Detective Yoon sat at his cluttered desk - covered in stacks of dusty, bound paper files with yellowing edges, held together by thick rubber bands - at the Incheon police station, nursing a lukewarm cup of instant coffee. On his desk was a thin, sky-blue file jacket. A white label on the tab read: [Missing] Park Somi (17 years old).
He sighed, leaning back in his squeaky chair. He'd seen dozens of cases like this in the last year. A girl has a fight with her parents, packs a bag, and turns off her phone for a few days to scare them. Usually, they showed up at a friend's house or a PC bang within forty-hours, or they were tracked down to a 'runaway family' in a cramped studio in Bupyeong.
"Another runaway?"
A hand dropped onto Yoon's shoulder, squeezing the muscle there a bit too long to be strictly professional. It was his partner, Detective Han, who leaned over Yoon's shoulder, smelling faintly of expensive cologne and menthol cigarettes. Han tossed a pack of Esse cigarettes onto the desk
"Let's grab a smoke, Yoon-hyung. My head is killing me, and you look like you haven't blinked in an hour" Han said, his voice dropping into a playful, lower register. He leaned in closer, his grin lopsided. "Unless you're just staying here so I have to keep looking at your handsome profile?"
"Looks like a runaway" Yoon muttered, ignoring the flirtation and staying put."Parents say she was happy, but the teachers say she was failing two classes. The blackout gave her the perfect cover to slip out without the street cameras catching her direction"
"So close the file and come outside" Han urged, his fingers drumming a rhythm on Yoon's desk. "The girl's probably halfway to Seoul by now. You worry too much, hyung. That's why you're getting those cute little lines between your eyebrows"
Detective Yoon was about to close the folder when he decided to look at the technical log from the Hanseong Apartments one last time. Since Park Somi disappeared around there it was worth checking out.It was a habit that usually went nowhere, but something caught his eye.
The elevator logs recorded a specific weight just as the power died
[7:12 AM: Load Weight: 165kg]Yoon frowned. He pulled up the grainy street footage from just before the blackout. He watched Lee Ha-rin sprint into the elevator alone. She was a tiny girl, at most 50kg.
"Han, look at this" Yoon's said, his voice sharpening. "If it's just this girl why does the elevator log say 165 kilos? Thats a hundred-kilo difference. It's like there was an entire person already standing in the corner of that lift, hidden from the camera."
Han leaned in, his playful mood shifting as he saw the numbers. "Maybe the sensor is busted? That building is a relic"
"No" Yoon said coldly, standing up and grabbing his coat. "The weight triggered right as she stepped in. It was already heavy. Im going to Hanseong. I want to see this elevator, and I want to see the 4th floor"
Han grabbed his own jacket, a sharp glint in his eyes. "Fine. But if we find nothing, you're buying me a very expensive dinner. Somewhere with candlelight."
They arrived at the building. The 4th-floor corridor was narrow and smelled of damp concrete. They started talking to the neighbors.
First they found a young boy kicking a ball in the courtyard. "I heard a loud bang in the trash chute" the kid said. Like someone dropped a suitcase. "Was that all? Did you even see the person" Yoon asked.
"Don't know. Do I get money now?" The kid looking with hopeful eyes.Detective Yoon scoffs "Maybe find the missing person first.
Then, they ran into a grumpy, fat man coming down the stairs. He looked at their badges and spat on the floor. "I saw that girl- Ha-rin. She was running like a thief. And she was dragging something heavy. A big blue bag. It was scraping against the floor so loud I couldn't sleep. You should arrest her for the noise alone."
Detective Yoon and Han exchanged a look. "Dragging a bag?" Yoon muttered. "But she wasn't holding a bag on the lobby camera."
They reached Room 405. When Ha-rin opened the door, she looked like she was about to collapse. Her eyes were red, and she immediately tucked a strand of hair behind her left ear.
"Lee Ha-rin?" Yoon asked, his voice stern. "We saw the elevator logs. You were in there during the blackout, but the weight was triple what it should have been. What were you carrying?"
"I.... I wasn't carrying anything" Ha-rin whispered. She began tugging at her cuffs, pulling the sleeves over her shaking hands.
"The neighbor saw you dragging a heavy blue bag, Ha-rin" Han said, stepping into the doorway. He didn't use his playful tone now. "And Somi is missing. Did you help her hide? Is that why the elevator was so heavy?"
"No! I don't know anything!" Ha-rin cried. "I was scared! I just talked... I told secrets because I was panicking!"
Detective Yoon noticed she kept glancing down the hall. He followed her gaze to Room 402. Min-ji was standing in her doorway, watching them. She looked like a perfectly normal, helpful student.
"Is there a problem?" Min-ji asked softly
"We're talking to your neighbor" Yoon said, but his eyes stayed on Ha-rin. To him, Ha-rin looked like a girl caught in a lie. Her infamous 'Ice Queen mask' was shattered. Detective Yoon sighs and pushes his glasses up.
"She's been very sick since the blackout" Min-ji said, walking over and putting a kind hand in Ha-rin's shoulder. "She fainted in my arms. I've been taking care of her"
Yoon watched how Ha-run flinched at Min-Jo's touch. To the detectives, it looked like Ha-rin was guilty and Min-ji was the only one trying to help her.
"We'll be back" Yoon said, his eyes locked on Ha-rin. "Don't try to leave any time soon"
As they walked away, Han whispered "She's definitely hiding something, hyung. She couldn't even look us in the eye. That heavy bag? It has to be Somi's."
"Maybe" Yoon said. "But why did the neighbor say she was dragging it, when the camera showed her empty-handed?
Something is missing."
