"Eunji, your dinner will get cold if you don't start eating."

Ignoring her mom, Kim Eunji continued typing away on her phone.

"Eunji. Put the phone down." her mom said, sternly.

"Let me just send this text." Eunji replied, continuing to type.

"Kim Eunji! You will put away that phone right now, do you hear me? It's dinner time right now." her mom shot a stern glare at her.

"Sorry." Eunji rolled her eyes, slamming her phone down on the table. She shoved a spoon of rice into and swallowed. "Happy?" she asked, giving her mom a sarcastic smile.

"That does it." her dad said. "Eunji, we will not tolerate this kind of attitude in this house."

"We're confiscating your phone for a full week." her mom said.

"What?" Eunji asked, her jaw dropping open. "You can't do that!"

"We can and we will. All you do is tap away at your phone all day, and it's infuriating!"

Eunji ignored her parents and simply finished her dinner at top speed before running up to her room, making sure she slammed the door.

She sighed. *What do I do now? Oh I know! I'll call Sunghee.. oh wait. I don't have a phone.* Eunji threw herself on her bed and stared at the ceiling, while playing with the ring that was on her middle finger on her left hand. She took it off and stared at it a bit.

*I have nothing to do.* Eunji internally groaned. With a sigh, she got up and placed her ring on the table beside her bed. She walked downstairs, yelling at her parents, "I'm taking a walk!"

She closed the door and looked around, trying to figure out where she should go. She decided to head to the park. Maybe one of her friends would be there. Although it was highly unlikely.

When she got there, a little boy with light brown hair ran up to her, saying, "Hey miss! Do you know how to climb trees? My kite is up there." he said, pointing.

"Sure, kiddo." Eunji smiled. Despite never having been taught how to climb a tree, she was an expert at it. She swiftly climbed up and saw the kite. However, beside the kite, resting on a branch, was a small ball. She picked it up and it immediately started glowing a bright yellow, and it turned ice cold. *Huh. That's weird. Maybe it's the little boy's.*

She jumped down and handed the kid the kite. "Is this your ball? I found it up there."

"Oh, that's-"

"What do you think you're doing?" someone yelled, running over. Eunji looked up to see a good-looking guy who was around her age running over. He looked furious. She stared at him and his eyes seemed to turn a dark purple. However, when she looked again, his eyes were normal. *I must be seeing things.*

"Are you dumb or something?" the guy asked the little kid.

"Hey, why are you yelling at a little kid like that?" Eunji asked.

The guy looked up and squinted at her, his eyes searching her. "Hm." he said, almost in dissatisfaction. "You're more useless than I thought you'd be."

Eunji scoffed. "You're joking, right? I don't even know you!"

"I wish I was." the guy sighed. "Come on, let's go." he said, starting to walk away. The little kid followed after him.

"Hey, kid, you forgot your ball!" Eunji yelled after them. There was no way in hell that she'd follow them though, no matter how attractive the guy was. It was just a bit too stalker-ish.

"You're finally awake." someone said from behind her, making her jump.

"Awake?" Eunji asked the old man who had appeared behind her. "I think you've mistaken me for someone else."

The old man laughed, shaking his head. "No, no, Kim Eunji. I definitely did not make a mistake. Keep that ball with you. The boy will be back tomorrow at the same time, you can get some answers then."

Eunji gave the man a confused look, but decided to just come back tomorrow as he had said.

---

The next morning, a loud scream rang through the house, effectively waking everyone up.

Eunji sat up and rubbed her eyes sleepily. "Mom? Why are you in my room?"

Her dad came running in saying, "What's wrong? What happened?"

"Sorry... I was just surprised." her mom said. "Look, yeobo." she said, pointing at something on Eunji's bedside table. Eunji looked at saw her staring at the ball she had picked up yesterday, which was now glowing even brighter than it had been the day before.

"Eunji, why do you have that?" her dad asked.

"Why, do you know what it is?" Eunji asked, confused. Her parents exchanged unreadable looks before her dad said, "It's Sunday today, so that means there is absolutely no reason for you to have to leave this house today."

"What? You don't mean-"

"You're not allowed to take a single step out of this house until further notice. I'm being very serious right now, am I making myself clear?"

"Are you kidding me? You're joking right? First you take away my phone, and now you take away my freedom." Eunji glared at her parents.

"Eunji, it's for the best." her mom said.

"Well you're not explaining anything to me, so why should I believe you?" Eunji asked. Before her parents could say anything else, she said, "Just get out, I'm going back to sleep. Or do you want to forbid me from doing that too?"

"Eunji." her dad sighed. "Fine, I think it's best if we leave you alone for now. You'll understand soon." With that, her parents turned around and walked out, closing the door behind them. She heard footsteps and figured they went downstairs to talk quietly, as she heard low whispers coming from downstairs.

She strained her ears, trying to hear something useful, but she couldn't make out anything they were saying.

Eunji sighed. She got up and went to brush her teeth and change out of her pajamas. Then she sat down on her bed, trying to figure out what she should do. *Screw this, I'm going to the park anyway. If they're not going to explain, I'm going to get some answers from the people I met yesterday.*

She opened the window and looked down. *I could probably make this jump.* she thought. She turned back and grabbed the glowing ball off her table and jumped. She landed on the ground perfectly, barely making a sound. Then she ran as quickly as she could to the park.

When she saw the familiar light brown head of hair, she grinned and quickly made her way over to him. "Hey!"

The kid turned around and smiled. "Hi! Thanks for your help yesterday."

"You forgot to take your ball back though." Eunji said, holding it out to him.

He glanced at it and laughed. "Oh, Eunji. That's yours, not mine. Although it's glowing quite brightly, so that's a good sign."

"What are you talking about? And how do you know my name?"

"The orb was hidden up there, since no normal human being can climb a tree that high, so we knew it wouldn't be disturbed. After that, it was just a matter of delivering it to you somehow. Just touching it will activate it. Your powers were dormant all this time though, so we had to wait until you were awake. But now that your orb's been activated, that means you're officially a part of the Earth realm." the kid beamed.

"What are you even saying?" Eunji asked, more confused than ever.

"Yo!"

Eunji and the boy turned to find the attractive guy from yesterday heading over. "Why are you here again, let's go back." he groaned. "Sorry." the boy said sheepishly. He turned to Eunji. "I'll see you later!" With that, the two of them walked off again.

Eunji blinked a few times before deciding to go home. She was going to find out what was going on, even if she had to make her parents tell her somehow.

When she got back, she found her parents distraught with worry. The second she stepped into the house, her mom attacked her with a hug. "Eunji, where were you? We were so worried!"

"Sorry, I just went to the park for a bit. But I heard some strange things about an orb and a realm or something. I don't really know what's going on." Eunji gave her mom a pointed look.

She sighed and said, "Come into the kitchen and sit down. Your father will explain everything."

The two of them headed into the kitchen, where her father was already waiting, and sat down.

"So it seems you've figured out that the glowing ball is an orb. Let me explain. The Earth is kept in balance through the 5 elements, or the 5 phases, which are Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water. Most humans don't know this, but there is a realm that controls each of these elements. Your grandfather is the leader of the Earth realm. Are you following so far?"

Eunji nodded slowly.

"Okay. Well. There are many people who are part of these realms, but obviously, the descendants of the leader are the most important members of the realm. Since I was the second son, though, I didn't need to stay in the Earth realm, since I won't be the one who takes the throne. Your uncle is the one who will be the next leader. When he dies though, you will be the leader."

"Why me?"

"Since your uncle has no children, it falls to the next in line. Which would be me. But if he dies of old age or something, I'd assume I would pass away at around the same time. So it would most likely be you. But you don't need to worry, that's a long way away."

"Okay, but that doesn't explain this orb or anything." Eunji said. 

"I'm getting there. When I married your mother, I decided I didn't want to stay in the Earth realm, and wanted to live a normal life. And so we also gave you a ring to wear that kept your powers dormant. It seems you took that ring off though."

"Oh yeah! I left it on my table and forgot to put it back on." Eunji remembered.

"Yes, well, as I said before, everything is made of the five elements. And sometimes, a certain element is present more strongly than the rest in humans. And in your case, that is the Earth element, which would only make sense since it's in your bloodline."

"So is everyone in the realm like that?" Eunji asked.

"Yes. Only those with strong elemental powers can activate the orb. That orb was hidden from humans in a tree that only someone with a strong connection to the Earth could climb. We were going to give it to you next year and explain everything, but it looks like that didn't go according to plan. When you came home with it, we decided that we'd contact the realm and figure out why you were contacted now. That's why we told you to stay home, we were worried something might happen. Thank goodness nothing did."

"How do you know that I have strong Earth powers though?" Eunji asked.

Her dad laughed. "Didn't you ever notice that you could climb trees ever since you were born, even though no one taught you how to? And didn't you notice that when you fell on the grass, it never hurt even in the slightest?" her dad asked. "That's enough to prove it."

Eunji pulled the ball out of her pocket. It had shrunken down to the size of a marble and it was burning hot.

"Dad, it's burning!"

"But you're not being burned." her dad smiled. Eunji realized it was true. Somehow, the warmth was comforting to her. Then it suddenly stopped, and it was back to normal. It was stil glowing a bright yellow however.

"That orb represents your lifeline." her dad said. "It is glowing yellow since that is the representative colour of Earth. The glowing signifies that you are still alive. Keep it safe."

Eunji nodded.

"So do you understand everything? Anymore questions?"

"What kind of powers do I get?"

Her dad smiled. "They're chosen at random. It's up to you to figure it out."

---

[A/N] I hope that wasn't too long or confusing. If you have any questions, just ask and I'll clarify. I know that was really long, but don't worry, stuff will actually start happening. thanks for subscribing^^