Chapter 7

As soon as the door closed on the reporters, Mo-Yeon falls on the floor, unable to gather any more energy. Shi-Jin falls on one knee in front of her and rests his right arm across the other. Mo-Yeon sighs and lets her head hang loose.

"Myeong-Joo and I will call a meeting with the generals and the chiefs of state police tonight. You should rest, we can brief you in the morning," Shi-Jin says.

Mo-Yeon shakes her head. "No, I'll be there. No matter what Myeong-Joo says, I'll stay on top of this, too. It's my responsibility, too. Things will be very tough, Yoo Shi Jin, I know. This is why it's only going to be easier if you let me help you. You all think I need babysitting that's why I never really accomplish anything." Mo-Yeon bites her lower lip, a habit Shi-Jin notices she has when she's uncertain or at a thought crossroads.

Shi-Jin lets a small smile tug on his lips and stands up. He offers his right hand to help Mo-Yeon get back on her feet. "I guess we've been trying to protect you too much. From now on, I'll be very strict with you and will let you handle all the toughies, no matter how much you whine. Then again, scratch that, you can't whine at all because you have to be a big girl now."

Mo-Yeon, as well, lets the smile settle on her face. No matter how bleak it's looking for Urk right now, she thought it's always going to be a teeny bit less taxing to have Shi-Jin's good humor to keep her company. She grabs the hand Shi-Jin is offering and helps herself up from the floor. "Call the meeting now; we have a lot to discuss."

A few calls were made and just a little over an hour later, the huge conference room is already packed with bustling men and a handful of women in uniforms. This is the first time Mo-Yeon is back in the general conference room after that fateful day when Myeong-Joo forced Shi-Jin into their lives. And if Mo-Yeon is to rank the lessons and realizations she has come to since that day, the first two things on her list are: one, that disaster always strikes when you least expect it; and two, that you will always find there's someone or something that's just been there all along to get you through every disaster.

Everyone has already been briefed about the situation at hand, courtesy of Lieutenant Kim Gi-Bum. New information has also surfaced that a shell casing was discovered in the crime scene, belonging to a gun that has been issued in the Kingdom of Urk. Although that seems like a terrible bit of information, the Kingdom of Urk shares ammunition with the International Federation and other allied countries in the European Union and United Kingdom. And with a number of these countries in attendance in the gala, the shell casing could only limit the suspect countries to at least 30.

The CCTV footage at the time of the crime, plus minus some four hours, which is obtained from a CCTV camera facing the door to the men's bathroom, has also been retrieved. The footage only shows the cleaner at four, entering and exiting the said lavatory; five more men, all were seen coming out of the lavatory, as well, before the gala started; and General Argus accompanying Chairman Han to the comfort room. No one else could be seen approaching the bathroom door after Chairman Han enters. The last person seen in the footage is the Urk businessman who opens the door but immediately flees in terror as soon as he, presumably, sees the dead body.

The body of Chairman Han, at the moment of the meeting, is still being processed by the lab, to determine if there are any fingerprints, DNA material, or signs of struggle.

After the report has been delivered by Lieutenant Kim, the generals and the police chiefs all launch into a chaotic semblance of a deliberation, engaging in their own micro-discussions on their part of the table. Myeong-Joo, then calls everyone's attention, saying that she will give them ten minutes to discuss among themselves, per state, their thoughts, suggestions, and course of actions regarding the matter. After the ten minutes, each general will present their conclusions to the table, uninterrupted by any other party in the room. Myeong-Joo, Mo-Yeon, and Shi-Jin, will then deliberate which sentiments are worth exploring, and the table will proceed to discuss these in detail.

After an extremely wearing hour of ideas and suggestions, Mo-Yeon, Myeong-Joo, and Shi-Jin has come to a consensus to hear out more from General Choi Woo-Geun of the First State of Hana, General Argus of the Ninth State of Ahop, and General Im Gwang-Nam of the Third State of Set.

General Choi Woo-Geun, known to his comrades by his call sign Snoopy, stands up and takes the floor. "It is a matter of urgency that we must first discuss the consequences of Chairman Han's death in Urk, and what we can do to address these consequences. As I have said earlier, Chairman Han's death will surely plunge Urk into an international controversy as his security was placed in our jurisdiction the moment he set foot in Urk. The Kingdom's capacity to protect its borders, its royalty, and its VIPs will be questioned, putting in danger our relationship with allied countries. How can they trust a country to help them in times of danger and civil unrest when that country could not even protect itself?"

Argus then raises his pen, and General Choi gives him the permission to speak. "We know, as members of the Royal Armed Forces, that the security measures we have set up in Urk are top-notch. However, because of recent events, our allies will be doubting our methods and equipment. This is why I believe, it is in the best interest of rebuilding this trust, to upgrade and increase the production of artillery, ammunition, and security equipment. This way, we could prove to our allies that we are taking extreme measures to secure our position and not let a same catastrophe happen."

A wave of agreement washes over the table, convincing even Myeong-Joo and Shi-Jin. Woo-Geun then, continues, "I agree with General Argus. But I also have to suggest that while the Army, under Commander Yoon, of course, should oversee this task, I believe our Queen Her Royal Highness, should start with the relations rehabilitations effort. Paying courtesy calls to our allied countries, to assure them that we are strengthening our forces, will surely prove vital to repairing any cracks in the allied relations, or maybe even prevent one from happening."

Shi-Jin looks to Mo-Yeon for an answer and she is quick to respond, "I agree with you, General Choi. Captain Yoo will assemble a team comprised of my Royal Guards immediately and devise a strategic schedule that will allow us to visit the most number of allied countries in the least amount of time."

"That's settled then," Myeong-Joo joins in. "We are settling that this is our best course of action and will now proceed to the two leads that have been raised by General Argus and General Park. General Argus, if you may start?"

General Argus, fumbling with the cufflinks on the dress suit he attended the gala in, starts by thanking the Queen for hearing out his policies. "Going straight, then, to the matter at hand, since Urk will be taking the lead in the investigation of Chairman Han's murder, I believe we should start by exploring countries with economic, political, and even personal grudges against the IF and Chairman Han. We have all seen the news, I presume, and Denmark has been very aggressive against IF in the recent years. In fact, I have been privy to some information that their Prime Minister, The Honorable Daniel Spencer, has just recently launched a series of investigations against the IF, and against Chairman Han, specifically. As you know, Chairman Han has been an old friend of mine, and we shared some golfing afternoons. To confirm the legitimacy of my intel, I would like to reiterate that this information came straight from him."

Mo-Yeon is quick to slam one hand on the table, drawing the attention of the crowd to her. "I can't believe you're accusing Daniel, General Argus? I'm sorry but I don't think there's a need to follow this lead specifically. Yes, I agree, we should invest resources into tracking countries with grudges against the late Chairman, but I assure you there is no way Daniel is on top of this!"

General Im Gwang-Nam then clears his throat, "Your Highness, please let me be rude for a second, but I believe we should follow up on General Argus' lead."

Mo-Yeon looks unbelievably at him. Gwang-Nam is one of the younger Generals, only assigned after General Suh's death in 2008. Gwang-Nam and Daniel have spent considerable time together during Daniel's visits to Urk, even when Mo-Yeon was abroad for her studies. In fact, Daniel was even the person who gave him his call sign, Piccolo, after saying he looked so much like the said Dragon Ball character.

"General Im, I can't believe you, too, are doubting Daniel's innocence!" Mo-Yeon exclaims at him.

Argus then shakes his head and clears his throat to attract Mo-Yeon's attention. Mo-Yeon glares at him and he continues in a softer tone, "I do not wish to offend you, Your Highness, please believe me when I say I don't. But it is one of the best ones we have so far. We will, of course, still deploy investigators to other suspect countries but I think the earlier we probe into Denmark, the earlier we can prove that Mr. Daniel is innocent, if what you're saying is true."

Mo-Yeon bites her lower lip in frustration, knowing that everyone is seeing Argus' point. All of this distrust and suspicion towards Daniel is throwing her off, especially since Daniel is the closest person she can call her best friend.

"Your Highness," Myeong-Joo interrupts Mo-Yeon's train of thought, which is dangerously sidetracking towards her memories with Daniel in the middle of a meeting. "I think Captain Yoo can arrange a schedule which lets you visit Denmark first on your relations rehabilitations effort. That way, the investigation team would be at your disposal during your visit to Mr. Daniel and Queen Kim Eun-Ji in Denmark."

Mo-Yeon considers this for a moment. Seems like the Generals could not be swayed to redirect their attention away from Denmak anymore, even though Daniel is, of course, innocent. I don't know that evil Queen of his though, but certainly not Daniel. If I were there, I could just ask him straight, that would clear things up in a jiffy! She thought. She then proceeds to address Argus, although grudgingly. "Okay, fine. I am giving the permission to pursue your lead, General Argus. Do you have more to add?"

General Argus smiles and nods, satisfied. "Thank you, Your Highness. No, I have nothing else to add. We can proceed with General Im's lead."

Mo-Yeon crosses her hand in front of her chest, still quite unhappy from the turn of the meeting.

"General Im, then, please," Myeong-Joo says, picking up the course of the talk.

"Thank you, Commander Yoon." Gwang-Nam nods at her and continues. "Even though I have seconded General Argus' lead to investigate the Denmark Prime Minister, I only did so with the intentions of clearing up that lead immediately." He then looks to Mo-Yeon and receives a stubborn glare from her.

"I believe there's another lead that could also lead us to much fruitful results, although this lead is not one that I am particularly pleased with either," he continues. "I do not want to dismiss the findings regarding the shell casing and would like to follow up on that front. There is a significant chance that the person behind this is an Urk Royal Armed Forces member."

Whispers and disapprovals start to flicker around the table as Gwan-Nam says this. He raises his voice a nudge to stay on top of the whispers. "This would answer why despite our exceptional security measures, the murder was pulled off. Because someone privy to our protocols, someone with access to the castle, is behind the attack. There are two possible outcomes if this lead turns out to be hot. One, that the perpetrator of the murder is an Urk Royal Armed Forces member hired by an outside country, which makes following General Argus' lead a viable action and lets us trace the mastermind rather than the hitman. Two, that the mastermind itself is an Urk citizen, or even more convincingly, a military member, and could even be linked to the truck full of ammunition found in the Second State of Dul just recently. This could mean that he or she has the capacity and influence to orchestrate such a seemingly perfect plan."

"This is outrageous!" General Park slams two fists into the table and stands up. "How dare you, a young General, just barely of age to run a whole state, suggest that one of us will cause trouble for our Kingdom! This is blasphemy and disrespect of the highest order! Some of us here have been holding our positions right when you were still milk from your baby bottle. How dare you disgrace our name and our titles by accusing us of this?"

Gwang-Nam cuts General Park and explains, "General Park, with all due respect, I am even putting myself in question here."

A couple more generals and chief of police, noticeably those who have been appointed to their positions for decades, start to raise their concerns and disapprovals of Gwang-Nam's suggestion.

A voice belonging to one of the oldest men in the room, a chief of police Mo-Yeon could barely name, raises his deep, raspy voice. "We have dedicated our lives to protecting this country and what do we get in return? An attack from some pretty boy. If we're going to follow this course of action, I will be most reluctant to cooperate. If this course of action leaks to the public, it will surely disgrace the honor of those serving the crown."

Another wave of agreement throughout the table erupts.

"Ladies, gentlemen, please, here me out," Gwang-Nam pleads, calling everyone's attention by tapping his palm on the table. "There stands a reason that makes me consider that this is an inside job. That CCTV footage alone is highly questionable. How possible is it that no one else enters the bathroom after Chairman Han but somehow he ends up with a bullet on his head and no gun to suggest that he killed himself? It's easy enough to tamper with a CCTV footage, believe me, but changes to a surveillance video are impossible to track."

More whispers emanate from the table, forcing Myeong-Joo to call order. Shi-Jin looks over to Mo-Yeon, who looks terribly lost and at the verge of pulling out her hair from all the chaos and the frustration.

Argus raises his pen once again and adds, "While I, myself, am not opposed to having people look at my work, in the hopes of clearing my good name, I think subjecting your loyal, royal court to this level of scrutiny is in bad faith, Your Highness. We here have been personally hand-picked by the throne to serve the Kingdom of Urk. What does this say about the throne's judgment?"

Another surge of agreement sweeps the room.

Shi-Jin looks at Mo-Yeon, who is clearly torn and tired over the whole proceeding. He then clears his throat to attract attention, and speaks up. "Thank you, General Im, for that insightful lead. However, while that lead is terribly convenient for us, I agree, doubting and going against each other in these terrible times for Urk and for our Queen seems unwise. I would also like to raise that although execution is flawless if considered from within Urk, I don't see any motive why an Urk citizen would want to draw controversy towards his own country. We all have nothing to gain from it apart from more paperwork, more crowd unrest to deal with, and more work. And I have a personal motto that the best path to take is always the path that is less strewn with paperwork." This earns him a few chuckles from the younger police members but he continues. "So we will keep your lead noted, although we should focus our efforts for now towards General Argus' and start investigating all countries with potential motives and gains from Chairman Han's death."

"I agree with Captain Yoo on this," Myeong-Joo says. She then stands up, preparing to wrap up the session. Looking at everyone, it seems foolish to continue without more information and more rest. "I would like us to immediately begin upgrade of our defenses and forces, and our Queen will start her courtesy calls to our allied countries in three days' time. Our best investigation team will accompany the Queen on her first stop in Denmark, and we will deploy more teams in other countries to get a head start on the investigations. We will hear more from the lab and from forensics tomorrow so until then, we should call it a night—or I guess a morning since it's almost five. Any more concerns that won't be able to wait until later? None? Okay then, Generals, Chiefs, we're adjourned. Thank you. I'll see you all in ten hours."

Everyone is obviously weary and Myeong-Joo's call to wrap up for the meantime is welcomed by everyone. The Generals and the members of the Royal Armed Forces start dragging their selves out of the conference room, sparing Mo-Yeon the pleasantries since she's buried her face deep in her arms, which are crossed on top of the table.

Mo-Yeon listens to the footsteps making their way outside. As the footsteps fade, she hears Myeong-Joo say "Good night," her heels clicking until it's gone. When she can hear no more, she takes it as a cue that she can now rest easy. Her head still resting on her arms, she turns her head to the left where Shi-Jin sat, and sees him resting his head on his arms too, his head cocked sideways to look at her.

"I'm tired," Mo-Yeon says in a muffled voice, since half of her face is still buried in her arms.

"Who's Daniel, by the way? You're so overly protective of him," Shi-Jin asks, trying not to sound too overly interested, but failing.

Mo-Yeon tries to read his face to determine his motive for asking the question. Is he, too, suspicious of the Danish Prime Minister? "He's a childhood friend. And I'm pretty sure, as sure as I am with my name, that he is not capable of having anyone killed," she answers, now a little more clearly.

"I see," Shi-Jin says and pauses. "So it's just platonic between you two?"

Mo-Yeon's face crumples, a face that one makes when you smell something bad. "Of course! He's like a brother to me, silly. Dating him is like ."

Shi-Jin frowns mockingly and helps himself up from the table. "That's what they all say," he says fleetingly, stretching his arms on top of his head.

"All what say what?" Mo-Yeon lifts her head up from the table as well and faces Shi-Jin, unable to understand his comment.

"Nothing. You should get some rest. Let me bring you to your room before I head out. If you don't get enough sleep you'll start having wrinkles all over your face here and here and here." As Shi-Jin says this, he traces imaginary wrinkles on Mo-Yeon's forehead.

"Sheesh. Okay, okay." Mo-Yeon swats Shi-Jin's hand away from her face. She then stands up and makes her way back to her room, Shi-Jin marching beside her. They walk the hallway in silence, only Mo-Yeon's heels and Shi-Jin's dress shoes on the marble floor making a sound. A pair of guards is stationed in every door they pass; their number, Mo-Yeon notices, almost tripled since last night's attack. As they reach Mo-Yeon's door, four guards are already on standby.

"Are all these guards really necessary?" Mo-Yeon asks, her hand halfway through opening her door. "I mean, no offense, guys," she adds, waving a never-mind-me-and-thank-you-for-your-service hand to the royal guards at her door.

"For the meantime, yes. Once we upgrade the castle's security devices, maybe then we'll be able to lower the number of stationed guards again," Shi-Jin replies, his hands deep in his pockets.

"I see," Mo-Yeon nods. "Okay then, good night, Captain."

"Good night." Shi-Jin smiles at her and adds, genuinely, this time without any hint of teasing or mockery he's usually employing, "Your Highness," and he watches Mo-Yeon safely get inside her bedroom before he turns around and makes his way back to his quarters.

As Mo-Yeon gets inside, she leans her back against the closed doors, her hands tied to her back, still grasping the cold silver door handle. She then realizes that ever since that fateful day when Myeong-Joo forced Shi-Jin into their lives, it's only now that Shi-Jin has called her "Your Highness" again, and somehow, for reasons she can't understand, for the first time, hearing someone address her like that puts a small smile on her face.

xxxxx

"Mom, I have a question."

Ah-In and Mo-Yeon were enjoying some quiet time in Ah-In's room, with Ah-In seated on the bed and her daughter sitting on the floor with her back to her mother. Ah-In was combing Mo-Yeon's hair, something Mo-Yeon loved, saying it made her feel calm and sleepy.

"Yes, my dear?" Ah-In asks.

Mo-Yeon chewed on her lower lip for a moment, deciding how best to phrase her question. "You know, Myeong-Joo is pretty young to take on the responsibilities that her father left. But she's remarkable. She's fierce, she's strong, and even the generals are intimidated by her and respects her."

"Yes, Myeong-Joo has become one fine woman, indeed," Ah-In said in agreement. "But that's not really a question, is it?"

"Yeah, no," Mo-Yeon shook her head. "My question was, how old do you think I'll be when I have to take on your responsibilities, mom? Do I have to wait for you to, you know, get old, because that's going to be a really long time and I really want to practice my profession first so that's a great thing for me. I wouldn't want to get inducted to the throne when you're still this young and pretty, and that's not going to change in like forty or even fifty more years!"

"You ramble, Mo-Yeon. Be more succinct in how you phrase your thoughts. This is the proper way for a lady to talk—and a doctor, too, I suppose." Ah-In replied with a light chuckle.

Mo-Yeon rolled her eyes. "Okay, Your Majesty, you're young. Very young and strong. And that's great! Live long and prosper! Don't feel that you need to rush me into assuming the throne because I'm fine. Really. I just don't want you to get any ideas since Myeong-Joo's around my age, maybe a tad bit older, and she's all grown up and ready to army and stuff," Mo-Yeon said in a tone that's both whining and defensive.

Ah-In smiled a gentle smile to herself and put down the brush. She then tapped Mo-Yeon on the shoulder to turn her around to face her, and cradled Mo-Yeon's face in her delicate hand. There was silence for a while, Ah-In trying to collect her thoughts and Mo-Yeon trying to read her mother's face. It's been more than a few months since Mo-Yeon came back to Urk, and she stayed mainly because she had noticed the doctor's frequent visits to her mother. While Ah-In had not said anything yet, she knew that Ah-In was not in the best of healths. Extending her stay in Urk did not hurt her too much, after all, as she had been able to resume some of the royal training she had left when her classes abroad resumed.

Ah-In kept her hand on her daughter's face, her voice soft and comforting. "You'll always have to be prepared to take the throne, my love, because if there's one thing we're certain about, it is that tomorrow will be filled with uncertainty. So always be steadfast in your resolve to becoming a proper Queen of the Kingdom of Urk. And in time, I am more than certain that our Kingdom will be honored to have you as its Queen."

Mo-Yeon looked at her mother's face and felt that she needed—wanted—to hug her. She wrapped her arms around Ah-In and laid her head against her chest, knowing that if there's anything she's going to be steadfast about, it's not the throne or her profession or even herself—it's that she would do anything to make her mother proud.