The Best Laid Plans....
The Sharp Knife of a Short LifeSeptember 2017
Cheongdam, Seoul, South Korea
“What is this?” Lee Sungmin asked as he looked at the pictures on the table again. They were pictures of him and his wife as they went about their daily lives, obviously taken without their knowledge. His blood ran cold as he realized that he and his family had been stalked over the past month. And it wasn’t just him, for the pictures also showed that Siwon and Kangin were also targeted. There were pictures of Siwon with his younger sister and Donghae as they exited a restaurant, pictures of Kangin and his mother at the grocery store, all taken from some hidden location.
“I told you this would happen!” Kangin exploded at the 2 Seoul Metropolitan police detectives, Sgt. Park and Lt. Kim, and Lee Soo-Man sitting across from the 3 Super Junior brothers in the top-floor conference room of SM Entertainment’s headquarters building. “When we discussed this 2 months ago, Hangeng and I told you this would happen if you let that out of the psycho hospital. We told you!!”
“Wait…what?!” Siwon finally spoke up. He and Sungmin looked at each other, not understanding both the situation and the words that were coming out of Kangin’s mouth. “What is all this? Kangin-hyung, what are you talking about? You met with Hangeng-hyung? When?! Where?! ”
Lee Soo-Man sighed loud enough to command the attention of everyone in the room. “I’m…I’m sorry. We…we should have told you earlier. We…I…didn’t think that you should be burdened with this, after everything you boys have gone through. But I was wrong.”
And with that, Sungmin and Siwon sat stunned as the police and Lee Soo-Man told them the entire story of the woman who had tried to kill them for 10 years and came dangerously close to succeeding. Heechul’s car accident; the wild car chases in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taipei; the near-fatal accident on the Olympic Highway that almost took Kyuhyun’s life; and many countless other incidents…it had all been orchestrated by this one obsessive stalker.
“Why can’t you just lock her up again,” Kangin asked, almost shouting at the police detectives.
“She hasn’t committed any crime yet,” Sgt. Park answered, knowing that it was a paltry excuse. “We can’t charge her with any crimes.”
“What about these photos?!” Siwon asked, making a mental note to call the head of his private security detail later. He will put a security blanket around all the members and their families. As much as he admired the police service, of which he remains a proud reserve member, he knew that there were things a private security firm can do that the police never can. “Isn’t this against some law, stalking us like this?”
“Technically no, or we would have to arrest most of the entertainment media, not to mention millions of fans.” Lt. Kim said. “We don’t even have proof that these photos are coming from the same person, or from the person that was released. We think it’s her, but we can’t do anything until we catch her doing something against the law.”
“We think that you three are/will be her first targets, given these pictures that the SM Entertainment press office has received in the last 2 weeks,” Lee Soo-Man stated. “The police detail around you haven’t been able to….”
“Wait, we’ve had police protection?! Since when? Why weren’t we told?” Sungmin asked. He had been so excited to finally get back with the group, to finally be home again. But this, this was just too bizarre and frightening. To think that someone out there hated them enough to want to kill them.
“The police detail around you haven’t detected anything out of the ordinary,” the head of SM Entertainment finished his thought. “And that’s why we want…I want…you to consider not joining the group for the comeback. Your lives are much more important to me than the business. I don’t want to lose any of you.”
“Mr. Lee is right, it’s too dangerous to have you out in the open right now. We can’t protect you in every situation. We need you out of the public eye.” Lt. Kim declared.
“What good will that do?” Siwon challenged. There are 15 of us, if the 3 of us disappear, won’t she just go after the others?”
Kangin gave Siwon a hard stare. Out of all of them, Siwon had always been the fiercest protector and most loyal friend. Siwon was not about to slink away and hide while some crazy stalker was still out there trying to kill them. And he knew his younger friend too well. Siwon’s statement was not without thinking, without cunning.
“What are you suggesting?” Lee Soo-Man asked.
“No….” Both Kangin and Sungmin replied at the same time. They knew what Siwon was about to propose. And they were not about to agree to it.
“If this wants to come after one of us, then let’s give her that chance.” Siwon stated simply.
Apgujeong, Seoul, South Korea
“You can’t be serious,” Heechul screamed, causing Sungmin and Kangin to flinch. “No, you can’t do this, we are coming back as 9 members. You’re not allowed to not come back with us. I have waited too long for this, fought too hard for all of us, to finally be together again!”
The faces around the table were of shock, anger, and confusion. Up until 2 days ago, everything had been going according to plan. The songs were written, parts recorded, marketing put in place for their comeback…for a 9-member comeback. And now, out of the blue, both Sungmin and Kangin are informing the others that they didn’t want to participate. That the Knet hate was just too much for them to handle. They wanted out, at least for this comeback. Once Kyuhyun and Ryeowook come back, then they may reconsider. But for now, they didn’t want to move forward as part of the group.
“Sungmin, Kangin. What…what is going on? What is the real reason?” Leeteuk asked. He felt like he had just been punched in the gut by the both of them. As Heechul rightly said, they had battled too hard for this opportunity, for them to just throw it away like this. He didn’t want to admit it, but Leeteuk worried that Sungmin and Kangin would walk out the door and not ever come back to Super Junior.
Sungmin looked around the room before answering, with a coldness in his voice that they had never heard before, “My wife is more important than Super Junior, than any of you.” And with that, both he and Kangin got up and left the private dining room that they had been in at the main branch of the Hyundai department store in Apgujeong, leaving the others too shell-shocked for words. It was only after they had gotten into the car that he broke down and sobbed uncontrollably in Kangin’s arms. It had been the hardest performance of his life, and it had broken his heart to do it. But, it was part of Siwon’s plan, a plan they had all reluctantly agreed to. If this meant that they could end this horror story once and for all, then it would be more than worth it. He would apologize to the others later, if things turned out as they hoped.
Itaewon, Seoul, South Korea
She had to laugh as she stared at the newspapers. The entertainment headlines screamed of Sungmin and Kangin not participating in Super Junior’s highly anticipated comeback. Questions, speculations, and gossip were splattered across the various front pages of the tabloid rags and legitimate newspapers alike. How easy this was turning out to be. The police and SM Entertainment were no smarter now than they were a decade ago. They actually took the bait. They actually thought that she was going after Sungmin, Kangin, and Siwon. How foolish and simple-minded they were, they all were. She turned her attention from the newspapers to the small monitor on the counter. The grainy CCTV picture showed the hallway of an apartment building, and she turned just in time to see her real target, Kyuhyun, walk to his front door, tap in the entry code, and go into his home after another hard day at the office.
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