nothing's been won

🏰 turmoil

A/N (4.6.2022): This fic was meant to be an exploration of Leeteuk and Kyuhyun's different leadership styles and strategies in the self-imposed celebrity battle to win respect from the KGP, and much of the progression of events detailed below are abstractions of observances from Super Junior's career and Leeteuk/Kyuhyun's interactions (more on this in the following chapter). In the end, I followed where my writing led me. It ended up something slightly different, but you can still see glimpses.

I've had this done since November 2021 but uhhhh just never got around to posting it until now, lol. The sovereignty and kingdom logistics were made up for the purposes of storytelling; nothing is meant to be historically accurate. Title taken from The Call by the Backstreet Boys. Cover art by me. Rating for a single sentence of gore.

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A knock on the door startles Leeteuk from his reading of the financial report Shindong had prepared for him. Not even the ever-convivial Treasury Advisor can make accounts payable summaries an interesting read (though he certainly does try), so Leeteuk welcomes the distraction. He calls out to allow the guest into his private study.

The door opens to reveal Kyuhyun, who barely spares the time to bow before launching into a harried plea. "My liege, I must speak with you at once about a matter of utmost importance."

Leeteuk sighs, but his eyes betray his farcical annoyance. "It's always, 'Leeteuk, help.' Never 'Leeteuk, hello'; never 'Leeteuk, how are you?'"

Kyuhyun rolls his eyes; but when he sits in one of the couches across from Leeteuk's desk, the stressed line of his shoulders softens into the boyish curve that belies his position as the youngest to have ever held an office in the king's court. "Of course, my apologies. What would you like to talk about first — the weather? The 'sorry excuse for gamja-jeon' the chef made for breakfast this morning? ... Golf?"

Leeteuk waves away Kyuhyun's teasing with a chuckle. "It's fine. You don't need to pretend to care about my opinions."

"Says the king," Kyuhyun retorts with a raised eyebrow, but he quickly moves on. "I want to introduce an idea to you. As it is not related to the judiciary, I still have much research to conduct before I present you with a formal proposal, but I wanted to first understand what you'd need to know in order to be swayed."

Leeteuk nods even as he takes a sip of his tea, which Kyuhyun takes as a signal to continue. "I was speaking with Heechul; and though he maintains our foreign relations are positive, he did not disagree that they could be healthier. Other kingdoms tend to forget who and where we are until such a point that we reach out to them for diplomatic relations. They even forget they're trading with us until we stamp our insignia on the page; that's not right!

"To that end: I think our ambassador program needs refreshing, starting with an increased staff of envoys who are better trained in external customs. It is my understanding that we cannot employ additional staff, but I have an idea. If we redistrict and make our provinces cover more acreage, the leftover officials and personnel can be retrained for international affairs.

"Once we establish ourselves better, we can launch a more aggressive external relations strategy. Not by much, I'm thinking stipendiary exchange student programs at first; but if it works, we can expand. Larger trade deals, more markets, and who knows what else! No one is fired, no one is hired, our global branding improves, and the kingdom profits."

Leeteuk's face during Kyuhyun's impassioned spiel is inscrutable, but that doesn't faze the Justice Advisor at all. He has only served on the court for half a decade, but it doesn't take long to discern that Leeteuk is a very diligent decision maker. The king's mind is probably astir with ramifications Kyuhyun couldn't ever consider, both positive and negative. He simply sits back and waits for the invariable onslaught of questions Leeteuk will pose after his deliberation. Kyuhyun knows he won't have all the answers tonight, but there is time for that. Rome wasn't built in a day; yet as it stands, it's looking like a very good idea to build Rome.