The Request (20): Birthdate

The next day, Cherry was at her shop, busy with the customers' requests. Lately, she was getting very silly orders. A boy sent a letter where he was begging her to turn his father into a toad for breaking his PS4 while he was playing on it instead of studying. By the writing style, she suspected the boy probably did not even hit puberty.

There were hundreds of such requests. A girl wrote to send her cheating boyfriend to hell while another student was complaining of the homework their teachers gave. Cherry's mood kept on souring with every letter. Why were people turning to curse others based on such trivial issues? Are they that bored?

Human jealousy is something Cherry was very much acquainted with. There was a time when she was jealous of her half-sister Shuri for hogging her father's attention and was also envious of her step mother for replacing Cherry's own mother. Her jealous antics had led her to plot a lot against them but her father always stopped her. He loved her but also severely punished her for it.

But those things no longer mattered to her. Her past was behind her and she wanted nothing to do with it. The people who wronged her were all dead.

The door of her shop opened. She looked up to see Nara was standing there, looking apprehensive.

"Shaman Wang," she bowed, approaching the old woman. "Jenna has still not been cursed yet! Why are you delaying my request?"

"Your friend Jenna is clean," Cherry replied. "I had her investigated and there's nothing on her. The deal you made was simply a wrong one. Not her fault."

"It was!" Nara insisted. "She was the one who made the deal go bad!"

"Kim Songki lost all his money due to a bad investment," Cherry stated. "He made a bad decision which only led to you losing your money. Jenna Jang lost a lot of money as well-"

"But Kim Songki was investigating Jenna!" Nara revealed.

This new information surprised Cherry. Kim Songki was investigating Jenna?

"What do you mean?"

"He had assigned a private detective to look into her," Nara explained. "I don't know why but he was spying on her. Maybe he was suspicious of her fraud as well? I knew Kim Songki and he was not suicidal! So when I heard that he hung himself after losing all the money, I could not believe it. Maybe his death has something to do with Jenna?"

Cherry frowned, deep in thought. Her memory extraction abilities were severely limited and when someone wanted to hide a crime, then it was even more difficult to coerce out unless the person willingly showed the memories to her. If Jenna was hiding a big secret, then Cherry would only get the flashes she was allowed to see. And even those were not reliable.

She cursed Shaman Yi under her breath. The man had only transferred part of his powers to her. She was able to use most of her powers when helping the 500 people she was assigned to protect, but the abilities were severely limited when it came to anyone else.

In the years she spent studying her powers, she came across many rules and this one frustrated her the most. It was set in motion to keep the shamans from misusing their powers and also to maintain the balance in the world. If the shamans used their talents indiscriminately then it would be catastrophic.

Catastrophe my foot, she thought bitterly. The shaman was just messing with her even after dying.

"Why didn't you tell me this earlier?" Cherry asked.

"Because at first I used to think that Songki was involved with her in duping me," Nara confessed. "But that detective reached out to me last night. He wanted information on her."

"Who is this detectiver?"

"Bang Suyeon," she answered. "He's the best private investigator in the country. Apparently he was hired by someone to look into Jang Jenna. Someone else is skeptical of her too! So doesn't this mean that she is hiding something?"

Cherry listened to her intently. Did Jinhyun hire this Suyeon? It seemed very likely. After all, he did mention that he was going to search for the truth as well. She must speak to him.

"I will look further into this case before deciding," she told Nara. "If she's innocent then I can't complete this request. But if she's guilty…"

Nara was startled by the dark look dawning on the old woman. She was menacing as a tigress, ready to pounce on her prey.

"I'll make her pay with blood," Cherry swore. There was no doubt about it at all. Jenna had endangered many lives during the fire. If it was her, then she would pay very severely.

Nara nodded. She wanted Jenna to be punished for her deeds and was willing to do anything for it.

….

Jinhyun was sitting inside his car, debating with himself. Should he go in?

He was parked right outside Incheon's Post Office. It was a cloudy day but the city was still packed. People were perspiring under the humid weather while walking around to do their work. The streets were busy with chattering markets where the buyers and sellers were haggling for the prices. Office workers passed by, busy talking into their phones or hurting to work. Everyone was minding their own business, unaware that one of the country's biggest superstars was parked in their midst.

His phone began to vibrate in his pocket. He took it out only to be surprised that Cherry was calling him.

"Where are you?" she demanded to know before he could greet her.

"Hello to you too," he groaned.

"Forget about all that!" she snapped. "Where. Are. You."

She punctuated every word with a pause, trying to suppress her impatience. She must find him as soon as possible.

"I'm at Incheon Post Office-"

"Stay there," she ordered. "I'll be over in ten minutes."

She hung up before he could utter another word. By this time, he was not surprised. She was a woman of few words and only talked to the point. Dilly dallying was not her style at all.

He sighed and put his phone back into his pocket. It was time to find the mystery of the caller. It may have been an obsessive fan but why would a fan send him to a post office's locker? He could not fight off the nagging feeling that it may hold some answers.

Jinhyun pulled up his hoodie and put on a pair of sunglasses. There was no harm in visiting the post office but he did not want to be spotted by eager fans. He kept his head down, walking quickly towards the post office.

Upon entering the building, he approached the reception where a middle aged woman greeted him.

"Hello sir," she greeted. "How may I help you?"

He took off his sunglasses to let the woman see his face. She nearly squealed but somehow kept her professional front.

"I received a call from an acquaintance that he left a package for me in locker number two zero zero four," he said. "Am I allowed to access it?"

"Please wait a moment sir while I check the requirements from the locker owner," she said, barely containing her excitement at seeing Jinhyun. Too bad the management was very strict otherwise she would have taken secret photographs of this gorgeous hunk.

Jinhyun was patiently waiting when someone tapped his shoulder. He spun around to see Cherry.

"What are you doing here?" she asked warily.

"I'm here to check a parcel," he said. "Why did you want to meet me so urgently?"

Cherry was about to speak when she noticed that the receptionist was glancing every now and then at them. There was a look of confusion on the woman's face. No doubt she was wondering what Jinhyun was doing with an elderly.

"I'll tell you later," she muttered. The receptionist, still visibly confused, looked up.

"Sir, this locker was made under your name," she said.

"M-my name?" he asked. "But I didn't make any locker here."

"But it was made using your Passport," the receptionist replied. She turned the laptop around to show him the details. Jinhyun and Cherry leaned over to read the data.

The Receptionist was right. Someone had indeed used his Passport information to apply for the locker.

Cherry saw Jinhyun' face lose all color. To her surprise, there was a cold fury on his face. His jaws clenched tightly, completely aghast at the invasion of his privacy.

"Take me there," he demanded. His voice was calm yet held a hidden chill which would make anyone cower in fear. He was no longer the cheerful idiot who kept on pestering Cherry. If she was not wrong, if he ever got his hands on the culprit, he would not hesitate to unleash his anger on the poor soul.

"Please follow me sir," the Receptionist said, leading them towards the locker room. She took them through a long corridor, with a large room at the end. She unlocked it.

There were thousands of lockers in there, arranged in neat rows. The room was divided into numerous storeys with stairs at a corner leading to the floor above. They followed the receptionist to the very last row.

"This is it, sir," she said pointing at the locker in question. It was locked with an electrical lock and required a password to open it.

"I'll leave you to it sir," the Receptionist said, bowing at them before leaving.

"How are we gonna unlock it?" Cherry frowned but Jinhyun stepped forward and typed in. He was sure of the number he was entering.

Cherry watched in awe as he inputted the numbers: 05011989. There was a click sound and the locker popped open.

"That's…" she started.

"My birthdate," Jinhyun said in a hollow tone.