When Yun Marie finally got home, it was already past 9 p.m. It was not a late hour for the rest of the world but late for Marie because she had felt numb and tired all day, hinting that she needed a little bit of time only for her. That’s why she told SonUn before leaving the car, „You can leave earlier today. I feel the urge to be alone and not work as usual.”

„Got it, Prosecutor Yun,” replied Secretary Kim, as he was always answering when Marie told him something. He was still calling her Prosecutor Yun, though Marie hadn’t worked as a prosecutor for eight years already.

Touching the door handle to open it, Marie suddenly stopped. The reason? She felt something strange while looking at her house. Even so, she didn’t tell her secretary about this. She only told herself, „No matter what, I’ll handle this alone.” After that, she opened the door and stepped out of the vehicle.

Not only Marie left the car but also SonUn. He even took a few steps behind her when Marie headed toward her house, telling her in half a voice, „Something is different tonight. That’s why I think it’ll be safer for you if we leave now, Prosecutor Yun.”

„It’s okay,” Marie told him confidently. „I’m sure I can handle this alone.”

„But, Prosecutor Yun: it can be dangerous because…”

„…we don’t know who might be around. I know that. Even so, I’ll take the risk. You can go now.”

Not at all convinced that Marie’s decision was the right one, SonUn stepped back, moving from in front of her. Then, until Marie could move from her place, he told her, „What about your son? To continue to follow him?”

Marie kept silent for a while. Then, deeply breathing in, she said, „Not necessary. Once DooSan realized that you were following him, if you keep doing this, it’ll be bad. Leave him alone for the moment and take care of the second thing I’ve asked you for.”

„Got it, Prosecutor Yun. Actually, I’ve already started investigating that thing. I hope I’ll have the information tomorrow morning. Yet, once all this don’t depend on me only…”

„…you might be late in informing me. I know this very well, so it won’t be a problem to wait one or two days more. Now, you can go, Secretary Kim!”

Not waiting for SonUn’s answer or finding out if he finished speaking or not, Marie headed toward the front door. In front of the door, she stopped and looked around, seeing the front headlights of the car lit when SonUn turned the engine on and was ready to leave. Even so, Marie entered the house only when the car vanished at the crossroads where her secretary turned right, and the gate automatically closed after her secretary had used the remote control to close it.

Before entering the house, Marie carefully looked around, feeling that she wasn’t alone there. Yet, she didn’t see anything suspicious. That’s why she decided that maybe she had had visions because she was exhausted and put the key into the lock, opening the door and making minimal noise.

Once in the house, she stopped next to the door. Marie did that when she felt the cold currents of air coming from the big glass window that separated the living room from the garden of roses, a door that was half open at that moment. „Did I forget to close it?” Marie wondered, frowning. Remembering that she closed it well when she left and that she also closed the curtains when they were opened at that moment, Marie smiled. „I didn’t have visions though,” she told herself, finishing closing the door behind her and leaving the key in the small metallic vase in the form of a turtle she had on the stand next to the door. On the same stand, she left the purse, taking a few steps in front afterward.

After about ten steps taken toward the door of the garden, Marie stopped, feeling a slight move on the sofa from her left. Looking over there, she spotted someone’s silhouette, who was sitting on that sofa, a silhouette that seemed familiar to her. Who’s silhouette she had seen? Marie couldn’t remember. Yet, this didn’t scare her.

On the contrary, „If she’s been courageous to come here and calmly waited for me to enter, though she wasn’t sure that I’d enter this house alone, it means that this silhouette has something important to tell me.” Then, although Marie concluded that, she still didn’t say a word for a few moments. The same did the shadow, who seemed to spy on Marie from the darkness of the living room.

Eventually, SolHi smiled. „I thought you’d run away, Yun Marie. I’ve been wrong though because… you haven’t only entered the house alone but also approached me, though I’m sure you’ve seen me here. What can I say? I’m really impressed.”

Finding out that her supposition was true and that SolHi was alive made Marie frown. It was all she could do at that moment: to swallow her pride and talk to the one whom she would have wanted away from her and from DooSan. Yet, this didn’t happen. On the contrary, everything got out of control, „From the very day DooSan decided to work only with her team,” Marie told herself, heading toward the terrace door, which she closed with a bang. After that, she trotted the curtains and, still squeezing the cloth in her hand, Marie gnashed her teeth, whispering to herself, „Something I should have impeded from happening no matter the consequences. Yet, it’s too late for that.”

With such thoughts in her head, Marie released the curtains eventually and approached the lamp that was on the small table from the left of the terrace door that separated the living room from the garden with YuSan’s roses. A lamp that Marie turned on soon after this, looking at it and not at SolHi when the light had violently pierced the darkness of the room and outlined the silhouette of her enemy. Only then did Marie dare to glance at SolHi, who kept sitting on that sofa, with her arms leaning over its back and staring at her.

Looking at SolHi, Marie saw a strange satisfaction sparkling in her eyes. Yet, though she clearly saw that sparkling, Marie said nothing about this. She only approached the liquor table and poured something into a glass, from which she took a good sip eventually, swallowing the bitterness of her soul with that sweet-bitter liquid. Only after that, she sat on the armchair that was on the right of the lamp and looked at SolHi for a long time, who didn’t lose sight of her.

The fact that she realized that SolHi’s hair was that short, though she’d been having long hair all those years they knew each other, amazed Marie a lot. It also amazed her SolHi’s glance, which wasn’t the same as usual: of a wounded beast but of one that got power and trust. „Something that shouldn’t surprise me,” Marie told herself eventually. „Not after everything she’s been through because… it was normal for her not to be the same. Actually, why am I even surprised? The painful events we’ve experienced all these years have changed all of us and not only her.” Marie whispered these last words only in her head, looking at the dance of the liquor on the glass wall of the cup, which she kept slowly rotating in her hand.

Suddenly, Marie stopped the controlled movement of her hand. She did that when she realized that, for the first time she knew SolHi, she didn’t feel hatred for her. Why? Not even Marie knew that. All she knew was that her feelings for the rival at the heart of the only son she still had alive changed and this happened after she’d seen the video DooSan uploaded online. How did Marie have the original of that video? She got it from SuJin, whom she contacted with the help of her secretary, asking him for a copy of the entire video and not only of those fragments they had posted online.

Watching that video, Marie felt her blood freezing in her veins. This happened when she’d seen SolHi hitting the head of that YuSan in black. After that, watching the video once again, more carefully this time, she realized that there were two YuSan in that place and that SolHi might not have been the one who hurt her son. This made Marie have strange feelings related to „YuSan’s assassin” as she’d been calling SolHi over the years. Yet, not even watching that video made Marie forgive SolHi or accept her as DooSan’s partner, although she was sure that DooSan wouldn’t give up on SolHi for anything in the world.

When she remembered that, Marie frowned. She did that, thinking that SolHi should have been the one to ask her for forgiveness for that fatalistic night. Yet, Marie didn’t talk to her about this but only said, „Why are you here?”

„Because… I’ve missed you?” SolHi ironically asked. „Particularly, I’ve missed this house,” she added, carefully looking around and stopping her glance over the stairs that led to the second floor. Stairs that SolHi knew very well because „Those are the same stairs you climbed eight years ago, stopping half through climbing them and looking at me with hatred, though I came here to ask you for forgiveness. Better said, I came here to ask you to leave me alone, once the Superior Court of Justice declared me innocent. Yet, instead of your acceptance to leave me alone, you told me that day that Justice is blind and that you’d bring justice to yourself alone.” Yun Marie frowned. „Yes, Prosecutor Yun: these are the words you said that day - that „you won’t leave me alone, not until seeing me crushed under your soles like a stinky bug as I was considered by you.” An appellative I haven’t ever understood because, as far as I remember, I haven’t deserved it.”

„Do you think so?” Marie asked her, smiling. „That you didn’t deserve that appellative? I think differently because… let’s not forget that my son died because of you.”

It’s been SolHi’s turn to frown. Then, supporting her elbows on her knees, she leaned in front, staring into Marie’s eyes. Seeing them so empty and careless, she frowned again when she said, „Something you couldn’t ever prove, Marie.”

„Marie?”

„Yes, Marie. Or what… do you think that I’ll keep talking and looking at you with respect only because you are DooSan’s mother? Of course not! I’ll talk to you as you deserve. Better said, I’ll talk to you as we both deserve: like a hyena to another one. You can’t deny the fact that what we want at this moment is to see the other one knelt in front of us and begging for forgiveness, right?”

„You are wrong now,” said Marie in a low voice, looking at the liquor from her glass, which she started rotating slowly again. „I’m not waiting for your excuses anymore.”

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

„Can I know why?”

„Because… I’m tired. Yes, it’s this: I’m tired of waiting for the excuses of the woman for whom YuSan died that night.”

SolHi winced. „For whom YuSan died that night? Are you trying to say that Prosecutor Han died protecting me?”

„Yes.”

„I wouldn’t be that sure if I were you,” stated SolHi, making Marie suddenly wince. Then, Marie smiled.

„You aren’t sure that it’s true what I say?” SolHi shook her head. „Why?”

„Because I’m not sure that Han YuSan died that night.” This answer made Marie swallow hard. Marie did that not because she was afraid that SolHi could find out her secret or something but to find out that SolHi suspected something.

„What makes you think that not my son died that night?” She asked SolHi eventually.

„Thoughts,” replied SolHi drily. „Memories, better said. Memories related to that night and to two identical faces who hurt not only my body but also my soul.”

„Two identical faces? Are you trying to say that…”

„…I’m sure you’ve also seen the video DooSan uploaded online, the one where Han YuSan is double seen there. One of them wore black clothes while the other one a grey suit. Yet, although I saw both of them there, something I remember now very well, I’m not sure which of them was the real Han YuSan, the man born from your womb, Marie.”

What SolHi said made Marie think because, although she’d seen the same thing as SolHi in that video, she hadn’t ever thought about the fact that SolHi couldn’t understand who was the real YuSan. Even so, she said nothing about this. Marie only kept silent, calmly waiting to see what SolHi would say or do afterward. Yet, SolHi also kept silent, for a very long time, remembering not that fatalistic night but the day she came to Marie’s house to ask for forgiveness, receiving only slaps in the end.

Honestly, what Marie told her that day convinced SolHi to enter the Police Academy and become a detective. She wanted to prove to her rivals and enemies that she was stronger than they thought she was and that it wasn’t that easy to kneel her. Not only Marie’s words convinced her but also all those meetings she had with DooSan, meetings that always left a bitter taste on the top of her tongue. Even so, becoming a detective and managing to stand up again, she managed to take a huge step in front, planning to take revenge too. Who did she want to take revenge on? On the two Han, who literally trampled her under their feet, turning her into a wounded beast, who was always defending herself using her teeth and not her brain.

What SolHi hadn’t expected when she decided to become a detective was that her plan would fail the moment she accepted to work with DooSan and live with him later. Thus, she started to see him differently, feeling also things for him. Even so, SolHi was sure that she couldn’t forget the humiliation she experienced because of him and his mother and that, sooner or later, she would have asked them to pay her back for all those words Marie told her in her house when she felt trampled.

Years later, returning to Marie’s house where she humiliated her seven years ago and warned her that she would crush SolHi under her feet like a bug, SolHi didn’t feel fulfilled. On the contrary, she felt great pressure over her chest. „As though guilt is still here and doesn’t allow me to breathe.”

Marie smiled. „You can get rid of this guilt easily, Ian SolHi. How? By asking for forgiveness: here and now.”

SolHi also smiled. „To ask for forgiveness for what? For being a victim eight years ago?”

„No, because, as I said, my son died trying to protect you,” stated Marie, pouring more liquor into the glass after finishing what she had poured before that. „Yet, you are also right: you’ve also been a victim that night, as it happened to YuSan. Nevertheless, now talking about this, you also saw that video, right?”

„Shouldn’t I have seen it?”

„Of course not! It was your right to see it. At the same time, if DooSan had hidden that video from you, it wouldn’t have been good for any of us. Why? Because… all of us deserve to know what really happened that night. Even so, the fact you know certain things doesn’t help you too much, SolHi.”

„Can I know why?”

„You are a fugitive, right? Oh, no, wait: you are officially „dead.” Thus, once the dead ones never revive, my son is also safe, away from you, I hope.”

„Aaa,” exclaimed SolHi, ironically smiling. „DooSan!”

„Yes, I’m talking about DooSan now, the only child I still have and whom I’ll protect even from you, Ian SolHi. Why? I’m sure that I’ll lose him too if he stays with you.”

„Are you sure of that?!” SolHi asked Marie with certain malice in her voice. „That you buried one of your children, I mean.” Marie swallowed hard, something SolHi clearly saw and made her smile again. „I’ve been right, Marie: you are hiding things. Is it that you also hide Han YuSan?”

„Don’t talk nonsense, Ian SolHi!” Marie said through her teeth, suddenly standing up. By doing this, she didn’t pay attention to the glass she still squeezed in her hand by then, which she dropped on the floor. In contact with the floor, the glass broke into pieces, spraying with sweet-bitter drops all around.

Her „mother-in-law’s” reaction didn’t bother SolHi. She only leaned against the back of the sofa again, staring at Marie. Thus, she fully enjoyed seeing Marie shaking. „A reaction I can’t understand, by the way.”

„What exactly?” Marie pretended not to have understood the question.

„Why you are hiding him!”

„Whom?”

„Han YuSan, the one who seems to have survived that night, turning himself into the same butcher who hurt both of us that fatalistic night, eight years ago.”

„You don’t even know what you are talking about,” Marie shouted. „YuSan is dead! He’s dead, do you hear me? He’s dead because of you.”

„I wouldn’t be that sure if I were you, Marie. Why? I’ve always had in mind the face of someone hurting my body and mutilating my soul. Whose face? The face of the one you brought into this world, Yun Marie… the face of an assassin,” said SolHi, barely controlling herself. „A face I hoped to be only a product of my sick mind because of everything I’ve been through all these years. Yet, I haven’t ever been wrong because Han YuSan is damn alive!”

„You are lying!” Marie hissed through her teeth, taking a step toward SolHi and threateningly squeezing her fists. „YuSan is dead, killed by your hand, which grabbed the hammer you used to hit his head.”

„The one who is lying through her teeth is you, Yun Marie,” said SolHi, using the same tone as Marie. Then, she suddenly stood up and took a few steps toward the other woman. „Why am I so sure that you are lying? You are the one who said that had seen the video DooSan uploaded online, a video where is clearly seen that I haven’t killed YuSan.”

„And?” Marie asked, her jaw powerfully shaking because of anger. „Does the fact that you haven’t grabbed a gun in your hand exonerate you of sins?”

„Yes. Why? I only defended myself that night while your son was there to hurt me. Or… will you deny that too?”

„Of course, I’ll deny that, Ian SolHi! I’ll deny your aberrant accusations until I die because… my son didn’t do anything of what you say. Yes, YuSan was there that night. He entered that damn warehouse voluntarily, but he did that to save you. You, SolHi!” Marie shouted again.

Realizing that SolHi had no idea what she was talking about, Marie smiled. This made SolHi even more confused than before because, „If you smile, it’s because you hide things.”

„I’m not the only one who hides things from you,” said Marie confidently and with certain malice in her voice. „I’m not the only one who tries to keep you away from the truth - Fate does the same. Why? Because… you aren’t someone important to them. Even so, I won’t say that DooSan doesn’t love you if he’s been capable of hiding from others the fact that you are alive. Or… am I wrong and he doesn’t know this?”

„No, you aren’t wrong: DooSan knows. Even so, I don’t get why you say that he lies to me.”

„Because it’s the truth. What exactly does he hide from you? I’m not the one who should tell you that. If you want to find out this, go and ask him. Yet, I doubt he’ll talk to you about this. Why? Because… for DooSan, ego is more important than love.”

„His ego is more important than his love? Are you trying to say that what I know is only a small part of what he knows?”

„That’s right: I’m talking about that video.”

„Yet, I don’t get it! What does DooSan win by hiding things from me?”

„What do I know? Maybe he does that looking for revenge for that night or he’s just trying to defend you. I’m also not sure of this. Even so, I won’t lie to you, SolHi: there are a lot of things you have no idea about, things you can find out if watching the entire video.”

„You are lying!” SolHi hissed through her teeth. „You say that because you try to hide the fact that YuSan is alive.”

Marie smiled again, heading toward the stairs. „What do I win by doing this?” She asked SolHi, after climbing a few stairs. „Nothing. All I get is lying to myself.”

„Just as you’re lying to others because… what you try to hide is Death, Yun Marie.”

„Death?” She asked, frowning. „Do you think that I’m hiding things from you because I hope to see you dead one day?”

„No, I’m not talking about me now but about all those who stay in your and YuSan’s way. Yes, your son is the one who takes care to clean your path from thorns, Marie. How? By satisfying his sick pleasure of seeing others crawling at his feet, a thing you hide. Yes, you hide this even from DooSan, though you say you love him and want him away from danger.”

„The only blind person here is you, Ian SolHi,” Marie calmly said. „You are so blind that you see only the truth you want to see.”

„Do you think that I’m speaking not knowing the truth?”

„Yes. Why am I so sure? Because you have no idea of what happens in this world.”

„I have evidence. Clear evidence, by the way. Evidence that accuses Han YuSan of what happened to me. He’s not guilty only of my suffering but of others too. If you don’t believe me, you can convince yourself!”

Saying this, SolHi handed Marie her phone, on whose screen Marie saw the video SolHi filmed in the old sawmill, a video that was framed at that moment. Yet, Marie didn’t take that phone or approach her. What Marie did was continue climbing the stairs. Eventually, Marie sternly said, „It’s up to you to believe what you want! Eventually, it’s not my duty to convince you of anything. And… when you get out of here, close the door behind you, Ian SolHi!”

Shaking because of the anger she felt at that moment while squeezing the phone in her hand, SolHi felt her eyes bathed with tears. „Tears that I’ll dry with fire if necessary, Yun Marie. Yes, I’ll do that only to make sure that you won’t succeed in your plan and that you and YuSan will pay for everything I’ve been through because of you. Particularly, I’ll make you pay for making me lose my son that day, a death you’ll pay for with blood.”

Saying this, SolHi left Marie’s house. Getting out of the house, she fulfilled Marie’s request by slamming the door behind her. By doing this, she hoped Marie would hear her leaving. Yet, she was wrong because Marie would have seen her leaving without the slamming door. She was staying up the stairs at that moment, with a strange grin of satisfaction sketched on her face: a grin that would have made shudder even an iron body if the owner of that body had seen that grin that night.