ZHEHUA (modern)

With the introduction of anomalies came an influx in business for the supernatural— at least, those who dealt in it. Mediums were in high demand, and it was hardly unusual for a tidy little couple from rural South Korea, having just moved to Busan and looking to good tidings from a resident psychic that they'd worked tooth and nail to secure venue for.

They didn't expect this, though.

Smoke choked the interor of the room and its tenants in a flaring blaze the second the woman draped in white dashed her cigarette into her scrying bowl. Fear coated the faces of the couple, but fear did not justify the mystic's expression. Horror clawed its way out of her throat in a guttural scream, and her veins bulged. She did not stop there, scraping at her skin to the point where blood pricked her snow white sleeves, shuddering breaths leaking from cracked lips. Tears streamed down pockmarked cheeks as the flames diminished, put out as quickly as they came.

"A leech," she snarled, her voice withered with age, milky eyes dragging back up to the frigid pair before her. "She tampers with life, death, she is an anomaly herself. The child will eat you alive, and feed your hearts to the sun."

When the child finally came into being, the first and only embrace she would know was the swaddling of cloth..

The baby was silent as she was thrust into the arms of grandparents rendered speechless.

That day, there was a clamor in the quiet gardens of the countryside, but she was none the wiser, sleeping away as her future was forged by hands not her own.

Eunji. Who had given her this name is a mystery that remains unsolved, but the hardened tones in which they call her name by left no room for questions.

No sooner had she fumbled her first words was she dutifully informed of the unfortunate circumstances that landed her here, and it was guilt that forced the girl into immutable obedience. While she did not live the life of a servant, she was nonetheless subservient to family, fed insults as if they were medicine, made to keep her healthy, in check, to never stray far from her place. She was a burden, and so long as she was here, she would continue to be a burden. Pity, though, that the child had nowhere else to go.

Amidst their merciless rebukes came the occasional attempt to assuage the gods that must've cursed their family.

Intermediaries of all kinds dabbled her life. Spiritual ones were hesitant, unwilling to tamper with anomalous readings, and those who dealt in the mind were too far too keen, quick to pick up on the faults of her caretakers rather than the child's.

In their ranks was a kinder soul eager to fish the girl from her unfortunate circumstances. Feu, they introduced themself, a monk from a neighboring monastery.

The comforts her blood ties had never offered her, Feu gave aplenty. Family seemed less foreign a term, and one she grew more familiar with each passing year. Days where she could visit remained shining beacons of hope in her memory, each one an assurance that life was worth living.

...While escape was yet impossible, as she was far too young and neither had the monetary means, it was all but certain that she would take flight, given the hint of a chance.

At eighteen years, she was given the opportunity. Money accumulated for nearly a decade, and Feu expected nothing in return. She asks for one thing more. Within the day, Feu and Eunji were gone.

The money they took off with wasn't meant for two, but they found a means to support themselves soon enough. Investigating anomalies paid well, and Eunji couldn't deny her curiosity, despite the dangers of the occupation. Contracted by the government, the ANM-03 Fragment would be under Feu and Eunji's close surveillance for the next five years, but when an anomaly raided their laboratory, the family was forced to flee—

While funding was no longer an issue, anomalies were a fascinating subject, and loathe was she to drop it so soon.

A former collegue's suggestion, then, resurfaced in Eunji's mind.

Lawrence Quigley needed help, did he not?

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