“No way…” said Yena as she took in the camp below her.

“It’s something, isn’t it?” Yuri replied with a smile before leading Yena down to it.

Yena was simply in awe. She just couldn’t imagine a place like this existing. The closer they got though, the more real it felt. At the base of the hill, there was already a little welcoming committee all wearing the same orange shirt that Yuri was.

“Yuri! Took you long enough! For a second, I thought the harpies got you,” one of the girls greeted. She had a lean figure and jet black, shoulder length hair.

“Very funny, Ryujin, and they were stymphalian birds by the way. Not harpies.” Yuri said back, giving the girl a hi-five.

Ryujin chuckled before turning to Yena.

“You must be the final demigod Seunggi was looking for. You and your friends were really lucky to survive this long together,” she said with a tone that didn’t sound like she was kidding.

“My friends?” asked Yena.”So, they made it too?”

“A bit of a messier entrance, but yes. The Hades kid, Chaewon? She put on quite the show.” Ryujin said. Though the comment was meant as a compliment, the mention of Chaewon seemed to bring down the atmosphere a bit.

Yuri was the one to break the silence after a couple seconds. “Hades? Are you sure?”

“You can confirm for yourself, but last I checked, a dark helmet with purple flames means the god of the underworld,” Ryujin replied. This caused Yuri to look at Yena in what she could only think was concern.

“What’s wrong with being a child of Hades?” Yena decided to ask.

“Oh, Yena, there’s nothing wrong with her,” Yuri said, though the expressions on the other campers’ faces didn’t exactly reassure her. “It’s what it might mean that could be problematic.”

That reply only opened up more questions, but Yena chose to keep them until later. “Can I go see her? Yujin too.”

“Sure, you must’ve been really worried about them. We can meet at the Big House because Seunggi will probably want to see you all anyway,” Yuri said, pointing at what Yena could only describe as a big house. It was three stories high and covered in a fresh coat of blue paint. It looked like the type of building you’d see at a ranch.

Yuri and Yena bid their goodbyes to Ryujin and headed off.

~~~~

The inside of the Big House looked even bigger than the exterior. Lining the walls were group photos of campers arranged by the year which told Yena that the camp had been around for about 10 years now.

Yuri walked Yena over past the staircase towards a room that contained a large roundtable where several voices were discussing something animatedly. She then knocked on the open door to get everyone’s attention.

“Special delivery, guys,” she announced as she pulled Yena into view. Now, Yena wasn’t usually a person who got stage fright, but seeing the eyes of everyone in the room focus on her made her feel a bit nervous.

“Finally! I was starting to think you weren’t going to make it back!” one of the girls said, running up to Yuri and ruffling her hair.

“I would’ve thought you’d have more faith in me, Hayoung-unnie,” Yuri chuckled.

“You never know with these missions. Nako and Chaeyeon barely made it back with their demigods,” Hayoung said.

“Anyway, are you done with the meeting? Seunggi-sunbae might want to use this room to meet the three newbies,” Yuri replied.

Hayoung nodded. “Yeah, we were just wrapping up actually.”

“Yah, no we weren’t. You just want to end it because you’re paired with the Ares cabin for the next capture-the-flag!” one of the girls complained from across the table. This would’ve sounded like a normal conversation if it weren’t for the bronze dagger the girl was spinning in her hand.

“You already have alliances with the Athena and Nike cabins, Chaeyeon. I don’t want to hear it.” Hayoung said back.

“Is it always like this?” Yena whispered to Yuri, seeing the room explode into arguments.

“This isn’t even the half of it,” Yuri laughed before closing the door and leading Yena away. “I guess we can just meet in the kitchen.”

At those words, Yena’s stomach started to rumble, making her realize that she didn’t actually get to finish her mother’s hangover soup before the pigeons attacked.

~~~~

There were already four people in the kitchen when Yena and Yuri arrived, and to Yena’s relief, there were two familiar faces who lit up once their gazes met.

“Unnie!” Yujin cheered before running up to Yena and giving her a big hug. Behind her was Chaewon who gave Yena a curt nod of acknowledgement. Both girls were accompanied by another set of campers.

“Yuri, please tell me Chaeyeon-unnie got the Ares cabin on Hermes’ side for capture-the-flag,” one of the girls said.

“No, ‘how was your quest, Yuri’? You could just ask her, you know? She’s in the other room.” Yuri huffed.

“Yah, it’s because I knew you’d be fine!” the girl replied, throwing her hands up in the air.

Yuri chose to ignore that comment and focus back on the three new campers. “Ah, where are my manners? My name is Jo Yuri, daughter of Apollo. The talkative one here is Chaeryeong, daughter of Hermes, and the quiet girl is Minju, daughter of Athena. Speaking of which, since we’ve finally all gathered. Minju, can you get them some ambrosia while I go get Seunggi-sunbae?”

“Sure, Yuri. It’s always fun to see how new campers react to it,” Minju said with a smile as she walked over to the fridge to search for something.

“Why? What is it?” Chaewon asked curiously.

Yuri chuckled. “All you need to know is that it’ll taste good.”

“Here it is!” Minju announced a couple seconds after Yuri had left. In her hand was tupperware that contained golden squares.

“Are you sure this is safe?” Yena queried, not looking too impressed at the snack.

Minju puts her hand on her chin to think. “Well, if you weren’t a demigod, eating this would light your blood on fire and turn your bones into sand, but we’re pretty sure you’re one of us.”

“Wait, what???” Yujin stuttered, suddenly looking at the food as if it were radioactive.

“Aw come on. Don’t be a wuss! It’ll be fine!” Chaeryeong reassured them, picking one of the squares up and eating it. “See?”

Minju turned to Chaewon and tried to hand her one. “We already confirmed that you’re a demigod, Chaewon. This should also help with your headache.”

The short-haired girl gingerly held the square in her hand before ultimately taking a bite. Immediately, Yena saw her friend’s face light up before finishing the rest.

“It tastes like… mint-chocolate ice cream,” she mused, reaching for another square.

“Oh, hell no! I ain’t eating that then,” Yujin whined.

Chaeryeong facepalmed. “Of all the foods it could’ve been, it’s the one that deters people.”

“Though mint-chocolate is an… interesting result, the taste of ambrosia is unique to each person,” Minju explained. Yujin and Yena then had a staring contest, silently battling on who would try the food next, and as per usual, Yujin won.

“Well, if it is mint-choco, at least my breath will smell nice,” Yena joked before picking one of the squares up.

“Yah, what is that supposed to mean?” Chaewon argued, but Yena ignored her.

“Bottom’s up…” Yena said as she took a bite, and unlike Chaewon’s piece, hers tasted like her mother’s kimbap. In addition, the second she bit into the snack, she felt her energy levels rise back up, the slight hangover she had from the night before disappearing.

“Woah…” she muttered.

“So, what does yours taste like?” Minju asked.

“My mother’s kimbap that she always made when I was sick as a child. But how?” Yena replied confusedly. The ambrosia square looked nothing like the dish, and her mother’s recipe was unique to their family. How could it possibly be replicated in a golden square?

“Ambrosia is the food of the gods,” Minju said. “For mortals, it is inconsumable, but for people like us who are in between, they are similar to a medicine that can heal wounds and illnesses. The thing that makes it even cooler though is its magic properties, which make them taste like whatever the consumer’s favorite food is.”

Seeing her two friends’ positive reactions to the ambrosia, Yujin decided to take a chance too.

“Oh my god, this is actually so good. It tastes like the gukbap from my favorite restaurant.” she exclaimed before reaching for another. Unfortunately, Chaeryeong blocked her hand away.

“Sorry, Yujin. Though we said ambrosia is safe for demigods, it is still a medicine, and too much of it can make you sick. These are only to be eaten during emergencies,” she said.

“This really is all real… magic, gods, monsters,” Yena said, still trying to come to terms with it.

From behind, a new voice spoke. “You’ve already faced an anemoi, had a pen turn into a sword and been attacked by a flock of stymphalian birds, but the thing that makes you break is ambrosia?”

Yena turned to see Yuri accompanied by a familiar face- Professor Seunggi.

“Sunbaenim? What’re you doing here?” Yujin asked.

“My real job,” he said before taking off his hat which shocked Yena because she’d never seen him without it. After her initial shock of that though, she noticed two horns protruding from his head. That was then heightened to a hundred when she noticed that in place of his pants and shoes was the lower body of a goat, complete with hooved feet.

“You’re… a satyr?” Chaewon said from the table behind Yena.

“I see your mother has taught you well, Chaewon. Yes, I am a satyr, and I am what you would call the activities director here at Camp Half-Blood,” Seunggi replied.

“Wait, so what were you doing at our college? Can you even dance?” Yena asked, which got a chuckle out of the Yuri and the other campers.

“That’s the cover you made, sunbae? A dance professor?” Yuri said.

“I’ve been around for thousands of years, Yuri. When you live this long, you pick things up,” he explained. “But that’s beside the point. To answer your first question, every once in a while, when I hear word of potential demigods in the same area, I make a visit to observe and confirm.”

“So, you knew the whole time? My mother mentioned you too. Have you been speaking with her about this?” Yena asked one question after the other.

Seunggi grimaced at this. “I know that sounds bad, but she, along with the mothers of Chaewon and Yujin, knew that your fathers were Greek gods.”

“Then why didn’t you tell us sooner?” It was starting to become obvious that Yena was a bit frustrated.

“I’m sure it’s already been mentioned by some of the other campers, but once you realize who you are, monsters become more aware of you. Once I heard of the incident at the cafeteria, I knew trouble would follow. I promised your parents that I would allow you to live your normal lives until it became too dangerous, but as you know, things became dangerous.”

“So, what now? Are we just going to live here forever?” Yujin then asked.

This time it was Yuri who replied. “Not exactly. We have a lot of campers who only stay during the summer. This is so they have time to go to school and spend time with their families.”

“Yeahp, and after training at camp, monsters will usually avoid them. It’s that in-between spot where demigods find out who they are and aren’t skilled enough to fight when monsters try to attack.” Minju continued.

“There are some campers that stay the whole year for a number of reasons though.” Chaeryeong added without explaining more.

“There is another reason demigods can exit camp, which, judging from the claiming of Chaewon here, might be the case eventually,” Seunggi interjected, and these words cast an ominous silence over the room.

“Sunbae, they just got here. Are you really sure about it?” Yuri asked worriedly.

“It is a known fact that the big three gods, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades made a pact many years ago to not sire any more children. Obviously, we know now that this promise was not kept as all three ended up having demigod children,” Seunggi replied. “The fact that Chaewon is a child of Hades means another big confrontation may be upon us.”

The whole group was now looking at Chaewon, and Yena felt bad about it. She didn’t choose her father, and yet, her very existence was considered problematic.

“Yena, Yujin, you two haven’t been claimed yet, right?” Seunggi then asked to which the two girls shook their heads.

“In that case, it may just have been Chaewon’s aura that could’ve attracted all those monsters, but we cannot be too certain. For now, all of you should just start getting acclimated to the camp. I’m sure this whole ordeal has been disorienting for you three.”

“Should we also introduce them to Mr. D?” Yuri queried.

“Who?” Yena asked back.

“The god of wine and the director of this camp. He is at Olympus for a meeting though. You three will meet him in due time,” Seunggi replied before sending them all off.

~~~~

“So, how was it? The intro to camp, I mean,” Minju asked when they exited the Big House.

“It’s certainly… a lot to take in,” Yujin said.

“That’s normal. It’s obviously hard to wrap your head around Greek gods existing within the Korean world. We were once like that too,” Yuri commented. “We’ll be with you along the way though to help you out.”

“Thanks, so which cabin are we staying in?” Yena then asked once they arrived at the center of camp where they were now surrounded by a bunch of different buildings. She’d seen them on the horizon earlier but didn’t get a good look at them until now.

“Since you and Yujin are still unclaimed, you’ll be staying at the Hermes cabin,” Chaeryeong replied with a smile before realizing the implications of what she just said. “Which means Chaewon will be staying at the Hades cabin.”

This confused Yena. “What’s wrong with that? Are there not any other Hades kids?”

“No, unnie. You heard Seunggi-sunbae.” Chaewon said. “There was a pact for him and his brothers to not have any more kids, which means I’m probably alone, right?”

Minju slowly nodded at this. “Yes, that is correct. I can lead you to it for today though. We can meet again at dinner.”

Yena then gave Chaewon one more supportive look before the short-haired girl walked off with Minju.

“I’ll see you girls at dinner too. My cabin’s that way if you ever need me though,” Yuri said, pointing at a golden cabin that was shining brightly like a tiny sun. Its brightness seemed to mirror the levels of the sun which was beginning to set now.

“That leaves you with me,” Chaeryeong said. “Come on! I can give you the bunk next to Yujin’s, Yena.”

As Chaeryeong began walking ahead, Yena could feel someone’s hand on her shoulder.

“You good?” Yujin asked.

“I don’t know. This is all still pretty crazy.” Yena replied.

“I agree, but we have each other, right? As long as the three of us stick together, I think it’ll work out,” Yujin said before following Chaeryeong.

Yena took one more look around the camp, still taking it all in. There was a part of her that was excited, but there was also a feeling of dread she felt that she couldn’t quite explain.

“Yena! Hurry up!” Yujin called, which caused Yena to brush away her worries. What mattered for now was that she and her friends were safe.

 

A/N: Welcome back to another chapter, everyone! Our trio is now reunited and starting to get an understanding of the new world they've been introduced to. Since it's a camp, expect a lot more idol cameos haha. Next chapter, we'll be back with Chaewon's POV and how she's adjusting to being a Hades kid.

Thank you once again for being patient and supporting this series! Again, don't be afraid to leave comments or questions! It really helps me understand what people think of the story. There's also my twitter (@TofuBeagle22), CC (in my bio) or the twt hashtag #IZOlympiansAU if you want to leave feedback or reactions there.

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