A House Made of Cards {Ateez au}

♢Prologue #1- Hongjoong♢

"Did you hear the news?"

Of course, he's heard the news.

"The king is dying!"

Everybody's heard the news at this point.

"The white witch is dying!"

But that didn't stop the gossip and the whispers.

"Kim Namjoon is dying".

He already knew his father was dying.

He was the first to know, it was his father after all. The royal family had become the talk of the town, the king was dying and now he needed to find someone who would take his place as the king and the kingdom's new white witch.

And yes, the sixteen-year-old Hongjoong knew he was one of the candidates to take the crown. His mother had told him all about the powers of the white witch, and how one day they would be his. But then his mother died, and his father remarried. This woman already had two children, Hwang Hyunjin and Hwang Yeji. His father's new wife (he refused to call her his new mother) was adamant about the fact that her son deserved to be the new white witch. She had him convinced that Hongjoong wasn't fit to be a leader.

And on some levels, she was right. Hongjoong had never been as brave as his father, or as resilient as his mother. He was more of a kind and gentle person. He used to be bullied a lot, but his parents had threatened anyone who dared to make fun of him that they would be thrown in prison (yes it makes him sound spoiled, but who cares, it's not like they left him any choice).

The palace gates were soon in his view, and he made his way toward them with a brisk pace. The guards bowed to him as he walked into the palace. He pulled out his phone to let his father's right hand know he was there. The man, Jung Hoseok, was very close to a father figure in Hongjoong's life, he was there when his father wasn't, and Hongjoong appreciated him for that.

"Hongjoong!" Hoseok said with a smile as he hugged the shorter male.

Hongjoong smiled a sweet smile and hugged the older back.

"Your father's waiting in his room," the older said softly, "warning before you go, the queen's in there". Hoseok added on to the end with a smirk.

Hongjoong groaned the older male knew about his dislike for the new queen, and he shared the same dislike. Both of them had missed the old queen, Jisoo, and felt that the new queen had some shady plan going on.

Hongjoong pushed the button outside of his father's room and waited for the mechanical door to open. Once it fully opened, he stepped inside, taking in the sight before him. His father was lying in bed, sickly pale, with his wife leaning over the bed, her hand in his. She welcomed him with a smile that was falsely sweet. He responded with a similarly fake one.

Noticing this, the king sighed. "I would like for my two favorite people to get along before I go, please," he said, weakly.

There was no response from either of them, covering the room with an uncomfortable silence.

Deciding to break it, Hongjoong asked "What did you need me for father?"

The older man beckoned Hongjoong closer, "You know I'm dying, son, and before I go, I wanted to tell you that I have chosen who I want to become the next white witch, I want it to be"

The king was never able to finish his sentence, for a stain of red blossomed on his chest. The new queen screamed, jumping backward and away from her now-dead husband. Glass from the shot window now littered the floor.

Putting his dislike for the woman aside, he decided he needed to do something. "Dahyun, run!" Hongjoong shouted, the woman glanced at him with something that could only be described as a mix of fear, concern, pain, and wonder. Hongjoong moved to run with the woman before a hand shot out and caught his arm.

"Son, I don't have much time left, take my power, soon, you will take over the crown and tule this country as the new white witch, but for now, child, get somewhere safe. Remember..." The king's words died off at the end, and as the fingers around Hongjoong's bicep weakened, he knew his father was dead.

A swirl of white circled the king's arm and quickly moved to his wrist. It hesitated there for a few seconds before shooting up Hongjoong's arm. Images of his entire life seemed to flash through his mind in a span of a second.

That is all he can remember because he blacked out right after that.