Chapter Text
Tomorrow. Tomorrow was the day everything is going to change. Just one more day till the plan takes place. Min Yoongi took another sip of alcohol. Everything was ready, nothing could possibly go wrong. Tomorrow, he will get what he spent years plotting for. It was because he had faith that everything would go smoothly tomorrow that he allowed himself to lower his guard and have some alcohol.
Yet, to just lay back and drink alcohol was not something Yoongi was used to. Old habits die hard. And Yoongi had the habit of being cautious every single second.
The man placed the bottle on the table and stood with his sword in hand. As soon as he opened the doors, two men in black appeared and kneeled in front of him. Sunlight pooled into the room, making Yoongi raise his hand to block out the sunlight. The light blinded Yoongi for a moment, but he didn’t seem to mind. Instead, his eyes were closed as if he was enjoying a moment. The sun was shining brightly today.
“Do not follow me,” Yoongi ordered the trained warriors who were responsible for Yoongi’s safety. Who was Yoongi to need warriors protecting him? Well, let’s just say he had enough power to order those warriors around. And he needed them to protect himself, not because he was weak, but because his true identity was too special.
So what was such a powerful man doing, walking around the village without a single guard?
In the village, everything was as usual. Shops were open, villagers were buying things, none of them knew what was about to happen. Yoongi then bumped into someone. From the corner of his eye, he saw the man he bumped into was carrying a long fishing pole. The man gave him a questioning glance. Yoongi didn’t bother to apologize.
“Hey! Why’d you stop in the middle of the road?!”
“Don’t blame me!”
“You want to fight, huh?!”
Yoongi could hear that a fight broke out behind him. The fishing pole probably knocked someone else when the man stopped walking. Of course, Yoongi could go back and explain the situation, but he didn’t. If there was one thing he learned from the past years, it was that there was no need to save every single innocent life he came across. Not if it didn’t benefit him. Yoongi walked on.
After an hour, Yoongi returned home and whistled. In a matter of seconds, ten men in black appeared in front of him. None of the warriors knew why did their master suddenly decided to take a stroll, but everyone knew that there was going to be a change of plan the moment they heard the whistle.
“Change of plan, we act tonight. Inform our men, finish gathering in an hour,” Yoongi unsheathed his sword, and a chorus of yes, master! could be heard. Yoongi took a few seconds to look, just look, at the ten men in front of him. These were the only people he trusted. How many of them would return alive after tonight? He was being impatient, he knew, but why should he wait any longer?
Tonight, blood shall spill.
---
Jung Hoseok stared as the sun disappeared behind the faraway mountains.
“Your Highness, it’s late,” Hoseok’s personal servant reminded without any means to rush his prince. Hoseok nodded and moved to return to his room. Along the way, he could hear the giggles of the female servants they passed by.
That’s the youngest prince, right?
He’s so handsome!!!
Do you think we’ll catch his eye?
Shh……
In response, Hoseok winked at them. It wasn’t that Hoseok was a narcissistic person, but he knew as a fact that he looked good. Out of the many princes, it was common knowledge that his visuals stood out the most. With just a single smile, he could convince the king to give him any treasure he wanted. Many would say that he was blessed, that he must be the king’s favorite.
That’s both true and false. He was indeed the king’s favorite son, but that was not a blessing. Instead, it was a curse. Why? Because his mother was no more than a beautiful maid that appeared at the ‘right’ time. With no strong background, such attention was dangerous. Also, his father was a creep. One would think that no matter how perverted a man was, he wouldn’t touch their own son’s butt.
The only thing Hoseok could do was pretend to be a irresponsible teenager running on hormones. He did everything he could to not meet the king alone. He’d say I’m not going to let the king talk me into wanting the throne. If someone was to ask what he thought about a certain general, he’d say he’s not as handsome as me. If someone was to ask what he thought about a certain decision made by the king, he’d say I don’t really care, you see. The first thing his mother taught him was to keep his opinions to himself. Never let them know what you truly think, and you will survive.
Of course, if one only wished to survive, one would never go far in the palace. But Hoseok never wanted to go anywhere in the first place. To him, slowly but surely, the palace was getting corrupted for the past ten years. Nowadays, everyone did things for their own benefit instead of the people. The people trusted the royals, and the royals used their trust to earn more money for themselves. Hoseok would rather die than become the head of such a place. All he wanted, was to survive.
How was Hoseok to know that everything he knew would change that night?
---
There was blood everywhere. Yoongi lost count of the number of men he has cut down with his sword tonight.
“This is treachery! You won’t get away with this!” The king shouted at Yoongi as Yoongi killed off the last soldier standing between them. “Just because you kill me, doesn’t mean you can get the throne! My subjects won’t follow you! My army will hunt you down!”
“Oh really? How do you think I entered the palace?” Yoongi could see the confusion on the King’s face. Ah, bet he didn’t expect survivors.
“Do you still remember the Min Clan?” Yoongi used his sleeve to wipe off the blood on his sword, enjoying himself as the realization hit the king. Seeing the blood drain from the king’s face made Yoongi smirk. “Most of the legendary generals from the past century belonged to the Min Clan. Just the mere presence of the Min Clan made the people feel safe. The army trusted and respected the Min Clan. Rumors had it that when the time comes, they would follow the Min Clan’s orders instead of yours. Hence, you felt unsafe.”
“Ten years ago, you felt that the Min Clan was too powerful. You listened to the baseless rumors. You decided to slaughter every single one of us. Those who objected were deemed treacherous while those who supported were given a pay rise. Just like that, Min Clan, who everyone knew was loyal to the royals, was erased from existence! I was only seventeen when you killed my entire family! I was only seventeen when revenge became the only thing I knew!” After that, Yoongi had to take a few deep breaths to calm himself down.
“You really think the army would do anything against me? The only survivor of the Min Clan?”
“Please, have mercy!” The king fell to the floor as he realized that he had no way out. Dragging his sword on the floor, Yoongi walked towards the man.
“Mercy?” Yoongi laughed like he heard the funniest joke, but instead of humor, his laugh was filled with pain. Back then, many had begged the king to have mercy on the Min Clan. If the king had showed a single sign of mercy, his family wouldn’t have been butchered. There had been so many other options. Perhaps his clan would no longer be allowed to interact with the army, perhaps his clan would be sent to the countryside, at least they would had been alive.
The king didn’t. One simple order, and teenager Min Yoongi was forced to mature overnight. Now, the king was begging him for mercy. How ironic.
Yoongi pierced his sword through the king’s throat. He had won. Everything was over. He pulled his sword back, the king’s blood splattered everywhere. Everything was over. A pool of blood formed as the king’s body fell. Everything was over. He had finally revenged his family.
“Master, they are here,” One of his men called out to him. Without the need to turn his back, he could imagine his army forcing a group of people in. They were the king’s concubines and children. He could hear his men forcing the royals to kneel.
Yoongi lifted his sword and rested it against his back before he turned around to meet the royals.
---
Hoseok was getting ready for bed when it happened. Shouts of pain came from outside his room, and when he opened the door to check out the situation, a sword was placed against his neck. He knew better than going against them, so he raised his hands to surrender. They then led him towards the main room where court meetings took place. Along the way, he saw all of his father’s concubines and his fellow brothers being forced there too.
After entering, the men kicked behind their knees to force them to kneel. When they looked up…
“Father!” Hoseok’s eldest brother, the crown prince, shouted out as they realized what just happened. While Hoseok didn’t like his father very much, he still felt his blood froze when he saw his father laying in a pool of blood. There was a man standing above his father’s body, blood still dripped from the sword, no doubt the murderer.
The man had his long blonde hair tied up into a high ponytail, and there was a scar running down his right eye. From the scar, Hoseok could tell that the wound had healed a long time ago. From the man’s eyes, Hoseok could tell that the man wasn’t new to killing. From the posture the man was standing, Hoseok could tell that they were next.
“Your father killed my family, and now, I shall return the favor,” The man smiled as if he didn’t just say he was about to slay the entire royal family. Some of the king’s concubines were already pleading him to spare their lives.
“Who are you?!” The crown prince struggled to get up. A futile attempt, the man holding him had a strong grip.
“The Jungs’ nightmare,” The man raised his chin, and the men in black around them unsheathed their blades. Adrenaline rushed through Hoseok’s body; this was bad, really bad. Without thinking it through, Hoseok spoke before he lost the chance to ever open his mouth again.
“Min Yoongi, his name is Min Yoongi!”
Hoseok had his eyes closed, but the pain didn’t reach him. When he slowly opened his eyes again, the man had his hand raised, signaling the others to wait. Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, his words got the man’s attention. His brothers were looking at him, eyes filled with confusion. The question didn’t have to be asked aloud: How did he know?
“The army betrayed Father for him, it shows that he is someone the army respected and loved,” Hoseok took a deep breath calm himself down before explaining to his brothers and the man. That was way too close to death for his liking. “The only family that had that much of power was the Min Clan.”
“Father ordered their execution ten years ago!” The crown prince exclaimed.
“Ya well, the person in charge of the Min Clan’s execution said that the heir’s body was never found,” Hoseok gulped as he felt the sword just behind his neck. One wrong word, and he’s gone. The man sheathed his sword and walked towards him. That was a good sign, right?
The man kneeled on one knee in front of Hoseok so that their eyes were at the same level. With a single wave from the man, and the blade behind his neck was gone. Definitely a good sign.
“You knew my name,” The man, now confirmed to be Min Yoongi, said. His eyes shone with interest.
“Of course I do,” Hoseok smirked in response, “The Min Clan was a respected family. Everyone praised your family for being loyal and brave. For one, your grandfather, Old General Min was known for being straightforward, voicing out opinions that no one else dared. He was one of the few people who were loyal to the country and not my father,”
“Your father killed my family!” Yoongi’s eyes suddenly darken. And the next thing Hoseok knew, there was a tight grip around his throat. Hoseok knew he was walking on thin ice, but it was his best bet.
“And what are you going to do about it?” Hoseok asked, “You’ve killed my father. Are you going to kill us next? Take the throne for yourself? Let the people know that the family they trusted betrayed their king?”
“The Min Clan’s execution was kept a secret from the people to prevent a riot. To them, the Min Clan is still protecting their land from somewhere far away. What will they think when they hear the new king is a Min? You know that it was my father who betrayed your family first, but the people don’t. Are you going to risk the name your family spent centuries building?”
When the other remained silent, or should he say, when the grip on his throat lightened, Hoseok lifted his hand to wrap it around the other’s wrist. Gently, he pulled the other’s hand away from his throat.
“Think carefully, Min Yoongi,” Hoseok knew that he was not ‘acting like himself’, but if he kept up the playboy act, the Jung bloodline was going to end. “Let us go, and this will be nothing more than an unfortunate event. My brother, the Crown Prince will inherit the throne. If you want, you can let him claim to have found you, and return what once belonged to your family.”
“Why should I trust you?” Yoongi asked
“You shouldn’t, I have next to no idea what am I suggesting,” Hoseok knew he had won the argument with Yoongi. He smiled his usual smile and used his usual playful voice to say: “Go ask around, you’ll realize all I care about is having fun. I don’t interfere with politics much, the idea just sounded good to me. Look at that, my brother is already glaring at me,”
In all honesty, Hoseok didn’t know if his brother would agree. If his brother said something along the lines of ‘I would rather die than help this betrayer,’ everything would be over.
Apparently, Yoongi didn’t care about the Crown Prince’s opinion as he announced:
“Very well. The king was assassinated tonight. Go through the procedures, you,” Yoongi turned towards his eldest brother, “Shall take over the throne. You had always disagreed with your father’s decision to kill my clan, hence you hid me for the past ten years. Now that you’re in charge, you are giving me the General’s post. Got it?”
“Don’t even try to use your power against me. My hands are already stained with blood, I don’t mind taking away another life,”
The second day, regardless of what happened in the palace, the sun was still shining brightly in the sky.