Crossing the Line
html, body { margin:0; padding:0; } President: GeumTaeyang23
"Yes, Team Leader. Downtown. Sorry I couldn't pick up. Looks like that guy's got nothing to do with it. He was in the city when the incident went down."
Juran High School was a total shitshow. Leon Mask's handiwork, no doubt. And this assault case had even gone live on stream.
"Fucking insane. Total chaos."
"Indeed."
Geun-sik said it with a straight face. Jun-man glared at him, clearly pissed off by the calm demeanor.
"What, you some enlightened monk or some shit? This is a case. We're fucked again. Ha!"
"You're right."
"...... You on the wrong meds or something, kid?"
Just like all the other cases, they came up empty. No CCTV or dashcam footage to trace the perp's escape route. It was frustrating as hell— so many witnesses, and still no suspect in custody.
In the end, the two pulled back from the scene after a fruitless investigation. It had been a whole week already, no going home.
"Ha! Fuck. Can't help but curse. Already a week?"
"Yeah. Team Leader, mind if I swing by home to change clothes?"
"Mm.... Yeah, go ahead. Hurry back. Should be quiet for a bit."
Geun-sik trudged home with heavy steps. Their cozy little apartment, his and his wife's nest. He unlocked the door and stepped into the entryway. Suddenly, his heart skipped a beat. Something felt off.
"......"
"Ah! H-honey! You're home?"
A cat-like woman with a loose smile greeted him. She was drenched in sweat, like she'd just worked out hard.
"Why are you back at this hour? Didn't you say it was back-to-back shifts...?"
"Changing clothes."
He answered curtly and headed to the bedroom. A funky smell from his wife grated on his nerves.
"I'll get your clothes for you."
"It's fine."
His wife tried to stop him, but Geun-sik ignored her. She was thrown off by her husband's uncharacteristic sharpness today. Normally a clueless dope you wouldn't peg as a detective, but right now he was all veteran cop, sniffing something out.
"H-honey, the closet's a mess..."
"Where?"
"Uh, y-yeah!? Your clothes are obviously in the closet.... But let me get 'em. I sorted your going-out stuff separately."
"You gotta make me dig for it myself?"
He opened the closet. Everything was neatly arranged. He slammed it shut and headed to the bathroom, yanking the door open roughly.
"H-honey! What the hell!? Why are you acting so weird? What's wrong with you!?"
Geun-sik closed his eyes at his wife's scream-like shout. Leon Mask's words echoed in his mind.
"You need to get even worse."
Geun-sik headed to the balcony next. He flung the door open to find a curly-haired guy shivering by the window. Geun-sik's eyes went bloodshot.
"H-honey! This is.... I'll explain!"
Geun-sik stared silently at his wife. She fidgeted, face crumpling into a sob. Then she shrieked.
"This.... This is all your fault!"
"......"
"You're always working late, never home! Forgetting anniversaries! So.... I just slipped up for a bit!"
Geun-sik closed his eyes. His team leader's old words popped into his head.
"You gonna stab your cheating wife and I'll beat my thieving son with a stick, and society's gonna run smooth?"
"Nothing's gonna grind to a halt."
Geun-sik strode to the kitchen.
"H-honey!? Why the knife...? I'm sorry! Sorry! I fucked up! I lost my mind for a sec...! Honey!"
Five minutes later, blood-soaked Geun-sik shuddered as he pulled a business card from his pocket. He dialed the number on it.
"......"
About a minute later, a familiar voice came through.
"I.... I killed someone."
Crossing the line is dead simple. But the fallout? Never simple. Humans have this instinct to hold the line. That's one reason we don't just off each other willy-nilly.
Sure, the world's full of psychos who hop that line without a second thought. But Geun-sik sure as hell wasn't one of them.
"Huff...! Huff...! Huff...!"
Cold sweat poured down. He'd given Leon Mask his home address. Told him to wait here. Only now did the scene sink in.
His wife— no beauty queen by any stretch— lay twisted like a demon on the floor. Geun-sik realized for the first time how ugly her face could get. It wasn't his wife anymore. Just a cooling slab of meat.
"Better this way."
He wiped sweat from his left arm. Next to her, the affair partner's corpse was stacked like a pair of socks. The guy wasn't much of a looker either.
They matched, in a fucked-up way. That why they cheated?
Haha! Laughter bubbled up. What a clown world, flailing through this comedy of errors.
Geun-sik chuckled at himself, spouting nonsense even in this despair. Killed two people, and his mind was weirdly calm.
He knew he'd crossed a line he shouldn't have. But it felt like dropping a crushing load— light as air. Maybe he should've offed her ages ago.
"A guy like me, a detective. World's a joke."
He muttered to himself, a nervous tic when anxious. His chest felt unburdened, but he knew he had to handle this quick or he'd be in deep shit.
As a cop, he knew better than anyone: Murder in Korea, dodging the law? Slim to none. And he wasn't Leon Mask.
Ding-dong!
The doorbell. Geun-sik froze like he'd been tased. He stiffly turned to the intercom.
A demure-faced woman stood at the door, hand on her cheek. Geun-sik got what "blood boiling" really meant.
What now? Ignore her? Nah, might raise flags. Neighbor, right?
Thoughts raced. Never dreamed he'd be the perp he hunted.
He recalled perps' patterns. They always act too sus, drawing eyes.
"Haa. Place is a bloodbath. I'm soaked in it. Gonna lose it."
Doorbell again. Heart pounding, he picked up the intercom.
"Yes."
Nice neighbor. Timing sucks, though.
If she'd rung sooner, maybe no murder? Geun-sik irrationally blamed her.
"Oh, bug in the house. Wife freaked and screamed."
Quick thinking. Solid excuse on the fly.
"Yes. Thanks for checking."
The neighbor nodded and went home. Geun-sik clutched his chest and collapsed on the sofa. Head burning like the flu, world spinning. Wanted to say fuck it and crash.
Exhaustion hit like a truck. He couldn't fight it— eyes shut. Amid the blood-stinking slaughterhouse, Geun-sik begged for sleep.
Sleep always wins.
He woke. No dreams. But felt like he'd had a long one.
"Napping like that in this mess. Balls of steel."
The tanned blond man snickered. An overwhelming vibe dominated the room from him. Geun-sik swallowed hard.
Looking around, the murder scene was a normal home. No blood, no bodies, no weapon.
Completely reset. How long was he out?
Clock said under an hour. Geun-sik sighed in relief. Then remembered: He was on duty, just popped home quick.
"Ah! Right!"
Phone blew up with missed calls from Jun-man. That heart-dropping panic from post-murder hit again.
He called back.
"Ah.... Team Leader, sorry. Dozed off changing."
"Got it."
Jun-man sighed in relief. Dodged a bullet. Geun-sik turned to the man.
Questions swirled. How'd he get in? Cleaned the mess how? Bodies where?
Too many, but couldn't ask. Wouldn't get straight answers anyway.
He's Leon Mask. Figured it out somehow.
The man grinned at him— no apostle of justice there.
"Boss chewed you out, huh."
"Yeah. Lucky it was just that."
"Your team's on Leon Mask?"
"Plenty chase him, but we're the dedicated task force."
"I see."
He nodded with a creepy smile.
This guy was Leon Mask. But Geun-sik couldn't arrest him. Physically impossible. And no desire to.
"Gotta head back to the scene. Uh.... What now?"
"Wait a day, file a missing persons on the wife."
"Got it."
Geun-sik nodded and headed to the door. Taeyang called after him.
"I'll have use for you later."
"...... Yes. I'll be ready."
Taeyang's words didn't repulse him— pure thrill. Becoming Leon Mask's limb? A blessing. He etched it into his mind.