~Chapter 2~

Year One

Onew’s POV~

The fruit on the tree is poisonous, I learned the hard way. I was just so exhausted and thirsty that I couldn’t restrain myself. I ate it and immediately my body felt like a flame was burning inside of me, burning all of my inner organs. I almost died too, if it wasn’t for him—Joon. Yes, you read correctly, Joon! Although I never met him in my time period, I recognized him from what the light showed me.

It has been a year since I entered the palace. When I was in that cave, turns out, I was with the world’s sharpest blade. When Joon saved me and brought me back into the palace, he reported to the king that the sword was mine and that I gave it to him to give to the king. Hearing this, His Majesty rewarded me with riches and gave me a position in the palace as well—Joon’s right hand man.

After seeing my past life, I assume, in the light, I know that I have to protect him. I need to make Joon be happy so when he dies, he will turn into an angel and not a demon. Then, the past would change and Joon and I can be together. The thing is…I’ve always wondered about it. If my past life has confirmed that Taemin was the one that made Joon that way, does that mean that Taemin is here? If he is, then does that mean I have to stop him? Taeminnie…isn’t my enemy…right?

Taemin’s POV~

Although I was forced into becoming a servant and was inhumanly chained up, I had to deal with it. In a flash, a year has already passed. I am now 17-years-old and I have to admit it, not celebrating my birthday or Seollal with my family is pretty saddening. At this point, I concluded that Jonghyun hyung and Onew hyung have not gone back in time. I think I was the only one who was zapped back. Does this mean that I am the one who is supposed to fix our fate? I mean, I understand that I saw the flashback of my past life and I understand that I was one of the “secret weapons” of the angel side, but now as a human, what can I do? If I’m not mistaking, I remember seeing in my past that we have mentioned the idea of fixing our past so Joon hyung and Onew hyung can end up together…Does that mean I will meet Joon hyung later and save him? But if I will see him…doesn’t that mean that I will see the past lives of Minho hyung, Onew hyung, Jonghyun hyung, and Key hyung? I don’t personally know Minho hyung and Key hyung yet since I haven’t met them in my reincarnated life. Aigoo, this is even confusing me and I’m in the situation! Are you confused?

“Taesun hyung, your shift is over. You can go to bed now.” Gun-Tae smiles and takes the torch from me. He’s the youngest servant here. He can fight as well as some of the main heroes here! And by “heroes” I mean the fighters in the clan. We have to call them that…Servants aren’t allowed to become heroes until they have reached 18-years-old and passed the yearly test that ranks the servants and heroes. I really hope that I can leave since I don’t want to still be here and turn 18 to get killed. And I’m serious about this too. Sometimes in the competition, people die because they want to show off how well they can kill.

“Thank you, goodnight.” I smile and pat him on the back.

“Taesun hyung, are you going to show me a new move?” he asks. Oh, I forgot to mention something. Everyone here calls me Taesun. I’m doing this in case I am going to stay in this time period for too long and change its balance or whatever you call it. Also, I show Gun Tae my dancing that he sees as fighting moves. He’s my only friend here and the only person who knows where my “hometown” is.

“I will tomorrow,” I wave goodbye and run off to my room. With a sigh, I take off the many layers of clothes I have on and change into my t-shirt and shorts. At night, I like dressing up in my modern clothes in case I will wake up in my time and for another reason: I miss it. Sometimes I will listen to a song on my iPod. I can only to listen to a song per month to save battery. Sometimes I will listen to it twice a month if I really feel down or if it’s a special occasion. My battery’s down to 25% which is way more than I expected…

“Intruder!” I hear Gun Tae’s voice. I leap out of my bed and dash out of my room with a sword. Every person in the clan gets one, in case you’re wondering. I run to Gun Tae’s spot and see him chasing someone in black clothing with their face covered, like in the dramas. They exchange hits and Gun Tae follows him to the roof. I know, it sounds I’m lying, but this is real! Next time you see a drama and see them fly around, don’t question it, because it’s all real—at least in this time period it is. With a hit in the chest, Gun Tae is sent flying off the roof. I drop my sword and catch him clumsily. I then fall flat on my . The damn chains are so bulky and always gets in my way…“Damn, he got away. Thanks for catching me,” he pouts. He hops up and then helps me up since my chains are still very hard to manage. Did I ever mention that I am the only one with chains? It’s because they still don’t trust me and think that one day I’ll escape and tell people their secrets…too bad I don’t know any!

I look at the part where the assassin disappeared. I wonder what his motive was. He didn’t kill Gun Tae, so he wasn’t that bad. Maybe he was here to spy on the clan? I sigh and turn to Gun Tae who is currently staring at my outfit. “Daebak is this from your time?” he asks excitedly. I nod. “Whoa! Can I try it on one day?” It’s so cute how he gets so excited over my stuff since he’s very serious when he’s fighting. Since I’m not close to anyone, he’s the only person I talk to so I can’t be childish. I have to be manly and be his hyung. He lost his whole family when he was five so he really treats me like his older brother.

“Of course you can. Actually, want to try on some now?”

“You mean it?”

“Yeah, let’s go!” We run into my room. I help him wear one of my jeans and a t-shirt with English on it saying, “Music is Life!” “Do you like it? Is it comfortable?”

“Mm! Hyung, this clothes is way lighter and way softer than ours!”

“You want to keep it?” I smile. He’s the little brother I never had!

“Oh, no, I can’t do that. It’s yours!” he shakes his head.

“I insist! Besides, this is for all the times you stayed after and helped me during fighting practices.”

“You’re the best, hyung!” he hugs me. I pat him on the head.

“You should go to bed now,”

“I don’t want to. Hyung, do you think you can show me a dance? I really liked the one you showed me the other day!”

“Okay, okay. But afterwards, you have to go to bed.” I chuckle and take my iPod outside. “Do you want to hear what our music is like? I brought this.” I show him the iPod. His face immediately lights up. I press play and the music lightly plays. He nearly drops the device in shock.

“What in the world?” he asks in awe. “The future is so awesome!”

“Shh, everyone’s going to hear you.” I play the song “Symptoms” that the hyungs and I recorded a month before we got the audition information. We were planning to sing this song and even made a dance for it…but of course I never got the chance to…I hope my hyungs performed it well without me. Holding back my sorrow and frustration, I make the first move and my body moves with the music. I haven’t forgotten any of the lyrics or the dance in a year. I sing my parts of the song and managed to dance to the song without tripping or hitting my face with my hand chains. At the end of the song, I bow.

“Whoa, that was so cool!” he claps. “Hyung, how did I hear you here and out here at the same time?”

“There’s this place where we can record our voices, which means we can store it and replay it all the time.”

“This sounds hard!”

“It was! My voice kept cracking and I had to try really hard to sing well since my hyungs sing way better than me.”

“You mean the other two voices?”

“Mm,” I nod.

“Do you miss them?” he asks with an understanding tone.

“A lot,” I nod. “I miss them both. They were so nice to me. We shared the same dream and were about to fulfill it too…but then this happened.” I can feel myself tearing up.

“Hyung, I’m here for you, don’t forget that. Whenever you miss them or miss your time, just go cry to me. I won’t mind.”

“That’s sweet of you,” I smile.

“Because you’re so nice to me,” he replies with a grin.

“Now go to bed, we have training in the morning,” I walk him to his room and enter mine.

Suddenly, I hear “Symptoms” playing on a flute. I close my eyes and hear it for another minute and open the window. Indeed, someone outside is playing it. Was someone eavesdropping when I was talking to Gun Tae and dancing? The song ends and I hear a whipping sound, as if someone just ran really fast and their clothes are flapping in the air. How strange.

I walk outside and look around. There’s no one. “Intruder!” I hear a group of servants yell. I then see a person in full black jump up to the roof and fight a few servants. I grab my sword and ready myself for a fight. Something drops from the roof and I come toward it, picking it up. It was a flute. I look at the man who has just knocked out a few of the servants on the roof. I can hear the others’ loud footsteps, heading this way. The intruder falls off the roof and lands on the floor on his knees. Ouch. He’s clutching onto his arm that is bleeding. He faces at me. For some reason, his large eyes looked at me, almost like he was asking for help.

I know I shouldn’t do this but—“Come here, quick!” I whisper loudly and push him into my room, slamming the door shut. I take my sword, used my left arm, and slash myself on the right arm and hold it with my left arm to act like the invader hurt me. I yelp. Oh my goodness this hurts way more than I thought it would! How did the all of the protagonists in the dramas handle this?

“Taesun hyung, you’re hurt! Did the intruder attack you?” he holds onto my bleeding arm.

“Yeah, he went that way!” I pointed toward the back door.

“Let’s go!” The men run off.

“Taesun hyung, let me treat you,”

“No, it’s okay. You’re a much better fighter than the others. Go find the invader!”

“Okay, I’ll be back.” He nods and leaves. I take a deep breath and enter my room. The invader isn’t here! I look at the candle on my table and notice a piece of paper near it.

Thank you for helping me. I will surely repay you.

I reread the note a few times and sigh. This means that I have to be seeing the intruder again…“I’d rather not have you come back…” I close my window and take out the first aid kit in my book bag. Times like these are when I really miss the hospital and my umma. I clean the large cut and bandage it up. Training is going to be like Hell tomorrow…

Jonghyun’s POV~

I wonder how people back home are doing. Are they healthy? Are they mourning for me? Do they miss me? I miss them, a lot. It has been a very long year without them. I really regret not hugging them for the last time. I hope my umma is doing fine without me. She always complained that my dad is so busy with the company that she rarely sees him. She was very nervous when I told her I wanted to become an idol for that reason too…and now I bet she thinks that I’m dead or kidnapped by the mafia or something. By the way, I no longer am a prisoner. After the guy with a face covering came in and spoke to them, I became his right hand man. I started learning martial arts and now I’m progressing quickly. He explained to me that he loves messing with the monks so he took me away so they couldn’t get anything out of me. For some reason, I never questioned if he was a good person or not. I just felt like I needed to trust him and strangely enough, he felt so familiar, like I’ve seen him somewhere before…“Aish,” I hear someone grunt. “Open the door, it’s me.”

I open the door and he enters the room. Speak of the devil. “Hey, can you take out that box and clean my wound. I sort of injured myself.” He lets go of his arm and reveals a large gash. I fumble through my bag and take out my first aid kit. I quickly start cleaning his wound. “Hey, Jonghyun hyung, does anyone else know that song of yours? You know the one that you always sing?”

“What, ‘Symptoms?’” I ask. “Why?”

“Well…I heard someone singing it today. He was wearing one of the things you like wearing. What was it called again…a t-shirt?”

“What?!”

“Hey, calm down,” he hisses as I press the cotton on his wound harshly due to shock. “Is he from your hometown?”

“There’s no way. I thought I was the only one…” I sit down in awe.

“Oh please, you’re not the only one who could leave the town.”

“That’s not the point,” I bite my lip. “Do you know his name?”

“No, but I can ask.”

“Can you describe to me how he looks?”

“He was very slim, hair is medium length, skin is fair, looks like a little boy, and has chains on his arms and legs.”

“Taemin,” I say in disbelief. “There’s no way he’s here. In chains you said?”

“Yeah, he was chained up, almost like one of the labor prisoners.”

“He’s a prisoner? You have to go help him! I can’t have Taemin hurt! Where is he? I’ll go get him!”

“Hey man, calm down. You can’t go get him. He’s in Heroes’ Rebellion right now.”

“What the freak is ‘Heroes’ Rebellion?’ It sounds like a children’s book series!”

“It’s one of the well-known places to learn martial arts. It’s rumored to be a major martial realm clan though. I think it’s dangerous, you can’t go get him.”

“And why should I believe you?” I stop cleaning his wound and look at him harshly. “My dongsaeng is there as a prisoner! Do you think I can just leave him there knowing that he is probably being tortured there?”

“He’s not being tortured. He’s actually getting trained. I know because my servants tell me about the whereabouts of the main fighters in our country. Turns out, in that…let’s call it a clan shall we? In that clan, you have to be trained and the minute you turn 18-years-old, you are put into this competition and you fight for a rank. Once you get a good enough rank, you become a hero.”

“You become a hero? Are you kidding me? We have to get him out of there!”

“The only way we can do that is to let him become a good enough fighter. Once he becomes a hero, he would be able to leave and enter the clan easily.”

“But…”

“Trust me, he’ll be okay.”

“I’m just so worried. If this really is the Taemin I know, he’s already 17. He can’t beat the other people and become a warrior. He’s so weak and so kind. He can’t take it. He’s still a kid.”

“I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

“Just stop trying to comfort me. It’s not helping.” I sigh and bandage his gash up.

“What, you don’t trust me?”

“Dude, I don’t even know your name or how you look,”

“I know, but you know why you can’t,”

“Whatever. How’d you get hurt anyway?”

“I was getting some information from a clan, nothing big.”

“Don’t tell me you came to the Heroes’ Rebellion clan and that’s how you met my Taeminnie.” I look at him. “Dude, if that’s a real clan than we seriously need to get Taemin out of there! That’s equivalent to the mafia!”

“What’s a mafia?”

“You don’t know what the mafia is!? The people that point guns at people and go bang bang? Aish, why am I even explaining to you? You’ll never meet anyone from there anyway.”

“You totally confused me.”

“Just forget it! The point is that I need to reunite with Taemin ASAP!”

“ASAP?”

“As soon as possible!”

“Stop yelling at me!” he yells. “You have to trust me okay? Taemin will be okay.”

“You swear?”

“My words should suffice.” He nods and gets up. “You should go get some sleep.” He leaves the room. Taemin-ah, please be okay.

Taemin’s POV~

I am totally not okay! Training was so bad today. They made us stand with our arms spread on one leg for three hours each leg and my damn heavy chains didn’t make it any easier! Not to mention I have a cut on my arm…Damn my good heart, why did I have to help that guy yesterday? At least I got off of duty today. Gun Tae felt bad for me and let me go rest early. I am so exhausted! I close my eyes and immediately fall into dreamland. My eyes shoot open as I feel a cold blade press against my neck. “Scream for help and my blade will drink your blood. Get up, now.” I slowly sit up and get off my bed carefully. Why does this person look so familiar? I bite my lip and back up as he moves the blade away from my neck.

“What do you want?” I ask wearingly.

“I want you to fight me. Get your blade and come outside.” The man in black clothing walks out of my room. Am I going to die tonight? I grab the blade provided by the clan and step out of my room carefully. Where is he?

My face nearly got cut off. Luckily I learned a few things in training and boosted my reflexes. I swing my sword at the man and he swiftly blocks it. He spins his blade around mine and manages to get near me. He elbows my chest and kicks me. Usually, I would be able to dodge, but my chains got in my way. I tumble on the floor and scrape my left hip. Ouch. “Get up. If this was a real battle, you would have died.” His voice does sound familiar. It’s like one of the voices from my past life. It can’t be—“Get up!” he yells. I clumsily pick up my sword and stand up.

The cycle repeats for the rest of the night. He would attack me, I would try to block him, he would find a different way to block me, I would fall, and he would scold me. Each time, I would try a new move and learn another from him. But I still don’t know what this person’s motive is. The sun slowly rises and the rooster in the back crow, signaling the trainers to wake up. Without a warning, the man jumps over the side wall and leaves. Who are you?

Key’s POV~

It’s been a year since His Majesty sent me to join a clan. Annoyingly, I cannot find a good enough clan! I am not going to dress up as a girl and join the martial arts clan with the nuns nor am I going to join the temple clan, although I would love to be around Minho more, and I most certainly not am going to become a beggar and join that clan! I think my only choice is that stupid Heroes’ Rebellion Clan. Seriously, who’s going to disguise themselves as a martial arts school without being questioned!? Not to mention how difficult it is to watch the princess. She’s like a little sister to me and I love her dearly, but damn, she makes life so hard my escaping the palace! Naeun is so gentle and cute, but her curious and wild side always sneaks out every now and then…

“Hey guys.” I wave at Jinki hyung and Chang Sun hyung. Ever since hyung was brought back to the palace, the royal warriors have been happier and, well, more human. Yes, I mean it. I’m not supposed to remember or even think about this, but they’re not human! All of the king’s fighters are monsters! And I don’t mean monsters as in they are awesome at fighting; I mean they are actual monsters. I know that sounds ludicrous, but everything I say, or in this case think, are true. I was the one who recruited them, so I know. Naeun is one of them too. Well, she’s a different case. Her mother, our queen, is a gumiho. In other words, the mother of our country is a nine-tailed-fox. She fell in love with the king and drank this potion that took away her abilities. Therefore, Naeun is only partially gumiho, so she doesn’t feast on humans or anything like that. The only thing is, she can turn into a fox at will and is a hell of a good fighter. She’s very weak looking, yes, but she’s not.

The fighters are all monsters. And unlike Naeun, they are monsters that have been eating veggies and doing good deeds, so they have lives for over 1000 years, letting them become humans. In other words, they are animals that live peacefully and can transform into humans. They have unbelievable fighting skills and are very loyal. They’re not the only ones out there either. Not all of their kind is nice either; most of them hate humans and are evil. There are two ways to earn a human form, either by being good or eating good, as in kill every human in sight.

Ever since Jinki hyung came, he has made them seem even more kind, which is scary if you ask me. He wants me to call him Onew hyung and Chang Sun hyung even made me call him Joon hyung instead. Now, they all call me Key. It use to only be what Minho did, but now, I guess it became a trend. Onew said it’s actually a foreign name. I have no idea how he knows that and how Minho knows a foreign language good enough to give me that name. I have to ask him next time I see him…

“Why’d you ask me to come by?” I ask the two.

“His Majesty noticed that you haven’t found a designated clan so he asked us to help you,” Joon hyung says.

“Also, His Majesty wants me to come with you on the mission, hoping that we can get more progress, no offense,” Onew hyung adds.

“I get it. I get it.” I click my tongue. “So, what are you planning to do? Stalk me and report everything to the king?”

“Calm down Key, it’s not like I asked for this. I’d rather stay with Joon any day.”

“I know, I know. Hey, Joon hyung, won’t you be lonely without him though? Onew hyung has been with you 24/7 for the past year. If I didn’t know better, I’d think that you two are lovers.” I joke. Strangely, none of them laughed, but gave an uncomfortable look. No way…they can’t be, right? “Eh hem,” I clear my throat. “I’m going to go meet up with Minho and see how he’s doing before we join the clan, do you mind?”

“I don’t, actually, I was going to ask you to bring me to him.”

“Wae?” I look at Onew hyung suspiciously.

“I use to know someone that sounds exactly like him. I just wanted to see him, that’s all.” Onew hyung smiles.

“Arraso, I’ll bring you to the temple and meet him. Maybe we can get him to join the clan too. Like you said, maybe we can get more progress.”

Taemin’s POV~

Ever since that day, the man in black clothing would return and fight with me. I don’t know why, but I have a feeling that he is trying to train me and teach me how to fight. Each time he comes, I would get better and demonstrate the moves he used against me the day before. I have to admit, he’s actually teaching me more than any training the clan provides.

“Taesun hyung, pali, they’re going to leave without us!” Gun Tae drags me out of my room. Today, like the end of every month, the heroes are going to lead the soon-to-be-heroes up to the mountains for hard core training. Each person would be given a number and go with a partner in search of a rare herb. This is both good for training and collecting medicines for the clan. “Hyung, we’re partners! Daebak!” Gun Tae cheers.

“What’s the herb?” I ask.

“It’s Moon Grass…whatever that is. Here’s a drawing.” He shows me a painting of a skinny herb that has three leaves. The description says that it grows at the end of cliffs in the East. At night, when the light hits the dewdrops on the leaves, it reflects a silver gleam, hence the name Moon Grass. During the day, it is a black color, and its leaves are no longer waxy, but brittle. If picked incorrectly, it will rip before the climber can get it safely from the edge of the cliff. Something tells me this is not going to end well…

“All partners must work together and get the herb. Remember, you can only use your martial arts and cannot find someone else to help you. The last two that comes back will be punished with no dinner. Go.” The hero commands. If I am not mistaking, this hero is in the third rank amongst the top fighters of the clan.

“Hyung, I think we’re lost…” Gun Tae grips onto my sleeve.

“I think so too…” I sigh. The sun is nowhere to be seen and the moon is shining brightly, as if it’s shining a path for us. “On the bright side, the herb will be seen easier!” I nod enthusiastically, hoping he’ll get less scared. He’s still a kid after all. We keep moving up higher and higher. We won’t reach the top of the mountain will we? The cooler part is that we are simply walking and not climbing. It’s like the mountain was carved so people can walk up it…

“Are you two lost?” I hear a voice and look up. Above us is a male who looks like—

“Heechul hyung…”

Once again a boring chapter. Sorry, nothing good will happen until SHINee reunites!

Comments are loved~ <3