Chapter Text
To the honorable Stone Mage, Sage of the Kingdom of GenG, Jeong Jihoon,
His Majesty Son Siwoo extends an invitation to you to be a judge in his upcoming tournament to find his new husband. His Majesty highly values your opinion after many years of brotherhood and requests your assistance in finding the best choice for a new King Consort. The tournament will be structured in six trials starting in four days. His Majesty predicts the tournament should take about a week. Any eligible men between the ages of 24 and 30 from any kingdom in the land of Korea are allowed to participate for His Majesty’s hand. The only individual forbidden to enter the tournament is His Majesty King Jaehyuk of the Kingdom of GenG, as King Siwoo has recently received approval for his long-awaited divorce request from High Judge Heo Su of the Court of Damwon—
Jihoon lifted his eyes from the letter.
“Fuuuuccckkkk.”
He groaned and returned to reading.
—Other than his now former husband, His Majesty encourages any men whom you think favorably of from the Kingdom of GenG to join the tournament.
His Majesty would also like to extend an invitation to spectate the tournament as an honored guest to your spouse, His Majesty Lee Sanghyeok, King of the Demon Realm, the honorable Blood Witch, The Great Water Spirit, The Guardian of the Gates of the Underworld—
“I wish they would stop saying all my titles at once; I get embarrassed,” Sanghyeok muttered, perching his head on Jihoon’s shoulder to peer at the letter.
Jihoon laughed, turning to give Sanghyeok a light kiss.
“Why not, hyung? I think it's perfect; everyone should know how powerful my husband is.”
Sanghyeok rolled his eyes, but Jihoon could see the light red dusting his cheeks.
“Finish reading. I saw Jaehyuk get a messenger in the throne room, so I predict you have about five minutes until he starts screaming,” Sanghyeok warned.
—If you can attend the tournament, please draw this sigil down below, created by Lord Yechan, onto your skin. Please make sure you are holding on to any luggage you want to bring, or else it will get left behind. His Majesty offers his humblest gratitude for your assistance.
Good health and fortune be your way,
Bae Youngjun, Counsel of the Kingdom of Nongshim
Jihoon turned to Sanghyeok, mustering up his best puppy dog eyes.
“Hyunnngg…you should come with meee…”
Sanghyeok shakes his head immediately.
“I have to get back to the Demon Realm, dear; Hyunjun will burn down another palace wing if he’s left alone for too long with Minseok. I think Hyeonjoon already left for Nongshim as another tournament judge as well.”
“Please, please, please, hyung,” Jihoon begged, “How about you ask Hyukku hyung to watch over the realm for a little bit? He’s always there training Minseok to take over as the Great Earth Spirit anyway.”
Sanghyeok gave his typical side eye on anything related to Hyukku, but Jihoon could see the cogs turn in his head.
“Fine,” Sanghyeok sighed, “You go ahead first; I’ll get some work done then teleport over to Nongshim.”
Jihoon beamed happily, leaning in to give Sanghyeok another kiss—
“WHAT THE FUCK! I REFUSE TO ACCEPT THIS!” screeched the voice of Park Jaehyuk, heard all the way from the throne room. A crash noise followed shortly.
“JEONG JIHOON! GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE!”
Sanghyeok giggled as Jihoon’s face immediately aged five years. Jihoon could only watch as his husband quickly left him to go off to the closet with mutters of ‘needing to pack’.
“Good luck, my love! I’ll see you in four days!” Sanghyeok said as Jihoon began his slow walk to Jaehyuk.
He could only place his face in his hands and groan.
When Jihoon entered the throne room, he was greeted with the sight of Jaehyuk slumped in his throne as a gleeful Mingyu circled him, reading a scroll.
“‘As per His Majesty Son Siwoo’s words, I will enact this divorce with no further delay and abide by his wishes to forbid you from entering the upcoming tournament for his remarriage…blah, blah, blah…signed Lord Heo Su, The Bladeseer Witch, High Judge and Sage of the Court of Damwhon—’ damn, Siwoo hyung hates your ass!” Mingyu cackled.
Jaehyuk slumped further down like he was hoping his throne would swallow him whole. Jihoon locked eyes with Kiin, who was staring out the window from Jaehyuk’s left side as per usual. It was clear that the knight would provide no help, as expected. He turned to the right and saw Geonbu’s eyes glazed over while standing, not even in the waking world…as per usual.
Jihoon sighed, pinching his eyes.
“Jaehyuk hyung, why are you surprised? Siwoo hyung has been planning this divorce for three years now, ever since you left GenG to him as the sole ruler during the, I don’t know, a little event where we were invaded by wraiths and under siege for months during the war?” He barked in frustration.
“I know, I know, that wasn’t even my fault, Jihoon; I got held up in China,” Jaehyuk wailed in anguish, “But me being the only person not allowed to compete to win him back? He’s trying to spite me!”
“Of course, he’s trying to spite you; this is Siwoo hyung,” Kiin deadpanned, with Mingyu nodding in the background.
Jaehyuk flashed over to Geonbu in a panic, startling the other man awake.
“Oh Great Spirit of the Wind and Air, Kim Geonbu…hear this lowly one’s pleas and ask your little boyfriend to reverse the court order!”
Geonbu’s dead expression appeared as if they had already had this conversation multiple times.
“Hyung, I’m Heo Su’s familiar, not the other way around. Also, I keep telling you this: Damwon Court orders are final and absolute. Not even a Great Spirit can reverse the law of the country.”
Jaehyuk returned to the throne room, slumped over. Then suddenly he perked back up in seriousness, fingertips pressed together.
“Regardless of me, we need to send a GenG representative along with you, Jihoon,” Jaehyuke mused. “I bet Jinhyeok is already sending in multiple people into the tournament, so Hanhwa can get a permanent alliance with Nongshim. No king would pass up this opportunity to get connected to Nongshim’s agricultural monopoly. We can’t let Hanhwa get more powerful…”
Jaehyuk broke into a wide grin and stared directly at Kiin.
Kiin immediately began to stumble away from the throne in visible horror.
Jihoon laughed awkwardly, “No way, Jaehyuk hyung, you can’t be serious—
“Kim Kiin! Knight of the Aurora! Hear this order from your king!” Jaehyuk declared, “I task you to enter the tournament, become the husband of Son Siwoo in my stead…uh, and bring further glory to the Kingdom of GenG!”
The room was in absolute silence.
Jihoon forced himself to not meet eyes with Mingyu, who was already shaking with internal laughter. Even Geonbu’s eyes were wide in shock.
They all watched as Kiin took a breath.
“Absolutely not!” Kiin shrieked, “No! I wholeheartedly refuse this order!”
“Ahahahaha!” Sanghyeok giggled from his communication mirror to the Demon Realm, “Kiin?! What a delightful surprise!”
Jihoon sighed, packing another pair of pants into his suitcase.
“I don’t know, hyung; I feel like Kiin hyung is gonna purposely mess up his chances completely to go home early.”
“Siwoo and Kiin are quite close, though, are they not? You told me that Siwoo recruited Kiin from Boseong’s kingdom to help fight off the wraiths during the invasion, ” Sanghyeok inquired.
Jihoon looked toward the mirror in shock.
“Hyung, you can’t possibly think Kiin and Siwoo, of all people, have romantic potential?”
“You never know, Jihoonie. I certainly didn’t expect to fall in love with a mage from GenG whom I rescued from being a hostage on the battlefield,” Sanghyeok chuckled.
Jihoon pondered a bit more, then shook his head. His rambunctious Siwoo hyung with the sarcastic, quiet Kiin hyung?
“I think that’s a big stretch, hyung. Anyways, I’m gonna head over to Siwoo hyung with Yechan -shi’s sigil now. Talk to you later?”
Sanghyeok nodded, “Of course, call me tonight. Also, tell Yechanie I’m proud of his improvement in his shadow magic. Long-range teleportation is quite the achievement!”
Jihoon really didn’t want to do that, but he smiled in agreement with his beloved and ended the call. He then inspected the sigil at the bottom of the letter, copying it to perfection onto his palm with ink. Jihoon quickly grabbed his suitcase as he saw his shadow start to extend, eventually swallowing him into a sight of inky darkness.
When Jihoon opened his eyes, he was standing on the same sigil painted on the ground in a shadowed area. An overhead light gleamed above his head.
“Clear!” He heard a mechanical voice announce in the background, “Visitor has arrived safely, time is 7:36 PM!”
Standing in front of him was a familiar man, arms covered with tattoos of similar patterned sigils, wearing a black shawl and a small frown on his face.
“You’re not Sanghyeok hyung,” Lee Yechan said with great disappointment, “Where is he?”
“Good to see you too, dearest brother-in-law,” Jihoon responded with a shit-eating grin, “Glad to see you haven’t changed. Sanghyeok hyung is coming when the tournament starts.”
Yechan rolled his eyes and beckoned Jihoon to follow him out of the room, which Jihoon presumed to be his office.
“The others from your village arrived before you. They’re all in Siwoo’s greenhouse,” Yechan explained shortly as they walked the halls of Nongshim’s palace. “Siwoo will come meet you guys soon; he’s finishing up some paperwork.”
They stopped in front of a set of double doors.
“Ah, Yechan-shi,” Jihoon muttered, “Sanghyeok hyung…wanted me to tell you that he’s proud of your long-range teleportation skills…”
He could see the other man brighten up in an instant. One could even see Yechan’s fox ears popping up out of his head in delight.
“Oh, that was so painful for you to say, wasn’t it, Jeong Jihoon?” Yechan crooned, “Sanghyeok hyung clearly sees me as the superior mage to you~.”
Before Jihoon could turn the man into stone, Yechan cackled and opened the doors.