Kintsugi // ATEEZ [Ishihara Sequel] ✔

30 Territory

"Do you see how he is?" Mingi asks as he turns to look at Akira. "He's not the San that we know."

Akira's eyes trail to follow San who is walking around the palace, completely ignoring the others as he hums, hands behind his back as he strolls around the barren garden.

The king is walking around the garden as if the flowers are still blooming and the leaves are still alive, admiring them. It is as if the view of his world is completely different from the rest, where everything is beautiful and breathtaking. He doesn't even acknowledge what he did to Lucida, merely glancing at Akira before he continues in his trance, fingers dancing in the air.

"He's not himself," Wooyoung utters. "Because that's what the curse did to him."

"So he doesn't even realize that he had done that to Lucida and Seonghwa. My husband is currently bedridden, and I don't even know whether he'll wake up," Akira utters slowly.

Mingi and Wooyoung look at each other with uncertainty, feeling guilt but knowing that there's nothing they could do besides the profuse apologies they had verbalized ever since they met Akira. They could only watch as San stays in his own world, clearly enjoying his own world and staying oblivious to the destruction he had brought upon the other kingdom.

Akira suppresses all her will to go right up to San and punch him in the gut, reminding herself constantly that her enemy now is not San; it's merely the curse - the entity - that has taken over the Nyla king. She clenches and unclenches her fist as she looks at San; reminding her of Seonghwa's condition back in Lucida.

If he were to wake up, does it mean I will lose him too?

"Here's the map for the path you'll need to take to search for Ileara," Mingi disrupts Akira's thoughts as he hands out a map, and she takes it gingerly.

She unfolds it, somehow feeling melancholic as she looks at how Mingi has drawn the map by hand, detailing every single path they have to take and putting little reminders at every part. All her life as a soldier, she has barely travelled so all the names of the places seem unfamiliar to her, but she's determined to follow the map so Mingi's efforts won't go to waste. She looks at their final destination marked with an 'X' on the map, the name detailed only as 'Ileara', but even through the handwriting she can sense that Mingi was hesitant to put it there.

In the map everything looks so near, completely disregarding the actual distance between where they are and Ileara. She doesn't even know whether they'll be able to arrive at the kingdom, assuming there is still somewhere to go, today. She closes her eyes, trying to rid of her husband's image that makes her heart hurt, as she takes a deep breath.

She opens them and sees Wooyoung looking at her, apprehensive, as he crouches to tighten the daggers he has near his ankles. The rest of the young masters are only quiet, looking at the two of them who are about to embark on a journey that could be dangerous and a possibility of coming back with no solution.

Hongjoong looks at the sword he had gifted to Akira slung dutifully on her back, and notices that on her horse, she has tied Seonghwa's bow and arrows. A weak smile decorates his face as he studies Akira's face. He can see how hard Akira is trying to stay strong even though her eyes look like they'll start pouring tears out, or her lips are trembling as she bites them, as if trying to hide the fact that she's about to cry.

"They'll be fine," Hongjoong utters. "Both of you will be fine."

Yeosang nods, although he looks sullen and slightly uncertain.

"We will come back with a solution," Wooyoung says with determination. "Everything will go back to how it is, and I'll-" he tries to avoid his voice from cracking, "-I'll be able to make fun of my brother just like how I always do."