The Untouchable Prince | A Norenmin FanFiction

五十

Fifty
Updated: November 8, 2021

Sungchan's nose was stuffed into the crevice of a book, copying its words with a brush onto a blank piece of paper. The one-hundred-thirteenth Huang Imperial Examination was coming up in one and a half months, and the scholar was overly stressed by it. He wanted to pass, no, he needed to pass. His whole family in Kang was waiting for him to pass, so they could leave.

Kang's imperial system was corrupt. Only those with money could receive higher ranks and well, more money. Those in power bribed other officials, created alliances with others, and went against other groups, draining them of money. And, because the Jung family was absolutely dirt poor, probably the poorest of all of the families working in Kang, Sungchan's father, Jung Heoshin, was constantly getting hurt—physically, emotionally, and financially. His father refused to make alliances, refused to commit bribery like everyone else was. Because it wasn't fair. Therefore he was beaten physically by guards and robbed of all of his money.

Luckily, his older cousin's family had already left Kang and no longer had to suffer its system. He heard his cousin, Jung Jaehyun- no, Jung Yoonoh, married a restaurant owner in Huang—Sungchan had long forgotten that his cousin changed his name and forgot his husband's name after being stuck in his studies for so long. And so, because his cousin married off and got a new job, his uncle, Heoshin's younger brother, left Kang and retired. His uncle lived somewhere in Guanghua, but Sungchan had been too busy to see his uncle nor his older cousin. Don't worry, he planned to do so after he passed the exam so they could all celebrate together.

But, right now, he had to focus on his studies, and then, save his family from Kang. The awful empire was no place for the poor, yet even if you weren't poor, you would constantly be under stress with the competition and the betrayals between businesses and ministers. It was not a good place to stay in general.

With the life savings his father sacrificed to him, Sungchan rented out a room from the cheapest yet cleanest inn he could find for six months until one month after the exam. By that time, if he passed, he would either be moving into the City or into a house of his own.

His brush suddenly stopped moving, creating a black streak on the paper. Sungchan sighed, putting the brush down. He had come upon another word he didn't know, ruining his writing rhythm. He took the ink-streaked paper and crumpled it, throwing it aside as he reached for another clean sheet.

He didn't like it when he came upon new words. It interfered with his progress, and he had to restart to learn that new word, but it wasn't like it was bad. It improved his knowledge even if it took a long time and reset his work.

"Acquiescence..." he read to himself. He then read the words that came before it and after it. But, what was it? Nothing in its context gave a definition. He sighed as he reached for the book on the other side of his desk, sitting under five other books.

He froze, feeling a cool set of clothed hands around his neck along with a thin cool thing pressed lightly against his throat. "Who are you? Where am I?" It was the cool, calming voice of the boy he had brought home.

"Shotaro, it's Sungchan-ah."

The hands removed themselves from his neck, allowing Sungchan to look over his shoulder. His eyes met the round face of the familiar restaurant owner.

"Sorry."

Sungchan's eyes gazed down at the older's hands, seeing the little knife in his hands, who then hid the knife back up his sleeve. "Why do you have a knife?"

"No reason."

He dropped his question, deciding not to push any further, and scooted himself closer to the Japanese. "How are you feeling?"