Episode 2—The Alley Where She Was Last Seen
The rain grew heavier with every passing minute.
A yellow police line blocked the entrance to the alley, while red and blue emergency lights flashed in alternating bursts across the wet asphalt.
Even after the sirens stopped, the alley remained chaotic.
Residents began gathering one by one outside the police line, umbrellas in hand.
“What happened?”
“I heard a child disappeared.”
“They said it’s a disappearance.”
“That happened in this neighborhood?”
The murmuring continued without end, swallowed up by the sound of the rain.
The police pushed the residents back and restricted access.
“Please step back.”
“We’re preserving the scene.”
“No photographs.”
Some people tried to take out their phones and record, but they were all stopped.
The rain grew heavier still.
One member of the forensics team looked up at the sky and said quietly,
“At this rate, almost all the evidence will be washed away.”
The detective beside him let out a short sigh.
“It’s late, and now the rain’s coming down. Couldn’t be worse.”
Rainwater slowly trickled along the alley floor.
Footprints.
Tire tracks.
Fibers.
Every trace, down to the smallest fragment, was being washed away by the rainwater.
In a disappearance, time was the most important thing.
And now, more than an hour had already passed.
Then an urgent voice rang out from beyond the police line.
“Let me through!”
“That’s my daughter!”
It was Kim Jeong-woo.
He all but shoved past the police as he ran inside.
He was soaked from head to toe, panting so hard he could barely breathe.
“Please…”
“Please, find our Ha-eun.”
One of the detectives grabbed him by the shoulder.
“Sir, please calm down.”
“How can I calm down?”
Kim Jeong-woo’s voice cracked.
“Our child is missing…”
“She’s not answering her phone…”
“She’s not at any of her friends’ houses…”
“Where could she possibly have gone?”
He couldn’t finish speaking.
He lowered his head and covered his face with both hands.
A short while later, Ha-eun’s mother, Lee Su-jin, arrived at the scene.
The moment she saw the entrance to the alley, her legs gave out, and she collapsed where she stood.
“Ha-eun…”
Her trembling voice scattered into the rain.
Two female officers rushed over and helped her up.
But Lee Su-jin couldn’t say a word.
She simply stared blankly into the alley.
As if the child might come running out at any moment, smiling.
The forensics team immediately began examining the scene.
Powerful flashlight beams swept through every corner of the alley.
The storm drains.
Beneath the walls.
The building entrances.
Behind garbage bags.
Everyone moved with their eyes fixed on the ground, determined not to miss even the smallest trace.
“Footprints!”
One of the team members shouted.
A detective approached to inspect them, but soon shook his head.
“They’re residents’ footprints.”
The rain had almost erased their shapes, making them impossible to distinguish.
“What about tire tracks?”
“Nothing recent. They’re old.”
“Any reaction for blood?”
“None.”
The alley was unnaturally clean.
It looked as if nothing had ever happened there.
But one child had definitely entered this alley…
And disappeared.
The detective slowly walked to the far end of the alley.
Old houses stood in rows on either side.
The walls were much taller than an adult, and every window was tightly shut.
There was nowhere to hide.
No path to escape through.
He slowly turned around and looked back toward the entrance.
There was only one road.
One way in.
One way out.
And yet…
An eight-year-old child had vanished without a trace from that one and only path.
The detective stared down the alley and muttered under his breath,
“Something’s wrong…”
“Something’s very wrong…”
He pulled on a pair of gloves and held out his hand.
“Bring me the footage.”
The officer beside him handed over a tablet.
The screen showed security camera footage of the alley entrance.
5:52:14 p.m.
A pink umbrella entered the frame.
Small footsteps.
A yellow backpack.
A child tilting her umbrella slightly forward to shield herself from the rain.
It was Kim Ha-eun.
The detective paused the footage.
“Zoom in.”
The image quality wasn’t good, but the child’s movements were clear.
Ha-eun slowly walked into the alley.
She didn’t look back.
She didn’t appear to be following anyone.
She didn’t look frightened.
She looked exactly like an ordinary child heading home.
“Check ten minutes before and after that, too.”
The officer played the footage again.
5:42 p.m.
A delivery driver passed through the alley.
5:45 p.m.
An elderly couple returning from grocery shopping briefly crossed the screen.
5:48 p.m.
A middle school student riding a bicycle passed in front of the alley.
That was all.
No one suspicious appeared.
The detective played the footage again.
Ha-eun enters the alley.
And then…
The footage continued to run.
5:53 p.m.
5:54 p.m.
5:55 p.m.
Several more people passed by the alley entrance.
But the pink umbrella never appeared.
“Exit security camera.”
Another video began playing.
The detective stared at the screen without a word.
The exit was a narrow road that connected directly to the other end of the alley.
If the child had come out of the alley, she would have had to appear on this camera.
But there was nothing on the screen.
5:52 p.m.
5:53.
5:54.
5:55.
6:00.
6:10.
6:20.
The pink umbrella never appeared.
The detective’s expression hardened.
“What about the cameras?”
The officer in charge answered immediately.
“We checked them.”
“Recording was normal.”
“No time discrepancy, either.”
“Any sign the footage was deleted?”
“None.”
The detective replayed the footage from the beginning.
This time, he watched the screen closely.
The child.
The utility pole.
The sign.
The storm drain.
The wall.
He checked everything one by one.
But he found nothing unusual.
He set down the tablet and said quietly,
“A person…”
“Can’t just disappear into thin air.”
The officers around him said nothing.
They were all thinking the same thing.
The child had definitely walked in.
But she hadn’t come out.
It was a situation that couldn’t be explained by common sense.
The detective slowly walked through the alley again.
From the entrance to the end.
Then from the end back to the entrance.
He stopped at the exact center of the alley.
Slowly, he looked around.
The buildings on both sides were old houses.
Every window was closed.
The walls were high.
Too high for one person to climb over easily.
“Detective.”
A junior detective approached him.
“I spoke with the residents. None of them heard a scream.”
“They didn’t see any vehicles, either.”
“And no one heard a door open.”
The detective fell silent for a moment.
If she had been dragged away, the child would definitely have screamed.
If a vehicle had been used, they would have at least heard the engine.
But…
There was nothing.
It was too quiet.
As if nothing had happened in the first place.
At that moment.
A member of the forensics team shouted from deeper inside the alley.
“Detective!”
Every eye turned in that direction.
The team member pointed beside a storm drain and swallowed hard.
“Here…
I found something.”