"...This story is a tragic story described in the history of Korea due to the love between two people who were so different from each other but could not separate even if the sea separated them."

The class was quiet, the story was so fascinating and surprising that no student noticed the time that had passed in class. "But of course, it has many versions because until now the investigators have not been able to find out about the prince's love, many will say it is a pirate who has a sister who had, but also he, an affair with the prince. Many others will say it is a strong female pirate who fell in love and won his heart and joined one of the five best-known pirate ships in the East Sea..."

"And what if it's someone who became a pirate who fell in love with a prince who fell in love with him back but he disguised himself as a woman to..." One of the students stopped her. "Thank you so much, Kim Kibum, can I continue now?" Kim Taeyeon, their professor, asked.

"Yes, of course," Kibum replied. "Pirate stories, are so many stories pass between the ships we know, the Korean ships, the 'Shining Devil', as well as 'The Six-Days' and another ship that belonged to a boy from Jeju, the 'Hope of the sun' that not many have heard of it at all because it came after a few years after the time of the Shining Devil." The professor sat down at her desk in front of the fifty students in front of her and crossed her legs. "So you have a task to do," she added.

Students let out sighs from unwillingness and tiredness at hearing these words. "You know what, choose what you want to do. Write me a six- to eight-page essay on the period, kingdoms, pirates, kings, and wars..." Students sounded unhappy with the task. "And what's the second?" A student named Amber Liu shouted from the back of the room. "Or write me your theory about the story I told, twelve pages..." Students did not sound happy with this task either. "...Of the characters, what happened at the beginning, what happened before the end, use your imagination and you will have to occasionally mention the information about the period and everything but it can be briefly."

"But Ms. Kim, we didn’t take a creative writing course, it's a history course." A short student, with bleached hair whose original hair color roots had sprouted, had said.

"That's why I said descriptions of the period, Kim Jonghyun, besides, I'm not checking for grammar errors or spelling errors," the professor explained.

Lee Taemin, who was sitting in the middle area of the classroom, leaned against his seat and thought about the task he would like to do. Every time he thought about the tasks of the course he thought about what he started thinking at the beginning of the semester, he loved history, studying it and listening to what people have to say about it, but he did not feel that this is what he would like to pursue in the future, as, in addition, he also took dancing as his major. Dancing was what he wanted to do, history was his hobby, his minor.

When the lesson was over, it was time for lunch, they have a week to write at least one assignment and Taemin decided to go for the simpler of the two, the regular essay. Because it was his last lesson that day the brunette decided not to eat in the cafeteria and took a bus to the Seoul History Museum. Despite what he decided, he didn’t stop thinking about the story the professor told them in class, about the various theories presented in one story (that reminded him of Romeo and Juliet). He started to think of a theory that made more sense to him while he was sitting on the bus.

Taemin played with his short brunette hair and thought of the people of the period, trying to imagine himself in their place, with long hair and fancy clothes, or not. Imagining himself with long hair was not so difficult for him, especially after his hair was longer before starting university. Not to mention that he loved to dress up and managed to fool his aunt several times. She always asked him if he was gay and that was his first coming out of the closet, then she even asked him if he was transgender but his answer was no, his gender did not matter that much to him, man, woman, non-binary, for himself, everything felt okay.

When he got to the museum his entrance was free because history students were allowed free admission to the exhibits. When he was finally inside, he felt his stomachs turn. Why is he so stressed? Is he just that excited about the course he has been thinking of leaving for so long? Taemin walked between the various exhibitions and galleries, passing by sculptures and historical objects, passing by such and such works of art that were too modern for what he was looking for. He followed a map of the museum he was given at the entrance until he came to the display of the Three Kingdoms. What he was looking for.

Taemin entered the open room and the first thing he saw was the large map of divided Korea, or rather the maps. They hung on the walls, some particularly ancient and some repainted following the old maps that were incomprehensible. A display of the clothes in the style of the different periods stood in the middle of the room in glass cabinets by kingdom and period. The room was quiet, Tae felt alone, no further footsteps were heard except his own footsteps in the room, the brunette did not know what to feel about it.

Objects placed around the room on tables next to the wall or on tables around the clothes display showed many objects. Some were even inside fossils on canvas inside a glass box so that no one could touch them and the thing could be preserved. Explanations were placed next to everything, or just about anything in the great room that needed an explanation (everything). Taemin stopped in front of a closet where a number of swords rested outside their sheaths on a purple cloth. One sword caught his attention, the silver blade resting near a blue and silver sheath with pearls and pebbles adorning it. Most of the swords were specially adapted for the guards of the Royal Guard, but this sword felt different to him. The desire that suddenly filled him felt strange to him, he wanted to touch it, hold it and move with it. Fight with it.

He immediately removed these thoughts from his head and moved on to the next view. According to the sign, what appeared was a huge family tree of the Korean royal family that is located among the ruins of the palace of the city of Kimhae, a city that was considered the capital of the Gaya kingdom that survived the least of all other kingdoms, only two hundred years. Silla, Paekche, and Koguryo. The royal family was certainly huge, the names of the family members of the royalty and the principalities were placed across the tapestry. The creator who wrote the names was an ancient Korean writer that only historians who learned the ancient language knew how to read after all the Korean letters have undergone many changes over the years since.

He was so focused on the big rug that he did not notice another person entering the room. The two walked in parallel aisles, looking at the various displays until they stopped in front of a wall on which, within a frame, rested two traditional bracelets that surprisingly had not yet crumbled. Taemin read aloud the sign under the frame still not noticing the man standing right next to him.

"Bracelets of Jeju's marriage tradition," he read, "These bracelets were worn by the couples who were engaged on Jeju's island. The same tradition was created by the first king of the place and was also used in the Gaya kingdom, which was under his control. These bracelets Were found in the ruins of the ships of Silla's battle against North Koguryo. Legend has it that the two people who wore these jewels were not yet married and died one in the arms of the other, if not married they are destined to be together in their next lives... " 

He did not finish reading and the man next to him continued from where he stopped, "... These bracelets have remained to this day to tell us that the couple has not yet found each other but there is always hope that they will meet, if not in a hundred years then in two hundred, if not in a thousand years then in two thousand." Taemin looked at the man next to him, he was tall, his hair was dark and his eyes were big, he kind of reminded him of the actor of the frog prince in a musical he saw when he was little.

The man would have looked his age, a student like him, but had never seen him in his class or on campus at all. The man caught him staring at him by turning his head to look at him. "Am I that attractive?" The man's voice was deep so it surprised him and caught him unprepared. "W-what?" He stuttered. "You look like a student," the taller said. "And you look like a frog prince," Taemin said without thinking. Frog prince laughed, "I'll take this as a compliment, I'm studying medicine at SNU, you?" 

"History and dance," Taemin replied. "Both history and dance?" Frog prince asked. That name really suited him, Taemin thought. To the question of the taller, Tae nodded. At that moment they were facing each other with the display of the two bracelets next to them.

"That's why you're here? Do you have a paper to submit?" Frog prince asked. "Why are you here if you're a medical student?" Taemin said back, again, without thinking. Frog prince laughed. "You make me laugh, dance machine." Taemin did not know what to think of the nickname, for he was a dancer and he did not tell the other his name. 

"I love history, but this is my first time in this exhibition," the taller explained. Why are they talking at all? They do not know each other, the brunette thought to himself. "Do you believe in the legend of the bracelets?" Frog prince suddenly asked him, what made Tae look back at the objects in the frame. "No," the shorter replied. "Why not?" Frog prince asked. Is he really that interested in my opinion?

"Two people destined for each other? It just doesn't make sense," Taemin replied, looking back at the taller student. "To this day this tradition is used, but only part of it, people really believe they are meant to be together, whether in this life or their previous life," Frog Prince said, "I think it is a beautiful tradition, if it were possible to get married in Korea I would want such a wedding," The taller one murmured but let the shorter one understand every word that came out of his mouth. Taemin found himself wanting to keep listening to the Frog Prince in front of him, hear his thoughts, and then he noticed what the other said. "Are you from the community too?" The shorter asked. "You too, dancer?" Frog prince asked him back.

"Mhm," Taemin nodded, "one of the students in my class came up with a theory about the tragedy we learned today, about the pirate and the prince, he said the pirate was a man who fell in love with the prince who fell in love with the pirate, who at some point disguised himself as a woman. It's a pretty good theory," Taemin said. "Maybe you want to come with me for coffee? Maybe you can keep telling me about the different theories of the tragedy, dancer." "I would love to, Frog Prince."

So maybe they did meet in their next lives. Maybe this is where their love story begins that will end happily ever after.

[The End]