HWARANG Rewritten✅

37. Assassins in Seonmoon

Chapter 37.
Assassins in Seonmoon.

Ji-dwi and Sa-do entered the dining hall side by side. Their roommates were shocked to see the two of them. Due to their unspoken fight, the others rarely saw the two of them together anymore.

"Someone looks happy," Seon-woo sang teasingly, nudging Sa-do with his shoulder as she sat down beside him. Sa-do narrowed her eyes at him accusatorily. "You knew." The other boy nodded shamelessly earning an annoyed huff from her and an eye roll from Ji-dwi.

Soo-ho glanced between the two before guessing, "so the cold war is over, right?" Sa-do glanced at Ji-dwi once before nodding.

Ji-dwi noticed Ban-ryu's glare on him and sighed. "I am sorry about how I acted. I won't hurt her again. I promise," he assured with a surrendering gesture. Ban-ryu looked at Sa-do doubtfully for confirmation before giving a small nod.

"Well, it's a relief you two made up. It was getting difficult to keep up with you guys," Yeo-wool admitted frankly, sounding relieved.

...

As they were heading back to their barracks after their meal, Sa-do pulled Ji-dwi back, falling behind the others. "What are you thinking about?" On noticing Ji-dwi's feigned confused look she stated, "don't try that with me. I can see you planning something."

Ji-dwi smiled. She really did know him better than he did. Throwing an arm around her shoulders, he waved off her worries. "It's nothing important. Just something I need to do. It will be quick." Sa-do didn't ask more questions, knowing it would be pointless, as he seemed determined to do whatever he had in mind.

...

That night, Ji-dwi sneaked out to pay Park Young-shil a visit and collect his stolen bracelet. The main reason for revealing his face to Gakan was so that he would stop trying to take down Seon-woo and it would take him some time to fix everything before he shifted his attack on him. Ji-dwi had to pull all the strings within that limited time gap. He was very serious when he vowed to kill him one day. After everything he had done with Sa-do and Silla, this man had no other fate than to face death.

The same night, a group of assassins had infiltrated Seonmoon in an attempt to kill Seon-woo, who had been alone at that time. Fortunately for him, Soo-ho, Sa-do, Yeo-wool, Dan-se and Su-jin had come to his rescue. Sa-do met a pair of familiar eyes as she fought off an assassin. She and Yeo-wool took one side while Soo-ho and Seon-woo took the other, Dan-se and Su-jin stayed back and shot down any intruder that got too close.

"Gae-Sae!"

Sa-do spun back at Soo-ho's urgent call to find Seon-woo on the ground. "Seon-woo!" Immediately, she and Yeo-wool were beside him with Dan-se and Su-jin standing guard.

"Protect Seon-woo," Soo-ho ordered and the others nodded before joining the fight again. They won and had immediately taken Seon-woo away to the medical room and allowed him to rest.

...

 
During dinner the following day, Yeo-wool remarked, "is it a metaphorical expression to say Ban-ryu has returned to his old self, since he is sitting over there?" as he nodded towards their roommate who was sitting with his usual group of friends instead of with them.

"Metaphorical my ass," Han-seong grumbled with a frown, "he is expressing it directly."

Sa-do nudged him with her elbow. "Aren't you going to eat?" She sighed when Soo-ho got up to talk to their missing roommate. She could sense the beginning of an argument and the "where were you last night?" only proved her intuition to be true.

"Don't concern yourself with my whereabouts," Ban-ryu said carelessly, barely sparing Soo-ho a glance.

"Some assassins entered Seonmoon last night. Seon-woo almost died," Soo-ho informed before musing accusatorily, "but I didn't see you at all through the night. Is this a coincidence?"

The other Hwarang lowered his chopsticks, finally looking up. "Whatever you imagine has nothing to do with me," he insisted insincerely, making it more unbelievable. "Instead, get out of my way. I lost my appetite since I am looking at Queen Dowager's loyal dog," Ban-ryu sneered and his friends gave amused laughs as if it was the funniest joke ever.

Soo-ho didn't even flinch as he confronted, "are you running away again? As the bad guy?"

"I am warning you. Don't pretend to be my friend."

Soo-ho was solemn when he vowed, "you must not be related to this incident at all. Because if you are, in the slightest, then you are a bastard. So I will kill you."

Sa-do did consider intervening, but Seon-woo arrived at that moment, making the whole dining hall go quiet. A fellow Hwarang handed him a food tray and he thanked him before sitting beside Han-seong who gave him an adoring smile. Soo-ho joined them too.

"Hyung, how are you feeling?" Sa-do asked casually, trying to break the awkward silence.

"Better than before. What's up?" Seon-woo said conversationally as the others continued to stare at him, making him feel uncomfortable.

Han-seong leaned towards him and said in a dramatically lowered voice, "because an assassin came in the other night, the atmosphere totally feels like you are being acknowledged as the King."

Sa-do pulled him back by the collar, at the same time Yeo-wool slapped his arm. "Don't pay attention to him," the latter suggested while the former pointed a chopstick at the youngest Hwarang threateningly as she warned, "just eat quietly."

"Are you," Soo-ho started before quickly switching to an informal speech on receiving a weird glance from the supposed King, "alright?"

Instead of replying, Seon-woo just remarked, "you know that you are also acting weird, right?" as he scooped a spoonful of rice into his mouth.

"I know."

Han-seong placed a piece of side dish on Seon-woo's rice bowl. "Eat this. It's delicious," he insisted making the Hwarang give him a fond smile.

"Since we are talking about it, are you really His Majesty?" Yeo-wool asked and continued despite the warning glances from the others, "I mean, well, you can give us a hint." Simultaneously Soo-ho elbowed him roughly and Sa-do kicked him from under the table while Han-seong glared at him making Yeo-wool yelp in surprise and pain.

Seon-woo lowered the spoon before it could reach his mouth and put it down. "What?" Soo-ho questioned, pretending to be clueless. "I am not hungry." He left ignoring Sa-do's call of plea.

The three of them glared at the culprit who looked away culpably. Nevertheless, he faced all their angered wrath as Han-seong nearly stabbed him with his chopsticks, Sa-do chucked a piece of yellow radish at his face and Soo-ho kicked him with an annoyed huff.

So much for a peaceful dinner.