"Lifelong banishment!" the court had demanded.

"Exile!" the king had commanded.

And that was more or less the reason why Hwa Woo Sung was now lounging on a boat in the middle of nowhere.

Well, not lounging, exactly.

Another flash of lightening split the air, and Woo Sung tightened his grip on the rigging as the ship rocked to the side with a large wave. Thunder soon echoed after, and Woo Sung squinted through the rain at the large dark mass coming into view before them.

"Of course the weather would act up on the day we're supposed to land in this miserable place," the older man beside him growled. "Did you know they allow their women to own property here?" He paused, and then gave a shudder. "And they let them...make decisions. The place is overrun by heathens."

"If you hate it that much, you shouldn't have opposed the king," Woo Sung answered, still keeping his eyes on Tamna as they grew ever nearer to the island.

The other man let out a short laugh. "You say it as though you're not also guilty of the crime, and suffering the same fate."

"I wasn't the one who sided with the Japanese," Woo Sung shot back, and his grip on the rigging tightened at the statement. He did not want to have anything in common with the man beside him. Seon Hong Pyo was known for his scheming and deceit, and in Woo Sung's opinion, it was long overdue for the king to have expelled the man from the royal court.

Hong Pyo hacked and spat into the frothing waves below. "Better to be realistic than ignored by your own country," he answered. "Tell me, how does it feel to be rewarded as such for your efforts?"

"If they want to win this war, they'll see my point eventually," Woo Sung answered with a dismissive wave of the hand.

"Just remember that if you weren't a yangban, you'd be dead by now," Hong Pyo sneered. "The king wouldn't have bothered to ship you off if there was an easier way to get rid of you. I don't think he'll be seeing your point anytime soon. Yi Soon Shin will never be reinstated, and it will just make winning the war that much easier for the Japanese. It's best you come to terms with that."

With that final statement, Hong Pyo left to seek shelter in the cabin of the ship. Woo Sung watched him leave out of the corner of his eye, but remained where he was despite the water that fell ever-faster from the dark clouds overhead.

Once Hong Pyo was out of earshot, Woo Sung scoffed and turned back to face forward. He may have acted unaffected by his exile in front of Hong Pyo, but he was anything but disloyal to his country. This punishment was like a slap to the face after all the effort he had put in to defend against the Japanese invaders, but he wouldn't give up hope yet.

Time passed in the pounding of waves against the hull and the stumbles of slipping feet on deck, but finally the ship docked in one of Tamna's easternmost ports: a small town named Seongsan.

"Just in time for breakfast," a sailor near Woo Sung proclaimed, cracking a grin of yellowing, chipped teeth and rubbing his hands together in anticipation. Woo Sung watched the man make his way down the gangplank before picking up his sack of belongings and following.

A hand landed on his shoulder, however, before he could step onto the dock. With a sigh, Woo Sung turned to look back at the owner of the hand.

"And where do you think you're going?" It was the captain of the group of soldiers who had accompanied Woo Sung and Hong Pyo from the capital. The lean man was about Woo Sung's height and dressed head to toe in a uniform of black and dark blue. Throughout the trip, Woo Sung had not seen a glimmer of emotion cross the man's face, and even now, the man's tone and expression were the same stern and unreadable equilibrium that they had been the day before, and the day before that. Woo Sung vaguely wondered if the man was angry, bored, or just constipated.

At the captain's question, Woo Sung shrugged and gave an innocent smile. It had been worth a try, but it seemed that escaping wasn't going to be so easy. Ah well—on some level it was good news, since it meant that Hong Pyo wouldn't be able to get away so quickly, either.

It was only once the other five guards had assembled and the other prisoner with them that the small party finally made its way off the ship and onto dry land—though it wasn't exactly "dry" at the moment. The rain was driving down faster now, but for a moment, Woo Sung didn't notice. Instead, he stood by the dock as the other ship's passengers streamed around him, splashing through the mud to get to their homes or the nearest tavern. They had families and friends to meet. Woo Sung's lips pressed into a solemn line as memories of his own family resurfaced, and he turned his gaze upwards to inspect the looming rainclouds as a distraction.

"This way," a guard ordered. A hand shoved Woo Sung between the shoulder blades at the statement, and he stumbled forward into a puddle. Next to him, Hong Pyo scowled as mud splashed up and across his clothes.

"Oops," Woo Sung said. Hong Pyo's glower only deepened, and Woo Sung fought to hide a grin as he straightened up. Like Woo Sung, Hong Pyo was wearing the plain white garments of a prisoner. The mud stains would be difficult to wash out.

Woo Sung turned and raised an eyebrow at the guard who had pushed him. "It's not very polite of you to shove people."

"Does it look like I care, traitor?" the man growled.

Woo Sung continued, unperturbed. "Well, I just thought since we're both going to be here for a long time, we should at least try to get along." He turned to Hong Pyo. "Don't you think so?"

Hong Pyo gave a sly smile, then. "It might not be for as long as you think," he said. "At least, in my case."

"All right, that's enough," the stone-faced captain said. "Let's get moving."

They set out for the fortress, but Woo Sung was still mulling over Hong Pyo's words. What had he meant by them? There would be no leaving their prison, let alone this island, any time soon. The current political climate made sure of that.

Woo Sung frowned. After a two-year ceasefire, peace negotiations had fallen through and Japan had resumed its attempts to conquer Joseon. With the nation once again at war, there was no way that Hong Pyo would be leaving Tamna anytime soon. And neither would he, for that matter. The court's only worry had been to get rid of traitors, and it was most likely that even after the war ended, if Joseon won, Woo Sung would still be stuck in this place, forgotten, for a very long time.

It would take a miracle to escape the island. But of course, things weren't going to be that easy.

Hey, have you decided what you want to order yet?

You look confused. Have you ever heard of the Imjin War? This took place in the late-1500s after a silly misunderstanding between some translators from Korea and Japan, who each thought the other country wanted to pledge loyalty to their country. This didn't go over too well when Japan found out Korea-then-Joseon didn't like them so much, and vice versa. So Japan decided to just win Joseon over by conquering them instead.

Obviously, someone should have hired better translators.

It was looking bleak for Joseon, especially after the capital was overtaken, and both palaces burned to the ground. The king just barely managed to escape in time and was forced into hiding for a while. Finally, however, Joseon, with the help of its Ming allies, was able to drive the Japanese out of the capital and back to a coastal city in the south named Busan.

But can you believe this? When the two countries tried to negotiate a peace agreement, they must have sent the exact same translators, because suddenly the ambassadors for both countries were reporting that the other side wanted to surrender. It was the whole mess that had started the war to begin with! So of course, when the Japanese began demanding princes and land and the Koreans ordered that the Japanese leave immediately, the fighting started all over again.

Imbeciles. If there's one lesson to learn from this, it's that translators can be very, very dangerous—especially if they lie on their resumes. Never trust a translator.

Since the war still wasn't over, by that time I had decided that I needed to intervene. It was such a mess. Once we order our food, I'll continue with the story, and you'll see just what I mean. Do you know what you want to eat yet? The bulgogi's pretty good...and if you end up not liking it, that's okay—more for me!

Wait, before I continue—have you forgotten what a yangban is? Remember, I explained this in the last story—but I'd better not assume you remembered anything, what with your short-term memory. Yangban were nobles and sangmin were commoners.

Yes, of course, I'm sure you knew that. Whatever you say.

Pass me a plate, would you?