When Yoon Sung rolled out of bed the next morning, it was almost lunchtime. As he plodded towards the bathroom, attired in his other most favorite pair of Super Junior pajamas, he thought back on the last two days with a drowsy contentedness. He and Na Na had spent the entire New Year's day together as Na Na had suggested many months ago, during a time Yoon Sung mostly wanted to forget. They had taken a road trip throughout Seoul and the neighboring provinces, making stops at as many of the public New Years celebrations as they could. He recalled particularly one of those events, which had been held at a park, because it had marked a very special occasion for the both of them.
Yoon Sung sat down on the edge of the tub as he thought about that perfect night. They had wandered all about that vast park, eating copious amounts of junk food and watched fireworks most of the night. At midnight, they had gotten back into their car to watch the final profusion of light shows in a quieter area by a small pond. Yoon Sung recalled his nervously pounding heart as he'd watched Na Na's upturned face, her eyes' reflections of the fireworks, and his watch as he carefully timed the most important question of his life: "Na Na, will you marry me?"
She'd turned to him with a gasp and for a few frozen seconds just stared incredulously at him. And then a smile rainbowed across her face as she finally seemed convinced at the sincerity—reality—of his question.
"Yes," she'd whispered in a voice incandescent with breathless happiness. Yoon Sung pulled out his mother's ring from his shirt pocket, his hands trembling from his own shattering disbelief at the reality of this moment's complete bliss.
They stayed up the entire night just talking and eating and watching fireworks and it was only sometime after dawn that they'd finally dozed off.
Yoon Sung stood up now and reached for his toothbrush, suddenly finding himself humming as he wondered happily how best to break the news to his mother and Ahjusshi.
Yoon Sung had no idea, however, that at this precise instant of his kindling happiness, there was a man somewhere in Seoul plotting how best to put out the fire of his life and in particular, his love. This was the man called Shin Matsumoto, a Japanese-Korean, former Yakuza who had an enormous grudge against the City Hunter. Shin was reclining in a tattered green armchair in a crumbling apartment building, gazing unseeingly out of a window overlooking the Han River. He was also remembering the same night Yoon Sung was. The fact was, Shin had been standing only a few feet away from the silver convertible parked by the pond, concealed by foliage and darkness, as he'd ascertained that his first line of attack against the City Hunter would be to take away the woman who was making Yoon Sung's face glow like he had swallowed one of the night's firecrackers.
By the time Yoon Sung had finished showering, his good mood had entirely evaporated. He stalked angrily into the living room, his hand clenched tightly around an empty bottle of Channel No. 9 shower gel.
Ahjusshi and Jung Woo were sitting on the sofa, deeply absorbed by the home shopping program they were watching. Ahjusshi had his cellphone glued to his ear and it appeared Jung Woo was taking notes on a little pad of paper.
Yoon Sung scoffed contemptuously at their inane activity. They didn't even notice him standing mere feet away from them, so riveted were they both upon the television set. Yoon Sung walked over to the television set and pulled the plug.
They both suddenly noticed him then.
"Yoon Sung-ah!" Ahjusshi cried, "how could you do that! We were this close to getting the amazing t-fal frying pot before it sold out again!"
Jung Woo put aside the notepad and gestured for Ahjusshi to be quiet. Ahjusshi glared at Yoon Sung, but waited for him to speak.
Yoon Sung held up the empty bottle of Channel No. 9 and brandished it threateningly at their faces.
"What I want to know is WHO used up the ENTIRE bottle of shower gel I bought JUST before I left?!"
His clanging tones brought his mother and Na Na into the livingroom as well.
"What's going on? Why are you yelling, Yoon Sung?" his mother, Kyung Hee, asked.
Na Na took one look at the bottle he was waving in the air and burst into laughter.
Yoon Sung turned to throw her a murderous look that accused "traitor" before turning back to his prime suspects. "Well?!" he roared.
"It was me!" Ahjusshi screamed back at him. "So what?! I'll buy you another bottle, so quit making a fuss will you."
"You're such a liar! In all the time we've lived together, you've always known better than to touch my shower gel. I know you're covering for that dirty little assassin!"
"Yoon Sung-ah!" Kyung Hee cried warningly.
Yoon Sung turned to her and gave an apologetic nod, "Sorry," he mumbled.
Then he walked up to Ahjusshi, grabbed him by the collar, and burying his face in Ahjusshi's neck took a deep sniff.
"You see!" Yoon Sung cried, when he'd pulled back. "You didn't use my shower gel. You smell like that blueberry nonsense you're always using. It was this guy!"
Shik Jong pushed Yoon Sung away, with a caught expression on his face. Yoon Sung turned towards Jung Woo, who instinctively took a step back.
"To spare you the necessity of sniffing me, let me just admit already that I did use your shower gel. But in my defense, I didn't know it was yours."
"Ha!" Yoon Sung cried in triumph. Then he turned to glare at Ahjusshi again. It was Ahjusshi's turn to shrink back. "First, you let him wear my Super Junior pajamas…and now this!" Yoon Sung accused, advancing upon Ahjusshi with a snarl of rage contorting his face.
"Yoon Sung, just let it go." Na Na told him, grabbing his arm and dragging him away from Ahjusshi. "Like he said, he'll buy you another one."
"He'll buy me another? He'll buy me another?! With whose money? My own money! And even with my money, he couldn't buy me another bottle for at least six more months. How many times do I have to tell you there's a waiting list for this product and how expensive it is!"
"First of all, it's not even your money," Na Na snapped back at him, "It's your father's money! You didn't even earn it! And you had better speak more respectfully to Ahjusshi, not only is he older than you, but he also takes care of you like family!"
"Who takes care of who?" Yoon Sung grumbled.
"What did you say?!" Na Na shouted warningly at him.
"Nothing!" Yoon Sung shouted back at her.
"Do you see how he is, Na Na," Shik Jong said, walking over and hooking his arm around Na Na's. "This childish boy! Do you see what I have to put up with everyday!"
Na Na glared at Yoon Sung once more before she followed Ahjusshi back to the sofa and sat down. Jung Woo went to plug the television back on.
Yoon Sung watched all this, silently fuming.
"Yoon Sung-ah," Kyung Hee said wearily, "I didn't realize you had such a hot temper. Come to the kitchen and eat your breakfast and maybe you will feel better. If you like, you can use mommy's shower gel." She used a tone of indulgent, but gentle, teasing as one would with an errant but adorable child.
As Yoon Sung let himself get led away by his mother, he heard snickers behind him. He wanted to turn to throw dirty glares back at them and give them a piece of his mind, but his mother grabbed his head and kept him from doing so as she firmly propelled him towards the kitchen.
Just then, the doorbell rang.
"I'll get it!" Na Na announced. "Don't get up Ahjusshi or you'll miss your show!" Yoon Sung and Kyung Hee paused at the kitchen door to find out who it was.
Na Na opened the door.
It was Da Hye.