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Chapter Text

500 BCE

“I see that trip to the East really had its effect on you.”

Han Sooyoung turned from the marble statue she was working on, to look at the owner of the voice.

She watched as Yoo Sangah entered their courtyard as she came back from worshipping at temple, and waved at her wife before turning back to smile at her latest piece of work.

“Yes, it was breathtaking to see where our ancestors come from, you know?”

Han Sooyoung said as she walked around the marble block and adjusted her toga, making sure it wouldn’t snag on the sedimentary rock as she continued working on it.

“We don’t see that many people here that look like us, besides the merchants that come and go, so I wanted to make a statue we could put in our courtyard and see every day.”

Yoo Sangah nodded and hummed her response, walking closer to look at her wife’s latest creation.

She continued humming in appreciation as she finished circling the almost-done statue, and cocked her head to the side.

“I feel like something is missing.”

Han Sooyoung paused her chiseling.

The statue Han Sooyoung was working on was a great one, awestrucking - almost without a doubt her best creation yet.

It was a life-size statue of a Joseon soldier, but instead of being in clothing similar to the colorful garments Han Sooyoung and Yoo Sangah had seen in their travels called “hanboks,” the statue held the beginnings of a western sword and wore looser robes that were more common in Greece.

It was nice seeing a face that looked like theirs, in clothing that looked like theirs, in Greece. Even when they visited the East, Yoo Sangah and Han Sooyoung had felt out of place with their western habits and clothing.

“Oh really?” Han Sooyoung put down her chisel and mallet near the foot of her statue and walked to where her wife stood, to look at the statue as well.

“I mean I’m not done making the statue yet, so hopefully when it's done, it’ll feel more complete.”

“No, no, I don’t think that’s it. I very well know what he’s going to look like, I’ve seen your sketches. I think they’re beautiful and that he’s going to come out great.”

Yoo Sangah’s sentence died a little as she squinted at the statue in thought,

“I don’t know, doesn’t he just seem kind of lonely?”

Han Sooyoung blinked.

“...lonely?”

“You’ve done most of his face and body, but he still looks like he’s missing something. He looks…sad.”

Yoo Sangah looked satisfied at what seemed to be bothering her about the statue, while Han Sooyoung looked at her wife, bewildered.

Han Sooyoung slowly turned to Yoo Sangah and said,

“It’s a rock.”

Yoo Sangah giggled.

“I know it’s a rock.”

Han Sooyoung shrugged and walked back to her almost-finished statue and walks around it, gesturing at it with pride.

“I wanted him to be a lone soldier. Someone like Achilles, practically with no weakness or fault. I wanted him to be a powerful soldier. He should be one that could single-handedly turn the tide of a war, defeat armies by himself, kill gods,”

Han Sooyoung grinned as she flexed her arms.

Yoo Sangah laughed.

“You're not going to reprimand me for my blasphemous statement?” Han Sooyoung teased her wife, the more strictly religious of the two.

“Please, the gods wouldn’t care for such a small statement. But you’re right, he does look like that. But you know…”

“Know what?” Han Sooyoung asked, curious at her wife’s sudden interest in the statue.

“Achilles had Patroclus too.”

Han Sooyoung gaped at her wife. 

“You can’t be serious.”

“I’m just saying if you had never come to Greece, if I had never met you, I would have felt rather lonely as well. I might have even moved to Joseon after my parents died.”

“You?”

Han Sooyoung said, shocked at Yoo Sangah’s statement. 

Yoo Sangah was always the one who had fit into Greece more than she did; she was a good citizen, born and raised in Greece, the person who went to temple to worship to the gods every day - while Han Sooyoung was the daughter of a traveling merchant, who laughed at the gods and decided to become an artist in Greece despite being a woman. 

The only reason why they weren’t both cast out of Greece was because of their foreign looks and Yoo Sangah’s good name around those who worshipped Olympus and its gods.

Yoo Sangah’s eyes looked sad while she stared at Han Sooyoung’s latest creation.

“Yes, me.”

“But it’s just a rock, it can’t have emotions. I quite literally sculpted his face to be emotionless.”

Yoo Sangah just sighed and started walking down the hallway into their house.

“I know it’s just a rock and I’m stating that this rock, in particular, looks lonely.”

Han Sooyoung brushed her wife’s comment aside as she hiked up her robes and returned to working on the finishing touches of her statue.

•••

A week or so later, Han Sooyoung finally finished her statue.

It truly was her most cherished creation. She could write epics around this statue and still never be done describing him in all of his glory.

She decided to call him Yoo Joonghyuk. Giving him her wife’s last name and the meaning of a collection of bright radiance in her mother tongue.

He was exactly what Han Sooyoung had envisioned, made to be the best parts of her without any of the flaws.

Yoo Joonghyuk was a soldier strong enough to hold the sky upon his shoulder like Atlas, someone who wasn’t selfish and would keep going for the better of others, someone who liked being alone but could still work in a group if needed. 

He was going to have the same fiery confidence as her that would be displayed in spite of any problems, he would be like her and do what he desires, however, maybe hold his tongue better to be more amicable with others in the way Han Sooyoung had never been.

He was her beloved perfect creation that she would thank all the gods, stars, and constellations for.

So why did Yoo Joonghyuk still not feel right?

Han Sooyoung circled around her statue several times and chiseled, riffled, rasped, and sanded some of the finer details.

She looked at his strong brows, slightly taut in a self-righteous pride and strength; his angular chin and nose - more prominent than her and Yoo Sangah’s own (but not grecian either), tilted up in pride ; deep eyes, that she wished the marble material could have gave way more for finer detail, to show the depth of emotion he could hold behind them.

She sighed as she put her tools down knowing that if she played with the statue more she would end up hacking away at the already perfect being that stood in her courtyard.

As time went on, Han Sooyoung and Yoo Sangah slowly welcomed Yoo Joonghyuk into their family. He became quite the beloved centerpiece of their courtyard, as Yoo Sangah left offerings near the side of him for the gods and Han Sooyoung draped fine cloths over him, protecting him when it rained. 

One day as Han Sooyoung looked at the Yoo Joonghyuk and his handsome face which could make even the strongest of priestesses waver, she thinks of Yoo Sangah’s words.

“I don’t know, doesn’t he just seem kind of lonely?”

“...but he still looks like he’s missing something. He looks…sad.”

‘He does look kind of lonely…’ Han Sooyoung found herself thinking, surprising herself with her own thoughts

’No that's impossible. He’s just a statue, my finest creation at that. There’s nothing else that can be added - that can be needed.’

Han Sooyoung shook her head as she headed back inside her home, leaving the statue alone in the courtyard.

Days go by and Han Sooyoung continued her day-to-day life, working on other projects in the courtyard to sell. As she worked on her craft, in front of Yoo Joonghyuk, Han Sooyoung couldn’t help but feel slightly off - it felt like someone was watching her.

There was no malicious intent in it for she felt no danger, and the stare felt rather...sad, like how a child would silently stare at their mother pleadingly as they made their first big mistake they didn’t know how to fix. 

Han Sooyoung got up and looked around, seeing if any of the local children came around to ask her to make them trinkets once again or wanted to watch her as she worked.

But as she looked around, her courtyard was silent as ever, she even took a step outside and heard the laughter of children far away as they played at the end of the street. 

Han Sooyoung closed the courtyard door, trying to forget the feeling that had gone away the moment she started walking around to find the source of it. As she turned around after closing the door Han Sooyoung’s eyes fell on Yoo Joonghyuk once again.

She silently stalked toward the statue and started walking around it, regaining the feeling that someone was asking her for something.

‘Maybe the gods are actually real or I've actually gone mad this time.’ She thought as she kept circling Yoo Joonghyuk.

“I guess you do look a little lonely.”

She stared up at the statue’s face.

The statue didn’t respond.

She laughed a little to herself not knowing what she had expected, he was a rock, a statue, a simple creation by her hand that she could choose to destroy or remake at a moment’s notice.

She continued looking at Yoo Joonghyuk in his protective stance and thought of Yoo Sangah’s words.

“Achilles had Patroclus too.”

“He has nothing to protect…” She mumbled to herself.

Most high-standing greek homes would have statues of protection outside of their home, as did those in the east with their statues of mighty lions and dragons.

But Yoo Joonghyuk wasn’t placed outside for protection.

He was inside their courtyard as a beloved piece of art that Han Sooyoung and Yoo Sangah thought of almost like an old family friend.

Somedays, Han Sooyoung didn’t know how they didn’t feel so alone in Greece without seeing the other Joseon face constantly in their courtyard.

It was nice having someone to return to every day and have more people in their home that felt and looked like them.

Han Sooyoung suddenly understood why Yoo Sangah thought about moving back to the East.

From that day forward, Han Sooyoung started decorating Yoo Joonghyuk; placing potted plants and flowers behind and around him, and making other little projects to pile around the statue - unwilling to admit to her wife that she was right and that Yoo Joonghyuk, did in fact, seem lonely.

One day, as it started to rain Han Sooyoung went out, as per usual, to cover Yoo Joonghyuk in cloth so he could stay dry. As she draped the wooly material over the statue, Han Sooyoung looked at Yoo Joonghyuk’s face, already partially smothered in cloths to avoid him from getting too wet.

A singular raindrop somehow managed to avoid all the cloths that Han Sooyoung placed on the statue and fell on Yoo Joonghyuk’s smooth marbled cheek. Han Sooyoung watched it roll down her favorite creation's face, mimicking a teardrop, and fall to the floor as the rain began to pick up.

Han Sooyoung took one last look at her marble creation, laid the cloths in her hands to the side in the dry hallway, and started to put on her sandals.

“Sooyoung! Where are you going in this rain?” Yoo Sangah shouted after her wife, as Han Sooyoung ran out into the rain.

“To the quarry! I need to ask the quarryman if I can order another set of large marble blocks!”

Yoo Sangah smiled as Han Sooyoung’s back disappeared in the darkness of the rain.

Chapter Text

The next statue Han Sooyoung was going to create, would be completely different from Yoo Joonghyuk she decided.

He was going to be another Joseon man and just like how Yoo Joonghyuk mirrored Han Sooyoung in the best ways, this statue would mirror Yoo Sangah in the best ways. 

This time he was going to be a scholar, an intellectual. 

He was going to be softer, kinder, than Yoo Joonghyuk. But still with enough muscle to be able to protect the ones he loves - but he was not going to be a killer. He was going to be better than Yoo Joonghyuk just like in the ways Yoo Sangah was better than Han Sooyoung.

He was going to be a reader, a lover, someone who helped others out of pure desire, not in seeking advantage. He didn’t have to be the strong protector for everyone since they had Yoo Joonghyuk but with his sharp wit and mind, he would still be a formidable opponent.

As Han Sooyoung chiseled, she thinks of a brawl that almost happened between a local shopkeeper and herself.

And thought about how the usually soft-spoken Yoo Sangah quelled the argument with a strong tone of voice and a smile on her face the whole time.

Han Sooyoung had that situation handled (as in she was going to make a scene in the market by screaming at the shopkeeper and dragging him from his stupid stool behind the stall if he didn’t give her the scroll she wanted).

But as Han Sooyoung watched Yoo Sangah teeming with anger and a sly look in her eyes as she pushed her wife away, Han Sooyoung knew Yoo Sangah had something up her sleeve. 

And if Han Sooyoung noticed after that interaction, how the shopkeeper’s booth mysteriously became ever so slightly shorter, to the point where his knees would just barely be constantly hitting the edge of the table as he sat behind it and how he would leave with bruises on his knees each day; and how if a brand new scroll appeared in their house some weeks, but when she checked their inventory and they had no less money, Han Sooyoung didn’t confront Yoo Sangah about it.

Through those interactions, Han Sooyoung was reminded that not all strength had to be obvious or aggressive, and this statue was going to encompass exactly that.

Yoo Joonghyuk was a work of love by Han Sooyoung to Han Sooyoung, but this statue was going to be a work of love by Han Sooyoung to Yoo Sangah. 

Han Sooyoung flipped the pages in her notebook looking at all the angles she sketched of her statue, and compared it to her work.

The statue was sitting this time, as opposed to standing. He was looking up at Yoo Joonghyuk, draped in robes, more conservative than Yoo Joonghyuk’s own, to cover his lithe frame. On his face laid a slight sly smile, almost teasing in juxtaposition to Yoo Joonghyuk’s own seriousness. In his hands, he held a scroll as many other scrolls sprawled around the foot of his statue.

Though the two statues seemed almost nothing alike, other than their physical looks - Han Sooyoung could tell that she had made the right decision as the two statues stared at each other. 

Despite Yoo Joonghyuk being initially created to be alone, it seemed like both statues adored the other in their own way, though she couldn’t put her thumb on how. 

Even though the new statue was made to accompany Yoo Joonghyuk, he was very much made to be able to stand alone by himself as well.

But as both statues came to finish, Han Sooyoung felt like she had accidentally become a painter in the temples that Yoo Sangah frequented, creating a piece of mythical beings in complete cohesion and longing with one another - unable to be separated.

She looked at the statues from the edge of her courtyard in thought, ‘How did they become so fitting?’ 

If Han Sooyoung could answer this question, there was no doubt that her works after this could become one of the most remarkable in all of Greece. And if she started production of works like these, she and Yoo Sangah would be rich.

Maybe Han Sooyoung could even build a private library for Yoo Sangah, or a room that held twelve alters, for all the Olympians that she worshipped so much.

As Han Sooyoung daydreamed she kept skimming her eyes over her two statues, until she noticed something.  

“SHIT.”

“What’s wrong?”

Han Sooyoung turned to see Yoo Sangah coming out of their house at Han Sooyoung’s sudden exclamation, and shook her head.

“I just realized that I forgot to put Kim Dokja behind Yoo Joonghyuk so he could protect him.”

“Kim Dokja…?”

“Oh, that’s the statue's name! It means reader, isn’t that fitting? It also means only child, I like the idea of them finding company in each other since Yoo Joonghyuk was initially alone at first.”

Yoo Sangah laughed a bit.

“Alone, huh?” Yoo Sangah muttered under her breath,

“I like it. How despite being created first, it felt like Yoo Joonghyuk was made for Kim Dokja. And now Kim Dokja is created for Yoo Joonghyuk, what a beloved existence it is to be made for one another.”

Han Sooyoung smiled at her wife’s description before turning back to the statue, regaining her angry deposition as she was tempted to kick Kim Dokja for simply existing in the wrong place.

“Ugh, I even unconsciously made them look at each other. So if I place Kim Dokja behind it’ll look like Yoo Joonghyuk is ignoring him, but now it looks like Yoo Joonghyuk is about to stab Kim Dokja.”

“Or that he’s running toward him.” Yoo Sangah suggests.

Han Sooyoung tilted her head and looked at the two statues.

“Huh…you’re right.”

“I usually am.”

Han Sooyoung rolled her eyes and looked at her wife and huffed, 

“Just so you know, I just happened to want to create another statue. I just wanted do a series, it’s not because you said Yoo Joonghyuk seemed lonely or anything.”

Yoo Sangah laughed.

“Sure, whatever you say.”

Yoo Sangah teased as she retreated back into their home.

Han Sooyoung pretended not to hear Yoo Sangah’s words and continued sanding the last finishing touches on Kim Dokja, cursing him under her breath for not being in the place she initially wanted him to be.

When Kim Dokja was done he was truly a sight to see.

Though not as loudly awestrucking as Yoo Joonghyuk’s strong stature and position, Kim Dokja held a different kind of silent strength in him.

Han Sooyoung and Yoo Sangah stood side by side marveling at Han Sooyoung’s, now, complete creation.

“They’re amazing.” Yoo Sangah stated.

Han Sooyoung just nodded and grumbled something to herself.

“Are you not happy with them?” Yoo Sangah asked.

“I just wish they were closer.”

Yoo Sangah tilted her head quizzically, “We could try to ask the quarrymen to move the statue if you want?”

“No, no, not like that.”

Han Sooyoung looked at her creation, in tandem, and sighed,

“I just wished I made them together you know?”

She began walking toward her statues,

“You’re right. I basically made them for each other, but even so they could never truly be together.”

She looked down at the feet of her statues where their bases were, almost as if she could make them connect by willfully staring at them.

“Just out of reach, all the time…”

Yoo Sangah blinked.

Then laughed, startling Han Sooyoung out of her train of thought.

“Where did all of this come from?” Yoo Sangah continued laughing as Han Sooyoung blushed.

“No- I just meant- That I-”

Han Sooyoung looked away from Yoo Sangah.

“While I was making Kim Dokja, I thought about how similar he was to you, and how similar Yoo Joonghyuk was to me. Then I thought about what you said about moving away from Greece if we never met and I didn’t get it at the time…”

She looked at her beloved creation again and continued,

“But as I was making them, I understood. And I just wished that they could have been made to be together like us.”

Han Sooyoung’s face felt hot as Yoo Sangah cooed and took the shorter woman in her arms.

“Awwww, Sooyoung! Of course I would want to stay in Greece because I met you!”

She held Han Sooyoung tighter,

“I understand why you feel so strongly about these statues now, after all, Yoo Joonghyuk already feels like an old family friend after being with us for two years.”

Han Sooyoung grumbled, not wanting to admit how much she actually cared about her creations, and pulled out of Yoo Sangah’s embrace so they could look at the statues side by side again.

Maybe it was okay that they were two separate pieces. After all, Han Sooyoung would have never planned on making two pieces together and even if she did, she doubted that anything else could have become just as great as Yoo Joonghyuk and Kim Dokja.

As Han Sooyoung started becoming more and more content with her statues, at least they still had each other in some sort of way, Yoo Sangah broke the silence.

“How about we sacrifice something to Aphrodite in her upcoming festival of celebration?”

Han Sooyoung glanced at Yoo Sangah and shrugged.

“Don’t we do that every year?”

Yoo Sangah shook her head.

“No, for Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk,”

Han Sooyoung looked at Yoo Sangah quizzically, 

“...you mean for the rocks?”

“You and your rocks,” Yoo Sangah sighed exasperatedly as she threw her arms up in the air and started walking out of the courtyard. 

“Yes, for the rocks. And don’t want to hear you complaining anymore about “doing things for rocks,” when I see you put blankets on Yoo Joonghyuk and Kim Dokja on cold nights and take them off in the morning before I go to temple so you think I don’t see them.”

Yoo Sangah heard Han Sooyoung sputter behind her after she uttered her last statement and smiled to herself while she kept walking. 

Chapter Text

As the festival of celebration for Aphrodite soon came, Yoo Sangah brought home a bull.

“Why’d you bring us a bull?” 

“This is going to be our sacrifice to Aphrodite.”

Han Sooyoung’s eyes bugged out at the statement.

“A whole bull?! Do you have any idea how much this bull could be worth?”

“If we’re only making one sacrifice you might as well make it count. The gods are our patrons we must do something for them to grant our prayers in return.”

“Hold on, you mean to tell me this is the sacrifice for Yoo Joonghyuk and Kim Dokja and not us?” Han Sooyoung gestured between her and her wife.

“Well we surely don’t need any help from Aphrodite, so I plan on just making and giving her our usual sacrifice.”

Han Sooyoung opened her mouth again to argue with Yoo Sangah.

“Do you honestly think your love for these statues is worth any less than this bull?”

Han Sooyoung faltered as she looked at the silent creature munching on some dry grass.

“No…but-”

“Then it’s decided, besides we have no use for a bull and it cannot give us any milk, so I shall start preparing it for tomorrow.”

Han Sooyoung watched as the bull and her wife disappeared around the corner to the backyard of their house.

“But what about the meat…”

•••

As the celebration of Aphrodite came and went, Han Sooyoung and Yoo Sangah both took part in the festival’s activities and on the last day they made their sacrifice to the greek goddess of love.

As the bull carcass laid in the center of the temple, Han Sooyoung closed her eyes and knelt on the ground. 

She didn’t know exactly what to pray for, maybe for the marble bases to be connected? For the statues to be closer? For their faces to be somehow changed to happy blissful ones (actually on second thought, if that were to happen Han Sooyoung would come back to the temple and burn it all down for the goddess who dared change her dear creation that she made with her own hands)? 

As Han Sooyoung prayed she wished the best for her favorite creation, persons, friends.

She wished for them to feel the love she and Yoo Sangah had for them, as well as the love they had for each other, and hopefully to stop feeling so sad whenever she saw the two in her courtyard.

Han Sooyoung swore, in another life, she would have worked on those two beings for years on end and Yoo Sangah would read all the scrolls to the edges of the earth; if it meant they could find Yoo Joonghyuk and Kim Dokja’s missing piece, that sadly, neither woman in this lifetime, knew was.

As Han Sooyoung finished her prayer she thanked the goddess for all the years of happiness she had with Yoo Sangah and wished for many more.

She stood up and waited for her wife to finish her prayers outside of the temple.

As Yoo Sangah walked outside and Han Sooyoung reached out an arm for her, a sudden light misting befell their city.

“Woah!” Han Sooyoung exclaimed.

Yoo Sangah laughed and dragged her wife forward into the empty street to wallop around in.

The sun was still shining so the tiny droplets of water were warm, but still just cool enough to feel refreshing as they hit their skin.

As Yoo Sangah and Han Sooyoung finished enjoying playing around in the misting rain, they hurried home for a change of clothes and to check if the statues had gotten too wet.

Yoo Sangah swung open the door and Han Sooyoung went for the pile of cloths they had in the corner of their courtyard. 

They lightly dried themselves off and walked to the center of the courtyard.

The sunlight fell right on the two lovely statues, the falling mist around them glowed, giving them an even more ethereal look.

Han Sooyoung and Yoo Sangah started wiping the statues, the marble no long felt ice-cold, thanks to the warm mist.

The droplets began stopping but Han Sooyoung and Yoo Sangah paid no mind to it, until they both noticed something peculiar beginning to happen.

The marble was slightly changing in color where they touched it and it felt…softer.

Han Sooyoung and Yoo Sangah looked at each other in disbelief, wondering if the rain did something to potentially damage the marble.

They quickly continued to wipe the statues, trying to fix them, as the color started to spread under where their hands touched.

Han Sooyoung pulled Yoo Sangah back as the off-white cream turned to porcelain beige and they watched as the previously stark white statues flushed with color.

"Hahaha~"

Laughter chimes through the air as Han Sooyoung and Yoo Sangah hear the wooshing of metal laying at rest.

They watched Kim Dokja finish laughing, still sitting in his chiseled position.

Kim Dokja brought a hand up to his mouth and his eyes widened, as if he couldn’t believe what he had just done.

“...Kim Dokja?” 

Han Sooyoung and Yoo Sangah’s eyes darted to the other figure, standing in front of Kim Dokja in the middle of their courtyard.

Yoo Joonghyuk looked majestic, hair touseled and still slightly wet from the mist that laid upon it when he was still a statue, his sword at rest at his side. He looked at Kim Dokja who was sitting in front of him, with awe.

“Hello, Joonghyuk.”

Kim Dokja responded softly, smiling in happy relief as he dropped the scroll in his hand and reached both arms out.

“Is this real? Can I finally touch you?” Yoo Joonghyuk almost whispered.

He didn’t wait for his questions to be answered before rushing into Kim Dokja’s arms and holding him.

“Yes, it’s real. Oh my gods, we’re real. Thank Aphrodite.” Kim Dokja muttered into Yoo Joonghyuks arms.

Suddenly, the two brought their heads up from their embrace and turned to Han Sooyoung and Yoo Sangah, who were almost forgotten in their own courtyard.

Kim Dokja pulled out an arm and held it out to them.

“And how could we forget our favorite creator?”

Han Sooyoung stood there in shock.

‘My statues. My statues turned into real people. My statues are people. Those people just called each other my statue’s names. Those people- ’

Han Sooyoung was beginning to question if she should go to temple more when Yoo Sangah squealed and pushed Han Sooyoung and herself into Kim Dokja’s outstretched arm.

Yoo Joonghyuk glared at the couple and begrudgingly shifted his arms to hold them as well. And Han Sooyoung was about to hit him on the head for being so disrespectful toward his creator before Yoo Sangah and Kim Dokja started laughing and rocking the whole group.

Han Sooyoung decided to let Yoo Joonghyuk’s actions slide - knowing exactly what personality she gave him because she would probably have done the same in his position.

“Thank you.” Kim Dokja whispered over and over again as the group held onto each other in disbelief and happiness.

They soon break out of the embrace but stay close to each other while each couple talks to the other about their experiences.

Yoo Sangah ever the curious one asks Kim Dokja what it was like being a statue. 

Kim Dokja explains that there wasn’t much to it - they didn’t feel the way humans did. For him, the days were a blur and he couldn’t physically feel anything.

But the only thing he could see clearly was Yoo Joonghyuk. From the day he was finished, Kim Dokja knew that he loved the fellow statue in front of him and that they were made for one another. Some days he could feel as Han Sooyoung and Yoo Sangah blanketed them and took care of them, but mostly things were just hazy.

Finishing his explanation Kim Dokja turned toward Yoo Joonghyuk, checking if his explanation was correct. And Yoo Joonghyuk finally opened his mouth to speak,

“For me it was slightly different since I was created first. I didn’t feel anything at first, I don’t think most statues are like us.” 

He glanced at the other small marble figurines splayed around Han Sooyoung’s workstation in the courtyard and continued.

“It was nothing for a long time, except a strange sense of being alone. I could feel the blankets and care too but it wasn’t as strong in the beginning. It grew stronger and stronger until Han Sooyoung made Kim Dokja and then I could suddenly see him.”

“I have a strong feeling that your love and care for us is what caused Aphrodite to bless us.” Kim Dokja said.

Yoo Joonghyuk just nodded and fell back into his silent persona as Kim Dokja, Yoo Sangah, and Han Sooyoung talked more, with Yoo Joonghyuk nodding occasionally in the background.

Yoo Sangah eventually invited the couple to stay with them claiming that they were already like family,and that their house was too big anyways, and that it would be great to have other Joseon people around.

Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk agreed, having nowhere else to go, and both couples retired to their rooms.

•••

In the middle of the night, Han Sooyoung walked to the courtyard to think, and stumbled upon Yoo Joonghyuk already there - staring at the middle of the courtyard where he had stood for almost three years.

“Hey you silent cold-blooded bastard, shouldn’t you say a little thank you to your creator for everything?” Han Sooyoung broke the silence.

Yoo Joonghyuk doesn’t turn to look at her, fixated on what was previously his permanent location.

“...thank you.”

Han Sooyoung was taken aback, not actually expecting the other man to respond to her.

“You’re ahm- welcome…”

They both stood there in silence, staring at the courtyard.

Until Yoo Joonghyuk mumbled something.

“Hah? Did you just say something?” Han Sooyoung scratched the inside of her ear.

“I was just wondering why you made me first, what would have happened to me if Kim Dokja never came.”

Han Sooyoung stayed silent, not knowing how to respond to Yoo Joonghyuk.

“I suppose I would have just been a statue then, and I wouldn’t even know how to think or feel anyways.”

Yoo Joonghyuk turned to return to his room when Han Sooyoung suddenly responded.

“You would have been my beloved creation either way.”

Yoo Joonghyuk turned around to look at Han Sooyoung who straightened her back.

“You may not have turned human, or you may have, you may have felt lonely - but who cares. You would have been taken care of me and Yoo Sangah either way.”

Her hands turned to fists as they laid at her side.

“I created Kim Dokja for you, but I supposed you were also in a way, always created for him so I understand that your loneliness may have been painful.”

Yoo Joonghyuk nodded.

“..but I have a feeling that if I had created Kim Dokja first, he would have been in more pain than you.”

Yoo Sangah’s words echoed in Han Sooyoung’s head.

“I’m just saying if you had never come to Greece, if I had never met you, I would have felt rather lonely as well.”

“You know…”

Han Sooyoung ears prickled as Yoo Joonghyuk finally decided to respond to her rambling.

“I have a feeling that you’re right about that…my beloved creator."

Yoo Joonghyuk paused before tilting his body toward Han Sooyoung,

"Thank you.”

Yoo Joonghyuk turned again and retreated down the hallway.

Han Sooyoung watched as he left. She took one last look at the moonlit courtyard and smirked.

"You're welcome." She whispered

And returned to her room.