Chapter Text
With time, the new memories started to settle. People he had met, events that had never happened in his original world, places that only existed on this new timeline. Gon became able to recognize them all without having to rely on other people to give him clues.
Some things were already similar enough for him to be familiarized with and to know how to handle them. He was still the Emperor, after all. And, although the people occupying some key positions had changed (when did Secretary Mo become the Prime Minister? How?!), it was still a court he ruled for the past twenty-five years.
And it helped that he still had people he knew by his side. With the traitor being killed on the night of the treason, he would still have Prince Buyeong’s support when he would need help convincing Se-jin to accept becoming the heir to the throne. Head Court Lady Noh had still raised him; by now, he was very used to finding her talismans everywhere. They were not put just in his chambers but also on his study, clothes, and– wait... What did she do to convince Yeong to carry them in his pockets?!
Oh, well… it’s not like they had actual magical powers.
The new or slightly altered memories that found a place in his consciousness also changed the feelings associated with them.
Some discomfort for strangers touching his body remained. Still, it was mostly borne from his experiences with the general public – and from the close calls with his subjects turning into a mob (which happened way too often before Yeong became his Captain). No more gripping anxiety when staff members touched his neck while helping with his daily activities; no bitter taste intruded on his mouth whenever he had to wear formal attire. The fear of having someone strangling him had faded into a vague remembrance as if it had been something that had terrified him only in nightmares.
The cold and the loneliness from lying down on Cheonjongo’s floor – a feeling that had accompanied him for so long, something that even the presence of Lady Noh and Prince Buyeong in his life had never fully erased – that feeling had vanished. His younger self – he… he had been held. The new memory was of warmth, comfort and safety, which brought along a new sense of trust toward the people around him.
He also had a new awareness of the fact that, on this timeline, he had spent years wondering who had been that man whose face he hadn’t seen, wanting to know who those arms had belonged to and why they had protected him so.
And, suddenly, the two Gons, the one who had ended up in this different world and the one who had spent most of his life seeking those answers, had to combine into one person. His old and his current self realizing it had been – that it couldn’t have been anyone else but – Yeong that night. The face had been unrecognizable for his younger self, but the answer to all his questions had been right in front of him all these years.
“Yeong…” he said to himself out loud, not even realizing he wasn’t alone in his study and that his mere act of speaking up would bring Yeong to immediate attention.
“Yes, Pyeha?”
But how could he even begin to explain or make sense of all those feelings crashing down, trying to overwhelm him? His breath caught up in his throat, and he shook his head, looking away and biting his lips to try and reign in the thousand thoughts on his mind.
He rose from his chair and went to the closest, most empty chalkboard he could find. As if driven by an unconscious force, his hand spared no time to start writing what seemed to be a random four-digit number. A year.
It was his way of focusing on the facts he could remember, whether they had been part of his original memories or the ones that emerged recently. The year he met his Unbreakable Sword, only eight years old, Lady Noh by his side. Immediately another number followed, almost the same, with just two units added at the end. The date he had poured into words all things he had learned about horses to finally convince Yeong it was safe to learn how to ride them. More numbers kept appearing for more years, for moments when they were growing up together, moments that made them grow close to each other. Until he reached those which looked different from his pattern. They were answers he had been getting from his equations across the years, wrong answers that had only turned right after Yeong interrupted him on his calculations.
“Which formula are you trying to solve, Pyeha?” Yeong let out a small sigh as if knowing he had no hope of providing a mathematical insight to help speed things along.
Barely he knew.
Wrong answers. That was what they had been. That is what Gon was staring at. There was no way he would find the correct solution if he hadn’t defined the problem.
“I do not know yet,” he chuckled, finally letting go of the chalk holder.
“Whatever it is, I’m sure you will figure it out soon,” he said, comfortable enough to offer him a sympathetic smile before glancing at his watch.
“Don’t worry, Captain Jo. I don’t think this one will be resolved by spending days doing calculations in my study. What is my next appointment?”
And Gon went on with his duties. In this aspect, life on the new timeline was not at all different from his original one. His daily schedule was still set by the Public Relations Office, which, under Head Court Lady Noh’s supervision, would define all the places he would go and the people he would meet.
As he got busier adapting to the new timeline, as new memories settled, his old ones were left behind. It was a necessity. His door had been closed. This version of him had never travelled to the Republic of Korea. Never met Jeong Tae Eul. Never made her any promises.
Never went to Cheonjongo after that fateful night.