The painting

(Ji Hoon)

He stared at the ATM machine. The person had fulfilled his promise.

Five million dollars.

For a person as young as him, he would never have been able to earn that much if he had taken up a nine to five job.

But then again, maybe he would have been a happier person. What is money without happiness. Without someone you can spend on. Someone you can share your joy and woes with.
If he had a choice, he would never have taken up this route.

This route of no return.

He had given in to his vengeful self, let hatred consumed him. But it was not a choice. If he had been a regular kid on the block, he would never have chosen this route.

But he was not.

That was how unfair God was.

All he ever wanted was a regular life as a regular person. But nothing about his life was regular.

Nothing.

“This painting is not for sale, Mr.” The person said apologetically.

Daniel sighed, “There’s really no way you can convince your boss to sell it to me?”

The person shook her head, “All paintings done by our boss himself are not for sale.”

Daniel stared at the piece of art in front of him.

It was a painting of a woman. A beautiful woman. Wearing a long gown, with a sweet smile on her face.

But there was something special about this painting. There were black roses surrounding her, and long black stems all over her body, as if trying to struggle her.

However, the face remained perfect and flawless. And the smile lingered.

Daniel had adored this painting the first time he had saw it. he had no idea why. Usually, he was a person who was into man and fresh stuff.

But this painting... It was so dark. And obscured. he wondered what had invoked the painter into painting something like this.

As a matter of fact, all paintings done by the mysterious boss himself were dark and mysterious. There were always hints of black paint or dark claws creeping in from somewhere. And the fact that even though he frequently visited this place, he had never met the boss before,which made him ever curious about whom he was.

“The killer usually takes a break after every murder. So we know, no one will be killed in these few weeks to come.” Seongwoo analyzed, “But we have to crack the case within this time period.”

“Before another gets killed.” Daniel muttered.

The other members nodded their heads in agreement.

“I think we can all safely assume that the killer is hired by someone to kill. And I supposed its five different masterminds, because from all the information we collected, all five victims have nothing to do with each other.” Seongwoo said.

“Big corporations. Except for the first victim, the rest of them are important figures in different corporations.” Woojin butted in.

Seongwoo nodded his head, “Right. The most recent victim is the son of the CEO of XX Corporation.”

“He was fighting for the position with jun, his cousin.” Daniel continued.

Woojin smacked the table, “That makes him the most suspicious character. Let’s get him!”

Seongwoo put his hand on Woojin shoulder, “Calm down. We cannot just arrest him like that. We have no evidence.”

“And he is rich and powerful.” Daehwi continued, “You never get these people.”

“Right.” Woojin leaned back in his seat, “So we are back to square one.”

“Daehwi, invite Mr. jun here.” Seongwoo ordered, “Let’s just say, we need some help from him.”

Daehwi nodded and proceeded to do as he was told.

“I doubt he will admit to anything.” Woojin muttered, discouraged.

“It’s better than nothing.” Daniel said, trying to boost the morale of everyone.

Right. Better than nothing...

tbc...