FIVE YEARS LATER

-Youngjae’s POV-

I slipped my hood and looked around before making my quick escape down the road, using the people around me as cover, to hide me from the guards. “This is ridiculous,” I grumbled to myself as I s through the people, being careful to hide my face. The guards spun around the corner. “Shoot.” I cursed picking up my speed.

“Where did he go?” One of the guards asked. “I saw him go down this way.” A second guard said. The four guards quickly ran down to where the guard had pointed, running straight in my direction. I carefully slowed down, not wanting to look obvious. I smiled to myself as they ran right past me.

I turned into another corner, where I was home free. “Idiots,” I smirked to myself. I was close to the village, once I get there I will be home free. For the first time in a long time, I couldn’t wait to go back to the village. However, when I e last corner I was met with the four guards, their weapons pointed at me.

My eyes widened. “Who are you calling idiots?” The guard to the right questioned.

I slowly backed up. “Come on~, can’t we just let this slide?” I said. “It’s an order from his majesty.” The guard on the far left said.

I rolled my eyes in irritation. I could always just use my magic on them…but it wouldn’t be worth it. They’ll just send out more guards and start a commotion.

I took another step back and was about to run off back around the corner when they all jumped me tackling me to the ground.

I groaned in pain as they crawled off from on top of me. Then they lifted me up, grabbing each of my arms and dragged me towards the oversized palace. “I can’t believe I trusted him.” I growled to myself as the guards shamelessly dragged me through the town.

They dragged me into the palace all the way to the throne room. I looked up at the tall fancy double doors that led into the large room. I hated this place. “In here?” one of the guards asked. “Yes, he said to bring him here.” The second guard confirmed. No!

I tried to fight out of their hold in attempt to break free. I had gotten much stronger, but everyone else was still stronger than me.

The third guard went inside the throne room to speak to the king.

“Please~…” I pleaded still trying to break free. “Don’t take me in there. Just throw me in the dungeon.” I said.

“Seriously?” The guard on my left asked.

I nodded rapidly.

“What a strange kid.” The guard on my right scoffed.

I frowned. They weren’t going to listen to me.

A few seconds later, the third guard poked his head out from behind the doors. “His majesty says to bring him in.” he announced.

I tried to fight harder as they dragged me to the doors. The third guard opened the door wide, allowing us to enter. I whimpered a little at the pain of my wrists from their tight grips that only got tighter the more I resisted.

“You can drop him.” He said once we were in the throne room. The guards obeyed and released me, dropping me to the ground. “Rude.” I grumbled as the guards walked away.

Once they were gone I stood up to my feet to face him. Jihoon was there too, standing at his right hand side, smiling cheekily at me and a small chimpanzee on his shoulders. I narrowed my eyes at him, I should’ve never told him that I was leaving. Ever since Daehyun gave him almost everything he wanted on his list he gave him, he’s been loyal to him no matter what.

“I can’t believe you chose some royal over me.” I said feeling somewhat betrayed. Jihoon shrugged nonchalantly. “Thank you Jihoon-ah. You did a good job.” Daehyun said. Jihoon smiled proudly, “You’re welcome.” He said and skipped away, leaving the room.

I rolled my eyes. “What do you want?” I asked him. “is that how you speak to your King?” he said tilting his head to the side. “Tch.” I scoffed at this.

“Do you really want me to treat you like how I would treat a king?” I questioned.

“Aigoo~…you’re so harsh.” He remarked.

“You’re the one who ordered me to be dragged all the way here.” I retorted. “I just wanted to spend time with you.” He smiled. “You’re taking advantage of your power.” I told him. “You’re going to end up annoying those guards for making them chase me around.” I said.

“Then don’t run away.” He simply stated.

I sighed, there was really no point in arguing with him. “What do you want?” I asked again. “I took the day off.” He announced proudly. I raised an eyebrow at this. “You can do that?”

He shrugged standing up. “I don’t know, but I just did. I told them to not bother me today.” He walked down the steps and walked up to me.

I sighed shaking my head. “Daehyun, you can’t do that. You have responsibilities to take care of.” I said getting serious. He frowned. “We hardly ever get to spend time together now that I’m king and you’re part of The Council.” He said. He was right.

Ever since he became king he’s been extremely busy, and it didn’t help that I was part of the Council of 5 and had to travel to the Moonlight Bay Kingdom at the end of each month and stay for a week for meetings. I had actually just gotten back a few days ago from last month’s meeting.

“It won’t be like this for long, we’re still getting the hang of things. Soon it’ll become easy and we’ll have more free time.” I assured him. “No one said it was going to be easy.”

“Just for today.” He said taking my hand. “You sure you don’t have anything important to do today?” I questioned. He nodded.

“Isn’t there a ball today?” I asked him suspiciously.

“Ah~, you got me.” He blushed rubbing the back of his neck. “Mm hm.” I folded my arms. “But Jaehyo and Kyung are working on that. Jaehyo is setting up the preparations and Kyung is greeting everyone that’s arriving early.” He smiled.

“I thought you also had a meeting or something today with the generals.” I said.

“Jiho is taking care of that.” He smiled.

“You’re taking advantage of my friends.” I muttered.

“Let’s go.” He said taking my hand, dragging me with him out of the throne room.

A lot has definitely changed throughout the past 5 years. After we had left Moonlight Bay and returned home things had changed…for good.

The Jung Kingdom had almost been overthrown by greedy nobles but we arrived on time, before things became too serious. At the time many of the ambassadors felt that Daehyun was too young to rule, so Dr. Sunhi ruled in proxy for him.

During that time Daehyun spent a lot of his time in the village getting to know the people and helped fix the damage that was done during the war.

When everyone had returned to their own homes the Kim and Bang kings felt that we had entered a new era and world where magical creatures and humans coexisted openly and decided to pass their crowns down to their eldest sons a year after the war ended. Himchan and Yongnam immediately became the new kings of heir kingdoms.

Kris and the other Shadow Seekers remained at Moonlight Bay Kingdom and the people coted Kris into the Council of 5 to fill in Slay’s position. Lee and the twins also remained in the Moonlight Bay Kingdom as well.

At the time I traveled back and forth to the kingdom and spent time with Kuam asking him all the questions I had from after reading my mother’s journals. We became really close fast, and I learned a lot about the magical world and kingdom.

On Daehyun’s 21^st birthday Dr. Sunhi’s proxy ended and Daehyun took his place on the throne. He was serious about his new title and went straight to work on changing things. He focused on eliminating the harsh discrimination against the villagers and arrested any of the guards that continued to beat them unreasonably.

He ended the raids and focused on spending resources on the village, to improve living conditions. A lot of the nobles were against this, but he didn’t listen to them and this made them angry. They didn’t know Daehyun. If he wanted to do something he’s doing it no matter what anyone else says. It’s a blessing and a curse.

He even fired people who were loyal to my parents and he gave my friends the open positions and made up new positions for them. He put Jiho in full control of the royal guards and army. He put Jaehyo and Kyung in charge of setting up and preparing special events and meetings.

He placed Taeil in charge of finances and making sure the money was sued properly. He placed Ukwon and Minhyuk in charge of doing negotiations with foreign leaders and fulfilling the requests of the people. And he placed Jihoon as his right hand man, a.k.a. a spy…to spy on me.

Dr. Sunhi didn’t want to have anything to do with the kingdom, but she did help him whenever he needed help and advised him on a lot of things, since he was new at this.

Daehyun didn’t really have any formal advisors because they always ended up bumping heads. So the rest of us did our best to help advise him and kept him updated.

I was voted into the Council of 5 about a year later. And just last year Kuam passed his seat as Council leader to Yang. He said that his time as leader has come to an end and that it was time or a new generation of leaders. And so, Zelo was voted into the empty seat, becoming the fifth Council member. Lee was upset to find that hew s no longer the youngest member, but now the second oldest.

Bang denounced his title as Prince and decided to travel and help people who were in need and Zelo, of course, joined him.

“Oh? The flowers came out really nice this year.” I noted as we walked through the garden. Daehyun nodded. “Apparently Jaehyo has a talent for growing plants.” He said. “He continues to surprise me every day.” I murmured to myself. Daehyun only chuckled.

“I can’t wait to see Zelo again and it’s been a while since I’ve seen Bang.” I said. He nodded. “Are Jongup and Himchan coming?” I asked. The elder only scoffed. “No.” He said. “They’re still on their honeymoon.” He said in disgust.

I scrunched my row. “Wasn’t that two weeks ago?” I asked. He nodded again. “Jongup sent a letter, apologizing. Saying that their little honeymoon thing has been extended for another two weeks.” He said distastefully. I couldn’t help but chuckle at this. Classic Jongup.

“The wedding was nice though.” I said reflecting on the event. We had attended Himchan and Jongup’s wedding a few weeks ago. “It was huge now that I think about it.” I said.

“Mm hm.” he said sounding uninterested. “What?” I asked, sensing his sudden disinterest. “Nothing. Jongup must be really lucky.” He said. “How so?” I asked. “He didn’t get rejected when he asked Himchan to marry him.” He said.

I frowned at this. Was he serious right now? “That’s because you asked me when I was 19.” I said.

“So?”

I stopped walking.

“You weren’t’ even old enough to be king at that time.” I said.

He stopped walking as well. “Oh? Should I have waited an extra year then?” he questioned.

I shook my head. “No Daehyun. We were just too young and still had a lot going on.” I said.

“Would you marry me now?” He smiled cheekily in my face.

I pinched his nose. “No.” I said.

He frowned. “Yah! At this rate Zelo and Yongguk are going to get married before us. Yongguk is just waiting until he’s older.” He spat rubbing his nose. “We don’t even sleep in the same room together.” He muttered.

“Daehyun, you just became king and have a lot to do right now.” I said. “And we’re still young…we can end up changing our mind.” I mumbled the last part.

Daehyun raised an eyebrow at this. “Do you not like me anymore?” he asked bluntly.

I was taken aback by the sudden question. “O-Of course not! Wh-Why would you even say that??” I nearly spat.

“Good, because I wouldn’t have let you go.” He smiled ruffling my hair. ‘You probably would’ve locked me up somewhere,’ I thought to myself.

“I’m talking about the future. We’re still young, so what if we end up changing our minds and find someone w=else in the next few years.” I explained.

He hung an arm over my shoulders. “You don’t have to worry about me Youngjae. I already told you 5 years ago that you were the only one I loved and my feelings haven’t changed.” He assured me.

“Yah! What about me? You know some girls try to flirt with me. They say that I’m the most handsome Council member.” I told him.

He just laughed. “Don’t be silly Youngjae.”

I scoffed at this. “It’s true. What if I actually like one of the girls that try to flirt with me?” I argued.. “I’m not worried. Because I know how loyal you are. That’s one of the things I admire about you.” He spoke honestly. “…like how my parents lied to us. You didn’t believe them because you knew that I wasn’t like that.” He said a sad smile on his face.

I didn’t say anything. He was right. I really wouldn’t want to be with anyone else. Even though I never said this to him, he knew it.

“Fine.” I finally said. He looked at me with excited eyes. “Two years. Let’s just wait two years. And if you still feel the same way, then ask me again.” I told him.

“And you’ll say yes?” He asked excitedly. I nodded, blushing slightly.

“Yes!” he suddenly jumped enthusiastically. “Why are you so excited? You still have to wait.” I chuckled. “Because you said you’ll say yes. Two years is nothing. If I can go 10 years without seeing you, then waiting 2 years is a walk in the park.” He said.

I smiled. Deep down I was excited as well. It made me happy seeing him like this and no longer suffering from that curse. Now he can live freely again.

We can all live freely, no longer bound by anything, not bound by curses, one’s nature, fear, lies, or even sickness.

“Youngjae…I really can’t wait. You’ll forever be mine and everyone will know it.” He said asking my hand and we began to walk again.

“Oh~, I can see it now. We’ll both live happily together and be able to do whatever we want. No one can stop us.” He began. “Should we become travelers like Bang and Zelo, so we won’t ever be interrupted?” He asked.

“Then who’s going to rule over the Kingdom, someone might take it and ruin everything you started.” I said. “That’s true.” He nodded.

“Oh! I can’t wait to have little Jaejaes running around.” He nearly squealed.

“What?!” I nearly spat, almost choking on oxygen, my face turning a bright red. “D-D-Daehyun…that’s impossible.” I stuttered speechless.

“You’re the magical genius. I’m sure you can come up with something.” He simply said.

“D-Daehyun!” I spat.

“What? I need an heir.” He said.

“Jung Daehyun!” I spat completely embarrassed and hit him over and over.

He laughed, blocking my hits.

“I’m serious though.” He said, catching my firsts. “I’m going back inside.” I said, trying to pull away from him, but he grabbed my wrists, preventing me from doing so.

“How can you talk about something like that already?” I muttered unable to look him in the eye.

“Because I love you that mu-,” “Yah! Yah! I get it gee.” I said, cutting him off.

It was silent between us for little bit. I thought mostly to myself, reflecting on everything we had been through. I still couldn’t fathom how we pulled through all the struggles and ended up here, happy as if nothing even happened…and to be honest I wouldn’t want it any other way. And believe it or not…I wouldn’t change a thing…because, I’d never go back.

“Daehyun.” I hugged him. He was caught off guard, but he wrapped his arms around me anyway. “Thank you.” I breathed into his strong chest.

“For what?” he asked.

I felt my eyes burn as I squeezed them shut. “For being that stupid kid who mad Jiho’s dad angry…and thank you for never giving up on me even when I refused to forgive you.” I fought back my tears. They weren’t sad tears, but happy ones. I was overwhelmed with happiness.

He rested his chin gently on top of my head. “No Youngjae, thank you for dealing with me, even after all of the trouble I caused you.”

I looked up at him. “Even though I didn’t keep all of my promises, there is one that I’ve kept and will continue to keep.” He said.

“What’s that?”

“To love you and give you all of me.” He said.

I smiled. “I love you Daehyun.”

“I love you too Youngjae.”

THE END

A/N: Finally finished the story! Thank you so much for reading! It was longer than I expected but I hope you enjoyed it. I am currently working on some other stories, those will be coming soon!! Plus if you have any request for any kind of story that you'd want me to write let me know by either commenting or messaging me! I am definetly down for the challenge.