INSIDE MONSTER. THE FUGITIVE.

CHAPTER 45: THE SECRETS ARE THE MOST DANGEROUS VENOM

Looking through the front window, at Nam Guk Shik's tattoo parlor, which seemed empty early in the morning, SolHi frowned. „I feel nobody is here and there is something more weird in this story. Yet, as only staying here and doing anything won't help me at all, I say to start working," she told herself right before touching the interior door handle to open the door.

She couldn't open the door eventually but winced when Bear asked her, „Are you sure you want to do that, Detective Ian?"

„Honestly? No," she said after a few moments of silence and looking into his eyes. „Even so, I have to do that!"

„Why? Because, if we don't do this, Min SinJu might do something against us?"

SolHi strangely smiled. „Does this seem small to you?" She asked the young man.

„Small? What do you mean?"

„Our friends from the shadows?" She asked him airly. Seeing that the young man was more confused than before, SolHi sighed. Then, she closed her eyes briefly, trying to regain her inner calmness. She did that when her heart strangely pounded in her chest. Only after that did she say, „Particularly, I mean Min SinJu. He's the most important person for everyone now because we can't simply allow him to hide in the shadows and lurk on us at each step."

„This goes without saying. Yet... I can't say what we should do to force him to give himself away."

„He won't do that easily, Bear. Even so, we can't waste our time. What we must do is to make him nervous. At least we should do that with all those we see around him lately. Who knows?! It might be that, by doing this, we will make him do something wrong and give us the chance to catch him once and for all. And, for this to happen, we have to find out the location of each of his hideouts, starting with this one."

„I say that's a good start anyway," the young man suddenly said, making SolHi stare at him, thunderstruck.

„A good start? What do you mean?" The young man said nothing. He only motioned with his head toward her to look in front where she finally saw Min SinJu's car stopped in front of the tattoo parlor. „To be damned! Whom do we have here? No one other than the devil Min SinJu. And... he's not alone but with our Hamster."

„And that one over there is Nam Guk Shik, one of the puppies who waves his tail in front of Min SinJu and one of Dja Iun's friends too," Bear hissed through his teeth with hatred, making SolHi attentive.

Not the hatred felt in his voice made SolHi attentive, but to hear him gnashing his teeth and involuntarily making the sign of a twisted neck. Yet, she said nothing about this. She only frowned when the thought that „There is something more than hatred here" suddenly crossed her mind.

„You are actually right," Bear said, making SolHi wince and stare at him again. He looked only in front though when he said, „There is definitely more than hatred between us. There is betrayal because I feel that this dog, Nam Guk Shik, has also something to do with Dja Iun's death."

„What makes you think that?"

„Just a hunch I have. And... I think it's true what I feel. Why? Because, while Dja Iun was still alive, this dog had always waved his tail in front of him, asking for certain favors. After Dja Iun's death, he hadn't ever visited his grave or sent some flowers. I haven't also seen him at Dja Iun's funeral, though he had always said that they were good friends."

„Friendship isn't equal to vow," said SolHi, making the young man frown. She smiled instead. „I mean... being someone's friend doesn't turn you into his soul mate. The same might have happened to Dja Iun and Nam Guk Shik. One of them needed the second one for information while Guk Shik might have needed Dja Iun for protection and certain favors. I'd rather call this symbiosis, even if some of us say that's friendship."