dies irae illa vos solve in favilla.
The family lived in a small village outside of Hanseong in Joseon. They were very poor and, while Jin did his best to contribute, there was little work to be found outside the palace in Joseon. Especially for one who was whispered as having been born a cursed 징조 (Jingjo - “omen”). Nobody wants a marked child bringing bad luck and evil spirits to their doors; not muggles certainly, and not the tiny magical community who cast out his family for fear of his father returning to their village. It was with a bipa in hand, an empty busking cup, and a sad, aching voice that The Collector found him. Seojin was ten at the time.
Running away was an easy decision. There was certainly nothing in his village keeping Jin tied down, and the prospect of a magical school and a life where there might be others like him, others who accepted him, was far too compelling. So, one summer evening after his mother and Myeong fell asleep, Jin gathered what little money they had and a delicate jade pendant his mother kept locked away, and he fled. He fled straight into The Collector’s menagerie, the first pet to enter its gilded cage.
Anytime it hurts, play another verse--
They met in his second year, Ahn-Bo having convinced Jin to try his luck on a broomstick. What began as a bit of a rivalry soon flourished into an easy friendship that lasted even beyond Abby's accident. The summer of their sixth year however, somehow, some way, Abby was bitten by a werewolf and subsequently expelled from Mahoutokoro. His family, of the traditional, purist sort, soon disowned him and thus - on Jin’s pleading his case - Abby became the second in The Collector’s human-esque menagerie.
Over time there would be others added to the fold: a half-Veela escort; a blood cursed who would transform into a beast; a half-hag who was also a seer. But life as part of the menagerie did not come without its price for each of them. Throughout his academic career, Jin was forced to earn his keep by entertaining whomever and whatever The Collector’s latest ambition might require. He (like the others) was both spy and circus act in one. The half-vampire boy with a voice of gold, forced to perform for the curious and twisted. Forced to endure whatever might be expected— no limitations, no boundaries. (He developed a rather uncomfortable taste for blood during this time as a result of drinking it so often merely to indulge cruel curiosity.)
You gave me your heart, now I'm hеre for your soul--
re-educated Jin refused to perform. So— a deal was struck with The Collector such that he might earn his own freedom and that of the others. A fool's errand if ever there was one.
“If you wish to be free, Seojin, then write me a song that can unmake what you are. Sing a truth that can tempt an audience into charity for a monster.”
Jin was eager to strike out on his own, and that eagerness - coupled with the naïveté and determination of an 18 year old - led to the formulation of a deal that could not be undone. He made every effort to write a song that could free him, both physically and psychologically. He wrote scrolls and scrolls of lyrics, tried endlessly to orchestrate the right notes, but his magic rebelled. The building pressures of buying his own freedom and the doubts of ever being accepted outside of his small world, chained any creativity he might have mustered. Imbuing the song with any kind of magical ability was even further out of his reach. No amount of potions and research and experimentation could bind the words into a spell, could string the notes in any kind of melodic order that was not the usual, haunting desperation that he embodied. Because this was what he really was. A failure, a monster, a vampire . And The Collector did not let him forget it.
In the end, only disaster prevailed. Jin’s final rendition was cold, frightened, and broken. It was certainly powerful, and conjured images and sentiments that left the audience reeling, but it wasn’t charitable. It wasn’t a song that made The Collector’s audience weep in empathy for the five misfits in his zoo.
A sneakily overlooked condition came into full effect after that. Jin was bound indefinitely in service of The Collector, and was forced to submit a complete surrender of his own voice. The curse he willingly entered bound it such that he would not be able to perform, or even speak in some instances, against the wishes of his master. The vessel? A small jade pendant, once stolen.
For two years thereafter the menagerie continued to entertain the ruthless and morbid, undisturbed. They grew in popularity and spread in influence even to the palace. The Collector’s ambitions increased in scope until eventually he tried to buy himself a place amoungst the magistrates— the advisors to the king.
I will love you more when it all burns down
For a few years they traveled until they made their way to the European continent. The Collector— ambitions shattered but never waning — searched. He searched the globe for more oddities, always expanding his services and evolving. Hunting for his next position.
One day a letter arrived. It was elegantly written and full of weighty threats, like the author knew more about whatever had happened in Joseon than they let on. Jin came across it by mere coincidence. He read it once, twice, and then a third time, unable to grasp the meaning. But something in the letter resonated. It struck a chord he’d never been able to quite hit himself, but always ached just out of his range. Phrases followed him days, even weeks after.
The letter prompted an anger in The Collector that simmered under the surface. At first, he determined to ignore it. He took out his frustration on Jin and the others and work, if one could even call it that, was harder than usual. By the time a second letter came and a third, the menagerie found itself packing up again. It was announced that this time they were headed to England. (Curiously, to the very country from which the letters hailed.) The Collector had decided upon his new ambition. He wanted to become a member of the Wizengamot.
Dying king with a crumbling crown--
Still words from that letter haunt him. Jin knows they came from an owl in Britain. He knows whoever or whatever that person wants, it must align with his own desires to see The Collector and his menagerie devastated. He’s decided to seek them out amidst his little errands for his father. Jin will see that wretched man destroyed and his supposed brothers freed. He’ll make sure of it this time, even if it kills him. For what else is a monster to do in this world but reap destruction? Someone might as well benefit.
(Or, yanno, he’ll find a way to get his memories erased and let it all burn down.)
