Home, as one might call it, was a peaceful place where you came to rest and recuperate. That was for some people. For others, it was a place of painful memories and people you hadn’t talked to or about in years. Perhaps for even others, home was a strange mix of comfort and discomfort that came when you’d grown up with people who knew you a little too well to forgive you.
For Jay, it was none of those things.
Alarms blared through a large complex that would have appeared to any 마없사 to be an old abandoned fortress of stone. Not that any 마없사 would have made it close enough to see it. It was well-hidden deep in the mountains and covered with layers of enchantment that would make it difficult for any wizards to find their way there. To the residents, however, it was preserved as the fortress it had always been, grand barricades, arrow slits for windows, tall and glorious and impenetrable. The furnishings were all clean and well-kept, but old in style, like the set of a historical movie. What was not at all “historical” were the insane levels of security wrapped around it. Every new generation had added new advanced spellwork meant to ward off (and for some kill) all but their own. Like the rings of a tree, the old and new spells layered atop each other dated the organization to be as old as Kogeuryo itself. No one was supposed to know it even existed, but that didn’t seem to stop it from being wary of any potential enemies.
Footsteps pounded through the hallways. It was an unfamiliar sound. No one here ever ran besides in the training areas. People shouted frantically in Korean, though it was hard to tell what it was they were saying as the words mingled with each other in a meaningless cacophony of sound. In the midst of all this, one voice was neither loud nor panicked.「何焦ってるんだ、このバカ野郎どもが。」(What are these stupid bastards being all panicked about?) The scathing words were spoken in one of the few rooms in the fortress that had been left undisturbed. With his back to the paper sheet that served as a door, 16 year old Jae-hyeong sat cross-legged in the middle of his room, calm as ever. He’d been back from Domchelys for vacation for just one week, and now this. It wasn’t like he’d been sleeping – it was the middle of the day for goodness’s sake – but the uncharacteristic hustle and bustle was annoying and unnecessary.
대어머니 was missing. No, she had been kidnapped. She had been out on an excursion when, just like that, she’d been rushed, her guards overcome, and away she’d been whisked, to who knew where. They had not received a ransom note. They had not received a challenge, and her beaten guards had no real information to give. They would be severely punished, but only once their venerated leader was recovered. The nameless children had been shoved into the dungeons and locked there so that they would be easier to control during the hubbub, while every child with a name and all the various teachers, mentors, and guards had been roused to help in the search. All but two and their attendants. No one was stupid enough to fuck with them, not even for this.
Through the shouts of outside, a quiet voice cut its way to Jay’s ears. “도련님. 마님 보러 오셨습니다요.” (Young master, the madam has come to see you.) Jay didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to, because he was not in such a position to allow or not allow his guest to enter his rooms. He simply turned around to face the door in time for it to be slid back to reveal a regal woman who was apparently as unperturbed by the proceedings as he was. The girl who had announced her was standing to one side of the door, eyes downcast and head slightly bent in a bow. Neither of them payed her any attention as Jay’s “mother” sat in front of him, crossing her legs the way he had. He met her eyes with an ever-defiant stare. That was what she liked about him, though, wasn’t it?
Foregoing greetings or any other semblance of polite formality, Yanai Tatsue went straight into the heart of the matter. 「 お前は女王様を探しに行け。分かるだろう？どうやって探しているのは。」 (Go search for the Queen. You know, right? How to find her.)
His upper lip curled in disgust.「 それは当然ですよ。」(Of course.) He snarled.「 しかし。」(However.) His voice was soft, but held as much barely contained disgust as his expression.「俺は何でそんなものをする必要がありますか？お前こそわかるはずです。俺は何をしても、あの人たちは死ぬに決まっています。」(Why is it necessary for me to do any such thing? You should know as well. No matter what I do, those people are dead.)
Tatsue actually threw back her head and laughed. 「 わが愛しき息子よ、誰を助けるために行けというわけがないよ。女王様を喜ばせるために行けということよ。お前がリードしないならあいつらは絶対に見つからないからだ。」 (Oh my beloved child, there’s no way I would tell you to go to save anyone. I’m telling you to go to make the Queen happy. Because if you don’t lead them, they’ll never find her.) She leaned closer to him and with a whisper of a scornful laugh commanded, 「 あのバカたちを教えろ、本当の力は何だろうと。」 (Go teach those idiots true power.)
Jay clicked his tongue at her. Actually clicked his tongue at her as if she were some wayward child. All the same, he stood and grumpily made his way to the door, slamming it open hard and startling the girl still standing beside it. He did not look at her or address her. Instead, he stomped out of the building out into one of the many courtyards, pulled his wand from its holster on his hip, and flicked it upwards. Two bolts of light shot out of it, one blue, one orange, (Expulso followed by Confringo) and burst in a deafening, fiery crack. In a room full of normal citizens, that kind of display might have caused scream, but there was no one here who would have that kind of reaction. The people close by stopped to stare, while others ran towards the source of the explosion. Pointing his wand upon himself, Jay muttered, “Sonorus.” A deep breath went in and came out roaring and echoing across the fortress, deafening the alarms. “이새끼드라!!” (HEY YOU FUCKERS) The complex went deathly silent, only the sounds of the alarms left.
Back in his room, Tatsue had poured herself some tea from a little whistling (literally whistling) teapot he owned. As expected of a magical teapot, it made whatever tea it felt like, though being an Asian magical teapot, every type had to be good to satisfy its own standards. She sipped her tea and chuckled quietly to herself, hearing his voice shake the building. She knew what would happen next, how he would round up every person in the building, force two to watch the nameless children, and demand the others bring the guards to him. She made herself comfortable, waving her spiky red wand casually to pull out some of his cushions and calling for her attendant to bring some snacks. The entire organization would line up at his feet as he’d stand in front of the seat 대어머니 occupied during formal announcements. They would all stand in the courtyard with their heads down while some of them would curse the half-Jap freak who had been shown such favoritism by the Japanese cur 대어머니 had chosen to succeed her. Then again, those foreigners had to stick together after all.
He knew. Of course Jay knew what they said about him. It was nothing new, and even if she knew how much he cared, he was good at pretending he didn’t. So he would let them mutter and whisper things to each other while he surveyed the four guards in front of him. Silence. Silence was a weapon Jay understood, just as striking and powerful as the explosions he’d sent up to grab their attention in the first place. She crunched a tasty little cookie, visualizing perfectly in her mind how he’d tower in front of them silently, letting the silence make everyone in the courtyard uneasy. The guards were tied down in chairs in front of him, and eventually those who had been whispering before would be silent as well. It was… oppressive as so few things were. He’d take a few steps back down to their level and raise his wand and a few would flinch. Their fear was warranted anyhow, because in the chilling silence his voice would carry even without the Sonorus charm. “Crucio.” He growled, pointing at the first guard.
Since becoming her charge a little over five years ago, she had trained Jay intensively in spellwork and martial arts, but he had never stopped his fascination with the three Unforgivable Curses. To this day, he could never make it to the second word in the Killing Curse, but somewhere along the way, he had mastered Crucio and Imperio. She would never tell him, but she knew why he could not finish Avada Kedavra. Inflicting pain, forcing someone to obey his will were means to an end – a better end, and he never took it too far. There was no better end in killing anyone. Tatsue still remembered the look on his face when she’d killed the bird the first day she’d met him. She hadn’t been completely certain, so when again she caught him attempting the spell in their stables, she had tested him again. The memory was still pleasantly vivid. The horror when she’d caught him changing to confusion as she’d simply smiled at him. She hadn’t yelled at him. Raising her own wand, she’d started, “Avad-” “뭐 하는거야!?” (What the hell are you doing?!) He had grabbed her arm and wrenched it down away from the animals. She’d seen it then, clear as day. With the bird, he’d been too shocked and confused. He’d been panicked, frantic, sick to his stomach. He would never be able to use that spell, no matter how well he wielded the other two. Foolish child. She drew lazy circles in the air with her wand, and leaned back casually.
Jay pressed his wand against the throat of the first guard. The silence he’d established earlier had held through the rest of the company and the only sounds in the courtyard were that of the other three guards whimpering from pain. He had seen it in this one’s eyes – sympathy. The other three had expressed things he was used to, but this one had not shown the hatred or scorn born of the fact that he was not truly one of them. The fool who thought he was being forced to do this by the “dictator” was the traitor. “대어머니는 어디야?” (Where is she?) He asked threateningly. No answer. He ground the tip of his wand into the hollow of the prisoner’s neck and he coughed painfully before Jay let up the pressure again. “어딘야교!” (Where is she!) His voice was uncharacteristically hoarse, he knew. It was rare that he had to use his voice like this, that was all.
Finally, the older man spoke, but not the way Jay had expected. 「自由になれないのか？君も囚人だろう？」(Don’t you want to be free? You’re also a prisoner, aren’t you?)
Jay narrowed his eyes, but did not flinch like he wanted to. 「君？誰がその呼びかたを使ってもいいと言ってんだ？日本人だから俺は油断すると思うのか？何もわからなければ、役に立たないんだ。早く言え。君の仲間たちはどこに企んでるんだ？」(You? Who said you could call me like that? Just because you’re Japanese you think I will take it easy on you? If you don’t know anything, you’re useless. Quickly speak. Where are your friends hiding?) He shifted his wand in his hand and firmly curled his fingers around the hilt so that he was holding it more like one might hold a knife. He drew back his hand and swung it forward harshly as if to stab the fool with it.
「教えるよ。」(I’ll tell you.) Jay paused. He wasn’t actually going to stab him with it. That risked breaking his precious wand, but then again, the traitor thought appealing to him in “his native language” was a good idea. He spat out an address and Jay sheathed his wand, ordering others to send a company to where they were holding her. His job done, he turned away, but the prisoner who had just doomed himself and all of his friends spoke one last time. It was a warning, not a threat.「俺たちの組織をなめてはいけないんだよ。」(You can’t underestimate our organization.)
Jae-hyeong turned back, his dark eyes cold. He crouched down in front of him and spoke quietly, but so that everyone could hear him anyways. Not all of the audience present could speak Japanese, but it certainly left a shiver down the other man’s spine.「俺は貴様らなめてはいないんだ。あの大切な君の組織、それで君自身は俺のおばあさん、俺たちの聖なる女王様をなめてやるんだ、やろう。生きてたまるか？」(I’m not underestimating you guys. Your precious organization, and you yourself are underestimating my grandmother – our sacred Queen. Bastard. Do you think you’re going to live?) And just like that, he turned and walked away. A few hours later, the lady known as the organization’s Great Mother would elegantly accept her escort home, leaving behind an entire building on fire. She would return to be received by her successor, Tatsue, to find their little traitor already dead, his body to be displayed there in the chair in the courtyard for the next three days.
(Original date written unknown as it is saved from a site no longer running.)