Chapter Text
- The missing case of Kim William Sunoo
Millinocket, Maine
11. November 2015
Millinocket was a small town surrounded by a forest that carried its own history. Thick fog drifted through the fir trees that rose toward the sky like tall guardians. At every time of the year the cold air swept through the increasingly empty streets lined with houses that had stood there for years. No one stayed long in the gloomy town that took so much. Many spoke of a curse. Of a former coven of witches who had banished the devil into the forest. It was as if the forest around the small town was breathing.
Throughout all the years there were always missing person cases. People who went into the forest and never came back.
Kim Sunoo was twenty one years old when he vanished without a trace. His big dream of going to Los Angeles to become a singer still present at the tip of his tongue. When he disappeared many people dismissed it and said he had simply run away in the night to follow his dream. Yet many knew that Sunoo would never have left his sick mother behind. They knew that the forest had swallowed him and held him captive with icy claws.
It was a Wednesday when Sunoo was last seen. The fog had already fought its way into the town through the cold autumn and wrapped it like a blanket. As if the fog wanted to hide the people in the area from the eyes of others.
Although his life had not been easy many of the residents would say that he had always been kind and friendly. Always with a smile on his lips and a song that he hummed softly to himself. Whether in the little cafe where he always worked or in the hospital when he brought his mother to her check ups again.
Or when he had to take care of the boy of the Park family again.
The Kim family home was not large. His sister lived not far from them but due to her second pregnancy she was completely occupied. Sunoo knew that it had not been planned. Little Minhee had been only one year old when she became pregnant again. Eunhee’s partner was always traveling due to his job and left the two of them alone most of the time. How often has she apologized to him already? How often had she told him that she was sorry that he was still trapped in this town?
On some nights Sunoo felt that the town had wrapped its cold claws around him. As if it whispered that he would die here.
“Think of your medicine.” Sunoo walked through the cold rooms of their small house. He rubbed his hands together for a moment so that the cold would leave his fingertips a little when he handed his mother the pills. She coughed and then smiled gently.
“I am at the Park estate again today. I think I should be back around eleven pm,” he murmured and brushed a few strands from her forehead.
It became harder and harder for her to speak which was why she only nodded weakly. Sunoo and his sister were born in Korea but fled with their mother when things got worse. Their father was not a violent man but there were moments when they locked themselves in the bathroom until their father fell asleep drunk. When Sunoo was eight years old they fled to their aunt in Millinocket. Their mother had never managed to speak English properly and until the death of their aunt she had taken over everything.
At school the children all called him William or Will. Only his mother and sister called him by his Korean name. And of course the Park family.
The Park family was the only other family of Korean descent. They were new rich. Rumor had it that Mr. Park had sold his company but had offended his partner so they had to flee. Millinocket was the perfect place to escape the past but everything came with its price.
And when Millinocket tightened its rope around someone the only solution was to kick the stool from under their feet and slowly suffocate.
Sunoo closed the front door behind him and breathed in the biting cold air. The fog hung heavily over the street as if it had decided to swallow the whole town. The lantern light broke dully through the grey wall and gave the houses a ghostly appearance. For a moment Sunoo stood still and listened. No animal, no wind, only the gentle whisper of the needles in the tall fir trees at the edge of the forest. This sound had followed him since he was little. He had often believed he heard voices in the forest, a soft whisper barely perceptible but always there on nights that were particularly dark.
His phone vibrated incessantly but he tried to ignore it. There was only one person who wrote to him or had been trying to reach him since this morning.
He pulled the hood of his blue hoodie over his head and made his way to the Park estate. The gravel crunched under his shoes as he entered the driveway of the large house. Compared to the rundown houses in the rest of the town the Park estate seemed almost uncanny. Too clean. Too perfect. Like a building from another world.
The heavy doors opened before he could knock.
Park Sunghoon stood there lanky as always, his black hair falling into his forehead. His dark eyes lit up when he saw Sunoo. He was only fourteen but there was something grown up in his posture, something sharp edged.
“You are late,” he said without greeting.
“Good evening to you too Aiden.” Sunoo smiled as the younger one let him into the warm house.
“Do not call me that.” Sunoo only laughed and brushed his hair which Sunghoon tried to prevent.
“I will call you by your Korean name when you finally call me Hyung,” Sunoo replied as he took off his shoes. Sunghoon opened his mouth to reply but closed it immediately again. A light red tint spread across his cheeks and ears.
Sunoo knew that Sunghoon had a sort of admiration for him. Perhaps it was also a crush that Sunoo himself found rather cute.
The smell of wood polish and expensive coffee filled the air. The Parks lived in a level of luxury that was unknown in Millinocket. Every room looked like it came straight from a furniture catalogue. Shiny floors. High ceilings. And yet something felt strange in the air as if something was lurking behind the walls.
They walked to the kitchen where the food was already prepared and only needed to be warmed up. Sunoo was grateful when the Park family had accepted his offer to babysit when Sunghoon had still been a little boy. They had told him that it would be good for Sunghoon to have a bit more home in the big house. The pay was very good and Sunoo could help himself to anything.
Sunoo put the bag down and rolled up the sleeves of his hoodie. The kitchen was large, almost sterile to perfection. Marble countertops dark glossy cabinets and an almost unnaturally quiet acoustics. Only the gentle hum of the refrigerator and distant dripping somewhere in the house filled the silence.
Sunghoon sat on the bar stool and watched Sunoo put the bowls of bulgogi and rice into the microwave. His gaze was intense, almost uncomfortably piercing. Yet Sunoo was used to it. Sunghoon had always had that special focus as if he analyzed every movement.
“How is your mother?” he asked after a while. His voice held a serious weight that did not match his age.
Sunoo shrugged but his smile remained. “She is okay. Today was a good day. She even scolded me for taking care of her too much.”
Sunghoon frowned. “That is ridiculous. You should not have to do everything alone.”
“And you should tell your parents that you spend too much time in front of the computer.” Sunoo raised an eyebrow and grinned. Sunghoon gasped as if Sunoo had hit a nerve. His lips formed a thin line.
“That is different.”
“That is true,” Sunoo said. “You have plenty of staff who take care of you.”
Sunghoon pulled his legs up and rested his chin on his knees. “I do not need them. I only need you.”
Sunoo playfully nudged him on the forehead. A soft ouch and Sunghoon rubbed the spot. Sunoo smiled softly as Sunghoon pouted. He liked the younger one.
“If you leave then I will come with you,” Sunghoon started again and Sunoo placed the glasses of water on the counter.
Sunoo laughed. “And do you think your parents would allow their fourteen year old son to run away. You have your family and friends here. You should finish school first.”
Sunoo placed the plates on the counter and sat on the stool next to Sunghoon. Their shoulders touched slightly and Sunghoon exhaled quietly as if every touch from Sunoo was a small highlight.
Yet as soon as Sunoo took the first bite his phone vibrated again. A quick glance at the screen made him flinch.
A few weeks ago Sunoo would have said that there was one person in this cursed town for whom he would stay.
Jeremy. His boyfriend.
They were in a secret relationship since Jeremy’s family was strictly religious and his father was the pastor. Sunoo had been so in love when they kissed for the first time but lately it had become suffocating.
Jeremy had a certain temper. At the beginning of their relationship he had been sweet and attentive. Sunoo had given him many firsts and thought Jeremy would be his only one. But over the past few weeks his boyfriend had completely changed.
Sunoo knew that it was because of the pressure Jeremy received from his parents.
“You should break up with him,” murmured Sunghoon as he poked at the food.
“You should not look at someone else’s phone,” replied Sunoo and sighed.
Sunghoon’s gaze said everything. “He is not good for you. The bruise…”
“I told you I bumped into something Aiden.”
Sunghoon looked back at his food. “Sunghoon-ah.” Sunoo saw the moment it registered with the younger that Sunoo had used his Korean name. His ears turned red and he turned his head away completely but the blush spread down his neck.
A silence settled over the kitchen dense like the fog outside.
A silence in which something else lingered. Something that Sunoo could not see but Sunghoon felt.
Yet before Sunoo could speak again there was a hard knock at the door.
One hit. Loud. Impatient.
Sunoo flinched.
Sunghoon stood up but Sunoo gestured for him to stay seated.
“Will?” Jeremy.
“Do not go,” hissed Sunghoon and reached for the phone but Sunoo stopped him.
“It is fine. I will talk to him and then come back.”
Sunoo placed a calming hand on Sunghoon’s shoulder but the boy was tense like a wire. His fingers dug into the fabric of Sunoo’s hoodie as if he was afraid Sunoo would disappear the moment he stepped out of the room.
Sunghoon’s voice was only a whisper barely audible yet full of urgency. “Please do not go outside with him.”
“He is not dangerous,” Sunoo lied. His eyes betrayed him. “It will be only a conversation. I will be right back.”
A second hit on the door. Even harder this time. Something clattered in the entrance hall.
“Will. Open the door.”
The voice echoed through the wide corridor vibrating in the walls of the house. The forest outside seemed to fall silent. No rustling, no whispering. Only Jeremy’s hard knocking that sounded like a broken heartbeat.
Sunghoon wanted to jump up again but Sunoo pressed him gently back down. “Stay here. Promise me.”
“I will promise only if you promise me,” Sunghoon hissed back.
Sunoo hesitated then smiled weakly and kissed the boy’s forehead. It was a gesture he had often used when Sunghoon was little. A calming gesture. Yet now it made Sunghoon’s heart stop.
“I promise,” said Sunoo.
It felt wrong. Heavy. Like a last lie.
He stepped back before Sunghoon could hold him and walked toward the hallway. Sunghoon remained motionless but his eyes burned.
Sunoo’s footsteps sounded far too loud in the empty house and the light that fell through the corridor windows was milky and unwelcoming. The fog outside pressed against the window panes as if it wanted to flow into the house.
Jeremy stood there, his shoulders hunched the hood of his hoodie wet from the fog. In his eyes was a wild driven expression that Sunoo recognized immediately. He smelled of cold air fear and anger.
Sunoo stepped into the cold night air and crossed his arms. The cold seeped through his hoodie already.
“Why are you not answering?” Jeremy asked angrily.
“I am working, Jeremy.”
“And you cannot answer me? Damn Will.” Jeremy’s eyes were full of anger. Sunoo tried to swallow down his fear. He knew Jeremy was not normally like this.
“You know I babysit at this time. I cannot be on my phone all the time.”
“Babysitting? The little Park brat is fourteen years old. Just because his parents are rich he always needs someone around him?”
Jeremy grabbed Sunoo’s upper arm but Sunoo tore himself free which only made Jeremy angrier.
“He clings to you like a leech. You think that is cute do you not? You give him false hope. He worships you and you…” Jeremy laughed bitterly. “You let it happen.”
“That is not true.” Sunoo gasped horrified. “He is a child. Stop accusing him of something like that.”
“A child that…”
The slap echoed across the parking lot into the forest. Sunoo did not know what came over him but Jeremy’s cheek turned red immediately and Sunoo stared in shock at his now tingling hand.
It was so quiet. Only Sunoo’s soft panting. Jeremy turned his head. His gaze was so full of hatred that it knocked the breath from Sunoo.
“You will regret this.” Jeremy turned and got into his car slamming the door so loudly that Sunoo flinched.
The engine roared, the bright headlights cut through the fog like two glowing eyes. Sunoo stood stiff on the gravel path. His fingers trembled, the cold seeped into his bones like liquid ice. Jeremy stepped on the gas but then braked abruptly. The car rocked back and forth as if it had to decide whether to drive or explode.
A breath. Another one.
Jeremy leaned over the steering wheel, his fingers white from gripping it. Sunoo saw his profile through the fogged window, the tense shoulders and the clenched jaw. For a moment Sunoo thought Jeremy would get out and come back to do whatever he intended.
But then the car sped away. Tires screeched on gravel fog swirled. The taillights were swallowed by the grey haze until only darkness remained.
Sunoo stood alone.
The air was deathly still. No bird. No rustling. Only his shallow fast breaths.
He pressed a hand against his chest. His heart was racing.
“I did not want to hit him,” he murmured tonelessly and pressed his face into his hands. His fingers were cold and shaky.
A gust of wind swept over the parking lot so sharp and sudden that Sunoo jolted. It sounded as if the forest took a deep breath. As if something inside it awoke and waited for his next step.
Something was watching him.
A feeling so old and foreign crawled up Sunoo’s spine.
He shook his head, forcing himself to stay calm. He needed to get back inside to Sunghoon. The boy must already be worried.
Sunghoon sat up immediately as Sunoo came back into the house. His eyes were full of worry and he wanted to say something but Sunoo only laughed.
“Now the food is probably cold. Let us make popcorn and watch something okay?” Sunoo forced his hands to stop trembling as he put the barely touched plates of food into the tray.
Sunghoon only nodded and said nothing.
Shortly before midnight Sunoo left the Park estate. With a smile as always and a promise to Sunghoon that next time they would play Super Smash again.
When the sun rose the next morning Sunoo’s bed was untouched.
New York
11. November 2025
Sunghoon sat at his desk in the FBI office, the lamp above him casting sharp white light over files he already knew by heart. William Kim. Sunoo. Missing since 2015. Case unsolved.
He flipped through the old photos for the hundredth time. A young bright smile. Big kind eyes. Hair that always fell into his face when he did not pay attention. And the way Sunoo had smiled at him back then as if he were the only person in the world.
Whenever Sunghoon sat in front of a new case he had to think of Sunoo. Whenever he solved a new case he hoped he would finally find clues to the case that had driven him to join the FBI. To become a profiler and help all the people who would otherwise never receive closure.
He knew that after ten years the hope of finding Sunoo alive was small. Sunghoon knew the statistics. He knew every single case where a missing person had been found after many years.
When Sunoo disappeared Sunghoon decided that he would never leave someone with the feeling he had had when he saw the missing flyers for the first time.
A part of him had always stayed in Millinocket.
In the forest.
With Sunoo.
His phone vibrated and Sunghoon grabbed it without looking. He was about to ignore the call until he saw the name on the display.
Millinocket Police Department.
His heart stopped.
He answered. “Agent Park.”
A familiar older voice replied. The police chief.
“Aiden. This is Chief Halford from Millinocket.”
“Is something wrong with my parents?” Sunghoon had kept sporadic contact with his parents over the years which basically mirrored his entire childhood.
“That is not it. We reopened the case of William Kim.” The chief’s voice sounded distant. As if he did not know how to say what he was about to say.
“Is there a new lead?” Sunghoon’s heart jumped. Had they found something. Maybe some sign of life from Sunoo. Something that finally gave him a new thread to get closer to the solution.
“We… we found him.”
Sunghoon froze. “Who?”
The chief took a moment then said:
“William. He is alive.”
Sunghoon froze. His gaze drifted to the photo next to his laptop.
Not just any picture.
He and Sunoo.
Two boys standing in the Park estate garden. Sunoo with a smile on his face, his hair slightly messy. His arm around Sunghoon’s shoulders as if he wanted to protect him. As if he wanted to say I am here. Sunghoon’s fourteen year old self looked a bit shy, his cheeks flushed because Sunoo had made him laugh after he lost at basketball.
He grabbed his FBI jacket from the hook, took the car keys and pushed the gun into the holster beneath his jacket. His heart pounded so fast it felt like it wanted to break out of his chest and run ahead.
He rushed down the hallway, his footsteps echoing on the floor. Colleagues looked after him confused and irritated but no one dared to stop him.
As he sprinted through the glass corridors the lights above him flickered. Ahead of him his reflection shimmered for a moment.
And not only his own.
Behind him for a brief second he believed he saw another figure.
Tall.
Long.
Twisted like smoke in the wind.
He turned abruptly.
Nothing. Only the sterile corridor. Only ordinary American office architecture. Only normal darkness behind glass.
His heart raced.
Millinocket, Maine
12. November 2025
As always the fog had settled thickly around the forests. When Sunghoon drove through the empty streets in his rental car he felt that familiar sensation again.
Oppressive as if someone was watching him.
A wind swept through the fir trees making them dance wildly.
The sign Welcome to Millinocket rushed past him. It had been six years since he had last been in the town. It felt like yesterday when he packed his things and turned his back on the small town.
The sun rose slowly but never reached the town that always lay in shadow.
Sunghoon passed old buildings. Nothing had changed in six years. The people were still asleep when he finally parked in front of the hospital. Sunghoon had not slept at all during the whole flight. Too many thoughts plagued him, keeping him stubbornly awake. It was not the first time he had gotten by on little sleep.
During an important case where a little girl had been kidnapped he had slept only a few hours over the entire time. In kidnapping cases every minute counts. Every minute the victim might still be alive.
When Sunghoon stepped out of the car the cold bit into his skin immediately. Millinocket smelled just as it had back then. Damp earth pine trees and something metallic in the air as if the taste of blood floated above the town. He shoved his hands into his jacket pockets and looked around. The fog was so thick he could not see the treetops. Everything was shrouded and suffocating.
He took a deep breath then yanked open the hospital door.
Inside there was only dim morning light. The harsh neon lights burned his eyes. An older nurse looked surprised as he entered. Her eyes widened and she pressed her lips together as if she had been expecting him.
“Agent Park?” she asked hesitantly.
Sunghoon nodded. “I need to speak to Chief Halford. Immediately.”
The nurse nodded and led him through the still empty corridors. The smell of disinfectant burned his nose. Now and then he could hear the beeping of devices from some rooms.
The hospital looked exactly the same. As if the town simply stood still. The walls were bare and white.
Chief Halford sat on one of the benches in the corridor. Sunghoon thanked the nurse who nodded briefly. She wanted to say something but decided against it. One last look at the chief who was leafing through documents and she walked away.
Halford had already been the chief back then. Sunghoon had always gone to him after Sunoo disappeared. Had offered to help which the older man always waved off. He kept telling him to study. That he should become something.
People like you are meant for great things. Do not waste it in this damned town.
“Chief Halford,” Sunghoon murmured quietly and the man flinched slightly. Relief spread across his face. He looked older. His beard unkempt and fatigue lay heavy in dark circles under his eyes.
“Aiden. It is good to see you.”
In front of them was a locked door. The number thirteen printed in black beside it. Sunghoon inhaled. He felt his heart clench as if it already knew what was behind the locked door.
The chief sighed softly. “There are a few things we need to discuss before you can enter the room.”
Sunghoon nodded. The chief gestured to the seat next to him but Sunghoon declined. If he sat now, exhaustion would catch up with him.
“A young couple found him by the roadside. He seemed confused and had a wound in his side. They were only passing through and wanted to drive him to the next hospital. According to their statement William screamed when they approached the town.”
“He was found near here?”
The chief nodded. “A few miles away. We already checked the location but found nothing. No tracks. Nothing. It was as if he had simply appeared on the roadside.”
“We examined him. He is no longer in life threatening danger. He had only a cut wound on his side which was stitched up. Dehydrated. Hypothermic. But physically stable.”
Sunghoon nodded. He noticed that the chief hesitated with what came next. As if he had to find the right words.
“When I saw him for the first time it almost took my breath away, Aiden. I asked him what the last thing he remembered was and he said he had left the Park estate just a few minutes ago.”
Now the chief stood up and stared at him so intensely.
“William still looks exactly as he did ten years ago. There are no signs of aging. We have already done several tests and are waiting for the results of most of them but Aiden,” the chief began. “William is still twenty one years old.”
Sunghoon inhaled sharply and his gaze fell on the door again.
“What do you mean that he has not aged in the ten years of his disappearance. How is that possible?”
The chief shook his head. “He has not spoken much. He keeps asking for you. We had to figure out that he meant you.”
Sunghoon leaned against the wall. His heart pounded so painfully in his chest that every beat echoed in his head. He heard the blood rushing in his ears. A cold film of sweat covered his back. He blinked but the world stayed blurry as if someone had distorted the air around him. His fingers gripped the wall so tightly his knuckles turned white.
“At the moment he is hard to calm down. He speaks incoherently and falls into a kind of trance again and again. The doctors said that this is normal. William is in shock. We do not know how to calm him. Only when we say your name, he seems to pull himself together a little.”
Sunghoon swallowed hard. He did not know if he wanted to shake, scream or cry.
Instead he heard himself ask “The wound on his side, what exactly was it?”
A short pause.
“A stab wound,” the chief finally said. “Sharp. Deep. Not old. As if it had been inflicted hours ago.”
Sunghoon stood alone in front of the door. They had installed cameras in the room and watched Sunoo around the clock. The chief had told him that he should enter the room alone. “He reacts very irritably to us. It would be best if you go in alone.”
Sunghoon stood rigid in front of the closed door, the sterile white corridor flickering in the weak light. His fingers lay frozen against the cold metal handle, his heart pounding so hard he thought the monitors inside would pick it up any moment.
He was suddenly fourteen again.
Standing alone in the Park house hallway. Waiting. Hoping. Despairing.
Only this time he stood before a door behind which the answer to ten years of nightmares waited.
He pressed the handle down.
Slowly resisting the door glided open.
A cold little wind inexplicable in this sterile building brushed his face as if he was not entering a hospital room but a crypt in the forest.
The room was dimly lit only the pale morning light seeped through the half open curtains. At the walls small monitors blinked. Cables snaked like thin branches across the bed. The steady beeping of the heart monitor was the only sound that kept the room alive.
And there he was, lying on the bed.
Sunoo.
He looked exactly as he had ten years ago. The same black hair falling over his forehead. The same soft features he had almost forgotten yet so present before him. His lips slightly parted. His face was pale and cold.
At first he looked a little confused until his gaze fell on Sunghoon. It was as if he finally woke up. His eyes became clear and so wide. Sunoo sat up so abruptly that Sunghoon almost took a step back but his feet were rooted to the cold hospital floor.
“Sunghoon-ah?”
Tears formed in Sunoo’s eyes. As if he finally realized what had happened to him.
He searched for words that refused to form. His gaze wandered over Sunghoon’s face, now more angular, broader, older. Over the shoulders that now carried the FBI jacket. The posture that looked firm steady and controlled. Nothing reminded of the lanky fourteen year old who used to chase him during basketball.
Sunoo swallowed. His fingers trembled as he stretched them toward Sunghoon but he did not touch him. His breathing quickened.
“You are grown up,” he whispered as if that was the strangest realization of his life.
Sunghoon finally stepped slowly toward the bed. Every step careful and calm. Calculated like a profiler but beneath the calm mask a storm raged.
“I am twenty four,” Sunghoon said quietly. “Almost twenty five.”
The words hit Sunoo like a blow. His mouth opened, closed, opened again. In his eyes sadness and bewilderment flickered.
“Ten years have passed. But it has only been a few hours since I left the estate. I was on my way to my house but then…” Sunoo began but grabbed his head as if it hurt. His breathing accelerated.
Sunghoon now stood directly beside the bed and sat gently on a chair. He carefully grasped Sunoo’s wrist. It was so cold as if the chill of the forest had settled in every cell. Sunghoon stroked softly with his thumb over Sunoo’s pulse. Sunoo followed the movement until their gazes met again.
“It is okay that you are confused. Anyone would be. You do not have to understand anything right now okay. You do not have to understand anything.”
Sunoo exhaled slowly. The pressure in his chest that had been tearing him apart eased slightly.
“May I touch you?” It was only a whisper but Sunghoon nodded softly.
He leaned forward a little and let go of Sunoo’s arm. Cold fingers traced cautiously over his face and Sunghoon closed his eyes.
Sunoo traced his fingers along his cheeks. Traced every familiar mole. Over the prominent eyebrows. The straight nose. The long eyelashes. For a brief moment over the full lips. Until he pulled his hands abruptly back to himself.
“This is all so unreal,” murmured Sunoo.