Doctor Demon

"Make her shut up!" Ciara complains. "She's so annoying! Always crying and screaming whenever Sungki even slightly touches her!"

She is tired of Jisoo's whimpers. The girl is constantly crying and trying to escape the house so Sungki keeps her tied to a post so that she cannot run away. She begs everyday to be released but no one dares to let her go.

*Sniff...sniff*

The servants passing by the room felt nothing but guilt and sadness for the girl who is locked inside. They want to help her but the Cho family is too powerful. If they dare to aid her, they will all be punished and it is impossible to escape their ire.

Chairman Cho Mawon passed away a few days after their wedding which is quite odd.. The day after Jisoo got married, he visited them and found out what his grandson did to her. Seeing the girl abused and strapped to the bed with nothing on but a thin blanket, he was so enraged that he went to confront Sungki.

But the next day news came that Mawon suffered a heart attack and was hospitalized where he died a few days later. No one knew how he suffered the heart attack because Mawon never had any heart problems. Even the doctors were confused but his death was the final nail in the coffin for Jisoo.

"Shouldn't we help her?" a young maid asks another older maid.

"We should," the older maid said sadly. "But we can't. If we try, all the servants will be brutally punished. The one who will help her will take her place."

"That man is a monster! How can any parent let him do what he's doing? Don't these people have a heart? Poor young mistress…"

"These people are fools and they're going to be destroyed by that monster they raised. That man is very dangerous. He's not only an abusive jerk but I've heard that he does...he does some very crazy things!"

The younger maid is now curious. "Crazier than torturing his wife?" she asks.

The older maid looks around to make sure they are not being heard by anyone. She drops her voice to a whisper.

"That man is also involved in some kind of voodoo shit," she reveals. "There's a shaman he consults who made him sign some sort of pact in exchange for fame and power."

"That's bullshit! Those things don't work."

"I don't know if they work or not but that shaman does some very weird stuff. I once saw the young master sneak a woman out of his room. She was unconscious and he drove her away. I followed them out of curiosity and saw that he took her to that shaman's house. After an hour, he left the house, alone. I stayed around for a few more hours but the girl never came out. The next day, a missing report was published on the paper about that girl."

"What? Do you think that he killed-"

The young maid breaks off when she spots Baekha standing there. She overheard enough to deduce what may have happened but said nothing.

"Is the soup ready?" she asks.

"Yes young miss!" the older maid says at once. She pours soup into a bowl and puts it on a tray. To her surprise, the little girl holds out her hands.

"I'll take it to her," Baekha says. The maid smiles and hands over the tray to the little girl. The tray is a little heavy but she walks very slowly, making sure not a single drop of soup spills over. She climbs the stairs, one step at a time and carefully walks towards the room where Jisoo is kept captive.

She slowly pushes the door open.

"Jisoo sis…"

The room is so dark that Baekha cannot see anything. She turns on the light, causing something in the corner to jump if fright.

"I didn't do anything!" Jisoo screams, clutching her knees together. "I didn't-"

"Sis, it's me!"

Baekha's voice brings Jisoo out of her fear and she snaps her eyes open. Her state is quite pitiful. The clothes were torn as if by an animal and there are all sorts of bruises on her body. Black and purple. Old and new. Her once beautiful face is haggard and sullen. The long lushes are rough and dried. Jisoo's hands are tied behind her and her feet are also in binds.

The little girl's heart aches for Jisoo. The pain and trauma she is put through every night is unimaginable.

It has been a year since they got married and Jisoo forgot what a peaceful day feels like. Every night, Sungki tortures her to the extreme. Even for the slightest mistake, Jisoo endures pain and suffering which lasts for weeks. She is locked up in the room all the time and she has lost a considerable amount of weight. Sometimes, the servants took pity on her and snuck in food for her while Sungki was away.

Her in-laws are not any good either. During the rare moments when Sungki goes on tour, they turn her into a maid to serve their guests. Jisoo's marriage has been kept hushed up and she is forced to serve food and alcohol at their lavish parties. Siara treats her worse than a dog, even beating her up in front of guests for small mistakes.

"He won't be back tonight," Baekha says. She puts the tray in front of Jisoo and unties the knots. It takes her a few tries but she manages to undo the binds. As soon as she is free, Jisoo pounces on the soup. She is starving and needs a lot of nourishment.

"Thank you, Baekha," she whispers. The child sits next to her and watches her finish the soup.

"Why did you marry him?" she asks. "Why did you agree to do it?"

Jisoo put the bowl down and sniffed. "I just didn't want to be alone," she said in a hoarse tone.

Her voice lost its innocence. She is even more demure and timid than before, shuddering at the slightest sound. Only Baekha is her confidante in this hell hole which she cannot escape.

"When my grandfather died, I had no one else," she goes on. "No money. No place to live either because the house we lived in was rented and the landlord wanted to evacuate it. I had no choice but to leave. I don't have any other relatives either…"

She breaks off, lamenting the day she said yes to marrying Sungki. Staying homeless is a better option than living here but it is too late now.

"And now, I can't ever run," she says. "He found out."

"What did he find out?" Baekha frowns. Jisoo looks at her with teary eyes.

"He...he found out that I'm pregnant!" she reveals.

….

*Present*

The doorbell rang and interrupted Jiwoon's tale. She was shaking in fear as she recalled those terrible days. Soobin clutched her hand, trying not to cry. To think that there was a monster like that who put up a facade in front of others while torturing his wife everyday…

Even the thought made Soobin shudder but Jisoo had to go through it.

"Sis, it's okay," she whispered. "You're safe now."

Junho opened the door to find that it was Jina and Hobin.

"Jiwoon called us!" she said. "What happened? Why is she here?"

They stepped into the living room only to find that Jiwoon was teary and fearful which shocked them. Junho quickly filled them in on what she said so far, which shocked them. Jiwoon went through all that?

"Jiwoon…"

Jina was looking at her partner in a new light. She had always assumed that Jiwoon was a calm, determined person but to hide that much pain in her heart needed courage which was impossible to maintain. Even Jina could probably not be that brave.

She slowly sat next to her partner, her eyes tearing up too.

"Why didn't you tell us?" she whispered. "I would have never let you near that house!"

"I...I didn't want to disturb the investigation," Jiwoon said in a small voice. "Besides, I can't let the culprit escape because of my past! How can I stand by while the killer murders those innocent women? I'll finish this investigation even if I have to meet the Cho's-"

"You'll do no such thing," Hobin said sharply. "This is not an ordinary serial killing case."

Jiwoon blinked in surprise. "What do you mean?" she slowly asked.

"Yooseok's DNA matched the ones we found on all crime scenes," Jina stated. "But...but he died a few days before the third female victim. Yet, his DNA was in the crime scene. Which means that our victim was killed by a demon who was possessing Yooseok's body until his corpse deteriorated."

Jiwoon and Soobin exchanged a look which did not go unnoticed by Hobin.

"You two know something?" he frowned.

"How does a demon end up in our world?" Jiwoon asked. "Last time when we were investigating the painting, you said that the original artist summoned it, right?"

"Yeah, a demon needs to be summoned through a ritual," Jina said slowly. "Why are you asking?"

Jiwoon took a deep breath, swallowing her tears. It was not a time to cry.

"I think I know who might be behind this," she finally said.