KKA: I'm way too obsessed with this. Anyway! Here is the beginning of my Gakuen AU. Ever since I joined the roleplay forum, I've been obsessed with the idea of writing a Gakuen fanfic. I'm using the North Korea female character concept. She's just too adorable! I'm thinking about rping her, but, eh, finals are coming up, so rp is rather slow right now. ;_; Enjoy the insanity ahead. If y'all want to see any couple, lemme know! Being a high school fic, I was going to do a whole lot of different couples.
Finland, btw, will be called 'Timo' since one of my very favorite authors (whose Norway and Iceland name I will use), coeurgryffondor, told me that in Finnish, it would sound more like that than Tino. Besides, doesn't Tino sound more Italian? (I already thought this, so when she brought it up, I totally agreed.) I just looked up common surnames and baby names for the Asian countries.
Intimidation, Fear, and… Love?
Chapter One
Culture Shock
Im, Jae-Soo entered the sprawling campus of World United Academy. Still tired and wanting a shower after her long flight from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, otherwise known as North Korea, to the United Kingdom, the last thing Jae-Soo wanted was to run into anybody. It was just so hard to think in English, and the lingua franca of this nations-sponsored school was, of course, English. So when she saw the slender, blond, and green-eyed older boy at the school gates, she was not pleased.
As she neared, she noticed his ridiculously bushy, almost-black eyebrows. His features were rather girlish, pretty really, the brows and annoyed scowl only enhancing his good looks, oddly. He wore the standard summer uniform for boys. She noticed with satisfaction that he wore it properly, necktie and all the buttons in place and freshly starched and ironed. He wore a bright orange sash that crossed his chest and read "Student Council." Beside him, a young girl with long brown hair in loose pigtails and darkly tanned skin yawned widely. She wore an orange band around her left bicep that read "Disciplinary Officer." She did not look like she was really serious about discipline, though. Her skirt was too short, her socks were bright pink and her red shoes weren't the school-issued ones. She had completely foregone the necktie and the top two buttons of her shirt were undone. Jae-Soo's mouth twisted up to the side in annoyance. Even if classes hadn't officially started, the girl should at least have the appearance of discipline when in an office of authority.
Behind the two students the three-story high brick building with blue wood trim loomed high. The grounds were expansive; neatly mowed lawns of rich green the color of the boy's eyes spread out on all sides and towering trees with wide, leafy canopies lined the high brick walls and were scattered over the grounds. She knew there were even more grounds behind the building that included a baseball field, a futball field, an indoor ice-rink, and a lot of miscellaneous gyms, laboratories, and auditoriums. If she remembered correctly, they even had a large telescope housed in its own building for astronomy classes. Peeking from around the back corner to the left she could see the high glass and iron walls of a conservatory and far behind the main building to the right connected by covered breezeways she could see two low-roofed buildings with a lot of windows. Through the windows and around those low buildings she could see at least eighty other students coming and going, some still carrying their luggage. Most, like herself, were not wearing their uniforms yet.
Painstakingly switching her mental dialogue to English, she approached the two student council members.
"Good afternoon. I am Im, Jae-Soo. I am a freshman in the Asian Class." She bowed to the boy while the girl yawned again.
"I'm Arthur Kirkland, the student council president. If you have any questions, just let me know. I'm a third year, so I know the ins and outs of this menagerie rather well." The boy grinned at her, looking pleased at her respectful tone. "This is the map of school grounds. You said Im, Jae-Soo, right? I can't recall what Asian country hasn't checked in yet…" He frowned as he looked down at the clipboard in his hands.
Jae-Soo mentally sighed, knowing what would happen next. "I have recently arrived from Pyongyang of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, President Kirkland," she told him simply and unapologetically.
Kirkland gaped at her in shock while the girl tilted her head to the side curiously.
"Which Korea is that one?" the girl asked.
Jae-Soo barely restrained the urge to roll her eyes. "North."
"OH! Wow! Arthur, she really came! I didn't know the North Korean representative would be a girl! And so cute! Tres bien!" She exclaimed. "I'm Michelle Bonnefoy!"
Does she really need that many exclamation points? Jae-Soo wondered irritably. "May I please receive the map of the school grounds?"
"Oh, yes, sorry." Kirkland handed the map over, chuckling self-mockingly. He looked down at the list again. "You will be rooming with Mosa, Hsiao Mei in dorm A7. She is a freshman, as well, and is the Taiwanese representative. Welcome to World United Academy… Jay Sue?"
"The proper pronunciation is Jeh Soo." She bowed again and began to walk towards the dormitories.
"She's so cyu~te!" Jae-Soo heard Bonnefoy squeal for a second time as she passed.
"Stop yawning, damn it! At least look professional!"
"But we've been standing here all day, Artie!"
"Don't call me that!"
Jae-Soo pulled the rope of her large, wheeled suitcase harder. Cute, huh? She scoffed inwardly. She hated that word. Jae-Soo was your stereotypical Asian girl- she was ridiculously short. Barely clearing the 5' mark, she had heard the adjective 'cute' applied to her since she was five years old. In her opinion, cute stopped being a compliment on her thirteenth birthday. She figured her face was pleasant enough, even though she didn't smile very often. She had big brown eyes, long lashes that gave her eyes a catlike look, a small, well-shaped mouth that was a pleasant 'lotus-pink' color, a not-quite-button nose, and a pale, creamy complexion that her mother complimented her on… once. She had pretty hands and an agreeable curve to her hips and chest and a slender waist. Did she get compliments on any of those features? No. She was cute because she was short.
Yennidu pabo ya, she snarled viciously in her head.
As for clothing, she could really care less. At home, she normally wore simple choson-ot of red and white. Her mother had insisted she buy Western clothing, however, when she was nominated by the government to be DPRK's representative. Today, she was wearing one of her new outfits consisting of a long, pleated, red skirt and a white, long-sleeved blouse (she liked those colors, all right?). She touched the good-luck charm that her mother had given her when she was a child. It had been handed down for generations and the carved Hangul had long worn down so much that she couldn't read them. She rubbed the oval jade pendant hanging on the thin red thread and then quickened her footsteps. It was time to get on with it.
"HEY! Watch out, kid!" A loud boy's voice shouted over the lawn.
She looked up and, within one breath and the next, assessed the situation. A tall, slender boy with silver hair and wild, startled red eyes was falling towards her from the sky, a bright green plastic disc in his hand. She dropped the duffel bag and the rope from the suitcase. Her body automatically positioned itself, legs spread, arms tucked into her sides. Brown eyes narrowed.
"Yop… CHAAA-GI!" She exclaimed. The bottom of her foot met the red-eyed boy's face. Direct hit.
The two other boys watched with wide, amazed eyes as their friend went flying over the lawn. THUD! The crumbled heap that used to be their friend landed hard a good ten feet away.
"Gilbert!"
With a sigh, Jae-Soo relaxed from her stance. She bowed towards the boys. Both were rather tall and wearing casual jeans and T-shirts. The dirtier one had tanned skin, messy dark brown hair, and big green eyes. The other, somehow grass-stain-free, had long, ridiculously-girlish blond hair, and bright blue eyes. "I apologize if I hurt him." She picked up her things and continued towards the dormitories unperturbed. They stared after her, gaping.
On the grass, Gilbert Beilschmidt groaned and pushed himself up onto his hands and knees. "What the hell happened? Did Lizza just kick me in the face from nowhere?"
"No… that was not Elizabeta," the blue-eyed boy replied slowly. His mouth slowly curved up into a smirk. "That was fresh mea- I mean, a new girl. Honhonhon~"
The brunette with big green eyes helped Gilbert to his feet. "I think she was Asian. We were supposed to get a few more this year in the Asian Class. You okay, Gil?"
"Yeah, yeah. Thanks, Tonio. Hey, Francis, that girl kicks harder than Lizza. I suggest you not get on her bad side. Ow, damn it!" Gilbert tenderly fingered the large bruise darkening on his face. His fingertips came away wet with blood. "I've got a fuckin' bloody nose! Shit!"
"She was kinda cute, though. What a kick for such a tiny girl, no?" Antonio grinned up at Gilbert, whom punched his shoulder irritably. "Elizabeta's room is closer than the nurse's office. We'll go there."
"She'll be really excited to hear about the new girl," Francis added. The trio followed after the fresh…man…
.
Jae-Soo reached A7 without further occurrences. Next to the door was a name slot. Beside her name was a small depiction of her country's flag and above it was Taiwan's flag and the name Mosa, Hsiao Mei. She didn't think Mosa was very… Asiatic, but maybe her roommate was a half-breed or something. Down the hall she could hear the high-pitched squeals of over-excited teenage girls, a handful of different languages all mixing together. Please, please, may my roommate be sane.
She pushed open the door, ready to jump back, just in case.
Fortunately, a crazed girl ready with glomp-attack did not jump on her. Jae-Soo stepped into the room, examining the side of the room that was already mostly moved in. The Taiwanese girl had chosen the left side (when facing into the room) and had already made her bed with bright pink, floral patterned sheets and comforter. A blue and pink alarm clock with a small bunny holding a hammer was on the nightstand surrounded by pictures frames that were all decorated differently. Two large suitcases were open on the floor filled with colorful clothes and another suitcase was filled with only… shoes. Just… shoes… An empty duffel bag was on the bed and a girl with long brown hair stood on her tiptoes on the mattress. The girl was, as usually was the case, a few inches taller than Jae-Soo with a slender, yet curvy figure that was just as in shape as her own. She wondered if this girl did martial arts, too. Whatever she did to keep in shape, she probably did it more for her appearance than self-defense or a penchant for physical exertion. She wore thigh-high white stockings with pink lace ruffles and a very short white skirt with pink flower patches on it—though the skirt looked brand-new, so why did it have those freaky patches? Her long-sleeved blouse belled over her wrists and the pink-and-gold embroidery and the cut was vaguely Chinese. The girl turned when the door opened, a poster of a Korean pop girl-band in her hands. Not only did she dress well and have a nice shape, but her face was very pretty. Big brown eyes, pert nose, wide, smiling mouth with soft pink lips, and something soft and shiny overall about her face. A single strand of hair fell over her face, curling slightly near the end, and a flower barrette was tucked just over her right ear. She smiled in delight and hopped off the bed gracefully. Jae-Soo noted how lightly she landed, impressed.
"Hiya! I'm Mosa, Hsiao Mei! Just call me Hsiao Mei, or Meimei. I had no idea that North Korea would actually participate in WUA! How exciting, right? Let's be friends, okay? We'll be living together for four years, you know!"
Exclamation points again.
"Im, Jae-Soo. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mosa, Hsiao Mei." She bowed slightly. Mosa, Hsiao Mei laughed. It was a nice sound, soft and infectious. If Jae-Soo laughed, that is. (She didn't, just so you know.)
"You're so formal! Do you need me to help you unpack? I'm just putting up posters now. Oh, I bet you know this band, huh?" Hsiao Mei laughed again and laid the poster on her bed.
"I do not have much to unpack." Jae-Soo paused, once more looking at the shoes. "Is that a suitcase filled only with… shoes?"
"Oh! Yes! Don't tell me you don't like shoes? I have a burning, all-consuming passion for shoes. I love fashion in general, isn't this a cute skirt, but I really love shoes," Hsiao Mei explained easily, reaching to grab Jae-Soo's duffel bag. It was a very large duffel bag, military-issued, that had once been her father's. Hsiao Mei handled it with ease, confirming Jae-Soo's theory that she did some sort of sport or attended a gym regularly.
"I have a sufficient amount of shoes. I have one for jogging, one for every day wear, one for formal occasions, and a pair of shower sandals. For what could you possibly need so many pairs?" Jae-Soo asked incredulously. Hsiao Mei laughed a third time.
"So I have choices! I couldn't wear these boots with this skirt, right?" She held up a pair of brown leather boots with short, fat heels. Jae-Soo looked at them and then at Hsiao Mei's earnest face.
"Whyever not?"
Hsiao Mei stared at her. "B-Because!"
Silence.
"Oh my. Please, if you ever go on a date, let me pick your clothes for you," Hsiao Mei pleaded as she touched her forehead with a weary look on her face. Jae-Soo shrugged. She wasn't planning on dating anyway.
"HEY! MO! There's a flier for baseball-Huh? Who's this?" A loud, obnoxious voice flooded the room. A boy's voice.
Jae-Soo turned, frowning. A blond-haired boy (she was tired of thinking 'tall' since everyone was tall compared to her) with a cowlick over his forehead stood in the doorway. He had a boyish, young face, still a little chubby around the edges, and bright blue eyes. Glasses slid down his nose as he grabbed ahold of the doorjamb to slow his forward momentum. He also wore large brown bomber jacket with a gold star on one shoulder and the number 50 on the other… in the middle of August. Isn't he hot?
"This is my roommate! Her name is Im, Jae-Soo. Jae-Soo, this loud, rude guy is Alfred F. Jones. He's a first year like us. We both got here at the same time. We saw each other's baseball equipment and became instant friends," Hsiao Mei told Jae-Soo with a grin towards the American. (He could only be American with manners like that.)
"This is the girls' dormitories. I was under the assumption that the rules stated that no males were allowed in the building unless they were authorized personnel," Jae-Soo raised her eyebrow at Alfred F. Jones. He only grinned.
"What are ya, on the Disciplinary Committee? It's barely noon. I doubt any girl is running around in her chonies right now."
Jae-Soo frowned. "Chonies?"
"American slang. Don't worry about it, Jae-Soo." Hsiao Mei interrupted. "What was it about baseball, Alfred?"
"Just Al, Mo. Alfred is so old-fashioned, yo. They, like, put up a sheet for try-outs on the bulletin in the quad. I already put your name up, but I didn't know how to spell it. It just says 'Mo' right now."
"I'll fix it in a minute. I was going to help Jae-Soo first."
"That will be unnecessary. I truly do not have much. You can leave if you must." Jae-Soo told her again. Alfred F. Jones laughed. Unlike Hsiao Mei's bubbly sort of laughter, his sounded annoying.
"Dude, why do you talk like my mom's old movies? It's totally whack, yo!"
"What you just said made no sense whatsoever," Jae-Soo retorted, deadpanned.
"I need to finish unpacking, too. I'll stay. How about we meet you in the quad in thirty minutes, Al? It's almost time for dinner, so we can all go together," Hsiao Mei offered brightly.
"As much as his presence annoys me, I would appreciate joining you for dinner, Hsiao Mei. I am not used to Western eating habits and would require assistance, I believe."
"You won't have a problem. Western… eating habits are pretty lax," Hsiao Mei assured her with a smile.
"Yeah, and we're totally having hamburgers tonight! I checked. Cool, right? You can call me Al, too, Jay Sue."
"Jeh Soo."
"Yeah, whatever. I'm just gonna call ya Sue," Alfred pouted, scratching inside his ear with his pinky. Jae-Soo looked over at Hsiao Mei with a disgusted expression on her face. Hsiao Mei only giggled and shrugged. 'American,' Hsiao Mei mouthed silently. Jae-Soo sighed.
"I would prefer to call you Jones. If you must call me Sue, then you may," Jae-Soo conceded.
"Sweet! I'll see y'all soon!"
Jae-Soo and Hsiao Mei watched him leave. The shorter girl turned and met the taller's gaze.
"Y'all?"
"I have no idea."
.
It didn't take long to unpack. In fact, Jae-Soo was done before Hsiao Mei, whom had more than a two hour head-start. The two girls left soon after, Hsiao Mei eagerly filling in Jae-Soo on all the cool clubs they should join. The quad was a stretch of grass between the two dormitories in the shape of a long rectangle. A bulletin board was in the exact middle of the grass with posters and notices tacked to the corkboard. Quite a few students were milling around the board, some of them signing name sheets.
"Were you going to sign up for a sports, Jae-Soo? We have a lot of them here," Hsiao Mei asked with a smile. "I'm joining baseball if you want to play with someone you've already met."
"I… I do not enjoy athletics. I am already a second-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do. I prefer to train by myself."
"A second-degree black belt?" Hsiao Mei exclaimed, brown eyes shocked and impressed. "I do tai chi for fun, but I've never met someone so intense about martial arts before!"
"I thank you," Jae-Soo responded simply. Hsiao Mei wondered if that actually made sense, but then decided that it made more sense than any other reply.
"Mo! Sue!"
That obnoxious American was back. Jae-Soo scowled as he bounded over to them. Beside Alfred, his presence barely noticed in the wake of Alfred's over-exuberance, a young man with a face remarkably like Alfred's walked towards them. His hair was several shades lighter than Alfred's, wavier, and a strand of hair much like Hsiao Mei's hung over his nose. His eyes seemed more violet than blue. His soft smile was soothing instead of irritating.
"Hello~ My name is Matthew Williams." He greeted Jae-Soo and Hsiao Mei politely, quietly. Jae-Soo wondered where he misplaced his spine. He was still better than Alfred.
"This is my brother! He's my twin, actually."
"But… your names…" Hsiao Mei stumbled, blushing. "Excuse me that was rude."
"No way! Our parents divorced when we were kids, it's no big deal." Alfred shrugged.
"I grew up in Canada with our mother," Matthew explained softly. Jae-Soo nodded in silent understanding. "You all were on your way to the cafeteria, eh? Al told me you were all going together."
"Yup. Hamburgers, right, Alfred?" Hsiao Mei grinned at her baseball friend. Alfred 'tsk'ed. Casually, he slung his arm over Hsiao Mei's shoulders and began to drag her towards the cafeteria.
"It's Al, Mo. Al. What position do you play for baseball?"
As the two began to devolve into talk about unnecessary garbage, Jae-Soo let herself fall into step with Matthew.
"I'm really sorry about him. He's… He's a little overbearing, but his heart is in the right place. You'll get used to him," Matthew assured her with that gentle, slightly exasperated smile on his face. Jae-Soo blinked up at him wordlessly.
"Are you ashamed of your own brother?" She asked, one eyebrow rising. Matthew's pretty purple eyes widened.
"No. No, of course not," Matthew protested indignantly, though his voice didn't rise very much. "However, I'm not going to pretend that he doesn't come off well with everyone. You didn't seem too impressed. It took me years to get used to him. I rarely saw him when we were children."
"I see." Jae-Soo paused. "I am ashamed of my brother." A look of pain crossed her features. "I too have a twin whom left with my father when we were barely more than toddlers. I met him again a few years before now. He is ridiculous. You must avoid him if you can do so," she told him, her brown eyes dead-serious.
Matthew sweated slightly. This was one weird girl.
.
KKA: And now a LONG author's note. Next chapter will be more fun, I promise. I'm just introducing characters now. ^^ Terms and other random facts that may have confused you:
Im Jae-Soo: I'm sure you recognize 'Im' as S. Korea's surname. I wanted to re-use the second syllable of his name, because within families in Asian cultures, a lot of the times there's a shared syllable in the names. Jae-Soo together is not a used Korean name (or at least, it's not in the baby book online), but I really liked 'Jae' before I actually looked it up. So, separately, the two syllables mean "honor" and "treasure." So, I am pretending her name means "Honorable treasure." Cool, huh? All the Asian names I chose have a specific meaning except for HongKong's. Cantonese is confusing.
Lingua franca: the common tongue. Basically, the language chosen to be the one used by everyone, or the majority. English is the lingua franca for a lot of countries and I think for the world in most situations.
Michelle Bonnefoy: Apparently Michelle is a common name applied to Seychelles, but I gave her Francis's name because 1) she was a French colony 2) I don't want to pair them 3) so I made them cousins.
Futball: I will be using this to refer to soccer.
Pyongyang of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea: the capital city and North Korea's official name… apparently. I had no idea until I tried looking up the capital because I thought it was Pyongpyong or something like that. Haha. Will be referred to as DPRK or N. Korea within context depending on speaker.
Yennidu pabo ya: My roommate is S. Korean and he said that this means something like "stupid kids." I tried to write out how it sounded when he said it. I'm a better Asian than he is, so he has no idea how to Romanize what he says. (No, I am not Asian at all. I'm just better at being Asian. His parents agree.)
Choson-ot: The North Korea way of saying "hanbok." Or at least, Wikipedia said so. If it's wrong, please lemme know. Stupid, unreliable . Seeing as my roommate is S.K. and not from DPRK and a bad Asian anyway, I couldn't confirm with him.
Yop Cha-gi: "side kick"- My friend (another white girl who's a better Tae Kwon Do artist than my Korean roommate) sent me a link to her Tae Kwon Do school and the names of different moves and positions.
Hangul: Korean alphabet.
Mosa: Will be explained in context.
Glomp-attack: If you don't know, then why are you HERE?
Chonies: Panties. I have used this slang myself. I also use y'all. XD
Lastly, Jae-Soo's strange way of speaking: It isn't that she's super formal (though that does play a slight factor. Yay, Asian register! Sorry, Linguistics major here). It's supposed to reflect North Korean dialect and education. I learned that North Korea's Korean dialect is actually more traditional than South Korean. In other words, the past couple decades of slang and linguistic evolution in S. Korea wouldn't be in N. Korean dialect. So I'm attempted to make her English a little older, like Jane Austen kind of sound. I also figured that their textbooks may be out-of-date in some places because of DPRK's extreme isolation and would be in the British English dialect. When I went to China, they used British English (which was totally odd at first). The little bit of Korean I use, sadly, will be S. Korean dialect, so I won't be using a lot of it. N. Koreans are hard to come by doncha know?