Money Loving CEO's Detective Lover

Junwan was having a headache. With Jeon Gayoon on extended leave, the workload in his precinct had increased a lot. Taejoon was trying to handle the cases on his own but he was not nearly as experienced as Gayoon when it came to catching criminals quickly. Hence, Junwan had to take up a lot of the load. Hell, he was even going around the neighborhood to look for petty criminals.     

"That guy is still not confessing?" Junwan barked. They had recently caught a well known drug dealer who was selling drugs to teenagers at school. It took them weeks to catch the guy whereas Gayoon could have caught him within days had she not been on leave. And the dealer was still not confessing because instead of catching him red handed, Taejoon had hit him with his car right before the dealer was about to make a deal with their informer. It was an accident but the damage was done. Now the dealer was threatening to sue.     

"He's not," Taejoon admitted. "I tried to make him confess but he's adamant that he's innocent."     

"IS THIS HOW INCOMEPENT MY OFFICERS HAVE BECOME?" Junwan shouted and threw the files aside. "You guys were useless in catching the CCK which resulted in my finest detective to get injured! And now you're telling me that you can't even catch a petty druggie?"     

Taejoon was looking down at his feet, unable to answer anything. Junwan was frustrated at the lack of discipline in his station. Truthfully, he had relied on Gayoon so much that now it felt as if the other officers had become too relaxed. They were not doing their duties properly.     

"Gayoon is returning to work tomorrow," he said. "I want you all to report to her about your failures. And I'll tell her that she must give you all deadlines to complete them. If any of you fails, then she'll report to me and I'll suspend you guys one by one! I don't want a bunch of useless morons serving my precinct! Either increase your efficiency or I'll have you transferred to a village station! You guys can catch cycle thieves for the res t of your lives!"     

He was damn serious. The police station was in tatters thanks to the increase in criminals in the city but if the officers could not work hard, they were welcome to leave.     

Taejoon was about to speak up when an officer came running into the Chief's room.     

"Sir!" he exclaimed, looking extremely worried. "You need to see this!"     

"What happened now?" Junwan frowned warily.     

"Someone left a dead body right outside the station!" the officer revealed. Junwan was shocked. A dead body was dumped outside the police station?     

He got up and ran towards the entrance. Heading outside, he saw a group of officers gathered around the body. They did not venture too close but were curiously staring at the body of a little boy which had been dumped there. Junwan and Taejoon immediately wore their gloves.     

"Call the forensic doctor, Jaein," Junwan ordered one of the rookie officers. The latter nodded and diald Jaein's number. Taejoon stooped down to examine the body.     

"He looks hardly eight or nine years old," he stated. "There's dry blood on his head and his face looks too pale. He's been dead for hours."     

"What's this…"     

Junwan took out a plastic bag and brush. He brushed off some particles from the boy's hair and put it in the plastic bag.     

"It looks like snow," Taejoon frowned.     

"Get out of the way!" Jaein's voice came from behind them. She pushed aside the officers and reached the body. Her assistants were close behind and immediately got to work. She examined the body.     

"He's been dead for over a day," she informed them. She checked the boy's pockets and to her surprise, there was dirt in there.     

"Why is there dirt in here?" she muttered. She checked the nostrils of the boy and raised an eyebrow.     

"Take pictures of the body and send it to my lab," she said. "I'll need to thoroughly examine him."     

"I'll file the case then," Taejoon said but Junwan cut through.     

"I'll do it," h said sharply. "And hand over the case to Gayoon. It'll be her case. You will only help her in this. No questions asked."     

Taejoon pursed his lips. He was not please to have Gayoon take up a major case on her first day back since she was still healing but there was no choice. They took photos of the body and wrapped it up in a body bag to ship it off to Jaein's lab for autopsy.     

"Find out who dumped the body here," Junwan said. "That'll give us an idea of who might have killed the boy."     

Taejoon nodded and immediately set off to search the CCTV cameras in the area. Junwan glimpsed at the boy's body as it was being carried away. Even after so many years in homicide, seeing murdered children was something he was not used to. How could anyone kill an innocent child? He had always wondered.     

But if he had the answer, then the world would have been a safer place.     

…     

Mina was at the mansion with Minho and Gayoon, impatiently waiting in the living room for Haejong to call. They had returned home after Haejong had assured them that he would handle the rest.     

"Mina," Gayoon began. "That man who helped us. Who was he? How do you know him?"     

"He's a patient," Mina said but did not elaborate. Gayoon was a little troubled. Those men looked dangerous and Gayoon was sure that she had seen Haejong somewhere but she could not recall where.     

"Where's the kid?" Minho asked.     

"I think he's upstairs in Jina's room," Gayoon said. "He's a little nervous but I gave him Jina's toys to play with."     

Minho quietly stood up from the couch he was sitting on and headed upstairs. He opened the door and saw that Jina's stuffed animals were on the floor, moving by themselves. No doubt the kid was playing with them.     

Shinho looked up and saw Minho picking up a small board and a marker. He put the board and marker on the ground.     

"Shinho, I can't see nor hear you, but I want to talk to you," Minho said out loud. "Can you write down your answers on this board so that I can read it?"     

Minho waited and saw the marker began to move. It was writing something on the board.     

"Yes," Shinho wrote.     

"Shinho, do you remember the place where your dad used to keep you in?" Minho asked. "Where was your house?"     

Shinho wrote on the board. "It was dark," Minho read. "Big house but my room was dark. There were no lights. Under the house, I lived. Upstairs it was light."     

Basement? Cellar? Minho wondered. Was he kept in a basement?     

"Who else lived there?" Minho asked. "Do you know?"     

"Dad," Shinho wrote. "A pretty lady and older brother."     

Minho frowned. "Your mother passed away, right?" Minho asked. "Who was the lady?"     

"I don't know."     

"What about your older brother?" Minho pressed gently. "Where is he?"     

"I don't know."     

"Did your older brother live with you in that dark room?"     

"No. He was upstairs."     

Minho let out a heavy sigh. As he suspected, the little boy was kept away from his family. He was probably locked in a lonely, dark room where he spent his days. The family treated him like a dirty secret, letting the father abuse him in heinous ways. But why?     

He glanced around and saw that Shinho was drawing a picture. In it was a boy who had a cake in his hands while a man and woman stood on either sides of him. There were wide smiles on their faces.     

But in the corner was another boy who was looking at the family from afar. On top of the pictures, Shinho wrote the names.     

"Dad," Minho read the tag above the man. "Pretty lady, older brother…"     

Then Shinho wrote his own name over the kid who was far from the family. Before Minho could say something, Shinho rubbed off the drawing and scribbled on it.     

"Find my mother," he wrote. Even though Minho could not see him, he felt the room getting unnaturally colder. There was a lingering sadness in the air as pearly tears rolled down the little boy's cheeks.     

"I want to find my mother! My father knows where she is!" Shinho wrote. "Please, Bunny uncle!"     

"I will…" Minho promised. He felt something cold gripping his arm. Shinho was holding on to his arm, cuddling there as it felt comforting. Minho did not object but let the ghost hold him.     

After a while, Gayoon came upstairs, looking for Minho. To her surprise, he was sleeping on the floor. She was about to wake him but Shinho's voice spoke up.     

"Bunny uncle is tired," the boy said. "Let him sleep."     

Shinho was patting Minho's head. Gayoon snickered and picked up a couple of pillows from Jina's bed along with a blanket. She gently lifted his head and put it under his head before covering him up with the blanket. She knew very well that Minho wanted to help the little boy. No matter how much he claimed to love money more than anything, he still would not hesitate to help those who really needed it.     

Putting another pillow next to him, she lay on it, staring at him. If he was going to help Shinho, then she would also aid him in this quest.     

"Bunny uncle is nice," Shinho said. "And kind."     

"He is," Gayoon smiled. She felt Shinho's cold yet gentle palm patting her head and soon, she also fell asleep.