Midnight Sun

A dark cloud loomed over the streets of Jeonju, it was funny on how the weather changes so fast during Spring. It was something unpredictable, but the climate in the province was far more enjoyable than the bustling city air. It was a good getaway for Krystal.

The wheels of her car screeched to halt, when she peered through the tinted glass windows, Krystal saw the Academy’s top officers welcoming her. She waited for her guard to scan the area outside before attempting to open the door to greet the potential clients.

She bowed to the Principal, then to the numerous investors the school had. Krystal can feel their eyes follow her movements, questioning why they sent a young girl to do such a task.

It was something she hated. People belittling her work because she was too young. It was as if they had no idea that half the artists that perform at the studio had to go through her first... Maybe they didn’t, but she wished that all of these ‘adults’ would do their research before passing judgment.

When all the formalities have been taken care of, she began screening the students which the Academy offered. She was given their practice room as audition space. She flipped her pen around her hand, bored and worried that this was a wasted trip.

“Anything to your liking?” The principal asked; his hands were sweaty and obviously nervous from the way Krystal reacted to his pupils.

“I think I’ve seen enough.” Krystal yawned as she snapped her finger, signaling her assistant to pick up the audition papers and file them neatly to look at later. She stood up and smiled at the officers who were anxious to hear her decision. Unfortunately, she has not heard anything that tickled her ears before. No new flavor. Although she wasn’t disappointed at CN Blue and Juniel, she couldn’t exactly use them; not in the way Jessica wanted at least.

“I’ll send you a recommendation after I’m done compiling these.” Krystal said. The Principal nodded at this, as did the others; it somehow released some of the stress off their chests, but she knew she would have to shoot them down tomorrow anyway. She grinned as she motioned to the door. “Can I take a look around campus?”

“Yes. Yes. Of course.” They led her through the door and into the garden. Although at this point, she love to walk around the school on her own. Especially since she was losing hope in finding whatever Taeyeon needed, a pacemaker. What can that even do? She looked at her guard’s eyes and gave him a wink. He got the message and nudged Krystal’s assistant hard enough for her to drop the files on the floor.

The officers who accompanied them quickly got on their feet to help the poor girl; but the guard 'clumsily' trips on one of them. Krystal snickered, pretending not to hear the chaos that was happening behind her and instead, quickening her steps and making a sharp turn into one of the buildings. She looked behind her to see if anyone followed but from the looks of it, the coast is clear. Ditch complete.

She checked her watch: twenty minutes to six o’clock. Most of the students have gone home. The hallway was dark except for the flickering light that came from the conjunction. She drew near it, hoping to see maybe a miracle student that might appeal to Jessica’s request.

She did saw one student though, a person who looked like she was taking and storing her books and notes in order. Her uniform was still straight, like she has just gone out to school right now. Maybe she did, her hair was still a bit wet. She briefly wondered if people from the province knew how to blow dry. She eased closer. The girl’s locker was blocking Krystal from getting a full look at her face as she went back and forth from her bag to arrange her school work.

The light kept on flickering in and out on them.

Krystal felt a sudden spark. Not the kind that she felt when she listened to good music. It was different; like there was some sort of connection between them.

The girl slammed her locker shut and hauled her bag on her shoulder. Before she turned to leave, her eyes caught Krystal’s and they stared at each other. She couldn’t understand it at first.

“Nan…” Krystal hand reached out. She was surprised that the girl backed up like she was some kind of monster then began running towards the exit. “Wait!” She followed.

It was a quick sprint. But when the girl reached the door, it wouldn’t open. It was probably because the school closed up. The girl looked to her right and dashed towards the stairs.

“! Wait!” Krystal gasped. She wasn’t exactly a fast runner and the last time she went on a fleet of stairs was when the Radio Seoul's elevator broke down. That was almost five years ago! Nevertheless, she kept on running. She figured the school only had up until five or six levels but by the time she reached the fourth, her legs have already given up.

Krystal sprawled on the floor, coughing. She never ran like that before. When her body hit the ground, the sound of heavy footsteps stopped as well. Her eyes were unable to focus due to the lack of air that her body needed. She could only see a dark figure turning her head at her.

It was as if the girl was thinking whether or not to help her, Krystal can hear the chime of the wall clock as she waited to see if she would… One two three… It clicked, but on the seventh tick, the girl decided to run towards the other end of the hall, probably down to another fleet of stairs to escape her.

Krystal all of the air her lungs can take and stood up. This girl that she suddenly felt an odd connection to, was it the person her sister looked for? The Pacemaker? Or...?

Earlier today, Jessica was having a rare breakfast with her sister. It was a rare occasion, especially on a school day. Krystal spent the night at their house because the meeting at the office ended at about eleven. She was happy about that, because it meant that she gets to sleep beside her sister.

She waited for her older sister to prepare food for her. Jessica meticulously spread the strawberry jam completely on one side of the toasted bread. Once she was done, Krystal ate her breakfast with a smile.

“Is Taeyeon really doing that badly, unnie?” She asked, as she stirred her morning tea. Krystal lifted her head and found another piece of bread waiting on . She bit it again and observed how her sister was busy looking through emails on her iPad, listening to the morning news on TV and adding caramel to her coffee.

Jessica stirred her coffee and sipped it, then nodded because she got the sweetness level just right. She waited for Krystal to swallow her food before she fed the last bite of bread to her younger sibling. After that, she placed her iPad on standby and drank the rest of her macchiato while looking at the traffic update.

Her sister never preferred talking but also never kept secrets to her. Often times, Jessica will tell her things when the time was right; that, and because Krystal knew that poking her head on places that didn't belong was a one way ticket to hell. She can wait for whatever was happening to Taeyeon as well. 

It was almost seven when they finished eating and changed her clothes for school. She was only going to stay in school only up until lunch because of her schedule. When she was ready to go, she looked for Jessica in the dining hall, but she wasn’t there.

Her iPad was though. Krystal placed her bag on the table and opened her Jessica’s tablet, hoping to see if she had already beaten her score at Candy Crush. Instead, saw her sister’s emails and immediately, her curiosity got the better of her.

Taeyeon’s pacemaker? She looked though the messages. Various client emails and accounts littered the screen. Some of them are things she knew about, some were just too deep within the company for her to even understand.

There was one folder that caught her eye. It only said AAA. It was a default name for anything Jessica didn’t have time to label. Her desktop was littered with AAA, BBB, CCC and DDD’s. Lazy, yes… But it was the first time she saw it in her workspace.

When she opened it, hundreds of attachments and links cluttered on the screen; Krystal didn’t even know where to start. She read the message headers at random:

Goobne fried chicken, Yes! Asia, Skool Looks… What are these exactly? Her sister was only interested in advertisements when other companies upsold their commercials to Radio Seoul. These were all print ads and TVCs. She clicked on one of them and saw a girl. She didn’t mind it at first, but then she clicked on another message and saw the same girl. Over and over, she kept seeing the same girl on different thumbnails.

What is Jessica’s interest over this girl? Krystal wondered. She even saw a profile email and clicked to forward it on her own personal mail. It took about three seconds to send, more than enough time for the high resolution photo to depixelate and clear up.

Krystal blinked. It was a girl who looked exactly like her!

Her eyes darted left and right to see if anyone was watching. She quickly deleted the message in her sister’s sent folder and clicked the tablet off to where it was before. She took her phone out to check if she had received the mail. And she has.

Jessica entered the room. She was ready for school herself. She crossed her arms and tilted her head. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Nothing. I was waiting for you.” Krystal nervously said, taking her bag and walking towards the door. “Should we go?”

“Hold on.” Jessica’s hands traveled to her sister’s long dark hair, making sure nothing was out of place. They smiled at each other and leaned to kiss each other on the cheeks. “I love you, Krystal. You always make me proud.”

Krystal snaps back to reality. Taeyeon was someone she could care less about. For the first time in her life, she wanted to get something that didn’t benefit her sister. How dare she hide this from her? What did her sister hope to accomplish by hiding someone like her from her life?

She was looking for this girl. Taeyeon's pacemaker was just a bonus.

Her legs found the strength it needed to keep going. Her ears homed into the sound of the girl’s footsteps and her feet quickly closed the gap between them to about a meter. Her newfound resolve empowering her to keep up with the other girl.

She finds doppelganger stopping in front of a tree stomp, probably because her bag was getting too heavy to run with or that she knew Krystal has got her beat.

“I never thought I’d see you here.” The girl panted. “I don’t have anything to say to you.”

“Nuguseo?”

“So you chased me, not knowing who I am?” She girl turned to her. Here, in the fading daylight, Krystal can see the similarities of their faces even more. It scared her. She briefly wondered if the girl felt the same. At them looking exactly alike, that is.

“I want you to tell me.” Krystal demanded.

She dug something out of her pocket; in a split second, a small flame danced on her hands. “I'm nobody.”

Krystal sat down to one of the benches near the girl. Her knees were shaking badly and begged to rest. The other girl was taking this really well. She like, breathed deeply for about two seconds and she was back to normal. What kind of super power is that? The only sound between them was Krystal's hoarse breathing.

She took this time to observe the other girl. She was looking at the burnt tree stomp, as if it signified something important. Krystal had no idea what it was though.

Yoona. It means ‘innocent child’. On Krystal’s brief research, she found out that her foster parents named her as such because they wanted her to know that whatever happened in the past wasn’t her fault. That nothing in the past will ever truly define who Im Yoona is.

Krystal wished she was also instilled with this way of thinking; but the way they grew up made them see the world in angles that were far apart from each other. She can feel Yoona eyeing her up and down, obviously thinking she has everything she doesn’t. What she doesn’t know is that Krystal was feeling the exact same thing about her.

She finally gathers the courage to talk again. “Jung Soojungimnida.”

“Ara.” Yoona looked at the sky before sitting beside her chaser. “What do you want from me anyway?”

Answers. Krystal thought, but was it too early to ask for that? She shifted from her seat and met the girl’s eyes. It was distracting to look at. It was like staring at your own reflection.

Yoona waited for a minute, but Krystal didn’t speak. It was as if she was lost in her eyes and she had to break the spell. “If you don’t have anything to ask, then…” She stood up.

“Jamkanman!” Krystal grabbed Yoona’s hand. They both felt a surge of electricity flow between them. Like something they’ve lost was finally found, something comforting and familiar yet foreign and exciting. In that single touch, they confirmed what they already knew.

I found you. You’re the missing piece of the puzzle Jinkyu spoke of. She bit her lips, unsure on where to start, but Yoona’s doe like eyes pierced through her own, bringing out all of the curious questions she had for her. It was unlike the cold eyes she inherited from Jessica. “I asked who you are.” She started. "Tell me."

Yoona’s eyes watered, as if Krystal has asked her for something she had hoped she would ask the moment they set their eyes on each other. Her arms embraced Krystal and pulled her close. They both held on to each other tightly, closing the almost sixteen years that they have been apart.

“I’m your twin sister.”

On that bench, they talked about their lives. How different their lives were even if they were born to the same mother. Yoona narrated her story to Krystal. How her father was made to believe that he was able to produce a child, and her mother eventually leaving her because he found out. She never mentioned the specifics, but she wanted her to know what basically happened. That she was handed off to a couple that was basically praying for a child they can never have.

Yoona sighed. Being raised by a single dad hard even for her, she couldn’t talk to anyone. He would usually throw himself to work and still not be able to pay the bills on time. So when she was presented with an offer to make ends meet, she took it. They eventually pay for the divorce settlement, but her participation as an internet ulzzang has already shot her sky high to her career as a model.

Krystal also shared her life with her. How she was trained vigorously since birth to manage and identify key people. Media was all about networking after all. She woke up stressed on time and slept with a sinking feeling that she may have forgotten something. She was never allowed to make mistakes. Not once, not ever.

Two girls, who led very different lives, sat beside what used to be the White Tree. For everyone else, it was a symbol of hope; but for Yoona, it was a symbol of freedom. Her hands played with the lighter she got from that fire, which she later raised to Krystal as an offering.

Yoona said. “I’m giving this to you.”

“Aniyo. Gwenchanayo.” Krystal pushed her hand away. She was unsure if she should receive such a precious gift. Yoona kept pressing her for it, but she shook her head politely. "Hajimaseyo."

But Yoona took Krystal’s hands and placed in on her palm, forcefully making her fingers grasp the hard metal that encased the fire it held. “Soojung, take it. I’ve always wanted to talk to you, but I...” She stopped, hesitating for a second and continued. “I never really got the chance.”

"Gomawoyo." She looked at the metallic box and turned it on all of its sides, admiring how well made it was even if she compared to the lighters that the businessmen had back in Seoul. There wasn’t a single scratch on it, and it looks custom made. She smiled. "So who do you think is older?"

"Sorry?" Yoona asked.

"Did you come before me?" Krystal giggled. "Are you my unnie too?"

"I got into school a year early. So in this context, aren't I your sunbae?" Yoona laughed.

Krystal rested her head on her sister's shoulders. "When I went to Korea, I had to stop for a year. That's why I'm still a freshman."

Silence. Again. It wasn't awkward. They were just enjoying each other's presence. They can talk all day to make up for the years they've been apart, but they didn't have time for that. When Krystal looked at her phone, it was full of missed calls and messages. Seven thirty.

"Well, it’s late. I can show you out, but..." Yoona picked up her bag and started walking. “The next time we meet, I think we won’t be this neutral to each other.”

“Araseo.” Krystal said as she pocketed Yoona’s gift. “We were kept apart for a reason.”

“Exactly.” She responded, her steps growing heavier each time her feet distanced herself from Krystal. She wanted to keep talking, but there was something keeping them apart. Yoona could’ve easily drawn attention to her blood relatives before. And so far, it has kept them at a reasonable amount of security, has it not?

“Eonnie!” Krystal called, running towards her sister one last time. “I want you to know that I don’t want to stay away from you and that if everything dies down; I’ll come back for you.”

Yoona smiled sadly. “I don't know much, but I don't think there's anything we can do about what happened in the past. It will always come back to haunt us. Bite us if it has to.”

"Something bad will happen if we don't do something!" Krystal begged. "Friends betray each other. Then kill each other. Then their daughters will kill one of us and we'll kill one of theirs. It's a never ending cycle! Don't you feel bad for Soonkyu unnie, they..."

"Have you ever thought of why I haven't come near any of you even if I knew? Why I chose to work, pay and suffer for not having enough money when the truth was I had a gold mine to my name?" Yoona looked at her. There was sadness on her voice, like she wanted to but didn't at the same time. She wasn't scared or anything, it was... An angry type of sadness. It was like she knew the day of judgment was here, and she was glad she kept her distance when the lightning strikes because…

"I don't want any part of it."

Krystal kept silent. She didn't exactly have an answer to people who flat out rejects her.

"It’s because all of you are such..." Yoona cut herself off, thinking twice before revealing what she really thought of their family. "All of you are so manipulative. All you do is use people and toss them away like Kleenex after you're done... Just like your mother and sister."

You've met mom and Jessica? Krystal asked. What is it that you're not telling me? She searched Yoona's eyes, but only found nothing but truth in them. She didn't want any part of this. No regrets on why she never chased after them. "Araseo." She finally said.

"Then... Leave me alone." Yoona said as she walked away.

Krystal’s shoulders slumped. She had hoped she would find something to shield her from Jinkyu’s attacks. What can she do, now that she found out that what she’d been looking for was never the right answer to begin with.

"Johgiyo!" A voice came from behind. Krystal turned to see an oddly dressed girl. She looked like a mascot of sorts. Her suit was white and had a protruding pompom like thing on the top of her head. She wasn't sure what animal it was supposed to be but it looked like a cross between a cat and an anther fish with Rudolf’s red nose and bat wings.

"This is the Academy's junior security squad! Hands up!" Krystal looked around and saw two other mascots heading towards her.

"Mworago?" Krystal tilted her head as she looked at the three mascots. She felt like she's seen this before but was unsure where.

One of the girls took the head of her costume off. "MWO YAH!" She shouted; it was a girl with a lot of make up on. She had dark, smokey eyes that glared at the two girls. She was wearing a costume that looked like a green blob with brown robes on. "Junior security squad?" She repeated.

The other mascot jumped and said. "We can think of a better name later, Jiyeon. Isn't this so much fun?" The other mascot claimed. Krystal thinks she looks like a ragged cat... Doll... Thing. Whatever it was.

"We've apprehended our first law breaker. Staying in the school after hours is against the rules!" The white mascot said, but when she pointed at Krystal and the fabric stretched just enough to pull her down, making her slip and fall. "Help! I can't get up!" She waved her limbs like a turtle on its back.

"Hold on, IU! I'll pull you up." The cat said but when she tried, she fell off balance on top of the other girl. The last mascot only watched, arms crossed. "Y-ya! Jiyeon, don't just stand there! Help us!" She shouted

"Pabo." Jiyeon scoffed.

Krystal thought it was very comical and laughed at the three girls. She knelt beside at the two girls and removed their heads. She saw a blonde and brunette under the mascots. "These costumes. Isn't this Yuripa?"

IU blinked. "You know about them?"

Krystal pointed at them. "Moogle, Cait Sith and Tonberry. That's who you are, right? Yuna, Rikku and Paine from Final Fantasy. I met the guy on an interview before, really talented." She stopped. "Can you speak?"

"Jieun, this girl is weird. Now that I've seen her up close, she..." The blonde asked. "She doesn't go here."

"Oh, chincha? We can't arrest her then." IU heaved her off. "Dang, Luna. You're heavy. Roll over so I can breathe."

Krystal smiled. It wasn't a wasted trip after all.