THE CURSED ONE - THE BOY WHO CHALLENGE DESTINY

The Meeting - 2

Jung Kook and Jin ride the horse and leave Sinmu city, they have decided that their first destination is Jung Kook's hometown, Green Valley Village, where his father has a garden and a house on the side of the village under the foot of the hill. Jung Kook lives with his father and his mother during his childhood in that village until his father decided to work at the Golden Flame to make fortune. When his father in Golden Flame, he lived with his mother until she died because of the plague that killed almost a third of the villagers, soon after his father decided to take little Jung Kook to the Golden Flame. They were afraid to return to the village because of the plague until his father died they never set foot again in Green Valley Village.

They galloping the horse pretty fast considering the trip to Green Valley village would take about 1.5 days of riding, what they planned is that if the village is already normal, they would try to clean and repair his father house that they could use for temporary living until they found accurate information about Han Bi Hun's legacy to remove Jin's curse, after that they would determine the next step for their journey.

They realize that they will need a lot of money to finance their journey, even though for now they still have enough funds for two years of simple living from their savings and the money given by Miss Youra's family, but they need to save it because they don't know how long the journey will take, so Jung Kook has planned to save the fund that they have and once they arrived at the Green Falley village, they will clean his father's garden, start growing vegetables, and raising livestock that they can sell it for their daily living expenses.

They are quite far from Sinmu city and approaching Baika Forest, the road they have to pass in this Baika forest will be around 20000 steps, a long enough road to travel before they leave the forest path and enter the residents' rice fields. Jung Kook knows that this is a dangerous forest, many places of the forest are not visible from the road making it easier for the robbers to make an ambush to the travellers, he asks Jin to hold on more tightly because he will spur his horse as fast as possible to get through of the Baika forest road immediately.

The sound of galloping horses broke the silence of the Baika Forest, even though it was still daytime but the atmosphere was quiet and not too bright because the sunlight was covered by the thick leaves of the forest trees. This condition worries Jung Kook because the robbers can ambush them at any time and no one will help them, if that happens he won't be able to protect himself let alone protect Jin. Although his feelings are anxious, he doesn't tell it Jin to avoid making him worry, but Jin is a smart kid, he understands what Jung Kook is worried about because Jung Kook doesn't usually race the horse at high speed like this. Jin's willingness to be free from the curse and learn martial arts is soaring up, he becomes very motivated so that he can take care of those who are precious to him, and not only become a burden to them.

What they were worried about finally came true when suddenly there were some peoples, with their faces covered and wielding weapon, standing in the middle of the road blocking their path. Jung Kook immediately stopped his horse, he know if this is an ambush and turned his horse around to return to Sinmu city but it was too late because at their back there were already other people standing to block their escape routes. In the blink of an eye, 5 other people surrounded Jin and Jung Kook.

The people who block this road despite they are a group of robbers who often act in several areas around the Baika Forest, they are also on a special mission from the Mang Kook family to give lessons on Jin. This morning when Hyul, who went out from the main sect's field before other students, headed to one of the Golden Flame's guards whom he managed to bribe, he asked him to send a letter for his family that contained Hyul's order to hire mercenary to follow Jin and quickly teach him a lesson that will last a lifetime. Hyul's family immediately ordered his men to in touch with the robber group around Sinmu to answer the wishes of Hyul, the main successor of the family, and now this robber successfully blocking Jin and Jung Kook’s way.

"Who are you? What do you want from me?" Jung Kook keeps asking even though he understands who they are.

"You, get off the horse and hand over all your belongings including the horse." One of them said harshly.

"I'm not a rich man, you see for yourself if I'm just an old man traveling with a small child, there's nothing I can give to you." Jung Kook tries to negotiate even he sure if it will fail.

"Don't talk too much, get down quickly." The man said even more fiercely.

Jung Kook has no choice, he gets off the horse and asks Jin to do the same. Jin knows that they are in a difficult position, Jung Kook and himself can't do any martial arts so it is impossible to win against them. If only he could bring out the power of Queen Agh'stya, he might be able to overcome these people even though his life was at stake, but he doesn't know how to do it yet.

One of them approached, he drew his sword and pointed it at Jin and Jung Kook. "Just obey our orders, or you want to lose your life as well?" The person who approached said slightly gentler than the previous person.

Jung Kook thought for a moment, he agreed with this guy's words that if he fought the possibility that they would kill him and if he died they would still bring their belongings, it's better to give up the belongings and get out of this place safely, money can be regained but not with lives.

"Very well, I will, but please let us go with this horse, we still have a long way to go, we need this horse." Jung Kook said pitifully.

"All right, you can take the horse away but with one condition, you leave the boy here, we will take care of him." The person who spoke first asked Jung Kook to leave Jin in this forest.

"What? I'll never do it, you just take this horse and our money, but let us get out of here." Jung Kook answered firmly.

"It's okay, Grandpa, if it can make you safe I'll stay here with them, after all, what kind of bad things could happen to me? Much worse things than this I've endured." Jin says confidently, he wants Jung Kook to survive.