SolHi and Cha Yoon, a 17-years-old girl, are sitting at a table, face to face. While SolHi is staring at the girl and this way she’s trying to intimidate her and to make her talk, Cha Yoon is doing everything to avoid SolHi’s glance.

After a long time sitting there, while Cha Yoon was loudly sipping from her latte, SolHi decided to do something and to make the girl talk. So, SolHi took off her coat and showed to Cha Yoon the wounds on her forearm. “She had the same marks. So Ra had the same wounds, Cha Yoon and I think you know the reason why she did it to herself.”

“I know nothing, ok?! I just … we stopped being friends, a long time ago.”

“Not that long. Your colleagues told us that you and So Ra argued only a few weeks ago, but none of them could tell us the reason. But I’m sure that you know it.”

“So?! Do you think I’m that stupid to tell you everything that happened between us and this way to allow you to have a patsy for this tragical story?” and, crossing the arms on her chest, Cha Yoon stared at SolHi, trying to show that she’s not afraid, even if in her chest was madly beating her heart.

“Ok, then. Let’s take it otherwise. When exactly did you and So Ra stop being friends?”

Cha Yoon thought a little bit about the question, but when she looked back and she saw DooSan standing at the door, she understood that she can’t escape from there. Not until answering all the detective’s questions. “Four months ago!”

“And the reason?”

“Because she is a bitc…” but she swallowed the rest of the word and, supporting her body in her arms, Cha Yoon stared into SolHi’s eyes. “Tell me, detective, what would you do if your best friend tells you that if you don’t break up with your boyfriend then you aren’t friends anymore?”

“Asking the reason?”

“No, it is because she wanted my boyfriend. I’m not that stupid to give him to her.”

SolHi smiled listening to this, but it wasn’t a smile of pleasure, but one of a surprise because she once again understood that a bad relationship can destroy a years-ago friendship.

“Or maybe she had her reasons to tell you this, and not precisely because she wanted that young man. Did you think at least about it?”

“No. Why think about something So Ra thought, while I was too busy to live my life?” and the teenager’s voice sounded so sure and so full of hatred.

“If one listens to you can tell that So Ra jumped off that roof because of you.”

“Now is it my fault, detective? She couldn’t find another guy to fall in love with than my boyfriend and now it’s my fault that she killed herself? Don’t be stupid, detective!”

“Watch your tongue, young lady. I’m not your friend.”

“But you are talking to me as if you are one.”

“Don’t take it personally. I just tried to be polite, but it seems to me that it gives you a certain confidence that you shouldn’t have.”

The silent took possession of that place for a while. Then, Cha Yoon calmed down a little bit and whispered: “I don’t think So Ra did this because of a man.”

SolHi watched her with interest. “She had some problems with her family. Better to say, with her father. He loves to … teach her by heart good manners.”

“Do you mean her father beat her?”

“And not only her. So Ra’s mother generally receives all the blows. Everybody in the school knows that So Ra’s mother had been hospitalized three months ago, but … she didn’t complain, because she didn’t want to break up with her husband. She thinks that marriage is forever and she wanted to teach So Ra the same, but So Ra thought differently and she tried to spend the less possible time home because on her skin wasn’t a white place left … a lot of bruises could be seen all over her body.”

SolHi threw the notepad on the table and watched toward DooSan, who was with his back at her and he didn’t notice her gaze, but SolHi wasn’t looking for his approval or something. She was just trying to see in him the same maniac that once tortured So Ra, but who still continues to torture her now.

***

PROSECUTION. DOOSAN’S OFFICE. THREE HOURS LATER.

SolHi entered the office and, approaching DooSan’s desk, she threw a series of photos in front of him. “Han So Ra was a victim of domestic violence. Here is the evidence.”

DooSan at first stared at her, but seeing the insistent look of SolHi, he watched the photos. “But still, this doesn't prove the fact that she jumped off the roof because she was beaten home.”

SolHi sighed, trying to calm down, and leaning with the palms on DooSan’s desk, she approached her face of his, trying to take over him, but she faced his stubbornness and both grinned at each other while looking like two dogs ready for a fight. “But it can be a reason for her psychological problems.”

“But still it can’t be proved in a trial if she didn’t go with a psychologist,” DooSan insisted and this made SolHi become even more nervous than she was before and to move quickly her lips, while biting them with the teeth, trying not to tell something bad to her “boss”.

“What about her mother?” SolHi changed the subject. “No Yu Ra had been hospitalized from March till June of the last year, in the traumatology department of the University Hospital. Diagnosis: multiple lumbar fractures and cranial burns caused by a blunt object. It was later proved that her husband had hit her countless times out of jealousy: he had seen her on the day talking to one of the neighbors. If you ask your forensic friend to check for the same wounds on So Ra’s body, we can…”

“We can’t, SolHi! We can’t because it had been already proved that she hadn’t any burst on her body other than the ones caused while she fell” and DooSan threw in front of her some photos of So Ra’s body.

SolHi grinned unsatisfied. “Why are you so efficient when one doesn’t need it?” and taking the file with the photos she went to her place, throwing the folder on the desk. “Psycho!”

DooSan heard her, but he preferred to smile and to continue to watch her, while she was trying to swallow her defeat, even if it was something she couldn’t accept.

All the time SolHi and DooSan had an argument, Kan was staring at a file he received at the moment SolHi entered the office. “What about a pregnancy?!” Kan murmured and all, as per order, turned toward him.

“Pregnancy? Han So Ra was pregnant and because of this she jumped off the roof?” Yoon Suk practically yelled and, running toward Kan, he stared at the file, but right away became disappointed. “She had an abortion.”

“When exactly did it happen?” DooSan asked him and right away he looked for a folder on his computer.

“Four months ago,” answered A Rim, and, approaching DooSan, after taking out a sheet on the printer, she put a paper in front of him. “I think we’ll have better success if we search for the one who left her pregnant, than for the one who beat her while she was a child.”

“I think so too” and, standing up, DooSan approached the whiteboard and put So Ra’s photo on it. “Yoon Suk! SolHi! you two - check again with So Ra’s friend. If the girl suffered an abortion four months ago it coincides with the moment they break up their friendship, but I’m more than sure that she knows who the baby’s father can be.”

While slowly standing up, SolHi took a business card from her desk and stared at it for a while, taking everybody by surprise.

“What now?” DooSan asked her, seeing that she didn't react.

“I have a better idea where to start from” and, while she exited the office, she threw on DooSan’s desk the business card and DooSan could read on it the address and the name of a gynecology clinic.

Taking it in his hand, DooSan looked thoughtfully at it, but in the end, he smiled and, in his mind, sprout again the idea that “She’s not stupid at all” and this was something that was warming his heart.

***

Whistling slowly through her teeth, SolHi and Yoon Suk advance on the clinic hall, while a lot of patients are waiting their turn with the doctor.

“Sombe, do you think she’s back in business?”

“Do you mean illegally?”

“Yeah”

“We'll see because I have the intention to ask her directly and, smiling, SolHi stopped in front of a door and, pushing it with her leg, made the door open noisily, while hitting the wall.

In the office was Gi Ha, a woman about 40, who was washing her hands after she had finished a consultation, but when the door opened, she took the soap and threw it toward SolHi and Yoon Suk, yelling at them “out of here! Now, detective! I have no intention to…”

SolHi instead stopped and threw on Gi Ha’s desk a photo of So Ra and it made the doctor shut her mouth. “It seems to me that you know what I want to ask you. So, we’ll talk alone or in the presence of witnesses?”

The patient stared at them, while she was trying to dress as quickly as possible.

“Wait for me in the hall,” Gi Ha told the patient, who right away exited the office, but she had no intention to turn back. “You always manage to frighten my patients.”

“Is it my fault that you don’t work legally?” and SolHi sat down on the chair while taking a box of pills off the desk and searching for its components.

Gi Ha stared at her, not knowing what to do. “Take a seat, doctor. I’ll not take a lot of your time if you tell me what I need to know.”

“And what exactly do you want to know?” Gi Ha asked in mockery and, while sitting down, she pushed SolHi’s feet off her desk.

“About her!” and SolHi pointed toward the photo. “Four months ago, she did an abortion, and … it wasn’t legally as she’s still minor.”

“Now I understand why you are here, but … surprise! I have nothing to do in this.”

“But she came here. I can see in your eyes that you saw her before.”

“What are you eating to know everything?” Gi Ha whispered, unsatisfied. “Yes, she came, but I sent her back home because I have no intention to lose my business.”

“Was she alone or with one of her parents?” Yoon Suk asked.

“She entered my office alone first, but when I told her that I don’t do abortion she asked the young man to enter. They thought that I was waiting for money. So, they dropped a pack of money in front of me.”

“So, with her was a young man. What about his face, did you see him?”

“No. He was wearing a mask. Like her too.”

“But you recognized her. Interesting” and SolHi stood up and started to walk through the office.

“It’s because I asked her to take the mask off because at first, she asked for a check, but her voice betrayed her being a minor, so I wanted to be sure.”

“And still this seems so weird to me,” SolHi whispered, while she was opening and closing the drawers and this made Gi Ha be so nervous.

“He had a tattoo on his hand” practically yelled Gi Ha, when SolHi bent to open the drawer of her desk and, watching her, SolHi could see fear in the doctor’s eyes and, smiling, she watched Yoon Suk.

“It’s so easy to make someone remember,” SolHi said in mockery.

Yoon Suk smiled too, but he right away forced himself to be serious. “What kind of tattoo? Can you describe it?”

“A mini-one, in the form of a snake. I saw it when he threw the pack of money on my desk.”

“But still you didn't answer the question” SolHi whispered into Gi Ha’s ears, making her shudder more. “Where one can do an abortion nowadays if it must be a secret?”

“Should I answer this question too?”

“Yes. If you don’t want me here 24/7. I’m sure I can find something interesting here if I continue to search.”

SolHi’s happy smile made Gi Ha lye her head on the desk while whispering: “Damn you, dog! You never give up!”

***

CHINESE NEIGHBORHOOD. ONE HOUR LATER

A group of detectives is slowly advancing on the street, while the locals, mostly Chinese people, and street vendors, are staring at them. But it doesn't seem to bother SolHi, who is checking her gun openly while talking to someone by headphones: “Is everybody ready?”

“Yes, mam!” she heard a man’s voice in her headphones and, looking up, she could see the lutenists prepared to watch their backs.

“Now I like my job!” SolHi tried to joke and right after she was the first to enter a casino.

After a short fight with those present, who intended to run away, SolHi, Yoon Suk and two other detectives, plus a few of Special Forces soldiers, opened a door, which was leading to the basement and, slowly descending the stairs, they got to a place surrounded by cellophane cloth and a strange sound was heard coming from somewhere.

The commander of the Special Forces raised his hand and everybody stopped in place. Then, he slowly advanced in front, moving aside the cellophane and trying to make less sound possible.

SolHi followed him only after he made her a sign that the path was clean. When she got next to him, the commander showed her a place, which looked like a makeshift operating room, and the sound they heard was produced by a monitor that was connected to a patient the doctors, there present, were trying to sleep.

SolHi slowly whispered: “to everyone: be careful. The patient is only a teenager. We don’t need collateral victims here” and, giving the signal, the Special Forces soldiers entered first and surrounded the place.

“Bistoury!” the doctor asked the assistant, preparing for the surgery, but he got alert when he noticed SolHi aiming him with the gun. “Put that bistoury down until a bullet doesn't hit your head!”

SolHi’s words made the doctor smile and he suddenly threw the bistoury toward SolHi, but she moved aside and the sharp object hit the wall behind her. “It definitely wasn’t a wise movement, idiot!” SolHi grinned at him, but the doctor didn’t manage to run, because a hard hit in the back of his head left him unconscious.

***

Exiting the building, SolHi stretches her body, which crackles as if it was wood eaten by the fire. “It was definitely a long day,” she whispered and she looked around, but she couldn’t see anybody there.

The fact that she was there alone made SolHi relax and, sweetly yawning, she closed her eyes for a few seconds, turning her back to the corner of the building.

Someone’s steps are slowly advancing toward her, but SolHi prefers not to hear them, but when she finally reacted, she couldn’t manage to protect herself anymore, because the liquid suddenly injected into her neck took away all her power and she fell unconscious on the ground, but before this, she slowly whispered: “It happens again!”