The Dahlias (2)

"Gayoon?" Minho implored quizzically, breaking her out of her reverie.

"Huh?" she asked blankly.

"Are you alright, Miss?" Shawn inquired politely.

"I'm fine!" Gayoon lied. "I-I just thought I saw someone familiar but turns out it was nothing."

The two men shrugged and continued their conversation. Gayoon tried to focus on their words but her mind was distracted by an eerie presence which was latching itself to Lee Shawn. She tried to ignore it but there was something very sinister about the spirit. It was not an ordinary one which was merely hanging around, waiting to move on to the next life. This one has no intention of leaving.

Gayoon hated these kinds of spirits the most yet, also empathized with them. This particular lot was usually very brutally murdered and not properly buried. The spirit in question was dark and possibly murderous as it stalked Shawn, waiting for the right opportunity. But if it sensed that Gayoon could feel it, it would come for her and force her to aid it.

The presence was getting colder. Gayoon tried to listen to the two men but she could feel the spirit was coming closer to her. Her hands were shaking as she dug them into a clench. The spirit was probably standing right next to her, closely inspecting her. She tried not to face its way and felt that it was circling her. If she showed any indication that she knew of its existence, it would not let her go.

"I think I'll go and get myself a drink!" Gayoon announced to the men.

Minho frowned but said nothing. "Go ahead," he said and continued to talk about business with Shawn.

Gayoon tried to look as casual as possible, walking towards the bar. Thankfully, the malicious presence was not following her. It was still confused whether she knew of its existence or not and she preferred if it did not find out. How was she going to investigate if there was a ghost stalking her like that?

She made her way to the bar. "One apple martini," she ordered. The bartender obliged and began to prepare her drink. Gayoon was a lousy drinker and did not want to make a fool out of herself at the party.

"Here you go, madam," the bartender said, handing her the drink. Gayoon took and took a sip.

"Shawn's old partner sure did us dirty."

Gayoon froze midway. Kim Joon?

"Yeah," a man was saying to his partner. "That cheating scoundrel scammed us of twenty million dollars! Can you imagine that? Luckily Shawn found out and booted him. Even returned us our money."

"How did he manage to do that?" his partner asked.

"Kim Joon was scamming people for money under the guise of investments," the man explained. "He had several shallow companies which were simply a ploy to hide his tax evasions. He even hired construction companies to build him offices which were basically just dummies and then refused to pay them."

At this point, Gayoon turned towards the two men.

"Excuse me.���

They looked up to see the pretty girl with ugly shoes trying to talk to them.

"If you don't mind me asking," she said tentatively. "This Kim Joon...How long has he been scamming people like this?"

They were looking at her suspiciously so she added, "My partner over there is also investing in Lee Shawn's firm and will build his new office space."

She pointed at Minho who was engaged with his industry colleagues.

"You're here with Hwang Minho," one of the men scoffed. He looked at her from head to toe, judging her.

"Yes," she said curtly, trying not to show her embarrassment at the mismatched outfit she wore. "If you don't mind, could you tell me more about this Kim Joon?"

"He's been scamming a lot of people for money," the man shrugged. "Runs a ponzi scheme to take the money and then pretend that he lost it due to a deal gone bad."

"Weren't there any records?" she inquired. "Or contracts which validated the agreements?"

"There was," the man replied. "But it turned out all the firms involved were fake firms which were registered under his or his family members. They never existed."

"Where is Kim Joon now?"

"Ran away!" the partner chipped in. "As soon as he found out that we were closing on him, he straight up disappeared. Lying bastard! Almost took out money away if Shawn hadn't returned them from his own pocket. Turns out, the asshole robbed people of nearly a hundred million dollars."

"Where did he run off to?"

"God knows!" the man scoffed. "Never heard about him again. He just disappeared! Poof!"

He snapped his fingers to show how Lee Joon went missing. "Never heard about him since," he added.

"How long has he been missing?"

"Around six months, right Sung?"

"Yes," his partner, named Sung, nodded.

"Did his victims get back the money Kim Joon stole?" Gayoon asked.

"Nope,�� the man sighed. "It disappeared with him. We tried to look for it but failed. Shawn compensated us."

Disappeared huh? But Chief Junwan said that Shawn was responsible for the theft and Kim Joon's disappearance. Could it be the other way around? That Shawn was the one scamming people whilst Joon was the one who found out and tried to stop him but was killed in the process of unveiling the truth?

Gayoon was so engrossed in her thoughts that she did not realize the two men had walked away, leaving her alone. She did not care; her mind was busy with what they had said. Was Shawn the culprit? Or was Kim Joon the one really scamming people? Or both?

"This is going to be hard," she muttered. Sighing loudly, she decided to find Minho and tell him of this only to turn around and find herself face to face with a pretty blonde girl in a pink mermaid dress. She was scathingly looking at Gayoon.

"Well well well, look what we have here," she said in a mocking tone. "A peasant trying to look like a princess."