Case One The Missing Child
Disappearance in the Rain
“Ha-eun, be careful on your way home today.”
At her homeroom teacher’s words, Kim Ha-eun smiled brightly and nodded.
“Yes, teacher!”
Eight years old.
A second grader in elementary school.
Kim Ha-eun was a child who greeted everyone cheerfully.
She loved running around and playing with her friends, and every day after school, she went straight to her after-school academy.
That day was no different.
She waved to her friends as she left through the school gate.
“See you tomorrow!”
“Yeah! See you tomorrow!”
The children’s laughter rang across the playground.
Ha-eun climbed onto the academy shuttle.
The streets passing by outside the window.
A bakery.
A stationery store.
A crosswalk.
The same scenery she saw every day.
Even after she arrived at the academy, her ordinary day continued.
She solved math problems, played around with a friend, and was even praised by her teacher.
“You did a great job today, too.”
“Thank you.”
When class ended, the academy director checked the attendance book.
“It’s raining, so make sure you use your umbrella.”
Outside the window, a light rain was falling.
Ha-eun opened her pink umbrella.
“Goodbye.”
“Be careful on your way home.”
The academy door closed, and the child headed home alone.
It was a ten-minute walk home.
A route she took every day.
At the same time.
At home, Ha-eun’s mother, Lee Su-jin, was preparing dinner.
Soybean paste stew was simmering in the pot, and pork cutlets were browning in the frying pan.
“She was so excited when I told her I’d make pork cutlets today.”
She looked at the wall clock.
6:00 p.m.
It was almost time for Ha-eun to arrive.
She expected to hear the front door open shortly.
But no sound came.
After leaving the academy, Ha-eun entered a familiar alley.
The rain was gradually growing heavier.
An old security camera was installed at the entrance to the alley.
Ha-eun pulled her umbrella a little farther forward as she walked.
Past the convenience store.
Past the laundromat.
She slowly made her way deeper into the alley.
The security camera recorded her figure for the last time.
6:35 p.m.
The front door opened.
Ha-eun’s father, Kim Jeong-woo, came home from work.
“Where’s Ha-eun?”
Lee Su-jin shook her head.
“She isn’t home yet.”
“Not yet?”
Jeong-woo checked the time.
More than forty minutes had already passed since the academy let out.
“Is she playing with a friend?”
“She’s not the kind of kid who would do that...”
Lee Su-jin took out her phone.
She called Ha-eun.
But the call wouldn’t connect.
“The phone is turned off, so your call cannot be completed.”
The expressions on both their faces hardened.
They called the academy.
“Student Kim Ha-eun finished class as usual and left for home at 5:50 p.m.”
They contacted the parents of her friends as well.
“She didn’t come with us today.”
“I didn’t see her.”
Their anxiety grew by the minute.
7:20 p.m.
Kim Jeong-woo began searching for his child, running all the way from the academy to their home himself.
The alley.
The playground.
The bus stop.
The convenience store.
There was no sign of the child anywhere.
The rain was coming down harder and harder.
He couldn’t wait any longer.
With trembling hands, Kim Jeong-woo took out his phone.
911.
He pressed the call button.
“My child... my child has disappeared.”
Thirty minutes later.
Several police cars stopped in front of the alley.
The investigators checked the surrounding security cameras first.
The first video.
5:52 p.m.
Ha-eun, holding a pink umbrella, walks into the alley.
The second video.
The exit on the opposite side of the alley.
Ha-eun does not appear.
The third video.
The bus stop.
Nothing.
The fourth video.
The intersection.
Nothing.
The investigator replayed the footage again and again.
The result was the same.
Ha-eun had entered the alley.
But...
Not once had the cameras captured her coming out.
Silence fell over the scene.
One detective stared at the screen and muttered under his breath.
“Can a person... really just disappear without a trace like this?”
Only the sound of rain filled the alley.
And that night.
Eight-year-old Kim Ha-eun...
Disappeared from the world without a trace.
End of Episode 1.