Mingi POV
It seems like we will reach the temple in a few hours. Today is actually my birthday but I am not sure if the others remember that and to be honest I am not really motivated to celebrate it. Yeosang and Wooyoung are still not really talking to us although they don't seem as angry anymore. I think the best present I could get is making up with them but that seems unlikely.
I sigh and lazily lean over the wheel. Suddenly Wooyoung comes up onto the deck.
"Hey, lunch is ready.", he says and grabs the wheel. I am a little bit confused why he came up to navigate the ship because he hasn't done it since our fight. Still I let him take over and go inside. Aside from some plates and a fruit salad on the table, the kitchen seems empty. Where is everyone? Suddenly they all come out of the food storage and the bedroom. I am immediately surrounded by them and they are singing happy birthday at the top of their lungs.
We sit down at the table.
"Sorry, we couldn't make a cake for you because we didn't have all of the ingredients.", Seonghwa tells.
"It's okay."
"Here your present."
Hongjoong throws a hat toward me. It has a blue wave pattern on it and is decorated with sea shells. I put it on and we start eating. I am surprised that Yeosang came to celebrate my birthday. Maybe the two are ready to make up now? Should I talk to them later?
After we washed our dishes, San goes up to replace Wooyoung at the wheel. Apparently he only took over while we ate, so we could celebrate. He and Yeosang go to talk in the bedroom again. The others and me decide to play hide and seek. After playing for a bit, I decide to take a nap before we reach the island. The others decide to do the same. Our friends from the Nekra Kingdom look at us curiously as we walk into the bedroom. Maybe this is a good time to talk to them? Or should I talk to them after the nap? But then we will explore the island. I should just do it now. It's probably better if I try to convince Yeosang. Wooyoung is stubborn but is more likely to give in if Yeosang has changed his mind.
"Hey, it was nice to celebrate my birthday with you today?", I say to Yeosang.
"Yeah."
"Are you still angry."
"..."
"I... really don't want you to go. I don't want it to be that way. Think of everything we have done together. We took you in and protected you from your father's soldiers. We solved puzzles in ruins together. Sailed through several countries, saw several cities, where we had lots of fun together. You always took care of us. Wooyoung helped when Jongho was wounded and Seonghwa fell from a tree and not too long ago you took care of San's cuts. Remember when you guys stole key in Pfryspungt or you and San stole the other one in his hometown. We even got kidnapped by pirates and escaped together. I thought we were a family. Do you not care about us anymore?"
My voice is trembling as I speak and a few tears roll down my cheeks. Yunho comes to calm me down.
"I am really sorry about what I said. I don't want to loose you. You are like brothers to me.", Jongho adds. He also can't help but get teary-eyed.
Yeosang and Wooyoung also start crying. To my surprise they stand up and hug us.
"You are also important to us. We actually aren't angry anymore since last week. It just would be easier for you if we weren't on board anymore. It's mainly us that the king wants. If we aren't there anymore, they wouldn't put much effort into searching for you anymore. They would give up after 2 months or so.", Wooyoung explains.
"We don't care. We are going to protect you at any cost.", Yunho says.
"And it's not going to be easier without you. Who is going to cook for us? We are going to starve.", I joke.
"Please just stay.", Jongho pleads and pouts cutely while holding on to Yeosang.
"Okay."
Seonghwa wakes us up as soon as we reach the island. I let go of Wooyoung, put my shoes on, put a few necessities in my backpack and go onto the deck.
On the island before us is a giant temple. The outside looks very similar to the previous temples. We parked at small landing stage with a small wooden house at the side. Hongjoong and San are very surprised at first when they see Yeosang and Wooyoung with their backpacks ready on the deck.
"We decided to not go and be a part of the crew again.", Yeosang says.
San screams in joy, sprints towards them and hugs them. Hongjoong smiles brightly and does tiny jumps from side to side.
"Ehm guys, there is someone coming out of the house.", Jongho mentions.
There is an older guy who is walking towards us. We leave the ship and approach him. He starts speaking in a language that sounds similar to that of Wajasi. Of course we don't understand a word. After realizing that we don't speak his language, he starts speaking the language of the villagers on the island. After noticing that we also don't understand that, he motions us to wait and goes back to his house. After a minute he comes back with a pen and a piece of paper.
On it are names. The man points at Hongjoong then at the piece of paper.
Hongjoong scribbles down his name on the paper while the man begins patting us down. I guess he is searching for weapons?
After that we are free to go where we want to.
"By the way, Wooyoung, Yeosang, did you bring the amulets?", Hongjoong asks.
The two not only take out two but three amulets.
"Where did you get the third one? We searched everywhere for it!", San exclaims.
"It poked me in the butt when we were laying down at the beach.", Yeosang replies.
"Well then we don't need to search for it.", I say.
We go up some stairs to the temple. The door stands open. Inside are lots of people in long robes.
"I didn't think that here would still live people.", Yunho says.
"Me neither.", Hongjoong adds.
A nun comes towards us. She tries to speak to us in different languages again. When we look at her dumbfounded, she tries explaining to us with her hands but it's kind of hard to understand what she means. Hongjoong guesses that she asks why we are here. So he takes the amulets and shows them to her.
She gasps and runs away.
"What kind of reaction was that?", Wooyoung asks confused.
"I don't know. Let's wait here, maybe she will come back.", Hongjoong states.
The people around us start staring at us and whisper to each other. It feels very awkward and uncomfortable. I hug Seonghwa in hopes that it will make me feel less anxious.
The others seem a bit nervous too, so I guess I am at least not the only who feels like this.
A few minutes later a man in a embroidered robe motions us to follow him. He walks with us through several corridors. They have similar reliefs to the first temple on the wall.
I try to peak into a few rooms where the door is open. I can see a kitchen and few classrooms with to my surprise children inside of them. I guess that's why the monks haven't died out.
He brings us downstairs from where we walk through two more corridors before we go downstairs again. There we reach a huge door with three indentations for the amulets. Hongjoong puts the amulets at their place. The ground shakes a little bit and the door goes up. Behind it lies a big room that is full of old books. In the middle are display cabinets with different relics in them.
One of them is the key.
The man looks around with big eyes. It seems like they haven't been able to open the door and were waiting for someone to come with the keys. We of course go straight towards the key. Hongjoong wants to open the cabinet but the man comes rushing towards us and puts his hand on it to keep it shut. We try to explain to him why we need it with our whole bodies but after several minutes he still doesn't get it and insists on keeping the key.
Wooyoung tries to tell him that we should get the key for our efforts to open the door but the man still refuses.
Ten men come, surround us and tie our hands. They bring us to the first floor again and throw us into an empty classroom.
"These ungrateful ********!", Wooyoung exclaims.
"We collected the amulets and opened the door for them but they don't allow us to take one little thing for our efforts. That is so unfair.", San says.
"Maybe it is kind of holy to them because it belongs to their ancestors.", I voice.
"Then they could have explained it to us and not be this aggressive.", Seonghwa utters.
"They don't speak our language, dummy.", Wooyoung says.
"Well, they are definitely overreacting by imprisoning us in this room.", Yunho states.
Since we are bored and there is nothing we can do right now, we just fall asleep. I wake up when I hear children scream in the corridor. Seconds later the door opens and five of them walk in. They look at us judgemental and laugh before they sit down at the tables. For the next half hour I feel like I am going deaf from their screeching. God why are some kids so loud! Well I guess we aren't that much better but we are not that loud.
Suddenly Yunho jumps to his feet.
"I just noticed, shouldn't the door be open now?", he shouts but I can barely hear him. We all slowly stand up, which is a bit of a challenge because our hands are tied, and walk towards the door. Jongho opens the door with his elbow. We sneak into corridor. Luckily the kids are way to busy with their games to notice us leaving.
Not far from the classroom is an open window that leads outside. We tiptoe to it and somehow manage to climb through it. We are relieved to be outside again. A little to early though because a monk walks past the window and screams out loud. We panic and sprint towards the ship. I run as fast as I can but clumsily trip over my own feet. Yunho and Yeosang turn around to wait for me. I get up as fast as I can, ignore the pain in my leg and catch up with the others. We run past the entrance where a lot of people storm out of to catch us. I just barely dodge the grip of one of them. We make it to the landing stage where the man from earlier tries to catch us. San kicks him backwards which makes him fall to the floor. We enter the ship and immediately try to sail off but a lot of the monks and nuns still make it onto the ship. They surround us and only a few minutes later we are back at the temple.
As we walk through the same corridor again, we see that people are bringing the stuff from the secret room up into the temple. We can only look as someone with the key in his hands walks past us. It's so close but yet so far. My knee also really hurts. I look down and see a big wound that is covered in dirt.
They bring us to the kitchen. There a cook explains us that we should help her. Four of us are supposed to bring ingredients and the others are supposed to cut the ingredients. Since I can't be trusted in the kitchen, I am in the group who gets the ingredients.
I point at my knee in hopes that they realize that I won't be a good worker if I have an infected wound but of course they ignore me.
Accompanied by three monks and a nun we walk out of the temple, down a little path to some crops. We gather them in our huge baskets while being very closely watched.
"Hey Mingi!", San whispers but immediately gets kicked by one of the monks.
After more than an hour we finally filled the baskets and head back into the temple. There the others cut them while we are cramped into a corner and a monk and a nun are holding us back from going anywhere.
Hongjoong tries to signal them that he wants to talk to the man in the fancy robe again but they shake their heads.
After everything is cooked, we have to serve everyone before we can get our own dinner which consists of some dry rice and a banana.
"What are we going to do? We can't stay here and we need-", Jongho whispers but a nun hits him on the back of his head to make him shut up.
They then make us do the dishes. There are a few hundred plates and it takes an hour to clean and dry everything.
After all of that is done, we finally get another chance to talk to the guy from earlier. He has the key in his hand and from his hand movements Hongjoong somehow deciphers that he wants to know what it is. Hongjoong does his best to explain it to him and points out again that we already have two more keys and would like to have it.
The man shakes his head. Jongho tries to point out that it is pointless to keep the key if he can't and probably won't use it. The priest seems to think about it for a second. Then he expresses that he thinks that we are going to steal from him. We shake our heads.
He calls the monks and nuns that brought us to him. They bring us to a barn, untie our hands and leave. Seems like we could convince their leader to trust us at least a little bit.
"Finally we are alone!", San exclaims and lays down in the hay.
"What are we going to do?", I ask.
"He seemed to think about it when Jongho explained that the key is not going to be useful for him. Maybe we can convince him after all. Otherwise we will have to steal it.", Hongjoong answers.
"It would feel wrong to steal it after we just told him that we aren't thieves.", Yeosang says.
"Hopefully we won't have to do that."
"I am so tired.", Wooyoung says and yawns.
We cuddle up together in the hay but then someone enters, so we sit up again. A monk brings a bucket of water, alcohol and a bandage. He places the bucket down and gives me the alcohol and bandage.
Finally I can take care of the wound.
I take the stuff and go into a free corner to not make our sleeping place wet. I slowly pour water over my knee. It stings a little bit but gets rid of most of the dirt. I then disinfect it with the alcohol which hurts like hell and put the bandage on.
I go back to cuddling with the others. This is not how I imagined my birthday. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.
Author's Note:
I hope you like the story so far. I always fear that the chapters are getting boring.
I also started a new job recently and I have been super tired and also a little bit ill. I will try to write in my free time and hopefully the updates won't be too slow.