( Two Side's of The Hunt)
Sunny left the station and went to the room prepared for him. Since he was a V.I.P., he had been given a specially prepared room.
"Is it always this busy here?" he asked the police officer accompanying him.
"Yes, but not on some days. Everything depends on the day's events," the officer replied.
"Hmm..." Sunny continued to carefully observe everything outside.
The city was running busily. After a short journey, they arrived at the place arranged for Sunny. A large house, complete with all facilities, had been set up for him.
"Nice..." Sunny said, walking inside and observing everything. "I didn't expect suchabig house just for me to stay in."
"We have also arranged for an officer to stay here with you for your security," the policeman informed him.
"Oh... that's a very good decision. I was just wondering how I would stay here alone," Sunny said.
Sunny slowly entered his room.
After a short while, the police officer who accompanied Sunny said goodbye and left the premises.
Sunny neatly arranged all his belongings in the room. He slowly began to examine the files concerning the case he had come to investigate. He had been provided with the details of almost all the missing persons cases that had occurred in the city. After reading through them one by one, Sunny couldn't find a single shred of evidence. He was certain that, in a way, this case was going to torment him greatly. Having looked through all the files, he walked to the window and gazed out.
"A profoundly different case... in a city like this... Intriguing." Sunny muttered to himself, watching the rain falling outside.
The rain started pouring heavily, drenching the entire city.
In that rain, Nancy was rushing somewhere. Through the ceaseless downpour, Nancy headed towards the last location where the pregnant woman was reported missing. She was now walking through the same desolate, deserted path the missing woman had taken. As she walked, she mentally marked the places where CCTV cameras might be present.
Finally, she reached the park bench where the woman had stopped, exhausted. As she sat on the exact bench, Nancy suddenly felt her mind drifting somewhere else, losing control, as if her thoughts were pulled away involuntarily...
Nancy abruptly jumped up from the bench.
"What is happening to me?" she asked herself.
Walking forward from there, fragments of something flashed through Nancy's mind, yet she couldn't grasp what they were. She felt as if someone was guiding her forward, and she continued walking.
Where she eventually arrived was the very spot where the woman was last seen.
Nancy looked around; it was dark, a darkness steeped in faint light. There was no one there. Large buildings towered on both sides.
Nancy cautiously took each step forward. With every footfall, she began to hear sounds in her ears...
"No... Please don't..."
It sounded like someone pleading, someone gasping for breath... The intensity was unbearable for Nancy. The sound grew louder and louder with every step she took forward.
Finally, Nancy reached the exact spot where the woman had last stood. But now, the sound stopped.
Hoping to find some clue, she started searching everywhere.
Nancy examined every corner there but found nothing.
From there, she walked back onto the main road and started walking away.
Nancy was disheartened, realizing she could only find Shino if she found the killer, but despite all her efforts, she hadn't found a single piece of evidence. She sat down sadly on a bench by the roadside.
"How... How will I bring you back, Shino? How will I keep the promise I made to you?" She buried her face in her lap.
"Nancy..." A familiar voice reached her ears. Nancy opened her eyes with a start. She was no longer on the bench by the road, but standing in front of a mirror, inside a room filled with surrounding darkness. Nancy looked around, unable to believe what she was seeing.
"Nancy..."
The same voice again...
She looked around fearfully.
"Who is that... Who are you...?"
"Nancy..." The voice called her again.
The voice wasn't coming from anywhere else; it was coming from inside the mirror in front of her.
She saw a reflection of someone inside, but the figure was unclear.
"Who are you?" Nancy asked the figure.
Hearing her question, the figure smiled slowly.
"Why are you giving up, Nancy?" the figure asked her in a low voice.
"Nancy, why are you so weak? Have you already lost enough to surrender?"
"Yes..." Nancy replied to the figure.
"Where did you lose? Didn't you overcome your fear and go to the station for the promise you made to Shino? Was it there?
Didn't you stand against the cruel forces that no one could oppose? Was it there?
Now, didn't you come here in this rain for her, without giving up your effort? Was it there?" The figure continued speaking to her.
"If someone as weak as you has reached this far, is it because you lost?
Nancy, in everything we do, there will be either a defeat or a victory. It is determined by your effort, not by you alone. Here, everything has just begun. Why should you concede defeat so soon?
Nancy, two personalities live within us. Everyone only reveals one of them. But some utilize their other self as well. There is such a person within you too. They have come and gone within you, even without your knowledge. It wasn't to help you, but to make you realize that I exist within you.
Now, set aside the person who has been living in you all this time... Instead, bring out that second self within you..."
Nancy stared into the mirror... She looked at her own hands. There were scars on her hands.
"Every wound is a remnant of a battle, Nancy...
Everything has just begun here... Time has just started for you... Fight... until death... to keep your promise..."
A tear slowly fell from her eye.
"No one is born a coward, Nancy... It is the life ahead that determines who they are.
All this time, you saw yourself as a coward... and so you remained a coward.
Now, stop seeing yourself as a coward... Instead, be confident that you can do it, and that you are not a coward."
A hand reached out and touched the mirror.
Nancy placed her hand on the mirror as well.
Suddenly, she felt something cold rush through her hand.
"Ahh!"
Nancy opened her eyes with a start. She was back on the bench.
It was all a dream, but it had influenced her in a different way. The rain began to pour heavily again without stopping. In the rain, Nancy got up from the bench and walked forward. With every step she took, she cast aside all her shortcomings onto the road itself.
Nancy walked away from there.
After she left, someone emerged from behind a tree, a little distance behind the bench...
A pair of poisonous green eyes in the darkness watched Nancy walking away in the distance.
The gleam in those eyes was utterly unnatural and filled with the supernatural.