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….

But Hobin was not listening to her. Instead, he kept on focusing on the woman. Finally, he let her go and turned to Jina.

“Close the door,” he ordered. Jina scowled at him but closed the door as per his instructions.

“Now tell me,” she demanded. “Why did you address her as Minki?” 

She was curious to know whether it was a fluke or did he know that Minki was possessing Aera’s body.

“He told me that he’s a ghost and he’s possessing this woman’s body,” Hobin said flatly. Jina blinked in shock.

“He also told me that his ‘Jina sis’ can communicate with ghosts,” he went on. “So I followed him to rescue you.”

“And you believed him?” she asked. “Just like that? No questions nor any doubts? I mean, people don’t just readily believe me when I claim I can see dead people.”

Hobin was looking at her with amusement. “You know, this reminds me of that movie where a psychiatrist comes across a kid who can see dead people only to find out in the end that he was a ghost himself,” he smirked. “I feel like this is the same situation.”

“Stop joking around!” Jina snapped. “Just…”

She took a deep breath and looked directly into his eyes. Hobin was taken aback by the silent plea in them as if her life depended on his answer.

“Do you really believe me when I say that I can communicate with ghosts?” she whispered. “Or are you bluffing? Please, just answer me. Do you believe me?”

Her eyes were slowly welling up with tears. She was recalling all the moments in her life when she begged people to believe her. Other than her family, no one ever believed her claims when she said that she could see their deceased loved ones. Many shooed her away, calling her a psycho or a lunatic who was out to create trouble. They labeled her as a liar and yet, she did not give up helping those who came to her.

For the first time, someone outside of her family claimed that he believed her. But was he telling the truth? Or was he lying?

Hobin could read her silent plea. He knew what she was going through. There was no need for him to touch her and read her memories because her large eyes were expressing the grief she had endured.

After all, he went through the same thing.

“If I tell you that I believe you,” he said in a morose tone. “Will you believe me as well?”

“What do you mean?” Jina asked.

Aera was stirring awake. She opened her eyes to find herself tied to a chair.

“What’s going on?” She asked, feeling flustered. “Why am I here?”

Her gaze fell on the doctors in front of her. “Doctor Ohm!” she exclaimed. “What’s the meaning of this?”

“Let me interrogate her,” Hobin said. “And you’ll know what I’m talking about.”

Jina was puzzled but let him step forward, curious to see what he was going to do.

“Seo Aera,” Hobin said in a clear tone. “Your accomplice was caught today. The gardener your father-in-law had employed was your minion, wasn’t he?”

“What accomplice?” Aera demanded. “What do you mean?”

“Last week, a body was found dumped in a trash can,” Hobin narrated. The body belonged to Minki, who used to live in this orphanage. A school girl spotted a masked woman with a bat tattoo dumping the body of the child in the trash and driving away.”

“And then there was an anonymous post about this orphanage defrauding money from donors,” he went. “The post was made by Ma Wonho, who went missing a few weeks ago. The cases have seemingly little relation except one that is both of them were part of this orphanage.”

“Minki was adopted!” Aera claimed. “I don’t know any Ma Wonho!”

“Interesting claim,” Hobin said. “But now, let me tell you what you have showed me.”

Aera was sweating when Hobin glared dangerously at her.

“A few weeks ago, you found out that Wonho was tracking you closely,” he revealed. “He was sneaking around the matron’s office and found discrepancies in the donation usages. The companies were giving millions of dollars in charity for the kids but you had recorded only a few hundred thousand. Where did the rest of the amount go?”

“He contacted the banks of all the staff and thanks to his contacts in them, he was able to deduce that you were stealing a lot of money from the donors. But you were tipped off by the bank that someone is prying into your account.”

“That night, Wonho came to the orphanage,” he went on. “He wanted to talk to the owner because someone told him that Mr. Namgoong was there. But it was a trap you laid out for him. Once he arrived, your henchman attacked him. He staggered towards the dorms to ask for help but he was critically injured. However, he ran into Minki and Haeji who were scared to see him like that.”

Jina was shocked to hear that. How did Hobin know about Wonho’s death? It was not even revealed yet!

“He gave the file to Minki and hid them in the closet,” Hobin narrated. “Those children watched as he was murdered in front of them. They somehow managed to escape but your minion and the matron found a mickey mouse sticker on the floor and traced it back to Minki. As for Wonho’s body, you guys used the trapdoor to bury him under the building.”

“The cellar,” Jina nodded. 

“Bingo!” Hobin agreed. “His body is buried underneath the cellar. As for Minki, you guys kept an eye on him but he had managed to escape. He was young so he did not know his way around the town. The day he was murdered, he passed by Dalton High School, searching for the police station but to no avail. You were tipped off. You stole a car from your husband’s garage and searched for the boy until you found him in that neighborhood. You snuck up on him and injected him with a drug to make him unconscious.”

“Then you strangled him using a wire and killed him,” Hobin snarled. “But you didn’t know what to do with his body so you waited for night to fall and drove towards an isolated trash can to dump him there. You had the matron falsify fake adoption papers to keep the owner from asking too many questions.”

Aera was shocked. How did this guy find out so many things? He was exposing her dirty deeds as if he witnessed everything!

“As for Haeji,” he continued. “You found out that she became mute after Wonho’s death. You deduced that this girl might know so you had the matron keep an eye on her. If she began to talk, it would be over but you couldn’t stop your father-in-law from sending her to me. So the matron threatened her to keep quiet otherwise she’ll be killed like Wonho and Minki…”

“And today, when your father-in-law left town for some work, you took the opportunity to kill off Haeji,” he concluded. “Only problem is that she survived. Your minions were caught.”

Aera was unable to breathe. She was sweating nervously as the doctor confronted her with the crimes she committed.

“It’s over,” Hobin announced. There were sounds of movement outside; the backup team had arrived.

Jina opened the door. “The murderer is here!” she told them. “Arrest her.”

The officer swarmed in and untied Aera only to handcuff her. She was dejected and defeated as the officer led her. Her minions were already caught and kept in the police van. Once the officers were out of sight, Jina turned to face Hobin. She was shocked by his words.

“How did you know about Wonho’s murder?” she slowly asked. “Minki only told me about it.”

“Haeji,” Hobin replied.

“Haeji told you?” she frowned but he shook his head.

“She didn’t tell me,” he stated. “She showed me through her memories.”

He stepped towards Jina, towering over her. “I guess the twist in this tale is,” he began. “I can read memories of people.”