The masked cross-dresser swung the dagger and skipped back. His hands trembled while maintaining a tight grip on the hilt. Snow crumbs clung on the hem of his pink skirt as the thick layer of icing sucked his pink satin slippers. "Stay away from me, you snake!" he roared.

On the intruder's yellow headband, the tiger head insignia glimmered as he advanced to the frightened Prince. He flung his arms wide and waved them slowly. "Your Highness, calm down. I will explain."

Attaching a scalding glare at the snake, Sae Joo sheathed his dagger and tucked it back on his pocket. "Fine. I shall see if you can raise your arguments without wavering from the first principle of being a Hwarang. You should have prepared your weapons, Jun Pyeong."

"First of all, I wish to ask for your pardon as I have acted like a stealthy animal. I assure you that I will answer all your questions with honesty."

The wind howled, drifting the snow remnants from the eastern mountains. Sae Joo licked the roof of his cracked lips and swiped the flakes off his shoulder. "How could you deceive everyone? How long have you been helping those bandits?"

Jun Pyeong protested, hissing like a juvenile viper. "Bandits? Those people are your future allies, Your Highness. Have you forgotten already that you chose to betray everyone and join our group to search for the truth?"

"Tricking them doesn't necessarily mean that I betray them. You have no idea."

The hwarangdo pouted his lips and shrugged. "No idea? Haven't you ever wondered how that little piece of blue baby cloth made its way towards you? Or who shot that arrow with a message telling you to meet an unknown person in Myeongsong Valley while you stroll in the forest with Shun?"

Sae Joo clenched his jaw and shook his fingers at the impudent traitor. "I knew it! Someone from the palace is purposely luring me to know the truth."

"Personally, I have no idea who Sae Yoo is. All I know is that you have a twin, and you two, were cursed. You wish to find your brother and make him the Crown Prince. Now that you've come this far, acting like a hero, trying to save everyone from your misfortunes, have you thought of the possibility that it could give everyone a wrong interpretation? The King might think you were abducted. Unless you go back and reveal everything that had happened, your father might lash his anger at all people responsible for your safety. That includes Shun."

Sae Joo's saliva dried out. The chilly current from his soles surged up to his throat, freezing his voice box. Clearer than the obscured crescent moon above, he had plotted the dire consequences of his actions. He had studied the perfect mixture of dark and light colors to create a portrait of himself and his visual rendition of what would happen in Silla when he was gone. Number one: a vacant throne of an heir. Two: Jung Ho exhausting all his power and skills to take the highest throne. Three: a gush of chaos from the subjects once they knew he was missing. At the back of his mind and the core of his soul, none of those uproarious possibilities would ever match the bloodshed that could happen if he was to be King.

Among all these scenarios, an intangible, yet swift enemy lurking in the shadows of every person was racing endlessly. Hands ticking as fast as the thunderclap without a single intention of going back. Once it passed, its impact would forever be encrypted in the memories of the kingdom's history. All his efforts would avalanche right to his face and bury him down the coldest grave of the earth.

Confident that he has successfully painted a balanced, grim image, he shoved the shivers out of his body and taunted the scaled reptile in front of him. "You people make me laugh and disgusted. Why is everyone thinking that my world revolves around this mere nangdo? And you, what makes you think that I still care for him? I have a mission to do, I have a kingdom to save. Now that you've come up, my mind has never been cleared."

"What does that mean, Your Highness?"

He circled the hwarangdo, his eyes gawking at his brown cowhide vest like he wanted to rip it into pieces. An extortionist wearing one of the kingdom's pillars squirmed his flesh in disgust. "Do you think I would just spontaneously go on to an adventure without a vision of what the treasure ahead looks like? I am well-aware that you are just going to use my influence as long as you please while you assume that I wait for answers like a dog wagging his tail at his owner. I should win the race against time, and I would never satisfy my uncle's hunger for power."

"So you do know who Sae Yoo is." Jun Pyeong hid his claws and rolled his fist behind his back.

Sae Joo rolled his eyes and sneered. He patted the hwarangdo's shoulder and winked. "Anyway, as you were saying about the King going ballistic with the hwarangs, come to think of it—if that's the case, then you'll be held accountable as well. Aren't you also a part of my security team, considering most of that special force belonged to your clan?"

"I won't be involved, Your Highness. Watch me."

"I deem that as a threat." Sae Joo snarled.

"No. I am just telling you what I can do to protect myself. To continue serving the palace and at the same time honor my true family."

In the wheel of the conversation, Sae Joo had been quite lost from the direction of his interrogation. Knowing the Prince's close connection with his bodyguard, Jun Pyeong had used emotional appeal to sway the clueless heir from excavating his personal life (that should not be disclosed any moment soon). Good thing, Sae Joo flipped the tables quickly, and his questions remained intact inside his head.

He squinted, garbled by the hwarangdo's intentional drizzles of puzzle hints. "Your true family? What do you mean? Seriously, Jun Pyeong, who are you?"

"You can assume that I am a traitor, a two-faced snake, or whatever animal you wish to associate with me. But one thing is for sure. Both of us have good intentions on why we fool the people around us." He tapped his chest and bowed before the Prince. "I am a member of a nameless organization, just like how the kingdoms of Silla and Balhae ignore our existence. We are not rebels, as people may say. All we want is peace and better eyes from the people up above."

"How did you even become a member of the Hwarang? How long have you been doing this?"

"I've been doing this before you were born. I am sorry, but right now, I can't divulge to you the entire story of how I made it. That's not important, Your Highness. All you need to know is that we will never do anything to harm you."

Sae Joo crossed his arms and snorted. The scrawny eucalyptus trees scored minty smokes of laughter as the wind tittered, supporting the Prince's reaction from the sugar-coated promise. "I will pretend that I haven't heard that line before."

"You're the perfect person that could help us. Among all people in position, you're the only one who truly sees the value of extending hands to everyone in need."

The Prince scoffed and cackled as if he wanted to regurgitate that faux compliment. "Stop it! You do know why I'm doing this. This is not charity work. I shall serve your purpose, and you would serve mine. The deal is over."

"But as for my family, we wanted to clear our names from the hundred-year misjudgments."

A blanket of silence enfolded the dark, desolate deciduous forest. Sae Joo's heartbeat slowed down, allowing him to hear the loud throbbing of his pulse. The whinny of the brown muscle stallion tied in a hoary tree abraded his ears. Gradually, the grotesque themes of his self-portrait surfaced into life. Although he had listed the possible conditions of the other party—financial support, weapons, social leverage—Jun Pyeong's revelation twisted him. "Misjudgments? What in the world are you saying?"

"Heh—it has been passed down from generation to generation. The hatred of the mixed race. Since reading has been one of your hobbies, I assume that you are familiar with the events after the unification of the Three Kingdoms."

"What about it?" asked Sae Joo.

"Tell me what you know based on the accounts written or let's say ordered to be written by the fathers of your father." Jun Pyeong scowled, his brown, warm iris ebbing. His gruff voice cracked as he forced a shaky ear-wide grin. "Come on! Tell me what you know!"

Despite being insulted with the strange shift of the hwarangdo's expressions, Sae Joo unlatched the deepest mazes of his brain and rummaged for the light of patience, while standing in a calm demeanor. Through the two almond windows of his mask, he witnessed the blazing gaze of the tiger crying for help and not as a sign of threat.

"This is what I've read. After the unification, some fallen Goguryeo officials conspired with the Mohe tribe to form the Balhae Kingdom. The other clans formed their alliance and hid in the mountains, terrified people like savage, barbaric brutes."

Jun Pyeong twitched an eye. His cowhide vest thudded when he struck his chest with his fist. He lifted his head into the air and growled like a lion before curling on his abdomen, bursting into hyena laughter. The high-pitch ecstatic squeaks followed by the desperate gasping of air made Sae Joo grimace at the frantic, mad man, bewitched by the spell of his joke. "What's funny?"

The hwarangdo pulled a dead flat face. "You. Those—uhh—facts—that you said. We? Savage? Barbaric? It still makes me laugh whenever I hear those craps. And you believe all of those?"

"What difference would it make if I believe it or not?"

"Everything!" Jun Pyeong grabbed Sae Joo's shoulders and shook him. The Prince writhed in resistance, the circular jade ornaments on his chest unpinned and fell into the snow mattress. "Get off me!" He jolted the distressed beast and punched him in the face.

Jun Pyeong recoiled and wobbled, wiping a blot of blood on the corner of his scraped lips. "It does matter to us, Your Highness." The aggressive serpent crouched on the white foam, his voice dwindling. "You are our only chance, Prince Sae Joo. You must help us find justice." He slithered for the Prince's slippers and kissed them.

Stunned by the unexpected behavior, Sae Joo flinched and jerked his feet. "What are you doing? Stop it!"

"We don't terrorize people, Your Highness. We have been hiding in the dark for years because both kingdoms search for our kind. They would ask for an alliance, and refusal comes with a deadly price. My parents were killed when I was five. I saw a Yellow Tiger nangdo slit their throats like they were pigs, while I hid inside the closet." Jun Pyeong narrated. The Prince looked down at him, noticing patches of tears dropping on the hwarangdo's dandelion pants.

"Get up," Sae Joo commanded. "If you have been decent, I would have listened to you. Now how would you expect me to believe all the things that you say?"

Jun Pyeong raised. Flakes of ice clamored in his knees. Dried tear tracks lined down from his eyelids to his jaws. "If you don't believe what I say, you should ask our leader—that woman whom you encountered in Myeongsong Valley. When you meet her, she'll introduce you to our kind. You'll be enlightened on our real condition and how the leaders of the two kingdoms have tarnished our reputations."

"You showed up, insulted me, and delivered your heartfelt backstory all in just less than an hour. What a jester, you are! For all I know, at this moment, I am the victim here, and I don't deserve to be blamed just because I am trying to be skeptical here, keeping a firm stand of my guard... But fine. I'll reserve my questions when I meet your leader, and I shall decide whether to help you or not. For now, let's get out of here. Any moment, hwarangs may storm this place."

"Forgive my insensitivity, Your Highness. I was caught up by my emotions, my despair to redeem our normal life. I was just afraid that you would suddenly realize that this is dangerous and you would stop, continue the wedding, and go back to your normal life."

Sae Joo bellowed, his white canines protruding like a blood-thirsty vampire. "Insolent! How dare you utter such low accusations? It's as if you have never known me for a long time." He groaned. "Anyway, are you going with me?"

Jun Pyeong shook his head. "No, I cannot, Your Highness. I still need to do my job as a hwarangdo in the palace." He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to the Prince. A detailed map to the harbor on the outskirts of Seorabeol.

"Hongdo? This is where your leader lives?" Sae Joo crumpled the paper and inserted it on his skirt pocket.

"She's there, waiting for you and more than honored to answer all your questions. When you reach the island, a certain man named Jin Suk will approach you, and he shall bring you to her."

"Right." The Prince turned around and walked away from the hwarangdo. As he was moving further, his stomach spasmed, and all its acid refluxed on his throat, burning his tongue. A word venom that had been itching to get out. From his peripheral, he could see the hwarangdo still staring at him, spying his every move. He strode back, waddling to the hwarang leader to set everything clear as much as possible. The weight of the snow overpowered the stumps of his feet, transforming it into gentle rustles. Sae Joo grasped his arm and spat. "A person who screams for justice must not flip to the opposite side and become a perpetrator of injustice."

Jun Pyeong dunked his head. "I am not what you think I am."

The yellow pig head warned, "If you still consider yourself as a hwarangdo, or even as a human being, you won't do anything to harm other people, especially your nangdos."

"I know what I'm doing, Prince. I can clear my name out of the suspicion list without purposely harming anyone. You shouldn't be afraid of me. Be alarmed by your father and your uncle. But then again, it seems like you have it all prepared." Jun Pyeong walked to his stallion, untied it, and reached the rope to Sae Joo. "Here, Your Highness. Use my horse." The hwarangdo offered his hand like a knight guiding a princess to ride her carriage. Sae Joo snickered as he stepped his left foot on the stirrup and mounted on the horse. "This is not a palace horse, is it not?"

"Calm down, Your Highness. No one in the palace knows him.."

"Very well... So long, Jun Pyeong." Sae Joo whipped the equine and galloped away from the rendezvous in peace.

For about two hours of traveling, the enchanted forest placed their bets on the masked wanderer. It could be safe to say—even the skies and the atmosphere. Under the open canopy above the jewel-filled, clear sky, the Prince journeyed his way across the bleak woods with a strong will and desire to accomplish his deadly plan. He crossed a vast white valley and passed through the tranquil, sleeping communities and villages, guarded by bright street lamps, the scorching fires from the inglenooks, and the dissonance of the barking dogs—their response to the agitating pummels of the horse's hooves on the snowy ground. The glacial breeze had gently propelled him to his destination without freezing any muscle from his body. Just enough for him to feel their cordial presence.

As he reached the beach, his eyes finally laid on the yellow and red lights flickering on the deck of a big, two-story ship moored at the end of the pier. Bubbly waves sizzle at the shore, taking snow fragments as it hauled back to the ocean. Sae Joo pulled the whip and decelerated. The horse cantered towards the platform and proceeded to the boat. Two attendants from below the ramp called out for more passengers like fishermen looking for sardines in the middle of an arid desert.

Their eyes sparkled when they saw Sae Joo jumped from the horse. "Greetings, lady! I wonder what beauty lies behind that jolly little pig. A masquerade party, I suppose. If you were to remove that mask, we shall offer you a free drink aboard." an old, scruffy man laughed.

Sae Joo harrumphed and passed them the rope. "Take care of him. How much would it be for a trip to Hongdo Island?"

The younger man in a ragged gray robe responded, "That would be four gold coins."

"How much is the additional payment for a bigger chamber—with many pillows?"

"Two more."

He delved in his pocket and gave them the required amount. The older man bowed to him and cleared the way, while the younger fellow held the horse. "After you, my lady." 

Sae Joo climbed up the ramp as the two followed. When he reached the main deck, the swoosh of the water to the stationary hull melted his heart as he turned to the beach and bid farewell to the last scenery of the city that has both nurtured and betrayed him. He paused and stared longer at the swaying snow-coated trees and the encapsulated coast.

His quiet moment came to an end when he sighted three horses galloping towards the pier. Men waving their hands and bawling, "Wait! Wait for us!"

Observing the agitated man, Sae Joo leaned on the baluster and peered. As they moved closer, he realized they were wearing a uniform of robe—colored green, purple, and pink—brown vests, and headbands. His fingers shuddered as he scurried to the old attendant and gripped his arm. "Bring me to my room. Quick!" 

__________

NOTES:

Hongdo Island (홍도) - a small island located 115 kilometers from southwest coast of modern day Jeollanam-do, South Korea.