The mission had begun.
But Lee Rang's mind wasn't focused. Not yet. Not when the face in the photo haunted him like a curse.
That girl… He had seen her before. Not in some file. Not on some mission. In real life.
It was over a year ago.
His father had asked him to wait in the car. They were parked outside a strange hotel near the northern mountains — Hotel 404. The name wasn't even printed on the wall. Just the numbers etched into cracked stone above the black iron gate.
Lee Rang remembered the rain. He remembered the smell of wet metal. And he remembered her.
The same girl in the mission photo.
She had stood under a red umbrella, staring at nothing — calm, cold, unreadable. His father walked over to her. Said something. Then both disappeared into the hotel.
His father never spoke about that day again. And months later, he was dead.
Back in the present, Lee Rang had to find answers.
He began tracking the hotel.
But Hotel 404 wasn't normal. It didn't appear on maps. Locals called it cursed. They said it only appeared during monsoon, and then, only for a few days, before vanishing again.
He spent four days hunting it, deep in the quiet roads near the North Korean border.
Finally, he found it — not Hotel 404 itself, but an old, abandoned motel nearby.
He booked the only room. No guests. Only silent staff.
No one smiled. No one blinked.
It was as if the motel was breathing — but not alive.
It was the fourth night, in the heart of the monsoon. 4:04 AM. A knock.
Not a loud one. Just enough to chill his spine.
He opened the door.
No one.
Only a small package on the floor. Wrapped in red plastic.
Inside:
A cassette tape
A sealed envelope
A note written in blood-colored ink:
"I knew you would come. Hahahahahahahahahaha.
Watch the cassette."
There was an old player in the room. He inserted the tape. It clicked.
Then came the voice.
Distorted. Feminine. Cold. Familiar.
"The one who sent you... Do you want to know him? Or do you want to understand him?
You saved her life, took her photos... You think I haven't been watching you? Your father — he was strange too. And that's why he died."
Lee Rang's chest tightened.
Then the voice shifted, deeper… sharper:
"You now have five paths. Choose only one. Every other path will be closed to you — forever."
A mechanical sound clicked. A list began playing:
The secret of the Masked Men
Meeting me
Sparing the girl's life
The truth about your parents' death
A mysterious secret that could destroy everything
"This message will self-destruct in five seconds.
I know what you'll choose… But I want to hear it from you."
"Good luck. Yours truly — Wan***— [signal cuts]"
The cassette ejected. Smoke rose from the slot.
And then silence.
Lee Rang stood still. His fingers trembled. Not from fear. From something else.
A decision.