As I left outside from the police station and pulled up the stand to paddle the cycle, Inspector Keng came again to tell me something. He said, “I know what you're going to do, you'll find someone in the airport to help you with the journey, don't repeat the mistake of rejecting because of being stubborn.” I nodded not willing to speak again. But why did he say not to repeat the mistake!? What does he mean!? Does he know something about me!?

I brushed my thoughts off and headed to the airport, I set the location in my smart watch and traveled to the airport in which I just booked a flight ticket to New York. Incheon airport was the nearest one I was able to find. I traveled toward the airport, I had booked the flight ticket for the next direct flight to New Jersey, a close city to the New York city. I'll be getting off at the Newark Airport within a flight of 14 to 16 hours. I can have a good nap by then.

I paddled till my legs felt numb. I have just 5 km more to reach the Incheon Airport, but I stopped halfway because my legs hurted alot. I gave a rest to my legs and sighed heavily, just then I noticed a board titled in my left, 'Seoul textile shop'. I noticed it was open, so I left my cycle out there asking the watchman to take care of it till I finish shopping. I wanted some dark clothes that would prevent me from being visible in the dark.

As I went inside, I saw a mannequin dressed in a black cargo pants which dancers wear often, with a pair of black boots and a selelveless crop T-shirt and above that, a black short coat. It was full black, like a professional dancer's attire for a shoot, I loved it.

“Excuse me, can I know the price of this please?” I asked a worker in there, pointing the mannequin. She said, “we don't sell manndquins ma'am, miyan hamnida.”

I rolled my eyes and said, “The attire she's wearing!” I pointed again. She ran towards the mannequin and replied realizing, “Ooh! I'm sorry for the misunderstanding, if you would like to purchase the whole set of the attire, it would cost 150,000 won. But since you're Mr. Park's daughter, I would be happy to give it to you by 50,000 Won.” she looked at me with pleading eyes. Woah! I was famous because of my Appa, jobless but famous!

I was happy that she reduced 100,000 just for me! So, I accepted the deal and asked her to pack it up. She went inside and found the same type and sized attire and brought in with its packet. I went to the cashier and dragged my cash card out. The cashier clicked few buttons after inserting the card into a machine and gave me back. My account had 1 billion won, rich right? So the guy withdrew only 50,000 won from my account, I kept a watch of my money because I only have that amount to spend in New York.

I grabbed the bag of the outfit and came out, the outfit I was wearing right now was very dirty and not nice looking. I badly wanted to change it, I would look like a begger in the airport, ooh my, I didn't think about it when I went inside the store! Did she just tease me for wearing awful clothes despite being Appa's daughter! She teased me by reducing the amount! Omo! She thought I'm a begger! Not nice brother.

I decided to go to the airport and change my outfit there. So I paddled again, my legs being charged after a food rest. As I reached the Incheon Airport, I peeped at my phone to check the time, it was 11:30 PM. I wasted a lot of time, I'm having my flight at 12:00 AM. I hurried inside the Airport and rang up to the inspector.

“yeobuseyo, Inspector keng speaking...” he said.
“Inspector, it's me, Ki Ra. Where's my accompany?”
“He's—”
“Ask him to wait outside the ladies washroom in the first floor please, I have to change my outfit.”
“uh- uh okay okay, Ne I'll ask him to—”

I hung up the phone and rushed. My tank was full, I had to release it out. Don't mind me saying this, I'm a human too. I went inside the ladies washroom, the washroom had enough space from the toilet to the door. So I was able to change my outfit and did my business without any complications.

As I came out of the ladies washroom outside, a guy in black was standing, is he my accompany? I asked, “are you the guy of Inspector Keng ? ”

“and Your brother too.” he raised his head which was covered by his cap and took off his mask. My eyes went wide as I saw Kwan Ho Infront of me. I was standing speechless and didn't dare to speak. He said gripping my arms, “Ki Ra, as I have said you, I'll always support you. Appa asked me to be with you, so I came and I thought of checking the CCTV footages of the place to find you, I went to the police station to get permission to check the CCTV and there I got to know you were here, he was preparing to send someone for you, then I said I'll be going with you.”

“Does this mean you support me?”
“Ne, I do. Let's go search for Ji Hye come on.” he said cupping my cheeks and dragged me by my palms. I sighed in relief that now I have someone whom I recognize and who knows me well.

We reached the check-in line, kwan Ho had brought the bike-box to pack my bike so I can take it with me to New York. He did that because he knew I had taken my bike with me, since even he went to the garage to take his bike, so since he packed his bike, he brought a box to pack mine too. He told me all these things, while he helped me pack my bike.

After we finished all the luggage loadings and other formalities, and that now we are in the check-in line, I was behind Kwan Ho and he was the one doing everything with my ticket and passport. I was not amazed to hear that he got the seat next to me in the flight. Seems like nobody did a booking after me and Kwan Ho got the seat.

“뉴욕행 비행기의 탑승구가 열렸습니다. 탑승을 시작해 주시기 바랍니다.”

I heard the announcement, it was our flight! They meant “The boarding gate for the flight to New York is now open. Please begin boarding.” I tapped Kwan Ho in his back gesturing to listen to what they said. He finsihed the process and dragged me in, he said that he had to change the currency to US Dollar for we're going to the USA, where the New York city is. He asked me for my phone and went towards the bank in the airport.

After sometimes, he came back with my phone and said, “Done! I did the process and now we can purchase or do anything in New York or anywhere in the USA with the cash.”

“Did you check on your money?”
“Ne, we're all set, let's go!” he said as I intertwined my fingers with his, like siblings! and went happily towards the boarding gate.

I sighed heavily after sitting in my seat inside the airplane. Not my first time to travel by airplane, I have gone to several places. This is my first time for the USA, the place where eomma grew. Eomma... I aksed Kwan Ho as soon as the thought of eomma lingered into my mind, “Kwan Ho, Eomma might be happy if she knew am going away her, right?”

“what are you... Saying!?” he said as he struggled with the seat belt, I clipped it for him and he finally spoke, “You don't know how hurt she was, she is!”
“hurt? She was so eager to send me away!” I said it with a broken side smile.
“she regretted her decision alot she was hurt alot and she even refused to eat the food. Appa asked me to find you and be with you so that I can say them you're fine.”

“jinjja!? you can say I'm fine. But not that I'm planning and am at New York got it?” and Kwan Ho nodded. I realized that the airplane was moving, they were getting ready to take off.

After a brief pause Kwan Ho spoke up again. “You should have understood about her Ki Ra! She was emotionally hurt when she knew that Ji Hye was missing. I thought you would understand her. But no! You were as stubborn as usual!”

“oh Jinjja!? I also can tolerate things only to a limited extent, they were crying as if Ji Hye was dea— Arghhh! Not at all fair! I thought you support me, but I misunderstood you! Kwenchana! You are a mommy boy, aren't you?”
“mommy boy!? Gosh, you're still young like appa said, and yeah, I only support you for finding Ji Hye. Not in the fact that you came out of the house getting mad at Eomma.”

“I don't care, I am sorry for bringing up this useless topic, it only brings up conflicts. I prefer not to discuss anymore about this.” I leaned back in my seat, offended by his words.

However, another thing lingered in my mind again and I had to talk to him again. I turned towards him and asked, “what happened to your HYBE applications? You were invited for selections, weren't you?” Now, if he just say he canceled it because of me, I'll be in New Jersey's jail for murdering him.

“Ne, since the news of Ji Hye being missing has come to be known by everyone, Mr. Kim, the manager gave me the permission and said that I can delay the selection performance till this whole year ends. Afterwards I should go to the selections on their assigned date, before that I can go whenever I prefer.” replied Kwan Ho. I nodded smiling and leaned back to my seat comfortably, as I felt the airplane raise from the ground.

We are finally flying, we have around 14 to 16 hours to spend in the airplane. I could possibly take a good nap till then. Auch! My ears started aching badly, As I held my ears being unable to bear the pain, I knew my body needed alot of rest, but didn't realize when I drifted to sleep.

***

“Ki Ra! Ki Ra! Wakey gurl! Come on!” I heard Kwan Ho strangle me.
“A little more Kwan 'O!” I lazily replied shoving his hands off from me.
“it's not our home! We're in an airplane, look! people are watching us Ki Ra, I'm expecting to be an idol, if someone from here recognizes me, he will tease me in the social medias! like— its embarrassing. wake up you eggplant!”

I realized what he just said, he said we're in an airplane! Oh yeah, I was flying! I was, I was going to New York. I opened my eyes out of excitement as I saw the bright light hit in my eyes, and squinted it. I asked clearing my throat, “Kwan Ho, have we arrived?”

“Ne, Omo Ne! We have arrived! We're in the New Jersey's Airport, Newark!” he replied sighing heavily. I threw my arms around him out of joy, and he pointed his index finger toward his seat belt. Poor boy, he couldn't unlock that thing. I unlocked it and he grabbed me leading me out of the airplane. The smell of the airport eventually made me feel fresh. It was morning in here, I glanced at my watch and, I realized it's New Jersey not South Korea.

I set my time for New York's time because, it'll be very important for me to keep track of time when I'm working into my mission. I followed wherever Kwan Ho went and he leaded me to the place where they put the suit cases to rotate in the airport. He took out our suitcases and the bikes which we packed up. I offered to take the suitcases and he took the bikes with him.

As we finished all the check ups and the process, we came to the arrivals curb, where we unpacked our bike boxes and dumped the boxes into the trash. We knew nobody here, so we decided to paddle all our way, that's why we brought our bikes. I tied my suitcase as usual into the backseat of my cycle and so did Kwan Ho. We were all set, my backpack was on my back already. We set our location to New York in our mobiles, and kept it in our basket. We traveled to the New York city as per the guidance.

We had to travel 13 to 16 kilometers, not a bad trip, though. Our trip was a silence trip, and we made it to New York City. As we reached there, I couldn't paddle anymore, I complained to Kwan Ho that my legs are aching. He said he made a booking in the St. Regis New York luxurious hotel. He had everything planned, he never said me! This little rat!

Anyhow, I agreed to paddle a little bit further. And it wasn't that far, we reached the destination. As we entered in, I felt my stomach grumble, Mr. Stomach was hungry. I had to tolerate till we reach our room. Kwan Ho went to the reception and spoke with the receptionist, he was acting really cringy with her. He said, “Hi beautiful! How's your day? I made a booking. Can you check for it? I even gave my phone number.” and winked at her. She too smiled shyly! Shameless woman!

What a cringy idiot! I felt kinda uncomfortable and emabarassed with his behavior and I pinched his thigh. He flinched and understood my gesture, he has begun to consider himself as an idol already! As he got the card for our room, I asked him the number of our room, he said that it was room number 224, flat number 3. I rushed to the lift, leaving him to run behind me.

As I got into the lift with the suitcases I stopped him from entering and said, “hello hero! Our cycles!” and he nodded in realization and was about to go to park our cycles. I rummaged through my backpack and handed my cycle lock to him before the lift door shut. He took it with him and went away. I felt the lift rise up and I reached to the flat number 3. I searched for the room number 224 and inserted the card inside. The light flashed green and the door unlocked, I entered inside and before I closed the door Kwan Ho ran in stopping me, gasping all the way.

I glanced up at him and down and let him handle the door. I came and sat down in the bed, sighing and taking off my shoes. There was a packet of 3 in 1 coffee, mixed with sugar, flour and coffee. I made one for myself and for Kwan Ho. I pointed his cup once he used the restroom and was just back. It was my turn to change. We had to do alot of things, unpacking and many more. We were planing to take rest on this tiring day, then begin the rest.

It was about 3:00 PM in the evening when Kwan Ho and I, were having the second round of coffee for the day. Just then the door bell rang and Kwan Ho brought in swiss roll cakes he had asked for tea time. As we had a bite, Kwan Ho asked me pointing towards the red bag in my backpack, “What is that?”

“ah, it's an outfit I bought, full black, to make sure I am not visible if I was into operations during night times.”
“you thought of yourself as a detective, didn't you?”

I giggled smacking his thigh. He asked me glancing at his cup of coffee after having a sip, “Kwenchana, what's your plan here onwards?”

I took a sip and sighed before answering, “actually, I went investigating Ji Hye's school. Then I understood that Ji Hye was kidnapped within the school premises. And I found a piece of clothe. I grabbed it and asked the inspector to check if, by any chance, it belonged to any criminal.”

“oh yeah, they get the DNAs of the criminals.”
“Ne, and as I expected, it belonged to an idiot named Jonathan James. When they tracked down his location, it was New York. He works in a bar here, that's his occupation as per inspector Keng's information. But his side business is these criminal activities.”
“hmm, so that's why we are here. To find him and inquire about Ji Hye, right? Which bar by the way?”

“That's what we have to find, as per his location, the bar which he was working is now abolished. There's a new garment store in that place. So we have to find where he works now, however, I'm pretty sure he works in a bar.”

I sipped my coffee and continued, “Because he has records of drug smuggling, I'm not telling he has drug business in any bars actually, because I'm not sure. but we are sure he works in a bar, I don't know how, but nothing's bad in searching for him, if he's not working anywhere, we can show his picture to the bar workers and ask if they know him.”

“Omo! sad life! By the way, the way you state facts and collect clues are exactly like how Sherlock Holmes does.” he commented.
“Sherlock what?”
“Sherlock Holmes, haven't heard of him ever? A famous book actually, that's not the book name, he's the main character and is a detective.”

“stop calling me a detective, I'm not like what you're assuming.” I explained as I sipped the last remaining spoon of coffee and placed it in the table, walking toward the balcony. I sighed as I analyzed in my mind what I should do and where I should start, all the locations of bars running in my mind like a computer scanner. And I decided to start from the Bar in Death and Co.

As It became 6:00 PM, I changed my outfit, I wore the back outfit I bought at South Korea on my way to the airport. I exited the hotel with Kwan Ho and we paddled in our cycles, Kwan Ho said, “You look so charming gurl! I hope nobody follows you for your outfit from the bars we'll be checking.”

I smiled and giggled at the thought and said, “I will break his bones!” and we went on joking till we reached the bar Death and Co. We locked our cycles and went inside the bar, I warned Kwan Ho not to have any type of drinks that makes him loose his senses. He nodded and asked for an apple juice for himself. I went around the bar and showed the picture of Jonathan whatever, and nobody knew him.

As I got responses as 'No' , I grabbed Kwan Ho who was willing to finish his apple juice but pulled him with me and that caused him to dtink only a little sip, half spilling on his clothe and other on the ground. A few was left in the glass which he couldn't succeed in drinking completely, so he had to leave it just like that, poor guy!

As the next destination, we headed toward to starlight sanctuary bar, even there, we didn't receive the expected answers. We kept going to various bars ; The Dead Rabbit Grocery & Grog, Angel's Share, Raines Law Room, Dutch Kills, ROKC, Bar Goto, Mace, The Belfry, Patent Pending, The Ship, The Aviary NYC, The Lost Lady, The Happiest Hour, The Gilroy, The Jeffrey, The Dead Poet, The Library at The NoMad, The Rag Trader & Bo Peep Cocktail and Highball Store, The Garret West, The Flatiron Room, The Skylark, The Press Lounge, Employees Only, The Up & Up, The Campbell, PDT (Please Don't Tell), Beauty & Essex, The Jane Hotel, The Wayland, The Tippler, and many more.

We went about 30 to 45 bars inquiring about this idiot Jonathan James. But nobody has seen him, it was already night 11 : 45 PM, We were tired. There were more bars around in New York City, we decided to check on them the next day, and the second reason to stop was that, Kwan Ho was drunk. I did tell him not to consume any sense-loosing drinks but he mistakenly drank another guy's beer. I hope he doesn't get addicted to it now, not a problem but it'll be a mess.

I dragged Kwan Ho and paddled home, he was really drunk that he couldn't paddle his own bike, I asked him to hold me tight and he did, but he was almost about to take out my intestines for he really did it way more tighter than I expected him to, I pulled his bike along with mine as I paddled. I carried this wheat bag up the floor with much difficulty. As I reached to the bed, I dropped him like a sack and sighed in pain holding my back. I only have seen people do unwanted things when drunk but I haven't seen or heard them being heavier and hard to handle with.

There was no any other moment am going to think about anything and waste the time I've got, I positioned Kwan Ho in the bed and slept on the couch. I was very tired and my whole body ached alot. So I took off my clothes and changed myself, and after a cool and a soothing wash, I didn't waste a second to rest. Whatever is left, I will look into it the next day, no more investigations. Only rest!
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Author's note
Hi Tweeties! How's life going, thank you for all your support for my story. I love you all alot, thanks again. Enjoy!