Ishihara // ATEEZ ✔

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4 hours ago, Nyla palace

"Hongjoong? But he's a blacksmith."

"Exactly. He's a blacksmith and he's good at drawing. In order for him to mould his metals he will need to draw his ideas first. Have you guys really have no idea? Go to his hut and you can see all the drawings that he hung up on his walls," Jongho explains.

"Okay, we can ask for his help... but will he want to? He hates Lucida soldiers with all his heart and all of you know that."

"We don't have time to ask someone from town. I don't think anyone else in this palace is as good as him. We would also need time to print out all the posters," Jongho presses on.

"Fine, but who's going to ask him?"

The atmosphere turns quiet. They know that even hearing the word 'Lucida soldier' will make Hongjoong lash out, but they are currently desperate. Still, no one dares to offer to ask him. They know how scary it can be, and it's never a good idea to ask someone who lives in a hut full of weapons something that will definitely make him angry.

"What about Jongho? He suggested it."

"I suggested it but I didn't say I'm going to ask him to do it." Jongho is about to get up to escape but Wooyoung pushes him to sit back down.

"You're not going anywhere you little shit."

"Then what about Seonghwa? They're the same age and I'm sure he won't get mad at him, right?" Wooyoung suddenly says.

"Excuse me? You know, this is the reason why I like being around living things that are not humans. They don't betray me."

"Then, San?"

"I'd still love to live longer, thank you very much. I can't afford to get killed when I'm still young."

"I'll go and ask him," Yeosang announces. "On a condition that all of you must follow me. If you ever try to push me alone into the hut, I will hunt all of you down. If he happened to get angry and I got killed, I will haunt all of you as a ghost you will not get a good night's sleep anymore. So don't ever try to run away. I'm serious." He glares at Jongho who is still trying to escape while Wooyoung and Seonghwa both restrain him.

After the agreement, they make a beeline for Hongjoong's hut. They forcefully drag San, who still haven't finished eating his breakfast, despite his protest. Jongho has been fiddling with his fingers since they started walking, regretting the fact that he was the one who suggested the idea. Seonghwa and Wooyoung look a little nervous, but they still try to appear calm because they really wanted to help Akira. Yeosang, on the other hand, only quietly traces the steps to Hongjoong's hut.

If Hongjoong is really mad, it is never a pretty sight. He can get violent, but only towards inanimate objects. He never hurts people, but the amount of things he has broken, the walls he has punched and the objects he has kicked are tremendous. The worst they've seen him was 4 years ago. He isolated himself and became a wreck. That was also the reason he swore that Lucida soldiers are his enemy. He became angry at Jongho too, who at that time just arrived at the palace from Lucida. He almost hurt Jongho because he was blinded with his hate towards the soldiers, but Wooyoung and Seonghwa quickly stopped him from doing so. It then took Mingi and Seonghwa months to calm him down, bring him back to his right mind. It wasn't complete, but at least he didn't lock himself up all the time in the hut anymore.

It was an incident that changed his life. An incident that changed who Kim Hongjoong was. Gone was the cheerful blacksmith who liked to help people around town. Instead, came the broken blacksmith that bears deep scars and prefers isolation.