Flowers Are Bait

The last fishing boat with a sniper, that Kwon Chae-woo failed to take out, had been rammed by another old, rattling boat. The sniper had fallen into the sea and was flailing in the water.

A string of lights shone from this new boat. The bright light blinded Kwon Chae-woo, and he needed to shield his eyes to see the identity of this newcomer. He blinked a couple of times at the unexpected face.

“Lee-yeon?”

His wife, who was the most innocent of women, was holding the wheel of the boat that caused the accident. She backed off from the boat she struck and turned the wheel, driving to where Kwon Chae-woo stood. As she pulled alongside the ship, she held up her arms to him while trying to keep her balance on the rocking boat. Kwon Chae-woo reached down and quickly lifted her on to the deck. He didn’t let go and embraced her tightly, taking in her warmth. The ice that had been running through his veins started melting and he could feel the blood pumping through his body again.

“Why did you come here?” Kwon Chae-woo asked, as he buried his face in the crook of her neck. “I told you it was dangerous.”

Lee-yeon’s heart pounded so loudly, she could barely hear him. The man was covered in blood again, she didn’t care. She was just concerned about the half-dead look in his eyes, and his battered body.

“Lee-yeon, I don’t feel good,” Kwon Chae-woo croaked. “I want to go home.”

“That’s why I came here,” Lee-yeon whispered. “To pick you up. To take you home. Let’s go home now.”

His expression quickly changed. The killer’s face disappeared. His eyes, that had been drifting slowly to the abyss, now had a hint of life to them again. Lee-yeon observed him change, chills running down her spine. How he could be two such different people in one body disturbed her to no end.

***

“Did you call the police?”

“No,” Lee-yeon said sadly. As they were approaching the dock, with Lee-yeon at the wheel of the drug boat, her hands began to tremble. They could see the lights of police cruisers on the shore and a coast guard boat was making its way through the waters towards them. “They’re here to arrest me,” she said.

“Did I hear that wrong?” Kwon Chae-woo asked. If they were going to arrest anyone, it would be him.

“No, you heard right. I stole a boat.”

Kwon Chae-woo was speechless for the first time. It was hard to take his eyes off of her. He felt an unexplainable wave of pride in Lee-yeon right now.

He needed that feeling of happiness. It had been a horribly, messy day. A day where he had allowed his inner demons to come out. He was afraid of that demon, who slaughtered people like a machine. There was no guilt, as body after body fell in front of him. All he could calculate was how to kill more effectively and quickly. Something came to him, and his eyes became dark once more.

“Lee-yeon, what does my face look like? Am I still me?” He was barely able to speak, as he grunted out the words in fear. Lee-yeon just frowned at him, having no clue what he meant.

“Do I still look human?” Kwon Chae-woo asked. “Am I still human?”

“Kwon Chae-woo, what are you…“ Lee-yeon stared into his eyes and stopped talking, sharing the guilt he was feeling. She picked up a towel and started wiping the blood from his face. He really was a mess, but she wasn’t going to tell him that. In the flashing lights of the police cars, she smiled at Kwon-Chae-woo.

“You are still human,” she told him.

“But what if you’re not human?” he asked

“I think you forgot; you were in a vegetative state. You couldn’t move. And I was the doctor that fixed you.” She smiled as he trembled in her arms.

***

The police overwhelmed them the moment they got off the boat. The first one they tried to arrest was Lee-yeon. They had been called by a local officer who said the woman refused to identify herself and he suspected her of being a smuggler when she stole a boat.

But they couldn’t get anywhere near her to make the arrest. The man she was with, held her in his embrace and refused to let her go.

“Do you also want to get arrested as well, for obstruction of justice? Let her go!” the police demanded.

“Fine, bring me in as well,” Kwon Chae-woo shouted back. “Are you going to use those handcuffs? Put one cuff on this woman and the other on me.”

The cops didn’t know what to do. This man seemed crazy. But, before they could rectify the situation, their attention was directed somewhere else.

“Lieutenant!” someone shouted.

The boat the two individuals came in on was covered in blood and riddled with bullet holes. It looked like something out of a horror movie. Police started leading the old men and children, who had survived the massacre, from the boathouse where they were still cowering. All of the officers turned their attentions away from Lee-yeon and began concentrating on the crime scene on the boat.

Jang Beom-hee, who was disguised as one of the officers, moaned while staring at the Kwon family’s boat.

“Young master, what did you do,” he whispered into the night.