Season one, chapter forty

"Protect what you love"

"Noh Hang-gyu of Taesin turned himself in for the murder that took place seven years ago. Noh stated that Mayor Shin Myeong-hwi had nothing to do with the murder and has confessed that he killed the victim and abandoned the body all by himself. Even though Mayor Shin managed to clear his name, he has expressed his intention to resign.." Hana turned off the TV, tired of listening to the news, hoping to hear something new

"Shin Myeong-hwi got away once again" Hana exclaimed in frustration sitting on the edge of the table

"Shin Myeong-hwi... I'll be sure to catch you this time, for Mun's sake" Mo-tak said determinedly with a serious face

Ms. Chu entered through the back door looking completely different. Thea let out a whistle, making the older woman shy at the sudden attention from her team.

"Oh my" Mo-tak started to say as Ms. Chu sat down next to him to start fixing her hair "What's going on? Is it..." He asked when he noticed Hana's behavior, who apparently had sensed an evil spirit

"Level one, near the mall" Hana explained, tilting her head to the side

"Let's go" Ms. Chu said closing her mirror

"No. You stay here. It's just a level-one spirit" Mo-tak stopped her from getting up from the chair

"All evil spirits make me shudder now, regardless of their levels. Let's go" But she was stopped by her teammates once again "Gosh, please"

"You should take it easy today" Mo-tak made her sit down "It's today. Su-ho's death anniversary. She'll be here soon, you know. See you"

"Be safe"

"All right"

"See you later" Hana said putting a lipstick on the table before leaving

"Bye bye" Thea smiled amusedly before putting some eye shadow on the table, next to the lipstick that Hana had left

And without waiting for any response, the teenager ran away, as if she had done something she wasn't supposed to do.

"Shin Myeong-hwi" Mo-tak said now the team was inside the car on the way to the restaurant "That human trash. I can't believe the evil spirit went to him"

Let's summarize what happened, Mun and Hana had discovered that Ji Cheong-sin had survived inside Shin Myeong-hwi's body and had not actually died. Which was very good news because now they knew that Mun's parents had a chance to get to Yung.

"We're dealing with pure evil here" Ms. Chu agreed with him

"But I wonder why he's been quiet all this time. No movement detected so far, as if he's in hiding" Hana asked curiously

"That's because he now knows we can trap him using the barrier" Mo-tak responded seriously with his hands on the steering wheel

"Mun, I'm sure we can find Shin Myeong-hwi we'll track him down" Ms. Chu assured, turning her head to loot at the teenager in the back seat

"I'm not upset" Mun started to say with tears falling down his cheeks "Im happy. This means we still have a chance. I'm happy to know it's not over yet" he wiped away his tears

"I'm happy about that too" Thea assured, approaching the teenager who did not hesitate to wrap his arms around his girlfriend's figure in a hug full of love and adoration when she opened her arms, encouraging him to snuggle on her chest

She patted her boyfriend's back, letting him vent against her chest. The others present smiling tenderly at the scene, they really loved each other, didn't they?

"First, let's find out where Shin Myeong-hwi could be hiding" Mo-tak began to explain

"His son is that kid at your school, right?" Thea asked, remembering the first bitter encounter she had with the orange-haired boy, in whom she was never interested in knowing his name

"Yes" Mun nodded, connecting his eyes with hers for a few seconds.

"He must have a vacation home" Hana added, knowing very well that the orange haired boy's family was wealthy

"I'll find out" Mun nodded, determined to investigate further regarding the case of the mayor's son (soon to be an evil spirit)

"Look who's here" Thea and the others stood up from their chairs when someone entered the restaurant

"My gosh!" Mun said excitedly, approaching the little girl who was accompanying the unknown man

"Hi, So-eun" Mo-tak greeted with a grin from ear to ear on his face

"So-eun" Mun crouched down to the height of the little girl who looked at him excitedly, as if she had waited a long time to see him "Hi, So-eun. What brings you here?"

"So-eun is doing a lot better now. She missed you, Mun" The man answered, reciprocating the teenager's smile

"My gosh"

"We came for some noodles but I guess you're closed today?" The gentleman added with hesitation

Ms. Chu looked to Mo-tak for answers to her confusion at not knowing who the two of them were.

"Oh. His brother is Kwon Jin-seung at love Jungjin" Mo-tak explained as he noticed the expression the eldest and the others gave him

"Oh, I see" Ms. Chu said in recognition

"Hello, I'm Kwon Jin-ho" The aforementioned introduced himself with a bow. The trio copying his action

"This is his brother's daughter" Mo-tak pointed at the little girl

"Hello, I'm Kwon So-eun" The girl introduced herself with a smile, which Thea couldn't help but let out an 'awww' in tenderness

"My gosh, you're So-eun. It's so nice to meet you" Ms. Chu said tenderly "Mo-tak, boil water for some noodles"

"Okay"

"It's cold. Come on in"

"Thank you"

"My gosh you're so cute!" Thea exclaimed in a squeaky voice, squeezing one of the little girl's cheeks gently

"Thea!" Ms. Chu scolded her

"I'm sorry, I couldn't help it, she's so cute" Thea admitted, putting both of her hands together, feeling guilty that the girl was barely recovering

"I'm sorry, she's like that with everyone, she likes to show a lot of affection" Mo-tak explained, patting the back of the teenager who nodded at his words

"Do you like BTS too?" Asked the little girl who was now guided towards the table where minutes before the group remained

"How do you know that?" Thea asked in surprise, no one knew about it, except there was one person in particular that knew about it. All eyes went to a certain black haired boy who now felt betrayed by little So-eun "I see, what else did he tell you?"

"That you'll like to go to a concert with me, only if it was BTS" She explained, sitting on a wooden chair without erasing her excited smile as she spoke "He also told me that he would invite you himself if it weren't for how nervous he gets when he's around you, by the way, you're exactly like he described you."

"How did he describe me?" Thea murmured feeling the blood rise to her cheeks. Although when he looked for Mun's eyes he seemed to turn around scratching the back of his head with embarrassment

Meanwhile, Ms. Chu sneaked to the kitchen, so she could prepare some delicious noodles for her guests of honor.

"He said you were very pretty, kind, funny and sometimes very serious. He told me a lot of other things but I don't remember it very well anymore." The little girl shrugged her shoulders, not realizing what she had done to both teenagers

Thea hummed in recognition, whereas Mun on the other hand wanted the earth to swallow him right now. Why did he have to say those embarrassing things to little So-eun? He thought she would keep the secret but now he realizes he can't trust anyone.

So wanting to escape from the shame, the teenager ran towards the kitchen as his refuge. He knew very well that Thea would remind him about this later on so there wasn't any point in hiding for too long.

"Have some noodles. Here you go" Mun exclaimed putting a bowl of noodles in front of Jin-ho. After several minutes he had to come out of his hiding spot after being forced by Ms. Chu

"Thank you"

"Here's yours, So-eun" Mun said, drawing a smile on his face. "Here, I'll stir it for you." He took the chopsticks from the girl's hand

"My gosh, im very glad to see So-eun looking so healthy" Mo-tak admitted with his eyes glued on the little girl

"I'm proud of her" Ms. Chu nodded in agreement

"I'm relieved that she's doing better now, but a lot of the kids are still struggling" Jin-ho responded with a bitter feeling

"That's not surprise. They drank and bathed in that water for so long. Are those jerks at Taesin still playing dumb?" Mo-tak questioned

"Yes. But thanks to your help, we have many supporters now. As soon as we have the results from So-eun's heave metals analysis, we'll schedule a press conference"

"Good. We're really almost there now" Mo-tak said getting up from his seat

"You see, about the press conference... do it at my hotel. Let's use the media to our advantage. We should really take down those scumbags once and for all" Jangmul suggested

"He loves to spend a ton of money for a good cause" Ms. Chu said making everyone laugh

"What? I do?" Jangmul asked not having realizing all that

"Yes, a hell of a lot of money" Ms. Chu nodded her head 

"Watch it. There's a kid here" Mo-tak warned her 

"Oh, my bad. Forget what I said"

"Eat up"

"Check upstairs" Mo-tak's voice was heard through the earpiece that Thea had in her ear

"Will do" Mun responded"He's not here" Mun exclaimed after a few minutes of silence

Let me summarize for you once again, the Counter team was wandering around Shin Myeong-hwi's vacation homes, hoping to find him in one of them. However, apparently, he seemed to be hidden well enough not to be found.

"No sign of him visiting this place recently" Ms. Chu exclaimed as everyone gathered outside the vacation home not having found any trace of the mayor

"He's not here" Hana added shaking her head

"How many vacations homes does he have?" Mo-tak asked Mun

"We don't have a lot of time" Mun responded instead

"I spotted one" Hana suddenly said, tilting her head to the side

"Who? Shin Myeong-hwi?" Ms. Chu said with hopes

"No, Baek Hyang-hui. But she's with So-eun, and Ye-jun is not with her" Hana explained alarmed with her eyes wide open

"So-eun? Why is she with So-eun?" Mo-tak began to ask

"If Shin found out, he wouldn't want the press conference to happen. And to do that... So-eun! She's in danger" Mun said, widening his eyes as he realized what was to come. So they didn't waste any more time running to the car "How could they do this to a kid?" Mun asked once inside the car on the way to their destination "And she's not well"

"Think about all the things they've done" Mo-tak exclaimed, with a serious face

"They're not even human" Ms. Chu agreed earnestly

"She was driving along Highway 26. Can you keep our territory up on the way?" Hana asked Mun.

"I'll try" Mun assured, closing his eyes as Mo-tak stepped on the accelerator, the lights of their territory appearing on the road they were on

Author's note;

These last few days I haven't been able to sleep well, and even less so when I have to wake up so early to go to school. It's so exhausting and when I tell my parents about this they tell me their typical worn ass words; "But why are you tired if you don't do anything?" They literally don't even know and they're already talking, and that frustrates me a lot 😮‍💨

Question of the day: Have you ever done something embarrassing in front of many people? 💀

For my part, yes I have, and you don't know how embarrassing it was. Living is already a shame, now imagine doing something embarrassing, whether at school or in some other public place🤡

Anyway, see y'all in the next chapter my beautiful readers 💕