Dark Secrets

Chapter 27: Talk Talk Talk Talk (2 of 2)

“Just because I’ve got money to spend.” he replied arrogantly.

“Sure, spend your parents’ money the way you want to.” shrugging my shoulders.

“Correction, it’s my money. My allowance per day since this March is US$500. I’m saving money to spend it in the future.” he responded.

“Oh wow! What a rich man, you are. You probably have hundred thousand of US dollar or hundred million in your bank account.”

“Well if you’ll be my wife then what’s mine is yours.” he uttered.

“Huh? Ah … hahaha.” I laughed awkwardly as I turned to the manager. “He likes to joke around, please don’t misunderstand.”

“If that’s a marriage proposal and the fact that a Nevaeh is the one who proposed, if I’m in your position I’ll absolutely say yes.” he said.

“Haha.” scratching the back of my head. “How long does it take to complete the stock acquisition?” changing the topic completely.

“Oh, we’re only waiting for the stock certificate to print. Then we both need to sign it to complete the process.” the manager replied.

I continued asking about the stocks just to keep a serious conversation going and not to have awkward moment again.

It didn’t even take an hour to make me a new shareholder of Nevaeh Group even though I only owned less than 1% of the company.

“Here.” handing a promissory note to Pluto.

“What’s this for?” Pluto reading the note. “I told you it’s a gift.”

“I can’t accept that gift. I’ll pay you once my investment earned that ₩7.1 million. You’ve saved that money for your future use, don’t spend it like that easily.” looking at his reaction.

“I don’t understand. Why don’t you just accept what I give to you?”

“Because I don’t want to take money from you. I’ll let you slip just this once because that manager is working for your company and I don’t want to be rude to you in front of him, so please don’t do it again. You’re making me feel small when you use your money.”

“Sorry, I didn’t think thoroughly about your feelings. I thought it’s alright to share since we’re friends.” scratching his head.

“Exactly my point. We’re friends but it felt like you’re buying me when you spend so much money for me. I know that it sounds exaggerating but we’re not living in the same world, if a girl like me receives so much from a boy like you, it’s burdensome for me to take what you give even though you meant well.” I explained.

“I’m not buying you; I just want to impress you.” he sighed deeply. “If I offended you with my money then I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.”

“Apology accepted. Frow now on, you’re my creditor and I owe you ₩7.1 million but if you want to add some interest then it’s fine with me since I can’t pay you right away.” walks off first.

“Then I’ll add some interest but instead of money, I want you to do something for me monthly.” he catches my pace right away.

“As long as it’s not illegal and immoral then I’ll do it for you.” I agree with his interest. “Do you want me to add it on the note?”

“Sure, I better have an evidence to hold on to that you agree with my terms for your interest.” he handed the promissory note to me.

“Then I’ll put it writing.” making the wall as my table to add the conditions we agreed upon. “Done. It’ll probably take a year or 2 …”

“Depending on the company’s performance but since you invested in Nevaeh Group, it’s highly probable that you’ll earn ₩7.1 million in less than a year. You’ll be notified monthly through mail anyway.” he said.

“Yeah, right.” heading out to the parking lot. “By the way, I’ve never been to Jeju before what’s the climate there?”

“Colder at night than here in Seoul.” he replied.

“Hmm … in that case I should also pack some jackets. Have you done packing? I’m only doing it later.” getting in at the passenger seat of his car. “I actually don’t know what to bring for the trip.”

“Butler Kim is doing the packing for me whenever I go for a trip.” putting on his seatbelt as soon as he sits on the driver’s seat.

“Ah right, you got Butler Kim.” buckling up.

“Just bring summer clothes and pajamas with you.” he hits the road as soon as we’re both settled in.

“You got a point. Ah before I forgot, Mom told me to bring you to the bakeshop today for a snack if we finished before 7pm. I think we’ll arrive there before 6pm.” looking at his wrist watch.

“Did you tell Auntie that I’m not into sweets?” he glances at me.

“Yes.” I nodded. “Not all breads and pastries in the bakeshop are sweet. There’s ham and cheese bread in there also some meat-filling, there’s a lot of flavor to choose from so don’t worry.”

“Auntie made them all by herself?” he’s staring at the road.

“Uh-huh. She woke up by 4am to prepare breakfast at home and get herself ready to go to the bakeshop at 5am.” I replied.

“Does Auntie always want to be a baker?” he glances at me again.

“Yes. That’s her dream. She doesn’t want to be a shaman like what Halmeoni wanted her to be.” I responded when I suddenly saw a ghost of a woman at the backseat of the car beside us. “Are you trapped?” I talked to the spirit when I met her eyes.

“Huh??” Pluto confusedly reacted. “What is it, Desa?”

The woman showed me how she was murdered so I was out of it for a while and I’m catching my breath after I had a vision.

“Hey, are you alright?!” Pluto squeezing my shoulder. “You’ve been spacing out and now you’re breathless.”

“He’s a monster.” panting as I start crying because of the vision I had. “He r***d that woman and murdered her brutally.”

“Who?? What are you talking about?! Did you just see something??”

“Can we go to the police station first? I need to report a crime.”

“Sure, but how are you going to report it without substantial evidence? You can’t tell the officers that the ghost showed you.”

“I know. I’ve been in this before so I know what to do. These ghosts made a liar to give their deaths justice.” wiping my tears.

The moment we arrived at the police station, I told them that the woman is my missing friend and we’re supposed to meet yesterday afternoon at her apartment.

I described the man who’s been stalking her and the police officers had a familiarity with the suspect.

“We’ve been receiving reports about this man before but we don’t have enough evidence to condemn him.” the officer uttered.

“Because he knows how to clean up his mess making his crime perfect that no one could ever get an evidence if they don’t look thoroughly.”

“Miss, are you implying that we’re not doing our job?!” the officer scowls at me. “I know you’re worried about your friend but we can’t do anything without substantial evidence.”

“Should I be his next victim then?” challenging the officers. “Just tell me where he lives and I’ll conduct the entrapment operation myself for you to gather the evidence you need.”

“Hey, is this the plan you have in mind?” Pluto whispered to me. “You’re provoking these officers to make them listen??”

“You’ve got a better plan? This thing works most of the time.”

“We can’t give personal information that easily even if we have the means to do it. We’ll investigate about your friend, let us do our job, we don’t need a civilian to interfere in our operation.” the officer said. “Stop reading too much crime novels, that’s not good for you.”

“Fine, you don’t seem like going to find the suspect right away so I’ll track him myself.” I turn to Pluto. “How long would it take to know someone’s residence using the technology we have?”

“Less than half an hour.” Pluto replied. “Are you sure you want to do this? It’s quite dangerous for us.”

“If not us who will do it? Police investigates crime but they can’t do anything to prevent it from happening.” I said in a loud voice for the officers to hear me clearly.

“Fine you win.” the officer stands up. “We’ll go there to investigate, you two go home and let us handle it.”

“No, we’re coming with you. I want to see it with my own eyes how police work in a case.” crossing my arms.

“We don’t need an audience. We’ll give you an update once we’re done with the investigation. Just go home.” officer leaving with his partner. “We don’t want a casualty in case anything goes sideways.”

“Then we’re just watching from the sides. We won’t be a bother to you officers, that’s a promise.” following the two from behind.

“We’re not encouraging you to come with us.” his partner said.

“Well it sounds like an invitation to me.” Pluto gesturing to get in at his car. “You actually convinced them to get on moving.”

“I told you. This kind of move works all the time.” getting in at the passenger seat. “I’m pretty sure we’ll find concrete evidence.”

“As long as you’ll be safe, I’ve got no objection about this madness.”

“You know I’ll always be safe. I’ve got my guardian angel with me.”

“Right. I should be worry about my safety then instead of yours.”

We followed the police car to the suspect’s residence but I didn’t expect that he murdered a lot of women as their spirits linger around his house.

Sneaking in at the yard of the suspect’s house as I follow one of the spirits. “Will you help me dig a body?”

“I prefer digging a treasure underground than a dead body.” Pluto looking for a shovel.

“You must be his first victim that’s why he buried you here.” talking with the woman’s spirit. “Can you help us buy some time? All of you, we need a solid evidence to put that monster into jail.”

“If you could also ask them to do the labor too then much better.”

“It doesn’t work like that.” I laughed at him as we start digging the ground until we find the evidence we wanted.

“What the …” the suspect caught us when Pluto is about to resurface from the ground. “What are you doing at my property??!”

“Hey, what happened with standing-by??!” the officer walks towards us. “You can’t be doing this on someone’s property.”

“We found a body. His first victim Jeon Somi, his neighbor whom he watched every night through that window.” pointing at the window on the 2nd floor. “He lured her in his house by pretending to be sick, he r***d her, she tried to fought back but he overpowered her, he hit her head with a stone and watched her die slowly. He like watching his victims dying slowly, am I right?”

An evil smile come out from the face of the suspect before he come after me but the officer’s partner shot the man on the leg.

“I’ve always wanted to use this gun on duty.” Officer Lee smirks.

“He can kill you; you know.” Officer Kim sits on the suspect’s back as he put the cuffs on the man down at the ground. “My partner doesn’t talk too much because he likes action the most.”

“Are you alright?” Officer Lee come to me. “How did you know what happened to that body?”

“You won’t believe if I tell you that she told me herself, right?” I replied. “You’ll see once you run an autopsy on her body.”

“It sounds crazy officer Lee but there are things in this world that we can’t see with our own eyes still we believe they exists.” Pluto got himself out from the hole he dug. “But Desa here got special eyes who can see those things and I believe her.”

“He got another dead body in his attic; did you forget that woman?”

“Ah, right. Hahaha!” the suspect laugh frantically. “I think I want those eyes of yours. I’m going to gouge them out and put them in display.” looking at me straight to my eyes.

“Yeah, I want to take them off from me too. I never wanted these eyes that see dead people and how people will die. I don’t want to see other people’s misery, so go ahead and do it.” looking back at him coldly as I crouched down to lessen our gap. “I’m not afraid of you.”

“Desa, that’s enough. Let’s go.” Pluto helping me up. “We’ll leave everything to you officers.” walking off with me.

“I want to kill that man myself.” clenching my fists. “How could he do that to those women?!”

“Pull yourself together, Desa.” he opened his car door for me and shove me inside at the passenger seat.

“Is he even human?! How dare he watched them slowly dying like it’s his entertainment??!” looking through the car window.

“Stop it Desa. I know you’re furious but let’s just leave him to the police. He won’t get out from jail. I’ll make sure of it.” he uttered.

I’m supposed to be home before 6pm but we arrived at 9pm because of that sudden case we had to handle.

“Forget about it, alright? All you have to do now is pack your things for our trip tomorrow.” Pluto tapping my shoulder as he walked me to the unit. “Our job is done on that case, move on alright?”

“Yeah, I know. I’ll see you tomorrow, then.” I knocked at the door.

“Tomorrow. Good night, Desa.” he smiled a bit to me.

“Good night, Pluto. Drive safely.” I knocked on the door again of my unit. “Mom, Dad, open up it’s me!” I shouted.

“Don’t you have your own key?” Pluto walking backwards to the elevator as he watches me waiting for the door to open.

“I don’t have one yet. I should duplicate a key after our trip.” I said.

“Yeah, you should do that.” he entered the elevator as soon as it opened for him. “Do you want me to pick you up tomorrow?”

“No need, I’ll see you at the airport.” waving my hand goodbye to him. “Mom, Dad! Open up! It’s me!”

“Desa.” Diso opened his door. “Your parents are in here.”

“Huh?? Why would they be in your unit at this time?” I followed him in his unit. “Mom, Dad! What are you two doing here??”

“Can’t you see? We’re playing cards with Ace.” Mom uttered.

“We’ll be done in a few minutes, sweetheart.” Dad responded.

“Oh no, until I got my money back, we won’t stop the game.” Ace said.

“Their gambling, are they?” I turned to Diso at my side.

“Kinda. You hungry? Ace-hyung cooked Turkish Chicken Kebab for dinner, I can heat it up for you.” Diso going to their kitchen.

“I guess, I’ll crash to your place too.” following him at the kitchen.

“Nah, it’s fine. You and your parents are always welcome here.”

“How long since they’ve been playing?” leaning on the kitchen counter. “Can I have some water too?”

“About an hour ago. Your parents brought pastries and they asked Ace-hyung for a card game.” he handed me a glass of water.

“Thanks.” drinking the water. “I’m supposed to be home before 6pm but we had a sudden case.” I move closer to him. “We helped to arrest a serial killer earlier.”

“Huh? Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?” looking at me worriedly. “What happened?”

“No, I’m fine. We were on the road when I see this spirit of a woman at the backseat of the car beside us …” telling him everything.

I just keep on talking and talking as he prepared my dinner on their table and even if I’m eating, I still rant on him.

“Oh gosh! Did I just eat 5 kebabs?!” I suddenly realized that I’m eating nonstop while I’m telling my story.

“It’s fine. Do you want a dessert now?” offering me a cheesecake.

“I can’t say no to that.” eyeing at the cheesecake. “Thank you.”

“Your welcome. We got chocolates too in case you want something sweet for midnight snack.” looking back at their refrigerator.

“I still have a bag from Ace-hyung yesterday.” shaking my head. “I feel better now that I let it out.”

“That’s good to hear then. Whenever you need someone to talk to always remember that I’m just next door to you.” he said.

“Of course, you really make me feel comfortable Diso-sunbae.” I said. “I hope you won’t get sick of me. But if you do, please give me heads up so I know what to do, I really like to have you as a brother.”

-End of Chapter 27-