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namjoonswaifu · 2 years

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Chapter Five- Royal Residences Part One

warnings: mentions of weight, AFAB character, mentions of female body parts, references to the weight of M/C, loosely based on my own research of the ancient Korean royalty system, bullying, loneliness, anxiety, money problems, mentions of how other people view characters body

message me if you feel I need more warnings

3.4k words

You made your way to the front, the sound of your name, leaving nearly everyone shocked but your best friend, who had the biggest grin on her beautiful face. No one had expected you to get through, not even yourself. A blush blankets your face as you make your way to the line at the front. A moment passes as everyone waits for the ladies who did not get through to leave the smaller courtyard.

"Congratulations ladies" you hear Hoseok speak, breaking the silence, whilst looking over each and every one of you. You don't know if you were just imagining it, but the tall and handsome man had sent an almost imperceptible smile your way, making your eyes go wide. "Now, myself and Jungkook will tell you your residences, and we will also assign you 2 maids and a manservant for you to use at your convenience"

"Let's start with the furthest away from this little courtyard shall we?" Jungkook questioned, though the question was rhetorical.

"Bae Suzy, You are in the Sapphire Apartment. Along with the manservants, you brought along with you, you are also being assigned Shin Won-ho as your manservant and Kim Tae-Yeon and Chou Tzu-yu as your maids. Please proceed to your apartment"

"Next we have the Chariote Apartment, the person who will be staying there is Han Sun-Hwa. You are being assigned Lee Jong-Hyun, Jeon So-Yeon and Kwon Yu-Ri. Please proceed."

The process carried on.

"Ruby Apartment is for Hwang Yeji, You are assigned Kang Dong-Ho, Ahn Sol-Bin and An Yu-Jin. Please proceed.

"Opal Apartment. Kim Seol-Hyun. Woo Ji-Ho, Son Chae-Young, Cho Seung-Hee"

"Carnelian Apartment. Kwon Eun-Bi. Yoo Ki-Hyun, Lee Hae-in and Lee Young-Yoo"

"Amber Apartment. Choi Mi-Young. Doh Kyung-Soo, Bae Woo-He, Baek A-Yeon"

"Azurite Apartment. Kim Si-Jeong. Lee Byung-Hun, Go Woo-Ri and Park Hye-Won"

At this point, everyone had left apart from you. "Miss Seo, as you were an unexpected candidate, your apartment is still getting ready and the maids needed a few more moments, so we were trying to prolong this for as long as possible. You have been assigned Moon Jong-Up, Ahn Hye-Jin who goes by Maria or Hwa-Sa and Jun Hyo-Seong. I hope that they treat you well. To prolong this even longer as we have not received the signal that they are ready, we are going to give you a tour, are you okay with that?" The pair asked.

"Perfectly." You responded. "It would be my honour" You carried on with a smile. "Please, Lead the way". The two young men smiled at you, before moving down the stairs towards you. Suddenly, you felt incredibly nervous, these incredibly attractive young men were looking directly at you, with no signs of distate anywhere on their faces or bodies. The men took a space on either side on your, Hoseok moving his arms to point the way out of the courtyard. "Do you have a flower that you appreciate the most?" Jungkook asked "Good question Kookie" Hoseok said, the nickname making your eyes widen again, almost not expecting the men to be so close that they were using nicknames. "We might have your favourite here in one of the gardens"

"Cherry blossoms, Chief State Councillor and High Councillor. My most appreciated flower of all is Cherry Blossom." The two men share a look between each other. "That is our Gracious King's favourite, so much that he has a garden dedicated to it, coincidentally, the garden is right next to your apartment" A small gasp left your lips, the excitement evident not just on your face but on your whole body as you turned to both of them, your hands clasping together joyfully. "Really!?! Can we go there?" You asked hopefully. Both men smiled at your excited state before telling you that you could, and led the way, right to the entrance of the garden. There was a small bridge to cross before you would actually be in the park, and you ran quickly across it, accidentally forgetting about the two men behind you. You span round quickly, a giant smile on your face, trying to look everywhere at everything.

"I take it that you like the garden," a voice behind you, which you quickly identified as Hoseok, spoke. "Almost more than anything in the world," You said without thinking. Both men let out a laugh, which made you look at them with a questioning gaze. "You have almost the same reaction as the Good King". This very sentence made you stop in your spot, your face dropping, looking almost horrified to be compared to the King. "Omo, I am not worthy of being compared to our gracious King" You spoke, anxiously wringing your hands together. "My apologies Lady Seo, we didn't mean to make you anxious," Jungkook said. You noticed a young woman run up to the two men and yourself. She spoke quietly to the men, before bowing and turning away. The two men turned to you, smiling slightly "Your apartment is ready Lady Seo, let us lead you there" Hoseok said. Nodding, you spoke gently "Please do lead the way". You bow gently, allowing the men to turn around and lead the way out of the garden that you had fallen in love with, and almost didn't want to leave.

It took barely two minutes before you arrived in front of the apartment. "This is the Emerald apartment. Next to you, there is the Queen Dowager's Garden, you are not allowed to enter that space without her explicit permission" Jungkook stated sternly. "And on your other side is Lady Hwang" Hoseok finished. This made you smile, your apartments here, being closer to each other than the houses in your town were. "Lady Hwang Yeji is my best friend," You spoke gently, a small but warm smile on your face at the mention of your best friend. "We have known each other since we were born, my eomma likes to say that I have two sets of parents, both our parents raised both of us..." you paused, your smile turning into a frown "well my eomma and Yeji's parents, my appa..." you spoke again, your frown becoming bigger. "You don't need to tell us, Lady Seo" Hoseok said calmly, laying a gentle hand on your shoulder. You look up, and into the handsome man's eyes, your eyes slightly blurry with tears, making something flash in Hoseok's eyes. "I feel like I almost need to" you spoke "My appa, he used to be a good man, until he fell from grace, he lost a lot of his respect, and therefore money, and the money he did keep, he used to drink. He would blame me for his drinking, he would tell me it was my fault, that he wished it was I who died and not my sister. Before I left, he attacked me for the first time, he dragged me by my hair to the floor and yelled at me. My eomma, she's a wonderful woman, she grabbed him by the ear and dragged him out of the house once she realised he was in my room and harming me. Appa had a bruise on his ear still, when I left for the procession. My bruises still remain intact too, but when I remember what my eomma did, the fire in her eyes, I feel proud to be her descendant" You finally finished your story.

You could see anger clearly on both men's faces. "I know I need not worry about my eomma whilst I'm here, she is as fierce as the summer in the sky in the summer sky." The warm smile lay on your lips, remembering your eomma. "She sounds like a wonderful woman" Jungkook spoke, a smile that could be perceived as genuine if there were someone looking on from the outside in.

"Anyway's my Chief Councillor and High Councillor, I must leave your warm presence and settle myself into my apartments. I hope to see you soon Your Honours. May the sun warm your cheeks, and the food fills your bellies" You speak eloquently, bowing low before the two handsome men, before turning and leaving their presence to enter your apartments.

The apartment that you entered was spacious and homely. In the room stood your friends Chan and Changbin with large grins on their faces, along with your assigned manservant and maids.

"My Lady, Your room is this way, would you like me to help you redress" Hyo-Seong spoke, her hand pointing to an area separate from the room you all stood in. The room was separated from the room you were in by a wall of sliding doors. The entire apartment was decorated in green and brown, the sliding doors were made of oak, and the cloth was painted with the seal of the kingdom in the colours your apartment was named after. It was a beautiful sight to behold, and you knew that if you had any spare time, you would ask your maids to retrieve any painting items they could get a hold of so that you could show this image to your eomma when you got home again. You knew that she would take great delight in your painting, and knowing how an apartment within the royal castle looked and would love the painting even more so, knowing it came from her daughter.

"That would be lovely Miss Jun" you spoke to the woman. She nodded her head as a slight bow, walking to the room you now identified as your bedroom. In the room, there was a large box placed near the window, on top of it was a new hanbok ready for you to wear. "Would you like a bath Lady Seo?" Hyo-Seong asked. You shook your head, a feeling of exhaustion coming over you in a quick wave. "Do you think it would be possible to sleep for a short period Miss Jun?" You asked hopefully. "Unfortunately not, My Lady, there is much to do. As you have reached the second stage, you must prepare for a meeting with Queen Dowager. You will soon also be accepting gifts from the royal family, of which I am unsure, but you must prepare to receive them. We must also start preparing you for your interview, and the luncheon that is happening tomorrow. There is also a Royal Banquet that we must prepare you for. I assume you have attended a banquet before, but a royal banquet is much more different to the ones of the high class" The maid in front of you explained your schedule for the coming potential one to two weeks that you would be residing in a royal apartment.

"Very well, then we must begin," You say a small polite smile on your face. "What's first?" you ask. "First My Lady, we must dress you," she says, returning your attention back to the box that had caught your attention when you first walked into the room. You didn't recognise the hanbok, remembering all the ones that you owned. "I apologise, but this is not my hanbok," you tell your maid "No My Lady, the Queen Dowager sent this. It's the first gift from the royal family." Excitement fills your body, knowing that this was something that the Queen Dowager herself had someone make and be sent. "But only 6-7 were predicted, and I'm not the average size", you questioned slightly, the anxiety that you had felt earlier in the day returning in full force. "The Queen Dowager had this one sent specifically, it was a hanbok she had in her storage, she wore it when she was pregnant with the King. She sent a letter along with it" you were told before being handed the letter

Dear Lady Seo,

The Royal Family apologises for not having anything prepared for you. I did not have a gift prepared for you, however, your crest is a crest that has a long line, and the crest on your hanbok is a phoenix. This was my family crest before I married King Sejong, the King's late father. It was a hanbok I wore when I was pregnant with the King. I hope that it does you well, as it is now yours. Please meet me in my gardens at 3.

Sincerely,

Her Royal Highness, The Queen Dowager Kim Eun-Ji

"What time is it?" You ask loudly, waiting for anyone in the household to respond. "2:30" you hear someone yell, unsure of who it was due to the closed doors between you. You feel your face pale. Turning to your maid you speak again "We must hurry, please call Miss Ahn in, time is not on our side". The maid nods, before running the door and calling in the other woman.

Within 20 minutes, your hair had been brushed and moved into a restyled updo, behind held back with a purple dwikkoji, your under clothes being changed for cleaner ones, and then the gifted hanbok was placed onto your body. It fit almost like a glove like it was made for you. The jeogori was a gorgeous dark purple colour, decorated with golden detailing featuring a phoenix, the goreum was also in an off-gold colour. The chima was a black colour with the same golden detail. Your beoseons were black as well as your shoes which were decorated in the same gold detailing. With a few minutes to spare, your maids applied some basic makeup consisting of plant ash to apply a dark brown colour to your eyebrows, safflower was used to apply a light rouge to your lips and cheeks and cherry blossom petals took right from the very cherry blossom garden you had just been in (it was a perfume that was on the dressing table when you got here, you had just assumed it was a gift everyone received) mixed with water was used to make a delicious spelling perfume.

With exactly 10 minutes left before the Queen Dowager wanted to see you, you left your apartment, your manservant Moon Jong-Up directing you, almost acting as your guard as well as your guide. When you arrived outside the Queen Dowagers garden, which only took moments as you quickly found out was right next to your apartment, Mr Moon stepped aside to let you enter first, before following you slightly behind, allowing you to look like you had found the garden yourself.

It doesn't take long to notice the Queen Dowager, it shocked you slightly when you saw that she was wearing the same colours just the other way around. The lady in front of you turns towards you, hearing your footsteps. She waits at the top of the stairs of the Pavilion she was standing in. Once you reach the bottom of the stairs, you bow as low as possible to the elegant woman before you. "You're early Lady Seo" the woman speaks. "My apologies Your Majesty, I was excited to meet you once again." You speak, not allowing your nerves to take over your anxiety.

“Don’t be, it is a good thing for a woman to have, to have time management perfected, especially for a woman. Especially for a woman who may be the future mother of the kingdom, the future queen.” She says, her very words making you blush.

“You speak of me too highly My Queen,” you say. “I am eternally grateful for your gracious gift. The fabric is the softest thing I have ever had touch my skin. If there is anything I can do to show my thankfulness, please allow me to do it. Would you like some tea, Your Royal Highness?” you ask, noticing the teapot and teacups whilst you were looking around in nervousness.

“You need not worry Lady Seo, this is no longer a test, you do not need to pour my tea for me,” she says, her voice full of authority, before nodding slightly to a man that you almost hadn’t seen when you entered the pavilion. “You intrigue me, Lady Seo, you are so unlike the other candidates, both in looks and mentality. Most of your candidates, when I had asked them why they were doing this, responded with generic answers” she speaks “For his Royal Highness the King’s happiness, to get to know you Your Highness” she carries on, her voice changing to mimic the people she was speaking about, at the sound of her change in voice you let out a giggle, covering your mouth. “But your answer, it was different, you wanted to make your family proud. This was something I wanted when I was a candidate to marry the King's late father” she finishes, the words turning the mood serious once more. A lady, small and almost meek approached the table, taking the teapot and pouring tea into both the cups on the table, before retreating to her spot against the wall of the garden. “You have a beautiful garden My Queen,” you tell her trying to achieve the once jovial mood the pavilion had a matter of minutes ago. “I spent a few brief minutes in the cherry blossom garden, and I truly believe that it was the happiest moment of my life,” you tell her, allowing the smile to fill your face as your mind retrieves the memory you were talking of.

“The King’s favourite spot is also in the cherry blossom garden, he begged his father to plant the trees when he was still King, persuading him by telling him that he would propose to his future queen in that very garden,” the Queen Dowager tells you, allowing you a little into the past of the King, who you were yet to set eyes upon.

Before thinking, you blurt out “Were you scared when you made the application to become the late King Se-Jeong’s wife?” A few moments pass, and just as you go to open your mouth to apologise, the dowager stops you. “I was, in fact, I was terrified, to tell you the truth, I never wanted it, but I needed to do it for the pride of my family. I was lucky that I fell in love with the King eventually, and we had a good, long and happy life,” she answers with a small smile on her face, reminiscing on the memories of her past. “I actually have a few questions for you myself if you don't mind”

“It would be my honour to answer your questions My Queen” you respond, nervousness filling your body even more.

“The king is very… uh… close with his closest men. Would that be a problem with you?” she starts. “Of course not, if our Great King is happy, then I myself shall be happy,” you respond, hoping your answer satisfies her. She nods, with a small hum of approval.

“And concubines? What are your opinions on the concubines?” she continues her questioning.

You pause, this was something you had thought about. “Well My Queen, I have a feeling that if I was ever to become Queen, the other two candidates that would have gotten through, would be my school bullies-” the queen cuts you off after hearing of your bullies “Your bullies are in the palace?” She questions with an eyebrow raised.

“Yes Your Highness, Kim Seol-Hyun and Kwon Eun-Bi, their apartments are Carnelian and Opal if I remember correctly”, the Queen Dowager nods again. “So what would you do if you became Queen and them the concubines?” She asks, her interest even more peaked.

“Part of me would want to through them into the dungeons like they had threatened they would do with me earlier today. Another part of me would want all of the king's concubines gone but the biggest part of me wants the King to be happy, and if the concubines make My Great King happy, then I shall live with the concubines.” The Queen Dowager looks almost shocked. “The Kings happiness, at the end of the day, will always be my source of happiness, whether I get through to the final round, or I don’t. The King, from what I have heard in rumours spread across cities and towns, near and far, is that when the King is happy, the land thrives, and the people are well. My family are part of his people, and as well as making them proud, I desperately want them to be happy… even my father.” you tell her.

“Your father?"

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deafening-enthusiastic-dreamer · 5 months

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Twinkling Watermelon 🍉

The casting for this drama was absolutely brilliant. The acting so amazing the emotions were ousing out of the screen. I mean who doesn't love teenage romance with a bit of drama. But this series was well balanced. Never did I feel like it was going overboard. It was perfect

Ha Yi Chan ( the character) stole my heart the moment he came on screen. He is the same actor that played a part in weak class hero 1. This man has TALENT. His character had to go through soo much, but still having that joyous nature of his warmed my heart.

His fun loving and kind nature just speaks volumes to his personality as an actor. Officially becoming his Stan. Ngl.

The actresses .Oh there were soo good.

Cheong-ah the character is deaf and has no lines. But that doesn't mean she was any less good. She had to show expressions and paid attention to every detail. I can't even imagine how much effort it had to take to perfect it. But I do respect her for it.

Se- kyung's character was well played as well. The actress is also known for her role in the business proposal, but this role was just as good. She was fun to watch all the time. Whenever she came on screen I had a smile on my face and expected something to happen and it did. Everytime.

Eun-gyeol the main of the series. I think he is new. Or just new to me. But he was so adorable and his smile ... ugh. His story line was good. I kinda did not expect much but it did exceed few expectations. Humorous to a fault and caring.

#kdramas #kdrama #south korea #tv series #comedy #romance #twinkling watermelon #🍉#a Twinkling Watermelon

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sooghostwriter · 2 years

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Third Name

Member/Pairing: Do Kyung Soo x OC

Genre/Type: Mature, Romance, Royalty/ Dictatorship AU, Action, Time jumps. Multichapter.

Word count: 3785 words.

Notes: The story takes place in a made up country. We start at one point of the story and then go back in time the moment they met and how their relationship develops. Later, we will go back to the present and see how the story keeps moving. We get to read parts of Kyung Soo’s diary to locate us in time.

Summary: Anna has a plan for her own freedom. Prince Kyung Soo has one for the nation. She thinks she is meeting her enemy, he just wants to meet her. When the revolution begins he will need her help to claim their freedom.

PS: I block empty blogs.

Chapter 8

She was still awake when Minseok knocked on her door. She spent the whole night reading Kyung Soo's diaries and she didn't feel like sleeping anyway.

She finished reading them around 3 am and then spent the whole night analyzing everything she read. Thinking and overthinking about the different matters registered in his diaries. The politics, his relationship with the crown, everything he did with the Clan, everything he kept for himself, and everything he said about her.

Anna noticed that what he felt for her was more than she imagined. Although everything between them was loud and passionate, she always had her doubts. Insecure about her own feelings maybe, or terrified that his feelings were shallow.

Now she knew. She knew about how he did everything to protect her, especially getting her out of the country. But most importantly, now she knew about the Clan.

She had several questions, but Minseok had promised to tell her all after breakfast.

Minseok had no problem betraying his friend's wishes to keep her away from the Clan, and she was grateful for that. He explained to her what the Clan was, their plan and why they were trying to overthrow the crown. Minseok answered every single one of her questions in detail and gave her the names of those who were on Kyung Soo's side and against him. She made sure to remember each name and face. All this talk made her feel less scared about Kyung Soo's situation. Knowing that he wasn't alone and that she would be able to help him gave her calm, but she still feared for his life.

"His uncle is not going to kill him, don't worry, the Order is on Kyung Soo's side, and they suspect that he is not just sick, so he is being careful, but that's for now, if he wins over the Order with his sweet talk and bringing down the image of Kyung Soo, he could try and do something drastic with our friend" Knowing that they at least had time made her feel hopeful, but she needed a plan now, a way to help him.

The whole time Minseok spoke with her he had a weird something in his stare. Inquisitiveness maybe, some amusement too. He also looked very devious. She was prepared for something. A nosy question or a pungent comment.

“Anna, I answered all your questions, and I feel quite relieved by doing so” He said after a moment of silence “But I have a couple of questions too, I wish you could answer them”

“It’s only fair,” She answered.

“Before… everything happened, around February, a bunch of copies of the forbidden books began circulating in the lower neighborhoods, later we got messages from around the country that some copies made it there…my first thought was that you were the one to blame…but after you left, more copies kept appearing, so now I have some doubts…Is there anything you have to say about this?” A wide smile appeared on her face.

So they knew about it.

She could have never suspected from the way Kyung Soo behaved with her those last months before she left.

But before she could answer, they were interrupted by a loud knock on the door. Minseok rolled his eyes and smiled as if he knew who it was. He didn’t get to answer before the door opened and Sehun and Chanyeol got inside, trying to fit both of their massive bodies through the narrow door.

“Anna, we were against hiding this from you,” Chanyeol said, waving his arms around.

“We always told him to tell you, that you would happily fight with us,” Sehun added, pointing at his chest and then at her.

“But he wanted to defend me, I know guys I read his diaries, so no need to throw your friend under the bus” She had no hard feelings towards anybody, especially them.

“Just trying to cover our asses, how are you feeling?” Chanyeol asked, now calmer.

“I’m relieved to know everything, I always sensed something, but I’m terrified of what could happen to him” She kept it simple but honest.

“What about the clan?” Asked her other friend.

“Oh right, I expect to be considered a member from now on” His two friends patted her back with wide smiles and sat next to her.

“Well since whatever that was is settled, our newest member here was about to answer me if she had anything to do with the books” Three pairs of eyes were set on her face. She wasn’t planning on hiding it from them. They deserved to know.

“I have everything to do with the books,” She declared confidently.

“Did you do it alone?” Chanyeol asked.

“No” She took a deep breath and began telling them her and Jongdae's story.

“He owns a bookshop and his wife owns an old printer that’s used to print pamphlets and different propaganda for the crown. We met there, I whispered something against the crown, thinking that no one would hear me” Sehun interrupted her.

“Anna! You need to stop doing that! It’s too risky!” His worry was lovely as always.

“I know, but it’s hard to control, this time the person that overheard me was the right one, we start talking, he told me that he owned the bookstore, and did his best to sell good things, poetry, art books, children's books, I could tell in the way he spoke that he wasn’t happy, like me… we chat for a while, both of us risking a lot, I could have been working for the Order, so he was risking a lot too, he invited me to his house to met his wife, she owns the printing house, then I met them again, a bunch of times actually, I was just making sure that I could trust them…I told them about the books I owned, they proposed to copy them and make them circulate around the citizens”

“They came up with the idea? Who are they? They don’t work with us?” Minseok directed the last question at his friends.

“I haven’t heard his name or hers before, but each day we are more, and maybe they joined us after Anna left, I will check” Chanyeol signaled her to go on.

“Well, before I left I gave them the rest of the books that Kyung Soo lent me, told them to do whatever they wanted since he never asked for them…now I know that he knew about what I was doing…should I apologize?” The three of them chuckled.

“No, you shouldn’t, Anna, what you did was really helpful,” Chanyeol assured her.

“Actually, before he…fell sick, he commented to us that maybe, the new sympathizers were recruited by the ideas that your books put in their heads, any help is needed, any act of braveness makes a difference, so thank you Anna” Minseok grabbed her hand and shook it fondly.

“Someday you have to thank my friends too, I was risking very little, they are the ones with the smoking gun in their hands,” She said with severity.

“Now that we know who they are, we will protect them, we promise you that, I’m glad we can do that now” He promised her.

“If Kyung Soo hadn’t insisted on protecting me” She added quotes with his fingers “We could have protected them earlier” She commented bitterly. They nodded agreeing with her.

They spent the rest of the morning outside Minseok’s office, walking around the installations of the Clan. Inside the underground rooms she met other members, around fifty of them, and a couple of families that were hiding from the Order, she also met a couple of her teachers, who hugged her tightly as they saw her. Between the fifty people that she saw and greeted, there were people that she knew. Random people from around the city. The waitress from the coffee shop in front of the main square, the bus driver that often drove her to the market, the owner of the pharmacy across her street. People that she met regularly. They had their jobs, their lives, and from their humble positions, they were trying to change things.

She didn’t have any doubt about joining the Clan and helping Kyung Soo, but after meeting them, she felt more confident about her decision. It was her duty now. She was deep into this, so she whispered an apology to Kyung Soo and accepted Minseok's invitation to a meeting with some members.

The next day Anna fell sick. Her whole body hurt, and she couldn’t digest anything she ate.

She knew it was the shock, tiredness, and stress, but Chanyeol insisted on having a doctor check on her. It felt nice to have people taking care of her for a while. She missed her mom, she missed Kyung Soo, but Chanyeol and Sehun made her feel at home. Even when their bantering made her headache worse.

She also knew that this was the last time she would be able to enjoy rest like this. They needed a plan, and she needed to be part of that plan.

She fully recovered after a week. Apparently, she was carrying too much stress and it all exploded there.

But once she was finally healthy, she met with Minseok at his office in private.

“How’s that you guys didn’t resorted to terrorism?” She asked as soon as they sat down. He looked at her with wide eyes, clearly shocked by her question.

“That would have alerted the Order and the only ones that would have suffered were the citizens, we do believe that there's no such thing as a peaceful way and soon we will need to use force, but for now, we need to be careful as we gain more sympathizers” He stuttered at the beginning, but ended with resolve. And his answer made a lot of sense. He told her how the first five people that founded the Clan reached that conclusion. Although it was hard to sustain after watching everything the Crown does to terrorize.

After answering some of the questions she had thought about when recovering, Minseok told her why he wanted to meet her. Although she already suspected the reason.

Because now the Clan had two priorities. Keep mining the stability of the Crown and the Order, and also, rescue Kyung Soo from whatever his uncle was doing to him.

“Chanyeol and Sehun went to check on him through the passages since they are currently forbidden from getting inside the castle. they found him on his bed sleeping, they tried to wake him up, but there was no response… Chanyeol checked and there was a response to pain, he stirred in his sleep when Sehun spoke to him, and he was connected to an IV drip too…a week after that they went to check on him again and he was awake, in the company of a nurse, so they couldn’t get out, they could hear him talk…Sehun said he just said nonsensical sentences in between long periods of silence, they check on him again after that, around five times and he was the same” Minseok ended with his head low, looking defeated. Anna could empathize with him. She also suspected that whatever she was feeling, Minseok felt it two times harder. Kyung Soo was his friend but also his accomplice and comrade.

She didn’t know what to say. She felt a lot, but it was hard to voice it out without sounding desperate in a situation that didn’t require more emotional chaos. The four of them were in shambles, although they covered pretty well.

The absence and suffering of Kyung Soo hurt them profoundly.

Minseok took a couple of minutes to calm down. Anna stood up and began walking around his office. Focusing on walking distracted her from the need to cry and scream. What Minseok told her about the current situation of Kyung Soo filled her head with images of him suffering. Lost, weak, with no control over his body. Was he in pain? Could he recognize anything? Was he aware of what was going on?

She prayed that he didn’t. She needed to see him and see it by herself. It was enough to see him from afar, even just listening to his breathing from the door of the passage was enough.

“Anna” She heard Minseok whisper from between his hands. She turned around and saw him stand up slowly, walking with heaviness on his feet and a hunched back. She met Minseok recently, but seeing him like this broke her heart.

“Anna, I need your help and support now, I beg for it” He straightened his back, slightly going back to his normal self.

“Minseok, tell me what I can do, I need to do something, I would do anything” Anna held his stare, just in case he had any doubt about her determination.

“You need to take care of him, we have to move on without him, I hate it but that's the plan, that’s what he wanted. with the death of the king and queen and the somber presence of Kyung Soo’s uncle and the Order, we need to protect the country, helping Kyung Soo is more than I can reach, with his absence I’m the next in command, you know the passages, you are smart, witty, stupidly brave and you love him as much as I do, I need your help, I can’t do all this alone…I will leave his rescue in your hands” Anna would have done it even without Minseok’s permission. As he said, she was stupidly brave.

As the current leader of the Clan, Minseok had already created a quick plan to approach Kyung Soo. The first part of the plan was to have any kind of contact with him. The second part was to steal him and bring him to a safe place. Minseok sounded more positive now. She only listened to him with attention. She had no plan, so she would happily follow his lead.

It was completely attainable. She had the ability and the knowledge to do it.

“And also, you are Kyung Soo’s lover…let me tell you a story. Kyung Soo’s great-great-grandfather was poisoned by his father, we suspect it is the same poison they used on my friend. He spent three months in a dungeon completely lost, his father wanted to take back the crown, and saying that his son was crazy was the best way to do so without tainting his image…Kyung Soo’s great-great-grandmother was taken to jail so she couldn’t speak against her father-in-law and ruin his plan…well, somehow she managed to escape, there’s a lot of talk about how machiavellian she was so probably she manipulated her way into it. She hid in the dungeons with her husband, in the beginning, he didn’t recognize her and was very violent towards her but after some months he began recovering, sort of, he never fully recovered health-wise, but his wife who was also his right hand and long time partner dedicate herself to rebuild his memory, without the help of antidotes or medicine he was able to remember every single episode he spent with her and with that, everything he knew as the prince and king…Anna, we have no choice but remember” He patted her arm. and although Anna didn’t fully understand what he wanted from her, Minseok was the leader that could convince her to do things blindly for Kyung Soo and the Clan.

“Well, now Kyng Soo doesn’t have the choice, he is not allowed to remember” She commented with sadness.

“You already shared a small portion of your life with him, you already left traces on him, you can rebuild his memory, I’m sure that the emotive memory you share with him is strong enough to bring him back, we are still researching on how does the poison work, how they feed it to him and how is affecting his body, but we need to start doing something, you need to start moving” Suddenly she felt the floor moving under her and a weight she didn’t know how to hold. Maybe if she didn’t love Kyung Soo so much it would be easier to plan and do anything. Having a cold mind with no feelings in the middle making her heart ache could make this whole situation a bit more bearable.

But also, as Minseok said, it was the memories they shared that fuelled her bravery and it was the need she had to see Kyung Soo again that made her listen to him, no questions asked.

Something that made things easier for her was the fact that she had to go back to classes. Although for only half a month, at least she had the perfect excuse to get into the castle and even stay there.

Junmyeon was waiting for her at the entrance of the building. He dashed to her side and engulfed her in a tight hug.

"I thought you weren't going to be back, the prince told me you were going to run away"

" Well, I changed my mind" She was able to answer despite his suffocating hug.

"The prince is sick and I haven't seen Sehun and Chanyeol in a while, my dad is acting weird, he keeps saying that things are going to get hard for all of us, Anna you must know something" Junmyeon let go of her and she could see the urgency and worry in his face. She rubbed his arm and pulled him to a more private place so she could share everything with him.

Junmyeon sat with her for the rest of the day, not paying attention to any class and just staring out the window. He had confessed to her that what she told him about Kyung Soo's poisoning, the Clan and her current goal left him shattered.

“I feel useless,” He told her. She understood but knew that she couldn’t do a lot for him. She could barely do something for herself.

Chanyeol told her to be careful. After coming back from her diplomatic visit, some eyes would be on her. But luck was on her side since the person in charge of keeping an eye on her was her literature teacher, one of the teachers she met at the Clan. He confessed so himself.

She didn’t have time to stay low and wait. She was planning to visit Kyung Soo that same night. She had heard enough about his situation, she needed to see him with her own eyes.

Even after spending months away from the passages, she was still able to walk them with confidence. Even when the state of some of them was even worse now.

But pitch dark passages, spiderwebs, and floors covered with water weren’t going to stop her from seeing her love.

She hasn’t called him like that in such a long time.

Minseok told her to always move after midnight. The castle was always calmer at night since everybody was doing their own wrongdoings during that time. She also moved with extreme care, she was sure she wasn’t the only one that knew about the passages.

The stairs that led to Kyung Soo’s bathroom seemed eternal. It was three stories of stairs, but the anxiety made her feel as if they kept getting longer and higher. Some lights were off, some flickering, but there was enough light to make the climbing without accidents. The daddy-longlegs ran away from her as she kept moving up. She had only climbed those stairs once when she wanted to surprise Kyung Soo before she left, so she broke into his room as he was lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling miserably. He had jolted as she called his name. His third name. The whole time she was away, she could only think about his face of blissfulness when he saw her. That face was the one thing pulling her back. If she stayed away from him, would he be able to make that face again?

She reached the golden door that covered the ventilation in Kyung Soo’s bathroom and could only see darkness. Of course, he was asleep, but he was also alone. She pushed the iron door to check if it was unlocked, and she sighed with relief when she could open it easily.

She took a deep breath and pushed harder, opening the door in its whole extension. But the sound of Kyung Soo’s door being open froze her. Someone turned on the light from his room and as soon as she saw legs moving around his room, she closed the vent, going down the stairs hiding from sight.

“His health is good, he woke up yesterday during the morning, opened his eyes tossed in bed, and then when back to sleep, today we gave him the infusion, passed him the IV and we changed his position in the bed” It was a male voice, it sounded serious, yet unbothered.

“Good job, I don’t like the fact that he has woken up, he is in a coma isn’t he?” She recognized that voice, it was Kyung Soo’s uncle.

“It could be because the infusion we gave him that day wasn’t very strong" Answered the same voice from before.

"Well, make it stronger, what? Are you people afraid that he could get sick? We need the prince out of the picture in a couple of weeks” Many things in his voice made Anna sick. The disgust, the full disregard for his nephew's health, and the cynicism coming from a man who always showed himself as Kyung Soo’s supporter and loving uncle. The same man was now planning Kyung Soo’s long and pathetic death.

Anna was still unable to see anything. Just feet and shadows moving around the room. She could still hear everything clearly. Which made it worse, because she could hear the loud and blood-chilling scream Kyung Soo released. His desperation pierced through her chest making her lose her balance and fell down some steps. She was able to hold herself with both arms, and as she regained her step, she could still hear Kyung Soo screaming, begging for something she couldn’t understand, asking for help.

She couldn’t hold her tears. She was heartbroken, frustrated, and terrified for him. This was worse than what they imagined. Kyung Soo’s days were numbered, he was suffering and his uncle wasn’t playing.

But now, right at that moment, she couldn’t do anything. Kyung Soo kept asking for help and she couldn’t help him.

Feeling useless and angry, she kept sobbing, holding to the stairs, and listening to her love’s agonizing screams.

TBC

#exowritersnet #exosnet #Kyungsoo #do kyungsoo #kyungsoo fanfic

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cakeinpants · 1 year

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Musical Soiree: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

.....

Pat with empty hands and Kyung with her modest portion of meat and salad, the pair sat down at one of the small round tables at the end of the room. While Kyung was restrainedly poking her fork into small bits of her meal, the dancer was trying to think of something to start a conversation, when he noticed the displeased looks from the Mudokon queens again. The ladies were peering at their table from a distance like predators from an ambush. Clearly, they didn't consider Kyung a worthy competitor and strongly disagreed with Pat's choice. He turned away, studiously ignoring their presence.

..But he couldn't ignore it for long.

"Hello Oddett!~" The most daring of the females sang in a voice sweeter than honey as she approached. One of the spoiled young queens, who thinks that she’s entitled to everything just because she belongs to the richest Glukkon at this soiree. An annoyed hopeless look flitted across the dancer's face, before he turned to her and answered just as sweetly.

"Good evening, Fifi! It is so good to see you."

"What a nice evening, isn't it?"

"It is a wonderful evening…"

"Do you like my dress?" She asked, turning around from side to side to show it off from all angles.

"You look beautiful as always, Fifi."

"I know, right? It's such a nice dress, and I didn't even get to dance in it tonight, can you imagine?" The lady complained.

"Oh... I'm sorry to hear that." Pat answered sympathetically, paying no attention to her little hint. "I'm sure you'll get to dance in it on the next soiree..."

"And wear the same dress for a second time for such event? No-no, never!"

A pause followed, during which Pat was looking at her with a "can I help you?" expression.

"Soo.. I see your new friend is enjoying her meal while you didn't even get a glass of water after all this dancing.. a little tactless if you ask me..." She suddenly remarked tartly.

Admittedly, Pat wouldn't mind some water right now… He glanced over to the buffet table, where a large pitcher of cold water with ice cubes stood. It was so close, yet so unreachable, because of a certain rule that applied to all Mudokons at the soiree. He wasn’t allowed to take anything from the table himself, nor was he allowed to ask for anything. He could only take food from his master’s hand, or accept it if someone else of higher rank offered him. If Kyung only knew of this rule, or decided to ask, she’d surely get him a glass of water and probably even something to eat. But instead it came off as if she didn’t care about her partner.

"You know, Mr. Glubbfrid and I would treat you better than this if you'd only chosen me," the female added.

The dancer continued to ignore her reproaches. "Speaking of.. where is Mr. Glubbfrid? Should you be wandering so far away from your master all by yourself?" He countered.

"Don't worry, I have his permission..." She assured sweetly. "Anyways! I gotta go... Have a nice evening, Pat!~" she switched to his real name for last, and gave him an innocent smile before turning around and leaving. There was something about the tone of her voice Pat didn't like.. Some sly little notes that were telling him that this wasn't over yet.

Despite never once looking over at the Mudokon Queen who decided to say hello to Pat, Kyung’s keep hearing listened into the rather shifty conversation. And while Fifi’s blatantly obvious jab towards Kyung’s faux pas did catch her attention, it sparked anything but jealousy or rage. If anything, it started as a tinge of self-shame for deciding this would be the one occasion she didn’t ask many questions. But then, it quickly turned into an idea! Fifi might’ve made herself known as quite the schemer already, but so could Kyung.

Before the Jimseomi could take another bite, one of the Sligs that was accompanying her and Shinju to the party would soon trot over to their table with two glasses of ice cold water in-hand.

“Oh, goodness! I didn’t even realize that I forgot water… My apologies, Oddett,” Kyung softly gasped, acting as if she hadn’t anticipated her comrade to help her enact her little plan.

Soon, a second Slig approached their table just as the one served them their drinks. This Sliggie comrade holding a plate of salad and a small side of the paramite galantine before setting it down for Pat.

“There we are,” Kyung grinned after nodding a silent thanks to the two Sligs, and sent a smile and a wink towards Pat. That same sly yet warm expression she gave to him when she seamlessly took the lead in their dance. “I must’ve still been a bit over excited from dancing! You know that feeling you get when you’ve just done something so exhilarating that some things just slip your mind?” She joked to try and break the ice, deciding to have a bit of a laugh at herself.

All the while, Kyung seemed to be completely numb towards the glares aimed at her and Pat from the Mudokon ladies lurking in the distance. The only thing she wanted to focus on now was helping Pat get comfortable in her presence again. Not to mention, Kyung knew that she had two pairs of eyes on the lookout for trouble. And if that failed, she knew that Shinju was keeping tabs on what was happening from where she was likely still socializing with Malgaine and other higher ranked guests. However, Kyung held out hope that she’d be able to keep things under control this time.

"That's alright.. Thank you very much, Ms. Kyung." Pat nodded gratefully as a plate of salad and meat was placed in front of him. "To be honest, I still can't quite get back to reality after this dance too." He admitted with a smile. Then took one last glance in the direction where the Mudokon lady disappeared and sighed tiredly, yet without anger. "Please excuse Fifi. She can be a little..." he paused, trying to think of a word that wouldn't sound rude, "..insistent."

A wave of relief washed over Kyung’s lingering anxiety, not just from her strategy to recover from her mistake appearing to work, but also knowing now that she can actually give Pat food! That was a note she was going to hang onto for the future, and one that she swore to herself not to forget next time around. With that smoothed over, the smile on her face was much more relaxed, boosted even from Pat expressing that their dance left such a lasting impression on him. Then, of course, he addressed the odd encounter with Fifi…

“No harm done, so it’s no trouble,” Kyung nonchalantly chuckled while waving a dismissive paw. “Besides, I needed the reminder!~” She shrugged, her tone sincerely optimistic before she took a sip of water. “If I may ask, though, do most people call you Pat? I figured Oddett was more of a formality, and it appears that you and Fifi are quite familiar with each other,” She inquired while tilting her head to the side.

"She'd like us to be…" He shrugged off before taking the napkin from the table and habitually placing it on his lap. "But yes, my real name is Patrick, but it's only a few close people that use it, mostly." The dancer took a fork in his left hand and a knife in his right, and cut himself a small bite of the paramite galantine...

#oddtumblr #oddworld #pat #kyung #sketches #rp thread

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agentcable · 3 months

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Mouse (2021) Ep. 1 Recap

Mouse (Korean: 마우스; RR: Mauseu) is a South Korean drama television series starring Lee Hee-Joon, Lee Seung-Gi, Park Ju-Hyun, and Kyung Soo-Jin. It premiered on tvN on March 3, 2021 and aired every Wednesday and Thursday at 22:30 KST until May 20, 2021.

Mouse imagines a scenerio where psychopaths could feel remorse and guilt for their actions. The story follows Go Moo-Chi as he tries to catch a psychopathic killer. He witnessed a horrific incident as a child and is dealing with the trauma. Together with his younger partner Jeong Ba-Reum, he tries to uncover the truth behind psychopathic behaviour and to answer the question of whether there is a genetic predisposition to psychopathy - and how to act on this knowledge if it could be detected.

EP. 1 The country is struck with terror as news of an unsolved serial killing case spreads. A family of four visits a campsite and tragically falls victim to the serial killer known as Head Hunter. A boy surives the attack and identifies the prime suspect as the killer. Meanwhile, Head Hunter's baby undergoes a gene test to determine potential psychopathic characteristics, and the mother is faced with a difficult decision.

If you want to watch the series for yourself, stop reading! This post contains spoilers to the storyline.

During a visit to the zoo, a classroom of children observed a large black snake in a glass enclosure. One child, who appeared emotionless, secretly released a small rat into the enclosure. The snake immediately attacked the rat, causing the other children to flee in terror. The child who released the rat remained to watch as the snake attempted to catch the rat, but was ultimately bitten in self-defense. The snake shakes off the rat. The rat turns and launches itself at the snake again, its eyes shining red.

Five years later, the same boy enters an empty church to ask an important question of the stained-glass Jesus. He asks, "Do I seem different to you, too? They say it's how I was born. They say I was born different." But no answer comes.

Ten years earlier, a young woman is dropped off by a taxi at the bottom of a steep hill in the middle of a snowstorm. She uses a phone booth to call home and explains that the road was too icy for the taxi, so she will be walking the rest of the way. As she hangs up, she hears a plaintive voice calling out for her. There is a small girl in the road who cries that there was an accident and her father is still in the nearby car. The young woman approached the car. When she opened the door, the driver attacked her. She begged for her life in vain. Nearby, the little girl sobbed at the violent scene.

A week later, a diver discovers the headless body of a young woman in the ocean. The victim has a series of letters and numbers marked on her hand and is identified as the latest victim of the Head Hunter, a serial killer.

In England, a year later, scientist Daniel Lee gave a lecture where he identified a gene present in the DNA of psychopaths, a personality disorder characterized by a lack of empathy for others. Daniel predicted that we will soon be able to predict whether an unborn child might be a murderer based on the presence of this gene.

The president calls Daniel back to Korea to stop the Head Hunter's killing spree. During his speech, Daniel presents his DNA findings, revealing that one percent of people with the psychopath gene become murderers. However, his test has a 99% success rate, with the remaining 1% indicating that the person will be a genius. The genes for genius and psychopath are so similar that it is difficult for Daniel to differentiate between them. Eliminating psychopaths could also mean killing potential geniuses. The question at hand is whether the government can require a mother to have an abortion if the psychopath gene is detected. Ultimately, the proposal is rejected.

That evening, Daniel visits his old friend Han Seo-Joon, whose wife Ji-Eun is heavily pregnant with their first child. Seo-Joon and Ji-Eun are clearly in love, with Seo-Joon doting on Ji-Eun and Ji-Eun returning his affections. However, Daniel feels a bit sad when he sees their wedding photos. This is because Seo-Joon's first love was Daniel's sister, Jennifer, who died seven years ago in a random mugging. When the subject comes up, Seo-Joon appears sad, but Daniel insists that he is thrilled to see Seo-Joon married and happy. Seo-Joon drives Daniel to his hotel and promises to visit him in England soon.

A family of four is traveling through the area. They get briefly lost and ask another driver for directions. They stop at a campground for the night, but unfortunately, the ceiling in the kitchen caved in from the snow, so the campground is closed. Despite this, the family decides to stay and rough it. The father is searching for the mother who is away getting water. He hears his wife crying out. An ominous figure with a knife looms over her as she pleads for her life. Her husband jumps at the attacker and yells for her to run. She races back to their van with their boys, Moo-Won and Moo-Chi, but the van won't start.

The attacker approaches, so she pushes the boys down to hide. She instructs Moo-Won to protect his little brother and hide with him in a cupboard. After uttering a small prayer, she goes out into the night.

The boys hid, but the attacker soon reached the van and attempted to break in. The mother distracted him and led him away from the van, but unfortunately, she was caught and stabbed multiple times. Despite her best efforts, the attacker quickly overpowered her and returned to the van, where the boys were now out of hiding and screaming for their mother. Moo-Won then locked little Moo-Chin into a suitcase and shoved it under a bench before attempting to hide himself. The attacker found Moo-Chi's suitcase first and began breaking it open. Moo-Won remembered his promise to protect his little brother and came out of hiding to lead the attacker out of the van. However, the attacker caught him and repeatedly hit him.

Later that night, Detective Park Doo-Seok was called to the hospital to speak with young Moo-Chi, who was in deep shock. Moo-Won is undergoing surgery due to severe injuries. His parents were murdered, but their bodies have disappeared. Detective Park, whose daughter was also abducted by the Head Hunter years ago, pressures Moo-Chi to identify the killer's face. When Moo-Chi is unable to speak, Detective Park becomes frustrated and scares the little boy even more. As he is being taken away, Moo-Chi sees something that causes him to scream. He points at a picture on the wall and yells, "It's him!"

Ji-Eun wakes up late and finds herself alone in bed. She goes out to search for Seo-Joon. He enters with an armful of firewood. Ji-Eun smiles at the family of snowmen he built in the front yard. Earlier, Seo-Joon had told Daniel that he would terminate the pregnancy if their baby had the psychopathy gene. However, Ji-Eun is uncertain about what she would do. Several police cars suddenly arrive at the driveway. Detective Park orders Seo-Joon's house to be searched and arrests him at gunpoint, growling that he is the Head Hunter. It turns out that the photo that Moo-Chi pointed out as his family's attacker was one of Seo-Joon, who is a neurosurgeon at the hospital.

While Detective Park was obtaining the search warrant, Moo-Chi took a scalpel from a discarded surgical tray and sneaked into the patrol car. In the ensuing confusion, he lunged out of the car and slashed Seo-Joon's face. He attempted to stab Seo-Joon again, but Detective Park intervened, accidentally knocking the head off one of the snowmen. The snowman's head shattered on the ground, revealing a black plastic bag inside. One of the officers peered inside, then dropped it in horror. Moo-Chi sees blood in the snow. He also sees the barrette his mother was wearing, still clipped around a lock of her hair. Ji-Eun witnesses this scene from inside, and the truth hits her like a ton of bricks.

The bodies of Moo-Chi's parents are eventually found in Ji-Eun's greenhouse, furthering the theory that Seo-Joon is the Head Hunter. Despite Detective Park and the families of the deceased being dismayed, Seo-Joon continues to protest his innocence and wish for the real killer to be found. Daniel assures Ji-Eun that Seo-Joon cannot be guilty because he loves her. According to Daniel, psychopaths cannot have love anyone but themselves. However, Ji-Eun confronts Seo-Joon in front of reporters, claiming that she knows he is guilty. She saw him putting the head on the snowman that contained his victim's head, and she even has a picture of proof. Seo-Joon's drops the innocent act, and a flashback reveals that he is the one who killed Moo-Chi's parents. Ji-Eun tearfully asks why he even married her if he can't love her. Seo-Joon sneers and replies, "I guess you could call it my will to reproduce. I needed an offspring. Han Seo-Joon Junior."

Floored, Daniel ran into the police station, grabbed Seo-Joon and flinging him into an interrogation room. He asked Seo-Joon if he killed his sister. Seo-Joon responded emotionlessly that she still hid from him after being stabbed twenty times. He threatened to kill her mother and Daniel if she didn't come out. Seo-Joon laughed at the memory of how she looked when she crawled to him. He snarls that she killed his baby and brags about keeping his promise not to hurt her family. He finishes his story by saying, "The pleading look in her eyes couldn't have been sexier," leaving Daniel sobbing on his knees.

Daniel offers to run a genetic test on Ji-Eun's unborn baby, and she accepts. The results reveal that the baby has the psychopath gene, causing Ji-Eun to panic and demand an abortion. However, Daniel reminds her that she is too far along for that option and suggests they discuss other alternatives. In the hallway, a pregnant woman approaches Ji-Eun. She explains that her husband worked with Daniel in England. To help, she volunteered to have her baby tested. Her husband had told her that their baby was normal, but she found out that he had lied to her because he didn't want to scare her. Sadly, her husband died recently in an accident, and she is now faced with the decision of whether or not to end the pregnancy. The woman informs Ji-Eun that her baby is the only thing she has left of the father, who she believes was a good man. Therefore, she does not think her baby is a psychopath. However, Ji-Eun does not have the same assurance about her baby's father.

Seo-Joon was sentenced to death and spent his time in prison waiting for his sentence to be carried out. Five years later, he read a news article that Daniel had returned to Korea. Seo-Joon mailed two live rats to his former friend. Meanwhile, a little boy name Jae-Hoon also caught a rat to set it free in the snake enclosure at the zoo.

Jae-Hoon's teacher becomes concerned about his mental health when he kills the class rabbit as he wanted to check if it had gained weight or was pregnant. He scratches his arm to shreds, explaining that he is annoyed with the other kids but cannot take it out on them, so he takes it out on himself. Jae-Hoon's teacher mentions that the other kids are absent. Jae-Hoon becomes annoyed by the way she looks at him, as if he's weird. The teacher calls in Jae-Hoon's stepfather and informs him that a recent IQ test shows that Jae-Hoon is well above genius level. However, she expresses concern about his mental state and recommends therapy. Unfortunately, stepdad takes offense and reacts by dragging Jae-Hoon into an alley after school and slapping him hard. He then calls Jae-Hoon's mother to complain that Jae-Hoon humiliated him.

Jae-Hoon has two younger siblings (Jae-Min and Jae-Hee). Jae-Hee appears to have a mental disability. One day, Jae-Min catches Jae-Hoon pouring ammonia into his stepfather's fish tank. He pleads with Jae-Hoon not to kill his dad's favourite fish, but Jae-Hoon ignores him and continues. Afterward, Jae-Hoon takes his stepfather's dog, Choco, warns Jae-Min not to tell anyone. Upn stepdad's arrival home, he discovers his fish has passed away and Jae-Min is hesitant to speak. However, Jae-Hee repeats her brothers' conversation verbatim. Stepdad proceeds to search for Jae-Hoon and upon arriving at the park, he discovers his dog, Choco, floating lifeless in the pond. After finding Jae-Hoon, he drags him home and physically assaults him while calling him and "evil bastard".

Later, a bruised Jae-Hoon invites Jae-Min to visit Choco's grave in a nearby wooded area. Jae-Min was praying when Jae-Hoon pushed him into a hole that he had dug. Jae-Hoon accused Jae-Min of tattling, but Jae-Min denied it. Despite this, Jae-Hoon insisted that Jae-Min needed to be punished and began shoveling dirt into the hole. Fortunately, their mother arrives just in time. She pushes Jae-Hoon to the ground, helps Jae-Min out of the hole, and then begins to choke Jae-Hoon while telling him to die. Jae-Hoon looks up at his mother.

Jae-Hoon manages to escape and goes to the church where we first saw him. He asks Jesus if he's truly different and if he was genuinely born a monster. In the voiceover, he expresses his prayer to not become a monster.

However, fifteen years later, Jesus had never answered his prayer, and he ended up becoming a killer. In the flashback, Jae-Hoon stands over his stepfather's body while Jae-Min and Jae-Hee hide. He calmly removes the knife from the man's chest and slowly walks up the stairs where his mother waits.

#Korea #TV Serie #K-Drama #2021 #Mouse

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darspeaksout · 1 year

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Overcoming Fear : On Writing “I Don’t Have It In Me To Forgive You” And “I Felt Nothing When You Died”

This is the first time I’ve written about these two events. I’ve told these stories to loved ones but it’s different when you have them written down and posted to the Internet, where they exist ad infinitum.

Even if no one reads these two pieces, I knew that writing them would be useful in tracking my progress as a human being. Although painful, certain experiences must be remembered and recorded for the purpose of self-improvement. And I fear that if I forget what I went through, I risk not understanding myself fully. And the last thing I want is to feel that I’m a stranger to myself.

I recall the memories as I’m writing, but as soon as I’m finished I discard them from my mind and turn my attention elsewhere. Creative people tend to be overthinkers, and I want to remain creative but at the same time prioritize my mental health. That’s why it’s important for me to set boundaries with how much time - and for what purpose - I spend thinking about a particular experience. Since I had developed more confidence in myself over the years, recalling these memories was not a painful undertaking. Time and growth both contributed to the strange feeling that these two incidents may not have happened at all. They felt so foreign because they took place a lifetime ago, buried in the past, which no longer exists except in my memories. I felt like I was writing about someone else’s life.

In both I Don’t Have It In Me To Forgive You and I Felt Nothing When You Died, all the events described are true. To say that these were “inspired” by real life experiences would be an understatement; they were taken directly from them. As much as I would like to tell you that I’m a creative, imaginative writer, neither of these pieces needed any of my creativity or imagination. I was recounting real events, real people, and real feelings. Hence, if there was any creativity or imagination to speak of, it was in how I decided to structure the stories, which themes I chose to highlight, and how I explored my own psyche as I processed self-acceptance, homophobia, forgiveness, and grief. The creativity is found solely in the writing style, lyricism of the prose, and what I chose to reveal about my rationale, and not at all in the “plot,” if you want to call it that. Because these stories are real, the emoting was natural - I took everything I was feeling and ran with it.

This resulted in completing these pieces over the course of two days. For each, I finished the rough draft in one sitting, and used another sitting to edit and finalize. I played Cha Soo Kyung’s “Can’t Forgive,” one of my favorite Korean songs, to allow for maximum emoting. I chuckle as I write this, but I’ve been told by family and close friends that I’m OA. It’s useful when writing, not so useful in real life. When I write, just like when I do perfumery, I make changes to my surroundings in order to produce the best work I can. And playing the right songs helps me to enter the desired emotional state. I had to channel both vulnerability and strength for these works.

While the two are related in subject matter, each shows a different approach to how I handled these situations. In I Don’t Have It In Me To Forgive You, there is an element of chance and there is no lengthy confrontation with the antagonist - I run into the homophobe on the sidewalk, acknowledge his presence drily, and move on. The story is resolved with my decision to literally, and figuratively, walk away. By contrast, in I Felt Nothing When You Died, my encounter with the girl was deliberate and we did see an explicit confrontation via the speech I had made. In the first story, I removed myself from the situation; in the second, I put myself dead center and rose to the occasion. I highlight this to say that depending on the circumstances that life presents to us and the people we are dealing with, our approach will be different.

I also believe that the punishment should match the crime. In the case of my friend’s cousin, the issue was between us as individuals, so any resolution would’ve involved just the two of us and nobody else. In the case of my classmate who outed me, the issue unfolded publicly, so I dealt with it publicly as well. In the first story, karma is served in my decision to never associate myself with this person again, to remove him from my life and remove any remaining method he had of accessing me. I blocked him on all my social media accounts and with time, outgrew the church and left for good. In the second story, karma is served in my decision to speak up for myself, which resulted in a peaceful rest of the school year, and a peaceful senior year - at which point all harassment had stopped. I would like to think that the people in that class told their friends about my speech and that the gossip spread throughout our grade. I never saw to what extent this news had travelled. But it seemed that it travelled quite far if everyone took the initiative to back off. This, coupled with my low profile, contributed to people finally leaving me alone, I imagine. I am quiet until you give me a reason not to be and then the gloves are off. And when I speak up for myself, I can promise you my words will land and they will cut - just like the knives I throw. To be clear, I don’t see it as karma that my classmate passed away. She served her karma when she was alive in having to bear the knowledge of the pain she had inflicted, and her death only gave me further closure. As I wrote in that story, “... since you’ve passed away, so have our issues.”

While on the topic of karma and death, I would like to discuss this quote: “Since I made the decision not to kill myself that weekend after you outed me, I believe that God took your soul in my place.” To be honest, I don’t actually believe this. I don’t actually believe that the fact I’m still alive is because she died, nor the reverse - that if I had killed myself, she would be living. I only mentioned this in the story because it offered a unique way of looking at the situation. This one sentence touches upon the themes of religion and karma, and the belief that if you were able to evade misfortune, then that misfortune would be passed onto somebody else. The same holds true for good luck. Perhaps this is more of an Eastern belief which has been ingrained into my psyche from having grown up in a culture which emphasizes fortune. When I was discussing creativity and imagination earlier, this sentence is an example of what I mean when I say that that the creativity and imagination in this story come from how I navigate and describe my psyche. While admittedly, I don’t believe that she died for the purpose of sparing my life, my decision to mention this is a step I took towards creative liberty.

I am a stronger individual after having overcome both of these incidents in my youth. I am even stronger for writing about them and sharing them on a public platform. I’ve been told by close friends that I possess an aura of unwavering confidence. While this is true for the most part, I am human at the end of the day so I do waver. I do feel uncertain at times. However, I don’t let my feelings of uncertainty interfere with my goals. Prior to sharing these works, I had a moment of doubt whether I should proceed. This doubt came from my trauma whenever I’ve discussed what it’s like to be gay and I’ve been ridiculed for it. But I knew that in order to be a more self-aware and authentic person, I would benefit greatly from sharing the challenges I went through - regardless of the reach, regardless if I’m the only one who will ever read these stories.

If I have any parting words for you, dear reader, it’s this: if there’s something you’ve been wanting to do and it scares you, but you have a feeling you’ll benefit from it, then just do it.

#prose #writing #lgbtq

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kdrama-same-same · 3 years

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Choi Siwon, you are just so FANCY. I bet people see your fancy hat and they wish they could be half that glamorous.

Like.... Imagine D.O. has been a secret Super Junior fan for years. He stands staring forlornly into his vast closet, a sad sigh escaping his lips as he wonders why he never thought to buy a fancy hat like Siwon’s. And maybe low-key eye liner would be good? But self-doubt creeps in, and deep down he knows he could never pull it off like Siwon does, because one must have a core sense of glamour. He closes the door sadly and shuffles off to paint some D&D figurines while eating microwave popcorn and listening to Super Junior on the down low.

#choi siwon #siwon #super junior #ukrainian wedding headress #rembrandt #elizabeth taylor #marlena dietrich #gloria swanson #men in fancy hats #kpop memes #kdrama memes #kdrama same-same #kdrama #kpop idol #imagine do kyung soo #imagine kyungsoo #d.o.#exo

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exouniverse · 2 months

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Not by Happenstance - Moodboard • Kyungsoo x gn!reader

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kpopgirl1234blr · 4 years

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D.O. imagine

*your little sister pokes his cheek*

“ y/n she’s too cute I can’t take it, help me. “

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dubudahyuniee · 5 years

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Actors/Actresses J-N Masterlist

Jisoo

Nothing yet

Jung Haein

Nothing yet

Kang Taeoh

Nothing yet

Kim Minseok

Nothing yet

Lee Jongsuk

Nothing yet

Lee Sungkyung

Nothing yet

Lee Taehwan

Nothing yet

Nam Joohyuk

Nothing yet

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whoseafraidofliloleme · 2 years

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Invisible Chapter 14

Summary: YN YLN has always been third in Class 2-5, right behind Lee Su Ho and Kang Soo Jin but with both of them having left Saebom Highschool, this is her time to shine. That is until Han Seosangnim asks her to tutor Han Seo Jun. A guy who doesn’t even know she existed.

Ship: Han Seo Jun x Female Reader.

Word Count: 1.2k words.

Very sorry it took so long to update but life really has been killing me, not to mention I have now become obsessed with Enhypen (they are my babies) So this is an early Christmas present from yours truly. Also a sorry since Im probably not going to be updating until the new year. So see ya'll in January I guess. Still sorry this chapter took so long.

Likes, comments and reblogs are appreciated with any reactions or whatever you want to say. Again I really don't know where I am going with this.

Taglist: @thealexalcala @hayateotaku @tomihoeka @goatqueen3 @jeminiepabo @hiraeth-maximoff @yaomomvs

Anyone interested in being added to the tag list, just let me know 😊.

True Beauty Masterlist.

Chapter 13.

Chapter 14:

This was not how you imagined your first date with Seo Jun going. Not that you’d thought about it in-depth, from the beginning. That’s a lie, from the moment you accepted and then proceeded to tell Hyun Ji and Si Woo. Your sister and Young Joon Oppa, you were imagining how this date would go.

Being in a crowded BBQ restaurant with the rest of your class including Cho Rong and Si Woo was not what you had in mind. The date was going very well, to begin with. Seo Jun picked you up from your house with flowers, that was so sweet, no guy had given you flowers before, and you definitely appreciated the gesture.

Especially the courage that had given you to kiss Seo Jun on the cheek again. It was impossible not to, Han Seo Jun was adorable, shyly giving you the flowers that you handed off to Mi Soo Unnie before kissing his cheek in thanks. Grabbing his hand and getting out of the house. Before Young Joon Oppa could realise what was going on and come to interrogate Seo Jun like he had done to Jae Yi, you were out of the house.

The date was fairly simple. You guys went to the arcade, to begin with, and it was quite obvious that you had a few people following the two of you. Cho Rong and Ju Kyung did a very bad job of hiding whenever either you or Seo Jun turned to look at them. Si Woo and Hyun Ji were better at hiding.

It took Seo Jun some time to even realise that they were also following you. You had already shouted at them in your group chat when you realised and tried to make sure Seo Jun didn’t see them. That didn’t work but by this point, you were just having so much fun, you didn’t care.

So, it was a surprise that as you six were walking around that you found the rest of your class at a BBQ restaurant and joined in. Well, you tried to avoid it, so did Seo Jun but Soo Ah was insisting, and you felt bad. That is when your date, turned into a class dinner. You wanted to get out but didn’t know how to leave without making your classmates feel like you didn’t want to spend time with them.

Making eye contact with Seo Jun, you pleaded with him, your eyes trying to send the message of helping you get out of here. Thankfully Seo Jun got the message and picked up your hand, helped you into your jacket and gave you your bag. Holding your hand, he looked at his classmates. Seo Jun smirked.

“I do not care for you guys anymore and so I’m taking my date and getting out of here, see ya idiots in school” with that, Seo Jun took you out of the restaurant. You looked at him in shock, but he just laughed at your expression before pecking your nose. He honestly didn’t know anyone cuter than you.

You laughed, at least you had gotten out of there. Looking at your joined hands you smiled. You just started walking. No place really in mind, just enjoying the atmosphere with each other.

“I had fun on this date you know.” You shyly told Seo Jun. You avoided eye contact but that didn’t stop Seo Jun from stopping, turning you to look at him and lifting your chin up so you were looking at him.

“I had fun too, wouldn’t mind a second date, or the privilege to call you my girlfriend Princess,” Seo Jun told you smoothly. That had you looking at him in shock. He did not just say what you thought he did.

This was only your first date and he already wanted to call you his girlfriend, was this going too fast. You didn’t know, it had taken half a dozen dates with Jae Yi before he asked you to be his girlfriend, this was unknown territory for you. You stayed silent but were honestly contemplating this. You knew you liked Seo Jun a lot and would’ve asked him out eventually. Or if Hae Sung was still in your life, then nothing would’ve happened. But you were happy here, any time spent with Seo Jun made you happy. He wasn’t the cause of your happiness, but he did things to make you happy, he didn’t make you cry.

Hae Sung really had done a number on you, if just making you happy, the bare minimum made you happy. But the past was something you were still processing especially with the truth that had come out. Which you had told Seo Jun about earlier.

That had been quite the reaction, Seo Jun pleading with you that he should e able to beat up Hae Sung for the manipulation and deception he had done to you. You stopped him but appreciated the reaction.

“Just because I am agreeing to be your girlfriend doesn’t mean that you can get out of our tutoring sessions Han Seo Jun” You teased Seo Jun. Your feelings for Seo Jun weren’t stopping any time soon and you liked the idea of being his girlfriend. You never would’ve thought that agreeing to be Han Seo Jun’s tutor would lead to you becoming his girlfriend months later.

Seo Jun just laughed, he looked at you. His eyes sparkling with joy, Your eyes the same, he looked at you with such softness. You almost couldn’t believe that it was you he was looking at like that. You just smiled before both f you carried on walking towards your house now.

Once reaching your house, you said goodbye and started to walk away from Seo Jun. But something stopped you. Turning to see, Seo Jun was holding on to your hand. You looked at him in confusion. He pulled you closer to him.

“Can I kiss you please my beautiful girlfriend” Without even giving an answer, you got on your tiptoes and pecked Seo Jun’s lips. His face after that had you wheezing on the spot, once he had gotten over that shock, Seo Jun smirked at you. Pulling you closer to him, he then cupped your face and kissed you the way he had wanted to.

You put your arms around his neck and lost yourself in the feeling of kissing Seo Jun. It was everything you had thought it would be. Yet it didn’t feel like the end of anything, it was just the start. The start of your relationship, the first kiss of many.

Both of you lost track of time, not caring that you were outside your house. That is until you heard a loud bang, a door being slammed shut. Seo Jun and you reluctantly pulled away, your arms still around his neck, turning to see that it had been the house next door to your door that had been slammed shut. Lee Hae Sung’s front door had been the door slammed that broke your first kiss. Not that you cared but it did remind you that you still needed to talk to Hae Sung about everything. Sighing, you said goodbye to Seo Jun and went to your door.

Once in the privacy of your room, after you had gushed about your date and boyfriend to Mi Soo Unnie. You took out your phone and unblocked one number, sent a text to Hae Sung, waited for a reply. After seeing the reply, you blocked his number again. Finally, the time to get answers straight from the source was coming and this time you would not be backing down and you most certainly weren’t meeting Hae Sung alone.

Chapter 15.

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drivingsideways · 3 years

Note

Hey talk to me about your top three favourite kdrama women. What makes them special? What's a fic you would like to write about any one of them?

Mystery anon! :D What a lovely ask.

I’m going to cheat a bit and divide my answer into characters I loved a lot, but do not want to write fic about, because I think the canon gives me what I need; and characters that I loved a lot but NEED TO BE RESCUED ZOMG. (My fic writing impulses are 50% spite and 50% fix-it )

Caveat being that I’ve still watched only maybe a dozen kdramas, so I’m pretty limited in my knowledge!

Characters that I love a lot, but have very zero fic impulses toward:

Han Yeo-jin from Stranger/Secret Forest: What a delight! What an iconique character! Is there anyone like her? NO. LSY-nim gives us a delightfully complex character, and Bae Doona knocks it out of the park in every single scene, so I’m just happy to be along for the ride. I think what makes Yeo-jin special for me is the intrinsic place of empathy that she operates from. I think “righteous” is a word that often comes with negative connotations (self-righteous, for eg), but I do think she’s one of the most righteous-in-the-good-way characters I’ve watched in kdrama or any drama. I’m tired of stories that portray goodness as “boring” , as unworthy of narrative breadth or depth, and I love that Han Yeo-jin comes to us like a breath of fresh air in our particular dystopian narratives hellscape. She’s good, but never naive. She’s righteous but never cruel in her moral certainties. I think that LSY nim, in the second season especially, gave Yeo-jin the kind of arc that character deserved when she’s forced to really dig deep into herself to figure out how she’s going to live in the world in the face of a deeply cutting, deeply personal disillusionment, and I’m really hoping for an S3 to see how that plays out further.

Goo Hae-ryung from Rookie Historian: Ok, I will admit this may be rose tinted glasses view due to this show being my gateway drug into kdrama, but c’mon! She’s a reader! and a Thinker! And loves her wine! She’s plucky! She’s cute! She’s got a wry sense of humour! She’s got principles! She’s got a solid common sense to her that somehow doesn’t get in the way of her dreaming BIG! Oh dear, doesn’t she sound like the Mary-est of Mary Sues? Good for her.gif, I say! Anyways, Shin Se-kyung is unutterably charming in this (AS IN EVERY SHOW OMG GIRL) and I just have a huge fondness for free-spirited heroines who get to tramp through the narrative changing the world as they do!

Lee Ji-an from My Ahjussi: I’ve never had my heart broken more OR restored by any single character. IU is *phenomenal * in this, I think she really stepped up to what the script demanded from her. Ji-an’s weariness, her fear and vulnerability, her prickliness, her anger and her bitterness, and how, despite everything, she fights : GOD. Just. Again, what I love about the writing in this show is that it’s deeply empathetic without being cloyingly sentimental. I think a less, hmm, imaginative writer/PD might have focused on the Lee Ji-an the victim, and while the show definitely tells you in no uncertain terms that she is one, of both circumstances and a cruel society, I think it refuses to take away her agency over her own life.(Lee Ji-an when we meet her is too busy hanging onto life by tooth and claw to indulge in self-pity, but we also see the toll it takes on her not to be able to say “this is too heavy a burden for me to carry myself and it isn’t my fault”; the show I think approaches Dong-hoon from the opposite side- his emotional isolation is partly a result of his own choices, but he doesn’t see it yet, and so his journey is also about letting people in and sharing the burden, but also recovering his own agency over his life. It’s an interestingly gender-bent arc, which is one of the things I love about this show. )

Ok, can I please add one more?

Hwang Han-joo from Melo is my Nature: She just felt SO real to me. She’s someone who doesn’t have the spectacular brilliance of either Jin-joo or Eun-jung, and struggles with accepting her limitations but not allowing herself to be defeated by them? I love her struggles as a mother, as a working woman in a sexist industry, a woman who’s perhaps having to rethink and reimagine what she wants from romance. I love that she’s a little silly, a lot kind, and an optimist, and just. I just think she’s the bravest of the three, tbh, and I LOVE HER AND I WOULD WATCH A SPIN OFF ABOUT JUST HER (i shouldn’t have faves among the three i know, BUT I DO, IT’S HER, IT’S HER.)

Ok! On to the next section! And I’m going to cheat again because I can’t stop at three. SORRY. NOT SORRY.

Characters I love and SHOULD write fic for if I weren’t such a tired and lazy bunny:

Song Sa-hui from Rookie Historian: Oh, girl, girl, GIRL. I love how she fights to snatch her freedom from the jaws of the patriarchy. I love that she unapologetically centers herself while doing that, because she knows that nobody else will. I love that she’s prickly and calculating. I love that she’s smart and knowledgeable. I am SO HAPPY that she got to carve out a little bit of freedom for herself, even if it also is exile to some degree. She *should * be Emperor Jin’s Prime Minister and steering the ship of state, while also carrying on a tumultous affair with Queen Min Woo-hee, while ALSO commiserating with Emperor Jin about his boyfriend Historian Min Woo-won’s regrettable tendency towards Principles (TM) and masochism-but-not-in-the-fun-way. (This takes up much of his time which is why Song Sa-hui is running the country, of course. It works out well for all concerned, well, except her dad, of course.)

Song Ga-gyeong from Search:WWW: What’s NOT to love about our brilliant, beautiful, emotionally tortured gay icon? Nothing, absolutely nothing. I loved how the show allowed her to be flawed and make bad decisions, and then allowed her to make better decisions and regain control of her life. What I do need to do, of course, is see the CANON LOVE STORY between her and Cha Hyeon through to the end. It must, of course, include at least one baseball game, a lot of tequila and messy beach kisses.

Oh Ji-hwa from Beyond Evil: Oh boy, this year’s runaway hit cleared the extremely low bar for standard crime/ thriller shows by leaving more than one of its female characters breathing and with all limbs intact, and got called feminist for it BUT it didn’t do justice to any of them in any meaningful way and that never hurt more than in the way they sidelined Kim Shin-rok’s talent by not giving Oh Ji-hwa anything much to do. She’s a tough as nails cop, a loving sister, a devoted but unsentimental friend-and by rights SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE HEROINE OF THIS SHOW. My secret fic fantasy is to rewrite the show entirely by making her , and the two other female characters in non-antagonist roles- Yoo Jae-yi and Im Sun-nyeo- as the central characters, as they investigate a serial killer who targets women. It’s the only acceptable version of this done-to-death (ha!) genre, I have no idea what the Baeksang jury and tumblr fandom is smoking when they hype the show so much, I want none of it.

Jung Sun-ah from The Devil Judge: I love her rage, her spite, her passionate defense of women, her style, her sexiness, her rage, her rage, her brilliance, her tenaciousness, her smartness, her clothes, her refusal to hate herself for everything she is and chooses to be, her ambition, her comfort wielding power, her EVERYTHING. Dead, her? NOT IF I HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY ABOUT IT. Here’s what *really * happened at the end of canon- she gets out of the building by planting that lady-like but still deadly gun against Kang Yo-han’s temple and making him lead her through his own “secret escape route” or whatever the fuck it was the show wanted us to believe. From there on out, it’s all sunshine and beaches, and scheming and waiting for the right moment to strike again-though of course, this time around, she also has to reckon with vigilant, tenacious cop Soo-hyun -another character who REALLY didn’t die for manpain reasons and had the good sense to leave her gay best friend to follow his psychopath boyfriend to Switzerland or wherever it is that star crossed lovers in kdrama land meet up on the regs these days- anyways, Soo-hyun and her are in this catch-me-if-you-can epic transnational honest and cute cop-and-beautiful sexy villain chase and yes, they WILL kiss (and more) AND IT WILL BE GLORIOUS.

*whew *

Thanks for coming to my TEDTalk.

#kdrama #thank you for this ask OMG #[fiona apple voice] ladies ladies ladies ladies

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sooghostwriter · 3 years

Text

Third Name

Member/Pairing: Do Kyung Soo x OC

Genre/Type: Mature, Romance, Royalty/ Dictatorship AU, Action, Time jumps. Multichaptered.

Word count: 6637 words.

Warning: Mention of rats.

Notes: The story takes place in a made-up country. We start at one point of the story and then go back in time the moment they met and how their relationship develops. Later, we will go back to the present and see how the story keeps moving. We get to read parts of Kyung Soo’s diary to locate us in time.

Summary: Anna has a plan for her own freedom. Prince Kyung Soo has one for the nation. She thinks she is meeting her enemy, he just wants to meet her.

When the revolution begins he will need her help to claim their freedom.

Chapter 4

September 30, 1990

I guess I look so miserable that Chanyeol keeps offering to take me to the dorms in disguise to visit Anna. I didn’t accept. What excuse could I use to appear in their basement and then walk around the female dorms?

I had to miss classes for over a month. After all the meetings with the Order, I had to accompany my father to visit some cities and make some public appearances. I always enjoy doing that. Despite everything, people show honest care and support to me. I like to listen to them, even if my father gives me weird looks. They never complained, but if I pushed a little harder, they would tell me how tough winter was on them. It was hard to get food and they could only heat their houses with coal which made them very sick. I made sure that people from the Clan from that zone came to help them.

Now that I’m back, I still have meetings and public appearances to attend.

I want to meet Anna in between. But wishing is not enough, so I did what I could.

I peaked in the drawer.

I loved what I found.

It was way past midnight, and he couldn’t sleep.

And this wasn’t the first time.

He has been having trouble sleeping for more than a week now.

He went to the bathroom, hoping that a warm shower could help. Kyung Soo was taking his clothes off when his eyes went to the vent on the wall next to the sink. The light copper grille shone under the dim light of his bathroom. A soft breeze came in, always, which during winter was always a bother. That was the entrance to the passage that connected both sides of the castle, specifically his room with the geography room.

Kyung Soo put his clothes back on and went to his room for a coat. On his way he grabbed the copy of the key to the drawer he shared with Anna in the geography room.

He was sure he wasn’t going to meet her there at that time of the night, but he wanted to see his book. Check if she had been studying it.

He got on his knees and opened the grille, holding it open with his left hand as he slid inside effortlessly. He had to climb down three stories, no rest in between. Although after doing it so many times, Kyung Soo had his little tricks to climb down faster.

The daddy long-legs were already building their webs on the side of the ladder, making his little getaway slightly less pleasant. The tiny, flickering lights illuminated the stairs enough to guide him, although he had to adjust his eyes to see better. By now he could slide down the stairs, stopping once in a while to not be too arrogant and have a painful fall.

He skipped the last steps and jumped down, the echo of his landing echoed down the passage. He turned on the lights and saw how, slowly, the halogens light up, illuminating his way. Even with the light, it was scary. It was incredibly silent, which made him miss Chanyeol and Sehun. This wasn’t his first time alone down there, but it never got easier. He began walking quickly, humming loudly to distract himself. He had a good ten-minute walk ahead, with a couple of ladders in between.

He ran the last part of the track, his imagination already playing tricks on him. He opened the first door in a hurry and then opened the padlock of the second door with the four-number password. The wooden door opened with a crack, and the darkness of the geography room welcomed him.

Kyung Soo left the door open so the light from the passage could illuminate the classroom. Surprisingly the room wasn't that dirty. Anna clearly took care of the cleaning part. The table that she used was the cleaner one. That was the only clue that she left behind. He went to the drawer and unlocked it, smiling at the sight of the book, a couple of pencils, and a notebook. He stared at them for a while, celebrating internally. Feeling slightly apologetic he grabbed the book and the notebook and sat at the table that she used, ready to see what she had been up to.

As suspected, Anna had been studying. Her small notebook was filled with drawings and notes. She copied some of the maps of the book and wrote down notes regarding places of interest. There was a page dedicated to each library in the castle, a total of five. The first one had a small red cross in the corner of the page. He was immediately filled with questions. For now, he couldn't hold a conversation with her so he cut a piece of paper and wrote it down.

- Are you looking for the hidden library? -

Did red cross mean she had already visited that library? He could have killed someone just so he could have her there to ask all the questions he had.

He hid the paper between the pages and kept reading her notes, hoping that tomorrow he could have some answers written down in that same piece of paper.

There was also another page dedicated to the greenhouse. The private greenhouse that could only be visited by him and his parents. He knew he wanted to take her there someday. Kyung Soo suspected that those places were going to catch her interest. Probably she heard rumors about those two places.

There were also notes regarding safety. Such as passages to avoid, specific parts where she should be careful, like stairs, low ceilings, and possible imprisonment places. He grabbed the pen and began adding small notes. Writing next to her neat handwriting felt as if he was trying to engage in a conversation. He added comments, questions, he even praised one of her copies. He could have stayed there until the next day, even wait for her. But Chanyeol would kill him if he did something so risky and also, he was growing tired.

He wrote a last note for Anna, put everything back inside the drawer, and said goodbye to the geography room, closing the second door behind him.

Anna had to recognize that she was very strong. Strong enough to just stay away from the geography room during classes. She was so tempted to stay there the entire day learning the maps and analyzing the paths. But skipping class would be very irresponsible. So, every day after classes she bid goodbye to Junmyeon and very carefully walked to the geography room, always checking her back, always keeping very quiet. That Thursday she did the same, but when she opened the drawer, she found a surprise that made her jump on her seat, almost shrieking with excitement.

There was a note inside her notebook. A note that could only belong to the Prince. Kyung Soo had visited the room, she was sure. And he was asking her if she was doing exactly what she was doing. She knew he was smart, but she didn't know he was such a good observer. She wondered for a couple of minutes if she should answer, and finally decided to answer his question with a simple yes. There was no point in hiding it.

It was nice to see his handwriting next to hers. It was neat and clear. He could almost hear him speak his words next to her.

She searched for more of his messages and was glad to find a bunch of them. Little notes next to certain parts of the passages “Careful here with a deep step” or “This one is blocked with stones, you need to take this other entrance”. She made sure to highlight his notes that said “Don't get in this one, it's filled with rats” or “This one gives me the creeps I would not recommend to use it”.

She was thrilled with his comments. Not because she needed his approval, but she needed his advice, after all, he was the expert. But she also liked the idea that he would sneak into the geography room just to check on their book, just to make sure that she was using it. He had been away for more than a month and by now she was missing him, Chanyeol, and Sehun. She didn't only miss them she was also awfully curious about that book. She had questions that only they could answer. She needed to know what she could find in some of the rooms and where those passages lead outside the castle. The whole thing was so intricate, so smartly built, so useful that she needed to know details. real details, not lore that Junmyeon heard around.

But of course, she didn't wait for them to finally use them and try out those maps. Following the instructions she found in the book, she packed a flashlight, a light coat, and the map and went to the girl's bathroom on the 4th floor. Through the vent next to the last cubicle, she got inside the passage. It was dark, humid and filled with daddy long legs. Thank God she was not scared of spiders. At least not scared of those cute fellas.

That passage took you to two places. A library and a room that figured nameless on the map. The passage was short and she encountered two exits. The one to the left would take her to the library, the one to the right would take her to the mystery room. She took the left, focusing on her goal. She walked for five minutes crouching because the ceiling was slightly lower. The only light was the one coming from her flashlight. She could see the door to the library the whole time, so she began walking faster, growing a little bit scared.

When she reached the door she was so happy to find it unlocked. And as expected behind that first door there was a second one also unlocked. But when she opened it she encountered the back of a bookshelf. It was indeed a library, but it wasn't the library she was expecting. She had arrived at the university's library, the same one she attended every afternoon. She could see the librarians at their desk from where she was standing, hidden by the books. She sighed heavily and slowly closed the first door and then the second one.

She walked back to the girl's bathroom on the 4th floor. It was frustrating, but it was a damn good first experience. The passages were real, they connected the whole castle like an anthill. They were scary, dark and a little bit dirty but they opened so many doors, literal doors, for her curiosity and her need to find that secret library filled with the forbidden books.

That was going to be her goal until the time she left the country. She had to find those books, steal some of them, make copies and then spread them around the city. Her one and only rebellious act. Her goodbye gift to her dear country. Cause some ruckus putting ideas in people's minds.

It was stupidly ambitious and could get her in so much trouble. But she had the prince on her side, she knew he would protect her, or maybe even help her.

October 10th, 1990

Today I did what I wanted.

Being selfish, doing what you want once in a while is good for your health.

Most of her classes that Friday were canceled. So she had the whole afternoon to study the passages.

She skipped lunch and went straight to the geography room. It was warm, and the sunlight still illuminated the room, even when the windows were still covered with paper. She opened the drawer, hopeful, as always.

Because since the visit of the prince and the little notes he left, she has been waiting for him to do the same again. Every time she went to read and work on his book, she had been hoping to find something new in her notebook. There was never one, but she didn’t lose hope.

That Friday the story was the same. No notes. But it wasn’t hard to move on from that. After all, she had more important things to do.

Since Anna’s first encounter with the veracity of the passages, she didn’t dare to try again. Most passages were long, and she didn’t know which one of them had lighting or were just a dark maze to nowhere. Although she was sure that at some point she had to be brave and go in search of the library.

She was studying the map of a passage that ended in the exteriors of the castle when she felt steps behind the door. The passage door.

She stayed still on her seat, not scared about who could appear, but expectant. Hopping to see him appear behind that door. As always, the door handle shook, showing some resistance to do its job, and with a final push the door swung open. Kyung Soo appeared from behind it, scanning the room quickly and breaking into a smile when he saw her. Anna smiled back, feeling a warm shiver in her chest.

“I was hoping to find you here Anna” He greeted her from the door, walking inside cautiously rubbing his hands on his pants.

“I come here every day, you really caught my interest with this book” She grabbed said item and shook it in the air. He chuckled, scratching his ear as he stood across the table in front of her.

“How’s everything going Anna?” He asked, meeting her eyes for the first time.

“Just the same as always, I bet you are having more fun than me” She tried to sound casual, trying to take his attention away from her, and putting it on him. She was more interested in how he was doing and also didn’t want to confess how obsessed she was with the book.

“I was not having fun, not at all, I really want to go back to classes” He brought a chair closer and sat in front of her. Anna saw him scan the table, trying to pick into her notes and what she was doing. He had a soft smile on his lips and he looked more relaxed than when he arrived.

“How's the study going?” He clearly wasn’t referring to the university related studies.

“Studying is going really great, there are a lot of passages and as smart as I am I don't think I can memorize all of them, but I’m having a great time analyzing how they work, what pattern they follow, it’s very interesting,” She noticed that her tone was far from calm, and since Kyung Soo showed a content smile, she didn’t control herself.

“You don't have to memorize all of them, maybe just the ones that caught your interest” He gestured for her to lend him her notebook. Anna handed it to him with no hesitation. After all, he had already read it before.

“I saw your notes” She commented, and Kyung Soo only lifted his eyebrows, hiding his face.

“I'm sure you did, may I ask you what are you looking for?” She guessed he wanted a confirmation. And if he forbade her from saying dictatorship and put that book in her hands, Anna was sure that he wasn’t going to feel particularly mad about her subject of curiosity.

“Where does your father keep the forbidden books?” He lifted his head slowly, his eyes, with some hesitance, met hers. Kyung Soo stared at her for a couple of seconds and with a smile, he grabbed the book and searched for the page he needed. He found it close to the last pages of the book.

“This is the passage that's going to take you to the hidden library, every single book forbidden by the crown it's there, but I'll recommend you not to go yet, the order likes to have meetings there so it's not safe now” Kyung Soo stared at her in such a way that she didn’t even entertain the idea of doing the opposite of what she was told. But also, his words didn’t mean never.

“So I can go there?”

“I would like to take you there, but why are you so interested?” Anna stared at her hands as she caressed the soft wood of the table. There was no way she would answer that, not now. But she still could answer something.

“I'll tell you when you take me there” Her voice was a soft yet confident whisper. Kyung Soo’s eyes lit up and his face was finally showing some happiness.

“Promise?” He asked, clearly delighted.

“Do you promise to take me there?”

“Of course! Just not yet” He was serious, and she wasn’t going to go against his wish.

“Then it's a deal” Kyung Soo laughed softly, rubbing his neck, avoiding her eyes, again.

“Anna, I can't take you to the library now, but I can take you somewhere else. Do you have time?... Do you trust me?” Those two questions weighted so differently. She knew how to answer the first one, not the second one. But Kyung Soo’s bait was too strong. So she answered yes to both.

“I would like to take you to the private greenhouse, I'm sure you're gonna like it” She was already hanging from his hook.

“Can we go there?”

“Only three people can go there, the king, the queen and me, the king and the queen are out of town, so we are safe, not even the guards can go there” She had to ask the obvious. She always needed to know everything.

“Why do you want to take me there? If you don't mind me asking” Kyung Soo took some time to answer.

“I want to share it with you” That was enough reason for her. She grabbed the book, her notebook and shoved them in their drawer, locking it immediately. She was ready to leave.

Kyung Soo jumped from his seat and went to the passage door, holding it open for her. She grabbed her jacket and bag and dashed to his side, but stopped for a second, taking some distance from him.

“Wait, isn’t this going too fast?” Anna held her backpack in front of her, as some kind of shield, and waited for his answer, as if she needed to hear from him that all this was alright.

“Yes, it is, but there’s little time, there’s always little time, let’s go” He felt like the rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, although he was sure that Anna wouldn’t understand that reference. For now.

The walk from the castle to the greenhouse wasn’t too long but it was intense. They had to climb a couple of stairs and walk across a pitch dark hall. But he was carrying a flashlight, so they were safe.

Anna seemed rather confident. She was focused on the path, taking mental notes. But he noticed how she walked close to him, her hand always up, ready to hold him when needed. When they reached the first set of stairs, he was stupid enough to tell her to go first. Anna only smirked at him and grabbed the hem of her skirt. She was wearing the uniform, there was no way she would climb that stair with him looking up. He apologized and began climbing, with her following close. He checked on her a couple of times and she always sounded calm.

“I don’t understand why we are going up, then down and then up. We were on the fourth floor, and I imagine we are going across the castle to the ground floor right?”

“Yeah, it’s a mess, the passages were built after the castle was finished, so it’s messy, to say the least, we are pretty much going higher, so we can walk across the left wing of the castle, and then we are going down, until we reach the back gardens, if you imagine the castle as a square, we are going from the bottom, across the left edge of it, then across the upper edge and finally we reach the right, higher vertex…I don’t think I can’t explain it better”

“I think I can see it, and it’s very inconvenient” He helped her climb the last bit of the stairs as they reached the last steps. He giggled as she looked slightly annoyed and a bit out of breath. She made a cute gesture with her nose, a silent complaint to his laugh.

“Everything about this castle is inconvenient, but I don’t have the right to complain, people around the main city leave in houses that can barely be considered houses, I have a soft bed to sleep at night, but at least we can move around the castle and outside without being noticed, everybody thinks these passages are dead, only Chanyeol, Sehun and I are using them”

“And now me,” She added.

“And you, but cautiously, please” She promised him that she was going to be careful. And he trusted she would.

The last part of the walk was the dark path that went from one vertex to the other. It used to be lit up, but a water leak ruined the entire circuit, and there was no one who could fix it. So the flashlight came in handy. But the batteries available in the country were cheap and bad. So as always, at the last bit of the path, their only light went out. Kyung Soo waited for her reaction.

“Are you kidding me?” She whispered.

“It’s dead, sorry, but we are five minutes away…just…stay close” Kyung Soo jolted when he felt her arm against his. She apologized but didn’t move away.

It was too dark for his eyes to get used to it. The only noise was her breathing and steps against the stone floor. But quickly he was able to perceive another sound. He was sure Anna didn’t hear it. It took some practice to discern it, practice, and a bunch of horrible encounters with them. He felt the familiar squeaking of rats. It was probably one, the noise wasn’t too loud, but he couldn’t tell where it was, how close it was, or how big it was. Which was the worst.

The sound was louder now, and he noticed how Anna stopped walking. “What’s that noise?” She asked with urgency.

“Don’t think about it” He urged her to keep walking and she followed but with some hesitation.

“I’m not scared…I don’t care about them, it’s just…they have a bad reputation here” Kyung Soo knew what she meant. He knew that there were stories about the military using rats to torture, spread sickness, and even feed the inmates. He knew that some of them were true.

“We are about to reach the door, don’t worry” But he spoke too soon. The rat walked past them, and it was a big one. He felt it as if a small dog had just rubbed his ankle. Anna screamed loudly and almost climbed him like a tree.

“What was that?! A rat?! A coyote?!” Kyung Soo broke into laughter, trying to hold her so they wouldn’t fall and doing his best to calm her down.

“It was a rat, it was just a rat, it’s gone now, don’t worry,” He said between giggles “It’s gone now Anna”

“Stop laughing” She complained as she loosened his grip around his shoulders.

“I’m so sorry, it’s just…I don’t know why it’s funny, but I’m not going to laugh anymore, I promise, calm down Anna…we are almost there” He held her arm and helped her regain her balance. He was sure that the darkness took away some of her embarrassment.

“I hate this,” She mumbled. He asked her what she hated since there were some options.

“I hate the way I reacted, I used to have a pet spider, I grew up in the countryside, I can deal with rats” She explained to him.

“Well, under this pitch darkness, anything could scare you, come on, let’s keep walking” Anna hummed her response, and he could feel her again standing next to him, a shy hand holding the sleeve of his sweater.

They walked the last minutes in complete silence, paying attention to the sounds around them. Kyung Soo sensed the end of the path, so he lifted his left hand, and after a couple of steps, his hand touched the wooden door.

“We are here Anna” And without waiting for her answer, he pulled open the first door.

She had to keep her eyes closed for a while. The soft light of the room they got in was too much for her eyes after spending so long inside those dark passages.

She opened her eyes slowly, adjusting to the light and feeling the sting of her pupils contracting. They were in a storage room filled with sacks of dirt and garden tools.

“Everything alright?” He asked her, rubbing his eyes.

“Everything alright, Are we here already?”

“We are, follow me” He reached for her, but stopped his hand midway, turning around quickly and walking to the door.

When Kyung Soo described this place as a greenhouse, he was underplaying it.

That was a green mansion, a green castle.

The place that appeared in front of her was three stories high, built with glass and some kind of metal, with marble columns spread around. The highest point was an enormous circular dome made with a different kind of glass, a glass that caught the light of the sun in a different way, casting rainbow-like shades on the floor. The ceramic floor shone like a lake, it made her wonder if in fact the floor was covered by a thin layer of water.

The place was warm, slightly humid, there was a soft breeze caressing her face and making the leaves of the plants and trees flutter. There was so much green, different shades of it splattered with colorful patches of red, fuchsia, yellow, orange, and purple. Some columns were covered by ivy, reaching the ceiling of the greenhouse.

There was a noise, a pleasant one. A soft whisper of the leaves moving, the water running, the wind outside clashing with the glass walls.

There were also the soft whispers of Kyung Soo calling her name. She ignored him the first two times, enjoying it.

“Want me to give you a short tour, then you can walk around all you want” Kyung Soo had a way of speaking. A benevolence that wasn’t only present in the things he said, but also in his gestures, the way he behaved, even the smiles and looks he gave her. Maybe that was the reason why she was feeling serener around him.

Kyung Soo quickly confessed that he didn’t know the name of each flower or plant. He told her that his mom tried to teach him several times, but memorizing names, colors, and shapes was not a quality he possessed.

He still knew his way around. He knew more than her, that was clear. There were so many plants that she was seeing for the first time. Flowers that looked like birds, plants that grew with weird shapes, small trees with not more than three fruits hanging from them, and green moss. A lot of green moss.

He showed her the architecture around the greenhouse too. The columns had carvings of plants and flowers, there were two fountains, several benches, sculptures, and the most catching part, a spiral staircase that ended on a small balcony that looked over the greenhouse. When Kyung Soo invited her to climb it, she didn’t even answer him, she just started climbing.

Anna gasped loudly when she reached the top.

The greenhouse’s size could only be appreciated from a high place. You could fully grasp its whole beauty from that small balcony where the two of them could barely fit.

This was the first time she saw something so beautiful. At least made by mankind. She saw breathtaking sunsets back at home, and wonderful, terrifying storms during summer. But this was different. This beauty didn’t make her feel small, it made her feel swaddled. It was a safe glass bubble, where only the two of them could hide now. And now she had a couple of hours to take everything in. Memorize the smells, touch the softness of the leaves and petals and allow herself to be blinded by the colors and lights.

As they walked around, Kyung Soo gave her some space. Staying behind as she smelled the flowers and touched the wet moss. Whenever it got too silent, she looked back to find him there, about five steps away. His hand behind his back, walking slowly, smiling all the time. Whatever she asked, he answered, his voice low and passive. He looked relaxed and happy. It was the first time she was seeing him like this. He wasn’t particularly serious nor grim, but he always looked very put together, very controlled.

He was also more talkative now. Once she looked less absorbed by the greenery of the dome, he began to ask questions, shyly at first. But once she made clear that she wasn’t bothered he went on.

“Does wearing your hair long like that get you in trouble?” He asked, following the length of her hair with his eyes. She pulled it over her shoulders, examining it.

“Not trouble, but sometimes I get weird stares…when I got accepted here, they told me to cut it off, but I searched the regulations and there were no rules against long hair, the queen is the one that started with that short hair crap” Apparently she was too relaxed now. She covered her mouth looking at Kyung Soo, but he was far from annoyed. He was grinning at her, mischievousness in his eyes.

“She is obsessed with hair, I want to shave my head, but she doesn’t allow me, she says that the future king needs to have a full set of hair”

“You want to shave your head?!” She was glad that they were changing the subject and ignoring her comment.

“I shaved it when I was fifteen and I did the service, it was so comfortable, but when I tried to do it again a couple of years ago, she stopped me with guards…it’s all about physical appearance with her” Anna didn’t know how to answer to that, and Kyung Soo wasn’t expecting an answer either.

“By the way, where’s Sehun and Chanyeol? You are missing your shadow, or shadows” Kyung Soo giggled, looking shy. She found herself smiling back whenever he reacted like that. He told her that they had a meeting regarding the safety of the castle.

“Why do you have two guards?” She asked, curious as always. Kyung Soo gave it a little thought, staring at a leaf he had in his hands.

“I thought that it would be easier for both if they had each other to hate me” He was clearly joking, but it still shocked her.

“But apparently we have a good relationship,” He added, looking at her with a loving smile.

“I think they quite like you, your majesty” His smile faded, and he clicked his tongue. She was quick to correct herself.

“I mean Kyung Soo, I think they quite like you… Kyung Soo…it bothers you that much?” He shook his head.

“That much I like it when you call me Kyung Soo” She was again left speechless, feeling shy. She would rather insult his mom than having him saying things that felt way too heavy.

“Sorry for saying that your mother says crap.” She wasn’t being completely honest, but she could do anything to change the subject.

“Anna, don’t worry, don’t apologize….I think we share most opinions” He commented with a smile.

“That’s why you didn’t lose it when I said dictatorship?” That was one of the things that made her feel some trust towards him. She kept wondering why he did it if he was just being nice, or because of something else. And now that he was being honest and open, she imagined it was the right moment to ask.

“Yes, we live under a totalitarian regime, that’s the only truth, but here the truth is against the law” The mood slightly changed. She was overwhelmed by his words. Not even his father, a silent yet strong opponent of the monarchy, ever dared to phrase it in such a rotund way. And with reason. Sometimes it felt as if the walls could hear you. As if there was always an eye looking at everything you were doing. A light terror ran down her back, making her look around, inspecting the greenhouse, searching for that mighty eye that could see everything.

“But you are the prince” She stated more for herself, trying to find some common sense. There was no eye, no worry, no danger. Kyung Soo took a deep breath, completely unaware of the turmoil inside her chest and head. He searched for her eyes and stared at her for a long while. The turmoil intensified, her ribcage suddenly too tight for her heart and lungs. His stare sometimes was so serious, so severe. So dark, enthralling.

“Do you hate me for that?” The twists and turns of their last ten minutes of conversation were making her feel dizzy. The walls around her, building up and falling down over and over again.

“I don’t think I ever hated you, I was just angry at you, at what you represent… but I trust and believe in humanity, I don’t think I’m angry at you anymore, after all, we share most opinions right?” Keeping a wall, or a fake façade around him was getting harder and harder. Even more when his dark stare broke into a childlike smile. Charming and lovely.

“So, you are angry at the monarchy?” He asked more lightheartedly. She nodded slowly.

“Me too, I know that I have enjoyed the privilege of being born as the only son of the king, but in no way I support him, or the Order, but if you are still angry at me I would completely understand it….I’m angry too”

“It’s not your fault” Kyung Soo made an attempt to answer a couple of times, but stopped himself.

“And I’m not angry at you” She followed up “I mean, I don’t wish you to end like the Romanovs” She cursed, noticing how any way of self-preservation ran out of the window when talking with him. Kyung Soo looked at her with wide eyes, and spoke with urgency.

“How do you know about the Romanovs? World history is forbidden, especially the revolutions” He moved closer to her, whispering close to her ear, as if the orchids in front of them could hear with their human-like shapes.

“You know I grew up in the countryside, we are 600 kilometers away from the border…If you go to this specific hill” Anna stopped herself. That was a family secret and her only sense of freedom. But she owed something to him. He brought her there, shared this secret place and the passages with her. But her secret involved her family, so she kept it for herself.

For now.

“I can’t tell you, I know you shared a lot with me, but I can’t tell you that, it involves more people, not just me” He looked disappointed, as he looked away from her. She had to bite her lip to keep her resolve. Kyung Soo took another deep breath and chuckled softly.

“I understand Anna, it’s alright, although I’m very curious, but I hope someday you trust me that much” She wanted to ask why he was so eager to get something from her. Especially her thoughts, stories and opinions. But asking something like that would be asking for more, without giving anything in exchange.

She stood up suddenly, and Kyung Soo followed suit. They still had time, and they could keep talking, but Anna wanted to keep looking around.

Kyung Soo changed the subject to a lighter one, and began talking about the trees they passed by. They stayed like that for a while until her curious self found a way out. Asking what it needed to know.

“Kyung Soo, when you gave me the book with the maps, you told me something that left me hanging. What did you mean when you said that you would feel terribly misunderstood?” His body went rigid, and she couldn’t see his face since he was walking ahead of her. He took some long seconds to turn around and look at her. And yet he didn’t answer immediately.

“There isn't a way to say it that doesn't make me sound like an idiot” He answered with hesitation. Although that was hardly an answer.

“What do you mean?” She walked closer, holding her hands behind her back. He took a step to the side and avoided her stare again, fiddling with the small, white flowers in front of him.

“I wish you could find out so I didn’t have to say it, I'm sure you could, you are that capable” He insisted on saying sentences that weren't answers, but riddles for her numb brain. He took a quick look at her and chuckled.

“Are you entertained?” She asked defensively. He chuckled again and finally left those flowers alone, standing in front of her.

“I'm not entertained, I'm charmed” Anna clicked her tongue, looking away annoyed. Kyung Soo reached for her arm, but as soon as he touched her, he took his hand away, apologizing.

“I’m not even sure of what I meant, but I also have some things that I need to keep for myself for now, since more people are involved” She couldn’t remain annoyed when he was finally clearing some things out. Although he didn’t answer, she could understand his reasons.

After all, his reasons were just like hers.

The silence that followed allowed her to hear the muted sound of the sirens announcing that the curfew was close. She checked her clock, and she only had fifteen minutes to go back to the dorms. An impossible task considering the distances. Kyung Soo was quick to give her some calm.

“Don’t worry, we are going to go back to the geography room, I’m going to go look for Chanyeol or Sehun and they are going to walk you to the dorms, everything is going to be alright, just tell the guards that you lose the sense of time while studying, although I doubt the will ask something if you arrive with Sehun or Chanyeol, they outrank them after all” The confidence he showed made her feel less worry.

She was glad she had such figures of power on her side.

They walked back to the passage, and Anna kept looking back, just in case this was the first and last time she visited such a beautiful place. Although Kyung Soo promised another visit during the summer.

When Kyung Soo opened the second door to the passage, they were greeted by the pitch darkness. She had completely forgotten about it. Kyung Soo cleaned his throat and walked inside before her. His body was almost consumed by the darkness. He reached for her, offering his hand.

Anna felt a rush of heat run over her and after drying the sweat from her palms, she held his helping hand, tightening her grip once she walked inside.

The darkness surrounded them, but the fear she felt before could not reach her this time.

TBC

#exowritersnet #exosnet #kyungsoo fic #exo fanfic #exo fic #d.o fanfic #do kyung soo

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