Money Loving CEO's Detective Lover

Gayoon was strapped to a stretcher. She was too weak to move as the CCK tied her hands with the cold straps. She had been unconscious for hours after the beating and the shadow had been in a delirium over her explosive reveal. CCK still refused to believe that its only child was dead.     

"You are about to find out what happens when someone lies to me," the CCK hissed, towering over her. Dohyun's face was contorted in a blood thirsty fury, ruining her beautiful features with a psychotic mania. Even in that state, Gayoon could not help but pity the poor girl who had inadvertently become a pawn to this monster's twisted game.     

"It...still w-wouldn't change the truth…"      

The CCK slapped her again but Gayoon was numb to the pain. Her body would not be able to take another beating but she must stall it. The shadow was going to kill her at exactly 11:59 PM but before that, it would no doubt try to torture her more.     

CCK put on a mask and scrub. Reaching out to its left, it turned on the surgical lights.     

The while lights blind Gayoon, almost burning her bruised eyes. She winced and closed her eyes as her head began to become dizzier. Her breath was heavy and she was panting while the CCK was gleeful seeing her discomfort.     

"This is only the beginning pretty girl," it sneered. "Just because I will kill you at 11:59 PM, doesn't mean I won't have some fun."     

It picked up a scalpel and flashed it in front of Gayoon. She hid her fear, masking it with a look of apparent indifference but was well aware that if the knife pierced her skin, the pain would be unbearable.     

"Still so smug," it sighed. "Let's see now…"     

Gayoon felt the cold knife touch her skin.      

"Let's see your smugness now."     

The CCK pressed the scalpel deep into her skin. It took Gayoon all her might to not scream out in pain. Biting her tongue, she endured the sharpness cutting into her flesh and she writhed in pain but did not dare to scream.     

"Still smug eh?"     

It pressed the scalpel deeper and Gayoon almost screeched yet managed to stop her screams from escaping her mouth. But the next cut would definitely make her yield into his sadistic tendencies and she was not sure how much longer she could endure it.     

"Enough with the foreplay, dear," the CCK joked. "Let's just get to the heart of all things."     

It raised the scalpel again and Gayoon watched in horror as it lowered the knife to her chest. The CCK's manic grin was etched onto its face as the scalpel came nearer to her heart.     

The loud sound of the gunshot echoed throughout the forest. Staggering backwards, clutching its arm, the CCK looked up in shock.     

Minho's cold eyes were staring right into it. He had shot its arm while Kanji leapt forward to untie Gayoon. She struggled to get up, her body too injured so Kanji picked her up in his arms and led her away to a corner.     

"It's alright," he assured her. "The back up team is on its way. We'll arrest her."     

"N-n-n-no!" Gayoon gasped. "Not her…"     

"What?" Kanji frowned. The detective was probably too traumatized by what she had to go through and was not understanding what was going on.     

Minho stood with the gun still pointed at Dohyun. The latter's arm was oozing out blood but she kept on smiling like a psycho.     

"You're here at last!" she wheezed. "I've been waiting for you, Hwang Minho."     

She let out another bout of laughter while Minho looked at it coldly. "You could have been a great doctor," he said. "And yet, you chose to follow the path of a serial killer. Of all the things you could have done, you had to become a monster like him."     

But Dohyun only laughed harder. "Like him?" she sneered. "Like him? You really believe that, Hwang Minho?"     

Gayoon held on to Kanji who was startled by the surprising strength the detective possessed. "Gayoon, don't worry," he reassured her. "The copycat will be caught. We just need to wait for the-"     

"It's...not a copycat…" Gayoon whispered.     

"What?" Kanji asked. "Detective, you're hurt and you don't know what you're saying-"     

"It's him!" Gayoon weakly insisted. "It's the real CCK. She's possessed…"     

Kanji did not know what to say to her. Possessed? He turned around to see the confrontation between Minho and the copycat who was ecstatic. What was going on?     

"You can try to pretend that you're the real one," Minho said. "But you're just a copycat who-"     

"The fun in meals," Dohyun quoted. "Is the hunt. The more you run after the prey, the tastier the food becomes."     

Her chilling words made Minho and Kanji wide eyed with shock. Dohyun relished the effect she was having on them as she ruthlessly went on tormenting the duo with her words.     

"You still have my eyes, Hwang Minho!" she claimed. "The eyes of a killer. I know you want to kill me. Why don't you finish what you had started twenty years ago? You also want to kill someone so badly."     

Minho's hands were clammy with sweat. It was exactly like that night. The killer was not only taunting him but was quoting the exact words from the night twenty years ago. It felt as if...as if…     

"As if I am the real CCK?" Dohyun crackled in a high pitched voice. Her eyes were getting darker and darker until her pupils were completely black. And then it spoke in a dual voice.     

"I want to as well," it said. Blending with Dohyun's voice was the familiar shrilly one which had been haunting Minho for years.     

"I want to kill every woman I see. Old or young. Fat or thin. I want to kill them too...Just like you want to kill someone."     

Both Minho and Kanji stared in shock as the entity before them was controting its face muscles. A dark shadow was beginning to emerge from it while its words invoked the familiar fear into their hearts.      

"You want to kill your father, too," it went on. "What did he do kid? Did he abandon you? Did he also kill someone close to you? Was he also a... monster?"     

"Minho…"     

Kanji's terrified voice reached his ears. Minho knew what he was about to say.     

"I know," Minho said quietly. "This isn't a copycat. This...this is the CCK himself."