Chapter Text
According to everyone, a family must consist of a mother, father, and kids. But for these seven boys in the story, they don't need a mother nor a father, for as long as they are together, they call themselves a big family. A family that is full of love.
Going back to August year 1939, where everything was still peaceful, where everyone was just living their simple lives happily. Sunoo and his six brothers were busy fishing by the river near their house.
The seven of them were not actually real brothers, all of them came from an orphanage. They were all orphans who found home in each other's arms.
Heeseung, the oldest, is someone they could trust. He is like the one who is in charge of the house. Someone who they lean on whenever they are sad, lonely.
Jongseong, the second oldest, is someone who is very wise when it comes to doing things outside the house. He was in charge of leading them when it came to cooking, hunting food, making furniture from woods, etc. He likes to learn new things and can learn them easily. He was the wisest of them all.
Jaeyun, the third oldest, is an adventurous man. He likes to explore the woods, and likes to study animals. If Jongseong is a street-smart person, Jaeyun is a book smart person. He likes to read books and he knows a lot about anything related to science.
Sunghoon, the fourth oldest, is very athletic and very talkative. He has a unique way of talking smoothly to people. He can get out of any situation just by using his mouth. He’s a very witty person. Apparently, he claims that he’s the most handsome out of all of them.
Sunoo, the fifth oldest, is someone who loves arts. He’s a creative person who likes to paint, draw and can easily think of anything creative on everything he sees. The reason why he became like that is because he was locked up inside the orphanage as he is sick. He has a heart defect called tetralogy of fallot, he’s been living with it since he was a baby. Even if he knew that, he still remained a cheerful person. He still loves to smile. Just like what his brothers told him, seeing his smile can make anyone brighten their day.
Jungwon, the sixth oldest, is the pillar of their family. If something is not working or if everyone is panicking, he’s the one who can fix it. If something goes wrong, he’ll be the one that can correct it. He acts the most mature out of all of them when needed. On the contrary, he can also be a cheeky person and likes to tease his brothers. He is the person with the strongest mentality out of all of them.
The youngest, Riki, is the bravest of them all. According to the others, he fears nothing except losing his brothers. He likes to pull pranks on his brothers, which Jongseong says that it is his way of showing affection. He’s also good at drawing and painting, very athletic and competitive.
“You know you can not do that, Riki.” Jaeyun complains. They were betting on who could reach the river faster. “I was still not done counting down and you started running. That is cheating.”
“I did not cheat. The horses were so noisy that I thought you already said go.” Riki says as an excuse even though he knows he did cheat.
“Riki! Jaeyun! We need the bait!” Jongseong, screaming their name. They both look at the river where their brothers are. Jungwon was busy putting the fishes on the bucket, Sunghoon and Heeseung are currently waiting for the bait, Sunoo is sitting under a tree, watching his brothers and Jongseong is looking at them angrily.
“COMING!” Jaeyun screams back, taking the bucket full of worms from Riki. “Catch me if you can.” Jaeyun smiles cheekily before running.
“That is cheating!” Riki complains.
“This is what you did too!”
Jaeyun reached the river first with a big smirk plastered on his face. He looks at Riki with a smug look and even teased him that he's too slow for him. Riki just smiled forcibly at Jaeyun before going to Heeseung to help them fish.
"Do not break the fishing rod, Riki." Heeseung reminds Riki because the last time they went fishing Riki got excited that he accidentally broke a fishing rod. "Fishing rods are expensive."
"You can just ask Jongseong or Jaeyun to make us one, why bother buying." Riki complains before sitting on the ground. It was hot as they were under the scorching sun.
"Isn't it my already turn to use the umbrella?" Heeseung shouts. "Where's the umbrella?"
Riki points at Sunghoon behind them casually sitting on a chair holding their one and only umbrella. "Sunghoon, the umbrella, please." Heeseung calmly says, Sunghoon looks at them and smiles.
"This is not our umbrella. A lady gave it to me earlier saying that my milky skin must not get burnt by the sun." Sunghoon proudly says even smiling so big they can already see all of his teeth.
"Must be nice to be that handsome." Heeseung murmurs bitterly. "Then where is our umbrella?" Sunghoon just shrugged.
"Ugh!" Heeseung wipes his sweat, complaining as to why the sun is giving more heat today than yesterday.
"Here it is!" Sunoo came running to give Heeseung the umbrella he's looking for.
"Sunoo, how many times do I have to tell you that you can not run?" Heeseung sighs before getting the umbrella from Sunoo's hand. "We can not afford you to lose your consciousness again."
"I'm sorry." Sunoo pouts. He was just a little bit too excited that he could help them.
Heeseung sighed again, feeling guilty because of his tone earlier. "I'm sorry too. I know you just want to help. I'm just worried about you."
"I know."
Sunoo walked back to the tree and sat under it. He's just observing how his brothers are working hard just for them to get something to eat later. Sunoo wanted to fish too but it was too hot. Heat is not good for him.
"Hey there." Jungwon suddenly sat right beside him. "Getting bored?"
Sunoo nods. "I'm tired of sitting here alone, you know. I don't like being alone." Sunoo was alone already for almost his whole life before he met them. He doesn't want to be alone again.
"Sorry," Jungwon apologizes. "But I'm here now, so what do you want to talk about?"
Jungwon leaned on the trunk of the tree and Sunoo did the same. Sunoo rested his head on Jungwon's broad shoulder before sighing. "I actually don't know what to talk about."
Jungwon chuckles at Sunoo's statement. "Well, why don't we talk about your birthday next week?"
Sunoo hums, "Birthday. I'm a year older again. 18. What's so important about being 18?"
"I don't know, I'm still 17. Try asking Heeseung or the other three." Jungwon jokes dryly. Jungwon actually doesn't want to be an adult. He doesn't want to get older. He just wants to stay as a kid.
Being an adult comes with so many responsibilities and Jungwon doesn't want that. He already has so many responsibilities on his plate right now, it's piled up and he does not want to get more.
"Hey Jungwon! It's your turn already!" Jongseong screams. Sunoo sits up straight watching Jungwon as he stands up and brushes his clothes.
"Good luck fishing." Sunoo says, chuckling because Jungwon looks like he doesn't want to go fishing.
After Jungwon left, Jongseong came to 'replace' him. Jongseong is the exact opposite of Jungwon. He likes to talk a lot. He knows a lot of things that he wanted to explain and share with Sunoo that Sunoo just ended up listening to everything that Jongseong said.
He needs to memorize it because Jongseong sometimes randomly asks him about the things he told him and sometimes Sunoo was so surprised that he forgot the answer.
"And that's how people make wine." Jongseong ends his monologue. Sunoo was just nodding the whole time, pretending that he understands whatever Jongseong is telling him. "I will make the best wine in the world and I will become famous. I'll buy us a big house and I will pay for your treatment."
Here comes the ambitious Jongseong. He has so many dreams that he wants to reach. He has so many plans for the future with them. "I will make that happen."
Sunoo smiled broadly at Jongseong. He wants to witness it. He doesn't know how long his heart can fight for him but he wants to witness Jongseong reach his dreams. He wants to be there with them.
"We will support you no matter what."
After they finished fishing for food, they all walked back home. "I told you, you should not have come with us." Sunghoon says, looking at Sunoo with worried eyes. They stopped for a bit for Sunoo because he's a little bit tired from walking.
"But I will get bored at home and have nothing to do." Sunoo complains, pouting. The six of them sigh. Even though Riki is the youngest, all of them act like Sunoo is the youngest. They all just want to protect him and make sure that he's always healthy and safe.
"But at least you'll be safer there." Jungwon butts in. Sunoo sighed. Here we go again.
"Don't worry, I won't die that easily. I still have a lot of things that I want to do. I won't go anywhere." Sunoo jokes, chuckling at his remark which earned a frown from his brothers.
"We're almost there." Jongseong says he already memorized the way in the woods. They live in a small house in the middle of a forest.
They have one bedroom where they all share two beds, a kitchen and a small living room. They were already content with that as long as they were together.
"Sunoo, drink this." Jaeyun says, giving Sunoo a warm milk.
"Thank you." he murmurs before drinking it. Heeseung is already starting the fire outside with Sunghoon. They need to cook dinner.
It's a bit hard since they are seven, it's hard to prepare food for the seven of them but luckily they have Jongseong. "Is seven fishes enough or do we need to cook more?" Sunghoon asks.
"Let's just add two more, just in case one fish is not enough for one person." Jongseong answers.
The three younger brothers are inside, preparing the utensils. "I told you, cleaning won't kill me. Not cleaning does!" Sunoo says as Jungwon does not want him to clean.
"Let's not argue about this again, Sunoo. Please." Jungwon says. Sunoo rolls his eyes before sitting on the chair. "I am not blind nor deaf. I did not lose an arm or leg so why are you treating me like this?"
"Your heart, Sunoo. If that stops beating, we'll lose you too. We can't afford that to happen. So, please, don't be hard headed and let us do the work." Jungwon explains, almost pleading to Sunoo.
Sunoo just wanted to help. He feels like he's a burden to them as he can't help with anything at all. They were all careful about his health because they could not afford to go to the hospital. They can't afford his treatment. They were already lucky that someone from the orphanage is providing for his medications.
"I'm sorry." Sunoo says, looking at the floor. "I can't help you all. I'm useless."
"You are not useless, Sunoo. Remember what we told you?" Jungwon pokes Sunoo's cheek.
"My existence, presence is enough." Sunoo mumbles.
"Yes, so you being here is already a big help for us because that means you are fighting."
On the other hand, Heeseung, Jongseong, Jaeyun and Sunghoon are talking seriously about what Sunghoon heard from the city.
"What do you mean a war?" Heeseung asks seriously, sitting down on the grass.
"I heard from my friend in the city that a big war will happen. They were already sending threats and warnings about it." Sunghoon plucks the grass.
"Are you joking? Is this some kind of prank Sunghoon?"
"I really do hope I'm just joking about this but I'm not. It's real. Next week, they will be getting all the men in our town to train them because apparently our soldiers are not enough." Sunghoon's grip tightens as he plucks more grass.
It was so unfair. What he heard was so unfair. "What should we do? Should we run away?" Jaeyun says, Sunghoon shakes his head.
"We can't. The military have already guarded all the exits. They already know that a lot will flee as soon as they hear the news." Sunghoon sighs in disappointment, meanwhile Heeseung still can not recover from what he heard. He looks back at their small house.
"Sunoo…" both him and Jongseong suddenly blurted out his name. Jaeyun and Sunghoon's facial expressions changed as they remembered someone.
"We can't take him with us. He can not serve, he has a heart problem! He would not be able to make it!" Heeseung says, eyes full of worry just by imagining Sunoo's hardship during the said training.
"I think they would not get those who are sick." Sunghoon says.
"But he'll be alo—"
"The table is ready! Are you done cooking?" Sunoo suddenly came with a big smile on his face. "Jungwon told me to check, hehe."
"Ah, we're almost done!" Jongseong answers as everyone suddenly becomes quiet because of Sunoo's presence. "You can go back inside and wait for us there."
Sunoo nods happily before walking back to their little home. "We can't leave him alone." Sunghoon whispers.
"We know."