Helpful links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyeongbokgung
Map- http://www.art-and-archaeology.com/korea/seoul/gyeongbokgungmap.jpg
Throne room (Geunjeongjeon) exterior - http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fd/Seoul_Gyeongbok-gung-3.jpg/1024px-Seoul_Gyeongbok-gung-3.jpg interior - http://static2.davidkennardphotography.com/Img/604-Geunjeongjeon-Throne-Room.jpg ceiling detail - http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/74305544.jpg
“Dining hall”- http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Gyeongbokgung-Gyeonghoeru-02.jpg

#48: We Built This City
Continuity: After the “God Gene” arc
OT12-centric

Kris pointed the place out on a map.

“It’s called Gyeongbok, it’s an old Palace,” He told them. “We haven’t been there before, but we’ve been near the area. It’s not far, maybe a week to walk, and it’s surrounded by a lot of modern buildings. We can take what we want from those places—furniture and stuff, and just put it in the Palace.”

“Is it near the Tree?” Kai asked.

“A little further than the Sanctuary back home was,” Kris admitted. “But I think it’s okay. In any case, we’ll still be alone for a few hundred years, and we need some place that we can leave all of our crap.”

And looking around, they had collected an incredible amount of stuff over the past few decades.

“What about electricity and plumbing and stuff?” Kyungsoo asked skeptically. “It’s a few hundred years old, it wouldn’t have that sort of thing.”

Suho was the one who answered. “We were actually heading over there when we found you guys. Before everyone left, we heard rumors that people had started living there, converting it into a more modern facility. They had the idea that they could take shelter there, it was big enough for a few hundred people, and they could fight off raiders and the like, keep their food safe.”

There was a collective shiver around the group. “What had these people become towards the end?” Sehun asked.

“Desperate,” Yixing said flatly. “I say we go there and see what’s left—it’ll be big enough for us and the next generation, right?”

“Should be,” Kris said. “Assuming it hasn’t burned down. And anything that hasn’t been modernized shouldn’t be too difficult to do ourselves. I’ve been looking at how plumbing and electricity works, if I can get enough good pieces from the surrounding areas, I think I can duplicate it.”

“You’ll have to turn on the generators first,” Tao sighed. “Do you know where it is?”

“The place has its own,” Kris said. “Or it should, but we’ll find out when we get there.”

“If they even turned it off at all,” Lu Han added. “Most of this stuff seems to have just been abandoned with haste, remember all the times we’ve walked into a house and the lights were all on?”

“It’s funny,” Chanyeol said, “I remember reading back home about how everyone here had jobs, and a lot of them had to do things like running electrical plants and—”

“Plants?” Yixing interrupted, confused, “Like, flowers?”

“No, no,” Chanyeol said with a wave of his hand, “Like big, industrial areas. They had to run the sewer systems as well, make sure everything flowed smoothly, but now that they’re all gone it works fine.”

“That’s because we’re only twelve people,” Kris pointed out as he folded his map. “We go to cities that were designed to support hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people. The little bit of water, electricity and plumbing that we use didn’t cause problems.”

“And towards the end,” Suho said suddenly, his eyes distant. “Things didn’t need monitoring. The waste management and electricity plants started to be entirely self-contained and barely needed any human instruction or repair. It was all computers and robots, whatever that means. I heard a lot of people talking about it. I bet you anything that it’s still running, has been all this time.”

He and Kris stood up and everyone took that as their cue to start packing. After a few minutes, Tao sighed. “We won’t be twelve people forever,” he said quietly. “If something does go wrong, how do we fix it?”

“Well,” Kris said, looking at Kyungsoo, “A lot of that stuff is underground. Pipes are metal here but they can be replaced with—”

“Rock?” Kyungsoo suggested. “Like, if I were to make the ground around it so tightly packed that nothing could get through, it could work?”

“Can you do that?” Kris asked, even though he knew the answer.

“Of course I can!”

“And I’m sure I can do something with the electricity,” Chen added, “If the need arises.”

“See?” Kris said with a grin. “We can do this. We can be self-sufficient.”

“How do you say the name of this place again?” Baekhyun asked.

“Gyeongbok Gung,” Kris repeated. “Gung means Palace, like for Kings and Queens.”

“It sounds like it would belong in our language,” Kyungsoo sighed, “But we didn’t have Kings and Queens.”

“We won’t have them now,” Kai said shortly. “It’s going to be Gong Byuk Sanctuary from now on.”

“Gyeongbok,” Suho corrected.

“Whatever,” Kai muttered. “First thing we do is change the name.”

It was weird to be at a place with so much History, Kris thought, and not fully understand it’s significance. Everyone realized it as they stood at the grand front gate, taking in the cracked concrete that had once been a street and the small shrubs growing out of it, but the gate stood proud and tall. A little faded, but the red and green paint and sheer size of the thing was no less impressive. And this was just the gate.

“Is it okay for us to be here?” Kyungsoo asked suddenly, making everyone jump. “I mean, this place was a museum…”

“People had already started to live here before we arrived,” Kai said brusquely. “Besides, they abandoned the entire planet, this place is as good as ours. If they ever come back and want it back, then fine. They can have it.” And he shouldered his bag and stalked up to the gate, and shoved his shoulder into the middle of the three doors, opening it with a sharp squealing sound.

“Iron, rusted,” Kris said, rubbing his ears.

They all saw Kai drop his bag. “Holy , dude.”

“Where do you learn words like that?” Suho grumbled as he walked forward. Then he too dropped his bag. “.”

Kris felt his heart beat a little faster. “Is it ruined?” He asked, hurrying forward with ten other boys, crowding into the narrowly opened door. When they all got through, they were all in awe.

It wasn’t ruined, not totally. It was clear that there had been, at one point, a courtyard filled with paving stones, but those were almost all crumbling to allow grasses and plants to poke through. In front of them stood what Kris knew to be the second gate, not as tall but made almost even more impressive by the dramatic red paint and peaked, black roof.

“How many gates are there?” Kai demanded.

“Three in the front,” Kris answered. “And then three more, one on each side.”

They passed over a small bridge leading to the second gate, and then they got to the third. It too was in good condition, and any work the gates need could wait a few more years. The third gate had the most impressive entrance.

“Why’s it so damn tall?” Sehun grumbled, peering up to look at it.

“Keep watch for invaders?” Chen guessed.

Then they finally got to the inner court and once more all twelve lapsed into shocked silence.

“So,” Kris said, looking down at the map, “That’s the Geunjeongjeon, where the King’s throne was.”

“So,” Suho asked, “Is that our dining hall, then?”

“No,” Kris said, glancing down and grinning. “That’s Gyeonghoeru.”

“And where is that?” Tao asked.

“A ways away yet.”

“So,” Lu Han asked, looking like he was trying not to laugh. “What will we use this for?”

“Why don’t we go inside and check it out?” Kyungsoo asked.

It was the first building they went into, and they were all shocked when they went inside. Kris’ eyes immediately went to the elaborate ceiling, which was slightly damaged from the modern lighting that had been installed, but was still very impressive.

“How did they do this?” Chanyeol asked in awe, turning in circles as he stared. “It’s amazing.”

They were so busy looking at the ceiling, it was a while before they noticed the floor.

“Hey!” Tao yelled suddenly, “Somebody left their stuff!”

They all looked down and saw that the floor was littered with clothing and shoes, as well as things like games and books.

“I guess we could use this as a reception room?” Xiumin suggested. He eyed the large throne. “Not sure what we’ll do with that thing.”

“Maybe we should just leave it,” Baekhyun said. “As a tribute to the people who once lived here.”

“Either idea could work,” Kris said with a shrug. “Shall we continue?”

They moved on to Sajeongjeon, a meeting place for the king, and the two adjacent buildings, neither of which were as big as the throne room. Then they made it to Gangnyeongjeon, the king’s bedchamber.

“Could you ask for a more perfect building?” Suho gasped. The room was divided into fourteen sections, seven on each side. The walls had been opened up, but that’s an easy fix. “Look at it, it’s like it was made for us!”

“For you, maybe,” Jongin said doubtfully, knocking on the walls. “These aren’t exactly soundproof, you know.”

Chen snorted and it took a moment for Kris to catch on to the meaning. “Okay,” Kris said, holding up his hands. “There’s two other buildings on each side of this, what’s say we connect them and make the whole complex our rooms? That should give us enough space, and we can double up the walls.”

“We’ll have to test it first,” Baekhyun said seriously, and almost everyone dissolved into giggles.

“I don’t get it, what’s so funny?” Yixing asked.

Suho walked over to him and hugged him tightly. “I hope you never change,” he sighed.

They moved on to Gyeonghoeru, the dining hall.

“Okay,” Lu Han gasped. “I can see us eating here.”

It was beautiful, a large building mounted on a set of impressive pillars and surrounded by water.  The two flanking wooden staircases leading up to it were relatively intact, but Kris thought that they would be one of the first things to be replaced.

“Got you covered,” Kyungsoo said when he voiced this out loud. He stomped his foot on the ground, there was a screeching sound as the wood stairs splintered apart, and then there was a rumbling and crunching as a pair of stone steps rose in their place.

“Awesome,” Kai breathed. Then. “Hey, do you think you could do that with the bedrooms?”

“No,” Kyungsoo laughed as they ascended the stairs. “But I could use it to connect a bunch of the rooms, so—HOLY CRAP!”

It was a cry echoed by all once they got to the room at the top of the stairs. It was huge and open, but that wasn’t what everyone was focused on.

“Look at this view,” Suho whispered. “It’s amazing.”

They stood in that building for a long time, taking in the sight of the courtyard as it stretched beyond them, and the surrounding lake and gardens. It was a while before any of them spoke.

“It doesn’t feel like home yet,” Tao said, his voice cracking a little, “But it feels comfortable.”

“Yeah,” Kai agreed, sniffling a bit. “It really does.”

It was a while before they ventured out to take in the rest of the buildings. Most of them are self-explanatory. There was the queen’s chambers, which they planned to use to house the next Generation of guardians, the library complex, a room where the prince studied (which they will appropriately use for a school room), kitchens, housing for non-royals, possibly to be converted for attendants and a medical wing. Each building was in remarkably good condition, though there were piles of clothing and even some rotting food that needed to be cleaned out.

“Well,” Kris said at the end of a very long day. “We have some work cut out for us, but like Suho said, a lot of the really hard work seems to have been done for us. There’s lights and plumbing, even in the old buildings, and stuff like furnishing will be easy. Tomorrow we’ll start drawing up plans to connect everything and transform the rooms, and then we’ll get to work on cleaning up. Agreed?”

Everyone was too tired not to agree, and so the twelve of them made their way back to their new sleeping quarters, where they dissolved into half-hearted bickering over who would sleep where and eventually collapsed in a pile in the middle of the room. They were all just about asleep when suddenly—

“Oh my god!” Yixing wailed, “You guys were talking about , weren’t you?!”

“By the Tree,” Suho muttered, burying his face in Tao’s chest.

“Gross, yuck, you guys keep your weird habits quiet and away from me!”

“Yixing,” Kai sighed, “I cannot promise quiet, not at all.”

Lu Han laughed hysterically and Suho whimpered. “Kris, make them shut up.”

Kris decided to pretend he was already asleep.

Aside from the stray belongings left behind (a few of which they actually can make good use of, they’re always in need of new shoes and socks), the group also came to realize that there were a lot of stray animals left behind in the palace courtyard as well. They stumbled across several cats already, including a mother and a litter of four kittens. Lucy was making herself at home with them, but Keen and Daisy weren’t having so much luck.

“I can’t believe those dogs are still alive,” Kyungsoo remarked as he watched them chase a calico cat into a bunch of bushes. He and Kris were supposed to be sweeping, but Kyungsoo was letting Kris do most of the work. “Even if being with us has made some of the Tree’s magic rub off on them, shouldn’t they be dead by now?”

Kris almost smacked him upside the head. “Keep your voice down,” he hissed. “If I hear you mention the ‘D’ word around Chen, Sehun, Lu Han or Yixing, I will soak your pillow in something foul-smelling.”

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes but mimed zipping his lips shut.

“Wouldn’t you miss them if they died?” Kris asked. “They’ve been with us for nearly a hundred years.”

“It’s not natural,” Kyungsoo sighed. “All dogs go to heaven, you know.”

“Whatever,” Kris mumbled. “Just don’t talk about it. We’re finally having some good moments, don’t ruin them.”

Kyungsoo was about to retort, but fell silent as Yixing came bounding over. “Hi,” he called, skidding to a halt in front of Kris and nearly knocking into him. “So, I’m going to go for a walk, but I may be gone for a few days, okay?”

 “What kind of walk takes a few days?” Kris sputtered.

Yixing grinned and shrugged. “I guess you’ll find out.”

He started to skip away and Kris called after him, “Make sure you bring clothes and water with you!”

Yixing waved and Kris turned to Kyungsoo with a slightly horrified expression. “Is it me?” He asked. “It’s him, right? It’s not just me?”

“It’s him,” Kyungsoo sighed, “But he’s always been like this. Remember that time he wandered off and Baekhyun brought him home? Where was he, anyway?”

“As if I remember,” Kris muttered.

When Yixing came back a few days later, he had with him about twenty cows, a bull, ten horses, a few goats, thirty or so sheep, and an entire flock of hens and roosters.

“Right then,” Suho said when Yixing finally shut the gate (the first one, the second one was still closed off and the animals were all secured in between) after the last goat had come scampering in. “How did this happen?”

Yixing beamed at them. “Well, I got to thinking one day that it’s been a long time since any of us had milk, you know.”

“I can’t drink milk,” Tao said, “Neither can Xiumin.”

“Wait,” Kris yelled, “This happened because you were thinking about milk?!”

“Kinda,” Yixing said, bouncing a little. “And eggs.”

“The horses are a surprise,” Chen remarked.

“I love horses!” Yixing cried. “We had one when I was growing up—oh and I have saddles, but I don’t think these horses have been broken. I can do that, though!”

“it’s a good idea though,” Lu Han said. “I mean, if we’re settling down then it makes sense that we have some nice things, right? Like perishable foods. A few of us grew up on farms, we know how to make milk and butter, and collecting eggs is easy. We can get goat milk too, we can sheer sheep and make our own blankets and stuff—we can use the horses to get around the grounds if we want!”

“We even have a barn!” Sehun reminded them. “This is fantastic! Yixing, where did you find all of these animals?”

“More importantly, how did you get them to follow you and can you teach me?” Chanyeol asked excitedly.

Yixing’s eyes lit up. “I would be happy to show you! Right after I get some sleep.” And he promptly laid down on the ground and passed out.

Suho gave Kris an exasperated look. “Your child,” he muttered. “All yours.”

Why yes, that is a reference to ‘Road to Eldorado’ near the end there.

This chapter was painstakingly researched. I was flipping back and forth between the map of Gyeongbok Gung and the wikipedia page of what each building was (not all of them are even on Wikipedia) and then I was google imaging the damn things and I was just…

I HOPE YOU APPRECIATE WHAT I GO THROUGH FOR YOU. Anyway the result is it’s not as fluffy as I was hoping, but it’s better than the other chapters were.

Also, one of my lovely readers, EunHae_AKTF, has informed me that she went to Korea and has pictures of this palace, and kindly linked me to them, so go to her blog and make sure you check them out--her pictures are a lot better than the ones that Google gave me! http://www.asianfanfics.com/blog/view/675335

Also, I feel like I have to give the comment box a little kick every five chapters. We were doing so well, what happened? I see the subscriber count going up, I see the page view count coming up, and yet it still seems like the same 11 people comment on every chapter, and I know I have more readers than that.

So starting from this update, I’m going to record how many comments, page views, and subscribers I have before I post the new chapter and see what kind of traffic I get between now and the next update—lord only knows when that will be though, I haven’t started the next chapter yet.