Great — Chapter Three will mark the beginning of Hara and Jungkook's uneasy partnership. We'll show Jungkook's sharp
Chapter Three – Uneasy Partners
The forest looked different in daylight. Sunlight filtered through the canopy in pale shafts, turning the wet leaves silver. But to Yoo Hara, the place felt no less heavy. Every gust of wind seemed to carry the memory of a whisper.
Detective Lee Jungkook crouched by the tree roots where the body had been found. He wore gloves now, meticulous as he scanned the ground. His gaze darted to broken twigs, displaced soil, a faint scuff mark near the roots. He didn't waste a motion.
"Whoever dumped him here knew the forest well," Jungkook muttered. "No car tracks nearby. Body wasn't dragged far. Killer was strong enough to carry him in."
Hara stayed a step behind, notebook in hand. She was used to leading the investigation in her village—now, she was little more than an observer.
Still, she couldn't ignore the low murmur brushing her ear.
"It wasn't just one. Two of them… laughing while I bled out. One had a scar on his hand."
Hara's pen paused over the paper. She glanced at Jungkook, who was brushing mud from the base of the tree. Should she say it? No—she couldn't just blurt out the ghost's words. She'd have to frame it as instinct.
"Detective," she began carefully, "do you think there might have been more than one attacker? The ground disturbance—it seems like two sets of movements, not one."
Jungkook turned, sharp eyes narrowing on her. For a long moment, he said nothing, as though weighing her words against the evidence.
Then he gave a short nod. "Good eye. I thought the same."
Relief washed through her, though she kept her face steady.
They worked in silence for a while, Jungkook collecting soil samples and sketching the scene. Finally, he broke it with a question, his tone clipped but curious.
"You said you were on patrol. What made you check the forest in a storm?"
Hara's chest tightened. The real answer—because the dead called me—hung bitter on her tongue. Instead she said, "Villagers always talk about strange sounds in the woods. I thought maybe someone had gotten lost."
He studied her again, that same searching gaze from yesterday. As if he sensed there was more she wasn't saying.
"You trust your instincts a lot," Jungkook said.
Hara met his eyes evenly. "Out here, sometimes instinct is all we have."
Something flickered across his expression—approval, maybe, or caution—but he didn't press further.
As they left the forest, Hara felt Dongseok's ghost trail behind, heavy as a shadow. His voice was sharper now, demanding.
"Good. Work with him. Use him. But don't forget—this is my case. You don't stop until they pay."
Hara's grip on her notebook tightened. She glanced at Jungkook's steady stride beside her and realized the truth: this case would bind her to two men.
One of flesh and blood.
One of whispers and rage.
And she wasn't sure which one would be harder to survive.