The Girl Who Waited
Lee Jintae leaned his back against the stiff chair, staring blankly at the officer sitting across from him.
Sergeant Kim.
He was one of the officers who had been dispatched to the scene at the abandoned motel.
"I know you're busy, so thank you for making the time, Sergeant Kim."
"Not at all, Detective. It's only right that I cooperate."
Sergeant Kim still looked visibly tense, as if the shock of that day hadn't yet worn off.
Lee Jintae took his eyes off the file and got straight to the point.
"I've familiarized myself with the report. However, I wanted to hear the story from someone who experienced it firsthand. Especially the situation after that BJ—Kang Jinwoo—began his prayer."
At that moment, Sergeant Kim’s shoulders flinched noticeably.
He swallowed hard and opened his mouth, forcing a calm tone.
"It’s exactly as I wrote in the report. The air around us suddenly turned as cold as ice, and then it appeared right in front of us."
"Hmm, I see. What exactly did it look like?"
"It was wearing a school uniform. But..."
Sergeant Kim trailed off, wiped his face with his hands, and continued with a vacant look in his eyes.
"It was horrific. It’s hard to describe in words, like looking at the scene of a fatal car accident. It was truly, truly horrific."
Lee Jintae listened in silence.
'This is driving me crazy.'
No, he couldn't focus on the conversation at all.
To a man who had spent his entire life tracking criminals through evidence and logic, this was all utter nonsense.
'What am I supposed to do with this?'
His gaze had already drifted past Sergeant Kim’s shoulder.
"If I hadn't seen it wearing a school uniform, we wouldn't have been able to identify the victim so quickly."
'Mass hallucination? Or did they coordinate their stories beforehand?'
Lee Jintae was nodding, but his mind was already mapping out the next steps of the investigation.
How was he supposed to incorporate this unrealistic testimony into the report? How could he convince his superiors?
"Detective."
Perhaps it was obvious that he wasn't focused on the conversation.
"I understand how you feel, Detective. It’s hard to believe, right?"
That single sentence snapped the tangled thread of Lee Jintae’s thoughts.
"Excuse me?"
"Actually, I feel the same way."
Sergeant Kim gave a self-deprecating smile.
"I wish what I saw was just a trick of the mind, too."
"What do you mean?"
"Haha, people call us 'useless cops' these days, don't they?"
It was such an abrupt departure from the topic that Lee Jintae held his tongue. Instead, he listened with a sincerity he hadn't shown before.
"My pride and all that disappeared a long time ago... but Detective, that day was the first time I thought I’d rather be called a useless cop if it meant the ghost in front of me was just a hallucination. I thought that over and over again."
"......"
"I have a daughter. She's a second-year in middle school. And the ghost standing right in front of me was wearing a school uniform just like my daughter. But its face was completely crushed. It was horrific."
"Please, calm down."
"Detective, it’s suffering even in death. That ghost, who was about the same age as my daughter! It was buried in the wall, unable to escape, repeating that terrible agony forever. That young child!"
Perhaps overwhelmed by emotion, Sergeant Kim’s voice trembled, and his eyes were already moist.
"Do you know what I thought next? I just wanted to find a way to soothe that child’s grudge. That was the only thing I could think of. I understand how you feel, Detective. It sounds insane. But there is simply no other way to explain it."
With those words, Sergeant Kim closed his mouth.
He seemed to have no more words to add, nor the strength to add them.
"...Thank you for your testimony."
The interview ended like that.
In the end, all he had gained was a vague emotion that couldn't be expressed by the word 'unsettling' alone.
'Psychosis induced by hallucination? No, that's not it.'
Lee Jintae’s mind was in total chaos as he returned to the office. The city lights passing outside the window blurred like faint afterimages, but he saw nothing.
"Even if they coordinated their stories, is that even possible?"
The more he tried to build a new hypothesis, the more his logic crumbled at the memory of Sergeant Kim’s face as he choked up talking about his daughter.
"This is driving me mad."
He had dug into countless cold cases, but this was, without a doubt, the most bizarre one he had ever encountered. Perhaps that was why he found himself pressing down on the accelerator harder than he intended.
He finally arrived at the office.
By now, the world outside was plunged into deep darkness. The only sound in the empty office was the low, monotonous hum of computer fans. Yet, that noise seemed to make Lee Jintae’s head feel even noisier.
"I told them to turn off their computers before leaving."
He vented his frustration on the wrong target, then logged into the police internal network and opened the broadcast video backed up in the archives once more.
As he pressed play, the familiar hallway of the abandoned motel appeared on the screen.
"...Is it here?"
Lee Jintae scrolled to the time indicated in the report.
The scene where Kang Jinwoo began his prayer.
"There's nothing there."
Naturally, there was nothing visible on the monitor screen. No light, no ghost, nothing at all. Just Kang Jinwoo standing against the backdrop of an empty hallway, with the police officers watching him.
But the truly bizarre thing was something else.
The chat window that had been scrolling in real-time on one side of the screen.
Unlike him, the viewers who had left comments on the video were clearly 'seeing' something.
Then, the audio from the scene flowed through the speakers.
- D-don't move! If you move, I'll shoot!
- Sir, a-are you just going to keep doing that?
"What on earth are they seeing?"
The video on the monitor clearly showed nothing, yet everyone in the video was screaming as if something were there. He swallowed hard, staring intently at the screen, but there was nothing.
The disconnect between what was inside the screen and what was outside.
Lee Jintae, who had been silent for a while due to that disconnect, muttered to himself as if asking a question.
"...Is it really there?"
When the video ended, all that was reflected on the screen was his own face, stiff with tension.
"This is really driving me crazy. Is everyone insane?"
Lee Jintae took his eyes off the monitor with a long sigh. His gaze naturally drifted to the mountain of documents piled up on one side of his desk.
These were the cold case files that Lee Jintae had never been able to solve.
Because there were no clues, because there wasn't enough evidence, or because the investigation started too late.
These were cases where time had stopped for countless reasons.
'If it really exists, can it be solved?'
Lee Jintae stared at his old notebook and the pile of documents in silence for a long time. Finally, as if he had made up his mind, he dialed the number written on the side of the report.
"Is this Mr. Kang Jinwoo? This is Detective Lee Jintae from the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency's Cold Case Team."
A few days later, inside a quiet cafe in Incheon.
'Should I order something?'
Lee Jintae, who had arrived about ten minutes before the appointment, headed to the counter.
"Yes, sir. How can I help you?"
"One Americano, and... what kind of drinks would a man in his 20s and a teenage girl like?"
"If you don't mind, sir, shall I recommend what's most popular with young people these days? Your children will love them!"
"They aren't my... but thank you. Please do."
He was momentarily flustered by the staff member's kindness, but he didn't bother to correct the misunderstanding. It would be even stranger to reveal his identity as a cold case detective here.
"Sir, just have a seat and I'll bring them over!"
"Yes. Thank you."
As he sat down after the minor misunderstanding, the cafe door opened, and a familiar face walked in.
It was Kang Jinwoo and Kang Jina.
"Over here."
When Lee Jintae raised his hand, Kang Jinwoo nodded and approached, sitting across from him with Kang Jina.
"Oppa, why are you so rude? Hello, Detective!"
As their gazes naturally drifted to the drinks on the table, Lee Jintae cleared his throat and spoke.
"If you want something else, just let me know anytime."
But Kang Jinwoo didn't respond. He simply stared at the drinks on the table, his expression unreadable.
A brief silence passed, and it was Kang Jinwoo who spoke first.
"What did you want to talk about?"
"First, let's have the drinks I ordered—"
"That's fine. I'm quite busy."
As Kang Jinwoo got straight to the point, Lee Jintae smiled awkwardly and lifted his Americano cup. He had a strong premonition that dealing with the expressionless man in front of him would be more of a headache than any cold case.
He spoke carefully, trying not to create the atmosphere of a suspect interrogation.
"First of all, thank you for coming."
"You wouldn't have called if you didn't have a reason."
"If you know anything about the incident, I would like you to tell me whatever it is."
Kang Jinwoo stared at Lee Jintae for a moment, then asked with a look of genuine surprise.
"Do you believe me?"
"...Rather than saying I believe you, let's just say I'm taking it into consideration."
Lee Jintae tried to hide his expression. He had watched the video all night, but it was still hard to believe the testimony.
"Yeah, well. Believing is your freedom."
"Do you know anything about the incident?"
Kang Jinwoo’s answer was cold, contrary to his expectation that he might at least hesitate.
"Regrettably, I know nothing."
Lee Jintae’s brow twitched. Perhaps because he had no expectations, he felt no disappointment. He just felt a bit disgusted, thinking he was being played.
"I just see ghosts. Other than that, I know nothing."
Then, Kang Jinwoo, who had been muttering to himself, asked a strange question.
"Detective, have you found the families of the recovered bodies?"
"A missing person report was filed, but there's no one who could be called family right now. She was raised by her grandmother alone, but she passed away several years ago."
"Tsk, that's a problem."
Hearing the detective’s words, Kang Jinwoo looked genuinely troubled.
"What do you mean it's a problem?"
"It’s a very twisted vengeful spirit; if there’s no one with a connection, it’s difficult for them to reach enlightenment."
"...Excuse me?"
"I mean, even if the entanglement is unraveled, they will become an evil spirit as things stand."
Evil spirit.
At that word, Lee Jintae swallowed hard. Sergeant Kim’s face, filled with resentment, flashed through his mind.
"What happens if they become an evil spirit?"
"They call it the Avici Hell, right? They repeat the most horrific agony forever. It would be one thing if they had memories, but it’s a pity, as they’ve already been consumed by oblivion and lost their memories."
"...Is there no other way? Like us catching the culprit."
"Well."
Tap, tap!
Kang Jinwoo, who had been lightly tapping the table with his fingers, looked Lee Jintae straight in the eye.
"First of all, the detective catching the culprit and delivering the judgment of the law, and the earthbound spirit receiving salvation, are completely different issues. Catching the culprit is your job, Detective, and saving the earthbound spirit is my job for now. What is the victim's identity?"
"She's a 17-year-old girl. A missing person report was filed a long time ago, but the initial investigation wasn't conducted properly, so there's no evidence or anything. We suspect the place where the body was found is where she was abandoned."
"Ah, of all things."
Kang Jinwoo glanced at his younger sister, Kang Jina, who was drinking her lemonade with her ears perked up.
"Is it good?"
"Yeah."
'Tsk, can't be helped.'
Soon, he stood up as if he had made a decision.
"I don't know if it will work or not. Let's go."
"Where to?"
"The motel. When the entanglement is unraveled, they instinctively wander looking for their connections to shed their lingering attachments, but since there's no one like that, she must still be at the motel. Ah, there's a place we need to stop by first."
Before heading to the abandoned motel, the three of them stopped briefly at a large supermarket near the motel.
Kang Jinwoo pushed the cart and asked his sister bluntly.
"What do girls your age usually like?"
"...Money?"
"It was my mistake for asking."
Kang Jinwoo clicked his tongue and went around the snack aisle and the stationery aisle, putting various things into the cart.
Pretty diaries, cute stickers, the latest idol albums, sweet-looking chocolates, and snacks.
Lee Jintae, who had been watching him quietly, picked up a small rabbit doll from the character doll aisle at one point and put it in the cart.
"What is that?"
When Kang Jinwoo looked at him, Lee Jintae cleared his throat and answered.
"...My niece likes this. I thought she might like it."
At those words, Kang Jinwoo chuckled. Of course, that smile wasn't a mocking one, but a smile born from discovering the humanity hidden inside the detective’s stiff shell.
"You really have no sense, Detective. Logically, would a 17-year-old like a rabbit doll?"
"......"
Lee Jintae’s face flushed, and he looked away. Kang Jinwoo watched him for a moment, then, as if to show him, took the most flashy and largest unicorn doll from the doll aisle and threw it into the cart next to Lee Jintae’s rabbit doll.
"You have to give her a friend, at least."
After finishing their shopping, the three of them moved to the abandoned motel.
"This way."
When they arrived at the abandoned motel, Lee Jintae took the lead and lifted the police line. The three of them didn't say a word as they stepped on the creaking stairs and climbed to the 3rd floor.
"Team Leader?"
When they reached the 3rd floor, the team members who were processing the scene looked at Kang Jinwoo and his sister, who had come with Lee Jintae, with strange expressions.
It was because they already knew the faces of the siblings.
"Team Leader, do you believe that insane story?"
"I'll take responsibility, so just watch."
"Ha, Team Leader."
"If you're done talking, I'll do my job."
Kang Jinwoo walked straight to the end of the hallway, ignoring the surrounding gazes. Perhaps overwhelmed by his momentum, the forensic team member standing there instinctively stepped aside.
Kang Jinwoo, who stopped walking, turned his head toward the other forensic team members for a moment.
"It would be better not to leave what you see from now on in any records or memories. Just watch over the final moments of a child."
Kang Jinwoo carefully placed the items he had bought at the supermarket on the floor one by one.
"I didn't know what she'd like, so I bought a bit of everything."
He said quietly toward the empty air.
"You're a lost child. My abilities are humble, so I might not be able to help you. But I will try. Everyone here is here to soothe your grudge. Please trust them."
In an instant, the air in the hallway froze. But the people couldn't even react.
'D-don't tell me.'
'That can't be.'
'Just in case...'
It was because they instinctively felt that something was happening.
And at that moment.
"Twisting the providence of oblivion is painful. Because it means facing your hell clearly once again. Yes, I understand. Let's do our best together. Oranis, for the sake of the ignorant, open their eyes and open their ears."
A faint golden radiance bloomed around Kang Jinwoo, and at the same time, a translucent figure appeared in the empty air of the hallway.
Just as in the initial report, a girl in a school uniform with a horrific face appeared.
Everyone on the scene held their breath. No screams came out.
They were used to seeing corpses.
But what followed was something they had never predicted.
"I will bear the price of twisting the providence."
As Kang Jinwoo’s prayer continued, the spirit in the air writhed in agony and screamed.
At the same time, red blood tears streamed down Kang Jinwoo’s eyes.
"Ugh...!"
"Oppa!"
Kang Jina, who was standing next to him, grabbed his arm in surprise. Lee Jintae also clenched his fists with a face that had turned white.
The scream filled with resentment echoed in the hallway.
"I know your grievance well. You must hate them. You must be hateful. But you shouldn't be here. There is someone waiting for you."
"I swear it. There is someone who waits for you even in death. If you stay here, that person waiting for you will only suffer the same agony as you."
At Kang Jinwoo’s confident voice, the earthbound spirit’s writhing gradually subsided.
"Oblivion only swallows memories, not the roots. If you decide to go, the path will naturally appear."
The moment those words ended, the spirit’s screaming stopped abruptly.
After a long silence, the spirit uttered one word with difficulty.
"Yes. You found the way. You're going to meet your grandmother, but it wouldn't be right to go looking like that, would it?"
In an instant, a pure white flame bloomed on the spirit’s body.
"Cough!"
At the same time, Kang Jinwoo coughed and vomited a mouthful of dark red blood. As he staggered, Kang Jina quickly supported him.
"...This is fucking exhausting."
The flame subsided in an instant. The spirit that appeared again was no longer horrific.
It was the face of a young girl, commonly seen on the streets.
Having found her original appearance, the spirit smiled faintly at Kang Jinwoo.
"It's fucking exhausting, so if you're thankful, go quickly."
The spirit’s figure began to scatter slowly. Then, just before she disappeared completely, she left her final words with a pained expression.
Sarrr.
As the spirit disappeared without a trace, silence descended on the hallway.
There, Kang Jinwoo, leaning on Kang Jina, turned to look at Lee Jintae and the forensic team members.
"My job is done here, so believe it or not, that's up to you."