"A Masquerade Ball, Princess?"

            "Yes! Oh, it'll be just perfect!" Princess KangYuna cheered and clapped her hands excitedly. “Imagine how much fun it will be! The people, the lights, the décor, and the little finger foods!” She's been dreaming of hosting her own ball in her palace ever since she was a small child. Stories of past masquerades told by the Queen flooded her head as she smiled happily.

            "But, Princess..."

            "What, Jaehyun?" KangYuna pursed her lips waiting for the Head Palace Guard to answer to her. She was a bit upset that her close friend wasn’t as excited about the party as she was.

            "I'm just worried about the safety of the palace and you, Princess," he replied with a tinge of sadness in his voice. "Everyone will be in masks so it'll be difficult to catch the intruders."

            "Oh Jaehyun, the whole Daehan Kingdom is invited and, maybe, some from the southern side, but not one person is going to be a real intruder," KangYuna stood up from the velvet wooden throne and rolled her eyes. Jaehyun immediately followed behind KangYuna at a respectful distance.

            "Plus, the King and Queen aren't even here! They're overseas meeting with the European Palaces as you should already know. I can almost do whatever I want, of course, within reason," she pranced around the hall as her heels clacked against the tile as she ran off and on the red carpet.

            "That's what makes it more dangerous for you," Jaehyun stated.

            "Sure it does but as a future leader of this kingdom, I must take risks," KangYuna continued her way to her bedroom walking up the grand staircase leading up the Royal Rooms.

            Jaehyun let out a deep sigh and continued to walk with high posture behind KangYuna down the long corridor.  He knew there was no way in changing her mind. "But Princess KangYuna, this is my job as your knight in shining armor to protect you," Jaehyun chuckled. "Even if that means ruining this handsome face!"

            KangYuna could only roll her eyes; however, for a man of 24, Jaehyun sure is one good-looking guy, especially, in his black suit that had so much resemblance to a royal prince suit from the U.K as that was the inspiration for her guards’ suits.

            "We'll talk more about this at the council meeting later and come up with a security plan," KangYuna open the door to her bedroom. “Night, Jaehyun.”

            "Goodnight, Princess KangYuna," Jaehyun smiled and bowed as she slowly close the white and gold encrusted door shut.

            Jaehyun walked away from her door and made his checks within the palace walls. "This is Jae coming in." An overcast of seriousness swept over Jaehyun’s face and smoothed out the joyful creases.

            "Jae, this is TY. Over," the guard repeated over his headset.

            Jaehyun pressed his fingers over the earpiece. "May I have a report of the West entrance?"

            "Nothing, but there were some strange rustling in the woods area so I sent Tae, John, and Yu to scout and they came back with nothing suspicious as well. Over."

            "Thank you. Over. Do and Min? Is there anything in your sections?"

            "This is Do. Nothing unusual has been spotted. Over."

            "Good work, boys," Jaehyun went on making his rounds checking every inch of the palace before making himself comfortable in his own quarters.

            KangYuna took her time as she washed up from her day's work. All day long, she sat in her throne and listened to the needs of the people and told them that their concerns were to be hopefully granted as soon as possible. To end her night well, she sat by her window and scanned the night sky, looking for the constellations that etched themselves in the deep black each night.

            "There sure are a lot of them," KangYuna sighed as she leaned against the window frame. Gazing at the night sky was also the most serene and relaxing time of her night before heading off to bed.

            The kingdom was covered in a blanket of silence. It was so silent that you could hear a pin drop. A small rustle down below in the woods caught her attention. She stood up to check out her surroundings. Even with being so high up in the palace, she could make out the kerfuffle in the woods below her. A low growl emerged from the floor of the woods, right below her window. KangYuna gasped and stepped back from her window. She rushed over to her nightstand and fumbled with the small intercom box in her hands.

            "J-Jaehyun?" She placed her lips close to the receiver in a low whisper.

            "Jae to Princess," Jaehyun responded with urgency. "Is everything okay, Princess?"

            "Yeah, but I think there's something out my window," KangYuna peeked out the window to see a pair of glowing eyes staring right back at her. She gasped loudly and moved back behind the wall with a thud.

            "KangYuna, don't move," he said sternly and the radio went silent.

            Jaehyun was quick on his feet, moving pass columns and statues; cutting through corners of the corridors to the princess' quarters. Knowing the King and Queen are not present in the palace better yet, not even in the whole Republic of Korea, security has to be always alert and on the move.

            The door swung open with force as a flushed Jaehyun rushed over to KangYuna's side. He looked out the window. Darkness and shadows of the trees cover the land. Something lurked below and Jaehyun was well aware it.

            He quickly averted his attention from the window to the princess. Jaehyun held onto her arms as he scanned her eyes to only find fear within them. He lifted one hand up to his earpiece and spoke. "Jae to NCT."

            "NCT present," They all spoke at once.

            "I need a second search of the west side of the woods. There are some disturbances below the Princesses' quarters. Yu and Min, come immediately to the Princess. I want Yu outside the room and Ma inside watching out the window. TY, Tae, Do, John and I will scour the woods. This is the plan and will be carried out now!"

            "Roger that."

            Jaehyun put down his hand and made sure his suit was all in order. "Don't go anywhere, okay? Stay here and you'll be safe."

            KangYuna nodded her head and with that, he ran out to meet with the others. Within a few seconds later, Min and Yu arrived to her room.

            "Here at your service, Princess," Min saluted.

            KangYuna stood up and ran into the arms of her friend. Mark wrapped his arms around her, but quickly patted her to release him. "I'm on duty, Princess and a serious duty." He whispered.

            "I know," she spoke, quietly.

            "It's going to be okay, Princess. I know how scared you must be right now. Why don't you lie down and go to bed, huh?" KangYuna nodded her head; feeling slightly better.

            "You think they'll be okay, Mark?" KangYuna questioned the knight as she lay on her king-size mattress

            "Of course, Princess," He responded keeping his stance by the window and surveyed the area from above. He pressed a finger to his earpiece. "This is Min and nothing unusual can be spotted from above."

            "Okay..." KangYuna's voice drifted away as her eyes closed. "Is it okay if I turn off the lamp?"

            "You may turn it off Princess."

            KangYuna flipped the switch off and slowly fell deeper and deeper into darkness as she prayed for her friends’ safety.

            "See anything?" Jae whispered over to the other guards. He had his shotgun stretched out in front of him and trigger ready to be pulled at a seconds notice.

            They trekked along the moonlighted path. "No, sir," Tae responded.

            "Same goes over here," John slowly swung his arm left to right; scanning the dark forest.

            Snap! They all swung around, forming a huddle with their back facing each other.

            "Who goes there?" Jae called out. "This is Property of Royalty and we have to ask you to leave immediately!"

            Silence filled the thin air.

            "I think they left," TY whispered to Jae.

            "No, I think they're still here," Jae whispered.

            "I can't pick anything up, I.M," Do spoke.

            "I’m not picking up anything either. They must have left. Let’s head out," commanded Jae and they quickly headed back to the safety of the palace walls.

            Jae climbed up the stairs with a quick pace and down the corridor to the Princess's room.

            "Guard Nakamoto Yuta"

            "Yes, sir," Yuta stood at attention towards the head Palace Guard.

            "Good work. Please stand off to side and wait for Mark" Jaehyun slipped in to the room and silently dismissed Mark. He stood beside KangYuna's bedside and smiled. He pulled up the blanket and tucked it around her.

            He lifted his hand one last time to his ear piece. "Good work tonight. The close is clear and please head back to your sections for tomorrow is the council meeting."

            "Roger that."

++++++++++

Yay!!! First chapter is up~ I'm currently still writing more chapters and not so sure when the next one will be up. I have realize if I put out chapters as I'm writing, all my creativity is lost and I will be stuck in writers' block. So I will be taking it easy and slow with this one until I have completely written this story.

Any hoodie-doodle-poodle~ this chapter kind of boring... even for me, although, I was the one who wrote it! It has some kind of intense-ness (???) IG. I don't know but I hope it was good-ish starter!

UPDATE August 07, 2019: HEY Guys!!! Currently in Korea and i'm bored and I thought I'd "edit" this story. I kinda actually really liket his story but I feel some parts are unfinished/ not well written so I'm gonna go back and fill in those parts and I feel like I'm not giving it the love that I should be giving it so I'm giving it the upgrade that I want it.

I'd also did a big or semi-big character change so I hope you guys don't mind that~~ :) Monsta X seemed to be the perfect contestants for this because they already have that really strong, bad boy image (I guess?? lol i'm sure you know what I mean), but I feel to really get real character, I'd rather write on a group that I nearly follow/stan since I know the members a little better and I think NCT out of the other boy groups, would be nice for this concept. ANYWAY! I hope you enoy~~