Choi Han-seong, his face filled with urgency, slapped the cheek of his fallen teammate and shouted.
“Lee Chan-hyuk! Lee Chan-hyuk, you bastard! Snap out of it!”
“T-Team Leader…”
“Yeah, that’s right! Chan-hyuk, it’s me! Are you finally coming to your senses? Do you recognize me?”
“My cheek…”
Choi Han-seong looked at his teammate with a worried expression.
“Your cheek? What about your cheek?”
Suddenly, the fallen Chan-hyuk shot up and shouted.
“It hurts so much!”
At that, the other team members around them burst into laughter.
“Hahaha! Team Leader! That bastard is acting. He’s been going on and on about pretending to be possessed by a ghost before we got here!”
“Hahaha! Team Leader, you really fell for it this time!”
“Look at that guy’s acting skills. He’s getting better, huh? Hey, you should quit the company and seriously consider becoming an actor.”
Choi Han-seong stared at Chan-hyuk, bewildered. Chan-hyuk grinned mischievously, rubbing his reddened cheek.
“Team Leader, did you really think I passed out? How was my acting? Amazing this time, right?! You slapped me so hard I almost actually lost consciousness!”
“…Chan-hyuk.”
With a heavy sigh, Team Leader Choi Han-seong exhaled deeply.
Startled by the unexpected reaction, Chan-hyuk asked cautiously.
“…T-Team Leader? Are… Are you mad?”
“You son of a bitch! How many times have I told you not to joke around in the field!”
Choi Han-seong reached out and put Chan-hyuk in a headlock. Though his words were harsh, his face had a mix of relief and laughter.
“Ow, ow! That hurts! It really hurts, Team Leader!”
“Does it hurt? Does it? This is pain? My heart hurts more, my heart!”
“Ow! It really hurts! I surrender! I won’t play pranks like this ever again!”
“Surrender? Surrender is casual speech, you bastard!”
As the two scuffled, Taeseong, who had been watching, turned to Ho-jin and asked.
“Judging by their reactions, it seems like they pull pranks like this often.”
“Oh, yeah. The team members are usually pretty playful, and sometimes they tease the Team Leader like this. Like I said earlier, the Team Leader may seem stern on the outside, but he’s soft at heart, so he usually takes it in pace.”
“Isn’t it dangerous to joke around like this while on duty?”
“Well… yeah, but everyone here is experienced enough to know when it’s appropriate. Don’t worry too much. If anything happens, the team will have your back.”
Ho-jin’s reassurance took on an entirely different meaning in Taeseong’s mind.
Even with his memory completely wiped, Taeseong was certain of one thing. Back when he was in the military, he would never have allowed such pranks in the field.
No matter how close people were personally, such antics were unacceptable during operations. Taeseong judged the prank to be an action that should never occur during a mission.
‘No matter how friendly you are in private, you must draw the line in professional work. And yet, these people…’
Taeseong shook his head. After all, he wasn’t the one in charge of this team. The one leading them was Team Leader Choi Han-seong. He was merely a new recruit; it wasn’t his place to interfere. If something happened, he could just get himself out of there. He was confident in his ability to protect his own life under any circumstances.
Taeseong wasn’t the kind of person who would care about the lives of strangers he’d just met.
The playful air vanished from Choi Han-seong’s face. The other team members also became serious. It was as if a switch had been flipped, and they transformed into entirely different people.
“Alright, enough joking around. We’re starting the search now, so stay alert. Keep a close watch on your surroundings.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Louder!”
“Yes, sir!”
Choi Han-seong led the team from the front, followed by the deputy team leader and the other members. Taeseong and Ho-jin took positions at the rear. The playful atmosphere from earlier was replaced by a serious one.
Step. Step.
One of the team members climbing the hill glanced at the approaching abandoned hospital and muttered.
“No wonder there are so many ghost stories about this place. Just look at it. Doesn’t it look like a hundred ghosts could show up?”
“…Agreed. It’s seriously creepy. The atmosphere is so damp and heavy—it’s unsettling.”
“Right? Ever since I got here, my head’s been hurting. Is it just me?”
“Hey, you too? I’m not kidding. My head’s been throbbing since earlier—”
Suddenly, a flock of crows swarmed above the abandoned hospital, letting out eerie cries. There had to be dozens of them, at least.
Caw! Caw!
“Ah, damn it, that scared me!”
“Pfft. Hey, aren’t you the son of a shaman? How can you be so scared? We’re employees of Tree, for crying out loud. You can’t get spooked by ghosts or rumors, right?”
“Who’s scared? I’ve identified so many entities already. I was just startled, that’s all.”
From the front, Choi Han-seong’s voice rang out.
“Quiet in the back.”
“…Yes, sir.”
The search team reached the top of the hill, revealing the full view of the abandoned hospital. Next to it stood the massive carcass of a dead tree, long deceased even before the hospital was built.
Even the seasoned search team, with their experience in countless operations across the country, felt a chill in this hauntingly eerie place.
According to Ho-jin, the site was originally a mental hospital. There were rumors of a deranged doctor conducting experiments on the patients here, but such stories were often exaggerated.
“What are you all standing around for? Planning to camp here overnight?”
Choi Han-seong stepped inside the hospital, and the others followed.
They arrived at the first-floor lobby.
Inside, the hospital was pitch black, with no light penetrating the space.
“Flashlights on.”
Click.
As the beams lit up the corridor, the details of the interior began to emerge. Smashed furniture, shattered glass, and trash scattered across the floor. Unidentifiable liquids seeped from cracks in the walls, and the ceiling was covered in cobwebs and insects.
One team member pointed to a wall.
“This… Team Leader, take a look at this.”
On the wall, a long message was scrawled in red spray paint, the words jumbled and incomprehensible:
Turn back or die. Help me. Save me. I don’t want to die. Please…
The chaotic and disturbing words trailed off into an unintelligible mess.
Choi Han-seong frowned deeply at the sight.
“…I can’t understand a single word of this.”
“There’s more over here. It says ‘Go back.’ And next to it, ‘A cool guy was here.'”
The surrounding walls were littered with vulgar graffiti and obscene words.
“Judging by the looks of it, some kids came here for a haunted house adventure and decided to mess around.”
“Yeah, that’s typical. At that age, they think leaving marks like this makes them look cool.”
“Right. I’ll check deeper inside. Everyone, split up and search. Ho-jin, make sure to keep an eye on the rookie.”
“Yes, team leader!”
“If anything happens, report immediately over the radio.”
Following Han-seong’s orders, the team dispersed and began their search. The two members who had been joking earlier headed up to the second floor.
Taeseong and Ho-jin moved toward the last room at the end of the first-floor hallway. The sign on the door read Examination Room.
Creeeeak.
The door opened with an eerie, unpleasant sound.
“Someone must have lived here.”
“It sure seems that way.”
Inside, piles of blankets lay in one corner, coated with thick dust that suggested they had been untouched for years. Nearby were discarded items like instant noodle cups, utensils, newspapers, and medicine packets. The walls were covered in mold, and the air reeked of decay—a place abandoned yet filled with traces of life.
“In places like this, it’s common for homeless people or criminals with nowhere else to go to take shelter,” Ho-jin said.
Taeseong nodded. That must have been the case before rumors and ghost stories drew people here. Such abandoned buildings were perfect for fugitives trying to stay hidden.
Crackle.
[Team leader… on the second floor… @@#&$… found…]
A voice crackled through the radio, but interference made it hard to understand.
[There are corpses! Not just one or two!]
[Got it. We’re heading up now.]
Taeseong and Ho-jin hurriedly left the room and joined Han-seong. The group moved up the stairs to the second floor. Other team members had already armed themselves with firearms and knives, but Han-seong stood out with a unique weapon—knuckle dusters.
“Close-combat specialist, huh?” Taeseong mused.
According to Ho-jin, those knuckle dusters were Han-seong’s personal equipment, marked with a serial number and requiring special approval to use. His rank was Delta, the same as Oh Haeyoung.
Interesting, Taeseong thought. A Delta rank indicated someone at least as skilled as a top operative, despite Han-seong’s seemingly grumpy exterior.
Holding the familiar weight of his pistol brought a strange comfort to Taeseong, reminding him of his time as a soldier.
The team reached the second floor, but when Han-seong called out for the team members who had sent the radio message, there was no response.
A teammate clicked his tongue in frustration.
“Ugh… Team leader, are those guys messing around again?”
“Those idiots still don’t get it, do they…” Han-seong growled, his irritation clear. But first, finding them took priority.
“Search the second floor. When you find them, give them a good punch and drag them back. That’s an order.”
“Understood.”
Once again, the team split into groups. Ho-jin stayed with Taeseong, feeling responsible for looking after the rookie.
As they walked through the left corridor, Ho-jin muttered, “This is strange.”
“What’s strange?” Taeseong asked.
“Young-chul and Pil-soo like to joke around, sure, but not to this extent. And pulling a stunt like this during an operation, over the radio? It just doesn’t add up.”
Drip. Drip.
The sound of droplets echoed faintly through the corridor, coming from the far end.
Taeseong walked toward the source of the sound without hesitation.
“Hey, Taeseong! Slow down!” Ho-jin called after him, but Taeseong paid no mind.
At the end of the corridor, he stopped in front of a puddle on the floor.
“This is…”
A dropped radio lay on the ground nearby.
The smell of rot.
Drip. Drip.
The droplets weren’t water. Taeseong realized the source in an instant.
“Blood.”
He instinctively drew the knife from his belt, the motion fluid and natural. Though his grip tightened, there was no immediate need to strike. Instead, his eyes fixed on the ceiling above.
“This… isn’t good.”
Suspended upside down from the ceiling were dozens of corpses, their heads crushed and mangled as if crushed by tremendous force.
Among the bodies, Taeseong spotted two familiar faces—the team members who had sent the radio message.
“Ho-jin. I’ve found the second-floor search team.”
