Weeks had passed with Jinhee and the children out in the forest. Their lives had somehow found a routine in the madness whirling around them. During the day fights and small battles would break out over land and goods. The rebels would come from the castle on Chanyeol's orders and try to grab anything they could while the remaining villagers and original royal soldiers would try to hold them off. At night, Jinhee would sneak back into the village using the secret tunnel and she would try to find any food she could. As it started getting colder out, a lot of the food was becoming harder to find as the remaining villagers were eating more and throwing away less. Just like any other night, Jinhee put on her face mask to hide her identity and lowered herself into the secret tunnel but was stopped by Seohyun who had become like a daughter to her.

 

"Can I come with you? That way we can carry twice as much food back. I promise I wont be caught." Seohyun begged to come along and finally be seen as an adult but Jinhee couldn't bring herself to lose anyone else close to her as she reached up and ruffled with young girls hair.

 

"If you come with me, who will look after the kids? Your job is much more important than mine." With that Jinhee closed the hatch and crawled back to the shack in the village. Once she was back in the village she crawled along the ground and stuck to the edges of homes to look through their garbage to find any sort of food. She had noticed the longer these battles were happening, the less food other people were getting and she felt a pang of guilt as she took the food but she couldn't let all of her children starve because she felt bad for others. If this was going to be her life now then Jinhee had to shut off her humanity and think about herself and her new family.

 

She saw some rebels from the palace walking around the village, laughing and having a great time as they chugged back some wine. She hid behind a pile of garbage and took out the sword that Jongin had given her. All this time, she had kept it and swore she wouldn't hesitate to use it if she was attacked. She wasn't going to let anything happen to her again like what Chanyeol did. Being the victim wasn't going to be her life anymore and with the thought of Jongin she braced herself in case there was a fight. Thankfully the men were too drunk to notice her and they walked on by without incident. Jinhee let out a heavy sigh and then continued her search for some food.

 

Seohyun paced back and forth back at the shack as her younger brother Jimin sat up with her but the boys eyelids were growing heavy as he watched his sister. The rest of the children were asleep and the leftover food they had waiting was for Jinhee but she was taking longer than usual due to the rise in rebels patrolling the area. Seohyun was chewing on her nails in worry and she looked to her brother who had finally fallen asleep. She quietly lifted the hatch and made her way into the secret passage. She had started to go through puberty and she found the tunnels a little more cramped than before and wondered how Jinhee managed to bring herself through it every day. Once in the shack she pulled herself out of the hole and covered it back up. She peaked out the door and promised herself she wouldn't go too far in her search for Jinhee.

 

When she figured the coast was clear she walked out into the forested area around her house and walked along the edge of the village, trying to see any sign of Jinhee. The ground was cold on her bare feet and Seohyun wrapped her arms around herself to try and keep warm. The village that she had grown up in was now half burnt down or destroyed and brought noting but sadness to her heart to know that any hope of a normal childhood was now gone. Seohyun peaked from around a tree and saw Jinhee knelt beside a house as she plucked from mushrooms from the ground. Seohyun opened to try and call out to her but a hand wrapped around her face and muffled her cries.

 

Jinhee had collected all she could and as she looked in her satchel at the food she felt disappointed in herself. She had found some chicken bones they could use for stock, old mushrooms and some scrap vegetables that were on the verge of rotting but she figured if they threw it into a soup then it would be fine. A few meters from the house she heard some rustling and the laughter of men. She ducked into a bush and crawled along the ground to get a better look and what she saw brought an intense rage into her heart. The two drunk rebels from before had a young girl pinned to the ground and were discussing what they were going to do to her.

 

"We should have our own fun with her." The one guy said and the other shook his head.

 

"We were told that any women we find should be brought back to the palace for our leader."

 

"Screw him, we can just do what we want and gut her. No one has to know."

 

The girl cried harder and tried to shake herself free and that was when Jinhee saw that it was Seohyun. Without a second thought, she brought her sword out and rushed out of the bush ready to kill them both. In shock they let go of Seohyun and she scrambled up from the ground and ran to Jinhee's side. They both pulled out their own weapons and were ready to fight. Jinhee took off her satchel and shoved it into Seohyun's arms.

 

"Run." She ordered and the young girl just cried and said she wouldn't leave her side. "I said RUN." Jinhee screamed and Seohyun finally started running away. The rebels took a few steps to follow after her but Jinhee stepped in between them so they wouldn't be able to catch her. "If you touch a hair on her head, I will skin you both alive." Jinhee stared them both down and the rebels laughed before lunging at her. Her fighting was rusty but because they were both drunk, they were almost on an even playing field. Jinhee was able to knock one to the ground and the other one stabbed the side of her dress which, thankfully didn't scratch her. She had lost so much weight because she kept giving her portion of food to the other children that her clothes hung lose on her body. Jinhee swung back and drew a deep would on the one guys thigh which brought him to his knees with a growl of pain. The adrenaline rushing through her body was causing Jinhee to shake as she began to realize that the only way out of this was for someone to die. As she stood with her hands on the sword hilt, staring at the two men she had brought to the ground, she felt something solid hit the back of her head and she instantly was knocked out and tumbled to the ground like a rag doll. It was a much larger and more sober rebel that stared at the two men in disgust.

 

"All women go to the leader. No exceptions. You were losing to a weak woman, it would be better if you didn't show your face around here ever again." He barked at the two men, the one bleeding out rather badly. He grabbed Jinhee and easily through her over his shoulder and walked out of the village with her to his horse.

 

Seohyun made it back to the shelter with the other kids who were woken up by her crying. Through her sobs and heavy breathing, she told them that Jinhee saved her and most likely wasn't coming back because of her. Hakyeon looked to Taekwoon and Chorong who had tears in their eyes at the news of their aunt also being taken. Being the eldest, Hakyeon puffed up his chest and stood up.

 

"We're going to look for her." He announced and the other kids agreed.

 

"We can't leave! I left and almost got killed, if you go out there-"

 

"If we stay here were going to die." Her brother spoke up and the other kids started whispering about what would happen. Seohyun was too upset to talk about it but as the second oldest, Jimin took it upon himself to think of a way to get everyone out of the shack and to a safer home. Their food was running out and they were all too cramped to be comfortable. To protect his sister and his new family, Jimin had to step up in Jinhee's place and be a man.