Sanctuary - Chapter Five
Title: Sanctuary
Chapter: 5/?
Authors: renichifreak and yeonah
Fandom: SS501
Pairings: KyuMin, HyunSaeng
Rating: PG-16
Warning:Angst, AU
Summary: In this era, people are bought and sold as though they are cattle. The human life is only worth what one is willing to pay for it. What happens when two such people end up in the possession of two brothers who refuse to follow the very practices they were raised to believe?
A/N: Another roleplay story by us for your enjoyment~! Yes, Unlock is still going XD We’re going back and forth. HyunJoong and JungMin are played by me (yeonah ) and KyuJong and YoungSaeng are played by renichifreak . Credit for the original plot goes to renichifreak and hakkais_shadow ~ <3
A/N 2: So there won't be an Unlock update this week /dodges bricks/ The reason being is that we're almost caught up to what we've written so far, so we're slowing down on the updates a tad rather than run out of things to post and go on hiatus xD;;; Sorry to all those looking forward to an Unlock update! So for the next little while, Unlock and Sanctuary will be updated every alternating Wednesday, so you'll all still have something to read <3 This is also because of the coming National Novel Writing Month, where we both will probably have less time to roleplay.
JungMin followed after KyuJong quietly as the older man went back to his room, the slave still trying to memorize as much of the manor as he could.
Once they were back in the other man's room, JungMin didn't head to his own room right away. Instead, he turned sharp eyes on to his owner. "Your expression was fake," he stated accusingly. "When your brother let go of you."
KyuJong sighed, seeing it coming. "It wasn't fake. It just wasn't fully there," he explained quietly. This was a longstanding issue based on something that only ended recently, so he was still unable to speak about it openly with anyone other than HyunJoong, and that was because he'd all but saved his life.
Frowning, JungMin watched the older man's expression, trying to figure it out. "Why?" If he wasn't answered, he would drop the question. It wasn't as if he was particularly curious.
KyuJong paused. "I don't like being weak, and my brother picks on me for the fact that I am," he explained. It wasn't a lie, but he wouldn't tell why. It was far too open a wound still.
"Why don't you work at being stronger then?" JungMin was confused. If he hated it so much, why didn't he do something about it?
"I am," KyuJong said after a moment. "It's hard to do it by myself, though, but I don't want to worry HyunJoong, so he doesn't know," he sighed. Usually, KyuJong would sneak into the gym at night and flit around the room, trying out the equipment. His attention was always grabbed, however, by the punching bag.
"I've been trying out boxing, but I'm pretty much just teaching myself."
Boxing. It wasn't the sort of thing you could teach yourself, really, but JungMin just shrugged. "It looks like you're worrying him even more by making him think you're doing nothing," he retorted, going to the connecting door to his room.
KyuJong watched as JungMin left the room and just stood there before falling onto his bed. It wasn't as easy as everyone made it out to be. He didn't want anyone to see him like that. Not when he'd simply wail on the bag until he was crying, or run around the built-in track until he collapsed from exhaustion.
JungMin made sure the connecting door was closed before sitting down on the bed with a sigh. He wasn't sure what to make of any of this, except just keep observing for now and looking for a way to escape. Getting away from his master would have to wait though. He was exhausted, nodding off where he sat.
Falling back on to the bed, he stared up at the ceiling for a long moment before closing his eyes.
******************
KyuJong woke only a few hours later, breathing harsh and eyes wide. Sitting up, he allowed the blanket to pool around his waist as he gasped for breath in an attempt to calm himself.
Another nightmare.
Sighing, KyuJong got to his feet and changed into a pair of sweatpants. He didn't even bother with a shirt, knowing that no one would be awake to see the marks anyway.
Leaving his room, he padded through the halls until he came to the gym. Walking in, he did what he did every time he needed to: he started running, though this time on the treadmill.
JungMin was awoken by movement from the room next to his, body tensing automatically as he listened to KyuJong move around. After a bit he heard the door open and close in the other room, and silence fell again.
Opening his eyes slowly, JungMin frowned as he listened closely. KyuJong was gone. Not moving, he wondered where the other man had gone to before shrugging. It wasn't any of his business.
KyuJong shut the treadmill down and nearly fell to the ground, his legs like jelly. He fought it off though, in favor of walking over to the punching bag. Putting the gloves on, he fell into stance and began punching.
Straight. Straight. Cross. Uppercut. Cross. Straight. Jab.
He continued this until he could barely move his arm, but at least he'd blocked out the nightmare. That had been the goal, after all.
*****************
It was morning when JungMin woke up again, his body waking him up at dawn out of habit. Sitting up and rubbing his eyes, he winced at the feeling of the slaver's clothing sticking to him. He needed a shower.
Getting up, he padded over to the door and opened it a crack, peering out cautiously.
KyuJong was still fast asleep, having come back a mere 1 hour ago. Not bothering with a shower, he had all but dropped onto the bed, but not before pulling out some clothing that would probably fit JungMin and placing them on the chair with a note so he'd know if he wanted a shower where to find everything.
Opening the door a bit wider when he noticed his owner was still asleep, JungMin noticed the clothing and note on the chair and slipped into the room carefully. He moved quietly to the chair and noticed the note was to him. Reading it, the slave frowned, not understanding why he was being treated like an actual person. Glancing to the man sleeping, JungMin picked up the clothes, biting his lower lip when he noticed the sleeves were short.
JungMin disliked wearing anything that showed too much skin, and even though showing his arms wasn't that big of a deal, he'd rather not if he had the choice. Putting the shirt down, he glanced to KyuJong again and decided if his owner was lending him clothes for now, he wouldn't care if JungMin looked for something with long sleeves instead.
Padding over to the drawers he assumed held clothes, JungMin looked through them for long-sleeved shirts as quietly as he could. Finding a drawer that looked promising, he went to pull a shirt out. A small piece of paper fell out with it, the slave bending to pick it up. Feeling the quality of the paper, probably a photograph, he flipped it around to see.
It was a picture of KyuJong and another man he didn't recognize, taller than his master and with one arm around his shoulders protectively...or, to JungMin, it looked more possessive than protective. Frowning slightly, he looked at it for a moment before placing it back in the drawer and closing it. Grabbing the clothes on the chair and the shirt he'd pulled out, JungMin went into the bathroom and closed the door.
Stripping out of the disgusting clothing, he hoped he'd be able to just...burn it, or something. Really, the material was beyond saving. Turning, JungMin caught sight of himself in the mirror and sighed, shoulders dropping for a moment before he looked away from the various marks, scars and burns to turn on the shower, stepping in when it was the right temperature.
The sound of the running water woke KyuJong slowly. With a yawn, he slowly sat up and ran a hand through his hair and looked around noticing that the clothes were gone. So JungMin must have seen.
It was then that he noticed the shirt hadn't been taken. He probably didn't like it. A thought suddenly came to him as he scrambled out of bed and toward the dresser. Opening the drawer, he looked through and sighed in relief when he saw the picture still in its place.
Looking at it, KyuJong remembered how it was when everything was well, before things went bad. Smiling slightly, he returned the picture and pulled out clothes for himself before closing the drawer and waiting for JungMin to finish.
JungMin showered quickly, no longer than it took to make sure the grime from the truck was off him. Getting out, he dried off and pulled on the clothes, carefully avoiding looking at the mirror until his skin was covered. After towel-drying his hair slightly he just left it to dry the rest of the way naturally, red bangs falling into his eyes as he gathered up the old clothes and left the bathroom quietly.
When he saw KyuJong was awake, he stiffened and got out of the way for the bathroom quickly.
When the door opened, KyuJong pulled himself from his thoughts and smiled as JungMin stepped out. "Those clothes look good on you," he complimented before getting to his feet. "I doubt you want to keep those, so feel free to just trash them," he added, pointing toward the garbage in the corner of his room.
"I'm gonna shower, too, then we can go get some breakfast, okay? "I'm not sure if anyone's awake yet, so it might just be us," KyuJong said. "If that's okay, of course."
With that, he walked into the bathroom and shut the door. Trying to ignore the thoughts clouding his mind, he turned the water on and undressed, climbing in.
Watching KyuJong disappear into the bathroom, JungMin looked down at the clothes in his hands before walking over to the garbage and pushing them in. Straightening, he sighed and tugged at the blue collar around his neck, wincing as he felt the chaffed skin underneath. Now if it was just as easy to get rid of the collar...
After looking around the room and finding nothing to hold his interest, JungMin returned to the connecting room and went back to the television set. Taking off the back, he fiddled with the wires inside absently. From what he saw, the television hadn't even been working in the first place; the wires to display the images on the screen had been all over the place before he'd even gotten to them.
Finding one that was damaged, he disconnected it and frowned as he looked around for something to mend it with. After searching around the drawers in the room, he found tape in one and sat cross-legged behind the television, carefully repairing the broken wires he found. It wasn't the best solution, but without the proper tools it was the best he could do.
KyuJong shut the water off and climbed out, drying himself off and getting dressed. He made sure that his hair was okay, bangs covering his right eye, before stepping out of the room and seeing JungMin gone.
Poking his head into his room, KyuJong knocked on the doorframe before entering. Even though the door was opened, he'd promised to knock.
"I think that TV's been broken since I was like, twelve," KyuJong chuckled quietly.
Jumping when he heard the knock, JungMin instinctively dropped the wires he was working on repairing before slowly picking them back up again. "Looks like a cat got in here," he muttered, finishing with the wire and carefully reattaching it inside the television. He had been planning on using whatever he repaired to conjure mischief elsewhere in the manor, but first he needed to make sure everything worked, so might as well repair the television first.
"If the cat's name is HyunJoong, then yes. My brother attempted to take it apart to see how it worked, but had no idea what to do to put it back, got bored, and left it," KyuJong explained. "I don't really watch much TV, so it never really bothered me."
"If you want, we can always order one when we go out. I know I can be pretty boring, since all I really do is read and eavesdrop. I like knowing what's going on around me, especially when no one will tell me."
JungMin glared at the inside of the screen. Maybe the reason he hadn't known how to put it back was because he'd destroyed half the wires in here while dismantling it. "Why? There's a perfectly good one right here," he retorted, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like "money-wasting morons." He finished reconnecting the wires he'd fixed and carefully closed up the back of the screen again.
KyuJong shrugged. "Do you really think you can repair it?" he asked, not without a bit of awe in his voice at the prospect of someone being able to fix HyunJoong's blunders.
"It's an old screen, so sure." Securing the back, he pushed the set back against the wall and placed the tape to one side, standing up carefully to make sure his legs hadn't fallen asleep on him. He was good with most electronics, as long as they weren't too new. Or computers. He wasn't even going to try taking those apart.
"I tried, since I'm pretty good with electronics, but it was just a lost cause for me. I'd be impressed if you could," KyuJong stated, smiling.
"Don't expect it done anytime soon," JungMin shrugged, leaning against the wall and watching his owner with wary eyes. "The wires are in pretty bad shape."
KyuJong nodded, taking note of the other's expression. "Let me know if there's anything you need in the way of wires or tools," he said. "So are you hungry? I know I am."
JungMin shook his head, but his stomach chose that moment to prove him wrong. The redhead promptly flushed and looked away.
KyuJong smiled at the sound before laughing lightly. "Come on, JungMin sshi. No need to blush at that. You have to eat, right?"
The slave shrugged and glanced at KyuJong out of the corner of his eye. "Why are you using ‘sshi’? There's no point to it."
KyuJong simply shrugged his shoulders. "Habit, I suppose. I've always been the more proper and polite of the three of us," he replied as he led the way out of the room and toward the kitchen.
As he'd thought, very few people were awake so early.
Following along behind the older man, JungMin frowned. "You shouldn't use it for me," he said bluntly. "It sounds weird." He wasn't used to hearing it from anyone, especially not masters.
KyuJong nodded at the blunt statement. "Okay, JungMin." Chuckling he stopped to look at JungMin. "It is a bit weird since you're younger than me, huh?" he asked as he turned back and kept walking.
JungMin blinked at him as KyuJong turned around again. "That's not the reason why," he muttered as he continued following, but he had to bite his lower lip to hide a smile. "You don't act like you're older," he announced.
"Well, not around my brothers, even though I am by default since the other two act like a pair of three year olds. I hope YoungSaeng has a lot of patience," KyuJong replied with a smile.
"He does...to an extent." JungMin wondered if the other slave was up already. They were used to getting up early thanks to the slavers, and past masters. "Rolling around on the floor is not being more mature than a three year old."
"...Okay you have a point there, but I wasn't the one who fell through the bathroom door, thank you very much."
Reaching the kitchen, KyuJong stopped and poked his head in, looking around. Seeing no one, he opened the door and entered.
JungMin entered the kitchen after KyuJong, but didn't go too far in, remaining near the door. "Does he do that often?"
"More often than you'd think from a 21 year old college student," KyuJong answered with a laugh before opening the fridge and poking through, finding nothing appetizing to him.
Cereal it was then.
"Feel free to rummage. I don't know what you're in the mood for," he said as he poured himself a bowl of his favorite cereal, grabbing a spoon and leaning against the counter.
Watching the other man, JungMin skirted around the stove to get to the cupboards, looking through them though he kept an eye on KyuJong's movements at the same time. Finding nothing there, he went to the fridge and poked around, expression brightening slightly when he found a large carrot with the vegetables. Pulling it out, he cast KyuJong a glance to see if he was going to protest before going to wash it in the sink.
KyuJong watched as JungMin looked around, finally coming back with a large carrot. He smiled as he watched the slave cast him a side-glance before washing it.
"I won't protest to you eating, JungMin. I'll speak up if I think someone, including you, could get hurt, but you don't need my permission to eat," KyuJong explained, smiling before taking another bite of cereal.
Finishing washing the carrot, JungMin chose not to reply to that as he went to lean against the opposite wall (no matter what he did, he always put as much distance between himself and certain objects in the room as possible), nibbling on the carrot.
KyuJong watched carefully, noticing a few things. "Can I ask you something? Is there something in here that makes you uneasy? If so, we can always leave."
JungMin shrugged slightly. "It's nothing." He wasn't about to say what was making him nervous; that was just asking for trouble. Tugging the sleeves of his shirt down until they covered even his hands, he continued eating his carrot, eyes hidden behind slightly damp red bangs.
*************************
YoungSaeng woke slowly, not wanting to leave the comfort of the bed. It was a rarity for him to be able to sleep a full night on such a plush bed, so he didn't want to give up the feeling.
He knew that he had to, however, so he slowly sat up and took a look around the room. The first thing he saw was HyunJoong passed out like the dead on the bed beside him. Lifting a brow, YoungSaeng nudged him. He didn't want to sit in the oversized pajamas all day.
"Yah, HyunJoong. Get up."
Unfortunately, HyunJoong hadn't been joking last night when he'd said pots and pans had no effect on him. At the nudge from the slave he didn't even twitch, the only sign that he wasn't dead being his even breathing and warm body.
In fact, he seemed to fall even more asleep, if that was possible.
YoungSaeng simply stared at the man, who barely moved. Thinking for a moment, he grabbed the blankets his owner had buried himself under and yanked them off.
"Seriously! Get your ass up!"
Shivering slightly as the blankets were yanked off, HyunJoong curled up a little and resumed sleeping, still knocked out cold. The university student held on to his pillow tightly, shirt hiked up slightly from the small amount of movement during the night.
YoungSaeng stared at HyunJoong in awe. "Are you serious?!" he demanded aloud as he shifted and began shaking the man. When he got no response yet again, he sighed and did the only thing he could think of.
He kicked him out of bed.
That woke him up. Yelping as he landed on the ground face-first, HyunJoong lay there for a long moment blinking and trying to figure out what had just happened. Then he rolled himself over so he was facing the ceiling instead. "Good morning to you too, Saengie yah," he called sleepily as he draped one arm over his eyes.
YoungSaeng leaned over the bed and blinked at the nickname. No one had ever given him one before; he was at a loss for words on the subject. Dropping it, he commented on yet another thing. "Your brother wasn't kidding. Do you hibernate at night or something?!" he asked, incredulous.
HyunJoong lifted his arm off his eyes and smiled up at the other man. "Maybe? Maybe I just like sleeping a bit too much." He lay there for a moment before sitting up, messing up his sleep-tousled hair even more.
"I'll get you clothes to change into until we go shopping, though I can't say they'll be much better than the pajamas," he chuckled, looking up at YoungSaeng before standing, nearly wiping out on the edge of the blankets that had dropped to the floor when YoungSaeng yanked them off.
YoungSaeng snickered as the man nearly fell over, tripping over the blankets. "First day on new legs there?" he taunted as he got to his feet and ran his hands through his longer hair before twisting it into a braid and tying it off.
"Might as well be," HyunJoong laughed, unaffected by the taunts as he smiled brightly. He wandered over to the closet, searching around until he found a set of stylish clothes that looked like they would fit YoungSaeng. Just in case, he pulled out a belt for the jeans and placed the lot on an empty corner of his desk before grabbing clothes for himself. "I'm gonna go shower, if those don't fit you feel free to dig around in there." He waved absently at the closet with a grin before going into the bathroom and closing the door.
YoungSaeng remained where he was until HyunJoong was in the bathroom with the door closed. Sighing, he padded over to the door and locked it.
Looking at the clothes on the desk, YoungSaeng walked over and picked them up, liking the feel. He slipped the pajama bottoms off and laid them on the bed before grabbing the jeans and pulling them on, securing them with the belt to keep then on, since without it they rested precariously on his hips. Removing the shirt, he laid it with the bottoms and put on the shirt. It was a bit loose, but much better than the pajamas.
It didn't take long for HyunJoong to shower, scrubbing his body clean before stepping out and toweling off, the sleep gone from his eyes as he blinked at his reflection in the mirror. He wondered if YoungSaeng would ever trust him. The slave seemed to have lightened up enough to tease him whenever he makes a fool of himself, but not for much else.
That was all right...he wasn't going to rush it. This wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. At least he could hold a conversation with YoungSaeng...not that they'd really had any yet.
He would have to talk to him about the going out in public thing. A faint sigh left him. That probably wasn't going to go over too well, but there was nothing that could be done.
YoungSaeng, while waiting for his owner to return, had taken to looking around the room at all the different things around. While there were plenty of pictures of the brothers and a woman that he assumed was their mother, he saw practically none of their father.
"Interesting," he murmured as he reached the desk. Looking at the top sheet, he blinked at the complex series of letters and numbers that made little to no sense to him whatsoever.
Changing into a new set of clothes, HyunJoong toweled his hair mostly dry before leaving the bathroom, smiling when he saw YoungSaeng changed. "Hungry?" he asked as he walked to the bed and fixed it up, pulling the comforter up and smoothing out the creases.
Once the door opened, YoungSaeng tensed, stopping what he was doing. At the question, he paused before nodding. "I guess so."
HyunJoong looked up at YoungSaeng, noticing the slave standing at his desk. Blinking, he looked at the papers on the desk; formulas and scientific equations covered the pages, notes scribbled in the margins for what each property meant. "Are you interested in learning any of that?" he asked, brushing damp locks of hair out of his face.
YoungSaeng simply shrugged. "Even if I did, I wouldn't know where to begin," he replied, eyeing the papers. "I made it to first year in middle school, but that was it," he explained, moving away a bit when he closed in.
Seeing how YoungSaeng moved away, HyunJoong stopped walking to the desk. "I probably fail as a teacher, but I could always get you the material we covered in middle and high school," he offered. "Sort of like homeschooling. HyungJoon could probably help with the high school part, since he's still there himself."
YoungSaeng looked at HyunJoong. It was so strange that he was being treated as he was. Before he could stop himself, he said, "Why are you so different? Most are of the opinion that a whore doesn't need to know math and science. He only needs to know how to warm a bed."
HyunJoong paused at that, looking down at the papers on his desk. "Give someone a book, and you give them a sense of identity."
He gave YoungSaeng a smile, gaze sharp. "One of the very first things you told me was that you aren't a whore. Since you told me so yourself, I shouldn't have any misgivings about giving you a chance to learn, should I?"
YoungSaeng couldn't stop the look of shock from appearing on his face at HyunJoong's words. No one had ever said such a thing to him and he had absolutely no idea how to respond. While he would state clearly that he was not a whore, he couldn't help but feel like one after all of his previous masters and having it all but beaten into him for so long.
"You're such a strange master," he finally said, unable to think of anything else.
The older man flashed him a grin at that. "I've definitely been called worse." He walked to the door, noticing it was locked and unlocking it. "Want to go for breakfast? KyuJong should probably be in the kitchen already, which probably means JungMin is too, and HyungJoon won't be too far behind once he smells food. Then once we've eaten, we can take your measurements and head out. Sound good?"
Still apprehensive about allowing the other man to take his measurements, he slowly nodded and followed him out of the room. On the way, YoungSaeng made sure to look around in order to learn his way.
HyunJoong led the way leisurely, hands in his pockets. Once he saw the hallways were mostly empty still, he fell back to walk more alongside YoungSaeng instead of in front. He understood that he'd have to keep up the appearance of being in charge while there were others around, but he wanted to be able to show YoungSaeng he thought of them as equals, not master and slave.
"Want to look around more later?" HyunJoong asked, noting the glances around them. "I can show you around. There's gardens outside you might like." He still needed to take a look at that notepad the other man had been writing in last night; despite his apparent disinterest, he was actually curious. He just went about satisfying his curiosity at a more leisurely pace.
YoungSaeng wasn't oblivious to HyunJoong walking more beside him than in front, though he acted as though he was. Casting him a side-glance, he nodded slowly. "I suppose," he replied.
"Great. We can do that whenever you're up for it. I'm usually in school most of the day on weekdays...” HyunJoong recalled his conversation with KyuJong on what they could do about his school hours. "On the days that I only have lectures, you can come along if you want. The teachers for the labs though don't like visitors, because students used to invite friends who'd try playing with the projects and blow something up." He chuckled softly. "KyuJongie said that you can stay with him and JungMin those days if you want. Or HyungJoon even, the brat's always looking for someone to pull into his pranks. Just hit him upside the head if he tries to get you into anything too risky."
Listening to HyunJoong, YoungSaeng found himself nodding. It made sense. "I'm a big boy, you know. I can stay by myself," he said nonchalantly.
HyunJoong chuckled. "I never said you couldn't. It's not an order, just a suggestion." He smiled wryly. "Kyu and I came to the agreement we wouldn't trust 90% of the people here to leave you alone if you were by yourself."
"And who belongs to the 10%?" YoungSaeng asked. He didn't trust 100% of the people, but he was sure it was quite obvious already.
"Him, me, HyungJoon and JungMin," HyunJoong laughed. "It's roughly 10% of the people here."
"I see," YoungSaeng replied. "Anyone specific I should avoid running into?" he asked, deciding that if he was going to be here for a while, he should know what to expect.
"I'd like to say anyone who's not in that 10%, but that's not very specific, is it?" HyunJoong laughed again, rubbing his head absently and messing up his brown hair again. "Let's see...the guards for sure. They're not a very pleasant bunch." That was the understatement of the century. He could remember KyuJong getting into several arguments with them about how they treated slaves who happened to be in their way. "Any of my father's guests would be a good idea as well...oh, and father himself. Those should be the main ones."
"Well, it looks like I'll be spending a lot of time in your room, now won't I?" YoungSaeng said in response. "You and your brother don't seem to like your father, especially your brother," he observed.
"We're in no way sheltered from what he does," HyunJoong shrugged. "KyuJong especially has gotten into quite a few...debates with him. Debates being a nicer term for it."
"I see," YoungSaeng said with a nod. There was a lot about this family that confused him, and while he normally didn't care, there was something tugging at his curiosity.
They reached the kitchen then, HyunJoong pulling the door open for YoungSaeng. As he'd thought, KyuJong and JungMin were in there, the slave looking up as they came in. "Morning," HyunJoong called.
YoungSaeng paused to look at HyunJoong oddly as he opened the door for him. After a moment, he entered the kitchen and walked over to JungMin and took a seat on the stool beside him.
KyuJong looked up from his half finished bowl to see HyunJoong enter the kitchen along with YoungSaeng. "Morning Hyung. YoungSaeng," he greeted back, earning a small nod from the slave.
Chapter: 5/?
Authors: renichifreak and yeonah
Fandom: SS501
Pairings: KyuMin, HyunSaeng
Rating: PG-16
Warning:Angst, AU
Summary: In this era, people are bought and sold as though they are cattle. The human life is only worth what one is willing to pay for it. What happens when two such people end up in the possession of two brothers who refuse to follow the very practices they were raised to believe?
A/N: Another roleplay story by us for your enjoyment~! Yes, Unlock is still going XD We’re going back and forth. HyunJoong and JungMin are played by me (yeonah ) and KyuJong and YoungSaeng are played by renichifreak . Credit for the original plot goes to renichifreak and hakkais_shadow ~ <3
A/N 2: So there won't be an Unlock update this week /dodges bricks/ The reason being is that we're almost caught up to what we've written so far, so we're slowing down on the updates a tad rather than run out of things to post and go on hiatus xD;;; Sorry to all those looking forward to an Unlock update! So for the next little while, Unlock and Sanctuary will be updated every alternating Wednesday, so you'll all still have something to read <3 This is also because of the coming National Novel Writing Month, where we both will probably have less time to roleplay.
JungMin followed after KyuJong quietly as the older man went back to his room, the slave still trying to memorize as much of the manor as he could.
Once they were back in the other man's room, JungMin didn't head to his own room right away. Instead, he turned sharp eyes on to his owner. "Your expression was fake," he stated accusingly. "When your brother let go of you."
KyuJong sighed, seeing it coming. "It wasn't fake. It just wasn't fully there," he explained quietly. This was a longstanding issue based on something that only ended recently, so he was still unable to speak about it openly with anyone other than HyunJoong, and that was because he'd all but saved his life.
Frowning, JungMin watched the older man's expression, trying to figure it out. "Why?" If he wasn't answered, he would drop the question. It wasn't as if he was particularly curious.
KyuJong paused. "I don't like being weak, and my brother picks on me for the fact that I am," he explained. It wasn't a lie, but he wouldn't tell why. It was far too open a wound still.
"Why don't you work at being stronger then?" JungMin was confused. If he hated it so much, why didn't he do something about it?
"I am," KyuJong said after a moment. "It's hard to do it by myself, though, but I don't want to worry HyunJoong, so he doesn't know," he sighed. Usually, KyuJong would sneak into the gym at night and flit around the room, trying out the equipment. His attention was always grabbed, however, by the punching bag.
"I've been trying out boxing, but I'm pretty much just teaching myself."
Boxing. It wasn't the sort of thing you could teach yourself, really, but JungMin just shrugged. "It looks like you're worrying him even more by making him think you're doing nothing," he retorted, going to the connecting door to his room.
KyuJong watched as JungMin left the room and just stood there before falling onto his bed. It wasn't as easy as everyone made it out to be. He didn't want anyone to see him like that. Not when he'd simply wail on the bag until he was crying, or run around the built-in track until he collapsed from exhaustion.
JungMin made sure the connecting door was closed before sitting down on the bed with a sigh. He wasn't sure what to make of any of this, except just keep observing for now and looking for a way to escape. Getting away from his master would have to wait though. He was exhausted, nodding off where he sat.
Falling back on to the bed, he stared up at the ceiling for a long moment before closing his eyes.
******************
KyuJong woke only a few hours later, breathing harsh and eyes wide. Sitting up, he allowed the blanket to pool around his waist as he gasped for breath in an attempt to calm himself.
Another nightmare.
Sighing, KyuJong got to his feet and changed into a pair of sweatpants. He didn't even bother with a shirt, knowing that no one would be awake to see the marks anyway.
Leaving his room, he padded through the halls until he came to the gym. Walking in, he did what he did every time he needed to: he started running, though this time on the treadmill.
JungMin was awoken by movement from the room next to his, body tensing automatically as he listened to KyuJong move around. After a bit he heard the door open and close in the other room, and silence fell again.
Opening his eyes slowly, JungMin frowned as he listened closely. KyuJong was gone. Not moving, he wondered where the other man had gone to before shrugging. It wasn't any of his business.
KyuJong shut the treadmill down and nearly fell to the ground, his legs like jelly. He fought it off though, in favor of walking over to the punching bag. Putting the gloves on, he fell into stance and began punching.
Straight. Straight. Cross. Uppercut. Cross. Straight. Jab.
He continued this until he could barely move his arm, but at least he'd blocked out the nightmare. That had been the goal, after all.
*****************
It was morning when JungMin woke up again, his body waking him up at dawn out of habit. Sitting up and rubbing his eyes, he winced at the feeling of the slaver's clothing sticking to him. He needed a shower.
Getting up, he padded over to the door and opened it a crack, peering out cautiously.
KyuJong was still fast asleep, having come back a mere 1 hour ago. Not bothering with a shower, he had all but dropped onto the bed, but not before pulling out some clothing that would probably fit JungMin and placing them on the chair with a note so he'd know if he wanted a shower where to find everything.
Opening the door a bit wider when he noticed his owner was still asleep, JungMin noticed the clothing and note on the chair and slipped into the room carefully. He moved quietly to the chair and noticed the note was to him. Reading it, the slave frowned, not understanding why he was being treated like an actual person. Glancing to the man sleeping, JungMin picked up the clothes, biting his lower lip when he noticed the sleeves were short.
JungMin disliked wearing anything that showed too much skin, and even though showing his arms wasn't that big of a deal, he'd rather not if he had the choice. Putting the shirt down, he glanced to KyuJong again and decided if his owner was lending him clothes for now, he wouldn't care if JungMin looked for something with long sleeves instead.
Padding over to the drawers he assumed held clothes, JungMin looked through them for long-sleeved shirts as quietly as he could. Finding a drawer that looked promising, he went to pull a shirt out. A small piece of paper fell out with it, the slave bending to pick it up. Feeling the quality of the paper, probably a photograph, he flipped it around to see.
It was a picture of KyuJong and another man he didn't recognize, taller than his master and with one arm around his shoulders protectively...or, to JungMin, it looked more possessive than protective. Frowning slightly, he looked at it for a moment before placing it back in the drawer and closing it. Grabbing the clothes on the chair and the shirt he'd pulled out, JungMin went into the bathroom and closed the door.
Stripping out of the disgusting clothing, he hoped he'd be able to just...burn it, or something. Really, the material was beyond saving. Turning, JungMin caught sight of himself in the mirror and sighed, shoulders dropping for a moment before he looked away from the various marks, scars and burns to turn on the shower, stepping in when it was the right temperature.
The sound of the running water woke KyuJong slowly. With a yawn, he slowly sat up and ran a hand through his hair and looked around noticing that the clothes were gone. So JungMin must have seen.
It was then that he noticed the shirt hadn't been taken. He probably didn't like it. A thought suddenly came to him as he scrambled out of bed and toward the dresser. Opening the drawer, he looked through and sighed in relief when he saw the picture still in its place.
Looking at it, KyuJong remembered how it was when everything was well, before things went bad. Smiling slightly, he returned the picture and pulled out clothes for himself before closing the drawer and waiting for JungMin to finish.
JungMin showered quickly, no longer than it took to make sure the grime from the truck was off him. Getting out, he dried off and pulled on the clothes, carefully avoiding looking at the mirror until his skin was covered. After towel-drying his hair slightly he just left it to dry the rest of the way naturally, red bangs falling into his eyes as he gathered up the old clothes and left the bathroom quietly.
When he saw KyuJong was awake, he stiffened and got out of the way for the bathroom quickly.
When the door opened, KyuJong pulled himself from his thoughts and smiled as JungMin stepped out. "Those clothes look good on you," he complimented before getting to his feet. "I doubt you want to keep those, so feel free to just trash them," he added, pointing toward the garbage in the corner of his room.
"I'm gonna shower, too, then we can go get some breakfast, okay? "I'm not sure if anyone's awake yet, so it might just be us," KyuJong said. "If that's okay, of course."
With that, he walked into the bathroom and shut the door. Trying to ignore the thoughts clouding his mind, he turned the water on and undressed, climbing in.
Watching KyuJong disappear into the bathroom, JungMin looked down at the clothes in his hands before walking over to the garbage and pushing them in. Straightening, he sighed and tugged at the blue collar around his neck, wincing as he felt the chaffed skin underneath. Now if it was just as easy to get rid of the collar...
After looking around the room and finding nothing to hold his interest, JungMin returned to the connecting room and went back to the television set. Taking off the back, he fiddled with the wires inside absently. From what he saw, the television hadn't even been working in the first place; the wires to display the images on the screen had been all over the place before he'd even gotten to them.
Finding one that was damaged, he disconnected it and frowned as he looked around for something to mend it with. After searching around the drawers in the room, he found tape in one and sat cross-legged behind the television, carefully repairing the broken wires he found. It wasn't the best solution, but without the proper tools it was the best he could do.
KyuJong shut the water off and climbed out, drying himself off and getting dressed. He made sure that his hair was okay, bangs covering his right eye, before stepping out of the room and seeing JungMin gone.
Poking his head into his room, KyuJong knocked on the doorframe before entering. Even though the door was opened, he'd promised to knock.
"I think that TV's been broken since I was like, twelve," KyuJong chuckled quietly.
Jumping when he heard the knock, JungMin instinctively dropped the wires he was working on repairing before slowly picking them back up again. "Looks like a cat got in here," he muttered, finishing with the wire and carefully reattaching it inside the television. He had been planning on using whatever he repaired to conjure mischief elsewhere in the manor, but first he needed to make sure everything worked, so might as well repair the television first.
"If the cat's name is HyunJoong, then yes. My brother attempted to take it apart to see how it worked, but had no idea what to do to put it back, got bored, and left it," KyuJong explained. "I don't really watch much TV, so it never really bothered me."
"If you want, we can always order one when we go out. I know I can be pretty boring, since all I really do is read and eavesdrop. I like knowing what's going on around me, especially when no one will tell me."
JungMin glared at the inside of the screen. Maybe the reason he hadn't known how to put it back was because he'd destroyed half the wires in here while dismantling it. "Why? There's a perfectly good one right here," he retorted, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like "money-wasting morons." He finished reconnecting the wires he'd fixed and carefully closed up the back of the screen again.
KyuJong shrugged. "Do you really think you can repair it?" he asked, not without a bit of awe in his voice at the prospect of someone being able to fix HyunJoong's blunders.
"It's an old screen, so sure." Securing the back, he pushed the set back against the wall and placed the tape to one side, standing up carefully to make sure his legs hadn't fallen asleep on him. He was good with most electronics, as long as they weren't too new. Or computers. He wasn't even going to try taking those apart.
"I tried, since I'm pretty good with electronics, but it was just a lost cause for me. I'd be impressed if you could," KyuJong stated, smiling.
"Don't expect it done anytime soon," JungMin shrugged, leaning against the wall and watching his owner with wary eyes. "The wires are in pretty bad shape."
KyuJong nodded, taking note of the other's expression. "Let me know if there's anything you need in the way of wires or tools," he said. "So are you hungry? I know I am."
JungMin shook his head, but his stomach chose that moment to prove him wrong. The redhead promptly flushed and looked away.
KyuJong smiled at the sound before laughing lightly. "Come on, JungMin sshi. No need to blush at that. You have to eat, right?"
The slave shrugged and glanced at KyuJong out of the corner of his eye. "Why are you using ‘sshi’? There's no point to it."
KyuJong simply shrugged his shoulders. "Habit, I suppose. I've always been the more proper and polite of the three of us," he replied as he led the way out of the room and toward the kitchen.
As he'd thought, very few people were awake so early.
Following along behind the older man, JungMin frowned. "You shouldn't use it for me," he said bluntly. "It sounds weird." He wasn't used to hearing it from anyone, especially not masters.
KyuJong nodded at the blunt statement. "Okay, JungMin." Chuckling he stopped to look at JungMin. "It is a bit weird since you're younger than me, huh?" he asked as he turned back and kept walking.
JungMin blinked at him as KyuJong turned around again. "That's not the reason why," he muttered as he continued following, but he had to bite his lower lip to hide a smile. "You don't act like you're older," he announced.
"Well, not around my brothers, even though I am by default since the other two act like a pair of three year olds. I hope YoungSaeng has a lot of patience," KyuJong replied with a smile.
"He does...to an extent." JungMin wondered if the other slave was up already. They were used to getting up early thanks to the slavers, and past masters. "Rolling around on the floor is not being more mature than a three year old."
"...Okay you have a point there, but I wasn't the one who fell through the bathroom door, thank you very much."
Reaching the kitchen, KyuJong stopped and poked his head in, looking around. Seeing no one, he opened the door and entered.
JungMin entered the kitchen after KyuJong, but didn't go too far in, remaining near the door. "Does he do that often?"
"More often than you'd think from a 21 year old college student," KyuJong answered with a laugh before opening the fridge and poking through, finding nothing appetizing to him.
Cereal it was then.
"Feel free to rummage. I don't know what you're in the mood for," he said as he poured himself a bowl of his favorite cereal, grabbing a spoon and leaning against the counter.
Watching the other man, JungMin skirted around the stove to get to the cupboards, looking through them though he kept an eye on KyuJong's movements at the same time. Finding nothing there, he went to the fridge and poked around, expression brightening slightly when he found a large carrot with the vegetables. Pulling it out, he cast KyuJong a glance to see if he was going to protest before going to wash it in the sink.
KyuJong watched as JungMin looked around, finally coming back with a large carrot. He smiled as he watched the slave cast him a side-glance before washing it.
"I won't protest to you eating, JungMin. I'll speak up if I think someone, including you, could get hurt, but you don't need my permission to eat," KyuJong explained, smiling before taking another bite of cereal.
Finishing washing the carrot, JungMin chose not to reply to that as he went to lean against the opposite wall (no matter what he did, he always put as much distance between himself and certain objects in the room as possible), nibbling on the carrot.
KyuJong watched carefully, noticing a few things. "Can I ask you something? Is there something in here that makes you uneasy? If so, we can always leave."
JungMin shrugged slightly. "It's nothing." He wasn't about to say what was making him nervous; that was just asking for trouble. Tugging the sleeves of his shirt down until they covered even his hands, he continued eating his carrot, eyes hidden behind slightly damp red bangs.
*************************
YoungSaeng woke slowly, not wanting to leave the comfort of the bed. It was a rarity for him to be able to sleep a full night on such a plush bed, so he didn't want to give up the feeling.
He knew that he had to, however, so he slowly sat up and took a look around the room. The first thing he saw was HyunJoong passed out like the dead on the bed beside him. Lifting a brow, YoungSaeng nudged him. He didn't want to sit in the oversized pajamas all day.
"Yah, HyunJoong. Get up."
Unfortunately, HyunJoong hadn't been joking last night when he'd said pots and pans had no effect on him. At the nudge from the slave he didn't even twitch, the only sign that he wasn't dead being his even breathing and warm body.
In fact, he seemed to fall even more asleep, if that was possible.
YoungSaeng simply stared at the man, who barely moved. Thinking for a moment, he grabbed the blankets his owner had buried himself under and yanked them off.
"Seriously! Get your ass up!"
Shivering slightly as the blankets were yanked off, HyunJoong curled up a little and resumed sleeping, still knocked out cold. The university student held on to his pillow tightly, shirt hiked up slightly from the small amount of movement during the night.
YoungSaeng stared at HyunJoong in awe. "Are you serious?!" he demanded aloud as he shifted and began shaking the man. When he got no response yet again, he sighed and did the only thing he could think of.
He kicked him out of bed.
That woke him up. Yelping as he landed on the ground face-first, HyunJoong lay there for a long moment blinking and trying to figure out what had just happened. Then he rolled himself over so he was facing the ceiling instead. "Good morning to you too, Saengie yah," he called sleepily as he draped one arm over his eyes.
YoungSaeng leaned over the bed and blinked at the nickname. No one had ever given him one before; he was at a loss for words on the subject. Dropping it, he commented on yet another thing. "Your brother wasn't kidding. Do you hibernate at night or something?!" he asked, incredulous.
HyunJoong lifted his arm off his eyes and smiled up at the other man. "Maybe? Maybe I just like sleeping a bit too much." He lay there for a moment before sitting up, messing up his sleep-tousled hair even more.
"I'll get you clothes to change into until we go shopping, though I can't say they'll be much better than the pajamas," he chuckled, looking up at YoungSaeng before standing, nearly wiping out on the edge of the blankets that had dropped to the floor when YoungSaeng yanked them off.
YoungSaeng snickered as the man nearly fell over, tripping over the blankets. "First day on new legs there?" he taunted as he got to his feet and ran his hands through his longer hair before twisting it into a braid and tying it off.
"Might as well be," HyunJoong laughed, unaffected by the taunts as he smiled brightly. He wandered over to the closet, searching around until he found a set of stylish clothes that looked like they would fit YoungSaeng. Just in case, he pulled out a belt for the jeans and placed the lot on an empty corner of his desk before grabbing clothes for himself. "I'm gonna go shower, if those don't fit you feel free to dig around in there." He waved absently at the closet with a grin before going into the bathroom and closing the door.
YoungSaeng remained where he was until HyunJoong was in the bathroom with the door closed. Sighing, he padded over to the door and locked it.
Looking at the clothes on the desk, YoungSaeng walked over and picked them up, liking the feel. He slipped the pajama bottoms off and laid them on the bed before grabbing the jeans and pulling them on, securing them with the belt to keep then on, since without it they rested precariously on his hips. Removing the shirt, he laid it with the bottoms and put on the shirt. It was a bit loose, but much better than the pajamas.
It didn't take long for HyunJoong to shower, scrubbing his body clean before stepping out and toweling off, the sleep gone from his eyes as he blinked at his reflection in the mirror. He wondered if YoungSaeng would ever trust him. The slave seemed to have lightened up enough to tease him whenever he makes a fool of himself, but not for much else.
That was all right...he wasn't going to rush it. This wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. At least he could hold a conversation with YoungSaeng...not that they'd really had any yet.
He would have to talk to him about the going out in public thing. A faint sigh left him. That probably wasn't going to go over too well, but there was nothing that could be done.
YoungSaeng, while waiting for his owner to return, had taken to looking around the room at all the different things around. While there were plenty of pictures of the brothers and a woman that he assumed was their mother, he saw practically none of their father.
"Interesting," he murmured as he reached the desk. Looking at the top sheet, he blinked at the complex series of letters and numbers that made little to no sense to him whatsoever.
Changing into a new set of clothes, HyunJoong toweled his hair mostly dry before leaving the bathroom, smiling when he saw YoungSaeng changed. "Hungry?" he asked as he walked to the bed and fixed it up, pulling the comforter up and smoothing out the creases.
Once the door opened, YoungSaeng tensed, stopping what he was doing. At the question, he paused before nodding. "I guess so."
HyunJoong looked up at YoungSaeng, noticing the slave standing at his desk. Blinking, he looked at the papers on the desk; formulas and scientific equations covered the pages, notes scribbled in the margins for what each property meant. "Are you interested in learning any of that?" he asked, brushing damp locks of hair out of his face.
YoungSaeng simply shrugged. "Even if I did, I wouldn't know where to begin," he replied, eyeing the papers. "I made it to first year in middle school, but that was it," he explained, moving away a bit when he closed in.
Seeing how YoungSaeng moved away, HyunJoong stopped walking to the desk. "I probably fail as a teacher, but I could always get you the material we covered in middle and high school," he offered. "Sort of like homeschooling. HyungJoon could probably help with the high school part, since he's still there himself."
YoungSaeng looked at HyunJoong. It was so strange that he was being treated as he was. Before he could stop himself, he said, "Why are you so different? Most are of the opinion that a whore doesn't need to know math and science. He only needs to know how to warm a bed."
HyunJoong paused at that, looking down at the papers on his desk. "Give someone a book, and you give them a sense of identity."
He gave YoungSaeng a smile, gaze sharp. "One of the very first things you told me was that you aren't a whore. Since you told me so yourself, I shouldn't have any misgivings about giving you a chance to learn, should I?"
YoungSaeng couldn't stop the look of shock from appearing on his face at HyunJoong's words. No one had ever said such a thing to him and he had absolutely no idea how to respond. While he would state clearly that he was not a whore, he couldn't help but feel like one after all of his previous masters and having it all but beaten into him for so long.
"You're such a strange master," he finally said, unable to think of anything else.
The older man flashed him a grin at that. "I've definitely been called worse." He walked to the door, noticing it was locked and unlocking it. "Want to go for breakfast? KyuJong should probably be in the kitchen already, which probably means JungMin is too, and HyungJoon won't be too far behind once he smells food. Then once we've eaten, we can take your measurements and head out. Sound good?"
Still apprehensive about allowing the other man to take his measurements, he slowly nodded and followed him out of the room. On the way, YoungSaeng made sure to look around in order to learn his way.
HyunJoong led the way leisurely, hands in his pockets. Once he saw the hallways were mostly empty still, he fell back to walk more alongside YoungSaeng instead of in front. He understood that he'd have to keep up the appearance of being in charge while there were others around, but he wanted to be able to show YoungSaeng he thought of them as equals, not master and slave.
"Want to look around more later?" HyunJoong asked, noting the glances around them. "I can show you around. There's gardens outside you might like." He still needed to take a look at that notepad the other man had been writing in last night; despite his apparent disinterest, he was actually curious. He just went about satisfying his curiosity at a more leisurely pace.
YoungSaeng wasn't oblivious to HyunJoong walking more beside him than in front, though he acted as though he was. Casting him a side-glance, he nodded slowly. "I suppose," he replied.
"Great. We can do that whenever you're up for it. I'm usually in school most of the day on weekdays...” HyunJoong recalled his conversation with KyuJong on what they could do about his school hours. "On the days that I only have lectures, you can come along if you want. The teachers for the labs though don't like visitors, because students used to invite friends who'd try playing with the projects and blow something up." He chuckled softly. "KyuJongie said that you can stay with him and JungMin those days if you want. Or HyungJoon even, the brat's always looking for someone to pull into his pranks. Just hit him upside the head if he tries to get you into anything too risky."
Listening to HyunJoong, YoungSaeng found himself nodding. It made sense. "I'm a big boy, you know. I can stay by myself," he said nonchalantly.
HyunJoong chuckled. "I never said you couldn't. It's not an order, just a suggestion." He smiled wryly. "Kyu and I came to the agreement we wouldn't trust 90% of the people here to leave you alone if you were by yourself."
"And who belongs to the 10%?" YoungSaeng asked. He didn't trust 100% of the people, but he was sure it was quite obvious already.
"Him, me, HyungJoon and JungMin," HyunJoong laughed. "It's roughly 10% of the people here."
"I see," YoungSaeng replied. "Anyone specific I should avoid running into?" he asked, deciding that if he was going to be here for a while, he should know what to expect.
"I'd like to say anyone who's not in that 10%, but that's not very specific, is it?" HyunJoong laughed again, rubbing his head absently and messing up his brown hair again. "Let's see...the guards for sure. They're not a very pleasant bunch." That was the understatement of the century. He could remember KyuJong getting into several arguments with them about how they treated slaves who happened to be in their way. "Any of my father's guests would be a good idea as well...oh, and father himself. Those should be the main ones."
"Well, it looks like I'll be spending a lot of time in your room, now won't I?" YoungSaeng said in response. "You and your brother don't seem to like your father, especially your brother," he observed.
"We're in no way sheltered from what he does," HyunJoong shrugged. "KyuJong especially has gotten into quite a few...debates with him. Debates being a nicer term for it."
"I see," YoungSaeng said with a nod. There was a lot about this family that confused him, and while he normally didn't care, there was something tugging at his curiosity.
They reached the kitchen then, HyunJoong pulling the door open for YoungSaeng. As he'd thought, KyuJong and JungMin were in there, the slave looking up as they came in. "Morning," HyunJoong called.
YoungSaeng paused to look at HyunJoong oddly as he opened the door for him. After a moment, he entered the kitchen and walked over to JungMin and took a seat on the stool beside him.
KyuJong looked up from his half finished bowl to see HyunJoong enter the kitchen along with YoungSaeng. "Morning Hyung. YoungSaeng," he greeted back, earning a small nod from the slave.