Full Name: Seojin Baek Jeong

Seo has two hanja options. One means “omen,” or “auspicious,” and the other means “to open up, unfold” or “comfortable, easy.” Jin means “precious, rare.”

Jeong is an anglicization of the surname 정 (signifying moral integrity) for easier acceptance into the upper class. Jin doesn’t know his real surname or his father’s true identity. His mother's surname was Baek.

Nicknames: Jin
Birthdate: Unknown date, approximately 26 years ago. (For stat purposes, let's go with Jan 1, 1869. I can't have screwed this one up, can I?)
Current Age: 26
Gender: male
Race: half-vampire
Occupation: slave cronie gentleman of leisure
Reputation: 9 - he’s entirely new to Britain so he can’t have done anything yet; true-parentage is currently unknown.
Residence: Officially: Dongmulwon Park in Northumberland, with the rest of his brothers. Unofficially: he has a small flat of his own in Diagon Alley, just on the corner of Knockturn.
Social Class: Upper
Family:

Actual
Father | Unknown Vampire
Mother | Eun-mae Baek
Sister | Myeong Baek

The Menagerie
The Collector | Yeom Jeong

Never much of a father figure to any, The Collector is a selfish being. His real name and origins are unknown, but since coming to England he has adopted the anglicanized name of Jeong. The official story is that he was married in Joseon and his wife, since passed, left him five heirs. Deciding to settle anew in the East after her passing, Yeom has eased into his old age and runs something of a curiosity emporium on occasion— for those in the know. His primary public goal is to have his sons married into proper, powerful English families and he is not above spending a pretty penny to see them situated. (Or blackmailing/torturing/bribing his way forward.) Unofficially, he desires nothing more than to become part of the Wizengamot so he can exert further power and influence. He has a pesky little fly he’s trying to kill in the meantime; one that could unravel all his plans.

The Cursed Five

• Ahn-Bo “Abraxley” Jeong - a werewolf (abby)
  
  A former upper class pureblood in his own right, Abby is the muscle of the group and the eldest. Abandoned by his own family when he was bitten at the age of 16, he slightly resents Jin for dragging him into this mess, but it’s a simmering, underlying resentment. He’s also an egomaniac.
  
  
• Taesu Jeong - a half-Veela (romance)
  
  Collected well into his teens, Tae was the son of a prostitute. He learned early that life is easier for those with a pretty face and that money can buy happiness. He joined The Collector’s menagerie of his own volition and - while not exactly thrilled to be auctioned off as an escort to the highest, often cruelest bidder - he doesn’t expect much more than what he knows in this life. His addiction to polyjuice keeps his true identity a secret, however each transaction distorts another piece of his inner self.
  
  
• Jae-hyun Jeong - a seer (baby)
  
  Yun, the youngest, was born the son of a hag but with seer abilities. His mother died when he was about ten and he was left to rot in a magical orphanage thereafter. His abilities developed quite late in life and were never very reliable so keeping them a secret was fairly easy until The Collector came along. Today, he is often called upon to provide insight and assist in testing (against his will) for new curses and objects that fall into The Collector’s path. He is the only one of the group who has ever openly expressed an interest in having a family one day, if they were to ever escape this hell, and he fears (deep down) passing his hag genetics to his offspring would make them monstrosities. He resents Jin the most for his failure to free them.
  
  
• Ki-Se Jeong - the blood cursed (mystery)
  
  Ki-Se was the last to join the Menagerie before their expulsion from Joseon. He was muggle born and never received a magical education other than what he gleaned of his own volition. Treated utterly like a prop, his primary role was to be the main attraction in the house of curiosities, forced to transform time and again for morbid audiences. The transformation has become more painful as time wears on.

Pet | A sassy, sassy Occamy named Jakhodo

Appearance:

Seojin is tall, thin and agile much like a cat. He has dark hair that contrasts dramatically with his pale, vampiric skin. Like most halfbreeds of his kind, he has protruding canines that are sharper than a human’s and pearly white. He takes great pride in keeping a clean and tidy appearance, though he tends to wear darker colors. His skin burns easily and he has no distinguishing freckles or marks that might indicate time spent in the sun. In fact, Jin avoids the sun as much as possible. His eyes are heterochromatic, the only trait he really inherited from his magical mother— leading to one warm golden-brown and the other a greenish hazel. In the right light they glow almost gold, like a shadow stealing through the night.

His long limbs are lanky, but not disproportionate. He wields his wand with his left hand and tends to lean into comfort wherever possible. He finds British attire very restrictive.

History: *trigger warnings: abuse, torture, general demonic symbolism. I kept it skimming the surface but am adding the warning anyway.

Dies irae, Illa, Vos solve in, Favilla,
Maledictus, Erus, In flamas, Eternum

Jin was collected at a young age and retains very few memories of his former family. He only knows that he had a younger sister once, whom he accidentally almost beheaded when a knife went flying across the room at his first burst of magic, and a mother who was as terrified of him as she’d been of his father. She protected her youngest (who was fully human) from everything he might say or do, and as a result Jin’s baby sister Myeong grew in fear of her elder brother.

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--
I can be your sanctuary

Life with The Collector did not turn out to be all that had been once promised. While, yes, Jin did receive a formal magical education and was sent to Mahoutokoro to learn more about the world he came from, his parentage was not kept particularly secret. How could it? Rumour spread quickly that his father was a vampire and as such the majority of the school kept Jin at arm's length. It was utterly miserable and isolating until he met— Abby.

They met in his second year, (Abby) 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--

After graduation, Jin expressed an interest in leaving the menagerie, leaving Joseon, and exploring the East. He rebelled against the influence of The Collector and no matter how often he was 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
More than power, more than gold

Jin and the others have very few memories of what happened next. Upon thinking back to that time, a blinding pain renders them distracted. There are no clues as to the fracture, and The Collector never speaks of his failure— however, Joseon closed its doors on them, and the menagerie found its way to the East.

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--
Will he let the fire go out?

England is a dramatic change from the norm. Where before they were all cramped in small quarters, treated like objects in a bag, now The Collector purchased an estate. He established a family name, respectability, and a reputation for each of them. Jin was entitled the first born son. The heir whose parentage was to be forgiven. He was, after all, the one most easily controlled. The noose tightened.

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.)

Personality:

Seojin is more soft spoken and quiet than any of his metaphysical brothers. He puts on a brave front and acts in his capacity as “first collected” almost out of a morbid responsibility to them. He strives to be levelheaded, nonchalant and invested in their menagerie’s success. But deep down he’s easily exhausted by socialization and prefers to spend time on his own. He hates with a passion that sometimes frightens even Abby, and he’s not always the most graceful when provoked.

Other:

• Jin is a master forger.
  
• He dreams of his sister and often wakes up with blood in his mouth and no memory of how it got there.
  
• He is primarily controlled through a cursed silver necklace with a jade pendant—if Seojin tries to disobey or speak against The Collector, it scorches his throat, making it impossible to sing or breathe until he relents. The necklace cannot be removed.
  
• He almost completed his animagus transformation in school but backed out before he could manage it. Why give The Collector another attribute to exploit?
  
• Jin takes potions and enchantments at times to give his voice an extra persuasive quality beyond merely the mild vampiric lull. His performances or even a simple conversation can sometimes suggest thoughts and ideas to his audiences.
  

Name: Fox