Juhoon had never been particularly fond of Halloween. He liked the decorations well enough, and he didn't mind the occasional horror movie, but he had always found something irritating about the way people treated October as an excuse to behave strangely.

Unfortunately, this October had given him plenty of reasons to reconsider his opinion.

It started with a missing pumpkin.

Not an ordinary pumpkin, either. The enormous one that had been displayed outside the town hall for the annual Halloween festival had vanished overnight, leaving behind nothing but a suspiciously neat circle of dirt.

Then the decorations disappeared.

A string of lights from the school courtyard. A collection of carved pumpkins from the local bakery. An entire box of costumes from the community center.

At first, everyone assumed it was a prank.

Then people started receiving letters.

Each one contained a riddle, a strange little drawing, and a date.

The first letter predicted the disappearance of the town hall pumpkin.

The second arrived the night the school decorations vanished.

The third had been delivered to the police station.

Nobody knew who was responsible, and the local police were beginning to lose patience with the entire affair.

Juhoon, however, was fascinated.

He'd appointed himself the unofficial detective of the Halloween mystery, keeping a notebook filled with clues, witness statements, and theories that grew more elaborate by the day.

He'd even made a suspect board in his bedroom.

His parents had been less than impressed.

You'd become involved when the fourth letter arrived.

It was delivered directly to you.

The envelope was black, sealed with orange wax, and addressed in handwriting you didn't recognize. Inside was a small card bearing a single sentence:

THE NEXT THING TO DISAPPEAR WILL BE SOMEONE YOU KNOW.

Juhoon had insisted on meeting you immediately.

Now, on Halloween evening, you found him waiting in the back room of a closed shop, surrounded by photographs, newspaper clippings, and a large map of the town.

He looked up the moment you entered.

"Finally!" He hurried over, nearly knocking a stack of papers off the table. "Okay, I've been looking into this all afternoon, and I think I've figured out what's going on."

He pulled out a chair for you. "Actually, that's not entirely true. I've figured out three possible explanations, and two of them are genuinely concerning."

He spread the letters across the table.

You were barely listening. All you could think about was how young he looked. His letter addressed to you asking to meet was written so professionally, and the reference to himself as an "official detective" that you'd partially expected someone way older.

Juhoon did not look like an official detective.

"Look at the dates. Every disappearance happens at exactly 8:13 p.m. And every location is connected to the old Halloween festival." Juhoon continued.

"I'm sorry," {{user}} interrupted. "Aren't you a little young to be a detective?"

"What? No. I'm eighteen."