MIN JAE
Min Jae knew he was about to get hit the second he spotted his sister walking toward him with a frown on her face. He closed his eyes as the impact of her hand hit his cheek, causing his head to turn sharply to the left. The sting had his eyes watering.
Gritting his teeth, he forced his head to turn and open his eyes.
And there she was, staring at him with her eyes filled with fierce anger.
"You're so arrogant," she spit out, cursing at him in Korean as she pushed him a bit with the tips of her fingers.
Min Jae let his body get pushed a little before he stood straighter, looking away from her for a brief moment before turning his attention back at her. She thinned her lips, the look on her face not melting away.
When he continued to not answer, he saw the disappointment crawling into her eyes, showing how much he had let her down. He averted his gaze again, this time he made sure he kept them to the ground.
"Why didn't you attend Appa's— he's..." she started with her voice strong only for it to fade away.
Min Jae took in a deep breath, shaking his head. "I didn't want to."
"But why?" she said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I— I know you had your differences with him but to not even see him one last time?"
He wished he could find the words to tell Seo that it wasn't just because he viewed their father differently from how she did, but it was more than that. He felt cheated by his death.
It was just a feeling he couldn't shake off no matter how hard he tried to remember that he wouldn't be able to see Appa again. As much as he disliked how Appa favourited Ricky and Seo over him, it didn't refute the fact that that man was his father. And there had been a part of him that wanted to prove to Appa that he was worthy of his love and attention.
To be robbed of that chance before he could do anything was like a slap to his face.
But would Seo understand this?
Ricky certainly hadn't.
The golden boy just saw him like how everyone else saw him — troublesome, a mistake.
Different.
A coward.
For just wanting to lead a life where a death sentence wasn't looming over his head was cowardly — he held back the need to scoff.
"Are you listening to me, Jae?" Seo said, catching his attention.
He lifted his eyes to look at her, noting that her eyebrows were furrowed. At last, his dry throat managed to cough up a few words, enough to get a reply across. "I don't know what you want me to say."
"You don't know what to say," Seo said, repeating each word with disbelief colouring her voice. "Jae..."
Unable to hear the way her perception on him changed, he took a step back, letting the hand on his shoulder drop.
"It was my decision," he said. "And I preferred not attending Appa's funeral. I'm sorry if you think that was cowardly of me or whatever, but Seo— I— I can't, alright? I just can't."
"And I want to know why!" Seo exclaimed, raising her hands with her eyes wide. "You never tell me what's going on in that head of yours, Jae. Not even Appa knows and because of that—"
"Appa never took the time to really get to know me, Seo," Min Jae cut her off with a bite. "He has done nothing for me. I am... Ricky is his son. Not me. As far as everyone's concerned, I'm a mistake. I'm a disgrace. A—"
A pair of hands touched his mouth, stopping him from speaking. He blinked a few times, realising a bit too late that his eyes were cloudy. He looked at Seo and saw the look on her face, his heart constricting in his chest.
She shook her head as her bottom lip wobbled. Pulling her hands away slowly, she touched his cheeks and rubbed the tears away from his face.
"You're my brother, Jae," Seo said, her voice shaky. "And as far as I'm concerned, Appa has seen you as his son. You're not a disgrace or whatever it is you got in that head of yours."
Min Jae touched her hands. "That could just be you."
"Or," Seo said, "it could just be you thinking that way."
Min Jae felt his defences dropping and his mask breaking a little as more tears gathered in his eyes. Before he could open his mouth to make an excuse and leave, Seo hugged him, wrapping her arms around him like a security blanket. Min Jae didn't even hesitate to hold her back as he buried his face into her shoulder.
The pain he didn't think he was actually experiencing exploded in his chest along with the heavy regret of being too late.
Seo whispered assurance to him in Korean, things that only he would understand as he soaked the attention, not for the first time and certainly wouldn't be the last time— yearning for Appa to have taken the chance to know him.
***
"Ricky's the leader?" Min Jae asked, staring at the cup in his hands filled with water.
Seo shrugged, leaning against the walls of the small common room. She swirled her own cup, tossing the remainder of the water into her mouth. Min Jae followed suit and sighed, pressing the cup against his forehead, closing his eyes for a few seconds.
"Jae..." Seo said.
"It's not like I haven't expected that," Min Jae said, pulling the cup away as he opened his eyes to look at her. "And it's not like I'm envious of him in that sense. I don't want to lead a rebellion. Appa's been training him for it."
Seo didn't say anything for a second but it was clear from the way her lips thinned and her eyes narrowed that she didn't like his reply.
"He didn't want this either," Seo said. "Ricky, I mean."
Min Jae raised his eyebrows. "Why not?"
"Believe it or not, Jae, he's not really Appa," she said. "He's— Ricky."
"He's Ricky and that's why he got chosen for this," Min Jae said, shrugging. "Appa saw potential in him. As always."
Min Jae took the silence he received as she agreeing with him. He placed the cup on the small table in the room, looking at her as he tried to find the words for the next thing he was about to say. It had been on his mind for a while now and he never dared to approach Seo with it, not wanting to completely lose her.
But now that nothing was at stakes for him with Appa gone and the responsibility of the future of leading people no longer in his hands, he wanted to move forward with his life.
"Seo," he started, waiting for her to nod at him before he continued, "isn't it time we— left?"
Seo tensed. "Left?"
"Yeah," Jae said, stopping himself for a second to look over his shoulders. "Leave, Seo."
"I don't get it," Seo said, shaking her head.
Min Jae took in a deep breath, glancing at her before looking at the table. He switched into Korean and continued to speak, hoping she understood how serious he was about this idea.
"I just think that now with no more responsibilities on us," Min Jae said. "Maybe this is a good time to leave this rebellion."
"Are you crazy?" Seo said, her pitch higher than usual, replying back in Korean. "What do you mean 'no more responsibilities'? We have a responsibility by staying and helping out with this mission, Jae!"
"That isn't what I want to do, though!" Min Jae said, pressing a hand down his face. "I didn't sign up for this!"
Seo took a few steps close to him, placing her hands on one of the two chairs. "Well, neither did I but we're still Dae Hee's children. Appa is still expect—"
"I don't want to do what anyone expects of me anymore, Seo!"
"You never once did, Jae! But I always thought it meant you'll be still fighting for our freedom!" Seo was red in the face, her eyes wide and a frown on her face.
"Well, maybe all I wanted was for my freedom and not fight for anyone else's!" Min Jae yelled, stopping once his voice echoed. With a softer voice, he said, "I want to go, Seo. I want to live a peaceful life. And I— I want you to come with me."
His heart sank to the bottom of his chest when he saw the answer written on her face. He thinned his lips and looked at the table separating them both. Seo sighed, sounding tired.
"I want to stay, Jae," Seo said, confirming his fears. "I want to fight for my freedom with everyone else."
Min Jae didn't know what to say to this, so he didn't. He simply took a step back and nodded, running both hands through his hair.
"I love you, Jae," Seo said. "But I can't abandon these people just because it'll be easier on me."
"You sound like Appa," Min Jae said, his voice cracking. "Whatever, it's up to you."
"Jae," Seo started to only stop when he shook his head.
"I'm leaving, Seo," he said, looking at her directly into her eyes. "With or without you."
Seo frowned deeper but Min Jae didn't wait for her response, turning around to leave. He was about to take a step toward the door when a few people rushed past him, looking frantic. Alarm bells went off in his head as he stood at the entrance, staring at the retreating backs of the people.
A second later, a loud bell rang throughout the base, shrieking distress.
Min Jae took in a sharp breath, frozen in his steps. Seo touched his elbow before she rushed to the same direction the men had gone. Min Jae, out of reflex, followed her, his heart hammering against his chest. He knew their argument wasn't over but it was on hold until they encountered whatever that had triggered the alarm bells.
It usually meant that they had to move bases because the government was close on their tracks.
They followed the people rushing to the station room. He stopped after stepping into the room, his eyes searching around until he fell on Ricky and Michael, standing near the control panel located in the middle of the room. A speaker was placed on the panel alongside a small screen, but what really caught his attention was the person in it.
"What the," Min Jae breathed out as he forced his legs to move, pushing past the crowd that had gathered around to stand next to Seo.
The person in the screen was a guy with ginger hair and green eyes, face as stoic as possible. Min Jae looked away from him to Ricky, who was looking at the panel with furrowed eyebrows meanwhile Michael was tapping at some things on his tablet.
"What's happening?" he questioned, catching everyone's attention including the man in the screen's. "Who is he?"
Ricky looked at him for a second before he looked back on the panel, not answering him. Min Jae gritted his teeth, taking that refusal as a sign that the man was still angry at him.
Fair enough, Min Jae didn't feel like playing the nice guy right now, either.
Michael cleared his throat. "The signal that we tried tossing out to Area E1 in these couple of years finally came through."
The meaning behind the words settled into Min Jae's mind like rocks. His heart leaped in his chest as his throat dried.
Appa had been working a way to get connected to the other rebellions from other Areas, often failing or signalling the government of their location and forcing them to relocate. He had been working on this for about two years with meticulous movements and secured and hopefully, invisible signals thrown to the other side with expectations that someone from the rebellion would find it.
And it was happening now.
The day Appa died.
"Can you... can you tell them what you told Michael and I?" Ricky asked.
The guy in the screen nodded, eyes staring straight at them.
"Hi, I'm Cyrille Boileau," Cyrille said. "And I'm the leader of the rebellion from Area E1."