Money Loving CEO's Detective Lover

Anyal led Minho to a magnificent hall which was lit with golden lights. A grand staircase was in the middle with a gold coated railing decorated in the shape of a dragon. The hallway was mostly empty sans a large circle in the center with a hexagon drawn in it. The hexagon was drawn to be perfectly symmetric and was cut through the middle.     

"This represents the two worlds," Anyal said. "The living and the dead world. Two worlds which look the same but are not. And in the center…"     

He pointed at a point in the middle where a point was made with red ink. "That's where you'll sit," the demon went on. "The powers of a Transporter remain in the line between life and death. Your job is to ferry the spirits to their destination and here as well, you'll act as the passage for Ahin to come back to me…"     

Minho did not say anything but sullenly headed towards the place Anyal had pointed and sat there.     

"Let's get this over with," he gritted. It was 11 PM and he still could not guess what Anyal was planning. This was the first time Minho felt trapped and could not figure out a way to get out of it.     

On top of it all, Jina's life was also at stake. The demon must have kidnapped her for some other reason but what was it?     

Anyal stood on the border of the circle. Minho waited for the demon to say something but he stood there, staring at the circle.     

Many emotions were rushing through the demon's head and he was overwhelmed. How many years and centuries did he wait for this moment? Even though Ahin died hundreds of years ago, he still recalled her face as if it was yesterday. Her smile and her kind nature stuck with him, making even a vile creature like Anyal fall in tabooed love with a human.     

Minho could read the demon's feelings and if the creature was not a murderous psychopath, he would have sympathized with him. No matter how much the demon loved his lover, all his deeds outweigh his emotions.     

"Soon, Ahin will be mine," Anyal murmured.     

"What a selfish wish," Minho remarked, shaking his head.     

"Love isn't selfish," Anyal claimed.     

"What you're feeling isn't love!" Minho shot back. "It's an obsession! You think you're in love with her but in reality, you're in love with the idea of having her by your side. You want yourself to feel good, you want your own happiness and you'll get what you want. This isn't about her. This is about you trying to fulfill your own desires."     

"I desire the same thing as her," Anyal stated. "She wants to be with me and I want to be with her."     

"You can keep deluding yourself," Minho said in a cold tone. "But in reality, she's gone. She's dead and even if she's in hell, she knows she won't be happy here. This is not her place to be."     

"I'll give you another aneurysm if you don't shut up!" Anyal hissed. Minho did not say anything else but simply shook his head. The demon was clearly delusional. Shinjin was right. The love of a demon was simply an obsession and this obsession is the reason for their ultimate end.     

How pathetic, he thought.     

Anyal did not pay attention but closed his eyes and began to chant. Minho stared at the demon with a frown, wondering what was going to happen.     

For a few minutes, nothing happened and everything remained uneventful. But Anyal kept on chanting under his breath without a care. Minho was confused at the calm atmosphere. He had expected some kind of activity. Maybe reapers bursting through or the ground to shake.     

But nothing. It was completely a bland affair. Anyal did not seem to care because he kept on muttering under his breath.      

"What-" Minho began but suddenly, he felt something grab his hands.      

"What the hell?" he cursed. The circle was beginning to spin around him and invisible forces grabbed his hands, raising them forward. A high squeaky noise was piercing his eardrums, giving him goosebumps and the room around him was slowly turning red.     

The temperature of the place was rapidly rising and Minho wanted to throw away his jacket in the heat but the unseen forces kept his hands completely locked.      

A loud roar echoed through the hallways and a strong gale burst into the room out of nowhere. The wind was so strong that Minho was almost toppled backwards but the invisible grasp on his limbs kept him rooted to his spot.      

"UGH!" he yelled, trying to free himself but it was no use. The golden hall was turning into a strange hue of scarlet and from one of the large windows, a full red moon peeked through it. Minho felt the wind slapping him and no matter how much he tried to free himself from his invisible captor, it was to no avail.     

Anyal was unfazed and kept on chanting. He did not even move an inch, unaffected by the winds. Black ink was forming on his skin, snaking from top to bottom, giving him the appearance of a heavily tattooed man.      

"What are you doing?" Minho demanded but his voice was broken by the wind. The halls were now completely red and to Minho's horror, thousands of eyes appeared on the walls, starting from the floor all the way to the ceiling. The eyes were rotating around them in a circular motion, watching them.     

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"     

The screams of hundreds of thousands of people were heard throughout the whole fort. Minho feared that his ears would bleed from the screeches but the World of the Dead was not physically hurting him at all. Instead, it was psychologically scarring him with the screeches and stares from those damned in hell. He wanted to shut his ears but it was impossible.     

"Save me! Save me!"      

The pleas and cries of the souls were now torturing him. They bagged him, cursed him and demanded him to free them. Minho closed his eyes but it was almost impossible to shut them off. He felt several gushes of wind as if they were touching him, pushing and pulling at him to make him hear their commands.     

Anyal smirked as he continued to chant. This torture was going to get worse for Minho and only five minutes had passed.      

Real hell is coming soon, Hwang Minho, he thought with glee.