RE: CADET #930309 • • • MIN , YOONGI
ASSIGNED TO J-TECH , EVALUATION SCORE OF < 670 > POINTS
THOUGH WE ARE IN THE EYE OF THE STORM
he was just doing it for fun. hacking. he has hacking for fun at the age of 15. never in his life did he think he would be doing anything else and was happy with it. during the whole chaos of the in the world, yoongi lived quite the relaxed life. Living wit a single mother, It was hard in the beginning, but then he found his was of making money. It was low, he agrees, spending his little free time self teaching himself to hack through security cameras, emails, bank accounts and mainly use if for blackmail. His mum didn’t have to know where all that money came, and in all honesty, she never cared. It gave yoongi all the more reason for him to continue doing it. He always slept fine at night, no guilt ever felt from what he was doing.
He continued expanding his knowledge and skills, he went by the name hana. Nothing fancy really, nothing like the people he had encountered in his few years of hacking. Eventually, he began going for bigger and bigger goals. He always got away with it. It was a simple life, going to school during the day and making a plan of how to get to his next target and what he wanted. That was, of course, until he turned 18. There was a knock on his door, a rather angry knock. Yoongi will always remember how he got out of his chair, walked down the small corridor of their apartment in daegu and opened the door.
He doesn’t remember the date that flipped his whole life inside out, he just knew he wouldn’t never forget the fact that he wasn’t good enough at hiding himself.
WE SHALL STAND STRONG LIKE TITANS
Yoongi was 18 when he pretty much got scouted for the whole bullshit that he called jeager ass. He didn’t have a choice, really, knowing the world could crumble at any given point, how could he say no? he as a matter of fact, he didn’t have a choice, the people were pretty persistent. it had also been years of ignoring everything on the news, ignoring how it was chaos all over the place. Especially in 2011. the world was just going to shit and yoongi was sat in front of a computer, and being eaten alive by his own thoughts at how useless he is. Scientists were always got the short end of the stick. He just an academy recruit, he didn’t even see a future with the last four jaegers. He didn’t know what was expected of him, so he studied. Studied his ass of, until he found himself falling asleep in the labs with keyboard keys marked on his face.
Yoongi insists that his studies paid off, would pay off, somehow. He was good before, but specializing was worth the hours of sleep he lost. It was an interesting experience to see how quickly the world could have crumbled on a very specific day, but he learned something important. You need to take risks at times, in order to see a better day. Or see another day in general.
RE: CADET #970701 • • • LEE , TAEYONG
ASSIGNED TO STRIKE , EVALUATION SCORE OF < 410 > POINTS
THOUGH WE ARE IN THE EYE OF THE STORM
Taeyong grew up in a world where kaiju attacks were inevitable. It was never a matter of if they would attack, but when. It was why his parents moved from their coastal hometown and to the city when he was only six. By then, all of the inner-city housing had been snatched up by the rich and powerful, but his parents still seemed to find comfort when they could no longer look out the kitchen window and see the coastline stretching in the distance.
Their new apartment was stuffy and dark and Taeyong hated it. He missed their home by the beach, missed waking up to the sound of seagulls and the scent of the sea breezing through open windows. The city was crowded and filthy and his parents were never around, working shift after shift at the hospital just to afford the hole in the wall that they now called home.
They saw the city as a sanctuary– but to Taeyong, it was just a cage.
For months, they went through the motions of leading a normal life in this new world. A world where monsters rose from the sea with increasinging frequency, each bigger and stronger than the last. Taeyong still went to school. He still sat through class after class, learning arithmetic and chemistry and public speaking like any of it actually mattered anymore. Like it wasn’t all just one big production, humanity’s last act before the curtain closed on them for good.
That curtain call came only two years later.
Taeyong was home alone when the sirens sounded. His parents were both off working early shifts at the hospital, and so he was sitting in front of the television eating a bowl of cereal, too close to the set with the volume up louder than his mother would ever allow. He didn’t even notice the sirens blaring outside until his cartoon was interrupted by the emergency broadcast.
As the reality of what he was hearing sank in, Taeyong scrambled to his feet, knocking his bowl of cereal to the floor in his haste. No sooner had he found his shoes and shoved his feet into them than the house phone began to ring. Even before his frantic dash to the kitchen, he knew it would be his parents, calling to make sure he was awake and on his way to a bunker to wait out the attack. “I’m on my way now,” he assured them in lieu of greeting. He didn’t stop moving, taking the cordless phone with him as he grabbed his keys and cell phone from the entryway table.
He knew better than to ask if they would meet him. They’d been over this exact scenario too many times– if ever there was an attack on the city and his parents were at work, Taeyong’s only job was to get himself to the nearest kaiju shelter. His parents had a duty to their patients and couldn’t leave the hospital during a crisis. The hospital had a bunker of its own. All he could do was trust his parents would get to it in time.
“Be safe out there,” his dad instructed, voice gruffer than Taeyong had ever heard it, “Move quick, but keep your head. There’s a lot of people panicking out there. Stay away from the crowds as much as you can.”
“I will,” Taeyong replied, already breathless as he quickly descended flight after flight of stairs, “I know what to do, Dad.”
“I know you do, kid.” His dad’s voice softened. “I still want you to be careful. Your mom and I will come find you once this is over. We love you.”
Taeyong never doubted for a second that his parents would come for him. Even when he made it to the streets and was swept up in the chaos of the evacuating civilians, even when the ground beneath his feet shook with the cry of the kaiju as it rose from the sea. Even when the roof of the bunker began to crack and crumble from the force of the beast’s attack on the city above his head. Through it all, Taeyong held onto the promise that he would see his parents again once the danger passed.
But he didn’t.
He was only eight when he went to live with his aunt and uncle. They worked as engineers for a new group formed to level the playing field between man and kaiju– the Pan Pacific Defense Corps. His aunt and uncle worked insane hours, leaving Taeyong to care for his two younger cousins most days. He didn’t mind too much, though. Not when he saw his aunt and uncle’s passion for their work, the fire in their eyes as they argued specs across the dinner table. For the first time in years, Taeyong recognized hope in an adult’s eyes.
He grew up around jaegers. Once the program took off, his aunt and uncle moved the family to live on the base so that they could be closer to their work, and after that it wasn’t long before Taeyong found his way into the engineering bay. The higher ups were never happy to find him in the shatterdome, but his uncle waved off their concern, declaring “there’s nothing more dangerous in here than there is outside these walls,” and then his smile would sharpen, “at least not yet.”
Though Taeyong never worked on an actual jaeger, he worked close alongside those that did, passing them tools and fine tuning their equipment as needed. His aunt and uncle taught him everything they knew, nurturing his newfound interest in engineering. They made no secret of their hopes that he would follow in their footsteps once he was old enough to join the PPDC.
But then the jaegers began to fall.
Panic was quick to return. No longer were the jaegers hailed as humanity’s salvation. They were losing, and surely that meant that the end was close. After all, the jaegers were the world’s greatest line of defense. If not even they could hold their own anymore, then what hope was left of surviving this war?
With every jaeger that fell the PPDC also lost pilots capable of manning them. Soon, there were not enough jaegers, not enough pilots. The shatterdome grew emptier with every passing day.
And that was when disaster struck.
For the second time in his life, Taeyong felt the ground tremble with the roar of a kaiju.
Even before the alarms sounded, he was on his feet, moving to shake his little cousins awake and get them dressed. His aunt and uncle spilled out of their adjoining room. As his uncle rushed to the com system, his aunt took Taeyong’s face in her hands, forcing him to meet her eyes as she told him to keep calm and stay put. Their bunks were as safe; the base was built to withstand an attack.
Taeyong could only nod, feeling a bit like a bobblehead as his hands lifted to curl around his aunt’s wrists. His heartbeat was hammering in his ears, but he did his best to keep it from showing. His little cousins were watching. He needed to be strong for them.
His aunt’s smile softened. Like always, she seemed to know everything that Taeyong was thinking, and she gave his cheeks a gentle squeeze before pressing a kiss to his forehead. “You three sit tight. We’ll be back before you know it.”
Due to the shortage of pilots and suits, his aunt and uncle were called to man a jaeger prototype in the battle that followed. No one knew the new suit like its creators, and though the two only received basic pilot training, they knew enough to perform a successful drift. It was a risky move borne of desperation, and it was one that would cost his aunt her life.
WE SHALL STAND STRONG LIKE TITANS
Taeyong’s uncle was never able to recover from the death of his aunt. The trauma of losing his wife while drift connected took too severe of a toll on his uncle’s mind. It fell to Taeyong to take care of what remained of their family. They moved to a new city to start over, and he took jobs where he could, even working on the stupid wall when there was no other work available to him. It was up to Taeyong to keep everyone fed, to keep a roof over their head and clothes on their backs. His uncle, once a great engineer, faded to nothing more than a shell of the man he once was. The jaegers, once revered, were eventually decommissioned.
Then Operation Pitfall changed everything.
After the breach was sealed and the jaeger program reinstated, hope returned. Civilization began to pick itself up from the wreckage left by the kaiju. An academy opened for those wishing to join the PPDC, and as soon as he became of age, Taeyong decided to apply. He needed more stable work to support his family, but more than that– he dreamed of becoming a pilot. Should the kaiju ever return, as he was sure they would, he vowed to fight them himself.
It’s been two years since Taeyong joined the academy. He makes excellent marks in most all of his classes, but he’s hot-headed, and his temper often gets him in trouble. His passion is what makes him formidable. If he lacks in an area, he trains obsessively to compensate for it, to correct it. He’s most skilled at hand to hand combat, be it martial arts, boxing, or even fencing. He also earns top marks in engineering coursework and basic tactics. However, he’s hardly a team player, and it keeps him from advancing further in the rankings– particularly when it comes to drift syncing. Taeyong finds it difficult to trust and impossible to let anyone into his head to complete a proper drift. To date, he’s never managed a successful drift.
RE: CADET #940114 • • • KIM , JONGIN
ASSIGNED TO K-SCIENCE , EVALUATION SCORE OF < 090 > POINTS
THOUGH WE ARE IN THE EYE OF THE STORM
Jongin was lucky in all things considering. His family were ones that had a lot of money but they had enough to get by. His father was fortunately one of those people that knew everyone. They he had enough connections to let them live comfortably. His father was the pretty much the only reason why they were able to live as nicely as they do. They didn’t have that many worries but that was thanks to his father. His father he remembered cried a lot, he remembered he crying everyday despite her trying to hide it. He never got to see Kaijus in person and he guesses he’s thankful. He’s seen them on television. He’s seen the creatures on the screen and thinking that he wanted to see one in person. He wanted to see the giant monsters that illuminated blue in person.
WE SHALL STAND STRONG LIKE TITANS
Jongin had a fascination with animals. Since he was a kid he surrounded himself with animals, despite his mother’s protest. He really didn’t need 4 hamsters but he insisted that he was a vet and he needed to take care of them. She settled for the hamsters, the parakeet and the three legged dog that he found off the street. His book cases were filled with books on animal biology and veterinary journals. He guesses that where all the interest in Kaijus stemmed from. He wanted to know what made them work. Why how they moved the way the moved, how they breathe and eat. Jongin found himself nearly obsessed. He found himself moving from his mom and his father in his comfortable house, despite his mother’s tearful goodbye. Jongin kept his dog’s leash in his hand when he arrived, his hamsters and bird he would have to visit when he can. Or somehow bring them over. He will figure it out.
RE: CADET #901013 • • • PARK , JIMIN
ASSIGNED TO STRIKE , EVALUATION SCORE OF < 330 > POINTS
THOUGH WE ARE IN THE EYE OF THE STORM
17 08 2003, Busan, SK
“Hello, I’m Kim Yumi for KBS1. We’re dedicating this edition of our daily news cast to our audience in the US. The US is reeling this week, trying to recover from the recent attack of the deep underwater creature. Scientists are still working to identify the source of the animal, and what its motive for invading land could have been. Kaiju are what researchers are confirming as the official identity of the creature. The kaiju completely demolished the city of San Francisco and what it left behind is nothing short of scenes of utter chaos and destruction. Tens of thousands of american citizens..”
Kaiju, Jimin stares in awe of it, “–it’s like… a dinosaur–”
“–No, son. It’s like a God.”
Jimin couldn’t agree with his father, no God did what the Kaiju did to all those people. However, he stayed silent.
“Foolish Americans. Of course the apocalypse would hit them first. That country’s full of sinful idiots. We all pay for their sins, God is here to punish us–”
“But it was only one, Appa,” Jimin corrects, finally turning to face his parents, the gentle thud of his mother’s rocking chair hitting against the floor as she sewed the hole in his shorts was comforting, keeping him from getting too sucked into the reality of the creature plaguing and then dying on land, on Earth. His gaze brushed against his father, also in awe of the Kaiju but for a very different cause. His father’s spectacles matched the glisten of his own, except his old man wore them well, the gray hairs slicked next the the black ones right near his ear gave him the wise doctor look that he just knows his mother fawns over.
“Do you think they won’t come back, my son?”
The thuds stopped.
“I– The scientists didn’t say so– all the articles I read, they-they said it was supposed to be an i-isolated incident–”
“The world’s ending, Jimin-ah,” his father finalized, cutting his son’s awful stuttering short, “And for the better. It’s best we get on the right side. You’ve taken interest in them because you’re a loyal child of God. He wants you to dedicate your life to the creatures that will bring us salvation.”
The Kaiju, it did nothing but ruin a city, kill people, why would his father have such positive regard? Far enough to say that God sent it. Jimin thinks it’s hefty, just to be interested in a creature to dedicate his life to it, to know the only one that probably will ever lived died already in an entirely different country. How does his father expect him to do that?
“In due time, son,” when his mother started to rock, the thud was harsh against his ears, he didn’t like the sound of it anymore, “you shall know your purpose.”
14 06 2008, Seoul, SK
Jimin, sat on top of the steps in front of his home, looks out into the horizon. The day is several shades of gray, only can see the sun peeking through darkened clouds through cracks. With is palm squished upon his cheek, he digs his toe into the hard of their wooden porch. Despite the gloomy weather, Summers in Korea are humid nonetheless, and his jumpsuit is suffocating him.
He looks down upon the gray fabric, stark black boots, and figures gray isn’t a good color on him. He sees ‘Park’ on his breast, his Cadet number, and realizes this is it.
His father has been raving about this day all of Jimin’s life. Kaiju have taken over his home, and it is all his father lives for. His old man was right all those years ago, the Kaiju did come back, and with a vengeance, always stronger, or different than the last, coming out on top, superior to the human race, just like his father predicted, just like his father insisted God sent them for.
His father seen no other purpose for Jimin, other than to learn about these creatures, exploiting Jimin’s love for science, and forcing him to join the Jaeger Academy with a focus of Kaiju Biology. Jimin would rather be far away from those things. Always wanted to be a doctor, like his father, to help people, especially ones who have been affected by the disasters that have struck from Kaiju attacks.
But Jimin had no options, just orders.
A Kaiju Biologist he would be, because God and his father willed it so. That was his purpose.
“Jimin, son, are you ready?”
He’s already said goodbye to his mother, hugged his little sister Joori a little tighter because her time would come soon, but he couldn’t hold on any longer. The Jaeger Academy stationed in Seoul wasn’t far, but definitely not close enough to see his family much, not that he wanted to with the resentment he held for them. He didn’t want to be a Cadet in the Academy. He didn’t want to waste precious years on the beings he’s heard countless times were his saviors, while his eyes saw nothing but destruction from them.
“Yes, Appa. I’m ready.”
His purpose awaits.
20 02 2010, Seoul, SK
It was lunchtime in the Academy when Jimin’s life completely changed.
The food was terrible, and could be comparable to quality of a prison, but Jimin never complained much. Just silently ate with the friend’s he’s made. There was an announcement made suddenly that there was another Kaiju attack that had everyone in the room silent to listen.
Another Kaiju hit in the U.S., where he knows his father went on a business trip to perform surgery on an American who specifically asked for his surgeons as he was well renowned for his performance in the medical field, but this time it was Florida. Exactly where his family had gone. The news was turned on in the TV’s in the Academy, and Jimin, because murmurs were starting to drown out the TV shot up to here the newscaster better.
There were already many deaths, but locations of those deaths, or who those people were never identified, only leaving Jimin with more desperation of if his family was okay.
He needed to call them, to see if they made it out safely, but tears were already forming because in cities where Kaiju attacked, people rarely did.
He was already heading out the cafeteria when a page was running toward him, stopping him before he escaped and told him he had a international phone call.
The tears dropped.
16 05 2017, Seoul, SK
“M’sorry, Ma, I just have to get it in there,” Jimin apologized at his mother’s hisses of pain. After the attack seven years ago, his mother’s face was left disfigured from Kaiju Blue, and cleaning her wounds were still a challenge as the skin remained sensitive, even after so many years.
His sister was fine as his parents kept left her in the hotel when they went for lunch the day of the attack, which evacuated when the Kaiju rose from the sea, but his father hadn’t made it at all. His mother didn’t give details, but she was there, and Jimin’s sure his father had acted recklessly, always dreaming of seeing or touching a Kaiju in real life. God’s gift, is what he called it, so he’s sure his father wasn’t scared. That was his downfall.
His mother clearly made it, but was sprayed by Kaiju Blue, leaving her entire face disfigured from the Acidic mist. She’s lucky she didn’t just die, and that paramedics were immediately on hand to keep her alive, though sometimes, Jimin thinks she wishes she had.
While his sister is a Ranger in the PPDC, Jimin is left to take care of their mother. Other than that, his days have been spent trying to get into his residency, but he doesn’t know that he wants that. His mother has been trying to convince him of entering back into the academy, and becoming a Medic – telling him all about his purpose again and what he was put on this Earth for, sounding a lot like his father. But, after Joori training accident a year ago, he was more partial to the idea. He could be a part of the PPDC and actually help people like he wants to. His father’s perception of Kaiju has stuck to him so closely, he forgot that he could have a purpose in the Academy, to help people.
And while he cleans his mother’s wounds, he decided despite being the perfect candidate for a residency lined up for him, he wouldn't’t take it. And instead re-enrolled into the Academy to continue his studies there in order to become a Medic in the strike group.
He doesn’t know if it’s to his dismay, or pleasure, but in the PPDC, his purpose does await.
WE SHALL STAND STRONG LIKE TITANS
Jimin joined the Academy forcibly when he turned 18 (2008). His father wanted him to study Kaiju and be a Kaiju Biologist and Jimin had little choice in the matter. Jimin climbed ranks quickly mainly because the study of Kaiju had been interesting to a lover of science, and made it to Class C. However, when his father died, and his mother was badly disfigured from Kaiju Blue, he seen his way out after two years, and discharged himself from the Academy and instead went to a University in Seoul to become a surgeon. He barely stepped his feet in his residency before he had decided to become a Medic in the PPDC instead. Because he had no field training, and only training with Kaiju Blue years ago when he was in the Academy, he had to re-enroll as a Medic in Training. Now he is a Class C Medic in the strike group, and his main job is to aid cadets, and rangers when they become injured.
RE: CADET #970210 • • • KANG , SEULGI
ASSIGNED TO J-TECH , EVALUATION SCORE OF < 600 > POINTS
THOUGH WE ARE IN THE EYE OF THE STORM
i. restlessness.
it’s all she’d ever known, the mindless fiddle of fingers and the entertainment found in just about anything she could lay hands on. she’d never called it anxiety, there was no nervousness or sense of impending emotion that signified just that, but rather, it was the utmost need to pull apart, learn, and put together again seamlessly that appealed to her like nothing else––haptic technology impressive at the ripe age of fourteen.
simplicity at first, disarrangement of common school-provided writing utensils that peaked curiosity of the makings, functions, and purposes of the most mundane of objects of daily living –– eventually spurring an upward spiral to bigger and more complex objects, some a tad more useful than others and, well, others just for the hell of it. particularly proud of an old, run down computer hard-drive she’d dissected and mended back up, it wasn’t long before she’d gotten into the mindset and small business-like notion of certain technological repairs among her school peers; social interaction was never her strong suit, but an exchange of satisfying her curiosity always proved to be worth it.
ii. adoration.
there was a silent sense of guilt in her, somewhat, mindless cursing towards her own self at perhaps not perfecting a craft that proved useful to her mother’s hard work–– independence was the most significant thing seulgi would have learned then, having taken a close eye to just how intricately and carefully her mother had taken finances, stress, and the like, right into her own hands––after all, it had been the two of them for as long as seulgi could remember.
it was something she admired greatly alongside a part of adoration she felt from her utmost core, because a bond like no other is exactly what seulgi had with her mother; her best friend, other half. daily living proved to be a bit of a struggle for her, somewhat, proving hands to be tactful at nothing else other than rearrangement of systems––that much obvious in just how… useless she comes to be when assistance was requested in the kitchen, for one.
“seulgi… how do you burn bread on a pan?”
“i— … mom, please. let me live. wait, why are you laughing?!”
iii. dark.
she remembers the quake of the ground most vividly than anything else during a mid-afternoon grocery run; realization dawned too late after dismissing it as a light rumble from the train-tracks nearby. the passing thought calls upon a furrow of brows, can’t quite pinpoint where she can comfortably conclude the origin such a feeling of shaking ground––but then there were people running, pushing at her sides in a desperate attempt in exiting the premises as quickly as possible, perhaps yelling as well, but she can’t be too sure.
sound seemed deafening the moment recent events had recalled upon her, practically feeling the color drain from her features as she makes a bolt out the already nearly vacant store, unpaid bag of small groceries still in a firm tow within her hand. and now her heartbeat seemed deafening, movement of legs losing their place in her mind as realization dawns that she was racing towards the opposite direction that hoards of bodies were running away from.
breathing was lost on her, alongside the ache in her legs from the sole amount of time she’d been in a forceful race against waves of people, almost morbidly grateful for the lack of life as she neared the top of the small hill overlooking her once-peaceful street of living.
first, there was white.
a flash of it across her field of vision as the reality hit her in an almost unbearable wave. there was no longer standing residencies, no longer any visible sign of life, nor color––gray, black, burnt and ashy in every corner of the very place she’d familiarized herself with ever since she could remember.
it was unbearable to turn, to even light a spark of hope that somehow, by some miracle, her home was standing and strong. but even she knew better, knew the moment the last bit of comfort had been stripped from her so cruelly.
a drop of the bag in hand, a fall to her aching knees subsequent with the monstrous screech piercing from the air not more than a few miles from her current location. but she can’t find herself to care.
for the first time, there was something her hands couldn’t repair.
and then, there was black.
WE SHALL STAND STRONG LIKE TITANS
she’d first impressed with the string of technological devices she’d come across with in her mind––ideas brought to life with no intention other than to convenience and entertain herself at the bland, private university she had carelessly enrolled in; for distraction, mostly, sensing no real direction in any aspect of her life other than pull herself through it with any means possible. the academy seemed interesting enough, and a burst of confidence upon scanning gaze through their engineering program prompted for an application––she’d swifted right by acceptance with her knowledge and skill in mechanics and such alike, and soon the ranks, with almost envious eyes on her back as she progressed with a swift climb.
it’d started out with nothing more than curiosity at first, having been living blindly for the three years since she’d graduated high school and simultaneously lost her mother––but she was twenty-one now, and resistance proved to be broken down by the sole thought of mother, the urge to make use of her own skill, and herself, most of all. late nights continued the studies, perfectionism as its worse and it results in bitten nails and unintentional pulls of hair strands when an element of a study wasn’t one hundred percent clear. perhaps her worst flaw, drawing blame on her own limits.
potential was steady enough, though, satisfied with trainings and side lectures in developing knowledge of the jaeger technology, the urge to get hands on actual machinery–– it was a driving force, both the thirst for any hands-on and a sense to prove herself to her late mother.
to improve, adapt.
a driving force.
a driving force.
RE: CADET #940915 • • • LEE , MIJOO
ASSIGNED TO J-TECH , EVALUATION SCORE OF < 610 > POINTS
THOUGH WE ARE IN THE EYE OF THE STORM
Nine.
Mijoo was nine when San Francisco bore witness to the brutality of the first kaijou attack, an attack that lasted six long days leaving the world much different than it was before. She remembers her parents trying to stop her from watching the news channels at home but it was just as easy to slip out of the house and run to the nearest corner restaurant where everyone sat with their eyes glued to the small TV playing on the counter, their lunches quite forgotten on the green tables in front of them.
Kaijou.
It was an unfamiliar word, one that evoked fear in most but curiosity in others. For Mijoo it was a mixture of both. Why had the giant monsters come here to wreck havoc? Where had they come from? She knew she wasn’t alone in her questions but there were few if any answers available.
Eleven.
2005 was the start of something new, something big, something that could help them turn the tide against the creatures who were threatening everything humanity held dear. Both Mijoo’s parents (engineers) were recruited by the PPDC to work on the Jaeger prototype so they moved to Seoul with her in tow. Seeing the Shatterdome for the first time was a breathtaking experience and one that she would never forget for as long as she lived. Mijoo clutched onto her mother’s hand tightly as they walked around, overwhelmed by the sheer scale of things but it was the sense of community, of purpose, that she remembered the most. The thought of working towards a common goal with so many other souls was truly humanity at its finest.
Fourteen.
The Kaijou war was at its height and Jaegers were a shining beacon of hope. Whilst in times past kids would collect cards of their favourite sports stars or singers, Mijoo collected facts and statistics about every single Jaeger, memorising them until she could answer any question throw her way. Weekends often saw her sat at one of her parents’ offices with a visitors pass around her neck as she poured over books concerning engineering, mechanics, and nuclear reactors. One day she too would work on a jaeger. Luckily for her she had a knack for visualising drawings and blueprints and nimble fingers to put things together. Assembling and disassembling mechanical things became somewhat of a second nature to her, often under the watchful eye (when they could be spared) of her parents.
WE SHALL STAND STRONG LIKE TITANS
Eighteen.
The year she turned eighteen Mijoo decided to enlist in program in hopes of realising her dream of contributing towards their survival. Things were looking bleak. Kaijous were adapting to the jaegers and suddenly they were on the defensive, up against the ropes as they constantly became pummelled barely scraping by. Seeing jaegers being torn to shreds made her heart ache. All that time and effort swept away in one swipe of a claw or a tail, those lives of pilots so easily snuffed out in a single second. It was disheartening.
Twenty-one.
The breach was closed. It was over. For now. There were those who said it was done, the kaijou were never coming back, they could finally celebrate. Mijoo wasn’t so sure. If they couldn’t come through the breach they’d find a different way back. There was no way they’d let Earth go now, not after they got their asses handed to them. No, she’d stay at the academy and work even harder to prepare for the second wave, because something told her it would be even more devastating than anything they’d faced before.
Twenty-three.
Five years of her life had been spent as a cadet. Five years of gruelling work, little sleep, bruises, cuts, and burns. But she wouldn’t trade it for anything. Mijoo had learnt so many new things both about herself and about jaegers. She’d faced every challenge given to her by the instructors and passed them all, some in an unconventional manner. Some thought her talented, others thought her loud and obnoxious, ill-suited for working with j-tech. Mijoo, or Tes as she’d nicknamed herself, faced the criticism with a smile and a shrug. So what? You couldn’t please everyone. As long as her work was deemed good quality who the hell was to tell her that she didn’t belong.
Whilst she wasn’t be rubbing shoulders with the top of the five percent of her class she was very happy being in the top quartile. There wasn’t anything particularly outstanding in her personnel file though the few notes that existed commented on her tenacity and ability to think creatively… which wasn’t the best when given a test with strict parameters. Despite being on the track for being an engineer, Tes enjoys keeping the physical training and sparring exercises her striker peers take part in on her schedule, usually in her free time, and is no stranger to the practice rooms.
Blood, sweat, motor oil, and welding burns: that was her life now.
RE: CADET #970904 • • • JEON , JEONGGUK
ASSIGNED TO STRIKE , EVALUATION SCORE OF < 320 > POINTS
THOUGH WE ARE IN THE EYE OF THE STORM
the air is cool and crisp considering its september. air con cranked on as high as it could go before soft cries disrupt the silence in the room. the baby is born into a loving family that cant be happier to have received not only a healthy baby girl that stares at her brand new sibling with wide eyes, but now a boy that will carry on the jeon name.
life for the jeon’s is simple, the four of them crammed into a small house that they make liveable. a place that they can all be proud to call their home. however on jeonkook’s third birthday, and from a rather good twist of events, the jeon’s move out and into a bigger home thanks to mr. jeon’s new job. he’s to become a ranger to fight off those nasty beasts that they’d heard so much of on the news. his wife is worried but he assures her that everything will be alright, that theres nothing to worry about and he’ll return to her in one piece every night after he leaves.
its because of this that jungkook practically grows up around the shatter dome. always begging his father to take him there to have a look because when he grows up he wants to be just like him. he wants to become a hero. his father simply laughing and ruffling his hair telling him that the sky’s the limit. of course he pouts at this and promises that he’ll become a ranger one day and make him proud.
however disaster strikes when theres a sudden attack. the whole neighbour hood plunged not only into chaos but into sheer darkness too.
he finds it hard to keep his hand clasped in both his mother’s and his sisters. his feet trying to keep up with the both of them as they try desperately to run for safety. to get anywhere that would be better then where they were and out of the danger zone. every word of advise their father had given them in case of emergency forgotten and replaced with fear. jungkook tries with all his might to bite it down, swears blindly to his big sister he’s not terrified despite his whole body shaking and his breaths raspy as he gasps for air. he hears his mother’s voice for one last time at that point, the softness of it as she tells them to keep running and that no matter what they make their way towards the shatter dome where it will be safe. her hand tearing away from his when theres a big explosion.
jungkook doesn’t talk much about his mother after the events. finds himself turning his nose up at his father and the legacy that followed his name. partly blames him as the reason for not being able to protect his family when crisis had struck. the boy even more ashamed of the way their father had changed ever since they’d told him. the old man devoting his life to getting revenge and almost falling into complete and utter madness because of it (he’d been written off work and given time to recover - to which he was still on). though he doesn’t let that stop him from wanting to make a difference in the world. he still wants to become a ranger, but not one like his father. no instead, he wants to become a ranger thats better then his father. a ranger that will actually make a difference in the world even if it kills him.
WE SHALL STAND STRONG LIKE TITANS
jungkook was the ripe age of eighteen when he joined the academy, he’d shown potential that he could be good as a ranger as well as being a hard worker and showed an eagerness to learn more even though he’d had a rough idea of what it took to be a ranger already, he just needed more experience. however due to family connections from his father being part of the organisation as a ranger and an older sister who was already part of the academy he knew he’d have a lot more to prove than others who wanted to join. he knew that they were harder on those who had family ties and that he’d have to work his ass off if he even wanted to be even be considered as they’d be ten times harder on him (not to mention he’d been to the shatter dome on multiple occasions).
but he was ready for the challenge. ready to fight back against the kaiju and give human kind the best chance of survival. families had been torn apart and loved ones had been ripped from the arms of those who could not do anything to protect them and he knew first hand what that was like, swearing that he would never let it happen to another person if he could help it. after all the academy offered him the chance to be a part of something great and he wasn’t going to just let it go by.
RE: OFFICER #960903 • • • PARK , SOOYOUNG
ASSIGNED TO J-TECH , EVALUATION SCORE OF < 1120 > POINTS
THOUGH WE ARE IN THE EYE OF THE STORM
( tw! negligence, death, violence, sexual implications )
i.
a family history teeming with scandal, with strife, and with sin, it’s a wonder she would be allowed into the academy, that she would even choose to attend, but park sooyoung has decidedly been one thing since birth: stubborn. while her father was obsessed with the kaiju, sooyoung thought the jaegers were the true beauties of the war.
where she saw useless destruction, he saw profit. materialistic and money-hungry to the verycore, her father knew more about trafficking and forgery than he did about being a family man.
he only sees blue.
ii.
she’s eight the first time her father shows her a skinmite, and she has to pretend she’s not disgusted by the way it wiggles about while he describes the way they’ve figured out how to preserve them, a conversation he’s had with an associate in hong kong that’s taught him ‘wonders’ as he says. the vapor is poison and he’s scarred by his own excursions into the field but it doesn’t curb his greed.
her father now sees green.
ten years her elder, her oldest brother is the chosen one, the heir to their father’s sins. a heavy burden but one he’s been trained for as long as she can remember. his specialty is recon and he’s the first in her family to find out about lee jeon’s ideas. he’s also one of the first to volunteer as a test subject. his record’s perfect, every black mark scrubbed clean, but even he’s not strong enough to survive. a plan gone awry, because he wanted the jaegers to win just as much as she did, something she only finds out years later because of the present he leaves in her hand.
iii.
babysitters and nannies are all she knows. her mother is rarely around, elusive and evasive, but sooyoung’s always known she was the unwanted child. a daughter is a risk, and she learns just why when she’s left alone with her nanny’s husband. comfort only comes in a locked door but it’s just too close.
the next day, she insists on joining her second brother for lessons. it only takes her a month to knock her nanny’s husband out cold for even looking at her again.
she sees red.
iv.
she’s sixteen when she trusts another man again. sixteen when she learns the inner workings of the rogue jaegers her father has, and still sixteen when she realizes no one is who they truly say they are. he’s an engineer that’s too familiar with the ppdc jaegers and yet she doesn’t realize, doesn’t see that he’s a tangled web of lies. if only sooyoung was as adept as her brother, as observant, then maybe she could’ve saved him when he’d done nothing wrong to her except offer her a way out.
her father makes a show of his betrayal and his only mercy is granting a final wish. sooyoung’s surprised when it involves her. five minutes and sooyoung wishes she had left within the first, that she hadn’t allowed him to speak.
now she’s only left with one choice.
WE SHALL STAND STRONG LIKE TITANS
v.
her father’s jaegers decommissioned and the stadium destroyed, she leaves chaos in her wake just as the storm begins.
the jaeger program is ending but it doesn’t stop her from trying, from applying to the academy. once she makes her choice, she runs and she hasn’t looked back since.
but scandal still follows her.
spiteful gossip and reckless words. a fight that starts with, “the breach has just been closed and you want to talk about me?”
the worst of it is yet to come. some of her fellow cadets are just like her father, they only see a shade of green.
vi.
planted evidence and rogue sparring sessions, sooyoung makes due even though she doesn’t need to fight. she doesn’t want to be a ranger. from the beginning, she’s decided no one will be able to get inside her head.
( she wouldn’t be able to look at them if they did. )
vii.
weapons training comes easy, taking them apart becomes habit, and trying to enhance them becomes addictive. just like that, she’s found it, her own specialty and, this time, no one can take it from her. she still hears of her father’s transactions, of how he’s rebuilt, and she looks ahead at the target in front of her, a new prototype-gun for the strike troopers in hand.
if her father aims for destruction, she’ll strive to protect.
