“The first thing we need to do is find an engineer because they are the only ones who can unlock your bracers.” Mr. Hwang stated.

“Now that you mention it, you never actually told us what the bracers do.” Tiffany said while examining the designs on her new equipment.

“Oh, that’s right.” Her father responded, taking a moment to collect his thoughts. “These bracers are standard equipment for a Liner. However, you normally don’t get one until you’ve become a Middle-Liner. Each bracer generally does the same thing, but each one varies a bit in usage – which is usually based on the family’s specialty.”

He paused. “The most notable aspect of the bracer is that it amplifies the human body: It potentially makes you stronger, have keener senses, and run faster, jump higher, etcetera… This amplification coupled with a Liner’s training makes them extremely useful.”

“What’s the drawback of using it?” I had remembered a lesson from my father about balance. He had told me that it was almost impossible to gain something without giving something in return.

“The drawback comes in the early stages of using it: If you’re not prepared, the effects of using a bracer can kill you.” Mr. Hwang said with a gloomy face and dread in his voice.

Our eyes widened and our heads jolted back at how drastic his statement was.

A smile crept its way onto his face once more. “I’m just joking, but the initial effects of using the bracers are still very dangerous -”

“Before you get into detail about what the bracers do.” Tiffany cut him off. “Why do they need to be unlocked? Is there some sort of code needed to use them?”

“When you use a bracer, it essentially becomes a part of you. It doesn’t meld into you or anything, but it reacts to your body and your mind. For this reason: Each person can only use their one specific bracer in a lifetime.”

Hearing this shocked me and Tiffany.

“Seriously?” I asked

“A person trying to use a bracer other than their own would be like you trying to attach someone else’s arm in place of your own: Your body would reject it.”

“So the connection a person makes with their bracer is really that strong?”

He nodded. “I’ve heard stories of Liners going insane because their bracer broke while they were using it. Wearing one makes your body powerful, but your mind’s protection is at stake.”

That’s the trade off…

“How will I be able to use mom’s bracer if that is the case?” Tiffany asked.

“You share your mother’s DNA, so it will respond to you. The only thing that’s preventing you from using it right now is the mental password. A person mentally sets a password for their bracer the first time it is worn. The password can be anything that the mind can conjure up: An image, a smell, a word; the possibilities are endless. I can get through some of the encryptions to allow you girls to use some of the bracer’s features, but they won’t be fully useful until an engineer resets the bracer.”

He looked at me. “Taeyeon, your bracer is new, but the coding on it wasn’t finished: That’s why it is locked.”

“Then let’s get into contact with one of the engineers.” Tiffany said.

“It’s not that simple: The Demons have been killing off our engineers one-by-one.”

“Is this another joke?” I responded.

Mr. Hwang shook his head. “Sadly, it’s not. I’ve concluded that the Ring believes that the Liners created the Origon, so they sent the Demons to track down our technology experts – The Demons kill them once they find out that the engineers don’t know anything about it. That being said, the engineer in North America was killed just a few weeks ago. The only remaining engineer is the one from our region, and I’m sure both the Demons and this new Headliner are searching for him.”

“That’s one of our allies, right? Can’t we protect him?”

“He is our ally, but we’re not currently in the position to protect anyone. To be honest, he’s safest as is. No one has been able to find him yet – not even me.”

“We still need to find him though.” Tiffany stated.

“Yes, and that’s going to be our first goal. We won’t have the strength needed to overthrow this new Headliner unless your bracers are fully unlocked. I have some leads to find him, but you two need some training first. Taeyeon, I’m assuming you’ve already had some.”

“Yeah, my parents started teaching me a few weeks ago.”

Hmm… well unfortunately, I won’t be able to teach you anything new. If your parents already started you down one way, anything I teach you could interfere with what you already know.”

“I understand… but there has to be something I can do to improve.” I felt like I wasn’t nearly capable enough to completely protect my own sister, let alone going on the offensive against those same people.

“I have some books you can study from. You can learn about strategy, tactics, and philosophy. In my opinion: Training your mind is more important than training your body.”

…

“So when are we going to start training?” Tiffany asked. There was nervousness along with anxiousness in her voice.

“You can have the rest of the day off.” Mr. Hwang responded. “There’s already a lot for you to reflect on, and I don’t want to make your brains explode on day one.” He chuckled. “Plus it’s going to take me the rest of the day to bypass some of the encryptions on the bracers.”

Tiffany and I reluctantly handed him our bracers. They were new to us, as owners, but we already felt attached to them.

“Just head out the same way you came in. Just make sure not to destroy any walls this time.” He laughed.

The two of us turned towards the entrance and began to walk away, when Mr. Hwang spoke again.

“Taeyeon, wait. Those books you’ve been carrying around, may I see them?”

“Sure, I tried reading them, but the words are just gibberish.” I handed him the books out of my bag.

He spent some time analyzing each of the texts before a sour look appeared on his face.

“As I expected.” He said.

“Can you not make out what the words mean either?”

“Well it’s not as simple as just reading it: these books are coded. I’ve been around your father enough to be able to decode one, but the other code eludes me.”

“Do you know what the books are for?”

“The one that I can read seems to be his TimeLine – A memoir of sorts. Think of it as a Liner’s diary.”

Those words made me think about my diary. I had always felt prompted to jot down eventful things in my life, but I knew why until now.

“From what I can tell, the second book is most likely a set of directions – they probably lead to the Origon.”

“Why would he need directions if he already knows where it is?” Tiffany asked.

“I don’t think they’re for him…” Mr. Hwang turned to look at me. “I think the directions are for you.”

“How am I supposed to follow directions I can’t even read?”

“It’s just a hunch.” Mr. Hwang responded. “I feel that the code of this book revolves around memories you may have. If that is the case; you’re the only one who can decode this book.” He handed it to me. “In the mean time, I’ll decode the TimeLine so you can read it.”

“Do I really need to read my father’s diary?”

“You can learn a lot of valuable things from it. The reason we study history is so we don’t repeat previous mistakes – this is no different.”

I nodded in acknowledgement.

As Tiffany and I turned to walk away for the second time, Mr. Hwang spoke once more.

“Before you go, I should mention that although the bracers can make you stronger, that is not their main purpose. You’re only able to use that feature for about three hours per day, and only one hour consecutively. If you use it longer than that, your body will start breaking down from the stress.”

We took the news in with relative understanding. It made sense that the bracers would do that to your body.

“The other perks of the bracers are a lot more useful and far lest costly, but I’ll tell you about those once I’m finally able to unlock them… You can leave, seriously this time. I won’t stop you again.” He laughed.

…

Tiffany and I arrived in the living room after traveling through the walkway and leaving Mr. Hwang’s room. It was midday and Haeyeon hadn’t returned home yet.

The two of us sat on one of the giant couches in the house and started halfway watching TV. We had the rest of the day to ourselves, but didn’t know what to do with the time. I was about to suggest that we go outside and walk around, when Tiffany started talking:

“Tae, you didn’t really react when my dad brought up your brother. Why isn’t he here?” There was concern in her voice.

The thought hadn’t really crossed my mind. Whenever someone brought up my brother, it was almost as if they were talking about someone who never existed: I couldn’t understand why.

“I didn’t react because I thought that you already knew what happened… My brother disappeared a few of years ago.”

“Seriously?” She said in English. It was obvious she wasn’t fully used to being back in Korea.

I nodded slowly.

“He met a girl soon after my father opened the restaurant. He wanted to marry her within the first week of dating her, but my parents thought it was too soon, so he just ran away with her…”

“Wow, I can’t imagine him doing something like that; you two were really close.”

“Yeah, it shocked me too. He started acting strange from the moment he met her. I tried to talk to him, but he wouldn’t pay me any mind.”

“Did you know the girl?”

“She was new in town. I had only met her once, but she seemed really nice.”

Tiffany moved closer and allowed me to lean on her as I spoke: She could easily hear the pain in my voice.

“You’re not as upset as I would picture you being.” Tiffany said, surprised.

“I was a lot more sad than angry, in the beginning, but then I realized that my brother was just doing what he felt would make him happy. I had to respect him for that, no matter how sad I was. Luckily, things were easier for Haeyeon – she was so young when it happened, that it didn’t affect her nearly as much”

I gave Tiffany a weak smile to try and convince her that I was okay, but it didn’t work. Her arms suddenly wrapped around my body and squeezed the life out of me. My eyes widened due to the force of the hug.

How is she so strong?

Tiffany’s grip eventually loosened, but we remained embraced. Knowing how much she cared comforted me in a way I didn’t understand.

…

We lay there, on the couch, and watched TV until my sister eventually returned from the park. Once she opened the door, we could see her hair was a mess and her clothes were covered in dirt.

“I’ll see you tomorrow!” She yelled as she waved from the doorway.

Haeyeon eventually closed the door and turned to see me and Tiffany staring at her.

“You just got those clothes yesterday and they’re already dirty…” I teased

“Well let’s just say... I had an interesting day.” Haeyeon laughed as she sat on a recliner. “You two look like you’ve had an uneventful day.”

Tiffany and I looked at each other and tried to contain our laughter.

That is the farthest thing from the truth.

“Yeah… we’ve been pretty bored.” Tiffany responded, jokingly.

“Don’t worry – Haeyeon is here: I’ll brighten up your day.”

 

My sister changed the channel, on the TV, to some karaoke station that was filled with pop songs. She chose a song called: Cold Noodles, and immediately began dancing and singing.

…

“That was pretty fun.” Tiffany said with a smile as she walked into the room, just having taken a shower.

“Yeah, it was.”

We had spent the past few hours singing and dancing to random karaoke songs. It eventually became late, and we all expected to have early mornings, so we decided to call it a night.

I was sitting on Tiffany’s bed – reading my book – with my back against the bedpost when she walked in.

We hadn’t done any physical labor, but the two of us felt drained from the events of the day. I closed my book and lay down as Tiffany turned off the lamp.

“So what do you think lies ahead for us?” Tiffany asked, crawling into bed.

“Your guess is as good as mine.” I responded. “… But I’m sure it’s going to dwarf our lives up to this point.”

 

I rolled over to look at Tiffany to hear her response, but she had already fallen asleep.

A smile crossed my face as I tucked my head into a pillow and went to sleep myself.

…

*

It’s so dark…

Where am I?

I carefully began to walk through the darkness. It was impossible to see anything, including my own body.

…

I walked mindlessly for what felt like hours.

I haven’t gotten anywhere…

I turned my head to try and glimpse anything, when something caught my eye. I couldn’t make out exactly what it was, but it was white, and the only thing that stood out in this darkness.

I immediately ran towards the spot, and was able to make out what it was:

A skull and crossbones?

It resembled the symbol often associated with pirates, but there was something weird about it.

The whiteness of the symbol allowed me some light, so I was able to make out a few things in the darkness:

The skull and crossbones were a design on… the back of someone’s black coat.

I could finally see my own limbs, but I wasn’t able to tell who was wearing the coat. The coat wearer soon began walking, which resulted in me running towards them yelling – in an attempt to get their attention.

 

Out of nowhere, the person suddenly stopped, took off their coat and tossed it back at me. I noticed that the coat was incredibly large as it fell, and trapped me beneath it.

I and punched and kicked in order to get free, but nothing I tried worked. The only thing I could see was the skull and crossbones – just staring at me.

I began to lose air and trying to fight my way out grew tougher. I continued to struggle, but the coat only seemed to wrap around me even more.

I started gasping for air as the last of my oxygen seemed to slip away.

I can’t breath!

*

“TAE! TAEYEON!”

“Eeeeuuughhh” I woke up gasping for air.

Tiffany was sitting above me, feeling my chest to see if my pulse was steady.

“Tae, what happened?”

“I had this dream… no, it was a nightmare.”

“Wait here. I’ll go get you some water.” Tiffany said as she quickly scurried out of the room.

I sat up and noticed that: my body was tense and I was sweating profusely.

Tiffany soon walked back in the room with a glass of water and a towel. I wiped the sweat off of myself and drank the glass of water before explaining my nightmare to Tiffany…

“That’s nuts.” She responded “I think we should ask my dad about it. Maybe it has something to do with all of this Liner business.”

“I think it was just a nightmare. I should be fine now…” I set down the glass. “Besides, your dad is probably sleeping already. We should just talk to him tomorrow.”

Tiffany frowned. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

I nodded. My body was gradually becoming less tense, and I could feel myself going back to normal.

“Alright… but if you have anymore nightmares, I’m marching downstairs and waking my dad up.”

With that, Tiffany and I lay down once more. We both pretended to fall asleep: Tiffany was too busy being worried about me to actually sleep, and I was worried about having another nightmare.

Despite our worries, the calmness of sleep eventually hit us.

__________________________________________________________________________

I randomly wrote a oneshot if any of you want to check it out.

Treasure Hunt.