Money Loving CEO's Detective Lover

Shinjin's eyes were closed in concentration. He was in a room which had completely red wallpaper plastered on the walls. The windows were shut tight and the door behind him was also locked from the inside. He sat on the edge of a circle with a pentagon drawn in it. At the center was another smaller circle.      

A candle stood on each corner of the pentagon, burning brightly. The lights were turned off but the flames from the candles illuminated the room in a reddish hue, emitting an eerie sense of isolation. Sweat dripped from Shinjin's face due to the heat but he kept his concentration intact as he chanted under his breath.     

"Oh you wandering spirits," he muttered. "I invite you to talk about Anyal. Share your wisdom and guide us to the right path."     

He continued to chant the spell, summoning any spirit which would help him. The room was beginning to get darker as several shadows whooshed by. Flames on the candles were flickering but not going out. As Shinjin continued the summoning spell, the windows rattled hard and there were noisy poundings on the door.      

Someone was trying to break into the room but Shinjin did not let the noise distract his spell. A wind was blowing around him and yet, the candles were firmly rooted to the place, not being snuffed out by the air.      

"Oh you wandering spirits," he kept on chanting. "I invite you to talk about Anyal. Share your wisdom and guide us to the right path."     

Suddenly, the commotion stopped. The windows burst open on their own and the wind ceased to blow. Shinjin felt the temperature of the room drop. He heard a whoosh of air and a pair of eyes were looking at him, possibly out of disgust.     

"You dare to summon me, shaman."     

Shinjin slowly opened his eyes. In front of him was a pale, ghostly woman in her early twenties. She was lying on the floor with half of her torso; her legs were missing from waist down and instead, black tar-like substance was dripping from that area as if she was bleeding. The woman's once beautiful black hair was now rough and damaged, browned by dirt. Half of her face was squashed but her hands were intact. She carried a knife in her hand and was looking at the shaman with hate.     

"Ugh," Shinjin scowled. "The Train Girl."     

The girl hissed at him. She was part of an urban story which became popular in the late 60's. There were many versions but the most common one was that she was a college student named Chun Wonji who was waiting for the train one night at a secluded station. A pair of men came up to her and tried to mug the girl. In her defense, she fought back and managed to grab one of their knives but the other mugger pushed her on the tracks and got stabbed by the knife she was holding. Her feet were on the tracks but she was too injured to get up. Just then, the train arrived and squashed her legs, killing her on the spot.      

Since then, she had been haunting the stations all over the country, randomly popping up wherever she wanted. Her angry and vengeful spirit would attack any person who was unfortunate enough to pass by. The woman hated human beings because she felt cheated that she had to die so early while others lived which is why she killed as many people as possible. Many shamans tried to get rid of her but she would simply escape their clutches. The woman might be missing legs but she was damn fast in crawling.     

"Of all the ghosts who could have heeded to my summons!" Shinjin lamented. " I just had to invite the most violent one."     

"What the fuck do you want, shaman?" the woman cursed. "I'll kill you if you don't let me go!"     

"Relax," he told her in a wary tone. "I'm just going to ask you some questions about someone and then you can go."     

The seance Shinjin had conducted was a special one and quite different from the one he performed at Minho's old mansion. At that time, he had a name of the spirit so he was able to call Suna specifically for the ritual. But this time, he had to summon a spirit who would know more about Anyal or at least knew him somehow.      

Unfortunately, he did not have a name so he had to stab in the dark by using Anyal's name to attract a spirit who might have heard his name.     

"Anyal," Shinjin said. Hearing that name made the Train Girl hiss in anger.     

"That cheating bastard!" she growled. "He promised me that he'll give me all the wealth in the world…"     

"You were his servant?" Shinjin frowned.     

"Yes," the Train Girl said in a bitter tone. "I was once his devoted servant but the guy betrayed me! I found a Transporter for him who was able to open the Gates of Hell! Tormented that Transporter so much that she got enticed into opening the gates for her beloved son. You see, I had Anyal possess her and then killed her son. We lied to the Transporter that we can bring back the son if she opens the gates. We forced that Transporter to do our bidding. But just before she was about to open the gates, Anyal betrayed me and opened a portal which led to the railway tracks and I died when the train ran over me!"     

That Transporter must be Kim Suna's grandmother then, Shinjin realized.      

"The reality is that the sacrifice isn't part of the ritual to open the gates," she went on. "It's part of the ritual to cancel a deal with the devil."     

"Cancel a deal with the devil?" Shinjin frowned.     

"Yes," the Train Girl said. "To cancel the deal with the Devil, you'll need to open the Gates of Hell. Simply taking out a soul won't do. The Transporter who's opening the gates, has to offer the Devil a sacrifice first. Once the soul is in the clasp of Anyal, he used to force the Transporter to open the gates. Only a Transporter who has opened the portal to the World of the Dead can open the Gates of Hell. And his or her sacrifice will be accepted. But the sacrifice must be something valuable. Not any soul was going to work. The soul which needs to be sacrificed must be of good value. Anyal miscalculated the ritual all these years but now he's finally gotten the hang of it. He must have found that special soul."     

"A special sacrifice…" Shinjin drifted off.     

"The person to be sacrificed must have powers which will be enough to entice even the Devil into breaking the contract," the Train Girl hissed. "Someone who can change the course of the dimensions of both living and the dead. So when the previous Transporter tried to open the gates, the Devil wasn't interested in her son's soul and the ritual to cancel the deal failed. Feeling betrayed, the Transporter closed the gates again so that Anyal couldn't take out his lover's soul."     

Shinjin's eyes widened in shock. There was one person who did fulfill that criteria.     

"You're free to go," he suddenly said. Before the Train Girl could say anything else, he muttered something under his breath and threw a pinch of salt at her. The ghost shrieked in pain and disappeared.      

Instantly, the candles were snuffed out and the red room was blanketed by darkness. Shinjin quickly picked up his phone and rushed out. He dialed Junho's number but the guy was not picking up.      

"Pick up!" Shinjin snarled but his calls went unanswered. He quickly got into his car, not even changing out of his slippers and sped off towards the Hwang Mansion.     

"Just be safe," he whispered.