The Request (10): Sadistic Doctor

Patience was not one of Cherry's virtues. She hated to wait and in cases of emergencies, she absolutely went berserk if there were any delays. Just like she was about to burst any minute in that office. 

"How much longer?" she gritted her teeth in irritation. The man in front of her knew how to irritate her. 

"Relax," SD said with a smirk. "You've paid for your service. Now it's my turn to work." 

Cherry felt like throwing her chair at him in fury. The man was SD. SD was short for Sadistic Doctor. His real name was Kim San but only Cherry knew that. Like his alias, he loved to derive a sadistic pleasure from holding crucial information over their heads. To everyone else, he was a mad, bad and dangerous person. To Cherry, he was a frustratingly infuriating person. 

SD was an information broker in his mid thirties. Despite his young age, he was the best in his field. He could buy and sell information to anyone provided that he was paid for it. 

However, dealings with him must be carefully thought out. SD only sold information when he was paid in full. Anything less than promised to him, then he would only give part of the information while hiding the other bit away. Half information was very dangerous due to possible misconstructions and manipulation by the wrong people. 

Furthermore, once sold, that particular piece of information can be kept a secret if the customer pays extra for it. Once the transaction is done, even God himself could not pry out the data from SD's head. 

His motto was simple: money was everything. He did not distinguish between his customers at all. There was no right or wrong for him. He would sell information to anyone who paid. 

Whether the customer was a seasoned criminal or an accomplished cop, his service was open to all. From criminal organizations to even the CIA, SD had information on almost everything. Many people from those organisations were part of his clientele. Tall and well built, SD was quite handsome with his sharp, chiseled features and extremely deep voice helped him to seduce many people for his work. 

Due to the dangers of his work, he kept on shifting his office. It took Cherry two days to track him down to his current location. They were in a dingy, one-room basement. The floor beneath her was creaking with every step and layers of dust covered the furniture. SD did not bother to clean the place since he was moving out by evening. 

Even though SD had hidden away a large stash of money somewhere, he kept on choosing rundown places for his work. He claimed it helped him to keep a low profile. 

The only reason Cherry could negotiate a discounted information deal from him was because she had saved him many years ago as a child. In all their years of dealing together, SD also figured out her identity. But he kept her identity a secret as a favor for saving him. 

At that moment, Cherry was severely regretting her decision to save him. His blue eyes were focused on the computer screen, flicking through files. But she knew that he was deliberately delaying. He always gained a twisted pleasure from making people wait as he basked in the importance of his work.

"SD, you're testing my patience," she said, feeling more irritated by the minute. 

"Tut tut," he tutted. "Anger won't make me work any faster." 

"SD if you don't hurry up I will turn you into a fucking beatle!" she yelled at him. 

"Ahhh you have such a potty mouth," he lamented.

"I'll turn you into potty if you don't-" 

"All done!" he said cheerfully. He turned the screen to give her a better look. 

"This Jenna," he said. "Was once sued for fraud once. By her ex-boyfriend." 

"Why wasn't this in the news?" Cherry asked. "She's a celebrity after all." 

"Because she paid his lawyers and judges to discredit him," SD replied. "The boyfriend was forced to withdraw his case and threatened to leave the country. Otherwise, Jenna's accomplice, a member of the mafia, would have killed him."

"So Nara is telling the truth?" Cherry asked. 

"Debatable," SD shrugged. "Nara and Jenna had invested in a company called TZ Co. which happened to go bankrupt. I looked into the details of that company. It was legitimate and was doing well until the stock market crashed. It was just bad luck." 

Cherry sat back in frustration. It was a pointless investigation if Nara was simply making a bad investment. In that case it was her own bad business skills which got her into trouble, not Jenna. But it seemed that Jenna was no saint either if she was sued for fraud by someone else. 

"This TZ Co.," she said. "Who owned it?" 

SD checked the name. "Some guy called Kim Songki. A small-time musician who tried to establish his own agency with TZ Co."

"Where is he now?" 

"Dead. He committed suicide after he could not pay back his dues." 

Cherry frowned. The man was dead? "How did Jenna know him?" she questioned. 

"They ran in the same circle," SD said. "They shared a stylist and perhaps got to know each other through her." 

"Look into them for me," she ordered. "I'll pay extra if I have to. And you are absolutely not allowed to receive any payments to hide any information on Jung Jenna."

"You'll have to pay more for that," SD pointed out in a singsong voice, flashing a smile. Cherry clenched her fists. 

"Fine," she replied. "Send your bill to Kahi. I'll wire the money tonight." 

"Pleasure doing business with you, Ms. Wang," SD smirked. 

"There is one more thing," she said. 

"Which is?" 

"The fire last night at Rogues 101 set," she started. "I want to know what caused it. Was it an accident or deliberate?" 

"That'll cost you another half a million dollars," he said lazily. 

"H-half a million?" she spluttered. She was already spending millions on him! 

"The inflation nowadays is very high, you see." 

"Fine! Just find out and tell me."

"Extra charge if you want to hide the information." 

Cherry smacked his head with her cane. 

"Ow!" he yelled in pain. "What's the point in hitting me? You know the policy!" 

"Half a million dollars including the information hiding cost," she bargained. "No more!" 

She glared at him threateningly. SD sighed. 

"Fine but don't get used to preferential treatment," he said warily. "I usually charge two million for this task." 

Cherry snorted. He charged people as he pleased and she knew it. 

"I'll look into it," he went on. "Pleasure doing business with you." 

He flashed a smile, holding out a V sign. Cherry wanted to break his fingers off. Unfortunately, he was quite useful when it came to finding concrete evidence against someone. Even if he did not give it out everytime, his investigation skills were impeccable. 

"I'll wait for your report," she stated as she exited the room. SD watched her leave, closing the door behind her. He leaned back on his chair, pondering his next step. 

Unbeknownst to her, he was looking up an article on the fire at Rogues 101 set already. He had seen Jung Jenna's pictures on the various articles and was very keen to look into this matter. 

"You are hiding quite a lot of things, Ms. Jenna," he commented with an eerie smile. "Time to uncover your tracks."