Chapter Text
All he wanted was to just take a walk in the Azure Dragon Academy’s courtyard during his break. Was that too much to ask for? Apparently, it was.
Nothing could’ve prepared Su for the scene in front of him. No fights had broken out, nothing was burning, but he was still at a loss on what to do. The reason for that? Well, there was a tiny child right in front of him. One with long, jet black hair and sparkling blue eyes.
Did I trip and hit my head or something? Su blinked at the child in front of him. The child blinked back. Is this reality, or is that guy just trying to mess with me?
Su stared down at the mini-Suryong, recognizing the clothes on him as Wiji Cheon’s robes, but they were still comically large on the child.
Mini-Suryong stared up at Su for a moment longer before breaking into a large grin. “Mr. Purple, can you keep a secret?”
“That’s not my name,” Su said automatically, still staring at mini-Suryong.
“Can you keep a secret or not?” Mini-Suryong huffed with puffy cheeks, crossing his arms to make an endearing picture.
“Yes, I can,” Su started, stepping forward. “But are you sure you’re supposed to be here?”
The grin returned, even brighter than before. “Nope! That’s the secret!” And with a delighted squeal, the little boy ran five steps away before tripping over the oversized clothes and promptly fell face-first into the dirt. At least he didn’t face-plant onto the cobblestone paths?
Mini-Suryong didn’t get up. Su knelt beside him and poked his cheek.
“Are you okay? Are your parents here?” What a stupid question. Su has only heard of Mae Geukryeom’s daughter in passing and how she had eloped with another man and left for the countryside. Maybe he should’ve asked if mini-Suryong knew where his grandfather was.
“Go away, Mr. Purple.” The shame was evident in Suryong’s muffled voice. “Just leave me here to die in my shame.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
Mini-Suryong moved his head to glare at Su. “A funny-looking guy is looking for me. I think his name is Wo-kang, or something.”
“Wo-kang?” Su repeated. “Do you mean Won-kang? As in student Hyeonwon Kang?”
"Uh, yeah. Something like that."
"Do you know how you got here?" Su crossed his arms.
Mini-Suryong furrowed his eyebrows. “Um, the big yellow guy said that my dad had to drop me off here for the day.” Mini-Suryong burrowed his face back into the dirt. “We’ve been playing hide and seek for the whole day. I’m hiding, of course.”
Su grimaced at the action. He would never understand what goes on in Suryong’s head. “And how long exactly have you been hiding for?”
“Mr. Baek!!!” A voice in the distance called. “Mr. Baek, where are you?! You can come out now!”
Mini-Suryong squealed and shot out of the dirt so fast that any normal person would’ve missed him. But Su wasn’t a normal person. He easily caught Suryong by the scruff of his clothes.
“I think you’ve played hide-and-seek for quite enough time,” Su looked down at the dirtied and pouting child hanging from his hand.
“Student Hyeonwon Kang, mind explaining what happened?”
Great. Kang winced internally. Not only did I lose Mr. Baek, but he was found by Mr. Namgung. Can this day get any worse? He glanced over at Mr. Baek, who was being held by Mr. Namgung by the back of his borrowed robes. Mr. Baek looked up at Kang with puppy eyes. Kang could basically hear what Mr. Baek was asking. Please get me out of here!
“Well?” Su said impatiently.
Kang flinched. “U-uh, well, you see…”
“Senior brother, I really don’t think this is allowed…” Yeomin whispered.
“Why not?” Kang asked, tossing the bottle into the air and catching it. “He said we were allowed to bring anything we wanted today!”
“I think he meant ‘anything’ as in ‘any weapon,’ not a weakening potion,” Jicheon mumbled and tugged at the hems of his sleeves.
“Psh! It’s fine! It’s not like Soso would actually do anything to kill Mr. Baek,” Kang argued. “Besides, how bad can it be?”
CRASH! SLAM! THUD!
Yeomin sighed and rubbed her fans. “Hopefully, Suhyeok and Sang-ung are actually keeping Mr. Baek distracted. Otherwise, we would be hiding in this closet for nothing.”
It was Friday, and the Five Young Dragons were allowed to free-for-all their match against Mr. Baek. No boundaries to the fight. They collectively decided that today would be the day they would finally take down their teacher, no matter what it took.
Suhyeok and Sang-ung were going to distract Mr. Baek and tire him out as much as possible, as little as it might be, and then Yeomin and Jicheon would surprise attack Mr. Baek. While he was caught off guard, Kang would throw the potion at Mr. Baek. Once he was weakened, they would finally be able to take him down.
Jicheon clutched his sword tighter. “I-is it too late to back down?”
There was manic cackling outside the closet. “Get back up and fight, you two! FIGHT!”
Jicheon’s expression hardened instantly. “Never mind. That man deserves to die.”
Kang and Yeomin nodded in agreement.
“Death would be a fitting punishment for the hell he puts us through—”
“Oh, what's this?” The closet doors slammed open, and the three students inside bolted up. A handsome demon with black hair and striking blue eyes smiled down on them, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “You guys can’t possibly be skipping out on morning training, right?”
Caught off guard, the three of them opened and closed their mouths, trying to form an excuse, when Kang gritted his teeth and unsheathed his great sword.
“Ah, screw it! Everyone, CHARGE!” With a fierce battle cry, Kang lunged at Mr. Baek, his great sword poised to strike, Yeomin and Jicheon following suit.
Mr. Baek sidestepped them and kicked them all to the ground. "Oopsie!" He brought a hand to cover his mouth, feigning shock. "Were you supposed to land a hit?"
Kang ground his teeth together in frustration. He dug up some dirt from the ground and lunged at Mr. Baek, throwing the dirt at his face. Mr. Baek easily dodged out of the way, only for Yeomin to freeze the ground where he landed. His eyes widened slightly, but when he heard two fierce cries behind him, he snapped out of it and jumped away as soon as two large, bruised figures punched at the same spot where he had been just a few moments ago. Jicheon practically threw himself at Mr. Baek, his eyes all devoid of warmth and now stone-cold, and he swung his sword in a clean arc, only for Mr. Baek to block it with his death pointer. He skidded a few feet away and looked up at them with a cold smile.
"I see," he mused, the hand holding the pointer tightened. "Then I guess you leave me no choice."
A shiver ran through the spines of the Five Young Azure Dragons. This is the end. They all collectively thought.
"Any time now, Wonkang!" Suhyeok whispered, taking a shaky step back.
"I need an opening!" He shot back. "An opening that you two were supposed to help make—AAAGGGHH!!" Kang dashed out of the way as Mr. Baek charged at him, pointer ready to strike. "NEVER MIND! EVERYONE, RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!!"
The morning was filled with screams of terror and the sound of bodies hitting the ground.
"...Ugh..."
"Groan"
"Bleurgh..."
"...hehe...mom...dad..."
"Jicheon's at it again...someone stop him..."
What...happened...? Kang stared up at the blue sky from his position on the ground. I could've sworn that today was the day that we would finally give Mr. Baek a taste of his own medicine...
The said man was humming a soft tune and wiping his pointer on his sleeve to get rid of the blood on it.
"Well, that was a pretty entertaining morning!" Mr. Baek smiled as he took in the crime scene. There were craters all over the courtyard, made from heavy blows that missed by fractions of inches. Jicheon was dazed and hanging upside down from a tree, thanks to Mr. Baek knocking him out and throwing him up there. Yeomin was frozen against the same tree, one side of her hair cut shorter than the other side. Kang was lying face up in the middle of the training grounds, his great sword lodged in one of the outer walls of the courtyard. Sang-nuh and Suhyeok were stacked on top of each other on the stairs to the Manor.
How annoying! Kang covered his eyes with the back of his hand. We were so close— a soft clink snapped his eyes open. Mr. Baek never explicitly says that training ends. It just ends when we can’t get up anymore. So technically…
He glanced over at Yeomin, who was slowly melting the ice trapping her against the tree. They locked eyes, and a brainwave was immediately linked.
“Hm?” A rustling behind him caught his attention, and he turned around to see Wonkang dragging himself onto his feet, positioning his hands in a standard ready-to-fight position. He couldn’t suppress the growing smile on his face. “Not giving up? Good. The big kids won’t stop hitting you just because you’re down.”
“…p” Wonkang muttered.
“What was that?” Suryong extended the Black Dragon Pointer with a loud clack.
“ARGH! SHUT UP!” Wonkang yelled and ran at Suryong.
“Junior brother!” Sang-ung yelled out. “Stay down! It’s not worth it!”
“Tsk!” Suryong clicked his tongue and sidestepped the incoming fist. “Why are you guys so dramatic? It’s not that serious.”
“…Gotcha,” Wonkang smirked.
Suryong frowned. “What is this guy talking about?”
Wonkang threw a few more punches. “What’s something obvious in battle, Teach?”
Suryong easily parried the fists. “Why are you trying to act so smart? Didn’t you fail your defenses class?”
“Wha—That’s not the point!” Wonkang growled. “The point is: don’t ever turn your back on your enemy.” In the blink of an eye, Wonkang retreated a few steps. “Yeomin, now!”
Suryong whipped around just in time to see Yeomin unfurl her fan and shoot icicles aimed straight at his face. He jumped out of the way, but not fast enough to avoid a small scratch on his face. Damn. He thought dryly. I wonder why they seem to hate me so much.
“Take this!” Wonkang yelled from behind him and threw a vial at him.
If Suryong had been a little more careful, he would’ve noticed that inside the bottle was a gas of white smoke, not liquid.
“Is this the best you can do?” But the moment his pointer came into contact with the vial, something clicked, and it exploded into a cloud of white smoke.
“Cough! Cough!” Suryong gasped and waved his hands around, trying to clear the cloud—of, uh, something?—away. Was this another one of Dad’s weird “healing tricks”? If so, it was one of the bad ones. Who was the weird doctor he asked this time?
“Appa?” Suryong called out. “Appa—cough!—where are you?” He waved his arms around a few more times to clear the smoke and—wait, why are his clothes much larger than they should be? And—and he’s outdoors. The special treatments were never outdoors.
Something’s wrong.
Suryong felt a chill go down his spine. What’s going on? Where am I?
The smoke dissipated to reveal a courtyard, but it wasn’t the same courtyard he woke up to every day. It also looked like there was a fight—why is there a random kid hanging from a tree?
“Time for revenge!” A crazed-looking guy ran up at him faster than Suryong could react. He yelped and raised his hands to shield his body, but the guy was coming at him too fast—
“Wonkang!” A big guy with yellow eyes grabbed the crazy guy before he could hit Suryong, a tanned guy following not too far behind.
The crazy guy, or Wonkang now, paused and stared down at Suryong. “Eh? Why is Teach a kid now?”
“Wonkang, what was in that bottle? I thought you said Tang Soso wouldn’t do anything bad to Mr. Baek!” A girl with white hair said, walking up to them while dragging the same boy who was hanging from the tree. “Why would you even go to her to get the gas? Who knows what she could've put in there!"
Huh? Tang Soso did this to me? Who’s Tang Soso? Where am I? What's going on? Where's Dad?!
"I didn't think she would want to do anything too bad! That girl is obsessed with Mr. Baek!" Wonkang argued, looking genuinely offended.
"Uhm, guys..." Tree Boy whispered. "I think we should focus on Mr. Baek...who's a child now..."
Suryong looked at his new surroundings, at the strangers circling him, and promptly started to cry.
“H–hey now,” the big tanned guy said, hands paused awkwardly in the air. “Don’t cry! Oh god, please don’t cry. I have no idea how to take care of kids!”
Suryong only cried harder, his wails increasing in volume.
"Shit!" Someone cursed. "Kids always want something when they're crying, right? You want something, kid?"
"WAAAAH!" Suryong wailed, fat tears rolling down his cheeks. "I WANT MY APPA! I WANT TO GO HOME! YOU'RE ALL A BUNCH OF MEANIES! WAAAHH!"
“Oh my god, oh my god!” Wonkang groaned. “How do we deal with a mini-Mr. Baek??”
“Don’t look at me!” The guy with yellow eyes raised his hands in surrender. “The only thing I did to kids was scam them!”
“I really don’t think that’s something to be proud of, hyung…” the tanned guy said.
The white-haired girl sighed and knelt to Suryong’s level. He shrank away from her and cried harder.
“Hey, now,” she said softly. “I’m Yeomin, and right now, you’re at the White Dragon Manor, and—”
“I don’t care!” Suryong cut in. “I want my appa! What did you guys do to my appa?!”
“You ungrateful little–!”
“Shut it, Wonkang!” Yeomin snapped and glared at him. Both Wonkang shuddered and stepped back, grumbling. Yeomin sighed and turned back to a sniffling Suryong, her eyes soft again. "Your appa had to leave to run some errands, so he decided to have us watch over you."
"Liar!" Suryong shot back and sniffled. "If appa had to run ero...ere..."
"Errands."
"Yeah, what I said. If he had to go do errands, then he would've had the village halmoni watch over me! Not you guys!" Suryong pointed an accusatory finger at them. "I've never seen you in my life!"
"Oh, well, that's because—" Yeomin looked embarrassed. She stood up and glanced at the others for help.
"We are past acquaintances," Yellow Eyes finished. "Which means we knew your appa before."
"But—but why am I here? And not home?" Suryong blubbered. "Waaah! I wanna go home!"
"U-uhm, y-you were sleeping on the way here! Your appa is in the city right now," Tree Boy said quickly. "Don't worry, that happens to me whenever I travel with my harabeoji."
Suryong sniffled, but at least he wasn't bawling his eyes out anymore. "W-when will appa be back?"
"Well..." The five of them exchanged looks. Apparently, they were taking too long to answer, and Suryong started to cry again.
"Hey now," Tree Boy crouched to eye-level with Suryong. "There's no need to cry. We can keep you company! Besides, all that crying would've made you hungry. We can make you some food and then play a game together!" He reached out a hand with a kind smile. "How about that?"
Miraculously, Suryong stopped crying. The Five Young Azure Dragons held their breath anxiously as the gears in their child-turned-master turned, and turned, and turned, until he nodded and reached out to grab Jicheon's hand with a wet sniffle. The other five just stared in shock. Since when was Jicheon a master of handling kids?
Jicheon giggled and practically skipped inside the manor, leaving behind a basically decimated training yard. The rest of them were left to clean up after their morning training. No words were spoken as they cleaned up to the best of their abilities, the broken training equipment discarded, and the rest put back in the supply closet. As for the damaged grounds, Sang-ung would hire some people to come and fix them later.
They all trudged into the kitchen, where Jicheon was making Suryong a simple rice porridge. The large pot hanging over the fire indicated that he had prepared enough for all of them to eat breakfast.
Breakfast was a quiet affair, with Yeomin and Jicheon talking to Suryong to distract him from the topic of his father. They collectively agreed through silent looks that they would skip classes that day to take care of Suryong, and Wonkang would go find Tang Soso to confront (threaten) her about the gas.
They were so screwed.