Chapter 12
The next day, Gu Mansion.
Gu Jun Pyo had been in a pleasant mood since his attempt to kidnap Geum Jan di had failed. He wanted to make her apologise, but even he was not sure why he was so insistent on it. Any other time, any opposition to his rule would have caused him to be in a foul mood, but something about this commoner made him smile even in most unusual circumstances. This day was not different either.
He woke up quiet earlier than his usual time, without any prompting. This was happening for a couple of days, and this change in behavior seemed to alarm all the servants appointed in his wing, which was undeniably amusing for him. Now, although everyone was still surprised by his early arising and laid back attitude, they managed to act somewhat normally around him.
Getting up from his bed and freshening up, he opened the curtains and sliding glass door before stepping into the balcony facing the well maintained gardens of his family's property. He leaned on the railing of the balcony, enjoying the morning sun and the chirping of birds. With a soft breeze of air, the beautiful smell of wet soil filled his lungs and a relaxed smile formed on his face, brightening up his eyes and making him look more innocent.
This was how the butler of Gu household found him some time later. Although he was surprised to see the sudden changes in the heir of the Gu family, he managed to hide it well.
Calling out to him, he asked, "Master Gu Jun pyo, would you like your breakfast to be served here?" in a calm voice.
Jun pyo turned around, and declined with his head, before saying, "I will be down in breakfast parlour in a little while." Hearing this, Mr. Kim, the butler of the family, turned around and left to give instructions to staff.
Gu Jun pyo entered the breakfast parlour, dressed in his impeccable tailored suit a while later, where cuisines of various types were placed in front of him. Opting for traditional Korean breakfast and some tea, he smiled towards the maid who was serving him. Startled, she spilled the tea while serving, her eyes fixed on him. Letting out an amused chuckle, he waved her away.
Again everyone was surprised at this behavior, Mr. Kim came forward, saying "I'll make sure she's fired for this, Master."
Looking up, Jun pyo replied with the smile that was now constantly on his face, "Relax Mr. Kim, it was just a little bit of tea." Everyone was even more surprised at this, as spilling tea was a fireable offence till a couple of days ago.
Soon after finishing his breakfast, he headed towards the parking lot of Gu mansion, where his favourite shiny red Lotus Elise was parked. Getting inside, and starting the engine, he sped off towards the school.
Soon enough, he reached Shinhwa high, where he found his friends waiting for him. Greeting them with a warm smile, which confused even his friends, as passing out smiles for no reason was certainly not usual for him. But returning the greeting, they headed towards the F4 lounge.
All the students stood aside, staring towards them in rapt attention, making way for them like people did for royalty in the older times of history. But perhaps comparison with royalty was not entirely wrong either, as they were recognized kings of Shinhwa.
Entering the lounge, Jun pyo went straight towards the surveillance system, to see if that commoner had arrived yet. But to his great disappointment, she was not seen anywhere on the school campus. Thinking of looking for her friends to see if any of them had arrived as of yet, he didn't find any of them either.
He turned towards Woo bin to ask about his cousin's whereabouts, who was sitting not far away from him on the couch, going through some files on his laptop. He opened his mouth to ask the question when his gaze fell on a large cockroach which was resting peacefully on the top of a small table beside the couch.
His eyes opened wide and a look of terror crossed his face as he let out a loud shriek! Everyone turned towards him, surprised, to see what was wrong.
By now, he had gotten up from the couch and was hiding behind its side, peeking around to see if the cockroach was still there. To his momentary relief, the cockroach was no longer on a small table. He let out a sigh of relief, before looking around to see if it was somewhere else. He yelled on the top of his lungs when he saw the offending cockroach sitting on the couch, just a couple of feet away from him. Getting away from the couch, he went towards the games section of the lounge, hoping it wouldn't follow him, but to his utter disappointment and shock, the cockroach was flying right behind him.
The others were watching this with no small amount of amusement, and were having a difficult time not laughing out loud.
"Get rid of it!" He shouted. His friends got up with a smile to help him, thinking where it would have come from, as the lounge was kept impeccably clean all the time. But to their surprise, it escaped every time someone went near it, before going after Jun pyo again.
Finally, after running around for a while, Woo bin managed to catch it in an empty glass container, which was used as a snack container before.
Bringing it closer to his face for observation, Woo bin let out a chuckle, "It's not even a real cockroach Jun pyo," he said while passing the jar to Yi Jung, who confirmed Woo bin's statement with an amused smile playing on his face.
Saying, "He's right Jun pyo. It's just a toy made of plastic"
He passed the container to Ji hoo, who said, "More likely, it's a remote controlled cockroach." Pointing towards it's odd antennas.
He was about to open the lid of the container, but was stopped by Jun pyo hurriedly taking the container away from his hands to prevent him from taking cockroach out, before realising he had taken a cockroach in his hands. Immediately he dropped it with a yelp as though the container was physically hurting him. This ensured another round of chuckles from guys as Gu Jun pyo sulked.
"But where did it come from?" Yi Jung wondered, but unfortunately, they didn't have any answer.
"Once I find out whoever did this, they are dead." Jun pyo exclaimed.
Unbeknownst to him, four girls, who were cause of his recent misery and the other ups and downs in F4's lives, were watching the happenings of the F4 lounge in no small amount of amusement. Having bugged the surveillance system of the school the day before, Song Navya had access to all the footage CCTV cameras in school recorded, and a camera in the lounge was included in it.
All four of them were sitting in the Shinhwa school gardens, as there weren't any cameras there. "I hope he stops his pranks on Jan di after this." Ga eul sighed, getting up from the marble chair set around the table they were sitting at. A holographic projector was placed on the top of the table, displaying the happenings of the F4 lounge.
The others agreed with her, and went towards their classes. Unbeknownst to them, their conversation and live footage of cockroach incident was heard and recorded by the mean trio of Shinhwa high, also known as Gin-sun-min, who were hiding behind shrubs in the garden.
"I'm going to show this to Gu Jun pyo oppa, let's see how he doesn't take his order for not getting involved in their matters back!" Said Ginger, pointing towards recording of V4 on her phone, still humiliated and seething over the way Princess Song had behaved with her to defend that commoner, and hurt over the way Gu Jun pyo had taken their side.
But she was too afraid to go against either of their direct orders, because no matter how bitchy she seemed, Princess Song was heiress of the Song clan and was a family member of their beloved Song Woo bin oppa, and she was dangerous in her own right. And there was no way any of them were going against Gu Jun pyo's orders. But perhaps, with the backing of F4, they would be able to get rid of the other three of V4 and with them, hopefully Song Navya as well. Although with commoners gone, they won't really have many problems with Princess Song as she was oppa's cousin and her friend, Ha Jae Kyung, was relatively unknown as no one had dared to dig up anything on her after Jun pyo's warning, but apparently she was rich enough to keep the environment of Shinhwa unpolluted. Miranda and Sunny agreed with her, and they went towards the F4 lounge to complete their mission.
Soon, the mean trio of Shinhwa high reached the F4 lounge, where Gu Jun pyo was still stuck to the surveillance system and Ji hoo was taking a nap on his bean bag. Song Woo bin and So yi Jung were not in the lounge anymore. Bursting inside the lounge with constant chatter and noise, the trio went towards the couch where Jun pyo was sitting. Noticing the cockroach they had seen on princess Song's freaky holograph projecting tablet, Sunny poked Ginger, making her yelp and pointed towards the glass container. All three of them gasped, their palms covering their mouths for dramatic effect. Jun pyo, and Ji hoo who had woken up due to all the noise, watched the three of them, bemused.
All three of them started speaking at once, with varying expressions on their faces. "Oppa! We caught them!", " It was them who did it oppa!", "We knew they were trouble! We even have proof oppa!", " Oppa, you need to take your orders back!"
Not able to understand a single word, Ji hoo leaned back and closed his eyes, trying to ignore their presence all together. Getting tired of their constant meaningless chatter, Jun pyo turned his focus back towards the TV screen. When it became apparent that neither of the F4 were paying any attention to them, they became quiet.
When they were finally quiet, Jun pyo commanded, "Get out," in a cold voice without shifting his eyes away from the TV screen.
Hearing this made them start again, "But oppa!" Sunny whined.
"You need to hear us out!" Miranda continued.
Ginger was about to continue Miranda's sentence, when Jun pyo cut her off, "Don't you dare assume you know what I need. And either speak one person at a time, or shut up and get out." He said in the same cold manner, not moving his gaze away from TV. Noticing their closed mouths, Ji hoo, who was covering his ears with his hands to mute the noise, released a sigh of relief before removing his hands from his ears.
Jun pyo's order managed to calm their excitement down, Ginger took the lead, pulling out her phone, she played the video and placed it in Jun pyo's line of view. Noticing the commoner and her friends in the video, he kept his eyes trained on the video in front of him, to see Princess Song controlling the cockroach they had found in the lounge and the live video playing on a holographic projector between them. He kept a tight lid on his emotions, as the video proceeded. But his frustration melted away without his noticing when he saw a dry cleaner smile towards the end. Keeping his face expressionless, he flashed his eyes towards the trio, asking them in a mean voice which was colder than before.
"What part of not interfering in any issue concerning F4 or V4, do you three not get?" He took the phone in his hands and threw it to the ground, fury clear on his face, "Put your noses where they don't belong one more time and all of you are dead. Now get out of here." He thundered, and they scurried off from the lounge.
Letting out a sigh, he sat back on the couch and leaned back, closing his eyes. "V4 is giving back as good as they got, Jun pyo." Ji hoo stated with an amused smile, making Jun pyo groan out aloud. Getting his phone out, he typed, 'red alert, urgent meeting in lounge' before pressing send to Yi Jung and Woo bin.
Yi Jung and Woo bin, both were already heading towards the lounge when they received Jun pyo's text, they reached the lounge soon after reading his text, thinking about what could have happened to make Jun pyo invoke red alert for the first time after its creation,which was about ten years ago, and was supposed to mean emergency situation.
Woo bin entered first, asking "What's wrong Jun pyo? What happened?" In a frantic voice.
"Get settled first and let's wait for Yi Jung to arrive first." Ji hoo replied in an amused voice, with a smile playing on his face.
Yi Jung entered the lounge as soon as he said this, "Is everything alright Jun pyo?" He asked in a somewhat calmer voice than Woo bin.
Letting out a chuckle, again Ji hoo replied, "Get comfortable guys, it's gonna be a long story." When he noticed Jun pyo was still sulking.
They sat down in the chairs adjacent to the couch, and Woo bin asked, "Now, are you guys going to tell us what is wrong? Why did you send the red alert text jun pyo?" With confusion.
Instead of answering the question, Jun pyo asked, "What were you two able to find out about the dry cleaners friends?" With a neutral expression, giving nothing away.
"I'm sorry, what?" Asked a confused and irritated Yi Jung. He was hoping Jun pyo would let it all go. If he did then he wouldn't have to bother with Chu Ga eul, who was confusing him in every way possible, and even worse, he actually liked talking with her. He felt the need to maintain his distance from her, she was the sort of girl he didn't like. But unfortunately he was feeling some sort of pull towards her. Thankfully the feeling seemed mutual and she was maintaining a distance from him as well.
Woo bin too looked up sharply, remembering his last encounter with Ha Jae Kyung. Noticing Jun pyo's silence on the matter, Ji hoo explained with a smile, "Guess who might have pulled 'The cockroach prank' on our mighty leader this morning?" Seeing their confused expressions on this, he further said, "You never said your cousin is a prankster Woo bin ah." With a smirk on his face.
Finally catching on, Woo bin slammed his hand on his forehead. "Of course she is. Who else would have done that?" He said with a mix of amusement and irritation.
"It was so obvious. She even warned you before she left yesterday." Yi Jung said to Jun pyo, amused, remembering the prank played on him, as his previous irritation with a certain painter was forgotten.
"Yah! Stop laughing and tell me what information you have on two of her friends!" Said Jun pyo, his hands folded in front of his chest and lips dangerously close to pout.
Trying to control their chuckles as he sulked, they shared a glance, not knowing how to pacify him.
Jun pyo turned towards Yi Jung, and asked, "Yi Jung ah, What did you find out about anyone of them?"
"Um, Miss Chu loves painting?" Yi Jung replied, not knowing what else to say. But this seemed enough for Jun pyo as a large smile spread across his face.
Turning towards Woo bin, who was leaning back on his chair with his eyes closed. "Woo bin ah?" Jun pyo prompted.
"Ha heiress loves her car." He replied, in a neutral tone, without changing his position.
The smile on Jun pyo's face became even wider, and he finally turned towards Ji hoo. "Ji hoo ah? Anything on Princess Song?" He asked eagerly.
The smile slipped from Ji hoo's face and his eyes became a bit wider in surprise. He didn't really think Jun pyo would involve him in his silly games. Thinking back on his encounter with her in the music room, he replied, perplexed, "Um, she's a guitarist?"
Jun pyo nodded towards all of them while rubbing his hands together, with a wide grin on his face. Clearly pleased with information he had in his hands.
Thank you so much for all the reviews, and thank you kyliEisMC2 for editing!
I can definitely say next couple of chapters are gonna be fun!
I Hope you guys like it! And even if you don't, let me know in reviews.