There were two things Min-jun knew for certain, if Song had even been telling the truth: (1) Whoever was behind the King’s sudden illness wanted to kill Min-jun, and (2) the King had offered his life in exchange for Min-jun’s. He didn’t believe the King could do something that put his royal life at risk simply out of the kindness of his own heart, so this was likely a manipulation tactic to shake Min-jun’s resolve. What arrogance.
He was right though, wasn’t he? The King had nothing to fear with his life in Min-jun’s hands. Hell, here he was, dragging him to the bath. It couldn’t be pleasant to lay in your own sweat all day, after all. And, it was really more for Min-jun’s benefit, to not have to lay next to a foul-smelling man.
Hyun-woo helped him carry the King to the bath. Min-jun grabbed his arms, Hyun-woo grabbed his legs, and together they narrowly avoided dropping him onto the hard wooden floors and ending the whole affair then and there. At the doors to the baths, they set the King down, and Min-jun peeked in to make sure it was abandoned. All clear.
“Let’s go,” Min-jun whispered, and the two of them, like criminals, dragged the unconscious man into the baths.
The bath was quiet. Steam turned the air humid, water droplets forming on the stone floor. As soon as they set the King down, Hyun-woo clapped his hands clean of any debris and turned back toward the exit.
“Where are you going?” Min-jun hissed after him.
“I have no interest in seeing a naked man, Min-jun. That’s more your forte.” Hmph, liar. Min-jun saw the way Hyun-woo looked at him when he was undressing, following every curve and dip, eyes catching on the way Min-jun’s hands caressed his own body. Had it been intentional on Min-jun’s part? Perhaps. After all, getting under Hyun-woo’s skin had been a great deal of fun in the beginning. The man seemed unbothered by romance, and there he was watching him with all the hunger of a starved animal. Tsk, his type was so predictable.
Min-jun sighed, sitting down next to the shivering King. His hand went up to push some of the hair out of his face. You, though. I can’t predict your thoughts at all.
“Forgive me, Your Majesty,” he mumbled, though he didn’t feel all that remorseful. “This is just as unpleasant for me as it is for you.”
Best to get it over quickly. Min-jun began to peel of the layers of the King’s clothes. First, untying the ribbon of his sleeping jacket and swiftly pulling it off him. Good thing he took a spare pair of sleeping clothes. The King’s body, though he’d been sick for nearly three days with no food or water, appeared as it had before the illness. If not for his ragged breathing and the pallor of his skin, Min-jun would’ve accused him of feigning illness.
He pulled his baji down in a similar manner. Hyun-woo had been right, of course. Min-jun had seen enough naked men in his life that another didn’t faze him much. Carrying him to the tub, on the other hand, proved much more difficult, but after some struggle on his part, he placed the man into the tub.
“Fuck. Why is he so heavy?” Min-jun breathed, resting his head on the lip of the tub. “Damn muscle mass.”
Min-jun glanced at the King, half-expecting him to come to life with some quick remark. No such thing occurred. The King remained silent and limp in the tub, and Min-jun was left alone to his thoughts.
“Well, you’d better be grateful at least,” Min-jun muttered, grabbing a cloth and dousing it in water. He rubbed down the parts of the King’s body that weren’t submerged, occasionally entertaining the thought that he could easily drown the man right now. Min-jun relented as it was more likely that the King wouldn’t perish no matter what Min-jun put his body through. His death had already been claimed by another.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
I can’t believe I’m playing nurse to my enemy.
Stranger things had happened, but none that made him clench his teeth and swallow his pride as this one. Ridiculous.
Maybe it’d be better to let him die. Otherwise if word of this ever reached the King, Min-jun would never live it down. He could hear the King’s silken voice already, mocking him, “It would appear that the assassin has lost his edge.”
He couldn’t bring himself to just wait it out, though. The King dying of an illness, without even a drop of Min-jun’s interference, was too cruel of an ending for the two of them. Min-jun would kill him fair and square.
First he had to find out where the actual killer could’ve gone. Song had refused to help him, but he’d given him an important piece of the puzzle nevertheless: The killer wanted him dead. That narrowed the list of possible suspects a bit. Min-jun wasn’t familiar with the King’s own enemies, but he was well-acquainted with his own. Min-jun hadn’t taken to making enemies in his old life. He had a few scorned lovers, a couple angry clients and criminals, but none of them fit the criteria of the cold-blooded Time’s Plague contagion.
The suspect had been willing to bend the rules to accommodate the King’s wishes. Then again, there wasn’t much room for negotiation where the King and his Gift were involved.
Mother had control over the suspect in some way. That meant they were likely a lackey. Had he made enemies of any of them in his time at the brothel? Couldn’t be. They would’ve had ample time to kill him before this, especially with a Gift like that.
So it must be a recent slight on his part. Gyeo-wool’s death wasn’t well-received, it seemed. Min-jun couldn’t recall Gyeo-wool being close with anyone in particular, but they didn’t really travel in the same circles. The only person loyal enough to warrant this behavior that Min-jun knew of was his daughter. But Mai was just a child.
So were you.
Well, yes, but he’d been less of a child than Mai was. She couldn’t be older than twelve! When had the first plague hit? Min-jun couldn’t remember, but surely it was before Mai had even been born.
It made sense, though. Min-jun understood revenge better than most people. Mai’s age probably made her grief even stronger, more destructive. No self-respecting avenger would pass up on a chance to target the subject of their hatred directly. With Mother’s help, she could’ve easily learned their location.
A memory floated to the surface of his mind, blurry. A single image of a girl standing in the market, her arms full of persimmons, as she yelled at a group of unruly children. Covering her hands were black gloves, the fabric now eerily familiar. Ha. Like father, like daughter.
Beside him, the King shifted, almost falling face-first into the water. Min-jun gave a yelp, jumping from his place nearby. With more effort than he’d wanted to give, he dragged him out.
“Alright,” he heaved. “Bath time’s over.”
. . .
Knowing the killer’s identity was all well and good, but what they really needed was her location.
The rest of the team watched Min-jun pace around the room they called their headquarters. From one wall covered in trinkets (paintings, scrolls, a shelf lined with books), to the other wall, where Ha Jil’s desk stood. On the table, the medical journals had been laid out once more. The first case of Time’s Plague had been exactly a decade ago. Mai would’ve been a toddler, hardly able to control her power. No wonder the Plague spread so indiscriminately. It was no cruel mastermind, it was the inexperience of a child.
“Yes, I’m sure the pacing is gonna bring the suspect straight to our doorsteps,” Si-yeol drawled, bleary-eyed.
“Hyung-nim, sit down and rest. You look dreadfully tired,” Dae-yeong said, eyebrows drawing together in concern.
“Son, Dae-yeong is right. You can hardly walk in a straight line.”
Hyun-woo snorted. “That’s not because of the lack of sleep.”
“You’re drunk on the job?” Eok-gi asked, appalled.
“It was one cup.” It had taken all the restraint he could muster to keep his alcohol intake limited. When dawn broke he’d thought for sure the panic alone would kill him. Six hours. They had six hours left.
“It was three cups,” Hyun-woo interjected, his eyes fixed on the documents in front of him.
“Regardless, not enough to get a person drunk.”
“Not enough to get a well-rested person drunk.”
“Boys,” Ha Jil said, and though his voice barely rose, it was enough to stop them both in their tracks. “Let’s focus on the case.”
“We have enough people to search the city,” Dae-yeong offered, timid in his suggestion.
Min-jun shook his head. “She’d run away before then. We only have a few hours left. Dae-yeong, if I describe her to you, will you be able to draw her portrait?”
“Yes, I suppose.”
Min-jun stopped pacing, the plan crystallizing in his mind. “We’ll meet with the shopkeeper who sold her the persimmons first. There must be others who she interacted with along the way.”
They’d retrace her steps. The girl walked in broad daylight, and they’d use her carelessness against her.
. End of Chapter .
A/N: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I promise we’ll be seeing Cheol again soon. My poor boy’s being carried around like a sack of potatoes.
I’d also like to announce that I’ve taken part in the OG BL Kinktober event on AO3. I wrote a fic about the characters of lukiyo’s “salvation of the scum fifth prince” over on ScribbleHub (and probably butchered the characters and setting in the meantime). The amazing Yiyuehua (author of Moon Theory) also wrote a fic for “How To Kill a King”! It’s got murder, mayhem, and a dash of some very well-written smut. If you’d like to see Min-jun actually do assassin stuff while gaining a sugar daddy King, please do read it! I loved it, and I know you will too.
As always, if you liked this chapter, please leave a comment down below!
Links to fanfic:
- Salvation of the Scum Fifth Prince: https://archiveofourown.org/works/34769083
- HTKAK: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/OG_BL_Kinktober/works/3474312
Links to Novel:
- https://www.scribblehub.com/series/277103/salvation-of-the-scum-fifth-prince/
Mother is truly despicable using kids to murder. Does she want Min Jun dead because Min Jun will make the Cheol stronger ?
Hurry find the little girl !
Mother is a mystery to us all 😔. Thank you for commenting!
Even though he has friends and colleagues helping him, doesn’t Min-Jun seem really lonely when Chaol can’t respond to him?
He is 😭, he just won’t admit it because he’s got a doctorate in denial at this point
Thanks for the chapter ♥️♥️
❤
about mother, she could either be gifted with some powers related to the mind and psychological warfare… or even more terrifyingly she could have none but on her own she’s a master at manipulating people and she’s using it to collect gifted lackeys.
I think the later is more terrifying as it means even if later on ways to block the gifted is revealed it would have no effect on her.
I love your theories! They’re all great ideas. We’ll see how things pan out in the story heheh. Thank you so much for commenting!
I need answeeeers…. why did Mother help the kid? Why did the kid target only Min-jun when it was Mother who gave the order to kill Gyeo-wool? And probably more I can’t think of right now 🥲
we’ll see if your questions are answered heheh
Thanks for the chapter – the intrigue deepens!