When Kyong was little, his mother had told him never to grow up. And the truth was, he didn’t want to either… because if he did, it meant she was gone, like really gone. Gone for good. And he just couldn’t bare that. She didn’t know his teen self, or his adult self. Would she know where to find him if he was grown? Now he was at risk of losing his father too. Kyong had really done it this time. His father was disappointed in him... He was ashamed to call Kyong his son. He rubbed his temples, trying to rid the memory of a similar incident that had occurred when his mother was still alive. “Ari, Kyong isn’t being raised into the king he needs to be. You’re too soft on him. Do your job as a mother or I will take it from you.”

“Who else will raise him, Kin-woo?” Ari faltered, her face was twisted in distress. “There are plenty of women out there that would love to raise my children.” He looked away everyone in that room knew what he meant. Everyone but a ten-year-old Kyong. 

“Are you saying you are going to have an affair?” Tears welled in Ari’s eyes. 

“I have another son, Ari. That is what I’m saying.” Kin-woo's voice was cold. Ari fell to the floor sobbing, Kyong running to her side to comfort her. His mother died shortly after that incident - cancer being the cause, but Kyong always blamed the stress- and his half-brother was moved into the kingdom. He was twelve years old and every bit like his father. Tears rolled down Kyong’s cheeks at the memory. He shook his head to rid his father's indiscretions. The motion wasn’t working fast enough. He walked over to the speaker by his desk and turned it to full volume. Then he searched his phone for his feel-good playlist. Who would make him feel better? He thought as his finger scrolled the list, Agh yes, BLACKPINK. Korean girls singing in English - hot.

He blasted their music and stalked over to his bed, slumping into the doona and closing my eyes. It was short-lived because he couldn’t help but dance to the music. He would never admit it, but he knew the dance moves to every one of their songs.

Not even halfway through the first song, the music stopped abruptly. He stopped dead in his tracks to see his brother standing only feet away, a smirk on his smug face. Kyong rolled his eyes. “What do you want?” 

“I want to know why my little brother is listening to Kpop. Oh, that’s right. I know why. It’s because you're a loser.” he threw his head back in a fit of laughter. 

“Get out of my room!” Kyong threw the nearest pillow at him before a different voice replaced his. Kin-woo was standing in front of his bed, holding the pillow. It had hit him instead. Kyong’s face brightened shades of red. His brother was standing near the door, holding in laughter, wide-eyed at Kyong’s near miss. “That’s it!” His father yelled. Kyong recoiled into the pillows. “Your days of being home-schooled are over! You're obviously not learning anything. You will complete your final year in a real school.” 

“What?” Kyong bit his lip, hard. 

“You need to learn some discipline. If you're not going to listen to me, you will listen to your teachers. As of Monday, you will start at Soul International.” Kin-woo’s jaw clenched as he glared, before leaving standing there, his world crumbling.

“Real kings listen to ‘Jeongak’.” His brother's voice trickled like a dripping tap in Kyong’s swirling mind. 

“Shut up, Hyeon!” Kyong threw the pillow in his grasp and hit his brother this time. But it didn’t change anything and Hyeon knew it. He laughed in Kyong’s face before exiting. Kyong was going to Soul international come Monday. Today was Thursday, which meant he had four days to change his father's mind. 

“Louella, what can I do? Give me some advice.” Kyong whined at his best friend. 

“I really don’t know how to help you.”

“Really? Nothing at all?” He screwed up his face at her.

“Wait… I may have something.” She threw the basketball into the hoop. “Maybe you should go to this school. You know how people cheer for you when you go out in public… It will probably be the same at school. When your father finds out how distracting it is, he will force Courtier to homeschool you again.”

Kyong thought, bouncing the ball in a rhythm for a few long moments, “So you're saying I should go to school…” 

“Just think about it… It could be killer. The ball is in your court.” Louella stared at him, expectantly, “Really, the ball is in your court, so hurry up and put it through the damn hoop or give it up.” 

Kyong rolled his eyes before dribbling the ball around Louella and got it into the hoop by her head with ease. “You're right. I can do this. I’m going back to school.”

Kyong was ready to make school his bitch. He was dressed to impress. His fathers number one rule was that he fit in and get his head into the game. The study game. But Kyong had other ideas about some games he could play. It was Sunday - one day before school - and that meant it was show time. His finger hovered over the Instagram live button. Once he did this, it was on. No turning back. Was it worth it? Kyong decided it was. “Hey Ky-fans, guess what? I’m going back to school. Soul International to be exact. Look it up.” The comments started flooding in. “I go there!”, “I love you, Kim, Kyong.”, “I will be there to meet you!” 

“Meet me there! I will pull up with my Courtier around 7:40 am. Be waiting. I love you all!” Kyong ended the live stream and fell back onto his bed, grinning ear to ear. 

Not even twenty minuets later, courtier marched into Kyong’s room, pointing a remote at his TV. “What do you think your do-” Kyong stopped short when a news stream played - his live stream playing out on the screen, along with a commentary from a news reporter.

“What is this?” Courtier glared at him through gritted teeth. 

Kyong gulped, “I’m just trying to make the most of school.”, “ Besides, you said you wanted me to pick up my social media game… this one is off the charts. Everyone is talking about the royal family now.”

Courtier sighed, “Not exactly what I had in mind.” He paced the room, “Your father is livid. He will be here any minute, I'm sure.”

Hyeon came in instead. “What were you thinking, loser?” He threw his head back, laughing. “You've really done it this time. You will be lucky if our father doesn't kill you this time.”

“Get out of my room.” Kyong threatened. Hyeon held up his hands in surrender before backing out, bumping into their father, who hit him across the back of the head. Kyong snorted. 

“Kyong, you have done it this time.” Kin-woo seethed. Smoke would be coming from the top of his head if it were possible. He closed his eyes, as if debating with himself on whether or not to murder his son. “You know what, you can deal with this mess yourself this time. You're still going to school.” with that he left. 

Kyong’s gut clenched. “What did they even mean?”

“You will know soon enough.” Courtier mused before following Kin-woo out the door.