The teacher has mentioned the names and number of students that were missing. There are six of them and they are named Daniel, Changhyun, Minsoo, Chanhee, Byunghun and Changjo. What the teacher did not mention was how separately, they are relatively harmless, but together, nobody has been able to predict their thoughts and thus, their movements. This is a serious flaw in Howon's strategy, one that he doesn't even know.

 

In actuality, Niel and Changhyun have been the ones who started the idea. Daniel asked the questions which lights up a little spark and Changhyun is his forever partner who serves as a fuel to that little spark. Everyone else just sort of gets caught in the blaze; especially since all of them are quite close to begin with. This is how things normally are, and this time it was no different.

 

"The pink hair hyung said that we'll know once we become one of them, so that probably means its a secret club!", Niel is saying enthusiastically.

 

"Wait, what are we talking about again?"

 

Byunghun has always been a little slow.

 

"The playground of course!" Changhyun replies, "Didn't you notice that we haven't seen one?"

 

"Wait, guys... I don't think high-"

 

"Are you serious?? You guys are dragging me along cuz of a playground??!?" Byunghun interrupts Minsoo before he has even finished the sentence. Minsoo never says anything important anyway.

 

"Yes!!", Changhyun giggles out because Byunghun is talking as if playgrounds wasn't important or interesting in any way at all.

 

"Just think of how cool high school playgrounds would be!! I mean, all these big kids are using them, so they must be!" Daniel continues with logic.

 

"Like I said, I don't think high schools would ha-"

 

"I bet it wont even look like a playground", it's Chanhee interrupting this time, "It's probably gonna be a disco, and everyone has to wear afros like MJ"

 

"Who's MJ?", Niel asks.

 

Chanhee simply shrugs his question off like he does on daily basis. Especially when he doesn't know the answer.

 

"I bet it's humongous and it's hidden in a really special room that looks like a classroom, but everyone will know that it's not", Changhyun says, completely ignoring Chanhee's opinion.

 

"Guys, what I'm trying to say is in a high school, there is n-"

 

"Anyway,", and Changhyun blatantly ignores another one, "What do you think Jonghyun-ah?"

 

Their most quiet friend has been just that, quiet. He doesn't seem to want to break his silence as he shrugs at Changhyun.

 

Minsoo sighs.

 

During the duration of the conversation, the six friends has managed to walk through lots of different halls, taking random directions as Daniel and Changhyun has pleased, but now that the idea is out, Niel halts the group.

 

"Okay then! We are looking for a room with a really tall ceiling where all the big kids are probably going to, so keep your eyes open, okay? Lets go!"

 

And so, off went the six friends again.

 

That is, until Jonghyun decides to stop somewhere.

 

"I'm tired"

 

"Whaaaaat? But we just took a break!", Changhyun complains.

 

"Yeah! We even ate our lunch!", Daniel continues.

 

Jonghyun shrugs, "You guys go ahead then"

 

"Okay!"

 

"Wait what?", Minsoo utters,"um, I don't think thats a good idea, he won't know how to get back to th-"

 

"OOOOOH, LOOK!! MAYBE IT'S THERE!!"

 

Daniel, and Changhyun broke out into a run after this exclamation, setting the rest of them to do the same, and almost leaving a conflicted looking Minsoo. They didn't though, mainly because Minsoo would always end up following Daniel, whatever happened. Byunghun has a sort-of theory about that, but he doesn't really care enough to say anything about it really.

 

 

 

"They cant be any further than this... They should be around here somewhere..."

 

Sunggyu mutters to himself and tugs at the uniform collars he is holding in each hand, "Keep your eyes peeled, they're here somewhere"

 

"You know, that expression is pretty funny. What does bananas have to do with eyes anyway?", Dongwoo says, not minding the way his shirt drags him back every once in a while.

 

Woohyun merely gave him a grunt while still trying to discreetly unlatch Sunggyu's fingers. He should've known better than to think he can do that.

 

"Doesn't matter Dongwoo. And Woohyun, take off those glasses, we're indoors"

 

Woohyun imitates one of Sunggyu's exasperated sighs, "Sunbae, you just don't understand fashion, do you?", but he takes it off anyway. Sunggyu know his umma personally. He shouldn't risk it.

 

Sunggyu grumbles, "and you just don't understand school regulations, do you?"

 

 

 

After failing to find any playground in the completely random classroom Chanhee pointed out, the group of now five turns into a busy corner, not minding the weird looks they are getting from the high school students.

 

"See! They're all here and it's lunchtime! This line up is probably how they go in to the special room", Niel whispers into the group.

 

"But I can't see the doors they go in to... And a lot of them are going out of the lines and not in. Why don't they want to go in?", Changhyun comments as he tries to look over the tall high schoolers' shoulders by tiptoeing. It doesn't seem to be working that well.

 

"I don't wanna go in", Byunghun grumbles, although his eyes are still stuck on the direction of the commotion.

 

"But we have to at least check it out!!"

 

"Yes!! Our high school lives depend on it!!"

 

What the boss says, they would all do, so off they went to approach the line. They stood behind the last person, and although they could probably slip between the legs of the queuing students, they stand in line patiently because cutting lines is bad.

 

They wait giddily, looking as if they are ready to burst with excitement any second now and still not caring about the faces looking at them oddly. It was quite disappointing for them when the group of tall people in front of them turn to go and instead of magnificent doors that will lead them to an even more magnificent playground of sorts, they see a counter with a lady wearing a weird net hat.

 

"Awwww", they chorused. All except Byunghun who looks awed either way. But perhaps he was looking at the assortment of food on the counter and behind the lady.

 

"What would you like?", the lady says to them.

 

"Oh! Can I have the-"

 

Unfortunately for Byunghun, neither Niel or Changhyun is interested in food, and when they walk away, so should the rest of them. It was in this consideration that Minsoo drags his friend away from the counter.

 

"What did you do that for? I was just going to order!!", Byunghun grumbles.

 

"You just ate your lunch", Minsoo says.

 

"But that was ages ago. I'm hungry again now!"

 

"But Byunghun, you don't have money!", Daniel informs him cheerfully.

 

And so, Byunghun goes back to his default 'grumpy' setting.

 

"Fine then! I'm not going with you guys anymore."

 

"Okay!", Changhyun agrees, looking around for more possible playground places.

 

"Heeey, that's not fair! If he's not going, then I'm not going either!", Chanhee says, exercising the law of justice.

 

"Okay!", Daniel says merrily, "Come on guys! I think I see it there!"

 

"But we can't just leave them the-", once again Minsoo protests.

 

However, he's not really able to go back to the other two since Niel and Changhyun is dragging him away, and although Minsoo is the largest out of all of them and he can possibly overpower both Niel and Changhyun on his own, in reality he never really want to do anything against either of them (but mostly Daniel). So, he lets them pull him into who knows where, all the while reflecting on his rather maddening fate.

 

 

 

"Okay, clues... Clues.. I see no little footprints anywhere, which is normal since it hasn't been raining lately, but that might also mean that these culprits have taken the precaution of stepping lightly. It may be due to running, but no! There are school regulations against that. Then it must be because they are being extra cautious in these halls, which probably means we are on the right track! AAH! What was that?!? Oh, pssh, random kid. Wait, they might be disguising as little grade 7's! In that case, we need to watch out for a pile of uniforms. Yes. Oh! Is that it?! No, thats just the garbage bin"

 

Hoya shakes his head at his muttering hoobae. He is a funny one, Lee Sungjong. He should probably poke him before he starts interrogating a random kid or something.

 

"AAAAAHH!" Sungjong jumps at the surprising poke to his rib.

 

"Hey, heey, calm down. It's just me", Howon raises his hands to ear level so Sungjong can see he's unarmed.

 

"Ooh, sorry hyung, I didn't realise"

 

Howon bumps the little hoobae with his shoulder,"What's this? Am I looking at a future Detective Jongie?"

 

Sungjong mock-saluted, "Yessir! Detective Lee reporting for duty, Sir!", before giggling at something that is apparently funny.

 

It is sort of funny how the giggling makes Howon want to giggle along.

 

"Aren't you a little delicate to be a detective", he decides to tease the smaller instead.

 

Sungjong gasps, scandalized. "Just because I don't have as much muscles as someone, doesn't mean I cant be a detective", he replies, stomping on the innocent hallway floor.

 

Howon really did giggle when Sungjong turns up his nose and starts walking away from him. Indeed, Lee Sungjong is a funny little creature.

 

Hoya catches up to him easily, "Nooo, I don't mean it that way"

 

Sungjong stops to huff at him, "Well, even if you do, I'm going to be growing much much taller than you so you can't say anything, even with your muscles".

 

Normally Hoya is a teensy bit sensitive about his height, but technically Sungjong just complimented his muscles, right? He can't really get mad...

 

"I'm sure you will", he replies, smiling, "But what I meant was even with your future height you're gonna need an assistant who will beat up all the bad guys once you've found them, riight?"

 

"Its true... Every Poirot needs a Hastings after all...", Sungjong says as he resumes his walking.

 

"Soo... Who's it gonna be then?" Howon bumps him once more with his manly muscles.

 

Sungjong plays along and pretends to think through a list of (hopefully nonexistent) muscly guys that he knows, "Hmmmmmmm, let's see.... There is Nickhun sunbae... Or taecyeon sunbae, or Junho sunbae, or maybe even Junhong! Oh! But theres-"

 

Scoffing, Hoya interrupts, "Hooow about... Lee Howon Sunbaenim!"

 

Sungjong looks at him up and down before deciding, "Naaah, Taecyeon sunbaenim's is probably better"

 

It is now Hoya's turn to gasp, scandalized. "What do you know about muscles anyway...", he grumbles a little too sadly.

 

Sungjong laughs, "I'm kidding hyuung, you're still the best! Besides, you look scarier than Taecyeon sunbaenim anyway"

 

Howon takes that as a compliment.

 

 

 

"Dongwoo gosh fricking dangit, COME BACK HERE!"

 

"Sunbae, sunbae!! Ow! Please, you're stretching my shirt!"

 

"Then stretch your legs and run, Woohyun"

 

Sunggyu tries to run and simultaneously look over the crowd to find that crazy friend of his. It didn't entirely work out for him since he ended up tripping and nearly diving headfirst if it wasn't for Woohyun's uniform collar still grasped tightly in his hand.

 

"AAAH! Sunbaaaee...", Woohyun whines as Sunggyu nearly dragged him down with his fall and ripped his jumper.

 

Sunggyu didn't reply since somewhere during his almost-fall, he managed to catch a glimpse of Dongwoo and is too busy trying to make a lunge in what he thinks is the right direction.

 

"DONGWOO YAH!"

 

 

 

Hoya twitches, "Did you hear that?"

 

"Hmm? Hear what?", Sungjong stops scrutinizing the window pane with a magnifying glass for a second to turn to Howon quizzically.

 

"I thought I heard Sunggyu having a hard time"

 

"Oh... Should we go and help?"

 

"Nah, he'll be fine", Howon smiles, looking a tad too gleeful. 

 

Sungjong is more interested in what might have been chewing gum to care.

 

 

 

"There you are, please stop going away on your own Dongwoo"

 

Sunggyu clamps his hand on Dongwoo's tie once more while trying to bend over and catch his breath at the same time. It bothers him a little that Woohyun doesn't look the least bit tired, despite looking disgruntled about his now un-cool appearance.

 

"Aah, sorry Sunggyu, I kinda got a little carried away... Ahahaha..."

 

Just as Sunggyu have started feeling relieved (and is almost able to stand up straight without breathing hard anymore), Dongwoo seems to already be distracted by yet another thing, and his grip on the tie tightens a little.

 

It was sort of a good thing that he noticed, because merely seconds later, Dongwoo exclaims one more "Oh! look!", before lurching forward towards whatever it was. 

 

Sort of good, because Sunggyu already has a good grip and therefore Dongwoo couldn't slip between his fingers. Sort of not, because he still wasn't prepared for any more taxing physical movements and what Dongwoo is making him do is exactly that.

 

"Wa- I'm no- DONGWOO YAH!!!!!"

 

It was also sort of good that he also has a good grip on Woohyun with his other hand.

 

"THERE you are Chanhee!", Dongwoo exclaims after an abrupt stop in front of the lone primary schooler he has got his sight on, not caring - or simply not knowing- about the two deadweights he dragged with him whom has immediately crashed onto his back and then the floor due to the laws of gravity and inertia.

 

"Um...", the primary schooler looks a little confused.

 

"Oh! Sorry, you're not Chanhee are you? Hmmm, then maybe... Minsoo?"

 

The kid simply blinks at him.

 

"Changhyun?"

 

The boy replies by raising an eyebrow.

 

"It's Daniel, isn't it?"

 

The boy is about to open his mouth, but Dongwoo cuts his words before they were even vocalised.

 

"Nono, I got this....... Byunghun!"

 

The boy made a face.

 

"Of course not. Wait. I know it... I'm getting it... iiiiit's... JONGHYUN!"

 

"Yea-"

 

"I KNEW IT! YEAH! DAS RIGHT! WHO'S THE GENIOUS? DONGWOO IS!"

 

Jonghyun looks at the name tag on his front and back to the celebrating hyung in front of him and the other two rolling on the floor and thinks that high schoolers are indeed very weird. Although the noonas bustling near him aren't. Definitely not. Even when they keep pointing out that the guys' toilet are on the other side, but whatever.

 

Meanwhile the dead fishes on the floor have finally recovered from possible concussions and even more possible bruises are starting to get up and brushing the dust out of their clothes. Well, one of them is. The other one got up and stares in disbelief at his jumper. Or to be more accurate, a mangled version of it.

 

"SUNGGYU HYUNG YOU STRETCHED MY JUMPER! OH MY GOD, UMMA IS GONNA GET SOO MAD but this is totally not even my fault so thats probably okay, BUT MY IMAGE. MY FRIENDS ARE GONNA SEE ME. IN THIS HIDEOUSNESS.THEY WILL HATE ME. I WILL NEVER HAVE FRIENDS EVER AGAIN FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE"

 

Lucky for Sunggyu, Woohyun's mother adores him and it would probably be easy for him to apologize and get into some sort of compensation agreement. However, he will probably need to tell Woohyun that the has also ripped the jumper at the back before he finds out on his own, while at the same time, trying to make sure he doesn't freak out even more. In other words, mission impossible. Sunggyu can already hear Woohyun's anguished wails. The kid's lungs has no limits. Sunggyu just really want to cry right now.

 

It was surprising then, that Jonghyun made a move to extend his arm towards Woohyun and not to cover his own ears. It reaches the jumper, and pulls the fabric in a somewhat random manner and Sunggyu has to wonder if this Jonghyun kid wishes for a homicidal case because that is what's going to happen when you touch Woohyun's clothes. Including his coolly arranged uniform.

 

"There." Jonghyun remarks, patting the jumper several times for good measure, "I think it looks pretty good now"

 

Woohyun looks at Jonghyun, and down to his uniform, and back to Jonghyun, then onto the reflective window pane nearby, and stops there for a while. He turns to different directions to make sure he has seen himself from all angles. Then he strikes a pose like a model. A short one.

 

"You know what? You're right, it looks... Bad boy", he says, turning around to face them once more.

 

Sunggyu honestly doesn't see any difference, but if this stops any type of wailing and whining, he'll go with it. Besides, he's not entirely sure about the regulations of wearing ripped uniforms. 

 

"I think I like you Jonghyun. We're gonna have some good times hanging out next year"

 

"Sweet"

 

Sunggyu looks at his watch only to see that he has just enough time to walk back to their designated lunch area. He hopes the other groups manage to round up the rest of the kids. More than that, he hopes that Dongwoo is now too tired to do another David Copperfield.

 

 

 

The sound of the constant clicking made by every door they have passed in the hallway is incredibly annoying, and Sungyeol is definitely in no mood to pretend to ignore it.

 

"Can you stop trying to open every classroom we passed?!" Sungyeol turns around to shout at Myungsoo's bored face. "They are all obviously locked. It's friggin lunchtime!"

 

Myungsoo doesn't care what Sungyeol thinks. Nope. Not after he betrayed their precious friendship, and stole his one and only true love. He will continue to jiggle every door handle for eternity.

 

As another clicking sound is made Sunyeol grab Myungsoo's collar and push him towards a random door. Myungsoo scoffed.

 

"Real nice move. We haven't been gone for more then five minutes and you already started a fight." Sungyeol just push him harder against the door. "You know what, I will report you this time. You always start the fights."

 

"Me?!" Sungyeol is incredibly pissed off. He never understood why his friend is suddenly so against him. One thing for sure, he never started the fight. "You blew up my lunch first."

 

"That was because you put a dead rat in my locker."

 

"And you sprayed me with the garden hose during gym."

 

"You kicked my chair."

 

"You tripped my feet."

 

"You stole my girl."

 

"What?" Sungyeol surprisedly exclaim. He ain't stealing no girls. He's not even that sure about his ual preference yet. Beside, he's pretty sure all the girls in grade 10 hates him after he tied Minah's hair to a chair that one time. And you know how it goes, grade 10 girls rule the whole female high school population. Except for the girls older than them, but he ain't dating older girls either.

 

Myungsoo pushes him hard until he fell on the floor and then walks toward him. He bends down and point and intimidating finger on his chest.

 

"Don't act innocent, I saw what you did with Jieun." Sungyeol's eyed widens as he look up to Myungsoo. Jieun? Myungsoo has a crush on Jieun? How come he never notice this?

 

"Y-you like Jieun?" Myungsoo's expression slowly changes. He straighten his back and turn on his back. Sungyeol slowly scrambles to his feet. "Since when?"

 

Myungsoo shrugs. Sungyeol doesn't see him explaining further so he decides not to push it.

 

"You know I was just delivering Hakyeon's message for her." Sungyeol slowly explains. He now understand what's actually going on between them. Myungsoo frowns in confusion.

 

"Hakyeon hyung?"

 

"Yeah," Sungyeol move to lean on the door next to Myungsoo. "They've been dating since the start of term." Myungsoo gasps in surprise. Sungyeol feels bad to be the one to break the news, but at the moment he just wants his friend back. He decides to continue. "He told me to tell her that they're going on a beach date after school. She was so happy, she jumped and hugged me. But that was it! I promise!"

 

Myungsoo silently absorbs the information. He can understand why Jieun would hide her relationship. She's in grade 9. If the grade 10 girls found out that she's dating a guy in their grade, she will have no chance of surviving the next three years of high school. Myungsoo's conscious tells him not to blame her, or Sungyeol for that matter.

 

Myungsoo move to face the door they were leaning on and randomly pull down the handle. For once it's not locked. Both boys look at each other before stepping inside. It turns out to be a science classroom.

 

"I guess we could stay here until lunch break finishes." Sungyeol says lamely. Normally an incidence when they need to hide away from the nerdy Kim Sunggyu is something fun and exciting. But the atmosphere between them is still awkward. And it doesn't help that Myungsoo is still stubbornly silent.

 

Suddenly the door bangs open. And three little kids scatters inside.

 

"See I told you this is the place!" Niel proudly points to the two familiar looking high schoolers. He saw them coming into the classroom, and since all the other rooms are locked, this place must be it. This must be the super secret playground that he has ingeniously theorized. His two companions however, are not impressed.

 

"This doesn't look very fun." Changhyun grumbles.

 

"Nope." Minsoo sighs. "You guys should've listened to me when I was trying to tell you that there is no-"

 

"Well that's because we don't know the secret password!" Niel insisted. He proceeds to grab Sungyeol's sleeve and begs him with his very best puppy dog eyes. "Please sunbae-nim, can you tell us the secret password so we can get to the playground? We won't tell the other grade 6s. Promise! We've been looking for it for the whole lunch break."

 

Sungyeol looks down at the little trouble maker and slowly smiles. This is the second time a kid has asked him if there is a playground in highschool. The first one has been Myungsoo. He slowly raises his gaze to meet Myungsoo's. He's pretty sure Myungsoo is thinking the same thing.

 

"Guys," Myungsoo takes a deep breath as he approaches the kids. "There is no playground in high school."

 

 

 

Howon tries very hard to keep his foot still, but it is proving to be a very difficult task. He fervently hopes that Sungjong- or more like, Detective Sungjong- didn't notice. Unfortunately, he is Detective Sungjong.

 

"Hyung, why do you keep tapping your feet like that?"

 

"Er..."

 

"You can't speed up an investigation hyung, unless you don't want me to be thorough, but then what kind of detective would I be? If you're too impatient with working with me, than I suggest you find someone else to work with"

 

Howon wants to giggle at him again for sounding so cutely adult-like, but there are more pressing matters at hand.

 

"I'm sorry detective, but it was just my bladder that is being impatient at the moment."

 

His dongsaeng finally turns around from the bit of rubbish he was inspecting.

 

"Oh, then why didn't you just say so! You can go hyung, I'll wait for you here", he says, giving Howon his oh-so-adorable smile.

 

Hoya sort of didn't want to because that was the reason he didn't tell Sungjong to begin with. It was really rare that he gets to spend time with his favorite hoobae ever since he became vice president, and Hoya doesn't really want to waste any minute of it. Even if that minute is to save himself from the embarrassment of wet pants. On second thoughts, he should go. Right now.

 

"Kay, I'll be back."

 

Howon hopes detective Sungjong is as patient to him as he is to investigating the dirty windows. Or at least he hopes that there is enough dirty windows to entertain the detective while he is gone.

 

 

 

Myungsoo is cuddling the crying Changhyun in his arms while Sungyeol is desperately holding on to the tantrum throwing Niel.

 

"I tried to tell them." Minsoo explain calmly as he munches on a chocolate bar he found in Myungsoo's bag.

 

"I hate you!" Niel shouts across the room. "I hate all of you! I hate this room! I hate the teachers and I hate high school!"

 

"I hate the scary sunbae with small eyes." Changhyun sobs. It's a bit out of context. But hey, he just received the most unexpected information. His brain is just really confused.

 

"Oh that's okay," Myungsoo coos. "Everybody hates him."

 

"Really?" And that was how Changhyun's tears come to a stop. Who knows that their mutual hatred towards Kim Sunggyu is what brings them together. Sungyeol however, is still having trouble with his little hurricane.

 

"I hate you! I don't wanna go to high school! I wish I can stay in primary school forever!" Niel struggles in Sungyeol's grip. He doesn't care if he's acting like a little boy. There is no way he will spend the next six years without a playground. "High school is boring!"

 

"Hey now that's not true." Sungyeol tries to reason. One thing he knows about his experience in high school, is that it's definitely not boring. "Have you ever experienced a food fight?" Niel finally halts his actions.

 

"What's that?" Sungyeol grins in victory.

 

"It's when you throw food at each other on lunch time for no reason."

 

"Why would you do that?"

 

"To see how awesome spaghetti looks like on someone's head." Myungsoo answered. He and Sungyeol then proceed to giggle at the memory.

 

"But don't you get in trouble?" Minsoo confused ask. He thought big kids are not supposed to cause trouble.

 

"Nah ah, you only get in trouble if you're caught." Sungyeol explain maliciously. Changhyun perks his head in interest.

 

"So if someone else got caught, they get in trouble?" Niel asks cautiously. Sungyeol smiles and nods at his new found apprentice. This kid will definitely be the perfect addition to their daily shenanigans. Volunteering to this program wasn't so bad after all.

 

"Hey hyung! Do you remember that one time you taught me how to make a fart bomb and then we put it on mr. Lee's chair?" Myungsoo grins cheekily. Sungyeol laughs in response.

 

"Can you teach me how to make a fart bomb?" Niel is now fully interested in these two wonderful sunbaes.

 

"Of course!" Sungyeol is glad they are inside the science room where all the materials are available. "We will teach you everything we know..."

 

 

 

Howon tries to run back as soon as his bladder is relieved. Of course, he has washed his hands first because Lee Howon is a man of hygiene. But it seems that washing his hands has lost him the precious minutes he needs to escape from the madness that is happening outside of the toilet right now. From what he can gather from the situation, there seems to be some brawl between a couple of girls.

 

Now, Hoya definitely is the vice president, and ensuring the welfare of their fellow students is definitely within his job description, but Howon has dealt with a very similar situation last week, and the week before that, and the week before that, and he has more trouble in trying to get out of the girls' clutches than breaking up the actual fight itself. Call him shallow, but he swears this looks like some crazy grade 9 girl's plot to get him. Howon really just wants to get back to being assistant detective.

 

So, he discretely took off his vice president badge and stuffs it into his pocket before shrinking his frame so he doesn't look any taller than the group of hoobaes jostling him (he doesn't have to do much). After successfully dodging the group incognito, he straightens back to his normal height and dusts off the dust kicked up by the rowdy group and looks around to affirm his bearings.

 

His eyes skim over a bunch of random students, and for some weird reason, decides to stop at a pair of boys. Howon would much rather have his eyes move and find Sungjong, but then his brain registered the fact that the boys weren't wearing the same one he has on.

 

He glances over the general direction of where Sungjong should be, and back to the two boys.

 

Hmmm...




Detective Sungjong was almost done re-tying both his shoelaces and his necktie when a pair of shoes were parked in front of his own. Judging from the shininess and scratch-less state of the old looking shoes and the 5 cm distance it makes with his own shoes, he deducts that Howon hyung is back!

 

"Hi hyung~", Sungjong greets with a smile.

 

"How is the investigation so far Jongie?", Hoya says, smiling back.

 

"Not too good... I haven't found anything incriminating so far..."

 

Something is weird.

 

"Hmmm... Is that so?", his hyung replies, turning around to get a better look at their surroundings.

 

That is when Sungjong notices the small dark patches of wetness on the carpet. He gasped and knelt down to investigate, touching the spot with his finger.

 

"What is- Sungjongie, wait!" Howon calls out, but Sungjong was already running to follow the trail.

 

"Tomato sauce. Still wet, so it must be fresh. It's the runny kind that gets everywhere on your uniform, not very popular in high school, but in primary schools..."

 

"... It's easier to put on your food!", Hoya finishes his observation.

 

"Exactly!", Sungjong took a second to smile his approval at his assistant, "Plus, notice the tiny bread crumbs on even intervals. They were here and ate in the halls without rushing. Even the smallest of those grade 7 babies knew better than to do that, and anyone older would be trying to hide. That means this track must lead us to..."

 

"Chanhee and Byunghun!", Howon exclaims as he sees them resting underneath the shade of a tree

 

"Bingo!", Sungjong says happily.

 

Howon is just happy that Sungjong is happy. He is also very proud because wow, that took less time than he would ever expect.

 

"Hey you guys!", Sungjong calls out.

 

"Look Byungie, it's the pink hair hyung!", Chanhee says, pointing out the obvious.

 

"That's Detective Jongie hyung to you!", Hoya corrected so he can see the little hoobae looking proud of himself.

 

"Really?", Byunghun asks suspiciously.

 

"Of course! I even have a magnifying glass. See!", Sungjong replies, showing off his prized possession.

 

Chanhee gasps in awe and even Byunghun looks impressed for the first time today.

 

"How did you get to be a detective?" Byunghun asks curiously.

 

 

As always, Chanhee did not wish to be left behind, "Oh! oh!!! I want to be a detective too!!"

 

"Well, you have to learn from an actual detective. I learnt from a hyung! He taught me everything I know."

 

This is the first time Hoya heard about this, and he would very much like to know who this hyung is. Unfortunately, the children butted in before he could.

 

"Then, can I learn from you, hyung?" Byunghun asks.

 

"Yes!! Please please pretty please!" Chanhee added.

 

Now he knows how Sunggyu feels.

 

"Sure! Next year, you guys can be my junior assistant, and when you learnt enough, you can be detectives of your own!", Sungjong says, clapping his hands happily at the arrangement.

 

"Yaaaaay!! Thank you hyung!! You're the best!!", Chanhee says, hugging the pink hair detective on his side excitedly.

 

Byunghun just looks very satisfied and proud as he straightens his body posture. Hoya is surprised to learn for the very first time that the two children are actually similar in height. Although he is quite happy that their little detective agency has grown into a four people party.

 

 

 

"You know beach dates are lame." Sungyeol mentions casually as they walk the kids back to the main room where the relieved president is waiting.

 

"I guess Hakyeon hyung is not that creative." Myungsoo offers a small smile that immediately seals back they're broken friendship.

 

"Wanna spice things up a bit?" Myungsoo says, his smile a little more evil looking.

 

"Well I guess it will be a shame if some one spotted a shark and got attacked or something." He suggested. Sungyeol grins his signature gummy smile.

 

"I'll go get the tomato sauce in the cafeteria."

 

 

 

Sunggyu is relieved. No, that would be an understatement. Sunggyu is satisfied, appeased, so happy that he feels like he is floating on the clouds. So happy that he can't come up with more adjectives to describe how utterly and entirely relieved he is.

 

Why? You may ask. Because the day is finally over. Because Sunggyu will probably never have to deal with rowdy little children anymore, unless socializing with the grade 7 kids count. 

 

Yes, the hunt for the 6 runaways during lunch was something completely unexpected and totally not in the pre-arranged schedules, but somehow the volunteers managed to bring them all back without any incidents or any need to involve a teacher. Vice principal Jung also seems quite satisfied with his report of the day. Especially when he mentioned that sometime during the day the volunteers have created a bond with the visiting children.

 

Which is very true for the most part. Rather creepily so, if he has something to say about it. Sungyeol and Myungsoo was whispering and giggling with three of the children. Howon and Sungjong have somehow managed to get two kids trailing behind them. Dongwoo was joking around and generally having fun with pretty much all of them. Even Woohyun seems to be besties with one already. Not to mention bunches of the children shyly keeps trying to talk to him. Sunggyu has only noticed now, but Woohyun is oddly popular, even with his lack of height. 

 

And then there is Sunggyu. He may not be as intimate as the rest of them seems to be already, but there was that one boy who tugged him on his sleeve to ask where the toilet is, so that should count, right?

 

That night, Sunggyu sleeps peacefully.

 


He can't say the same with his morning since he found out that Hoya has posted a picture of him looking like he was intimidated by a grade 6 children, and the amount of likes already on the post. He was too preoccupied with freaking out about the embarrassment that is now on his immaculate facebook page and the creepy friend requests he seems to be getting out of it to notice that Howon has listed a new occupation on his own page.

 

---

 

"Thanks Howon hyung"

 

"For what?", this wasn't the first time Sungjong says something out of topic that catches Howon off guard.

 

"For making the trail for me to find Chanhee and Byunghun", Sungjong states like it is obvious.

 

Hoya stares at him as he tries to think of a way to deny it.

 

"I know it's you, hyung. You knew who the two were, even before we were close enough to look at their name tags."

 

"I... I had a good gues-"

 

"And, I saw you throwing out the sauce packet in the bin."

 

"Wait, you did?"

 

"No", Sungjong grins at him, "but you still have the sauce stains on your sleeve"

 

Howon inspects his uniform sleeve and sure enough there are tiny speckles on the edges of his cuffs that he hasn't noticed before.

 

"You could tell just from these??"

 

"I told you I'm gonna be a detective!", Sungjong says as he walks away, "Bye hyung! See you tomorrow!"

 

Hoya was still a little busy staring at his own sleeve to reply.

 

"Wait a second, YAH, LEE SUNGJONG! WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY ANYTHING IF YOU KNEW ABOUT IT??!??"

 

By then Sungjong was too far away to reply, but howon swears upon the colour purple that he heard him laugh.