It was just another plain day for Ayeong and Yiseul, rules and schedules. This had become routine for the two girls. They were sitting in their calligraphy lesson when suddenly a commotion could be heard rising from the courtyard. Ayeong tried to peek out the window to see what was going on, but their teacher quickly scolded her. “A fine young lady does not lean back in her seat! She is to sit up straight!”
Ayeong huffed and sat back straight. “But something exciting is happening!” She said eagerly. “Can’t we just take a break for a few minutes? We’ve been scribbling for hours now!” Yiseul gently nudged her under the table, and slightly shook her head, indicating that this was not the time for them to get in trouble. The teacher slammed the tip of her fan against the table and widened her eyes, “Absolutely not! It is of the utmost importance that you two learn how to behave properly all the time. This is not scribbling! Calligraphy is an art!!! Now, do the same character again.”

Ayeong drew a sigh and looked down at her parchment. She tried to repeat the character she had been working on when the sounds of shouting grew louder. Suddenly, a young man burst into the room, looking scared. Ayeong and Yiseul couldn’t help but stand up quickly, feeling a bit startled at what had just happened. The sound of their father’s enraged yells filled the air, and the young man ran over to the window. He looked over his shoulder at the girls and winked with a smirk before jumping out of the window.
A few moments later, the magistrate burst into the room, face red with anger. “Where did that no good rascal go!? Did you see him!?” Even though she knew it was wrong, Ayeong quickly shook her head. Not wanting any problems, Yiseul followed her sister’s lead and shook her head as well. “We haven’t seen any rascals father, I promise.”, she said. Their teacher opened about to say something, but Ayeong glared at her, gesturing that she would tear her calligraphy scroll if anything was said. The magistrate heaved a heavy sigh and ran a hand through his hair. “I should have known that boy was trouble. If I ever see that Song Kyungil again, I’ll strangle him for stealing from my kitchens!”

The girls simply stood there quietly. While taking in everything that their father had said, Ayeong gripped her fists and she opened to argue with her father, about how unreasonable he was being, but Yiseul quickly covered and shook her head firmly whispering, “Now isn’t the time to make father even angrier.” Closing her eyes, Ayeong took a deep breath and nodded trying to speak calmly, “If you’ll please excuse me, I need to go for a walk. I’m feeling a bit light-headed.”

Ayeong went and walked through the garden for several hours, thinking about what had occurred. Pulling herself from her thoughts, Ayeong realized that the sun had gone down and she had walked to the edge of their property. She was about to turn around and head back to the house when she heard a noise from the other side of the gate. “Psst, hey, Ayeong, over here.” Ayeong was startled that the voice knew her name, but curiosity got the better of her and she walked to the gate. “H-hello…?” she stammered out softly. In the moonlight, she was able to make out the face of the boy from earlier. “Would you let me in for a moment? I left something in the house” he said with a soft grin. Ayeong shook her head wildly. “You shouldn’t have come back! If my father sees you, he’ll kill you!” She whispered harshly. The boy shrugged, “I’ll just make sure he doesn’t see me then.” Hesitating, she looked around for a moment before rolling her eyes, “Just tell me where your stuff is! It’ll be easier for me to go get it for you.” He blinked surprised and tilted his head grinning a bit, “Ah...a woman going into a man’s room though...that could look suspicious. Especially at this time of night.” Blowing some of the hair out of her face, she sighed shaking her head, “Shut up. Now is not the time for this, just tell me where your stuff is!” The boy opened his mouth to speak when a voice came out of the dark behind Ayeong. “Ayeong-ah, where have you been? I’ve been looking for you.” Yiseul said with a panicked tone. “What are you doing out this far from the house at this time of night?” She scolded lightly before her eyes landed on the boy. “You-....what are you doing here? Kyungil is it? Get away from her before I call my father!” Yiseul exclaimed, pulling Ayeong behind her. Ayeong looked up at her sister and gave a small, excited smile, “Kyungil has a mission for us! We need to get his stuff, come on we can do that much right? You can’t disagree with the fact that father was being unreasonable… We have enough food and money to last us years..if he wasn’t caught we wouldn’t have even noticed!” Yiseul looked from her sister to Kyungil. Kyungil simply smiled at her “She has a good point you know.” He said with a nod. Yiseul groaned softly, “Ok, ok, what do you need us to do?” Kyungil nodded and gestured for them to move closer, “In my room...I need you to get...my notebook.”

Yiseul frowned slightly “A notebook? All this over a notebook?” she scoffed softly. Ayeong pulled on her sister’s arm, “It’s probably full of love letters and dreams, we have to get it, come on!” Not having time to argue, Yiseul stumbled behind her sister, slightly surprised that her sister was acting so out of line. While sneaking through the halls Yiseul whispered, “Why exactly are you helping this Kyungil? If we get caught don’t expect me to cover for you! Ah, seriously I just don’t understand you sometimes.” Ayeong grinned at her sister, “Unnie, it’s fun sometimes to break the rules. Besides, this Kyungil guy doesn’t seem too bad. We’ll get him his notebook and he’ll leave and then we can go back to all the rules and regulations tomorrow. Tonight, let’s just have a little fun.” Not exchanging any more words, the two girls continued to sneak through the halls, eventually making it to the boy’s room.

As they started to go through his things Ayeong smiled a bit as she glanced back toward Yiseul whispering, “He’s a pretty organized guy, isn’t he?” Yiseul just scoffed and shook her head, not believing what she was hearing. They continued to look for a few more minutes, but the sounds of the guard’s footsteps interrupted them. They tensed up, as the faint glow of the guard’s lamp slowly illuminated the room.  Ayeong got scared and hid as the door opened, leaving Yiseul seemingly alone. “Lady Yiseul, what are you doing out of your room at this time of night? And in the servant boy’s room!” The guard exclaimed in surprise. Ayeong covered trying not to laugh, as she watched Yiseul’s mouth open and close like a fish. Yiseul shook her head as she tried to think. “I um...I was sleepwalking. I’ll return to my room soon, no need to worry.” Ayeong waited quietly until the guard left before sneaking out of her spot quietly, “Hey, that was a pretty nice cover up~!” Yiseul gave Ayeong a look before straightening her back and exiting the room. “Come along younger sister, it’s time for bed. We’ve had enough foolishness for one night.” Ayeong was about to follow her sister but she heard a small sound and turned around to see Kyungil, as he was about to jump out of the window. Looking back toward her he flashed a small grin before he whispered, “Thanks for your help.” Then he slipped away into the night.