Wendy: Yoona-sunbae, you’ve got to go to school today. Something will come up (read 9:17 am)

PigFany-unnie: Yoona! Get your here! Taeyeon is missing and the school shield’s down! (read 12:24pm)

“Well, I think it’s time to tell you the real reason why we left our dad ten years ago.”

Seungwan’s eyes glow red, making Yoona jump in surprise and apprehension. Her bo staff appears out of nowhere and points it to a still-seated Seungwan.

“Please calm down, Yoona-sunbae. You know I mean any harm.” Despite the dark blood eyes, Seungwan still looks like the girl Yoona came to love like a sister; Seungwan was still the same loving, kind, and cheerful girl she came to know years ago.

“I’ve always assumed you’re a medium.” Yoona slowly relaxes, muttering an apology before letting her staff disappear and sitting back down. Seungwan relaxes before taking a deep breath.

“We didn’t just leave our father because he abuses us. That’s just the tip of the iceberg.”

“They think my child, our child, would be a boy, but whatever happens, she’ll always be my Kyungwan. So, make sure that bastard thinks she’s his, and let her be safe.”

His men were all around his home, yet he simply sits on his sofa like he is resigned to his fate, recalling his last words to his love. He only had one thought in mind as berserkers break into his home.

“Be safe, my little Kyungwan.”

His red eyes were open and smiling even as he bled to death on the floor. 

“The traitorous berserker Yoo Hyukyeon has been dealt with, sir.”

“And what of the boy, Yoo Kyungwan, was he born already?”

“No news sir.”

“And of the mother?”

“We… don’t know who it is, sir.”

“Then you’re all useless.”

Son Seuyoung goes home with a baby in her arms, her eyes dried up from crying all day. She musters up a smile as she enters their house. 

She smiles despite the cold atmosphere, for Hyukyeon, and for little Kyungwan bundled in her arms.

“Is that our new child, my dear?” A creepy voice echoes the entire living room and she can’t help but shudder.

“Yes, a healthy baby girl.”

“A girl? Ah, I thought it was a boy.” His voice was full of malice yet Seuyoung remained firm, her smile faltering a bit. “And what would her name be?”

“I’ll call her Jeongyeon.”

“Jeongyeonnie,” 8-year-old Seungwan takes a deep breath, “what are you doing? You could’ve seriously hurt Chaengie.”

6-year-old Jeongyeon simply pouts, her arms crossed on her chest. She was sitting on a fallen tree branch far away from their house in their home garden. Seungwan stands in front of her, her lips pursed in frustration. They both hear 3-year-old Chaeyoung’s wails from where they stand.

“Why did you push her down the stairs? Mom could’ve seen you. Why do you keep on hurting her?”

“I just…I just want her eyes opened.” Jeongyeon whines. “So that she’ll see how poor an excuse of a father he really is.” She looks up to her sister with gleaming eyes. “Maybe, just maybe if she gets hurt, she’ll open her eyes and truly become the berserker she should be, like how I opened my eyes when he lashed a whip on me. I never meant her real harm.”

Seungwan sighs. She knows full well how Jeongyeon loved their youngest sister ever since she was born. She would talk endlessly with their mom how she would become the best sister in the world for her.

That’s why, somehow, Seungwan understands Jeongyeon’s actions. It’s her own way of saying “I love you” to Chaeyoung. After all, she wanted the best for her.

It’s still twisted, whatever the intention is. 

“We both know well that’s not how it works.” She sits down beside the sulking Jeongyeon, an arm draped on the younger girl’s shoulders. “I didn’t tap into my power as you did, then maybe Chaeyoung won’t either. We all have our own time.” Stubborn Jeongyeon doesn’t say anything, her head turned away from her older sister. Seeing no indication of relenting from her, Seungwan takes a deep breath.

“You know, if you continue that tough demeanor of yours towards Chaeyoungie, I’ll start to think that you’re like our father.” Jeongyeon whips her head quickly in aggravation.

“He is not my father!”

“Then prove it.” Seungwan smiles to herself while standing up, her back facing her half-sister.

“Act like a Yoo, and not like a Park, Jeongyeon.”

Their father didn’t know Jeongyeon wasn’t his until the day they escaped. It was revealed in their mother’s other will that Jeongyeon would have the right to keep her father’s surname. Thus, that day, before they escaped, her name officially became Yoo Jeongyeon from Son Jeongyeon. The Park patriarch was displeased.

They were gone, along with a part of his money, before he could kill the kid.

“I should have known! That bastard kid Jeongyeon was Hyukyeon’s!” As the three kids ride the bus away from their home to wherever (to Seoul, but he shouldn’t know that), he howls in rage knowing he was fooled. He calls out for his men to his office. 

“Bring those bastards back in this house! Especially that Yoo!”

(He’ll later figure out that his men wouldn’t be able to because that 10-year-old smartass Seungwan has already set up a charm to conceal themselves from him.

“One day, I’ll get to you. And I’ll kill you before you can even say goodbye.”)

Nayeon stares at Jeongyeon in disbelief, while Chaeyoung gapes, unsure of what to feel about the information Sana angrily blurted out. Jeongyeon remains unmoving, her sad eyes directed to Sana who was heaving, rage and hurt still dancing in her eyes.

“What are you talking about, Sana?” A last attempt to stall the confrontation, Jeongyeon slowly asks, eyes not leaving Sana’s. Her head leans back to avoid the blade pointed on her neck.

Sana scoffs and takes out the red seal she took from the burning scroll this morning. Jeongyeon seemed to have recognized it, with her eyes widening at the sight of the seal. Seeing this makes Sana’s rage grow and heartbreak even more; it’s confirmed, with that seal, that it was Jeongyeon who burned that scroll. 

Jeongyeon is a berserker, the very thing Sana hates.

“You think you can cover your steps pretty well, huh, Yoo?” She doesn’t know where she gets the courage to act like this in front of Jeongyeon. Deep in herself, she feels broken, discovering that one of her good friends (the one she likes at that) is a berserker was a nasty blow for her.

Of all the people, it was Jeongyeon. She loves her, and she doesn’t know what to do.

“Sana,” Jeongyeon swallows hard, “you know I mean no harm.”

“Liar!" Sana screams, and she slashes her katana without direction. Jeongyeon moves away just in time to avoid being hit by its tip; having a small wound on the neck already hurts, but it hurts her more to see Sana like this. Especially when she knows she’s the reason why she’s acting this way.

She knew it’ll eventually come to this, but still, she wasn’t ready to face the heir’s wrath. She lets Sana vent out until she calms down, knowing that the girl wouldn’t easily be persuaded right now.

“Is that why you befriended me? And all of us, huh? You’re such a sly git.” Sana sneers, and Jeongyeon pretends it doesn’t hurt. “You knew about me and Nayeon, didn’t you? And Chaeyoung? Did you pretend all this time that you couldn’t see her? Are you after the bounty on her head as well? How could you? You heartless !” Jeongyeon winces. Sana rarely curses at somebody, yet here she is, suddenly at the receiving end of it.

“Tell me, for all these years that you’ve known me,” Jeongyeon’s voice crack, and that snaps the Japanese out of her heated rage, “do you think I’m that kind of person? Chaeyoung is my half-sister, I’ve protected her from all these years, Sana!” 

There was silence, and Nayeon remembers that it’s a little secret the sisters kept. In her peripheral vision, she sees Momo and Mina gasp in surprise. Somehow, they’ve forgotten that they were there.

“You’re kidding,” Momo mutters. Sana falters with her grip, shell-shocked. Before anyone could react, she suddenly twists her body and points her blade to a startled Chaeyoung. In a flash, Nayeon stands between the startled spirit and the heir’s blade.

“Stand back, Im Nayeon!” In hysterics, she shouts. She steps back a little when the tip almost grazes Nayeon’s cheek.

“Sana, what are you doing?! We promised to protect her, now you're threatening her?!”

“I knew it! Son Chaeyoung is a berserker too!” She cries, and the older sister stands beside Nayeon to block the blade’s path, red eyes glaring at Sana as if daring her to hurt her younger sister. The poor ghost chokes a sob in fear and confusion.

“Sana, calm down please!” The eldest junior pleads one last time, her hands in front of her to protect herself and Nayeon. “Sana, you know us better than this.”

Sana has visibly calmed down, but she doesn’t relent. She keeps her blade up, her eyes slowly returning to its original brown color. There were a few tears still flowing down her cheeks.

“Nayeon, stand back.” Her voice wavers at the sight of Nayeon protecting the younger girl.

“I won’t. We promised Chaeyoung to protect her.” The junior knows that; she remembers it fully well. Yet, she throws it at the back of her head, questioning her own morals at this very moment.

“It doesn’t matter, she’s a ing berserker, too!” She had her suspicions, yet she refused to believe that sweet Son Chaeyoung was one of them. She tries convincing herself now that whoever it is, a berserker is a berserker, Chaeyoung was no exception.

“Please Sana, she doesn’t know!” Jeongyeon claps gently, putting Sana’s flat blade in between her palms, and she redirects the blade’s direction towards her chest. “Hurt me, kill me, do whatever you want to me, just don’t hurt Chaeyoung.”

It was just like middle school again, with a protective Jeongyeon standing in between. But, instead of Sana being the victim, it was Chaeyoung