POV: Ryu Ha Joon
Hajoon's steps are quiet in the hallway. It's the time he believes Nari would have gone to bed under the influence of whatever medicine Mrs. Kang had mixed in her water glass. A strange excitement and –unexpectedly– nervousness courses through his body.
This is dampened when he turns back and all three are standing behind him: Jae Hyuk, Sunwoo and Mrs Kang. In that order.
"What are you all doing? It's not like you can go with me."
Jae Hyuk bows respectfully. "Your Majesty, if it's really you, I have a suggestion. She is already knocked out. Why don't you just open the door and throw her over to the other side?" He tilts his head. "Or how about you open the door and I throw her over? But maybe that wouldn't work."
Hajoon shakes his head in disdain. "What's the point of having an idol-like face when you don't have any gentlemanly manners in you?" Nari has a bad taste in men.
Sunwoo steps out from behind Jae Hyuk, smiling brightly. "But he is right! She will wake up and think it was just a dream."
"But you must not step over the boundary, Your Majesty. Just throw her over." Mrs. Kang also chimes in, motioning with her arms to demonstrate how he should throw Hae Nari over like a sack of potatoes. "Remember Shaman Su's warnings."
"You all need yoga and meditation." He points a finger at them. "Leave at once! Don't let me see any of you before morning."
They all reluctantly bow with a "Yes, Your Majesty," and hurry out of the corridor.
Hajoon takes a deep breath and turns the doorknob. For a moment he is afraid it's going to happen again. But then he is through the door and inside her room.
He closes the door quietly behind him.
The light is on. Nari is lying down under the duvet. He moves closer till he is standing beside her. Her one hand is sprawled up on the pillow, one out on the duvet, and her dark hair form a halo around her head. Her bottom lip slightly juts out in a pout as though something has disheartened her in her dreams.
There is a sweet sort of beauty about her. It invokes a desire to protect. If he had seen her somewhere else in some other circumstances, he would have done a discreet double take.
That scent, the flowery perfume, enters his breath again. Mrs. Kang claims she didn't give any perfume to her. Jae Hyuk says she had nothing on her when she came here. What is this scent then? Is Hajoon hallucinating?
The duvet rustles as he pulls it away. He needs to hold her to do it. Under the duvet, her trouser on one leg has climbed up above her knees, revealing the smooth pale skin of her leg. Hajoon leans over her, takes hold of the edge of her trouser with the tips of his two fingers. Slowly, he slides it down over her leg. Without intending to, his fingers brush against her skin.
She lets out a whimper.
A shiver goes down his spine. He glances at her face. Her bottom lip has jutted out even more in a pout and there is crease between her brows. Something ignites inside him that causes him to clench his fingers into a fist. He has an urge to do something that would make her release that enticing sound again.
The thought makes his eyes roam over her form; From the pale slender neck to the curves of her chest and then waist and–
I am not a pervert! He reprimands himself and straightens up.
"I better get to the task at hand," he murmurs to himself.
But he finds it hard now. To slide an arm under her waist, wrap her arm around his neck and finally cradle her in his arms in the bridal style. Hajoon has never held a woman like this. In other ways, yes. But not like a groom carrying his bride to the bed.
Perhaps he shouldn't have had that thought. Frustration bubbles inside him. Why is he acting like he has never touched a woman before?
He glances down at her sleeping form, standing in front of the door. What would he do if…?
With her in his arms, he turns the doorknob and goes through.
The silent air of the night suddenly fills with the hustle bustle of a crowd. It's the same hallway, but now people– tourists are walking through it. Men, women and some children. They stare at him, a man with a sleeping woman in his arms.
His suspicions have been confirmed. Hae Nari followed Hajoon to his world, through the door he had used to travel. But how? He had tried pulling Sunwoo with him, Jae Hyuk with him and even the people from the other worlds. Only he could go through and no one else.
What makes this woman an exception?
Mrs. Kang told him to just throw her here. They all expect him to do that. He knows all their reasons and fears behind it.
But Hajoon isn't his mother and the woman in his arms isn't–
There's no hurry. He will hear out Shaman Su first. What could go wrong?
With that thought, he turns back, opens the door and steps back inside her room. The air is silent again.
Hajoon takes his time walking back to the bed. Gently, his arms lay her down on the mattress. His chest grows cold, missing the warmth of her body. He swallows dryly. Before he could have any more…improper thoughts, he drapes the duvet back on her and hurries out of the room.
He gets out, shaken, as though running away from something frightening. He goes to bed with her flowery scent in his breath.
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POV: Ryu Ha Joon
Hajoon doesn't sleep well that night. For several reasons. He also wakes up earlier, has breakfast and waits for Sunwoo to return from her visit to Shaman Su.
He has not changed out of his night suit and is going through some documents in his study that need his signs and stamps when there is a knock on the door. Mrs. Kang enters with Sunwoo.
"Your Majesty, Shaman Su is still in prayer," Sunwoo says after greeting him politely.
"I told you to bring him at all costs."
"His room was locked but I broke in. The whole room was plastered in talismans and he was deep into prayers, murmuring to himself and rocking. I felt like I would be inviting more trouble than help if I disturbed him." She visibly shudders. "However, one of his disciples was inside. Park Siwoo. Shaman Su has left him in charge."
"Did you bring him?"
"Yes, Your Majesty. But he is totally weird. Bizarre. Doesn't look like a shaman at all. I only brought him with me because he seems to know too much. Went on talking about you even before I could even ask him anything, as if he had been waiting for me." Sunwoo says with a frown. "Why would Shaman Su tell someone everything without discussing it with you first?"
"Perhaps he didn't. He is a shaman; Shamans can know things without being told." Mrs. Kang makes a point. "Otherwise, it's not like Shaman Su to take just any disciple into confidence."
"Whether Shaman Su told him himself or he found out through his powers, in either case it means he is a great shaman. Call him in." Hajoon orders.
Sunwoo informs Jae Hyuk through the earpiece and some minutes later there is another knock on the door as Hajoon is stamping and signing documents. Jae Hyuk, masked, enters. A young man follows behind him. The sight of him is so peculiar and unusual that Hajoon has to leave everything as it is and focus on the young Shaman.