WE MEET, BUT IN THE SHADOWS.

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It has been two days since the meeting with Cho-nyo-Gwishin for the King Min Yoongi.

Two days of an unwavering and sluggish salvage since he had crumpled due to his exhaustion and a sense of being incredulous.

Two days of the extravagant messenger of Jinjoseon, Jeon Jungkook's delay for withdrawal to Asadal.

Jungkook had been placed below detention, the observant eyes of the royal guards of the palace located in Pyongyang were declining him to depart and even consent to leave the bedchambers he was allocated, ensuring that he will not discharge. He did not comprehend how the courtyard sever the menace of his, when he merely was a herald, producing the message from the Supreme Dangun in Jinjoseon concerning a resolution to an arising engagement that will demolish all acreages of Gojoseon, bringing them back to the state of mayhem and sorrow as years preceding.

The days were extended, wearisome, and full of nervousness as even Mangjol Young-Nam had been in a state of incompetence over how the King was not conscious yet, unfathomable in the domain of spirits or perhaps in the lands of divinities that had stemmed from the firmaments.

"He is at forfeiture of a part of his spirit," the shaman specified, igniting another incense of bergamot, watching the smoke beginning to form nearby the King who rested in bedstead at reconciliation, sporadically recoiling and partaking his skin covered in emotionless fluid, "it was her who depleted him,"

Bom-Nuri only nodded in sympathetic, glancing at Ye Fu, a healer who had arrived from Xia to succour the medicine, transporting foreign knowledge to Makjoseon, and ensuring it is mastered by the local people. Fu simply studied the King who lay on the bed that was on the wooden floor, attempting to figure out what his foreign restoration can do instead of the traditional shamanic rituals, merely as of now, it was discouraging. Never in his life he had seen an individual fall into a profound coma alike to Yoongi's, and it only powered his exasperation over how he is not adept to assist the superior man.

"How is the King?" A recognisable lenient voice echoed as the doors squeaked and Bom-Nuri tensed, knowing that General Park's presence was superfluous at a time like this.

"The King is still not conscious, his spirit is scratched powerfully now, contrasting the previous encounters," Young-Nam stated, picking up a pot of dried burdock leaves and pouring drops of jasmine tea into a small wooden vessel, "she will not repose until he is taken with her to the dominion of the essences,"

"Prior meetings?" Jimin asked, now standing to the right of Bom-Nuri, "this is not novel?" There was unpolluted disbelief and stratagem within his tone that the advisor loathed without a detailed perceptive.

"Yes, General Park," Bom-Nuri slowly began, "he had been meeting her since his youthful years, and now she had grown far more prevailing than before,"

Jimin regarded at the advisor, eyes eclectic although he bowed nonetheless in approval of his own words, understanding that a spirit following any is a long-term occurrence, intermittent but nevertheless it does occur. Park Jimin was not new to spirit exhausting a presence of one, his father had experienced comparable productions before retiring as it had developed too repeatedly for him to lever, directing his capabilities while leading the military. But for his father, it was merely a Mong-Dal-Gwishi — the deceased soul of an unattached man who was his father's brother, Park Hae-Il.

"Why does she demand his soul?" Jimin asked the shaman, averting his gaze from Bom-Nuri, "I am certain he was not the one who had exterminated her or had any particular correlation to the King,"

"She perished a hundred and three years ago in this palace, on the day the King was innate — they are knotted sacredly," Young-Nam breathed out, pouring more of the jasmine tea into a profound container which was now placed over a minor fire, boiling it, and discharging smoulder from the substance around the chamber.

Everyone present watched intently as the shaman raised a wooden cane, decorated with bronze chimes, and began to chant spells, the smoke surrounding him and the King completely, losing him in the trance to bring the energy taken away by Cho-nyo-Gwishin, her starvation and ravenousness to take away his ambiance and temperament for herself. Spirits resembling her will not break until they revenue what they had fixed gone but from a different soul, and for Rang Soyon, her abhorrence and longing for vengeance over her own choice of destiny was distressing not only the King, simply additionally the whole of Makjoseon.

Yoongi's physique unsurprisingly strained despite him being unconscious, shut eyes hysterically shuddering under his closed eyelids as his mouth went open, inhaling as much air as he can with his deteriorated tissues. His everlasting soul wandering through the phantastic jurisdictions upon an acquainted demand of someone whom he desired to disremember after stepping his foot in the mortal state.

He existed in the heavens prior his appearance to the mortal world, presenting himself as a youthful member of the society, who was implemented by his termed uncle, Min Jong-Su, and momentarily, was prearranged an opening to rule throughout the lands of Makjoseon himself.

His eyes gradually opened, and he was met with a picturesque prospect of mountain peaks covered in crisp snow, a merciless river flowing inhospitably between them as the grey clouds shaped a profuse layer of fog, and a moist odour after the volley and rumble.

The residence was recognisable, it regarded and touched precisely, only he had misfortune with perceiving it, secreted arcanely within his commemorations which are lengthy disremembered. He distinguished that he was high in the mountains, nevertheless he did not know where precisely he was as there were a few dwellings of the celestial realm he had visited, until he saw a figure between the condensation. It did not convey any trepidation or nervousness to him, in its place he felt his being unwind as he surveyed it approaching him, marching moderately on the lifeless grass below its feet, and its red robes sprawling behindhand it.

"Yoongi, my brother," a deep male voice welcomed, and he immediately recognised that it belonged to the one man he would always evade, "it is a while since we have encountered in the obscurities of the common realm,"

"Namjoon," Yoongi breathed out, brows furrowing as the male loomed closer, deliberately seeing the face of the Supreme Dangun, "why have you subpoenaed me hither?"

The Supreme Dangun did not answer, he basically continued walking to where Yoongi mounted, watching how his uncombed and lengthy white hair pirouetted with the slender breeze, his robes were dark per usual, untied and no weapon in sight for once in their lifetime. It has been a while since the two had chanced unaccompanied, especially in the shades of their creation, hidden in the mountains of an unidentified whereabouts. When he was centimetres away from Yoongi, he clogged, his head falling as he bowed moderately to demonstrate deference for his elder and a fellow Dangun, who reimbursed the minor bow, eyes fixed on Namjoon, nonetheless.

"I knew you would not desire to directly meet with me; hence I had beckoned your essence here, brother," Namjoon began, hands crossed and hidden under the sleeves of his red mantles, eyes lenient and hospitable for the older male.

"I have acknowledged your memorandum, but impediments would ascend," Yoongi explicated simply, feeling the wind blow firmer than before, his hair beginning to derive to his pale face as he stared at the Supreme Dangun towering before him, "Cho-nyo-Gwishin," he itemised after a few seconds, watching Namjoon's eyes expand with astonishment.

The Supreme Dangun was aware of the spirit that would disturb Yoongi. He had heard stories personally from the vice Dangun prior their overwrought and unsympathetic relations between each other, offering help and attempts to contest the shadowy force from the spirit world. Over the years though, they had developed detached, and by the time Namjoon had become the King — the Supreme Dangun — the two had congested interrelating, maintaining remoteness and neither attempting to unite their states that would rebuild the Three Confederate States of Gojoseon that once were flourishing beneath Namjoon's father, Dangun.

"She would preoccupy you even now?"

"She will not halt until my spirit is consumed," the older male said, eyes narrowing at Namjoon, "what is more, is that I will not sojourn until Jinjoseon would tumble on its stifles afore me,"

Min Yoongi was known to be an unrestricted temperament, similar to the flowing waters of rivers that would select their own pathways, attracting everything missing with them if desirable, and the path that the vice Dangun walked now, was far away from his desired undercurrent.

He distinguished it was not the life for Yoongi, but he also knew that it was not how the older male would allocate with the purpose that was selected for him.

Namjoon only chortled at the statement, seeing Yoongi's face twist with exasperation, "this is not you speaking, Yoongi,"

The vice Dangun of Makjoseon immobilised.

Truly it was not him speaking, his aspiration to occupy Beonjoseon and expand until Jinjoseon was guidance of his court, as in authenticity Yoongi wanted a peaceable existence, away from supremacy and the battle for it. Another aim was the upcoming scourge of a new empire intensifying — the Ju Empire. The Ju Empire had seen how the Three Confederate States of Gojoseon began to disintegrate, Makjoseon increasing its unconventionality from Asadal and overriding their own lands, away from the Supreme Dangun.

"The Ju Empire," Yoongi complained, plummeting his head in setback, "I can no longer defend my properties from them; consequently, I was recommended to surmount the two remaining states, notwithstanding me not yearning to administrate any further,"

Namjoon did not suppose for Yoongi to acquiescently speak of his situation, it was dissimilar to what he was. Something had changed the vice Dangun of Makjoseon and that something was what he was left with following his uncle's bereavement. A diplomatic regulation and association demolished by the man who left Pyongyang for Min Yoongi, ragged separately, and devastated like the ambiance of the male who was far more unexperienced than Namjoon. The assault on Beonjoseon was screening the yearning to safeguard Makjoseon, not surmount the states that once were composed under the attentive eye of the firmaments above their skulls.

"You are Mireuk," Namjoon renowned, reminding the vice Dangun how he is far more prevailing than it may appear now, "and you can shelter your domains satisfactory with the supremacies you were presented with by the ecstasies,"

"Do not comedy deities, Namjoon," Yoongi snarled unexpectedly, directing his digit out, and taking a step closer to the younger male, "we are no idols, not any longer, although you endure in performing amusements of those who structure the blues above our heads,"

Namjoon took a step hind instinctively, seeing how the displeasure of his old friend was almost equivalent to Hoseok's, but Yoongi was away from spiritual realm, he was a pragmatist who would refuse to suppose in the divine, nor acknowledge his own overabundant of a divinity. Yoongi had fashioned the biosphere he accused Namjoon playacting with, being the creator deity of all across them, transporting environmental catastrophes when exasperated and Namjoon had already felt the soil they stood on tremble temporarily, and the blues reverberating in the aloofness, underneath the heavens they were presently in.

The Supreme Dangun let out an outbreath before speaking, "we are divinities, contempt us sauntering the dominion of the mortal race,"

"As I aforesaid, not anymore," the older male spat the words out like a strong wave of the waterway, engulfing Namjoon with the sentiments held within them, "the game of idols is unserviceable, separating us between the individuals of mortal position, as you, Hoseok and I endure to brawl for sanctified supremacy, overlooking the genuine difficulties of our states that were moulded by me solitary,"

Namjoon was reserved aback by such declaration. He did contemplate how their arrangements impact their people, however he was permanently understanding of Jinjoseon, as Hoseok reigned Beonjoseon with righteousness and scrupulousness that Namjoon would combat for unaccompanied. Yoongi on the other hand would favour to persist away from influence, his providence did not lay with prevailing Makjoseon, but in its place with the environment and shielding the spirit it holds as he fashioned majority of the realm known to the human kind, and Namjoon distinguished how the older male felt as if he had miscarried, consequently abandoning the divine impression and derivation of his, snubbing to interrelate with the two men.

"It does not substantiate you being unprepared to correspond with me, particularly when the Ju Empire had already succeeded in conquering your lands, however instead of that, you take throughout Beonjoseon, demanding that you desire Asadal simply in representativeness you meekly want to advance away to the Amnok River, leaving Pyongyang," Namjoon identified, as Yoongi let out a laugh of incredulity, placing his hands on his hips, "we are not the individuals who drama idols, it is you joking with the destiny of thousands of people, merely to leave once you had surrendered them in your admiration,"

This was adequate for Yoongi to stop laughing and walloping his emotions before the Supreme Dangun who still persisted in the same location as he arrived in, watching his every disposition with an impassive face and a upraised brow after such courageous announcement.

Namjoon was mistaken. He absolutely unacknowledged the motivations of Yoongi, maintaining how he simply wanted to mislead throughout with the humanity and gratify his transcendent craving of having ambiances to demolish, when in veracity it was a whole contradictory.

Yoongi was no god, not anymore.

His designation of a deity had been established for his advisor — Bom-Nuri — who took praise for being comparable to the god, when in genuineness, Yoongi was exploiting his advisor as a buffer to defend himself against the firmaments and the mortal world.

And thus, he failed to comprehend as to why Namjoon is unenlightened of his judgement and situation.

He recognised that the confrontation on Beonjoseon was incorrect, but he supposed that if he overcomes the Two States of Gojoseon by the time the Ju Empire recovers from their major losses due to wars with their own familial competitors, he and the Supreme Dangun will be competent to protect their lands as the people and the court of Makjoseon anticipated dominance, subsequently the assault on Beonjoseon was a performance to give away the influence Yoongi held to Namjoon and Hoseok, leaving everything behindhand and proceeding to secrete and uncover harmony for his own self.

"I am no god," he reiterated himself, seeing how Namjoon only furrowed his brows in return, "I am a mortal, if you discharge an arrow at me, I will perish, and if you were facetious plenty, you will be talented to apprehend how the assault on Beonjoseon was to disguise me generously gifting you and Hoseok the responsibility of governing Gojoseon without me,"

"You created the realm we administrate," Namjoon reminded the man, speedily considering the words that were said to him, "and you came behind before us all, asserting after many years of existence that you request for me and Hoseok to govern unaccompanied,"

The Supreme Dangun did not enlighten Yoongi of the disagreement concerning him and the vice Dangun of Beonjoseon that had befallen freshly, possessing it as an undisclosed information, and remaining soundless until the exactness reveals itself. He anticipated for Yoongi to expose to him and for that, he had to fantasise that Beonjoseon and Jinjoseon are not deteriorating separately themselves.

"Precisely my desire," the vice Dangun approved, rotating around, and observing the sight again, drinking in the accustomed atmosphere of the righteous realm he had gone himself, "I aspire to observe throughout my establishments, I do not possess longing to rule them any further,"

Namjoon released his hands to his sides and took a few steps to Yoongi, standing to his left and following the gaze of his brother, seeing how the precipitation had deliberately instigated to depart, showcasing the unadulterated exquisiteness of the paradises.

All three — Kim Namjoon, Jung Hoseok, and Min Yoongi — were idols, makers of the domain and the guardians of it.

However, their individual requirements and sentiments were leading to a supplementary downfall of their allied states.

Yoongi miscarried to connect with the remaining states of Gojoseon, not willing to repair the inaccuracy of his predecessor whom he called his uncle, avoiding the Supreme Dangun and the vice Dangun of Beonjoseon. He knew that his outbreak on Hoseok's lands would lead to an additional rivalry, though his factual objectives were to connect the outstanding kings and bequest them supremacy and influence over Makjoseon. Reflecting on how it began to collapse, he sensed himself disheartened, his aspiration to live a peaceable existence, away from these lands, discover transcontinental lands, was crushing beforehand his identifiable eyes.

Namjoon countersigned the lingering confederacy descent — he instigated it himself.

Their domain was crumpling before their eyes, and they would merely survey, just as divinities are predestined to.