Money Loving CEO's Detective Lover

Gayoon returned early from work after Minho had informed her of a dinner with an important guest that night. Since she had only one case in hand at the time and was assigned to mostly desk jobs until she was cleared by the higher ups to take up the challenging cases, it was easy to finish her daily tasks on time.     

"Mom!" Jina exclaimed as soon as she saw her mother enter her room. She ran right into her mother's arms who hugged her tightly.     

"I missed you so much!" Gayoon said happily, kissing her daughter's forehead. "Did you have fun at the camp?"     

"Fun?" Yumi snorted from behind. "She made a guy cry for his mommy!"     

She had just returned from her usual routine of tailing her idols. Casper, too, came back a few minutes ago and both of them were surprised to find another ghost inhabiting the house. Shinho was a little afraid of them first since he found Casper scary but he lit up once the elderly ghost drew him some funny pictures on a board. Casper was now teaching him sign language to which the little boy could only stare and nod.     

Gayoon frowned at her daughter. "You made a boy cry?" she echoed.     

"He was mean to everyone!" Jina said at once. "He even changed the routes during a game so that I would get lost! He wouldn't apologize for bumping into me either! All three of us got lost in the forest."     

"What?" Gayoon cried. "How did you escape?"     

"Bobo helped us," Jina chimed. "He's a spirit of the forest. He showed us the way and we went back to the camp to scare that kid. You should've seen him running in the snow without his slippers on! Everyone made fun of him!"     

Gayoon was about to scold her daughter for pulling such a dangerous prank when Minho's voice piped up from behind them.     

"He better hope he doesn't run into you again coz he'll be facing something scarier than ghosts if he does," he said smoothly. "Me."     

"Dad!"      

Jina ran towards her dad and hugged him too. He scooped her up in his lap.     

"You're spoiling her!" Gayoon protested. "What she did was wrong!"     

"I'm teaching her," Minho corrected. "Not to stand up to bullies. You see, if bullies hurt you, you might end up in the hospital."     

"And that increases expenses," Jina finished for him.     

"That is correct."     

Gayoon gaped at the shameless father-daughter duo. What are we teaching this kid? She wondered.      

"Anyways, " she said. "We have a dinner tonight. Who's coming?"     

She only received his text but he did not specify who was coming. Minho pursed his lips and let Jina down.     

"Dad, how did you guys end up bringing Shinho here?" Jina asked. "He told me you found him in your winter house."     

She looked from her father to her mother, confused by what was going on.      

"Shinho will stay with us for a while," Gayoon said gently. "He'll stay here until he can find his mother. In the meantime, he'll be our guest. You have to take good care of him."     

"I will!" Jina said. "We're already friends!"     

Both Minho and Gayoon let out a sigh of relief. They were glad that Jina's sprightly personality made it easy for her to make friends easily. Hearing Shinho's giggles, Gayoon could tell that he was being well taken care of. She nodded at Minho who smiled.      

"We'll leave you guys to play," he said. "Your mom and I have to prepare for tonight's dinner. The guests will arrive at 8 PM so all of you must be on your best behavior."     

Jina nodded while the ghosts flashed a thumbs up. Minho gestured Gayoon to follow him to their room. She obliged and waved everyone goodbye before following him. Once they were inside their bedroom, Minho shut the door behind them.     

"The Kang's," he revealed. "The Kang's are coming tonight."     

"What?" Gayoon blinked. "The Kang's...you mean Shinho's parents?"     

"I saw the CCTV footage from the mall," Minho said. "He's probably related to Kang Danny, the top pediatrician of the country."     

"A pediatrician who probably killed a child," Gayoon scowled. "How ironic."     

"He owns the major hospitals in the country," Minho sighed. "Not an easy man to arrest. And we don't have any proof either. Did you find out anything from your end?"     

"His DNA isn't on any family registrar," Gayoon sighed. "They're still checking if they could match his DNA with anyone on the system but it'll take a long time. There are millions of people to search from."     

"Then we'll have to make Shinho catch a glimpse of him," he said thoughtfully. "But that might make him react negatively."     

"We have no choice," Gayoon said. "I can tell the other ghosts to keep an eye on him when he sees Kang Danny. They can control him if needed. But what are we gonna tell the Kang's about why we called them here? We can't just tell them that we're investigating them!"     

"Leave that to me," Minho said. "You should focus on something else."     

"Like what?"     

"Didn't you realize?" Minho asked in a deadpan tone. "This is the first time you're catering to guests as the mistress of this mansion. He might be a criminal but he's still a guest. A high profile one too."     

It took a while for Gayoon to understand what he was implying. "Oh shit!" she shrieked. "I am the hostess! Why didn't you tell me this before?"     

She was panicking. As the first time hostess, she had many preparations to complete!     

Minho masked his amusement with a poker face as the detective ran off towards the hall to make sure everything was perfectly cleaned and placed. Seeing her run around the place for the next few hours, trying to organize everything to welcome the guests was amusing to him.      

"Now I don't have to hire people from outside to set up the house for guests," he mused as he sat back and watched his girlfriend fuss over the flowers in the vase.     

…     

"Here is the file, sir."     

Haejong looked up to see his subordinate hand him the information he had ordered them to collect. Inside was a resume of Hwang Mina. She had graduated early at the age of sixteen and became a cardiologist by the time she had turned 22. Thanks to her sharp yet concealed intellect, she became the youngest cardiologist in the National Hospital."     

But Haejong was not interested in all that. He was more interested in her family and friends.      

"Sister of Hwang Minho," he read. "The richest and most influential man in the country…"     

He recalled the tall man who accompanied them along with the detective during the body dugout. Flipping the page, he found a profile of Hwang Minho along with his live-in girlfriend and their daughter, Hwang Jina.      

"Weird family," he muttered. Flipping through more pages, his attention was caught by a picture on Hwang Mina's social media profile. It was her picture with another man in his mid thirties. She was laughing alongside him, his hand around her shoulder.      

What struck Haejong odd was how genuine her smile was around that man. She was beaming with joy and it irritated him to see her so happy with another man. Were they dating?     

"Jang Kanji," he read the caption of the photo. Jang Kanji? Who was he?     

"Who is this man?" he asked.     

"He is the owner of JK Limited," his subordinate revealed. "And the son of Jang Jason."     

Haejong raised an eyebrow. So this is the infamous heir to the Jang empire, he realized.      

Haejong was silent for a while before finally asking, "What's Hwang Mina doing tonight?"      

"She'll be attending a dinner program at her brother's mansion."     

"Looks like I'll be stopping by unexpectedly somewhere," Haejong mused. A devilish smile formed on his lips. I wonder how will the little kitty react upon seeing me there? He idly wondered.