Chapter Text
The sky burns orange as Yunho makes his way back to the village. He plays with the bead bracelet on his left wrist Hongjoong had gifted to him when they were still kids, counting the ivory and tan beads to keep himself calm as he walks. Things had been peaceful around these parts for most of his formative years, but lately the number of brain eaters have increased and have started posing a very real threat to their village.
Yunho is just coming back from a mission for Chief Kim who had sent him out to try and cull their numbers with the excuse that it was a good opportunity to train Jongho at the same time. Speaking of which, Yunho pauses and turns to the younger boy who follows after him looking weary and tired.
“Come,” he urges Jongho. “It’ll be nightfall soon.” Jongho sighs but jogs to try and catch up to him. Frowning, Yunho watches as he allows the younger boy to walk past him. “Are you okay?” he asks after a beat of silence. “You seem upset.”
Jongho sighs again and turns to face him. He doesn’t say anything at first, eyeing Yunho up and down for a second before he finally shakes his head. “Look, don’t take this the wrong way or anything. I’m grateful for the training, especially under a psychokinetic, but I’d kinda hoped that Chan would’ve been the one to take me out on my first field mission.”
Yunho frowns, hands on his hips as he walks towards the other boy. He’s not offended although he doesn’t necessarily understand the sentiment. Chan is one of only a few other psychokinetics in their village and it wasn’t uncommon for them to train others although not any more unusual than anyone else. Yunho doesn’t know why it should matter.
“Why didn’t you ask then?”
Jongho sputters, cheeks turning red from the simple suggestion. “How could I? It would have been improper!”
Yunho eyes the markings on Jongho’s face, two lines moving down from his cheek bones before winging up, an indication of his sclerokinesis—he could harden his skin to be nigh impenetrable if he wanted. “Why? I don’t think there’s anything wrong with requesting who you’d like to be trained by,” Yunho tells him. “Although I don’t know why you’d want to be trained by another psychokinetic to be honest. The power is the same regardless of who wields it.”
“Yeah, but psychokinetics are just—you guys are cool!” Jongho says with wide eyes, looking a little star struck even as he looks up at Yunho who he clearly voiced he didn’t admire as much. “Especially after the first Psionic Hunts I just thought, well, there aren’t very many of you left. And it would be an honor to fight with one of you, and Chan is just more trained than you.” He shrugs his shoulders and turns his gaze away, still embarrassed to essentially be telling Yunho he just didn’t think he was as cool.
“The goal is that we won’t have to fight at all,” Yunho reminds him. “Brain eaters aren’t fun to deal with.”
“I know. I’m just saying.” Besides, regardless of Yunho’s claim that all psychokinetics shared the same power, even he couldn’t deny that they all had clearly distinct styles of using their powers. Jongho refrains from saying anything.
Yunho huffs a little breath of disbelief and shakes his head. “Very well. I’ll speak with Elder Kim about having you train under Chan next time,” he offers.
Jongho perks up at his words. “Wait, really? You’d do that for me?” He pauses when a thought suddenly occurs to him. “Oh. I suppose you are close to Chief Kim’s son, aren’t you?”
“Hongjoong? We grew up together,” Yunho says.
“Hm, I guess that would make it easy for you to talk to him,” Jongho muses, still looking dissatisfied.
Yunho frowns, not understanding the other boy at all. He says, “I don’t get it. Is talking to Hongjoong supposed to be hard?”
“Ugh. You don’t get it.” Jongho runs his hands through his hair and shakes his head in disbelief. “This is why I—nevermind. I heard Chan can move whole boulders with his powers. Is that true?” Yunho hadn’t done anything nearly as impressive in Jongho’s opinion although he does suppose that he is still a psychokinetic. He’d managed to rip out the core of a couple of brain eaters they’d encountered, but all psychokinetics could that. That’s why they were necessary and often in charge of training new recruits.
“He’s a psychokinetic like me, so I suppose so,” Yunho answers simply.
Jongho sighs, “You’re impossible to talk to.”
“My apologies. I was just trying to help.”
Shaking his head, Jongho stalks off in the direction of the village ahead of Yunho. The small cores of the brain eaters they’d killed feel heavy in his pocket. He should be grateful. Yunho had been a good mentor, and it was cool to see a psychokinetic in action. He pauses a few paces ahead of Yunho and turns back to face him. “Hey,” he says in a small voice, “if you don’t mind me asking, what is Hongjoong like?”
Yunho comes to a stop as well, blinking at the request. “Hongjoong?”
“Yeah. He might be your friend but he’s...distant to the rest of us. Always protected and shielded away from us by his father and the other village elders, you know? I mean, I get it.” Jongho rubs at his nose, a nervous tic. “You make him seem...human.”
“He is human,” Yunho says. “No different than you or I.”
Jongho laughs a little at that. “Not in the least,” he protests. “He’s our clan’s Seer. Everyone worships him, looking to him for guidance. He basically has the key to our future in his hands which seems particularly pertinent given the current situation.” They’re both quiet after Jongho’s remark, contemplating the state of current affairs. Brain eaters were increasing in number and activities these days. They’d been previously invaded by Irulan soldiers, threatening their lands and their lives, and it seemed that some of the city states were braced for civil war at any moment.
Yunho can’t say he knows much about the conflict, but so far the war has been cold. There had been no full scale battles yet, but the Iruleans were clearly ready to fight. Their invasions onto Mount Henna had been for better defensive positioning around Zaun. They could secure safer transportation routes through the naturally protective terrain here, but they’d been repelled by the villagers.
Tensions were rising though, and it seemed common knowledge among the elders that it would only be a matter of time before they’d be caught in the middle of a civil war. No, Yunho knew war would come. It had already been declared in fact although both Irulan and Zaun seemed to be feeling each other out more than anything else. It would turn into full scale war soon, and Yunho doesn’t think they’ll have any other choice but to participate in one way or another. Hongjoong confided in him about a vision he’d had. They would not survive without choosing a side. Now, all discussion focused around which city-state would be best to throw their support behind.
“He is very lonely,” Yunho admits quietly. Hongjoong did not grow up surrounded by friends. He grew up carefully handled by attendants and bodyguards, his father and the other elders desperate to make sure he lived past his formative years to fully develop his powers. Yunho had really only been his playmate due to the nature of his own circumstances. “I’m sure he’d love to live a life where he could come and go as he pleased..”
The elders wanted to make sure his powers developed as much as they wanted Hongjoong to learn how to control his own. He, Chan, and Hongjoong had all been training partners growing up, learning how to hone their powers so that they could protect their village one day. After training sessions, Chan was always quick to leave, preferring to spend his leisure time with his cousin whom he loved dearly and thoroughly coddled.
Yunho, having no friends or family after his father and mother were killed by brain eaters as a child, spent his time with Hongjoong. And Hongjoong had always been grateful for his company.
“They don’t protect him from the villagers,” Yunho elaborates when he hears Jongho’s noise of confusion. “They’re protecting him from us.”
“From us?” Jongho repeats, eyebrows knitting together in confusion. “I don’t understand. Are we a danger to him?”
Yunho shakes his head. “Premonition is a difficult power to live with. Knowing the future can be such a burden. It’s also unpredictable. It’s difficult to control.”
“So?”
“Every encounter with a brain eater is potentially deadly. There’s no guarantee anyone will come back alive.” Just yesterday they’d lost a veteran to a brain eater attack. Seunghyun had been a great mentor for many of the younger villagers and his widow had been inconsolable. Yunho had gone to pay his respects at the man’s memorial as he’s sure Jongho had done. Everyone had done so by now because everyone knew, save for one person.
Hongjoong.
He’d be informed eventually, probably fed some lie about how Seunghyun had died peacefully of some kind of natural cause. By now Hongjoong knew they lied to him but never pressed the issue. Yunho suspected that his friend likely already knew there’d been a death. He’d become adept at reading the mood of his attendants and Yunho, but he waited to be told another lie nevertheless.
If only he could have foreseen those deaths. Hongjooong always said that when the council finally decided that he should probably know. When they were wrong those words were always spoken with such anguish. Now, they are almost a robotic response although Yunho knows Hongjoong still feels all that pain. He just doesn’t have capacity to express it anymore. It wears him out too quickly and too often, the guilt of feeling like he could have prevented it if only he could control his power.
“Hongjoong can’t see everything although I think he wished he could.”
“Oh.” Jongho is silent after that, and the two of them walk wordlessly up to the border of the village. Ropes tied around the trunks of the trees mark the outer borders of their little settlement.
“Would you like to meet him?” Yunho offers suddenly.
Jongho startles at the suggestion. “Me?”
“I think he would like you.”
Jongho blushes, flattered by the notion that their Seer might like him, but he quickly shakes that off. “I’d love to, but it’s impossible,” he protests. “You can’t just go around arranging meetings with him!” Well, most people couldn’t. Perhaps Yunho could.
“I know. I think he would like you though.”
Jongho preens at the suggestion before quickly composing himself again. “No one’s allowed into his temple chamber though,” Jongho points out, thinking about the logistics of actually meeting the Seer. Even if Hongjoong wanted to, he couldn’t if Hongjoong simply wasn’t allowed to ever leave. Then he realizes exactly who he’s talking to and quickly corrects himself. “I mean, most people aren’t allowed in. We’re not allowed to see him.” Then he seems to remember that he’s talking to Yunho. “Most people aren’t allowed into his temple chamber.”
“I can sneak him out,” Yunho says.
Jongho blinks, completely caught off guard by the alternative. “That...are you even allowed to do that? Can you do that?”
“Of course I can, but I’m not supposed to.”
The younger man is stunned into silence, unable to understand Yunho in the least. Perhaps it was just a product of how he’d been raised and trained under the guidance of the elders alongside Hongjoong. Then again, Chan had been trained alongside them and didn’t seem nearly as odd. He wonders if Hongjoong is just as strange as Yunho. Jongho’s curiosity is like an insatiable hunger.
“You’ll sneak him out?”
Yunho hums with a nod of his head. “We do it frequently. Hongjoong hates being cooped up all the time and the fresh air does him good I think. No one’s caught us yet.”
That certainly helped Jongho feel better about it. “I—okay then. Later this week?”
Yunho seems to think about it before nodding his head in agreement. He says, “Yes. Three days from now. At night. Would that work for you?”
“Yes,” Jongho answers eagerly. “I can do that.”
“The lily pond by the village edge, then. Meet us there. Hongjoong likes it there.”
Jongho smiles and agrees, leaving Yunho at the outer borders of the village with that. He pauses at the last ring of trees surrounding the village and turns to face Yunho again. “I was wrong. I guess you are pretty cool.”
Yunho cocks his head to the side upon hearing Jongho’s compliment although he doesn’t respond. He’s not sure how to. When Jongho waves goodbye to him, he returns the gesture. Then Jongho disappears behind the trees to head into the village to finish up his duties. He’d need to turn in the cores for burial as was customary for them. What an odd kid, Yunho thinks as he follows into the village a moment later.
The village bustles with life at this time of day, much activity still to be done. He can smell the food being prepared in the large community kitchen. They ate breakfast and dinner together every day. Or most of them did. Hongjoong couldn’t, his attendants always fetching his portion of a meal just before the serving began. Yunho typically brought his own portion back to the temple to eat with Hongjoong despite his friend’s protests and the elders encouragement to eat with the others.
He rarely ate with the other villagers because Hongjoong couldn’t, and despite the Seer’s best attempts to smile and assure him that he was fine eating on his own, Yunho knew he hated it. He knew Hongjoong wanted nothing more than to join the rest of them with their meals. He knew it in the way Hongjoong always asked about it the day after the few times Yunho chose to eat with everyone else, his eyes bright and brimming with curiosity.
But today there is an odd energy laced within the activity of the villagers, a nervous chatter passing among them as they work. Yunho feels his heart sink when it hits him. Something is wrong. Someone has died. It had been like that with Seunghyun too, the same anxious chitter spreading among the villagers as news of his death spread among them.
Sucking in a breath, Yunho squares his shoulders and heads for the only place he could think to check. The Sanctuary. It was where those who had died, whether through service to the village or from old age, were buried alongside the cores of the brain eaters slain. Jongho would have headed straight for the Sanctuary to turn in those cores. Hurrying his pace, Yunho waves his way through the villagers trying to go about their business as the news of yet another death hangs over them.
As he moves though, Yunho picks up on one name upon the villagers’ lips. Soojin. Poor Soojin. She was so young. How could this happen? And right after Seunghyun too. Deaths weren’t uncommon, especially these days with the rising number of brain eaters, but to have two so close to each other.
No.
Yunho shakes off the grief that comes to him as soon as it begins to fester. It wouldn’t do him any good anyways. He makes his way to the Sanctuary where a small crowd of people have started to gather. He shoulders his way through them, easily making his way to the front of the crowd where Jongho stands frozen, cradling the cores in his hands.
“There were no other expeditions sent out,” Yunho gasps out. “How did this happen?”
One of the priestesses kneeling by the body looks up at him before turning away with a small sigh.
“It wasn’t a brain eater,” Jongho murmurs as another priestess approaches him to take his proffered cores, murmuring that at least they’d have someone to guide them back in the afterlife.
It’s then that Yunho finally looks down at the body the priestess is kneeling beside and sees that Jongho is right about that. Brain eaters, as their name perhaps implied, feasted on only one part of humans, leaving their victim’s corpses headless as a result. Part of the burial tradition of sending off both fallen members as well as slain brain eaters was their belief that in death, in their peace, they could guide each other back home.
But Soojin isn’t headless. Instead, the obviously fatal wound appears to be a collection of stab wounds in her neck and chest. These are not wounds inflicted by a brain eater. These are distinctly human caused wounds.
“Iruleans,” Jongho growls out.
The priestess shakes her head. “We have no proof who did it beyond that he was attacked by another psychic most likely.”
“Well, who else could it be?” Jongho snaps. “The Iruleans have been hostile for months. We know that it’s just a matter of time before they try and launch a full scale invasion into our lands..”
Yunho doesn’t say anything although he’s inclined to agree with Jongho. Looking at the wounds on Soojin’s body, he’s sure the Iruleans must have been involved. It didn’t look like they were gearing up for a full scale attack on the village, but it would certainly be naive of them to think that they weren’t conducting their own surveillance of them. Soojin might’ve stumbled across something or someone.
He doesn’t say anything though because it’s not his place and the priestess is right. They have no real evidence that any one person or factioned did this to her, and he knows he can’t easily just jump to conclusions. He’s privy to more information than most because of Hongjoong. There is talk among the elders about what to do in their current situation, especially given Hongjoong’s recent vision that remaining neutral would simply not be an option if they wanted to survive.
What Yunho couldn’t figure out was why there was any talk at all. It was clear to him as it was to the rest of the villagers who their enemy was. They were neutral, uninterested in the war waging between the city-states backed by Irulan and Zaun, but they were being pulled ever so slowly into the conflict.
Hongjoong had a vision. Neutrality would only ensure their destruction. They had to pick a side to throw their support behind. He never said who they should support; he didn’t know, but the minds of everyone else had already been set. Irulan was the enemy.
Still, a missive had been sent out, Hongjoong’s father included, to seek a potential alliance with either side. The decision would be made soon hopefully. Until then...Yunho turns away from the sight of Soojin’s body.
“She was not killed by brain eaters,” he reminds the priestess in a murmur. “Please, make sure she guides those who were lost back to their bodies.”
The priestess bows her head obediently.
Hongjoong’s smile quickly fades when he sees Yunho approach with two trays of food, one in each of his hands. The psychokinetic isn’t sure what gives him away. He’d done his best to try and hide any of his misery and helplessness before he’d approached his friend, but of course their Seer could see right through him.
“Something has happened,” he murmurs when Yunho is close enough to hear. He falls to the heap of pillows on his floor and stares up at Yunho expectantly.
The taller man hesitates before lowering himself and the food carefully to the ground. He parts his lips to answer Hongjoong by claiming that nothing has happened but snaps his mouth shut before uttering a single word, perhaps thinking better of it. “Your father returns tomorrow morning,” he says instead.
Hongjoong’s expression is tart as he eyes his friend like he is both his enemy and only ally. He can only maintain the charade for a short period of time before he eventually concedes, his whole body deflating as if it were a balloon. “Yes,” he answers meekly. “My attendants have already arranged a meeting for us later that morning. They would like you to be in attendance as well.”
Yunho hides his surprise fairly well, he thinks. “Me? You don’t sound too pleased.”
Sighing, Hongjoong peers up at his friend. “It’s not because of you,” he says, sounding exasperated.
“Then what’s the problem?”
“He’s my father!” Hongjoong snaps. Yunho startles back a little at his tone, and the Seer immediately sighs, staring down at his food with an empty expression. “I’m his son. Why is he going around setting up meetings with my attendants instead of just...coming to talk to me!”
Yunho sighs and folds his hands together neatly on his lap, considering his friend’s complaints carefully and genuinely. “He is your father,” he speaks cautiously, “but you are more than just his son, Hongjoong. And he knows that. You are our Seer. You are precious and important for us. He’s just trying to show you the respect you deserve.”
“I don’t want his respect,” Hongjoong mutters petulantly. “I want him to love me. He’s my father.”
“He does love you,” Yunho assures him. “That is why he comes to see you.”
“He comes to see his precious Seer,” Hongjoong snaps irritably. “He comes seeking advice and any information on what the future holds. He comes to me for guidance when I am the son and he is the father. How can I guide my own father? I know nothing. I am not nearly so wise.”
“Hongjoong,” Yunho admonishes him. “He seeks your advice because he loves and trusts you. Your talents are precious to him. To us.”
Hongjoong looks stricken by the sentiment as if Yunho might as well have struck him on the cheek. His breath catches in his throat. He trembles and stares at his tray of untouched food while fighting back the sudden urge to toss his food around the room. Maybe he would if he was alone—his attendants were more than accustomed to outbursts of the Seer’s temper, but Yunho is here now, and he doesn’t want to lose his temper in front of him.
What if Yunho never came back?
“This talent is a curse,” he finally says after clamping down on his anger. “Premonition…” He trails off before snorting. “I don’t even have control over it.”
“Talents like that cannot be expected to be wielded at complete will,” Yunho reminds him. “That is why each vision you do have is all the more important. Your control over it is just fine.”
Biting down on his bottom lip, Hongjoong peers up at Yunho from beneath his lashes and considers if he should tell Yunho that it isn’t true. He doesn’t know what necessarily drives his visions but not all of them are relevant or even important. Some of them are devastatingly mundane: he’ll see if Yunho will eat his meals with Hongjoong that day or if his attendant will add the lavenders or the roses to his bath that night. He doesn’t say any of that though because Yunho believes.
Yunho believes in his talents and his importance to the village.
Instead he asks, “Then why don’t I know who died today?”
Yunho stiffens up at the question, but Hongjoong doesn’t care. He’s angry because no one tells him anything—a weird way to spare his feelings of guilt and responsibility. No one ever considers the fact that it just makes him feel worse.
“Why didn’t I see what happened to Seunghyun?”
Yunho breathes out through his nose. “It is not common for anyone to foresee deaths. Bad luck. And probably bad for your health anyway.”
Hongjoong smiles at his assessment, this time genuinely pleased and amused by Yunhos words. Still, he can’t help but smile ruefully at the sentiment because in the end that’s all it is. “It would be more helpful though. If I could see those events ahead of time, I could prevent those deaths. I could save our people.”
“You already prevent plenty of deaths. And you have saved us,” Yunho says sharply. “Without your talent we probably would have done our best to remain neutral in this civil war, and you told us what the result of that would be.”
“Maybe,” Hongjoong sounds unconvinced. Maybe they would have seen the writing on the wall regardless and tried to broker an alliance anyway. Maybe it had nothing to do with Hongjoong or his talents. He says none of this aloud but perhaps the doubt is easily readable on his expression because Yunho frowns and tries to reassure him that the village depends on him. His importance could not be overstated. Every death may not be preventable but he would ensure the survival and prosperity of their village with his gift.
“Tell me about who died,” Hongjoong pleads in a quiet voice, cutting off Yunho’s rantings. “Who was it? Did they slay the brain eater who did it?”
Yunho hesitates, reluctant to answer Hongjoong’s request even though he deserves to know. He is just as much a part of this village as anyone else. In many ways he is the heart of this village! He mourned those they lost as much as the rest of them. Sighing, Yunho looks down at the tray of food he’d brought to Hongjoong. Sliding it closer to the Seer, he says, “Her name was Soojin. A younger trainee.”
Hongjoong reaches out to take the bowl of rice, putting on a show of eating in order to appease Yunho. He doesn’t recognize the name. He doesn’t know most of the villagers, confined to his temple quarters as he often was. Nevertheless, he feels of pang of sadness and loss in his heart upon hearing her name. Another death that might have been prevented if only he could have foreseen such a thing.
“She...was out patrolling but wasn’t assigned as part of a hunting squadron. Should have been safe.”
“Their activity of late has become unpredictable. We should all be more careful during deployment,” Hongjoong muses quietly.
Yunho presses his mouth into a thin line for it is not as if he disagrees with Hongjoong’s opinion; it just was tragically irrelevant in this case. “Her head was still intact,” Yunho adds quietly. “It looks as if she had been attacked with a weapon. Multiple stab wounds.”
Hongjoong freezes with a spoonful of rice half-way to his mouth.
“We have no proof of who did it or...why, but it appears she was ambushed by another psychic. Or a group of them.”
“Killed by other psychics?” Hongjoong murmurs to himself before looking up to meet Yunho’s gaze. “But we don’t know who would have attacked her. Or why.”
“Officially,” Yunho confirms.
“And unofficially?” Hongjoong presses.
“The villagers are already laying the blame on the Irulan military.”
“I see.”
Yunho’s curiosity gets the best of him at that point and he asks, “Do you know nothing about the state of negotiations? I understand the elders meant to meet with both sides, but surely....” Yunho trails off without finishing his thought.
“Father has met with representatives of both Zaun and Irulan, but beyond that,” Hongjoong shrugs his shoulders. “I assume this is what he wishes to discuss with me. To see if I’ve any insight that might help us determine who to make an alliance with. If I have had a fortuitous vision. Or an ominous one.”
“Have you?” Yunho asks, perhaps sounding a bit too hopeful because Hongjoong smiles at him tightly and shakes his head. Yunho quickly recovers from the blunder by waving off his own curiosity with a little flourish of his hand. “It’s no matter. I’m sure meeting with both sides was merely a show of courtesy. I don’t think much extra guidance is needed on the matter.”
“You’d choose to align with Zaun?” Hongjoong asks.
“They seem the more reasonable choice,” Yunho says. “At least they aren’t trying to kill us for our resources and strategic location.” Zaun had reached out to them years ago, in fact, in search of an alliance, but the village had refused, uninterested in involving themselves in a conflict that seemed beyond them at the time. It was not so anymore.
Irulan, by comparison, had always been aggressive in their tactics, attempting to subjugate the villagers and take what they wanted by force. Neither side inspired much admiration although the Iruleans were decidedly less popular among the villagers.
“I see. But the Iruleans declared war on Zaun first, did they not? Don’t you think maybe there is a reason to be suspicious of them too?” Hongjoong asks, sounding more curious than anything.
Yunho shrugs. “I do not think so. Irulan has already shown itself to be ruthless. They only care about the expansion of their power and territory. Perhaps it was that that started this whole mess.”
Hongjoong furrows his eyebrows together and frowns at Yunho’s explanation. “I just don’t understand. Brain eater numbers have been rising as of late. And they are becoming more aggressive and vicious. Why waste time fighting each other when brain eaters are our common enemy? Have they forgotten?”
“I suppose it is just the nature of Iruleans,” Yunho shrugs. Then he pauses to squint at his friend. “What is it that you think then? Would you also advise an alliance with Zaun?”
Hongjoong sets his bowl down so he can cross his arms over his chest. His expression is pensive, eyebrows furrowed together and a frown maring his lips. “I don’t know,” he finally answers after a long pause. “I...don’t know if I could make such a critical decision without the guidance of my talent.” Hongjoong grimaces, and Yunho is kind enough not to remind him that he’d likely have to help guide his father without the help of his talent. They both know it anyways.
“You don’t need to depend on it for everything,” Yunho tells him quietly. “It’s there to help you, not—not…”
“It’s the only thing that’s ever defined me,” Hongjoong mutters bitterly.
“It shouldn’t. It’s just a part of you. It’s not all of who you are.”
The Seer’s eyes travel down the length of Yunho’s left arm, eyeing the various tattoos on his arm. They’re all intricate patterns encircling his arm from his wrist up to his bicep. Each one indicates something about him that only the other villagers would understand—his lineage, his power, the signal of his adulthood and the completion of his rite of passage as accomplished by his first slaying and burial of a brain eater. Hongjoong wants to reach out and touch them, trace his fingers along those patterns.
He doesn’t.
“I am this village’s Seer. If I were anything or anyone else I wouldn’t be locked in this temple the whole time,” he says. “That’s who I am. I’ll always be remembered like this.”
“Joongie—”
“Oh, battered fish. My favorite.” Hongjoong reaches out for the dish, pretending to be absorbed in the food even though they both know he doesn’t really care. It’s his way of signaling the end of the conversation, and Yunho doesn’t fight him on that.