‘Something smells nasty.’ Xiah whined, while the six of you (JiYa stayed home with Hero) sat behind the bushes and watched the cottage.
‘Shh…’ U-know said.
‘It’s the morning rain you can smell… and it doesn’t smell nasty.’ Micky whispered back.
‘No, it’s not the rain…’ Xiah said and moved his feet so he could see what was stuck to the sole of his shoe.
‘Nice…’ Micky commented sarcastically when he saw the dog droppings on the sole of Xiah’s shoe.
Luckily for Max he was sitting next to you and TaeMin, because if he had been able to smell the stench and see the , Max would surely barf.

A good two hours had passed before something happened.
Three guys came your way, two of them carrying a box.
The two who carried the box looked annoyed and clearly struggled with its weight.
The other guy was trotting ahead, looking pleased with his position as non-carrier.
‘That’s YeSung, EunHyuk and DongHae.’ TaeMin whispered.
Suddenly you got an idea.
‘Why can’t you go in there with them? If you act like you’re still in with their plan, you might get us an update!’ You suggested.
‘That’s a pretty good idea.’ Micky agreed and soon TaeMin crawled out of the bushes and walked up to his hyungs.

‘Holy Moly! Where have you been?’ DongHae shouted, but not angrily, just surprised.
‘I took some time off…’ TaeMin said and smiled, trying to win back the trust of his hyungs.
‘So, where is the president’s daughter?’ YeSung asked.
To this question TaeMin didn’t have another answer than the truth, but he wasn’t planning on telling them everything, instead he said: ‘She’s with me, safely at home. Anyway, I’m back now, how can I contact HeeChul?’
‘No need to, it’s just us now… All others have fled!’ EunHyuk said, opening his mouth for the first time since TaeMin’s comeback.
‘Okay, so what is our plan now?’ TaeMin asked the question and prayed he didn’t rise up suspicion with it.
‘Not much, we’re just going to keep feeding the presidential family, who are in there.’ YeSung said and pointed at the cottage.
‘Is that it?’ TaeMin asked, surprised.
DongHae, EunHyuk and YeSung nodded simultaneously.
What had happened for them to forget all about the bad stuff they wanted?
‘Actually, we’re waiting for an opportunity to restore the situation and get it over with, but right now, we don’t know how to get that done…’ EunHyuk explained.
TaeMin reckoned it was okay to let PCF crawl out of the bushes too.
After all, they were on the same side now.
‘I have a confession; I haven’t been completely honest with you…’ TaeMin began.
‘What?’ DongHae asked as three pair of eyes looked at TaeMin in horror, suspecting the worst.
‘I brought some other people, good guys. If you really want the president back in the Blue House, then you should not worry, they are my friends.’
‘Friends?’ EunHyuk pondered.

In the next moment two things happened.
The first thing was PCF appearing from behind the bushes to join YeEunHae and TaeMin.
The second thing was a far more dangerous thing.
‘FREEZE!’ The voice of KiBum cut as an icy blade through the air.
And there your group of eight stood face to face with KiBum, two girls and their pointing guns.
‘…’ you heard Micky mutter softly.
‘Where is the president? Is he in there?’ KiBum commanded and nodded in the direction of the cottage.
‘Y-yeah.’ YeSung stuttered, trembling slightly.
Poor TaeMin was so nervous he had the hiccups and Xiah started wiping his shoe on the grass he was standing on, although there was hardly anything left to wipe off.
‘SooYoung, Victoria, you two keep them guarded, I’ll go in.’ KiBum announced. ‘YeSung, you follow me.’
‘O-okay.’ YeSung’s answer came. ‘I-I’ll f-follow y-you.’
‘Shut up!’
‘O-okay.’

As KiBum and YeSung disappeared into the cottage, you saw Max and the girl, who was wearing woolen fingerless gloves for some reason, sharing a gaze.
A certain flicker of recognition crossed their eyes and in that instant you knew they were familiar with each other.
Was this girl, perhaps, Max’ girlfriend?
Nevertheless, both girls kept on pointing their guns, circling around the eight of you.
Suddenly Max cleared his throat when the girl with the gloves was facing him again.
‘SooYoung-ah…’ He let out, his tone a low and comforting sound, persuasive even.

Inside, YeSung was told to take the next step in the hypnotic process.
He had to make the president like KiBum.
Not in the ordinary way, of course.
KiBum’s plan was to have the president look and act normal, but with a never ending soft spot for him, which would enable KiBum to get a position in the Blue House’s Monetary Fund eventually and do so much as rule Korea’s money, which was KiBum’s final goal.
However YeSung realized he couldn’t… he mustn’t!
In order to keep this from happening, he had to muster up enough courage, which he realized, was a thing that he could access if only he wanted.
And so YeSung made KiBum believe that prior to the next hypnotic move, the president had to be awakened from any sleep, including hypnotic ones.

‘ChangMin…’ SooYoung said, her eyes only seeing Max.
At first you wondered who ChangMin was until you remembered Max wasn’t the guy’s real name.
‘SooYoung!’ Victoria said indignantly, stomping her foot on the ground once, but she failed to reach the girl in any way.
‘ChangMin-ah…’ SooYoung repeated as she stepped towards ChangMin and you could all witness how the two were obviously in love.
‘YAH! STEP ASIDE YOU… YOU, TALL GUY!’
Your insides were urging you to run at the sound of that voice.
HeeChul had returned, but surprisingly, he was ordering Max to let go of SooYoung.
However his threat was serious, for he held a gun in his hands.
SooYoung let go of Max but didn’t step away from him, however she pointed her gun at HeeChul.
Victoria took HeeChul’s side and continued pointing her gun at the rest of you.
Nobody dared to make a move and the time seemed to freeze around you.
‘Drop your gun.’ HeeChul told SooYoung. ‘You don’t want to shoot me.’
‘Neither do you want one of your bullets to be responsible for my death.’ SooYoung retorted, knowing that HeeChul was after her (because of the many moves he had made on her before).
You wondered why Micky, U-know, Xiah and Max did not grab their guns by now, but you understood that such a move could have disastrous consequences.
HeeChul was slowly closing in on Max and SooYoung.
Suddenly a gunshot was audible and HeeChul stopped dead in his tracks.

________~END OF CHAPTER 56~________

Cliffhanger~
x'P Next chapter will be on, tomorrow! =]