Aniyoooooohhh.
Seriously, what the f***? What the hell is going on?? What's wrong with the Emperor?!
First all that coldness and cruelty, then all the softness, the promises, 'will you come back to my quarters', 'my life is empty without you' etc, then two days later he opens the harem selections?
Is LianBi mocking him, torturing him or he is just lying? One thing is sure: he is still suffering. And it was the greatest joy, for the Mistress of the Harem, to announce that news to him.
She personally wrote to him to let him know, even before LianBi could explain. But the effect was just what she expected: fear, sorrow and despair.
LianBi, though, has his reasons and, for how strange as it may seem, the reason is Bang-sul's safety, protection and wellness for what is to come.
Poor Emperor is only waiting for the perfect moment to propose to Bang-sul and make everything public. Just a little longer.
First all that coldness and cruelty, then all the softness, the promises, 'will you come back to my quarters', 'my life is empty without you' etc, then two days later he opens the harem selections?
Is LianBi mocking him, torturing him or he is just lying? One thing is sure: he is still suffering. And it was the greatest joy, for the Mistress of the Harem, to announce that news to him.
She personally wrote to him to let him know, even before LianBi could explain. But the effect was just what she expected: fear, sorrow and despair.
LianBi, though, has his reasons and, for how strange as it may seem, the reason is Bang-sul's safety, protection and wellness for what is to come.
Poor Emperor is only waiting for the perfect moment to propose to Bang-sul and make everything public. Just a little longer.
Sweets.
The next evening from their arrival in Heinmenhos he goes out for a walk in the city, because he really needs some time by himself and something to distract him from the haunting thoughts about LianBi being in terrible danger.
While walking in the dark, by closed stores, most of which that will not open until the war will be over, he comes across one with wide open door, but all lights off. Did the owner forget to close the door? He shrugs and naturally walks inside. LiMu makes him even more curious than Sha and his influence is stronger than that of the other Guardians.
It's a candy shop, with whole barrels full of sweets of all tastes, shapes and types, other than colours.
He walks among the barrels, a little hesitant, just touching the candies with the tips of his fingers until he decides to take a few. He has never, ever eaten a candy so far. Not because he never had the chance to, when in Seoul, just because he was always too prideful to give others the satisfaction to know he followed their advice to try them. #wenchthings
He tries a few, then devours a ton.
In the end, he grabs a huge barrel of his favourite ones and carries it back to Jackil's manor, putting it in the basement of the house, which is also where he spends most of his time anyway.
He sits on a wooden box right next to the barrel and starts to eat a few candies, which look like blue crystalline spheres with a delicious liquid inside.
While walking in the dark, by closed stores, most of which that will not open until the war will be over, he comes across one with wide open door, but all lights off. Did the owner forget to close the door? He shrugs and naturally walks inside. LiMu makes him even more curious than Sha and his influence is stronger than that of the other Guardians.
It's a candy shop, with whole barrels full of sweets of all tastes, shapes and types, other than colours.
He walks among the barrels, a little hesitant, just touching the candies with the tips of his fingers until he decides to take a few. He has never, ever eaten a candy so far. Not because he never had the chance to, when in Seoul, just because he was always too prideful to give others the satisfaction to know he followed their advice to try them. #wenchthings
He tries a few, then devours a ton.
In the end, he grabs a huge barrel of his favourite ones and carries it back to Jackil's manor, putting it in the basement of the house, which is also where he spends most of his time anyway.
He sits on a wooden box right next to the barrel and starts to eat a few candies, which look like blue crystalline spheres with a delicious liquid inside.
Bup.
He really wonders where all the people he usually spends time with have gone. He wanders aimlessly in the house, while devouring nuvolette of shrimps like there is no tomorrow.
Twins.
His favourite thing ever are actually the two rings LianBi gifted to him and he can't choose which one of the two he likes the most.
One was specifically made for him, Jeonha had to hire a jeweler, design the jewel and tell him the details to make it fitting for his finger.
The other one, which he does not know to be a Jewel of the Crown, since Norihiko told that to Gamja and not him, was LianBi's own and he gifted it to him. They both are extremely valuable for him and although he thought he should give them back, since the Emperor doesn't seem happy about him anymore, he doesn't want to. If he has to die, he wants those rings to be the last thing he sees before the end.
Since he has these rings, he thinks it's only right to give the katana received from their grandfather to Tero, as that was the thing he probably values the most and thinks to be lost forever.
He summons his twin to a room and he indeed joins him there.
"What do you want?"
"You know that NoriYori and I went to Seoul, some days ago..." answers Bang-sul, not sure how to put the whole matter.
"Hm. You pretended to be me again when there's did you not?" He spoke with Sato and realized that they were with him some weeks before and that Bang-sul acted as if he was him. As if...
"Aniyo... I told you I wouldn't do that again."
"You better. It pisses me off."
Bang-sul waves his hand in the air and takes the sword. "I went there to get something for you." He extends it towards the twin.
Tero raises a brow and takes the katana, unsheathing it. As usual, he doesn't show much. "And how would you get that?"
"I too have friends in there. I thought... that you would appreciate." And he knows he did, no matter how neutral he looks.
"Our grandfather sent it to me as a birthday gift. To wield it when I would unify Joseon and Japan."
"Regarding our grandfather... ojiisan..." That's the most complicated part, as he doubts Tero will believe. "Past night, me, NoriYori and Yoshi have been to Japan..."
"I know. Magnus Bane told me."
"What the f***?!" He frowns at the thought of Magnus being a damn spy. "I met the spirit of our grandfather in there."
"And what did he say?"
Bang-sul blinks. "You believe me? Just like that?"
"We traveled through time and space, got corrupted by the Gods of another world and are at war against two Goddesses. You want me to be skeptical about paranormal?"
"Right..." he sighs. "Well, ojiisan was glad to hear you are alive... that you survived what Taejo tried to do. He also told me that..." He takes a short pause before to continue. "That there was a third twin. Three of us..." Why does that sound harder to believe than that he met a ghost?
"A third twin?" His eyes widen and he doesn't look pleased. "Three of us? Identical?"
Bang-sul shrugs. "I suppose..."
"Where is he?"
"I don't know. Ojiisan said that they tried to take him to Japan but lost him... he could either be dead or... wait, he is dead in any case, he was born in 1392..."
"Assuming he didn't time travel too. It happened to both of us, it might be our destiny."
"I doubt there is a way to find out though. He could be anywhere, could even be much older than us."
"We can't bother about it. We have too much to think about at the moment."
"True... it just feels... upsetting to think he might be out there."
Out of any possible expectations, Tero approaches Bang-sul and wraps his arm around his shoulders. "Let's just focus on ourselves for now. If fate will be propitious, we will come back to look for him and take him home with us." Absurd to hear from him. But he said.
One was specifically made for him, Jeonha had to hire a jeweler, design the jewel and tell him the details to make it fitting for his finger.
The other one, which he does not know to be a Jewel of the Crown, since Norihiko told that to Gamja and not him, was LianBi's own and he gifted it to him. They both are extremely valuable for him and although he thought he should give them back, since the Emperor doesn't seem happy about him anymore, he doesn't want to. If he has to die, he wants those rings to be the last thing he sees before the end.
Since he has these rings, he thinks it's only right to give the katana received from their grandfather to Tero, as that was the thing he probably values the most and thinks to be lost forever.
He summons his twin to a room and he indeed joins him there.
"What do you want?"
"You know that NoriYori and I went to Seoul, some days ago..." answers Bang-sul, not sure how to put the whole matter.
"Hm. You pretended to be me again when there's did you not?" He spoke with Sato and realized that they were with him some weeks before and that Bang-sul acted as if he was him. As if...
"Aniyo... I told you I wouldn't do that again."
"You better. It pisses me off."
Bang-sul waves his hand in the air and takes the sword. "I went there to get something for you." He extends it towards the twin.
Tero raises a brow and takes the katana, unsheathing it. As usual, he doesn't show much. "And how would you get that?"
"I too have friends in there. I thought... that you would appreciate." And he knows he did, no matter how neutral he looks.
"Our grandfather sent it to me as a birthday gift. To wield it when I would unify Joseon and Japan."
"Regarding our grandfather... ojiisan..." That's the most complicated part, as he doubts Tero will believe. "Past night, me, NoriYori and Yoshi have been to Japan..."
"I know. Magnus Bane told me."
"What the f***?!" He frowns at the thought of Magnus being a damn spy. "I met the spirit of our grandfather in there."
"And what did he say?"
Bang-sul blinks. "You believe me? Just like that?"
"We traveled through time and space, got corrupted by the Gods of another world and are at war against two Goddesses. You want me to be skeptical about paranormal?"
"Right..." he sighs. "Well, ojiisan was glad to hear you are alive... that you survived what Taejo tried to do. He also told me that..." He takes a short pause before to continue. "That there was a third twin. Three of us..." Why does that sound harder to believe than that he met a ghost?
"A third twin?" His eyes widen and he doesn't look pleased. "Three of us? Identical?"
Bang-sul shrugs. "I suppose..."
"Where is he?"
"I don't know. Ojiisan said that they tried to take him to Japan but lost him... he could either be dead or... wait, he is dead in any case, he was born in 1392..."
"Assuming he didn't time travel too. It happened to both of us, it might be our destiny."
"I doubt there is a way to find out though. He could be anywhere, could even be much older than us."
"We can't bother about it. We have too much to think about at the moment."
"True... it just feels... upsetting to think he might be out there."
Out of any possible expectations, Tero approaches Bang-sul and wraps his arm around his shoulders. "Let's just focus on ourselves for now. If fate will be propitious, we will come back to look for him and take him home with us." Absurd to hear from him. But he said.
LiMu.
Thanks to NoriYori's skill and the vision of the path he got, they manage to reach one of the safest caves leading inside the volcano, to the rocky chamber where the spirit who sought for Bang-sul's help is imprisoned.
Before heading there, he had a quick meeting with his Guardians whom tried to discourage him from approaching a 'foreign guardian' who wasn't created by their God and thus is not bound to his will, as the spirit could take the control and basically steal his body.
He knows Sha and the others are right, but he can't help but think that with their usual skills, no matter how hard they train, they will never manage to defeat two goddesses. After all, they have existed since before the world itself, can there really be anything, in their world, that they don't know?
Something new, coming from a different world they can possibly know nothing about, on the other hand...
The path to the inner chamber is rather easy and safe, what could ever be inside a volcano, after all?
They reach a sealed door, with some carvings in ancient Japanese, inviting people to leave or die, very non kindly.
He breaks the entrance and find a huge, empty place with only one shut vase, hovering in the centre.
He takes a deep breath of encouragement and opens the vase. Although the spirit begged for his help, to be saved, he knows that it's not going to be so easy.
As a matter of fact, as soon as he removes the cover, the vase breaks into an explosion and the massive spirit of a Chinese Dragon appears, filling almost the entire chamber.
Before anyone could react, it leaps towards Bang-sul, basically piercing him with its body and dragging him up.
From that moment on, it's all a mental fight to subdue the other. The dragon wants his body to be free, Bang-sul wants its spirit, to obtain his powers and knowledge.
After almost 2 hours, in which he was totally unreactive to any outer input (He wouldn't move not even if they threw rocks at him), still suspended above, a massive and blinding blue light envelops the whole room as he slowly reaches the ground again.
Before heading there, he had a quick meeting with his Guardians whom tried to discourage him from approaching a 'foreign guardian' who wasn't created by their God and thus is not bound to his will, as the spirit could take the control and basically steal his body.
He knows Sha and the others are right, but he can't help but think that with their usual skills, no matter how hard they train, they will never manage to defeat two goddesses. After all, they have existed since before the world itself, can there really be anything, in their world, that they don't know?
Something new, coming from a different world they can possibly know nothing about, on the other hand...
The path to the inner chamber is rather easy and safe, what could ever be inside a volcano, after all?
They reach a sealed door, with some carvings in ancient Japanese, inviting people to leave or die, very non kindly.
He breaks the entrance and find a huge, empty place with only one shut vase, hovering in the centre.
He takes a deep breath of encouragement and opens the vase. Although the spirit begged for his help, to be saved, he knows that it's not going to be so easy.
As a matter of fact, as soon as he removes the cover, the vase breaks into an explosion and the massive spirit of a Chinese Dragon appears, filling almost the entire chamber.
Before anyone could react, it leaps towards Bang-sul, basically piercing him with its body and dragging him up.
From that moment on, it's all a mental fight to subdue the other. The dragon wants his body to be free, Bang-sul wants its spirit, to obtain his powers and knowledge.
After almost 2 hours, in which he was totally unreactive to any outer input (He wouldn't move not even if they threw rocks at him), still suspended above, a massive and blinding blue light envelops the whole room as he slowly reaches the ground again.