"Thousands of years ago, Earth was a place inhabited by little people called Borrowers. They would have festivals and gatherings, they lived their lives happily and in peace. All was well, until humans came into the picture. The humans were selfish, they took whatever resources Earth provided for themselves without sharing. They deemed themselves as superior and ruled over Earth."

"The head of the Borrowers was not happy with the discrimination they got on Earth, he went to negotiate with the humans in the Government. They disrespected him and took no heed to his requests, animosity rose between the Borrowers and the Humans. But as the Borrowers started to run low on their own resources, they resorted to borrowing from the humans (so that's basically how they acquired their name). The humans were pissed when they found out, the tension escalated until one day, war broke out. The war lasted for a whole ten minutes, it broke the record for the shortest war in history whereby the humans obviously won."

"The humans celebrated their victory while on the other hand, the Borrowers suffered huge losses. Not only did they not have enough supplies, they had also lost seventy percent of their population in the war. Some of the Borrowers decided to travel further away from human populated areas to live a peaceful life while others stayed together in groups. From there on, the Borrowers lived in fear and tried not to cross paths with the humans for there were lesser of them now, they became helpless little beings. The Borrowers' population now counts at three-hundred worldwide—"

Hyukjae tunes out his History teacher's passionate talk and flips open his History textbook. Reading the textbook is way more interesting than listening to his teacher drone on and on about their history. He turns to see a picture of the head of the Borrowers, a rather sly-looking man in his mid-fifties. He reads the line directly below the picture. AD 1960-2014. The great Lee Soo Man who led the Borrowers in his early days, he also led the war against the humans in 2014. Cause of death: He got stepped on by a human while in battle.

Hyukjae frowns. History is alright, he thinks, but the history of his own kind is utterly ridiculous. Who goes to war to fight against enemies who are thirty times bigger than yourself and knowing that you will lose, you'd rather find another solution to end the conflict. And because of their brainless decisions, we have to live in hiding for eternity!

"...jae. Hyukjae. LEE HYUKJAE."

"H-huh?" Hyukjae jerks awake from his thoughts.

"I asked you to hand in your assignment from yesterday."

"Oh uh right," Hyukjae rummages his bag and passes a tattered sheet of paper with a torn edge to the front. His teacher inspects it as though it is the deadliest thing in the world and cringes in disgust, "Care to explain?"

Hyukjae scratches his head, "Uh um my dog ate my homework!"

"I'll bet that the dog would eat you first as compared to a piece of paper." his teacher says flatly, "But class is dismissed, go back home safely and come tomorrow in one piece."

Why "go back home safely and come tomorrow in one piece"? That's because not only do Borrowers have to hide themselves from humans, they have to protect themselves from insects and animals as well because mind you they are just little people, they have become these predator's prey. All in all, it's a pretty sad life as a Borrower.

After turning round a corner, he sees an all too familiar three-storey house coated with light yellow paint. The house is beautiful and it has a huge garden with flowers that are so vivid in colour, Hyukjae wonders how it feels like to be human at times. He sighs and passes through the garden, looking out for any birds that might swoop down and eat him.

He reaches the yellow wall and enters the hole, taking twists and turns, he finally stands at the doorstep of his home. Hyukjae quietly opens the door and immediately smells a rich aroma of chicken soup. Hyukjae quietly walks to the kitchen and creeps behind his mother, ready to scare her when—

"AGHHHHHH!" his mother turns, and screamed. Taken aback, Hyukjae also screams and the next thing he sees his mother falling to the ground in fits of laughter.

"That's what you get for trying to mess with your mother, young man."

Hyukjae rolls his eyes but a fond smile settles on his lips as he sits at the dining table. "Where's Sungmin?"

"Your brother's out on a Borrowing hunt," his mother's face visibly turns paler, "But he says he'll be back before dinner."

Hyukjae understands that his mother worries about their safety. Even though the humans now are unaware of their presence, it would still be bad if they found out about their kind. But from Sungmin's experiences, it makes Hyukjae curious about the human world. He's turning 17 soon, it's about time for him to go on his very own Borrowing hunt as well.

"Well, I know you worry about us but if we have you take our places and go for a hunt, you might just break a bone while climbing up those really tall cupboards." Hyukjae winks.

"Don't need to curse me, I have enough bad luck as it is already.''

Hyukjae laughs and starts to drink the bowl of chicken soup.

"Donghae, wake up! We are here."

The brunette sitting in the passenger seat groggily opens his eyes, he sees a three-storey yellow house with a beautiful garden surrounding it. He steps out of the car and breathes in the fresh air.

"This place is really peaceful," Donghae marvels at his surroundings, "It's completely different from the city."

A lady in her seventies steps out of the car carefully as well and nods in agreement, "Of course. The city is filled with pollution and noise, I'd prefer the countryside for an aging lady like me."

"Oh please Grandmother, you look as young as always."

"You need a serious eye-checkup." The old lady smiled, "But I hope you are used to the countryside, and it is essential in allowing a speedy recovery for you since the air is fresher here."

The male smiled and wordlessly wrapped his arms around his grandmother as they made their way towards the house.

hello! :-) i hoped u enjoyed reading the prologue hehe and in case u r confused, hyukjae does NOT live in the house but he lives underground bc they aren't meant to be seen HAHAHA. borrowing hunts are equivalent to Borrowers going to the human's houses and take stuff for their essential survival! hope this clears things up!!

pls do leave a comment and u can ask me anything if u guys aren't sure, thx fr reading!!! throws sarang