Hidden | Jikook

Part 2: Present

Present*

     Making his way down the castle hall, Jimin made a sharp turn to the right, entering a room that was occupied by three people. The recent events replayed throughout his mind, weighing him down as he kept the same straight stoic face he always had whenever he was around people. He'd rather hide his emotions than have people know what he was feeling.

     In the room, there was a circular table with three people sitting around it with several other empty chairs. One was a woman with a beautiful royal blue floor dress and a diamond studded silver crown that sat on top of her long dark brown hair. The man that sat to the right of her was her husband who wore a royal blue suit with a gold studded crown on top of his baby blue hair. Then to the left was their son who had a silver and gold diamond studded crown atop his dark blue hair with a blue multi colored suit.

"Your Majesties." Jimin said with a polite bow before taking a seat in front of them. His freshly dyed pink hair sticking out like a sore thumb compared to the black sparkling suit he wore, along with black gloves. The family was used to it by now though, so it wasn't as shocking as it was the first time.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to address us so formally Jimin? You're like one of our own." The queen said looking at Jimin with a slight frown on her face. Her husband gently put an arm around her shoulder and squeezed it.

"She's right, Jimin. You're like a son to us and I'm sure Taehyung sees you as a brother as well." The king said with the prince named Taehyung nodding his in agreement aggressively, making everyone giggle lightly.

"I'm sorry Mr. and Mrs. Kim. Force of habit." Jimin said sheepishly as he nodded his head once as an apology as he shyly scratched his head. A small, soft smile spread across the king and queens face before it turned serious again, ready to get back on topic.

"Now, let's get down to business. What's the status of the recent attack?" Mr. Kim asked as he looked through the papers on the table in front of him.

"No citizens in Town Serendipity were injured, but in our ranks there are 57 dead, 103 seriously wounded and 319 injured but not serious. All of the injured/wounded are getting treated in Water City and the dead are currently being brought back with the remaining soldiers that are not hurt. We were able to push the enemy back and secure the border, but the chances of this happening again to us or the other kingdoms is highly." Jimin stated, looking at the family directly, his face still looking blank as ever.

"That's 422 people injured and 57 dead. Remember when we pick you to be the commander of our troops? You said that out of all the people, you would be the best person to lead them even though your powers have mysteriously disappeared. It's hard to believe that at the moment with the casualties and people that are injured now. Why should we keep you as our troops commander?" Mrs. Kim asked, getting down to the hard questions. Sure she loved Jimin like her own son, but that doesn't mean that he had it easy. If her or husband felt he was unfit for the position, then they would remove him and now was one of those moments he had to prove he was fit or he would be removed.

"During the last four years that I have served you, your kingdom has had the least casualties. Enya has lost 6,781 people, Zetta has lost 8,635 people, Bayu has lost 5,443 people and Eira has lost 3,792 people. Meanwhile, Ilayda, your kingdom, has only lost 1,814 people. If you look at the third page of the information, it will give you the average deaths per year and per month for each kingdom. Out of all of them, you'll notice that your kingdom has the least number of deaths per year and per month by more than half. I believe that is because the training I have given to your soldiers is different from the training given to the other soldiers from other kingdoms. Now, if you would like to hear it, I do believe I have another way to lower the number of casualties not only for your kingdom but the other kingdoms as well." Jimin spoke, making the others' ears perk up at the new piece of information.