Sooyeon blinked.

Strange, she wasn’t at a forest, or under a tree, or anything similar to that. Instead, she was at the corner of a wooden shelter, with barrels surrounding her. Not only just that, her clothes also changed; clean and… slightly dusty?

She looked at the weight in her arms, and wasn’t too surprised to see Soojung still sleeping peacefully. Though she noticed the patterns of the blue cloth changed, Sooyeon didn't pay any attention.

Perhaps there was a kind person who saved her? Sooyeon wasn’t sure.

Sooyeon got up with Soojung on her arms, and began to find the exit of this place. Though she had difficulties on moving the barrels (that surrounding her), it proved easier when she was so motivated to find some milk for Soojung. Plus, she herself was starving, almost ravenous even. Sooyeon figured that maybe she was asleep for more than a day, considering she was very experienced at sleeping and never got too hungry after a day of sleeping.

After countless grunting and angry kicking to the innocent barrels, Sooyeon finally was able to exit the cabin. She breathed a sigh of relief as she inhaled the crisp air of forest. She couldn’t fathom the reason of why she suddenly felt a wave of nostalgia as her enhanced sense of smell caught the rather familiar smell.

“Strange,” she muttered, looking at Soojung who seemed expressionless as always. Sooyeon narrowed her eyes, and Soojung blinked as a sign of confusion. After a moment of staring and confused blinking, Soojung suddenly cried.

Sooyeon slapped her forehead at that. Rather than worrying about her sister, she was worrying about the sudden nostalgic feeling! Sooyeon felt she had already failed as a sister. “Let’s find you some milk, shall we, Soojung-ah?” Soojung smiled a bit at the question, or invitation.

“Look at that…” Both her eyes and mouth gaped in excitement as she saw a sky piercer on the middle of a city. She had been walking for a good half an hour, and found himself on the outskirt of a town.

“Hmm… do I smell chocolate?” She looked at Soojung in her arms, and smiled widely when the baby was also sniffing the air in pure bliss. “Do you want chocolate, Soojung-ah?” Came a goo-gaa as answer. Soojung never made any noise aside of crying, all this time.

Well, aside from pul (fool) and imbecile. Sooyeon had to admit, neither her mother nor her mama was a good language teacher.

Sooyeon followed the trail of the scent, and was very excited as they encountered a traditional dairy market. It wasn’t traditional as they remembered, but she could tell it was. She faintly smelled the scent of milk, and smiled at that. Soojung, like any other babies, loved milk.

“Milku!” Soojung mumbled incoherently, her shining brown eyes sparkling in utter excitement. Sooyeon quickly rummaged her pocket, and thanked the God as she found five Golds.

“Five golds equals… ehm… Ah! Five hunreds jewels! I think that will be enough for a glass of milk…” Shu mumbled to herself, walking to the nearest Dairy. She entered the Dairy, and studied the red haired woman at its cashier. Despite her peculiar, energizing appearance (slim, beautiful, and red drills on both sides), the woman looked very gloomy and scared, and Sooyeon concluded that the business didn’t go very well.

Maybe because the outside wasn’t too appealing? Sooyeon did think twice before entering the shop, but she knew good milk and cheese when she smell it.

“He-hello…” Sooyeon greeted her with small voice, startling the woman greatly.

“A customer!” She gasped and stood straight. “Come, come! What would you like, dear?” She asked warmly to her. Sooyeon smiled as the woman’s eyes shone a bit. She liked to make others happy, at least with her mere presence.

“I was wondering if you sell some milk?”

“We sell more than milk!” The woman said immediately, but for a millisecond Sooyeon felt the woman was feeling suspicious for a second. Indeed, the woman was curious about her way of speaking.

It was… old and odd.

“Is it for your lovely sister?” Sooyeon was never felt more grateful than how the woman dropped her suspicion. She never liked being distinguished, as peculiar as she may be.

“Why yes,” Sooyeon answered with a small smile. After that she rummaged her pocket, and was thankful to find the five golds were still safe.

“Then perhaps… would you like to sell it… a glass, perhaps, for five golds? It’s… the only one I got with me.” She said sheepishly, offering the five golds with her right hand.

 The woman’s eyes widened and Sooyeon cringed.

Five golds equal five hundreds jewels right? Usually I bought a carton of milk for eight golds on Jinrui village… Making it roughly eight hundreds jewels…

“Dear…”

Sooyeon cut her off, “I know this isn’t enough but please! We are thirsty and starving so please—“ The woman shushed her with her finger pressing against her lips. “Say no more,” she said with a warm smile.

“I cannot accept your money, dear.”

“But why? Is it not enough? I mean, very much?” Sooyeon panicked. She was utterly embarrassed right now. Even Soojung had already crying in panic.

The woman shook her head calmly, chuckling to herself in amusement. “It is not why I refused, dear. It is because with your money alone you could buy the entire farm of mine including this store.”

 Almost in instant, Soojung stopped crying.

“Five golds equal five hundred jewels you say? Why that rule was nearly five hundred years ago!”   

“I don’t understand.” Sooyeon blurted immediately.

“What I’m saying is dear,” The woman grinned at her. “Five golds are more than five hundred jewels. In fact, please add six more zero behind it.”

500…000000…?! What?! 500.000.000 jewels?! Half billion?! I have half billion on my pocket all along?!

“You must be joking!” Sooyeon cried out.

The woman laughed. “So, do you want to buy the milk or not?”

Sooyeon looked at her sister, who looked at her in return. After contemplating for some minutes she turned to the woman.

“I’m afraid—“

“Choi!” Sooyeon jumped from her seat as well as the woman. The woman, named Choi, was looking petrified as the man who called out to her walked to the inside of the shop, with his feet stomping the floor loudly. Sooyeon and Soojung cringed, disliking the loud sound on their ears.

“WHERE IS MY MONEY?!” He demanded angrily. Sooyeon narrowed her eyes to him, as he was looking just like the man who yelled at Soojung at the night of their escape.

“I-In two days, Nikuya-sama! F-fifteen millions jewels r-right…?”

Nikuya scoffed. “Fifteen millions?! You always postponed it you !” Sooyeon gritted her teeth at the language. “HELLO?! MISTER,THERE’S A LITTLE KID HERE?” She stared disbelievingly to Soojung, who was tugging her hair, her eyes asking “What’s means?” Although Sooyeon was still seven years old, her vast language knowledge was pretty admirable.

“Credit goes to my mom and mama,” she growled inside her mind, ignoring the tugging that became harsh yanking.

 “I want hundred! HUNDRED! GOT IT?! MONEY OR YOUR FARM, GOT IT?!” Then Nikuya left in rage.

As soon as Nikuya left, Choi slumped to her seat. Her pale skin became paler than before, and Sooyeon felt herself boiling in anger when despair consumed the kind lady.

“I know it’s rude to ask, but may I ask what happen?”

Choi sighed. “I did mentioned it to you about my farm, haven’t I?” Sooyeon nodded slowly. “My farm… Half of it is my husband’s and his brother… that is Nikuya-sama…”

“If he is your brother on law, why do you call him with honorific?” She asked, referring to the –sama. She herself didn’t use that kind of honorific, as it was considered as East’s dialect, while she was from West.

“He-he is a nobleman...” The woman said.

“He doesn’t look like one.” Sooyeon countered back.

“I cannot answer that… Anyway, my husband finally bought half of the farm, thereby having all of it as his own. Then he married me, his biggest trouble.”

Sooyeon didn’t interject.

“I-I or my family… owed Nikuya-sama nearly five hundred millions jewels because of my mother’s crucial surgery… And we weren’t rich either…”

“Carry on…”

“When my husband knew it, he wanted to sell the farm to him but I simply not allowed it. How are we supposed to live then? My husband then agreed, and gave nearly all of his inheritance to settle the debt. But it wasn’t enough…”

“How…much?”

“Fifteen millions… And now my husband is dead and I have two heavy eater children to feed,” Sooyeon had to struggle with the urge to laugh. “How am I supposed to pay when my business haven’t gone well for the past four years?”

Sooyeon didn’t say anything and looked at a picture hanging on the wall. It was the woman’s family, she presumed, as she recognized the woman standing beside her husband with a happy smile with her two infant children.

“Those are your children?” She asked while standing, pointing at the picture. She walked closer to the picture, examining it closely. For a reason she couldn’t fathom, the woman indeed looked like someone familiar, but Sooyeon wasn’t sure who. Perhaps it was because of her peculiar red hair? The red drills on her hair did catch her interest at the first glance, rather than her eccentric clothes. But again, Sooyeon wasn’t sure.

The woman nodded weakly at Sooyeon’s question. “Yes. They are about your age.”

“Lovely,” Sooyeon said with a smile. An idea had popped to her mind just a while ago, but she was hesitant. “Still,” she thought with a new sense of confidence, after looking at the family picture one more time. “It’s still worth a shot.” She turned to her with a smile. “Oh and lady Choi…”

“Please just call me Kasane…” She said with a smile. “My husband is already gone. I don’t need to keep his name. Please, just call me Kasane or Teto.”

Sooyeon crunched her nose. A wave of familiarity hit her once again. Perhaps her saviour before was someone with Teto or Kasane as name? Once again, Sooyeon wasn’t sure.

 “I don’t know your name.”

“Sooyeon… Sooyeon Jung… And my sister here is Soojung.” She said, pointing at Soojung who (was mid-strangling a random cat, that is Teto’s) looked at her in bewilderment. The poor cat didn’t even wait for Soojung to completely let loose of its neck as it ran away in fear. Sooyeon who noticed the cat’s behaviour, simply could tell that the cat didn’t behave.

“Lovely name,” Teto smiled at her. “And what is it you wanted to ask about, Sooyeon-san?”

Sooyeon knew she was crazy. Extremely crazy or rude. But she actually both of them. But then again, Teto was technically her saviour, having saved them from starvation and thirst.

...It was exaggerating, but Teto indeed was a kind lady.

"But hey, she would be grateful if I bought the farm out from that man's hands, right?"

And with that thought, Sooyeon smirked, “Actually, can I buy your farm?”

7 more chapters to go;)

Will it be JeTi, Soosica, or Taengsic?

Oh and there will be competition for Krystal too;))

Note : Eastern Han'ei has about 6 different dialect, each province except South.

North: Chinese. (If you have vast knowledge about the language please PM me, lol. I have to make sure I don't write something that will embarrass myself)

South: Javanese (Southwest using Krama Inggil/Krama Madya, Southeast using Ngoko)

West: Korean

East : Japanese.

But their main language is OF COURSE English. It's universal at both Mainland and Eastern, duh.

The others are simply for honorifics, like how I address my older sister by 'Mbak' (Older Sister), that is Javanese rather than 'Kak' even though I always use Bahasa when speaking to her. And how I used 'Matur nuwun' or 'Sembah nuwun' instead of 'Terima kasih' to my parents and grandparent.

Anyway, sorry for the long note. Hope you enjoy it!

Don't forget to review;)