Joon

            I grew up without any parents in my life. I was orphaned at the age of one. My parents had died in a car crash. I was at home with my babysitter when it all happened. Maybe that was my gift from God. Anyway, my aunt inherited me from my parent’s death. But the problem was that she already had five kids of her own. How could she care for another?

My aunt tried to look for a family to take me in, but no one really had the space or the financials to take care of a baby. She didn’t want to leave me at an orphanage or give me to child services since she found that too cruel. She was about to give up hope until my uncle came home one day saying that he found someone to take me in. My aunt was cautious at first but she knew that she had to give me away. They could not afford to keep me and she knew that. So she willingly gave me to him and he took me away.

Little did my aunt know that I wasn’t actually going to a family. My uncle was taking me to a fort that no one dared to go to. He had heard rumors of people living there who were taking care of orphans. What happened to them afterwards was a mystery. But my aunt and uncle had no choice but to give me away.

My uncle showed up at the foot of the fort that was in the middle of the forest. He placed me down in front of the fort door. A tear shed from his eyes as he stood up again. He looked at me with soft eyes filled with guilt and a little sadness.

“I’m sorry Lee Joon. But your aunt and I just can’t keep you. I hope that you grow strong and become a very responsible adult. I hope that you learn from your hardships and find a love very true.” My uncle said.

I cried after he finished talking. I even reached out my arms for him to carry me again. He didn’t grab me though. He knocked on the door of the fort and started to run away. He didn’t get far though.

Two men dressed in all black landed right in front of him. They drew their swords and held them at his neck. He was so scared that he fell to his knees. He was begging for his life at the time. The door to the fort opened and a man with a blue robe came out with two other men dressed in black. He stopped right up to me and looked down at me. He then looked up at my uncle and gestured for the two men that had their swords out to bring my uncle closer to him.

When the two men put away their swords they brought my uncle over to their leader. My uncle was still begging for his life. They put him right in front of me. I stopped crying for the time being.

“What is your business here?” The leader asked my uncle.

“Please don’t kill me. I have a wife and five children to feed. Please I just want to go home to see them again.” My uncle said.

“I am not going to kill you. Just tell me what it is that brings you here.” The leader said with a more forceful tone.

“It’s my nephew, his parents died in a car crash not too long ago. His parents trusted my wife and me to take care of him after they died. However I can barely feed the mouths of my own family. To take him in would be too much for us. We’ve tried to find him a family but no one is able to take him in. So, I heard that people were living here that took in the unwanted. I thought that I would give it a shot. I was just going to leave him here and then make my way back home. I didn’t mean to cause you any trouble.” My uncle explained.

The leader looked down at me. I was reaching up for someone to pick me up. He bent down and picked me up. He looked into my eyes and laughed. He saw great strength within me. He seemed very satisfied.

“So will you take him in?” My uncle asked.

The leader looked at my uncle with a bit of disgust. “If no one else can take care of him then what made you think that we can?” He said with a bit of ferocity. My uncle shrugged and looked down. The leader sighed and started to bounce me up and down. “We will take care of this young man. But on one condition.”

“Yes, what is it, I’ll do anything.” My uncle said a bit excitedly.

“The thing is, I don’t want you ever coming back here. This is a private facility. I also don’t want people bringing me their babies that they can’t care for. That is not what I run here.” The leader said.

“Of course, you will never see me here again on purpose ever again. I promise to stay far away. Thank you sir.” My uncle said. The leader gestured for his men to let my uncle go. My uncle stood up and then started to walk away.

“There is one more thing.” The leader said. My uncle turned around and swallowed.

“What is it?” My uncle asked.

“What is this young boy’s name?” The leader asked.

My uncle looked relieved to hear this question. He thought something bad was going to happen to him. “His name is Lee Joon.”

“Lee Joon? What a strong name. We will raise him well. You may go now.” The leader said.

My uncle bowed and left the site as fast as he could. The leader looked at me and smiled. I started to cry as I felt my uncle getting farther and farther away. The leader patted my back and tried to stop my crying.

“Hush little one. There is no use crying now. You will forget him and all those that you used to know. You will never learn how to love.” The leader said. The four men that were dressed in black entered the fort and the door closed.

Outside it literally looked like a fort. But inside it looked like a palace. There were beautiful decorations and paintings. There were maids running around all over the place. Plus there were more men dressed in the black fabric. Some were even women.

One of the men dressed in the black fabric walked over to the leader and bowed. “Master Yang, the students in the training room are ready for your presence.” He explained.

“Ah, very good Leader Park. I want you to meet one of your future students. This is Lee Joon.” Master Yang said.

“Lee Joon that is a very strong name. Where did he come from master?” Leader Park asked.

“That is not an important issue at the moment. Let me see the students now.” Master Yang said.

“Of course Master. Follow me.” Leader Park said.

Leader Park led Master Yang into a room with a chair that was meant for a king. It was sitting on a balcony that could overlook the giant room. It was a training room. There were all kinds of weapons on one side and there was a giant mat on the wooden floor. The Master put me in one arm and nodded at Leader Park.

“Students fall in!” Leader Park yelled. Around twelve students showed up around the same time but in different ways. Some came out from hiding while others just showed up out of nowhere. I turned my head to look at all the students. Four of them were girls and the rest were boys. Out of curiousity I tried to reach out to them.

“That’s right Joon. One day you are going to be one of these students. You are going to be a great warrior. We will train you to be the top of your class. That is my personal goal.” Master Yang said.

The students basically fought each other to show off their individual skills. The fight was basically over when the other person was unconscious. They also had some requirements while fighting each other. You had to do so many dodges and use at least three different weapons. Once you have done that and taken out your partner then you have succeeded and you move up to the next class. You keep going up until you become a master. If that is not possible for the individual then they end up just being a leader.

As Master Yang watched all the students he was very pleased. “Very good Leader Park. You have trained your students well. I now know who to put Joon into the hands of.” He said.

“Master?” Leader Park asked.

“You are now responsible for training and taking care of Joon. I want you to treat him like one of your own kids. I know for you that might make it a little difficult since you have no spouse. But think of this as your test. Make him one of our greatest warriors.” Master Yang explained.

Master Yang handed me over to Leader Park. Leader Park seemed very nervous but he held me and looked back into Master Yang’s eyes. “I will try my best Master.” Leader Park said.

“Very good. I will now be leaving. Keep up the good work.” Master Yang said. He then stood up and left the room.

 That night Leader Park took care of me. Even though he didn’t have a wife or any kids of his own he did a really good job. He fed me often and changed my diapers. He was like a real father to me. But the one problem with that was that he didn’t know how to love. No one in this palace knew how to love. In fact, it was forbidden.

 

***

 

At the age of ten I was second from being at the top of my class. There was just one man standing in the way of me being the top of my class. His nickname was Bolt. He was called that because he was amazingly quick in everything he did.

We were all trained to fight. That was the main goal of the whole palace. We were warriors for secret missions and for war. We even had a military lifestyle. We had to keep our hair short and we had certain activities and training exercises that we had to do. Only we never fought with guns. We were taught that guns were for the weak. For the people who really cannot protect themselves. We had to use our hands as well as a few optional weapons. It was very old school.

Leader Park always told me that I had to train harder than all the other students. I had to be in the top class as soon as possible. He had too wanted me to grow into a very strong warrior. He kept on telling me how much he wanted me to be in the top of the class. He wanted me to be stronger than Bolt. For that to happen I was going to have to work all day and all night.

That is exactly what I ended up doing. I practiced my fighting style with Leader Park all day. Then at night I practiced using the different kinds of weapons that we had. I had gotten used to not sleeping at night. I pushed myself as hard as I could.

 

***

 

When I was twelve I chose to challenge Bolt. I wanted that first place so bad. If I succeeded in beating him then that first place spot was all mines. I would make Leader Park proud and Master Yang would be very satisfied with me.

On the floor Bolt and I bowed towards each other. Bolt put on a smirk when he looked at me. This was a big fight and everyone knew it. A bunch of people had shown up to see it. Leader Park told us to prepare. Bolt started to crack his knuckles while I shook my hands and got into my battle position. I was ready, or so I thought.

The flag rose starting the fight. Bolt smiled and charged towards me. He jumped up and threw a few kicks at me. I blocked them all. He landed and threw another kick as his foot landed on the mat. He hit me right in the chest. I flew backwards and tumbled once. I got back up right away. This time I charged at Bolt. I threw a few punches that he blocked. I just couldn’t get to him at all. I even threw in a round house kick and he still blocked it. I really had no idea how he did it.

He was pulling off a lot of moves that I never seen before. It was almost as if he was in a whole different class than me. But he and I have been in the same class the whole time. I just didn’t understand how he was beating me. I trained so hard for this.

It was a very intense fight for everyone. People who were watching were at the edge of their seats watching us. I got a few good hits in there but nothing that caused major damage. I was trying to remember all the strategies that Leader Park had taught me. I blocked with power and watched my enemy’s every moment. However that wasn’t enough.

Bolt jumped up and threw a kick right at my jaw. I fell to the ground and that was it for me. I was in so much pain that I couldn’t get up. I tapped out. The flag rose again ending the fight. I couldn’t show my face. I was so embarrassed that I lost. I felt as if I failed Leader Park. He had tried so hard to make me a better fighter.

Everyone left the battle floor and went back to what they were doing earlier. Master Yang stood up from his chair and walked all the way to the railing. He was watching me just lying there facing the floor. I didn’t want to show my face.

Leader Park walked right up to me. He knelt down and put one hand on my back. He didn’t say anything. He just sighed and kept his hand on my back. No one could tell but I was letting a few tears run down my face. I think that if anyone did see that I would get punished. Emotions were not to be shown at all.

Master Yang nodded and walked out of the room. While he was walking out he talked to his right hand man. His name was Ricky. “Ricky, what do you think of Joon?” He asked him.

“I think that he has a lot of potential. I just think that with me training Bolt there was no way that he would have won. He needs to train a lot more in order to catch up to Bolt.” Ricky explained.

“I want you to stop training Bolt for the time being. He is way too powerful for his age. Wait a few years and then train him again. I’m curious to see how much he will grow from now.” Master Yang explained.

Ricky was in shock from what he was hearing. He didn’t want to believe that Master Yang was telling him to stop training someone. But how could he disobey his master? “Yes Master. I will take it easy on Bolt from now on and until you give me the okay to train him again.” He explained.

“Thank you Ricky. Let’s go to the training area. That fight made me want to practice as well.” Master Yang said.

When I finally gained my composure again I stood up and wiped the blood that was coming from my lip. I was so angry now that I wanted revenge. I was going to train harder and harder until I became strong enough to take on Bolt again. That was my main goal. That is what I wanted to do.

"Joon, why don’t you go home and rest for the rest of the day. You are going to need it.” Leader Park said.

“No, I’m going to train some more.” I replied to him.

“Joon, you need to rest.” Leader Park said raising his voice.

“I’m sorry Leader Park but I have to go train.” I said.

“I’m not saying Joon. I am telling you to as an order.” Leader Park started to yell.

I shook my head and walked away. Leader Park cursed under his breath and just let me go. He figured that it was just a phase that was happening. But it wasn’t. That was the beginning of my rebellion.

Like I said earlier, we had certain activities that we had to do and certain training exercises that we had to practice. They were at certain times as well. I never went to those ever again after that one fight. I spent all my time training purely on what I remembered Bolt doing. I tried to find ways to make myself stronger and tried to predict my enemy’s next move more accurately. I over worked myself so much as time went by that eventually I felt no physical or emotional pain. I basically had no real soul.

 

***

 

It is now the present and I have the chance to prove myself again. During my time of rebellion I grew my hair out. It was dark brown and straight. It was long enough that my bangs covered my right eye. It was slightly laired too just so that it didn’t look too bad. I had a lot more masculine features and I was strong.

I was now twenty-five years old. I had advance three classes without even attending them. All I had to do was meet the fight requirements and win the battle basically. I could do all of that easily. I was in the top class now where you could become a Leader. If I passed the test then I could be the same ranking as Leader Park.

During my time of rebellion Master Yang observed me whenever he had free time. With the skills I had picked up on my own; I knew that he was there. There wasn’t a thing that I hadn’t learned on my own. At home Leader Park would tell me all the things that I would need to learn and then I learned them all on my own. Master Yang didn’t like me rebelling but he never stopped it. He let me get away with a lot.

In order to get into the next class which would basically give me the title Leader, I would have to fight Bolt all over again. He too had grown a lot stronger. Plus he already had the title of Leader. He had already gone on various missions outside the fort. He was very experienced.

Having the title of Leader meant that you gain a whole lot more of responsibilities. You had around three choices however. You could choose to work in the field which consisted of doing missions, and just spy work. That is what Bolt chose to do. Then there is the option of becoming a teacher for the upcoming students. That is what Leader Park chose to do. The last option is to just work on research. You had to think up of new weapons and new battle strategies. I had my eyes on field work.

“Lee Joon and Bolt please step forward.” Master Yang said as he sat on his chair looking down at us.

Bolt and I stepped forward. He still had that smile of confidence on his face. I remember when I first saw that smile. I thought it was nothing. But now I knew that it meant that he was confident. I was going to beat the smile off of that guy.

“Hey Joon, it really has been a long time. Are you ready to get your kicked again?” He asked me.

“Quiet now, I will be the judge of this match. When I feel like the battle has ended then I will call it. You both know the requirements. Just give it your all without killing the other man.” Master Yang explained to us.

We both looked up at him and nodded. Bolt and I faced each other after that and bowed. Leader Park had the flag in his hand. He looked at Bolt and me. I got into my fighting position just like I did in our last battle. Bolt smiled and got into position as well.

Leader Park raised the flag and that started our battle. Just like before Bolt charged at me first and tried to kick me. Instead of trying to block it I dodged it instead. I slid under him and got behind him. I got up quickly and kicked Bolt right in the back. Bolt fell forward but got up right away. He seemed a little surprised that I got behind him. He wasn’t going to take it easy on me anymore. That was exactly what I wanted.

He came after me again throwing a series of punches. I was able to block every single one of them. When Bolt stopped I took my opportunity. I hit him right in the chest and that caused him to stumble backwards. I then went after him with a series of punches. He blocked some but not all. I was able to hit him a few times. When he wasn’t paying attention I tried to kick him down but he jumped over my leg and headed to the weapon shelf.

He ended up grabbing a sword. He started to swing it around with some expertise. I backed up away from him but he went after me. I couldn’t attack him close range so I needed something that could reach him from a distance. I ran over to my weapon shelf and grabbed a long wooden stick. It was long enough for me to reach him without being close to the sword.

My stick was strong enough to hold up against his sword. We were attempting to hit each other back and forth. But with both of our blocking skills it was basically impossible. At one point Bolt got close enough as to where he raised the sword over his head and tried to slice me in half. I used my stick to block the hit. The sword cut halfway into the stick and was now stuck. Bolt could not get it out no matter what.

Eventually he ditched the sword and ran off to try and get another weapon. I put down the stick and easily pulled out the sword. I was now going to go into offense. Bolt grabbed a couple of nun chucks and started to swing them around. I attacked first with the sword but Bolt dodged it quite easily. He started to attempt to hit me with the nun chucks but I blocked them easily. I attacked again and managed to give Bolt a few cuts.

After a while I decided to ditch the sword. It wasn’t getting me anywhere. Bolt still had his nun chucks and was still trying to hit me with them. I decided to try a new approach. While He was swinging the nun chucks I got close enough to grab them and pull Bolt closer to me. As he got closer I kicked him right in the stomach. It was a hard kick too. When he fell down he had a hard time getting up. When he did I decided to finish this fight. I jumped up and kicked Bolt right in the jaw. He immediately fell and didn’t get back up.

Master Yang smiled and looked at Leader Park. That was his cue to end the fight. Leader Park raised the flag again ending the fight. I had accomplished what I wanted to do since I was twelve. It took me thirteen years to become the top of my class. Now I am happy and I have fulfilled my goal.

Master Yang now got up from his seat and walked over to the railing. “Congratulations Lee Joon. You have now entered the Leader class. Please come up here and see me immediately.” He said.

I was so happy that I ran up to where he was. There were a flight of stairs that I had to climb but with all of my adrenaline it was very easy for me. I arrived by his side in a minute. I bowed to him and he accepted it. He bowed back to me and smiled.

“Now it’s time to get you all settled in. First of all what category would you want to enter being a Leader?” Master Yang asked me.

“I want to go into field work Master.” I responded.

“I figured that you would say that. So I already prepared a mission for you.” Master Yang said.

“Already? Does that mean I have to get on it as soon as possible?” I asked him.

“Yes Joon. It must be completed as soon as possible. Remember that this is your first mission. Try to not mess it up.” Master Yang told me.

“Of course not Master. What is the mission?” I asked him.

“Okay, the mission is to capture a girl and bring her here as our hostage for now. We are going to hold her for a ransom. Then when we get the money we will get further instructions.” Master Yang said.

I was confused at first. Then I figured it out. “Master, were we hired to do this mission?” I asked him.

“Very good observation Joon. Yes we were. When the ransom money is collected we get to keep half of it. Then we will get instructions on what to do with the girl. Do you get the mission?” Master asked.

“Yes I do. What is the girl’s name and where is she?” I asked.

“Her name is Joo Samantha. She lives in California. So her name would actually be backwards for us. She would be under Samantha Joo. She is twenty-two years old.” Master Yang explained to me.

“Okay I got it.” I said.

“We will provide a picture of her for you and her usual day routines.” Master Yang said.

“Thank you Master. I won’t let you down.” I said.

 “I’m sure that you won’t. Go get prepared.” He said.

I nodded and bowed. I was excited that I was going to start my first mission. I killed two birds with one stone today. I went to my room to go pack all my things for the mission. I found a folder with all the information I needed on Samantha Joo. I opened the folder and I was surprised at what I found. Maybe this mission wasn’t going to be so easy after all.

 

A/N: So this is in Joon's POV obviously. Once the story really gets going on each scene there will be a POV for each person for the same occasion. Well how did you like the story so far? I hope you guys liked it. Please subscribe and leave comments. :) Ch. 2 is coming very soon. ;)