INSIDE MONSTER. THE FUGITIVE.

CHAPTER 46: FIRE ON THE SKIN

The meeting he had with Han DooSan drove SinJu crazy. Because of this, he started squeezing the small rubber ball in his hand so hard, which he got to wear with him all the time lately and used each time he needed to calm down or think. That day though, his trick didn't work because, no matter how hard he didn't squeeze it, he couldn't calm down or think clearly. Why? Because, so suddenly, he felt surrounded.

„How not to feel that when... to be damned if I know how Han DooSan made the connection between the former sawmill and me. Particularly, how did they find out about that place, anyway? I also cannot understand how they connected Nam Guk Shik to me so fast. Did they know about this from Dja Iun? Or... is this a simple coincidence? No, I don't think so: there aren't coincidences in this world, not when things change so fast, and this tells me that we have a „rat" among us. Yes, it's definitely that. Yet, who? Who's the rat? Who?"

Such thoughts, which freely spun in his head, made SinJu really nervous. He got to torment himself so hard while trying to remember the faces of all those who worked or were still working for him. He even tried to remember the faces of all those he knew. Yet, too many people „knew" him because SinJu was famous, which made it difficult for him to remember them all. And, on top of that, none of the faces he remembered seemed suspicious. On the contrary, they seemed to be normal and feared him.

„Even so, I can't stop feeling that someone's behind us. Is it definitely a „ghost" as Han DooSan suggested? Ei, I don't think so. It'll be too much to be that. Why? Because... I know that he's not the man who could risk someone's life only to catch me. Yes, he won't do that, not after he has found out so many things about me and knows what I can do. Still, it seems so and we have a rat spying on us. Yet, whom did Han DooSan send to keep an eye on me? Who?"

Thinking so intensely about all these questions, SinJu finally remembered SolHi's face. „It can't be!" He growled, shuddering from top to toe as though a cold snap hit him. „She's not the ghost for sure," he calmed himself this way. „She definitely isn't the one whom Han DooSan hired to follow me because everybody saw her lying dead on the floor of the DOC parking lot. I also saw it. I saw how they took her out of there on a stretcher and covered with a white sheet, one that was stained with her blood. All this couldn't have been a simple or cheap show."

Looking through the inner mirror at SinJu, the driver saw him grimacing and seeming outraged. And, although he feared to ask something, he still did that eventually, „Something's wrong, boss?"

The driver's question made SinJu wince. Then, looking at the mirror where he saw the face of the man about forty who drove his car, SinJu frowned. „Is he the rat?" He wondered. „No, it can't be. I know he's a chicken and that he would rather bury himself alive than betray me. Even so..."

The ringtone of the entering call ended the nonsense thoughts that crossed SinJu's mind at that moment. The entering call even made him breathe a sigh of relief, particularly when he looked at the screen and saw „unknown number." This didn't make him worry though. On the contrary, he seemed content because he knew very well who called him: someone whom he knew only. „A shadow, who has to remain like that always," SinJu said through his teeth. Then, sternly glancing at his driver, he demanded, „Pull over and get out!"

„Here?" The driver asked with wide-open eyes. What amazed the man so much? The fact that SinJu asked him to pull over on a road that was known as being isolated and dangerous, something that was unsure for both of them. Realizing this, the driver wanted to refuse his boss and continue driving. Yet, seeing SinJu's sour face and his eyes sparkling because of the hatred felt in his soul after hearing his employee's reckless question as SinJu considered this to be, the driver affirmatively nodded and pulled over, leaving the car seconds afterward.