"Ouch!! Don't hit me!!"

"Why can't I? You sneak in through the window and into my room just so you can get back at me for winning our poker bet?" Hyunseung crossed his arms in annoyance with his close friend, Yoon Doojoon. "Junhyung, you can get off him now."

"Oh. Right." Junhyung released his grip on the intruding guest and bowed as an apology. "I'm sorry for attacking you, Young Sir."

Doojoon got up and patted his clothes down, "It's not a problem. No harm done. So, Hyunseung-ah, did I scare you? Hehe." 

Hyunseung raised a fist at Doojoon and glared at him, threatening to hit him. "Don't sneak in my room at night, you idiot!"

"I know I know, I'm sorry already! I wanted to see the scared look on your face though but your Item seems to be good at Martial Arts. Where'd you learn that move... Junhyung, is it?"

"Uhm... I just... know a few tricks," Junhyung replied.

"Nice. Anyways, I better be off. I have to meet with the Obyul Police tomorrow for an investigation."

"Investigation? For what?" Hyunseung suddenly became curious.

"It's about the Obyul Ball. Remember when you were poisoned? They had to go through my family's food inventory, to see if any chemicals were found in our other food. So far, they found nothing."

"Excuse me..." Junhyung interrupted. The two young Obyul men turned to look at Junhyung, "...You didn't happen see anyone pour diswashing liquid into Hyuns--I mean, Young Master's glass, did you?" 

Doojoon contemplated for a bit then responded, disappointingly, "Sorry but no. I was out at the catering table. I wasn't near the drinks."

"I see..." Junhyung's eyes was filled with concern.

Doojoon spotted this and reassured the former, "If you like, I can help you. I could update you on the police investigation. Maybe they caught something on the CCTV."

"You'd do that?!" Junhyung bowed, gratefully, "Thank you!"

"No prob, man. Anyways, I gotta go. See you soon, Hyunseung-ah. By the way, two-hundred thousand won. You owe me!"

Hyunseung sneered at his friend and kicked him out the door, "Whatever! Get outta here!"

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

The next morning.

Junhyung, holding a tray loaded with rice, side dishes and hefty serving of kimchi jjigae, entered Hyunseung's bedroom. The Item spotted his Owner reading a book and typing on his Samsung laptop. 

"Your breakfast, Young Master."

No response. Nothing has changed.

"I-I'll just leave this tray on your bed.." He placed the tray on the king-sized bed. Once he did so, he bowed towards Hyunseung's direction, "I'll be leaving now--" He had already turned around when--

"Yong Junhyung."

He heard his name. After a week of being ignored, he finally heard his name--his full name at that. 

"Yes, Young Master?"

Hyunseung paused his typing and stood up. He was avoiding eye contact with his Item and fidgeting. He cleared his throat before continuing, "I just wanted to say... uhm... thanks... for yesterday. Although Doojoon can be a big pain in the , if he was some random burglar, I could've been... I dunno... anyways, thanks."

"You're welcome, Young Master."

"You know what, I hate hearing that. Just call me Hyunseung-sshi again, okay?"

For some reason, Junhyung just chuckled, "Okay. Hyunseung-sshi." Unknowingly, Hyunseung joined in the laughter. He realized he was being childish the entire week. 

"By the way, why did you want to know who poisoned me?"

"Neh?"

"Yesterday. You asked Doojoon if he saw anyone pour the diswashing liquid. Why do you want to know?"

"Mm...errr..." Junhyung awkwardly scratched the back of his head, unsure of how to explain his intention.

"How about I help you?"

"Help... me?"

"Yeah. We should look for the culprit. Someone's out to get me and I want to know who. Ah!" Hyunseung began to rummage through his piles of paper, "I have a number here. He's one of the best detectives in Seoul. He can help us! Where's that paper... where--"

"Hyunseung-sshi."

"Hm? What is it?"

"I know someone that can definitely help us."

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

The door opened slowly, the echo of its unoiled creaking. Gina peeked through the small slit of her house door, "Junhyung-ah, long time no see. Who's that with you?"

"Noona, this is--"

She took a short glance at the young man accompanying Junhyung and her eyes grew wide in shock. She quickly slammed the door on her friend's face. Junhyung could hear clanking chains--she was locking them out.

"Noona! Wait! This isn't what you think!"

"You brought a f-cking Obyul Heir! Are you crazy?!"

"It's okay! You can trust him!"

"Trust an Obyul? Who are you kidding, Junhyung-ah! Jang Hyunseung is the son of Jang Seungho, that man isn't the most honest man, you know!"

Junhyung turned to face Hyunseung, to see if the heir had been offended by her words. Hyunseung shrugged it off. In fact, he actually agreed with her.

"Noona, Jang Hyunseung was poisoned during the Obyul Ball. We believe someone is out to murder him, the same as they did with Oh Jin. Can't you help us?"

"..."

Junhyung was about to speak again when he was stopped by Hyunseung. He had something he wanted to say. "I promise that I will not reveal your whereabouts to anyone. Please, if you can help me. Lives could be in danger."

"..."

"Other Obyul Heirs might be in danger, too."

The pair of young men could hear the untangling of chains and the unlocking of a padlock. The door creaked open and the two went inside. Hyunseung was shocked by the amount of books, papers, news clippings were inside the small, underground house. It was dim and had the smell of canned soup. The Obyul Heir was shocked by it all. Was this how have-nots lived all their lives?

Gina sat down on one of her old wooden chairs. She gestured Junhyung and Hyunseung to sit down anywhere they wanted. Junhyung sat comfortably on a barrel while Hyunseung felt uneasy with his surroundings. "I'll just stand up, thanks."

Gina could only roll her eyes. She looked at Junhyung and asked him, "Why do you need my help?"

"You're the best underground detective I know. You know the ins-and-outs of the Obyul so you'll probably know more about their intentions."

"I get that but you didn't answer my question. Why do you need my help? What's this investigation for anyways?"

"I told you. Jang Hyunseung-sshi was poisoned--"

"Hold on. Sshi? You use... sshi? To an Obyul Heir?"

"Uhh... I-I... uh..."

"It's my choice!" Hyunseung voiced out. "I hate being called 'Young Master' at home so I told him to use Sshi..."

Gina squinted her eyes. Hyunseung was different from her original thoughts of him; however, she didn't want to focus on that. She went back to the matter at hand, "What do you need to me to research on?"

"We need to know anyone that might want any of the Obyul Heirs dead, particularly Jang Hyunseung-sshi."

"You've got to narrow it down for me. Anyone might be out for the him..."

"Hmm...what if the person that killed Oh Jin is also out to get the Obyul Heirs? Is that possible?"

"It is... but... it's been 14 years. A lot of documents to go through. The slums of Seoul has little connection to the Obyul. Only a few computers can hack into the system."

"Can yours?"

"Of course! But they haven't transferred all documents into the Obyul database. I can probably look back five years but--I'll do my best. Is that all you need?"

"We may also need information about each Obyul Heir and their families. While you look into Oh Jin's history, we'll look into the other Obyul families."

"Sounds like a plan."

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

This update is short on purpose. I realized that I cut a few parts since it's better that way. The event I wanted to happen has been moved to Chapter 11. Hehe. I've planned until Chapter 12. I think this story will end by Chapter 15. But I will continue writing until Chapter 17. Special epilogues? hehe~~~

PLEASE COMMENT!!!!! Even just a "omg what have you done" :)) it will make my day!!