~Chapter 42~

One Disguise After Another

Taemin’s POV~

             I sigh as I lay in bed, thinking back about my visit to the dragon cave. He knew nothing about the Peacekeepers’ lair. The only thing I got out of the trip was fun time with the baby dragons. Key hyung seemed to enjoy his time there as well, but like I said, we got no useful information. My master told me that my new friends can help me, but if he didn’t mean the dragons, who did he mean?

             I sigh to myself again and take a stroll. I shake my head as I see Key hyung silently standing outside Jonghyun hyung’s room, still too guilty to enter. He sees me and pouts as he slowly lowers his head in shame. I look at him and raise an eyebrow, almost like I said “really?” with my eyes. He looks down and shrugs. I walk over and stand next to him. “So…you planning to stand out here all night?” I whisper.

             “Possibly,” he smiles awkwardly. “You?”

             “Well I’m definitely not going to waste my precious time like this~ I’m going to do some more research on my own.”

             “Okay, wish you the best of luck,” he says and pats my shoulder. I place my hand on him slouched shoulders as well and give him an eye-smile.

             “You too, with guarding the room~” I chuckle and skip away. Key hyung sure is cute when he’s ashamed and trying to be obedient. It’s so fun to pick on him. If it wasn’t for Jonghyun hyung resting inside, I would’ve bothered him some more.

             Who else did I befriend during the battle? I think to myself as I walk around the palace. The only people I interacted with that day was the crown prince, Jimin, and Baekhyun hyung besides the dragons. My master doesn’t mean to say that they can help me, right? Minho hyung left with the Peacekeepers while the dark clans were attacking us during the banquet, meaning Minho hyung can be seen as a victim of the battle, or a traitor. If I were to go to the crown prince, would he start to think that the heroes are all conspiring to betray the royal family? An idea clicks in my head and I smile to myself mischievously. If I go as the White Masked Hero, they might react poorly, but they owe Taemin their lives. Since Taemin hasn’t seen Minho since he was ‘dead,’ it makes a lot of sense if he misses him and wants to pay him a visit. I tell myself the plan.

             I quickly change places with Gun Tae and cover my face with a matching black cloth to blend into the night. Key hyung and Onew hyung are with Jonghyun hyung. Joon hyung, Mir hyung, and Thunder hyung are on rounds, but they won’t come near the crown prince’s hall any time soon. I check my surroundings once more and get myself on the roof. With steady and quick steps, I make my way to the crown prince’s hall.

             An arrow nearly grazes my face, but I quickly bend over, dodging it. A few more arrows shoot at me and I jump around, swiftly avoiding them. Normal palace guards wouldn’t notice me. Who in the world spotted me so quickly!? Crap, they’re going to shoot me down.. I look to see where the arrows are coming from and I immediately jump down toward the archer. It’s Jimin! Before I get to introduce myself, he unsheathes his sword and nearly chops my head off! I kick up and direct his arm to the other side and make a quick spin, avoiding another attack. I try to pull off my face covering, but his moves are much too quick. “Hey—” dodge. “it’s—” jump. “me—” spin. “Would you calm down, it’s me!” I rush my words out as I flip away from him multiple times. I make a sharp inhale and hold my breath in shock as his blade luckily stops right before it slices my neck. “Kiddo, would you watch it? I like my head connected to my body, thank you very much.” I place two fingers on the hilt of his sword and try push it away from me. Jimin does not back up. “I was clearly not trying to fight you. If I knew you were going to be so brutal, I would’ve just locked your acupoints,” I huff. His sharp eyes waver and his expression softens as he realizes who I am.

             “Taemin hyung!” he gleefully exclaims and sheathes his sword.

             “In the flesh~” I exhale with relief and unveil my face. “Is this how you welcome your savior? Just because I told you not to call me that, doesn’t mean you can kill me so easily,” I tsk.

             “I’m sorry,” he quickly bows down apologetically. “All the heroes aren’t here to guard the crown prince tonight, so I was just making sure to get rid of the intruder before true danger hits. I didn’t think you would casually show up.”

             “Let me think,” I tap on my temple a few times as I circle him. “How should I punish you for your treatment towards me?” I . “You shot at me a dozen times, nearly beheaded me twice, and almost hurt me in other ways…”

             “If punishing me would please you, then I will lead you to the torturing room and—”

             “Woah, woah, woah, hold up,” I raise my hands up and stop him. “I get to choose…” I nod, as if I finally decided on what to do. I place my hand on his shoulder and look at him straight in the eyes, acting as serious as possible. “Pay me back with your body.” His eyes widen as I declare his punishment, similarly to a deer in headlights. His face is extremely serious, yet his puff cheeks and wide eyes make him look adorable. I break into a laughing fit and his expression is more and more shocked, making me laugh even harder. He’s much too serious, yet his face is making him look too cute. It’s almost like no one has ever before.

             I choke as I realized what my ‘pay me back with your body,’ sounds like it’s suggesting. Oh my gosh that sounds way too u— I meant to work for me not give me— Ahhh no wonder why he was so shocked! “I was just teasing you, Jimin-ah. You don’t have to be my actual slave, hehe,” I quickly explain myself, so he doesn’t think I want to do anything scandalous with him. I was trying to and tell him to be my servant, yet I made it sound way too ual. “Where’s Minho hyung,” I blurt out, quickly changing the subject so he doesn’t think any further into my joke. He blinks a few times and his expression quickly darkens. “I haven’t seen him for a few years, so I wanted to see him. I heard the heroes were staying at the crown prince’s hall, so I came here,” I lie. I obviously know where he is, but I need to act as innocent as possible so Jimin doesn’t question me.

             “Unfortunately, your trip here is in vain…Minho hyung was taken away by the Peacekeepers during the battle,” Jimin says carefully, almost like he’s afraid the news will be too much for me to handle.” Since I already know about this, my reaction isn’t too genuine, but the pain and surprise are all too clear on my face. “Taehyung doesn’t dare to take any action because His Majesty has already deemed Minho hyung a traitor,” he explains. That’s why the crown prince hasn’t sent any of us to search for him. If he does anything, that would be like he is going against the king’s orders. “We owe you our lives, so I am willing to help you. As long as I confess that this was all my idea, His Highness will not be blamed even if His Majesty were to find out.”

             “Wait, you know where the Peacekeepers are?”

             “No, but I know how to find out,” Jimin says confidently. So, my master did mean Jimin when he mentioned my ‘new friends.’ “I can find out their location and get Minho hyung back for you.” I can’t possibly let Jimin take all the blame or risk his life just to help me. It wouldn’t be right. I quickly offer my help and he eventually agrees.

             I make my way back to my room and switch back with Gun Tae before anyone spots me. Tomorrow, Jimin and I will meet up at an inn and go to the secret floor in a Monster Arena’. Besides regular villagers that place bets on the fighters, officials’ sons and prominent clan members spend their leisure time there— almost like how we watch TV in our modern times. I remember Minho hyung found out about that place before we all moved into the palace, but he only quickly mentioned it in one of our conversations a while ago (A/N: I don’t write every conversation or interaction all the characters have if it’s not too important, so don’t worry about looking for the exact conversation in the earlier chapters since it wasn’t actually written. If you haven’t noticed already, like most stories/dramas, the chapters aren’t always a day by day time-lapse, but skips times and dates, so it only has the more important interactions of their lives). Strangely enough, Jimin explained to me that I need to dress as a woman to join him. Clearly, nothing comes without a price.

             I wave at Jimin as he meets me at the inn. He passes me an extravagant silk hanbok that is red and black in color. Its top jeogori was embroidered with flowers and the skirt had some as well. He passes me a jeonmo (A/N: it’s the ‘hats’ that you see in dramas where a gisaeng usually wears on the side of their head when they’re in the streets) and I quickly dress myself. A woman then enters and does my hair after applying some makeup to my face. Wait, doesn’t cosmetics in the past have lead in it!? Oh my gosh I’m practically being poisoned…luckily, I’m immune, or else this would really . The woman gets paid a heap of money and promises to keep this a secret. Jimin finally enters and his eyes light up as he looks at me from head to toe. I blush due to embarrassment.

             Jimin holds back a smile and quickly puts on his serious face. He leads me to the Monster Arena through the side entrance where the richer and powerful clan members enter from. “Don’t forget to put on your masks before you enter,” a worker says and passes us two that matches the others inside. I shoot Jimin a glare who snickers back as he puts on his mask. I hold onto his arm and pull him close enough, so I can whisper in his ear.

             “You’re getting me back for teasing you yesterday!”

             “Hey, you’re the one that said you wanted to come along~” he chuckles. Just so you wait, Jimin. I’m going to tease you as much as I can in the future.

             “Identification card,” a guard stops us before we enter the secret level. Jimin quickly explains that we are foreigners and wish to get a catch of some entertainment before we sailed back to our country. He passes the guard a good sum of money, but the guard quickly warns us. Although we may be able to get up to that level, staying there to watch depends on the people already there, as they had more power and money. We thank him nonetheless and ascend the stairs. The upper level sure is different from the bottom area where the regular villagers are standing. There are luxurious tables and seats and there is money scattered everywhere do to constant bets being made. Cups upon cups of liquor are being poured by masked gisaengs and given to the young masters and clan members who happily downs them.

             As we step onto the floor, all eyes dart to us while cups quickly get put down. I stick out two of my fingers, ready to lock each and every one of their acupoints, but Jimin places a hand on my shoulder. He acts as if he is leaning in to kiss me, but he simply whispers in my ear, “We can’t alarm the officials. Let’s just get their approval and get what we came here for.” I sigh, but quickly act as if I am shy as he pulls away, pretending that he really did just kiss me. Jimin swiftly explains our made-up backgrounds and the men seem to not be too suspicious.

             “Fine,” one of them says, his words slurred. “If you want to stay here, tell her to entertain us a bit.”

             “This woman of mine isn’t too good with pouring drinks,” Jimin tries to explain, but they dismiss him.

             “Can she sing? Play instruments? Dance?” one shouts.

             “You gotta give us something, or simply drop all your belonging and leave,” another one sneers. Jimin tries to talk again, but I simply gesture for the music to start. The women on the side with the instruments work in harmony and play a slow yet seductive piece. I yank a tablecloth made of flowy material off the table without making any of the cups and bottles fall over. With just that, they are already cheering. I turn around and remove my mask, while facing away from them. I flutter the cloth gently and before any of them can see my unmasked face as I turn around to face them, I cover it up with the cloth. Following the music, I spin and dance around while only revealing bits of my face at once, teasing them. (A/N: have you seen “엔(N) - 인연 Performance Video!?” His dance influenced this scene since he is also wearing ancient clothing and using clothes to cover up faces in the dance. Search up “N Performance Video” on Youtube and you can watch it yourself~).

             I glance over to Jimin who is secretly shooting me a nod of approval. I gesture for them to speed up a bit and I follow the music with just the calm movement of my body and swing my leg in the air (A/N: eh hem, this is clearly a “Move” reference hehe). The men roar as the cloth on my leg slides down— purposely of course—and reveals the smooth back of my leg. I would’ve been a Korean pop idol if it wasn’t for my time traveling. Of course, I know how to entertain and tease people with my dancing. I flaunt to myself. As the music comes to an end, I throw the cloth up, spin around many circles, and as the cloth passes my face, I quickly put the mask in front, never truly letting them see it entirely unmasked. The young masters and martial realm members were clearly pleased with my performance and Jimin places a hand on my shoulder possessively to gesture for them to back up before approaching me. We both exchange a few snickers and avert our attention to the fighting ring. 

             After watching a few fighters go against their monsters, I can get a sense of how this place works. The arena is filled with cheers, screams, and loud banging. The crowd doesn’t stay still and never ceases their ruckus. I myself get immerse in the duels and can’t help but cheer myself as I watch. The next fighter gets in the ring and I can’t help but feel a familiarity to him. It’s almost like my body can sense that I know this person. I put aside the strange feeling and allow myself to enjoy the fight. With a few entertaining moves, the fighter shoves his hand through the monster and rips out its bead. “Bead Thief! Bead Thief!” the crowd chants.

             The host quickly announces for the crowd to make their final bids on who will win the final battle against the two top fights and a powerful monster. The masked young masters and different clan members exclaim that betting at this point is simply too boring as they can clearly guess that the Bead Thief will win the final round. “How about we make this a bit more entertaining,” Jimin offers. “I’ll bet all my money on the Bead Thief losing in exchange for some information.” He opens up a huge bag and reveal to them the huge sum.

             “How about you bet all your belongings instead~” a man coos while eyeing me. I feel a shiver run down my spine. No, bro, eww. Even with his face masked, I can just feel the creepiness manifest from him.

             “Deal,” Jimin agrees and I quickly curse at him in my head.

             The Bead Thief waves at the crowd as he re-enters the ring along the other fighter. I overhear the people conversing about how it was the first time the other fighter made it to the last round despite years of participating. The Bead Thief has entered the final round every time he participated and never suffered a defeat. Jimin looks at me and shrugs, acting like this is no big deal. Sure, I want information, but I’m not trying to give my body away. Minho hyung and I haven’t even kissed!

             I can’t believe Jimin just gave me away like this. The Bead Thief is known to never lose so I obviously will be leaving with one of these men later tonight. As this level is filled with young masters and masked clan members, I have no idea how many I can take down alone in this tight disguise…Jimin, I swear I’m going to beat you up after this!

             I am internally screaming right now. The duel is starting, and the other fighter is literally clumsily running away from the monster as it is attacking. He even tripped over his own foot and was nearly crushed! God, I know I haven’t prayed to you much lately and I am a terrible kid, but please, please, PLEASE, let the lousy fighter win. I don’t want to be taken away and molested. I pray with all my might. The Bead Thief is clearly playing with his opponents right now. Instead of doing his signature move and tearing out the bead, he is jumping around ripping the monster’s horns off its head while the monster tries to eat him. The other fighter is just struggling in his own little area in the ring. I kind of want the fight to end quickly as this is getting pathetic, but I clearly want the lame fighter to win instead. This is just so sad. I look over and see Jimin munching on some snacks and drinking some liquor. I fight the urge to throw my shoe at him. I’m here praying and sweating away at the thought of giving my body away to these men and he is just chilling!?

             I hear a unified gasp from the viewers and turn my attention back to the ring and see that the Bead Thief has dug his hand through the monster. I hold my breath as I feel my impending doom, but nothing happens. Literally, nothing happens. Did the Bead Thief just miss? The monster is outranged as the Bead Thief refuses to pull out his hand. It’s almost like the Bead Thief is purposefully holding the monster in place…Wait, the horn. Oh my gosh, you idiot, grab the horn and stab the monster! I shout internally. As if God is finally answering my prayers, the weak fighter plunges the horn into the monster and with a screech, the monster dies. H-he won. Oh, my goodness. THANK YOU, GOD, HE WON!!!!!

             The fighter starts sobbing as he realized he just won and the Bead Thief waves and walks toward…Baekhyun hyung?! I exchange eye contact with Jimin who doesn’t look all that surprised. Wait…that Bead Thief guy looks familiar…I look at how the masked Baekhyun hyung— who easily gave his identity away by holding his book and brush to an arena might I add— is gently supported by the Bead Thief through the crowd and I shake my head in utter surprise. My blood was boiling as I realized that Jimin, Baekhyun hyung, and Kai planned this all along, but my rage halts as I realize something. No wonder Minho hyung was concerned after seeing this so-called ‘Bead Thief’ last time he came here alone. It was Kai who’s taking the monster beads away!

             When we used to hunt monsters together as a team, Kai used to stick to his own side while the others pair up. Was he taking the monster beads back then as well? My heart sinks as I recall the time I met Jiyeon— the monster in human form that ended up drugging my clan and basically ended my life— and her crew. That time, Heechul hyung greeted me and after talking to his master, I found out that I didn’t have much time to live and Kai’s life was also diminishing. After spending a long hiatus monster hunting and healing in the mountain, I returned to the clan and Kai never showed any symptoms of him dying. I thought that he was doing much better and the threat of him dying was just a false alarm. Don’t tell me the only reason he hasn’t showed any obvious traits of dying because he’s been harnessing monster beads. What are the consequences of stealing beads? Will he be able to extend his life this way or get his bead back? Why?! Why didn’t I catch on?! Don’t tell me Baekhyun hyung knows yet I don’t. Kai and I are so close…why did he hide this from me?

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