Cleanup Complete
Detective Kang Gyeong-sik scowled deeply.
"What a gruesome way to go."
The corpse before him had been slaughtered with horrific violence. Short of being plowed over by a freight truck, injuries of this magnitude defied rational explanation.
"Ah, you're here, Detective. It's a real horror show," the forensics investigator remarked, clicking his tongue in disbelief. Kang gave a grim nod of agreement.
The body, presumed to be male, had every joint in its arms and legs wrenched in the wrong direction. His face was battered to such a monstrous swelling that his eyes weren't even visible beneath the bruised flesh. What arrested Kang's attention most, however, was the chest—caved in completely flat, as though the wheel of a heavy truck had rolled directly over it.
"What do we know so far?"
"Hah, as you can see, someone did a thorough number on him. The external and internal trauma are equally catastrophic. His organs are completely pulverized. And on top of that... they crushed his testicles to mush."
"Sounds like a grudge killing. High probability of premeditated vengeance."
Kang scratched at his prickly jawline, unkempt with stubble from rushing straight out to the scene.
"The thing is, though..."
"What is it?"
The investigator furrowed his brow, looking utterly confounded.
"The killer was caught on camera. And we have a witness, too."
"What?"
"You'd better hear the details from Officer Lee. Over there with the witness."
Kang followed the investigator's pointing finger. A short distance away stood Officer Lee, struggling to mask a look of deep distress, standing beside a witness who was calmly giving her account.
"Hey, Officer Lee. What's the story here? You're telling me the perpetrator was recorded?"
"Ah... sunbae. You're here."
Officer Lee, possessing a short bob cut, youthful eyes, and a solid, sturdy frame, spoke with an uneasy, conflicted expression.
"The thing is, sir... the victim's phone captured the killer's voice and the entire sequence of the attack. And the lady standing here is the witness from that night."
Detective Kang dipped his head politely toward the woman. She returned the gesture with a faint nod.
"Let me see the footage first."
Taking the phone from Officer Lee, Kang swallowed the dry lump in his throat and tapped the screen to play.
"[Confess your sins.]"
Kang flinched at the sound echoing from the small speaker. It was a chilling, resonant utterance that scraped against the nerves—so terrifyingly alien that it was hard to believe it could originate from human vocal cords.
On screen, Kim Jeong-sik sobbed and babbled, laying bare his filthy crimes one by one as he groveled on the asphalt, begging for mercy.
Yet the assailant showed no pity, declaring that the criminal would suffer the exact retribution he had inflicted upon his victim. Without hesitation, the killer delivered a brutal kick between Kim Jeong-sik's legs, bursting his groin.
What followed was an exhibition of unadulterated carnage.
Snapping the man's joints backward while he was still wide awake, lifting him effortlessly with a single hand like a discarded ragdoll, and repeatedly slamming him against the pavement with bone-shattering force.
As the minutes ticked by, Kim Jeong-sik deteriorated into a ruined husk that could barely squeeze out a groan.
Still, the assailant did not stop.
Kang's brow pinched tighter as he strained his eyes to discern identifying traits. The killer's full silhouette never entered the frame; only the limbs meting out the punishment were visible. The arms and legs were tightly bound in coarse black bandages, and the fingertips ended in razor-sharp, lethal points resembling steel blades or predatory claws.
Did he put on some kind of specialized combat suit to execute the victim?
"[Ugh... s-sp... spare me...]"
Astonishingly, despite such horrifying trauma, the victim remained alive through the latter half of the video. It was as though the attacker had deliberately measured every blow with demonic precision, ensuring he would not slip into the sweet release of death prematurely.
"[This is the end.]"
The assailant rolled the broken man flat onto his back.
"[Endure this, and you live.]"
Tears and snot smeared across his mangled face, Kim Jeong-sik shrieked in desperation, wailing for his life.
The killer took a slow, deliberate stride forward.
He planted his foot squarely over Kim Jeong-sik's sternum.
"Khhkkk—!"
Kim Jeong-sik's body seized violently, his muscles trembling in sheer panic. Bloody froth bubbled at the corners of his mouth, his eyes bulging so hard they threatened to burst from their sockets.
Slowly, the foot pressing down upon his ribcage began to sink.
Crack—!
The sickening sound of thick bone fracturing rang out. Even so, the crushing pressure never wavered.
Kim Jeong-sik's bloodshot eyes locked in blind terror onto the phone camera, his limbs spasming uncontrollably.
Crunch!
His entire chest collapsed downward like a hollow shell. Sharp, splintered ribs ruptured outward through the skin of his flank, glistening with crimson gore.
"[...Krrgh.]"
With a final, rattling wheeze, Kim Jeong-sik shuddered once, then went completely still.
The camera angle wobbled slightly.
Panning slowly across Kim Jeong-sik's motionless remains, the monstrous voice resonated once more from the speaker:
"[Whosoever robs another of what is precious shall pay the price.]"
Then, the recording shifted to the front-facing camera.
"Wh-what is that...?"
The killer's face filled the screen.
It was a creature clad in an ominous cyclopean helmet from which a vivid crimson beam flared. Mane-like hair, coarse and wild as a lion's, flared in all directions. Though he had no rational explanation for it, every fiber of Kang's seasoned detective intuition screamed that this thing was not of this world.
"Aw, seriously? After barking on about equal retribution, I thought we'd at least get to see him drill the guy's back end."
Kang gasped in shock and whipped his head around. Standing right beside him was a young man he had never seen before, flashing a cheerful grin.
"Don't you agree, old man?"
"...Who the hell are you?"
"Just your friendly neighborhood good Samaritan, so to speak."
"What? Civilians are strictly barred from this perimeter. Get out right now! Hey, Officer Lee! What are you standing there for? Escort him past the yellow tape this second!"
Despite Kang's furious bark, Officer Lee merely fidgeted, visibly paralyzed with hesitation.
"W-Well, sunbae... the thing is... these people..."
"Would you two just shut up and wrap this up? I despise wasting my precious time on tedious chores."
A woman poked her head out from behind the flamboyant young man. Dressed extravagantly in luxury designer clothing and dripping with glistening jewels, she looked absurdly out of place amidst the blood and filth of an active crime scene.
"Hey, old-timer. Let me see that."
Kang froze. Before he could even register her movement, the smartphone that had been securely gripped in his hand was suddenly resting between the slender, manicured fingers of the elegant woman.
She scrolled through the footage with an air of mild boredom before speaking aloud.
"Humanoid type? Given that it can articulate coherent human speech, its grade might actually be fairly high."
"Right? And its design is totally my aesthetic! Doesn't it look like it just leaped out of a dark fantasy comic? Man~ I can't wait to meet it in person!"
"What do you think you're doing?! This is an active crime scene—you are obstructing an official police investigation!"
The woman offered Kang a dismissive sideways glance, then reached into her tailored coat and pulled out a polished metallic disc.
The silver plaque, styled similarly to a historical royal inspector's medallion, bore an austere inscription:
It was clearly an identification badge, yet it lacked any recognizable police rank or standard governmental title—suspicious in every regard.
"Oh, is it intro time already? Count me in, count me in!"
The young man made a theatrical spectacle of himself, whipping out an identical silver medallion from his own pocket.
"What is this garbage supposed to be? You think you can mess around with toys at my crime scene?"
"Huh? Can't you read? It's an official ID badge. Did you slack off in elementary school, mister?"
As Kang's face contorted with murderous rage, Officer Lee hurriedly grabbed him by the forearm.
"S-Sunbae, please calm down! We just received direct orders from the commissioner's office. Jurisdiction has been transferred—these agents are taking over the case effective immediately."
"What? What kind of unadulterated bullshit is that?!"
Kang pulled out his own cell phone and began dialing frantically.
Meanwhile, Shin Ha-na tucked the silver medallion back inside her coat, licking her lips in quiet fascination as her gaze lingered on the creature paused on the phone's screen.
"Ugh... my head."
Han Yuhyeon clutched his throbbing temples as he forced himself up from the mattress.
He sat dazed on the edge of the bed, slowly taking in the mundane details of his bedroom.
"I knew it. It really was just a nightmare."
A dream where he metamorphosed into a bizarre monster, hunted down Kim Jeong-sik, and brutally slaughtered him. Yuhyeon opened and closed his hands, staring intently at his palms.
The tactile memory of beating Kim Jeong-sik's face into pulp remained disturbingly vivid, as though he had lived through every crunch and splatter with his waking flesh.
Knowing that he had annihilated the scumbag, even if only within the confines of a hallucination, alleviated a fraction of his suffocating grief. Yet the crushing reality that the unrepentant beast was still strutting freely through the neighborhood ignited a fresh ball of fury within his chest. If anything, realizing it had merely been a dream left a bitter taste of regret in his mouth.
"Oppa! Massive news!"
Han Sia kicked the door open without warning.
Vibrating with uncontainable agitation, she bounded into the room and yelled:
"It's huge! A murder happened right in our neighborhood! Sinhye said she walked past the alley earlier and saw police cars everywhere sealing off a crime scene!"
"How on earth is a murder 'great news'? That means there's a dangerous killer roaming nearby. Stop wandering around after school and come straight home for the time being."
"No, you don't get it! It's that rotten piece of human trash! The monster who killed Unnie!"
"Wh-what...?"
Caught off guard, Yuhyeon stared wide-eyed at his sister. Beneath her radiant, beaming smile lay sparkling pupils that harbored an eerie, unhinged fervor.
"Kim Jeong-sik! That bastard is dead! Somebody murdered him! Ahahaha!"
"K-Kim Jeong-sik is dead?"
"Yes! Sinhye eavesdropped on the detectives talking, and she swore it's one hundred percent real! Isn't that incredible? I don't care who did it—whoever killed that filth has got to be an angel sent from heaven!"
Yuhyeon froze, struck dumb by an avalanche of shock.
Kim Jeong-sik was dead.
He had slain Kim Jeong-sik in his nightmare, and the moment he opened his eyes, the man was discovered butchered in reality.
What if...
What if, by some impossible twist of fate, that wasn't a dream at all?
What if everything had truly happened?
Yuhyeon instinctively clapped a hand over his mouth.
He had actually taken a human life.
He had committed an act from which there was no turning back.
Observing his sudden stupor, Han Sia tilted her head with a look of concern.
"Oppa? Are you okay?"
"Huh? Yeah... I'm fine. In fact, I've never been better."
When Yuhyeon pulled his hand away from his face, the corners of his mouth were pulled taut into an unmistakable smile.
"Now Unnie can finally rest in peace up there. Ah, what a glorious day! Oppa, come on, let's go check out the scene on our way out! Please?"
Under ordinary circumstances, Yuhyeon would have scolded her for losing her mind and dragged her straight to school. But today was different.
"All right. Let's go."
He nodded firmly, resolved to bear witness with his own eyes.
He needed to see whether this was merely an astronomical coincidence—or if the terrifying nightmare had been cold, unvarnished reality.
The siblings threw on their clothes and hurried out toward the site.
"Oh, look over there!"
Han Sia giggled with unrestrained delight, pointing down the narrow road. Ahead of them, a team of officers was swarming the cordoned area, busily hauling away a gurney draped in a heavy white sheet.
Though the cloth concealed Kim Jeong-sik's mangled remains from sight, Yuhyeon no longer needed to inspect the injuries to be certain. It had not been an illusion.
Target: Kim Jeong-sik — Cleanup Complete.
Searching for a new target.
Floating in vivid, luminous detail directly above the shroud of Kim Jeong-sik's corpse was a translucent holographic window that only he could see.