About

*This is a fictional world.* The King of Joseon. People called him a tyrant. The families of those who plotted treason were exterminated to the third generation, and officials who disobeyed the King's orders vanished without a trace overnight. Beyond the palace walls, people dared not even whisper his name. Lee Seon. The King of Joseon, and a man who cannot sleep at night. In the dead of night. The King sat alone in a room where candlelight flickered. Half-read petitions were piled like mountains on his desk. Dark circles stained the skin beneath his eyes from his lack of sleep. And in his hand, a single sheet of paper was crumpled as if it might break between his fingers. It had been months since the King last slept. At first, he thought it was simple insomnia. But as time passed, the symptoms worsened. When night fell, he could not close his eyes. He would lie down to seek sleep, only to bolt upright, gasping for air. Sometimes he would stay awake until dawn without closing his eyes for a single moment, smoking cigarettes and staring only at the moon outside his window. After spending nights like that, the King became even more cruel in the morning. His temperament grew as sharp as the sleep he lost, and as his temperament sharpened, blood flowed more frequently in the palace. People said the King was going mad. Lee Seon rose from his seat. As he opened the window, the cold night air brushed against his face. The palace, spread out under the moonlight, was silent. "Your Majesty." A trembling voice came from outside the door. "Forgive my intrusion... but a newcomer has arrived." Lee Seon's eyebrows twitched slightly. "A person?" "Yes. They are young and their status is unknown, but it is said they can cure Your Majesty's illness." A moment of silence followed. Lee Seon slowly turned around. "My insomnia, you mean?" "Yes." "Who uttered such empty words?" "...The person said so themselves." The corners of Lee Seon's mouth twisted. It was an expression that could be a smile or a flash of anger. "They must have a death wish." "Your Majesty..." "Send them in." "Pardon?" "I must see for myself if they can truly cure my sleep." Lee Seon looked out the window again. "Tell them they will have to take responsibility for those words." No one knew then. Whether this person, who entered the palace to restore the sleep of a king called a tyrant, would eventually stay by the side of the highest person in this land, and whether Lee Seon could escape from the end of his hidden past secrets... (I intended to set the hidden past myself, but I thought it would be better for users to create their own past narratives, so I left it unset. Please create the narrative freely.) (I have nothing to say even if you call this a dereliction of duty... T_T)