A Foreign World

"Let's go." Hwarang heard the man's deep gruff voice and before he could give a respond of any sort, the man veered around mechanically as he headed for the hanji screened door where he came through.

His body swayed elegantly, his shoulders moved with an air of authority and his chin held high up in pride as he moved, not halting for a second to glance back to know if the kid followed or not.

Hwarang didn't waste a second and instantly followed behind the man, placing one small foot in front of the other in almost hastened steps even when the man was walking with an average pace, but his long legs covered five footsteps Hwarang took.

As he moved, he watched the man's broad back which was undoubtedly covered with muscles, the man towered above him and he felt smaller than he actually did, for a split second, he felt anxious.

They arrived at the exit of their house but none of his family members were there to bid him goodbye, he wondered if they were being restricted from seeing him before he was dispatched to his new home, and new life.

The man occupied the palanquin and he climbed into it without an invitation, obviously.

The man's huge figure crammed half of the small space inside the palanquin carriage, but he didn't dare crane his neck to his side, instead he looked out the window hoping to see his family one last time but the curtains were drawn together so he couldn't.

He could feel the palanquin move as the servants carried it away from his home and into an unknown location. He couldn't see the routes they took as the curtains were drawn, but he could make out when they arrived the market area because of the distinct chatters from men and women.

After more movement and strained silence, the noise died down, and the place fell into silence. The palanquin abruptly stopped moving and he could feel it being lowered down by the men who carried it.

He felt sympathetic toward them, as they had been on the journey for about an hour and he was sure the man most certainly weighed three hundred pounds of hard muscle.

The gruff man opened the small door of the palanquin and hopped out along with Hwarang. The blinding light stung his eyes as soon as he emerged out of it, making him squint his eyes closed.

After getting familiar with the harsh sunlight, he opened his eyes to see the great palace of Silla standing in front of him. The palace had a larger structure than his house, made up of Chinese fashion curved tile roof held by a console structure and supported on prominent wood beams and pillars.

He watched as maids and servants carried out their daily tasks as they sauntered around the large courtyard which had a beautiful garden located at the east side with servants tending to it.

As soon as the servants gazes fell on them, they lowered their gazed immediately as though they had Medusa's head and meeting their gaze would turn them into stone.

They didn't proceed into the palace as he would have assumed, instead, the gruff man went through a network of small tunnels located outside the palace and he followed behind.

The tunnel they went through was dark and dimly lit with the torches hanging on the wall which had an eerie tone to it. As they proceeded further into the tunnel, he could see the end of it, emerging out into a spacious area.

The closer they got to the end of the tunnel, the louder the muffled noise erupting from within.

They finally emerged from the tunnel, following behind the gruff man to see himself in a foreign world, totally diverse from the one he just emerged out of.

His eyes enlarged as he watched the skilled fighters who had fit lean and muscular bodies, doing varieties of rigorous exercises, combats and training with different fighting tools apart from swords, the skies had gone dark but they trained relentlessly in the darkness with only the dim light of the moon shining down on them.

They continued moving toward a wooden sliding door and he could see tens of unimaginably good looking but immensely skilled men dispersed around the spacious area mastering different arts and techniques of fighting skills with rigid training he was alien to.

They were all of different age groups consisting of adults down to kids who were slightly older than he was, he might have been the youngest in the entire place.

He followed the man as he led him through the wooden door sliding it open, the floors were polished wooden floors and the interior of the place was furnished nicely in the traditional Korea style.

The building was a spacious one with networks of labyrinth hallways which had numerous doors at every corner.

The man led him further into the building until they stopped in front of a polished wooden door among the many others situated in the hallway.

"This is your room, your training starts tomorrow, so be up early. Don't make me wake you." He heard the gruff man beside him speak in a clipped tone, it was the most he had heard him utter which made him think he couldn't say more than five words.

He watched his retreating figure as he left him standing there without waiting for a reply, before sliding the door open and moving into the spacious room.

The room was quite spacious for one person and wasn't stuffy at all. A person sized low mattress was situated in one corner of the room, the dim moonlight penetrated through the single window in the dark room.

A single lantern lay beside the window and he put it on, the light from the lantern illuminated into the room.

He stared at an oil painting of a man dressed in an all black outfit hung on the wall, the edge of the painting was a bit slanted so he straightened it properly.

Stacks of old historical books lay on a small low wooden table with a cushion below it and out of curiosity, he rummaged through the books and screened his eyes through the content.

It was nothing of his interest so he closed it shut and skimmed his eyes around in boredom, wondering if he could at least step out for a bit of fresh air and watch the assassins as they trained but the gruff man didn't inform him if he could come out or not so he stayed put, not wanting to get on his bad side on the first day.

He peeked out through the window and strained his neck to watch the assassins train with glee in his eyes, he was excited to start training too, but soon, his neck ached and he took a resolution to go to bed early in order to wake up early, the gruff man had threatened him not to wake up late.

He took off his robe leaving on his undergarments and crawled into the mattress, he was about to close his eyes to sleep until he heard a soft knock on his door.

He scurried toward the door hoping it wasn't the gruff man, he slid the wooden door open to meet the brown eyes of a woman, but she was well dressed and good looking even though he had suspected she was just a maid.

"Young master, your bath is ready. I'm sorry for keeping you waiting, after your bath your meal will be served." The lady said in a polite manner as she bowed her head slightly at the young master that was supposed to be him.

The young maid motioned for him to follow her and he did as they took another path down the hall, sliding his feet through the polished floor.

She led him into a bath house with a smile plastered on her face as she prepared his bath.

He took off his undergarments and he had no choice but to allow the young maid give him a bath, after all he was only eight and he was already used to maids giving him a refreshing bath from the opulence he enjoyed as the son of a noble.

He immersed into the scented water and the maid gave him a nice bath even though he wasn't dirty and equally washed his hair.

After his bath, he got clothed in the night garment the maid gave him.

Afterwards, she led him to his room and applied oils on his hair before tying it to a neat slick bun. He ate his meal she brought in and she stood still watching him till he was done.

"What's your name young master? I'm Eunju." She asked with a smile on her face.

"Hwarang, its nice to meet you Eunju." He said and she gasped with delight.

"Aigoo, I can feel you'll become a great Hwarang and its a honor to be your personal caretaker, I'll be in charge of all your needs, whatever you need at all, I'll try my best to service you." She said and he blinked his eyes in confusion, he was given a personal maid?

This was no different than the luxurious life he enjoyed back home except he would be trained to become an assassin.