Interlude
John brought me over to some room, off separate from the rest of the infirmary, where the rest of the guys on the team were gathered, all getting dressed in similar pants and tunics to what I was wearing.
“This stuff looks so tacky.” Quentin whined the moment I walked in, only for Hank to sigh, shaking his head.
“This is their cultural dress, Quentin, try to have some respect. We don’t need to get in any trouble.” He pointed out, tying up the strings on the pants he’d been given. Scott looked over at John and I when we entered.
“Well alright, all the guys are here.” He said with a slight smile, pulling the tunic he had down over himself properly and walking over to me, giving me a pat on the shoulder.
“Good job out there. Although you’re pretty lucky you had that Cho-hee girl around to heal you.” He said, as John walked over and patted Hank on the back. I nodded at Scott’s words.
“Yeah, definitely. That fight didn’t go the way I expected… uh, so, we have to do this banquet thing right. We can’t just go home?” I asked. Listen, the idea of a dinner partially in my honour was nice, but the more I thought of it, the more I just wanted to go home. Scott nodded, glancing sideways at Cain, who was loudly struggling trying to fit the tunic he’d been given over his body.
“Yeah. I mean, it’s a free meal. Plus, there’s gonna be meat. Nice little treat for us, considering who our chef is.” He joked, obviously referring to Glob.
“Yeah, I guess that’s true.” I agreed, as everyone around the room who wasn’t dressed, so Quentin and Cain, struggled to get their tunics on.
“They are a bit tacky.” Scott mumbled, referring to the clothes we were being made to wear, as he walked towards the door.
“Alright, X-Men, let’s try to make a good impression. I want everyone’s best behaviour. These people could make good allies for us in the future.” He said, opening the door to the hallway outside the room. He checked both ways before leading the way out. I followed right behind him, with Hank and John on my tail. Quentin and Cain took up the rear, both of them still actively trying to put on their tunics.
It didn’t take us long to reach a separate room, where Illyana, Kwannon and Idie were gathered with a few other people. The space we were in was part of a large set of interconnected tunnels. The infirmary was at the centre of it, and the little changing room we’d been in was off to the side. This room was somewhere between that room and the infirmary. In a corner, Kwannon was having a quiet conversation with Seo-yun. Illyana was talking, very loudly, to Hae-won, Cho-hee and Jin-yeop. Meanwhile, Idie was discussing something with Bufo and Ji-hun. There were a few other people gathered in the room, all of them were dressed up nicely, and they were the first to approach us when we walked in.
‘Aristocrats. Dirty scum.’ Geulimja snarled in my ear. For whatever reason, he was not a fan of these people, that much was immediately clear to me.
‘Not a fan?’ I questioned, trying to gain some clarity on his reasoning. His only reply was a scoff, which was more than a little bit frustrating.
“So it’s you, huh! The one who saved us all?” One man asked. He looked to be about middle aged, and he wore white and gold, similar to what the Light King and his people had worn. Still though, from what he said, he hadn’t been a fan of the King. He reached out a hand, which I shook slowly.
“Well, um, thank you? But it wasn’t only me, you know, a lot of people worked really hard to-”
“Oh! A diplomat, I love it! I’m Mr. Han. Listen, kid, now that the Light King’s fallen, everything’s going back to normal, you understand? Well, my company needs a strong heir, and I need a few strong grandsons as well. You’re about my daughter's age-” I was pretty sure my frown was cartoonish, at this guy's words. It didn’t help that Cain, John and Quentin were all laughing their asses off behind me.
“Uh, listen sir, I appreciate the interest, really, but I think that I’m a bit young to be getting married…”
“Married? That isn’t necessary, I just need you to make me some grand-”
“Oookay, that’s enough of that, I think.” Scott said, doing his absolute best to sound cheerful as he placed an arm across my shoulders and slowly moved me forward, towards Kwannon and Seo-yun. As we approached, I could hear Kwannon in my head. I didn’t know how, considering that Geulimja had threatened murder if either her or Quentin used telepathy with me, but I heard her all the same.
‘I need Scott and Jared over here. Everyone else needs to split off.’ She said, and sure enough, the rest of the team split off, Cain and Hank going to speak with Illyana’s group, while John and Quentin went to join Idie.
‘I let her in. Screened what she was doing first.’ Geulimja explained to me, sounding very proud of himself. I didn’t reply to him directly though, instead just trying to look casual as I walked behind Scott. When we did reach Kwannon and Seo-yun, they went silent, with Kwannon gesturing for the two of us to come closer, which we did.
‘Speak telepathically. Jared, can you hear me?’ Kwannon questioned, not speaking aloud.
‘He can, and so can I. What’s with all the secrecy? Also, why’d you call us over here if you were just gonna talk through everyone’s heads?’ Geulimja questioned, seemingly annoyed already, which wasn’t a great sign.
‘Is he always this grumpy?’ Kwannon questioned, to which Seo-yun replied,
‘He's typically much more crude.’ Geulimja scoffed at that, but made no further comment.
“We’ve run into another situation. It seems that bringing Seo-yun back with us will not be as easy as we’d initially thought.’ Kwannon explained, something that was a bit surprising to me. I hadn’t even known she was coming with us.
‘We talked about it while you were asleep. She’s technically a mutant, and she doesn’t wanna hang around here. Why not bring her with us?’ Cain pointed out. This telepathy was super useful. It was a good thing Cain wasn’t currently wearing that bigass helmet of his.
‘Anyways, it seems that her parents intend to keep her here. I doubt they will allow her to leave willingly.’ Kwannon explained to the group.
‘What’s the play here, then?’ Idie asked. Keeping up a conversation telepathically while talking physically as well was impressive. Everyone in the other groups was doing it, while we kind of just stood in silence in the corner.
“So! How are you feeling after everything?” I asked aloud, the question mainly directed at Seo-yun, since this was my first time seeing her after the battle. I was unaware of her condition. Couldn’t hurt to ask, right?
‘We'll need to go through with the dinner. Seo-yun believes we’ll be provided with means to leave this dimension at some point during the meal. If not, well, Illyana’s working on a portal. After the meal, I’ll go to Seo-yun’s room and grab her, then we’ll all go home.’ Kwannon explained. Everyone gave affirmative replies telepathically, and the communication seemed to shut down after that.
“I’m good. I’m more worried about you, you got roughed up much worse than I did.” Seo-yun pointed out, nodding to my side, where Sang-wook’s bazooka had hit me.
“I mean, that guy really didn’t know how to fight, and he couldn’t use his powers. So, I was able to do alright for myself.” I explained with a shrug.
“Jared here’s got suitors. All the big rich people want him to marry into their families.” Scott explained, prompting surprise from Seo-yun and Kwannon, the latter of whom just shook her head.
“He’s much too young for that.” She stated calmly, to which I nodded.
“That’s what I said! The guy said he just wanted grandkids, though-”
“Oh dear…”
“I know right! I have a feeling he isn’t gonna be the last one either. I can’t wait for this banquet to be over, so I can go sleep in my own damn bed.” I said, letting out a long sigh. Seo-yun smirked slightly, before glancing at Scott.
“I think it should be noted that everyone here thinks Jared here will be staying here, as opposed to leaving with you.” She explained in a whisper. Scott and Kwannon exchanged a brief look, before Scott looked back at Seo-yun.
“Why would they think that?”
“Because of the God inhabiting him. Since he’s native to this place, they believe it’s their right to keep him here.” Seo-yun explained, much to Geulimja’s annoyance.
‘That’s stupid! They have no right to me, especially after their part in wiping out my people…’ Geulimja snarled. Although he was only speaking to me, we were both aware that Seo-yun could hear him. Before she could speak up again, a loud trumpet-like instrument sounded out, as two people wearing very fancy white and gold robes entered the room. One of them held the trumpet up to his mouth, while the other looked about ready to speak.
“Everybody! Please welcome your king and queen!” The one without the instrument shouted, as two people followed behind them, slowly entering. Immediately, everyone other than myself, my fellow Earthlings, and Seo-yun, dropped to one knee. Two old people walked in, a man and a woman, wearing super fancy clothes. In fact, their clothes weren’t all that dissimilar to the ones the Light King and Yeong-ja had worn. They both looked kind of old, although the man had more grey hairs than the woman.
“Your parents?” I asked, glancing at Seo-yun, who nodded curtly, as if she had no interest in the topic.
“I encountered them in the dungeons. Your mother is quite mouthy.” Kwannon muttered to Seo-yun, who only smirked in response.
The king and the queen scanned the room, before their eyes landed on the four of us in the back of the room.
“Ah! My beloved daughter!” The man called, rushing over to us.
Well, it seemed like he was trying to rush over to us with a huge smile on his face. He was old and slow, so it wasn’t as if he was moving very fast. His wife followed behind him, looking less eager than her husband, although she was smiling as well. Seo-yun’s face contorted into a scowl, before she seemed to physically force a smile when they got close.
“Ah, my beloved parents. I’m glad to see that you’re well.” She said evenly, not moving to respond as her father, then her mother, hugged her. Both of them were shorter than her, and thus shorter than me. Also, they were both in bad shape. As in, they needed to workout. Which was strange, considering the fact that they’d both been imprisoned in a dungeon for quite a while. I’d practically lived in an attic and I’d ended up quite malnourished, so I didn’t know how they weren’t.
Seo-yun glanced at me momentarily, before looking away. A few seconds later, both of her parents turned to look at me.
“Ah! Our great hero! I’m so glad that we finally have a new protector.” The king said with a smile, holding out his hand, which I promptly shook.
“I’m the rightful king of the Light Kingdom, but since you’re the great hero and all, you can feel free to call me Kang-dae. My beautiful wife here is Su-bin. We’re glad to have a powerful hero like you alongside us.” The king said with a grin, as he shook my hand.
“Oh, uh, thanks for that. I dunno how much I’m gonna be like, alongside you, though. I’m not really planning on sticking around…” The king, Kang-dae, appeared surprised by this news, as I released his hand.
“Oh. Is that so? Huh. I figured that, you know, considering you’re the host for one of our gods, you’d understand we have a right to you and your services.” Kang-dae said, his tone becoming very firm. I just blinked at him, because I couldn’t believe the words I’d just heard come out of his mouth.
“I’m sorry?”
“Did you have an issue understanding what I said? Are you daft in some way? We have exceptional tutors within the kingdom…”
Alright.
“I think maybe you’re the one who’s having trouble understanding something. I’m not staying here, and nobody here has any right to keep me here, inhabited by a god or not. Keep in mind that the only reason you’re free at all is because of me and the people with me.” I pointed out, doing my absolute best to restrain my anger. I did not like being spoken to like an object. It reminded me of negative experiences, to be frank. Kang-dae shook his head, chuckling.
“I appreciate your spunk, boy. No doubt you’ll make a valuable asset-”
“Can we leave now?” Seo-yun questioned, stepping up to my side rather casually. I appreciated having her next to me, although I wasn’t entirely sure she was making the right decision for herself.
“I’d like to.” I replied, scanning the room. The different groupings of X-Men had mostly broken off from the native people. Things were starting to look a bit tense, and that was my fault. Well, my bad.
“I agree, actually. Illyana, where’s my portal?” Scott asked, looking over at the blonde sorceress, who grimaced back at him.
“I was working on it, trying to keep it under the radar.” She grumbled. Scott nodded, before turning to Kang-dae.
“We appreciate your hospitality, but we didn’t intend to come here at all, so now that we’ve helped you out, we’ll be taking our leave.” Scott explained with a polite bow. Everyone else looked more than ready to leave though, including Seo-yun, who just nodded to her parents.
“I appreciate everything you’ve done for me, but it’s time for me to get a fresh start. There is so much I can learn from these people.” Seo-yun said gently. Her father reached out for her arm, but she pulled away, as a portal opened on the floor, created by Illyana.
“Alright! Earth express! Everybody through!” She shouted. Seo-yun ran for the portal, and didn’t look back, leaping down into it. Cain, Quentin, Hank and Idie all followed, with John going soon after.
“We will find a way to you. I won’t let you just take my daughter.” Kang-dae snarled, to which I just nodded.
“We’ll be ready, then.” I replied, before making my way to the portal and jumping in.
It was a bit weird, considering the fact I leapt up and the portal was on the floor, but it opened on a wall of the factory, so it spat me out kind of weird. Kwannon was after me, then Illyana, and lastly Scott. The moment he was through, Illyana shut the portal, and let out a sigh of relief.
“That’s relieving. I was worried they might try to fight us.” She muttered, to which Seo-yun shook her head.
“None of them felt they could take on all of you.” She pointed out. Cain chuckled at that.
“They ain’t wrong.” He said, as Glob, Xorn, Ben and Jennifer ran into the room. Max wasn’t far behind, on his floating chair.
“Ah, there you all are. We’ve been wondering when you might turn up.” Max said, a slight smile on his face. John groaned, standing up from where he was seated.
“I think that was enough X-Men adventuring for me for a while. Not really my thing.” He grumbled, rubbing the back of his head.
“For what it’s worth, we’d be happy to have you.” Scott said, sounding genuine, but John just waved him off.
“Nah. I mean, I appreciate it but… nah.” He said, as Kwannon approached him.
“New kid?” Glob asked, pointing at Seo-yun, who was taking her time to scan the area.
“Yeah, we teamed up with her over in the other place. Turns out she’s a mutant, and she didn’t wanna stay there, so we brought her back.” I explained, which seemed to be a good enough answer for Glob.
“Is anyone hurt? I should probably take a look at you, if you are.” Xorn said, approaching the group and weaving around, looking everyone over.
“There were some exceptional doctors in that other dimension. We all left in tip top condition, at least as far as I’ve been made aware.” Hank explained to him.
“Alright. We need to have a briefing, or something… but first I’d just suggest that everyone goes and gets some rest. Can someone get Seo-yun set up somewhere?” Scott asked with a tired sigh. Idie volunteered herself, taking Seo-yun somewhere, and I headed straight for my room, after saying goodnight to everybody. I didn’t actually know what time it was, and sure, I’d just been asleep in a hospital bed for a while, but I was still seriously tired. When I did eventually reach my room, I just collapsed onto the bed. I felt like I could just melt into the bed, but I didn’t really want my outside clothes on the bed. Not to mention, said outside clothes were a tunic and pants from some other culture, and I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to sleep in them or not. So, I just stripped down to my boxers and got into my nice, comforting, warm bed.
‘Well, that was fun, huh?’ Geulimja asked, because of course, there was no shot he’d just shut up and let me sleep.
‘I think there’s a few words I’d use before that one.’ I admitted, trying to contort my body into the most comfortable possible sleeping position.
‘I’m glad we handled my brother. Although I have to admit that I don’t love the way we left things. They’ve imprisoned him, but that doesn’t mean they can hold him forever, and he’ll certainly seek out revenge on you.’ Geulimja explained, to which I physically shrugged.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. For now, I need to sleep.” I told him, rolling over and, within moments, passing out.