A schoolgirl, around 15 years old; was walking down a street towards her home. 'It is just two blocks away, I can reach in time for the guests' she thought. She adjusted the strap of her heavy bag pack and turned a corner into a backstreet. As she walked a few steps into the next street, a cold, gloved hand pressed her voice box from behind. She can't scream, she can't breathe! The criminal smiles slightly, 'Master will be happy with today's prey', he thought. He hit a few more spots on her neck with surgical precision. Then he did a small karate chop like motion and suddenly, the security camera of a house in the vicinity went blank for a second and when they came back online in the next second, the girl was gone; never to be found again.
***
A woman anchor on television said- "Another abduction, the same circumstances. A child returning from school turns a corner, a mass blackout of security cameras in the vicinity and then the child just disappears without a trace of a struggle or a scream. Just leaving behind a heartbroken family and a strange symbol in the wake of the horror that might have occurred to the children."
The anchor sighed, missing her own son who had disappeared in the same way 5 years ago. She took a deep breath and continued- " We on channel 24 have exclusive footages and photos of both the criminal's symbol and the crime scene, stay tuned and we will return after a short break."
***
A finger pressed the pause button on a TV remote after the break and a pair of magnetic amber eyes narrowed to look closely at the photograph of the symbol that was being displayed on the screen. Crunch. A potato chip goes into the mouth of chief forensic scientist Choi Seonghwah who had now been given the task of solving the 6-year-long case of the worldwide child abductions. The TV anchor continued after unpausing- " No age group below 20 years has been spared by this mysterious criminal or gang behind this seemingly unstoppable series of kidnappings of boys, girls and even 4 transgenders. It is sad to say that there has been no clue about these children. Will the new investigation head, Mr. Choi Seonghwah find them? Find out the probabilities, pros, cons and everything else in our special bulletin at 7 'o'clock in the evening. Stay tuned."
***
Seonghwah switched off the TV and went to the washroom to wash his face. He stood up from the sofa and started walking towards the washroom still thinking about the case. As he entered the washroom, he looked fleetingly at the mirror. In the mirror his handsome, 20 year old face with his chaotic blonde hair and amber eyes was reflected, but his handsomeness was marred by dark circles from the tension about the case.