i can do this all day . ksj

01 | YOONGI KNOWS BEST

DARLING

Yoongi squints his cat eyes and looks into my own from the folds of my jacket, but doesn't make a sound. Good boy. It's like you can read my mind. I stand still for what feels like an eternity, tuning out my heartbeat to check for any unusual sounds.

The one time I hadn't checked if other people were following, some whackjob had managed to tail me. If it hadn't been for Yoongi's soft hiss - something he only does around strangers - I wouldn't have even known I was being followed and would have led the creeper straight to the Han inheritance.

Just thinking about how close I had been to losing the treasure sent a shiver through me.

So thanks again, Yoongi. You and your hatred for social interaction saved our asses.

In acknowledgement of my mental gratitude, Yoongi pokes his head out of my jacket again and looks around. We were right in front of the entrance to the old Han tomb, which was embedded in a small hill among the Mount Ilsan forests. The tomb itself was made of light grey stone and extended into the mound, with the open entry leading to a locked door.

I pause under the entry for another minute, patting his soft, black fur and gathering my wits. It had taken me over a year to move back to Daehan-Minguk, but now that I was here it felt like my plan finally had a shot at success. The one thing I needed to make all my wishes come true was inside my tomb, and all I needed to do was get my hands on it.

The magic lamp.

"We'll go find it one day, Darling," my dad had said to me one day, when I was still too young to know how evil people can be. "Then I can treat your mum like the queen she is to me."

But first, I needed to get in.

I walk through the entry, where I'm faced with an imposing set of double doors made of the same grey stone I assume is used through the whole tomb. Yoongi nuzzles my hand when I bring it to my neck, where a small drawstring bag hangs; inside is the key my father gave me as he told me about the tomb.

It was a strange-looking key, with teeth poking at five angles rather than just one, but it clicks perfectly into the lock, and I nearly slump with relief. A part of me had been worried that perhaps after all I did to get here, the key wouldn't even fit, that my dad had made some sort of mistake.

There was no need to fear though. Stone grinds against stone as the doors are drawn apart by some ancient mechanism, and I step through.

If I didn't already know about the Han family, I could learn everything I needed to just by looking around.

Within was a long hallway, and in each of the small rooms branching off was the burial chamber of a different Han. The whole tomb was lit by the afternoon sunlight streaming through yellowing windows and all of the chambers were basically dripping in gold, studded with gems and draped with silks, all covered in a layer of dust.

As expected, the Han were filthy rich, even in death.

It was a little bit sickening to see when I had to slave away as a labourer for two years just to have the money to get to Daehan-Minguk. I tell myself that I would come back here one day and take away from the dead what they couldn't use anyway, but not now.

Right now, I have to go to the oldest tomb, the one which held Han Jinsoo and Han Euntaek. Everyone thought Euntaek started the Han empire, but the real brain behind the operation was his wife, Jinsoo. Despite having to pass credit to her husband for all her work, she built the most successful merchant business in Daehan-Minguk, and it was in her chamber that the real treasure was hidden.