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CHAPTER 01
On a night with rain steadily pouring down.
Someone was running through a dark alleyway, completely soaked from head to toe.
Splash. Splash.
Ignoring the puddles deep enough to swallow half his shoes, he kept running.
“Huff… huff…”
He ran again and again, trying to catch the man in the black raincoat ahead of him.
His breathing had reached its limit.
It felt like his insides would burst out if he moved any further.
But he couldn’t stop.
The moment he stopped, he would lose the suspect he had been chasing for half a year.
He couldn’t tell whether his blurry vision was because of the rain or because he was out of breath.
Still, he kept running to the very end.
He knew this road led to a dead end, and that was why he could keep chasing him.
And then…
“Haa… haa…”
The dead-end alley he had been waiting for finally appeared.
“Keugh… keck, keck…”
The laughter he had been holding back slipped out through his lips.
His rough breathing and constricted lungs mixed with laughter and turned into coughing.
His throat burned and ached.
Even so, he couldn’t stop laughing.
“You bastard. Did you really think you could kill three people and get away with it?”
At the end of the dead-end alley, the suspect in the black raincoat finally stopped walking.
There was nowhere to climb over the wall.
Only rows of old apartment buildings stood around them.
Click.
This place was the perfect stage to finally catch the bastard who had made him suffer for six months.
He pulled out his handgun.
And the moment he pointed the gun at the suspect—
“From this moment on…”
Words he would never forget for the rest of his life came from the man who slowly turned around.
“You’ll never forget what’s about to happen here.”
“What?”
He placed his finger on the trigger.
If necessary, he was ready to shoot, and aimed at the suspect’s thigh.
“Because this will be the moment when everything you believed in…”
The suspect slowly raised his hand.
Judging it as a sign of attack, he tightened his finger on the trigger.
Bang!
And just like the suspect said—
A sight he would never forget unfolded before him.
Flash!
Along with a bright light, the suspect disappeared.
At the very end of a dead-end alley with absolutely no escape route.
The man vanished right before his eyes without leaving even a trace.
Completely…
= = =
Wee-woo, wee-woo, wee-woo.
The rain showed no signs of stopping.
Five police cars searched every nearby alley thoroughly.
But they found nothing.
‘Except for this thing in my pocket.’
Standing in front of the car they had brought to catch the suspect, he tried to pull the object out.
“Kim Jincheol!”
Hearing someone call him, he quickly shoved the item deep back into his pocket.
Detective Kim Jincheol of Violent Crimes Unit 2 turned his head and saw a bald eagle approaching him.
‘Chief Jo Deoksun.’
The leader of Violent Crimes Unit 2.
Chief Jo walked up to Jincheol, who was standing in the rain, and suddenly slapped him across the face.
Smack.
“You crazy bastard! You still couldn’t catch him?!”
He got hit all the time, but maybe because of the rain, it hurt less today.
Jincheol slowly turned his head back and faced Chief Jo again.
Then, just like always, he glared back at him.
“The hell are you glaring at me for?!”
Chief Jo raised his hand again.
At that moment, senior detective Hwang Gyoman, who was beside them, grabbed the chief’s wrist and flashed an easygoing smile.
“Come on, Chief. The kids are watching.”
“This is the first time I’ve seen someone lose a suspect in a blocked alley. Damn frustrating.”
“Why? Because you might miss your promotion?”
“What did you just say, you punk?!”
“You yelled at us a month ago because the team leader from the other unit got promoted to superintendent while you didn’t. Was I wrong?”
Chief Jo’s face twisted more and more with anger, and Hwang stepped in again.
“Kim Jincheol!”
Standing between the two men, Gyoman placed both hands on his waist and put on a stern expression.
“Apologize to the chief. I know you’re pissed about losing the suspect, but there are things you should and shouldn’t say!”
At Gyoman’s words, Jincheol finally regained some composure.
He slightly bowed his head and answered,
“I’m sorry. I got angry because I lost the bastard I’ve been chasing for half a year.”
“This little—”
This time, Gyoman turned toward Chief Jo and spoke.
“You know how he is, Chief. This guy hasn’t even slept properly for six months because of this case. That’s how far he pushed himself. Please try to understand.”
Maybe the words worked, because Chief Jo finally looked away from Jincheol and frowned deeply.
Then he looked Gyoman up and down and said,
“I’m only letting this slide because of you, Hwang Gyoman. If it weren’t for you, I’d have transferred this bastard out already.”
“Yes, yes. I know. Thank you.”
“And stop covering for him all the time. You might get fired too.”
“Yes, I’ll be careful.”
“A mentor and his junior… seriously. Kim Jincheol! Hand your gun over to Officer Park. If even one bullet is missing, both you and Gyoman better prepare to lose your jobs.”
Chief Jo sharply turned around.
“Damn, it’s cold.”
Shivering from the rain, he walked away.
Only then did Hwang Gyoman let out a relieved sigh and approach Jincheol.
“Why are you spacing out like that? If you lost him, just catch him next time.”
Patting Jincheol’s shoulder, Gyoman held out his hand.
“Give me the handgun. I’ll take it over.”
“Senior Hwang…”
“Get yourself together, idiot.”
“No, Senior Hwang…?”
Seeing Jincheol’s stiff expression, Gyoman frowned in confusion.
“What is it?”
“One bullet is missing.”
“…What? Don’t tell me you fired it?”
“Yes. One rubber bullet…”
“Are you insane— Ah?”
Gyoman almost shouted, but quickly lowered his voice after checking their surroundings.
“Hey, this isn’t some light punishment. This is serious disciplinary action. Chief Jo already has it out for you… You could really get fired.”
“I was sure I could catch him! It was a dead-end alley, so I cornered him. I only fired because I was pissed off and wanted to scare him, but… damn it, why the hell did he disappear?!”
“What are you talking about?”
“There was a flash of light in the alley and then he disappeared! Right in front of me! In less than a second!”
He definitely disappeared.
It was a dead-end alley with no escape route.
Just in case, Jincheol even searched behind him and around the area.
But the man had truly vanished without a trace.
Perfectly.
“Does that even make sense? What is he, a magician? A wizard?”
“He must be a magician.”
“Even magicians need stage tricks or equipment for that stuff. Just forget it. Think of it as a mistake.”
“But it’s true… Damn it, I’m going crazy.”
He couldn’t understand it at all.
If he had been panicked, maybe it would’ve made sense.
Even though his body was exhausted enough to fire a gun, his mind had been perfectly clear.
So unless it was some impossible magic trick, how could someone disappear right before his eyes?
“Just give me the gun already.”
If Senior Hwang had been the one saying these things, Jincheol knew he would’ve responded exactly the same way.
It was the kind of thing no one would believe unless they experienced it themselves.
‘It’s not like I dreamed it…’
It felt like that bastard’s words were going to come true.
“You’ll never forget what happens here from this moment on.”
Especially today.
The memory of those words left him in a rotten mood as he tried to hand over the gun.
Bzzzt.
The piece of evidence he had stubbornly kept hidden from Chief Jo.
A faint vibration came from the object he was gripping tightly inside his pocket.
“Uh… uhh…”
That tiny vibration made Jincheol drop the handgun from his hand.
“Hey! What’s wrong with you?!”
His entire body suddenly lost strength, so much that he couldn’t even hold a pistol.
The world spun violently before his eyes.
The scenery around him literally rotated clockwise.
And in that condition—
Thud.
“Jincheol! Jincheol!!!”
He collapsed face-first into a muddy rain puddle.
As his consciousness gradually faded, Jincheol still reached out toward the evidence he had dropped while falling.
Toward the strange blue stone that was losing its color while releasing blue haze and smoke…
“Kim Jincheol!! Stay awake!!!!”
The muffled voices around him grew quieter and quieter.
Then he finally closed his eyes.
