Chapter 1
- For my little ones who never got the chance to grow up and explore the world.
The twins suddenly found themselves in the middle of Seoul. For a moment, the twins thought they were in Shibuya considering the crowd around them but the Hangul on every sign around them quickly corrected them.
“I wish this time jumping thing would give us a heads up before dropping us off in the middle at some random time and place,” Ichiro said. “I’m gonna be real pissed if it happens while I’m in the shower.”
“Or if we’re sleeping,” Kanon said as she looked around. It looks modern but kinda dated. So, I’m guessing the nineties.”
“June of Ninety-nine,” Ichiro said. “Michael Jackson had a concert or I guess has a concert.”
“Okay, I get you that remember every historical fact you come across but how did you know that?”
Ichiro pointed to a poster advertising Michael Jackson’s concert on June 25th.
“That explains it,” Kanon said nodding. “I wonder why we came back only to ninety-nine.”
“Well, aside from the Battle of Yeonpyeong, I can’t think of any real reason why.”
“The Battle of Yeonpyeong?”
“The North and South navies got into it and about thirty North Koreans were killed and only nine South Koreans were injured. There was a bigger battle in two thousand-two in the same area. In two thousand ten, the North shelled Yeonpyeong.”
“Most people think the Korean War is over and no one ever learns about this stuff outside of Korea,” Kanon said. “I’ll bet if you talk to any of our American friends, they won’t have any idea about this.”
“You’re right.”
Kanon looked around. “Since we don’t know anything that happens here I guess we can just walk around until we jump back.”
“Yeah, but that seems to only happen when we do what we need to do like we’re in Quantum Leap or something.”
“But what about when we tried rescuing Megumi? We jumped back before we could save her.”
“She wasn’t the one we were supposed to save,” Ichiro said. “We jumped when Aunt Nagisa wasn’t in danger of being taken.”
“Yeah, you’re right. Well, until we figure things out, let’s go up to Seoul Tower.”
Seoul Tower overlooked the city from Namsam Mountain. The hike up the mountain was no joke and the twins dropped onto the steps of the Palgakjeong Pavilion at the base of the tower. The twins had expected the area to be crowded with tourists but only a few people roamed the area, including some foreigners.
“I’m so glad you thought of exchanging the money we had for Korean money,” Ichiro said taking a drink.
Kanon drank from her bottle and then almost spit it all out. She tapped her brother repeatedly and then pointed straight ahead. He had a similar reaction when he saw who his sister was talking about. A younger version of their father was walking toward the tower.
“He was stationed in Korea before he met Mom,” Kanon said. They watched him sit down on a bench next to a woman who was holding a child of about two. Their eyes and mouths slowly grew wider as he kissed the woman and then the child before holding her.
“Are we sure that’s him?” Kanon asked.
“Yeah,” Ichiro said. “That’s definitely him but why is he with another woman that isn’t our mom? Let’s get closer.”
The twins casually made their way over to the couple without trying to be noticed. There was no mistaking it now. The man was definitely their father. The woman was a beautiful Korean woman that could easily get any guy she wanted. The child was mixed just like the twins and sported a pair of green eyes, just like the twins.
“Do you think anyone will notice us taking pictures with this?” Kanon asked pulling out her phone.
Ichiro looked around. There’s not a lot of people up here so I’m sure we could get away with it.”
Kanon acted like she was taking pictures of the area and got a good close-up picture of their father with the woman and child. It was actually a sweet picture.
“HEY!”
The loud demanding voice startled Kanon so much that she almost dropped her phone. The twins looked around to see a man walking toward them with two cops behind him. When he was close enough, the twins realized he wasn’t focused on them but actually their father.
“Father, what are you doing here?” the woman asked.
“Making sure you weren’t meeting with this American dog,” the man said. “I told you you weren’t to see him again.”
“You can’t tell me what to do,” the woman said. “I’m an adult and I can love who I want to love.”
“You’re not allowed to love the enemy.” Kanon could hear their North Korean accent but referring to Americans as the enemy cemented it for her.
“The enemy?” the woman asked. “We don’t live there anymore. The Americans aren’t our enemy.”
“And this American is the father of your grandchild,” Dustyn said.
Absolute rage spread across the man’s face as he threw a punch at Dustyn. He dodged the attack and before he could retaliate, the two cops had Dustyn on the ground.
“What the hell? He attacked me,” Dustyn said. The woman screamed at her father and the cops to release him.
“Hey, why are you arresting him? That guy’s the one who attacked him,” Kanon said.
“Mind your own business or we’ll arrest you too.”
“You don’t have the right or the authority,” Kanon said. “We’re witnesses to the whole thing and this old bastard here is the attacker. You should be arresting him. Or did he give you money to arrest this guy?” The officers glared at the twins as if they had said the most offensive thing imaginable.
“Final warning,” one officer said. “We’ll arrest you for obstruction of justice.”
“What justice?” Ichiro said.
“Hey,” Kanon said. “Get off him, he can’t breathe.”
“He’s fine.”
“You have your knee on his neck and you’re holding his head down,” Ichiro said. The woman was now pleading while her child cried. The little girl ran to her father but was pushed away by the officer.
“Soulless bastards,” Ichiro said before sprinting over and slamming his knee into the officer’s chin. The other officer grabbed Ichiro by the shoulders but was kicked in the side by Kanon causing him to release her brother. Once the officer fell off of Dustyn, Dustyn sucked in as much air as he could.
“Now you’re really in trouble,” the officer said. The two pairs squared off. Kanon threw a few insults in her North Korean accent, attracting the attention of the woman and her father. Rage had consumed her at this point so she didn’t care of the consequences. Ichiro was ready to have a fight with the cops. Seeing them handle their father in such a manner sent all rational thoughts out the window.
“What’s going on?” another officer asked approaching them.
“We were just assaulted by these two.”
“Yeah, to stop you from killing him,” Kanon said pointing to her father. “You had your knee on his neck restraining him when in fact you shouldn’t have restrained him at all as he was the one attacked.”
“Is this true?” the newly arrived and older officer asked.
“It is,” the other officer said. “We felt he was the bigger threat and needed to be neutralized.
“He hadn’t done anything,” Kanon said. “The other guy attacked him because he didn’t want his daughter with an American. Those cops didn’t bother with the real attacker. That cop slammed him to the ground and held his knee on his neck. He would’ve died if we didn’t jump in.”
The older officer stared at the other two officers who avoided his gaze. The older officer then slapped both of them across the back of their head before berating them. Dustyn smiled at the twins before hugging his Korean daughter, who was all too happy to hug him back. Kanon snapped another secret photo.
“Now,” the older officer said. “Let’s settle this properly.” The last word he said was laced with so much venom that the younger pair flinched as he said it. “I’ll take your statements and then...” he was about to say something to the twins but they were gone. They all looked around but there was no sign of them.
Mako walked into the kitchen before letting out a small scream when the twins suddenly appeared in front of her. Dustyn came running in a moment later.
“What happened?” he asked before he noticed the twins. “Did you two jump?”
The twins nodded.
“You okay?” Mako asked. “Was it bad?”
“Not really,” Kanon said. “Just the usual random country, don’t know why we’re there, fight with the police. You know, the usual.”
“You fought with the cops? Why?” Dustyn asked.
“They were on top of a guy who had just been attacked by another man. He couldn’t breathe so we jumped in to help,” Kanon said.
“We saw the whole thing,” Ichiro said. “They ignored the guy who attacked him as if he paid them off or something.”
“Wait, this sounds familiar,” Dustyn said.
“It should,” Kanon said setting her phone on the table showing a picture of the man and the Korean woman and daughter. Dustyn’s eyes widened.
“Now that I think about it, I do remember two random kids jumping in to help. It was all so quick that I couldn’t remember their faces.”
“What happened after we left?” Ichiro asked.
“Well, the older cop yelled at the two younger ones, threatening to throw them down the mountain and that no one would care because of who he was. That part was amusing. But, the old man who attacked me wanted me arrested because he believed I raped his daughter. We got into another fight and we both got arrested. He got released and took Hyunhee with him and I was confined to my hotel room until my flight back to the States. I kept in contact with Hyunhee but it was impossible for us to be together.”
“Did you know about this?” Ichiro asked looking at his mother.
“Yeah, I knew your father had a child from a previous relationship. He told me that on our first date. It’s not a problem for me.”
“So, the little girl…,” Kanon said.
“That’s Jae-Hwa. She’s your half-sister.”
“Will we ever get the chance to meet her?” Kanon asked.
“The funny thing is that those shinwi you both brought back are actually for her great-grandparents.”
“EHHHH!” the twins said in unison.
“And we’ll be taking a trip to Korea soon to meet with Hyunhee so I can give them to her.”
