Almost Killing the Prince | Minsung ✓

-XXXV-

"This is where we attacked the cart."

Hyunjin points out ahead, glancing to the older when he heaved and cough, the man having momentarily worsened his wounds during their last-minute escape.

"You alright?" He asked, Minho nodding with a short grimace. "Our previous campsite is nearby if you want-"

"No- no," Minho clears his throat, slowing his horse beside the Goguryeo guard. "I'm fine. Really. Continue on."

Hyunjin hesitated but agreed, looking out to the plains ahead of them. He recollected all the events of that early morning: Jisung getting shot, Minho falling off the cart, the guard dying. Though Hyunjin never got to see what had happened to the driver, instead tending to the bandit's wounds as Changbin and Chan tracked them down.

They said that they had lost him, but even so, there's a chance that the cart continued on to the nearest town. Maybe some people saw it?

"There's one of the guards," Hyunjin points out ahead. The two halt beside the body, covered in dirt and blood. Changbin had shot the guard's back before falling off his horse. Hyunjin thought he'd survived, but he guessed not.

Even so, there was nothing special about this guard. Just a corpse to remind them of their success to retrieve Minho.

"How did you find us?" Minho questions as their horses continue their canter.

"Going through a lot of towns and a lot of questions," Hyunjin shrugged. "We had some leads but most of them ended up being dead ends. One lead we got was from this noblewoman, saying that Jisung stole a necklace from her a while back. Really, I don't doubt it. I mean, it's Jisung."

"Why are you even helping me look for him?" Minho questions, turning to Hyunjin. But the younger only shrugged, not really knowing himself.

Really, he didn't know what to think of Jisung. He seemed like a nice man, even if all he did was drown himself in alcohol, steal things that never belonged to him, and most especially, give Hyunjin headaches as the townspeople complained about some thief roaming around the town every other Friday.

Even when death came to claim Jisung, Hyunjin always went back to save him. Maybe it was to repay some debt he had in the younger, being saved from the Baekje guards and all and being given a chance at the reward Yongbok promised. And the fact that Jisung was there with him when Chan and Changbin kidnapped him. Really, Hyunjin wouldn't know what to do if they brought him into Baekje alone.

It helped that Jisung came from Goguryeo. In a way, Jisung would be a familiarity to Hyunjin in otherwise unknown territory. And since they met years ago (even if it was momentary) Hyunjin considered that he knew the guy- even calling the thief his rival. Even if the only thing exchanged between them were threats.

But at least their relationship improved. During their journey, he found himself joking more and more with Jisung during dinners or in the mornings. It wasn't anything big, only petty teases and playful insults that the younger would laugh at and soon retaliate with his own. Hyunjin thinks that not stepping out of this "comfort zone" helped their friendship a bit. It was familiar to them both and didn't seem like bitter kindness for the sake of the group's morality.

But they still hated each other. 

"Why are you looking for him in the first place?" Hyunjin questioned, Minho shrugging as well. He guessed there was some similarity between them after all. "I thought you didn't like him?"

"Right, but I owe my life to him, multiple times now. And- Yeah, he's my friend." Minho nods. "It would hurt to lose two friends in less than a year, wouldn't it?"