Chapter II.

“Wow! I knew that the Hwang Kingdom was big, but not that BIG!”

An agape Yoong declared as they walked through the city. The place was everything you could imagine it. Loud, colorful and happy; everything was a huge contrast with their sorrowful land commanded by a nefarious regent.

Jung grinned at his cousin’s amused semblance. Then, he whispered seriously:

“Don’t forget, Yoong. We are not here for vacations. We have to keep the low profile by any means.”

“I know, hyung. But… I never saw such a joyous people. It makes me wonder how our kingdom was before that despicable pig.”

The oldest pondered his thoughts for a while, reminiscing when their ShiDae Kingdom was a wonderful place to live. However, he was resolute and would do everything to restore the peace of their land:

“After we are done here, we will be able to see our people smiling once more. However, I must admit that this city is beautiful indeed. Maybe we can come back with Krystal after everything is solved. Who knows, right?”

“I agree, hyung. Krys would love this place.”

The duo nodded and smiled in agreement. While they made their way to their destination, they become more and more amazed with such incredible city. However, they stopped on their tracks to check their destination’s address. When they looked up, their mouth dropped at the sight of a magnificent building before them. Jesse looked at the paper and upwards as he muttered, still in shock:

“It seems like this is Hwang Manor.”

“More like a castle for me…”

Yoong stared the place and its whole greatness, a giant marble castle. It two times bigger that their city’s palace and more welcoming too. Once they recovered from their surprise, they rehearsed their disguise to let no room for mistakes.

This was until they heard a muffled yell coming from a dead alley beside them. When they looked to the direction, they realized that some armored men who looked the city guard were threatening a citizen against the wall. They couldn’t listen the whole conversation, but they could catch some words like “deadline” and “money”. Putting two and two together, they couldn’t help to shake their head in disapproval as Yoong whispered in anger:

“Greedy b@st@rds in guard’s cloth!”

“Definitely. It doesn’t matter where we go, we will always find these scum.”

Jesse frowned and muttered into a pissed tone. It hurts his honor to see such petty soldiers extorting their own people when they supposedly should protect them. All of a sudden, they heard a cry followed by a scene of a man holding his wounded eye and begging:

“I promise I will give the money until tomorrow, Captain Horvejkul. I barely had profit this month to support my family.”

“This is not my problem! You better bring the money or else… I won’t be able to protect your lovely wife and daughter from the bandits…”

“No, please! I promise I will get the money! I promise!”

“You better be! Hmph. Men, let’s go back to the headquarters.”

The boastful captain thrown the poor man on the muddy ground and turned his back against him as the latter stood up with some difficulty and finally left. Meanwhile, the captain’s men laughed in disdain at the wounded man while Jesse and Yoong watched the whole scene in disgust. They fixated their angry stare to the infamous captain as the latter noticed their reproving glare.

Jesse stole a glance of his cousin’s arm and took a deep breath when he realized that the latter curled his fist in anger. He knew that expression very well. He knew that Yoong as him, despised injustice more than anything. To worsen their situation, the nasty captain didn’t like their accusing stare as he deliberately bumped on the younger’s spy purposely making the latter trip and almost lose his balance.

The captain and the guards laughed wickedly at the scene. Yoong gritted his teeth and stood up, ready to show these cowards some good manners. It was when the Captain Horvejkul with his overconfident smirk:

“Has something to say, boy?”

“Hyung, if you don’t punch him, I will—“

“Yoong, no! I want to punch them as much you do! But--?!”

Jesse whispered frenetically as he quickly held the younger’s arm before they could say goodbye to their covers. The latter frowned in defeat and nodded his head. Nonetheless, the captain interrupted them as he spoke with a smug grin and spoke in disdain:

“Hmph. And I was thinking that you were a tough one. But it seems like your little girlfriend there already showed who is the boss. Two chicken-wuss! Hahahahaha!”

That moment, Jesse was fighting hard against his urge to beat this scum up and wipe with that stupid grin from his face. After his ridiculous remark, Jesse tensed his jaw and his eyes darkened. He felt his patience reaching its limit as he thought:

“I might blow my cover, but… this pig deserves it…”  

Now Yoong was with his eyes widened in anxiety. When his older cousin has that fierce stare on his face, it was game over. It was very hard to make Jesse lose his cool, but that b@stard managed to test him. Now, the spy assumed his “ice prince” persona and stood firm as he spats into an unfazed tone:

“The only coward here is you and your men.”

Suddenly, the nasty laughers halted as the guards stared to their captain in shock. No one ever talked back against him and lived to tell the tale. The latter felt his smirk dropping while felt his anger growing. Not believing in such audacity, he dumbly asked:

 
“What did ya say?!”

“You heard me. You should be ashamed to wear this badge. All of you are nothing more than cowards for threatening your own people. And you… you are the worst of them!”

“Hyung!” Yoong shouts and doubled the size of his eyes when he saw the mad captain charging against his cousin. Everything happened in a flash as an angry gauntlet was getting dangerously close from Jesse. The captain would teach this trash a lesson for having the nerve to challenge him:

“You piece of sh--!”

And then, silence took over the place. Every eye was widened, less Jesse. The captain was in shock when he realized that his “supposed” victim held his fist on the last second before could reach his face. They held an intense gaze. Captain Horvejkul angry/surprise glare against Jesse’s cool and calm demeanor. Before the scene could get worse, a booming voice caught their attention:

“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! What are you doing in my territory?! Picking a fight with trespassers again?!”

“This is not your business, cook!”

The sour captain barked against the tall and brunette man wearing an apron. The latter frowned, feeling pissed since he probably has seen this scene multiple times. He shook his head in disapproval and crossed his arms into a defying tone:

“It is my business if you are trying to kill my helpers!”

Jesse and captain glared each other for the last time as both of them jerked their arms from the grip angrily. The latter returned to his pompous stance and brushed a dust from his arm as he venomously remarked to the cook:

“I would watch my tongue if I were you, Choi. You don’t know who are talking too.”

“And you should watch yourself too. Don’t forget that this hand is the one who prepares your food.”

The chef managed to put the not so cocky captain on his place once the latter realized that as a matter of fact, the cook couldn’t do anything with his meal and no one would be against him since the royal family loved him. He let a smug grin adorns his face when he saw the captain stomping angrily against his guards and yelling into a frustrated tone:

“Men, let’s go back to the headquarters!”

“Y-Yes, sir!”

The scared group quickly saluted and followed Horvejkul. This was not before the latter briefly turned around and glared at Jesse while mouthing:

“This is not over…”

“Looking forward to…”

The suave spy mouthed back into an incredible calm as he crossed his arms in scorn. It was when the mad captain gritted his teeth and finally left. Once everything was settling down, the spy duo realized that the chef was staring at them expectantly as they rapidly bowed their heads several times and apologized:

“We own you our most deep apologies, Chef---”

“Choi. But you can call me Sooyoung or just Soo. Now, come with me or else you guys will bring more unwanted attention.”

The cook wisely replied as he looked to their surroundings just to make sure that no one else saw the whole scene. Feeling ashamed, Jesse and Yoong nodded while dropping their heads in defeat and followed the curious chef to the inner palace.

---

Inside the kitchen, they felt uneasy with the cook’s intense stare. They kept their heads lowered in shame as Jesse finally took the initiative and sighed heavily:

“I know what our actions weren’t praiseworthy, but we deeply apologize for the early commotion. We will understand if you don’t want to hire us.”

“To be honest, I want to hire you more than ever.”

“What?!” The spy duo lifted their heads in a flash at the nonchalant cook. The latter grabbed an apple from the table and took a good bite as he laughed at the confused duo. Then, he got two apples and throws to each one of them as he answered simply with a grin:

“I must admit… Both of you have guts. I never saw anyone standing up against that monkey entitled captain and live to tell the story. You aren’t from here, right?”

The spy duo felt their breathing halting. The chef was very clever or they gave their disguises away. It was when Yoong trying to cover his nervousness asked in an uneasy grin:

“What makes you think that, sir?”

“Well… *biting the apple* No one of our city in their right mind would try to defy or denounce that ruthless captain. Unfortunately, he can cover his tracks very well…”

After pondering a little more, the cook pointed to their clothing and remarked:

“Plus, the sea air practically gave you away. So, where are you from? Jyp Island? SoNyuh?”

“Oh! We are from SoNyuh.”

Jesse quickly replied since it was pretty obvious that they couldn’t reveal that they came from ShiDae’s Island. They managed to study about their not so neighbor island SoNyuh to make everyone believe that they were from there. However, it looks like the chef nodded to their answer and out of sudden, the latter slaps on his own forehead:

“Aish, I am so careless! I keep forgetting things. My wife nags to me all the time. Hmph, still, I love that woman. Anyway… what are your names, younglings?”

“I am Jin Yoong, Chef! ”

Yoong bowed his head with a smile as he quickly shook his superior’s hand. On other hand, Jesse respectfully bowed his head and extended his hand to Choi while introducing himself:

“I am Jin Jesse, sir. Nice to meet you.”

The chef gladly accepted and nodded in agreement. The spy couldn’t help, but feel comfortable around their easygoing boss. Maybe their disguise here wouldn’t be that bad.

“Oh, Jin? Are you relatives?”

“Hmm, yes, chef. Cousins, actually.”

Jesse promptly answered as Yoong quickly nodded in agreement. Afterwards, Sooyoung opened a huge grin and sat on the table as he commanded:

“All right, cousins. Now, I want you to surprise me. Give me your best shot and I’ll hire you!”

The cousins stared each other in anticipation until their nodded to their “boss”, answering with determination:

“YES, CHEF!”

With that, the duo quickly was in action to show their cooking skills to impress Sooyoung. Oh boy, would it be a hard task?

---

“Hmmm *chomp* this *chomp* is hmph… *chomp*”

The “cousins” stared the chef in anxiety as the latter finished his third plate of bulgogi. Yoong was biting his thumb while Jesse didn’t blink since they knew that their mission/job depends on this performance.

After finishing the last dish, the chef sighed in content while tapping his puffed tummy. He cleans his lips with a tissue as unable to hold any longer, Jesse asked slowly:

“So…?”

“Arghh. Where have you been all this time?!”

The chef boomed into a loud voice as he walked to the anxious duo. They looked to each other in confusion as all of a sudden, the chef placed his hands in their shoulders only to confirm with a wide grin:

“This is the best bulgogi that I eat in years! Which spices you used?! Oh, I forgot, a chef can’t reveal their secrets Hahaha.”

“Does that mean that we got the job, sir?”

“Of course! However, I must be cautious or else the royal family will kick me out and turn both of you on the head chefs!”

Sooyoung snickered as the duo finally breathes in relief. Feeling much comfortable, Yoong opened his huge crocodile laughter and prompted:

“Ha! I knew it! Hyung do the best bulgogis that I ever tasted! Anyway, thanks for hiring us, Chef!”

“Yes. We appreciate your patience. We won’t let you down, Chef.”

Jesse replied with a genuine grin as he bowed gratefully in return. Sooyoung shook his head and patted their backs friendly as he replied:

“Argh, no need to be all formal, boy. You two earned it. My gut was right about you guys. Now, it was a long day and I need both of you completely rested and neat for tomorrow. Oh and don’t forget to talk with the maid to ask her to lead you to the dormitory. That’s all for a day! I want you here by 5 am and don’t get late! Good night.”

“Understood, Chef! Good night!”

The duo quickly “saluted” their boss as the latter shooed them away from the kitchen with his loud voice. While they practically run away, he laughed and confessed to nobody:

“I don’t know why, but I liked these two.”

TBC?

@piditpidiwpew: Thank you. I am glad that you liked. Its good to have jeti back. =)

@casugac: It’s a pleasure. Me too. Haha I certainly hope so.

@Rpr363: I appreciate your words. I only keep going because of my readers. Me too, g-bend is my fav, especially Jessi. You are more than welcome. J

@Imjessica: Thank you. That is the idea haha.

@yeonniestan94: Its always refreshing, right? Thanks for reading.

A/N: I know Im taking too long to update, but this is because for three main reasons. My frenetic routine; with this fanfic, I am suffering of constant brainstormings, so I am always trying to use the best idea for the context. And lastly, because I want to know that if you guys really enjoy this one. I wont be upset if you guys dont read it anymore. I have the whole story in my mind already. Anyways, let me read your thoughts. Have a nice reading. Take care you all. See ya ;)