Chapter Text
"Please, sir! Have mercy! My child and I will starve if I don't have money to buy some food!"
From a distance, Sanghyeok jolted from his short nap only to witness the king's men coming to rob an old woman's money she earned from selling her produce. The men forced her to hand over the pouch and threatened to ruin the rest of the vegetables from her cart.
The woman begged them to give her mercy but they refused to. One of them kicked the cart over the woman hence stomping on the produce thrown over the earth. They snatched the pouch from her before going over to count the amount of gold she had.
Sanghyeok's rage grew as the men took away the old woman's money, leaving her sobbing amongst the ruined crops. He went over to the woman, helping her back on her feet. He picked up anything that was able to be saved before the woman excused herself to leave. Sanghyeok then volunteered to take her back.
As they walked out of the village perimeters, they reached a forest, which the woman walked towards. The deeper they got into the forest, a small cottage appeared from the horizon. The old woman then told him to leave and reassured him that she will be okay. Sanghyeok stayed back for a few more minutes and saw the small cottage the woman entered from afar before he started running back home with a strange urge in his heart.
As he reached back to town, commotions began catching his attention. The neighbors were going around frantically looking for something. Their children were looked through and inspected closely, specifically behind their ears.
As Sanghyeok reached his home, he saw his grandmother sat on the porch, knitting up a basket. He went over and sat beside her, picking up another of the baskets left undone.
"할머니... I just came back from fields. One of the king's men came again but they didn't come to ours," he spoke.
His grandmother gave a slight nod as she continued working on the basket before Sanghyeok asked again.
"What's with the fuss going on in the village?"
This time, she placed the basket down, "One of our faction's nobles came with a message from the magistrate, Sanghyeok... Saying the king is looking for the owner of the Golden Hibiscus whom he believed to be the heir of the throne,"
"Wait, what?"
"Your father and the village chief went out to help the search and keep the person hidden. The magistrate of our faction is counting on us to keep the owner safely rusticated from the king. He refused to let go of the throne so to search and execute the assumed heir was his only option,"
"But I thought all of the magistrates are working for the king,"
"Except for Kwonryuk. He is only going undercover to sabotage the king's evil schemes so it could be stopped before it was too late,"
"He built a Resistance?"
"You can say that...," his grandmother replied. "They said the possibilities of a girl your age being the owner of the sword is low but never zero,"
Sanghyeok turned his gaze to the scenery before placing the basket aside and stood, "I'll find the owner. I think I might know where she could be hiding,"
"Are you convinced the sword owner is a girl?" his grandmother looked at him.
"I just had the feeling it might,"
Sanghyeok ran into the house and went through his stuff. A small dagger was taken out from his small drawer. He hid the blade in his shoe with the scabbard tied to it. He took off the lilac bokgeon [복건] he was wearing and replaced it with a black one.
"Sanghyeok, before you leave. Take this with you," Sanghyeok's grandmother handed him a very worn-out scroll that looked like it came from when his grandmother was younger. He retrieved the scroll from his grandmother before hugging her goodbye and left.
~~~~~
"We sure got a whole big loot, ey?" one of the two men said as he counted the amount of gold.
A pair of eyes watched from the hidden bushes before he jumped out.
"Hey!" he shouted before charging towards one of them with a knife he kept in his shoe hence stabbing the man with it. The other was straining with Sanghyeok, only to deal more damage to his friend bleeding to death. He backed away a little before the other man charged towards him with a sickle causing Sanghyeok to run for his life. The tall maize quickly lost the man's sight of Sanghyeok who then proceeded to sneak up behind the man with a pitchfork before he turned and pierced himself through the fangs of the fork.
Sanghyeok looked at the bleeding body, recovering the small pouch of gold that belonged to the woman as he fled the scene. As the day began to turn dark, he picked up a lantern that belonged to the man he stabbed while he took his dagger.
He walked further into the forest where he last saw the old lady. The trees blocked the light from the rising moon and his only last match was lit to light up the lantern again.
When he saw her cottage again from the same distance before he left, 18-year old Sanghyeok walked towards the eerie-looking cottage and knocked on the door. The creaking door was opened wide, welcomed by the same lady he met at the fields. Through the open doors, he could clearly hear himself saying that he found the girl - whom he read to be the bearer of the Golden Hibiscus. It was so clear that she had the descriptions mentioned in the scroll given by his grandmother.
The old woman invited him inside and went over to the girl who was sitting by the table working on her writing.
"Hyunri dear, please make some tea. We have a guest,"
"Yes, Mother,"
The girl stood up and promptly walked over to the kitchen. The old woman thanked Sanghyeok for retrieving her money from the thieves but never sought how he could.
The girl served them tea and the old woman invited her to sit with them and take a break. She shook her head and went back to work on the scroll she was writing on. Sanghyeok didn't want to spend the night fearing that his father might come looking for him. As he excused to leave, the old woman asked the girl to guide him out of the forest.
She hesitantly stood and nodded.
~~~~~
The girl dragged her steps outside of the forest then to the lane where she believed Sanghyeok came from. That's when he noticed something familiar from under her ear that camouflaged in her braid - a white strand only those of the heir to the Hibiscus shall have.
"Wait, are you-"
Before he could continue, pollen dust was thrown at him which made him drowsy.
"You never knew me...," he heard the girl mumble before she disappeared again into the forest, leaving Sanghyeok asleep amongst the fallen cherry blossom petals.
Sanghyeok however was not fully unconscious but only managed to recall the hibiscus tattoo on the girl's hand before sleep finally succumbed him.
~~~~~
Several years passed and the reign of the corrupted king still went on. After the past emperor's dethronement ended in tragedy, he thought no more about the kingdom and its people. Thus, more families have been forced into poverty due to overpriced taxes and numerous cases of merchants taking advantage of their buyers. A few major sects managed to keep on with the growing changes but a majority of families kingdom-wide as still in poverty.
Sanghyeok had turned 24 that year. He met friends from numerous sects before his classes and exams. All of these came from major factions - the Kim, Mun, Choi and Park families, and three others coming from his sect - the Lee faction.
All ten of them shared the same dissatisfaction towards the king and several magistrates who worked with the king. Many young adults were stripped from their families and forced to work for the king regardless of age or work.
This band of brothers soon came to an idea of establishing a resistance. A Rebellion against the king. Sanghyeok thought back of the idea, only to agree right away. Every one of them had different talents. Hence they trained to hold a stronger fort for their rebellion. Their team consisted of Changdong and Kanghui from the Kim sect, Uchan from the Mun sect, Ellim and Wonyeong from the Choi sect and three others sharing the same faction with Sanghyeok - Minhyeong, Juhyeon and Sangho.
Their growth was never acknowledged by the king's men which eased the initiation of their plans. Sanghyeok was determined to once and for all, stop the king and strip him from his throne, hence returning it to its rightful heir.
However, the visions of a mysterious person haunted him in his dreams since his father found him unconscious in the alleyway of the estate. He spent years figuring out about the person but it always winded up into a dead end. He hoped to stop the king and find out what his dreams are trying to tell him.
On the night of the full moon, the black obsidian stone reached its full potential. With a shared shard of the stone with Kanghui, Sanghyeok could feel and hear the cries of the soldiers being pierced to death by the shadows cast by the 21-year old.
"Sir. It's time,"