"Were you really going to show her your little bird?" Jungkook asked accusingly.

"No," Seokjin lied as he felt his cheeks heat up thinking about what he had nearly done earlier in the bedroom with Youngim.  In his head, a voice whispered to him : yes, this woman had almost seen his little bird.

He tightened his jacket around his waist to cover his thighs only covered with thick white tights turned gray while dragging himself on the roofs then in the ropes of a ship.

The two boys were lying down in the crow's nest at the top of the mast of the Leviathan, one of the imposing merchant ships moored in the harbor, where they used to lie down when all the sailors went to get drunk in the taverns of the docks.

From up there, they could observe the endless horizon of the East Sea and sometimes dreamed of being a sailor traveling the sea in pairs and in complete freedom. But that night, they had mostly come to hide from those who were chasing them.

The wound above Jungkook's eye had stopped bleeding and Seokjin had helped clean it with a clean white handkerchief which led Jungkook to initially refuse to smear it with his blood again before Seokjin forcefully glued it to his face.

Seeing his worried look while cleaning his wound, Jungkook had joked, telling him with with apparent detachment that all the boys of Saengson had to have scars on their bodies anyway and that it was only because he always chose to flee because of Seokjin that he didn't have his yet and looked like a coward.

To which Seokjin had replied that he would rather be a coward with a handsome face than a brave one with a face ugly with scars.

To which Jungkook had replied that at least the ugly one with his scar still had his pants on, ending the conversation as it was rarely the case because of his friend's sharp tong.

For now indeed, Seokjin was obviously too embarrassed after what had happened and Jungkook did not intend to stop in such a good way now that he had the advantage.

"Liar, you show her," Junkook remarked, seeing him blush even in the falling evening while adjusting his jacket around his legs.

"I'm not a liar, my little bird is well hidden and safe!" Seokjin assured, patting over his jacket.

"Now yeah, but it's obvious that you were going to show it earlier since now, you don't have a pant anymore."

"But that lady talked about the snowflakes that were supposed to come out, or something like that and I just wanted to know what it was," Seokjin defended himself, vigorously rubbing his cold legs. "And suddenly, she said i had to take my clothes off!"

"Snowflakes? Youngim really told you that?" Jungkook chuckled, "she must have taken you for a dumb because I never heard her say that to describe what she and her friends do to men who come to see them."

"Hey!" Seokjin protested sulkily, slapping Jungkook stomach as he used to. "Don't call me dumb, I am a very educated person!"

"Not on all subjects obviously if you are surprised that she asked you to take your clothes off! Where did you think these snowflakes had to come from?" Jungkook asked letting his gaze drop.

Following Jungkook's gaze, Seokjin was troubled.

"L-little bird?" he stammered.

"Yeah," Jungkook nodded, "Youngim was going to play with little jinnie!"

"P-Playing with it? B-but that mean... these snowflakes... are you talking about pee?" Seokjin asked in a whisper because he was embarrassed, his eyes widening in disgust.

"What? No, I'm not talking about pee!" Jungkook exclaimed, exasperated, "have you ever needed a girl's help to get naked and pee?"

"No," Seokjin conceded, somehow relieved that there was no question of pee in this case. "By the way, she said it would be good and peeing in front of a girl is nothing good. But then what is it?"

"You just have to know," Jungkook replied.

"Am I supposed to know if no one ever told me about it?" Seokjin pouted.

"Uh...no, I don't think so," Jungkook said reflecting on how he learned himself.

"But you do know what it is, right?"

"Yeah," the Saengson boy simply nodded.

"So explain to me!" Seokjin said curiously.

"Surely not!" Jungkook refused, "besides, you should never have gone there and therefore you should never have heard of it and ask me weird question like you're doing now. Jin, why did you agree to follow Youngim, did you forget that you were in Saengson and you should beware of people?!"

"But she was a woman not a scary man, and she looked very suitable for a Saengson person! I told her I was only looking for you so she said you could be at her house as it was always open and then she said I could come in and look for you inside."

Jungkook sighed, realizing that Seokjin hadn't meant any harm - that he hadn't thought at all - and that if Seokjin had come looking for him, it was partly his fault that he ended up in that place and that situation. He said:

"Of course it's always open. But it's not her home, it's Saengson's pleasure street, a street where a lot of women like her live in places named brothels and where they welcome people to, uh, to please them."

"They are quite nice then, right?" Seokjin remarked innocently. "They also wanted to please me, that's what they said. And they didn't smell like fish..." Seokjin recalled dreamily, looking up at the sky as they still lay against the floor of the crow's nest, hands crossed behind his head.

"Hey ho!" Jungkook called out, snapping his fingers above his face to snap him out of his dream.

"What?" Seokjin asked as he stopped looking at the sky and turned towards Jungkook.

"Stop dreaming, they are not nice women, they pretend only to attract people, just like abyssal fish and you, you fell into their net, you are really easy prey for vile people! That's why Saengson is not a place for you and you shouldn't come anymore! That's what everyone already told you but you don't listen."

"They are pretending?" Seokjin repeated, stunned, ignoring the umpteenth request from Jungkook who wanted him to give up coming to Saengson.

"It shows though!" Jungkook sighed. "They are perfect pests in reality and they hate almost averyone."

"They didn't hate me, they foud me cute!" Seokjin protested proudly. "I'm sure they don't think you're cute and that's why you hate them."

Speechless, Jungkook would have burst out laughing if the situation was not so serious.

"Jin, there's nothing to be proud of when adults you don't know who sneak you into their homes and strip you naked tell you how cute you are!"

"Why are you angry?" Seokjin wondered. "Are you still mad at me because I asked you if you were Japanese?"

It was obviously not the thing to remind to calm down Jungkook who seemed even more angry and glared at him.

"No, it has nothing to do with that!" he replied harshly.

"Then why?"

"It's because you're a fool!" he got carried away. "No, don't say otherwise," he stopped him immediately when he saw that Seokjin was about to protest. "I've always known it but seeing what you almost did today with Youngim makes me fear the worst for you. Maybe I should advise your parents to lock you up because they didn't teach you enough to face the dangers of life."

"They tried, that's why it took me a long time to come today, but I still came and found you," Seokjin explained. "It will never stop me from coming to join you."

"You didn't find me today," Jungkook corrected, "today it is me who found you, only by chance, and I would have preferred not to find you in this situation. Instead of being afraid that I will become a thief, learn not to end up in the wrong place with the wrong people or you'll soon come crying to me that horrible things have happened to you while I was away!"

Stunned by his anger at him - his second tantrum in two days - Seokjin didn't answer. He understood that Jungkook was angry because he cared about him and was afraid that something would happen to him. But he found it hard to understand how what happened that day was different from all the risks they had taken until now and that Jungkook continued to take on a daily basis for fun.

"It's not my fault, you're a bad role model for me," he muttered nevertheless.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing. I will be more careful not to find myself in this kind of situation again," Seokjin promised. "So don't worry too much about me. Instead, stop putting yourself in such delicate situations with Sanghoon and his gang, because you can't ask me to do something you don't do yourself, it's unfair."

"This is not unfair, this is common sense. I don't need to stop and be careful if I know how to handle myself. You don't," Jungkook replied, "Because you made the choice to be, how did you say? Ah yes, a pretty flower rather than a warrior. Well you have to assume behind and stop putting yourself in danger."

"What if I refuse? Are you gonna stop saving me?" Seokjin asked.

Jungkook considered him for a moment, thinking that to better learn this lesson, he had better confront him with reality and its terrible consequences at least once so he would be sure he would never do it again. But as he imagined this, he realized that he was unable to consciously leave him to fend for himself in the face of danger. He couldn't bear to see him suffer or to see him cry.

"If you want to stay a princess in distress all your life waiting for your knight to come and save you without any shame, that's your problem," he said spitefully instead of answering the question.

"As long as you remain my knight I can remain the princess in distress," Seokjin chuckled.

But that wasn't really what Jungkook wanted to hear. He rather wanted Seokjin to tell him that he was going to make an effort to learn how to defend himself, but he didn't. Instead, Seokjin, seeing that Jungkook was not satisfied with his answer, repeated:

"Still, I'll be more careful, don't worry."

Jungkook gave him a skeptical look but seemed to calm down a bit with that answer and suddenly he thought of something which was actually going to dissuade Seokjin from doing something like that again. He grinned.

"You want to know something funny, Jin?"

"Anything other than my pants falling down in front of everyone?" Seokjin grumbled, as he felt that Jungkook had made fun of him enough since earlier.

"Yeah, other than that, even though I'm far from done with it," Jungkook nodded, instinctively grabbing Seokjin's hand which was about to hit his stomach. "Well, if you hadn't given Youngim the money after what she was going to do to you, she would have gone to your dad's house to collect her salary and tell him what you had done with her. I don't think it will make him happy."

Suddenly more horrified than before, Seokjin placed a hand over his mouth, realizing that he had escaped the slow and painful death that his father would have had in store for him if this had really happened.

"You said she wanted money? But I never have money with me! It means that she was going to claim it from my dad?!"

"Do you think there is a reason other than money why those ladies would get naked in front of anyone? It's their job!"

"This is a job?!"

"Yes! By the way, have you seen them? Naked, I mean," Jungkook suddenly inquired.

Again Seokjin blushed brutally but didn't answer and Jungkook had no trouble understanding his silence.

"I can't believe it, that's it, you've perverted your eyes!" he exclaimed in horror.

"I-I didn't want to look at her, I swear," Seokjin stuttered, embarrassed, seeing the image of Eunjung naked again appear before his eyes and hastily placing his hands unnecessarily in front of his eyes.

"But you did! And then you left yourself being undressed! I'm afraid of what you'll become Jin, aren't you thinking of becoming a debauchee, by chance?" Jungkook said in a moralizing tone that didn't suit him.

"No!" Seokjin vigorously denied who tried to chase from his memory blinking the image of the naked woman he had seen, "I swear I'm not! Even if I said yes at first, I changed my mind, you heard me well!" Seokjin hurriedly fired back.

"It was a little late for that," Jugkook remarked, "if I hadn't arrived, whether you liked it or not, she would have done whatever she wanted with you and you would have let her because you remained soft as a mollusk in front of her, for the same reason that you do not know how to fight against boys. It is pathetic, you really have to learn to defend yourself or you will die young because the risks you take are not commensurate with your ability to survive."

"Stop Jungkook, I understand now! I'm sorry, okay?" Seokjin said, a little angry that Jungkook was continuing going after him insisting like that. He was already quite uncomfortable with what had happened and he didn't want Jungkook to make him feel any worse than he already was. "I understood the lesson, I will not go there anymore, happy?!"

Everything was quite blurry in his mind and he didn't understand what he really had to be afraid of but the more Jungkook warned him, the more he was afraid of what he had escaped. Was that dangerous?

He promised himself not to approach any more women he didn't know, especially the one who would smile at him and smell too strongly of perfume, because they suddenly seemed even more dangerous than the men, because of the mystery that surrounded them.

"Honestly Jin, your parents really never warned you about the ladies of joy?" Jungkook asked, turning his gaze again towards the darkening sky.

"The ladies of joy? Is that what Youngim and the other ladies are? Why are they called like that? Are there any called the ladies of sadness?" Seokjin wondered.

"Pfffffff, nonsense," Jungkook sighed with a amused smile, "they're women who make men joyful, that's why they're called that."

"Then why wouldn't I be allowed to go see them?" Seokjin asked, not understanding what made it serious.

"Because you are not a man Jin, you are a boy!" Jungkook exclaimed. "And a very innocent and weak one."

"So I'm not allowed to be joyful because I'm a boy?" Seokjin indignantly exclaimed thinking he understood a little better the words of the two women earlier, when they had spoken to him about becoming a man.

"Did it make you happy to let Youngim undress you and touch you? Because  I didn't feel like it when I saw you!"

Seokjin opened his mouth to reply but immediately closed it again. He remembered his anguish at being alone with the woman, his shudder of anxiety when she had undressed him and caressed him then when she refused to leave him alone despite his repeated requests... No, he hadn't felt well and even less joyful or happy.

Perceiving his distress, Jungkook said to him:

"It's normal if you felt bad, it's not for you. Normally, adults aren't allowed to touch children, but in Saengson, for money, they would do anything, even if it's illegal."

"Is that a crime then?" Seokjin asked, shocked.

"I think so," Jungkook nodded.

"So should I ask my dad to punish them?"

"You want the admiral to come over to Saengson with his soldiers and mess things up there? You're trying to make the people in the neighborhood hate you!" Jungkook warned him.

"Not in Saengson, just on this street," Seokjin clarified, obviously not wanting to harm the rest of Saengson's residents.

Saegnson was a neighborhood where the authorities didn't usually enter, and because of that, crime had developed strongly there. And when the soldiers of the navy would come to have a look there, it was likely to be quite violent as an interaction.

"If you tell your dad, he'll probably want to shut down Pleasure Street. And if he does that, he will steal their home, then all these ladies will return to the streets to spend the winter, is that what you want?" Junkook replied.

"No, of course no," Seokjin said, feeling bad.

"So don't tell him and instead of making others pay the consequences of your actions, think twice before you act."

Seokjin took on a sulky expression. Even if Jungkook was right, he decided it was time to regain the advantage in this oratorical contest that Jungkook was largely winning for the moment.

"What's weird to me is Youngim knew you, she called you by your name, does that mean she ever made you joyful but you dare not confess to me?" he asked in a sardonic tone.

If Jungkook dared to blamed him for things he had already done himself, then he wouldn't let go. Jungook gave him an evil smile that he misinterpreted.

"Am I right?" Seokjin asked triumphantly.

"No, but it was funny watching you try to prove that I was more immoral than you," the orphan replied.

"You are annoying!" Seokjin pouted, "then explain to me, how do you know this place and those ladies?"

"How is this abnormal? I live in Saengson, I know almost everyone here now because I've been everywhere. But if you wanna know why those girls don't like me, I'll tell you. You know people call me Saengson's troublemaker, right?"

"I wonder why," Seokjin quipped and Jungkook grinned.

"Since it is warm in the buildings on Pleasure Street, I have infiltrated them on certain nights to sleep warm and I've seen them doing what makes adults joyful."

"It means that you have already seen naked women too?!" Seokjin exclaimed, wide-eyed, suddenly wondering what other shameless things Jungkook's big eyes might have seen.

"And men," Jungkook said with a shrug. "And because of that, I know what they do in bed."

"I know they not sleeping anyway," Seokjin said, believing he should share this information

"Wow, did you figure that out on your own?" Jungkook laughed at him, making him stick out his tongue.

"So that's why you know what was the snowflakes Youngim was talking about?" Seokjin understood.

"Yep. And I also knew what she was going to do to you," he added in a mysterious tone that didn't please Seokjin who would have rather preferred that Jungkook explain to him.

"Is that so terrible?" He asked worriedly, and his concern did not escape Jungkook's eyes. "Is that why Eunjung was moaning so loud?!"

"Yeah," Jungkook nodded to scare him even more. "There were times when it was so frightening or disgusting that I would come out from under the bed to stop them and it scared them to see me appear suddenly."

Horrified, Seokjin realized ultimately that he didn't want to know nor what Jungkook had seen and heard, nor what nearly happened to him. He had made up his mind: if a woman tried to approach him again, he would run away like his life depended on it.

Satisfied, Jungkook did not insist but then, it was up to Seokjin to worry about Jungkook as he had always done: after all, Jungkook was a child who lived alone in a dangerous district.

"Jungkook, are you sure you never let them..." Seokjin asked hesitantly, "...touch you?"

"Why ? Would you be willing to learn how to fight to avenge me if that was the case?" Jungkook asked with sarcasm.

"Jungkook, answer me!"

"Of course I never let them touch me, what do you think I am?" Jungkook said, "oh don't get me wrong, they already proposed to me, they thought I'd stop bothering them when I experienced what I was stopping them from doing but I never accepted, erk!"

"Oh," Seokjin said simply, as he looked relieved.

"I may be disgusting like a dead fish in appearence, but I'm not as immoral as you, and yet I don't even have parents to forbid me to do what I want," Jungkook scoffed.

Seokjin gave up the fight of the day. Jungkook had won it hands down and only ridiculed him further.

"Let's not talk about it anymore, I won't do it again," he sighed spitefully.

"I hope so. Either way, I don't think they'll let you go back there now that they know you're my friend."

"But you, are you going to keep going back there?"

"Why not?" Jungkook shrugged, "I do not risk much but it is true that it is more difficult to infiltrate me because now the girls look all over the room before they start playing their adult games to be sure I'm not inside of the room with them, and I don't think I'm mistaken in telling myself that they don't like me too much, especially when they have so often appeared to me under their bed by surprise."

The two boys burst out laughing as they imagined the scene.

"I'm the only one to find you everywhere, I'm sure sometimes they looked for you without finding you while you were there," Seokjin ventured.

"You're not wrong," Jungkook chuckled.

They laugh even more.

Then, lying on their back as they were in the crow's nest, they went back to staring at the sky which had almost completely gone black but was brightening again as the moon rose in the sky and reverberated in the sea.

"You should go home, it's late," Jungkook realized.

"Not now, I was out late," Seokjin replied distractedly, because he felt too good at that time with Jungkook to consider the possibility of returning home immediately.

The afternoon events had been both stressful, exhausting but also fun. He was so happy to experience all this with Jungkook, but sometimes like in that moment, he dreaded the moment when all this would stop, where he would no longer have the possibility of going through Saengson with Jungkook to have fun as they did, before climbing into a ship's crow's nest to hide or to look at the horizon without looking for what the future held for them, and without being afraid of anything and anyone.

Does grow up and becoming a man meant giving up all that? Give up bothering the fishmongers of the docks? Give up being the young prince saved by his little knight?  Give up the chases with the gangs of thugs and angry girls of joy? Give up illegally infiltrating taverns to listen to the scary stories of pirates told by the old sailors at the tavern who lied about their exploits to impress them and which always ended in fights between drunken sailors? Give up hiding on merchant ships and having their ears pulled by a captain who was too fond of them to subject them to the torture reserved for stowaways?

In that case, Seokjin wanted to stay a boy as long as possible to continue to be happy like that.

Closing his eyes, he snuggled contentedly against his friend to enjoy his warmth as the cool sea wind of nightfall made him shiver.

"Let's stay like this a little longer," he said more for himself than for Jungkook.