*24 Years Ago*
The flames were blazing around the little boy who was struggling to get up. The air was fraught with smoke and soot, making him cough in a violent manner. He looked around at the sea of dead bodies which were piled around him. His tiny feet tried to move but he was frozen to his spot.
The boy looked at his right hand where he held a gun. Just a few minutes ago, he shot a man dead. He did not know what came over him but it was as if he was in a trance. All he heard were the screams of his friend, Sunye.
Sunye…
San looked around for any sign of her but the palace was on fire. Everywhere his eyes went, he only saw the flames which were inching closer to him by the second.
"Sunye!" he shouted, making his way through the dead bodies. "Sunye!"
But he could not see her anywhere. Please let her escape! He prayed. Please…
Tears welled up in his eyes. He could hear the cries of some people but the fire was drowning them out. A few shadows ran past him but they could not see his tiny figure. San dragged his tiny feet, fighting to survive. His father and aunt were dead while his mother abandoned him. His elder brother, the other Kim San, had locked him up with Aunty Dahyun in a room before escaping.
Aunty Dahyun...his beloved Aunty Dahyun had protected him at the cost of her life.
"Whatever happens, San, you must survive," she told him in her dying breath. "Promise me! You'll survive and let the true heir rule!"
I will, aunty, he promised to himself. I'll put the true heir on the throne.
He slowly turned to his side to stare at the accursed throne which stood in the middle of the burning palace. The fire would not touch it. That thing was a curse on his family which had witnessed the loss of thousands of people.
Why did his family fight over that disgusting thing? What did they see in it?
San asked himself these questions many times but he never got any answer. To him, that throne was worthless but to his elder brother, it meant the world. Kim San was so obsessed with it that he was willing to sacrifice everything for it.
The little boy pointed the gun at the golden throne which was unaffected by the fire. In his head, it was a monster which taunted him, jeering at him. The armrests were stretching to form large hands and horns came out from its back, looking like the demon it was.
That thing was tormenting him in his head, jeering at his incompetence and uselessness. San was young but he knew who the real enemy was.
Pointing the gun at it, he pulled the trigger and shot at it. The bullets ricochet everywhere but he did not care about hitting someone. Whoever was protecting the throne was an enemy to him. It took away everything he had held dear. His father, his aunt and possibly Sunye.
The sounds of the gunshots were heard by a young soldier who was looking for any survivors. He was in his early twenties with light colored hair and wore dark khaki uniform. The soldier was on an important mission entrusted to him by the Leader of the Light. He might be young but highly skilled in combat and spy missions which is why the soldier volunteered for the operation.
The Leader had told him to find one of the Crown Princes but the child was lost in the flames. The only way to recognize the child was his blue t-shirt which Lady Dahyun had made him wear that day. Hearing the gunshots, the soldier raised his rifle and headed towards the source.
Fighting his way through the flames, the soldier was ready to fire the rifle. But as he approached the source of the gunshots, he noticed the small figure of a child standing in the throne room, shooting at the throne. He was wearing a blue t-shirt just like Lady Dahyun had told them.
The soldier immediately recognized him as the Crown Prince, Kim San.
"Your Highness!" he yelled and put his rifle down. The boy did not acknowledge him but was staring at the throne with a bloodthirst as if he wanted to blow up the entire palace. The soldier tried to pull the child away but San was in a rage.
"LET ME GO!" he yelled. "I'LL DESTROY THAT THING!"
"Your Highness, it's not safe here!" the soldier shouted but the child was too angry and too confused to care. There was only one thing in his mind.
"Must...burn...that….thing!" he insisted, not caring about the place or situation they were in. The soldier struggled to pull him away but San punched his arms with all his strength.
"LET ME GO!" he yelled but the soldier turned him around and slapped him with all his might. San was stunned. No one ever dared to hit him before but the soldier did not care.
"PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER, KID!" the soldier yelled. "THAT THRONE IS JUST A CHAIR! YOUR REAL ENEMY IS STILL OUT THERE AND IF YOU DON'T COME WITH ME, YOU'LL DIE AND YOUR ENEMIES WILL WIN!"
San was still too shocked to speak so the soldier took this opportunity to grab him and escort him to safety. The Light's leaders were waiting for them outside the city's boundaries but the escape route was sealed off by the Company's men. The soldier's remaining men were still fighting with the Company's troops but the priority was to get San out of there.
He ran towards the secret passage which was situated behind a large gargoyle. All the soldiers of the Light had memorized the secret pathways in and out of the palace so that they could escape easily. Carrying the child on his lap, the soldier kept on running, not looking back at all.
Once they reached a sewer, the soldier looked back. Thankfully, they were not followed but he did not linger there for long. Stepping on the dirty water, he kept a firm grip on the child in his arms and headed straight for a manhole which was a few miles away from the palace. The journey was long but he must protect this boy at all costs.
"What will happen to me now?" the boy whispered. "Will I be killed?"
"No," the soldier replied. "You'll be taken to safety. Then when everything will settled down, the members of the Light will train you to take the throne-"
"I don't want it," the boy said in a firm tone. "I don't want that thing. It's...it's evil."
"The throne isn't evil," the soldier told him. "The people who had it all these years were evil. Once a good person sits on it, all the bad things will go away."
"But a bad person will eventually sit on it," the boy countered. "And bring back the bad things."
The soldier could not argue with that. Kid was right. The throne was good as long as a good person was holding the power. But no good person could hold on to it for long.
"If you want to destroy the throne," the soldier began. "Shooting at it won't do anything."
"Then what should I do?"
"Take the throne so that no one else can sit on it," the soldier simply said. "Become worthy of it so that someday, the throne doesn't get to hold power over you but you'll have it in your grasp. You're too young to understand it now but one day, you will."
The boy was silent for a long time while the mysterious soldier walked on.
"What's your name?" he asked.
"Ahn Jaejun," the soldier replied. "I was recruited into your father's personal security service."
"Looks like you're unemployed now," San said in a dry tone. Jaejun sighed at the child's attempt at making jokes.
"How can I become stronger than the throne?" San asked him. Jaejun thought for a while, pondering on how to answer.
"I guess, the day you'll stop being afraid of it, you'll become stronger than the throne," Jaejun finally replied.
San did not say anything else but thought about what the soldier said. Jajeun's slap had broken him out of his madness and the boy was finally beginning to see everything in a clearer light. There were many things he needed to learn and do.
He glanced at Jaejun's neck and noticed a blue tiger around the number '5'.
"What's that?" he asked curiously. "On your neck?"
"A symbol which I received after defeating all my fears," the soldier said in a cryptic way. "That's how I became strong."
"If we make it out of this chaos alive," San began. "Will you make me stronger?"
"I can train you," Jaejun stated. "But only you'll know when you've grown strong."
"Thank you," San said to him. "I'll work hard."
They did not say anything else throughout their journey to the exit. Jaejun kept a firm grip on him all throughout the walk, not feeling tired at all. San, too, felt safe in the hands of the stranger who was the only person other than Sunye who showed him some genuine kindness that night. After the betrayal he faced in the hands of his own brother, San felt that his innocence had died and he was becoming more aware of who his enemies were.
I'll be back, he vowed to himself. Brother.
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