Chapter-6

In the office,

Hyun Hae-Il sat on the sofa, while Ryu pour two glasses of pure red wine and offered one to him. Ryu Tae-Ra smiled at him as she took a sip of her drink after removing her mask, Hyun Hae-Il, too removed his.

Hae-Il's heart flutter at this gesture, and he looked away, breaking the eye contact between them, "bye the way, why do they call you 'master'? Sounds very old to me", he said to avoid any silence between them, "and is this even part of the Seoul Central District office?"

Ryu thought for few seconds before answering him, "this organization is a family business, and my family is very traditional and cultured. We demand respect, loyalty and trust from our servants, workers and subordinates. And likewise we give them what they give us, their masters", she explained while taking another sip of her drink, "this is a private organization, in which government does not have any say. Some of my people work in SCDO, that's why I made sure that they have easy transportation service to arrive at the to their duties on time", Ryu Tae-Ra told him about her organization and little bit of how it works, "my organization helps people for their better life and protects them from the chaos of the magic world"

"She is telling me everything, does she not know how to keep thing confidential", he thought taking sip from the drink she offered, "what is this?" he was shocked and confused at the same time, what is this drink she gave him?, "this is not wine", he said abruptly.

"What?" she shrugged, "its grape juice, why you don't like? You thought it was wine just because it was from bottle that was similar to wine bottle"

"That is a wine bottle", he pointed at it.

"No its not", she chuckled taking the bottle in her hand and showing him the label which said 'The Best Replacement For Wine, Grape Juice!', "this juice is from Germany, I don't drink alcohol because they have no effect on me and besides they are very unhealthy"

He thought of the bottles in her car, "So the bottles in your car were Grape juice?"

"Yep", she answered, Hyun Hae-Il couldn't believe that, "who in world does not drink alcohol nowadays?" he asked her, "me", she replied. He was speechless and he couldn't continue with this argument. She looks very clueless.

Ryu got up and walked towards him slowly; grabbing his shoulders and making him face her and she looked directly into his eyes, keeping an eye contact. The atmosphere around them became very intimate.

"What is this?" thought Hyun Hae-Il, feeling uncomfortable, "what is she doing? Is she going to….no way… I mean she is beautiful but still he can't…" he couldn't even close his eyes. A part of him wanted to see this through, "why she making a move so fast?"

Ryu's eyes turned golden and in response to that, a red kite shape appeared in Hyun Hae-Il's left eye, "unbelievable", her words came out as whispers. "This was not supposed to happen", she thought, this is why the demons came after him, "you are in death's door, detective", "what?" he asked, she sighed and let go him.

What did she mean by that? Death's door…., Hyun Hae-Il sat up and looking at Ryu Tae-Ra in great confusion. Never in his life did anyone say such ominous thing.

He her taking out her phone, dialing a number and calling someone, "Areum", she called in the phone, "come quick and inform Hye Il-Seong to come, I did need him here", then the call ended.

Her actions and hurriedness worried him a lot, what was going on here? What did she see in his eyes to act like that? "What is going on?" he finally asked, "why all the fuss?"

Ryu turned towards him, itching her forehead with the edge of her phone, "well, your life is in danger", she said it again making him feel even more confused, she is not explaining like before, Ryu sat down on the sofa and she spoke again, "there in something inside you, something that is very dangerous and it's something I and someone else have been searching for a long time now, it's called Mammon's Heart"

What in the world is that? And why would he of all people have that thing inside of him? Maybe she was just joking to scare him to run away from here and not to say a single word about her secret.

"Whatever you are thinking it's not like that, what I said is true", she said as if she could read his mind, "Mammon's heart is actually a jewel that contains 10 percent of Mammon's powers and it can lend the user with its power in exchange for hefty cost", Hyun Hae-Il listened to her carefully, "even after paying the price one cannot use its 10 percent completely, as it requires another rare item to carry its power, 'The Persona Mask', it allows the prevents the holder to get possessed by the demon's trait which is inside the heart"

She explained him everything he needed to know now, well mostly the important parts. He knew she was telling the truth, there was nothing to be doubtful about it and he had already seen proof of it. Hyun Hae-Il nodded his head, full tension.

He had no idea what to do. Then he looked at the person who was in front of him, 'Ryu Tae-ra….' He thought, "That's it", he had gotten a crazy idea, "what will happen if get captured by other person you mention who is coming after me?"

"Well", she thought for few seconds and smiled foolishly, "you'll die, simple as that"

Hyun Hae-Il expected that answer, and he knew what will happen to him if was with her too, but he did not have the courage to say that out loud, therefore he asked her instead, "what will happen if I was in your care?"

"Care?" Ryu Tae-Ra cocked her eyebrows, "I protect you until I make sure that bastard was gone", she tilted her head and he felt the blood lust from her. But he knew she could protect him, "then I shall entrust my life to you",

He said with confident smile.

"May I coming, master?" a soothing voice came from behind the door, "yes, you may Areum", Ryu Tae-ra replied. It was that unusual one among all the masked people he had seen when he had entered, the one that took the box from Ryu Tae-Ra's hands.

The man entered the room carrying a decorated box, "I bought what you asked, master", he gave her the box, "I shall stay in the corner", and he bowed.

"No", Ryu said while keeping box on the table, "stay right beside me, you are the second in charge after me", she smiled turning towards him. The man did not answer but he did stay beside her.

"This is Ryuhei Areum, he is the takes care of the organization in my absence", she waved with her hand at Areum, "he stays here most of the time. I'd appreciate if you'd show him your utmost respect, Mr. Hyun"

Hyun Hae-Il, knew he had to be someone important, but not that important. Not only that, he acted like he was Ryu Tae-Ra's servant earlier. Hyun Hae-Il extended his hand for handshake but the man just nodded in response, to avoid touching the detective. Hyun took his hand back feeling embarrassed.

And Ryu Tae-Ra chuckled, making him feel more humiliated. Ryu noticed that, "do not worry detective, he is like that everyone", she said opening the box, "now then shall we see what he has bought for us", she took out what looks like a bracelet, silver in color, decorated with pure red rubies.

It felt very ominous.

"Put thin on your wrist", Ryu Tea-ra handed the bracelet to him, "this will give you shelter from the lower demons and temporary protect you from powerful ones", she smiled confidently.

"Protect me? Like how?" he asked. "Well for starters they won't notice your presence at all even if you are right in front of them. However..." she took a pause, "the demons that are strong will find no matter what but they won't be able to get close to you"

"Why is that?"

"Because the bracelet will create a barrier to protect you and secondly I will be there every time you are in danger"

This surprised him a lot. She will come to protect him? Somehow Hyun Hae-Il was relieved to hear that. Her protecting him was the best that she could offer him now. After meeting the demons his life was now turned upside down, "I appreciate your help"

"Now, now, it's not for free you know", she said breaking Hyun's hopes, but he did doubt her free help, "you have to pay me for my service"

"Okay, what would that be?" he asked while bracing himself to hear something awful.

"Money", showing him the money symbol with her hand, "I want money, 50,000 dollars per week"

"But don't you more than me?" he asked her, but Ryu had shocked expression on her, how could he not understand that she was a businesswoman? Making money is everything to her, but Hyun couldn't hear her words, "I mean I can pay that much or more but really, you are a trilinear"

"We are in a business relationship and I am a businesswoman, earning money through any kind of method is my hobby and my habit", she explained grabbing his to put on the bracelet, "and stop talking and start working already", she put all her anger in that thrust and slid the bracelet in his hand, and hyun Hae-Il screamed, "I am sorry!"

Not soon after the bracelet wan on his hand, it started glowing red, causing immense pain for him. Hyun screamed in pain, "What is this?"

"Don't worry, it won't last, the bracelet is taking you as its master, so endure it, well"

Just as she said the pain stopped and the red glow left the bracelet. Hyun could finally breathe now. That was seriously painful more than the training he had to through the military years ago.

"Congrats on surviving the trail now take this", she handed him a large candy, "and now goodbye", and he disappeared from the office and was sent back to his station in Gangnam.

"You were in a hurry master", said Areum standing behind her.

"I had to, we didn't have that much time to waste on chit chats", said Ryu wearing her mask, "gather everyone in the hall"

"Yes"

"When will Il-Seong arrive?" she asked him, "and summon, the field agents, even those from oversees, this is urgent!"

****