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Labyrinthian

Summary:

After the sudden passing of his wife, Seonghwa is left as an overwhelmed and overworked single parent to his two-year-old son, Minjae. During a particularly difficult night, Seonghwa accidentally summons the character from his wife's fairytale book- The Goblin King- who spirits Minjae away to another world. In his journey to find his son, Seonghwa collects a gaggle of misfit goblin children, learns what it means to be a parent, and finds the family he once dreamed of having.

Notes:

Prompt:

Labyrinth AU where Seonghwa, overwhelmed by being a single parent, wishes his child away to the goblins. He immediately regrets it. Luckily, Hongjoong, the Goblin King, offers him a deal: solve the labyrinth in time, and he can get his child back. Fail, and the child will be turned into a goblin forever.

 

Wants:

Does not have to follow the film beat for beat but should retain the general offputting, unsettling vibe of the Labyrinth

Other members can feature as creatures in the Labyrinth/ kingdom or goblins (some found family theme would be nice!)

The story ending can be up to the author (e.g. if SH solves the labyrinth in time, if he accepts HJ's courtship/ confession, if he decides to stay in the goblin kingdom). The story may not even need to end with the resolution of the labyrinth–– eg. it can expand to an extended post-labyrinth courtship with HJ trying to gain SH's trust.

 

Up to the author:

If HJ falls for SH immediately or takes a while to warm up to him

HJ characterisation: can lean towards him being the protector of unwanted children (which is why he takes the children away and tests humans using the labyrinth) OR lean into goblins having a completely different understanding of morality compared to humans.
If choosing the former, I hope to see moments of HJ being soft with children/ SH's baby. Bonus points if one of the members was a child who was wished away into HJ's care. Either way, HJ should still seem otherworldly and terrifying at first glance.

Exploration of goblin culture and cultural differences

 

Do Not Want:

Character injury is OK but not too graphic or heavy please

Gratuitous cruelty from HJ or him being overly manipulative/ deceptive

Should NOT be about a naive SH getting corrupted/ Stolkholm Syndromed into liking HJ. I would like a healthy relationship please

Chapter 1: Beginning

Chapter Text

The silence was deafening. The contrast from Minjae’s cries and the storm outside pounding on the windows to the absolute absence of sound was too unnatural. Seonghwa was afraid to open his eyes and confirm what he already knew. There had been a brief second between reentering the room and the storm blowing the balcony doors open where Seonghwa had been able to see that the crib was empty.

He couldn't hide forever. He had to lower his hands, he had to open his eyes. His mind was reeling as he did so, first seeing his late wife's fairytale book still lying on the floor where he'd dropped it. Scanning up slowly, Seonghwa's breath hitched at the sight of someone else standing in the nursery with him. The figure was dressed in black garb, an extravagant cape with dark blue accents, and armour with gold embellishments.

“Wh-who…?”

Seonghwa's eyes finally settled on a man’s face, not quite human in the way the eyes seemed to flicker like living fire reflecting off of raw gold. All of his features had an unnatural sharpness to them and when his lips parted in a small smile, even his teeth looked pointed for just a moment.

“You know very well who I am.”

Seonghwa glanced down at the book on the floor. “That's… that's not possible…”

It was just a story book for children, it couldn't possibly be real. He couldn't possibly have summoned some fairytale character with just words spoken in a moment of anguished frustration, words he could barely even remember now. Seonghwa's heart ached with guilt, knowing he'd lost his temper at his fussing one-year-old, but he couldn't remember what exactly he'd even said.

“Where is he?” Seonghwa met the goblin’s eyes again. “Where is my son?”

“I took him.” He answered simply, looking almost like he expected a thank you. “Just like you asked.”

“No…” Seonghwa’s bottom lip trembled and he shook his head hard. “No, I didn't mean it.”

The man sauntered forward, hands on his hips, with dangerous eyes trained on Seonghwa still. He was not intimidating by stature but his aura made Seonghwa feel like cowering nonetheless.

“Oh, you didn't?”

Seonghwa shook his head again, his vision blurring with tears. “I didn't mean it. Please, give him back. Please.”

The man turned his head ever so slightly, posturing a rhetorical question with only his expression, showing his amusement at someone daring to question him. Raising one of his hands quickly, it was clearly holding nothing before passing in front of his face but, after, it stretched out towards Seonghwa with a crystal ball perched on his finger tips.

“I've brought you a gift.” He tilted his head the other way. “Don't you want it?”

The implication was clear to Seonghwa. The gift was meant to be an exchange for Minjae, as though a crystal was worth as much as his son, and Seonghwa was meant to be satisfied with the exchange. Or perhaps this man saw taking Minjae as the gift and accepting the crystal was only representative of accepting the circumstances. Either way, Seonghwa refused to take the crystal from his hand.

“I can't.” Seonghwa chose his words carefully, not knowing what might enrage a child-stealing Goblin King. “It's not that I don't appreciate what you're trying to do… but I want my son back.”

Retracting his hand, the man turned his gaze down to look at the crystal ball. In the same instant, the crystal flickered like a crack of lighting and transformed before Seonghwa’s eyes. No longer perched but rather wrapped around the goblin’s fingers was a shimmering jet-black snake. Seonghwa recoiled, sucking in a sharp breath.

“Seonghwa…” He said the name sweetly, looking over the snake with fondness in his eyes. “Don't defy me.”

Without warning, he suddenly threw the snake at Seonghwa's throat and watched as he writhed frantically against the creature. Pulling it off as quickly as possible, Seonghwa let out a disarrayed gasp as scales gave away to glittery chiffon and rich satin. He threw the scarf to the ground and watched it, again, transform into some sort of otherworldly animal with avian features. It looked back and snickered at him.

And for just a moment, the nursery was suddenly filled with otherworldly creatures that looked almost like real animals- standing in Minjae's crib, perched atop the bookshelf, sitting human-like on the vintage changing table- and they all snickered at Seonghwa's plight before vanishing again.

“You're no match for me.” The Goblin King advanced on him, wearing a stern expression. “You wished he'd never been born, you wished it'd been him instead of your wife, I'm offering you the most that I can. You're free of him now.”

The words echoed in Seonghwa's ears and it devastated him to realize they'd ever come out of his own mouth.

“No.” He shook his head firmly. “I don't accept this, I don't want to be free of him. He's my son, I love him!”

“Hm… I guess we'll see, won't we?”

The man stepped back, moving to the side and taking the rest of the world with him. Seonghwa could have blinked and missed the transition from the dark nursery to the dusty hill top. He stuttered out a small gasp, unable to hide how shaken he was by the way reality bent around him. The Goblin regarded him without sympathy and pointed to the massive structure now sitting in the valley below.

“He’s there, in my castle. Do you still want to look for him?”

Seonghwa frowned, looking over the tops of the winding stone walls that formed an endless Labyrinth. “Of course I do.”

He smirked and lifted his hand again to point to the intricate clock that had appeared on the dead, twisted tree nearby. “You have thirteen hours to solve the Labyrinth… If you don’t… your child will stay with me, forever, as one of us.”

The man’s form lost opacity as he spoke, becoming more transparent with each word, until he disappeared entirely. Within seconds, Seonghwa was left alone in the desert-like terrain overlooking the Labyrinth, left to grapple with his own mind struggling to believe that any of this was real. How could it be? How could the goblins and faeries in a children's storybook be real?

Chapter 2: Enter The Labyrinth

Chapter Text

The familiarity Seonghwa still had with the story of the Goblin King offered little help as he approached the stone wall. He could vividly recall his wife's lovely face as she read aloud from her book every evening, etching the tale into their child’s heart before he was even born, but he couldn't recall a single line that said how to get inside the Labyrinth. As far as Seonghwa could see, there was no door or opening in the wall and nothing offered any hint as to what he was supposed to do. The only things around him that weren't lifeless stone or dust were the shimmery bugs drifting lazily through the air around him.

Seonghwa paused as one drifted particularly close and his expression softened into one of awe. He wasn't surrounded by flying insects but, rather, faeries with long white hair, doll-like faces, and translucent wings, wearing little wispy outfits that could have been spun from spiderwebs. Watching them peacefully glide through the air hypnotized Seonghwa, causing him to nearly forget his task all-together, but the sudden sound of a voice pulled him back. He rubbed his eyes hard and then looked around for the source of the voice, not immediately seeing anything that hadn't been there before.

“Fifty seven…”

The voice came again clearer this time, and shortly preceded the appearance of a man. Stepping out from behind one of the many crumbling structures that littered the area around the Labyrinth, Seonghwa could make out the man’s handsome face, quickly locking eyes with him. They appeared to flicker gold like the King’s had and his sun-kissed skin had a similar glittery quality to it. He had long, dark brown hair with a few small, messy braids placed about sparsely and he was dressed quite plainly in just a loose-fitting white peasant top, dark brown patchwork pants that stopped above the ankle, and a pair of ratty moccasins. In contrast, however, he had a pair of sparkling jewel earrings dangling from each ear and he had a chaotic cluster of other jewelry tangled together and pinned haphazardly to a red pouch affixed to his belt.

“Oh…” The man’s face immediately fell with disappointment. “It's you.”

Seonghwa was taken aback by the statement as he was reasonably certain he did not know this man. Besides the fact that there was simply nothing familiar about him, there was no doubt in Seonghwa's mind that he wasn't human.

“Hello?” Seonghwa said uncertainly, wondering if he'd been mistaken for someone else. “My name is Seonghwa.”

The man rolled his eyes and raised the pump canister he was holding. “I'm Wooyoung. Nice to meet you, now be on your way.”

Paying Seonghwa no more attention, Wooyoung quickly scanned around himself and locked his eyes on the first faerie he found. Seonghwa watched, dumbfounded by the rudeness, as Wooyoung prowled after the faerie, pointed the tip of his canister at it, and pushed the plunger down to shoot the poor thing with a puff of what could be assumed was some kind of pesticide. The faerie dropped out of the sky at once and Seonghwa's jaw dropped as well.

“Oh, why would you-?!” Seonghwa took a couple long strides over to where the faerie laid on the ground and crouched to scoop it into his hands. “Poor thing!”

Wooyoung looked back at him with a sort of queasy expression, which quickly morphed into childish laughter when Seonghwa yelped with pain and dropped the faerie back on the ground. Seonghwa looked down at his hand in disbelief, stunned to find a bead of blood on his palm.

“It bit me!”

Wooyoung cackled again. “What did you expect faeries to do? ‘Oh, poor thing!’- you may as well just give up now.”

“Give up now…?” Seonghwa looked up at Wooyoung. “What do you mean? Do you…?”

“What?” Wooyoung folded his arms over his chest, tucking the canister in an armpit. “Know that you need to get through the Labyrinth? What's so surprising about that? Why else would you be here?”

It startled Seonghwa to think that the inhabitants of this place already knew about his presence and his purpose, or even that just his appearance was immediately distinguishable as not belonging. It would be foolish to believe that he was in no danger of being hurt or killed and, for now, considered himself lucky that Wooyoung only seemed inconvenienced by him rather than outright hostile.

“Well… can you help me, then?”

Wooyoung had already returned to shooting faeries out of the air. “Help you with what?”

“Getting through the Labyrinth.”

“What about getting through it?”

Seonghwa had to hold himself back from losing his temper at the obvious clueless act Wooyoung was putting on.

“Can't you at least tell me how to get in?!”

“Get in where?”

Seonghwa swore and kicked a nearby rock, sending it flying towards the wall.

“Why are you wasting my time?!” He barely kept control of his volume to keep from shouting. “Can you tell me how to enter the Labyrinth or not?!”

Wooyoung paused and, then, slowly spun in place to face Seonghwa once again, an amused smile stretching his face just a little too wide.

“Good enough.” He mused. “It’ll do you good to remember that you’re here because you ‘misspoke’, supposedly, so… think carefully about that after going through that door.”

Before Seonghwa could question him, Wooyoung gestured at the wall behind him. When he turned around to look, there was suddenly an impressive set of dark wooden doors, intricately carved but weathered by time, set into the wall that was definitely solid when Seonghwa had last looked. Seonghwa snapped his head back around to thank Wooyoung but the man had vanished.

“Now who’s wasting time?”

Seonghwa jolted and turned back to the doors, startled to find Wooyoung now standing in the open threshold leaning against the frame.

“You were just-” Seonghwa couldn’t help but glance behind himself one more time. “Nevermind… you’re right.”

Wooyoung smiled smugly but said nothing as Seonghwa approached. Inside the threshold, on the other side of the first wall, was nothing more than a second wall that ran parallel to create a long, stretching corridor that seemed to go on endlessly in either direction.

“This is a labyrinth?” Seonghwa muttered to himself. “There’s no turns or anything, doesn’t even look like there’s any openings to go deeper?”

“Better get going.” Wooyoung spoke again, appearing very close to Seonghwa’s side. “Hongjoong doesn’t grant extra time and the rules don’t bend here.”

“Hongjoong?” Seonghwa pulled his eyes away from the ominous corridors. “Who-... ah, is that his name?”

“He’s being generous.” Was all Wooyoung had left to say. “More than you deserve. Try not to waste it.”

It certainly didn’t feel like Hongjoong was being generous. It felt very much like he had kidnapped Seonghwa’s only child and was not holding him hostage while he watched Seonghwa run around like a rat in a maze for his own amusement.

‘Fear not, for things are not always as they seem in this place.’

Was that line from the book true? How much of that children’s fairytale literally applied to this place? And why was Seonghwa struggling so much to remember the story when he’d heard his wife read it so many times? It was hard not to feel hopeless as Seonghwa picked a direction at random, seeing no distinction between left or right whatsoever, and began trekking down the endless path.

“Fear not, for things are not always as they seem in this place.’

If that was true, then what should Seonghwa do? It seemed like there were no turns. It seemed like there were no openings for him to travel deeper into the labyrinth. It seemed like he was trapped in a long stretch of hallway with walls too tall to scale on either side of him and no way to escape. The longer Seonghwa walked, the more frustrated he became. The king had only given him thirteen hours, yet it felt like he’d already wasted at least two searching for the next entrance. He let out sobs and angry screams, switching from walking to sprinting in search of anything different from what he’d already passed.

After culminating in pounding his fists on the walls, throwing himself from one to the other in some kind of feeble attempt to break through solid stone, Seonghwa finally gave up and slid down to sit on the ground. He glared at the wall across from him with tears streaming down his face, trying to will it to open up for him.

“Hello!”

Seonghwa frantically snapped his head from left to right and back again, searching for the source of the voice. It was far higher pitched than Wooyoung’s was, so it was unlikely he’d suddenly changed his mind about helping him and had reappeared as his savior. There was no one else in the labyrinth with him, though, the only other living thing he could see around him was a little caterpillar or worm sitting on a brick jutting slightly out of the wall beside him.

“Did… you just say hello?” Seonghwa asked, not fully expecting the bug to answer him.

“That’s right.” It nodded at him. “Come inside, why don’t ya? I’ll make a pot of tea.”

“O-oh… uhm… n-no thanks.” Seonghwa stammered, entranced by this talking, scarf-wearing cater-worm. “I’m, uh… actually kind of busy.”

“Oh, is that right?” It nodded again with more sympathy in its movements. “Bad luck and bad timing.”

“Right…” Seonghwa glanced back at the wall in front of him. “I don’t… suppose you know how to get through the labyrinth?”

“Me? Nah, I’m just a worm.” It answered, almost looking like it was shrugging despite having no discernible shoulders. Or neck. “But I’m sure you’ll figure it out!”

“I don’t know how I can!” Seonghwa complained, dropping his head back against the wall. “There aren’t any turns or openings or anything! It just goes on and on!”

“What do you mean?” The worm asked earnestly. “There’s an opening right in front of you!”

Seonghwa stared hard at the wall in front of him. Just like before, it looked perfectly solid.

“Things aren’t always what they seem in this place.” The worm continued. “Go on, have a look for yourself.”

Pulling himself back to his feet, Seonghwa began slowly stepping forward, urged on by the worm’s words echoing the line from the book.

Things aren’t always what they seem.

Of course, now, what it seemed like was that Seonghwa was only granted passage to the next part of the labyrinth after giving up and asking someone for help. As he walked forward, on the worm’s advice, the wall did suddenly shift slightly as though the solidness of the wall had only been an optical illusion- as though Seonghwa had not physically thrown his body against it only moments before talking to the worm.

“This is impossible.” Seonghwa held back a sob and spun back around to shout his complaints at the worm, only to find that the wall was suddenly solid behind him again. “This is impossible!”

“Of course you’ve got that attitude.”

Seonghwa whipped back around again, his heart leaping into his throat. He wouldn’t have the lifespan to solve this labyrinth if these creatures kept sneaking up on him like this! Except… it wasn’t a creature. There was a human boy standing behind him, looking no older than thirteen or fourteen at most.

“Who are you?” Seonghwa asked. “Are you here alone?”

“Jongho.” The boy shrugged, looking disinterested. “I’m here by myself, if that’s what you mean.”

“Is there a difference?”

“We’re never alone here.” Jongho’s answer sent a chill down Seonghwa’s spine. “Once you fail and get sent home, Minjae will never have to be alone again either.”

Chapter 3: Riddles

Chapter Text

The boy, Jongho, did not stick around long enough for Seonghwa to continue questioning him. He took off running, laughing as though they were just playing a game of tag, while Seonghwa gave chase. As soon as they rounded the first corner, however, Jongho completely vanished without a trace. Only then, did it occur to Seonghwa that, although Jongho had looked human, he was probably another goblin and not a child in need of help. The only thing keeping Seonghwa from spiraling into madness was the fact that Jongho had, at the very least, led him to a part of the labyrinth that actually looked like a labyrinth.

There were twists and turns, openings and dead ends, and even parts where the walls were just low enough for Seonghwa to peer over and see the castle in the distance. It wasn’t much progress considering how much time he’d wasted up until this point but Seonghwa was glad to finally be able to discern a general direction that he needed to be heading in. He moved as quickly as possible but it wasn’t easy to keep any kind of efficient speed with how often he had to backtrack and try to remember which way he’d come from and which way to go from there. It only just got that much worse when Seonghwa suddenly realized that the labyrinth was actively changing around him, turning open pathways he’d just walked through into dead ends, switching turns from one side to the other, it was enough to make him scream.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Seonghwa whined under his breath, looking at yet another dead end. “This is impossible, how am I supposed to find the end when everything keeps changing?!”

Seonghwa spun back around to find himself trapped between four solid walls with two goblins now standing in front of him, guarding the only two doors he could see. They were mostly human in appearance, like the others Seonghwa had encountered so far, but there was an almost animal tint in their features with their eyes being just a little bigger than they should be, teeth just slightly sharper and longer than they should be, and what could only be described as their snouts elongated just a bit more than they should be.

Both goblins were dressed in red and blue outfits that Seonghwa thought reminded him of harlequins but they held spears and shields that they were hiding behind, comedically poorly, and peeking out over the top to look at him. The visual gave a sort of impression that said that this was simultaneously deathly serious and absolutely not being taken seriously whatsoever. That seemed to be a growing trend in this place.

“...I don’t suppose you’re going to help me?” Seonghwa frowned, folding his arms over his chest. “What’s the deal with the doors?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” The one on the left peeked out at him. “One of the doors leads to the castle in the center of the labyrinth-”

The one on the right popped up next. “-and the other door leads to certain death!”

They both laughed, adding to the hopelessness that had been festering in Seonghwa’s heart.

“Great…” Seonghwa stepped closer, studying the carvings on their shields and looking past them to see if there was anything on the doors themselves that could offer a hint. “Are you going to tell me which is which?”

“Uh… No, you can’t ask both of us.” The one on the left answered. “You can only ask one of us.”

“Yeah, you can only ask one of us.” The one on the right repeated. “And one of us always tells the truth and one of us always lies.”

“Beomgyu always lies.” The other interjected quickly.

“What?! You’re the liar, Yeonjun!” Beomgyu objected and pointed a finger back. “I always tell the truth!”

“Oh, what a lie!”

They laughed and continued their pointless argument while Seonghwa massaged his temples, desperately trying to organize his thoughts through the distraction. The riddle was similar to one in his wife’s book, so it was safe to assume the addendum was the same; He could ask only one question now that the game was set. He needed to ask a question that would reveal which door led to the castle and which one of the goblins was lying. After mulling it over for a while, Seonghwa made up his mind and approached Beomgyu.

“You.” He said, getting the goblin’s attention. “Would he tell me that this door leads to the castle?”

Beomgyu looked back at him, visibly confused, then looked over at Yeonjun. Yeonjun just shrugged, clearly just as confused by the question.

“Uh… Yes…?”

Seonghwa took a minute to process the answer, running it through his theory. “Then… That door leads to the castle… and this door leads to certain death.”

Beomgyu gawked at him. “But what if he’s lying?”

“Then you’d be telling the truth.” Seonghwa answered simply. “If you’re telling the truth and you say he would say that this door leads to the castle, then that means he’s lying and this door leads to certain death.”

“But…” Beomgyu shook his head, even more baffled. “I could be lying.”

“Then he’d be telling the truth.” Seonghwa had already stopped listening, confident in his conclusion. “Which would mean his actual answer would be no, this door doesn’t lead to the castle. The answer stays the same, this door leads to certain death and-”

Stepping away, Seonghwa moved to the right, shooing Yeonjun out of the way.

“-this door leads to the castle.”

“Wait… Is that right?” Yeonjun directed the question at Beomgyu.

“I don’t know!” Beomgyu laughed. “I’ve never understood it!”

Yeonjun joined in and they both laughed as Seonghwa pushed open the door and confidently walked inside. The small victory was quickly pulled away as the labyrinth pulled yet another trick on Seonghwa. The door closed behind him, cutting off the sounds of Yeonjun and Beomgyu’s laughter, and the floor gave out from under him. Seonghwa plummeted down with a breathless yelp and shot his hands out around him to try to grab onto something, just to shudder in horror as something tried to grab onto him back. The wall curving around him was covered in hands.

“No- n-no- Help!” Seonghwa cried out, not sure who he was even calling out to. “Somebody help me!”

“Help?” A strange, disembodied voice answered him. “What do you mean ‘help’? We are helping.”

Seonghwa slowed as the hands worked together to hold him up, then they came together on the wall in front of him to form a face.

“Would you like us to let go?”

It laughed and the hands dropped Seonghwa again. Seonghwa let out another yelp, frantically grabbing out for them. They took hold of him again and laughed harder.

“Well, then?” A new face formed in front of him, the fingers positioned differently to create new features. “Are we helping?”

A third face formed to the right. “Or not helping?”

Seonghwa grimaced, casting his eyes upwards then back down below him. “H-...helping…”

“Ooooohhhh~” The voices harmonized in response to Seonghwa’s answer. “We are helping. Then, which way?”

“Which way?” Seonghwa asked, not sure which face to look at.

“Yes, which way?” Yet another face formed higher up on the left side of the wall. “Up or down?”

Seonghwa’s first instinct was to say to go back up, to go back to those twin guards and go through the other door instead. The logic he used to ask his question ran through his head over and over again and he still couldn’t find a flaw in it. This door had to be the right one. Maybe this was the trick, this pit of hands, meant to trick him into wanting to go back instead of making it to the castle.

“I…” Seonghwa hesitated, already regretting the decision. “D-...Down… Take me down.”

“He chose down!”

“He chose down!”

Seonghwa’s heart stuttered. “Was that wrong?!”

“Too late now!”

The hands released, dropping Seonghwa and letting him fall the rest of the way down, down into the darkness.

 

Hitting the ground with a heavy thud, Seonghwa stayed where he landed for a long time. Even after the pain passed and the air returned to his lungs, Seonghwa made no effort to move. It was pitch black, wherever he was, and his fear of what may be in the dark with him was greatly overshadowed by the heartache of feeling quite certain that he was trapped. This labyrinth had been actively working against him since the moment he set foot in it and now it had finally captured him once and for all. No wonder Wooyoung and that Jongho kid had told Seonghwa to give up, that failure was inevitable, and so on… Hongjoong never intended on giving Seonghwa a real chance.

His heart clenched painfully as it finally hit him that he was never going to get Minjae back. A sob tore through him compulsively, wracking his whole body. All he could do was throw his hands over his face and let his devastation pour down his face in heavy streams. However, Seonghwa only got a few shuddered breaths out before light suddenly broke through the space between his fingers, causing his throat to close around the next sob. Sitting up quickly, Seonghwa frantically wiped his face at the sight of Wooyoung sitting on a little wooden table a little ways away from him, staring back at him with an utterly unimpressed expression.

“Don’t tell me you’ve given up already.” He said in a low, gravelly voice.

Seonghwa sniffled and answered in a quiet whisper. “...Why not? You told me yourself that I should give up. None of this is fair, there’s no way to win.”

Wooyoung scoffed, his gaze turning cold. “I guess he was right… you really don’t care. You’re just like everyone else.”

Seonghwa pulled himself to his feet, ignoring the ache in his back as he did so, and took a long stride towards Wooyoung to point an angry finger in his direction.

“Of course I care!”
He hissed, tears blurring his vision slightly. “Don’t you dare accuse me of not caring about my son! I’m doing what I was told, you even told me that the rules don’t bend but they’ve done nothing but bend since I got here! How the fuck am I supposed to solve the labyrinth if the labyrinth keeps changing?! If the riddles don’t make sense?! If it drops me into caves with no light and no way out?!”

“Oubliette.” Wooyoung rolled his eyes and slid off the table to stand. “It’s not a cave. It’s an oubliette. And there is light-”

He held up his oil lantern to emphasize his point.

“-and there are ways out. You didn’t even try to find one.”

“Then help me.” Seonghwa pleaded through gritted teeth. “I can’t do this by myself. I’ve already wasted practically half of my time wandering around and I’ve hardly made any progress at all. You clearly know your way around here, so please, Wooyoung, help me.”

Wooyoung’s eyes widened momentarily, looking surprised by the fact that Seonghwa was asking for help. In all honesty, it surprised Seonghwa a bit too. He’d never been good at asking for help, or even accepting it when it was offered. There had been various family members that had offered to help with Minjae when Seonghwa’s wife passed but he had insisted that they were fine. They hadn’t been, though, had they? Seonghwa, at least, hadn’t been fine and Minjae had suffered because of it. That was how they ended up in this whole mess in the first place.

“Wooyoung.” Seonghwa repeated himself with more resolution in his voice. “Please. Help me.”

The goblin’s shoulders relaxed and his eyes softened, now glittering warmly under the flickering flame of the lantern. A small smirk slowly spread across his lips, then he gave Seonghwa a small nod.

Chapter 4: What's Fair

Chapter Text

After leaving the oubliette and traveling through a cavernous corridor full of looming stone faces warning them of the direction they were going, Wooyoung and Seonghwa hadn’t gotten far before Wooyoung became embroiled in a tiff with one of the faces. Another rather unserious moment that, to Seonghwa’s dismay, led to deathly serious situations. While Wooyoung was arguing with the face, Seonghwa’s attention was drawn downwards to where he watched a clear crystal ball roll along the floor by itself and then hop into the tin cup of a disheveled looking goblin squatting in a corner.

“Mmm… what’s this?” The goblin turned its long nose towards the cup to inspect the contents.

Wooyoung instantly abandoned the tiff and whipped his head towards the goblin, his eyes going wide.

“Oh, uh… nothing.”

“Nothing?” The goblin asked. “Nothing??”

It suddenly stood, raising to a height that Seonghwa would not have guessed based off of how small it had appeared only a moment ago. The long nose came off the goblin’s face along with the oversized, floppy hat it pulled off its head. In fact, nearly the whole goblin came off of a more human looking body, having apparently been nothing more than a fae glamoured costume that was now being shaken accusingly at Wooyoung.

“Y-your majesty!” Wooyoung stammered, stumbling back a step. “I didn’t recognize you-”

“Hush.” Hongjoong silenced him, dropping his costume to the ground and turning his attention to Seonghwa. “Enjoying my labyrinth?”

The king was wearing a slight smile but his eyes seemed to be daring Seonghwa. There was, undoubtedly, a wrong and a right answer to this question but Seonghwa had no way of knowing what they were. Stealing a glance at Wooyoung, he tried to remember- and force himself to believe- what the young goblin had said about the rules not bending. If that’s true, it shouldn’t matter what the right answer is.

“I’d enjoy it a lot more if it was fair.” Seonghwa answered defiantly. “Is it just a game for you, to torture unsuspecting humans? Am I your source of entertainment?”

The smile stayed still but Hongjoong’s eyes seemed to flicker with more intensity. “It’s as fair as you deserve.”

Seonghwa gawked at the answer but could find no response.

“Wooyoung.” Hongjoong suddenly turned back to his subordinate. “Could it be that you’re actually leading Seonghwa directly to the castle?”

“What?” Wooyoung blurted out immediately. “Of course not! Why would I ever help someone like him??”

Hongjoong’s smile widened just a hair, almost making him look sweet. “I see, of course… then, just what exactly were you doing?”

Wooyoung shrugged. “I was going to lead him out of the oubliette and then bolt. Just like I did at the entrance.”

“Of course.” Hongjoong laughed warmly. “Then I suppose that’s where everyone else has run off to as well.”

“Everyone else?” Wooyoung asked.

Hongjoong had already turned his attention back to Seonghwa. “I hope that doesn’t deter you from trying, dear Seonghwa… Surely you’ll stop at nothing to get your Minjae back?”

“I’ll kill you if I have to.” Seonghwa spat back.

“I doubt that.” The smile finally faded and he waved his hand dismissively. “Be on your way then. You only have seven hours left to solve the labyrinth.”

Seonghwa’s eyes followed the direction of Hongjoong’s hand to fall, dismayed, on the clock which had appeared on the wall behind him. It looked the same as it had when Hongjoong had first set the game but, now, it showed that six hours had passed since then. Seonghwa wanted to argue, to insist that it couldn’t possibly have already been six hours, but Hongjoong had already vanished in the few seconds he’d been out of Seonghwa’s sight. Instead, Seonghwa turned his anger onto Wooyoung.

“Are you going to lead me out or not?!” Seonghwa advanced on him. “Let’s go, then! The sooner we get out of here, the sooner you can abandon me! That was your plan, right? To give me some miniscule hope that I might have a shot at getting my son back just so you can bolt on me?”

“Would you calm down?” Wooyoung dismissed him passively and walked right past him. “Jeez. I only said that to get him to leave us alone. What, did you want me to tell him the truth?”

Seonghwa blinked, confused by the answer.

“Hongjoong’s fair but he’s not above dealing out punishments.” Wooyoung continued to explain as he resumed leading Seonghwa down the corridor towards the presumed exit. “We’re not technically supposed to be interacting with you but we tend to bend the rules a little.”

Seonghwa grimaced. “I thought you said the rules don’t bend.”

Wooyoung chuckled. “For you, they don’t. Hongjoong bends them for us.”

That thought settled in Seonghwa’s mind, taking its time to be processed and considered. In the meantime, Wooyoung brought them to an iron ladder affixed to the rock wall that ascended upwards towards what appeared to be a hatch. Without glancing back at Seonghwa, Wooyoung immediately put his hands to the bars and began climbing. Once he was clear, Seonghwa followed suit.

“Are you scared of Hongjoong?” Seonghwa asked after the long silence.

“Scared-? Huh?” Wooyoung’s voice echoed off the chamber around them. “Why would I be scared of him?”

“You said he deals out punishments.” Seonghwa said back, sounding just a touch out of breath. “What are you, a peasant in his kingdom or something? How does he punish you? Putting you in stocks?”

“Peasant-?!” Wooyoung stopped his ascent and swung his body to one side to gawk back down at Seonghwa. “I’m no peasant!”

“Then what are you?”

“I’m Hongjoong’s.” Wooyoung replied, visibly grumpy as he returned to the climb. “Plain and simple. I belong to him, he takes care of me, just like he takes care of everyone here. There isn’t a hierarchy…”

“How can he be the king if there’s no hierarchy?”

“Okay, well, there’s one hierarchy! Him at the top, the rest of us underneath! Happy? Satisfied?”

“Not really…”

Finally reaching the top, Seonghwa silently waited while Wooyoung reached up and pushed open the hatch. Bright daylight poured down on them the second the door was out of the way, eclipsed only momentarily as Wooyoung scurried out of the hole. For a less brief moment as he ascended the final steps of the ladder, Seonghwa worried that the hatch was about to close on him again and that daylight would disappear. He kept echoing Wooyoung’s words about leading him out just to bolt, over and over again in his mind, until he was finally crawling out of the hole as well.

“Oh…”

Once his eyes adjusted to the light, Seonghwa was in awe at their new surroundings. Unlike the dusty, overgrown and derelict labyrinth he’d been wandering through so far, their current position was in the middle of a hedge maze. The lush, green foliage of the ‘walls’ surrounding them was truly refreshing compared to what Seonghwa had traveled through so far.

“...Do you like it?”

Seonghwa looked back at Wooyoung to answer his question but immediately found himself speechless at the way the goblin suddenly seemed so much younger than he had before. Something about the way he’d asked that question seemed so… small. Like a very young child asking a parent if they liked something, liked it enough to stay and promise never to leave, as though he truly worried that Seonghwa didn’t like the labyrinth and didn’t wish to stay. Which, of course, was the truth, but Seonghwa found it impossible to say as much in that moment.

“It’s beautiful.” He replied. “It-”

The rest of his thought was cut off by the sudden roar of some monstrous beast. At least, that’s what Seonghwa could only assume was making such a noise. It was deafening and seemed to be the result of multiple voices of different octaves howling in harmony but uttering from one throat. Seonghwa clapped his hands over his ears and Wooyoung did the same.

“Nuh-uh.” Wooyoung shook his head and bolted.

Seonghwa had barely enough time to catch his wrist to keep him from disappearing into the hedge maze. With one strong arm, he reeled Wooyoung back to him.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?!”

Another howl sounded from beyond the shrubbery.

“Anywhere!” Wooyoung shot back. “Anywhere away from that!”

“And away from me?!” Seonghwa bore down on him angrily. “You were going to just bolt on me, after lying to my face that you wouldn’t!”

Wooyoung wriggled against the grip around his wrist. “Didn’t lie! Changed my mind! It’s different!”

“It’s cowardly!”

“Fine! I’m a coward!” Wooyoung dropped all of his weight and collapsed to the ground to try to pull out of Seonghwa’s grasp. “Let me be a coward! I don’t want to wait around here to see what kind of goblin-eating monster is making that noise!”

Seonghwa rolled his eyes and bent down, releasing Wooyoung’s wrist just to slip both of his hands under his armpits and hoist him back onto his feet.

“What goblin-eating monsters?” Seonghwa asked, not intending to sound so much like a dad about it but inadvertently doing so anyway. “I thought you said Hongjoong takes care of you. What kind of caretaker would he be if he allowed you to run around his labyrinth while knowing it has goblin-eating monsters?”

Wooyoung stuck out his bottom lip but didn’t argue. Seonghwa tried to offer a warm smile, though he was sure it didn’t compare to Hongjoong’s, then patted Wooyoung’s cheek.

“Come on.” He said gently. “Things aren’t always what they seem here. Am I right?”

Wooyoung stuck his lip out further but, after a few seconds, gave a shallow nod.

“Good.” Seonghwa interlaced his fingers with Wooyoung’s and began leading him towards the goblin-eating monster. “If I’ve learned anything here so far, it’s that I never progress to the next level without finding a goblin that can open a door for me.”

“I’m a goblin.” Wooyoung whined from behind him. “Why do you need another?”

Another roar drowned out Seonghwa’s reply and, this time, they both noticed the objects rolling around their feet. Instead of one of Hongjoong’s crystal balls, though, the objects moving on their own were several soccer ball sized rocks. They passed on by and Seonghwa followed, dragging Wooyoung along until they came to the end of a long stretch of hedge wall. The rocks rounded it and disappeared.

“Seonghwa…” Wooyoung whined quietly.

Ignoring him, Seonghwa inched closer to the edge and peered around it. On the other side was some enormous mass of dark reddish brown fur dangling from a tree and thrashing about. Surrounding the mass of fur were about half a dozen goblins, astonishingly short creatures with no recognizable human features whatsoever. They each wore dark iron armour and carried long sticks with some sort of… little naked creature with wicked teeth… clinging to the ends and acting as weapons.

“Ah… Ah, jeez.” Wooyoung finally relaxed back into his look of exasperation. “He’s getting himself bullied again.”

Seonghwa looked back at Wooyoung in surprise. “You know him?”

“Yeah, whatever.” Wooyoung waved his hand at him and side-stepped around him. “Let’s go chase them off.”

Chapter 5: White Rabbit

Chapter Text

It wasn’t difficult to run off the smaller goblins. A few well-aimed throws of the rocks summoned by the ‘goblin-eating monster’ had the platoon panicked and blindly retreating without ever seeing their assailants. As soon as the last one was out of sight, Seonghwa and Wooyoung hurried over to the beast dangling by his foot from the tree and quickly untied hiim.

“Oof!” He hit the ground with a heavy thud, becoming a giant mass of fur before re-orienting himself back onto his feet. “Ow…”

“I’m sorry!” Seonghwa winced, wondering only now if there’d been a better way to lower him. “Are you okay?”

The ‘goblin-eating monster’ finally righted himself, standing well over six feet tall. The messy reddish-brown fur, as it turned out, was actually a very bulky coat he was wearing that nearly covered him from jaw to ankles. Underneath the coat, he was dressed fairly similarly to Wooyoung, although his pants fit much looser and his shirt was a dark red instead of white. He also clearly differed from Wooyoung in that he had much more discernibly goblin characteristics.

The whites of his eyes matched the colour of his fur coat, he had two sharp lower canines that extended far up out of his mouth between his two plump lips, and he had a pair of dark coloured horns growing out of the sides of his head that curled forward. Had Seonghwa seen him under other circumstances, and were it not for the way Wooyoung was already lecturing him for ‘letting a bunch of runt goblins bully him’, he would have been a truly terrifying sight.

“Honestly, Mingi, you’re at least three times their size!” Wooyoung was saying, patting the beast’s arm a little too hard. “Why do you let them do stuff like this?”

Mingi winced at the smack, then shrugged. “Dunno.”

“Ugh. ‘Dunno’. That’s all you ever say.” Wooyoung sighed. “Does Hongjoong even know you’re out here?”

Mingi cast his eyes up to one side as though he was trying to think of the answer to Wooyoung’s question, then slowly rolled them back down to look at him again. And shrugged.

“Dunno.”

“Of course.” Wooyoung shook his head. “Well, you may as well come with us, then.”

“Kay…” Mingi answered back.

“Where to now?” Seonghwa asked, looking around them. “The part of the hedge we came through grew shut, I guess we can’t go back…”

“We’ll have to ask one of them.” Wooyoung pointed past Seonghwa.

Turning around again to look at where Wooyoung was gesturing, a great stone struture had appeared. Seonghwa could have mistaken it for an entrance to the castle if not for the fact that he could still see the castle in the distance over the top of the hedge. There were two heavy wooden doors to choose from but no goblins with annoying riddles standing guard in front of them, so Seonghwa wasn’t sure who Wooyoung was referring to. However, as Seonghwa approached, he felt as though the eyes on the intricate copper door knockers were following him.

The door knocker who’s brassy hoop hung from the ears spoke first in a jarring tone. “It’s very rude to stare.”

“Oh!” Seonghwa jumped back, startled. “Sorry… I was just… trying to figure out which door to try.”

“Huh?!” The knocker answered back. “What was that?”

“I…” Seonghwa eyed the way the hoop was actually inside the knocker’s ears. “I said-”

He was cut off by the muffled interjection of the second door knocker, who’s hoop was hanging out of his mouth. Seonghwa glanced back at Wooyoung and Mingi, who both shrugged, then took a couple strides to stand in front of the other door and pull the hoop out of the knocker’s mouth.

“Ooh, damn.” The knocker moved his mouth around, seemingly stretching the muscles. “You have no idea how good it feels to have that thing out.”

“What were you trying to say?” Seonghwa asked.

“I said, don’t bother trying to get him to hear a word you say.” The knocker moved his eyes to the side to gesture to the other. “He’s deaf as a post.”

“Oh… Okay, well…” Seonghwa looked back and forth between them. “Do you know where these doors lead?”

“Hardly.” He laughed a squeeky laugh. “We’re just the knockers.”

“You’ll have to give one of us a try.” The other knocker interjected. “Staring at us all day won’t do ya no good…”

Seonghwa arched an eyebrow. “I thought you said he was deaf.”

“Oh, don’t pay him any attention.” The knocker replied. “He just hates staring. Better hurry along before you agitate him anymore. Go ahead, pick a door.”

“Fine.” Seonghwa shrugged and shoved the hoop back into the knocker’s mouth, not giving him the chance to protest. “I choose you, chatterbox. Let’s go.”

Wooyoung cackled behind him as Seonghwa slapped the heavy hoop against the door three times to knock. A second later, the door swung open, revealing an oddly atmosphered forest on the other side. It gave Seonghwa a bad feeling but he was hesitant to show his apprehension after he’d just given Wooyoung shit for acting like a coward. After all, if he’d run off after Wooyoung and they’d both been cowards, they wouldn’t have found Mingi.

“Things aren’t always as they seem…” Seonghwa muttered under his breath to himself. “Things aren’t always as they seem…”

The forest was dimly lit but every surface had a strange sheen that glittered like sunlight was refracting off of it. Just like everything in this world and all of its inhabitants, there appeared to be glitter clinging to everything. The ground underfoot was soft and springy with generations of earthy compost, although Seonghwa didn’t see anymore worms like the one he’d met in the first part of the labyrinth so he wasn’t sure what was breaking down the fallen leaves here. What unnerved Seonghwa the most, though, was how utterly silent it was here.

In the other parts of the labyrinth, he’d been able to hear the quiet shifting of the walls, the skittering of tiny creatures running around him, the occasional whisper of unseen onlookers, even the plants made noise from moving, but this forest sounded as though Seonghwa, Wooyoung, and Mingi were the only living creatures there. The hair on the back of Seonghwa’s neck stood on end as he walked foward, trying not to show how unsettled he was.

“I think…” Seonghwa said, pausing to queitly clear his throat. “Maybe we went the wrong…?”

When he turned back to look at his companions, his heart sank. Wooyoung and Mingi had vanished, leaving him totally alone in the eerie wood. Spinning around and around, Seonghwa’s blood pumped harder and harder with panic. They were nowhere to be found and he couldn’t decide if he should be worried for them or scream with rage that they’d ran off on him after all. He felt foolish for trusting them but he also felt the very familiar sense of devastation that had gripped him when he’d first realized that Minjae was no longer in his crib. Even though Wooyoung and Mingi were obviously not his children, nor were they even human, Seonghwa couldn’t help but feel the same fear for them that he’d felt for his own child.

“Wooyoung?!” Seonghwa finally shouted out his name. “Mingi?! Where are you guys?!”

Hearing no reply, Seonghwa’s legs began carrying him forward in a random direction, running as he continued to call out their names. He wasn’t sure how long the panic coursed through his veins or how deeply lost he became in the forest because of it, but he didn’t stop until he heard the crunching of footsteps that didn’t belong to him. Seonghwa stopped, forcing his breathing to go quiet so he could strain his ears for the sound. It didn’t come again but Seonghwa felt certain that he wasn’t alone anymore. It wasn’t Wooyoung or Mingi, there was something else nearby.

“Hello?” Seonghwa called out in a shaky voice. “Is someone there?”

It wasn’t foorsteps or even another voice that responded to the question but, rather, the rhythmic sound of wooden tapping, or maybe fingers snapping, almost immediately followed by the shrill cry of a goblin. The creature leaped out at Seonghwa, landing directly in front of him. All at once, the tapping crescendoed into full blown music and three more similar looking goblins began popping out from behind trees, dropping out of the branches, and darting around Seonghwa frantically.

They all had somewhat elongated snouts and eyes that had become too large. Their teeth were long and sharp, their eyes had become so extended that they wobbled up and down as they ran, and they had bits of scarlet, orange, and yellow fur that resembled fire cropping out of their ragged clothes. It even replaced the hair on their heads. Comparing them to the others Seonghwa had seen so far, a terrible thought cemented itself in his mind; The goblins weren’t just another species, they used to be human.

All of them. Wooyoung, Mingi, Jongho- the riddle-rhyming guards, Beomgyu and Yeonjun- they’d all once been human and that’s what they were saying when they told Seonghwa that Minjae would stay with them forever if he failed to solve the labyrinth in time.

“I’ve got to get out of here.” Seonghwa murmured, horrified. “I have to find Minjae.”

“Hey, pretty! Where ya going?!” One of the goblins jumped in the way. “We just got here!”

This tall, lithe goblin reached one of his clawed hands out towards Seonghwa and struck a match off his shirt. Throwing the flame onto the ground, a bonfire suddenly errupted and the music Seonghwa was hearing increased in volume.

“What do you want?” Seonghwa stumbled backwards, just to be caught in the arms of another goblin. “Let go!”

“Let go, Taehyun!” The first goblin laughed. “He said, ‘let go’!”

“Letting go!” Taehyun laughed back and shoved Seonghwa forward. “Catch, Yunho!”

The first goblin, Yunho, caught Seonghwa, then immediately threw him to the next. “Look alive, Kai!”

Kai caught him and hoisted him off the ground, tossing him over his shoulder and spinning around on beat with the music. Before Seonghwa had a chance to protest, Kai suddenly leaned back, letting Seonghwa slide off his shoulder, and the next goblin wrapped an arm around his waist to lower him to the ground.

“Soobin’s got him!” Yunho called joyfully, now dancing around the fire with Taehyun. “Come on, pretty! Don’t look so grim!”

“I don’t have time for this!” Seonghwa couldn’t hold back a small sob as he scrambled to get back onto his feet. “I have to get to the castle-”

“Take a load off!” Soobin grabbed him by the back of his shirt. “There’s no worries when you party with the Fire Gang.”

“No, let go of me!” Seonghwa struggled out of his grip and fell to the ground with a painful thud.

The fire goblins continued to prance around, spinning around the fire, entangling with each other, bursting into boisterous laughter and singing carelessly. Seonghwa pulled himself back onto his feet and tried to run again but was, once again, pulled back into their antics. They didn’t listen to a word he said, just passing him between each other and forcing him to join in on their dance while that disembodied music continued to assault his ear drums. Every so often, Seonghwa just barely managed to catch a glimpse of sky between the trees overhead and, once or twice, he was pretty sure he saw the castle in the distance.

It was closer than it had been in the hedge maze. He hadn’t gone the wrong way, he was closer than ever, he just had to escape this gang of partying forest goblins. As best he could tell, he might have as little as five hours left and although that seemed like enough time based on how near the castle seemed to be now, it could easily run out if he continued to run into obstacles like this. On the verge of tears, Seonghwa tore out of Soobin’s grasp and hit the ground again, having tripped over a fallen log. Looking up, Seonghwa’s eyes widened as they fell upon a familiar face.

“Jongho?”

“I thought you were going to solve the labyrinth.” Jongho said bitterly. “But here you are partying?”

“No!” Seonghwa rasped, forcing himself back onto his feet. “They won’t let me go!”

“They’re not holding you now.” Jongho retorted. “Come on!”

Not waiting for his response, Jongho spun around and took off running. With his heart pounding in his ears, Seonghwa took off after him.

Chapter 6: Fires of Conflict

Chapter Text

Out of the chaos of the castle, the outside garden provided a simple peace. The young goblins all eventually grew accustom to the atmosphere of the city but children like Minjae, who were new to this world, still found it too overwhelming. The child’s wails only quieted to sniffling once Hongjoong carried him in his arms out to the garden to stand beside the tranquil little fountain, letting him reach his chubby little fingers out to touch the moss growing on the statues and his teary eyes to follow the faeiries drifting around in the air.

“Majesty?”

Hongjoong turned around to find Wooyoung watching him from the stone archway at the end of the foot path that led towards the city.

“Wooyoung?” Hongjoong said in a surprised voice. “What are you doing here? Where’s Seonghwa?”

Wooyoung took slow, leisurely steps towards him. “We got separated, I figured I’d check in before going back. Don’t worry, he still hasn’t even made it to the junkyard.”

Hongjoong visibly relaxed and looked back down at the baby in his arms. “Alright… good.”

“Hongjoong…” Wooyoung spoke with a bit of apprehension this time. “I don’t… think this one’s the same as the others… Seonghwa seems different.”

“Different how?” Hongjoong scoffed. “He’s here, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, but…” Wooyoung hesitated. “He’s actually trying… and he’s being kind to us. Not just to get us to help, either, he let Mingi follow him without even asking if he knew how to lead him to the castle. He helped me chase off a bunch of goblins that were bullying Mingi.”

“Mingi is always getting bullied, since when do you care?”

Wooyoung muttered this part under his breath, not daring to defy Hongjoong so directly; “Since I saw someone besides Yunho care about looking out for him…”

Hongjoong turned his eyes back to Wooyoung again, still looking mostly disinterested but there was an undeniable curiosity flickering in his eyes. Wooyoung gulped as his gaze scanned over him, looking very much like he regretted his comment. After a few moments, he waved Wooyoung over and carefully passed Minjae over to him so he could take out a crystal ball and peer into it, manifesting Seonghwa’s image to spy on his current whereabouts.

“Looks to me like he’s wasting time with Yunho and his boys. No Mingi, though.” Hongjoong shrugged. “Is that what you call trying? Is that what you consider to be looking out for Mingi, which you apparently think I’m failing to do?”

“N-no, that’s not-” Wooyoung started to answer but was quickly cut off.

“I’ll admit that Seonghwa has gotten farther than most of the other ‘parents’ I’ve brought here.” Hongjoong crossed his arms over his chest and turned his body to face Wooyoung. “Perhaps he’s even convinced himself that he actually wants his son back. My labyrinth will break him of that as the obstacles become more different to overcome, though. He will remember why he wished Minjae away, how he begged for his life to be free of these kinds of tribulations. In the end, just like all of the others, he will give up and go home and he will forget about Minjae.”

Wooyoung stayed quiet, frowning back at Hongjoong but not daring to argue.

“Just like Yunho’s parents forgot about him the second they left the labyrinth.” Hongjoong continued with a nonchalant shrug. “Just like your father forgot about you once he smelled the bog, and just like Jongho’s mother forgot about him the moment she saw how far the castle was. They’re all the same, Wooyoung. Seonghwa is not different.”

As he finished, he took Minjae back into his arms so Wooyoung could return to his task.

“I don’t agree.” Wooyoung finally said, swallowing his fear. “Seonghwa isn’t going to give up. He’ll get here.”

“In time?” Hongjoong laughed. “We’ll see, Wooyoung. Here- why don’t you give him this for me.”

Hongjoong tossed the crystal ball through the air, which had promptly turned itself into a peach by the time it landed in Wooyoung’s hands.

“Why?” He asked suspiciously. “What is it?”

“A gift.” Hongjoong shrugged, smiling. “What else?”

“It won’t hurt him… will it?”

Hongjoong’s smile faltered and sadness flickered behind his eyes. It wasn’t like Wooyoung to care about the deadbeat parents they ferried through the labyrinth. He was still young, though, he hadn’t yet begun to show any strong goblin features yet. Perhaps the memories of his parents were still too strong in his mind but the ones of their abuse had faded, leaving him with the helpless instinct of wanting for a parental figure. Sympathetic to his ward, Hongjoong walked over to Wooyoung and wrapped an arm tightly around him.

“No, it won’t hurt him.” Hongjoong answered. “It’s just a gift.”

Wooyoung hummed, sounding unconvinced, but let his head drop onto Hongjoong’s shoulder and his body melt into the hug. Minjae was the one to end it quickly though, growing fussy from being encased between the two larger bodies. Before it could evolve into a full tantrum, Hongjoong pushed Wooyoung away with a pat on his shoulder.

“Go on, now.” He said, smiling warmly. “If you’re so sure about Seonghwa, go prove me wrong.”

Returning the smile with his own determined grin, Wooyoung nodded his head before spinning around to run back out through the archway. Hongjoong watched him disappeared, fondness clear on his face.

“I hope he’s wrong.” Hongjoong said lightheartedly, turning his attention back to Minjae. “I quite like you, I’d hate to have to give you up.”

Minjae babbled back and put one of his tiny hands on Hongjoong’s face. There were still tears in his big eyes but he’d calmed from the tantrum he’d been throwing since his arrival.

“Of course…” Hongjoong continued talking to himself, since the baby obviously wasn’t capable of engaging in the conversation. “You certainly got your good looks from somewhere. What do you think? Could your careless father be talked into staying here? The goblins clearly need another parent in their lives… There’s not enough of me to keep an eye on everyone.”

Mingi, in particular, needed a lot of care that Hongjoong was simply too busy to give him. The smaller goblins seemed attracted to bullying him like the faeries were attracted to milk and honey. If Seonghwa had taken to looking after him so easily… perhaps having him around wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

+x+

As quickly as Jongho had appeared, he was gone again. It was just like last time, he appeared for a second but, as soon as Seonghwa tried to follow him, he vanished. There was no time to worry about it though. Seonghwa was grateful to have finally slipped away from the Fire Gang but they were, of course, following behind him, so Seonghwa was more preoccupied with not letting them catch up than with wherever Jongho had disappeared to. Racing through the woods with them hot on his heels, the sounds of their voices calling out to him to come back just pushed him to run faster. One voice, in particular, which Seonghwa thought might belong to the one named Yunho, was catching up to him startlingly quickly.

Seonghwa felt hopeless when the path he was following led him directly to a solid, stone wall that stretched far too high above his head for there to be any chance of climbing it. The foliage on either side was too dense to divert off of the path fast enough to escape but the trees didn’t quite come close enough to the wall for him to try to climb one. He was trapped and Yunho’s sudden appearance behind him cemented that fact. Yunho wrapped one of his spindly, clawed hands around Seonghwa’s wrist, and reeled him back to face him.

“Where are you running off to in such a hurry?” Yunho asked, the words ominously threatening but his expression somehow much more innocent. “You don’t want to play with us?”

“I-I… I have somewhere to be.” Seonghwa stuttered, trying to hold his composure. “I don’t have time. I-I can come back after!”

Yunho cocked his head. “The castle… you’re one of the parents.”

There was an odd sadness in Yunho’s eyes and his grip loosened slightly.

“Yes, I’m one of the parents.” Seonghwa answered, although he wasn’t entirely certain it was the right one to give. “And I miss my son very much, so I need to get to the castle before I run out of time.”

Yunho’s eyes widened in surprise. “...You’re still trying?”

“Of course, I’m still trying.” Seonghwa put a gentle hand over Yunho’s. “I’ll never stop trying.”

Seonghwa was struck by how shocked and confused that statement seemed to make Yunho, as though he’d never encountered a parent that had actually tried to get their children back from Hongjoong. It made Seonghwa wonder…

“Park Seonghwa!”

There was no time for wondering. Seonghwa whipped his head around and saw Wooyoung standing on the top of the wall. The goblin threw a rope down and called out to him again.

“Grab it!”

Seonghwa looked back at Yunho and, after a few more seconds, Yunho let go of him.

“How much time do you have left?” Yunho asked.

“I’m not sure.” He said honestly. “Five hours… probably less…”

Yunho glanced up at where Wooyoung was standing, then behind him at where the rest of his gang had now gathered, watching them with big, curious eyes. When he turned back to Seonghwa finally, there was an odd look of determination burning in his eyes.

“Let’s go then!” He boomed, breaking into an impassioned smile. “Let’s get you to the castle!”

Chapter 7: Passing The Knight's Vow

Chapter Text

With Yunho helping to boost him up the wall, Seonghwa scrambled up the rope to balance at the top with Wooyoung. Soon after, Yunho was joining them as well, despite Wooyoung’s efforts to pull the rope up before he could climb it.

“Ugh, why’d you have to follow?” Wooyoung groaned, choosing to cut the rope now to keep the rest of the fire goblins from following. “I thought you didn’t want to go back to the city.”

“I do if it’s worth going back to.” Yunho ruffled Wooyoung’s hair despite his protests. “This seems like it’ll be interesting. Besides, what about you? Why are you helping a parent?”

Wooyoung shrugged. “I’m just doing what I always do.”

Yunho laughed. “He wouldn’t have made it this far if you were just doing what you always do.”

Seonghwa grimaced. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Wooyoung gulped. “Nothing.”

Yunho laughed again. “Wooyoung doesn’t ‘help’, he just watches and makes fun of the parents when they can’t figure out how to get through the labyrinth. He only helps enough to avoid being seen as a nuisance.”

“I see.” Seonghwa folded his arms over his chest. “Well, it didn’t work, did it?”

“I wasn’t doing that to you!” Wooyoung protested indignantly. “I really am helping!”

Seonghwa’s stern expression melted into a fond smile. “I meant that avoiding being seen as a nuisance didn’t work. You were perfectly annoying.”

Wooyoung’s face turned red with a sort of child-like embarrassment. Seonghwa joined Yunho in a laugh this time and copied his earlier action in ruffling Wooyoung’s hair.

“Don’t look so sour.” Seonghwa patted his cheek. “We’re friends now, aren’t we?”

Wooyoung’s expression instantly shifted. “Friends?”

“Don’t mind him.” Yunho snickered. “Wooyoung’s never had friends before.”

Seonghwa nodded with a mock look of introspection. “That makes sense.”

“I’ve had friends!” Wooyoung retorted, his voice pitching. “I have lots of friends!”

“Hongjoong doesn’t count.” Yunho poked.

Wooyoung opened his mouth to argue but Seonghwa cut him off. “Okay, that’s enough, we’re wasting time. We’re just teasing you, Wooyoung.”

Without really thinking, Seonghwa leaned in and kissed Wooyoung on the forehead the same way he’d kiss Minjae’s after calming him from a fit. The tension melted from Wooyoung’s face, his eyes locked on Seonghwa’s face in a state of pure adoration. It only lasted for a single heartbeat, though, before the wall suddenly gave out beneath their feet. For a moment, Seonghwa thought that the wall had suddenly crumbled but it quickly became apparent that it had opened like a trap door, dropping them down a tunnel that curved like a slide and spat them out on the other side of the wall. Wooyoung shot out first, then Seonghwa came out after to fall on top of some great mass of thick fur.

“Mingi!” Seonghwa exclaimed, quickly scrambling off of the beast’s back. “There you are!”

Mingi groaned and looked at him with a pained expression. “Ow.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Seonghwa cooed, reaching out to caress his cheek. “Did I hurt you?”

Yunho popped out of the hole in the wall and quickly kicked off from the ledge to land much more gracefully than Seonghwa had.

“Mingi!” Yunho’s face lit up. “There you are!”

Wooyoung whined from where he was still laying on the ground on the other side of Mingi. “I’m fine too! Thanks for asking!”

“Wooyoung, are you okay-?” Seonghwa suddenly stopped and scanned around their surroundings. “Oh, what is that stench?!”

“Hongjoong must have seen what you did.” Wooyoung grumbled, finally pulling himself to his feet. “It’s the Bog of Eternal Stench. It’s a place of punishment.”

“Punishment?!” Seonghwa gasped. “What did Hongjoong see?! What the hell are we being punished for?!”

“I dunno, the kiss?” Wooyoung shrugged irritably. “We got dropped right after you kissed me!”

Seonghwa rolled his eyes. “I only kissed your forehead. Hongjoong is just a bully. Come on, let’s go. I want to get my son away from that creep as soon as possible.”

Wooyoung muttered something in opposition of Seonghwa’s assessment of Hongjoong but Seonghwa was already ignoring him in favour of helping Yunho hoist Mingi back onto his feet.

“Are you okay?” Yunho cooed, gently brushing the long, orange locks of hair out of Mingi’s face. “What are you doing out here?”

“...looking for you.” Mingi replied sheepishly. “Don’t wanna be in the castle by myself.”

“Oh, darling.” Yunho’s eyes sparkled with fondness. “I’m sorry for leaving.”

Mingi’s frown only deepened. “Traitor.”

Yunho burst out into a good-hearted laugh. “What? Traitor?!”

“No loyalty.” Mingi huffed. “Could’ve taken me with you.”

Yunho tsked and pulled Mingi into a tight hug. “I’m sorry, love. I didn’t think you’d do well out here.”

“Should’ve stayed, then.” Mingi grumbled into Yunho’s shoulder.

Yunho didn’t answer but he kissed Mingi’s cheek tenderly.

Seonghwa humphed, directing his attention back to Wooyoung. “They can kiss each other but if I do it we get dumped in a bog that smells like butts?”

Wooyoung cackled, slapping a hand over his mouth, shrugging in lieu of an answer. Rolling his eyes, Seonghwa sighed and waved for everyone to follow him.

“Let’s go, we’re wasting time again.”

Of course, they didn’t make it far before they encountered their next obstacle. It was possible that the close they got to the Goblin City, the more obstacles the labyrinth was throwing at them to slow Seonghwa down. It was beyond frustrating but… Seonghwa didn’t mind the company he’d accumulated.

“Halt!” The goblin in front of them put a hand out in front of him to stop them. “None shall pass!”

Seonghwa sighed. “Fuck.”

“San!” Wooyoung barked, pointing a finger at him. “What are you doing out here?! This place smells like butts!”

Seonghwa refrained a little choked laugh at Wooyoung’s repetition of his own words.

“Butts?” San echoed it now too. “I smell no butts! Except yours, Wooyoung! What are you doing out here?”

“I-!” Wooyoung stuttered. “My butt doesn’t smell! It’s probably yours that you’re smelling!”

“Okay, that’s enough.” Seonghwa interjected. “San?”

The goblin looked at him. He was exceptionally handsome and dressed in much more extravagant garb than the others, with a rapier sheathed on his hip and a feathered hat perched on his head. His skin shimmered a deep golden colour and his eyes burned with the same passion Seonghwa had seen in Yunho’s earlier.

“We need to get to the Goblin City.” Seonghwa explained calmly. “We don’t have much time to get there so, please-”

“None shall pass!” San repeated the words, looking a touch too proud of himself. “Without my permission! That is the sacred vow I took and, as a valiant knight, I shall not break it!”

Mingi groaned in disgust and stepped forward to swipe a large hand at San. The smaller goblin ducked easily, drawing his sword as he rolled across the ground to position himself behind Mingi, and promptly poked his butt with the sword. Mingi yelped, jumping forward a step or two, before turning back around to face San again.

“Yeosang! Get out here!” San cried out, brandishing his sword. “A squire is present when his knight is dueling!”

Seonghwa looked around for whoever San was calling to, surprised to find another small goblin suddenly sitting on a nearby rock. This one was dressed in similarly luxurious clothes but were noticeably more simple than what San was wearing. His skin shined like porcelain under the sun and he had an untamed mop of white blond hair encompassing his head like a fluffy cloud.

“Yeosang?” Seonghwa stepped over to him, putting the obnoxious fighting behind him. “Can I sit with you?”

Yeosang looked at him nervously but shrugged, allowing Seonghwa to sit.

“You’re San’s squire?”

“I guess.” Yeosang replied. “I don’t actually know what a squire is, though.”

Seonghwa chuckled quietly. “It’s sort of like an assistant.”

“Oh.” Yeosang stuck his tongue out.

“Can I ask…” Seonghwa lowered his voice a bit. “What’s San’s deal? Why isn’t he letting us cross the bog? Does he seriously not know how bad it smells here?”

Yeosang shook his head. “San lost his sense of smell. We both did. That’s why Hongjoong sends us to guard the bog, no one else can.”

“Hongjoong sent you? Why?”

“Why else?” Yeosang met his gaze, his doe-like eyes melting Seonghwa’s heart. “To stall parents. We’ve been here all day, though, and still haven’t seen one. I don’t know why San is fighting with them, I guess he’s just bored.”

Seonghwa hummed. “Well… If you’re both bored and you haven’t seen any parents to stall… why don’t you both come with us?”

“Go with you?!” San asked suddenly, appearing before them breathlessly. “We have a sworn duty!”

Yeosang grimaced. Seonghwa looked past San and saw Mingi sitting on the ground, Yunho and Wooyoung standing on either side fussing over him, with tears streaming down his face.

“San!” Seonghwa blurted out without even realizing it. “What’d you do?”

The knight facade faltered and San shrank at Seonghwa’s scolding tone. “N-... Nothing! I’m upholding my duties and Mingi was simply a casualty!”

Seonghwa swiftly walked past him and knelt in front of Mingi. “What happened?”

Mingi sniffled and pointed a finger at San. “Hit me.”

Seonghwa tsked and looked back at San. “That wasn’t nice. Come over here and apologize.”

“But-!”

Seonghwa narrowed his eyes and San dropped his head, shuffling over whilst sheathing his rapier again.

“Mingi… I’m sorry you didn’t listen when I told you that you couldn’t pass without my permission!”

Seonghwa cleared his throat. “That’s not a very good apology. Besides, if all we need is your permission, then what’s the problem?”

San blinked, speechless, as though he hadn’t considered that possibility.

Chapter 8: The Gift

Chapter Text

At last, putting the bog behind them and entering a new section of woods, the path to the City seemed clear and they didn’t have much further to go. The only thing slowing them down now was the fact that Seonghwa hadn’t eaten the entire time he’d been in the labyrinth and it was beginning to take its toll on him.

“Just my luck that there aren’t even any berries on these bushes…” Seonghwa mumbled to himself, his eyes scanning for fruiting trees as they walked. “I’d kill for even just an apple…”

Wooyoung had slowed his pace to walk alongside Seonghwa but was awkwardly avoiding looking at him.

“What about- uhm…” His voice cracked and he cleared his throat. “A-a peach? Do you… like peaches?”

Seonghwa looked at him and they both stopped walking. Before he could answer, Wooyoung was suddenly holding his arm outstretched to the side, offering Seonghwa a peach but still not quite meeting his eye. Seonghwa smiled fondly, assuming Wooyoung was only being shy over offering a genuinely kind gesture.

“Thank you, Wooyoung.” Seonghwa took the peach. “I’ll spare you a kiss this time but thank you.”

Wooyoung nodded and cleared his throat again. “Right, yeah… I mean, you’re welcome.”

Seonghwa laughed and began walking again as he sank his teeth into the soft skin of the peach. A quiet moan rumbled in his throat the second the juice hit his tongue and the grumbling in his stomach finally quieted in anticipation of finally being fed. However, Seonghwa only swallowed one bite before he started to feel… strange. Not quite noticing it at first, Seonghwa took a second bite, his steps slowing more and more until the backs of his goblin friends were disappearing into the woods far ahead of him.

“Wooyoung… what… ‘ Seonghwa asked sluggishly as he came to a full stop. “did you do…?”

His body felt too heavy to stay standing. He dropped to his knees, then let the rest of him follow to lay back against the trunk of a tree behind him. His eyes, too, suddenly felt too heavy to stay open and they soon closed, opening less than a second later to an utterly unrecognizable world.

Everything was dancing. The world around Seonghwa, his head, the lights shimmering around him, even the crowd of people he was wandering through were all paired up and waltzing around each other. The ballroom was filled with a soft ballad and the voice that followed to sing the words filled Seonghwa with such a comfort he could almost cry. The crowd was stifling, all he wanted to do was find the source of that voice. He couldn’t remember anything before this moment but he was certain he’d been looking for something, it had to be whoever was singing. Seonghwa searched frantically but every face he tried to look at was obscured by a masquerade mask and no one’s lips seemed to be moving along to the song.

The panic increased within Seonghwa until he was close to bursting into a sprint. Finally, his eyes fell on someone wearing a dazzling blue peacoat and a startlingly intricate skull half-mask held against his cheeks. Seonghwa froze, petrified by the man’s gaze, and watched as the mask pulled away to reveal a familiar and mesmerizingly handsome face. The man approached quickly, a small smile playing at his lips, and confidently took Seonghwa’s hand and waist to lead him into a waltz. Suddenly, the song being sung matched the way this man’s lips moved and Seonghwa melted into the comfort. Something still felt off, he still felt the panic of needing to find something, but he was so certain that this man was who he was looking for that he forced the feeling aside and let himself get lost in the man’s eyes while they danced.

“As the pain sweeps through, makes no sense for you.” The man sang sweetly, sweeping Seonghwa around the room on expert feet. “Every thrill is gone, wasn’t too much fun at all.”

Images, flashes of forgotten memories, played within Seonghwa’s mind. He caught glimpses of a woman’s face, something that made his heart clench painfully and his throat threaten to close around choked sobs. Her face contorted in pain as she screamed until her voice was replaced by that of an infant’s, then she was gone. The memory faded and Seonghwa was left with a feeling of exhaustion, frustration, and loneliness.

“But I’ll be there for you.” The man’s voice continued. “As the world falls down. Falling… Falling in love.”

Seonghwa couldn’t resist the haze washing over him, barely noticing that he had leaned in until he was already locked in a kiss with the man. It silenced the uncomfortable feelings and comforted him in a way he couldn’t even begin to understand the need for. There was still something lurking in the back of his mind that felt wrong, he still felt lost, he was still searching for something, but the kiss was grounding him. Or maybe it was making it worse. Seonghwa wanted to sob and chase whatever he was looking for deeper into the mouth he was kissing but every swell had him feeling more defeated. When they broke apart, the man was looking at him with an odd expression of concern and confusion, clearly disturbed by the way Seonghwa was close to panic.

Guilt wracked Seonghwa for the way he was reacting. He desperately wanted to stay and continue kissing the man but he could no longer fight the need to keep searching… to keep looking for… for Minjae! That’s who he was looking for! Seonghwa broke out into a run, only to stop a short minute later as his path was blocked by some kind of arching glass wall that encompassed the entire ballroom. Not seeing any other option, Seonghwa picked up a chair from one of the nearby tables and smashed it against the wall as hard as he could. The wall shattered, as did the world around him. The floor slipped out from beneath his feet and Seonghwa was suddenly falling, slowly, drifting downward through the air, until he came to land in what he could only assume was a great pile of garbage.

“Oh!” A voice yelped. “Oh, get off me!”

Seonghwa pushed himself onto his feet and spun around to see who he’d landed on.

“S-...Soojin?”

“Soojin?!” The goblin remarked, offended. “Not Soojin, Soyeon! Who are you with no manners?!”

“O-oh. Sorry.” Seonghwa rubbed his eyes. “I thought… you were someone else.”

This goblin had a small frame and was dressed in tattered clothes, her black hair messed up in knots around her face, and she seemed to be carrying a small pile of garbage around on her back like it was pinned and hooked to a backpack. At first glance, her face had looked so similar to… Seonghwa shook his head, his memories still feeling a little fuzzy.

“Well, look somewhere else for her!” Soyeon stuck her bottom lip out. “And watch where you’re going next time!”

“Sorry…” Seonghwa turned to walk away, not entirely sure where he was going. “I was… looking for something… someone?”

“You’ll certainly find whatever it is here!” Soyeon suddenly bounced forward to stand in front of him, pulling a jewelry box out of her pile of trash and handing it to him. “Look here! Isn’t this something?”

He almost recognized it. “Oh… yes, thank you.”

“That’s what you were looking for,” Soyeon smirked. “Wasn’t it?”

Seonghwa nodded.

“Good!” Soyeon took his hand and began leading him towards a door propped against more trash. “Then let’s just come in here and see what else we can find that you were looking for!”

She pulled on the handle and it opened like a proper door. When Seonghwa stepped inside, he found himself back inside of his own bedroom. Letting out a noise that was somewhere between a sob and a sigh of relief, Seonghwa pulled out of Soyeon’s grip and tossed himself onto the bed. As soon as he hit the top cover, he was enveloped in the scent of Soojin’s perfume. He inhaled deeply, feeling it carry him away to old, forgotten memories of laying against her chest, listening to her heat beat and her voice vibrate her chest as she read from her book.


“‘Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle, beyond the Goblin City, to take back the child that you have stolen…’ She spoke valiantly, facing the Goblin King with a face much braver than how she really felt. ‘For my will is as strong as yours, and my kingdom is as great…’ Mmm…”

Soojin’s voice trailed off into a hum and Seonghwa lifted his head off her chest, looking up at her with a sleepy smile on his face.

“Aren’t you going to read the next line?”

She smiled back at him and took his hand, moving to lay flat across her pregnant belly. “He’s kicking again.”

Seonghwa held his breath, waiting for the little tap of their baby’s foot. When he felt it, his smile widened until it hurt.

“He’s been restless today.” He moved higher in the bed and pressed a kiss to her lips, still stained red from their evening out. “He’s ready to come out.”

“He better hurry up, then.” Soojin laughed and leaned away from him to put her book on the bedside table. “I’m impatient too, I want to meet him already.”

“We’re all impatient.” Seonghwa stood and stretched before going to shut off the lights. “This last month is dragging.”

“Ha!” Soojin fake laughed. “You think it’s dragging? You’re not the one that’s had to be pregnant for the past eight months.”

Seonghwa stuck his tongue out at her before flipping the lightswitch. “I’m allowed to think it’s dragging, even if all I do is carry you up and down the stairs every day and help you wash your hair and cook all of your meals for you and-”

Soojin’s laugh turned genuine and she held her hands out for her husband to rejoin her in the bed. “Okay, I get it. You’re the perfect man.”

“Damn straight.” Seonghwa kissed her again before settling in beside her. “So perfect that I’ll support you one hundred percent if you never want to do this again.”

“Hmm, tempting.” It was Soojin’s turn to rest her head on Seonghwa’s chest. “You don’t think Minjae will mind being an only child?”

Seonghwa’s eyes shot open. “Minjae.”

“Who?” Soyeon was suddenly beside him. “Who’s that?”

Seonghwa popped up. “My son! That snake tricked me again!”

“H-huh?! Hey-!” Soyeon chased after Seonghwa as he ran to the door. “Where are you going?!”

He ignored her and attempted to open it. It didn’t budge but the walls around him suddenly began collapsing from the ceiling down, letting in the garbage from the junk yard outside. Soyeon cried out in surprise but he didn’t look back, moving now towards the sounds of familiar voices calling his name from outside. Seonghwa climbed over the garbage, desperately reaching his hands blindly through the stuff cluttering around him and obscuring his vision, until he finally felt someone else’s hand holding his.

Two hands gripped his wrists and tugged him out, helping him climb until he reached the surface and found Yunho and Mingi’s faces beaming back at him.

“There you are!” Yunho sighed in relief and tugged Seonghwa into his arms. “We were looking everywhere for you!”

Seonghwa hugged him back but his eyes were trained on the looming gate that laid before them at the edge of the junk yard they were now standing.

“Is that it?” Seonghwa asked. “Is that the Goblin City?”

Yunho released him and turned around to look, his face turning serious. “It is.”

Seonghwa nodded and quickly glanced around at the other faces. “Wait, where’s Wooyoung?”

“He vanished too.” San explained. “We thought he was with you.”

Seonghwa shook his head but the memory of Wooyoung giving him that peach made its way back into his mind, making it hard for him to care. After everything, he really was still just Hongjoong’s loyal lapdog and Seonghwa was terrified to even consider how much time he had just cost him with that piece of fruit. He could only pray that there was still enough left to make his way through the city and get to the castle where Minjae was waiting for him.

Chapter 9: The Thirteenth Hour

Chapter Text

The Goblin City was not what Seonghwa had been expecting. In Soojin’s book, it had been the place of a mighty and final battle between the Heroin and the King’s minions. What Seonghwa was faced with, however, was a deathly quiet city and what few inhabitants seemed to be around had shut themselves tightly inside their homes, only daring to watchg Seonghwa from the cracks in their window curtains as he passed by. Something about it unnerved Seonghwa, not in the sense of being watched but in the sense that… There was simply something not right about this. Where was the final battle?

“Seonghwa.” Mingi called his name, then pointed down a cobbled street. “The castle.”

Seonghwa nodded and silently fell in behind him. The atmosphere in the city must have unnerved his companions too because Yunho grasped Mingi’s hand as they walked and, likewise, San and Yeosang each took one of Seonghwa’s hands. He gave them reassuring squeezes, although he wasn’t sure what he was reassuring them of since they’d certainly know better than him what might be lurking around the city. Besides, Seonghwa was sure there wasn’t a danger. There was nothing lurking. There was just… something not right.

“Yunho…” Seonghwa’s voice was hoarse. “Is it supposed to be this empty?”

“I don’t know…” Yunho admitted. “I’ve never been here when a parent has arrived.”

“Not many make it.” Mingi added. “Hasn’t been one for a long time.”

“I hope that’s worth something then.” Seonghwa replied. “Hongjoong hasn’t shown himself to be very reasonable so far.”

“Ah, is that right?”

Seonghwa startled at the voice, then spun around. The world had shifted, something Seonghwa was considerably more used to by now but still deeply disoriented by. The castle that had been a good distance off still ahead of them was suddenly directly behind them, with Hongjoong now standing on the stairs as though waiting to greet them.

“You-!” Seonghwa stepped forward. “I’m here! Where is my son?! Where is Minjae?!”

Hongjoong turned his head slowly and directed his eyes to the clock hanging on the nearby collumn. The hour hand had reached the great 13 at the top and the minute hand showed a full hal hour past that. Seonghwa had missed the dealine by a meer thirty minutes.

“You can’t be serious.” Seonghwa breathed out in stuttered dismay. “You can’t seriously be intending to keep my son over thirty minutes, I’m here! I fought my way all the way here, I stolved your labyrinth, I did everything you asked me to do, you can’t possibly tell me that it all means nothing just because it took thirty minutes too long?!”

“I warned you…” Wooyoung’s voice sounded, snapping Seonghwa’s eyes over to the opposite pillar where he was nervously peaking out at them. “The rules don’t bend…”

“You!” Seonghwa had tears streaming down his face as he lunged for Wooyoung. “This is your fault!”

Hongjoong side stepped to place himself in front of Seonghwa, catching him in his arms before he had the chance to tackle Wooyoung.

“I would have made it in time if you hadn’t given me that peach!” Seonghwa sobbed, struggling against the arms Hongjoong had tightened around him. “You promised to help me, why would you do that to me? Why would you trick me like that?! Why?!”

“Because I told him to.” Hongjoong said it so simply. “Don't blame him, he's just a child. He only did as I told him to.”

Seonghwa stopped squirming and let out a whimper of defeat, feeling a wave of guilt wash over him as he took in how terrified of him Wooyoung looked. He was just a child and the fear so visible on his face made Seonghwa suddenly realize how that must have been how Minjae felt when he’d screamed at him. It was one thing to know in hindsight that he’d made a mistake that night, it was another thing entirely to see the effect his rage had had on his child. Feeling entirely defeated, Seonghwa slumped in Hongjoong’s grasp and fell to his knees.

Hongjoong knelt with him, carefully guiding him to the ground. “You didn’t just fail to get here in time, Seonghwa. You failed to learn from the labyrinth, to understand why I took Minjae in the first place. I’m not cruel for cruelty’s sake, I save children from the cruelty of their parents.”

All at once, a wave of tears hit Seonghwa and his face twisted with the first sob. “I didn’t mean to be cruel to him.”

“...I know.” Hongjoong said quietly. “But you were.”

Seonghwa’s head dropped and he brought his hands to his face as he began to weep. Surprisingly, Hongjoong put his arms around him again, this time gently pulling him against his chest in a hug.

“Hongjoong?” Yunho spoke out. “Are you really going to send him back now?”

The question made Seonghwa pull back suddenly, tearing out of Hongjoong’s grasp to protest, but he couldn’t find any good excuse for him to stay. Hongjoong was right, Seonghwa had failed to get through the labyrinth or learn to be a better father. Even if Hongjoong gave Minjae back to him, Seonghwa was certain he’d just wind up losing his temper with his son again sooner or later. Perhaps it was better for Minjae to stay here and grow up with a parent that can properly care for him.

“That’s not up to me.” Hongjoong’s voice brought Seonghwa back from his spiralling thoughts. “I played my part. If you want him to stay, ask him yourself.”

Confused, Seonghwa looked from Hongjoong’s face to Yunho’s, then on to Mingi’s and Wooyoung’s, San’s and Yeosang’s, and was shocked to see that Jongho had appeared once again, watching the events unfold from one of the doorways.

“Seonghwa?” Yunho called his name nervously. “Are you going to leave us?”

Seonghwa sniffled, looking between them all again, not knowing what to say. He couldn’t understand why any of them would want him to stay.

“I-... I don’t belong here.” Seonghwa answered. “Hongjoong brought you all here to get you away from parents like me.”

“No he didn’t.” Jongho spoke up finally. “Our parents weren’t like you.”

“...but…” Seonghwa furrowed his brow. “I thought…?”

“My mother didn’t even try to solve the labyrinth.” Jongho explained, crossing his arms. “She was glad to be rid of me. None of our parents actually wanted us. Mingi’s left scars on him, Yunho’s did much worse than just shout at him. You’re the only parent I’ve seen come here that acts like how a parent is supposed to act. I… I want you to stay with us…”

“I want you to stay with us.” Yunho echoed the sentiment, nodding his head. “Hongjoong is too busy and there’s too many of us for him to look after. Kids are supposed to have two parents…”

“I want you to stay with us.” Wooyoung repeated it as well, quietly and tentatively. “I’m sorry for tricking you. I didn’t know what the peach was going to do.”

Seonghwa’s bottom lip trembled as the apology brought moisture into his eyes again. “I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that.”

“...Will you stay then?” Wooyoung asked, inching closer.

“I would like for you to stay, too.” Hongjoong whispered, taking one of Seonghwa’s hands in his own. “I can’t keep this lot out of trouble and tend to a baby at the same time… Just like you couldn’t do everything alone, either.”

Seonghwa stared hard at Hongjoong, trying to see some twinkle of mischief in his eye that would tell him that this was all just a big joke. There wasn’t, though, and Seonghwa suddenly thought back to what happened after eating the peach.

“You kissed me.” He said suddenly. “I thought the point of the labyrinth was to teach me a lesson… what lesson was that supposed to teach?”

A light pink tint appeared across Hongjoong’s cheeks. “Not everything here is a lesson. I imagine you didn’t learn much from playing with Yunho’s boys in the woods either.”

“...No, probably not.” Seonghwa replied. “But that doesn’t explain why you kissed me.”

Hongjoong glanced at Wooyoung, then back at Seonghwa. “I suppose… Wooyoung had nice things to say about you… it made me curious.”

It still left Seonghwa with questions but, he supposed, there’d be plenty of time to find all of those answers later.

“If you all want me to stay…”

“We do!” San and Yeosang spoke in tandem.

The others murmured their agreement, watching Seonghwa with hopeful eyes.

“We do.” Hongjoong followed suit, squeezing Seonghwa’s hand as he spoke.

“Then I’ll stay.” Seonghwa finally agreed.

The moment the words left his mouth, Wooyoung flung himself forward and wormed his way between Seonghwa and Hongjoong to wrap his arms tightly around Seonghwa. Hongjoong got knocked over as a result and laughed warmly, moving to stand and give Wooyoung the space to celebrate. The others quickly crowded in as well, swarming around Seonghwa from every side to join the hug.

Seonghwa laughed and let the hugs dry his tears, taking a while to savour the first real affection he’d received in nearly two years. He didn’t care that Wooyoung was suffocating him or that Mingi was crushing him or that someone’s fingers were digging into his ribs, all Seonghwa cared about was that it finally felt like he might have the family he and Soojin used to dream about. Even though they’d joked about letting Minjae stay an only child, they’d both talked about having a big family with an abundance of little ones running around the house.

These young goblins filled some of the hole left behind by Soojin’s sudden passing. The only thing that was missing now was… Seonghwa opened his eyes again and found Hongjoong watching them with a large, fond smile. His heart fluttered.

“Will you let me see Minjae, now?” Seonghwa asked, unsure of what the answer would be despite the invitation to call this place home.

Hongjoong’s smile faded, though it still shimmered in his eyes. “Right… Of course.”

The King shooed his children away from Seonghwa and offered out a hand to help him to his feet. The others followed behind from a distance as Hongjoong guided Seonghwa up the steps towards the castle, dropping off one by one until Seonghwa was left alone with Hongjoong. Even though the goblin had never showed any intention of harming Seonghwa and their conflict had been resolved, Seonghwa still felt a bit unnerved to be alone with him.

The inside of the castle felt more like a maze than the labyrinth did, with staircases and doorways placed upside down and horizontally. They often passed through a threshold standing right side up, just to suddenly be walking with their feet above their heads on the other side. The first time it happened, Seonghwa gasped in fright and impulsively grabbed onto Hongjoong’s arm. Hongjoong responded by taking his hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze, turning his glittering eyes to Seonghwa as if to say,

“I won’t let any more harm come to you. Your days of suffering are over as long as I’m around.”

Seonghwa’s heart fluttered again and he didn’t protest when Hongjoong let go of his hand and, instead, wrapped an arm tightly around his waist to continue guiding him through the Escherian architecture. As they walked, more goblin critters skittered to and fro, some looking slightly human still, some looking mostly human, and some looking not human at all. Seonghwa marveled at each of them, wondering to himself if he’d ever get used to seeing such impossible creatures and, somewhat more troubling, whether he’d someday look like one of the furry little creatures that scampered around like anthropomorphic animals.

At last, Hongjoong opened a door and brought Seonghwa into a very normal looking bed chamber that was quite bare besides the large bed in the middle, which Seonghwa presumed was Hongjoong’s, and a crib standing across from the bed, which Seonghwa rushed to immediately. He let out a sob of relief as he found Minjae napping inside, unbothered by the intrusion of the two adults. Careful not to wake him, Seonghwa extended one hand into the crib and gently caressed the side of his son’s face.

“Your eyes are so different.” Hongjoong murmured quietly, standing on the opposite side of the crib.

“Different from what?” Seonghwa asked. “The way they looked when I was shouting at him?”

Hongjoong shook his head. “The eyes of the other parents. There’s genuine love in yours. I don’t know how I didn’t see it before.”

Chapter 10: The Stars Rearranged

Chapter Text

The great many differences between human and goblin culture was not the only obstacle Seonghwa faced after his decision to remain in the Goblin City, nor was it the most difficult. In choosing to accept the family Hongjoong was offering him, Seonghwa was forced to confront things about Soojin’s death that he had very meticulously buried over the course of the past two years. Although his temper subsided as he had more hands helping him raise Minjae, Seonghwa’s emotional condition felt just as fragile as it had before.

The first difficulty Seonghwa faced was learning to relinquish his control over Minjae. After spending two years refusing help from what few members of his and Soojin’s extended family had attempted to offer, Seonghwa found it incredibly difficult to accept when Hongjoong ordered him to return to bed and allow him to care for Minjae crying in the middle of the night. He found it difficult to accept when Yeosang and San would steal Minjae to feed him- and they would quite literally steal him. Seonghwa could be sitting in front of Minjae, look away for only a second, and find that he’d vanished when he looked back.

There was no ‘mine’ or ‘yours’ in the goblin world. There was some sort of concept of ownership that Seonghwa didn’t quite understand but it was certainly not as simple as ‘this belongs to me and this belongs to you’, which meant that the young goblins had no understanding of Seonghwa’s frustrations in expecting them to ask for permission to take Minjae. They would simply take him.

“Seonghwa?” Hongjoong watched him rifle through the room. “What are you looking for?”

Seonghwa sat back in a frazzled huff, visibly on the brink of tears. “Minjae! He was here just a second ago, and now-!”

He stammered, panic coursing through him. He’d only been here a few days and he’d already managed to lose his son again. All he could think was that Hongjoong would change his mind, once again, about him being a fit parent and would take Minjae away from him, sending him back to the human world without another spared sympathy.

“Well, one of the boys surely has him.” Hongjoong drew closer and kneeled in front of him, taking his hands in his own. “Would you like me to check?”

Seonghwa nodded, unable to wrap his head around how calm Hongjoong was. In turn, Hongjoong nodded back with a smile and took out one of his crystal balls, peering into it until Seonghwa, too, could see the image of Wooyoung carrying Minjae through the garden.

“Wooyoung!” Seonghwa blurted out. “Why would he take him without telling me?!”

“Why would he need to?” Hongjoong asked earnestly.

Seonghwa’s jaw laid open for a moment as he searched Hongjoong’s face for any trace of insincerity.

“I’m his father, Wooyoung should ask me if he can take Minjae.” Seonghwa said after a while. “How else will I know where he is?”

Hongjoong cocked his head. “Are you not also Wooyoung’s father now? Does Wooyoung need to ask permission to take his own brother to the garden?”

Again, Seonghwa gaped at him in silence, not knowing how to respond at first. “Well… Yes, of course… Of course I’m Wooyoung’s father, too, but… I should still know where they are.”

“But you weren’t worried about where Wooyoung was.” Hongjoong pressed. “Are you concerned about where every goblin in the city is? Or just your own blood?”

Guilt stabbed Seonghwa through the heart. “It’s… different… I’ve not had as much time to bond with everyone…”

Still, Hongjoong didn’t look offended or enraged by Seonghwa’s words, he just looked perplexed.

“Would it help if I gave you one of my crystals?” He asked. “That way you can check on whoever you’d like, whenever you see fit?”

Seonghwa hesitated, feeling as though that might constitute too close to spying. Hongjoong held the crystal out for him anyways, patiently waiting for Seonghwa to take it.

“I…” Seonghwa raised his hand but still didn’t quite accept the gift. “I should try to trust everyone more… shouldn’t I?”

Hongjoong shrugged. “I can’t give you the answer to everything. If you were a goblin, I’d tell you not to worry about what other goblins choose to do. No harm will ever come to Minjae here. You may see the children bully each other from time to time but none of them ever do any real harm, so you shouldn’t work yourself up over the whereabouts of any one goblin. However…”

“I’m not a goblin.”

“No.” Hongjoong squeezed the one hand he still had hold of. “And I won’t claim to understand where you’re coming from as a human. If it’s important to you to know where Minjae is, then I’ll give you a crystal so you can know. If it’s important to you that the goblins ask for permission before taking him, then I will order them to ask you.”

Seonghwa smiled bitterly. “You’re all so accommodating… but what accommodations am I making for you?”

Hongjoong seemed to hesitate for a moment. “You’re here. You gave up your life in the human world to be with us simply because we asked you to. Is that not the greatest accommodation a person can make?”

Seonghwa’s heart fluttered and his smile lightened slightly. “I don’t understand how you can be so warm to me after I made such a horrible first impression.”

“First impression?” Hongjoong laughed. “What good is a first impression? I value the impression you made on me when you persevered through the labyrinth. I value the look of love in your eyes when you care for Minjae. I value your gentleness when handling the other goblins. Your first impression was only an impression, it doesn’t define the entirety of who you are.”

His smile widened again. “I definitely prefer that to human culture.”

Hongjoong smiled back and raised his hand to lightly caress Seonghwa’s cheek. Seonghwa’s heart fluttered again as he felt mesmerized by the dancing flames in Hongjoong’s eyes. Out of all of the unusual things Seonghwa had encountered the past several days, he still found it the most strange how his dynamic with Hongjoong had come around so quickly and so entirely from their first meeting. It made it easy to understand how Hongjoong was uninterested in the concept of first impressions but Seonghwa still found his head reeling over the way Hongjoong had gone from his own personal villain to…

He wasn’t really sure what. They were co-parents, of course, but nothing more had transpired between them despite the kiss they’d shared during the peach-induced fugue. Nonetheless, Hongjoong doted on him like one would dote on a partner. They shared a bed so they could both sleep near Minjae. They took their meals together, even when the goblin children were nowhere to be found to join them. In all their time spent together so far, though, Seonghwa realized how little he knew about Hongjoong still.

“You’re a goblin, too,” Seonghwa asked, breaking the silence with his soft voice. “Why don’t you look like them?”

“I was born a goblin.” Hongjoong said simply, finally putting the crystal down beside Seonghwa and laying his head against Seonghwa’s knee, gazing up at him while they spoke. “The others were born human, brought here as children, they look the way they choose to look.”

“They look that way on purpose?” Seonghwa asked in surprise, his heart fluttering at the affectionate way Hongjoong was leaning against him. “Why?”

Hongjoong laughed softly. “They’re children. Isn’t it natural for scared little children to imagine themselves as monsters?”

“Do they choose to look like adults, too?” Seonghwa tentatively brushed his hand over the stray strands of Hongjoong’s hair.

“Hm…” Hongjoong closed his eyes, considering the question. “The human part of them is grown. They’re children by goblin standards.”

“So… they’re both?”

Hongjoong nodded.

“Then…” Seonghwa’s heartbeat increased little by little. “Are there other goblins like you?”

“Not anymore.”

Seonghwa paused, feeling like he was beginning to encroach on a part of Hongjoong’s life he hadn’t yet earned the right to ask about. There wasn’t much that Seonghwa couldn’t presume about the answer ‘Not anymore’. Whatever the reason, there weren’t other goblins anymore and, perhaps, Hongjoong was the only one left.

“Is that why you collect human children?” He asked, diverting the topic slightly. “To make more goblins?”

Opening his eyes, Hongjoong rippled with laughter. “To make more goblins? I hadn’t thought of it that way. I suppose… I was looking for a purpose. We can hear your world from here. I could hear the cries of your children and… it broke my heart. I wanted to help.”

Seonghwa’s heart did flips at the answer. How golden Hongjoong’s core shined now that Seonghwa knew he wasn’t the villain he’d believed him to be. He didn’t need to ask anymore questions in that moment, Seonghwa slid off the ledge he was sitting on and joined Hongjoong on the floor. Positioning himself so he was at eye level with the goblin, Seonghwa found the courage to kiss him. Hongjoong responded in kind, pressing into the kiss and wrapping his arms around Seonghwa’s waist to hold him close. Seonghwa wrapped an arm around Hongjoong’s shoulders and placed his other hand against his cheek, cupping his face softly as they rocked against each other for every next gentle kiss.

Unfortunately, with nearly a hundred goblin children (or more) coming and going from the palace, it was inevitable that they would be interrupted. Wooyoung came crashing into the room with Yeosang and San hot on his tail, barely dumping Minjae into Seonghwa and Hongjoong’s arms before they took off running again, chasing each other around the room. It was an impossible to process whirlwind of goblins tumbling over furniture, tripping on blankets that had been left out, all while yelling in overlapped voices about someone hitting someone else or someone taking something the other was using, then they were all racing out of the room again. The silence left in their place was broken again only a few seconds later as Seonghwa burst into laughter.

Hongjoong chuckled along with him, his eyes shimmering with affection for his human. “It’s such a relief to see you laugh like that.”

Seonghwa wiped a tear from his eye and turned his attention back to the king and the baby sitting in his arms. For the first time since arriving, Seonghwa felt himself properly relax. He leaned in and kissed Hongjoong’s cheek before settling down to rest his head on Hongjoong’s shoulder, gently stroking his hand over the top of Minjae’s head.

“I’m sorry I’ve been such a stick in the mud.” Seonghwa said. “I guess I still have some things to work through.”

“I will do everything in my power to make your transition comfortable.” Hongjoong wrapped his arms around Seonghwa and Minjae both. “I’m so happy to have you here, I don’t want you to regret your decision for even a single moment. Whatever you need from me, just say the word and I’ll be your slave.”

Seonghwa sighed contentedly and let his eyes slide shut. “I think all I needed was you.”