𝗦𝗨𝗡 & 𝗠𝗢𝗢𝗡 | ᴬᶰ ˢᵒᵒᴴᵒ 『English Version』

Prologue

May, 2011. Seoul, South Korea.

Sooho hated having to walk home alone after his martial arts classes. Even though he knew his grandmother couldn't come pick him up every day, he loved when the woman bought him ice cream at the ice cream shop down the street.

Sometimes, when the weather was bad, like that day, the woman would buy him a hot chocolate at the same ice cream parlor, brightening his afternoon. Although he cared little about that, it made him happier to see his grandmother after a whole day of school and training.

The eldest was grateful that the martial arts school was three buildings from the school where the child studied; it made it easier for her to know that he would not get lost on the way to the place.

On difficult days in the restaurant where she worked, like that day, the kid had to go alone to the restaurant where his grandmother was, and although the woman worried that he could have an accident or something could happen to him, she trusted that the little one would walk towards the place without turning aside.

He had done it before; he had to do it this time, too.

Sooho knew it; he knew that there were bad people in the world, like those in his cartoons, the villains, and he knew he had to stay away from them, so he never thought about deviating from the path or going somewhere else other than where his grandmother ordered. Of course, he had never felt the need to do so either.

—LET ME GO! GO AWAY, PLEASE!

The screams in the alley that led to the shortcut to the restaurant where his grandmother worked caught his attention. He tightened the straps of his backpack when he heard that desperate and terrified sound in a raspy but childish voice at the same time.

Sooho walked a little, entering the place, noticing a strange movement before hearing a sharp knock, like when someone hits a part of your naked skin with some force. Sooho, being a curious child and not at all afraid, went closer to the place, seeing how there was a small lilac-purple backpack lying in a small, dark puddle in the place. There was also a small lunch box of the same color as the other object.

A girl?

When the kid saw a leg dressed in white stockings, already stained by a mixture of dirty water, and a foot covered by a small black shoe, which seemed to have been perfectly polished, he moved vigorously, trying to get away from the figure that was trying to hold that part of her body. He reacted when he saw the large hands of the figure dressed in a black hoodie.

What was he trying to do?

Sooho didn't think twice; grabbing the girl's lunch box from the floor, he ran towards the man, hitting him on the head when he was close enough. The girl's crying could be heard more clearly in his ears, but when the boy hit the man's nose, he saw her.

On the floor was a girl with her brown, loose, wavy hair in a mess, as if someone had disheveled her with their hands; her uniform was dirty and messy as well. Sooho's eyes wandered when he saw the girl's skirt above her knees. Not wanting to commit an inappropriate act, as his grandmother had taught him, the boy turned his gaze to her face, seeing a small wound on the girl's face. Taking a step towards her, he felt a slap when he was about to move to help her.

When the kid fell to the ground, the man's first curse was heard, as was the girl's cry. Sooho saw how the man returned to the girl, who tried to get away as far as she could. When he was going to take her again, Sooho stood up, running to her before hugging her, preventing the man from laying a hand on her.

The older man, upset and in the drunken state in which he was, could simply see someone being an obstacle in his way, not a small child preventing him from committing an act that could destroy the life of the girl he had between his arms, which is why he just hit him.