Introducing... Crown Prince Sungyeol of Sseungdo! A handsome prince who knows nothing beyond royalty and wealth.
His younger brother, Prince Sungjong, is here, too. Mostly to help Prince Sungyeol keep his calm and cool about things.
Also because Prince Sungjong needs to be there for when he has to eliminate Sungyeol to get rights to the throne. smh.

warning(s): sort of douchey and shallow sungyeol; an angry dongwoo; a subtly fratricidal sungjong; brief appearance of woohyun.

sorry to keep you waiting! but wow. it's been two weeks since we updated this fic, and this is only the first chapter. augh. there were so many things i wanted to include in this chapter and, though i know it would have been better to leave some details onto future chapters, i decided 'bleh' and this happened. now, i wanted to actually get into writing the princes' arrival to south korea and their struggles as children of the current ruling royal couple, but i also decided that that was too 'bleh'. this chapter is a whole lot of 'bleh'. but a bad 'bleh', probably. i was just too scatter-brained, and brain sister was busy. ;n; oh well. the chapter's here, now. please enjoy it, anyway. ;u;

[Chapter I] Welcome to Korea, Your Highnesses!
In which Prince Sungyeol learns what an apartment is and meets a quirky stranger.

 

Howon didn't live in a palace anymore, that much Sungyeol knew. He would have thought that his brother was classy enough to make a home out of a luxurious place: an enormous mansion, a manor, a chateau, his own little island resort, a villa, maybe even a large farmland that he could be proud of. Just something the elder could show to his brothers, to his people, to tell them that his leave was worth all the trouble of abdication and leaving the country.

Sungyeol didn't expect to be brought to a building. It was a sizable building that looked nice and modern from the outside, sure, but he was informed that this type of building housed many families at a time, in what people called an apartment.

“You've got to be kidding me,” the prince sighs in exasperation.

“He did say he's living humbly,” Sungyeol turns to look at the other prince, his younger brother and secondary heir should he give up his title as well, Lee Sungjong. The younger man looks up at the structure with his arms crossed and his lips tight in a line, “I never expected him to live this humbly.”

“Why couldn't he have sent us a warning through those letters he sent you!?” Sungyeol whines, and his face scrunches up in displeasure. Sungjong stares at him blankly and with a cocked brow. Sungyeol didn't like that expression at all, and the young prince knew it well, but that didn't stop Sungjong from looking at his brother like he was some sort of idiot, “What are we supposed to tell our father when we get back? He abdicated to live in a small room, in a noisy neighbourhood?”

“He says he and his wife own this building,” Sungjong tells him.

“He might just be saying that!” Sungyeol tries, “Would you believe him so blindly!?”

“I'm not blindly believing him, I'm just believing him,” Sungjong rolls his eyes and, though it was not of princely behavior, Sungyeol felt the need to smack his brother upside the head with a flat hand for lacking proper manners, “Anyway, we won't know unless we go in there and check.”

“How do we even know where he and his wife are living? You said the rooms contain many different people or families,” Sungyeol huffs.

“He said their apartment number is 518, so we should start from there.”

“Apartment,” Sungyeol breathes out and his voice cracks a little, “Apartment.”

“Will you stop whining and come with me, already?”

They enter the building, their four guardsmen on their tail, and maybe they catch the eyes of the tenants who just so happen to be down the halls. They ride an elevator to the fifth floor, where the apartment their brother and their sister-in-law should be living in, but when they arrive there, they don't get a response—be it from knocking or from ringing the bell. They tried to ring and knock over and over, though they knew it was pointless.

There was nobody home.

An old lady who lives in the same floor approaches them to ask them what they were there for. She seemed not to recognize the two of them, much to Sungjong's dismay, but he remembers that that's not what's important, right now. And because Sungyeol was busy grinding out profanities from under his breath, Sungjong is the one who tells the kind old lady that they were there to meet with a man and his wife—the owners of the building.

“Omo! But they're not home, dear,” she tells them with a frown, “You've got the right address, but during this time of day, they're both off at work.”

“Work?” Sungyeol finally turns around to meet her gaze, “What do you mean work? They don't work from here? They don't do work in their own home?”

“Of course not,” the ahjumma tells him with a dismissive wave of her hand, “Their workplaces aren't that far from here, though. Just a few blocks away. One of them, the older one, runs a nice and homely little seafood restaurant that the husband bought. The younger one, on the other hand, works at his own dojang. I wouldn't recommend going to the dojang right away, though, since they won't let just anyone in. But you should be able to get to the restaurant easily, if you really need to see one or both of them.”

“What.”

“Shut up, hyung,” Sungjong shushes his brother, turning back to look at the older woman with a gentle smile that Sungyeol knows is just for show, “Lady, could you maybe give us the address? We're not from around here, so we wouldn't really know where to look.”

The older woman smiles back at him and speaks of an address. One of the four guardsmen take note of it and usher their dumbfounded crown prince out of the building, Sungjong taking a moment to personally thank the old lady and shake her hand before he's being escorted out as well.

Their chauffeur drives them to a charming and welcoming little restaurant, the same one that the old lady from the apartment complex had told them to go to, and looking at it makes Sungyeol anxious. On one hand, he could be meeting his brother—who he's absolutely furious with, by the way—but another means that he would be meeting his brother's spouse. His wife.

Sungyeol doesn't know how to feel about his in-law. On one hand, Howon loves her enough to abandon his duties and his people, so that must mean a lot and say a lot about how she is. On another hand, she caused him to abandon his people and abdicate the throne, and that could also mean something and say something about what type of person she is. It was one or the other.

“I'm going to scold her,” he says.

Sungjong quirks a brow and huffs, arms crossing over his chest, “Why? What did she ever do to you?”

“She caused this,” he says with a frantic wave of his arms, “That's what his letters said, right!? He left because he met his wife and he wanted to live with her. Plain and simple.”

“You're being very bitter about nothing,” Sungjong says with an exasperated sigh and a roll of his big eyes, “You know what? I'd be more than happy to take the place of crown prince and become the king of the nation, someday. Consider yourself lucky to even be given that honour. An honour that you are totally wasting away, by the way.”

“You're just saying that.”

“I'll smother you with a pillow in your sleep. That's how serious I am.”

“That would be an act of high treason, but fine. I understand how serious you are now.”

“I'll do it. I swear.”

“It's either our older brother or his wife that's in there. It doesn't matter who it is that we meet up with, they are going to get the scolding of a lifetime and then I will do whatever it takes to get Howon to take his title back,” the crown prince takes in a deep breath, “Whatever happens to them as a married couple, I don't care. As long as Howon comes back to take care of what he really should be taking care of right now.”

“Bit harsh,” Sungjong tuts, “But I'm here for peacekeeping, so why not?”

When Sungyeol signs his readiness, one of the four other men riding with him and his brother move to open the door for the two princes. They're carefully brought out by their guards, surrounded by them as they walk up to the entrance of the restaurant. When they're about to enter, Sungyeol holds up a hand to stop them from coming in with him and his brother.

“This confrontation is personal,” the crown prince begins with pursed lips and a hard stare, “I wish for you all to stay behind and wait for a signal to come in.”

“Of course, Your Highness,” the four men echo.

Sungjong snorts, “And if the almighty and capable crown prince is in need of help, your warning is his shrill dolphin-like shrieks. Take note of that.”

“Shut up, Prince Sungjong,” is what Sungyeol says before the door is held open for him.

Despite the two princes' regal appearance and undeniably expensive military-like attire, the people dining at the restaurant they find themselves in don't pay them any attention. The diners, themselves all part of the common people, are engrossed in the food they're consuming and their interpersonal obligations of conversation. The very fact that they're being ignored hurts the princes' pride.

“Omo!” They suddenly hear from the opposite side of the room, “Omo, omo, omo!”

“What—does that mean something?” Sungyeol turns to eye his brother. Sungjong, in turn, shrugs at the elder prince and mouths an 'I Don't Know' in his way. Sungyeol's lips twitch and he looks up to see someone staring at them with a wide smile and glittery eyes. It makes Sungyeol smirk a little bit; perhaps they were recognized?

“Omo!” The man that's been jumping behind the counter in excitement—it's obvious that that is how he's feeling, isn't it?—utters once more before he's scrambling to properly get on his two feet, then quickly making his way to the brothers. Part of Sungyeol regrets making their guards wait for them outside but, upon seeing the stranger's petit stature, Sungyeol decides that it's probably okay to be mauled by such a small guy, “Welcome!” He says brightly.

Sungyeol sputters in surprise, and maybe a little disappointment, but Sungjong deals with the man's greeting a bit more properly: “Hello. You have a nice place, here,” the younger prince begins with a soft tone of voice and a polite gesture. He's shaking the small man's hand, the other holding a little tighter than he is, “From your reaction to seeing us, I suppose you know who we are?”

“Yes! Of course I do,” the stranger answers with a smile before whispering, “You're the two princes of the country of Sseungdo. This tall one is His Highness, the Crown Prince Sungyeol—and you're his younger brother, Prince Sungjong. I know a thing or two about royalty. That and you're dressed too nicely for a simple seafood restaurant.”

“Yes, quite,” Sungyeol clears his throat and an awkward silence drapes over them. The restaurant worker is still holding onto Sungjong's hand, still shaking it lightly, but it doesn't seem to bother the younger prince. They stand in place for maybe two minutes longer than they should've before the perky little stranger bounces on the balls of his feet.

“It would be an honour to serve the princes our food,” he tells them and it's all he needs to say to convince Sungyeol and Sungjong to sit down at a table—the little blond man even took the time to call over their guards and their chauffeur, which was oddly nice of him. When they're all seated, the bubbly individual comes back to them, “I'll have our