Spiraling Out of Control

Tae-sik left the electrical maintenance shop as briskly as he went in.

The scene in the worn down 500 square feet lot looked like a torpedo just ran through it.

Two thugs on the floor, bleeding.

Knives embedded in the wall.

Boxes of cheap mobile phones strewn on the floor.

Curtesy of one mean lean ahjussi.

But as a result of his handiwork, Tae-sik got the information he wanted.

+++

Four heads looked down on a small iPhone screen.

Heads of three grown men and one young woman.

A gruesome picture of a decapitated 40 year old something man stared back at them.

His vital organs taken out of his body by expert hands - eyes and presumably, heart and liver too.

"Ho Man-kim, 48 years old, drunkard and homeless," Chi-gon said, receiving information from his precint on the picture that was sent to So-Mi phone earlier that afternoon.

< Come back to us So-Mi. You know you belong with us. We can make a difference to this world. Let's not what happened to this ahjussi happen to little boys and girls out there. >

Was the message that accompanied the picture.

"Come back to us?" Dalseo asked. "We know them?"

"Or at least So-Mi does," Chi-gon rubbed his neck wearily.

"Who...?"

"This workmanship is the same with all others. But the victims were always homeless, addicts etc," Chi-Gon sad. "But lately,we've been getting children cases. And their stitches were... as the forensic guys said, lovingly done," Chi-gon reported.

"How can stitches be lovingly done," Dalseo snorted.

"They probably meant it as neat and painstakingly done, " Chi-gon explained further. "Not like those done on the ahjussi - rough and looked they were done in a rush."

"I traced the number," Tae-sik started. "An underground syndicate dispenses the numbers. The place I went to.."

"Ahjussi! You promised!"

"I didn't do anything," Tae-sik defended himself at So-Mi's attack. 

"You said you went to the place..." So-Mi glared at him, pushing him on his shoulder.

"I just got the info and passed it to Chi-gon here," Tae-sik put up his hands in defense. "Why do you think this old men are always lounging around in our house."

It was a slip of the toungue on Tae-sik's part, one that seemd to go unnoticed by the two part time housemates.

But certainly did not pass by the 'old men'.

The couple continued to bicker, leaving their two friends on the side, to freely observe.

"They should just get a room together already," Chi-gon whispered wryly.

"They already have the whole apartment, why would they need a room," Dalseo's laughter boomed.

Making his friend laughed too.

Making So-Mi and Tae-sik stopped fighting.

So-Mi fled to the kitchen, still bristling in anger.

While Tae-sik just glared at his friends, shaking his head.

You could actually laugh at times like these, his eyes admonished them.

Things were spiraling that Tae-sik could not sleep at nights, especially if So-Mi was at her parents.

Apart from driving her to wherever she had to be, he has even started to coach her on other forms of self defense and survival skills.

From how to pick locks, to how to operate a semi-automatic, to how to free herself from being tied up by ropes.

He has not been this agitated and worried for a long while.

And sitting down while the police took their time to investigate, was not his style.

Non the less, he seeked her out in the kitchen.

Where she was furiously making drinks for the guests.

"Mianhe. Are you angry with me?"

Tae-sik started to apologise, leaning against the kitchen counter beside her.

But all he got was her silence.

"I seriously didn't do anything to them," he tried again.

So-Mi slowly turned to look accusingly at him.

"What's the cut on your fist for, then?" So-Mi pointed out angrily.

"Well, maybe a little," he shrugged self consciously and gave a sheepish grin. "You don't expect me to sit around waiting, do you? Things are getting way out of hand here."

"You promised! You promised me," she snapped at him, not even wanting to look at Tae-sik in the face.

Lee's proposal to move in with him was never even considerd by her.

Not while she had a fidgety ahjussi to reign in.

"Please ahjussi, I've already lost Amber," she just said quietly, looking down at the drinks on the counter top.

Making Tae-sik feel remorseful at his previous actions.

"Mianhe," he whispered as he turn to face her. "I'll promise you again, then. I promise to do things right."

Tae-sik reached out and slightly swipe the bottom side of her left eye, making her unshed angry tears flow naturally to the tip of his thumb.

She looked up at him then, pleading with her eyes to be safe. Stay safe.

And he smiled his agreement.

The air in the kitchen suddenly grew thick, unintentionally pushing Tae-sik's head closer to So-Mi's.

His eyes locked on her bare red lips, suddenly cloudy with desire.

For her.

So-Mi could only look at him in wonder, yet unable to control her loud beating heart in response to his stare.

At the sudden gulp of , Tae-sik suddenly came to his senses.

But instead of being bashful at the near kiss, he grinned mischeviously at her unwitting look of longing.

Nodding towards the mugs of coffee she prepared, he asked huskily, "Shall I take those out for you."

With a nod, So-Mi had no choice but to resign herself to his smile and followed him docilely out to the living room.