Author's Note: Since both Russian and Japanese are used in this chapter, I've indicated what the languages are and also their translations. I chose not to use the Slavic alphabet, however, just to show how Way mispronounces the words. Also, I was dead tired when I wrote this, so pardon any errors. ^_^^_^_^_^ Also, I used google translate, so don't trust anything!!! Hahaha

Chapter 4

Four years later…

*          *          *

            “Repeat after me, Minseon.  Gde klyuch ( [Russian] Where is the key)?  Say it, Minseon.  Hurry.”

            “Geude…”  Minseon stared at her instructor with wide, fearful eyes.  Her little body was tense in her wooden desk.  Sitting in the desk beside her, Minjin gave an encouraging grin and nodded confidently.

            “Say it, Minseon,” the instructor repeated with his thick Russian accent.

            “Geude…keuryucheu?”

            “Net (No)!”  The instructor slammed Minseon’s Russian textbook onto her desk and began to pace back and forth in front of her.  “You have to get these sounds down!  Didn’t you learn anything from your English lessons?”

            “We spent only three months learning English, Professor Altukhov,” Minjin interrupted suddenly.  Her weary eyes scanned him crossly.  “And all they had us learn were silly phrases like this.  We barely touched grammar or pronunciation.  Don’t get on Minseon’s case.”

            Professor Altukhov’s fiery eyes fell upon Minjin, and he rushed up to her desk.  “How dare you talk to me like that?  Don’t make excuses for your sister’s failure.”

            Minjin leaned back in her desk and looked over at a nervous Minseon.  “Hey, Minseon-ah.  我々は、この愚か者に耳を傾ける必要はありません。( [Japanese] We don’t need to listen to this fool).

            “…Unnie,” Minseon whispered, her eyes flickering back and forth from her sister and her instructor.

            “What did you just say?” Professor Altukhov asked.  “Don’t speak in a language I can’t understand.”

            “あなたは知らないのですか (Don’t you know)?” Minjin continued with a sly smile on her face.  “私たちはどんな瞬間に地面に彼を投げることができます。(We could throw him on the ground at any moment).”

            “Stop it!”  The professor banged his fists onto Minjin’s desk, interrupting her devilish confidence for only a moment.  “I told you to speak only in Korean or Russian in this class.  Don’t speak any other language!”

            “You should have brushed up on your Japanese skills, Professor,” Minjin sighed jadedly.  “By the way, your Korean pronunciation isn’t even very good.”

            “How dare you!”  

            “Unnie!”  Minseon watched in horror as Professor Altukhov firmly grasped Minjin’s arm and yanked her out of her desk.  She tripped onto the floor, still a victim of the professor’s unyielding grip.

            “Vy khotite igrat' v igry ( [Russian] Do you want to play games?” the professor questioned through gritted teeth.  “My mozhem igrat' v igry (We can play games).  Komnata izolyatsiya dlya vas (It’s the isolation room for you).”

            “No, Professor!” Minseon cried, rushing out of her desk and taking Minjin’s free hand.  “Please, don’t put her in there!”

            “Go away, Minseon,” Professor Altukhov ordered swiftly, pulling Minjin up from the ground.  “I’ll be back to finish your lesson.  Stay here and practice your pronunciation, or else you’ll end up like your sister.”

            “Minseon-ah,” Minjin whispered, attempting to conjure a smile on her frustrated face.  “ちょうど彼が言う何をすべきか。( [Japanese] Just do what he says).  私はすぐに戻ってきます (I’ll be back soon).”

            “Unnie, I’m sorry,” Minseon sniffled.  Even as Minjin’s hand slipped out of Minseon’s grasp, she held her hand out to her sister.  Every moment they were apart was a moment full of dread and uncertainty.  “Geude….keuryucheu.  Kryuch!  Keullyuch!”

*          *          *

            “You think you’re so clever, Minjin,” Professor Altukhov snickered, leading her through a dark, white hallway.  “Maybe you can rethink your life choices in isolation.  And practice your Russian while you’re in there.”

            They reached a door at the very end of the hallway, and Professor Altukhov entered a code into the keypad on the wall beside it.  The door opened to reveal a small room with white padded walls and a yellow laminate floor.  With one, relentless shove, the professor pushed Minjin in the room and closed the door.

            “Naslazhdaytes' etim, vreditelya ( [Russian] Enjoy it, pest).”

            Minjin sat on the floor of the isolation room and listened carefully to the professor’s steps as he left.  She had only been sent here on one other occasion, and that was also because she was defending Minseon.  Minseon had become more submissive with every year at this place, but Minjin only felt frustration growing within her.  Minjin knew her sister felt guilty when she got in trouble for her, but she couldn’t help but feel angry with the staff of this prestigious academy.

            Whenever they would go home for the summer, their friends would talk about learning arts and simple math.  But Minjin and Minseon hadn’t been taught anything related to art in the four years they had attended the Comet Academy.  Mr. Lee claimed that the martial arts were better than creative arts, but Minjin couldn’t accept such a claim.

            The only math they had learned in their time here had been complicated equations concerning specific technology and the occasional geometry lesson.  Whenever Minjin would bring up the sharp differences in her peers’ education compared to her own, Ms. Ko would insist that they were “special children who didn’t need to waste time with trivial knowledge.”

            Minjin closed her eyes, tired of staring at the bright, yellow floor.  But as her eyes closed, tears began to fall down her cheeks.  She held her breath, eager to keep herself from crying.  Images of her parents flashed into her mind.  She hadn’t seen them in eight months now since she returned to the academy for the fall.  It was becoming more and more difficult to remember what their voices sounded like, what their clothes smelled like. 

            Her stifled cries became quiet whimpers, and she became even more frustrated with herself.  She didn’t want to be weak, she didn’t want to expose her fear and misery.  But this was the only place she could really do it.  In every other part of this school, Mr. Lee, or another teacher, would quickly scold her for being so soft.  She was being trained as an elite member of the South Korean society.  She couldn’t show limitations in her character.

            But was this really what they were being trained for?  What great businesswoman in Korea was known for her her martial arts skill?  And why would one woman need to learn over five languages to be successful?  A profitable woman could surely just hire as many translators as she needed.

            Whether or not this school was for the elite, Minjin knew that she and her sister couldn’t stay here any longer.  As soon as they returned home this summer, they had to beg their parents to be taken out of here.  This place was unbearable.

            “That you are happy now, this is what I will send to you.”

            Minjin looked up at the door as a singing voice drew near.  She scooted up to the door and placed her hands on the cold metal.

            “Youngbin oppa?” she called shakily.

            “That you are happy now, this is what I will send to you.”

            A smile formed on her teary lips as she forced a melody out of her lungs.  “To this person, you should be just as happy as…”

            “…how many tears I shed,” he finished on the other side of the door.  “Do you remember the melody?”

            “Yes, oppa,” she sighed, resting her head on the door.  “Thank you for visiting me again…I remember the melody.”

            “Sing it then.”

            “That you are happy now, this is what I will send to you.  To this person, you should be just as happy as how many tears I shed.”

Author's note: The song that Choa and Youngbin sing is "Love and Memory" by g.o.d., which came out in 2000.  This chapter takes place in 2001, so it was a fairly relavent song, considering it was also g.o.d.'s debut song.

I'm VERY inspired to make occassional chapters shooting forward into the future with Crayon Pop, showing how Choa and Way remember these certain experiences. However, attempting to do that could be either disastrous or incredible. Let me know what you think. Maybe I'll just wait till the end to try something like that.