"There is nothing to do, your majesty" - the old grand master looked at the king with sad eyes - "He will die soon, my king" 

"No! This can not happen to me!" - A tall man with dark hair raged - "He is my only son!" 

"Is he?" - One of the healers whispered to the person next to him 

"SHUT UP! " - The king hit the wall again - "This is not a joke! It's my son's life! " 

"He had been cursed, my lord" - The grand master sighed - "I'm afraid I can not undo this" 

"So what? Am I supposed to wait quiet until he dies? Do I need to see my young son's life taken away by some witch?" - The king looked at the grand master with sunken eyes. It had been nights since he slept - "It's my son!" 

"Am I going to die?" - a weak voice interrupted the commotion - "Am I cursed?" 

"My boy" - The king kneeled next to the bed where the weak boy laid - "I promised I would take good care of you. I'm not giving up on you easily, Sungmin" 

"But you should" - Sungmin smiled sweetly- "I'm gonna die no matter what. You already heard him; there is nothing you can do" 

"Sungmin..." - The king cried - "Don't do this to me" 

"I'm so sorry" - Sungmin apologized with his weak voice - "Maybe I wasn't worthy enough for the throne. Someone did this to me so I guess I did had a hater after all" 

"It's not because of you" - The king said coldly - "I'm sure the person who did it, probably just wanted to hurt me" 

The king could feel his blood boiling again. He knew for sure he as any other king did have some enemies out there, hence an attack against him wouldn't had been weird. However, the one that got attacked was Sungmin. Nobody hated the prince... actually, Sungmin was such a sweet child that he was truly loved even by the poorest people. 

"Father" - Sungmin called weakly - "Listen" 

"No, no no," - the king shook his head not wanting his boy to die - "You are not going to die" 

"I will die today... maybe tomorrow" - Sungmin said calmly - "But the people out there will live as long as they can. Do not waste time crying for me. You can take this like my ultimate wish..." 

"Please" - The king sobbed as he Sungmin's hair - "Tell me..." 

"Promise me, that you will help them" - Sungmin smiled - "All of them" 

When Sungmin's grip lost it strength, his father started crying non stop. His lovely boy had used all his remaining forces to speak one last time to him. Even at the last minute of his life, Sungmin thought about others but himself. He was a selfless person that could sacrifice himself if needed. 

x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x 

It was another normal at Merryland. A young adult with messy hair pushed with effort a big cart filled with fodder. He was wearing dark clothes and a fodder made hat he wore with style. 

"WAKE UP YOU LAZY ASSES!" - The young man shouted once arriving at the barn - "I told you today was an important day!"

"Ugh... Yesung Hyung" - a boy with a fun color hair moved inside of what it looked like a bed made of fodder - "Good morning" 

"Good morning?!! It's almost 10am! Get up! You were supposed to have ready the horses by now!" - Yesung scolded as he pushed another's boy feet - " WAKE UP DONGHAE!" 

"Uhmmm" - the boy called Donghae just rolled on his fodder bed - "It's too early..." 

"Too early? That's what you are going to tell to our majesty when he comes to take his horse?" - Yesung gave a few wake up slaps to the boy called Donghae 

"Ugnnn" - Donghae rubbed his eyes sleepy - "He won't wossse sodahdy" 

"What?" 

"He said he won't come today" - Eunhyuk stretched - "Apparently, our lovely prince isn't good of health lately and the king won't separate from his side" 

"Wow" - Yesung grabbed a pitchfork and started to work - "I hope prince Sungmin gets better soon" 

"He is a nice person" - Eunhyuk helped the eldest boy to clean the barn - "He brings us good stuff when he comes to visit" 

"Yeah! Yeah!" - Donghae chirped - "I will pray for his health! " 

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

"Hi~ how can I help you guys?" - A girly look man with tight hair asked from behind the bakery counter - "The apples were so juicy that the cake turned out so--" 

"Stop it, you man" - One of the knights cut him off quickly - "You know why we are here" 

"Ehhhh?~~ I am a lot of things but a fortune teller I'm sure I'm not" - The man giggled - "I mean just look at this plac--" 

"SORCERER!" - The knight pointed at the man's chin with a spear - "You don't sell normal cakes do you?!" 

"What's with this accusation?" - The man with the high pony tail replied - "Our cakes are tastier because we make them with love~~~" 

"ENOUGH!" - One of the knight approached the strange man and grabbed his collar - "You will come with us and explain this to your king!" 

"Teuk!" - another voice echoed from behind the store- "Everything alright?" 

"Ungg~ sort of~~" - Leeteuk smiled - "We are just having fun, right friends?" 

"For the realm's sake, what do you thing you are doing?!" - Finally the other voice's owner appeared - "They look truly pissed!" 

"Who is this guy?" - The knights asked each other. The owner of the colorful clothes held a red apple up high and made it disappear. 

"Me? Heechul, your biggest nightmare" - The man grinned - "If you don't want to buy some sweets, I will have to ask you to leave" 

"How you dare to threaten us?" 

"Dare?" - Heechul laughed as the red apple appeared again in his hand - "I don't 'threat' people... I scare them" 

When the knights ran away in horror, Leeteuk bursted with laughter. 

"It's the third time already!" - Heechul gave a big bite to his apple- "What are those morons looking for?!" 

"A sorcerer for what I know" - Leeteuk went back to baking - "I heard that the prince isn't feeling well lately" 

"Sungmin?" - Heechul wiped the apple's juice with his sleeve - "Now that you mention it, it's been a while since that brat came to visit us" 

"You shouldn't call him 'brat' " 

"Why? Because of the royal ? " - Heechul spoke with his mouth full - "He loves sweet stuff! He must be really sick if he is not here buying cakes " 

"Uhm" - Leeteuk sighed - "I wish it's nothing... but I never felt our kingdom so... sad?" 

"I know what you mean" - Heechul placed the remaining half of the Apple on a table - "I feel anxious since yesterday. I don't know why, but it feels like something is not alright" 

"Uhm" - Leeteuk agreed - "Did you found them?" 

"I hate to admit this, but I couldn't" - Heechul pulled his hair 

:":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":

"Hey! Over here!" - A tall kid called his friend - "Come here! He already gave up!" 

"Are you sure?" - A shorter kid asked nervously - "I wouldn't like Heechul Hyung to find us now..." 

"Scaredy cat!" - The other boy teased - "Ryeowook, you seriously don't need to worry!" 

"But Kyunnie... Hyung will spank us if he finds we were playing here again" - Ryeowook still remembered the last time Heechul gave him a well deserved slap - "He hates it when we play around the palace" 

"Ehhh? He is just selfish! " - Kyuhyun climbed a tree - "He wants this amazing place to himself!" 

"I don't know why, but I get the feeling we shouldn't be here" - Ryeowook pouted - "Let's go back home, Kyunnie" 

"And do what? Get work assigned? Nuh, uh" - Kyuhyun refused 

Ryeowook took a deep sigh and chased after his friend. Both boys were probably lacking physical strength as it took them ages to climb a regular tree. 

"I'm scared" - Ryeowook shivered as they approached the castle's door - "We should go back... Kyunnie" 

"No! Sungmin hyung told us he would play with us!" - Kyuhyun insisted - "Being sick doesn't mean he can get rid of us!" 

"MAKE WAY!" - a group of persons dressed in white ran inside the castle at full speed 

Ryeowook and Kyuhyun hid behind a wall in a hurry. They remained quiet until the people disappeared from their sight. 

"Let's go back..." - Ryeowook cried in a low voice  

"What were those?" - Kyuhyun asked confused - "Healers?" 

"Healers? Oh no! He is in danger!" - Ryeowook cried louder- "Hyung is going to die!" 

"Shut up! Help me climb that tree!" 

"What...?" 

(&)&(&)&(&)&(&)&(&)&(&)&(&)&(&)&(&)&(&)&(&)&(&)

"...Promise me, that you will help them... All of them..." 

The two boys that saw it all from a tree, cried their eyes out. The prince was death. They had seen it all by themselves. In a rush, both of them went down and run to the barn terrified. 

"Hey, there you are " - Yesung put his pitchfork away - "What's wrong? Heechul hyung found you slacking again?" 

"Sungmin hyung!!" - Kyuhyun cried loudly 

"Minnie Hyung!" - Ryeowook sobbed non stop 

"Hey" - Eunhyuk worried - "What's wrong ?!" 

Then, the first bell sound. 

An awkward silence filled the magical land. Another bell came after that. 

"Two bells already..." - Leeteuk commented anxiously 

"One bell for marking the hour, two bells a royal announcement, three bells an important event, four bells for..." 

"What's for the fifth one?" - Leeteuk interrupted after the fourth bell echoed - "Please... please don't..." 

"Death" - Heechul gulped down 

The fifth bell echoed.