Money Loving CEO's Detective Lover

Gayoon was trying to reach Mina over the phone for hours but it was not connecting. Junho and Shinjin were sitting on the couch, worried about both Mina and Kanji.

"Did you reach through?" Junho asked.

"No," she replied. "Her phone is switched off!"

Junho cursed out loud. Minho was unavailable too but he had told them he was going back to Gayoon's school to talk to the soul he had encountered in his trip to the World of the Dead. He had been out all night and they could not even tell him that Mina and Kanji were missing.

"Do you think that Anyal might have struck?" Shinjin asked.

"That's possible," Gayoon said. "There's just one day left for the ritual. It'd be odd if he didn't strike yet. We've put Jina under so much protection that I'm sure he's now resorting to this…"

"But we've given amulets to Mina as well," Junho pointed out. "He shouldn't be able to touch her!"

"What about his servant though?" Gayoon frowned. "She's a spirit too, right? We couldn't see her on the CCTV camera!"

"It seems like she is a spirit," Shinjin said but his voice was full of uncertainty. "Did you find anything about her?"

"The rookie officer was supposed to give the file to me but I didn't receive it yet…" Gayoon trailed off. She dialed the rookie's number. He picked up in one ring.

"Yes ma'am!" he greeted her. "Did you receive the file?"

"You sent the file?" Gayoon frowned. "When?"

"I handed it over to your sister-in-law," the officer frowned. "Didn't you receive it from her? I gave it to her right outside the mansion."

Gayoon was shocked. Mina had the file? 

"I'll be back!" she exclaimed at the men. She hung up the phone and rushed to the main gate. The guard was startled to see Gayoon panting heavily.

"Did you see Mina receiving any file yesterday?" she demanded from the guard. The guard frowned before recalling something.

"Yes!" he remembered. "She took pictures of the file and handed it to me to give it to you. But someone called me and then I forgot."

"Forgot?" Gayoon yelled at him. "That's an important file! How can you just forget?"

The guard was apologetic and hurried back into his station. A few seconds later, he emerged out of it, carrying a file.

"This is the file, ma'am!" he squeaked. "I'm so sorry-"

Gayoon did not bother to listen to his excuses and sprinted back inside. Junho and Shinjin were surprised to see her looking so angry.

"The dumb guard forgot to hand over the file to me!" she revealed. "I'm going to have a talk with all the household staff after this mess is over!"

She opened the file and placed the documents on a coffee table for the men to read.

"Makoto Ara…" Shinjin read. "But there's no mention of her being dead.

"Which means she's not dead," Junho gritted. "She's alive! FU-"

He let out a stream of curses which confused Gayoon. "So you're saying she's not a spirit?" she demanded.

"No!" Shinjin exclaimed. "She's not a spirit! That bitch is human!"

The two men were now worried. The CCTV part was an illusion. They thought that Anyal must have used some magic to make Anna visible to everyone. Or maybe she was a demon, not a spirit, so she could be seen by the naked eye as per her will. The magic she used was incomprehensible for a regular human and certainly not practiced widely even by witches.

"She must have learnt a lot of tricks from him," Junho said in a bitter tone.

"But what the hell does all this mean?" Gayoon asked. "Why are you so worried about the fact that she's alive?"

"The amulets are designed to keep away spirits," Shinjin sighed. "Not humans. She's just a very powerful witch and not a spirit. So she can evade charms and amulets just like any other human being."

"WHAT?" Gayoon yelled. "UGH!"

Just then, Minho entered the house to find everyone in a panicked state. "What the hell happened?" he demanded.

"A lot of things," Gayoon scowled. She narrated everything to him, leaving him shell shocked. 

"This is bad," he said in a worried tone. "We'll have to keep an eye on Jina and prepare for the exorcism!"

"But we don't even know where the gates are," Junho said.

"The gates will be at the place where that princess died," Minho informed them. "I talked to that spirit in the World of the Dead. She told me that if the gates are in there, then those gates will also follow the rules of that world. So if Anyal needs to take out the Princess' soul from hell, he'll have to open the gates from the spot where she died."

"How do we find out where the spot is?" Gayoon asked.

"There's no other option," Minho gritted. "I'll have to talk to Anyal and make the deal. Make an exchange. I'll tell him that I'll open the gate if he returns Mina and Kanji to us."

"But it might be a trap!" Gayoon argued. "How do we know he's gonna believe us?"

"We'll have to try," Junho said. The adults entered into a discussion about the next course of action. Unbeknownst to them, Jina was upstairs, listening to them. Yumi was also with her, worried about what was going to happen.

"Your aunt and Kanji are in trouble," Yumi remarked. "Will they be alright?"

Jina was thinking hard. The witch was going to come for her any moment but if the grown ups and Yumi were there, she would not be able to save Mina and Kanji…

"I've heard that grandpa Jason is under a spell," she said slowly. She looked up to face Yumi.

"Yumi, follow him from a distance and see what he does!" Jina instructed. "If you see him anywhere suspicious, inform us immediately."

But the ghost was frowning at her. "Who'll protect you then?" she asked. "What if the witch comes for you?"

"She won't enter this house," Jina claimed. "After all, the adults are here! That funny shaman is here too! He can get rid of her. I'm safe at home."

"True," Yumi agreed. "Alright. I'll keep an eye on Jang Jason and let you know." 

With that, Yumi disappeared in thin air to complete her mission. As soon as she was gone, Jina braced herself. The witch would come for her anytime and Jina had no other choice but to go with her. Otherwise her aunt and uncle Kanji would be tortured.

I just hope mom and dad will be able to find me, she prayed.