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x1protector · 5 years

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imperial crossroads: prologue 2

p a i r i n g: none for prologues; will be x1 x gender neutral reader

g e n r e: fluff; a little dark; choose your own adventure; otome themed au

w a r n i n g s: mentions of slight violence; weapons

w o r d c o u n t: 3.7k

s u m m a r y: You are a seamstress who took a job in the palace as your mother’s successor. As you try your best to navigate through your new life at the palace, who will you choose accompany you?

Author’s note: historical setting close to the Joseon dynasty but there’s no (current) set name for the kingdom; this is only the prologue !! each boy has their own storyline!! this one is written by the whole admin team!

There will be two prologues with two different protagonists! If you haven’t read hyung-line prologue (Seungwoo, Seungyoun, Wooseok, Yohan, Hangyul), click below.

hyung prologue || maknae prologue

This wasn’t your first time in the palace. Your mother had long been an accomplished seamstress for the royal family. Sometimes when you weren’t able to stay home, you stayed in the servants' quarters with the children of the other palace workers, playing house and taking naps with them.

But it was your first time working there. As you grew up, you saw your friends take up apprenticeships and slowly replace retiring workers, but unlike them, you weren’t trained in the palace. At home, your mother taught you everything you knew about sewing: how to take accurate measurements, properly tie a knot after stitching, practical stitching patterns and prints--everything she knew, every tip or secret she had, she passed on to you so when the time came for her to retire, you could take over her role.

Of course, she didn’t mean for you to work in the palace, and when you first brought up the idea to her, she was appalled.

Your mother was reluctant because, even though your position is a mere seamstress among many, she didn’t want you to get caught up in any political tensions in the palace. She knew about the King and Queen’s alliance with a fallen neighboring kingdom, and she often overheard gossip from the other seamstresses and tailors about the King’s frequent, unusual absences from the castle. The palace wasn’t exactly a peaceful place and she didn’t want you to fall into the wrong hands and become a pawn in anyone’s schemes.

She tried her best to keep you from it all--it wasn’t safe for a child like you. She was worried you would end up catching a noble’s eyes and becoming their concubine at a young age.

You heard the rumors, of course, but as a child you didn’t think much of it. You even found amusement in the rumors about the King’s secret life in the underworld.

Your mother only warmed up to the idea of you becoming a palace seamstress when she saw just how much you were capable of one day. You were visiting your mother and wanting to help as much as possible so you started sewing with her. By the end of the day, you had produced three shirts, a hat, a pair of pants, and had begun mending a hanbok. Not only was that two--almost three--people’s workload in a day, your stitching patterns were neat and consistent, your skills were honed from years of practice and presented a lot of talent. Even the head tailoress acknowledged your skills and extended an invitation for you to work for her. This and only this was the reason your mother had finally agreed.

Now, after a few more years of training with your mother at home, you were finally headed to the palace.

“The head tailoress never gives deadlines,” she explained, choosing to give you tons of advice instead of a tearful sendoff. “It’s a test, so make sure you’re taking care of business. Also, don’t engage with the others too much, especially if you’re talking about the royal family. And don’t roam the halls after dark!”

“Don’t worry!” you comforted her. “I’ll be careful. I have friends there, remember?”

And you couldn’t wait to see them again. Growing up, you were close friends with Dohyon and Minhee. Minhee was the older of the two, although Dohyon’s intellect would lead you to believe he was the elder. They were both very outgoing, and they had been the ones to approach you first. You didn’t spend a lot of time in the palace proper, but thanks to your friends, you knew there would be a certain sense of familiarity that will put your mind at ease.

You almost didn’t recognize one of them when you were greeted you at the entrance. You barely recalled his voice as he called your name.

“Yes?” you turned towards the voice. A charming young man stood in front of you, with a shock of bleached blond hair atop his head and a goofy grin spread across his face. His hands were already taking your bags from you, helping you carry your belongings to your room.

“M-Minhee?” You couldn’t believe how much had changed in the years you’d been gone.

“You haven’t changed at all.” Minhee spoke with excitement in his voice, “do you even remember me?”

“You look so different! Wow, I like… the hair?” You gestured to his head.

“Oh, this?” He took a strand and held it up to the sun, peering through it. “It was an accident. But thank you.”

Minhee grabbed a few of your bags and lifted them up, gesturing with his head in the direction you were going to go. As you trailed behind him you couldn’t help but marvel at how different he looked compared to his younger self. He had grown much taller, his smile growing brighter and his face becoming slimmer over the years. His eyes still twinkled the way you remembered, like he knew secrets no one else did.

Minhee seemed to know his way around and was greeted by almost everyone you come across, even Prince Seungyoun and his personal attendant Hangyul seemed like they were his friends. In the midst of delivering mail and showing you around, Minhee had to stop by the main hall to pick up a friend by the name of Eunsang after his rehearsal.

Eunsang was a black haired boy, with a soft and timid smile. He avoided looking in your eyes, opting to look at Minhee instead. He had a cute face, with rosy cheeks and wide, expressive eyes. He was dressed very nicely, with his hair falling sweetly across his forehead.

He handed you and Minhee two perfectly ripe apples he had taken from the kitchens earlier that morning. You thanked him and a gentle smile spread across his features. He walked with the two of you for a minute, conversing quietly with Minhee before splitting off to head to his quarters while Minhee continued to guide you to yours. Eunsang gave you a little wave before heading in and you thought you’d like to be friends with him if there was a chance.

Your quarter was the same place you stayed when you were little and you still remember all the things you hid in the room. As you set down your belongings, you spotted the small embroidery kit you had hidden away as a kid. Gazing at the small box, you smiled softly at all the memories and feelings the item evoked. After a moment of settling in, you carefully placed the kit back on top of your bags before returning back to where Minhee had waited in the hallway.

Somewhere along the way, Minhee had declared himself your “official” palace tour guide, dragging you around to all the “best places in the palace.”

The first stop? The Princes’ healer quarters, where two boys sat cross-legged on the floor, one patching up some cut wounds on the other's back. The first one whined at the poultice being applied to his back, the other snapping back about how he should be more careful in the future if he wanted to avoid this.

The healer boy had soft, curly hair, with a round face accompanied by puffy cheeks and wide, bright eyes. Even as he was berating the other boy, he had a kind voice. His professionalism contrasted heavily with his innocent appearance.

The first boy whined again, squirming away from the other’s touch, “Hyeongjun-ie…. Can’t you at least warm it up before you apply it? It’s so cold,”

“Stay still, Dongpyo,” Hyeongjun chided, “you know it doesn’t work that way. Now stop moving so I can finish faster.”

Dongpyo was even smaller than Hyeongjun, with matching puffy cheeks and wide eyes. He wore a set of dark robes, completed with many small vials attached to a belt and what appeared to be many pockets. When he finally noticed you and Minhee, he sent you a dazzling grin, pushing his cheeks up towards his eyes and making his face even more child-like. He greeted the two of you cheerfully, and Hyeongjun leaned to the side to greet you as well.

Minhee didn’t have time to introduce the two boys, but from the look of it, Hyeongjun seemed to be a healer in training of the Princes’ quarter, and Dongpyo seemed like a harmless servant boy with an unfortunate injury. You thought they were very friendly and quite capable for their age.

Next, Minhee takes you around the library, where two more young boys were waiting. One sat at a table, methodically and carefully copying something onto a scroll. The other was leaned against a bookshelf, nose buried in a tome. He looked up and rose to his feet, waving enthusiastically to you.

He easily towered over you, with a mop of white hair to rival Minhee’s. He had a bright and mischievous smile, with a boy-next-door aura to match. He seemed bright and energetic.

He walked with a skip in his step to grab you in a bone crushing hug as you wracked your memory to try and recall this boy, but couldn’t place a face to a name until Minhee spoke up.

“You know you’re not allowed in the palace Dohyon, why are you here?”

Dohyon? The chubby cheeked boy smiled with all of his teeth, the same youthful, bright smile you remembered.

“Dohyon?! Nam Dohyon?! You’re… huge!” You exclaimed, for lack of a better word.

The boy laughed, his eyes squinted into little crescents. Your childhood friend tackled you into another hug, his signature high-pitched squeak pierced your ears.

“Dohyon, please. This is a library.”

The boy who sat on the table spoke up. His voice was stern but gentle. The brush on his hand carefully placed onto its carrier as he packed up his books and scrolls. The boy stood to about Minhee’s height, a slight scowl on his rather handsome face.

“Sorry, Junho-hyung. I was just excited.” Dohyon whispered in response.

Junho sighed. You thought he gave off a very mature aura, but the youthfulness of his face betrayed this image. He seemed like he could easily be the same age as the rest, but something about him made him seem far older than he actually was.

“Your hair is still white, I see.” Junho snickered, instantly turning younger in your eyes the more he smiled.

Minhee introduced Junho as the second historian of the palace, second only to the king’s scribe. You thought it was impressive for someone his age, and he sure looked the part of someone with considerable amount of authority.

“By the way,” Minhee started, a mischievous tone in his voice, “how’s your... side project?”

The scrolls slid from Junho’s hands, and Minhee laughed as Junho scrambled to pick them up. “Attendant Minhee, do you not have other work to attend to? Shall I give you some? Here, take this document to the Crown Prince.”

Junho shoved the pile of scrolls onto Minhee so aggressively you wondered what this “side project” entailed--even Dohyon was giggling at this point.

After this, Minhee left for his work and let you to roam around the palace, and you busied yourself with packing and helping out with various tasks in the seamstress quarter.

At the end of the night as you head to your quarter, you felt as if someone was watching you. It was curiosity that got you out of your quarter to look around, and within seconds, you spotted a silhouette on the roof.

You thought it was rather strange, because they seemed to be… waving to you? The figure gave you a peace sign, then disappeared as fast as he appeared. In a flash, the figure landed in front of you, tilting his head as if to get you to follow him.

You recognized him as Dongpyo, one of the boys you had seen in the healer’s quarters earlier. He didn’t speak, but from the bounce in his step as he led you toward your destination, you could tell he was in a good mood.

It didn’t take long to arrive at the healer’s quarters, the scene livelier than you previously recalled. Junho and Hyeongjun were playing cat’s cradle, and Dohyon was chatting animatedly next to them.

You saw Dongpyo running to the pair, whining that Hyeongjun was playing with someone else, and Hyeongjun in turn scolding him for being so late to the party.

Junho nodded towards your direction as you crossed the bridge to enter the small pavilion, flanked by a beautiful stream. You could hear the sweet sound of the water echoing quietly through the walls of the pavilion, like twinkling silver bells. The lights above were just enough for you to see everyone’s face, aided by fireflies occasionally flickering across their features.

As they spotted you, the boys smiled and waved. Hyeongjun and Dongpyo assumed you hadn’t received a proper introduction so they introduced themselves.

“How was your first day?” Dohyon greeted you cheerfully as you sat down besides Hyeongjun.

“Nervous, busy, exciting?” you answered honestly.

You heard the other boys let out a loud cheer as they spot Minhee and Eunsang crossing the bridge, holding what appeared to be food containers wrapped in silk cloth. Eunsang also appeared to be carrying a gayageum and a small mask in one hand.

Hyeongjun greeted the pair, rushing over to them to help carry the food over. As he ran back, you heard Junho speak up.

“How was the audition? Were the performers any good?” Junho seemed genuinely interested.

Minhee responded first, “The performers were exceptional, and one even caught the attention of the Queen. Looks like they’re going to be a new court dancer.”

Junho nodded, turning his attention to Eunsang as if waiting for the black-haired boy to add to the story.

He didn’t, focusing instead on setting up his gayageum on the floor next to Junho.

Dohyon chimed in before Junho had the chance to pry any further, “Speaking of new additions, our new seamstress was just telling us about their first day!”

You blushed at the sudden attention, waving your hands in front of your face, “Ah, there’s not really much to talk about, I’ve just gotten my first orders.”

“Seamstress’s orders? Designing new hats for the mailboys?” Minhee joked, clearly knowing more than he let on.

“Something like that.” You gave him a pointed look, but decided he probably knew of your work since he was in fact the main attendant across all quarters.

In front of you were a tray of small dumplings, with numerous side dishes laid out neatly against the wooden floor. Dongpyo, Hyeongjun, and Minhee had already started eating.

“Why are we out here anyway? I thought there was food in the great hall.” you asked.

“You missed my summoning spell earlier,” Dohyon exclaimed. “I made the fireflies come!” His voice going up in pitches before popping a dumpling in his mouth.

“How did you know these fireflies didn’t just fly here themselves?” Minhee teased.

Junho sighed, gently guiding one away from his face as he picked up a dumpling and placed it in his mouth.

“We‘ve never had fireflies in this part of the castle. I think it’s impressive,” Eunsang interjected, giving Dohyon a thumbs up as he chowed down his dumpling.

“They’d better not eat my herbs, for your sake,” Hyeongjun said, his voice stern, but his face betrayed his tone, melting into a warm smile as he reached up to ruffle the younger boy’s hair. Dohyon pouted, lips poking out more as he chewed, trying to push Hyeongjun’s hand away.

“I know we’re not just out here for fireflies,” you joked, half-serious.

“You’re right, it’s because I’m not allowed in the great hall anymore,” Dohyon replied, grabbing another dumpling.

Before you could ask why, Dongpyo looked at you and shook his head, deadpan, “He summoned a huge lizard at lunch last month and was banned for life.”

“Ah,” you nodded in understanding.

“But it was so funny,” Dongpyo added, giggling as he picked up another dumpling.

Seeing as Dohyon continued to sulk, you felt a little bad for bringing up the question so you decided to change the topic. “By the way, what were you talking about earlier? You seemed excited.”

“Oh, yeah!” Dohyon finished his dumpling before perking up again, his eyes a little wider than usual. “So as I was telling everyone, Seungyoun-hyung and I were up in a half-dead tree in the middle of a storm on our excursion last month. It was a dare from Hangyul-hyung, so we climbed the tallest tree to see who would reach the top first, but a storm broke out. Seungyoun-hyung and I were so scared, we were hugging the branch and praying we don’t get struck by lightning or the King and Queen would kill us both. He even promised to visit the temple more often if we get out safely. Then Hangyul-hyung on the ground was telling us that we have less to worry about because if we get struck by lightning, we’ll be dead anyway. Oh man, you should have seen the look on Seungyoun-hyung’s face! Hangyul-hyung still laughs at him to this day."

“So how did you guys get down in the end?” Dongpyo asked, leaning forward to cup his chin on his hands, smiling sweetly at the younger boy.

“The wind knocked us down,” Dohyon explained. “The wind was strong, the tree was frail, we were giants--it fell over.”

“Thankfully you came back in one piece,” Minhee sighed. Even Junho had stopped eating to gape at Dohyon’s reckless story.

Dohyon simply smiled as he held up his hand and showed everyone the long gash across his palm. “This came from the tree,” he added, punctuating his sentence with another dumpling.

“That’s it?” Dongpyo asked, shocked. “I’ve fallen off low rooftops and got more banged up than that.”

You also wondered how he only had that one scar. You’ve had more scratched up hands and knees from chasing Minhee and Dohyon around the palace when you were younger.

“When he came to me, I almost cried because there was so much blood on his arm,” Hyeongjun pouted and knitted his eyebrows together. You could hear the lilt of his accent poking through as he recalled the memory. “It took me so long to patch him up--he gave me such a fright.”

“I had to soften the landing somehow.” Dohyon whined. “Seungyoun-hyung was so athletic he landed on his feet just fine, but I only run, occasionally, to get away from Minhee-hyung, so I had to do it.”

“Oooh,” Minhee chimed in, “did you use magic outside the palace again?”

“Are you trying to get caught?” Junho pressed, a terse undercurrent in his voice that everyone could hear.

“It’s not that big of a deal,” Dongpyo replied defensively. “He just-”

Dongpyo’s head snapped toward the stream before he could finish his sentence. Everyone followed his gaze even though nobody else had heard anything.

“On second thought, be careful,” Dongpyo warned. “That sounded a lot like a guard.”

“How did you hear--,” you started, eyebrows knitting together.

“Eunsang, what are you doing?” Hyeongjun teased, giggling and pointing at Eunsang from across the pavillion.

You looked over at the boy who had his hands positioned on either side of his legs. One hand’s fingers was mostly outstretched while the other looked poised to flick something.

“I started a new song today,” he said quietly, dropping his hands to the floor.

“By all means, keep practicing,” you encouraged him. “If I could practice like that, I would.”

He smiled shyly, reaching over and grabbing his instrument. He started to finger at the strings and a soft melody began floating through the air.

“So what exactly are you doing in the palace, anyway?” Dongpyo asked, turning his attention towards you.

“Well, my mother is the head seamstress,” you started. “Since she’s retiring soon and had to find a replacement, she sent me.”

“Mmmm…” Dongpyo hummed.

You weren’t sure if he was acknowledging your response or encouraging you to continue, so you continued.

“The head seamstress seems to want me to prove my worth, so they sent me a list of tasks to complete. I have a bunch of clothes that need mending, I hardly know where to start!”

“Ooh, mine first, please!” Dongpyo exclaimed, his sudden change in volume startled you a little. “All my clothes have some kind of holes in them. Especially the pockets.”

You could have sworn he winked at you before you heard someone else speak. What exactly was Dongpyo’s job that would cause his pockets to tear?

“The attendant hats are so uncomfortable, mine gives me a headache,” Minhee piped up. “Actually, do you mind adding buttpads to the scribes’ uniforms?”

Both you and Junho give him a confused look.

“For what? My uniform is quite fine the way it is,” Junho quipped.

“I don’t know,” Minhee said. “You seem pretty butthurt sitting on that chair all day.”

Junho groaned, shaking his head as he held the bridge of his nose. Everyone looked on with snickering smiles on their faces, trying hard not to laugh in case Junho got mad.

“You have to admit you almost laughed,” Dohyon patted his friend’s shoulder, not minding the fact that Junho was staring daggers at him.

“Okay, I’ll keep that in mind,” you laughed.

The group of you talked and ate for another hour or so before deciding it was time to pack up for the night. Junho had left first, saying something about needing to finish the rest of his work, with Dohyon leaving shortly after him. The rest filtered out naturally, and you were left to wander back to your quarters with Eunsang, as Minhee had been summoned with Dongpyo to meet with the Crown Prince.

Eunsang and you made light conversation as you walked, your mind still swirling from the events of the evening.

You bid goodnight to Eunsang, still thinking about what you should do the upcoming morning. You needed to get started on your work, but you didn’t want to be working by yourself if you could be working with one of the boys.

Which boy did you want to work with in the morning?

——————————————————————————————–

c h o i c e s: Junho, Dongpyo, Minhee, Eunsang, Hyeongjun, Dohyon

Read hyung prologue.

Click here to vote on whose story you would like to see first!

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