40 Thirty-nine

Donggun.

Hanseong, The Kingdom of Joseon.

1774.

Three days before Daeboreum.

The whole kingdom was preparing for the Daeboreum festival. The streets were filled with kids running and playing. Donggun was walking with his childhood friend Iksoon. Their friendship faced many hardships, yet their different personalities helped them to overcome anything got in their way.

Donggun was courageous, ambitious, aggressive and sometimes impulsive, on the other hand, Iksoon was affectionate, calm in nature and sensible. Iksoon's future was a clear and obvious path since childhood; being a monk was the only path that suited his calm personality.

As the head of the royal guard of the crown prince's palace, Donggun's life was filled with duties. He had a strong persona at the royal palace and close relationships with the royals and the ministers. He was proficient at using swords and martial arts. He came from a family that served the royal palace for decades.

After they walked from the early morning for a couple of hours, each went to different roads. Donggun went to Jeongjeon palace to check on the guards there. He was standing inside the main hall of the palace chatting with one of the guards. "All of them in their places, right?" Donggun said. The guard answered him yet Donggun didn't seem to follow their conversation.

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He held his head from a sudden sharp headache conquered his head. He groaned from the intense pain and then collapsed unconscious. The guard took him inside followed by the rest of the guards. Donggun wasn't moving and for a moment they thought he was dead, yet his slow breathing denied it. "Get the doctor now!" one of the guards shouted.

Two days before Daeboreum.

After the guards informed the royal palace of Donggun's condition, the crown prince ordered his doctors to treat him. In a matter of a few hours, his room was filled with doctors from the royal palace. No one knew what happened to him, he was a healthy man that never complained of any type of illness before, yet his unforeseen collapse was a real shock to everyone.

While the doctors were talking to one another in the room, Donggun's whole body began to tremble and heavy sweat covered his body soaking his clothes. Everyone ran to his side examining him fast to know what was happening to him but the moment they began to touch him, Donggun's trembles stopped. The prince's personal doctor told the rest of the doctor to leave and stayed the whole day at Donggun's room examined him for hours nonstop as the prince ordered.

Before midnight.

Iksoon left the temple to visit Donggun after one of the guards informed him. When he went to Donggun's place everyone looked tense especially the oldest doctor. Iksoon felt that something wasn't right; The doctor refused to talk to him and called for another doctor to come. When the other doctor came both checked Donggun and talked for a while before letting Iksoon ask anything. "What is wrong with him?!" Iksoon asked the oldest doctor.

The doctor looked defeated moving his eyes from Iksoon face to Donggun's body that was burning hot. "I don't know what is happening to him, I don't know the reason; none of us know, I check everything possible but can't put my hand on the cause that put him in this state."

It was the first time for the doctors to look that much confused and defeated. The doctors went to the corner of the room to discuss Donggun mystery collapse. The maids were sitting beside Donggun's bed checking his body temperature. As she was putting a cold towel on Donggun's forehead; suddenly his body began to spasm and jerk repeatedly. The maid shouted for the doctors causing them to jump and ran to his side. They tried to hold Donggun's body from sudden movements.

The doctors yelled at the maids and their helpers to hold him still. Minutes later Donggun's body became more stable; Iksoon held his arm while everyone was busy running inside the room. The tension was suffocating everyone inside, Iksoon tightened his grasp over Donggun's arm praying for his friend to wake up.

Something flickered over his arm Iksoon looked at it; a word in Hangul appeared boldly over it. He called the doctor to look at it, but it was gone. Iksoon immediately knew that something was about to happen to Donggun. The doctors asked him to leave and that they will update him if something happened.

Iksoon refused to leave and told the oldest doctor what he saw on Donggun's arm. The doctor seemed nervous and he ignored Iksoon's questioning eyes. He told the other doctors to stay with Donggun and told Iksoon to follow him outside. The doctor was an old one with a great reputation of knowledge and wisdom; he was the royals' personal doctor and one of the few men who were the king's confidant.

The doctor was shaking and breathing fast. Iksoon eyed his nervous state and said, "Is there something you want to tell me?" the doctor hesitantly looked at him before getting his face closer to Iksoon's. His eyes followed the doctor who stopped when his mouth was inches away from Iksoon's ears.

The doctor whispered to Iksoon what was making him that nervous. Iksoon listened carefully. His eyes widened with each word came out of the doctor's mouth. His face went pale as if all blood was drained out of his body. The doctor slowly moved, stepped one step away and said, "I am an old man… but I know what I saw."

Iksoon swallowed hard, his mind couldn't form an answer, what the doctor said was something completely out of the ordinary, something out of this world. He breathed hard trying hard to think of something to say when a sudden loud scream came out of Donggun's room.

They went back immediately and saw Donggun's body turned into large dark blue spots; his deep terrifying screams scared Iksoon. The doctor looked at him and said, "What should I tell his high majesty? How would I explain Donggun's state?" Iksoon looked at the doctor feeling just as lost and scared as him.