"but-
jihoon pushed the bread into chan's hand. "now hurry up, the school is quite a ways away." making sure chan was also holding his bag, he ushered the boy out the door. seungcheol grabbed his crutches and followed the two.
"tell me about school tonight, chan!"
"i will cheol," he said fondly. he pulled seungcheol into a hug, causing him to stumble a little.
"careful chan," jihoon barked out.
he grinned and then pulled jihoon into a hug. "thanks ji." he whispered.
"beat it, kid." jihoon ruffled chan's hair and watched him run off with bread in his mouth.
"chan's doing fine, yeah?" jihoon asked seungcheol who leaned against the door frame.
"don't worry too much about him jihoon," seungcheol said, "he's doing fine. apparently he's even made two friends."
jihoon nodded. his biggest worry was if chan was fitting in with the rest of the middle class children. what if people bullied him, what if other kids hurt him? he really hoped that his two friends looked out for him.
the two stood by the door in a comfortable silence, not looking at anything in particular. at least they weren't until something shining in the early morning light caught their eyes. a man wearing ridiculous purple robes and adorned with golden rings and chains walked merrily down the poor streets with two stiff guards carrying sharp spears right behind.
jihoon cursed. worry flashed in seungcheol's eyes. "why the fuck is dojin here?" jihoon hissed as he watched the man knock on a door of a nearby house. dojin was nytis' famous tax collector. known for being ruthlessly cold hearted. if you couldn't pay the taxes, it's off to jail. no excuses for anyone.
it was way too early for the monthly tax collecting. why was he here? rushing back inside, jihoon ran to the bedroom and opened the tiny drawer where they kept all their gold. he could hear seungcheol standing behind him as he counted the gold. "do we have enough?" he asked anxiously.
jihoon sighed, "we should have enough."
there was a sudden hash knock that echoed through the tiny house making both the boys jump. motioning for seungcheol to stay put, he picked up the gold and walked to the front door. he frowned when he saw dojin whistling a cheerful tune. "ah jihoon!" he said with a foxy smile.
"early tax collection?" jihoon asked.
"early tax collection." dojin confirmed. "i hope you have enough or else.." his eyes darted to the guards behind him and then back to jihoon with a sly smile.
"maybe you should warn people beforehand." jihoon said coldly while shoving most of their gold into his bling covered hands.
"don't know if you've heard the news but the king's sick so his youngest son is put in as the temporary king. his majesty requested a tax collection so.. just doin' my job." he finished counting the gold and poured it into his velvet sack. "your good jihoon! ...jihoon?"
youngest son...
dojin stared at a blank jihoon and then a smile slowly crept onto his face. "surely you haven't forgotten.. yes, the youngest prince. would you like me to remind you what happened to-
"enough." jihoon cut in sharply. "now if you excuse me, i'll get going." he slammed the door in the tax collectors face. seungcheol peered out of the room worriedly.
"is everything okay?"
jihoon stared at the floor and blinked his eyes. "yeah.. it's fine. apparently nytis has a new 'king'. it's dongyun now."
"the prince?" seungcheol said, raising a brow.
"yeah.. apparently the king is sick. he's also pretty old too, probably going to die soon." jihoon mumbled out.
seungcheol sighed. "i don't know if i should be happy or not. i mean, the king was pretty shitty but i don't think that the new king is going to be any better."
soonyoung woke up with a pounding headache and hay under his shirt and in his mouth. he was confused and disoriented. what happened? right! jisoo and those drunk guys! the bar! soonyoung pushed a pile of hay off his chest and looked around him.
he had no idea where he was. around him there was more hay, a trough? soonyoung scrunched his nose. it smelled like shit, no literally. in front of him there was a very large, peculiar brown blob and without thinking, he jabbed it with his foot. soonyoung let out a shriek when it neighed.
holy shit. he's in a horse stable.
"oh fuck no. i'm getting out of here."
he tried to ease the horse over so he could get out but all the horse did was snort. "come on horse, just move over a tiny bit." soonyoung gently nudged the horse with his leg. "just move over a little and i'll be out of your stable."
suddenly the door creaked open. a tall boy about the same age as soonyoung stood by the door holding a pitchfork. he froze when he saw the prince.
"don't move." the boy snarled, holding up the tool like it was a weapon.
soonyoung held his breath and looked wide eyed at the boy. gosh, where's jisoo when you need him?
