AUTHOR’S NOTE:

Hi guys! A new privilege system will start from 1st August for this book. Under it, there will be 25 chapters of privilege for the readers and has been set up as such:

​​

1st tier (2 chaps)- 1 coin

2nd tier (6 chaps)- 50 coins

3rd tier (12 chaps)- 100 coins

4th tier (18 chaps)- 200 coins

5th tier (25 chaps)- 350 coins

Sorry if it seems expensive. I tried to set the lowest prices possible but since its spirity/win-win season, a lot of use were advised to put up such prices. BUT I will give some perks to the readers in return if the book reaches win-win levels.

1000 privilege chapter unlocks= 3 extra chapter mass release

5000 privilege chapter unlocks= 5 extra chapter mass release

10,000 privilege chapter unlocks= 10 chapter mass release.

This is applicable for every month! Please do support this book by buying as much privilege chapters as possible <3

………

“Alright, kids!” Hobin exclaimed. “Listen up.”

They were in Jina’s apartment. He presided over the teens like a teacher. Yoonmin was frowning at him with a little disdain while Minyoon was curious about the guy. Soobin, on the other hand, was blushing hard at the hot teacher.

Jina was the only one who was paying attention to him.

“The reason we called you here is-” Hobin began but Yoonmin cut through.

“Aren’t you the guy who tripped me at the restaurant when sis was chasing me?” he demanded.

“Yes,” Hobin replied. He opened his mouth to explain the plan to them but Minyoon spoke up.

“What’s your relationship with our sister?” he demanded. 

“Are you two dating?” Yoonmin asked.

“How long have you known each other?”

“What are your intentions with her?”

“I know mixed martial arts!”

“SHUT IT!” Jina scolded them. “He’s just a colleague. That’s it! Now listen to what he’s gonna say!”

But her brothers were glaring at Hobin with suspicion. Yoonmin even scooted closer to Jina as if a little kitten trying to protect its mother. Hobin only rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“I wouldn’t date your sister even if she’s the last woman on earth,” he said but the twins flared up once again.

“Why not?” Minyoon demanded. “What’s wrong with our sis?”

“She’s pretty and smart!” Yoonmin added. “Kind too!”

“Any guy would be lucky to have her!” Minyoon claimed. 

“Just coz she’s a little older than you doesn’t mean she’s any less than other girls!” his twin said. “She’s the best cook!”

They scowled at Hobin who was completely speechless by the cheeky twins. Make up your mind, he thought in dismay while Soobin stifled a laugh. Jina, on the other hand, was getting impatient.

“Just shut up and listen!” she snapped at her brothers. “We called you here to help out in a murder case!”

The twins blinked at her. Murder case?

“What we’re gonna tell you is strictly confidential,” Hobin stressed. “Officially, we’re not supposed to share this with outsiders. But if you guys help out a little, we can catch a child’s killer. So whatever you’re gonna hear must stay in this room.”

“If it goes out, I’ll freeze all your bank accounts!” Jina threatened. “A child’s life is on the line.”

Yoonmin looked at his sister with a quizzical look. Jina knew exactly what he wanted to ask and she nodded. His eyes flashed in realization but he remained quiet.

“Tell us about the case,” Minyoon said.

“Soobin, please tell us what you saw that night,” Hobin told her. Soobin got up and nervously stood in front of them.

“Well, I got lost on my way home that night,” she recalled. “I was just a few blocks from here, standing near a wall when I saw…”

She recounted the whole story, not changing a single word in the statement she had given to the police. Hobin noted that the girl had a pretty sharp memory and that was a major asset to the case.

“The woman was wearing a mask so I couldn’t see her face,” she stated. “But she was quite elegant in her manners. She wore high heels and good clothes, which was odd. Like, why would someone like that be out at night throwing trash? I didn’t think much of it then but now that I think about it, I should have caught her. Also, I saw a tattoo on her wrist, a black bat-like tattoo. The same tattoo which was in one of Minyoon’s music videos.”

“Are you sure?” Jina asked. 

“It seemed to be of that shape,” Soobin nodded. “I thought really hard about that tattoo because it looked familiar. So when I was watching Minyoon’s last music video, I saw the tattoo!”

“That person must be a fan then,” Minyoon concluded. “But we never sold those tattoos anywhere.”

“She got it inked,” Hobin realized. “We might be able to find her identity if we ask the tattoo parlors. As for you guys…”

He turned to the kids. “You’ll be helping us in our undercover mission. The boy who was murdered belonged to an orphanage. Detective Hwang and I went to the orphanage undercover. There’s a child there, Haeji, who knows something about the murder but she’s too traumatized to speak.”

“I tried to make her talk but the matron stopped me,” Jina added.

“Is she the killer then?” Soobin asked.

“If she’s not the killer then there’s a chance she’s an accomplice,” Hobin stated.

Everyone was not apt with attention as Hobin began to explain the mission.

“The killer here is the unsub,” he explained. “Which is short for Unidentified Subject. What we know about the unsub is that it’s a female and perhaps from a moderate to high class background. Given that she has the resources to have a tattoo made and judging from Soobin’s description of her, we can conclude that the unsub probably lives near the uptown area or at least a posh place.”

“We’ve seen the matron today and even though she’s a possible subject, high chances are that she was not the person who dumped the boy’s body in the dumpster,” he went on. “First of all, given that she’s in her forties, I doubt she would be an idol lover. She also did not have a tattoo on her left wrist. It was the first thing I checked when the owner introduced her to us. And she wore very plain clothes. Her salary isn’t enough to afford expensive things for herself.”

“The unsub is cold and calculative in her moves,” Jina stated. “Given that she had no qualms in killing a child, there’s a high chance we’re dealing with a sociopath here. No feelings of guilt or remorse. The fact that she dumped the body in a dumpster also indicates that she’s not a very smart murderer. But one fact is that she was prepared with masks and proper PPE. There weren’t any fingerprints at the site. Which means, it’s not her first murder. However, given that a child went missing and no one at the orphanage seemed to be worried about him, it means that she had inside help.”

Wonho, Jina thought but did not voice it out loud. No one knew about his murder yet.

“Since the people at the orphanage are keeping Haeji away from us,” Hobin said. “We need to distract the minions of our unsubs. Which is where you guys come in.”

He pointed at Minyoon. “Tomorrow, you will be our surprise guest. The kids will be very much eager to see a famous idol perform for them. Soobin will pose as one of our volunteers. She’ll pretend to take the pulse of everyone in the vicinity but in reality, she’ll be checking for the tattoo. Yoonmin will help out Minyoon as his campaign manager while Detective Hwang and I will try to talk to Haeji.”

“My logo is being used by a criminal!” Minyoon scowled in disgust. “Pathetic!”

Yoonmin was quiet for a while. The others were discussing the plan but he was observing his sister. 

After a while, Soobin announced that she would have to leave. Minyoon also said that he needed to go home and decide on the songs to keep the crowd busy. They went out of the apartment with Hobin, still discussing the case. Only Yoonmin stayed behind with Jina.

“I’ll help you clean up, sis,” he offered. 

Jina smiled at him. “You should go and rest,” she said. “It’ll be a long day tomorrow.”

But Yoonmin did not move. He was fidgeting a little, making her sigh again.

“You’re right,” she finally said. “There’s a ghost involved in the case. The boy who died. His spirit still lingers.”

“I knew it!” he muttered. “Sis…don’t you think you get a little too involved with dead people?”

The entire family knew about Jina and Miyoo’s abilities. It was something that all the females from their mother’s side were born with. Hundreds of years ago, a shaman had given the gift of sight to one of their ancestors. With that, every woman on their mother’s side became Seers, people who could communicate with the dead. 

But once the women gave birth to a child, they lost their power. Instead, the power is passed on to their daughters. If a son is born, then he acts as a carrier and passes it on to his future female line. After their mother, only Jina and Miyoo had possessed the powers of a Seer.

However, Jina was a very special case. It was not simply because of the powers she received from their mother; she also had an additional power from their father’s bloodline. An ability which only the first born Hwang child, regardless of gender, could inherit. 

And that combination alone made Jina’s abilities very dangerous.

“Where’s the spirit now?” he asked.

“At the orphanage,” Jina replied. “He wanted to see his friends.”

“Sis, I think you should call grandpa,” Yoonmin suggested. “As a precaution? What if the spirit turns bad?”

Jina looked down, deep in thought. She understood Yoonmin’s fears very well. The twins had seen her communicate with ghosts numerous times and even though some were good, others were very dangerous. There was a time when Jina almost died trying to protect her siblings from an evil entity.

“Grandpa is in Romania now,” she said. “He’s investigating a possible demonic possession. He’ll be away for weeks.”

“You should still tell him,” Yoonmin insisted. 

When he saw that Jina was hesitating, he said, “I’m telling grandpa. If anything goes wrong with that ghost, he must be exorcised. We can’t let the past events repeat themselves.”

To his surprise, Jina was smiling. She ruffled his hair playfully.

“My little brother grew up!” she beamed. “I remember when you were hardly bigger than my arm and now you’re taller than me! Even wiser.”

“And yet you punish me,” he muttered. “I need to earn money, ya know!”

Jina facepalmed herself. She might be the strange hybrid in her family but even her abilities were nothing compared to the money making powers of her siblings.