Kim Jongseok was a military adviser for the North Korean army. A very strict man, who took great pride in being able to help the Korean government. Kim Jongseok was married to a woman named Moon Yi-Na. The two had been trying for a baby for a awhile, and eventually the day had come on December 17th in 1988. Yi-Na had waited for her husband Jongseok to return from a meeting, and when he did she told him the news.
After a few months, the couple found out that they were going to be having twins, a boy and a girl. When the two children were born, the couple named them Jongseok II and Min-Young respectively. The two children were raised to be prim and proper members of society. Starting from when they were first born, they had always been told what to do and if they did it wrong, they'd be reprimanded. Even during their young years of life, they were scolded.
Soon the twins reached the age of three, and they then began attending nursery school. During the time they spent at nursery school, they were taught to enjoy military type games and to hate the miguk nom, otherwise known as "American Bastard". After going through two nursery school learning about military games and learning to hate the "American Bastard", the twins had finally turned six.
As the twins grew older their hatred for the "American Bastard" only intensified due to their father's indoctrinating ways. Their father had always been close with the President, Kim Il-sung , and as such Jongseok II and Minyoung had met him many times, being praised for being ideal North Korean children. As their ninth birthday grew close, their mother had been arrested on suspicion for bedding an American solider in forms of pornography. Only a few weeks from her arrested she was executed publicly. Although still young, the hatred that the twins shared only intensified further.
Their lives rarely strayed from a strict routine from that moment onwards - they would go to school to learn how to fulfil their gender roles to their best ability, return home and continue other studies further and finally they would often have dinner with their father who often invited other military officials and their families. This routine didn't change until they turned 17. The gods, especially Zeus, had been concerned about how the new leader of North Korea, Jong-il had been running the country, and as such decided to keep a close eye on him. Although they had mighty power they wanted to have someone close to the president to serve as their spy, feeding them information so they could monitor him even closer. Zeus had spotted Jongseok II and Minyoung and visited them, posing as another Korean general and told them of their roles given to them by him. Apprehensive at first, both twins eventually accepted and every single time they met the President and spoke to him, they told Zeus all he had said. The twins did this regularly for a year before they were caught in February 1995. Only a few days after their arrest they were sentenced to public execution by firing squad the following year. The gods, seeing this proposed many ways in which they could be saved, Hades denying them all, stating that they had been sentenced to death and as such, should be allowed into his realm. Zeus agreed on the condition that they would get into Elysium in which Hades complied with.
After the council meeting of the gods, Demeter ventured down to earth and visited Jongseok I and had told him of his children's true occupations. By this time, Jongseok himself had become rebellious and upon hearing that his children could be reborn once more, accepted quickly. On August 13th 1996, Jongseok II and Minyoung were executed and Demeter captured their souls secretly and placed them in two trees in one of her sacred gardens in Greece.
As the plan Jongseok I and Demeter had formed took place, starting with the twin's souls being placed in the two trees situated in Demeter's sacred garden, the next step was for them to conceive new children. With Demeter feeling attracted to Jongseok I, she was fully willing. After the two had sex, Demeter gave birth only a few days later, and as she placed the souls of Miyoung and Jongseok II in the two newborn twins, they were then reborn.
The next step in the plan that was formed by Demeter and Jongseok I was to have Mnemosyne erase the children's memories, so they didn't remember anything of their past life. Mnemosyne agreed to this, as long as she got something in return. She wanted one of the twins to one day be her servant, both Jongseok I and Demeter obliged to Mnemosyne's wishes, and with that she erased the twins' memories from their past life.
Unlike their previous life where they were together at all times, the twins were split up by Jongseok I at a young age. At 3, Jongseok II remained in the capital, Pyongyang where as Minyoung was sent to Amsil, a village near the South Korean border. Jongseok II was taught on how to become a great military soldier or leader to carry on his father's name whereas in contrast, Minyoung was taught how to be a good housewife. Both twins were taught how to use basic daggers, strictly instructed by Demeter to Jongseok I, stating that they would need it in their later lives.
As they got older the two became more rebellious and began to go against the rules their guardians had been put into place. The two sent more personal letters (the previous ones being on formal terms and strictly about their education) and gave each other different names. Jongseok II became Saeryun and Minyoung became Kyuri. As they got older, their education became more intense and by the time they were 13, they had a decent amount of knowledge in their fields of education and growing skills in using their daggers.
When Jongseok II was 13 it was decided he'd go into one of the mountainous areas in North Korea to take note of the whole country in one of his geography lessons. He was accompanied by two of his own personal guards (one of which was a child of Ares). During the trip he was attacked by a hellhound. Whilst the son of Ares fought the monster off, the other guard escorted Jongseok II back to Pyongyang. Once the news reached his father, Jongseok II wasn't permitted to leave the capital for the next 3 years.
As he neared his 16th birthday, Jongseok II planned to do the unthinkable. He had heard stories about how people lived in South Korea and how they they lived life fully and with a carefree attitude, a polar opposite to his strict upbringing. For the next few weeks he structured a plan that would allow him to defect to the South. He had heard that if a North Korean were to go to Mongolia and it was found out that they were North Korean, the Mongolian government would give them a aeroplane ride to the South. He went to his father and begged him to allow the trip to go ahead, stating that it'd be good for his studies. Reluctantly, his father agreed and along with his guards, Minchan and Insoo, Jongseok II set to travel to Beijing.
Unknown to his father, Minchan and Insoo had also been interesting into defecting from North Korea and as such, promised to help Jongseok II get to Mongolia. As their convey neared the capital of China and stopped at a hotel for the first night, the three that intended to defect changed cars and drove to the north. As they reached the border trio came to a meet point in the border where some Chinese betrayers helped Jongseok II cross the border into Mongolia as Minchan and Insoo set to find their way to the West.
Jongseok II stayed in Mongolia until he reached his 16th birthday, then he revealed to Mongolian officials that he was a defector and soon he found himself on a plane to Seoul. Upon arriving in the capital of the South, Jongseok II changed his name to Saeryun and lived low in Seoul. Another defector, one of his father's maids, Miseon, who had fled several years before adopted him and he took the last name Jung instead of Kim. He continued his studies in the local high school, excelling in Korean History.
In his last letter to Minyoung before he left, he mentioned that he was going to defect and had laid the route out for her, hoping that she two would defect in due time. From moving to Seoul, Saeryun spent the new two years waiting for her. It wasn't until his 18th birthday did Minyoung catch up to him and took her letter name of Kyuri, also being adopted by Miseon and taking the last name Jung. For a few months they stayed in Seoul before going to a Camp that Demeter had told them about through a dream.
Jung Sae-Ryun
