Bongrim nodded his head as maids past him by on his way out. His long beautifully printed cloak swaying behind his fast steps.

                    “What are you doing?”

Bongrim's sudden halt made Hyobin bump into his broad back. Too scared to turn around she examined her master's expression instead as he turned towards the source of the accusing question being asked.

                    “Hello brother.” Bongrim replied with a bow, keeping his cloak tightly closed. “I hope you'll have a fine day as well. Hyobin and I are heading out to town for a bit. To see what the commoners are doing on Seollal. Let's meet up later today, alright?”

After giving another bow and a cheeky grin Bongrim continued his way. Hyobin bowed quickly before shuffling after her master. The uncomfortable feeling of holes being drilled into her back, making her feet move quicker than normal, by first successor Prince Sohyeon's eyes.

As the pair passed the threshold of the palace they scanned the area before hurriedly walking to the corner of the outside wall. A secret chest was placed there, hidden from view. Hyobin had placed it their one day as it was her idea. It was a safe to place all their items and clothing inside whenever they'd explore the village under-cover.

Bongrim dived onto the ground in front of the quite heavy chest as he started lifting the cover.

                    “Master! Please be aware of your clothing, master. Don't get them dirty for others will notice.”

He looked up at her with his mischievous face.

                    “We're outside, Hyobin. Call me Bongrim now.” He started removing his cloak, revealing the ordinary hanbok* underneath it, to place it inside the chest. Something so ordinary even the palace's chef, one of the lowest ranks, wouldn't wear. Clothing shows power and if you're in contact with the palace you should show that to everyone by wearing expensive clothing. But today was Seollal and they've planned to celebrate it with the commoners this year.

This seollal the pair will grow older once again. Hyobin will be turning 24 while Bongrim will always be one year ahead of her. They've hidden their royal cloaks inside their safe and re their journey. The village isn't far from the palace. A good pace would take them in the center of town in about 20 minutes. Their way there wasn't boring at all, not in the least as they started chatting like always. Bongrim did most of the chatting and after getting the reaction he'd desired he would give Hyobin time to talk. Hyobin didn't mind. She wasn't the really talkative girl as she used to be as her careless young self. They talked about their excitement for tonight's dinner. Their mouths already watering by just thinking about it all.

In the far distance the loud music could already be heard even before the village could be seen. The music only became louder and louder as they approached the town. In awe the pair almost popped their eyes out of their sockets as they looked at all the beautiful things decorating the village.

Lamps, garlands and more were hanging on strings above the paths. Bongrim walked on, pulling Hyobin's hand, to continue down the decorated path to end in the middle of town. It was so busy with people, the whole town was in this small square, gathering to see the dancers dancing wearing beautiful garments. On the edges were elder man entertaining themselves with tuho* as the little boys played with jegichagi* and the girls were playing on the neoltwiggi* a bit further down the wide street.

Pictures and people dressed up as monkey's were everywhere. As the new year's animal would be the monkey. The whole village was like a giant party and our pair started enjoying themselves a lot. Bongrim grabbed a bottle of soju from a tray as Hyobin took some rice-cakes off of it. As they ate and drank the pair forgot who they were and what they are. They started dancing, moving closer towards the middle of the already ended performance. The villagers clapped with the music as Bongrim twirled Hyobin around and around. Music taking over their bodies as did the alcohol.

A sudden silence.

Hyobin slowly opened her eyes, blinking them as she saw double because of all that twirling. Slowly the shouting registered inside of her head.

                    “Guards! Get Prince Bongrim! Orders by the first successor! Go Go Go!”

A big tug at her arm almost made Hyobin fall over but she found her footing right away, following the tugging closely. It was Bongrim as he ran with all his might through the opposite street the guards came from. His suddenly clear and sober mind told him they were in big trouble.

The shouting wasn't getting any quieter as they continued moving forward at their fastest speed. As more guards arrived at the end of the wide street they've been following Hyobin's mind cleared up. Pulling Bongrim into a smaller side street as she started running ahead this time.

His mind went crazy as the situation hit the prince hard. Not only had he probably tainted his image as the guards clearly shouted his name. The feeling of Hyobin's hand tightly clutching his was the real reason his thoughts were a mess at the moment. Shaking his head rapidly to throw those disturbing thoughts out through his ear while running caught his attention on a small stand at the corner of the small alleyway they just exited as it connected on a wider street again.

Bongrim stopped in his tracks, pulling Hyobin with a big tug back to his side. Her loud helpless pleads weren't heard and so were the guards' shouts. Bongrim looked at his concubine before throwing the heavy fabric of the stand aside. He pushed her lower back to reassure her that this plan would work. Even himself didn't believe that would be true though.

As the heavy fabric closed behind them, removing every bit of light in the small stand a big bright ball placed on the table in front of them lit up. The light revealing an aged grandmother behind the table. Someone Bongrim swore he didn't see when entering.

                    “I'm terribly sorry for intruding, madame. We're just stuck in a little..” Hyobin kindly started explaining.

                    “Adventure!” Bongrim tried helping her out.

She herself knowing how strange it must have sounded for the elderly woman.

A slow smirk appeared around the woman's wrinkly lips, slow but steady rotations with her hands were made around the glowing ball in front of them.

                    “An adventure it sure will be..” was the last thing they heard before the ball lit up the stand with a blinding light.

*Seollal: Lunar New Year
*Hanbok: Traditional korean clothing
*Games played with Seollal:
Tuho: Sticks thrown into a tall vase with attached hoops
Jegichagi: Shuttlecock kicking
Neoltwiggi: A seesaw to stand on and jump with
Ddakji: Little folded squares of paper are thrown onto other 'ddakji' to make them flip