Kill the Lights by Jangryang
Proofreader/Editor: Kaima, Hwarang
And when morning arrived, Milo turned really spiteful. Since he hadn’t recognized Haley and missed him right in front of his eyes, his colleagues’ sneers towards him mixed with complaints.
Not only did he fail to get a proper picture when Noah asked Haley out for a date because he had been out of his mind, but he also missed all the pictures of Haley going inside his house. It was common for paparazzi to miss out on one occasion, but missing yesterday’s pictures was such a stupid thing to do.
Also the process of how it happened scratched Milo’s inside. While Haley handed him the burger and introduced himself as ‘Donny Evelyn’, spitting out nonsense, he was too focused on the hamburger and kept drooling. He didn’t even recognize that the one sharing his hamburger was none other than Haley, for whom he had been waiting over eight hours.
It sounded like an excuse, but there was a reason why he was fooled. The man who blabbered in Kansas accent and had an upset face did not look like Haley at all. ‘Donny’ wasn’t flashy, even when he was cursing; he looked plain and his existence was blurry. If he didn’t continue talking while holding a tasty-smelling hamburger, Milo would never have known that there was a person there.
No one knew since when had he been hiding amidst the paparazzi. As if possessed by a ghost, all of them saw Haley take off his cap, turn around and flash his sparkling smile; still they just stood there, stupidly wondering why that guy was there. Not only had their noses got cut off while their eyes were open, but also their ears and lips. (“Nose got cut off while one’s eyes were opened” means something bad happened so fast even though one was paying attention.)
Just as if mocking Milo, Haley went inside the fitness room, which displayed his silhouette and exercised for about an hour, and after that, he disappeared for a round of showering and then turned on his bedroom light. And it seemed like he lied down on the bed right away, because it was not even 30 seconds before the lights were turned off, and it didn’t turn back on again.
Milo couldn’t believe how, even after he turned the world upside down, Haley just exercised, which he never did, and went to sleep like he had no worries.
Milo, who thought about it, got pissed and pressed the doorbell like crazy at dawn. But it seemed like Haley had already unplugged the bell because he couldn’t hear anything from inside.
And when dawn broke, it made sense that Milo was very spiteful.
‘I’ll definitely take pictures even if I have to make him trip. I’ll take dozens of pictures and pick the ugliest and the funniest looking one and post it on the front page of the newspaper and on the web.’ Unlike last night, Haley would be the only one walking out of the house today morning and so he won’t be able to pull an act.
The house was so protected from spiteful paparazzi that not even a single ant could get in. There was a young man delivering their breakfast, but Milo, who got very sensitive, took off his hat and carefully examined him.
It was now 9:45 AM. They heard Haley had a movie schedule at 10 AM, but he hadn’t moved a single step out of his house. He was probably not confident enough to go through all these paparazzi. Milo predicted Haley would definitely check out through the window, so he waited with his telephoto lens attached camera focused closely on the window. When he was checking whether Haley was peeping outside, he heard someone mumbling, “Why isn’t he coming out? Perhaps, he had left already?”
Milo smirked. How can he get out? Dozens of paparazzi were guarding his front door. That bastard cannot possibly slip out.
“He definitely cannot get out, of course.”
Yesterday he missed him because he had let his guard down, but not today. Right when Milo murmured a promise to himself that, ‘Never, he can never get past us,’ he looked up at the sound of the earth shaking.
From somewhere, a helicopter slowly flew and passed on top of their heads. Instead of passing them and disappearing, the loud noise grew and the chopper stayed on top of Haley’s house.
Because of the sharp, loud noise and strong winds, Milo frowned and covered the camera lens with his hand. “No way. –No way”, that’s what he thought. It can’t be that. This is a residential area, and even though Haley’s mansion was luxurious, it wasn’t spacious enough to have a helipad.
Milo’s mouth dropped open as he stared at the helicopter landing and its propeller sound hitting everywhere and whipping up a huge gust: dirt, small tree branches and pieces of grass blew everywhere.
Just like a star appearing in the middle of dry ice smoke, he saw the helicopter land trampling down on Haley’s garden.
“…….”
Because of the loud propeller sound, which could break the glass windows, Mason ran outside and frowned at the chaotic looking garden. The flowers were all cut off by the wind, the tree branches were snapped off and the tree leaves were falling, leaving them naked and shaking. And the grass and bushes were dug out by the helicopter’s ski shaped landing gear, so only the ground was showing.
The helicopter landed just like that, in his garden. Mason annoyingly swatted at the flying grass pieces and dust.
He definitely knew who would do this kind of insane thing.
It was Noah Raycarlton.
This morning, Mason woke up from his sweet sleep that didn't even have a dream and saw a bunch of zombie like paparazzi guarding his front door with their cameras. He thought about it for a minute and took out his phone and called Phil.
‘Mr. Hepson? I’m Haley.’
Mason greeted brightly and over the phone as he heard a cold voice, [Yes, tell me.]
‘I’m just asking in case, can you send me a car?’
[A car, you said?]
‘Yes. I have to get out of my house, but the paparazzi are not leaving. I know Mr. Raycarlton is not a person with a lot of time, but if he has a spare car, I would like it if it can be parked outside my back door for a short time.’
“If you can, let it be a car that he rides often.” –He knew that he can’t trick all the paparazzi, but if they got distracted for a little while, he’ll have room to escape. If the were the enemies surrounding him, he’ll either throw a bomb or throw something that can grab their attention and look for a gap. But for the paparazzi, Noah will be stronger than a bomb.
Phil said, [Wait a minute], and then he couldn’t hear his voice for a while. Mason, who put the phone on speaker mode, began pulling on his clothes. He was comfortably thinking, ‘Since he said he’ll help, he will at least let me borrow a car.’ Noah probably had more than two cars.
[Are you trying to lose the paparazzi in front of your house and go to the filming set?]
At the voice he suddenly heard, Mason, who was putting on his pants, lifted up his head and looked at his phone. It was Noah’s voice.
‘Ah, yes.’
Mason’s answer was delayed. Noah’s phone voice was a little bit lower and sweeter than his real voice. Mason walked over to his phone, turned off the speaker mode and put it near his ears.
‘Because more of them are gathered in front of my house than I thought.’
Mason pretended to complain that, he didn’t know whether this place was a homeless shelter or a refugee camp, and he heard a small chuckle over the phone.
[Get ready and wait. I’ll come pick you up.]
‘No-, I’m not saying to pick me…’
Even before Mason could finish his sentence, he heard the call ending beep- sound.
‘……’
‘What does he mean pick me up? He’s not saying he’ll come personally, right?’ What Mason wanted was people to get tricked that Noah has come in person and after turning their attention away from him, he planned to escape from there. He didn’t want Noah to actually escort him.
Even if Noah came personally, he can’t ride that car. The paparazzi will surround Noah’s car and not only can’t he get to the filming set on time, but also will be forced to model for the paparazzi’s cameras until their batteries ran out.
The fact that even he, who was ignorant about Hollywood, knew meant that Noah knew it too. –Mason thought that even if Noah did arrive in person, he wasn’t going to take him.
He thought so like that.
“…….”
Mason, who was ready to run out to the other side of the street once Noah’s car stopped nearby, covered his ears and stared at the helicopter, which was destroying his garden. The same garden that Mason took care of little by little whenever he had the time ever since he became Haley. The big chopper flew in proudly and stopped its propeller with a loud sound. And soon its door opened.
“…. I don’t think you understand. I don’t have a helipad in my house. That’s the garden.”
Mason said with an indifferent face to Noah who took off his headset inside the helicopter. He had felt nervous when Noah said he was going to pick him up, but he didn’t know he would appear in this absurd and ignorant fashion. At Mason’s critic, Noah languidly smiled.
“Yes, so it was a little shaky when it landed.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to build a helipad?” –He made it sound like, ‘how can you live so uncomfortably,’ and instead of answering, Mason frowned and turned away.
He of course noticed the paparazzi outside of the gate and even the passing by neighbors, who had come out to watch what was going on. He thought that he even heard a police siren from far.
“-Get in. We won’t have any traffic on the way, but we don’t have that much time left.”
Noah’s tone suggested that if they had enough time, he would like to have a cup of tea, and Mason sighed and walked a little faster as he approached Noah’s helicopter. He felt embarrassed in front of his neighbors, and just like Noah said, he really didn’t have much time.
“Always, meeting with you is uproarious.”
Yesterday and also today. It wasn’t just uproarious, it was like an armed protest saying, ‘look here, hurry up and look.’
“My mother said a helicopter is a good way to escape from the paparazzi. I didn’t mean to make a commotion.”
“….I see.”
Saying that he didn’t mean to make a commotion by bringing a helicopter to a residential area and landing on other people’s garden, Mason predicted it wasn’t healthy for him to talk to Noah about that matter.
Noah gave Mason his hand, and Mason hesitated for a moment before grabbing it. While he was climbing in, holding his hand, he turned around and saw people looking at him with stupefied expression, and noticed the paparazzi, Milo, whom he had met yesterday. He still had that exact same expression like last night.
When he chuckled, Milo looked surprised and then as if by accident, pressed the shutter. The same time when the flash burst, Noah pulled Mason’s hand and let him in. The paparazzi, who finally regained their senses, started to take pictures, and the helicopter’s propellers started to spin loudly. Phil, who was sitting up in the front, gave Mason a headset, and Mason quickly put it on.
“If we land a few more times, I think we can use it as a landing field.”
He heard Noah’s usual voice, through the loud noise of the propeller, saying that if they landed two or more times, it won’t shake as much. Mason closed his mouth and gazed through the window at the garden that had become more of a mess than before. When the helicopter lifted and made half a circle, few more trees got sawed off by the landing gear. He wasn’t sure if he could use it as a helipad, but he definitely couldn’t use it as a garden anymore.
“How long is the filming?”
“….Around two months.”
Hearing Mason’s answer, Noah smiled like he heard some good news.
“We have enough time to turn it into a landing field.”
“…….”
Just like he said, after two months, the garden will only have dirt leftover, nicely beaten down by the landing gear. However the house glass windows won’t be safe.
Mason thought that if he came once or twice depending on the situation there wouldn’t be any trouble. But because of Noah’s eccentric behavior today, the paparazzi were bound to multiply and that was the problem.
“…I heard you have a helipad at your home….,”
Mason moved his cold salty lips, and Noah answered as if he was waiting for that.
“Call me in the evening. I’ll come pick you up.”
It’ll be better if you call me instead of Phil. Through the headphone, a sweet voice rang and tickled his ears. When Mason stared at him, he smiled brightly as if everything was working out fine.
————————————————————————-
So……. Noah's threat worked?
Continue to Part 3
