Gwangju Forest [WooSan]

Chapter 16

Wooyoung was absently staring at different things in the room while Soobin was minding his own business, sorting some medications and ingredients in their rightful places.

Only when the door opened, both the boy's attention was taken away from what they were doing. 
Sojung was standing in the door, slightly out of breath, looking at the two males before speaking up. "Did any of you see Jeongin?", she asked.
Both of the two slowly shook their heads in denial.

"Shouldn't he be sleeping?", Wooyoung then asked her as that was where he last saw the little boy.
"Yeah, he should. But when Sewoon went to check on them and bring them their food, Jeongin was gone" she quickly explained. "The others are already checking everything outside but there are still a lot of rooms to check too" she then continued. 

"I can help you look for him, I don't have anything else to do anyway" Wooyoung then offered, getting up from the bed. How hard can it be to find a little kid?

Turned out it was harder than expected... at least for Wooyoung because every sense was filled with unknown stimuli. But... shouldn't they be able to sense or smell one of their own kind?

Wooyoung was indecisive whether or not he should ask Sojung about it as he was pretty sure that they knew that he knew what they were, at least to a certain extent. But then again, maybe they didn't know yet and he would give himself away with that.

He didn't know how many of the apparently never-ending doors he opened when he was suddenly met with glowing red eyes in an otherwise completely dark room.
"Jeongin? Is that you?", he asked, not breaking eye contact.
There was no vocal answer to his question given, instead, the pair of eyes got closer slowly, the sound of claws on the ground, breaking the silence. 

Once Wooyoung was sure, the other was close enough, he kneeled down and held out his hand, feeling how his hand was sniffed.
With a quick motion, he grabbed the small body and lifted it up.

The wolf cub he was holding let out a small whine but quickly seemed to realize that Wooyoung didn't mean any harm to him. 

"Sojung? I think I found him" Wooyoung then called out, hoping that the girl would hear him.

When he heard steps approaching him, he already knew that it was at least two people.
And he was right, not only Sojung but also Yunho soon appeared on the corridor, looking at Wooyoung who was still holding the small wolf. 

Sojung seemed a bit more shocked than Yunho.
"You... you know?", she asked.
"Yeah, kinda" Wooyoung admitted with s small smile. "But let's talk about that later. Where should we bring Jeongin?", he quickly changed the topic as the animal started to get restless in his arms.
"You can give him to me, I'll bring him back to his room," Yunho said, so the other did as said, handing the taller the wolf and watching them go down the hall.

"So... how did you know?", Sojung dared to ask.
"Well, honestly, it was hard not to know," Wooyoung told her, "there were plenty of things that gave it away if you know about it" he then explained. 

"That means you're-" she begun but stopped herself, not even sure what exactly she wanted to ask.
"Yeah" he mumbled, looking at the wall next to him. "I guess I owe all of you an apology and an explanation now, don't I?", he sighed.

"I guess so... at least as soon as my parents know about it," the girl said. "But why didn't you tell us before?", she then questioned. 
"Well, I wasn't exactly sure how you would react if you knew," he said, honestly. 
"I mean, Soobin found out that you weren't human pretty fast, just not what exactly and he didn't treat you any different after that, right?", Sojung argued.
"You're right but that's exactly the point, he didn't find out exactly where I'm from..." Wooyoung mumbled. "But oh well, it's too late now anyway, I guess" he sighed. "we should better go to your parents already, I'm sure Yunho or one of the others told them already".

Sojung only nodded silently, slowly leading the way to her parent's office as they would be there most of the time.

When they got there, the two adults were there, just as expected, seemingly also already knowing what just happened. 

Before anyone could even say a word, Wooyoung went to the middle of the room and made a deep bow in front of the two clan leaders, who were rather surprised to see that kind of behaviour. 

Once he sat up, he was also the first to speak.
"I deeply apologize for not being truthful to you" he stated. "You probably already know that I'm not human either, just like you. And speaking truthfully, I am also an animagus, just like you, yet, in fear of my own life, I cannot tell who I am" he continued, "but as a promise that I don't mean any harm to you, I'd like to give you this" he said before taking off his golden necklace and placing it in front of him on the ground. "I can't speak for my clan as a whole but I swear, that I come in peace and that I am ready to fight against my own if that means to protect you".

Everyone in the room stared down on the necklace. A golden one with a golden pendant was only something a clan's heir was allowed to have. And giving one's necklace to another was the highest peace-offering any clan member could bring.

Mrs Jeong cleared her throat before speaking up.
"I acknowledge you offering Wooyoung but there is no need for it. You already saved my daughters life, protected our cubs from unknown danger and now also helped to find Jeongin. Soobin also told us about your plan to leave because you thought you were causing too much trouble to us. We already came to the conclusion that you don't mean any harm to us" she said. 

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a new chapter, ayyyyy 

I hope y'all liked it,,, some secrets are now revealed~

See you next time,
Phi ✨