“That night, Min Ho asked us for playing a basket game. He was even more nervous than before and none of us understood the reason, but … we never dared to ask him such questions. Not to Min Ho, because … he never says anything to explain himself. He just … shows his dissatisfaction by kicking and punching others.”

Yun Sik, one of Min Ho’s friends, is interrogated by Kan inside of one of the Interrogation Rooms. The poor guy is still scared and confused after being taken by the police, right from the class, and brought here for testimonies, but in the end to understand that it might turn bad for him too, after being Min Ho’s accomplice in the fatal night.

“Did he never mention anything about what made him so nervous?” Kan asked the boy while piercing him with his glance.

On one hand, the detective felt sorry for this guy, who was now dealing with the police only for being a friend with such a guy as Min Ho was, but on the other hand, Kan understood that no matter what choices we make in life after the age of 15 is our responsibility already and we can’t blame others for this.

“Not directly, but I think that he became even crazier after the talk he had with his girlfriend, with Ko Cha Yoon. She mentioned something about the fact that Han So Ra is going out for a date. At that moment, Mi Ho simply transformed into a beast.”

“And … what exactly did he do after finding out this?”

“He just dumped everything around … despite the fact that we were still in school. For him, at that moment, nothing was important. For one second, I thought that Cha Yoon was going out for a date and not another girl. But … soon after, we understood the reason.”

***

On a second Interrogatory Room, Yoon Suk is with another witness who had been with Min Ho and Yun Sik that night - Do-Jin.

“Did Ko Cha Yoon know about all this? I meant about that her boyfriend was trying to cheat on her with her best friend.”

“No. Min Ho always kept her away from his madness. She was for him an angel that can save him from poverty. He considers her his “rubber ring”. You know, a rich girl, with a rich dad, who later can save your ass. Han So Ra instead was just … his easy prey. And he always treated her like this.”

“By “treated her like this,” do you mean that he was violent?”

“Not only. She was his - girlfriend, for “other things” that he couldn’t do with Cha Yoon. At least he wanted her next to him until he goes to college, far away from others' eyes, but So Ra disliked this.”

“What did exactly happen on the night of the 14th of December? The night So Ra got in your car in front of the nightclub.”

“We … drove onto the field. Where nobody could see or hear something. At first, we thought that Min Ho wants to talk to her about why she went out that night, but when he started to drag her by hair and clothes far from the car, we understood that it won’t end well.”

“Why didn’t you do something then? You could have saved her that night” Yoon Suk asked, piercing the young man with his glance, full of anger for this coward who left an innocent girl at the mercy of a maniac.”

“Because … we didn’t want to be in her place. She was the only guilty for accepting the “love” of such an idiot.”

“Maybe she was looking only for some attention. For some warmth…”

“And she found it … on that cold field … where Min Ho forced her to be his, but this time it wasn’t only “making love”. That night he raped her.”

The young man started to shudder with all his body. At first, it was because he felt that all that happens now to him is unfair, but finishing his talk and confessing that they assisted at rape and they did nothing to help the girl, Do-Jun realized that now smells like jail for them too.

“Did she talk about this to somebody? Or some of you?”

The guy nodded in denial. “We’re afraid of Min Ho. Nobody ever wanted to feel his “madness” on his skin. That’s why we kept silent. And So Ra did the same. More than that, after that night she changed completely.”

“Did she change? How?”

“She was always weird, but after that night … she became the “ghost” of the school. She wasn’t talking to anybody; she was attacking Min Ho all the times she could do this. Even she tried to warn Cha Yoon about him and to make her break up with Min Ho, but instead, Cha Yoon ended with their friendship.”

“What about the gossip that she was meeting a guy and she got pregnant? Who did start these rumors?”

“The three of us. Because Min Ho was afraid that she will talk about the abortion he forced her to do in Chinatown.”

Yoon Suk threw the folder on the table, making the teenager wince, but the young detective didn’t do this only to scare him, but because he was really furious with the guy.

“You are such a … trash. Did you know that? Rape, a forced abortion, percussion, hooliganism, and the humiliation of a colleague until the point she jumped off a building. What can I say more than this? Congratulations, man! You just won the lottery and a large number of days in a Juvenile Center.”

Yoon Suk and Do-Jin stared at each other. While the detective spits fire through his eyes, the teenager is calm, but this calmness is just the skin of a chameleon, because inside he just wants to do the same - to erase himself onto the Earth's surface.

***

DooSan looks carefully at Min Ho who’s very confident in himself and also feels no remorse. While DooSan waits for a confession from the teenager, he is just fooling around: staring at his fingers, whistling or tapping with the fingers on the table, while looking around.

“Did you at least feel any satisfaction with what you did?” DooSan asked in the end, understanding that waiting is just a waste of time.

“About what? I don’t know what you are talking about, mister Han. I did nothing.”

“Really? And why do I doubt this?”

“Because you have some problems with self-esteem?” Min Ho started to laugh and his ironic laughter echoed throughout the room. But this didn’t hurt DooSan nor made him nervous. The prosecutor just smiled and, taking out of folder photos with So Ra dead, he put them in front of the young man.

Seeing So Ra dead, Min Ho kept silent and the slight shivering of his hand could be noticed by DooSan. “You did nothing, huh? Then, why are you shaking?”

“Won’t you do the same if someone shows you some photos with a dead body?”

“She’s not just a dead body. She was the young woman who loved you and you forced her to do an abortion. And later, to jump off that roof.”

“I didn’t push her. She decided it.”

“But you had a lot to do in this. You made her be “the ghost”. Why? Was it just for fun?”

“She deserved this.” Saying this, Min Ho turned the photo upside down not to see any more So Ra.

The guy’s answer astonished DooSan. “I can’t believe this. “She deserved this”. And, what do you deserve for killing two?”

“Whaaat? Two? Don’t be an idiot, prosecutor. I killed nobody.”

“Watch your tongue, young man, because I’m not one of your friends. And yes, you killed two. You killed So Ra and you killed her baby.”

“That was my baby too. I had the right to decide if he is born or not.”

“No, you hadn’t this right, and do you know why? Because you had no fucking right on them after forcing her to be yours. You are just … a coward who never knew how to treat a woman. You didn’t deserve to be a father. Not after you raped that poor girl and I’ll take care that you’ll spend a lot of years of your youth in jail for this.”

DooSan stood up decided to leave the room. Suddenly, Min Ho stood up too, throwing down the chair which hit the floor, making a deafening sound around. “And since when the fact that two lovers had sex is considered a rape if this was with the acceptance of both?”

“Since one of the lovers is minor and the second one not. What? Surprised I know this? You are still in high school due to your incompetence, but this isn’t something you can hide from the police. And, So Ra didn’t accept to sleep with you that night. You forced her and we have witnesses who confessed it. So, man, you have no chance in a trial.”

“Then you are stupid if you think so. I have evidence that it was right the opposite.”

DooSan sketched an ironic smile. “Evidence you say?! What evidence? Her notepad, where she wrote down how much she loves you?”

“Yeah. There’s everything about our relationship. And, there’s where she wrote down that I had nothing to do with her death.”

“What a shame. There’s nothing like this written there. You can take a look if you want.” DooSan threw a black notepad on the table, taking Min Ho by surprise and making him shudder. “We found it and we also checked the messages So Ra left for us. And … do you want to know what is more surprising than all this? She wrote down there every single shit you did to her. So, man, what you expected to be what’ll release you from jail, will force you to face it for a long time since now.”

DooSan took the photos and the notepad with him and left the room, leaving Min Ho staring in front of him like an idiot, because he still can’t believe that So Ra betrayed him.

***

SolHi is in front of the class, reading the last message left behind by So Ra. She wrote this still being on the roof, overwhelmed by remorse, fears, bad memories, and about the fact that she understood that she can’t trust anybody and that she’s alone in this.

SO RA: (letter)

“Yes, I made mistakes, but I’m not the only one who did this. I was just a teenager who still didn’t know life and who hadn’t from whom to learn it. But, I’m sure that all of you also made mistakes. That you too are scared and afraid of tomorrow, because none of us doesn’t know what will happen. Even so, you dared to call me “trash,” “easy girl,” “prostitute,” and … I prefer not to name the rest of all bad things you told me and you did to me. And I’m not doing this because I’m sorry for you. I just … I can’t understand why you are all so mean to me. I didn’t do anything wrong to you. I just … I just wanted to love and if possible, to be loved, even if it was just a little bit. The only person I should be sorry for is Ko Cha Yoon and not because I took from her Min Ho. No. Because I was first and then Cha Yoon. I was the first who started to love Min Ho and then she came into his life, but she never trusted me that he’s a bad person. She never trusted me. I was for her just a fool and a mean girl that was just trying to take away from her the man she loved. But in fact, I wanted to protect her because nobody deserves such a love as mine.”

SolHi kept silent for a few seconds. Only Cha Yoon was crying, trying to cover her mouth with both palms, while her colleagues were staring at a blind spot, not knowing what to say or to do.

Deeply inhaling air in her chest, SolHi continued to read, but this time she emphasized each word she was reading, trying this way to make the teenagers react because nobody deserves to be treated or to live the same love So Ra lived: “it hurts a lot and this pain burns my chest. I’m standing on this cold roof and I’m waiting for someone to come to rescue me. But there’s nobody to come for me because nobody cares about me. In fact, if I die I’ll do a favor to all of you because this way I hope at least that you’ll feel remorse for what you did to me. I don’t want your tears, as I don’t want to hear from you the words “I’m sorry.” I just want to be left alone and to live my life how I can but I know that this is impossible so I can just write this letter and leave this world.

Cha Yoon, I’m sorry for being such a mean friend. I didn’t want it. I just tried to be sincere with you and … I’m glad that you aren’t here now, in my place, decided to take your life. I’ll better do this for you because nobody cares about me but you have a lot of people who love you. So, Ko Cha Yoon, be happy and I hope that from time to time you’ll remember that you had once a friend called Han So Ra.”

***

A FEW MINUTES BEFORE SO RA’S DEATH

Finishing writing, So Ra hid the letter under some old stuff left on the roof. Then she put her things next to it and at slow step she approached the edge of the roof.

There’s nothing special on that roof, but still, the Sun shines so beautifully at this hour of midday. “So beautiful the horizon is,” So Ra whispered, looking in the distance. “And I want so bad to live further, but life … you never treated me well. You always had been mad with me and I still don’t understand why. I always had to suffer violence: at home, at school, with the man I loved, but even so, I want to continue living. But if I do this, will you guarantee me that you’ll be good with me, at least a little bit? No, isn’t it? So, I have no choice then.”

So Ra deeply inhaled air and climbed on the narrow edge of the roof. First, she looked down, but there wasn’t anybody in the yard to see her at the border of her life and this made her smile, stretch her arms aside and close her eyes, enjoying the loving warmth of the sun.

“At least, I feel warmth before the cold,” she whispered and simply she left herself fall down.

***

Cha Yoon, accompanied by SolHi, leaves flowers at So Ra’s grave. Still squatting in front of So Ra’s photo, Cha Yoon asked SolHi: “detective Ian, do you think that if So Ra talked about what happened to her then she wouldn’t be done what she did?”

“I don’t know the right answer for this question, Cha Yoon. But maybe yes. At least if she talked about this, she wouldn’t have left this world with remorse and pain in her chest.”

“It makes us guilty for her death and I think that none of us will be the same after her death. At least we’ll think twice before doing or saying something because it can hurt and because it can take lives.”

SolHi sketched a sad smile because she disagrees, but she can’t say it loudly, not because she hadn’t the right to say it, but because she knows that it won’t help anybody now. “You know, Cha Yoon, I think that everybody is guilty here - So Ra for deciding to jump off that roof and you all for hurting her and for climbing her on that roof. But even so, there’s a big difference between you and So Ra - you still can continue your life and at least try to live differently while she won’t have ever another chance.”

***

“Are you with us, detective Ian?” SolHi heard A Rim’s voice and this made her awake from her daydream.

All the team gathered to dinner after closing the case, but even if SolHi wanted to go home and think calmly about what happened, she had been practically dragged here by her colleagues who hadn’t such tragedies in their life and after hard work they want to drink and to forget about this as if it was a nightmare.

But not the same happens to SolHi. She still remembers every single case she had, because she lived those tragedies as if they were hers. She doesn’t know why she feels it this way, but she can’t do anything to make it be different.

“Yes, I’m with you,” she answered in the end, seeing how her colleagues stare at her, not understanding what’s happening to her. “Sombe, can you pour me something to drink?” she told Kan, who didn’t say a word and filled her glass because he’s the only one who knows the hell that burns inside her.

SolHi emptied the glass without even breathing, while around the cheerful talk was again loud and she again smiled, understanding that she’s just one more person there and they hadn’t why for to be preoccupied about her.

But she was wrong. There was DooSan who was watching every single movement of her and waiting for every single sigh of her because all this was new for him and also it was something weird.

The woman he hated so much for about 7 years is different from how he thought. At least it is what he thinks now about her while watching her drinking and thinking about past events.

“Does she feel remorse?” DooSan wondered and filled again her glass, but he did this not because he was sorry for her or because he wanted to get her drunk and this way to make her talk. He did this because he felt a strange connection between them and that was a kind of an unknown feeling sneaking inside him that was forcing him to want her to feel better.

SolHi stretched her hand to take the glass that DooSan filled, but he did the same and their hands touched on the cold material of the glass. However, none of them said a word or retracted his hand. They just stood like this, staring into the other’s eyes while inside them was sneaking a small fire that could be transformed quickly into a big arson.

“Do you shoot a romance film here or something?” Kan asked suddenly, taking everybody by surprise.

As if a cold barrel of water had been thrown over them, SolHi and DooSan retracted their hands, leaving the cup in the middle of the table.

“I think you see romance there where it isn’t,” SolHi whispered, but instead of looking into Kan’s eyes, she looked at the food in front of her.

“Why do I think differently?” Kan insisted on his argument, but right away he changed the subject, noticing how the interest of the others is growing up. “Let’s better drink something than to think about stupid romance. Yoon Suk, ask for more drink.”

“Why not talk about love?” SolHi said and everybody stared at her. “I think that now’s the perfect moment to do this - to talk about love”

“Why so? I thought that after this case none of us wants to think or to say something about love and romance. At least not for a long while,” DooSan said and stared into her eyes as if he was provoking her, but he wasn’t sure which result he was expecting doing this.

“And why exactly, prosecutor Han? From what I know nobody stopped to love even in war times. Why should we do this? So Ra’s case isn’t a special one. It’s just one of many others.”

“And still, it ended like a tragedy,” DooSan insisted. “If to think better…”

“What about telling us about your kiss?” A Rim said and both, SolHi and DooSan, growled at her, unhappy that she mentioned that. “What? I think this is something even more interesting than a teenager's love.”

SolHi smiled. “About our kiss? There’s nothing to mention about it. Just a kiss like any other we had in our lives. Nothing special.”

Her words hurt DooSan’s heart. Even if he doesn’t want to accept it, he feels something for her and the fact that she considers their kiss “nothing special” is something that makes him feel bad.

As if the snake of revenge suddenly sneaked inside him DooSan drank the alcohol he poured for her and hissed through his teeth: “As if that kiss is something worthy to be remembered. Not as if was something I did with pleasure. It was just for work and I’ll never do it again, even if it will be something that can save my life.”

DooSan and SolHi stared at each other as if they were two lovers after a fight when each of them is hurt and when each of them wants to end with this fight and to hug the other with love, but being both so stubborn and so proud they prefer to continue to say bad words than to end with the fight.

“Prosecutor Han, I think you had been rude now,” A Rim said and she stared into DooSan’s eyes who was absolutely furious now. “No matter if you kissed someone for work or you did this just for fun. You can’t tell that person that your kiss was a mistake which you won’t repeat again. It’s rude.”

“A Rim, if you don’t know the story between us, better keep silent,” DooSan hissed the words toward her.

“Yah, yah, yeah, stop! All of you! We came here to have a nice evening and not to argue, so…” Kan tried to fix things, but what started like a boomerang couldn’t be stopped from its movement.

“I don’t agree with you, detective Kan. If he has something against her, then they should talk about this and solve it and not insult each other. And…” A Rim insisted, but she suddenly kept silent when she heard SolHi talking.

“I’m guilty of his brother’s death, A Rim. He has the right to hate me and to try to hurt me if he wants. I’m still the murderer in this case and this won’t change. At least not soon.” Saying this, SolHi poured another glass and after drinking it she left the place while the others were staring stunned behind her, not understanding what she was talking about.

The only one who felt remorse hearing SolHi’s words was DooSan who not this was expecting when he told her that their kiss “wasn’t worthy.” He just tried to get revenge that she didn’t appreciate their short romance but, in the end, she just made to explode the bomb between them and the consequences will be felt soon.