Chapter Text
Riwoo looks way too happy as he takes Woonhak to the coffee shop today. Well, yeah, it's an exciting day and sure, Woonhak is happy too, but it's still weird. Riwoo looks overly excited.
Today is the day they're taking SongCorp down for good. Yesterday, when they took Yujin back to his family, they formally met the mayor and told him everything about Song Kyungho, all the sketchy things he's been doing and his plans of betraying him — just everything. Since Yujin vouched for them, the mayor had to believe them, no matter how hurt he was to hear that a trusted friend was actually a creepy evil villain with a whole organization of creepy people in his back pocket. And so, a plan was formed.
They're going to put that plan in action today, and to do that they need to get to the mayor's house. Which is why it makes no sense that they're meeting up at the coffee shop. Especially since these past few days they've all been living at Riwoo and Leehan's place, since they all think it's the safest. And sure, Woonhak slept most of the time, trying to make up for the lack of sleep he got when he was with the organization, but he's pretty sure he would've heard if their plans suddenly changed. So why, when he woke up, was the apartment empty except for Riwoo, who gave him a half-assed explanation of the others are at Sungho's? No why's or how's, and you can probably guess how frustrating that is.
“You're not pulling one of those things again, right?” He asks after a while, when they're turning on the last street to the coffee shop.
Riwoo turns to him. “What things?”
“You know. Lie to me to make me stay home and miss out on all the fun.”
“Nah, we're past that,” Riwoo laughs, bumping his shoulder into Woonhak's. “Lighten up! I'm telling you, this is going to be good.”
“Somehow, I don't believe that,” Woonhak pouts.
Although, to be fair, things did seem to have changed these past days. They included him in all the important talks, they had a few teary (and pretty embarrassing) heart-to-heart moments, they made promises that they swore they wouldn't break… They even apologized, all of them, deep apologies for every lie they told him and every way they deceived him, and it was very unexpected but very, very appreciated.
But even with all that it's hard to trust them fully — at least not yet. Woonhak hopes that things will change with time but he's been hurt a lot and he feels like he still needs to be careful.
Riwoo links arms with him and gives him a huge smile. “Listen, I shouldn't be telling you this but I'm really excited —” shocker “ — because actually, we have a surprise for you. That's what we're doing at the coffee shop.”
“Ooh, a surprise?” Woonhak perks up.
Riwoo laughs and pats his head, having to reach up on his tiptoes. “Yeah. But act like you don't know, okay? They'd kill me if they knew I told you.”
“I won't say a thing.”
“Good,” Riwoo says just as they reach the coffee shop. Before Woonhak opens the door to enter, Riwoo holds up a hand and says, “Wait here, I'm supposed to check if they're done first.” With that, he disappears into the shop, leaving Woonhak alone outside.
A surprise sounds awesome and he kinda has a kindling that it's a party — that would be a little impractical, since they're supposed to be at the mayor's house in an hour, but still pretty cool. A rush-party. They'd have cupcakes instead of cake so they can eat it faster.
It would also explain why all the blinds are pulled, but that's probably because Sungho closed the shop down for the past few days, since they're still pretty much in danger with the organization. He even put up the Closed for personal reasons :( sign on the door, which Woonhak made last year when Sungho had the flu and he had to take care of him.
A few minutes later Riwoo returns with a huge grin. “Okay, you can come in.”
“Am I still supposed to pretend like I don't know you're doing something?”
“Totally, so shut up.”
Woonhak scoffs, but he's also really jittery and nothing will take him down. He keeps hoping for a party up until they enter the shop, when it becomes obvious there's no party going on. The shop looks the same as always, with no decorations at all, none of his friends from college, nothing.
Kind of disappointing, but Woonhak is still curious. Even if it's not a party, it must be great because everyone is grinning the same as Riwoo. He smiles too, not sure what else to do, then says a tentative, “Hi?”
“Hey, Woonhak!!” Jaehyun says, running up to him. “Here, sit down, let's all sit down,” he says, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the big table in the middle. There are six chairs and in front of each chair, a steaming glass of hot chocolate.
Woonhak sits and everyone follows, still giving him those weird smiles. He frowns, now not so much excited as concerned, but before he does anything he takes a sip of his hot chocolate. Amazing, as always. Thank god for Sungho.
“You guys are really creepy,” he says, drinking more of his emotional support hot chocolate.
“Guys, look, we're freaking him out,” Sungho says, looking at the others. “Let's just tell him.”
“Okay, okay,” Leehan says, laying his palms flat on the table. He looks at Woonhak and gives him a small, slightly less creepy smile than the ones before. “The truth is, we kinda had a surprise for you.”
Woonhak coughs. “Oh, really? Huh. I — I didn't know… Wow! I mean —”
“Riwoo told you,” Taesan cuts him off. Woonhak laughs sheepishly, looking from him to Riwoo, who is giving him a very unimpressed look.
“Riwoo, come on! We were supposed to tell him together!” Jaehyun pouts.
“Hey, I didn't tell him what it was. You would've done the same anyway, you should've seen him — he looked like a sad puppy.”
“It's true,” Woonhak says, trying to help out in any way. Jaehyun gives him a long look, still sulky.
“You can give the speech,” Riwoo says in an attempt to soothe him. Jaehyun seems to light up right away.
“There's a speech?” Woonhak asks.
Taesan laughs. “There's a whole thing. Just wait.”
“Well, what's the speech?”
“Okay, I'll do it!” Jaehyun says, looking like he's about to burst with excitement. He turns to Woonhak all of a sudden, scaring him a little, and gives him a Very Serious look, presumably about to start the speech.
It goes like this:
“Woonhak, you know that we all think of you as our baby brother who always needs to be kept safe.”
Woonhak scoffs, already hating where this is going, but Leehan holds out a hand like, just listen.
Jaehyun goes on. “The truth is, that's not entirely because you look like a human-sized mochi. It's actually our fault too, in a way, because we never gave you the chance to prove yourself.”
“But I told you —!”
“Yes, you asked us to give you that chance many times, but I guess we were too scared of what might happen and decided to just keep you away anyway. That led to us doing some really stupid and hurtful things because in our heads, it was justified. But it was never fair to you.”
“Jaehyunie, we already had this conversation,” Woonhak says, shaking in his skin because he can't wait to get to the surprise part already.
“Will you relax, it's part of the speech!” Jaehyun exclaims. Then his eyes turn softer as he adds, “Plus, what we did really sucked, so you deserve a second round of apologies. I'm sorry.”
A chorus of I'm sorry's goes along the table and then everyone turns silent, waiting for him to say something. Woonhak rolls his eyes like this is getting annoying, like they've said this a thousand times already and he got the point by now, but to be honest, it warms his heart.
“I forgive you,” he mumbles, biting on his straw. Then he adds: “Just like I told you before! Now finish that speech so I can see the surprise?”
Jaehyun laughs. “Okay. Well, the point is that we never gave you the chance to prove yourself —”
“Already said that.”
“ — and that's why, when we saw you with Yujin, it really shocked us. You took care of him, made sure he was okay, stayed brave for his sake, and the way he looked for comfort in you… I guess we always saw you as a person to protect but we never considered that you could protect others, too.”
Woonhak snorts, puffing his chest. “Well, I proved that wrong.”
“Yeah, that's exactly what this is about. So in that spirit, we have a gift for you.”
Taesan runs behind the counter, revealing a big gift box, neatly wrapped in Superman wrapping paper and with a huge red bow on top, too. He walks towards Woonhak with it, but Leehan stands up in his way.
“I should be the one who gives it to him,” he says, trying to take the box from Taesan, who pulls it close to his chest to keep it safe.
“That's not fair, I wanna do it too.”
“No but come on, it's better if I do it.”
“Better?”
“Guys, stop,” Riwoo says, standing up too. He walks slowly around the table to reach the two of them, holding his hands up in a peaceful manner; then he snatches the box right out of Taesan's hands.
“Hey!” Both Taesan and Leehan cry out, and Riwoo gives an evil laugh, turning around.
“Shut up, you two. It's more fitting if Riwoo gives it to him anyway,” Sungho says tiredly. Taesan and Leehan look at each other with mirrored outraged faces.
“Stand up,” Riwoo says when he gets to Woonhak. Woonhak looks around the table to see if that's part of the plan — they all seem fine and weirdly, Jaehyun even has a camera up, filming the whole thing. Woonhak had no idea he even knew how a camera works.
So Woonhak stands, deciding not to argue for the sake of the camera. Riwoo holds out the box and Woonhak takes it with a small, awkward bow. This would be more official if the gift wrapper didn't show a half-naked man mid-flight with laser beams shooting out of his eyes.
Before Woonhak can sit down again, Riwoo holds out a hand.
“Oh, so we're doing — okay —” Woonhak mumbles to himself, setting the box on the table before he shakes Riwoo's hand. Then, surprisingly, Riwoo pulls him into a tight hug, patting his back, making Woonhak squirm out of sheer awkwardness — he’s not a huge fan of hugs even when his friends aren't acting like he has three months to live. When Riwoo pulls away his eyes are teary, and Woonhak has no idea what got into him, but there's a gift right in front of him and that seems more important.
“Go ahead, open it,” Jaehyun says, still filming.
Woonhak rips the almost-pervy wrapping paper, opens the box… and he doesn't know what he's looking at.
It's something brown with two large letters written in a lighter brown — BB — right on the front. He touches it and it feels soft-ish but strong, so this can't possibly be a blanket or something like that, although at first glance he could've been fooled.
He pulls it up, slightly, and a small thing like a mask falls beside it. Almost at once he realizes what it is, and what they're doing.
“No way,” he gasps, puts it back and stares at the others.
“The truth is I always dreamed of an early retirement,” Riwoo takes the word, and Woonhak gasps again hearing him because, oh, he knows where this is going.
“No way,” he says again, looking at the costume in the box.
“But I never wanted Leehan to be alone. Now, though, we've seen you in action and…”
“We're not going to force you, if you don't want to,” Leehan says quickly. “I know this would be a big change. You'd have to drop out of college, stop working here, and maybe with everything that's happened you don't even want to be a superhero anymore, but if you still do—”
“Hell yeah, I want to!”
“ — if you still do, will you be my partner?”
Woonhak looks at Leehan, then at the rest of them, his smile dropping a bit.
“And you're all okay with this?”
They all say yes, but Woonhak isn't so much interested in them as a whole as he is in Sungho. So he calls out, “Sungho? That would be fine with you?”
Sungho gives him a strained smile. “I could live with it, if that's what you really want.”
“But I'd have to stop working here…” Woonhak trails off, looking around the shop where he made some of his dearest memories.
“Hey,” Sungho says softly, to grab his attention. “If you're not my favorite employee, then you'll be my favorite customer.”
Woonhak laughs, some sort of wet laugh that includes a lot of unshed tears, and runs to give him a hug. “I'll come here every day,” he says, holding him tightly.
“Good,” Sungho says in a voice just as strangled as his. “You're the only person in the world who still drinks hazelnut cappuccino. Without you, we'd have to take it off the menu.”
Woonhak smiles, looking around the table, and his eyes fall on Taesan and another thought dawns on him.
“Wait, but I don't have to move out, right?”
Taesan snorts. “We don't even have a home, dummy,” which is right, they did agree to move out of that last place after it was broken into and Woonhak got kidnapped. But Woonhak wasn't concerned about where he lives, he was thinking about who he's living with.
“I guess… all the equipment is at my place,” Leehan says slowly, looking down like he's not that excited about this either.
“But… Taesanie?”
Taesan looks at him with a smile, but the corners of his mouth keep turning downwards. He stays strong, though, and with every small grimace he stands up straighter and tries smiling a little wider.
“I guess you have to do what you have to do.”
There's something sad in Riwoo's eyes too, but he turns to Taesan and Woonhak and asks, “I heard that someone is moving out in the building next to ours. Maybe… you'd want to have that place? So no one would have to move out and Leehan and Woonhak would still be close enough to each other to do their stuff together?”
“How much is rent?” Taesan asks.
“Oh, don't worry about rent,” Riwoo says, like it's no big deal. “My parents are the official superhero sponsors in our city, even if I'm not one anymore. They'll cover any expenses.”
Taesan grins, taking a sip of his drink. “Well, how can I say no to that?”
Woonhak cheers, running to hug him too. Taesan pokes his cheek and says lovingly, “Our little superhero.” Then his face turns serious and he adds, “You’d better not bring any villains in my home.”
“Promise.”
And so… there's one thing left to do. He turns to Leehan and holds out a hand. “I would love to be your partner.”
Leehan shakes his hand in a very official manner, then puts an arm around his shoulders and lifts a hand into the air, painting their futures: “Just imagine it. The two of us chasing down bad guys, returning purses to old ladies, putting villains in jail. That's the life.”
“And if we ever have to deal with the organization again?”
“After today, we won't have to worry about those guys,” Leehan grins. “But if we ever run into really bad people, the others will help us.”
“Yeah?” Woonhak asks, looking at the rest.
“You think I did all that training back home just to turn into a lazy cat?” Jaehyun asks, sounding offended that Woonhak ever considered he wouldn't help him out.
“You still haven't seen the whole costume,” Taesan reminds Woonhak, and, with a startled oh!, he goes back to the gift box.
He holds it up and checks it out. The whole thing is brown, and the material seems stretchy and warm but there still are some air holes here and there. Woonhak assumes that being a superhero involves a great deal of running around and whoever made the costume clearly took this into consideration.
On closer look he notices how it's meant to show a bear, complete with a white tummy and a hood that has some semicircular bear-like ears. Overall it's probably the coolest thing he's ever seen, and he can just imagine himself in this costume and Leehan in his own, looking all awesome and… well, maybe not exactly intimidating, but still recognizable enough so any villain would know who they are. The only thing that's still a mystery is the two letters on the chest.
“Do you like it?” Sungho asks eagerly.
“I love it!”
“Sungho and I made the design,” Taesan says. “Riwoo bought the materials and Jaehyun pitched ideas — like the bear theme, that's all him. So this is coming from all of us.”
Woonhak looks at Leehan and asks, “What about you? What did you do?”
“I picked your superhero name.”
“And what's that?”
Leehan leans closer. “You'll love it. Ready? You ready?” He asks, probably to create suspense, and Woonhak braces himself to have his mind totally blown. “It's… Babybear!”
Woonhak can feel all the hype in him leave just like that.
“Babybear?”
“Isn't it cute?”
“I mean…”
“It's so you don't forget your roots. You might become a big, scary superhero but you'll know that no matter what, you'll always be our baby.”
Woonhak still frowns, scratching the letters on the chest.
“You should be thankful,” Jaehyun says. “Riwoo wanted to call you Bear-by.”
Okay, yeah, that would've been worse.
“So when are we introducing Babybear to the world?”
“We were thinking today, at the interview,” Riwoo says.
“Today?”
“Yeah. And since I'm retiring anyway, I have a different idea for what we could say. I think this will work better.”
“Will it make people stop buying SongCorp juice?” Taesan asks.
“I still don't understand why we can't just tell people the truth,” Woonhak complains.
“Because last time no one cared,” Taesan explains. “So if we make people stop buying their juice, that cuts off their income and Song Kyungho won't be able to pay for any of his evil stuff. Slowly people will stop working for him and then, look at that, we've taken down our bad guy!”
Woonhak snorts and shakes his head, but what can he do. It doesn't matter anyway, as long as they take SongCorp down. He doesn't care about anything right now except the fact that he's officially become a superhero, complete with a costume and an okay-ish name, and that's all that he's ever dreamed of.
When they get to the mayor's house, not long after, he changes into the costume and then goes to look for Yujin, who promised he'd be here for the big takedown. He finds him in the backyard, arranging the chairs for the interview. There are four chairs, so the others probably already told him about the updated plan.
The first thing Yujin does when he sees Woonhak is scream his head off, dropping a chair to come running to him.
“Look at me!” Woonhak screams.
“Look at you!” Yujin screams back, grabbing his hands and jumping up and down. “You look amazing! You're so cool, I almost want to pretend to get robbed so you'll come save me, how awesome would that be?”
Woonhak laughs, jumping with him. “You knew about this?”
“Totally! They showed me the costume designs and everything — Woonhak, I'm so happy for you!” Yujin gives him a huge hug, and Woonhak just about melts in it, knowing that this is one of the people that made his biggest dream come true.
“It's going to be so awesome. I'll go out there and have so much fun and then I'll tell you everything, I promise I will!”
“Great,” Yujin says, pulling back a little. “But you've got to take Friday off, no matter what, okay?”
“Why?”
“My mom finally agreed to let me go to that concert. I'll have to come here on Saturday to make up for it but still, she's letting me go!”
“That's great!” Woonhak says, then adds a quieter: “But what does that have to do with me?”
“You're coming with me. I need a bodyguard to make sure I don't get kidnapped again.”
“Oh, Yujinie,” Woonhak coo's, pinching his cheek, “you don't have to worry about that. By Friday the organization will be done.”
Yujin gives him a smile, but rolls his eyes a little. “Damn, you're making me say it… I don't actually need a bodyguard. I wanted to go with you because we're friends.”
Woonhak squeals, squishing Yujin in his arms. “Well why didn't you just say so?”
“Because I knew you'd act like this,” Yujin groans, pulling back and pushing Woonhak too. “Now go, don't you have an interview to shoot?”
Woonhak looks towards the setup, seeing that Riwoo and Leehan are already in costume and waiting, and Taesan is just about finishing setting up the camera. As much as he likes hanging out with Yujin, this is the interview where they reveal Babybear, as well as take down SongCorp. He can tease Yujin later.
Woonhak skips over to the interview area, sitting on the empty chair next to Leehan. Just as Taesan seems to be done with the camera, Jaehyun and Sungho come running out of the house with three glasses of lemonade in their hands. They give one to Yujin and all three of them sit on the grass behind the camera, giving them huge smiles.
“Aw,” Riwoo says, “we don't get any lemonade?”
“I'll make more after the interview,” Sungho says, taking a sip from his swirly straw. “You're supposed to be emotional, remember? You can't be emotional when you're drinking lemonade.”
“Says who?”
“Says everyone,” Jaehyun says, always quick to help out Sungho. “It's, like, a rule of nature.”
Riwoo rolls his eyes and mumbles something under his breath, but Taesan turns towards them and claps shortly to grab their attention, so he shuts up.
“Okay, everyone ready? I'll start the camera.”
“Good luck, guys!” Jaehyun calls out, and Yujin cheers for them.
“Ready,” Leehan says, fixing his mask around his eyes.
“Ready, Woonhak?” Sungho asks, giving him a huge, genuine smile. The kind of smile that can't be faked. The kind of smile that lets Woonhak know that no matter what happened in the past, all his friends support him now.
“I'm ready too.”
“Good,” Taesan says, pressing a button on the camera and running quickly to his chair. After a few seconds, the timer goes off. Taesan fixes a professional smile and says in a perfect journalist voice: “Hello, this is Han Taesan, live from our mayor Han Seokjoon's own backyard, with the city's most beloved superheroes.” He turns towards them and gives them a small smile, “It's good to see you. Thank you for agreeing to do an interview.”
“Oh no, we thank you for wanting to take our interview,” Leehan says in a forcefully sweet voice. “We love your articles, Taesan. We always say that you're the future of news media in our country.”
Taesan's eyes get a bit wider, looking from Leehan to Riwoo and then, lastly, to Woonhak, who gives him a soft smile. He might've told Leehan and Riwoo about Taesan's dream of becoming a respected journalist. If the whole city sees this interview, they have to do their very best to help him out.
Taesan clears his throat, saying a short, “Thank you.” He moves on fast: “So, Copyduck, I heard you have a tragic story to share with the world. Can you tell us about it?”
“Yes, this is very important,” Riwoo says, at once turning dead serious like he's not about to bullshit the entire city. “Like most people, I care a lot about my health. I've given up junk food and I try to cook most of my meals. At the grocery store, I look for the best ingredients that use the least chemicals, to make sure that I eat the healthiest products possible. And so, I was a big fan of SongCorp's organic juice collection. Are you familiar with it, Taesan?”
“Oh yes,” Taesan says, nodding. “You can find them in virtually any shop across the city. My personal favorite is the raspberry and strawberry blend.”
“Well, sadly, my advice to you is that you stop drinking it.”
“And why is that?” Taesan asks, leaning closer.
“Because…” Riwoo says, but he can't bring himself to continue and, surprisingly, he starts tearing up. Leehan pats his back with a sad frown of his own and Woonhak can't even mask his surprise, despite how great of an actor he is, because, what do you know, Riwoo is an even better actor.
“Take your time,” Taesan says, adding to the fire.
“It's just —” Riwoo says, fanning his face, “ — it's a very traumatic topic for me.”
“I understand,” Taesan says.
Leehan produces a handkerchief from his pocket and holds it out to Riwoo, who takes it and dabs gingerly under his eyes, like he's actually crying. Woonhak is a few moments away from bursting into applause, but he holds himself together. He glances at his friends on the grass and sees that all three of them are very impressed, too, like they're watching a soap opera or something.
“The truth is that my powers stopped working, and it's all because of SongCorp's juices,” Riwoo drops the bomb.
“Oh, my,” Taesan gasps, pretty believably too, at that.
“Yes,” Riwoo nods sadly. “I've seen four different doctors from across the world and they all said the same thing. SongCorp is lying about the ingredients.”
With that, he hides his face and bursts into sobs. Woonhak gasps audibly, shocked at what looks like real tears flowing down his cheeks.
Leehan takes the word, seeing how Riwoo can't talk right now: “They use a specific manufactured aminoacid in such big quantities that it attacks the body’s immune system. That's what makes them so addictive, but it also makes them very, very dangerous.”
“That must be really traumatic,” Taesan says with an empathetic smile.
“It is,” Riwoo says in a strained voice, wiping his tears. “It feels like a complete breach of trust. To think that I've been one of their loyal customers all these years…”
Leehan rubs his back comfortingly. “We sincerely hope that no one else out there will go through this. That's why we wanted to do this interview, Taesan — as hard it is to talk about it, we need to spread awareness.”
“I must say, that is a shock,” Taesan says. “For such a highly respected company to do this… Makes you wonder who you can trust these days.”
“It was very shocking to us too,” Leehan says thoughtfully. “Thankfully, I'm a big fan of sodas. That's what saved me. Poor Copyduck, though…”
“And is there anything you can do to get your powers back?”
Riwoo sighs into his hands. “I'm afraid not. The doctors said that with years of physical therapy and strict diets, I might be able to regain some of my original strengths. But they couldn't say anything for sure…”
“The whole thing is shrouded in mystery,” Leehan adds.
“Wow,” Taesan exclaims, leaning back in his chair. “That must’ve been very hard news to take.”
“It wasn't easy,” Riwoo says, looking down.
“How will you be able to protect the city in such a state?”
Riwoo shares a look with Leehan, then says in the absolute saddest voice possible, “The truth is, I won't, Taesan.”
As if on cue, Taesan gasps loudly.
“Yes,” Leehan says, looking down, and this time he sounds genuinely sad. This isn't just acting for the sake of the camera, this is his real sorrow that he won't have Riwoo by his side from now on, and it makes Woonhak feel bad for him and kind of bad for himself knowing that he'll need to live up to Riwoo’s glory.
“That's the second reason we wanted to do this interview. As of today, Copyduck and Fish Guy will no longer be our city's crime-fighting duo.”
“I wanted to formally retire and to thank this city for being so good to me,” Riwoo says. “We had a good run, but some things must come to an end.”
“Wow,” Taesan says, and then again, for emphasis: “Wow.” Then he clears his throat and adds: “Well, I think I speak on behalf of the whole city when I say thank you, Copyduck, sincerely. You will be missed.”
“Well, hopefully not too much,” Riwoo says, and Woonhak sits up straighter, knowing that this is the part where he comes in. “Actually, we also wanted to use this interview as a way to introduce the city's newest superhero. He will be taking my place.”
Woonhak gives a nod, but it's awkward for a moment where he doesn't know what else to do. Taesan isn't saying anything, just smiling at him, and Riwoo and Leehan are still kind of sticking to the act and pretending like they're sad, so they're not telling him what to do either. Desperate, he looks behind the camera at the rest of his friends. Jaehyun motions for a big smile, which is totally useless — Woonhak is smiling already. Sungho is dabbing his eyes for real tears, which doesn't help either. It's Yujin that mimics a handshake, which is the best help he's gotten yet.
Clearing his throat, he speaks up for the first time since the interview started: “I think I should introduce myself. I will be Fish Guy's partner from now on.”
“Tell them your name,” Leehan elbows him. Woonhak stares at his lap, refusing to say it, so Leehan takes the lead: “You can call him Babybear.”
“We haven't settled on that yet,” Woonhak says quickly.
“I think Babybear suits you,” Taesan says.
Woonhak throws him a dirty look. “Oh, really?”
“Yeah. There's something baby-ish about you. Might be the cheeks.”
“Well, you don't have to call me that.”
“We think Babybear suits him too,” Riwoo says. “In fact, Fish Guy picked the name himself.”
“We have to go on with the tradition of bad superhero names,” Leehan says, throwing an arm around Woonhak's shoulders and pulling him into a very tight and uncomfortable side hug. Woonhak squirms until he lets go, almost forgetting that they're on live camera and probably the whole city is watching.
“Babybear will make a very good superhero,” Riwoo goes on. “Of course he has some big shoes to fill — maybe not literally — but we've seen him in action before, and he is amazing. I'm sure that the citizens will fall in love with him.”
“I'm honored to have him as my partner,” Leehan says, making Woonhak's heart swell twice as big with joy.
“How do you feel about becoming our city's protector?” Taesan asks.
Woonhak looks all around at his friends before he answers, wanting to let them know once again how grateful he is for everything they're doing.
“I know it might become hard at times, but I trust myself and I know that Fish Guy and I will do our very best to serve justice in the city. And… I'm happy. This is a dream come true.”
“I would trust you with my life, Babybear,” Taesan says, sounding so honest that Woonhak tears up a little. To think that just a few days ago, something like this felt totally unachievable — and now here he is, with everything he's ever wanted right at his feet.
The interview wraps up soon after. Woonhak jumps all around, asking everyone: “How did I do? Did I do well?”
“You did well,” Jaehyun says, latching onto him.
“Yeah, everything went amazing,” Taesan says, looking over the comments people left in the live. “Look at this! Everyone believed it.”
“Riwoo really sold it,” Sungho says. “I mean, the way he cried? I swear, even I teared up, and I know you're fine. Seriously, how did you do that?”
“He's just talented in everything he does,” Leehan says, hugging Riwoo closely. They haven't really said it, probably because they don't want Woonhak to feel bad, but he knows they'll miss each other. Yes, they'll still be living together, but things will be different.
Woonhak will miss a lot of things, too. Like working with Sungho, meeting up with Taesan in college, hanging out with Jaehyun all day. But life goes on. Good times pass, just like bad times. And that's okay — he's built a great future for himself, and he's excited for that part of life he'll get to live soon.
Before they leave, the mayor comes to greet them. He shakes all their hands and says, “I want to thank you again for everything — Copyduck and Fish Guy, I thank you sincerely for your help in the city, and everyone else I want to thank for stopping Song Kyungho and for helping out my Yujinie when he really needed it.” He puts a hand on Yujin’s shoulder, and Yujin hugs him tightly, almost burying his head in his uncle's side. Han Seokjoon ruffles his hair, smiling a little, then turns back to them. “If you want anything, anything at all, I will gladly help. You can consider me your friend from now on.”
“Thank you,” Sungho says politely, “but I don't think —”
“Bap-bap-bap,” Woonhak says quickly, holding out a hand to stop him.
Sungho gives him a surprised look. “You… wanted to ask for something?”
“Not me,” Woonhak grumbles, but he doesn't explain any further. He just grabs Jaehyun’s hand and pulls him to the side.
“What is it?” Jaehyun asks, leaning closer so the others don't hear them.
“This could be your chance to get that super battery for your time machine,” Woonhak explains. “Maybe even two of them, so you can go there, talk to Zico, and come back! Wouldn't you like that?”
“Oh Woonhakie… it's not that easy.” Jaehyun smiles, but he shakes his head a bit, looking down. “I’m sure that we made the future a better place, but if that's so, then the organization doesn't exist and Zico doesn't work there. His life could've taken any turn, and I have no idea where I'd find him.”
“Oh…” Woonhak mumbles. “Yeah, that seems logical. I'm — I'm sorry, I guess.”
“Don’t be.” Jaehyun tries to kiss him, but Woonhak dodges quickly, so he puts an arm around his shoulders, pulling him uncomfortably close, and rubs their cheeks together instead. “You cutie, worrying about me like that… I actually have another idea.”
“Yeah?” Woonhak asks, fighting to get away.
“I will ask the mayor to make me some official documents — you know, ID, birth certificate, everything I'll need to prove I exist in this timeline.”
“Really? I mean… you'd be starting from scratch. Aren't you scared?”
“I guess not,” Jaehyun says with a leisurely smile. “Maybe I'll take a course.”
He walks back to the others and takes Sungho's hand, but it's such a natural gesture it's obvious this isn't the first time they've done it, and Sungho gives him a soft smile but he doesn't pull back.
Well, look at that, Woonhak thinks. In all the mess he didn't realize that bigger things were happening with his friends. Jaehyun got the guts to confess and if he was that brave, then he'll be able to tackle anything this new life throws at him. And at least Sungho will be able to tell his parents he finally got a boyfriend.
After they say goodbye to the mayor and Yujin and start to leave, Woonhak lingers back, something weighing down on him still.
“Mr mayor?” He asks when everyone else is gone.
“Oh, you can just call me Mr Han,” the mayor smiles. “We're friends, remember?”
“Then, Mr Han? I have a question.” Woonhak waits until the mayor tells him he can go on, and then he asks: “Why did Song Kyungho do all those bad things? What's — you know, what's his motivation?”
The mayor’s eyes turn soft and, sighing, he puts a fatherly hand on Woonhak's shoulder. “Normally, I would let you believe that people are naturally good, and they need a reason to become bad. But you're our superhero now, and I think you should know right away. Some people are just like that.”
“But all the comics said that —”
“Real life is different from all the comics, Woonhak. Some people are just bad.”
Just half a year ago, Woonhak wouldn't have believed this, no matter what. But now… He guesses that makes sense.
Some people in the world are bad, but he just took down one of the worst and he's still alive. He'll be able to stop other evil people, too. He just needs his friends by his side and thank god, they won't be leaving anytime soon.
He says goodbye and leaves. There's nothing left to do, and his friends are waiting.