Bitna sat before her mirror, watching the scenes play out. She caught sight of Jayeong's twisted smirk as the woman slithered through town, her steps light with the knowledge of her next devious move. Bitna's gaze darkened. This woman was despicable.

Jayeong handed an elderly woman a small, discreet envelope—payment to drug Jiho's grandmother. Within minutes, the grandmother drank a cup of spiked juice, her body wilting as the effects took hold. Jayeong wasted no time, slipping into the house to take Jiho away. In the chaos, Jiho managed to slip a phone into his pocket and, with shaking hands, dialed Daon's number.

Daon was sifting through case files when his phone buzzed. He frowned, noting the unknown number but answering anyway.

"Hello?"

"A-ajhussi..." Jiho's voice came through, trembling.

"Please help me... She's back. She's taking me again." Daon shot to his feet, his heart dropping.

"Jiho? Where are you?" Jiho's voice wavered but he managed to give a garbled description of the area.

"I... I don't know what to do, ajhussi. She said no one can help me."

"Listen to me, Jiho." Daon's tone was gentle yet firm.

"You're safe as long as you do exactly what I tell you. Find somewhere to hide if you can. If you see a street, cross it carefully and head to a phone booth if there's one nearby, okay?"

Jiho sniffled but managed a shaky, "Okay."

Daon raced to the location Jiho described. His pulse was pounding by the time he spotted Jiho—small, scared, and waiting by a phone booth, his face streaked with tears.

"Jiho!" Daon called softly, rushing over.Jiho's eyes lit up with relief.

"Ajhussi!" he cried, running into Daon's arms and gripping him tightly.

"You did so well, Jiho," Daon murmured, kneeling down to meet the boy's eyes.

"You're safe now, I promise. No one's going to hurt you anymore."

Jiho's voice was barely a whisper, but Daon heard it all the same.

"I... I thought I'd never get away." Daon held him, anger simmering under his calm facade.

"I won't let her hurt you again."

Meanwhile, Bitna was far from done with Jayeong. Her eyes narrowed, reflecting a dangerous glint as she turned her attention back to her mirror.

"Time for you to face your own demons, Jayeong," Bitna muttered. With a flick of her wrist, she summoned Man-do, her accomplice.

He appeared, slipping into his "blackmailer" role with practiced ease. He adopted a rough, disguised voice, summoning Jayeong to a secluded meeting spot by the shore. As Bitna watched, Jayeong arrived, clearly anxious yet curious, waiting for her supposed "blackmailer" to show.

Bitna smirked. She pulled out of the shadows, her car's tires skimming across the water as she drove up to Jayeong. Locking eyes with her through the windshield, Bitna stepped out of the car, her gaze piercing.

"You thought you could run from Hell?" Bitna drawled, her voice low and laced with menace.

She snapped her fingers, and in an instant, Jayeong found herself glued to the backseat of her own car, the seatbelt strapping her tightly in place. Jayeong's eyes widened in terror as the car slowly began to roll backward, inching toward the lake.

"No... no!" she shrieked, struggling against the seatbelt as the water crept up to the doors. 

Bitna leaned into the window, her face close to Jayeong's.

"You like drowning others in misery, don't you? Let's see how you handle it when the tables turn."

As the water filled the car, Jayeong's mask cracked. Panicking, she began to confess in ragged gasps, desperately hoping to stop the nightmare.

"I— I did it!" she cried.

"I killed him, okay? My first husband— I only stayed with him for the money! I poisoned him slowly, I ruined his eyesight, I even... pushed him off a cliff! All for his death benefit!"

Bitna's lips curled into a dark smile.

"Go on," she said, letting the water rise higher.

"Jiho... I kept him around as an alibi," Jayeong sputtered, her voice barely above a whisper.

"I didn't want people to suspect me. And the bath? I... I was going to stage it as an accident to claim his benefits..."

The car was almost fully submerged, Jayeong's voice choking off into frantic sobs. Bitna raised her hand, summoning a thin blade.

"Enjoy Murderer's Hell, Jayeong," she whispered before sending her off with a flick of her wrist, the vision dissipating in a cloud of shadows. Jayeong's last screams faded, leaving only the faintest ripple in the water.

The next day, Daon stood in the precinct, where a suitcase had been found abandoned outside. A team of detectives, his closest colleagues—Ji-hoon, Jin-woo, and Hyun-seok—stood around it, brows furrowed as they examined the Gehenna stamp emblazoned on its surface.

The meaning was chillingly clear, and Daon had no doubt in his mind who—or rather, what—was behind it.

Detective Jin-woo glanced over at Daon, raising an eyebrow.

"You ever seen anything like this?" Daon kept his voice low and steady, masking the thoughts running through his mind.

"No, but I don't think we're dealing with any ordinary crime ring. This... this feels calculated."

Another detective, Hyun-seok, shook his head, his voice filled with disbelief.

"It's like something straight out of a horror movie. A suitcase dropped outside the station with a... a branding of all things. What kind of people are we dealing with?"

Daon leaned in, his gaze unwavering as he examined the stamp.

"I'm not sure. But whoever left this wanted us to see it. This is a message."

Detective Ji-hoon sighed, running a hand over his face.

"We need to find out who's behind this and fast. If they're capable of things like this... God knows what else they've done."

Daon nodded, his jaw clenched. He couldn't shake the feeling that he'd only just scratched the surface of a much darker, far more sinister mystery.