Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter 1:

Jiwoo Seo

Jiwoo Seo Jiwoo has led quite the complicated life. When she was little, she lived with her mother, moving from place to place almost every year. Around her 4th birthday, Jiwoo found out completely accidently that she had powers, powers that her mother told her made her an awakened one.

Her mother revealed that she also had these powers, the power of super speed, and she began to teach Jiwoo to improve her speed and started training her in martial arts. When Jiwoo was 8 years old, she came home to see her mother sitting at the dining table with two men. One had long golden hair and wore white, while the other had blue-ish black hair tied up in a bun wearing black. Her mother introduced the men as Kayden and Kartein, and explained that they were her fathers.

Jiwoo was confused at first, since her mother had never mentioned her father, or well, fathers. But her mother explained to her that Kayden and Kartein were powerful awakeners that became even stronger together. When they decided they wanted a child, it was easy for Kartein, the world’s best healer and medical researcher, to find a way to merge his and his husband’s DNA. That’s where Jiwoo’s mom came in, you see, as skilled as Kartein is, he couldn’t replicate a genuine human without a mother’s egg. So they turned to their oldest friend, Yujeong Kang,to carry their child.

They knew that she had always wanted a child, but was never interested in romantic relationships. Plus, she had a super speed ability, meaning if anyone came for their child, she could get them both away safely. Yujeong happily agreed, and it was decided that while she’d keep in contact, she would never disclose their location to them, since they can’t tell what they don’t know.

Kayden jumps in on Yujeong’s explanation, telling Jiwoo that the only reason they stayed away for so long was because they were working on climbing to the top of the food chain in the awakened world. And now that they were known for being the two strongest people in the world, they came back for her. Now, Jiwoo’s mother had explained the awakened world to her when she first discovered her powers, so she understood that these men in front of her were incredibly powerful. Kayden went on to explain that multiple organizations and top rankers had acknowledged them as the Emperor and Empress of the awakened world, which made Jiwoo the princess, and successor to their responsibility of keeping peace between awakened ones.

Jiwoo and her mother were moving in with her fathers at their estate in France. Jiwoo’s mother stayed with her so she could get used to the new place and new people. Kartein had explained on their flight that while they were establishing themselves as the strongest awakeners, they also began establishing their own organization they called The Shadow Corps., and when they first arrived, Kayden introduced her to a teen named Amyeong who he had tasked with keeping her safe.

The Shadow Corps. is a secret organization that breaks up any illegal human experiments and offers asylum for any victims or loners. Many of their agents and officers were rescued from those terrible places, and others are unaffiliated awakened ones who were offered somewhere to belong. The agents train to go on lengthy undercover missions to help bring down shady businesses and organizations, and a year later, Jiwoo finds out her mother has been training for one of these missions.

She had been spending time with her fathers, learning their force control and training her combat skills. Jiwoo came to love her fathers just as much as her mother, and it was obvious how much they loved her. Just a week after Jiwoo’s 9th birthday, her mother set off on her mission to investigate a pharmaceutical company that the Shadow had flagged as suspicious and promised Jiwoo she’d keep in touch.

Jiwoo kept up with her training and her fathers hired a private tutor to homeschool her in her free time. And when she was 14 (and a half, the half is very important) they moved back to South Korea. Jiwoo was enrolled in school and the Shadow Corps. set up a temporary HQ. They used multiple houses, all connected via underground tunnels. So in the basement of Jiwoo’s home, there is a hidden passageway to the rest of the headquarters. She continues her training is secret, and prepares for her debut into the awakened world.

You see, Jiwoo’s existence had been one of the best kept secrets in history, it only leaked that the Emperor and Empress had a child when Jiwoo was already ten years old, and most rumors indicate the child is male. Little do they know, it was Kayden and Kartein who ordered the leak, to further protect their daughter. So while bounty hunters were looking for a baby boy, Jiwoo was already halfway to adulthood, and quite obviously a girl.

They built a life in Korea, and as Jiwoo grew older, she also grew exponentially stronger.

Now she is 17, and Jiwoo grows restless. She thinks it's about time the world finds out about her.