Doctor Demon

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

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....

All of them burst into Soobin's room and were horrified. It was as if a storm had passed by. Everything was in tatters. Her desk was upturned and the pages from her books were torn while the bedsheet was ripped to shreds. The glass vases were shattered on the floor and the wires were torn apart, causing electrical sparks to emit out of it. Jina instantly turned off the sockets and searched for Soobin.

"Soobin?" she yelled but there was no answer. They searched in the bathroom as well but she was not there.

"Where did she go?" Siwan demanded. He was now extremely worried. They had not seen her going out of the house…

"There's blood here!" Hobin exclaimed, pointing at the windowsill.  The window was wide open and there was a little bit of blood splattered on it. 

"Tell the servants to search the entire mansion," Jina instructed Siwan. "And also, check the CCTV footage. It might have caught something. We need to secure this area…"

She exchanged a glance with Hobin. Both of them were thinking the same thing: Duho must have taken Soobin.

Siwan instantly got to work while Jina stayed behind to talk to Hobin. "I'm telling this to grandpa," she said at once. "I'm sure that Duho did this. The attack at the school and also on Minkyu's family. The demon must be possessing him!"

"He definitely has the painting," Hobin nodded. "I'm sure of it too. Do we have his address?"

"I might have it in the school database," Jina said. "I'll tell Jiwoon to send it to me. If Duho is possessed by the demon, we must exorcise him right away! Otherwise he might kill Soobin…"

She immediately called Jiwoon, demanding for the address while Hobin called Junho to fill him in on the details.

"WHAT?" Junho bellowed. "Soobin has been kidnapped by the demon? Why?"

"We don't know," Hobin replied. "It's possessing a student named Duho who's also in love with Soobin. And...and…"

Something lit up in his mind. He was now thinking hard about what he just said.

"I'll text you the address to his house within seconds!" he told Junho. "And don't tell Yoonmin. He'll get worried and would want to tag along. Let it just be us for now."

"Send me the address now!"

Hobin hung up and turned to Jina, feeling excited.

"I got the address!" she told him but frowned at his excited expression. "What happened?"

"The link," he said. "I think I found the link to the murders!"

"What do you mean?"

"We were wrong. The demon isn't targeting families. Nope. It's targeting the loved ones of the person it possesses!"

He was now putting forth his theory. "Think about it," he pointed out. "Whom do we love the most in our lives? Who are the people we see almost everyday? Our families, right? So in the past, the demon possessed a person and made them kill their family members. It chose the youngest members because they were more impressionable and easily manipulated. The only reason it couldn't target Hyoseop as planned was due to the fact he's mentally stronger and hence, the demon resorted to randomly killing him out of rage. And Minkyu's family was killed for revenge."

"But when it reached Duho's hand, it couldn't target Duho's family. Soobin told us that he lives alone, right? So who is the nearest person to Duho whom he is in love with?"

"Soobin!" Jina gasped. "That's why it targeted her?"

"The demon feeds on the feelings of love," Hobin theorized. "Like a reverse version of Aphrodite or cupid. Familial love, romantic love. Anything sort of love. Now that it was Soobin, it'll first kill her and then Duho before finding another prey!"

Jina's phone beeped. Jiwoon sent her Duho's address. 

"I'm sending this to the old man," Jina said. "Let's go!"

They ran out of the room, passing Siwan on the way. "Where are you two going?" he asked in astonishment. "Did you find out something?"

"We're going to rescue Soobin," Jina told him. "We'll bring her back!"

Before Siwan could demand that he was going to accompany them, they stormed out of the mansion. Getting into the car, Jina stepped hard on the accelerator.

"What are we gonna do once we get there?" Hobin asked. "Your grandfather said that demons can't be killed."

"We'll have to figure out something!" Jina muttered. "If we can burn that painting, we might weaken the demon. The original one is there. I'm sure we can destroy it!"

"How powerful are demons?"

"I'm not sure. It's nearly impossible to kill them but we can pull them out of a person if the exorcism goes right. They're affected by the usual things like salt, peach and holy objects. But it won't hold them down for long. The only thing I know is that once it leaves one body, it can't re-enter that body. It has to look for another one."

Hobin was now quiet. Jina glanced at him remembering what Siwan told her about Hobin. What was he? A human? Or something else?

….

Jiwoon was in her office, frowning. Jina just called her to tell that Soobin was being stalked and that they wanted to talk to the girl's stalker who was a student at Dalton in an attempt to find her. But something did not feel right to Jiwoon. 

Should I go as well? She wondered. 

Just then, an email popped up on her laptop and she opened it. The email was from a parent of one of the students. She had the school send a memo to the parents and students about the missing painting along with her own email address for further inquiries or information.

Reading the mail, her eyes widened in shock. One of the students had seen a student named Duho pick up a similar painting!

"Isn't that the name of Soobin's stalker?" She frowned. "He stole the painting?"

Making up her mind, she picked up her badge and gun before heading out to catch him. 

She got into her car and drove off as fast as she could towards Duho's house. Thankfully, it was not that far from the police station so she was able to reach the place within ten minutes. PArking in front of a cheap apartment complex, Jiwoon got out of the car. 

The residents were probably sleeping because the lights were turned off. She quietly made her way towards an old elevator and pressed the button. There was a strange feeling about the place. It was too quiet as if everyone was in a trance. She did not know why but the silence was haunting, making goosebumps ripple through her.

Beep!

Finally, the elevator came to a halt in front of her. She stepped into it, the dread in her heart only increasing. Jiwoon's hand hovered over her gun as if something was going to attack her at any moment.

Duho lived on the fifth floor of the building. The elevator staggered up, the lights on it flashing in a feeble way. 

1...2...3…

Jiwoon counted the floors, trying to distract her mind from the eerie fear. She felt a little paranoid but tried her best not to think of anything else. The lift beeped again and she stepped out of it. She was now in a desolated corridor which looked abandoned. The doors of the other residences were shut and there was not a single sign of life anywhere.

There's something wrong, she instantly realized. Why is this place so quiet?

Duho lived in apartment number 10. Jiwoon took a deep breath and composed herself.

Raising her hand, she rang the doorbell.