Winning the Warrior (Taekook ff)

Chapter 2

"Jngguk."

Jngguk debated whether to answer or not, his sullen expression gave him away so his father called out again, with more force.

"Jngguk."

Jngguk sighed and raised his eyes. "Yes?"

"We should tell the clan about the proposal and trade."

Jngguk's face twisted in a grimace, the bitter taste in his mouth increasing. He pushed away the bowl of untouched food and stood up.

"Whatever you think is right."

Jngguk left the hall in a hurry before his father could stop him. Everyone continued to eat except his cousins who shared looks and stood up to follow him too. Yungi picked up Jngguk's untouched bowl when he passed by his chair. They reached the younger's room to find the door shut all the way.

"Jnnguk." Joon knocked on the door, silently looking at the others and miming to ask if he should kick the door open. Jimn shook his head.

"Jngguk! Open up. Don't do this. Talk to us. At least let us in. Hobi was so worried about you too. We didn't tell him anything. Come on open the door. We're here..."

The door opened and Yungi stopped speaking. Jngguk turned and stalked to the window in the corner of the room. The other three trailed in and Jimn shut the door.

"Jngguk, it's been two days since you've spoken to anyone."

"I don't care Joon."

"Your father is worried."

Jngguk looked at the older. "If he is so worried about me, he should listen to what I want. How can I bind myself to a man?"

The other three glanced at each other.

"See! You all don't even have the courage to say it to my face. None of you would ever bind yourself to a man."

"You can't know that Jngguk." Yungi moved towards the younger and handed him the bowl of soup. "Why did you even agree with it in the first place if you cannot go through with it?"

"I don't know! It made sense in that moment. My duty to the clan, my people. Then I started thinking about it and it seems so incredulous and stupid that I would have to bind myself to a man!"

"But that doesn't mean none of us would do it too, if it came to be so." Joon looked the younger in the eye. "When it comes to the clan, we've always wanted to do everything for them that we can. They depend on us to make the right decisions for them. If I was presented with such a proposal for similar reasons, I would have accepted it too."

"You can't..."

"No." Joon cut off Jngguk. "No Jngguk. You're thinking of just one thing. Have you even thought about what it means for our clan? Their clan?"

"No." Jngguk answered simply and sat down on a chair, diverting his attention to his food.

"Listen to me Jngguk. As the Chieftess mentioned yesterday, if the West clans sail towards us, their first stop would be the island. As she said, her people are not warriors. They will lose. And if the West clans take over the island, it will become really hard for us to hold them off. They will have the power to barricade us into the fjord. We will be at a disadvantage. Our main source of food during the winter months, is the Island. They could starve us!"

The younger boy looked up, his expression thoughtful so Joon continued with his reasoning.

"Our uncle, your father, is a smart man, Jngguk. None of you heard him properly yesterday it seems. Our first line of defence will be employed at the island. He doesn't want the fight to come to our fjord! If we give the West clans a good fight from the defence line at the island, and run them off, it would be so much better! And it will come to a fight. Mark my words."