Chapter 24 – [1805]

They have been running from the bad guys for the past thirty minutes, at full speed on and off, however at last tiredness started to sink in as Chuho felt the heaviness in his thighs and legs, his uneven breathing, and the sweat dripping off his long lashes. Thirty minutes would have been nothing if Denis hadn’t joined in on the chase. With Denis being slower than the average runner; something Chuho wished he had known before tempting their chasers because the bandit had to pay and spend most of his energy keeping trouble out of the alien’s path. Which included coming to forced brief stops just to allow Denis to pass so Chuho could chuck sticks, fruits, and vegetables that had fallen out of terrified women’s baskets along with empty buckets at the enemies.

With Denis leading and crossing into a city he has no knowledge of, the boy led him and Chuho into the heart of the city where most of the people could be found. As they try to pass through without causing too much of a ruckus and injuring others, Chuho was a step too little too late in getting Denis to avoid running into a dead-end. Denis stopped when all he could see was a wall nearly twice their height put together by rocks and stones. Denis was stumped on what to do next as he searched behind him for Chuho.

The two exhausted boys stared at the wall for a moment, baffled, before they heard the disruptive noise heading toward them, “Chuho what do we do now?” Denis asked, but Chuho did not care to try to understand what the boy has said. In fact, he could have very well guessed with the situation they were in. Without a second to spare, Chuho looked to the wall closest to him, there he kicked up the first wall. With force and leverage, he was able to get himself off the ground and wall all at once to grabbed a hold of the second gray and black barrier that were in their way. Once Chuho managed to pull himself over and onto the thin surface of the wall, he clung onto the top as he offered a hand down to Denis.

“Hurry, grab my hand!” Chuho shouted. Denis hesitated. He was impressed with Chuho’s agility and ability to get on top of the wall, but there was no way Denis could get anywhere close. In addition, he would have to jump to get ahold of the Asian’s hand, but what if he pulled Chuho down as he was obviously a bigger boy in size, weight, and height.

“I can’t,” Denis cried with a hint of panic. Chuho saw how the boy’s hand was shaking by his flared shorts.

“What are you doing? Hurry!” Chuho hollered. Denis wore a horrified frown as he looks up to the earnest and desperate glint in Chuho’s eyes. Still shaking, he reached his dirty hand out to Chuho’s less tidy hands. But it was no use. Before their hands could meet a ball of hay laced together with ribbons were thrown toward Chuho, causing him to faltered and lose his grip on the wall. Together the ball of hay and Chuho were thrown off and onto the other side of the wall. Instantly the enemies had Denis surrounded.

“The four of you find that rat. You better catch him dead or alive. The rest of you get this one. Let's catch him and the other one and send their dead bodies to that old man of the Black” the man, Gwakjin, ordered as he and some of his raggy men took the moment to recover from the long run. Denis had turned around to face them and as they close in on him, he took a step back, afraid. Once the men were no more than five feet from him, they all charged in, causing the boy to scratched on the wall for help.

“Chuho! Chuho save me!” The blonde's voice became hoarse as he tried to scream for help.

Strictly, other than Gwakjin, the four men grabbed onto Denis's limbs and clothes before landing countless punches and kicks onto his small body, which dropped him to a knee before they released his arms. As Denis curled into a defenseless ball on the ground, the merciless men kept at it despite Denis’s miserable grunts and groans. An entertained smirk was produced on the dried and cracked lips of Gwakjin until he felt a cold and hard object on his shoulder, once he followed the object over, after coughing out a sketchy laughter, the excitement in his expression was completely drained.

Standing beside him, a young man had a sword on his shoulder, ready to cut into his neck. “W-wha, w-w-who are you?” Gwakjin baffled, looking from the metal sword to the drawer and back.

“Call off your man if you don’t want to get hurt,” the youngling said.

“H-hey!” Gwakjin’s single cry caught the attention of his men, stunning them in their tracks. Without any fear, the newcomer looks from one to another. He was outnumbered, so all he could do was to rely on the object in hand and his tone.

“Beating an unarmed, defenseless, scared child is cowardly. Shouldn’t middle-aged men like you folks know better? Even if it’s unfair to the child, I will give you all a choice. Leave now or I will have no choice but to use this sword,” Yeong looked back to the shorter, old man beside him. The lad had two hands up, a gesture of surrendering.

“W-we will leave, we will leave. Everyone get out of there!” Gwakjin called to his men, careful and afraid of the weapon that could send him to hell while resting only inches away.

“Before I let you go, though, I hope I won’t ever have to see you or your men doing such criminal acts again. Please consider this your last and only warning,” once Yeong removed the sword, he noticed the other four had joined the two in chasing from behind Chuho. The terrified boy took one quick glance at Yeong before jetting toward the back to find the foreigner. As Yeong scared off the group of oldies, he heads to the back to see how the boys were. He saw how the Korean were checking on the blonde’s wounds and were mumbling to himself. Mainly apologizing to the unconscious foreigner and blaming himself for what had happened.

Yeong kneels beside the boys after sheathing the plastic sword he had purchased from a stall that sold toys for children. “I know of a good doctor around here, let’s take your friend to him,” Yeong offered quietly, hoping not to frighten the boy, though he appeared more angry than scared.

“No, I will take him home. I don’t have that kind of money for me to pay any doctor,”

Yeong insisted knowing the unconscious boy’s state may worsen if they didn’t get him check out, “The doctor I spoke of is a family doctor, he’s a good doctor that won’t charge if his patient cannot pay for the cost, please your friend isn't looking well,”

Chuho thought for a moment. Though he would like to take Denis back home and nurse on his own, it would be wiser to get an idea of how badly injured Denis was first. Otherwise, Chuho wouldn’t know if whether Denis only needed medicine or just time to rest, “Then I will carry him and—”

Yeong stopped the boy, noticing a large cut on his sleeve and after easily detecting a deep cut on Chuho’s arm, “You’re hurt too, let me carry your friend. I’m much bigger than you, if I carry him we’ll get there faster,” Chuho could not argue. The older male was definitely bigger and in a much better shape. It was obvious that the stranger grew up in a nice and wealthy home, and probably well fed as well as he was tall and appeared firm. Slowly Chuho passed the unconscious Denis over to Yeong as he stood up, covering his cut with his hand. Yeong smoothly pulled Denis onto his back and carried the boy in a piggyback style.

Junseung had demanded that Changwoo joined him for dinner, despite the Minister’s eagerness to head home for dinner with his wife. Thus after the Minister left, Changwoo joined Junseung for dinner in the Crown Prince’s room. For the first time, Changwoo remained quiet as the Crown Prince consumes at a slow pace. Normally they would be having fun conversations, talking, teasing, and joking around. But in the moment they were still stuck in the mood from earlier when Prince Youngtae unexpectedly showed up during their lesson. Junseung sighed when Changwoo had not moved and made the attempt to eat with him. “Are you not eating associated to what I’ve done and said earlier? Have I disappointed you as a friend?”

Changwoo gazed up, just enough to lock eyes with the latter, “No, it’s just I wished you and the prince would have had a different relationship,”

At his words, Junseung revealed an annoyed smug, “With our positions, how can I and he share a relationship like you and your sister?” Immediately Changwoo knew Junseung were jealous and envious of his and Eunmi’s closeness. “The other day when I saw you and your sister, I wonder to myself whether he and I can ever be like that,” there was a long pause as Junseung set his chopsticks down, “there will never be a day where he and I can be like that, at least not when one of us is Crown Prince,”

“Your highness, you don’t have to fear that the prince will threaten your future. If he truly sees you as a younger brother then he won’t do it. Even if Eunmi was a boy and if we were in the same situation, regardless, I wouldn’t hurt her,” Changwoo voiced, hoping to change Junseung’s mind. But the tired royalty had no change of heart.

“However," the lad began with a of his head, "your sister is not a boy and you are not a prince." He repositioned his head to look straightly at Changwoo, "Do you think I despise the prince? I do not hate him but I cannot accept him." It has been a while since Changwoo heard the Prince's voice cracked. He knew Junseung's pride was hurt. Still, the prince carried on, "There have been many princes who went down in history slaying their own brothers. So if I do not wish to be slain then I must do the slaying,” Junseung’s words and choice left a lump in Changwoo’s throat. He wished, like him, that Junseung knew the feelings and importance of a bond between siblings. He wished Junseung hadn’t been raised thinking the prince would threaten his future as King. However, he also hoped the prince would never become that threat that Junseung fear and has been fearing.

End of Chapter Twenty-Four.