Gildong felt the cave wall. He realized it was a door. He was about to open it when he heard voices. He looked through the crack again.
"The fan thief!" he thought.
The girl was with a group of people.
"Uncle Mok, look at this pretty fan I stole!" she said.
"That fan is useless, Nabi," Mok said.
"Yeah, go steal something useful," another person said. "We can toss the fan in the fire."
Hearing this, Gildong burst through the door.
"Give me my fan!" he shouted.
Nabi tossed the fan to Mok. "See, the little lord really wants it back. It must be valuable."
Gildong shook his fist at Mok. "Give it back, or I'll fight you!"
Mok looked at the boy and let out a loud laugh. Everyone else laughed too.
Gildong's face turned red. "This is your last chance. Give it back, or you'll be sorry!"
The group roared with laughter again.
"Grr." Gildong went over to a huge rock and picked it up.
The laughter stopped as he lifted it over his head. He held it with one hand and glared at Mok.
"Now will you give my fan back?"
Mok tossed the fan to Gildong. "Please don't harm us!"
Gildong set the rock down.
"Sorry I took it," Nabi said. "Uncle Mok told me to steal something valuable. And that was all you had when I found you, my lord."
"I'm not a lord," Gildong said. "My father is a noble. But my mother was a servant. So that makes me a lowborn commoner."
Mok put his arm around Gildong. "We're all commoners too. We should stick together. Why don't you join us? You're strong. You can probably read and write. Our group could use a smart guy like you."
"Join you? What do you do?" Gildong asked.
"We're just a humble group that sticks together," Mok said. "We go out and take things from people when we need them."
Gildong blinked. "You mean you're thieves?"
"We only do it to survive!" Nabi said.
"Well . . ." Gildong thought for a moment. He didn't want to stay with a group of thieves. But he didn't have anywhere else to go. "I guess I'll stay here for now."
The group cheered. "Hip-hip-hooray for—"
"What's your name?" Nabi asked.
"Hong Gildong."
Mok patted Gildong on the back. "Tonight we will have a feast to welcome Hong Gildong!"