It is the medieval times. In the Choi Kingdom there are only three classes. There are the Royals, Lords, or Peasants. The peasants mostly are the ones who are very poor and live off of their Lords land to have a decent living. Jiyong who has been a servant all of his life knows nothing but serving his Lord and Lady. 

 

The Lord that he serves is Yang Suk. He is a famous scholar of the lands and spends countless hours writing and researching different topics. Often times Yang has to travel and during those times he would be gone for months and sometimes a year depends on how far his research takes him. 

 

The Lady of the house is Gummy. She married to Yang at the young age of sixteen...which is very common during those times. They had two children from the marriage...who are two daughters Cherin and Minzy. They are close in age but most of the time they can't stand each other. Minzy who is the youngest always tends to be a brat. She is not a favorite when it comes to the servants because sometimes for fun she would mess with them knowing they would get in trouble. Little did she know that those tricks would risk lives with countless lashes for every fault. Cherin who is a secret friend of Jiyong is always easy going. 

 

So far Jiyong has not had many lashes in his life. He works in the library of his Lord's quarters. Jiyong is in charge of making sure that all of the books are neat and put away when the room gets a mess. It is forbidden for servants to read works of scholars and many have been put to death because of it. Jiyong who doesn't have much to lose has read all of the books in the library from cover to cover plus many other works of novels and books of previous scholars. 

 

How he taught himself to read was not an easy task. He had to sneak and listen to Minzy and Cherin's lessons to try to copy the hangul in the dirt outside of their classroom. Jiyong has risked much but he is never in much danger. Jiyong is the type of person where people would never guess he would do such a thing...which is something that comes in handy

 

He does what he is told. He never questions and if something wrong happens he will take the blame even though most of the time it is never his fault. Jiyong doesn't like being a servant, but in this society there is not much choice. He is not alone though....he has his family who lives in a small hut on the property followed by his childhood friends who were also born into the same life. Most of the servants live on the property so everyone has know each other for years. 

 

His best friends Youngbae followed by his best friend's little brother Seungri. They have always stuck by each other through thick and thin.  YoungBae's family has always worked in the fields and tended to the lands making them dark and always dirty. Jiyong's  father works the land too also his older sister Dami who always dreams of a handsome man walking through. They all work the field and also tend to their Lord, Lady, and young masters. This life is not ideal....but it's life....