Once Upon A December || VKook || HYBEPride 2022

The Tale of the Borahae Empire

Many of these stories start out with a legend. But for modern-day peoples, the Borahae Empire is not quite yet a legend. After all, it was only destroyed ten years ago.

The Borahae Empire was once a grand country, spanning nearly an entire continent. Its people, for so many centuries, lived in prosperity, guided by an emperor and his family who had governed well for so long. The country was prosperous, and all of its citizens worked hard every single day to ensure that success continued.

But as the world began to change, the Borahae Empire changed, as well. Word came into the Empire that other countries, long colonies of other countries, had broken free and formed nations for the people, by the people. Other city states that had stood alone for so long were united under rebellion. Marie Antoinette herself said "let them eat cake" and suffered the price for it. And at the beginning of this worldwide unrest, the Borahae Empire was still secure under its emperor. For many decades, the emperors were aware that the world was changing, and that the happiness of their people came first and foremost. And so, it did. Taxes were lowered, grants and gift money was increased, and all were happy.

By the time Emperor Jongsoo came into power, however, things had started to truly change. A group of students at the university in Nunkkoch, the Borahae Empire's capital, insisted that the royal family be overthrown and replaced with a democracy. This rebellious group attracted the attention of the Musihans, a family local to Nunkkoch with immense wealth and power. Nearly second to the royal family themselves in status and wealth, the Musihans had funded many downtown projects, including most of the university. When they funded the rebellion, it truly took off.

The Musihans, however, had different ideas.

On a cold night in December, a great party was being thrown at the royal castle in Nunkkoch. It is said that all of the royal family was present: Emperor Jongsoo, his wife Younghee, and their daughters, Siwon, Jiyeon, and Soojin. Their son, Taehyung, was also present. At ten years old, he was much too young to take over as emperor, but he was the heir to the throne, and everybody loved that little boy more than life itself. He was the picture of a future emperor: kind, just, and somehow more empathetic than his father.

Jongsoo was not a bad emperor. He was merely a scared emperor. The talk among the town had him afraid that he would be overthrown and his entire family killed. But instead of doing something to quell the rebellion, he hid his family away in the castle, only inviting the public into the castle for the end of the year holiday season. He spent the kingdom's money on security, making sure he was safe, and on a military force that could defend the Borahae Empire from any threats that would come its way. Gone were the gifts and grants, and taxes began to increase again.

So it was no surprise that the rebellion stormed the castle on the night of the party, that Christmas Eve. It was six days before Prince Taehyung's eleventh birthday.

The rioters tore down the banners, smashed the dishes and furniture, and destroyed the ballroom, making their way through the castle as quickly as possible. Everything they could burn, they did. Everything they could smash, they did. The lights were out in the castle for the first time in centuries. And Emperor Jongsoo, in an attempt to flee the castle, took the help of the Musihan family, who just happened to be at the party that night. The Musihans escorted the Emperor and his family out of the castle and into the back of their carriage, where they were seemingly whisked away to safety.

The next day, after the castle had been ransacked, the Musihans returned to the scene of the crime. David Musihan, the family's leader and truly the most manipulative of them all, announced to the crowd that there would finally be change in the Borahae Empire -- but not the change the rebels were hoping for. For as it is said: where there is money comes power. David produced the bodies of Emperor Jongsoo and his family, all six of them slain. From now on, the Musihans would live in the castle and control the Borahae Empire, now called Musimusihan, and they would also control its military force that Emperor Jongsoo had funded. Those who fought against them were either killed or put in prison camps. And while we shall not dwell on that for too long, I shall remind our readers that either fate is truly a horrible time.

The Musihans took over Nunkkoch, renamed it Boring, and set up an oligarchy where they made all of the decisions for the entire Empire. They stole all of the money, seized it, then distributed what little could remain to keep the peasants in a tolerable state. Food was passed out through shelters. Houses were knocked down, so everybody had to move into buildings where twenty people lived in a room. And since the Borahae Empire had very cold winters, where it would snow meters upon meters, ownership of firewood was banned, and it would be passed out by the government instead.

Everybody was barely fed, barely clothed, barely warm, barely housed. But the Musihans insisted this was what the rebels had wanted, right? They wanted the government to be overthrown and form a new government. This had happened. This was their happy ending.

There was one small glimmer of hope for the people of the Borahae Empire -- now Musimusihan. One single member of the royal family still existed: Dowager Emperor Bang Sihyuk, who had been Emperor Jongsoo's uncle. He was far too old to rule a country, and had never ruled himself. Not only that, but he lived in Paris, the glamorous capital of France, and French law dictated that the Musihans could not cross the border to harass him without a warrant. So Dowager Bang was able to continue living in peace in Paris, albeit alone, with no family and only a few friends around him.

For years, the people of Musimusihan hoped that Dowager Bang would step up and claim the throne back from the evil family who had taken it. He would certainly have the approval of not only the citizens, but also the rest of the world! The Musihans' trade policies were strict, and other countries were losing money because the Musihans refused to trade their goods with them. But Dowager Bang was silent on the matter. He had suffered enough loss for a lifetime with the sudden slaying of his entire family.

And then, on Christmas Eve, ten years after it happened, Dowager Bang was visited by Heather Musihan, one of David's sisters. A well known liar and -- ahem -- professional adult artist, Heather's intent was to manipulate Dowager Bang into giving up his title and any claim he might have remaining to the Borahae throne. She arrived with damning pictures of the Dowager's family, murdered in cold blood. But when Dowager Bang looked at the pictures, he noticed something was...off.

"That's not my nephew," he said, pointing to the pictures of Prince Taehyung. "That's not his body. I would know him anywhere. And those aren't his eyes. They are both double lidded. Everybody knows that Prince Taehyung has one single lidded eye, and one double lidded eye." He glared at Heather. "What are you playing at?"

Heather covered it up with word salad. "Your eyes are deceiving you, old man. The Prince himself stated that he would like to be slain, for the glory of the Musihans. It is better for you if you sit down and to listen to us, for we truly know better. How about a nice cup of tea, and we can talk about the most recent cricket match?"

But Dowager Bang kept the knowledge in his heart, even after Heather had left. And on Prince Taehyung's birthday, that year, he prepared himself and went to the center of Paris, just outside the Eiffel Tower. He was ready to make an announcement.

A rumor...if you will.