Doctor Demon

Chapter 317 – The Cleaver (4)

The mausoleum was styled like a luxurious living room. A large shelf stood in front of them with large compartments containing urns from Hong Younha's family. Jiwoon could tell because all the urns had the family name 'Hong' in front of them. The long corridor led to a living room which was made of white marble walls with a black tiled floor.

"Minho and I will check this place," Junho said. "We might find something."

"Alright," Siwan replied. "I'll go with Jiwoon and Mr. Ilhoon here."

Junho nodded and stayed back to investigate the family pictures with Minho while the others went to the place where Younha's body was kept.

"Take off your shoes," Jiwoon instructed them. "Keep your socks on and don't touch anything inside."

The men obeyed and did as they were told before following her to the corpse room.

This room was adorned exactly like Hong Younha's living room back in her old penthouse. It was quite famous for its signature Italian furniture and a sleek, granite chimney which was meticulously made by the finest interior decorator in the country. A set of comfortable couches were placed neatly at one corner and a shelf full of Hong Younha's pictures was standing at the opposite end.

In the middle of the room, however, is an ice casing which is wide open. The casing was cold with constant cold air blowing into it for refrigeration. It used to carry the embalmed body of Younha. Being obsessed with her looks and body, Younha made sure that even in death, she would look beautiful forever.

"The body opened the casing and left!" the old guard claimed. 

"That's nonsense!" Ilhoon snapped. "A body can't just get up and leave. Someone must have stolen it-"

"Stay back, everyone!" Jiwoon ordered. She put on her gloves and began to examine the casing.

Cold air was still blowing into it through a machine so any evidence of foul play should be preserved. She could smell the strong scent of chemicals which were used to regularly embalm Younha's corpse. She scratched off some ice using a small pick and put it in an evidence bag, sealing it shut. 

Siwan watched her, feeling awed by her. He never saw her like this. She was completely focused on collecting evidence, not paying attention to anyone else. Her face was scrunched up into concentration, giving her an intense vibe which was…attractive.

"There's a hair here," Jiwoon stated. She held up the long strand of hair and put it in another sealed bag. "And I can see a foot print too. Judging by the size, it looks like that of a female."

"I told you! She stood up and left!"

Jiwoon checked the marble floor. There were puddles of water which led to the window nearby. She took out her phone and clicked pictures of the place. 

"She went out of the window?" she asked the guard.

"Yes," he replied. "She opened the lock with her bare hands, which is impossible! These locks are heavily padded and yet, she managed to open them with ease!"

"This is ridiculous!" Ilhoon scoffed. "Jisoo, you don't really believe this, right?"

"The window looks like it was opened from the inside," Siwan pointed out. "Look at the lock. It's ripped off!"

He was right. Someone had pulled the window's lock with brute force. Moreover, there was a footprint on the window's ledge as well. The corpse had been in an ice casing so bits of ice must have fallen to the floor when it escaped. 

"We'll have to match these with Younha's prints," Jiwoon muttered. Ilhoon had enough of the nonsense.

"Younha is dead! How can she just get up and leave? I'll go and check the CCTV cameras-"

"The cameras are not working," the guard told him. "As soon as the corpse rose, the cameras stopped working!"

Ilhoon was thoroughly confused but Jiwoon and Siwan understood most of the mystery.

"Ilhoon, please go and inform the family members of Younha that her corpse is missing," Jiwoon told him. "Also, check at her old house and bring us something which might have her prints on it."

He wanted to protest but pursed his lips. "Fine," he conceded. "But this is a far-fetched thing! I'm telling you, her corpse was stolen!"

"We'll investigate all the angles," Jiwoon assured him. "As a detective, I can't ignore the clues. If her corpse was stolen, we'll find the thieves. If she really walked out on her own, then we'll have to know how this happened. But we'll find her."

Ilhoon turned to Siwan. "Do you believe all this, doctor?" he demanded. "Isn't this absurd?"

"I'm no one to decide what's absurd and what's not," Siwan stated. "But I don't think that we should ignore the guard's words. Maybe someone set up the evidence here to steal her body and misguide us. Or maybe, she really did rise from the grave. Either way, we'll know once we find her body."

Ilhoon sighed at their calmness. How could they even believe such absurd things?

"I'll see what I can do," he finally said. He turned away and left the room. Once he was gone, Jiwoon turned to the guard.

"You can wait outside," she said. "I'll take your testimony in a while."

"I'm telling you, it's the truth! She woke up and left on her own-"

"Please wait outside while I investigate," Jiwoon said in a firm tone. The guard grumbled and left them alone. 

Siwan turned to Jiwoon. "This must be a demon," he said. "The corpse didn't rise from the grave but the demon may have possessed it like Maggie said."

"I also think it's a demon," Jiwoon nodded. "Just like Detective Hwang and Maggie told us. This might be the Cleaver."

Siwan froze. "What did you say?" he demanded. "The Cleaver? He's back?"

Jiwoon frowned at his restlessness. Siwan was now very worried. Why didn't Hobin tell me about this? He thought in desperation.

"What happened?" Jiwoon asked. "Do you know something?"

"Is Hobin handling this case?" 

"Y-Yes."

"This is bad…"

At that very moment, Junho and Minho entered the living room.

"There's very high level demonic activity here," Junho confirmed. "The EMF meter went crazy!"

"What's crazier is that someone would spend so much on this after death service," Minho scowled. "Weekly manicure and designer wear for a dead body? She could've just spent it on property investment. Even after death, she would have been able to earn through trust funds. My company has the best investment techniques for the dead-"

"We have to stop Hobin from investigating this case!" Siwan told Jiwoon, ignoring the old men. 

"Why?" Jiwoon asked, bewildered. 

"Because…" Siwna began.. "If we don't stop him, we'll lose him to the demon residing in him! So stop him. Now!"