Episode two

In the enclosure of the Beopsuja temple, Yunho and Jaejoong were heading to a room filling with sacred books under the direction of the young monk Hanseol.

To Jaejoong it was just a storage room where they kept all their holy writings. The room was not so impressive. The young boy had seen more spectacular than this sacred library in his young life.

But to Yunho, it was a sacred room he could never go near without retaliation. No one in this temple, mostly the men placed high in the hierarchy of the monastery, never allowed him to step in this room. For what reason? Only the Creator knew.

"Yunho." The monk Hanseol said quietly, a tone below. "You can go to the kitchen. The cook is waiting for you."

"But..."

"Yunho. You know that you are not authorized to enter this room. Following us will only put you in a binding position." The monk added.

The young apprentice sighed.

"Why can Yunho not be allowed in this room?" Jaejoong asked with a frown creasing his forehead. It was an aberration not to allow an apprentice monk to be in this kind of room filled with their sacred writing. How could Yunho learn to be one of them without knowing nothing about their philosophy?

"This isn't for a stranger to know." Monk Hanseol said quietly.

"A-ah!" The young boy exclaimed. "There's something not right in your words."

"Jaeha..." Yunho murmured.

"He did say that it doesn't matter who I am because I will always be welcoming in this sacred place. But he treats me as a stranger." Jaejoong explained, turning to look at Yunho.

"There's nothing wrong about his words." The young apprentice stated.

"Nothing... wrong..." The young boy frowned.

Yunho nodded. "If I am not allowed to be in this room, I should not be there." He sighed. "Would you be alright without me?" Jaejoong nodded reluctantly with a pout adorned on his beautiful face. And Yunho smiled at this adorable sight of his wife. "Please, there are rules in this temple."

"I know..." The young boy breathed out slowly. "I won't do anything against those rules. I promise."

"Yunho." The monk Hanseol called the young apprentice to warn him that he should leave the room immediately before it was too late.

"I am going. I will be in the temple's kitchen." The young man said finally. He released Jaejoong's hand and walked away from this holly room, while the young boy was pouting to see his Yunho being so pitiful.

"Follow me." Monk Hanseol said to the newcomer.

"I am a human being not a dog." Jaejoong muttered his displeasure to be order around by this monk. However, he did follow the other man reluctantly.

Monk Hanseol led the young boy into another room, where an older man was meditating and chanting something in a foreign language which seemed to be an old language from the land of Wei.

Jaejoong was not a stupid boy. Thankful to his beloved and protective father, the young boy was raised like a Prince. Giving him the knowledge of the world as if his mother would do if she was still alive and spoiling him a bit too much which led all his father's men to face a really demanding young master.

But according to his beloved father, he had inherited a talent from his late mother. A talent which was to be served by the Emperor of Yamato if the latter were to know of his existence one day.

His late mother was a special being. Since her young age, she could memorize every scene and every detail without failed. When the people of her land had found her talent, she was trained to know every writing from any book by heart as well as every corner of all the locations she could be. When she reached the age of 14, Silla Kingdom sent her to the archipelago of Yamato to be a prestigious hostage in the name of peace but behind that title, she was assigned to be Silla's spy. However, her journey to the Emperor's Palace of Yamato took an end when she encountered the heir of the Odagiri house.

Jaejoong always scoffed at this fairy tale love story of his parents, mostly when the only narrator of that fairy tale was his own beloved father. How would he know if it wasn't a made up story from the fertile imagination of an eccentric and heretic man who spent the most of his time talking to a dead body?

But Xiah always said to him that Jaejoong should deem his father's every word about the love that strange man had toward his mother. The man was present when his late mother had crossed the path of the young man his father was at that time. The heir of the house of Odagiri did save their lives from a pitfall run by the Emperor of Yamato in the land of Kyushu.

The young boy was pulled from his reverie by a voice calling him to bow at the older man sitting crossed legs on this pedestal before his eyes. Jaejoong frowned at Monk Hanseol's query. Why would he have to bow in front of that man? It would be the other way. However, his Yunho had said to respect their rules. So Jaejoong bowed a bit in a form of greeting.

"Master Sunho, we found this boy in our Songnisan forest." Monk Hanseol said, bowing to the man who was looking at the young boy with a smile.

"He didn't find me. Yunho did." Jaejoong corrected quickly. He did not want this stupid monk to have the good role for saving a young and poor soul from this immense Songnisan forest.

"Yunho?" The older man inquired amused by the rebellious behavior of this strange but beautiful boy. Or should he say girl?

"Yes, Yunho." The young boy replied, walking to the pedestal. He sat on it and turned to look at the older man, making the young monk gasped at his behavior. "Is it funny to know that Yunho was the one who found me?" Jaejoong asked, crossing his leg like this master Sunho and folded his arms across his chest.

"No." The older man chuckled softly at this strange being. This creature of God reminded him of a young woman he knew long time ago. In his feature as well as in his demeanor. Really charming if he could say.

"How dare you-" Monk Hanseol stopped what he was saying when Master Sunho rose his hand to cut him off.

"Could you step out from this meditation room?" Master Sunho demanded in a firm voice. Monk Hanseol could only bow to the man. He left the small meditation room and closed the door behind his person. "What is your name my child?" The old monk asked the young boy sitting in front of his old person.

"You're not the Head Master Song."

"I am not." The old monk said quietly with a soft tone. "Could you please tell me your name?"

"Where is the Head Master Song?"

"He retired into meditation. He will only take back his function after 3 days and 3 nights from now. For the time being, you will have to deal with me."

The young boy peered at the other man for awhile, frowning a bit and being suspicious about the good intention of this man toward his person. However, telling the old man his name will never lead the latter to his real identity. Because no one knew about his existence aside from the people close to his father and his men.

"Jaejoong." The young boy said finally.

"Only Jaejoong?"

"Kim Jaejoong."

"Are you sure that Kim is really your surname?"

Jaejoong narrowed his eyes for a while. Who was that old man? That monk wasn't so old. But, every man having the same age as his father should be called old. "It's not a lie either." He added quietly.

"So Kim Jaejoong, what are you doing in this sacred land?"

"Nothing much. I was just having an pleasant bath when one of your apprentice monk found me." Jaejoong said with a smile.

"Yunho?"

"Yes my Yunho!" The young boy beamed and earned a husky laugh from the man.

"Your Yunho. You seem to like him very much." Master Sunho said with a smile.

"Yes. He was the first man to show me some affections since I landed in this barbaric Samguk Sagi."

"That young man can't even kill an ant. So I will not be surprised if you said to me that he took you as his wife thinking that he had spoiled your great beauty by setting his eyes on you inadvertently." The monk laughed softly. "What a honest young man."

"How did you know?"

"So he did take you as his wife. That foolish lad." The monk shook his head slightly with a smile. "I raised him well, didn't I? Even if he thinks that my education does not help him much."

"You're a good monk not like that one. He always said mean things to my Yunho." Jaejoong mumbled angrily.

"There is a meaning behind his demeanor. Not only him but everyone in this temple. So do not make their life a misery because they are not kind to your loved one."

"Why? In this world nothing is fair. People are selfish and to survive they don't think twice even if they have to put their fellows beings in misery for their own wellbeing. So why I should let them go without a retribution?"

"You are right Jaejoong-ah. However, never do what you don't want other people do to you. This is being fair."

"It's boring." Jaejoong rolled up his eyes. Being spoiled since his birth, the young boy wasn't used to be fair with anyone not even his beloved father.

"Life isn't boring. The world is based in this ism, give and take."

"Are you sure?" The boy asked suspiciously. "I only saw the rich taking from the poor."

"You are not wrong. However, my child, you are too young to sentence them." The monk added with a smile, knowing very well who was this child. So young but so clever.

"Every adult think they are smarter than us children. But they don't know what kind of child I am."

"Smart. Really smart my child." The older man said with an amused smile. "Yunho won't be bored with you as his wife."

"Sure!" Jaejoong smiled. He found this old man in his taste, an ally for the bad days to come. "Oh! Can I ask you something?"

"I'm listening."

"Why my Yunho don't have the right to be in this sacred room? He is an apprentice monk, isn't he? So how can he learn your philosophy if he does not have access to all those writings? Are you punishing him for something bad he did when he was a child?" Jaejoong tapped his lips with his forefinger for a while. "No! Impossible. If you're a good man and you did raise him, Yunho is made of the same mold as you. It is something more... I know! Is it about the secret behind his birth?" The young boy bumped his right fist into his left palm, looking at the other man with glistering eyes.

"I see. Your father did well by raising."

"My father?" Jaejoong furrowed his eyes. "What about my father?"

"You did grow up beautifully Odagiri Jaejoon." Master Sunho stressed the name at the end of his sentence.

"You know my real name? You know who I am... Oh... that's why you asked me if Kim was my real surname." The monk nodded quietly. "Who are you?"

"And old friend of your parents. Tell me why are you so far away from your Kyushu island. From your Odagiri Clan? And alone?"

The young boy knew he should not feel at ease and talkative with this old stranger. However, the man knew about his existence when no one should know about the house of Odagiri in the Kyushu island having an heir. It would mean only one thing. This monk was one of the few honorable people in this world who had gained his father's trust.

"I was bored. Otou-san was so mean to me. He does not want to let me step out from our clan so I decided that it was time to have my own journey to become a man. Xiah is to faithful toward my father, his master. So I ran away from his supervising. And people call me Jaejoong not Jaejoon." He reprimanded the other man.

"Jaejoong then." The monk nodded again with a smile which never disappeared from his lips. "And in your journey to be a man you found yourself a husband." He added playfully.

"Why are you so mean to me. Xiah is kind but sometimes he can be mean. And... God!" Jaejoong was faking a surprised face with his palms on his cheeks and eyes wide open. "What are you doing here Shim Changmin-ssi? The last time I saw you, you were trying to sneak in the royal Palace of the Buyeo family for a royal banquet. And why are you disguised as an old man? I thought you want to be young for the rest of your life?"

Master Sunho laughed at this adorable side of Jaejoong. "I'm not that gluttony Shim Changmin."

"Is he one of your disciple?" The young boy asked with a smile.

"Yes he is."

"Do not let him rub his malicious personality over you. You are too old to become a mean person." Jaejoong added.

"I will take note of your advice." He was not offended by being called old. In the eyes of this young boy, everyone who was aged more than 30 could only be old in his child's eyes.

"So could you let me know your opinion about the kind of man Otou-san is?" The young boy inquired, leaning over