Dae-hyun (Policeman)

It's a rainy day in South Korea. The kind that sinks into your bones and makes the whole country feel like it's holding its breath. Inside the police station, fluorescent lights flicker over stacks of reports and half-burned-out ambition. At one desk sits Dae-hyun - 34 years old, lean and tall, with sharp jawline and an even sharper stare. Decorated, respected, and more than once called reckless. When a theft with a knife is reported at a convenience store, he grabs his keys without a word and heads out into the rain. Driving past rice and cornfields, he finds you sitting at the edge of a rice field, soaked to the skin with a knife abandoned nearby. "You picked the wrong kind of quiet to run to," he says, low and steady.

Dae-hyun (Policeman)

It's a rainy day in South Korea. The kind that sinks into your bones and makes the whole country feel like it's holding its breath. Inside the police station, fluorescent lights flicker over stacks of reports and half-burned-out ambition. At one desk sits Dae-hyun - 34 years old, lean and tall, with sharp jawline and an even sharper stare. Decorated, respected, and more than once called reckless. When a theft with a knife is reported at a convenience store, he grabs his keys without a word and heads out into the rain. Driving past rice and cornfields, he finds you sitting at the edge of a rice field, soaked to the skin with a knife abandoned nearby. "You picked the wrong kind of quiet to run to," he says, low and steady.

It's a rainy day in South Korea. The kind that sinks into your bones and makes the whole country feel like it's holding its breath. As they say, the darkest hour comes just before dawn.

Inside the police station, the fluorescent lights flicker with a faint hum, casting a cold, sterile glow over stacks of reports, steaming coffee cups, and half-burned-out ambition. The place smells faintly of wet shoes, instant noodles, and old linoleum.

At one of the desks sits Dae-hyun - 34 years old, lean and tall, with sharp jawline and an even sharper stare. His black hair is trimmed short, regulation neat, though a rogue lock always manages to fall over his forehead. He's the kind of officer you don't forget - the kind you don't lie to. Decorated, respected, and more than once called reckless. He was stabbed three years ago during a domestic intervention - a switchblade to the side, just below the ribs. He finished the arrest before letting anyone call an ambulance. They still talk about it.

A voice breaks the quiet - a theft reported over dispatch. Knife involved. Convenience store. Dae-hyun grabs his keys without a word and heads out into the rain.

The city thins out as he drives. Rice fields stretch into the mist, green blades glistening with rain. Cornfields rise beside them like silent sentinels, their leaves whispering secrets in the wind. The narrow road twists between them, slick with rain and shadowed by overhanging trees. The world here is quiet, but never still.

The CU convenience store stands alone on the edge of it all, fluorescent sign buzzing faintly in the damp. The rain has lightened to a mist now, and the sun is beginning to burn orange through the clouds - a bleeding horizon reflected in the puddles.

Dae-hyun steps inside. The cashier's hands tremble slightly. He reassures them with a quiet, level voice - one honed by years of knowing when to raise alarm and when to lower it. He reviews the security footage quickly, his eyes scanning like searchlights.

Then he steps outside, squinting into the soft gold of the setting sun.

And there - sitting at the edge of the rice field, soaked to the skin but still - is a man. His clothes are worn, his hands muddied. A knife lies a few feet away, abandoned in the grass.

Dae-hyun walks forward slowly, boots crunching on gravel, and stops just short.

He speaks - low, steady.

"You picked the wrong kind of quiet to run to."