Deiji gripped his shirt as he panted heavily trying to breathe as much air as possible after running for god knows how long. It was his fault he shouldn't have been too curious and definitely stubborn. When his brother told him to keep his curiosity at bay and not to involve himself with something dangerous-- He should've listened.
He knew there was something wrong with his brother. Jae had been acting strangely for quite a while now after he returned from his training to be the next Lord of their town.
Despite not being blood-related Deiji was raised by the Jungs like their own. He grew up together with Jaeyong despite the latter being three years older than him they are very close and they know everything about each other.
The servants used to tell him that when they were small Deiji used to follow his older brother a lot not even letting Jaeyong out of his sight. It seemed that Deiji was a bit possessive of his brother when he was younger but after a while, he grew out of it.
The brother that he knew was kind and caring. He's a warm-hearted person. He had welcomed Deiji like his own little brother. He is also kind to other people.
When Jaeyong turned 15 he was sent far away to train to become the next head of the family. That was years ago and on his fifth year of training, it had finally ended.
Jaeyong went back home to become the official master of the house. Deiji had already grown into a pretty lad and he was taller now but his brother was much taller than him at the ripe age of twenty-one. Jaeyong grew up into a handsome young man.
Deiji almost didn't recognize the tall man that he saw when Jaeyong arrived in front of the large gates of the estate. Save for the signature black hair and golden eyes that all direct descendants that all of the Jungs possesses -- Jaeyong exuded an aura that was unfamiliar.
That's where Deiji's suspicion started.
When Jaeyong officially inherited the title of Lord Jung he immediately started overseeing everything.
He was good at it in the first few months. he acted like a good leader as everyone had expected. As the new Lord, he has not only had responsibility for the main house but also the village that resided at the land of the Jung.
But then the killings started to happen.
People in the village started disappearing then later on found dead. First, it was a hunter. He disappeared for a few days, his family said it was normal as he usually spends days deep in the woods than in his own house, but then it turned to more than a week and that's when they decided to look for him.
They found him. But he was already dead. He was found in his campsite with his body lying in the open. He had a large slash on his neck and it definitely looked like someone killed him.
The villagers were advised not to go into the woods for a while due to the suspicion that a killer might be on a loose. The patrol was strict and allowed no one inside the forest to avoid another victim.
But then a couple disappeared and was later on found dead as well. With the same wound on their necks. Which arose fear in the villagers. News spread and it reached the estate. The local guards were already investigating ever since the first murder but then because there were already three victims and it causing panic, the villagers asked Lord Jung to step in.
This situation concerned Deiji as well. He knew one of the victims that died. The woman who died along with her husband is Kyong a maid that used to work at the estate before Jaeyong became the head. Kyong used to bring him flowers every morning and he remembered seeing her smile all the time.
So he was distraught when he learned that she was killed.
"How come they haven't found the killer yet?"Deiji asked his brother one afternoon. He really wanted to know why they haven't found the culprit yet, it was already a month when they started investigating but there was still no progress,
It's making Deiji frustrated with what seemed a lack of effort from the guards.
"The guards are doing their best. Speaking of that killer, since we might not know when he will strike again it's better if you stay indoors for a while," Jaeyong said while not sparing a glance at the younger, instead, he continued reading the letters he had received from the capital.
"It's not like I have anything to do. You could lock me up and I won't even be bothered," he replied. Deiji doesn't really have anything much to spend time on besides his studies and sometimes his little adventure at the lake if boredom strikes,
and these days he mostly spends his time bothering his brother to hasten the investigation.
"Are you sure?" Jaeyong asked, Deiji was taken aback at the tone that his brother used. It seemed like he was genuinely wanting to confirm if he'd be ok to be held captive.
Something about Jae's eyes gives him shivers with the way he was staring at him as he waited for Deiji to answer.
There was an unspeakable tension on the air that felt unending at that moment but thankfully Sid, Jaeyong's personal butler came into the room and whispered something to his brother.
"It seemed like the vassals wanted to meet me. I have to go," Jae was about to leave but something that had been bugging Deiji's mind since last night made him question his brother.
"How was your sleep last night?"
Jaeyong looked at him with a mildly confused look on his face and he answered,
"I slept well."
from there and then Deiji's suspicion started to bother him again, he feared that his brother had something to do with those villagers that had been killed but he doesn't know to what extent, and to further confirm his theory he followed his brother;
and that's what led him to this situation.
"Find that intruder quick!" He was broken out of his reverie when he heard a loud voice followed by footsteps surrounding the forest.
Even though he is too tired to move he pushed his body to run far away from the men of his brother. He couldn't let them find him.
He was lucky that when his brother attacked him he still had his black mask on so his identity wasn't revealed and now he'll have to do his best not to let his pursuers catch him or else he'll be dead, literally.
Deiji followed the secret path he discovered years ago that leads near his quarters. He was lucky that there wasn't any patrol near the compound during this time.
He easily slipped through the doors to his room and found the worrying Chul-ee pacing around the room.
"Young master!" Deiji immediately covered the mouth of his servant to avoid attracting any attention from the outside.
"Stop yelling or else they'll find me," Deiji whispered. Chul-ee nodded his head in understanding. His servant looked at the disheveled state of his master and would like to ask a million things but he stopped as he noticed that his master was bleeding from his right shoulder.
"Master let me clean up your wound." Chul-ee helped Deiji clean up his body and dress in more comfortable clothes.
Deiji asked him to hide the tattered clothes to avoid suspicions which Chul-ee immediately stored away in a secret location.
Chul-ee chose not to pry on what happened and instead helped Deiji to sanitize and cover up the large wound on his shoulder.
It looked like his master was attacked by a ferocious beast.
"Young master this will surely leave a scar." Chul-ee mourned over the scar that will surely mark the once unblemished and flawless skin of his master,
"Yes I know," Deiji answered, recognizing the fact that he would now forever bear this scar on his body and the secret that comes with it.
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05.05.21
To you my dear reader,
This is just a little something that had been looping inside my brain. A short story that suddenly formed in my brain one evening when I was too stressed out with work. I thought I had completely abandoned my passion for writing as I had been quite lost for a while now in this adulting-world but then I needed an outlet for all this stress and emotional instability so I decided to open this app again and write a little something.
This is not something that I'd be updating regularly. Like I first mentioned I started this because I need some relief from my emotions. So I can't promise you anything. But nevertheless, thank you for your time.
If you are interested in this story you could follow me so that you'll be notified in case this would get an update.
A little background about the characters:
Park Deiji - the adopted son of the Jungs. Born in Spring. Likes Daisies and spending time at the lake. I'll discuss more of his back story later on.
Jung Jaeyong - inspired by one of my favorite person in the world. His personality is fictional, tailored based on the characters I've read from the past. His looks? inspired by some of the manhwa characters that I love. FAQ.: I'm a sucker for 2D men with black hair.
FAQ.:
If you noticed on the chapter title it's v.2 means this chapter is a second version. Yes, there's a v.1 and the premise of it was completely different from this one. I tend to get lost in the moment when I'm writing sometimes that the story would completely overtake my brain and I would get off track from the actual plot that I wanted to do. So v.2 is the closest to what I had in mind so I decided to stick with this.
I'm not an American nor English is my first language. I live in Southeast Asia and English is only my second language and if I make some grammar mistakes please excuse me.
Sincerely,
mdc