Chapter 3

Two months later…

            Early in the morning, long before the sun had risen, a small, seven-year old girl walked carefully through the sandy field used for martial arts lessons.  She dragged a large rake through the grains to clean the sand and make the field look tidy and fresh.  Her tired eyes focused on the sand below, and she failed to notice the tall stranger at the edge of the field.  As her tiredness overwhelmed her, she tripped over the rake and fell onto the coarse sand.

            “Minjin!”

            Minjin’s weary expression suddenly turned to fear as she saw the stranger walking towards her.  She quickly jumped to her feet and stood up straight.  Hoping not to meet the eyes of this unfamiliar person, she tilted her head downwards and stared at the ground.

            “I’m sorry, sir,” Minjin said regretfully.  “I was careless with my steps.  I should have paid more attention.”

            “Minjin-ah.”

            The stranger’s kind voice made Minjin curious, and she slowly looked up at his face.  She was surprised to see a smile on his strange, endearing face. 

            “Are you a teacher?” Minjin asked quietly.

            “I’m not a teacher,” he explained, his young, cheerful face becoming quite pale.  “I’m…a security guard.  I’m here to keep you safe.”

            “Oh.”

            Though the man seemed friendly enough, Minjin expected him to scold her at any minute.  She looked up at him again, almost hoping he’d hurry with his rebuke and leave her to finish raking the field.

            “May I ask why you’re up so early?” he questioned, looking back at the parts of the field she had already raked.

            “Oh, well…Yesterday, my sister made Mr. Lee mad again.  He said that she would have to wake up early today and rake the entire field by herself.  But she worked so hard yesterday.  I don’t know if she has enough energy to do it without any help.”

            “So you’re raking it hoping Mr. Lee will be satisfied enough to let her off the hook,” the stranger grinned warmly.  “That’s very thoughtful of you.  It’s good that you and your sister stick together here.”

            “Everything is really hard here,” Minjin sighed.  “But I think we’re learning a lot.  I already know all the alphabets, and Ms. Ko says my handwriting is really good.”

            “I’m sure you’re a very good student,” he smiled.  “Hey, can I see that?”

            Minjin reluctantly handed the stranger her rake, almost anticipating for him to smack her calves with it.  She watched in confusion as he began to walk down the field, raking the sand behind him.

            “Hey!” she called, following after him.  “What are you doing?”

            “I thought I’d help you,” he told plainly.  “You look pretty tired.  Do you mind if I help you?”

            “I guess that’s alright.”  She walked cautiously beside him, looking up at his carefree eyes.  “Sir, what is your name?”

            “Ah, I guess you’ve never met me,” he chuckled.  “My name is Youngbin.  You probably haven’t seen me around because I usually patrol when you’re sleeping.  But I’ve heard a lot of good things about you.  Are you getting along well?”

            “Sometimes it feels a bit lonely,” Minjin admitted sheepishly.  “I thought there would be other kids here, but Ms. Ko said they couldn’t come anymore.  Minseon was really angry when she heard about it.  I wish she’d control her temper better.”

            “Other kids would be better for you,” he frowned, holding the rake limply in his hands.  “But at least you’ll be able to focus on your studies.  And you both have each other, right?”

            “Yeah…We study a lot every day.  First we wake up early and practice with Mr. Lee.  And then we learn Japanese from Ms. Ko.  Sometimes Ms. Ko teaches us math, but it’s sort of weird.  And by the time we learn all of those things, we have to eat dinner and go to bed.  This isn’t like my old school.”

            “I suppose it’s very challenging for you.”

            “Yes.  But Ms. Ko says this is what smart people are supposed to learn, so I trust her.  But sometimes she’s mean.”

            “I’m sure she’s only trying to make you the best you can be,” Youngbin suggested enthusiastically.  “Just…keep working hard.  You’ll be so skilled in martial arts and foreign languages…maybe you’ll become a superhero.”

            Minjin smiled widely at his comment and looked down shyly.  “A superhero?  Do you think I could become one?”

            “Both of you can,” he assured.

            He suddenly stopped and kneeled down to her level.  “Minjin-ah, why don’t you go back to sleep?  I’ll finish raking.  And I’ll talk to Mr. Lee and see if I can make him a little easier on both of you today.”

            “What?” Minjin whispered, looking around the field in fear.  “You’ll really talk to him?  Won’t he be angry with you?”

            “It’ll be fine,” Youngbin smirked, rising up again.  “I’ll have this field raked in no time.  And hopefully, if I say the right things, Mr. Lee will be kind to you today.  Go and rest, Minjin-ah.  You’ve worked really hard already.”

            “Thank you, Mr. Youngbin,” Minjin beamed.  “I hope Mr. Lee isn’t mad at you.”

            “I hope so too,” he laughed.  “Go on.  Get some sleep.”

            “Alright.  Bye, Mr. Youngbin!”

            “Bye, Minjin-ah.”

            As he watched Minjin run towards her dorm, Youngbin’s happy grin quickly turned into a gloomy grimace.  He dragged the rake along with him and stared into the dark sky.

            “I don’t know why they’re doing this, Minjin-ah.  But I hope the two of you will come through alright.  You’re just…you’re just little children.”

Author's note: Sorry for the delay. :/ This story has been a little more difficult to form in my head.  I have the outline all done, but I want to include intresting little moments within the story to make it really good. I have big plans though. I hope you'll enjoy the next few chapters!