Money Loving CEO's Detective Lover

"Minjung!" he yelled. "Open the door!"     

But there was no response from within. He dialed her number several times but she did not pick up his calls. The messages he went were unseen by her and no matter how many times he tried to contact her, she would not reply back.     

What the hell was going on?     

"Minjung!" he yelled again, banging on the door. "Minjung!"     

He banged on her door for several minutes but there was no response. Unbeknownst to him, Minjung had lied to her parents about going to school but had wandered off elsewhere. There was no one else in the house.     

Yoo finally gave up and turned around to leave. As soon as he reached the driveway, something flashed at him. He looked up to see a silhouette standing in Minjung's window.     

"Minjung?" he murmured. The silhouette vanished. There was someone in the house!     

He looked around and saw that there was no one else in sight. Taking advantage of this, he walked towards the pipeline and began to climb. It was a method he had often used in order to sneak into her room late at nights to enjoy some private time with her. He stepped on her balcony and slowly entered through her window.     

"Minjung?" he called out for her in a low voice. Her parents were probably not home but where was Minjung?     

"Minjung?" he called again but no response. Her bed was unkempt, implying that she was in town but the rest of her room was untouched. He looked up and noticed that the ceiling fan's screws were loose and it was hanging dangerously. The sight alarmed him. Why would she not have that fixed?     

He tried her phone again but no response. Thinking quickly, he decided to check her closet for the sweater which had the patterned button sewn on it. Minjung had sewn that sweater herself and had deliberately kept one of the patterned buttons for her while she gave the rest to him as a token of their love for each other.     

Opening her closet, he glanced through it and found the sweater. His suspicions were right. The button was missing from it.     

"What did you do, Minjung?" he wondered. Did she kill Park Seungjo? But why would she do that?      

There was no way Minjung would kill someone. She was very ambitious about going to the National University and worked hard for it. In all their years as a couple, Yoo knew that Minjung was working hard to become a financial analyst and was driven by ambition. National University was a step towards her goal and she would never risk having a criminal record on her application.     

Then why did she kill Seungjo?     

"I must find out," he murmured. Suddenly, the closet began to rattle violently in front of him as if it came alive.     

"What the hell?" Yoo exclaimed in panic as the closet shook hard. He was backing out but the closet was coming closer and closer, trapping him between the bed and itself.      

"What is happening?" he yelled but a pair of white hands emerged out of the closet and pulled him inside before shutting the doors.      

Yoo yelled and banged on the closet from within, trying to get out but the clothes wrapped around his body, entangling him in a web.      

"HELP!" he yelled. "GET ME OUT OF HERE!"     

But his screams landed on deaf ears. He kept on pleading with the invisible force which had trapped him but the evil laughter echoed in his ears. The closet shook for one last time before the screams in it went silent.     

…     

Gayoon was in class when her phone vibrated. Making sure that the teacher had his back to them, she took out the phone to see a message from Minjung.     

"Can we meet up?" it said. "At the park near school."     

Gayoon bit her lip. Was it a trap by Seungjo? What if he had hurt Minjung and was using her phone to lure her in as well?     

But then what if it really was Minjung and she needed help? Gayoon could not ignore that. Putting her cellphone, wallet and a pouch of salt in her pocket, she raised her hand.     

"Sir, I need to use the washroom," she lied.      

"Go ahead, Jeon," the teacher said before resuming the lecture. Gayoon exited the classroom. Seeing that the coast was clear, she quickly snuck out of the route which Sooyhun had shown her when aiding Minjung out of the school undetected. She managed to leave the school grounds and hurried off to find Minjung.     

To her relief, Minjung was sitting on one of the swings, staring into space.     

"Minjung!"      

She looked up to see Gayoon approaching her. Gayoon sat on the swing next to her.     

"You're wearing your school uniform!" Gayoon remarked. "Why didn't you come to school?"     

"I tried," Minjung admitted. "But as soon as I entered, I remembered...him."     

Her voice cracked. She did not look good at all. Her skin was sullen and paler than the last time Gayoon had seen her and her eyelids were heavy as if she was sleep deprived. There were large dark circles underneath her eyelids while her hair was unkempt and dry as if she had not shampooed in weeks.      

But worst of all, it seemed as if she had given up on living. The arrogant and prideful Minjung had been reduced to an empty shell who was simply breathing but not living.     

"Minjung, you have to take care of yourself," Gayoon urged. "Staying like this isn't going to help your mental health at all!"     

"I don't want to Gayoon," she admitted in a sad tone. "I can't go back to being that girl who once wanted to live. I can't forget what happened."     

"You can never forget," Gayoon said in a grim voice. "No one can forget their traumas. If I tell you to forget all that, then I'm just being a terrible human being. No, Minjung. You can't forget. But you still have to live. Because if you don't, then you're letting that monster win."     

Minjung noted a bitterness in Gayoon's tone. The latter was remembering the torment Seungjo was putting her through every night as the evil entity stalked her dreams and also hovering at her window, making it impossible for her to forget him. Seungjo was going to keep on reminding Gayoon that he would be around her, ready to harm those closest to her.     

But her trauma was nothing compared to what Minjung was going through. And the only person who could truly defeat Seungjo, was Minjung herself.     

"Even in death, he's tormenting us," Minjung mused. Gayoon looked up in astonishment but Mijung went on.     

"I know he's also torturing you in some twisted way," Minjung stated. "After all, he harmed me because I was a bully to you. So he must be torturing you in some way as well. You dream of him too, right?"     

Gayoon was silent for a while before nodding. Minjung stared at her with whimsical eyes.     

"I'm sorry," she finally said. "For being so mean to you all these years. You didn't deserve any of it and yet, I made your life a living hell."     

Gayoon was surprised by Minjung's gesture and before she could respond, Minjung's phone rang up. But the latter was ignoring it.     

"Aren't you going to answer that?" Gayoon asked.     

"It's probably Yoo," Minjung sniffed. "I haven't talked to him after my…"     

She did not go on but shook her head. But the mention of Yoo clicked something in Gayoon's head.     

"Yoo had stormed out of the school this morning!" Gayoon exclaimed. "He's being accused as Seungjo's murderer!"     

"WHAT?" Minjung exclaimed. "He's being accused?"     

"You should talk to him!" Gayoon said. "His parents already managed to get him out! You must talk to him and tell him the truth!"     

Minjung took out her phone but to her surprise, it was a call from Seohyun.     

"It's Seohyun," she said. She put the phone on speaker for Gayoon to hear as well.     

"Seohyun! What happened?"     

"Minjung," Seohyun's worried voice came from the other end. "It's Yoo!"     

"What happened to Yoo?" Minjung demanded.     

"He's been in a hit and run!" Seohyun revealed. "He took his father's car and hit an old woman near the intersection, killing her!"     

Minjung looked up at Gayoon in horror. "H-hit and run?" Minjung stammered. "But Seohyun, Yoo can't even drive!"