~ooOOOoo~

 

Park Jieun came out from the train station while pushing her suitcase to the sideway. She looked around, trying to find someone but no one looked familiar for her. Her lips pouted.

 

“Weird. They said that they will pick me here.” She mumbled then looked at her phone.

 

But a white car then pulled over and a teenage girl came out from the car. “Eonnie.” The girl cheerfully called the older one.

 

Jieun diverted her gaze from her phone and smiled, welcoming the younger girl with a warm hug.

 

“I’ve missed you so much,” the younger girl said as she hugged Jieun.

 

“Me too.” Jieun then released her embrace and looked at her younger sister. “Let me see you.” She looked at her from top to bottom. “Hoo… it seems that Aunty has made your cheeks chubbier.”

 

Her sister’s tease made Park Jina cupping her cheeks and pouting. “No. I’m still not that fat yet.”

 

A well-build yet slender man came out from the car and approached the sisters. Jieun turned to him and smiled. “Doojoon oppa.”

 

The man smiled then bowed. “Welcome home, Princess,” he greeted, making the sisters chuckling to see his over-polite manner.

 

The polite manner made Jieun amazed. “Hoo… it seems that your manner has improved ever since you became a police officer.”

 

“It’s a service for people,” Doojoon replied jokingly, making the girl to chuckle more. “Nevermind.” He then released his polite manner. “The car is ready. Just get on.”

 

“Alright,” Jieun replied then walked to the car with her sister while Doojoon took her suitcase and bag. But before she forgot, Jieun turned to Doojoon. “Oppa, don’t go directly home. I want to visit somewhere else first.”

 

“Okay,” Doojoon replied then put Jieun’s suitcase and bag to the trunk.

 

 

After driving for a while according to Jieun’s navigation, they started to reach the mountain’s area. Doojoon looked around in anxiety. “Why are we going so far?” he asked suddenly. “I have to go back to the team.” He looked at his watch. “I only have forty minutes left.”

 

“It won’t be long. I promise you.” Jieun then continued to look around, trying to find the location that displayed on her phone’s map.

 

“But why do you want to visit this place?” Jina asked.

 

Jieun took a quick look at her sister then back to front. “I will have an interview there tomorrow. So I want to take a look at the environment first.”

 

The reply made Jina frowning and tilting her head. “You have found a job already. So why are you still doing an interview?”

 

Jieun turned to her sister again. “It’s only a short translation project for filling my time during the summer break. The place is near and the time is flexible.” She smiled. “And the most important thing is that it has a good pay. So why would I not take it?” She looked at her phone and back to the front. She then found the left turn that showed on her phone. “Left turn there,” she told Doojoon.

 

Doojoon turned his car at the place that Jieun pointed and drove a little further until they reached a two-story house in the middle of no-where. The house was nice and big, mostly painted in brown. There was a garage at the end of pathway and a staircase leaded to the front door of the house. Doojoon stopped the car in front of the garage and came out from the car along with the sisters.

 

“Are you sure it’s here?” Doojoon asked as he approached Jieun.

 

Jieun nodded. “I looked up on the GPS. It should be right.” She replied as she looked at the house.

 

Jina, who took some pictures from the house, turned her gaze to her sister. “Are you sure if someone lives here? It’s a broad daylight but the curtains are all closed.” She looked back to the house. “It doesn’t look as if someone is here.” She then continued. “If you come here in night time, it will surely scare you.”

 

As Jieun stopped in front of the house to look at the front view of the house, Jina suddenly spotted someone standing behind the curtain on one of the windows. It was a man and he looked pale. It feared her because she didn’t see the man previously. Jina turned to her sister. “Eonnie. Eonnie.”

 

Jieun turned to her younger sister by the call. Jina signaled her to look at the windows. “On the left window,” Jina told her sister.

 

So Jieun looked at the window that her sister’s meant while Jina approached Doojoon and snuggled closer to him. “Look over there,” she told Doojoon while pointing at the window that she meant. She turned to Doojoon. “Oppa, let’s go. I suddenly have goosebumps.”

 

But Jina was right; Jieun could see a man standing behind the curtain on one of the second floor’s windows. He was tall with brighter skin tone. Jieun couldn’t see his face clearly since the curtain made everything look blurred. But something had intrigued Jieun about the man.

 

“Eonnie.”

 

Her sister’s call made Jieun looking around. She saw her sister standing so near with Doojoon while hugging the guy’s arm. Doojoon himself was giggling to see the anxious younger girl beside her while checking his phone.

 

“Eonnie, Oppa said that he has something urgent come up. So let’s go now.”

 

“Just a moment.” Jieun looked back to the window again, making Jina to whimper in fear.

 

Because he felt bad with the scared teenage girl, Doojoon gave up. He smiled and shook his head. He knew that Jina had always feared in ghosts. He then looked back at Jieun. “Jieun-ah.”

 

Jieun looked back to the guy when she heard him calling her name.

 

“Let’s go. My superior has actually texted me to come back now.”

 

“Ah, okay.”

 

But instead of going, Jieun took a last look at the window. Doojoon heaved to see the girl; he forgot that Jieun could be so stubborn sometimes. He approached the girl and rounded his arm across her shoulders as he turned the girl around. “I’ve said let’s go, Princess,” he said then dragged the girl away with him.

 

Back at the car when Doojoon drove back to the town, Jina leaned forward with restless manner. She looked at her sister and Doojoon, considering whether to tell them or not. But she then decided to tell. “Eonnie, are you not afraid? Oppa, are you not afraid too?”

 

Doojoon smiled to hear the question. “Your sister and I aren’t afraid of ghosts since we were younger, you know.” The reply made Jieun chuckling while her sister pouting and leaned back.

 

---

 

Meanwhile, somewhere in a dark room, a young boy was struggling to break away from the chain that bounded him to table-like bed. The blooded-bruises on his wrists and ankles indicated that he had been struggling for a while. His breath was heavy as he felt scared. The room was dark and he could smell blood from the surface behind his back. He wanted to scream for help but he was afraid that someone else would come instead.

 

In amidst of his struggles, the door was creaking open.

 

---

 

Doojoon came to his desk with case file on his hand. His boss had called him to give him a new case. He was driving the sisters back to their home before he came back to the Police Station. As he sat on his chair, his subordinate asked him, “Deputy, how long has it been? There are already five cases. Isn’t it too abnormal?”

 

Doojoon opened the file and heaved as he read the report. “What’s even scarier is that these missing people cases are still happening. It doesn’t look like it will stop.”

 

 

Back on the house, Jieun had changed her clothes and was enjoying lunch with Jina when a notification sound was heard on her phone. She took her phone and looked at it. There was a message from the interviewer. “Oo, the time of the interview has been confirmed.” She lifted her gaze to her sister who sat across of her and smiled. “It’s ten in the morning tomorrow.”

 

“Eeee…” Her sister made a troubled face. “Are you really going back to that ghost house?” she asked with whining tone.

 

Jieun put down her phone after replying the message. “Of course.” She dropped her gaze back to her food.

 

Jina slightly bit her lower lip, suddenly feeling worry about her sister. “Do you want me to tell Aunty to get you a protection charm?”

 

“Aish. Don’t scare people.”

 

Jina leaned forward to get closer to her sister. “But my friend told me that she saw one half year ago with her own eyes. It was a male skeleton ghost.”

 

Intrigued, Jieun lifted her gaze back to her sister. “Male skeleton ghost?”

 

Jina nodded with pouted lips.

 

Jieun snorted. “I think you’ve been reading too many horror stories. How can there be a male skeleton ghost?”

 

“It’s true.” Jina tried to defend herself. “She said that this male skeleton ghost was on the balcony in broad daylight. He was really pale and had no eyes. There were just two black holes in place of his eyes. He was really skinny, like a hanger for the clothes he was wearing. Once the wind blew, he would go to another—“

 

“Okay, okay.” Jieun quickly cut Jina’s non-sense story. “Stop scaring people.”

 

“But it’s true,” Jina whined. “It scares me to death.”

 

Jieun wanted to say more but the ringing phone distracted her. She took the phone and answered it; it was a phone call from Doojoon. “Yes, Oppa.”

 

Jina’s expression became brighter. “Doojoon Oppa?” Jieun only nodded to reply her. But then, her sister shouted, “Doojoon Oppa, please stop my sister from going to that haunted house tomorrow.”

 

Jieun clicked her tongue while glaring at Jina. She then moved to her room. “Sorry. Jina is talking non-sense,” she said as she closed her room’s door.

 

Doojoon was only smiling. “Is she still talking about the ghost story?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“But when will your interview begin?”

 

“Tomorrow at 10.”

 

“Tomorrow?” Doojoon sounded troubled.

 

“What’s wrong?”

 

He heaved. “Nothing. It’s just… I have some cases to follow up tomorrow.” He then continued. “Recently, there has been a lot of missing people cases. And all of them are underage. We’re suspicious that it’s a trafficking organization behind it. So tomorrow—“

 

“It’s fine. It’s fine.” Jieun interjected his speech. “Just do what you need to do. I can use taxi.”

 

“Then… when you go out with Jina tomorrow, be careful. Always be aware of your surroundings. If you think that there’s a suspicious person following you—“

 

“I got it. I got it.” Jieun interjected again for the second time. “You don’t need to talk to us with your police manner. Do you think that I can’t take care of myself? Am I underage?”

 

“But I’m talking to you seriously. Before you go to the interview tomorrow, notify me. When you finish your interview, notify me again. You also have to notify me if you have reached home.”

 

“Okay, okay, Detective Yoon. Do you know that your nagging is so annoying? Can you stop treating me like I’m a little girl? I’m eating right now. So I’m going to hang up the phone. I’m going. Bye.”

 

The phone was cut off afterward. Doojoon snorted after the phone cut off and lowered his phone. Somehow, he found that Jieun’s complaints were cute.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the next day, Jieun took a taxi to go to the villa alone. After paying the fare, she went up the front stairs and approached the front door. She stopped and looked at the house. Seeing it up-close, Jieun realized that the house was bigger than when she first saw it from downstairs. The brown paints were actually wooden wall. There were vines covering the outer wall. Actually, the place was nice with comfortable and beautiful surrounding, if only Jieun didn’t remember the scary story that her sister had told her yesterday.

 

Jieun took out her phone and typed a message to her interviewer. She needed to notify him if she had arrived. She then came closer to the front door and rang the bell. She waited but no one came to open the door.

 

Then, she heard the chirping sound from the door.

 

Curious with the sound, Jieun took the door handle and tried to push it. To her surprise, the door went open. So she peered in. The house looked quiet.

 

“Hello?” she said then stepped in. “Is someone here?” She stepped a little further.

 

But the door then slammed close, surprising Jieun. She turned to the door and tried to open it. But the door didn’t budge; it seemed that it had been locked. Jieun turned to the house. It seemed that she had no other choice but to move further inside.

 

As she walked inside, there was a set of stairs on her right and a hallway to the right beyond it. It seemed that the hall and the stairs were leading much further inside the house. So Jieun felt that it would be impolite if she entered much further without permission. She turned to her left, to a room with big windows, sofas, high book shelf, and decorated fireplace. Compared to the hallway, the room seemed brighter. The room was also taller as the first and second floor foyer could be seen from the void part of the room. Jieun could even see the higher edge of the staircase on second floor from the room. As Jieun stepped closer to the coffee table, she saw a piece of paper was left on a plate.

 

‘Have a seat. I will be right with you.’

 

It was something that written on the paper. It seemed that her interviewer had left the message for her. So she took off her bag and approached the sofa as she looked around. She sat on a long couch and put her bag on the floor. But her curiosity kept her looking around.

 

To her right, there was a decorated cupboard with books on its shelf. There was also a pile of magazines with an opened magazine laying on the cupboard surface; an English article of an inspiring young IT developer was shown. There were also some paintings hanging on the wall and an antique cuckoo clock.

 

To her left, there was a high book shelf that filled with books; a wheeled ladder was placed in front of it, perhaps for taking books in higher shelves. And Jieun found the book collections interesting; she stood up and came to the book shelf to have a closer look. Most of them were books about human psychology that written in either English or Korean. There were also novels in mystery genre, encyclopedias and dictionaries. But the one that intrigued her the most was books about criminal psychology. It was very rare to have someone keeping criminal psychology books unless if the person was working related to crime and investigations.

 

Jieun took one of the books about criminal psychology and opened it. Somehow, it brought memories for her.

 

CUCKOO!

 

A sudden cuckooing sound startled her, making her to drop the book as she gasped in suprise. Jieun turned to the cuckoo clock. The time had struck to 10 AM sharp. So no wonder if the cuckoo clock made the sound. Jieun heaved a relief sigh then squatted to pick up the book. As she stood back, she noticed a handsome young man standing on the stairs with a black folder on his hand while watching at her.

 

He was definitely having more than average looking with a tall and slender body. But the way of him looking at Jieun had made her feeling a little bit scared.

 

“Ah, hello,” Jieun greeted him a little awkward. “I’m Park Jieun. I’m here to see Mr. Kim for the interview.”

 

The young man looked at her for a while before an upward tug appeared on a corner of his lips, giving out a friendly feeling and eliminating every scary impression that Jieun felt earlier. He stepped down the stairs and approached Jieun. Jieun quickly put back the book on her hand to the shelf before facing the man who had stood before her.

 

“Hello, I’m Kim Myungsoo.”

 

On the moment he mentioned his name, Jieun felt that something was wrong. But she wanted to ignore the feeling, thinking that the Kim Myungsoo must have planned something. She gave a smile and bowed. “Hello again. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

 

The man spread his hand to the sofa. “Please have a seat.” And Jieun picked a single seat sofa to sit.

 

The man approached the sink and washed his hand. “Miss Park, what do you want to drink? Coffee, tea or red wine?”

 

“Tea is fine,” Jieun replied and the man brewed the tea before bringing two mugs of tea to the coffee table.

 

He then sat on the long sofa and looked at Jieun for a while before speaking, “I’ve heard from Professor Jang that Miss Park is one of his outstanding students.”

 

The praise made Jieun flattered. But she knew that she had to stay humble. “Thank you so much. But I believe that I have met a very good mentor.”

 

The man smiled lopsidedly and took the folder that he had brought. “This time, I’m looking for a translator to translate research result into Korean. And for this interview, we can’t avoid to get some test.” He lifted the folder. “So here are some papers.” Then he offered it to Jieun. “I need it to be translated.”

 

Jieun understood and received the folder. She put it on her lap and opened it. But her expression immediately turned into sour as she saw the pictures that attached inside the folder.

 

The pictures were absolutely far from good looking. It seemed that the pictures were taken from a forensic research since it was filled with bruises and open wounds of human body. Even though the wounds were enlarged but Jieun could tell which part of body that the wound belonged. Surely, it would make normal people to feel sick. But Jieun needed to stay strong. Besides, she had seen something worse than those that were in the pictures before. She shook her head to get rid of unpleasant thoughts, thinking that she was only doing it because of work.

 

Perhaps the man saw Jieun’s reluctance. He quickly apologized. “I’m so sorry. I forgot to take out the pictures of the papers.”

 

Jieun looked at him and gave him a reassuring smile, telling him that she was actually fine with it. She looked at the folder again and puffed an air through her lips. She took a deep breath and started to read the paper.

 

“The victim was murdered and ually abused.” Jieun started to translate the English paper. “Hands and feet had traces of being tied up.” She stopped as she found a word that she rarely found. She looked up to the man who was calmly drinking his tea and asked, “Do you mind if I borrow a dictionary?”

 

The man nodded and pointed at the book shelf. So Jieun went to get the dictionary from the shelf. She then translated the papers to another papers. As she translated, she noticed that the man went to the sink and washed his hands again. But she ignored it and kept on translating the paper.

 

After she finished, Jieun took a quick look on her work and smiled. She turned to the man who was washing his hands. “Mr. Kim, I have finished translating.”

 

The man looked surprised. “That fast? Didn’t you just get the dictionary?” He dried his hand then approached the girl. “At this rate, you can match up the speed of an investigation bureau’s translator.” He took the paper from Jieun and sat on the couch to check her translation result.

 

While waiting, a message notification rang on Jieun’s phone. Jieun took the phone and checked the incoming message; it was from Doojoon and he was asking if she was still there or not. So Jieun replied that she was still in the middle of interview before locking her phone and putting it back on the table.

 

“Your boyfriend?”

 

The question made Jieun looking back to the man and only smiled to answer the question.

 

The man lowered the paper and looked at Jieun. “It will be job hunting season soon. So I wonder if you have found a job yet, Miss Park.”

 

“Yes, I have,” Jieun replied.

 

“Congratulation,” he said as he looked back to the paper. “Is it from around here or far away?”

 

“The job was coming from my university in Seoul. So the office location is near there too.”

 

The reply made the man slightly smiling without diverting his gaze from the paper. “What kind of work?”

 

“It’s an international trading company.”

 

Now, the man looked up from the paper to Jieun as if the matter had intrigued him. “Oh. What position?”

 

“Just a regular office member.”

 

The man frowned. “Isn’t it a waste of your skill if you’re only applied as a regular office member?”

 

“Not really.” Jieun dropped her gaze.

 

The man nodded then looked back to the paper. “To be frank, Miss Park, this research is just a part-time interest for me. Do you have a guess of what my job is?”

 

Jieun slightly smiled to hear it. “I guess…” She lifted her gaze to the man. “I believe that Mr. Kim hopes that I would guess that you are a surgeon.”

 

“Then don’t you think I am?” The man interjected.

 

But Jieun only calmly continued. “You have a very strong alcohol smell. You also have washed your hands many times in front of me. This indicates that you’re really sensitive about being clean.” She then gave a thought for a while. “Also, the papers that you had me translated along with the pictures are implying that you’re a surgeon. That’s why I think many people would believe that you are a doctor.”

 

The man looked satisfied as he nodded. “But, Miss Park, you don’t think so, right?”

 

The remark made Jieun taken aback. But she then explained her thoughts. “When you were making the tea, while you were getting the tea leaves into the tea pot, you spilled some tea leaves. This shows that your hands are not steady. You made two kinds of tea and switched the tea caps by accident. This shows that you’re not detailed. You are very open-minded.” She slightly tilted her head. “You probably have a job that requires more creativity.” She then dropped her gaze to the man’s hands. “You also have fast-typing hands.”

 

Jieun’s remark made the man dropping his gaze to his folded arms.

 

“It’s something that a computer software developer has.”

 

The man took out his hand and lifted it. “I have fast-typing hands?”

 

Jieun only smiled to hear it.

 

“Miss Park, you really surprise me.” He folded his arms back. “I can’t believe that you have guessed it right.”

 

“Really?”

 

The man nodded. “Okay. I have decided that I will hire you as a translator.”

 

The statement made a smile blooming on Jieun’s face. “Thank you very much.” But then, the smile vanished as she thought of something. “But…” She looked back to the man. “Shouldn’t you ask Mr. Kim for the decision?”

 

The smile quickly vanished from the man’s face and a frown formed on his face. “How did you know that I’m not the real Kim Myungsoo?”

 

Jieun only chuckled by the question. “I only know that you are not the real Mr. Kim and able to guess your job correctly…” she smiled and pointed at the opened magazine on the cupboard, “…is because of that.”

 

The man turned his gaze to the pile of magazine on the cupboard. There was a certain magazine that lay open on the top of it. He stood from the sofa and approached the magazine. He took it and saw the article. The picture that displayed was his picture. He scoffed to see the article then took a quick glance at the second floor foyer before slamming the magazine back to the pile.

 

“Okay,” he said as he turned back to Jieun and stopped in front of her, making the girl to stand. “Miss Park, let me introduce myself to you again.” He offered his hand to be shaken. “Hello, I’m Choi Minho. I’m a fraud who’s also Kim Myungsoo’s friend.”

 

The confession made Jieun chuckling. She stood up and shook the man’s hand. “Hello again. I’m Park Jieun.”

 

 

 

As Jieun came down to the pathway, she saw Doojoon waiting for her with his car outside the garage. She approached the guy as she said, “Didn’t you say that you were busy with work and couldn’t pick me up?”

 

“I took an early leave because my team leader told me not to get too attached with the case that I'm working now.” He gave excuse then took a glance toward the house. “How was the interview?”

 

Replying the question, Jieun only smiled in pride. It made Doojoon frowning, confused.

 

“What are you smiling about? I’m asking you, how did it go?”

 

“Hmmm…” She mumbled. “The job is definitely mine.”

 

Doojoon frowned and crossed his arms to see the confidence flowing from the younger girl. “You’re so confident. Are you really sure that you will pass?”

 

Jieun’s smile became wider. “Just see it in the couple of days,” she said then went to the passanger side of the car. “Wanna bet if I can get the job or not?”

 

Doojoon only scoffed and shook his head before turning to the car. “What if you didn’t get the job?”

 

Jieun stopped before opening the door and rested her arms on the top of the car. “Dinner or lunch, you choose.”

 

“Then it’s a promise, okay?” Doojoon said as he opened the door.

 

Jieun only chuckled before entering the car.

 

Unknown to them, a pair of eyes was watching from a window on the second floor until the car drove away. Those eyes belonged to a good-looking man with suit who stood by the window, behind a wooden working desk. He had tall and lean figure. And although his face was clearly good looking, it also looked stern. The curtain was slightly held open by the tip of his fingers before he withdrew his hand and pocketed it back. He then slightly turned his head to the side as he heard footsteps entering his working room.

 

Choi Minho had come and approached. He stopped by the wooden desk that blocked him from the man and lifted the magazine with the article about him. “Did you put it downstairs?”

 

“I need a pair of observant eyes,” the real Kim Myungsoon replied in cool manner as he turned and pulled out his chair before sitting.

 

Minho scoffed and slammed the magazine to the table. “Professor Kim…,” he said in warning tone, “I must remind you that you are looking for a short-term translator, not a long-term assistant. Testing their intelligence is fine. But why do you need to see their observance skills?”

 

Myungsoo rested his lower arms on the table. “Isn’t it obvious?” He lifted his gaze to his friend. “I don’t want a stupid person to translate for me. I want an intelligent person who’s very detailed. Also, a translation has to reflect what the original papers say. If they can’t understand the details within the paper, then they can’t understand the soul of the meaning behind the words.”

 

Minho crossed his arms. “Then, this Park Jieun, do you think she will be able to understand a soul like yours?”

 

Myungsoo went silent for a while before leaning back on his chair and answering, “I think no one will be able to truly understand.”

 

 

~ooOOOoo~