In the dead of night, the alley dominated by the abandoned building was deathly silent. It was just past midnight, but the area lay as still as a grave.
The dilapidated building stood like a giant ghost in the pitch-black darkness where not even the moonlight could reach. Its outline loomed faintly, resembling a mute monster with its mouth clamped shut. Not a single sign of life stirred nearby, and even the distant hum of the city failed to penetrate this place.
Jung Haejun pressed himself against a cold brick wall about ten meters from the building, heart thundering as the operation's start loomed near. Through the hiss of static in his earpiece, he could faintly make out his teammates' breathing, and he quietly double-checked the radio channel. The handgun in his grip was already loaded with special illumination rounds, and a portable siren device strapped firmly to his belt was primed for immediate use.
Beneath the silence, the faint memory of a victim's weak moan from deep inside the building echoed in Haejun's ears. He clenched his jaw and swore to himself he would save them, no matter what.
On the opposite side of the building's entrance, Choi Doyoon lay in wait behind another section of wall. He gripped his pistol in both hands, his gaze locked fiercely on the building's padlocked iron door. In his earpiece, his breathing remained steady, and not a tremor touched the finger resting on his trigger. Doyoon's eyes glinted in the dark like a predator's, fully adjusted to the night.
Meanwhile, Yoon Taesik was hunkered down behind a toppled streetlamp pole along the building's side, wiping cold sweat from his brow as he scanned his surroundings. His heart was pounding as if it might burst, but at least his hands had stopped trembling now. In the darkness, his arms held his pistol rock-steady, even as a bead of cold sweat rolled down the back of his neck. He wiped it away with his sleeve and swallowed hard, repeating to himself that he could do this—he would, without fail.
In the pitch-black shadows, Haejun and the two detectives held their positions, bodies taut with nerves as they waited. Additional support team officers were hidden at strategic points around the building, holding their breath and awaiting only the signal to commence. The tension was such that each second felt like an eternity, and not one of them dared to speak a word.
Haejun fixed his gaze on the faint silhouette of the building beyond the darkness. The cold night air seeped deep into his lungs. At last, as the designated time arrived, a brief buzzing vibration came through the radio. Every nerve in his body sprang to attention.
Suddenly, a metallic clatter from the darkness made Haejun snap his gun up. From somewhere near the corner of the building, an empty tin can skittered across the ground, the clink and clatter of it echoing down the alley. Doyoon and Taesik, equally startled, whirled around and trained their guns in the same direction. All three of their hearts leapt into their throats. They realized moments later that it was nothing more than a wind-blown can, but their overwrought nerves refused to calm. Haejun drew a slow breath to steady himself and surveyed the area. Soon, the deep hush settled over the darkness once more.
Then, without warning, the air around them turned frigid. Taesik felt a chill prickle down his spine, and Doyoon instinctively tightened his grip on his gun. In that instant, from somewhere within the abandoned building, a red mist began to slowly billow up.
Moments later, Haejun stood at the door to the basement, forcing himself to breathe evenly. At this midnight hour, the abandoned building's basement held a breathless darkness, as if a living creature were lurking silently in the black. A red mist was seeping out through the gap beneath the rusty door, and cold sweat broke out across Haejun's back.
He clutched his pistol in his left hand and a specially-made flashbang in his right, then shot a cautious glance at Doyoon beside him. Just behind them, Taesik and two members of the special tactics unit waited with tense expressions, poised for his signal.
Haejun silently counted down with his fingers—three… two… one. On the final count, he yanked hard on the old iron door's handle.
Thanks to a breaching tool provided by the support team, the stubbornly locked door gave way with a low, heavy thud. Haejun slipped through the narrow opening and into the darkness beyond. The sudden jolt set a rusted lightbulb hanging from the ceiling swaying, its chain jangling softly overhead.
Right on Haejun's heels, Doyoon and Taesik rushed in, followed by the other officers. Inside, the basement was choked with a suffocating silence and a rancid stench.
Haejun swept his flashlight around. The damp concrete floor and walls were blotched with bluish mold. Stagnant puddles gleamed here and there on the floor, each step through them sending wet splashes echoing through the darkness.
In the weak beam of the flashlight, a red mist hung in the air, drifting lazily and sometimes blurring their vision. Taesik pressed a hand over his nose and let out a muffled groan.
A putrid mix of decay, mold, and some briny, fishy reek hit them, making it hard to even breathe. Haejun shot Taesik a steady look to keep him calm, and then pressed onward, deeper into the basement.
From somewhere further in the darkness came a faint sound—something like quiet sobbing. A person was there. It sounded like at least one victim was still alive.
"Be careful," Doyoon whispered. At that, everyone aimed their guns toward the source of the sound and crept forward.
Haejun's heart pounded with a blend of tension and hope. The single thought of rescuing the missing people drove him on—yet at the same time, the dread of the Specter lurking somewhere nearby grazed coldly across the back of his neck.
When they reached the center of the basement, Haejun's flashlight caught a shape on the ground. "Over here!" he and Doyoon shouted simultaneously. A few people were sprawled by the wall, bound in chains.
Haejun quickly scanned around them. A faint red haze swirled around the victims, but there was no sign of the Specter. It had to be hiding somewhere in the darkness, watching their every move.
Biting his lip, Haejun moved toward the chained victims. As he drew closer, one of them stirred and responded to his footsteps with a weak, shivering moan. "He…lp…" came a faint whisper.
It was a young woman. Haejun dropped to one knee and checked her condition quickly. Her wrists were secured by rough iron chains and slick with blood, and her face was ghost-pale from terror and exhaustion.
"It's all right now. We're the police," Haejun murmured gently. But the woman's eyes only quivered, unfocused and unseeing.
Beside her, a man who looked to be in his mid-forties hung limp in his chains. Haejun brought his flashlight to the man's face. In the stark white beam, the man's features came into view—his eyes were dull and lifeless, staring at nothing, utterly still. He was clearly already dead.
A dry burn crawled up Haejun's throat. Too late… Had he arrived one step too late again? He forced down the surge of guilt and looked around desperately. How many people had suffered in this darkness?
Just then, another faint voice reached his ears. "...Help me… please…" it begged, barely audible. Startled, Haejun whipped his head toward the sound.
It was a child—a boy who looked no more than ten years old. He was chained to the wall as well, sitting limp with his head lolled forward. When Haejun's flashlight beam fell on the boy's face, it revealed it streaked with dirt and tears.
Taesik stepped forward and reached a hand out to the boy. "Don't worry, you're safe now," he said softly, his voice trembling but infinitely gentle. Haejun glanced over at Taesik; he could see anger, compassion, and fear all flashing in Taesik's eyes at once.
"Taesik, hurry up! That bastard will show up any second now," Haejun urged, already fumbling for something to cut the boy's chain. He had barely finished speaking when a blast of icy air suddenly roared out of the darkness behind them.
It was as if the entire basement turned to ice in an instant. A chill shot through Haejun's spine, and almost simultaneously Doyoon's shout rang out: "Behind you!"
Haejun spun around. From within the red mist, a colossal figure burst forth—a shadow fused with the darkness—and in the blink of an eye it was upon one of the officers. A raw scream echoed as that officer was snatched off his feet and flung across the room, his body slamming into the far wall. The concrete cracked from the impact, sending shards of debris flying.
Instinct took over—Haejun swung up his gun and flashlight. The beam lanced through the gloom, and the monstrous figure came starkly into view. A towering silhouette stood there, easily twice the height of a grown man, its entire form cloaked in a swirling blood-red haze. It had a vaguely human shape, but its limbs were impossibly long and contorted, like the gnarled roots of a tree. Most terrifying of all were its eyes—two points of livid red light that burned in its head.
"It's the Specter!" Taesik cried out in horror.
The monster cocked its head slowly to one side. Its smoldering crimson eyes, like living flames, swept over the group one by one. Haejun saw those eyes shift away from them and settle on the defenseless victims chained to the wall. The creature had been momentarily disoriented by the sudden light, but it now crouched low, as if to guard its prey.
Haejun set his teeth. This ends here. He would not allow this creature to claim another victim.
"Flashbangs ready!" he shouted. Even as the words left him, Doyoon was already clamping the pin of a flashbang between his teeth and yanking it free. Doyoon caught Haejun's eye, poised for the signal. Haejun drew a sharp breath. "Throw it!" he barked.
In one smooth motion, Doyoon hurled the flashbang, sending it arcing into the darkness.
"Three, two, one… Down!" Haejun yelled. At the final word, a thunderous KA-BOOM ripped through the basement, and a blinding white flash flooded the entire space. The walls and ceiling leapt into stark clarity as if it were high noon. At the same moment, the Specter let out a razor-sharp shriek that shook the very air.
Haejun, who had squeezed his eyes shut, now cautiously opened them. The monster was stumbling backward, its unnaturally long arms raised to cover its face as if the intense flash had blinded it. The team's ears rang from the explosion and the creature's shriek, but forewarned as they were, they'd weathered the burst without serious harm.
"Turn on the siren!" Haejun hollered urgently. On cue, Doyoon slammed a finger onto the switch of the device on his belt.
A shrill, keening wail immediately blared through the basement. The special siren's high-frequency signal was agonizing even to human ears — and to the Specter, it would be far worse.
Indeed, the monster clutched its head and screamed in agony. Its red eyes shuddered, blazing with a wild mixture of fury and confusion.
"Now's our chance — surround it!" Haejun commanded, fighting through the painful ringing in his own ears. The remaining officers split left and right, moving swiftly to encircle the creature.
"Fire!" he shouted. At once, gunshots thundered in unison, unleashing a barrage of brilliant flare rounds toward the Specter. Muzzle flashes strobed through the dank space as round after round poured into the haze.
The Specter's form blurred like smoke, evading the direct line of fire, but the intense bursts of light and the piercing wail of the siren drove it reeling back, wailing in torment. In a matter of seconds the basement was lit up like midday, and the Specter was thrashing wildly amid the blinding light and relentless noise, as if in a frenzy.
A ragged, inhuman sound gurgled out of the creature—a grotesque noise, half wail and half mad laughter. Then all at once it snapped its head upward, and its hate-filled eyes locked onto Doyoon. It was as if the monster instinctively knew that he was the one who had thrown the flashbang.
With an ear-splitting screech, the Specter launched itself at Doyoon. It dropped low to the ground like a four-legged beast and, in an eye blink, closed the distance.
"Doyoon, look out!" Haejun shouted as he wheeled around, but the creature was already upon him. Doyoon had only begun to hurl himself aside when the Specter's elongated arm lashed out like a billow of mist and struck him square in the chest.
"Ugh—!" A short, strangled cry escaped Doyoon as he was sent hurtling backward. The impact knocked the portable siren device from his hands, and it went skittering across the floor with a metallic rattle. The Specter didn't miss a beat — it lunged and brought a furious fist crashing down onto the device.
The sturdy metal gadget shattered like glass, and the shrieking alarm cut off abruptly.
Haejun's vision swam. No... not the siren! His ears were still ringing with its echo, but as true silence fell, the Specter suddenly seemed that much more dangerous.
With a low snarl, the monster ground the broken device into the floor and immediately whirled toward the other side of the room. Now its crimson gaze was fixed on the remaining victims chained against the wall.
In the weak glow of a flashlight, Haejun saw those blood-red eyes zero in on the sobbing boy. "No!" he screamed, voice ripping out of his throat, and he hurled himself toward the child.