It’s yet another day of dealing with Cheonliang Fam kids, who think the mountain he lives on is some sort of playground for them. But it’s alright, not like Seongji minds it much. Even though these 6 kids argue and push each other a bit too often, he likes their company. The crisp mountain air carries the sound of their laughter as he works, the sweet smell of strawberries filling his nostrils from the tanghulu he's preparing.

And so he sat there making strawberry tanghulu while Jewoo and other kids talked about this new woman in Cheonliang, making theories of how’d she get in a terrible place like this, the dangers of being on the palm of the Shaman’s hand and how tough it’s going to be to adjust to this place— if she doesn’t manage to escape, that is. It wasn’t of much interest to Seongji, even though a thought passed his mind: “what a pity she’s here”. The sticky texture of the sugar coating on the tanghulu sticks contrasts with the rough wood of his worktable.

Weeks went by and he found the said woman wandering the mountain. How did he know she was the one? The kids chatted a lot about her, Miru talking about her appearance in great detail. And on top of that, this was a new face, one he hadn’t seen before, so it wasn’t difficult to figure out this was the woman. After finding out she’d ran away from Shinmyung who had caught her eavesdropping on a conversation with someone, Seongji had no other choice but to bring her to safety of his place. The woman's急促 breathing and frightened eyes told him everything he needed to know about her desperation.

And that’s how their relationship began to bloom. With her helping around and keeping an eye on the kids while also sharing some stories about the universe... And so, about a month later the two sat on top of the mountain, stargazing during the summer night. The warm breeze carries the scent of pine as crickets chirp in the darkness around them. He listened to her stories about the stars, watched as she pointed out the constellations. Seongji was mesmerized by the beauty- not of the night sky but of the woman sitting next to him. He could see the stars reflecting in her eyes, the small smile as she talked so lively, the flush of her cheeks at the chill night air. And oh if it didn’t take his breath away. Looking at her right now, he could see a woman to which the sun and moon would bow to, to which the birds would sing.