Little remains of the village Junha was born in. He was born March 20, 1845, to a merchant and his wife and he had no siblings. His early life was peaceful like many children's. He was learning to read and write, would play until the sun came down, and dream of heroes he learned about in myth. Then on one summer night in 1850, his village was slaughtered and everything of value was stolen, buildings were burned to the ground. He last remembers his mother hiding him in a crate, telling him to remain quiet. Once the sun had risen the next day, his parents bodies were burnt to ashes. For days, the young boy wandered, screaming and crying for help, but no one found him. Until a woman dressed in black and gray found him passed out on the side of a road.

When the boy awoke, he found himself in a small house in Mokju. The other residents of the house were fellow orphans, all older than him. They were being raised by a single older woman, a former madam who only asked to be called Mother. Mother was training all the orphans in the arts; painting, playing instruments, singing, and dancing. The young boy was scared at first, he had nightmares of the night he lost his family, of the days and nights he had spent looking for help. As he woke up with tears running down his face, it was Mother that wiped his cheeks and reassured him that he was safe - that he had a new family. The boy was given a new name, Bang Junha. 

He absorbed the teachngs like a sponge. Mother Bang saw in the young boy a natural gift of movement and she encouraged him to move however his body urged him to. Under her teachings, his dances embodied a painful beauty that was apparent in life. The darkness of hurt mixed with the fire of passion, his movements somehow both free and very isolated. If he wasn't dancing, he spent his time learning to draw and paint. It helped him escape the pain of his former life and forge a path ahead with his new one. 

As Junha became an adult, he began to roam from town to town, doing street performances, stealing money, lying - whatever he had to do in order to keep going. He viewed each experience as a new opportunity to expand his knowledge and skills, but also savored in the personal justice of stealing from the wealthy. They wouldn't miss a few coins, a few pieces of jewelry, a valuable antique. During his travels, he adopted the performer title of Lynx. After spending his early 20s roaming the country, he finally settled in Hanseong.