Inked Bonds- My Demon

(4) The Thief

Gu-won's POV

As I entered the office building, I made my way towards my room, there, in the corner of the room, sat my manager, Mr. Kim engrossed in reading a book, a book I recognized all too well. It was the book I had hidden away in the locker just yesterday.

I quietly approached Mr. Kim from behind. Reaching his side, I leaned in and spoke softly, "Interesting, isn't it?"
He flinched as he realized I had caught him reading the book. "I..I thought you had a deal today."
I smiled mischievously, "Return the book."
He gave me a disapproving nod & began reading aloud from the book, "Demons have the ability to grant wishes, strike deals in return for souls. Failure to make new deals or to meet the expiration date leads to spo..spontaneous combustion."

I snatched the book from his hand and placed it inside the locker once again.
"How did you even find it?" I asked him.
"I was just cleaning and I have the right to read your demon manual, we're practically family members." He smiled.
"How dare you call it a manual? What do you think am I? A freaking vaccum cleaner?"
"What is it then?"
"It contains all the information about demons, about me."
"Same thing but does spontaneous combustion mean you'll burn away if you don't make deals regularly?"
"I don't know but I need a favor from you."
"What?"
"I want to know everything about this woman, Park Yeona, her family, blood type, past relationships and even her most important preferences."
"Who's this woman by the way? Your blind date?"
"She's a thief."
"Did she steal your heart?" Mr. Kim chuckled.
"I really don't appreciate your lame jokes, Mr. Kim."

Mr. Kim looked at my wrist and then looked at me confusingly, "It's gone..your tattoo..how will you use your powers now? Without your powers you will burn away, won't you? Don't leave me alone, master.. I still have to pay my house loan."
"Is that what you're worried for?"
"Y..ye..I mean no, so did you lose your powers?"
"It's just that, I've loaned them to someone for a bit."
"You mean to the theif that stole your heart? I mean powers? What happened, tell me clearly."
"I don't know, my tattoo got transferred on her wrist."
"Elaborate please."
"Later..A contract expires today, I have to take his soul."
"What will you do without your powers, master?"
"What do you mean by that? I'm still a demon, I have been one for the last 200 years, collecting souls is as easy as chewing bubblegum."

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Yeona's POV

I rushed towards my office early morning the next day, my mind occupied with thoughts of pending work and sales.
Ms. Seo, intercepted me halfway through the corridor, "Ms. Park, do you feel fine now?"
"Yes, I am absolutely okay." I replied.
"That's relieving, well someone's waiting for you in your office." She bowed and continued walking.

Confused, I continued towards my office, entering inside, I saw my friend, Jihye, she stood there, leaning against my desk, looking both tired and depressed.
Jihye and I had been best friends since we were little. We had gone to the same school together and attended university together as well. However, our conversation became limited when Jihye's family had to move to London two years ago for her dad's treatment.

"You're back from London? Didn't even care to inform me that you were coming?" I crossed my arms to my chest.
"Yeah, it was a impulsive decision, Alex cheated on me again & I broke up with him this time." She smiled weakly.
"That asshole." I muttered.

I took a step forward, pulling her into a hug,
"Don't worry, it's good you finally understood."
She chuckled, wiping away a tear. "Yeona, I've missed your clumsy attempts at comforting me, I know you can do better."
I smiled, playfully rolling my eyes. "Well, Jihye he didn't even deserve you to begin with, he was an idiot and trust me you'll find your Mr. Right very soon."
We both burst into laughter.
"Don't you dare pick up that shithead's calls." I said.
"I won't." Jihye said.
"Don't even respond to his cheesy texts!"
"I won't, I swear."

"Jihye, how's London? How are your parents?"
"London is good but Korea feels like home, it's my comfort place, my people, my culture. You don't how much I craved for authentic spicy food there..and dad is much better, mom's really busy with her work nowadays." She smiled softly.
I took her hand in mine, " You're really strong Jihye, I am so happy to see you again."
"So am I, Yeona."
"Why do you look so exhausted? over-working again?" She frowned.
"No..nothing like that."
"I came here yesterday as well but was shocked when I got to know that you were on a leave yesterday, is everything alright?"
"Y-yes."
"Really?"
"Yes" I let out a nervous laugh.
"Don't lie to me, I have known you since the last 23 years my dear."

Jihye was someone who could keep my secrets safe as if they were her own. I could confide in her without fear of betrayal.
"Nothing can get past you, promise me you won't tell anyone, especially Ye-jin, he shouldn't even doubt all of this."
"If you don't want even Ye-jin to know about this then it's probably something very serious, right?"

I paused for a moment, thinking about the right words to choose, "Something strange happened recently. Just the other day, I barely saved my life from a crazy man, he was desperate to kill me."
Her eyes widened with shock, "What?!"
"I had booked an Uber and entered the car without suspecting anything. It turned out the driver was not who he appeared to be. I don't know who sent him but he kept saying that the reason he was there was Ye-jin, like he was trying to stir up trouble between me and my brother intentionally."
"You need to do something, if he's still not caught then there are chances that he might try to attack you again."
I nodded, understanding what she was saying.
"This is something serious, Yeona. You should hire a bodyguard or something, a CEO like you needs to be protected." She continued.
"Bodyguard? Why? I am not a celebrity or something." I chuckled.
"Still you should think about it."
"I will but I have to attend a meeting right now."
"That's more like you, okay, let's talk later then, bye." She grinned and made her way to the hotel.

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Throughout the day, I faced a series of meetings as our company's market value had fallen down due to a rumor circulating about our fake chemical testing protocols on medicinal drugs.
I assigned Ms. Seo, to dig deeper into the matter, she discovered some suspicious activities of Park Sang-mi, my beloved sister-in-law.

Nevertheless, the damage had already been done, customers were starting to lose trust in our products and the media had already begun to sensationalize the issue.
The PR team reached out to journalists, offering interviews and detailed explanations of our laboratory procedures and showcased testimonials from satisfied customers. I also decided to file a lawsuit against the website that was publishing rumurs regarding our company. Except all of this, I had to confront
Sang-mi, to warn her for the future but before that I decided to talk to Ye-jin.

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As I entered inside his office, I saw him working on the computer. I sat down opposite him, mentally organizing the thoughts that had been swirling inside my mind regarding that incident.
"Ye-jin, are you busy right now?" I asked him.
His eyes flickered up from the computer screen, "Yes, but what happened?"
"I wanted to ask you something."
"Ask away, it's not likely of you to hesitate."
"You're not hiding anything from me, are you?"
A smile crossed his face, and he leaned back in his chair, "I have lies flowing in my veins instead of blood, business owners can't afford to be honest, Yeona."
"I was being serious." I frowned.
"I am sure, I'm not hiding anything from you."
I chuckled, feeling a sense of relief coursing through me, "I'll take your word for it. You're the only person I can blindly trust after all."
"Did someone say something?"
"No, I just got curious."

The office door swung open and Min-jae, barged in.
"Yeona, I didn't expect to see you here." He exclaimed, sliding into the chair next to me.
"Here's the financial report of the last quarter, Ye-jin." He handed Ye-jin the file.
"I need to go somewhere, I'll see you later Ye-jin." I said.
"Okay." Ye-jin smiled.
"Yeona, I can drop you, if you don't mind." Min-jae said.
"Really? I'd appreciate that."
"You two are my favorite duo, always busy in work, why don't you both marry each other? You both have alot in common." Ye-jin chuckled.
"That wasn't funny. Don't mind him Min-jae, he's dying to marry me off these days." I replied.