Summary: An explanation of how Munak and Bongun ended up in Payon dungeon, and Hyegun and Munak in Louyang.
A/N: Yao Jun in iRO is the same as Hyegun.
READER BEWARE: If you enjoy characters with personalities, this might not be the best read for you.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Munak sat near a lake, brushing out her long silken black that usually hung down her back in a braid. Tomorrow was her wedding day, and she was determined for everything to be as perfect as possible. The groom-to-be, Bongun, had been her friend since childhood. Although she knew that any marriage without the consent of family or friends would not be absolutely wonderful, Munak was trying her best to make sure the wedding would run smoothly. Staring out at the great blue expanse of water, she sighed, wondering how she had ended up in such a predicament.
-----------------------------------------------------------
"Munak! Munak!" a seven-year-old Bongun ran towards her.
"Bongun?"
"My cousin's getting married!" he smiled at her with wide eyes.
"Married? What's that?" she had heard the word before, but didn't know the meaning.
"It's when two people who really like each other agree to stay with each other forever," Bongun recited. "At least, that's what mother told me."
They sat together in silence for a while, pondering the importance of such an agreement. Suddenly, Bongun jumped up.
"Hey, Munak, will you marry me?"
"What?" the question caught Munak by surprise.
"Well…we both really like each other, and I wouldn't mind being with you forever," Bongun reasoned.
She thought for a while, seeing the logic behind his words. "…Sure!" she beamed.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Munak laughed bitterly as she reflected on her past. If only marriage was that simple. No, there were always complications and obstacles in the path of true love. She'd learned that lesson when she was of age for marriage.
"Munak, dear?" her mother's voice came from behind the locked door.
Ignoring her, Munak flopped upon her silken sheets and sobbed into her pillow. Even though she was sixteen, she thought it perfectly reasonable to throw a tantrum, considering the circumstances. She had been promised to marry Hyegun, a complete stranger. True, she had met him once at a feast his parents held, but they had not spoken, and she still barely even knew the man. What's worse, there were rumors in the village that his father dabbled in sorcery.
"Munak, honey," the placating voice spoke again. How she hated that voice! "Munak, Hyegun's parents are wealthy and prestigious. Hyegun is also kind and will treat you fairly. He will take good care of you."
"But I don't want Hyegun!" she screamed in retaliation. "I don't want to marry him! I don't love him! I love Bongun!"
The voice went silent, and Munak heard her mother's footsteps retreating into the distance. Tears streaming down her face, she quietly slipped out the back door and ran blindly towards the clearing where she and Bongun met many times before.
"Munak?"
She turned around, looking him in the eyes. Bongun had grown over the years, and was no longer a cheerful, bright young child, but a tall and mature young man.
"Munak, what's wrong?" he asked, holding her steady.
"My parents," she gasped for breath. "They want to marry me off…to Hyegun!" she felt him stiffen.
"Munak." He gazed into her eyes. "Munak, do you love me?"
"Of course!" she answered.
"Then…" he interlaced his fingers with hers. "Run away with me."
Looking into his onyx eyes, Munak found assurance and confidence. "Okay."
And that, Munak reflected, had been that. They escaped in the dark of night from their hometown of Payon, and fled to Louyang, where they now resided. She prayed that they would be able to live together, happily ever after.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Hyegun covered his face with his hands. This was not what he had intended. He had known, from the moment he set his eyes on Munak at the feast his parents had held, that he was in love. He would never be able to settle for any other but his precious Munak. His eyes darkened as Hyegun recalled her parents' refusal to marry her off. "She loves someone else," they had said. "Bongun is the one she should marry." They had been stubborn to the end, succumbing only under his father's enchantments. However, he had not foreseen Munak's refusal and flight. Instead, he selfishly clung to the idea of their wedding until he was blind to her opinions and wills.
"So," he thought scornfully. "This is love. Being unable to think of anything else, acting foolishly and rashly in order to get what you want," Hyegun sighed. "And look where that's gotten me."
Munak had run away, with Bongun, and would probably marry him. Munak's parents had their souls broken, and the villagers would begin a mass hysteria the moment they found out. And Hyegun's father was furious that Munak rejected his son, and was devising methods to exact revenge. Hyegun had protested after realizing the error of his ways, claiming that he wanted nothing more than Munak's happiness. But his father had been insistent. Now, because of Hyegun's own folly, Munak and Bongun might be doomed to an eternity of suffering! Quickly pulling on a light yellow Payon robe, Hyegun set out, determined to right his wrongs. He would find Munak and Bongun, warn them of the impeding danger caused by his father, beg for forgiveness from Munak, and then…and then he would fade away from her life, until Hyegun became an obscure name in her memory, hazy and forgotten.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Munak shivered as a chilly gust of wind blew her hair in her face. Louyang was a lot colder than Payon, she realized with a sudden nostalgia. Payon had been warm and sunny, unlike the breezier and cold Louyang, and the people she had left behind were ones that she had known for her entire life. Realizing that the wedding would start soon, Munak walked to the church where she changed into a pure white gown, complete with lacy gloves and a shimmering veil. Bongun and Munak had both come from well-off families in Payon, and before they left, they brought with them their considerable allowances amassed over the years. All their zeny combined should be able to last them a few months, more than enough time for Bongun to find a job. After putting on her veil, Munak brushed some hair out of her face; the rest was bound in a traditional daenggie. It would be a small wedding, with only the groom, the bride, the priest, and a few new friends in Louyang. Not many people knew them anyway. The priest's wife whispered in her ear, "It's time." Munak rose, and gracefully pushed on the great double doors where her love stood at the altar, waiting for her.
Bongun's breath caught as Munak entered the room. Her eyes flickered to his face, and any doubts about running away he had previously harbored immediately vanished. Munak was wonderful in every aspect, and she would soon be his. Nobody, not Hyegun or even Munak's parents, would be able to stand in between them. Bongun's cheeks flushed as the priest cleared his throat, bringing his attention back to the wedding, as Munak moved to stand across from him, face to face. "Do you, Bongun, take Munak as your wife, to love and to cherish, in sickness and in health?" Bongun's heart fluttered as he sealed the vow with an "I do." He waited for the priest to continue, but the silence that ensued dragged on. Hearing Munak's gasp of horror, he turned to the priest, and Bongun, too, sharply sucked in his breath. For though the priest still wore the same expression and stood in the same spot, his flesh was set in rigid stone.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Hyegun looked around frantically. He had gone to Comodo; the most obvious place in all of Rune Midgard that any pair of lovers would go. He had searched everywhere and asked all the people, but to no avail. There was no sign of Munak or Bongun, and his time was running out. In fact, Hyegun realized with startling clarity, his father could be torturing them right now! He calmed himself down. It would do him no good to act rashly. Rationally, Hyegun narrowed down his options. Aldebaran, Yuno, and Geffen were all too far away for anyone to walk. Of course, there was still Lutie, Morroc, Amatsu, Louyang, and Niflheim. Lutie was too cold for most people, and it was not the most ideal place to live. Niflheim…well he doubted that anyone alive would ever venture there. Morroc was the opposite of Lutie, stifling heat, a little too extreme for most people's tastes. And that left it to Amatsu and Louyang. Louyang was the closer of the two, so he departed in haste, hoping he would be able to make it in time to right his wrongs, and earn forgiveness.
Munak gasped. How was this possible? She and Bongun had ensured that it would be nearly impossible to track them. Yet, somehow, Hyegun's father had traced them to Louyang, and there he stood, behind the petrified body of the priest.
"How did you find us?" she managed to force out, stuttering with dread.
He smiled. It was a wolf's smile, Munak reflected, the one that it worse while playing with its prey. "You see, Munak, my dear son Hyegun has the strangest toy. It's a doll, of you, with a piece of your ebony hair wrapped around it." Hyegun's father paused to kick aside the priest, who shattered on the hard marble floor. Munak closed her eyes, trying to block out the pieces that lay scattered, but to no avail. She shuddered in a mixture of pity and fear. "Well, it was easy enough. A simple tracking spell, and your whereabouts became clear as day."
"Wait!" Munak cried. "Don't hurt Bongun! He has nothing to do with this!"
"Of course he does," Hyegun's father hissed. "He's the one you chose over my son. What could this boy possibly possess that makes him superior to Hyegun?"
"Nothing," Munak decided to act. At least that way Bongun might have a chance of survival. "I picked him just to make Hyegun jealous."
"Oh really?" Hyegun's father was not convinced. "That explains the white dress and the priest." He indicated the broken pieces of the priest on the floor.
Munak drew a shaky breath. She could not think of a way to prevent their impending doom. Hyegun's father raised his hands and a spell pattern appeared. He began to chant, forming a dark cloud, and widening the spell insignia. Bongun began to run, dragging Munak with him, but it was too late. A flurry of snowflakes fell from the cloud. Munak screamed in terror as she felt ice encasing her body. Her scream was cut short, and she was frozen solid by the enchanted ice. Eyes darting around, the only part of her body that she could still move, she noticed Bongun was similarly immobilized, and Hyegun was on the floor, partially frozen.
"He shouldn't be here," Munak thought. "This is all his fault." Then her mind went numb and she was in darkness.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Hyegun dashed into the church. He had seen the gray cloud of darkness overhead, signaling a spell about to be cast. It could only be Storm Gust, an enchantment that froze the victims in an eternal frost. He dove towards his father, tackling him to the ground, but it was too late. The snow fell down, covering Munak and Bongun in ice and crystallizing as well as immobilizing Hyegun's legs. Hyegun's father yelled in pain as the unfinished spell backfired on him, and he disintegrated into a fine powdery snow. Hyegun cringed as he gazed at Munak, who was glaring at him with an incriminating stare. "She hates me…" he thought sadly. And now that she was frozen, he would never be able to earn her forgiveness. Using his arms, Hyegun began to drag himself out of the church. If he found a healer or a professor in time, perhaps he could save his legs before they completely froze over.