♧ TWELVE ♧

It felt strangely quiet to be sitting here alone, even with the wall clock ticking over head. Sunggyu had sworn to avoid getting too attached to the Lee family to make cutting off ties easier in the future. Networking would have been useless to him despite their power and social status. These kids were practically too weird and quirky to put up with anyway.

But right now, their absence left the supposedly lively minitheatre too quiet and lonely for his liking. In the end, he decided to do a bit of exploring of the Arts building on his own. His feet eventually lead him upstairs, onto the roofdeck.

The fifth floor and supposedly rooftop of the arts building had been turned into a covered multipurpose roofdeck for the purpose of conferences, music recitals and the like. Considering that the Arts building was the tallest infrastructure on campus, the roofdeck gave a good 360-degree vantage point of the whole Daekyung University. Bored out of his wits, he started observing the passer-bys on the grounds. He tried looking around, wondering if he could spot where the ever-elusive Woollim heiress hung out once and for all.

As he fixated his view on the School of Business and Economics main building rooftop, his tiny eyes grew to the size of small coins. He didn't even have to search so hard. He found Lee Seulbi, alright...

...along with L Kim, he-who-must-not-be-named and sworn mortal enemy of the House of Lee, who had been pulled in for a warm embrace. When she had smiled at him, it was different from her small, half-smiles; this one was b with utmost sincerity.

He really had no intention to walk in on their moment together, and he knew that it would have been better if he pretended he had not seen anything, but his curiosity regarding the two got the better of him. In Sunggyu's attempt to lipread in on their conversation, he had lingered for too long, long enough to catch her attention momentarily. From across the building, she managed to lock gazes with him. The look in her eyes told him everything...

When I get there in five minutes, you're dead meat.

And then she turned to leave.

.

Sunggyu made a run for it, muttering nothing but "" the whole way like a mantra chant used to ward off evil spirits. This was probably the fastest he had ever run in his whole life. He jumped the last few steps and nearly skidded as he turned at the corner, bolting back towards the MT in record-breaking time. Rushing only earned him several bruises on his knees and thighs as he clumsily rammed into a couple of chairs on his way back to where he had been previously seated in.

"Kim Sunggyu, come out!"

Did five minutes go by already or did she teleport her way over here? Sunggyu shut his eyes tightly, forcing himself to calm down. The sound of Seulbi's footsteps grew louder. Maybe he could fool her into thinking that he had never left his spot in the first place if he remained calm and casual.

The MT door creaked open, and by that time, he was positioned rather comfortably, his demeanor cool and composed, with his book splayed open. "Shh, I'm reading," he dismissed as he pretended to be absorbed with the particular random text he had opened to: the chapter's bibliography.

"Nice try, Sunggyu, but give it up. I know you saw us."

"What on earth are you talking about?"

With two fingers, she pinched the sleeve of Sunggyu's shirt. "I don't think it's that hard to miss out on animal print even from afar, mister. If there's one thing Woohyun and Sungjong agree on, it's that this is a fashion faux pas. You better do something about it before they decide to burn your whole closet down."

Stupid Woohyun, stupid Sungjong, what do they know? But he had other pressing matters to deal with. If there's one thing Sunggyu has learned as of late, there was no use lying to the Woollim heiress, especially when he was caught red-handed. Working with him momentarily put her in a position to learn way too much about his train of thought in sticky situations such as this, so it was very very easy for her to catch on to his little excuses so quickly.

And so he did the next best thing he could possibly think of when he needed to appease people's anger...

Seulbi wasn't buying one bit of it. "That grin of yours might charm one of your bar girls, but not me," she scoffed, crossing her arms.

"Sorry!" he snapped, his facial expression molding back into its haughty look. "It's not like I could help it anyway. It's weird to see you two so chummy in the first place! Imagine, the Woollim heiress fraternizing with the rival company's heir..."

Before Seulbi could fully retort, new company had interrupted their conversation.


"Man, I'm pooped! I'm sorry I kept you two waiting!"

Just on cue, Hoya, having come in fresh from the locker room, arrived with a towel draped over his neck and his duffel bag slung over his shoulder. The two immediately stopped bickering, smiling cheerily up at Hoya as if nothing happened. "Hey!" they greeted.

"You should have called," Sunggyu continued.

"Yeah, we could have met you downstairs," Seulbi piped. "You must be tired."

"I did, quite a few times, actually. No one was picking up," Hoya informed as he proceeded to drying his hair. The two checked their respective phones and true enough, there were several missed calls from him. "You two were busy bickering again, weren't you?"

"...No."

The jock let out a hearty chuckle out of sheer amusement. "At least that's something you two agree on. It's getting late. Shall we all head home?"

Gathering their things, the trio made their way to where Shimgoon had been waiting and boarded the car in silence. Exhaustion eventually got to their star striker; Hoya went out like a light after a few minutes on the road. Despite all that, he still had his music on at full volume and they knew since they could hear quite well from the back seat. His purple earphones also had its bass vibrating function up, accentuating the sound. 

The soft humming of the car engine took over, coupled with momentary sniffing noises and clearing of throats. In desperate need for some sort of break to the awkward silence, Seulbi thought that it would be best to listen to something calming. “Hey. Would you mind if I played some music for a bit?” she dared to ask, thinking that it would be at least respectful if she asked her companion out of politeness.

“Depends if it’s to my liking or not,” Sunggyu replied gruffly.

Seulbi decided to take that as an okay. She had grabbed onto the auxiliary cable, plugging her iPod in. 

He was expecting something extra girly from her, something from Girl's Generation or Taylor Swift. Or at least something from Adele, a must-have on the playlist of every girl going through some sort of emotional wreckage phase. He just hoped to God that she wasn't going to put her 'Period Playlist' on, if she had anything of the sort. As Seulbi finally settled with something, Sunggyu could not help but straighten up in attentiveness as the first few notes of the song's melody was heard. It was definitely something, alright.

[Nell - White Night]

He had to shake his head to make sure he wasn't hearing things, but it was unmistakably from his favorite band. He observed carefully as Seulbi closed her eyes and sunk into the song. Every now and then she was mouthing along to the lyrics, a relaxed expression gracing her face. Finally, halfway through the song, her eyes fluttered open, bothered by his unintentional staring. "What's wrong? You look a bit constipated."

“Nrrrwrwwlll...”

The heiress tilted her head slightly. “Pardon?"

His next few words stilll came out garbled. Sunggyu opened his mouth again to clarify himself, but in the end, he decided to sink further into his seat in embarrassment. There was no way he was going to be the first one to admit that they had the same taste in music.

"... Nothing."

She only shrugged, turning her attention back to her music. Sunggyu never even dreamed of the day he'd have to pretend to be uninterested in Nell and the whole rock genre in general, but here he was, at the back seat of the Lee family's sedan, struggling to keep a bored expression everytime something new started playing. And he still had a good 20 minutes left to endure.

<<<< >>>>

"So? How is it?" Sunggyu asked anxiously.

Dongwoo only continued to sift through the jackets hanging in Sunggyu's closet wardrobe. Despite being here for a couple of minutes now, Dongwoo had yet to say something. 

Upon hearing that the Jang heir was coming over to the Lee compound to look for something to do, Seulbi seized the opportunity and kidnapped him for herself before the rest of her cousins could, thinking it would be best to take advantage of his fashion roots and seek his advice regarding her first ever recommendation for a project makeover, for reasons undisclosed to Sunggyu. Imagine his surprise when the two suddenly came barging into his room and his closet that Saturday afternoon, caught up in some serious discussion apparently about his choice of wardrobe.

A gentle furrow in the Jang heir's brow told them that he was giving his opinion very careful thought. "Well, for one, I would say it's really..." he droned.

"... disdainful, isn't it?" Seulbi finished, crossing her arms.

Sunggyu took an audible sharp inhale because of that insult, sending the Jang heir into a state of panic.

"Now, now, Bumblebee. You have to hand it to Gyu-nim for having a unique and rather intriguing taste in fashion," Dongwoo eased. His cheerful smile was so infectious that despite Seulbi's harsh commentary earlier, Sunggyu still felt rather proud of himself. "But wow, Sunggyu, it's amazing how your closet really reminds me of..."

"... an African safari."

That earned her a very offended glare from Sunggyu. "You. Stop putting words into his mouth!"

Now that she had free reign in their conversation, Seulbi proceeded to put her two cents in. "I'd like to think that you're doing a pretty bang-up job of channeling your inner leopard or cheetah," she commented, gathering up a bunch of shirts and jackets that had animal prints on them. "And elephant. Yeah, you also have an inner elephant." He owned an equally huge number of baggy clothing articles and ripped jeans too.

From the corner of his eye, he could see Sunggyu's fists clench into tight balls and it didn't take a genius to know that the two were getting out of hand once again. Dongwoo knew he had to put a stop to this before it escalated into something as childish as hairpulling, because the two looked very capable of doing so.

Before he could even remedy the situation, the two already managed to push it past the point of no return.

"GODDAMNIT, LEE SEULBI, DON'T YOU DARE OPEN THAT DRAWER!"

Too late. Seulbi had already did and was holding up a pair of Sunggyu's boxer shorts. "Wow, your obsession is really unhealthy," she pointed out in between barely-controlled fits of laughter.

That was the last straw for Sunggyu.

"OUT! GET OUT!"

He ended up shoving the laughing girl all the way out of his closet and his room. By the time he had slammed the door in her face, she was still at it, her laughter echoing through the mahogany doors.

"Hey man, she was only trying to help," the de facto voice-of-reason, Dongwoo, pointed out as the ticked off Sunggyu came marching back.

"The last time I checked, this wasn't Korea's Next Top Model!"

"Okay, maybe she's thrown a few remarks that weren't to your liking, but your baby cousin is still a girl. It's not polite to shove her away like that."

The Jang heir was right. Maybe he had been a bit too rough. So begrudgingly, he set off to welcome her back in. As he got nearer to the door, he noticed that Seulbi's laughter had now been replaced with a chorus of hushed giggling. He peered out to see a group of elderly maids surrounding Seulbi, oggling at something she was showing them. After the group had momentarily parted, he finally managed to catch a glimpse of what they were all giggling at.

"You, ummm, sort of forgot these," she sniggered. In Seulbi's hand were his leopard-printed boxers.

The giggling from the maids only got louder. Furious and red in the face, he stormed towards her, barely swiping his boxers away before making a mad dash back to his room. Dongwoo only gave him a look of bewilderment when Seulbi still didn't appear in sight after Sunggyu had reentered.

"Why don't you get along with Seulbi?" the Jang heir sighed.

The answer was simple. Aside from the fact that the extent of her family's wealth still bothered him to no end, no matter what he did, Lee Seulbi always managed to make him feel like such a fool, be it through her action, word or thought. Also, she had a way of riling him up past boiling point, and she seemed to take joy in that.

"Isn't it obvious? The kid hates me!"

Is that what he honestly thought? Dongwoo chuckled, shaking his head in disagreement. He knew Seulbi too long and too well to know that wasn't the case. "On the contrary, I think she likes you."

"You consider her cheekiness towards me as her display of closeness?"

"As a matter of fact, I do," Dongwoo finally responded. "You're different, Sunggyu. And I'm betting my whole inheritance that those three are starting to get jealous about it."

Sunggyu wasn't extra doting. He wasn't breathing down her neck 24/7 nor was he carefully monitoring her every move. He didn't treat her like a fragile princess. When he argues with her, they were over super petty things and not about the family business or what-not. It was a different experience for Seulbi altogether, far different from how she was used to and she welcomed the fresh change. Naturally, she would take much interest, even if she was normally wary of people she just met. Seulbi was more fond of Sunggyu than she let on.

And Dongwoo knew, because she wouldn't have come running to him for help if she didn't. Seulbi had good intentions, but her approach was almost always... questionable. She had to resort to trial-and-error because Sunggyu was so different. The only surefire way to interact with him was to be cheeky about things, and they surely worked alright, judging from his explosive reactions.

Might as well push through with her request, since she really rarely asked for any favors. Dongwoo pulled out his phone from his pocket, punching in some numbers to ring up a couple of people. "Do you have anything planned today?"

"No, I don't," Sunggyu replied, tucking his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

If he knew that Dongwoo would be kidnapping him off to somewhere, he would have answered otherwise. "Great, since I'll be borrowing you for the rest of the afternoon!" the Jang heir piped, dragging him away, not even giving him time to prepare.

"W-What are you going to do to me?!?"

"Nothing much, just transforming you into a legit chaebol heir!"

Because he was busy trying to resist against Dongwoo's dragging, Sunggyu missed out on Seulbi mouthing a quick 'thanks' to Dongwoo as they passed by her.

Before he knew it, Sunggyu at the Jang's family boutique and was made to try on several dress shirts, coats, slacks and shoes-- even expensive watches as mandated by Mama Jang, who was more than happy to have him over. After what felt like an eternity, their purchases were packed up and delivered to the Lee compound, and Sunggyu thought that it was finally over... until he had been whisked away to the Jang's usual salon, where had been shaved and waxed in places he never knew could be. He was so exhausted from todays misadventures that he somehow ended up falling asleep on the salon chair after Dongwoo had requested for a new hair style. So when he woke up to finally have his now shorter hair rinsed and it came out a rich shade of chocolate brown instead of the natural black, he freaked.

"YAH, JANG DONGWOO! WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?!?"

"Chill, all we did was give you a trim!"

"TRIM?!?"

"Okay, so maybe we styled it a bit and gave it a change of color! Sunggyu, relax, we only took what you had and highlighted it! It's not like we replaced your entire face with someone else's!"

<<<< >>>>

God, he was wasting his youth surrounded by a bunch of the craziest, weirdest people that the world had to offer.

When Dongwoo had said 'test drive for his new look', it apparently meant kicking him to the curb once they were done, leaving him on his own to fend off for himself somewhere in Hongdae. Sunggyu could only hope that Shimgoon come to pick him up faster. Clad in a plain gray knitted sweater over a white button down shirt, dark jeans, long black coat and leather boots, he sat there in one of the coffee shops looking like the chaebol heir that he supposedly was. Whatever minimal atrracting force he had on the opposite before multiplied to a thousand-fold with his new look. He could hear hushed squeals and giddy murmurs as groups of university girls passed by. Even the waitresses there were scrambling to get his order and all this staring wasn't the least bit comfortable.

It was the same when he got back home. Woohyun's mother squealed when she saw him and planted a big fat kiss on his cheek, delighted by her "nephew's" more handsome look. Sungjong took non-stop pictures with plans to send them back to Sister Mi-Nyu. Hoya nodded in constant approvement as he circled him while Sungyeol's and Woohyun's jaws hit the floor.

"Hyung, look at you! You've turned from fashion-nottie to fashion-hottie!" Sungjong yelled. "Great, keep that angle!"

"How? What?" Sungyeol spluttered, surprised by the sudden transformation. It wasn't even that drastic!

"Laundry detergent for my skin. And for my hair, it's baby shampoo," Sunggyu replied with sarcasm, shifting weight onto his other leg. "May I please go now? I have to present myself to Grandpa, as mandated by Mama Jang."

They parted to give him way. Woohyun could only stare in awe at his hundred million won investment-slash-employee. If he continued to keep that aura around him, he could really pull this Henry stand-in act off. But that's not all that amazed him.

"Wow, that is some amazing baby shampoo he used."

Sungjong looked at him in disbelief. No one can be that stupid to believe such a sarcastic response. "You can't be serious?!?"

"I've got to get my hands on that particular brand--OW!"


As Sunggyu made his way into the house, he passed by a group of giggling househelps, young and old alike. He did a double-take out of curiousity, they all ran away bashfully, still giggling to themselves, which left him rather uncomfortable. And he let his thoughts wonder to the last remaining girl specimen of this household who had yet to see him like this.

Lee Seulbi was going to eat her words and end up in a stammering mess, he was sure of it.

As predicted, Seulbi was in the family room and was concentrated on her Macbook once again. She didn't even acknowledge his presence and continued to read, briefing herself for tonight's charity event held at the Olympus, where she was supposed to be making a simple ocular inspection. He strutted into the room, pretending to look for something.

"Look, do you need help finding whatever-that-is you seemed to have misplaced? Your back and forth pacing is making me dizzy," Seulbi snapped at him, finally looking up minutes later. When he held her gaze a bit longer this time, she could not help but find it unusual. "Yes?"

"Don't you notice anything?"

Seulbi looked dumbfounded. "There's ummm... lipstick on your face?"

"...lipstick...?"

Not what he wanted her to notice. Immediately, he wiped off the offending agent. "Props to you, you must be the only person in this world who hasn't noticed something this blatantly obvious," Sunggyu grumbled, blowing his now properly cut bangs out of his face.

"Pardon? You lost me there."

"Nothing," Sunggyu snapped, stalking off.

What a tough nut to crack this girl was! Getting her to comment on his new look was a lost cause. Just how did Lee Seulbi do it? And look, she even managed to do it unconsciously! It's like her life goal was to repeatedly shatter his self-esteem, and it was getting on his last nerve.

<<<< >>>>

Seulbi, already dressed sharply, made her way down for early dinner only to find out that it was just Sunggyu waiting for her.

"Abeoji?" she asked Shimgoon as she stepped inside.

"At the hospital for his check-up," Shimgoon informed her. "Young Master Sunggyu shall be dining with you tonight."

Seulbi nodded before turning her attention back to her cousin. That fox-like grin was back and Sunggyu patted the chair, motioning for her to take her seat right beside him. Wary, she sat herself, smoothing her skirt and adjusting the cuffs of her sleeves. "Why are we seated so close together?"

"I'm not used to sitting so far apart from people," he replied as he flapped out her table napkin for her, placing it on her lap. "Busy day?"

"Very." Seulbi continued to keep her guard up. This conversation was too casual to be considered normal. His overall aura was too friendly for comfort and that fox-like grin of his spelled DANGER.

"You look tired. Shall I help feed you?" Carefully, he took a spoonful of one of the dishes. "Say aah~"

"This is oddly thoughtful of you."

"Pssh, this is nothing! You're my favorite cousin, after all!"

Her eyebrow shot up into her bangs upon hearing subsequent cooing from the kitchen staff. "Actually, we can't stand each other!" Seulbi couldn't help but blurt out to the staff.

Sunggyu laughed softly, patting her hair with his free hand as he turned his attention towards them as well. "Carry on, we're just about fine over here! And yep, this is the kind of fun we get to have every single day!"

"Which, apparently, is starting today!" But Seulbi's words went unheard as the staff members went back to their assigned stations, leaving the two of them alone together. "What are you playing at, Sunggyu?"

"Hey look, I'm trying to be nice. For once. Besides, you do look kind of tired-- you can barely hold your chopsticks without shaking. Now are you just going to sit here and waste food?"

"No. I'm sorry."

"Good. Now, aah~" Sunggyu cooed one more time. Begrudgingly, Seulbi opened and took the whole spoonful.

Revenge was a dish best served cold... in this case, with the spiciest red pepper paste known to mankind. This time around was Sunggyu's turn to have the last laugh (in silence). Lee Seulbi did not hesitate to spit out the extra spicy pieces of meat, garlic and onions back into her plate, groaning as she felt the extreme burn down .

"Water!" she groaned over and over, clawing at the air. He tried to hide his amused sniggers as he handed her a glass of "water", where he had mixed two heaping spoonfuls of salt beforehand. The concentrated salt solution only aggravated the burning sensation so Seulbi spat that out as well, spraying fine mist from before going into a coughing fit in an attempt to rid the aftertaste. "... the !"

All high class lady etiquette had gone down the trashbin in a matter of a few seconds, so it was all the more funny for him. That swear word she threw at the end just clinched it. Sunggyu was having the time of his life, well, not until the front of his shirt was yanked forward.

"What kind of sick are you?!?" Seulbi growled, the glare in her eyes livid. "Is this some joke to you, jackass? Inflicting pain on other people when they haven't even done anything to harm you? Because it's not even the least bit funny on my end!"

"S-Sorry!"

"I'm sixty seconds away from punching you in the face-- do you seriously think 'sorry' is going to cut it? Why did I even bother asking Dongwoo to help! It doesn't matter if you've got new threads and a new hairstyle because you've got a horrible, horrible personality to match!" Roughly, she released his shirt and stalked off before she could really beat his face into a bloody pulp.

Sunggyu could only blink. So she did notice.

"Okay, no more stupid jokes--where are you going? Come back and eat your dinner!"

"I lost my appetite!"

"Yah, Lee Seulbi--"

And Kim Jongwan chose the perfect timing to start crooning the lyrics to 'White Night' with his velvety voice. Seulbi came to a full stop while Sunggyu lowered his brandished fist. Their silence only made the music clearer. It took awhile for it to load to Sunggyu's brain that the music was coming from the pocket of his jeans. By some miracle, his phone must have unlocked itself and had gone straight for the music player.

Seulbi watched as Sunggyu panicked and fumbled around for his phone and her expression softened a little. "You..." she began, but before she could even continue, the ringing of her own phone cut through, jarring Nell. Sunggyu eventually managed to shut it off, but Seulbi had already taken the call, her brow furrowing as she listened to the person on the other line.

"I have to go. I'm urgently needed," she told him. Sunggyu raised an eyebrow as she called for the car to be readied. Seulbi wasn't supposed needed back at the Olympus until an hour later. The heiress perfectly read his mind, addressing his current concern. "It's an emergency situation, Sunggyu, I can't leave them alone."

'Emergency' lumped together with 'Seulbi' did not sit well with him, not only because of current deal with Woohyun and his promise to Grandpa Jungyeop to watch over the girl. There was no way he was letting something as scary as that fake death threat happen again. Not that he cared, but surely his already guilty conscience wouldn't let him rest.

"Yah, wait up. I'm going with you."

<<<< >>>>

Once they had gotten to the venue, Seulbi went straight to business, calling for an immediate staff meeting. From the turnout alone, the problem was already evident. More than half of the staff members assigned for tonight's event failed showed up, and that included a missing staff manager. “Is this seriously everyone? Where’s Manager Yoon?”

“He said he had something important so he stepped out for a bit earlier this afternoon," one of the kitchen staff members filled out. "Some of the crew members and security just sort of followed one by one and that’s it, they never came back. We’ve tried contacting them but to no avail— all their phones have been switched off.”

"Interestingly, majority of those missing were the same ones that were called out earlier for a special meeting," another guard added.

This caught Seulbi's attention. "Special meeting? By who?"

"He didn't drop any name but he claims to be from Jeguk. He wanted to make a new job offering that triples our salary-- all for their new hotel line in Shengzhen, China," the guard admitted. "I was part of it."

Chaos ensued at the mere mention of the rival company. There were hushed whispers, cries of outrage, and overall panic.

“Do you suppose they were pulled over to the Jeguk side?”
“We might have been sabotaged on purpose!”
"How do we know you aren't a spy planted here?"

"Please hear me out!" the guard whimpered in defense. "We were told to pledge a lump sum to reserve that job offering, with the promise of giving it back in the first salary check if we helped bring in two more people. There's no way I could have paid for it, with my mother's hospital bills and all!"

Amidst all the commotion and rage, Seulbi remained unfazed. Her mind was so clear that Sunggyu could almost see the cogs turning in her brain as she thought of a working plan to remedy the situation.

"Aren't you even mad? I would hunt that person down if I could," Sunggyu gritted. Honestly, he was all up for pummelling the sneaky fox for throwing Woollim under the bus on an important event such as this.

"I am, and I really would want to as well, but I'll suspend all judgement on Jeguk for now and settle this in a civil manner; and honestly, that can wait. Our priority is the charity event and filling up the gap left by these missing people."

"Yeah, I'm sure the perpetrator would agree to discuss his case of human resource theft in the future over a fancy cup of tea and a quick game of poker!" Sunggyu snapped, the sarcasm in his tone high.

Her hands suddenly shot up to grab him squarely by the shoulders. Seulbi looked pretty torn between judo-flipping him and hugging him. “Poker-- you're a genius!" she murmured, shaking him back-and-forth vigorously.

"Wh-What?" Whether he was flushing from his dizziness or from her compliment, he wasn't sure. "What do you have in mind?"

"We're regrouping. Please put the other two resorts on the line, we'll be momentarily recruiting from them. Also, I need a complete listing from each of the committees present; please indicate those assignments left open. Sunggyu, I need you to contact home, tell the kitchen that we need a few helping hands over here at the Olympus. Is there anyone else who knows the rundown of tonight’s charity event down to the last dot?”

“I-I’ve studied it several times with Manager Yoon,” one lanky man from the back of the room squeaked.

“I apologize for giving you a big responsibility with such short notice, but we really need you right now to fill in as liason to the event organizers. Do you think you can do it?”

"You can count on it, agassi!"


It was amazing how Lee Seulbi managed to mobilize everyone so quickly. Help was starting to pile in as soon as she made those calls and thanks to some information dissemination system she'd conjured, everyone was ready for deployment to their specific tasks within five minutes of their arrival. Sunggyu could not just sit back knowing that he could do something to help. So when the opportunity came to step up...

“I can go on dishwashing duty. In fact, you can put me anywhere you need help with.”

All eyes were on Sunggyu by now, staring at him in disbelief as he picked up a spare apron, tying it around his waist before rolling his sleeves back to his elbows. “Young Master, we can’t allow you to do that! You mustn’t tire yourself!”

"You need as much hands as possible, this is nothing for me."

Seulbi cornered him by the sink once she had her chance. “Sunggyu, are you sure about this?”

“Hey, you're free to undermine my dishwashing capabilities some other time. Not now.”

"It's not that, I just..." He was prepared for the whole 'rich people don't do menial tasks' speech and he already had a pretty good counter to that. "...I can't have you holed up here for long. I need you to do something for me. Can I speak to you alone?"

Her words surprised him. "S-Sure," he agreed, allowing Seulbi to move him somewhere more private.

"Analyze the story, Sunggyu. A job offering that sounds too good to be true. A 'reservation fee' for reassurance of a job slot? Since when did people pay to get in jobs? To top it off, it's not a meager amount from each person," Seulbi began. "Moreover, why would a big company like Jeguk need that kind of amount? Doesn't that strike you as strange at all? Now why do you think that is?"

"They're being conned," he murmured in realization. "And I don't think that bastard's just about done yet, seeing how he wasn't able to successfully grab everyone."

"Exactly, that's why I pulled in more manpower than usual to bait him."

"Okay, say you do manage to lure him out. Then what?"

"It's just as you said earlier. We're going to play a game of poker. And we're going to make sure he folds for good," Seulbi concluded. "But I'll require your skills. Will you help me or not?"

<<<< >>>>

"You called for me... err... agassi?"

Seulbi couldn't be more happier see him. Politely, she excused herself from the person who was persistent in trying to initiate a long conversation with her, pulling him aside. "Hello Sunggyu, took you long enough to get dressed. Am I really the girl here or what?"

"You're amazing, I get it," he replied sarcastically, pulling on his tie. "I agree, you do look like a walking stop sign."

"What could I do? You bullied me into it." True enough, Seulbi was now dressed in a casual coral red dress. The color she wore really popped out against sea of formal dark overtones. She cleared to change their current topic. "I've been observing for the past hour. There hasn't been any sign of 'X' yet."

"Oh he'll come, I'm sure. Just stick to the plan, then we're good."

Currently, the two were huddled over one of the quieter corners of the kitchen. Seulbi folded her arms before leaning against the wall. "So, what do you have in mind? I'm all ears."

Sunggyu immediately wasted no time in pitching his plan. "This person-- we'll call him 'X' for now-- he might not have the brightest bulb when it comes to conning. He's already made some mistakes, to our advantage. Even if he's handed out fake business cards with a fake company name, a few of our people he failed to recruit have already seen his face and know his intent. Also with such a big charity event happening here at the Olympus, I'm betting my life that he'll try his luck here once again."

"How are you so certain?"

"Because he's still got a quota to reach. I took a look at the listing you requested for. At least ten from each committee were called for, and if he failed to get people in, he called another batch. And this time, he's going to attempt for bigger catch this time around. Looking at it value-wise up the corporate ladder, I think it's easy to guess whom he'll be pining after."

"Shimgoon," Seulbi answered. "But that'll be risky on X's part. There's really a small assurance that someone as loyal as our right-hand man would doublecross us so easily, unless he already has the intention to leave us in the first place."

"That's why we're going to make him believe he has that assurance. We'll let X take Shimgoon." The heiress was apalled at his suggestion, but Sunggyu was quick to counter. "I never said Shimgoon had to be 'Shimgoon' though. I doubt this guy even knows what Shimgoon looks like, so it'll be easier for us to set up a grumbling decoy to follow you, our tyranical Woollim heiress, around the whole night. When he falls for it and corners our decoy for his usual recruitment pitch, we break him after he's put his complete trust in him. After all, the one doing the conning normally doesn't suspect he's been conned back."

"Let me guess, you're our decoy?" He nodded. She had to agree though. She's seen too much of Sunggyu's skills for her to know he had a good shot at pulling this off. "Same feather, same thought process?"

"HEY!"

"While it might work, we've a tiny problem," Seulbi pointed out, fiddling with her thumbs.

"And that is?"

"How is he going to find me and Shimgoon?" When Sunggyu looked a bit dumbfounded at her explanation, she decided to fill him in. "I... uh... haven't had my formal introductory ball yet, therefore I'm not officially heiress yet. Not a lot of outsiders would know me, let alone acknowledge me as heiress to Woollim."

Sunggyu's face dropped. "Eh?"

"Why don't we swap roles then?" the girl offered. "I could be the underling, you could be the big boss in place of Woohyun or something."

"Non-negotiable. We both know we can't pull it off! J-Just wear red or something eye-catching!"

"Are you crazy? I'll look like a walking stop sign! I never liked standing out..."

"Do you want to catch that scoundrel or not?"

"Okay, we'll observe for now. I've still got heiress duties to fulfill," Seulbi sighed. "Come, Sung-- I mean, Shimgoon."

Was it just him or did heiress duties leave a really bad taste in ?

Seulbi went about doing her usual business, making sure to order Sunggyu around every now and then. "Do this, do that"-- this was probably her way of getting revenge for dinner's mishap because she sure was enjoying bossing him around. And Sunggyu had no choice but to put up with it because he had to look convincing enough.

"You're playing the role of tyrant leader pretty well-- you're enjoying this, aren't you?!?" he hissed through a strained smile after returning from her nth mundane send-off for the night.

"Maybe. Talk to you later, I have to go and talk with some sponsors from China."

"Well, what else can I do? Would you like me to get you something to eat, agassi?"

"It's fine," Seulbi politely declined with a smile. "You might poison it this time around. I don't know how I'm going to recover from that."

She really knew how to rub salt into his open wounds. "Listen, I--uhh--about earlier... sorry," Sunggyu stammered, only to find that Seulbi had already left. "I'm not repeating it again, just saying!" Pouting, he stationed himself by one of the empty cocktail tables as he waited for his "boss" to finish up.


"You must be Mr. Shin Shimgoon. I've heard a lot about you. You're very reputable in the hotel chain of business."

Someone had joined him at the table. Sunggyu tore his eyes momentarily from Seulbi and set his elbow down to make way for the newcomer, who was rather young-looking. His line of sight went past his guest towards the back of the room, where he made eye contact with one of the Olympus guards, who immediately winked.

So he finally showed himself. "Ah, yes, that's me. How can I help you... errr...?"

"You can call me JK. If it's alright, I'd like to speak to you for a couple of minutes. I had to ask around-- I didn't know Woollim had a heiress instead. Do you think the Young Miss will mind?"

Their red dress plan worked as well. "Not at all. The agassi is currently busy speaking to investors as of the moment. She'll call me over when she needs me. Now what did you want to talk about, JK-ssi?"

"I was wondering if you knew any people who work in the hotel line who might be interested to take up a new job offering for our new branch at Shengzhen. Sadly, it's for Jeguk. But I suppose you're the wrong person to ask because you'd obviously recommend them to Woollim."

"Wait, not at all! In fact, I do have a few in mind, and that's not because Woollim is full. Can I tell you something, sir?" Sunggyu began, motioning for him to come closer. "It's the next generation of heirs we're worried about-- they're really unlike their grandfather and they run things rather... differently. To top it off, a girl as successor? Most of us don't quite agree with it, and frankly, I'm just putting up until sajangnim retires."

"Then you're the right person to talk to after all! We need as much people as we can get right now-- the job doesn't start until the end of the year, so you can join us and they won't suspect it just yet. However it requires a reservation fee. Anyway, we'll give it back after your first paycheck! Think about it Mr. Shin."

It wasn't even necessary. "Alright, I'm in. And I assure you, I can rope in two more people. I'll be back with a checkbook, hold on."

Sunggyu rushed off, wondering where on earth was he going to find himself a checkbook. Seulbi was still too busy speaking with some foreigners to be bothered. Just then, the real Shimgoon appeared.

"Young Master Sunggyu, the Young Miss has requested me to hand over her checkbook to you. She also says to please refrain from making several erasures. That would be all."

That was all the confirmation he needed to know that Seulbi was watching. How she did it would remain a mystery to him. He made his way back hurriedly to avoid suspicion. "Sorry for the wait. Whom do I address it to?"

JK slid over a business card. Inwardly, Sunggyu smirked, seeing that the name was different this time around. "Kwak Jungwook?" he read out loud.

"Ah yes. That's my real name. JK is my nickname at Jeguk." Nodding, Sunggyu returned to signing the check. Their target had finally bit the bait and gave them the right amount of evidence they needed. After he finished filling out the check, he politely handed it over to Jongwook, who took it rather greedily. "If it's alright, I'll be taking some photos of it so I don't lose track of the check number." Just as he hit the 'confirm' button...

"Seems like you're enjoying the charity event today, Mr. Kwak Jungwook."

Talk about impeccable timing. Seulbi arrived and peered over his phone to check what he was doing. It was only then that he realized that he had been set-up, but he was confident this time around. "That check you just issued? I've already scanned and sent it to mobile banking. That's nothing but a useless piece of paper now, so good luck getting your money back!"

"Good luck cashing that check too, Jungwook-ssi. You're right though, that thing is as good as paper right now," Sunggyu pointed out smugly. "After all, the signatory wasn't right."

"What?!?" Immediately, he pulled out his phone, only to receive a confirmatory text that the signature really didn't match those samples of the account holder.

"Next time you ask someone to issue you a check, make sure to verify their identity first."

"You-- You tricked me!!! Woollim will pay-- I'll have a word with the Jeguk higher-ups about this!!"

"That's funny. Because I don't remember anyone by the name of Kwak Jungwook under our HR department, let alone our employee listing." The three whirled around as a fourth voice joined their conversation. Kim Myungsoo, dressed sharply, stood there with his hands in his pockets. His cold, piercing gaze was fixed on the now confused "recruitment head". It seems like he wasn't sure on whom Myungsoo was, judging by the way his brows crunched up.

"That's L Kim, and a nice head's up? He's your boss. You don't even recognize him? How could you?" Sunggyu taunted. The color immediately drained from Jongwook's face.

"You can't have me arrested just yet! You'll need a warrant for that!" he half-screeched.

"Ah, our side has already prepared for that," Seulbi spoke up, pulling out a piece of paper from and envelope. "This is confirmation for my request for a cease-and-desist letter, which I had processed immediately as soon as I got hold of information of your pyramid scheme scamming. I'm threatening to file a lawsuit against you, Mr. Kwak. Legally, of course."

"And even if you've accomplished Woollim's compensation demands, that doesn't mean we aren't going to do the same. I'd like to thank you for bringing up about the arrest warrant. I'm sure my father could consider it somehow."

The accused could do nothing but cower in fear. Even Sunggyu could feel the commanding power emanating from the next-generation heirs of the two most powerful companies of South Korea. Letting out one ugly whimper, he ran all the way to the exit. When the guards barred him from doing so, he didn't resist and allowed them to him out to the nearest precinct for detainment.

Myungsoo whistled. "Saves me the trouble. He actually turned himself in."

"As if we had time to find a lawyer and have a cease-and-desist letter ready on hand," Seulbi pointed out, dropping the piece of paper onto the table. Sunggyu peered over, only to find out that the paper Seulbi had read from was a dinner invitation for Jungyeop.

"Though I highly doubt that this is a single-run initiative. It's the bigger fish I should be after," Myungsoo and Seulbi concluded at the same time, much to Sunggyu's amazement. Even they were surprised that they managed to have the exact same train of thought.

"Now that one of their bases is dismantled, it'll be easier to topple the whole organization over," Myungsoo concluded. "I better leave before word of my presence here gets to pissy Nam-- he hates it when I crash his events. And about the fraud case, I'll handle this from here on out."

"Hold on. I can't let you do that. It's Woollim's people who were victimized."

"It's Jeguk's name they're defaming."

"I don't see the point of you two arguing over this. Slap a joint lawsuit. It gets the job done faster, with less cost, but double the weight of the charges!" Sunggyu suggested. The two gave him a weird look as if he had just uttered out complete bull. "Right-- there's no way you two can possibly work together-- protect your own. Ignore my stupid suggestion!"

<<<< >>>>

"So what'll happen to those staff members who walked out?"

"Hmm, to be polite about it, HR will be sending in letters for individual consultation, asking them to come in and explain their unauthorized absence. They'll be given proper disciplinary sanctions for their actions-- suspension is probably the worst they can get. Their contracts won't be terminated right away, if that's what you're worried about. HR is already informed about the fraud case. However, should they wish to really resign from post, we're not in the position to keep a hold on them."

Now that the eventful day was over, the two were now back in the comfort of the Lee mansion. Sunggyu had a doggie bag partitioned for Seulbi as his peace offering from that evening's dinner incident, which they shared since he hadn't had his dinner as well. Sadly, the only thing left prepared was spicy squid. After much reassurance that the take-out from the kitchen wasn't poisoned, the heiress even nicely put up some music again on the ride home. Sunggyu discovered that there was much more they had in common regarding musical taste and preference.

He wanted to bring up L, but Seulbi was in such a good mood, he didn't want to be the douchebag that ruined it for her.

"So you're really not pulling my leg about being a fan?" Seulbi asked out-of-the-blue.

"Of who?"

"Nell."

Sunggyu's inner fanboy swelled and imploded. "I worked my off with extra jobs and extra hours to get my hands on all their nine albums thus far: both the physical and digital CDs. I can name each album in chronological order, their respective tracklistings in order and playing time of each song if you want me to. How much more proof do you want?"

"Calm down, this isn't a fanclub initiation. Yes, I like them too," the girl finally admitted.

"Obviously, otherwise you wouldn't have them on your iPod," Sunggyu muttered enthusiastically. "Who would have thought someone like you would actually listen to rock music? It's a miracle to find anyone our age that listens to Nell, let alone that genre, nowadays."

"They must sound really awesome live," Seulbi mused as she started to walk with her hands clasped behind her back. "I've never been to any of their concerts or gigs, sadly."

"You haven't seen them live?!? Yah, and you have the guts to call yourself a fan?!?"

Seulbi had been staring at him with an amused expression on her face this whole time while Sunggyu continued yapping. "Sorry," he randomly blurted out.

"Sorry, what was that?"

"For earlier, I'm sorry. Forgive me?"

"Yeah, I heard you right the first time. I just wanted to hear you say it again."

"Wow, I'm pouring my sincere feelings here and you still manage to be super annoying!" Sunggyu scoffed. "Just how do you do it?"

The heiress ignored him and continued with her little spiel. "Hey, I'm stuck to you for the rest of my life. I don't think it's wise to be holding a lifetime grudge over something as trivial as a spicy-meat-salt-water combo stunt. I forgive you. Just um... no more hurtful pranks next time."

Sunggyu nodded and could only look at her as she had something more to say. "And okay, okay. I give. Dongwoo and Mama Jang outdid themselves today." Judging from the way his eyes grew smaller and the crinkling of his nose, he didn't get it. Seulbi only shook her head before rephrasing her statement. "Your new look, it suits you. You look good."

"... w-what?" he choked. He had been wrong. Earlier, he was confident that he would turn Seulbi into a stammering mess at his new look, but it seems he was doing much of the stammering right now after one measly compliment. Suddenly he grew so self-conscious of himself that he turned as red as the color of Seulbi's dress.

"You have no originality, Sunggyu. There's no way I'm falling for that old trick, er-- why are you so red?"

"Who wouldn't be after being called a 'er'? I'm furious!"

A/N: After months, I'm back! School, 'nuff said. Sorry for the long wait, folks. Here's an extra long chapter to make up for it. :)