[5 years later, 20 years left until the Coronation Ceremony]

“Ya, Sunggyu! Over here!” Jieun shouted as she waved her hand in the air.

“Jieun! How many times do I have to tell you not to do that?” Jiyeon scolded as she waited patiently on the bench.

It had been five years since the incident. The three of them had become an inseparable trio. Despite the looks the others gave him, Sunggyu accompanied the twins everywhere in his free time without a complaint. Jiyeon knew Sunggyu was uncomfortable in crowded places; hence, she would always defy the hot-tempered Jieun and choose a quieter place. Being the older twin, she won the fight most of the time, but little did she know that Jieun was being difficult on purpose.

After years together, one would have be super dense not to see the relationship between Jiyeon and Sunggyu. Although neither ever talked about it, it was clear that their feelings were mutual. Even though Jieun too had a little crush on the cool Sunggyu, she knew the one that Sunggyu was interested in was not her but her gentle sister. If that was the case, what else could she do but support them? Of course, she knew Sunggyu didn’t like crowded places. Yet she acted difficult on purpose to improve Jiyeon’s image in Sunggyu’s eyes. Of course, she wanted to call him ‘oppa’ and be nice to him, but doing so would make it harder for her to hold back her feelings. More than her own feelings, she wanted to see her sister be happy, even if it meant that she had to hide everything deep inside.

“It’s alright. We all arrive at the same time anyway. I don’t mind,” Sunggyu said as he sat down by Jiyeon on the bench, like it was natural for him to be by her side.

“See! I told you it didn’t matter.” Jieun stuck out her tongue childishly.

“Sunggyu oppa, you’re spoiling her!” Jiyeon gave Sunggyu a glare, but it hardly scared the latter. Instead, he simply shrugged in return.

“Now, now. Let’s not fight. I’m so hungry already. Let me see what you made today, unnie!” Jieun cooed. She swung her hand in the air, and in an instant, there was a huge piece of cloth on the grass floor. The young girl quickly threw herself onto the cloth and chirped happily as she rolled back and forth.

“Come on! Let’s sit here!” Jieun patted the space in front of her.

Jiyeon looked at her hyper sister and chuckled. She pulled on Sunggyu’s arm and said, “Come on, let’s go before she yells again.”  

“Mhm,” Sunggyu nodded with a hum and followed Jiyeon.

“Ta-da~” Jiyeon laid out the boxes of food she had made with care.

“Yum!” Without hesitation, Jieun dug in. It had been too long since the last time her sister had made anything. The food was especially fancy today, because she had been expecting a special someone. Pushing the heavy thoughts aside, Jieun decided to just enjoy the food in front of her. Nothing was better than some good food to heal a broken heart.

Jiyeon smiled at Jieun’s excitement. She then took a glance at Sunggyu, who was calmly eating everything in silence. She was slightly disappointed that he didn’t compliment her cooking, but she was mostly delighted that he was eating her food. Feeling satisfied, Jiyeon took a bite herself.

When the food was half gone, Jiyeon suddenly remembered an important question that had been bothering her.

“Sunggyu oppa,” she piped up.

Sunggyu looked up at her with a big mouthful of food. “Yesh?” He struggled to say with his hamster cheeks.

Jiyeon chuckled at the sight. “Swallow your food first, then we’ll talk.”

It was only then that he realised what he must look and sound like. Feeling a little embarrassed, he quickly forced down the food half-chewed, almost choking himself as he coughed loudly.

“Aigoo, eat slowly!” Jiyeon scolded him as she patted his back gently.

When the cough died down, Sunggyu sat back straight up and looked at Jiyeon with a straight face as if nothing had happened. “You were saying?”

Jiyeon could only scoff at the other’s pretense. “Are you going to take the test this year, oppa?”

Jieun, who had been quiet this whole time suddenly, perked up at the question. She had been wondering the same thing as well.

“The test, huh? I don’t know yet. Jongwan hyung said I don’t need to take the test anymore and should focus on my own training instead.”

“I see…” Jiyeon replied with disappointment. She had been hoping that Sunggyu would turn up and take the King’s title. After all, since she and Jieun were the Queens, the legendary rumours that the Queens and Kings often ended up together for their entire lifetimes as Gods had been bothering her a lot. The King of the last test was the successor of Air, whose name she didn’t even know, yet people were calling them an item. It stressed her out, as the one deep inside her heart was obviously… Jiyeon took another glance at Sunggyu, then heaved a heavy sigh dejectedly.

As oblivious as Sunggyu was, he didn’t notice the sighs and continued to enjoy Jiyeon’s food. The only thing on his mind at the moment was to make sure not to leave a single piece of food. It had been made by Jiyeon, after all. He would absolutely never let anything she had made go to waste, even the most trivial of things.

Unlike the dense Sunggyu, Jieun knew what Jiyeon was bothered by. In order to help her twin, Jieun sighed loudly on purpose.

“Aigoo, I was hoping to see you in the test! Ten years ago, you destroyed the Power Mirror. I was excited to see what you would destroy ten years later, but I guess I won’t be. Looks like the successor of Air will be taking the title of King again, huh?” Jieun paused for a second to check for Sunggyu’s reaction. With his head down, she couldn’t see his expression, but she noticed that he had stopped eating. With a victorious smile, Jieun continued to push.

“Unnie is obviously the ultimate Queen with your healing abilities. Hey, hey! You’ve heard the legends, right? They say that the Kings and Queens will end up together forever, as long as they are Gods! Isn’t that exciting? You and the successor of Air… you guys would definitely look great together!”

Jiyeon’s face darkened. “Jieun!”

“What?” Jieun responded innocently.

“You… Who said I was the only Queen? You are very good as well. In the last test, we were both Queen,” Jiyeon protested as she glanced at Sunggyu nervously. The last thing she wanted was for Sunggyu to misunderstand.

“Aigoo, unlike my diligent unnie, I haven’t been training properly at all. While you were training with Sunggyu, I was out playing around with my friends. Do you think I’m still as strong as before? This year’s title definitely belongs to you and only you, Jiyeon unnie!” Jieun laughed.

“You…” Jiyeon couldn’t argue back since it was true that every time she trained with Sunggyu, Jieun always snuck off without her knowing. Little did she know that Jieun wanted to leave the two together alone, and went off somewhere to train by herself.

“As for the boys, I heard that there isn’t anyone who can beat the successor of Air. It’s clear as day that he’ll be the King. Unless…” Jieun glanced at Sunggyu.

“Enough!” Jiyeon raised her voice. “It looks like you’re done eating. Let’s do some training now. I’ll be watching you, so don’t think you can run off somewhere.”

“Huh?” Before Jieun could respond, she was pulled away by Jiyeon. “Unnie!!”

“Shush. No complaining. I will make sure you get proper training before the test.”

“But it’s in a week! What’s the point of forcing me to train now? It’s no use. O-Ow! Let me go!”

The girls disappeared with Jieun’s cries of pain, leaving the now-moody Sunggyu behind with all the leftover food. After sitting in silence for a while, he suddenly stood up, turning to leave. But when he noticed there was still a lot of food left, he quickly sat back down and began to eat at lightning speed.

“I cannot waste Jiyeon’s cooking,” he mumbled to himself as he gobbled down the food like a starved person.

↭↭↭↭↭↭↭↭

Jongwan was sunbathing peacefully in a remote place. Happy memories were flowing through his head as he laid in the relaxing field full of wildflowers and all sort of wild plants. Suddenly, he could smell the scent of death. Frowning, he turned in the direction of the smell and saw Sunggyu walking about.

“Sunggyu? What are you doing here? And control your power a bit, will you? I will make you spend all day replanting if you destroy everything here,” Jongwan threatened.

Seeing Jongwan, Sunggyu immediately dashed towards him at full speed, almost giving Jongwan a heart attack. It was like seeing a ravenous predator lunging at you.

“Ya!” Jongwan smacked the boy upside the head when he arrived at his side. “Why do you always have to scare the hell out of me like that? And control your power, damn it! Look at that path of death!” Jongwan pointed at the trail Sunggyu had left in his wake, full of wilted flowers and plants.

“Hyung,” Sunggyu said with a soft voice, after reigning his deathly aura back in.

“What?” Jongwan heaved a sigh of relief. He had managed to save his safe haven.

“…Can I enter the fourth test?” Sunggyu asked hesitantly.

“Huh?” Jongwan blinked in confusion.

“The fourth test. I want to enter it,” Sunggyu repeated.

“I heard you, but why? With your power, it is already clear that you are extremely powerful. You don’t need to take the test. Didn’t you not mind before?”

“…” Sunggyu remained silent. It was true that he had been happy not having to take the remaining tests after the second test ten years ago. Who would enjoy having people look at them as if they were a monster, anyway? He was glad to be away from the crowd, too. However, this year… he had to enter at all costs.

“Can I?” he asked again.

“I guess you can if you really want to. It is completely pointless, though. Tell me your reason, and if it is appropriate, I will try to put you back on the list.” Jongwan knew that he secretly spoiled Sunggyu at times, but this was a different matter. The gods and goddesses had agreed to take Sunggyu off the list ten years ago, for his power was beyond the normal range. Having him on the list would destroy the morale of the rest of the successors. After all, with Sunggyu around, no one would bother to train properly, for they would never be able to beat him. For this reason, Jongwan was unable to just randomly put Sunggyu back on the list. He would have to meet with the other gods and goddesses and convince them to let Sunggyu take the test.

Once again, Sunggyu was quiet.

“If you can’t tell me, then I can’t put you on the list. You are a special case; you should know that by now. Everyone agreed to take you out, including yourself. Now all of a sudden you want back in, but it’s not as simple as that. Without a proper reason, it is unlikely you’ll be able to enter,” Jongwan explained.

“…”

“Well, I guess that’s that. Go now. Leave me in peace.” Jongwan waved his hand at Sunggyu, motioning him to go away.

“I want to be the King.”

“Huh? What did you say?”

“I said… I want to be the King.”

“The King? What…” Jongwan stared at Sunggyu in confusion for a while until it hit him.

“OHHHHHHH! The King!” Jongwan began to laugh. “Are you afraid that Jiyeon might be stolen away from you? Haha. My little boy has grown to be a jealous man.”

Sunggyu’s face darkened. This was why he didn’t want to tell Jongwan his reason. The old man would stop at nothing to .

“Well, well. The King, huh? It won’t be easy; since you haven’t had proper training, you are quite behind in many areas.” Jongwan chuckled and smirked at Sunggyu. “And ‘I want to be the King’ isn’t a good enough excuse.”

Sunggyu’s face was even gloomier than before. He had expected this answer, but he was still disappointed that he really couldn’t enter the competition. For the first time, he regretted not staying on the list.

After enjoying Sunggyu’s pouty face, Jongwan said, “Don’t worry! I can help to put you back on the list.”

Sunggyu looked up in surprise. “Really?”

“Really.”

“…Thank yo—”

“With one condition.”

Sunggyu stared at Jongwan in suspicion.

“What’s with that look? You don’t want my help? Fine. Leave!” Jongwan turned away in disappointment.

“Ah, hyung!” Sunggyu grabbed his arm. Jongwan then turned back and raised his eyebrows at Sunggyu expectantly.

With hesitation, Sunggyu asked, “What’s the condition?”

Jongwan broke into a mischievous smile. Sunggyu felt chills down his spine.

*This man is up to no good again…* The poor boy sighed.

“You will obey me unconditionally,” Jongwan said with a smile.

The next seven days were hell for Sunggyu.

“Sunggyu! Get me water!”

“Sunggyu! Get me the rare dragon’s eggs. Remember, not a scratch on the dragon!”

“Sunggyu! Get me holy nine-tail fox fur! Aigoo, my beloved girlfriend has been saying that she wanted a fur coat but she is against animal cruelty. So remember, you cannot kill it!”

“Sunggyu! Wear a dress and dance like a monkey! I’m bored.”

“Sunggyu! Sunggyu!”

“Yes!”

*Hold it in. Don’t kill him. He’s your only hope,* Sunggyu thought as he obeyed Jongwan without a complaint. Gritting his teeth, he did all sorts of crazy tasks. Without resting, he spent days chasing after the nine-tail fox, picking out its hairs one by one while dodging its attacks at the same time. All for a small fur coat for Jongwan’s girlfriend. Stealing the dragon’s eggs almost took his life, since he was not allowed to hurt the dragon. Yet that damn trainer of his happily boiled the egg and took a bite, then immediately spit it out. Complaining that it didn’t taste good like the rumours said, he threw out the rest of the egg that Sunggyu had almost died to retrieve. He had been told that he needed proper training, but he didn’t see how this was even training. Besides odd jobs like tending to Jongwan the princess, he’d had to go on life-threatening missions for seven days.

On the day before the test, Jongwan arrived at the meeting where all the gods and goddesses gathered to set the levels of difficulty for the upcoming test. This was necessary before every test, for each pool of successors was different in capability; hence, the rest needed to be adjusted accordingly every time. Jongwan sat down in the designated chair, and Sunggyu stood behind him in silence.

“Just do what I told you before, and you will be back on the list immediately,” Jongwan whispered quietly to Sunggyu. Sunggyu nodded and looked around, observing everyone with a cold expression.

“Jongwan-ssi, with all due respect, why is your successor here? This is a confidential meeting!” a God asked with disapproval.

“Aigoo, what can I do? This stubborn little bastard here asked me to put him back on the list for tomorrow’s test. Since I didn’t know what to say to him, I decided to just bring him here with me so that you guys could deal with it,” Jongwan said in a pitiful voice, as he put on a hopeless face, like that of a parent who had to deal with a troublesome child.

“W-What? Sunggyu wants to be back on the list? Why?” a God asked.

Sunggyu simply stared at him in silence. Before they had arrived, Jongwan had told him not to speak or move unless he was told to do so.

“Why else? He just wanted to see his capability among the successors. He is really being stubborn about this.” Jongwan heaved a dramatic sigh.

“I don’t think he needs to take the test at all, for he is—”

“Now, Sunggyu!” Jongwan sent a telepathic message, and immediately there was a strike right in the middle of the table where everyone was sitting. The impact was so strong that some Gods and Goddesses were almost blown off their chairs.

“Who the hell—” an angry God looked around in anger, only to see Sunggyu in his battle stance, standing behind Jongwan with a cold look.

“Now, do you see why I had no choice but to take him here? He almost destroyed my castle when I refused him! Aigoo. I’m so pitiful to have such a hard-headed successor!” Jongwan cried out.

Sunggyu stared at the older guy in disgust. The real victim was him! For days, he had had to obey the older man without complaint. How dare he shamelessly act like he was the victim?

The combination of Jongwan’s acting and Sunggyu’s deadly power completely threw the meeting into chaos. One bemoaned his hopelessness, and the other continued to destroy the place. Soon thereafter, Sunggyu was successfully added back onto the list at the last minute. His name at the bottom of the list caused a panic the next morning.

“Hey, did you hear that the successor of Darkness is taking the test this year?”

“Huh? Who is the successor of Darkness? Never heard of him.”

“Oh god, have you been living under a rock? He’s the demon that destroyed the Power Mirror during the second test!”

“What?! He’s back? I thought the Gods agreed to take him off the list!”

“Well, I guess not Because he’s back on the list now! Look!”

“Oh goodness… Looks like climbing up the rank ladder is but a hopeless dream now.”

“I wonder what he’ll destroy this time.”

Sunggyu’s return to the list was the hottest topic that morning, and rumours spread like wildfire.

“Jiyeon unnie! Did you hear that?”

“Yeah…”

Jiyeon and Jieun had just arrived at the testing site, and even before they could see the list, the name ‘Sunggyu’ had already reached them.

*Heh, looks like my words worked after all.* Jieun had been worried when Sunggyu disappeared for a week after that picnic. Just when she had thought her plan failed, the name Sunggyu was being mentioned everywhere on the day of the test. Looking at her twin, Jieun could see Jiyeon secretly smiling to herself.

“Hello there.”

The two girls looked up to see a strange boy standing in front of them.

“It is my pleasure to meet you, the Queens.” The boy flashed them the sweetest smile ever and reached out his hand for a handshake. However, it was brutally refused when the girls simply stared at him with  wary looks.

“Please, ladies. No need to be so suspicious. My name is Haneul, the successor of Air. Pleased to meet you both.”

“Ah, the previous King?” Jieun responded. Haneul gave her a quick smile then immediately turned to Jiyeon.

“You are the older twin Jiyeon, the successor of Life, I suppose?” Haneul asked.

“…Indeed I am, Haneul-ssi.” Jiyeon nodded.

*Hmph! How dare you try to flirt with unnie in broad daylight?* Jieun frowned at the sight.

“As the Queen and King, won’t you honour me with your company?” Haneul asked with a gentlemanly manner, while his hand was reaching out towards Jiyeon.

When it seemed like he was about to grab her hand, suddenly a figure appeared between them, and Haneul was pushed back by a tremendous force.

“Who dares stand in my way?” Haneul shouted in anger. After getting back up with difficulty, he stomped his way towards the dark figure, forgetting to maintain his prince-like image. Standing before him was a boy with a cold expression. Haneul’s body froze with fear when he met the other’s eyes.

“Haneul! Y-You should back off. That’s the successor of Darkness!” a friend of his fearfully whispered in Haneul’s ear. During the second test, he had been one of the next in line after Sunggyu during the ‘Power Mirror’ test. He had witnessed Sunggyu’s power firsthand. It was obvious that he would not have taken even the slightest chance of going up against Sunggyu.

“What? That’s him?” Haneul replied in surprise. He had meant to back off, but when he saw Jiyeon looking at Sunggyu from behind with evident adoration, his ego shot up. Taking another step, he stood face-to-face with Sunggyu.

*He can’t be that powerful. During that test, there must have been something wrong with the mirror. My power is already in the 9,000s. Let’s see what he can do.*

With a smirk, Haneul looked Sunggyu up and down. The latter was dressed in a sloppy black shirt that was torn up here and there. His pants were also covered with mud and dust.

“Ha,” Haneul scoffed. “After disappearing for a decade, now you’re back looking like garbage. How unsightly.”

It was then that the crowd in the background noticed Sunggyu’s ragged appearance. Soft giggles could be heard everywhere. Sunggyu had never cared about his appearance. Right before the test, he had had to go through the jungle without teleporting to find Jongwan a rare flower that lived deep inside the field of thorns. It was inevitable that his clothes would be torn and dirty. Neither his appearance nor the crowd’s scornful giggles bothered him at all. He was simply glad that Jiyeon had not been touched by the bastard before him. Other than that, nothing else mattered.

While Sunggyu was unfazed by the insult, Jieun and Jiyeon were extremely uncomfortable. Even though Sunggyu had always dressed plainly, he was especially unkempt today. In hopes of improving his image, Jiyeon tapped gently on Sunggyu’s shoulder.

“Oppa,” she called. The familiar term surprised everyone. Although the trio had always been together, not many people actually knew who Sunggyu was. Now that they knew who he was, it was a surprised that Jiyeon the Queen was so close to the Beast.

Sunggyu turned around to face Jiyeon, who was smiling at him. “Let’s get you cleaned up. You can’t go out there like this!”

Sunggyu frowned a little. Did his appearance embarrass Jiyeon? His heart felt a little tight. For the first time, he regretted not taking care of his appearance well enough.

“Don’t worry. Let me take care of this. Close your eyes.” Jiyeon chuckled. She could see the worry in Sunggyu’s eyes.

Without hesitation, Sunggyu obeyed her order. In that instant, he felt a cool sensation envelop his body, like he was floating in cool and relaxing water.

“All done!”

Sunggyu opened his eyes to see Jiyeon checking out his new clothes that she had created using a spell. Seeing her caring action, Sunggyu smiled unconsciously. Little did he know that that one smile stole many girls’ hearts in seconds. Jiyeon’s spell had turned his torn black shirt and shorts into a plain white shirt and stylish grey shorts. His long black hair was also styled off his forehead, exposing his cute facial features. With his smile as the final blow, any girl would be taken down on the spot. If he looked like this as a 10-year-old, imagine what he would look like at the Coronation Ceremony. All the girls began to think of ways to approach Sunggyu.

When she was satisfied with the results of her spell, Jiyeon finally looked up at his face. For a second, she froze when she saw a flash of his smile. Looking around, she realised that cleaning Sunggyu up was actually a bad idea, for she could see the other female successors looking at him in awe. However, she couldn’t just return Sunggyu to his previous shoddy appearance. All she could do now was hide her discomfort. After all, there was nothing going on between the two of them. With slight frustration, Jiyeon walked away from Sunggyu and hid behind Jieun, sulking.

“Children!” A loud voice could be heard from the top. Everyone looked up to see their Gods and Goddesses standing in a line before them.

“I hope you are all ready for the fourth test. As usual, please head to your designated field then move on to the next one as soon as you are done,” a Goddess instructed.

As everyone moved towards their testing ground, Sunggyu grabbed Jiyeon’s arm from behind.

“Jiyeon…” Sunggyu called her name in a soft voice. Without a word, Jiyeon stared at him, waiting for him to finish his sentence. However, her silence was making Sunggyu extremely nervous.

“Um… I have something to tell you.” Sunggyu’s voice became even quieter.

“Oppa? What did you say? I can’t hear you. It’s too loud.” Jiyeon took a step closer to hear better. But that one step sent Sunggyu’s heart racing at top speed.

With a burning face, Sunggyu took a deep breath, gathering all of his courage. He then leaned towards Jiyeon’s ear and whispered like it was a secret between the two of them, and only them.

“After I become the King today, may I ask you to grant me a wish?”

“Huh? What wish? What do you want?” Jiyeon asked in confusion, but Sunggyu simply stared at her in silence. Then he smiled and walked away to his testing ground, leaving Jiyeon behind at a loss.

“What’s with him…?” Jiyeon thought about his words. “Grant him a wish… Wait a minute, don’t tell me he’s going to—” Her face became bright red at the thought.

“Aishh, no way.” In denial, Jiyeon walked towards her testing ground with butterflies in her stomach.

“No way… right?” Sunggyu’s words were on replay inside Jieun’s head.

“Unnie? What’s wrong with you?” Jieun asked when she saw Jiyeon walking aimlessly.

“Hello? Unnie? You there?” Jieun waved her hand in front of Jiyeon’s eyes.

“Huh? Oh… It’s nothing!” Jiyeon laughed awkwardly.

“Alright… Well, focus! The test is about to begin. You don’t want to lose the Queen title!” Jieun nudged Jiyeon teasingly.

“You… Of course, I won’t lose to anyone!” Jiyeon retorted angrily.

“Haha. Alright. Alright—” Jieun’s words were cut short with the announcement.

“Without further ado, let us begin!”

The twins looked each other in the eye and smiled. “Let’s do this!”

⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰

SURPRISE! DOUBLE UPDATE! 

I was debating whether or not to upload the second part of the chapter as well since it will be awhile until the next update since finals are coming up. But rather than keep you guys waiting, I decided to just go with it. But beware, please don't expect anything from me until at least December :)

Last but not least, Happy Birthday SunggyuloveWoohyun :3 

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