A Lead

Yoseob was snoring loudly. He had been up all night playing online games. His gaming pseudonym was killeroppa101.

It was quite a popular name in the gaming world. People dreaded his presence because it meant the end of all opponents. After all, he was the youngest gamer to have reached the final level in League of Assassins, the most complicated game of the present time.

After staying up all night to take down the main villain, Yoseob was slumped over his keyboard. He was drooling on his keyboard when Joonjae came in.

Seeing his geek of an assistant sleeping so peacefully at this time of the day annoyed Joonjae. The guy had specifically asked him to arrive early at the office because he found something important. Joonjae even cut his time short with Chaerin for this important work. But Yoseob had the audacity to sleep this late!

Joonjae quietly went towards a washroom. He picked up a mug and filled it with ice cold water. He strode over to his sleeping assistant and…

SPLASH!

"What the fu-"

Yoseob let out a string of curse words. Upon realizing that Joonjae was standing there with a dangerous expression on his face, he faltered.

"Boss!" he hurriedly stood up in a salute. "I was just researching on-"

"Cut the slack!" Joonjae snapped. "What is this important thing you found out?"

"Yes sir!" Yoseob exclaimed. He rushed into the storage near their office room and came out with a file.

"Check this out, boss," he said, handing Joonjae a file. Frowning, Joonjae took it and scanned through.

The file contained details of different cases. In one case, an actress set her house on fire, killing her husband and child before committing suicide. In another, a doctor burned down her cabin while her husband and child slept. They too were burnt to crisps.

A third case, too, followed a similar pattern where a homemaker set her house ablaze. Her husband survived but the children died.

"All this is…" Joonjae's frown deepened.

"These women had no history of mental illness," Yoseob informed him. "Look at this."

He pointed out the third case. "This woman, Lee Shinah, was completely normal. She had no prior history of mental issues. She was perfectly fine till she suddenly turned nuts and set the whole house on fire."

"And you think that these women might have been possessed?" Joonjae questioned. "What if it's not Park Haewon? Could be some other demon."

"Check out the birth dates of the women," Yoseob said smugly.

Joonjae checked the file again. His mouth fell in shock.

"They were…" he started.

"Born on sixth of June, 1955," Yoseob finished for him. "Same date as your mother."

Joonjae was speechless. Was it all a coincidence?

"We should talk with the husband of this one," Joonjae decided. "Lee Shinah's husband survived didn't he?"

"Yes," Yoseob said, hesitating a little. He looked disturbed.

Joonjae noticed his discomfort.

"What is it?" he asked impatiently.

"The incident took a toll on him," Yoseob went on. "He was in that fire and is not exactly in the right state of mind, though."

"What do you mean?"

"Almost sixty percent of his body was burnt," Yoseob grimaced. "He can barely talk and well… his looks can be a little… you know…"

"Doesn't matter," Joonjae snapped. "We've seen worse. Stop whining and let's go."

Yoseob groaned. After the previous day, he was not in the mood to see another gruesome sight. All he wanted to do was go back to his beauty sleep and dream of his favorite korean drama actresses.

"Come on!" Joonjae scolded him. "We can't waste time. Let's go!"

Joonjae was about to step out when he paused. "Is Undertaker back in town?" he asked.

"I think so," Yoseob frowned. "Please don't tell me you're gonna call him! The guy is a nutcase!"

"Call him," Joonjae ordered. "We'll need him in case if there is a demon inside Lee Shinah's husband. Sometimes, they latch onto the nearest host they can find after killing off their current vessels. Who knows, he might be possessed too. We don't want another person to die."

Death would be kinder for him though, Yoseob thought but did not dare to voice it out. His boss was done with bloodshed and wanted to run away from his past life.

"Alright," he conceded. Wincing inwardly, he dialed Undertaker's number.

"Yoseob, my honey bun!" a sly voice greeted him from the other end. "Missed me?"

Yoseob flinched at Undertaker's eccentricity.

"Would you stop that?" he snapped in annoyance. "I'm texting you an address. Boss asked you to get there in half an hour."

"I'll be there sweetie," Undertaker said in an infectiously cheery tone. Ugh, Yoseob groaned inwardly. Why is he so insufferable?

He hung up the phone.

"Are you coming or not?" Joonjae's voice came from outside the door.

I don't want to, Yoseob flinched inwardly.

"Coming boss!" he answered out loud. He scurried out of the room and followed Joonjae to the latter's car.

….

"You're late," Undertaker commented as he saw the two men approach him. "Where is this person we're supposed to meet?"

They were at Lakeside Hospital, which was at the heart of the city. Joonjae took a sharp breath upon seeing Undertaker in front of him. The weirdo did not look like a shaman at all.

He was wearing bright pink feather coat. His hair was tied into bright blonde pigtails and he wore a large neon pink hat on his head. He also carried an Armani bag pack over his shoulder. The guy looked more like a middleaged fashion designer than a shaman.

Joonjae was not too fond of the guy but he had no choice. Undertaker was the only shaman who was daring enough to agree to Joonjae and Chaerin's ghost marriage. Moreover, Undertaker was equally determined to bring down Park Haewon. He would not disclose his reasons, but his agenda did not matter to Joonjae as long as their goal was the same.

"He's in the burn unit," Joonjae replied curtly. But Undertaker paid no heed to him.

"Yoseob!" he exclaimed and shoved Joonjae aside. "Long time no see my boy!"

Yoseob flinched. "Hi," he groaned. "Dad."

"Tch, what's with the dull greeting?" Undertaker scowled. "You're seeing your dad after months and won't even give your old man a hug?"

"I don't wanna hug an overgrown baby," Yoseob complained. "Especially when you're dressed like that!"

"But it's the latest trend!" Undertaker said. He twirled around to show off his outfit. "Do you like it?"

Before Yoseob could respond, Joonjae voiced out angrily, "Cut it out! Let's go and visit the guy!"

Undertaker groaned. "Killjoy," he commented. Joonjae ignored him and headed into the hospital with Yoseob and Undertaker in tow.