Kibum

                      The pitter-patter of raindrops falling on the window filled Kibum’s living room, where he sat holding an envelope. Summer was almost over and the leaves had begun changing their colour. Even though this summer was as long as every other summer it had felt like too much time had gone by. Jonghyun had recovered enough to be discharged from the hospital, though he still had to wear a brace on his right leg and follow through with physiotherapy. But on the outside he looked fit enough to hold a concert, which was done keeping in mind the story of a mere car accident that was disclosed to the public. He, of course, had pestered Kibum enough that he had given him a brief synopsis of the mythical world that was hidden in the shadows. Kibum did so with the intent to gain an insight about Jonghyun’s understanding of his own abilities, but it seemed like he really knew nothing about himself.

                      Jonghyun had taken all of it quite well; but it was no surprise since he had experienced the powers first hand and nearly died because of it. Kibum had left the finer details out of it but he did explain that Minho hates Jinki because Jinki has a murder record and was merely using Taemin to get his powers back, but Jonghyun hadn’t believed any of it. His unrelenting faith in Jinki made him turn a deaf ear to his friend’s pleas of breaking ties with him; and again, this was no surprise either. Being caught between the rock and a hard place, Kibum chose the rock since he atleast knew what he was getting into.

                      It had been a week since he had written to them, and today he was holding their reply in a form of a sealed envelope. The envelope looked like an ordinary envelope, except the seal was guarding it’s contents through a ten layer matrix spell. Even the most powerful Constellation bloodline wouldn’t be able to break it open through force; only an expert caster could unlock all the layers of the matrix. In modern time, apart from the Son of Poseidon, there were only two existing Constellation bloodlines that had casters in them - Orion and Pisces; and they were both the defensive kind. The Orion bloodline had all but dwindled and the only living family was now in India. Pisces bloodline, on the other hand, had spread out and there was at least one member who was a part of the Council of Specials in every country. The Council was a governing, judiciary, and defense body that kept an eye on each faction within the country and monitored all activities undertaken by Specials that were within it’s jurisdiction. Each country’s Council had a specific name and the one under which most of South Korean factions and Specials lay was called the Seoul Sect. It consisted of eight Headmasters who made all the important decisions regarding rules of interaction between Specials and normal people, annual budget allowance of every faction, monitoring activities of Special bloodlines, taking care of rumors and news regarding Specials, keeping contact with the Son of Poseidon, and many others. They usually never interfered with the lives of the Originals unless asked by the Son of Poseidon or when events like in 1997 had left the Originals exposed and defenseless. 

                      The members of the Council were chosen at a very young age through competitive exams that focused on their magical abilities and through their family backgrounds. Since Healers and Casters were very few in number, they were always the preferred candidates. The Council consisted of some permanent members, while majority were on rotational basis. The permanent members were the Headmasters and the immediate staff under them. There would usually be no more than four staff members under each Headmaster and their roles consisted of protecting them, information gathering, and handling administrative tasks. The permanent members never belonged to any faction and kept each other in check. The rotational members of the Council almost always belonged to a faction and would help out only in emergency situations, or when specifically asked by the Headmasters. These members would also hold high positions within the faction. Due to this, factions could be seen as auxiliary bodies of the Council itself.

                      The Headmasters were usually secretive about their decisions and actions, even from the rotational members of the Council. However, they would make some exceptions during emergency situations or when a request for information came from the Son of Poseidon. Given the recent accidents that seemed specifically targeted towards members of Lion Heart and the obvious involvement of the last Original, Taemin, in the latest accident, the Seoul Sect had all but complied when Kibum had written to them asking for some information.

                      When Kibum was done with the first page of the letter he wasn’t surprised to find that Minho, being the leader of Lion Heart, was a Council member. Apart from him, Taehyung was the only other Council member from Lion Heart because of his powers as a Healer. While they had not answered his questions about the faction’s past leader, they had given him a very useful information that had indirectly resolved some of his doubts. 

                      The name of the previous leader of Lion Heart was not disclosed but it was disclosed that his mother belonged to a very humble family from Canada, while his father was Korean. Since his father’s family was more wealthy and powerful, it was decided that he would live in Korea and thus ended up becoming the leader of the faction. However he passed away in an avalanche in Canada when he was only 10 years old. While this information in itself was useless, Kibum had actually known a little about the previous faction leader from his father. The previous faction leader was a man named Kim Ryeowook and was born in 1987. If he died at the age of 10 then that would be in 1997, the same year as his and Taemin’s father’s car accident. While Taemin’s father had died on spot, his father had survived