Behind These Walls | Park Banryu

IV

Following the woman into the palace I am greeted by the queen and a young woman standing next to her.

"Areum, this is Princess Sookmyung. This is who you will be going against in the test." the queen says.

I bow my head. "Tonight, when the sun falls. Come to the entrance of the palace. A sword will be provided. Don't be late." I bow one last time before leaving.

__________

Taking the sword out of the cabinet, I stared at it for a few seconds. Stepping outside, I take the sword and start practicing.

I didn't know a lot about sword fighting but I tried to learn as much as I could. Sometimes I would peek over the walls of the palace to see what the hwarangs did in training.

I ate a small meal as I kept overthinking all the possible things that could happen. I could be beaten, I could even be injured or killed? Or I could perhaps win.

I rested my body, letting myself calm down for a while. The night soon came and I took a deep breath.

Walking through the gates of the royal property, there were the hwarangs, Princess Sookmyung and Queen Jiso.

The queen made eye contact with me and nodded to the man beside her. He made his way to me and handed me a sword. Queen Jiso stood up.

"Do you pledge to fight fairly and accept the result, no matter what?" Queen Jiso asks.

"Yes, your majesty!" The princess and I exclaim. The queen holds up her sword. "Let the fight begin!"

Princess Sookmyung faces me and bows as I do the same. We draw out our swords and get into position. I took a deep breath.

Sookmyung charged at me, aiming for my head but I quickly dodge it and aim for her back but she swiftly turns around and blocks my hit. We push off each other and back up before going at each other again.

The sound of metal on metal was heard loud and clear. I didn't know how long it had been but it felt like hours. I was breathing heavily and was sweating but I didn't stop.

Suddenly Sookmyung fakes a hit but then brings her sword down to slash my leg. I stumble and fall back. She approaches me in an attempt to stab me but I was quick to roll over and get back up and slice her arm. She holds her arm for a few seconds before running at me again.

Blocking every hit she took, I felt my body get weaker. She was able to push my sword over with hers and slash me on my side. I stumble back and groan.

Banryu POV

Princess Sookmyung slashes her sword against Areum's side and I couldn't help but feel worried. Areum was a strong fighter but I didn't know much longer she'd last.

Sookmyung runs toward Areum but she swiftly picks her sword up and blocks her hit. I let out a sigh of relief.

Areum POV

Sookmyung jumped over me but I was able to cut her leg. She tried to land but ended up falling over. I approached her as she laid on the ground. I didn't know what to do, but I saw her sword laying near her. I kicked it away from her and stared down at her.

I lifted my sword up and plunged it down towards her head. She squinted and moved her head. The sword landed a centimetre away from her head. She opened her eyes and stared at me with her cold eyes.

"Areum, you have passed." The queen announces. I extend my hand out to help the Princess up but she ignores me and gets up on her own and walks over to the side of Queen Jiso.

_________

"You will stay in the house near the hwarang house. Bring any belongings you need. Your days off will be the same days as the hwarangs. Do you understand?" I nod.

"Yes your majesty."

I walk outside and I go into a daze. Why me? I didn't even ask for this. All of a sudden I bump into someone.

It was Banryu.

"O-oh sorry. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." I stutter. Shit, why'd I stutter.

"I told you to watch where you're going." he says coldly and I nod, apologizing again.

"You're a pretty good fighter," he says.

"Oh thanks." I blush. He looked down at me and he furrowed his eyebrows a little. I look down at my bloody hanbok and I gasp. I forgot about my wounds that I didn't even feel any pain, but now I do. Ugh.

"Um, I'll get going now- ouch." I groan from the pain in my side. Suddenly I felt my body being lifted. Banryu picked me up and carried me in a room where Ah-ro was.

He laid me on the bed and gave me a small smile and left.

"Did THE Park Banryu smile at you? He even carried you here? " Ah-ro says, shocked.

"I guess he did." I smile to myself.

"I still don't like him though." Ah-ro rolled her eyes.

"Anyways, I saw you fighting. I was so scared. I thought you were gonna die." Ah-ro whined.

"Yah! I'm not that weak." I hit her arm.

"Whatever, congrats though. You passed." she smiled at me but I just shrugged.

"Yeah.." I sigh.

"Let's get your wounds treated now."

____________

Banryu POV

"Did you see how good she was? Not to mention she was super pretty!" Suho exclaims.

Yeo wool chuckles. "Don't you like the queen?" Suho sighs.

"Well, yeah but that girl was so pretty and skilled."

I shake my head and lay down in my bed. "Where were you?" Suho asks me.

"None of your business." I reply bluntly.

"Whatever. Anyways, I need to know her name." Suho continues to swoon over Areum.

"Well she's gonna be teaching us now so you'll get to know her name tomorrow." Jidwi says.

"Areum." I say out of the blue. "What?" Yeo wool tilts his head. "Her name is Areum." I respond.

"How do you know? Did you assault her too?" Yeo wool chuckles and I sit up. "W-what? No." Suho looks up at me. "Too? Who did he even assault?"

"No one!" I shout before aggressively laying back down.