Sapfire | ᴛᴀᴇᴊɪɴ ✔

| 29 |

Almost two days had passed by and Taehyung was still in the dungeon. Namjoon told his men to not give Taehyung any food. He wanted Taehyung to suffer like that and eventually die.

Hoseok was now inside the dungeon to check on Taehyung though he knew he couldn't do anything to help him.

Taehyung was just sitting there, staring at the ground. He was exhausted to think much or talk to anyone, he just wanted to get out of there.

Hoseok hunkered down and looked at him, "Vante, are you ok?"

"Drop with the act, Hoseok. You saw it coming... No, you planned it! You knew that The King is a maniac. Yet you let me wander. I shouldn't have believed you. I thought I found a friend and you-" Taehyung was about to cry.

"No. I had no intention to make you suffer, Vante," Hoseok tried to assure him.

"You're lying"

"No, I promise, I'm not. I want to help you. And I'll try my best. The King... he's not that bad. He just can't stand it when someone touches his things or talks back to him."

Hoseok lied because no one was allowed to talk ill of The King.

"But I don't like him a bit. And I will make him apologize if I get out of here!" Taehyung said.

"No, don't make the same mistake again. It's dangerous."

"I don't care."

During their conversation, Hoseok saw Taehyung on the verge of losing consciousness then getting some of it back a few times. He also had an idea why it was happening.

It still seemed strange.

"Just hang in there. Ok?" Hoseok patted his shoulder.

"I've been doing that my whole life," Taehyung chuckled, "At this point, I have no hope of things getting better," he looked at the ground, hopelessly.

"You shouldn't think that way, Vante," Hoseok said. and Taehyung looked at him.

"You need to have the will to envision a brighter tomorrow while you grapple with the darkest present," Hoseok said.

There was something reassuring about Hoseok that made Taehyung feel a little better. But maybe it was just false hope and lies like before and Taehyung couldn't fully trust him.

Hoseok lightly patted Taehyung's shoulder and left the dungeon when he recalled he had to meet The King.

The King had called him to speak about his recent findings concerning the Yonhae kingdom.

The King used to find powerful people and people with rare powers then make them work for him. Since Hoseok had enhanced senses, The King had appointed him as a spy.

Hoseok was asked to spy on other kingdoms and pry information about any important or suspicious happenings. And since he was also good at sensing people's powers, The King used to ask him to bring the people with rare powers to the castle.

A few minutes later, Hoseok was inside the throne room. He saw Namjoon gulp the whole tea at once then keep down the small cup that had a sea turtle carved on it.

"Did you find anything during your time in Yonhae?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. I found something unusual," Hoseok said, "I heard that the magical beasts trapped at the forbidden location are getting stronger. They're being fed on something that makes them more powerful."

Two years ago, the same magical beasts had created havoc across different kingdoms. Since the magical beasts lacked human intelligence and Zeť technique, a team of some of the best Zeť users was assigned to tackle them. With great efforts, they were captured and locked inside a place in Yonhae. That place had strong and large walls making it impossible for the magical beasts to get out. Inside that confined space, they had a place that could act as their natural habitat. Humans were forbidden from that place.