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Jonghyun had arrived in the grocery store along with the boy who worked as a cashier in there, he immediately asked the manager if he could see the footage of the surveillance camera last night and the manager agreed since it was police business.

It had relieved and worried Jonghyun at the same time confirming that it was Taemin indeed; he had been in the grocery store late at night but after that where?

He had thanked the manager and went out of the store; he began strolling around trying to think where the kid had gone off.

He noticed that a few blocks from where he is, he’ll reach downtown alley, which was weird because it is where that murder this morning happened. That worried Jonghyun even more, what if the murderer got Taemin?

 Jonghyun didn’t want to think of it anymore instead he headed to the river further away from him; the small body of water intrigued him. The bridge above it, he noticed had a hole as if someone’s foot had gone through there, he figured that a lot of people might have fell under that bridge.

He looked at the far end of the river and saw that the river stopped flowing on the dam, he followed the path and saw something stuck in between the mud and rocks there…a mask.

He narrowed his eyes at it feeling severely curious to the point that he really wanted to go down there and get it; he figured that he wouldn’t have problems going down and going up anyway so he slowly got down on the river bank and picked up the mask.

It struck him that it was familiar, the tragedy mask with the black diamond print under the left made his insides turn. It was the same mask that Taemin had described when he was interviewed, the mask that the one who tried to murder him wore.

Jonghyun immediately climb back and ran to his motorcycle with the mask in his hand, that horrible fear inside him shook him terribly; he needs to find Taemin desperately.

The sight of the hospital morgue made Key cringe, this wasn’t her usual routine and the bodies that should be inspected were mutilated badly that she might puke. She had volunteered to be in the autopsy operation, but she kind of regretted it now.

 The doctor had set the two dead bodies on the surgical table, Key observed beside him as he removed the cover of one body and revealed the big hole where the heart should be.

“It’s quite a mystery how the murderer removed the heart” said the doctor, grabbing the scalpel and examining the hole on the chest, he removed the cover of the other body and examined it as well. “If this isn’t a crime I’d say it’s quite an art really, how could he remove it by not using a knife or any sharp object? These bodies seemed to be untouched by any blade; it was more like the damaged was done in the inside first”

“Is that even possible doctor?” Key asked.

“Well it already happened, so it is possible…but quite a mystery! These bodies had the same damage and well from the autopsy report that you want me to compare with this, I think they will have the same results as well” the doctor replied, Key’s ears perked up, the murderer of the Claud family is the same as the murderer of those from the downtown alley crime.

She’s close to knowing the truth about it and she wouldn’t want to let it slip, these deaths really ticked her off, because she remembers the death of her father as well.

It was a few years ago when she was still small, her father had been an errand man for many families, he had done odd jobs just for Key and her mother since her mom was suffering from cancer.

It had reached their home one night that her father had been murdered during one errand, his heart was missing and a big hole was on his chest, there were no suspects convicted since the case didn’t have enough evidence, it was like the case of the Clauds…mysterious and unsolvable.

Her father died and eventually her mother followed, that had pushed her to be an orphan where she was sent to the orphanage where she had met Jonghyun, the one who always made her smile since the horrible events that happened to her. Jonghyun and Key grew up together, being orphans from their childhood and became such clever crime fighters, but deep inside Key, she was still searching for the one who murdered her father.

She seeks revenge, a sudden anger crept in her heart all of a sudden, she couldn’t help but clench her fists…she had never told anyone about her father’s death even Jonghyun, she never liked talking about it for it brought sad memories. But seeing how that crime happened again made her damn sure that the murderer is still out there, and she will do everything to catch him. Even to the point that she doesn’t have to fire a warning shot at the culprit but shoot him straight in the head to end it quick.

“Ms. Kim” the doctor called Key’s attention and her head turned to him, “I think we may be able to give you the full result this midnight, you could call to check”

“Thank you doctor” Key bowed and went out of the morgue, finally escaping the foul stench of the dead and the horrid sight of it.

Despite the unbelievable tale Minho had told him, Onew had this nagging feeling in the back of his mind that he should talk to the professor. It was five in the afternoon and e decided to head to the university where Minho worked, it was such a huge campus and he had to search for him, then he realized that there was a contact number in the card Minho gave him…silly Onew.

He dialed the numbers and Minho’s phone rang, after the third ring the professor finally picked up his phone.

“This is detective Lee, I want to talk to you” Onew said and he heard Minho chuckled on the other line.

“I figured you will, I’m on my to the university gates where are you?” Minho asked.

“Outside the university gates”

“Oh, see you there then”

Onew waited for a few minutes and Minho arrived shortly, they entered Onew’s car and to Minho’s surprise they would talk about the case just there.

“Tell me all you know” Onew demanded, “Tell me everything…” the detective looked serious more than ever, the case is getting into his nerves and its becoming more stressful for him since Taemin is missing.

“Okay, just promise you’d believe and don’t take everything I say as a joke because they are not” Minho said and sighed, “Like I said I have been studying this case for some time now but since I’m just a teacher I don’t have access to police profiles like you do, my grandma told me of the Clauds, they were only a poor family but had a small portion of land where they could plant crops but still, they were not a good lot I guess. My grandma is a spiritist, she provides services such as rituals to call the spirits of the dead or to lead them away, and most of all…summon demons without harming herself. You see the Clauds heard of her services and asked if there is any particular ritual that could help them get rich, my grandma of course knows one, but it was a risky ritual, nonetheless the Clauds got on with it and promised grandma a part of their fortune if it came true” Minho paused for awhile studying Onew’s expression, so far the detective listens to him intently.

“And?” Onew asked for more and Minho nodded.

“Grandma will have to call a demon and offer a sacrifice for the Clauds’ wish to happen, this particular ritual requires the sacrifice of an innocent human’s blood, and simply blood of children usually works. The Clauds wouldn’t let their youngest kin be sacrificed, and so they chose another, my grandma told me they had a helper there in the farm, a small boy who was just the same age as the youngest Claud, and so they picked the boy to be sacrificed”

Onew’s expression changed from serious to worried, if what Minho was saying is true then Taemin was the one who was sacrificed for the ritual and Taemin was not able to tell him about that.

“So the ritual went on” Minho continued, remembering well what his grandma had told him before she died, “A gift and a curse I call it, grandma chanted the spell and Dolores which is the grandmother of the Clauds had cut the boy’s left palm to provide blood for the sacrifice and then grandma began calling the demon…”

Onew remembered that Taemin always had his left hand bandaged; the kid never lets anyone see if he had an injury there. The detective becomes more curious as Minho reveals the story.

“It came; it had succumbed into the boy and became one with it. It was the start of the curse, but of course it had a price, the child did not only serve as a sacrificed, he serves as the host of the demon so that it could live here on Earth. Grandpa specifically told the Clauds not to anger or make the child feel astray or any emotional or physical pain because it will bring bad luck to them. But I guess they didn’t listen, their deaths were the result of that bad luck, I just know it is. Grandma thought so too, she had the feeling that the Clauds had angered the demon inside that child and it killed them, by removing their hearts and eating them. That’s an easy one for a demon to do, I thought the case ended right then and there but after the incident in downtown alley I guess the culprit is still alive…he’s out there detective…looking for the last heart of a Claud…”

“Last heart? What do you mean?” Onew felt fear after hearing that, he always thought Taemin couldn’t kill, how could an innocent looking kid do such things? But then looks can be deceiving…

“If the demon is angered, it would seek revenge to the family that had angered it, after that the demon could either go back to hell consuming the child’s soul and he’ll die, or it will reawaken in the child’s body, to take over it and will unleash chaos unto the world. I thought after the Clauds have died it ended there, I thought the child died already because nothing chaotic happened but then I found out that the child was put to some asylum or whatever where he was taken care of…it means that the demon in him was sleeping all these years and is waiting to kill the last Claud” Minho explained, he was curious as well whoever is the last family member of the Clauds who is yet to be killed.

“But who could be the last Claud? The police reports never reported any family member left, all the Clauds had died. Even if there is where the hell would we start looking, even the investigation before never found out that there were any relatives left” Onew retorted.

“I’m guessing that there was an unwanted child, Ellena…the sister of Mrs. Claud was quite known to have many affairs with men during her early teens, grandma had suspected she got pregnant and there had been rumors that she disappeared for a year…maybe she got pregnant on that time and gave the child away”

“Oh hell, where are we going to find that kid, that child is probably along our age now”

“Yes, your right, he or she might be a little older than me. By the way, do you know the child that got sent to the asylum? If he wasn’t proven guilty then if he reaches eighteen years old then maybe he will be set free, and I guess he already was…”

“Yes, I know him…we’ve met” Onew said those words with bitterness; he didn’t want to believe that Taemin could be a murderer, but it wasn’t Taemin’s fault in the first place right? The kid was sacrificed for goodness sake!

“You do? Where is he now?” Minho’s eyes were full of hope to know who this kid is but Onew looked quite uneasy.

“I took him to take good care of him, since he’s an orphan and had no family. He’s a nice kid that you couldn’t believe that he would murder someone, everything was going fine until last night, he disappeared last night without even telling me where he had gone to”

“Last night? But the downtown alley murders happened last night! That kid is your prime suspect detective!” Minho wailed but Onew, despite the duty that he’s entitled to do couldn’t imagine himself cuffing Taemin’s hands and send him to jail.

“I already have an officer tailing on him but no reports yet” Onew said simply.

“Detective, you shouldn’t take him lightly…he might look like a harmless boy but a demon lives inside him. You’ve seen the bodies of those two thugs, horribly mutilated, and that’s just a part of that demon’s power.” Minho looked at Onew in the eye, searching for some sign that Onew had the determination to face this challenge…he only finds doubt in the detective’s eyes.

“Oh great, another problem has been added. I had to find Taemin, and his murderer plus the last Claud?” Onew whined and Minho’s eyebrow raise.

“His murderer? Someone tried to murder him?”

“Yes, that’s why his in my custody as well, to protect him…”

“Well there is quite something wrong about that, I never thought you guys would investigate such an old case you know, but after hearing these facts from you I might think that someone really wanted to bring this case back, it wasn’t just some random case given to you I believe that someone assigned this on purpose, to dig up what was not fully revealed…”

Onew thought of what Minho just said, it made sense. The Claud murders were such an old case and why bother digging it up again? Someone wanted this to be fully solved.

“I think you should ask your chief whoever assigned that case to your department” Minho said, and Onew thought about doing that as well.