Behind The King

The Plan

Jo Yeong pushed his way into Head Court Lady Noh's office, and stopped in his tracks as he was met with a familiar face.

What was Myeong Seung-a doing here?

He had met all kinds of people in the course of his duties as Captain of the Royal Guard, but for some reason, he couldn't get Myeong Seung-a out of his mind since he met her that day at the cafe. He could see her smile when he closed his eyes, and when he carried out his duties, he could hear her voice say, "He's so cool!"

"Good, you're here," Lady Noh said, and Jo Yeong shook himself out of his reverie.

"This is Myeong Seung-a of our Royal Public Affairs Office." Myeong Seung-a extended her hand to him, and he tried to ignore the electricity that jolted up his arm the minute his palm touched hers as he shook her hand firmly.

"We've met," he told Lady Noh, who beamed at him. "That's good then! This will make things easier. I will let her explain everything to you." She gestured for the two of them to sit, and Jo Yeong took the seat across Myeong Seung-a.

"The King hasn't been out of his study in a while, and people are going to start writing speculative articles," she started, "My idea is, we can cloud the issue instead."

He raised an eyebrow at her, "So what do you need me for?"

She took out her cellphone and handed it to him. He looked at the numbers on her screen as she replied, "Next to the King, you are the second most searched person in our Royal Court. And if you'll notice, the search terms are your name plus the words 'social media'. It seems that people are curious about whether or not you have any social media accounts."

He handed her back her cellphone and crossed his arms over his chest. "So? What does that have to do with anything?"

"If we launch your social media accounts now, it will give people something to talk about and buy us some time until the King comes out of his study," she said, and he mulled it over. He had always said that he would protect the King, no matter what. But now that he had no idea where the King was, he had felt like he was failing in his duty. Perhaps this was still a way to protect the King. It may not be physical protection like he was used to, but protecting the King's reputation was just as important to the Kingdom.

He looked her in the eye and nodded slowly. "You have my full cooperation," he said, and she smiled. His heart pounded in his chest at the sight of her smile, so he turned to Lady Noh. "When do we start?"

Lady Noh stood up and said, "As soon as possible. So you two need to get started."

Myeong Seung-a stood up and said, "Could we start in your quarters?"

Jo Yeong startled at her question. "Why there?"

She looked up at him and said, "The first thing you need to know about social media is you need to be authentic. So I want to see your quarters to strip you down to your most naked self."

Jo Yeong felt his cheeks burn and he looked at Lady Noh in a panic, "Lady Noh, what--"

Myeong Seung-a laughed heartily, "I really got you going there. We'll use the study near the Royal Public Affairs Office." She turned to Lady Noh, who hid her smile as she nodded her permission.

She started towards the door and Jo Yeong followed closely, nearly bumping into her when she suddenly stopped and turned to him.

"By the way, we'll be working closely together from now on, so call me Seung-a," she smiled. "Can I call you Yeong?"

Before he even knew what was happening, he nodded at her wordlessly, and her smile widened. "Let's go!"

As he followed her out the door, Jo Yeong had the strangest feeling that this was just the beginning of something. Judging by the way his heart thundered at his chest as he watched Seung-a's hips sway as she walked, he wasn't sure he was ready to find out what that something was.