Jeong Min and Hyun Seong went undercover to check out TOP Media. Before that, they spent immeasurable time trying to decide who to dress up as.

 

“Jeong Min-ah, how’s this?” asked Hyun Seong. He tried on a suit K.Will hyung left at the dorm and forgot to get. It was way too big on Hyun Seong’s lean frame. Jeong Min hooted with laughter.

 

“No offense, but it doesn’t look well on you. Not at all,” said Jeong Min between scoffs.

 

“I’m running out of ideas! We don’t look old enough to dress as ahjusshis, but we just went as skater dudes, someone in TOP Media’s bound to recognize us,” said Hyun Seong as he slipped out of the ridiculous suit.

 

“You think that what’s-their-name? Teen Top told the staff there to watch the doors?” asked Jeong Min. Then his gaze fell on a pair of red Ray-Bans. There were two; the other was black-rimmed and not tinted.

 

“Hyun Seong-ah, look,” he said as he slipped on the blue one. Then he put on his black cap.

 

“So? You still look like Jeong Min to me,” said Hyun Seong as he hesitantly put on the black Ray-Ban.

 

“That’s because you’ve known me since I was in nappies. But other people haven’t. Good thing Young Min left his DSLR,” said Jeong Min. “Tada! Jeong Min the tourist!”

 

“That simple?” said Hyun Seong, refusing to believe that after many minutes of deciding what to be, they end up as tourists.

 

“Aw, c’mon! The glasses suit you. Gear up!”

 

After 15 minutes of prepping up and persuading, Jeong Min and Hyun Seong set out. At the bus stop, they saw a couple of girls who had ‘Boyfriend’ ballers on their wrists. But they hardly took second glances at the two boys.

 

“You like ‘em?” asked Hyun Seong. Jeong Min’s eyes widened.

 

“Oh? Who?” asked one girl. She caught Hyun Seong looking at her baller. “Oh, Boyfriend. Yes, I love them. They’re set to debut in less than a month. I’m so excited.”

 

“Yah, we all are,” said the other girl.

 

Hyun Seong and Jeong Min got on the next bus.

 

“Why did you have to ask that? It was risky.” said Jeong Min.

 

“It was a test to see if your crazy masquerade would work,” said Hyun Seong, gripping hard on a hand rail while standing. Quite unfortunate for them to catch an over-crowded bus.

 

“If it didn’t?”

 

“You really have that little faith in yourself? Of course I knew it would work. You’re too smart to think up a failing plan,” said Hyun Seong confidently.

 

Jeong Min fell silent and stared down at his sneakers. “I DID make one, and we-” he said and fumbled.

 

“Yah, yah, yah. That’s over, arasso? I already forgave that,” said Hyun Seong. He gave his bestfriend a thump on the back.

 

Jeong Min smiled back.

 

In less than 30 minutes, they arrived at TOP Media’s main office. They glanced at each other and shared a sigh.

 

‘Well, this is it,’ they thought. And entered the building.

 

They went about looking around like innocent tourists. They saw a staff member and Jeong Min pulled at Hyun Seong’s shirt sleeve. He pointed to a poster of Teen Top on the wall. Hyun Seong nodded.

 

“Yah, isn’t that Teen Top?” said Jeong Min, loud enough for the staff member to hear.

 

“Oh yeah. Their set to debut this month, right?” Hyun Seong said, playing along.

 

“I don’t really know each member…” said Jeong Min, casting a short glance at the staff member.

 

Just as he wanted, the staff member (who was wearing the tag ‘Taelung’) approached them.

 

“Can I be of service to you?” he asked.

 

“Hm? Oh, neh, ahjusshi. I was wondering if you could introduce Teen Top’s members to us. Our girlfriends love them and we’d like to get to know them too,” lied Jeong Min smoothly.

 

Hyun Seong admired this in Jeong Min. His outrageous yet genius plans need proper acting, and he excelled in that too, which makes his plans work. All the others need to do is either play along well or stay out of the way.

 

“Oh, ok. This,” said Taelung, pointing to a boy with smooth black hair and beads among his locks, “is Ricky, the visual maknae. He’s also said to be good in photography.”

 

“This one is Changjo, the real maknae. He’s probably the kindest and quietest of them all, but he has good vocals.” He pointed to the tallest boy with the smallest eyes.

 

“THAT’s the maknae? Pretty tall, huh?” said Hyun Seong.

 

“Haven’t you noticed that all the Chois in the K-pop world are tall: Minho of Shinee, Siwon of SuJu, and Sooyoung of SNSD?” said Jeong Min.

 

“Moving on. This is Chunji, their ‘power voice’. He’s pretty strong.” A brownish-blond-haired guy stared back at them with warm eyes and an emotionless mouth.

 

“This is L.Joe, their resident bad boy rapper. He may not look much because of his thin frame, but they say he can impersonate voices well.” L.Joe had flaming red hair and piercing eyes.

 

“Ahn Daniel, or Niel, is known for his emotional voice and rich dad. He’s known to have ‘friends’ all over the world.” Niel had the longest hair and the plumpest lips.

 

“And finally, their leader and the eldest is CAP, or Min Soo. He’s starred in some shows before coming to TOP Media.” The last boy had dark glasses over his eyes, but something about him was strikingly familiar to Hyun Seong and Jeong Min, Hyun Seong, particularly.

 

“Is there anything else you wanna ask?” asked Taelung.

 

“Yeah. Do they have a dorm? You know, like Shinee or B1A4?” asked Hyun Seong.

 

“Yes they do. It’s just a few blocks from here. It’s a plain off-white apartment. You won’t miss it,” replied Taelung quickly before realizing what he said. “Oh wait! Don’t tell anyone I told you that! Don’t stalk them or anything! Please!”

 

“We won’t. Our girlfriends are the fans, not us. We won’t tell them either,” said Jeong Min.

 

“Anything else you wish to know?”

 

“That’s a wrap. Thanks for your time, Taelung ahjusshi,” said Jeong Min. The boys took a last photo of the place then went home.

 

It was just 12 noon and it would be hours before the kids get home. Luckily, the impostor was still out. Hyun Seong sat in the living room while Jeong Min made up a small lunch for them.

 

When he got back, Hyun Seong was scribbling on a notebook. Jeong Min looked in it and saw all the details on it. If Hyun Seong admired Jeong Min’s intellect, Jeong Min admired Hyun Seong’s memory.

 

Hyun Seong has worked on memory puzzles since childhood. His excellently-molded mind can memorize songs better than any of them. And right now, it was a perfect skill for their investigation.

 

“What have we got?” asked Jeong Min, handing Hyun Seong a sandwich.

 

“Oh thanks. Well, I’ve got a close up pic of each of them. And some of the details Taelung was careless enough to give away,” said Hyun Seong.

 

“Carry on,” said Jeong Min while taking a bite from his sandwich and inspecting the picture with Ricky on it.

 

“There are main suspects that could be majorly involved in this trick: Ricky, CAP, and Niel.”

 

“Niel? Why Niel?”

 

“If his dad’s rich, the world is at his back.”

 

“Oh, I get it. He’s the resource person. So, Ricky is said to be a good photographer, right? Maybe HE shot those pics of our impostor with Han Mi,” said Jeong Min. He bit off his sandwich.

 

“I thought so too…” said Hyun Seong, trailing off. Jeong Min sensed his sudden retreat.

 

“We’ll get to the bottom of this, alright? Han Mi will be yours again,” said Jeong Min assuring Hyun Seong.

 

“Oh well, anyway,” said Hyun Seong, brushing off his grief. “CAP. There’s something about him… I just can’t point out what.”

 

“Taelung said he used to star in shows before coming to TOP Media. Could he be our impostor?”

 

Hyun Seong gave it a thought. “Could be. But that could mean anything. Besides, the glasses hid his eyes. We missed a whole lot of information.”

 

“How about L.Joe? Taelung said he’s a good voice impersonator.”

 

“He’s not tall enough. But with that tiny bit of information, we can be prepared for what they set out to do.”

 

“Hmm… Chunji. He is kinda taller than Dong Hyun hyung. Taelung said he’s strong. I bet he’s part of the kidnap scene.”

 

“Yeah. And Changjo… There’s not much to go on about him.”

 

“Yeah, but it will do no good to ignore him. Maybe he’ll come later into the picture.”

 

“Summary, please?”

 

“Niel is their resource person. Ricky is their photographer and possible props master. L.Joe is an excellent dubber and a threat. Chunji kidnapped our hyung. Changjo… not much. And CAP… there’s something…”

 

“CAP is our possible impostor,” said Jeong Min with finality.

 

“Oh, alright…” said Hyun Seong, not really convinced.

 

“What we have to do now is check out that dorm,” said Jeong Min.

 

“What dorm?”

 

Jeong Min and Hyun Seong whipped around to see the face of CAP/Dong Hyun.