Seven Years Old

“So this is where you’ve been.” I look up to see him and smiled. “No wonder why you haven’t been visiting me recently.”

“My friend and I are trying to build a sandcastle.” I point at the mess of a sandcastle, smiling at how beautiful it looked in my eyes. The younger boy of the two, looked up from the sandcastle and greeted the male.

“Oh- a friend?” He asks. “Aren’t you Lee Ji Sung’s son?” The younger boy nods and I look at the older boy, wondering how he knew something I didn’t. Then again, the younger boy could’ve told me, but I hadn’t been paying attention maybe. “Li, we’re going to my place, okay? Let’s see who gets there first!”

“Alright, but you have to give me a head start! You have longer legs than me, you know?” The older boy smiles and nods and I take off. After a good distance, I turn around, wanting to see if he had started to run just yet. He’s still standing there with my friend and his mouth was moving. Deciding to take a few more steps forward, I notice how my friend was now standing up and looking at the older boy.

After I take a few more steps, I hear footsteps coming my way and I turn around to see him catching up to me. Looking behind him, I notice that my friend had fallen to the ground and kept his head down. I wanted to run up to him and check to see if he was okay, but the older boy had caught up, distracting me.

I looked back at my friend to see him looking at me. The older boy grabbed my arm, tugging me along, teasing me for being such a slowpoke. Deciding that my friend would be alright without me, I broke free from the older boy’s grasp and ran ahead, leaving the older boy to chase after me.

Ten Years Old

“You spent an awfully long amount of time with your history teacher.” I slid off the railing and stood approached him as he left his tutor’s room. Somewhere along the lines of the world turning to a much darker and more chaotic place, his tutors became less and less willing to leave their homes or their own places. He would make his own commute to a place that was known very popularly as “school” back then, but being however how status he was, he needed to be protected. That was where I came in.

“That’s only because he wouldn’t stop talking about how beautiful this place used to be. The pictures are unbelievable really.” He pulls a piece of paper out between his stack of books and showed me a picture. Sure enough, it was really unbelievable.

“If only we could live during that time!” I exclaim dreamily, staring at the picture. “Bright lights, busy streets, beautiful cars, and a nice, orderly city.” He nods, agreeing with me and then sticking the paperback between his stack of books, stopped.

“Who would’ve ever thought things would turn out to be like this hundreds of years later?” I nod agreeing with him.

 We arrive at his home not too long later and I’m lounging in his room, looking through his books for more pictures. He’s sitting at his desk, reading through his books and I’m desperately bored and I start to call for him to play with me. After all, what were friends for?

“Sh... I’m trying to learn.” He tells me to keep me quiet. “Why don’t you read or something?” I frown at his words, picking up a book and flipping through the pages, the jumble of characters meaning absolutely nothing to me.

“I don’t know how to read.” I remind him, placing his book back down. Not everybody these days knew how to read. I wasn’t anything special. I pulled the sword I had out and swung it in the air, doing some tricks with it, like spinning it in the air. If anything, I was more skilled with the sword than books. “The only thing I know is my sword.” Secretly, I had a huge desire to be able to be just like him- able to read and write my very own words. My father didn’t have much time or money to send me to “school” like his parents did. My father could only spend my birthdays with me and eat dinner with me. That was all. The male is silenced and he finally clears his throat.

“It just slipped my mind. Sorry,” he says sheepishly. He pulls out a chair next to him and pats it, motioning for me to come forward and take a seat next to him. “If you want, I’ll teach you the characters and words now.” My face lights up and he seems to be amused by my reaction as he laughs and pats the seat again. I scramble next to him and he pulls out two pieces of paper and a writing utensil.

Time flew by quickly and before long, it was six at night. My eyes widened in alarm as he noticed my reaction, laughing. Handing me the sheet of paper with the alphabet and the pronunciation for each and every character, he told me to study well at home. I nodded, quickly folding the paper up and putting it into my pocket before leaving after bidding him a good night.

I arrived at the park sometime around seven. I saw someone slumped in the sandbox, with his legs pulled close to his chest as he stared up at the sky. With a smile on my face, I hurried over to him, apologizing for being more than two hours late. He gives me a sullen reply and I’m inquire him about it.

“I built a beautiful sandcastle while I was waiting for you.” He nodded his head in the direction of a heap of sand. “The wind came and knocked it over before you got here.” He’s sulking and I laugh at his expression.

“Is that all? Why don’t we rebuild one together right now? I have an hour left before my father returns home for dinner anyways. You’ll join us won’t you?” A smile crosses his face and he nods as we scoot over to the heap of sand and start trying to mold it into a castle.

“Anyways, why were you so late?” He pours a bit of water into the sand to get them to stick together. I stick my hands into the sand.

“Sorry about that. I was just caught up with learning the characters.” I fling the sand off of my hands and I take the piece of paper from my pocket and hands it to him. “They’re actually easy to remember, but hard to use.” I frown at how hard I tried to read the words that were written underneath the characters.

“Did... he teach you this?” His words sounded like he was careful and cautious, but I dismissed it nodding at the thought of the older boy.

“Hmm.” I hum in reply, nodding my head. “He’s so smart! I wish I could be as smart as he is, but then again.” I shoot a look at my sword that I had set beside me. “Some people are meant for books and others are meant for swords.” I sigh. “He’s been learning this kind of stuff when he was six or seven and I’m only learning them right now.”

“Hey, if it makes you feel any better- I don’t know any of this.” I smile at him and toss a pile of wet sand in his direction.

“That’s because you’re like me. Our families are both meant to serve, not learn.” His parents, like my father, were working together for their employer- mind you, the older boy’s father. They patrolled the streets and if anything got nasty or out of hand, they would join and defend any intruders from attacking.

We continued to build another sandcastle, chatting about trivial things and making jokes from time to time. When it was late, the both of us stopped and decided to head over to my home. We were just hanging around when my father walked through the door and smiled at the both of affectionately. He wasn’t surprised with seeing him with me anymore. After all, we were friends and so were our parents or rather my father and his parents.

“Jun Young, here’s a piece of dark meat. Thanks for taking care of my daughter again today.” My father smiles as he used his chopsticks to place a piece of meat into my friend’s bowl of rice. I frowned and shot my father a glare and sulked away, chewing at the nearly tasteless rice.

“It’s not fair. You obviously don’t love me enough.” I say, jealous of the boy sitting next to me. The both of them laugh at my reaction and shoot them both a glare. Placing the piece of meat into my bowl, the boy next to me ruffled my hair playfully.

“Geez, jealous much?” He teases. “I’m only giving you this piece of meat because I obviously love you more than your father does.” My father laughs at his comment and nods.

“Are you trying to steal her away from me?” The rest of dinner passes by peacefully and at that moment, I was perfectly content with my life.

Too bad change was inevitable.

Eleven Years Old

“You should just go home. It’s late.” I tell him and he shakes his head, stifling his yawn. “My father should be home soon. It’s rare that he stays out this late.” I comment.

“I’ll stay with you until he comes back, okay? Besides how do you know it’s late?” He asks teasing me. “You don’t even have a clock here.” I shoot him a glare and situate myself in front of the window, peeking out from time to time to see if my father would be coming home any time soon. “Besides, I like being here. It’s not like my parents mind having me stay out so late anyways.” He shrugs.

“Still! Look at the moon and how high in the sky it is! It must be some time around eleven. I’m good at things like this,” I point out. “Besides, you’re my friend. I can’t let anything happen to you when you go home at this hour. Who’d go to the park with me and keep me company throughout the day?” I question. “Then again... I have...” His hand landed on my head and he ruffled my hair, laughing.

“I won’t get hurt or anything, I promise. I wouldn’t want to leave someone as precious as you behind.” I stick my tongue out at him and he proceeds to tickle me. Nearly out of breath, I run from his reach, running about the house with him chasing after me. The front door opens and closes and I hear a heavy sigh. The both of us stop goofing around and we sneak back to the front door. We spot my dad, setting his sword down and the both of us pounce on him.

“Mr. Kim, why are you so late from work today?” I questioned acting as an interrogator. “Were you aware you left your daughter and her friend bored to death at home today? Do you have any idea how big the consequences are for doing so? No hugs from her for a month.” My father manages to give me a weak smile and tosses a look at my friend.

“Jun Young, you’re still here? I thought...” He shakes his head. “Never mind. Why don’t you stay for the night? It’s dangerous to be walking around at this time.”

“Really?” The boy’s eyes lit up and he looks back and forth from me to my father. My dad nods and gives him a weak smile as well. “So Li and I can stay up until very late at night- can’t we?” My father nods and ruffles his hair.

“Yes, you can. I’m spending the day home tomorrow, so it wouldn’t matter how late we all stay up.” A smile crosses my face as I hear my busy father- finally has a day off. “In fact, Jun Young, why don’t you stay here for a couple of days? So Li’s birthday is coming up and it’d be great if you could help me prepare a memorable birthday for her.”

“Really?” My friend asks in disbelief. “I’ll have to stop by my home for a bit to grab some clothes and tell my parents.” My father shakes his head and pats his back.

“It’s alright. I’ll get them for you tomorrow.” My friend nods. “Why don’t you go and wash up for now?” I narrow my eyes suspiciously at my father as the boy leaves and heads to the bathroom. Once the door is shut and I can hear the water running, I turn to my father.

“Why do you have a day off tomorrow?” My father seemed to be caught off guard by the question and shakes it head, trying to dismiss it.

“For your birthday of course.” I narrow my eyes even further and crossed my arms. If he wasn’t going to tell me, I’d have to speak with my inside man- Shin Dong Ho.

“You’re awfully quiet today.” He comments as he spins around in his chair to look at me. I’m seated on his large and comfy bed, staring into space until he breaks the silence. I laid down on his bed and stared at the ceiling.

“I guess I am.” I answer. I can hear him sighing and his footsteps come closer to me as he sits on the edge of his bed, his eyes glued onto me.

“Are you still hung over that again?” He asks and I merely look at him and then back at the ceiling. I was supposed to be angry with him. He wouldn’t tell me what I wanted to know for the past few days. “Listen, your birthday’s just tomorrow. I don’t want to tell you just yet.”

“Is that my birthday present? Is that why you plan on telling me why tomorrow?” He shakes his head and smiles.

“No. I won’t be telling you why tomorrow. Anyways, I do have a gift I think you’d like. I’ll be giving you it tomorrow though.” He adds and he lies down next to me. I turn my head to the side to look at him.

“Alright.” I sit up in his bed and jump off, heading for his bedroom door. He sits up and looks at me, a questioning look in his eyes.

“Where are you going?”

“I left Jun downstairs. I don’t want him to die of boredom there.” I tell him and I wave goodbye, hurrying out the door and down the stairs to Jun. He greets me with a smile and the both of us head home together.

It was my birthday. I received a picture book from Dong Ho, a new sword from my father (apparently it was my mother’s), and a hug from Jun (and a slice of cake). The three of us sat by the wooden table we had and split the tiny slice amongst ourselves. Back then, according to Dong Ho- people bought big full pieces of cake and sometimes never even finished them. How I envied them!

Dong Ho offered to buy me a whole cake for my birthday, but it was too expensive for something that was going to come out of me the same way as rice did. After giving me my gift, I headed home as it was already late, with Jun.

As I sat in my home with Jun and my father, I realized how quiet it was when I wasn’t talking. Neither my father and Jun were talking and I was there to mostly fill the empty void. The both of them didn’t seem to have any tension but both seemed very awkward. The moment I looked in Jun’s direction, he turned away and the moment I looked at my father he turned away. Neither of them were willing to give me an explanation.

Finishing the tiny slice of cake with my constant blabbering to fill in the awkward silences, I slipped into the bathroom to wash up. As soon as I stepped out, Jun went in to wash up.

“So Li, come over here.” My father called to me. I nodded and hurried over to him as his eyes flashed blue and my eyes widened, understanding what he had meant.

“Now? Don’t you need it yourself?” I question, staring in his blue eyes. His hand lands on my head and smiles at me. “I mean, you have to protect Dong Ho’s father.”

“What matters even more than his father is Dong Ho. Even his father sees him as more important. He’s getting old and later, Dong Ho will be the one that leads the group. Not his father. It’s important that he stays safe and well.” My father reminds me. “Once I transfer this to you, you’ll have full responsibility to take care of Dong Ho and protect him.”

“Why can’t you watch over him instead?” I ask, wanting my father to keep his power for a bit longer. This was the only reason why the group of men had stopped by my mother’s funeral to offer him a place in the group. They had heard of his extraordinary skill and power and with the number of groups forming on just the outskirts, of the city, they wanted to make sure Shin Group maintained their power in this city.

“I’m getting old too, So Li.” My father answers. “I can’t be there to protect him forever. Besides, the moment you grew close to him, you’ve already stolen the position for me.” He laughs. “Besides, I want you to start learning how to manipulate and use the power before you hit the age twenty. It gets harder to control it by then.”

By the time Jun finished washing up, I was still staring at my father, watching his eyes turn to a completely normal shade of brown and mine that was lit up to bright blue from the transfer. It died down a few seconds later and Jun seemed to have a vague idea of what had happened when he was in the bathroom. My father headed to his room afterwards, feeling tired from the transfer (I don’t blame him, I do too).

I headed over to my own room and slipped into my pajamas and got into my bed, which wasn’t nearly as comfortable as Dong Ho’s but who was I to have such a bed? Laying in my bed for a while, letting the thoughts of my father’s odd behavior these past few days cloud my mind, I didn’t notice my bedroom door opening.

The moment I felt the bed shift towards the additional weight, I blinked in the darkness to see an outlined figure sitting on bed. Laying down beside me, I blinked at him in surprise.

“What are you doing in here?” I whisper so as to not attract my dad’s attention. Looking out of my window, I could tell it was nearly midnight. My tired father would be fast asleep at this point, but still. “My father would flip out if he found out you were in here with me all night!” Ignoring my warnings, he still slipped under my covers and to his side so that we were facing each other.

I noticed a glint in his eyes and his frown and he closed his eyes, sighing. Taking a hold of my hand, he inched closer to me.

“I won’t do anything. You know that better than anyone else.” He says quietly. “Just for tonight- can we sleep like this?” I was taken aback by his odd behavior as well, so much so that I nodded. We spent the night like that.

The sunlight hit my face as I blinked quickly trying to wake up faster. I noticed how close Jun was to me and immediately moved away from him, thinking about my father. How would he react if he saw the both of us together? Climbing out of my bed, I took a peek outside the window and realized how late in the morning it was already.

Reheating the soup we had for dinner last night, I left it on the table along with a note to cheer Jun up. I don’t know what happened to him, but hopefully he’ll cheer up after this. Leaving the house eager to see Dong Ho and find out about my father’s odd behavior, I hurried over to his place.

“I’m twelve now. I should be able to handle anything!” I protest as he turns back to study from his books. He raised a brow at me, laughing at my comment. How much older was he? Right, about four years older but still- he was old enough to know his own family’s business when he was my age as well.

“Let’s see how good your reading skill is- If you can read it, you’ll find out. If you can’t, well you have to study more.” He says, scribbling down a couple of words on the piece of paper. He hands me the paper and I eye him, trying to read it. Listening to the sounds I was making myself, I tried to piece the message together.

“You... ne, need- to... tr- try....” I mumbled. “You need to try harder?!” I glare at him and crumple the note, tossing it back to him for wasting my time. “Why can’t you just tell me? Everybody’s been acting weird and so are you! I swear one day, everyone will disappear and I’ll have no clue where you’ve all gone! Honestly, I’m not some incompetent child who can’t learn about anything!”

I’m feeling utterly frustrated by the things they’ve been keeping from me and worried. I was a twelve year old, yet I was so worried about my future and their future. I only had a handful of people who meant anything to me and that would be, Dong Ho, Jun, and my father. They were all I had. If anything were to happen to them-.

“Jun’s parents died.”

Twelve Years Old

I was running home. No- how could something this bad happen and he didn’t say anything about it? My father must’ve known the whole while- otherwise he wouldn’t have asked Jun to stay with us. Jun, however, probably didn’t find out about it until... yesterday which explains how weird he was acting. My father must’ve told him.

Throwing the door open and rushing into my room to look for him, I found the house completely empty. The soup I had left for him was left untouched and the only thing that changed was the note on the table. The basic things I had written had more basic things in a messier handwriting than mine underneath it.

I okay. I will come back strong.

“I’m okay... I’ll come back stronger.” I read and I searched my house for any items he had left behind, but he had taken everything of his with him. “How could they leave me in the dark? Why didn’t he tell me last night?” I murmured. Dashing out of my house, I hurried over to his old house to find that he wasn’t there either.

I headed to the park next and to my disappointment, he wasn’t there either. So I sat there, waiting and hoping that he’d come. He never came.

A/N: So much more about the past! I got this update out quick well maybe because I've been really into thinking up her past. I've always had a basic gist of it, but I didn't think that Jun would really take up this much of her past. Oops. xD Please leave a comment! I'm curious to what you guys think about it! :)