Shotgun K

“Jae-Sung, you have a stalker.”

I stared at President Chung who was sitting across from me, too tired and worn out to even blink. How many hours has it been?

After I had snuck a peek at the package in the conference room, I remember being dragged out by Detective Choi. I remember some yelling, some shoving and then running off. But everything after that was just a blur. Next thing I know I was on the bathroom floor with a few medics surrounding me, an oxygen mask pressed to my face. I haven’t slept a wink since.

I continued to stare at the agency president, my mind just processing what he had just said. A stalker?

We were in President Chung’s office, and I was sitting on one of the lounge sofa he had surrounding a glass coffee table…How did I get here, anyways?
I could feel Mr. Park’s concerned gaze from my left side as he stood off to the side of the president’s wide office. He didn’t say a word.
Finally, after what felt like hours, President Chung spoke again.

“Jae-Sung…” he said.

I licked my dried lips and breathed in carefully.
“Yea,” I let out, my voice coming out hoarse. “Stalker.”

Frankly, I didn’t really get what he was trying to tell me, or why he was telling me this. But I just didn’t want to know. I couldn’t even be bothered with being curious; look where curiosity got me.
There was a soft knocking on the door before it opened.
“President, the two detectives are here.” the young secretary announced in her robotic tone.
President Chung got up from his seat and walked over to the door.
“He’s calmed down now.” he told them.

I didn’t look up from the clear coffee table as I heard footsteps approaching the sofa. President Chung went back to where he had been sitting across from me.
“The detectives are here to talk to us about everything.” he said to me.
My eyes felt heavy as I glanced up at him and then to the two detectives that were standing behind him. President Chung motioned for them to sit, insisting.
Detective Paek sat on the right side of the coffee table, and Detective Choi opposing him on the other side of the table.
“Mister Seo,” I heard Detective Paek say softly, in a very gentle tone. “We are going to tell you everything we know about this case.”
“No,” I heard myself say automatically. “Don’t need to know.”

My mind was off, stuck in my memories. The walk down the hall, pushing past the door…and the white plastic sheet---

“Mister Seo, it is important for you to know.” he continued to press. “We believe that you may be in danger.”

“Danger,” I echoed. I blinked, the word sinking in. I felt a frown pull down at the corner of my lips.
“Wait, why?” I dared to ask.

“We believe that you may have a delusional stalker---”

“Yea, stalker, I know.” I said gruffly, annoyed. “I was just told.”

Detective Paek seemed to study me, before he continued.
“We believe you should know what happened to the girl in the park.” he said.

I bristled. I don’t want to know.

“Mister Seo,” I heard Detective Paek say. “I won’t go into heavy details, please calm down.”

“Jae-Sung,” I heard someone suddenly say next to me. I nearly jumped from the seat.
It was Mr. Park.

“It’s okay, but I think we should listen.” he was saying to me. “Alright? Let’s breathe…”
I realized then that I was shaking my head furiously in refusal. What was happening to me?
I drew in a shaky breath and closed my eyes, forcing myself to calm down.

“I…uh, sorry.” I muttered. “That was…embarrassing.”

I could feel my manager’s worried gaze on me.
“Detectives, I don’t think Jae-Sung is in a condition to be listening to all this.” he said. “He’s tired; he should rest---”

“Detective Paek,” I cut in, feeling a sudden wave of energy in me. “What makes you think I have a stalker?”

The detective looked slightly surprised that I was talking. He seemed to think over his word before he spoke again.
“There has been…patterns.” he said, after a slight hesitation. “We believe that over the past month or so, you have been monitored.”

“Monitored?” I echoed, bewildered.

“Watched.” Detective Choi confirmed. He didn’t seem so aggressive towards me anymore.

I shook my head, my head buzzing.
“No, I would’ve noticed something like that. I don’t have the same schedule everyday, I’m always on the move---”

“But most of the agenda in your schedule are publicly announced events.” Detective Paek reasoned. “Drama filming, interview, photo-shoot; being popular as you are, a little research on the internet and your life can be mapped out to the exact minute.”

…That’s just an extreme possibility, right?

“You said patterns, what do you mean?” I asked. “You can’t just assume that someone’s been stalking me.”

The detective looked over at President Chung, who sat up in his chair.
“Jae-Sung, you know how you get some crazy mail from some of your fans, right?” he said.

Well, that wasn’t hard to think about. I’ve gotten my share of nasty fan mail. Supposedly, stuff like used tissues, locks of hair in the mail had been sent. But I’ve been lucky to not come across those so far; I can only open a handful with the huge amount that comes in.

“We think whoever killed the girl may be one of your crazy fan.”

“May, so the killer may not be my fan.” I pressed.

“Yes, but this is still a possibility.” Detective Paek said. “The girl that was found this morning suffered quite some physical damage that was very excessive. It wasn’t a quick death for her.”

A nasty knot formed in my stomach and I tried not to think of the picture of the girl as she smiled brightly back at the camera. Or how she smiled widely in her handmade t-shirt, excitement in her eyes…just hours before her brutal murder.
While I get a bloody puddle and a human heart---

I froze mid-thought, all of it suddenly dawning on me. The girl was murdered sometime after my promotion event. Then just half a day after her body was discovered, I receive the package with my fan mail. It was clearly meant for me; it had the agency’s mailing address specifically for my fan mail on it.

Girl: no longer living.
Fresh heart in a box= someone else no longer living.

No, it can’t be… Coincidence?

“Detective Paek, by a chance, was that girl’s heart…” I started.

The grim look on the detective’s face confirmed my thoughts.

“…oh,” I heard myself let out.

I was feeling a bit light-headed again.

“This…note was also in the package.” Detective Choi said, and he reached into the file he had brought with him. He pulled out some flat plastic evidence bag with a piece of paper in it. He placed it on the coffee table in front of me.



The words were handwritten on a simple piece of paper. I ignored the brown tinted water stain at the upper right corner of the paper, not letting my mind wander to possibilities. But the words themselves sent chills through my body. It was cold and cruel, but dense with some quiet sense of anger.
Clearly whoever had done this was troubled to say the least. But of course, ripping out a fan girl’s heart, putting it in a box and shipping it to a celebrity blood and all said just that.

The president let out a heavy sigh and leaned back in his seat.
“Look, I know tonight’s been rough on you and I understand that you are still… in shock.” I heard him say. “But this is serious.”

A girl was slaughtered and her heart was shipped to me as a gift, no shit it is serious.

“Okay…what else do you know? You said patterns,” I reminded them once again.

A thick manila folder dropped on the coffee table on top of the morbid letter.

“Go ahead, take a look.” Detective Choi said.

I gave him a suspicious sideways glance before cautiously opening the folder.

First I didn’t get what I was looking at. They were all letters, fan mails to be exact, nothing out of the ordinary. Then I started to read.



And that was it. What did it mean?
I shuffled through the pile of paper, picking a random one to read next.



These one lines, very few words but somehow had a hint of creepiness to it. I flipped to the next one.



…Wait, what?



“Wha…” I murmured, when I lifted that last letter out of the folder.
A smaller, thick paper fell out of the pile of all the letters. It took a moment for me to realize I was staring at the reverse side of a picture.
I picked it up and flipped it around. It was a candid picture of me, clearly unaware that I was having my picture taken. And it looked familiar, taken sometime very recent…very recently…

I scowled at the sour feeling that came up for an unknown reason as I studied the picture. I was dressed in my simple dark grey silk suit with a black button up shirt without a tie. I was dressed up for an occasion, but I was walking out of the building. I had a blank, depressing look to me, not smiling and with one hand shoved deep into my pant pocket. In the other hand was a small, neatly wrapped box with a blue ribbon---oh.

“This picture was taken last week at Yun’s birthday bash.” I said.

How? It was a private event in a private area. No media was allowed; hell, it didn’t even make news until the day after so no one should’ve known about it. There was no way someone could’ve slipped in.

“What you have in your hand are the letters received over the time span of roughly about a month and a half.” Detective Paek said.

“A month and a half?” I cried out incredulously. “And I’m only finding out about it now?”

“I honestly didn’t think some delusions on pieces of paper could lead to murder.” President Chung said.

I stared at my agency president with disbelief.

“You knew?” I demanded. “Did you hear I may be in danger?”

“Mister Seo, President Chung did consult the police about this as the behavior escalated to a more severe level.” Detective Paek said. “But they also believed that they were simply some obsessive delusions and nothing more.”

“And now a girl’s dead, and her heart's sitting in a conference room.” I snapped.

Silence fell over the office, the heavy weight of the seriousness of the situation crashing down on us. My face fell into my face, anxiety coming over me once again for the millionth time tonight.

This was not real; it was all a bad, sick, disgusting nightmare. No dead girl, no aggressive detectives. No blood, no heart in a box, and definitely no crazy homicidal stalker.

“It’s still too early to confirm fully that your stalker is linked to our murder. Everything we just said outside of the hard facts are just speculations and completely circumstantial.” Detective Paek said, breaking the silence. “But it’s true that you have a situation that clearly demands enhancement to your security.”

“So what do we need to do?” Mr. Park spoke, first time in a while.

President Chung cleared his throat, bringing my attention back to him.
“I have already discussed it with the detectives and they agreed to my idea.” he said.

“Idea?” I echoed.

“I know a few people through connections that can actively step in to keep you safe.” the president explained. “I’ll arrange a meeting and have this case assigned to the appropriate personnel.”

“Personnel?” I was echoing the last words of his sentences now.

“They are a trustworthy…organization. They are very professional and effective.” the president reassured.

Somehow that pause in the middle of his sentence did nothing to ease my anxiety. But it was enough for me to see what he was saying.

“You’re getting me a bodyguard,” I said flatly.

President Chung sighed, and leaned in over the glass coffee table.
“And I know just the person.” he said.