Early morning, Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency meeting room. The faint sunlight was streaming through the blinds, illuminating the scattered papers on the table. Detective Jung Hae-jun and his team, who had been fighting for their lives all night, showed deep fatigue on their faces. Hae-jun sat upright in his seat, a white bandage wrapped around his left arm, listening to the higher-ups conclude the briefing. Just days ago he had been an ordinary violent crimes detective, but his merit in this case had earned him a promotion to team captain. With new responsibility weighing on his shoulders, his expression had grown that much more resolute.
On one side of the room, the section chief was conducting the end-of-case briefing. Everyone was nodding along to the official announcement that it had been a "gas leak accident at Gwanghwamun Station," but a bitter feeling lingered in a corner of Hae-jun's heart. The section chief clicked a remote to bring up the next slide and spoke in a calm tone.
"According to our report, 24 citizens were taken to the hospital for gas inhalation, falls, and other injuries. Two of them are in serious condition. Some of the underground facilities were also damaged."
Photos of the incident site and charts of the data appeared one after another on the screen. A brief silence followed, until the bureau chief nodded and opened his mouth to speak.
"You officers who responded at the scene, you all did well. However…" He paused, casting a meaningful look toward Hae-jun's team. "Make sure the report is written exactly as we discussed. State that the citizens experienced confusion due to 'hallucinations' caused by the gas explosion."
A few of the senior officials seated nearby exchanged murmurs and subtle glances. Yoon Tae-sik bit his lip and lowered his head. Choi Do-yoon scowled, clenching his fist, and Park Jae-min let out a long breath as if holding back frustration. Hae-jun closed and reopened his eyes, then answered in an even voice, "Yes, understood." His voice was low, but unwavering. Burying the truth was an uncomfortable reality, but it was something the team had steeled themselves for in advance.
With the briefing ended, the bureau chief was the first to rise. As he did, he added quietly, "Thanks to your efforts, we prevented a bigger panic. Good work, everyone. Get some rest." His expression bore a mix of relief and burden as he then turned and exited the meeting room.
Once he was gone, the section chief swept his gaze over the team and gave a short instruction. "Alright, have the incident report ready by tomorrow. And make sure you've collected all the records from the scene." Hae-jun gave a slight bow of acknowledgement, and with that, the section chief also left the room.
When all the higher-ups had departed, the air in the conference room immediately felt lighter. One after another, the other detectives began to rise from their seats. A brief silence hung in the air, until Park Jae-min managed an awkward smile and mumbled under his breath, "So… is it really over now…?" At his words, the others traded looks in silence. This marked the official end of a nightmarish, endless night. And yet, none of them could readily break into a smile.
*
After the briefing, Hae-jun and his team returned to the Major Crimes office. Under the harsh glare of fluorescent lights, their faces—marred by cuts and exhaustion—nonetheless showed a faint sense of relief. Amid the mess of paperwork piled on every surface, Yoon Tae-sik was the first to speak up.
"Haah… writing up a gas leak report, of all things," he groaned. He stopped pecking at his keyboard and leaned back in his chair. "Honestly, I can still smell it. That damn sewer stench…"
Choi Do-yoon poked his head out from behind his monitor with a dry chuckle. "Detective Yoon, you're gonna make me think I actually smell gas." It was tossed out as a joke, but there was a lingering heaviness in his voice.
Hae-jun paused for a moment and looked at his teammates. Fatigue and a measure of relief warred on Yoon's face, and Choi was forcing a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. Hae-jun absently thumbed the edge of the bandage on his left arm and said calmly, "I'll finish the report. You two should get some rest."
Yoon immediately shook his head. "No, Captain. We'll see it through to the end together." His voice was firm, though a faint tremor ran through it. Choi likewise wordlessly scooted his chair closer in agreement.
On Hae-jun's computer screen, the incident report template glowed blank and waiting. As he began typing, Choi asked quietly, "So in the end… we're going to treat this like nothing ever happened, huh."
From the next desk over, Park Jae-min let out a bitter snort as he fastened a stack of files together. "And all the evidence we collected will be locked away under seal. Everything related to this red mist incident." His tone was laced with cynicism. A somber hush fell in the office.
Yoon hesitated, fidgeting a little before speaking up softly, "By the way… Captain—" He stopped himself, the words catching. All eyes turned toward Yoon. He opened and closed his mouth, then gave a weak laugh to deflect. "Ah, no… it's nothing." He shook his head and dropped his gaze, his expression complicated.
Hae-jun could guess what had gone unspoken. Yoon had almost certainly wanted to ask, "Back there… how were you able to stop that monster with your bare hands?" But in the end, that question never made it past his lips.
Hae-jun stared at the blinking cursor on his monitor and let out a quiet sigh. At that moment, the light from the overhead lamp spilled down across his face. For someone who had suffered through an ordeal all night, his eyes looked strikingly clear, and even the fine lines on his face seemed to have faded. It was as if surviving the incident had somehow left him looking a few years younger than before.
On the corner of Hae-jun's desk lay a crimson crystal shard they had retrieved last night, sealed inside an evidence bag. It was a tiny piece of red crystal about the length of a fingertip — and a distinct star-shaped pattern was etched sharply into its center. Choi dropped his gaze to the fragment and asked quietly, "What should we do about that…? We can't exactly put it in the official report…."
Without a word, Hae-jun picked up the bag. Through the clear plastic, the red shard gleamed with an icy light. "We'll keep it," Hae-jun said firmly. He slipped the evidence bag into the inner pocket of his jacket.
Beside him, Park Jae-min leaned in and murmured, "Honestly, I doubt there's anyone here who'd even try to analyze that thing. No one's going to want to touch it." Yoon silently nodded in agreement. Evidence with no official paper trail… the lingering residue of the red mist. In the end, they themselves were the only ones who would hold on to the truth.
Writing the incident report proved to take longer than expected. Having to write down events so divorced from reality was unfamiliar and uncomfortable for all of them. Yoon kept pausing in his typing to sigh, and Choi found himself frequently tilting his head in puzzlement as he sorted the accompanying photos.
"'A gas leak nearly caused the station ceiling to collapse'… does any of this even sound plausible?" Choi grumbled under his breath. When he did, Park just gave a shrug from across the room. "Doesn't matter. We've got to write it that way, so that's how we'll write it. The higher-ups will sign off on it without a fuss, I'm sure."
Hae-jun remained silent as he uploaded the finalized documents into the electronic approval system. By the time every official procedure was finally wrapped up, the clock had crept past noon. All four of them, utterly spent, slumped back in their chairs and let out a long, collective exhale. Faint as it was, a sense of relief that the case was truly over began to show on each of their faces.
Park Jae-min suddenly sprang to his feet, stretching both arms high above his head. "Uwaaah— I really need to head home now. My mom's probably worried sick by this point," he yawned, attempting a light tone. He gave a sheepish grin as he hastily gathered up the papers scattered on his desk. "You all worked really hard. I'll get going ahead of you."
His words still came out a bit awkward, and his boyish smile betrayed his youth. Yoon chuckled and gave him a nod. "Yeah, get out of here. Just 'cause you're young doesn't mean you've got infinite stamina." Choi raised a hand in a casual salute. "Drive safe on your way home."
Hurriedly slinging his bag over his shoulder, Park bowed deeply one more time at the door. "Great work, everyone. See you tomorrow." Then he slipped out of the office in a rush. As the door clicked shut behind him, the three who remained sat in silence for a moment, simply looking at one another. Now that the unrelenting tension had finally broken, it felt like only now were they truly registering each other's presence in reality.
Yoon was the first to let a faint smile tug at his lips. "Well… I think we can call it a day here. Like the Director said, let's all get some good rest. Hae-jun— I mean, Captain, you should get that arm checked at the hospital." He glanced pointedly at the blood-stained bandage wrapped around Hae-jun's left arm as he spoke.
In truth, Hae-jun's arm did look pretty bad. The dark, clotted red seeping through the gauze made it clear his wound was not a simple one. At Yoon's urging, Hae-jun finally seemed to remember his own condition; he gave a rueful, tired smile. "Right… the hospital. I should do that."
There was a heavy fatigue in that one line, and Yoon and Choi both gave him sympathetic looks as they began packing up to leave.
*
That afternoon, Hae-jun and his teammates went to the police hospital. After a quick round of examinations in the ER, the three of them sat lined up in the treatment room chairs, each of them freshly outfitted with bandages and medicated patches in various places.
"Wow, my arm got pretty banged up too," Yoon muttered, eyeing the gauze now wrapped around his right forearm.
"They said you slammed it into a wall when you fell… Honestly, it could've been worse. Count your blessings," Choi joked breezily. Yoon gave a half-hearted laugh. "True. If we'd told them we got attacked by a ghost, they'd have sent us straight to the psych ward."
The two men snickered together, but there was still a trace of last night's trauma lurking in their eyes. Their laughter trailed off, and in the quiet that followed, Hae-jun's face remained clouded with weighty thoughts. He gazed out the window in silence for a moment, then slowly turned his eyes toward the hallway.
The hospital corridor outside was busy with life. Nurses hurried past pushing gurneys, and doctors in white coats went briskly about their rounds. In the midst of that ordinary, continuous flow of reality, the horrific scenes from only a few hours earlier already felt unreal — like something from a fading nightmare.
Hae-jun closed his eyes. Immediately, an image from the darkness of his mind jolted forth: a bloody hand lunging at him from out of the shadows, gripping his arm – the same hallucination that had seized him during the incident.
"It's your fault… all of it is your fault!" A familiar scream of accusation rang in his ears, echoing endlessly.
Hae-jun winced and gave a sharp shake of his head. It was just an illusion… he told himself firmly. But deep in his chest, the echo of that anguished scream refused to fade, lingering as an indelible scar of guilt.
"Captain Jung?" Choi's concerned voice suddenly pulled him back to the present.
Hae-jun opened his eyes to find Choi watching him with worry. "Are you alright? You don't look so good," Choi asked gently. Seeing Yoon also approach with a face full of concern, Hae-jun forced his features into a more composed expression and nodded. "I'm fine. Don't worry."
He slowly flexed and rotated his bandaged left arm. Thankfully, the wound that had been so severe just hours ago had, after treatment, improved dramatically. It made him recall the attending physician's puzzled remark: "Normally an injury like this should have damaged the muscle layer… How strange."
Hae-jun had maintained a calm façade when he'd heard that, but inside he'd felt a vague unease. It was almost miraculous… and he had no way to explain the abnormal things happening within his body. He'd just brushed it off to the doctor as the result of prompt first aid, but the fact that his left arm now moved with only a faint twinge of pain refused to leave his mind.
Once they'd finished all necessary treatment, the three men headed out through the hospital lobby. The late-day sun stretched long, golden rays over the hospital's brick walls as Yoon raised his arms in a big stretch and let out a yawn. "Haaah… It really is quitting time now. This long day is finally over."
Choi fished his car keys out of his pocket and gave a little grin. "I feel like I'll keel over the second I get home… but how about a drink before we call it a day?" he suggested.
Yoon's eyes lit up at that. "Ah, Detective Choi, you read my mind! Captain, just for tonight, let's take it easy and unwind a bit," he said, looking eagerly at Hae-jun.
Hae-jun hesitated a moment, then let out a soft snort of laughter and nodded. "Alright. Let's have a drink."