Chapter 1

Sugar & the Beast

It has been a week since Myeongjo has left the village to Hanyang. Seol was heading home from the market and there was a shadow waiting for her in the shabby yard of their humble abode. Seol ran towards it hoping it was Myeongjo but it turns out to be the neighbour, Ban-rim ahjumma.  

“Dang Seol! Where did you run off to the whole day again? Myeongjo left you in my care and you are giving me a headache from having to look everywhere for you!”, she yelled as Seol ran up through the wooden gates.  

“Ban-rim Imo~~ I just went to the market, nowhere else. It’s boring staying in the house the whole day”, Seol pulled out her best aegyo.  

“You went to the Seodang* again right? Why are you doing this to me? You know how much Myeongjo dislikes it when you go to the Seodang! If she finds out, this will be the death of me, Seol-ah, spare a thought for this pitiful woman that is me, will you?”, Ban-rim collapses dramatically onto the huge wooden deck bench in the yard.  

[*Seodang: a private institution/school]

“I’m sorry Ban-rim Imo~ you know I mean no harm to you… it’s just that the more Myeongjo refuses to let me go to the seodang, the more I feel like there is so much out there to see”, Seol sat down behind Ban-rim and starting rubbing her shoulders in an attempt to lighten her up.  

“People go to the seodang in hopes of passing the imperial examinations and becoming a court official. But all we want is for you to grow up safely and get married to a good man, what’s the point of going to a seodang, Seol-ah. Tomorrow onwards I’ll be watching you, you should start learning some domestic skills like sewing or cooking”, Ban-rim started lecturing Seol again.  

“Imo, people can go to the seodang just because they want to gain knowledge, no? It’s not only about the knowledge of the world, but also how to be a good person right?”  

Ban-rim opens to rebut that and Seol quickly continues, “Did you make me gukbap? I can smell it! It smells so nice, your gukbap is the best in this world!”, Seol’s aegyo finally starts showing some effects and Ban-rim sighs at her, standing up to head to the kitchen.  

The next morning, Seol crept out of her room and sees Ban-rim fast asleep on the wooden deck bench. “Ban-rim Imo sure is dedicated…”, she thought, “but let’s see whose determination is stronger then…”.  

She tip-toes very quietly past the deck bench and dashes off in the direction of the seodang.  

As Seol hid behind the pillar peeping into the lesson that is ongoing in the seodang a hand suddenly grabs her and she bolts around, one millisecond away from screaming her lungs out and her fists clenched in a self-defence posture.  

“Keep quiet Seol, it’s me!”, whispered Taehyung.  

“You gave me such a shock! What are you doing here? Isn’t the class going on now?”

“Is that all you want to know?”, Taehyung gave her a cheeky smile.  

Seol quickly glanced towards the lecture-in-progress, making sure no one saw Taehyung and her before dragging Taehyung away.  

The two of them stood behind a huge tree next to the pond outside the seodang. “Did you find out about it for me?”, Seol asked Taehyung eagerly.  

“Of course, don’t you know who I am?”  

“Yea ok, quit bragging, tell me”, Seol demanded.  

“Myeongjo goes to Hanyang every year to visit the tomb of someone…”

“I already knew that”, Seol rolled her eyes.

“How impatient are you? A few days ago, someone saw her being brought to the house of the Prime Minister”, Taehyung relayed to Seol as his expression turned many shades more serious in an instant. “That’s all I can tell you. Just wait for her to come back. I am letting you know this because I want you to back down now. This is the Prime Minister we are talking about. You are in no position to go looking for her there.”  

“It doesn’t matter who he is, Myeongjo has never left for more than three days. And she didn’t tell me any different this time. Something must have happened to her.”  

“Seol-ah, you may not know this so let me educate you. The Prime Minister is not someone you mess with, you understand? He isn’t the King but…”, Taehyung inched his face closer to Seol’s and said in a hushed tone, “… but he is more powerful than the King. The King is who he is today because of the Prime Minister.”  

But Myeongjo is everything to Seol. She was Seol’s only family, even though they were not blood related. It doesn’t matter who held her or where she was.  

“Taehyung, you know I have to go, I can’t sit around waiting for her to come back. What if she never comes back?”, Seol turns to leave.  

Taehyung grabs her arms to stop her. “Listen to me. The Prime Minister killed the previous King, his Queen and every single one of his concubines and children. That is the kind of person he is. People talk about a shaman cursing the Prime Minister’s son as a revenge on his family. They say his son sometimes seem like a normal person and sometimes seems like a beast. You stay far away from them, do you hear me? There’s nothing you can do!”

Taehyung almost never sounded this serious. “Alright, I hear you”, Seol said as she tugged her arm out of Taehyung’s grip.  

That night Seol dreamt of Myeongjo taking her into the mountains, hunting for medicinal herbs. Myeongjo would teach her all about each one of them. They would carry baskets full of herbs down the mountain before sunset and Myeongjo will exchange some for the sweets that Seol liked at the local market they passed by before reaching home.  

The sun shone into her eyes. Seol woke up to the smell of freshly prepared food, and she headed out to see Ban-rim Imo laying out the table setting for breakfast. Myeongjo was still nowhere to be seen.  

Seol never knew who her parents were, she only knows Myeongjo found her when she was a baby and ever since, Myeongjo has raised her, educated her and did everything for her. But every year Myeongjo would leave the village to travel to Hanyang for two or three days. Even when Seol pestered to be brought along, Myeongjo will never budge. This year was exceptionally unsual and now that Seol knew where Myeongjo is, she became all the more worried about her safety.  

After breakfast Ban-rim Imo reluctantly headed off to the fields where she worked, before she left she made her five year old sit on the deck bench and told him to watch after Seol and make sure she didn’t step one foot outside the gates.  

A kiddo guardian would hardly ever keep Seol away from what she set her mind to do. She bribed Ban-rim’s son with some cash, asking him to go down to the market to get her some ink and added a little extra money so that he has enough for the snacks he wanted. As he ran down to the market, Seol packed some essentials and headed out determinedly. Human, beast, prime minister, or the King, whoever it may be, if they have to do with Myeongjo disappearing, she would spare no efforts to find Myeongjo.  

Hanyang was huge and drastic. At the end of an alley there would be kids running around in rags and straw shoes looking barely nourished. On the other end of the road there would be lavish mansions made from top-grade painted wood, and aristocrats dressed in the finest hanboks.  

Seol walked down the bustling streets, not sure which direction she should be headed. The people were much colder than where she came from. Even when she asked for directions, they would ignore her or just wave her away from their stores.  

Suddenly there was a crash and Seol sees a woman being dragged out of a store by a young aristocrat. He was dressed in a black hanbok, hands yanking at the woman’s disheveled clothing and he throws her ruthlessly onto the ground as she struggles.  

“Are you going to cause a scene or should we do this quietly?”, he said menacingly, and Seol sees another two man dressed in dark robes standing behind him, hands holding onto the shaft of the swords they carried.  

The woman was begging now, on her knees and her hands grabbing at her assailant’s ankles.  

“Please don’t kill me… please…”

“Hey stop it! How can a man hit a woman like that?”, Seol lunges herself in between the young aristocrat and the pitiful woman, leading her to come face to face with him. His eyes were dark and his pupils reflected no light. The rest of his features were dainty and his skin was pale.  

With a tone that was as pale as his complexion, he scoffed, “A woman? She’s not just a woman, she’s a shaman… get lost you, unless you wish to suffer on her behalf”, he pushes Seol aside so forcefully that Seol crashes into a nearby cart.  

“I’m not a shaman… I’m really not, please… don’t kill me”, the woman cowered as she tries to crawl away from him.  

He grabs onto her neck and pulls her back to him, he crouched over her as she sat helplessly on the rough brick pavement, “Prove it to me then… that you aren’t a shaman.”  

“How… how should I…”, the woman was sobbing uncontrollably. 

“What about you? What proof do you have that she is a shaman?”, Seol shouted from the sidelines, a little wary of running into the line of fire again.  

Everyone around her started gasping, some moved away from her as the threatening noble turned his head towards her with the look of ultimate annoyance. He dropped his hold of the trembling woman and sets his eyes on Seol.  

“How dare you…”, he started to hiss at Seol, when suddenly a bellowing voice broke the tension.  

“Min Yoongi!”, an old but dignified looking man walked into the scene with a huge frown and a dozen men in tow. The air turned chilly just from the old man passing by. The man stared down this young aristocrat he called Yoongi with a powerful gaze, meanwhile the young man’s eyes were unwavering and he looked at the old man with apathetically. 

Everyone lowered their eyes, not daring to look at either of them but Seol stared from where she stood. A shaggy looking man scuttled over, afraid that a young ignorant lady like Seol would get into more trouble. “Lower your eyes, don’t look”, he whispered to her as he stood in her shadows.  

Seol bent her head slightly, and muttered back “Why? Who is he?”  

“You don’t know him?! He’s the Prime Minister of Joseon, Prime Minister Min!”, the peasant chided her in his lowered voice.  

Seol lifted her widened eyes just an inch. So… this Min Yoongi that she just pissed off may be… no, he must be… the beast.

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meeshelly #1
Chapter 4: A little late to the game, but I’m loving this story!!! I need to know what happens next!!!