Chapter 23 – Planning It All

After being found by Minho in the hallway Hakyeon is led back to the prince’s office where, to his surprise, Leo and Jaehwan are waiting.

“Hakyeon,” Leo sighs, relieved to see the sorcerer. He’d honestly thought Hakyeon was going to do something stupid when he’d stormed out earlier.

Hakyeon sits down beside the Anyethi, unconsciously running his fingers through the boy’s hair and then rubbing between his ears. Leo fights off the urge to purr, only managing to do so when the prince sits down across from them.

“Has Jaehwan told you everything?” the prince asks.

“Yeah,” Leo replied softly.

“Good, then we can start discussing this.”

Minho starts from the beginning, talking about his mother and father and where magic had gotten the country. Hakyeon has already decided what he’s going to do but he figures if he can help the prince fix this country at the same time then he should. He doesn’t really care that much about Minho’s plans for the government or trade but when the conversation comes back around to what he needs to be doing, Hakyeon starts paying attention again.

“If you killed Yeongsik that would be fine. However, he has a large, very large, network with other sorcerers and unregistered sorcerers. Being on his ‘side’ would mean that you would also have access to information about those sorcerers.”

“Information that would come in handy when we’re ready to act,” Hakyeon says, more to himself.

Prince Minho nods. “Right.”

“So you want me to be his… friend?” Hakyeon plays with the word.

Jaehwan also seems amused by it but Leo just frowns. “Wouldn’t he be suspicious if Hakyeon were to just disappear from the palace one day?” the Anyethi asks.

It’s the prince’s turn to frown. “What do you mean?”

“We’re not staying,” Hakyeon tells him. “Your plan is going to take years to set up. We can’t stay that long. Leo is in too much danger here.”

“Hmm,” Minho murmurs. “That might actually be for the best. As long as you’re here you’ll have to keep making potions or spells and Suhee has more time to convince my father that you’re a threat.”

“Is that something she’s trying to do?” Hakyeon asks.

It’s Jaehwan that answers this time. “She hasn’t exactly kept her distrust of you a secret. For now the king thinks that you’re on his side but he does trust Suhee more than anyone so it’s only a matter of time.”

“How long do you think it will be before it looks like you’re stalling with the potion?”

“Maybe a year and a half,” the sorcerer ponders. “But the second the team starts suggesting we begin cutting up Leo then we’re gone.”

If I can break the spell in time, Hakyeon adds silently.

“That’s fair enough,” Prince Minho says. “We can sort your escape out more later, it’s something we actually have time to decide on.”

“So,” Jaehwan begins, trying to sort everything out in his head. “While you are meeting with other countries and planning all of that, Hakyeon will be working on that potion until they leave. Then what?”

“Well I assume we’ll keep in contact the best we can until the time is right,” the prince tells him. “Hakyeon is needed to get rid of Suhee and my father. Until that time he should lay low.”

“But this brings us back to Yeongsik. How do I keep quiet and stay ‘friends’ with Yeongsik for that long?”

“We’re going in circles,” Leo states with a sigh. “We haven’t actually decided anything since we sat down.”

The prince also sighs. “Maybe you should just kill him.”

“Wait,” Jaehwan cuts in before Hakyeon can agree. “Not all the sorcerers are on the king’s side right? Even if they say they are there has to be some complaints, doesn’t there? Like with the guards? Most of them are on our side.”

“Oh,” Hakyeon murmurs, eyes lighting up. “I didn’t think of that.”

If he is ‘friends’ with Yeongsik and part of his inner circle with other sorcerers then he’ll be under suspicion when other sorcerers start disappearing. If he can convince them the king is doing it then he’ll have a higher chance of getting what he wants.

“So you know what you’re going to do?” Prince Minho asks.

“Yeah, leave all of this to me,” Hakyeon replies, possibilities churning in his head.

“Actually, after you’ve left I was wondering if you’d be willing to make health potions.”

Hakyeon frowns. “I thought the idea of me leaving was good because I wouldn’t have to make potions?”

“The people rely on health potions for everything. Until medicine takes off and hospitals are built then we don’t have much of a choice but to keep using them.”

“They use major creatures,” Jaehwan states. He looks like he disapproves of Minho asking for this. “His reserves are too big already.”

Were they? Hakyeon wonders. He thinks he’s okay. Sure his reserves were a little big, but too big?

It is only after he sees the look on Leo’s face that he realizes this was something that was troubling everybody but him.

Am I corrupted? He asks himself. He doesn’t like the voice in the back of his head that sneers, ‘Obviously’.

The thought startles him to his feet and he clenches his fists. “Do you think I’m corrupted?!” he demands and it somehow sounds like an accusation.

Leo avoids his gaze entirely, choosing to stare at the floor instead. Jaehwan raises his eyebrows questioningly, as if wondering how Hakyeon had stumbled into this topic. The prince, however, is the only one that gives him an answer.

“Corruption is the result of using magic. You use a lot of magic. Big reserves of deliberate magic likely leads to faster corruption. You have big reserves.”

“So you do think I’m corrupted?”

“No, that’s why I asked you to make health potions.”

Hakyeon scowls at the prince, trying to figure out if he believes the other man or not. Eventually he decides it doesn’t matter, he only has to get rid of sorcerers and being corrupted won’t interfere with that.

He’s wondering what effect making bulk amounts of health potions would have on his reserves when he freezes.

“What if I told you I know someone who can make potions? A lot of potions.”

The prince frowns. “How is that any different to me asking you to make them? How do I know if we can trust this sorcerer?”

Hakyeon grins. “He’s not a sorcerer. He doesn’t have any deliberate magic reserves either. He’d be perfect for this.”

“And you trust him?” Minho asks.

“Like a brother. He’s pretty young though, only fourteen.”

Jaehwan splutters. “And he can make health potions?”

“Ravi can make anything. He’s a genius.”

“He’ll be older when we actually start doing anything,” the prince says, deciding whether or not to recruit Ravi.

“He’s a kid,” Leo mutters.

“He’s only two years younger than you,” Jaehwan scoffs.

Leo glares at the guard before tutting and crossing his arms. “I’m seventeen now,” he grumbles. “And that isn’t an argument. Don’t get kids involved.”

“Stop it,” the prince orders. “It was Hakyeon’s suggestion anyway.”

“He doesn’t have to be directly involved,” Hakyeon explains. “He can just make potions and send them to you.”

“That could work.”

They all fall silent for a minute before Hakyeon groans. “But what am I going to tell Yeongsik?”

The others groan as well and brainstorming begins.

I’m not going to really talk about Minho’s plans in the actual story but I’ll give a general outline here.

-Gather supporters and form alliances with other countries behind his father’s back
-Set up a government where the leader is elected. Have it ready and in place so it can start functioning quickly after the king has been removed from power.
-Ban magic entirely. Magic has been falling out of common use by citizens anyway except for health potions.
-Integrate creatures into society and open up the borders.
-Import and encourage the use of new technologies. Open up trade, already has deals set up. Encourage new industries etc to stimulate the economy.

When I think about how much work and planning something of that scale would actually take… just no…