"Where are they!!"
"I think they went that way!"
The citizens ran down yet another street, their footsteps passing by crates of food where, unbeknownst to them, the targets of their chase lie in hiding. As their footsteps faded away in the distance Dokja and the strange man he dragged along popped their heads out from the crates.
"Are they gone?"
"I think so..." Dokja muttered as he looked around. Deeming the coast to be clear for now, Dokja hopped at of the box and helped the other man out of his. Not letting go of his hand, Dokja lead the man down a small alleyway as he continued to monitor the surroundings for any signs of their chasers coming back. Reaching a dark nook where the two of them could talk without being found, Dokja let go of his hand and turned toward.
"You're a dokkaebi, aren't you?"
The man let out a startled gasp and stepped back, scanning Dokja over with jittery eyes.
"How did you know?"
Dokja gave him a dry look as he sighed out, "You're not exactly making yourself inconspicuous you know. Your
eyes and horns are a dead giveaway to anyone with eyes."
Letting out an annoyed huff, the dokkeabi lowered his head and shielded his face with his hands, pouting all the
while.
"You didn't have to say it like that…" he complained petulantly, peeking between his fingers at Dokja.
Dokja rolled his eyes at his attitude. He crossed his arms and leaned on the wall behind him.
"What's your name anyway?"
The person studied Dokja cautiously, lowering his hands a bit "…it's Bihyung.." he paused for a moment, observing
Dokja's reaction, or lack thereof, to him before asking "Are you not scared of me?"
"No....why would you think that?"
Bihyung bought a hand up to rub the back of his neck, an complicated expression on his face, "Well, people aren't exactly welcoming to monsters, much less a dokkeabi…"
Taking in the dokkeabi's words, a conspiratorial look came over Dokja's face."Let's just say that I'm not a normal human either," Dokja whispered with a finger of his lips. Dokja had actually been wondering when he'd bump into this particular dokkeabi. In the novel, Bihyung had been one of the prince's enemies along with 'Kim Dokja' and the queen.
The dokkeabi had actively thrown different challenges and hardships at the prince purely for his own entertainment, wanting to make life more difficult for Yoo Joonghyuk during his journey to seize the throne. While Dokja had been trying to come up with a way to make sure Joonghyuk wouldn't come across the creature, or at least a way to minimize the damage Bihyung may do. To see him here as nothing more than a street urchin was a more than surprising.
Bihyung tilted his head in confusion, "Why? Did you already see something stranger than me?"
Dokja chuckled as he raised an eyebrow and replied, "Well, you could say that.." before turning away from him and walking out of the alleyway, "You can follow along with me if you're want to see something interesting."
Bihyung lingered behind for a few seconds, struggling with himself to decide if he should follow or not, but with Dokja the only person so far who hadn't chased him away he decided to scramble after the man. The two walked together in silence, getting further and further away from the city center until they eventually reached the edge of a forest. Bihyung's confusion only grew as Dokja stepped into the woods, not stopping his pace forest a second.
"Eh? What are we doing here, what could possibly be in the woods that you want to show me?"
Dokja replied, "Just trust me on this, you'll see when we get there" as he entered the forest, and Bihyung just followed behind, grumbling all the while that it was just his luck that some sketchy guy would be the one to save him.
While they continued through the forest, the dokkeabi inquired, "What's your name anyway, I'd like to know who killed me if you turn out to be some serial murderer?"
"Kim Dokja," he answered with a glance backward, not commenting on the rest of the sentence.
Bihyung exclaimed, "Oh, that noble everyone's been talking about nonstop."
Dokja nodded." Yep, that's the one...by the way, why are you even here, as far as I know, shouldn't you be in the Starstream Kingdom?"
When Dokja noticed that the footsteps behind him stopped, he turned back to see Bihyung clenching his fists while grimacing solemnly at the ground.
"Actually...they kicked me out," Bihyung remarked without turning to face him, "There was a time where I needed to kill a human but....I couldn't so they...kicked me out."
Dokja frowned at him. Bihyung had been one of the cruelest villains to Yoo Joonghyuk in the novel. 'Kim Dokja' attacked him out of manic obsession and the queen used more underhanded methods like spreading petty rumors and hiring others to do her dirty work. But for Bihyung, he inflicted any type of pain on the prince as he could, attacking not only him but the people around him, from his sister to his personal knights. The resources that the starstream Kingdom backed him with gave him were limitless, hordes of beasts, poisons, armies, and everything else under the sun. It was all about making Yoo Joonghyuk suffer for as much and as long her he could for their entertainment.
"Couldn't bring yourself to kill huh… how surprisingly benevolent…" Dokja took a moment to scan him over, "So, what are you going to do now?" Bihyung strided over to Dokja's side and they continued their stroll, Dokja looking around them to see if they were on the right track.
"I don't really know… I've just been going city to city and stealing food from vendors until they chase me out… though honestly, I'm glad I was able to leave the kingdom while I could."
"Why? Did something happen?"
Bihyung nodded, "Mhm, around the time I was kicked out they started acting really strange…"
"How so?"
He sighed, "I don't know.... it's just that, sometimes they'd get into weird trances, all the light would disappear from their eyes. Sometimes they would say the strangest things, like something took them over…"
"....."
"Around the time I left they especially started getting obsessed with someone they call the Empress."
Dokja scowled as he inquired, "Empress, like the empress of the Seoul Empire?" He had never read anything about the dokkeabi being even minorly connected to her, or having any involvement with anyone other than Yoo Joonghyuk.
While glancing at him, Bihyung nodded and continued, "Yeah, well, none of the lower ranked dokkeabi like me were told who exactly they were, so that's just what we assumed. But the way some of the higher ups talk about her, it doesn't really line up sometimes…"
Dokja as silent while he considered whether he knew of any character in the novel that matched up with Bihyung's description. Though, there was also the possibility that this was a new development alongside the many changes to the novel he'd already experienced. The story has changed enough from the original trajectory to where he should probably try to anticipate more out-of-pocket developments like this to happen, as much of a nerve-wracking prospect as it was.
Another inquiry about this 'Empress' character was on the tip of his tongue when suddenly something smacked into his face. Blinking a few times, Dokja looked in front of him to see what had him,
"Biyoo, I missed you too," he murmured with a smile.
"Baaaht~!"
As Dokja when to pat Biyoo, Bihyung glanced between the two with a strange expression on his face, "What is that?" pointing at Biyoo who was innocently gazing back at him,
Dokja stepped forward to gesture proudly to her, "Her name is Biyoo, she's my baby!"
"You gave birth to that thing?", Bihyung shouted, looking at Dokja like he was an alien.
"Of course not!"
"Oh, I thought…"
"I'm a man, how can I give birth?"
"I dunno, maybe you slept with the royal family or something…I think I heard a rumor about that somewhere,"
Bihyung muttered, scratching his head and grinning awkwardly. "Actually, how did you even meet her?"
He looked at Biyoo who was grinning happily at him, "Oh, it's a long story, let's just say that I met Biyoo when I took a shortcut through the forest."
With a scornful expression, Bihyung asked, "Really? Shortcut?"
"I know it's dumb, ok?" he admitted, embarrassed. He turned to look at Biyoo and added, "Anyway, Biyoo, where are your friends?"
"Ba-at" [just somewhere] and she took off into the forest, adding, "Ba-at" [follow me].
"She said, we should follow her."
"How did you know what she was talking about?"
He just smirked at the dokkeabi, "I just know," and began walking. Bihyung, still coping with the fact the guy he just met was still sketchy as hell, just shook his head and started to follow them.
----
"Purung!" [Hello!]
"Popo [A new friend?]
"You two!" Dokja ran up to the two to give them both big hug. When he let go of them, the creatures were exchanging curious looks with Bihyung. "Oh, that's Bihyung, a dokkeabi."
"Popo!" [Nice to meet you!]
"Ba-at!" [He seems nice!]
"Purung!" [Greetings!]
With three big, innocent eyes staring at him expectantly, Bihyung recoiled a bit. He looked at Dokja, who was staring at them in amusement "Umm...Dokja?" he muttered.
"They just said their hellos," Dokja answered with a smile.
Nodding, Bihyung hesitantly turned to the three creatures, surprisingly shy Dokja noted, "Greetings to you too," he said with an awkward smile.
"Ba-at?" [Are you his friend?]
"Popo?" [Are you a human?]
"Purung" [I've never seen somebody like you before]
Seeing them crowd around Bihyung and slightly overwhelming him with their cries, Dokja stepped between them "Okay you all, that's enough, let him breathe for a bit. Why don't we all play for a bit?" At the suggestion the three creatures' eyes shone brightly, but then their faces fell slightly as they glanced at each other, making Dokja a bit worried.
"Ba-at…" [That sounds fun, but...]
"Popo?" [Can you sing again?]
"Purung?" [Please?]
Dokja was taken aback by their request, honestly he had assumed it was a one-time thing, it wasn't even like he was that good at it. "Eh? But.... are you guys sure that's what you want?" he asked, unsure, but the three creatures gave him puppy dog stares.
"Baaa~at?" [pleeeease?]
"Poooopo?" [pleeeease?]
"Puuuurrrung?" [pleeeeease?]
Dokja regarded them carefully, but then sighed, giving into their stare. "Fine… I'll sing, but only for you guys!" and the three creatures cheered.
Bihyung lifted an eyebrow at him, "You can sing?"
Dokja sarcastically questioned, "What's that supposed to mean?"
He held his hands up placatingly, "Nothing, you just don't really seem like the type to." The dokkeabi went over to sit on a nearby log.
Huffing at Bihyung's words, Dokja haughtily turned back to the creatures "Let's just pretend he didn't say anything..." he muttered, but the three creatures didn't comprehend what he meant and merely nodded.
Contemplating what he should sing, Dokja snapped his fingers when he thought of a song and cleared his throat and closed his eyes.
Maybe, it's the way you say my name
Maybe, it's the way you play your game
But it's so good, I've never known anybody like you
But it's so good, I've never dreamed of nobody like you
And I've heard of a love that comes once in a lifetime
And I'm pretty sure that you are that love of mine
Cause I'm in a field of dandelions
Wishing on every one that you'd be mine, mine
And I see forever in your eyes
I feel okay when I see you smile, smile
Wishing on dandelions all of the time
Praying to God that one day you'll be mine
Wishing on dandelions all of the time, all of the time
I think that you are the one for me
'Cause it gets so hard to breathe
When you're looking at me, I've never felt so alive and free
When you're looking at me, I've never felt so happy
And I've heard of a love that comes once in a lifetime
And I'm pretty sure that you are that love of mine
As Dokja sang, Bihyung observed him closely. With his eyes closed like that he seemed content, like the only thing that filled his mind was thoughts of the things he cherished the most. At one point Bihyung would've said that this was what made humans so weak and easy to target. Such love was what separated humans from the rest of the dokkeabi. But now he couldn't help but be curious what such an emotion like that would feel like.
When Dokja finished his song, he opened his eyes to meet the delighted expressions of the creatures. Then his eyes trailed over to Bihyung, who wore a curious expression, his head tilted at him.
"Are you in love?"