SPECTER: Night of mist

Inside the Major Crimes Unit office at Kangbuk Police Station, an eerie silence lingered. The tension of the pre-dawn hours still clung to the air. The detectives had just returned from the scene and were slumped against their desks, but the nightmare they'd experienced in the red mist refused to fade from their minds.

Jung Hae-jun stood by the window, staring blankly out at the night sky beginning to pale. In his ears, the faint echoes of that sobbing whisper and cruel laughter from the abandoned building's corridor still rang like a ghostly afterimage.

At his desk, Detective Yun Tae-sik attempted to write up the incident report with trembling hands. He managed to jot down a few lines, but the tip of his pen kept quivering across the paper. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead. "This... isn't real. I'm just having a nightmare...," he whispered to himself, hanging his head.

Suddenly, the letters on the report began to blur and warp. Right before his eyes, a vivid hallucination unfolded on the page—a splatter of bright red blood seeped across the paper as if from nowhere. "Uagh!" Yun Tae-sik yelped, dropping his pen and shoving his chair back as he lurched to his feet. For a moment, all he could see was a crimson stain spreading to cover the entire page.

Meanwhile, out in the hallway, Park Jae-min stood with his arms tightly folded, trying in vain to steady his breathing. His heart was still hammering against his ribs. He fixed his gaze on the dark, empty corridor ahead. No one was there—yet he thought he heard a faint whisper carrying through the stillness.

"...Over here... this way...." A ghostly murmur, like a mix of a sob and a giggle, brushed past his ear. Park Jae-min flinched and spun around in alarm. At that instant, the dim hallway lights flickered, casting unsteady shadows, and a chilling sight unfolded: red mist began seeping into the walls and floor. The very same red mist from the abandoned building seemed to come alive, slowly flooding the police station corridor.

"What the hell is this... again...?" Park gasped, stumbling back a step as his breaths grew quick and shallow.

Back in the office, Hae-jun stood with his back to the window, lost in thought. The words of the strange being who had saved him earlier echoed in his mind: Find Lee Seo-ha. The mysterious individual called "Fog" had insisted that this name was the key to the case. Hae-jun mouthed the unfamiliar name to himself. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, as if trying to block it out, then opened them again. But as soon as he did, his vision began to distort.

He blinked in disbelief. It looked as though the familiar office around him was overlapping with the dark hallway of the abandoned building they had just left. The illusion grew clearer by the second: beyond the desks and filing cabinets, the crumbling red-brick walls and mist-choked corridor of that building emerged into view. Hae-jun hurriedly rubbed his eyes. He thought it might be fatigue, but the scene before him was far too vivid and detailed to be a mere trick of exhaustion.

A sudden crash shattered the silence. Bang! From one side of the office came a loud, clattering noise. Hae-jun whirled around to see Yun Tae-sik stumbling backward, his chair knocked over and sprawled on the floor beside him.

"D-Detective... th-the report...!" Yun Tae-sik stammered, pointing a shaking finger at his desk. Hae-jun dashed over to him. Yun Tae-sik's face was deathly pale, his eyes wide in panic. But when Hae-jun's gaze followed his gesture down to the report page, he saw nothing unusual at all. There were no bloodstains—only a few lines of black ink on an otherwise clean sheet of paper.

"Tae-sik, calm down. There's nothing there," Hae-jun said firmly, placing a steadying hand on the younger detective's shoulder.

Yun Tae-sik's breath came in quick pants. He wiped his eyes with a trembling hand and looked again at the report. Like a cruel joke, the bloody blotch had vanished without a trace. Caught between reality and hallucination, he could only gulp down ragged breaths, mind reeling with confusion.

Just then, a shout rang in from the hallway outside. "Is someone there?! Show yourself!" It was Park Jae-min's voice, cracked with fear.

Alarm jolted through Hae-jun. He immediately sprinted out of the office. In the middle of the hallway, Park Jae-min stood rigid, his face drained of color. His eyes were huge with terror, and sweat glistened on his brow.

"Park, what's wrong?!" Hae-jun called as he ran up to him.

Park Jae-min looked as if he'd seen a ghost. He jabbed a finger toward empty air, struggling to get the words out. "J-just now... I saw... the mist. I saw the mist. And... someone... someone was laughing... right beside me..." he choked out. His voice was ragged and broken.

Hae-jun grabbed Park's shoulder and swept his flashlight beam across the corridor. The hallway was empty, lit only by the weakly flickering fluorescent lamp overhead. Aside from their own heavy breathing, everything was deadly quiet. There was no red mist now, no phantom laughter—nothing out of the ordinary.

A cold dread coiled in Hae-jun's gut. Is the hallucination still following us? he wondered, gritting his teeth. It felt as if, even after leaving the scene, some residue of the red mist had clung to them and snaked its way here. A chill crept up his spine at the thought. He clenched his jaw, trying to shake off the feeling. They had escaped that building, and yet the menace of the mist still hung over them.

Behind him, Yun Tae-sik staggered out of the office, nearly collapsing against the hallway wall. His complexion was ashen and his breaths came in uneven gulps. "Detective... If this keeps up, I... I'm really going to lose it. I'm not... I'm not in my right mind..." he moaned, clutching his head with both hands as he sank to his knees.

Park Jae-min lunged forward to hold him up. "Tae-sik, hey, get a hold of yourself!" Park pleaded, lowering down with him. "We... we all saw it. It was real... or at least it felt real..." Even as he tried to reassure his colleague, Park's voice trembled. He sounded like he was trying to convince himself as much as Yun.

Both junior detectives were now crouched on the floor, leaning into each other for support and shaking like leaves. They had watched things that shouldn't exist appear and disappear right in front of them. The fear that they might truly be going insane pressed down on them, heavy and suffocating.

Hae-jun looked down at the two of them, heart twisting. A part of him was afraid too—more than he'd ever admit—but his instincts told him that what they'd witnessed went beyond a simple hallucination or some gas leak. In all his years on the force, he had never experienced anything like these bizarre, supernatural phenomena. It's like having a nightmare with your eyes wide open, Yun Tae-sik had said earlier. The description was disturbingly apt.

No. Hae-jun refused to succumb to fear. He shook his head hard, as if to scatter the icy dread that was burrowing into his chest. In a clear, commanding voice he shouted, "Snap out of it! It's not over yet!"

His words had just burst out when the overhead light flickered violently and then went out with a pop. In an instant, the hallway was plunged into darkness. The only sounds were the strained, panicked breaths of the three detectives reverberating in the pitch-black corridor.

"Wh-why did the lights...?" Park began to whisper, but he never got to finish his sentence. From somewhere in the darkness came that sound again—a low, distorted chuckle, as if someone were crying and laughing at the same time. It echoed off the walls, a soft heehee that raised every hair on their bodies.

Yun Tae-sik curled up tighter, clapping his hands over his ears. "Stay back...! D-don't come near me!" he screamed into the void. In his panic, he was shouting at the unseen entity, begging it to keep away.

Hae-jun's hand flew to his hip. In one swift motion he drew his sidearm, chambering a round. "Who's there?!" he bellowed into the darkness. "Show yourself!" His command rang out, his voice hard and authoritative, and the shout rolled down the hallway in an echo.

He was answered by a sight that made his blood run cold. Even as his voice faded, a familiar red mist began to coalesce at the far end of the corridor. At first it was just a thin film of crimson, but it swelled rapidly, rolling forward. It looked exactly like the mist from the abandoned building—as if that malevolent fog had chased them all the way here. Dark, wine-colored tendrils of mist snaked along the floor and walls, spreading faster and faster until the entire hallway was awash in red haze.

Hae-jun grit his teeth. "It's starting again...," he muttered under his breath. He kept his gun raised and swept his left hand out, patting his belt for the flashlight—only to realize he must have dropped it in the commotion. He swore under his breath; there was no light to cut through this fog. Within seconds, the crimson mist grew so dense that he couldn't see even a foot ahead. A foul odor soaked the air—like rotten dust and burning dryness—and Hae-jun instinctively recoiled at the stench, fighting the urge to cough.

All around them, the corridor erupted with noise. That eerie, half-sobbed laughter resounded from every direction, now louder and more deranged, accompanied by a frenzied bang! bang! bang! on the walls, as if invisible fists were pounding to get in. Yun Tae-sik let out a wild scream and crumpled to the floor completely. Park Jae-min was shuddering head to toe, his eyes darting frantically as he struggled to find the source of the horror in the smoke-colored gloom.

Then, through the swirling red fog, dark shapes began flitting past—indistinct, inhuman silhouettes that appeared for a split second before vanishing again. Hae-jun's palms were slick with sweat as he gripped his pistol with both hands, trying to track the moving shadows. But with nothing solid to aim at, he couldn't even fire a shot; he could only spin in place, heart thundering, as chaos closed in on them.

It was at that moment Hae-jun noticed a small figure quietly emerging through the haze. A shadow, low to the ground, slithered toward them. At first he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him yet again—just another illusion in this nightmare. But the shape grew clearer, more defined, until finally it stepped out of the fog entirely.

It was a man—a middle-aged man in a shabby, old jumper. He had a shaggy ash-gray beard, a grimy baseball cap pulled low, and clouded eyes that gazed serenely ahead. The man walked calmly through the churning mist, as if it were nothing but morning fog, and came to a stop directly in front of Hae-jun.

In the dim red glow, the man's pupils glinted with an uncanny light. Hae-jun's arms locked, his gun still aimed squarely at the stranger's chest, but he was too stunned to move a muscle. This can't be real... If it was, if this was truly happening, then this man was the same vagrant-like figure from the abandoned building. Fog. But how on earth had he appeared here, inside the police station, in the middle of the night—and amid this impossible red mist? None of it made sense.

The man inclined his head slightly, as if to acknowledge Hae-jun's confusion. Then he spoke, his voice low but carrying clearly through the din. "Detective, get a hold of yourself."

The words were simple, but hearing them sent a jolt of cold shock through Hae-jun. A thousand questions caught in his throat. He stared at Fog in astonishment. The middle-aged man—Fog—met his eyes with a steady, unblinking gaze. For a moment, nothing else happened. Then Hae-jun realized the red mist around them was beginning to ebb. The crimson haze, which had moments ago been suffocatingly thick, now swirled and pulled back as if retreating from Fog's very presence. In a matter of seconds, the visibility improved; the outline of the hallway reappeared around them.

Fog's expression remained unreadable as he spoke again, voice soft yet resolute. "Listen carefully to what I say. This is only the beginning." His tone brooked no doubt.

"If you think this will all end with that one abandoned building, you're gravely mistaken." Fog's voice seemed to grow louder, reverberating in the now-thinning mist. "The red mist, the hallucinations, this terror... soon it will spread to the entire city." He paused, letting the warning sink in. "If you want to stop this calamity, you must find Lee Seo-ha."

Hae-jun's heart lurched painfully in his chest as he listened. He swallowed hard, throat dry. In Fog's murky eyes, he could see something profound—an indescribable sorrow intertwined with a fierce urgency. Hae-jun lifted a hand and wiped cold sweat from his brow, his fingers still trembling. The same ominous chill he'd felt earlier was still slithering along his spine. And every word Fog uttered felt like the indisputable truth. "This is only the beginning," he said—and Hae-jun knew, somehow, that Fog was right.

Down the corridor, at the very edge of Hae-jun's vision, Yun Tae-sik and Park Jae-min were still huddled together on the floor. From their shocked, vacant expressions, it seemed they couldn't even see Fog or the exchange happening amid the mist. They were simply clinging to one another, eyes shut against the chaos.

Hae-jun tightened his grip on his pistol, summoning courage, and opened his mouth to speak. "Fog... just who are you, and why—" he began, voice strained. He had countless questions. Why are you doing this? How do you know about Lee Seo-ha? What is this red mist? But before Hae-jun could finish, the remaining mist abruptly began to dissipate.

The crimson fog that had seeped through the hallway walls was rolling back, thinning rapidly. Fog's own figure started to blur along with it. His outline wavered and began to fade, as if he were nothing more than a projection melting into smoke. Still, Hae-jun heard one last whisper of his voice echoing through the corridor—a final resonant hint of his warning—before the mysterious man vanished entirely.

All at once, the fluorescent lights overhead flickered back to life, flooding the hallway with harsh white light. Hae-jun blinked at the sudden brightness. The red mist that had moments ago felt so real now evaporated like a bad dream at daybreak. In the space of a breath, the hallway was just a hallway again—empty, quiet, and ordinary, as though the whole encounter had been an illusion.

Yun Tae-sik and Park Jae-min slowly raised their heads. Gasping for air, they glanced around in disbelief. The nightmare had disappeared as quickly as it struck, leaving the corridor looking exactly as it should. The two men stared at the now-normal scene, then at each other, both at a loss for words.

Hae-jun lowered his gun with a shaking arm and released a long breath he hadn't realized he was holding. It was over. The entire episode had ended without him ever finding a chance—or a target—on which to pull the trigger. But even though the danger was gone, Fog's parting words burned in Hae-jun's mind, stark and unforgettable.

The red mist is only the beginning... you must find Lee Seo-ha.

Hae-jun clenched his fist so tightly his knuckles whitened. Fear and confusion still swirled in his chest, but now something else rose to meet them—a hot determination, igniting deep inside. Whatever this supernatural terror was, whatever the red mist meant for the city, he would get to the bottom of it. And the first step was clear: find Lee Seo-ha.

Steeling himself, Hae-jun drew in a slow breath and straightened to his full height. He walked over to his two junior detectives, who remained kneeling on the floor in a daze, and gently helped each man to his feet.

Yun Tae-sik and Park Jae-min both looked utterly exhausted and shell-shocked. Their faces were drawn, their eyes glassy with lingering panic. Hae-jun studied them for a moment. Then, in a calm but authoritative voice, he said, "Let's call it a night. Go home, both of you—get some rest."

The two men nodded weakly. They didn't need to be told twice. In the aftermath of what they'd just endured, there was nothing more to be done here, and no one had the energy to discuss it yet. In silence, they acknowledged the order. No further words were necessary.

Not long after, Hae-jun pushed open the front doors of the station and stepped out into the cold dawn. The frigid early-morning air prickled against his skin, helping clear the fog in his mind. The sky to the east had begun to lighten, a hazy gray line blooming along the horizon.

Hae-jun paused on the station steps and drew in a deep lungful of the crisp air. His breath clouded white in front of him, then dissipated into the quiet morning. He gazed toward the faint glow of the impending sunrise, his expression resolved.

Lee Seo-ha... I will find you. No matter what.

He vowed this silently to himself, sealing the promise in his heart. Then Jung Hae-jun squared his shoulders and walked forward into the dim, waking light of dawn.