A/N: This one, in all honesty, comes out more as an obligatory chapter rather than the “I’m-inspired-let’s-write-about-this” chapter.  While the plot can still move without this chapter, I know that I still owe Kibum some motives. I doubt this chapter is interesting or engaging at all. It's more about life lesson and background, but I still feel this side chapter needs to be here.

And by the way, when I began this series, in my mind, Ryeowook is the youngest Super Junior member (aside from Kyuhyun), so I made Ryeowook younger than Kibum. So for the purpose of this story, let us pretend that Ryeowook is truly the maknae in the Kim family. ^^

Side Chapter 2

[Bloody Vow]

“But Hyung, I want to join you too…”

Heechul carelessly shoved the tiny arms belonging to the 8-year-old Ryeowook which clung to him. The oldest heir of the Kim, though only being 12 at that time, already showed the signs of being the careless, monarch-minded kid that he would be in the upcoming years. Heechul glared back at Ryeowook and the usual reprimand came out of his mouth, “You’re still too young, Wookie. Bringing you with us will only slow down our movements.”

“But Kibum Hyung can join you,” Ryeowook weakly protested, a pout made it to his face. It was not that he wanted to drag Kibum into the case, but sometimes, Ryeowook couldn’t help but to feel discriminated by Heechul. Sure Kibum was older, but that was only by months. Surely there would not be much difference to that, right?

“Well, Kibum can always help me sneak out,” Heechul gave the plain reason out. It was true; Kibum had always been the smartest among them all. It was Kibum who could always devise a plan to escape, open the lock whenever the little boys are locked in the room, or expertly lure the adults to believe him with his pretentious innocence. Heechul knew it well. Kibum was an asset since a kid. “Frankly said, Wookie. Kibum is useful. You, on the other hand, is not,” Heechul stated without any remorse – his tone was final. He then looked back at Kibum and signaled his cousin to follow.

“Ryeowook can join us, Hyung,” the 9-year-old Kibum stated. “Kangin Hyung is still following Uncle, so he won’t be coming anyway. And we can still escape with the three of us.”

“No.”

“Hyung…” Ryeowook started to wail. “I don’t want to be left out…”

“No.”

“Hyung, why are you always bullying me?”

Letting out a clearly irritated sigh, Heechul finally announced, “Fine. But if you slow us down, I’m going to leave you there.”

Ryeowook’s eyes lit up with excitement upon having his oldest cousin’s approval. “Yes, Hyung!”

Heechul smirked in satisfaction upon hearing the soft clicking sound from the inside the key hole. He retracted the small metal wire back from the key hole and turned to look up at Kibum. As if a student reporting to his mentor, Heechul whispered enthusiastically to the younger one, “I did it correctly, right?”

Kibum smiled as he crossed his arms before his chest. “Yes. You’re a quick learner, Hyung.”

“Can’t be as fast as you when you’re doing it,” admitted Heechul. Kibum was the very few people whom Heechul was not afraid to show his modesty to. Standing up, he then carefully kneaded the doorknob and as quietly as he could manage, Heechul pushed the back door open.

The humid seashore air greeted their face. It was night, and although their majestic villa was located near the sea, the night was still cold. Ryeowook was about to sneeze, but upon looking at Heechul’s warning eyes, he tried hold it back. An action that immediately made him feeling unwell inside, but for the sake of the night adventure with his brothers, he would bear it.

The Kim was in a family holiday to one of the seashore resort they owned. The holiday was a decoy, truth be told. Kibum knew that the reason his family empire decided to choose having a holiday at the sea was because this resort was located quite near the oil drilling project the Kim owned. Not the healthiest choice of resort, but the Kim had always managed to magically turn the rural area into a beautiful, 5-star resort.

It was not really a holiday, Kibum also realized. His father and uncles were having a multi-billion dollar contract negotiation with regard to their oil companies. It was the reason why the male Kims brought their family to that resort located near the oil rig for that year’s holiday –so to still fulfill their family roles and to ensure better precaution to secure the important contract. Kibum also heard that the reason his father and his uncles had to be present was to bring out the best image to their prospective investor. The Kim’s oil company had been opposed by the local people due to their plan to expand the oil rig. The presence of all BOD of the Kim oil company would surely win the investors who tried to study the local dispute issue.

“Kangin is truly no fun lately,” commented Heechul as he turned his flashlight on and began his march on the pathway leading to the shore. “He always follows Uncle to the rig at daylight and is too tired to join us on our night adventure.”

Kangin was, in Kibum’s opinion, undoubtedly the one holding the biggest ambition among them. The holiday trip was also supposed to be a study visit for Kangin, Heechul, and him. The three young heirs were actually tasked to follow the trip into the oil rig and studied how their fathers worked in the Kim’s core business. Unfortunately, Kibum and Heechul shared the same lack of enthusiasm –only Kangin welcomed the idea to be tutored first hand by his father and uncle in enthusiasm.

The three young boys walked further. Though everything was modern in the resort, but Heechul had found a pathway leading to the shores that was not yet urbanized. The trip would lead them to the shore cliff overseeing the Kim’s oil FSRT. Heechul did not really favor traditional method of a trip (and just look how many times he had cursed due to bugs and dirt that encountered them in that night trip), but he had heard the view to be worth it.

“Hyung, it’s really cold. Let’s go back. We’ve been walking long enough…” Ryeowook muttered as he sneezed for the umpteenth time (being away from their villa, he felt like it was alright to let out such a loud sneeze).

Heechul did not even need to turn around to utter his treat, “You say that one more time, Wookie, I swear I’m going to leave you here.”

Kibum sighed at his cousins’ antics. He took off his scarf and slung it around Ryeowook’s neck. “You should wear warmer attire next time,” he told his cousin.

“Thanks Hyung,” muttered Ryeowook slowly. “I didn’t think it would be this cold…”

“It’s not really that cold, actually. Maybe you’re feeling unwell?” inquired Kibum.

Heechul’s ears perked up at this. “You are sick, Ryeowook?” he asked with an accusative tone.

As if on cue, Ryeowook straightened his posture and neglected, “N-no, Hyung! I’m fine. I can continue this.”

“You’d better not be a bother, Wookie…”

“I won’t, I won’t,” Ryeowook assured quickly, afraid that he would lose the chance for an adventure with his brothers again if he decided to be defeated by a mere flu.

After almost 30-minutes worth of walk, the three kids finally reached their destination: the shore cliff. The loud sound of the waves crushing upon the rocks below made a terrifying yet adventure-like atmosphere, the sharp sea scent beneath them and the vast darkness of the sea below created the eerie yet adrenaline-rushing effect to the Kim heirs.

But the nature’s beauty, to Heechul, couldn’t rival the sight that stole his breath right away.

In the darkness of the night, surrounded by the hollow-looking sea and waves, stood tall, firm, and beautiful the oil rig owned by the Kim. Operating 24/7, countless lights from the offshore oil platform never died down. The platform itself was one of the largest in the world –as the Kim was the one who found the unlikely natural oil resource deep in the Korean sea. Not wasting any time, the Kim empire had built what would today’s ne known as one of the most-advanced offshore oil platform in Asia: the building which now stood in a water depth of nearly 940 meters and was 7,600 m2 in width.

“It’s so big! It’s like a floating city!” exclaimed Ryeowook in amazement.

Even Kibum couldn’t help but to comment, “It looks far grander than when we visit them at day. From this distance, it looks kinda cool.”

Heechul’s grin was wide. Gone were all the complaints about bugs that he let out throughout the trip there. “And it’s the Kim’s. It’s ours.” His short comment couldn’t even hide the pride that was tinted in it. “We are already South Korea’s biggest oil company. One day… one day we’re going to make the Kim Empire a world-class oil company.”

“It’s a long way to go,” commented Kibum, as his moment of amazement was truly short-lived. “I overheard from father that today’s meeting with the investor did not go well. The local people here had a demonstration this morning and it kinda turned the investors off.”

“Well, it’s not final yet. Father and uncles are brilliant people. They’re going to nail the contract,” defended Heechul.

“Yeah, maybe. I’m just saying that it’s not gonna be easy for them.”

“They’re gonna make it,” retorted Heechul, in a bit of irritation. He always admired Kibum, but if there was one thing Heechul never admired from Kibum, it was the latter’s cynic towards his own family.

“It may take years and years before the Kim Oil Company can be the major players in th world’ oil industry.”

“Well then, even if it takes years, it’s our job then. We will succeed the throne, and make the Kim Empire grander than it has ever been.”

Kibum had actually ammunition of arguments to fight Heechul’s stance, but the younger boy decided to just push the arguments to the back of his head. “Alright, alright Hyung. Let’s just enjoy the sight when we’re here, okay? No need to talk about the Kim.”

Heechul welcomed the idea without much protest and together, the two boys continued to stare at the illuminated oil rig. Ryeowook, seemingly forgetting his influenza, walked from one end to the other in order to get a better image of the construction. The action caught Heechul’s eyes. And being one with mouth ready to complain everything, Heechul shouted,  “Don’t play too close to the edge, Wookie! It’s dark there! I don’t want to be responsible if you fall!”

“Just a bit, Hyung!” Ryeowook shouted back. “It looks so beautiful. I should have brought my camera.”

“If it’s the camera, I bring it,” offered Kibum as he walked closer to Ryeowook.

Before Kibum took further step to Ryeowook, Heechul told Kibum, “Just drag Ryeowook away from there, Kibum. He’s sick and –“

“I know,” interrupted Kibum. “I will,” the boy said as he marched to Kibum.

“You too, Kibum! Be careful!” shouted Heechul. Being the oldest of them all, even for one irresponsible kid as he was, Heechul could be quite a worrywart.

The worry, however, was not without any reason.

Only for one moment that Heechul looked away, that he suddenly heard a familiar scream coming out of Ryeowook’s mouth.

Heechul quickly averted his attention back to Ryeowook and the scene played before his eyes quickly, maddeningly fast that he did not have enough chance to do anything.

Ryeowook slipped off from the cliff.

Kibum dashed forward to him.

Kibum held Ryeowook’s arm just in time and managed to pull the youngest Kim back to the steady ground of the cliff. But in return, the act of pulling Ryeowook’s weight made Kibum lost balance and in the end, Kibum could feel the gravity pulling him down, down and down.

Heechul widened his eyes as he witnessed the scene: Ryeowook’s extended arm that failed to capture Kibum, Kibum’s free falling, Kibum’s disappearance….

Heechul’s scream.

“Kibum!!”

His small body was roughly slammed to the cold and dark ocean. 

The waves whirled his body here and there, slamming them to the rocks just below the cliff. He bled a lot –but in the midst of seawater and everything else, even the amount of blood he lost became insignificant.

The waves were coarse and despite being quite a good swimmer, he was too small, too insignificant in comparison to the nature’s force. He tried to swim up to the surface (ignoring the pain that shot throughout his entire body, ignoring the water that started to fill his lungs), his arms frantically tried to search for anything firm to grip.

But there was nothing else but water, water and water.

Nothing to hold, nothing to cling his life to.

Even when his little head managed to come out of the water, the mighty wave and the strong stream always managed to make him drowned again.

He tried to float, he tried to save his life.

But soon, his arms grew tired, and more water got into his lungs, and his brain could not think of anything anymore.

It took only one hard slap of the waves (one that felt as if he was hit by a truck), before he completely lost everything and let his small body got carried away by the sea’s merciless current.

Kibum did not think that he would ever be able to open his eyes anymore. 

But when he finally got the chance to open his eyes, all that he saw was white. The sterile scent of medicine that infiltrated his nostrils made him realize that the whiteness was not the image of the afterlife. He could faintly feel the fabric of the soft bandages around his torso and the very blurry image of a health campaign poster. It did not take him a long time to conclude that he was inside a small hospital room.

He tried to move his body, but pain immediately shot through and he let out a silent scream.

His other senses had not been working too well (his vision was still rather blurry and he barely could feel anything), but his ears caught up the sudden ruckus around him.

Two pairs of eyes looked back at him. They belonged to two young boys who were possibly around his age. Soon after, an old man in a dirty attire stepped into the vision. He walked slowly, yet strongly, and was accompanied by a weak-looking man in a doctor’s attire.

The four of them stared at him as if he was a rare animal in the zoo –and Kibum got that impression mostly from the two boys (one of them actually) who happily shouted in a language Kibum nearly couldn’t recognize. It was not Korean, for sure. And it wasn’t English either.

It took him nearly five minutes before he could get better accustomed to the situation and remember the teaching the Kim household. It was Chinese language that the people around him were using. And though Kibum had not been diligent in the Chinese course, he knew he had a good memory –excellent enough to make him able to decipher the conversations exchanged between the people who surrounded him.

“Is he going to be alright, Doctor?” asked the little boy in Chinese.

The man in the doctor attire responded, “He should be. The surgery and the blood transfer were successful and he’s gained his consciousness back now.”

“Hey, are you alright?” asked another boy –seemingly older than the little one. This one was probably only a year or two older than Kibum.

Kibum tried to open his mouth, but no voice came out.

“Maybe he doesn’t understand Chinese, Brother,” said the littlest one. His forehead formed small frowns as if he was thinking something, and next the words rolled out of his mouth in broken Korean, though it was still understandable. “Are you aright? What’s your name?”

Again, Kibum tried to speak.

No avail.

His arms instinctively tried to reach for his throat, but to his frustration, even he couldn’t move a muscle of his arms.

Kibum’s eyes widened as he tried more. Frantic thoughts began to form on his head. Was he incapacitated? How couldn’t he move? How couldn’t he speak?

His lips started to move again and he tried to force something, even an incomprehensible groan to come out from his vocal chord.

But there was nothing coming out.

“Is he mute?” asked the taller boy.

The doctor looked back at his patience card board. “I don’t think so. I think it’s just a shocked-derived inability to speak. He’s just shocked and unable to speak for some time. It’s okay and it’s normal for someone who’s undergone a traumatic incident. Just give it a couple of days.”

The other man, the old man who even looked older than Kibum’s grandfather, then spoke. “Who is he, Doctor? Where should we bring him? His family must’ve been looking for him.”

“He doesn’t bring anything to help the identification. Oh, can you write your name, boy?” asked the doctor. He stole one quick glance at both Kibum’s arms and concluded to himself, “I don’t suppose so.”

Kibum tried to form an apologetic smile. He couldn’t believe that his life was saved by these people. He swore that once he got his voice back, he would call for his family, and he would get his family to repay these peoples’ kindness. For the time being, realizing his current useless self, Kibum could only tried his best to gesture out his gratitude through expression.

Which was a hard thing to do.

If there was anything that frustrated him, it was not his lost voice or his current incapacitated condition. He knew that he would get better eventually. He was more afraid of how he looked like an ungrateful child for –

A warm hand suddenly patted on the top of his head. Kibum slowly (painfully) tried to look at the direction, and he realized that it was the old man’s hand that was rested on his head. With sincere-looking eyes and comforting smile, the old man then spoke in Chinese, “It’s alright, boy. Don’t force yourself. You’ve been through a scary accident and it’s okay to rest for a while.”

The youngest boy looked at the old man, “Grandpa, he’s Korean. He doesn’t understand you.”

If Kibum had the voice to speak, he would deny it. But even if he couldn’t understand Chinese, Kibum would say that it mattered less. He was not the most sensible person, he knew it. But the warm hand of the old man translated the message better than any language he recognized in the world.

Three days after, Kibum was released from the hospital. As he was carried in a fish-carriage (but then again, he couldn’t complain. He had been grateful enough for everything, including the fishy-smelling carriage), he realized that it was not really a hospital, but rather a small clinic located in the fishermen’s village.

To his dismay, he still couldn’t speak. His hands movements were getting better, but he still couldn’t use his fingers well to write information about himself.

“I’m sorry we have to get you out of the clinic, boy,” said the old man –whom he learned to be called as Bao. “We couldn’t afford the hospital fee anymore. The doctor said he would free you from the cost, but I have to decline. That young doctor had been giving too much free medication; he could barely make his own living. We must be considerate to him, eh?”

The youngest boy, Xianhua (though he insisted to be called as Henry), then added energetically, “But it’s okay! Doctor said that you just need to eat a lot of healthy food to recover! Brother and I will catch a lot of fish tonight! These past few weeks the fisheries are getting well, so we can –”

“Henry, rather than talking, you’d better help me push this carriage,” reprimanded Henry’s older brother, Zhou Mi. “Fai is skinny, but he’s quite heavy too.”

‘Fai’ was what the Chinese family decided to call him until Kibum could properly tell them his name.  He was not that pleased with that name, but then again, he couldn’t do much to complain. Kibum could only wait for the right opportunity to tell these people his name, and then had their kindness be repaid.

The ride in the fish carriage from the clinic to the fishermen village was quite lengthy. The sun was blazing hot and it burned Kibum’s skin. In a random trail of thought, Kibum suddenly thought that what it would be if Heechul had been in his place. The self-acclaimed milky-skin-white Kim Heechul would probably yell furiously trying to get sun block or something.

The thought made him smile a bit. He missed his cousins already. And he knew that the Kim must have been panicked at the moment.

“It’s hot, eh, boy? Be patient. We’re almost there,” Bao, the old man, said as he took off his straw hat from his bald head and laid it to cover half of Kibum’s face. The hat smelled of sweat and fish, but Kibum felt that being in the fish carriage had made him accustomed to the scent.

From his lying position, Kibum couldn’t see much, but as the carriage was strolled more, he knew that they were entering the fishermen village. Not so long after, he felt the shadow of the house and felt the carriage was stopped. Bao and Zhou Mi stood in front of him as they tried to scoop him off the carriage.

“Grandfather, let Henry do this. You have your backache, remember?” said Zhou Mi as he gently pushed his grandfather away.

“Xianhua is still too young,” Bao reasoned as he tried to carefully slip his arm beneath Kibum’s waist.

“You spoil Henry too much,” complained Zhou Mi. He then pulled his younger brother and told him to take their grandfather’s place. Before Bao could give further protest, Zhou Mi lifted Kibum’s body from the carriage –with the little help from his brother. Kibum tried to hide the cringed expression on his face as he felt his body was roughly lifted, but Henry seemed to notice it.

“Brother! You are too rough. He’s in pain!” shouted Henry.

“Well, if you’d help, he could feel lesser pain. Now go help me!” instructed Zhou Mi.

With difficulties, the two Chinese brothers finally managed to lift Kibum from the carriage and helped him walk a couple of steps into a wooden log that the kind Chinese family called home. There was no lighting inside the house, and the sunrays from the door were the only source of light that allowed Kibum to study the house.

He would rather call it a room though.

And he knew that if Heechul was in his place, Heechul would call it a mini barn.

The house was no more than a 3x4 cubicle.  The only noticeable furniture there were only two mattresses and a stack of fishing equipments. Kibum had known how fortunate his life had been, but up until that time, he had never realized how blessed he was in comparison with this Chinese family.

“Rest here, Fai,” said Zhou Mi as he lowered Kibum on the hard mattress. Zhou Mi then exhaled a sigh and wiped the sweat from his face. Kibum noticed that he looked quite pretty as a boy –almost as pretty as Heechul. With Heechul, Kibum could understand, as he knew perfectly well how Heechul would do everything to take care of himself. Zhou Mi did not seem to be raised in a situation where he could take much care of himself, and yet, something about his visage still awed Kibum.

Henry ran to the other side of the wall (which was only a short stroll, really, with the width of their home) to get the water. He then knelt next to Kibum and helped him to gulp the water. It tasted weird and Kibum literally burst it out to Henry’s face.

Kibum panicked, and he swore, if he was not in such condition, he would mutter the apology and help Henry to get rid of the water. But Henry, instead of being mad, only grinned like a careless boy as he wiped off the water from his face. “You must not be used to the water here. We don’t have much clean water stock. It’s from the rainfall, so sorry about that.”

Kibum did not know why Henry should be the one apologizing instead. If this family had been living their lives drinking from rain water and all he did was spat out what they usually drank, Kibum felt like he was being such a selfish kid.

“Grandfather, you’re late for the meeting. You should go now,” reminded Zhou Mi to Bao.

Bao nodded, “Ah, it seems so. Then I’ll leave it to you, Zhou Mi.”

“Yes, Grandfather. I’ll go collect the clams. Henry can take care of Fai here,” Zhou Mi declared as he squatted down on one of the corners of the house to collect his fishing equipments. He stood up not so long after to approach his grandfather and assisted the older man out of the house. “We’ll be going, Henry. Take care of Fai. And Fai, don’t worry, you’ll get well soon.”

Henry bid farewell excitedly to his brother and grandfather.  After the two of them left, he turned his attention back to Kibum again. “My grandfather is cool, eh? He was once this village’s head, but he’s too old now, so he lets someone else runs the village. But grandfather’s opinion is still highly important to the villagers here. That’s why they keep on inviting him on the meeting.”

Even without having to wait for Kibum’s further inquiry, Henry continued, “My father is supposed to be the village’s head. But he passed away with my mother when I was still an infant. Grandfather has been taking care of us since we were little. Grandfather is our father, our mother, our friend, our hero…” muttered Henry in admiration. A proud smile made it to his face and Kibum was again reminded with Heechul –with the way someone could be so proud of a family member.

Only, Kibum found himself to respect Henry’s pride a way lot more than Heechul’s pride to the Kim.

“Grandfather is very brave too! You know? The night when you fell from the cliff, it was Grandfather who saved you! He’s old and skinny, but he’s always been a strong fisherman. The villages even called him a merman’s incarnation,” Henry said with a laugh. His laughter slowly deceased as it was exchanged with a small smile, “And he’s very selfless too, you know? He’s the one who gave you the blood transfusion that saves your life.”

Kibum widened his eyes.

It had been enough that someone with an old age went through the stormy night to save his drowning self, it had been enough that this family tried to cover his hospital expenses, it had been enough that they tried to shelter him –as inadequate as it might have seemed on first glance –