BTS In Wonderland

Red King

(Thank you to all of our fallen soldiers who were lost on this day. Whether you are a father, son, mother or daughter, you have risked your life for the betterment of this world and you have not done it in vain. I dedicate this chapter to all those who were lost. This chapter is a very sensitive one and may trigger you if you have lost a  loved one. Please read at your own risk.)

I headed in the direction of the castle. I knew I had a long way ahead of me and I couldn't stop. I was determined to get there and talk to The Red King. I needed to get home and fast.

I finally reached the end of the grassy field. I put my hands on my knees trying to catch my breath. I looked up to the mountain that was waiting for my ascension.

I could see that there was a path that went all the way up the mountain. I started to feel flustered again seeing the ascent that awaited me.

"No! I can do this! I have to do this!" I said trying to convince myself.

I started walking across the rocky dirt to where the trail began. The closer I got to the mountain the bigger the rocks became. I looked up at the mountain, "I going to have to watch my step." I did not want to be like these rocks and find a fast way back to the bottom.

I got to where the path started, took a big breath, and my journey began. I pushed myself to keep going up the mountain even though I was tired. A quarter of the way and decided to sing to get my mind off of how far I had to go and to keep going.

I started flailing my arms around like I was a rapper,

"All the underdogs in the world, a day may come when we lose,"

I started to feel hyped up and energetic,

"but today it is not today! Today we fight! OW!"

I hummed the rest of the song since I only remembered the chorus. I knew the meaning of the song, and that kept me going.

"Hey! Not today. Hey! Not today. Hey! Not today. Chong! Jojun! Balsa!"

Halfway up the mountain and decided I should take a break. The sun was fleeing quickly, and I needed to start a fire. I found some sticks around me and some dead leaves. I thought back to when my dad had taken me camping.

I rubbed the sticks together until smoke started and then blew on them until flames burst out. I put the leaves on the fire until it was roaring. I leaned against a rock and watched the sun disappear behind the mountains and the glow from the rays of light was indescribable. I had missed special moments like this with my dad.

I sat comfortably feeling the warmth from the fire when another song had popped into my head,

"Gwaenchanha ja hana dul set hamyeon ijeo,

Seulpeun gieok modu jiwo,

Nae soneul japgo useo."

My eyes got watery as I thought of the meaning of the song. It was the song that my dad had helped me memorize. It had got me through the tough times after my he had passed away.

"Geuraedo joheun nari apeuro manhgireul,

Nae mareul mitneundamyeon hana dul set,

Mitneundamyeon hana dul set." 

Tears started running down my face. I hadn't thought about my dad for a long time. It was hard to think about him not being around. I had gotten really good at locking up my feeling and memories. This journey had made me do a lot of internal reflexing and I'm not if its a good thing or not.

Thinking of the words of the song had reignited those emotions in me.

'It's okay come on when I say one two three forget it,

Erase all sad memories hold my hand and smile,

Hoping for more good days,

If you believe what I say then one, two, three',

I had curled up into a ball and cried myself to sleep.

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I woke up to a ray of light beaming me in the face. I rubbed my eyes and started to mentally prepare myself for the Red King. The sun suddenly faded, I looked up to see a man standing in front of me.

I gasped as I noticed he was wearing red armor and had a staff in his hand. I turned around to see that I was surrounded by guards.

"What's going on?" I said shakily.

"You're in The Red Kings private domain!" The guard said with final tone.

"What are you talking about? I'm on a mountain! The Red King owns a whole mountain?" I said confused.

The guards looked at each other confused as if I had said the stupidest thing in the world. "You're not on a mountain. You're in The Red Kings garden!"

"I'm where?!" I said in disbelief. "What did I do, sleepwalk to the top?"

I stood up to see what the guard meant. I looked around and saw that I was actually in the farthest part of what was a garden. The Red Kings garden! I was in the corner near a bunch of bushes and a 3-foot wall behind me that went around the garden. Behind the wall was the edge of a cliff, and you could see that I was in fact at the top of the mountain. I could see the valley, trees and that one missed step could have been the end of me. In a small pile in front of me was smoldering leaves and a trail of leaves from the bushes to the fire pit.

The realization started to set in, "I'm in the King's garden!"

"That's what I said! We saw smoke and came to see where it was coming from and found you!"

I stood there trying to wrap my head around the idea of out how I got up the other half of the mountain and ended up in the garden.

"OW!" I screamed as I rubbed my arm where the guard poked me with his staff. "Get moving! The king wants to see you!"

OH MY GOD! I'm going to see the king. I couldn't believe this. This was my chance to get home finally. Then Yeon's voice reminded me, 'The Red King is not one to be messed with', I have to figure out what kind of king he is before I can ask for a favor or he could very well tell me no.

As I looked around the garden there were many shades of red. Not too light to be pink and not too dark to be maroon. There were all types of flowers, in shapes and sizes, all of them in different shades of RED. The roof was also red, and the red brick path we were walking on. Even the curtains in the windows were red.

We walked through the entryway and into the castle. The hallways were long, and there was a luxurious red carpet that went all over the castle. I wonder if this is what BTS felt like walking the red carpet at award shows.

I started to giggle thinking about walking with BTS on the red carpet, that I didn't realize we were coming up to an enormous door at the end of the hallway.

I woke up from my imagination when the guard yelled, "Stop here!"

The guard walked up to the door and started to knock loudly on it.

An authoritative throaty voice came from behind the door, "Who dares disturb me in the middle of the day?"

"Sire, we have brought the intruder that started the fire." the guard says.

"Lovely, bring 'em in." The voice said from the other side.

My eyes widen as his voice changed almost instantly from an authoritative to an almost sinister one.