Fifteen years ago, the democratic nation of Korea also known as the Republic of South Korea had collapsed. The country was known for its extremely modern and technologically advanced infrastructure; it's pop culture and it's uniquely appealing cuisine. Popular among tourists, Korea was once a bustling nation, with crowded streets and beautiful, serene scenery surrounding them.
But everything changed 15 years ago, when the Kingdom of Banyeok was established. Yeonwoo had often found it quite interesting that they decided to name the kingdom Banyeok, which was a direct translation for the world 'rebel'. He didn't think "Kingdom of Rebel" was quite a befitting royal name but well, it did accurately represent those present in the royal throne.
The democracy and independence that the people of Korea and their ancestors had fought for had come crashing down so fast, that no one in the world had time to process. 7-year-old Yeonwoo would see news of this change on the news for only 2 days before their connection with the world was cut off.
Although the change was sudden and drastic, it wasn't like no one in the world had no idea where these people claiming to bring in the "Kingdom of Banyeok" came from. They had led multiple propagandic movements across Korea but due to the sheer absurdity of their idea of wanting to regress the nation, turning it from a democracy to a monarchical dictatorship, stripping the citizen of their freedom, no one really paid attention to them. Some of their members were occasionally arrested for disturbing public peace but other than that, they had barely gained traction.
That was until they basically launched a war against the democratic government. While a democracy grants freedom to its citizens, it also has the biggest disadvantage of being extremely complex and extremely slow. Which is why when waves of attacks come one after the other, Korea found itself extremely helpless. They had the weaponry; they had the forces but coordinating them would take at least a month. In retrospect, these rebels had everything well-planned and much to everyone's surprise they also had a significant number of members.
Within a mere span of a year, the Kingdom of Banyeok was established, and it changed the course of all citizens of the country. Yeonwoo and his family were from a decently well-off middle-class family. His dad used to work as manager at a small software startup while his mother was a professor who taught Korean History at a couple of universities. Yeonwoo was a single child at the point of time, but his parents had told him that he was going to have a sibling in a couple of months' time. The young boy was obviously ecstatic at that aspect. Korea had a steadily declining birth rate and most of the kids were single children so Yeonwoo was beyond happy to hear that he would finally have a sibling.
Of course, he ended up never seeing his sibling. The rebellion had thrown multiple families to shreds. Yeonwoo's family wasn't spared either.
But no matter how successful a rebellion was, there was always going to be a resistance movement. In Korea, they did have an extremely underground resistance group called the Panchen.
The Panchen was formed shortly after the closed gates of the imperial city were built. The closed gates blocked the weaker, poorer or crippled sections of the society from entering their grand, lavish city. The kingdom's ultimate goal was to fully eliminate those who lived outside the city but of course, not only was it a time-consuming event but it was also a cost consuming event. Occasionally, they also brought in people from the outside to work either as sex workers or slaves to noble houses. The Panchen was said to be a small group of people based within the city walls. Their goal was obviously to bring down this falsely built empire but as far as Yeonwoo had heard, they focused on giving supplies to outside, ensuring that they survived cause the scraps provided by the empire was not enough.
Initially Yeonwoo was extremely interested in them, even hoping to join them if it was possible or help them in some way. He was a boy who had lost a lot of things to the empire and while he didn't want to stand out as hero or the face of a resistance, he wanted to help at least. But this group of people were so elusive that almost no one ever heard of them or their movement. The rumours said that they were providing supplies to the outsiders yet there were so many people who starved on a regular basis. Ultimately, people gave up hope on the Panchen and settled on resigning to their fate and the Panchen became nothing but an urban legend.
"Are you a Panchen?" asked Yeonwoo, in a hushed whisper.
Reno awkwardly scratched his chin. "Well, no. I mean I've been searching for them."
Yeonwoo minor excitement at having possibly found someone from an urban legend immediately disappeared. "You risked your life searching for an urban legend?"
Reno merely shrugged. "I had no wish to live under the clutches of these imperial dogs. You and the rest of the group might've been satisfied with just living like that, but I am not. I know in the group we don't talk about our histories, so I have no idea what everyone over there has went through, but I know we all have lost something near and dear to us."
Reno gritted his teeth, slight anger visible on his face. "It's been 15 years, I know. But I am not going to die without fighting. I'd rather I die while fighting."
Yeonwoo didn't know if he should appreciate the tenacity of the man or laugh at absurdity of giving up his life for an urban legend. Maybe he just doesn't cling onto life as desperately as Yeonwoo does.
"And then? Did you end up finding any clues?" asked Yeonwoo.
Reno tilted his head, his expression complicated. "Well, to be honest, I can't really tell whether they really exist or not…but if they do, it's obvious they move at night. An empty corner will suddenly have some supply or the other the next morning. But you have to properly look for it. And as for their identity, I've never ventured out in the night. It's not like I'm scared per say, it's just it's so dark, even if my eyes get adjusted to the dark, I feel an eerie restless without a proper source of light. Maybe it's also because everyone has instilled this fear of night over the past couple of years that it's subconsciously engrained in me."
"If it really were the Panchen, would there really be a need to hide it in a corner? Why not directly place it in an area that's easy to find. As someone who goes scouring for these, some of the supplies are hidden in an insanely absurd place."
Reno let out a snub smile, as if he had a sort of advantage over Yeonwoo in this conversation. "The Panchen are like the Robinhood, you know, like the story. If they were openly going to leave the materials out, they might as well go directly to the imperial forces and get themselves arrested. True heroes never stand in the spotlight."
Yeonwoo raised an eyebrow. "How are you so sure that these supplies are not provided by the imperial palace?"
"Why would they do that?"
Yeonwoo shrugged. "Survival of the fittest. Those who can find it, can keep living, those who can't, die. After all, if our entire population dies off it'd be a big problem for them as well."
Reno shook his head. "But then why would they send the imperial forces to regularly clean us out? Isn't starving us to death enough?"
"Well, isn't it obvious? They want to instil proper fear in us. They may have built large gates within which lies a huge city, but our numbers are still bigger, we're spread out over the entire of Korea. If all of us come to together and decide to rebel against the crown even if it doesn't completely eliminate the kingdom, it's going to cause some serious damage. They need to balance the hatred and fear. Hatred for the kingdom is natural for people like us, after all they stole everything from us. But in order for us to not act on that hatred, they need to make fearful of them."
But that's so sadistic, thought Reno but decided not to voice it. What Yeonwoo was saying sounded much more like reality while his big words about the Panchen sounded like a pipe dream in comparison.
A silence fell between them and Yeonwoo wondered if he really should've said all of that. He didn't believe in the existence of the Panchen but that didn't mean they didn't exist. Maybe Reno's logic of them being secret Robinhood was true but the likelihood. If Reno maintained that delusion for long, it could get him killed someday.
Although this delusion was the reason the both of them were alive right now. As for the rest of them…
"Reno…" started Yeonwoo. "Thank you."
Reno looked at Yeonwoo, confused. His long locks fell over, covering his black eyes. He was the same age as Yeonwoo but for some reason, Yeonwoo just felt much older and much more mature.
"What for?"
"Well, all that's said and done, if it weren't for you, I don't think I would be alive at this point. I'd probably have been shot dead back there."
Reno wanted to say you're welcome or something of that sort, but it just didn't seem appropriate. Sure, they both were alive but the others…they had to die such sorry deaths.
A silence settled between them as they indulged deeper into their own thoughts.
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Reno and Yeonwoo immediately looked at each other, alert as they heard multiple approaching footsteps from some distance. They were just immersed in their thoughts and since it was still nighttime, they had no idea how much time had actually passed.
The older officer emerged from the tent, followed the younger officer. The older officer gave the younger officer a small glance and nodded.
The younger officer walked over to Yeonwoo and Reno standing in front of them. He gave them a smug look. "Looks like our operation was successful."
Yeonwoo maintained an expressionless look on his face. He knew people like this officer who liked jabbing at people hated nothing more than a poker face. But Reno didn't think too deeply about all that. What was so "successful" about killing people? He was almost about to spit at the officer when his jaw dropped at the sight in front of him.
Even Yeonwoo's poker face immediately fell off. He felt his heart twisting, but he couldn't quite explain the right emotion.
"Hyuk?!"