We Make it Work... Most of the Time?

Jongup's Quest and Dadamato Needs to Chill

Down a thin overgrown path, just past the green hills, rests a small village long forgotten by the world. The only people who can find such a village are ones who don't have a signal penny to their name. They come to the forgotten village of Daffodil Bridge where they are welcomed to become simple hardworking farmers. It's not the most luxurious of lives, but they make due with what little they have. The villagers are not the happiest people in the world but they'd rather struggle and have small moments of joy then die on the streets.

The children, on the other hand, often dream of one day leaving this forgotten village to live better lives filled with fame and fortune, but most ended up staying without even trying and the ones who did try always returned within a month when they realized it was near impossible to do anything with the little money they had. The only child known to make a successful escape from the village was a girl blessed with Harmonia's Mark. The day she turned 16 she left for the nearest Dragon Guard outpost and never returned, eventually forgetting the village like the rest of the world had. This made some people envious of those who bear the mark, but in the end, they could do nothing.

It had been a few years since the marked girl left when a new child was born with Harmonia's mark; a lime green lotus flower on his lower back. The child's parents were happy their third son, Moon Jongup, was promised a brighter future than most, but at the same time felt remorse for their other two sons, who didn't have a chance of leaving the poor forgotten village. Growing up Jongup's brothers tried their best to hide their envy but sometimes they couldn't stop the bitter feelings of resentment. Jongup was a shy, quiet boy, but he was certainly bright. He was able to understand why his brothers and other kids were sometimes mean to him, and also understood why his parents focused on his brothers more than him and never once did he hold it against them. They all knew one day he was going to abandon Daffodil Bridge and pursue a better life like the girl before him. What they didn't know was that Jongup planned on being different; he would never abandon his family, for he knew deep down his family loved him and he loved his family just as much. Jongup was going to join the Dragon Guard and earn the money to move his family somewhere they didn't have to work every hour of the day to barely get by.

A typical day for Jongup went as followed: wake up, eat breakfast, brush his teeth, go to 'school' (an elder telling them their life story and info from whatever education book they could find), eat lunch, a short dance break, start his chores around the farm, have a short break, finish his chores, play with the other kids until he was called inside, wash up, eat dinner, brush his teeth, sleep, dream about the day he would meet his dragon, rinse and repeat. Other kids tried their best to get out of work but Jongup never had a problem with it; sometimes his mother had to drag him out of the burning sun because he would be too focused on his chores to realize he was burning. By the time Jongup was 12 his mother had found the best and cheapest sunburn remedy. Jongup honestly thought they could make a fortune with the home remedy, for it not only healed sunburns quickly, but it made damaged skin baby soft and healthy afterwards. Mrs. Moon giggled at her youngest son's idea and told him there were probably better products out there. Jongup shrugged his shoulders and ran off to join the rest of the family as his mother followed smiling to herself.

It was on a warm summer evening when something broke the cycle of repetitiveness for Jongup. He heard another child, Jisu, greet yet another child, a boy he had never seen before. The last time someone came to this village, it was a poor man looking for honest work and that was before Jongup was born. Not once had he heard anything about a child coming to the village alone. This new arrival peaked Jongup's interest; the boy was tall, but had a baby face, his clothes look more worn than his own hand me downs, and had a bag around his shoulders probably carrying everything he had based on how full it looked. Before Jongup could wonder more about this kid, the elderly woman who watched over them during the evening, Ms. Choi referred to the boy as her grandson and called him over to her. The children around him were quick to start whispering about how it was possible for Ms. Choi to have a grandson when her family ditched her here years ago.