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The Unbreakable Sword’s Self-Saving System

Chapter 3: Just be yourself, because nobody else can be you <3

Summary:

Our new Yeongie’s first real day on the job! Who will he meet? What will he learn? Why is Lee Gon being weirdly nice to him? If only this stuff came with a manual…

Notes:

It’s the uni holidays again, and y’all know what that means! Another TUSSSS update! For anyone wondering if I’m going to keep updating, the answer is yes, I’m just slow lol. It doesn’t help that these chapters are getting longer and longer each time, because ya girl likes to yap, but I’m not really sure what else I expected of myself. But anyway :D have an update :D Let’s see how far Yeong can sail down the Nile before he starts to catch onto what’s happening, hm?

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

In all Yeong’s years living in the real world, getting up at the ass crack of dawn was something he had never once considered to be a life-or-death situation. He had always been a big fan of sleep – in the mornings, anyway, of course at nighttime it was his worst enemy and he would regularly stay up far later than was sensible – but with the threat of losing more XP looming over his head, he didn’t want to risk snoozing for even just another five more minutes.

Jo Yeong wouldn’t do that. Probably. If the System hadn’t said anything once he’d got up, then he was going to assume that this was what the original Yeong did.

Getting dressed was difficult. Getting undressed the day before had also been difficult, and the experience of trying to shower was worse. He had tried to placate himself by saying that there was actually no way of knowing if any hidden parts of this body resembled the real Woo Dohwan’s at all, and in all likelihood, the proportions of certain aspects of himself were simply what had been imagined by Kim Eunsook and the writing team, but… it was difficult to reconcile when his face was so clearly someone else’s.

He had to go through it again, that morning, after the System so helpfully informed him that Jo Yeong was someone who did exercise before work. As if the exercise itself wasn’t bad enough.

Did the original Yeong really do this every morning? His routine had so many steps! Coffee, a quick bite to eat, working out for an hour, a shower, reapplying the sports tape, skincare, getting dressed for work, styling his hair, one more coffee, and then finally being able to leave?

Yeong felt like he’d already done a whole day’s work before he had even arrived in the Royal Guard’s locker room.

God, he would have killed for a nap.

It took all Yeong’s strength not to lay his head down on one of the shelves inside his locker. If the others in the room didn’t already think that something was up with their Captain after watching him look nervously around the room to try and find the locker with his name on it, then they surely would if he decided to try and sleep standing up.

The inside of the locker was… well, some would call it professional, but others would call it soulless. It only contained the things that Yeong needed, like his earpiece and his bulletproof vest. There were no photographs, no little trinkets, nothing that people might try and add to give their lockers a bit of personality.

It felt just like most of Yeong’s home, in that regard. Like it was an example of a locker for public display, but not really something that was actually used.

That was something that he was definitely going to change, once he completed his first quest. This shit was just depressing.

The only thing giving Yeong a sense that the original was a person at all, rather than some kind of android, was still his bedroom. After talking with the System the day before, Yeong had opened a few cupboards, finding evidence of more than just black suits and posh jumpers in his wardrobe. There were also a couple of pairs of jeans, some t-shirts, and even a fluffy hoodie that Yeong couldn’t resist wearing for the rest of the night.

He had also inspected Yeong’s phone, albeit briefly, because there wasn’t much to see. No social media, a mostly very boring camera roll, and a contacts list that was full of names that meant nothing to him. The original Yeong had sent text messages and emails, of which he’d ended up reading a few, but that still didn’t give him very much to go on.

That was something else that would have to change, once the OOC feature was unfrozen. Yeong wasn’t sure how long he’d be able to manage without his precious internet.

But for now, he’d have to persevere. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too bad, if the tradeoff was that he wouldn’t be expected to interact much with his peers. The thought gave him a sense of comfort…

…which quickly dissipated once he felt a friendly slap on his back.

“Yeong!” the man said, giving Yeong the sinking sensation that he and this person were probably close. “How are you doing? You must have been feeling pretty shitty if even you decided to take part of the day off!”

Yeong turned to the man, noticing two important details about him. The first was that his locker was open, and it was the one next to his own, and on it read the name ‘Choi Jinsu.’ The second was that his face matched one of the faces on the pictures that Yeong had in his home!

This man, Choi Jinsu, was Jo Yeong’s friend, and Yeong was now about to meet him for the very first time. No way this conversation could go wrong, right?

“I’m feeling better today, thank you,” Yeong replied, trying to be as diplomatic as possible. The System had assured him yesterday that Jo Yeong was naturally aloof and his friends wouldn’t mind if he acted like he appears in the show, so he hoped that he was presenting himself as Yeong normally would.

“Good, good, excellent,” Jinsu said, nodding his head as he acknowledged the information. “We can’t have the birthday boy getting sick so close to his special day, now, can we?”

Of course. When Yeong had checked the date on his phone that morning, it read the 6th September, just four days before Captain Jo Yeong’s birthday. Yeong had always assumed that the original would have been the sort of person not to make a fuss about his birthday, though – was that not the case?

“I suppose not,” he acquiesced, folding his coat up neatly to try and make it fit in with the aesthetic of his locker. It didn’t really work, but the System didn’t mention anything about it, so he was happy enough to leave it as it was.

“Does this mean you’re agreeing to the party, then?” Jinsu asked, though he didn’t wait for Yeong to answer before he continued speaking. “Not that it was going to matter anyway, of course, because the party was always going to happen whether you liked it or not, but this definitely makes it easier. We can finally add you to the group chat! Or, wait, you don’t have LINE, do you? Don’t worry, I’ll email you the information. It’s gonna be epic!”

“…Oh,” was all Yeong could say, not feeling particularly encouraged by the sound of this party being ‘epic.’ And it wasn’t just because parties didn’t thrill him at the best of times – the main problem here was that he didn’t think he’d get his beginner-level quest over and done with in the next four days, so at this party he’d have to try not to be OOC!

How would Jo Yeong act at a party? If he was writing this fanfiction, he wouldn’t even have Jo Yeong go to a party to begin with, but…

‘System?’ Yeong asked, hoping for a lovely, easy answer, ‘Yeong wouldn’t go to this party, would he? Because that would be OOC?’

[Not necessarily. Since Jo Yeong’s personal life was never seen in the show, it is completely open to user interpretation.]

‘How does that make sense? By that logic, I shouldn’t have lost sixty points yesterday, because none of that was seen in the show, so it should all have been up to user interpretation!’

[At the party, you will still have to act like Jo Yeong, but it would be in your best interests to attend. Do you want to find out more about this character or not?]

He did want to find out more, that was true, but not at his own expense!

‘You won’t dock points for saying yes to the party, then, will you?’

[Correct. The original Jo Yeong would not want to disappoint his friends. He would put up a fight, though, even if he did not really mean it.]

With that in mind, Yeong rolled his eyes as he drawled, “Wow, yes, epic. You’re making this sound incredibly appealing.”

“Come on, Yeong, it’ll be great!” Jinsu insisted, closing his locker door. Yeong did the same, and turned to face him, raising an eyebrow.

“And how do I know I can trust your definition of great?”

“Because you always enjoy yourself when you come out with us, even when you complain about it beforehand. And we’re your friends, and it’s your birthday! We’re not going to let it suck!”

“Alright,” Yeong conceded, heading out towards the door when he noticed Jinsu doing the same. “But if I have a remotely bad time, I’m not saying yes to anything like this again.”

“Duly noted, Captain!” Jinsu said, waving his hand in a mock salute while grinning at Yeong. “I assure you, we won’t let you down.”

 

After that, Jinsu excused himself, claiming that he had some work that needed attending to. Yeong wasn’t sure if that meant actual work, or just organising this birthday party with some of his colleagues. If he was being honest, Yeong didn’t much care. He was just happy to be able to keep himself to himself again.

Or, he was, in the thirty seconds it then took for someone else to come up to him and start talking to him. This, at least, was someone he recognised from the show: Secretary Mo, holding a clipboard, and looking ever so slightly frantic.

“Captain Jo,” she said, briefly looking down at the clipboard before directing her gaze at Yeong again, “can we go over the schedule for today?”

“Certainly,” Yeong said, immediately feeling out of his depth. He was going to trust that Secretary Mo knew what she was doing, because unless the System intervened, he was just going to say ‘yes’ to everything.

“The Prime Minister should be arriving for her meeting at 11:00am, right? And after that, the only other scheduled activity is His Majesty’s ‘Fairy Tales as told by the King’ at 2:00pm?”

Fairy Tales as told by the King? That meant– this was the beginning of the show!

Trying his best to contain the mixture of excitement and nerves that was bubbling up inside him at that thought, he put on as gruff a voice as he could manage as he answered “That’s correct, Secretary Mo.”

“Are you sure? Because we’ve received word from Seoul that the Prime Minister has left for Busan already, so she’ll be here well before eleven—”

“Don’t let her in before then, whenever she arrives,” Yeong asserted, though he knew that Koo Seoryeong would ignore any advice from the palace, and come and go exactly as she pleased.

“Yes, Captain,” Secretary Mo said, bowing her head, unable to see Yeong smile to himself as he mentally patted himself on the back for doing such a good job as the Captain of the Royal Guard. As someone who was never very confrontational in his past life, it was quite fun for him to give an order and have it be listened to! It might be something he could get used to!

At that moment, Yeong felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He wasn’t sure whether he should have taken it with him or not, but he decided to err on the side of caution and take it anyway. Upon glancing at the screen briefly, he saw that the notification was a text message from Gon, so he excused himself from Secretary Mo to look at it properly.

 

CHAT: You and HM

HM:

Drop whatever you’re doing and meet me in my bedroom

HM:

That’s an order, Yeongie <3

 

Was Gon usually someone who would use things like hearts in his texting? Presumably so, since Yeong was looking at one in front of him. He decided he wasn’t going to think about it too hard – he didn’t know anything about the King of Corea’s texting habits, anyway, so he shouldn’t make any assumptions – and he instead just spared a passing thought for Taeeul, whom he hoped wouldn’t be too upset by her future boyfriend being the sort of person to do things like this flippantly. He was sure she wouldn’t be, she seemed grounded enough.

And, well, he supposed he’d better get going, if he didn’t want to be beheaded. From the day before, he vaguely remembered where Gwangyeongjeon was, so Yeong made his way over there, hoping he wasn’t meant to be anywhere else in that moment. If he was, well… he had just received an order from the king to drop whatever he was doing, so how could he refuse?

 

It took Yeong surprisingly little time to find Gon’s bedroom, since it was right in the centre of the building, directly in front of the end of the ornate flight of stairs that was visible as you walked into the building. Along that corridor were other rooms to the left and right of Gon’s, which Yeong assumed were the guest bedrooms that Gon mentioned in the show when he brought Taeeul over to stay.

Inside Gon’s bedroom, however, Yeong was surprised to find not Gon himself, but Head Court Lady Noh, placing talismans in various nooks and crannies around the space. Upon noticing Yeong enter, she looked up with a start, but immediately relaxed once she realised who it was.

“Captain Jo,” she breathed, tucking the talismans she had in her hand into her breast pocket. “I trust a word of this won’t be said to His Majesty?”

“My lips are sealed, Head Court Lady,” he assured her, getting the sense that this was something the original Yeong had been dealing with before. It was quite funny to see it in person – Lady Noh was so determined to find Gon a lover with these things, completely unaware that said lover was off living her best life in another universe, and would never be able to unite with Gon until he discovered the power of the Manpasikjeok.

Which, in fairness, would be soon. Maybe her work wasn’t so pointless after all.

“I’m beginning to think I need to ask the shaman for a refund on these things,” she sighed, nudging the last one she’d placed just out of sight. “I’ve been trying for years, and they still haven’t managed to find His Majesty a wife.”

“It’ll happen,” Yeong assured her, with every confidence that he was telling the truth.

“Are you sure? His Majesty is still saying these disheartening things about not being interested in finding a queen, and he’s thirty-three years old! I can’t help but wonder, sometimes…” she narrowed her eyes, and looked at Yeong with an expression he couldn’t decipher. “Captain Jo, you wouldn’t have any ideas as to why he’s not interested, would you?”

“Me? No, Head Court Lady,” he quickly assured her, “I don’t know why. I assume His Majesty is just waiting for the right person.”

“The right person…” she echoed, considering his words. “But do you know what that looks like, for His Majesty?”

“Well…” Yeong trailed off, considering how best to describe Jeong Taeeul. “I think he’s looking for a woman who is sure of herself. Someone who can take care of herself, someone he finds interesting, that he’s excited by, and who sees him as himself, rather than as the King of Corea.”

“Someone who doesn’t see him as the king,” she tutted, shaking her head, “but where are we going to find a woman like that? He is the king, the only people who really know him as more than that are people already close to him, like me and you!”

“It’s a difficult conundrum, Head Court Lady,” Yeong agreed, “but if I know anyone that’s good at finding solutions to problems, it’s His Majesty. I don’t think we have anything to worry about.”

“What are we worrying about?” asked a voice from behind Yeong, quickly identifiable as Gon entering his bedroom. He stood beside Yeong, a little too close for Yeong’s liking, but Gon didn’t notice Yeong’s subtle side eye of disapproval.

“Nothing, Your Majesty,” Yeong said, before Lady Noh could bring up a topic she might regret. Gon turned to Yeong after he spoke, flashing him a warm smile that made him look almost radiant. Yeong would be lying if he said that his heart didn’t flutter, just a little bit, but that was just a normal physical reaction to an objectively attractive man smiling at him, and he did not let it bother him, nor distract him from the fact that this was not a man he particularly liked.

“Perfect,” Gon said, a sparkle of mirth in his eyes. “Do I have anything on, this morning?”

“You have your meeting with the Prime Minister at eleven—”

“Oh, well, that’s ages away! How about we do something before that, hm Yeongie?”

“Like what?” Yeong asked, trying to stay as neutral as possible so as not to encourage Gon’s use of the word ‘we’ that he had heard in that sentence.

“How about riding?” Gon suggested. “It’s a lovely day, and I didn’t get to take Maximus out yesterday.”

“Sounds like a great idea, Your Majesty.”

“When was the last time you took Taengguk out, Yeongie?” Gon asked, and Yeong was instantly glad that he’d been sad enough to scroll through Benjamin the horse’s Instagram page, where looking closely at the tags revealed the name of Yeong’s black horse as Taengguk.

Yeong was then instantly nervous, as he realised a very important fact.

He didn’t know how to ride a horse.

It’s not like he’d never done it before, but he doubted that the couple of times he’d ridden ponies on holiday as a kid would stand him in any kind of good stead for galloping alongside the king.

Did the original Jo Yeong know a lot about horses? Presumably he must have done, if he had one of his own. Yeong was going to have do some research later, wasn’t he? Really embrace his inner Horse Girl, make some of his old classmates in primary school proud.

But well… this was a lot, for first-day-on-the-job new-Jo-Yeong, and if he remembered correctly, it was Inyeong and Hopil that went on this horse ride with Gon, not Yeong. He breathed a small sigh of relief, knowing that rejecting Gon now wouldn’t be OOC.

“Earlier on this morning,” he lied, hoping that no one would follow him up on this, “so Taengguk is probably quite tired, now. But you can still go! Would you like me to contact Sub-Captain Seok, to see if he would go with you?”

“No,” Gon said with a smile, “it’s ok! Let’s do something else, something that we can do together!”

But… that wasn’t right! Gon went out riding, in Episode 1!

“Are you sure, Your Majesty?” Yeong pressed, slightly pursing his lips in confusion. “Don’t you want to give Maximus some exercise?”

“Maximus is getting old now,” Gon laughed, brushing him off, “so he needs a lot of rest too. Why don’t we just go for a walk, instead?” At this, Gon put his arm around Yeong’s shoulders, a move which Yeong noticed Lady Noh clock immediately.

“I’m sure there’s other, much more useful things we could be doing with our time, Your Majesty,” Yeong said, acutely aware of Lady Noh’s look of what he was pretty sure was disapproval. “And I have work to do…”

“Yes,” Gon agreed, “guarding me. And so if I just happened to take a lovely stroll around the palace gardens, then the Captain of my Royal Guard should come and guard me. What do you say, Yeong-ah?”

What could he say? He couldn’t say yes, not when he knew that this wasn’t what was meant to happen today, not with Lady Noh staring at him like that, and not when that would subject him to a long conversation that he didn’t really want to have!

Although… wasn’t he meant to be sucking up to Lee Gon? And… well…

He had always been critical of Lee Gon from the show for not paying enough attention to his friendship with Jo Yeong, but wasn’t this exactly what Gon was trying to do now? Pay attention to Yeong? Sure, he’d soon meet Taeeul, and sure, then he’d turn into the awful friend that Yeong knew he was, but right now, if Yeong didn’t know any better, he’d say that Gon really did want to spend time with him!

Yeong knew that he didn’t like Gon. He knew it, and yet… wasn’t he meant to make things better? Wasn’t that the point of his being here, with the System? And would the original Yeong really say no to his king, right now?

The man standing beside him now, smiling expectantly, didn’t seem like a bad guy. Would Yeong really hate a conversation with him? If he wasn’t going to be insufferable about Taeeul, then it might not actually be so bad.

Gon removed his hand from where it was resting on Yeong’s back, and instead extended it out towards him, in invitation. Was Yeong really going to do this? Would it be OOC? The System wasn’t yelling at him, and it had promised him it would warn him if he was about to make a mistake, so…

Tentatively, holding his breath, expecting a warning to pop up at any moment, Yeong raised his hand to meet Gon’s. He felt as though he was in a trance, as if time had slowed down, but Gon hadn’t realised the power of the Manpasikjeok yet, so he knew all of that was in his own mind.

He was about to touch Gon’s hand. This was definitely OOC, but Gon was still smiling, and he had a nice smile, and Yeong still had 50 XP in the bank! He could still afford a couple of OOC violations! It would be ok, and he’d probably have a really nice time—

“Your Majesty,” Lady Noh cut in, rather curtly, “if Captain Jo has better things to be doing, then you shouldn’t force him to spend time with you if he doesn’t want to.”

Yeong quickly withdrew his hand, holding it with his other one behind his back, and deciding to be grateful that Lady Noh had spared him from a risky situation as he looked down at the ground. He noticed Gon stiffen slightly by his side, as he quietly muttered, “Right. Of course. Sorry, Yeong-ah.”

“Don’t worry, Your Majesty,” Yeong said in response, glancing up briefly. Did Gon look… hurt? It was too hard to say. It was difficult to get a read on him – to be honest, Yeong was finding it difficult to get a read on anyone in this world. He hadn’t been great at it back in the real world either, but being in the Kingdom of Corea made Yeong feel like he had levelled up to Hard mode without ever really having passed the tutorial.

Maybe it would get easier in time, once he had lived here a little longer and had learnt a bit more about these people’s immediate backstory. He was certainly at a disadvantage, knowing only very little about what had happened in these people’s lives, save for the brief snippets that were shown in the show.

“I think I will go riding,” Gon announced, after a moment of consideration. “Head Court Lady, make sure my riding clothes are ready and waiting in my dressing room.”

Lady Noh acquiesced with a nod of her head, and left the room, leaving Yeong alone with Gon again.

“Sorry,” Gon said again, breaking the silence that had befallen the room. “You’re probably still not at full strength again after yesterday, are you Yeong-ah?”

Fearing the System’s retribution if he dared to say anything else, Yeong simply replied, “I’m fine, Your Majesty. I simply don’t want to overwork Taengguk.”

“Of course,” Gon breathed, “of course. And that does make sense. I just…” he sighed, hanging his head, “meeting Koo Seoryeong is exhausting. And there’s going to be cameras, because there’s always cameras, so there’s going to be yet another round of articles about our ‘secret relationship.’”

Gon laughed as he said those last words, but there wasn’t any joy in it.

Was he… was Gon looking for emotional support from Yeong, right now? That certainly seemed to be the case, and it did make sense, considering that he and Yeong were meant to be best friends, so… was that what Gon was expecting Yeong to give him?

And, perhaps more importantly, was that what the System was expecting Yeong to give him?

Steeling his nerve, Yeong decided that he was going to do his very best to make the most of this bonding/ass-kissing moment that had just presented itself to him.

“Come on, Your Majesty,” he said, putting on what he hoped was an encouraging smile, “you’re the king, aren’t you above all that? The only person that has to worry about your relationship is you, and when you find your person” – i.e. Jeong Taeeul – “the press will eat that up far more than any rumours about you and the Prime Minister.”

“All this about finding my person again, Yeong-ah,” Gon huffed, rolling his eyes. “You make it sound like something so easy.”

“Isn’t it, Your Majesty? You’ll know it when you feel it, and that will be that.”

“Well how will I know if I’ve felt it? What am I even looking for?”

Yeong shrugged. “It’s a personal thing that’s different for everyone. I can’t tell you how you’re going to feel when it happens.” When Gon looked unimpressed with his answer, Yeong continued, trying to remember what the moment was like when Gon in the show saw Taeeul for the first time, “But for you… I imagine it would feel like you’re experiencing a connection as if you’ve known this person your whole life. And all you want to do is pull her close, and keep holding her close to you—”

At that moment, Yeong got the wind knocked out of his chest by Gon pulling him into a tight hug, gripping onto the fabric of his jacket hard enough that Yeong just knew it would be creased for the rest of the day.

“Yes,” Yeong said, “kind of like that.”

Because it would be like that, wasn’t it? Yeong assumed that their embrace right now looked like the one between Gon and Taeeul at the end of Episode 1, when he saw his true love for the first time.

But unlike that moment, Gon’s nerve seemed to falter, as he pulled away from Yeong again, brushing his jacket down. “Well,” he said, looking pensive, “I suppose that brings another question to mind.”

“What’s that, Your Majesty?”

“This person, where I’ll know I want to be with them when I feel it…” he paused, pursing his lips, before continuing, “What if this person doesn’t like me back?”

Doesn’t like him back?! As if! He was the first male lead in a romance drama, the king written to sweep the first female lead off her feet! Even if Yeong didn’t think that the romance had been written all that well, it didn’t mean that it was never going to happen. What the hell was he worried about?!

Then again… Taeeul didn’t like Gon at first, did she? Gon was still going to need some encouragement if he was going to stick at it and successfully woo his love interest.

So Yeong was very confident when he asserted, “She will. Even if she doesn’t at first, you just need to stay by her side and show her your winning personality – and allowing her a taste of your royal lifestyle probably won’t hurt either. And besides,” he continued, feeling a smile involuntarily creep onto his face as he revelled in how powerful knowing the future made him feel, “who in their right mind would reject you, Your Majesty?”

Gon frowned. “I don’t want to force anyone into a relationship just because I’m the king.”

“And you won’t. I’m not talking about your status as the monarch, I’m talking about how charming you are. How you’re attentive, loyal, how you’d stop at nothing to look after the ones you love, how you’re cute when you talk about mathematics—”

“You think that’s cute?” Gon interrupted, a stunned look on his face.

Shit. Had he just lost points for that?

‘System?’ he asked frantically, ‘How many XP do I have left?’

[Current XP: 50.]

Still 50? Surely that couldn’t be right… Was the System glitching out, or something?

Sure, in fanon circles from Yeong’s old life it wouldn’t have been OOC for Yeong to say that Gon was cute, but this wasn’t fanon, it was meant to be canon! Did Jo Yeong really think that?

Shit… He must have done, mustn’t he?

Well, Yeong reasoned, he supposed it wasn’t completely out of the question. As much as he didn’t like canon Gon, Yeong had to admit that he was objectively cute when he got excited about that kind of thing. If he’d noticed that while watching the show, then the original Yeong had surely noticed it after almost twenty-five years of living with him.

So that was what Yeong decided to go with. “Of course, Your Majesty,” he said, clearing his throat a little as he did so, “it’s just an objective fact.”

“Don’t tease me like that,” Gon chuckled, averting his gaze. Did he think that Yeong was joking? Did Mr. Full-Of-Himself Lee Gon seriously think his Unbreakable Sword would lie about something like that?

“I’m not teasing,” Yeong asserted, “I’m just trying to assure you that you have nothing to worry about. As long as you treat her right, your person will fall head over heels for you, and until you find this person,” he shrugged, “none of this even matters anyway. No matter how many talismans Lady Noh places, or how many reporters Prime Minister Koo arranges to take pictures of the two of you, none of that will change your heart, so you should pay them no mind.”

“So you’re saying…” Gon mused, looking at him quizzically, “I should shower the person I want in love, show off my personality, and I shouldn’t care what the Royal Court thinks?”

Well, those weren’t exactly Yeong’s words, but “Yes, I suppose so. When it happens, don’t worry about other people, and just go for it!”

Of course, Yeong knew that Gon wouldn’t be deterred by Lady Noh and the Royal Court disapproving of Taeeul, so he knew that, really, Gon wouldn’t need this encouragement. But if the main character needed a little nudge to make sure he stayed on the right path, then Yeong was happy to give it.

After all, the more Yeong supported Gon, the more inclined he might be at the end of the story to save his life.

A moment later, Yeong’s theory was supported by a new popup in the corner of his vision.

[New Point Type unlocked! Protagonist Satisfaction Points: +50! Keep working hard, valued user!]

Yeong stifled his smile. If a little bit of encouragement in his relationship with Taeeul was all Gon needed to stay satisfied, then this was going to be a breeze.

 

***

 

Soon after that, Yeong accompanied Gon to his dressing room, once he had received word that everything was all set up and ready to go, and a team of staff from the wardrobe department were there ready and waiting to help the king dress.

It really was incredible, Yeong thought, that Gon needed another person to help him dress, as well as two more people standing on the sidelines to… help? What were they even doing there? They were just standing off to the side while the new hire, Park Gyubong, helped Gon put on his riding clothes.

Yeong, of course, knew that he was new because he had watched this scene a thousand times before. Though he tried to put on an outward air of nonchalance, inside he was positively vibrating with excitement to let this scene play out.

This was something he knew he could do while staying in character. So much so that when Park Gyubong just started to move his hands towards Gon’s top button, Yeong caught his wrist before Gon even had time to react, trying hard to stifle his grin.

Gon looked at Yeong with an amazed expression, his breathing slightly heavier than it was before. Yeong allowed himself to glance at Gon briefly, hoping that his look was reassuring. From the way Gon gave him a small smile, the edges of his eyes creasing slightly, Yeong decided to trust that it was.

Look at that. Not bad, for his first day on the job as the Captain of the Royal Guard.

“I will do it myself,” Gon then asserted, and upon hearing that, Yeong let Park Gyubong’s wrist go, confident that he had got the message.

As Gon buttoned up the rest of his shirt, Yeong knew that it was his cue to act out the rest of the scene.

“Are you new?” he asked, though he already knew the answer.

“Yes, sir,” Park Gyubong replied, looking up at Yeong after he said that, as if he was hopeful that the Unbreakable Sword would go easy on him.

Ha! As if.

“His Majesty does not like others touching his body,” Yeong said, fighting hard to stay in character and keep a smile from his lips. “This may be a mistake, but if it happens again, it’s intentional. Keep that in mind.”

“Yes, sir,” Park Gyubong said again, as Gon finished buttoning his shirt, but Yeong hardly heard him over the sound of his internal screaming.

He just did that! He just did that scene! His Majesty does not like others touching his body – yes! He must have looked so cool! So badass!

Maybe having transmigrated into Jo Yeong’s body wouldn’t be so bad if he got to feel like this all the time! Look at him go! Jo Samshik had never been that cool in his entire life, but now?

He was so distracted that he almost didn’t notice the look Gon gave him as he turned to leave the room. Almost, being the key word there, because it was impossible for Yeong to ignore. It was like… a knowing look, a proud look, a familiar look, with something else that Yeong couldn’t quite place. It made him feel…

He didn’t really know. It was hard to say. He didn’t have time to dwell on it, anyway, because Gon was off, and Yeong had a job to do. Remembering the end of this scene from the show, Yeong brought the communicator on his wrist to his mouth and said, “His Majesty is going to the VIP horse riding course,” following Gon out of the room.

“I’ll drop by my bedroom on the way out,” Gon said, picking up his riding crop as he left.

Once Yeong was almost out of the door too, he heard a tentative voice call out from behind him, “Captain Jo?”

Yeong paused in his tracks, hearing that Gon had done the same as Yeong turned around to see Park Gyubong looking at him. The other members of the wardrobe team had left, and it was now just Park Gyubong alone in the room.

“It’s alright, Yeong-ah,” Gon said, drawing Yeong’s attention to him instead. “If you’re not coming riding with me anyway, you can stay and see what he wants. I’ll meet Sub-Captain Seok and Lieutenant Park outside.”

Yeong hummed in acknowledgement. “Thank you, Your Majesty,” he said, with a quick bow of his head, and when he looked up again, Gon had gone. To go and catch Lady Noh in the act of putting talismans in his room, if the show was anything to go by.

“What is it, Mr. Park?” Yeong asked, walking back into the room.

“Well…” Gyubong said, trailing off nervously and looking down at the floor. “Now I’m sort of getting worried that you’re going to scold me for wasting your time.”

Yeong raised an eyebrow. “That’s not reassuring. Just tell me, then, so you can waste as little of my time as possible.”

Was that something Yeong would say? It felt like something Yeong would say.

Gyubong took a deep breath, steeling his nerve, then asked, “I’ve heard you’re having a birthday party soon, is that true?”

This— this was about the birthday party?! How big of an event was this thing?

“Yes,” Yeong tentatively said, as he wondered how many other members of palace staff were talking about this birthday party. “That’s right, my friends are arranging it.”

“Your friends, right,” Gyubong said, a smile gracing his lips as he gained a little confidence. “That includes Jinsu, doesn’t it? Or, uh, Lieutenant Choi?”

Choi Jinsu? Thank goodness this was the one friend Yeong could actually name!

“Yes,” Yeong said again, feeling a little more relaxed this time, “Jinsu will be there. Is that all?”

“It’s… um…” Gyubong trailed off again, sheepishly averting his eyes. “He doesn’t have a boyfriend, does he?”

Without sparing the System and any potential OOC violations a second thought, Yeong felt his eyes open wide and his jaw go slack as he processed the information.

Park Gyubong that was seen in the show like one time – did he have a thing for Yeong’s friend that didn’t feature in the show at all?

Yeong heard a chime, and a banner appeared in the corner of his vision.

[Achievement unlocked: Palace Gossip! XP +10. Current XP: 60.]

This was an achievement? Yeong didn’t think he needed the extra XP as a reward – just knowing the tea was good enough on its own!

Gyubong, however, didn’t seem to interpret Yeong’s shocked silence so positively, as he quickly added, “Or girlfriend! I might have heard wrong, I probably did, it’s just…” he briefly hesitated again, “I heard from someone, who might not have been telling the truth, that you and your friends are, you know…

Yeong did not know, but from that phrasing he could certainly guess.

‘You and your friends.’ Yeong and his friends.

Yeong.

[Achievement unlocked: Jo Yeong’s Romantic Preferences! XP +10. Current XP: 70.]

Holy shit. Park Gyubong had it right?

“What?!” Yeong spluttered, just in time to hear the system say [OOC violation: Jo Yeong would not show his surprise so openly. XP -20. Current XP: 50.]

Who gave a shit about XP, anyway? Jo Yeong was gay! Jo Yeong was gay!

Yeong could hear the voice of Captain Holt from Brooklyn Nine-Nine in his head shouting “Vindication!” He wasn’t crazy! He wasn’t fucking crazy! He and all his friends on his side of the internet, they weren’t crazy!!!

This was—this was everything! Even if he lost all his XP right here, right now, he’d die happy! This was enough! This was more than enough!

Of course, once the OOC feature lifted, Yeong had been planning to make that the case for Jo Yeong anyway – he wasn’t going to pretend to be straight unnecessarily – but now he didn’t have to worry about that!

It was everything he had ever dreamed and more!

“Am I… wrong?” Gyubong mumbled, pulling Yeong back to reality. “I’m really sorry if I am, I—”

“No,” Yeong said, clearing his throat and doing his very best to push his screams deep, deep down, “you aren’t wrong, it’s just… people aren’t usually so forward.”

“Oh, I see,” Park Gyubong said, followed by a quiet, “wow. Well, as I’m sure you can guess, I’m ok with it, obviously, you know, me too, but… wow.”

“Yes,” Yeong said, choosing his words carefully, “well, in answer to your question… why don’t you ask him yourself?”

At the end of his sentence, he offered Gyubong a small, encouraging smile, and the tailor’s face turned a bright shade of red.

“Yes! Right! Thank you, Captain Jo!” he said, dipping into a full, ninety-degree bow before leaving the room, a grin firmly plastered onto his lips.

Once Yeong was on his own, and the door to the room had been closed, Yeong allowed himself to do the same.

“Holy shit, System!” he said out loud, shaking his hands and pacing around to release the excess energy inside his body that had been building up throughout that conversation. “Yeong—Yeong’s gay?!”

[Correct. Jo Yeong identifies as homosexual. It is hoped that this will not be an issue for you; is that correct?]

“Are you kidding? This is fantastic news! I mean, I always knew, that little love plot line with Seungah they decided to throw in was really rushed, Yeong always had far more chemistry with men, but – wow! I can’t believe it! Has he ever had a boyfriend? I bet he has, he can’t have gone around his whole life looking that good without anyone ever taking an interest in him.”

[Information: Jo Yeong’s Personal Life – Locked] the System said, echoing its words from the day before.

“Seriously? Don’t I deserve to know if I have any exes? What if I run into one of them?”

[Information: Jo Yeong’s Personal Life – Locked]

Yeong sighed, accepting defeat for the time being.

“Fine, then. Can’t you at least tell me who knows about my sexuality? That’s quite important, so I don’t accidentally say the wrong thing to the wrong person.”

[Your group of close friends are all aware. Other members of palace staff have not been told officially, but Jo Yeong’s sexual orientation is something of an open secret.]

“What about Gon?” Yeong asked. “Does he know?”

[Lee Gon has also not been told officially.]

“But… he’s aware of the open secret?”

[That’s for you to determine, valued user!]

 

***

 

After his shocking revelation, Yeong had to do his best to go about his day as normal. He met Gon after riding, listened to him complain about the talismans – once again taking great enjoyment from being able to repeat lines from the show – and stood watch while Gon met with Koo Seoryeong.

To be honest, Yeong couldn’t help feeling a little sorry for the prime minister. It was clear that she was trying her very best to win his favour, but it was just never going to happen. Since he hadn’t brought Taeeul to the Kingdom yet, he wasn’t bothered about making any woman in this country his queen.

While Gon was eating lunch, Yeong was able to learn a bit more about the perks of his job – that is to say, he was really pleasantly surprised when he got served lunch too, after retiring to his office for a break. Gon had invited Yeong to eat lunch beside him, but Yeong had needed some headspace, so he’d declined.

This day had already been a lot, alright? Could anyone blame him? It was only midday, but Yeong already felt like he’d done at least a full day of work, and he was more than ready to go home and sleep for a solid week.

In his office, Yeong had taken some time to browse the news while he waited, to try and get himself up to date on the Kingdom’s affairs, and learn a little more about this world he was living in.

The first article he noticed was one about the succession dispute happening in the Sungwoon Group, which Yeong just about remembered was what Koo Seoryeong was meant to have been discussing with Gon in their meeting earlier. Clicking on the link led him to discover that the Sungwoon Group, one of three main chaebol conglomerates in Corea – three? Yeong was only aware of two: that and the KU group, which Koo Seoryeong’s ex-husband was a part of – was currently being fought over by two cousins, the daughters of two brothers, one of whom was the current chairman. Though the chairman was planning to make his daughter the chairwoman once he retired, his brother felt that he had been unfairly snubbed back when his brother had been announced as the chairman, and he was trying to argue that the post rightly belonged to his own daughter, whom he believed was more suited to the role.

To be honest, Yeong wouldn’t have found the story too interesting if it wasn’t for the fact that the younger brother, who wasn’t the chairman, was transgender. The article went on to detail how this brother, Han Bongseok, claimed to have experienced unfair prejudice from his father, both before and after he came out, and now that his brother was thinking about retiring, he didn’t want his daughter’s claim to be ignored just because of the prejudice he’d faced in the past.

This told Yeong two things. The first was that the Kingdom of Corea wasn’t some kind of queer utopia like it sometimes was in fanfics, which… felt correct. While it might have been a nice fantasy, no place would ever be truly like that really, at least not for a long time yet.

The second, however, was that although it wasn’t a queer utopia, it also didn’t seem like an awful place to live for Yeong and his fellow members of the Alphabet Mafia. While the article did talk about the prejudice that Han Bongseok had faced, it also spoke about him, and his family, in a respectful way. Han Bongseok had married and had his daughter before coming out as a man, and he was still married to his husband, and this was written about in the article as if it was completely normal.

They were a high-profile queer family, and they were normal.

Was gay marriage legal in the Kingdom?

A quick search revealed that it was, and it was one of the changes that Koo Seoryeong had promised before she came into power. So it was recent, then, but it had happened.

The thought made something inside Yeong’s chest swell. Of course, he didn’t have a boyfriend, he still might never, because although he had Jo Yeong’s body, the soul inside it had never had the necessary skills before, but… it was reassuring. And nice.

And Yeong had to go and find Gon, to take him to his next appointment!

Locking his computer, Yeong hurried over to Gwangyeongjeon once again, knocking on Gon’s bedroom door, and entering it anyway when there was no response.

He might not have had the confidence to do that, had he not remembered that in the show, Yeong caught Gon by surprise by waiting in his room while he finished his shower. And, well… if the original Jo Yeong had amused himself by watching Gon freshen himself up, then this new Yeong felt that he was entitled to the same thing.

As Yeong stood in the room, listening to the shower run, he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. With nothing better to do at that moment, he took it out and looked at the notification; an email from one Choi Jinsu.

 

To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Subject: **YOUR EPIC BIRTHDAY BASH**

 

sup yeongie!!! congrats on the ageing, international 28 is gonna look great on you, I know it ;) anyway, here are the screenshots I promised earlier from the party gc with the details!! we’ve tried to bear in mind that you’re a boring old man that hates fun, so we’ve tried to keep things civilised. we have, however, already booked the karaoke room, and they don’t give refunds, so…

yeah, see what you think :D

 

your locker buddy and most handsome friend,

jinsu xxx

 

Karaoke room? Even without looking through the roughly twenty billion image attachments on that email, Yeong’s introvert heart was starting to curl up with dread.

Karaoke room?! Yeong had only been in this country a day, how was he ever going to be familiar with any of the available songs in time?!

But Yeong hardly had any time to think about that, because the sound of the shower had stopped, which meant that Gon was on his way out. Yeong hastily put his phone away, not wanting to be seen slacking on the job, and instead turned his attention towards the open door of Gon’s en suite bathroom.

Why Gon had left it open, Yeong had no idea – personally, he always found that he got too cold if he left the door open and allowed the humidity to leave the room – but what it did mean was that Yeong now had a perfect view of Gon prancing around in his dressing gown. Yeong hadn’t seen anything untoward, as Gon had put the dressing gown on out of Yeong’s line of sight, but the moment still felt, somehow, intimate. As if this wasn’t something that mere mortals like Yeong were meant to see.

Honestly. Gon was fully covered, and Yeong had seen a lot more of Woo Dohwan in the last twenty-four hours than he was ever going to see of Gon, but it was just… what was the word he was looking for?

‘Cute,’ was the only thing really coming to mind, though Yeong knew that wasn’t quite it. It was more that Yeong could appreciate that this wasn’t a side that most people saw of the King of Corea, and he felt lucky, in a way, to be able to experience this.

Sorry, what?

Yeong shook his head, trying to clear his past thoughts from his mind. Lucky? What the hell was he talking about?! He had only been Jo Yeong for a day, how were thoughts like this already starting to enter his mind? He didn’t like canon Gon, he didn’t like this man in front of him, no matter how cute he looked in the privacy of his own home! Yeong hadn’t changed the timeline yet, so Gon was still going to let him die!

At the end of the day, this was just a fictional character, even if it was now Yeong’s real life! Lucky? This wasn’t real! None of it was real!

Keep! It! Together!

“Yeong-ah?”

The calling of his name drew Yeong out of his thoughts, and he looked up to see Gon leaning on the doorframe that led into the bathroom, smiling softly at Yeong.

That wasn’t right.

Gon was meant to wipe the condensation on the mirror off with his hand, then get scared when he saw that Yeong was there. He was meant to ask Yeong how long he’d been standing there, and Yeong was meant to ask him if he really wanted to know, and he was going to tell Gon that he was going to be late, and—

“Enjoying the show?” Gon drawled, raising an eyebrow. “I might have you beheaded for watching me in a state of undress, if I didn’t like you so much.”

Once again, sorry, what?!

Lee Gon, this wasn’t in the script! How the hell was Yeong meant to avoid an OOC violation if Gon wasn’t following the damn script?!

“Sorry, Your Majesty?” was all Yeong could think to say, though he didn’t quite know whether he meant it as an apology, or as a synonym for ‘Pardon me, but what the actual fuck?!”

Probably the latter. Almost certainly the latter.

“Don’t apologise. There’s nothing to apologise for.” Gon left his bathroom and walked towards Yeong, looping his arm around Yeong’s.

‘System?’ Yeong mentally cried out, going tense at Gon’s touch. ‘System, do I let this happen? What the fuck is going on?!’

[It’s difficult to say. A plot deviation was not anticipated so soon…]

‘Yeah, no shit, Sytem! I haven’t even unlocked the OOC feature yet! Any idea how Jo Yeong would handle this?’

[Well… Jo Yeong is happy if Lee Gon is happy. If in doubt, keep Lee Gon happy.]

‘So… you’re saying I should let him hold my arm?’

[Do you think that will make him happy?]

Would it? From the comfortable smile on Gon’s face as he looked at Yeong, it certainly seemed that way.

But… why?

“Shall we go?” Gon asked, with feigned air of innocence surrounding his words. “You’re here to take me to my dressing room so I can get ready for the book reading, aren’t you?”

“Uh, yes, Your Majesty,” Yeong said, falling into step with Gon as he started to make his way just down the hallway to the dressing room.

“Don’t worry, Yeong-ah,” Gon chuckled, patting Yeong’s arm, “I didn’t actually think you were there to spy on me, I know how professional you are.” He paused, before adding, “I actually really admire that about you.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty?” Yeong said, ending his statement as a question because again… what?

What was Gon doing?! This man was impossible to read!

“Still!” Gon continued, “Professionalism isn’t everything, is it? I know I get tired of it incredibly easily, so it must be ten times worse for you. What do you say we both take some time off, one of these days? Go to a bar, or a concert, or, I don’t know, somewhere?”

“Would I actually be able to take time off if I took you somewhere, Your Majesty?” Yeong rhetorically asked, immediately seeing the flaw in Gon’s plan. “If you’re leaving the palace, you’ll need guarding, and that’s my job.”

Gon sighed, letting his head roll back and his shoulders slump, telling Yeong that Gon knew he was right. “I wish I was Alice.”

“Alice?”

“Alice, as famed for her adventures in Wonderland. I wish I was her.”

“Because you want to escape?” Yeong asked, trying to steer the conversation towards a topic he was comfortable with.

“I want to go to another world, a place where nothing makes sense. It makes sense that we can’t do anything fun together, it makes too much sense, but if I went to a world where nothing made sense, then it wouldn’t matter.” He looked at Yeong, offering a smile, but it wasn’t as buoyant as the one he had on a minute ago. “Won’t you take me to another world, Captain Jo?”

Goodness, what was all this? As if Gon needed Yeong to take him to a new world – he was going to go there soon without taking Yeong with him, and disappear for weeks on his own!

But Yeong just tried to laugh it off, saying, “My job is to keep you here, Your Majesty, and take you where you need to go. If you want to visit another world, you’ll have to find someone else to take you.”

“What if I don’t want someone else to take me?”

“Well, I guess you’d better get comfortable here.”

“You know, your life is a bit like Wonderland, to someone like me,” Gon said, stopping outside his dressing room door. Yeong could see Park Gyubong inside the room again, quietly eyeing the two of them as he waited for Gon to enter.

The king’s arm suddenly felt quite heavy, resting on Yeong’s own.

“How so?”

“It’s mysterious, and impossible to reach. I know that’s just what you’re like, I’ve known you long enough to know that, but sometimes I think it’s a little unfair. If I was anyone else, I’d be able to hang out with you after work, go out for a meal – go to your birthday party!”

“You know about the birthday party?”

“Everyone knows about the birthday party, Yeong-ah. And why shouldn’t they? You’re the Captain of the Royal Guard, the Unbreakable Sword, you deserve to be celebrated! It’s just… I want to celebrate you too. I want to join you in Wonderland.”

“Your Majesty…” Yeong said, trailing off because he didn’t really know what to say. How could he explain to Gon that he was just on the cusp of being able to visit some kind of Wonderland, another world where he wasn’t the king, where he didn’t have to worry about any of this stuff? It was impossible for Yeong not to think about that, and to imagine what a Jo Yeong would say who didn’t know about Gon’s extraordinary near future.

“Really, am I not being clear enough?” Yeong caught Gon muttering, before he turned to Yeong, took a deep breath, and said, “You are very special to me, and I want to spend time with you, responsibilities be damned. Even if I can’t go to your birthday party because you’ll have a heart attack if I leave the palace, I want us to make time for one another. No more excuses. What do you say?”

“Ok. Ok, Your Majesty, ok.”

Because what else could he say? Yeong was in no hurry to drag this out when Park Gyubong was staring at them, jaw slack, eyes wide.

Gon gave Yeong a smile, a real smile again, and gently patted Yeong’s arm before finally walking into his dressing room.

The System chimed.

 

[Protagonist Satisfaction Points: +50.]

Notes:

Just a heads up, especially before the next chapter, for those of you that don’t know, I’m writing another fic together with irregularpeach - and while I’m not telling you to read that, it’s your own personal preference ofc, for any of you that have read it, you should know that as well as that fic, we have a pretty big extended headcanon multiverse with a lot of OCs that appear in every universe in different ways. It’s basically how it works in the tkem canon, you’ve all watched the show. Anyway, I have permission to use those OCs in this fic, and because it’s a really helpful way to have a consistent extended universe for this fic, that’s what I’ll be doing. It won’t affect anything, really, but as both fics progress, it’s just there as a little way to spot Easter Eggs, like “:0 I remember you from the other fic!”

That being said, Choi Jinsu is only really a half-OC, because if you look carefully at the Royal Guards’ lockers, you can see that the locker to the left of Yeong’s has the name Choi Jinsu written on it! And for those of you that look out for this sort of thing, of the people shown on the stickers on Yeong’s lapop, Choi Jinsu is the one wearing the light beige hoodie in the stickers on the far left - in the stickers with the black outline, he’s the one caressing Yeong’s shoulder in one picture, and saluting in the next one down. This is not important to the story, but it’s important to me that you know that :D