ͼNameͽ
Hyun-seok [sook] Kohaku Artemyev
ͼAgeͽ
21
ͼGenderͽ
Male (originally)
ͼAppearanceͽ
Hyun-seok has coarse black hair and dark, reddish-brown eyes that gleam red in the dark. His features are fairly refined, though his eyes are somewhat droopy. Although not particularly tall or buff, he is deceptively strong. Overall, he is more distinctly Asian in terms of looks, but has eyes slightly larger and a nose slightly pointier than one would expect from someone fully Asian. His skin also is a bit on the paler side. He is fairly unobtrusive, with no strong identifiers, and stands at 5'7", weighing about 132 lbs. He's not very good-looking as a guy, but certainly could not be called flat out ugly. Usually, his hair is short and messy, again more Asian in style. Most of his skin is unblemished, but his hands are heavily calloused. In terms of clothing, he usually sticks to a relatively casual style, with a simple zip-up jacket and casual long pants of some sort. His voice is low and quiet, often difficult to hear.
ͼPersonalityͽ
Quietly Sarcastic
This boy is a relatively quiet person who doesn't like running his mouth off. Why bother talking at times when words are unnecessary? Small talk of any kind makes him cringe, and he has quite a low opinion of people who talk too much. Despite this, he is very well aware of how important words are, and thus can spend quite a long time in silence trying to pick the right word - a silence that quite often results in him saying half of what he wanted to, or, as a matter of fact, nothing at all. This can make him very blunt and at times difficult to understand, but when he does have all of his words in a row and his brain on straight, what he says is full of substance. That is, if he's not simply trying to drip sarcasm for the fun of it. Communication aside, with those he trusts, his subtle, deadpan humor will bleed through his every word, whether or not anyone else understands it.
Meticulous
This boy was always a hard worker. His mother and father instilled a good work ethic in him, and as such, he was never that lazy kid in school who copies answers or skims through his homework hastily. He was, by both nature and nurture, careful to put his best into everything he did. As his life changed, however, so did his work ethic. He came to learn that it's not just "good" to get the details right, it's essential. The more time has passed, the more convicted he has become that everything should be carefully thought through when planning something. This can make him seem like a rather irritating, and slightly wishy-washy perfectionist, but anyone who stops to actually think about what he says can see that the concerns he brings up tend to be quite valid and thoughtful. It's also possibly the most personable part of his general character, as there is no better way to make him let down his guard than by irritating him just a little bit. Slant that picture on the wall ever so slightly to the left, or leave that book in the wrong section of his bookshelf, and he'll open his mouth and talk for hours.
Practical
Though in no way lacking in wit and imagination, when it comes down to it, Hyun-seok focuses on what makes sense in the here and now, rather than big, flashy ideas that don't actually get anyone anywhere. He dislikes wasting his time, and tries whenever possible to minimize unnecessary things. Reality is hard, and within that hard reality, there is nothing stupider than waste. As a result, he may do things that others would consider embarrassing or disgraceful without hesitation. If it's an issue of aesthetic versus substance, he will choose substance every time, his pride be damned. This rule of thumb extends to dangerous activities and disgusting foods. More importantly, this has shaped his moral limits. He certainly does not enjoy killing or abducting others, but when he weighs his options, there
are times when he thinks it's worth it. An individual life is not more important than thousands of others, whether that price is paid immediately or in the long-term.
Suspicious
Having had bad experiences in the past of trusting other people, he can no longer bring himself to be the naive, innocent boy he once was. He may try to protect the general peace of the population, but he trusts almost no one unless he absolutely has to. He is now constantly on the look-out for signs of betrayal, and could be called almost paranoid about it. He shares these worries with no one until he's very certain, but it has been common knowledge that obsessively watching over his own back is his automatic response to people in general. Just because someone looks innocent or trustworthy, doesn't mean that they actually are. Appearances can be deceiving, as he knows very well from his times as a girl, and he doesn't intend to be tricked by anyone or anything. Even when he seems like he has complete faith in you, he's watching carefully. While this hinders his ability to trust the rest of the Final Five on an individual basis, he does believe in the organizations intent and its effectiveness, and thus makes an effort not to let his suspicions overwhelm his ability to work with them as only trusted allies can.
An Actor
While by nature he is quiet and unassuming, this Korean-Japanese-Russian mix has something of a talent for pretending he's someone else entirely. Depending on the situation, he can lie quickly and convincingly create a whole new persona to match. Though he rarely remembers these personas long after he's discarded them, it is a simple matter for him to make them, and he does have a couple familiar fallbacks he likes to use. When pretending to be someone different, it is almost impossible to make him return to his old personality, and he can change quite literally anything, from his gait to his accent. That said, he is still the same person, and cannot change his skills list by pretending to be someone else. On top of which, he only acts as something different if he deems it absolutely necessary, and it therefore does not happen too often.
ͼBiographyͽ
Growing Up
Hyun-seok's was born into a family as unexceptional as he himself looks. His father was a mix of Korean and Russian, and his mother was Japanese. Both were orphans, as they'd met at an orphanage. He also had a younger sister by the name of Hye-ri, who was four years younger than him. They were a peaceful sort of family. Their income was enough to kept them fed, clothed, and comfortably housed, but in no way excessive. They owned a small, two-bedroom condominium and both parents worked full-time, his mother as a pharmacist and his father as a martial arts trainer. Still, for as long as he could remember, Hyun-seok was loved. His parents had a very good relationship with one another, his sister looked up to him; they were a good family - normal and boring, but good and strong. As for Hyun-seok himself, well, he was blessed. Taking more after his father than his mother, he was physically fairly strong and fast, as people go. He was well-coordinated and had a particular aptitude for the aspect of martial arts that required close-ranged weapons. Academically, he was not the best in his class, but he found he could do well as long as he worked hard. He had good friends and the teachers who understood him liked him. Up until he was fourteen, that was how his life stayed.
Losing Everything
Right before his eyes, he lost everything. He didn't know quite how it happened, only that one minute he was laughing and talking to his friends and family at a school gathering, and the next, the whole world seemed to be falling to pieces around him. In a freak accident, the ceiling fell in, and just like that, everyone was gone. He was one of several survivors of the school function, but one of the only ones left with no extended family to turn to. He knew what would happen. His mother and father had told him about life in an orphanage, and while it didn't sound terrible, it was not the kind of life he wanted to be subjected to. He didn't want a new family. He wanted the freedom to grieve in peace. So rather than allow himself to be taken in by the currently overloaded social service system, he grabbed the old wooden staff he used as practice often, his i-pod, and a wad of cash from home and made his way to the slums of the city, where crime ran rampant. Slipping into a world so far from his sheltered lifestyle, Hyun-seok was forced to adapt quickly. He upgraded his staff with the latest technology and, with the martial arts training from his father, learned to fend for himself, fighting off thieves, muggers, and those who would try to harm him. He could feel his heart freezing over with every person he met, and he tried so very hard to convince himself that just surviving was fine, that all he needed to do was get by. He tried hard to pretend nothing anybody did or said could wound him, and that he was fine either way, but some part of him knew that was not true.
Changing Reality
When the Abyssals attacked, three years ago, Hyun-seok had very little involvement in their defeat. He certainly knew about them, and the five that became the iconic saviors, but that was all they were - saviors. They were not people, and despite the horrors of the Abyssals that had brought humanity together for a few hours, life returned to life after the crisis was over. His world returned to the reality that humans were the true monsters. He recognized no change in himself after the strange undersea phenomenon, but he was becoming stronger and faster, much more so than normal humans. He had just managed to scrape by his nineteenth birthday when his whole world changed again. Once again, it happened quite suddenly and in a rather unwelcome manner. He'd just tucked himself in for the night, never having been more grateful for making it to another birthday, when a scream sounded not far from his makeshift hovel, apparently coming closer. He tried to pretend he hadn't heard anything, but the sound of the scream echoed in his mind. It was a girl's scream, he could tell, and probably a young one at that. She sounded so afraid, so vulnerable. Suddenly, a vision of his sister's eyes widening as the ceiling fell flashed in his mind. If it was her scream, her fear, how could he ignore that? Swearing, he grabbed his only weapon and raced out of his sloppily-made little room, catching sight of the girl coming towards him.
She was careening down the street, riding an odd-looking machine that was obviously some prototype gone wrong. The end of it was smoking and malfunctioning and it looked like the girl riding it was going to go straight past his home and into a wall not far away. Not waiting for the peculiar vehicle and its panicking rider to fly past him, Hyun-seok ran towards it and, to even his surprise, managed to jump onto the back of it, grabbing the girl by the waist. He wasn't sure why he was helping her, perhaps only that she reminded him of his sister. In any case, it was clearly a wasted effort. The girl had a death grip on the machine that he couldn't seem to pry loose. He swore. They were going to hit the wall, and both of them were going to die. He looked around frantically for something, anything, that could make them stop without turning them into pancakes, but he couldn't think straight, too overwhelmed by adrenaline and his own sense of panic and regret. As they got too close to the wall, he slammed his eyes shut and... Time Stopped. The whole world seemed to stop and Hyun-seok could see every bit in exquisite detail. He could see the tail of a cat slinking into a side alley away from them. He could see the wall that he'd been sure would be the death of him. He could see the cracks in the pavement that was making their ride so bumpy. And he could see the girl's weird little machine, and her small, teenage hands gripping its handles.
To his surprise, a screen suddenly filled his vision, numbers and letters filing their way into orderly little boxes that told him things like what his health and assets were. Options began popping onto the screen quickly scrolling through and ordering themselves into different categories such as "viable" or "extremely stupid." All the while, the scenery didn't seem to change, he was still frozen in time. One option caught his eye. It had gone under the category "untested" and it didn't seem to make much sense to him. It simply read, "EXCHANGE VEHICLE." With what? And how? He didn't know, but without really thinking about it, he reached out a mental hand and clicked on this strange new option. The world returned to normal speed, and before he really knew what was going on, the vehicle under them seemed to magically turn into a lame horse.
The horse collapsed, tumbling him and the girl onto the street. They fell gracelessly and both ended up covered in bruises, but they were alive. The adrenaline wearing off and the shock kicking in, the first thing he did was throw up. Then, Hyun-seok began to laugh in an almost maniacal manner. The girl had passed out, maybe from fear or maybe from a bump on the head, but he checked her vitals and she was alive. They were both alive. He laughed until he couldn't breathe at the absurdity of it. At that moment, an older man came stepping closer, concern on his face.
"What do you think you were you doing?!" He exclaimed, revealing a strong Chinese accent.
"Are you crazy? You could have died."
The still giggling boy looked up at the man and shook his head, unable to find the words to explain why he'd done it. He didn't actually know why he'd done it, actually. Finally, he caught his breath again, and managed to wheeze,
"Do you think you could take this girl to the nearest hospital? I'm kind of... I think I'm crazy." He laughed shakily again. He didn't have any reason to trust that this man would actually take the girl to a hospital, but there wasn't much he could do at this point, his legs felt like jelly.
The older man shook his head, but agreed and managed to get the girl onto his back to take her to the hospital. His face still close to the very unsanitary ground, Hyun-seok noticed something shining in the ground next to him. It was a coin, gold on one side and silver on the other, with a hole in the middle. It had nice carvings in the middle but wasn't any kind of currency. He called out to the man, feeling generous after having had a narrow escape from death.
"I think you dropped this."
The man looked back, then shook his head again,
"Keep it." He followed it up by muttering just loud enough for him to hear,
"You're going to need it, crazy." He didn't know what that meant, but he took the man's kindness, scooping up the coin, almost as a sort of trophy, and wobbling his way back home, still trying to digest what had happened.
Hyun-seok discovered the true extent of his powers gradually as he continued to fight for his life. It was difficult, at first, to get used to, but he eventually learned how to control it properly. He tested his limits, while trying to keep his newly gotten abilities under wraps. He realized he could use it, not just against individuals, but also against institutions. He hadn't forgotten what had happened to his family. It was an accident, but it had been a new building and the weather had been fair. His family had died because of negligence, and now he had power to make sure things like this didn't happen again. Quietly and obsessively, he began to enforce order in the crime center of the city, in order to make it easier for him to survive and move. Before he could concoct any sort of plan to extend his reach against institutions he saw as flawed, however, he caught the attention of the Final Five, and was recruited to join. He has been a part of the Final Five for around a year and a half now.
ͼStatsͽ
Might - 3
Finesse - 4
Fortitude - 4
Health - 3
Speed - 3
Perception - 10
Arcane - 1
Spirit - 4
Heroism - 1
ͼAbilitiesͽ
While his powers may seem broad and generally unrelated, Hyun-seok's abilities are all related to perception. Whether simply influenced by others' perceptions, or an enhancement of his own, his abilities focus on, are impacted by, and exist on the principle of perception. While not the flashiest set of supernatural abilities, when combined with his increased strength and speed, and his training and real life experience, they become invaluable in helping him win almost any combat he enters. That said, his powers have little direct combat capabilities, which is why his arcane and heroism are very low.
Gender Swap
Hyun-seok has what he considers the rather unfortunate ability to change genders. He considers this unfortunate, because it means that, rather than having one cohesive set of skills, the focus of his abilities changes according to which gender he is, and neither one is better than the whole. As a matter of fact, he feels that it is something of a handicap that he has to switch genders to access certain skills, but it does have the elements of surprise and disguise. The statistics above are his bottomline stats. As a male, his Might, Speed, and Fortitude are increased by one each, while as a female his Finesse, Spirit, and Perception are increased by one each. He does not have a limited number of times he can do this, but the change in gender is hallmarked by a sudden glowing of his skin and a brief flash of light when he makes the transition. His clothes do not change with him. His girl form looks much the same as his original form, but with more feminine features and long instead of short hair. He becomes perhaps mildly more attractive as a girl, but does not become a stunning beauty. When he is in female form, he also prefers to be referred to as Hyun-sook instead, as it feels a bit odd being called with a masculine name when one is female. His personality, though, does not change, and his memories remain full and intact no matter which gender he is. As a female, he usually dresses in a sailor uniform, and two chunks of his hair are tied up in the front. When he thinks he's going to need to move quickly, he ties his hair up into a ponytail, but he never cuts it. He has a suspicion he might be a bit like Samson.
Movie Mode
Although his mental faculties in normal times could only be called "adequate," when using this ability, his mental functions speed up several times. With this power, he can freeze moments and replay or fast forward them. His view comes to include his peripheral vision and it is an exact and perfect processing. While he can only stay in this mode for a brief moment, it's like time stops for him in that moment. He can see and analyze everything before the world continues to move. He cannot see into the future, of course, but he can play and replay and speed up memories. While this means he
can use it to perfectly recall certain memories, it does require an actual rewind (people moving backwards and speaking backwards nonsense squeakily) so any memory beyond an hour becomes tiring for him to retrieve and replay. On the other hand, this is extremely useful in combat, where every moment counts, and it has saved lives on many occasions, as it means he can pause the world long enough to figure out how best not to die. It seems rather like he has hyper-quick reflexes, when it is anything but reflex that keeps him alive in such a way. He has to close his eyes to do this, but it is usually so quick that this makes very little difference in actual battle, barely longer than a blink.
Broker
Broker is very simple to describe, but less so to carry out. It is the ability to swap things of equal value. Anything 6 inches or less from his skin can be switched for something else. He can do this any number of times and with any kind of object, living organism included, without getting more tired than he would get jogging the same amount of time. The real problem lies with the definition of "value." Everyone values things differently, and as I said above, Hyun-seok's powers are all about perception. While most of the time he can get away with only switching things
he considers of equal value, if people are focusing on him and know of his ability, their perceptions of value change the nature of his power dramatically. He could, for instance, switch someone's healthy hand for another, equally healthy hand if they were not paying any attention, since hands are hands, and if they're both healthy, they're pretty much the same. If, however, the person whose hand he's touching at the time is aware of his
intent to use his power, and is very attached to their own hand for whatever reason, he would be incapable of switching the two. This means that the more people know about him, the more of a disadvantage he has. In battle, the main use for this is to confuse the enemy and rob them of any fatal weapons they might have on them, but it could also be a useful skill to kidnap or steal.
Game Mode
Although this sounds and seems similar to Movie Mode, this ability is radically different. Movie Mode is about information-gathering. Game mode is about compartmentalizing. When information becomes too much for his brain to handle on its own, he separates it into more manageable pieces. A holographic display that no one else can see will pop up in front of him, cataloging his general (inexact) health, his physical abilities, that of his opponent (that he's already aware of), and the options he has in front of him. He does not have to close his eyes to do this, and it updates as soon as he becomes aware of any new information. He uses it often to help him keep his focus, and most people are not aware that he sometimes just keeps it open while he's fighting because he finds it useful to be constantly compiling pertinent information and the avenues that open to him while he does so. He can use it at the same time as Movie Mode, allowing to assess all of his options in an instant with perfect recall of every single detail of what's going on around him, but that takes a high mental toll after the adrenaline wears off. He usually spends a day or two after that with mild nausea and vivid nightmares.
ͼEquipmentͽ
Hyun-seok has, in his possession, only four items he considers of any importance. The first is a small, circular, plain metal flask which he carries water in so as to prevent people from drugging or poisoning him. The second is his old staff, which has been upgraded to carbon-fiber and has both a piercing tip and the capability to electrocute from said tip. The third is his i-pod, as music has become quite a calming influence in his life since the loss of his friends and family. The fourth is his special coin with one gold side and one silver side, which he keeps in a leather band around his neck, and tosses to make decisions. While this is not equipment per se, Hyun-seok also has had training in Hapkido and Wushu, a hybrid of which his father taught. He can also get by alright in Japanese, Korean, and Russian.
ͼTheme Song(s)ͽ