Detective Park Sang-won's notebook was a thick, worn thing, its pages yellowed with age and stained with coffee and something that might have been tears. He opened it carefully, like it was sacred, and began to read.
"The first victim was Kim Hye-jin. Twenty-three years old. Disappeared from her apartment in Seomyeon. We found her body four months later in Geumjeongsan. "He turned a page. "Strangled. Curled position. Same as all the others."
Min-jun leaned forward. "Did you have any suspects?"
"Dozens. We interviewed hundreds of people. Tracked down every tip, every lead, every crazy theory." Park shook his head. "Nothing. The man was a ghost."
Seo-ah spoke quietly. "What about the tattoo? The bear?"
Park looked up sharply. "Ahh, the bear tattoo?"
"The witness in Seoul saw a man with a bear tattoo near the latest victim." Dae-hyun's voice was calm. "The convenience store clerk remembered it clearly."
Park frowned. "We had a tattoo witness. The Busan victims—no one saw anything. No witnesses at all. Only the store clerk when he was tailing victims." He flipped through his notebook. "If he had a tattoo back then, he was careful to hide it."
Dae-hyun nodded slowly. "He got bolder. Or sloppier. Either way, it's a connection."
They went through the notebook page by page, hour by hour. Park shared every detail—the victims' lives, the investigations, the dead ends, and the families he'd had to face year after year with no answers. Min-jun took notes. Seo-ah listened, absorbing. Dae-hyun said little, but his eyes never stopped moving, processing, and connecting.
By the time they finished, the room felt heavier.
Park closed his notebook. "That's everything. Four years of work, and that's all I have to show for it." His voice was tired. "I'm sorry I couldn't give you more."
Dae-hyun was quiet for a long moment. Then something shifted in his expression.
"Busan used to be a gang spot," he said slowly. "Years ago, before the crackdowns."
Park blinked. "What?"
"Gang fights. Territory wars. The whole city was a battleground in the late nineties and early two-thousands." Dae-hyun's eyes were distant, remembering. "There was a gang here. One of the biggest. They had a symbol."
Min-jun caught on. "The bear."
Dae-hyun was already pulling out his phone. He dialed without looking away from Park. Jin-young answered on the first ring.
"Captain? What's happening?"
"Jin-young. I need you to search gang records. Busan, late nineties to early two-thousands. There was a gang here—they used bear imagery. Tattoos, probably. Find me the name."
Keys clicked rapidly in the background. "Give me a minute."
Park stared at Dae-hyun. "How did you know about the gangs? That was before your time."
Dae-hyun's voice was flat. "I was a street kid, Detective Park. I lived in places like this. I know every gang that ever existed in every city I've ever been near. When you have nothing, knowledge is survival."
Park said nothing. He just watched.
Jin-young's voice came through the phone. "Got it. The Geomdong Pa. One of the biggest gangs in Busan history. They used a bear as their symbol—said it represented strength and ferocity. All members had bear tattoos on their forearms. It was mandatory."
Dae-hyun's jaw tightened. "What happened to them?"
"Police crackdown in 2003. Massive operation—hundreds arrested. But there was a fight. A real bloodbath. The gang leaders resisted, and..." Jin-young paused. "Most of them were killed. The ones who survived went to prison. The gang dissolved."
Min-jun leaned toward the phone. "So all the members are either dead or locked up?"
"That's the thing." Jin-young's voice was strange. "I checked prison records, death certificates, the whole thing. Every single known member of the Geomdong Pa is accounted for. Dead or still inside."
Dae-hyun's eyes narrowed. "Known members. What about unknown?"
A pause. "I... I don't follow."
"Not every member would have been in the database. Some were low-level. Some were young. Some might have been overlooked." Dae-hyun stood, pacing. "Find me a name, Jin-young. Someone who should have been there but wasn't. Someone who fell through the cracks."
More typing. The room held its breath.
Then Jin-young spoke. "There's a man. He runs a fake ID operation in Seoul now, but he used to be in Busan. I've crossed paths with him before—he's a source sometimes. He might know something about gang members who weren't on the books."
"Call him. Now."
"Already texting. Give me a few minutes."
Dae-hyun ended the call and looked at Park. "Thank you, Detective. For everything."
Park stood slowly. "You think this is it? The connection?"
"I think we just found the thread." Dae-hyun extended his hand. "We'll take it from here. But I promise you—when we catch him, you'll know first."
Park shook his hand, his grip firm despite the years of disappointment. "Just catch him. That's all I ask."
---
They were on the plane back to Seoul within hours.
The cabin was quiet, most passengers sleeping or staring at screens. Dae-hyun sat by the window again, his mind churning. Min-jun was beside him, and Seo-ah across the aisle.
Min-jun broke the silence. "Captain."
Dae-hyun glanced at him.
"I thought we went to Busan to find his mistakes. His first kills. The things he did wrong back then." Min-jun's voice was puzzled. "But we didn't find any mistakes. Park had nothing. Four years of nothing."
Dae-hyun was quiet for a moment. Then he spoke.
"We did find his mistake."
Min-jun frowned. "Where?"
"The bear tattoo."
Seo-ah leaned forward from across the aisle. "But the Busan witnesses never saw it. He hid it back then."
"Exactly." Dae-hyun turned to face them. "He hid it. Which means he knew it was dangerous. He knew it could identify him. So for years, he kept it covered. Long sleeves, maybe, or tattoos he could hide. But then something changed."
Min-jun's eyes widened. "He stopped hiding."
"He got comfortable. Or arrogant. Or both." Dae-hyun's voice was hard. "He'd been doing this for so long without getting caught that he stopped being careful. The tattoo became visible. The store clerk saw it. And that's the mistake."
Seo-ah nodded slowly. "The mistake wasn't in Busan. It was here. The tattoo."
"Which means he's connected to that gang. He was either a member or wanted to be. He carries their symbol like a badge of honor." Dae-hyun's phone buzzed. He looked at the screen. "Jin-young."
He answered. "Tell me."
Jin-young's voice was excited. "My source came through. There were two young guys connected to the Geomdong Pa who weren't on any official lists. Low-level runners, teenagers at the time. They did odd jobs for the gang, ran messages, and delivered packages to members, so they weren't arrested or killed in the crackdown."
"Names."
"One is dead. Car accident five years ago. But the other..." Jin-young paused. "The other is alive. His name is Kang Young-soo. He would be about forty-three now. Last known address in Seoul. And Captain—"
"What?"
"He has a bear tattoo on his forearm. Confirmed by my source."
The plane hummed around them. Dae-hyun's face didn't change, but something in his eyes went cold.
"Get everything on him: address, work, habits, and connections. I want to know what he ate for breakfast yesterday."
"On it."
The call ended.
Min-jun was already grinning. "We got him."
"We got a name." Dae-hyun's voice was steady. "Now we prove it."
Seo-ah looked at him across the aisle. "Captain. How did you know? About the gang?"
Dae-hyun was quiet for a moment. Then: "Because I almost joined one. When I was a kid on the streets. They came to me once—a gang in Seoul, offering protection, money, and a place to sleep. They had tattoos. Symbols. I remembered." He looked out the window at the clouds below. "I said no. But I never forgot."
The cabin fell silent.
Below them, Seoul waited. And somewhere in that city, a man with a bear tattoo was about to learn that Team Zero never stopped hunting.