"Let's get going, Seokjin." Joongki replies, "We can't waste anymore time." Seokjin nods and they both head upstairs, running to the master's bedroom.

Sung-rok, at this point, had completely ripped Minji's blouse, exposing her midriff, and began kissing her neck, while holding her arms down on the bed for extra precaution. Just as he was about to move lower, Joongki kick open the door, pointing his gun at Sung-rok's back and replies, "You are under arrest, Shin Sung-rok, for kidnapping and attempted ." Sung-rok releases his grasp from Minji's arms, climbs off the bed and looks at Joongki. "It's about time you caught me." Sung-rok mocks. Joongki, still point his gun at Sung-rok, walks over and handcuffs the loan shark.

"How long has it been since we
first met?"Sung-rok asks, "Five years?"
"It's okay to come inside,
Your Highness." Joongki announces, ignoring the
loan shark's question.

"Your Highness?" Seokjin walks into the room and stares at Sung-rok, with cold eyes.

"W-what i-is g-going on here?!" he exclaims,
referring to Joongki, "W-why is he here?!"

"Did you forget your little phone call, Shin Sung-rok?" Joongki retorts, "The woman, lying on the bed, is carrying the next heir of the royal family and you dare to—" "I-I s-seriously did not know that she was—Your H-highness...if you could let me go, I can ex—" "Hyung," Seokjin replies, "take him to the station with everyone else; I'll handle taking Minji home." "But—" "I'll be fine." he reassures. Joongki then drags Sung-rok out of the bedroom and went to inform the others about Seokjin's orders. As Seokjin walks over to the bed, he takes off his jacket and covers Minji's exposed body with it before carrying her in his arms. "You're safe now, Minji." he replies, "You're safe now."

Coming out the building, Minji's parents run up to Seokjin and see their daughter's frail body. "Nothing happened to Minji or the child." Seokjin reassures, "I'll be taking her back to the mansion." "Prince Seokjin," Minji's abeoji replies, "you've done so much for our little family; we would like to repay you somehow."

"No reward is needed from such loving parents
who only wanted to protect their daughter."
"Prince Seokjin, please take us with you to your
home." Minji's omma says, "We want to properly
apologize to our daughter as well as our grandchild
for putting them through this mess."

Seokjin agrees with their decision and they all return home. 

Meanwhile at the police station, Sung-rok and his henchmens are locked up for the time being with Joongki and Jin Goo keeping a close eye on them. "That went better than expected." Hye-kyo replies, arriving to the scene, "I didn't think that he would give up that quickly." "Same here." Joongki replies, glancing at the cell, "I thought he would put up a better fight." "At least they won't be bothering anyone else now." Ji-won adds, "It might be years until they come out." "But why would they need to kidnap Minji in the first place?" Jin Goo asks, "And the bigger question is who."

"They're so hopeless." Jisoo replies, after hearing the news, "If they expose me, Seokjin will arrest me for sure." "Then let's end it here, Jisoo-sshi." Woo-Yeon asks, "Director Kim is already on my tracks." "Then keep it that way." she retorts, "I need to stay away from the light for awhile." Woo-Yeon gives Jisoo a confused look and asks, "What is your purpose on pursuing Director Kim when he already has Minji?" Jisoo scoffs at Woo-yeon's question and replies, "All of that is a lie, Wooyeon-sshi."

"Huh?" he asked.
"My purpose for coming back to Korea
is to take revenge on CEO Kim for destroying
my relationship with Director Kim." she continues,
"And no one is going to stop me, even if it's you."

After his short meeting with Jisoo, Woo-yeon immediately pulls out his cellphone and began to call someone, hoping that this new information will help.

Back at Seokjin's mansion, Minji is fast asleep in Seokjin's bedroom until she woke up from a horrible nightmare. "Seokjin-sshi!" Minji exclaims, sitting up in bed. She began looking around and found that she was back in Seokjin's bedroom. 'Why am I here?' she thought, 'How did—' "Minji-sshi?" Mrs. Chung asks, once entering the room and running to the bedside, "Minji-sshi, is everything alright?" "Mrs. Chung," Minji replies, looking at her, "W-where is Seokjin-sshi?"

"He's settling things at the police station."
"Did he get hurt or did he—"
"Calm down, Minji-sshi; Seokjin is
fine." Mrs. Chung reassures, "Nothing happened to him."

"What about our—"
"The baby is fine too."

Minji sighs in relief. Just then, there is a knock at the door. "Come in." Minji replies. Mr. Han walks into the bedroom with Seokjin's parents and Minji's parents as well. "We're sorry for not telling you the truth, Minji-ah." her omma replies, taking a hold of her daughter's hand, "We didn't want you to worry about us and our problems."

"But I have the rights to know, omma." Minji replies,
"If anything had happened to you and appa, I would never forgive myself."
"But I would never sell my daughter over to a loan shark like him."
her abeoji explains, "I didn't want my daughter to live a life like that."

Minji then glances up at her in-laws and
asks, "Did you two know about this?"

"Since the first day." Mr. Han explains, in their place.
"A-and I would like to apologize." Seokjin's abeoji replies, "I didn't mean to
hurt you with my words or actions, Minji-sshi."
"What he's trying to say is that he didn't want Seokjin to do the same
mistake as we did in our youth." Seokjin's omma explains.

Just then Minji's abeoji receives a phone call from Woo-yeon. "Excuse me for a moment." he replies, heading out of the room. Out in the hallway, he picks up the call. "Samchon," Woo-yeon replies, "are you by yourself?" "What's the hurry, Woo-yeon?" Minji's abeoji asks. "I know who sent Sung-rok's men after Minji, but you have to promise me that you won't tell anyone else." "Why is that, my boy?" "It's for my safety and Minji's." Woo-yeon explains. "I understand; now hurry and tell me that name."

"Are they even talking, hyung?" Seokjin asks, once arriving to the police station with Hoseok. "Nothing." Joongki replies, getting up from his seat, "They only want to speak to you, Your Highness." Seokjin walks over to Sung-rok's cell and asks, "How do you know about Minji besides from her parents' debt, Sung-rok?"

"I don't even think you'll know her." Sung-rok replies,
"She offered me a small fortune if I finished the job for her."

"Who is this 'her' you are talking about?" Hoseok asks.
"She told me to not tell anyone about her identity!
She said that if I told anyone, she'll kill me."

'What kind of woman would have this much power?' Seokjin thought to himself, 'It can't be Irene or imo; who else could be this sinister?' "If you say her name," Joongki offers, "we'll let you off the execution; same goes with your henchmens." Sung-rok nods his head at the easy offer. "Well," Hoseok asks, "aren't you going to tell us her name?" "Her name is Kim Jisoo." "Why would Kim Jisoo be involved?" Seokjin asks, "She would never—" "Listen to me, Your Highness," Sung-rok replies, "she isn't someone you want to mess with; she's the devil herself."

"You're lying! I've known her more than anyone else here."
"Calm down, Seokjin." Hoseok advises, "We don't know for sure,
but keep an open-mind for now."

"But—" "Jisoo insisted in killing Minji-sshi herself." Sung-rok adds on, "So I suggest you be on your guard, Your Highness; who knows what that woman is capable of doing next." After walking out of the station, Hoseok stops Seokjin and asks, "What are you going to do now?" "I don't know, Hoseok." Seokjin replies, "I really don't know."

"Should you tell Minji about this?"
"No, she's been through a lot today; I'll
have to tell her later."

Returning home, Seokjin was about to head upstairs; however, he sees Minji coming downstairs to meet him. "Minji," Seokjin asks, once she approaches him, "why are you still up?" "Waiting for you." she replies, "How did everything go?"

"Still no results. We're still looking for more
evidences."
"I see."

Just before Minji could to say anything, Seokjin immediately pulls her into a hug. "S-Seokjin-sshi?" Minji asks, "I-is everything alright?" "I just want to hug my wife and child." Seokjin explains, tightening the hug, "Just this once." Agreeing to his request, Minji, in return, hugs her husband back. Two minutes later, Seokjin eventually releases Minji from his hug and smiles at his wife. "How's the baby?" he asks, looking at Minji's womb.

"The doctor came by earlier." she explains, "She said
that the baby is doing fine."

"I should've been the one, not you." Seokjin replies, taking a hold of Minji's hands, "I should've been—" "Don't say that, Seokjin-sshi." Minji replies, cutting him off, "You did your best to rescue my parents, our baby and I from that loan shark." 'But there's still one more person I have to deal with.' he thought, 'And then we'll have our happy ending.' She cups her hands onto Seokjin's face and lean her forehead onto his. "I appreciate everything you've done for me and family." Minji replies, "I couldn't never find a man like you ever again."

Meanwhile at Jisoo's place, she paces back and forth in her bedroom, thinking of a new plan. 'I need to get rid of CEO Kim quickly.' Jisoo thought to herself, 'But how?' Just then, a message popped up on her cell phone. Jisoo quickly picks it up from the bed and it says:

Secretary Chae: Jisoo-sshi, you will be working under Secretary
Song starting tomorrow; I hope you don't mind

She then responds back:

Who does Secretary Song work for again? :Jisoo
Secretary Chae: She works for CEO Kim
Thanks for the information :Jisoo
Secretary Chae: No problem

After turning off her phone, Jisoo began to laugh at herself. "Everything is getting easier and easier." she replies to herself. Jisoo then opens one of her drawers, pulls out a powder drug, Gamma-Hydroxybutyrate, and places it in her purse, preparing for her real scheme to take action. 'Tomorrow, we'll see who is the real winner of this game CEO Kim.' 

The very next morning, Jisoo woked up earlier than before and headed straight for the company. "You must be Kim Jisoo." Secretary Song replies, with a pleasant smile, "I'm Secretary Song." "What do you usually do before CEO Kim comes, Secretary Song?" Jisoo asks.

"Well for starters, I usually prepare CEO Kim's morning tea."
she explains, while pouring hot water into a coffee cup, "He prefers to
drink ginseng tea on most days, otherwise it's just straight black coffee."
"I see."

"Secretary Song," CEO Kim replies, "prepare my tea within the next ten minutes and the new interns contracts." "Jisoo-sshi," Secretary Song replies, "can you bring in the tea for him; I have to copy the contracts." Jisoo nods her head and watches as Secretary Song heads down the hall and disappears in the corner. After preparing the ginseng tea into a typical coffee cup, Jisoo pulls out the powder drug from her purse and began adding into small teaspoons at a time into the cup, while mixing at the same time. 'Your time ends here, old man.' she thought to herself.

"Have you made a decision yet?" Joongki asks, over the phone. "We can't arrest Jisoo with just Sung-rok's words." Seokjin replies, "We need more evidences to bring her down." "But what if it's too late?" Joongki continues, "What if Jisoo is already planning her next move behind our backs?" Seokjin sighs heavily at Joongki's questions. 'Jisoo wouldn't plan to destroy my family, would she?' he thought to himself, 'But then again, why would she and my abeoji keep in touch with each other?'

"Here's your tea, CEO Kim." Jisoo replies, placing it down on his desk. "Why are you here, Jisoo-sshi?" CEO Kim asks, glancing up at her, "Where is Secretary Song?" "She told me to bring in your tea, sire." she replies, with a fake smile, "Do you not trust me, CEO Kim?" He scoffs at her bluff.

"What is it that you want?"

"I want you to remember our deal." Jisoo demands, "If you back out of it, I will find a way to make you do it." "You think that I'm afraid of you; you are a foreigner now and I have every command to get you out of this country." She slams her hands onto CEO Kim's desk. "I am a different woman, CEO Kim." Jisoo retorts, "I am not the same woman from two years ago." Before CEO Kim could say anything else, she had already walked out of his office, leaving him defeated in his words. He then picks up the cup and began to chug down the tea that Jisoo had prepared for him, not knowing what may come to end his life.

Meanwhile in Woo-yeon's house, he had called Minji's abeoji to meet him there, privately. "Are you sure that this Kim Jisoo is the culprit?" Minji's abeoji asks. Woo-yeon nods his head and explains, "From the information that I've gather last night, her true intention is to murder CEO Kim."

"And why would she do that, Woo-yeon?"

"She doesn't trust me enough to reveal the truth yet." Woo-yeon replies, "But if I continue to be on her side, then Jisoo may tell the truth to me." "I should tell Prince—" "You cannot tell Director Kim about this important information, samchon." he insists, "Director cannot know about this." "But the King will perish if we don't tell them the truth." Just then, on the television, the male news reporter announces:

Just recently, King Kim has been poisoned and will now be escorted to the hospital for medical help
Secretary Song, who had worked under King Kim for more than ten years, will now be questioned
at the police station for further investigation

'He's been poisoned?!' Woo-yeon thought to himself, 'CEO Kim has been poisoned?!'

At the police station, an officer began asking questions to Secretary Song. "Where were you before the incident?" he asks. "CEO Kim told me to make copies of our new workers." Secretary Song replies, "And when I came back, he was already on the floor." "Do you remember anyone else being there?" "One of our new interns, Kim Jisoo." she explains, "I told her to prepare the tea for CEO Kim earlier this morning." "Secretary Song," Joongki asks, interrupting their conversation, "did you say that Kim Jisoo prepared the tea for CEO Kim?" "Yes, I did." she replies, "Why do you ask?" "From my guesses," he continues,

"I think this Kim Jisoo is trying to kill the royal family."

[ end of chapter seventeen ]