Bell Buddies: Taehyung & Jungkook’S Palace Trouble
Chapter : 4
Jungkook woke to the very unpleasant sensation of someone poking his cheek.
Not gently, more like a woodpecker trying to drill into his face.
He blinked open heavy eyes and found a boy, maybe twelve, glaring down at him with the kind of suspicious squint only kids can manage.
BOY
"He’s breathing!"
(laundry boy)
BOY
“But his face is… weird. Like a drawing someone forgot to finish.”
(laundry boy)
Another voice snorted. “It’s the nose. Too perfect. And those earrings, maybe he’s a concubine?”
He rolled over, instantly regretting it when his whole body screamed with aches. His back was damp. The ground smelled like rice water, clay, and wet grass.
And beyond the straw rooftops of a tiny village, rising out of the misty morning, stood a palace wall. Not a museum model. Not a drama set.
He sat up slowly. The kids scattered like startled pigeons.
An old woman shuffled toward him, leaning on a cane. She looked like a village healer, sharp-eyed and unimpressed.
OLD LADY
You’re lucky we dragged you out of the paddy...
OLD LADY
Another minute and you’d have been goose food.
Jeon Jungkook
I… got attacked by a goose?
OLD LADY
That was Kim Saem. She’s very devout.
Jeon Jungkook
Devout?! She tried to kill me!
Before he could protest more, he noticed his clothes. His hoodie and sweatpants were gone. In their place, clean linen underlayers and a plain hanbok, pale blue and tied much too tightly around his waist.
Jeon Jungkook
Wait. Did someone… undress me while I was unconscious?
BOY
"You’re welcome."
(neighbor boy)
Jungkook spun around. A young man stepped out of the nearest house, a basket of laundry balanced on his hip, a mischievous grin tugging at his mouth.
"You flail in your sleep. It was a team effort getting you changed."
(neighbor boy)
Jungkook shot to his feet, cheeks heating.
Jeon Jungkook
Where am I? What year is this?
BOY
"Oh wow. You’re definitely not from around here."
(neighbor boy)
Jungkook ran a shaky hand through his hair. His heart was racing.
The healer finally sighed.
OLD LADY
This is near Gosan Fortress. Planting season. And if the stars were correct last night, it’s the sixth year of King Taejun’s reign.
OLD LADY
Taejun. Son of King Sunryeo. Crowned after the Year of Falling Birds.
Jungkook’s face drained of color. Those names weren’t in any of his history textbooks.
Jeon Jungkook
Oh my god!!!
Jeon Jungkook
I time-traveled. I actually time-traveled.
The laundry boy’s grin widened.
BOY
"Ahh. That explains the eyebrows.
(laundry boy)
BOY
“Too shaped. Too neat. Suspicious. You look like a fox spirit trying too hard to impress nobles.”
(laundry boy)
Jungkook swayed on his feet, half from shock, half from indignation.
Jeon Jungkook
I—my eyebrows are natural!
The sky above him stretched painfully blue. Too blue. The air was too quiet. No cars, no buzzing streetlights, just the sharp call of a magpie and the rush of wind over the trees.
He turned toward the palace again. Golden banners fluttered above tiled rooftops, catching the sunlight.
Just a strange world he didn’t understand.
And worst of all… no clue how to get back.
Meanwhile, inside the palace, beneath a canopy painted with dragons and constellations, a court astrologer dropped his brush. Black ink bled across a star map.
Royal Astrologer
It’s cracked!
A royal advisor leaned closer.
Royal Astrologer
The gate. The thread. The sequence. The star-crossing is active again.
Royal Advisor
Impossible. It hasn’t aligned in over four hundred years.
The astrologer’s gaze lifted, dark and heavy.
Royal Astrologer
Then someone has broken it.
Far away, Jungkook sneezed.
The sky over Gosan shimmered, faint but undeniable.
Time itself had fractured.
And nothing, absolutely nothing was going to be simple again.
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