Onset (1)

His shoulder flinched in a roll of a short yet striking rumble that caused him to look up. He gazed, witnessed the gloomy clouds starting to form as one and dominate the sky from where he stood.

Sungho's anxiety was increasing with every minute passing by. When he could no longer resist idling inside his chambers, Sungho insisted on waiting for Hyun Sik's arrival in the hallway. It had been six hours since, excluding the half-hour he had been standing outside. Yet they failed to see even a shadow of the man they were anticipating.

Another grumble from the sky brought a deafening pierce in his eardrums, catching the cracking lightning as it peeked. The sharp electric bolts crawled into the dim clouds as it expanded like a spider web, then faded in a flash as if it never happened.

"Hyun Sik was in a meeting," Daewon notified, "He just arrived this noon."

"How are you sure?"

"I have my ways." Eyeing the soldier, Sungho stayed silent and heard him mouthed before his ears. "I sent my person to check him."

Sungho shifted his attention to Daewon and mumbled back, "You sent someone?" Avoiding to be heard by the court lady standing next to them, Sungho leaned closer before whispering again. "You sneaked your men inside the palace?"

"Didn't I say we are already taking short measures?" He stared at Daewon intently, squinting his eyes as he noticed the short distance of their faces. The thought of admiring the soldier's lashes entered his mind yet he hurriedly shrugged it. "Maybe less than a hundred? Fifty?"

"How many are they really?"

"Twenty men."

"They're too few!" He bolted, raising his voice before he became conscious of what he had done.

"Shh. Don't worry. They are the most skilled soldiers." Daewon placed a finger on Sungho's lips.

As he gazed down at the forefinger, gently resting on his upper lip, Sungho instantly smacked the back of the soldier's hand and rubbed the spot where Daewon brought the finger with the sleeve of his clothing.

"Also, I cannot sneak that many. We'll get caught." Daewon backed an inch away and continued, "You should know more than this since you're considered as the intelligence of your clan."

"Y-Yeah." Sungho appeared stuttering in his answer. He could not argue that he was not the same person controlling the body. But most importantly, how much information did he know about Hyeon Ju? "They better be much more skilled than ours. Cause if they aren't, I'll laugh at that smug face of yours."

Sungho watched as Daewon leaned backward. His face turned blurry as he increased their distance to each other. He was not able to see clearly at the smirk printed on the soldier's lips. "Sure, you can look forward to it, Your Highness."

"What are you two whispering about?" Chun hindered between, her eyes shifted to him and to the soldier.

Producing a soft sigh, ignoring his court lady's suspecting gazes, Sungho commented, "Why is he taking so long?"

It was already sunset. The egg yolk sun sneaked through the dark clouds, giving its last orange shine before it took its long rest and got replaced by the moon. A moment later, a growl from the sky rolled around the area along the whispering breeze softly blowing the leaves of the bushes at the courtyard.

Just a second passed, the overcast clouds started showering small drops of rain. A grumble after the other, the thumps from the pacing footsteps were heard in the distance.

With two individuals running toward their direction, Sungho immediately assumed the shorter one pacing beside the humongous build was Hyun Sik.

"Brother!" he called out, "It's pouring already. Hurry inside!" Sungho witnessed Hyun Sik and Seok struggling to stay dry as their arms were raised over their heads, hearing Daewon tasking his court lady to fetch the cotton cloths in the background.

"I didn't expect it to rain before we got here," said Hyun Sik as soon as he managed to land a step into the hallway.