“So let me get this straight,” Xiaojun said. “You work at the palace and during the attack, this… guy tried to kill your brother.”

“Look at him,” Johnny said, pointing at Donghyuck. “This happened twice, can you imagine how traumatized Donghyuck must be?!”

Donghyuck, in question, was eating another block of cheese in the living room, reading a newspaper that Xiaojun had laying around. 

Xiaojun rubbed his eyes aggressively, not believing that an old classmate had come to him for help. He didn’t know anything, all he did was tend his garden, sell some stuff here and there, and spend time with Kun, who he has known for over a month. “So you want me to find out what this thing is and discover why he’s after your brother.”

“Precisely,” Johnny concluded. 

Sighing, Xiaojun got up from his kitchen chair and walked towards the tied-up assassin, who was now unconscious again. His head was on the wall, his body slouching, as he slept. Xiaojun would have thought he was dead, but apparently he was when he interrupted everyone and Johnny beat his head with a frying pan again. “I mean, he looks normal-”

“He’s not, though.” Johnny grabbed his satchel and pulled out a piece of cloth, unwrapping it to reveal the broken electronic panel that had come out of the man. “When I stabbed his back-”

“You STABBED him?!” Xiaojun screamed. 

“He was killing Donghyuck, I had to do something!” Johnny pulled out the metal plate thing and lifted it higher for Xiaojun to see. “This was on his back, and there were sparks flying and all that .”

Xiaojun came closer to Johnny, picking up the metal. “Maybe he’s a robot?”

“No way, he has blood-”

“I don’t recommend you guys pry into this.”

Both Xiaojun and Johnny looked at Kun, who had been sitting at the table the entire time in silence. “Why not?” Xiaojun asked him.

Kun pointed at the newspaper Donghyuck was reading. “Not sure if you guys know, but others were attacking the palace as well. It must be an organized group and you might get hurt if you try to search for more information-”

“Kun, you know I would agree with you, but they were already attacking Donghyuck here,” Xiaojun argued. “They’re already targets, something has to be done-”

“Don’t do it,” Kun insisted. “Let this person go and-”

“With all due respect, Kun, he tried to kill my brother, he’s not going anyway,” Johnny interrupted. “I’m going to get all the information I can and deal with this problem myself, I don’t give a if those people were after the royal family, I am going to make sure they get what they deserve.”

Kun abruptly stood up from the table, not breaking eye contact with Johnny. “I’m advising you not to do it-”

“What is up with you today, Kun?” Xiaojun asked him. “You always tell me to stick up for myself, but now you don’t want these people to?”

“You don’t know what you’re getting into,” Kun continued. “Just let the matter go.”

Xiaojun crossed his arms across his chest. “Kun, what are you hiding?”

“N-nothing,” Kun stuttered. He then started speaking to Xiaojun in Mandarin, making Johnny have no clue what they were now discussing about. 

He looked at his brother, who was calmly reading the newspaper. Johnny had kept so many secrets from him, not wanting to worry Donghyuck, and he was not going to let Donghyuck get involved either in order for him not to get hurt.

***

Taeyong stepped closer to where Jaehyun was working, struggling to hold steady the small plate of sandwiches that he had made. “Uh, Jaehyun?”

Jaehyun had been at his desk for the past three hours, trying to figure out a way to find Minhyung and Yukhei. He had install a backup plan, one that Lee-eun had no idea existed; Jaehyun had no even told his assistant Jaemin, in case the latter was ever tortured for information. Wouldn’t be the first time, unfortunately. 

However, his back up plan was a bit complicated. For Minhyung, the control panel was completely ripped out, so there was little Jaehyun could do with the wires in the latter’s body. For Yukhei, it was a bit easier, since the latter hasn’t made any altercations to his wiring system, but since he was off the grid, Jaehyun still had to make an effort to find his location. 

Jaehyun was drawing out a detailed plan on his tattered notepad, the blueprints of the two models covering his desk. He had memorized the entire layout of the men’s bodies, but it was still helpful to have a visual. He heard Taeyong say something, but he wasn’t quite sure. “You were saying something, Taeyong?”

“Yes, uh-” Taeyong hastily set the plate of sandwiches on the corner of the desk where there wasn’t anything, not wanting to disturb Jaehyun and his work. “I just thought you should eat, so-”

He turned around to walk out of the room, only to feel Jaehyun grab his wrist. “Don’t go, I need you here,” Jaehyun said. 

Taeyong took a few steps backwards, looking at Jaehyun again. “Sir, I don’t want to be an trouble-”

“Nonsense, you’re fine, just grab that chair over there and drag it,” Jaehyun instructed, pointing to one of the chairs scattered around. They weren’t really for guests, they were just placed everywhere in case Jaehyun got tired out. “You might help me with something.”

Hesitating, Taeyong grabbed the chair and set it next to Jaehyun slowly, giving the scientist time to go back on his words. “I hope not to cause a problem,” Taeyong muttered, scooting the chair a tad bit closer to Jaehyun in order to help, but still giving him space. 

“You worry too much.” Jaehyun grabbed the plate and extended it to Taeyong. “You can have one, thanks for making them, by the way.”

Taeyong stared at Jaehyun for a few seconds, biting his lip as he grabbed one of the small sandwiches, taking a small bite. It was just chicken , tomato and lettuce, not the most grand of sorts, but those were always the sandwiches that Jaehyun made himself, too busy to make himself a proper meal.

He nibbled on it, watching Jaehyun who grabbed one of the sandwiches and setting the plate down again, grabbing his notepad for Taeyong to see, even though the latter had advanced vision. Jaehyun sometimes forgot that. “So, Yukhei or model L is off the grid, his problem would be easier to solve than Minhyung’s, but it involves some transmitters, which won’t be enough, if I’m honest, but if we build this small contraption here…” Jaehyun lifted up his leg to set the notepad on his thigh, taking a bite of his sandwich as he grabbed his pencil and circled a drawing on the notepad. “I’m pretty sure there’s a way we can locate his coordinates like on a radar."

Taeyong nodded, understanding. “That’s if he has the control panel.”

“Correct, Yukhei should still have it, meanwhile, for Minhyung-” Jaehyun flipped a couple of pages until he found one titled ‘Rescue Model M’. “There’s these little chips I have inserted in you guys’ brains that allow your abilities to be enhanced-"

The door of the room opened rapidly, the door banging against the wall. “Sir, I brought your shipment of the copper filaments,” Jaemin said, crate in his hand. “And Renjun here as your other supplies.”

“Yes, yes, copper, I’m going to need that.” Jaehyun gave the notepad to Taeyong while shoving the rest of the sandwich in his mouth, chewing a maximum of three times before swallowing. “Were you guys able to find the steel scraps?”

“Correct,” Renjun said simply, setting the box down on the floor. Unlike Taeyong, Renjun tended to be more blunt and to the point. “We got everything on the list.”

“I also let Renjun try cotton candy,” Jaemin exclaimed happily. “They had grape today!”

“And you didn’t bring me some?!” 

“They ran out, but-” Jaemin pulled out a brown bag on top of the crate. “Taeil made chocolate croissants for you, he would have made more strudels but his assistant was off helping his boyfriend today with an assignment-”

Jaehyun practically sprinted out of his chair, grabbing the paper bag from Jaemin. He opened it and was delighted to indeed find Taeil’s chocolate croissants. “Yes, I’m going to devour all of these,” Jaehyun said to himself, mouth wide as he grabbed one and shoved it in his mouth, biting half of it in one go. “Guys, we have work to do today,” he told the three in the room. “And I’m going to need everyone’s help.”

***

“I’m tired,” Yangyang whined for the third time in five minutes. “Can we please stop for the day?”

Chen Le pointed his hoe at Yangyang. “You better be glad we’re not incarcerated.”

“I’d rather be in jail, though, they wouldn’t make me work this hard and they’ll give me bread,” Yangyang argued. “Plus, doesn’t the royal family have to be present in case I get executed? Surely Prince JIsung would be there-”

“Yangyang, don’t make me beat these fantasies out of you,” Chen Le said, going back to tilling the soil. “Now we have to finish this plot.”

Yangyang grumbled but didn’t say anything else, tilling as well. 

As Chen Le said, they were lucky they weren’t thrown in jail; the Chinese guy Xiaojun had taken pity of them when they said they didn’t have homes or jobs, so he offered them a chance to work in his fields in exchange for gold pieces and a place to say. Better than that Johnny Youngho guy who wanted to slice their throats.

Chen Le can’t remember the last time he slept on a bed. Probably never, if he was honest. The orphanage back in China had thrown them out when they were young, which was almost a decade ago. They didn’t have enough money to spring for a room in an inn, and no one was kind enough to take them in. 

Xiaojun had explained to them that he had a room in his basement where he would lay out some mattresses for them to sleep on. He explained that he wasn’t going to have time tending the crops anyways if he was going to help his friends, so it was just in time that those two had arrived. His city back in the China Kingdom was also really bad, which is why he moved here to the Korea Kingdom, having found much better luck. 

They were really grateful for the place to stay, which is why Chen Le already wanted to finish quickly instead of hearing Yangyang complain again, which is he was about to do… any second now…

“I’m tired-”

“Just go inside, Yangyang,” Chen Le said, continuing to till. “I’ll finish up here-”

“No, it’s fine, I can continue,” Yangyang said, slamming the hoe harder into the ground. “Look at me, I’m a good worker-”

“Yangyang, seriously, you’re stressing me out.” Chen Le grabbed the hoe from Yangyang and threw it on the ground. “Go inside, I’ll do the rest.”

“-But-”

One glare from Chen Le was all it took for Yangyang to stop. “Okay, but if I die, it’s going to be your fault,” Yangyang muttered, stomping away. 

Chen Le sighed and went back to work. He really needed to finish this plot before sunset, and the fact that his stomach continued growling did not help him at all. 

He tilled in silence, wiping the sweat off his forehead every now, tricking himself into thinking that he would have for once a decent meal when he finishes. 

***

“Sir, we found reports of the man who tried to murder your family,” one of Jisung’s bodyguards and trusted advisors, Yuta, said, waving a stack of papers in the air. “We managed to pinpoint his coordinates.”

Yuta slammed the stack down on the table, Jisung tentatively picking up the first sheet. “SM Town?”

“Correct, that was the last seen sighting of the man who ran off, the tall one who spoke in Cantonese,” Yuta explained. “As for the other people who were seen during the attack, more notably the brown haired guy, have not been seen at all.”

Jisung grabbed the papers and looked through them, most containing photographs or eye witness accounts from their trusted witnesses. “SM Town is near the border of the two kingdoms.”

“Which would make sense, considering how he is expected to be Chinese of origin,” Yuta continued. “There is yet to be proof that he has connections to the Chinese royal family, however, so I wouldn’t recommend prying into the family just yet. You know their King has a temper.”

“Can’t be as bad as my father’s.” Jisung set the papers down. “I want you to call my security team, we are to head off to this town. Do not let anyone know about this, not even the advisor Lee-eun, I don’t want my father to get involved.”