~Chapter 45~

A Month’s Time

Minho’s POV~

             Within three months, I have already mastered the Peacekeepers’ skills. Their spells, monster-taming music, and even fighting formations, I’ve learned them all. Although I was spectacle at first, they have never hidden any techniques or altered anything as they taught me. Every day they would feed me, make sure I get enough sleep, teach me a whole bunch, and then talk to me about things they’ve experienced over the years. I have yet to meet their “hyungnim,” but they claim that I will meet them as soon as I mastered their techniques. I know that they want to use me, so the best I can do is to heed to their wishes, so I can quickly find out what they have in store for me and my friends. Although it is hard to admit, my heart has softened for them. The thought of Peacekeepers no longer sends chills down my spine or make me sick with anger. Now, I can only think about all the gentle words they say to me, all the kind things they’ve done for me, and I sometimes even forget that they are the ones that made me in this state in the first place. I have no real home, no real family to turn to, and I even abandoned my friends. It’s all an act, I tell myself. They want to win over your heart, so they can use you. Don’t you confuse their manipulative nature for actual love for you.

             The Peacekeepers made me feel like their sect is my home and showered me with love, but I can’t help but miss my friends. When I target practiced, I can’t help but remember Onew hyung and his Black Crescent shooting down all the monsters in his path. While I play my flute, I remember Taemin’s beautiful smile and warm, innocent eyes. As I see the Peacekeepers bicker and fool around, I continue to think about Jonghyun hyung and Key hyung’s interactions. When I practice my martial arts, I remember my great teamwork with the White Masked Hero. As I fight off different monsters, I can’t help but remember the times my friends and I hunted side by side. When I feel lonely here, I think back at the White Masked Hero’s and Taemin’s warm words, their loving eyes, and comforting nature.

             As I continue to miss my friends, I can see more and more why I was so close to the White Masked Hero. There is no denying that he and Taemin share some qualities. Even their mannerisms are similar! Who are you kidding, Choi Minho? Just because you miss Taemin, don’t just force connections between him and the White Masked Hero. The White Masked Hero is a great person. I would do him wrong by just comparing him to Taemin. He’s very patient with me and seems to have so much on his mind. No matter what mood I am in, he would support me and care for me. Although he whines a bit more that Taemin did, but he is very playful and pure, just like Taemin. Ah, Choi Minho, here you are comparing the two again! I mentally slap myself. Wait, why am I thinking about this now? I should be focuses on what I’m planning to ask the leader of the Peacekeepers! I remind myself as I wait in my room. The Peacekeepers have gone to meet their leader to figure out what they should do next with me.

             I twirl the flute around in my hand and notice all the scratches and dents thanks to my years of combat. Music. It can be a great tool to express one’s emotions and influences others by the thoughts it provokes, yet the Peacekeepers use something so beautiful to send their enemies to a bitter death. ‘Take it as your last gift to them,’ they would tell me. I wonder what song will be my last…

             Knock. Knock. I turn my body and face the door as a Peacekeeper enters with someone behind them. Before I could even ask who it was, I drop my flute, my breath hitches, and I sprint toward him. Taemin. I embrace him tightly, almost like letting out all of my guilt and frustration over his absence all this time. He just remains still and does not return the embrace. I pull back and notice that he is the same height as I remember. His hair is still light and silky and his face is still glowing. I take my shaking hand and place it on his cheek, feeling its soft, plump texture against my thumb. It’s been so long…yet he hasn’t event changed. I look into his beautiful eyes and hope to get some reaction, some signal from him that he was happy to see me as well. But his eyes only reflect emptiness. “Taemin-ah,” I whisper with a hint of desperation in my voice. Please, say something back.

             “Yes, master?” Taemin’s gentle, sweet voice greets me, yet it makes me feel empty inside…almost like his eyes.

             “M-master?” I repeat him, flabbergasted. 

             “I told you many times that you need to greet him as ‘Minho,’” the Peacekeeper says. “He doesn’t listen to outsiders well. He needs your approval.”

             “Call me ‘Minho hyung,’” I say shamelessly. I know Taemin is not who he once was, yet I can’t help but accept this pitiful reality. All that matters is that he’s back. Enjoy it.

Kai’s POV~

            Baekhyun hyung knocks on my door and enters along with loads of different dishes. I look at him as he happily places them onto my table. “Why so many today?” I ask as I also give him a hand.

            “Because I’m in a good mood~” Baekhyun hyung shakes his head side to side in a childish manner. I smile to myself and pass him a pair of chopsticks.

            “Not going to tell me why?”

            “Because~” Baekhyun hyung smiles from ear to ear as he waves his chopsticks around. This is the first time I’ve seen his this giddy and excited. He picks up a few fried dumplings and places it on my plate. “Remember how I told you every spring His Majesty would send Taehyung to examine the lives of the civilians?” I nod as I shove one of the dumplings into my mouth. “Well, this time, His Majesty is leading the trip!” Baekhyun hyung’s voice is super high and he even ends his sentence with a light squeal.

            “I still don’t see why you are so happy…” I say between bites.

            “Because this means us youngsters can do whatever we want! Usually it’s just Taehyung, Jimin, and I along with some soldiers so it’s strictly business. This time, since His Majesty is leading, he is granting us leisure time! That means we can do whatever we want! This is the first year I get to go on a long trip with you and we get a free day to ourselves, so how can I not be extremely excited!?”

            “You know, if you told me, I can sneak you out of the palace any time. Besides, don’t you usually go in and out of the palace to get information for the crown prince anyway? What’s so special? Besides, why is His Majesty coming? The battle with the dark clans wasn’t too long ago. He wants to casually go on a trip with us? Come on.”

            “I’m sure His Majesty has his reasons. And I’m excited because we are going to be very far from the capital. It’s not just a few hours or just a day’s trip. Also, we are going to pass by a village not too far from a notorious monster den. I want to take you there, so you can get as many monster beads as you can.” I nearly drop my dumpling. So, this is why he is so excited…it’s because of me after all…I haven’t told him that I shouldn’t harness as many monster beads since it might lead me into a dark path, but I can’t bother him with finding a celestial being for me. I know he would surpass all boundaries and find one for me if I told him. I look down as I stuff the dumpling into my mouth and chew slowly. Baekhyun hyung continues to bounce on his seat as I feel myself getting more and more awkward. Even when he is granted free time on a trip with the emperor, instead of thinking of nice places to eat or cool attractions, he decides to go to a monster den for me to hunt. The reason why his mood has been so down because he doesn’t like it when I risk my life and now his mood is lifted because he can help me get more temporary fixes…I suddenly feel full and put down my chopsticks.

Taemin’s POV~

            “Hello~” I greet as I jump off the roof. “You called me?” Earlier, I heard the whistle I gave to Jimin and made my way here. Of course, I had to come a bit slowly since he can’t know how close to him I actually am.

            “After not hearing from you for months, I wanted to know how you are doing? Did you get to visit Minho hyung?” In all honesty, the location of the Peacekeeper’s lair is much too far, and I can’t risk having Gun Tae pretend to be me for that long. Also, I have been trying to gather beads for Kai and searching around for powerful monsters that can possibly share a bead with him, so I have been occupied. As much as I want to visit Minho hyung, I simply cannot just casually march to their hideout and demand Minho hyung now can I?

            “I’ve been handling some private matters and never made a trip to the lair. Sorry I had you help me and not use the information properly…”

            “No worries, hyung,” Jimin politely smiles. “I am actually glad you haven’t gone yet.” He pulls out a rolled-up map from his lapel and shows it to me. “His Majesty is going to lead a trip for us to examine the lives of our citizens next month. If you notice here,” he points at a spot on the map that has a bunch of triangles drawn on it. Uhh...are those mountains or something? “One of our rest stops is not too far from the Peacekeeper’s lair, maybe a few hours at most.” Jimin then pauses and folds up his map slowly, tucking it back inside his chest lapel. He puffs his cheek and avoids looking at me in the eyes for a while. “His Majesty is allowing us to have a free day to ourselves and I was wondering if you would do me the honor and allow me to you to meet Minho hyung?” Oh…I didn’t expect that. Jimin-ah, even if you didn’t ask me, I’ll already be going on that trip with you. I was actually planning to visit Minho hyung then too…Before I can even reply, he quickly blurts out, “But, by all means, I don’t mean to intrude. I know you denied me last time, but I honestly think you should not go somewhere like the Peacekeepers’ lair alone.” Why does he seem so nervous? Well, I guess I was a bit upset last time; maybe he’s worried about that?

The thing is, if I agree with him, that means I’ll need to have Gun Tae pretend to be me on the trip and then I have to disguise as myself and sneak around, so the others can’t find me and then head to see Minho hyung? I was planning to just visit him as the White Masked Hero to save myself the trouble of being exposed. How can I deny him without sounding mean? Seeing Jimin nervously looking at the floor and patiently waiting for my reply, I can’t help but feel a bit guilty. To refuse or to not refuse…

Taehyung’s POV~

            Jimin enters my room and quickly closes the door behind him. He rushes in and pours himself a cup of tea. Not even checking its temperature or cooling off the tea, he downs a few cups. The tea was just brought in, so it must be scalding hot. What is up with him tonight? After a few minutes, he composes himself and quickly bows as he finally notices my presence. Never has he been so careless. His face is flustered, and he nearly trips over the leg of the table. “Something on your mind?” I finally as him.

He quickly shakes his head and mutters, “here to practice a bit,” and pulls out his sword. Not even a few minutes after Jimin starts his sword practice, Baekhyun hyung walks straight into my room and starts writing away in his book. Does he not have a room? Why is he here to do work? “Hyung?”

            “Don’t mind me,” he says and continues using his brush. But this is my room and I’m about to head to bed. Why did you two come in and bother me?! I look at my brother and guard and notice that the two of them seem to be very focused on their task. If I’m not wrong, they must’ve came here for company. I sigh in defeat and tuck myself into bed, ignoring the vicious sword tearing through the air and strong smell of ink.

Key’s POV~

I rush over to His Majesty’s quarters and was let in without a moment of hesitation. The eunuchs knew I was called and with the king’s temperament— the slower I arrive, the more his mood will darken. I quickly show my respects and he waves his hand and gestures for me to get up. His aged face is calm and nearly emotionless, but behind the veil of his demeanor holds a darkness one cannot easily detect. “Have you spread the news in the martial realm that I will be leading this trip?”

            “All of the clans are well informed.”

            “Perfect. You are dismissed.”

            Jonghyun hyung looks at me curiously but does not ask a thing. He knows that I am not allowed to speak about my conversations with the emperor. He just continues to sit next to me and enjoy the light breeze. I just can’t help but to be in deep thought. Usually, His Majesty only assigns me to spy on people or kill for him, not once has he assigned me to spread information. He clearly has something planned for his upcoming trip, but he hasn’t told me anything. Unlike past years, he is leading the trip and is bringing along so many heroes and soldiers. What could he be planning?

            I unravel the map and examine the labeled path. I trace the line with my hand and picture each location in my head. Several of our rest stops are near monster dens or places that is known to have frequent monster attacks. Although we supplied some villagers with monster-hunting manuals and weapons, the monsters are hard to suppress due to the mass population of them. Even so, his majesty never ordered us to go suppress them. Now that we are going on an expedition, he is targeting these locations. Does he wish to see us exterminate monsters himself? If so, why didn’t he tell us to prepare for it? My friends and I are experienced in monster-hunting, but the regular soldiers only encountered them a few times. If we were to be attacked by monsters, would we be able to keep His Majesty and the Crown Prince safe?

            Jonghyun hyung must have felt that something was off. He wraps his arm around my shoulder and starts humming a song. He then turns me so my back faces him and starts massaging me. “Don’t be so tense,” he says. “As long as we work hard and have a good heart, things will work out.” Despite not knowing what I was thinking, his words give me comfort. “I love it best when you are carefree and happy. When you start stressing out, even I feel down too,” he says as he continues rubbing my tense shoulders. “If you want, on the day off, let’s go shopping and buy some local goods. You need to spend a day not thinking about anything stressful.”

            “Well, you aren’t from our time period. Anything you want to check out?”

            “Honestly, I never thought about time traveling. I saw recreations of the past through dramas and documentaries.”

            “Nothing you want to see or try?”

            “Not really,” he says. “Let’s just do what you want.”

            “Very well then,” I nod. “Say, what would you have wanted to do if you weren’t stuck in the palace or working with Heroes’ Rebellion?”

            “Well…what would you be doing?” he asks.

            “I’m asking you, though. Why does it matter what I’ll be?”

            “Because wherever you go, I go,” he nonchalantly says. My heart slightly flutters, and I straighten my back. “Relax~” he says and pats me. “Was that too cheesy for you? I’ll refrain from saying things like that then.”

            “No…it’s okay,” I mutter under my breath. I hear him slightly chuckle and he reaches his hand to my cheek and lightly nudges it.

            “Our Kibummie is so cute when he’s shy.”

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