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The battle against White Star has victoriously ended a year ago. However, Lock still goes to Castle of Light every day ever since, either to train with Sheritt on his shield art or to spar with Choi Han.
“I will get stronger and stronger, so I can protect everyone and properly protect our family, our home, our village.”
That was what Lock told the wolf children when asked why he is still training so hard. Lock wants to be a proper Wolf King, and everyone understands his sentiment. However, sometimes they feel like their hyung worked too hard, just like a certain someone they all deeply admire. There have been countless nights where Lock ended up staying overnight at Castle of Light as he fell asleep the moment he hit on the couch in the castle.
The wolf children wanted their hyung to be able to relax and spend some quality time with them, and that was what triggered this ‘emergency huddle’ among the 10 wolf children 2 days before the new year.
“So, any idea on what we could do to help hyung relax?” Maes, the oldest of the 10, led the conversation.
“What about a house-warming party? Like the Molan's that we went to last month? But more like a secret welcome-home party for hyung?” Lupus, a 14 years old wolf child responded.
“Yeah! Hyung is barely home. We moved into Harris Village without hyung. And when he came for the first time, he only stayed for less than a day,” Canis, another 14 years old wolf child, replied.
“We can actually do it to celebrate the new year too! Like a new year's eve house-warming party!” Hawl excitedly added.
“Let’s do it!” Shouted all the remaining wolf children in unison.
“Now then, let’s plan this!” Maes took out his mini-notebook and started writing out ideas while discussing them with the others. “The Molan house-warming party had food, so that’s a must.”
“I can cook! Uncle Beacrox even praised me for my cooking skill!” Lupus exclaimed.
“Perfect! Lupus will lead the food piece then! We probably want to decorate our house too. Kay, could you lead that one?” Maes looked at Kay as he asked that question.
“Yes, Maes hyung.”
“By the way…” Hawl, who has only been nodding in agreement suddenly spoke up. “I think we should have someone to spy on hyung’s position and movement while we prepare everything. We don’t want hyung to accidentally find out about our surprise.”
“That’s true,” Maes nodded.
“And we shouldn’t let Choi Han-hyung know! He’s so bad at lying and acting!” Canis added, with all the other children agreeing verbally. Suddenly…
*BANG*
All the children were shocked and turned their heads to the source of that noise.
“*phew* It’s just the wind blowing the window.”
“I thought Lock hyung came back.”
“That was scary!”
The wolf children let out a huge relief as they didn’t see Lock around. Maes then continued moderating the huddle.
“Ok let’s continue our planning. We should lower our voice as we talk too. Since we’ve decided a role for you, Lupus, can you guard the door and give a signal if Lock hyung comes back? Just make a loud noise so we know.”
“Got it!”
Lupus then went outside the house to guard the door while the remaining wolf children finalized their plan. Once everyone finished their planning, Maes tore the page from his notebook and put it on the wall for all the children to see. The content is as follows:
House-warming/Welcome-home Party
" Must be a secret from hyung!!!”
When: New Year's eve
Activity leads:
- Food: Lupus
- Decoration: Kay
- Patrol: Maes
Other wolves will support Lupus, Kay, and Maes
“Does this look good? Everyone knows what they need to do?” Maes confirmed one last time and everyone nods in unison. “Good, let’s start moving!”
The next day, the wolf children were ready to start their move.
Cale (+Raon), Rosalyn, and Choi Han were staying over at Harris Village at that time to make sure that everything was going well before the new year. It was their last day staying there before going back to the Henituse house since Cale promised his family to spend the new year with them. The gang walked around the village, with Choi Han specifically looking for Lock as he had promised him a spar before the end of the year.
They met up with Lock, who somehow seemed to be lost in thought that day, and headed toward the training ground. As they were walking…
*One poke, two pokes*
Cale and Rosalyn suddenly felt someone poking their hands, which turned out to be done by Lupus and Maes, respectively. The wolf children put their index finger to their lips, signaling the two adults to follow them, silently. The two adults followed along, leaving Choi Han and Lock.
As they arrived at the training ground, Lock snapped out of his thoughts and realized that only himself and Choi Han were left, with Choi Han making an indescribable expression.
“Hyung, where are the others?”
“They left for a bit.”
“I see. By the way hyung, I have something to discuss…” Lock looked into Choi Han with a sad expression. “You know how I go to train with Sheritt-nim? I have been staying over there quite a lot these days because I got too tired to move after the training. I thought my siblings are used to it by now,” Lock paused for a bit. “But this morning, Hawl told me to not come home until new year's eve… Do you think they are mad at me?”
Seeing Lock having teary eyes, Choi Han immediately denied that strongly, “No Lock! They definitely aren’t mad at you!”
“Really? But then why did they tell me to stay at Sheritt-nim’s place until new year's eve?”
Choi Han paused for a bit. He could feel sweat running down his face as he thought about how to answer that, then responded.
“They definitely don’t hate you, don’t worry. Just do as they say. Let’s start sparring before the sun goes down, Lock!”
“I see. Yes! Thank you, hyung! I feel better after talking to you!”
Seeing Lock’s energetic response, Choi Han felt relieved. Very relieved.
Cale (+ Raon) and Rosalyn are now surrounded by 10 wolf children. Maes, representing the children, started speaking.
“Thank you for coming with us secretly, Young Master Cale and Rosalyn noona.”
“I am here too!” Raon suddenly appeared and replied.
“Yes, Raon-nim too,” Maes greeted Raon, before looking back at the 2 adults. “So, the reason why we wanted to talk to Young Master Cale and Rosalyn noona without Choi Han hyung is that we are planning to have a secret new year's eve house-warming and welcome-home party for Lock hyung. And to do that, we need your help.”
Maes paused for a bit to see the 2 adults’ reaction. Rosalyn smiled, very warmly, while Cale had his usual stoic expression. Seeing no rejection from their expressions, Maes continued.
“We’re planning to decorate the house and cook dinner for the party. Of course, we'll invite Young Master Cale, Rosalyn noona, and everyone. Kay has designed how the decoration would look like, while Lupus has decided on the menu. However, we don’t have the decoration materials and cooking ingredients. So we’re wondering if Young Master Cale could lend us some money so we can buy what we need. Of course, we will pa-”
“Aigoo, it seems like I completely forgot to give you an allowance. I’m sorry.”
The wolves had their eyes widened looking at Cale upon hearing his reply.
“It’s not Young Master Cale’s responsibility to give us an allowance! We’re already grateful that you let us stay in this village without paying anything!”
“I took you in, so it’s my responsibility. From now on, I’ll provide Gashan with your allowance that he’ll give you whenever you help him with anything as your reward, so work hard.”
The wolf children's eyes brightened at the word ‘reward’. Cale pet each of the 10 children’s heads while showering them with a warm smile as he continued speaking.
“As for this party, I’ll buy you all the decoration and cooking ingredients. I suggest that you also buy some ready-made food since a lot of people will come and celebrate your house-warming. Make sure that it’ll be a great party.”
The wolf children took a while to process all the information they just heard before Maes responded with his sparkly eyes.
“YES! We’ll make sure it will be amazing! Thank you very much, Young Master Cale!”
Maes now turned his sparkly eyes towards Rosalyn.
“And Rosalyn noona, could we get your help to teleport Lupus, Canis, Kay, and Hawl to the marketplace?”
Rosalyn smiled warmly and confidently responded, “Of course! You’ll probably need my help to teleport you and your shopping back as well, right?”
Maes shyly answered, “Yes. Thank you very much, Rosalyn noona!”
All the wolf children smiled brightly after successfully conveying their thoughts. Cale then broke the silence and said, “Shall we head out then? Better go before the sun sets. Raon, go tell Choi Han-”
“YOUNG MASTER CALE, PLEASE DON’T TELL CHOI HAN HYUNG!”, Canis accidentally shouted out loud.
Cale was dumbfounded while the other wolf children covered Canis’ mouth, just in case Lock was nearby. Maes then explained.
“We know how bad Choi Han hyung is at acting, so we think it’s better if he doesn’t know so he doesn’t have to lie. But of course, please invite him along tomorrow when you come, Young Master Cale!”
The 3 non-wolf beings nodded in silence, totally agreeing with the wolves’ statement and suggestion.
“Okay then, Raon, please tell Choi Han that we will be going back first and it’s up to him whether he wants to stay here or come back to the Henituse house.”
“Leave it to this great and mighty Raon Miru, human! I feel a tiiiiiny bit sorry for Choi Han but I understand!”
Raon then delivered the message to Choi Han’s head and entered the carriage with Cale. Rosalyn and 5 wolf children teleported to the marketplace, while Maes and the remaining 5 children walked around the village, inviting everyone to the house-warming party the next night. Once the 5 wolf children returned, they started doing the designated task:
- Lupus started cooking with 3 others
- Kay started decorating the house with 3 others
- Canis being on standby at the entrance to Harris village from Forest of Darkness
- Maes guarding the front door to ensure that Lock is not nearby
Cale, Choi Han, Rosalyn, and Raon visited Harris village again the next day after lunch. As they arrived, Cale asked Choi Han to find Lock, train with him, and return to the village together by 7PM. Cale has prepared all possible excuses as to why they were back to Harris Village the day after they left or why Cale specifically said that they have to be back to the village by 7PM, but surprisingly, no question was asked. Cale decided to brush it off and went to check on the wolf children.
Maes, who was patrolling in front of the house, gave a thorough report to the gang while walking them around.
“Welcome, Young Master Cale! The preparation is going smoothly! We put that confetti ball by the entrance and are planning to crack the ball as Lock hyung enters. And there, Kay and the others are now decorating the wall with lights.”
Maes then guided them to the fully-decorated dining hall. “There are 2 long tables and 1 short table. We’ve organized the pre-made cookies and fruits we bought yesterday on the long dessert table. Lupus and the other are going to cook and their cooking will be displayed on the long main dish table. They said that they’ll need at most 4 more hours to get all the food done, so we’ll finish before 7PM! And finally, that small table is going to be the drink counter. We’ve put all the drinks and cups there! Oh also, we invited all the guests to come at 7:15PM and told them to not come before because we want to surprise Lock hyung!”
Cale had a proud smile on his smile after hearing Maes' report and observing the wolf children’s preparation. Their planning was very well-thought. The decoration was very simple yet eye-catching, which was very appropriate considering the little time they have. They decorated the main location, the dining hall, first so that all the ready food could be placed there without disrupting the decoration process. The tables are properly-distanced, and the food and drink are well-sectioned to avoid traffic. They have also done well in the food selection, taking into account the cooking duration and the time they have. Even the details on inviting the guests in on the right timing, not making them wait and not ruining the surprise.
‘They grew up very well,’ he thought.
Cale clapped his hands once and said, “Very good, everything is progressing smoothly. I’ve told Choi Han to grab Lock here by 7PM, so make sure everything is ready.”
“YES!” Shouted the children energetically.
Lock had just finished his training regime from Sheritt when Choi Han arrived at Castle of Light. He was resting on the grass under the tree and Choi Han invited himself over sitting next to him. Lock then broke the silence.
“Hyung, I’m going home tonight and it’s new year's eve. Do you think I should go home earlier and spend more time with my siblings?”
Choi Han slightly flinched, very slightly that Lock found it negligible, before he replied.
“Let’s aim to arrive there at 7PM.”
“Why 7PM?”
Choi Han, again, felt cold sweats running through his face. He then replied, “Let’s spar so you can eat a lot tonight.”
Lock was confused, but since his hyung invited him for a spar, he happily agreed. They then sparred, and rested, and sparred, and rested, for 3 hours, until the sun started setting and Choi Han heard Raon’s voice in his head.
‘Choi Han! Come over now! Also, Lock should enter the house first! Don’t ask any questions!’
“Let’s go,” Choi Han said, and Lock agreed. They then head back to Harris Village.
Canis saw the 2 walking towards the village. He then ran to the dark house, as the lights were all turned off, and entered from the back door while quietly whispering, “They are here!”
All the wolf children stared at the door quietly, waiting for a tall blue-haired figure to enter.
“Eh? It’s so dark… maybe they have slept?” Lock commented while opening the door, and…
*jingle jingle, pack pack*
The door opened and the golden ball stationed above the door cracked and showered down confetti over Lock. Maes then silently turned on the decorative lights, and the first thing Lock saw through the darkness are lights shaped against the wall into the ‘Welcome Home, Lock Hyung’.
“Welcome home, Lock hyung!!” All the wolf children said in unison.
Lock took a moment to register what happened. He looked around the decorated living room, the confetti falling from the golden ball, and the smiles on his siblings’ faces. It finally registered to him that his siblings were doing this specifically for him, especially because he was barely home with them. Lock’s eyes turned teary as Maes started speaking.
“We know that Lock hyung is working hard for us. But we also want hyung to take care of yourself and relax. So we decided to throw a party tonight!”
Lock walked into the house and hugged all his siblings together - yes, his arms are long enough to hug all the 10 at once. He was about to express his gratitude but suddenly…
“MAES!! We should clean the confetti so others can walk in easily now! They’re coming in 10mins!” Kay shouted, and at that cue, all the wolf children started sweeping the confetti on the floor and removed the golden ball from the door.
Right after they finished, several figures could be seen by the door.
“Hoo hoo, seems like we’re just in time for the house-warming party!” Gashan said with a smile.
“House-warming?” Lock asked, looking confused.
“Oh welcome, Mayor Gashan and everyone! Come on in! Also, yes hyung, let’s all go to the dining hall!” Maes invited all the guests at the door to the dining hall while pulling Lock’s hand. Choi Han, Cale, Rosalyn, Raon, and all the other villagers followed along.
Arriving at the dining hall, Lock was struck by yet another surprise. The decoration in the living room was done under the pretext of welcoming him home, but the one in the dining hall was completely done for the house-warming party.
“Congratulations! Hope you will live happily in this house.” Gashan said while handing the wolves a wood sculpture of all the 11 wolves.
Lock and the wolf children’s eyes brightly shone at the sculpture, looking very much like them. Hawl saw that Lock was still shocked. He secretly made an eye-contact with Maes and chimed in to melt the ice.
“Thank you very much, Mayor Gashan! And thank you for coming, everyone! Please enjoy the food here! We bought some of the food, but we cooked at least half of it! Hope they are to your liking!”
Lock snapped out of his thoughts and added, “Thank you very much for coming.”
All the guests then helped themselves and dug in, leaving only the wolves at the dining hall entrance. Lock looked down to the floor, with Canis suddenly commenting.
“Lock hyung, please don’t feel bad for not knowing or helping with the party. It’ll ruin all our effort.” Canis spoke blatantly, as if he could guess what thoughts were running through Lock’s mind.
Lock flinched and opened his mouth, yet Lupus added in before Lock got to speak.
“And don’t say that you have to do everything because you’re the oldest! Just look at that speech just now, it was Hawl who gave the welcome speech, not you, not Maes hyung, not Canis, not me, but someone younger than the 4 of us. If you’re feeling bad, the 3 of us have to be punished too.”
“Not everyone is good at speech, Lock hyung. But in terms of strength, you’re the best among us!” Canis added.
“You also fought so well during the war to protect a lot of people! We're very proud to have you as our hyung,” even Kay, who is usually quiet, chimed in.
“So hyung, please don’t feel bad. We do this because we want you to relax. If you could enjoy this whole party wholeheartedly and happily, we’ll be very happy!” Maes concluded while smiling brightly, along with the other wolf children.
Lock looked at them with teary eyes before hugging them all tightly and whispered softly, “Thank you! Thank you very much! I’m very happy! I will do my best, but I’ll make sure to spend more time with all of you too from now on,” All of them then smiled together in response.
“Now let’s eat! Let’s start with Chef Lupus’ forte!!” Lupus proudly acclaimed and pointed at his best dish, and off they went.
Cale was thinking to himself, ‘If we have a camera in this world, that would make a good shot,’ while smiling warmly.
All the food was wiped out and now everyone has left, leaving only Cale, Rosalyn, Raon, Choi Han, and the wolves. Cale then walked towards the wolves, took something out of his spatial pocket, and handed them to each of the 11 wolves.
“House-warming gift. It’s a spatial bag for you to store anything you want, like if you go into the forest and collect wood, or if you go shopping at the market. Use it well. And also, here’s one gold coin for each of you. You’ve all worked hard.”
Cale then patted all the wolf children’s heads, and once he looked at Lock, he told him to squat so that he could pet him.
“Thank you, Young Master Cale!” All the wolves said in unison.
Raon then chimed in, “Hey! I also have a gift!” He took out his gift and put one on everyone’s hand. “Since you will be getting an allowance from now on, I’m giving everyone a wolfy bank! Can’t call it a piggy bank when it’s wolf-shaped, and you are all wolves! Also, I made this myself with magic so you can store as maaaaany coins as you want! Let me know if you want any tips on how to earn and save coins! I’ve been saving for 3 years so I’m an expert now!”
“Thank you, Raon-nim!” All the wolves said in unison.
Rosalyn chuckled seeing how this 7 years old dragon tried to teach the at-least-9-years-old wolves but let it slide since it was a heartwarming view. She then took out her gift and handed them to the wolves.
“This is from me. It’s a mini communication device. Very small and practical, right? Only of the size of a pearl. You can put this on your ears and communicate through audio-only as you walk or do other stuffs. And if you press this button, it will turn into the size of a ball it produces both video and audio! With this, you can communicate with Lock more often, even when he’s at the Castle of Light. Oh also! This is fueled by the sun, so you don’t need magic for it to function. Just make sure that you put it under the sunlight as often as possible for it to collect more energy.”
“Thank you, Rosalyn noona!” All the wolves said in unison.
Cale looked shocked at the communication device before looking at Choi Han, who was also looking at him. He then quietly whispered, “Rosalyn actually invented solar power here and merged it with magic, what the hell?” Choi Han chuckled at Cale’s remark then nodded.
Cale, Raon, and Rosalyn have given their gifts. Usually it’d be expected that Choi Han would give something as well. However, the wolf children kept this whole thing a secret from him, and they now kind of felt bad that Choi Han was left out… or so they thought.
“I also have a gift.” Choi Han said, with Lock’s sparkly eyes and everyone else’s shocked eyes directed at him. Choi Han then put his gift to each of the wolves’ hands, looking embarrassed.
“It’s a small multi-functional dagger-set. There are 3 types of daggers, each for its own function: cooking, hunting, and cutting woo. So you can just carry one dagger anytime.”
“Thank you, Choi Han hyung!” Lock said excitedly, but then got confused that the dumbfounded others. There was a good 10 seconds of silence until Cale spoke.
“You… knew?”
Choi Han just smiled shyly while scratching his cheeks.
All the wolf children apologized one after another making Choi Han panicked. He looked towards Cale and Rosalyn asking for help, yet what he found was the 2 red-haired figures + one dragon trying their best hiding their laughter.
It was a great night. Happy New Year Eve!
Choi Han’s behind the scene, what actually happened
The day the wolf children had their ‘emergency huddle’, Choi Han was sitting under the tree close to the wolf children’s house. The window was slightly open so he could hear their conversation.
“What about a house-warming party?”
His ears perked and he decided to go crawl to the window to listen. He felt warm listening to the whole planning until he heard Canis’ comment.
“We shouldn’t let Choi Han-hyung know! He’s so bad at lying and acting!”
And to think that everyone agreed, Choi Han was gonna bump his head to the wall but ended up hitting the edge of the slightly open window and closing it. Choi Han thought he was found out but still decided to lay very low so that they couldn’t see him unless they went to the window and looked down. Thankfully, they didn’t. From that moment on, Choi Han made a resolve internally: he would pretend not to know and avoid this topic at. all. cost. Imagine a children's surprise party being ruined by an old man... that would be a no.
Unfortunately for him, this topic was brought up thrice, and even worse, by Lock himself. When Cale and Rosalyn disappeared, there was no way this sword master didn’t notice the presence of the wolf children. When Lock asked whether his siblings were mad, and when Lock asked why they should be back by 7PM, he couldn’t answer honestly. He thought, very hard, on what reply he should give to not expose his crappy acting.
‘If I can’t lie, I just don’t have to lie,’ he thought to himself, though easier said than done. Cold sweat fell along his face as he thought how to reply, and as expected of a swordmaster, the first thing that came to his mind was something along the lines of “Let’s spar”.
Unideal as it is, it worked for Lock all the time. And that’s how Choi Han avoided the crisis and managed to shop the dagger from the market the night before he returned to Henituse house.