Chapter Text
The last thing Kyujin remembered before regaining consciousness was the horrifying sensation of freefall and the rushing river coming ever closer to her face. Water under the bridge. Then her world turned upside down as she was hauled out by her feet. The vague image of some blurry faces lingered in her mind but all she could recall was the golden insignia on their blazers. A handshake between a small, dainty hand; in contrast, it grasped a grotesque, deformed appendage with gnarled digits that could only be assumed as fingers.
Shaking her head, Kyujin took in her surroundings. She was sitting in a van, with two burly men in the front. "Excuse me," Kyujin began, voice cracking from nerves. "Do you know where we are headed?"
"Yer goin' to t'Incheon Rehab Facility fer Mut'nts," the one in the passenger seat answered gruffly. Fragments of blurred memories flashed through Kyujin's head. A group of girls subjected to a flurry of punches and kicks. A bridge getting smaller and smaller. Rage. Sadness. Bitterness. Revenge. Just what had she done?
The van pulled up outside a welcoming building. Kyujin had walked past the rehabilitation facility many times, innocent to the fact that her future self would soon be residing there. Moving to open the door, Kyujin realised that two strange bracelets adorned her wrists. By the time she had looked up from her hands, the door was already open and she was escorted through the entrance to the facility. Upon closer inspection, it seemed rather nice: clean and friendly with a cosy atmosphere. Behind the main desk was an amicable young woman with bright pink hair cut just above her shoulders.
"Hello," she greeted warmly. "You must be Kyujin." Here the corners of her mouth turned down slightly. "I've heard you've been sent here for some behaviour rectifying, following recent news of unjust use of your powers."
"But I don't exactly remember what happened," frowned Kyujin.
The woman picked up a stack of papers and shuffled them around until she found the one she needed. "Let's see. You engaged in physical violence against a number of your classmates at school."
A spark of recognition ignited. "They were my bullies," Kyujin forlornly recalled. "Wasn't it fair? I shouldn't have been sent here."
"Fair is foul and foul is fair," the woman recited with a sheepish grin. "Sorry, I'm a huge Shakespeare nerd, but that quote just about sums up the world today."
"Still," Kyujin pushed, "I really don't think I did anything wrong. They deserved it for what they did to me."
The woman sighed, clearly wanting the conversation to end. "Look sweetie, I'm just the receptionist. Sometimes life is unfair, things might happen that you don't deserve, but ultimately you just gotta work through it. You'll meet your guide through there." She gestured to a set of double doors on the right and went back to typing on her computer.
Kyujin gave a light shove and the door swung open easily. She looked back. "I don't really buy that, to be honest. I think you're something more. There's got to be more to you than this receptionist facade. It's like you don't even care that I've got my whole life ahead of me." She put one foot in the doorway and was about to walk through when the lady spoke.
"You're right, in a way. I'm not just a receptionist: I guess you could say I can't bear to see the spark of hope some possess going into here die." She sighed. "One way or another, you'll meet my girlfriend, Haewon. She'll take a while to warm up to you, so say you're a friend of Lily. That's me, by the way. And trust Bae, she's super friendly." Lily smiled, a genuine one, providing a blanket of comfort for Kyujin's growing worries as she stepped through the doors.
Kyujin lingered at the side of the corridor for a few seconds, before her gaze met a guard in the shadows, clearly not wanting to do his job. He sighed, stepped forward, and extended his hand. Kyujin accepted the offer and they firmly shook hands. The guard led Kyujin down the passage and turned left to a set of double doors.
"The cafeteria, where all you mutants go and eat twice a day," he droned monotonously, before ushering Kyujin out the room. "If you're good they'll let you have some time outside in the garden", he mumbled, seemingly to the walls. As they neared a junction, the guard abruptly stopped. "These are your apartments, as we call them. Just a warning, your roommates are dangerous. Don't interact with them, God knows what they're capable of, or why they put you in with them at all." Under his breath he muttered, "And I don't want to fill in more bloody paperwork." He motioned down the hallway. Kyujin followed him down the dank passage.
Guiding Kyujin to her block, upon first glance it seemed rather nice. Cosy and lived-in, it was filled with furniture and decorations. Kyujin reached her hand out to touch the window but felt her hand get yanked away. "Don't touch that," she heard the guard hiss as she saw the window flicker momentarily. Maybe that previous fall had done more damage than she thought.
She was roughly pushed inside and she gasped. Not an inviting bedroom awaited her, but a bare-boned cell. Damp, cold, dark. Two girls sat on the floor in front of her, wearing ragged clothes, worn and torn. Kyujin bowed deeply, unsure of how to introduce herself. "I-I'm Kyujin..." she stammered. Four hollow eyes looked up at her.
"Great," the less dishevelled looking one spat. She had long, jet-black hair, with a young-looking yet serious face. "Another naïve youngster who thinks they can break free from the constraints society has imposed on us. You've spent your whole life watching shadows: it's time to face the light." Kyujin was shocked, fully expecting the facility to be a beneficial institution, and the inmates to at least act civil towards her.
Her initial thoughts were half-proven when the other girl spoke up. "Don't mind her, she's Haewon. She gets grumpy when she hasn't had her morning iced Americano. I'm Jiwoo." She flashed a bright smile, clearly unfitting of her surroundings. Her hair was light brown, a little unkempt but tied up in a loose plait. Kyujin noticed her hands were shackled to the wall and remembered the alien piece of technology around her own wrists, the light blinking rapidly.
"What are these?" she asked, motioning to the strange devices around her wrists.
"Power limiters," Haewon replied curtly. "They don't want you doing anything stupid."
Kyujin shuffled her feet, unsure what to do with this new information. She backed into the wall and slowly sat down. "So what are your powers?"
"She's got super intelligence," Jiwoo answered. "But I guess knowing everything puts her in a bad mood," she added, a mischievous grin spreading across her round face. This made sense, Haewon seemed like she was very knowledgeable, but whether she would divulge her secrets to Kyujin was another story. "Mine's dangerous," Jiwoo pouted. "I can't touch anything." Kyujin followed Jiwoo's gaze to her hands. Her fingertips were a deep purple, and her hands covered with indigo streaks, like the power had seeped into her bloodstream. "They haven't found a way to limit it yet, I guess it's just too strong." Jiwoo brightened up soon after. "What's yours?" she asked.
"It's super invulnerability," Kyujin shrugged. "It doesn't really come in handy often I guess, but it's cool alright." There was no answer: Jiwoo seemed lost in thought, her face scrunching up cutely like a puppy sniffing a bad scent.
A tinny voice crackled to life in the top corner of the cell, interrupting Jiwoo's train of thought. "00-71W00, report to the training room." The door slammed open and two guards rushed in, unshackling Jiwoo.
"Hands behind your back," they ordered, roughly grabbing each of Jiwoo's arms and hustling her out the cell.
Turning to Haewon, Kyujin couldn't help but ask, "What are they doing?"
Haewon smirked. "Training. You'll find out soon enough what that entails. It's even customised to suit each of our powers." Kyujin fell back into a reverie, twiddling her hair. "You and Jiwoo are just kids," Haewon sighed. "You don't exactly deserve this."
Kyujin looked up. "That's not what Lily said," she frowned.
"Lily?" Haewon exclaimed gruffly. "So you talked to her."
Kyujin laughed nervously. "I kinda forgot to mention her at the start. She told me to introduce myself as her friend when I met you."
"What'd she say?" Haewon inquired.
"Actually," Kyujin began. "She seemed rather pessimistic about my situation. She told me that I can't change what is predestined, that I have to push on. I guess I was expecting her to be the bubbly, happy-go-lucky type."
"Well, you know what they say. Don't judge a book by it's cover." Haewon barked out a laugh. "You probably thought that because of her pink hair. Well, she's the type to believe everything happens for a reason. Don't take her words too seriously, kiddo. She's just trying to help you feel better about being here." Haewon added, in a whisper, "And she's sick of being a receptionist. Sometimes, I get the feeling she'd get caught just to be with us here in this hellhole, she's that reckless." Haewon sighed, "I tell her as much as I can about this place, yet she still thinks she can help."
An hour passed with Haewon and Kyujin engaging in awkward small talk. Kyujin found that Haewon met Lily at a café when they were in university, their relationship blossoming and growing. Even when Haewon was framed for orchestrating a theft, Lily stuck by her side. Kyujin also learnt that Jiwoo enjoyed having her hair braided, since if she tried to do it herself, her hair would be destroyed. Jiwoo's power sent deep indigo streaks into anything her fingertips made contact, the target then freezing as the purple took over, eventually crumbling into nothing but a pile of powder.
"Why did you end up in here? I mean, I'd like to know why there are so many of us in here. What have we done for the government to treat us like animals?" Kyujin's curiosity got the better of her.
"Fucking government," Haewon spat. "Deluding the whole of Korea into thinking they're the good guys for letting us have basic rights."
All her life Kyujin had never thought of it this way, remaining innocent to what happened behind the well-constructed facade.
Haewon spoke again, with an ominous tone lacing her words. "You don't know what awaits you here. I was sent here for a crime I did not commit. Of course they framed me, the only mutant present at the scene."
"What did you do, no," Kyujin stopped herself mid-sentence. "What did they think you did?"
"Geez kiddo, you really ask a lot of questions," Haewon grumbled.
"There's plenty more where they came from," chirped Kyujin, and Haewon had no choice but to attempt to satiate the younger's desire to know.
"I was at a café on a date with Lily," Haewon gave in to Kyujin's demands. "Small one – kind of sketchy, mind you. We were broke uni students at the time. Of course, it being in the shady areas of the city means no CCTV and lots of robberies. Some punk came in, smashed the windows down and stole all the cash. Cops blamed it on me, being the only mutant there. Dunno why though, my power's not anything physical. But Lily's the love of my life. Still loved me, even when I was arrested. She didn't believe I was guilty, yet here I am." Haewon laughed dryly.
She paused for a second, then started again. "How old are you, seeming as you've just arrived?"
Kyujin replied, "I'm seventeen."
Haewon seemed to deeply think for a short while, her chin resting in the palm of her hand.
"Jiwoo's round about the same age as you," Haewon mused. "She'd really like it if you braided her hair," Haewon added as an afterthought. "Can't do it herself, of course."
Kyujin met Haewon's gaze, the unspoken question burning in her eyes.
Haewon sighed, and began to explain: "You've seen Jiwoo's hands, I'm sure. When she makes contact with anything, the purple spreads from her fingertips, freezing the object until it eventually dissipates into ash. Not really the best way to describe it, but you'll see it in action someday. Of course," Haewon said gravely, "she seldom uses it. Not when it has a dire effect on her psyche."
Kyujin tilted her head inquisitively.
"Poor child, killed everyone she loved with nothing but a touch," Haewon whispered sympathetically. "Dunno if it's my story to tell though."
"That's horrible," Kyujin replied, in hushed tones.
Haewon's eyes were now glazed with a light pink. "She's never stopped loving, though. Jiwoo's the sun in this deep abyss."
Without warning, Kyujin's power limiters began to flash yellow. "What does this mean?" she inquired.
"Don't worry your pretty face about it," Haewon mumbled. "Just means they're increasing it."
Kyujin immediately felt tired, like something was siphoning her own vigour and energy out of her. "It feels weird," she whispered.
Haewon laughed without humour. "Get used to it. You'll be in here for an indefinite amount of time. Even that's something I don't know."
The two sat in uncomfortable silence until suddenly Haewon looked up. "The time's 09:57. 2 minutes till they dump Jiwoo back in here," she muttered. True to her word, the cell door soon creaked open and a limp Jiwoo was thrown in, her body drained of energy; yet her eyes were closed, and Kyujin thought that maybe, the raging storm of guilt and anger that Jiwoo hid inside her had quietened for now.
Haewon spoke. "Welcome to the facility."