Yesteryear

On the Forum Romanum

Wooyoung found the forum half an hour after he complained about when hats became a thing because his nape would get sunburn again. At least, Babylon's sun hours had prepared him well to match with the tanned Romans that flitted around him in their daily lives. While the hustle of the metropolis was similar to the workers of Babylon that had whizzed past Wooyoung like busy bees, both cities created a unique atmosphere. Where Babylon had seemed like a work in process, as if there had been always something to do, always the push to reach out closer to perfection, Rome basked in its supposedly finished glory. Yet, at the same time as the rich upper class laid back in their litters and got carried around purely for sightseeing, as a modern person would do by taking a walk, the slaves worked twice as hard. Compared to Babylon, most of them wore chains somewhere on their bodies that dragged heavily over the ground by their dirtied feet. Sullenness and empty gazes identified their faces even when their partly naked and dirtied bodies disappeared in the crowd.

As an empath, Wooyoung found it easy to detect the anger and humiliation in their eyes. Behind the submissive veil of emptiness laid range, brooding and hot. He prayed Yunho would be different and that Wooyoung wouldn't have to fear waking up at night to find the dominus of the house with his guts spilt throughout the foyer.

After another while of wandering the massive city Rome had already become, Wooyoung finally reached the forum. He had visited it in the present and in the past already, but it never failed to amaze him how well it had withstood the decay of time. The tall pillars that had once carried the town hall on which steps Seneca would laze on in a few years still stood upright in the future, even if the stone had become brittle and broken off. Seeing the full glory of the lofty buildings and the decorative statues and fountains in their original splendour took away Wooyoung's speech yet again. The building he spotted to the left would barely get touched by the ages. In modern times, it sold ice cream, the best Wooyoung had ever tasted.

Wooyoung wandered the edges of the people-filled area. He found a few people idling around on the stairs that surrounded the political buildings from all sides. When he asked them about Linus, they told him the same he already knew and vaguely pointed in the hill's direction.

If names and bells on doors were already a thing, Wooyoung would have loved to spend his time trying to find the right house. Alas, he had to ask around some more to find a better lead.

Wooyoung dropped into multiple inns on his search for someone with better information. He gradually closed in on the hill in question and some answers were more direct (he had to look out for the crossroad behind the blacksmith) others fuelled his confusion since there was not just one man in Rome with the name Linus.

For dinner, Wooyoung bought some bread and meat that he could enjoy outside. If the river hadn't been so far, he would have liked to stroll alongside it. For this term, however, Wooyoung was dead focused on his task. Not only the fact that this was his second visit ended in a lack of reactions. He had also learned enough about Rome that the initial wonder and amazement had long since disappeared. He loved the city for its heritage and the stories it had to tell, but Wooyoung had visited too many cultures and people that had suffered under the Roman Empire to be too fond of it. All stories had two sides to tell them from, and the one Wooyoung had learnt in school had contradicted with his profound studies.

Seated on the rim of a fountain, Wooyoung enjoyed the cool breeze of the water splashing behind him. He watched people milling around to stop for talks or rest in the shadows before they continued their courses. The hunched backs of old men mixed with the elegant forms of young wives led around by their husbands as they regarded jewellery they liked together.

Wooyoung munched on his food while the sun set behind the hills. The pillars of the city threw distorted shadows on the ground and gradually, the streets emptied as everybody left to either sleep or drink the night away.