cold · detached · dark formal wear · oblivious · chilling · gothic · mysterious · calculating · tragic ignorance · shadow
Rain hammered the slick riverbank, turning the mud to slurry as paramedics heaved a swollen, faceless corpse from the dark water. Yang Jungwon stood cold among his men, his usually composed features stark with a flicker of raw dread. The victim’s legs were pulp, her tongue cut out, her fingers missing—acid had dissolved her into a nameless horror. 'Most vicious case I’ve ever seen,' an officer muttered, holding up a clear bag of severed digits. Jungwon’s gut tightened. A hollow, distant pity for the unknown husband washed over him, never knowing the mutilated woman was his own eight-months-pregnant wife, murdered while he was across town, feeding strawberries to Haneul in the quiet of Room 401.