Beginning Beyond The Horizon

In the evening, Hajime and Yul went to the market to collect supplies for the journey. They came to the area where the slave female was held. Sitting across the street looking at the woman in the cage made Hajime realize that life isn't fair. Looking at the women sitting in the wooden cage with no hope of escape, Hajime's heart trembled with loneliness, because no one could understand that feeling better than Hajime. He remembered that there had been times of despair in his life.

Hajime looked at one of the women sitting on the ground secretly wiping her tears. Yes, Hajime has those moments when he must hide his tears and cry secretly in his room alone. Hajime had been staring at the woman, and suddenly remembered a memory that he tried his best to forget.

(Memory)

Hajime was sitting patiently on the table waiting for Kenji to arrive. He sat at the table for nearly four hours watching the rain drops slowly dropped down from the window and joining with other rain drops created a bigger and faster rain drops.

It was almost closed to closing time when Kenji finally arrived. Kenji sat across from Hajime and looked at Hajime without speaking.

Hajime looked to see Kenji's expression and he knew right away that it was not good. "Kenji-san, what do you need to talk about?"

Kenji sighed and hesitated for a while before he said, "Hajime-kun."

Hajime smiled and asked, "What is it?"

Kenji said, "Hajime-kun…I…I'm…I'm getting marry."

With just three words, Hajime's heart was torn apart. He knew this day would come. When he became Kenji's casual lover, Kenji made it clear that he wanted to get married in the future, but Hajime was too stubborn, and he naively thought that if he really loved Kenji, he could change Kenji's heart.

Although Hajime was full of sadness, he still gave Kenji a smile. "Congratulations. Thanks for telling me this," he said. "Is this the last time we see each other?"

Kenji nodded but did not answer Hajime.

Hajime smiled and asked, "Do you want to order anything?"

Kenji smiled and shook his head. "I'm meeting my parents and Yua's parents." He took out a credit card and put it on the table. "This is for you."

Hajime picked up the credit card and said with a smile, "A parting gift?"

Kenji nodded, stood up, and turned around and left.

Hajime hurriedly said, "Kenji-san." He looked at Kenji and tried to hold back his tears. "If I were a woman, would you still marry?"

Kenji turned his back to Hajime and said, "No." He walked away from Hajime.

Hajime's tears finally flowed from his eyes. He murmured, "Kenji-san, thank you."

Three months later, Hajime heard that Kenji and Yua got married. Hearing this news, his heart was completely broken. He tries to run and hide, but somehow finds himself standing outside Kenji's workplace. He wanted to go in and have a look at Kenji, but he was afraid of violating Kenji's privacy, so he stood outside waiting for lunch time so he could have a look at Kenji. He waited for a while, Kenji hadn't walked out of the office building when his cell phone rang, and he decided to leave. He took out his cell phone, it was Kenji calling.

Hajime said, "Kenji-san."

Kenji said madly, "Hajime-kun, we talked about this before. We agreed that no matter who gets married, whether it's you or me, we will cut off all contact with each other. Please stop following me."

Hajime's tears suddenly flowed down his face. He said sadly, "I'm sorry. I won't contact you again." He slowly wiped away his tears, turned and left.

Hajime knew in his heart that it would be very difficult to let Kenji go because Hajime was at his lowest point when Kenji entered Hajime's life. He wanted to die and leave this ridiculous life, but Kenji gave him love, hope, dreams, and warmth that he never had before, which changed everything. So, it might be easy for Kenji to let him go and start a new life with his wife, but it's not the same for Hajime.

(Memory End)

Yul wanders the streets asking passing merchants if they've heard of No Man's Land, but everyone Yul meets tells him they've never heard of it before. Just when his hopes were dashed, he met a man who was dressed weirder than other merchants.

The merchant quickly approaches Yul. "Are you looking for directions to No Man's Land?" he asked with a smile, showing his golden teeth.

Yul asked, "How do you know?"

The merchant smiled and said, "I heard from other merchants."

Yul asked, "Can you point me in the right direction?"

The merchant smiled and said, "Not only can I point you the direction, but I do have a map, all at the low price of three silver leaves."

Yul asked, "How do I know your map is exactly what I'm looking for?"

The merchant smiled and said, "You want to enter No Man's Land because you want to get the White Dragon Tail." He giggled.

Yul said, "Show me the map."

The merchant reached into the back of his jacket, pulled out an old leather map, and handed it to Yule. "Here's the map to No Man's Land," he said with a laugh.

Yul took the old leather map, and quickly unrolled it, but the leather map was blank. Yul throws the leather back to the merchant and says grimly, "Don't waste my time."

The merchant asked, "You don't believe me?"

Yul said, "There's nothing written on that piece of leather. It's blank."

The merchant smiled wickedly. "That's because you didn't point it in the right direction. Would you like to try again, dear sir?"

Yul held out his hand, and the merchant placed the map in the palm of his right hand. He unfolded the leather sheet again and turned his body to the right, then to the left, and as he began to turn to the left the blank map began to glow rapidly, drawing a route and the name of a town. Yul sees a gleaming lotus flower on a mountain on the map. Yul is surprised when he looks at the map and tries to remember the details.

Yul looked at the old dirty merchant. "I'll purchased this map," he said, pulling out his pouch and counting his silver leaves. He grabbed the three silver leaves. "This is your money." He looked up at the merchant, and the dirty merchant was gone.

In the end, Yul got the map for free without paying any fee to the merchant. Even though Yul himself had doubts, but this was the first clue they had so far. The merchant assures Yul that his map will take Yul to No Man's Land. He stuffed the map into his inner robe, bought some supplies, and headed back to the hawker stall where he and Hajime were supposed to meet after dark.

When Yul arrived at the hawker stall, he finds Hajime looking at the women in the cage. He walked to the table and sat down, but found that Hajime was not looking at him, it seemed that Hajime was deep in thought, obviously unaware of his surroundings.

"Hajime," Yul said. "Hajime." Hajime did not answer him, so Yul stretched out his hand and grabbed Hajime's left shoulder. He shook lightly. "Hajime!"

Hajime turned to Yul and asked, "What?" He moved his shoulder away from Yul irritably. "You don't have to touch me."

Yul was surprised by Hajime's sudden reaction to his touch. A few days ago, Hajime was fine sleeping with him in his arms. He shook his head and said, "I called you, but you didn't answer."

"I heard it, but I didn't respond," Hajime said.

Yul argued, "If you hear me, say something so I know you heard me."

Hajime frowned displeasingly, "What's wrong?"

Yul sighed and said, "I got a map."

Hajime stretched out his hand and asked, "Where's the map?"

Yul took out the map from his inner robe and handed it to Hajime. "Here. The merchant told me this map would take us to No Man's land," he said.

Hajime stared at the map and asked, "Are you sure? Although this map looks old, it feels old." He held the leather map up to his nose and sniffed it twice. "Just because it's old doesn't mean it's the correct map. Look." He put the map on the table. "It's completely blank, which means you've been tricked into buying a fake map."

"That's what I thought too, but you have to hold the map in your hand and turn in the right direction for the text to appear," Yul said.

Hajime shook his head, not believing a single word Yul told him, but figured that since the map was already blank, it wouldn't be too hard to try. He held the map in both hands, turned to the left, and the blank map began to glow. Hajime's heart became flat with excitement. "Unbelievable," he murmured.

Yul said, "That's what I thought too."

Hajime said, "How much did you spend on this map?"

Yul said, "The merchant asked for three silver leaves, and I was about to pay, but he disappeared."

Hajime felt a little uneasy. "He disappeared?"

Yul nodded. "I think it's good to go with what the map shows because we don't have a lead anyway," he said. "We'll go back and see if the other two agree with us."

Hajime stood up and returned the map to Yul. They started walking to their reserved room.

Hajime asked, "Why do you need their consent? Since you are the captain, you should make the final decision."

Yul said, "This is not a one-man task, every decision counts and touches the lives of all five of us. My decision could endanger everyone's life, so I want them to have a say as well."

Hajime sighed and said, "Whatever, since you are the boss."