‘It shouldn’t be very far now.’ TaeMin said to his hyungs as they followed him through the woods.
The trees had grown much closer than when they entered the wood.
It was getting more difficult to walk through them.
The grass had given way to heaps of dried leaves, which was now gradually changing into beds of moss.
Many minutes passed in silence, not because there was nothing to say, but because talking took an effort they much rather put in walking.
Not much later they arrived at a small open space were there lay logs on the ground around a burned patch, which must recently have been a camp fire.
‘It’s near here… I suggest we take a small rest and then go over there.’ TaeMin said as he sat down on a log and took a bottle of water out of his bag.
‘A good idea.’ Micky agreed.
U-know was walking around the logs, not speaking yet.
He seemed to examine the place carefully before he let out: ‘It’s here! Hero, Xiah and I have been sleeping here! This is the place where we made the campfire.’
‘Then you were really close to finding the place!’ TaeMin exclaimed while he capped the bottle and put it back. ‘Shall we go there now?’
The three got up and basically walked less than 100 meters when they arrived at a small cottage, which had been hidden in the trees as they approached it, but pretty visible from the other side.
The cottage stood near a clearing and could easily be accessed when coming from the clearing.
One wall, the wall U-know recognized as having broken through, was completely covered with wooden boards and a door of the same material, a pretty ugly sight, but it was probably serving its purpose well.
‘It’s unlocked…’ Micky said as he tried the handle of the door.
The three stepped inside the cottage and found it completely empty except for a few figures sitting seemingly asleep with their backs against the opposite wall.
‘President ahjussi… We’re very sorry that it took us so long before we found you. We’re here to rescue you and your family.’ U-know said in a humble voice and bowed 90 degrees for the sleepy looking man.
Since U-know was the oldest of the three, he had taken it upon himself to take responsibility and address the president himself.
‘U-know-shi, I’m not sure how much the president can hear, but he can’t reply. He is under hypnosis.’ TaeMin said in a half-whisper and looked at his hyung.
‘That … How do we get him out of it?’ Micky asked, a little annoyed with all the obstacles they had come across already with this mission.
‘It’s not only him, I think…’ U-know said and glanced at the whole row of JiYa’s family members.
Then Micky saw it too and his annoyance only grew.
‘Aish, what are we to do now?’ Micky commented.

While Micky and U-know were in a discussion, basically Micky was complaining and U-know was trying to talk “some sense” into him, TaeMin had gotten closer to the presidential family and looked for some signs.
‘Hyungs, I think they have gotten food and water recently. Their lips aren’t cracked, so they must have had something to drink not so long ago. Also, their breathing isn’t raspy nor shaky. They are pretty healthy, except for the absence of conscious response.’ TaeMin said and both guys stopped their activity and came to check up on the facts as well.
‘If they are being fed, then they must be taken out of their hypnotic states as well. Can’t we just hide outside and wait for the criminals to be here and then, as they released the presidential family from their hypnotic spells, take control and rescue the royal family?’ Micky suggested.
‘That’s clever, but will three people do? I mean, shouldn’t we need the others too?’ U-know asked, looking at TaeMin as if the younger boy must know the answer.
‘Originally we were with 18. However HeeChul, KiBum and KangIn hardly joined in the action at all. We were also divided into separate groups with tasks, so we were never with more than six people at the place.’ TaeMin said. ‘Six people is about two groups with tasks. I don’t think HeeChul would have put that amount of people on this small task. It will probably involve the two masters of hypnosis and at the most three others.’
‘That means if we put on our complete team, we will surely outnumber them.’ Micky reasoned.
With that, the three left the cottage and went back to get the others.

‘Then… does this mean you like me?’ Max asked, holding the hands of the girl in front of him.
‘Isn’t it too early?’ The girl answered, still using rather polite forms of talking.
‘Love at first sight. Do you believe in it?’ Max continued, to which the girl stood up in a sudden manner.
‘What are you talking about?’ She asked, rather uneasy. ‘I do like you, but I don’t feel like I already know you… I’m sorry.’
She pulled her hands out of his grasp and walked off, as if she was in a rush.
“Did I do something wrong? If she likes me, why does she walk off then?” Max asked himself, confused.
It was true he had wanted to move on and forget about you, but he also wanted to have a girlfriend and a normal relationship full of loving.
He had gone out today to buy paper tissues, but he had been dreading to go into the store, for his bacteria fear had played up again.
To his surprise, there was another person, also hesitating, looking at him as if thinking about entering only if he dared do it too.
Before long, Max was thinking about entering only if she did first.
Seeing as both of them didn’t, they started smiling and looking apologetic towards each other.
In the end, Max and the girl, who was named SooYoung, started talking to each other, as they realized they were having the same problem.

‘Right, right, right!’ HeeChul spoke through the phone enthusiastically. ‘My Chinese friend, I feel wonderful!’
HeeChul sounded awfully smug and HanKyung, on the other end of the phone chuckled, his boss-turned-best-friend was more like his old self now.
For the past weeks HeeChul had been bad-tempered and dispirited.
It wasn’t to say he had lost his self-confidence, because that was pretty impossible for him, but he was frustrated at the loss of his love-interest, or something like that, HanKyung didn’t quite get the details from HeeChul, but he knew that it involved a girl.
‘How come you’re in such a good mood?’ HanKyung inquired.
‘I have this new target. She’s really pretty, but a little cold, wears gloves and all, even though it’s nearly summer.’ HeeChul scoffed good-natured, but smiled right after. ‘She’s really something, isn’t she?’ He stated with a self satisfied grin.
HanKyung could almost picture his friend’s facial expressions.
‘So, have you kissed her yet?’ HanKyung asked.
HeeChul scoffed. ‘Aren’t you going overboard with it now?! I have yet to show her the great guy HeeChul is. Besides, a man doesn’t kiss and tell, does he?’
Without waiting for an answer he hung up.
HanKyung smiled as he held a beeping phone to his ear, HeeChul was the person who was really something…

________~END OF CHAPTER 54~________