Wang So

The darkness has swallowed the entire Songak. A perfect setting for a hidden mission. As always, palace guards could not do much about royals that were sneaking out of the palace, particularly if they climbed over the walls. As always, most likely as a wish by his birth mother, his compound was near the least protected palace walls, a hidden invitation for assassin and rebels to attack him first. The hatred towards him was something that he could comprehend in his mind, but actually acting indifferent towards it, hurt his heart. But rather than thinking of the woman that did not want her child, tonight it was all about the parents that longed for their children. Like he had longed for her. Like he had wished to be her father. Even now.

He already knew that behind the children's kidnapping were some nobles with connection to the Chinju Yoos. That was why, he was so careful with his clothing. Yesterday, he had learnt that normal villagers could pick out high-quality material even if he was wearing the clothes that nobles will assume to be cheap and low-class. So this time, he had actually had rough cotton hanbok, that was basically a black with beige borders, and his hair was fully open and left completely wild and made sure that his scar was covered, not to mention So was going to wear a black cloth mask before entering the hideout of those thugs. No one will know the identity of the man who went to save the hostage children from the hands of thugs-for-hire preferred by the nobles and royals. Though he was not going in alone, no Soo will never let him do that, not to mention having a reliable force of fighters will help to oppress the thugs.

"Hyung, are you ready?" Jung was the best choice to bring along as a fighter. Looking over him, he saw that his little brother was not in a rough pair of clothing, rather in his usual pair of low-quality silk hanbok. At least, his hair was tied up with a simple black ribbon into a ponytail, all he needs to was to change his clothes, so that he will better blend in, at least the top of his hanbok at least.

"Jung-ah, take that top off," and he offers a spare pair of black hanbok with brown top that he had taken out earlier and hands it to him. His stern face must have been enough for his little brother exchanges his shirt without much protest. He took the cloth masks from the table in front of him before placing it within the folds of his hanbok, and made sure he had several sharp chopsticks that he usually used as a hair accessory to disguise the sharpness hidden away. He had four small knives hidden on his body, so he was fully armed. Looking at Jung, now he look like one of the commoners, so he hands his brother his sword that had a black scabbard before picking his own sword that was in a wooden scabbard.

"Hwangjanim," at the sound of Soo's voice, he turns to look at the entrance of the little side room to see that Soo was dressed. Dressed like a commoner, like she was going to go out with him. No. Soo will not be out of the palace grounds tonight. Not when assassins and thugs will be running freely around the town. He absolutely refuse to see her in a dangerous position where she could be hurt. Soo must have read some sort of sign that showed his disapproval, because now she had her stubborn face on with her arms crossed across her chest. The gesture brought Soo's stomach more clearly into view. Her stomach that was slightly becoming a little round. The royal doctor had estimated that the babies were around three months old and now Soo's body will start to show very visible signs of her pregnancy. There was no reason under the heavens, that could convince him that Soo should be allowed to be outside their home, in danger. He absolutely refuse it.

"Noonim, why are you dressed like that?" Jung's question brought him back from his mind where he had mentally started to review all the security measures around Soo that he knew of.

"I am going out with Woo Hee to the town. Don't worry, Hwangjanim, I am bringing Yong and San with me." Who was he deceiving? He could never win against her. Not when she had already addressed all the possible reasons that he could use to stop her. He will just have to stress the factor that Soo is to be protected at all cost to everyone. "I am also bringing Chae-ryung. She knows a lot of hidden routes so we will be safe." That girl still made him feel a mix of anger and pity, but he cannot deny the fact that that servant girl knew a lot of secret routes inside and outside of the palace.

Silently, he approach his heart, his Soo and simply embrace her. Because he knew that she was hiding her worries about him. As her arms comes back, and he felt her hands silently patting his back, he could not help the smile. Soo was a natural mother. She will be the best mother, and he will try to be a good father so that his children will never doubt that they were loved.

"Hyung, Noonim," he forgot about Jung's presence when he was so focused on wrapping Soo tightly with his arms, so that she will not forget his presence, nor he forget her warmth. He silently pulls his arms away and lightly Soo's cheeks until her pouts goes away. Then with a silent nod, he leads Soo out of the little hidden room in Byul closest to the palace walls.

Sending Jung ahead of him to the palace walls, he leans in for a quick kiss to his wife, then after making sure that no one is around, he leans down to whisper to her stomach where his children were. Whispering to take care of their mother and that he will be right back. Ignoring the heat in his cheeks because of that uncharacteristic action that he took or let his mind that suddenly start analyzing his actions, he simply turns to head towards the palace walls, then quickly sneaking out of the palace by climbing over the walls.

The thug's hideout

At an old complex full of multiple rooms that was surrounded by a brick wall, the thugs were at ease. They were soon going to get paid, and the thugs had no complaints with their clients who always paid them handsomely that they still had enough money to survive with the drought. A few of the other bandits group in the area had been sent to delay the return of the Crown Prince so their local competition was low as well. So joining all their members along with two of their allies group, the thugs were just enjoying lives.

The little children they had brought with them were under lock and key, and their most frightening members were watching over them so they expect to not hear a word from them. So with plenty of food and alcohol, the leaders were partying while their underlings were doing guarding duty. The leaders will not notice something was wrong till it was too late. No, not until they will personally see an agent of death standing in front to them.

Just behind the brick wall were two princes, one general's daughter, and three royal guards all of them wearing black cotton hanbok with a face cloth and a ponytail were silently getting ready to invade the hideout. They had already scouted the area before and had decided on the following pairs. 4th Prince with Tae, Jung with Heok, and Soon Deok with Jin. Each of them will handle one direction, and all of the children were to be brought safely to the main entrance of the compound, where their fathers, uncles and many others were all ready to meet and guard them.

The 4th prince had commanded that death for these thugs were almost a guarantee, unless you feel like they will speak out. They could not let any of the masterminds behind this plan know that their leverage over most of the Songak residents had disappeared. With a silent exchange of nods, all of them climb over the wall and into enemy territory. What the onlookers did not know was today will be the day, a new legend in Songak will be born. Nor that they will personally see the purge at the hands of Emperor Gwangjong.

Jung

Jung was surprised. They had just climbed over the walls and without even a moment to regain balance, his older brother starts to run, right ahead of him, where their backs turned were three bandits, obviously on guard duty. He had blinked, and in that time, his older brother had drawn his sword, and had already slash the throat of the three thugs. In that entire time, his feet had not made one sound. Just how much of his skills was his 4th brother hiding from them?

He had heard from his instructors at the palace, just how hard it is to fight with a silent feet. But his brother was doing that so effortlessly in front of him. Even in their spars which they frequently had, Jung realized that his brother never had brought on his entire skills when fighting with him. After this, he was going to convince So-Hyungnim to teach him to walk with silent feet.

He had no more time to think, as he had to go to the west side of the complex. He had to find those children as quickly as possible. If he find that his Eomoni or Yo-Hyungnim was behind this, he did not know how he will react towards them. He hoped that it was not true.

Soon Deok & Jin

Soon Deok could recognize the things that her own father had taught her in the ways that the 4th prince moved, but in a way, the 4th prince had improve on her father's teaching to be more precise in the attacks and be more faster. She wonder how it will go if she were to fight him, but first, she concentrate her attention on silently knocking out the thugs on the eastern side of the complex.

She saw a hut right ahead and the way that so many guards were guarding it, that was either their treasure chest or where the children were. Exchanging a glance with Jin, she got ready to storm in, once Jin had sneaked inside the hut to see the situation. She did not have to wait long as Jin was quickly back at her side.

"The guards are sleeping. There are like fifteen children in there. We have to move them quickly." With a nod, Soon Deok and Jin walk towards the entrance of the hut, and turn the knob to open the door. The children were definitely terrified, but Soon Deok had a special ribbon that Agasshi had gotten from the children's mothers that the children will recognize as all mothers used the same ribbon to tie up their gifts. Mothers do know their children the best, as the children were slowly standing up one by one and silently tiptoeing towards the door. Jin was the first to see the twitch in one of the large guard with a face full of scars, and quickly tossed a needle at his neck. Without the children seeing anything, the man was killed. "Children, are all of you here? Is anyone missing?"

"Ahjussi, they took….they took….to...the boss.." The small girl could not have been more than four. In Jin's eyes, these men were worth less than the dirt on the ground. To attempt to kill an innocent child. That were so young. But he could not lose his judgement at the moment. Soon Deok Agasshi was now silently comforting the many children around them. Rather than attempt to find the leaders of these lowlives, first they had to get the children to safety. By the look of it, Soon Deok could handle the children, as she was gathering them around her, and he was on guard duty. He hope that the heavens had a special space in hell reserved for the ones capable of harming children.

Jung & Heok

On the other hand, rather than quickly finding children, Jung and Heok were busy dealing with the many thugs that were situated around the western side of the complex. Based on the large number of guards, Heok had already guessed that this was where the bandit's treasury was located. But he was not stupid enough to tell that to the hot-headed prince in midst of fighting.

It was best to finish their respective battles before informing the 14th prince of the need to proceed with caution, and that it was not only the rescue of the children that they were supposed to focus on. If they were lucky, Heok could get his hand on some sort of lead that will lead them towards the mastermind.

The Captain had shared with him that the investigation with the captured prisoners were not going as well as it could be. Sure they were gaining information from some, but it was all on small crimes they have committed. Not the high treason, with the attempted murder on the King. Not to mention even if they did not know at the time of the attack, Lady Soo was already pregnant with twins. The masterminds had four counts of regicide to be punished for.

The Grand General had said that it was just as well that the 4th prince was currently distracted enough to not keep a watch on the progress of the interrogation. Heok understood the Captain, not to mention the Grand General's worry completely. The 4th prince's devotion and love towards his wife was clear to him on that trip, and having seen the results of an out-of-control temper of the 4th prince on the countless bodies in the morgue after the exorcism rite, they truly did not want to unleash the temper of the 4th prince on those prisoners.

Heok truly understood why in certain cases, the nickname 'crazy wolf-dog' applied to the 4th prince. It was the madness he left behind when the 4th prince lost control of his highly regulated temper. At least his younger brother the 14th prince, did not seem to have that bad of a temper, just hot-headedness and stubbornness. In a way it was a relief.

"Hwangjanim, I think this is where their treasury is.." but before he could continue, the 14th prince ran ahead, and now he was left to be in pursuit. Well it did not matter as long as they reach the treasury before any evidence of their crimes vanish.

It did not take long to reach a large set of doors with a lock, and even from outside, they could hear cries. Cries of children. So there were some on the children being held on this side of the complex. Without any hesitation, and with the advantage of surprise on their side, Heok and Wang Jung ready their swords as they attack the guards in front of the door. Heok grabbed the keys on the guard's waist and quickly unlocked the steel lock, fortunately it was the only key on the keyring. With silent nods, they opened the door to where the children were kept, and without any warning descend upon the bandits in the room. The children's pleading voices let them know that there was no time to hesitate.

It was just as well as they were just in time to save a young maiden probably around 12 from being . Without any hesitation, the 14th prince slash the thug on top of the girl. Looking at the clothing that the child wore and the braid in her hair, it was obvious that this child was a noble. The rest of the children in the room were all girls of various age.

"Don't worry. We are here to save you. I will protect all of you with my life." the 14th prince declare as he quickly wrap up the noble girl in one of the yard of silk on the table to protect her dignity as Heok quickly gather all the frightened girls, their masked face was not helping but at least the girls knew that the prince and him will not bring them any further harm.

After making sure that they had all the girls group together in a circle, they silently made their way towards the main entrance of the complex, where the girl's fathers were waiting. Luckily the main entrance could be reached without walking through the hallways filled with corpses of the thugs.

Main entrance

Though they did not plan it, the two groups from west and east side of the complex reached the main entrance at the same time. At the sight of others like them, the children visible relaxed, and then when they saw the faces of their male relatives, without any hesitation the children went straight towards them. Jung personally deliver the noble girl to her father. He could recognize the father because he was the only one with a slight better looking hanbok. But there were still children missing. Min Gu. Min Gu and also his little cousins.

After making sure that the all the rescued children had found their parents, all four martial artists headed towards the center of the complex, the only place where the missing children could be. Following behind them were the fathers of Min Gu and his cousins. Hopefully they will encounter the 4th prince and Tae with the missing children already with them and they were just a little delayed in going back. They had not noticed, that right behind them, a few of the other fathers with their children were following behind them, especially the ones that personally knew Min Gu and his family.

The central ground of the complex

It did not take long once the martial artists had started to run as they could faintly hear the sounds of battle. Picking up their speed, they run towards the battlefield. But when the group reached the battlefield, all they could do was stand in shock and simply witness the scene in front of them. As they see that right next to Tae, there were the missing children.

The leaders of the thugs were still drunk but their second-in-commands still had their senses. These men knew that they could not compete against the black clothed figure, who with the sight of the moon behind him seems to be like a grim reaper, not to mention the splatters of blood that shine upon his clothes.

So they had capture one girl, obviously a noble with the silk hanbok of pink with dark pink shirt she was wearing. They had the girl, who was so small, most likely she was two or three, roughing held against one of the men's chest and two swords were crossed over in a clear threat.

The figure of the hidden 4th prince was obviously being cautious as he did not seem to have made a move, just keeping a close watch on the child. Not raising to any of the taunts that the second-in-commands and soon the vulgar talk of the leaders, aimed towards the little child that was still an infant in their arms. Some men noticed that the 4th prince was quietly taking small steps closer to the fireplace, where the child was being held hostage, but due to their boasting the bandits did not notice that fact. Nor did they notice the growing crowd witnessing the scene.

When the bandits seemed to be coming back to their senses enough to notice their surroundings, they were once again distracted. The hostage noble child was now crying. Crying for her father. Abeoji. Abeoji. Her tiny arms were reaching out towards the figure in front of her. The most likely person to save her even a small child can understand danger.

A crack of thunder in the sky along with the scream of the scared child as she was painfully squeezed around her stomach by the man who held her hostage and a loud call of Abeoji was the start. The man clothed in black, covered in blood suddenly attack. In one of his hands, he held a sword, on the other a long bladed knife.

The figure went for the legs. His sword made a clean cut right across the kneecap of the man who held the girl, and when the man's arms loosen for a second, in a quick flash, the black clothed man had the girl in his own arms, the little girl's arm wrapping around her saviour's neck, her head buried in the man's shoulder. The movement of the black-clothed man was not affected in the least. With the small girl clinging on to his neck and one hand supporting her body to his.

All he needed was his one arm with the shiny sword bathed already in blood, and he quickly slash the front and the back of the mens who were using the girl as a hostage. The bandit's leaders upon seeing what appeared to be one lone eyes filled with such cruelty with a slight silver hue in it due to the moon's reflection, had fainted in their terror. Before another crack in the sky, or a pop from the fireplace happened, the black clothed figure had taken care of the thugs expect their leaders who were just laying on the ground.

The black clothed man turn his back on the corpses and the unconscious bodies and start to make a way toward where unnoticed by him many of the man had gathered. Just as the blood-clothed 4th prince had reached Tae, a series of thuds sounded behind them. The group of rescuers had been careless, in the time they were rescuing the children, they forgot to check if the enemy had sent for reinforcements or not. The reinforcements of around 50 men had sneaked up on them.

Rather than the unskilled thugs before it was clear that they were skilled ones due to the fact that they had been able to sneak upon some of the best martial artists in Goryeo. The black clothed figure of the 4th prince simply hand over the child in his arm to Tae. When the child turn her eyes towards the 4th prince with clear fear in her eyes with a well of tears ready to flow, the prince reach inside his robe to take out a ribbon. A long red ribbon with black leaves. The sight of that ribbon must be familiar to the girl for she stop moving around in Tae's arm and now silently stares at the 4th Prince's covered face. Silently, the 4th prince moves forward and wraps the ribbon over the little girl's eyes softly so she will not witness the blood-filled sight that will soon happen in front of her.

Then with silent steps, the black figure with a shining sword in one hand, and another long blade knife in the other, he ran towards the group of reinforcement thugs. The following battle of one versus fifty was the battle that will soon be described in tones of awe through the kingdom of Goryeo.

A single black figure went running to meet this large enemy group and as the moon shine its rays on the battlefield, the man in black glows in either silver due to the light or red with the blood of his enemies. With his sword and knife shining like two white holy blades, the black figure with his hair wide open moves through the group of his enemy. Slashing their kneecaps, their spine, their throats, their belly in such a coordinated movement that the onlookers were just left in awe. As a single man fights with his blades under the moon's rays killing all those around him. When the last man falls with a slash to his belly, the man without looking at any of the corpses, simply turn his head towards the onlookers. Bathed in the light of the moon, the red hues of the flame behind him, the man's eyes seems to glow silver as his body is covered with blood. The black clothed figure turns his back on his enemies and simply make his way back towards the group.

The commoners who had witnessed the sight on this night will soon spread a tale. The tale where a single black clothed figure fights against over fifty men and a group of bandits who had harmed children and kills them with such ease in order to rescue noble and peasant children alike. This black clothed figure will be seen as rescuer of children, and the sight of him covered in blood with his wolf-like eyes glowing silver under the moon he will be given this title. "The Moon's Wolf Guardian." A figure who comes out with the moon that had the eyes of the wolf and guards the children.

The hidden prince seem to be not even be affected by his actions. As soon as he reaches Tae with the child he rescued in his arms, he first reaches back and untie his face mask and just leaves it on the ground, and stick his blood-covered sword on the ground and throws the knife away to the side.

"Tae-ah, give me the child." Not capable of refusing and still fighting the shock at witnessing the full skill of the 4th prince, the royal guard silently hands over the child, whose eyes were tied with the red ribbon, into the outstretched arms of the 4th prince. The 4th prince takes hold of the child and holding her to his chest in one arm uses the other hand to remove the blindfold. The child had fallen asleep in exhaustion.

The prince ties the red ribbon to one of the wrists of the child before turning the child's body so that she was lying peacefully against his shoulder. The 4th prince took hold of his sword that he had struck to the ground before asking the royal guard to hand over the child. Carrying the child with one hand, the other hand holding his sword, the 4th prince commands the crowd.

"Let's go. This place is no place for children. These men can be left for the animals before the guards arrive to save them if they are lucky." When no one seems to move, the 4th prince start to walk ahead calling out "hurry, we have to be back in Songak long before the dawn." When even those words seem to have no effect, the 4th prince simple says this. "The children wants to see their mothers. Tomorrow is the rain ritual as well, all of us have to be ready."

The children were the ones now tugging the sleeves of their relatives before all of them wishes to see their mothers, and the word about the rain ritual reminds the palace guards, Soon Deok and Jung that they had to hurry back to the palace. All of them will require a bath to clean away the bath before attending the ritual tomorrow. All of the people know coming to their senses, they quickly gather their children, holding them in their arms or holding their hands and quickly as possible makes their way out of the complex, through the forest to Songak to the village where they knew many women were waiting with anxiousness for the return of their spouses, relatives and their children.