Shotgun K

“Mr. Park,” I demanded. “What the hell is going on?”

My manager’s expression hadn’t changed from its grim look since we left the studio.
“I can’t say for sure.” he told me, for the millionth time as he drove. “All I was told was to bring you back to the agency immediately.”
“The agency? Didn’t they tell you that there was an incident?” I echoed. “What happened?”
“I don’t know, Jae.” Mr. Park spoke, his voice slightly harsher than his normal tone. “Please, we’ll be there shortly so just sit tight…”

I stared at my manager, who was staring wide-eyed through the windshield as he sped down the freeway. His face was still pale, and he was gripping onto the steering wheel hard enough to turn his knuckles white.

Something was wrong, terribly wrong.

Mr. Park was going at least twenty miles over his usual comfort zone speed, another indicator that something was not right. But I couldn’t even begin to imagine what it could possibly be. It couldn’t be something I did; I didn’t do anything out of the ordinary, and I know that I didn’t do anything wrong. Then what was it?
Looking at Mr. Park acting strangely like this; tense, anxious and more than just slightly nervous, it was clear that it wasn’t anything minor. And that it had something to do with me.

Before I even realized, Mr. Park was turning into the parking garage of the Starkiss Entertainment headquarters. The moment the car pulled into the employee lot, it was clear just how big the problem could be.
“What the hell…” I murmured, bewildered.
Surrounding the parking lot entrance to the building were four police cars, scattered at random around the doorway. It was like one of those movies where the police squads all rush to the source of panic and couldn’t even bother with parking properly. Yet another sign that something was wrong.

Mr. Park stopped the car right in front of the entrance, behind all the police cars. Wordlessly, he unbuckled his seatbelt and stepped out of the car.
“Mr. Park,” I called after him, not knowing what I should do.
When I didn’t get a response, I followed his lead and stepped out of the car.

“Mr. Seo Jae-Sung.”

I wheeled around to whoever was speaking to me, completely caught off-guard.
A guy in a dark grey work suit was standing in front of me with a very serious expression on his face.
“…Yes,” I confirmed, just in case he was asking if that was my name.
The man’s serious expression didn’t change. But he reached into his coat’s inner pocket and pulled open his credentials.
“I’m Detective Choi Mu-Won.” he said, introducing himself briefly. “I ask that you come with me.”
I glanced over to the other side of the car to where Mr. Park was and saw that another man was talking to him, though he was in a regular police uniform.
“Your manager will be coming with us too.” the detective said, as if to be reading my mind.
I turned back to him and then nodded.
“Alright.” I said.

I shut the car door behind me and followed Detective Choi, who walked around the front of the car to where Mr. Park and the policeman were standing.
“An officer will park your car properly to an available space.” he said to my manager. “You must come with us so if you would just hand us your keys.”
Mr. Park looked just as baffled and bewildered as I was.
“Yes…of course.” he said. He handed the car keys over to the detective, who handed it to the policeman standing beside him.
Detective Choi gave his subordinate a nod before turning back to us.
“Alright, please follow me.” he said. His tone was polite, but it was in full authority.

I obediently followed the detective as he made his way past the police cars and into the building. Mr. Park too did as he was told and followed him silently. None of us spoke as we entered into the main lobby.
The space of the main lobby was unnaturally empty, with not a single person to be seen. It was strange seeing it deserted when the last time I saw this place was just this morning and at that time it was packed with foot traffic. Now it was so empty and silent that we could hear our footsteps echo sharply off the floor. We haven’t even made it to the elevator when I just had enough of the tension.

“Uh…Detective Choi?” I spoke, breaking the silence. “Do you mind telling us what is going on?”
“No, I wouldn’t but it is best if we kept that to when we actually get there.” he replied, not looking back to me. “Your president was kind enough to clear the lobby, but we don’t want to risk leaking any part of this incident out.”
I frowned at his answer, not liking it in the least bit.
“Am I in some sort of trouble?” I asked.
I could feel Mr. Park’s eyes on me but he didn’t say or do anything to stop my nagging. That just went to show that he knew as much as I did.
We finally approached the elevators. Detective Choi pressed the button to go up before glancing back towards me.
“No,” he said. “Not yet anyways.”

What was that supposed to mean?

The elevator door opened with a loud ding! and we all filed in. I watched as the detective press the button to Floor 5.
“The Media and Communications floor,” I murmured.
The detective turned to look at me with a look.
“What was that?” he asked.
“The floor; I was there this morning. President Chung brought me down here this morning.” I said. A knot started to form in my stomach from the anxiety. “What happened?”
“Jae-Sung,” Mr. Park said. “We’ll find out soon enough---”
“No, I need to know now.” I demanded. “I wouldn’t have been called back to the agency if it didn’t involve me. So why can’t I know?”

The elevator let out another loud ding! before the door slid open. Detective Choi gave me a look that said follow me calmly before stepping out of elevator. I gave my manager a frustrated look, who returned at nervous shrug before I followed the detective out.
The first thing I noticed was how quiet the floor was. Also unnatural; most floors of the agency stayed busy well into the night. I took a look at my wristwatch. It wasn’t even five yet.
Then I noticed that the floor wasn’t emptied like the lobby was. There were a few people that I recognized as workers here, I think I even remember seeing them this morning. There were a few ladies in their office clothes in the break area near the vending machines, talking to a police officer. They looked like they were being asked some questions. There were a few groups like this scattered across the work area, all of them wearing the same serious and almost disturbed expression.
It was another few second before I realized that we were heading towards the conference room with all the fan mail piled in it. Yea, that’s right…it was just up ahead---

That was when I saw the yellow crime scene tape across the doorway of the conference room. There was also a uniformed officer standing guard at the doorway. I felt the knot in my stomach grow even tighter.

“Coming through.”

A voice called from inside the taped-off room. The guarding officer looked over his shoulder and nodded before removing one side of the tape to open up the doorway.
A guy stepped out, carrying one of the postal buckets filled with fan mail out of the room. Then another guy came out with another bucket. And another…The three guys walked by us without even glancing our way. All three had white gloves on.
“Detective Choi, what are they doing with the fan mail?” I asked, my voice quiet now.
“You’ll get them back as soon as we clear them as being safe.” he said, not answering my question.
“Safe?” I echoed.

“Jae-Sung,”

My attention turned away from the detective to the voice that came from just ahead of us. President Chung stood in the corridor just ahead of the guarded conference room. He motioned me to come over. Detective motioned something to the officer guarding the door. The officer nodded in a silent response, and reached into the room to close the door.

What did they not want me to see in there?

“Jae-Sung, come over here where you aren’t in the way of the detectives.” President Chung said.

I felt Mr. Park nudge me gently from behind, pushing me into motion. I stiffly approached the president, walking past the closed door. I tried peeking in through the glass wall but it was no use; they had pulled the curtains closed.
I came to a stop in front of him, bugging to know what was going on.
“President,” I said. “They won’t tell me what’s going on…”
He nodded, his expression pretty grave.
“I know, son. I know.” he said. He motioned to the second conference room right next door to the blocked room. “You should come in to talk.”
I stared at him, trying to read his face.
“What…” I started.

The conference room door behind President Chung opened and a man in a work suit stepped out.
“Come inside,” he said, sounding stern.
I glanced back at Mr. Park, who had anxiety and worry written across his face. He just nodded encouragingly. I turned back to the man in the work suit, who stepped aside to allow me entry. Inhaling deeply, I stepped inside the room.
I took three steps into the room and looked back, not knowing if I should sit or not. Mr. Park followed in after me and lingered by my side. He was probably going through the same thoughts as I was.
President Chung came in and pulled out the seat on the closest end of the conference table. The man came in after him, followed by Detective Choi.
“Please sit.” the man said.
I hesitated only for a moment before I pulled out the chair in front of me and sat at the table. Mr. Park did the same and sat to my left.
Detective Choi walked to the other side of the table and sat directly across from me. Our eyes met.
I stared at him and he gazed evenly back. Something about the way he stared at me bothered me.

“I am Detective Paek Sang-Ook, and this is my partner, Detective Choi.” the man introduced himself. “I am heading the investigation of this case.”

Investigation. Case. These things that they were not telling me. But I stayed quiet, unable to speak out with the authoritative air the two detectives had.

“Mr. Seo, I understand that you were working when we called your manager. I apologize on behalf of our department for the inconvenience, but I wouldn’t have arranged for you to be brought back here if it wasn’t truly necessary.” he apologized.
I shook my head.
“No problem.” I said.
There was a slight pause of silence that filled the room. But I wasn’t going to wait for it to pass.
“Detective Paek…what happened?” I asked. “Why was I brought back here?”
Detective Paek drew out the chair next to his colleague and sat down.
“It’s regarding the case---”

“You need to answer some questions for us.”

Detective Choi spoke out of nowhere, cutting off his partner mid-sentence, his tone blunt. His words suggested an urgent tone, but it was more demanding than asking. It caught me of guard.

“Excuse me?” I said, speaking lowly.

I saw Detective Paek’s eyes narrow in warning as he glanced at his partner. He clearly didn’t like being cut off. Regardless, Detective Choi went on.
“So you want to know why you’re here.” he said. “First reason is because your president asked us keep this closed off and as quiet as possible. Second is because of your involvement in our case.”

I studied his expression, steadily growing suspicious of him.
“And what exactly is my involvement?” I asked.

Detective Choi leaned back casually in his chair. He stared hard as if he was trying to burn holes into my skin.
“Early this morning, a young girl’s body was discovered in Yongsan Park. She was murdered sometime last night.”

The frown on my face grew deeper. What does this have to do with me?

“Yes, I heard about that on the radio this morning.” I said. “They said that it may have been some personal conflict.”

Detective Choi seemed to study me a bit more before he sat up in his chair.
“Huh, personal conflict,” he muttered, sounding mocking. He leaned forward across the table, towards me. “See, there’s a lot of thing that just don’t add up.” he said.

There was a small knock on the door, distracting us from the sudden increase in tension.
“Come in,” barked Detective Paek.

The door opened and two uniformed men walked in. One was carrying a thick folder in his hand. He approached Detective Choi and handed him the file. The other came over to stand by my chair. He had brought a huge box with him. I eyed him suspiciously over my shoulder.

“Go ahead.” Detective Choi said.

The man suddenly reached down and grabbed me by my wrist. I flinched.
“What the hell?” I demanded. I tried to pull my arm away, but the guy held on. “Let go of me!”

“What is the meaning of this?” Mr. Park demanded, getting up from his chair. “He has done nothing wrong!”

“It should be fine to cooperate with us, Mr. Seo.” Detective Choi said. “If you really don’t have anything to hide, that is.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I demanded.

President Chung turned to the detectives.
“Isn’t there a better way of going about this?” he asked, sounding angry.

“Choi, back off.” Detective Paek warned. He looked at the guy holding onto my wrist with a glare. I was released in an instant.
“Again, I apologize, this time for my partner’s rash decisions.” he continued on to say. “But we ask that you answer our questions truthfully and cooperate.”

I studied the two detectives sitting across from me, confused as hell. What did they want from me---
Suddenly it dawned on me, and the shock came like a bucket of ice water over my head.

“You suspect that I had something to do with the girl’s murder.” I said flatly, stunned by the words coming out of my own mouth.

How was that even possible? What kind of a wild jump did they have to take to come up with that conclusion?

“You’re wasting all of our time.” I spat, no longer holding back my anger. “If you have time to come up with such a crazy idea, why don’t you try to find the actual murderer?”

“If you’re willing to say that much, you wouldn’t mind entertaining our…crazy idea.” Detective Choi said.

I glared daggers at the ass of a detective, wanting nothing more than to punch that smart look off of his face.
“Fine.” I said boldly. “What do you want from me?”

Detective motioned at the guy standing next to me. The guy responded on command and opened his black box kit thing.
“Hand, please.” the guy asked.
I gave him a look before I lifted my right hand up.
“All you had to do was ask.” I muttered.
The guy reached into the box and pulled out a small ink pad and a mini roller. He opened the ink pad, passed over the surface of it with the roller and pressed the ink onto my fingertips. Fingerprints. I realized.
After he was done applying the black ink to my fingers, he pressed each of my fingers onto a paper strip, carefully taking my fingerprints one by one.

Detective Choi started again just as the guy finished.
“Answer the following truthfully.” he ordered. “Where were you last night, approximately around 10pm?”

I took a brief amount of time to consider my answer.
“I was on my way home from the promotional event.” I replied.

“After that said event, what did you do?”

I scowled.
“I told you, I went home.” I said, struggling to keep my voice calm. “Straight home, no stops in between.”

“Can anyone vouch for you on that?” he asked.

“I can.” Mr. Park said. “I was with him the whole night. We drove to his apartment right after the event. I even walked him up to his apartment to help him carry some of the complimentary gifts he got.”

“This is Mr. Seo’s interrogation, not yours.” Choi said harshly to Mr. Park. “You’ll talk when we need you to.”

“Hey back off, he’s just telling you the truth.” I snapped at him.

“So what did you do after you arrived at your apartment?” he questioned, ignoring my last comment.

“I went to bed.” I said curtly.

The detective raised an eyebrow at me, unconvinced.
“You just…went to bed.” he echoed.

I let out an aggravated sigh, really forcing myself to stay seated.
“Yea; I had a busy day the next day, today, so I thought I should sleep.” I said.

“So you are saying you never left your apartment after Mr. Park dropped you off?”

“I. Went. To. Bed.”

Choi gave me an amused look before he let out a small laugh under his breath. He didn’t even try to hide it.

“What’s so funny, Detective.” I said, spitting out the word ‘detective’ with venom.

“Oh no, it’s nothing, really.” he said casually. “I just never figured you would be so dedicated to your job; I figured you got everything handed to you just by your looks.”
I stared at him, stunned. But then, I scoffed, and felt a mad smile tug slightly at the corner of my mouth.

Oh…that was the last straw.

My shot up from the chair so fast that I heard the chair go flying behind me. Instantly there were hands, grabbing me and holding me back in case I dove for the detective’s throat. I had no plans to do so, but damn, it was tempting.
“Who the hell do you think you are?” I snarled at the guy, jabbing my finger at him across the table. “You don’t know me!”

“Calm down, Jae!” Mr. Park said.

Detective Choi had gotten up from his chair also, glaring evenly back at me. Detective Paek had a secure grip on his shoulder.
“Enough, Choi!” he ordered, raising his voice for the first time.

“Why don’t you just hurry up and say what’s on your mind?” I said darkly. “It’s annoying when people waste time getting to the point.”

“The point? Here’s the point!” Detective Choi snarled back at me. “I think you know more than you are letting on.”

I scoffed, unimpressed.
“Well, sorry to disappoint.” I spat.

“Sit down, Choi!” Detective Paek commanded. “That’s an order!”

“Jae, please.” Mr. Park pleaded with me.
I inhaled deeply, forcing myself to ignore the anger building up in my chest. The tension left my body and the hands released me.

“Mr. Seo, please sit.” Detective Paek said.

Someone righted the chair, and reluctantly, I sat down. Detective Paek took the file from his partner, gave him a stern glare before turning back to me.
“We’re going to ask you some questions, please answer truthfully.” he said.

I leaned back in my seat and waited for him to ask me a question. I watched as he opened the file and pulled out a handful of photos.

“Mr. Seo, do you know this girl?” he asked, turning a photo of a young girl. She was smiling brightly, her hair dyed to a light brown and curled in loose curls. She looked like any normal girl.

“No, I don’t recognize her.” I said truthfully. “Is she…she was the one found in the park?”

Detective Paek nodded.
“Yes. She was eighteen.” he said.

I looked at the photo, a little disturbed knowing that the girl smiling in the photo was murdered last night.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t see how I would’ve known this girl to begin with. How am I involved in your case?” I asked.

Detective Paek shifted through the photographs until he found the one he was looking for.
“This is one of the pictures found in her cell phone.” he said, turning the photo towards me.

I gave him a look before I turned my eyes down at the picture. A few moments later I felt an ice cold jolt shoot through my chest.

The picture they showed me was of the same girl, her cell phone in her hand as she took a picture of herself standing in front of a mirror. Same light brown hair, heavy make-up and she looked happy as she beamed through her reflection.
And she was wearing a unique, handmade t-shirt with a picture of me pasted on the front.

I was staring at the picture when Detective Paek placed another picture down in front of me. This one was the picture of her facing away from the camera, showing what she had written on the back of the t-shirt.

My heart belongs to you!♥ ~Forever Jae-Sung!

“That is what she was wearing when she was found.” Detective Paek said. “We believe she went to the promotional event last night.”

“Yea…” I murmured. “Yea, she was there.”
I looked up from the photos to see the detectives staring at me.
“She was the girl that got through the barriers when I was leaving the event.” I explained. “I didn’t recognize her face, but I remember that shirt she was wearing.”

“What happened?” Detective Paek asked.

“Nothing really; she just came out of nowhere. She had managed to get through the barrier and past the guards and just blindsided me.” I said. “I didn’t even get a good look of her face.”

“But you got a good look of her shirt?” Detective Choi questioned, his tone suggestive.

I glared at him, anger returning.
“Yea, well it’s different and noticeable when your own face is pasted to the front.” I snapped back.

“So what did you do after that incident?” he continued to press.

“Nothing; like I said I went home and went to sleep.” I said.

“Just like that, you let the girl go?”

“What else was I supposed to do?” I demanded. “Security already got the girl before I even realized what was going on.”

“But it does bother you, that this girl deliberately launched herself at you, doesn’t it?” Choi pressed. “Who the hell does she think she is, violating your personal space, risking injuring you like that---”

“Damn, what is wrong with you?” I demanded. “It doesn’t bother me in the least bit that she came at me like that; she did no harm! As for personal space, I already don’t have a lot of that to begin with! Being a celebrity means there will always be people poking around in your shit!”

Detective Choi smirked, as if he was being amused.
“You don’t like that, now do you?” he said.

“No, I don’t.” I shot back.
“Enough to want to kill someone over it?”

I grit my teeth, pissed.

“No.” I spat through my teeth.

“You’re lying.” Choi said.

“I’m not, actually.” I growled back. “What do you want from me?”

“The truth!” the detective returned.

“I’ve been telling you the truth!” I yelled across the table. “I know for a fact that you don’t have anything on me because I didn’t do anything wrong!”

“Yea, I wouldn’t be too sure about that, you little punk.” he snarled. “There was only one set of prints on that package in that room. You’ll be damned if it is yours.”

I stopped, something he said, catching something at the corner of my mind.
…that package.
“…Are you talking about the small package that was in the pile of fan mail on the table?” I asked, my voice low.

Detective Choi looked like he was going to start yelling again, but Detective Paek put a restraining hand on his shoulder.
“You saw the package?” he asked.

I didn’t like where this was going, not in the least bit.
I glanced at Mr. Park and then at President Chung, both looking confused and bewildered.
“Yea…Just before I left. It was hidden underneath the pile of letters. I found it digging through the mail.” I said.

“What were you doing in the conference room to begin with?” Detective Choi demanded.
“I brought him there.” President Chung said, stepping in. “It’s his fan mail; I thought he should at least see how much he was receiving.”

Detective Paek was studying me, probably trying to read my expression to see if I was lying.
“Can you describe the package?” he asked.

I focused back to this morning, when I found the package.
“Uh, it was a regular cardboard box, about this big,” I said, motioning with my hands on the approximate size. “There was no return address on it.”

“Anything else?” Detective Paek asked.

I thought hard, recalling it in my hand.
“I thought it was shaped odd. It wasn’t all that heavy…Oh, and I think it was cold.” I said.

“You touched the box? Why would you do that?” Choi was saying, sounding annoyed.

Was it me, or did he just want to pick at every little thing about me?

“Oh, I don’t know, because it was in my fan mail?” I replied smartly. “I didn’t really think that---”
My words were caught in my throat, realizing something.

I didn’t really think that whatever was inside was something troublesome.

“Detective Paek,” I said, my stomach churning with nerves. “What was in the box?”