I Love you, I'm sorry

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧1✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

Sim Jake <3

For the first time in what felt like months, a new warmth found its place in the air. Along with it was the bright yellow sun beating down on open fields, melting snow under a layer of harsh heat. Sim Jake sat under a tree, squeezing as much water into his mouth from the green water bottle that sat loose in between his tired fingers. When no more drops appeared, he squeezed his sharp, sculpted eyes and relaxed his head back against the mandarin tree.

"Jake! We aren't done yet!" Yelled his father, Sim Taehyun. The older man had thin white hair that danced atop his head like cotton candy. His features always sat in an angry expression, something Jake always tried to avoid after seeing it in someone else. Everless, his jet black hair, thick eyebrows, and near black eyes left him unable to appear any different from the man that stood across from him.

Jake pushed off the ground with a sigh, knowing better than to complain, and made his way to the dirt fields where his father stiffly stood, waiting for him.

There were two rings painted in dirt in the large space, and a small shed of various tools used for training-staffs, shields- anything. From behind his slouched back, Taehyun introduced a wooden staff with his name engraved.

"Our ancestors trained every day for years, fighting to protect Korea from the evil myths that poison the land." He reminded, leading his son to the inner circle.

"So how come you can't even stand when it's too hot outside?"

Jake's brows furrowed tighter with each word. It wasn't the first time this story had been told. Teasing the young with the stories of the past - how lazy they are, how disappointing they are, how useless they are - compared to the ancient Koreans in their family.

Suddenly a Frozen blast of energy blew at Jake's back, forcing him to stumble a bit. It didn't really just annoyed him, though, since the event was rather common in this area.

Jake turned around, eyes softening when he saw the cause. A young group of kids practicing their magic at the targets that sat on the wooden wall, sorry looks plastered on all of their innocent faces.

"It's alright guys, keep practicing!" He shouted over, a welcoming tone in his words. The kids that trained here were the only people that saw that side of him. The side that wasn't always complaining, kept away, and cold.

The nineteen-year-old wiped his exposed back of the chill briefly before dragging the black compression shirt off of his shoulder and onto his fit body.

"Ready?" His father asked, raising the staff above his head. Jake hummed a short confirming yes, and prepared his hands to fight.

The young man's hands heated up, sparks flying off into the dirt beneath him. Taehyun rushed over, unexpectedly agile for an old man. The staff was raised, drifting through the air behind him until it swung down with swift force atop Jake. Under a second before contact, Jake placed his hands in between the staff and his own head, sending fire towards the wood, blasting it away.

The impact took away Taehyun's balance, but he regained it before falling. Jake carried the momentum from his first attack to where his father sat now, sending a few spheres of dark, burning magic towards the man. At the action, a few eyes turned, watching the magic travel through the thick, humid air.

"Finally figured out how to make more than just some fire, huh," Teahyun teased in a strained voice. "Took you long enough," he continued, failing to hide the proud smile that pulled at his face. The staff spun just fast enough to deflect the dark spheres into the ground in front of the older man.

There was a small warm feeling brewing inside Jake. One that wasn't from the heat, or the magic from his hands, but the type he wanted to suppress - yet couldn't. He was known as one of he best fighters, as the son of the current leader of Korea's protectors. When he learned a high level trick, or won a fight, attention flicked to him, and he would never admit how much he liked the attention - How much he enjoyed being known as the future leader of this family.

Just as Jake was asking for a sip of water from another boy, a woman with curly hair and wide brown eyes tapped Jake's broad shoulder. Once he fully turned his head around to look at the disruption, his eyes flicked to the clipboard she held, her unusually casual outfit for these people, and then it clicked.

"Sim Jake, right? Can I see you in my office," she whispered. He recognized her as the job assigner, instructing people to places where myths have recently had high activity.

In the small room there was one table with a woven chair on either side. The two sat down, Jake watching expectantly as the woman pulled out papers and maps in front of him.

"Have you heard of the Kpop group CLOUD8? They recently debuted and have been followed by a constant amount of myth energy. We need someone young to sneak into an upcoming fansign and figure out what's going on," she carefully explained.

It was considered a luxury to enjoy Kpop groups around here. People knew about them, but it was hard to access music, concerts, or meet and greets without money. 

The thought was a bit conflicting. Sure, his first job was exciting, he'd prepared for this his whole life. Although, he was going to a fan sign to pretend like a fanboy for a random Kpop group made up of privileged men with egos too big for their own pretty heads. Jake quickly put down the feelings and nodded his head, muttered a quick "thank you so much," and flashed a faint smile while walking back out into his dorm to lay on his thin bed.

When he relaxed against the wall, letting hard wood hit his back, he let own one finally sigh, pushing messy dark hair away from his eyes.

He father knocked twice and came into the room, face lit up with pride.

"I guess I've done a great job teaching you, son. You ready to go tomorrow morning?" He said.

Jake shrugged, mind hardly caught up with his new plans.

"Yeah, I guess," he ran a hand to his sleeve so he could fidget with the polyester shirt that hugged his frame.

"I'll be going on more jobs though, right," he asked, anticipation clear in his voice. It was hard to be excited about the job. What if he never finds any myths, what if he embarrasses himself, what if he messes up on his first day?

His dad never noticed the swirling thoughts in his mind, or the strange quietness in the moment. He just patted Jake's shoulder and walked out to prepare dinner.