About an hour after what happened with Joon Won, SolHi finally got to where she had to meet Ha Rin. Better said, she got to a new location, which her ally had sent her while she was on her way there. Besides that, Ha Rin wrote in that message, „We are the hamsters on the wheel this time.”

Reading the message, SolHi frowned. „Hamsters on the wheel?” She wondered. „What the hell is this supposed to mean?” Questions that had no answers in her head. That’s why she called Ha Rin while still driving, but this one didn’t answer the phone, which concerned SolHi. Particularly, she felt preoccupied when she remembered what Moon Joon Won told the one he spoke to by phone, scolding that one for losing the prey.

„It seems that it’s been Ha Rin who escaped them,” she told herself eventually, stepping out of the car and quickening her pace while sneaking toward the small park that was surrounded by darkness.

That place was unfamiliar to her. Even though she’d been living in Seoul for years, SolHi still hadn’t gotten to know the city very well. „Something I should have done right from the beginning: to know each corner of this city. Particularly, I should have done that when I started working as a detective. If I had done that, I wouldn’t have feared even my shadow now. Yet…”

…it was too late for regrets and questions like „what she should have done if…” That’s why SolHi only deeply breathed in eventually and continued advancing. Yet, she couldn’t find Ha Rin, although she was sure that she got to the right place.

To find Ha Rin, she needed about ten minutes. Until this happened, she experienced the same thing as Moon Joon Won when she scared a cat that suddenly jumped from the darkness of a bush. This also scared SolHi a lot, making her take the gun in her hand, thinking that she was attacked. Realizing that her enemy was no one else than a furry devil with four paws and a tail, SolHi smiled, scolding herself this way for being so mean feet. After that, she continued advancing, swearing in her head again when she felt movement on one of the wooden benches next to which she passed by.

This time, not a cat scared her to death but a drunk homeless man, who didn’t get to his hideout but fell asleep on that bench in the park, covered with newspapers by God knows what good Samaritan. „Or… wasn’t he that drunk and covered himself?” SolHi wondered, reproachfully shaking her head and scolding herself for chickening.

Eventually, she got to a place that seemed darker than the others. „A place I have the feeling that’s the center of this park.” Yet, once she had no idea about how that place was planned, all she could do was trust her gut and continue advancing.

A moan that was heard from her left made her wince again and grab her gun. A second moan made her hold her breath and squeeze the fingers around her gun while her index finger stuck on the trigger, ready to pull it in case she’d been forced to defend herself. She’d have definitely done that if she had had to do it. Yet the thought that „It might be Ha Rin” made her hesitate. And, once she didn’t have another way to check this, she took her phone out of her pocket, turned the lantern on, and headed toward the place from where she heard the moans.

Seeing Ha Rin crouching next to the thick trunk of an old tree made SolHi’s heart stop in her chest for a few moments. Then, a third moan heard from Ha Rin made that heart madly beat in her chest and her ears buzzed. The reason? She got scared so much seeing Ha Rin like that. Particularly, it scared her to hear her painful moans, a hint that „She’s hurt!” SolHi whispered. After that, hiding the gun behind her back, she quickened her pace toward Ha Rin, asking her, „What’s wrong with you?”

Ha Rin didn’t answer her question, something that amazed SolHi so much. Yet, she didn’t insist on finding out what was wrong with the other woman. All SolHi did was squat next to Ha Rin and, with slow moves, she turned the wounded woman toward her, illuminating her from top to toe with the phone. Yet, SolHi did so that the light of her phone was not to be seen from far away and gave them away that they were there. Even so, she clearly saw Ha Rin’s hands pressing on a deep wound she had on the right side of her belly and the blood that squirted through Ha Rin’s fingers, making her often gnash her teeth.

„What kind of weapon?” She asked Ha Rin when she could control herself. Ha Rin said nothing though. „Ha Rin, I asked you what kind of gun,” SolHi insisted on finding out an answer, using an authoritarian and stern voice this time.

„Bullet,” replied Ha Rin eventually, opening her eyes and looking at SolHi, whom she saw so weakly. „He shot as soon as he saw me following him. I couldn’t even shelter, so fast everything happened.”

„This means he’d seen you following him.”

„Most probably yes.”

„Which of them shot you? Hamster or Jackal?”

„Jackal! He wasn’t alone but along with other fives.”

„He’d been prepared then,” SolHi growled through her teeth, frowning - she was outraged.

Ha Rin weakly nodded, powerless. After that, she said, „Honestly, I didn’t realize that I was also followed. I was too immersed in my thoughts. That’s why I’ve been caught so easily.”

SolHi frowned again. „Did they touch you?”

„No. I noticed them at the last moment when we were heading toward the big park from downtown. Better said, we were in the park already when I saw them, heading north.”

„Where is darker than wherever else and there’s nobody at this hour.”

„That’s right: the perfect place to get rid of someone. Why there? I realize only now: that the trap was there, the place where I should have breathed my last breath. Yet, it’s strange!”

„Why?”

„Because… there’s a public place. I thought that he’d choose a more isolated place to get rid of me. Yet, Jackal chose that place. Why?”

„Most probably, he chose that place because he didn’t want to kill you.”

„Are you saying that he tried to scare me or warn me about not following him anymore or I can end badly?”

„No. I’m thinking that, perhaps, they wanted to leave your body there once they would have finished their job.”

„To be found by someone at dawn and finish this weird story with the two of us after we escaped prison, once and for all. And, once you are „dead” now, they thought about sending me to you.”

„It’s a theory. Yet, once we don’t know what else could cross their mind, I say not to guess too. We can find this out only if we catch one of them. So, tell me, if you see them again, can you recognize them?” Ha Rin shook her head. „Why?”

„It was too dark there and I couldn’t see their faces. Better said, I only saw their silhouettes, from far away while they sneaked toward me. Seeing them there should have alerted me. Yet, it didn’t. I thought that they weren’t following me but Jackal. I’ve been wrong though and, for stupid, I’ve fallen into their trap.”

„Even so, you escaped. Miracle?”

„I guess so because, the moment I told myself, „That’s enough, Ha Rin: get lost from here because all this stinks” and I turned my back to Jackal, intending to sneak North, he suddenly turned toward me and fired his gun.”

„That promptly?”

„Yes. His gesture surprised even me because I am sure that I made no noise when I turned my back to him.”

„It’s also possible that you didn’t realize that.”

„You are right. Anyway, it’s strange because… even if he shot that bullet toward me, it touched my belly and not my chest. If he had targeted my heart…”

„…you’d have shaken hands with the devil by now. Yet, once you don’t do that, even if you look as if you’d do it any time, I say to hit the pike and find a doctor for you. The wound, even if I didn’t see it, seems to look bad.”

Ha Rin grinned. „Are you saying this to a doctor?”

„No. I’m telling this to a fugitive who is about to turn into a ghost. One that, although she’s a doctor, she still cannot help herself. So, as you can’t deceive death alone, allow me to do that for you. Thus, I’ll wash some sins from my soul too.”

Ha Rin burst into laughter. „If you talk about the time I saved you in jail and after we escaped prison, don’t bother! It’s not worth the effort,” she said, gasping when she turned toward SolHi, who frowned. „I’m talking about the fact that you shouldn’t return all the favors I’ve done to you.”

„I think I should do that. Why? Because… Those with a big heart, who also helped me in the past, have taught me so: any help or favor must be paid back. So, don’t make me feel guilty in front of my previous teachers, and be a good girl!”

„If you say so. Anyway, even if you don’t help me, I’ll still survive.”

„Are you sure?”

„Yes. Why? Because… I am that kind of vagabond cat, which, no matter from where she’s thrown off, she still lands on all her four paws.”

„Maybe you are right. Yet, you forget one thing, Ha Rin: even the cats have a limited number of lives and you have already reached that number a very long time ago.”

Saying this, SolHi put Ha Rin’s arm around her shoulders and helped her stand up. Hearing that Ha Rin burst into laughter again after she’d moaned first, SolHi frowned. „It’s not a big deal anyway,” Ha Rin told her when she felt SolHi was concerned. „I’ve been through worse things and I’ve survived. This won’t kill me.”

„I believe you when you say that. Yet, I can’t understand one thing: why Jackal is trying to get rid of you when he’s alive thanks to you.”

„Honestly? I have no clue about this. No, wait: I suspect that he does that to survive. If it’s true or not, I’ll find out as soon as I catch him.”

„To catch him and pull out his Jackal’s fangs, you should survive first. Something we’ll deal with as soon as we enter the car.”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Ha Rin frowned. „Where are we going anyway? HanSol’s house isn’t safe now.”

„I also know that,” said SolHi, taking Ha Rin by surprise. „I’m more than sure of this, better said because… I’ve barely escaped a former DOC agent tonight. One that’s in a close relationship to your Jackal by the way.”

„And this is even stranger than what happened to me.”

„Are you talking about Jackal being involved with DOC?”

„No. I was talking about that former agent that works with a guy like Jackal. Coincidence?”

„Nea. It’s nothing like that because… I’m sure they have been working together since long ago. Most probably Moon Joon Won is involved with them before being a DOC agent. Yet, even if I suspect this, it is less probable that we’ll ever find out if it’s true or not.”

Saying this, SolHi leaned Ha Rin against the car and opened the right rear door. Then, she helped Ha Rin lay on the rear seat, frowning when the injured one powerfully gnashed her teeth the moment she crouched on that seat. „You could have given me a painkiller or something. Who knows?! Sleeping, it would have been easier for me to face death.”

„It’s why I haven’t given it to you,” said SolHi, smiling. „Feeling the pain will also make you want to fight. Besides, I can’t give you any pills before a doctor sees you. You know why: if you need surgery…”

„All I need is a needle and a thread to sew this wound because the bullet passed through my body. If not, the bleeding will definitely kill me.”

„Maybe! Yet, as I’m not a doctor, I prefer a real one to see you.”

Ha Rin squinted at her. „In case you have forgotten this, you’re talking to a real doctor now.”

„No, I haven’t forgotten that. Just as I haven’t forgotten the fact that I’m not sure that it’s true what you say. And, if I’m not mistaken, you said once that you were a doctor for beasts. So, veterinarians cannot heal wounds like yours.”

Saying this, SolHi weirdly grinned, rushing to close the door. The reason? She was afraid that she could have endangered both of them if they had stood there for longer. Eventually, Jackal and his friends could have still been around, trying to find Ha Rin as they did on the mountain when they tried to kill the two women while they were asleep. And, once she didn’t want to measure forces with them again, SolHi decided that it would have been safer for both of them if they had hit the pike as soon as possible.

***

The first punch on the front door made GhiYon jump in his bed, frightened while the second one made him frown. „What the hell is that supposed to mean?” He wondered, growling the words through his teeth when a third one followed the first two punches. All this frightened him to death. Even so, he decided to check what the deal with those punches on the door was and, on tiptoe, he got out of bed and approached the bedroom door, which was half-opened.

It had been damn quiet for the next two minutes. Yet, this made him even more nervous than he already was, although he should have calmed down already. The reason? „It’s the calmness before the storm. Yes, it’s undoubtedly that. Yet… why?”

GhiYon didn’t find an answer to his question because he had no idea who came to his door at that early hour. „Something I would have been sure of if I had had surveillance cameras. Yet… who should convince my wife that we need them? According to her, those cameras would endanger us more than help. Yeah, right: she would have agreed now that we need them if she’d been around.”

His wife wasn’t home that night though. Actually, GhiYon was all alone at home at that moment, something that made him feel cold beads of sweat running down his back for minutes in a row after he had heard those punches on the wooden door. Then, when it was easier on his soul again, still hearing nothing outside, GhiYon got some courage and finished opening the door. After that, sneaking, he approached the stairs that led to the first floor.

Before descending the stairs, he changed his mind and returned to the room. He didn’t stay there for too long. GhiYon returned there only to grab a scalpel, which he found in one of the drawers of the nightstand. Why was the scalpel there? He had to think about that later. For the moment, finding it there had been damn useful to him, although „It would have been safer for me if I had a gun. Yet, once I don’t have this luck, at least not tonight, I say to defend myself with what I can. Yet… what if the owner of those punches has a gun and uses it? Should I call the cops then?”

GhiYon reproachfully shook his head. „Don’t be stupid, Park GhiYon: if that one had come here with wrong intentions or to paint you a bullet hole in the middle of your forehead, he wouldn’t have knocked on the door first. I also don’t think that he’s a thief because he wouldn’t have let me know that he was here. You know: I apologize but… once I’m here to steal from you, I say to use the front door to enter the house, informing you first. Nea, if he’d been a thief, he would have simply entered, stolen what he wanted to steal, taken my life maybe, and hit the pike as he entered - through the back door and not using the front one to be seen by the neighbors. Even so, it’s strange that he punched the door and not simply knocked on it, using two fingers.”

Such great thoughts crossed GhiYon’s mind while he carefully descended the stairs. Nothing was heard while he descended them because he was barefoot at that moment just to make sure that nothing would have impeded him from hitting the pike in case he’d been forced to save his life. Even if GhiYon tried to seem courageous, the fact was that he was just a chicken, who considered that even if the run was something shameful, it was also something helpful and healthy.

Finishing descending those stairs, still squeezing the wooden railing with his left hand while his right hand squeezed the scalpel, GhiYon stopped and listened again to what was going on behind the door. There was damn quiet though, something that made him think. „Did he go away? Yes, he might have gone. Or maybe not because… I don’t think that he punched the door three times only to hit the pike so easily. Then? Is he trying to enter this house by using the back door?”

This new thought made him wince. Then, on the sly, he approached the back door, sticking his ear to it while trying to hear what was going on outside. He didn’t hear anything behind that door though, something that brought him back to the front door, to which he stuck his ear too, just to make sure it was also quiet there. By doing this, the man had been inattentive and hit the scalpel to the doorknob, making a strange sound be heard around. The sound made GhiYon curse his luck after a hot iron had crossed his heart. Particularly, this happened when he heard SolHi growling at him from behind that door, „Open this door, you, lover of dolls! If you don’t do that and someone sees us here, I swear I’ll turn you into one of your beloved dolls.”

GhiYon widened his eyes, asking in a shaking voice, „Ian SolHi?”

„Not Death, who might have come after you,” she reproachfully said. „Now that we introduced each other, what about opening this fucking door?”

GhiYon reproachfully shook his head again while unlocking the door. „As kind as always,” he told SolHi when he saw her in front of the door, with Ha Rin hanging to her neck. Seeing them there and Ha Rin looking so bad, Park GhiYon seemed surprised. Then, he pulled back, allowing SolHi to pass by him, heading toward the sofa.

Next to the sofa, SolHi grabbed the blanket that was on the back of the sofa and put it on it. Then, she helped Ha Rin to lie on the sofa. And, turning only her head while she looked at the open door, next to which GhiYon still was, she hissed through her teeth, „Will you stay there for longer?”

GhiYon shrugged, bored. „What do I know?” He ironically asked. „Perhaps! I mean… if Death really comes, at least I’ll save her some energy and myself by leaving this door open.”

SolHi slapped her forehead. „I thought Han DooSan was paranoid. You are worse than him. Even so, you are wrong: Death is too busy today to stop by here.”

„Why? Did you take care to keep her busy elsewhere?” GhiYon joked. Seeing SolHi strangely grinning, he frowned, asking, „Don’t tell me that she’s around?”

„Not yet. However, she’ll come if you don’t close that door. Before that, make sure nobody saw us entering this house. After that, move your ass to the kitchen!”

„Why? Do you intend to cook at this late hour at night?” GhiYon deadpanned. Glancing outside and seeing that nobody was around, he rushed to close the door and approached SolHi, who had already taken the tablecloth off and helped Ha Rin climb on that table.

Seeing Ha Rin lying on the same table on which he used to put his breakfast, GhiYon frowned again. „Not this kind of prey I expected to see on this table at this hour. Yet, once you have brought it already, I say to cook it. Before that, tell me: who hunted her? You?”

SolHi squinted at him. „Do I look like a stupid?” She hissed through her teeth. „I don’t think so because… I’m not the kind of person who shoots first and takes the victim to the doctor later.”

„To the forensic doctor, you mean. In case you have forgotten, I’m taking care of „ghosts” and not of alive people.”

„You’ll make an exception today,” SolHi growled into his ear, making GhiYon wince. „If not and if she turns into a ghost, I’ll show you what it feels to live among us.”

GhiYon showed her his fangs. „Did someone ever tell you that when you are a guest in someone’s house, you should behave like one?”

„Not really. Why? Things work differently in the world of the ghosts. If you don’t believe me, I can help you to also see things differently,” she deadpanned. After that, she slowly punched her palm, to let GhiYon know that she wasn’t joking.

„Yeah, Yeah, I got the point: you don’t taste my jokes. Yet… why am I even surprised? Once you made Han DooSan lose his head for you, I should have known already that you are the same devil. It’s definitely this because you are the only ones who are crazy enough to play the superhero game when you should have simply vanished. As far as I remember, or at least it was so last time I checked, you were a ghost, right?”

SolHi frowned, staring at him as though trying to say to him, „Are you stupid?” After that, deeply breathing it, she pulled the aid kit from GhiYon’s hand and started to slam the things from it on the table, making the forensic doctor often frown.

„Could you be gentler with my stuff?” He asked, taking the aid kit from her hand. „In case you have forgotten, these are my things. Or, once you aren’t alive anymore, you don’t care about such things?”

„You can say it so. Also, I’ll be grateful to hear from you that we are alone. Not the other, but… I don’t need to add more witnesses to the already long list of those who know that I’m alive.” GhiYon burst into laughter. „Did I say something comic?”

„Absolutely. Why? Because… I still remember those five bullets you received in the DOC parking lot. Bullets that definitely wrote your name on the list of the dead ones and not of the alive ones. Yet, if you say you are alive, I might be wrong, right?”

„Are you in the mood for bad jokes or what?” SolHi furiously growled.

„Why not? Eventually, the first one to make a bad joke about me was you, right? What kind of joke? „The lover of dolls,” a joke that everybody knows about, by the way.”

„If you speak about HanSol, forget it! It wasn’t my intention to tell her about how beautifully I’m spoiling you. Even so, I’ve told her, particularly when I’ve seen you calm when your friend suffered a lot.”

GhiYon stared at her. „And? What should I have done according to you? To embrace Han DooSan and rock him like a baby until he stops missing you?”

„No. You could have simply been with him.”

„I’ve been there. With my thought,” the forensic doctor said, grinning.

SolHi squeezed her fists. Then, she deeply breathed in, hissing through her teeth afterward, „It’s better to live with the wolves in the forest than have friends like you.”

„Carefully insulting me, Ian SolHi,” GhiYon sternly told her, „threatening” her with the needle for sewing wounds. „If not, you can go and look for another „vet” for your prey.”

„You’ll take care of that. If not, who knows, you might feel how that scalpel you hide in your pocket bites your skin.” After that, not paying attention to GhiYon’s sour face, who didn’t feel safe after SolHi had discovered his defense trick, she mechanically put the latex gloves on, using alcohol to disinfect them first. After that, she took the scissors from the aid kit and carefully cut Ha Rin’s T-shirt, revealing the still bleeding wound.

Seeing her wound, GhiYon frowned. „It looks like hell,” he told Ha Rin when this one forced a smile.

„Tell me something new, doc. Even so, I still prefer you to do your job without anesthesia.”

„Are you sure? It’ll hurt like hell.”

„Still, I prefer it. Why? I prefer to be conscious if the one with the scythe comes from me. Who knows? I might be lucky to get rid of her if I’m not asleep.”

Hearing her talking like that, GhiYon smiled. „If you say so,” he airily said. After that, pouring some alcohol on the wound to disinfect it, the wound on which he pressed after that, he made Ha Rin lose her conscience. „Better now,” he joked, still giving her an injection of anesthesia.

„Better for who?” SolHi asked.

„For everybody. Why? I don’t trust the two of you. That’s why I prefer her asleep and quiet while you are around me. And now, ghost, be quiet too and give me a hand with this!”

Saying this, GhiYon started sewing the wound. Yet, on the sly, he still watched SolHi from the corner of his eye. Why? He was worried to see her pale face, a hint that she hadn’t slept well lately. More than that, he was also worried for his friend because his suspicions that SolHi was alive came true, and this involved more problems for everybody, particularly for Han DooSan, whom he would have wanted away from problems but who seemed to look for those problems at any cost.