Night Prince

The Art of War

"The Art of War?" Ri Jeong Hyeok read the words aloud, not quite comprehending why his brother would leave such a message.

"A book," Seri said confidently.

"Hold on a minute. That book? By Sun Tzu?" The prince asked.

"Yes, that's what your brother meant," Seri confirmed.

"How are you so sure?"

It was the way Seri said it that had the prince curious. She was fully confident that the message was referring to a book. It was as though she knew something he didn't.

"I was reading it the other day and came across a blank page. Your brother probably hid some hints in there." Seri stated calmly.

Her gut was right about that blank page. It wasn't a mistake on the publisher's part after all.

"You're probably right, Seri ssi." Ri Jeong Hyeok deliberated.

"I'm rarely wrong," Seri said teasingly as she sauntered towards the door.

"Wait, where are you going?" The prince called out after her.

"To get the book, silly. I'll be back." Seri said in a sing-song voice before she disappeared past the door.

Minutes later, Seri was back in Prince Ri's study. Despite their rapid successes in identifying Ri Mu Hyeok's starting clues, the couple was now staring blankly at the book, stuck on yet another puzzle left by the late prince. 

They had the book, they found the blank page, but what does this mean?

"What are we supposed to do with this now?" Ri Jeong Hyeok asked blankly.

"My question too," Seri responded, equally lost as his royal highness.

"Break?"

"Mmm"

With that, the couple decided to head down to the kitchens for a quick snack. Right as they were about to leave, Seri suddenly ran back to the table after she was struck with an idea.

"What is it, Seri?" Ri Jeong Hyeok followed her back to the table.

"I've read this in books. I wonder if it'll work." Seri fumbled around his table to look for some matches.

In her excitement to test out her theory, Seri failed to light up the match until Ri Jeong Hyeok's warm hands stilled her movements. 

Quietly, the prince took the match and lit it up effortlessly, only fanning it away once the candle on his desk was lit.

With eager hands, Seri placed the blank page over the flame, just close enough for the heat to touch the paper. Like magic, lines and letters began to appear on the page as the invisible ink was revealed to the naked eye.

"Your brother is a genius." Seri gaped openly at the paper in amazement.

"And you'd make a great detective, Seri." Ri Jeong Hyeok said.

Time and time again, Seri has left him in awe at her wit and intelligence. There was no denying that he owed their progress in finding the rebels to her.

Seri smiled radiantly at his praises before she studied the paper in her hands carefully.

"It doesn't look complete..." Seri frowned.

"Knowing my brother, he wouldn't make this easy. But, it looks like a map." Ri Jeong Hyeok said as he traced one of the lines on the heated paper.

In fact, the lines looked suspiciously familiar to him. It was a no-brainer. He has been staring at this particular map for years. Even a small part of it would trigger recognition within it. Although there were lines he wasn't familiar with, there were still some undeniable similarities in the layout.