It's been a long time since Song-sam was last in the village where he grew up. As he reenters the place he once called home all those years ago, he sees that the village isn't the same as it was when he was a boy. This is despite the fact that there are few visible traces of destruction from the recent war. Though the war may be over, there's an atmosphere of fear in the village, which can be seen etched into the faces of young and old alike. Clearly there's a great sense of apprehension in the air as to what will happen next.

Song-sam stops at the foot of a chestnut grove behind the village. He climbs the chestnut tree that he climbed as a boy, which would earn him a telling-off from an old man, But it's when he comes down from the tree and approaches what used to be an old farmhouse that Song-sam sees just how much the village has changed in his absence. For the old farmhouse is now being used as a makeshift jail/police station. Here, Song-sam is astonished to see his childhood friend Tok-chae being held captive as a political prisoner.