The tavern was loud and crowded, the air was hot and thick and filled with music and chatter, toasts were said and glasses were raised; but the seven men gathered around the counter of the place didn’t make any effort to participate in the chorus the crowd were singing to.

“Third round for the boys in here!” Said Sunmi, the lady owner of the place, showing up with seven mugs of beer in her hands. Loud cheers of “Hurray” from six other men roared in the air.

She put one mug of beer in front of the man sitting in the center of the group. She knew that this young man wasn’t fond of beer, but Sunmi never allowed herself to not bring drinks for the people who walked into her tavern. Especially to this adorable young lad who was renting rooms for him and his friends for a couple of weeks now. “This is on us for you, lil’e man.”

Taeyeon smiled, amused, and moved to look at Sunmi’s eyes. “Thank you for you kindness, Sunmi.” Taeyeon gently said, cracking up smiles and chuckles from the group around them.

“Always with special treatment for our captain, innit, Sunmi?” Leeteuk joked, pretending to not like the attitude of the woman.

“Well, what I can do, Leeteuk? I have a soft heart for polite and timid men who don’t drink alcohol.”

“One of us need to be sober.” Taeyeon said it back. “Might as well as be me.”

Sunmi smiled. “I’m not against that. Especially considering the drunkyards you’ve got to carry on your back.” She said, referring to the drunk men beside them. “But men like you, makes my heart as soft as jelly…” She bent over the counter to get her face closer to Taeyeon. “...Makes me wonder why I married my husband.” She whispered that up, fainting a smile. If she wasn’t married to Yon-Bok, Sunmi wouldn’t mind to spend a night with Taeyeon.

“I’m sure your husband is a good man, Sunmi.” Taeyeon reaffirmed.

“He isn’t as interesting as you are.”

“How am I an interesting person?”

“You go wandering all the lands in Joseon on your quest to go to the Sacred City.” Sunmi had never been to the Great Capital. And now that she is married and owns a tavern, her place lied at her husband’s side and her village. But she always could appreciate some travellers’ stories. “You must see all sorts of amazing things.”

“I also see all sorts of terrible things.” Taeyeon added it up. “I go wandering all the lands in Joseon because I’m poor and a bastard, and I have no other choice. If I could have your life, I would have.”

“Now, you’re just being kind.”

Taeyeon denied. “You have a good life here. You have a good husband. You don’t need him to be as interesting as me when both of you have this tavern to look up to.”

Sunmi smiled, a little bit touched by those words. “Aye, it’s a good place, innit?” She moved her head, looking around the bar, proudly.

Taeyeon smiled as well. “Aye, it is. Don’t trade it over a wandering bastard.” Sunmi chuckled, pleased with his own remark.

“Another beer over here, Sunmi!” Shouted a man at the other end of the counter. “Don’t leave me waiting!”

“Well, here I go again.” The tall woman sighed and moved from her spot to deliver the drink for the man.

Taeyeon chuckled, nonchalantly, looking back to a small piece of parchment in hands.

“You are quite a gallant man, aren’t you, Taeyeon?” Heechul asked, jokingly, drinking a bit of his beer.

Upon noticing the man didn’t move, Heechul impatiently tapped his foot to get his friend's attention. Taeyeon sighed, though amused, and moved to look at Heechul. “Still concerned about our journey?” He asked upon seeing his friend paying too much attention to a map he had in hands.

“Kinda, yeah… it is just that... we’ll be heading towards the Red Mountains in a couple of weeks ...” his friend spoke calmly, “And then we will have to cross the Hwang Estate if we seek to go up until the Sacred City.” Taeyeon’s fingers drew an invisible line on the map, pointing all the path they had to take to reach their destination: the great capital city of Hanyang. “The Red Mountains is a tough terrain. Up until their mainland city, the Red Mountains is just sand and rocks. Woods, forests and rivers are only to be found more up in the north, closer to the midlands of the Hwang Estate. So water and food will be scarce for us. And we don’t have much money left to pay for inns during our course.”

“So you are saying that, if we are not careful enough, that journey could be our last?” Donghae, one of the members of the group, tried to follow his friend’s reasoning.

“No, what I am saying is… we’ll need to find ways to get as much money as we could get so we can afford inns on our way.”

“Or we could try to get some rooms for us in gisaengs’ houses.” Shindong, another one of the members of the group, spoke up, cracking up smiles from a couple of friends beside him, clearly enjoying the man’s suggestion. “That would be nice.”

“As much as I would like to have your ual desires under control, Shindong…” Taeyeon started saying… “Gisaeng houses are protected by the Estate and renting a room in those places costs much more money than a common inn. We would also be able to leave compensations and gifts for the women...so, with us not being noble born, Gisaeng houses are out of our reach.”

“Damn nobles...always getting the good stuff, innit?” Leeteuk complained.

“Aye, while the rest of us die of hunger, diseases and cold.” Donghae said, bitterly. “I hate noble borns.”

“We all do, Donghae… we all do.” Taeyeon added up, reckoning their feelings.

As those words have been said, a group of five men walked into the tavern, all wearing common clothes, and they walked straight to the counter. “A round of beer for us five here, missy.” A tall and rashy man demanded on behalf of the group.

Sunmi turned the tap of the barrel sideways to fill out the mugs, but whe