“Can you tell me more about the pact that my father made with his brothers?” Chaewon asked Minju who was walking in front of her. As they were making their way to her cabin, Chaewon couldn’t help but feel the eyes on her as they passed. Back at campus, she wasn’t afraid to call them out, but here at camp, in a new environment, Chaewon felt a little smaller.

Minju slowed down to match Chaewon’s pace. “Did you know that the world wars back in the 1900s were led by children of the big three? Their kids were just inherently more powerful than demigods, and ended up getting into high positions. After seeing all the bloodshed, they agreed that it was for the better that they held back.

“That was the case until it was discovered that they each broke their pact, some more than others,” Minju said that last bit while staring at a cabin made of white marble and covered in golden lightning bolt designs.

Zeus? Chaewon guessed in her mind.

“Those kids ended up stopping multiple world-ending events, so I guess we should be thanking them, but that doesn’t change that many gods still consider them dangerous,” Minju concluded as they arrived at a windowless cabin that looked more like a block of obsidian. On its sides were torches glowing with green fire. Lining the perimeter were skulls that Chaewon didn’t want to ask the origins of.

“Well it certainly gets the dark and dead part down…” Chaewon murmured.

Minju nodded. “Each cabin had to get their respective god’s approval before being built…. Well, every cabin except this one. Unfortunately, getting the input of the god of the dead is not easy, so we had to make due with what we knew from the Long Island location.”

“Thank you, pops, then,” Chaewon said sarcastically before walking up to the front door, which also had a skull engraved on it, and turning the knob open.

The inside wasn’t any less gloomy. The only sources of light were the same types of torches that were burning outside. There were amenities that any normal cabin would have like closets and bathrooms, but it was the beds that were the highlight.

Minju grimaced as Chaewon gave her a questioning look. It appeared someone thought that the children of Hades were vampires instead of demigods as each bed resembled a coffin with spruce frames and blood red blankets and pillows.

“Sorry, I’ve been trying to get my siblings to renovate this place, but they kept saying there wasn’t a point because there weren’t any Hades kids anyway,” Minju apologized.

“Don’t worry about it. I guess it’s better than sleeping on the floor,” Chaewon ended up saying, setting down the sword she’d taken from Nako and the minotaur horn from the fight earlier.

Minju exhaled. “Alright, anything else I can help you with?”

Chaewon thought for a couple seconds. There were definitely a bunch of questions on her mind right now, but she supposed some of those she could wait.

“What was the other way to be able to exit the camp that Seunggi-sunbae was talking about?” she ended up asking

Minju quieted at this, which meant that she definitely knew the answer.

“They’re called quests,” she eventually replied. “Basically, it’s when a god has a mission or a challenge they want to give to a demigod.”

“And how are we supposed to get those?” Chaewon asked curiously.

“Sometimes they ask directly, and sometimes… well, it has something to do with the room in the Big House you asked about,”

Chaewon thought back to earlier before they headed down to the kitchen. The infirmary was located on the second floor of the Big House, and Chaewon had gotten curious about what was on the top floor.

That place is prohibited without proper authorization. Minju had said, and it looked like that was all she was going to say right now as well.

“If you’re really meant to go on one, that room will have the answer.”

“Not ominous at all,” Chaewon joked to lighten the mood, which was rather difficult given the atmosphere of the cabin they were in.

Minju cleared . “Anyway, dinner’s in an hour. You can take a shower first. I can be back in maybe half an hour to show you there if you want.”

Chaewon smiled. “Thanks, Minju. I appreciate it. People around here… they don’t seem too fond of me.”

“Well, I think you’re cool,” Minju replied.

“I mean, you’re the first ever child of Hades in this camp’s history. I’m sure people will come around,” she then added quickly. With how dim the room was, Chaewon couldn’t tell if Minju was blushing or not.

“I’ll take your word for it then,” Chaewon said. “See you in a bit?”

Minju nodded before hurrying off back to her cabin.

~~~~

Exactly thirty minutes from the time she’d left, Minju had returned. Chaewon supposed that Athena kids put a lot of attention to detail even in their daily schedules.

“Looks good on you,” Minju commented, giving Chaewon a not-so-subtle once-over.

Chaewon realized the second she opened her closet that there wasn’t exactly much variety in upper clothing. It was filled with the same orange Camp Half-Blood shirts everyone else was wearing, which meant after her shower, those were her only option.

“It was that or the muddy shirt I’d come here in,” Chaewon joked. “So, where’s dinner?”

“Right this way,” Minju replied, leading Chaewon along.

After trekking for around five minutes, the duo arrived at the dining pavilion, which was an open air area framed with Greek columns. With its elevation, there was a perfect view of the ocean. Inside the pavilion were rows of long tables, each with groups of campers already sitting on them. At the center was a huge fire over a bronze brazier. It looked like a miniature version of the ones they lit before the olympics.

“What if it rains?” Chaewon asked, to which Minju returned a confused look.

“Now that you mention it, I don’t think it ever has during meal times. I assume it’s because the camp border is enchanted. The only weather that happens is probably what Mr. D allows,” Minju surmised before a familiar voice called out to them.

“Chaewon! Over here!” When Chaewon looked over, she saw Yujin and Yena sitting along a table much longer than the others.

Chaewon was just about to go over and sit at the open spot next to them when Minju gently put a hand on her shoulder.

“Uhm, sorry, unnie. By the rules, we can only sit at the table of our godly parents,” she said.

“But that means…”

“Yes, you’re going to be sitting by yourself. It’s something like a sign of respect to them to sit at their table,” Minju explained with a guilty expression.

Chaewon sighed. “As if he’s done anything to warrant my respect so far…”

“Come on, I’ll show you to it. Really sorry again.”

~~~~

Dinner was now in full swing, but Chaewon couldn’t find it in herself to dig into her meal, which looked delicious- braised beef with sides of kimchi and cheese. The only parts missing were the ones she’d thrown into the fire as a sacrifice like everyone else (gods liked the smell according to Minju). In addition, as Minju had explained to her, the goblet she was drinking from was also enchanted to be filled with whatever drink she desired (except for alcoholic ones, which disappointed Chaewon even more). It should’ve been a great time.

Looking around at all the tables with demigods cheering and having fun though, Chaewon felt even more alone than usual. The camp was touted as a place where she could find people like her, but so far, she’d only felt more isolated.

“You good, Chae?” a voice suddenly asked her from behind. It was Yena and Yujin, both looking at her worriedly.

“Shouldn’t you be at the Hermes table?” Chaewon asked back, absentmindedly poking at her food.

“They said we couldn’t sit at another god’s table. They didn’t say we couldn’t come over to chat,” Yena reasoned. “Besides, we haven’t been claimed yet, so we have some leeway to move around.”

Chaewon smiled. Leave it to Yena to come up with a loophole to cheer her up.

“How’s the cabin? I saw it in the distance and it just looked like a dark cube,” Yujin said.

“Well, it’s exactly like that on the inside too,” Chaewon laughed. It felt good to have her two best friends around. She could always trust them to liven the mood.

The trio ended up speaking for a while longer until a horn began to blow from above. Immediately, all the campers began to settle down and sit up straight.

“Yujin, Yena! Come back over! Mr. D is coming!” Chaeryeong called.

“You two should go. If this guy is a god, we wouldn’t want to get on his bad side on our first day,” Chaewon urged to which Yujin and Yena begrudgingly nodded.

As the silence began to spread, Chaewon wondered where the camp director would appear until a flash of light enveloped the pavilion.

When Chaewon regained her vision, she wondered if there had been a mix up at the teleportation train because the person standing in the middle of the pavilion did not look like what she envisioned a god would look like.

The man had a stout figure with curly black hair, bloodshot eyes and a red nose. His attire was pretty odd as well- a leopard-spotted Hawaiian shirt, board shorts, and purple running shoes.

Given that Seunggi had walked up to him and bowed though, Chaewon guessed that this was actually the god of wine.

“As you all know, I find no pleasure in splitting my consciousness between two camps, but I was recently informed that we had some new arrivals, one of which is very special. This means I’m going to be paying a bit more attention here for the time being,” he said in an annoyed tone.

“Lim Chaesun!” he called. Chaewon was confused. She didn’t recall any other demigods arriving around the same time they did.

“Lim Chaesun? I was told a daughter of Hades was here. Why is she not coming out? I don’t have all day!”

At this, Chaewon’s eyes meet Minju’s, which were signaling for her to speak up.

“If I had to waste my time coming here, I will make sure it rains here for-”

“Here! I’m here!” Chaewon announced, raising her hand up. Mr. D turned towards her direction and huffed.

“And what took you so long to say so, Chaesun-ssi? Am I using that right? I’m still brushing up on my Korean,” he said.

“Uhm, my name is Kim Chaewon, actually… sir.” Chaewon replied.

“Ugh, I already have to keep track of so many names as it is, Chaesun. I’ll just cut right to the chase. You shouldn’t be here, but you are, which means Hades has a task for you, and my father, Zeus, wants to make sure it isn’t anything that’s targeting him.”

As if I needed any more eyes on me… Chaewon thought to herself before Mr. D continued.

“Philoctetes tells me you’ve already killed the minotaur. No easy feat.”

“Sir, since we’re in Korea, I prefer to go by Lee Seunggi,” the satyr commented.

Mr. D waved him off. “Again, too many names to keep track of. Chiron doesn’t tell me to call him Mr. Brunner, you know? If you really want me to change what I call you, beat me in a game of pinochle first.”

“Anyway, the last time I had a demigod show up at camp after killing the minotaur, a series of world-threatening events occurred, so please keep yourself out of trouble, Chaesun-ssi. I am not exactly a fan of watching rerun,.” and with that, Mr. D disappears in another flash of light.

Seunggi cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention. “So, as mentioned, we have three new demigods to welcome to camp today. Kim Chaewon, Choi Yena, and Ahn Yujin. Please treat them well. I would like to remind everyone that bullying is highly discouraged.”

Chaewon and her friends stood up and bowed awkwardly, but the crowd was already slowly going back to their meals. It was as if they were avoiding making eye-contact with her, which irked Chaewon given that she could feel all their stares when she wasn’t looking.

That’s when she met Minju’s eyes again.

Chaewon sighed. At least someone here’s on my side.

 

A/N: Hii and welcome back to another chapter! 

Here, we get another glimpse of camp-life and some more background for those who haven't read the PJO series. Apologies if the exposition has been a bit long, there's just a lot of things I need to set up. I hope you enjoyed the 2kim here at least haha. I promise things pick up once we get to capture-the-flag though! 

Thank you again for the support, whether that be through, comments, upvotes, or simply reading the story. It all means a lot!

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