Explanations
Hanyo
“Can you explain to me how you were able to make the goblin’s voice disappear!? And how your little brother made an illusion of fire!? I don’t understand how it was an illusion if I could physically feel the flames on my skin and how my lungs were gasping for air. I don’t understand! If you are a water demon, how are you able to do some many more things that don’t have to do with water! For example when I felt as if I was being possessed at the apartment and you said something –.” It was morning at the temple in the middle of the Juwangsan forest. Soonkyu, chaotic, asked multiple questions at once.
After last night, Soonkyu had a hard time sleeping and organizing her thoughts about everything. Jonjin, who ended up being the little brother of Sungmin, was quite a hyper kid and wanted to show Soonkyu everything about his fire gift. The cherry blossom demon whose name was Hokuouki was a kind lady who looked after Jonjin while Sungmin was gone. Hokuouki was able to make the cherry blossoms bloom at any season. Though it wasn’t a useful gift, it helped calm people by watching the pink flowers.
“Calm down, Soonkyu,” Sungmin said while eating a traditional Korean breakfast. It contained a series of side dishes such as bean sprout rice, spicy seafood salad, stewed fish, cold cucumber soup, seasoned kelp, radish strips of kimchi, and grilled short ribs. It may seem like a lot, but the dishes were in small bowls and everyone was sharing; therefore finishing it wasn’t difficult.
Soonkyu stared down at her food and sighed. After realizing that demons were real from what Sungmin showed her, she started to come up with so many questions. Sungmin couldn’t even answer them all at once. “You will see with time” is all he said.
*~*~*~*~*
The sun shined brightly through the brilliant crimson red leaves of the Japanese maple tree sitting on the left side of the temple. Soonkyu sat with her legs crossed on the cool green grass while letting her mind picture all of the past events she went through. Soonkyu combed her fingers through the grass and sighed.
“I wonder what is going on at school… Are my foster parents worried about me?” she spoke to herself and shook her head in annoyance.
“Jonjin! When will you stop playing with fire!” Sungmin’s voice shrilled throughout the temple. Suddenly a puff of smoke came from the front door, but it quickly vanished as it went up into the atmosphere. Jonjin ran out and started heading towards Soonkyu. He ran while looking behind him to make sure Sungmin wasn’t following so he didn’t watch where he was going. Eventually he fell on top of Soonkyu who squealed by the unexpectedness. Jonjin scrambled out of Soonkyu’s lap and hid behind her while was the shape of an “O”.
“Wah! Jonjin! What are you doing?” Soonkyu asked while trying to turn around and face him, but he wouldn’t let her; he held on to her tight and peeked from her shoulders to see if Sungmin was coming.
A few seconds later, an angry Sungmin came stomping across the grass and looked straight at Jonjin. The small boy started shaking in fear of being punished by his mistake of messing around with his gift.
“Wah! I’m sorry Sungmin hyung. Please don’t scold me,” Jonjin’s small voice pleaded while Soonkyu was still in confusion as to what exactly was going on.
Sungmin sighed and raked his hands through his black hair. He sat down on the grass just like Soonkyu and chuckled. “Are you going to let go of Soonkyu, or are you going to keep her in shock, Jonjin?” The little boy crawled out from behind Soonkyu and bowed down to Sungmin while constantly apologizing.
“I won’t do it again hyung. Please forgive me.”
“What happened?” Soonkyu asked while titling her head.
“Ah, Jonjin just happened to want to play with his gift again. When you have a gift you must be very careful with it. His is very deadly and to see him just messing around with it is very infuriating… Basically he was creating flames of very hot temperatures and dancing around the living room,” Sungmin answered Soonkyu.
“You know what could have happened if I didn’t catch you doing that, Jonjin! You could have caused the whole temple to collapse if the fire were to touch something! Do you know how dangerous that is! Remember what you did last night! That was beyond careless. If I didn’t come in time, not only would the temple be permanently destroyed, but a forest fire would have broken out as well. And you should know what happens after that! The police will come and try to stop the fire, find the cause of it, and eventually find the burned down temple that once stood here. If the police are to find us we will have to relocate again. This is why we live in the forest; we don’t mix with humans easily. The main reason you are living with Hokuouki is because you must learn how to control your gift until you can be a part of them.” Sungmin’s voice started to increase in volume again as he spoke to Jonjin.
“Um… Sungmin how did you fix the temple then…? When I first saw the temple it seemed to be burning down… So if it wasn’t an illusion, as I thought it was, then how did everything seem to go back to normal?” Soonkyu asked Sungmin while picking on the grass.
Sungmin cracked a smile at Soonkyu despite just yelling at his little brother. He seemed to get over things rather quickly. “And here we go again with the many questions,” he replied sarcastically. “But I’ll answer since you keep on pressing the issue and you seem unbearably curious.”
“Remember how I told I am the leader of all water demons? Well I was actually telling you the truth. As the leader I am given more privileges and am able to do more things with not just my gift but with other skills as well. For example, as the leader I am able to heal people if they have open wounds or minor sprains. I cannot, however, heal a major wound such as a broken leg. I also cannot cure you if you have a cold or a fever, unfortunately,” explained Sungmin while now lying on his back with hands behind his head. Soonkyu didn’t get comfortable like he was; she was too absorbed with the conversation at hand. Jonjin ran back into the temple, not wanting to listen to Sungmin anymore.
“I am also capable of fixing things, like buildings. I am limited-“
“Limited?” Soonkyu suddenly asked in a rush. Sungmin laughed and put his hand up to ruffle her hair.
“I was just getting there, Sunny!”
“Sunny?” Soonkyu said in confusion.
Sungmin looked up into the maple tree. Rays of sunlight poured through the small gaps between the branches and leaves causing what seemed like a “natural” flashlight to shine on Sungmin and Soonkyu.
“It’s a nickname I picked out for you,” Sungmin replied back softly.
“But why Sunny?”
It took Sungmin a moment or two to reply back but when he did, all the blood seemed to rush up to Soonkyu’s head causing her to blush a violent red color. “Because whenever I see you I feel like everything is brighter, like the sun.”
“Anyway, as I was saying,” Sungmin continued on with his explaining without looking at Sunny. She continued to look the other way as well. “I am limited with fixing a structure just with my gift. For example, if Jonjin were to burn down the whole temple into just rubble, I wouldn’t be able to fix that because there is nothing left. However, I am able to fix things that have been charred. Like what Jonjin did last night. He was able scorch a lot of the wood, but the structure itself didn’t fall; therefore I was able to, I guess you could say, “heal” the wood back to normal. That’s another special thing about the water gift; we are able to reattach fibers on things that break. The object just must be touching the corresponding part. Does that make sense…?” Sungmin glanced at her to make sure if she actually understood everything he was telling her. It was rather confusing but after a few moments of silence and Soonkyu’s brain thinking it through, she finally was able to get a grasp on how he was able to fix the temple.
“Hey!” Sungmin said unexpectedly while jumping up from his position on the ground. “Want me to show you around? You haven’t seen much of the temple yet and your bedroom you’ll be staying in for a while… Oh and there are a lot of awe-striking views here too!” Sungmin grabbed her hand and lifted her off the ground. She stood up quickly and lost her footing causing her to grab on to Sungmin for support. He wrapped his arms around her small waist to make sure she was steady. Soonkyu felt the blood rush to her cheeks again so she hid her face with her hair making sure Sungmin didn’t notice. After a brief moment of just standing in the pose they were in, Soonkyu finally realized what she was doing; holding onto Sungmin’s shirt and pulling him closer so she couldn’t fall backwards.
“Wah!” she screamed and quickly jerked away from him. Hormones, why, why, why? Soonkyu thought innocently. Sungmin chuckled at her. His laugh seemed to have a certain ring to it, like a bell chiming in the slight breeze. It was as if he was an angel instead of a demon.
“Come on, Sunny. We don’t have all day!” Sungmin ran down the small slope from the maple tree. Soonkyu quickly followed along behind him.
*~*~*~*
They were walking on one of the many paths around the temple. Each path led to a special place in the forest. Soonkyu was in frozen in astonishment when she came across another small pond that had koi fish of many different colors; from brown to specks of red, orange, and white; they were all interesting looking creatures swimming in the shallow pool. As Soonkyu sunk her hand into the transparent water of the pond, a sense of tranquility washed over her. The water was refreshing and had a silky feel to it, much different from any other water she has felt in her life. It was as if the water were holy.
A small waterfall straight from where Soonkyu sat on the soft evergreen grass was trickling down from the many rocks and boulders. Flowers of blue and red hues surrounded the area. It was really a beautiful sight. A granite lantern sat near the pond; no light came shinning out from its interior for it was still daytime. Next to where Sungmin stood, near the entrance of the small area was a basin that contained petite circle shaped rocks. Hangul was engraved on each of them; some saying small fortunes while others just simple words such as “friendship” and “loyalty”. Above the rocks hung three wind chimes of different sizes and shapes; each had their own animal hanging from underneath it. Though barely any sound came from them since the breeze was not high, it was still pretty to see them hanging there, slightly rocking.
“Wah, I didn’t know anything could be this pretty!” Soonkyu exclaimed while slowly getting up from near the edge of the pond.
“Ha, yeah there are a lot of nice ponds around here. This is just one of them. But, hey, didn’t you like my pond!” Sungmin’s eyes sparked with happiness while he looked at Soonkyu.
“I love your pond! But how exactly is it your pond?” Soonkyu asked and walked over to Sungmin. She looked into the basin and read the words on the rocks, completely captivated.
Sungmin laughed and ruffled her hair again causing her to quickly look up at him and pout in annoyance. “It’s mine because I felt this strong connection to it when I first moved here. It’s also of a good size for me to practice my water gift.”
“Strong connection? Umm… you can have connections to a pond…?” Soonkyu gazed up at him and giggled. “I thought you can only have connections with people!”
“It’s different for demons. It’s not like we can talk to things related to our gift… Hmm… How to explain…” Sungmin looked up a thought for a moment. “Well I guess you could say you just feel more comfortable being there… Wah, I’m not that good at explaining this! You have to feel it for you to understand.”
Soonkyu walked over to his side and locked arms with him. “That’s okay. I understand what you’re trying to say.” She smiled. “Now let’s see some more places!” Sungmin agreed and led her out of the garden. The rest of the day consisted of running around and exploring more places; before they knew it, the sun set and it was already time for dinner.
When they ate, Hokuouki and Jonjin joined them. The meal consisted of purple rice which was basically made out yams, kimchi, seasoned spinach, stir fried Korean noodles, braised short ribs, green tea, and many small side dishes. Soonkyu tried to eat slowly to be polite, but she just couldn’t, her stomach that has been grumbling for almost the whole day has finally met delicious food again. She scarfed down everything on her plate quickly, and was already reaching across the table for the noodles again when Sungmin laughed out loud.
“Wow, you sure do eat fast! Why didn’t you tell me you were hungry?” Sungmin continued to chuckle and soon everybody was laughing, all except Soonkyu who was red from embarrassment.
“Uh… well… I was too excited about other things,” Soonkyu replied keeping her head low.
“Wah! Keep eating! I was just kidding.” Sungmin messed with her hair again for what seemed like the one hundred time today. His smile was almost like a cat’s since it was so large.
After hearing approval from Sungmin, Soonkyu dug into the food again, pleased.
*~*~*~*
“And this is your room,” Sungmin said after eating and cleaning up after dinner. He opened a door to a very small room. It contained next to nothing in it; just a small mat to sleep on, a drawer to keep clothes in, a small stool like table, and a plant so the air inside the room was purified. It was almost like a walk in closest instead of a bedroom. The walls were of a beige color and the ceiling was entirely made up of lined up bamboo sticks. Luckily, there were two windows with white curtains so Soonkyu could see the sun in the morning.
Soonkyu sighed in disappoint. “Why? You don’t like it?” Sungmin asked from behind her. A smile crept to his face. He seemed to like to tease Soonkyu a lot.
“I shouldn’t expect much, since we are living in the forest, not the city,” Soonkyu replied. She turned around and smiled at Sungmin. She didn’t want him to think she didn’t appreciate it though. However, she was still confused as to why she had to stay with him in this temple, away from her friends and parents. As the atmosphere started to become quite, Soonkyu thought that right now is the best time to ask him. She inhaled and exhaled slowly then looked up into Sungmin’s eyes.
“When will I be able to go home? Why do I have to be here, Sungmin?” Soonkyu asked then sat down on the mat. Sungmin, however, leaned against the wall next to the door.
“You are here because it is not safe where you live right now. Your house, your school, your friends’ houses, even your way to school, are all being watched, constantly.”
“What? Why?” Soonkyu looked up at him in horror. She started to shake slightly with fear. Never in her life did she think that where she lived was unsafe.
It took Sungmin a minute to reply back, but when he did, his eyes were closed and his voice became a whisper. “Because… they want you. Your father… and… the devil.” Sungmin took a deep breath. It seemed he was also enormously disturbed by this just like Soonkyu. “You are special, Soonkyu. We don’t know the reason why yet, but there has to be a reason why your father and…- wants you. Your grandmother, the mother of Ji-eun, told me to bring you here. Your foster parents are okay. However… I don’t think you’ll be seeing them again…”
“What? I won’t see my foster parents again! And what do you mean by the devil? You’re kidding right, Sungmin?” Soonkyu started trembling in terror again. Sungmin looked at her and noticed that she couldn’t stop shaking. He ran over to her while large shinning tears raced down her face. She looked so scared and small that Sungmin hugged her. She cried on his shirt while he held on to her tight and gave her reassuring words. After minutes of constant sobs escaping from Soonkyu’s lips, the tears finally dried up. However, the shaking didn’t stop; it only died down a little.
“Sungmin? I, I’m cold… and thirsty…” Soonkyu’s voice was incredibly hoarse. She tried to speak again but instead she winced. Sungmin quickly wiped her tears with his shirt, it wasn’t like the piece of cloth mattered anymore; it was already mostly drenched with Soonkyu’s tears. He then got up and put a blanket over her shoulders and ran for water from the well outside. When Sungmin finally came back, Soonkyu drank the water hurriedly. She started to get dehydrated because of how much she cried.
Soonkyu leaned against the wall and closed her eyes, her breathing was heavy. Sungmin who sat by her, her hand for reassurance. “How come I won’t see my foster parents ever again?” Soonkyu croaked.
Sungmin swallowed and looked into Soonkyu’s eyes. “Because… your grandmother took you under her wing. Therefore… you are now part of the family…”
“What!” Soonkyu shrieked at Sungmin, eyes wide with shock and unbelief. “How can you just do that so easily?”
“We are demons…” Sungmin replied quietly while looking down.
“And you’re not going to explain how that happened are you…?”
Sungmin took a ragged breath and looked straight into her eyes. “Your grandmother… the one that lives here in the temple- you haven’t met her yet, she has a very special gift… One that allows you to change someone’s memories. Meaning they can change your past and the way you think of things. That is what your grandmother did…”
Soonkyu couldn’t even talk; she was speechless and confused as to why someone could do such thing. “Soonkyu! It was for your own good!” Sungmin spoke in a loud voice and grabbed a hold of her shoulders, shaking her slightly. “Imagine what would have happened if your parents knew who you were or what happened that night. Everything would be a complete disaster; from the police to your parents asking multiple questions about me and whatever. Soonkyu-ah, it’s for your own good,” Sungmin said gently. Soonkyu didn’t cry, she just couldn’t, instead she just felt raw inside and drained of energy.
“Where is my grandmother from my father’s side?” Soonkyu finally asked after a few minutes of complete silence and trying to understand Sungmin’s words.
“She’s busy, in Seoul right now. She should come back soon… If not then we have to see her.” Sungmin stood up and grabbed a pillow from the drawer. He placed it on her mat and sat across from Soonkyu, yet again.
“Why must we go and see her if she does not come back soon?”
“Because that means she is in trouble if she doesn’t come back soon,” Sungmin replied while messing with a string attached to the mat. Sunny nodded.
“Sungmin, what are demons exactly?”
Sungmin shifted and lay down on his back, looking at the ceiling he spoke calmly. “Each demon has a special gift; such as water, fire, wind, earth, etcetera. The leaders, however, have more freedom yet a lot more responsibility. They also are granted more gifts. Each demon leader has about the same gifts. For example both the wind leader and I have the ability to heal people’s wounds, re-fiberize objects, punish the goblins, exterminate demons, stop a possession if it is not that strong of a connection, just like I did with you before, and if your partner or “lover” is in danger or something of the sort, then we leaders feel that disturbance too. However, this only happens with people who were; I guess, ‘meant to be’, “ Sungmin said and smirked. “I think it’s pretty funny though, because it only happened like once but it was such a strange feeling…”
“When did that happen? And who did you have the connection with?” Sunny asked, curiosity getting to her. “Also, I knew you were the one to stop whatever happened that night at my grandmother’s apartment… But who possessed me? And you can kill demons too!” Soonkyu said in shock.
“Okay let me start with who possessed you… I’m not exactly sure but I believe it was one of the devil’s servants… another demon. If it were to be the devil then the connection would be much stronger and hard for me to break. Don’t worry, Sunny, it is hard for a possession to take place in the first place so it rarely happens…” Sungmin smiled a rather sad smile. He didn’t want her to worry more than she already is. “And yeah… Leaders can kill demons. Shinji was one, but he was evil… He did a lot of bad things such as murder, , robbery, and finally he started making deals with the devil… Not only did his deals safe him from being caught by the police, but when you write contracts with the devil, you must do whatever he says. The reason why this is so bad is because most of the things he asks you to do are to kill his past clients and many more innocent people at that. He will protect you from danger as long as you please him; however, one slip of the tongue or any mistake will cost you your life.”
“As for the ‘connections’ thing, it happened a couple of days ago… you don’t need to know who. I’m still confused myself,” Sungmin replied.
“Wow. I think I understand now… That is what my father is doing… Wow,” Soonkyu said in disbelief while shaking her head in sadness. She also tried to ignore the fact that Sungmin didn’t want to tell her something; but it was his personal business so she had no right to be upset, she thought. “Okay then… What else can you demons do? You didn’t tell me everything, I know you didn’t,” Soonkyu said.
“Yeah, another thing is that the demon gift sometimes skips generations. For example, your father is not a demon but his mother is. He could have become the Hanyo, which is a half demon, but he didn’t. The Hanyo is very important and in some ways can be more gifted than full demons. However, the half-blood is very rare. There has never been more than three Hanyo on Earth; that is how uncommon they are. They are very important because they are able to kill demons with just their minds. Not only that, but the devil is scared of them as well. The Hanyo inside someone does not show until it is fully matured… So about eighteen years old? Yeah, eighteen,” Sungmin said shrugging. “It’s very rare though, like I told you. The chance of getting it is less than one percent.”
“Hmm… that’s interesting,” Soonkyu said pouting while thinking. “How do you know so much about my father?”
“I don’t much about your father, honestly. I only know what your grandmothers told me a few weeks ago. One, which your father wants to kill you for a reason that we don’t know yet; and two he is making deals with the devil. I have a theory about why he wants you though,” said Sungmin.
“And that theory would be…” Soonkyu said wanting him to continue.
“That the devil is using your father as someone to get rid of you… because you may be the Hanyo,” Sungmin said looking up at Soonkyu from the floor. “That is just my theory so don’t pay much attention to it…”
Soonkyu started at Sungmin as if he lost his mind. “The Hanyo? Ha, like that could happen! You did say there was a one percent chance of become the Hanyo, didn’t you?”
“Yes, but there is still a percentage, it is not impossible…”
“Then explain to me another thing,” Soonkyu retorted. “Why did he kill my mother then?”
“I don’t know, Soonkyu,” Sungmin said sadly, whispering. “I think it’s time you go to sleep.” Sungmin stood up and ruffled Soonkyu’s hair. “Good night, Sunny,” he said winking.
Soonkyu’s cheeks turned a deep red color. “If you need me I’ll be right across the hall.” Sungmin opened the door and pointed down the darkened hallway on the left. Smirking, he saluted and closed the door.
*~*~*~*
“Death will be a part of you. Wah, pain will make you- everywhere death sits upon you-.” The voices echoed in Soonkyu’s head as she sobbed. “You- you will- die.” They were treacherous voices, scary ones indeed. “Your mother is dead, and you will be too.”
“Wah!” Soonkyu screamed.
“The devil is here,” It slurred at her. “We are here. The devil is here. Jaejung is here… Death is here- death…” Soonkyu yelled and cried.
“Please, please, please,” Soonkyu begged.
“We will kill-…” Soonkyu was in front of her house staring out into the deserted road ahead. All of the street lights were off and rain rushed down in a flurry to the cold concrete floor. The loud rambunctious thunder echoed throughout the streets causing Soonkyu to shiver with the vibrations. The voices boomed in her ears so closing them would make no difference. Suddenly, a black figure appeared in front of Soonkyu. She couldn’t move; her eyes straining to see his face since everything seemed to become a blurry mess. Hands wrapped around her neck causing her to gasp for air, however she could do nothing to stop him. Tears streamed down her face. She knew death would become of her soon.
“Kill her,” a voice near them said. It was a whisper yet Soonkyu felt as if the words became a loud roar of anger and sinfulness. At that moment a knife was lifted in the air and as it came crashing down on Soonkyu’s chest another voice louder than the thunder rumbling above filled not only the ears of everyone below, but their entire bodies were filled with the noise.
“Lee Soonkyu! Wake up! Get out of there right now!” Sungmin screamed. Slowly Soonkyu’s eyes reopened. Her face was wet with tears and she panting.
Soonkyu sat up while Sungmin quickly grabbed a towel on top of the dresser. He seemed to look quite anxious and uneasiness was crossed all over his face. She took it from him and wiped her face dry. “Sungmin, what just happened?” Soonkyu asked worriedly while looking up at him.
Sungmin who was standing up and looking out the window slowly moved to Soonkyu’s side and grabbed her hand was shaking slightly. Soonkyu’s face was now full of apprehension had tears sliding down her chin and landing on Sungmin’s hands.
“The devil; he is near,” Sungmin whispered as the sound of the Earth cracking beneath them echoed off the walls.
Hi my daebak readers!!! I was wondering if you guys like the story so far... PLEASE COMMENT!!! I haven't had really any comments besides my lovely friends that I talk to about this story ALL the time ^-^ So PLEASE PLEASE COMMENT!!! THANK YOU!! And I hope you continue to read~!
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