“Uh… what in the world is that thing over Chaewon-unnie’s head?” Yujin asked which broke the silence.

“That would be a claiming. Seems like the god of the dead has been making moves,” Nako replied just as Chaewon fell to the ground unconscious.

Yujin tried to run over but was held back by the shorter girl whose grip was way stronger than she’d thought.

“Let the kids from the Apollo cabin handle this. For now, let’s show you around camp, and by ‘let’s’, I mean Chaeyeon,” Nako said flatly before walking away.

Yujin tried to call out to the Japanese girl, but she clearly seemed to be over playing babysitter.

Yujin sighed and made her way over to Chaeyeon who was conversing with the medical team. She just managed to catch their conversation as she arrived.

“Are you sure about this?” One of the Apollo kids asked nervously while staring at Chaewon’s unconscious body.

“Seunggi-sunbae wanted us to take her to camp, so that’s what we’re going to do. You’re talking like she isn’t a half-blood just like us,” Chaeyeon chided as she dusted off what appeared to be one of the minotaur’s horns and handed it to the camper.

The medical team members relented and picked Chaewon up, muttering something about how Chaewon wasn’t just a regular half-blood.

“Is she going to be okay?” Yujin asked.

“A little ambrosia and she’ll be back in tip-top shape,” Chaeyeon replied.

“Oh, I guess you don’t know what that is yet either,” she chuckled when Yujin didn’t reply immediately. “I guess Nako’s left you with me, right? Don’t mind her attitude. She’s a real softie when you get to know her, or at least, soft for an Ares kid.”

Yujin’s confused expression didn’t go away. “Can we please start from the top? Like, what is this place, and what do you mean children of Apollo, Hades, and Ares?”

Chaeyeon smiled knowingly. “You only have one parent, right?”

Yujin was stunned. “How did you-”

“That’s all of us here. Whoever’s missing, whether your mom or dad, is a Greek god.” Yujin waited for the part where Chaeyeon would start laughing and say, ‘you really believed that?’, but it never came. She was actually serious.

“My father is Hermes, god of thieves, travelers and a lot of other things,” Chaeyeon continued. “That hologram looking thing floating above your friend earlier? That was what we call a claiming wherein a godly parent decides to announce that you are their child. After that, half-bloods or demigods, whichever you prefer, are assigned to the cabin representing their parent here at camp.”

“Where’s mine then? Where can I stay if I don’t know yet?” Yujin then asked, and at this, Chaeyeon’s smile faded a bit.

“That’s the tough part. Gods can be a bit fickle about when they announce those things. I’d like to think they wait till you’re a bit older because monsters like the ones you’ve already seen tend to sense you more once you’ve been claimed, but other times they just forget,” she said flatly.

“As for your second question, all unclaimed demigods are assigned to the Hermes cabin until they’re claimed. It’s our duty as children of Hermes to welcome all travelers after all.”

Yujin let this new information sink in. All this time, she’d had a father all along, and he never showed himself. Yujin wanted to believe it was for the first reason Chaeyeon mentioned, but she wouldn’t be surprised if she was just forgotten.

“Hey, Yujin? You okay? Maybe let’s continue this conversation inside camp. The border protects us from monsters. I can also introduce you to some of the campers!” Chaeyeon said, which snapped Yujin out of her daze.

~~~~

Once they arrived at the main grounds, Yujin’s jaw was almost left on the floor. Everywhere she looked, there was something that caught her eyes. On their way over she’d seen a tall rock-climbing wall, but the catch was it was suspended over boiling lava. She also saw a firing range where several campers were shooting flaming arrows. In front of her now were rows of mismatched buildings with differing themes. One was blood-red with barbed wires wrapped around it. The one right next to it was green with plants scattered all over. Another had a bright pink exterior like a barbie house with a cool blue roof.

As they walked, Chaeyeon would say hello to all the campers passing by, which indicated to Yujin that she might be one of the more senior demigods at camp. This was further proven by the necklace Chaeyeon had around her neck that had four beads compared to the other campers who only had one or two.

With Yujin so distracted taking in the camp, she didn’t notice a group of campers walking in their direction and accidentally bumped into them.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry for that.” Yujin began to say until she laid eyes on the girl she’d just knocked down. Pretty wasn’t enough to describe her looks. She was downright gorgeous. She had long black hair flowing past her shoulders, a face that looked like it was sculpted by an artist, and a height that matched hers, which is saying something because Yujin didn’t know many girls her age that were as tall as her. This girl’s whole group in general looked incredibly good-looking. Despite them wearing the same clothes everyone else was- an orange Camp Half-Blood shirt paired with either shorts or jeans, they still somehow looked way more stylish than the other campers.

Yujin knew this type of crowd though and judging by the expression on the group leader’s face, she wasn’t going to like what was going to happen next.

“YAH!” she trilled. “Who do you think you are?”

“Woah, calm down, Wonyoung. This is Yujin, a new addition to the camp.” Chaeyeon said, stepping in between the two tall girls.

“Don’t tell me to calm down! Do you know how much time it’ll take this scratch to heal?” Wonyoung asked, pointing at a small red cut on her knee. Yujin would’ve said the girl was overreacting, but she was already on thin ice.

“Just put a bandage over it.’ Chaeyeon replied, and Yujin sensed the older girl was trying to be very patient.

“Ugh, a bandage would completely contrast my outfit and makeup.” Wonyoung complained before turning her attention back to Yujin.

“I’ll let it slide this time because you’re new, but you better not cross me again!” she said with a pout, and something with the way she spoke made Yujin feel compelled to follow.

“Those were the Aphrodite kids.” Chaeyeon explained once the group had left. “They’re a little stuck-up, but don’t let them rile you up. They’re all talk, no bite.”

“That Wonyoung girl definitely looked like she wanted to bury me.” Yujin laughed.

“Oh, trust me. Out of all of them, Wonyoung is definitely the kind of girl who’s all talk.” Chaeyeon replied with a smirk, as if she knew an inside joke that Yujin was yet to discover.

~~~~

“Here it is!” Chaeyeon said when they finally arrived at the Hermes cabin. Yujin would be lying if she said she wasn’t a bit disappointed. Compared to the other cabins, this one looked like a pretty standard one. It was designed like a wooden inn, brown being the predominant color. Over the main entrance was an emblem depicting what appeared to be a staff with snakes wrapped around to the top where two wings were.

Chaeyeon seemed to sense the disappointment and chuckled. “Okay, I know it isn’t as flashy as the others, but it isn’t that bad.”

“Hi, unnie! You have a new recruit for us?” a new voice asked. When Yujin looked over back to the cabin entrance, she saw a girl that looked very similar to Chaeyeon.

Chaeyeon laughed. “For now. She’s still undetermined.”

“Oh, well, make yourself at home anyway! I’m Chaeryeong, Chaeyeon’s younger sister.” the new girl said before having a sudden realization.

“I meant her sister, sister.” she said with a laugh before Chaeyeon butted in.

“What she means is that everyone in this cabin is technically my sibling on the godly side, but Chaeryeong in particular is my sister by blood. The god family tree though is a bit complicated, so I advise you to only focus on who your godly parent’s kids are.” This didn’t exactly clarify things for Yujin as evidenced by her confused face.

“Heh, you’ll get used to it. All you need to know is outside of your cabin mates, everyone is fair game, if you get what I mean.” Chaeryeong said while wiggling her eyebrows.

“Yah, Ryeong! That’s inappropriate!” Chaeyeon chided, but the younger girl just stuck out her tongue.

“You say that, but you’re flirting with Sakura-unnie!” she teased which caused Chaeyeon’s face to go red.

“Okay, I thought this was supposed to be a tour. Do I have a bunk?” Yujin intervened, feeling that if she didn’t the two Lee siblings would be going at it for a while.

“Ah, sorry about that, Yujin-ah. Ryeong, please show her where she’ll be staying for the time being. I have a meeting with the other cabin leaders for capture-the-flag on Thursday.”

These words seem to get Chaeryeong’s attention. “You better get us on Nako’s team this time, unnie!”

“Sure, I’ll see what I can do.” And with that, Chaeyeon was gone.

“Capture-the-flag?” Yujin asked curiously.

“Oh, you’ll love it! It’s a fun game where the camp splits up to claim bragging rights over the other. I’ll have Chaeyeon-unnie show you the armory sometime soon.” Chaeryeong replied.

“Wait, armory? Like actual swords?”

Chaeryeong stared back like she didn’t understand the question. “Uh, yeah? You’ll get killed out there without proper weaponry.”

Yujin added that little nugget to her ever-growing list in her head of things she thought were jokes but were probably serious.

~~~~

The one word Yujin would use to describe the inside of the Hermes cabin would be chaotic. There were tons of occupied bunks with campers of varying ages all in conversation with each other.

“The other cabins aren’t nearly as crowded as here.” Chaeryeong laughed as she ducked to avoid someone throwing a frisbee disc across the room like it was something that happened on a regular basis.

“Must never be a dull time though.” Yujin replied. She never had a sibling, so the prospect of having a bunch now seemed a bit enticing.

“Yeah, it’s still a shame though that there are still several unclaimed kids. It’d be a big help to everyone if they just knew who their godly parents were.”

Eventually, after dodging a few more random projectiles, Yujin and Chaeryeong finally arrived at an empty bed at the end of the cabin. It wasn’t anything impressive, but neither was Yujin’s bed back at her dorm, so she wasn’t going to complain.

“So, you got any questions before I leave you be?” Chaeryeong asked.

Yujin chuckled a bit. “A lot, actually.” Every time a question was answered, more follow-ups would creep into her brain.

“Alright, shoot. I got some time. You can save your more complicated ones for the Athena kids though. They know everything.” Chaeryeong replied.

“Okay, how about we start with the beginning. You mentioned Greek gods, right? What are they doing here in Korea of all places?” Yujin asked.

Chaeryeong thinks about it for a second before replying. “Again, the Athena campers like Yeji or Han will probably have a better explanation, but my understanding is that demigods have always existed throughout time. Christopher Columbus, Isabella Bird, Anderson Dias, those are just a few of Hermes’ famous children. Anyway, as for the whole camp aspect, it started in Greek times as a place where a centaur named Chiron would teach up-and-coming heroes.

“As time moved on and Greece fell, the camp also moved from country to country depending on what the center of power in the world was. There’s a lot of specifics that I’m probably missing, but the main camp right now has been based in New York for the past hundred years. The camp here in Korea was only established maybe ten years ago? The word on the street is that the Greek gods see Korea as a budding power and want to lay down roots here as well.” By the time Chaeryeong concluded, Yujin felt like she had smoke coming out of her ears.

“Alright… that is certainly a lot to absorb, but I think I get the gist,” Yujin said. Of course, the rational side of her brain wanted to reject this information. The idea of gods being in control of so many things sounded outlandish, but if the events of the day were anything to go by, maybe it was time to broaden her thinking.

“Trust me. Everyone gets a little lost in the beginning. No one’s expecting you to become a Greek know-it-all on your first day. I’m sure your friend will have a similar headache when she wakes up too.” Chaeryeong said with a warm smile similar to Chaeyeon.

“Speaking of which, can I go see Chaewon now? I want to check if she’s okay.” Yujin asked. She’d been told that Chaewon would be fine, but Yujin couldn’t help worrying about her.

“Sure, if we’re lucky, she’s probably already awa-” Before Chaeryeong could finish her sentence, the sound of a loud horn filled the air.

Chaeryeong chuckled. “Did I mention that my father is also the god of luck? Because, it looks like your other friend has just arrived as well,” she said before leading Yujin out of the cabin.

 

A/N: Hi everyone and welcome to another chapter! Here, we get Yujin's perspective on things and a little more background on how the camp works. Hopefully it wasn't too confusing. Wonyoung also gets introduced in this chapter, and I'm sure many of you would agree that she is definitely an Aphrodite kid lol. In the next one, Yena will finally arrive at camp and our SsamYenJin trio will be complete again!

Thank you again for all the support through the likes and comments! Always means a lot to me.

Have a nice day, and I'll see y'all in the next one!