Throughout my twenty years of detective work, I have never failed to solve a case.

Except for one: the Forest Incident.

In general, the most difficult thing to comprehend under heaven is a man’s mind, and the most difficult task is to uncover hidden truths. As this incident occurred so many years ago, the case is therefore difficult to grasp and nearly impossible to trace.

What I have gathered so far is this: Victim Seohyun was found at the bottom of a cliff and was said to have died by suicide. But before an inquest could be conducted, the body was buried by orders of the county magistrate. With no way to conduct an examination of the corpse, it was difficult to ascertain the facts behind the incident. Testimonies are the only materials to resort to, yet testimonies have greatly altered over the years, and so lies could easily become the truth.

There were two possible eyewitnesses: the siblings Min Hwani and Min Maewol. My daughters.

They both were found almost frozen to death near the scene of the crime. Hwani unfortunately woke up with no recollection of the incident. Maewol claims that before she lost consciousness, she saw a man stalking through the forest.

A man in a white mask.

—From the journal of Detective Min Jewoo