CHAPTER EIGHT: CHAOS

[Winter.]

The days passing were a blur after my initial arrival to Seulgi unnie’s mansion—days filled with training from the ever so strict Seulgi unnie, nights sleeping to prevent the fatigue from settling in and making sure that I have a good night’s rest, all to make sure that my stamina would grow higher and be stronger every passing day—Seulgi unnie says that even if what Yooji did was wrong, it paved the way for me to be used to the fire principles much faster, since I had been training with it since childhood.

The matter about Joohyun unnie’s mysterious disease wasn’t discussed any further; all I know is that her removing the limiters had sped the process of this disease spreading in her body, and is also the reason why she doesn’t use all of her powers every day—and that it was Seulgi unnie who had come up with a solution to slow the process of this disease taking over her body.

But that was the only thing that they had willingly divulged to me; the other things I had connected together since Seulgi unnie had let me in her little workshop at the basement of the house, where she had told me that she had made the limiters in form of the bracelets that she had given me and had discreetly given Jaemin the bracelets to help him supress the powers that he had from the family he had worked with.

“Try to make it more intense.” Seulgi unnie said, and I nod while trying to channel my attacks even with the limiters in both my hands—oddly enough, there is still a little bit of my power left even after wearing two limiters much stronger than the bracelet that I had worn after Seulgi unnie removed the cuffs from when I had spent some time in the dungeon.

My fire was still orange, even after some days of training—although I had turned it slightly blue once in the trainings that we had done, but it took all of me just to sustain it for even just three seconds, and soon after fatigue settled in, too much that Seulgi unnie had to rip off the two limiters that I had fitted upon my wrist just to help me walk towards the house and rest.

(Seulgi unnie told me that I had fallen asleep for almost a day after that, so the blue flames were postponed until I could release it properly even with the two limiters on.)

Seulgi unnie tells me that the reason why I am practicing so intensely even with the two limiters on that caged off almost sixty percent of my power is to help me defend myself without burning off almost all the things in my immediately vicinity, and because she doesn’t want to have a repeat of the outburst that I had that almost incapacitated Yooji when I got angry at her some weeks back.

She tells me that when I produce blue flames and be able to sustain it for longer than three seconds or even use it regularly then she would put two additional limiters on me, and we would repeat again—even planning to put on anklets and even a necklace to cage off the power that keeps growing inside of me.

Seulgi unnie tells me that if I succeed, then I would surpass her faster than the efforts that it took her to hone her talent and be crowned the best fire user as of date; she tells me that the trainings would only be intense since it would only be a few days left before the annual Powerborne Exam, where ranks are determined and the Powerbornes are given a chance to spar with each other to settle ranks, where whoever would win in those sparring fights would get the rank of the one that they had just defeated.

“It would be better for you to have a low rank first than have a high rank right of the bat, as that was what I had done before in the past.” Seulgi unnie explains, and I nod at that while the two of us temporarily taking a break as she started to cook for me, Jaemin (who is still asleep, recuperating properly to heal his wounds from the days before) and Joohyun unnie who had only been staying in her room ever since, not even talking to me after the things that she had said to me upon explaining her actions with Yooji.

“Why? Wouldn’t that defeat the purpose of the ranking systems?” I ask, and she laughs while she also uses her powers to cook better, and I hum silently while waiting for her answer, feeling a little hungry after smelling the delicious aroma of whatever it is that she’s cooking at the moment.

“At least top ten; you’d be able to fight off different fire users—or even other users for the city ranking—to rise up the ranks, and after that your name would surely leave a trace upon them.” She says, and I only sigh as I realize that this is really her style—wanting to fight to prove herself, and not become the highest at first.

“Plus, wouldn’t it be very satisfying to beat those powerful people with your own capabilities?” she says, and I only sigh while thanking her silently for the food that she had given me, eating it fast as the training from earlier the day had taken away a lot of my energy, and I know that Seulgi unnie and I would train later in the day.

“My love.” I immediately notice Seulgi unnie’s face light up upon seeing Joohyun unnie going out of her room and would be eating with us at this time, taking a seat beside me while Seulgi sat down across her, with Jaemin coming out of his room to sit across me—nodding at me and the two lovers before starting to eat the food, the four of us eating silently.

“It’s their exams, right?” Joohyun unnie asks while wiping the side of Seulgi unnie’s mouth, and I only nod while Jaemin sighs at that, and I wonder why he had not trained that much even as I know that he’s already alright and could already start training for his rank.

“What about you, Jaemin? Would you be finally joining this year, since you’re already terminated from the Kim Family service?” Seulgi unnie asks, and I look at him for an answer and noticed that he had stopped eating silently, staring at his food while thinking of what to say—and a lot of questions arise in my mind yet again, for I had wondered why they know each other for so long.

“I’ll try… but I don’t even have a sponsor, so it would be hard for me to catch up after not being around and not taking the exam for so long—”

“You’d be able to join with a sponsor since Minjeong would join under the Kangs’ sponsorship, so you would technically be under our sponsorship as well.” Seulgi unnie says, and I smile as Jaemin nods at that, eating happily while I resume eating, sighing as I feel the fire inside me be tamed, but still a little rowdier than Seulgi unnie, as is expected for the training that she took for a lot of years.

“We’ll be going there.” Joohyun unnie says, and I could see the surprise upon Seulgi unnie’s eyes, like she did not expect the two of them to be attending this year, especially with how I know that Joohyun unnie can’t use her power that much.

“Are you sure? Are you going to accept challenges from other people?” Seulgi unnie asks, and Joohyun unnie sighs as she nods, her finger touching the pendant that had graced her neck, stopping her powers from speeding up the process of the mysterious ailment that she had at the moment.

“But I won’t remove the pendant—I think my powers would suffice to defeat all the other lower ranks without having the need to remove it.” She says, confident upon her tone, making me widen my eyes as Seulgi unnie laughed and nodded at that, probably admiring how confident her wife is upon beating the lower ranks from hers.

“Well, I expect that I’d have a lot of challenges upon the exam, since I had not been dethroned for a long while—how many was it, love? Six years?” Seulgi unnie asked, and Joohyun unnie laughed and shook her head, clearly disagreeing with the answer of her wife who is scratching her head, trying to recollect how many years has it been since she had been crowned as the top.

“You’ve been the top for eight years, two years after you told me that you had been forming new techniques to aid you in your pursuit to be the best; you beat the top one with the new technique that you had formed that same year—and you had beat the lower ranks who had challenged you effortlessly.” Joohyun unnie says, and I widen my eyes as I hear that; she had been the top at nineteen years old?

“But it isn’t too late for you, of course, Minjeong; I know that you’d surpass me if you train a bit more, since you could already channel blue flames once.” Seulgi unnie bragged, and I widen my eyes as Joohyun unnie drops the spoon that she was holding and then looks at me with a gaze of bewilderment and shock painted upon her otherwise emotionless face, and I wonder why she’s so surprised like this.

“Blue flames? For how long?” she asks, and I nod at that while trying to recollect how long it was that I had been in that state.

“Three seconds, but it’s still too short and I always get paralyzed whenever I do that—”

“Three seconds is already above average, Minjeong. Seulgi here, she had accumulated the blue flames when she was training to beat the number two who had challenged her to a fight—almost getting beat if not for her abandoning the blue flames that exhausted her and just switched to the style that she had been used to the most.” Joohyun unnie says, and I stare at my hands, upon tne limiters that I had upon both my wrists, limiting a huge percentage of my power yet it still keeps growing, still improving that I wonder what would happen if I remove all the limiters—would it be so devastating, especially as I know that I can’t control the full extent yet?

“Oh, don’t pressure the kid just yet. She’s still growing, and there’d still be the other events where she could raise rank, like the annual Powerborne Competition.” Seulgi unnie says, and I raise my brow at that, not even hearing that before, and I wonder just how many events were formed that benefits a lot of Powerbornes, especially with the things about ranks—I could never get them since there are still things that I can’t understand.

“Jaemin, you train with us as well.” Seulgi unnie said while I help Joohyun unnie tidy the dishes, and I join them outside the empty field that served to be our training ground, Jaemin standing next to me and putting his limiters in his pockets and immediately I could feel his presence, the strength that comes from him, like I am on a mountain that overlooks the scenery that I had wanted to see.

“I want to try fighting Minjeong, Noona.” Jaemin says, and I widen my eyes as Seulgi laughs and nods at that, moving closer towards me and removing two of the limiters that I have, and immediately I could feel the fire rushing inside me, my hair forming those highlights again, like it’s the first part of my so called Powerborne State, and this time I could feel my improvement in stamina due to the training that we had done these past days.

“I’ll give you a protection, since Minjeong’s fire can be quite hot.” Seulgi unnie says, and as she touched Jaemin’s forehead, I could see a nearly invisible fire coating his whole body, probably protection from the intense heat from my fire and my attacks, and I nod at that as Seulgi unnie steps back and stares at me, nodding while she signalled for us to start.

Immediately I fire a barrage of fireballs upon him, and he effortlessly dodges them even without the use of his powers, taking me aback as he rushes towards me, dodging any attacks that I put forward towards him—and he forces me to move away, catching my breath while trying to fight against him using my powers and physically, trying to hit him but he is too fast for me to handle, and there I notice what he’s doing.

While I dodge his physical attacks and the attacks using his powers, hurling different rocks towards me, I notice that his foot is lodged upon the Earth—heightening his speed and his movements, and me stepping upon the Earth is enabling him to sense every little movement that I have and then dodge it so easily—that’s it, that’s how I’ll beat him.

With the stamina that I still have, half of my hair now turn into a lighter color, gritting my teeth as I rise higher from the ground, taking him aback as I start attacking him while propelled in the air, my energy slowly getting upon keeping me afloat and hurling these different attacks towards him, and I notice that he’s having difficulty keeping up with the attacks so he backs away, but I don’t let him.

With all the speed that I could muster upon myself, I rush towards him while still upon the air, then grabbing his clothes while Seulgi unnie’s fire that she gave upon him as protection tries to fight the fire that is in me, but I feel that it is too faint to even do real damage—I pull him from the ground, letting him rise higher as he fights against the grip that I have against him, and I smile as he chuckles and soon raises his hands up, as if surrendering.

With one swift motion, I withdraw my grip against him—letting him drop down the ground.

He only stares at me while he freefalls, and soon he hits the ground—and as the smoke clears, I see him lying down upon the ground while staring at the clouds, a hand formed upon the Earth, softening his blow while I slowly drop down upon the ground, heaving my breath as almost half of my energy got depleted by that little fight—and he chuckles as he sits up, putting his hand upon the ground that soon changed into its original form by his command, fitting in the two bracelets that he wore to completely remove his power, and I could feel his presence completely disappear.

“So you’ve never attended those ranking things?” I ask, sitting next to Jaemin while I notice that Seulgi unnie had gone back to the house after our little sparring match, probably doing something and letting us rest and catch our breath while having us continue the strenuous training that she had me do for the past few days—he nods in answer to the question.

“I’ve never had the time, and I originally put upon the resume that I had that I didn’t have any powers—I only awakened when you turned nineteen, and I almost trashed my whole room if not for me getting out in time and Seulgi unnie had supplied me with these bracelets.” He said, sighing as I noticed his fear and hesitation; I knew that my family had been strict, but not this strict that he felt hiding his power all his life if not for me failing that damned ceremony and getting cast out.

“What they did to you was wrong, though…” I utter, and he lets out a faint chuckle while he stares at me, shaking his head at what I had just said.

“But yours were worse. I can’t imagine what you felt when you were hoisted into the dungeon that night, especially when Lady Taeyeon herself told you that being cast out was needed for the family to thrive.” He says, sighing as he took out a ripped off emblem that I immediately recognize to be the emblem that he had upon the suit that he wore when he and Yooji arrived here, the suit probably trashed or kept elsewhere while the emblem he had removed.

“For you.” He says, giving the emblem to me, signifying the former family that we had belonged in, the former family that he had served and the former family that I had carried in my name, and I had been forced to leave behind—the emblem feels rough against my touch, as if stirring the memories that I had left upon that mansion so far away.

“And… what would I do with this?” I ask him, and he puts his palm upon the ground, letting a small slab rise up with the power that he could muster even with the limiter upon him, and he had me put the emblem upon the slab, and then he pointed to it and pointed to me.

“Burn it, or destroy it or something. Kind of a symbolic thing to do, you know? An act to leave things behind, and leave that name in the past.” He says, and I stare at the emblem upon the slab, wondering if that is what should I do—what if I could go back? What if this is only a momentary thing, them testing me if I am to be loyal to the family and I would never turn my back against them—

Then why did they throw you away so easily?

The flame manifests faster than I could stop it, and with one single of the mischievous fire the emblem catches fire, eating away at anything that could feed its greedy hearth, wanting to keep itself alive as it seeks fuel for longevity, but soon it disappears; and the ashes fly upon the wind, taken away who knows where and far away from here.

“They’re going to make you choose, you know.” Jaemin says, a sigh escaping his lips while he takes out something that I realize to be a cigarette, and I ignite it so easily with just a flick of a wrist—he thanks me for that—and he blows a puff of smoke upon the air while the two of us stare towards the sky, like something is watching us there, watching us make these reckless decisions without knowing what’s to come.

“The sponsorship wouldn’t come without a price, and you’re the one they’re setting their eyes on this time, since Seulgi Noona would surely refer you.” He says, taking another puff, and those words send another wave of questions upon my mind.

“What do you mean, what price?” I ask, and he sighs as he writes the letters upon the slightly muddy mud, and I get what it is as soon as I read those words.

Minjeong Kang.

“I imagine that they would make you choose after the exams, or when you get the ranks and the challenge fights would begin; whether you would take their name and put it upon yours, or if you would still continue to be Minjeong Kim, the Kim Family’s reject—and that would stick for a very long time.” He says, like it’s a matter of fact, and I know that it is—but I also know that I can’t be branded as someone from that family anymore, because I know that I am no longer a Kim the second that they sent me to that dungeon—

No, the second that my flame erupted and burned through years of tradition that was going to be passed on to me, that was the second that I was no longer a Kim.

Taking the Kang Family’s surname, I know that I could be someone better.

That I could prove to those people that I could be someone better—that I’m not just a reject that they had thrown behind.

With the Kangs, I know that I can give my life its own meaning.

“Why wait until the exams, when I can choose now?”

*

[Karina.]

“What do you mean, me attending the Powerborne Exams? I’m supposed to be imprisoned, and that’s what’s on your mind right now?” I angrily say, but Lady Taeyeon is not fazed even by just one bit at me raising my voice upon her while we’re divided by this glass in the dungeon that also cancels my powers, and I know that even if I have my powers, I won’t be able to beat her.

“The Kim Family would lose face if we cannot even sponsor one new Powerborne to attend the exams, and by what I’ve gathered, you haven’t attended one in years before you assumed your new name, so I’m sure that you would suffice.” She says, and I can’t even believe what she’s trying to suggest—no, forcing me to do this time.

She wants me to go to those rank determining exams under the Kim Family’s name?

Why? Is it because the representative of the Kim Family was supposed to be Minjeong, but now they’re already desperate to sponsor one so their reputation wouldn’t be damaged?

“If you attend, you can have a chance to lower the sentence that I would have to give you for trying to sabotage the former heiress by teaching her fire principles. One rank higher would also increase the chance of that, and I imagine that you would have to beat a lot of other ice users.” Lady Taeyeon says, and I grit my teeth as I don’t even know what to do, because I don’t even feel like I have a choice, since I don’t really want to be imprisoned for a thing I did that worked out well in the end, since Minjeong turned out to be a fire user after all.

But something about determining my rank and being challenged for it somehow excites me, and plus I haven’t really attended for a long time and there might be new users who I can beat so easily, so what’s the harm in joining an exam that could even give me the benefit of lowering or even completely cancelling my supposed punishment?

“Alright, fine, I’ll do it; but know that if I rank high enough, I would want my punishment to be cancelled, and I want to live in the manor, like before; but now because I would be your next representative—”

“You don’t really know how to bargain, don’t you? You would only be the representative in the exams, but you won’t replace me. How can you replace me, when your power is only such a small percentage compared to the power that I have?” she said with such a confident and mocking tone, and I would have cracked the glass with my ice if I wanted to—but my powers are gone because of this place.

“You would attend the Powerborne Exam, and you shall only train for few hours a day under my supervision and would be strictly kept here, since under the laws you are still a criminal; I have a few conditions that I want you to do in those exams.” She says, and I raise my head at that, wondering what those conditions would be.

“First, at the ice users category you must at least try be ranked third—I know that you would only have a rare chance to meet the ever elusive second ranked Irene Bae, and you won’t certainly be able to beat me in a challenge.” She said, and I secretly laugh because I thought she knows everything, but it turns out that she still doesn’t know about my family’s past, which is good. I don’t want that past to be discovered just yet, and I don’t like being associated with that woman.

“Second, for the global rankings. I don’t care if you’re ranked high or low in them; I just want you to beat two people and rank higher than them.” She says, slipping two pieces of papers through the small crack that opened after one of the engineers outside my cell pressed a button or two, and I widen my eyes at the contents.

“There are other users who are more powerful, but I want you to focus on beating that two whenever you are given the chance.” She says, then taking her leave, leaving me with those files and a lot of thoughts upon my head.

Na Jaemin, of course… sponsored under the Kang Family, one of the two representatives and the other would be—what?

Minjeong Kang?

Kang? When did she become that?

Did she take the surname out of spite, out of what happened to her?

And now I have to fight her.

The monster that I had created—technically, and I’ve even had a whiff of her powers, and I know that she’s stronger as the days go by.

But now I have to fight for myself, and I know that, so I’m sorry, Minjeong.

This isn’t personal.