~Chapter 11~

The Truth is Always Hard to Say

Jonghyun’s POV~

            I sip my water without looking away from the person in front of me. He looks no different from the future…well my past…whatever you know what I mean. His hair is parted the same way, his skin tone is the same shade, not even his height is different, and his love for Onew hyung is no different. Joon hyung is right in front of me. He’s just standing there…right there…wow I’m a bit overwhelmed. It gives me a bit of a rush…“Hey, will you stop bouncing?” a hero hisses at me loudly. I huff and try to stand still. People have gathered to meet the new clan member and they are all too interested to feel my uneasiness.

           “Hey, can I talk to you for a sec?” Key whispers at me from behind. I back away and run off to him to a different area.

           “What’s up?”

           “Taemin’s gone.”

           “What? What do you mean he’s gone?”

           “Taemin’s gone. We looked everywhere.”

           “No,” I shake my head. “He…I thought he wasn’t scared anymore. I thought Minho got him to act normal again. I thought everything was back to the way it was! No, Taemin can’t be gone…” I sit down on the steps in front of Taemin’s empty room. “I just don’t understand.” I bury my face into my knees and try to calm down. I feel Key’s gentle hand on my shoulder.

           “Naeun and I don’t know what happened, but we saw him in a rush. He ran into his room and before we knew it, he was gone.”

           “There’s a letter!” Gun Tae runs out of the room and waves a letter in front of me.

I’ll be gone for a few days.

There are some things I need to figure out.

I’ll be back soon…

-Taemin

            “He can’t just write a letter and leave! He gave us no explanation, no proper goodbye, no useful information whatsoever!” I angrily growl at the letter.

            “Did he mention anything to you before? Anything about secrets or issues that he needs to solve?” Key asks.

           I rub my two charm necklaces and run my thumb over the smooth surface. “Not at all–” unless he wants to figure out about the whole time travel thing…I get up and clean the dust from the stairs off my . “Well, he’ll come back when he’s finished. I’m sure it was something important if Taemin left so suddenly without a proper goodbye. Can you go inform Jong Kook hyungnin while I…uh…”

           “It’s fine; I understand. You probably need to clear out your mind,” Key says. “I’ll leave you alone now.”  He smiles reassuringly and walks away.

            “I think I know where he is,” Gun Tae says.

Minho’s POV

           “I’m only going to look for Taemin; I don’t need the whole crew to come…” Jonghyun hyung says while looking at Onew hyung, Joon hyung, Key hyung, Gun Tae, and I.

           “The more the merrier,” Gun Tae cheers. “Plus, I rarely get to leave the clan anyways. Not to mention that I am leading the way.”

           “I’m not going to leave you wandering around with a kid, no offense.” Key hyung pats Gun Tae on the back.

           “My dongsaeng needs me,” Onew hyung says.

           “I’ll go where Onew goes,” Joon hyung places his arm on hyung’s shoulder.

           “I don’t need an excuse to go,” I shrug and fold my arms.

           “Well then, let’s go! Jong Kook hyungnim only gave us three days to go.” Jonghyun hyung yells and we all walk toward the woods.

           It finally reached nighttime. We all are both exhausted and hungry. Jonghyun and Key hyung are starting the fire, Joon and Onew hyung are preparing the wild rabbits we caught, and Gun Tae and I are setting up a sleeping area. Looking at everyone around me working together really reminds me of the old times…His Majesty would bring me to the training area and let me hang out with soldiers in camp near the war areas. Naeun used to come along too, even when she wasn’t allowed to. We would target practice on hunting trips and learned how to survive with little supplies…my, how things have changed…

           “Fire’s ready!” Jonghyung and Key hyung cheer. The rabbit meat is getting cooked as Gun Tae and I finalize our sleeping area.

           “Naeun-ah, food’s ready. Stop hiding,” Joon hyung waves at a large tree. Naeun awkwardly smiles, stepping toward us. “If you wanted to come, you could have just said so.”

           “Mianhaeyo, I shouldn’t have followed you guys like this. I really never got the chance to apologize to Taemin oppa and…I felt like I should come and support,” she says with a bowed head.

           “Food’s going to get cold soon; just come!” Onew hyung smiles and pats the ground next to me. She sits down next to me and greets me with a nod of her head. I return a bow and adjust my face covering.

           “You know, covering your face makes it more obvious,” Joon hyung says. “Hiding something, I mean.” He clears his throat and changes the conversation. “So, any clues on why Taemin left?”

           “Taemin needs to figure something out…I think that it has to do with you,” Onew says while looking at Joon hyung. “You know, we all saw that in the future he is destined to harm you so–”

           “Correction,” Jonghyun hyung cuts in. “We all think that we know that. There is no evidence whatsoever.” He nearly glares at Onew hyung for mentioning it.

           “Future? What are you guys, fortune tellers?” Naeun asks.

           “Well the point is that Taemin must want to know for sure so he’s going to meet the ahjussi in the mountains,” Onew hyung ignores her question. She’s the only person in our little clique that doesn’t know about the coming from the future.

           “How can we be sure that that man knows something we don’t?” Key hyung asks.

           “We don’t, but last time Taemin hyung and I met him, the man seemed very secretive. He even made me go somewhere else to talk to hyung. And after that, Taemin hyung’s internal strength and martial arts was noticeably better,” Gun tae explains.

           “That makes more sense now. No wonder why Taemin was given the mission to recruit us.” Key hyung nods.

           “Well if this man has helped Taemin improve so much, I’m pretty sure he isn’t the bad guy. Maybe he’ll have some answers.” Onew hyung wipes his hands after finishing his food.

           “We’ll never know until we meet him,” Joon hyung says. “Let’s call it a day and continue when the sun rises.”

Taemin’s POV~

            I wake up with a start. In the distance, I hear weapons clashing and screaming. I grab my spear and run toward the commotion. And before you question me, yes, I bought a spear on my way to the woods. I still have my sword attached to my belt though. What? I like using a spear okay?

            Ahead, I see a man pulling a female by her wrist. Sobbing and screaming, she attempts to escape the man’s grasp, but to no use. Around her are men fighting and dead bodies. Before I realize what I am doing, I throw my sword toward the man and stick him to a tree, away from the female. He quickly recovers from shock and pulls the sword out of the tree. Without even saying anything, he charges me. I quickly dodge him by knocking the sword aside and trip the strong male by taking advantage of the momentum. He gets up and exchanges powerful hits. Although his skills aren’t too great, he is quick and strong, making it hard for me to attack. My only choice is to defend. With my peripheral vision, I can see that the others have stopped to watch us fight.

            I use all of my strength and attempt to push him far enough to attack. Surprisingly, his stance isn’t flawed. Instead, he even almost knocked me over. I’m panicking right now. This man is stronger than me and his stances are perfect. Ani, Lee Taemin, you can’t think like that! I tighten my jaw and try to keep calm. “When your opponent is stronger than you, you need to use your mind and defeat him,” I remember Jong Kook hyung saying in a lesson. “When there is an opening, you use that moment to knock his power out of him. As he breaks focus, you attack a weak area to surprise him. If that doesn’t work, you have to play tricks.” I smirk and prepare myself. I know how to defeat him.

             I use my spear and quickly attack him in different areas at random, making him lose his winning stance. Using the chance, I attack his pressure points and voilà! I take a breath of relief. The male is standing in front of me, frozen. Jong Kook hyungnin has taught me how to manipulate acupunctures and pressure points when I wasn’t improving in training when I first joined the clan. He was afraid that others would bully me or if I’d run into thugs, I can defend myself. Oh thank goodness it works!

            I flick my bangs and straighten my clothes. “Well, does anyone else want to challenge me or was this guy your leader...?” I awkwardly ask the other men. I huff and turn to look at the frozen man.

           “If you want to kill me, then do it. I won’t beg you.”

           “I don’t intend to kill you,” I look at the girl shaking on the ground. She is staring at me with teary, hopeful eyes. “I just picked a fight since I wanted to help her. No hard feelings okay?” I unlock his pressure point and he runs off with his other members.  

            “I, Shindong, owe you my life. From this day onward, you will be the leader of the Black Bandits.” One of the men from the girl’s side steps out and shows me respect.

            “Oh no no no no no,” I wave my hand. “I literally just wanted to save her. I didn’t mean to ruin your reputation or–”

            “The clan has decided. Please accept our offer.” They all kneel down and wait for me to accept.

            “But I–”

            “We will not get up until you accept.”

            “We won’t!” The other clan members yell.

            “Okay, okay fine,” I sigh and motion for them to get up. “Before I agree to anything else, can someone explain to me what happened and who you are?”

            “Hero, may I explain everything to you?” The female is finally up and standing beside her clan members. Her eyes are puffy from crying and her voice is gentle. I nod and she smiles shyly. “I am Park Jiyeon, the daughter of a former official. My father was set up and was charged treason. Some loyal servants and family members were kind enough to protect our family. Unfortunately, my father passed away due to embarrassment and my mother from depression. We had no way of settling since our faces were well known. And so, we started a clan to protect ourselves. The man you helped us defeat was the son of one of the palace officials. He would have killed us if it wasn’t for your righteous act.”

            “Wow that sounds unfortunate. I’m glad that I helped you guys out. The thing is, I can’t stay around with you guys and be your clan leader. I have my own clan that I am a part of and I’m on a mission right now. I think it would be inconvenient if you guys follow–”

            “Please accept us. Our family’s motto is to repay those that help us wholeheartedly. You protected us and now we will work for you,” Shindong-ssi says.

           “I’m part of the Heroes’ Rebellion clan. If you don’t mind, then how about you join the clan as well? We will protect you guys.” I offer. I know I can’t talk myself out of this, so might as well…

            “The things is…the last time I went to this place, I was lost and had guidance. Now that I am intentionally finding this place, I am not sure how long it will take me to find it,” I explain.

            “No worries. You just need to lead us. You don’t need to explain anything to us,” Yesung hyung, a clan member, says.

            “Look, since you all agreed to be in Heroes’ Rebellion, it means we are at the same level. I am not a leader and our goal is to be like a family. We treat each other well and do not abuse each other’s trust.”

            “Understood, leader,” Kimbum hyung, another member, says.

            “Dude, majority of this clan is older than me. Can you guys please let me be the one showing respect instead?” I sigh out of frustration.

            “Yes, leader,” the members say. I facepalm myself and shake my head.

            “Please? Can you just call me Taemin?”

            “These men are a bit stubborn, I’m sorry,” Jiyeon smiles. “I understand your frustration. When they first met me, they kept calling me “miss” and “my lady.” It takes them around a week to get used to it.” She nods.

            “I’m glad you understand me,” I smile.

           “Mind going with me to gather firewood? I don’t think we have enough,” Jiyeon asks.

           “Sure,” I nod and walk with her.

            “You were really cool earlier. With the spear I mean. You must have been in Heroes’ Rebellion for a while.”

            “Ani, just a little under two years,” I shake my head.

            “Then you must be a prodigy. You only learned for almost two years and you can defeat people twice your size.”

            “Well,” I scratch the back of my neck. “I’m not that good.”

            “Don’t be modest,” she smiles. “By the way, why do you need to find this magical old guy? Is he your relative?”

            “Ani, I need him to answer a few questions.”

            “It’s okay, I won’t pry.”

            “It’s not that. I just need him to check my health and confirm a few things. It’s not that important.”

            “Your health? Are you sick?”

            “Not sure. I have been feeling a lot of fatigue and pain. Not to mention breathing problems and random blackouts.”

            “My father was a medicine researcher in the palace. He took care of everyone including His Majesty. I learned a few things from him. Want me to see if I know anything about it?”

            “Sure,” I nod and hold out my wrist. She places two fingers on it and stays quiet for a while.

            “I think you are poisoned. You look healthy externally, but your pulse is irregular and your energy flow is off. I don’t know what it is exactly…Did you ever get poisoned or been exposed to it?” I remember the hero pouring a liquid on my wound that made me nearly pass out. Was it poison? But our clan members are not poison users…it can’t be that, right?

Key’s POV~

            “Look, there’s some burn wood here. I think someone must have been here before.” I touch the wood and feel no heat. “I am not entirely sure, but I think that they left a while ago.”

            “They must have gone that way, the trees don’t look natural and the grass is parted strangely,” Minho points to the East.

            “It’s worth a try. Gun Tae-ah, do you recognize this route?” Joon hyung asks.

            “To be honest, I can’t really remember the path. We were lost during that time. I just said I remembered because I wanted to look for him.”

            “Would you recognize it if we at least were closer?” Jonghyun hyung asks.

            “I would.”

            “Well until then, we can only follow the clues that we see,” Onew hyung says. “Hopefully we find Taemin…” 

I know it's a bit boring...these past chapters are fillers to add characters and to develop the main events. Please don't hate me!