Money Loving CEO's Detective Lover

For the rest of the day, there was something eerie about Minho's silence. He worked as if nothing was the matter. Everyone around him was wary, anticipating him to shout at them or give extra work to make the employees work overtime. 

But to their surprise, he was fully focused on his own work without paying heed to anything else. In fact, he was a little too much into his work. He did not delegate the tasks as he usually did and instead, took up some of the jobs which were not even his. It felt as if he was taking on more work on purpose to distract himself.

Lia approached Jongin in the office's pantry to discuss her concerns.

"Don't you think the CEO is being weird?" she asked. "He did not even scold me today for miscalculating a zero! Instead, he just shrugged and took my work away to do it himself."

"Now that you mention it," Jongin began. "He's been awfully quiet since this afternoon. He suddenly called me up to drive him to the police station. On the way, he even picked up beef stew and rice porridge for two! It seemed like he was going to meet someone there but when he called that person, the latter probably bailed!"

"Do you think it's a...woman?" Lia gasped. "Is the Vesudas dating someone?"

"I doubt!" Jongin scoffed. "Which woman would be able to date him? He's short tempered and thinks only of money!"

"Our CEO is quite a catch," Lia commented. "Which woman would not want to be Mrs. Hwang? Besides, if he bought lunch for another person, then it must be serious! Our CEO never pays for someone else."

That did make Jongin think a bit. The CEO was not the type of person who would buy for others. He even had his own sisters' credit cards cancelled because he refused to pay for her expenses. 

"That does make sense," he realized. "He did make me put up a flash sale in the middle of the night a few days back! I wonder why…"

"Whatever the case is," Lia went on. "We need to appease the CEO. He's acting weird and if he keeps on behaving like this, I'm sure all the employees will bear the brunt!"

"Let's just leave him alone for a while," Jongin advised. "Let's not poke the sleeping dragon in the eye!"

Lia bit her lip. Would it be wise to leave the CEO in his state? But Jongin was right. Their interference might make his mood even worse.

Meanwhile, Minho was in his room, reading the numbers. His hands were automatically making the corrections but his mind was not on the work in hand. It was still stuck on what Gayoon had said.

"I'm visiting my partner, Taejoon," her voice echoed in his ears. "He is really ill so I cooked him some food and brought it for him."

She cooked for him. His mind kept on repeating this. No wonder how much he tried to block out those words, they kept on coming back to him. He could not help but feel annoyed that she cooked for her partner, who was a male, but not for him.

"What is this burning feeling?" he wondered out loud in irritation. "Am I getting a heart burn?"

For some reason, his heart was erratic while the image of Gayoon and her handsome partner was stuck in his head. The thought of them standing together and laughing, having a good time was making him nauseous.

I look better than him, he scowled inwardly. And definitely richer. Certainly richer!

"This is definitely a heart burn," he decided. "I need to be taken care of."

Jongin was at his desk, talking to his new girlfriend, Miho.

"Honey, let's go out on a date this weekend," he said in a flirtatious tone. "Just you and me."

"But oppa, you're always so busy!" Miho whined. "When will we go on a proper date?"

"Soon," Jongin promised. "I-"

Suddenly his intercom buzzed and Minho's angry voice came from the other end.

"Jongin!" Minho yelled.

"Yes sir!" Jongin squeaked, hanging up his cellphone on Miho's face.

"Jongin, call in the company doctor and tell him to issue me a medical report for heartburn!" Minho barked.

"Eh?" Jongin gaped. "A fake report?"

"Now!"

"Y-y-es boss!"

Jongin quickly called the company's in-house doctor and communicated Minho's orders. The doctor was surprised but obliged. Within ten minutes, Jongin appeared in the CEO's office with the report.

"Sir, are you alright?" Jongin asked nervously.

"I'm fine but my heart is burning," Minho stated in a formal tone as if commenting on the weather.

Jongin merely gaped at the guy. Has he lost his marbles? He wondered.

As soon as the reports were on his table, Minho dialed Gayoon's number, intending to have her cook lunch for him. To his surprise, she was not picking up the phone. He tried again but she was still not picking up.

"What the hell?" he muttered. Before he could call her again, a text arrived from her.

"At an important crime sight," she wrote. "Handling the media right now. TTYL"

Media?

"Turn on the television!" Minho ordered Jongin. The latter obliged and switched on the large flat screen TV inside Minho's office. Instantly, a news reporter's face popped up.

"Police have found the body parts right below the hills," the reporters stated. "The girl's body was stripped naked and cut up into small parts before the killer scattered it all around the hill. So far, the police managed to find parts of her hand and feet while the rest of her body parts are still missing. A sharp medical equipment was used to disembowel the body, which means it was the work of a medical professional. Furthermore, the modus operandi matches the Clean Cut Killer from twenty years ago…"

The scene flashed to the hills where the police were swarming around to find the body parts. A large crowd had gathered around the area, watching curiously at the police scounged for missing body parts. Some people were trespassing the crime scene borders.

"Please move back!" Gayoon's exhausted face flashed on the TV as she tried to push the crowd back. "Please don't contaminate the crime scene!"

She was in her full uniform, inspecting the scene. Reporters had gathered there too, hounding her for answers.

"Detective, have you identified the body?"

"Is it the Clean Cut Killer again?"

"Will you guys find the killer this time?"

"Where are the rest of the body parts?"

"GET OUT!" Gayoon thundered. The reporters were taken aback by her brashness but she was done being nice and shooed them away. They cursed at her but she did not care. The deceased girl was more important to her.

"Detective Jeon!" one of the officers from the site cried. "I found something!"

Gayoon turned around. The cameras surrounding her flashed brightly as the officer took something out of the ground and held it high to show if to everyone.

It was the girl's decapitated head.