Unraveling Han River

Unraveling Han River

Hannah Smitherman

A Group of Girls Are Declared Missing; Last Seen at Han River

10.31.2003

By: Seoulalite News

While 5,000 people are still declared missing from last night’s Halloween crowd surge, a group of Instagram influencers have yet to be found. The girl’s names are Kim Hansook, Jin Soon-Bok, Ri Seulgi, and Bae Mee. All four girls were seen by eyewitnesses on Halloween night in their black witch costumes, with drinks in their hands as they headed down to the edge of the Han River. You might remember a similar event occurring just over 3 years ago with the missing woman, Lee Hansook. Ms. Hansook was an aspiring artist who mysteriously disappeared one night after teaching an art class, her case still remains unsolved. While the strings that intertwine both events begin to untangle we hope to find a common thread tying these disappearances together.

The Present

The article was thrown on top of thousands of accumulated missing people reports we received over the tragic weekend. I now had a packed schedule, including one priority: find the missing girls. Their parents were some of the wealthiest in Seoul-child actors turned entrepreneurs, owning Studio 51 Clothing Co. Rich or not, my job is… well, was to find them.

I glanced up from my small pale beige desk to be greeted by someone dressed in a long-sleeved deep brown button-up top and khakis. As the man placed more missing people reports on my already sky-high pile he tilted his head towards me to read the report I was working on.

“Do you have any leads yet?” he tilted his head even further, getting closer to my desk, to see who the cases concerned. His mud-brown eyes softened as he recognized the girls who went missing from the file that spread across my desk.

“Not anything important,” which wasn’t a lie, but I know his games. He’ll question me for information, obtain details, and claim it. Same old same old, without fail.

“You know, you’re not going to get anywhere if you stay in this office, just sitting around. “ He picked up the only apple left on my desk and bit into it, gesturing to the newspaper article of the girls.

“Do you have anything important to say? As you can see I have loads of information I have to process today and probably for the rest of the month. “ I felt bad for being completely cruel, but you can’t be too nice to someone who was under your authority. Especially Hangyeol. Growing up together, we wanted to be detectives. In theory, it worked in every ideal dream. But in reality, he doesn’t like doing the hard work and dreads making decisions, two skills that this job demands. I’m not paid enough to babysit him, I keep reminding myself that his reputation is not my concern. Right now my main focus must be finding and returning these girls to their families.

“Fine, I’ll go, but you have to catch these girls or someone else will. Oh, and don’t get possessed.. it is Han River.” he threw his arms up in a sarcastic shrug with a wide grin, then closed the door to my office. He knew as a child I was scared of the stories our parents would tell us before bed. While most assumed they were legends, many have been proved wrong. I see it all the time. I get cases of people going mad the morning after they spent the night on the edge or sometimes in the Han River. It wasn’t a new concept, I mean, tons of people rent out decorated boats to have dinner on and the next day are never heard from again. Like always, they have yet to be found some odd years later. I guarantee that is precisely what happened with these girls. They probably went on a walk along the Han River and found one of those booths on the side of the water to rent out those cute boats. I already checked all of their social media accounts and Ri Seulgi even mentioned going to a special place to take pictures for her feed. Like the previous cases, they will never be found or heard of again.

※

The surface of the Han River lingered into a misty gray, keeping secrets hostage beneath its dark surface. The destiny of the missing girls fogged the sky, but what lay beneath melancholic gray water held the key.

“I’ll start from the west of the river and move my way eastward. So, you’ll start on the opposite side of the river-we will meet in the middle,” I paused to see if Hongyeol would interrupt my instructions with what he thought to be the most efficient.

“Okay.” He nodded and said nothing else before running away into the distance

I took a deep breath of the haunting river, standing there trying to take in what the girls might’ve seen last before they disappeared. In my peripheral, I was met with footsteps, etched into the sand where I stood. The footsteps were made from thick heels, not the thin ones the girls were seen last wearing; which quickly symbolized the news I dreaded. The truth- that they were in fact taken, or worse. Dead.

※

“Anything?” Hongyeol texted.

“Not yet, you?” I simply countered. Silence.

The crunch of the leaves against the sand became louder, louder, and-

A hand touched my shoulder, turned me around, and a brown-haired, grey-eyed stranger met face to face. “Ms. Kim Suho. I work for the Han River Police Department and I have a warrant for your arrest.” the police reported authoritatively. He unhooked the handcuffs off his vest and walked me to the second row of seats in his police car.

※

“For the record, state your name.” the police officer commanded.

“My name is Kim Suho.”

“ And Kim Suho, are you speaking to me voluntarily?”

“Sure...Yes, yeah I am” I stuttered out.

“. Ms. Kim, after receiving a tip and further review we have obtained surveillance footage of you walking with the girls who went missing on halloween night. You held a beer in your hands and walked beside the group of girls to the edge of the river. I won’t waste your time but I need to ask a few questions. Starting with the first question, what were you doing with the girls yesterday night?”

“ I was never with the girls. I am a detective, and I know how these kinds of things work; someone is accused of a crime and sometimes they do end up committing the crime they are accused of, but I would never and have never committed murder. Last night I was at the Lotte World’s Halloween Horror Festival when the parents reported their daughters missing. After the festival I went to my apartment.”. I tried keeping myself calm and I tried to see how one could think I killed them- if my whereabouts corroborated with the story the officer knew.

“Last question Ms. Kim and I will be done. What were you wearing that night when you said you were at Lotte World?”

“I wore a Younghee costume from Squid Games. Some of my work friends were dressed as the masked soldiers, they never showed up..”

“ Ms. Kim, that’s the thing .. you see” the door opened and a tall black-haired brown-eyed man walked in with a computer, sat in on the table in front of me, and pressed play.

“Now, before I leave I must tell you that those coworkers you mentioned previously had been contacted prior to our interrogation and they said that you never showed up to the Lotte World Halloween Horror Festival. Thank you for your time, Ms. Kim.” He glanced over at me and to the one-way mirror and two men in similar uniforms to the man with the computer came and took me out of the interrogation room and into my cell. They strangled my hands with the handcuffs and with each male on each side of me they began to walk me to the room began to fade and my blood began to boil- I lost control.

※

I woke up, blood splattered across the surface of the jail floor. The guard’s bodies, on the ground, were unrecognizable from who they were two seconds ago. A gun in my hands; I never possessed; all my possessions, were confiscated. I look down at the officer beside my right foot- his gun gone from his belt. How did I manage to take his gun? Why don’t I remember?

Don’t you remember? Me? How about a clue? Riddles are kept concealed in the phantom, where this river mourns. The breeze of the night, voices fade, under the stars, witnesses of the sky. In the hope of a future, Han and Hansook’s lore unfolds into you and me-us. You looked for me, but I found you first, my spirit lives in you. Now us- two and one, but not three. So the story goes.

Lee Hansook ring a bell? It’s been nice playing detective and killer with you.