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secretanimelover · 7 years

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Hwarang rewrite Chapter 1

If you have any questions or critiques let me know! Also warning this is long like around 8,000 words or so. I’ve posted to livejournal too if you would like to read it there.

http://secretanimelove.livejournal.com/937.html

A young man with an unimpressed look on his handsome face stands in the path of three other men. His long hair is windblown and kept out of his eyes by a strip of clothe tied around his head. His clothes are worn and plain looking but are not nearly in as rough a state as the men who are poorly trying to intimidate him.

“It’s bribing day which means I’m busy, can’t you just leave?” he sighs.

“we both know there can’t be two leaders in one village,” The leader of the three taunts while combing his obnoxious pointed hair. His spiky headed lackeys nod and snicker in agreement. The boy huffs out a breath in annoyance.

“Fine you’re the head” he replies causing looks of bafflement.

“What kind of trick are you trying to pull?” the leader says seemingly insulted.

“I’m not trying to pull anything I’m nervous you ass,” he replies nonchalantly, “if I get into trouble one more time my old man said he’d kill me himself.” His mood shifts into one of sarcastic charitableness, “Isn’t it great? I don’t have to beat you guys up and you get to be the leader or whatever! So, you can just go.” He starts walking away satisfied but the other men just don’t know how to take a hint.

“I heard your mother was so quick to throw you away that she didn’t even want name you,” The leader taunts, “then you should live as if you were dead and stop bugging me.”

“Well at least I tried.” He relents and turns around to face the men again while dramatically pulling out a 14-sided die. The men become anxious at the sight of the die knowing this is how he determines his strategy to beat people. The die is thrown up several meters into the air before being caught. “The person’s nose,” he mumbles as he reads the die. The men gulp before one of the underlings shouts to try and get the first hit while the young man is unprepared. The leader loudly charges forward and throws a punch which is easily dodged. But the boy gets too cocky and ends up tripping and falling face first onto the dirt road. His face flushes a bit in embarrassment as he lays on the ground and questions his luck.

“Did I hit him? I did, right?” The leader asks amazed. The other two men excitedly affirm that he had struck the boy and all three men begin to celebrate their “victory”. That is, until a yell comes piercing through the country air. A very tall, gangly, young man is clumsily charging at them, falling over several times before he reaches the group. He arrives to the “conflict” by jump kicking the leader in the chest and proceeding to land in what he believes to be an intimidating fighting stance.

“Don’t touch him! Fight me instead!” he proclaims throwing a few more small kicks for effect. The men, weirded out but still knowing they outnumber the giant boy, start to encircle him. “Getting up before they start hitting me would be nice!” he complains towards his friend who is still on the ground stewing in his own embarrassment. The other boy comes back to senses and quickly rises from the ground. As an afterthought, the tall boy quickly adds “don’t beat them up too badly though.”

“Hey jerks,” the now slightly pissed off boy says, “Run.” Quickly scrambling to get a head start the three men take off. The two young friends closely following behind them into the forest. They dodge and weave on the paths through the forest as the taller boy once again trips leaving the rest of the pursuit to his friend. Seeming to have lucked out the three men cross a small movable bridge. Acting quickly, they yank the bridge off balance letting it fall into the gap just as the boy catches up with them. They cackle because of their success and begin taunting him again from across the several meter gap, daring him to try and risk injury or worse if he were to try and come after them.

“Hey, what was his nickname again?” the leader asks breathless.

“Dog-bird.”

“Wait, why?” the leader asks slightly worried.

“He’s strong and loyal like a dog and he’s agile like a bird.” Comes the reply. Meanwhile the boy who had been walking away from them suddenly turns and sprints towards the gap. When he reaches the very edge, he launches himself into the air successfully surprising and over taking the men.

Meanwhile, in the capital city of the Silla kingdom, an old man sits on the floor of a prison cell. He is a mess with his long greying hair sticking up every which way and his clothes in tatters. His hand shoots out and catches a fly that he intends to eat, however he is interrupted by a regal looking man entering his cell. “Be on your best behavior when you meet the queen.” It’s an order, not a request. The old man hums and bows his head in confirmation. Queen dowager Jiso enters the cell in all her regal glory with her abundant hair artfully styled and adorned with hair ornaments and wearing black and gold silk robes.

“What is a best friend of the former king doing locked up in here?” her smooth voice in mostly controlled but there is disappointment leaking into her tone. The old man only chuckles a little at the question.

“I didn’t like the deceased king that much towards the end.” He tells her truthfully while not looking directly at her, “ I had sexual relations with his concubine, everyone said I had played around.”

“You must not like this sacred kingdom then?” The queen asks letting some worry come through her façade. The man laughs and calmly quips back to the queen.

“This is a country where a mother kicked out her own son. A mother who couldn’t get rid of her greed even after being regent for 10 years.” he continues to stare off at the corner of the room as he concludes, “of course I have no choice but not to like it.” Queen Jiso remains as stone faced as she can and ignores his comments.

“Have you thought about my request?” she asks calmly.

“I have heard that the queen dowager is intelligent and cunning. But I think that the rumors are false.” He yawns causing the two guards of the queen to twitch in irritation at the sheer audacity of the man before them. “I’m a very easily exhausted person why do you keep asking me? What will you even do?”

“I plan to make a group of guards that would give up their lives for their king.” She replies calmly. The man chuckles and scoffs as he hears the idea.

“A group of guards. Sounds good.” The reply is mix of sarcasm and amusement, “But all of the guards are being used by the officials. Who else would hold weapons and shoot arrows for the king? Are you going to get them from the kingdom of Baekje or Goguryeo?”

“I am planning to recruit the sons of the officials.” The queen replies completely composed now. The grin that had been on the man’s face for the entire conversation slips off as he comprehends her statement. “Please teach them.” She continues, “Instead of their parents and families, they need to become loyal to the king and the country.”

“And you think I would do this because…?” the man questions.

“Weren’t you just saying that you wanted my regency to end? If you achieve in creating what I have asked I will step down from the throne cleanly.” She explains. The man’s face is serious as he thinks about what the queen is asking of him, but lets out a sigh and starts to laugh because he knows that this opportunity is too good to pass up.

The two young friends, on the other hand, are conversing underneath a large tree that grows on a hill overlooking the valley that contains the capital. The tall boy is bragging about how he used to live in the city and dreaming about finding his family. He’s told what stories he could remember from his childhood to his friend so many times now that he could perfectly repeat them back to him.

“When I figure out how to get into the capital I know I’ll be able to find them using this.” He smiles as he fiddles with the wood bead necklace around his neck. It’s a common sight, him dreamily going on like this, planning the perfect reunion with his father and younger sister and bringing his best friend, and surrogate brother, along and integrating him into his family to make up for the one he never got to have.

“No matter what Mak Moon. We are going to get in there, okay?” Dog-bird, or Moo Myung as he was more commonly referred, assures him before smacking him lightly and scolding, “as long as you don’t chicken out again!”

“If we go in as commoners we will be shot full of arrows or run through with spears!” Mak Moon whines defensively back, “Or get our heads cut off.” The other boy sighs agitated and is about to egg him on more before Mak Moon continues softly, “but it’s my home where I lived together with my mother, father, and little sister.” He grips his necklace determined, “I will find my family with this and I will find my identity too.”

“I bet you won’t find anything with that.”

“People find out stuff like this all the time!”

Moo Myung smiles at his friend while holding in his laughter. Meanwhile, Mak Moon is pouting while tucking his necklace back inside his worn shirt.

“You know you can still back out? I don’t want to force you to go somewhere you don’t want to.” Mak Moon asks passively.

“I’ve already told you that I want to go. You’re family and wherever you go, I go. Anyways who cares if I am not allowed to be there because I’m a peasant, all people are the same so why shouldn’t I go?” his friend shoots back.

“How did you become so fearless?” Mak Moon asks humoring his friend.

“He who has a lot is the one with fear.” Moo Myung quotes, “I have nothing to be afraid of.” His eyes widen as he realizes that they have made a huge mistake. “Payment.” He mumbles.

“What?”

“He’s going to kill us!” and with that they both desperately take off running back to their small village.

Moo Myung peaks around the corner of a doorway of a hut and lets out a breath of relief that the owner isn’t home. The boys, still panting from their run, rush over to a pot full of water. Mak Moon chugs some water before handing the gourd scoop over to Moo Myung. The boy barely gets a full swallow in before and arrow whips passed his face and plants itself into the side of the hut. He chokes and sputters on the water as he turns towards his “attacker”, a surly old man with a bow.

“You almost killed me!”

“How many times do I have to tell you not to fight? No one would take you in, but I took on that burden and this is what I get in return!” the old man scolds.

“We know, you’ve been saying the same stuff for ten years!” Moo Myung yells back, though he is more annoyed than angry.

“Well then you should also know that if there isn’t enough gold then the villagers will get beaten up?”

“I do. But there is a reason I don’t---”

“Oh, did you have a reason for getting into a fight?” the old man asks sarcastically as he draws back another arrow. Moo Myung, seeing how there was no way he could talk his way out of this, begins to run. The old man sighs before release the blunted arrow and hitting the boy square in the head knocking him out cold. Mak Moon winces in sympathy but doesn’t dare move.

Later two riders approach the capital gates in the dead of night, both have their faces covered up to their eyes. They are met at the gate by the Queen’s right-hand man. The man brought no other witnesses and the younger of the two riders nods his head both in greeting and in thanks. The boy is the young king and he did not approve of his mother’s order to have anyone, outside of a small group of people, who knew his identity and saw his face to be immediately killed. She may reason that it is for his safety and he knows he can’t stop the loyal guard from carrying out the order, but he will be damned if he doesn’t put in the effort to prevent it from happening when he can.

At that same moment Moo Myung and Mak Moon are scaling up a rope on the outer wall of the capital. Moo Myung makes it over the wall first and, after catching his breath, looks around to figure out what to do next. His breath catches in his throat as he spots the dangling heads of other peasants who had illegally entered the capital. He quickly turns back to Mak Moon as he clambers over the ledge behind him telling him to breath before looking around. Mak Moon does not take the horror of the decapitated rotting heads well and screams. Moo Myung is quick to cover his mouth and get them moving after that. They manage to steal some clothes from a wash line before most the city is awake. They couldn’t help but flaunt around in their new clothes, they had never worn anything so nice. Now they just had to look through the entire capital city for the girl that had the necklace that matched with Mak Moon’s.

Elsewhere in the capital, a handsome young man sits at the edge of completely enamored crowd listening to a young woman tell a dramatic tale of murder and romance. He has a small smile on his face as he leans against a post and closes his eyes to better picture the story that is being spun. Well, that was his original intention but he ends up falling asleep and missing the entire conclusion of the tale. When he wakes he’s disappointed, to say the least, and he snags a passerby asking where he could find the story teller.

Moo Myung and Mak Moon decide to try and go to the most popular places in the capital because the more people they scan the more likely Mak Moon would be able to recognize his little sister or that they could spot the beads of the necklace. Which leads to them wandering into a gambling house. They mosey around stopping at different games to inquire about the necklace.

“Excuse me, do you know what shop sells this type of thing? Have you seen anyone else wearing this?” Mak Moon asks holding out his necklace. A man watching one of the games tells him about a shop that would sell special pieces and even gives him directions. Unfortunately, he has no idea what any of the directions mean and he stutters out more questions about the location of the store. His confusion is overheard at a nearby table by a man with a large scar on his face. The scar faced man smirks knowingly and immediately pegs Mak Moon as an outsider. Moo Myung, in the meantime, had gotten distracted by watching the game. His eyes are focused as he watches the dice being handled. The scar faced man is playing against another man, with a small girl clinging to him, who loses once again. Moo Myung’s gaze hardens as he realizes the game is rigged. The man begs for another chance, since he had just lost all his money. The scar faced man laughs scornfully and makes one of his goons bring a box to the table.

“Sure, I’ll give you another chance,” he sneers and opens the box to reveal a severed head, “as long as you don’t mind putting your daughter’s pretty little head up as payment.” The people watching look away in disgust and start murmuring about the foolishness of the man. The man is in tears and begging for mercy offering his life in place of his child. Moo Myung, silently seething, offers to take the man’s place and places his head as payment instead. He knew the scar faced man wouldn’t deny him, he had seen his type before, the type that doesn’t care who he gets to hurt or kill just if he gets to spill blood and flaunt his power. “I’ll take that bet! I’ll even give you all of my winnings from today if you beat me!”

“I don’t need your dirty money; your head will be payment enough.” Moo Myung shoots back without missing a beat. All conversation dies down in an instant. The scar faced man’s knowing grin morphs into a sneer, but he still agrees to play. They make their calls and the dice are rolled in a cup, which is then flipped making a dull thud on the table. Before the result can be revealed, and the dice switched out, Moo Myung’s arm shoots out and he slams his hand down on top of the overturned cup. He starts to reveal the results while preventing the man from moving the dice but the scar faced man slams the cup back down. He’s shaking with anger, and a bit of fear, as he holds the cup down fighting against Moo Myung who is calmly trying lift it.

“No one else has ever been able to do this, who are you?” the scar faced man asks through gritted teeth. Moo Myung grins slyly back at him.

“Oh me? I’m Dog-bird.”

The man’s eyes widen in recognition. He knows that name and the reputation that comes with it. Mak Moon speaks up from where he has been watching the whole conflict take place. “Stop trying to delay the results! Show the dice!” The scar faced man gives Moo Myung a shaky grin as he offers to let Moo Myung keep his head if he walks away now. Moo Myung refuses the offer with a shake of his head.

“Why are you so nervous sir? Do you somehow already know the result?” Dog-bird asks snidely. The man, as it turns out, isn’t much of a gambler. He flips the table over while ordering his men get Moo Myung and Mak Moon. Both boys run while overturning tables and shoving people out their way. They run out of the gambling house and split up with Moo Myung leading the man and his flunkies on a chase through the city. He climbs over carts in the road and climbs up on top of the roof of one of the many buildings. The men furiously following him. He spots a large gap between two of the buildings and heads towards it, knowing that the morons chasing after him won’t be able to make the jump. He reaches the gap and launches himself across, smacking his chest against the edge of the rooftop and knocking the wind out of himself before hauling himself up. He runs to the other side of the roof and climbs down into a side street. Scar face and his men lose sight of him causing him to yell in frustration.

Meanwhile the haggard old man from the jail cell has gotten cleaned up and dressed in robes marking him with importance. He is searching for someone that can help him complete his mission and finally get the queen to step down. He walks into a bustling teahouse filled with young lounging nobles. The owner is waltzing around and fanning himself with the perfect service smile on his face while checking on his patrons.

“Hwa-gong!” the shop owner exclaims spotting the other man, “I haven’t seen you ages!” Hwa-gong gives him a small smile while still taking in the shop.

“You’ve been busy while I have been away. Who would have thought that the incompetent Pi Joo Ki would become such a successful business man.” Hwa-gong says with a chuckle.

“If you’re so impressed with one shop wait until you visit the others!” Joo ki says with pride. He leads Hwa-gong to table in the back so they can talk. “So what brings you here? This isn’t the type of place you would normally choose to frequent.”

“It’s urgent.” Hwa-gong says, his mood changing into one of complete solemnity, “I’m looking for something special, something that only you could provide me.” Joo Ki looks shocked for a moment before giving Hwa-gong a dirty grin.

“Getting all needy for a woman in your age?” Jooki asks suggestively. He receives a blank look in response.

“No.” Hwa-gong says patiently, “I am asking you to find me young beautiful men.”

“Oh. Was that time away to do some self-reflection?” Jooki says, eyebrows raised in revelation, “I mean, usually people figure or try this out when they are younger but to each his own.” Hwa-gong lets out a sigh, realizing that he probably should have worded that better.

After explaining the situation more fully Jooki takes him to his most popular shop in the city called Daiseo. He made a special room in the back that worked as both an office and a hidden viewing spot to watch the goings on in his shop, which he graciously offers as an incognito base of operation to Hwa-gong.

In a different part of town, the pretty girl who tells stories is having an argument with a wine merchant. He owes her three months’ pay and she is not going to take no as an answer.

“Miss Ahro, please explain to me how it makes sense to pay a thief?” the stall owner asks the girl condescendingly.

“Why are you lying just so you don’t have to pay me? Is business really that bad?” Ahro shoots back. “I could spread the word that you like to rip people off or you could just pay me what you owe.”

“Act as highborn as you want girl. It doesn’t matter that your father is of noble birth, your mother was lowborn and you are nothing but a lowborn half breed because of it.” The man sneers. Ahro is fuming as her eyes dart around the stall only to settle onto the jars of his finest wine.

“Fine. You don’t want to pay me or treat me right that’s your choice. I wasn’t going to keep working for you anyways but now you’ve given me reason to at least live up to your lies.” She smirks raising her hand and pointing towards the jars of wine. “I think a jar per month should suffice.” She then grabs one of the jars, opens it, tips it back like she going to chug the jug, only to dump it in the dirt and drop the pot shattering it. The man stares at her in utter shock as he watches her do it again only this time she doesn’t put up the front of drinking it, she just chucks it out into the middle of the street startling some people walking by. Ahro then grabs the last jug, glares pointedly at the merchant, and then turns sharply and stomps away.

She trudges back to her home at a slow pace, there is only so fast anger can take you when lugging around a clay pot full of alcohol. Her entire being gives off an aura for people to bug off, eyes narrowed and scanning the crowd. She spots a stand being pilfered by some kids and huffs in annoyance as she plops the jar of alcohol on the ground before going over to scold the children. The children don’t even have the mind to look ashamed and they giggle as they run off, most of them clumsily dropping the small trinkets they were trying to steal. Ahro rolls her eyes good naturedly and turns around to go retrieve the pot only to see a man picking it up and starting to make off with it. Not having any of it, she slips off her shoes and starts running after the man. She hurtles a single shoe through the crowd of people, hoping to at least make him slow down for a moment, only for it smack into the head of a boy wandering through. Embarrassed and annoyed that she missed her target she doesn’t realize that she is going too fast to stop as she all but tackles the boy. They land in an ungraceful heap on the dirt road. He groans as she pushes off his chest to prop herself up to look for her wine thief but there is no sign of the man.

“Seriously!? Even when I am getting rightful retribution this stupid kingdom can’t even allow me that!” Ahro complains. She makes a noise of frustration before fully comprehending that she is laying on top of someone in the middle of a busy road. She looks down and gives a stuttered apology. The boy she knocked over is handsome even with the dopey confused look on his face. He mumbles that he’s okay, head turning this way and that until he spots her shoe. He hands it back to her as they pick themselves up out of the dirt.

“Well, um, good day.” The boy says with a nod and speed walks away. Ahro tilts her head in confusion before wondering back to her home.

She walks through the gateway into her home laying down on the raised platform in the center of the small courtyard. She’s tired and annoyed and wants to complain to somebody but there’s noise coming out of the spare room used for patients. It sounds as if her dad is talking to the man he enlisted to find her brother and mother. It has been ten years since they were forced to leave the capital and every day the hope of ever finding them diminishes a little bit more. Ahro decides to take a nap while waiting for her father, she needed the rest anyways because she must go to Okta tonight and entertain the “innocent” high born girls with a story.

The young man who was listening to her story in the square is now dressed in royal robes and standing in the throne room of the palace glaring at the throne. The queen regent comes into the room through the door behind him, an air of anger and fear swirling around her.

“Sam Maek Jong why have you come here? After all I have done to protect you and you just throw it all away!” She doesn’t yell, but her voice is growing louder the more she talks. “Do you not trust me anymore? You being here is extremely problematic, it will only arouse suspicion in the lords.”

“Isn’t it strange that I am not here though?” the young king asks back calmly. “I am the king after all. This city and country are mine to watch over. I should be here to do that.” He turns around to face his mother.

“It’s still not safe for you here. There are still too many enemies in the capital willing to use or kill you.” She retorts. He lets out a frustrated sigh calming himself before he replies.

“It will never be absolutely safe for me. Getting rid of all the throne’s possible enemies is a non-starter. I don’t want to forcefully take the throne from you mother, I don’t want to start a civil war, but it’s hard to see the reasons you are giving me as proper validation for keeping me from taking my rightful place on the throne.”

“You are still a child. It is my decision to put you on this throne when I see fit, whether you trust me or not.” She spits back. “For now, just live as if you are dead.”

Maek Jong lets out a frustrated breath through his nose before he stalks out of throne room. His guard and companion, Paoh, joins him as he walks to a different room to change into lower rank robes.

He spends a good deal of the night closed off in his own thoughts, trying to figure out if his mother’s claims about his safety are legitimate. He stares down resentfully at the jade dragon bracelet on his wrist that identifies him as King Jinhueng. He has the title and birthright of a king but none of the abilities or powers and he is bitter.

Mak Moon is coincidently right outside the courtyard of the room where the young king is staying. He’s whispering loudly for Moo Myung trying to locate his friend so they can find somewhere to rest for the night. It is then that he spots a figure, dressed completely in black and armed with a sword, sneak over the wall and into the nearest building.

The black clad man slides into the room while drawing his sword. He takes soft steps towards the sleeping body on the other side of the room. When he is right next to the mat he stabs into sleeping man’s form and lets out a shaky breath as he withdraws his blade.

“You know, if you want to kill someone in their sleep you should learn to be quieter.” Maek Jong says equal parts amused and disappointed. The would-be assassin whirls around taken by surprise and wildly starts lunging and slicing his sword through the air. “You’re not formally trained,” The king observes while dodging the clumsy attacks. “Honestly that sword is so beat up I am surprised it even stabbed through the cushions.” He throws a punch into the other man’s stomach causing him gasp. Maekjong grabs his opponent’s arms twisting them in a way contorts them behind his back. He grimaces as he smells the heavy sent of alcohol on the other man. “You’ve never killed before, have you? You had to drink to even gain the courage to do this.” He twists the man’s arms up even more tightly making him groan in pain. “So, let’s hear it. How much is my life worth?”

“Three bags.” The man whines out. Maekjong chuckles but it’s humorless. This man must be insanely desperate.

“My life is only worth three lousy bags of rice.” He murmurs to himself. “Paoh! We have a slight problem!” he yells out to is guard. He turns towards the door as it opens only to feel his heart drop into his stomach. His mother’s most loyal and trusted guard, Hyun Chu, had entered the room instead. He hadn’t seen him since the night he was escorted through the city gate. “Wait! He doesn’t even know who I am, you don’t need to do this!” he tries to explain. He let go of the man quietly whispering, “run.” It’s a miniscule hope that the man would escape. He’s too shocked to listen, stumbling backwards as guard advances towards him and crying out for mercy only to be dispatched within seconds. Maekjong stares at the now lifeless man in shock but soon turns his gaze on Hyun Chu in anger. He storms out of his rooms, he needs air and it now smells like blood in his sleeping quarters. He is enraged that Hyun Chu must follow his mother’s orders and not his own. He is king but he can’t even save the life of one of his subjects.

Mak Moon had heard the commotion and was waiting to move after it had quieted down. He walks past the opening to the courtyard just as Maekjong has stormed down to the bottom of the stairs. Mak Moon freezes unsure whether he should run to avoid being called out for trespassing or if sprinting off would just make him seem more suspicious. Maekjong is surprised as well, no one is usually near this part of the city at this hour, and he stops to look at the other boy in confusion. Meanwhile, Hyun Chu had caught up with him by rushing down the steps after him.

“Your Majesty, you cannot go out at night unaccompanied!” he scolds. Maekjong’s figure stiffens as Mak Moon’s eyes widen in realization. Not again, Maekjong thinks desperately. He turns around and tries to obscure the other boy’s figure from Hyun Chu’s view, but he wasn’t quick enough. He throws out his arms and stands in Hyun Chu’s way while yelling at the other boy to run away. Mak Moon is woken from his shock at seeing the king, now realizing he is in danger, and takes off running. He sees Moo Myung coming down the road and sprints towards him terrified, he quickly grabs him and drags them to hide behind a wall flattening them onto the ground. Hyun Chu tries to step around Maekjong but the boy steps in front of him continuing to block his path. The king looks determined and Hyun Chu at least has some decency to look apologetic before bumping him out of the way and running towards his horse. He quickly mounts and kicks the horse into a gallop out of the gate and down the dirt road after the boy. He gallops past the wall the boys are hiding behind, thinking the boy would be too scared to have the wits to hide. Mak Moon lets out the breath he was holding taking in deep heaving breaths after the run and the scare.

“I just saw the king.” He said in awe.

“What?” Moo Myung asks incredulously. “No you didn’t. Why would the king be outside of the palace?” Moo Myung didn’t want to think about what it would mean for them both if he had actually seen the king.

“It had to have been him! He was everything a king should be; handsome, brave, and righteous.” Mak Moon gushes.

“How righteous can he be if he sent that guard after you?” Moo Myung asks flatly.

“But he didn’t! He got in his way and stopped him from chasing me.” Mak Moon defends. His friend looks back at him stunned. Moo Myung looks down and twiddles with his fingers. He’s silently thankful to the young noble man for helping to protect the only family he had. He picks himself up off the ground and offers a hand out to Mak moon.

“Come on we should find somewhere to sleep, I don’t think we should keep searching tonight.” They find a stable close by and they settle down on the hay in the back corner out of sight of the entry way. “give me your necklace.” Moo Myung demands nonchalantly.

“What? Why?”

“You’re too easily recognizable with your stupid long legs so I’ll go out tomorrow and keep asking around while you lay low.” Moo Myung explained, “anyways, if your dad is ranked high enough finding him will help you get absolved of any charges you could have against you.”

“He will do more than that,” Mak Moon said with a grin, “he’ll get you a citizen pass for the city and take you in too. I just know it.” Moo Myung grins back with a warm feeling in his chest. They go to sleep with the picture of a content future together in their minds.

Moo Myung spends the next day wandering from shop to shop inquiring about the necklace, but he finds next to nothing besides one eccentric shop keeper saying it looked familiar.

Mak Moon, after begging and annoying Moo Myung to his wits end, goes out during the night to continue his search. At least there is less of a chance for him to be recognized in the darkness of the night. He notices a strange domed building with lots of young people entering and leaving and figures he might be able to dig up some information there. He skims the crowd as he goes towards the entrance trying to figure out how people get through the bouncers. But then his eyes catch on a girl. She’s pretty and smiling as her finer dressed companion escorts her through the entrance. It’s not her face that caught his attention though, but the beaded necklace that she wears that looks exactly the same as his own. He stares with his mouth slightly open in utter shock. That was his little sister. She grew up so well and pretty, just like I knew she would, he thinks fondly. He closes his mouth and his face sets into a look of determination, he will get into this building, and he will reunite with his family. Ten years of separation about to be over and the bouncers refuse to let him through the door.

Inside the building young beautiful nobles are enjoy drinks, music, dancing, and other forms of entertainment. Excited squeals and giggles interrupt the atmosphere as the crowd parts and a handsome young man leads his entourage into the club. He looks indifferent as he walks through the crowd of people complimenting his looks, skills, and family lineage. His three companions, on the other hand, are soaking in the attention they garner.

“Banryu you’re so handsome!”

“I love his cool demeanor! He looks so sophisticated.”

“I feel like my eyes have been blessed!”

Banryu waits until he walked through the mob before allowing himself a small satisfied smile. It disappears a moment later when another shout breaks through the crowd.

“It’s Sooho! Sooho is here!”

Another young man enters with his own group of friends, this time he is openly basking in the attention, compliments and swooning. His flaunting walk comes to a halt when he spots Banryu and his peons.

“So much for having a good time.” Sooho says with a snicker. “What are you doing here Banryu?”

“I wasn’t aware they were letting in immature morons tonight, otherwise I wouldn’t have bothered to come.” Banryu replies sounding bored, though the look in his eyes means he is annoyed. Sooho tenses up eyes flaming.

“I can’t stand this cold atmosphere! This always happens when Banryu bothers Sooho just because he is better.” A random boy whines. Sooho’s demeanor melts into one of pure cockiness.

“You heard him. You can spoil the mood all you want but I won’t let you stop me from enjoying myself.” Banryu and Sooho glare at each other for several more moments before Banryu rolls his eyes and walks towards the private room he reserved. He doesn’t feel like fighting tonight.

Ahro had been escorted to another private room full of excited young women and girls. This is one of her favorite jobs, when she gets to entrance and captivate an audience with a story. Even if some of the audience is hidden. She knows some of the boys like to reserve the rooms around this one not only for privacy but also because they can listen in.

Sooho and friends are such a group. All of them leaning with ears pressed against the wall to hear every word. All of them trying to put on a façade of experience while blushing, giggling, and gasping at the details of Ahro’s story. The young king is also listening in, but he is brooding over his barely touched cup of alcohol. He came to Okta to cool down and maybe plan his next move. It was a pleasant surprise that he had run into the story teller again, even if she was telling a different story. Banryu and his companions are listening in as well, though he seems intent on looking disinterested as they get drunk off wine. One of his companions is starting to get too cocky, he’s drunk and loud, sarcastically acting like he is interested in Ahro. The others chuckle at his antics and notice that they need more alcohol but Banryu just sighs quietly.

“Kang Seong you go get it. You need remember your place.” He says.

“What? Banryu why- “the other boy starts to stutter.

“Do not forget that your father, and therefore you, has the lowest rank out of all of us. We allow you to be around us, do not forget that.” The chuckling had stopped and the others are now looking away from the lower ranked boy. Seong is fuming and looks like he wants to argue back, but instead chooses to stomp off to do what was demanded of him.

Mak Moon, meanwhile, had snuck in the back entrance and was scanning the crowd and peeking into rooms looking for his sister. He finds the room full of young women and spots Ahro telling her story. He can see the necklace more clearly now and he knows it matches his own. He tries waving his arms and calling over to get her attention. Instead he ends up smacking a tray of alcohol out of someone’s hand. He tenses up, knowing he just drew the wrong kind of attention towards himself, and turns around quickly to apologize. It’s bad luck that he just upset the boy Banryu had insulted. He was looking for something to take out is anger on and now he found the perfect target.

“Are you serious? Do you know who I am?” the seething boy shouts as he backs Mak Moon up against the wall, “Well how are you going to make this up to me? Judging by your clothes you won’t be able to pay me back with money.” Mak Moon tries to shove his way past the boy but is shoved back into the wall before being punched in the gut. He sinks down to kneel on floor and wrap his arms around his stomach. The other boy grabs Mak Moon by his hair and drags him to the center of the main room where he then continues to hit and kick at him.

The commotion of the fight had drawn the attention of everyone in the building causing the crowd to grow and the heckling to get louder. The girls in the room where Ahro was telling her story rushed out to watch the fight, fanning themselves at the idea of “men in combat”. Sooho and his companions storm out of their private room to see what had interrupted them when the story was getting to the best part. Banryu and he entourage, who had heard who was causing the noise, came out to see what nonsense their comrade had caused. The young king, however, did not go to see the fight. He just sighed and resigned himself to once again not hearing the end to another story. He gets up and opens the door to his room to leave while everyone is distracted, but is surprised to see one remaining girl still in the private room angrily muttering to herself.

“Um…excuse me?” He asks.

“What?” the girl replies moodily not looking in his direction.

“Were you telling the story?”

“…yeah.”

“Could you finish it please?” he asks earnestly, “I’ll even pay you.” He reaches into the small bag tied to his waste and pulled out some silver pieces. The girl turns and finally looks at his face and blushes. The boy is handsome and is treating her kindly, he honestly reminds her of a small dog begging for a treat, so she decides to humor him. “Actually, you were telling a story the other day in front of a shop, it was about a murder romance I believe, I didn’t get to hear the end of that one either… could you finish that one instead?” Ahro was surprised and a little relieved that the boy wasn’t a pervert. Most people when they come to Okta want to hear nothing but the “scandalous” and it is refreshing to run into someone who is more interested in the non-traditional stories she likes to tell.

In the main room Mak Moon lays beaten on the floor in middle of a circle of people. Seong is now drunk off both the alcohol and his power over the other. He is walking around the other’s curled up body with a sword now. He turns to Banryu and asks excitedly if it’s okay for him to kill Mak Moon. He is just a peasant without proper papers after all, worth less than dirt, and he would be executed anyways.

“You’re not actually going to let him do this?” Sooho scoffs, “I know you’re disloyal garbage Banryu, but I also know you’re not an idiot.” He is acting nonchalant but there is an edge to his words. There will be a bigger brawl if the peasant boy fatally harmed. Sooho may be a true bone but he picks his companions based on shared beliefs, interests, and skills; he wants them to be his friends not tools. Banryu, on the other hand, picks to surround himself with people that he knows he will be able to use.

There is always tension between the two groups, it has been this way since they were small and their parents told them not to play together, anything could trigger them to get into a fight. Many believe they would grow up to be bitter rivals in the royal court much like their fathers, Sooho would be blindly loyal to the royal family while Banryu would be ready to usurp at a moment’s notice.

Banryu does nothing as he watches the boy lift his sword and prepare to strike. Suddenly, an object comes hurtling through the air and collides with the boy’s face. He curses and brings the hand clutching the sword down to rub at his forehead his gaze angrily turning towards the offending projectile; a fourteen-sided die.

“Who threw that?” He snarls while taking a menacing step towards the crowd.

“It was me,” Comes the calm reply and the crowd parts to reveal Moo Myung, “I’m sorry I just really don’t like watching spoiled nobles acting like they’re hot shit.”

“Who the hell do you think you are?”

“You don’t need or deserve to know.” Moo Myung snaps as he walks over and kneels at Mak Moon’s side. “Are you alright?” He asks softly helping him sit up and move away from his assailant.

“Yeah, it’s nothing I can’t take.” He answers breathily while giving him a grateful and pained smile.

“Well I’m not alright.” He stands and faces the now severely pissed off Seong. The other boy had recovered from the hit and, now even further embarrassed, charges and slashes at his new opponent. Moo Myung easily side steps the blow, grabs the boy’s sword hand, and twists it forcing the sword to drop to the floor. The boy yelps in pain and cradles his wrist while stepping away from Moo Myung as he scoops up the weapon. The surrounding crowd lets out a mix of surprised and impressed shouts.

“Not bad, I like this guy.” Sooho chuckles. Even Banryu raises an eyebrow in interest, impressed by the stranger’s skill. Moo Myung lets the tip of the blade touch the wooden floor before spinning around and carving a circular boarder around himself.

“Since it’s not against the law for a spoiled brat to murder someone because of their rank, then it’s my own personal law that I get to beat up any aristocrat that crosses this line.” Moo Myung smirks as he accusingly points the sword towards the crowd. “So, Who’s First?”

#hwarang rewrite #hwarang #chapter 1 #the formatting went to shit on wth tumblr #there are only some small changes here becase i actually liked how the first episode set up the world of the show #the farther in we go the more changes that will happen though #well at least i think they are small maybe they are signifigant to other???

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