The courtyard was too quiet. The kind of quiet that usually means something bad is lurking, but also the kind of quiet where you start hearing your stomach growl and wondering if everyone else can hear it too.
Seo Yena tiptoed forward, clutching her broom like it was a legendary sword. "If something jumps out, I'm hitting it," she whispered.
"Or sweeping it away?" Crown Prince Joon murmured dryly.
"Don't tempt me, Your Highness," she said, her eyes darting around. "I once took down a rat the size of a small dog with this broom."
Before Joon could reply, a sudden crash echoed from the shadows. Both froze.
From the darkness emerged… a cat. A very fluffy, very annoyed palace cat with a bell collar. It sat there, licking its paw as if it hadn't just given them both mild heart attacks.
"That's it?" Joon hissed. "That's the great danger?"
Yena eyed the cat suspiciously. "Don't be fooled. That thing looks like it pays taxes in the underworld."
She took a cautious step forward....and the ground beneath her let out a low crack.
The prince's eyes widened. "Yena… don't move."
Of course, she moved. And the ground gave way entirely, sending them both tumbling down into what looked like an old, dust-choked storage tunnel.
They landed in a heap, Yena on top of Joon.
"Comfortable?" she asked, smirking.
"Only if you get off me before I suffocate," he groaned.
But before she could make a snappy comeback, torches along the tunnel walls flared to life on their own. A shadow moved at the far end.
"Uh… Prince?" Yena whispered. "Did the torches just light themselves?"
"Yes."
"And is that shadow holding… a sword?"
"Yes."
"…Cool. I'm going to start screaming now."
The shadow stepped closer, and the light revealed… a man in full, antique armor. The kind of armor that jingled when he moved, like he'd raided the prop room of a historical drama.
But his eyes glowed faintly red.
"Oh great," Yena muttered. "We've found the cursed basement ghost cosplaying as a knight."
The knight pointed his sword directly at Joon. "Intruders in the royal tombs," he declared in a booming voice. "You must pay the price."
"Technically, we fell in by accident," Yena said, raising her broom like a quarterstaff. "Do you take apologies as payment? Or maybe snacks?"
The knight ignored her and advanced.
Joon stepped in front of her. "I'm the Crown Prince. You will stand down."
The knight tilted his head, as if processing the information, then laughed.....the kind of laugh villains give when they're definitely not going to stand down.
"Oh no," Yena whispered. "He's doing the evil laugh. That's always bad news."
Without warning, the knight lunged. Joon parried with the broken remains of a wooden torch he'd picked up, and Yena swung her broom so hard it bonked the knight's helmet sideways.
He stumbled. "WHO DARES.....?!"
"Seo Yena, part-time maid, full-time chaos bringer," she announced proudly.
For a moment, the knight just stared at her. Then… he laughed again. But this time, it was different.....more amused than menacing.
"You have spirit," he said. "Pity it won't save you."
"Oh, that's comforting," Yena muttered.
The knight attacked again, faster this time. Sparks flew as Joon blocked, and the clang of metal echoed in the tunnel. Yena darted around, looking for an opening.
Then she spotted it.....a rope pulley in the wall, holding up what looked like… sacks of grain?
She didn't think. She yanked the rope.
The sacks dropped directly onto the knight, knocking him flat with a muffled "oof!"
The dust cloud was so thick, Yena and Joon coughed for a solid thirty seconds.
When it cleared, the knight was gone.
"Did… did he just evaporate?" Yena asked.
Joon's jaw tightened. "No. He retreated."
"Right," she said, gripping her broom tighter. "Because it would be too much to ask for one problem to stay solved around here."
Somewhere in the darkness, a low chuckle echoed.
The chuckle turned into a full echoing roar, and before Yena could even suggest "maybe we just stand still and pretend to be statues," the air behind them shifted.
A faint clank sounded. Then another.
"Oh no," Yena whispered. "He's doing the slow horror movie walk."
"Run," Joon said.
They ran.
The tunnel seemed to stretch forever, their footsteps bouncing off the walls. Somewhere behind them, the knight's armor rattled like an angry tambourine, but he never seemed to tire.
"Why do cursed knights never get winded?!" Yena panted.
"Because they're cursed," Joon replied, vaulting over a pile of fallen stones. "Less talking, more running!"
They darted into a side corridor, only to find it filled with old barrels. The smell hit them instantly.
"…Pickle brine?" Yena guessed.
"No, that's vinegar."
She shot him a look. "We're not having a condiment discussion while we're being chased!"
A sudden crash behind them made the barrels shudder.
"Fine," Yena hissed. "If he wants chaos...."
She shoved one barrel toward the tunnel entrance. It rolled perfectly, smacking into the knight's shin with a hollow thunk.
"OW!" he barked.
Yena froze. "…Wait, did the ghost knight just say ow?"
Joon's eyes narrowed. "That's not a ghost."
Before they could investigate, the knight lunged through the barrels, swinging his sword wildly. Yena squealed and grabbed Joon's sleeve, dragging him into another passage.
This tunnel was smaller, darker, and… had bats. Lots of bats.
The first bat swooped past Yena's head, making her scream and flail so hard she smacked Joon in the face with her broom.
"OW.....Yena!"
"Sorry! It's the broom or the bats!" she shrieked.
They stumbled out into a wide chamber lit by a strange, pale light. At its center stood a cracked stone altar, covered in strange markings.
The knight entered moments later, his helmet dented, his breathing heavy.
"This," he said, pointing his sword, "is where your journey ends."
"Technically," Yena said, catching her breath, "we don't have to fight. We could just… you know… talk things out."
The knight smirked. "You talk too much."
And then, with a roar, he charged.
The knight's sword came down in a blinding arc...
CLANG!
It stopped an inch from Joon's face… because Yena had blindly swung her broom and somehow wedged it between the knight's sword and the altar.
The knight froze. "How.....?!"
"Pure luck!" Yena yelled, yanking the broom back. The sudden movement sent the sword flying....straight into one of the hanging bat nests above.
The bats exploded out in a screaming cloud, flapping in every direction.
One bat smacked into the knight's helmet so hard it spun halfway around. "I can't see!" he roared, swinging blindly.
"Joon, this is our chance!" Yena hissed.
But before they could run, the knight stumbled forward.....straight into the altar. The top cracked, releasing a swirl of faint blue smoke.
"Uh," Yena said, backing up, "is that… normal?"
"Nope," Joon replied.
The smoke cleared, revealing a faint glowing figure.....an old man in elaborate scholar robes.
"You two," the apparition said in a bored tone, "have the worst sense of timing in the history of intruders."
Before Yena could speak, the "knight" ripped off his helmet....and underneath was… a scrawny, sweaty palace guard, no older than nineteen. His hair stuck to his forehead, and his cheeks were bright red.
"You?!" Yena sputtered. "You're not cursed! You're just… short!"
"I am NOT short," the boy snapped, trying to stand taller. "I was told to scare off anyone who came here!"
"By who?" Joon demanded.
The boy swallowed. "…By the Queen Dowager."
Yena and Joon exchanged a look. The Queen Dowager was many things...powerful, dangerous....but now apparently she was also hiring teenage interns to play fake cursed knights.
"I hate this palace," Joon muttered.