Doctor Demon

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...

Jina knocked on the door and waited for someone to open it. She was at Yisub's house to question the sister about her boyfriend. Even though she loathed disturbing the grieving family, she had no choice. 

The door opened and Mrs. Kim's distraught face appeared. She had been crying all night and it showed. Her eyes were red and puffy while her complexion was pale. 

"Detective," she greeted in a small tone. "Please come in…"

She stepped aside to let Jina enter. "How are you doing, Mrs. Kim?" Jina asked as they walked towards a couch.

"I'm…" Mrs. Kim hesitated. She motioned Jina to sit down next to her.

"I'm not okay," she admitted tearfully. "I have this aching pain in my heart. My son...I don't believe in spirits but sometimes I feel as if he's nearby, calling for me. Last night, I thought I heard him saying that he wants chicken stew. He loved chicken stew."

She broke off and sniffed. Jina patted her palm, sympathetic to the woman's pain. Yisub had been visiting his parents almost everyday, silently watching them suffer. She did not have the heart to tell the poor boy not to come. He simply wanted to watch over his family in his own way.

"I'm really sorry for your loss," Jina said. "I can't imagine the pain you're going through…"

"No one should go through this pain," Mrs. Kim whispered. "It's the worst thing in the world. I never thought that I'll face it. I wouldn't even want my worst enemy to go through this."

Mrs. Kim broke down completely. Her son was dead and she had no idea what to do with this pain. Jina waited for a while as the woman cried her heart out. 

"I'm s-sorry," Mrs. Kim stammered. "I know you're here to question us but I honestly don't know anything. I tried to figure out why he killed himself, I really did-"

"Mrs. Kim, we think that there's a possibility your son was murdered," Jina stated.

There was a long stretch of silence as Mrs. Kim tried to process what Jina had said. Murder? Her son? 

She gripped Jina's arms. "Murder?" She demanded. "How? Who would murder my son?"

"I don't know," Jina said. "But we think it's a possibility. Can I please talk to your daughter?"

"My d-daughter?" Mrs. Kim was now in denial. "My daughter is innocent!"

"I'm not saying she committed a crime!" Jina said at once. "I want to ask her about her boyfriend. I had visited Yisub's school and found out that he got into an altercation with her boyfriend at a party."

"Eli has a boyfriend?" Mrs. Kim frowned. At once her nostrils flared up and anger sparked in her eyes. She was about to shout to call her daughter but Jina held her back.

"Please don't be angry at her," she advised. "This isn't the right time. She also lost her brother. Let it slide for now."

Mrs. Kim was torn. She wanted to scold her daughter for her careless actions but at the same time, the thought of Yisub was preventing her from doing anything else. Mrs. Kim nodded and sighed.

"Eli!" she called. "Come downstairs!"

Eli scrambled out of her room to find her mother with the detective. She instantly became nervous and fidgeted her fingers.

"W-What is it?" she asked. 

"The detective wants to talk to you," Mrs. Kim said. "Sit."

Jina noticed that Eli was acting strange. The girl sat on a couch opposite to them, her eyes full of fear. She did not dare to look at her mother and Jina, keeping her eyes on the floor.

"Eli," Jina began in a kind tone. "I need to ask you some questions about your brother's death."

"Am I in trouble?" She asked at once. "Are you going to arrest me?"

"No! No one is going to arrest you. Don't worry. I simply want to know about the fight your brother got into with your boyfriend."

Eli was now scared and glanced at her mother whose stony expression suggested that she found out Eli's secret. For months, Eli had hidden the fact she was seeing a guy because her parents would disapprove of an underage relationship. She was scared that they would find out but to find out like this was even worse.

"Eli, the detective asked you a question," Mrs. Kim said in a stern tone. Eli was shaking with fear and took a deep breath.

"A few days ago, there was a party in my boyfriend's house," she revealed. Turning to her mother, she added, "Remember when I said that I was going to stay overnight at my friend Mamie's house? I was actually at my boyfriend Myungsoo's house. I-I stayed the night with him after the party."

"YOU WHA-"

"Mrs. Kim please don't say anything," Jina advised. "Trust me, it'll turn worse if you react."

Mrs. Kim swallowed down her anger and looked away from her daughter out of anger. Eli was scared and crying as she went on.

"Yisub followed me there and discovered what was going on," she whispered. "He wanted to take me back home but I refused. I was sick and tired of everything! Yisub was the one my parents doted on the most while I was thrown aside. They fussed over him! If he got an A, everyone celebrated because he was autistic but hard working. No one cared if I got an A or if I won numerous medals. I'm the side kid! No one cares about me!"

"That's not true!" Mrs. Kim insisted. "I love you as much as I love Yisub! Both of you mean so much-"

"Then why did he get all the attention?" Eli snapped. "I wanted a PS5 but when you bought one, I had to share it with him? Why? Why do I have to share? I wanted my own PS5 and not to share it with him! Everything I own, I had to share with him because he was a retard!"

"Eli!"

"Why are you shouting? Does the truth hurt? He got what he wanted whereas I had to beg for months. Last month, I wanted to go on a study trip to Germany. You know that I've been working hard for it. Only the top 3 students were allowed to go and you promised that I'll be able to go if I got selected! But what did you do? You spent a shit load of money on Yisub's piano classes which he had to drop out of because it turns out he is scared of the sounds! The money which was supposed to be used for my trip to Germany was wasted on him!"

She was now spouting her anger on her mother. The suppressed feelings of resentment were flowing out freely in front of Jina who was simply observing the situation. Eli's nervousness had transformed into anger and she was being more honest in this state.

"You know very well that we had to pay for your grandmother's surgery and were in a financial crunch," Mrs. Kim stated, trying to keep herself calm. "We told you that you can go on the trip next year. Your father already took out a loan for it."

"It's not good enough!" Eli yelled. "I want to go this year! Why do I have to wait? Even when he's not here, he still controls my life!"

"Eli-"

"Mrs. Kim, please let me handle this," Jina suggested. Eli was fuming at them. No one understood her pain. She wanted to be free as well. Was that too much to ask?

"Is it alright if you leave me alone with her for a while?" Jina whispered. "I'll try to talk sense into her. Don't worry, you can listen in on us from the next room."

Mrs. Kim nodded and quietly left the room to hide in the kitchen. Jina then turned to the sobbing teenager.

"Eli," Jina began. "Here…"

She picked up a tissue and handed it to her. Eli mumbled a 'thanks' and took it, dabbing her eyes with it.

"You know, I have three siblings," Jina went on. "Two twin brothers and a sister. I have to take care of them almost all the time. My parents also neglect me at times when it comes to their well being."

It was a blatant lie but she had to make Eli sympathize with her in order to gain the girl's trust. 

"When the twins were born, everyone doted on them," she went on. "They were the apple of everyone's eyes because they were sons. The heirs to the family business. I was nothing! Just a girl…"

Sorry mom and dad, she winced inwardly. And twinnies!

"Really?" Eli asked in shock. "But...but you're a cop! They should be proud of you!"

"When I entered the academy, my parents were hugely disappointed," Jina sighed, feigning sadness. "My father cut me off while my mother made a fuss and began to cry at the thought of having a 'cop daughter'. You see, her social circle is fearful of cops. Her reputation was in tatters."

Jina was an expert in acting by now. Thanks to Hobin, she learnt a few psychological tricks to manipulate people into revealing their secrets. It was efficient when trying to interrogate potential criminals and witnesses.

Mom will be so proud of my skills, she thought.

"But their twin boys are everything to them," she said out loud. "The light of their eyes. They got whatever they wanted while I was rotting away in the academy, ignored and alone."

In reality, her father used to threaten the academy instructors whenever they prevented him and Jina's mother from contacting her during weekdays. The poor instructors had earned the wrath of the great Hwang Minho because he was not allowed to call his daughter every hour to know how she was doing. It was only when Jina scolded her dad for his overprotective nature when Minho finally relented and agreed to calling only once a day.

"Really?" Eli gaped. "That's terrible!"

No, my father and brothers compete over who can earn the most money amongst them and buy Miyoo an alpaca farm, Jina added in her thoughts. 

"I sometimes wish my brothers were never born," she lied through her teeth. I hate this, she winced inwardly. I swear I'll cook dinner for the twins for a week after this!

"Me too," Eli admitted. "But if you're that sad, then why don't you try playing the Blue Fish game?"

Bingo! Jina thought triumphantly.