A Tactic

Hhhh. . . hhh . . .hhh

Someone was seen running so fast from the pursuit of the bandits who were behind him. He tried to avoid the bandits, but they continued to chase him tirelessly.

"Catch him!"

One of the bandits shouted and asked the rest of his flock to chase after a woman who felt quite tired of being chased continuously like this. Trying to dodge, the woman accidentally tripped over a bat, causing her to fall face down.

"Forgive me, don't kill me!"

The woman looked so scared. She begged the bandits not to kill her. However, being merciless, one of the bandits came up to her and pulled her clothes roughly, making her stand up.

"Hand over the golden jade, or I'll kill you!"

The bandit threatened her by striking her neck with his sword, leaving her neck slightly scratched and bleeding.

"Forgive me, I'll hand over the golden jade to you right now. Please, don't kill me!"

The woman was absolutely terrified. Just as she was about to hand over the golden jade into the bandit's hand, a copper arrow suddenly shot into the bandit's body, striking him dead on the spot.

"Who is it?"

The group of bandits began to panic and cast their eyes around to find out who had tried to kill, and shot one of their own.

However, several arrows began to shoot back and pierce the bandits' bodies at a rapid pace. All died on the spot with just two hits. The archer appeared and approached the woman who had been wanted by the bandits.

"You're okay, right?"

The archer helped the woman up and returned her golden jade.

"I'm fine. Thank you for helping me."

The archer smiled slightly. However, his eyes gazed at the golden jade held by the woman.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Ask what?" the woman asked confused.

"Where did you get that gold jade?" the archer asked cautiously.

"I got it from my lover," she replied.

"Your lover?"

The woman nodded her head and hugged the golden jade given to her by her lover very tightly.

"Relax, I'm not going to take your jade. I'm just asking about your jade, I won't take it away from you. So, you can rest easy."

"This was my most prized possession before my lover disappeared."

"Disappeared? Why?" asked the archer again confused and a little curious about the story of the owner of the golden jade.

"My beloved disappeared the day after giving me this golden jade."

"Disappeared? Who is your lover, if I may know?"

"He is the 5th prince, Seok Imbyeom."

The archer was so surprised to hear the name Seok Imbyeom who was the 5th prince of Joseon Dynasty.

"Then, I'll excuse myself."

After the woman's departure, the archer was seen sitting on the bank of the Seogak River while thinking about many things that kept bothering him. However, just as the archer was about to stand up, someone came up to him and threw a banana peel at his head.

"Yaa!!! Choi Yeon, don't bother me anymore!!!" the archer shouted in annoyance as he turned his head to see Choi Yeon throwing a banana peel at his head.

Choi Yeon, who had just arrived and heard the archer screaming in annoyance, laughed so hard that her twin sister Choi Rim hit her on the head.

"Choi Rim! Stop hitting my head!"

"Please forgive my brother's antics, Kang Sora. He's always bothering you. Because you're so much fun to tease."

Kang Sora, the archer who was thrown a banana peel by Choi Yeon just smiled sarcastically and left. However, his steps stopped as soon as Choi Rim called his name again.

"Hey, Kang Sora!" Choi Rim called out to Kang Sora causing his steps to stop for a moment, "aren't you still tired of looking for him?"

Kang Sora looked back and stared at Choi Rim sharply.

"I'll never get tired of looking for him no matter what, even until I die," he said sounding harsh.

"He could already be dead, Sora~ah. How could he be alive if he's been missing for decades."

Hearing the word dead, the archer named Kang Sora immediately picked up his crossbow and almost shot it at Choi Rim.

"Yes!!! Kang Sora, be careful with that arrow, or I can attack you with my three-fire dragon dagger."

Feeling that her brother was threatened, Choi Yeon immediately got ready to take out her 3-fire dragon dagger that was inside her shoe. However, seeing Kang Sora lowering his arrow, Choi Yeon didn't take his dagger.

"Don't ever say the word die in front of me again Be careful with your words, Choi Rim. Or my arrow could fly at you anytime."

As soon as he finished his sentence, Kang Sora left with a step that looked upset and so emotional.

"Don't ever ignite the fire of anger in front of that human archer, Rim~ah. He's not an ordinary human as we know him. You remember, he was gifted by the Earth God a dozen years ago."

Choi Rim smiled mockingly. However, after that she picked up her sister's banana that was in her basket and ate it.

"Yes! That's my banana!" Choi Yeon shouted back.

"Have you gotten any updates on the whereabouts of the sacred red stone, Yeon~ah?"

Choi Yeon folded her hands and shook her head slowly, as she looked at the flowing water of the Seogak River.

"I haven't gotten any updates yet. I don't understand, why is the sacred red stone so hard to find?"

"Aren't you suspicious, Yeon?"

Choi Yeon looked at Choi Rim with a confused expression on her face.

"What do you mean, Rim~ah?"

"Is it true that the stone is missing? What if the stone was intentionally hidden by someone?"

Choi Rim and Choi Yeon exchanged glances and seemed to be thinking about the same thing.

"Don't be silly, Rim~ah. Do you know the story? The stone disappeared during Yeonseok's pursuit of Aeshin."

"I think there's something strange about this, Yeon~ah."

"How strange do you mean?" asked Choi Yeon still looking confused.

"Someone must have manipulated the story over time for us to not know what the original story was. There must be stories that were omitted, I'm sure of it. How could the stone disappear for 1000 years? I think, there is one story that was forgotten, Yeon."

What Choi Rim said could have happened and it was true. For 1000 years, everyone was trying to find the whereabouts of the sacred red stone that was famous for its great power. However, until now the stone has not found a bright spot. Is it possible that the sacred red stone was intentionally lost or hidden by someone like Choi Rim said?

"Should we look for Han Yuram with his other friends?" asked Choi Yeon who made a suggestion to her brother this time.

"What for, working with them to find our villagers?"

"They're all also on their way to find the sacred red stone, right? We can cooperate with them by trying to get close to all of them. We have to come up with a good tactic."

"Yeon"~ah?" Choi Rim looked at her sister's face intently.

"Why?" asked Choi Yeon as she looked back at her sister's face.

"Sometimes, you can be smart too," she said with a mocking smile.

"Yes! You old hag!"