CHAPTER 54: CHAPTER 54 - GHOST-6: BRIEFING PROTOCOL

Choi continued anyway.

"He woke me up every day before sunrise. Didn’t matter if it was school day, holiday, snow outside, whatever. He put me on the mat and told me to move until I couldn’t think. Said people don’t wait for slow kids."

Kim blinked.

"...That’s... already too much."

Choi didn’t stop.

"He made me practice balance for hours. Hitting the same target until my arms went numb. Blocking strikes until my palms bled. He said if my body hesitated once, I’d get beaten for real if I hesitated."

Kim’s mouth fell open.

"And," Choi added, "he said I needed to stay calm even when someone is trying to break me. He said panicking is worse than getting hit."

Kim slowly lowered his finger.

"That’s not training," he whispered. "That’s a childhood arc from a martial arts manhwa."

Ha-rin clapped once, grinning.

"He definitely grew up in a training montage. I bet there was rain. And shouting. And dramatic music."

Kim pointed at her without looking. "Don’t encourage him."

Kim stared at him like his whole life was a lie.

"You grew up like THAT and you never told anyone? You hide all of it and then casually parry a soldier like he’s a balloon? Why?!"

Choi shrugged.

"My father said showing off makes you sloppy."

Kim made a sound of despair, slapping both hands over his face.

"I’m going home. I’m leaving. I’m joining a bakery. Anywhere normal."

Ha-rin laughed loud enough that Dong-wook woke up again.

Ryu Min-seo scribbled something and murmured,

"Interesting spine development. Could explain the flexibility. Maybe if he dies someday, I can—"

Kim threw his hands up.

"NO. STOP. We’re done talking about death for a minute!"

The room was still a little shaky from the fight but Choi didn’t wait for anyone to settle.

He walked to the center, pressed a button on the table, and the big screen behind him lit up.

White light washed over the room.

"Sit," Choi said.

They all did. Even Seo Jun-ho.

Choi looked around the table once, his eyes stopping on each of them.

"Do you know why you’re all here?" he asked.

Yoon Ha-rin raised her hand without waiting.

"Underworld Judge. Obviously. He’s blowing up the whole country right now."

Kim Tae-sung didn’t even bother looking up.

"Yeah... you don’t call five people like us unless it’s something big. Or insane."

Ryu Min-seo blinked slow, expression empty.

"I already sterilized my tools. Someone’s gonna end up on my table soon."

Then Lee Dong-wook leaned back in his chair, drunk enough that the chair almost tipped.

He pointed at Choi with a bottle he smuggled in.

"Hah... whatever this is, it’s definitely trouble. You don’t put... hic... crazy people like us together unless something’s burning."

Yoon Ha-rin sighed and kicked his chair lightly. "You smell like a whole bar. Can you even hear what he’s saying?"

Lee grinned, eyes half-open.

"I hear everything, sweetheart."

She narrowed her eyes.

"Yeah? Then try hearing this—shut up."

Seo Jun-ho sat still at the end of the table.

Not speaking. Not moving. Just staring at Choi.

Yoon Ha-rin pointed her thumb at him too.

"And this one? Does he even talk? Or is he some kind of furniture?"

Seo didn’t react. Not even a blink.

Choi watched all of them quietly, then nodded once. "Good. Let’s start."

"This isn’t a normal case. So I’ll explain it without wasting time."

He pressed another button. The screen showed the case board.

Pictures.

Victims.

Crime scenes.

The masked figure in the hoodie.

Choi clicked to the next slide.

"Underworld Judge," he said.

"Fifteen kills so far. Maybe more. These are only the ones the police could link."

Ha-rin’s eyes widened a little.

"Fifteen...?"

"Yeah," Choi said.

"And that’s just what the system picked up. There are cases with missing reports. So the actual number? No one knows."

Dong-wook let out a slow breath.

"...He’s been busy."

Choi nodded.

"He doesn’t wait. He doesn’t slow down. If we stall, he’ll hit someone else. Simple as that."

He switched the slide.

"Before this team was made, he already had seven kills. But in the last few days... he doubled it."

Choi pressed the next button and the screen changed again.

The case board zoomed in.

This time it wasn’t just scattered photos — it was a full layout:

Victim pictures lined up in three rows.

Age. Cause of death. Location.

Red markers showing the pattern of time between each kill.

Kim Tae-sung was the first to react.

He leaned back in his chair and let out a small breath.

"...Fifteen already? This guy works faster than malware."

Yoon Ha-rin looked at the screen with her eyebrows raised.

"That many? And no one stopped him?"

She whistled once, short and soft.

"That’s... actually crazy."

Dong-wook crossed his arms.

His face tightened the way fighters do when they see something serious.

"That’s not just some psycho," he said.

"Yeah... he moves like he’s trained."

Ryu Min-seo didn’t blink.

She tilted her head a little, staring at the names like she was reading autopsy tags.

Her voice came out flat.

"I want to see the bodies. All of them," she said.

Kim looked at her like she was crazy.

"Wow. Not even pretending to be normal, huh."

Min-seo ignored him completely.

Seo Jun-ho didn’t say a word.

He just kept staring at the list.

His eyes didn’t move, but the veins on his hand showed a bit more.

After a moment he spoke.

Seo Jun-ho didn’t say a word at first.

He just stared at the list of names — not blinking, not shifting, only the veins on his hand tightening a little as he read each line twice.

Then he spoke.

"So he killed fifteen people and walked away clean every time."

His voice was low, rough. "Guy outsmarted everyone so far."

Before Choi could answer, Yoon Ha-rin leaned back in her chair with a grin.

"Oh? He talks," she said, tapping her chin. "I was starting to think I should learn sign language just to communicate with you."

Jun-ho didn’t react at all.

Not even an eye twitch.

Ha-rin smirked.

"Yep. Still a statue."

She turned back to the screen like nothing happened.

Choi stood at the front of the room.

Hands in his pockets. Expression calm.

"He is not slowing down," he said quietly.

"He doesn’t hide long. He doesn’t rest long. And he goes after the ones we didn’t handle."

"He isn’t slowing down," Choi said quietly.

"He doesn’t stay hidden long. Doesn’t rest long. And he chooses people the law ignored."

Ha-rin leaned forward, resting her chin on her hand.

"So basically," she said, "he’s cleaning up garbage the system left behind."

Kim looked at her like she’d grown a second head.

"Don’t say it like he’s doing community service..."

Ha-rin shrugged.

Ha-rin leaned back in her chair, chewing her gum slowly.

"So he’s cleaning up scum. Honestly? Not seeing the problem. System fails, he fixes it."

Dong-wook snorted. "You wanna send him flowers too?"

Ha-rin smirked. "Depends. Does he have good taste?"