LITTLE BOY LOST

A young boy just stood there with no intentions of moving, he kept looking on the ground. He acted like his life was depended on his soon to be owner. Do Kyung Soo, poor young orphan that became slave since his parents death three years ago. From the corner of his eyes, he saw those figures. A very old lady was looking at him from a far.

Kyung Soo gulped as the ancient crone limped towards him, her eyes two points of shining black in her wizened face. The old woman hunched back loomed over her head, the shape of her body suggesting some powerful creature had bent her in  unnatural ways.

The little boy felt his heart beating in his chest as the wrinkled creature approached, the odor of spices and sweat wafting from her. Kyung Soo’s dark doe eyes traveled over the old woman’s small frame as the crone over her dried, cracked lips with a pink tongue as if the boy was a morsel and not another child on The Block.

‘I`m not scared.’ Kyung Soo told himself, balling his fist behind his back. He mustered all the courage he could. If nobody picked him for winter work, he would be thrown out on the streets to fend for himself till planting time. Tradesman came to pick up cheap labor for winter work. If he did a good job and didn’t cry, maybe the person would keep him on in the spring so he wouldn’t to go back to the fields.

The ancient woman finally stood before him, still her lips. Her dark sharp eyes darted over the boy’s tattered clothing and body. Amazingly, she waved her hand to signal to an attendant with great vigor, her shawl billowing with the movement hinting at great strength inside the sinewy, twisted frame.

“Yes, Madam Kim?” The tall sinewy attendant stood out with his albino coloring. His heavy lidded eyes gave absolutely nothing away; Kyung Soo couldn’t read his expression. He held a formidable looking spear in his right hand, more for effect than use; the children up on the stage were usually too frightened or too accustomed to The Blocks to try and get away. The old woman’s mouth curled into grin, her teeth yellow and cracked with age. She cackled somewhat cheerily before turning her head sharply, setting them on the boy again.

“So, you know who I am?” she asked, narrowing her eyes do they almost lost in the wrinkle of her face. “Well, I imagine you know what I’m here for. How old is this one?”

“We’re guessing he’s around fifteen or sixteen.” Said the albino, looking over the wooden card Kyung Soo wore around his neck. All of the information they had about him would be on the card but the woman apparently was illiterate or near-sighted. She reached out of her bony finger and pocked Kyung Soo on the ribs. Kyung Soo almost cried out; it felt like she was being stabbed with a knitting needle. But he held his tongue, and pressed his lips together hoping it would over soon.

“Is he a good worker? What has he done in the past?” The pale man with the spear leaned over, his face somber as always as he read over the card, not bothering to look as the sound of the child crying out pierced the air.

“Gleaning on farm, mostly… Coal sorting, fruit picking. Did a stint at a launder.”

“Ah… And her fingers. Let me see them.” To Kyung Soo’s horror, the old woman’s hand darted out and grab a hold of his wrist, pulling him forward and almost of the block as she brought the boy’s hand close to her eyes, looking over the digits. “Very skinny, I see.” She commented, squeezing of the knuckles. The old woman her lips yet again, a bit spittle landed on Kyung Soo’s hand. The boy half expected it to burn through  his skin but found it to be inert. He wiped his hand on his dirty apron as soon as the woman let go of him.

“Well, their kind do come on the lean side,” said the Albino, sounding unimpressed as he turned his reddish eyes to Kyung Soo, his face void of expression. “She part of Forester, as it seems. Not sure how much.”

“Forester eh? Well, I will soon mend his leanness. I will.” The woman said with a cackle reaching into the folds her many shawls and pulling out a small pouch. The coins inside jingling merrily. “How much for him?”

‘For the winter, five white pieces,” said the albino, Looking over at his placard to make sure this was the case. “Though I must say, you seem to go through servant rather quickly.” He left the statement at that, not bothering to elaborate or questions, much to Kyung Soo’s hidden terror.

“Well, I run a successful business and I can’t tolerate insolence or incompetence. They run away the lazy beast! He seems sure enough.” The old woman counted out five coins. Kyung Soo’s dark eyes grew wide at the sight of the money and the idea he was worth that much. He had gone for four fullies last time and that had been for two full seasons. The albino pulled the placard off from around Kyung Soo’s neck. His fingers were cold on his neck and he tossed the piece of wood into a pile with a few others. Not bothering to help the boy down from the block.

“He’s all yours.” He said, not bothering to say goodbye to either the boy or the woman, instead turning his attention to another potential customer. This one a large, armored fellow with a booming voice. Kyung Soo step off the block as daintily as he could, curtsying before the old woman named Madam Kim.

“Ah well, this is well and good, at least you’ve picked up manners somewhere.” The woman hooked her bony arm to Kyung Soo’s, pulling him to the loosely packed crowd of people and onto the chilly city street. “I’m Madam,” the old woman squawked. Madam Kim walked as if her legs were not the same length and Kyung Soo was having difficult time keeping his feet. “But you may call me Aunt Kim if you like. I don’t have many rules. Do as you’re told and work hard and you’ll do well under my roof. I cannot tolerate lying, laziness, insolence or stealing. I am a well-respected member of this city and I won’t have you sullying my good name or business.”

Kyung Soo wasn’t sure if asking a question fell under the category of “insolence,” but his curiosity got the best of him and he managed to force his mouth to form a few words. “ But Ma’am, I mean, Aunt Kim, if you don’t mind me asking… what exactly your business?”

“You don’t know me?” the woman asked. Astonishments bring her voice to a high shriek that made a few people turn. She cackled again, pulling Kyung Soo closer to her. The reek of old sweat and spices tingled in the little boy’s nose as she cringed.

“You’re in luck, little boy. I am Madam Kim Hye Sook, the maker of the finest sausages in the city of Joseon.”

********************************************

All winter, Kyung Soo worked for Madam Kim, He was expected to wake up before first light and open the back door to let the butcher’s apprentice in with delivery of meat for the day. The packages were to be open and sorted through: fat, meat, bones, organs. The meat and the organ had to be separated by freshness, the best part put in one wooden tub while the greener, nastier bits were stored in another. The bones were boiled down and the tripe rinsed in flat ale delivered by the brewer. Then, Kyung Soo cleaned the store front, work area and the small room where the old woman slept, a room whose furniture was a bed, a table and a brazier. Kyung Soo slept in the work area by the fireplace. He had to the fire in the morning and tend to it in the evening.

Madam Kim treated the boy fairly well. She gave him clear instructions and Kyung Soo learned to ask for clarification if he didn’t understand what was being asked of him or risk being called lazy or insolence. The punishment was a lash with a long, thin cane the old woman seems to have within arm’s reach. The spices and combinations of salt, vegetable juice and meats were a closely guarded secret, which was fine with the little boy. He was more interested in the end result than the making. The fire had to be hot enough but the water not too hot and there was a room where the woman cured long links of fat, greasy sausages.

The days alternated between making sausages and selling them. On the first day of rest, a man who Madam Kim paid in sausages would set up a little booth, grilling the tasty links and selling them for a half piece or a blueie. Even in the bitter cold the man showed up, warming his hands over the grill as he shivered on his little stool, waiting for the customer who were willing to brave the weather for a hot sausage.

On the second day of rest, Aunt Kim went to temple. She fried a few sausages, leaving half a sausage and a piece of bread for Kyung Soo before she went out for the day. Kyung Soo was supposed to watch the home and the hearth and most importantly, clean the machines the old woman used to grind the meat. Kyung Soo was allowed to touch them only to clean them. The crone were expected a perfect job. The little boy was required to leave all the parts out on the table so the old woman could inspect them. Aunt Kim would run the pieces of metal under her large nose, smelling the precious pieces of metal and running her fingers over them to be sure they were free of grease. The cleaner the pieces the less likely her fresh sausages were to turn. If the metal parts were not clean to her specification, Kyung Soo received a beating with the cane. After the beating was over, he was commanded to clean the parts again and go to bed. After a few weeks of this, Kyung Soo learned how clean the machines had to be in order to make it to bed free of welts.

There were times when Kyung Soo had to remind Madam Kim who he was. The old woman would squint at him from time to time and called him by different names, Gyong Soo or Kyo Sook. Madam Kim would complain about her joints and claimed she knew it when it would snow by how they ached. Kyung Soo wanted to say it sounded like nonsense to him. But no amount of complaints about pain ever stayed the old woman’s hand with the cane so Kyung Soo held his tongue and he wonder when the cold snow would came.

The winter was harsh and the snow piled up to where the crone thought it’s unsafe to send Kyung Soo out of door to shovel. They spent more time around one another, the beady eyes of Aunt Kim more likely to find fault with Kyung Soo’s doings the more time he spent indoor. After a particularly snowy set of days, Kyung Soo wished he had never been taken in by the old crone. Everything he had done those few days had been wrong and with the snow piled high, he couldn’t escape the old, shuffling woman and the long, wooden cane she wielded with such skills.

When the woman drank, it could go well or poorly. Sometimes she sipped something Kyung Soo wasn’t familiar with after going to temple. The alcohol dulled the old woman’s senses so she slept deeply enough to allow Kyung Soo to poke around. One late afternoon as the woman lay asleep in her bed, Kyung Soo summoned the nerve to creep upstairs and into the small, sparsely furnished room serving as the woman’s quarters. Further inspection revealed a crawlspace within the wall. The little boy was able to hold in her curiosity and bide her time to the next time the woman was out of the house, being sure to get all of her chores done before she clipped upstairs to the room.

In the crawlspace were several trunks were marked with words he hadn’t the education to decipher. Inside were old but well-done drawings of a woman and a man, the man obviously older than the girl with the solemn face who stood by him. There were a few beautiful quilts and two old fashioned dresses. Best of all though were the half-dozens of hair ribbons, some of them made from some kind of shiny material. Kyung Soo held his fingers over the ribbon for a few briefs seconds before snatching the two he thought the nicest, quickly putting everything back where it went and running downstairs so he could hide them in his bedding.

***********************************************

After too many phases the snow let up to the point where it actually began to melt a little, the banks growing lower. The sun turned the white mountains into gray ponds and the water pooled wherever it could, filth and dirt lining the bottoms. Aunt Kim went out of doors more, busying herself with charitable works whatever it was that kept the old woman engaged. Kyung Soo was glad to have more time to himself and less contact with the wooden cane.

Sometimes he would walk around the small house, talking to the inanimate objects as if they were people and he was a noble man. There were days when he would find himself running up the stairs and throwing open one of the trunks, wondering who the people in the pictures were and what the symbols meant.

One day Kyung Soo was doing just that when his ears perked up, hearing something downstairs, Could the woman be home already? Panic squeezed his heart as he quickly put everything away, cursing to himself as he pushed books, knick knacks and drawings back where they belonged. Kyung Soo closed the crawlspace door as quietly and quickly as he could before he ran down the stairs, hoping the woman wouldn’t beat him too violently for being upstairs. He threw open the door, stopping short as his dark eyes fell upon the scene.

In the back area where the sausages were made stood two men. One of them he recognized as the man who grilled the sausages, his eyes widening in alarm as they fell upon the little boy. Out of the storage area came another man, this one similar in coloring and build to the first but with darker hair. He held a few chains of sausages in his hand, looking to the griller before turning to the little girl, his face calm.

For a brief moment Kyung Soo wondered what they were doing but a sinking dread in the pit of the stomach told him why they were there. Behind them the door was wide open. He ran towards them hoping he could get back the things they were intending to steal. “No, don’t!” he screamed, the griller already out of the door and gone before he made it to the back room.

Just as he reached the work table, the other man tipped the piece of furniture over, the sound of wood splintering and metal clanging ringing in his ears. Kyung Soo just barely jumped out of the way as it came crashing down, shrieking at the sound and his narrow escape. Laying on the floor, he looked up just in time to see the second man ran out through the back door. He didn’t bother shutting it behind him.

Kyung Soo scrambled up and around the table, running just outside in time to see them bolting down the alley. “Wait!” he shouted, his voice shrill, fear propelling his scream down the snowy street. “Please! Don’t! Come back!” The men disappeared behind the building, not bothering to heed the trembling girl’s pleas.

Kyung Soo ducked back into the house, slamming the door behind him and trying to locked it. The tears in his eyes making the lad difficult to work. He began sobbing as he realized it was broken, wiping at his streaming eyes with the backs of his dirty hands as he looked over the scene. One of the legs of the table had fallen off, the door to the store room wide open. Kyung Soo walked over to closed it, drawing his breath in horror as a realization prickled in his brain.

The machine. He had left all the parts out on the table for the old woman to inspect them and the man had tipped over the table. If Kyung Soo knew any prayers, he would have recited them as he dropped to his hands and his knees, desperately searching for the pieces of metal which belong to Aunt Kim’s precious machines. Panic stricken eyes scanned the floor, finding a few but not all. Quickly, he popped up and grabbed the broom , sweeping maniacally in the hopes of knocking one of the missing pieces out of hiding. A few actually did rolled out and he spread them all out in front of him, counting the pieces feverishly. Kyung Soo cursed. They weren’t all there.

The sound of the front door opening flooded Kyung Soo with fear. He felt as if he would vomit and it took every shred of him being to keep himself from passing out from fright. Instead he sat there on the floor frozen.

“ Boy?” The shuffling of Madam Kim’s feet and the tap of her cane drew closer, her shadow reaching the back room before she did.

The two beady eyes glinted in the firelight and set themselves on the shivering boy. The woman stopped short, her cane banging hard on the floor as her wet, shriveled mouth quivered on her face. A thin high whistle came out of as he stared at the boy, her gnarled knuckle gripping the head of the cane. “Where…. Where did you get that ribbon, boy?”

The ribbon. He must have put it in his hair and he forgotten to take it out. Just as Kyung Soo gained his voice back, the woman’s eyes darted on the floor in front of him, falling on the metal pieces on the little boy’s apron. Kyung Soo felt the rage of the woman growing steadily and then the sharp, hot pain of being grabbed by the ear.

The old woman’s finger had an iron grip on the tender point, and Kyung Soo shrieked in pain, blocking the woman’s cane with his hands, the hard wooden shaft cracking against his wet hands. Aunt Kim panted, her beady eyes glazed over the intense emotions. She dropped her cane to the floor, her free hand reaching into her apron pockets. The glint Kyung Soo saw out of the corner of his eye elevated his terror to heights unknown and he fought against the old woman, shrieking and kicking, managing to drag the old woman to the floor with him. But the bony, stone like fingers still gripped his ears.

“Evil little boy.” She snarled, the glint still dancing somewhere out of Kyung Soo direct line of sight. The suggestions of what was there was worse than actually seeing it. “Stealing from me, breaking my machines! How dare you! I’ll not have such treachery under my roof. Evil little creatures must be PUNISHED!” The glint shot closer and then the pain of his ear went from a throb to something sharp and raw.

Kyung Soo was unable to keep back a beast-like shriek  as the sensation seared into his brain. Something brushed against his fingers. He wrapped his small hands around it, striking around as hard as he could with it. It hit something both hard and soft. Kyung Soo struck it again and again before the little boy realized nothing was holding him anymore. Kyung Soo whatever on his hands and without thinking shot up of the floor, propelling himself out the back door and bolting down the alley in the opposite direction that the thieves had gone.

His boots and thin clothes were worthless in the winter air. The thin soles skipped rhythmically across the barely cobbled streets as the boy ran desperately, tears threatening again in her eyes. Oh, god, why had this happened? His ears still stung. Cold icy air the edges of his small body, the activity and pitch of his anxiety keep him going. If anyone notice he was bleeding, no one said anything. If anyone was concerned as to why a small child might be running around in the dead of winter without anything thicker on his body, no one stopped him. So he ran, the energy it took to keep back his tears and run becoming too much for him to bear. Kyung Soo finally stopped, slumping down against a crate and giving himself over to his sobbing.

The cold snow started to bite through his skin, the air pressing in around him. Still he cried, his hands starting to clench with cold, his body shivering. Why had this happened? Why had the woman done that to him? His hands trembled as he reached up to the side of his head, the numb skin of his ears not registering the pressure but he felt the damage.

The little boy sobbed again, seeing his hands was covered with a red smear of blood, dark crust speckling his hands. What was going to happen to him? He couldn’t go back to the sausage shop; even if Aunt Kim would take him back, she was liable to beat him within an inch of his life, if not out of it. If the Nabs got him, he’d be put on the block with a bad mark on his record. Only the worst profession took children like that and most of those children didn’t come back for another cycle on The Blocks. They were usually too crippled by whatever work they had been doing to do anything else or just disappeared.

There was no more safe place for him to go. Eventually someone would notice him and take him to the Nabs. From the Nabs, it would be The Blocks and then it would be much longer after that. Kyung Soo sobbed, trembling so hard he almost toppled over onto the snow, dreading whatever was to come and take him away.

The sound of footstep barely registered in his ears as he faded away. The alley was staring to swim before his senses and he felt himself being lifted up. Kyung Soo thought he heard, “Red is my lucky color today.” Before he could try to figure out what it meant, he passed out.

****************************************************

Kyung Soo sniffled, shaking his head from side to side as he came to, still under the impression ill fortune was all that was hers. As he moved his head, someone came towards him and sat next to him, laying a soft, warm hand on his forehead. It was one of the kindest ways anyone had ever touched him. Still he started to cry again, trying to bring his hands up to push them away. Something to be sitting on his chest and legs, weighing his down and the boy began thrashing around, trying to push the weigh off him. Pressure came down on his shoulders and there was low shushing sound beside him, something quiet and soft. Kyung Soo managed to open his eyes, as sleepy as he was, trying to focus them on the person who had their hands on his shoulders.

It was a young man with dark locks and light eyes, his cheeks red from the coldness, and his lips was red like he put blood on it. He’s built was fine, not too big or too skinny but good enough. The expressions on his face was kind and as his eyes met Kyung Soo’s, he lifted his hands off the little boy’s shoulders releasing him.

The young man smiled, his face a mixture of anxiety and relief on his eyes. “ You gave us quite a fright there, little one. Don’t worry you’re safe with us.” Kyung Soo’s eyes darted around the room, first across his body and then around him, trying to take in everything at once. He was covered in thick, warm blankets; this was the pressure he felt over his body. The rooms was lit with two oil lamps and over against one of the walls was the biggest mirror the little boy had ever seen. The young man smelled good and was still looking at him kindly.

“ Where’s my clothes?” Kyung Soo asked. He realized he was under all the quilts. The man laughed, leaning closer to him and brushing a stray hair out of the boy’s face.

“Don’t worry about those old things. I just had to get them off of you so we could look you over. Besides, they were wet and we had to get you warmed up.” The man reached over to the side of the bed, where a bowl sat, steam still rising of the top. He dipped the spoon in a few times before blowing on whatever he pulled out, looking at the boy again. “Kept the ribbons, though.”

“I don’t want them,” Kyung Soo mumbled, eyes filling with tears as he looked to the side. Those ribbons… They had been the first thing the old crone had noticed. He never wanted to see them again. Kyung Soo sniffled, the aroma of whatever was in the bowl wafting up to his nose. The little boy shifted under his blankets, deciding this was the warmest he had been in a long time. She rather liked it. His mouth was a distrustful pout as he tried to look into the bowl, the man still holding the spoon. “What’s that?”

“Its soup.” The woman said, putting the bowl under his chin and offering him the spoon. “Aren’t you hungry? It’ll warm you up.” Kyung Soo looked down into the spoon, opening his mouth slightly so the man could feed him, swallowing the warm broth. It did warm him up and it taste good. Why was this man so kind to him? The man smiled and fed him another spoon of soup. Blowing on it so it wouldn’t burn the little boy’s tongue. It was very surreal to Kyung Soo but he couldn’t object to being placed in warm blankets and fed hot soup. He would only hope that it didn’t come to an end too soon.

“Joon Myeon Hyung, Chan Yeol is here asking about taking us both for a go. What should I say? Oh? You’re awake!” A tall, skinny boy popped into the doorway, his cheeks also rosy red from the coldness as the older one. The boy, smiled at Kyung Soo, showing that dimples off from his red cheek. He sat down besides the said man called Joon Myeon on the bed, his brown eyes looked over Kyung Soo. “ You gave us all a scare!” he said, reiterating what the other had said. The younger one placed his arms around Kyung Soo’s neck and hugged him, sighing as he got up to looked over the little boy. “ You was bleeding from something fierce but Min Seok hyung got you patched up. You poor little thing.”

Kyung Soo blushed at having someone pity at him, swallowing the spoonful of soup the man had fed him. He squirmed under the covers. The both men laughed out loud, Joon Myeon’s laugh bordering on a high pitched cackle while the was more sweet and melodic, the younger boy even putting a hand over his mouth.

“It sure is quaint to see a body blush in this house, isn’t it Yixing?” Joon Myeon set down the bowl and placed his hands on the boy’s forehead again, even bending over to kiss on top of the Kyung Soo’s head. Kyung Soo s his arm out of under the blankets, letting them rest on top of his head as he frowned, looking over the two man that looking over his hair ribbons and apparently trying to decide who should take which one. The little boy waited for a moment before he drew in a breath, touching through his ears.

It was cut straight across, the slight point completely gone. It was still raw but someone had put something oily on it, the orange colored grease staining his fingers as he drew his finger away.

The man named Joon Myeon saw the little boy’s face and pity managed to force its way past rouge and powder. Kyung Soo trembled as Joon Myeon perched on the side of the bed. The man’s warm hand brushed his bangs from the top of his face and he tucked Kyung Soo’s hair behind his ears, careful not to touch the still fresh wound.

“ Don’t you worry about that, love.” Said Joon Myeon. He laid a hand on the boy’s face, staring into his eyes. The eye contact made Kyung Soo feel slightly uncomfortable but the man held his head, the younger man sighing faintly in the back ground. Joon Myeon kissed him yet again on his forehead before releasing him, letting Kyung Soo fall back. “You’re with us now and us brass take care of each other. Just get some rest.” The man put his hand on the boy forehead before he pulled himself away, the taller man taking his hand before leading him out. Joon Myeon shut the door behind him so Kyung Soo was left in the room alone.

Kyung Soo sniffled under the sheets, drawing them closer around himself as he rolled over. Brass. It would have been worse. Kyung Soo saw them walking the streets, wearing bells at their chest as advertisements for something Kyung Soo didn’t quite understand. All that he knew was men were interested in it and brass sold it. They frequented to the temples in the morning, peddling their invisible wares on the surrounding blocks. He figured in time, he would find out what it was they were selling.

For now, Kyung Soo knew he was warm and extremely tired. Without giving heeds to the bumps and noises of the house around him, the little boy closed his eyes and fell asleep.

THE END