I'd never seen someone try to kill another human being before. Sure, I've seen fights during my previous escapades when I wandered into bars, but they never escalated beyond some punches and kicks and the charming spit in the face. I was walking with the flow of people as I made my way further into the middle of the city where all of the major events took place. Today, there was a circus from Japan. From what I've heard amongst the crowds, they are famous for death defying stunts and they've been to the farthest corners of the world. Apparently, this is only their third visit to the Busan harvest festival, the previous visit was seven years ago. There's no way I'd miss this opportunity to see them. As I made my way past some vegetable carts, the people walking in front of me abruptly stopped. There was a loud crash as two men suddenly launched over a cart, overturning it. The two bodies were entangled as they wrestled atop some very much squashed squash. They stood and faced each other, one man whipped out a dagger as he shouted, "You think you can look down on me, you bastard!"

"Why, I don't know what you mean, my friend." The older, slightly better dressed man chuckled. He seemed amused. There's nothing funny about this, right? I looked around me and no one was laughing. I noticed some guardsmen making their way towards us. Crap! I can't get involved with them. Again. I started moving around the gathered onlookers, away from the quickly approaching dozen of armed men. My attention was drawn back to the two when the man with the dagger spoke again.

"Don't think I don't know you cheated me! Give back what's mine!"

"It was never yours, I'm afraid." He smiled even as the now enraged farmer lunged forward, raising his blade above his head. I gasped and turned away.

While I elbowed my way through the crowd, I quickened my pace. I can't be seen, I can't be seen. I heard a grunt from behind me and a yell from a guard. Briefly, I glanced back to see the man with the dagger pinned to the ground, blood dripping from his head. The other man was seemingly untouched, standing beside the guards with his arms folded, and......he was smirking and shaking his greying head. It was as if he was disapproving a child's behavior.

Deciding not to think of the terrifying situation anymore, I returned my focus to navigating my way through the swarms of people. Just going to the circus. Don't mind them. Keep walking, Hongbin. Go see the elephants or tigers or whatever. Finally, I caught sight of people in bright and tightfitting costumes. A small woman in red was suddenly flying in the air, flipping backwards elegantly one, two, three times before falling back down to waiting arms below. Excited, I picked up my pace to a slow jog, dodging people left and right.

At the city center, there's a statue of the mayor made of a dark granite in the middle of a circular, open area. Surrounding the statue, the ground is made of light cobblestones, and the closest buildings are approximately thirty feet away. The usually busy city center was now completely packed with people, all watching the Japanese circus acrobats in the middle of their act. At the moment, one acrobat sat atop the shoulders of another, holding a hoop above her head. I watched in awe as a male acrobat ran towards the hoop. A cartwheel and a backward handspring later, he was flying through the hoop's center. Perfectly.

The crowd cheered merrily. Cheering and laughing along with them, I watched on as the acrobats flew higher and higher. Then, they created the tallest human pyramid I'd ever seen. I wonder what it's like at the top. After the pyramid, the acrobats took their bow and directed our attention to the next act. Elephants. Huge elephants. I never really thought about how beautiful elephants could be. They were so expressive, flapping their ears, shaking and nodding their heads, raising their snake-like trunks in the air, and opening and closing their mouths. They seemed to smile. So, I smiled back at them. While I was watching the majestic creatures, I didn't hear one of the handlers ask for a volunteer from the audience. Suddenly, everyone around me had their arms up and they elbowed their way forward. I stumbled back as people pushed off of me to propel themselves to the front. Within mere moments, I was all the way in the back and I couldn't see a damn thing as people cheered and waved their arms. I sighed as I walked along the edge of the audience, trying to find an opening. Hoping to at least have a somewhat good view, I headed towards the other side of the city center where the circus wasn't facing and where there was less people. I almost reached my desired spot when suddenly there was a hand covering my mouth and I was dragged away, kicking and thrashing, to an alley by the rather large man.

When the mystery man covering my mouth shoved me forward, I stumbled down to my knees. When I looked up, there were two other men in front of me. They looked rather bored and uninterested as they seemed more fascinated by their hands or shoes. My breath hitched when I saw that they both had daggers. I stood up and looked behind me to see the muscular man that dragged me here. He too had a knife. He folded his arms and stood firm, daring me to try to escape. Glancing between the big guy and the other two who had me trapped here, I shifted my feet nervously, my breathing becoming faster.

"Wh-what do you want?"

"Just be quiet, don't move, and wait." One of the other two, a rather short man with a mustache, said in an annoyed manner. Not wanting to annoy him further, I didn't say another word. I looked around me for any sort of weapon or escape route. There was a window, but it was boarded up and a little too high anyways. As for weapons, there was an empty, rotting barrel, an old shoe, and a broken crate. Realizing there is no way out and no weapons available, I looked back and forth at my captors. I don't stand a chance. . . ! After a tense minute or two of watching their every move, afraid of what they were going to do, another man walked around the corner behind the big guy. Wait a minute....isn't that?.....

The smiling man from the fight that seemed so long ago was now smiling at me.

"This him?" the big guy asked. Smiley merely hummed in confirmation. My breathing became even more stressed. He saw me? What does he want from me? I don't stand out, do I?

Smiley walked towards me, bringing his hand up reaching towards my neck. With wide eyes, I backed away only to be met with two pairs of hands seizing my arms, immobilizing me. "Wh-wh-wha-"

He grabbed not my neck but something dangling on a silver chain around my neck. Crap. I forgot to hide it. The pendant I was wearing is a treasure of mine. A gift from my mother before she passed away. Made of silver, it's in the shape of a shield. The top left and bottom right depict orchid flowers, while the other two sections depict lion heads. And at the very top is a scale. On my pendant is the Lee family's, my family's, crest. It's a symbol that belongs to the Lee family, and it appears on all of the company's official documents. Only close friends and family members hold the crest in the form of a pendant.

"Now, how does a young man such as yourself have the Lee family crest around his neck? You don't look like a close business friend of Mr. Lee. Perhaps, a family member? Hmmmm, I know Mr. Lee doesn't have any brothers or sisters, so not a nephew." I looked away from his eyes as if that would stop him from figuring it out. I didn't want to see it. The realization of my identity. The only son of Mr. Lee and the heir to the Lee Trading Company, Lee Hongbin. I don't want to be. I don't want to be Lee Hongbin.

"About the right age,"