(Little Eric grinned, pinky still joined tightly with the other’s, as he exclaimed “Friends forever!”)

Eric was eight when they moved to a small house in an obscure town deep into the countryside.

Eric wasn’t too happy of his parents’ decision—neither were his two sisters—but they seemed too excited of living somewhere amongst peace and quiet, far away from the hustle and bustle of a city, somewhere relaxing and refreshing with clean air. Eric wanted to ask what was so good about a dingy house in the middle of nowhere that he had to leave all his friends behind.

Eric sulked as his parents moved all their things inside the moving van, Eric continued to sulk throughout the ride there, and even when they arrived he still sulked. His parents decided to let him stew for a while, going in and out of the house moving each and every one of their belongings, and his sisters were too busy exploring the place to really care about their pouting brother.

Eventually though, Eric’s mom was finally getting sick of looking at Eric sitting on the couch with a prominent scowl on his face, so she sent (forced) him outside to play and explore.

Eric kicked a pebble as he wandered into a forested area. Frowning as he continued to kick said pebble into whatever direction it went. Eric was in too much of a terrible mood to look at where he was going. Only when he kicked his pebble into a small stream did Eric snap his attention back to reality.

Eric blinked, drinking in the sight of a small stream rushing with clear water. He turned his right, and then slowly turned it left, taking in the sight of the trees that flanked him in every possible direction. After a while though, the realization finally sunk in. He was hopelessly lost.

So he did what any other eight-year-old would do when they were lost. He cried for help.

Eric started to wail, tears spilling and wetting the sides of his chubby cheeks. He cried for help, for his mom, for his dad, for anyone to come and take him home. He was starting to panic, however, when minutes of crying did not bring out his parents or any adult that came to save him. He was starting to get tired of crying too.

Another few minutes and his crying was eventually reduced to hiccups and light sniffles. He plopped himself on the ground and began wiping his face with his hands, still sniffling lightly. He was scared. He wanted to back home. He wanted his mom.

He was still sniffling when he heard a rustle from the nearby shrubbery. He immediately tensed, eyes going wide as he watched the shrubs move. What if it was a wild animal? What if it wanted to eat him? Eric didn’t want to be animal food!

Much to Eric’s relief, it wasn’t an animal that came out, rather, it was a small boy around his age. He was slightly smaller than him in build, but the various scratches and bandages plastered on any visible skin told Eric this boy wasn’t one to mess with. He looked at Eric with surprise, curiosity taking over his child-like face.

“Were you the one crying?” the boy asked, head tilting slightly to the side.

Eric held back a sniffle. He didn’t like crying around someone his own age, but if the boy can help him get home, then Eric was willing to swallow his pride for once. “Yeah, I got lost and I don’t know what to do.”

The boy seemed to contemplate Eric’s statement for a while, brows creasing in thought. “Are you new around here?”

“Yeah,” Eric nodded, “I just got here today.”

“Oh so that’s why,” the boy exclaimed, as if he just solved one of the world’s greatest mysteries, “Everyone knows about this place and how to get back. But since you’re new, I guess you don’t know how to go back. Do you want me to take you back?”

Eric immediately stood up and dusted his pants. “Yes, please.”

The boy raised a brow slightly at the action. “Okay…just follow me, okay? Try not to get lost again!”

With that, the boy disappeared once again into the shrubbery, Eric quickly tailing behind him. The boy was fast, maneuvering through the forest with ease as if he was born to do so from the start. Eric tried to focus more on trying to keep up with the boy’s pace, but he couldn’t help but ogle in awe at the boy. He was light and agile, much like a forest cat that Eric once watched in a documentary, the boy even looked as if he belonged among dense trees and thick undergrowth.

A few minutes later they came to a halt, Eric panting for breath as he stopped next to the boy, and the boy raised a finger towards an off-white house that sat just at the edge of the forest. “Is this your house?”

Eric stopped trying to catch his breath as he looked at where the boy was pointing. His eyes widened as a grin threatened to split his face in two. It was his home! The boy had managed to take him back home!

“Thank you!” Eric turned to the boy, smiling widely, “By the way, what’s your name?”

“Pilgyo,” the boy—Pilgyo—answered simply, “And you?”

“Junghyuk, it’s nice to meet you, Pilgyo,” Eric remembered what his mother had taught him and bowed towards Pilgyo.

Pilgyo, apparently taken aback by the bow, bowed back rather clumsily and sheepishly mumbled, “It’s nice to meet you too.”

“You should come inside!” Eric continued, “I want my mom to see that I’ve already met someone new!”

Pilgyo looked skeptical, “I don’t know…”

“It’ll only take a few minutes,” Eric assured, “And I think I have some leftover cookies, we can share them!”

Pilgyo still looked skeptical, but after a few seconds of reconsidering, he finally nodded. “Okay, just a few minutes.”

Eric grinned once again, grabbing hold of Pilgyo’s hand as he dragged the other boy into his house. “Great! My mom’s cookies are the best, you’re going to really like them!”

---x---

Even months after their first meeting, when Eric was already used to the area and knew how to get to the stream and back home, he still went over to the stream, sat down, cried out for help, and waited patiently as an annoyed looking Pilgyo appeared from behind the bushes.

“Can’t you think of another way to find me?” Pilgyo said irately as he was dragged away by Eric to God knows where.

“It’s more fun this way,” Eric shrugged, “And besides, I don’t know where you live.”

“You can just ask.”

“Where’s the fun in that?”

Pilgyo sputtered, apparently too annoyed to try to reason with Eric, and settled with glaring at the back of Eric’s head. Eric paid it no mind, however, as he hauled Pilgyo off to a clearing near the stream, a favorite hangout spot of theirs.

“So,” Pilgyo huffed, settling down on a tree stump, “What’s so important that you dragged me off just like that?”

“I’m moving.”

Pilgyo froze, eyes looking up and fixing their stare on Eric’s face, trying to see if his friend was just trying to mess with him, like he always does. “Are you…” Pilgyo gulped, face going pale, “Are you serious?”

Eric nodded glumly. “Yeah, we’re moving next week. We’re already packing up our stuff.”

“But…” Pilgyo stood up, feet wobbling as he walked over to Eric, “But you just got here a few months ago. You just started school and—and I haven’t even shown you my secret place yet.”

Eric looked down to his feet, unable to meet Pilgyo’s eyes. Over the past few months the both of them had gotten close. Eric would even dare say that Pilgyo was the best friend he ever had in his life. Even if they liked to make fun of each other on a daily basis, Eric had the best of his life with him. Wherever Pilgyo was, Eric was sure to not be too far behind. That was basically how close they were. It hurt Eric as much as it did Pilgyo to move away from him.

“B-but…” Pilgyo stammered, eyes starting to brim with unshed tears as his face reddens, “That’s not fair, Junghyuk.”

Eric was taken aback, through the months of knowing Pilgyo, he has never seen the boy even close to crying. He decided then that he didn’t like a crying Pilgyo. Eric sniffed to keep his own tears at bay, “I don’t like either, but I can’t do anything about it.”

Pilgyo was starting to tremble violently as tears silently rolled down his face. Eric was really starting to panic, Pilgyo looked so incredibly upset, but Eric had no idea how to calm him down. Eric was just about to give up and start crying himself when Pilgyo suddenly grabbed him by the arm and proceeded to drag him off somewhere.

“Wait—” Eric stumbled, “Where are you taking me?”

“You’ll see!”

So Eric decided to keep quiet and watch as Pilgyo dragged him off somewhere. Eric noticed the skin of his arms were bare from any bandages and only faints scars remain of the scratches he had previously seen on him. Pilgyo had tamed since Eric’s arrival. When Eric first saw him he was like a panther, wild and untamable, but now, he was much more docile and less inclined to injure himself with Eric around as he has to wait up for the other to catch up with him whenever they play in the forest. Eric thought he found the change touching.

They finally arrived at another clearing not much different than the one they were in, only there were big clumps of rock to one side and a slight downhill slope opposite to it. Pilgyo pulled him along to the clumps of rock, wedging himself between a gap that Eric hadn’t took notice of. When Eric finally slid himself free from the gap, he felt his breath get taken away as he took in the sight before him.

The big clumps of rock turned out to be a small cavern, a pool of water took up a majority of the floor, and there was a hole where the sun could seep in and reflect off the clean, crystalline water.  It was an image that looked like it walked straight out of a painting.

“Hey Junghyuk,” Eric was shaken out of his mesmerized trance when he heard his friend speak up.

“Yeah?”

“Remember when I said I wanted to be a singer?”

Eric did remember, but Eric couldn’t contain the puzzlement that spilled over his face at Pilgyo’s sudden question. “Yeah…why?”

“When I grow up,” Pilgyo said, releasing Eric’s hand as he walked over to sit by the water’s edge, “I'm going to be a singer, then I’ll have my face all over TV so you can find me. Then we'd meet each other again.”

“You don’t need to do that,” Eric scoffed, taking a seat next to his friend, “We can just send letters to each other. I’ll ask for your address before you leave.”

Pilgyo looked at Eric as if he didn’t believe would actually remember to do that, but went back to look over the pool, deciding that arguing with Eric will amount to nothing.

Noting that his friend had decided to keep silent, Eric sighed, “Then…then I’ll study to be a manager, so I can be yours and we can work together.”

Pilgyo’s eyes twinkled as he looked back over at Eric, “Really?”

Eric nodded, though not exactly sure if he could actually do it, “Really.”

“Promise?”

Eric didn’t know if he could promise that. But the hopeful look on Pilgyo’s face made him unable to say no to the other boy. So he nodded and said, “Promise.”

“Pinky promise,” Pilgyo held up his right pinky. “Pinky promise me that you’ll be my manager.”

Eric warily circled Pilgyo’s pinky with his own as he recited his promise.

“And,” Pilgyo paused, face heating up as he felt embarrassment wash over him, “And that you’ll be my friend forever and ever.”

Eric was a little startled by the sudden exclamation, but the surprise subsided and was replaced by a warm feeling in his chest. Little Eric grinned, pinky still joined tightly with the other’s, as he exclaimed “Friends forever!”

---x---

They spent the next week constantly being in each other’s presence, separating only to go to their respective homes. When Eric finally moved, he realized that he really did forget to ask Pilgyo for his address, and wouldn’t stop crying for hours after his realization.

And now, twenty years later, Eric still remembered the wild little boy of his childhood.

Eric worked as a manager for a famous entertainment agency, having jumped between agencies multiple times in his career, and was quite known for his innate ability of following perfectly following whatever schedule and for keeping perfect control of his charge and any sort of situations.

That reputation was how he managed to land himself a job as the manager of a recently up-and-coming solo singer, Shin Hyesung.

Shin Hyesung had been the talk of the entire nation for the past year, having made a comeback that shook the nation to take notice of him. Having debuted the year prior to his uproarious comeback, Shin Hyesung specialized mostly in ballads, but his great vocal skills were applicable to any genre of music. He had this refined air about him that almost seemed princely. What was it that the fans called him? Ah yes, ‘Little Prince’. It actually suited his graceful image. Eric was actually quite a fan of him and his music.