At the violent crimes division of the Jungbu Police Precinct, there's a detective they call "Ghost." The rookie detective Lee Se-Hwan, who had applied to the detective squad through this year's assignment process, had been hearing that rumor ever since his days as a patrol officer at the local precinct. An arrest rate of 200 percent. They said that in front of "Ghost," who not only catches the culprits in his own cases but even snags those responsible for unsolved cases left in the past, every violent criminal and thug becomes as meek as a lamb. For the patrol officers in the area, he was both an object of admiration and a legend. The rumors went so far as to claim that he had turned down a promotion in order to focus on fieldwork.
'Of course, nobody actually turns down a promotion.'
But even if only half of those rumors were true, there was no denying he was an extraordinary detective. Amid the envy of his fellow patrol officers, Se-Hwan arrived at the violent crimes division of the Jungbu Precinct and looked around the office, swallowing dryly, wondering who the rumored detective might be. The men who lived and breathed alongside violent criminals fixed him with piercing glares that carried an intense edge. Any one of them could be called "Ghost" without it sounding the least bit off.
'Every single one of those stares...'
Feeling intimidated by the veterans' gazes, Se-Hwan suddenly worried about whether he could hold his own here.
"Uh... you the new guy coming in today?"
A voice came from behind him without warning, making Se-Hwan jump. He spun around and snapped to attention.
"Sir!" "Oh, no need to be that tense. We're all one family now, what's the big deal."
A middle-aged man holding two paper cups of coffee extended one toward Se-Hwan.
"Consider it a welcome gift." "Th-thank you!"
Se-Hwan bowed his head in a quick nod and accepted the coffee. A warmth flooded through him, as if he'd just received a call from family he'd been longing to see after living alone in some remote place. Maybe it was the sip of warm coffee that made his heart settle a little? Se-Hwan glanced around as he sipped, then spoke to the senior who'd just handed him the coffee.
"Um... when I introduced myself to the team leader, he said I'd be working alongside Detective Seong going forward..." "Ah, that 'Ghost'?" "Pfft!"
Se-Hwan barely managed to hold back the coffee that threatened to spray from his mouth and nose.
"He's so elusive that we gave him that nickname, but somehow the other precincts started knowing about it too. You've heard of him, right?" "Y-yes."
Watching Se-Hwan nod repeatedly, the senior let out a small laugh.
"Actually, that coffee I gave you? It was supposed to be for him."
The senior had slipped out into the hallway and now grinned, jerking his chin in the distance.
"The tiger comes when you speak his name. There he is."
Unable to contain his curiosity, Se-Hwan hurried out into the hallway and turned his head in the direction the senior was looking. There, at the end of the corridor, a figure was slowly approaching.
'That's the one...'
The person clearly hadn't been rushing, but in the blink of an eye, he was already standing right in front of them. Intimidation. Se-Hwan, whose height was roughly the South Korean male average, looked up at the senior detective who stood a full head taller and felt a strange pressure, as though his breath were being squeezed out.
'The Ghost of Jungbu Precinct...'
That nickname hadn't come about solely because he was elusive. Se-Hwan became certain of that the moment he met the man behind the rumors.
"Seonbae." "Oh, hey. Heading out on a job?" "I am. Is this kid the new recruit?" "Yeah, that's right. This is Lee Se-Hwan."
Jin-Woo gave a brief nod of greeting to the senior beside Se-Hwan, then turned the frozen rookie around and casually threw an arm over his shoulder.
"I'm gonna take this one out and show him the ropes."
The friendly-looking senior smiled broadly, clearly in high spirits about something.
"Sure, sure. Take care, take care."
The moment the senior's farewell left his lips, Jin-Woo steered the fledgling rookie outward and headed for the door.
'No way... he's not mad at me for drinking his coffee, is he?'
Just as that thought flickered through his mind, Se-Hwan asked in a rush.
"Se-Senior! Wh-where are we going right now?"
But instead of an answer, a question came back.
"Why did you become a cop?" "Ah... I..."
Se-Hwan hesitated, then recalled the dream he'd forgotten during the past year or so spent wrestling with drunkards at the patrol precinct.
"I wanted to catch bad guys..." "That's right."
Even while exchanging words with the rookie, Jin-Woo hadn't slowed his pace, leading him somewhere. Finally, he stopped.
"That's what we're going to do right now."
Se-Hwan raised his head, and Jin-Woo wore his trademark smile. A grin. The kind that put your mind at ease just by looking at it. Gazing down at the rookie with that smile, Jin-Woo continued.
"That's why you became a cop too."
With that single sentence, Se-Hwan's heart lurched violently. Thump. For the first time, he felt that the year-plus he'd spent at the patrol precinct wasn't wasted at all — not if it had all been leading to this. To learn how to catch criminals from that "Ghost." How could anyone who was a proper cop not feel their heart race?
"You're coming, right?"
To a question whose answer was already decided, Se-Hwan responded with an eager face.
"Of course, Senior!"
* * *
Exhausted from chasing petty criminals all day, Se-Hwan had collapsed face-down on his desk and fallen asleep. Originally, Jin-Woo had intended to let him handle the report writing for the suspects he'd caught, too. Tap. Jin-Woo stopped typing and looked over at Se-Hwan, who was sleeping soundly.
'He once caught an armed robber with his bare hands, they say. Training him is pretty fun.'
It had been a while since someone worthwhile had come along, and a smile naturally settled on his face.
"Heh heh."
Seeing the smile that bloomed on Jin-Woo's face, the suspect sitting across from him mistakenly took it as a sign the mood had improved and smiled along. Jin-Woo's expression immediately turned grim.
"...Why are you smiling?" "I-I'm sorry." "Right, then next..."
Jin-Woo's fingers rose back toward the keyboard—
[Lord, tasks like this should be left to us soldiers...]
Igrit's voice came from the shadows. Using the soldiers was convenient. Instead of teaching rookies and catching criminals one by one, he could release the nearly ten million soldiers and have them capture every criminal at once, sweeping the entire nation clean in one stroke. But what about the chaos and terror that would follow? Every action required its proper balance. That was why Jin-Woo used his power with the utmost restraint, keeping it from sending shockwaves through society. Just as the processing of petty criminals was nearly finished — while the rookie was still stuck in dreamland — Jin-Woo's ear caught voices from a corner of the office.
"Detective, Jin-i would never be the kind of kid to kill himself." "Look, I understand how you feel as a friend, but I've explained it already! All the evidence..." "Look at this text message! Does this look like something a person who's going to kill himself in three hours would send?" "Hah..."
Was it because the deceased's name resembled his younger sister's? Jin-Woo found himself bothered by the conversation between the two that hadn't been connecting at all for a while now. The exhausted detective was showing a nervous reaction.
"Listen, sir! Suicide isn't usually a planned thing, it's more impulsive..." "Could I take a look?"
The detective flinched at Jin-Woo, who had approached from behind without a sound. Detectives are the kind of people who can tell at a glance whether someone has committed a crime. When even they can't notice someone's approach, it's no wonder the nickname "Ghost" stuck.
"Detective Seong..."
With a troubled expression, the detective turned his gaze away and caught sight of hope rising on the face of the deceased's friend.
'Ah...'
Sensing his own position was about to become awkward, the detective quietly pulled Jin-Woo aside. He handed Jin-Woo the relevant files, then took out a cigarette and put it between his lips.
"Detective Seong... don't make things difficult for me." "......"
But regardless of the senior's request, Jin-Woo's gaze grew sharper as he flipped through the files. The detective, who had been about to light his cigarette, felt the aura radiating from Jin-Woo and took a step back.
'He's like a completely different person when he's focused like this...'
As if to steady his trembling heart, the senior detective took a long drag of the glowing cigarette. The woman found in the bathtub had died from blood loss due to a large wound on her wrist. The knife used to cut her wrist had been found in the bathroom, and naturally — perhaps too naturally — no one else's fingerprints were on it, only her own. The deceased, who had apparently seemed cheerful in everyday life, had in fact been suffering from depression. A detective who, upon seeing these investigation results, would think of anything other than suicide was rare indeed. Jin-Woo handed the file back to its owner.
"I don't see anything unusual." "R-right?"
The detective accepted the file, looking oddly pleased.
"But still." "But still...?"
The senior, asking with a sense of dread, met Jin-Woo's serious expression.
"I'd like to look into it myself." "Ah..."
The Ghost had caught the scent. The detective watched Jin-Woo's retreating back as he walked toward the deceased's friend, who was waiting anxiously. Scratching the back of his head, the detective grumbled to himself.
'Does that guy never get tired?'
The deceased's friend, whose gaze had been fixed on the floor, lifted his head at Jin-Woo's voice.
"I'm Detective Sung Jin-Woo. Could I have a moment of your time?"
The friend nodded with a solemn expression where hope and grief seemed to collide.
"Yes!"
* * *
Inside a silent house, empty without its owner. A single black shadow rose. It was Jin-Woo. An apartment that looked a bit large for a woman living alone. Throughout the apartment, the warmth from when she was still alive lingered here and there. Late at night. The surroundings were pitch black, but there was no need to turn on the lights. To Jin-Woo, it was no different from broad daylight. Jin-Woo found the bathroom where she had met her end and stepped inside. The strong smell of uncleaned blood stung his nostrils. Standing before the spot where the deceased had accepted her death, Jin-Woo gazed quietly into the bathtub. Looking at the bloodstains scattered everywhere, he could almost feel the deceased's suffering. However. He could only imagine that suffering — he couldn't actually feel it. What state of mind the deceased had been in when she chose death, how agonizing her final moments had been — those left behind would never know. Typically... Bending down to examine the bloodstains, Jin-Woo recalled the last text message she had sent to her friend. That message had been full of anticipation for an upcoming meeting with that friend. Just as the friend had said, it didn't look like a message from someone about to die. Surely, the friend wanted to believe it. That she, her closest friend, hadn't chosen death without even a single word of farewell. Indeed — those left behind never truly know what the deceased wanted to say. Typically, that is, typically. However. Jin-Woo had a way to hear the voices of the dead.
'Before, I needed a corpse...'
At Jin-Woo's command. The blackened blood transformed into a deep crimson liquid and began flowing across the surroundings. What had been mere traces gathered together, piling up until they formed a deep pool of blood that began to churn. As if alive, the mass of blood moved on its own, reproducing again and again. The King of the Dead, the Shadow Monarch, issued an absolute command that the fallen could not defy — aimed at the traces of the deceased.
"Arise."