Joseon 1608,

Hanyang was a different place than it is today.

Besides the wealth and peace that was gained over the course of more than twenty years, in the heart of the capital city, there was an unspoken sense of grief and rage.

The Royal Court had just executed the Jun family for treason. Within the Court, new Ministers and officials were appointed and promoted. It seemed like a new era was about to start in Hanyang.

On the streets and corners of the city, talks of the late Minister's fate were endless. Mostly, the talks were filled with sadness and grief for the ill-fated Minister and his family. Some were filled with rage at the tragedy, believing that a conspiracy was in place. For others, there were also talks of an upcoming plan, although no one was yet to be aware of it.

Despite the current upheavals of the capital city, there was one place where time seemed to stand still.

Near the Lee's residence, there was a forest. 

The forest was filled with trees as tall as ten houses piled onto each other. The shades of the trees covered the ground even on the sunniest days. This was perhaps why time was believed to stand still, and being in the forest was said to be like being lost in another world. Here, no noise or worry from the city could reach you. People called it "Meonatang", meaning "faraway land".

Deep in the heart of the forest, a small young boy raced through all the trees and the shades with the brightest smile on his face. His eyes were shaped like a crescent moon when he smiled. Occasionally, he looked back over his shoulders and was immediately satisfied when no one was right behind him. 

"Ha! Jongwoon, I beat you!"

The small young boy was no one other than the five-year-old Sungmin, skipping class and getting away from his servant for the first time. As he got further away from the young servant, who could no longer be seen from where he stood, his smile grew even bigger and brighter.

While he was still looking over his shoulders and running at full speed, suddenly, Sungmin stumbled upon a large root of a nearby tree and fell hard on his arms and legs. Getting up from the grounds, he quickly brushed off the dust on his clothes and looked around to navigate himself. The forest was truly as people had always said. It was like he had wandered into a mysterious faraway land in broad daylight.

Sungmin was still cleaning his clothes and looking around when he suddenly heard a low sobbing from nearby. The sobbing was so soft that a mere passer-by could not have picked it up. If Sungmin had not sitting still and paying attention to his surroundings like he was at the time, he could not have heard it. 

Sungmin picked himself up from the ground and followed the sound to a much flatter and more empty space, where he could see clearly a young boy around the same age as him. The boy was probably taller than him but was much thinner. He sat under the shadow of a large tree, his head buried in his arms and legs as if he had been rolled into a ball of clothes only. His shoulders were shaking uncontrollably, and occasionally, he let out a faint sob when his lips could not seem to hold it in any longer.

"Hey," Sungmin gently called out as he carefully approached the boy, "are you alright?"

Hearing another person's voice, the boy immediately looked up, his eyes as sharp as a blade. From his sleeve, he drew out a dagger and swung it in front of his face, which slightly grazed Sungmin's hand as he tried to defend himself against the weapon.

"Who are you!? Stay away from me!"

The boy shouted loudly while quickly getting in a defence position. For one second, his eyes caught a glimpse of the other's bleeding hand, but quickly returned to their sharp and cautious state. He could also feel a slight pain in his right hand from taking the dagger out too quickly and suddenly, but he ignored the pain. The dagger was raised steadily in front of his body, and his voice was more than authoritative. 

"I..." Sungmin found himself stammering after the boy's strange reaction to his presence, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you..."

But before Sungmin could finish his explanation, the boy had already dashed out of the empty land as if Sungmin was some extremely repugnant being. He wanted to chase after the boy, to offer his help to the other, but on second thought, he knew that doing so would only send the other into a further fright, so he turned around and also got out of the place. Inside his mind, a million questions started jostling around about the boy's identity and the reason for his strange reactions. And also about how he could explain to his parents about the fresh wound he got on his hand.

The next day, Sungmin decided to return to the forest, despite his presence seemingly not being wanted there. But he had noticed that the other boy had also injured his hand while drawing the dagger out of the sleeve of his shirt, and he did not look like someone who had a series of servants who took care of him. Sure enough, his clothes were quite decent, and he did not seem like a person without shelter, but he looked like he had not eaten anything or slept for a number of days. Plus, the boy was also in the forest crying. He was extremely alarmed when a stranger approached him. All of these clues led Sungmin to the conclusion that the boy must have been in a situation that made him act cautiously around everyone. When Sungmin looked into his eyes the previous day in the forest, he did not feel any bad intentions from the other boy. He only looked like the most lonely person in this entire world.

Getting out of his house a second time was more challenging than he had thought. After skipping class and getting injured while he was in the forest, his parents grounded him for the rest of the month, and he was not allowed to go out of the residence. He even had two more servants watch him at all times so he could not try to run away another time. 

Having sat in his home all day, finally, Sungmin thought of a way to get away from his servants. Taking advantage of the privacy of his bathroom, he secretly climbed out of the window, then out the wall of the Lee residence. He had always been faster than most of his peers and his servants, so he had no difficulty getting away from them.

The forest today was as quiet as it always had been. As Sungmin approached the empty plot of land from the other day, he was disappointed to see that the other boy was no longer there. But it was also not that big a surprise to him. If he was startled by a stranger in his own secret hiding place, he himself would not have stayed in that place. But he was not about to give up that easily, so he continued to stroll around the forest, both to find the other boy and to entertain himself after a long day staying at home.

As Sungmin got deeper into the forest, the trees around him somehow began to get shorter. The leaves were rustling in the wind just above his head, and the trunks were much smaller and shorter than the ones at the edge of the forest. After Sungmin had been walking in among the short trees for fifteen more minutes, he began to see a clearing at the end of this part of the forest. And, to his surprise, the boy that he had seen the previous day was also there. This time, he was kneeling neatly on the ground, digging up a few small holes for something Sungmin could not have guessed.

This time, Sungmin was careful not to startle him. He slowly approached the boy, and as he got to a safe distance away from him, he spoke up to make the other aware of his presence.

"Hi," he tried to smile at him.

Hearing another voice again, the boy cautiously turned around, his hand kept firmly on the dagger in his sleeve. Seeing a familiar face, he was not as panicked as the first time Sungmin had seen him. He kept his eyes on Sungmin, yet, refused to say another word.

"I..." Sungmin suddenly found himself stammering again, "I brought bandages."

The boy furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

Sungmin quickly pointed to his hands which were covered in visible marks and wounds. Some of them had been there before Sungmin had first seen him.

"Your hands... are bleeding."

"None of your business." The boy replied indifferently as he turned around to leave.

"Wait!"

As the boy was about to turn around, Sungmin immediately reached out to grab his hand. As a reflex, the boy used his other hand to fend Sungmin off, but Sungmin was already one step ahead. He gently kicked the boy's hand out of the way, and grabbed his bleeding hand with both his hands. For a moment, the boy could not immediately get out of Sungmin's hold.

"Don't worry," Sungmin said softly as he took out the bandages from his sleeve, "I will leave as soon as I finish putting bandages on your hand."

The boy only looked at him, speechless. His eyes wide open.

"My mother always said", Sungmin continued, "soldiers don't die on the battlefield. They die afterwards, because of their wounds. So taking care of your injuries is very important."

As he spoke with the boy, Sungmin carefully took out a bottle of water, cleaned his wounds, then finally dressed them up with bandages. The longer he looked at the other's hands, the more curious he got about what the boy had been through. His skin was quite fair, so Sungmin guessed he must not have come from a poor household. Yet, on his hands, there were multiple marks and wounds, all of which were quite recent. Some of his nails were even broken. Some still had blood under them, as if he had been fiercely scratching on some kind of stone or rock. But Sungmin did not want to ask him about his situation. For some reason, he had a feeling that he would not get an answer from him if he had asked anyway.

"Done." Sungmin gave him a soft smile as soon as his work was complete.

The boy remained unresponsive to his words and his smile. He only glanced at his hands, now all cleaned up and taken care of.

"Um, can I ask you something?" Sungmin chose his words carefully: "What's your name?"

For a long moment, there was only a dead silence from the young boy. 

"My name is Lee Sungmin." He flashed the other his brightest smile, and for a second, he thought the boy had looked up at him in a friendly way.

"I.." Sungmin heard the boy utter quietly, "I don't have a name."

"How could you not have a name. Everyone has a name!"

But the boy only shook his head in response.

"Then... you don't have to tell me your name if you don't want to." Pausing for a second, Sungmin continued: "Where do you live?"

The boy only shook his head.

"Where are your parents?"

The boy only stared at the air in front of them. His parents? He knew where his parents were. He just could not get to them, or see them, or hear their voices, or talk to them. Ever again.

"Did... something happen to your parents?"

No answer again.

"Do you have somewhere to stay?" 

Surprisingly, this time, the boy gave Sungmin a slight nod. Sungmin suddenly felt like he was revived from a near-death experience.

"Who are you staying with?"

Another silence. Then, after a moment, Sungmin heard for the first time the other boy say something other than to tell him to go away: "They're nice."

"They?" Sungmin asked.

The boy nodded again.

They were nice. The people that had taken him in and taken care of him until now. They just were not his parents. 

Sungmin was about to say something else when he noticed the growling in the boy's stomach. 

"Here," Sungmin took out a pumpkin pie from his pocket and handed it to the boy, "you must be hungry."

The other looked at the pie, then at him, in hesitation. Sungmin quickly divided the pie into two equal pieces and took a bite out of one.

"It's pumpkin pie. I got it at the market."

Seeing Sungmin bite into the pie with such pleasure, the boy felt a slight relief. He also took a small bite of his half of the pie. 

But he could not finish the small piece of pie when he felt a tear roll down his cheek.

"What's wrong?" Sungmin immediately noticed the change in his actions.

The boy shook his head while trying to wipe his face with his hand.

He had suddenly felt like something had been stuck in his throat, and his jaw had become so stiff that he could no longer chew or swallow anything. The piece of pie remained in his mouth, while he kept his eyes glued on the rest of the pie in his hands.

Its taste had been so similar to the pumpkin pie his mother had made for him hundreds of times before. Even its smell was the same. But, somehow, today, he felt like something was missing. Or, was it a piece of him that was missing?

He took another bite from the pie. Then another. And another. Until his mouth was filled with the sweet pumpkin pie and his face was wet with tears.

Sitting next to him, Sungmin did not know how to console the boy in this situation. His mother had always told him never to leave a person in need, because, sometimes, all a person needed was someone to be there for them. Even if there was nothing he could say or do that could make the boy feel better.

So Sungmin pulled out a handkerchief from his sleeve and handed it to the boy. Then, he sat quietly next to him, without any intention to leave or to judge.

And the forest continued to be filled with the heart-rending sobbing of the five-year-old boy.

That afternoon, even the birds in the forest somehow seemed too heartbroken to sing.