CHAPTER 4: I’M A HUNTING DOG, BABY 

  What happened in the shower room drove SolHi crazy and, because of this, she was punching and kicking the punching bag over and over again while her breath was resounding as if it was the locomotive of a steam train.

  She had been in the police station gym for 3 hours already, but this didn't cool her at all. It didn't even make her feel better or chased away the tiredness from her bones or made her not see DooSan's face in front of her eyes, that was happily grinning at her as if he won a big battle in front of her - it only left her even more exhausted than she's been till that moment.

  „He is a prosecutor now? What the fuck does it mean? And why exactly did he choose my team to expand his power? What else does he want from me? I paid more than enough that night. Even if I killed someone then, I paid for this more than I would have paid in a maximum-security prison, but it seems not to be enough for Han DooSan. He's like a hunting dog: if he finds a target, he will chase the prey until he will thrust his fangs into her throat, leaving her completely breathless," and SolHi knew that very well because she has been his prey for 7 years already and this seemed not to reach an end soon.

  „Leave me alone, for the Christ's Sake!" SolHi finally shouted while kicking the punching bag with such force that even the speed bag gave her the answer with another hard hit that put her to the ground.

  Loudly breathing out while supporting her head with her hands, SolHi stood in a sitting position, feeling so bad. She felt so desolated as if the whole world was collapsing over her shoulders, and she understood that after that day after she had met Han DooSan again, she won't ever be capable to control herself again.

  Sometimes, she wanted she had died that night. At least she wouldn't have felt this pressure in her chest that was asphyxiating her every time she was seeing Han DooSan and she didn't understand why it had been worse than ever that day.

  „And he looks so sexy, that bastard," SolHi caught a thought, crossing her mind, but she quickly chased it away, because she knew that it was impossible and that the last thing she needed at that moment, was to suffer because of an impossible love too.

  „I did this once and I suffered. That was enough for me because I lost my heart and my life that night and this happened only because I trusted the wrong man, who finally kneeled me down, and made me the monster I am today."

***

THREE HOURS BEFORE

  „Are you a dog or something, Ian SolHi? Is it because of this you bite people to get revenge? He's your boss now, SolHi," Kan yelled at her and the empty meeting room echoed like a ghost place.

  „My boss? What the hell are you talking about, sombe? How can Han DooSan be my boss? As far as I know, you are the head of this Homicide Police Department. You and nobody else," SolHi said while staring at Kan and waiting for a logical answer from him. But there was something in his behavior that made her even more nervous than before and, because of this, she started to scurry to and, fro.

  „You said this well: I was your boss, but I'm not anymore. Our department has been disbanded and if we don't want to cadge in the street, we must work in the Prosecution then, under Han DooSan's command."

  „What? To start to work with... Han DooSan? I'll better die," SolHi yelled. „How can you ask me to work with him, sombe? You know very well what that man did to me. You must be crazy to ask me to work under his command. We hate each other. We are lurking in the darkness while looking for an opportunity to break the neck of the other. This is what makes impossible a collaboration between us because it is sure death for one of us, if not for both."

  „Then kill each other once and for all and stop this mindless war between you because you are dragging all of us after you".

  Saying this, Kan started to shudder like hell and his anger was related to that he found out that day that SolHi was the reason why his team has been disbanded and that they must work under DooSan's command if they don't want to lose their job: it meant that DooSan had a plan to get revenge on SolHi and he was dragging her team in that dangerous game also because of this - to be sure of his success.

  But even if Kan knew all this, he hadn't enough power to protect SolHi and protect his team at the same time: he could only accept it, even if it meant that he had to fight against that mindless person, SolHi, who was standing in front of him, stubborn to accept that proposal, even if both of them knew that they don't have any other choice than to accept it.

  And... there was one more reason why Kan was forced to accept DooSan's proposal: he was 45 already, which made him too old to be a good candidate for another post in a different team or to start something else outside the police. And... realizing this, Kan felt that he hates himself, that he hates the whole system that was forcing him to act like this, and... for the first time too... Kan regretted that he accepted SolHi into his team, three years ago.

  „You know that you are the guilty one for what happened, SolHi," Kan told her after a few moments of silence. „You should take the responsibility for all of us. Especially for me, because I don't have anywhere else to go if not to join the Special Group organized by prosecutor Han. I'm too old to go somewhere else and start something new. And... don't make me regret having accepted you under my command then."

  Those words made SolHi stare thunderstruck at the detective - this was something that she has never expected: even if she knew that Kan was the only one who accepted her to work with him in the police station, three years ago when everybody was still calling her a murderer and she hadn't a penny in her pocket to buy food or to rent an apartment, SolHi felt disappointed.

  But... she must accept that he helped her to stand up then, after living for 4 years at the mercy of her friend, Park Mina and because she couldn't accept living as a parasite in her friend's house anymore, SolHi started to work as a detective.

  Actually, it was the only place where she could work after being discharged by the Superior Court, which declared her innocent, for lack of evidence. But this didn't clean her name and people all around her were seeing, in her person, the criminal of a good man, and nobody considered her innocent, and they kept thinking that she was guilty of what happened, but what was happening now was too much for SolHi, even if it had been said by Kan.

  „I know it's hard for you to accept this, SolHi, but you have no choice. It's an order and you must accept this".

  SolHi turned toward Kan: her eyes were full of hatred and disappointment because while her head was telling her to accept if she doesn't want to die because of hunger, her heart was stubborn and was yelling at her to run away or she will be torn up, in the end.

  „Is this your last word, sombe?" SolHi finally asked.

  „I have nothing else to say." And this was so because Kan was also stubborn and he was determined to make her accept those conditions because even if he loved that mad person, as a daughter and as a colleague, more after he found out about her real nature and that she is a good person, he knew that he must win in front of her because not only his future was at stake, but hers too and he wasn't ready to see her kneeling again.

  „Then… don't complain if one of us ends up being a criminal, sombe and this for sure will be me, because even if Han DooSan is a hunting dog, I'll be the prey killing his attacker," and SolHi went away, slamming the door.

***

  Exiting the conference room, SolHi saw DooSan sitting on a desk, with a bag with ice on his left wrist, that he was watching as if he had a valuable treasure there. At a moment, DooSan took the bag off, deliberately, to be seen by her, and SolHi spotted the red mark on the wrist, with teeth mark still seen on the skin.

  However, even if she wanted to continue the fight with DooSan, SolHi decided that it wasn't the right moment. That's why she intended to pass by him without even watching him.

  But when the devil messes in something, DooSan talks. So, he had the brilliant idea to mumble „she has the Devil's eyes with the eternal fire in them," right at moment SolHi was passing by and that murmur drove her crazy.

  But even if SolHi was capable to spring at him and break him into pieces, she first stopped, clenching her fists, and this movement alarmed the other detectives, who withdrew from her side, knowing very well what she was capable of when she was mad.

  DooSan however kept sitting on the desk, even if he spotted the detectives'movement, slowly caressing his injured wrist and mumbling sweet words to „calm down" his hurt skin.

  A sudden flying object - a chair - that passed by him, awoke DooSan from his daydream and it right away hit a computer behind him. DooSan however didn't get his tail down - he only slowly turned his head and looked at the damaged object, mumbling „uff, it will be expensive to pay it back," and, watching SolHi again, DooSan grinned.

  But instead of a scared glance or one in which he could have seen remorse, he really saw the devil's eyes - SolHi's, but it was what DooSan was really looking for: to drive her crazy, to make her attack him, and to have the possibility to use that attack against her to close her in the cage, as a wild beast that deserved that. But... to his surprise, after acting up as she did... SolHi just walked away.

  Seeing her leaving, DooSan fleered: „you won't escape from me ever, Ian SolHi. Not after getting what I got now: you under my command and this will allow me to make you crawl in front of me while begging for mercy."

  Suddenly DooSan kept silent, seeing Yoon Suk approaching him while bringing more ice.

  However, Yoon Suk heard very well what DooSan said and when he was next to DooSan, the young detective just threw the bag with ice toward him, forcing DooSan to drop the other bag he had on his wrist to catch the second one.

  „This is something you will remember for a while," Yoon Suk said while staring at the red mark on DooSan's wrist.

  „She has sharp fangs, I must accept this," DooSan answered, sketching a smile.

  „The only one known as the Hunting Dog is you, prosecutor Han. But even so, I won't deny that SolHi can also be a damn mad Pitbull, and she's not for sure a submissive one. So, welcome into the Hyenas world, prosecutor Han DooSan, but I assure you that you'll regret that you willingly involved all of us in this, especially SolHi."

  Watching Yoon Suk's back while he was leaving, DooSan seemed furious and bothered by the young detective's commentary. „Is he in love with her or what? I never expected that she has admirers to defend her that well," but DooSan chased that thought away from his mind when he remembered Yoon Suk's eyes that looked calm and his words seemed to warn him only and not threaten him.

  „Anyway, while working together, we'll find out what those two are hiding and who has a deal with whom," DooSan mumbled while standing up and heading toward the door.

***

  Standing in front of the window and watching DooSan leaving, Kan said: „you entered the wolf's mouth alone, prosecutor Han DooSan and you aren't even aware of this. But... a blind person always makes mistakes and you have only two paths to walk on while working with such a wonderful person as SolHi: to fall in love with her or to die. I hope only not to zip another mortuary sack with your body inside it, Han DooSan or it'll be the second time I investigate a Han's death," and Kan looked more as if he was the real monster, the guilty one for everything that happened to DooSan and SolHi till then, like a criminal that was lurking his prey from the shadows than a friend of both of them.