It wasn’t hard, soon enough she was inside, writing out a cheque to her mother to the value of most of her pay, leaving enough to survive until the following one came in. Ari was hunched over a table, an envelope next to her with the address of her childhood home written neatly on the front, while in front of her sat the cheque, her attention entirely on it, until there was a noise behind her. 

She spun around on the ball of her foot, her hand not so secretly slamming down atop the cheque, covering the recipient and number on the piece of paper while she stared at the person behind her, recognising them from the palace.

“You’re a bit far from home aren’t you?”

Korea, unfortunately, had formed quite the reputation for itself over recent years. A multitude of PR disasters at the hands of the King that left Dae-Jung frantically scrambling to mend damaged ties before they broke. A country’s strength lay in her allies, as much as his father would have his subjects believe it came from solitary growth. Trade, research, mutual development... these things made a successful country. For this to occur, however, someone had to build those bonds.

Queen to E6.

Dae-Jung sat alone in the library, eyes locked on the board that only drew half his attention. Playing against oneself in chess required considerable mental agility in order to break the mind into the two sides, lest strategies leach between metaphorical foes... it had always been Dae-Jung’s method for distancing his mind from the matters of state.

His mind was drawn away from the game, however, as a figure sat across from him at the table. Dae-Jung lifted his eyes to the new arrival, offering a polite smile as he straightened. “I apologize, how rude of me to hold the board away all for myself... Would you care for a game?”