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Jungwoo watched as his father mounted his brown colt, Johnny, strapping his belongings to the sides of the horse's strong body.
"Goodbye, father!" Jungwoo yelled as Johnny cantered away, taking Taeil with him. His father waved to him, flashing him a slightly reassuring thumbs up to calm Jungwoo's nerves. Taeil was a man with an abundance of book smarts, but his sense of direction was definitely lacking, and that worried Jungwoo as he traveled through the woods, a very probable place for him to get lost. Which he unfortunately did. Taeil scanned the area Johnny had taken him too, seeing nothing but woods for miles. The snow-covered trees frightened him more than anything he'd ever seen, the usually beautiful sight taking on an ominous glow.
"We should be there by now," he muttered to himself. "Maybe we missed a turn."
The lantern hanging from his saddle cast light upon the darkening night and the sign that Taeil had not been able to see under the stars.
"Ah, a sign," he sighs in relief and unclips the lantern to view the splintering wood properly. Anaheim and Valencia was messily painted on the sign like it had been a spur of the moment action. The sign gave names, but no direction, proving itself useless to Taeil. The light from the lantern fell upon two paths leading deeper into the woods, one was covered in angry vines and fallen trees, clearly not used often. The other was clean, with an obvious path through the twisty trees. So Taeil chose the sensible path, leading Johnny down the more worn path.
"C'mon Johnny, it must be a short cut. We'll be there in no time."
Johnny neighed uncertainly but followed his owner's commands. The road was snow covered and freezing on his fur-clad hooves, leaving prints in the snow behind him. Taeil was now starting to doubt his choice of path as the trees seemed to crowd closer and the sky seemed to fade farther away.
"Where did you take us, Johnny?" Taeil huffed, "This is definitely not right." The horse neighed in protest, the decision having not been his to make. A rustling sound came from the trees above them, thousands of beady eyes gazing down upon the two.
"Look out!" Taeil yelled to no one in particular as a swarm of bats surrounded them, spooking Johnny who ran to escape the winged creatures. Taeil was holding on for dear life, his belongings clanging against each other in the small bag they were being kept in. He looked up carefully, trying to avoid getting any snowy wind into his eyes, which widened in surprise as he realized his horse was leading them to a huge drop and seemed completely oblivious to it. He yanked back on the reins, trying to calm the wild colt.
"Back up, back up!" Taeil yells, letting out a sigh of relief when the horse comes to a halt. But suddenly, he is thrown to the snowy ground as Johnny bucks him off and runs into the trees, his owner yelling after him. Taeil huffed in annoyance when he realized his horse was too frightened to return to him.
