Doctor Demon

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....

The Hwang household that night was quite lively. Since Jina got off work early, she was able to go to the twins' home to prepare dinner. Junho and the twins were there but surprisingly, Hobin stayed back as well. He worked with Junho all day to read up on the latter's books and research on the topic of the undead. They were working together so diligently that they lost track of time.

"So demons can't be killed but they can be thrown into a catatonic state, huh?" Hobin asked Junho. He was sitting on the floor with a book wide open in front of him. Miyoo squeezed in through his arm and settled on his lap to take a look at the book. 

"The first time I encountered a demon, I didn't know how to get rid of it," Junho recalled. "Thanks to my son and granddaughter who opened the portal to Purgatory, we were able to throw the demon in there and a reaper on the other end slashed it."

Reapers were the blind guardians of the Purgatory according to Junho's notes. Jina and her father had once traveled to that place, finding out a lot of information on the souls in there. Reapers roamed around Purgatory, preventing souls from escaping. If a soul of Transporter like Jina was caught by the reapers, they would use their scythes to turn them into catatonic souls. Once a reaper attacked a person or demon, they would be stuck in Purgatory as a Mindless spirit. 

"Can't you just send it to hell?"

"Nah," Junho replied. "Too risky. If you open the Gates of Hell, there's a chance many souls and demons will escape. The most you can do is exorcise a demon from a person and destroy its original vessel. If there's any way to kill demons, then we still haven't found it."

Then Junho frowned. "You were asking me about something this afternoon," he pointed out. "Something about if possessed people can retain their memories of the time they were possessed?"

"Book!" Miyoo spoke up but Hobin shifted to turn to Junho, taking the book out of her reach.

"Yes," he said, lifting the book high up so that Miyoo could not take it back. She tried to nab it but puffed her cheeks in annoyance again, not willing to give up.

"There's a case I'm obsessed with," Hobin admitted. "Something that'll I can never let go of."

"Go on," Junho said quietly.

"When I was 19 and was two years into my practice," Hobin began. "I had a patient named Wang Taehee."

"She used to suffer from chronic depression and borderline identity disorder. Taehee had a hard life of abuse and trauma which affected her badly so I was helping her with treatment. She was getting better too."

"But one day, she came to my office in a disheveled state," Hobin went on, his voice almost a whisper. "She...she told me that she can't remember anything from the night earlier. I reassured her and sent her back home, telling her to have her medicines. Meanwhile, I began to investigate a chain of serial murders which were taking place in the city. The police found DNA evidence at the latest crime scene and it matched with Taehee's. I tried to save her but everything pointed against her. To my shock, there were memory lapses in her mind. Even if a person had any sort of mental trauma, amnesia or suppressed memories, I can always read them. But at that time, I couldn't gain access to specific memories. They were just blank."

Junho listened to it all carefully and nodded.

"This is strange," he agreed. "You said that you were able to read the memories of that orphanage killer when she was temporarily possessed, right?"

Hobin nodded.

"That might mean that you can read the memories of a possessed person when the other spirit or demon take over the host's body and the original soul is temporarily catatonic," Junho concluded. "These powers of yours...I've never come across such a thing. Who was your psychiatrist? The one who helped you to retain control of these powers?"

"Doctor Jack Rutherford," Hobin replied. "The very best psychiatrist in the world."

"I'll have to talk to him and also see your patient file. If you have anything else, give them to me and I'll see what I can do."

Hobin nodded and then was silent for a while. He was contemplating everything that he had found out over the past few months about himself and his powers. The visions of those raven wings had lessened after his memories as Kang Shinho returned but he was more confused than ever.

Should I tell the old man about them? He wondered. From his past life, he remembered Hwang Junho as a kind and caring man. He lost his wife to a demon and since then, he left his position as one of the powerful men in the country to help those in need. 

"Thank you," Hobin mumbled, surprising Junho.

"For what?"

"For everything."

WIth that, Hobin stood up and walked away, putting Miyoo back in her grandfather's lap. Meanwhile, the twins were lazing around in the living room, too tired to do anything else. They had worked all day to set up for the fair and as soon as they reached home, both of them slumped on the couch.

"I'm so beat!" Minyoo complained, spread out on the sofa. 

"Don't be," Yoonmin muttered. He was also lying flat on another sofa, not wanting to get up from it. "You have a scheduled meeting tomorrow."

"I don't wanna go!"

"It's for a multi million dollar endorsement."

"I wanna go!"

But he made no attempts to sit up. Plopping to his side, he faced his twin.

"Oi, did you ask Binbin out for the festival?" he asked excitedly. Yoonmin merely blinked at him.

"Ask her out for what?" 

"You're kissing, right?"

When Yoonmin gave him a blank look, Minyoon threw a pillow at him which he caught with one hand.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Yoonmin winced. "Ask her out for what? We'll be busy that day at the cafe!"

"But there will be a light festival in the evening, you dumdum!" Minyoon snapped. "The girls will dress up in traditional hanboks and guys will be in robes to watch the lights! It's the perfect time for a small date! Every year the girls wait for us to ask them."

"I never asked anyone to the light festival before," Yoonmin frowned.

"Cuz you weren't in love before," Minyoon gritted in annoyance. How come his super smart brother could single handedly fight a poltergeist but could not ask out a girl? Was he right in the head?

"I'm not in love!" Yoonmin protested, his ears going red.

"You're whipped, brother. If you don't ask her out, another guy will. Remember, Binbin is a quintessential beauty. She's already attracting many guys."

Before Yoonmin could reply, an angry voice came from the kitchen.

"STOP LAZING AROUND LIKE USELESS MEN AND HELP ME IN THE KITCHEN!" Jina yelled at them. "We have guests coming!"

Guests?

As if answering their question, the doorbell rang. Minyoon hopped to his feet to see who it was. A while later, Soobin and Siwan walked in, holding boxes of fried chicken and soda bottles.

Yoonmin's heart leapt upon her sight but Minyoon got to her first. He put his arm around Soobin and asked, "Binbin! Why didn't you tell us that you were coming?"

"Jina sis invited us only an hour ago!" she replied. "She told me that it's an impromptu dinner!"

Just then, Jina came out of the kitchen, holding a large tray. She wore her hair into a ponytail and had an apron wrapped around her. Hobin slightly smiled when he saw there was flour on her cheek. He was about to tell her when Siwan stepped forward and wiped Jina's cheek with a tissue.

"You're as careless as ever!" he laughed. Jina blushed in embarrassment but was also laughing. Siwan helped her set up the table while Hobin watched from a distance.

A tiny finger poked his palm and he looked down to see Miyoo.

"Red, whipped," she simply said before prancing off towards her sister.