select into from a function

Sorry if the is just too stupid, but can someone tell me the difference between these two statements? The first one, I make a function to read a table, then call the function and it returns nothing! The second one returns exactly what I think it should! So what is wrong with way 1? Thanks for you assist!

--
-- ############### Way 1
--
create or replace function get_remote_table_name(r_constraint_name_pass in
varchar2)
return varchar2 is
  r_table_name_loc remote_table_names_v.r_table_name%type;
begin
  select distinct r_table_name into r_table_name_loc
    from remote_table_names_v
   where r_constraint_name = r_constraint_name_pass;
--  select user into r_table_name_loc from dual;
  return r_table_name_loc;
  exception
    when NO_DATA_FOUND then
  dbms_output.put_line('No data found for '||r_constraint_name_pass);
  return '';
    when others then
  dbms_output.put_line('Error with view remote_table_names_v');
  return '';
end;

-- test for above
set serveroutput on size 1000000

declare
  remote_table varchar2(30);
begin
  remote_table := get_remote_table_name('SALES_NOTES_PK');
  dbms_output.put_line(remote_table);
end;



/


No data found for SALES_NOTES_PK

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

##################Way 2
declare
 r_table_name_loc varchar2(30);
 MYX VARCHAR2(30) := 'SALES_NOTES_PK';
begin
  select distinct r_table_name into r_table_name_loc from
remote_table_names_v
   where r_constraint_name = MYX;
  dbms_output.put_line(r_table_name_loc);
end;



/


SALES_NOTES

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

???
Thanks Again for the help!