[Phantom]

Noel Sungsoo Yang

Full Name: Noel Sungsoo Yang
Pronouns: He/Him
Nicknames: N/A
Age: 44
Gender: Male
Birthplace: Honolulu, Hawaii
Birthday: October 20th
Orientation: Asexual / Homoromantic
Status: Single
Occupation: Administrator
Power: Mental Manipulation
Play-By: Joongi Lee
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 157 lbs


Personality:
It can be difficult to tell exactly what Noel is thinking. He is oddly peaceful- able to think clearly even in the most urgent of situations. Noel is a directed person. He is also patient- almost frustratingly so. While he takes his duties seriously, he's also shockingly liberal. Noel does keep a professional distance- but he is generally a kind, friendly person. He's also devilishly persuasive, even without having to resort to using his power.

Noel is experimental. As a scientist, he appreciates that new methods may yield greater results. He is cordial, and formal, in almost all interactions. He has a stolid demeanor, and isn't the type to ever raise his voice, let alone yell. Noel is unaggressive, preferring to manipulate the situation around him to his favor over any other method. Yet, even to his subordinates, Noel is somewhat enigmatic- and in many situations, obviously restrained.

Noel is calculating, and he does not act without thinking. In most situations, he is oddly passive- until he feels pressed to act- in which case, he is assertive. Noel is cautious- especially when it comes to the use of his power- where acting rashly could lead to severe consequences. He is crafty and opportunistic, and there is a part of him that deeply enjoys building. He is willing to work painstakingly for an entire year for even a minor victory. He is perfectly willing to use what he can glean with his power against someone, if he feels it will benefit him, or his goals.

As a boss, Noel prefers to delegate. To the point where sometimes his subordinates have questioned if he even does any work at all. He prefers a hands off approach- although he will step in if things get out of hand, or veer into inappropriate territory. As the administrator of Infinity, he prefers to be unseen and unheard by the student population. Ideally, none of them even know that he exists. His main duty- outside of the mountains of paperwork, and requesting funding- is to work with subjects who need... "extra help", outside of their lessons. Whether that is an attitude adjustment, or simply creating the conditions for their power to become active.

In essence, Noel is hard to grok. He seems like a kind, friendly person- although he usually puts some distance between him and other people. Rather than haphazardly use his power, he prefers to challenge others to be better by themselves. He is conciliatory and almost a little too hands-off. Noel is wise enough to know when to step into the background, and much stronger than he lets on.

History:
Noel is a middle child, born into a military family. They relocated every few years, the only constant thing that he had in his life were books- and he was a voracious reader. At some point his parents stopped worrying about "appropriate" and settled on "enough to keep him busy". His parents (specifically, his father,) ran a tight ship. Noel and his siblings got along well enough- he usually had his nose in a book, and wasn't too focused on what they were fighting about- until someone took it from him!

Unsurprisingly, Noel was academically precocious. To the point where he often got in trouble for reading a book in class- especially if he moved schools partway through the year. It didn't matter if he already knew all of the material. While he didn't struggle to make friends, he also didn't have many. What he struggled with was forming relationships that were deeper than surface level.

He skipped two grades, once in elementary school, and once in middle school. Which helped a little- he didn't feel so far ahead. Some of the material was actually challenging then, he didn't read in class so much. And then, when he was fourteen, they moved for the last time- his father's next post was going to be permanent (Noel had a hard time believing that).

Up until then, Noel's father had just been (what he perceived as,) a normal amount of controlling.

Sure, he had a short fuse. Sure, he had to know exactly where he was at all times when he was out (sometimes he went through an entire bag of change in a weekend making phone calls). Sure, he had to be careful when he was watching something at home, unless he wanted a running commentary on it. He was more than a little afraid of even bringing a friend of the opposite gender home- because he would assume they were dating- and criticize her endlessly.

But that was normal to him. It was what he knew. Until the day when he went into his home office to tell him he was going over to a friend's house. He wasn't there- but he had an unfinished sequence on his desk that Noel couldn't help but see. It was like a logic puzzle. When he thought about it, he'd seen it before- he'd been trying to solve it for a long time.

He looked.

Maybe it was because he was still actively in school- taking AP classes, and even a couple of college courses- or perhaps it was because he was dead set on impressing his father, (maybe then, he would respect him!) but Noel really put his mind to it. When the answer came to him, he wrote it hastily on the top left corner of the paper. There- now, maybe, he would finally get his father's approval.

He resented him instead. Deeply. He never told him if it was correct or not, never even acknowledged it- but from then on, Noel couldn't even breathe correctly. He had always been taught that collaboration was about finding the best work- why was he being punished?

If he were a petty person, he would have retaliated. By then Noel knew he wasn't like anyone around him. That his academic precociousness wasn't just because he was especially gifted- or some kind of genius. He could manipulate the minds of the people around him- why wouldn't that extend to his own?

He didn't want to hurt his father- but he also knew that he never- ever- wanted to be like him. He went from thinking about leaving once a week, to constantly wanting to walk out the door and never come back.

His only saving grace was that his father was suddenly much busier at work. It felt strange to watch TV without his finger hovering over the channel recall button. He still had to call him every time he arrived at a new place (even if it was just across the street, or to a different building at the community college,) but what was he going to do? It hurt. All he'd ever wanted was his respect- but overnight he went from really caring about it, to not caring at all.

The whole time, everyone from his friend's parents to his teachers asked him- constantly- about his plans for the military. He hadn't thought about it at all. But all he had to do was exchange a small amount of his youth, and sanity, for a golden ticket out. At home, he had to take whatever classes his father wanted him to- if he was going to school on "his dime". The second he turned eighteen, he was going to enlist. He didn't even care with who- whoever would ship him off to basic faster.

It was the navy. They would even pay for the rest of his college education. Noel wasn't naive, he knew it was too good to be true, that it came with conditions- but he wanted out. And in a military town, the best- quickest- way out, was to enlist.

Noel served for six years- occasionally visiting his older sister and her daughter (who he had a special bond with,) on leave. When he was inactive, he finished his degree, and even started on the path to get his master's. Then- at the very start of the last two years of his contract- he was drafted to another assignment.

It was top secret. So much so that he wasn't told anything until he arrived.

It was called Infinity. An experimental facility meant to produce units of so-called "gifted" individuals. They had a problem- compliance was low. They had lost almost the entire first class, almost all of the second, and more than half of subsequent classes. Some rebelled, and died. Others fled the second they were off the island. They were having difficulty recruiting. Noel, with his ability was called in to solve that problem.

He realized quickly that it wasn't just the surprise enlistment that was causing problems. The facilities were new, but didn't offer much. Subjects were given the bare basics, and that was it. None of the even meager benefits that regular soldiers received. Trainings were grueling- and there was a massive amount of animosity between subjects and officers- who were in charge of both "teaching" and enforcing compliance. He'd seen his niece's toy box more organized.

Matter of fact, he'd seen actual prisons in better shape

However, his main duty was to continue his father's work. The work that he had accidentally started- eight years earlier. They didn't even know about his true identity, that he should have been on the other side of the glass.

It wasn't until then that he found out the sickening truth.

The main subject of the project that his father had been so dedicated to- that he had blissfully been left alone so often for- was Hana. And she wasn't the only one. There was one more. A boy- that they had decided to let grow up in the outside world. They were monitoring him.

He had completed a gene sequence.

DUXAP9- a pseudogene- the "gifted gene". It merely had to be made active by a gain of function mutation- and in those two, it was done before birth.

In Hana, the project was a great success. She was incredibly powerful. As for the boy- their control- they were actively tracking his location up until the fall of 2001, when his signal went dark. There was a rumor that another scientist that had been working on the project had attempted an experiment of her own.

What was done was done. Even if he wanted to: Noel could not go back in time and undo it. The only thing he could do was use the little influence and pull he had to keep Hana as far out of harm's way as possible. As for the boy... If he were as powerful as she was, he would turn up eventually.

That was how they had acquired most of their early subjects- flamethrowers going out of control, and causing a scene in a public place- others with the power of flight. It was easy for someone like him to fly under the radar and, surely, he wasn't the only one.

Noel continued to research DUXAP9, and specifically, he began asking- if it were possible for the gene to become randomly activated- could it be deactivated? It was junk DNA that had no use in non-gifted people. It could be activated randomly. And once it was, there was no flipping the off switch. (Not to mention all the ways that DUXAP9 reacted with other effectors- they knew nothing, and were running in the dark.)

His job was entirely behind the scenes. He worked there for two years, before the plug on the project was pulled altogether. There was no need to engineer super-soldiers when they had found the secret to finding an almost infinite supply.

Never mind that they had no idea how they came to be. He took that brief break to continue his education- if they didn't need a scientist, he had better things to do with his time.

But she had the eyes- and she saw right through him. Noel had completed his master's, and was working towards earning a doctorate when they met. Their recruiter. She could identify him at a glance- not just that he was gifted- but in what way.

And just like that, Noel was drafted back to Infinity.

His superiors still had no interest whatsoever in his research. No matter how many warnings he tried to give them. Instead he was shifted to a different role, if subjects did not comply- he had to make them comply.

Meanwhile, he was constantly drafting proposals to increase compliance organically. The first and most important measure, in his opinion, was to address any latent trauma that new arrivals had.

Just like recruits into the regular service- most of the people that wound up at Infinity had already endured a great amount of trauma. Not to mention the ones that had been "bagged and tagged". (A practice- for the record- that he does not condone.)

Then there was the problem of improving the facilities themselves. They were still just as poor the second time around. Of course the subjects rebelled! What else did they have to do- except sit around and plan a rebellion? It was only logical.

Most of Noel's time was spent fighting a thousand little battles.

He lost most of them. But there was a light at the end of the tunnel, there was a rumor that the current admin was planning to retire. He had more than enough experience drafting proposals- and had mostly been left to train the staff himself.

That was exactly why he'd stayed for so long. If he could get promoted- if he could pull rank- he stood a chance of pulling Hana out of the situation that she was in (she did not tell him much, but he managed to put together a pretty good picture).

And with the rate that recruitment was going up, sooner or later he would show up. It wasn't even his experiment- but Noel was deeply interested in the results. He was the only one left to record them.

When the time came- he applied. He referenced all the duties that he'd already been doing- and he may have put the idea in his predecessor's head to recommend him.

Noel's first goal as administrator was to transform Infinity entirely.

He recalled a time before his father turned on him, when his parents were considering sending him to a private boarding school. A small prison of its own. Despite being confined, all of the students seemed content- the campus was beautiful- and they had every amenity one could possibly think of. A little microcosm of real life. It was so self-containing that even in the few hours he was there, he felt like he was forgetting the world outside entirely.

So, once again, he was submitting pages and pages of documents for funding. This time it felt like they were actually being read! It was challenging- figuring out how to do as much as possible with the money that he received. But as the years passed- the size and scale of the campus got larger and larger. There were always improvements to be made- there were always battles he was fighting- but the numbers didn't lie.

Compliance was higher than it had ever been. Part of that was because he was endeavoring to make Infinity an actual school. What was the biggest expense, the biggest draw for a young adult? For him- it had been a free education.

And the entire time, Noel was continuing his research. Not with the students- they had no say in the process- unlike his predecessors he cared about consent. Instead, he turned to the staff. (That was another improvement- the officers weren't intimidating armored guards with guns- they were also gifted.)

As the administrator, he had complete purview over the hiring process. And slowly, over time, he took a mixed approach to recruitment. There were the staff that they needed- and then there were staff that he wanted. Those that could assist him, those that might share his curiosity.

With him in charge, it was easy to keep "the secret" without resorting to brutalism. If a staff member wanted to leave- he could simply tweak their memory a little. Infinity was simply a nice, very private, school. Some of their students were troubled- but they were good kids. (And, as their recruitment tactics got better on the outside- almost all of the students were kids to him- it was very rare for someone his age to have gone unnoticed for so long.)

His only goal for the students was to make them strong.

Noel's authority began and ended the moment anyone set foot on the island- and for his part- he didn't care what they did once they left.

The rates of survival for the graduating classes were pitiful- even the ones that ran. In recent years, he has begun to put more focus on how to raise the success rate of subject survival. He has actively tried to decrease the animosity between officers and their charges (there have been a dearth of training accidents since he took over).

Every year, brick by brick, he has built Infinity up into what it is now. And, when the call he had been dreading came, he had a place in the world for his niece to return to. He had always had a special bond with Hana- she felt more like a daughter to him, than a niece. Both he and his sister had stopped talking to his father a long, long time ago- and now they were both gone. They only had each other- and he pulled every string that he could to get her the best care possible. He was there to help support her when she finally left the hospital- and he would be there for her here- to build a new life.

It only fermented his position. To his research, and to his ethos.

If they were to survive- they must be strong.

Noel has committed to doubling down on his research. Within the dome of Infinity, he is the ultimate authority. And while it seems like he does very little- he knows almost everything that goes on. He is the invisible hand- silently guiding everything behind the scenes.

Yet, there is one subject who has managed to escape his notice completely.

Thirty years ago- Noel completed a gene sequence- and drastically changed not only the trajectory of his own life, but all of the lives around him.

Today, he is still unraveling the mysteries surrounding DUXAP9.

Other:
The Powers:
Mental Manipulation- Noel possesses a strong power over the mind. He is- in essence- able to add or remove anything that he wants. Manipulate beliefs, behavior, perception... And he does it so slowly and with such repetition that it becomes integrated. His power is stronger the closer he is to his target, and strongest when he is making physical contact with them. Fortunately, Noel is fond of spirit- and sees extreme changes to ego or personality as a last resort- a stopgap he uses only when the other option is to put a subject down altogether.

With regards to his power- Noel sees himself as a craftsman. It's like needle felting the brain- thousands of little pricks, carried out with a delicate hand- molding and shaping as he pleases. He could do things fast and rough- but fast work is undone quickly. He can also use his power to unlock someone's hidden potential.

Love him, hate him, wanna date him?