Gwangju Forest [WooSan]

Chapter 17

While everyone was still looking at the necklace, Mrs Jeong and Wooyoung looked each other right into their eyes.

"You said you fear for your life if you reveal your identity. How come?", the woman then asked. 
"As you have probably already noticed, or were told by Soobin, that my powers are restricted in terms of healing and energy on your territory as our clans are no allies... You probably remember the great war years back, right? Well, after it ended my parents decided not to make any peace contracts with other clans other than those who we were allied to. Back then, I didn't really understand much of it and I honestly didn't care about it either back then but the older I got the more I realised what kind of sick idea they had. The other, smaller clans around us were afraid of us so there was no need for any of those contracts with them because they were too afraid to attack us anyway..." he explained, taking a deep breath "when I got older I and a friend of an allied clan started to rebel against our parents, not wanting them to get through with their weird kind of democratic centralism that they were frightening the others with. Of course, we didn't come far with it, just getting disciplined over and over again to make us proper successors for our clans that would continue to lead like them... not like they succeeded with that... And well, after my parents thought it would be a good idea to arrange a marriage I decided to run away... and now I'm here" he ended with another deep breath.

He knew, with as much as he just told them he could've probably just told them his heritage to begin with but it was too late now.

"Do you fear that we would bring you back to your family and they would punish you for running away or are you afraid that we would kill you after knowing who you are?", the woman asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Both, probably..." Wooyoung admitted, breaking the eye contact now for the first time since he spoke up. 

"Well, since you said that you rebelled against your parents for their way of ruling already shows that you aren't like them. And considering that you were probably pretty young when the war was taking place and you didn't participate in any fights there's no need to blame or hate you for what your clan did" Mrs Jeong said as she got up from her chair and walked towards Wooyoung with slow and graceful steps. "You're still just a kid after all". 

As she kneeled down in front of Wooyoung she carefully took the necklace into her hands before putting it around Wooyoung's neck again.
"I'll count on your promise but you don't have to give this to me," she told him in a whisper to which he was only able to nod slightly.

"Soobin", she started as she got up again, "please get a room ready for Wooyoung so he can rest a bit more" she ordered the medic to do, who only nodded before leaving the room silently. 

She also dismissed Yunho and Sojung as they were still sitting at their places before speaking to Wooyoung again.
"This might be a lot to ask all of a sudden and on such short notice... but you might have noticed that Sojung wants to learn how to fight. The thing is, that most mentors do not think that they would be able to do so due to her status. But after seeing you fight and stand against Hongjoong you proved yourself worthy to teach her. And since you two seemed to get along well, I'd like to ask you if you would take the position as her mentor" she requested, taking Wooyoung quite by surprise.
"Do you really think that it would be a good idea?", he questioned, his voice unsure.
"You showed us that you are able to fight, with more than one kind of weapon as well. So if you would be ready to train her, we'd gladly ask you to be her mentor" she reassured him.

"May I ask what element she has?", Wooyoung then wanted to know.
"We don't know yet," Mrs Jeong said with a sigh "we only know her eyes go green but there are plenty of elements with that colour".
Wooyoung nodded at that information and tried to think back if he had seen any signs of it but he couldn't make out anything.
"It will probably still take some time until we find out as she's still young but she's been bugging us for so long about being trained so she could defend herself. And maybe she'll be satisfied if she would at least would be allowed to know some self-defence" the woman then told him. "Just think about it, we'll be here to listen to your decision".

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meh, bad end for such a short chapter but,,,, ig its alright, eh?

Welp, anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter nonetheless :)

See you next time,
Phi 🎈