I rush down the passageway to the Cheonjongo. It goes on and on, as if it will never end. Today is the day I meet my fate. Footsteps approach as I take off the safety on my gun. My grip tightens on the weapon, but the footsteps are familiar. I turn around to see His Majesty running up to me.

“Pyeha…”

“I couldn’t wait, while you were here…not knowing.”

My heart sinks. My job will be easier and at the same time, infinitely more difficult with him beside me. I have two people to protect now. We walked on. The passageway is littered with the slain bodies of Royal Guards, crimsoning the floor. Tiny footsteps printed in blood lead me towards my destiny.  It’s him. It always has been. I see the lights of the main gallery ahead.

The first shot rings out. Time does not slow for either of us as we rush toward our respective fates. All my instincts, honed through years of training kick in at the same time, as each of my bullets find their mark. In a beat that is probably not even a hundredth of a second, I look over at my king, my brother. He is doing fine, probably because he has done this before. There seem to be more men than I anticipated. No…Jo Yeong! This is no time to doubt yourself.

The traitor’s followers drop one by one before me. I turn around to see two men rushing towards the boy in blood-soaked nightclothes, cowering on the floor. In that second, my body moves with inhuman strength. All I have to do is close the distance between me and him.

The first bullet hits me in the back, and I am relieved. A few more follow. I turn around and quickly take out the two men, but not before I am hit again. The silence that follows is the longest I have endured in my life.

I am wearing my protective vest that has been a second skin to me since the day I became a Royal Guard. But, the pain that blooms within me tells me that this time, things will be different. Why is pain always red?

I look at the child who is lying limp in my arms. After all this…what if? I gingerly check his pulse. The warm welcoming beat under his skin tells me that I have succeeded in my mission. I embrace my destiny happily.

Two more shots ring out and a body drops to the floor somewhere. Dread fills me like poison and turns me numb. What if I saved one and not the other?

I turn around, as His Majesty walks towards the arched entrance. One of the traitor’s followers trains his gun, but I take him out first. Finally, my job is done. All the followers are dead. Now all that’s left is Lee Lim.

He looks at me.

Hyung, I wanted to call him, but there is no time. Just as I embraced my destiny, he has to reach his. His eyes fill up with tears. He gives me a nod and walks away with resolute steps.

Hyung, I won’t see you again.

I look down to see the boy holding on to my hand and can’t help smiling. He’s so tiny. I think back to the day of the coronation – waiting in the sidelines in my father’s arms, looking at the boy in strange clothes. I liked him instantly. He looked so lonely sitting on that big chair. At the funeral when he bowed down and wailed, I wanted to cry too. I wished he would stop weeping. I just wanted him to be happy. Later, when Lady Noh sent me to his study, he was scribbling on a chalkboard. He looked so big back then. I was too young to understand those dark days of his. In my mind, all of those memories have a golden haze over them.

I hold him close.

“I’m sorry…” I whisper. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”

The day I first saw him, he had gained a kingdom, but had lost both his parents. I still had mine, but in later years, shuttling between my father and mother, never having both of them together with me again, I came to understand what it must have been like for him.

“Pyeha!” I hear distant shouts. I hug the child one last time.

It’s been an honour serving you, Your Majesty…

Pain hits me in fresh waves when I lay him down. I move to the back of the pavilion as quickly as possible. I cannot be found now. Not when I’m still alive.

“Pyeha…” I hear them wailing in horror.

“Quick! Take His Majesty and His Highness to the hospital!” Head Court Lady Noh shouts.

Footsteps recede into the distance. I’m getting cold. I look up to see big white snowflakes floating through the broken stained glass ceiling. It is beautiful. Not a bad place to die.

What will they think when they find my body?

I had made sure to leave all identifying items behind. I will be a stranger, dead among the traitor’s followers.

I think about all the people I will never see again.

Omma… Abuji…Lady Noh…

Seung-ah…Maybe if I had had more time…I’m sorry.

I remember the day I became the Unbreakable Sword and my eyes fill up. I had been crying then too. Hyung, you gave me my first and last title.

Through the blur of tears, I see him holding the plastic sword and close my eyes, satisfied.