Picture of the King, or Prince Yi Jeong's father. Later in the story, Yi Jeong would find this in someone's attic. 

 

-2011-

“Ah yes, Ga Eul? And Yi Jeong? I would like to speak to you now, for a few minutes.” All of the other students quickly left, leaving Ga Eul and Yi Jeong alone in the classroom with Mr. Han.

 

“I don't know,” Mr. Han said, “whether you were joking or not. But I believe that project is an excellent idea. You could ask your Grandfather's permission if you can present and display at the museum! You guys could work everyday after school!"

 

“What?!” Ga Eul and Yi Jeong both shrieked in unison. Mr. Han lifted an eyebrow.

 

“I won't count you two late if you both work on the project. And Mr. So, I also have been noticing you were skipping class for the last few weeks. I can always notify the school that you were, unless you agree to work on the project.” Yi Jeong gulped.

 

“We'll do the project.” Yi Jeong gritted his teeth.

 

“What?! I never agreed to--” Ga Eul started to say

 

“Ah, Miss Chu. You have already been late several times. If I mark you late one more time, your grade will surely go down.” Mr. Han smiled. Ga Eul gulped. Mr. Han's smile was full of pure evil. EVIL!

 

“Okay! Let's do it!” Ga Eul said nervously as she grabbed Yi Jeong's arm and pulled him out the of the classroom.

 

“OW!” Yi Jeong shrieked. “What was that for?!”

 

“Do you know what you got us into?!” Ga Eul exclaimed

 

“I saved us!”

 

“Yes. And you gave us both more extra work to do as well!”

 

“Aw, come on. It won't be that bad. We meet, today, right after school okay?” Yi Jeong winked and walked away.

 

“But you got us into this mess! You clean it up! Why do I ha--” Yi Jeong turned around and smirked.

 

“You don't want to be late for your next class, right Ga Eul?” Ga Eul realized that this was true and started to run in the opposite direction.

 

“This way, Ga Eul.” Ga Eul started to run back. Yi Jeong rolled his eyes.

 

“Idiot.” He thought and chuckled.

 

-Joseon Dynasty-

 

“Please, Prince Yi Jeong.” The Servant wheezed “You need to go immediately!”

 

“Now?”

 

“Nooow!” The servant looked nervous as he was pacing back and forth.

 

“I have to go now. My father wants me.” Prince Yi Jeong pouted as Ga Eul laughed. “And I think my servant is about to have a heart attack.”

 

“Oh, sir! You must go! You musn't stay because of me! Quickly, His Majesty is waiting for you!” Ga Eul bowed down “Thank you for helping, but next time, I cannot let you do that, sir.”

 

“And why is that?” Prince Yi Jeong looked amused.

 

“I cannot let your precious royal hands get dirty. Also, His Majesty would not like it if his son--”

 

“Don't worry, my Father isn't going to find out. If he did, what is the worst thing he's going to do?” Ga Eul gulped. Um, Execution. Duh. Yi Jeong seemed to understand where this was going.

 

“Ah, he may be scary, but he has a pure soul. If I talk to him, it will work. Only IF he finds out. See you later, Ga Eul!” He waved and left with his servant. Ga Eul bowed down to show respect as he left. She then sat back down to work. As Ga Eul worked, she had a silly smile on her face. Why was she so happy? Why was her body not so sore and tired anymore? Why did she want Prince Yi Jeong to come back? Why does she keep thinking of him?

 

-Back at the Royal Palace-

 

“WHY ISN'T PRINCE YI JEONG COMING?!” The King screeched. The nervous Chief of Staff tried to stop his hands from shaking as the King was very upset with the uproar of the Crown Prince during today's meeting.

 

“He will be, uh-uh, he should be coming very soon!” The Chief of Staff nervously shuffled his feet. With that, a servant came bursting through the door and started to kneel before the King to give him a message.

 

“Prince Yi Jeong have arrived, Your Majesty.”

 

“Good. Bring him in.” The Prince came in, looking all cool and poised as if nothing could go wrong in the world. That irritated the King.

 

“Where were you, Prince Yi Jeong?!”

 

“Out in the forest.”

 

“Why were you there?! You are supposed to be studying!”

 

“I was. The Palace was too stuffy. I brought my books to the forest. I wanted to read out in the open and listening to the bird's chirping.”

 

“Listening to the bird's chirping?!”

 

“Yes, Father.” There was a pause and a complete silence.

 

“Fine. I will accept what you have just said.” The King squinted at him, trying to find out what he was up to. But he couldn't find anything with the Prince's emotionless face.

 

“Anyways, I have something important to tell you.” The King cleared his throat.

 

“The Crown Prince does not want to become King. Therefore, I am going to make you King within a year.”

 

“What?!” Prince Yi Jeong looked stunned. King? KING?! No way, no way! He didn't know whether he should be excited about this or not.

 

“Since you have not really studied to become King, I will let you study for a year with the Crown Prince's material. I will allow you to study in the library only reserved for the Crown Prince.”

 

“So, does that mean I'll become Crown Prince?”

 

“Yes, you shall become Crown Prince in a week.”

 

“But, what about my half-brother?” (Or as we call it, brother from another mother!)

 

“The Crown Prince? He will be stripped down of his rank, of course. Prince, I believe this is a wonderful idea and I will not tolerate you going against this. Otherwise, I have no other sons to take my throne.”

 

“Okay, I'll become King.”

 

“Ah, yes. That's good news for me. Now I can finally rest in peace.” The King lightly coughed.

 

“Not feeling well, Father?”

 

“Just a little bit, son. Now go back to your studying!”

 

“Okay, Your Majesty.” Prince Yi Jeong bowed before leaving. King?! All of the sudden?! The burden was heavy on his shoulders. A mission that is almost impossible.

 

-2011-

The bell rang, indicating that school is over in five minutes. Ga Eul was literally dying to get out of the hot, stuffy classroom. She could not stand hearing one more lecture coming from the teacher's mouth.

 

“All right students, I will end here today. Class dismissed.” Ga Eul gladly ran out of the classroom only to bump into the same person that is going to make her work everyday after school.

 

“Hey! I was waiting for you!” Yi Jeong wrapped his arms around her shoulder. “Shall we?” Before Ga Eul could protest, a group a girls were glaring at them.

 

“Yi Jeong Oppa, how dare you betray us!” One of the girls yelled.

 

“Sorry, girls. She took my heart.” Yi Jeong smiled “I guess it is no use in following me anymore.” He shrugged. Some girls nodded and walked away. The rest stayed and chanted 'We will wait, we will wait!' With that, Yi Jeong walked away with Ga Eul.

 

“Better than before. At least the group is girls is smaller now.” Yi Jeong smirked.

 

“Did you... did you just use me?!” Ga Eul squeaked “When did I ever allow you to use me?!”

 

“Since... now.” Yi Jeong grinned “Come on, let's get this project over with.”

 

“Fine. We're going to the library across the street.” Ga Eul straightened up and stayed a far distance away from Yi Jeong. “We can research on a computer there.”

 

“Sure. Whatever.” Yi Jeong yawned “Libraries are good for a full nap.”

 

“If you are not going to work, I won't do this project.” Ga Eul stuck her chin up in a arrogant, stubborn way.

 

“Then you'll get a grade lower.”

 

“So? I have a high average already. I can always bring it back up. It's only going to hurt you the most Yi Jeong, considering you have been skipping class and your average is pretty low.” Ga Eul smoothed her skirt.

 

“Let's go.” He growled

 

When they reached the library, Ga Eul sat down in front of an empty computer and started to research.

 

“We need to know what topic we should research and present about. So I think we should--”

 

“I have already decided on a topic.” Yi Jeong yawned.

 

“Already?”

 

“I was thinking about it during class.” Oh.

 

“Okay, then what is it?”

 

“We should research about King Yi Jeong's reign and before he took the throne.”

 

“Ah, King Yi Jeong's reign during the Joseon Dynasty?” Ga Eul scratched her head as she was thinking. “That's a toughie. Even professional Historians can't figure him out! That King had a mysterious life. Besides, we are just plain old college kids! How are we--” Ga Eul suddenly put down her pencil she had in her hand as she watched Yi Jeong slowly grin.

 

“Wait, you only picked him because he has the same as you! Right? Right?” Ga Eul raised an eyebrow.

 

“Yes. And no.” Yi Jeong chuckled “I feel he will be an interesting topic for the both of us to do! Besides, I have stuff—yes, stuff that I have that used to belong to him. Some of it are in my Grandfather's museum but the most important ones are in my house! So we can use those to figure everything out!”

“Okay...” Ga Eul looked unsure. “But Yi Jeong?”

 

“Huh? Yeah?”

 

“Were you named after King Yi Jeong?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Why would they name you after King Yi Jeong out of all kings?! Did they want you to be mysterious or something?”

 

“I dunno, because he is a good King?”

 

“He wasn't. He seduced women during his reign and probably had about a hundred children. And thirty wives. He didn't even care about his country.”

 

“Oh, feisty!” Ga Eul punched Yi Jeong's shoulder lightly.

 

“Ask your parents or Grandfather okay? Why they really named you Yi Jeong? I'm pretty sure they have some reason. Maybe it could help us with the project.” Ga Eul said, as she was tapping her pencil against her desk. All of the sudden, Yi Jeong's pocket vibrated.

 

“Your phone.” Ga Eul pointed at his phone in his back pocket. Yi Jeong took his phone out and answered it.

 

“Hello?”

 

“Hey, it's your father. Your Grandfather wants you meet him at the museum.” Then they both hung up.

 

“I gotta go.” Yi Jeong said as he was walking away. “See you!”

 

“So, when did he decide to come and go?” Ga Eul scoffed but then laughed. She was actually looking forward to tomorrow. She loves a challenge. And working with an impossible person and an impossible project seemed like Mission Impossible to her.

 

“I'll make it Mission POSSIBLE.” Ga Eul thought.

 

Author's Note: Sorry, for slightly boring chapter! I had to get everything ACROSS before I could move on! Don't worry, the next chapter will be more exciting than this on and so on. So... what does Yi Jeong's Grandfather has to say? Will Yi Jeong ask his grandfather about his name? Will Prince Yi Jeong meet Ga Eul again? Find out in the next chapter! :D Anyways, if you are a little confused, the Joseon Dynasty takes you back over a hundred years ago.  The Ancient Yi Jeong and Ga Eul and the Present Yi Jeong and Ga Eul have a similar fate, except their endings are different. :P You'll see. HAPPY READING! Subscribe and comment on what you think below!