~Chapter 9~

Friend or Foe

Minho’s POV~

Taemin woke up screaming again, but he’s doing much better. After calming himself down for a few minutes, he’s back to normal. I guess you can call them panic attacks. He still won’t tell me what’s wrong though…but I can’t blame him. I’m barely his friends and I already know his secrets, including his plan of letting himself die for his hyungs. “Taemin, here’s some tea.” I enter his room with a new tea pot. “It’s pretty cold in here, you should warm up.” I pour him a cup and pass it to him. He takes it thankfully and sips the hot liquid. “It’s winter after all, Taemin-ah. You need to stay warm so you won’t get sick…so that you can protect those you care about,” I add. I’m always so careful of what I say, but with him, it’s so hard to not speak my mind. Maybe because I don’t see him as a threat?

“It’s almost your birthday, isn’t it?” Taemin finally says. I nearly drop the pot in surprise.

“How did you know? Did Key hyung tell you?”

“Ani, I don’t talk to him, remember?” Oh yeah, those two haven’t created a friendship yet.

“Then…”

“Would it freak you out if I said I was psychic?” He asks humorously.

“Haha, no seriously how?”

“I’m psychic,” he says with a more serious face. I was about to believe him too, until he started laughing obnoxiously that is. “Since you’re a nice kid,” Kid?! Aish did he just call his hyung a kid!? “I’ll tell you the truth, but no freaking out. Promise?”

“Sure,” I reply. He holds out his pinky and I hook mines on it.

“Kiss it,” he says.

“What?”

“Kiss it and seal it! You have to make it at least a bit more legit, hyung.” With a sigh, I kiss the top of his hand. He pulls back in shock, flustered. “Hyung! I meant your own hand!” Embarrassed, I scratch my head and kiss my hand and he kisses his as well. We touch our thumbs and ‘made it official.’ “Okay, here goes…I came here to save us,” I was about to burst out laughing thinking that it was a joke, but seeing his serious face, I hesitate. “I know exactly what will happen to us in our next two lifetimes. All of us.” I look at him wearingly, trying to see any hint that he was joking with me– there wasn’t. I know, I should be shocked, but I saw too many scary events, too many things that are supposed to be unreal that even this can’t shock me…Okay; maybe it surprised me a bit, but cut me some slack. “I came from the future.” Okay, now I am totally surprised.

Gun Tae’s POV~

I sigh and walk away from Taemin hyung’s door. I knew he was going to tell his hyungs some time, but I didn’t know it would be this soon…I wanted to feel special for as long as I could…He’s like my big brother after all. I touch the jade pendant on my necklace and sit down on the chairs in the garden. I take out a wooden replica of it that I carved myself. I wanted to give this to Taemin hyung, but I just never had the chance. This pendant was from my family after all, I wanted him to be able to be marked as my family as well…but now that he is going through his own crisis and is emotionally and mentally unstable, I don’t want to be a burden to him. I have also has these…glitches. Sometimes I would suddenly get these urges to fight and sometimes just suddenly fall asleep. It’s like I’m mentally unstable myself…

“Gun Tae, what’s with the long face?” Kai hyung asks as he sits down beside me.

“Why are you out of bed!? You’re as pale as a ghost!” I try to help him back into his room but he stops me.

“It’s so stuffy in there. Besides, I am a man of nature, I need to get some fresh air.”

“Hyung…you know, there’s a rumor that you’re a monster,” I say slowly. He looks at me and I immediately add, “I don’t believe them hyung. You’re a great person!”

“Haha, Gun Tae-ah, it’s okay. From the looks of it, you already knew. I know that you always stood in front of the closed door every time I use to heal your hyung. Also, you were there when I healed him from the past incident.”

“I’m a bad liar, aren’t I?” I chuckle and scratch the back of my head in embarrassment.

“Just a tiny bit,” he smiles and lightly pinches my cheek. “Don’t be mad at Nam Kyu okay?” He hesitates for a bit and then continues. “You know he didn’t mean it. Taemin hyung’s nice to everyone, no one hates him. I bet if Nam Kyu knew, he wouldn’t have cut the chains. I mean, who could blame him? We all want to remove those chains for him.”

“But it doesn’t give him the right to do what he wants. He’s new here and there he goes meddling in other people’s business. He’s annoying. I hate him.” I tighten my fist and slam it on the table.

“Calm down, you wouldn’t want Taemin hyung to hear right? Gun Tae-ah you can’t hate someone for not knowing. He did it out of good thoughts.” I stay silent. “How about I put it this way. I nearly died trying to heal Taemin hyung, do you respect me?”

“Very much.” I nod.

“Then can you trust me and forgive Nam Kyu? He was trying to be a good person.”

“Fine, for you. I’ll forgive him this time,” I sigh.

“Thanks Gun Tae, you’re a great person.” Kai hyung pats my back.

“Hey, but if he does something idiotic again, don’t be surprised if him and I fight.” I smile.

“Arasso, I won’t stop you next time,” he chuckles. “I think I got enough fresh air for today. I’m getting a bit dizzy,” he rubs his temples. “I’m going to get back to my room okay? Don’t cause any trouble.” He ruffles my hair and he walks back to his room with my help. Kai hyung has to be the best monster out there. Not only does he not harm or eat humans, he’s also protecting them. He is a true hero.

“Gun Tae-ah, miss me?” I turn around and see Taemin hyung smiling with open arms. I run and hug him happily.

“Hyung you’re out of your room!” I cheer.

“Yeah, all thanks to everyone, Kai and Minho hyung especially. I think I can even do training now.”

“Who are you kidding? You just recovered hyung!”

“Oh it wouldn’t hurt to practice. I’ll just not use all of my strength and since my cute dongsaeng is practicing with me, I know I’ll be safe.” Hyung smiles.

“Okay, okay, I’ll train with you, but no overworking yourself.”

“I promise,” he says and we head toward the training area. Surprisingly, a lot of people are here, not out eating or taking evening naps. “Gun Tae-ah, how about we try different weapons and see what we’re good at instead of just using the swords all servants use?”

“Sure hyung! That sounds like a great idea. How about we switch weapons while we fight so it’ll be more interesting?”

“Sure! I’ll start off with…umm…” We both walk along the tables and racks of weapons. “This spear.” The spear is double ended and made of some sort of shiny metal. I pick up a pair of swords that are slim and long. “Ready when you are.” Hyung smiles and we start practicing. We fight back and forth with our new weapons. Even though hyung just recovered, he seemed to have gained some skills somehow. His movements are much swifter and he seems to have smoother attack transitions as well. Is it because of the spear? Maybe that’s his ideal weapon.

I look at the two swords I am using and decide to switch it when we switch places. I grab a spear myself and exchange a few moves with hyung. I’m doing fairly well with a spear too! Nonetheless, I change the weapon again just to see if there’s any improvement. In the span of a half an hour, I switched weapons eleven times. I think the spear has to be my favorite so far. I grab the bow and arrows and use it to fight. Taemin hyung hasn’t switched his weapon yet and the bow is long and tough, so it won’t break if I use it to fight.

My glitch is happening again. The urge to fight is stronger now. I use all of my strength against hyung, unwillingly. I nearly smash the bow against his spear and suddenly, I grab an arrow. I look around at the other fighters and unknowingly, I aim for Jonghyun hyung. Before I realized it, I let go and the arrow flies straight toward him.

Joon’s POV~

I step through the clan’s door full of confidence. I take a deep breath in and prepare myself for any surprises, and man do I regret it. To my right is the training area and wind the happened to pick up the stench of unwashed clothing, mood and blood, and boys with very poor hygiene. I hold back a groan and look at Key. “I already told Jong Kook hyungnim via bird message. He says you’re in,” he says. “Don’t make it so obvious…” …that you’re from the palace and a well-respected general. I complete the sentence in my head.

“No promises,” I wink and head toward the training area. Impressive. Everyone is very active, some passing through obstacles, some shooting at targets accurately, and some are pulling off a very good fight with each other, each with determined expressions etched on their faces. But…where’s my Onew?

“Can you be any more obvious? He’s right there.” Key points toward the left, where my Onew is target practicing. He aims his arrows very accurately and shoots them after each other at a very quick and steady pace. His form is perfect and his speed is just amazing. That’s my angel. I can’t hold back my proud smile. He’s just so perfect. “You’re freaking me out,” Key says with a cringe. “If you want to talk to him, then go. Don’t just stare at him and smile all creepily.” He scowls.

“Leave me alone. You have no love.” I stick my tongue out at him and walk over to my Onew slowly, afraid that I’ll bother him. He’s just so focused that I don’t want to ruin his concentration. Since there are so many people around him, my presence doesn’t really faze him. He continues shooting until he runs out of arrows. With a stretch, he walks over to the targets leisurely and pulls them out of the board one by one. Finding a chance, I help him out. He doesn’t look at me but continues gathering his weapons.

“Thank you,” he says.

“Everything for you,” I reply with a smile. He freezes and thinks to himself for a minute. He then turns to look at me with a surprised expression on his face. He immediately embraces me and we drop all of the collected arrows.

“Joon, why are you here? I thought you were in the–” I place my finger on his lips to cut him off.

“I’ll tell you later. There are too many people here right now. But it’s official now; I’m part of the clan.” With this, he hugs my even tighter and I take the chance to spin him around, both exchanging laughter. “I missed you,” I say after we finally calmed down.

“I missed you too. It’s been so hard here. Not to mention the constant worry about your health and safety. You’re a general after all.” I place my hand on him cheek and caress his face lovingly, moving the random strands of loose hair that are sticking to his sweaty face.

“You sure practice really diligently. For a second there, I couldn’t recognize you as my clumsy, cute, and warm-hearted angel.”

“Hey, I have to survive in the martial realm too. I can’t just dilly dally around here. Besides, it’s so you don’t have to protect me, silly. I’m not like my past life where I had powers and natural strength. I have to work for it now.”

“Don’t work too hard; I don’t want you to overwork yourself. You’re perfect the way you are,” I lightly pinch his cheek. “So, where is he?”

“Who?”

“Taemin,” his face suddenly shows worry and sadness. “Something wrong?” I ask, holding onto his hand to comfort him.

“A lot has happened since I last saw you,” he sighs. “He’s over there.” I follow his finger and see a slim teenage boy with fair skin, his long hair tied back, and chains connecting his wrists and ankles together. He is having an intense practice battle with a boy who doesn’t look too much younger than him. His spear moves quickly and surprisingly, his chains do not get in the way. His enemy attacks with a bow fiercely, almost like it was a real battle. His opponent pushes him back with the bow and strangely aims the arrow toward a well-built male who was practicing with someone next to Taemin. Surprisingly, he let’s go.

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