Elemental Strays ll Stray Kids AU

Chapter 27

Hyunjin hazily makes his way downstairs to eat breakfast, wearing a gown as he was still too tired to get ready.

He sees the others and lazily gives a wave.

"Morning," he greets.

"What's got you so tired?" Felix asks.

"It was just one of those nights, you know?"

Hyunjin sits in his seat and shakes his head to wake himself up a bit.

"Well you better wake up soon, we need to continue our investigation and we need to go to Signal to they can do a second inspection on the knife, and on top of that, Moon Kingdom just reported us on sightings of suspicious children in the woods," Chan explains.

Jeongin nearly chokes on his eggs after hearing that last statement. His "near death" experience catches everyone's attention.

"Woah, you okay, Innie?" Seungmin asks.

Jeongin composes himself, "Yeah, the eggs went down the wrong pipe." He takes a swig of his coffee to wash it down.

"Well, I have assigned each of you something to do," Chan says, "Starting with the mysterious children in the forest."

Chan looks at Jeongin, "Innie, you have the most experience with kids so you will be taking care of that...along with Seungmin."

Jeongin looks at Seungmin with a fake, yet worried smile.

"Hyunjin, you're going to scope around the forest for any signs of our missing person. Felix and Minho, you're going to stay with the patient and continue the investigation until we get back. Changbin, you will be here in case any other queries pop up. I will be at Signal to deal with the knife," Chan says.

The others nod and finish eating their breakfast.
-
"I mean no disrespect to them, but how can children be suspicious? Unless they're teenagers, then that might make sense."

Seungmin continues to complain about how stupid this sighting of children sounded. Jeongin could not disagree with him because he personally knows these kids.

"Mr. Jeongin!"

Both Seungmin and Jeongin stop walking and turn to face each other.

"Did someone just-"

"It's probably someone else," Jeongin says, laughing nervously.

"Mr. Jeongin!"

Jeongin was soon embraced in a hug from what he can only assume is one of the kids. He turns around and is met by Junghoon.

"Did you come here for an extra lesson!? I ve been practicing my art skills more and I wanted to-"
Junghoon stops himself from continuing upon seeing the other ruler in front of him.

"Mr. Jeongin someone followed you!"

"Calm down Junghoon, he didn't follow me."

"Um, care to explain, Innie?"

"...Irunaminischoolforchildrenlivinginthewoods, " Jeongin says in one breath. He awkwardly smiles afterwards.

Somehow Seungmin is able to understand what he said.

"So you're a teacher? In the woods?"

"I guess? It's kinda hard to explain..."
That's when Jeongin got an idea.

"...Hey Junghoon," Jeongin bends down on one knee face to face with Junghoon, "Do you mind if I introduce him to the others?"

Junghoon looks at Seungmin and approaches him slowly.

"Are you gonna tell on us?"

Seungmin looks at Jeongin, who nods at him, before speaking.

"I...promise not to...tell on you."

Junghoon, still being a bit skeptical, raised his pinky to him.
"Pinky promise?"

Seungmin grew out of making pinky promises with other people, but he knows that pinky promises are a huge deal for kids. He bends down slightly and interlocks his pinky with Junghoon's.

"I pinky promise."
-
While Hyunjin did start with his initial duty, he stopped doing it to instead pay a visit to a specific someone in the mountains.

"So how long do you plan on hiding?"

"When I want to," says Jisung,"Don't you have somewhere to be?"

"I mean yeah, but I felt like checking up on you."

Jisung rolls his eyes and turns his attention to Gyeong who was rubbing her body against his leg. Jisung pets her head.

"So, what's the deal with the tiger?"

"She's a cheetah."

"Whatever, how did you meet her?"

"Well she saved me in the forest fire and brought me here. There's more to her but-"

"Might I enlighten you, your Highness?"

Rose walks out of her room to properly introduce herself to Hyunjin.

"And who might you be?" Hyunjin asks.

"Gim Rose, at your service, your Highness," says Rose, as she does a curtsey.

"I didn't know there were elves here," says Hyunjin.

"That's a story for another time, for now, let me tell you about Gyeong and the Rulers' protectors."
_
"Let me go you heathens!"

"Shut up will ya?"

Heeyoung presses a button, sending shockwaves through the victim's shackles, electrocuting them.

"I would kill you, but you're our main event for tomorrow."
-
"Another dream?"

"About a war?"

"Yes...and it might come sooner than we think."