Mark couldn’t stop thinking of Donghyuck. 

They were going to kill him. Donghyuck was a prince thought to have been murdered years ago but wasn’t, and yet they were going to try to kill again. 

They couldn’t. Mark wouldn’t let them. 

He couldn’t fight the guards, though, when he got captured. As much as he wanted to fight them… he couldn’t. 

Because he knew that he had to protect Donghyuck. And not just Donghyuck. 

Someone wanted the royal family dead, and Mark knew deep down that should they achieve it, something bad was going to happen to the Kingdom of Korea. 

He had to… he had to find Jaehyun. 

***

“HOW DO YOU KNOW WHERE HE IS HEADING?” Xiaojun yelled, using his free hand to pull down his hat lower, protecting his eyes from the gust of the wind. 

The two of them were on a horse, with Johnny having control of the reigns leading them to Neo City. What should have been a four-hour trip was clearly not going to be the case with each passing minute. Xiaojun had yet to wonder if that was a good or bad thing. 

By some miracle, Johnny managed to hear him. “MARK COMMITTED TREASON, IT’S WHERE HE SHOULD BE HELD!” he explained loudly, yanking the reins so that the horse could go faster. 

Xiaojun held tighter onto Johnny, one arm around the latter’s waist to prevent him from falling off the horse. “I THOUGHT PRINCE JISUNG WAS SUPPOSED TO STAY IN THE COUNTRYSIDE IN THE MEANTIME!” 

Johnny didn’t respond, steering the horse in the right direction, so Xiaojun assumed the conversation to be dropped and didn’t press any further, too busy mentally worrying about not falling the speeding horse.

They stayed silent for what must have been a couple of minutes, Xiaojun recognizing the route to Neo City back to when he was a student when they suddenly heard someone scream “STOP!” behind him. 

Johnny ignored the voice, but Xiaojun couldn’t help himself but to look, his eyes widening in response to him getting startled. 

“Oh, , JOHNNY!” Xiaojun screamed, tugging Johnny’s shirt. “YOU NEED TO STOP!”

“I HAVE TO RESCUE MY BROTHER-”

“By order of King Huang we ask that you guys STOP!” 

With that comment, Johnny pulled back the reins abruptly, the horse neighing loudly as they stopped, where Johnny could turn around and get a closer look at the people who yelled at him.

Those people being Chinese guards, that is. 

“They’re not the shooter,” one of them murmured to their captain besides them. 

The leader shook his head, holding his spear up higher. “By the Kingdom of China, you two are arrested as possible suspects for Prince Hendery’s attempted assassination, and we ask that you both cooperate.”

***

In one of the towns that they encountered, there was a wagon that was taking customers to many cities along the way, including Neo City, so Kun and Donghyuck managed to hop in right before they departed. 

Since they couldn’t exactly talk about the situation in such a public space, the two of them remained quiet, though Kun would glance at Donghyuck periodically to see how he was faring. 

Donghyuck, compared to his usual personality with Mark that Kun had noticed over time, was very quiet, keeping to himself. The contrast was jarring and was out of place more than he liked to admit. 

If he remembered correctly from what Xiaojun had told him, this had been Donghyuck’s personality when their parents have first passed away.

He hoped they would make it to the palace okay and rescue Mark. 

***

Ten hid in the hallway, wondering what his next move should be. 

He had ran earlier to try to warn Jaehyun and the others, but imagine his surprise when he found Lee-eun’s men guarding the entrance. 

Ten did not like that vibe at all - something must be up, especially if they didn’t want anyone entering. 

For something that he thought would only take a couple of minutes ended up passing more time than necessary.

Ten walked around, trying to make himself busy. He headed back to his clinic, helping the random palace staff  here and there doing his job as normal. 

And with every free chance he had, he went back to check, and Lee-eun’s men were still there.

it. He was going to use the underground tunnels. 

***

There was a plus to being orphans on the run that nobody ever mentioned, and that was - the lack of belongings makes it easier for you to leave a place quicker. 

Yet, it still hurt giving one last look to the house that Xiaojun had let them stay in for the time being. They had tried to find the latter, wanting to express their gratitude, but the house had been completely empty. 

No Xiaojun. No Kun. No Donghyuck. No Johnny. No Mark. And no princes anywhere. 

“We’re going to have to find some falsified documents as soon as we head to the Chinese kingdom,” Chen Le said to Yangyang on their walk. They were heading out of the town, on the road leading away from Xiaojun’s house, planning on using their coins for a ticket out of the kingdom. So far they couldn’t see any townspeople, but considering they were at the edge of the town, it wasn’t surprising. 

Yangyang nodded in response, kicking one of the stray pebbles on the ground. “True, we can’t tell them that we’ve been in this country for years, they’ll use it against us.” 

Chen Le shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m not ready for there to be war. Either way, we’ll get treated like dirt and probably…”

He trailed off, leaving Yangyang in confusion. “Probably what?” He asked, waving his hand in front of Chen Le’s face. “Wait, are you looking at something-“

Yangyang faced the direction Chen Le had been looking at, to which he could now see a young guy, probably around their age as well, waving his hands as he ran towards them. 

“Who’s that?” Chen Le asked, standing in front of Yangyang defensively. “Which kingdom are they from?”

“I’m not too sure,” Yangyang muttered. “HELLO?! DO YOU NEED HELP?”

They stopped walking, waiting for the guy to run up to him. He was in normal clothes, nothing out of the ordinary, and he was dripping in sweat, out of breath. From the looks of it, he had been running for a while.

“Have you guys seen someone around my height, in black clothing?” the stranger explained. “He- he has a cold look on his face right now, walking very… I don’t know...”

“We- we haven’t seen anyone all day, actually,” Chen Le explained. “Our friends are actually who knows where.”

“We’re not really from this town either,” Yangyang added, though he instantly regretted it. He had no idea what the intentions of this newcomer was. “Sorry.”

“I’m not either…” the guy muttered. “I’m from Weishen.” 

“Ah, you speak Mandarin, then?” Chen Le said in Mandarin, compared to the Korean they were speaking moments before. “What are you doing here in SM Town?”

The guy hesitated, biting his lip as he looked away. 

“I- my friend…” he said quietly. “He- he’s being weird and he ran off… say something about killing- oh no I’m going to get in trouble!”

“Wait- what’s your name?” Chen Le asked. “I’m Chen Le and this is Yangyang, we know some people who could help.”

“... my name is Jungwoo,” the guy, Jungwoo, said. “I- I don’t know, honestly, it felt like he was possessed-” 

Yangyang’s eyes widened. “No way, another SUPERHUMAN?!”

“WHAT?!” Chen Le whipped his head around to look at Yangyang. “What are you TALKING about-”

“A what?” Jungwoo asked, confused.

“Remember? Mark is a super human and he got controlled and tried to hurt Donghyuck when he kept talking about killing the royal family or something!” Yangyang explained to Chen Le. “Hey, Jungwoo, maybe your friend is a superhuman too-”

“But he’s- wait, you’re implying that they’re trying something again- wait.” Chen Le looked at Jungwoo again. “Your friend. Did he say something about killing someone?”

Jungwoo’s eyes widened in fear. “I DIDN’T KNOW!” he cried out, falling down to his knees. “PLEASE DON’T REPORT ME FOR TREASON!”

“Oh, we’re immigrants from China, we aren’t going to do anything!!” Chen Le yelled. “WHO is he trying to kill?”

Jungwoo wiped his eyes with his sleeve, forcing himself to calm down. “Something about Prince Jisung.” 

Chen Le’s heart dropped at the mention of Prince Jisung. 

He zoned out quickly, not even registering what Yangyang was saying to Jungwoo trying to calm him down, the latter hysterical that he was going to be sent to prison. 

“Yangyang,” he said once out of his daze. “We have to head to Neo City.”

***

Yuta entered the underground jail, Prince Jisung close behind him as they stood in front of the largest cell, the lone prisoner Mark staring at the wall in front of him with his back turned. 

“Mark, wasn’t it?” Yuta asked, his hand on his sword. “We have some questions for you.”
 

…

No answer. 

“This isn’t going to work-”

“Your honor, have faith,” Yuta harshly whispered to Jisung. Then, back to Mark, he said, “about this Donghyuck-”

At the mention of Donghyuck, Mark whipped his head around immediately, his eyes widening in fear. “He’s innocent,” he sneered. “He didn’t know.” 

“We’re not going to do anything to him,” Jisung said, stepping in front of Yuta despite his bodyguards' protest. “We’ll grant him immunity if you wish. We just ask for your cooperation.”

Mark didn’t say anything, standing up from where he had been sitting on the ground. 

Jisung took that as his cue to continue. “We know you’re not behind everything,” he said. “Someone is trying to cause tension between the two Kingdoms, we need you to tell us who-”

Which led Mark to internal conflict. 

On one hand, he couldn’t exactly rat out Jaehyun. He knew none of this was Jaehyun’s fault, even though he was the one who created him. 

Yet, on the other hand… 

Donghyuck. 

“... someone created me,” Mark said slowly, being careful on how much information he could divulge. “But they’re being ordered by someone against their will. I don’t remember much.” 

Yuta frowned. “Created you?” he said in astonishment. “What do you mean created you?"

“Wait, you’re not human?” Jisung asked. “What?”

Mark nodded, choosing not to say anything else.

“Do you know who?” Yuta asked. “Actually-”

Yuta was interrupted at that moment when someone burst through the prison door, surprising the three of them. 

“Your royal highness,” Lee-eun said. “Your father is waiting for you upstairs.”

Jisung frowned. “Right now? I have work to do-”

Yuta gave Lee-eun a cold glare but said nothing, grabbing Jisung’s arm to pull him out.

Once the two of them were gone, closing the door behind them, Lee-eun held up a small chip, waving it in the air. “Model M,” he said slowly to Mark. “I need you to sit very still.”

***

“You have been assigned to kill Lee Donghyuck,” Jaehyun said quietly, almost hoping that the words wouldn’t register.

But alas. It did. Minhyung was now given the order.

“Oh, ing great,” he muttered, clicking on his computer to monitor the others’ feed. “I’m so ing excited.”

“Are you sure he won’t kill this Donghyuck?” Jaemin whispered to him, trying his best to not let the guards hear him. 

“I’m sure-”

“Are the orders done?” One of the guards said, interrupting the two of them. 

Jaehyun sighed. “Yep. All four models have been given orders-”

“Good.”

All of the guards in Jaehyun’s lab held out their weapons, startling Jaehyun and Jaemin.

“Hey, don’t lift your weapon at me!” Jaehyun yelled at them. “Put that down!”

“By order of the royal advisor Lee-eun, Jung Jaehyun and Na Jaemin, you both are under arrest for treason.”

***

Rumor was circling through the town square that Prince Jisung was back in Neo City and that he was back in the palace. 

The shopkeepers chatting with customers. Parents shushing their children trying to gossip. Friends who haven’t seen each other in a while sharing the news. Everyone around him was talking about it. 

He heard it. Prince Jisung with his bodyguard and men. It was rumored they found one of the people who had attempted to kill him, someone who would no doubt be sentenced to execution by the end of the night. 

But before then, they were going to open the doors. The king was going to make an announcement that night, along with celebrating Prince Jisung’s safe return. 

Good. 

Stepping in front of the guarded palace doors, where people were too busy in their own little worlds to notice that he had stopped in front of his tracks, he couldn’t help but grin. 

My name is Taeyong and I have been sent to kill Park Jisung.