Chapter 7
No Escape
Upon entering the palace the guards dropped Woohyun directly in front of the king. He watched, a bemused expression on his face.
“May I ask why you guards have dragged this man here to me?”
Celia entered, a look of indifference on her face. “I may very well be able to explain father. You see I happened to walk upon this man laying in our garden. He proclaims to be a traveler. I have sent him here on the offence of refusing to join us for the upcoming banquet.”
The king let out a loud bout of laughter. “How intriguing! May I ask traveler, what is your name?”
“Woohyun.”
“Well, traveler Woohyun, why have you refused my daughter’s invitation to the banquet?”
“Pardon me your majesty, but I’m currently on a journey. I’m looking for someone special to me.”
The king smiled. “Is that so? I see we should not hinder your travels, but denying a request from the royal family will not serve you well. You must stay until the banquet, we will even provide with the best luxuries this kingdom can afford.”
Woohyun considered his options. If he were to accept right now, he wouldn’t be able to find Cho Hee as quickly as he hoped. However if he denied, would he even be allowed to leave this castle? Woohyun gulped at the thought.
“Your majesty I will stay, but only until the banquet.”
The king nodded. “In that case, Celia inform the maids that a guest will be staying with us!”
Celia curtsied, bidding them farewell. As she went to complete her task a large smile appeared on her face. The idea of a traveler staying intrigued her. What kinds of things he had seen, experienced, the thought made her ecstatic.
***
As Seira opened the door to her inn, Cho Hee ran inside. She collapsed onto a chair, her muscles aching. Myungsoo watched from afar, chuckling. Cho Hee looked up at him in agony.
“It’s not funny Myungsoo!” she groaned out. “Do you know how tiring using my power is?”
Myungsoo rolled his eyes. “You’re over exaggerating. It can’t be that bad.”
She stuck her tongue out. “Just wait until you get some kind of a power.” she mumbled.
“We don’t even know if it’s guaranteed to get powers.”
She sighed. “I guess so. Anyways, Seira where are the rooms?”
“The rooms are upstairs. There are only four rooms and each room contains two beds. This inn is rather small, so I hope it is not too much trouble to ask you two to share a room.”
Cho Hee shook her head. “I don’t mind. Do you Myungsoo?”
Myungsoo shrugged. “Depends on how big the rooms are.”
“That means he doesn’t.” Cho Hee responded, heading upstairs. “I’ll go check out the rooms, alright?”
“I’ll come with you.” said Myungsoo. “For all we know, you could trip over the stairs.”
“Well, thanks Myungsoo. I understand how concerned you are for my well being.”
***
Hoya entered the office with Dongwoo by his side. Hoya took deep breaths and next to him he could see Dongwoo fiddle with his ring. They were both nervous, after all today could be the day they would finally be sponsored. The two were a dance duo and had decided to go pro almost half a year ago. At first dancing was just a hobby, but they quickly became passionate. It had come to the point where dancing had become their life.
Now here they were greeting the suited men. Tea and other small snacks were laid out in front of them. They ate and made small talk with the men, who then left. Hoya and Dongwoo were both confused, as they had not yet talked about the contract. A different man soon joined them.
“Hello.” he extended a hand to them both. “My name is Kyuhyun.”
They both shook his hand, still wondering about the contract.
“Today we’ve called you here to talk about something important.” Kyuhyun began.
‘This must be it.’ Hoya thought.
“The truth is there is no contract nor are we planning on sponsoring you two.”
Both of them froze. Hoya clenched his fist in rage. He sharply inhaled, trying to swallow down his anger. He turned over to Dongwoo who was absolutely shocked.
‘I knew this was too good to be true.’ Dongwoo thought, a sullen smile on his face.
Seeing Dongwoo this way, Hoya was filled with sadness. He knew how much this meant to him. Kyuhyun ignored their sadness, instead talking about the real reason for calling them over. Hoya blocked his voice out, only staring at Dongwoo, wishing to ease his pain.
***
Jin Ae shifted in her sleep, quietly sniffling. Hearing this, Hoya walked over to her. He pulled her face closer to see her weeping.
“Jin Ae.” he whispered, trying to awaken her.
She opened her eyes, but upon seeing Hoya she continued to bawl.
“Jin Ae, what’s wrong?” he asked, eyes filled with worry.
She shook her head, staring into his eyes. “Please don’t look at me with those eyes.” she pleaded.
Hoya, unsure of what to do, pulled Jin Ae closer to him. He held her tightly to his chest, letting her bawl onto his shirt. Minutes later she calmed down and went back to sleep,
‘What happened to her?’ he wondered.
***
The next morning Hoya told Dongwoo of what happened. He listened intently, occasionally staring at Jin Ae.
“I really don’t know what happened to her.” said Hoya.
“Maybe she had a nightmare.” Dongwoo suggested.
Hoya shook his head. “She looked like she was in extreme pain. I find it hard to believe a nightmare could cause her to cry like that.”
Jin Ae rubbed her swollen eyes, looking over at Hoya and Dongwoo. The two spotted her and gave her food. As usual she avoided eye contact, but she greeted them and thanked them as well. After breakfast the four headed out to find a way out of the forest.
***
After Jae Hwa and Sunggyu decided to no longer stay in the meadow, they wandered in an unknown direction. Hours had passed until they finally found a town to settle in. The two walked into the nearest inn they could find. As they entered, they were greeted by a young women with auburn locks.
“Hello.” she greeted. “Would you like to rent a room?”
“Yes.” Jae Hwa answered. “How much do you charge?”
“25 coins.” she said.
Jae Hwa turned to Sunggyu, whispering into his ear. “We don’t have any money. Try to flirt with her and see if she’ll let us stay for free.”
Sunggyu began to protest, but an intimidating glare from Jae Hwa convinced him to do otherwise. He took a deep breath, leaning over the counter.
“Couldn’t you deduct the fee just a little miss?” he pleaded.
Jae Hwa glared at him. “You’re not supposed to beg.” she hissed.
The woman looked at the two pitifully. “Could it be you two don’t have any money?”
Their cheeks flushed as they shamefully admitted to her statement.
The woman sighed, “You don’t have any place to stay do you? In that case you two can stay here, but you’ll work for the time you stay. Understood?”
“Yes.” they both answered.
“Alright.” she nodded, handing the room key to Jae Hwa. “You two can rest for tonight, but I’ll be expecting you early tomorrow morning. There are two guest whom I invited to stay here, try your best to not disturb them.”
They both nodded, heading up to their room.
“Good job Sunggyu.” Jae Hwa muttered. “I hope you know that you’re going to have to do my share of the work as well.”
Sunggyu sighed, knowing it would come to this.
***
The two were woken up early next morning by the inn’s owner. She had them go downstairs to the kitchen and prepare the other guests’ breakfast.
“Do you even know how to cook?” Jae Hwa asked Sunggyu.
“No.” he responded. “Do you?”
“No, but even if I did I would rather watch you try to cook and end up failing.”
Sunggyu sighed, turning to the stove. He attempted to start a flame, but was unable to. Jae Hwa watched from the side growing more irritated at his failed attempts.
“Move over.” she commanded, pushing him aside. With the lift of finger she shot small sparks into the stove, causing a flame to appear.
Sunggyu watched in amazement. “How did you do that?”
Jae Hwa shrugged. “Ever since I got here I’ve been able to start fires as I please.”
“Was that why the meadow had burned patches?” he asked, recalling where they had first met.
“Yeah.” she nodded. “Some sparks randomly shot out and after a while I tired myself out. That’s why I was asleep when you found me.”
Sunggyu nodded his head in understanding.
“Anyways you should start cooking. I don’t want to be kicked out of the inn because you did terribly, got it?”
“Yes Jae Hwa.” he responded.
***
Cho Hee heard a loud banging on the door causing her to awake. She unlocked the door, tiredly rubbing her eyes.
“Yes?” she asked, still slightly dazed.
She saw a woman and a man with plates in their arms. The woman looked rather aggravated, as she impatiently tapped her foot. The man on the other hand looked slightly uncomfortable under the woman’s harsh glare.
“Your breakfast.” the man spoke, handing the plate to her.
She accepted both plates, while the two walked away. Cho Hee managed to juggle the two plates in her hands and kicked the door shut. She lay the plates onto the table, heading to the bathroom.
When she walked out she saw Myungsoo who had already eaten his share of breakfast. Noticing his unkempt hair, she let out a giggle.
“What?” he asked.
Cho Hee shook her head. “Nothing I’m just feeling a bit better is all.”
“Anyway while you were in the bathroom, Seira stopped by and mentioned there would be a banquet tomorrow announcing the marriage arrangement of the kingdom’s princess.”
“Really? So the setting of this game should be something similar to medieval times. That’s interesting.”
“Isn’t it more of our concern on how to get back to the real world?”
“Yeah, but think about it this way.” she said, sitting on the bed. “This is a game, right? If we were to “leave” wouldn’t we have to complete the game?”
Myungsoo pondered on the thought. “That makes sense, but what’s the point of the game? How are we supposed to complete it?”
“Usually when playing you’re given a bunch of objectives you have to complete and those help the plot line move forward. In our case there isn’t much we can do considering we don’t know what our goal is. When you think about it we really don’t know much of anything in this world.”
“We should make a list of what we know and try to see if anything relates.”
Cho Hee agreed and they both walked downstairs to ask Seira for paper and a pen.
***
Once in the lobby they sat down and wrote everything they knew. The list was short and didn’t seem to help them as much as it should have.
1. Medieval world (Kingdoms, monarchies, inns, old fashioned rooms)
2. Powers can be acquired (Thunder)
3. Lots of wild animals (Boars)
4. Lots of nature (Forests)
Cho Hee read the list, sighing. “This was useless Myungsoo, I’m not even sure if my powers still work.”
“Why not try it out now then?” Myungsoo suggested.
“Are you sure it would be alright in front of Seira?” Cho Hee asked eyeing, the innkeeper. “We may have saved her, but she doesn’t know about my power.”
“Does it matter? People in games do stupid things all the time.”
“It does matter, what if they think I’m some sort of a mystical god and start to worship me? You have to take all possibilities into account Myungsoo!”
Myungsoo rolled his eyes, calling out to Seira. “Seira, do people know how to do magic?”
Seira put a finger to her chin and looked up. “Hmm…. Magic can be learned, but there has to be some latent ability. In rural areas it’s rather difficult to find someone with magic, but in large kingdoms it’s quite common for everyone to know magic.”
“What about in this kingdom?”
“In Serena? I would say it’s somewhat mixed. There are people who know magic, but there are also those who don’t.”
“Thanks.” Myungsoo said, adding information to their list. “See Cho Hee, you’ll be fine. If you still feel uncomfortable lets head out and test your power somewhere else.”
***
Cho Hee hastily agreed to go out, wanting to tour the kingdom. They walked around, eventually reaching the outskirts of town where a river lay. Cho Hee stood motionless, trying to harness all her energy as she did the other day. When she felt ready she released her power, but only small sparks fizzled out.
“I’m probably still tired from yesterday.” she frowned. “How about you Myungsoo, did you discover your power?”
She looked over at Myungsoo who had one hand in the river. He brought out his dripping hand only to see ice shards covering every inch of it. Cho Hee stared in awe.
“How did you do that?”
He shrugged, also amazed. “I don’t know, I just cleared my mind and it happened.”
“Really? When I used my power I felt really frustrated, like I was going to explode.”
They took both statements in account, pondering on their abilities. An idea popped into their minds and a smile appeared on their faces.
"That’s it!” they both shouted.
Comments