GUARDIAN

I stretched my poorly made bow, fixing the arrow on it as I targeted my prey. I shut one eye as I looked at the rat with the other eye. I pointed my arrow at my prey who was unaware I was targeting it. I have never shot an arrow before and I never made one but ever seeing that girl fire those arrows gracefully, I was forced to try making one and also try shooting it. I steadied my fingers as I set to fire an arrow, it makes no sense that I'm trying to do something I saw others doing. Literally I don't try to copy what others did although sometimes I do, but seeing the way she fired those arrows made me curious, I wanted to know how it feels shooting my first arrow and also because I'm hungry. I have to hunt down animals for food, like I said since grandma died, I missed the home made dishes, the gimbap, the tteokbokki- name them, I missed them all.

I positioned myself with one eye closed as I targeted my prey, I watched the rat eating something from the grass, don't know what it was but I saw its mouth moving. "𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑙𝑢𝑛𝑐ℎ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖'𝑚 𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑖'𝑚 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑙𝑢𝑛𝑐ℎ, ℎ𝑎ℎ!" I fired the first arrow, I missed it and the rat noticing the arrow that went passed it, it ran. I ran after my prey and also I was careful about my footsteps. I saw it hiding in a small hole in the tree, I saw its body rising and falling in a high speed, I smirked as I move closer to it careful not to make any sound.

I brought out another arrow and set it on my bow, my fingers trembling. I tried to steady them- targeting my prey. I closed one eye as I shot out another arrow but I missed it. I cursed under my breath, why can't I get this little job done? I mean I have caught a fish in the past, different varieties of animals but never have I caught them using a bow and arrow, I normally use a fling and a stone to get one dead. The rat noticed another arrow has been fired at it again, he ran out of the hole to God knows where. I ran after the rat, there's no way I'm leaving my lunch. I was so hungry, I could have anything for food.

I went after the rat, going deeper and deeper into the woods. This was actually the first time of me going that far into the woods but I'm worth the risk and since no one will be worried about my whereabouts, I don't care what happens to me then cause I'm not missing my lunch for any reason. I ran deeper and deeper until I emerged into some place that looked like a pasture, the land was covered with green tiny grasses and the sky was so high above, there was no sign of trees or woods, just grass. I ventured on, mesmerized with my new found environment. Since my years as a kid I have never seen a scenery like this. It was breathtaking, the colors in the sky were a mixture of white, blue, light yellow and purple. The combo was good.

Okay enough of the drooling, I came here for my prey but there was no sight of it, the worms in my stomach were already singing and I could hear my stomach rumbling like a thunder. Drained out of energy cause of the much running, I sat on the grass trying to catch my breath. Suddenly I heard something moving in the grass, I looked more closely to see what it, I crawled as I followed whatever that was. There was my prey, he was trying to escape from me. My prey noticed something was following it, its eyes met mine, it ran. I chased after it and brought out an arrow and fixed it on the bow, ready to shoot it but I missed it again. Guessed I'm not good at archery but I didn't give up. I kept chasing my prey trying to hunt it down.

"I say you give it a rest, you'll never catch it no matter how much you try." I heard someone's voice say behind me, I turned and saw a man clothed in black wearing a hat over his head and a sword beside him.

"Oh....kkamjjja-iya!" (You scared me), I panicked when I came face to face with the unknown stranger. I ran my eyes over the man, judging the way he looked with my eyes. With the way he dressed I guessed he's a warrior, I wonder what a man like him is doing here. The way he dressed was a little bit different from the way warriors in my village dressed but I cared less about it, I was more worried about my lunch. "Ahjussi, who are you? And because of you, my lunch has escaped."

The stranger lets out a dry laugh, coming a bit closer to me while I traced back my footsteps to create some gap between us, we held each other's gaze for some minutes before he broke the silence between us. "You won't catch it no matter how much you try." He repeated

"How do you know that? " I frowned at him, cursing him inwardly for being the reason my prey escaped.

"I have been watching you from a distance…." I furrowed my eyebrows at him, he laughed at the look I gave him. "I mean when you ran in here, I noticed how much you tried to catch whatever that thing is."

"It's called a rat," I corrected.

"Ahhh…I see," he gave me a smile but never for once did I return his smile or laugh. "But it's a living thing, why would you have a living thing for lunch?"

"To us, it is food, don't tell me that you haven't had rat for food?" I let out a deep breath, turning to see if I could see my prey in sight.

"You can have my apple for food," I turned and saw him handing out an apple. "Since your lunch escaped, why don't you eat mine? I can tell from the way you kept chasing that thing….."

"It's called a rat," I corrected again.

"Right," he smiled awkwardly. "I could tell from the way you chased that rat that you are desperately hungry."

"Glad you could see that," I said arrogantly. He held out the apple to me urging me to take it. I gave him a pointed look. "I don't even know who you are, I wasn't taught to take things from strangers."

He lets out a soulful laughter. "That doesn't include when you are dying of hunger, your eyes says it all how much hungry you are." He took my hand and tries to place the apple on it but I snatched my hand from him.

"How do you know I'm hungry and how sure am I that apple isn't poisoned?" I furrowed my eyebrows at him. He gave me a questioning look and I could tell from the way he looked at me he didn't understand where I'm coming from. "I have seen things that's why I asked."

"Ohh…. kid, why would I kill a kid I'm seeing for the first time?" I ran my eyes over him again when they landed on the sword beside him. He noticed I was staring at his blade and immediately placed his hand on it. "Don't worry kid, I carry this all the time in case danger arises."

"You seem nice to me, I mean this is the first time someone is treating me kindly since grandma left me," those last part I muttered them to myself but little did I know he heard them.

"What happened kid? You don't look like a cheerful kid…."

"Forget about me, who are you and why are you here?" I questioned him not minding if I sounded rude, he's an old man around my grandma's age when she was alive but from the way he looks, my grandma might be older than him with two years.

"I love the breeze of this place but then I saw you chasing something and how desperately you wanted it."

"Your name or don't you have a name?"

He smiled and picked my hand again, placing the apple on it. "Your stomach is requesting for food, eat this before asking any other question." I hesitated for some moment and continued to give him a pointed look but my stomach rumbled for the fifth time and I couldn't control it anymore. I munched on it and swallowed everything at once. It wasn't enough but I couldn't bring myself to ask him if he has more.

He noticed the way I kept licking my tongue and brought out more apples, five of them in number. My eyes lit up at that. Even without him handing them to me, I snatched them from him and munched on them and they were big in size. He brought out a jar covered in clothes and told me to drink to avoid choking. I took the jar and drank a big gulp out of it.

I was really happy, this man standing before me who I know nothing about cared to help me. He didn't treat me like an outcast and he kept smiling at me as I ate. My mouth was filled with the apples but I managed to return his smile this time. I ate the apples to the last one. I looked up from the little slice in my hand and met his eyes on me, I smiled awkwardly at him. "I'm sorry if I ate those apples like a barbarian, I was really hungry."

"Without telling me, I could see that." He brought out another apple from the leather bag he was carrying and handed it to me but I shook my head. "I'm full Ahjussi, thank you for the ones you gave me." I bowed and I could feel his hand on my hair, he ruffles my hair and when I raised my head, he was already smiling. I was moved by his smile, he's the second to smile at me like that, grandma was the first.

"I wish everyone will smile at me like this," I said absentmindedly. But then I realized what I said and I clasped my palms over my mouth. "I'm sorry, I didn't know when I said that." I said as I removed my palms from my mouth. I had already made up my mind not to look vulnerable in front of people, I don't want people to see me as a weak person or look at me with pity. The way I'm being treated by the people in my village, I took an oath to never let the way I'm being treated get to me. Grandma taught me that.

"You are a sad kid," the stranger's voice pulled me out of my thoughts. "Tell me, is something wrong? You look like you have been through hell all through your life."

I don't need anyone sympathizing with me so I needed to look and act tough. I changed the topic. "You told me that if I had something to eat, you will answer my questions?" He nodded. "So my first question is who are you and what's your name?"

He smiled. "You can take me as your guardian and my name is Lee Jaewon."

"Your name is pretty cool," I nodded my head in affirmation. "So how did you know I won't catch that rat no matter how much I tried?"

"Your bow is poorly made and you can't give out a good shot with it looking like that," he pointed at my kinda crooked looking bow and arrows lying on the grass. "And your arrows are not well sharpened so you can't kill any animal with them looking like that. You are bound to miss and if you had managed to shoot it, it will only leave a scratch on your prey instead of killing it."

I read meaning into what he said and it was true, like I said earlier I love trying new things and because I saw how that girl shot arrows upon arrows at those ugly looking creatures…I wanted to try it too. I thought it was the best way to hunt for food instead of my fling and stone but I guess it is the hardest art to learn.

"Since you said I can take you as my guardian and I bet you know how this works...will you teach me?" I stared at him for a minute hoping he agrees. Then after some minutes, he nodded. I smiled.

If that's what you want, I will."