Kinkmeme deanon: "Korea's feeling down, having been rejected by all his siblings, is sulking. A nation of your choice cheers them up by saying 'did you know Korea invented...' And then listing the things Korea actually invented." All things listed are things that actually were made in Korea. "Manse" = "hooray!" Bit of Kimchiburger, not really shippy.

The meeting was over, for once with no serious incidents, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'm impressed, everyone!" Germany said, tapping his papers into a neat square. "No fires, no deaths, no drunkenness... I think it's a new record."

"We can fix that last one!" said America, grinning. "I know there's a place up the street with some good beer."

"Beer was inv-"

"No it wasn't," Germany said without looking round.

Korea wilted. "No fair, you guys never believe me. I invented tons of awesome stuff!" He held up his phone. "See? I made the first mp3-playing phones!"

"Sure."

"Actually, he did," Japan said, surprising everyone. "It was Samsung that came up with it."

"Does that qualify as inventing, though?" America said. "All you did was stick two existing things together."

"Hey, all that English guy did was stick meat and bread together and you say he invented sandwiches."

"Actually it was Rome that came up with them originally, the Earl just popularised-"

"Whatever!" Korea interrupted England's interruption, flailing his arms angrily. "I invented the hangul alphabet."

"Everyone has one of those," Japan said dismissively.

"Mine was the first one designed to be easy to remember."

"Sensible." England nodded approvingly as Japan and China scowled. "Still, the only thing I can think of that you invented from scratch is kimchi, and that's only because most people have the sense to eat their vegetables before they start decomposing."

"The word is 'fermenting'," Korea grumbled, and stuck his tongue out.

"China? Chiiiiiina! China China China!"

China sighed, without opening his eyes; Korea had broken into his hotel room enough times that it no longer bothered him much. "Korea, your brother is sleeping. This is a good thing. You want him to have rest."

"Aw, you can sleep later! Why do you wanna waste your time sleeping?"

"You know you're not allowed caffeine anymore."

"No, come on, this is cool, look!"

China opened his eyes and stifled a scream at what was pointing at him.

"Isn't it awesome?" Korea squealed. "The Hwacha! The world's first multiple rocket launcher! Designed in 1401. Isn't she a beauty?"

"Why am I not surprised you took the idea of explosives and ran with it?"

Korea ignored him, possessively stroking the machine, almost cuddling it. "It's been too long since I used one of these, I've gotta play with it. Wanna watch?" Without waiting for an answer, he wheeled the hwacha out of the room at a run.

"Take it outside!" China begged him, but Korea was already out of earshot.

"Are you sure this was your idea and not your sister's? This seems like kind of more her thing."

"Actually she says she's backing off on this one. She doesn't want any more rocket-related bad press for a while, and she says it's funnier to watch me crash and burn by myself. Huh, we'll show her, right?"

"I can't believe I'm agreeing with her, but I think this is a bad idea." America shook his head. "What are you trying to say here? 'Look, I'm a responsible adult, watch me play with explosives'?"

"Says you."

"Japan is not going to think this is funny."

"Yeah, but I do." Korea finished loading the hwacha, aimed it carefully, and lit the fuse.

Japan, unsuspecting, had finished a pleasant walk, taking in the sights of Seoul, and was just heading up to the hotel's front door. He was sleepy and not really paying attention to his surroundings, but the smell of gunpowder is one the nations had learned rapidly not to ignore. He turned, and threw himself flat just in time for the missiles to pass over his head. There was a loud explosion as they connected with a stand of decorative trees, showering flaming wood over the car park and the grounds of the neighbouring building.

Korea backed away as Japan stood up, seeing the murder in his brother's eyes and giggling nervously. "Hey, it's in pretty good working order to say it's been six hundred years..."

"Was it really necessary to break my arm?"

"Yes."

Korea's scowl deepened. "You suck. I thought we'd got past all that." He looked ruefully at the hangul carved into the fresh plaster; in his sister's handwriting, the words read "I told you so. -DPRK".

"So did I. Once we get out of here, you will get rid of any more explosives you may happen to have, and you will do it quickly."

"Not fair. Stupid humans have no sense of humour." Korea shifted on the holding cell's bunk. "At least now you know my police respond quickly."

"Your boss is going to strangle you."

"Yeah, yeah."

They perked up as they heard the door unlock; the sour-faced police officer was accompanied by America, who was grinning nervously.

"Hey, guys. I handled your bail. Least I could do."

Korea hopped off the bunk, instantly cheering up. "Manse! I pay you?" he added in clumsy English.

"No, it's okay. Buy me a Coke and we're even."

Outside in the dawn light, Japan stalked ahead of the other two, still tensed in annoyance. Korea's shoulders were slumped, his eyes downcast.

"What's wrong?"

"Nobody ever believes I ever did anything cool and when I try to prove I did I just screw up."

"Don't feel too down. You did make some cool nonexplosive stuff." America chewed his lip in thought for a moment, then lit up and shouted "Glowing puppies!"

"Huh?..."

"That dog with jellyfish genes. Glow-in-the-dark dogs. Awesome idea."

"Oh! Oh yeah, that was me." Korea chuckled. "Poland loved her. He's called dibs if I ever manage to make a glowing pony."

"I've got glowing fish if you want some." America grinned.

Japan's walk slowed slightly. He looked over his shoulder and said "Under-floor heating."

"What?"

"Oh, hey, yeah! That was one of mine too," Korea said, his smile widening. "Okay, it's not as awesome as glowing puppies, but yeah."

"Bulletproof vests, too. Remember 1871?" America chuckled. "My guys were so pissed off by that."

"Yeah, the early design sorta sucked, but it worked."

America pulled out his iPhone and pressed a few buttons. "Gimme a moment to load up Google... Water clocks? With a built-in gong? Hey, that's kinda neat."

"Rain gauges and sundials too!" Korea said, pointing at the screen. "And the Turtle warship."

Japan winced. "I remember that."

"Oh, just because I beat you up with it doesn't mean you can't say it's cool." Korea's curl bobbed happily as a new spring came into his step. "See, guys?"

America nodded, scrolling down. "Hey, movable type! Maybe you shouldn't brag about that one in front of Germany." Korea giggled, and Japan's sour expression faded. "Okay, you have some really cool ideas. I believe you." Korea stopped dead in his tracks, and blinked. "What?"

"Y-you... believe me?" Korea stammered, blushing a little. "I think that's the first time anyone's believed me in... I don't know how long." He threw his unbroken arm around America's shoulders, and sniffed.

"Aw." America patted Korea's back gently and looked at Japan, who gave an approving nod. "You tell me if anyone's a jerk to you in future, okay?"

"Sure." Korea disentangled himself, and grinned. "So about that Coke...?"