Ha Rin tried to peep in more futher. But before she could peer further, Chae Min turned around with a folder.
"Here you go."
Ha Rin blinked, quickly meeting his eyes and taking the file. "Thanks Prof."
He gave a short nod and then said :" You can bring it back tomorrow."
She narrowed her eyes slightly, sensing a strange heaviness in the room. "You okay, Prof? You look like you just saw a ghost."
Chae Min stared at her blankly, then offered a hollow smile as he walked back to his chair.
"Some ghosts never leave."
Ha Rin raised a brow, clearly intrigued, but said nothing. "Well... good luck with your ghost hunt then."
She popped her lollipop out with a click and winked before heading out.
Chae Min watched the door close behind her… and then slowly turned back to the screen.
He dark expression appears once again and looks at the laptop and then look at the door,he then whispered :"Did she notice?"
This time, he looks at his laptop once again,he didn't look away from the monster staring back at him. "Hm-"
After Ha Rin shut the door behind her, she begins to think about something while walking to the female bathroom down the hall of the college.
---
Flashback: The Night Before…
The wind was cold against Ha Rin's face as she crouched behind a parked truck near the old warehouse. Her hoodie was pulled low, and her phone camera peeked just slightly out to record.
A man, dressed in black, hood up, mask on, slipped through a side door of the warehouse.
"Who sneaks into a gambling den like that? Do he want to die?" she muttered.
Minutes passed… then chaos.
Screams. Shouts. Blood.
Ha Rin's eyes widened as people began to flee the building. Then the man emerged—his black clothes now dark *with blood*. She gasped but quickly followed from the shadows, keeping a careful distance.
She expected him to vanish into the night. But instead… he went to the faculty building.
She watched him enter Professor Lee Chae Min's office.
---
Back to Present – After Leaving His Office
Ha Rin clutched her folder, eyes narrowed. She wasn't just a nosy student. She had her own reason for snooping into shady things.
And now… her cool, unreadable professor was tied into this mess.
"You're not just some moody teacher, are you?" she muttered under her breath as she walked.
Ha Rin walked down the hallway slowly, sucking on her lollipop with narrowed eyes. Her heart was pounding, not from fear—but determination.
She slipped into the bathroom, locked the door, pulled out her phone, and opened a hidden folder of pictures—surveillance shots, documents… a scanned image of a ledger page with her father's name on it.
"Just hold on, Appa…" she whispered in Japanese. "I'll get you out of this."
She remembered the look on her father's face the night he told her the truth—how Mr. Kim was squeezing the life out of him, keeping him tied to a leash using the ledger of past crimes.
And now… it was clear.
Professor Lee Chae Min was involved but don't know why.
Whether as an enemy or an ally—she was about to find out.
As the evening approaches, the sun dipped beneath the skyline of Busan, casting long shadows across the city as the streets began to light up with evening traffic. Inside a modest apartment tucked within a quiet neighborhood, Lee Chae Min entered, silently locking the door behind him.
He dropped his keys on the counter and walked straight to the drawer under the television. Pulling it open, he took out the blood-stained ledger—its worn leather edges and faint iron scent a reminder of the chaos he'd walked through. He sat down and opened it.
His eyes scanned the entries again, this time slower.
"Keunsa Financial Group…" he muttered, flipping through the pages. "And this—" he paused at a scribbled emblem and name.
"Jungwon Enterprises."
A chilling realization swept over him. "This wasn't just a partnership. They were laundering money for each other."
He stood up, took his laptop from the shelf, and began typing rapidly. LBusan Corporate Registry. A few clicks and hidden links later, an address flashed on the screen—an old office building tucked near the harbor. Mostly inactive on public records… but money still flowed from it every month.A smirk crept onto Chae Min's face. "Found you."
He closed the laptop and stood up.
Crossing to the wardrobe, he opened it, revealing a neatly arranged row of black clothing. Combat boots, black cargo pants, a reinforced hoodie, leather gloves, and finally—a sleek black mask.
Within minutes, he was no longer the calm, tired professor. He was something else entirely. A shadow.
He checked the knife holster hidden in his boots and slid the ledger into a waterproof pouch. Then, slipping into the darkness of the hallway, he disappeared into the night.
From atop a rooftop across the street, a small red light blinked.
Someone was watching.
A silent figure adjusted the focus of a long-lens camera, zooming in on Chae Min as he exited the building.
Click.
"Target is on the move," a voice whispered. "Phase two begins now." This unknown person follows Lee Chae Min from behind without being noticed.
---
Meanwhile, at the Busan Police Investigation Unit…
The room was dimly lit, most officers already gone for the night. Kang Do Hyun sat alone in the operations room, eyes still fixed on the case board, the eerie silence making the ticking clock sound louder than usual. His gaze drifted between the pinned photos, red string connections, and the faint glimmer of something unspoken.
Suddenly, the door burst open. Kang Min Seok, panting and slightly disheveled, rushed in holding a brown file.
"Do Hyun! You need to see this—now."
Do Hyun stood immediately, tension rising in his shoulders. "What is it?"
Min Seok dropped the file on the desk and opened it, flipping through the pages. "We got the security footage decrypted from the external hallway—minutes before Cha Xiu Min's death. He was seen talking to a man,Alone. No ID from the system, but the frame caught part of his face and build."
He pulled out a printed still. Do Hyun's eyes narrowed.
"Too blurry for facial match," he muttered. "But this guy's smart… he made sure to stay out of view."
Do Hyun felt something was fishy going on. This case is not a simple one as he thinks.
[To be continued…]