The Javelin
"……Come out."
"……What? You knew?"
I couldn't see the face of the figure stepping out from the building's shadow, but I knew the voice. So this was Song Gayeong. It felt like standing at a crosswalk in the rain and getting a sheet of gutter water thrown over me by a passing car.
"I told you I had nothing to say to you."
"Well, I do. That fucking bitch thinks she can look down on people."
"Watch your mouth when you talk about my woman. I already told you, and it's still filthy."
"Mind your own business, you son of a bitch."
"A teacher who works with kids, talking like that. What use are you?"
No point asking how she'd found me. She'd dug up my social media, no doubt.
"Stalking my socials too?"
"You had those pictures up like some male whore. Feels good, getting all that attention?"
"Hasn't been bad. Everyone's kind. They all want a hello out of me, one way or another."
"Fucking bastard. You're the same kind of male whore."
"Stop acting like my girlfriend. You and I are strangers. That's all."
There was a problem. A shouting match, even a fistfight, I could run from or handle somehow. The piece of metal in Song Gayeong's hand was another matter. Moonlight slid along a long kitchen knife, the blade a cold blue where it flashed silver. Bandages wrapped the handle and the base of the blade so she wouldn't cut her own hand. She meant it. Running now would do nothing; the danger would still be out there waiting. Better to buy time, call the police, and have her taken in the act.
……Time first.
Before a knife, men and women are equal. Get stabbed and it hurts. Get unlucky and you die. Slowly, shielding the motion with my body so she couldn't see, I slipped a hand inside my coat and fumbled for the phone. I'd never once touched the emergency button, and my thumb kept missing it.
"A knife, even. What are you planning to do?"
"If I—if I can't have you……"
"You're going to kill me? That's really the choice you're making?"
"Yeah! I'm losing my mind over those fucking brats, so why do you get to look happy?"
"And that's my fault? Blaming other people that hard is a sickness."
"Shut up! I'm—I'm going to kill you. You were mine. Heehee."
"Technically, you were mine."
"Don't talk about it in the past tense!"
"It is the past. We're over."
"I—I made a mistake too! It was the first time I'd ever tried it that way!"
"And you failed. You and I ended there. You've really hit the bottom, Song Gayeong."
"Don't say my name with the surname on it!"
She screamed as if her own name—the old safeword—had set something off in her, but I wasn't afraid. If anything, I pitied her.
"For someone that far gone, you seemed to be getting along fine."
"Because you—because you showed up! I was barely, barely holding on!"
"Holding back from what?"
"……From what?"
Song Gayeong cocked her head, and I clenched my teeth. Her eyes were dead. I'd poked the wrong place. Keeping someone talking, stretching the thread of a conversation the way they do in movies, was harder than it looked. She closed the distance. I eased back a step at a time. A main road, thankfully—except not a single person was passing. I worked my hand faster inside the pocket, and that was when her gaze dropped to it.
"You think you get to say that?!"
She charged, and I grit my teeth. Both hands locked around the kitchen knife, she came at me hard enough to raise the hair on my neck. I spun, yanking the phone free, about to slam my foot down and run—when a black high heel shot into Song Gayeong's temple and drove home.
"Khahk—!"
She went tumbling, rolling sideways across the pavement. It happened as if in slow motion—no. As if I'd just watched a scene from a film, inevitable and clean. I tore my eyes off her sprawled on the ground and turned to the figure beside me. A short bob whipped through the air, and the beautiful line of a jaw told me exactly who it was.
"……Gyeo-wool?"
"Are you all right?"
Han Gyeo-wool settled her stance and let out a quiet breath. I stared, dazed, as she folded that long leg—the black suit had put every line of it on display—down like a crane, and I nodded.
"I have already contacted the police. It is still dangerous. Please stay exactly where you are."
"……Ah. Yes."
Before the answer could even reach her, she strode forward, brisk and sure. On the avenue the only sound was the click of her heels. Song Gayeong twitched and tried to push herself up; in one motion Gyeo-wool kicked the knife out of her grip with the toe of her shoe.
"Y-you, who—khak!"
"Stay still."
She lifted the heel and drove it down on the back of Song Gayeong's neck, pinning her like an insect. Song Gayeong made a sound like air leaving a tire, and her body went slack. Han Gyeo-wool looked down at her the way someone looks at a cockroach they've just crushed, and even I swallowed. Across the street, blue and red emergency lights washed over the buildings.
"How did you—"
"I will explain after we hand her over to the police."
"Ah. Yes……"
Two patrol cars pulled up almost at once. Three or four officers got out, and from a back seat came a woman with a striking blonde ponytail. She spat out the toothpick she'd been chewing and sauntered over. A studded leather jacket, skinny jeans, and thick, battered combat boots up to the knee told me plenty about her taste. It was a look that could easily have been tacky, and yet it suited her perfectly. Put a pair of Léon's round glasses on her and I would have believed she was a rocker.
"Hey, Gyeo-wool."
"Detective Kwon Yoonji. You did not need to come in person."
"It's a call from Han Gyeo-wool herself. I was bored anyway. This the bitch?"
"Yes. Caught in the act. I recorded it."
"Figured you'd have it all neat and ready. Give it to the kids."
A woman in a black suit appeared from nowhere and passed something to the officers. Kwon Yoonji watched as if it were the most natural thing in the world, then crouched beside the twitching Song Gayeong. She poked the unconscious woman's cheek and went on.
"Aigoo, why'd you knock her out? You of all people."
"My apologies. I judged that the killing intent was still in her eyes."
"Apology for what. Same as ever, though. One shot to the temple? That javelin of a side kick."
"Yes. But what knocked her out was something else."
"I know. The nape. Anyway, if she's still breathing after that, you went easy. This much is self-defense, easy. Let's wake her. Hey. Get up."
"Then I will stay with the gentleman."
"Sure. Oh—you don't want him registered as the victim, right?"
"Correct."
"Got it. Then she's caught in the act, and we grabbed her before anything happened. We'll square your call with that."
"Please do."
"Okay. Talks always go smooth with you. Hey, wake this bitch up. Excuse me—you, the man over there."
I wasn't blind to the fact that this was something close to a deal cut with the law. When the voice called for me, I answered.
"Yes?"
"Here. Take my card. Way I read your face, you've got the situation. If you don't agree, you can come down to the station and we write a statement. You don't want that, do you?"
"I'd rather not. It's late, and none of this is pleasant."
"Good. Then we'll say we caught her before she got to you. Okay?"
"Yes. Let's do that."
"Straightforward. I like it. You had every reason to be scared, and your face still looks fine."
"……Ah. Yes."
"Still, leave a number before you go. Somebody's got to hear how it turns out."
At that, Han Gyeo-wool stepped between us and answered in my place.
"You may contact me."
"……What, you're bringing legal in too? So he's not just some client? Bodyguard detail I can buy, but you're going this far?"
"I am afraid that is difficult to explain."
"Come on. Between us. Did President Lee take a liking to him?"
The last of it was whispered so low, and only for Gyeo-wool, that I didn't catch it properly. On top of that, I was only just learning I had been under guard. I turned the past few days over in my head and couldn't find a single sign of it.
"……He is the man seeing our young lady."
Kwon Yoonji's eyes went round. She glanced around, then whispered to Han Gyeo-wool.
"……For real? With Hyunji? So this is that overprotection thing?"
"Yes."
"Well, this calls for congratulations. I'm sick of the chairwoman getting drunk and blowing up my phone every night."
"I was told you enjoy it, deep down."
Kwon Yoonji dodged her eyes and scratched her cheek.
"……Friends. Mouth with the lid off, and no help at all."
"When will you be returning to Gangnam Precinct?"
"No idea. If having a rich friend is a crime, then I'm guilty."
"If you need a lawyer, say the word."
"Are you crazy? I'm this close to a promotion. I'll make my play then."
"The Gangnam chief's post will be difficult. The current chief has ties to the ruling party."
"Even so, I've got to go back. That's my turf."
By then, under the officer who had kept trying to rouse her, Song Gayeong was starting to come around.
"Ugh……"
"If she's awake, read her the Miranda warning and cuff her."
"Yes, ma'am!"
Watching an officer fasten the cuffs, I clicked my tongue inwardly. It hadn't needed to come to this. Why cross the line and leave everyone feeling sick?
"Hey. Niece's boyfriend."
"Are you talking to me?"
"Yeah. Tall, clean-cut, easy on the eyes. Manners, too. But if you make Hyunji cry, I will kill you. No question. To me, Hyunji's as good as a daughter."
"That won't happen. I like Hyunji a great deal myself."
"……Good eyes. I like the way you talk. See you again."
She clapped my shoulder and grinned, and the look on her face was refreshingly open. It was Han Gyeo-wool who answered.
"It would be better if we had no further business."
"Gyeo-wool's right. I'm off, then. If you wanted the heaviest charge, it'd have to be attempted sexual assault—and you don't want that, do you?"
"I would like it handled quietly, within reason. Nothing excessive."
"Even attempted murder, first offense, she might not get much. It's not a random attack, right? From where I'm standing, it's a grudge. A love affair gone bad."
"Yes. And—"
"I know. You're after a restraining order. So next time you can really finish her?"
"Yes. I'm counting on you."
"Don't worry. I'll keep an eye on it. Maybe I ought to call our Hyunji—it's been a while. I'm going."
"Please refrain from mentioning today's incident."
"I know. I won't worry that timid kid."
Kwon Yoonji waved as she walked off, climbed into the patrol car, and was gone. Silence settled back over the avenue, as if none of it had ever happened.
"Are you unhurt?"
"Yes. Thanks to you. You were guarding me?"
"Yes. I had not intended to let you know this way."
"It's all right. You did help me. How long have you been here?"
"Three days."
"……I didn't notice a thing."
"The young lady does not know either."
"I see. Then you'll keep doing this?"
"Yes. It may be inconvenient, but after something like this……"
"No—it's reassuring, actually. I really didn't think she'd show up with a knife. It's a little embarrassing, too."
"May I say one thing?"
"Yes."
I met the eyes of Han Gyeo-wool, watching me in silence. So they were that beautiful behind the sunglasses. The shape of them was a little sharp, and that only made them sexier. And the slender figure had a pull to it, the kind that made you wonder what lay past the tailored suit. Then that body began, slowly, to bow toward me.
"What happened today was our mistake. I will apologize. I am sorry."
"……What?"
"This happened because of what occurred in the restroom."
I flinched before I could stop myself. I had been careful. I had checked the surroundings before going in with Rahee.
"……You know about that too?"
"Yes. After you spent time with Trainer Rahee in the restroom and left, I confirmed that Song Gayeong followed and went in after you. Do you require the photographs?"
I raised a hand and refused.
"No. No, that's all right. This is embarrassing. I must have been careless."
"Please do not be embarrassed. I am absolutely not blaming you, Mr. Shinwoo. Spending time with a woman is a good thing. You looked more a Multimale than anyone. We simply failed, on our side, to keep our focus on Song Gayeong."
"Right. I understand. It was sudden."
"Thank you for understanding."
"……So from now on I have to live watching for a security team every time?"
"No. It is enough if you remember that a sudden change of location can thin the protection. And from here on, we will pay closer attention."
At the promise that they would pay closer attention, I found myself asking before I could stop.