[Guest Writer: Nano] Crushed Petals - A SKKS fanfic

Title: Crushed Petals
Characters: Kim Yoon Hee, Cho Sun, War Minister, gisaengs
Genre: Romance/Angst
Words: 1,390
Summary: Kim Yoon Shik has crushed my petals.

o.oOo.o

Note from Nano: Hello everyone, this is Nano, and I'm extremely honored to be here. I'm sorry it's been such a long time since my last (depressing) drabble, but school's been a nightmare. This one's not all that happy either, but I have several more cheerful ones about to be finished, so just stay tuned!

What I have to say about this drabble: The instant Cho-sun revealed herself from the drapes of silks in episode one, I was a goner. This Hwang-Jin-Yi esque goddess made me tremble at her charisma, which flooded the screen. No wonder Ha In-soo fell for her at the age of ten, when I myself developed a girl-crush. Now I'll stop rambling, and in honor of my second favorite character of the series (guess the first), I present Crushed Petals, the thoughts of Joseon’s best gisaeng at her first meeting with the only cross-dressing woman of Sungkyunkwan Scandal.

o.oOo.o

He disgusted me, down to my very core. The War Minister, lecherous as always, tugged at my blouse, eager to begin the night’s revelries. Biting down on my tongue to keep from screaming, I let him rip away my dignity.

At that moment, a young man burst into the room, along with a crowd of attacking gisaengs. He must’ve gotten too excited at the attentions of such lovely ladies. Although the girls would be in for a sound scolding later, all I could feel was relief, then humiliation. The customers in the open room across from us could stare plainly at my bare form.

The scholar was short and girlish. I could feel his horrified stare, first at the War Minister, then at myself. The lecherous old fool spluttered in outrage.

“You—!”

The obviously terrified young man hastily tied his hat, and bowed in apology to “great elder,” stammering out he was from the Sungkyunkwan opening ceremony.

Typical position-greedy idiot eager to be in the good graces of the powerful ministers.

He turned to leave, and I stiffened. The War Minister would fix his disgusting gaze upon me again.

A light shaft fluttered onto my shoulders, covering the bare extent of my form. I widened my eyes in surprise.

Perhaps the young scholar wasn’t such a power-hungry mongrel after all.

I slowly turned my head to meet a pair of deep, almost pained eyes. He gave me a slight smile, modestly turning his face away.

When was the last time anyone had given me such respect before?

He turned again to the minister, this time kneeling. Head bowed politely, he gave a clever speech:

“I apologize for my inability to address you properly, for this servant’s knowledge is shallow, and also for this rude interruption. However, I’m afraid I must take this girl. The student president of Sungkyunkwan declares himself as the first son and heir of the War Minister, and while he wields his great father’s power, he demands I either bring her or suffer the consequences. Either way, I will be excused and kicked out of Sungkyunkwan, but I beg you to allow me to do so in dignity, without the heavy humiliation and punishments our president threatens with his father’s power. I must be sound in body to be able to give my regards and excuses to his Majesty, the King, mustn’t I? He will be disappointed that I only made it so far into Sungkyunkwan because of the War Minister’s power, but I must report to him the parts I have made it to. Now, if you’ll excuse me…”

The threats were made clear, and only thinly veiled—it was obvious that he knew who this “great elder” was. It was a clever display, worthy of a Sungkyunkwan scholar.

He gently grasped my shoulder, leading me out of the room, and what would’ve proven to be a hellish night. He turned his head slightly, and I caught a glimpse of his triumphant smile.

And it was ever so slightly that my heart started to flutter.

We marched down the hall, the sounds of the minister’s angry snarls growing fainter, as some of the girls joined us, whining piteously. I ignored them, turning to address my savior.

“It seems you’ve taken my burden and turned it to favor, which I must return. I must inquire your name…”

“Bastard.”

I lifted my eyebrows. His name was Bastard?

“Corrupt mongrels like him sitting on the seat of power are the reason Joseon’s going to the dogs! Those fools should be slid and dumped into Han River and—“

He turned to see the wide eyes facing him.

“Am I wrong?”

The girls behind me smirked. “You’ve met the Cho-sun you’ve been seeking desperately all night, but do you plan to spend it in these halls?”

“Ch-Cho-sun?”

I smiled and lowered my gaze as his shock turned into surprised delight.

o.oOo.o

Properly dressed, I escorted the young scholar to my rooms, which he regarded in apparent fascination. Pouring him a drink, I smiled at his naivety.

“Now, do tell me. What must I help you with?”

He looked down at his hands bashfully, like a child caught causing mischief.

“Er…that’s…it’s…”

“It was a command to secure my underclothes, was it not?”

He seemed to shrink even more in shame. “Yes…you’re right.”

It was impossible not to smirk at the boyish embarrassment of his. If it had been anyone else, I would have refused to meet them, but at the moment, I didn’t mind spending a night with such a bashful, honorable young man.

“If then, all you have left to do is request my services.”

He glanced up, eyes wide and surprised. Inwardly, I sighed. To be the gisaeng who destroyed such an honor, such purity, was hard indeed. For men such as these, his wife should be to one to take his virginity.

I leaned forward, startling him like a fawn. It wasn’t hard to be seductive, although he seemed immune. All the better. It was time for him to learn the ways of women.

The flour on his nose blew off with a small wisp of my breath, swirling like smoke.

His eyes widened.

Abruptly, he broke the moment by leaping to his feet. “It seems that it’s time for me to go.”

I frowned, puzzled. Most youths would have succumbed to my smile moments ago. Why the willingness to dash off?

“Have I done anything wrong?”

He turned to smile apologetically. “It is not anything you have done. I…it seems there’s nothing different between the War Minister and myself. To secure a night with you, isn’t that what we both came for?”

I was startled, to say the least. His thoughts were not that of a regular youth, or even a man. I could foresee a life devoted to his scholarly aptitudes, respecting women and all other living things in ways that the clients of Moran-gak couldn’t even begin to understand.

My heart, at that moment, seemed to flutter a little harder.

“Without my under garments, you won’t be able to pass the opening ceremonies. Will you be all right?”

He turned. “Even if that is so, that is my burden to bear. It is against my morals as a man to create dishonor and embarrassment to a lady for my own purposes.”

I smiled in pleasure. “Leave your night with me. My lord may take just my garments.”

He turned to look at me in surprise, as I pushed forward the frail pink dress. “This is my token to the youth whom I’ve trusted my heart.”

Sitting back down, his hands ghosted over it, unfolding it carefully. Honorable as he was, I turned my head away in shame as he gazed upon it, this man who was not my husband or lover.

Taking out a brush, it was with a few simple strokes he created a masterpiece on the cloth.

Smiling gently, he remarked “This is not the underclothing of a bashful woman. I will keep it in my heart as a cherished memory.”

I beamed. “If then, I must show my appreciation by a simple verse.”

Taking the brush, I wrote in the poetry, suggestive to some, but in my heart, was true:

Long though the day has been
This pleasurable evening is cut short
The other long nights may be full
But this night was fuller still
For it is a time I will not replace even with the longest of winter.

o.oOo.o

Even as I sit here, all these years later, I still remember his gentle blush. That was the boy Kim Yoon Shik, before I realized he’d never existed. An unknown girl replaced him.

It’s painful when we meet in the streets. Our gazes connect for an electric moment, and then I turn, almost shamefully, as I see her husband bound up with their sons in tow.

Ah! I feel cold in this bed.

The man I would’ve preferred to be my lover no longer exists.

The lover I have now, I would prefer if he didn’t exist.

My heart aches.

It was said by a legendary scholar in Sungkyunkwan, that a woman is made of petals.

Am I not a woman?

Kim Yoon-shik has crushed my petals.

I still see them, trampled and dirty in the dirt.

If only, if only…

[Link] Taming the Crazy Horse - A SKKS fanfic

Chapter 4 and 5 up!

Title: Taming the Crazy Horse (by akane47)
Genre: Drama, Romance (Post-drama)
Characters: Jae Shin, OFC (Original Female Character)
Words: TBA
Summary: N/A

Link to Chapter One: http://akane47.livejournal.com/2832.html
Link to Chapter Two: http://akane47.livejournal.com/3476.html
Link to Chapter Three: http://akane47.livejournal.com/4054.html
Link to Chapter Four: http://akane47.livejournal.com/4225.html
Link to Chapter Five: http://akane47.livejournal.com/4839.html

[Guest Writer: Takenoko] – To Meet the Height of Birds (6/?) – A SKKS fanfic

Ahh, this is so long, it barely qualifies as a drabble! >_> Let me know what you think, I had a hard time deciding how to end this one.

Title: To Meet the Height of Birds (Episode #7)
Genre: General, Romance
Characters: Jae Shin, Yoon Hee
Words: 1250
Summary: …But as the shadows of your fears draw near,

o.o0o.o

In the end, it is Moon Jae Shin who drags Kim Yoon Shik to Professor Jung and demands that the reluctant patient get his hand taken care of. Somehow, in the excitement of winning the archery competition, and then meeting with the king, both he and Lee Sun Joon had forgotten that more important matters had yet to be tended to. The wine they had shared to commemorate their victory was quite strong, enough to dull even the throbbing pain in Jae Shin’s side. He only remembers Kim Yoon Shik’s injury once the three of them arrive back at their room- as the younger scholar lifts a hand to open the door, Jae Shin notices the handkerchief wrapped around his hand is now a deep burgundy red.

He stops Yoon Shik from following Lee Sun Joon into the room and pulls his right hand towards him, holding it up to the waning light.

“Oh-! I forgot it was there,” Yoon Shik says sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head with the uninjured hand. “It doesn’t hurt anymore, really.”

Jae Shin stops his inspection to stare disbelievingly. “You’ve soaked completely through the cloth. When were you going to get this healed?” His dark glower is at odds with how gently he cradles the smaller hand in his.

Yoon Shik shrugs off his concern with, “Ah, well, it’s just a cut, Sa-hyung. And so much happened this afternoon, it completely slipped my-”

“Were you waiting to bleed to death, you idiot?” Kim Yoon Shik looks down and bites his lip.

Lee Sun Joon pops his head back out at the sound of raised voices and realizes why they are still outside. “Ah, your hand!” He steps forward as if take a closer look.

Kim Yoon Shik withdraws his hand from Jae Shin’s grasp and tucks it back into his sleeve with an exasperated air. “It’s fine. Yes, I know, I know- I need to go get it rewrapped. It’s stopped bleeding, though, so it should be okay for a while yet. Besides, weren’t we going out to celebrate today? Bae Hae Won said-”

“You’re bleeding?!” Another interruption, this time from Gu Yong Ha, who has waltzed in from nowhere to hover with a concerned expression around the three.

“Aigoo, there’s so much blood! Daemul! Are you quite alright?! Ooh, my head… I think I’m feeling a little faint.”

Jae Shin himself feels a headache starting to build behind his temples. Why must this be such a big ordeal?

“I’ll walk you to the infirmary,” he says abruptly and puts a hand on Daemul’s back to lead him away.

The Noron opens his mouth to protest, but Yong Ha must have sensed that Geol Oh was nearing the end of his patience, for he hastily throws an arm around Lee Sun Joon’s shoulders and says merrily, “Excellent! You, then, can accompany me to Banchon.”

“What- but, Sa-hyung,” Lee Sun Joon begins, craning his neck to watch as Kim Yoon Shik meekly follows Jae Shin in the other direction. “Yeorim sa-hyung, didn’t you say you were feeling faint?”

Gu Yong Ha waves this aside with a careless hand as he gallantly manhandles Lee Sun Joon down the path to the village. “But the show must go on! Drinks at Salt of the Earth tonight, remember? The party has already started! Bottles are open, and our admirers are waiting~~”

“Oh don’t you worry about your roommate, Geol Oh will take good care of him,” he continues, with a wink. “We’ll meet you there, Daemul!” he calls back over his shoulder. But the two have already disappeared into the darkness.

o.o0o.o

As they walk, Jae Shin keeps glancing over to look at the shorter figure next to him. Kim Yoon Shik looks subdued and somewhat anxious as he fiddles with a stray thread on his sleeve. He wonders if he’s upset at the way Jae Shin had snapped at him.

“Hey.”

Kim Yoon Shik doesn’t seem to have heard him.

“Hey, Daemul. You listening?”

“Ah, y-yes!”

He pauses and gives himself a mental shove forward. “Sorry,” Moon Jae Shin blurts out, quiet and awkward. “You… bleeding to death, what I said, I didn’t mean it.”

“Oh,” Kim Yoon Shik says, finally with his full attention on his senior. “It’s fine, I didn’t mind, I wasn’t thinking about that at all, actually.”

“What are you so preoccupied with, then?”

“Mmm,” the other responds, hesitantly. “I’m just. Nervous, I suppose. Professor Jung is a wonderful teacher and healer, but he does not think that my body can handle all that I wish it to. So he will most likely lecture me after this injury, about how there must be distinctions made…between individuals.”

“Huh. He will blame you for hurting your hand?” Jae Shin doesn’t think this makes much sense, especially since if anyone should be blamed for Daemul’s injury, it should be him. If he had beaten Kang Moo during his final round, Kim Yoon Shik wouldn’t have had to go head-to-head against Ha In Soo, wouldn’t have picked up the wrong bow, wouldn’t have cut his hand on the glass powder-coated bowstring. Just thinking about it makes him wants to put a fist through Byung-choon’s ugly face- or barring that, any tree will do.

Kim Yoon Shik sighs and fusses with the handkerchief as he replies with a distant, pained look in his eyes, “No, he just will not acknowledge that I’ve proven myself equal to others, in every manner that counts. But,” here he clenches his hand into a fist and draws himself up, “It doesn’t matter what he believes anymore. I went into this competition to prove something to myself, and I did. I do not need anyone else to believe in me, any longer.”

They’ve reached the infirmary, and Jae Shin stops at the bottom of the steps. Daemul takes a deep breath and looks forward, gathering his courage.

Jae Shin squeezes his arm silently and prepares to step back, but something stops him. There is one more thing he needs to say. “Even if you don’t need it,” he says, slowly enough that the words seem to linger in the air between them, “There are plenty of people who believe in you.”

“I know. I’ll see you at the tavern, Sa-hyung,” Daemul says with a crooked half-smile, and turns to walk up the steps.

o.o0o.o

Later, as Jae Shin leans wearily against the wall of their empty room, he recalls Kim Yoon Shik’s words. He finds it hard to believe that anyone, especially Professor Jung Yak Yong, would refuse to see the remarkable tasks his roommate had accomplished.

After all, someone who won Cho Seon’s affections, someone who fought for and earned acknowledgement from His Majesty himself, who learned how to hold a bow and arrow for the first time a week ago and still managed to kick ass at it, is someone to take note of, to admire.

He chuckles as he remembers how his heart had plummeted when Kim Yoon Shik had pretended to reproach him for “ruining my plans,” only to recover a second later when he’d cheekily boasted that this gave him the chance to reveal his “secret technique.”

“That kid,” he thinks to himself (without even a hint of dissatisfaction). “He really will drive me crazy with all these unforeseen ups and downs!”

He may have a knack for surprises, but no matter what Kim Yoon Shik does from now on, he will have Moon Jae Shin’s attention and respect.

o.o0o.o

[Guest Writer: Takenoko] To Meet the Height of Birds (5/?) – A SKKS fanfic

I think I can pinpoint the exact second in the series when I fell in love with Moon Jae Shin. It is at the end of episode 6, in this one moment, where his smile captured my heart forever. But this is also the episode, I think, in which he inadvertently loses his heart. To Kim Yoon Hee.

 

Title: To Meet the Height of Birds (Episode #6)
Genre: General, Romance
Characters: Jae Shin, Yoon Hee
Words: 878
Summary: Your smiles have not blinded me yet…

o.o0o.o

Apples are his favorite fruit. He munches on them incessantly, eats them clean down to the core, and in fact, has been told by Yong Ha that the scent of apples lingers in his wake. However, whether this last statement is actual truth, or just Gu Yong Ha’s typical poetic nonsense, is anyone’s guess.

Apples are not that rare of a commodity in Sungkyunkwan, and used to be easy to get one’s hands on if one knew which ajumma was in charge of shipments from the orchards that week, but Geol Oh has found a formidable adversary in scholar Kang Moo, who in the past year has silently liberated bushels of apples from the kitchen without raising a single protest. Jae Shin works hard to keep up, though, and is usually able to sustain his fix through some clever business dealings with the pageboys.

o.o0o.o

After Lee Sun Joon gets his molgi, Jae Shin’s roommates are no longer to be found in their room, ever. The duo train tirelessly, from morning lectures to afternoon runs. And Kim Yoon Shik, who up until yesterday had looked like death warmed over, is now the picture of sparkling vivacity, even when standing in the chill of early dawn. Whatever he had been missing earlier, he seems to have found it –a newfound faith is fueling the fire in his eyes and blood in his cheeks.

Jae Shin sits on the steps and listens to the rhythmic whoosh-thunk of arrows flying true. He also hears someone’s stomach rumbling.

o.o0o.o

He is cornered immediately after breakfast outside the dining hall by Gu Yong Ha, who has the look on his face that means Jae Shin’s in hot water again.

“Sooo…” the irrepressible Yeorim begins, with a grin as wide as Headmaster Choi’s waist. “I saw what you just did with our Daemul, there.” The suggestion in his voice is far more than Jae Shin can handle without protest.

“What?”

“Oh, Geol Oh, Geol Oh, don’t try to play innocent. Why, however would you explain the loss of your apple that you just picked up from the kitchen moments ago?”

Jae Shin rolls his eyes. “It was an accident. I dropped it.”

“Ahh, I see,” his friend says, drawing a finger through the air to map out his train of thought. “So, let me get this straight: you go every morning to the dining hall expressly for our one allotted piece of breakfast fruit. You even go early so that you can pick out an apple, because apples are your favorite. You accidentally fumble while you’re holding this apple, you who can juggle knives in your sleep, and it just happens to land next to everyone’s favorite pretty boy, who, we’ve all seen, has been working quite hard of late! And he picked it up before you had a chance to reclaim it?”

“Yes,” he affirms, perfectly deadpan.

Yong Ha nods his head sagely, as if he believes him, but the twinkle in his eyes belies his acceptance of Geol Oh’s story.

“Alas,” he wails theatrically, as students begin trailing out of the dining hall. “Poor, dear Geol Oh! You are SO misfortunate! Accidentally dropping your favorite fruit that you cannot live without, your precious apple that was meant to be your only sustenance for the morning, and it’s immediately snatched up by some freshman! Your own roommate, at that! Oh, the betrayal! How can life be so unjust?” At this he throws his arms around Jae Shin as if to start crying on his shoulder, but Jae Shin shoves him non-too-gently in the ribs and ducks out from underneath.

“Shut up, people are staring,” he mutters, and quickly strides away from the scene.

Gu Yong Ha chuckles and waves gaily after him. “Don’t worry, good deeds are their own reward!”

o.o0o.o

When he walks into his room late that evening (after hiccupping furiously and trying to avoid the stupid women on campus all day) there are two apples, one red and one green, sitting prettily on his shelf. Kim Yoon Shik, who is already curled up in bed, stirs drowsily upon his entrance and murmurs, “Yeorim sa-hyung was quite…loud this morning. So I did some asking around…”

Jae Shin doesn’t know what to say.

“And as it turns out,” Yoon Shik says, cracking open one eye to look up at his roommate, “Kang Moo sa-hyung was bribing the fourth shift’s kitchen boy for a daily supply of apples, so I blackmailed him by threatening to tell the head chef.”

Jae Shin huffs softly in amusement, and elects not to tell him, for now, that he and the third shift’s kitchen boy have had the same arrangement for just as long, they’re just more discreet. Kim Yoon Shik’s eyes melt into two warm pools of delight at his laughter, and something in his chest turns a cartwheel at the sight.

“Thanks,” he manages, around a sudden lump in his throat.

“No, thank you,” Kim Yoon Shik says, as he rolls over to face Jae Shin fully, exuberantly. “For this,” he raises his still-healing hand, “and that,” and points at the apples, “and everything.”

“…for taking care of me… Sa-hyung, I’ll owe you when we win tomorrow!”

By the soft glow of candlelight, his smile is incandescent.

o.o0o.o

Thanks to everyone who's been reading and commenting so far! I think one crucial dynamic that developed throughout this episode is that Yoon Hee’s persistent and whole-hearted efforts eventually led Jae Shin to change his mind about participating in the archery competition. Because she needs him. Because she asked. Because for her, he is willing to risk everything.

[Guest Writer: Takenoko] – To Meet the Height of Birds (4/?) – A SKKS fanfic

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
-- Langston Hughes

Title: To Meet the Height of Birds (Episode #5)
Genre: General, Romance
Characters: Jae Shin, Yoon Hee
Words: 1000
Summary: …But you are starting to scramble them into poetry.

o.o0o.o

Yesterday, when he first heard the quiet sniffles interrupting his mid-afternoon nap, Jae Shin was ready to get up and haul into whoever had the nerve to wake him up. But as soon as he lifted his head and spotted Kim Yoon Shik huddled up into a miserable ball just a few desks away from him, the first thought that ran through his mind was, “Shit, did that asshole get to him again?”

A quick scan revealed no acute bodily harm had been inflicted on the boy since he left Jae Shin’s care, so he started to lie back down- but who knew what could have happened between the infirmary and here?- then sat up again. The rustle of clothing made Yoon Shik look up, but he immediately looked away and tried to blink away his tears.

Jae Shin realized that crying was probably the last thing one would want to be caught doing after fainting like a girl on the archery grounds only hours ago, so he attempted to reassure Yoon Shik that hiding his tears was pretty masculine. When it looked as if he was going to run anyway, Jae Shin closed the distance between them with one graceful leap and stopped the younger scholar with a decisive hand on his shoulder.

“You can stay here, I’ll leave,” he said quietly, trying to ignore the other’s anguish, the slight catch in his breathing as he swallowed a raw sob.

“Hey Daemul, cry out loud, like a grown man,” he instructed, uncomfortable but earnest.

As the door closed behind him he had to ignore a strong urge to turn around and offer his services in beating up Ha In Soo, who would deserve it any day even without this latest cruelty, this “lesson” that may scar a young man for life. But Moon Jae Shin knew, perhaps better than anyone, that there was a time for grief, and a time for anger, and sometimes nothing of the latter could help ease the former, no matter how hard you tried.

o.o0o.o

Today, he gets the idea to carve the gakji* during lunch, after Kim Yoon Shik comes in from his morning of archery practice pale and withdrawn. The pressure that Lee Sun Joon puts on him is heavy and excessive, this Jae Shin acknowledges, but Kim Yoon Shik looks rather like he is carrying the weight of the whole world on his shoulders instead of the expectations of just one irrational, pig-headed man. Jae Shin watches as the Namin scholar sits listlessly between Kim Woo Tak and Bae Hae Won, slowly stirring his porridge in alternating clockwise-counterclockwise circles. Even gentle nudges from his friends fail to coax him into conversation, and eventually Bae Hae Won just eases the bowl out from under his arms (‘rescuing it’ – he calls it) and helps himself. Yoon Shik does not protest and continues to sit, rubbing his reddened thumb absentmindedly.

Jae Shin remembers how he got blisters on his fingers within the first day of archery lessons, and how they popped and bled and eventually scabbed over and turned into calluses that serve him well now, more than ten years later. By the time his brother came home from Sungkyunkwan to visit, it was too late to prevent the injury, but he’d shown him how to soak his hand in wine to numb the broken skin, how to carve a teardrop-shaped release aid that protected the pad of his thumb from friction against the bowstring. This, he decides, is exactly what Kim Yoon Shik needs.

After Lee Sun Joon’s injury, he doubts if it’s worthwhile to carve the contraption at all, since it appears that all the occupants of East Wing’s second middle room are now incapacitated in one way or the other. But as he’s already picked out a good-sized piece of basswood and sharpened his pocket knife, it seems like a waste to stop halfway.

So he sits in his tree and carves, watching as Kim Yoon Shik watches Lee Sun Joon, and wonders if either of them will have a chance to prove themselves. Even if they get the miracle they need, he knows without a shadow of a doubt that he himself will not be participating on the day of the archery competition. Common sense dictates that he would risk discovery if he revealed his remarkable skill in front of the king and all of Joseon’s highest officials. For the mere sake of a bowstring and bragging rights, it is a gamble he is unwilling to take.

But in the early hours of the morning, when he awakens to find both bedrolls beside him empty and another quiver of arrows gone, he is forced to reevaluate his stance. Out of the three of them, who truly has the most at stake? He could lose his life. Lee Sun Joon, his reputation. As for Kim Yoon Shik…

“While you were leisurely playing with your bow and arrow, I was busy providing for my family,” he’d said fiercely, when pushed to the limits by Lee Sun Joon’s training. “Do you even know what I’m going through now?”

No, Jae Shin thinks. No, he doesn’t understand at all, but he can’t get the look in Yoon Shik’s eyes out of his mind. He had been so angry, yet underneath all the bitterness and frustration directed towards Lee Sun Joon, there was something more: an aching, brittle longing, a soul reaching out desperately to catch a dream that was falling to pieces. Somehow, it seemed as if Kim Yoon Shik had already lost, and what he was missing was tearing him apart.

o.o0o.o

Tomorrow, when he slips the completed release aid onto Kim Yoon Shik’s rain-soaked hand, Jae Shin will curl those slender, ivory-cool fingers into a tight ball and pray that it is enough to protect him.

“You, think that as long as you have the heart, you can change the world, right?”

No, but maybe, just maybe…tomorrow, the world will hurt a little less.

o.o0o.o

*Footnote: Gakji – the thumb ring that he gives her at the end of episode 5 appears to be an essential part of traditional Korean archery; see here for more detail.

The mood of this drabble is somewhat more somber than the previous ones because I think a large part of episode 5 is focused on Yoon Hee's internal anguish as she struggles to reconcile her hopes of succeeding at Sungkyunkwan with her desire to protect her secret and her family. In the scene where Jae Shin and Sun Joon both grab onto her arm, I saw a great amount of concern for her driving both of them, but they express it in different ways. In the show we saw how Lee Sun Joon threw everything he had into creating that "miracle" for Kim Yoon Shik to believe in. Here, I wanted to highlight Jae Shin's POV.