His fist collided with the bastard’s face. He was certain he had just dislocated his jaw, judging from the crack he just heard.

“Try again,” Eric demanded, shaking the fist he just used to punch his hostage. He didn’t used his full force to pull the punch—not that he needed to—but his hand stung a bit when it came into contact with his bones. The guy probably drank a lot of milk during his younger days.

“I dosh no wat’re yuh talkin’!” He sputtered, struggling to get back up on his legs after he got thrown off by the punch. His knees were bashed when Eric took out a baseball bat earlier. “Yuh guh da wong gaish!” He cried, wailing loudly in pain.

Great. Now he can barely understand what the guy is babbling about. Maybe he should not have punched his jaw in the first place.

He turned his back to him and started pacing around the room, contemplating on whether or not he should keep him alive or not. He was the only lead that they managed to get their hands on that could lead to the whereabout of Lee Sooman, the traitor who took off 500 million yen from their last transactions with the S.M Company.

The money was not the problem. JongYup despised traitors more than anything and Eric is going to make sure that he will find the son of a and paid him with the punishments he deserved.

“ Erm, Hyung—“

“Aish!” Eric knew what Andy was going to say.

The younger man tried to open his mouth but the eldest shushed him again quickly.

“But—“

“Sh!”

Andy let out a deflated sigh. “Never mind then.” He rolled his eyes.

Annoyed, Eric’s black suede came in contact with the man’s rib, kicking him hard.

“Try again,” He commanded.

Junjin almost felt sorry for the guy, watching him coughing out blood and struggling to get up on his legs. He ended falling face-first on the floor every time, but the sight is nothing new. He has seen far worse interrogations before. He was lucky that the man was found in one of Eric’s better days. The last time they interrogated a guy, he didn’t even last for 10 minutes before he decided to shoot him dead because he was talking too much.

 Their leader certainly had PMS issues far worse than any women, he bet.

Eric realized that the man had finally stopped struggling. A minute passed by and there seemed to be no new movement from him at all. He ordered Junjin to check up on him. When the tall man kicked him over, blood spilled from his lips and his eyes rolled to the back of his head, his body rolled limply on the floor.

“,” He cursed. Upon closer inspection, he discovered that the man had bitten his tongue to death.

He glanced towards Andy, then to Eric, who already has a grasp of the situation. He did not need any explanations on what had happened. The whole room went into a dead silence as they waited for his further instructions. Finally, Eric told them to get rid of the body by feeding it to the crows.

“Ark! Ark!” A shrilly voice echoed in the institutional room.

Hanneul bounced to and fro between the couch and the floor, her arms flapping continuously in the process. Eric couldn’t help noticed how bouncy her curls could go. He wished he and Junjin hadn’t decided to straighten their hair permanently during their teenage years but then again, it wouldn’t fit with his mafia image so he digress.

“Can you guess what I am?” She chirped, landing beside her so-called prince.

Hyesung pretended not to know the answer. “Hmm,” he placed one finger under his chin, glancing upwards at the ceiling and pretending to look for the answer. “I have no idea.” He told her, voice feigned in innocence.

Hanneul looked up towards the ceiling, her eyes grew wide at the sight of the clouds scattered across. They were beautifully painted. Eric had to admit that if he knew he wasn’t in an asylum with the daughter of the Chairman, he would have thought they were casually sitting in the park outside, playing charades and gazing up at the blue sky.

Hell, he might as well pretend they were on a picnic.

Everyone was sitting on the floor in a half circle, the couch being the main stage where the charade is taking place. They have been at it for 20 minutes now and Eric was getting irritated.

“What the hell are we doing?” He muttered under his breath.

At the corner of his eyes, he saw Dongwan raised his arm enthusiastically, his expression feigned determination.

“Answer: A vulture!”

Hanneul shook her head and went “Deng! Deng!” with her forefingers crossed in an X. Her behaviors were so childlike, it was hard to believe that this woman is the daughter of the great Choi JongYup. Eric was still having it difficult to grasp that fact and at the same time, he had never wanted to punch Dongwan so bad in his life before.

It’s a ing crow.

“Well,” Andy who sat beside him responded. “We’re taking care of JongYup’s daughter just like he ordered us to.” He rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

“This is not a protection duty.” He pointed. “This is babysiting.”

“Same thing I guess.” Andy shrugged.

“Ch,” Not the answer he was expecting but he digress.

He was just as bewildered at him. But what he did not understand was that why the hell is Minwoo playing along with this?

“Answer!” He raised his hand. “A chicken.” He answered confidently, grinning.

Maybe he should punch him instead of Dongwan. He didn’t get his nickname ‘Special Stupid’ for nothing. He needed to remind the maids back at the mansion to use more walnuts in his desserts.

Hanneul was laughing hysterically at his answer. “What the hell?” She cried. “I wasn’t even going ‘clark clark clark’!” She then jumped on the couch again and flapped her arms again. “Ark! Ark!” She shrilled once more.

As if a lightbulb appeared, Junjin clapped his hands once and raised one hand. “Answer!”

Eric palmed himself in the face. Not you too…

“Peacock!” He exclaimed.

Son of a—

Eric raised his hand. “Answer.” He breathed in, trying not to lose his cool. “A crow.” He answered.

 Dead silence.

Actually, it was never really that quiet. Music played nonstop from the stereo in the room in and endless mish mash of rock songs from Japanese bands to British bands to American bands and the next playlist is playing a bunch of K-Pop songs. Now, T-ARA’s Bo Beep Bo Beep is playing in the background.

Eric looked up to see everyone was staring at him. He glanced each of their faces, suddenly feeling conscious that their focus were fixated on him now.

“What?” He asked, puzzled.

Hanneul beamed from ear to ear, her eyes wrinkled as she did so. “CORRECT!” She cheered and whooped on the couch.

The rest of them followed her cue and decided to whoop and applause in celebratory. Even Andy was joining them enthusiastically. Eric wondered if the rest of them had gone nuts just like Hanneul or perhaps he was the only one who is insane here. Either way, spending time here with Hanneul has certainly damaged his mental health. He didn’t want to ended up being admitted here too.

Eric was startled when Hanneul suddenly landed in front of him. “Yah.”

How dare she spoke in banmal with him! He was certain he was older than her. Even if he wasn’t , he refused to acknowledge it.

“What’s your name?” She asked.

“E-Eric,” He stuttered, though he wondered why he had to repeat his name even though Hyesung had introduced them to her earlier.

“Eric,” She murmured, placing her hands on his laps and crawling forward.

He saw her face inched closer to his and her gaze so intense it was almost piercing. Before he could ask her what was she is trying to do, Eric felt a pair of soft lips pressed against his own and curly locks tickling his face.

His eyes widened in surprise, blinking several times in disbelief. He could feel the stares from the other members and their jaws dropped from the corner of his eyes. At last, she finally let go of his lips and then clapped giddily.

“That’s your reward for getting the correct answer!” She chimed.

Eric felt his face growing warm, his cheeks still feeling ticklish from her curls. He was still at loss of what had happened. Suddenly, he felt someone yanked his collars and when he shook off his thoughts, he realized it was Hyesung.

“Motherer—!“

Junjin scrambled to stop his punch on time and tried to pull him off Eric. Dongwan scrambled at the same time to pry his fingers off the leader’s collar. When they finally broke apart, Hyesung was accusing Eric about playing dirty.

“That was your plan from the start right?” He snarled.

The gears finally started to turn in Eric’s head.

Could it be jealousy? Shin Hyesung is jealous because Hanneul kissed him?

He laughed, straightening his shirt and brushing off invincible speck on his coat. Hyesung has been spending way too much time with her if he is smitten with her. This is .

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Eric said, sneering him at him whilst chuckling.

“What did you just say?!” Hyesung was about to pull another punch but Junjin managed to locked his arm on his back before he could do so.

“Hyung, calm down!”

“Let go of me!”

“Stop, stop!” Hanneul cried, lodging herself amidst the argument. “If you guys want a kiss, you could always ask! I don’t mind! I love kissing!”

She then proceeded to plant a kiss on Junjin’s cheek who promptly released his grasp on Hyesung, dropping him in the process and then at Dongwan’s who promptly released his grasp on Eric, dropping him as well.

Since the two of them were the closest to her at the moment, she decided to kiss them first.

Then she went towards Andy who received one near his eye and Minwoo who, like Eric, received a lip-locked from her as well.

“But Mistress,” Hyesung asked, almost pleading. “What about me?”

“I always give you ppoo ppoo everyday! You don’t need one! ” Hanneul stated. “Let me give them one as a symbol of our friendships!” She smiled happily.

The prince was chagrined at that and sulked.

Hanneul felt guilty at seeing her prince despondent face. She crouched beside him and kissed him on the cheek.

“There, there,” She placated, petting his head. “Don’t be sad anymore.”

Hyesung smiled, pleased at her gestures.

Eric decided to leave the room before he really lost his sanity.

When he walked out from the hospital lobby, he knocked down a trashcan, earning him some startled feminine gasps and more than a few stares from the patrons at the lobby. He took out his cigarette pack from his pants pocket and light one up to smoke. Then, he proceeded to stomp over the groomed lawn.

“Please do not step on the grass, sir!” A faraway voice, probably one of the nurses, scolded him but he could care less.

How did cold-blooded Mun Junghyuk go from murdering people and shooting their brains for a living to babysit a woman who is obviously a nutcase?

He inhaled the tobacco stick to calm his temper and exhaled the smoke along with his frustrations. The grey smoke clouded his vision of the sky briefly but his head had cleared. He could only think of one conclusion.

Choi JongYup must be losing his mind.