Before the nights had become chilly and soul-freezing, a smooth transition from autumn to winter, Jung Ho had been relentlessly spending almost all of his time inside the shrine. People of the kingdom were about to witness the fullest shape of the moon, shining brightly into the night skies. Too bad the fallen leaves of trees could not see such majestic beauty. As he was doing his sacred prayers, groveling before a big golden Buddha statue, Lady Seol Ji sat beside him and rubbed her hands slowly in a short prayer. It was such a shame that the Head Priestess had developed visible lines on her face, while Jung Ho remained flawless as always. Some people said he was aging in reverse. Pores had became history, face as fragile and as white as a porcelain dining plate. If he would stroll with his son outside the palace, the common folk would think that Jung Min was the father and Jung Ho was the young adult, hard-headed, spoiled son.

Lady Seol Ji broke the deafening silence, "The upcoming Hangawi could not be as festive as last year."

Jung Ho opened his eyes and shifted to her. "And that is because of?"

"Taeyanggye. The second and the fourth star aligned with each other. Bad luck. My premonition tells me."

"Hmm, how bad is bad? Bad luck for the royal family or bad luck for the whole kingdom? I won't mind if it's the first."

"Are you sure? Your family has no escape... Well actually, if it's bad luck for the royal family, it's going to trickle down to the common folk. Same difference."

"Hold on. What do these stars mean anyway? Why are they considered bad luck?"

"The second star represents women, while the fourth star is for men. They don't really align on the usual basis, but if they do, they cause an unexplainable wicked force here on Earth. Its message must be foretold to everyone."

"What message is that?"

"Union of the two stars."

~~•~~

Jung Ho and Lady Seol Ji visited the King's pavilion and asked for an audience. The chilly wind blew harsh, tingling their skins under the faint light of the morning. Important. His consent and involvement were badly needed. The Prime Minister explained thoroughly the prognosis, initial diagnosis of the kingdom, the cause, possible outcomes, and most importantly, the treatment. (definitely, he was guided by Lady Seol Ji. Jung Ho could not possibly explain all of those... alone)

"Are you fooling with me?" Jae Joong's voice escalated into a higher pitch.

"Absolutely not, Your Majesty. I wouldn't dare to." smiled Jung Ho.

"Then what kind of nonsense is this? Marriage? You want me to marry again? How many times do I have to tell you that this kingdom doesn't need a new queen? It's been over a decade, Prime Minister. I seriously can't understand why you had to bring this up."

"Your Majesty, this is the will of the Heavens. You've heard Lady Seol Ji. Misfortunes shall come upon the royal family. Your marriage is the only way that could solve this."

Jae Joong did not want to believe at first, for he thought this might be one of Jung Ho's heinous plans to control or worse oust him in the position. He knew his brother down to the bone. This could be another way to exploit his power as the Head of Ceremonial Rites. Then he gazed at the Head Priestess, whom he had trust more. Lady Seol Ji has proven her neutral position amidst the political war of the two brothers. As a professional servant of the Heavens, never had any moment that she took the side of one party based on her own. All of her decisions were purely based on the will of the Heavens, through accurate observations, calculations, and most of all—her gift from the Heavens, the ever-impeccable premonitions. Nothing more, nothing less.

The Head Priestess bowed her head and explained, "Marriage within any royal member is the only solution, Your Majesty. If we didn't act quick, the Hangawi would be a day of mishaps. Blood of a royal member and the spouse could prevent any of my premonitions.

"Blood of a royal member..." Jung Ho mumbled. He put in and suggested another idea to Jae Joong which made the King more furious.

"How about the marriage of Prince Sae Joo? If you don't want to marry, then perhaps the Prince could, since he's also a royal. Can we do that Lady Seol Ji?"

"Absolutely."

Jae Joong stood and slammed the table, "No! Not my son. I don't believe you two."

"Your Majesty, this is not the time to be emotional. Don't you trust Lady Seol Ji? Do you remember that time when she declared there would be a storm in a drought season and it did happen? How about when she advised the locals of Jeonju to have an early harvest because a swarm of pest will destroy all of their crops?"

"Stop!"

"We are talking about our people here. Would you like to see them suffer just because none of you Seonggols could sacrifice and swallow your frivolous pride?"

"What are you saying, Prime Minister? I know your act, and you can't fool me."

Jung Ho straightened in his seat and cleared his throat before rebuffing; he must admit to himself—he did stutter internally. What could he do to persuade the King? It was not thirty-three years ago when Jae Joong was all out believing everything Lady Jang had said. Being naive and gullible was just a worn-out part of Jae Joong's history.

"Give it a rest, Sire. Three to five days for you to decide. You don't believe my sincerity? Fine. But I suggest that you see it for yourself. Within those time frame, if no major ruckus or strange evil forces of nature drop by our kingdom, foreshadowing the bad luck brought upon by the alignment of these stars, I will step down from my position as the Head of Ceremonial Rites."

A gust of cold wind bit Jae Joong. Did his ears just fool him? Jung Ho—resigning? That could be one of the most absurd ideas he has ever heard. However, that offer sparked his interest. If nothing happened within that time allowance, he could finally sleep better for the next days. Jung Ho might be a leg cripple by then, losing half of his influence. But that would not be very easy.

"Jung Ho and 'resign' don't match together. You must be kidding me."

"I am serious, Sire. Three to five days of peace, and the position I hold so dear would be vacant."

"Don't push it too much. Do you seriously think that I'll believe you completely? Who knows? You might pay someone to cause any trouble, then silence him when he's caught." sneered Jae Joong.

Jung Ho raised his iron shield, preventing Jae Joong's arrow of mockery to hit his core. He needed to play civil and consistent. No emotions should transcend from his eyes. He was willing to take the risk, knowing that winning has been tattooed on his skin. He had trust in the Head Priestess. There would be bad luck.

He responded with just a raised brow, full of confidence, "That won't be necessary. The Heavens shall do it."

Jae Joong sniggered, "Fine. Three to five days."

"What an honor to have a wager, Your Majesty." he stood, bowed his head and left the room, together with the Head Priestess.

As they walked down the hallway, Lady Seol Ji expressed her amusement with the Prime Minister, "I'm amazed, Your Excellency."

"With what? My audacity to play games with the King or my strong belief with your skills?"

"No, with your belief in the power of the Heavens."

Jung Ho's lips curved upward in a half-smiled. Lady Seol Ji parted ways with him upon strolling down the courtyard. He planned to go back to his chambers, but he bumped into the Prince—whom he noticed had a different set of bodyguards. Regular nangdos from the Yellow Tigers. Someone was definitely missing.

"Your Highness, what a pleasant morning." he bowed his head.

"Prime Minister, good morning."

"I'm quite interested that you're being considerate of your other nangdo's growth as a hwarang."

Sae Joo squinted, confused with what his uncle meant, "Pardon me?"

"Giving these nangdos a pleasure to be your personal bodyguards, I see."

Sae Joo did not respond and just smiled. He was about to continue walking when Jung Ho asked him, "Where is Shun?"

"He's on leave," a thrifty answer.

"It wouldn't be that long, would it? What's even more important than your security?"

"I can take care of myself, Prime Minister. I didn't train with these nangdos for years just to be a useless weakling. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some hwarang assemblies to facilitate."

Jung Ho bowed his head and continued walking. It would be a waste of time to know the whereabouts of a mere nangdo. He just wanted the main idea of the situation—the Prince's security has weakened. Sure, he trained for years but those periods did not totally provide a vast improvement in Sae Joo's strength and skills. Those were lies. 'I can protect myself?' maybe to some small-scale enemies but not for the notorious and well-trained ones. Anyways, that was just Jung Ho's thinking. An underestimation of the Prince's physical strength.

When he came back to his chambers, he saw a brown scroll with a purple ribbon on his table. He asked his attendants where the letter came from but no one knew. It just came from a guard, who told them the sender preferred not to be revealed (exclusive for the Prime Minister's eyes only.) He opened the scroll, and read the content:

Your Lordship, I can't remember how long it has been.

I've made a promise not to communicate with you anymore, so please forgive me for breaking that. I just felt that you need to know this. Your son, Lord Jung Min has come to my house last night. He said that 'that day' still disturbs him. He asked me about Chil Yook. I didn't explain that much, trying to be cautious not to give a hint of our secrets.

I just think that your son is investigating Chil Yook right now. He even asked if Chil Yook had a son.

I entrust this to you, My Lord.

Sincerely,

Lady Min

His hands felt numb as if a huge boulder had fallen, crushing his fingers. He breathed heavily, allowing himself to process the new stressful information. "Jung Min, why would he?" A war burst on his head, opposing thoughts exchanging fire arrows from each other. "Why only now after all these years?" "Does he know anything?" "Does he know about Sae Yoo?" Before his head could explode, he decided to go to his son's chambers. His steps were heavier as usual.

No formal greetings. With his flat face, he ordered Jung Min's ladies-in-waiting to open the door for him. Terrified of the Prime Minister, they complied immediately. Jung Ho stormed inside. His son, in his white nightgown, lying in his bed.

"Up all night? You must have worked hard." Jung Ho crossed his arms.

Jung Min groaned, "Father, please. I don't want your voice ruining my dreams. Get out."

"Get up. We'll talk. Just answer a few questions, and I'm done. You can sleep all you want."

The annoyed son sat up and scratched his head. He fixed his nightgown, walk to the table and slouched on his big red chair. A bizarre action coming from a nobleman with a high position."My ears are yours, father."

"What have you worked last night? I haven't seen you beg for sleep like this before."

A yawn before a response, "I would certainly die of joy if this was a father-son visit. Usually, you come up to me only if you want something from me. Now, in the essence of saving time, please just tell me what you want."

"I know you're digging up some dirt about Chil Yook. It was one thing that you've investigated an event that had happened a long time ago, and it was another for not directly asking me. Son, I'm deeply offended."

Jung Min scoffed and sneered at his father, disgusted by the supposed to be heart-warming words, tainted only by Jung Ho's mouth. "Why would you be offended? As if I really had trust on you." he stood, rubbed his head and paced around the table. "Oh, I get it. I get it now." he shook his finger to his father, grinning.

Jung Ho sucked his teeth, shouting internally at his hands—for them not fly to his beloved son's face.

"You're still looking for him, aren't you?"

Drop! Dead! Done! Jung Ho was caught off-guard. He was busted. Instead of acting like a crazy, pathetic, miserable old hag begging for salvation, he acted as if he had just heard a hilarious punchline from a theater play. "What are you talking about? I didn't know that you have this odd sense of humor. What makes you think that I still look for him? He's history. He's irrelevant. Why would I even bother looking for someone who has been forgotten by the entire kingdom? I'm actually more concerned about you."

"His legacy still lives. Our hwarangs would be nothing without him. At least for me, he's not irrelevant."

"Stop veering the topic. You want to make this quick, don't you? Just answer my question. Why do you do this? Why today after all these years?"

"I don't know. Maybe because I can. I have the power, I have the resources. I did it because I could... and one more thing, I thought he's not important for you, so why do you still care?"

"You still don't get it, do you? I care for you. I don't wish you any harm. By doing this, you are just sprinkling salt to your twenty-three-year-old wound! How would you recover if you'll continue doing this?" Jung Ho walked closer to his son and held his shoulder like a father giving advice to his teenage kid about pre-adolescent problems. "Jung Min, look. I'm truly sorry for what had happened back then. I thought that by doing so, by kicking out your dearest matron, you'll be stronger. I've never been so wrong. That was the biggest regret of my life. I should've kept her beside you. You didn't deserve the pain. But you know, what's been done has been done. We can't go back to the past. All we have to do is move forward. Do yourself a favor. Stop this."

Jung Min did not respond and shifted his head away from his father's eyes. He tried to hide the tears that were about to come out. But Jung Ho went on to convince him more. "Do you know why I had to send you to Manno County when you were ten?"

"That's because I didn't want you to get involved in the war and the turmoil of the palace. I want you to have a normal life. I didn't want you to experience how it's like to live in hell like this. These excruciating days, thinking only but survival. How to live in this world driven by this stupid bloodline hierarchy. All those years, I felt like I robbed your childhood. I can't blame you if you have such a big hatred towards me. But remember this—even if you believe me or not, I love you. You're my son."

Shaking pearls of tears hung on Jung Min's lower eyelid, his vision started to get blurry. If there was one more thing he learned from his father, that must be the graceful art of hiding the true emotions (he was not that good yet, but definitely getting there). He swiped his eyes with his thumb, shoving away those disgusting tears. "Do you seriously think that you could sway me with those kind words of yours? Now let me the favor of asking you back, why only today after all these years? That might work for me if I were ten."

He paced back to his bed and sat, "Well, I'm afraid this conversation has reached its dead-end." he pointed to the door with his palms and stared at his father. Jung Ho gazed back, unsure if it was harmful or neutral. The Prime Minister let out a sigh and walked out the door. When his father left, Jung Min opened a chest on top of a small table-cabinet beside his bed. He picked out the red headband and stared at it again.

"Why does he still look for you? My father just gave me more reasons to dig more."

__________

NOTES:

Hangawi (한가위) - Korean harvest festival that happens every autumn.