Jimin Ki Archives/II: Waking Up at an Asylum

Samgyeopsal: A Korean pork dish with garnishes of lettuce leaves, garlic, and chili paste.

Kimichi: There are many different versions, but the most common is made with nabba cabbage covered in chili flakes. Kimichi is not a main dish and is more of side dish, but is eaten with most, if not all Korean meals.

Saesang Jjigae: A Korean kimichi soup with fish.

Dolsap Bibimbap: A Korean dish that consists of rice on the bottom, a few different kinds of sauteed vegetables, an egg, and toasted seaweed flakes and sesame seeds on top.

'''IS IT WEIRD, I FIND BROWN EYES ENDEARING? '''It's honestly not my fault that someone is staring into my soul with their terrifying brown eyes, but I will admit the boy's eyes were captivating.

My eyes flickered up to spot a boy hovering over me, staring me down for a split second before swinging himself off the side of the bed which I later discovered I was chained to. It was the same boy from Dr. Maxwell's apartment, excluding the fact that the boy no longer had a syringe and seemed to be observing me, rather than attacking me. I desperately wanted to ask for the stranger's identity, but my voice failed me once again and I was stuck watching him leave through an automatic sliding door in the left wall of the room.

Watching the boy walk out was like watching my hope walk out on me and suddenly, a wave of fear crashed over my shoulders. Then a new hope walked in when the door on the opposite side of the room slid open and revealed a terrifying familiar man wearing a lab coat and glasses.

Dr. Maxwell.

Dr. Maxwell seemed to walk with a particularly casual stride that happened to be very uncomfortable for me, implying that this was normal for him. I  didn't think this was normal, but that's purely my opinion. I squirmed around, trying to move my hands and legs but quickly realized something was holding them down. I couldn't get a good view of what because I was only tilted slightly, but it looked like metal.

So that explains why that kid was on top me of earlier. He was locking me into place with these cuffs.

"In case you're wondering, we have you chained down for a reason Ki Jimin." I brought my attention back to Dr. Maxwell again, and then it hit me that he was speaking.

He was speaking perfect Korean.

I wanted to ask questions but Dr. Maxwell continued. "We've had others try to run away, which didn't benefit them or us. It was a waste of effort on their part, and a waste of time on ours." I blinked, trying to figure out what exactly he meant. And then I put two and two together. I must be in a mad house.

I must've said that out loud because Dr. Maxwell chuckled as he neared me. "No, not a mad house Jimin. It's a school. A school for special children like you." I chose that time to interrupt.

"S-So... I'm still i-in a madhouse?" I muttered, my words broken from a lack of confidence.

"No, it's not a madhouse. It's an Institute, Jimin," he replied, attempting to re-direct my thought process again. I still wasn't buying it. In my opinion, being chained to a table because of the threat of the said person "running way" kind of implies home of the crazy people. "The Institute is a school for superhumans with inhuman abilities that to the public poses as a mental hospital."

I blinked, letting his words sink in. The words superhuman and inhuman stuck out to me, wavering my opinion ever so slightly. I decided since the man did have a degree in psychology and emotional therapy he knew what he was talking about. But there was also a chance he was a patient in the mad house who had somehow got in here. Option one seemed more likely so I went with it.

"Y-You're saying... I-I'm superhuman?" I inquired. My voice was much quieter than I wanted it to be, but I was a soft speaker anyway. "L-Like... Quicksilver?" If I told I didn't snicker, I would be lying. Quicksilver was one of my favorite Marvel characters along with Iron Man. It was amazing what Americans could come up with sometimes.

"To an extent, yes. You do have heightened physical abilities superior to even the fastest, strongest, and well-enduring adult athletes in the world, but most of you cannot run at the speed of light. There are some special cases, but it depends mostly on your patron," Dr. Maxwell said, taking his time to explain the concept to me. Having this new idea of having supernatural powers thrown at me was a little hard to comprehend, but I would admit the idea by itself sounded amazing.

Then I questioned what exactly a "patron" was. Dr. Maxwell sighed, the way a teacher does before they begin a lecture. It's going to be impossible to catch this all.

"Over the centuries, as humans evolved, a group of twenty-one deities evolved with them. We call them the Council of Human Imagination, based on the fact that their origin is from the imagination of humans. As we know today, Homo Sapiens were the first humanoid species that learned how to adapt and create. That's we still exist today. As a result of that, the Council of Human Imagination was born. Back then, they all had different names that changed depending on the time and the current evolution speed of humans at that time.

"If you are familiar with Japanese or Greek mythology, this next part will make more sense. As we evolved, so did the deities. We do not call them 'gods' like they are called in traditional mythology because they simply aren't gods. They're deities. Their duty is to protect mankind from the threat of de-evolution, and live only as long as we do, which means in a sense, once Homo Sapiens go extinct they die off as well. But for now, they are immortal. Right now, the deities are currently named after the months of the year and the days of the week, which is why we have nineteen main ones. There are two special cases I'll talk about later. As humanity evolved, the number of deities grew and shrink to fit our perception of life at that time.

"The Egyptian Gods? The Council basically divided themselves until there were enough to fit the demands of Egyptian mythology. Greek Gods? They divided themselves even more to fit the demands of Greek mythology. The one exception to this is the Christian God, who is not divided into a council or group, and instead is one person who controls the whole of the universe. While the Council of Human Imagination protects humans from the threat of de-evolution, they don't cover the same things the Christian God does. They do not control death or life and can send no one to heaven or hell."

Dr. Maxwell paused to breathe before continuing. "Overall, the Council of Human Imagination is simply a group of deities dedicated to protecting mankind from the threat of de-evolution who originated from Homo Sapien's ability to adapt, learn, and create. As mentioned before, there are twenty-one, and each one is currently named after a month or day of the week in the Gregorian calendar. There are two special cases, however, who are named Night and Day. For example, January, November, and July are male deities dealing with seasons. They names will eventually change but not for awhile."

July. My dream. Wait, the man in my dream, July, mentioned he was the deity of summer. That means I was speaking with a deity in my dreams? "Another question... Can deities talk through dreams?" I asked, managing not to stutter.

He nodded. "Yes, in fact, that's usually their main form of communication because of their connection to the human brain. I assume you asked because one of the examples I mentioned appeared in your dream while you were unconscious?"

"Yes actually... Um, by the way, why did that kid, whoever he was, knock me out?" Dr. Maxwell adjusted his glasses.

"Simply for safety and efficiency measures. I do wish he did it a bit more gently, but some have a tendency to fight back so I don't exactly blame him."

"Who is he?"

"For his own privacy, I cannot reveal his identity. If you happen to come across him later, I'm sure you can ask him yourself. He's a very outgoing and charismatic person, trust me." He began to step closer to me and then went to work uncuffing me from the metal table I had been strapped to. "If you don't mind me asking, what deity was it?"

"What do you mean?" I said, watching him cautiously.

"Which deity did I mention appeared in your dreams?" he replied, moving to the right side of the table after uncuffing my left arm and leg.

"July." Dr. Maxwell faltered in his actions for a moment but went back to work quickly as to hide his hesitation. My guess was that something uncomfortable happened between the two.

"Well then Jimin," he began after he finished unchaining me. "I'm going to have Paula escort you to lunch, where you will meet the rest of your Selected peers."

"Selected?" I coughed, flexing my fingers to get the feeling back into them.

"The Selected Seven. Seven of you have been selected to represent the seven most powerful deities in the Council. July, November, January, March, Tuesday, Night, and Day. However, we currently have no one to represent July or March. This where you come in, you will undergo a series of tests—most will be painless—to determine your patron. Once your patron is discovered, a training system will be devised based on the abilities the particular deity gave you. It varies for most people, but in some rare cases, people are known to have the exact same abilities. This happens often in twins or triplets."

I simply nodded, replaying the words in my mind and fitting them into the puzzle of information I was trying to solve. Dr. Maxwell nodded as well and made his way to the door he came from. He disappeared behind the white automatic sliding door and did not come back in.

Since "Paula" hadn't shown up yet, I took the time to stretch since I felt sore from being held still for so long. Now that I had the knowledge of all these strange phenomena, I was more aware of my physical capabilities as well. I quickly noticed I was very flexible, something that shouldn't be possible for an average fourteen-year-old. The door on the left side of the room slid open and this time a tall girl with lightly tanned skin, black hair tied in a messy ponytail, wearing a t-shirt and jeans with a pair of sneakers, walked in. There were glasses in front of her brown eyes that only happened to be focused on me.

Another thing—the girl obviously wasn't Korean.

Her facial structure was more western, and she looked Spanish to an extent. Maybe she was from Spain? Dr. Maxwell never really said anything about the Selected's ethnicities and origins, so I'm going to simply assume they come from all over the world. I just happened to be closer to the Institute and a more convenient catch.

The girl smiled softly at me and waved a little. I didn't do anything because I don't do people. I've always been an introvert and I can't really break out of my shell no matter how hard I try. It's been an issue since my younger years since primary school actually. I don't really like to "get out there and make friends". I stink at starting conversations anyway.

One of the few reasons Umma hired a therapist.

"Annyong!" the girl beamed. "My name is Paula. I'm sorry, my Korean isn't the best." I didn't say anything again. Paula caught the hint, but wouldn't give up on starting a conversation. "So, I bet you got the talk too?"

I blinked. "T-The what?"

"The talk. We all get it. As you can guess, I'm not from here—South Korea I mean. A few months after moving to the United States from Peru, I was taken to counseling to deal with my Social Anxiety. They got me a month after that, brought me here. I've been here for a good year or two so." She shrugged. "Anyway, we should head to lunch. The others are probably expecting us and I'm starving."

"Y-Yeah..." I sighed.

"You must have Social Anxiety too. Don't worry, they help with that alongside the training. It's normal. All representatives have some type of mental disorder or illness. It's a side effect of wielding you know, superhuman abilities." I nodded awkwardly again.

I followed Paula through the sliding door and down a peach colored hallway with picture frames of nothing hanging on them. It was a weird sight by Paula didn't seem to find anything strange so I decided this was normal. After a few turns and bends, we reached a set of double doors that slid open as we approached. This allowed me to get a better view of the cafeteria, which looked surprisingly modern and upbeat.

Maybe it was because I still had the image of an asylum in my head.

At one table sat a group of five people. Two boys and three girls who were chatting animatedly. A girl with darker tan skin and curly black hair pointed us out, and the whole group turned to wave at us. Paula waved back, I did nothing but stared as awkwardly as I felt at the moment. Paula sat down in front of a tray of food that honestly looked delicious. I have been spoiled with western pizza before, and it tastes great.

The girl that waved to me earlier was enjoying rice, Samgyeopsal—a Korean pork dish with garnishes of lettuce leaves, garlic, and chili paste—with kimichi to the side. The boy next to her, who was about a couple inches taller with his hair dyed a light pastel green color had the same thing, while the girl next to him who had light ginger hair and glasses had a plate of some type of western pasta. The other girl next to that one who had her brunette hair in a ponytail ate pasta as well. The other boy at the table brunette hair as well ate Saeseang Jjigae—Korean fish stew.

The girl that waved spoke up and introduced herself as Alice and offered to get me lunch. I stuttered out some sort of response that sounded more like gibberish than actual words but she seemed to understand and got up to go order something for me. The others began to introduce themselves. The brunette hair girl was Sophie, the other girl was Natalia, the boy with the green hair was Seojun, and the last boy was Baekhyun. To my general surprise, all of them could speak Korean well.

Seojun and Baekhyun explained that they were Korean but came from Thailand and China, Sophie informed me she was from the United States and so was Natalia. So for the most part, I was the only one who grew up knowing Korean my whole life. That wasn't necessarily something I felt like bragging about. Shakily I explained my side of the story and by that time Alice had come back and offered me Dolsap Bibimbap or Hotpot Mixed Rice. Alice exclaimed she was born in Korea too and was actually half Korean and half African. Her father was Korean and her mother came from Ethiopia.

So basically we had a whole mixing pot of people from different places. It was an interesting experience for me, who's been surrounded by people of the same ethnicity for years. We talked—or rather I watched them talk and listened in on a few things—before I finally got the courage to ask, "Who got here first?"

The conversation froze at that for a second and I worried that I did something wrong but Paula was first to answer the question. "Baekhyun. He got here what... four years ago?"

Baekhyun nodded to confirm it. "Exactly four years, three months, six days, and eight hours ago." My eyes widened he chuckled in amusement.

"I got here after him," Alice announced excitedly.

"She was horrible," Baekhyun commented before taking a bite of a piece of cooked fish with his chopsticks. Alice made a face a swatted his arm, he simply laughed again.

"I was not!" she whined. This time we all laughed, including me. "Anyway, after me, came Paula, Seojun, and Natalia. Sophie was the most recent one before you." Sophie gave me a thumbs up from across the table, and I laughed a little again.

After that I started getting involved in the conversation more, generally easing myself more as I talked with them. The introvert in me seemed to have completely cut itself away from me. I've never spoken this much to a group of people ever before. It was fun talking with the others. Alice was hilarious and dramatic, Paula was overall very relaxing, Baekhyun's math calculations were extremely specific and on point (I had fun asking him to solve random equations, he could complete one in less than a minute in his head), Seojun had an entertaining sense of humor, Sophie was very sweet and enjoyable, and Natalia was humorously sarcastic.

When Paula announced it had been an hour no one really seemed to care or want to leave at least. We were all too busy laughing about stupid things and cracking nonsense jokes to really pay attention to the time.

But Reality accidentally set the alarm and guess what? It went off.

Literally.

A loud boom rocked throughout the building and shook the room, knocking me out of my chair and throwing Paula's pizza to the ground. After a few seconds, the shaking subsided, and I was able to stand up again and not fall down.

"Is everyone okay?" Sophie questioned, standing up herself.

"I'm okay," Alice said.

"So am I," Seojun added.

"Jimin and I are good," Paula replied.

"I'm alright," Natalia piped up.

"I think we're all okay then," Baekhyun concluded. "Now, can we go find whatever caused that?"

"We... probably should," Alice sighed.

So we all abandoned our food and ran for the double sliding doors.