The Story
In 2024, Kim Sung-won, a veteran journalist with a mysterious facial deformity, retires after a thirty-year career. At his farewell, a young and ambitious reporter, Yoon Ji-ho, confronts him about a suppressed article from 1987. When Kim dismisses her, Ji-ho steals a worn leather journal from his belongings to find the truth.The narrative shifts to 1987, revealing a younger Kim investigating the “routine” custodial death of student Park Jong-chul. Despite discovering evidence of torture and receiving threatening warnings, Kim’s attempt to publish the truth is violently silenced by an assault that leaves him permanently scarred.Back in the present, Ji-ho discovers a chilling parallel: her own brother recently died in police custody under nearly identical “standard procedures”. Realizing that the cycles of systemic violence have not ended, Ji-ho seeks a meeting with a mysterious source. The story concludes with Kim and Ji-ho standing together in an elevator—one at the end of his journey and the other just beginning a dangerous quest for justice

Written by Nathaniel Sejin Kim (South Korea)