December 30, 2020

Kakatria, Geumsa

Robin Nieminen finds himself awakening to a bitter cold on his skin. He blinks his eyes open, finding his vision seeing black with a little dim light at the bottom of his sight. He makes to sit up, but there is a clanking of chains.

What the hell? Where am I?

Robin lifts his head up as best as he can, trying to see under the blindfold that has been placed over his eyes.

"Hey, he's awake!" a gruff voice calls out. "Summon, King Hoseok! Let him know that the prisoner is alive."

Realization settles into Robin's body as he recalls what happened to him at his house. He remembers racing to the front door, flinging it open to see his singing rival standing there, holding a blue ornament with music notes on it.

"Hey, Studio Stealer," WooJin snarls at him, before forcing his way into the house. "I'm going to make sure that you pay for what you've done to me. You see this," He holds up the ornament. "You're going to sing to it and then it's going to take you to a magical place because tonight and tomorrow are full moons and the legend states that its magical can only work under the conditions of one."

Robin steps back, trying to get away from him, but he backs into a wall and WooJin seizes his wrist.

"Go ahead, take it. Sing to it."

Robin screams and kicks out, nailing WooJin in the shin. "You're crazy and mad!" He races into his living room, tripping over a cord to his laptop and falls to the floor, biting his lip and drawing blood.

"That was a scream, not a high note, sadly. I know you can do it." 

WooJin is on him, before he can even recover. He's found some kind of ribbon that he uses to wrap around Robin's arms, pasting them to his side. Then he binds Robin's ankles together.

"You really think you can outsmart me and escape?" WooJin snarls.

"I was going to tell you sorry, but...you're a madman about being famous and being in the spotlight!" Robin grunts out, twisting in the ribbon that is wrapped around him. "Why are you doing this?"

WooJin ties one more black ribbon around Robin's wrists.

"Because I'm a madman for success," WooJin snarls back at him, staring into his eyes with cold, dark pupils as he pulls the knot tightly into place to secure it. "I love the fame and the worldwide spotlight. Now, you're going to do what I say, right?"

Robin glares at him. "In your dreams, Jin."

WooJin spits on the ground and hauls him up and drags him around, dumping him onto the couch. "I mean, if you don't sing for me, I can always break your fingers, torture you to death with songs you hate...find other means. I'm sure you've got a nice sharp knife somewhere that I can use..."

"Okay, fine, fine." Robin looks at him, worriedly. "Give me the ball and I'll sing to it."

"I thought you'd come around when I threatened your life," WooJin snorts, stuffing the ornament ball into Robin's bound hands.

"What do I sing?" Robin asks, his heart beginning to pound against his chest.

"Anything that comes to your mind, song-artist." WooJin rounds the couch and comes to stand behind Robin. "Anything your musical brain can conjure up works perfect." He leans down, his warm breath tickling Robin's ears.

Robin gulps, uncomfortably shifting in the ribbon, which is around his arms, wrists and ankles. He closes his eyes.

"You have five seconds, before I walk to the kitchen and find a knife to use on you," WooJin whispers to him.

Robin licks his lips, struggling to calm his racing heart. "It's kind of difficult to think tied up like this, but I'll try..."

WooJin straightens up, looking down at him with a smug grin as Robin, keeping his eyes closed, begins to sing in a beautiful falsetto tone:

"A flower blooms in the meadow,

But it still cannot surpass the beauty that I see in you

One by one the petals fall

And I long to see your face again."

Robin pauses, thinking and then launches into the same chorus that Jimin had sung to the ball. The same song filling his mind. For a few seconds, WooJin is amazed and entranced by the vocals, the falsetto and Robin's smooth pop voice. It really is something.

"No one can love you, like I do

No one can swoon your heart like I can

I'm the one for you,

The one that you want and need

I'm the one who's there when you need it

So, love me like I love you."

On the last note, WooJin grabs Robin by the hair and wrenches his head backward, causing him to lose the key and scream with pain.

Robin's eyes fly open and his hands fly up instinctively with the ornament. WooJin squeals with delight as the ornament glows in his hands and a sudden gust of wind slams into Robin's face, knocking him out cold.

Robin returns to the cold cell, the blindfold still over his eyes. The chains that are clanking noisily to each movement he makes, replace the ribbon that had held him as WooJin's prisoner.

"Where am I?" he calls out to the person who'd shouted about summoning the king.

"You're in the dungeons of Kakatria for a really bad crime. It's been brought to our attention that you stole an artifact of great importance from us and therefore must pay by getting your voice taken away by the king."

"WHAT?" Robin gasps, still struggling to see through the blindfold. "I don't steal! I'm innocent! I was tricked into being sent here, I swear! Let me go!"

The gruff voice scoffs at him, unamused by pity. "Proof doesn't lie." 

Eventually, after a few tense seconds, another voice comes. This one sounds a little familiar but Robin can't place where he's heard it before. Footsteps shuffle across the stone floor to him and then he can feel the presence of another person squatting down to him. The blindfold is finally yanked down from his eyes.

He finds himself looking at a tall man with bright red hair that fades from black roots. A golden crown is nestled into his hair, on top of his head. He has a large emerald stone ring on his middle finger and is holding onto a golden snake staff with a black end. He is eyeing Robin with a delicate interest.

"Please, I didn't do anything," Robin begs.

"Relax. I will be the judge of that. I'm Kim Hoseok and I know all. I see all. So I know who you are and what you've done." He brings his staff close to his face, the snake's eyes lighting up red.

Robin eyes the staff and the glowing snake eyes with trepidation.

"A classic case of the wrong place at the wrong time is what I see. The one who sent me a note telling me about you stealing the golden dragon eye are false. Just a dastardly move to land you in jail and get you away from...the universe known as Earth."

Robin bites his lip, stunned by the man.

"I am the ruler of Kakatria for a reason. No innocent people are harmed." He moves his staff, muttering incoherently to it and commands the snake eyes to burn the chains that are holding Robin as prisoner. "I'm terribly sorry that you've been accused. No one harmed you, did they? I hope the chains weren't too much of a discomfort, nor the blindfold."

Robin glances over the king's shoulder to the guard. He can see that it is a young red-headed man like the king. Maybe his son. He shifts his eyes back to look at the man before him and shakes his head.

"I think I'll be okay." Robin rubs his red wrists.

"Good, good. You may be on your way then." Kim Hoseok, the king, returns to his feet, leaning on his staff.

Robin gets up to his feet, eyeing the king with a mixture of shock, awe, confusion and relief. "Uh, thank you, your majesty."

"Please, call me Kim," the king says and steps to the side, allowing Robin to walk by him and out of the dungeon cell.

As he walks by, something odd catches his eye. There is a strange look the man seems to give off that perplexes Robin even more. There's a hidden skepticism behind his eyes and expression. It's like when villains give the hero a ten second head start before they attack them, gaging their vulnerability.

For this reason, Robin picks up his pace, as he exits the cell.

It isn't before he reaches the end of the hallway, that he can hear the king, Kim Hoseok, faintly command the guard, "Kill him. No one escapes Kakatria, no matter what. Innocent or not. Knowledgable or not, he knows too much." And then the gruff-voiced guard is hot on his tail, chasing him down hall after hall as he seeks to escape the prison.