Money Loving CEO's Detective Lover

Gayoon was in the briefing room at the precinct, going through the reports her team had submitted her. She looked up at the serious faced officers who had gathered the intel.

"I have talked to Yumi's parents," Rui began. "They said that on the night she was kidnapped, they had called her around 9 PM. She was at her prep school, cramming extra hours for the upcoming National Exams. She was with her friends who dropped her off at the intersection as usual."

"Did you cross check their statement?" Gayoon asked.

"Yes," Rui replied. "Her phone's last location was only a few yards away from her home. She was taken from there."

Gayoon turned to Jiang who took a deep breath and began to narrate his investigations.

"I-I looked up at the CCTV footage," he squeaked in nervousness. "But it had been tampered with. The footage after 10 PM is missing."

"No doubt the killer had fiddled with it," Gayoon muttered. "What about in the nearby shops or banks? Did you find anything?"

"Nothing suspicious, ma'am," he stated. "There was only one CCTV camera in Yumi's neighborhood. I looked at the camera footage of the roads surrounding the area and requested the building owners of those places to hand in their CCTV footage. It will take more time."

"Make sure they submit it by tomorrow morning," Gayoon instructed him. "By tonight if possible. We're running out of time!"

"What about the families of the other victims?" she went on, facing Hobin.

"They're still clueless," Hobin replied. "Their statements don't differ from the answers they provided all those years ago. However…"

He took out a file and placed it in front of Gayoon. She took it in her hands and glanced through it. 

"The kidnappings of the women happened in a pattern," he revealed. "The CCK kidnapped them after every sixteen days. For some reason, the number twenty was fascinating to him."

Sixteen? Gayoon frowned. Why would he be obsessed with twenty? Wasn't he focused on 11:59 PM?

11:59…

She made a mental calculation. The summation of the units was sixteen. No wonder he put a twenty day lapse between the kidnappings!

"How many days have passed since Yumi had been kidnapped?" Gayoon asked.

"Eight days," Hobin replied. "Today is the night when he'll strike."

"Tighten the security around the city!" Gayoon ordered. "Tell all the neighborhood volunteers to stay on alert and if they see any lone female, they must escort her home safely. Also, tell all patrol cars to keep an eye on their respective neighborhoods. The CCK will strike within a week. But you must do all this carefully! Don't let the people panic otherwise it'll be a bigger chaos and alert him. If he runs away, we'll never be able to find him."

"Yes ma'am!" Hobin nodded and dashed off to implement her orders. Gayoon turned to Yura who was holding another file.

"These are the list of doctors who went missing after 1999," Yura stated, handing her the file. "There were some who took sabbaticals and moved abroad. Some passed away while a few of them left their medical professions entirely to raise families."

Gayoon recalled Minho's words. He had shot the CCK twice and left him in the den. But when they went to retrieve the body, it was gone. Did someone remove it? Or was he alive?

"What about doctors who suffered accidents or injuries?" she asked. "How many were there?"

"Not many," Yura replied. "Ten of them passed away due to various accidents while six others faced serious damage and are still undergoing treatment at various hospitals."

Gayoon looked at the list of the hospitals. She was surprised to see that Mina's hospital was also treating one of the doctors. Making a mental note to stop by to talk to her, Gayoon turned to her team.

"We'll have to keep our eyes open," she told them. "We can't let him slip this time."

"Yes ma'am!" the officers said in unison and saluted her before scurrying away to do their work. Gayoon looked through the file Yura had given her and she decided to visit all the hospitals where the six doctors were.

….

Mina was sipping on her juice pack as she strolled through the hospital's corridor. Some of the patients waved at her as she passed by and she waved back. One of them was an old woman in her nineties who was admitted for a heartburn. She was sitting on a wheelchair and smiled as Mina approached her.

"Doctor Hwang!" she flashed a crooked smile. 

"Granny!" Mina greeted her with a bow." How are you feeling now?"

She took the old lady's wrist to check the pulse.

"I feel fine!" the old lady assured her. "But when can I eat my beloved spicy jokpal again? The plain hospital porridge is beginning to irritate me."

"Granny, spicy foods are prohibited for you," Mina laughed. "You'll only worsen your health if you do that and end up in the hospital again."

"Ey!" the old woman said. "You're a good doctor. You'll fix me up in no time."

"I'd still rather have you live a hundred more years so that you can make me some of your delicious jjajamyeong," Mina said with a smile. "Your pulse seems fine. I think you can be discharged within two days. I'll tell the receptionist to file the paperwork."

The old woman was delighted at the news and thanked Mina. The latter was about to turn away to meet more patients when a familiar voice called for her.

"Mina!" 

She turned around to see Gayoon standing there, smiling at her.

"Gayoon!" Mina greeted back. "What brings you here? That too in full uniform? Am I getting arrested for maxing out Kanji's credit cards?"

"No!" Gayoon laughed. "I'm just here to get some information on a patient and I thought I'd ask you. It'll be easier to just ask you instead of going through the long process."

"Sure!" Mina agreed. "But first, let's sit and talk somewhere…"

She glanced around, thinking where they could talk freely "I think we can grab some snacks and sit in the garden," she suggested. "What do you say?"

"Fine with me," Gayoon shrugged. Mina put some coins in the nearby vending machine and two bags of peanuts came out. She then led Gayoon to the garden and ushered her to sit on one of the empty benches. 

Handing the detective one of the peanut bags, she said, "Tell me. What brings you here?"

Gayoon took a deep breath. "I'm here to investigate the CCK," she revealed. "And I was hoping you could help me."