#kim-himchan

Himchan’s eyebrows furrowed as he remembers the memories of his childhood. His life has never been easy when he was a child. Because he has fire nymph blood flowing in his vein, he has been possessing pyrokinetic abilities ever since he was born. Having a wizard father isn’t helping him as well, since he inherited his father’s power as well. And because of his powers, which are different from the other children’s, the other children avoided him, calling him a monster and sometimes they threw rocks at him. His father was always feel bad for him, especially if the other children teased him for not having a mother. He remembers how much he wanted to tell them that he has a mother, but he couldn’t. He knew that they wouldn’t believe him. They would just tease him even more.

And everytime he got upset, he would go to the lagoon and just stared at the full moon, like now. But now he’s not alone anymore.

“Why are you being so gloomy?” Yongguk asked as he looked at his fellow hunter.

“No reason”, Himchan answered as he crouched near the water, “When I was a child, I often come here.” “Really?” “Yes”, Himchan looked at the water, “Sometimes, there were some mermaids who would show themselves to me and they would accompany me until the dawn came.”

“I guess even mermaid can’t resist your face, huh?” Yongguk smirked at his friend. “Well, I don’t know for sure”, Himchan chuckled, “But this place brings much memories to me.”

*********************

“Father, why can’t I meet mother?”

A young boy, probably still around 10-12 years old, looked at his father with sad eyes. His father looked at him, feeling a bit guilty for not able to fulfill his son’s wish. If he could, he really wanted his son to see how his mother looked like. A fire nymph, who is really beautiful with flames dancing gracefully around her everytime she showed herself.

After a long silence, his father decided to answer, “Your mother is a bit impossible to reach, my son.”

The young boy, Himchan, frowned as he heard his father’s answer. It’s not the answer that he wanted to hear, but then again that’s what his father always said everytime he asked about his mother. That makes him wonder if his mother had abandoned him with his father or if his mother still loves him.

“But you met her. Why couldn’t I?” little Himchan pouted, which made his father smiled faintly, “Fine, if I can’t see her, could you at least tell me what does she look like, father?”

“Your mother has a breathtaking beauty”, his father told him, “And everytime she showed herself, her fire would dance gracefully around her.”

Hearing that, little Himchan felt even more curious about his mother. He just silently wished that someday his mother would show up and talk to him, even if it’s just for few seconds. He wanted to talk to his mother, he wanted to tell her how he has been wanting to see her. But since his father always told him that his mother is a bit impossible to reach, he didn’t think he would see her anytime soon.

  *********************

  “Worthless!”

“Go away from our village, monster!”

Little Himchan looked down as the other children pushed him around. He couldn’t fight back, because he knew if he does, he would lose control. But that day, he couldn’t take it anymore. He tried to hold back his anger, but those children made it harder for him. “I bet your mother had disowned you!”

And that was when he finally lost it. Blue colored fire immediately covered his hands, before it finally spread to his body. He growled as he looked up to he children, who were immediately silent as they saw that he has lost it. The voices in his head told him to burn them to ashes and he clutched his head as he tried to get rid of the voices.

“M-Monster!” the other children immediately ran away from him.

But he wouldn’t let them go that easily. In fact, he didn’t let them go. Within seconds, the anger had blinded him, which made him not aware with everything he did. He burned those children, before he exploded and burned the village. The water powered wizards tried to fight him, but his fire was impossible to handle. That is, after all, not a normal fire.

Little Himchan ended up burning the whole village. But as his fire engulfed everthing around him, he saw someone. A beautiful woman, to be spesific. She looked at him and he growled as she tried to approach him. He threw fire balls to her, but she didn’t budge. She just avoided his attacks easily before she was finally standing right in front of him. As he wanted to attack her, suddenly she hugged him, not caring if his body was covered by blue fire.

“I haven’t abandoned you, nor your father.”

His eyes immediately widened at the woman’s gentle voice. The fire which covered his body slowly die down. Tears fell from his eyes as he realized that the woman is covered by blue fire as well.

And everytime she showed herself, her fire would dance gracefully around her.

He remembered what his father said and he looked at that woman as she pulled away. She wiped his tears gently with her thumb.

“Mother?” he looked at her, still in disbelief. She nodded as she kissed his forehead. As her warm lips touched his forehead, the fire that covered his body immediately vanished. “Mother, I’m sorry...”

“Why are you sorry?” she looked at him.

“I burned the whole village. I’m a monster”, more tears fell from his beautiful eyes. He felt like he had disgraced his father and mother for what he has done, especially when he knows that he did it because he lost control over himself.

“You’re not a monster, my son”, she told him, “If I were you, I would done worse things.”

“You don’t think I’m a monster?” he sniffled, “You don’t think I’m a disgrace for you?”

She smiled gently as she wiped his tears again, “Not even once.”

“Nyssa?”

His father’s voice distracted him. He turned his head to see his father looking at his mother and him with wide eyes. Unfortunately, when he looked back to see his mother, she was already disappeared. His father approached him and looked at him.

“That was really her?” little Himchan asked.

“Yes. That was your mother”, his father told him, “I see you got your mother’s temper.”

Little Himchan didn’t know whether his father said it jokingly or seriously, but he frowned anyway. Even though his mother has told him that he’s not a monster, he still felt like it. As his father grabbed his hand to bring him somewhere, a boy walked out from the forest. Even from his appearance, it was obvious that he came from the Knight kingdom. He looked at the burned village before his gaze turned to little Himchan and his father.

“Excuse me, sir”, he said as he ran toward them, “Was it a dragon that done this to your village?”

“No”, little Himchan answered before his father could speak, “It was me.”

“You?” the boy furrowed his eyebrows, a bit skeptic about Himchan’s answer since he looked completely harmless. Little Himchan nodded silently. “Well... I don’t know why did you burn the village, but if you can burn down the whole village, that means you’re a great pyrokinetic, no?”

“W-Well, I guess...”

“Cool”, the boy commented, “Fire can kill vampires easily, you know.”

“Really?” little Himchan looked at the boy, searching for any kind of disgust in that boy’s eyes.

“Yes!” the boy nodded excitedly, “Hey, what do you say about forming a hunter alliance with me?” “W-What?” little Himchan looked at the boy weirdly, “You’re not scared of me?”

“I’ve seen worse”, he shrugged, “So, what do you say?”

Little Himchan looked down, thinking about this boy’s offer. ’If I become a hunter, I can use my powers for protecting other peoples’, he thought to himself. He turned his head to his father and his father nodded. Then he looked back at the boy, who was obviously waiting for him.

After a while, he finally decided, “I’m in.”

“Great!” the boy exclaimed, “My name is Yongguk. What’s yours?”

“Himchan.”

“Well, Himchan, I bet we would make the best hunter team ever!”

  ************************

  A grin plastered to Himchan’s face as he remembers his first meeting with Yongguk. Yongguk was a bright child who always see the bright side of anything. But now he’s not so bright anymore. Probably it has something to do with being a hunter.

“When we first met”, Himchan broke the silence, “You saw my village burned down.”

“Yes, I thought it was a dragon that attacked your village”, Yongguk responded. Himchan chuckled slightly.

“When I told you that it was me who burned the village, what did you think about me?” Himchan turned his head to his fellow hunter. Yongguk raised an eyebrow at him.

“Well, I don’t really remember”, Yongguk folded his hands, “But I remember that I immediately thought that you would be a perfect partner as a hunter.”

“Really?” Himchan furrowed his eyebrows. Yongguk nodded, “Well, you were a weird kid after all.” “What??” Yongguk chuckled at Himchan’s opinion about him.

“Yes, I think there’s none normal person who would go to a burned village if they thought a dragon attacked it. Yet you came to check if it was really a dragon that attacked my village”, Himchan commented.

“Then I think I should apologize for my curiosity.”

“Apologies accepted.”

“I think I wasn’t scared of you because when I saw you, I see a fragile, harmless boy”, Yongguk stated.

“Harmless”, Himchan chuckled, since he’s obviously far from harmless, “You know, when I burned down the whole village... I saw my mother for the first time.”

“Really? Your mother, the fire nymph?” Yongguk’s eyes widened. Himchan nodded.

“I wish I can see her again, but I know she’s watching me and that’s probably enough for now”, Himchan muttered, “If not because of her, I probably still went berserk when you came to check on my village.”

“I guess I should thank her, then.”