Miho the Killer
Chapter 93: The Truth

Chapter 93: The Truth

I should have known this was how Miho was going to react.

She was never going to collapse to the floor, broken, and wait for me to explain to her all that I knew.

I ran after Miho, but she was impossibly fast.

She ran through the corridor - holding the knives in her hands.

Then she made a quick turn into the living room direction, and I saw her feet lift off the ground as she launched herself. I heard Shin’s scream - not of pain, but of surprise.

By the time I caught up and entered the living room too, I saw Miho and Shin in a stand off. Miho had her two short knives, but Shin was holding what looked like a katana. He must have yanked it from the decorative wall rack by the door; the lacquered scabbard still swung on its cord, tapping the floorboards. It seemed Miho’s sudden attack had worked. He had a wound on his right arm and blood stain was spreading on his shirt.

"What the hell are you doing, Miho?!" Shin shouted at the crazed girl.

"What the hell did you do to my sister!" Miho yelled back.

Shin flinched. I’d never seen him do that before.

Miho read that as the sign of admission, rightly so.

The tigress went full-on, launching a flurry of slashing and stabbing attacks.

But Shin, despite having been caught off guard and wounded, was calm and collected. He shifted the katana to his left hand, the right arm hanging loose, and each parry sent a ripple of pain through his shoulder. Using reach and footwork he herded Miho back, re-establishing distance.

"Calm down, Tiger," Shin commanded.

"Fuck you," Miho was in no mood for it.

Then followed another round of attack and defense. Their movements were so quick I could hardly keep up. The room was filled with metallic sound of weapons clashing. The air was filled with scent of death. Either one of them was going to die here, right now.

"STOP!" I yelled.

They did not listen.

Miho was fully intent on slashing the answer out of Shin.

"Why did you hurt her?!" She cried. A thunderous roar.

Despite holding the longer sword, now that the tigress was on rampage, Shin was being forced back. And just when I thought it was over as he had was cornered with his back against the wall and Miho lunged for her final attack, it all suddenly stopped.

"Put your weapon down."

Shin calmly commanded as Miho’s attack was impossibly stopped mid-way and his katana was just a centimeter away from Miho’s throat. It happened so fast I couldn’t make out how the old man pulled this off. Then just as I thought I saw the muscles on Miho’s shoulder tighten, Shin laid the blade on her throat, literally touching it, but expertly controlled so that it wasn’t digging into her flesh - yet.

"Stop it. Right now. And I will talk."

With that, Miho dropped her knives to the floor. They fell with a loud clang.

"Go and sit on the couch," Shin ordered.

Miho obliged and taking a step back, then walked backward until she was fully seated on the couch.

"You too," Shin said again, pointing his katana toward me this time.

There really wasn’t anything I could do. I didn’t think the situation would escalate so quickly. My pulse hammered in my ears; sweat crawled down the back of my knee. I hurried toward the couch and sat next to Miho.

Shin took a deep breath, walked over to his arm chair and took his seat as well. But he still held the sword in his hand.

"Now, how much do you know?" Shin asked me directly.

"E... everything."

"Someone told you."

I didn’t want to answer this question.

"Answer me now, or you won’t get the chance to regret."

"Don’t you fucking dare!" Miho cut in.

"Your friend here, broke the foundation of our operation - trust."

"Says the man who set us up to die!" I protested.

"I already explained why that was the plan."

"Sohee... tell him... tell me. What happened today?"

Now both of them stared at me, pressuring me to speak the truth.

There was no point in lying here.

Truth was what we all wanted.

"Detective Choi is alive. I met him today. He brought your file - the confidential Internal Report."

Shin looked up at the ceiling, closed his eyes, and let out a long sigh.

"Well played."

"It’s not a game!" I was infuriated, yet still powerless.

Silence filled the air between us. It was relentless.

"Miho. I’m sorry," Shin finally spoke, his voice sincere.

"Tell me it’s not true-" Miho’s voice was breaking.

"Ha! You were already trying to kill me just now."

"Why... just why?!"

Slowly, deliberately, Shin set the katana on the table in front of him, both hands now free as he reached for his cigarettes. He leaned back on his armchair, bit his lower lips, clenched his fists and opened them a few times, shook his head once, and finally spoke.

"I lost my own daughter."

Knowing Shin’s background now, I might - I just might have had a bit of sympathy. If the victim hadn’t been Miho’s sister, and if he did not groom Miho into this life, perhaps, really really perhaps, I might have understood why Shin did all this.

"Your father and I were colleagues. More than colleagues. He was like my brother."

"That... much you told me before already."

"You didn’t know that your father was also a cop, didn’t you?"

"Wait- what?!"

"Of course. He didn’t tell you."

I glanced at Miho. There was growing confusion on her face. Her entire life was turning upside down now.

"We worked undercover together. We infiltrated an organization. A big one. We were doing it for years. Really earning the trust, climbing up the ladder. We were a good team. May I smoke in front of you ladies now?"

I didn’t object this time.

Shin fished out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it. He took a deep drag and blew out the thick smoke.

"Then came a... situation. They got on our tail. They started to suspect us. We fucked up. And your father made the move."

"What move?"

Shin stopped. He inhaled the smoke deeply, and blew it out slowly. Another drag, another exhale. He repeated the process three times, as if he was very carefully deliberating how to formulate the next sentence.

"Whatever happened, let’s just say he did it for his own family. I can’t forgive him for it as much as you’d never forgive me for what I had done. But forgiveness has no bearing on the past."

I held Miho’s trembling hand to calm her down, to no effect.

Shin then continued.

"I lived a double life. I was no longer bound by rules of police or the organization. I earned trust from both sides. Walked a thin line feeding partial truth and lies. Helping police score some good catch here and there, while helping the organization also circumvent police in crucial moments."

"Why would you live like that? What’s in it for you?" Miho burst out.

Thick silence hung in the air for a moment.

"Do you hear that?" Shin suddenly smiled and pointed to the ceiling.

We then heard a faint thudding sound. It was getting louder, approaching us.

"Choi planted a tracker on you. I guess you were too captivated with the ’truth’ to notice what was really happening," he added almost playfully.

"This place will be swarmed by the Special Ops any moment now."

"Argh, shit," Miho groaned.

"I - I’m so sorry..." I knew it was my fault.

"Too late. Miho, get ready."

As the sound of helicopters were getting louder, Miho and Shin exchanged a cold, heartless look of acknowledgment.

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