Chapter Text
Five Months Ago
@InternationalNews🗸
(Attachment: Thumbnail of a security tape taken in the Busan Police Department)
This “unbreakable” code was discovered solved after an unknown intruder broke into central Neo-Seoul’s Busan Police Department HQ and stole medicine & weapons. This code has stumped police for years after being found at a famous murder scene, and a masked intruder solved it in five minutes during a B & E, leading to the arrest of the famous serial killer “Coffin”. The police chief is “baffled, but incredibly grateful” for this criminal code breaker. For the full story, click here. #CriminalCodeBreaker
► @mysticalmelody27
Someone give this person a medal . . . solving a code that was classified unbreakable shows true talent. #CriminalCodeBreaker
► @truecrimeeverywhere🗸
Check out our episode on this baffling turn of events now! Click here #CriminalCodeBreaker
► @turtles_shall_live
Why is everyone ignoring the fact that this person BROKE INTO A LITERAL POLICE STATION and stole medicine & WEAPONS?!!!! They aren’t a hero, they’re a criminal.
► @annie_callaway43
Does anyone else notice how small the intruder is in the security tapes . . . I know they’re masked, but they look like a child to me- what on Earth is happening in Neo-Seoul to make a child need to steal weapons?
► @castawayforever21, replying to @annie_callaway43
Thank goodness someone said this, I was thinking that too! Neo-Seoul has the highest number of homeless orphans in the world, what is their monarchy doing?!
Four Months Ago
@InternationalNews🗸
(Attachment: Grainy photo of a young boy walking with a younger girl in hand)
Criminal code breaker finally found! The masked intruder who solved the Coffin code has been identified as Yang Jeongin, a fourteen year old orphan from Central Busan. He was taken into custody after DNA testing found crucial evidence on one of the pens found near the code. Mr. Yang was questioned thoroughly at the very station that he broke into. After being asked why he broke into the station, the young teen had broken into tears and replied he only needed the medicine for his younger sister, who was horribly sick. When asked where this sister is, he replied “she’s gone . . . your supposed Plague medicine didn’t work”. #CriminalCodeBreaker
► @forveralunagirl
This is heartbreaking . . . poor Jeongin only broke in to save his little sister, who later died.
►@ruler_of_catz
A true story out of a novel . . . this kid risked everything. #CriminalCodeBreaker
►@survivor-of-war87
Anyone else find it absolutely incredible that this boy, with probably no formal math education, broke a code that complex in five minutes, while under the stress of needing to save his sister? #CriminalCodeBreaker #ChildGenius
►@uniformally_amazing99
Why is everyone glossing over the fact that this kid is a criminal? He did literal B & E, and stole WEAPONS. I don’t buy the whole “oh I was saving my sister, who is no longer with us” act. He’s probably with the fucking mafia or something.
►@wonderland_60, replying to @uniformally_amazing99
Oh shut up! He literally burst into tears for goodness sake! Don’t tell me you haven’t lost someone you love to the Plague!
►@cats_vs_pickles00, replying to @uniformally_amazing99
Try not to be an asshole, he just lost his sister. I get that he broke laws, and he is in jail for it! Don’t call it an act because you have enough money to get vaccinated from the Plague, so it seems like an excuse. Only 35% of the world are vaccinated, because it’s horribly expensive.
►@mathwhizzzzzz89
Damn, this kid has talent! Maybe even Academy impressive . . .
#RoyalInterationalAcademy #GetJeongintoRIA
►@magial_melody35
This is an amazing boy! He deserves to go places #GetJeongintoRIA
Trending Tags Top 5
1. #CriminalCodeBreaker
30 million posts, 1.5 million comments
2. #GetJeongintoRIA
27 million posts, 1.9 million comments
3. #PrinceJisungsBirthday
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4. #YangJeongin
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5. #JustAnAvergeBirthday
180,000 posts, 900,000 comments
One Month Ago
𝓣𝓸 𝓜𝓻. 𝓨𝓪𝓷𝓰 𝓙𝓮𝓸𝓷𝓰𝓲𝓷,
𝓦𝓮 𝓪𝓻𝓮 𝓹𝓵𝓮𝓪𝓼𝓮𝓭 𝓽𝓸 𝓲𝓷𝓯𝓸𝓻𝓶 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓫𝓮𝓮𝓷 𝓪𝓬𝓬𝓮𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓲𝓷𝓽𝓸 𝓡𝓸𝔂𝓪𝓵 𝓘𝓷𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓷𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷𝓪𝓵 𝓐𝓬𝓪𝓭𝓮𝓶𝔂’𝓼 𝓼𝓽𝓾𝓭𝓮𝓷𝓽 𝓫𝓸𝓭𝔂 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓾𝓹𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝔂𝓮𝓪𝓻. 𝓣𝓮𝓻𝓶 𝓼𝓽𝓪𝓻𝓽𝓼 𝓲𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓻𝓮𝓮 𝔀𝓮𝓮𝓴𝓼. 𝓔𝓷𝓬𝓵𝓸𝓼𝓮𝓭 𝓲𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓮𝓷𝓿𝓮𝓵𝓸𝓹𝓮 𝓲𝓼 𝓪 𝓽𝓲𝓬𝓴𝓮𝓽 𝓽𝓸 𝓟𝓸𝓻𝓽𝓼𝓶𝓸𝓾𝓽𝓱, 𝓔𝓷𝓰𝓵𝓪𝓷𝓭, 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓪 𝓯𝓮𝓻𝓻𝔂 𝓽𝓲𝓬𝓴𝓮𝓽 𝓽𝓸 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓬𝓪𝓶𝓹𝓾𝓼 𝓸𝓷 𝓢𝓽𝓻𝓪𝓽𝓼𝓫𝓾𝓻𝓰 𝓘𝓼𝓵𝓪𝓷𝓭. 𝓦𝓮 𝓽𝓻𝓾𝓼𝓽 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝔀𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓾𝓹𝓱𝓸𝓵𝓭 𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓿𝓪𝓵𝓾𝓮𝓼 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓶𝓪𝓴𝓮 𝓾𝓼 𝓹𝓻𝓸𝓾𝓭.
𝓦𝓮 𝓵𝓸𝓸𝓴 𝓯𝓸𝓻𝔀𝓪𝓻𝓭 𝓽𝓸 𝓶𝓮𝓮𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓼𝓸𝓸𝓷,
𝓑𝓸𝓪𝓻𝓭 𝓸𝓯 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓡𝓸𝔂𝓪𝓵 𝓘𝓷𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓷𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷𝓪𝓵 𝓐𝓬𝓪𝓭𝓮𝓶𝔂.
Present
My name is Yang Jeongin.
That’s how he always starts his journal entries.
I am fifteen years old.
That changes yearly.
My life is my own.
That’s been the same since day one. Once a lie, now a goal, and a promise to himself to never make the same mistakes again.
I belong here.
That’s a new one, only added a week ago. After that, the format changes. Sometimes several pages of mindless thought dumping, other times only a couple of paragraphs. Today, it’s about an encounter.
And today, I met someone. Several someones.
That’s not new. Jeongin meets new people every day.
They weren’t horrible. They weren’t upstanding. They were almost . . . kind.
That is new. Jeongin has never been treated with kindness.
One had a sunny smile and dimples. He was the nicest. I think his name is Christopher. Another one looked at me with something in his eyes, it wasn't pity though . . . it almost looked like understanding. Which doesn’t make sense, no one in this bloody school understands me. Maybe it was pity. Anyway, he was really cute, like flutter-in-my-chest-blush-level cute. I don’t know his name, but he had these really pretty gold rimmed glasses on, it made him look super smart. The girl with them was Shin Ryujin, the, like, fourth in line for the English throne. She’s nicer than the rest of them, and doesn’t seem super pretentious. She seems kind, at least in the way she talks to people. The last one was Prince Jisung. He’s an asshole, and the only one that ruined the encounter. He’s always so snobby, it’s horrible.
Chris had stopped me in the hallway to compliment me, which is like “whoa” because he’s literally one of the most popular boys in school. If I was him, I wouldn’t even want to be near me, the dirt-poor outsider. Chris told me that I’m really good at math, and that I really nailed the hard question the teacher asked me out of nowhere. I told him thank you, I did not mention that the teacher had only asked me the question to target me, even if I was the top of my class.
I had complimented him back, telling him that he’s also really good at math, and like, everything (because he is), and then this other guy walked up. He had dyed blonde hair, which I didn’t even know was allowed in the dress code, and was short, even shorter than Prince Jisung (who even I’m taller than, haha). He had started talking to Chris, ignoring me, which was rude but not unusual.
“Channie, can I borrow you for a second?” He had asked Chris (Channie?). Chris had gestured to me, saying that he was talking to me right now, and could go later. That made me feel nice, to be recognized. The other boy had immediately flushed and apologized for ignoring me.
“My name is Lee Felix.” He’d introduced, “And I think I know who you are, but can you tell me just to make sure?”
“Yang Jeongin” I had told him, “Year eight.”
“You’re really good at math.” Felix told me, “Like, scary good. I heard what you did, that’s amazing.”
I flushed to my roots. Nobody complimented me about what I had done, only told me I didn’t belong here or talked to me like I was something not even worth a second of their time. And no one had sounded as sincere as Felix.
“Th-thank you.” I muttered back, and yes, I did stutter like that.
“Yeah, you’re amazing!” Chris had agreed, then looked mortified. “I can’t believe I forgot to introduce myself! Christopher Bang, or my Korean name is Bang Chan, whichever you prefer.”
I had momentarily forgotten why Chris also had a Korean name, so I asked.
“Oh, you’re precious. I’m the son of the Korean ambassador to Australia.” Chris had told him, “That’s why I have this weird accent while speaking Korean.”
I couldn’t believe I had forgotten who he was, I was so mortified. Trying to cover up my embarrassment, I had switched to Korean. “I’m so happy people speak Korean here, I didn’t grow up speaking English, it makes my brain hurt.”
Chan had laughed, but surprisingly it was that super cute boy next to him that spoke up.
“Yeah same, it’s definitely a struggle, especially when the old man and Felix do it, because of their bloody accents.”
OMG, I wanted to drown in his voice. It’s so smooth, but with a vein of good natured sarcasm that made me want to hear it forever.
“Y-yeah, I’m glad someone understands.” I had stuttered AGAIN, and in front of this insanely handsome guy! What on Earth was happening? “And you are? . . .”
“Kim Seungmin.” He had supplied, “No fancy titles to my name needed.”
I had frowned at this. “What, are you embarrassed by them or something?”
Seungmin had laughed (my knees maybe turned to jelly). “No, I don’t have any. I’m on scholarship.”
Maybe that look from before was understanding then, if Seungmin was on scholarship too. Before I could reply and possibly ask for something embarrassing the warning bell rang, making us all run to get to class before the actual bell rang. Even the fucking prince of England couldn’t be late to class in a school or royals.
Today was the first relatively good day I’d had at the Academy. It was definitely a foreign feeling, that’s for sure.
I can’t look back.
No, he can’t. Looking back is too painful.
This is where I am now.
Until some rich parent manages to cough up enough money to have the “criminal pity kid” expelled.
I just need to make the best of it, while I still can.