New Order Chapter One

[pinkframe]

Title: New Order
Author: Pinkframe
Rating: R
Warnings: Language, Sex, Violence, Death
Main Pairing: Shim Changmin/Hwang Tiffany
Other in Chapter Pairings: None
Genre: Drama, Angst, Romance
Concrit: Yeppers
Summary: After over ten years of war and destruction, a new order is put into place. In a world with no hope, eighteen year old Tiffany has found herself in charge of her orphaned cousins, twelve year old Jessica and five year old Taemin. A powerful general from the war, Lee Soo Man, has founded a new regime with his five most trusted soldiers, Yunho, Jaejoong, Yuchun, Junsu and Changmin, at his side. But power and corruption run deep and secrets even deeper.



I woke with a start early on a Thursday morning to the harsh sound of knocks on the door. Despite everything that had happened I still knew what day it was. It was the one thing I had been able to hold on to no matter what happened. I had been sleeping on the floor. All we had was one bed and I let Jessica and Taemin have it.

I opened the door to see a young man in uniform standing in front of me, “Morning, ma’am, my name is Lieutenant Kim Kibum. Is it okay if I come in?”

“What is this about?” I asked, defensive, looking back to see if Jessica and Taemin were still asleep. They were.

“I would rather we talk in private,” he told me, his voice close to a whisper.

“Okay, then,” I agreed, and opened the door to let him in.

He took a few steps, looking around the shabby apartment before he noticed the kids, “Who are they?”

“The girl’s my sister and the boy’s my son,” I said, still feeling a tad bit of pain in lying about Taemin’s identity. Jessica didn’t object to it. Taemin had even taken to calling me mom. After all he’d been through I didn’t think it worth it to correct him and have to tell him where his real mother was.

“How old are they?” he asked, eyes narrowing as he stared at the bed.

“Thirteen and five,” I said, walking across the room to grab a sweater.

“How old are you?” he continued. I was becoming a bit uneasy.

“Eighteen,” I told him. “What can I help you with?”

“You had him when you were thirteen?”

“We were in a war,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest, “things happen.”

“I’m sorry about that,” he said honestly.

“I’m kind of busy trying to find a job,” I said, desperate to end this awkward meeting. “Was there something you needed?”

“I’ve been ordered to bring you in,” he said bluntly, looking directly at me.

“Bring me in where? Why?” I demanded.

“Those are my orders, ma’am,” he answered. It wasn’t much of an answer.

I looked over at the bed. Jessica was becoming a bit restless. She was probably about to wake up. “I can’t just leave. I have the two of them to worry about.”

“I’m sure it would be okay if you brought the boy with you,” he said, pointing to the bed.

“How long am I going to be gone?” I asked. “And where are you taking me?”

“Ma’am, I’m afraid that I’m just under orders to bring you with me,” he said, removing his cap, and running a hand through his hair. “Now, you can come with me and I’ll make arrangements for the boy, or you can refuse and I’ll have to come back a little later with some help to force you, and at that point I can make no promises that you’ll be able to bring him along.”

“What am I supposed to do about Jessica?” I asked, trying to keep my voice low despite my rising temper.

“Thirteen is the new eighteen,” he shook his head, “she wouldn’t be the only one her age on her own.”

“I can’t accept that,” I replied, standing firm in my place.

He closed his eyes and looked away for a minute, “Ma’am, my orders come straight from the High King, Lee Soo Man.”

I bit my lip, considering what he had to say. Of course his orders came straight from Lee Soo Man. And there was no fighting it when Soo Man gave an order. Since his coronation he had insisted we call him High King. Just High King without using any of his name. He had required all citizens to be catalogued photographically within a week and a half. He formed a taxing system first thing. Money was already pouring into his treasury.

“I’ll go,” I told him. I didn’t want to cause any problems. I could leave Jessica with Yeeun until I figured it all out. But I needed to keep Taemin with me. I couldn’t lose him. “I’ll need a little time,” I added, trying to hold back a few tears.

“That’ll be fine.”

“Thank you,” I said, before turning to collect a few things.

“You don’t need to bring anything,” he informed. “In fact, it’s in my orders that you not bring anything.”

“Oh,” I said, sighing and dropping what I had grabbed. “Right then,” I continued, walking over to the bed. I knelt down next to the bed, resting a hand on Jessica’s shoulder. “Hey,” I whispered as I started softly running my hand up and down her arm. “Jess, you need to wake up.”

“Hmm,” she mumbled, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand. “What’s going on?” she asked, sitting up in the bed and looking at Lieutenant Kim and back to me.

“Taemin and I have to go away for a while,” I said.

She nodded, “It doesn’t surprise me.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked her, furrowing my brow.

She looked out the window with the same vacant look she had worn since Dana had died, “I’ve been expecting you to leave ever since mom died. Everyone leaves. It’s okay, though. You were thirteen when mom died, and you made it. I should be okay.”

I leaned in, kissing her forehead, “Just because I’m going away for a while doesn’t mean that I’m leaving for good.”

Jessica placed a hand on my head, “Everyone leaves at some point. Change happens. We move on.”

A few tears ran down my cheeks as I stared into her eyes. The war had made her wise beyond her years. But then again, that was something that had happened to all of us. Lieutenant Kim had said it himself, thirteen was the new eighteen.

“I love you,” I said, kissing her on the forehead before standing and taking her hands in mine. “Yeeun is next door if you need anything. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind helping.”

“Don’t let Taemin forget me,” she pleaded.

“I’ll be back for you. Soon. Don’t worry,” I told her, squeezing her hands tight. “Maybe you’re okay with loosing us, but I’ve lost too many people to let you go without a fight.”

“I love you too, sis,” she said, an empty smile creeping onto her face. The war had broken her even more than it had broken me. She was born into it. She had lived her entire life lost in the throes of war. All she knew was loss and pain. Not that I was much better off. But there was something about the fact that I knew I was alive before war started that made it easier for me.

Lieutenant Kim and Jessica both watched me as I made my way to the other side of the bed to wake Taemin. I delicately woke him the same way I had Jessica. He grumbled a little bit before I scooped him up in my arms. He was five and kind of heavy, but I still felt the need to hold him in my arms from time to time. And that time was almost necessary.

Taemin collapsed on my shoulder, becoming a dead weight in my arms, as I walked toward the Lieutenant, “I guess I’m ready.”

“Would you like me to take him from you?” he offered, out stretching his arms.

“I’ve got him,” I said, holding the boy close.

“Very well then,” he replied, placing his cap back on his head and leading me out the door. I followed him down the four flights of stairs and onto the street. There was a military vehicle waiting for us in front of the building. Cars were a luxury that no one could afford, no one, except for Lee Soo Man, his inner circle and the military.

We climbed into the car and I set Taemin in my lap. “What’s going on, mommy?” he asked, squinting his eyes and looking around.

“We’re going on a little trip,” I said, kissing his forehead, “just go back to sleep.” But I didn’t even have to say the last; he was out like a light.

The car drove through the deserted and trashed streets of Seoul. Things had cleared up in the almost month since the war’s end. The bodies had been cleared out and burned, but rubble was still just about everywhere to be seen. A lot of people were still living on the streets. I had been one of the lucky few issued an apartment. I wondered how long Jessica would be able to keep it.

As the ride continued, the streets seemed to clear up even more. It wasn’t long before we arrived at a building I had never seen before. But I knew of it.

Lee Soo Man’s fortress was still in the process of being built, but it was nothing to scoff at. It was the most beautiful building in all of Seoul. Soo Man had pulled all the stops. I was positive that the entire treasury was dedicated to the building of it. It was three stories high, with a fourth on the way. It was a whole city block in length. I could only imagine that only a chunk of the inside had been finished. It housed Soo Man, his five minions of doom as they had been deemed by most of the citizens, and all of his helpers and ‘special’ people.

Lieutenant Kim opened the car door for me and led me up the steps to the front door. I figured the steps were made of marble, but where Soo Man had found marble in such a short time with the state the world was in was beyond me. As we approached the gold framed doors, they seemed to open themselves. In fact, they had been opened by two, barely noticeable men.

We were greeted by a group of four women, all dressed in clothes nicer than I had ever seen in my life. They were all knee length dresses, in various colors, simple, but exquisite. The one standing in front bowed to us as we entered before she spoke, “Welcome. Kibum, we weren’t expecting a child.”

“She had a son. I couldn’t very well tell her she couldn’t bring him,” Lieutenant Kim replied.

“I don’t know how the High King is going to react to this,” the woman replied. She was so beautiful. Her jaw was strong, but the rest of her face completely soft. Her eyes were perfectly almond shaped. Despite her small frame she had a presence that seemed to engulf the whole room.

“I don’t think it’s the High King we need to worry about,” the Lieutenant replied.

The woman scoffed, “I guess not.” She turned her attention to me, “I’m afraid I’m going to have to take him from you now.”

“No,” I replied quickly, squeezing the still sleeping boy in my arms and turning away from her.

“Just for a little while,” she said comfortingly. “We’ll find him some place to sleep for a little while longer and feed him when he wakes up. You’ll only be away from him for a few hours.”

“He won’t think it if he wakes up and I’m not there,” I insisted.

“It’s okay, ma’am,” the Lieutenant reassured me. I cautiously passed Taemin to one of the other women. I didn’t like the way all of it felt. There was something about that building and the people in it that left me uneasy.

“Ri In will take everything from here,” the woman said, signaling to another woman in the back before walking away with the rest of her group and Taemin.

The woman left behind was dressed in a modest white gown. Her face was longer than the other woman’s had been, her nose kind of wide but fitting for the shape of her face. She looked Chinese and not Korean. She had probably been evacuated into the country like I had. “I’ll take her from here, Kibum,” she spoke, her voice small and almost inaudible.

“Good luck,” Lieutenant Kibum said, tipping his hat to her. “If there are any problems, call me in.”

She bowed low as he walked away before turning to me, “We need to get you cleaned up.” She took my hand and pulled me deeper into the fortress. The walls were practically bare, adorned with an occasional painting I was sure they had salvaged from the rubble around the city. The floors were cement but covered with strips of carpet.

The place was so clean. It was the first time I ever noticed how dirty I was. In the apartment building we had three showers to share between about six hundred people and water was scarce. Each family was allotted one, ten minute shower a week. We washed our clothes, which were tattered, stained and old, in the river. My hair was long, and knotted in more than one place. I was like a sore on the perfect body that was Soo Man’s fortress. It only made sense, that whatever I was there for, I needed to be cleaned first.

Ri In led me into a room with a tub in it. She told me to strip down before instructing me to get into the bath. I was glad she realized I was civilized enough to wash myself. She took my clothes and left me alone as I took the soap and began to scrub. When she returned, laying a light blue gown on a small table in the room, she walked over to the tub and began to help me.

It took almost over an hour of scrubbing before Ri In was pleased. Most of the time she worked on my hair and back as I scrubbed every inch I could reach. When all was done she grabbed a towel and began to dry me off. She didn’t say much, just little instructions here and there.

When I was dry enough she handed me the dress and I slipped it on. “We usually go barefoot,” she told me. “The High King likes it that way.”

“What am I doing here?” I asked her, straightening the few wrinkles in my dress.

“They didn’t tell you?” she asked, looking up at me with her giant eyes. Despite all the fear and loneliness in her face, her eyes seemed to scream that they had hope for life.

“No.”

“You might want to sit down,” she said, signaling toward the edge of the tub I had just been bathing in. I followed her orders. “I’m sure you know that the High King ordered the cataloging. He said it was so that we could be a little more organized, but that wasn’t his only motive. In fact, I doubt he even really cared about it. He really wanted to take stock of the population, to see who was where and what they had to offer.”

She took a deep breath, “The first thing he did was hunt down every able bodied young man he could and either enlisted them in the army or made them a servant in this household. Secondly, he found the woman he wanted to make his wife. After that he began searching for other women. Some he wants for what will become his own, personal harem. Some he wants to work as servants as well. But there are a select few he has a different plan for.”

“Is that where I come in?” I asked, biting my lip.

“Yes,” she replied simply. “He’s hand chosen five girls, each one especially for each of the crowned princes.”

“What?” I asked, in shock. Ri In was telling me I had just been ripped from my home to be given away to one of the men who was responsible for the death of democracy.

“You’ll understand soon,” she said, taking my hand.

She led me down another sequence of halls until we reached a door at the very back. Ri In opened the door to reveal a giant room with at least fifteen beds in it. “Lady Kwon,” Ri In called as she shut the door behind her, “she’s clean.”

Seemingly out of nowhere the woman from the doorway appeared, “That’s much better.” She walked up to me and looked me up and down, “I don’t know if we had any formal introductions. My name is Kwon Boa. I’m currently engaged to the High King.”

“Engaged?” I quickly asked without thinking, the shock in my voice causing a little gasp to slip out of Ri In’s mouth.

“Engaged,” she confirmed. “You are to refer to me as ‘Lady Kwon,’ until the day of my wedding.”

“Of course, Lady Kwon” I said quickly, bowing awkwardly to try and cover up for my mistake.

“I’ll take you the rest of the way myself,” Lady Kwon told me, bowing a little to Ri In to excuse her.

Lady Kwon turned on her heels and led me through the room. On the other end was another door leading to yet another hall just like the first I had been in. “You are not to go where I am about to take you unless you have a direct invitation from the High King or one of the crowned princes, do you understand?” she asked, stopping in front of a door about halfway down the unnaturally long hall.

“Yes,” I replied nervously.

“In fact, you’re not allowed to leave this floor without invitation,” she continued, her face stern.

“Okay,” I nodded.

She clinched her jaw as she opened the door to a staircase. We made our way up it and out another door to find yet another, identical hall. She quickly led me through the hall and opened a door. The room was small and dimly lit. I almost didn’t notice the small bed in the back and the man lying in it.

“Your Highness,” Lady Kwon began, her voice calm and kind in the new setting, “the High King has made his decision.”

“And why does the High King get to choose?” a male voice asked from the bed. It was too dark for me to see his face. “This is my future, why is the decision his and not mine? Damn it, Boa, I’m the heir. Is that worth nothing?”

“Yunho, don’t complain about this,” Lady Kwon said, her voice returning to its harsh tone. “All of us have to do things we don’t like to keep him happy.” She stepped forward, turning on a light. “He’s doing what he thinks is best for you.”

“Please,” Jung Yunho, right hand man of Soo Man, scoffed, before angrily jumping out of his bed. He was in nothing but sweat pants and the way the room was lit seemed to show off every perfection of his toned body. “Boa, we all know why it was me he named as his heir. We all know why he insists that I stay so close to him. We all know why I am the first he’s forcing to marry some random girl off the streets.”

“Yunho, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lady Kwon said, meeting the harsh stare that Yunho was giving her.

“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, Lady Kwon,” he whispered.

“Your Highness, this is Hwang Tiffany. After reviewing the catalogue, the High King has decided that she is the best suited for you,” she told him, outstretching her arm and pulling me closer to him. It was then I realized why he wanted us ‘catalogued.’ It was like a shopping catalogue and we were the products he was searching through to find what he wanted.

Yunho crossed his arm and cocked his head, “Fine. I don’t really care.”

“Don’t you want to talk to her?” she asked. It was astounding to me that she could look down on a man so much taller than she was.

“Not really,” he replied.

“You ungrateful son of a bitch,” Lady Kwon shouted, before turning on her heels and storming out of the room with me in tow.

“I don’t want to see her again before the wedding, Lady Kwon,” Yunho shouted. “God knows I’ll be seeing far too much of her afterward.”

As soon as the door was shut behind us, Lady Kwon stopped and took a few deep breaths, “I’m sorry about that.”

“It’s okay,” I replied, unsure of how to take what I had just experienced.

She regained her calm and mature demeanor before she spoke again, “He’ll come around soon enough.”

“I’m sure,” I replied with a soft smile. I didn’t think I wanted him to. If he didn’t want me there, maybe he was my ticket out.

“You better hope,” she said, looking me straight in the eye for the first time. “If you don’t make him happy, I wouldn’t put it past the High King to execute you. He’s threatened me with it more than once.” She looked away and began the walk back to the staircase, “We need to leave now. You don’t want punishment for loitering in the upper halls, not on your first day.”