There is a difference between power, and the powerful.

Power can be abused, yet the powerful are the abusers. The outside world is brutal here in New Korea. Only the powerful have the highest chances of survival because they can oppress the oppressed and fight the oppressors like themselves. The weak are forced to suffer in silence for they cannot escape the brutality of real life where inequality ran wanton through the veins of society. To this day there is a huge divide between the elite superhumans and the cripples who have no choice but to allow themselves be exploited to levels of extreme, forced to work under the mercy of the oppressors for almost little to none. They take what they can get, even if that meant they get beaten black and blue for the small amounts they require to feed their families and keep a roof over their heads.

However, not every cripple was poor and not every superhuman was rich. Bloodlines played a huge role in how things operated in the modern world of superhuman ability.

In some rare occasions, cripples were born into rich superhuman families where there had been defects in the chromosomes. In previous decades there have been many families in which the husband and wife obtained the highest levels of superhuman power yet bore children with no ability. They would be blacklisted in the system but would still live a life of luxury and respect because of their prosperous backgrounds. Unlike them, disadvantaged families who bore crippled children were forced to watch them as their chances of welfare and happiness were buried beneath the earth’s surface and left there to rot. Those children were not only blacklisted, but they were also hated by all, respected by none and mauled, ridiculed, beaten, broken and bared ruthlessly to their skins under the excuse of being labelled as the rejects of New Korean society. The little respect they could have had didn’t exist, and there was nothing that could done to change the way things were. It was something they had to endure for the rest of their lives, just like their parents, and their ancestors. 

The way I see it, we are long overdue for a revolution to get people to stop abusing their power and learn to live harmoniously no matter their status, their wealth nor their bloodline. It’s heavily dysfunctional and flawed. The fact that the superhumans think it’s okay to defile the cripples is monstrous, yet they don’t see that. They don’t see the damage, the hurt and the agony they’re inflicting on the vulnerable— the ones who are completely incapable of fending for themselves. It has cost the lives of many over hundreds and hundreds of years. There needs to be a change, and it needs to be made now.

I’m Daehyun Jung.

I just recently enrolled into Ganghan, a freak college full of superhumans from rich families and prestige bloodlines, some with immaculate levels of superhuman abilities and some with very little. But get this, it’s almost impossible for cripples to enrol into this college due to its prestigious ranking, and it’s particularly harder for those with bloodlines of no importance. Ganghan is at the forefront of New Korea’s higher education system, sitting at the top of the country’s league tables due to their impressive annual scores in student’s final grades. It stands at number one, meaning only the most intelligent, and sometimes the most powerful candidates are able to take on a course (for the college reputation’s sake). Places are hardly ever taken up by anyone average or less. It’s a top institute for all the elite students and it is ridden with upper class superhumans, a bunch of arrogant rich kids who know everything, yet nothing about the basic foundations of humanity.

I happen to be one of the lucky ones to enrol, despite my parents being known as the weakest cripples of our small community down in Busan. I joined Ganghan in my second year after I’d been permanently excluded from my previous school for reasons I will not disclose. I passed the entry requirements almost with flying colours and was welcomed by the principle after my first interview. After making a small agreement with the principle to keep my past and my identity confidential, I was being shown the way to my first lesson with a new timetable and planner, the school’s illustrious logo carved in gold lettering at the front. 

I wanted to join Ganghan for many reasons, the first being my wish to start afresh as my previous year at Alumni was an abomination to my behaviour records. Second being my curiosity to learn among the upper class and to experience what it’s like being a low-end cripple in a high-end institute. I was intrigued, and therefore I had set off on my journey in mid September after sending my farewell’s to Alumni, in hopes to escape the person I once was and be someone of, perhaps, an inspiration.

The third reason is because I want to be the trigger to the social and political transformations in New Korea, and I was mildly convinced that my crippled presence in Ganghan might help me do just that.

a/n: just a little backstory! it will get interesting and there will be daejae, i promise :)