The next day, Jungkook waited for Seokjin all day, but the latter did not come during the afternoon and the boy of Saegson was consumed by remorse. He wondered if finally, Seokjin hadn't been offended by his behavior the day before and if he was angry with himself at that moment. It hurt him, he didn't want Seokjin to stop coming to see him.

Then, he indulged in other theories: Seokjin always came looking for him and sometimes he came face to face with unsavory individuals. What if it was today? What if he had been mugged by some bad people to rob him and he was dying somewhere in Saengson? 

Jungkook felt a shiver of horror run through him at that thought and began to pace the streets of the neighborhood, dodging the empty glass bottles thrown by old alcoholics lying in the middle of the passage or detaching from his arms the caressing hands of the girls of joy who had no qualms about the fact that he was only a twelve-year-old child.

He found a gang of teenagers between the ages of thirteen and sixteen he was looking for from Kyunghong, the only barber in the neighborhood, each waiting to have their hair cut artistically thanks to the few denarii stolen from the pockets of the walkers in the Footbridge of the Gentlemen further in Eobu.

He knew them well because they all lived in the same neighborhood and when he arrived in the area a few months ago, he had refused to join their gang led by a young man of sixteen named Sanghoon. 

They often chased Seokjin when he came, in order to rob him, even if Seokjin would never have committed the imprudence of coming with valuables. But the boys were so destitute that they would have been able to steal his clothes to sell them and leave him stark naked in a dump of rotten fish carcasses. 

And despite his poor ability to defend himself, Seokjin had boundless confidence that made him tell dangerous people truths that he should never have told them as provocations.

"Are you looking for the little admiral?" the barber asked as he saw Jungkook approaching. He knew Seokjin to see him pass by his shop every day, looking for Jungkook. 

Most people called Seokjin the Saegson's little admiral even though he had none of his father's bearing and everyone understood that well. It was more of a mocking nickname than a respectful one.

"Yes," he nodded. "I don't know where he is and I'm worried."

"I didn't see him pass today," Kyunghong informed him who knew everything that was happening on the street where he worked. "He may have picked you up at the girls', did you look for him there?"

"No, I didn't," Jungkook said, pensive.

"It's normal if you can't find him, as I already grabbed and killed your little admiral. I emptied him of his entrails like a dead fish," said one of the teenagers who was slumped against a wall, his hands in his pockets and who had already had his haircut. It was Sanghoon.

Jungkook almost pounced on him to hit him and everyone else prepared to belt him, understanding his warlike intentions.

"Calm down, Jungkook, Sanghoon is just messing with you!" the hairdresser calmed him when he saw Jungkook in bad situation and outnumbered. 

The man was used to street fights between the boys of Saengson as a resident and he took advantage of being appreciated enough by his profession to play the role of mediator between the young fiery boys who just wanted to live with energy but were too violent with eachother.

"Yeah," Sanghoon said, "but don't be so relieved Jungkook, it will happen as soon as I run into this kid who thinks he can hang out in Saengson as if he was a prince here but who walks back to his palace every night in the area of ​​the nobles."

Jungkook glared at him and the other boy did the same.

"He comes here if he wants to, and you have nothing to say about it," he said harshy.

"A boy from Saengson who is infatuated with a petty nobleman, you are aiming a little too high, tadpole. But you're smart for a kid, I have to admit: you're securing your future by making friends with this rich boy, you must have thought this plan through very carefully. Maybe I should steal this admiral from you," he added in a thoughtful tone.

"Touch him and you're dead," Jungkook growled, clenching his fists.

"You can try," Sanghoon sneered, lifting his threadbare jacket to reveal a blunt cutlass. "It will hurt."

"Okay, okay, boys, you'll settle your accounts somewhere else than here," Kyunghong interjected. "Do you want a haircut too, Jungkook?" he offered kindly as he fussed over a lice-ridden head of a fourteen-year-old teenager that made Jungkook want to vomit. "There is the queue, however."

The queue in question was the entire Sanghoon gang of nine boys of which only two had already had their haircut. Unwilling to leave his head to hands that had touched so many lice, Jungkook shook his head vigorously.

"No, thanks."

"No, he doesn't need it, his buddy is already cutting his hair with both left hands," the boy who was getting his hair cut scoffed as he turned to face Jungkook and pointed to his poorly cut locks that were falling down and sticking together irregularly on his sweaty brow after his run.

It was indeed Seokjin who had recently brought a pair of scissors, judging he couldn't let his hair grow any longer, and ordered him to stand still to try to cut his hair when he had never done that. And obviously, it had been a disaster, but Jungkook would not have admitted it.

"Turn around Ihnkyang," Kyunghong told him, forcing the teenager to turn his head to finish cutting his hair.

"You can tell it's badly cut, it gives you a real dork head!" Ihnkyang quipped, obeying the hairdresser's order and turning his back on Jungkook again without stopping talking to him. "Your buddy could at least pay you for the hairdresser since he's loaded with money. It's obvious that he's a cheapskate, you should go through his pockets or let us do it if you don't dare. After all, we must share between brothers in misery."

"You and I are not brothers in any way. And Jin is not a cheapskate," Jungkook growled, instinctively shoving his hands into his warm jacket given by Seokjin and which he had buttoned up to the collar, not without first having admired at length the brilliance of the mother-of-pearl buttons.

"Why? Because he gave you this?" Sanghoon asked. "What a joke! Besides it doesn't suit you at all."

The others laughed because Jungkook's scruffy outfit was actually only more mismatched with the new jacket.  He felt annoyed : how dare they insult him with stinginess and then criticize the jacket he had given him?

"However, it would fit me well, I'm sure of that, and I tend to be rather cold at the moment," Ihnkyang argued, turning around again much to Kyunghong's dismay. "Give it to me, I want it." 

His tone was commanding, and around them, the other gang members busied themselves to show Jungkook he couldn't refuse: he was one against nine and he was just a tadpole compared to them, as Sanghoon liked to tell him.

He glared at them before sighing and took off his jacket. He then walked towards Ihnkyang and handed it to him. Smirking, the teenager held out his hand.

"I'd rather be an agile tadpole in the water than a hideous, clumsy toad on land," Jungkook suddenly told him, returning his mocking smile.

He stepped back, preventing Ihnkyang from grabbing his jacket and snatched the scissors from Kyunghong's hands who emitted a surprised grunt. Then, with a dazzling gesture that took everyone by surprise, he cut across and to the root a wide swath of hair from Ihnkyang who let out a howl of rage.

"Who's got a dork cut, now?" Jungkook scoffed as he put his jacket back on and stuffed the scissors in his pocket, "I bet you prefer my little admiral's haircut!"

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU, JUNGKOOK!!!" Ihnkyang roared.

But Jungkook didn't wait and ran off to escape the fury of the whole gang chasing him.