Doctor Demon

Rats were scurrying through the pile of rubbish which towered all around the room. A stench of old, stale food and alcohol hung in the air while the trash lay on the floor completely unattended. The lights were switched off and the whole room was thrown into darkness except for a single spot. Dim light emitted from the computer's screen and a woman with wild curls is muttering under her breath. Dark circles formed under her eyes but she unblinkingly stared at the screen, pressing the buttons continuously.

"Die!" She muttered as she shot down a few soldiers on screen who were attacking her character. "Die! Die! Die!"

The screen blipped and a message popped up.

"You have unlocked a new badge: General!" A robotic voice declared.

The woman smirked and let out a sigh of relief. She glanced at the wall clock. It was nearly 6 PM. How long had she been playing the game?

"You're wasting your time, Aina."

A shadow stepped out of the shadows, sneering at Aina's pathetic state. Unlike Aina, the second woman in the room had an air of dignity to her. Her long hair was neatly combed and tied. She was in her fifties, a delicate beauty with greyish brown hair but there was a look of arrogance on her which diminished her good looks. She despised the unkempt woman who was wasting her time playing games.

"I'm hearing complaints from Orma," the woman said. "She said that she has completed her end of the bargain, yet you are making her go out of her way to torment other people. Why?"

"Our contract was that she must eliminate anyone who comes in between me and my child!" Aina snarled at the Vozakel Lord. "That's the deal! That doctor and the detective are handing my child to my useless brother-in-law! He's gonna keep me away from my daughter. I can't let that happen! I want my daughter!"

"We can't afford this kind of bloodlust!" the woman snapped at her. "The Brethren aren't happy with your actions. You were simply supposed to create a software which will make Orma give out more contracts and claim souls who could aid in our mission! Those souls are the only things keeping our Lord sated! He needs more but your actions are making it difficult for us to procure human souls for him. Do you have any idea how hard it is to steal souls from Hell?"

"I want my daughter!" Aina growled, her voice almost like an animal's. "My software already got you three souls! Orma killed them and gave their souls to the Prince instead of sending them to Hell. Then what else do you want?"

"Discretion!" The woman ordered. "Don't do anything which will expose us otherwise, I will not let the Prince cancel your contract. Got it?"

Aina winced at the woman. The latter gave her a hard stare and snapped her fingers, vanishing in thin air.

"I'll take my daughter back at all costs!" she declared, returning to her game. I must get more souls, she decided. Somehow! 

The game she was playing on the dark web was the perfect place to search for naive teenagers who might sign contracts with the Blue Fish. She had developed the site for the Brethren so that they could insert their demon into it. The demon took the form of a beautiful female player's avatar and stole her appearance to project itself outside of the game in the real world. Most of the stupid teenagers seek sexual favors but the demon Orma did not mind. She was a demon who was fulfilling a duty in her contracts and towards her Prince. Once she was done having sex with the teens, she killed them off as per the contract's time limit. 

It was the perfect method for the Brethren. Not only were they getting a large source of souls for the True Prince but also were able to carry out their activities with ease. Aina got a ton of money from them which she spent on wine and drugs while she wasted her days playing online games. She was addicted to these luxuries, preferring to live the easy way rather than work hard. 

But she wanted her child back from Hwangjoon. He was disgusted by her lifestyle and demanded that she either clean up her act or he would never let her see their daughter. Enraged, she made a deal with Orma to kill off anyone who came in between her and her daughter. Last night, she ordered Orma to scare the doctor and detective so that they would let her have her child. 

"I'll get that child!" She growled. "She's my meal ticket, after all."

Kim Hwangjoon's family was quite rich. His brother, Ilhoon was one of the richest men in the country and Aina knew that Hana was the only way she could extract money from the Kim's. 

"Dumb bitch!" She cursed the Vozakel Lord. "Just coz she's a demon, she's tryna intimidate me? I'll show her…"

She pulled up her sleeve and pressed the star tattoo on her hand Instantly, she felt a cold presence around her. The entity wandered around for a while before possessing a plastic kangaroo which lay somewhere in the trash.

"You called," a deep feminine voice came from the kangaroo.

"Go and scare the doctor and detective again!" She ordered. The kangaroo was quiet for a while.

"You're making a mistake," the demon replied. "They're not ordinary people. A Vurthramis like me has no chance against them. I can sense that they were aware of my presence and not the least bit scared-"

"Do as I say!" Aina snapped. "I want my daughter and they won't let me see her! The deal was that you'll kill anyone who will come between me and my daughter. Go and kill them. NOW!"

…

Hobin was in the precinct, deep in thought. Myungsoo has given his testimony about SJS66. Aina's file lay in front of him and he realized that she had studied software development. Not only that, Aina also had a record of hacking into highly secured servers which caused a lot of private information to be leaked. She served a few months in jail because of it, following which she married Hwangjoon. Hobin doubted that the poor guy had any idea about his wife's past.

"She's SJS66," he concluded. "But where is she…"

He sat in silence, thinking hard. Aina had her husband killed and even created a ruckus at the hospital. She was obsessed with her daughter and was fighting for custody, yet the woman was not holding a steady job. 

A NEET, online gamer and possibly the creator of the Blue Fish, he thought. Her cyber security must be impeccable.

He did not want to admit it out loud but Baekha was right. The only way to find someone like her was in her own arena: online. His eyes went to the clock on the wall.

8 PM. Four more hours and the website would appear again. An entire day had passed by and they still got nothing. Jina and Junho were at the national library, researching the demons but unless they found Aina, there was nothing they could do.

"Where will she strike next?" he wondered out loud. He had an eerie feeling that she was going to attack nearby. 

But where?

He thought and thought but got no answer.. Come out, bitch! He cursed. Just come out of hiding…