He was suddenly awakened by a gentle voice. It was familiar to him. First Taehyung startled, then realized that the room he was in was not his home. He sat up slowly and noticed that it was a nice and warm room and the mattress under his body was way too soft and smelled of lavender.

“Sh... you do not need to be afraid.”, Seung-gi soothed the little boy, “It is me, the officer from the bazaar, Seung-gi. Do you remember?”

Taehyung nodded in surprise. Of course, he did. He would never forget a person that bought him two Odeng and who had given him a great number of coins. Of course, he recognized the nice friend of his father. Taehyung yawned once or twice because he had not slept well. He always kept the officer in the eye.

“You will have to live here from now on.”, Seung-gi explained out of the blue.

But why? What was happening? Taehyung did not understand.

“What about my father?”, the little boy asked a little scared and confused, “I thought you wanted to surprise him… I did not tell him about you yet…”

There was a short silence. The officer seemed to be thinking about something.

“Well, the thing is... Your father... Park Yoochun has been arrested.”, replied Seung-gi with an imposed smile, which should probably calm the boy down, and he continued with a clearing his throat, “Do not be sad, your father was just a bad person. He must atone for his deeds.”

Now the boy was even more confused than before.

“But you are his friend, are you not?”, Taehyung asked stunned.

Again, there was a short silence. Seung-gi seemed to be a little overwhelmed with the situation. Children were not his kind of thing.

“Oh, that was a lie. I just said that so that you lead me to your home. I am not friends with him.”, Seung-gi admitted, “On the contrary. I am an officer and guardian of Gongju, and I have been looking for your father for about five years now. Do not be sad, alright?”

That now explained why Yoochun had warned Taehyung about taking a big bow when he was ever to come across an officer. So, his awful father was wanted after all. The little boy knew that what he made him do and the way he scolded him was wrong in many ways.

Taehyung looked at the officer with a smile and said happily: “I am not sad. No, I am glad you set me free. I absolutely hate him.”

Seung-gi opened his eyes wide in amazement. He crossed his arms and shook his head.

“When I met you at the bazaar, I led you home with the hope, that you would help me get away from that place. But when you told me that you were my father’s friend all hope of mine was crushed.”, the little boy continued and smiled with a sad expression, “So, if you had told me that you wanted to arrest him, I would have not had a second thought about it at all.”

Seung-gi was now completely curious about Taehyung.

“Why do you hate him? He is your father...”, he wanted to know.

Of course, the officer was aware that Yoochun was not the boy's father, but the little one did not know about, so he could not tell him yet. Taehyung grinned brightly because he noticed how curious the officer became. He enjoyed the attention and made him wait a moment on purpose.

“Well, he never showed me fatherly love. He was never paternal to me”, Taehyung began to tell sadly, “When you asked me why I had all these bruises that cover my whole body I was so ashamed. So, I lied to you. It was his doing. That is why I feel good about him being arrested. He cannot hurt me anymore and I do not have to steal from other people ever again, right?”

The answer made Seung-gi's eyes all watery. He felt sorry for the boy. It was written all over his face. The officer was sure that Yoochun never married and had no illegitimate children, since he was not allowed to do so. None of the fighters of the Black Army were allowed to form families or have children. It would cause an issue for some to send their own kids into a fight or a warzone, because most of the children they abducted were sent off and these children mostly died or got arrested. The fighters of the Black Army were allowed to kidnap children and use them for their own purposes, train them to fight or pass them along. With these children they had not a bond and no compassion. Seung-gi was sure that Taehyung was one of these abducted children. Many of the kidnapped children never turned up for the time being. Nearly everyone of them got their memories rewritten and they were brought up until they became a member of the Black Army by a ritual only known to them. They were raised to become hateful and vindictive fighters. Only when they became fit for combat, they reappeared and attacked their once kingdom. Probably Taehyung would have gone through the same as all the other children, but luckily, he had come across this officer the other day. Yoochun certainly would have brought him to their leader, who to this day had not been exposed.

“Are my words implausible?”, the little boy pulled him out of his thoughts and yawned again, “You keep silent….”

Seung-gi shook hi