In one flashback, Songsam recalls a time when he went with Tokchae to steal some chestnuts from an old man. The theft didn't go quite as expected, and Songsam had received particularly humiliating minor injuries as a result of their efforts:

It was Songsam's turn to go up the tree. Suddenly there came shouts from the old man. He slipped and fell to the ground. Songsam got chestnut needles all over his bottom, but he kept on running. It was only when they reached a safe place where the old man could not overtake them that he turned his bottom to Tokchae. Plucking out those needles hurt so much that he could not keep tears from welling up in his eyes. Tokchae produced a fistful of chestnuts from his pocket and thrust them into Songsam's.

In this flashback, the nature of the boys' childhood friendship is exemplified. The boys took care of each other physically, comforting each other with the steady hand of true friendship through their actions.

Another flashback is presented closer to the end of the story as Songsam recalls the time the friends had set a trap and caught a crane. When they were around twelve, they had circumvented the rules of adults together and had shared this moment:

[They] had caught a crane, a Tanjong crane. They had roped the crane, even its wings, and had paid daily visits, patting its neck and riding on its back. Then one day they overheard the neighbors whispering. Someone had come from Seoul with a permit from the governor-general's office to catch cranes as specimens or something. Then and there the two boys dashed off to the field. That they would be found out and punished was no longer a weighty concern; all they worried about was the fate of their crane.

This image of captivity and of their efforts to ensure the freedom of the crane is reflected in the similarity of Tokchae's captivity and impending death. Given the choice, Songsam chooses freedom for his friend, just as they had once chosen freedom for their crane.