1 Journal Entry 1

Dear Journal,

I'm refusing to call this a diary because diaries are for 12-year-old girls who write about their teacher crushes and their favorite My Little Pony character.

Ahem. Let me start that again.

Hello. My name is Minhoe Sunwoo. I'm 16, born on August 3rd, 2056. I'm in a set of triplets. My brothers are Minjae (he's the oldest) and Minsoo (the youngest). I'm in the middle. My parents are Conor O'Brian and Junho Sunwoo, an Irish chef and a Korean violinist. If you're wondering why neither I nor any of my brothers have Irish-sounding names, Mr. O'Brian wasn't present at our birth.

He was off screwing a waitress back at home while his wife endured 18 hours of labor. Our parents' marriage didn't last long after that.

Anyway, my family drama isn't important right now. You're probably here because you want to read about guys on flying swords shouting spells at each other while their multiple love interests cheer them on from the sidelines, wiggling their hips and shaking their boobies.

Or something.

I'm sorry, but I'm gonna have to burst your bubble because a.) I'm a girl, b.) I don't swing that way, and c.), I don't have a boyfriend to do the male equivalent of the above actions. Yet. It'll happen soon enough.

But fear not! Flying swords and spells DO exist! Except no one's used them for the past century. Or, well, we use flying swords because, well, duh.

To clarify, ever since the 300 Years War ended and the Age of Tranquility began, no one's needed to fight anymore. The monsters are no longer a threat to our survival. They're kept on breeding grounds so we can collect their soul energy and raise our cultivation levels.

If you're feeling a bit confused, I'll back up. One day, like, a bajillion years ago, a meteor crashlanded in Northern England. The impact wiped out all the surrounding villages in the area. As you can imagine, anyone who wasn't dead was like, "Oi! What's this bloody rock doing in my bloody backyard? I'm tryna enjoy my cuppa here!"

Or something. I don't know how people in Northern England talk. However they talked back then, they weren't happy about the large, smoking crater that held the meteor that wiped out half their population. Of course, some idiot goes and touches the dang thing and unleashes a bunch of evil, bloodthirsty monsters.

I'll spare you the gory details, but needless to say, the rest of Northern England was quickly eliminated―some people were smart enough to find someplace to hide in time and therefore survived. The monsters spread out to the rest world, killed everybody, blah blah blah. THen some Japanese guy suddenly gets qi or whatever and saves his village.

More people got qi or whatever and became cultivators. They fought the monsters and blah blah blah.

BUT WAIT!

It's not that simple! Because not everyone was just the same old cultivator. There were these things called 'Careers'.

Careers are determined by a certain trait in a cultivator. Back during wartime, everyone had a Trait that helped them fight. They were speedy or strong or good with their hands (get those dirty thoughts out of your head). The main Careers were Flashes―for those speedsters―or Strongman―super buff dudes―or Gladiator—the people who good with using blades and stuff. There was also Mender―for the kind and compassionate people who wanted to heal their fellow soldiers.

After the 300 Years War ended, those Careers were no longer needed. Except for Mender, of course. They were always useful.

But once the Age of Tranquility arrived, those violent, fearsome Traits faded among the human population. We became gentle and started focusing on other things, like art, cooking, and pole-dancing―er, wait, not that last one.

Chefs, Artists, Musicians, Athletes. These Careers took the world by storm.

Most of my parents' families are either Chefs (O'Brian) or Musicians (Mom). My brothers, Minjae and Minsoo also followed in their footsteps.

But for me? It was way different. Ever since I was a kid, speed was all I knew. I was known for talking a mile a minute. I raced the kids at school daily and left them in the dust. My soccer skills? I was the young, female version of Lionel Messi.

It was decided that I was going to be an Athlete. My mom's side of the family was disappointed―they wanted another musical prodigy like Minjae. Meanwhile, my dad was incredibly excited. He wanted me to try out for a sports team other than lame old soccer. Something like basketball.

I told him knew where to stick that idea of his.

Despite this, he was eagerly awaiting my tenth birthday. That was when kids' received a stable cultivation base. They would be able to gather the natural Qi in the air.

Oh, wow, look at the time. I'd love to write in you more, journal, but it's late, so I've gotta head to bed. I'll write in you later, journal.

Peace to the Middle East.