1. A day in Arauna

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It was just one of the regular days in the kingdom of Arauna. The town filled with hustle and bustle of the morning market. The shopkeepers hawk at the bystanders waiting to sell products they falsely advertised by vociferous barking. All of them intermingling with each other coming out as one loud noise.

He sighed audibly at the squawking that aggravated his headache, agitated at the screaming sellers or at the world in general. He stopped in his tracks when his searching eyes found the well acquainted shop that he was looking for. Adjusting the hood of his old worn out cotton overcoat to cover more of the right side of the face, he held the thin material over his head between his canines to impede it from slipping off.

With unchanged expression of irritation he paraded towards the infamous fish shop Yerin, his sister, had asked him to go to. The mild headache exponentially increased the more he approached the said shop as the screaming fish vendor's voice boomed in his ears like long fingernails screached on a smooth table.

He scurried through the rush of people trying to buy and sell, yelling like maniacs. Informing the kinds of fish Yerin had asked him to bring, he simultaneously took out the pre-counted yang coins to pay the vendor.

"Here's your fish, gentleman. That'll be 50 yangs"

His eyebrows met each other in the middle at the mention of this number but turned back in such a short interlude that even the gods above might not have caught it.
Handing over the 48 Yangs already in his palm he initiated his hand towards the overcoat pocket only to accidentally elbow a young man's gut causing him to drop the jute bag he was holding and the contents to disgorge on the muddy ground.

"My extreme apologies, sir. This headache today is making me act like an asinine. Forgive me for my carelessness." He bent down, knees cracking, and abruptly started filling the contents back into the bag with his left hand and the other to hold the hood in it's place on the face.

"It's perfectly fine, mister. Don't fret over it. I'm an expert at dropping things all the time." The man replied with a smile that had the other involuntarily mirroring the same.

"I'm Namjoon, by the way. Kim Namjoon. I'm the assistant culinarian at the royal house." the said man extended his both his hands, one to hold the now filled jute bag back and the other to shake with the apologetic man whose face was barely visible.

"Wow. That explains the copious amounts of fish you've bought. Name's Jeon Jungkook." He shook the offered hand before turning to the vendor who had a scowl etched on his face most probably from the delay the brief introduction was causing.

"Ah, I'm sorry for making you wait, sir. Here's 4 yang. Please keep the change as an apology for your wasted time." jungkook smiled handing a four yang coin, picking up the wrapped fish and bowing to the old vendor and the man he now knows as Namjoon before heading away.

"What a polite young man. Customers like him make my day." the old man awed watching the broad back of the charmer who left his stall, addressing nobody in general.

"I agree with you, Uncle. We need people like him at the royal house. I wish he had told me where he worked. I would've gladly suggested him to Sir Yoongi."

Jungkook having escaped out from the cobweb of ration market onto the lone fieldtrack towards his cottage finally puts a hand into the worn out pocket of the dusty cotton overcoat taking out a rust colored pouch. "Culinarian at the royal house, huh?"

He emptied it on the wrapped fish paper, putting all the coins into his pocket before throwing the pouch away. "A loaded culinarian, indeed."

****

"Namjoon! You had one job! One job! And you manage to mess it up? I did expect you to throw or break atleast one of the things i asked you to bring but i did not foresee would you loose your wallet! Uh! I feel like I'm aging faster because of you." The head chef banged his palms on the kitchen shelf where lying beside was the infamous jute bag with a few ingredients for the royal feast ensuing in three days.

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