EPISODE 56 – The Phantom's Lair
The reinforced door to the water purification plant's control room buckled under the combined assault of Minjae's brute force and Dohee's precisely placed breach charges. With a deafening crash, it gave way, revealing a sterile, high-tech chamber. Minjae burst in, weapon raised, his eyes blazing with fury, ready to finally confront the architect of this madness.
But the room was empty.
No ZEROFACE. No armed operatives. Only a large, blinking digital timer counting down rapidly on a central console, displaying 00:09:47. Attached to the console was a complex array of bio-chemical canisters, wires, and a shimmering, unstable liquid – the evolved Pandora's Breath.
"It's a trap!" Kevin yelled, sweeping the room with his weapon. "He's not here!"
Suddenly, the main monitor in the control room flickered to life. ZEROFACE's masked face appeared, larger than life, his voice, now devoid of distortion, filling the room with a chilling clarity. Crucially, this broadcast was not public; it was precisely directed, appearing only on screens and comms within the CHIPER team's operational frequencies.
"Welcome, Detective Minjae," ZEROFACE began, a faint, mocking smile visible even behind the mask. "Did you truly believe I would grant you the satisfaction of a direct confrontation so easily? My game is far more intricate than your simplistic desire for vengeance."
Minjae slammed his fist on a nearby console. "You coward! Show yourself!"
"Oh, but I am showing myself," ZEROFACE countered, his gaze unwavering. "Every action, every calculated move, every drop of chaos you witness... that is me. And now, Detective, for the grand reveal."
On the screen, the masked image of ZEROFACE began to pixelate, then dissolve, revealing a face beneath. It was a man in his late forties, with sharp, intelligent eyes, a lean build, and a faint, almost imperceptible scar above his left eyebrow. He was a face none of them immediately recognized, yet his presence exuded a terrifying, cold intellect.
"My name is Kang Jun-ho," the man stated, his voice calm, almost academic. "And I am the true ZEROFACE. The one you believed you 'killed' a month ago was merely a loyal subordinate, a decoy, a necessary sacrifice to lull you into complacency. A brilliant diversion, wouldn't you agree?" He paused, his eyes glinting with amusement. "He served his purpose. A shame, really. He had such... potential."
Minjae stared at the screen, a cold, sickening realization washing over him. The man he had shot, Miran's brother, had been a pawn. All of it had been a meticulously crafted illusion. His fury, previously a raging fire, now turned into a frozen, deadly resolve. "You... you used him! You used Miran's family!"
"A means to an end, Detective," Kang Jun-ho replied, unperturbed. "Just as your government uses its citizens, its resources, its very ideals, to maintain a corrupt, decaying system. I merely accelerate the inevitable. This city, this nation, is sick. And I am the cure." His gaze sharpened. "The bomb before you, Detective, is not merely a poison. It is a catalyst. It will force a reckoning. It will shatter the illusion of control, expose the rot, and from the ashes, a new order will emerge. An order built on truth, not lies."
The Plaza's Triumph
Meanwhile, back at the North Seoul Plaza, the repurposed drone, dubbed "The Lollipop Express" by Micha, was proving surprisingly effective. Alex, guiding it with frantic precision from the SUV, maneuvered it over the most densely affected areas. The fine, iridescent mist of the concentrated antidote billowed out, settling on the coughing, seizing victims.
"It's working, Guen!" Micha exclaimed, watching the drone's progress on her tablet. "The neurotoxin is degrading! Look!"
On the ground, the emergency doctors and rescue teams, initially bewildered by the flying billboard, now watched in stunned disbelief as patients who had been on the brink of death began to stabilize. The seizures subsided, the blistering eased, and the greenish hue faded.
"Unbelievable!" a veteran paramedic exclaimed, checking a patient's pulse, his eyes wide as he looked at Micha. "Their vitals are improving! What is that, how did you do that?"
Micha, though exhausted, managed a tired smile. "It's a rapid counter-agent, sir. Highly experimental, but effective against the airborne toxin. It's buying critical time." She then turned to the other paramedics and emergency doctors around her, her voice clear and decisive. "We have enough of this antidote for immediate distribution to all the critical cases on site! Get your teams ready. Guen, help me coordinate with them. We can save everyone in the plaza!" The sheer relief on the faces of the overwhelmed medical staff was palpable as Micha began handing out the prepared vials and guiding them on administration. The plaza was still chaotic, but the tide had definitively turned.
Micha's Fearless & Funny Confrontation
Suddenly, ZEROFACE's voice, Kang Jun-ho's voice, cut through only Micha's earpiece and the CHIPER team's secure comms. "Micha. The 'sugar factory.' I commend your ingenuity. Repurposing a derelict drone with a sucrose-based catalyst. Truly... chaotic. But ultimately, a temporary reprieve. Your 'cure' is merely a band-aid on a gaping wound. The city is still infected, and my ultimate plan remains untouched."
Micha, who had just popped a fresh, small lollipop into her mouth, pulled it out, her eyes narrowing. "Oh, ZEROFACE is it? Fancy name for someone who hides behind proxies and plays with bio-bombs. And for your information, this 'band-aid' just saved hundreds of lives, you overgrown germaphobe!"
Minjae, hearing Micha's retort through the comms at the water plant, almost choked. "Micha! Focus! We have a bomb here!"
Kang Jun-ho's voice, however, held a flicker of genuine annoyance. "My methods are precise, Doctor. They are necessary. You dabble in superficial fixes. I seek true systemic change."
"Systemic change through mass poisoning? That's not change, that's just being a really bad houseguest!" Micha shot back, twirling her lollipop. "And honestly, your grand reveal was a bit cliché. The 'I'm the real mastermind' speech? Seen it. Next time, try something with more flair. Maybe a musical number? Or a puppet show?"
A beat of silence. Even Minjae, amidst the frantic disarming of the bomb, felt a strange, almost unwilling twitch of his lips.
"You amuse me, Doctor," Kang Jun-ho finally said, his voice regaining its cold composure, though a hint of irritation lingered. "But your amusement will not stop the inevitable. The countdown continues."
The Reckoning & The Escape
"He's stalling us!" Kevin yelled, pointing at the timer. "He wants us to waste time on his monologue!"
"Alex, how do we disarm this thing?!" Minjae barked, ignoring Kang Jun-ho's voice. His anger was now channeled into a laser-like focus on the bomb.
"Working on it, Minjae! It's a multi-layered system! Looks like it requires a specific sequence of valve closures and a frequency pulse to neutralize the bio-agent before detonation!" Alex's voice was strained, but his commands were precise. "Dohee, there's a pressure valve on the far right, marked 'Theta-7'! Close it! Minjae, the central console has a frequency modulator! I'm sending you the sequence now!"
The team worked with desperate speed, the seconds ticking away. Dohee wrestled with the stubborn valve. Minjae's fingers flew across the console, inputting the complex frequency sequence Alex was feeding him. The air hummed with tension.
00:00:15... 00:00:10...
"Almost there, Minjae! Just one more sequence!" Alex screamed.
With a final, desperate push, Minjae slammed his hand down on the activation button. A high-pitched whine filled the room, then a soft hiss as the shimmering liquid in the canisters solidified, inert. The timer froze at 00:00:01.
A collective sigh of relief, quickly followed by a renewed surge of anger. They had stopped the bomb. But Kang Jun-ho was gone. The screen in the control room flickered, then went blank. He had severed the connection.
"He's gone," Kevin stated, his voice tight.
Minjae slammed his fist on the console again, a raw, frustrated roar escaping him. "He got away! That son of a—" He cut himself off, his eyes burning. "He knows we know. And he's still out there."
The immediate threat to Seoul was averted. The plaza was stabilizing, thanks to Micha's bizarre ingenuity and the cooperation with the emergency medical teams. But the true ZEROFACE, Kang Jun-ho, had revealed himself, and in doing so, had deepened the game. He wasn't just a terrorist; he was a phantom, a manipulator, and a dangerous ideologue.
The CHIPER team had won the battle, but the war for Seoul's soul had just begun.
What do you think happens next? How does the team deal with Kang Jun-ho's escape and the public fallout, if any? And what's ZEROFACE's next move, now that his true identity is known to CHIPER?