Money Loving CEO's Detective Lover

Minho stared at his daughter who was trying to keep the portal open as long as she could. Her face was distorted behind the red circle which Minho recognized as the same one that Park Seungjo had made when he had kidnapped Gayoon.      

"How did you-" he began but Jina cut him off.     

"All that is not important!" she exclaimed. "We don't have time!"     

She looked in pain as if she was struggling hard. Her face was red and it had taken her all her strength to concentrate on making the portal. It was harder than she had thought because the circle she had created was unstable and would collapse any moment. Her tired expression alarmed Minho.     

"Jina, what's going on? How did you make this?"     

"All thanks to you!" she supplied. "Or more like, thanks to your blood!"     

"What?" Minho frowned. Next to him, the girl was listening to the conversation. The little girl had created a portal which was strange. She had never seen such a phenomenon before.     

"This is weird," she muttered. Was it even possible? Can someone make portals like that and enter the realm of the dead?     

"Dad, you are a Transporter," Jinan said. "According to the strange shaman here, you have the ability to move between the living and dead. We don't know how, but only a transporter can enter the World of the Dead! A normal human can't enter that place!"     

Jina was repeating everything Shinjin had made her memorize so that she could explain it to Minho. Since the others could not see nor communicate with him through the veil, it was up to her to make her dad understand.      

"You can not only enter but also leave as per your will!" she went on, parroting everything which was taught to her. "All you have to do is concentrate on something you've left behind in the world of the living, draw a circle in the air with your finger and say 'Patentibus'! The portal will open on its own and you can escape!"     

Shinjin, who was standing next to Jina, shouted, "Tell him that we're going to destroy Park Seungjo's uniform here. The only way to kill a ghost is to destroy the belongings which were with him when he died!"     

Jina turned to her dad to relay the message but the latter exclaimed, "I heard him! But what else does he know about this world?"     

"Nothing!" Shinjin replied loudly. "We know nothing! All we know is that Park Seungjo is not acting alone. Some guy called Mister A is helping him but we don't know who he is or what's in that world!"     

Minho had guessed that much. It seemed that even the shaman did not have much knowledge about the World of the Dead. This whole place was not only messed up but was shrouded in a mystery which was nearly impossible to crack unless someone actually entered it at will.     

"Dad…"     

Jina was now struggling to cope up with the portal's energy. She was not strong enough to keep the flimsy portal open for long and was on the verge of collapsing.      

"Jina, close it!" Minho yelled. "Close the thing! I can find my way back after I save Gayoon!"     

Hearing her father's words, Jina finally loosened her grip and let go of the portal. It vanished in seconds and her dad's face disappeared once again. She was huffing and puffing for breath, her face as red as a tomato. Her arms hurt from the massive energy she had to absorb and she slumped on the ground, trying to calm down.     

Junho, who had stepped out of Minho's sight, instantly came and swooped her in his arms. The little girl was nearly unconscious and for a moment he panicked.     

"Will she be alright?" he asked Shinjin. "She looks terrible!"     

"It's the burden of the portal," Shinjin explained. "Since she's a minor, her body could not sustain the energy for long. She should be alright after resting a bit. Lay her on the table and let her sleep for a while."     

Junho gently placed his granddaughter on the teacher's table and put a coat above her. Jaewan stepped into the room, carrying some food for everyone.     

"Figured ya'll might be hungry," he said, throwing a bun at Junho, who caught it. "What's up with the kid?" he added.     

"She's tired," Junho explained. "Let her rest for a while."     

He sighed and turned to Shinjin who was putting Seungjo's uniform into a mini pyre. Shinjin closed his eyes and chanted under his breath, trying to cleanse the object. Jaewan walked over to the classroom's electrical circuit and turned off the sprinklers.      

"How will we know if it worked?" Jaewan asked. "The guy is on the other side, right? The dead world or whatever."     

"He is," Junho confirmed in a grim tone. "We won't know if the ritual worked from this side."     

"It's not really a ritual," Shinjin countered. "I'm merely cleansing the air around the object. Simply burning this thing with fire would do."     

"Why didn't you guys do it the last time?" Jaewan frowned. "Could have burnt his stuff and he wouldn't have had the chance to take Gayoon away!"     

"We tried," Junho said bitterly. "But we only managed to burn the shoes and glasses he wore. Before we could burn his uniform and the button, he attacked us. He almost killed Shinjin in the process so I had to use the lock spell on him. Trapped him in a box with the uniform and a button before burying him where he died. Since it was the spot where he was killed, it was his achilles' heel. As long as he was kept there, he couldn't escape."     

"Until he was unleashed," Jaewan finished for him. Junho nodded and turned to Shinjin who was examining the uniform with a worried expression.     

"Junho…" he began.     

"What happened?" Junho demanded.     

"There's something wrong here," Shinjin said. "Something terribly wrong!"     

"What?" Jaewan asked.     

Shinjin turned to them with a shocked expression. "The button," he said. "It's missing!"     

Junho and Jaewan were frozen to their spots. The button was missing? How? Why? Where was it?     

"If we can't find that button then we're screwed!" Junho yelled in frustration. "Damn it!"     

"It could be anywhere," Jaewan stated. "The workers might have taken it or dropped it!"     

"We can't exorcise him without it!" Shinjin groaned. How could they have missed it? The button was one of the objects which was found near Seungjo's body!     

"Let's burn the uniform first," Junho said. "And hope that Minho manages to get Gayoon out of there. We can worry about the button later."     

But all of them knew that it would be impossible to defeat Park Seungjo without the button. It was the only thing left to burn!     

At that moment, Junho felt more helpless than he had felt at his wife's death. He had seen her suffer for days in front of him as she tried to fight the demon in her. Only the thought of their two children kept her sane enough to fight the monster which had possessed her but in the end, it managed to take over her body.      

Now that his son was trapped in that cold world with the girl Junho considered as a daughter, he felt as if all hope had been sucked out of him.      

Please keep them safe, Junho prayed. Please.     

….     

"That explains a lot," the girl commented. After hearing what the little girl from the other end had said, some things were beginning to clear up.     

"Explains what?" Minho frowned.     

"How you entered this place," she replied. "And also why you're not collapsing like other humans would. The atmosphere of this place should be suffocating to a human being and yet, you're hale and hearty as a horse. Running around even."     

"We can worry about all that later!" he snapped. "Right now, I need to try what Jina had told me."     

"But you've never tried it before," the girl pointed out. "Are you sure you can do it?"     

"It'll take me several tries," he muttered. "But I have to. It's the only way."     

The girl did not comment but watched him close his eyes and contort his face as if concentrating hard. He raised his finger in the air and drew a circle.     

"Patentibus!" he exclaimed.     

Nothing happened.      

"Try it again," the girl suggested. "You've recently discovered this ability. You're not gonna master it in one minute."     

"I don't have time to practice," Minho muttered but she was right. He was not going to master it in seconds but they were also pressed for time. Gayoon barely had half an hour before her body succumbed to the effects of the dead world.     

"Concentrate on her," the girl suggested. "On her face. If you do that, maybe you can reach her?"     

Minho closed his eyes again and pictured Gayoon's face in his mind. He imagined her inside that classroom, probably lying on the floor like a sleeping beauty.      

"Patentibus," he murmured, drawing a circle. Red sparks erupted from the invisible circle and for a few seconds, he saw a familiar figure on the other end of the weak portal he had created before it vanished.     

"An improvement," the girl complimented. "Keep trying."     

"But we need a plan," Minho said, putting his hands in his pocket. "Without a plan, we can't just walk in through the portal. That spirit will be near her and-"     

Suddenly, he froze.      

"What happened?" the girl asked. "Why did you stop?"     

Minho did not reply but slowly took out something from his pocket. It was a patterned button.     

"The shaman had said that one way to get rid of a ghost is to destroy the belongings he had when he died," Minho stated slowly.     

"So?"     

"Park Seungjo also had this button next to him when he died," Minho revealed.