"I always find you," Seokjin stated confidently.

"Maybe, but you won't catch me, because you don't know how to fight, and I do," Jungkook said, shrugging.

Sulky, Seokjin tossed him the waterskin filled with clear water he had brought. Jungkook caught it in midair and happily drank after all the rice he had swallowed too quickly.

"Maybe I'll learn to fight just to beat you up," the rich boy declared.

"You can try, but you won't catch me easily as I've been fighting for too long," Jungkook sneered as he put down the waterskin and wiped his mouth, before suppressing a shiver as the autumn wind seeps into his shirt.

"It's getting really cold," Seokjin worried, seeing Jungkook shiver, "it's amazing you haven't caught a cold yet; you used to get sick all the time at first and now nothing."

"I got stronger from sleeping outside," Jungkook said. "You should try that too for a few months, but I don't know if it works on rich people here, I heard that you are naturally more valuable and fragile than other humans. You would probably die instead of toughen up."

Seokjin glared at him but then, his face lit up.

"Ah, that reminds me that I took that for you..."

He took out the last object from his bag under the curious gaze of Jungkook, a small black velvet jacket rolled up in a ball that looked just like the one he was wearing.

"...but I don't know if you need it," he added pensively, "after all, you still have to strengthen that poor human body to withstand the coming winter, right?"

"R-right," Jungkook replied, still looking longingly at the jacket.

Seokjin burst out laughing seeing the puppy dog ​​eyes he unknowingly wore when he really wanted something that his pride prevented him from asking for.

"Here, you can have it, you idiot."

He gave him the jacket and watched him put it on with obvious contentment, while the velvet warmed his body pleasantly.

"Thanks, Jin," Jungkook sincerely thanked him.

"Don't mention it."

"Your parents must not be very happy about you giving me a jacket," Jungkook remarked as he picked up the last sandwich.

"I told mom I lost mine while playing. She wasn't very happy but she ended up buying me a new one, so this one's for you. It's going to get cold, and it's your first winter here in Eobu, it's really cold on the coast, you know? I'll have to bring you a warm blanket. Thus, I know you'll think of me when you snuggle up in my clothes to keep warm," Seokjin added mockingly.

"I always think of you, not just when you give me clothes," Jungkook retorted.

"Oh, that's a revelation," Seokjin wondered.

Realizing what he had just said, Jungkook blushed deeply and stuttered:

"I-I mean, I don't have anyone else to think about, you're the only one who cares about me and comes to visit me here, so it's no wonder I think about you every once in a while," he tried to correct himself.

"Yeah, yeah, rather admit that you're happy to see me even if you always say the opposite!" Seokjin contradicted him happily.

Embarrassed, Jungkook didn't answer and rushed to eat again, only stopping to drink under the satisfied eyes of his benefactor who however wished he was already less skinny.

Seokjin never knew how or why Jungkook got here a few months earlier, but he had found him in bad shape. In reality, he was near death, sick, weak and emaciated and he had taken care of him without knowing if he was going to survive, because it was unfortunately not uncommon for bodies of residents of the streets of Saengson to be extracted to be buried elsewhere.

The misery there was so great that the life expectancy was not very high, especially for children alone like Jungkook. No one took care of the orphans that swarmed in Saengson and died in utter indifference.

Even Seokjin wouldn't normally set foot there. It was chance that had guided his steps to Jungkook and made him his responsibility. He would never forget their first meeting. And now he didn't want to leave him alone in that place. He wanted to take him home immediately to offer him a better life but he couldn't.

He would have liked to ask his father if he could take Jungkook on as an apprentice ship's boy to ensure he had a roof over his head and hot meals for at least several years, until he was old enough to take his life in his hands and start a new life, but as an orphan with no identity, Seokjin wasn't even sure if Jungkook could be enlisted in the Joseon Navy.

His father would inevitably refuse to hear from Jungkook until he had any additional information about him. The problem was that Jungkook adamantly refused to talk about his life before arriving in Eobu and Seokjin wondered when he would feel close enough to him to open up. 

"You said you were from the south, right?" he asked in a new attempt.

"Mmmm," Jungkook muttered as he slowly finished chewing his last bite while licking his fingers to loosen the grains of rice and swallow them so as not to waste anything.

"I asked my dad if he knew of a city in the south where the people didn't have the same accent as us. He said Busan. Is that where you're from? "

He watched the other, looking for a sign that would confirm his hypothesis, but Jungkook gave him a suspicious look in return.

"I told you I wouldn't tell you about it, why do you keep asking me?" 

"Just curious. I don't understand why you won't tell me. Did you do something wrong that forced you to leave?" Seokjin continued, unfazed by his friend's attitude.

Jungkook tensed and his eyebrows furrowed.

"I won't tell you anything, so stop asking."

But Seokjin couldn't. Seeing Jungkook's attitude, he suddenly wondered if he had something serious to hide and that worried him a little. His eyes widened as a terrifying thought suddenly struck him. What if Jungkook didn't have a Busan accent, but rather a place that his mother's stories portrayed as dangerous and filled with evil people and monsters? A land on the other side of the East Sea...

"Jungkook?" he asked suddenly with a movement of recoil which did not escape his friend. "Was... Was this your home in Japan before you came here?"

Jungkook nearly choked on a grain of rice stuck in the throat and coughed so much that he had to swallow half the waterskin to quell the fire in his throat.

"Are you asking me if I'm Japanese?" He finally asked slowly, as if it was hard to believe, knowing that if Seokjin was asking.

"Something like that?" Seokjin said, uncomfortable.

"Why are you asking this?" Jungkook asked in a suddenly icy tone.

"I- I don't know, I just want to guess. You never wanted to tell me where you were from, so I wonder! Don't I have the right to be curious?" Seokjin defended himself.

"The Japanese are the enemies of Joseon, is that what you want me to be? Let me be curious too then : what if I was Japanese?" Jungkook shot back, "would you hate me then?"

Seokjin was taken aback by this question. He had been taught to hate the Japanese from an early age, saying how barbaric and cruel they were. But he had never seen any of them and he didn't imagine them like Jungkook at all. More like heartless monsters that look bestial more than human.

The older ones in Eobu told of the time when Japanese pirates would go after Koreans and massacre ship's crews or entire coastal towns just like Eobu. But the Ming Empire had wiped out the wakos, that was what his father had taught him. He no longer had to fear them. The Japanese no longer made incursions on the peninsula and remained on their terrifying islands.

So Jungkook just couldn't be Japanese and that relieved him. But if it relieved him, did that mean that Jungkook was right? Could he have hated him suddenly if he was Japanese? It suddenly didn't seem like a valid reason to him.

His hesitation to answer made Jungkook tense up.

"Wow, really? You were ready to be scared of me and hate me just like that? I can't believe it!"

"It's just that if you were Japanese, I wouldn't-" Seokjin tried to justify himself.

"I am not Japanese, I'm a Joseon, just like you!" Jungkook cut him harshly. 

"But your accent-"

"I'm from Busan!" he exclaimed, glaring at Seokjin. "There you go,you forced me to tell you, are you happy?!"

Oddly enough, no, Seokjin wasn't. He wished he hadn't asked because seeing Jungkook like this didn't please him. He had never actually seen him angry. However, he didn't have time to apologize because Jungkook continued:

"Do you think it's not already difficult to be an orphan of Saengson smelling like fish, you would also like to make me a Japanese so that people will hate me even more?" 

"No!" Seokjin exclaimed, his eyes wide.

"Then don't ask the question because if you ask it, it means that you want to find a reason to hate me!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you," Seokjin hastily apologized.

"But you did! Thanks for the meal and the jacket, but I think it's time for you to go home now."

He stood up under Seokjin's astonished gaze who protested:

"Uh?! But we haven't played yet!"

"I don't want to play with you now, I want you to leave. Go away!" Jungkook shouted, furious, seeing that he was not moving.

This time, it was Seokjin who was hurt. He got up from the dusty floor, dusting his pants.

"Okay, I'll be back tomorrow."

"No don't come, I don't want to see you again for a long time."

"I'll come anyway," Seokjin replied.

"I'll hide well," Jungkook replied.

"Still, I will find you. I always find you!"

Jungkook shrugged and walked away from him, sinking deeper into Saengson to find the alley where he was sleeping. His lair as he called it. 

Before he disappeared, Seokjin, unwilling to leave him over an argument, cupped his hands and yelled:

"Even if you were Japanese, I wouldn't have hated you Jungkook, I will never hate you!"

But it was impossible for him to know if Jungkook had heard him because he had turned the corner of the street and had been swallowed up by the darkness and the dangers of Saengson.

Seokjin hated letting him spend every night alone in this spooky place with the other rascals and alcoholic men and women, but he had no choice. He could only make sure to be as present as possible during the day with him, even if he liked playing hide and seek.

He had developed a gift for finding this boy he knew he would always find him wherever he was, because it had been his duty since day one to find him to take care of him and worry about him.

His parents had told him he was going to ruin his future by refusing to become a soldier but he didn't care. At that moment, he just wondered what future Jungkook could have, growing up in Saengson.