Hero to Heroic
Dec. 29th, 2011 10:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wonderlifeAuthor Nichole
Word Count 1,978
Rated PG-13
Summary Chan-wook teaches his kids because he wants them to survive when he's gone
Author's Note The first, second, and third generations are here.
01. Hero
Chan-wook takes the unwanted and broken children of the world. He takes them because they need him; maybe, he needs them too. Chan-wook teaches the children everything he knows, because he wants them to survive when he’s gone.
He does his job, because all but one live on after him. All but one remembers him years after he’s gone.
02. Fraud
Jin tells everyone he’s from Hong Kong – he was born in Beijing. He tells everyone that a wealthy aunt from Tokyo is helping pay his way through university and medical school – that’s partly true.
When Eddie and Aoi visit him, he tells his neighbors that Eddie’s his half-brother and Aoi is Eddie’s wife. Jin leaves out the bits about Chan-wook, gambling, and the fact that his so-called siblings are all damaged. He tells people his siblings are in “business” and “public relations”.
03. Junkie
Mason drinks a lot after Ling’er. He drinks to forget. Eddie tells him he’s turning into someone Eddie doesn’t like. Still, Mason keeps drinking.
He drinks and he stalks the apartment of his “mystery woman” until she begs him to leave; Mason goes back to drinking and stalking a few days later. Mason drinks for a long time, until his “mystery woman” asks him to stop.
He retakes up smoking.
04. Saint
Ling’er smiles always. She is never sad or angry, because she much prefers being playful to being annoyed. She tells whoever will listen that nothing ruins a day more than an argument.
When Chan-wook disappears on her, Ling’er isn’t the least bit upset. She thinks it’s alright that he’s left, because he’s going where he wants to be. When it comes out that Jin is in love with her, and that’s why he’s pushing for her to leave Korea, she isn’t disgusted or angry. Ling’er tells him that it’s alright that he loves her like that, because he’s a kind man and, “It’s wonderful to be loved. Thank you.”
She holds no ill will toward anyone; even if many of them play a role in her death. And just before she dies, she tells someone;
“I forgive you.”
Somehow, it’s like being blessed.
05.
Kaori knows she’s not a good person. She becomes jealous of Takara; embarrassed by her as well. Kaori’s love for Chan-wook makes her annoyed, so she treats him badly. Kaori sends Takara to Chan-wook thinking, well, she’s never quite sure why she sends Takara to Chan-wook. All she knows is that it makes her more annoyed and jealous.
As a Hostess, Kaori has many men wrapped around her little finger. She accepts her gifts, but never their love. Kaori twists their views for her own goals and needs, until she’s sure that they are just the hollow shells of the men they once were.
She does this all with a smile.
06. Martyr
Takara refuses to take her pills; she likes the voices. No, it’s not that she likes the voices; it’s that the voices make her feel less alone. When Chan-wook comes, she refuses to take the pills, because Chan-wook makes her better.
Chan-wook does all sorts of bad things, and Takara lets him; because, he takes care of her. He’s Chan-wook and nothing he does is wrong. She lives from the age of seventeen until the age of twenty-two telling Kaori that Chan-wook is a good man. Takara says it so much, that Chan-wook starts to believe her.
It isn’t until the end that Takara thinks – just for the briefest of seconds – that maybe she was wrong.
07. Murder
Jiro has never liked violence. He’s always detested raised voices and blood. Yet, he is the one that ends up killing the most people; he kills nine men in the span of five years. The first he kills to protect Taka . . . the other eight are killed for simply being in the way. Jiro becomes someone he doesn’t know.
Maybe it’s because he doesn’t know himself that everyone leaves him.
08. Guilty
Eddie starts it out all wrong and he knows it. First he’s a punk in a street gang. Then, he’s a gambler and thief. A borderline alcoholic womanizer, that’s Gu Eddie. He changes, of course. He grows up a bit and stops drinking so much. After the “incident”, he even gives up on women.
Eddie keeps gambling, though. He likes that, as it may just be the only thing he’s actually good at. Eddie often wonders why is it that he’s only good at the illegal things and horrible at the legal things.
He thinks it must have something to do with fate . . . or something.
09. Lover
Ji Sung loves one girl in his whole life. It’s rather awkward and shorter than they’d like, but Ji Sung and the girl make a go of it. The pair holds hands a lot, and she often kisses his cheek with a sly little grin. For the first time in his whole life, Ji Sung feels loved.
He thinks he loves this strange; beautiful, silly girl is perfect. The sleep together on his bed and Ji Sung wishes the world would stop turning, if only so she wouldn’t leave him.
When she does leave him, Ji Sung follows after her. Because. . .
he loves her.
10. Lost
Taka does not understand many things about emotions. She knows what they are, but she does not know if she feels them in the same way that others do. That’s why she keeps her Wall of Words. For her to understand. Without the wall of Words, she would be unsure.
Taka knows that she loves, but somehow she’s unsure just how much she loves the people around her. In the end, she knows that Jiro is better; that Chan-wook is a good father; and that her other siblings are very important to her.
She gets confused sometimes, but in the end . . . the Wall helps Taka comprehend her world.
11. Missing
Yuri leaves her home in a wedding dress, though she doesn’t tell anyone that she is leaving. She gets into a car and drives away with a man simply called Mason. They don’t elope, they just go off together. Apparently, his family isn’t big of marriage – mostly because none of them ever use their real names.
Yuri’s family reports her missing a few days later. She thinks about calling them, but never gets around to it. Besides, she knows they’ll tell her to come home. But, she can’t, because time is so short.
She’d rather be missing from their world than let Mason be alone in his.
12. Innocence
Zen’s the second youngest of Eddie and Aoi’s children; they found her in Thailand, though Eddie thinks Zen’s Japanese – Zen it’s sure where she was born. She’s tiny and cheeky, and all together adorable. They called her Zen, but really she’s not all that cool. Zen’s too pure to be cool.
Zen plays with dolls, even when she’s twenty. She likes to bake cookies and enjoys stealing food off of people’s plates. When asked what it is her family does, Zen tells them;
“They play games with people.”
No one’s sure if she’s been cheeky or if she really doesn’t understand what they do. Somehow, people think it’s a bit of both.
13. Liar
Sato is the oldest of Eddie and Aoi’s children; Japanese by birth. He’s slick and ready for a good game of poker or a clever con. Of course, like all the men in his family, he’s got another side to him; he’s. .. almost kind.
Sato says he’s a bastard, that he’s no good.
When Eddie told him that he could live with them, Sato refused to leave his friend behind.
Sato says he doesn’t truly care about anyone else.
When people make fun of his siblings, he fights back, until his knuckles bleed.
Sato says he’s a terrible person.
When someone leaves or gets hurt, Sato secretly cries.
14. Blind
Sakura cried blood once. She doesn’t remember it, but she remembers what happened after. Losing the memories slowly; forgetting what things and people look like. She doesn’t see anymore.
Well, maybe she sees a little. She can tell when people lie rather easily. And, she’s rather good at getting to the heart of the matter.
“The rest of the world is blind. It’s the blind that actually see the real world.” Aoi tells Sakura. Sakura thinks its cliché, but she’s always liked clichés.
15. Light
Haru isn’t like other people. He’s special and unique; quiet and childlike. Aoi decides they should call him Haru, because he’s like sunshine. He stays with Eddie and Aoi forever, but they never have him do they gambling bits, because they see him as too innocent to do that sort of thing.
Haru’s their own private sunshine, and they don’t want to make it go away. They don’t want Haru to become a storm.
16. Found
Bo Ra is the second oldest of Aoi and Eddie. She’s Korean, though she never seems to know what’s being said when the family speaks her language; she blames it on bad accents and her own flighty-ness.
Bo Ra tells people that when she saw her family, she knew that they were the ones for her. She’d be happy with them. They were like her, that strange group. So, of course she’d go to them.
Bo Ra thinks she’s better off with her family; she’s glad she saw them that day.
17. Thief
Gun can get anything he wants: money, jewels, even girls. He’s wonderfully talented at what he does. Eddie says he’s a natural and the job. Gun thinks there are a couple of things even he can’t get no matter how hard he tries.
Gun says he’s going to hone his skills until he’s able to get everything he wants. He’ll become one of the greats, like Eddie and Chan-wook. That’s what Gun says, anyway.
18. Hurt
Mieko is born really quickly; she’s delivered in the middle of a department store. No one knew she would come so fast, but she did. Mieko comes out a bit different then she should have, but no one ever cared.
Her mother thought she was beautiful; her father said women with scars or disabilities were perfect. These words always made Mieko happy. She thought that being beautiful and perfect meant that being different didn’t matter.
Mieko thinks that like her cousins Haru or Sakura, she’s special too. Maybe her whole family is special, that’s why they found each other.
19. Truth
Ryu-Min is quiet. Her father says she’s like her Aunt Taka in that way. Ryu-Min thinks she’s just different.
Ryu-Min thinks that her differences make her all right; her cousin Gun agrees. Her brother’s not so sure. Either way, people can always count on Ryu-Min to tell them what’s what and why it’s so.
For example, everyone she knows fits together because they’re all the same: Unwanted by everyone else, but needed by each other.
20. Heroic
Ryu-Jin does everything that no one else wants to do. He does all the dirty jobs, because he feels he owes it to the world; starting with that old fool Geum Chan-wook, who took it all those kids so many years ago. So, he takes up the mantel of being a gambler and a con artist.
He learns everything his aunts, father, and uncles will teach him; because he wants to carry on after they’re gone. He does his job; he wants to live long after them and carry on the family.
He wants to be just like Geum Chan-wook, his grandfather and hero.
He will be, in more ways than one.
Word Count 1,978
Rated PG-13
Summary Chan-wook teaches his kids because he wants them to survive when he's gone
Author's Note The first, second, and third generations are here.
01. Hero
Chan-wook takes the unwanted and broken children of the world. He takes them because they need him; maybe, he needs them too. Chan-wook teaches the children everything he knows, because he wants them to survive when he’s gone.
He does his job, because all but one live on after him. All but one remembers him years after he’s gone.
02. Fraud
Jin tells everyone he’s from Hong Kong – he was born in Beijing. He tells everyone that a wealthy aunt from Tokyo is helping pay his way through university and medical school – that’s partly true.
When Eddie and Aoi visit him, he tells his neighbors that Eddie’s his half-brother and Aoi is Eddie’s wife. Jin leaves out the bits about Chan-wook, gambling, and the fact that his so-called siblings are all damaged. He tells people his siblings are in “business” and “public relations”.
03. Junkie
Mason drinks a lot after Ling’er. He drinks to forget. Eddie tells him he’s turning into someone Eddie doesn’t like. Still, Mason keeps drinking.
He drinks and he stalks the apartment of his “mystery woman” until she begs him to leave; Mason goes back to drinking and stalking a few days later. Mason drinks for a long time, until his “mystery woman” asks him to stop.
He retakes up smoking.
04. Saint
Ling’er smiles always. She is never sad or angry, because she much prefers being playful to being annoyed. She tells whoever will listen that nothing ruins a day more than an argument.
When Chan-wook disappears on her, Ling’er isn’t the least bit upset. She thinks it’s alright that he’s left, because he’s going where he wants to be. When it comes out that Jin is in love with her, and that’s why he’s pushing for her to leave Korea, she isn’t disgusted or angry. Ling’er tells him that it’s alright that he loves her like that, because he’s a kind man and, “It’s wonderful to be loved. Thank you.”
She holds no ill will toward anyone; even if many of them play a role in her death. And just before she dies, she tells someone;
“I forgive you.”
Somehow, it’s like being blessed.
05.
Kaori knows she’s not a good person. She becomes jealous of Takara; embarrassed by her as well. Kaori’s love for Chan-wook makes her annoyed, so she treats him badly. Kaori sends Takara to Chan-wook thinking, well, she’s never quite sure why she sends Takara to Chan-wook. All she knows is that it makes her more annoyed and jealous.
As a Hostess, Kaori has many men wrapped around her little finger. She accepts her gifts, but never their love. Kaori twists their views for her own goals and needs, until she’s sure that they are just the hollow shells of the men they once were.
She does this all with a smile.
06. Martyr
Takara refuses to take her pills; she likes the voices. No, it’s not that she likes the voices; it’s that the voices make her feel less alone. When Chan-wook comes, she refuses to take the pills, because Chan-wook makes her better.
Chan-wook does all sorts of bad things, and Takara lets him; because, he takes care of her. He’s Chan-wook and nothing he does is wrong. She lives from the age of seventeen until the age of twenty-two telling Kaori that Chan-wook is a good man. Takara says it so much, that Chan-wook starts to believe her.
It isn’t until the end that Takara thinks – just for the briefest of seconds – that maybe she was wrong.
07. Murder
Jiro has never liked violence. He’s always detested raised voices and blood. Yet, he is the one that ends up killing the most people; he kills nine men in the span of five years. The first he kills to protect Taka . . . the other eight are killed for simply being in the way. Jiro becomes someone he doesn’t know.
Maybe it’s because he doesn’t know himself that everyone leaves him.
08. Guilty
Eddie starts it out all wrong and he knows it. First he’s a punk in a street gang. Then, he’s a gambler and thief. A borderline alcoholic womanizer, that’s Gu Eddie. He changes, of course. He grows up a bit and stops drinking so much. After the “incident”, he even gives up on women.
Eddie keeps gambling, though. He likes that, as it may just be the only thing he’s actually good at. Eddie often wonders why is it that he’s only good at the illegal things and horrible at the legal things.
He thinks it must have something to do with fate . . . or something.
09. Lover
Ji Sung loves one girl in his whole life. It’s rather awkward and shorter than they’d like, but Ji Sung and the girl make a go of it. The pair holds hands a lot, and she often kisses his cheek with a sly little grin. For the first time in his whole life, Ji Sung feels loved.
He thinks he loves this strange; beautiful, silly girl is perfect. The sleep together on his bed and Ji Sung wishes the world would stop turning, if only so she wouldn’t leave him.
When she does leave him, Ji Sung follows after her. Because. . .
he loves her.
10. Lost
Taka does not understand many things about emotions. She knows what they are, but she does not know if she feels them in the same way that others do. That’s why she keeps her Wall of Words. For her to understand. Without the wall of Words, she would be unsure.
Taka knows that she loves, but somehow she’s unsure just how much she loves the people around her. In the end, she knows that Jiro is better; that Chan-wook is a good father; and that her other siblings are very important to her.
She gets confused sometimes, but in the end . . . the Wall helps Taka comprehend her world.
11. Missing
Yuri leaves her home in a wedding dress, though she doesn’t tell anyone that she is leaving. She gets into a car and drives away with a man simply called Mason. They don’t elope, they just go off together. Apparently, his family isn’t big of marriage – mostly because none of them ever use their real names.
Yuri’s family reports her missing a few days later. She thinks about calling them, but never gets around to it. Besides, she knows they’ll tell her to come home. But, she can’t, because time is so short.
She’d rather be missing from their world than let Mason be alone in his.
12. Innocence
Zen’s the second youngest of Eddie and Aoi’s children; they found her in Thailand, though Eddie thinks Zen’s Japanese – Zen it’s sure where she was born. She’s tiny and cheeky, and all together adorable. They called her Zen, but really she’s not all that cool. Zen’s too pure to be cool.
Zen plays with dolls, even when she’s twenty. She likes to bake cookies and enjoys stealing food off of people’s plates. When asked what it is her family does, Zen tells them;
“They play games with people.”
No one’s sure if she’s been cheeky or if she really doesn’t understand what they do. Somehow, people think it’s a bit of both.
13. Liar
Sato is the oldest of Eddie and Aoi’s children; Japanese by birth. He’s slick and ready for a good game of poker or a clever con. Of course, like all the men in his family, he’s got another side to him; he’s. .. almost kind.
Sato says he’s a bastard, that he’s no good.
When Eddie told him that he could live with them, Sato refused to leave his friend behind.
Sato says he doesn’t truly care about anyone else.
When people make fun of his siblings, he fights back, until his knuckles bleed.
Sato says he’s a terrible person.
When someone leaves or gets hurt, Sato secretly cries.
14. Blind
Sakura cried blood once. She doesn’t remember it, but she remembers what happened after. Losing the memories slowly; forgetting what things and people look like. She doesn’t see anymore.
Well, maybe she sees a little. She can tell when people lie rather easily. And, she’s rather good at getting to the heart of the matter.
“The rest of the world is blind. It’s the blind that actually see the real world.” Aoi tells Sakura. Sakura thinks its cliché, but she’s always liked clichés.
15. Light
Haru isn’t like other people. He’s special and unique; quiet and childlike. Aoi decides they should call him Haru, because he’s like sunshine. He stays with Eddie and Aoi forever, but they never have him do they gambling bits, because they see him as too innocent to do that sort of thing.
Haru’s their own private sunshine, and they don’t want to make it go away. They don’t want Haru to become a storm.
16. Found
Bo Ra is the second oldest of Aoi and Eddie. She’s Korean, though she never seems to know what’s being said when the family speaks her language; she blames it on bad accents and her own flighty-ness.
Bo Ra tells people that when she saw her family, she knew that they were the ones for her. She’d be happy with them. They were like her, that strange group. So, of course she’d go to them.
Bo Ra thinks she’s better off with her family; she’s glad she saw them that day.
17. Thief
Gun can get anything he wants: money, jewels, even girls. He’s wonderfully talented at what he does. Eddie says he’s a natural and the job. Gun thinks there are a couple of things even he can’t get no matter how hard he tries.
Gun says he’s going to hone his skills until he’s able to get everything he wants. He’ll become one of the greats, like Eddie and Chan-wook. That’s what Gun says, anyway.
18. Hurt
Mieko is born really quickly; she’s delivered in the middle of a department store. No one knew she would come so fast, but she did. Mieko comes out a bit different then she should have, but no one ever cared.
Her mother thought she was beautiful; her father said women with scars or disabilities were perfect. These words always made Mieko happy. She thought that being beautiful and perfect meant that being different didn’t matter.
Mieko thinks that like her cousins Haru or Sakura, she’s special too. Maybe her whole family is special, that’s why they found each other.
19. Truth
Ryu-Min is quiet. Her father says she’s like her Aunt Taka in that way. Ryu-Min thinks she’s just different.
Ryu-Min thinks that her differences make her all right; her cousin Gun agrees. Her brother’s not so sure. Either way, people can always count on Ryu-Min to tell them what’s what and why it’s so.
For example, everyone she knows fits together because they’re all the same: Unwanted by everyone else, but needed by each other.
20. Heroic
Ryu-Jin does everything that no one else wants to do. He does all the dirty jobs, because he feels he owes it to the world; starting with that old fool Geum Chan-wook, who took it all those kids so many years ago. So, he takes up the mantel of being a gambler and a con artist.
He learns everything his aunts, father, and uncles will teach him; because he wants to carry on after they’re gone. He does his job; he wants to live long after them and carry on the family.
He wants to be just like Geum Chan-wook, his grandfather and hero.
He will be, in more ways than one.
