In 2000, South Korean secretly experimented with a variety of thermoplasma weapons designs, all intent on creating a grenade or bomb that would exponentially superheat the air or water surrounding the enemy, which at that time, was the invading Soltan Star Empire.  In one experiment, one of the lead scientists, Hyun Jung Ghim, a pregnant female scientist, with her husband, Hyun Ki Ghim, were exposed to an exploding vat of the experimental thermoplasma, causing 3rd degree heat and frost burns to both of them.  Hyun Ki Ghim died of his injuries days later; Hyun Jung, however, survived, but her skin was severely damaged as a result.  Even after multiple operations, using what they could for skin grafts, she was always in pain, and was fearful of how the thermoplasma affected her baby On the 8th day of the lunar month (on Bucheonnim Osinnal, or otherwise known as Buddha's birthday), Kim Ghim was born.  Within seconds of him being cleaned up from his birthing, he burst into flames, and quickly coated himself with ice, and then alternated between those states for the next four years of his life, never affecting him or his body, but instead affecting his surroundings.  To add to that, his mother died during his childbirth and the thermoplasma project was shutdown and cancelled.

​

Taken by the state, Kim was secluded to a secretive building near the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology campus. There he was probed and tested for years until he finally was able to learn to control his powers by age 4.  His mutant powers were studied under the government project named "Project Equinox" for the next 16 years of his life.  The project manager, Min Kyung Kwon, enacted as a surrogate mother as well as a dedicated scientist, wanting to know if his powers could ever be reproduced.

​

By the time he was 16, Kim was in full control of his powers.  He was a restless young man, who hated being secluded from everyone else. 

 

Once day Kim snuck out of the facility and started walking the streets of Gwangju.  Suffice to say, his curiosity got the best of him and got him in trouble with the local police, wherein he used his powers to escape capture.  He was later found and brought back to the facility where he was placed in solitary confinement for his actions. His outbursts and explosive use of his powers in his cell led to the South Korean government debating if Kim should ever be used as a national resource at all...or should he be terminated before he kills someone in anger. 

​

Months later, the United States engaged in discussions with the South Koreans, offering to 'take him off their hands' and bring  him to the United States for further 'studies' and 'applications'.  South Korea's government declined, fearing Kim would be used as a national weapon for the US military instead. Instead, Min Kyung Kwon, the project manager, worked a deal with GUARD, knowing that Kim's powers would be better suited for a non-political purpose.  Days later, Kim was assigned to GUARD's super-group, the "Terraguardians" under the code-name "Equinox".

 

Today, Equinox is still a member of the Terraguardians, learning more about the world every day and discovering his own humanity in the process. Equinox is a young, albeit ignorant young man who has had very little interaction with anyone other than scientists and lab people.  He is a very curious man and as such gets himself into trouble performing legal and personal faux pas' on a routine basis.  He has an 8th-grade reading and writing level and can speak Korean and English fluently. Although he was born on Buddha's birthday, he has no religious inclinations or understanding. He is being taught the rest of his formal education and is proctored by his own teammates as well as many of the troops on TERRAGUARD.

​