What is a compass?

According to Jennie, it’s a circular thing labeled with the names of the four directions — north, east, south, and west — and has a pointer that always tells where north is. Jisoo asked how it knows where north is, to which Jennie admitted she doesn’t know. Dissatisfied with the absence of a certain answer, Jisoo spends the rest of the night wondering about the function of a compass. More particularly, how she can get her hands on one.

Albeit a sleepless night, Jisoo has never felt more energetic when morning comes with all its chores. Jisoo, who is often no work and all play, does her chores with zeal. It strikes everyone perplexed, being a stark contrast to the slacker before. However, they didn’t mind because she finished her work much faster; a turn for the better, they agreed.

“Have you been getting enough sleep, Jisoo?” Joohyun asks. “Your eyebags are really dark.”

Jisoo, spaced out, snaps back to the present at the call of her name. On a small log that serves as a bench by the steps of their hut, they are eating lunch after a morning of sorting herbs at the botanist’s shop. The bowl of vegetables and rice lies on her lap untouched for the past few minutes as the compass makes residence in her mind.

“Of course I have,” Jisoo chirps with artificial peppiness, hoping to throw off any suspicion. She rubs underneath her eyes comically. “How did they get there? Maybe it’s dirt.”

Joohyun chuckles. “Make sure you’re sleeping well. Work is tiring enough and you don't want to damage your body. I’ll ask Junmyeon for some incense to help you relax and sleep better.”

“Okay.” Jisoo bobs her head mindlessly and spoons a small bite of rice.

“Also, Gong Yoo brewed a new batch of medicine for you. Can you pick it up sometime today? Your current batch is running out.”

Jisoo pouts and whines, “Why do I have to keep taking this medicine? It tastes bitter and icky.”

“Don’t worry, I told Gong Yoo to make it sweeter. He claims it’ll taste like candy. Also,” Joohyun points her wooden spoon at Jisoo accusingly, “have you been forgetting to take Jiwon out on walks? I see him wandering alone.”

Jisoo’s chewing pauses, having been caught red-handed avoiding her responsibilities. “If he’s wandering, isn’t he perfectly capable of taking walks on his own?” she contests.

She bites back the words quickly, shrinking from Joohyun’s stern eyes.

“Make sure to take him on a walk today,” the older girl says, her tone final. “I better not see him alone again.”

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Kim Jiwon, a boy Jisoo’s age, resides at the village’s farm — home to the majority of the animals, family-owned on the flattest land — as the third oldest son of seven. His job was to shave the sheep and distribute the wool to the villagers. Having met each other from Gong Yoo’s tutoring group, they were a troublesome pair (but not more so than Sooyoung and Yeri), horsing around and throwing papers and whatnot. It was a miracle Gong Yoo didn’t rip his hair out of his scalp. Although, it seems that he has been through worse things. A lively bunch, he called them.

Until the accident.

That’s what they all tell Jisoo. It was an accident. An accident that happened because two kids were reckless. But the problem is Jisoo can’t remember it. Remembering brings headaches and painful tremors throughout her body and that horrid red fog and that raspy voice. Yet, no one tells her what happened — wants to tell her what happened. Not Gong Yoo, the village’s Elder, who was the first witness despite the persistent inquiries during the therapy sessions. Not Sooyoung or Yeri; the two seem almost scared to recall the event and dodges Jisoo’s questions by proposing to play a game. Not even her own sister, who discourages Jisoo from trying to remember.

All Jisoo knows is that Jiwon has turned into a cripple.

And all evidence points to her as the perpetrator.

Jiwon doesn’t tell Jisoo either. Strangely, he has forgiven her. How is it possible to forgive someone for something they don’t remember committing? The person should know of their wrongdoing in order to repent properly. This is what Jisoo tells Jiwon to try to coax the answer out of him, but he waves it off and changes the topic, much to her dismay. Perhaps he has forgiven her because they are friends, but intuition tells Jisoo it’s something else. After all, how terrible must it be for everyone to avoid talking about the accident like it is some sort of taboo?

Hence, Joohyun makes Jisoo take Jiwon on walks; a sort of compensation that she is incredibly adamant about fulfilling. Jisoo has no choice but to comply as there is no answer anytime soon. There is no reason to persist because she can’t. (Or perhaps when comparing the effort to find it and the weight of the truth, it’s easier to be kept in the dark. And if anyone knows Jisoo, they know she prefers the easy way out.)

On his wooden wheelchair crafted by the smith, the boy watches the chicken pen under the shade of a willow tree, hands folded on his lap, clean shirt and trousers and all. He watches the animals cluck and waddle around with an earnest smile. The sight makes Jisoo’s heart knot.

“Hey Jiwon,” Jisoo says as she approaches him, taking her place beside him.

His head turns and he gasps, “Jisoo! It’s been a while.”

“Has it?” Jisoo chuckles lightheartedly. Has it really been that long since they’d seen each other? She’s been so distracted lately. “It definitely has been. When did your hair get so long? You need to cut it.” She pats his head of dark curly hair that coils behind his ears and curtains his forehead.

“I like it like this,” he says pompously. “It’s a style. What brings you here?”

My sister, the blunt words almost slip, but she bites her tongue. That makes it seem as if she’s only here under obligation. Although it is, in a way, an obligation. Jiwon doesn’t need to know that.

“It’s been a while, right?” Jisoo quips. The chickens cluck, heads sharp with their turns. “I heard you wander around by yourself.”

“Sometimes,” Jiwon nods, “but pushing these wheels is tough in the dirt. My strength isn’t what it used to be.”

“Sorry. I wasn’t there to help you.”

His eyebrows shoot up. “That’s nothing to be sorry about. What are you, my caretaker?” he chuckles and waves his hand, eyes flitting back to the chickens rather quickly. “Maybe I should start working out my upper body.”

Jisoo regards him for a moment. Reading him is futile because it’s impossible. Why does she try? He’s an indecipherable book with all his humor and peppiness muddling the words into gibberish. “Do you want to go on a walk right now?” she asks instead. “Since I’m here?”

His expression brightens and he claps. “Yes!”

“Such a kid,” Jisoo laughs, taking the handles of the wheelchair. With a small push, the wheels turn.

“Hey, we’re the same age!”

“Physically, but mentally?” she hums down the path. The wheelchair teeters from the few pebbles and dips.

“You’re not any older than me then.”

She frowns. Can’t really argue with that. “Whatever. Hey, do you, by chance, know what a compass is?”

“A compass? Why?”

They round a corner, the path taking more of an elevated angle, much to Jisoo’s dismay. Jiwon waves at some children running by who waves at him back. He has always been great with younger children. Jisoo just glares at them.

“No reason.”

“Then why did you ask?”

“Just because.”

Jiwon huffs but it’s more tease than frustrated. “Then I won’t tell you.”

“Do you or do you not? That’s all you have to tell me.” Jisoo shakes the wheelchair, hoping the threat that she’ll let it roll down the slope translates clear.

“I don’t know. Do I? Do I know? Do I, perhaps, have one in my house?”

“You have one in your house?” She stops them at the top of the slope where the path levels again, next to a pile of wheat. Jiwon doesn’t need to turn around for Jisoo to imagine his triumphant smirk.

“Tell me why you’re asking first.”

“I just want to know.”

“The Kim Jisoo wants to learn something? Pinch me.”

“Stop teasing me,” Jisoo whines, hitting his shoulder. He yelps dramatically and rubs the spot. “There’s your pinch.”

Jiwon laughs heartedly. “I’m convinced. Let’s go to my house.”

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Jiwon’s house is bigger than most, courtesy for housing such a large family. Connected to the porch is a wooden ramp that Jisoo pushes Jiwon upon, then through the front door and into the abode.

“No one home today?” Jisoo comments on the silence when she shuts the door behind them.

“Doing the same old same old,” Jiwon chants, taking the initiative to push his wheels. “I think Junhoe is out in the back tending to the sheep.”

The wooden floor groans as Jiwon’s wheels roll through. The ceiling and walls are decorated with several arts and crafts, ranging from drawings to pottery and intricately sewn tapestries. The dining table is situated by the window that frames the sheep pen, a boy that can only be Junhoe feeding the animals in view. Ducking through linen drapery into a small hallway, Jiwon rounds into the room to the left and Jisoo follows.

“Sorry for the mess,” Jiwon says, maneuvering around the clothes and knickknacks scattered on the floor. “Living in a room with two boys, you know how it is.”

“I’d figure they’d tidy up a bit more considering your — state,” Jisoo muses and sits on Jiwon’s bed, the only one with a frame while the two other mattresses are on the floor.

“Most days they do.” Bent over, he rummages through a crate in the corner. “This was just not one of those days. Now, where is it — ah-hah!”

He straightens up and raises a brass circular trinket, its dullness managing to shine from the sunlight through the window. He rotates his wheelchair and passes it to Jisoo. “This is a compass.”

The compass is the size of the palm of her hand. Clasped close, wear is evident as there are a few scratches and chips on the cover. With two thumbs, she opens the shell — a task made harder from the rust — to reveal a round sheet of glass, the wood underneath carved with ticks and an arrow in the middle colored red and gray. It looks exactly like what Jennie had described.

“It was my grandfather’s,” Jiwon says and taps on the glass. “I guess he was an explorer. It says N, E, S, and W which stands for the four directions as you can assume. The red end of the arrow always points to the north. If you face away,” he guides Jisoo’s hand to the right, “the arrow moves. See?”

“I see,” Jisoo hums, moving her hand everywhere to watch the arrow swivel in fascination. “Can I borrow it for a while?”

“Why?”

“To find a tree.”

“A tree?”

Jisoo nods. “A big one. I need this compass to tell me the directions.”

Jiwon is perplexed, a hint of worry and skepticism in his frown. Yet, he shrugs. “Okay. Don’t stray too far, alright? Your sister won’t like that. Don’t tell her I gave you that too if you did get into any trouble.”

Jisoo grins and engulfs the boy in a hug. “Don’t worry. I’ll find it quickly and I’ll tell you all about it.”

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After bidding Jiwon a goodbye and a good rest of the day, Jisoo makes her way to the library — not only a center for education but also the home of Gong Yoo the Elder. The brass compass spins between her fingers and snugs into her palm when caught the few times it’s tossed in the air, almost slipping out of her grasp when she arrives at the steps of the front door. She knocks on the paneled wood thrice and it gives way with impeccable timing before the fourth knock.

“Ah, Miss Kim,” the man greets, dressed in gray robes, his black bangs swept down the middle. “What brings you here in this lovely afternoon?”

The corners of Gong Yoo’s eyes crinkle with his gentle smile. It isn’t often that youths come to visit the library; there aren’t many scholars, considering education isn’t rooted too deep into their culture. Jisoo doesn’t visit often — not because of her disinterest in studying, but because of the Elder himself. He emits a strange aura, fraught and all, with his uncanny crimson eyes, a color no other Earth has. They shift and ripple, and in a certain light, Jisoo can almost catch a glimpse of the universe in them. Not too well though, given that he’s incredibly tall and she’s atrociously short.

“I’m here to pick up my medicine,” she replies. “My sister says I need to pick it up today.”

“Ah, I have it ready right here.” He reaches into his robes and pulls out a red pouch, the loop of the twine swinging from his finger. He shakes it, the soft rattles confirming the pills within it.

“Thank you.” Jisoo takes it graciously. “Joohyun said you would make it taste sweeter. You better keep your word! I could barely take it before because it was so icky.”

Gong Yoo chuckles. “If it’s not sweet to your liking, feel free to come back and I’ll make them again.”

“Do you only make them for me?”

He blinks. “No. All the children take it. It’s important for growth.”

“Oh.”

“I can’t help but ask, what do you have in your hand?”

“This?” Jisoo holds the compass up right under Gong Yoo’s nose. “It’s a compass. It tells me directions.”

“Playing adventurer now?”

“You can say that.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re showing interest in adventure. The world is a lot bigger than the human eye can perceive.”

“Okay,” Jisoo drawls and her eyes dart away from his eyes that had done the weird flash that always sends shivers down her spine. “I’ll be going now. Thank you, Elder.”

“Send Joohyun my regards.”

In the midst of the excitement that comes with being one step closer to their goal, it doesn’t cross her mind how Jiwon’s house is absent of any medicine. Maybe the boys have all grown up, and Jisoo just needs to grow a little more.

sorry for the inconsistent updates I've been busy and have been procrastinating on this so starting from next saturday it will be every saturday on !! at least one update a week you are free to flame me if i don't keep this promise ;-; and hopefully i can then get the chaelisa sequel rolling it's been long due