Side Chapter 3: Child of Sin

Der Märchenclub
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Side Chapter 3

[Child of Sin]

 

 

 

 

Ah, the cloud looks like apple today. I wonder if we can have dinner tonight.

 

The 12-year-old Yesung fought the growl of his stomach and started to hum a random song.

 

“The sound of your stomach is louder than your voice, you know?”

 

Yesung fluttered his eyes open and once again his dark eyes met the sight of the clear blue sky and the apple-shaped (or is it orange, now?) cloud high above him. He stubbornly continued to hum the song and only stopped so once he decided to roll his body to his side.  His eyes gazed at the other person in that desolate hill. Propping his head lazily on his palm, Yesung retorted, “Do you think if I train my stomach’s muscle, I will be able to make a melody from my stomach growl?”

 

Sungmin was already too used to Yesung’s queerness that he didn’t even bother to roll his eyes anymore. The only reaction Yesung could get from him was only a careless shrug.

 

How long had Sungmin known Yesung? They came (were sold, kidnapped, whatever) to this training prison in the same year –and that had probably been around 5 years prior. Yesung had been weird from Day-1, and there was no sign of a character change throughout the years Sungmin knew him.

 

“If I had an apple, I would certainly give it to you too, you know,” Yesung pondered.

 

And now the sudden talk about apple coming out of nowhere.

 

“Yeah, yeah,” Sungmin replied tonelessly.

 

“I’m serious,” Yesung stated sternly as he suddenly got up and faced the other boy. “One day, I’m going to buy a lot of apples and send them to your house. And you will definitely know they’re from me. Oh, by the way. I like grapes more than apples. So if you want to return the favor, you can send me –”

 

His irrelevant chatter was interrupted by a loud shouting of a young girl.

 

“Yesung Oppa!”

 

Yesung did not even have the chance to turn his head around to the direction of the voice. The source of the voice itself had bumped herself to him. Yesung could not even prevent the force of the running little girl and in consequence, the two of them stumbled backward to the grassy hill. His head met the soft ground with a dull thud, while the little girl sitting on his chest laughed mirthfully.

 

The girl was backing the sunlight and Yesung could barely see her face. But she was glowing –like the sunshine itself.

 

His sunshine.

 

“Taenggo,” a tired voice came behind the little girl. Another hand was extended to hold the girl’s forearm and the man lifted the girl off her brother. “I told you not to scream out loud. This will no longer be our secret place if you scream that loud.”

 

Taeyeon pouted as she drove the man’s hands off her arms and continued to hug the lying Yesung. “But I miss Yesung Oppa! He’s just gotten back from the mission and does not even bother to see me first thing first!”

 

Jung Soo puffed out a sigh. He gave up trying to lift Taeyeon off her brother’s body and decided to just sit beside them. A small smile made its way to his face as he ruffled Taeyeon’s hair affectionately. “You’ve never missed me that much every time I get back from mission.”

 

“Because you’re not my brother, Teukie!” insisted the 7-year-old Taeyeon as she stuck a tongue out to Jung Soo.

 

Yesung finally got up from his lying position; his little sister’s hand was still within his grasp. “Hey, Taeng. Leeteuk Hyung is your brother too, you know.”

 

Taeyeon glared back at Yesung. “But he and I are not blood-related! And he worries all the time, it’s annoying!”

 

Sungmin snickered from the background at Jung Soo’s crestfallen face. If there was something that Sungmin could find amusing, it would be Jung Soo’s dejected expression when it came to Taeyeon. “Serves you right, Teuk Hyung.”

 

Yesung did not share Sungmin’s amusement, though. “Taeng, you and I, and Sungmin, and Teuk Hyung… we are all united by a bond stronger than blood. We are brothers and sisters. We complete each other. You remember the fruit basket analogy I told you? If Sungmin was an apple, I was the grape, you were the orange, and Teuk Hyung was the watermelon, we would fill each other in the fruit basket and –“

 

Jung Soo laughed. “That’s a weird way to put it, Yesung.”

 

Yesung blinked –unable to understand Jung Soo’s puzzlement. “It’s the right way to put it, Hyung.”

 

Sungmin only took his eyes off the three idiots and stared at the vast hill without any interest. “Whatever.”

 

 

 

 

“No! Don’t do it to her! It’s my fault! Punish me! Just punish me instead!” Yesung screamed as he struggled to break free from the two strong men who were holding him. But who was he in comparison to them all? Yesung might be one of the two best trainees in their batch, but the power of a 12-year-old boy was nothing to be compared to two adults.

 

Taeyeon was crying loudly as each whip made its way to her lithe back. On the other side of the room, Jung Soo was also rebelling in order to save Taeyeon (ah, useless). The remaining kids in their batch (the surviving ones) only gazed impassively as they watched the youngest of them all being tortured in their training hall. Years of hardship taught them one practicable lesson: apathy saved one’s . Instead of struggling in vain like what Jung Soo and Yesung were doing, they chose to save their energy (and sanity) for another round of training which would probably begin in the next hour.

 

The four of them, Yesung, Jung Soo, Sungmin, and Taeyeon had to bear the consequence for escaping to the hill and skipping their practice session.

 

“Yesung, stop it,” Sungmin whispered next to the screaming boy. Unlike Jung Soo and Yesung, Sungmin only had one person holding him. Though Sungmin was not resisting, but he was still in line for his future punishment. “If you continue this, your punishment will get worse.”

 

Yesung did not cease his struggle. “But that’s my sister!” he shouted again as he tried to kick the foot of one of the men holding him. “Don’t you dare do that to my sister, you !” he screamed to their “Mother” –a woman at the center of the room, who was laying each whip onto Taeyeon’s back.

 

“Yesung!” Sungmin scolded Yesung for the way he addressed Mother.

 

But Mother already heard his vulgar words. She momentarily stopped herself from whipping Taeyeon and turned her attention to Taeyeon’s big brother instead.

 

Noticing that the Mother no longer had attention to his sister, Yesung decided to continue his verbal attack. “That’s right, ! Just come at me! You and your fat belly! Just attack me instead!” Yesung roared.

 

Mother had her usual nasty smile secured when she made her way to Yesung. It would be a blatant lie to say that Mother did not scare him. He had always hated that ugly twist of smirk Mother displayed whenever she smiled. But then again, he had always hated everything about her. Yesung did not care what would happen to him, but if his recklessness could save Taeyeon –

 

“Yesung, what a nice brother you are,” Mother commented with a pleasant (brusque) smile as she positioned herself in front of the boy. Her shadow engulfed Yesung’s figure and he had to gulp when he knew the inevitable was coming.

 

Mother grabbed him by the hair and slammed his head hard to the wooden floor. Yesung groaned as he rolled on the floor –a spontaneous action due to the pain inflicted to him. Mother used her feet to turn Yesung’s body around so that his face could face her. Having to see Mother’s ugly smile again was already making him nauseous –but that was nothing to be compared to the feel of Mother’s heavy foot stomping on his stomach.

 

The pain was unbearable. Mother continued to step on his stomach several times and Yesung’s body reacted naturally by vomiting his stomach’s content –which was not much, considering the breakfast the day before was the last meal he had.

 

The stench of his vomit sickened him and he could feel tears stung his eyes. From the distance, he could hear Taeyeon’s cries again (“Oppa! Don’t do that to Yesung Oppa, please!”) but at least he knew that he was protecting Taeyeon this way. Even when Mother’s feet bruised his body, at least –

 

“Oh, don’t get excited so soon, Yesung. I will continue my punishment to your sister after I’m done playing with you,” announced Mother.

 

The glint of hatred shone in his eyes when he glared at the vicious woman. But before he could say anything further, Mother laid another strong kick that immediately rendered him unconscious.

 

 

 

“Oppa, I will be stronger for you. I promise.”

 

Yesung cracked an eye open, only to see Taeyeon sitting in front of him. After receiving their punishments for escaping their training sessions, the four of them, Yesung, Jung Soo, Taeyeon, and Sungmin were locked in the underground cell within the training facility. It was a summer night, but the season could not even beat the biting coldness of the dark cell. The stone walls were covered with moss –emitting a damp and humid scent. The only lighting came from one candle that was placed next to Taeyeon.

 

Finally regaining his consciousness back, Yesung widened his eyes. He tried to lean closer to Taeyeon despite the pain that shot all over his body. “Are you alright, Taeng?!”

 

Sungmin’s boyish voice came from Yesung’s left. “You should worry about yourself more, Yesung. You’re the one punished the most.”

 

Taeyeon was sobbing again. “I’m sorry, Oppa… Next time you don’t have to defend me. N-next time…” her words were cut with a series of whimper.

 

Sungmin glared at Taeyeon in the darkness. “Shut up, cry baby. Mother does not like her sleep to be disturbed.”

 

Sungmin’s act of bullying against Taeyeon –quite similar to Jung Soo’s affection to the same girl – was something rather infamous within the facility. Under normal situation, Jung Soo would not interfere much between Sungmin’s and Taeyeon’s bickering (ah, jealousy was a pain in the neck). But this was not a normal situation. Taeyeon had just received her first punishment. It must have been awful enough for her that Jung Soo did not want Taeyeon to be upset over Sungmin’s harsh words. Defending Taeyeon, Jung Soo retorted back in the girl’s place, "Well, Mother is snoring obliviously upstairs. She won’t hear us below,” he said as he Taeyeon’s hair in his attempt to calm the little girl down.

 

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean you can cry all you please. It’s annoying,” grunted Sungmin.

 

“But Yesung Oppa is hurt because of me!” argued Taeyeon, trying to justify her cry somehow.

 

Sungmin exhaled an impatient sigh. “Useless Taeng,” he muttered.

 

Taeyeon cried harder. 

 

Yesung wanted to calm his sister, but he felt his entire body was denying him access to do as he pleased. Fortunately, there was Jung Soo, and Yesung knew Jung Soo could always make a good brother to Taeyeon.

 

“Hey, Taenggo, stop crying, please? What if I tell you a story? You know, there’s a boy who never stops believing, and in the end he gets what he wishes for and –” Jung Soo began cheerfully.

 

“I don’t want to hear a story right now!”

 

“It’s about Peter Pan! Your favorite!” Jung Soo insisted.

 

“I don’t want it! I only want the strength to protect Yesung Oppa and –“

 

“Then grow up, Taeng,” Sungmin bluntly exclaimed.

 

But despite the coldness of his voice, despite his harsh tone, it was only Sungmin’s words that made Taeyeon’s cry subsided.

 

Sungmin sighed. “As you’ve learned today, Taeng. It’s a cruel world we’re living in –“

 

“Sungmin,” Jung Soo interrupted. He did not think Taeyeon was old enough to hear the harsh reality about the world. He loved Taeyeon’s smile the most, and he couldn’t bear to have it corrupted with the dark details of life. Jung Soo tried to send this message to Sungmin, but either that the insufficient lighting blurred Sungmin’s vision or Sungmin simply refused to pay heed to Jung Soo’s warning. It always seemed like the latter was the case.

 

“Crying will get you nowhere,” Sungmin continued. “I’m sorry that you have to hear it at such a young age, but for children like us, we have no future –“

 

“Sungmin!” Jung Soo warned.

 

“It’s for her own good that she knows it now, Teuk Hyung!” Sungmin insisted. In frustration he then slammed his fist to the nearest wall, effectively making Jung Soo silenced. There was a rare tinge of despair in Sungmin’s voice, an uncharacteristic scowl on his usually stoic face, and an unfamiliar sense of hot wetness that fell from his eyes. “It’s for our own good that we realize how doomed our lives have been and would be!” he shouted. Gritting his teeth so hard that he nearly heard a crackle, Sungmin then continued with an exasperated voice, “We are all orphans. Unwanted children. There would never be sweet fairy tales in our lives. We are born to be, we are destined to be monsters. We cannot trust anybody, w-we…” his voice trailed off. Yesung, being the one to lean on the wall beside Sungmin, was the only one who heard the softest whimpers of despair from his best friend.

 

Taking a deep sigh, Yesung then extended his hand to caress Taeyeon’s cheek. “Taeng, both Teuk Hyung and Sungmin are right. I don’t ever want you to lose faith in yourself, your life, and your future. Someday, that faith will get you somewhere. Somewhere that is better than this place,” he paused to fix his position, immediately regretting it as it only made him feel the pain on his stomach more. “But on the other hand, that somewhere other than this place might not be what you want it to be. The world is cruel, indeed. But it’s your attitude that determines your place in this world.”

 

Taeyeon remained silenced.

 

“And we will protect each other,” assured Yesung. “Apple, Orange, Grape, and Watermelon, remember? I will always protect you. And if I’m gone –“

 

Taeyeon cut her brother’s speech. “I don’t want you to be gone!”

 

“If I’m gone,” urged Yesung. “Then Sungmin and Teuk Hyung will protect you. And if they’re also gone…” he paused to give her a smile. Ah, how much he loved his sister. Carefully, Yesung pulled her into an embrace. The action caused him more pain rather than comfort. But he knew that this would calm Taeyeon. And if it could comfort Taeyeon, Yesung would not even mind having a bullet pierced his flesh. He buried his head on Taeyeon’s shoulders and whispered to her small ears, “If we are all gone, then you have to protect yourself, okay?”

 

 

 

And as times passed, the four of them became the pride of Oryu Training Facility.

 

Each of them had their own expertise. Skill lacked by one was covered by the other. Individually, each of them was a deadly weapon, but combined, they were unstoppable.

 

Jung Soo might not have been the best in shooting, or fist fighting, or any other weaponry-use. But his cleverness got him to a respectable position in their batch. As the one who excelled in analyzing, at the young age of 14, he was already included in some of the meetings of their seniors. Though he had yet to be involved in the actual killing mission, but his opinion had always been valued greatly in the plotting of most of the missions.

 

Taeyeon was the one envisioned to be the ace of them all. At seven, she showed talent no one in her age could have shown. She was the quickest, the one with the best reflex, the most graceful one. It amazed a lot of people how someone with such a small body could be as strong as she was. She was what people called as the future of Oryu itself.

 

The genius remained one, Sungmin. As if born to kill, his instinct was something that his blood seemed to carry, but was only sharpened with numerous trainings. Guns of any types were like the extension of his body –he could use them all with ease, effortless. Though not as graceful as Taeyeon, but there was always impeccable precision at each of his action. It was perfection, always perfection.

 

There was one, however, who could beat even the genius. Yesung, despite his incurable randomness and undeniable quirk, was one with the strongest determination. He trained the hardest, suffered the most, and pushed himself the farthest. All the efforts brought him to a level where he was unofficially crowned as the best of their batch. He knew he wasn’t as clever as Leeteuk, or as talented as Taeyeon, or as genius as Sungmin, but his will brought him to his current state. It was his determination, his passion, his oath to protect his sister, his friend, his family that made him the man he was then.

 

Yesung was only 13 and he was the one feared the most of them all.

 

Yesung glanced at his family in the mixture of pride and fear. He was relieved to know that each of them could defend themselves without the help of the other. They bought security with power. Yet power itself did not come without price. It was a give-and-take scenario –the way the world had always been.

 

Yesung knew they were all turning into monsters.

 

He was much stronger now. Mother did not even lay her hands on him anymore –and Yesung had a distinct intuition that Mother realized how his strength could overpower her on a one on one match. He was grateful to Mother sometimes though. She and her subordinates were the one who molded him to be this person: the invincible one.

 

However, there were times when he missed his old self. The old him who would gaze up at the cloud and tried to determine whether it was an apple-shaped cloud or an orange-shaped one. The old him who still valued humanity, the old him who was way weaker –but somehow a better person.

 

He missed that person.

 

Yesung often assured himself that he was not yet turned into a real monster, because he still cared about Taeyeon, Sungmin, and Leeteuk more than anything in this world. As long as he still had the intention to protect them, he knew he had not completely lost to himself.

 

But sometimes he questioned himself.

 

Until when could he say the situation remained the same?

 

 

 

 

Yesung thought that their lives changed since that man appeared.

 

He was someone from Seoul who came as the broker to missions. Occasionally, the man trained them and Yesung could easily tell that the man was much better than the other trainers in Oryu Facility. It came nearly unchallenged that the man must have been (still?) an assassin himself. But everything else about that man remained an enigma. He did not even bother to reveal his real name. Not that Yesung cared about that.

 

Yesung cared, however, at the way the man infected his family.

 

“Another mission with Daddy Long-Legs?” Yesung asked once Sungmin opened the door to their room. As the four of them grew stronger, they were valued more. No more sleeping in the cold floor of the hall, they had their own rooms now. Yesung shared one with Sungmin, while Taeyeon shared it with another girl and Jung Soo had to sleep with another new trainee.

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05/5/13: change the posters for chap 6, 9, 12, 14, 15, 18, 25, 26, 27

Comments

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yeonniestan94 #1
Coming back to reread this. For a moment i thought the story was deleted because i search for this on the jessica tag. Kekeke...
Found it finally thanks to Haesica😀😀
Macaroonssi
#2
its 2021 and I'm stil here so.....
aseulmonsta
#3
❤️
gyuhyeon #4
I'm here again for the nth times. This is my fav fanfic ever! I used to dislike sugen pairing but this fanfic brought a new light. Pinboo, could you please sign this story up for a drama please? It will be daebak really.
bwtplove
#5
Chapter 50: This chapter will always traumatized me. Imagine to encounter something like that as child..... :(
bwtplove
#6
Chapter 38: I thought Sunny x Sungmin's side story will be my fav one...but after reading Kibum's story....I guess the ranking change. I could understand the hatred he has toward his family so well. It's such an emotional story to me and the way the poor always have a big heart than the rich....you really did a great job at interpreting this.
LeiLeiLeiLeiLeiLei #7
Hi there! I actually read this fic when I was younger, and I wanna reread it but it's members only :(

I have long forgotten my old AFF account....... AHH how do I reread? hehe
shiningshawol13
#8
Hi! I don't know if you'll be able to see this comment, but yeah, just gonna share my thoughts here hahaha.

So I reread Project: Cupid and Der Marchenclub earlier this week because I've been feeling nostalgic lately and thought, hey, maybe I could reread my favorite Super Generation fanfics coz why not?

And well, I'd just like to say that your works remain to be one of my favorites. It's been years since you've published this, years since I've first read it (early 2015). I could still remember the times when I read a chapter or two in between classes back in college, struggling not to give in to the urge to read them while in class hahaha! This is the first time in a long while that I read it again but everything is still as wonderful and impactful as when I first read it.

Der Marchenclub, in particular, is my favorite Super Generation fanfic. Reading it again cemented that fact in my mind. I loveeeee the plot! In particular, I love how you utilized previously uttered lines and details, smoothly tying a to b. I love the flow of the narration, I know you must've hit some rough blocks, too, but in the end, the writing is just superb: the balance between the dialogue and narration is very nice. I love the characterizations and how utterly realistic and imperfect and humane there are (Heechul's my fave haha), though I agree that there are some characters you could've developed more (Yoona and Siwon, for instance, as you mentioned in yuor DMC blog haha). Overall though, I'd go so far as to say that your work is a masterpiece. I took my time re-reading it again, took my time to appreciate the smoothness in the flow, the humanity of the characters, the thrill of solving the mystery. Every single scene played out in my head, and I could perfectly picture Super Generation here (man, I miss them!). This story, the whole plot, it's a very good material for a TV series, that's how good it is.

It's also good in inspiring people. This fanfiction, your fanfiction - it reignited my desire to write again. These past few years I've been stuck in a slump, probably because of the combined stress from my personal and college life, plus the slightly growing distance from kpop, that I wasn't able to continue any of my stories here at all. I even find it hard to write anything because I began to doubt myself. Whenever I type something up, I ended up not finishing it or just erasing it because it feels off. I've graduated now though haha, so college's one factor off the things stressing me out, but I still didn't dare try to write again. At least, not until I read your stories again.

Der Marchenclub (and Project: Cupid!) reminded me of my love for YoonHae, for HeeSica, for SNSD and Super Junior, and most of all, my love for writing. It made me want to try writing again, mostly about YoonHae and HeeSica hahaha!

So I wanted to say thank you. Thank you for creating Der Marchenclub, thank you for creating your stories, and thank you most of all, for sharing it with us and not deleting it. A few days ago I tried searching again some of my favorite YoonHae fanfics, I can't remember their exact titles but what I know is that it's on livejournal (and soon remembered that it's written by muffinmaverick, if you know her hehe). However, I found out that she deleted her account, which means that even her stories were deleted. It suffices to say that I was utterly devastated. Fanfictions are some of my ways of coping even back then, so to find out that I could no longer read them again really pained me. I know the author must have her reasons, and she has all the right to delete her own account and works, but it still hurt. So really, thank you for keeping this precious works here in this site, thank you for sharing it with us still.

I think I'm kinda rambling at this point haha but what I want to say is that your works have inspired me again, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. I'm sure there are other readers out there, too who were inspired to hone or jumpstart their craft after reading your stories. So once again, I would like to say thank you to you. I'm still not very confident, I'm still doubting my skill but well, that can be honed and what's important is that I'm trying again, right? Haha.

Anyways, I miss seeing Super Junior and SNSD together, and reading Der Marchenclub again made me very nostalgic. I'm not that active here in asianfanfics nowadays but I think there are fewer and fewer Super Generation stories now, which I admit breaks my SONELF heart a little. I think it's fitting, though, since our idols have grown more and are living their own lives now, and we're living our own. It won't stop me from writing about them, though haha! If you ever get back to writing again (and I hope you do, I miss reading your stories!), I hope you know that there will still be people who'll welcome you back, and readers who will read your works.

Once again, thank you for writing!! Thank you for bringing Der Marchenclub and your other works to light, and for sharing it with us. :) It's rough in our world right now due to the pandemic but I hope you'll stay safe!