girl shouted eventually. Then, turning her back to him, SoRan pushed the wheelchair to the front door.

Lee didn’t follow her, although his first intention had been that. He only smiled! He bitterly smiled that time because her reaction hurt him. Not the words SoRan said had hurt him, but the disappointment and pain seen in her eyes. This made him finally understand how much she suffered with his „betrayal.” Yet, it was too late to change something.

***

PRESENT

When he remembered what happened in front of Lee’s house, Kan sighed. He painfully sighed. Then, supporting his arms on the railing of the roof, he bent his head and sighed again, whispering, „Was it also my fault?”

„Related to what?” DooSan asked, approaching him. Then, seeing that Kan kept silent and insistently looked in front, DooSan frowned. „Detective?” He insisted on finding out an answer to his question.

Kan sighed again. „About everything,” he drily replied. „Especially to… what happened to SolHi because I feel guilty in front of her.”

DooSan frowned. „What the hell are you talking about now?” He asked his older colleague. Yet, he didn’t receive an answer to his question, as it always happened when the „Monster Kan” wasn’t in the mood to explain things. This with „I’m not in the mood to do something,” happened more often to Kan lately, especially after he visited SolHi along with SoRan a few days ago, a visit he didn’t talk about to anybody.

Feeling DooSan’s insistent glance focused on him, Kan looked at the prosecutor eventually. Thus, DooSan could see the pain in the detective’s eyes. Yet, though he looked into DooSan’s eyes, Kan couldn’t keep eye contact for long. That’s why, he looked in the distance again, saying in the end, „You know, I saw the captain a few days ago.”

„Captain Lee? Why?” DooSan asked, confused. „I thought he was abroad.”

„This is what they have always told you. Yet, he hadn’t been abroad. At least not for a long time,” replied Kan, sighing. His answer confused DooSan even more, who also looked at the horizon again.

„You know, detective, this doesn’t even surprise me,” murmured DooSan in the end. „It was too strange… everything they told me. Yet, although I knew he was avoiding me, I always preferred to lie to myself that it wasn’t so.”

„Why?”

„Because it was easier for me to act so than to accept that the one whom I trusted betrayed me. Yes, Lee betrayed me. Even so, I don’t blame him, although I don’t know why.”

„I do that though,” said Kan harshly. The hatred was felt in his voice when he said that, something that made DooSan curious and insistently looked at the detective. Kan, without watching DooSan, took the photos he picked up from the prison’s floor and gave them to the prosecutor. „If you carefully look at them, you will understand why I said that I blame him for what he did.”

DooSan took the photos from the detective’s hand. Then, he carefully looked at them: they were photos of Lee shaking hands with important people. Nothing strange at first glance while the Captain was an important personality and knew a lot of people. Yet, the last photo was the most interesting of all - the photo of Lee shaking Min SinJu’s hand while both men were smiling.

„Min SinJu?” DooSan asked, confused.

„That’s right. It seems that Min SinJu and Captain Lee have had a pact.”

„A pact? What kind of pact?”

„I don’t know, but I’ll find out.”

„Even so, you must have at least an idea of what happens. If yes, tell me, Kan,” insisted DooSan.

Kan hesitated. Then, he looked at the prosecutor, and DooSan could see pain and hatred in the detective’s eyes. „It’s about SolHi, DooSan. I saw her a few days ago.”

This confused DooSan a lot, more than Lee’s betrayal, who preferred to ally with Min SinJu, did. „SolHi? Did you see her? I thought she didn’t accept the visits of any of us. No, I thought she didn’t want to see anybody.”

„I also thought that. Yet, I saw her.”

„Wait a minute,” murmured DooSan, closing his eyes. „How? When? When did you see her? Why?”

„Because it was necessary. Who arranged the visit was Lee SoRan. Only she saw SolHi.”

„Lee SoRan? Lee’s daughter? But, wait, I don’t understand: what do they have in common?”

„As far as I know, nothing. At least this isn’t something we know. Even so, they seem to share a secret.”

„A secret? What kind of secret?

„I’m not sure yet. Even so… I suspect that they have one. Actually, DooSan, the last time I saw Lee, a few days before he’d been killed, he showed me a photo of his daughter, of SoRan. She was on the hospital bed, connected to AI, and bandaged. And, seeing that photo, it reminded me about SolHi: about her suffering and what happened to her that night.”

DooSan shuddered. Then, he covered his face with his palms, trying to calm down. Yet, it was complicated to do that because of his strange feelings. On one side, he was missing the woman he came to love more than his life, but who hurt him when she accepted having killed his brother while, on the other side, he knew that she also suffered eight years ago when she had been taken out of that abandoned warehouse more dead than alive. Then he also felt confused because of Lee SoRan, whom he found out that suffered something similar to what SolHi suffered. Yet, what if they were wrong?! That’s why he murmured eventually, without uncovering his face:

„I thought SoRan had a car accident and she’s in a wheelchair because of this,” DooSan murmured. „At least I was told that.”

„Who? Lee Do Hun told you that his daughter had an accident?”

„Mmm! Yet, he never said what kind of accident. I had imagined that it was a car accident.”

„Do you know when this happened?”

„I think ten years ago or more. Why?”

„Nothing. I was just curious. Yet, if her accident and what happened to SolHi have something in common, it means that the first victim was SoRan, then SolHi.” DooSan looked thunderstruck at him. „Ignore what I’ve said! I’ll find out more about this, in one way or another. Anyway, this is not the only thing I have to tell you.”

„Is there something else than this?”

Kan frowned, hesitating to answer DooSan. Then, deeply inhaling, several times, he put his hand into his pocket. Seconds later, he took his phone out of his pocket and, with a shaking hand, he looked for the audio he gave to Lee to listen to. After finding it, Kan didn’t turn it on right away, but looked straight into DooSan’s eyes, telling him in a sure voice, „Listen to me carefully, Han DooSan, but listen to me very carefully! You know, I’ve been thinking about this for a very long time… if I have to show you this evidence or not. Yet, though I’m not totally sure, I think you have the right to find this out.”

„To find out what, Kan? What the hell are you talking about?” Then, receiving no response from Kan, he tried to take the detective’s phone. He didn’t manage to do that because Kan suddenly hid his hand behind his back.

„Not until you promise me that this stays between us.”

DooSan frowned again. Yet, understanding that if he hadn’t promised, Kan wouldn’t have allowed him to listen to that record, he nodded eventually. Even so, he wasn’t convinced that he could do that. That’s why, accepting Kan’s pact, DooSan crossed his fingers.

„Alright,” said DooSan. „Be as you wish!” Then, he could finally grab that phone. Yet, DooSan hadn’t been able to turn on the record because of Kan, who covered the screen with his palm, something that made DooSan think that the detective was playing with him.

Kan wasn’t playing but was worried. That’s why he said, „It can turn your life upside down, Han DooSan. What you’ll listen to now can change your life. And… there is no turning back for you after this because…”

DooSan didn’t stay to listen to what Kan said. He only pushed Kan’s hand away and turned the record on. After that, he froze when he heard YuSan’s voice:

„She’s pregnant, Min Hiok,” YuSan said. „That girl expects a child. My brother’s child.” Listening to this, DooSan dropped the phone. Then, powerless, he first knelt then sat on that cold cement floor. He stood like this for a long time, staring in front, thunderstruck while the phone, which had a broken screen at that time, kept running that record. „I don’t know how to talk to DooSan about this, Min Hiok. I don’t think he’ll accept to take care of them.”

„What makes you think so?” Iun Min Hiok’s voice was also heard shortly after this, a calm voice, of a person that had nothing to do with that problem.

„The simple fact that DooSan considers that night an adventure. For SolHi, however…”

The rest of what YuSan said were just words that DooSan didn’t listen to. He covered his ears with his palms and pressed them as hard as he could. Yes, he didn’t want to hear that it was his fault for not listening to YuSan’s story about that girl when he mentioned this that night, just as he didn’t know that the child SolHi lost eight years ago was theirs. Yes, that child was theirs…