Another day, another adventure for the prince of Joseon except for this time, he is not alone.
Felix took a day off today to spend his time together with Jisung. He felt bad that the boy always have to stay at home alone so here he is, driving to the place that the boy has been dying to go to.
"Why do you want to go to the library so much? Don't we have enough books for you at home?", he asked Jisung who kept on looking at his phone.
Unfortunately for Hyunjin, he couldn't be here with them because he was assigned a duty that he can't reject as it is his chance to get promoted.
That's why he is sadly walking in the police station, in no mood of working.
Jisung still haven't answered the question that the Australian officer asked so after stopping at a red light, he glanced over the boy's shoulder to see what he's looking at.
"Joseon's missing prince..?", he read the content out loud making the other flinched. "You want to go to the library because of this? Where did you even hear about it?"
Jisung shrugged his shoulder to his friend, refusing to answer the question as he turned his attention back to the article he was reading.
To be honest, he doesn't know why or who he got the information from but one thing for sure is that someone unknown told him.
It was when he was mindlessly walking around the busy city. It's normal for people to bump into each other and apologize right? But that's not what happened to Jisung.
When he bumped into someone that day, instead of getting an apology like he supposed to, he got someone whispering, "Joseon is waiting for you..", then disappeared into the crowds without letting him respond.
Since then, he started reading and doing research about the history.
He read all kinds of history books and watched all kinds of history documentaries just to find out what happened after the Imjin War.
Since he had travel to the future, he is probably don't exist in the Joseon dynasty anymore and that's, when he found out that he is known as the missing prince of Joseon.
But the question is, why did that person say that Joseon is waiting for him? How did they even know that the prince is not from this timeline?
Perhaps, there's someone else that managed to time travel like him too.
This is the only thing that Jisung hide from Jeongin. If someone is looking for him then he shouldn't let Jeongin get into the mess with him too.
He should know how to fix it himself.
Once arriving at the library, he wasted no more time and went straight to the history section, "Wait up! What's the rush??", he heard Felix asked from behind but he ignored it.
Someone out there could be targeting him and already one step ahead of him so he needs to step up his game. Jisung is at his disadvantage since he doesn't know anything about what happened with his nation once he left.
After all, there must be a reason why Jeongin had to bring the prince along with him to the present time right?
Everything that happened should have an explanation, whether it be logical or not.
"Here", from the corner of his vision, Jisung saw Felix handing out a book to him. "It's specifically about the prince if you want to know more about him..", the latter said.
The 19 year old boy was eager to read it so he accidently took the book, rougher than intended from his friend, who has his eyes widen in shock.
Why is he acting like this?, the Australian guy thought to himself before walking off, letting the boy have his personal time because it looks like he doesn't want to be bothered.
Jisung flipped through the book as quickly as possible to find something that he isn't aware of. So far, the content of this book has been something that he knows about because, well, it's about him after all.
"Clarified dead in 1623..?"
He stopped at a specific page of the book. A page that tell people about him being missing for years before being announced as... Dead, apparently?
Out of all years, why was it announced 26 years after the final Korean Japanese war? The year that he went 'missing'?
The more he read the content of the book, the more he got confused.
It said that he was clarified dead but years passed by and not a single person believe that the prince is dead. Instead, they continue on searching for him.
They didn't find the body nor the person who was last seen with the prince so how could he be dead?
Trying to rewind his memory to the time before he got here, the moment he was still running away with Jeongin from the Japanese people in the forest.
He heard someone's voice, yelling out his name.
What happened to that person?
He should be the last person to see the prince before he disappeared.
It is also said that Joseon at the time offered many kinds of rewards to whoever managed to bring Prince Han back to the state where the royal family moved to as the Gyeongbokgung Palace was burnt down to ashes during the war.
The palace was then abandoned for the next two centuries.
And it seems like no one managed to earn the said rewards. It's understandable though taking in the fact that he is literally not in that world anymore so of course, no one would find him.
But why the year 1623 though? What happened during that time?
If he was still alive in that year, the prince would be 41 years old already.
"In 1623, a faction at the Joseon court known as the Westerners deposed King Gwanghaegun and installed Injo as king..", Widening his eyes in shock, he had to get himself together after reading that.
So, the court had to announce his 'death' officially because there was a new king on the throne? Because they wanted the people to let go of the missing prince and move on? Or is it because they just wanted to close the case once and for all?
Well, that's a bit mean on their part, isn't it?
In conclusion, no one was able to find the prince but continuously waiting for him to come back, thinking that there's a chance the prince might still be alive.
So is that why that unknown person told him that Joseon is waiting for him?
But thinking about it again, why would Jisung's presence be that important? Unless, there was really someone who's going after him like he predicted.
"Jisungggg~ Are you finish yet?"
Felix came out of nowhere while whining, scared the boy a bit. He glanced at his watch and realized that he has been there for more than an hour already.
Jisung felt bad for keeping his friend wait for him so he quickly stood up, "I'm sorry, I didn't see the time, I'm just gonna put these books away so you can wait in the car first"
"Are you sure? I can help you with that"
"It's fine, I'll be back quick"
Felix just nodded and left to the car without further arguments. He looks like a walking zombie from behind, probably tired of sitting and waiting for the 19 year old boy to finish reading his books.
In just a few minutes, Jisung and Felix meet up in the car like planned and head off to somewhere else, just driving on the road without having no place in thoughts.
The officer think that the boy should be the one deciding the place since he's never been anywhere in real life. Felix is pretty sure that Jisung only know the places in the city because of the television.
"Where do you want to go next Jisungie?"
There's nothing really to think about as the boy already have one place that he wants to visit in mind, "The Gyeongbokgung Palace"
Securing the black mask on his face and adjusting the sunglasses on the bridge of his nose, the man walked through the entrance gate, trying to be as subtle as possible within the crowds.
It's been awhile since he got to hang around freely like this. Blending in with the commoners is not really his favorite thing to do but it's better than being surrounded by guards 24/7.
What can he say? He was born for this certain lifestyle.
Now, focusing on the limited freedom that he has right now, he first just walk around the place, having nothing to do in mind.
He came here as soon as he saw the opportunity to sneakily escape and so he did.
Looking around, he saw everyone there are walking in groups while him, all alone making him feel a bit embarrassed for not having anyone to be with.
But he doesn't need people to be happy so he just continue on walking, ignoring everyone around him.
That plan of his soon came crushing down as he heard his stomach growled. "You just eat lunch! Why are you still complaining??", the guy said to his stomach, again, ignoring some weird looks on him.
He then proceeds to search for some food stalls so that his stomach won't make any noise again.
There's so many stalls to choose from. Maybe this is the reason why there's so many tourists here. Smart move, Korean Empire.., The guy smiled to himself.
Deciding to eat at the classic tteokbokki stall, he ordered and wait for his snacks to arrive, still hiding his identity from the people there. That is until, he met a boy who was wandering around alone, just like him.
He watched as the boy with his pretty little traditional hanbok on, walking around with a drink in hand, oblivious to the many eyes on him making him look unintentionally like a celebrity.
Not only that but he also looks lost too.
The guy at the tteokbokki stall was very tempted to come up to him and just offer his help immediately but he can't. He can't afford people knowing that he is here so he just stare from afar.
That's the least he could do for the boy, he can appreciate the boy's beauty and it seems like many people agree on that too.
But the next thing he knew was the boy walking to his direction.
Oh fuck!, the guy panicked and almost immediately, turn to the opposite way so that he is not facing the boy with the hanbok.
It came off as an embarrassment when he noticed that the boy was just trying to order the snack from the same stall he's at, not bothering to acknowledge his presence at all. Not even a glance.
"Can I have the set A please?", the boy said. His voice fit his appearance which is very soft and gentle looking.
The guy couldn't help but to continue staring at the pretty boy until he was caught, finally.
"Uh, can I help you..?", the other asked, snapping him out of his trance.
His face flares up in shame and quickly apologize, "N-No! I'm sorry for staring at you! I just thought that you're pretty and- Wait no-", now he just completely made a fool out of himself, great.
But that shame turn to something else when he saw the corner of the boy's lips went slightly up, showing his cute heart shaped smile that could light up the world.
Is this what they call love at a first sight? Because if yes, he had already fallen in too deep.
"It's fine! Don't worry about it, I was just confused as to why you were staring at me, that's all"
"Yeah, s-sorry about that.."
The boy let his smile linger on his face for awhile before trying to make a conversation with the guy while waiting for his order to finish and his friend to come back from the toilet.
"I'm Jisung by the way, Han Jisung, what's your name?", Jisung asked gently, afraid that he might come off as rude to the other guy.
He holds out his hand for the guy to take as a form of greeting and his hand was gladly met with the other's.
"Kim Seungmin"