Chapter 21

‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍" what do you mean?", He asked him informally sort of in a rhetorical way. He even tied his temple which did very minimal folding as his flesh was tighter than a crab s claw. His eyes however highlighted the utmost furry that was very much intimidating to the onlooker.

" You can't tell the king that he was possessed by that kind of energy", he answered rudely then he let go of his arm midway. He looked away awkwardly because he knew that he must have offended him. Yet again the expressions that Shejin was dressed in where the main highlight of that.

" Then is it acceptable that we let him believe that the cultivator was acting out of mere rage and attacked the worker. What for? So The king would lose trust on the ones that can help? ", He erupted at him ,with a mixture condescending tone. He can't believe that he expects such a vague answer to be given to the king.

" Follow orders", he barked .

" I will. And though thy authority is respected, the king takes precedence. And if the king wants to know what's going on , that is what he will find out . ", He got angry. And he looked very attractive when he was screaming like that and trying to gaining authority .But then again he always gets angry if he feels he is not getting respected which works differently here. The leaders make the food chain, its rules and they claim it , everyone else who is a scavenger crawls at the bottom and respecting them would be like bathing in dung

" Idiot ", he screamed trying to not look too much at Shejin because his beauty was starting to saturate the space especially mixed with the confidence he has on his sleeves that nulls the common fear of the probability that Wanglei could beat anyone including him to a pulp

" Then enlighten me , graceful one", he intimidated him and it worked

Wanglei got angry and he pulled Shejin s arm once again , turning him like a flower, causing his hair and his clothes to spray in the air like a blooming flower and him to look like he was wearing a toupee. he banged him against the wall and when Shejin s hair settled and his clothes wrapped around him like a croissant, Wanglei was already close to him and he planted his arm to the wall beside Shejin s face.

" You and I both know that something fishy is going on. And telling the king something like that will only scare him considering that he only wants the best for his people ", he spoke lowerly so that the guards don't hear him. But mostly is because he realizes that Shejin suddenly looks more magical when he restrained like this , and though he is not looking at Wanglei he still can tell that he must be stunning.

Shejin rolled his eyes in the least bit interested in what he is saying and that he chose to pin him against the wall to say something like that. Something that didn't even make sense.

He rose his arm and he thoughtlessly shoved Wanglei to the side . Wanglei seemed like a piece of paper as he flew backwards to the motion of Shejin s hand . though it was obvious that something like that would happen,it was the least bit expected that Shejin would master up the courage to a lay a hand on Wanglei. He didn't even once look at Wanglei when they were like that yet he managed to create such an impression.

Shejin walked furiously up the stairs and didn't even bother showing respect to the guards. His new self is very moody and extremely sensitive so it seems natural that he get really agitated over something so miniature like this. On the contrary Wanglei was acting very inappropriate and he dared ask Shejin to disobey a royal order and without a solid reason for that matter. It feels biased , selfish and moreover a bit treasonous considering that he is the advocate of the king s orders and hiding something like this would definitely do more harm than good

The second he stood outside he just proceed to walk towards the king study room. He is not going to lie to the man. There was no plot twist from the king knowing what is going on and it's not going to suddenly emerge unlike the multiple character substitutions lately . Like instead of Wanglei, it's Shejin collecting the information for the case and instead of MinHee, it was probably Yongsun who ordered ZhiHuan to call the royal advisor. And Suyen fought a male worker instead of a female again the male worker had some uncommon colours that Shejin was not aware of.

' okay, maybe the characters have shifted. But that's fine. I wasn't in the novel then but here I am . Naturally it's reasonable for there to be a little twist. But this part of Wanglei is a whole new rollercoaster. It's like Irma asking me to hide Yongsun s health. ', he graed in frustration and he swayed away

****

He arrived at W1 in fifteen minutes but then he saw that the king s room was not guarded in the theme that the king was inside as there were just three guards and were standing far away ,moreover the whole area was sectioned off with some white cloths like a police line , golden leaves and a spirit animal precisely a baby-blue falcon with frost-bit feathers. And when that bird is near anything that may look like a magic element such as those leaves, then it must be a hologram made by an animal-manipulating cultivator .The falcon flew in the space without a doubt in mind because it only had one goal in priority and that is to ensure that absolutely no one touches or comes near to that place otherwise it will ascertain that they attain some body injuries like temporary blindness , paralysis, severe ache, bruising , irritation, inflammation of the sinus or skin peeling, all depending on the setting made the owner of the falcon. the falcon or any guardian animal attacks any and everyone but it cant harm anyone who had a higher power that its creator. all these reminded him of this particular area and today s incident. he was a bit unsettled that he had forgotten something so major yet it happened no less than ten hours ago.

" The king would not go there because it has been damaged. the only place that he would go when he is stressed is his bedroom", he spoke to himself . he pouted in the unfortunate setup that he has put himself in .

without an option he has to take a detour . he moved about five steps and his motions were suddenly frozen. As he was carelessly walking, he was bombarded by an electric yet crushing slash across the upper perimeter of his left lung, it wasn't distinct whether it was his heart or not . furthermore it didn't hurt in the sense of requiring immediate medical attention but like a normal bodily reaction to an unexpected outcome or situation, it felt like the subtle effect of being shocked off guard. but that was strange because he was the only one around and there was literally nothing that would be the cause of that

He arrested and he rubbed that area over his chest in circular motion so the pain faded away and he walked towards his bedroom. he took several large breaths to check that he was not in any way having a cramp, if at all cramps can occur there.

( Ten minutes later)

As expected there were eight guards outside and among those people was Yongsun. He looked a little like he belonged with them but the way the others were undeniably rigid shows that the poor souls were even afraid to breathe around the young leader.

He walked to them and he bowed to Yongsun.

" Jiu-Shi, you're back? Where is the messenger?", He spoke with teeth clenched. Though it seems he is asking for the sake of his father , truth be told he was just worried that he will get in trouble because he forgot to summon him

" ZhiHuan went for the messenger. And I went for the report.", He reasoned and still could not shake this feeling of uneasiness. Why does it feel so akward being around Yongsun all the time ? at one point ,if he was back home , he would relate this to having given Yongsun a wrong number them and meeting over and over again plus him also finding out that Yongsun is his boss s son

"So you have found something?", He asked and he immediately pulled him into the king s room. That was sudden and unexpected. He lit up like Shejin just promised to buy him candy

He knocked and stated his business

" Sir, Eogeum has a report from Wanglei.", He spoke and he pulled the doors open and he walked in with him.

Shejin strode into the room and he saw the king standing by the window staring outside. The king s room is marvelous and it smells so novel. It feels like one could just have a freshly squeezed cup of cool juice while they painted or just read a self-discovery book..It feels like if he suddenly fell asleep right now, he would dream of dandelion angels and stardust fairies. It felt so soothing , so chill, it's like the disorder from outside was suddenly erased just because of this god-scent aroma that tantalizes better than a fine maiden loosely wrapped in thin drapes and drenched with strawberry yogurt and chocolate chip pancakes.

He gazed around the room and indeed there were lavender candles that have been lit. One of the maids was standing next to adjusting the fans and they welcomed a delicious freshness into the room. A freshness he wishes he could carry around him all the time. Though the scents are slightly unrelated, it seriously reminds him of the sea and the sand passing through his feet as he walked on the beach gazing at the sunset, moments when he would smile at nothing , thinking about everything or fantasizes about anything and cherish just existing , days when Irma held Shejin s heart and Shejin was allured by her the way Iseul is about poetry and collectibles, the way MeiYang is about architect and the way Dejang is about aesthetics, It invited back the memories of the happiest times that Shejin experienced.

The king waved his hand to signal the maids inside to excuse themselves. Yongsun got to his knees and he commanded for Shejin to start speaking and he agreed .

" It is true that the Cultivator was under the influence of black magic and that magic is being traced and contained. ",

" Why?", He asked without once looking back to him

" Huh? ..b-because", he couldn't come up with a reason why they are tracing black magic but they probably are going to do that

" Maybe it's transmittable?", Yongsun speculated while he was kneeling. Why is he on the floor? Is it really relevant to always do that?

" It's so as to destroy it. ", He sort of counteracted what he was saying

" Them tracing it means they don't have it", the king asked and Shejin said that is a safe assumption.The king scoffed under his breath as that was seriously he ever had someone say he is assuming. But it`s mostly because Shejin verified what he was already thinking and was afraid to have become the truth.

The king asked about the injured man and Shejin said he had not checked on him yet and thought to give this report first about the Cultivator.

"Regarding tracing, Zhao sect leader can explain further on why it's possible that they don't have it now. I presume that give the situation , complexity and broadness of the case right now, a lot of the facts that have been laid on the table do not add up", he spoke and the king turned and he looked at him.

" What are you saying?", He whispered and Shejin raised his eyes and he looked to the him. Yongsun bowed his head down further

The crushing pain from earlier one when he made a detour returned but instead of being short lived, his heart beat like he was running scared ,shocked or electrocuted. He felt like all the organs in his body and give their momentum to his heart and it was high on adrenaline . He turned his eyes downwards and he stared at the floor.

Either today has really affected Shejin, either the effect of his eyes has elevated all the way to his ears because right now, he could have swore he heard a familiar voice. The pitch and tonal arrangement was all to familiar but he could not place a finger on where he heard the voice but he swears that he heard it today from somewhere .

As he tried to place a name or face on the voice , his heart thudded louder and the pattern of that made him feel like he was getting nauseous and unceremoniously anxious

" I asked your meaning", he faced him but Shejin could partially obey him over the sound of his crazy heart that felt like it was trying to break out of his chest.

" I am sorry but I think I should gather more information about the injured man and I will return here in an hour s time to let you know of the r-r-", he

" Results ", he completed his sentence and Shejin raised and looked at him again and for some reason felt like remaining glued to his face to try and comprehend what he was hearing.

As they were still like that, someone knocked on the door and announced that the royal messenger had arrived.

Shejin turned backwards to leave . He bowed and announced that he was going to leave first , when the messenger stepped into the room Shejin stepped out and he speed walked about five feet away before he completely stopped

' who sounds like that? And why do I feel nervous for it',

The royal messenger stepped further into the room with his head bowed and he was sort of amazed to see Yongsun in there , kneeling. He looked like MinHee so he almost greeted him as your highness but the hat was what corrected him.

" Your highness, pardon me for coming this late", he apologized because the akward ride here with ZhiHuan only had that as the main theme.

" You have been briefed right?", He asked and the messenger agreed but before he begun talking he looked to Yongsun as if asking him to leave and doesn't want to discuss any important things in his presence.

" I will leave first", Yongsun bowed realizing the akward position that this old hag is putting him in and he elevated like a mechanical arm then followed the route Shejin had left in

The second the doors opened, he saw a familiar figure standing outside among the guards but he ignored him an he went towards his bedroom to study.