The moment DooSan entered his office, Iun Min Hiok was changing his shirt. He was doing this each time he returned from a crime scene because he felt dirty and somehow asphyxiated after this, something he stopped feeling once he changed his clothes. Thus, rushing, he forgot to close the door, and when DooSan entered, Min Hiok jumped from his place, covering his naked chest.
Seeing DooSan in the doorway, squinting at him because he didn’t expect to find Prosecutor Iun shirtless, Min Hiok showed him his fangs. „Did nobody ever teach you to knock on the door?” He growled at his friend. „And close that damn door at once until the entire Prosecution didn’t see me shirtless!”
DooSan smiled. „You’ll be doing a favor to all the girls in the office. Who knows?! Maybe you get married after this instead of acting like a young shameful girl.” After that, happy that he could drive Min Hiok crazy, DooSan sat on the sofa.
Seeing DooSan so calm when he was barely breathing after the scare with the sudden open door, Min Hiok hissed something through his teeth while finishing buttoning his shirt. Then, putting the jacket on when he felt that he calmed down a little, Min Hiok asked the unwelcome guest, „Something to drink?”
„During the working hours?” DooSan asked him in amazement. „Only if you want the General Attorney to find out about this and kick us out of the Prosecution. Holding hands, by the way. Yet, I won’t say no to another kind of „offer.”
Min Hiok, thinking that DooSan was making fun of him after finding him shirtless when he entered the office nervously moved onto the couch on which he sat. Then, staring into his friend’s eyes, he said through his teeth, „What I’ll appreciate is to keep your spicy jokes only for you.”
DooSan frowned. „Jokes? Do I look like I’m joking right now?”
„Yes, because I don’t think you said „other kinds of offers” for nothing.”
DooSan reproachfully shook his head. „I meant the case, Prosecutor Iun Min Hiok, not the striptease scene that I witnessed unwillingly. Not any case, by the way, but the one of YuSan.”
„And this miracle?” Min Hiok ironically asked. „Aaa, wait, let me guess: you want to reopen Ian SolHi’s case?”
Prosecutor Han forced a grin. „What have you been eating lately that you read between the lines? People?”
„Yeah, those like you. And, this joke is about you, by the way. I still remember the one who said that. Should I remind you too?”
„Not necessary. I don’t have a short mind. Yet, I can’t say the same about my time. So, tell me: can you or cannot you help me with this case?”
„Depends on what you ask for. And… what you expect me to do because I assure you that I’m not interested in wasting my time with a lost case.”
„This is something you also don’t believe, Iun Min Hiok. Why? Because I’m sure you gave me to listen to the record and see the DNA test for a plan you had in mind. Not only this: you also have more evidence than those I have seen already. So, will you tell me about this too or not?”
Min Hiok, as calm as usual, comfortably sat on the couch, staring into DooSan’s eyes. Then, thoughtful, he said, „Let’s say I have more evidence. Yet, I don’t see how this can help me if I share it with others.”
„Is he stupid or only pretending to be one?” DooSan thought, frowning. Then, squinting at prosecutor Iun, he asked, „What are you planning this time, Iun Min Hiok?”
„To wake you up, this is what I plan!” Min Hiok suddenly hissed through his teeth, angry. „Or what? Do you think I’m YuSan to fulfill all of your caprices? Of course not: I’m neither your brother nor your mistress.”
„You are my friend, and friends help each other.”
„Are you sure?” Min Hiok asked him, smiling. „That we are friends? You and I?”
„At least I thought we were.”
„Well, you are wrong, Han DooSan. We have never been friends and I don’t think we’ll ever be.”
„The reason?” DooSan furiously asked, staring into Iun Min Hiok’s eyes. „Because you aren’t in the mood, you don’t have the pleasure or the desire to consider me your friend? Or… don’t tell me: is it because of the same stupid idea of you to see me crawling at your feet and suffering?”
„Let’s say this is one of the reasons.”
„Bullshit,” DooSan shouted, hitting the coffee table between them. By doing this, even his eyes were sparkling because of anger while staring at his colleague. Min Hiok instead, of an enviable calmness, did not even wince when DooSan hit the table. He only folded his arms over his chest and crossed his legs, as though trying to say to DooSan, „You can burn yourself if you want. This doesn’t impress me.” This posture drove DooSan crazy, making him suddenly yell, „Stop acting like that, Iun Min Hiok. It’s not my first day as a Prosecutor. Thus, as I have experience in seeing bastards every day, I tell you that you don’t scare me with this glance of „don’t mess with me or I break you into pieces.” Or what, do you think I’ll swallow this stupid idea of „It was charity that I allowed you to listen to that record?” Of course not! I’m not stupid or a kid you can manipulate at your will. If you did that, it was for something, Iun Min Hiok. So, tell me while you still have the chance to do that: what exactly do you want to get from me? Or should I ask you how much you win from all this?”
Min Hiok smiled. „I see you aren’t stupid at all. Even so, I still think that you didn’t realize that it was bait.”
„A bait? For who?”
„For you, of course! I told you, right?! I will make you suffer for everything you have done to YuSan.”
„And I also told you already to stop chasing your tail, Iun Min Hiok,” DooSan hissed through his teeth, telling Min Hiok that his words didn’t deceive him. Why? Because he had learned something since they knew each other and worked together. That’s why he realized that if Min Hiok attacked someone and if that one wasn’t a criminal, it meant only one thing: he was bluffing or hiding something. Thus, determined to find out the truth even if he had to follow his friend’s rules, DooSan suddenly calmed down. After that, of an enviable calmness, something Min Hiok rarely saw at DooSan when this one was investigating a case, DooSan asked him, „The reason?”
„YuSan! I told you already!”
„What I have told you is that I don’t believe any of your words. Yet, if you insist, we’ll continue to play this game. So, tell me: how much should I suffer for my brother?”
Staring at Min Hiok, DooSan suddenly noticed how his friend’s lower jaw suddenly started to shake. This let him know that, through what he said, he managed to enrage Min Hiok, hurting his ego. Because of this, DooSan smiled, understanding that if Min Hiok got angry, it meant that he was on the right way to find out the truth. Yet, so suddenly that even DooSan was surprised by that reaction, instead of finding the truth about why Min Hiok considered him guilty of his own brother’s death, Min Hiok hissed through his teeth, „Believe what you want, Han DooSan. I won’t give you anything of what I have. So, get out of my office! Now!”
DooSan gnashed his teeth. „It means you hide things.”
„I’ve said this to you already: believe what you want. I also told you that I’m ready to punish everyone for YuSan’s death, no matter who that person is. Including his brother, whom I consider the guiltiest of all - you, Han DooSan.”
„Can you stop beating around the bush? Yeah, maybe I had been wrong that night, Min Hiok! Maybe I’m guilty in front of YuSan for not answering that damn phone call that night. This doesn’t turn me into a criminal… his assassin, just as I don’t think that innocent people should pay for that crime.”
„If you mean Ian SolHi by „innocent people,” then I tell you to think well about this because… she confessed having killed him, right? Or what, did you forget so fast her confession a year ago?”
„I haven’t forgotten anything, okay?! Just I don’t believe in that confession. Why? Because SolHi isn’t guilty of YuSan’s death.”
„What makes you so sure of this, DooSan? Her confusing confession?”
„Not only this because I’m not stupid to believe bullshit. Yet, I believe in evidence, Min Hiok. I believe in the evidence I have already as the one that… Ian SolHi has never known about the knife wounds YuSan received that night.”
Min Hiok winced. „She didn’t know? Are you sure?”
„Surer than this I can’t be! And… as I expected that you wouldn’t believe me, I brought you a present.” Then, taking Min Hiok by surprise, he turned on the registration he made secretly while talking to SolHi on the roof. Thus, he let prosecutor Iun hear that SolHi not only didn’t know about the wounds, but she also forgot what she confessed a year ago.
Listening to the conversation between DooSan and SolHi to the end, Min Hiok frowned. He felt confused about this because… yes, maybe he suspected that Lee was to blame for Ian SolHi’s confession, but he had never thought that Captain Lee never told SolHi all the details about that case. There was something else strange there: that SolHi didn’t remember what part of YuSan’s head she hit that night, and this meant only one thing - on that fatalistic night, YuSan and SolHi hadn’t been alone in that abandoned warehouse and this was going to complicate things.
„Are you convinced now?” DooSan asked, making Min Hiok wince, who was so immersed in thoughts after listening to that recording. Even so, he said nothing. He only stared at DooSan, who was doing the same thing while waiting for the answer.
Minutes after this, Min Hiok kept silent. He did that because he didn’t know how to tell his friend that he was afraid. Of what? To lose another friend. „Something I won’t ever allow,” Min Hiok suddenly told himself. Yet, loudly he said, „Yes, maybe you convinced me that’s the truth. Even so, I won’t show you the evidence I have, DooSan.”
„Why?”
„A caprice?! Yes, it’s because of this because… let’s say that I hate when others take advantage of my work. Just as I hate when others poke their nose in my business. That’s why I’ll say this to you only once, Han DooSan: stay away from this case! And… don’t ever appear in this office again with such stupid ideas like taking Ian SolHi out of prison. I won’t ever do that, do you hear me? Ever!”
„Something that tells me that you have things to hide from me, Iun Min Hiok!”
„It’s up to you to think what you want! Now, get out of my office! Now!”
„And I’ll go, don’t worry! Before that, I’ll tell you that what you want not to happen will happen eventually, Iun Min Hiok! Why? Because I’ll take care of this, just as I’ll take SolHi out of prison, even if this means stepping over your body.”
„Han DooSan!” Iun Min Hiok shouted, punching the table. Then, with his eyes sparkling because of hatred while staring at DooSan, he shouted again, „You definitely do not think when you have to, don’t you?!”
„Yeah, you are perfectly right! I don’t think about the consequences when we are talking about the injustice made to others, and you also know this.”
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„Of course, I know! Just as I know how reckless you can be sometimes. Even so, I’ll ask you this: have you ever thought about YuSan?”
DooSan frowned. „Honestly, I don’t get the point!”
„Sure you don’t get it because you think only about yourself. What I’m talking about is injustice. Yes, I’m talking about the injustice others did to YuSan, something you have completely forgotten about. Why? Because you have been blinded by your love. Something that made you fall so down, DooSan!”
„Don’t talk stupid things, Iun Min Hiok,” DooSan hissed through his teeth. „Because neither I forgot what happened to YuSan nor that SolHi is not guilty of what happened then. Yes, maybe she was with him that night when YuSan was killed, but… she’d been a victim too.”
„You don’t know that, DooSan! You have no idea if she’s involved in that crime or not.”
„Maybe! Yet, I know how much SolHi has suffered because she doesn’t remember what happened eight years ago. She also suffered for the rest because… so many people made both of us suffer. So many of you, who know nothing about that night, decided that we were fools and played with us and used us like marionettes. That’s why I’m not sure who’s my friend and who’s my enemy anymore.”
„What you should know or better said what you shouldn’t forget is our main cause, DooSan. Which one? That… we started all this to bring justice to YuSan. This is what you should do, DooSan: to bring justice to YuSan and not to the woman accused of his death! You no: you have always done the opposite. Or what: do you think I don’t know that you went to see her every single week since she was sentenced? I’m not talking now about the visits you have made to her after you found out about the record and that Lee Do Hun is involved in this, but right from the beginning.”
„I have never hidden this. Why? Because, besides my feelings, which you accuse me of being blinded by, I also want to find the truth. Which one? Why did my brother die and why did SolHi suffer so much?! More than this, I want to find out why my child had to die, Min Hiok! This is what I want more than ever to find out: no matter the consequences.”
„Do you think this will make you feel better?”
„Maybe not, but at least I’ll know that I haven’t just stood and did nothing to bring justice to all of them. That’s why, Iun Min Hiok: don’t be against me in this or I swear I can forget about our friendship and I’ll trample you under my feet too. Did you hear me? These aren’t simple threats or in vain but the reality!” Then, seeing and hearing nothing else around, DooSan left the office, slamming the door behind him.
Looking at the closed door, still hearing a strange buzz in his ears after DooSan slammed the door behind him, Min Hiok squeezed his fists. „Idiot,” he gnashed his teeth. „You don’t even realize that you endanger all of us, including you.” After this, standing up and still boiling inside because of anger, he approached his desk, took the phone off it, and dialed a number. „It’s me!” He said eventually. „Get rid of the witness! Once and for all! Now!”
***
All that evening, SolHi felt strange. She felt all this since the morning as if something pressed over her chest, not allowing her to breathe freely. Not even she knew why she felt all this, but she clearly felt it. Because of this, she left the hot water from the shower poor right on her skin, closing her eyes for a few moments and hoping to feel better after this.
By doing this, she disconnected herself from the rest of the world, staying with her back to the door. Thus, she didn’t see the other prisoners suddenly leaving the bathroom. They withdrew making no sound, something that seemed strange. Even so, SolHi didn’t realize anything, just as she didn’t hear any noise around, or felt that she remained alone eventually. Just as she didn’t hear the noise of someone’s footsteps approaching her, somehow on the sly, as though trying to take her by surprise.
That „unwelcome guest” managed to take her by surprise eventually the moment a very thin rope was wrapped around SolHi’s neck, and the attacker pulled it toward him. Feeling it, feeling the rope pressing over her throat and that she lacked air, SolHi grabbed it at first, and trying to move it away from her throat at any cost. Seeing that she couldn’t do that, she started to struggle, trying, at least as she could, to release the grip or make her attacker move away from her.
Yeah, right?! Feeling SolHi fighting to release herself from his grip, the attacker pulled the string even closer to her throat and tightened it even harder. Thus, he gave SolHi the chance to close completely the gate of her mind, leaving the subconscious out. Even her survival instinct awoke at that moment. Thus, suddenly stretching her arms back, over her shoulders, she managed to grab the attacker by the hands and pulled them in front. The trick didn’t work that time, and she couldn’t release herself as she intended. Because of this, she resorted to the last trick she learned as a detective when Detective Kan took her to the gym and taught her to fight to the death for her life.
That first day, Kan left her breathless. Then, holding her just as the attacker held her at that moment, pressing with his arm over her throat, the detective whispered into her ear that day, „When you feel that everything is against you, even life, cling to death, SolHi! And, if you have to kill to survive, do it!”
Kan’s spurring voice, which she heard so clearly buzzing in her ears at that moment, awoke SolHi. Thus, in a moment of despair when she felt that she completely lacked air, she elbowed the attacker in his stomach, making him gasp. After that, involuntarily, he took a step back. This weakened the grip of the rope around SolHi’s neck and she could put the hand between it and her throat, releasing herself eventually. Then, grabbing the individual by the arm, she threw him over her shoulder, making him gasp again when he touched the floor.
By doing this, SolHi didn’t afford herself the luxury to breathe. She just pulled back and back, convulsively coughing while touching her throat with both hands. Later, realizing that she was naked in front of the guy, who was on his knees already, SolHi grabbed the wet towel that was at her feet. She didn’t grab it to wrap it around her body, but around her hands as if having a rope and not a towel in her hands. After that, she took an attack position because she was sure that the individual, once discovered by her, wouldn’t vanish but would finish what he came there for and run away only after he had made sure SolHi was dead.
„Something I won’t ever allow, do you hear me?” SolHi furiously hissed through her teeth, looking with hatred at the man about forty who was to his feet already.
The attacker was one of the new guardians. SolHi clearly remembered him, despite the mask he wore and the cap that covered his eyes. At the same time, he wore a shiny coat. It was a waterproof overcoat to make sure that SolHi’s hands would slip on it when she tried to grab him by the arms. He was sure that wearing it would work for him because of the steam from the showers because the overcoat was wet at that moment as though there was heavy rain in that bathroom.
What he didn’t expect was that SolHi would be stronger than they told him that she was and that she would be able to release herself before he could put her down. He also didn’t expect that SolHi would recognize him because he saw this clearly in her eyes: not the fear felt for a stranger who tried to kill her, but the stubbornness to fight with someone she knew or saw before. Even so, he smiled at one point, making SolHi attentive. She even frowned eventually, although she couldn’t understand what was in the man’s mind at that moment.
„Death,” the guardian suddenly said, making her wince. „This is what I look for here: death! Yours, Ian SolHi! Something I intend to see today at any cost.”
SolHi smiled. „Be my guest if you want to break your neck today,” she told him with hatred, wrapping the towel even tighter around her hands.
At that moment, her eyes were fixed on the man’s face, outlining each of his features in her mind. Thus, she remembered the ugly scar he had on his right cheek. She saw it right from the first day he appeared there. Then, she saw him watching her, something that let her know that he kept an eye on her. This didn’t bother her because the guards had always kept an eye on her at someone’s orders. What she had never expected was that he would attack her eventually and would try to kill her, and she didn’t think about this because never before had a guard tried to kill a prisoner. This meant only one thing: he used fake documents to enter that prison and get rid of her at someone’s command.
Who ordered the guard to kill her wasn’t something difficult for SolHi to guess. It was undoubtedly at Min SinJu’s order, about whom she found that hired Lee to send her behind bars. Yet, even if she found this out from SoRan, she had never thought about the possibility that he would also order someone else to get rid of her.
Understanding this, SolHi swallowed hard. She felt pain when she swallowed, just as she felt that the skin of her throat stung. This happened after she scratched it with her nails when she tried to pull the rope away from her throat. Even so, even if it stung like hell, SolHi didn’t think about giving up because her life was at stake, something she wasn’t eager to give up on for anything in the world, and all this was so because she saw DooSan again. That’s why, once she started to love life again when she saw the man taking a step toward her, SolHi squeezed the towel in her hand, staring straight into his eyes.
She would have done herself a favor if she had looked around when she took that step back. Thus, she would have seen the soap, which the man suddenly grabbed and threw it toward her eventually. Dodging to avoid being hit by the soap, SolHi slipped on the wet floor, falling to her stomach eventually. Shortly after this, a sharp pain pierced her stomach, something that hinted to her that she had probably broken a rib or something. It hurt like hell, but she didn’t have time to cry because the guy suddenly pounced on her, grabbing her by the hair and pulling it up while trying to force her to stand up.
Feeling the strong pain on the top of her head, SolHi involuntarily dropped the towel and grabbed the man’s hands. This gave him the chance to wrap his arm around her neck again, trying to immobilize her and make sure it would be easier for him to kill her after that. He failed again because SolHi, despite the difference in height and weight, was a strong opponent. Because of this, using the same trick she used to use with Han DooSan when she wanted to punish him for something, she elbowed the left knee of the man, making him yell like a dement, and, pulling back, he released her again.
Hitting him in the knee wasn’t an involuntary act, but something she was aware of because SolHi had seen him limping the last day she saw him in the backyard of the prison. Why the individual was limping, SolHi had no idea. She only took advantage of this because the image of him limping suddenly crossed her mind, and this gave her a new chance to breathe again.
After this, SolHi didn’t stay too long in a defensive position because she realized that as long as she was the victim and he the butcher, she had no chance to survive. Yet, by attacking him repeatedly, she would have at least assured herself a worthy death. That’s why, not thinking too much about this, SolHi grabbed the wet towel and the soap the man threw toward her. Then, until he could realize what was going on, SolHi wrapped the soap in the towel, and, using all the power she was capable of at that moment, she hit the aggressor’s head.
The unexpected hit made the man wobble to his feet. He even saw black in front of his eyes after this because of the hit on his left temple. Then, he felt something warm dripping from his temple and running down his cheek and neck. And, touching it, he realized that it wasn’t sweat because of the steam, but blood.
Looking at his red palm, he yelled like a lion in the cage. „Ah, bitch!” He yelled that right before pouncing on SolHi again, intending to grab her by the throat and not let her go until she hadn’t breathed anymore.
Seeing him pouncing on her again, SolHi jumped to the side, kicking his right leg this time. Thus, she managed to make him lose his balance again, hitting the wall with his head after this. Then, falling to his knees, dizzy after the kick and the hit he felt deep on the top of his head, the man stood like this for moments in a row. Thus, he gave SolHi the chance to jump on him, wrapping the towel around his neck. Then, she squeezed it hard. She did that so suddenly and squeezed so hard, something that amazed even her because she had never expected that she was capable of strangling someone, not even to defend her life. At that moment though, she did that by attacking someone, and she did that controlled more by anger and desire for revenge than to protect herself.
Feeling all this and the adrenaline madly flowing through her veins while squeezing the towel more and more around the man’s neck, SolHi finally yelled at him, „Why are you doing all this, dog? Who has sent you here?”
She didn’t hear an answer to her questions. She only felt the man’s hands touching hers and trying to release himself. Yet, because SolHi’s skin was wet, his hands slipped repeatedly. Then, feeling that he lacked air, he started to kick the wall in front of him and the floor, somehow unconsciously while his eyes were blurred and injected with blood.
Only then did SolHi feel mercy for him and release him. Her mistake because… the man, coughing like hell while trying to recover his breath, suddenly pounced on her. Thus, knocking her down, he grabbed her by the throat again and pressed with all the force he was capable of.
He pressed over her throat with both hands while his eyes were sparkling because of hatred. Moreover, he yelled at her again, „You chose the wrong man to turn him into your enemy, bitch! Someone like you will never defeat Scar, do you hear me? Never! Especially, not after today when I intend to send you to hell only to take revenge on you because a bitch like you dared to attack me!”
Looking into his eyes that were injected with blood, SolHi thought that she reached her end. Even so, she kept struggling, feeling all his weight over her body, something that made her think that she couldn’t release herself again and that she would see a black tunnel in front of her again and a sparkle of light eventually as she had seen before… She saw that in the first year when she had been attacked for the first time at the showers. Yet, what was different at that time was that SolHi wanted to live while a year ago she dreamt of death. At the same time, what was also different was that the attacker was a guardian and not a prisoner. Her attacker had a reason to kill her and had a strict order from no one other than Scar.
Who was this guy, Scar, SolHi had no idea. She didn’t know him, just as she didn’t know why he wanted to kill her because she had never crossed anybody’s street before or poked her nose into his business. At least she didn’t remember that. Even so, he tried to kill her eight years ago, killed her child, and also killed YuSan, turning her into an assassin eventually, and making everybody hate her. Yet, it wasn’t enough for him. No, it definitely wasn’t enough for him that she was the black sheep of the entire Korean society and that she was in prison. All that Scar wanted was to see her dead, as though her death would have made him happy.
Such thoughts filled her eyes with tears. It wasn’t only because of this or that she lacked air and that the injustice others made her hurt like hell. It was also because she heard the whistle of one of the guardians, somewhere far in the distance, but still approaching. This meant only one thing: someone called for help.
„Who exactly did that? Who asked for help?” SolHi’s thoughts suddenly started to spin in her head right before losing consciousness and falling prey to despair and the madness of the moment.