"No one joined them for almost another two centuries. At least, not until I came into the picture," Jongdae smiled. He sat down comfortably and scrunched his face up a bit as he thought back. "Out of everyone here, I started off the most poor. Though, considering the situation I had been in, I couldn't help it much."

Waking up to the sound of chickens and animals was normal, and so was waking up to the sound of wheezing and coughing. At least it was for Jongdae. He let out a sigh as he sat up from his bedding and stretched a bit, the first rays of sunlight entering through the gaps in the straw shades covering the windows.

He made sure that his father had some tea before heading out to begin the routine morning clean up. Sweeping, dusting and other mundane things that any rural villager would do to maintain their home.

It was just Jongdae and his father. His father who was crippled couldn't do much to help around the house and he was sick as well so they would rather have him be bed ridden than possibly falling over and breaking his neck by accident. Having to deal with such a situation wasn't exactly what others would envy, but it was reality for Jongdae.

He finished cleaning before heading to the back of their home where he would prepare their breakfast. They always had to ration their food and not a day went by without them worrying about how much longer they'd be able to survive. There were rural villages who thrived off of their various resources, but others weren't as lucky to live in such great places.

With the main cities receiving most, if not all resources for their people, the rural towns and villages were often forgotten in this time of poverty and rebellion. Witnessing a fight break out between neighbours who usually were the best of friends over the lack of food for one of their families was now becoming a common thing. More and more people were leaving the villages to get to the cities where the food was being sent to.

It was an unusually hot day that day, barely a cloud in the sky and the sunlight relentlessly shining down upon them. Travelling to the well to fetch water was quite a journey on a day like this. And with quite a load to carry upon his ever weakening shoulders, Jongdae wondered if his life would simply end on one of these trips as the days went by.

Maybe he shouldn't have thought such thoughts. He cursed mentally as he felt too hot and needed to take a break. Finding some shade beneath one of the few trees along this dirth path, he placed his bucket of water beside him and sat down. He couldn't risk drinking the water since it had yet to be boiled, but he needed something to quench his thirst. He shut his eyes though, taking deep breaths to calm himself and try to relax his body.

"You know, you've grown quite a bit... but I can tell that you're much too underfed, Jongdae."

The said boy looked up and stood up, trying to find the source of the voice. Except instead of finding it, his surroundings spun a bit and just as he fell, a pair of arms caught him. He looked up at the hooded figure and squinted to get his eyes to work properly.

"It's been a while, I must say. Didn't think that I'd come back here, but I'm glad I did," Minseok spoke. "I just came from your house actually... Your father has been suffering for long enough so I granted his wish to pass already and promised him to come to you."

"Why? We barely even know each other..."

"'Spose that's true. But I actually came her