Forgotten Love

Chapter 3

The rain was pouring down heavily. I sipped on my coffee whilst staring at my laptop, specifically his name.

Lee Yeong.

"Crown Prince Hyomyeong was a prince of Joseon Dynasty, born as Lee Yeong and posthumously called King Munjo," I mumbled. I suddenly got curious of this name. We had a recitation about this late King which I had no knowledge about, then all of a sudden a stranger wearing a suit of a Crown Prince appeared before me claiming he was Lee Yeong. It's just so weird! Or maybe I am just overthinking.

"What are you doing?" Soo Bin suddenly appeared. "Sleepover... again," she chuckled.

"Just live here, you want? You're always here anyway."

She just laughed. "What are you doing?" she asked again as she sat beside me.

"Geunyang, searching about Lee Yeong," I blurted out.

"Wae? We're done with the recitation about him, right?"

"Yeah, but I just get curious about that name. A lot of weird things happened this day so yeah, I'm trying to figure out my curiosities about him."

"Okay. So, what did you find about him?"

"Nothing, except that he died at the age of 20."

"Jinjja? Jamkaman, I'll just prepare some milk. Do you want one?" she asked as she stood up.

"Nah, I already had coffee," I responded as I fixed my gaze on my laptop.

I kept on searching about Lee Yeong until I found myself on a site called Secrets of Joseon. I clicked on something that said Story of Lee Yeong Nobody Knows and a new tab appeared. It was like a timeline, an everyday record. I read those records starting the year of 1828.

Kurae, he really did fall in love with a eunuch. It was something nobody knew, but I didn't know why I knew it.

July 10. Hong Ra On suddenly disappeared without any trace. It's the day when the Crown Prince learned about the true identity of the maiden he loves, being the child of the rebel Hong Gyeong Nae who caused a rebellion years ago.

I continued reading until I was already on the month of November as it just got fascinating.

November 10. The Crown Prince suddenly disappeared, exactly four months after the disappearance of Hong Ra On. The palace guards searched all over the palace but no Crown Prince appeared.

I accidentally gazed at the right bottom of my laptop only to see the date today, November 10. So it was the same date the Crown Prince disappeared. I suddenly felt weird, out of the blue.

December 24. It was late at night when the Crown Prince appeared again in the middle of a province outside the palace with his clothes full of blood. He appeared on the middle of the crowd in a blink of an eye during the celebration of the lantern festival. The people was surprised on his sudden appearance. Rumors then started spreading out that he was having a talisman which made him travel at one place to another in just a few seconds.

"That was absurd!" I blurted out.

"Wae?" Soo Bin asked which made me took a look at her.

"People said that Lee Yeong had a talisman of disappearing and travelling at one place to another."

She just chuckled. "Kurae, that was really absurd. Who would think someone had a talisman during that era?"

I yawned as I felt sleep slowly taking over me. I then bookmarked the site with the last record I read, closed the window, and shut my laptop down. I headed towards my bed and threw myself on it. That surprised Soo Bin which made her suddenly sitting up. I laughed.

"You must have seen you face while sitting up." She just pouted. "Let's sleep now. Have a good night."

I fixed myself while covering my body with my blanket. A little while later, "Yoo Jung-ah, ja?"

"Not yet. Why?"

"I’m really curious about this thing. Can you tell me what happened to you earlier?" I sat up. Kurae, maybe it was better if I could share it with someone.

"I met someone earlier who claimed himself as Lee Yeong, the same name as the Crown Prince we had talked about during our History subject, in the middle of the rain. He was the guy in hanbok with me earlier. He kept on calling me Ra On and I don't know why." And I told her everything that happened earlier, down to the smallest detail.

"Why did you suddenly feel pain like you were dying?"

"I don't know. I really don't know. But when I looked into his eyes, those pain suddenly disappeared for a moment, and when I looked away, the pain came again."

"It's weird. There must be something with him that is connected to you. That was what I often see on TV series."

"Tss. Reality is so different from dramas," I voiced out.

"Geundae, Soo Bin-ah, while I was searching about him earlier, I found out that the eunuch he loves was named Hong Ra On," I added.

"Omo! Jinjja?! So, he was Lee Yeong, wearing a hanbok like what a Crown Prince would wear, has the same name as the real Crown Prince Lee Yeong during the Joseon era, called you by the name Ra On, who has the same name with the lover of the Crown Prince?" she repeated, somehow summarizing what I told her.

"Oh," I nodded. "Isn't it really weird?"

"Yes, it is. He must be the real Crown Prince. He came back to life."

"That's completely ridiculous! From late 1820s, he came back to life this 2016?"

"Ah~ Molla~" she gave up. "My head hurts. I got to know a lot of things this night."

"Nadu. I learned a lot of things and even experienced a lot of weird things."

I then glanced at the clock over the table beside my bed. It showed exactly 11:27 as I eventually lied down. "Let's sleep now. It's getting late already."

She followed. "Kurae. Ja!"

---

I woke up realizing Soo Bin wasn't beside me. I sat up and accidentally saw her note when I glanced on my table.

I won't be able to come to school with you today. I have a report to do with my seatmate and will probably go to school with her.

"Tss. She didn't even wake me up," I mumbled. I just ate my breakfast and prepared myself after. Kurae, I'm going to school alone today. I heaved out a sigh after getting my bag over my table. I then turned the lights off of my room and opened the door only to see someone in a casual attire standing there.

I looked up and was unaware to speak his name upon seeing his face, "Lee Yeong?"