Doctor Demon

"Why did you suddenly call me here?" Siwan inquired. He received a call from Jina, asking him to meet at Hobin's office.

"I need your help," Jina replied. "And also…"

She groaned and pointed at Hobin. "I'll also need this guy's help with a case."

"A case?" Siwan frowned. "What case?"

Jina was about to explain to him when Hobin spoke up.

"I'm with a patient right now," he said in a steely tone. "You will have to wait, Jina."

When the hell did he start calling me by my first name? Jina frowned.

There was an awkward silence as Jina tried to process how he just addressed her while Siwan looked curiously at his brother and then back at Jina. He was confused about what was going on. There was an underlying tension between them which felt strange to Siwan because he was sure Jina and Hobin were not that well acquainted. There was no way his brother would be close to a cop.

Jina cleared her throat to diffuse the tension. "I'll wait in the hall-"

"You can sit on the couch," Hobin said. "I'm done with the patient today anyway."

To Jina's shock, Hobin's icy expression changed as soon as he returned his gaze to the little girl. He was smiling widely at her and to add to Jina's disdain, Hobin actually looked...good?

Don't be stupid! She told herself. He's a brat!

"You liked the magic trick?" Hobin asked, adopting an innocent childish tone while talking to the girl. "Next time, I'll show you many more, okay?"

Haeji's eyes beamed and she nodded enthusiastically. She leapt and gave Hobin a hug. He smiled and patted her head before leading her towards the door.

"Wait here," he told Jina and Siwan. As soon as he left with the girl, Jina scowled.

"Unbelievable!" she frowned. "Was he smiling? Like. It was a smile?"

"Hobin smiles a lot around other people," Siwan snickered. "Just not around cops."

"How badly was he screwed by them?" Jina wondered out loud.

"Very," Siwan stated.

Jina glanced at him, recalling the story he had told her about Wang Taehee. She was not much aware of the case other than reading snippets from news reports, but she knew that serial killers were vicious in both human and sometimes even in spirit form. As a cop, she did not encounter one yet but she had come across the spirit of a serial killer once in her childhood. That encounter was enough to make her realize the sheer brutality of their psyche.

So it was strange that Hobin believed in Taehee's innocence whereas reports suggested that the killings stopped after she was arrested.

"Why did you call me here?" Siwan asked again.

"There's a case and I want your advice on it," she replied. Just then, Hobin re-entered the room and instructed them to sit.

"Did you get the forensic reports?" he asked Jina.

"The boy was drugged and then strangled as per the coroner's report," Jina replied. "You were right. He was from the Smiling Sun orphanage."

"Wait, I'm confused here!" Siwan frowned. "Drugged? Strangled? What are you guys talking about?"

"A boy was found drugged and murdered in a dumpster in my area," Hobin replied. "Detective Hwang here is in charge of the case and I'm assisting in the case as the consultant. The boy was from an orphanage called the Smiling Sun and incidentally, the girl you saw a few minutes ago is also from there."

"What?" Jina exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me that? I could have asked her!"

"It would have violated patient-doctor agreement if I had handed an underage patient to a cop for questioning without a guardian present," Hobin stated. "And also, she's scared. The girl is too terrified of something and hasn't spoken in weeks. Seeing a cop would only agitate her."

"But we'll have to talk to the other kids at the orphanage anyway," Jina sighed. "How are we going to infiltrate the orphanage?"

"I've talked with the owner already," Hobin revealed. "Since World Health Day is coming up, I've told him that the two of us will be conducting free checkups on the children for a week. You'll be a pediatrician. We'll go undercover from the day after tomorrow."

"Why can't I go?" Siwan asked. "I can be more believable."

"Only a cop can go undercover for case related tasks," Jina explained. "Since there are children involved, it's risky to talk to them as police officers since they'll be easily scared. Which is why I got the permission to go undercover. Your annoying brother shouldn't be going undercover either but the commissioner has ordered us to allow him to do whatever the hell he wants without any question."

"Why is the commissioner so keen to help you?" Siwan asked his brother.

"Let's just say that I know stuff about him which will ruin his image," Hobin gloated. Jina scowled but did not say anything.

"Anyways," she pressed. "Since, I'm going undercover there as a pediatrician, I was hoping you can help me out, Siwan. I'll be using a bluetooth device to communicate with you while I pretend to check on the children. To make my ruse more authentic."

"I can give some pointers," Siwan nodded. "Just don't prescribe them any medicines on paper."

"Got it," Jina said. "Thanks Siwan! You'll be a great help."

Siwan was about to tell her something when his pager beeped. "A patient," he muttered. "I gotta go."

He bid them goodbye and left. Jina turned back to Hobin. She took out a paper and put it in front of Hobin.

"This is a blog post," she said. "Written a few weeks ago by an anonymous person about the orphanage."

Hobin read the paper. Jina was observing his expressions very carefully.

"You're not surprised," she noted.

"An orphanage defrauded money from donors!" he slightly sneered. "Tell me something new. I'm not surprised at all."

"I think it's related to the boy's murder," Jina said with confidence.

"Let's find out then, shall we?" Hobin grinned.