After an uneventful night of observation in Heechul’s bar, Kyuhyun makes sure to act like he’s heading towards the houses on the outskirts of town where most of the residents live in Mamacita. After ensuring that no one has followed him, he doubles back behind the buildings on the same side of the street that the Sheriff’s office is on.

Kyuhyun had spotted the shadowy figure lurking around the doorway of the bar, and while he knows he can’t get a good look at the person’s face, his gut instinct tells him that it’s Leeteuk. Though whomever he’s watching, that is something Kyuhyun has yet to figure out. Thankfully his list of possible suspects are limited to the 7 or 8 people in the bar that night.

Siwon knew that Kyuhyun would most likely be late, and therefore wasn’t bothered when the younger man cursed after running into a doorframe in the darkened office. Before Kyuhyun drifts off to sleep on the surprisingly comfortable and soft mattress in his new room, he jots down the list of people who’d been in the bar.

The next morning finds Siwon cooking a small breakfast of eggs and bacon for the two of them as Kyuhyun drags himself out of bed.

“So what’s your plan for today?” Siwon’s going to be working on the stables later, the task annoying, but customary since they have horses. Siwon wishes for the day he has enough money to comfortably live and have someone else to do such mundane and dirty work.

Kyuhyun inhales the coffee Siwon puts down in front of him. “I may wander over to the Barbershop, get a haircut from Ryeowook and get the gossip of the town.” He tells Siwon around a bite of his eggs.

Siwon nods as he sets down to eat his own breakfast. “I wanted to introduce you to our resident banker, Lee Sungmin later today.” He said after taking a bite. “If anything were to happen here in town, he’d be the one they’d probably target if they are thieves.”

Kyuhyun nods. “What time?”

“About 2 o’clock.” Siwon tells him. “It’s the best time to get together, much like yesterday was. Not too many people out and about at that time of day.”

Kyuhyun knows it’s because of the dry heat that Mamacita seems to keep. He’s already missing the comforts of being in a larger city where there could be cold spots in the middle of the day, a result of areas of the city not seeing any sunlight for most of the summer months.  “Sounds good.” He agrees. The less people who knew where he was staying, the better.

A part of Kyuhyun admittedly feels guilty for not sharing his scheme with Siwon, but he’s banking on the sad fact that the older man sometimes is a bit trigger happy and a little less controllable when he’s in on something that could have a good outcome.

Finishing his breakfast, Kyuhyun proceeds to place his dishes in the sink, wondering if Siwon wants him to do dishes since the elder cooked for them. He’s about to turn around and ask when there’s a knock at the office door.

Siwon stops mid scoop of eggs, sighing and setting his fork down to answer the door. “Yes?”

“Hi, are you Sheriff Choi?” A slightly deeper male voice asks, not in the least bit shy about sounding enthusiastic.

“That I am. What brings a young strapping man knocking on the Sheriff’s door this early in the morning?” Siwon chuckles.

“Oh, my names Lee Donghae. I’m a bounty hunter and passing through Mamacita looking for some outlaws and I thought I’d stop by and introduce myself.”

Kyuhyun peeks around the corner, shock filtering across his face at the look of the bounty hunter. Lee Donghae’s wearing a dark Stetson hat, black trenchcoat that barely comes to his knees and boots that look too soft to be wearing, especially for his profession. His gun is holstered outside of his trenchcoat, making Kyuhyun wonder if he’s new to the idea of bounty hunting until Siwon makes a humming noise.

“Lee Donghae? Did you nab that one outlaw in Seoul last month that had been going around to the brothels posing as a female saloon girl stealing customer’s money?” Siwon asks, gesturing for the man to come inside.

“The one and only!” Donghae smiles proudly. “I see you have the latest wanted posters.” He says, going over to the cork board and studying them.

“Any particular guy you are trying to get?” Siwon asks conversationally, turning and smiling at Kyuhyun, waving him towards where they are standing.

“Park Jungsu.” Donghae admits, pointing up at the first poster on the board. “He’s got quite the reputation for being a measly thief.” The bounty hunter sighs, turning and catching Kyuhyun out of the corner of his eye. “Who’s this?”

“Cho Kyuhyun, he’s my deputy.” Siwon says.

“The card player?” Donghae’s eyebrows raise in confusion.

“Master Gambler to you.” Kyuhyun bows. “I’m taking a small break from the circuit to help Siwon out with some potential wanted criminals that are rumored to be coming through this area.”

Donghae nods, eyes still disbelieving that a gambler would be a deputy in such a tiny town. “Well I hope we all can work together to nab some of these criminals.” He says politely.

Kyuhyun nods as Siwon laughs. “Enough talk of business. Is there anything else I can do for you?”

Donghae’s mumbling some half-assed answer as Kyuhyun makes his way over to the coat stand where his jacket is. “Hyung, I’m going to go see Ryeowook now, if you don’t need me.” He says in the small pause of their conversation.

“Ok. Remember to be at the bank by 2.” Siwon says, waving him off.

Luckily it was early enough in the morning that Kyuhyun can sneak off towards the residential part of town and act like he’s just come out for a morning stroll. Ryeowook is just opening his barber shop as Kyuhyun strolls up. “Heya Ryeowook.” He greets the feminine looking man.

“Oh, um, Mr. Cho.” Ryeowook seems a bit skittish at being called out suddenly.

“Call me Kyuhyun, please.” Kyuhyun smiles down at the older man. “I’ll be staying in town for a while and was hoping to get a haircut this morning.”

“Sure thing!” Ryeowook smiles. “Give me a few minutes to set things up.”

Kyuhyun glances around the small shop, observing the simplistic style that Ryeowook has kept consistently throughout the shop. Most barber shops he’s seen in the city were either simple and didn’t make a lot of money, or flashy and constantly busy.

It didn’t help that recently some Korean star had decided to try some newfangled thing called hair dye and had spawned a wave of fans who’d insisted upon trying the same thing a week later.

Ryeowook calls Kyuhyun over and starts asking him what he wants for a haircut. “Trim up all around.”

The Barber gets to work, settling into his familiar routine and starts to make small talk to Kyuhyun as he works. Kyuhyun gets more town gossip in the 30 minutes he’s with Ryeowook than he had expected.

After a mostly uneventful morning, sitting outside Heechul’s bar after his haircut, Kyuhyun shuffling his deck of cards when Ryeowook comes over and plops down in the chair across from him. “Care to teach me how to play cards?” He asks. “I’ve wanted to learn, but no one here knows how.”

Kyuhyun smiles and a new found friendship is formed that morning, with Ryeowook catching on quicker than expected to the card games that Kyuhyun introduces him to. By the time Ryeowook has another customer, it’s nearly 2 in the afternoon and Kyuhyun tells Ryeowook that he’ll be back soon.

Siwon’s chatting happily with Sungmin when Kyuhyun walks into the bank. It’s a small bank, one that’s definitely not made for holding lots of valuables and by the looks of the wagon outside, it’s more than likely Sungmin’s more into overseeing transportation of any major valuables that can’t be stored in the banks seemingly tiny vault.

Sungmin’s a quiet man, his dark hair almost covering his spectacle covered eyes. A fringe across his forehead is unnaturally silvery blonde, making Kyuhyun wonder if the poor man had been in some sort of chemical accident recently.

“If you are wondering, the blonde streak in my hair is something I’ve had from birth.” Sungmin explains as he finishes showing Kyuhyun around the tiny bank. He pulls up his hair and shows off the thin line where his blond hair grows out, the scalp of the area discolored from the rest. “They call it a birthmark I guess.”

Kyuhyun nods. “Well it looks good on you.” He says, trying hard not to be mean to the man. He already figures that Sungmin’s smart enough to be trusted with his plans.

Once Siwon leaves, Kyuhyun sits Sungmin down and explains his idea to the banker, finding that his hunch is correct. Apparently some of Sungmin’s acquaintances had been victims of Leeteuk recently and he wants a chance to help nab the thief.

“I have a shipment leaving in a week or so of some valuables that had been stored here. Some silly little crown and other trinkets.” Sungmin shows Kyuhyun the crown, which is kept in a small brown box with a metal lock for which Sungmin keeps the key on him.

Plans are made and details are hashed out relatively quickly in the waning afternoon. By the time Kyuhyun makes it back to Heechul’s, Ryeowook’s already closed up shop and is sitting outside. The weather has turned a bit cooler in the afternoon, so the residents of Mamacita take advantage of it.

Kyuhyun’s startled by the blonde man in a matador’s outfit walking down the street with a red sheet pulled over a rod and followed by several young women. “That’s Eunhyuk.” Ryeowook informs Kyuhyun as the gambler stares at the man in the street. “He thinks he’s going to become some famous bull master by waving that red sheet around.”

A smirk ghosts across Kyuhyun’s face as he realizes this Eunhyuk could become part of his plans as a distraction in some way. He needs a few more players, namely the thief, the mastermind and any other accomplices the two may have. Kyuhyun knows that his plan could fail as much as it could succeed. “Well, with all the girls in town fawning over him, I’m sure he’ll make a good bullfighter.” He jokes.

Ryeowook cracks a smile at the joke as they settle down for another afternoon card game.