Kim Min

"Magic swirled around me as my bones changed and my flesh condensed into a fur-covered shape I immediately felt at home in, even if I rarely used it. Smells became sharper, the cold of the deck beneath my paws more acute. I sat back on my haunches and twitched my whiskers as I looked up at the captain."

- Min describing her shapeshifting ability, Dragon Pearl

Kim Min (pronounced Geem Meen) is a teenage Fox Spirit that features in the novel Dragon Pearl written by Yoon Ha Lee and published by Rick Riordan Presents.

History
Min was born and raised on the poverty strick planet of Jinju. Having lived her life in near hiding due to prejudice against fox spirits.

When she was seven her father, a technician and mechanic, died.

At one point she asked her mother to use charm to fix a warn out blanket, but she was against it as they would have to redo the charm everyday and Min had no desire to do more chores.

Dragon Pearl
Min wakes up one morning to hear a stranger‘s voice coming from outside the room she shares with her cousins. She uses charm to disguise herself and sneaks out. She finds her mother talking with a Thousand Worlds investigator about her brother Jun, who went missing after supposedly deserted his post to search the Dragon Pearl. Min and her mother do not believe this and the investigator reveals that Jun left a coded message for Min and asks to speak with her. Her mother is reluctant until he temps her with her son’s last known recording and her mother calls her in. She makes it look like she came from her room and joins them. The Investor shows Min the message and she reads it, realizing it has a hidden meaning she lies and says it’s nothing and her mother backs her up. Her mother invites the investigator for a meal, he accepts, and asks Min to get the good table ready. She shapeshifts into it to ease drop and her mother and the investigator set the table. She senses her mother charming the Investigator. After he tells Seonmi the thinks Min his hiding something about the message he threatens an investigation into their family. Min turns to human form and the Investigator grabs her by the throat. Her mother begs him to release her but he threatens to report them. Min then knocks him out with a plate to the head. Min’s mother and aunts drag the investigator to the front of the house and decide what to do with him while Seonmi orders Min to clean. As she does she tries to ease drop on them until her cousins Bora and Manshik come in. Bora starts to annoy her and she throws a rag at her. Her mother comes in and scolds her. Her cousins leaving and she gets back to work. As she brings dishes to the kitchen she hears the adults suggesting they bribe an officer or send her away, Min goes to wash off. When she finishes Bora comes in and makes a bet to see if she can bring Jun home in a year with the loser doing the winner’s chores for six months and accepts. Min packs her bag with extra clothes, a mask and filters, a picture with her family before her dad died, and a few handfuls of jade, worth more then their planet’s currency. As she leaves Manshik spots her, but she tells him to tell the others she will be back and leaves.

Min takes her family‘s hoover scooter and heads to Hongok to get off work via the spaceport. She uses charm to make hers look two years older and alters her face slightly. She finds a fake identification card saying “Kim Bora”, her cousin. She makes her way past guards at the city‘s entrance and cuts through the market district, but bumps into Eunhee, a guard, and is surrounded by semi drunk guards. She bribes them for safe passage with a fake emerald ring and her stomach growls. They escort her to a fancy restaurant and sit out front. Min gets them to reveal that the Investigator revealed that his departure location and business on Jinju was classified, worrying her about her brother. They also reveal that the Space Forces have various ships around the Ghost Sector, a planet where the inhabitants were whiped out by disease spirits, that wer under the command of Captain Hwan. They also reveal they do not like supernaturals, such as fox spirits. Min claims she has to go to the bathroom and Eunhee escorts her. She trips her on the way and the security officer falls on a waiter. She goes into an empty dining room and takes the form of a chair, as Eunhee and the waiter talk to the manager she takes the form of a waiter and leaves, realizing a few blocks away she left her backpack.

She considers going back for it but decides against it as it would be to risky. She makes her way to the Spaceport and gets past the guard. She finds the directory with “Don’t play dice at Nari‘s” carved into it. She finds a cargo ship, the Red Azalea, leaving for an area near the ghost sector soon with the captain, Captain Hye, wiling to take on working passengers. It says the captain can be found at Nari’s and she reluctantly goes. Min finds a fox statue out front and, knowing people think of them as bad luck, wonders what it is doing there. A woman welcomes her to the tavern and both realize that other is a fox. The woman drags Min to the back office and smells her mother and aunts on her. The woman introduces herself as Nari, a relative of hers. She reveals that she and her mother opens the bar and were shunned by the family for it. She asks Min to work for her for a little while and Min, wanting to song Hye as soon as possible, reluctantly agrees until she can give her aunt the slip. She charms herself to a look like she was wearing a form blouse, pants, shoes, and gold jewelry and gets to work as Yong, a bouncer, keeps tabs on her. As she brings drink she learns that the wine is charmed to make people lose. Min is shocked by this and wonders if this is why her mother left. She slips into the high stakes room and learn that Hye is on a losing streak and tells her that if she accepts an employee on her ship then Nari will declare her debt free and the captain accepts. However soon after she sees Nye being dragged to Nari’s office and, fearing she will be exposed, charms herself to look like she was wearing a space suit and a flatter face. Yong runs into her and, due to her age, helps her get away and she makes her way to the Red Azalea.

She reaches the ship and tells the sole occupant, a man named Byung-Ho, that Hye lost the ship to Nari and tells him to let her on board as the captain owed her a ride. He agrees and, after telling the other crew to stay hidden, he takes Min to the cockpit and they take off. She tells him that she is escaping poverty when Byung-Ho asks about her. As they pass through a gate, she sees a vision of her father that morphs into a tiger. Byung-Ho snaps her out of it and gives her a tour of the ship. After he has her clean and she falls asleep. She dreams of Jun on the white planet, standing on the edge of a cliff. Byung-Ho wakes her and tells her the just jumped through the second gate, but are under attack by raiders. He mans the weapons while Min flies, which she has never done. As the fighting breaks out he has her go to the engine room to do repairs. She arrives and gets to work, fixing the shields and life support system. The fighting soon stops and she heads to the Cockpit. Byung-Ho congratulates her on the repairs but soon after the engine breaks down and they prep to get boarded. Byung-Ho gives her his blaster and a fire fight breaks out. They two are out numbered and Min is blinded by a flash grenade. She fires randomly and hits someone before blacking out.

Min wakes up in the medical bay of a ship slightly in pain. She sees a boy next to her who introduces himself as Bae Jang, a Space Forces cadet who died a hal hour previous from a battle would from saving her and Byung-Ho from the mercenaries. He reveals that they are on the Pale Lightning, Jun’s ship, and she is amazed. Min apologizes for his death but he brushes it off, saying he wishes he could have finished his training. Min offers to take his place and reveals herself as a fox. He is unphased by this and accepts the offer if she can find out more about the mercenaries that killed him. She swears on her ancestor’s bones, a serious oath, and accepts. The medic comes in and she turns into Jang and uses charm to trick the medic. Min asks about Byung-Ho and the medic says he is still in a stasis pod but will be fine. She leaves when the examination is done. Min wonders around the ship until she runs into a Dokkaebi named Sujin. They are soon joined by a dragon named Haneul. They great her as “Jang” and take “him” to Lieutenant Ju-Won. The lieutenant is happy to see that “Jang” survived and questions if “he” is okay. Min says she is and the lieutenant tells “Jang” to head to “his“ statio and points her in the right direction. Sujin and Haneul goe with Min and the dokkaebi gives her cookies and shrimp crackers to snack on. She decides to stay close to the two for the time being, since they know Jang well. After performing Jang’s duty’s, she misranks an officer and cleans the latrines as a result. She charms a cadet who comes into the latrines into giv her a layout off the Pale Lighting, she arrives late to the barracks and Ju-Won has “Jang” wake up two hours earlier f more latrine cleaning. When she finishes she heads to the mes to get food and meets up with Haneul and Sujin. They get in line to eat and she overs hears two human girls asking each other why the human “Jang” would hang out with supernaturals. After mess they head to Lieutenant Hyosu’s class on the ship’s weapons systems. During class they have a simulated dog fight and she is paired with Gyeong-Ja, one of the girls from the mess. Min takes the weapons while Gyeong-Ja acts as pilot. They to do well and after the simulation she asks about Jun. Gyeong-Ja calls him and the others who went with him deserters. After class she sets out to find Jang.

After class she cleans a maintenance shaft and speaks quickly with Jang. He says to check the hand book and to find who killed him. She later skims through it and discovers that if she is found to be faking being Jang, she will be court marshaled and either imprisoned or executed. Haneul and Sujin soon arrive and mess around with “Jang”. She later looks through Jang’s trunk and the ghost looks at the objects with sorrow. The following day she and Sujin are scrubbing the latrine again. When she asks the about Jun, Captain Hwan appears and they stand at ease. Hwan asks “Jang” if he is alright and “he” says yes. Jang instructs her to be calm. Hwan starts to talk about the Dragon Pearl and she asks about Jun, the captain says he went awol. After Hwan leaves the two finish up and get to Hyosu’s lesson. The two sit with Haunel as the lieutenant talks about the ships meridians, lines in the body that contain one’s life force, The conversation quickly turns to the Dragon Pearl and Hyosu tells the Cadets that just as the pearl can create life, it can dest it just as easily and they must keep it from falling into the wrong hands.

As she lays in Jang’s bunk, Sujin and Haneul arrive for their regular game of baduk, similar to chess or checkers. Min winces that she might be discovered but goes with them to a game area of the Pale Lighting. ”Jang” and Haneul play and she allows “Jang” a handicap of an extra peace. During the game she uses charm and asks about Jun. The others say he probably left to find the dragon pearl. They comment that, despite not knowing him well, Jun was a loyal soilder and was surprised he deserted. They say Jun’s bunkmates were interrogated heavily and she decides to ask them if she can. They don’t think he was the master mind behind it as another of the deserters was a lieutenant. They also find it strange as it would be easy for the Pale Lighting to find him. Haneul wins and she heads back to the barracks. She find Jang, angry that she is doing nothing to find out what happened to him. She apologizes, saying she would do it and he leaves.

The next morning at breakfast ”he” asks Sujin and Hanuel about the pirate attack, they say none of them survived and that they might have thought the Red Azalea was another mercenary ship and attacked it thinking it ha the dragon pearl. After breakfast and before KP duty, she tells Jang that all the pirates died in the attack. He is disappointed but accepts this and leaves. During Hyosu’s lesson on the engine‘s she pulls “Jang” aside and complements him on his work. Early the next morning she wakes up and checks out Jun’s bunk but does not find his scent. When a sergeant finds her ”Jang” says “he” woke up early and decided to go for a walk. For this “Jang” is stuck with hydroponics, growing plants in liquid rather then soil, along with Haneul and Sujin. She is helped in looking for rot by a human ensign name Woo-Jin who she recognized from Jun’s barracks. She charmed him to get information on her brother, but he said he told Hwan everything he knew. A warrant officer told them to help Haneul and she goes. The dragon tells her the ship’s meridian on the third level is giving off bad luck and, after faking a stomachache to get out of a fencing match, she checks it out. She charms both guards standing at each end of the hall and goes in. She twisted her ankle and has a stomach pain due to the negative gi, life energy, and hides in a closet when she hears Captain Kwan and Lieutenant Commander Ju-Eun. As they talk Kwan says he thinks their is a ghost on board, worrying Min. Ji-Eun suggests it might be pirates but Kwan brushes it off. They suggest that it might be a prank before talking about the deserters and that they, if found, will be court marshaled. Ju-Eun heads back to the bridg and Kwan calls “Jang” out of the closet. ”He” says “he” was curious and wanted to se the meridian for “himself” and distracted a guard and hid. He quizzes “Jang” on “his” backgr before “he” says he feared for his life in the pirate attack. He says “Jang” will get used to it in time and dismisses the “cadet”. When the captain is out of sight Jang appears and she tells him that Hwan at least sent him in knowing it was to dangerous. She asks him if he would curse the ship, he denies it after a pause and vanishes.

She and Sujin head up to the bridge to learn the layout and functions of it. The two are told to go to an ensign in charge of navigation. The ensign quizzes them on what not to do while traveling through a gate. Min then realizes that her brother and the other deserters would have had to leave the ship via escape pod, something deadly while in a gate, and realizes their is someone she must ask to make sense of it.

Personality
Yoon Ha Lee describes Min as an anti-hero in a fair description. She’s clever and determined, but her main solution to trouble is to lie or trick her way out of it.

Appearance
Min's true form is of a red fox with a single tail.

Abilities
As a Fox Spirit, Min is able to shapeshift and can use an ability known as Charm for a variety of purposes, including hiding her presence and affecting others.
 * Mechanic Skills: Min is the most skilled in her family when it comes to mechanics.
 * Shapeshifting:  As a Fox spirit, Min can shapeshift into anyone and anything.
 * Charm: As a fox spirit, Min can creat illusions around herself.
 * Magic Sensing: As a fox spirit, Min can sense when other fox spirits are using magic. 

Trivia

 * Min is the first non-human point of view protagonist of an entire book in both the main literary universe and Rick Riordan Presents.
 * All previous protagonists were humans (Carter and Sadie Kane), demigods who are part human (such as Percy Jackson, Aru Shah, and Magnus Chase), or deity trapped in a human body during the story (Apollo). 9 from the Nine Worlds had sections narrated by non-humans, but not the entire book.
 * Min is the first point of view protagonist of an entire book to not be born on Earth or a Earth-attached dimension like Olympus, instead having been born on the planet Jinju.