Money Loving CEO's Detective Lover

Chapter 146: A Turning Point

The doctors had managed to sedate Gayoon and put her back to sleep. Her grandmother, Kwak Shujin, had arrived and was devastated to see her only grandchild in this condition. Junho had told her everything that had happened. 

She was shocked to find out that not only was Gayoon had been inadvertently living with her own daughter but was also dating the little girl's father! Shujin could not help but muse at the way fate had worked. Yet, she was also worried about the consequences of this encounter.

Sitting by her granddaughter's bedside, she stroked her. Gayoon's pretty face was bruised but the doctors had said that the bruises would be gone and there would be no scarring. Her stomach and chest dealt with the heavy blows. If the beating had been more severe or gone on longer, she could have died. She also broke her arm which would take a month to heal.

This girl really knows how to make me worry, she sighed. There was a knock on the door. She turned around to see a tall, handsome man in his mid thirties standing there.

"You must be Hwang Minho," she guessed.

"Yes, I am," he said with a bow. "I would like to talk to you."

Shujin was dreading this moment and tried to avoid it as much as possible but it seemed she could not delay it any longer. She followed Minho out of the room.

"Tell me everything," he demanded quietly. "Jina's abilities. Did she inherit them from Gayoon?"

"Yes," Shujin admitted. "There's a gift in our family. Many years ago, a shaman granted the women of our family with the sight to see ghosts and communicate with them. However, once any of the women give birth to a daughter, the mother loses the sight and it is passed on to the daughter. Then to their daughter and so on. If a son is born, then the sight skips a generation and moves on to his daughter."

"So Gayoon knew that if she gave birth to a daughter, she would lose this power and it'll transfer to her?" Minho asked. "To Jina?

There was a coldness in his tone which alarmed Shujin. She could tell that Minho was very angry at Gayoon for hiding this from him.

"Yes," she admitted. "That is precisely why she chose the surrogacy. But she-"

"That is all I have to know," Minho said abruptly. Shujin was shocked by his indifference as he walked away.

"Wait, Hwang Minho, you don't know the truth-"

"I know enough," he declared in a quiet tone. He turned his back on her and walked away. Shujin called after him but he would not listen. Minho felt hurt and betrayed by the one woman he had trusted.

Shujin could only watch helplessly as Minho refused to listen. She wanted to tell him the truth of why Gayoon really took such an impulsive action but there was little she could do. Shaking her head in dismay, she turned around only to see a little girl, standing there looking completely shocked.

"Lady Cop...is she my mom?" Jina finally asked. Shujin could not bear to face the little girl and averted her eyes. There was no doubt that the little girl would despise Gayoon for what she had done to her. Her hatred would devastate Gayoon who had yearned to see her child for years. If only they would listen to the truth

Jina did not say anything but went into the room. Shujin watched curiously as the little girl climbed onto the chair and began to stroke her motionless cheeks. Unlike her father, there was a tenderness in her eyes as she watched her mother.

"Will it be okay if I call her mom now?" the little girl asked her great grandmother. She has the same eyes as Gayoon, Shujin noted.

"She'll be delighted," Shujin whispered. Her eyes were tearing up and she turned away to wipe them off. Jina kept on lovingly taking care of her mother who was blissfully asleep.

"It's okay," she said. "I'm not mad at you, mommy. If it wasn't for this gift, I wouldn't have been able to save you today. I met so many nice people because of you. I got to have friends like Casper and Yumi. There were scary moments but I had a lot of fun with the few good ghosts I know. They protect me from harm. So don't worry. I'll be fine."

Shujin was surprised by the love this little girl had for Gayoon. Even though they were unaware of their bond, they became integral parts of each other's lives. Shujin smiled and patted Jina's head, landing a kiss on it.

"She'll be happy to hear that," Shujin assured her. But something was bothering Jina. 

"Granny," she began. "What were you going to tell my dad?"

Shujin did not want to burden this girl with too much information. "Let's just say that, your mother was also running away from a bad ghost," she said in a cryptic manner. 

"A bad ghost? What did he do?"

Shujin glanced at Gayoon's sleeping figure and replied, "The ghost had managed to destroy her once. And god knows when it'll be back to destroy her again."

Jina could not understand what the old woman was talking about but there was an alarming warning behind her words. Was her mother in danger? Will they be separated again?

She squeezed her mother's hand, trying not to cry. But the wretched tears would not stop pouring from her eyes.

"Please don't go, mommy," she begged. "Please!"

Shujin did not say anything but quietly stood by, patting the little girl's head. There was no telling what the future held for Gayoon and her daughter. She sincerely hoped that one day, Hwang Minho would listen to her story but until then, her granddaughter would have to endure the heartbreak.

CCK's torture was nothing compared to the pain Gayoon was about to go through soon. But the question was, would she survive it?

......

*One Month Later*

"Drill into that spot!" the worker shouted at the drillers. It was late at night and they had been drilling the land for days to set it up for construction. 

The place used to be a school which had moved to another area but the building had been left abandoned for many years before the owners finally received permission to build a building on it. Hwang Constructions had acquired it and decided to turn it into a commercial office complex. The building had been broken down and a new building was to be constructed in its place.

The driller turned on the machine and kept on drilling the ground. The construction would start within a few weeks and the ground was still not ready for the foundation to be set.

"This school is built on shitty land," one of the workers complained as he dug into the soil with his shovel. "It's so uneven!"

"It's one of the reasons the school was moved," another worker explained. "The construction was faulty and the building was on the verge of collapse. So they sold it off."

"And now we have to clean up their mess," the other worker grumbled as he dug his shovel deeper into the soil. Suddenly, his shovel hit something metallic.

"Hey, I think I found something in here!" he shouted. The other workers gathered around and helped him dig. They removed the soil and were astonished to see a safe which had been locked tightly.

"Stand back," one of the workers said. The others obeyed as the worker hit the safe's lock with a shovel and broke it open.

"Do you think there's money in there?" one worker asked gleefully.

"Who knows?" another worker said. "Might be a treasure too!"

They were excited as the door of the safe opened. As soon as the door was unlocked, they were disappointed.

"What the hell is this?" a worker frowned, taking out an old uniform.

"Looks like a kid's uniform," another worker frowned. "There's something else in there."

He bent over to pull out a red envelope which was sealed with a black thread. 

"What the hell?" he muttered. Taking off the thread, he opened the envelope. 

A button fell out from it. 

"It's a button," a worker scoffed. "Useless things! Why were these buried there?"

"Probably some kid made a prank," another worker claimed. "Let' just keep it in the site locker room."

"But it's junk!"

"What if the school authorities ask for it? Could be some kid's assignment or a project? And you know how strict our boss is about taking stuff from digging sites."

"Fine!" the worker agreed. "Let's keep it in the locker room. If no one claims it after the digging is complete, we'll sell it off."

There was a murmur of agreement and the things were locked away in a locker. The workers went off to continue their work before going home.

Meanwhile, inside the locker, a red light began to emit from the uniform. Crimson liquid poured out from the torn cloth, slowly beginning to fill up the locker. The red blood oozed out of the locker's cracks and began to synchronize together to form a figure.

"Gayooniee"

An ominous cackle echoed through the empty room as the crimson liquid flowed out of there, leaving no sign of its existence behind.