"Seokjin, come back here, your father wants you to go with him today!"

"No, I'm going out to play!" 

"SEOKJIN!" 

With his shoulder bag, the eleven-year-old boy with an angelic and laughing face easily dodged his mother who wanted to prevent him from leaving the house. He quickly left the residential area where he lived, running towards the docks of the small port town of Eobu.

There, he began to roam its grimy streets, weaving between the stalls of vendors selling fish and products from Joseon's hinterland by land or Imperial China of the Ming by sea. He pinched his nose as he passed a fishmonger who was gutting a large tuna.

"Erk!" he said loudly enough for the fishmonger to glare at him.

"What? You think the delicious fish you eat at home didn't smell like that before your cook cooks it?" the man asked gruffly.

"Despite everything, I'm sure he doesn't stink as much as you, Bae," the boy scoffed.

"Get the hell out of here, Seokjin!" Bae yelled, pretending to throw his fish guts at him, "I'll tell your father to punish your big mouth properly the next time I see him!"

Eyes widening in horror in front of the fish guts more than because of the mention of his father, Seokjin hurriedly rushed away, bursting into laughter because of the man's fury.

"And stop coming to Saengson, you know your mother doesn't want you to go there!" the fishmonger yelled.

Seokjin turned around to stick out his tongue at him as a provocation then ran away. He didn't know precisely in which place in the Saengson district he was going, he would walk until he found what he was looking for. Leaving the docks, he again entered one of Saengson's many dark, winding alleys. He liked to get lost in this neighborhood.

The city had expanded considerably after the disappearance of the wakos. It had allowed it to prosper and this particular area, the Saengson Changsu area, otherwise known as the fishmongers' area - or just Saengson, the raw fish area as the people prefer to call it because of the smell - was the oldest and scariest area of the town, and the one where Seokjin was forbidden to go by his parents.

This place where he was not allowed to go had always fascinated him and recently it was even become his favorite place, the one he went to the most when he escaped from home. Every time he came back there, he smelled of raw fish and his mother was sick of it. That made him laugh a lot.

But what he really loved about Saengson wasn't the smell of fish or the fishmongers who yelled at him. It was rather the encounter he had made there by chance. And now it was also luck that he let guide his steps to bring about the encounter he wanted to make.

Behind one of the many small mountains of carcasses and guts of fish that littered the streets and alleys of the area, he finally saw what he was looking for and that made him smile big. For anyone else, it was just the end of a fabric belt made with a black cloth that was damaged and patched. But for him, it was something more. He knew that belt very well since he was the one who had stitched it up himself. And he knew perfectly who was hiding behind the rubbish.

He crept closer and tugged hard on the belt. In doing so, he almost slipped off the gray linen pants it was tight on and which were way too big for the boy who was wearing them.

"Hey!" the surprised and outraged voice of a young boy exclaimed, "Jin!!"

"Foooound yoooou, Jungkook!" Seokjin exclaimed happily without letting go of Jungkook's belt.

Wanting to hold back the belt so he wouldn't lose his pants due to Seokjin continuing to pull at them, Jungkook fell headfirst into the mound of trash in a cry of disgust.

"Oops," Seokjin chuckled.

"How?!" Jungkook shouted, straightening up and tugging angrily at his belt to tie a tighter knot at his side. "How come you always find me??!"

"Easy: I just look for you and then find you!"

This simple-mindedness was typical of Seokjin. He didn't really think, he just did what he wanted and let life give him everything it had to offer. He was convinced that Jungkook was one of those gifts that fate had given him.

"I'll hide better next time!" Jungkook told him fiercely.

"I will always find you, wherever you hide!" Seokjin assured him triumphantly.

That was what he always told him and that was what he always did. However, Jungkook wasn't giving up. He knew the area better than the other boy, and he would eventually win that game of hide-and-seek. 

He shook his head to clear away fish bones that had gotten into his hair, like a wet dog would do to dry itself.  Seokjin raised his hands to protect himself from this sudden projection of fishbone then pulled out a crisp white handkerchief from his pocket.

"Here, wipe your face, you have fish intestine on your face and it's disgusting."

"No, I'm not going to dirty your rich handkerchief," Jungkook replied pushing his hand away and starting to wipe his face with the sleeve of his already dirty shirt.

Seeing this, Seokjin clicked his tongue impatiently and grabbed Jungkook's arm to stop him from soiling his only item of clothing further.

"A handkerchief is made to get dirty, Jungkook, not your clothes! Here, leave it to me."

He began to conscientiously wipe his cheek as if he was his mother and then the rest of his face to remove all the fish stains and other dirt because it was necessary to admit that this boy of the streets did not have a very good hygiene from Seokjin's point of view.

Jungkook started by protesting then finally let it go. It was always like that with Seokjin, he wanted to take care of him even if himself didn't want to. Seokjin had told him before that if he didn't have a mom or a dad to take care of him, then he would. Since then, he had made it a real mission.

But it was unsafe for him to come to Saengson as he was clearly not from this area, being too neat and pretty in the middle of this dirt and vileness. He could easily fall prey to violent thieves or child molester, and then it was up to Jungkook to save him if the others picked on him.

He would have liked to say that it annoyed him but in reality, Seokjin's visits to Saengson embellished his gloomy life and it was probably thanks to him that he was still alive after all that he had done for him. So, even though he pretended not to want Seokjin to come anymore and hid when he arrived, he still secretly hoped that Seokjin would find him every day. 

And every day, he came.

Seokjin had offered him several times to smuggle him home this winter to survive the cold, but Jungkook had refused, not wanting him to get in trouble. After all, which parents wanted to welcome home a unknown boy smelling like fish and covered in vermin and filth from head to toe? Seokjin had a good heart but he was naive and Jungkook didn't want to confront his angry parents.

He didn't even understand why Seokjin himself kept coming to such an ugly place that barely stood out from his appearance as a well-dressed provincial nobleboy, an outfit coming from countries to the west of the Ming empire. Dressed in a thick white cotton shirt and a black velvet jacket to protect him from the autumn breeze, he also wore long shorts over white gentry tights. White tights that weren't so white each time he left Saengson. Jungkook doubted Seokjin's mother would be happy to see him come home so dirty.

For his part, Jungkook was dressed in his shabby canvas clothes – an originally white shirt that had taken on a grayish color and was patched in places, a pair of pants that used to be black but turned gray and frozen from having been washed too many times in seawater.

They were so big that they couldn't fit his waist without his canvas belt made from an old rag that had had holes in it in many places from hanging on to the first metal hook that came along during their many through alleys, far too narrow to escape the other scoundrels in the neighborhood who were chasing them.

It was Seokjin who patched his clothes. The boy didn't know how to fight or hold a sword at all, but he did know how to hold a needle. In any case, he had learned to be able to take care of his friend's clothes and he had developed a real passion for the work of a tailor. Jungkook thought it was weird and he had told him.

Seokjin had been offended when he told him that and had said that it was useless to know how to use a sword now that wakos had disappeared. He was fundamentally opposed to his hands being used for violence and even though his father wanted to make him a proud soldier in the Joseon Navy like himself, Seokjin had always refused to learn. He was claiming that he would not hurt anyone with his hands, and that he knew enough how to hurt people with his tongue without doing it on purpose. Of that, Jungkook had no doubt because he had never seen anyone with such a sharp tongue.

Seokjin's parents were desperate and saw no illustrious future for him even though he came from a family that had always given birth to warriors.

"Then I will be the first boy in this family to be beautiful as a flower and skilled with a needle rather than some horrible demon wielding a sword to kill," he had told them proudly, not realizing he had insulted his father and all his ancestors with him.

His mother was starting to accept it, telling herself that at least she wouldn't have to be afraid for him but his father had difficulty accepting it, even if he refused to force Seokjin hand, having too much tenderness towards his only son. Another thing inconceivable for Jungkook who had not had the chance to have loving parents.

In fact, the two boys were so mismatched that when they left the alleys of Saengson to go for a walk on the docks or to have fun boarding boats clandestinely, Seokjin holding Jungkook's hand to prevent him from returning to hide in his den as he called the dark alley where he slept, people couldn't help but glare at them and point fingers and gossip.

"Isn't that Admiral Kim's son?"

"What is he doing with that vermin from Saengson?"

"We don't even know where this orphan is from, he wasn't born here."

"If only his father knew in which company he spent his days! What misery, having only one son to see him take such a deviant path!"

Jungkook was the opposite of Seokjin. Although he knew how to fight, he always bowed his head when insulted because he knew he was incapable of fighting back verbally and effectively. But Seokjin always showed him the way forward and he admired his self-confidence.

Indeed, not enjoying being insulted or hearing people insult his friend, Seokjin often replied with acerbic mockery of which he had the secret:

"At least I'm sure we won't end up like your old dead fish carcasses criticizing Saengson's vermin forgetting that you're doomed to empty fish guts for the rest of your life!"

And generally, he ran away at full speed dragging Jungkook to avoid receiving balls of fish guts thrown by the enraged squad of fishmongers who cursed him for being born rich.

Seokjin sat down on a stone step leading to a boarded-up door and started rummaging through his bag while Jungkook sat down next to him.

"Here, I brought you some food," he said to Jungkook, pulling the seaweed-covered fresh tuna rice sandwiches and handing them to him.

"I already told you I didn't want you to bring me food," Jungkook shot back, salivating regardless.

"Stop drooling and I'll believe you," the other boy replied with a grin.

Jungkook hurriedly wiped his mouth with his hand and saw that it was dry:

"I'm not drooling!"

"Oh, am I wrong? Here, eat this," Seokjin said as he stuffed the tip of a rice sandwich into his mouth.

The other almost choked but still swallowed the food greedily. Smiling, Seokjin handed him the other sandwiches and  watched him eat with satisfaction. 

"I can get me food myself," Jungkook said mouthful, with pride.

"How? Robbing people like a land pirate?" Seokjin asked harshly. "I criticize the fishmongers at the docks all the time but at least they make an honest living and I refuse to let you steal the goods of honest people!"

"You say you don't want to be like your father but you only talk about honesty," the other noticed, catching with his tongue the pieces of rice stuck to his lips.

"Because that's the way to live."

"That's what your dad told you, but that's not what mine told me," Jungkook replied. "It proves that we both live according to the education of our dads, so, you'll probably follow in your father's footsteps even if you think otherwise for now."

"What do you mean?" Seokjin wondered. Jungkook had never talked about his family before and this piqued his curiosity.

"It's easy for you to say that you have to live honestly when you've never been afraid of starving to death," Jungkook explained as he grabbed a second sandwich from Seokjin's hands and bit into it eagerly. "You want to make me live honestly and you feed me but you despise all other thieves. Would you have the ability to feed all of Saengson's paupers like you do with me to prevent them from stealing?"

Seokjin remained silent as Jungkook had scored a point. However, he did not expect him to promote the theft to such an extent.

"If I manage to make you an honest man, I'll be happy already, so don't become a criminal or I'll make you spit out all the rice I fed you for months and there'll be nothing left over your bones."

Jungkook smiled and swallowed his last mouthful of rice whole.

"You want me to find an honest job?" he asked.

"Yeah, but just promise me that you won't become a fishmonger because I said too many time to those old, scaled fish on the docks that you and me wouldn't become like them. And I wouldn't want to look stupid walking past youwhile you're gutting fish with Bae."

Jungkook burst out laughing at that idea and this fills Seokjin with contentment. He liked to make Jungkook laugh. He said Jungkook didn't laugh enough. For his part, Jungkook said that Seokjin laughed too much.

"Don't worry, one thing I know is that I don't want to stink of fish for the rest of my life. I prefer to become a thief," Jungkook said.

"I told you not to become a criminal," Seokjin replied, frowning.

"And if I become one, what will you do?" his friend asked curiously.

Seokjin didn't like the impression of sincerity that emanated from him.

"If you become a criminal then I will become an admiral like my dad and I will come and get you to cut off your little thief's hand."

Jungkook's eyes widened.

"What violence on your part Jin! Well, I'm not afraid, I will hide well and you won't catch me."

"Oh yes, I will," Seokjin replied with a fierce smile, "because I always find you."