The Crown Prince (Taegi AU)

Extra chapter: The young master and the monk

This tale takes place an enjoyably long time ago...

There used to once live a young master who had been spoiled since birth. He was blessed with every luxurious thing this world had to offer and because of such a privileged life since birth, it need not even be said that he was attracted to such wealthy and beautiful things from a really early age onwards. 

He was attracted to everything beautiful and there was almost nothing in this world that his wealthy parents couldn't afford for him. He was an only child and hence it was clear that he was spoiled by both of his parents in the same manner. 

They considered him as the future of their last name. He was the shining apple of their eye and they were blinded with love. They were too blinded to notice that they were teaching him all the wrong things. 

The boy was blessed with a beautiful name called 'Taehyung' and this name was quite famous throughout the country both because of his lineage and because of his own doings. 

He was a young master that loved to cause trouble in the cities. He would tease almost anyone he found interesting and finish all the food from his favorite shop. At times, he would find something really beautiful and want to possess it. This beautiful thing could be anything ranging from a hairpin to even a butterfly. If the thing that had caught his interest was something already owned by another, he would try to trick them using money. If they refused to give it up, he would use more money, and eventually, they would be forced to give it up to Taehyung. 

Because of his upbringing, he had a crappy personality where he felt entitled to everything beautiful in this world and he felt that there was nothing he couldn't possess.

For a young master to have such a spoiled thinking was nothing new and in fact, it was quite common. 

Taehyung had a few friends as well and they were also from rich backgrounds making them all alike peas in a pot.

He was never too close with any of his friends and it could even be said that the only reason why he kept them around was because of his mother who didn't want him to be alone forever. 

On one fine day, one of his friends showed up wearing a necklace with a fang on it. A fang of a wild bear that he had slain. He looked to be quite proud of his achievement and hence, he flaunted it around, bragging every now and then about how he easily killed a wild bear. 

Taehyung was far from happy to hear his friend brag about something Taehyung considered to be trivial. He got annoyed by it and ended up having an argument with his friend. 

In the heat of the stupid argument, his friend challenged him to go to the eastern mountains and come back after he had achieved the same feat. Taehyung who was too proud of himself would certainly not back down to such a challenge and hence, with no guards or friends around to protect him or accompany him, he took on this challenge and headed for the eastern mountains. 

He had never actually explored out of the city and hence this was his first time. He had no idea what he might see there and he had zero preparations for the future problems he would have to face in the mountain. 

He somehow survived the first day but by the second day, he was almost dying due to exhaustion. He had no food and no water. The fact that he hadn't met any wild animals yet was quite lucky in itself. 

With his will and stubbornness being the only thing that kept his feet moving, he continued on the quest he had begun. 

After a while, he felt a drop of sweat trailing down his forehead and getting in his eye making his eye sting. 

"Ah!" He yelped as he immediately closed his eye and continued walking with his eyes half-closed. 

"It's so hot~" He whined as he glanced at the glaring sun ablaze in the sky.