"*(Warning: this… chapter contain gore or ngl it's just words… I'm bad at giving a warning just read.)*"
Doyeon stayed where he was after the call ended.
He leaned his head back against the cold wall behind him and stared quietly up at the strip of sky visible between the tall buildings. The alley was narrow, so only a thin slice of pale clouds could be seen drifting slowly above.
The air still smelled awful though, rotting fish, damp trash, and something sour that made his nose wrinkle every now and then— but he had already gotten used to it.
Next to him, the ghost girl slowly floated down until her feet touched the ground.
Then, almost hesitantly, she sat beside him.
For a moment she simply stayed there, hugging her knees close to her chest like a nervous child. After a few seconds she shifted slightly and leaned her head against Doyeon's shoulder, resting there quietly while wrapping her arms around her legs.
It was an oddly normal posture.
Almost like two friends sitting together while waiting for something.
Doyeon glanced sideways at her.
Then he looked forward again.
Then he peeked again.
(Wait…)
A thought slowly crept into his mind.
(Now that I think about it… why am I not getting any dates?) His brows furrowed slightly as the thought continued. (Isn't this ghost technically a girl or… oh.)
He slowly pulled his phone out of his pocket and stared at the screen. The mysterious app icon sat there quietly on the home screen, the same one that had been giving him "ghost dates."
Doyeon squinted at it suspiciously.
"Maybe…" he muttered absentmindedly, thinking out loud without realizing it, "if I already have a date progressing… I can't date another ghost."
The moment the words left his mouth, he froze.
Slowly…
Very slowly…
He turned his head.
The ghost girl leaning on his shoulder twitched once.
Then she sniffed.
Doyeon immediately looked forward again like nothing had happened.
(Nice… She probably didn't hear that.)
He slipped his phone back into his pocket and pretended to be extremely interested in the clouds again.
A few seconds passed.
Then the distant sound of sirens began to echo through the streets.
At first it was faint.
But it grew louder.
And louder.
Soon the flashing lights of red and blue reflected faintly off the walls at the entrance of the alley. Police cars had arrived just outside.
Doyeon remained sitting calmly against the wall.
Footsteps quickly filled the alley as officers rushed inside, followed by a pair of paramedics carrying equipment.
Several policemen began scanning the area immediately.
And then—
Doyeon spotted someone familiar among them.
A tall man stepped forward through the group, his presence commanding attention without him even trying. A captain badge gleamed on his vest, and his white hair stood out sharply under the flashing lights.
His face looked terrifyingly angry.
Brows furrowed.
Eyes sharp.
Lips pressed into a permanent scowl that made him look like he was about to yell at someone every second of the day.
But that was just his normal face.
Doyeon watched him for a moment before chuckling quietly under his breath.
"Samchon…" he muttered with a small grin. He shook his head slightly. "After all these years… Samchon's face still looks like he's mad at the entire world."
Then he snorted softly.
"Even though that's just his natural face."
After a moment, Doyeon pushed himself off the wall and stood up. The ghost girl immediately rose as well, floating close behind him as if afraid to be left alone again.
Without saying anything, Doyeon began walking toward the metal door at the end of the alley where several officers were already gathering.
Before he could get close, one of the policemen stepped forward and raised a hand to stop him.
"Kid, you can't be here," the officer said firmly, blocking the path.
Doyeon didn't even have time to respond.
A heavy hand suddenly landed on the officer's shoulder from behind.
The officer stiffened instantly.
"I know this kid. Let him through." The deep voice belonged to Captain Wonho. The officer turned quickly and straightened up the moment he recognized him.
"Yes, sir! Sorry, sir!" he said, giving a quick salute before stepping aside.
Doyeon walked past him casually as if this happened all the time.
Behind him, Wonho let out a long sigh and scratched the back of his head while looking down at his nephew.
"Doyeon…" he muttered tiredly. "What is it this time?"
His eyes shifted toward the door. "Another ghost telling you where their body is?"
"Yeah," Doyeon replied simply. He tilted his head slightly and pointed behind himself. "She's behind me right now."
Wonho froze.
For a brief second, his face looked like it was slapped by some cold water. "(￣□￣;)!!!"
Then he cleared his throat awkwardly and wiped a bit of sweat from his forehead.
"Oh… okay… good to know," he muttered. "Don't mind us barging in then."
Behind Doyeon, the ghost girl suddenly moved closer. She wrapped her arms around him from behind, clinging to his back as if trying to push him forward.
"Please… faster…" she whispered weakly.
Doyeon felt the cold sensation against his back but didn't react much anymore. He simply pointed behind him again.
"So… 삼촌," he said casually, "she's telling us to hurry."
Wonho's expression immediately hardened.
He turned toward the officers around him.
"Break it."
One of the officers ran out of the alley and returned a moment later carrying an axe. Without wasting time, the group surrounded the door and began striking it.
THUD!
BANG!
The old metal hinges groaned loudly under the repeated hits.
After several blows, the lock finally snapped.
The door burst open.
The smell hit them instantly.
A thick, sour stench poured out of the dark interior like a physical wave— rotting flesh mixed with something damp and foul that had been trapped inside for days.
Some of the officers immediately gagged.
One of them turned away, covering his mouth.
Another bent over and threw up near the wall.
Wonho, however, barely reacted.
He simply frowned slightly.
He had smelled worse before.
Doyeon stepped inside behind him. His face stayed mostly calm, but every now and then his nose wrinkled from the smell.
But… the room itself was worse than they expected.
The moment they stepped past the broken door, a dim yellow light flickered weakly from a single ceiling bulb. It buzzed with an uneven electrical hum, blinking every few seconds as if it might die at any moment. Each flicker briefly plunged parts of the room into shadow before the light sputtered back to life again.
The smell inside was far stronger than it had been outside.
Rotten.
Sour.
Heavy enough to cling to the back of your throat.
Doyeon instinctively covered his nose with the back of his sleeve as his eyes adjusted to the dim lighting.
Dark stains covered the concrete floor in uneven patches, some dried into dark brown crusts while others looked… completely black.
The walls were worse. Dried blood had splattered across them in long streaks and smeared handprints, some sliding downward as if someone had tried to drag themselves across the surface.
Above them, the flickering bulb cast unstable shadows that made the stains seem almost alive.
A faint buzzing sound filled the room.
Flies.
Dozens of them.
They circled lazily near the ceiling light and along the darker corners of the room, occasionally landing on the dried blood before lifting off again with an irritated buzz.
The deeper Doyeon and Wonho walked inside, the heavier the air became. Each step made the sticky floor peel slightly under their shoes.
Then they saw it.
At the far end of the room stood a large metal vault, its surface scratched and smeared with dark stains. The area around it was soaked in blood, some of it splashed across the metal door as if something violent had happened right in front of it.
But that wasn't the first thing Doyeon noticed.
Beside the vault…
There was a dog.
A thin, starving dog.
Its ribs were clearly visible under its skin, its body trembling weakly as it lay chained beside the metal door. The leash was attached to a heavy hook in the wall, keeping it trapped there.
The poor dog looked barely alive.
"Shit…" Doyeon muttered under his breath.
Behind him, the ghost girl suddenly broke down.
The moment she saw the dog clearly, something inside her seemed to shatter. A strangled sob escaped her as fresh streams of blood began pouring from her eyes again, thicker than before, sliding down her pale cheeks and dripping into the floor that could never feel them.
She rushed forward in a panic.
"No… no…"
Her voice trembled as she dropped beside the trembling dog. She reached out desperately, trying to wrap her arms around the dog like someone trying to comfort a dying friend.
But the moment her arms closed—
They passed straight through.
The ghost girl froze.
For a second she stared at her own hands as if she couldn't understand what had just happened. Then she tried again, leaning forward, attempting to hold the dog's head gently against her chest.
Again, nothing.
Her body had no weight.
No warmth.
No presence in the living world.
She collapsed beside the dog instead, curling forward as sobs shook her shoulders. Blood continued to stream from her eyes while the starving dog weakly lifted its head, as if sensing something familiar even though it couldn't see her.
Behind them, Wonho had already seen enough.
His jaw tightened.
His eyes darkened as he turned sharply toward the entrance of the room.
"Medic!" he shouted, his voice echoing off the stained walls. "Get in here now!"
Within seconds, paramedics rushed inside. One of them hurried to the dog and carefully cut the leash while another wrapped the shaking dog in a blanket.
The dog was quickly carried outside.
Then another group of officers entered the room carrying a cutting saw.
Wonho gestured toward the vault.
"Open it."
The tool roared to life as they began cutting through the heavy metal door.
Sparks flew.
The cutting saw screamed as it bit into the thick metal of the vault door.
Sparks sprayed across the floor while the officers leaned their weight into the machine, the sharp grinding noise filling the entire room.
The flickering ceiling light shook slightly with the vibration, its weak glow stuttering above them while flies buzzed irritably around the disturbance.
For a several long seconds, the only sounds were the saw and the strained breathing of the men inside the room.
Then—
With a loud CLANG, the final hinge snapped.
The vault door creaked open slowly.
A wave of thick, rotten air poured out from inside.
And within the darkness…
There were pieces.
Chopped pieces of a human body, packed tightly inside the vault like discarded objects. Limbs had been forced into unnatural positions just to make them fit. The skin had already begun to discolor, turning a sickly grey beneath the dim light.
Doyeon's eyes caught only fragments of it.
An arm bent the wrong way.
A shoulder covered in dried blood.
Fingers curled stiffly inward—
The nails darkened and bruised, some of them cracked and stained black as if they had clawed desperately against something before death.
That single glimpse was enough.
Doyeon's stomach twisted violently.
He turned away immediately and staggered out of the room, barely making it through the doorway before he bent forward in the alley.
He threw up.
The sour taste burned his throat as he braced a hand against the wall, breathing hard while the flashing red and blue lights from the police cars washed across the alley.
Doyeon had seen dead bodies before.
More than most people his age.
But this—
This wasn't just death.
Someone had tortured that girl…
And even after everything he had experienced, the sight of it still made him sick.
Back inside the room, Wonho remained standing in front of the open vault.
His face had gone completely still.
Cold.
Grim.
The officers around him carefully began removing the remains piece by piece, placing them into evidence bags while investigators documented everything.
Back inside, Wonho stared into the vault with a cold, grim expression. "Who's the sick bastard that did this," he muttered quietly.