The Beauty & The Beast {TK}
Prologue
"Some eyes are impossible to forget... even across a thousand dreams."
Ash drifted through the midnight sky like black snow.
A young man, dressed in white, ran barefoot through the crumbling halls, tears blurring his vision.
At the end of the corridor stood a man cloaked in darkness.
His face was hidden, but his eyes...
Those impossible dark eyes.
With centuries of longing.
The man reached out, fingertips barely brushing the other's cheek.
His voice was soft enough to be mistaken for the wind.
Jungkook woke up with a gasp.
His heart pounded violently against his ribs.
And just like every other morning...
He couldn't remember the man's face.
Only those black eyes, which felt like a dark abyss drowning everything in it.
Author
To the souls who have spent lifetimes searching for a place that feels like home, and to the hearts that continue to love even when the world insists they shouldn't.
May you one day find the eyes that have been waiting for you across every lifetime.
-Dedicated to every hopeless romantic who still believes in impossible love.
Chapter 1
The History That Refused to Die.
Seoul National University – Department of History
The lecture hall of Seoul National University's Department of History buzzed with the usual morning chaos. Students exchanged notes, complained about assignments, and debated over historical theories while waiting for Professor Choi to arrive.
At the back of the room were three students who were notorious for getting into trouble,not because they broke rules, but because they chased history far beyond textbooks.
If there was a forgotten temple, an abandoned village, or an unsolved historical mystery, chances were these three had already packed their backpacks before anyone else even considered it.
Kim Mingyu
"...I'm telling you, that artifact was definitely stolen before the Japanese occupation," (he argued, spinning his pen between his fingers.)
Kim Yugyeom
(Yugyeom scoffed.) "Or maybe the museum just lost it because they're incompetent."
Kim Mingyu
"They're historians, not treasure hunters."
Kim Yugyeom
"They can be both."
Jeon Jungkook
Jungkook chuckled quietly, eyes still buried in the thick book resting on his desk.
Unlike his loud best friends, he preferred listening.
His fingers absentmindedly traced the faded illustration of an ancient castle printed on the page. Something about it made his chest tighten.
Lately, everything reminded him of that dream.
Those endless stone corridors...
A deep voice whispering words he could never remember after waking.
Eyes that looked at him with so much longing that every morning he woke up feeling like he'd left someone behind.
Kim Yugyeom
"You zoned out again."
Kim Yugyeom
(Yugyeom snapped his fingers in front of Jungkook's face.)
Kim Yugyeom
"The castle dream?"
Jeon Jungkook
(Jungkook blinked.) "...How did you know?"
Kim Yugyeom
"You've been staring into space every five minutes."
Kim Mingyu
"And," (Mingyu added with a grin) "you keep drawing castles instead of taking notes."
His notebook wasn't filled with today's lecture.
Page after page contained sketches.
A massive gate covered in vines.
Even he didn't remember drawing them.
Jeon Jungkook
"...That's weird."
Kim Yugyeom
"More like creepy," (Yugyeom muttered.)
Before Jungkook could respond, the classroom fell silent as Professor Choi entered.
The man, now in his late fifties, was respected throughout Korea for his research on forgotten kingdoms and abandoned settlements.
He placed a weathered leather journal on the podium.
Professor Choi
"I had planned to continue today's lecture on the Three Kingdoms period..."
Professor Choi
"...but something far more interesting has recently come into my possession."
That immediately caught everyone's attention.
Professor Choi lifted the journal carefully.
Professor Choi
"This diary belonged to a European archaeologist who disappeared nearly seventy years ago."
The projector lit up, displaying a faded black-and-white photograph.
Dense Forest surrounding it.
A lonely inn standing several hundred meters away, the only building that seemed to have survived the passage of time.
Professor Choi
"No official records explain why this settlement was abandoned," (he continued.)
Professor Choi
"Locals call it Ashveil."
Students started whispering among themselves.
Jeon Jungkook
"Ashveil" (he mutters slowly, the word rolling off his tongue in a silent whisper)
Chapter 2
Whispers immediately spread across the classroom.
"I've never heard of it."
"Is it even on the map?"
Professor Choi ignored the murmurs.
Professor Choi
"There are almost no official records about Ashveil. No one knows who built the castle, why the village was abandoned, or why the locals refuse to stay there after sunset."
Professor Choi
(he paused before adding) "Those who have visited often speak of strange dreams, voices echoing through empty halls, and an unsettling feeling that someone is watching them."
Mingyu leaned toward Jungkook, a grin spreading across his face.
Kim Mingyu
"Looks like we've found our next destination."
Kim Yugyeom
(he smirked.) "I was thinking the exact same thing."
Jungkook didn't answer, he wasn't even listening to them.
His eyes remained fixed on the castle displayed on the screen.
Not because he had read about them...
But because he had wandered through them.
A sharp ringing suddenly filled his ears.
His breathing became uneven.
The voices around him faded, it became too quiet. No whispers of students, no sound of pen writing on paper nothing.
Close enough to make the hairs on the back of his neck stand.
"I've finally found you..."
Jungkook's breath caught in his throat.
He turned around instantly.
Kim Mingyu
(he frowns and asks) "You okay?"
Without answering, Jungkook slowly looked back at the projector.
For the briefest moment...
Someone stood behind one of the castle's shattered windows.
Completely still. Watching him.
It's face hidden by shadows. But the eyes.
They were darker than the deepest abyss.
Jeon Jungkook
(he blinks and shakes his head)
Only the image of the ruined Castle remained.
Yet for some reasons that he couldn't explain, his heart refused to slow down.
He looks at his friends, who are looking at him with worry.
Jeon Jungkook
"We need to go there." (his voice held a hint of urgency) "We need to go to ashveil." (his eyes again stop at the same window, his eyes finding something or someone.)
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