Neither of them could have expected this. The sight was almost surreal and yet, it is happening right now in front of their eyes.

“Hey, Hyesungie,” Minwoo inquired from the prim man. “Are you sure we’re in the right place?”

 “Yes.” He answered promptly.

The rest of them wore the same confused expressions and presently gaping at the sight before them.

When the Chairman had gathered them earlier in his office, no one knew what to expect. The chances of them coming together in six at once only happened once in every blue moon. Most of the time, they would worked together in pairs or in teams of three during the raids and assassinations. Shin Hyesung however, has been out of the picture for a while. When they bumped into him in the office, they wondered what sort of mission the Chairman of the Choi organization had in mind.

Andy figured that perhaps it is finally the time to take down the Kang clan? Their activities have been notorious recently.

Speaking of which, Hyesung was not looking good. His pretty face was tattered with bruises and plasters and his expression was grim. He didn’t seem to be in any shape to take down on anyone for that matter.

Finally, the Chairman spoke after five minutes of silence since they stepped inside his office.

“You must be wondering why I have called you all here,” he said in his chair, his raspy voice served his dour face.

They straightened up their posture and put on their best game face.

The Chairman was relatively old in age, the gray hair and the wrinkles being the obvious signs. However, his presence still omits supreme authority and a dangerous man, one who should be fearful of.

“You are my best men,” he folded his fingers and placed them carefully on the polished desk, an array of gold and jade rings were lined as he did so. “The legendary Shinhwa. I took each one of you from the street when nobody else wanted to. I raised you like my sons. I trained and educated you to be the best of the best. You followed my orders and executed them brilliantly. Most of the problems were handled well because of you. I see no other men could fit the job more than any of you do.”

It was a rare form of compliment coming out from him. However, the six men remained still and stoic.

“I want my daughter to be placed under your protections.”

That certainly raised their attention. The great Choi JongYup has a daughter?  Did they just hear it right?

Everyone knew he has a son named Choi Seunghyun. He is presently the CEO of Choi Corporations, a trustworthy medical research company. However, Choi Corporations was anything but trustworthy. The corporation was nothing more than a perfect fabricated image to hide their illegal activities of drug-trafficking and selling of human organs at the black market. The money earned from the business is used to buy plot lands, neighborhoods and other enterprises he can get his hands on in order to expand his influence.

In fact, it will not come off as a surprise if half of the Police Departments in Seoul are already under his control. Normal people might not even realize that they are actually working for Choi JongYup and that is the terrifying part of it. His invasion happened so quietly yet progressively that within a few years, taking control of South Korea might not be an impossible goal.

When the room went into a silence again, Eric decided to break it.

“Your...daughter...sir?” He asked carefully.

The old man nodded. “Yes, my daughter.”  He said. “Protect her at all cost. I don’t want even a single scratch on her, do you hear me?”

“Yes sir.” They all answered promptly in unison.

It was customary for Shinhwa to obey his orders, no questions asked albeit their minds were running full of them.

JongYup got up from his seat and walked carefully towards Hyesung who kept his gaze downwards from the start. He stopped in front of him, arms folded behind his back, his posture unnerving. Then, a resounding slap came upon the room and they now knew the cause behind his bruises.

Junjin tried not to look intimidated by the slap but the sound of it was no joke. It must have hurt as hell.

Hyesung however, remained downcast and seemingly unaffected by the pain.

“I’m giving you another chance to make up for this failure,” he said. “Do not waste it.”

During the trip in the van, Dongwan asked if Hyesung was all right. He assured him that he was fine.

“It’s nothing.” He said, brushing it off. “I deserved it anyway...” He muttered, sinking his fingers through the short, thick layers of his dark brown locks.

“Hyung,” Junjin called, his gaze firm and fixed at the man sitting in front of him. “What happened?”

Hyesung sighed. “Let’s just say I got lucky that the only punishment he gave me was a good beat-down.”

They waited for him to continue.

“I screwed up. Big time.” He said. “And the reason you guys are involved now is because of me.”

The rest of them exchanged questioning glances with one another. How bad did--whatever it was that happened--during Hyesung’s job that the Chairman decided to assign six of them for one job?

“Did it involve his daughter?” Andy asked.

He nodded. “As a matter of fact, yes, I was supposed to be the only who looked after her. But I screwed up. The Kim family almost got their hands on her but I managed to shoot their off in the end. Jong Yup was not pleased to hear that she received minor injuries from it. Nothing more than a bruise on her arm, really but he was pissed as hell.”

“He must really love his daughter.” Minwoo commented.

Hyesung shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe, but he has never come to visit her. Not even once.”

Eric interjected. “Come to think of it, this is the first time I ever heard of his daughter. He never mentioned he has one.”

“There’s no reason for him to you guys.” Hyesung explained. “I was the only one assigned to the task and you guys work on the frontline.”

That explained how Hyesung was never involved in the gang’s activities recently and has been out of the raid missions.

Junjin glanced at each of them. “Well, we’re here now.” He stated.

“She’s been transferred to a safer place but you can bet your Jong Yup will ever gonna let that happen again.” Hyesung elaborated.

“And that’s how we come in,” Minwoo concluded, arms folded crisply across his black suit.

Silence enshrouded them once again.

“By the way, what is she like?” Dongwan asked, a playful grin stretched on his face. “His daughter I mean. Is she pretty?”

The rest of them scrutinized at his behavior and except for Hyesung, they each shook their heads in disapprovals.

“You’ll know it when you see her,” he replied simply.

Of course, they do not know what to expect when they arrived at The Gangnam Mental Health Facility. The hospital looked nice and rich. A well-landscaped lawn encased--probably a 15 floors high--building enshrouded with a façade of hominess similar of that you received from apartment buildings.

As they got out from the vehicle and entered the lobby, Dongwan looked at Hyesung and contemplating on whether or not he should send the guy in here because if this is some kind of joke he’s pulling, it sure as hell is not funny.

Hyesung’s face however, remained solemn. He was serious.

One of the nurses on duty at the reception recognized Hyesung and informed him that she will lead them to ‘the room’ right away. Although hesitant, the five other men trailed behind her and Hyesung as she guided them through a series of hallways.

Finally, they arrived at what seemingly looks like a normal elevator at first glance but it is actually a state of the art security technology in a form of an elevator. Andy watched as the nurse placed her tag on the scanner and keyed in the codes on the device etched on the wall beside the door. He took note of the movement of her fingers, already memorizing in his head just in case. He knew better to be safe than sorry. If Hyesung screwed up before, it was up to him and the others to fill in the gaps of his flaws. Of that, he was certain why the Chairman imposed this decision.

There was a brief ‘beep!’ sound and the door to the elevator opened. Having seven people in an enclosed space was anything but uncomfortable, especially when there is only one presence of a flower amongst the bushes. The six men in suits did not show it however and kept things nonchalant at its best.

Minwoo took this chance to check out the nurse’s backside since he was the closest behind her. Not that bad. Her waist is slim and her bum seems perky underneath the skirt. And just the right size for her hips.

Maybe this place isn’t so bad. Then again, what else is there to expect in a place like this?

They arrived at the 13^th floor. A resounding ‘ding!’, the door opened and right off the bat, their eardrums were greeted by the deafening sound of heavy bass, ruckus drum rolls and electric guitar solos.

“Ow! What the ?!” Junjin cursed loudly, fingers wedged into his ears.

Eric could have sworn that his eardrums were about to burst from the groundbreaking bass. Who in their right mind played a Rock song on a hi-fi stereo with the volume at its maxed?

Someone who has a few nuts loose, that’s for sure.

The nurse, unfazed by it, moved further into the room and lowered down the volume of the stereo by a notch, the music still blaringly audible but at least they can hear themselves think now.

“Mistress, you have guests.” She informed, deadpanned.

Relieved from the brief torture of their eardrums, they took sight of the person she was informing to and found their mouth gaped at the sight.

It was a woman. Probably in her late twenties, 28 years old would be Dongwan’s best guess.

Her short, black curly hair were bouncing as she pranced about and doing air guitar on a big grey couch in the middle of the room, wearing a pink fluffy dress and ratty nylon wings that looked like they would blow away in a weak wind.

Junjin knew that Halloween was only two days away but isn’t it a bit too early to be dressing up as a fairy? And in the middle of the day on top of that.

“Hey, Hyesungie,” Minwoo inquired from the prim man. “Are you sure we’re in the right place?”

 “Yes.” He answered promptly.

She finally stopped bouncing when she realized seven pair of eyes staring at her. She had a dumb and searching look, like a deer in the highlights. Her face brightened, however, when she recognized one of those eyes from amidst the unknown.

“Naui wangja!” She squealed and jumped off from the couch and into the arms of Shin Hyesung who seemed more than happy to do so.

That earned him five questioning stares from the men. The nurse took this time to excuse herself and left the room.

Naui wangja…my prince?

Laughter and giggles erupted from the two as the man carried her bride style in his arms and decided to spin her around in the air.

 Before Hyesung and the woman could get further engrossed with each other, Dongwan finally asked the question that has been running through their mind,  “Hyesung, just what the hell is going on?”

“Who is she?” Junjin added.

Embarrassed, Hyesung put the woman down on her feet carefully and cleared his throat as he placed his hands on her shoulders from behind her.

“Ah, wae did you stop spinning me?” She whined childishly. Then, she looked at the five men in front of her and stared petulantly at him. “Who are they?”

He cleared his throat. “Everyone, meet the sole heiress of the Choi clan, Choi Hanneul.” He looked at her wide eyes and smiled softly. “From now on, these guys will be your new friends.”