Desire ◆ | Yungi

Episode 1: Wake Up ◆ Part 2

At age three, Song Mingi waddled through the hallways of Seoul Palace. He just wanted to interact with his six-year-old brother Minsu. When he caught sight of him being taken to the first floor, he followed. What he never expected to hear was the sounds of flesh ripping and his older brother's voice crying.

An hour later, the door to that dark room swung open. Song Hajung towered over her son, her body pregnant with a third soon to join the family. Mingi tried to peek around into the room, but it was terribly black inside. The Queen snatched him by the ear.

"What are you doing down here?" she hissed.

Mingi pouted, pointing a finger into the room. "I wanted to see Minsu."

Dragging him away from the door, his mother said, "Minsu is busy with his lessons. Back to your room."

Little did Mingi know he would find himself inside that dark room he was unfortunate enough to be curious about. Perhaps it was a punishment for wandering when he wasn't supposed to. Suddenly yanked from his bed one night, he was carried to that mysterious room.

All he knew was that the room smelled strange. It was eerie. He didn't know what it was at the time, but he would learn as he got older that the weird smell was something akin to death. Rank with blood, the dark room swallowed him whole. His little body was stripped bare, and his feet were locked into a box on the floor.

A few soldiers adjusted a mechanism in order to chain his wrists. His arms were stretched so far that he whined for help. He had no idea what was going on. His mother stood in the shadows patiently, ignoring any calls he made for her. Once she stepped into the light, her eyes were cold.

Mingi wasn't prepared for what came next. A crack sounded in the air behind him, and his back burned. The little boy screamed. Again. Again. Another one. He couldn't process the concept, but he was being whipped repeatedly.

His flesh flushed blood-red until it tore apart. He only received thirty lashes, but he had no idea how luxurious that number was. Tears moistened his round cheeks. "Mommy..."

Hajung turned away. All she said before exiting was, "You will understand one day."

Would he?

The door opened thirty minutes later, and his father raced in with trembling pupils. Song (Yoon) Hamin released his son from the torturous contraption. Not caring about the bloody mess congealing on the little boy's back, he cradled Mingi in his arms and whispered pained apologies.

Mingi cried and cried like any child his age would after experiencing that. There was no other logical reaction. This call and response would continue for years to come.

A few weeks later, the third prince, Minseok, was born. Holding their hands on either side, Hamin led Minsu and Mingi to see their baby brother in his nursery. While the eldest son only stared with a tiny pout, Mingi's gray eyes sparkled. He had never seen anyone tinier than him before.

Minsu never played with him, but maybe Minseok could. That's what he hoped.

But it never happened. As Minseok got older, Mingi was determined to keep him from the dark room. He didn't want him to visit such a scary place. Hamin was much the same, but he didn't have any power in the palace. His wife, Queen Hajung, was the ruler of the kingdom.

Hajung inherited power over the South Korean archipelago from her late father, popularly known as the Tyrant King for the dystopia he condemned the kingdom to. After coming into power, Hajung stumbled upon Yoon Hamin and was smitten. He was afraid of her and harbored no romantic attraction toward her. She didn't care and forced him to marry her. He became King, but he was nothing more than another slave.