Queen of the Damned

Eunmi knows her brother’s handwriting best, so there’s no doubt this is in Taesun’s own hand. Besides, the fountain pen used was the one she gave him as a gift when he officially became an M.D. She should know, after all, she had that shade of blue ink customized specifically for Taesun.

 There’s still some blanks to be filled in. What reason did Taesun give to allow the Council to let him abdicate? How was he allowed to give up his birthright like that? What questions will be answered in Moscow? Why would Taesun write that there?? If her remembering of history is correct, their ties with Russia are volatile at best. As far as she knows, the Park clan’s strongest political ties are with the Song family in Korea, the Yoon family who is scattered in several parts of Europe, the old Yamamoto clan in Japan, and the Zhang nobles in China.

 “Of course!” Eunmi whispers, her eyes growing wide at the sudden idea. Before her father, there was Uncle Jihoon, whose wife Aunt Jaekyung is a member of the Han family. The Hans also have alliances separate from those of the Park clan’s. After Uncle Jihoon died, Aunt Jaekyung and Sunjoon were banished from the palace, doomed to a fate worse than the outcasts. The Han clan would never abandon Aunt Jaekyung and Sunjoon. Maybe it’s the Han’s allies in Moscow that Taesun’s referring to.

 But what reason would Taesun have to seek the Han’s help. As far as Eunmi knows, the Han and Park clans have always had conflicting ideologies on how to rule the country. Taesun isn’t exactly on top of Sunjoon and Aunt Jaekyung’s list of favourite people, especially after Uncle Jihoon’s death and Taesun’s marriage to Miyoung. Eunmi scratches her head in frustration, screaming as she struggles to find the missing piece. She’s been in the archives room for days, yet she still can’t find anything to answer the Moscow riddle.  

 Just as Eunmi is about to throw a file at the nearest wall, something catches her attention. She instinctively reaches for the knife in her belt, until familiar laughter rings inside the archive walls.

 “Dongwoo, you scared me,” she gasps as a short man with navy blue hair and big teeth walks in.

 One of her friends from university Lee Dongwoo has dropped out of law school in favor of taking up criminology and forensics. Although the family has investigators at their disposal, it’s too dangerous for Eunmi to operate inside the palace. There are too many eyes and ears in here for her liking. It’s better to ask someone uninvolved to help her fill in the blanks.

 “I’ve been calling you, but no one’s answering, Your Majesty,” Dongwoo says, laughing as he points to Eunmi’s mobile phone. “What’s gotten you so busy that you’re not accepting any cases now? Hmm? Too busy being a queen to deal with poor peasants like me?”

 Eunmi chuckles as shakes her head. “You’re right about the queen stuff, but I would never be too busy for you. Anyway, what are your findings?”

 Dongwoo grins as he whips out a thick manila envelope. “The handwriting is definitely your brother’s. No question about that. It looks like a pretty old message to me. It was written a quite a while back, maybe a few years? What’s up though?”

 Eunmi sighs as she stares at the documents Dongwoo brings out of the envelope. “Believe me, if I knew, I’d tell you. If I have anything else I want investigated, I’ll call you. Thank you, Dongwoo.”

 “Weird that you’re asking me for help though. Don’t you royalty have your own secret service for these things?”

 “We do, but they won’t tell me things, Dongwoo,” Eunmi sighs as she stares at another book in front of her. “That’s why I’m putting clues together on my own... I feel like everyone’s trying to keep me in the dark.”

 “Whatever it is you’re trying to find, I’m sure you will figure it out. And I’m here if you need me,” Dongwoo says, grinning before he bows.  “Good luck with that, Your Majesty.”

 Eunmi watches Dongwoo leave the library before she turns to the documents he returns. Unlike most of the documents in the palace, it’s written in ancient code only known to those in the royal family and the military.

 She hisses at her own stupidity and lack of knowledge of the Order. She’s been looking at the wrong House all this time. The House of the Sun is responsible for running the show, and obviously, they can’t be the ones to keep all the secrets. There are other two houses in the Gyeongbukgung Order, the House of Lilies and the House of Steel. One of these have to be the secret-keeper of the ones in power. The Lilies of the Order are there to produce heirs for the family and be the support system of the men in House of the Sun. The House of Steel... these are the clans that influence the security and safety of the House of the Sun...

 “Of course... The House of Steel gives their lives to protect the House of the Sun,” she whispers as she walks over to another shelf of documents. “But how much does the House of Steel know?”

 Eunmi stops in front of a bookshelf with the House of Steel’s crest on it. What catches her attention is how there is only one shelf dedicated to them, whereas the House of the Sun and the House of Lilies practically take up the entire room. Frowning, Eunmi pulls at the generic-looking book. To her surprise, the bookshelf splits into two to reveal a pathway.

 “What in the world...” Eunmi mutters as she steps into the path, following it until it leads to another library. The gray walls and books littered all over the staircases are a stark contrast to the bright, well-lit, orderly royal library. Eunmi smells smoke and moulds, an odd combination for an archive.  

 She uses her mobile phone to serve as a flashlight to navigate the place. She curses as she trips over a book. It’s a leather-bound book, and its parchment paper is brittle against Eunmi’s fingers. She turns to the first page, biting her lip and hoping that she’ll get some answers.

Remove all evidence of the secrets

What evidence? What secrets? She groans as she flips to the next page, only to find it written in Russian and Japanese. She will need to call Dongwoo or Yoohwan soon. She flips to the next page, only to see that only the first and last pages haven’t been ripped off.

Incheon Lighthouse

Busan Lady

Seoul Song

The Wizard of Oz

Nights in New York 

An American in Paris

Tokyo Tower

Eunmi’s eyes dart left and right as she attempts to pick through the damaged lock that’s the only obstacle between her and the restricted section of the royal library. Eunmi has never bothered trying to enter there until today. After all, the restricted section contains nothing but the secret family records and a copy of every single law, promise, and contract made by the royal family and the royal clans. Eunmi has never cared about the deals her ancestors have made, as long as she was left alone to do her own thing.

 Eunmi sighs in relief as the lock finally breaks. She stores it in her pocket, promising to return it later as she pushes the doors open. She blinks, almost expecting the dust to get in her eyes. She ends up tilting her head to the side. For a place supposedly restricted, it’s well-maintained. There’s no dust, no musty, mouldy smell that greets her. She shakes her head as she reads the labels of each shelf. She groans as they’re labelled by year.  Lucky no one caught her doing that. No matter how old she is (not to mention, a tax-paying professional), she still gets reminders to act in a way that fits her position. Especially now that she’s the interim Queen.

 Although being in the spotlight and holding some responsibility are nothing new for Eunmi, the idea of having an imaginary target on her back is a concept still completely foreign to her. She’s always lived in the shadows of both her ideal older brother Taesun and her perfect best friend Miyoung. No matter what she achieves, she will always be second-best to them in the eyes of her parents, her friends, the Royal Council, and probably even in the eyes of the people. She’s learned to live with it. At least she wasn’t entitled to go through the “rite of passage” known as the Gyeongbukgung Order. She can only imagine what kind of training the eight heirs of their families went through in order to be able to lead a nation.

 Ever since Taesun abdicated, Eunmi finds herself at a loss what to do as a member of the House of the Sun. None of the books in the regular sections of the library would tell her what she needs to know. It’s not her fault she missed out on the training boot camp her brother and the rest went through, nor is it her fault that her brother just decided to wash his hands off everything and dump it all on her. She’s always known Taesun was a charismatic man, able to convince people of anything at will. But for him to be able to convince the Royal Council to allow him to give up his position as the heir of the Park Clan is what baffles Eunmi. As far as she knows, surrendering your birthright was close to impossible. You are born with it and you shall die with it. Taesun’s never wanted to be King, she knew that much, but he’s seemingly embraced his fate after that time with the Order. She shakes her head as she goes through the archive for the past few months.

 She shakes her head as she reads the signed contract, wherein Taesun officially abdicates. No reason is stated, not even in the fine print. To her surprise, it’s merely an acceptance, more than an actual contract. There aren’t any stipulations, clauses, or anything that can offer her any insight as to why he did it. The council spent long nights talking about what they should do. Eunmi should know. After all, she fell asleep outside the meeting room, as she eavesdropped on the conversation.

 Eunmi goes years back, until she reaches the first meeting the council has after the return of Taesun after that nightmare-ish disappearance. Unlike the other meetings, this one is presented with evidence, transcripts, and to Eunmi’s disgust, blood samples. She curses as this particular case seems to use a lot of metaphors and codes. She hisses as it’s a code she’s unfamiliar with. From what she understands, the Council intended to use Taesun as a puppet and bullied him into coming out of hiding. The question is, how could they even do that? All this time, they knew where he and their mother were hiding and failed to inform the King and herself? As she’s about to take the record with her and run to the Council meeting room to scream at the elders, something catches her eye. It’s Taesun’s handwriting in blue ink from his favourite fountain pen that stands out from the rest of the transcript.

The sun had barely risen in Seoul, yet all sorts of voices already rang in the halls of Deoksugung Palace. Eunmi looked up from where she had just woken up. She had managed to fall asleep on her books once again. Groaning as she noticed that the notes she had made the night before were fainter than she remembered them, only to see that they had duplicated themselves on her face. She rubbed her eyes as she felt fatigue and stress weighing in her muscles down to her bones. Even as she strained to make sense of what everyone was screaming about outside, all she could hear were her father's anguished and angry yells. "Do something about this!" His voice rang across the halls of the entire palace. What happened now? She walked along the palace, trying to pick up bits and pieces of conversations among the palace servants. She squinted her eyes as she noticed one of the meeting room's doors was ajar. She peeped inside and saw her father and Taesun. Her usually composed, mild-mannered father was screaming all sorts of expletives and insults at his favorite son. This was the first time she had ever seen her father, the great King Jinhyuk this livid with anyone, not even when Eunmi had smashed their old car into Prince Charles' convoy when she was 16 and learning to drive. She shuddered as her father's anger let itself out. She was half-tempted to intervene in case things became violent in there, but she resisted. She admired the way Taesun handled their raging father, despite it being unlike anything they've seen in their entire lives. Eunmi felt her knees give out as her father continued screaming all sort of obscenities at Taesun.

As her father looked at the door, he had unfortunately caught her eye. Eunmi found herself frozen, despite every cell in her brain screaming at her to run away. Soon, her father was standing over her in the hallway, his eyes burning with shock and something else Eunmi couldn't understand. He merely stared at her before he threw two size 15 manila catalog envelope in her hands. "I'll deal with you later," he said before he walked away. She sensed her father's weak attempt to keep his voice neutral. Despite the number of obscenities he shouted at Taesun, he didn't exactly yell out what he was angry about. Angry wasn't enough to describe that look in the King's eyes. Whatever it was Taesun did must have been terrible and most likely damaging to the reputation of the Royal Family. This was probably only the second time Eunmi saw her father this broken; the first time being the disappearance of Taesun and their mother Queen Eunhye. Eunmi always recalled her father to be a man of steel, even when Uncle Jihoon, the former King, died. Her father had mourned, yet he was a pillar of strength for the rest of the kingdom. But now, that look in her father's eyes broke something in her. Eunmi suddenly found the ability to move her limbs again and ran back to her quarters before Taesun could see her there.

Back in her room, the first thing Eunmi did was to lock all doors and draw all curtains. Her heart was pounding for reasons she couldn't comprehend, as though her body knew what was happening before her mind did. She could hear the beat of her heart as she made some space on her desk for the envelope her father handed her. With slightly shaking hands, she gently pulled out the contents of the envelope. A file and photographs... She picked up the first photograph she could reach. It was a photo of Taesun in Thailand, taken back in 2009, according to the print information at the back. This was before the wedding. What are these doing here? The next one was a photo of Taesun and a woman; someone who looked too familiar to Eunmi. She dismissed the thought and looked at the rest of the photos. Most of the photos were of Taesun and this woman being all lovey-dovey with each other, and the looks in their eyes were those of a couple in love. There were several photos of them hugging and kissing. When Eunmi got to the next set of photos, they were photos of Taesun and that woman having sex with each other.The sight of her naked brother alone was enough to make Eunmi want to throw up, but seeing him doing things with another woman was just nauseating. She swallowed whatever lump she felt in her throat and looked at the photograph's date... This was also taken during Taesun's Thailand trip before the wedding. Oppa, what were you thinking?

She took out the second envelope, and saw photos of the woman, had apparently dyed her hair purple, going about her daily routine. According to the photographs, she was a nurse in Seoul National University, at the hospital where Taesun worked. As she looked at more photographs, a thought occurred to her. Could she be Oppa's ex-girlfriend? For the life of her, Eunmi couldn't recall her name... The lovely nurse was now spotted with three other girls, and they all seemed to be going to a club, based on what they were wearing. Their outfits actually remind me of Madonna's outfits back in Haru. I wonder how that fierce dance crew's been doing, ever since the Battle Royale 5 murder cases. Eunmi looked at Taesun's ex-girlfriend again... Now Eunmi recalled who she looked like, the sexy, fierce leader of her favorite dance crew back in Haru. Blinking away all sleep from her eyes, Eunmi turned to the file that had been buried in the photographs. All she needed was at the top of the file... Name: Ahn Heeyeon. That answered one question all right. Her brother's ex-girlfriend was the fierce leader of Haru's best dance crew, yet there were still a few missing links...

She ran a hand through her hair as she waited for what other bombshells these photos were going to drop on her. The newer photos showed the woman carrying around a little bundle, which more zoomed-in pictures revealed to be an adorable baby girl. Eunmi couldn't help the little squeal she let out despite herself. Is this baby really Taesun's? She frowned as she looked for a file in that envelope. And there it was... Ahn Hyoeun, born on September 8, 2009. Heeyeon was registered as a single mother, and if Eunmi knew anything about Heeyeon, the woman she used to respect back in Haru wasn't the type to just sleep around with anyone.