Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Heaven was not as heavenly as pop culture would describe it. Through Seokjin’s eyes, heaven was more of a fusion of a typical Wall Street office and St. Peter’s Basilica. Within its high walls, arches, and turrets, departments were scattered, each headed by an archangel. There was the Life Department where every baby was databased, the department not missing even the hair count of each individual brought into life on earth; there was also the Death Department, where judgment was served fresh and hot on a daily basis. Those were just some of the “ordinary” departments to name a few, and these belonged to the west wing. The east wing is the treasure trove of supernatural hunters. Bangs, thuds, and demonic voices were not an uncommon occurrence in the Spiritual Warfare department, making them the mortal enemies of the Miracle Department as the seraphims and cherubims couldn’t perfect their heavenly chorus that was expected everytime a miracle happened. But hey, absolutely no fighting in heaven. Love your enemies. Although there was no cut-throat competition for power in Heaven, there still exists a hierarchy among its members that works as effectively as a well-oiled gear that keeps everything running smoothly. At the top of this hierarchy sits the Big G, omnipotent and omniscient as ever, who was currently admiring his creation through the ceiling-high window of his penthouse office.

The penthouse, nicknamed “Paradise” by the celestials, was circular. Never ending. Eternal. Much like its owner. To fictional writers’ dismay, the grand picture of paradise was less of the waterfall-rainbows-and-valleys type. The closest thing from pop culture that could be likened to Paradise was Lara Croft’s office – a mixture of ancient and modern. It was designed for a CEO with a cypress desk dominating the center of the space (let’s not go into metaphysics here, but Paradise is not bound by the physical laws of space and time). The entire office was surrounded by shimmering lights that filtered through the windows that covered majority of the walls of the room. Where there were no wall-to-ceiling windows, there were wall-to-ceiling shelves stacked full of books, tomes, and scrolls. On the desk, various holy artifacts were displayed, one of which was the Spear of Destiny. The surface of the desk facing the double doors was adorned with a framed cloth, the Shroud of Turin. Perpendicular to the center piece, two leather sofas the color of The Virgin Mary’s Soul™ (which is pure white in case you were wondering) faced each other. A fidgety being with innocent doe eyes, soft brown locks, and a sinful pair of plump pink lips occupied one of the sofas.

Seokjin was usually unabashed, confidently flaunting his colorful personality, but being in the presence of the Alpha and Omega would definitely bring anyone and anything to silence for fear of being judged as unworthy, much like feeling like being a disappointment to one’s father.

“Seokjin.” The voice was a rumble, a combination of rolling thunder and splashing waves, but it was as gentle as a wind’s whisper that spread like a mantle, every thread made of unconditional love.

“Abba,” Seokjin uttered, the heavenly language sounding unrefined coming from his hybrid lips.

“I’m always watching.”

Seokjin kept his eyes kept downward. Being a hybrid had its downsides as well as upsides. For one, he cannot look directly into God’s face without being burned to ashes, thus his staring contest with the floor. Because of the Veil of Sin that he naturally inherited from his Fallen biological father, God can only appear to him as a scorching and blinding light that will incinerate him through a direct glance. Heavenly language needed his full effort and concentration when using it; he didn’t have wings, just small nubs protruding from his shoulder blades; and his status was at rock bottom and was nowhere near as that of an archangel’s. However, due to his hybrid status, Seokjin could act with a miniscule amount of mischief around God, which put him a million times set apart from the “pure” angels who had 0% of tolerance of mischief and were stiff as a shepherd’s rod. Although born to a demon, Seokjin favored his angelic side more, courtesy of his mother. His sense of good overpowered his sense of evil, resulting in an odd yet effective way of spreading good to humanity through unconventional ways. This unique mix of privileges from being a hybrid combined with Seokjin’s personality gave him an air of being a mischievous but a very loving son to his Father, seeking to prove himself.

“I have watched over you and I love you. But I cannot call you my son. At least not yet until you have redeemed yourself. You are a very special case, my dear Seokjin. You are one of the few who have made use of their free will wisely. You chose to love Me and renounced the sins of your father and your father’s father, and those who came before them. I am pleased with you.”

At those words, Seokjin’s ears and neck were flushed. “Aww, shucks,” was all Seokjin managed to say despite religiously learning the holy language for years to impress the Big G. Attaboy, Seokjinnie. Way to show off your vocabulary.

The immortal laughed, and everything was suddenly alive. Each puff of laughter emitted the twittering of a thousand birds and the growth of foliage on the Earth below. “I delight in you Seokjin, and I patiently await the day when you can see me face to face. Your task is to save the souls of six young boys. Protect them, Seokjin, nourish them and develop them to become worthy of my Kingdom.

Do this, and you will be rewarded. Do what is pleasing and what is righteous to your God. Go forth and spread the love, joy, and peace, to the world. And when all is done, you will be my son.”

Seokjin squared his broad shoulders, cracking his neck joints. “Bring it, Abba.”

Chapter Text

“Eomma, if you were to Guard six souls, how would you go about it?” 20-year old Seokjin asked, casually leaning against the doorway of his mother’s bedroom, observing her through the dresser mirror as she brushed her long brown wavy hair.

Setting the brush down, Leila contemplatively stared at her son’s reflection. “What’s vital is that you know your charges like the back of your hand. From there, you need to trust your instincts. It’s never the same for all of my charges, you know.” Leila was an angel with a dozen or so centuries of Guarding experience under her belt. Within this span of time, she had been steadily rising as a guardian angel on the verge of being promoted as an archangel. A record-holder, she managed to take under her wing a total of 237 Guarded and 329 Redeemed. The higher the number of Redeemed, the higher the status, as Redemption was a hell of a lot harder than Guarding. Redeemed souls are those that were already in the clutches of Lucifer, but were able to see the Light and were rescued back to God’s loving embrace. The Guarded are those with untainted souls that were invited to the Kingdom,  in need of preventive measures to secure that invitation until their death. Leila’s Guarded and Redeemed count was steadily rising until she conceived Seokjin, where she had to sacrifice her status and career, willingly surrendering her halo and having her wings cut off, in order to give life to the handsome young man she is proud to call her son. “I hold all of them close to my heart, and I love them like my own. That’s what makes the job easier and that’s what gives you reason to never give up on any of them. Some could be more difficult to handle than others, but at the end of the day, we all want them to spend Eternity in the Kingdom.”

Seokjin just nodded, throat too dry to utter any form of acknowledgment.

“Aww baby,” Leila stood, gathered her son in her arms, and sat on the bed. She lovingly stroked her son’s hair, lightly touching his cheek. She could not believe how much he had grown and was constantly growing to look more like her with each passing day. That gorgeous mop of soft silky hair was hers, the plump lips were hers, those eyes were hers, and they both shared a feature that linked them – a pair of nubs where wings should have been. “Are you nervous?”

Seokjin met his mother’s warm gaze with anxious orbs. “Yes, eomma. I’m terrified to my bones. I have no idea how to Guard, much less to Redeem. I suck at invocations and I can’t even master the heavenly language yet. And now I’ll be in charge of six souls? I’m screwed.”

“Hey, you are not screwed, okay? You are special Jinnie, so special.” Seokjin sighed as his favorite angel pulled him in a hug, securing him with the scent of peaches and cream. “You are the very first hybrid to be given the chance to be Redeemed through your own efforts; the first one to have ever been personally given an assignment by none other than Abba himself; and I’m sure that you will be the first to succeed. Never lose sight of who you are, and use it to your advantage. As one of the Nephilim, you are given the rare chance to directly influence your charges by being physically present. Angels don’t have that kind of power, only in very special cases were we allowed to reveal ourselves to our charges.” Leila held her son at arm’s length, squeezed his shoulders encouragingly. “You got this, Jinnie.”

Seokjin was silent for a few seconds, searching for assurance in his mother’s eyes, when he finally said, “Yeah. Yeah, I got this eomma. I’ll make sure to bargain for your status too when I succeed.”

Not wanting to burst her son’s bubble by telling him that bargaining for her status was a lost cause, she smiled. The smile on Leila’s lips that night was brilliant. Her eyes crinkled – a sign of her irrevocable choice of mortality. “That’s my boy.”

May 13, 2013

Eomma,

This is top secret but I just can’t wait to tell you that we will be debuting one month from now! The schedule is really hard, but I have to try my best because I can’t let my boys down. I know that I’m not as good as the others but I have to try  and keep up because I won’t let myself stop my boys from reaching their dream.

All of them are so precious, eomma, and I can’t wait to get this Guarding thing started!

I’ll write to you soon so please wish me luck with my two identities haha!

Love, Seokjinnie~

June 13, 2013

Eomma,

We debut today! I honestly don’t know what to feel. I’m excited and nervous at the same time. I kept asking for tips from the seraphim-sunbaenims but they said that I can’t possibly let Heaven’s chorus dominate the Billboard. Wish us luck eomma!

I have good news though 😊 It seems that our leader, Namjoon, is a Guarded. His empathy is off-the-scale and I won’t have anyone else as our leader. This boy is so caring and smart that I can already see him as the next Moon Jae-in. Eomma, I swear, the ideas that come from this boy’s head are Solomon level! But he’s still just a child who really loves crabs hahaha.

I’ll write soon, eomma 😊

Love, Seokjinnie~  

 July 27, 2013

Eomma,

How are you? I heard from Rabbi Yaakov that you missed your appointment with him last month. I hope you’re always taking care of yourself. I wish I could be there to take care of you, but being an idol was far beyond my expectations. Everyday is very tiring and I have to catch up to the others in singing and dancing so I won’t blow my cover.

Eomma do you remember Taehyung? He’s the really sweet kid I introduced to you last time, the one you said was a “grown man inside a baby’s body” hahahaha.

Anyway, I feel from my hybrid sensors that he needs Guarding. I mean, this boy is so pure I can’t believe how he remains Guarded in this harsh idol world. I hope you two could meet more often, I’m sure you’ll like him.

P.S. I’ll ask Rabbi Yaakov if he can drop by our house to make sure you won’t miss any more appointments with him. I love you!!!!

Seokjinnie~  

 August 8, 2013

Eomma,

I know how much you love serving at the orphanage and the elderly shelter, but please please PLEASE don’t go there on your own. I’m extremely worried about you and if I have to quit this idol thing I would. But I know that you would hate that because I’ll be triggering a DefCon one or whatever in heaven so I won’t. I asked Rabbi Yaakov to bring you some manna today to help with your condition, so please be obedient for once, okay eomma? I miss your cookies. I miss your japchae. I miss your smile. I MISS YOU EOMMA PLEASE GIVE ME FOOD. The guys here are terrible cooks and now I’m their Guardian/personal chef. I’m still not at your level of cooking though haha.

But seriously I really miss you eomma. You’re my sunshine. I guess the closest thing next to your sunshine is our Hobi. He’s very bright, very noisy, but I like him. He’s like the energizer of our little group. He’s positivity is so contagious that I find myself believing that I can ace this mission as quickly as possible! Hobi is a Guarded, eomma, I just know it. And that just leaves me with three more members to evaluate, yay!

I miss youuuuu!

Love, Seokjinnie~

 September 29, 2013

Eomma,

I don’t understand why you won’t agree to renting an apartment near my dorm ☹ Am I that ugly that you don’t want to see me on a regular basis? Eomma, I know that you’ve been keeping silent about your health but Rabbi Yaakov tells me everything – how you can’t eat anything anymore, even the manna he brings. Please just tell me that you’ll move in to the apartment I found for you. I really worry about you, you know.

Right now, I’m feeling a little bit like Jungkook. The poor lamb is just fifteen and he’s already out here making a living in Seoul when his entire family is in Busan. I can feel him hurting although he doesn’t say much about himself. We’re both having withdrawal symptoms from our mothers, and I can feel him opening up to me lately. I can’t say for sure if he’s a Guarded or in need of Redemption, I’ll have to make him talk more. If only you’d agree to renting near our dorm, then he would at least have some sort of mother-figure he can get comfortable with and spill his secrets to while here in Seoul *nudge nudge*.

I’ll see you soon eomma. I’ll try to work something out of our schedule to take care of you.

Love, Seokjinnie~  

 October 15, 2013

Eomma, what can I do to convince you to please just live near me???? You overexerted yourself again at the shelter and I feel so bad that I wasn’t there when you were rushed to the hospital and I just knew about it today from Rabbi Yaakov. I’ll be taking the very first train to Gwacheon after preparing breakfast for the boys. Right after finishing this letter. Haha I’m such an idiot to write a letter when I’ll be meeting you later, but I know how much you love receiving old-fashioned hand-written letters than just texting so there we go.

Right now, I only need to figure out one more member because today I found out that Yoongi needs Redemption. He’s had very very close calls with Darkness and I have nothing but deep respect for him. He’s already fought wars and he’s younger than me by a year! Somehow, I can see you in him, eomma – independent, strong-headed, very loyal. Actually, all of my boys are.

You’re my reason for living, you know that right? And I’m just so thankful to Abba for giving me six more reasons.

See you later eomma!

Love, Seokjinnie~  

 November 21, 2013

Eomma, I can’t believe that you sided with my company’s decision to not let me take a month-long break! Are you really that afraid to see my handsome face 24/7 for a month?! Seriously, can’t a hybrid take care of his mother even if it’s just for a month?? Well, at least they gave me a week-long break to take care of you but still…

I’m actually looking forward to this break because it’ll be the first time we could spend our time together after we debuted. I’ll bring home some manggaetteok when I come home 😊 Manggaetteok reminds of our very precious Jiminie haha. He’s the baby-faced body builder, remember? Come to think of it, he’s really just a baby on steroids. I mean, the dude’s so fluffy I’m gonna die! He’s really sweet and thoughtful and caring. And so it came to me as a shock when I found out that he actually needs Redemption. It must be because of his disposition to empathize with other people that somehow their burdens were transferred to him. I guess he’s oblivious to all this, but it somehow makes him susceptible to being overcome by Darkness.

Wow. I can’t believe it eomma. I actually got the profiling down! So now it’s time to think of strategies on how to rescue these lost boys. I guess I’ll continue playing the role of the cool responsible hyung to make things easier for all of us.

Can’t wait to see you eomma!

Love Seokjinnie~  

 December 4, 2013

Twenty years ago, you brought me to life without second thought. You knew that someday you will have to leave me. But does it really have to be this soon, eomma? I have so much to tell you, so much more to share with you but you have gone to where angels go when they die. You may have been stripped of your halo and your wings but to me, you are the very definition of what an angel is. I’ll keep on wondering from this day to forever if I ever told you “I love you” enough. Was I a good son? Are you proud of me? I wouldn’t know. Not anymore. But for you, eomma, I’ll make sure to strut through the double doors of Heaven with a halo on my head and the biggest pair of wings any angel could ever dream of. I’ll stop with the cool hyung act and honor you by obeying you when you told me to never lose sight of who I am. I am Kim Seokin, half-and-half, chaotic-angel-to-be. I'll have the entirety of Heaven that order can come from chaos, too. You brought me into the world to prove a point -that order and chaos could coincide. I'll make sure to prove that, eomma. I'll make it your legacy.