"I am Jung Ki Bum."
"Jung Ki Bum? I've never heard that name before. Are you the new royal staff? A bodyguard perhaps?" Princess Soojung was curious.
"No, you're wrong."
Suddenly, Amber entered and she was shocked.
"Gongjunim.. who… who are You?" Amber pointed at Kibum.
"I'm Kibum."
"Why are you disturbing our Princess? Show your respect, dude!"
Princess Soojung just kept quiet. She was waiting to be called 'Gongjunim'.
Kibum was shocked. He quickly bowed and greeted Her properly. He also apologized.
Princess Soojung was trying to hold Her laugh. Yeah, it's always fun for Her to play pranks on somebody else and make someone else to hail before Her. Then, She cleared Her throat, "It's okay. You're not the first one. But anyway, why don't you realize that I'm the Princess? With my royal crown above my head?"
Kibum didn't know what to answer. He suddenly became stiff. There was no crown for a Princess in his time. His Aunty Eunji didn't wear any crown, nor did his mother. The only thing which differentiate the Princess and a common lady was the royal robe. But nowadays, even a Princess wore modern clothes, not royal ones.
"I'm sorry. My fault. Umm… I have to go now. See You again, Gongjunim."
Then Kibum left.
"Isn't he gorgeous?" Princess Soojung asked Amber.
"What? Him? Oh please! He has a girly face." Amber replied.
"He treats me like a princess."
"Everyone treats You so."
"Eonni!" Princess Soojung looked at Amber "Can't you please just agree? I think I've fallen for him."
"MWOYA? Gongjunim, are You serious? He's just a mere… person. We don't even know what job he has."
"Eonni, jebal. Love doesn't depend on what work someone has."
"Michige… Gongjunim, I think it's time to get back to the castle. It's about time to start the astronomy study."
Princess Soojung was enchanted to meet Kibum. However, Kibum didn't feel the same. He felt ashamed and speechless. He had just met a target which his father had aimed. He had just bowed to Her and just wait for a few years or even a few months, She will have to bow to him. Well, he liked to be treated like a prince of course, but it's way too cruel.
The next morning, Princess Sooyeon woke up lazily from her bed. If She could, She would just lay on Her bed all day without having to do anything but sleep. She was being that way because that day, She had to be with Prince Heechul all day. Thinking about it made Her lazy and felt like dying. But then, She thought of her musical career which depended on this mission.
She took a deep breath and then wore Her formal costume. She was lazy to have a breakfast with Her family that morning for King Yunho must give Her boring advices. It was surely not an advice to complete the mission, but the advice of being nice with Prince Heechul, which She would never ever obey.
After She had finished preparing, She went to the royal garage and met Prince Heechul there. He was standing there, looking at the mirror and fixing His hair until He saw the reflection of Princess Sooyeon there. He quickly turned around to greet Her.
"Good morning, Sooyeon ah" giving His sweetest smile.
However, Princess Sooyeon disliked it.
"You might be a prince in your country but remember, here, you are no more than a guest so watch your language when you speak to me!"
Prince Heechul's pride was hurt but He didn't give up. He opened the door for the Princess.
"Choisonghamnida. This way, Gongjunim."
This time, Princess Sooyeon humiliated Him again. She didn't get in the car from the door opened by the Prince, She went the other way instead. Prince Heechul was humiliated enough. He shut up and get in to the car. But before that, Princess Sooyeon gave a warning.
"Hey you! Don't you dare to feel happy because Abeoji appointed you to do this mission. It's because he regards you as a professional spy and please don't feel proud for that, arasseo?"
Prince Heechul gulped. He nodded and got in to the car.
On their way, they didn't talk. Prince Heechul would love to but He was afraid that the pretty princess beside Him would turn into a lioness. Princess Sooyeon didn't mind to talk. She just stared outside and looked how the amazing the city was. Suddenly, she saw Girls' Generation on one of the billboards.
"It's So Nyeo Si Dae! Aww.. I love them especially Jessica" Princess Sooyeon was being sweet.
"Me too!" Prince Heechul clapped in excitement.
Princess Sooyeon looked at Him in annoyance "Jinjja? Well, I'll give you a quiz. What is Jessica's real name?"
Prince Heechul was damned. How could He know? He had never really care about Girls' Generation before.
"Dda! You can't answer it! It's Jung Soo Yeon. Just like mine."
Then, suddenly the excitement in Princess Sooyeon's face faded. She was suddenly reminded of how She was forbidden to take an audition because of her Sister. She closed Her eyes tightly, trying to blot out the memory by shaking Her head. It hurt Her so much. If She passed the audition, She might have been one of those girls, introducing Herself as Girls' Generation Sooyeon. She really wouldn't mind to have two people sharing the same name in a group. All of those would happen only if She was allowed to take the audition in the past.
"Are we there yet?" Princess Sooyeon asked impatiently.
The car turned right and it stopped right in front of a big mansion. Big? Is that even a suitable adjective? Well, it's bigger than big, huger than huge, larger than large and more extra than just an extra.
"Wow! How the hell can this building stands here?" Princess Sooyeon was amazed "It's so…"
"B-i-g" Prince Heechul continued.
Princess Sooyeon stared at Prince Heechul, perhaps trying to imply, 'If you dare to proceed my words again, you'll suffer!'
Prince Heechul locked His lips.
They continued to stare at the mansion. It was a classical one, painted white but it seemed so clean. The size? Perhaps it was one third of the palace. One third means just like the size of the international airfield.
It was so crowded. There were so many workers moving the furniture inside the house. Perhaps Secretary Jung had just spent his first salary on buying furniture to fill his house out.
"Okay, Gongjunim, Wangjanim, please listen to Your royal mission."
'It's just a cheap mission because I have to do it with this beggar guy" Princess Sooyeon thought.
"You need to get into the house and search for anything suspicious. Personal files or previous personal histories would do. You have to keep Your status and this mission a secret" the manager told them.
"I've known that. You'll wait for us, don't you, ajussi? But where? You can't just park here. They'll know that the royal family is visiting" Princess Sooyeon asked.
"Arasseo, Gongjunim. We'll wait for you there. See? Behind the bushes and a tall tree" the manager pointed somewhere "However, you only have an hour."
"An hour? Solving this mission for an hour? It's impossible! You see how big the house is. It's impossible to search all over it in one hour. I guess Secretary Jung himself might need a whole day to explore it."
"Choisonghamnida, Gongjunim. It's an order from His Majesty."
"Okay, very well. So what if I can't finish it in one hour? My musical must be canceled FOREVER? You go and tell my father I…"
"Please calm Your temper down, Gongjunim" the manager laughed a bit "If You can't finish it in an hour, we must go and leave both of You here and You will go back to the palace by taking the public transportation."
"WHAT?! Why? The royal family has enough cars for everyone to ride. Soojung even has ten for Herself! It's not like just because the driver ajussi is here, the royal family won't be able to go anywhere."
"Well, it's better than having to say goodbye to Your musical, Gongjunim. Now get going! The one hour has started."
"What? It's not fair! You guys trick me on purpose!" Princess Sooyeon kept talking as she got out from the car but suddenly, the manager halted them.
"One more thing!"
"What is it again? One hour you said, you've just cut the time off! Please, you're annoying, ajussi!"
"If anybody knows that You are a royal family member, You are never allowed to take part in entertainment anymore, Gongjunim."
"Like I care" Princess Sooyeon gave a mehrong to the manager and left.
It's easy to get into the house since it was crowded. Nobody would realize two people were secretly sneaking inside. Man, the house was just like the castle, but the ancient one. The different was just, it had five stories. There were two giant stairs to the second floor and another two to the next and another two to the next, etc.
"Which part should we go first?" Princess Sooyeon asked.
Prince Heechul looked around. Then, he spotted Wufan. Standing by the west stair, holding a note and giving instructions to the workers.
If Wufan knew they were here, then it's the end!
"How about if we got the the upper stairs first? The east part first."
Prince Heechul looked worried. Princess Sooyeon realized that but she questioned no more and agreed.
However, the smart Wufan, a very cautious one too, saw them silently climbing up the stairs and he recognized one of them, the wretched Prince Heechul whom he disliked so much.
He climbed up too, using the same stairs, without Them realizing.
Then suddenly, he shocked Them out of the blue.
"What are You guys doing here?"
Prince Heechul and Princess Sooyeon stopped in instance then They slowly turned around and as expected, it's Wufan, the guard of the house who would be ready to bite anytime.
"Umm.. Hi Wufan! Woah! Your new home is so big. I'm fascinated" Prince Heechul tried to be friendly, which He had never done to Wufan before.
"I asked why are You here, Wangjanim!"
"Umm.. Well, I'm here to explore the house of course, it's one of the royal duties. I need to see what's inside this big building. Yeah… oh yes, and this is my girlfriend" Prince Heechul pointed at Princess Sooyeon.
Princess Sooyeon was startled. 'I'm not his girlfriend. Not even his friend geez!' Princess Sooyeon thought.
Suddenly, Kibum appeared behind the royals.
"What's up there?" he asked, with his dazzling smile.
Wufan bowed while the royals turned around. This time, Princess Sooyeon was shocked to die. How could She explain to Her musical partner?
"Isn't that you? The court lady?" Kibum asked as he saw Princess Sooyeon.
Princess Sooyeon didn't dare to look at his eyes. She just nodded.
"Hey wait! What court lady?" suddenly Prince Heechul just spoke up.
"Of course I'm one of the court lady too, Wangjanim" Princess Sooyeon began to show her acting skill "I'm a servant in the educational department. I'm a court lady too."
"Gong…"
Prince Heechul wanted to protest but He was cut by Princess Sooyeon.
"Namjanim" Princess Sooyeon bowed to Kibum "I'm so sorry for the riot. Please allow me to explain. Wangjanim was given an assignment in drawing a sketch of the interior from a house. We spotted your house and we were interested. We thought it is a public building so we didn't make an appointment to get in. I'm so sorry. This is my bad."
Kibum thought for a while. It didn't really matter though. However, he kinda favored the court lady. They were like friends.
"It's okay. Hyung, take it easy" Kibum winked to Wufan "I know the girl. Umm.. anyway, do you guys need a tour guide? I would be happy to be one."
Princess Sooyeon would be glad too, but… knowing that Kibum was also one of the targets…
"It's okay. We're okay by ourselves. I suppose you don't mind if we look around alone."
"Of course I won't. Go ahead. Take your time."
Princess Sooyeon bowed to Kibum and Wufan then retreated with Prince Heechul.
"Let's get back to our work, hyung" Kibum patted Wufan's back as he was about to leave.
"Chamkkamanyo, Namjanim. Don't you sense any suspicious thing?" Wufan asked.
"Suspicious? Why?"
"If that lady is really Wangjanim's servant, how come we don't know her? We were stuck with him for quite a time."
"Take it easy, hyung. Didn't she explain that she is from the educational department? Of course we don't see her around his room, serving him personally."
"What if they are spies?"
"Spies? Oh come on! Our status is secure! Why would His Majesty send that stupid Wangja to be a spy rather than a professional one?"
"I think I should tell master about this."
"You wanna tell abeoji? Please don't. He's quite busy right now. He wouldn't like to be informed that an annoying Prince is wandering around his house."
Wufan gave up. He gave a brief smile to Kibum showing that he agreed.
"Now go back to your work, hyung" Kibum patted Wufan's back as he passed over him "I need to see father. Man, I wonder he can make his office in the fifth storey but he didn't put any elevator."
Meanwhile, after passing the ordeal, Prince Heechul and Princess Sooyeon agreed that They would pretend to have a sightseeing session first, rather than directly into their mission. So, They climbed to the highest stair and found an open part of the house. They went outside and got poured by the warm sunshine.
They took off their shoes to feel the warm, or perhaps hot tiles. Know what? There was a big pool with two different colors, blue and green, each separated with a small bar in the middle of it. But the bar was empty, no bartender inside. Perhaps Secretary Jung hadn't found anyone suitable for the job. There were also several laying benches just like those placed near the public swimming pools.
When they looked down, of course, they're facing the backyard. It was not really big in fact, because the space were all used up for the house. But there was another big pool, two colored too, but that one was red and pink.
"Oh my! The house is so big and luxurious! I think abeoji should renovate our home!" Princess Sooyeon said "Hey look! What's there? Is that then kart racing arena?" Princess Sooyeon was pointing to the northern east side. But she was way too excited that she didn't realize she almost fall out of the boundary.
Prince Heechul noticed that. He quickly caught Princess Sooyeon's waist and saved her but as soon as he did that, he drew himself back "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have touched you."
Princess Sooyeon kept silent. It was so awkward. Someone she used to hate had just saved her life.
Prince Heechul that sat on one of the benches and looked at the sunny sky but he couldn't manage to do it because it was way to shiny.
"You always think that you can do anything" Princess Sooyeon teased.
"Mwo?" Prince Heechul rose "Are you insulting me?"
"Kind of" Princess Sooyeon giggled "How can your eyes win over the sunlight?"
Prince Heechul couldn't reply.
"Anyway, thanks. For saving my life. I owe you."
Prince Heechul couldn't believe it. The cold Ice Princess was melting down.
"Well" Prince Heechul cleared his throat "So, you're going to be nice with me from now on?"
Princess Sooyeon didn't response. She looked at the clear sky and took a deep breath.
"So, were you really not care about your musical? You said 'Like I care' to the manager ajussi" Prince Heechul asked.
"Umm.. About that? Of course I do care about my musical! If not, I wouldn't be in here with you right now. I just want to be rebellious."
"Rebellious?"
Princess Sooyeon nodded "It was after that time when… abeoji showed me how He can control everything, including my fate, destiny, career, controlling what I ought to like or dislike. I strongly dislike to be controlled. Well, hasn't He controlled me enough by binding me from the outer world, to stay inside the palace as a silent princess? He stresses me a lot. So, I find a way to stress him back. I became rebellious. Actually, I don't hate you nor do I dislike you. It's abeoji's idea to set our engagement, I hate that. That's why I act coldly and showing everyone that I hate you."
After listening to Her story, Prince Heechul was speechless. How should He react? Should He give Her advices? Just like those wise guys in drama do? Or else?
In the end, He didn't lecture Her. He was afraid that if He dared to do so, the Princess would turn away and be cold once again to him. But He said this instead "Umm.. that time. What time was that? Was it when You were a kid?"
Princess Sooyeon gave a cold stare "No more question. We've got to go back to work. I don't want to end up riding the public transportation home."
Meanwhile, Kibum had just entered his father's office. It was a dark one. With no ventilation, just an air conditioner. There was five LCD TVs on the right side showing the CCTV records.
"You called me, abeoji?" Kibum bowed as he closed the door.
"Umm yeah. Get in. How is it going downstairs?" Jongwon faced his son as he asked.
"Wufan hyung handles it well."
Suddenly, Jongwon's eyes moved to the TVs.
"Who are they?" Jongwon asked as he saw two people standing near the pool.
'Damned' Kibum thought 'I decided not to tell abeoji but he finds it."
"Isn't that the foolish Prince in the palace?" Jongwon got near to the TVs.
Kibum nodded "Choisonghamnida, abeoji. I've spotted them just now. Prince Heechul is here to finish his sketch. Some assignment from the educational department. I was the one who gave the permission."
Jongwon was about to shout at Kibum but he thought of his wife's words "Please love him." Lady Jinri suddenly just appeared in his mind.
"Well, it's okay. No big deal anyway. At least, He's not here to spy. And He certainly won't be a good spy" Jongwon turned off all of the TVs as He didn't want to see the annoying Prince "Anyway, who is the girl?"
"She's just a mere servant at the educational department. Perhaps she's just the Prince's companion on His work."
"I see."
Prince Heechul and Princess Sooyeon had just got back in to the house when they saw Kibum got into a room.
"You called me, abeoji?" Kibum said as he shut the door.
"It's the room. Come on! It's time to work!" Princess Sooyeon pulled Prince Heechul's hand and they stood in front of the door. They planned to listen secretly.
Inside the room…
"So how's your study? Have you got accustomed?" Jongwon asked.
"Yes, I am. It's not difficult. Those new things are just flowing in my brain automatically without me having to difficultly memorize them. I like the future more. I wish mother is here with us" Kibum sighed.
"That's why we should make them pay."
"Abeoji…"
"You know what happened to your mother and how they still can live on with it."
"Abeoji, it's 500 years ago. The current royals don't have any idea about it."
"Current royals? They're just beggars! They should have been beggars!"
Princess Sooyeon and Prince Heechul were shocked. How could he mock the royal family? But They kept silent.
"Abeoji!"
"It should be me who ruled Cheonhwa. It should be you… or… perhaps your brother who would be the descendant."
"My brother? I didn't know that I have a brother!"
"Of course you don't! You would have if we are not here now!"
Kibum didn't understand. What Jongwon meant by brother was that, Kibum was idiot back then. How would Kibum ruled while he was idiot. Jongwon was referring to another brother that Lady Jinri might bore.
Kibum fell silent. He was of course hurt when his father would appoint the younger sibling of his rather than himself to be a King.
"Listen Kibum. In the near future, you will see Cheonhwa's new ruler and you will of course be the Crown Prince. Those current royals, I'll kill them one by one" Jongwon's eyes were shining when he said this.
Princess Sooyeon gasped. It seemed like the time stopped in instance. She didn't realize anything anymore.
"What's that?" he asked.
When She was about to run away, there was no way out. The paths were blocked. She was peeking too seriously that She didn't realize Prince Heechul was captured by Wufan, holding the sword upon the Prince's neck.
By the time Jongwon was about to open the door, the door opened by itself, actually by Wufan, bringing his two prisoners.
"I've found some spies, master" Wufan said as he kicked Princess Sooyeon down to Her knees, while kept holding Prince Heechul.
"Ah!" Jongwon tried to wake himself up. He had just given a clue to his biggest treason ever. While Kibum shut himself up. He had just had a good new future friend but his father ruined his friendship. From now on, he would be known as a son of criminal.
Although he was exhausted with the situation, Jongwon tried to look calm "Look here! The prince! Was it the King who asked you to spy here?"
"Answer! When Master is talking to you!" Wufan knocked Prince Heechul's face with his sword.
Prince Heechul didn't want to answer. He looked at Princess Sooyeon who was speechless. She didn't give any clue at all.
"Answer or I KILL YOU NOW!" Jongwon yelled as he took the sword from Wufan.
"NO!" Princess Sooyeon stood up and yelled, her eyes gazed exactly at Jongwon's "Beg me pardon, Sir. Do you know whom are you speaking to? I am the Princess of this Nation, Princess Jung Soo Yeon"
To be continued
