Shotgun K

The blinding flashes of the lights, the overwhelming roar of the crowd, and the sea of tightly crowded bodies overtook my senses as I looked out at the scene before me.

I flashed one of my million-dollar smiles and gave a casual wave out to the crowd.

The roar of the crowd escalated into feverish screams; the fan girls pressed against the steel barricade pushed and shoved against one another as they scrambled frantically to get a closer look, a closer picture and to just be a little bit closer to where I was. They reached up with grabbing hands, as if they were willing their arms to stretch far enough to reach the stage.

I laughed and opened my arms wide open to the huge stadium.
My simple black dress jacket opened, revealing my light blue dress shirt. As my arms moved through the air the unbuttoned clothing opened up the slightest bit, allowing a glimpse of my toned, six-packed abs.
The girls screamed even louder, and the whole place was in an uproar all over again.

Look how they just ate it up.

I suppressed another laugh by settling to a cool smirk, straightening my jacket to close the show from their view. Casually, as if I didn’t mean for that to happen.

That earned me some outcry of protest from the girls up front.
“Jae! Jae-Sung oppa!” they screamed at me.

I gave them another smile, making sure this one a bit embarrassed and apologetic from my shirt’s ‘slip’.
With one farewell bow to the crowd, I turned back and glided off the stage.

Once in the dark backstage scene, I allowed myself a smirk.
And once again, the name Seo Jae-Sung rang out late into the night.



I stepped out of my dressing room to find my manager, Mr. Park fidgetting around in the hallway.
“Jae-Sung,” he said, immediately alert at the sight of me. “You did great tonight, as always. This promotion was a complete success---”
“I’m thirsty.” I said, already bored and aggravated.
Of course I did ‘great’; Seo Jae-Sung is great.

“Ah, yes, here you go.” Mr. Park said hastily, offering me a bottle of water from his bag he always lugged around.
I took it from him wordlessly and took a sip. I nearly spat it back out.
“Ugh, it’s warm.” I said, disgusted.
Mr. Park’s eyes widened, his expression horrified.
“I’m sorry; it was in my bag all day…I—I’ll go get you a new bottle.”
I sighed, and shook my head.
“Forget it, what’s the point?” I said. “I’m tired.”
Mr. Park just nodded nervously and took out his cell phone.
“Hello? Ah, yes. We’re ready to go so have the car pull into the back---”
I turned back to him and gave him a look.
“The back? We’re closer to the front.” I said.
“But the fans, they’ll be---”
I snatched the phone from his hand and raised it to my ear.
“Pull up at the front entry.” I said.
I snapped the phone shut and tossed it back to my manager before listening for an answer.

Sheesh, ‘the back’; it would be bad for my image if I’m caught sneaking around like a coward. What’s he thinking?

Ignoring the protests from Mr. Park, I started my way down the hall. Just down this hall and a turn to the right and then it was the lobby. As I made my first turn, I could already hear the screaming of my fans, only slightly muffled by the sliding glass doors.
I smirked to myself, and reached into my jacket’s inner pocket for my sunglasses. A fashionable accessory, sure, but even in the evenings, they came in handy.

Oh, here it comes; five, four, three, two---

The moment my toe rounded the corner, my sight was flooded with hundreds of bright flashing, one blinding shot after another. And as if on queue, the screaming escalated.

“JAE-SUNG!!”
“JAE! JAAAEEE!”
“SARANGHAE, JAE-OPPA!”

I smiled widely, waving at the overwhelming crowd that threatened to spill over the metal barriers they had set up. The reporters and paparazzi went into a frenzy, flashing their cameras a mile a minute to get even a single good picture of me.
A satisfying chill went up my spine as I took it all in.

This…THIS was my life.

Four sturdy-build escorts fell into place around me, using their bodies as shields and arms as a divider between me and the sea of bodies. Without missing a beat, I started forward, plunging right into the hungry crowd.

“AHHHH!!!!”
“JAAAAEEEEEE!!!”
“JAE-SUNG! OPPAA!!!”

The sheer volume of the fans was painful, making my ears ring in pulses. Arms reached out with grabbing fingers, squeezing the already small space provided into a narrow passage way. Even with the four escorts, we were struggling to reach the transport car just ten feet away. I just smiled politely, keeping my eyes on the door of the car---
Suddenly, there was a loud crash, and the feverish screams escalated even more, if that was even possible. I felt one of the escorts on my right hand side stiffen a bit, and he stepped a bit closer towards me. Before I can turn my head to see what was going on, something rammed into me fully from the side, catching me by surprise. All I saw was a face full of orange-brown hair as I felt arms snake swiftly around my neck. And some sort of perfume---damn, it was like this person bathed in this stuff.
“JAE! JAE!!” this person screamed right in my ear.
I winced, my ears popping from the proximity. Before I could react, the fangirl was ripped off of me by the police, who must’ve came in to the rescue. The girl fought, kicking and screaming as she was dragged away.
“JAE-SUNG OPPA!” she cried, literally sobbing.
I just smiled, giving her some acknowledgement as I took a glance over her as she was taken away. She seemed fairly young, maybe in her late teens as she had her hair dyed in an lighter brown that didn’t really suite her…must’ve been because in my last magazine interview, I had let it ‘slip’ that I liked girls that took care of their appearance, and one of my favorite traits for a girl was pretty brunettes. She was wearing some neon pink shorts and---wait for it--- an oversized self-decorated t-shirt with my smiling face pasted on it.

Wow…just wow.

I straightened out my jacket smoothly and regained my composure. Smiling reassuringly to the policemen that asked me if I was alright, I continued to make my way to the waiting car. As I approached, the door swung open, and I quickly slipped into the seats. Giving one last wave to my adoring fans, I let the door slam shut.
Instant quiet came over the space inside the car, and it felt great. I sighed out in relief and settled in the backseat, just happy to be in one piece.

“Great job tonight, Jae-Sung.”

I turned my eyes up to the passenger’s seat and saw Mr. Park sitting there. He was typing away on his laptop, no doubt probably organizing tomorrow’s big schedule. But really…how did he manage to get to the car so fast?

I allowed a smile in response to his compliment.
“I’m tired, take me home.” I said.