Hip-hop music on the radio. The right leg is dancing on the gas pedal while the left leg is pushing the brake pedal to the brim. Then the left hand’s fingers are moving in a rhythmical dance on the leather wheel of DooSan’s car, a BMW X6 Vantablack, and the right one is holding tightly the gear lever. And then a smile sketched on SolHi’s face while looking to the left and seeing DooSan’s unhappy face while staring at her through the window of Kan’s car, a white Seat Arona, also stopped at the traffic light.

„So, seeing your „baby” driven by me is something you hate,” murmured SolHi happy, for DooSan’s unhappy faces meant only one thing: he cared more about his car than about the driver, and that he was somehow regretting that he let his vehicle be driven by SolHi.

But this was exactly what SolHi wanted: to drive him crazy and to make him give up on his plan just to take back his „baby,” for if his plan looked great, SolHi’s one was definitely dangerous, if not suicide, especially after the moto accident where Dja Iun died.

And her plan worked: at least this made DooSan curious and, very soon, SolHi saw his number on the dash instrument panel.

„What the hell you think you are doing?” she heard DooSan’s furious voice on the speaker phone.

„Me? I’m playing,” said SolHi in a cheerful voice. „Why? Are you preoccupied? For your car, I mean.”

„I’m preoccupied for you, silly girl. Not long ago something damn unhappy happened. Or… did you already forget it?”

„No, of course, not,” said SolHi calmly enough, a fact that amazed both Kan and DooSan, who exchanged glances. „Something like this can't ever be forgotten. But… you at least learn to live with those ghosts inside you.”

„But…? I feel that a „but” is coming.”

„And you’re right sombe! But… instead of a „but,” a real fight is coming if you don’t stop that car or turn back. Otherwise, we’ll go further only together. No matter the consequences.”

„Do you think so?” said Kan in an ironic and provocative tone. DooSan instead remarked him not to do that. Kan, however, only shrugged. „You are free to try: to catch up with us, I mean. But… you forgot one thing, Ian SolHi.”

„Did I forget? Really? What exactly?” said SolHi, staring at him through the window.

„Who you are dealing with. I’m the shark of the streets, remember?! Anyone who is messing with me loses for sure,” and the powerful rotations of the engine of Kan’s car had been deafeningly heard on the loudspeaker of DooSan’s car.

SolHi stared at the dash instrument panel, grimacing with an unpleasant surprise. „Well, this is how you sing now, sombe? What can I say: good look, for… if the shark must be afraid of something then it’ll definitely be of a crazy lady, and the crazier here is me, sombe Kan. So, watch my back!”

The red of traffic light started to blink… the BMW’s engine deafeningly roared… at yellow - the right leg pressed the gas pedal without releasing the brake one, and at green - a quick movement of the right hand on the gear lever changing the positions… a sudden movement to the left on the wheel and the car simply jerked in front of Kan’s Seat.

But Kan expected that kind of dangerous game planned by the „crazy lady’s mind,” for he wasn’t working with her only for a few days and he knew very well what she can do. So, hearing the deafening roar of the next car’s engine, he put the reverse motion and, at the green, he pressed the gas pedal, moving a few meters back. This movement made the BMW stop. But seeing what Kan intended to do, SolHi rotated the wheel so suddenly and the car simply „skated” on the asphalt. But SolHi managed to stop the car when it was positioned in front of the Seat. For a few moments instead, none of the drivers did any move: they only stared at each other, trying to understand what the other one was planning. But… it’s not in vain said - that the old wolf is also clever: in an instant, Kan changed to the drive position and, after pressing the gas pedal to the brim, he passed by the BMW at full speed, and, very soon, the Seat was enough far from SolHi’s vehicle.

„Damn it!” SolHi hissed through her teeth, and, on the loudspeaker, she heard Kan’s voice whistling Past the graveyard.

And they had luck that night, for, at that hour, that part of Highway wasn’t crowded and they had time and space to try a fall with the other. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have got only a fine, but they would have lost their head, for… where the hell did they see that the police has the right to act up in Seoul City’s streets?!

But SolHi has been deceived by her own trust and blinded by the fact that she thought she was invincible. Kan instead had been witty, for… not for nothing he was saying that he’s an old fox, a lonely wolf, and… God knows how many other nicknames he had during his life. And, soon, SolHi followed them. But… no matter how hard didn’t she try to catch up with them, she couldn’t and she understood soon that she lost their trace.

„Damn! Damn! Damn you, sombe! Where are you?” she shouted on the loudspeaker, still driving like a mad soul in the streets, without finding them.

„In the hell, Ian SolHi! If you have enough courage, you can look for us there!” and three deafening sounds of an interrupted phone call have been heard on the loudspeaker. This made SolHi roar, but she understood soon that she had nothing else to do but to go home.

***

„She’s out of the game, it seems to me,” murmured Doosan, raising the chair and looking back through the rear mirror, then through both windshields, but he couldn’t see SolHi.

Kan, who kept lying on his chair, sweetly yawned: „I told you that SolHi cannot deceive us that easily. But… I can read her very easily. That’s why she’s always losing in front of me.”

„Loosing?” asked DooSan in amazement, for he was sure that Kan not only once spoke SolHi’s praises for being smart and dogged.

„Exactly,” said Kan, still yawning. Then, he raised his chair too. „She always forgets about „camouflage” and I told her so many times not to be that obvious.”

„Obvious? In which way?”

„Now, for example: she followed you with your car. If she wanted to be „secret,” she could have at least taken a taxi. But SolHi no, she thinks she’s smart and she tried to beat you with your own weapons.”

„Maybe she didn’t even want to hide. Simply: she tried to show us that she knows what we want to do.”

„Are you defending her now?” asked Kan in an irritated voice, bothered by DooSan’s words which, obviously, were not something to support him. Actually, Kan wanted to be acclaimed for his success in front of SolHi, for „deceiving SolHi’s dog nose” was really something difficult to get. But, instead of acclamation, he heard how DooSan was defending the enemy.

„Are we in kindergarten now? Who does it better? Don’t be ridiculous, Kan, and… let’s move at once because we are wasting our time,” said DooSan, this time being he the upset one.

„If you say so,” said Kan drily, turning the engine on.

„Anyway, where did you say are we going?”

„Did I say that? No… I just said we are going somewhere. Where?! You’ll see when we get there.”

„A hint at least?”

„Yeah… Ian SolHi’s old love: you’ll shake hands tonight with him,” and the car left the „hide-out:” a crossroad which SolHi didn’t take into account, for it was a one-way road that one. But how Kan was even crazier than SolHi was, he dared to break another law that night, and… he got in the wrong lane just to win in front of her.

***

„And… is he SolHi’s old love?” asked DooSan furiously, seeing a half-meter log, who was barely standing because of too much drinking or… smoking something, with his shirt unbuttoned in some places and where it was buttoned it was wrongly done while half of the lower part of the shirt was taken out of the trousers.

The one named by Kan „SolHi’s love,” stared at DooSan right in the middle of the street, for when they got to that man’s house and knocked on the door, an old lady opened it and told them that the one they were looking for isn’t home and if they need to find him urgently then they can find him in the bar. If not… they are free to wait for him in the street.

And anything else than to wait for him they didn’t have what to do, for… they didn’t know the village and to look everywhere for the famous bar, during the night, wasn’t something interesting. So, they waited till about 2 a.m. while DooSan was unhappily mumbling: „she’ll kill me for sure today! And I bragged that I’ll get home earlier. She’ll let me live in the street tonight, for sure.”

„Stop complaining so much,” Kan told him reproachfully. „SolHi isn’t such a big monster. Maybe she is, sometimes when her inner demon awakes and this happens each time she feels herself in a tight corner. But… this is different in your case.”

„Different? In which way actually?”

„Are you asking me this?! You are living with her, man, you should know it better and…shhh, it seems that he’s our guy,” said the detective, hearing the weird song of a drunk man who was heading toward them. And when the man got in front of them, he looked askance at them, especially when he heard DooSan mentioning a name he thought he had forgotten: „Ian SolHi!”

„Who are you?” he asked, hiccupping.

„Do Ian Jun?” Kan shouted enough loudly to be heard. „Detective Kan Gi Yon, Seoul PD, and he’s prosecutor Han DooSan. If you have a minute, we have a word with you.”

„Time? I have a lot of… time,” the man about 35 said while staggering to his feet, back and forth, hiccupping. „And… may I know what we have to talk about? I mean, what a damn dog like me can talk with such important people like you.”

„At least a truth he said,” mumbled DooSan, furiously, for he had never expected that SolHi had such bad taste in man in the past. But he took a step aside, seeing Kan’s frowning, even if it was dark around. But even so, DooSan could feel well those black-like demon’s eyes focused on him.

„So?” insisted the drunk one, staring at them. „What should we talk about?”

„Ian SolHi! Does this name tell you something?”

Suddenly, Ian Jun stopped staggering to his feet and narrowed his eyes, focusing his glance on Kan while licking his lips. „Yeah, I know that bitch,” he said eventually, and, for this, DooSan rewarded him with a punch that put him to the ground.

„Prosecutor Han!” shouted Kan, stepping in front of DooSan, who was about to beat Ian Jun. „Calm down! We aren’t here to look for problems or share punches and kicks with drunk people! We are looking for the truth.”

„Truth? What truth do you want to find out from this one? He’s drunk, man, and he definitely says only stupid things. I… don’t intend to listen to him insulting SolHi.”

„Then… you should swallow your pride and listen, even if you don’t want, for… you’ve been who asked for this.”

„Did I ask for this? When exactly?”

„This morning! When you asked me to find out who’s the father of SolHi’s baby. Or… am I wrong?”

DooSan looked thunderstruck at him. „Whose… father?”

„Of the child, who SolHi lost then, for… this man and SolHi were working together in that period and… as far as I know… they had something to share those days.”

„Bullshit!”

„Ask SolHi when you get home! I’m sure she can tell you more about this. But here… we must find out what he knows. So: control yourself!” Kan demanded him and approached Ian Jun again, helping him to stand up in a sitting position: „so, young man, tell me, but without insults: do you or do you not know Ian SolHi?”

„Of course, I know her, even if I don’t want to know her because she’s a…,” and he once again hiccupped, staring at DooSan who was about to jump again over him.

DooSan instead stopped, a step from Kan and Ian Jun, understanding that even if you punch an empty head, it won’t think normally in the end.

„And? Where do you know her from and why don’t you want to know her?” insisted Kan.

„We worked together, but… because of her, I got here and looking like this, bitch.”

DooSan nervously moved in place. „Did you get here? Because of her? Why?”

„Because she sent only me to hell, all the time, while she was dating so many guys at once.”

Ian Jun’s answer made DooSan and Kan curious, and DooSan even squatted, not that far from them. „Did she send you to hell? Do you mean that you and SolHi had nothing… romantic?”

„What we came to find out and what he’s asking,” muttered Kan, slapping his forehead.

„I’m asking the right thing and… change the source, for… he’s telling us only lies. He had nothing to do with her.”

„Wonderful! And now that you found out what you wanted, let me find out too what I need to find out,” said Kan ironically.

But Ian Jun didn’t allow him to ask and mumbled, staring in front as if he was seeing those moments of his past right there, in the middle of the street, while talking to DooSan and Kan: „I remember that period as if it happened today, as I remember that man who was all the time asking for her, looking for her, eager to talk to her, to see her, to know her all the time in front of him.”

DooSan and Kan exchanged glances again: „That man? Who exactly?” asked DooSan in half a voice.

„The prosecutor!” this made DooSan wince and swallow hard while Kan stared at DooSan, saying nothing.

„Keep saying!” Kan told Ian Jun and he grinned, looking at the detective.

„What else to say?! I think that’s clear enough who was the guy: one of her lovers, for she had always had men hovering around her. But… the Ice Princess, as we got to call her, preferred only the freak one. For… being a prosecutor and respected.”

„Did SolHi say this?” asked Kan.

„No! SolHi never saw him. At least not while being in the school’s area when he came to look for her. Yet: he was all the time there. It won’t be at all surprising to find out that they actually secretly met somewhere in the school and he only pretended to look for her.”

„And… do you remember what that… freak looked like?” asked DooSan, slowly shaking.

„Of course, I remember,” said Ian Jun and focused his glance on DooSan’s eyes. „I told you already: he was a freak and I can never forget the freak ones. At least not that jerk, for… thanks to him I got here, for SolHi complained with her „lover” that I asked her to have sex and they threw me to hell after this for stalking. Shit: she accused me of abuse while she was giving to the other for free. Or maybe not for free,” and Ian Jun grinned again.

DooSan squeezed his fist again. But… he managed eventually to calm down.

„Prosecutor Han,” Kan whispered into DooSan’s ear, „by any chance, don’t you have a photo of your brother? Not that I believe what he said, but… we should at least be sure that he’s talking about him.”

Saying nothing more and painfully sighing, DooSan took eventually the phone out of his pocket and looked for a few moments through the files. Then, after he had found a photo of YuSan, he showed it to Ian Jun.

„Is he?” asked DooSan.

Ian Jun narrowed his eyes, approaching the face of the phone’s screen. Then, after seconds in a row of staring at the photo, he said: „yeah, it’s him! It’s the same person. This is the idiot that sent me behind the bars. But…”

„But…,” insisted Kan.

„His eyes are different here.”

„In which way?” asked DooSan.

„They are calm. Instead, each time that jerk was coming to school, looking for SolHi, his eyes were somehow savagely blinking. Or… maybe it’s because of the photo?!”

DooSan forced Kan to stand up and take a few steps away from Ian Jun. „Do you believe him, Kan? For God’s sake: he has his brain fried. How is it possible that YuSan did something like this? Especially without SolHi being aware of this. For me: he’s lying.”

„I don’t know, prosecutor Han: on one side - I’m afraid not to mistake, for it’s obvious that he hasn’t his mind clear, but… on the other… he recognized prosecutor Han right way. Another one in his place even drunk, even smoked, or… with his brain fried, would have doubted or would have taken more time to think. But he recognized your brother in seconds. Coincidence?”

„Or bluff! This man hates SolHi and everything related to her.”

„And I’m not even surprised, for… he’s right! Thanks to SolHi, he has been fired.”

„What?”

„What you heard. Actually, SolHi not only once complained that he proposed indecent things to her. But… each time they gave only fines to him. Till he attacked one of her colleagues and then is when SolHi contacted Han YuSan for the first time.”

DooSan swallowed hard: he heard before that SolHi collaborated with YuSan while investigating the case of one of her students, but this with the harassment… he didn’t know. „Are you sure?”

„Evidence doesn’t lie,” said Kan and showed DooSan the photo of a file he had on his phone. „And… there’s one more thing weird here.”

„Besides all this?”

„Mmm. Prosecutor Han YuSan was at a conference… abroad at that time when this man said that the freak one was looking for SolHi. More than this: as far as I know, SolHi and Han YuSan met each other when she complained about the physical attack. Not before. He instead insists that your brother was looking for her before this."

„It means he lies! I’m sure about this: YuSan wasn’t the man to stalking on someone, and, according to what he said, it means that my brother did that.”

„Han YuSan neither seemed a man who had secrets. Yet… he was found dead and SolHi unconscious next to him. All this seems too obvious to me, for… or this man has mental problems and he was seeing ghosts since that period, or… SolHi lies.”

DooSan again swallowed hard: „Is she lying? Why?”

„I don’t know, ok? I’m not sure about anything anymore. Only one thing I’m sure of: SolHi doesn’t tell us all the truth about what happened then and this ties us to hands and legs. Let’s go!”

And Kan has been the first one to head toward the car. DooSan followed him shortly after, but, before this, he helped Ian Jun to stand up and enter the yard, for it was dangerous to let him in the middle of the street. Then, after closing the gate, DooSan rushed to enter the car and Kan pressed the gas pedal to the brim, leaving that place.

***

„Han DooSan is incredible!” murmured SolHi upset, being in the street, even if the wrist clock was showing 3 a.m. „Where the hell did he go at this hour? Especially: since he and sombe Kan are so close? And… what are they actually planning?”

She kept silent instead and suddenly turned to look back, even though she started to climb the stairs already, hearing a car approaching. And… after a few seconds of staring at the empty street, she saw Kan’s Seat stopping about 10 meters from her.

„Wonderful, what can I say?!” murmured DooSan, seeing SolHi waiting for him.

„No word to SolHi about what we found out,” said Kan. „At least not until we check if what Do Ian Jun said is true. If it is as he said, then SolHi’s former colleagues also should have noticed at least something. I’ll investigate this for sure. Meanwhile, take care of SolHi to not „smell” anything.”

„I got it,” muttered DooSan, for… on one side, it was the confusion after everything he had found out that night, and on the other hand, it was the disappointment to find out that SolHi had something to do with his brother, and this meant that her heart was forbidden for him, for no matter how hard he didn’t love her, he couldn’t be with his brother’s woman. He simply couldn’t.

Then, getting out of the car, he headed toward SolHi, who was staring at Kan, who, without watching her, turned the engine on and went away.

„Where have you been, DooSan?” she asked when DooSan intended to pass by her.

He instead wasn’t eager to talk. So, he suddenly withdrew his arm when she grabbed it to stop him. And he has been really brutal withdrawing his arm, something that amazed SolHi a lot, for… only a few hours ago when he hugged her, he talked about care and feelings. Now instead… he was so cold with her: „DooSan!” she murmured.

„I’m sorry, SolHi! But… I’m tired! Can we talk about this later?”

SolHi froze: the coldness seen in his glance while watching her, something woven with hatred and with a fit of controlled anger, pierced her deep inside, making her shudder.

DooSan instead didn’t stay in place to explain things, but he hurried to climb those stairs, for the last thing he wanted at that moment was to explain his deeds. But… he only didn’t want to explain to her. Not until being sure that it was true what they found out and, for this, he needed time, to chew his thoughts in silence.

SolHi stood like a stone statue in place, staring behind him while he was climbing the stairs in a hurry even if he still felt pain in the leg that he broke in the moto accident. Then, clenching her fists, she followed him, convinced to find out the truth that night.

Getting in the apartment instead, DooSan entered the bathroom right away and, minutes after this, only the sound of the water in the shower was heard, time while SolHi stood in the middle of the room, thinking about every single possible scenario: „he found out the truth! He knows! It’s over even if it didn’t even start! And… from that moment, hell started again.”

But she didn’t receive an answer to all her questions not even after DooSan got out of the bathroom. Actually, he didn’t even look at her and he right away lay on the sofa, turning his back on her.

SolHi fell to her knees after this, but not even that sound made DooSan raise his head to see what happened, and this made SolHi shudder again and her eyes filled with tears.

But she hadn’t even time to cry, for she heard DooSan’s voice soon: „can you turn off the light? I need to sleep.”

„He didn’t even look at me!” murmured SolHi. But she finally found that strength to stand up and, approaching the light switcher, she turned off the light.

And the sound of the switcher, touched by the beloved woman’s hand, who he deliberately hurt, has been heard like if being the sound of a bullet shot from a gun: right into his head, right into the target.

This made DooSan clench his fists and, deeply breathing in, trying to do the less possible noise, he calmed down, intending not to alert SolHi.

But his hissing breath didn’t bother SolHi at that moment, for… she was completely broken inside… she lost once again in front of fate and of life: she was sitting next to the bed, with her knees touching her chest, and chewing her thoughts in silence, thoughts about every single tragedy that happened to her in that life. And… that night, she went somewhere. DooSan instead was sleeping and he didn’t even hear the door closing behind her.

***

A barely heard knock on the door was heard in Do Ian Jun’s house at dawn, something that made his old mother furiously yell at him: „Do Ian Jun, go right away and see who came! I’m sure that one of those drunks with whom you’re spending your time is here again! Wake up! Do you hear me?” the woman shouted, sitting bolt upright and furiously staring through the open door toward the living room where her son was sleeping on the sofa, as he was doing each time he was coming home drunk.

„Do Ian Jun, do you hear me or not?” she shouted again when the knock on the door had been heard louder, and the woman’s shout made eventually her son stand up, mumbling something unpleasantly while heading toward the door, crawling his soles on that sticky floor and scratching his belly, raising the T-shirt a little bit up, that T-shirt that has been white once, but which was grey now because it has been washed not properly.

„I hear! I hear! Don’t yell like that!” he scolded his mother while approaching the door.

He opened the door without even asking who was knocking, for he was yawning at that moment. But he remained with his mouth open, for… right after opening the door, the shadow, that was seen in front of the door, hugged him right away. After that… that shadow ran away.

Hearing the deaf sound of something falling, Ian Jun’s mother sat on her bed and listened. She heard instead nothing and it seemed weird to her, for each time her son’s friends were coming at dawn, they were all the time arguing with Ian Jun. Now instead was damn quiet.

„Ian Jun, are you there?” the woman asked, but she received no answer… only a weird hiss was heard as if something was crawling on the wet floor. Namely, that sound made her wince, for… once, a long time ago, when she was still young, a big snake entered their house while she was washing the floor and she understood that the snake entered because of a similar hiss. Now instead, that sound was heard clearer, and, remembering about that past event with the snake, she jerked from her bedding, murmuring: „not a snake again.”

But… it would have been better to be a snake, for what she saw was worse than this: her son was lying on the floor, bloody, and with a knife stabbed into his chest.

„Ian Jun!” the old woman shouted, approaching him in a hurry, not paying attention that it was blood all around. And, after she had kneeled next to him, yelling at him to come back to his senses, he whispered into her ear: „it has been a woman, mother! It has been… Sol…,” and he lost his conscience.