The majestic sounds of the forest wildlife were overwhelmingly drowned out by the resounding pleas coming from a large group of frantic soldiers. “Crowned Prince, where are you?!” repeated each of the soldiers intermittently.

Despite their efforts, there was absolutely no response from the Crowned Prince, nor any sign of him anywhere.

Moving cautiously towards the edge of a shallow lush ravine, a haggard looking solider asked his squad leader with a tone of trepidation, “Sir, could the Crowned Prince have fallen down there?”

Trying his best to mask his uneasiness, the squad leader shook his head and ordered loudly, “Stop that nonsense! The Crowned Prince wouldn’t meet with such a tragic end; we need to keep searching and find him before nightfall!”

Unbeknownst to the search party, the Crowned Prince was actually lying wounded and unconscious at the bottom of that very same ravine. Several hours had passed before there was any sign of movement from the Crowned Prince.

As his eyes fluttered open, Crowned Prince Lee Min Ho looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings and gasped as a sharp pain jolted through his left leg. Having never experienced such pain, he yelped loudly and instinctively reached for the long bloody gash on his shin.

“Are you okay?” asked a concerned doe-eyed young girl.

Finding her question completely inane, Min Ho asked gruffly, “Do I look like I’m okay?”

The young girl took Min Ho’s ill-temper in stride and approached him without responding. She knelt down beside him and examined his wound carefully. After a few moments of silence, the young girl removed the woven basket that was strapped to her back and took out a small leather exterior liquid container. She tilted the container over a cream colored cloth and stopped only after the fabric was thoroughly saturated with water.

“This is going to hurt, so I’d suggest that you hold onto something” instructed the young girl as she moved to clean the blood around Min Ho’s wound.

Min Ho looked at the young girl’s face and estimated that she was about his age or perhaps a little younger. Thinking that it was unlikely that a fourteen or fifteen year old could properly tend to his serious injury, Min Ho quickly blocked access to his wound with both hands.

“What do you think that you are doing?” he asked incredulously.

Looking visibly annoyed, the young girl swatted away his hands and proceeded to clean his wound. Min Ho writhed in pain as she continued about her work.

Finding the pain unbearable, he grabbed a hold of the young girl’s course hanbok.

When all of the dried blood had been cleaned away, the young girl looked over at Min Ho and said, “I’m done, you can let go of my hanbok and stop crying now.”

“Who says I’m crying” asked Min Ho as he quickly wiped away the tears from his face.

The young girl’s lips inched upwards into a slight smile as she asked jokingly, “should I have asked you to stop weeping now?” Seeing that Min Ho was about to protest, the young girl quickly continued to say, “The wound is clean now; so I’m going to apply something to help with the pain.”

“What are you going to apply?” asked Min Ho as he eyed the young girl apprehensively.

Seeing Min Ho’s silk hanbok and slightly gaudy jade pendant, the young girl replied knowingly, “You won’t like it.”

“Then don’t do it” ordered Min Ho resolutely.

Shrugging her shoulders, the young girl simply pointed at Min Ho’s leg and said, “The pain will get worse.”

As Min Ho contemplated his options; the young girl walked back over to her woven basket, rummaged around and pulled out a few branches of an herbal analgesic she had gathered earlier in the day. She carefully pulled the leaves off and placed them in . Once she had chewed the leaves into a pulp, the young girl spit the contents onto another clean cloth and walked back over to Min Ho.

“So what’d you decide?” asked the young girl as she kept her arms folded behind her back to ensure that it was not visible to Min Ho.

Unsure whether he could handle any more pain, Min Ho looked at the young girl and inquired anxiously, “Isn’t there any other option?”

“Yes, I’m sure there’s another option” replied the young girl confidently.

Min Ho’s eyes widened with relief before he asked inquisitively, “What is it?”

“You can just die; then there will be no pain” replied the young girl without batting an eyelash.

Incredulous, Min Ho bellowed loudly, “YA! How dare you say that to me! Do you know who I am?!”

“You’re a big crybaby” replied the young girl before she quickly placed the herbal analgesic onto his wound.

After the initial stinging subsided, Min Ho could feel the intense pain in his leg slightly lessen. Although, he knew that the young girl had been of invaluable assistance to him, Min Ho had never felt such insolence in his whole life.

Without thanking the young girl for her help, Min Ho stated curtly, “YA! If I get an infection from your gross spit…”

Interrupting him mid-sentence, the young girl said, “My name is Park Shin Hye; so stop saying “Ya!” when you address me.” Seeing that Min Ho was going to continue to be stubborn, Shin Hye continued to say, “My father will be here soon and he’ll be able to take you back to our house to treat your wounds better. I’m just learning right now; but I think the analgesic will continue to help with your pain.”

Min Ho looked up at Shin Hye and quietly muttered his thanks before averting his eyes away from her face.

Shin Hye rolled her eyes at his childishness and took a seat beside him. As she readjusted the cloth on his wound, Shin Hye asked, “What’s your name?”

“Lee Min Ho” he answered thinking that Shin Hye would soon cower once she heard his name. When she did not react at all, Min Ho asked, “Does that name mean nothing to you?”

Shin Hye thought for a moment before she said, “Not really; but I do think your parents might have misnamed you, I mean really ‘brightness and goodness’…”

“Why you…” Min Ho began to say before he saw a tall, well-built man approach them.

Looking towards Shin Hye, the man asked, “What’s going on here?”

“Father, he’s injured and I don’t think he can move on his own” replied Shin Hye as she stood up and walked over to her father’s side.

After acknowledging the information, Shin Hye’s father looked at Min Ho and said, “I’m going to set your leg so it’s not injured more when we move you.”

Min Ho readily agreed to the plan and was thankful to receive the help.

Once he had set Min Ho’s leg securely in a makeshift brace, Shin Hye’s father carefully picked him up and walked steadily along the dirt pathway.

Min Ho watched Shin Hye run back to the spot where he had hurt himself and pick up his shoe. Seeing that she was at least attentive of his belongings, Min Ho decided that he would not have her punished on the racks as he had initially intended.

After catching up to them, Shin Hye looked at Min Ho and smiled as she showed him his shoe before placing it into the satchel that was strung across her shoulder.

Min Ho reciprocated the gesture with a bright smile but quickly readjusted his expression when their eyes met.

Shin Hye chuckled upon seeing Min Ho feign indifference and noted quietly “This will definitely be an interesting next few days.”