Scene I:
Seulgi, Atlas, and Sol were one in the same. All names given to a girl who lived her life full of different origins, from South Korea to England to Spain. At the age of 2, Seulgi had been adopted by Julio de Castil and Illyana Martin,a couple who had more secrets than what the eye could see. To Seulgi, they were really nice people who doted on her in the orphanage. When the announcement came that the couple would be taking Seulgi to her new home, she thought that she was just going to go to another home with a bunch of kids, similar to the one she had just been in. Sadly, they noticed that none of the children had said goodbye to Seulgi, letting them know that the little girl with the teddy bear in her arms was probably all alone. Illyana, as Seulgi now knows as Mami, picked her up and didn’t let the younger girl go until they were in the comfort of their home.
Many things had confused Seulgi. Why did that woman abandon her, why did her father abandon her? Didn’t he dote on her? So how could he have easily left her at the doors of an orphanage before running off? So many questions ran through her mind as a child, it caused a frozen heart. A heart filled with loneliness, grudges, and distrust. But these are the kinds of things and feelings that you don’t let overtake you. Seulgi was a victim to these feelings, but she knew that it would always be a fight to make sure that these feelings didn’t drown her.
Scene II:
When Seulgi arrived in Spain, there had been more people than she expected. Men dressed in black suits surrounded them as they were being escorted into the home. The place she would call home for years: The DeCastil estate in Malaga. It was a Mediterranean home, full of life at all times, cousins and family members running about the estate, her father constantly in meetings in the house. Seulgi found herself in the gardens more times than not, the soft breeze of the warm wind making her feel happier than she had ever felt before. Somehow this estate made the world feel so much better.
After her first few years in Spain, her parents had enrolled her in homeschooling, the teacher coming to the house on the weekdays making sure that she had the best education that money could buy. Money, another thing that Seulgi didn’t need to worry about. Seulgi...the name that her birth parents had given her but the name that haunted her. She asked her mami why she was named Seulgi and not something similar to her family or her mother. Instead of answering the question her mother had just smiled and said Atlas, Seulgi had been confused when she heard it for the first time. Wasn’t an Atlas just a group of maps? But her mother gave her a different meaning, “Not a group of maps, mija. More like the Titan who discovered the stars and created the celestial sphere. Everytime you look up at the stars, I want you to think of yourself. My Atlas.”
Scene III:
A phone call came one day and somehow Atlas had been left alone with only the guards in the house, not that she minded, without thinking, she answered the call. A deep voice came from the other side of the line, “Hello, is a Kang Seulgi there?” The mistake. Atlas had replied and told the unknown person that she was Seulgi. “Seulgi-ah?! It’s your father. I’ve missed you!” Atlas was shaking, she dropped the phone in a panic, slowly backing away from it. Why was he calling? How did he know who to call? A scream ripped through the house, Atlas hadn’t known who it came from but all she wanted was to get away. The room was suddenly swarmed with guards and she didn’t know what was happening. Her mother rushed through the house and told the guards to back away from Atlas. She quickly noted the phone and told the guards to get any information on whoever was on the phone. Atlas had tucked in on herself, her hands covering her ears as she tried to get his voice out of her head. That was the past, why was the past coming after her?
Scene IV:
After the incident, Atlas’ father began her training, she was going to be trained later but it seemed that Seulgi’s sperm donor was trying to find her, for what reason, she didn’t know but if he found her she wanted to make sure that he couldn’t hurt her and that no one else could either. It started with simple archery, her father had been surprised by the precision and focus that she displayed and so he moved onto shooting and sword fighting. Did he think that sword fighting was necessary? Yes, it helped her develop fast reflexes to attacks but funny enough, even with her increasing abilities, she was still clumsy.
Nothing was adding up, how did he specifically manage to get to the phone nearest to her? How did he know where she would be at the time? Someone she thought that this may have been even more dangerous than she anticipated. He wanted her and he wasn't going to let her go freely, but why did he want her? She didn’t ask to be left at an orphanage, he left her there, breaking any ounce of trust that was ever there.
Then came the news, Atlas’ younger sister...the girl who had come after her but before the death of her biological mom. It seemed like Atlas’ family was full of holes, simply a sinking ship, but her real father, her padre, had eyes everywhere and he had found out that Atlas’ little sister had almost been sold off as a slave in the underground. Her father held his head in his office, it seemed that the Kang men had no qualms getting rid of what did not fit in their plans. Luckily, one of the DeCastil men who had been tailing the family had saved her before she was shipped off to god only knows where. Her name was Haseul, Kang Haseul. Without notifying Atlas about anything that was happening, he had placed her in a safe place where she could live her life out with an alias. All that mattered was that Haseul and Atlas were okay.
Scene V: The present.
Atlas was living a secret life, she knew this but it was better to be Atlas. Sure she used Seulgi while she was working but no one would look for a Seulgi who was working as a patisserie. Atlas was trying to live as normally as she could while hiding her identity. If that meant having a person on the inside watching for her father and brother getting too close, then so be it. But she could admit that at the age of 24, she was tired. But it was better to be tired than to have to be afraid and sold off on the market. She knew he was looking for her, most likely to get more money or maybe something more. Atlas knew he wanted her for his own personal gain and she would do everything in her power to keep him away, even if it meant his death.
At the end of the day, it would be him or her. And she would always choose herself. Afterall, she was Atlas DeCastil.