~Chapter 47~

Confrontation

Taemin’s POV~

            “What’s with the long face?” I ask Jimin who is currently sulking against a tree.

            “Nothing,” he says with a long exhale.

            “Hmm is that so?” I ask. I hope he isn’t upset because I, as Taemin, rejected to go with him to see Minho hyung. It would’ve been too much work to switch back and forth between Taemin and the White Masked Hero, so I had to reject him, but I know he offered because he was being nice. I pull out a letter from my lapel and wave it in front of Jimin. “I guess I’ll just throw away his letter then~” I turn around and Jimin quickly stands up straight.

            “U-uh wait,” Jimin quickly blurts out and faces me. “He wrote a letter for me?” Funny how I just said ‘he,’ but Jimin clearly concluded that it was Taemin that sent him the letter.

            “Would I ever lie to you? So, what do you want me to do with this letter?” Jimin slowly reaches both his hands out. I smile to myself and place the letter in his hands. “Read it.” Jimin looks at his name on the envelope for a while, almost like he still isn’t sure the letter is really his. He finally flips it over and carefully pulls out the letter. As he reads the letter, the more his face brightens up. I’m glad I thought about writing an apology letter to him. He’s very kind and I didn’t want to make him feel like Taemin doesn’t like him or doesn’t trust him enough. The letter basically tells him that Taemin was called back by his master for some extra training and a special mission, so he wasn’t able to go one the trip and he will soon visit him after the lessen and mission is over. When he asked me before, I wasn’t able to think of an excuse, so I didn’t tell him anything. Luckily the letter is making him feel better.

            “Thank you, White Masked Hero,” Jimin smiles and tucks the letter away after folding it neatly.

            “You feel better now?” Jimin looks at me shyly and slightly nods his head.

            “I-I better go. Taehyung might be uncomfortable traveling such a long distance.” Jimin bows and leaves.

            “Hey…” Onew hyung says and steps out from behind a tree. I felt someone’s presence earlier, but I didn’t let it bother me because we have a huge party with us. My heart jumps a bit as I realize that Onew hyung might have witnessed me giving Jimin the letter. It’s okay, Taemin-ah, you never said ‘Taemin’ during the conversation, I tell myself. You never gave your identity away.

            “Hello, hyung, where’s Joon hyung?”

            “He’s with His Majesty,” Onew hyung says. “Mind if I ask you a question?”

            “What is it?”

            “Have you heard from Heechul hyung? Last time, he had a lead on the charms that Jonghyun, Taemin, and I have. After he disappeared, we haven’t had much progress.” Oh my gosh thank you, Onew hyung! I scream internally. I was trying to figure out a way to explain to him about the charms, but I didn’t know how and when to bring it up. This is too perfect!

            “Charms? Oh, you mean the celestial beast cores around your neck,” I nod, acting like I knew this information for a long time.

            “Wait, what? Celestial Beast Core?”

            “Yes, that’s what your charms are. Monster beads are hard to detect since you can only sense them when the power is used. That’s why when we hunt, we tend to aim for places where beads may reside. On the other hand, once a beast harnesses enough pure spiritual energy for over fifteen hundred years, they form beast cores that are much more powerful. This makes the monster which now has a human form advance even more to the point where they become celestial beasts. The charms you have are actually cores and you can tell by the energy harnessed in them.”

            “Then do you know how they can survive for many lifetimes after they have been destroyed?”

            “Simple, the charms were crushed and made you all revert back to human form, but the spiritual energy and your souls did not disintegrate, but simply dispersed. If the energy is pure and bonded enough, they can reunite. This is why you ended up with five charms. When Joon hyung died as a demon, it shattered and was not able to form again. Unfortunately for you, you need to master using your charms in order to make them useful. Your celestial beast core is external, meaning you can only use it if you know how to draw its energy source. All of your internal energy actually is linked to your charms,” I explain. Hehe hyung must think I am super smart for knowing this, but reality is Mr. Dragon told me not too long ago~ “If you focus enough, your charm will help boost your performance.”

            “Then, White Masked Hero, can you explain to me the significance of us going back to time?”

            “Now that is a question only you and your charms can answer.”

            “I’m not sure what you mean.” Hyung, don’t ask me difficult questions~ I don’t know the answer, but I don’t want to sound dumb!

            “There are some things I am not allowed to say as it will conflict with our destiny. Time will be the answer,” Oh my goodness that sounded cooler in my head…

            “I understand,” Onew hyung smiles politely. “Thank you.”

            We continue traveling from village to village and only occasionally stopping for meals or sleep. As the destination for our free time draws nearer, the more nervous I get. Will I be able to find Minho hyung? Will he want to escape with me? Have the Peacekeepers bewitched him? Can things ever go back to the way they were? I can’t help but be utterly confused. As of now, only Jimin, Baekhyun hyung, Kai, and I know where the Peacekeepers are. I wanted to bring Kai along, but the Peacekeepers have the ability to manipulate monsters and now that Kai is weak, I can’t take that risk. Kai had a thousand years to form his bead and after sharing with me, he only had access to about five hundred years of that energy. The monster beads he takes will help him, but they are much too chaotic and would easily be manipulated. I can’t bring Gun Tae along because if anything were to happen to me, he needs to pretend to be the White Masked Hero until I get back. If Jimin comes then he would know I am Taemin so that doesn’t work and Baekhyun hyung isn’t really a fighter.

            Out of my friends, I have the most control over my internal energy and I am immune to poison. Since the charm is external and is a powerful celestial core, it’s not like I can get manipulated by the Peacekeepers. If anything, going alone is the safest. Okay, it’s been decided. Lee Taemin, you will face the Peacekeepers alone and get Minho hyung out of there, I confirm with myself. Minho hyung has been away for three months, if he had to learn things from them then he already has. I need him to leave to ensure his safety. I don’t care if the king, crown prince, or whoever questions his loyalty. I will wager my life for his innocence even if I have to.

            We decided to take a rest stop near the base of the mountains which is between two large villages that greeted us warmly, lavishing us with food and drinks. I stop on my tracks as I sense a few hundred people heading our way. The villages are huge, but everyone is gathered here to see the king. There can’t possibly be another few hundred coming this way. The numbers just don’t add up. I look at Joon hyung who also acknowledges the issue. Wolves have great hearing. I guess he puts that ability to good use. He raises his sword up, signaling for all his followers to be attentive. “Around three hundred people on horseback heading our way. Protect His Majesty and His and Her Highness!” The eunuchs quickly cover the royal family and the solders form a perimeter. The heroes all draw our weapons and prepare for any monster attacks. Could it be that the dark clans gathered to kill the king? The entire country knows that the royal family is going on a trip along with a small amount of guards. It would be surprising if they did not use this chance to finish off what they weren’t able to last time. I look over to the emperor and notice that his face is not even a bit scared, but he even has a hint of satisfaction in his eyes. What is he planning?

Joon’s POV~

            “Loosen up,” His Majesty whispers to me. I bow in response and quickly signal for us to change formation. When His Majesty told me about the trip and had me plan the escorts, I had a feeling that he was planning something. To leave the palace nearly unoccupied and casually traveling around with the current emperor, heir, and princess with merely a hundred warriors is simply courting death. Even so, His Majesty’s eyes reflect the times he went out hunting with me and the soldiers during his leisure— pure bloodthirst. A shiver runs down my spine as I anticipate the unknown. His Majesty looks at me and I nod, understanding him. I pull out the pouch and to my surprise, a celestial whistle came out of it. Despite the shock, I quickly blow it, but no sound came out.

            “Give me a boost,” Onew says and I bend down. He steps on me and I help push him up the tree. He climbs the rest of the way and stations himself at the very top. I notice him closing his eyes for a bit and open it, only to sigh and try again. After a few tries, he finally speaks up. “Peacekeepers incoming from about two miles away. About half are on horseback and the rest and quickly running behind. No monsters are in range at the moment.” I nearly gasp at how far he can see. Onew’s always had perfect vision and is the best archer in our country no doubt, but to see such a distance is clearly inhumane. Was that why he kept opening and closing his eyes? Only birds of prey can see that far. Since when could his eyes work like that? I notice he and the White Masked Hero smile at one another. Did the White Mask Hero teach him how to do that?

            “Is he a monster as well?” His Majesty asks. “Impressive vision.” Something about his tone makes me want to keep my guard up. Why does his voice sound so wicked?

            “Reporting back to His Majesty, Onew is merely a human,” I respond. With this, his eyes show a hint of fascination. I shake off the strange feeling and focus on the task at hand.

            “Hold back,” His Majesty orders and we keep our guard. Before long, we meet face to face with the Peacekeepers and their minions.

            “You are all surrounded,” one of the Peacekeepers announce. “You can surrender now and hand over the royal seal or die here.”

            “Where’s your leader? You have no right to talk to His Majesty like that,” Naeun declares.

            “Feisty, so unlike your mother,” the Peacekeeper tsks. A man in his late sixties raises his hand and all of the underlings stay put. Although he is well aged, his straight and mighty posture show no weakness, but even a powerful aura. With a flick of the reign, he rides his horse in a dignified manner forward and faces His Majesty.

            “Greetings to you, father-in-law,” His Majesty smiles.

            “You aren’t worthy,” the man says through gritted teeth. “You know the exact reason why I am here.” His Majesty’s face remains respectful and composed like always. His smile still plastered on his face.

            “I’m afraid I do not. Are you here to join me on my trip around our country?”

            “Cut the crap you dog,” the first Peacekeeper sneers. “Still putting on a kind face in front of your subjects? They wouldn’t willingly protect you if they know your true colors.”

            “By coming here you’re courting death,” another Peacekeeper scorns. “You came to our territory with this little protection and you wish to still keep up the act?”

            “The crown prince and the king,” another Peacekeeper eyes His Majesty and His Highness with malicious intent. “If you both were to die here, I guess we wouldn’t need to steal the throne or work with the dark clans. You’re making it all too easy for us.”

            “Sometimes, you have to take risks to get what you want,” His Majesty says. “Wouldn’t you agree, father-in-law?”

            “You knew that if you were to stay in the palace, we and the dark clans will easily start a war and take over. The banquet was a fail after all and you know we will no longer avoid bloodshed and talk it out with you. It would be foolish for me to ask you what exactly you are bargaining, so I’ll just let you know what I’m thinking,” the emperor’s father-in-law says. “You came here with so little men along with the crown prince to lure us out. Well, we are here now. We came knowing that you have something up your sleeves, so you know we clearly aren’t afraid of you.”

            “Am I really this calculating in your eyes? I simply want to bring everyone along to witness my reunion with my son,” My heart jumps as I realize Minho was disguised amongst the followers in the back. His Majesty knew Minho was his son this entire time and even spotted him? What is he planning? The villagers start whispering amongst themselves, enjoying the drama in front of them. “Come out, child,” he gestures at Minho warmly with open arms. Minho removes his face covering with shaky hands but remains still. “I know you listened to the Peacekeepers and injured the princess back then, but you shouldn’t feel guilty,” His Majesty continues. The crowd turns and look at Naeun who clearly has a visible scar on her face. “Besides, the empress that is on the brink of death thanks to you isn’t here either. You need not be scared.” The crowd once again whispers amongst themselves, pointing out how the royal family is here yet the queen is not. “Now that you are older and can think to yourself, if you come back with me, I will forgive you. You can come back to be my son, and we can live as a complete family again.” The villagers all praise the king for his generosity. They simply cannot believe that the king would still want his son back just to be a happy family again. I can’t believe it either.

            My knuckles turn white as I grip onto the hilt of my sword tightly. I finally realize why His Majesty planned all this. It is to show the citizens that Minho, the hero they all looked up to, hurt his sister and nearly killed the empress who is still bedridden after all these years. The king wants them to see his kindness and have them lean toward him. If Minho comes back, he can easily use the information he gathered to destroy the Peacekeepers once and for all. Whereas if Minho fights back, the entire country will see him as a traitor and an unfilial son for breaking the king’s heart. Either way, he will win this round.

            “Don’t you dare turn this all on us,” a Peacekeeper shouts. “You killed your wife and son to stay in power! You made us the villains when all we wanted was to protect the people.”

            “How can you claim that I killed my wife and son. The country has bear witnessed to my years of mourning for my lovely family. You are my in-laws, yet you used your music to control monsters to harm the people. You teach my son to use dark magic to hurt his family. You declare war on us and you dare claim that you are being framed?” The villagers use this chance to pitch in their opinions as well, all of which were to support the king and put down the evil Peacekeepers.

            “Your son was a great warrior and died during a small battle. If it wasn’t for your taking away his resources and poisoning his soldiers, he wouldn’t have to die,” a Peacekeeper explains.

            “No father wants his son dead! You clearly corrupted the other prince, yet he still wants his son back. Don’t you try to blame this on our king!” One of the village leaders say. The crowd continues to cheer. His Majesty sure is cunning. I look over to Minho who is stunned. If he wasn’t seen as a traitor before, he sure will be seen as one. It will be in his best interest to join the king now. The original plan was for him to spy on the Peacekeepers from the inside anyway, he can just return to us later on.

            “Your queen is a monster herself and so is your daughter. If you claim monsters to be evil, then how can you have monsters as your family and as your warriors?!” A Peacekeeper shouts and pulls out their stringed instrument. They start strumming it and the music overlaps the loud crowd. I prepare myself to be controlled by the music, but nothing happens.

            “My family and officials are monsters you say? How come your monster-controlling music has no affect on them? Your claims are getting more and more ridiculous,” the emperor says.

            Suddenly, the earth rumbles as monsters appear from all directions, surrounding us. The villagers scream and hide behind the shoulders as we tighten our formation. Onew was high up and saw no monsters coming, yet they appeared so quickly. They must have come from the monster dens around the area. Wasn’t this location chosen by His Majesty as well? Did he plan this? I gasp and look down to the pouch that is still hanging on my belt. The whistle he told me to blow earlier…some celestial beings have control over monsters as there is a hierarchy even amongst monsters. The whistle must have signaled for the monsters to come. Jong Kook hyungnim appears in the crowd despite not being in the original traveling team. How did he know to come here right when the monsters came? “You plan on killing these innocent civilians with your monsters to keep them quiet?” Jong Kook hyungnim shouts. “If you don’t back off now, there will be bloodshed.”

            “Don’t act like these monsters aren’t under your control, Kookie,” a Peacekeeper yells over the crowd. “A celestial beast working for the king and ruining the balance on earth, you should be punished severely.”

            “Everyone knows that the Peacekeepers are notorious for controlling monsters!” a villager screams.

            “Stop trying to blame others!” another yells. “You people are no better than the monsters you control!” If I remember correctly, when Minho was being threatened by the Peacekeepers, the White Masked Hero explained that he was also tasked to kill Jong Kook hyungnim. If he really is a celestial being, it makes sense to why they want him killed. He must be more powerful than them to control this many monsters all at once and he can easily blame them for this. If they use their music to try to take control of the monsters he is controlling, who will win? But…if Jong Kook hyungnim was able to control this many monsters, why did we need to start a monster hunting team and why didn’t he simply control them when they attacked us at the clan? Many people died because the monsters were out of hand. This whole time we thought the dark clans and Peacekeepers were the only ones manipulating monsters to harm the innocent. Looking at their confused expressions, the Peacekeepers clearly aren’t the ones controlling them. Besides, they use their music to do that and not one instrument has been played. Don’t tell me this was all part of His Majesty’s plan.

            “The dark clans must have taken over the palace by now. Just give up,” a Peacekeeper declares. With this, Jong Kook hyungnim breaks into a powerful laugh.

            “You mean the powerless punks that have been poisoned to the point of disability?” he asks.

            “What do you mean?” the Peacekeeper gasps.

            “You see, back then you had Thunder turn into a poison user and he betrayed you when he returned to his hyung. After joining the palace, he has been working hard to create a poison that makes one lose all of their internal energy. Even if they want to cure the poison, they can’t because that would require them to have their energy flow smoothly through all of their meridians. When the dark clan came to siege the palace, they were poisoned and were defeated by our soldiers.”

            “They wanted to take the throne! They dare act like our king is the evil one!” a villager screams. 

            “You’ll die if you join him,” the leader of the Peacekeepers says to Minho after a while. “You’ll just be like your brother. Take out your flute.” Minho takes a step forward, but quickly stops as a small hand reaches out to hold his arm back. I drop my jaw as I see Taemin standing next to Minho. No, he isn’t Taemin. I notice that his face is the same as I was years ago, and he hasn’t even grown a bit taller despite all this time. This is a fake. Minho nods and places his flute on his lips and the other underlings follow suit. A skull piercing tune travels through the air, clearly fighting over dominance of the monsters. I fall over as I clutch onto my ears, withering in pain. A feel a strong hand on my shoulder and the pain disappears. It was Jong Kook hyungnim that helped me. He really is a celestial being that can control monsters. At this moment, I don’t know what to believe anymore. After a while, Minho steps forward.

             “Stay with us, Minho. Stay with Taemin. You don’t need these fake people in your life. They are manipulative and frame others just so they can look good. Righteous heroes?” the Peacekeeper that invaded our clan once scoffs. “Believe us, Minho, if go now, you’ll never get your revenge.”

            “So what you made him a fake Taemin!? Fake is fake! So what if he looks like Taemin?! Does that Taemin know how to love him? Does that Taemin know all that they’ve been through!? Does that Taemin know how much his Minho hyung loves him!? Does that Taemin deserve Minho hyung’s love!? It’s fake!” the White Masked Hero screams, fuming with anger and disgust. “How dare you try to feed him such cruel lies. Minho hyung,” he darts his eyes toward his hyung who is still looking at his father. “How could you trade your friends and family for that fake? How could you abandon your people to be with something that can’t love you back!? Lee Taemin is dead and even if he was dead, he wouldn’t even come back to you if he saw you in this state!”

~Comments are loved~