A/N PLEASE READ! The first few chpt are pretty much your backstory. You can skip it if you want but it might became relevant in the future. If you do read this. Their are some things I must tell you. 1. I don't edit 2. Their is a vocab at the end for some terms that are not used in Hwarang. Also some fun facts.
"(Y/n)! Come on! We're going to be late!" My best friend Seo Yeon yelled. Seo Yeon has been my friend ever since I can remember. She has long, soft hair that I love to mess around with, a cute baby face, and likes to wear lots of rings. She also hates getting dirty, running, or doing anything that could possibly ruin her clothes.
" I thought you hated running!" I shout out at her as she was already a few paces ahead of me. In a few quick strides I catch up with her.
I am the opposite of Seo Yeon. I love to run, wrestle, and have mud fights with my friends. I have (h/l), (h/c) hair, (e/c) eyes, and I wear long jeogori and baji instead of jeogori and chima.
"I do," she begins. "But I can't let this opportunity slip through my fingers." She pants as she's already tired from the running.
"Get on my back," I mumble. Somewhat irritated with the fact that I just offered my back to my somewhat spoiled friend. Even though we were both Cheonin, Seo Yeon was a little bit more fortunate then me. And when I say a little, I really mean a lot more. My family consists of my sick mother, two little brothers, and old, cranky dog named Dooman. We don't have a lot of money and live in a house that is getting more and more holes and cracks each day.
As I said, we live in Cheonin, but we don't live in the same village as the gold. No, we live in the Cheonin village that is near the forests, iron caves, and rivers and produces Silla's wood, iron, and cloths. My mother actually got sick from the iron particles in the air for we live very close to the iron mines. The dust often flows into our house. We didn't know this was dangerous until mother got sick so we began to wear masks at home to keep the dirtied air out.
Seo Yeon has offered her home to us, but each time we refuse. My mother. Would never consent to the move anyway. She would probably say something about being a burden to her family.
"Excuse me?!" She sputters, somewhat flustered. I grin at this as I notice my friends cheeks begin to gain a red tint.
"What? Just hop on. Im offering my back here! You could always just run and be late..." I smirk. I cherish these moments.
"F-fine." She stutters. She pulls slightly lifts the bottom of her chima, just enough for her to hop onto my arched back.
Once she situates herself and has her arms secured around my neck, I take of. I'm used to carrying things much heavier then Seo Yeon so this task isn't as challenging as it might seem. We quickly arrive at our destination which just so happens to be the Cheonin scrap ward. Tons of woods, dirtied rags, broken gold pans, and other children treasures lie in the heaps.
I gently let Seo Yeon's light body of my back and take her hand, helping her climb over the heaps. After the small trek over the piles, we arrive at what to anybody else would look like a a huge pile of junk. But to us, it was our meeting spot.
Me and Seo Yeon both smile and slowly jog over to the entrance. As we get closer, we can hear the laughter of other children around our age meaning they were about 11-12. We also had one 13 year old. His name was Kang Dae.
He was the leader of our band of about 5 children including ourselves.
Their was Hyun Ki. He was 11 and the youngest. He had a round face, dark brown, shaggy locks that got in his eyes a lot, and he was the kindest person you will ever meet. Then their was Jae Hwa. He was also 11 and Hyun Ki's best friend. He had shoulder length, black hair that was almost always knotted and he was probably the opposite of Hyun Ki, for unlike his friend, he was very mischievous and loved to tease people. This didn't make him any less likable for we all new that deep down, he was a huge softy. Of course their was me and Seo Yeon who are both 12.
And then theirs Kang Dae. As our leader, he was also the preserver of peace in our group. He would take us into the forest and teach us all amazing things like how to write characters, skip rocks, and even how to make a fire! He makes sure we all stay safe and I have no doubt in my mind that we all think of him as our older brother.
The moment we enter our hide out, we feel a sense relief wash over us. In our hut, we don't have to worry about getting enough food, taking care of family members, or staying away from the wall.
" Sooo....what's happening that's so important it actually got Seo Yeon to run here." I ask the three boys inside of our small home.
I hear a chain of small chuckles and one 'hey!' before I get and answer. "Well," begins Kang Dae. "We may be going to the forest today..." he states.
My jaw drops, but I quickly compose myself and start jumping around in joy along with Seo Yeon, Jae Hwa, and Hyun Ki. Kang Dae just watches us with a smile on his face.
"Well," I shout "What are we waiting for! Let's go! Come on! I'm ready to get a move on!" I exclaim with excitement.
We all file out of the small home we made and begin the short trek to the forest. All of us love the forest, for different reasons of course, but we all cherish the moments we come here to just relax and not learn characters or go fishing.
Within a few moments we arrive at the tree line and we don't hesitate to continue our walk. All of us don't really know where Kang Dae is taking us, but we trust him.
I take in the sent of the trees around me and listen to the sounds the forest makes. A squirrel scampering up a tree. A bird jumping if a branch. And of course, the small river running through the entire forest.
We continue on for a while longer and then Kang Dae stops making us all bump into whoever was infront of us. We're quickly instructed to close our eyes. We're reluctant, but do as we're told. A few more steps and then were instructed to open our eyes. I gasp at what I see infront of me.
We are now all standing in the center of a clearing in the forest full of stones the size of two of Kang Dae. My shocked face soon turns into one of realization as it hits me why Kang Dae brought us here. I could only think of one possible answer, and that's mud fights. My suspicion was confirmed as I notice the small brook at the center of the large stones and all the mud surrounding it. All of us run up and hug Kang Dae.
"Thank you!" We all chorus. Even Seo Yeon.
Although Seo Yeon doesn't participate in the mud wars we have, she takes great pleasure in watching them. Basically, she laughs whenever we get hit making us want to through mud at her but we don't and she knows we won't hit her.
I quickly run over to the stream and grab some mud into my hands, forming it into a sloppy sphere. The other boys follow my lead and Seo Yeon perches herself on a rock somewhat far away from our battle zone, but not far enough for us to not see her.
"On the count of three, you begin the war over the mudlands of Cheonin! Are you ready to start the battle?" Seo Yeon shouts in her most deep, 'serious' voice.
"Yes! We are ready to give our lives for the territory that is rightfully ours and will claim our land to win these mud wars!" We all yell in a fit of giggles.
"Ready!? One! Two! Three! GO!" Seo Yeon shouts.
We all begin to launch our mud balls at one another while avoiding them at the same time. Basically, the goal was to hit someone in a place that would be considered a fatal wound. Once that person was hit in that fatal spot, they lose. The last one standing is the claimed winner.
Our mud battle goes on for quite a while, and then it happened. The first fatal wound. Caused by Jae Hwa and released at Hyun Ki, the mud ball was fired and hit Hyun Ki square in the face.
"Really!? Dude, did you have to hit my face!?" Hyun Ki squeals in discomfort and annoyance, but the tone is quickly replaced with his giggles as he steps of the field. Soon after Hyun Ki is 'killed', Jae Hwa is taken out by non other than the infamous Kang Dae. He gives a quick groan before joining his friend who was conversing with Seo Yeon.
"You are going down Kang Dae! I'm not going to lose this time!" I shout at my 'enemy' who has positioned himself behind a rock.
"Yeah! That's what you said last time! Guess what happened? You lost cause' I hit you square in the face with three mud balls!" He shouts back.
"Oh yeah! W-well! It...it's going to be different this time! I'm going to win!" I yell, inwardly cursing myself for my stutter.
With that, we began our mud slaughter. It lasts for a good fifteen minutes until one of us was finally defeated. Sadly...it was me. I took a mudball to the gut ending our war. The sphere of mud was thrown with so much force that it knocked the air out of me and knocked me over. Kang Dae quickly ran over to me offering his hand to help me up. I smile slightly and reach my hand out to grasp his. Our hands intertlock and I suddenly freeze.
Kang Dae now had an arrow piercing directly into his back. He slightly jolts forward and then completely falls on top of me, his body completely covering mine. I can't move nor scream, all I can do is glance over at Seo Yeon just in time to see an arrows pierce into her head. Her body flops to the floor with Jae Hwa and Hyun Ki's following soon after.
I feel tears begin to leak from my face as it slowly becomes harder and harder to breath. Kang Dae's blood is spilling off his back onto my hidden body, and that's. Then I black out.
Vocab:
Jeogori: basic upper garment of hanbok. A females is shorter while a males is usually longer. You are using a males
jeogori.
Baji: pretty much just baggy pants.
Chima: if you look at a females hanbok, the bottom half is somewhat like a skirt. That skirt is the chima.
Dooman: your dog's name and literally means dumpling.
Hanbok: the clothing of a MAN or a WOMEN!!!! It's not just a mans clothing called hanbok. This mistake is made so often.
Fun fact(s)
-Seo Yeon is actually the name of my best friend.
-My dogs name is actually named Dooman (Seo Yeon named him)
