(Trigger Warning: mentions of child abuse)

It was a cold winter evening when little Haerim was born, the sixth child in a poor, starving family that could not afford to feed another mouth. She was a weak, malnourished young infant, so still and sickly as a child that her parents prayed for the gods to intervene and help this little girl. Haerim may have been the youngest in a family of eight, but the moment she left her mother's womb, unable to even cry — her mother's heart broke.

And so, this starving, impoverished family all clapped their hands together and prayed for little Haerim to live on.

Perhaps their prayers worked, because after the winter passed, Haerim grew to be a fairly healthy young girl. Except, maybe not as healthy as they had wanted her to be — for Haerim was born with a milky haze over her eyes, indicating that her vision was so poor, she was almost completely blind. 

She could barely see the faces of her beloved family, but that was fine — Haerim grew up to be a rather happy little girl. She was loved as the baby of the family, adored by all her brothers and sisters, and of course, her parents. They did their best in raising this blind little girl, teaching her anything and everything that they could.

Haerim learned to speak at the age of 3 — just little words, hardly enough to form proper sentences, but it was then that her parents learned she had a talent unlike any other: she could communicate with the spirit world. It became apparent that her baby babble was not just any kind of baby babble — she had the ability to speak with ancestral spirits, and many commoners from her village would visit to hear young Haerim's words, seemingly delivered to her by spirits and gods. It was a talent unlike any other, and so, her parents were pleased to find that their beloved Haerim could make them money, despite her young age. They would interpret her words, taking money from curious onlookers that wished to know what the spirits had to say.

It wasn't long until the royal family of Saro heard of the young girl's remarkable talent. The royal shaman, Jeong Gyuyoung, quickly arranged for a visit to Haerim's village, and introduced herself to the girl's family. She then gave them an offer they couldn't ignore: to give up little Haerim for copious amounts of money. Gyuyoung would train the girl, she explained, and Haerim would become her successor as the royal shaman. The young girl would live a life that her parents could never dream of giving, and her parents would be able to provide for the other seven children in the family. 

It was the hardest decision that Haerim's parents ever had to make. Of course, they loved their youngest daughter with all their heart, but they couldn't ignore the plight of their other starving children. And so, it was with teary eyes and broken hearts that Haerim was sent to the palace of Saro to train under the royal shaman at the tender age of five years old. 

Haerim's new life in the royal palace was difficult. She was forced to learn many new things — to read, to write, to perform rituals, to summon spirits, to banish evils, to become a noble's daughter, to have proper manners and etiquette — these new lessons were by no means easy, taking a toll on Haerim's once happy, carefree demeanor. She was supposed to become a proper lady, and it didn't help that Gyuyoung was a harsh, cruel woman that didn't hesitate to discipline young Haerim in any way she saw fit.

Her popularity didn't decrease even as she became the royal shaman's apprentice, and soon, she became widely known as The Sacred Eye of Saro. But the eyes on her were different from the eyes of the villagers and her family back home — these eyes held more criticism, more expectation, and Haerim couldn't help but hold fear in her heart.

She wanted to go home. The older Haerim got, the more nostalgic she was of the poor, yet happy family that she lived with when she was a child. Yet, despite her best attempts at becoming a model shaman's apprentice, Gyuyoung never allowed her to return to her family. Haerim was given false promises that perhaps one day, if she improved her skills as a shaman enough, if Haerim could succeed Gyuyoung and take the title for herself, then she could go and visit the family she was once so happy with.

But Haerim was disappointed each time. She had to live with the constant berating, the constant slaps to her wrist, the constant punishments she was given, all for the hope of seeing her family once more. Gyuyoung had no plans of letting the girl see her family again, and when Haerim was forced to accompany the Saro royalty to the secret island, she knew that she might never see her family ever again.

Today, she searches for a way to return home, to return to the family she'd once loved so much. 

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haerim's hair was bleached blonde after gyuyeong placed chemicals into the girl's hair, in order to make her seem more otherworldly, and to fit the image of the sacred eye of saro.

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