Anyone who could see Bae Yong Jun standing on the observation deck of the Empire State Building would conclude that he was just one of those hundreds of tourists who flocked to one of the world's tallest buildings to see the whole of New York City. Whenever Bae Yong Jun decided to visit the human world, he would use the guise of a retired public school teacher named Bae Yong Jun. His hair had always been white, so he simply picked a human that everyone expected to have white hair. Aside from his short, cropped hair, he now sported a well-trimmed mustache. Despite belonging to the matured and senior inhabitants of the human world, Be Yong Jun's back remained straight showing his more-than-six-foot, lean frame.

He was now attired in dark sunglasses, a flower-filled design polo-shirt and long shorts that reached down below his knees. A simple walking sandals and a cane completed his look.

Song JoongKi was with him in the guise of an eleven-year-old boy. Gone was the glowing, golden color of a Seraph. It was now replaced by a slightly tanned complexion. The Seraph was wearing a headphone and listening to his walkman while taking pictures all around them using his small camera. Any observer would quickly surmise that JoongKi was his grandson. And both of them were curious tourists like everyone else on the deck.

This was not the first time Bae Yong Jun had been on the Empire State Building. But for appearance's sake, he pretended this was the first time he had ever stepped on the observation deck. Using one of the permanent telescopes on the deck, he pretended to look at the city's prominent sites.

He and JoongKi were early. When meeting with any Midnight Rep, it had become his policy to come in early to study the location as well as find possible dangers and threats. The rules of the Treaty explicitly stated the no-fighting rule in meetings like this. But if there's anything Bae Yong Jun had learned in his dealings with Midnight, it was that you should never trust them completely and you must always be on your toes because if they could find a loophole in the rules, they would always use that to seek an advantage. Because of his precautions, he was able to escape several assassination attempts in the past and used those to amend some of the rules of the Treaty and made the Midnight Corp. pay a high price for their employee's attempts.

"Sir, he is here," whispered JoongKi who had now positioned himself beside Bae Yong Jun.

Bae Yong Jun had already felt the demon's presence since the latter entered the building a moment ago. One of the elevators that brought tourists to the observation deck of the Empire State Building opened. Lee Junki stepped out of the elevator and started walking toward them. Like Bae Yong Jun, he also had his assistant with him. Unlike JoongKi, the Midnight Ambassador's assistant was in the likeness of a beautiful and y teenager. The presence of assistants had been among those amended in the Treaty rules to ensure the correct recordings of every meeting. It was also required that assistants included in such meetings must belong to low-level employees and whose death would not cause any significant change in the balance of power between the two corporations.

Bae Yong Jun frowned when the Midnight Ambassador immediately got the attention of everyone. Lee Junki looked like one of those Hollywood heartthrobs dressed in punk gears. Although he had seen the Rep's likeness in JoongKi's laptop, Bae Yong Jun thought it best not to assume that the twenty-something face of Junki was his true human form. Both Lightside and Midnight could use any disguise they wanted. The only thing they couldn't hide was their angelic or demonic aura. But whether or not this was Junki's true face, Bae Yong Jun was at least sure that the Rep wasn't using any charm spell to get the ladies' attention. Midnight employees had this bad boy charm that seemed to always attract female humans.

"Yo! Grandpa!" Lee Junki called as a wide smile appeared on his handsome face.

"You are early," he commented using a language that could only be understood by Lightside and Midnight employees, as he approached him.

"I am just on time. You are the one who's late," he answered in the same language. Using such language gave them freedom to talk and discuss anything even in the middle of a crowd without the humans understanding or learning anything about what they happened to overhear.

The Midnight Rep was surprised by Bae Yong Jun's words. He glanced down at the watch on his wrist.

"According to my watch, I am right on time."

"We are in the US, Junki, and here, you need to be early to come on time and when you do arrive on time, you are already late," he explained.

Junki laughed.

"Do we have to follow the rules and culture of any country we happen to be in? Don't you think we already have too much rules? From the Treaty rules and regulations, I also receive new rules and memos from my superiors and even from the Dark Council. They keep saying that those rules are necessary for the efficiency of the work schedules and activities of Midnight," he sighed. "Damn, I miss the Middle Ages were rules were much simpler."

Bae Yong Jun remained silent. He didn't take the bait. Discussing the past, especially the middle ages, would allow Junki to remind him of the black stain Lightside would forever have in the history of mankind. Talking about the middle ages would open up the creation of the Inquisition, the punishments of heretics and the burnings of witches. Most of those accused of witchcraft were innocents but were killed in the name of religion. Overzealous members and fanatics of the Catholic Church were responsible for such crimes and since Lightside had always supported them, Midnight employees had always used these events to rile any Lightside employee whenever the opportunity arose.

"So, grandpa, where do you want to eat? My treat!" Junki took out a brand new credit card out of his leather jacket and waved it in front of Bae Yong Jun's face. "I also want to celebrate my new promotion."

"You should celebrate your promotion with your kind, and if you have friends, go have a drink with them because I am not your friend, Junki. I am-"

"Ambassador of the enemy? I know that. But I would prefer eating with someone I know who is my enemy than someone I don't know if he is a friend. You know very well how things work in Midnight Corp. It's always survival of the fittest. The strongest always gets promoted. The weak, well..."

"I am not interested to have lunch with you, Junki. I only came here to give you the common courtesy you deserve as my counterpart in Midnight Corp. And to formally meet you in person."

"To see for yourself if I am weak or strong?" the Midnight Rep inquired, smiling.

Bae Yong Jun nodded.

"So, what is your assessment of myself?"

"You are like the others who have once occupied that position. You have strengths and weaknesses. The only difference you have with them is that you are much more ambitious than they. There is nothing wrong with that, especially among your kind. Just be sure to think hard first, Lee Junki, before you use me or Lightside to further your career in Midnight," he warned. Bae Yong Jun was never into subtlety. He usually told every new Midnight Rep what he thought and what he was prepared to do.

"Do I need to plan for my next promotion? Everyone who got assigned as the Midnight Ambassador sooner or later gets promoted; of course Min Jong was an exception. What I only need to do is to remain careful. I will not be like Count Min Jong, who is now a viscount, because he made the mistake of siring a sondom." His eyes wandered to a beautiful woman that had been checking him out since he arrived. Junki gave the woman a smile that was promptly returned, with the addition of eyelashes flickering. "Ahh, the earthly temptations! Why are the women in this world so beautiful and passionate?"

"Has the women of the Midnight Corp. lost their passions?" Bae Yong Jun commented sarcastically.

Lee Junki smiled.

"You can't play with them or leave them once you lose interest. Our women would disembowel or behead any man who hurts them. They never forgive, and they never forget. Human women on the other hand are easy to leave behind since they are unable to do anything to us. All they could do is cry when I leave them. And when I come back to them, all I need to do is say the right words and they would believe and forgive me. Human women are better lovers in my opinion than the women of the Midnight Corp."

"Unless you sired a child with them," Bae Yong Jun reminded the Midnight Rep.

Junki shrugged.

"That's the downside. And since these contraceptives invented by humans are useless and do not work on us, one must always be careful not to have with human women when they are ovulating. By the way, did you know that the reason Min Jong sired a sondom was because he thought these human contraceptives would work on him?" Junki burst out laughing. "He thought he was safe, but after three months, boom! A sondom was born. By the way, how are the nephilims on your side? Are they still increasing in numbers?"

"Unlike you, demons, we have better control of our emotions. In the past when there were still a lot of innocent and al women, some of Lightside's employees couldn't help but become attracted to these virtuous women. But nowadays, with women having too much ual freedom, the Lightside men had lost interest in them since they had become much more like Midnight women."

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