Chapter Text
“You’re trapped,” Beomgyu declares triumphantly, his sword held against Yeonjun’s throat. A bead of sweat rolls down from his temple. “There’s nowhere you can run away now.”
Instead of being intimidated, Yeonjun laughs, clutching his stomach and the dagger slightly moves against his throat.
Beomgyu raises a brow and before he can comprehend it, his sword is tossed away and he's turned around with a sword now at his throat.
“I don’t need to run away.” Yeonjun whispers with a smirk, panting heavily.
“Boys!” A voice suddenly interrupts them as Lady Soyoung, Beomgyu’s mother, walks up to them with a loving smile on her face. “You should come and eat now.”
Beomgyu groans and falls dramatically to the ground, causing the soil around him to fly away.
“Eomeoni! Beomgyu lost against me again!” Yeonjun exclaims and rushes up to her, hugging her tightly. Soyoung doesn’t seem to mind that he’s covered in mud and is sweating as she pats his back tenderly. “Really? That’s great!”
Yeonjun had lost his parents when he was only 11 and he has been living with his best friend Beomgyu’s family since then. Beomgyu’s father, a noble, was initially hesitant about keeping Yeonjun with them, but Soyoung somehow managed to persuade him. They treated him as if he were their own son, despite the fact that he was the son of poor lower-class parents.
Beomgyu stares at them for a while from the ground before finally getting up and running towards them to join the hug.
Snap.
Beomgyu blinks and scans his surroundings, only to find himself in the middle of a bustling market. He notices that, unlike before, he is now dressed in a much cleaner white robe and isn’t covered in mud and sweat.
“Beomgyu! Let’s go.” He’s snaps out of his thoughts when he feels Yeonjun grab his arm and tug him towards a stall. They arrive at a vendor with a variety of ancient vases for sale. Beomgyu marvels at them in astonishment, negotiating the price with the seller so that he could buy one for his mother. He was well aware how much his mother loved vases, since she possessed a collection of them in their home.
Yeonjun taps his shoulder to gain his attention and Beomgyu hums in response, his gaze fixed at the vases. “I wanted to buy a mirror for myself. I’ll be right there, okay?” Beomgyu glances at him with a smile and nods. “Be careful.”
Yeonjun walks further into the back alley, which is relatively vacant compared to the market's main area, in search of the mirror vendor. He finally spots the seller from afar, and his eyes light up as he sprints towards it, oblivious to the man approaching him.
He suddenly feels his head collide into a hard surface as he groans and falls down because of the impact.
He lifts his gaze to the man he just bumped into, who is dressed in an expensive silk robe, a waist belt, and a crown with strings of beads hanging from the front and back. The man's attire was enough for Yeonjun to conclude that he was from a wealthy upper class, and he immediately pulls out his sword.
People from higher classes approached him very often just to hurt him simply because he was a lower class orphan but as time passed by Yeonjun had learnt how to defend himself.
“Who are you?” Yeonjun yells, his voice wavering slightly as he points his sword at him. The man seems unfazed though as he smiles at him in amusement and Yeonjun notices the dimples on his cheek from behind the strings of beads. “You don’t know me?” He asks as he crouches in front of Yeonjun who doesn’t lower his sword yet and stares at him suspiciously.
“Am I supposed to know who you are just because you’re a wealthy upper class man?” Yeonjun scoffs, rolling his eyes and he sees the man’s smile grow wider.
“Yeonjun!” He is interrupted by a familiar voice, and he turns to see Beomgyu looking at him with visible concern in his eyes. “Are you o–” He watches Beomgyu’s steps come to a halt as he stares at the man in front of him, his eyes widening in surprise.
“His Royal Highness!” Beomgyu exclaims, bowing a full ninety degrees, and Yeonjun drops his blade in shock.
The Crown Prince stands up and Beomgyu falls on his knees in front of him. “P-please forgive him. I’m sorry. He- He didn’t know. This won't happen again. Please.” Beomgyu pleads with his hands joined as Yeonjun stares at the two of them in disbelief.
“It’s… It’s alright. Don’t worry about it! It’s partly my fault too for scaring him like that.” The Crown Prince replies understandingly, waving his hands at Beomgyu, who looks up at him with a grateful smile. “Thank you so much, His Royal Highness! Thank you! I’m so grateful to you.”
Yeonjun finally awakens from his daze and gets up from the ground to bow to the Crown Prince. “I- I’m sorry. And thank you. And sorry. I…” The Crown Prince chuckles warmly as Yeonjun stutters on his words.
“It’s okay.” He steps away from the two of them. “I hope we meet again someday.” With that, he turns around and walks away, and Yeonjun breathes a sigh of relief as he falls to the ground.
“Hyung, no offense, but are you stupid?” He yells in exasperation. “It’s a nice thing His Royal Highness is a nice person or he could have you beheaded for treason!”
Yeonjun averts his gaze, fiddling with his fingers. “It’s just…” Beomgyu whispers, his voice more softer now, as he wraps his arm around Yeonjun with teary eyes “I can’t lose you.”
Yeonjun feels the tears fill up in his eyes as well as he pats Beomgyu’s back gently. “I’m sorry.”
Beomgyu breaks the hug and wipes his tears away before tilting his head at Yeonjun. “Why would you even threaten His Royal Highness with a sword?”
“How was I supposed to know it was him?” Yeonjun pouts.
“The number of strings hanging from his crown were eight.” Beomgyu retorts plainly.
“Was I supposed to ask him to wait for a minute so that I could count the number of strings in his crown?” Yeonjun grumbles. “I was afraid that it was a wealthy upper class man trying to harm me so I didn't even realize that.”
Beomgyu gazes at him sadly and nods. “It’s okay. And besides you always have me by your side to protect you right?” He grins.
“I’m better than you in sword fighting. How will you protect me?” Yeonjun counters and snickers as Beomgyu gasps, offended.
They continue to argue and bicker as the sun slowly sinks below the horizon and the ephemeral colors of twilight begin to fade away.
Snap.
Beomgyu stares at his house's ceiling in a haze. It’s weird, he thinks. He has been losing memories, hearing strange noises and abruptly teleporting. He doesn’t understand why or what is happening to him these days. Could he be suffering from a life-threatening disease? Is he going to die? Or is he going insane?
“Beomgyu.” His thoughts come to a stop when he hears Yeonjun from beside him. He thinks it’s interesting that Yeonjun is always the one to snap him out of his trance. Beomgyu hums and rolls over to face Yeonjun, who is already gazing at him, his eyes illuminated by the moon's pale light.
“His Royal Highness…” He trails off, deep in contemplation. “He seems like a nice person.”
“I guess so.”
“Maybe not all upper class people are bad.” Yeonjun sighs, closing his eyes tightly.
“Maybe.”
They don’t say anything to each other after that, allowing the silence of the night to lull them to sleep.
When Beomgyu wakes up the next morning, rubbing his bleary eyes, he finds Yeonjun still fast asleep and decides that now is the best moment to find out what was happening with him. He was terrified; he didn't want to die because he was still very young and hadn’t even met the person he loved, but he felt that it would be better to find out whether he was dying sooner rather than later so that he could enjoy his final moments.
Beomgyu steps out of his house and is greeted by the soft and tender light of the break of dawn. The early breeze refreshes him as it caresses his skin. He could hear the sound of the birds singing and the flurry of early morning activities.
“Where are you going?” He hears his mother ask as she walks up to him. “Just a morning walk, I guess.” He lies, not wanting to worry his mother.
“My son is all grown up,” She says, stroking his hair affectionately. “You always troubled me a lot by not waking up early but look at you now.”
Beomgyu merely laughs and finally leaves his home, wandering around aimlessly. He really didn’t know where to go. Should he visit a physician? He didn’t want to see a physician because he was afraid that word would travel quickly and that his father and the Choi clan would be affected. He didn’t want to be such a bother to everyone.
After much consideration, he ultimately decided to visit the Royal Library. Perhaps he can find a few medical books that will help him in determining what is wrong with him.
Beomgyu wanders between the massive shelves, peering up at them, perplexed. He had easy access to the Royal Library, thanks to his noble parents, yet he never really visited this place. He had no idea where to look for the book he needed and ended up standing in the middle, idly.
He walks up to a table kept at an isolated corner of the room where a single book was kept. Beomgyu was a naturally curious person, and he became intrigued by the book, picking it up and staring at it.
The book’s cover was light blue, like the night sky, and featured a huge glowing moon and a tree with lanterns hung from it. At the corner, there were blue and white flowers emitting light. What piqued his interest the most was the red heart in the center, with long pendant ropes of red flowers emerging from it. He reads the name of the book engraved in white color.
moonflower (love lies bleeding)
Beomgyu completely forgets the reason why he was even there in the first place as he flips to the first page. But before he could even begin to read, a white light flashes in his eyes and a sharp ache in his head makes him drop the book from his hands. He freezes as images of Yeonjun and him standing in the middle of the market deciding which mirror to buy flash through his head.
When his vision normalises, Beomgyu gasps and takes a step back, almost stumbling and falling down.
He turns around and rushes out of the library; he doesn’t know why but he has this feeling to get out of there immediately. In a hurry he clashes into someone and stumbles back as the other person drops their book.
“My- My apologies!” He crouches to pick up the book, panicking, but he freezes as he spots the familiar cover. The tall man grabs the book by himself and smiles before turning around and walking away.
Beomgyu has chills all over his body because the tall mysterious man was holding the same strange book that Beomgyu had just seen. Moonflower.
He turns back to see if the book is still on the table, but it had somehow vanished on it’s own.
Beomgyu’s eyes widen as he realizes there is something going on and that tall mysterious man might be the only person who could give him answers. He chases after the man and finds him enter the royal kitchen.
“Excuse me!” Beomgyu yells and dashes to the kitchen to speak with him, but…
Snap.
Beomgyu blinks in surprise as he observes his surroundings. He’s in the middle of the market with Yeonjun in front of a mirror vendor. It’s the exact same thing he saw when he touched the book earlier. How did he end up here? He was outside the royal kitchen.
“This one looks lovely, doesn’t it?” Yeonjun asks, showing him a pearl compact mirror.
“Oh, it is.” Beomgyu finds himself responding automatically with a smile on his face.
The next day, Beomgyu wakes up early, rushing to the Royal Kitchen to find the man quickly before he somehow teleports again. He has to get the answers now, he couldn’t continue living like this, losing his memories and teleporting unexpectedly.
He continues to bow to the court ladies he meets on the way until he finally arrives at the royal kitchen and takes a deep breath before entering. The aromas of various delicacies enter his nostrils immediately, and he realizes how he came here without eating anything.
He scans the area for the tall man and spots him giving instructions to a group of individuals. “Excuse me?” He calls out, his voice almost drowning out in the noisy kitchen, as he steps closer to them. He sees the man glance at him and smile. “How may I help you?”
“Who are you?” Beomgyu blurts out before he can stop himself. He sees confusion wash over the man’s face as he points at himself. “Me?” Beomgyu responds with a nod. “Oh! How rude of me for not introducing myself!” He gasps as he bows to Beomgyu. “I’m Hueningkai, the Royal Chef.”
“I’m Choi Beomgyu.”
“Oh I know you.” He hears Hueningkai mutter under his breath but chooses to ignore it.
“May I speak with you?” Beomgyu gets right to the point since he knows he doesn’t have time to squander. He watches Hueningkai contemplate for a while before nodding. “We’re preparing breakfast for Her Royal Highness. Please wait for a while; I'll get back to you as soon as possible.”
Beomgyu inhales a sharp intake of breath before slowly exhaling it out, knowing he can’t do anything about it but wait, so he agrees.
He doesn’t know how much time passes by after Hueningkai finally approaches him as the kitchen gets empty, leaving the two of them alone.
“So what did you want to talk about?” Hueningkai inquires, his arms crossed across his chest.
“Moonflower.”
He observes surprise paint over Hueningkai’s face, but it vanishes as quickly as it appeared.
“What do you want to know about it?” He questions carefully.
“That strange book. You know what’s up with it, don’t you? You know why I can see the future and also keep losing memories and teleporting randomly right? I need answers.” Beomgyu searches for any signs of perplexity in Hueningkai’s demeanor, but he doesn't see any.
Hueningkai leans on the counter with an expression that Beomgyu wasn’t really able to understand. “So you’re finally getting self-aware…”
Beomgyu raises a brow at him. “What do you mean?”
“What you’re feeling is the gap between scenes. Without even realising it, you are already living in the next day. You don't remember going somewhere, yet you're still there. A few days pass in the blink of an eye, and you wouldn't typically notice, but once you become self-aware, you notice the gap. And it’s at this point that you start to believe you’ve lost your memory!”
Hueningkai finishes rambling and Beomgyu blinks at him, not understanding a single word the chef just uttered. “What?”
“All I am saying is that… this is the world of books!”
“I’m sorry… what?” Beomgyu stares at him incredulously. If he thought he was losing his sanity, Hueningkai definitely proved him wrong. The chef was clearly more insane than he was.
Beomgyu gets up from his seat and scurries away, with Hueningkai trailing behind him. “Atleast hear me out!” He grabs Beomgyu’s wrist and pulls him back.
“You are a character in this book. I’ll prove it to you.” He says confidently and Beomgyu raises a brow as the chef picks up a knife from the counter and places it in his palm. “You’re not going to have this with you in the next scene.”
Snap.
Beomgyu flinches as he glances around him, finding himself standing in his kitchen with his mother. “T-the… The Royal Chef!” He gapes as he realises that the knife has truly disappeared from his hand. “What about the Royal Chef?” Soyoung asks.
“I was just with him!” He exclaims, even more confused than he was before.
His mother, though, simply laughs and shakes her head at him. “What are you saying? You have been here with me for hours.”
Beomgyu sinks to the ground, unable to distinguish between reality and imagination. He could not have imagined his entire encounter with Hueningkai. He knows it was all real. And Hueningkai indeed proved himself as he promised to.
Beomgyu watches the starry night sky from the window of his house. Hueningkai may have been right after all. Maybe they really were living in a fictional world. As absurd as it seemed, this was the only plausible explanation he could come up with for everything that was going on with him. Hueningkai has also managed to prove himself.
“I must be the leading character then.” He whispers to himself thinking about how well he fits for the role of the main character. He’s the son of noble parents, he’s quite handsome, and is pretty good at almost everything.
Beomgyu finds himself giddy with excitement as he wonders who his love interest may be. Maybe it’s one of the princes or it could be someone belonging to another noble family. He makes a mental note to ask Hueningkai if he possibly knew anything about his love interest later.
With all these thoughts in his head, he slowly drifts into a deep slumber.
<>
Beomgyu enters the Royal Kitchen once again with a sheepish smile on his face. Hueningkai notices him right away and approaches him with his arms crossed. “I didn't expect you to come back.”
Beomgyu shrugs nonchalantly, fidgeting with his fingers before taking a seat where he had sat the day before.
“There’s one more thing I’d like to ask you so that you can convince me that we are indeed… living in a book.” Beomgyu begins and Hueningkai arches a bow in interest. “Tell me, do you know who my love interest is?”
Silence settles over them for a while as Hueningkai gazes at him weirdly.
“You know, I think it is time,” Hueningkai finally says, breaking the awkward silence and heading over to the corner of the kitchen where a box was stored. He takes a book out of the box and Beomgyu immediately recognizes it as the same book he had seen back in the library. He returns to Beomgyu and places the book in front of him. “For you to see this.”
Beomgyu first glances at Hueningkai, who gives him an encouraging nod and then at the book that had ‘moonflower (love lies bleeding)’ inscribed on it. He picks up the book with trembling hands because the last time he touched this strange book, he didn’t really have a good experience.
He flips over to the starting page cautiously, his heart thrumming so loudly that Beomgyu was afraid it would come out of his chest as he reads how the first few pages were going to be character sketches. He also notes something really weird about how the book isn’t really handwritten, but rather in a neat font, however he chooses to ignore it for the time being.
As he finally turns to the page with the character introductions, his heart stops and he freezes. He feels dizzy as he finds Choi Yeonjun, his best friend's name written in the protagonist’s name, instead of his own.
Choi Yeonjun, an orphan belonging to the lower class.
His gaze immediately moves towards the love interest and he couldn’t really believe his eyes when he finds ‘Choi Soobin, the crown prince’ written there.
This is so unfair. He thinks, as the urge to burst into tears and rip the book to shreds grows stronger. But he manages to control his emotions and ignores all the other characters, searching for himself.
He finally spots himself in the supporting characters list and scoffs in disbelief.
Choi Beomgyu, Yeonjun’s best friend.
“I am… I am just a mere side character!?”