Sehun sank in the sofa in the castle’s living room and covered his face with his hands.

 

"I'm sorry, uncle. I'm really sorry. I'd replace them to be the one who die if I could."

 

Jaesun took his nephew in a big hug and kissed his head.

 

"I won't say it's okay, but it's not your fault," the man said with soothing voice.

 

"I love him, uncle," Sehun hiccuped and wiped his tears with his wrists. "I love Luhan hyung so much. I don't want to lose him."

 

The other six boys hung their heads low, some of them were also crying. Even Kai was sobbing like a little boy. It was only the second day of his new relationship with Kyungsoo, but his boyfriend had left him already. Literally left him.

 

Jaesun sighed and rubbed his face.

 

"Honestly, I also have no idea how to tell Kris hyung and Suho hyung about this," he confessed. "But I'll do the best I can do to help you all."

 

Right after Jaesun finished his words, Suho walked in with Kris and Lay following him behind.

 

The kings sat down with flat expression, while the boys stuck with each other.

 

"What's the bad news?" Suho asked straightforwardly. Next to him, Lay was sitting restlessly while rubbing the king's forehand with his thumb to calm him down.

 

Kris flew his gaze around the room and panicked slightly when he couldn't find his son.

 

"Wait, where's my Lulu? You, Baozi and Taozi, why are you two here and Lulu isn't?" Kris pointed at Xiumin and Tao, his voice raised a little bit. "Did you two leave him alone at the horse field?"

 

The boys bowed their heads deeper.

 

"Please listen to the explanation first, hyung," Jaesun sighed again.

 

"We're listening," Suho crossed his arms and furrowed his eyebrows.

 

Jaesun glanced at the boys and bit his lip.

 

"They all went to Baekhyun's house, actually," he started.

 

"We are sorry," the seven boys bowed in unison. They had planned that part with the advisor. It really came from their hearts, though.

 

"So you lied, Sehun-ah?" Suho raised an eyebrow at his son.

 

"Yes, dad. I'm sorry, I won't do that again," Sehun looked away.

 

"And you too, Jongin-ah," suho turned to Kai, who didn't even dare to lift his head up.

 

"I'm sorry, dad. I really am."

 

"Why did you two have to lie? You only visited a friend's house, didn't you?" Suho raised his voice. The king was really disappointed with his sons.

 

More than just a friend's house, Sehun thought.

 

"So where's Kyungsoo now?" the K's king asked again.

 

"He's with Luhan now," Jaesun answered for the boys.

 

"And where are they?" Kris asked impatiently.

 

The kings' bad feelings accumulated when the boys started to shed tears again.

 

"Jaesun-ah, you know what's wrong," Suho frowned. "Explain it for them."

 

Sehun's eyes met with his uncle's. His lips motioned a 'sorry' before he looked down again.

 

"Fine then," Jaesun sighed and cleared his throat.

 

And he started explaining to the kings the exact same thing with what the boys had told him earlier, including that part about the hidden door.

 

But he hadn't mentioned about Luhan and Kyungsoo falling into the gap. He tried to talk slowly, because actually he didn't even want to talk about that last part.

 

Suho and Kris looked really screwed up already when Jaesun was telling them about the part when Baekhyun's house collapsed to the ground because of the earthquake.

 

And finally it was the time to tell the kings about their two missing friends.

 

Jaesun and the boys sighed in unison.

 

"Wait, don't tell me..." Kris widened his eyes.

 

An image of his baby deer being squished under the ruins appeared before his eyes.

 

"NOOOOO!" He dropped on his knees and screamed to the heavens.

 

Everyone gaped at the screaming king.

 

"Wait, why are you screaming?? We haven't even said anything!" Jaesun stood up and freaked out slightly. "No, you can't read minds."

 

That's not his power.. Is it?

 

Kris stopped wailing and looked at Jaesun with wide eyes.

 

"Read minds..? That means IT'S TRUE! NOOOO!"

 

The tall king screamed again and banged the floor with his fists.

 

Jaesun gulped and crouched down next to Kris, hugging him and patting his back soothingly.

 

"Your son fell into a gap because of the quake. I'm really sorry."

 

Suddenly Suho stood up and screamed, startling everyone in the room.

 

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" The shorter king held his head with both hands. "Are you saying that Luhan is dead??"

 

No one answered him. The room was filled with heavy sobs.

 

Suho plopped back down on the sofa and ran his fingers through his hair in frustration.

 

"And Kyungsoo too..?" he whispered in disbelief.

 

"Lulu.. My Lulu.." Kris wailed. "Why.. Why do you have to leave too??"

 

The boys stood up, gathered around the M's king and bowed deeply.

 

"We are sorry, Your Majesty. We couldn't save your son. But please don't punish my friends here. This is all my responsibility," Baekhyun said as he knelt in front of Kris.

 

"Baekkie! What are you saying?? It's not your fault!" Chanyeol complained. "This is our responsibility."

 

Kris glared at them with teary eyes.

 

"Then what? Even if I punished you all to death, it wouldn't bring Xiao Lu back."

 

Jaesun stood up and furrowed his eyebrows.

 

"We need to go back there. To find Luhan and Kyungsoo's bodies, at least," he said ironically.

 

"Can I say something?" Lay raised his hand, and everyone's eyes fell on him.

 

"Sure, Yixing-ah. Go on," Jaesun said as he helped Kris get up and sit back down properly.

 

"That door you've mentioned earlier, Jaesun hyung.. And the sketch book.." Lay rubbed his neck and sighed. "These boys have found another clues. Don't you think it's time for them to know?"

 

The boys furrowed their eyebrows in curiosity.

 

"Know about what, doctor?" Sehun dared to ask.

 

"It's about-"

 

"No," Kris cut Jaesun's words sharply. "Now that my son and that other boy have died, they can't be the ones. If they really were, none of them would die before their time."

 

Suho patted Kris' back soothingly, and they ended up hugging each other and crying together.

 

"Luhaaaaann.." Kris wailed again. "I'm sorry I haven't been a good father, daddy misses you so much!"

 

Suho sniffed and dabbed his tears with his handkerchief, then handed it to his friend king. Everyone scrunched their faces when Kris blew his nose with an unpleasant sound.

 

"I really want to hold him now, tickle him and poke him in the belly like I used to do when he was still small and sweet like a cupcake," Kris jutted out his bottom lip. "He would laugh cutely and hold my thumb in his small fist."

 

"There there, I guess I can understand," Suho wiped the older king's tears with his thumb. "But it's getting awkward, look at these poor boys' faces."

 

Kris lifted his head to see the boys pretending to be busy with themselves, suddenly putting too much interest on their nails and fingers.

 

"But.. I was just expressing myself," Kris pouted again. He hugged Suho's arm and put his head on the younger king's shoulder.

 

"No one will call me 'dad' now," he sniffed.

 

"Kris papa," Tao blinked, and everyone gawked at him. "You still have seven of us. We all will be your sons too. Right, guys? We can call him that."

 

The six other boys furrowed their eyebrows, slowly crushing Kris' high expectations.

 

"That sounds.. Something," Kai said.

 

"No, wait that's right!" Lay jumped on his almost too excitedly, his face brightened up. "Kris hyung and Suho hyung are the oldest here, so you boys can call them Kris papa and Suho mama."

 

Lay grinned, satisfied with his brilliant idea, but the others just kept staring at him.

 

"Thanks for making it even more awkward, Yixing-ah," Suho facepalmed, causing the professor's face to drop sadly.

 

"We can do that though," Xiumin nodded slowly. "To make King Kris feel better."

 

"Yeah, right," the other boys nodded in unison.

 

"Thank you, everyone. I'm touched," Kris dabbed the tears in the corner of his eyes. "But I'm afraid even seven of you can't replace my cute baby."

 

"It's okay, it's okay. We all know Luhan hyung is cute," Chanyeol waved his hand and nodded to himself.

 

"He wanted to be called cute by me and me only," Sehun glared at the tall boy.

 

"Oh. Right."

 

"So I can't call him cute too?" Kris pouted.

 

"It's not like that, hyung. Sehun-ah has.. I mean, had something special with Luhan," Jaesun volunteered to explain. "Is it okay to let them know, Sehun-ah?"

 

Sehun pursed his lips and nodded slowly.

 

"Nothing will change anyway," the prince said bitterly.

 

"What about it?" Suho asked curiously.

 

Jaesun eyed his brother worriedly, considering how the king would react to the news.

 

"Umm.. Sehun-ah and Luhan-ah were boyfriends, hyung."

 

Suho and Kris dropped their jaws.

 

"I know, I know. They really matched each other, right? How sad," Jaesun cut quickly before the kings could react more.

 

"Sehun-ah.." Suho whispered with wide eyes.

 

"What?" Sehun shot a cold glare at his father. "Yeah I fell in love with a boy. And I still do love him, as much as it's possible to love someone. I don't care what you'll say about it, you can't change anything."

 

Sehun burst out in tears. He bowed his head and pulled his hair in frustration.

 

"He's.. He's gone anyway, you don't have to worry about me falling for another boy. It's impossible. I won't. I can't."

 

With teary eyes, Suho approached his son and pulled him into his arms. He kissed Sehun's head and his hair lovingly, making the prince cry even louder.

 

"I'm so sorry, baby," Suho whispered on Sehun's ear. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know about this. Don't cry, it's okay."

 

Sehun shook his head and buried his face on his father's shoulder. His shoulders were trembling uncontrollably.

 

Kris looked at Sehun with dazed face.

 

He had always wanted to have a beautiful and well-mannered daughter-in-law. But seeing how the boy mourn for the loss of his son, Kris didn't mind having a son-in-law if it were him.

 

But that wasn't possible anymore. In fact, he didn't even have a child now.

 

Who would replace him as the next M's king?

 

Everyone in the room spent a good half an hour crying their eyes out until they calmed down and made quiet hiccup sounds here and there.

 

"Kai.." Sehun turned to his brother and looked at him sadly in the eyes. "He also lost his boyfriend."

 

"I knew it," Suho nodded weakly and dabbed his remaining tears. "We should tell Kyungsoo's parents about.. this... soon."

 

"I disagree," Lay said with surprisingly calm voice. "I think we should go see the place first. Observation needs to be done."

 

"There's nothing left there, doctor," Baekhyun sniffed and shook his head sadly.

 

"Oh, is that so?" Lay pursed his lips and nodded to himself. "Did you guys actually see how the place looked like after the quake ended?"

 

The boys looked at each other, and then shook their heads.

 

"No we didn't," Chen replied. "We had run away before it ended. All we know is that the ground split up and there were cracks and gaps here and there. The mansion was collapsing, but we didn't see how it was after it fell completely to the ground."

 

"And that's why we have to go back there," Lay said with determined face.

 

"Isn't it too dangerous, doctor? What if the quake comes again?" Xiumin frowned. He had just stopped crying and he didn't feel like losing another of his beloved friends.

 

"Of course we'll make it safe. Preparations and all," the professor shrugged. "There might be something really important down there. And it might have something to do with you guys."

 

Ignoring the curious faces, Lay turned to Suho, Kris and Jaesun and pleaded through his eyes.

 

"Can I please tell them now?" he pouted.

 

"Fine then."

 

"You tell them."

 

Suho and Kris answered in unison.

 

"Great," Lay and Jaesun grinned and high fived each other.

 

"Yah, stop acting all mysterious and tell us now," the youngest frowned, had lost his patience.

 

"Okay, okay. Let me start," Lay chuckled and raised his hands.

 

"First of all, you don't have to call me doctor. It sounds somewhat awkward. You all can call me hyung," he grinned.

 

"Lay hyung," the boys tested the name on their lips.

 

"That sounds better! I feel much younger," Lay clapped his hands happily and showed off his dimples. Suho cooed secretly at the cute face the professor made.

 

"Now to the main point," Lay cleared his throat and wiggled his on the sofa to find a comfortable position.

 

And he began telling them everything. From Baekhyun's brother, the big book, the magic seed, the pearl and the Tree of Life, and even things that even Baekhyun and Chanyeol hadn't known.

 

"Now this is a secret that is known by the former kings of EXO-M and K only. I knew this from Suho hyung. You all have to keep this a secret and never give it out to anyone, okay?" Lay said carefully, and the boys nodded.

 

"So, about five hundred years ago, there was a man who got a seed from an old man whom he had helped. This man lived around the horse field with his wife and only son. Once he told his son that he was going to plant the seed in the middle of the horse field to find out what kind of seed it was. The son waited for him until night that day, but the father didn't come back, like, forever.

 

The son went to the middle of the horse field to look for his father everyday since then, but he finally stopped going there. The little boy grew up and he met new certain people, until there were twelve in his 'group'. He became best friends with th