CHAPTER SEVEN: HISTORIES

[Winter.]

“Is Yooji going to be okay?”

Joohyun unnie only stares at me while I stare down upon the ground, looking at Jaemin who had been caught up to speed upon the things that had happened while he was asleep because of the small injury that he had attained at Seulgi unnie and Yooji’s fight earlier, for I figured out that his power only lets him have this powerful and almost undestroyable armor around his body, and not healing like mine and Seulgi unnie’s fire.

“Where is she going to be brought, Miss Joohyun?” Jaemin asks, and Joohyun unnie only sighs while she puts her chin upon her palm while leaning forward into the table, and once again I am in awe at how she seems to not even be affected by the intense fight that she had earlier when I had almost paralyzed while fighting with Seulgi unnie at the sparring event that we had before Joohyun unnie, Yooji and Jaemin arrived here.

“The Kim Family would be the ones who would take care of the punishment that she would have.” Joohyun unnie said without even a hint of remorse or pity upon her sister, and I wonder what really happened between the two of them that had fractured their relationship like this, too much to the point that Joohyun unnie had given her to the authorities without a second thought.

“Can I ask… what happened between the two of you?” I ask, hoping that she would answer, hoping that I would be given even just one answer to the thousands of confusing questions that I had unknowingly dived in, slowly having me sink underneath the depths and I know that even one answer would help me rise up, even with just little.

“Fine, I can see how curious you are.” She says, sighing while she leaned backward, getting ready to tell me the story as to what happened with them from the past, and I didn’t even notice that Jaemin was going to go and leave us alone here if not for Joohyun unnie stopping him from leaving and going back to the room that he had been given.

“Stay here, Jaemin. It’s alright—this is a memory that I had been trying to bury and forget, but it had resurfaced in many ways to remind me of the things tha ti had done which aren’t really pretty.” She says, waiting for Jaemin to go back to his seat before opening to speak again.

“It all started when we were young…”

[Flashback: Nineteen Year Old Joohyun.]

I am extremely livid.

Frustration and anger courses through my veins, gritting my teeth as I perfectly remember the things that had happened, and the things that would only come soon, if our family keeps this up—and I wonder why we had not broken the tradition even once when my cousin had always complained to me about devoting all her life to serving a woman who was fully capable of taking care of herself.

Why had we been stuck with this little curse that had stolen most of our youth, taking away the freedom that we had to serve people that we barely know for all our life?

I had only been let off because the one that I had served got shipped off someplace else when I was ten, barely finishing the training that I had been doing to get ready to serve that girl who was supposed to be an heiress, now nowhere to be found after I had heard that she had failed to awaken with ice.

Even if I don’t understand that family’s customs and tradition, I do not care even a single bit; because this time I’m going to be shipped off and be expected to take care of another heiress that the family produced in the disappearance of Seulgi Kim—Minjeong Kang, and I have to do this or else it would be my sister who would be shipped off to that place.

Also, I am expected to teach that child the principles of ice so that she would be accustomed to it before she awakens to be of ice, hopefully as intended in their family who claims to be home to the most powerful ice users as of date—and they expect that she would not end up like the kid who disappeared without any words.

I had only spent time with that Seulgi for almost five years—being her only friend and companion, introduced to her at an early age as is tradition, and I had always found her to be cheerful even with the pressure that she had faced when she was still young—expected to be as great or even greater than Lady Taeyeon who had ranked first since she was a young adult, a prodigy in her youth.

Anyways, back to the matter at hand; I could not go any day further knowing that we are practically slaves; I have to do something about this.

Even if things would change, even if I would be hated by the elders of this twisted family that we have, I would do anything to end this.

*

No. Jimin.

Why were you there?

Why, of all places, were you there and got hit with the beam that I had burst out in my anger?

As I held you in my arms, trying to control the ice that freezed the furnace upon your heart that desperately tried to put out, desperately trying to burn even with my ice stifling and smothering every flame that tried to fight against it—

And soon, I could no longer feel you.

Your warmth.

The playfulness that you have, the warm presence that had I know had always graced the walls of this small house that we had right here, you were fading in my arms. No matter how I cried, how I begged for my ice to stop, for my ice not to spread in her system, begging for her fire to keep fighting as she slowly stops breathing as my Eternal Winter settles inside of her—

Going, going, gone.

Lifeless. Unmoving. Not even breathing, even once—

I widen my eyes as her chest rises and falls ever so slowly, relief flushing through my system while my father desperately destroys the ice wall that I had put up against him, not wanting him to come any further as I know that I can fix this, that my beloved sister is alright, that she’s fine and nothing happened—

“Who are you?”

Those three words rang through my mind over and over, and I could feel her cold hands desperately trying to move away from me, her presence of fire completely gone—replaced by something like mine.

No, same as mine.

Did I…

Did I turn her?

From fire into ice?

“I am—”

“JIMIN!” Father shouted, able to break through the ice wall that I had put up, and he hurriedly pulls me away from my sister and moves forward to cradle her, hold her into her arms, but I could see a flash of hesitation upon her face before she sinks into the hug that Father had given her—still looking at me, wondering who I was, probably searching her mind for who I was, but confusion still is written all over her face, and there I knew.

I killed her.

She’s gone—because of me, because of my anger, because of the reckless thing that I did out of my anger, and the Jimin Bae in front of me is a result of that; and I feel her newfound ice seek mine, as if wanting to get back to me, but I know that it isn’t her anymore.

Jimin Bae is dead—by my hands.

And there is nothing I could do to atone for the sin that taints my hands.

[Flashback: End.]

[Winter.]

“…and so I ran away, knowing that she would be commissioned to replace me into taking care of you, train you with the principles of ice that she had been forced to learn after what I had done, erasing my existence in hopes that it would be enough—but it was far from it.” Joohyun unnie says, a hint of emotion crossing her eyes even just for a second, I see it—sadness and regret painted upon her face, but it was gone as soon as it appeared, as if she’s always cancelling out the emotions that she’s feeling.

“All I wanted was for our family to be free from this tradition that had taken away almost all of our lives, but in turn I had done something so unimaginable.” Joohyun unnie says, but I shake my head, because I had heard different—Yooji told me differently of her.

“No, she told me you were the best sister she could ever ask for, since you always left her these messages that encouraged her to stay fighting and that you even supported her decision of changing her surname—”

“Lies, all of that. That was the sister that she had wanted, the sister that had manifested in the memories that her mind had formed to replace the bad memories that I had given her.” Joohyun unnie says, and I only sigh as I stand up, clearly not understanding why she’s like this.

“Then if you were the one who were at fault with what happened to her, why are you treating her like that? Why did you fight with her when all she wanted was you to be her sister?” I utter, each word laced with strictness and demanding answers upon her, because I don’t understand why she’s the one being angry when Yooji is the one who is supposed to be angry at her right now—

“Jimin Bae had died that day—that girl is no longer my sister.” She says like it’s a fact.

“She is Katarina Yoo, a woman who had been your trainer, and a woman who would be imprisoned for her sins.” She says, standing up and taking her leave, but I know that she doesn’t think like that, because I know that she loves her sister all along.

“Then what about you? What about your sins?” I ask, desperately trying to stop her from walking out because I know that this might be the only chance that I have from getting my questions answered, that it would be a long time before I could get answers again.

“The time would soon come for me; and when that time comes, I would not let myself be saved; not by you, not by Seulgi, not by anyone else, because I think that is what fate had given me as a punishment.” She says, and is it only me or is that tears, rushing down her cheeks, and she wiped them away faster than I could comprehend?

“So let me spend some time with my Seulgi as a selfish wish, before I get dragged down into hell.” She says, and confusion once again torments my mind before it completely disappears after she utters the next words that had completely pulled me underneath the tide—leaving me screaming without sound, trying to rise up and swim upwards only for me to be dragged down even more.

“I’m dying, Minjeong…” she says, like it’s something small, like she isn’t really afraid of what’s about to come.

“…and there’s only so little time left before everything crumbles.”

*

[Seulgi.]

“Are you going to be okay here?” the question leaves my mouth before I could even stop myself, and the kid only nods as I get out of the car, accompanying her until the parking lot of this manor that I had not visited in a long while—twenty years, to be exact, but I don’t miss it. Not even one bit.

“I’ll be fine. Go back to your wife and continue to live the happy life that you have.” She says, hate lacing every word, and I understand why she’s like this, why it had turned out like this—and I only bow upon the guards who receive her as prisoner while I only stare at her getting taken away.

“I’m going to arrange something to have you be free even for just a day in ten or so months, Katarina. Be ready then.” I utter, my heart feeling heavy as I know that this information would be a little to heavy to bear, even for me to tell her.

Joohyun would want her to know, even if she doesn’t show it.

“Why? What’s happening in ten or so months?” she asks, and I smile at her, a sad smile that does not reach up to my eyes like before, and she raises her brow in curiousness while I wipe the tears that unknowingly fall upon my cheeks, unable to stop it once it falls.

“She’s dying, isn’t she?”

I widen my eyes as the guards momentarily stop from escorting her inside the mansion, and I nod at that, unable to produce any other words that could answer the array of emotions upon her face at the moment, like a storm unable to be controlled by anything else.

“Alright,” she only says, following the guards silently. “see you in ten months.”

Joohyun… what have you done?

[Bonus content.]

POWERBORNE ARCHIVE, PART 1: A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE KIM AND BAE FAMILY AND THEIR TRADITIONS

[…and so the facts are derived from the book “Powerborne History”, found in the Vainefield City Library. The information found in this book is approved by the Powerborne Organization to be disseminated to the public, and is updated with new information every time a new event takes place.]

[Start of Transcription.]

In the thousand years that the Powerborne existed, there had been a lot of elements that had been introduced and formed from the original two elements that had manifested in the land—but one family, in particular, had honed their power to the fullest extent—then forming a tradition known as the Act of Segregation, becoming a trademark of the family that had reigned the field of ice:

The Kim Family.

Although the elements are equal to each other and had been treated fairly among the ranking systems and all treated to be vital in human survival, the Kim Family had chosen to hone the power of ice, as given to them by their ancestor Emily Adrianna Kim—and they had focused on keeping their family’s bloodline pure, only ice users present upon the members of its lines, ultimately weeding out anyone who would produce other elements than fire.

Few had succeeded to belong in the family, and the others who had been deemed weak enough were cast out—for the family had long been ruthless and cruel in trying to prove to long lines of tradition and to the society that their power is the most powerful in the whole land.

However, considering the fact that most of the ice users come from the Kim Family and the other families that make up their big organization that foster ice users, there are still others who had also fostered ice users and took care of them in a careful way rather than the Kims’ ruthless and strict standards—one of which is the Kang Family, but that would be discussed much later on.

One family in particular had stood out from others that had been part of the Kim Family’s territory and that is the Bae Family, thought to be a family that did not have any Powerbornes or any users of the elements that had been passed on a thousand years ago, and some rumors even say that they had interwedded with the Kim Family secretly, but only one thing is sure; the Bae Family had faithfully served the Main Family of the Kims.

One example would be Suzy Bae, one of the most prominent members of the Bae Family, serving the current Head, Lady Taeyeon Kim, ever since she was a child, taught by her predecessors on how to take care of the Head and become a faithful servant as it was tradition—but some say that Miss Suzy is the last servant commissioned by the Kim Family due to certain complications that they had not disclosed.

Taking that in mind, one question had stayed upon the minds of the people who had heard about why they had served the family so loyally, and how did this practice even start?

Some say that they were indebted to the Kim Family, that they were almost wiped out years ago if not for the former Head saving them from whatever it was that almost killed all of them, and some say that the Bae Family had only gotten used to serving the Kims that they had not bothered to change it, but the current Head of the Family herself had come forward and explained about the event.

“It had been tradition that the two families had been interconnected through the years, and it had been because we had helped the Bae Family a lot of times in the past, and not because of any intervention from an event that endangered their lives and their futures; they had only started to serve us because we had been good people to them.” – Lady Taeyeon Kim, Head of the Kim Family

[Transcription Ends.]