This prologue is written in a different style from the rest of the story. It's kind of weird but very important.

Prologue

The following passage was taken from the online article “The Badass Kim Family.” It was written by user byunthebae and posted on the website “The Dark Side of Seoul- Gangsters, Mafias, and Everything Else.”

Kim is one of the most common surnames in Korea, but there's one family that you probably shouldn't piss off (other than the one in North Korea, that is). It is the most powerful mafia family in Seoul; there are loan sharks, scammers, hackers, money launderers, pimps, drug lords, assassins and serial killers. And that is pretty much all that everyone knows.

They are freaking masters on doing their thing and leaving without anyone realizing what happened until much later, when people start wondering what that rotting smell is or when the poor cleaning lady opens the door and sees a corpse staring back at her. They are the most wanted criminals, but the police and NIS have barely any clues as to who they are.

Although, there is a clue, but it's more like a mocking taunt, more than anything else. Many of them (mostly the killers) leave their sign on the bodies of their victims, kind of like an artist signing their painting.

Here are some of the information that I've been able to put together. Keep in mind that it's probably not one hundred percent accurate though, because even though I, Byun Baekhyun, am an expert on everything mafia, I can still make mistakes. Also, I don't want some Kim to see this and decide to kill me for figuring out their secrets.

-Kai

He is probably in his early twenties, as his sign and way of killing didn't appear until recently. Either that, or he's a prodigy killer. Both are extremely possible.

Another thing that's extremely possible is that he is a sadistic psychopath. He likes to carve his name into the corpses and dot the “i” with a drop of fresh blood.

His victims are really random, going from rich old grandmas to amateur gangsters, but the kills are spaced out in regular intervals and well executed, so they probably aren't as random as they seem. Maybe he has some motive?

Most serial killers (well, the ones in the movies that I watch) approach their target, become close with them and gain their trust before going in for the kill, so I wouldn't be surprised if Kai does the same. Which means -- and this can be applied to the other members as well -- he most likely uses some other name as an alias when getting close to his victims. “Kai” is a name that everyone knows and is scared of, and it wouldn't make sense for him to use it on a daily basis. When the friends of the victims are asked, they also don't remember seeing or hearing about any serial killer names. But, of course, no one knows what he actually goes by, except for the victims and they are dead.

There's a possibility that he uses his real name or some made up name, but again, no one knows.

- chen =)

This one is fun. The smiley face in his sign hints that he's also pretty young and has a sense of humor, if not a little twisted. Although, to be fair, he's relatively harmless, seeing as he's a computer hacker and scammer and not a serial killer.

But, of course, being a hacker means he knows everything about privacy and leaving no traces, so there's barely any information on him.

However, he does work with Kai on many cases; Kai would kill the target, and the next day, the target's bank accounts would be empty. I'm guessing that they split the money and the two are pretty close.

- $uho

If you can't tell by his sign, he's rich and he ing knows it. He seems to dabble in everything that has to do with money, mostly as a loan shark and pimp. His infamous e ring isn't too underground, but the government turns a blind eye, probably because he has enough money to give a couple hundred thousand won in bribes. And rich politicians are and lusty as hecky.

But it's important to note that he's been appearing less these days. I don't know if Kim members want to -- or are even allowed to -- retire, but if they do, that's probably the case.

His e business is still going strong though and he's just an overall mysterious and rich guy.

Also, his name may or may not have anything to do with the myth of the Siren Empire. I don't know much about mythology, but after doing some quick research, Suho is an Emperor who kidnapped a bunch of slaves. It's pretty fitting and pretty clever, in my opinion. Maybe he's actually a reincarnation. (Wouldn't that be cool?)

- Sunshine

The last of the more infamous Kim's that I'm going to write about is not actually a Kim. He's also the one I have the most information on.

His real name is Oh Sehun and he's 18 years old. And why do I know this? The Oh family was the second most powerful family in Seoul and close to the Kims, since the grandparents (or something) were blood brothers (or something). However, in a well publicized event, the entire family was massacred. For some odd reason, a Yakuza (Japanese mafia) partnered with the Korean police force to crack down on Seoul mafia families. It didn't end well, since the Yakuza turned at the last moment and decided to kill everyone instead of handing them over to the police, because the police.

The only one who survived was Oh Sehun, and he also couldn't be arrested due to lack of evidence. At the time, he was only 12 years old, and probably hadn't started doing all the illegal things yet.

That has obviously changed since the Kims took him in and, under the name Sunshine, began committing all sorts of dark crimes. He is a killer, much like Kai, but his kills are more methodical and boring, so he probably isn't as crazy and weird. I'm also guessing that he had undergone plastic surgery, unless he transformed significantly through puberty, because his 12 year old face is everywhere but he still hasn't been caught.

There are obviously many more Kims, but information is even harder to find for them all. I hope you've all found this helpful. Please leave a comment and like! And if you want, add me as a friend!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The following excerpt was taken from the book “Pain and Power: the Empire of the Sirens” written by renowned historian and psychologist Park Chanyeol. He has also written many other critically acclaimed books.

In this introduction chapter, I will discuss how power works in this magical underwater empire, while also explaining how the entire empire works as a whole.

First of all, what are Sirens?

In Greek mythology, the Sirens are said to be dangerous yet beautiful creatures who lured sailors to shipwreck with their music and voices. According to Walter Copland Perry, “Their song, though irresistibly sweet, was no less sad than sweet, and lapped both body and soul in a fatal lethargy, the forerunner of death and corruption.” Some writers have also noted that Sirens were cannibals, finding pleasure in rotting corpses and rags of skin (Circe). The parallels between these Sirens and the Sirens I will describe later show that it is impossible to be completely made up, as there were barely any communication between the two civilizations at that time.

Similar to the Greek Sirens, our Sirens (let's call them the Asian Sirens, for simplicity) lured humans with their beautiful songs and feasted on the most terrible things. However, as we delve further and reveal the inner workings of the Asian Siren Empire, the similarity ends there.

In the Siren Empire, there is a complex and almost foolproof process in claiming power. To become the Emperor, one only needs to kill the previous Emperor and have the Heart. That is not as easily done though, as the Heart required is a human heart, given willingly to the Siren, and then ingested through a ritual. This is where we first begin seeing the importance of humans in sustaining the power system.

Power -- the power to do magic and guard the Empire against threats -- comes in the form of human tears shed through misery and suffering. This twisted rule is beautiful in that it shows what we all know: that power comes with a price. But no one truly knows why it must be tears nor why it must be human. Some scholars have claimed that human tears, rather than blending in with the ocean water, crystallize and can be collected. Because there is no evidence directly contradicting this claim, it is something I will accept as truth.

These crystallized tears are then stored inside urns and presented to the Emperor. There are many different ways for these to be used, as found documented, but the most common is to simply eat them. As slightly aforementioned, the system is foolproof. Only the one who has the Heart can ingest these tears without fatal side effects, and therefore only the Emperor can be the recipient of the power. However, it is important to note that all Sirens have a minimal amount of magic inside of them. It is the source of their immortality and results in a dim halo of light around their body, useful in combating the darkness under the sea. The tears are what amplifies and maximizes the Emperor's power.

There have been ancient drawings depicting large urns, beautifully decorated with the symbol of the Emperor Suho: a teardrop with a two circles inscribed, possibly representing the heart and power. There are many stories, songs and drawings about Emperor Suho, which will be discussed in more detail in later chapters. He is the most well known emperor, and may possibly even be the only emperor, seeing as there is no mention of any others.

As I research him, more mysteries are revealed. For example, some stories show he had two sons: Prince Yixing and Prince Luhan. This is a curious fact, because who was the mother? And also, Sirens are immortal unless directly killed, and therefore the Emperor would have no need for an heir. Why, then, did he have not one, but two sons? As of now, there are no answers to these questions, but it hints at the many layers of Emperor Suho.

He is calm and calculative, but also playful and impulsive. He is the guardian of the Siren Empire but finds pleasure in the physical and psychological torture of human captives.

Let us learn more about him in the following chapters.