"Do you know where the heck Yeon Lee is?" Alfred had been honking his horn for a century, and now he yelled at a passing Feliciano Vargas. Vargas was close to Honda. Perhaps he would tell Alfred where all of the residents of the Han Estate were. "Didn't she tell you?" Vargas laughed at him. "What?" "The family left to some place, some Korean, Chinese tradition or something. There's only one person who doesn't have that holiday in the family, but they all left." Alfred groaned. "Great, now I can't sleep in class. Yeon will expect me to take notes for her." Matthew only patted him on the back.
Two days earlier, the Han Estate exploded. "Do you know what's coming up?" Yao, head of the family stood, glowering down at his siblings. "What, your death day?" Ha Eung had earned a thwack on his head for his rudeness. "No, you fool. It starts with a C in Korean. It starts with a A in Chinese." Leon furrowed his brow. "What the hell is that?" "Language!" Yao slapped the table. He was going to talk with Kirkland about Leon's language. "August Moon Festival." Kiku spoke, clearly. "Bravo, you're quite correct." "Hurrah!" The teens burst into talk again. The last holiday, they had gone to Korea for the sake of the twins. The holiday before that, they had gone to Bejing, China where the family had had a blast.
"Where are we going now?" Mei asked. "That, I have not decided. But we can use the company plane." "Three cheers for oppa!" Ha Yeon shouted over the noise. "Let's go to Hong Kong. It's way better than China." Yao glared at Leon. "What? I was only stating the truth. China stinks." "You are Chinese. Mei and I are Chinese. Show some respect." Leon looked at the ground. "So?" "Never mind." He was going to lecture the British idiot(Kirkland) about this. "How about Japan?" Kiku sounded quite curious. "Japan...Not bad...But Kiku, we went to Japan for Christmas." Yao pointed out. "Can we go to Taiwan?" Mei asked Yao. "I still opt for China." Yao said, tapping his fingers. "You kids wanted to go to Shanghai. I'm taking you to Shanghai." "Actually, oppa, I want to go to Busan." Ha Yeon spoke out, while Ha Eung groaned. "That sounds boring."
"Fine, let's draw lots. You children write the country you want to visit with the city on equal pieces of paper. We will fold the paper, put them in a box, I will pick out of one of them, and we will go to the picked place." The kids agreed with that, and within seconds, the lot was ready. Yao closed his eyes-please, don't tell me I picked something weird-and drew out his hand. He fished out a piece of paper, and read out loud.
"Ha Eung Lee, North Korea, Pyeongyang-What?!" Yao glared at his sibling. "What's wrong with Pyeongyang?" "You want to go to the country of a communist pig who hates companies like ours?" Ha Eung stared back at him. "You promised." This earned him a ear-splitting yell from Ha Yeon. "Out of all the cool places, you just had to write, what, North Korea? They might go into war! Are you suicidal?" Ha Eung crossed his arms. "So, what did you want?" "A normal country!" Yao nearly hit the wall with frustration. "Listen, brother, North Korea is crazy." "Fine, just go where you want to go!" Yao hated to see his siblings fighting, and he hated to see Ha Eung's good mood evaporate. But he knew North Korea was an insane choice, and so he sighed. "All right, I'll draw the lots again."
This time, South Korea was drawn out of the box. "Yay!" Ha Yeon started to dance. "Okay, so South Korea it is." Yao pulled out his phone, contacting Lien. "Yes, Lien. Do me a favor and check South Korea for me." "Why, you're going to South Korea with the kids?" "Yes." Lien sounded agitated. "Actually, boss, I don't think it's safe for you to go anywhere, not when North Korea's talking about attacking." "The kids-" "Are kids." Lien was rolling her eyes, he could tell. "Honestly, Yao, you run a business. If you get into harm, people could lose their jobs. Think about the people relying on y-" "Yes, yes, I get it." Yao finished his phone call. His siblings were looking worried now. "We can't go?" Mei muttered to Ha Yeon. "Christ." Leon glared at his milk. "Just when things were looking up.."Kiku clapped his hand to Ha Eung's mouth.
"Kids, I'm sorry. We can't go." There was a long groan. "So what are we going to do? Go to school? Get homework? Really?" Leon spoke out, a frown on his face. "No." Yao's head ached. "Then what?" "First, we do things the traditional way." "Tradition?" Mei looked horrified. During the Historical Chinese dramas and Korean dramas they had watched, tradition was boring. "Yes. We pay our ancestors memorial service." "We never had to do things that boring!" Ha Eung griped. "You were children. Now you are being treated as adults. And twins, you will pay your parents their service." There was a solemn atmosphere. "How about me, nisan?" "Kiku, you will be with me, Mei and Leon, you will be visiting your parents as well." Yao noticed that there was a grim mood hanging over the family.
"Afterwards, we will go to Chinatown." "Yeah, thanks." The twins stood. "Good night, nisan." "Bye, gege." And soon Yao was left alone. "Oh, Shinatty-chan, where did I go wrong?" As usual, there was no reply. And so, that was why five griping teenagers and a sorely miserable adult was heading to the graveyard. "How far have we gone?" Ha Yeon asked, already bored. "20 Kilometers." Yao answered, his eyes on the road. "Do you know, you're asking that the millionth time." Ha Eung gave his sibling a cold gaze. "Well, I don't have any data left in my phone. I can't believe I have to wait until-" "Will you please be quiet? I need to listen!" Kiku shouted at the twins, as he was listening to vocaloid music through his headphones. "Well, too bad, bro." Leon sighed, he had given up and was playing Nintendo. "Can I at least sleep?" Mei gave the rest a pleading glance. "Confucius, how much longer!" Yao banged his head on the steering wheel. He wondered why the graveyard was so far.
At last, they had arrived. The place was private, visitors only, intended for the upper class. "Okay, we'll split up and meet at 12 p.m." "But it's only 9 a.m!" Leon looked horrorstruck. "What can we do, talk with dead people?" "Time flies. Come, Kiku." And Yao was off. "This sucks." Ha Yeon dragged Ha Eung in the right direction while Mei took Leon's hand, veering to the left.
"Um, which grave was it?" "How am I supposed to know!" Ha Eung growled, then stopped. Their parents were sleeping in one of these graves, along with their grandparents. It would be best to shut up. "Ha Eung-ah." It was Ha Yeon again, but now her voice was wobbly. "왜(Why)." He retorted, but he knew. "I found it." His twin pointed to a grave, with a marble plaque on it. The Grave of CEO Lee Ju Mong, and Secretary Kim All Young, born in 1970, married in 1996, and died in 2003. Rest in peace. "Do you have the makgurly?" Ha Yeon asked him, her voice lowered. "Yes." Ha Eung poured two cups of rice wine, setting each in front of one plaque. "Hi, umma." His sister was going to cry, and he knew it. "Annyeonghasayeo (Hi in Korean), abuji."Now he was going to cry as well.
"Is this..." Yao hushed Kiku, walking over to a overdecorated grave. "Ni Hao, bàba, māma. (Hello, father, mother in Chinese)" His older brother bowed deeply, before lowering the sack he had brought onto the ground. "Kiku, say hi." "Gonnichiwa, okasan, otosan.(Hello, mother, father in Japanese)" Kiku knelt in front of the grave. It only seemed right. He started to read the letters engraved in the stone. Wang Song-"Kiku, fetch me some dim sum." Yao's voice cut through his deciphering, and Kiku stood, picking up the tray of dim sum as he went.
"Well, I guess this is about it." Mei sighed as she pointed towards the family graves. "Why?" "This graveyard zone is for our family, and there's Yao over there. Which means my dad and your mom isn't that far off." No sooner had she said that did Leon find a small grave. "Hi." He sat on the soft grass next to where his mom was buried, and waved Mei away. He could see his cousin nearby, she had found her dad and was crying, practically hugging the grass. "Girls. Leon wiped the saltiness running down his cheek.
"Okay, so school's not that bad." Ha Eung explained to his unanswering father. "School's great, dad, don't believe a word of what he's saying!" Ha Yeon smiled through teary eyes as she tore beef jerky and placed it on a dish. "Yao said you liked it so I brought it." "You don't have to explain, for God's sake-" "He's always like this, mom. I have to put up with this." "Well, right. But we're living honest lives. At least we're not manga-crazy or pyromaniacs." The twins chortled together. "We miss you guys." "And the ironic thing is we do not even remember you." "Shut up!" The Lee grave, if the ancestors were there, would be having a less peaceful time than usual.
"The company is making good profits in the cell-phone industry." Yao commented, hacking the grass from his father's grave. "I got an A on Chinese." Kiku remarked as he poured sake in a cup next to Mrs. Wang's plaque. "We're going to beat Nordic Industry in the car business at this rate." Yao chuckled. "And yes, I wrote a haiku and the teacher said it was great." Kiku smiled. "I actually miss you, father." Yao sighed, leaning against the grave for a second. "Thank you for bringing me into your family, Mrs. Wang." Kiku bowed in front of the grave a second time.
"Hey." Leon set a bunch of firecrackers next to his mom. "Gege's company is doing great. And jiejie is nice as usual. The twins are double trouble, but they care about me. The psycho acts like he's uninterested, but he cares. The otaku is gentle, as expected of him." He patted the grave absent minded. "You know, I don't know why you married dad, and I do not know why Arthur and Yao keep fighting for custody, but thanks for marrying dad."
"Hi, dad!" Mei brightened. It wouldn't do to cry in front of her dad's grave. "So, my life is good enough! Eliza and Roderich are super nice, the kids say I'm sweet and gege is ever so kind!" Mei started to wipe the marble plaque that had a layer of dust on it. "Ew, don't these people clean your plaque? It must be really uncomfortable."She scrubbed at the plaque, smiling. "And Kiku...Oh, well, I'll have to give up on him, right?" Mei sighed. "The others are so lucky. Ha Yeon has Alfred who adores her, Ha Eung is definitely in a relationship with Nat-I bet they're going to go out before the year is through! Leon has Emil, and they're supercute-I wonder what's going to happen to me."
It was 1pm when they gathered. "So, how did the visit go?" Yao pretended that he didn't notice Ha Yeon's eyes were red. He averted his gaze from Leon's sleeve, which was wet. He kindly believed Ha Eung's excuse that his voice was hoarse because he had a light cold. He decided to overlook the fact that Mei had a runny nose and that Kiku was blinking too much.
"I see it went well." "Can we come again next year?" Yao raised an eyebrow. This was something he had not expected. "We miss them." Leon added, and hurridly spoke. "Not that you're not great." "Okay, you can come again." Yao nodded, then noticed something. "Kiku, where is your coat?" "I left it. It seemed cold, and-" "Yes." How adorable his siblings were. "So, let's go. Chinatown awaits us."
The rain had started to fall, but it stopped by the time they had reached the town area. "All right, so what can we do?" "We can play dress up in traditional garb." "Yeah, and Kiku would wear a kimono while you guys wore hanbok, and we'd wear changshen and qipao." Leon commented. "That sounds great." Mei spoke, looking at Kiku. "Yes, it's a good idea." "Seriously?" Leon looked thunderstruck, but Yao smiled meaningfully. "Well, there are many people wearing traditional garb. Why shouldn't we?" "I hate this family. Kirkland wouldn't make me wear-" "Kirkland threw away your fireworks." Kiku pointed that out, and the boy was silent.
"Hurrah!" Ha Yeon shouted out loud, and passersby stared at them. "Shut up." Ha Eung nudged her. They were wearing hanbok as planned. "Well, this is awkward." Kiku glanced at his ukata. "This is family stuff." Yao pointed out, tightening the clasp of his changshen. "It's better than I expected." Leon acknowledged, sounding weary. "So, what now?" "Oh! Let's have Moon Cake!" Mei clapped her hands, excited. "No." "Yes!" "Christ-" "Kami-sama-" "Amen." And so they moved onto the busy street.
By the time their Chinatown visit was over, Leon was ladled with fireworks and Kiku had some mangas in his hand. Yao was holding some dogeared books written in Chinese. "Best Moon Festival. Ever." Mei spoke through a mouthful of moon-cake. "Not bad." Ha Eung had acquired a new blade, and was eating songpyeon as he nodded, agreeing. "Awesome." Ha Yeon cradled a jewelry box in her arms.
"So, time to go home, right?" Yao asked his siblings. "Yes." Kiku nodded. As the teens moved back into the car, the moon was starting to rise. "Look, a full moon!" Mei pointed outside the car window. "That's why it's called the Moon Festival." Leon muttered, but he smiled. "Kids, make a wish!" Yao announced, as he began to drive.
'I wish I get to meet someone nice-'
'I wish Hercules and I can be a pair-'
'If there is a god, please tell me I can be treated normally-'
'I wish Al would stop acting like a kid-'
'I wish Emil and I are the same team on the science project-'
It was eleven p.m. Yao yawned, then picked up his phone. There were a lot of messages, but only few of them actually mattered. His siblings had gone to bed early. As he stared at the pale full moon, the man smiled warmly.
'Tian, grant our family more happiness and warmth. Let Kiku meet this Greek boy, give Mei a good enough person to keep her mind off Kiku, please ensure Ha Eung is seen as what he really is. Make sure that Jones and Yeon don't go out, and tell me that Leon will find there is more to life than fireworks.'
He didn't know for a fact that many other families were staring up at the moon as well.
"Hey, it's a full moon! Make a wish!" Hercules closed his eyes, then spoke out loud. "I hope to be better friends with Kiku." "That was cute!" Feliciano smiled at his far relative.
"Full moon is when the werewolves come-" "Eh, chère, please." Francis smiled at Arthur. "Did you wish anything?" Alfred asked his brother. "It's a secret." "Well, I wished that Yao stops hating me. Jesus, that guy-" "That's exactly why he hates you." Arthur sighed.
"Older brother?" Natalia stared at Ivan, who was gazing at his phone. "So, the Han Estate went to Chinatown." Ivan mused. "You love him-" Natalia spoke heatedly then cut herself off. "Sister, let's just make a wish to the moon tonight." Ivan smiled then gathered his hands. 'Give me the key to Yao's heart.' Natalia closed her eyes, muttering softly. 'If you cannot grant me older brother, give me someone who understands.'
Emil was standing outside the house, on the porch when he saw the full moon. "Leon will be seeing this moon-" He mused, then blushed faintly. 'I hope Leon sees this moon, it's so pretty and he would love it.'
The August Moon Festival was over.
Okay, so it's done. The August Moon Festival in Chinese, or Chuseok in Korean is held in August 15th of every lunar year. It's Chuseok in this place!!! Awesome!
In Korea, we visit the graves of our ancestors, eat rice cakes called songpyeon and meet our relatives.
In China, they visit their homes and eat moon cakes, and they make wishes to the moon.
I hope it was good enough for all of you. Thanks again. And bad news- I don't know what to write for Mei's birthday... Which means I might have to skip...Geez... But thanks always!
Happy Chuseok (August Moon Festival) to all you guys!