The fact that Hero had left the book for me made me want to keep it’s existence a secret. As strange as it might seem, but everything related to Hero bound itself to a pact of silence. Nothing could hear even a whisper of what was forbidden to everyone and that forbidden being could not even cry out for attention. I could not comprehend what I was as of now – the ignorant person outside or the person tied to his clandestine world.

The moment I reached home, ready to ascend the staircases to my room, my senses caught the waft of Boa-brewed coffee. I smiled to myself and skipped to the kitchen, making Boa smile as I beamed at her.

“You need to watch your caffeine intake, young lady,” Boa teased, handing me a mug and the little pot of sugar shaped like a heart. The real one, not the pretty Valentine’s mascot.

“I’m tired,” I justified, stirring one teaspoon of the sweet white crystals into the dark liquid, taking in a deep breath of the fragrance, followed by a careful sip. I hummed the sound of approval, trudging up the steps as Boa chuckled at me.

“Key left you something!”

I froze on the stairway, blinking at the ground, waiting for the next sentence with dread.

“It’s a pretty parcel, lying on your bed.”

I sighed in relief, feeling a bit guilty at my expectation of a sneaky aunt. Boa would never touch my things and even if she would, I realized she had every right to do so. She owed me a lot more than one lifetime could compensate and giving me my fair share of privacy was one of the things that made me love her too fast.

Nevertheless, I was happy that she couldn’t read my mind. After the events of the past few weeks, a parcel from Key was going to be anything but a Hallmarks musical card.  

I swung open the door to my bedroom, breathing out content as I threw myself on my diwan. It was something Key had sold to Boa during one of her many discounted buys, a thought that made me wonder if the latter was happy about my new friend just because I had company that extended beyond Yoona.

Yoona, I thought. I hadn’t seen her in a while. The function had been postponed and it seemed like it had a lot to do with the Arthurs than the fact that we were unprepared. Key’s words appeared in my head, words about it being strange how five young men could hold so much authority in such a disciplined and clean town. My decision was set and I lifted myself off my bed, removing the obese book from my cupboard. Yunho and Boa knew better than to look around my underwear drawer.

“Kim Jaejoong,” I muttered to myself. “You must have had a LOT of time to actually write all this down.” I sighed and opened the book, thanking the Almighty upon the appearance of an index.

“Geography, etymology, population, culture…” I skimmed through the topics and clicked my tongue. Nothing I didn’t already know, nothing that was useful. Things certainly had changed since circa 1845, that was for sure. I wondered whether Hero knew I was snooping around for clues to Yoona’s secret or whether he was being extra-kind upon seeing me absorb myself in the history section of The Forbidden Fruit. Finally, I found the topic I wanted and skipped to the respective page.

“Administration.” I smiled to myself in excitement and sat on the chair. I switched on the table lamp and pulled open the curtains. Too impatient to grab the cloth napkin in the bathroom, I used my hands to dust off the pages and ignored the dirt on my palms. After a second of thinking, I flipped open a notepad I had bought to note down reminders, using it to make notes of my new discovery.

‘Verdelann’s administration is seen as the epitome of not only countryside politics but urban settlements too. With the onset of threats against human labour called machines and advanced technology, Verdelann is admired by foreigners and locals alike for maintaining uniformity within the town council and the various communities residing here. Verdelann does not allow the implementations of new and dictatorial forces upon their simple inhabitants, this unspoken law being credited to the town heads.

Verdelann’s centre lies in the core strength of five families. Their mansion sitting atop a cliff overlooking the pristine blue ocean, Verdelann’s five heads came together when they found tribes inhabiting the small peninsula without knowing how to make full use of it’s resources. The families’ leadership and ambition not only lead to the creation of a new state but the entry of a system that would prove to fascinate societies around the world.”

“I already know this.” I let out a sigh and closed my eyes, opening them wide then flipping through volumes of pages with impatience. I pounced upon an interesting heading and decided to read the next few paragraphs.

“The most famous event that spanned in the history of Verdelann and the world is the strong rebuttal of the Cosa Nostra, a criminal syndicate that began spreading it’s influence from Sicily to the Americas around the same time that the five families solidified the foundation of Verdelann. Banditry was common among the growing Mafia, but like all records confirm, the Mafia wanted to settle into Verdelann by winning the hearts of the citizens. The Mafia heads believed that since Verdelann was a town, it would be following the system of primogeniture just like the others, ignorant of the fact that the residents of Verdelann were more than content with their laws, none of them to do with primogeniture. When the Mafia could find no reason to local supporters, they followed suit with an ambush that was successfully overpowered by the five families. Following this surprising turn of events, no other foreign element has attempted to intrude on Verdelann.”

A few paragraphs I caught a word that sunk me inside the book. As I grasped the meaning of the words, it seemed more ridiculous. But the more ridiculous it seemed, the more I felt a strange sort of comfort. My eyes widened as I read about locals narrating sights of the five heads fighting alone against the gun toting army, moving at ‘the speed of lightning’ with the ‘strength of Goliath’. I read about how their sense of clothing was ‘funny’ and almost bordering on ‘abnormal’. How they had initiated a culture that find their norms on being deviant.

I realized now why the legacy of calling Hero and his friends Arthurs persisted. Recalling a quote I had read on the interet, ‘When legends die, dreams end; there is no more greatness’, I enlightened myself on the fact that the people of Verdelann found their strength in the Arthurs. Reading further, I realized that the distant yet familial feeling that Hero’s ancestors had given to Verdelann worked in making them so powerful. Key could feel disgusted by their power as much as he wanted, but the fact that he kept his thoughts to himself was proof of the fact that he too respected them, at least somewhat.

I sighed and shook my head. But just before I could close the book, something caught my eye. A small leaflet limply hanging from the ends of the last pages, I took a pencil and carefully unfolded it. What would have taken a matter of seconds took me minutes as I was hesitant, hoping that I wouldn’t leave anything from this historic matter in crumbles.

“What on earth…” I narrowed my eyes as I recognized an old scripture. I shook my head and mentally thanked Dad for insisting that I learn the ancient script alongside English.

A small gift in gratitude for your hospitality. As much as it would have been wonderful to continue this friendship, we both are fully aware of the works of the universe. – HJ

“Sweet note,” I muttered to myself. I paused, then continued to unravel the ‘gift’ Mr. HJ had given. I wished I hadn’t.

For inside the leaflet was a sketch. A beautiful charcoal sketch, a sketch whose model could not have been anyone other than Hero himself.