Shotgun K

“Jae-Sung, we’re keeping the media quiet about this.”

I stared at President Chung, and then turned Detective Paek.
“I think it's for the best; last thing we need is the city in a panic.” he agreed. “We have yet to be definite about the connection to this murder and your stalker.”

“I’ve got her heart in a box, what more do you need to make a connection?” I asked, too tired to even sound demanding.

“We need something more solid. Also we won’t be able to make a move unless we can track this person.” Detective Paek said. “We don’t even know where these mails have been sent from.”

I sighed, my face falling into my hands again.
“Honestly, I don’t care either way.” I said. “Just…catch this person and keep them locked up.”

I felt Mr. Park shifting on the couch next to me.
“Umm…in the meantime, how should Jae-Sung be…uh, moving?” he asked.

“Just go about your normal schedule.” Detective Choi said. “If he does have a stalker, they would notice even the slightest bit of change in his behavior.”

If I had been sitting up straight, he would’ve seen me roll my eyes. Clearly he wasn’t letting go of the possibility of pinning this on me.
I finally lifted my head up, and looked at President Chung.
“So, what’s going to happen with the bodyguard?” I asked. “The stalker would notice that change, right? If this guy was going to follow me everywhere…”

“That’s not something to be worried about.” he told me. “I already had a talk with my contact and they said that they would send the requested personnel over after they are done with their current job. They should be in Seoul in a few days.”

I blinked at the president, oddly impressed with this sort of work. I mean, I knew he had connections, but the way he spoke about these people he made it sound like he was connected to some government super-spy agency or something…my bodyguard wasn’t a spy, was he?

“So when will they be meeting us and where?” Mr. Park asked.

“I think it’s best to have them meet at Jae-Sung’s place.” Detective Paek said. “That way, it would be discreet and away from the public’s eye. We’re aware that his popularity is rising steadily so we’re aiming to avoid all unnecessary attention we can avoid.”

Funny; that’s the polar opposite of what a celebrity was supposed to do.
“So it’s still okay for me to just go out and do my job?” I asked.

A short, sharp beep sounded from President Chung’s desk. He excused himself from his seat and walked over to where his desk was.
“We wouldn’t ask you to stop everything you are doing.” Detective Paek said. “That’s unreasonable, and that may trigger a dangerous reaction from the subject.”

“Dangerous reaction? Like what?” I asked.

“Someone else may be murdered.” Detective Choi said.

“Oh…”

Detective Paek shifted forward in his seat, leaning forward.
“The thing is, we can’t predict what your stalker may do without knowing more.” he said. “But with this person knowing how to get close to you without you noticing it, we can’t be too careful.”

He then turned his head to the side to glance at President Chung, who was coming back over to where we were. He cleared his throat with a cough.
“My contact has agreed to arrange a meeting in two days time.” he announced. He motioned with his cell phone in his hand. “They said the request is being taken into consideration and shouldn’t be a problem.”

Detective Paek let out a quiet breath, and turned back to us.
“Alright, it’s all set then.” he said. “If anything happens, call us. And please, try to stay out of trouble.”

“Jae?”

I blinked, snapping out of my thoughts.
Mr. Park was watching me from my right, looking very worried.

“We’re here.” he said.

I blinked and turned my eyes up to what was in front of me.

…yup, it was my apartment door. What do you know? We’re here…

“Oh,” I let out. I then reached for the door knob and twisted.
It wasn’t working….why wasn’t my door working?

“Uh…Jae?”

“What?” I muttered as I glanced at Mr. Park, slightly annoyed with my manager.

“Your keys?” he asked, handing me my set of keys.

I stared at him, down at the keys he was offering me, and then back at him.

“…Oh.” I said again.

I took the keys from him and without much struggle, I unlocked the door. Uneventfully, the door pulled open, allowing me to enter my home. I let out a breath I realized was holding and stepped into the apartment.

My luxury apartment was quiet and clean, just as I had left it. My eyes wandered across the familiar furniture, the decors and features of my wide living room.
All of them, just as I left it.

“Go ahead and get some rest. I’m going to cancel the agenda for today.” I heard Mr. Park say.

I kicked my shoes off and sluggishly made my way to the kitchen.
“I thought I shouldn’t change my schedule…” I mumbled.

“You’re tired; what good work can you do?” Mr. Park said. “Detective Paek cleared it; he said that you should take this day to process all that has happened. And I agree.”
He stepped into the kitchen and started to push me away from the fridge where I was taking up space and in the direction of my bedroom.
“Health comes first, so sleep.”

“What time is it, Mr. Park?” I asked, sounding somewhat whiny.

“6:48 AM.” he announced.

And I just got home? Aoish, this is going to mess my work up…

I groaned and dragged my feet across the smooth polished wood of my flooring.
“Am I missing anything big?” I asked.

“No, not that I recall.” my manager replied. “I’ll check again, but I’m sure all you had were some work at the agency, you know, like a meeting with the publicist, checking in with your agent, that kind of stuff.”

I winced. I just got out of the agency; I didn’t want to go back.

“Today was an easy day… consider this your day off.” Mr. Park said. “The president said he will talk to the publicist himself.”

“Okay,” I mumbled. I was too tired to even consider arguing. But then something clicked.
“Wait…I have an agent?”

Mr. Park let out a sigh, shaking his head with a small smile on his face.
“Aoish, of all things to be worried about…” he muttered. He pushed my bedroom door open. “Go to sleep.”

He gave me a small gentle nudge, but I stumbled into the bedroom anyway. I gave him a lazy scowl, who just returned it with a motion towards my king-sized bed.
“I’ll be in the living room if you need anything.” he told me as he closed the door.

I stared at the door for a few seconds before I let out a heavy sigh.
This must’ve been the most tiring, draining, craziest day of my life…
What a nightmare.

I walked over to bed, stared at my black down top blanket before I sat down. The comfortable feel of my mattress seemed to sink up my spine and echo into my brain, sending me an alert reminder that I was exhausted.
Another long sigh escaped me, and I started to undo the clip on the wristwatch on my left wrist…

I stopped, and stared at the platinum dark silver wristwatch. I didn’t own this wristwatch. A few seconds later it dawned on me; I had left the studio in such hurry that I didn’t change from Min Han’s outfit.
I groaned, not liking that now I had a chore of returning the outfit back to the studio and get my other clothes back. I don’t remember seeing my bag in Mr. Park’s car; maybe I had left it there too.
My mind wandered back to my bag and its contents. Then I remembered the handful of fan mail, triggering another part of the evening---

No, I was back home to sleep. I am going to change and finally rest. The last thing I was going to do was think.
I got up from the bed and went to the closet to find some comfortable clothes to change into.

I quickly got out of the shirt Woo Sun Hi had handed me and threw it onto the lounge chair in the corner of my bedroom. I unclipped the wristwatch and also laid it on the chair.
I’ll return them later on tonight.
I returned to my closet and pulled out some sweats to wear. Did I want to shower? It was a long night; a shower did sound good…

After another moment of consideration, I grabbed the towel off of the shelf and made my way to the bathroom.

The bathroom was slightly cold, just cool enough to give me goosebumps. I turned the shower’s hot water on, quickly discarded the rest of the clothes I still had on and jumped in.
Swirls of steam soon enveloped me as the hot water hit my skin, the heat revitalizing my tired muscles. It was a pleasant distraction, and for a moment I could forget everything that happened tonight.

But no matter what I did, I could not wash away the vivid image of the package and its contents from my mind.



Sleep was…impossible. As tired, drained as I was, I found myself staring holes into my ceiling. Because every time I let my eyes close, I went back to the agency, and into the conference room. And those cryptic fan mails…

I don’t know how long I laid there but I finally had enough. I kicked my covers aside and got out of bed.
There was no point in rolling around and doing nothing…if anything, it made matters worse.

I went into my walk-in closet and started to pull out clothes for me to change to. I found a simple pair of dark denim jeans, and a simple white, long-sleeved shirt. I was in no mood to be too caring about my appearance, but still, I had to be clean and presentable. I grabbed a black leather jacket from its hanger and shoved my arms into the sleeves.
If I can’t sleep, I may as well just go and return the clothes to the set.

I rummaged into the closet for a bit, looking for a bag of some sort to store Han’s clothes. I finally found a medium sized paper gift shopping bag from a while back. Well, I guess it would have to do.
I stepped out of the closet and went over to the lounge chair to gather up what I needed to return. I roughly folded the jeans with the belt still attached to it and shoved it into the bag first. Next followed the shirt, and then the khaki jacket. Finally, the chain and the wristwatch were placed on top of the clothing, so it wouldn’t be damaged or scratched.

I straightened up to a stand, most of the items collected. Now all I needed to return was the shoes, and that was at the front door…
Double-checking everything in my mind quickly, I picked up the bag and walked out of the room. I could hear the news from the TV, the easy tones of the weatherman speaking about tonight’s weather from the living room. As I got closer, I saw Mr. Park sitting on my couch, typing away on his computer.

“Mr. Park, I’m heading out.”

Mr. Park looked up at me from the couch, a startled look coming across his expression.
“Out?” he echoed, sounding confused. He didn’t seem to like the idea.

I lifted the paper bag that had Min Han’s clothes in it as an indication.

“The clothes from the set,” I explained. “I forgot to change last night before we left.”

“Oh!” Mr. Park said. He then glanced at his wristwatch. “It’s only 3:00 PM; have you rested enough?”

“Yea,” I lied. “I’m feeling better now. I just don’t want to get the new costume supervisor in trouble, you know?”

He set his laptop down onto my coffee table and walked over to the kitchen counter. He grabbed up his keys and his wallet.
“I’ll drive.”

“Nah, it’s okay; I can drive.” I told him.
I saw Mr. Park’s expression change, looking like he was about to protest. I guess he didn’t want me to be alone.
“It’s really okay.” I insisted. “I kinda need the distraction.”

My manager blinked at me.
“Oh…okay then.” he said. He handed me his keys.

I watched as Mr. Park fidgeted in front of me, as if something on his mind was bugging him. It didn’t take a genius to decipher his expression.
“Uh…Do you want to come along?” I asked, the question coming out strained and awkward.

Mr. Park’s expression practically lit up with relief, probably at the fact that he didn’t have to fight me on the subject.
“I’ll go get my coat.” he said.

I forced a smile as he went towards my guest bedroom. That man should never play poker.
Mr. Park came back with his coat slung over his arm.
“Are we ready to go?” he asked.

I just nodded and headed towards the front door. I grabbed a pair of sturdy black double leather boots from the shoes shelf and sat down to lace them up. Mr. Park just slipped on his work loafers and stood waiting for me. I could feel his eyes studying me as I took time to lace up my boots and I suppressed a heavy sigh.
I sure hope this worrying doesn’t continue for long.

I finished with a double-knot of both boots before I stood up.
“Okay, let’s go.” I said.



As I had insisted, Mr. Park let me drive to the studio without complaint. He had just silently gone to the passenger side of the car and waited for me to open the doors.
The traffic wasn’t bad in the least bit and I was able to arrive at the studio in about thirty minutes. I parked the car into one of the reserved lots, reached over to the back seats to grab the bag and stepped out.

“I’m going to talk to Director Oh about the upcoming schedule,” I heard Mr. Park say.

I turned around to look at him, a bit of alarm going through my head.
“Mr. Park, are you going to---” I started.

Mr. Park raised his hands up palms open, motioning me with assurance.
“No, we don’t have to tell him about the incident.” he told me. “For now, let’s keep it between the people involved.”
He approached me and put a hand on my shoulder.
“In two days, we’ll have someone to watch over you.” he said. “Until then, let’s carry on like we always do.”

I just nodded limply, not trusting myself to be able to speak. Mr. Park gave me a short smile before moving towards the door of the building. I gave myself a few seconds to get it back together before I started after him.