Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

 I found you
While dreaming of meteor showers

“The Light is such a lame name for an organization, though. I mean, just because people with superpowers are called Lights, why should an organization be named after that? Is there no other creative name?”

“I never really thought about it, hyung.”

“I bet we could think of some really cool names now.”

Ong Seongwoo leaned against the steering wheel in front of him. He glanced out the window to his left, seeing the tall looming building that stretched to the skies.

It was a skyscraper, dozens of floors high and smack-dab in the middle of the bustling city. All of its windows were tinted black, obscuring the activities inside from the world. Gates surrounded the building, making it look more formidable and even less inviting.

To Seongwoo’s right was his friend, Kang Daniel, seated in the passenger’s seat. The younger man stared out the car window, looking at the same view.

“What cool names are on your mind, hyung?” Daniel asked.

“Something more badass. Something scarier.” Seongwoo then glanced at his watch. It was nearly 10 o’clock at night. The silence in his in-ear communication device was a sign that he still had some time. “The Light just sounds too soft.”

“And what we do isn’t soft,” Daniel guessed.

“Not in the least.”

Both Seongwoo and Daniel wore black-colored clothes that helped them blend into the darkness. With the hazy sky and the thick clouds, and the car they sat in which was parked a few meters away from the building— plus the shady business they were involved in— Seongwoo felt that The Light was a wrong name for them.

It was just a random thought, really. But he liked to delve in random thoughts and Daniel liked to as well.

“Honestly, I haven’t thought of any fitting names,” Daniel admitted.

“Yeah, me neither.” It was slightly cold in the car, despite the fact that it was already deep into the spring season. Then another random thought dawned on him. “Hey, Daniel.”

“Yeah, hyung?”

“Have the cherry blossoms started blooming?”

“I think so. I haven’t really had much time to look around the city.”

Seongwoo smiled to himself. “Maybe after all this, we could take a look.”

Daniel stopped staring at the building, choosing instead to stare at the older man next to him. “What? At the cherry blossoms?”

“Well, I don’t see why not...”

Even in the dark, Seongwoo could see the shine of Daniel’s silver hair, and the small grin that began to tug at Daniel’s lips.

“Well, hyung—”

A static filled Seongwoo’s earpiece. The same went for Daniel, who gently touched the communication device in his own ear. A familiar voice greeted them.

“Alright, boys. It’s time to begin.”

“Roger that, Jisung-hyung,” Daniel answered, tone suddenly serious.

Seongwoo leaned back in his seat, eyes on the building again. “We’re all in position.”

Three more voices joined them.

“Confirmative.”

“Let’s kick some ass.”

“Woojin-hyung, you shouldn’t curse on the communication channel.”

Daniel chuckled. “Will the kids be okay?” he muttered to Seongwoo.

“Hopefully,” Seongwoo answered with a grin.

Jisung spoke to them again, his voice firm. “A quick summary. Just as a reminder. Your objective is to recruit a new Light. He’s in the building, probably the 37th floor. He’s meeting a mafia leader who is trying to recruit him as well. Meet the Light, and then get out.” There was a pause. “I’d also remind you guys not to engage in combat unless it’s absolutely necessary... But knowing the past records of this mafia group, I think it’d be difficult not to.”

“And the past records of Woojin-hyung going crazy,” a voice answered, accompanied by a short giggle.

“Shush, Daehwi. I can’t help it when I have too much energy.”

“You all know your jobs,” Jisung quickly continued, before the two boys could begin bickering. “Daniel, Seongwoo, Woojin, Jihoon, Daehwi... Good luck.”

“We’ll see ya later, hyung,” Seongwoo said. “Operation Retrieve-Lightning-Boy starts now.”

“Is that really the name of this operation?” Daehwi groaned.

“I just made it up,” Seongwoo answered. He glanced to his left again.

Daniel had his eyes fixed on the night sky, at the clouds. His hands were moving in delicate, steady circular motions, his fingers surrounded by a soft blue light. Above them, the clouds starting to swirl ever so slowly.

Seongwoo smiled. “And it starts now.”

Three boys clad in tuxedos walked confidentially towards the building. One tugged at his necktie, one slicked back his hair, and one had a smirk on his face.

“Just act natural,” Park Jihoon said, letting go of his tie. “Leave it to me.”

The youngest of the trio, 16-year-old Lee Daehwi, gave a confident nod. “I trust you, hyung.” They began to ascend the steps that would take them to the front lobby of the building.

“The shoes are uncomfortable,” Park Woojin grumbled. “How do these mafia dudes even run in them?”

“We have to look as convincing as possible,” Daehwi said. Though he had to agree. The shoes were pretty uncomfortable.

“Heads up,” Woojin suddenly said, eyes fixed in front of him.

There were three bulky guards at the lobby door. Daehwi could easily see the firearms that each guard kept in their belt. Typical.

“Show them who’s boss, Jihoon,” Woojin whispered.

Jihoon smiled and strode forwards to the guards. “'Night, gentlemen,” he said.

The guards eyed him. Although they all towered over the young boy, Jihoon stared back indifferently.

“And who the hell are you?” one of the guards demanded.

“Me and my two friends here are the new recruits, of course,” Jihoon answered without blinking. He pulled on his brightest smile. “We’re scheduled to meet the boss in five minutes. We’re running a bit late, so we need to hurry up there.”

“Recruits,” the guard said.

“Yup,” Jihoon answered sweetly.

“And you’re late.”

“Yup, that’s right.”

“Well...” the guard continued. “It’s best not to be late, right?” He sounded dazed, voice slightly slurred. The two bulky men that flanked him also nodded vigorously. Then all three of them stepped aside, slightly stumbling in their steps.

“As expected of Jihoon-hyung,” Daehwi said quietly to Woojin, who smirked in return. They both could see the slight pink glow that radiated from Jihoon’s hands, and the glassy eyes of the guards.

“As expected,” Woojin agreed, passing by. Before disappearing through the revolving doors, he glanced over his shoulder with a grin and said, “You could charm anyone into falling in love with you, Jihoon.”

Jihoon didn’t smile back.

The lobby looked normal and lacked the ominous feel that Daehwi associated with mafia lairs. But then again, not everyone wanted to make their headquarters extremely obvious. The city police may be shitty at times (or most times), but it would be a hassle to go against them. It was easier to stay quiet and do evil deeds in the dark.

There were more guards that Jihoon quickly brushed aside with his powers. The three boys made it to the elevator. It was only when the doors slid close that the guards snapped out of their daze, immediately banging on the elevator doors and shouting loads of profanity.

“The 37th floor, right?” Jihoon said calmly, the pink glow gone from his fingertips.

“Yep. According to Jisung-hyung, Lightning Boy should be there.” Daehwi glanced at his watch. 10:13. They were making good progress. He hit the buttons 10 and 37, and the banging noises faded away as they rose higher and higher. “Your destination is the tenth floor though, hyung.”

Woojin rubbed his knuckles. “You sure you’re okay by yourself, Jihoon?”

Jihoon nodded. “Yeah, I just need to disable their communications. According to the insider info, there aren’t that many guards there because everyone’s upstairs protecting the boss. It should be a piece of cake.” He turned to Daehwi and Woojin. “Not a piece of cake for you guys, though.”

“Nah, it should be easy,” Woojin assured him. A slight orange glow was starting to surround his hands. “We can easily wipe out the entire floor.” He nudged the youngest boy next to him. “You ready, Daehwi?”

Similar to the color of his hair, a purple shine began to form on Daehwi’s fingertips. “Very very ready.”

After promising to meet on the 37th floor in approximately ten minutes, Jihoon bid them a brief farewell before running out the elevator doors.

The hallway of the tenth floor looked quite abandoned. Woojin let himself breathe a little easier. He could trust his friend. Jihoon would be fine.

“We just passed the 35th floor, hyung,” Daehwi said quietly beside him.

“Right.” Woojin rubbed his knuckles again. Bright orange light now surrounded both of his hands— two bright orbs of pure energy. “Take out the small fries first, then we focus on the big guy.”

“We wait for Jihoon-hyung’s signal.”

“Let’s hope he finishes his job on time.”

The elevator let out a small ding noise before the doors slip open. Woojin got ready to blast anyone in sight—

But the corridor was empty.

“Huh,” he said. “What are the odds.”

Daehwi pursed his lips, slowly stepping out. “Huh.”

Static then filled their ears. Woojin tapped his earpiece. “Yo, Jihoon.”

“I disabled the coms. I also saw the monitoring screens. Your floor’s corridor is empty, but the room with Lightning Boy is filled with the mafia dudes.”

“Ah, makes sense then,” Daehwi answered.

“But I disabled the coms so they shouldn’t be able to summon backup and stuff. You guys can start the attack. I’ll make my way there— Ah.”

“What is it?” Woojin asked, voice tense.

“Looks like I’ve got company,” Jihoon answered. There was the sound of running footsteps on his end. Dozens of footsteps. “A lot of company.”

“Me and Daehwi can go there—” Woojin began.

“No,” Jihoon said quickly. “I can handle these guys myself. You guys go get Lightning Boy.”

“Wait. Are we seriously calling him that, now? That’s so lame.” Woojin said with a small chuckle— a way to hide his own skittishness.

There was a laugh on the other end. “Not the best time for this conversation.” Suddenly there was a loud bang of a door being slammed open. “Whoops, gotta go now.”

“Be careful, Jihoon.”

“Aww, you’re worried about me. I’ll see you later, Woojin.”

The clouds grew thicker, shifting faster.

“Are you sure you don’t need any help?” Seongwoo asked. They were prepared for unexpected things like this, but he was ready to offer any aid if necessary.

“Trust Jihoon,” was Woojin’s answer. “I’m sure he can take care of himself.”

“We’re also talking about you and Daehwi,” Daniel said, his eyes still on the sky, his hands still moving steadily.

“We’re fine, hyung,” Daehwi replied. “It’s gonna get noisy on our ends, though, so I hope your ears will be okay.”

Once the door slammed open, men clad in suits poured into the room.

Jihoon whirled around, his fingers glowing a bright pink. He waved his hand, voice firm as he said, “You should drop your guns.”

The men in the front immediately did as they were told. Pistols and rifles clattered to the ground, but one man managed to tear through the crowd, face contorted in anger and—

Bang!

Jihoon managed to duck down before the bullet flew over his head. He gritted his teeth, rushing forwards and bringing his fist to the man’s face.

There was a sickening crack noise. The man howled and dropped the gun. Jihoon kicked it away without a glance.

More guards tried to grab him. Dodging and landing a hit whenever he could, Jihoon concentrated and watched his hands emit an even brighter light.

He then quickly took a few steps back and held out his hands, flashes of light flying from his fingers.

The light latched onto the guards, and Jihoon grinned a little devilish grin.

“Alright,” he said, venom seemingly dripping from his voice. “I’d like it if you all attacked each other. Right here. Right now.”

“Since Jihoon-hyung is getting held up,” Daehwi said, as he and Woojin walked towards the end of the hallway. Towards the door of the mafia boss’s room. “We can’t depend on his charm powers to coax this Lightning Boy into coming with us.”

“So what’s the plan then?” Woojin asked. “Is Minhyun-hyung in the vicinity?”

“Negative,” Seongwoo said, his voice clear through the communication line. “Minhyun’s on his own mission at this moment. He’s on the other side of the city.”

Woojin clicked his tongue. “Too bad. His mind control would be really helpful right now.” He hummed. “I guess we could knock out Lightning Boy and take him by force.”

“No,” Daehwi said. “I have another idea.”

“What?” Woojin saw the determined look on Daehwi’s face.

“I’ll talk to him.”

“What?” Woojin repeated. “Daehwi, you read the files. This kid’s out of control. He’s been blasting entire buildings to the ground just ‘cause he can’t figure out his own powers. It gets worse when he’s emotional. There’s a reason why the mafia boss wants to recruit him. Lightning Boy’s power is destructive.”

“Yeah, but he’s only seventeen years old, hyung.” Daehwi felt a tingling in his fingertips. “He’s probably afraid. Just like all of us when we first discovered our powers. I could talk to him— nicely and calmly. And hopefully he’ll listen.”

“Hopefully.”

“Just give me a chance here, hyung.” Daehwi was pouting, and damnit, Woojin hated to admit that he was weak when Daehwi pouted.

The older boy sighed. “Daniel-hyung. Seongwoo-hyung. What do you think?”

Seongwoo answered quickly. “Daniel’s slipped into that state when he’s concentrating hard and can’t hear things around him. But I think he would agree with me. Let Daehwi talk to the kid. But if it looks like it’s not working out, Woojin can step in immediately.”

“Thanks, hyung!” Daehwi said.

“Okay, then,” Woojin muttered, his eyes on the door in front of him. He held out a hand, the circular glow pulsed around his fingers, some of the light even flared and crackled. “Let’s crash this party.”

Bae Jinyoung was tired of running.

He was tired of fearing for his life, he was tired of being feared. He was tired of worrying what he would eat the next day, or where he would sleep and if he would be safe. He was tired of always being on the move, of being chased and hunted.

So when the mafia offered him a play to stay, a place of comfort, he was eager to accept it. His life would be well off. Or at least slightly more well off.

And now all he had to do was swear his allegiance to the man in front of him. After that, his life would be better... Right?

“You’d have to work, of course,” the boss of the group said, seated behind a large table heaped with all sorts of trinkets. The room was dark, with barely any help from the dim lights. Windows overtook each of the three walls, letting Jinyoung see the buildings outside and the cloudy sky. There was a black couch behind Jinyoung, but he knew that he had to stand when facing someone important like this.

There were guards on every corner of the room, some even blocking the exit. Jinyoung wasn’t sure if he could back out now— not that he wanted to. Theoretically, he could get out by force, but that would mean he had to use his powers. And using his powers was the last thing he wanted to do at the moment.

He stared at his shoes, already worn out from all the running he did. He would live better.

Fiddling with the sleeves of his gray hoodie that swallowed his small frame, Jinyoung nodded. “I wouldn’t mind working.”

“Your powers would be extremely useful for us,” the boss said with a grin that made Jinyoung feel uneasy.

Of course. Just another person trying to take advantage of him. No surprise there.

But maybe it wouldn’t be too bad this time. Jinyoung took a deep breath, getting ready to agree and finalize the contract.

“I—”

Just then, the door exploded from behind him. Jinyoung whirled around, eyes wide as he saw bits of the door flying through the air, along with dozens of guards being blown by the blast.

It wasn’t just the door. Bits of the wall were also destroyed, dust filling the room.

The mafia boss looked furious. He rose to his feet as two bodyguards quickly rushed to his side. “What the fuck?” he hissed.

Guards held their guns at the direction of the cloud of dust, ready to size up the new enemy.

Jinyoung’s eyes slightly widened when bursts of tiny purple-colored light shot out from the dust. Like dozens of bullets, they soared through the sky at an incredible speed, hitting the guards and smacking the weapons from their hands.

As men crumpled to the ground, the dust began to settle, and two figures began to emerge.

It was two boys in suits, complete with ties and slicked-back hair. One of them looked no more older than him, hands glowing a bright purple, the color similar to the the bullet-like light that Jinyoung had seen a few seconds before. The young boy had purple hair with strands that began to fall over his forehead.

The other boy, who looked a little older, had dark brown hair and the biggest grin on his face. He ran forwards, fist connecting with the closest guard he could reach. An orange glow radiated from the boy’s closed hands, glowing a deeper color whenever he landed a hit.

The younger boy rushed forwards, the bullet-like lights shooting from his fingertips. Not wanting to join the growing heap of wounded men on the floor, Jinyoung quickly ducked behind the couch. He could hear guns being fired, people screaming, and the boss cursing louder and louder.

Then the boy with the brown hair jumped on the table, startling the boss and the guards flanking him.

Jinyoung watched with a sort of awe as the two guards lunged, but the boy took them down with a swing of his legs. The bright orange light appeared again where his foot collided with each guard’s neck, and the guards grunted and fell like rocks.

Then a sudden fear overtook Jinyoung. Maybe he was next. Along with a terrifying panic, he could feel a familiar tingling in his body, sparks starting to collect in the palm of his hand.

The mafia boss looked ready to bolt. He blubbered to Jinyoung, “Th-This is your first task, boy! Take out this intruder!”

Jinyoung got ready to stand up, but suddenly there was a gentle touch on his arm, stopping him.

“I wouldn’t do that,” a soft voice said behind him.

The orange glow around the brown-haired boy’s hand grew larger and brighter. “See ya,” he said, and with a swing of his fist he sent the mafia boss flying across the room.

There was a thud as the boss hit the window and slid down to the floor, motionless.

The room was then silent, save for the groans of wounded men. It felt rather strange, given that the room was alive with so much motion and noise just a few seconds ago.

With a sharp intake of breath, Jinyoung suddenly remembered the hand holding onto him. He jerked his arm away, whirling around to face the other intruder.

It was the boy with purple hair, who immediately held up his hands, saying, “Whoa, whoa! We’re the good guys! We won’t hurt you!”

Small sparks were already forming in Jinyoung’s open palms. His voice came out in a rush of breath. “Y-You could’ve hurt me— You were firing blindly a minute ago—”

“No, we weren’t,” the purple-haired boy said. “We have a friend monitoring the room. He told us where you were in the room, and we made sure we didn’t aim in your direction.” He then pointed at the camera in the ceiling. “Say hi to Jihoon-hyung.”

The brown-haired boy gave a wave to the camera.

“Okay, so,” the younger boy continued, still holding up his hands. The purple glow was gone. “I know you may be scared right now. I would be too if I were in your shoes. But I promise that we’re here to help you.”

“Who are you?” Jinyoung demanded. His palms were growing warmer.

“I’m Lee Daehwi,” the boy said. “And that guy on the table is my friend, Park Woojin. We’re from The Light.”

The Light. Jinyoung had heard all about it. The organization that gathered people with superpowers. The organization involved with all sorts of businesses. Some even illegal. The name became more notorious with each day, and Jinyoung did not expect to see such a soft-looking boy like Lee Daehwi to be a part of it.

“We’re asking you to join us,” Daehwi said gently. “Come with us. We’ll give you a home. You’ll be safe.”

“Sounds too good to be true,” Jinyoung muttered. “Don’t think I don’t know what your organization does.”

“We did things we may not be proud of...” It was Woojin’s voice behind him. “But you were just about to join a freaking mafia group. I don’t think we can talk about good and bad deeds at a time like this.”

JInyoung sighed. Woojin had a point.

Daehwi had a warm smile on his face. “What do you say?”

“I...” Jinyoung’s fingers were twitching. His hands grew warmer.

Just then Woojin let out a curse.

“Shit.” Jumping down from the table, Woojin pressed a finger to his ear. “Jihoon says that there are men rushing towards this room. I think the blast drew a lot of attention.”

Daehwi rolled his eyes, the smile melting off his face as he faced the other boy. “I told you, you shouldn’t have blasted down the door!”

“Oh come on, it was effective!” Woojin defended.

With a groan, Daehwi turned away from Woojin. His eyes connected with Jinyoung’s.

Jinyoung stared back, seeing the angry features on the other boy soften to a comforting smile again.

“We need to go soon,” Daehwi said. “Really soon.”

“And what— I’m supposed to make my choice right now?” Jinyoung could feel his head begin to hurt. He was getting a little dizzy.

“They’re rounding the corner,” Woojin informed. He then began walking towards the hole in the wall, his fists already starting to glow. “I’ll distract them. You guys go.”

Daehwi bit his lip. He then pressed a finger to his ear. “Seongwoo-hyung. We need a lift. 37th floor.”

“Who—” Jinyoung began.

But Daehwi already held out both his palms in the direction of the window next to them. His face was serious, fierce even. Purple lights then shot out of his hands, hitting the window from top to bottom. For a split second, Jinyoung thought of how the lights reminded him of water drops.

The barrage continued until the window cracked and shattered. Daehwi kept going until he had cleared a large hole— big enough for two people to go through.

Jinyoung instantly took a step back.

Daehwi then held out his hand to him, the purple light gone again. He smiled. “Well?”

“I never said I was joining you guys,” Jinyoung said, slightly shaking his head.

“You’ll be safe. We’ll protect you.”

“This isn’t the first time people told me that. They promised to keep me safe but in the end, it just doesn’t happen. They’re all gone now.” Jinyoung’s voice grew quieter with each word, the sparks disappearing from his hands. “They’re all gone, always leaving me alone.”

There was a gentle and sympathetic look in Daehwi’s eyes. The wind was blowing through the shattered window frame, tousling the younger boy’s hair. “Sometimes,” Daehwi then said, “you just have to take a leap of faith.”

Jinyoung let out a small, incredulous laugh. It sounded so simple.

“Trust me,” Daehwi said. He stretched out his hand. “I promise I’ll stay with you. You won’t ever be alone again.”

“Gotta go,” Seongwoo said, opening the car door and stepping out. The clouds were swirling faster now, getting thicker. And he felt a chill hit his body, the air a lot colder than it was a few minutes ago. “I’ll see you back at headquarters, Daniel.”

Daniel nodded with a smile, his hands glowing and his gaze intent on the clouds. “See you, hyung.”

Seconds later and the older man was gone— nowhere in sight.

Trust wasn’t an easy thing to give.

Not in Jinyoung’s life. Not after everything that had happened.

But there was genuineness in Daehwi’s voice. And he looked so sincere, as if he really wanted to help Jinyoung through his troubles.

Heart beating faster, he took the younger boy’s hand.

It wasn’t as if he had anything to lose. And perhaps— maybe... Just maybe, after all of this he would gain something.

Daehwi smiled, making Jinyoung feel like things were really going to be okay.

“Thank you,” Daehwi said. “Okay. Let’s go home.”

“So,” Jinyoung mumbled, as Daehwi began leading him to the smashed window frame. “Do you guys have a helicopter or what...?”

Daehwi let out a laugh, and it reminded Jinyoung of musical chimes when the wind blew through it. “We’re not riding a helicopter.”

“Then what are...” Voice trailing off, the realization dawned on Jinyoung.

“I did say you have to take a leap of faith,” Daehwi replied with a smile.

“I didn’t think you meant it literally.”

“Don’t worry.” Daehwi’s grip on his hand tightened, and Jinyoung found himself squeezing back. “Just trust me.”

There was a crash behind them. Jinyoung glanced over his shoulder to see Woojin landing on his back, a group of men rushing towards him. Woojin quickly climbed to his feet, letting out a yell as he raised his fists and clashed with the guards halfway.

“Daehwi,” Jinyoung quickly said, nudging the boy beside him. Some of the men had looked in their direction, raising their weapons—

“Jump,” Daehwi said.

“What—”

“NOW!”

Jinyoung closed his eyes and jumped.

Touching nothing but air, the two boys fell through the window. The sound of gunshots filled their ears as bullets whizzed over their heads.

The wind tore at his hair and clothes. Jinyoung couldn’t help but open his eyes. He saw the streets below them, the buildings and the thousands of lights, and it all looked like some sort of strange dream city— seeing everyone from up high.

Jinyoung glanced at Daehwi and their interlocked hands. Daehwi had a serene smile on his face, the utmost trust in his eyes. It was quite a sight— Lee Daehwi, with the blurry city lights around him that continued to move as they fell.

And then Jinyoung’s body hit something.

Letting out a tiny “oof”, Jinyoung then breathed in and out, willing himself to calm down. He realized that he and Daehwi were no longer falling. He had landed on something soft— something feathery and moving.

He lifted his head. His jaw dropped, and he wondered if he was perhaps dreaming after all.

The two boys were on a giant raven. With big mighty wings, they were flying thousands of feet in the air, soaring left and right to dodge the bullets still aimed at them.

“What—” Jinyoung gasped, wrapping his arm around the raven’s neck, afraid he would fall.

“Meet Seongwoo-hyung,” Daehwi said brightly.

The raven let out a loud caw.

“He— He’s a bird?”

“No, he’s human. A Light, just like us. He transforms and stuff.”

The raven let out another caw.

Jinyoung just nodded. He didn’t know what to say.

“Don’t worry about Woojin-hyung and Jihoon-hyung,” Daehwi said, letting out a yelp as Seongwoo suddenly dove down. Seconds later and they rose higher in the air again. “We’re safe from the bullets now, I think. Thanks, hyung.”

A third caw, slightly apologetic.

“Woojin-hyung and Jihoon-hyung can take care of themselves. I trust them. Daniel-hyung will pick them up and bring them back to headquarters.” Daehwi then glanced over his shoulder. “Speaking of Daniel-hyung... You should look behind you.”

Jinyoung did just that and felt his jaw dropping again.

The tall skyscraper was covered in what looked like a blizzard. No, it was a blizzard. The clouds above and around the skyscraper were thick and swirling, pouring snow onto the building below. Soon the blizzard thickened, obscuring the building from sight, blinding the occupants of the building to the view outside.

And yet the buildings around maintained untouched, save for a few stray snowflakes.

A blizzard, right in the middle of a city. Just for one single building.

“That,” Daehwi said proudly, “is the power of Kang Daniel.”

“Wow.” It was all Jinyoung could say. Wow.

“He secured our escape. You should thank him later.”

Jinyoung nodded, feeling his arms and legs weaken.

“By the way.” Daehwi was looking at him with a curious face. “I haven’t gotten your name yet.”

Jinyoung stared back. They were flying at a slower speed now, already high up in the air.

In all of the chaos happening, was it weird to find a feeling of calmness in the younger boy’s eyes?

He realized that they were still holding hands. In a way, he was still afraid that they would fall. But Daehwi gave his fingers a small squeeze, as if to reassure him yet again, that they would be okay.

“Jinyoung,” he finally said. “My name is Bae Jinyoung.”

Daehwi’s smile grew. “It’s nice to meet you, Bae Jinyoung.”

The city continued to bustle underneath them. And Jinyoung wondered— wondered and hoped— that he really would gain something from all of this.

Chapter Text

Minhyun didn’t want to get blood on his hands. At least not this time. But it seemed as if the odds were against him.

In a way, he wasn’t surprised. Things usually didn’t go according to plan for people like him.

He was walking down a dimly lit hallway, his eyes set straight on the door in front of him. There were men scattered over the floor, groaning and injured and clutching at their heads. One tried to climb to his feet, cursing under his breath.

Minhyun waved his hand and the man crumpled to the ground again.

Finish the job and you can go home, Minhyun kept repeating to himself. Just finish the job.

Loosening the black tie around his neck, Minhyun glanced up— at the ceiling and the high walls full of portraits. He passed by a small table with what must have been a priceless vase on top of it.

He wondered how it would be like to live all alone in a huge mansion like this. His target must have gotten used to it— or perhaps sought for it.

Eitherway, it wasn’t of importance. Not to Minhyun.

Upon reaching the door, Minhyun took in a deep breath. He rolled back the sleeves of his white dress shirt, watching his hands start to glow. It was time.

He swung open the door and was immediately greeted with the clicking of guns, pointed straight at his head.

“Don’t move,” a voice beside him said.

Minhyun blinked calmly, taking in his surroundings. His target’s room was as spacious and well-furnished as predicted. There were only two guards in the room— both at Minhyun's sides with pistols aimed at him. But he didn’t spare the attention to little details, focusing quickly on the man standing near the window.

Noting how his target was only a few feet away, Minhyun waited.

The man near the window finally spoke.

“Who sent you?”

Instead of answering, Minhyun addressed his target. “Mr. Park. You are to step down from your position as director of the company. Give that position to your son.”

Minhyun hated how his target had the same surname as his friends back at the organization. He knew that it shouldn’t have bothered him. Park was an extremely common name and the man in front of Minhyun had no connection at all with his friends.

But even the smallest of similarities made the target more human in Minhyun’s eyes— and that was what he least wanted at the moment. It was easier to get the job done when you didn’t think of your target as a person.

This Park was cursing under his breath. “That little bastard! So my own son is behind all this?”

Again, Minhyun didn’t answer the question. He continued, “I’m giving you the chance to step down willingly. Hand over the position to your son, and I’ll leave.”

“You’re in no position to say that.”

“I took down all of your guards outside,” Minhyun said, unfazed. “I could easily do the same here.”

“You’re part of The Light, aren’t you, boy?” Park spat. “You and that cursed organization. The world wants all of you gone!”

“Since you’re aware of where I’m from, you should know what I’m capable of.”

His gaze unwavering on his target, Minhyun focused his attention to the two guards that flanked him. The glow around his hands brightened.

Mind control always felt like digging a tunnel. He had to dig deeper and deeper till he got a grasp on what he wanted. He had controlled his powers a long time ago, so taking over two guards, no matter how heavily armed, was a piece of cake.

Soon the guns were no longer aimed at him. The guards’ eyes glazed over, as if in a trance, and soon they directed their aim at the man near the window.

Park flinched. “You fucking freak.”

“Step down,” Minhyun said calmly. He focused harder, watching the guards begin to move closer towards their boss.

“Even if I did, no one would believe it.” Park’s eyes were glancing to his left. “They would never believe that I’d actually given my company to my son.”

Minhyun’s tone was cold. “My job is only to follow your son’s orders. Whether people believe in the results, it doesn’t matter to me.”

Taking a few steps back, Park slowly edged towards a nearby table. “Do you want money, boy? I can give you as much as you want. More than my son paid you.”

“I’ll give you three warnings. One.”

“Forget double the amount. I’ll pay you triple. Or quadruple! Just say the price!”

“Two.”

“Or maybe it’s not money you want! What is it, boy? I’ll give you anything!”

Oh, there are a lot of things I want, Minhyun thought. But you could never give me those things.

“Three.”

It all happened in what felt like a split second. Park had lunged for the table, grasping onto a shotgun that he had hidden behind it. He lifted it up, pulling the trigger—

Closing his eyes, Minhyun raised a hand at one of the guards, who immediately ran back to him with arms open.

BANG!

Warm liquid splattered all over Minhyun’s face and clothes. He tried not to think of the guard that he had just used as a shield— tried not to think of what must have been blown off in the shot. He focused on lifting his other arm, on digging into Park’s mind.

Park wasn’t as easy to control as the guards. His determination acted as a blockade against the mind penetration— but only for a little while. Soon, Park let out a scream and dropped the gun, clutching at his head.

Minhyun walked towards his target, and he could feel the blood from the dead guard seeping into the soles of his shoes.

“GET OUT!” Park bellowed. “GET OUT OF MY HEAD, YOU MONSTER!”

“Let’s try this one more time,” Minhyun said coolly. “Step down.”

Ten minutes later, Minhyun was hunched over a sink, splashing water all over his face.

The mansion had many bathrooms. Minhyun had chosen the closest one and stumbled inside, knowing that he had a few minutes for himself.

He breathed in and out, trying not to notice how the sink soon became a pool of water and blood. This wasn’t new to him. He had seen a similar view many times.

After a dozen more splashes, Minhyun shut off the water, letting the red liquid disappear down the drain.

Clutching onto the edges of the sink, he glanced up at the mirror in front of him.

There were traces of blood still caked in his dark, brown hair (he made note to wash it off), but his face and neck appeared clean. His shirt on the other hand... it was as if an artist had grabbed a can of red paint and splashed it all over a white canvas.

It was gruesome to look at. There was no doubt blood on his black pants as well, but thankfully it wasn’t visible due to the dark color of the fabric.

He shut his eyes. The image of the guard he had controlled flashed in his mind. The serene and clueless look on the guard’s face before getting his back blown off... Minhyun knew it would be a haunting, unforgettable image.

It was one of many images that would always haunt Hwang Minhyun, in his dreams and his waking hours.

Opening his eyes, Minhyun glanced at his reflection in the mirror. His gaze looked empty, and he wasn’t trembling at all.

He had gotten used to all this.

And it was moments like this when he didn’t quite recognize himself.

He turned on the tap and splashed his face again. He needed to go home.

The air was cold when he stepped out of the mansion. Minhyun had retrieved his trench coat where he had left it near the front door, wrapping it tightly around his body to hide the blood stains.

He tapped at the earpiece that he now wore. There was the familiar sound of static before he heard a familiar voice.

“Minhyun.”

“I finished the job,” Minhyun said as he began to walk. “I’m heading back now.”

“Good work. We’ll see you soon.”

“Jisung-hyung.”

“Yes?”

“How are the others? Have they finished their mission yet?”

“They have. They’re on the way back with the new recruit.”

“Okay. I’ll see you later, hyung.”

“Be careful on your way back, Minhyun.”

More static, and then silence.

Park owned a large chunk of land. It was large and isolated enough from other houses that one gunshot couldn’t be easily heard.

And, if Minhyun’s guess was correct, Park also had soundproofed a good part of his mansion. Which was odd but made it all the more easier for Minhyun to slip away without anyone noticing.

There would be no running away from police officers tonight.

Seonho liked to hang out near the sea.

Whenever Guanlin couldn’t find him, the first place he would check was the place where the waves hit the shore— and there his little brother would be.

With the sand underneath his feet, Guanlin walked towards the lone figure sitting in front of the sea. It was late at night, so the waves were high and strong. But Seonho knew where to sit so he wouldn’t get wet.

It was quiet. They were, after all, far away from the city and any neighboring towns. It was as isolated as any place could ever be, with looming high cliffs surrounding the beach area and jagged rocks scattered around the waters.

In other words, it was not a place where people would like to visit.

“Hey,” Guanlin greeted, taking a seat next to the younger boy.

“Hi, hyung,” Seonho said. “What’re you doing all the way out here?”

“Looking for you, of course.”

Seonho let out a hum. He had his legs drawn to his chest, hugging them. “Headquarters can be a bit stuffy, don’t you think?”

Guanlin thought it over. His brother had a point. “So you wanted some fresh air?”

A cold breeze blew by. Similar to Seonho, Guanlin wore jeans and a jacket, but the wind still managed to penetrate through. He tried not to let it bother him.

Resting his chin on his knees, Seonho answered, “And I’m also waiting for Daehwi-hyung and the others. They’re bringing a new recruit. I really want to meet him. It’d be nice to make a new friend.”

Making friends, Guanlin thought, feeling a slight painful squeeze of his heart. He wanted his little brother to be making friends in a school or in a friendly neighborhood, just like any other normal 16-year-old.

Not in a hated organization. Not in an environment where everybody had to constantly worry about surviving the next day. Not in this sort of place.

But Guanlin pulled on a smile, patting his brother on the back. “I’m sure he’ll like you.”

“What if he doesn’t, though?” Seonho muttered with a pout. “I— I mean, what if he doesn’t like me because...”

Guanlin knew what Seonho was going to say. “Because of what?” he said gently.

Seonho looked like he wanted to cry. It was a sensitive topic, after all. “Because my powers haven’t appeared yet.”

“Hey.” Guanlin wrapped an arm around the other boy’s shoulders. “Your powers don’t define who you are. You define who you are. People like Seonho for being Seonho. Not for the powers that Seonho may have.”

Sniffling, Seonho nodded. “Thanks, hyung.”

If anything, Guanlin thought to himself. Not having powers is a blessing.

“Hyung.”

“Yes?”

“Can you do that thing with the waves?”

“What, right now?”

“Yeah!” Seonho pulled away, his eyes shining with anticipation. “Cheer me up, hyung!”

Guanlin couldn’t say no to that. Even when they were little kids, despite Guanlin being only a year older, he always had a soft spot for his younger sibling. And with the way things were now, keeping Seonho’s spirits up became much more important than before.

So Guanlin stood up, dusting off his pants. “Alright.”

He walked over to the sea, holding out his hand and concentrating.

It felt like the water was an extension of his body. He felt the flow of the waves and focused on the one heading to shore. Soon the wave grew bigger and bigger, rising a couple meters in the air.

Seonho was clapping his hands excitedly as the body of water drew near in their direction.

It should have been alarming, really. But the brothers had experienced more than this— a large wave careening towards them was nothing.

Just as the wave was about to hit them, Guanlin flicked his hands, as if he was the conductor of an orchestra. The wave split in the middle, shooting off to the sides around them, not even once touching the two boys who were completely safe and dry.

Seconds passed and soon the walls of water subdued into tiny waves that disappeared into the sand. Guanlin set down his hands, letting the sea return to its original flow.

Seonho jumped to his feet and whooped. Eyes bright, he turned to his big brother.

“Hyung! That was so cool!”

Guanlin grinned. At least Seonho was smiling again.

“I wish I had powers like you, hyung!”

Trying not to frown, Guanlin could only think in his mind.

If I never had these powers, we would never be here in the first place.

Just then, Seonho let out another shout as he pointed at the sky. “There’s Seongwoo-hyung!”

Guanlin looked up and saw a large, familiar raven in the distance. He watched the bird fly closer, soaring through the sky and heading towards one of the area’s many cliffs.

“I see two people on Seongwoo-hyung’s back,” Seonho said. “One of them could be the new recruit!”

Seconds later and Seongwoo continued to descend towards the wall of rock. And soon, he was gone, as if swallowed by the cliff side.

“I guess we should— Seonho!”

Seonho was already sprinting towards where the raven had disappeared, yelling over his shoulder, “Hurry up, hyung! Let’s go meet them!”

“Seonho, slow down!” Guanlin chased after him, making sure Seonho didn’t trip over any stray logs or rocks.

Their footprints in the sand were quickly erased by the sea’s waves.

Yoon Jisung let out a sigh before chugging down what must have been his third cup of coffee.

Tired eyes staring at screens, his hand flew over keyboards at a lightning pace. There was so much to be done, he didn’t know if it was possible to finish it all before sunset.

There was the sound of a door opening from behind him. After hearing footsteps walking in his direction, he felt a touch on his shoulder.

“Jisung-hyung.”

Still seated, Jisung looked up to see Ha Sungwoon holding his own cup of coffee and a brown folder in the other hand.

Sungwoon looked uneasy. Jisung knew that look.

The room’s lights suddenly seemed too bright, making Jisung feel dizzy.

“They’re giving Minhyun another job,” Sungwoon then said quietly, his grip on the folder tightening.

“Already?” The disbelief in Jisung’s voice was strong, though he knew this wasn’t the first time that Minhyun was terribly overworked. Jisung's eyes were off the screens, looking at the folder as if it was some horrible creature.

Sungwoon looked just as upset. “Unfortunately, yes.”

“Minhyun just finished this one. They’re not letting him rest even for a little bit?”

“It’s times like this when I say fuck the organization.” Despite Sungwoon’s small stature, he was quite terrifying when angry. “We’re not going to let them keep doing this to him. To all of us.”

Jisung leaned back heavily in his chair. The fatigue on his face made him look older, and there were shadows underneath his eyes. “The other group leaders and I scheduled a meeting sometime this week. I think it’ll be a rather serious one. You’ll come with me, right?”

“Of course.”

“Thank you, Sungwoon.”

“Hyung.”

Sungwoon’s voice had softened.

“Yes?”

“I think you should get some sleep. You’ve been awake for days and you look like you’re about to collapse soon.”

Jisung gestured to the screens that took up the entire wall. Then he gestured around the room—at its other three walls that were full of boards with tacked-up notes, at the table that was scattered with papers, at the ceiling with its bright lights, at the empty glasses of coffee.

“There are a lot of things I haven’t finished up yet,” Jisung then said. “A lot of things I need to think about, too. I haven’t finished the reports, there’s the new recruit, the meeting, and Daniel...” His voice trailed off, the worry in his eyes evident.

Sungwoon frowned. “What’s wrong with Daniel?”

“Daniel won’t tell anyone, but he’s—”

The sound of static suddenly filled Jisung’s ear. He tapped the earpiece he had on.

He heard Seongwoo’s voice.

”Jisung-hyung. We’ve just arrived. I’m sending him your way.”

“Alright,” Jisung answered. Sungwoon’s concerned eyes were still on him. “Thank you.”

The static then disappeared. For a while, Jisung stared at one of the screens. He then spoke again.

“Let’s hope the new recruit will be okay here.”

“Hyung, I really think you should get some sleep.”

“But I still have to—”

“No buts. Leave it to me, hyung. I’ll give the introduction to the new recruit. I’ll also brief Minhyun on his next mission. You, on the other hand, need to hit the sheets. The reports can wait till morning.”

Jisung looked reluctant, but Sungwoon took his hand and encouraged him to climb to his feet. Finally, Jisung stood up and stumbled towards the door.

“You need to sleep too,” the older man remarked.

“I will. You need it a lot more than me, though.”

With a sigh and another thank you, Jisung left the room.

As he walked down the corridor, his footsteps felt heavy.

“You okay?”

The second that Jinyoung slid off the giant raven, his legs felt like jelly and he fell over. He could feel concrete underneath his hands— his shaking hands.

Everything was weird. He had flown on a giant raven (the giant raven, who had shrunk and turned into a human being— a tall, handsome man with dark hair), a portion of the cliff side had slid open to reveal a passageway in the rock, and here he was... wherever this place was.

“Jinyoung-hyung? You okay?”

Jinyoung then glanced up. Daehwi was holding out a hand to him.

“I’m fine,” he finally said. He took Daehwi’s hand nonetheless and shakily climbed to his feet. He glanced around to see that they were in a sort of cavern that much resembled a cave. The bit of cliff side had closed up again, engulfing the room in a darkness that was barely saved by the small lamps propped up on walls. And in front of him, Jinyoung could see a large door.

The tall man— Seongwoo— was stretching his arms and letting out a tired yawn. “Wow, I’m drained.” He then turned to the two young boys with a grin. “Sorry if it was a bumpy ride.”

“I’ve been on worse,” Daehwi remarked.

Jinyoung just nodded silently.

“I’m Ong Seongwoo, by the way!” Seongwoo then said, and Jinyoung shyly shook his hand. “Nice to meet you, Jinyoung.”

“You were a bird,” Jinyoung then muttered.

“Oh, I’ve been many things,” Seongwoo answered with a chuckle. “Hey, I know everything may seem odd and it’ll take some getting used to. But I assure you, you'll get used to it quickly.” He then gestured towards the door, which was a dull color that blended in with the walls. “Welcome to The Light headquarters.”

It was as if someone had carved out the cliff, replacing its contents with a bunker inside.

A well-lit, well-polished bunker, that is.

Jinyoung remembered watching secret agent movies when he was a child. In those movies, secret organizations would have hidden headquarters somewhere deep in the mountains or other odd locations, yet the inside would look like it belonged to a high tech building in the middle of the city.

The Light’s headquarters wasn’t as impressive as what he saw in movies, but it was still enough to make his jaw drop.

The ceiling was high like a chapel, the walls painted a shiny gray-blue color, and he saw countless hallways and doors in each wall. He wondered where they all led to.

It wasn’t dark. The room was illuminated by what looked like giant LED lights stretching from one side of the ceiling to the other. Not only that, but a soft glow radiated from large screens that were also stuck to the walls. Jinyoung glanced at a few screens— one showed the time, another showed an aerial view of Seoul. He didn’t have time to look at more because his attention was spread all over the place.

There were boys and girls walking from one hallway to the other, appearing and disappearing from the vast main room that Jinyoung was in. Some glanced in his direction and gave polite smiles. Some even looked like they wanted to approach but kept their distance, which Jinyoung was thankful for.

“Everyone knows not to mob new recruits,” Daehwi explained, as if he had read Jinyoung’s mind. “We all know how overwhelming it is on the first day, so they’ll give you space. Until the next day, that is.”

“We’re all nice,” Seongwoo commented. “Everyone who’s a Light, that is. I mean, we’re all on the same boat so we gotta stick together. Those men in suits, on the other hand...”

Jinyoung had noticed them. There were what seemed to be a dozen adults clad in suits, stationed at different sides of the room. They all had serious, unfriendly expressions on their faces.

“...They’re not so nice,” Seongwoo finished.

“So how do things work here, anyways?” Jinyoung asked. “Do you all have one boss or what?”

“We should start making our way to Jisung-hyung first.” Seongwoo began to walk, and the two younger boys followed. “I’ll explain on the way.”

“Who’s Jisung-hyung...?”

“I’ll get to that, kid.” Seongwoo gave him a grin. “The organization does have one big boss, along with his executives— or higher-ups, we call ‘em. There are also his underlings that keep watch on us. Underlings such as those men in suits. God, they’re annoying.”

“Careful, hyung,” Daehwi whispered, and Jinyoung saw a hint of fear flash across the younger boy’s eyes.

Seongwoo coughed, eyeing his surroundings as if he was being watched— which was most likely the case. “Then there’s us— the Lights. The kids with superpowers. Some of us were dragged here against our will—”

“Hyung,” Daehwi warned.

“—But some of us sought for shelter. For refuge. For safety.” Seongwoo had stopped in front of a large door, and he pressed a button on the side. A second later and the door slid open. “Hop in, kids.”

Jinyoung looked hesitant, but Daehwi gave him another reassuring smile and he found himself walking into what appeared to be an elevator. The door had swung shut, and the small enclosed space began to descend.

“How many of us are there?” Jinyoung then asked. He had been curious.

“A lot,” Daehwi answered. “We’re divided into groups because there’s so many of us. Each group has a leader. The leader gets the orders from the big boss and higher-ups. And the leaders are the ones that report back to them.”

“Is the group leader also a Light?”

“Yep. The leaders are just like us, but with more responsibility. They look after all the Lights in their group.”

The door had opened to reveal another hallway. Seongwoo walked out and the boys followed.

“How many people are in each group?” Jinyoung asked.

“It varies,” Daehwi said. “There are four leaders in total. There’s Nayoung-noona. Her group has eleven people, including her.”

“That’s quite a lot.”

“Eunbi-noona has more. Her group has twelve people.”

“Whoa.”

Daehwi continued, “There’s Taehyun-hyung. Including him, his group has six—”

“Seven,” Seongwoo cut in.

Daehwi bit his lip. There it was again, that flash of uneasiness in his usually bright eyes.

Jinyoung also began to feel uneasy. “What is it?”

“What we’re told,” Daehwi said quietly, “is that Taehyun-hyung lost one of his group members.”

“Except he didn’t,” Seongwoo said, and the air suddenly became tense. “Don’t believe what the higher-ups tell you, boys. That ‘lost’ member had superpowers that were much too valuable for the organization. There’s no way they actually ‘got rid’ of him, like they claimed. He’s somewhere out there. Taedong is definitely somewhere out there. Taehyun-hyung’s looking for him. And he will find him.”

“Hyung,” Daehwi then said, and there was a slight desperation to his voice.

Jinyoung glanced behind him to see one of the men in suits, just a couple meters behind.

He felt a chill run down his spine.

Seongwoo closed his mouth and pulled on a forced smile. He clasped his hands together. “Now, to our group.”

“Right,” Daehwi said with an equally forced smile. “Jisung-hyung is the leader of our group. Including him, there are nine of us.” He then nudged Jinyoung on the side playfully. “You’re going to be put in our group. So we have ten people now! There’s also one boy whose powers haven’t appeared yet. Because of that, he’s not assigned into any of the groups, but we always take care of him well.”

Jinyoung nodded, silently relieved to be in the same team as Daehwi. He wanted to be with at least one familiar face.

“Sungwoon-hyung sometimes acts as co-leader, though,” Daehwi added. “Second in command.”

“The burden gets too big at times,” Seongwoo explained. He looked a bit sad. “I feel sorry for the leaders. Just like us, they have no choice but to accept orders. We really can’t do anything about it.”

Silently, Jinyoung continued to follow them down the hallway. For a split second, he remembered the look on Daehwi’s face when they first met, and the words the younger boy had said.

“We did things we may not be proud of...”

Jinyoung tried to focus on other things.

So there are around forty Lights in total here, he thought. Many kids with superpowers just like him. So maybe he wasn’t as alone as he thought.

“Well,” Seongwoo said, stopping in front of a door. “Here we are.”

“Jisung-hyung just wants to talk to you for a bit,” Daehwi said, patting Jinyoung on the back. “We can get some rest right after.”

Jinyoung’s hand shot out, grabbing onto Daehwi’s wrist. “Will you come with me?”

As Daehwi stared at him in surprise, Jinyoung couldn’t help but think just how at ease he felt with Daehwi’s presence. It was like the younger boy had a calming effect on him.

Everything was so new and scary to Jinyoung. He wanted Daehwi to be there with him.

“Sure, of course,” Daehwi finally said, smiling. “I’ll come with you.”

Seongwoo waved his hand. “Then I guess I’ll get going. I’m feeling super drained from all that flying.”

Daehwi flashed him a thumbs up. “Okay, Seongwoo-hyung."

At Seongwoo’s retreating back, Jinyoung felt that he had to at least say a few words. He called after the older man.

“H-Hyung!”

Seongwoo glanced over his shoulder. His gaze had softened.

“Yes, Jinyoung?”

“Th... Thanks for catching me and Daehwi,” Jinyoung said. “And for flying us all the way here.”

Seongwoo had a warm smile. Jinyoung was happy that he got to see it.

“You’re welcome, kid. I hope you enjoy your time with us.”

After Seongwoo had disappeared behind the elevator, the two boys faced the door again. As Daehwi knocked on the wood, Jinyoung took a deep breath.

“Come in,” a voice said from behind the door.

“Oh, that’s Sungwoon-hyung,” Daehwi whispered.

Jinyoung was wondering what type of person Sungwoon was. A second in command type of person. Maybe he was large and scary and serious and—

The door opened to reveal the opposite of that.

A young man leaned his back against a table in the middle of the room. He had fluffy-looking brown hair, milky skin, and a kind face. Wearing a knitted sweater that reached his hands, the word that came in Jinyoung’s mind was “soft”.

The man looked very soft. In a good way.

“Hi, you must be the new recruit. I’m Ha Sungwoon.”

Jinyoung stepped into the room. He glanced at the table, saw the scattered papers on it.

“Sorry for the mess,” Sungwoon said with a smile. “It’s been pretty hectic here. Please do have a seat. You must be tired.”

Before Jinyoung sat himself down on one of the chairs near the table, he realized that Sungwoon was shorter than him.

“Thanks for bringing him here, Daehwi,” Sungwoon said, as the youngest boy took a seat next to Jinyoung.

“You’re welcome, hyung.”

“I’m—” Jinyoung thought he should introduce himself quickly. “I’m Bae Jinyoung.”

Sungwoon smiled kindly. “How old are you, Jinyoung?”

“I’m seventeen, sir.”

Chuckling, Sungwoon said, “No need to call me ‘sir’. Just call me ‘hyung’.”

“Okay, hyung.”

“Well then.” Sungwoon was walking towards the corner of the room, where cups and sachets were stacked upon a small round table. “Would you like some hot chocolate, Jinyoung?”

“Hyung, are we there yet?”

“No, Woojin, not yet. Patience, dear child.”

“Humph.”

Daniel laughed, his hands on the steering wheel. He spared one glance at the rear-view mirror, seeing Woojin pouting and Jihoon staring at his snaggle-toothed friend.

“Control your boyfriend, Jihoon,” Daniel teased.

Jihoon began, “He’s not my—”

Woojin let out a groan and flopped all over the backseat, his head almost lying on Jihoon’s lap. “I wanna quickly meet the new kid!”

“What was he like?” Daniel asked, noting how Jihoon’s face turned a light shade of red.

“Deep and dark,” Woojin answered. “He looked scared and confused.”

“Like a lot of us, then,” Daniel said, focusing on the empty road again. “I hope he can adapt to our crazy pace.” A pause. “Did you see him use his powers, though? I heard it’s pretty destructive.”

“No. Daehwi managed to pacify him.”

“I see. That’s quite amazing of Daehwi.”

“No kidding. I was afraid Daehwi was gonna get blown to smithereens.”

“That would be horrible.”

“Right? I told Daehwi not to approach the new recruit like that, but he wouldn’t listen. He’s stubborn like that.” Woojin then sat up, leaning against the back of the driver’s seat and putting a hand on Daniel’s arm. “Daniel-hyung, can you drive fas—?” His voice then trailed off. Daniel was wearing a coat but even through the fabric, Woojin could feel the chilliness underneath his fingers. “Whoa, hyung. You’re really cold.”

“I’m always cold, Woojin. I’m the dude that shoots snow out of his hands, remember?”

“Hm.”

“Since the road is empty, I guess I can drive a little faster. Hold on, kids.”

As the van careened down the road, Jihoon gripped tightly onto Woojin’s shoulder.

Minutes later and Jinyoung’s mind was spinning.

Sungwoon had tried to explain things slowly and gently, but it still took a bit of effort to process all the new information. By then, Jinyoung had finished his second cup of hot chocolate (which did well to calm his nerves).

When they said their goodbyes and left the room, Jinyoung and Daehwi walked down the hallway to the elevator.

“So let me summarize what Sungwoon-hyung said,” Jinyoung was saying.

Daehwi hummed in response.

“I joined your group,” Jinyoung began. “With Jisung-hyung as the leader.”

“Yup.”

“And I’m going to get some training to learn to control my powers.”

“That is correct.”

“After I learn to control my powers, I’m going to go on missions with you guys.”

“Correct as well.”

“In return, the organization gives me safety and accommodations.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Okay then...” Jinyoung nodded. “I guess I can comprehend that.”

“Oh, and you’ll be rooming with me,” Daehwi added. “It’ll be fun. I’ve always wanted a roommate.”

The younger boy flashed him another smile. Jinyoung felt a slight tug of his own lips.

“Sounds great,” he replied simply.

The elevator door slid open, and Jinyoung held back the urge to scream.

A man had stepped out, his clothes splattered with what looked like blood. He was tall, easily looming over both Daehwi and Jinyoung. His fox-like eyes were casted on the ground, but when he glanced up to see the two boys, the man quickly wrapped the trench coat he wore tightly around his body, hiding the stained clothes underneath.

Too late. Jinyoung had already seen it.

“Oh, Minhyun-hyung!” Daehwi greeted. “You’re back too!”

“I just got back,” the man— Minhyun— replied. “Glad to see you boys got here safely.” He then glanced at Jinyoung, who flinched underneath the stare. “You must be the new recruit.”

“Ye-Yes,” Jinyoung stuttered.

“Jinyoung, this is Minhyun-hyung,” Daehwi introduced. “Minhyun-hyung, this is Jinyoung.”

“Nice to meet you, Jinyoung.” Minhyun pulled on a warm smile. He was an attractive and friendly-looking man, but Jinyoung’s mind was too preoccupied by the bloody clothes to comprehend. “Welcome to The Light. I’m guessing you’ll be in the same group as me and Daehwi.”

Jinyoung nodded. From this proximity, he could see a slight red hue on Minhyun's face and neck. Looks like the blood hasn't been completely washed off yet. 

“Then we’ll be seeing each other a lot,” Minhyun said. With one hand still clutching the trench coat to keep it in place, he held out his other hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Jinyoung.”

Shaking the older man’s hand, Jinyoung mumbled, “Nice to meet you too.” He had expected a strong, firm, and scary grip. But instead, Minhyun shook his hand gently and slowly.

“I’ll see you boys later.”

Minhyun carefully released his hand before heading in the other direction, towards the room where Sungwoon waited.

Daehwi tugged on the sleeve of Jinyoung’s hoodie, and together the both of them clambered into the elevator.

“Minhyun-hyung’s a really nice person,” Daehwi said, pressing the button that would take them up.

“He had blood all over his clothes,” Jinyoung breathed, feeling lightheaded.

“Hmm, I do wonder how that happened.” Daehwi bit his lip in worry. “Minhyun-hyung’s usually very careful. And he hates messes like that.”

“All over his clothes,” Jinyoung repeated under his breath.

“Okay, I know how shocking that must have looked, but he really is a nice person—”

The elevator door slid open, cutting off Daehwi’s next words. They had just stepped out when Jinyoung heard loud footsteps heading in their direction.

“Hey, new kid!”

“Seonho, slow down—”

Before Jinyoung knew what was happening, somebody had grabbed his hand, shaking it excitedly.

“Hello, I’m Seonho! What’s your name? Let’s be friends!”

It was a young boy— perhaps even younger than Daehwi. He had large, curious eyes that gave off a childish vibe and a cheerful smile. Gripping tightly onto Jinyoung’s hand, Seonho cocked his head to the side, eagerly waiting for an answer.

“I— I’m Jinyoung.”

“Nice to meet you, Jinyoung!”

“He’s older than you, Seonho,” Daehwi said.

Seonho corrected himself without missing a beat. “Nice to meet you, Jinyoung-hyung!”

Seconds later and another boy joined them. Although both he and Seonho had the same black hair, this one was a lot taller. Jinyoung almost thought they were twins. Were they twins?

Along with Daehwi, these new people were making Jinyoung reevaluate the image of The Light that he had in his mind. These were kind, innocent-looking kids who absolutely did not look like they belonged to a criminal organization.

“Hi, Guanlin,” Daehwi said, addressing the tall boy who was now gasping for breath.

“Hey,” Guanlin answered. He then turned to Jinyoung with an apologetic look. “I’m sorry— My brother gets really excited when meeting new people.”

Oh, so they’re related, Jinyoung thought. Are they twins, though?

“It’s alright,” Jinyoung said. He realized that Seonho was still holding onto him.

Daehwi clasped his hands together. “Let’s go to our rooms! We can get acquainted there.”

“Jinyoung-hyung can sleep in my room!” Seonho said. “He can be my roommate!”

“Are you kicking me out?” Guanlin muttered.

“He can share my bed!”

Daehwi stuck out his tongue. “Too bad. He’s already with me.”

Seonho huffed in disappointment. “Then I wanna give him the tour tomorrow!”

“I already promised to give the tour,” Daehwi chirped.

“Then I wanna come!”

Jinyoung was silent the whole time. But he felt that tug on his lips again— an almost smile.

He had only been here for roughly an hour and yet... he could feel himself getting used to this.

Sungwoon gasped when Minhyun stepped into the room.

“I think I accidentally scared the new kid,” Minhyun said, regret in his voice.

“Minhyun! What happened to you?”

“Oh, this...”

Minhyun glanced down at his shirt. The blood had dried up, at least.

Sungwoon was quickly walking to him. “Are you hurt?”

“No, hyung, I’m fine. It’s not my blood.” Minhyun smiled a reassuring smile. “I was just a little reckless. I lost focus for a split second and this happened. Sorry, I didn’t have time to change first.”

Sungwoon let out a sigh of relief, stopping in front of Minhyun. “You’re okay, and that’s what matters.” Then he looked uneasy. “Damnit, it’s making me feel so bad for dropping this on you...”

“What is it?” Minhyun asked, though he had a hunch. The smile slowly melted off his face.

“The higher-ups already assigned you a new job.”

I knew it.

“I see.”

“I’m sorry, Minhyun.”

“It’s alright.”

“It’s not alright,” Sungwoon said, and there was hurt in his voice.

Minhyun tried to smile again. He patted his friend on the shoulder. “You look like you haven’t slept in a while either, hyung.”

“Jisung-hyung’s had it worst.”

“Yeah. I see that he’s not here. Is he finally getting some sleep?”

“Yes. After many coaxing.”

“Well, that’s good to hear.” Minhyun then pulled on his serious face. “Oh yeah, I need to report first. I finished the job. Minimum casualties from the target’s side. The client said he’ll send the rest of the money tomorrow morning.”

“Right... I’m glad you made it back here safely.”

“Yeah. Me too.” Minhyun tugged at the ends of his trench coat, covering the blood again. “So... my next job.”

Sungwoon sighed again— a sad one this time. “Right. Wait a sec.”

The rustling of papers filled the room. Minhyun wiped the sleep from his own eyes before Sungwoon returned with a brown folder.

Minhyun held out his hand to retrieve it. Maybe he was especially exhausted tonight— because he opened his mouth to ask a question that he usually wouldn't ask out loud.

“Do I have to kill someone again?”

Sungwoon’s fingers tightened around one end of the folder, Minhyun’s hand on the other.

After an aching silence, the older of the two finally answered. “No. Not this time. The client’s just a college kid. The target’s also a college kid. As long as the client doesn’t change his request, no physical harm will be inflicted on the target.”

“Alright. That’s good.” Minhyun wondered if the relief showed on his face. He was sure it showed.

“As far as we know, the target doesn’t have any powers. So the mind control should be pretty easy and you can finish quickly.”

“Okay. I’ll look over the files tonight and start working tomorrow.”

“No,” Sungwoon firmly said. “You clean up and get some rest. You can read it tomorrow.”

Nodding, Minhyun reassured Sungwoon that he would do just that. Sungwoon eyed him suspiciously but released the folder nonetheless.

“Goodnight, hyung. Get some rest too.”

“I will. Thanks.”

Before the door closed, Minhyun could see Sungwoon staring at the wall— at one of the many boards scattered all over it.

The moment Minhyun stumbled into his room, he threw his coat onto the bed and stripped himself of his shirt.

The shirt looked even worse than he thought. The blood had soaked right through the fabric, deep and thick. It was far from being saved. Tossing the shirt into a black trash bag, he made a mental note to burn it in the morning.

He then staggered into the bathroom, sparing one glance at the mirror.

Red splotches all over pale skin. He gritted his teeth and turned on the shower at full blast.

Minhyun stayed there, letting the water hit him. It took forever to completely wash the blood off his hair, his face, his body. But even after the last trace of red had disappeared from his skin, he still felt far from clean.

It was well past midnight when he finally dried himself off and changed into a simple T-shirt and pants. He sat on one end of his bed, eyeing the folder that he had placed on the small table nearby.

Minhyun was exhausted, but he knew sleep wouldn’t come easily to him anyways. So he said a silent sorry, Sungwoon-hyung, and grabbed the folder, opening it carefully.

Like always, the first file was information on the client. He read over the details quickly.

Age: 23 years old

Occupation: college student

It became a habit to check the age first. Along with the details were the client’s contact number and photo. Minhyun quickly memorized the number and then turned the page.

For the target’s file, Minhyun found himself focusing on the photo first.

It appeared to be of a young man around Minhyun’s age. The first thing Minhyun noticed was the cheeks. The target had round, plump cheeks.

The photo must have been taken without the young man noticing. He was holding onto the strap of a guitar case that was swung over his back, his eyes not facing the camera. There was a small, bright smile on his face, a dimple showing on one of his cheeks. His pointy ears were red— hinting that the photo was taken during a cold season.

He’s cute, Minhyun thought. He then quickly scolded himself. He wasn’t supposed to think these things. It would only make the job harder.

Quickly turning his attention away from the photo, Minhyun glanced at the target’s details.

Age: 21 years old

Occupation: college student, part-time worker at coffee shop

His target was only a year younger than him. He tried not to think about it. It would only make the job harder.

“Name,” Minhyun read aloud, fighting the urge to glance at the photo again, “Kim Jaehwan.”

Chapter Text

 Breathe in, breathe out

Tell me all of your doubts

If everyone goes away, I will stay  

Jinyoung woke up thinking that last night’s events were nothing but a dream.

That had to be it, right? A dream. Surely he did not hold hands with a sweet young boy, they did not jump off a building together, surely he did not get recruited by The Light, and surely he was all alone as always, attempting to survive until the next day.

Surely, the small yet growing ball of hope that he had felt... only existed in that dream.

Nothing but a dream.

But when Jinyoung opened his eyes, he was proven wrong. And he felt relieved.

He was in the same room that he had fallen asleep in. It was Daehwi’s... no... it was Daehwi and his room, with the high walls and the high ceiling.

On those walls were postcards of various locations— of landmarks and sights from other countries. Jinyoung saw the Statue of Liberty, the Tokyo Tower, the Eiffel Tower, and even the Northern Lights. He didn’t get the chance to ask Daehwi about the postcards. They were both exhausted from the previous night, took turns taking a quick shower, and finally fell into their respective beds.

Jinyoung was sprawled all over a bed— his own bed— and for a few minutes he just stayed there, breathing steadily and recalling everything that had happened last night. Seonho and Guanlin had hung out for a bit in his and Daehwi’s room, and they talked about random things about themselves. Jinyoung noticed that there was a certain topic that all of them seemed to avoid, including himself.

They avoided talking about their pasts.

Eventually Seonho dozed off and Guanlin carried him out. After climbing into bed, Jinyoung had clutched onto the blanket that Daehwi had thrown on him. After a bright smile and words of goodnight, sleep tight, Daehwi shut off the lights and the both of them fell asleep.

Along with the postcards taped neatly onto the wall, there was also a round clock that continued to tick. The hands indicated that it was well past 8 in the morning.

After deeming himself calm enough, Jinyoung threw the blanket off. Slowly, he sat up and glanced around the room.

It wasn’t a very spacious place, but a couple meters in width. Compared to the places Jinyoung had slept in before, it was more than enough for him.

The room was barely furnished, with just one large wardrobe, desk, the clock, and the bunk bed. But Daehwi had decorated the place to make it feel— as the younger boy had said— “more at home”. Along with the postcards, Daehwi had hung up strings of lights on the wall, its dozens of tiny lightbulbs shining pleasantly throughout the night. There were also three small pots of flowers on the desk. The plants were artificial— Daehwi knew better than to grow plants in a room with no windows and no proper sunlight.

There were two doors— one leading to the hallway, and one leading to the bathroom where Jinyoung had showered before changing into a clean set of clothes and climbing onto the top bunk.

Daehwi was on the bunk below him. At the thought of the younger boy, Jinyoung found himself feeling a little excited. It had been a long time since he got to spend time with someone around his age, somehow who was so friendly to him.

Slowly climbing down the small ladder of the bunk bed, Jinyoung’s bare feet hit the cold floor. He turned to look at Daehwi.

The younger boy was still fast asleep, hugging the blanket to his small chest. Jinyoung tried his best to stay quiet as he carefully sat on the floor in front of Daehwi. But the shuffling of his footsteps was apparently loud enough.

Daehwi stirred a bit before waking up. Then his eyes opened, gaze falling right onto Jinyoung.

Letting out a small gasp, Daehwi sat up immediately. “Hy-hyung! You scared me!”

Jinyoung panicked. “Sorry! Did I wake you up?”

“It’s fine.” Daehwi blinked the sleep out of his eyes, stifling a yawn behind his hand. “It was time to start the day, anyways.”

“Right...” Jinyoung was silent for a bit before he slightly leaned forwards. “Daehwi.”

“Yes, hyung?”

“Could you please pinch me?”

“What?”

“Pinch me, please?”

Daehwi blinked again, this time in surprise. But at the serious and rather pleading look on Jinyoung’s face, Daehwi nodded.

The younger boy reached over and pinched Jinyoung on the cheek.

Jinyoung flinched. “Ow.”

“You asked me to, hyung!”

Daehwi was about to pull his hand back when Jinyoung gently grabbed his wrist.

“Thanks,” Jinyoung then said. He felt Daehwi’s pulse underneath his fingers. “I needed that.”

“Um, you’re welcome?” Daehwi then began to smile. “Did you think you were dreaming, hyung?” After not receiving an answer, he asked, “Did you think this wasn’t real?”

“Something like that,” Jinyoung muttered. He let go of Daehwi’s wrist, watching the younger boy’s hand drop back onto the bed.

Daehwi was still smiling. “It’s real, hyung. I’m here. We’re here.”

“Right...”

Jinyoung felt relief washing throughout his body. So, things really could change. He had somewhere to return to. He had people who he hoped he could trust and depend on.

He hoped.

“Are you hungry?”

Daehwi’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

“We should get some breakfast.”

Jinyoung nodded. “Sure.” He hadn’t realized it, but his stomach did ache a little bit.

“We’ll get some food, then I can start giving you a tour of the place.” Daehwi grinned again before swinging his legs off the bed. He stood up and stretched for a bit, with Jinyoung watching him from behind. He then turned around. “Let’s go!”

Jinyoung didn’t know what he expected.

After changing into a pair of jeans and T-shirt, they left their shared room. Walking along the hallways with Daehwi, it felt like they were two high school boys on their way to the cafeteria. Daehwi had a sort of skip in his steps, the smile never leaving his face, melting away any tension that may have hung in the air. The atmosphere could have been more serious— perhaps from the gray and bland walls of the organization, or perhaps from the guards that were scattered all over the buildings.

But Jinyoung didn’t feel tense nor an overwhelming seriousness— not with Daehwi always striking up a conversation, with his bright eyes and bright smile.

Passing down hallways and rooms, they exchanged little words and Jinyoung felt more and more safe.

“Did you have a good sleep last night?”

Jinyoung gave a small nod. “I think so. We were exhausted, weren’t we?”

“We really were.”

“I had a dreamless sleep,” Jinyoung then said. “I guess that’s why I thought everything that happened last night was the dream instead.” He was glancing around, already feeling lost. “Where are the other people?”

“Probably all getting breakfast,” Daehwi answered. “Or already out on missions. Things are pretty busy around here.”

As Jinyoung wondered about the type of missions he may be embarking on later, they entered an area that looked like a mix between a cafeteria and a storage room.

Boxes lined up the walls, stacked on top of each other. There were kids retrieving objects from those boxes, some even climbing on ladders to reach the ones on top.

Tables were all over the floor, reminding Jinyoung of the tables used back at school cafeterias. While some were occupied, there were empty ones as well.

“Self-serve,” Daehwi said, leading Jinyoung to one corner of the room. There was a tall boy there with black hair, not even needing a ladder to reach the highest box as he peeked into its contents. Daehwi cleared his throat. “Donghan-hyung!”

The tall boy, Donghan, jumped in surprise. He glanced down at the call of his name.

“Hey, Daehwi!” A large grin spread across Donghan’s face. He then glanced at Jinyoung, causing the latter to flinch at the sudden eye contact.  “Oh, is this the new kid?”

“Yes, this is Bae Jinyoung. He’s in my group.” Daehwi turned to Jinyoung, gesturing towards the tall boy. “This is Kim Donghan. He’s in Taehyun-hyung's group.”

“Nice to meet you, Jinyoung!” Donghan rummaged through the contents of the box. He pulled back, hands full of what appeared to be bags of bread and bottles of water. “Catch!”

With only a split second to react, Jinyoung took a step forward and stuck his palms out. The objects fell into his hands, and he quickly drew them to his chest.

Arms full of food and drinks, Jinyoung glanced up to see Donghan grinning at him.

“Nice reflexes,” the tall boy said.

Jinyoung blinked. “Th...Thanks?”

“Those quick reflexes might as well save your life one day.” Donghan then scooped up more food into his own arms and gave Jinyoung and Daehwi a little wave. “I’m gonna go take these to Taehyun-hyung and the others. Again, it was nice meeting you, Jinyoung. I hope you enjoy your stay with us.”

“Are you sure those aren’t all for you, hyung?” Daehwi asked jokingly.

Donghan laughed before he left, throwing a final remark over his shoulder.

“Gotta help out the team.”

They had gotten themselves settled at one of the empty tables. Sitting across Daehwi, Jinyoung watched as the younger boy opened a carton of strawberry milk, taking a long sip from it.

The chattering from the other tables reached Jinyoung’s ears, and once in a while he spared a glance at the other people scattered around the room. He felt a mixture of many emotions, all swirling inside him like a big concoction— he was nervous, excited, and curious at the same time.

Just when he was going to take his first bite of bread, Woojin slid into the bench next to him.

“Morning, Jinyoung!” the snaggle-toothed boy said.

“Good morning... Woo... Woojin-hyung, right?”

“Yup!”

Another person— an unfamiliar one— slid into Jinyoung’s other side.

“Oh, we didn’t get a chance to meet last night!” the newcomer said, holding out his hand. His other arm was full of food. “Hi, I’m Park Jihoon.”

As they shook hands, Jinyoung introduced himself.

“Our beautiful teamwork brought you here, Jinyoung,” Woojin said, grinning.  

“I’m starving,” Jihoon said with a sigh, dumping the pile of food onto the table. He thumped Jinyoung on the back. “Better eat a lot before we’re sent off on missions.”

With the two Parks on either side of him, Jinyoung surprisingly didn’t feel all that bothered as he began to fill his stomach. It had been a long time since he had eaten something decent, or enough to actually feel remotely full. Without realizing, he even let out a small sigh of relief.

Daehwi caught it and smiled at him secretly. With a wink, he said, “They let us eat as much as we want. The menu changes a lot too. It’s never something fancy, but they never let us starve.”

Woojin had three straws in his mouth, all connected to a separate bottle of juice. “We superpower kids need a lot of energy to function.”

“Makes sense,” Jinyoung remarked.

“Some of us just simply eat a lot,” Jihoon said. “For example, little Seonho...” His voice then trailed off as the sound of loud footsteps filled the air. “Well, speak of the devil.”

Soon it was Seonho and Guanlin who slid onto the bench, caging Daehwi in between them. Jinyoung thought that Jihoon had looted a lot of food, but it turned out that Seonho brought even more.

“Hi, Jinyoung-hyung!” Seonho greeted.

“Hey.”

“Did you get a good sleep last night?”

“I did, actually.”

Jinyoung didn’t say it, but a little ball of joy had formed in his chest at the thought of people caring for him like this. They were just simple words, but they were words that he hadn’t heard in a while.

Daehwi had opened another carton of milk and handed it to Jinyoung. “If there’s anything you wanna ask or you’re curious about, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

After taking a sip, Jinyoung cleared his throat. “Actually... There was something I was curious about.” With everyone’s focused attention on him, he hesitated. Was it okay to ask this? There should be nothing wrong, right? He would find out sooner or later anyways. “I was wondering what exactly your powers were.”

“You can shoot lightning out of your hands, right, Jinyoung?” Jihoon said.

With a nod, Jinyoung held out the palm of his hand, causing Jihoon to almost jump out of his seat.

“Whoa, whoa! You don’t need to demonstrate for us!”

“Oh, so-sorry.” Jinyoung put down his hand. He didn’t miss the alarmed look not only in Jihoon’s eyes, but the other boys as well. Perhaps they had heard the news about him. About the destruction that he had caused. He felt a heavy weight clench around his heart, and he bit his lip with worry.

“It’s alright,” Daehwi said gently, shooting Jihoon a short glare. Jihoon gave an apologetic bow in return before sitting down again. “I guess we’re all just a little wired up from last night’s mission.”

“Anyways,” Jihoon then said, as if trying to make up for his previous reaction. “You were curious about our powers. For me, I can charm people into doing what I want. You can say that I cast a spell on them. I just need to talk to them and they’ll do it.”

“Jihoon’s a really charming person,” Woojin said through a mouthful of bread.

Tips of his ears going pink, Jihoon continued. “It’s similar but also different from Minhyun’s mind control.”

Minhyun, Jinyoung thought. The scary guy from yesterday.

“Woojin here can control energy,” Daehwi explained, gesturing towards the snaggle-toothed boy. “He can focus all the energy in one place, like his hands for example, and he can use that for combat.”

“Like when I blew the wall apart,” Woojin said.

Daehwi rolled his eyes. “And attracted a lot of enemies to our location, yes.”

“And you?” Jinyoung asked, remembering the bright purple lights that had shot out of Daehwi’s hands the night before.

“Water drops,” Daehwi said. At Jinyoung’s confused expression, he chuckled. “I know. It sounds weak, doesn’t it? But if thrown at a certain speed, a really really fast one, water can even cut through glass.”

“It could even make glass shatter,” Jinyoung said, remembering the window that Daehwi had shot at. The window that they had run through, onto nothing.

Daehwi nodded. “Yup.”

Seonho then spoke up. “Guanlin-hyung can control the sea!”

“Not really,” Guanlin quickly said. “I can control the waves of the sea, but not the whole thing itself...”

“Not yet, at least!” Seonho had a sparkle in his eyes. “The higher-ups believe that you could do much more than that!”

“I’m not so sure...”

“I wish I could do something like that.”

As Guanlin mumbled a reply for his little brother, Jinyoung recalled what Seongwoo had told him before— that there was one boy in The Light that didn’t have powers, who didn’t officially belong to a certain group, but that everyone cared for.

Jinyoung stared at Seonho, the information clicking together. Ah, he thought. So it’s this boy right here.

But what was he doing in a place like this? Did he follow his brother to the organization? Or was he dragged against his will? Perhaps his powers had yet to emerge?

Jinyoung mulled over the question in his thoughts, and at the same time he couldn’t help but wonder how great it would be to live without powers. Without constantly worrying that you would lose control and hurt someone you cared for, without living in fear that people would utilize you for their own needs...

But he thought of all the possibilities that Seonho didn’t have. The possible future that he had lost, just like Jinyoung himself. When having powers, at least you had an excuse for the mess of the life you had. But Seonho... he didn’t even have that.

Here was Seonho in front of him, smiling from ear to ear as he talked about the powers of the other boys.

“Seongwoo-hyung can transform! I’ve seen him transform into a ton of different animals of all shapes and sizes and I think that’s so cool. And then there’s Daniel-hyung! He can make and control snow! He can make whole blizzards! He did that last night, didn’t he?”

“He did, Seonho,” Daehwi answered. He then rested his chin on his hand. “Daniel-hyung will probably spend the whole day sleeping to get his strength back. It really drains him.” Turning to Jinyoung, Daehwi quickly added, “Don’t worry, he’ll be fine. He just needs a lot of rest. Ah, so that leaves us two more people in our group. Jisung-hyung and Sungwoon-hyung.”

“Jisung-hyung can control the rain,” Woojin said.

“And Sungwoon-hyung can control the clouds,” Jihoon finished, chewing on his food. “He can also control the fog. It’s pretty cool.”

“As for everyone else in other groups,” Daehwi then said. “You’ll find out as you meet them. Here they come.”

Jinyoung knew that the other kids had their eyes on his table, as if finding the right time to approach him. And here they did, at least a dozen of them. Trying not to feel overwhelmed, Jinyoung replied to their greetings and introductions. They were all smiling, speaking in friendly tones and looking not much older than him. They told him words of encouragement and advice— and deep down, Jinyoung felt welcomed.

Things were starting off well. He was at least glad for that.

After the meal and introductions with the other kids, Daehwi took Jinyoung on a little tour of the organization, with Seonho and Guanlin tailing behind them. Jihoon and Woojin had left to talk to Sungwoon, who had appeared at the eating area and gestured them over.

As they passed by hallways and doors, Daehwi told Jinyoung about where those hallways and doors led to. Jinyoung wondered just how big the entire place was, already in awe at how things were built. Eventually they clambered into the elevator together to head to the main room.

What really drew Jinyoung’s attention were the screens all over the walls. The main room was enormous, yet screens stretched from one end of the wall to the other, flashing different images.

Jinyoung was focused on one cluster of screens, seeing some of them on various news channels, and some were of streets and views that were both familiar and unfamiliar to him.

“We have to know what’s happening all around us,” Daehwi said, falling into step next to Jinyoung. He was looking at the screens as well. “Sometimes the outcomes of our missions appear on the news. For example, last night.”

Jinyoung blinked. “That was on the news?”

Daehwi let out a small, cheerful laugh. “Gunshots in a mafia lair. A defeated mafia boss. Two kids jumping through a shattered window and then caught by a giant raven. A sudden blizzard surrounding a single building. How could that not make the news?”

Guanlin and Seonho were at the other end of the room, looking at other screens.

“So I guess you guys make the news often,” Jinyoung said. It was more of a statement than a guess.

“Yup. It’s not exactly something we’re proud of.” Daehwi let out a small sigh. “When I was young, I wondered what it would be like to be on TV. I didn’t expect it would be like this.” The sudden burst of sadness was then gone, and he pulled on a smile. “But they never manage to capture our faces. Maybe just a silhouette or a blurry image, but never our faces. We learn to avoid cameras. To hide our identities as much as possible.”

Jinyoung’s eyes had found their way to another screen. It was a landscape he had passed often when he was still in Seoul.

Daehwi followed his gaze. “The Light set up their own surveillance cameras all around the city, all hidden. Or sometimes they just hack into the city’s official cameras, and we get the live footage here.”

There were people passing the street, minding their own business, perhaps not knowing that they were being watched.

“Shall we continue the tour?” Daehwi asked, nudging his side.

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

Just as they whirled around, a tall girl with long black hair passed by. She had a bag slung over her shoulder, and she gripped onto it until her knuckles turned white.

Along with other girls, she was one of the kids that had approached him during breakfast. Her body can become as light as a feather, Daehwi had explained. In other words, she can fly. Cool, right?

The girl had a bright laugh and a bright smile, but at this moment all brightness was gone from her features.

Daehwi saw her as well, saw the expression on her face. Concerned, he called, “Chaeyeon!”

At the sound of her name, Lee Chaeyeon halted in her steps and glanced in their direction. “Oh hi, Daehwi!” She then saw Jinyoung and, with her free hand, gave him a wave. “I hope you’re enjoying the tour, Jinyoung.”

“Where are you going?” Daehwi asked.

Chaeyeon tried to pull on a smile. “Just got a mission. I’m heading out right now.”

“All alone?”

“Unfortunately, yes. The higher-ups said it was a solo mission. So here I am.”

The concern was clear on Daehwi’s face. “Be careful.”

“Will do! I’ll see you two later!”

They watched as she continued making her way to main doors on the other end of the room. Already, she seemed so far away.

“She’ll be okay, right?” Jinyoung asked.

Daehwi nodded. “Me and her... we go way back. Grew up together, actually. I know her. I trust her.”

Just then another girl passed by, shoulder-length hair bouncing as she ran. She was another familiar face who had greeted Jinyoung back at the table, and he vaguely remembered cherry blossoms floating out of her hands as she spoke excitedly.

But from the split second when she passed by the two boys, Jinyoung saw her eyes full of worry.

Sakura, Jinyoung remembered. Her name’s Sakura.

The girl ran until she reached the end of the large room, stopping right in front of Chaeyeon.

They were far away, but Jinyoung could vaguely hear their conversation. Words of be careful and I’ll be fine were exchanged.

It was a short exchange, time obviously running short. But Chaeyeon had cupped Sakura’s face in her gentle hands and leaned in for a quick, reassuring kiss.

After pulling away, Chaeyeon gave her one more smile before leaving through the doors.

Sakura stood there for a bit, staring at the spot where Chaeyeon had disappeared. But she then turned around, a million thoughts seemingly in her mind, before she herself disappeared down another hallway.

Jinyoung wondered if it was something he should not have seen— it was their moment, in their own little world.

And yet... he found himself thinking seriously about something. He tried to pinpoint it.

“You know...” Daehwi said, his voice gentle. “The world is messed up. Our lives are messed up and all. But there’s at least some good that comes from all of this.” A smile had made its way to his face. “In all this mess, Chaeyeon met someone who loves her and who she loves in return. Somehow, out of all odds, Chaeyeon found a flower in the middle of a barren wasteland.”

Oh. Jinyoung realized what it was. It was love. Something that he never had the chance to think about. After his powers had emerged and his life took a turn for the worst, it was one of the many things that had slipped his mind. Maybe if he was some normal boy in a normal high school, he could feel the thrill and excitement of falling in love but... he just simply never thought about it.

And he must have assumed that other Lights felt the same. But Chaeyeon and Sakura proved otherwise.

Daehwi saw the thoughtful look in Jinyoung’s eyes. His smile grew. “They’re not the only ones. Two girls in Nayoung-noona’s group are also together. And...” He laughed. “Woojin-hyung and Jihoon-hyung obviously have something going on but they don’t even realize it themselves. It’s kind of cute to see, really. And Daniel-hyung and Seongwoo-hyung—”

Daehwi then cut himself off, as if realizing that he was going to say something he shouldn’t. Jinyoung stared at the younger boy, tilting his head curiously to the side.

“What is it, Daehwi?”

“No-Nothing.” Daehwi let out a nervous laugh.

“Hmm.” Jinyoung continued to stare. “What about you, then?”

“Huh?”

“Have you found your own flower in this barren wasteland?”

Daehwi stared back at him, surprised at the question. Jinyoung was surprised himself, but he somehow was curious. Did this bright, cheerful boy have a certain someone on his mind? What kind of person would she or he be like?

“I... I never really thought about it,” Daehwi finally said. “I guess the world’s been too crazy for me that I never found the time to actually think about... feelings?”

“I see.”

“Lights fall in love, but it’s not something that I ponder about, I guess. But that’s how it is. People find each other even in this organization.” Daehwi then let out a small hum. “But I guess that’s the only way it would work out.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t think a Light could fall for someone outside of the organization.” Now it was Daehwi’s turn to look thoughtful. “It’s sad, but with all the dangers and hiding our identities that we do every day, it’s just impossible to be with someone outside of all this.”

Jinyoung could understand.

And what’s more painful than loving someone you can’t be with?

By the time that Minhyun left headquarters and began his long drive to the city, the sky was turning a lighter shade of blue and orange.

He had seen the sunrise countless times by now. Perhaps he should have gotten bored of it already. But at the sight of the first rays of sunlight bleeding into that deep, dark blue, he found himself in awe all over again. He would have loved to stop and watch the dawn turn into day, but he knew that he couldn’t spare the time.

If he was lucky, he’d finish the job quickly and head back just as quickly. The first thing he needed to do was find out how easily controllable the target was, then he would put the plan to action, fulfill the client’s request, and he would be done.

It was supposed to be that simple.

Kim Jaehwan had always been both worried and curious about his future.

It was a normal thought for someone his age. Young adults in their last years of college would always worry about life after graduation— that moment when they’re thrown out into the “real world”. Challenges would emerge, the great unknown full of endless possibilities.

But Jaehwan had more than that in his mind. He had been thinking a lot lately about a lot of things and he didn’t know what to do with it.

And he was still thinking even after the lecturer left, after the students began milling out of the classroom. The second that the lesson ended, Jaehwan’s gaze naturally went to the window, and he stared at the sky. It was well in the afternoon, already time for lunch.

“Jaehwan!”

He flinched in his seat, drawn out of his thoughts. He turned to look at his friends who had already risen from their seats, backpacks slung over their shoulders.

It was then that Jaehwan noticed that the classroom was already empty except for him and his friends. The classroom seemed so much bigger with just the three of them.

Jaehwan stood up, grabbing his notebook and writing utensils before stuffing them into his guitar case— his substitute for a backpack.

“Daydreaming again?”

At his friend’s question, Jaehwan grinned. “Something like that. Let’s go.”

He walked up to his friends, seeing one of them holding onto a phone. A video was playing on it, depicting footage of a building surrounded by what looked to be a blizzard.

“Is that from last night?” Jaehwan asked.

“Yeah. Apparently The Light is responsible for this. Geez, these guys are monsters.”

“I saw the news too. It’s on again?”

The three of them huddled around the phone, watching the reporter as she talked about the mafia boss who had been knocked unconscious in the fight, and how the police were too late in apprehending the ones who had launched the attack.

It seemed that last night was quite eventful. Not only was the mafia lair raided by an “unknown organization”, but the director of a famous company had stepped down, giving the position to his son. The report was finished with an interview of the son, who promised that the company was in good hands now.

Jaehwan heard his friends’ words of disbelief. It was quite odd, he had to admit. It was too sudden, too little reason behind it all. Foul play by the son perhaps, he thought. But he didn’t want to ponder about it too much.

The news finally moved on to another segment, and the three friends decided it was time to get some food and coffee before the next class.

Before leaving the room, Jaehwan spared a glance out the window. It was a bright day with a few wisps of cloud.

At least the weather was nice.

Minhyun had dressed casually. He needed to fit in with the people around him, and drawing unnecessary attention would only hinder the progress of his job.

Jeans, a white T-shirt, and converse shoes— they were casual and comfortable but weren’t the best clothes for combat. He also wore thin-rimmed glasses that would easily fall in a fight. But according to the files he had read last night, combat wouldn’t be needed. It would be a non-violent job, where no one got physically hurt, and wouldn’t take a long time either.

Walking through the gates of campus was a surreal feeling. His previous jobs had taken him to the gathering places of criminals, on shady streets and locations of top-class people and businessmen, and the homes of said people— just like last night’s job.

But now here he was, the tall buildings of a peaceful university and its students all around him.

With a bag over his shoulder, Minhyun didn’t walk aimlessly. He knew where he was headed— or more precisely, where his target was headed.

The files had a rather comprehensive description of the target’s daily schedules. Minhyun remembered the details that his client had provided. Some of them, he realized, seemed like details that would be acquired after weeks of stalking.

“On Tuesdays, Jaehwan’s class ends at around 12:30. After that, he usually grabs some coffee with his friends at the small café near his department. He sometimes skips the coffee and practices guitar near there too. Then he has another class at 3 PM. And then after that class he...” etcetera, etcetera.

Minhyun had been quite alarmed when he read it all. But he quickly dismissed the feeling. The nature of his client’s relationship with the target wasn’t important to him. It didn’t matter to him.

The Department of Applied Music was a large building in the middle of campus. He took a seat on one of the benches that lined up the pathway, digging into his bag for a notebook. Pretending to focus on his writing, he waited. After a few minutes, his mind began to wander.

He had received an assortment of requests before. Please control this mafia gang so I could use them. Please kill this person— make him choke himself. Please make my father hand over his director position to me.

Throughout the years, he had done and succeeded in many requests. They were all serious and heavy work, and yet this one that he currently was in the process of...

Please make Kim Jaehwan mess up in the university’s music competition.

It sounded like the request of a little child. Minhyun nearly scoffed when he read those words on the file— the file that was usually filled with dangerous and life-threatening words. But this... this sounded petty and pathetic and Minhyun wondered what kind of person would hire The Light for such a thing.

But the client had the money, so The Light accepted it. That was all that mattered. As long as the client could pay for the services, any job could be done.

Maybe the client was a spoiled child with a lot of money in his hands. Maybe he had a grudge against Jaehwan. Maybe he was a rival in this music competition.

Whatever the reason was, Minhyun would carry out the request. The competition was still days away, but he needed to see how he could easily control Kim Jaehwan. Today would simply be used as a sort of test-run. Once he confirmed that he could control the target, Minhyun would then inform the client, would then explain how the mind control would be used during the competition, how the request would easily be fulfilled.

Then Minhyun would head back to headquarters, get some well-deserved rest, maybe watch the sunset...

“The last person to reach the café has to buy food!”

“I’M CARRYING A GUITAR, IT’S HARD TO RUN.”

“You’re running hella fast, though?!”

Minhyun glanced up to see three boys running towards the café. At the front, cradling a guitar case carefully in his arms, was Kim Jaehwan.

It was all a mess, really. The three students were loud, laughing and yelling as they ran, their hair and clothes blown in the wind. Jaehwan had touched the café door with a small thud, afterwards slinging the guitar over his shoulder. He threw up his hands in a cheer of victory, the biggest smile on his face.

Kim Jaehwan wasn’t supposed to be impressive. The boy’s black hair was all tousled, even falling over his eyes. Over his jeans, he wore a simple gray hoodie that was slightly too big, the sleeves nearly covering his hands.

But Minhyun felt a weird squeeze in his chest, found himself staring at the boy a bit longer than he intended to. He finally glanced down at his notebook again. His eyes now staring at the scribbles on paper, he listened.

“I win! I win!”

“How the hell do you run so fast, Jaehwan...?”

Jaehwan laughed. It was loud and piercing but Minhyun didn’t find it unpleasant.

“Loser buys food.”

“Food!”

“Alright, alright. You guys go find a seat.”

There were tables outside the café. Jaehwan and his friend made themselves comfortable on one of them, while the other student entered through the door.

Jaehwan had placed his guitar case on an empty chair, patting it to get the dust off. After his friend returned with muffins and sandwiches, they busied themselves with the food and it was then that Minhyun glanced up.

The café was meters away, but Minhyun could still see how Jaehwan’s cheeks puffed out as he ate. The boy was like a hamster. It was cute.

Cute?

Minhyun mentally slapped himself.

No. Stop that. You can’t think something like that.

Eyes back on the notepad, Minhyun concentrated. He would need to start mind controlling soon. He had to focus, find the right timing...

The students had finished their small meal, discarding the wrappings into the trash bin. Jaehwan started taking out his guitar from its case.

“I think I’m gonna practice for a bit,” he said.

His friend grinned. “I’m sure you’re gonna win first place again.”

Jaehwan set the instrument on his knee, positioning his hands. “I’m just gonna try my best.”

Now, Minhyun thought. He closed his eyes, digging deep into the minds of the two students by Jaehwan’s side, and concentrated hard.

It was easy. Minhyun didn’t even need to try hard. It was as if he just needed to give a tiny prod, and they were both under his control.

One of the boys suddenly stood up. “Oh! Sorry, Jaehwan, I just remembered that I promised to meet up with someone.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Sorry.”

“Okay, I’ll see you in class.”

“See ya!”

Jaehwan turned to his other friend, who had tapped his shoulder.

“Sorry, I gotta go too.”

Looking confused, Jaehwan brow furrowed. “Where are you going?”

“I think I left something back at the classroom. I need to go get it.”

“I’ll come with—”

“No, it’s alright. I’m sure it’s still there. You need to practice.”

“Alright, then...?”

After the two boys had left, Minhyun could finally focus on just Jaehwan. He didn’t want any questioning looks or confusion happening if Jaehwan were to suddenly act differently than normal. He had to get rid of any witnesses.

Minhyun glanced up, relieved to see Jaehwan’s full attention on the guitar.

Jaehwan had a slight pout on his face, probably upset that his friends suddenly ditched him. But he then started tuning the guitar, and the pout disappeared, replaced with a dimpled smile.

Focus, Minhyun told himself. Focus.

And that was what he did. He focused, intending to dig right into the target’s mind, take control, and know that he could carry out his mission easily.

But that didn’t happen. Kim Jaehwan continued to tune his guitar, not flinching even a little bit. The mind control failed. Minhyun closed his eyes, tried again. Failed again.

He held back a sigh. Okay. So maybe it wouldn’t be that easy.

Minhyun had to get closer, and he needed to put more strength in his powers. But if he were to do so, his hands would start glowing. Just putting out a little of his energy would keep his hands free from the glow, but it was enough to take control the two previous students. Even from a distance, Minhyun could do it.

But apparently not for Kim Jaehwan.

He needed to get closer. The closer the proximity, the easier it would be.

While Minhyun began to think of ways to naturally approach his target, Jaehwan began to play.

Small, nimble fingers flew over guitar strings. The song was soft and calming, fitting well with the weather and bright sky.

Minhyun’s eyes had opened, once again focused on the boy in front of him. Jaehwan’s gaze was fixed on the guitar, as if making sure he plucked the right strings. But the boy eventually tilted his head, looking at the sky.

Then Jaehwan began to sing, and Minhyun knew he wouldn’t be able to look away even if he wanted to.

Winter air couldn't keep us from braving the cold

Laying out in the driveway, rapt to the bones

And your hair was all a mess

When I felt your hand pressed in mine

Jaehwan’s voice was soft, yet powerful at times. There was something magical about the way he sang— how he carried the lyrics. If Minhyun closed his eyes and imagined, he could see the sunny streets and sunny café disappearing, replaced with a dark sky full of clouds that poured snow onto a driveway below. He could see a house, its walls white with both snow and paint, slightly orange from the lights of the windows.

I knew it was love I was feeling

As the years begin to fade, your eyes still shine the same

As Jaehwan sang, it felt like he was telling a story. A story of two people, unsure of themselves and what they had between them. There was fear, there was doubt, but finally a revelation. But the years passed and the both of them made it through.

And I found you while dreaming of meteor showers

The story ended. The image of the snowy grounds and the snowy house faded from Minhyun’s mind, and he was brought back to reality again.

In front of him was the café. And seated at the café was Kim Jaehwan.

Jaehwan was still staring at the sky, as if searching for something that he couldn’t see.  

Minhyun could understand if his client felt jealous of Jaehwan’s singing. Or perhaps intimidated. There really was something special there. Winning a music competition wouldn’t be too hard of a feat.

Maybe Minhyun was still entranced when he found the words slipping out of his mouth, out of his control.

“That was amazing.”

By the time he realized that he had spoken his thoughts out loud, Jaehwan had already turned towards him.

They locked eyes, and it was as if a jolt of electricity ran down Minhyun’s spine.

Though slightly wide with surprise at the sudden praise, Jaehwan’s eyes were soft.

“Thank you.”

And his voice was soft too.

Minhyun wondered if he had screwed up already. But his mind quickly worked, focusing back on the job.  He had already gotten Jaehwan’s attention. He might as well do something with it.

He slightly raised his voice, making sure that Jaehwan heard his words even from the distance.

“You mind if I sit there with you?”

Another look of surprise. But Jaehwan was smiling nonetheless, gesturing to the seat next to him. “Not at all.”

Heart beating against his chest, Minhyun slipped the notepad into his backpack and stood up. He walked the short distance, and the closer he got to Jaehwan, the more he tried to concentrate.

“I’m guessing you’re from the Applied Music Department,” Minhyun said, setting down his backpack on an empty chair while he took the seat next to Jaehwan. Striking up conversations with his targets was something that he had mastered. When the target was focused on talking and answering, their attention would be divided, making it easier for the mind control to penetrate through.

Jaehwan smiled, and from up close Minhyun could see the dimple in the younger boy’s left cheek. “Good guess.”

“And I’m guessing that you’re joining the music competition.”

Jaehwan’s smile grew, but there was a curiosity and uncertainty in his eyes, as if asking who is this person? But he nodded nonetheless and answered. “That is correct.”

“You’ll do great.” Minhyun gave a smile in return, wanted to make Jaehwan comfortable and at ease.

“I hope so too.”

“I’m Minhyun.” Holding out his hand, Minhyun realized that he was nervous. This wasn’t like him. He was always so calm, so collected...

 Jaehwan’s fingers wrapped around his, giving a small yet firm shake. “Kim Jaehwan. Are you also a student here?”

“Yeah,” Minhyun lied, ignoring how the pace of his heart started quickening. “Department of Social Science.”

“I haven’t seen you around here.”

“It is a large campus.”

Jaehwan was the first to let go. Minhyun then slipped both of his hands underneath the table, hiding the glow that began to appear on his palms.

“I was just trying to cram in some extra studying,” Minhyun said. He was concentrating hard, but the easygoing look was on his face, putting on his most charming smile. “I couldn’t help but be impressed by your singing.”

“Is that so?”

“Yup.”

Why wasn’t it working?

His hands were warm. He quickly slipped them into his pockets, hiding his glowing palms completely.

Any other person would have already fallen under Minhyun’s control already. He had used the same amount of power that he threw at Mr. Park and his guards and yet... this boy wasn’t even swayed in the least.

Keep talking to him, Minhyun told himself. Distract him. Scatter his thoughts.

“Would you like a cup of coffee?”

At Minhyun's offer, Jaehwan’s eyes slightly widened again. The tips of his ears had taken on a light pink color, the shade darkening quickly.

Minhyun wondered if he had gone overboard. But wasn’t this natural? Just a person being interested in another person... and asking them out on a cup of coffee?

He knew the implications behind it. Felt a little guilty about it. It was all up to interpretation, really. But he felt uneasy at the possibility of playing with the feelings of the boy in front of him.

Minhyun quickly caught himself. Playing with feelings was exactly what he had done countless times— it was exactly what he was doing now. Feeling bad about it was useless. He had numbed down his own emotions— of guilt, of uneasiness, of feeling like the most horrible person alive.

He was supposed to be used to it. He was supposed to feel numb.

“Sure.”

He shouldn’t be feeling his heart skip a beat when Jaehwan accepted the offer. But he did.

Minhyun smiled. “Okay. Shall we go inside?”

Jaehwan nodded, and the both of them collected their belongings. Minhyun held the café door open for Jaehwan as he went in, vaguely aware of their height difference.

It was a simple café in the middle of campus, but it was nice and cozy. Though he wasn’t a fan of coffee himself, Minhyun bought two cups. One for him, and one for Jaehwan.

They found seats facing the window, the both of them looking at the view outside before Minhyun struck up another conversation. It was actually... comfortable and calm. If Minhyun was a student, he could get used to this.

“Where did you learn to sing?” Minyhun had asked.

Jaehwan held the cup with both of his small hands, fingers peeking out from beyond the hoodie’s sleeves. “I’ve been singing ever since I was little. I knew that I wanted to be a singer as I grew up. So I learned here and there. And here I am.”

Nodding at Jaehwan’s answer, Minhyun realized two things.

One: he was genuinely interested in the younger boy’s answer, though he should not have been.

Two: his mind control still wasn’t working.

And this was bad. Both was bad.

But he kept trying. Minhyun listened to Jaehwan as he talked, casually added remarks and more questions. Eventually Jaehwan started asking about Minhyun, and Minhyun continued to smile and delivered a lie of how he had always wanted to go to this university, how ecstatic he was when he got in, how life was so far in his department, and how he was looking forward to graduating.

Lies, lies, and more lies.

“Oh, you’re my sunbaenim, then!” Jaehwan remarked.

Minhyun chuckled. “That’s right.”

Time had passed without the both of them realizing. Jaehwan had finished his coffee while Minhyun’s had remained untouched. He told Jaehwan that he was saving it for his class, though in reality he had to keep his hands underneath the table. He wasn’t going to let the glow of his palms give him away.

“Class...” Jaehwan then echoed. He then pulled back his sleeve, revealing the watch around his small wrist. “Oh wow, it’s this time already?” He glanced up, locking eyes with Minhyun. “Sorry, sunbaenim. I have to go. I have class in five minutes.”

“Oh...” Minhyun realized that he sounded disappointed. The disappointment may have stemmed from the fact that his mind control had failed and that he would tell his client that he'd try again...

Or it may be simply because Kim Jaehwan was leaving, and Minhyun didn’t want him to leave yet.

The mission, Minhyun thought. You can’t fail this mission.

Another attempt would have to be made. He could easily find Jaehwan at another time— he had Jaehwan’s entire schedule with him anyways.

But it could become suspicious to coincidentally bump into each other like that. He couldn’t risk Jaehwan being even a little suspicious of him.

So Minhyun did what he thought was a more natural approach. With a smile, he asked, “Can I have your phone number?”

“Oh,” Jaehwan said, surprise in his voice. “Sure.”

“I accidentally left my phone at home, so...”

“That’s fine, sunbaenim.”

Jaehwan had dug into his guitar case, taking out a pen and a piece of binder paper. Minhyun watched the younger boy as he wrote, focusing on his small hands and finally on his side profile.

Minhyun knew he was staring again. But for just a few seconds, he allowed himself to do so.

After carefully folding the paper and handing it to Minhyun, Jaehwan stood up and swung the guitar case over his shoulder. He gave a small bow.

“It was nice meeting you.”

“It was nice meeting you too, Jaehwan.”

Jaehwan.

Minhyun liked the sound of the boy’s name on his tongue.

After giving a little wave and another smile, Jaehwan left. And for a while, Minhyun stared out the window, even long after the student disappeared from sight.

Mind control was like digging a tunnel.

But for reasons unknown, Kim Jaehwan’s mind was guarded— a huge barrier protecting him from any digging.

Forget a tunnel. A tunnel was far too much.

Minhyun couldn’t even break through the surface.

When Jisung woke up, the pounding headache from yesterday was gone.

In fact, he felt a whole lot better.

For a few precious seconds, he basked in the feeling. When was the last time his body felt this light?

Then the realization dawned on him, and he immediately sat up in bed.

There was only one reason why he was feeling so much better, and it was that he had gotten a lot of sleep. Lots and lots of sleep.

Which meant that he had overslept and that itself was bad—

“Good morning, hyung. Oh wait. Good afternoon.”

“Sungwoon! What time is it?”

Sungwoon was sitting at their shared desk, glasses perched on his noise. He squinted at the laptop in front of him.

“Almost 2 o’clock.”

“Oh my god, why didn’t you wake me up?” Jisung was already fumbling out of bed, his hair a mess. “I have so much to do and—”

“Chill, hyung. They’re all covered.”

“Wh-What?”

“I finished all those tasks for you. I wrote up some reports. There’s just a bit left and we’ll be able to finish it by tonight.”

Jisung stared and stared some more. He then fell back onto the bed, relief and gratefulness seeping through his bones.

“You really didn’t have to.”

“I wanted to, hyung. We’re a team.”

“You are an angel, Sungwoon.”

Sungwoon laughed brightly. “Like I said, we’re a team.”

“Please tell me that you slept too.”

“I did. A few hours and I’m feeling fine.”

Rubbing at his eyes and feeling a huge weight lifted off his shoulders, Jisung asked, “How are the others?”

“The kids are helping Jinyoung adjust. Daehwi’s doing a good job introducing the place to him. Guanlin and Seonho are helping too.” Sungwoon then paused. “Minhyun left early in the morning. He said that he’d report his progress at the end of the day. There’s a new mission for the two Parks, but I’m looking through the details first before giving it to them. As for Daniel and Seongwoo...”

“They’re resting, aren’t they?”

Sungwoon nodded, a sad smile playing at his mouth. “They used up all their energy yesterday. The higher-ups know better than to send them on missions when they’re not in a condition to defend themselves.”

“Right...”

Jisung bit his lip. He knew Daniel. He knew that Daniel needed more than one day to fully recover, but even if Jisung begged for more time, the higher-ups wouldn’t comply. And he couldn’t do anything about it.

He hated this helplessness. But he didn’t want to feel helpless any longer.

“You should get something to eat, hyung,” Sungwoon then said. “A late brunch, perhaps.”

Sungwoon was right. Jisung couldn’t deny the grumbling of his stomach. “Sounds like a good idea.”

Jisung wasn’t surprised to find the hallways nearly empty. At this time of the day, most of the Lights would be out on their jobs, scattered across the city and surrounding places. Perhaps in other cities as well.

The elevator was also empty when he stepped into it. Leaning against the wall, he waited while it ascended.

He wondered how his members were doing. Minhyun would already have met his target by now. Jinyoung could be having a hard time— he made note to check on the boy later. He needed to reread the documents for the two Park’s mission, wanting to see just how dangerous the job was. He also wanted to talk to Daniel and make sure that he was okay—

The elevator door swung open to reveal a familiar face.

“Hi, Eunbi.”

“Oh! Jisung, I didn’t expect to see you here.”

As Eunbi stepped into the elevator, Jisung could see the shadows under her eyes. Again, he suddenly felt guilty for oversleeping.

She also leaned heavily against the wall, her eyes unfocused. The doors closed again, and they continued their ascent.

Jisung had known the other leader long enough to see that her mind was somewhere else. Something was troubling her.

Without a word, he walked over to the elevator’s control and with expert hands, he tampered with it. The elevator halted.

Eunbi didn’t look surprised. He walked back to her, leaning against the wall again.

The elevator was one of very few places in headquarters where no guards lurked, where they could speak freely. But these days he had been extremely paranoid, so he made sure that the volume of his voice was only loud enough to be heard by the two of them.

“Eunbi, did something happen?”

A small silence. And then a small sigh from Eunbi’s lips.

“I sent Chaeyeon on her first solo mission,” she finally said. “The danger level of the mission is pretty high, so I’m more than worried. Sakura keeps asking me if Chaeyeon had sent any reports yet on her progress, but I haven’t gotten anything yet.”

The words sent a prickling feeling to Jisung’s chest. He himself was always worried whenever he sent his boys on missions. He remembered months ago when he had stayed up one night, feeling like the world was closing in around him, as he waited for news from Minhyun. The danger level was also high for that particular mission— because it was the first time Minhyun was hired as a hitman.

Minhyun had returned with bloody hands and an empty gaze, and Jisung had thrown his arms around the younger man, relieved that he was at least back alive.

The leaders of each group weren’t just constantly worried about the people in their team— but also in the other teams as well. Everyone shared a burden. Everyone shared their worries and fears.

Jisung reached over and gave Eunbi a comforting pat on the shoulder. “I know it’s scary, but we have to hope for the best.”

He couldn’t say words of Chaeyeon will be fine. I’m sure she’ll be safe. Because he had no guarantee for those words. Not even for his own boys. And that was what scared him.

Eunbi just gave a little nod of understanding. “Of course.”

She looked too tense. Too exhausted.

“There’s something else,” Jisung said, “isn’t there?”

Another nod. “Chaeyeon’s not the only one sent on her first solo mission.” A pause. “Wonyoung too.”

“What?”

“I tried my best to negotiate with the higher-ups. I literally begged for them to let me take the mission instead. Or at least let me or somebody from my team accompany her. But they wouldn’t let me.” Eunbi let out a shuddered breath. “They sent a 12-year-old girl on a high risk mission. All alone.”

Jisung was speechless.

“I know she’s strong,” Eunbi said, her voice weak. But the anger was there. “I know that her powers are sought out. But this is just... just...”

She didn’t finish the sentence. But Jisung understood. He understood well.

“I want to not follow the organization’s orders,” Eunbi then said. “I wish I could do just that. I just want to protect my kids.”

“Eunbi...”

“No matter the cost.”

“The cost could be the organization getting rid of you.” Jisung spoke softly, but he was as concerned as can be. “Just like what they did to Taedong. We can’t let that happen. Your kids need you here, Eunbi. We need you here.” A short silence overcame the small elevator. “You, me, Nayoung, and Taehyun. We’re the four pillars that keep all of this together. If one of us is gone, the whole thing will come crashing down.”

The next silence was longer as the words sank in.

“You’re right, Jisung. But this can’t continue. You know it can’t. We need to put the plan into action as soon as we can.” Eunbi had a sharp gaze whenever she was serious. And right now, it was as sharp as ever. “Maybe we can’t be quick enough to withdraw Chaeyeon and Wonyoung from those missions. But we need to be quick enough to save as many Lights as possible.”

“I know.”

“Taehyun says that we can have the meeting this week. He’s found a suitable place for it. Nayoung’s digging up more information.”

“And we’ve both been doing whatever we can,” Jisung finished. “We can do this, Eunbi. We can all do this.”

Eunbi nodded. “One day, we’ll all be free.”

Jisung gave a determined smile. She returned it.

Eunbi then walked over to the elevator controls, fiddling with it just like Jisung. A few seconds later, they were ascending once again.

“Where are you off to, Daniel?”

“Gonna go out for a drive. Headquarters is getting a little too stuffy for me. I can’t sleep.”

“Whoa wait, what. You’re gonna drive when you’re sleep-deprived?”

“It’ll be fine, hyung.”

Seongwoo stepped in front of the door of their shared room, blocking the way.

“No, it won’t,” the older of the two said. “I can’t have you driving off a cliff or something. I’ll drive.”

“You’re sleep-deprived too, hyung.”

“Not as badly as you. You look like a zombie, Niel.”

Daniel laughed, albeit a bit weakly. “There’s no way to change your mind, huh?”

A smirk on Seongwoo’s face, he answered, “Not in a million years.”

The truth was, Seongwoo was tired as hell. Flying all the way from the city to headquarters, especially while carrying people on his back, was more than just a little exhausting. Even the hours and hours of sleep barely did anything to replenish his strength. The fact that he kept waking up didn’t help either.

Apparently Daniel was having the same problem. The clock nearly struck 5 PM when Daniel peeked at his friend from the top bunk, announcing that he needed to go.

Though tired, Seongwoo could still focus on the road, could still concentrate enough, could still keep his eyes open to make sure they didn’t drive off a cliff.

The Light had many cars, all scattered at hidden locations near headquarters. None of them were too fancy, not wanting to attract attention when taken into the city. But there were still some decent ones.

One certain car was a favorite pick of both Seongwoo and Daniel. It was a small white-colored vehicle, although a little battered up from previous drives, it was a car that they used often and had fond memories of.

It was a familiar sight— Seongwoo behind the driver’s wheel and Daniel in the passenger’s seat beside him. Sometimes they would have snacks with them. Sometimes they would play music.

But today they let a comfortable silence fill the air, occasionally taking sips from the bottles of water that they had brought, and letting the sunset wash over them through the windows.

The sky was painted a warm orange color, blending in with the dark blue of nightfall. The stars would be out soon.

As he drove, Seongwoo couldn’t help but let a smile tug at his lips. They might be at an isolated location, in the middle of nowhere, but at least the view was nice. That was enough to put him at ease, to help clear his thoughts.

And of course, he had Kang Daniel next to him. He was happy with just that fact.

They found a rather precarious cliff that overlooked the sunset. The sky stretched out endlessly in front of them, while the vast sea glistened below.

Seongwoo parked the car at the safest place he could find. The two of them continued on foot, slowly but gradually. Seongwoo would always glance at Daniel once in a while, making sure the younger man wouldn’t suddenly collapse right there.

They stayed at a good distance from the cliff’s edge. There was a bit of grass underneath them, serving as a slight cushion when they sat.

For a bit they just stared at the horizon in front of them. The sun was beginning to sink, nearly touching the sea, the sky turning an even darker shade of blue.

Daniel initially had his legs stretched out in front of him, but he eventually folded them, hugging his own knees.

Seongwoo watched as the sunset’s colors played on Daniel’s face. It was as if Daniel radiated a golden glow, perhaps even looking a little ethereal.

He was also familiar with the expression on Daniel’s face. The younger man’s mind was wandering, a barrage of thoughts in his mind.

Seongwoo was just about to break the silence when Daniel suddenly spoke.

“Last night’s mission was pretty crazy wasn’t it?”

Daniel’s gaze was fixed on the horizon. He was watching the sunset.

“It was,” Seongwoo answered.

“I can’t remember the last time I conjured up a storm that big.”

“That was pretty impressive, Daniel.”

“Thanks, hyung. You caught the kids really well too.”

“Why, thank you.”

They both smiled at the praises. But like a sudden change of temperature, the smile faded from Daniel’s face, just a little.

“Hyung.”

“Yes, Daniel?”

“Do you miss home?”

Now that took Seongwoo off guard. It was one of those topics that they treaded carefully on. They tread on it carefully as if it was thin ice.

“Of course, I do,” Seongwoo answered. “But there’s nothing we can do about it, right? It’s all in the past.”

“Sounds sad,” Daniel said.

“Sad but heartbreakingly real,” Seongwoo replied.

“I guess you do have a point there, hyung.”

“Do you miss home, Daniel?”

“Of course.” Daniel then turned to him, the smallest of smiles on his face. “But it’s been so long, hasn’t it? I don’t know if I’ll even be welcomed. I don’t even know if someone’s still waiting for me there.”

“Daniel...”

“Sorry for this sudden and random talk. I must be more sleep-deprived than I thought.”

“No, it’s fine...”

There was another silence. It didn’t last long.

“Something big is going to happen, hyung.”

“What do you mean, Niel?”

Daniel tightened the hug on his knees. “I’m not sure what. But I’ve started to notice things. Jisung-hyung’s been acting really serious lately. I see him talking to the other group leaders. I sometimes see the other group leaders talking to each other. They speak in hushed voices, so I haven’t a clue what they’re saying. They try to do it inconspicuously, but I noticed anyways.”

Gaze becoming more intense, Seongwoo wondered just how long Daniel had kept the thoughts pent up inside him.

“Jisung-hyung didn’t tell me anything,” Daniel said. “But I think... no, I’m sure he will tell us all one day. Till then we can only wait. But something is coming, hyung. I can feel it.”

Daniel looked tired, confused, scared, and perhaps a little excited all at once. Seongwoo wanted nothing more than to reach out and hold his hand, to comfort him, to give Daniel’s fingers a reassuring squeeze.

But Seongwoo held himself back. Gaze unwavering from Daniel’s face, he answered, “We’ll be alright. We’ll all be alright.”

Then Daniel smiled and it hurt Seongwoo to see it. Previous memories had flashed in his mind— memories of a time where things seemed a bit simpler. And a bit more beautiful.

He missed those days.

The younger man then rubbed his eyes, using his other hand to stifle a yawn. “Do you think we could sleep here, hyung?”

Seongwoo pulled himself away from his thoughts. “I don’t see why not.”

Daniel didn’t say another word as he flopped onto his back, arms stretched out as if he was going to make a snow angel. He closed his eyes with a sigh.

Before drifting off to sleep, Daniel mumbled, “You should sleep too, hyung.”

Now that Daniel wasn’t looking at him, Seongwoo didn’t need to control his facial expressions anymore. He didn’t need to hide the hurt in his features. Nor did he need to hide the fondness that was mixed in with the hurt— because whatever Daniel did, Seongwoo would always be fond of him.

Even if Seongwoo’s heart was breaking all over again.

“Nah,” the older man said. The sinking sun’s glow was like a warm blanket over them. But it didn’t feel all that warm to him. “I’m gonna watch over you.”

I’ll protect you. Always.

Chapter Text

um... hi, everyone. it's been a while. i hope you're all doing well.

Chapter Text

Lights didn’t always have powers.

In fact, for quite a while they had lived as any other human being. Just a normal human with a normal life that they would afterwards seek for.

It all started with a meteor shower.

Not one single person predicted it. Experts were thrown into confusion, along with the billions of humans living on Earth. It occurred at the same moment.

In Seoul, it occurred half an hour till midnight. Witnesses would say that the clock had struck 11:30 PM, and the first streaks of lights started to tear through the sky.

Civilians rushed out of their homes and buildings, their eyes on the sky, their fingers pointing at the vast unknown above them. They would claim that they first saw at least a dozen shooting stars, then more and more of those lights would appear. This continued until the sky was full of them— all those lights flying across the night sky, painting it a bright color.

The meteor shower lasted for an hour. Although a beautiful spectacle, people were starting to worry if any of those shooting stars would come pummeling into the Earth. But their worry didn’t last long when the last streak of light faded into the night sky, returning it to its black opaque color.

Everyone talked about the mysterious astronomical phenomenon. They wondered how it occurred— and why it occurred.

But another phenomenon would come, and they would soon be talking about that as if their life depended on it. In some cases, lives truly did depend on it.

Nothing could explain it. It went against all logic, any common sense.

People started to have superpowers.

Snow had shot out of a boy’s hand. A girl was suddenly able to float. Other children were able to convince people to do anything they wanted— all with just a flick of their hand or a few sweet words.

And it continued with all sorts of new and different abilities that logic could not explain. Only a small portion of the human population had gained mysterious powers, while the majority stayed as normal as they had always been.

But that small portion (they would call themselves the unfortunate ones) had one thing in common.

They were all witnesses to the meteor shower.

Some had run out of their homes. Some had gazed at the lights from their windows. Some were outside, staring at the night sky. But ultimately, they were all watching the meteor shower.

Yet not all witnesses had gained powers. Just an extremely small portion had woken up the next day, squinting their eyes as their hands glowed a certain color. They would discover what they were capable of on that same morning. Age didn’t matter. It affected children. It affected those much older, even the elderly.

But for some, the powers would appear as time passed. Days later, months later, and for extremely rare cases, even years later. Perhaps the meteor shower was a coincidence and that the powers would have appeared anyways. Yet some believed that certain individuals always had such abilities— that the powers simply laid dormant and the meteor shower was a trigger to bring it out.

Either way, as soon the media heard of the first set of people and their unnatural abilities, the news spread quickly. When faced with something that could not be explained scientifically and logically, the world’s nature was to fear it. And so, fear and confusion spread quickly. It didn’t help that the people with these abilities were initially unable to control it. Naturally, accidents occurred.

Soon, the media came up with a label for these unfortunate people. Based on the glow that emitted from their hands when using their powers, they were called Lights.

Some Lights sought for help and failed. Some were chased out of their homes. Some ran away. Some quickly embraced their powers and used it for their own needs.

All of them struggled to survive. Some feigned that they were normal, hiding their powers out of fear.

It was some sick and twisted fate for an illegal organization to appear out of nowhere— out of the shadows, as some people would say— and name itself The Light. No one was sure when the organization started to recruit Lights, or when they had started their business. But one thing for sure was that it existed, living and breathing with the rest of the world, committing crimes every single day. It continued to thrive throughout the years.

But perhaps, things were about to change in that organization. Perhaps.

Seonho jumped down from his bed, immediately squatting to see his big brother still fast asleep in the bottom bunk.

One thing Seonho noticed, in the dim light of their shared room, was the shadows underneath Guanlin’s eyes. The second thing he noticed was how Guanlin’s fingers were curled in a fist. He was holding onto something.

Curiosity taking ahold, Seonho carefully uncurled his brother’s fingers.

There was a photograph on the palm of Guanlin’s hand. A moment was captured on that photograph— of two toddlers holding hands underneath a sky full of lights.

The photo was from thirteen years ago. It was of him and Guanlin during the mysterious meteor shower. Their mother had taken the photo from behind, thus their faces weren’t seen. But Seonho knew that he was the toddler on the left. That little guy was shorter than the other.

Seonho smiled. Silly hyung. Why would he fall asleep while holding onto this thing?

But he was happy. It meant that his big brother was thinking of him before falling asleep.

Releasing Guanlin’s hand, Seonho watched as the other boy shifted in his sleep, fingers wrapping around the photo once again. The shadows underneath Guanlin’s eyes were really darker than usual.

Hyung must be exhausted.

Seonho climbed to his feet. Feeling determined, he nodded to himself, silently declaring that he was going to grab breakfast for Guanlin. He could already imagine the smile on his big brother’s face upon waking up to food right in front of his eyes.

So Seonho left, feeling that he was on a mission. And he would not fail this one.

Seonho (literally) bumped into Jinyoung on the way to the cafeteria.

Eyes wide, Jinyoung visibly flinched. He backed up a little, then bumped into the wall behind him.

“Oh, sorry, Jinyoung-hyung!”

“It— It’s fine, Seonho.”

Daehwi was there with them. He put a hand on Jinyoung’s back, as if soothing him. “Jinyoung-hyung gets surprised easily,” he said in a light-hearted manner. But he sounded serious about it.

“I can see that,” Seonho said, feeling a little bad for not paying more attention and for bumping into Jinyoung. He would be more careful next time.

“So where are you off to?” Daehwi said, all smiles.

“I’m gonna grab some breakfast for Guanlin-hyung!”

Daehwi continued to smile. “We were just about to get some food before Jinyoung-hyung starts his training. Let’s go to the eating area together.”

“Sure!” Seonho then blinked. “Oh, Jinyoung-hyung’s gonna start training? Can I come too?”

Jinyoung had been staring at the ground, but he immediately looked up at Seonho’s question.

Seonho watched as the two older boys locked eyes, as if talking without speaking. Daehwi gave Jinyoung a comforting grin. Jinyoung finally nodded.

“Of course you can come, Seonho,” Jinyoung said, his voice quiet as always.

Happiness filling him up, Seonho flashed a thumbs up. “Awesome!”

And he continued to feel that way. That’s right. Yoo Seonho had a firm belief that his days were awesome. Today. Tomorrow. And the days onward.

He also believed that his days would become even more awesome once his powers appeared. Nope, not if. When.

Seonho believed that his powers would appear, sooner or later.

After breakfast, the four boys went to the seaside right outside headquarters.

Daehwi felt the wind blowing hard in his face. The weather wasn’t the best, but they had to start the training as soon as possible. They already had missions waiting for them. But first, making sure that Jinyoung had control of his powers was top priority.

The brothers were tagging along too. Daehwi remembered the bewildered look on Guanlin’s face when he woke up to a pile of bread piled on top of him. Seonho couldn’t stop grinning from ear to ear ever since.

(And Daehwi didn’t miss the hint of fondness on Guanlin’s face either.)

Another harsh wind blew in their direction. Daehwi sighed a little. Of course the weather had to be bad, of all days.

“Training day!” Seonho said cheerfully. “Guanlin-hyung’s gonna practice too.”

“Oh?” Daehwi turned towards Guanlin, who gave a little nod.

“Jisung-hyung told me... Well, the higher-ups told Jisung-hyung to tell me.” Guanlin stared at the sea for a bit before continuing. “Point is, I’ve been told that I need to strengthen my powers. I need to create bigger waves. To control the sea more.”

Daehwi recalled the waves that Guanlin had conjured up before. The older boy was pretty strong, already.

But of course, the organization wanted more. They always wanted more.

Guanlin pulled on a grin, turning to Jinyoung. “We’ll be training buddies, then.”

It took Jinyoung a few seconds to answer. “Right. Training buddies.”

“Good luck, Jinyoung-hyung. It may be hard at first, but I know you can do it.”

“Th— Thanks.”

Daehwi saw the slight tug at the corner of JInyoung’s lips. He hoped he could see Jinyoung’s smile one day. He found himself looking forward to it.

Clasping his hands together, Daehwi chirped, “So. Shall we start?” He then softened his voice. “Ready to start, Jinyoung-hyung?”

Jinyoung looked far from ready, but he nodded nonetheless.

“Alright. Sungwoon-hyung said that he’ll join us later, but we can start first to assess your powers.” Daehwi then pointed to the sea, at a big boulder that was far off shore. “Do you see that rock over there, hyung?”

Jinyoung nodded. “Yeah.”

“Try blasting it,” Daehwi said simply. “Strike it with lightning. But keep it moderate since we’ll be seeing your accuracy too.”

“Oh...” It wasn’t hard to detect the uneasiness on Jinyoung’s face. His eyes had kept shifting from the boulder and then to the sandy ground, and then to the boulder again. “Sure. I can do that.”

“When you’re ready, hyung.”

Daehwi couldn’t help but remember what Woojin had told him, on the night they had recruited Jinnyoung.

This kid’s out of control, Woojin’s voice echoed in Daehwi’s head. He’s been blasting entire buildings to the ground just ‘cause he can’t figure out his own powers. It gets worse when he’s emotional.

Jinyoung held up his arm, pointing it in the direction of the boulder.

Oh come on, Daehwi thought. How bad can it be?

Sparks of light started to appear on Jinyoung’s shaky fingers. For a split second, everything was silent.

Then lightning shot out of Jinyoung’s hand, glowing so brightly that it blinded them all. It sounded like a cannon firing.

An explosion followed, along with the sound of a large splash. Daehwi had slapped his hands over the sides of his head, protecting his eardrums.

But he kept his eyes open. Through the blinding brightness, he saw the streak of lightning hurtling towards the boulder.

And he saw the boulder getting absolutely annihilated. It had shattered into countless pieces, scattering all over the sea’s surface before sinking.

It wasn’t just that. The lightning had hit the surrounding waters as well, and for a few seconds, he could see the water shake, the ripples lit up.

Jinyoung himself had stumbled back a few feet before losing his balance. He then fell onto the sandy ground, hand still held out in front of him.

Guanlin and Seonho’s mouths were gaping in both terror and surprise. Seonho was visibly shaking. Daehwi himself could only imagine the look that was probably on his own face.

After an achingly long silence that felt like an eternity, Daehwi finally cleared his throat.

Well, he thought. This might be a lot harder than I thought.

Woojin’s words were echoing in his head again. Absentmindedly, he wondered what Woojin and Jihoon were doing. Wondered if their day was a little more peaceful than his.

But then again, this was the two Parks that he was thinking about. A peaceful day was something far from their lane.

Here we go again

I kinda wanna be more than friends

“I think we should shut off the radio,” Jihoon suddenly declared.

Woojin had his eyes focused on the road, his hands gripping tightly onto the wheel. He was driving at a safe speed, casually just like any other car. At Jihoon’s words, he glanced to the right, locking eyes with his friend for a split second.

He then turned back to the road. “Why? You don’t like Neon Trees?”

The song resonates too much with me, Jihoon thought.

“No,” Jihoon said— or rather mumbled— under his breath. “I just think we need to focus on the mission. Music could be distracting.”

Woojin let out a laugh. Jihoon hated how much he loved that laugh.

“Don’t worry. Music actually helps me concentrate, Jihoon.”

“If you say so...”

“I think this mission’s pretty straightforward.” Woojin let out a hum before he continued. “All we need to do is intercept that black van in front of us, kidnap the target, and take him to our client.”

“Right.” They had been tailing the van for a solid five minutes. The occupants of said van didn’t seem to suspect anything, not aware of the impending disaster that would follow. Seemingly not aware that in just a few minutes, two boys would overtake and ambush them.

Jihoon glanced out the window. The streets and roads weren’t crowded at this time of day. But they were still in the city, and anywhere in the city still bustled with activity. Hopefully they could finish the mission without drawing too much attention.

And after they finished...? They would report back to headquarters, but they didn’t need to head back immediately. There was plenty of time before the sun set.

Maybe we could even get a late lunch, Jihoon mulled in his mind. He then glanced at Woojin, who was still concentrating on the road. Maybe... we could...

For a while, Jihoon wondered whether he should step forward. A part of him said no, don’t do it. But the other part of him broke through, pushing and willing himself to be brave.

Maybe we could...

“Lunch,” Jihoon finally blurted out, not giving himself time to hesitate.

“What?” Woojin looked confused. Of course he would look confused. “You’re hungry already?”

“I— I mean—” It was interesting how Jihoon spoke so smoothly whenever he used his charm powers on enemies. But here he was, stumbling over his words in front of Park Woojin. “Maybe after this mission. We could— You know. Have lunch together.” He paused. “And after that we could hang out a bit around the city. I read about some nice places to go to and I thought it’d be nice if we both—”

“Hold on,” Woojin suddenly said.

The words got caught in Jihoon’s throat. It took all of his courage to attempt to ask Woojin out on a simple date, and yet Woojin was telling him to wait?

“Hey,” Jihoon said, trying to hide the annoyance and slight hurt in his voice. “I’m trying to—”

“Jihoon, hold on.”

“Woojin—”

“GRAB ONTO SOMETHING RIGHT NOW!”

“What?”

In the next second, Jihoon’s body was violently jolted to the side. Woojin had veered the car to the right, hands a blur on the steering wheel as he turned it as quickly as he could. The sound of gunfire and shattering glass filled their ears.

The song continued to play in the background, the lyrics easily heard over the noise.

And I’m afraid I won’t get out alive

No, I won’t sleep tonight

Everything was a blur for Jihoon. Realizing that his seatbelt didn’t do much to hold him back, he quickly grabbed onto the car handle to steady himself.

The gunshots still continued and Woojin was doing his best to avoid the direct line of fire.

Oh oh, I want some more

Oh oh, what are you waiting for?

Take a bite of my heart tonight

“They found us out!” Woojin yelled.

“Yeah, I can see that!” Jihoon yelled back.

Through the windshield now filled with bullet holes, Jihoon saw that the occupants of the car in front of them were, in fact, not oblivious to the two Lights. A man was hanging out the van’s window, half of his body out, a machine gun in his hand. Bullets were pouring out of it.

“How did they know we were coming?” Jihoon muttered.

Woojin grit his teeth and hit the steering wheel again. The car swerved to the right, dodging another round of gunshots heading their way. “No idea, but what are we gonna do now?”

“Stick to the plan.”

“While that dude’s trying to kill us?

“I’ll distract him while you get the target.” Jihoon was just about to open the window when Woojin let out a sharp intake of breath. Jihoon then looked ahead, saw that the enemy wasn’t holding just a gun this time. “Holy shit, is that a—?”

Woojin only had time to say “get out” before Jihoon flung open his car door, throwing himself out onto the street. He hit the pavement with a thud, rolling for a few meters before coming to a halt. He knew Woojin did the same, hearing another thud and more curse words.

The air lit up as the sound of a deafening explosion followed. Jihoon covered his head, hoping that none of the debris hit him.

He somehow made it through. As the explosion began to die down, he quickly ran to his feet and took cover behind a parked car.

Woojin was by his side in the next second. They could hear the screeching of tires as the enemy van sped away.

“They blew up our car,” Woojin said. His cheek was scratched, small trickles of blood visible. “With a fucking bazooka.”

“No shit, Sherlock.”

“They’re getting away.”

Jihoon could feel his hands warming up. “Well, we’re not gonna let them, are we?”

Woojin grinned widely. “Hell no.”

Then they hopped to their feet, heart pounding against their chests. Jihoon’s eyes scanned the area around them. People were screaming and running away from the scene, bumping and shoving each other to get away.

Jihoon didn’t even need to look at the remains of their destroyed car to know that they needed another method of transportation. And he knew exactly what to do.

Without blinking, he stepped out into the road, where vehicles careened towards him.

He held out his hands, concentrating hard. Light burst out of his fingertips, hitting two motorcyclists in the chest.

“Stop,” he said calmly.

Cars sped past him, but the two motorcycles halted once they reached his side. Woojin watched with awe as Jihoon spoke again.

“You two are going to let me and my friend here borrow your bikes. Okay?”

In a daze, the men on the motorcycles nodded. Then they both got off, standing on the streets as if waiting for another command.

“Come on, Woojin.” Jihoon hopped on the closest motorcycle, and soon his friend took his place on the other. “Let’s hope they didn’t get too far away.”

“Right.”

Then they took off, with Jihoon on the front. The speed meter kept getting higher and higher, but he still felt they weren’t going fast enough.

It should have been difficult to drive fast with all the vehicles and people on the streets, but years of experience had prepared them for moments like these. The two of them dodged and swerved, not hitting anyone or anything.

A couple streets later and the black van was in their eyesight again. Jihoon gritted his teeth as they got closer. He just needed to be close enough to use his powers on the men inside—

“Watch out!” Woojin yelled.

Jihoon made a sudden, sharp swerve as bullets began raining down upon them again. This time there were two men, peeking from the van's windows from both sides, guns in their hands.

Before the next round of bullets came, Jihoon made a turn, heading to another street. They would lose sight of the van for a bit, but they needed a safe spot to come up with another plan.

Woojin pulled up by his side as Jihoon decreased his speed, though none of them stopped.

“They’re heading for the highway,” Woojin said, loud enough for the other boy to hear. He held a device in his hand, seeing the blinking dot flash across streets on the small screen. Their client had snuck a tracking device on the van, and the Lights could see its current location on handheld devices. Also courtesy of the client. “You know that large overpass near the river? Once they’re past that, it’s the highway for them.”

“Right.” Jihoon’s mind was working a million miles a minute. They couldn’t get near the van without getting shot at. Maybe they could have aimed for the wheels, or the front seats. Woojin could send a burst of explosive energy there, but then again, they didn’t know where their target sat. Their client made it clear to bring him alive.

If they accidentally hit the target instead, the mission would end in failure.

The overpass.

A crazy idea had popped up in Jihoon's head. It was so crazy that he even wondered if he could pull it off.

But when it came to him and Woojin, they did the most unbelievable things to get missions done. It was one of their unintentional trademarks that both Lights and clients knew about them— that the two Parks were a crazy pair, yet with very very high success rates.

“We’ll need to do a surprise attack,” Jihoon said. “If we just come up behind them, they’ll easily see us. We need to pop out and take them by surprise.” He had a quick glance at Woojin before focusing on the front again. “You need to go to the road underneath the overpass. A place where you can get a clear view of it. And you need to be fast. You have to get there before them.”

Woojin nodded. “Okay. And then...?”

“For now, just get there. I’ll head somewhere else. I’ll tell you what to do later.” Jihoon tapped his earpiece. “Comms are on.”

“Right.”

Jihoon flashed him a quick grin. “See you later, then.”

Just before Jihoon headed off, Woojin shouted behind him, “Hey, be careful, alright?”

“You too!”

Park Woojin was an unpredictable boy.

And so was Park Jihoon. They were both unpredictable boys.

But the thing was, even though they were partners in crime (in the literal sense, as well), they still managed to surprise each other with their improvising. Because— face it— in reality, most of their missions never really went according to plan. Right now, for example. The client said nothing about the van being heavily armed.

So while Woojin headed for the roads under that certain overpass, he tried to figure out what the hell Jihoon was planning. But he soon pushed it out of his mind, choosing to just see when it happened. Right now, he needed to focus on getting to the spot on time.

And he was doing fine. He knew the city quite well, knew the shortcuts and what roads to take. Soon, he arrived at his destination, and one glance at the handheld device showed that the van was still heading towards where he was.

The overpass was a huge, cement bridge. Below it were two roads with cars zipping here and there. Today, it wasn’t all that crowded.

Hopping off his stolen motorcycle, Woojin waited, wondering what Jihoon was up to. Far from the small explosion, the roads here were much calmer and no one was screaming and running around.

(Though he wondered if the calmness would be shattered soon. Most likely.)

The van was drawing closer. Woojin began to get skittish.

Where was Jihoon?

As if reading his thoughts, static came out of his earpiece. Jihoon’s voice followed suit.

“Woojin, on my mark, blow up part of the overpass’s barrier.”

Woojin stayed silent for a good few seconds. Then he glanced up and saw Jihoon at one end of the overpass, driving fast. Woojin choked. “Oh, shit. I know what you’re planning.” He stared at the overpass, then at the road below. The chances of pulling it off were low. High possibility of Jihoon getting hurt.

“I can do it. Don’t worry.”

“I think we can come up with another strategy,” Woojin said quickly. He knew the van was coming in just a few seconds. “Something that doesn’t require you to throw yourself off that bridge.”

“Woojin, it’ll be okay.” There was a pause. Jihoon was looking at his own handheld tracking device. “Woojin, blow it up now.”

“Jihoon, look—”

"Seriously. Now."

"Wait—"

The other boy snapped. “Do you trust me or not? NOW, WOOJIN!”

Woojin cursed and aimed. Light gathered in the palm of his hand, growing hotter and bigger. Then he drew his arm back and flung the ball of energy to the bridge.

It soared through the air, and for a split second there was silence.

Then it hit the bridge and exploded.

The air was then filled with dust, large chunks of cement from the bridge, and car honks and screams.

When Jihoon didn’t appear from the debris, Woojin’s heart dropped. Did he... accidentally hit Jihoon? Was Jihoon hurt because of him?

Fear began to overtake him, and Woojin got ready to call out his friend’s name.

The black van then appeared, passing right underneath the bridge. And that was when a motorcycle drove off the same bridge, right where the barrier had been blown off.

Woojin held his breath, the next few seconds excruciatingly slow for him. The motorcycle soared through the air, being propelled towards the van while dropping like a rock. And with a loud thud, it landed right on top of the van. It skidded and wobbled and Woojin knew it would fall off soon.

Then Jihoon braced himself and jumped off the motorcycle, a knife in his hand. As the motorcycle fell to the side and hit the road below, Jihoon landed on his stomach on top of the van. He then stabbed the blade into the vehicle's roof to prevent getting thrown off.

And it was such a close call. He was so near the roof's edge that his legs hung off. He could have so easily miscalculated and missed. But he didn’t.

Woojin let out a breath of relief. Holy fuck. It felt like he lost years of his life, just to worry for his friend.

Jihoon pulled out another knife and lodged it into a spot in front. He kept doing that, dragging himself easily across the roof, and quick enough that it didn’t give the passengers any time to react.

Then he was above the window, shooting light into it. Knowing that the shots hit the men inside, Jihoon yelled, “STOP THE CAR!”

Tires screeched as the driver hit the breaks right away. The van came to a halt so suddenly that Jihoon almost lost his grip on the knives.

But luckily, he didn’t.

Woojin was running already. Just as he reached the van, Jihoon slid off the roof and landed right next to him.

“No shooting,” Jihoon quickly said into the window. “Nobody move.”

“Are you alright?” Woojin asked, panting hard.

As an answer, Jihoon just flashed him a smile. “I don’t think I broke any bones, so yes. I’m doing great.”

Woojin couldn’t help but smile too. It was a big one of relief.

Jihoon then swung open the door of the driver’s seat. The driver was in a daze, along with the three men in the back. Jihoon pointed to the one in the middle. Their target. “You. Get out. We’re going on a ride.”

The rest of the mission went smoothly and easily. Jihoon got them another car (knowing that using the van, complete with its now dented roof, was out of the question) and soon they made it to their client’s home.

It was a fancy, luxurious house, which didn’t surprise either of the boys. The Light’s services didn’t come cheap, so having rich clients was a very common thing.

Once the target was out of their hands, Jihoon and Woojin returned to their (stolen) car and just leaned back against the seats. Now that the adrenaline had faded away, the fatigue finally got to them, and Jihoon felt the ache all over his body. Probably from when he flung himself out of the car. Or off the bridge. One of them. Or most probably an accumulation of both.

“Hey, Jihoon.”

Jihoon had his eyes shut, just willing the aching to go away. He gave a little hum as a response.

Then Woojin asked, “You hungry?”

Nearly laughing, Jihoon nodded. “Starving.”

“Let’s go get some lunch then.”

Eyes opening, Jihoon glanced at his friend. And suddenly, it felt like the aching and fatigue disappeared just like that.

They were both still a mess. Their hair was all ruffled up, scratches all over their bodies from when they jumped out of the car and everything, and even bleeding a little in some places.

But Jihoon nodded. They could clean themselves up a bit before lunch. “Yeah, let’s go.”

Minhyun woke up from an uneasy sleep.

He wasn’t even sure if it could be considered sleep. It was late in the night when he was finally able to doze off. So much had been on his mind. Far too many thoughts. And now here he was in bed, with the sun already high up in the sky to indicate that it was well past noon.

With a groan, he rolled himself off the bed and climbed to his feet. The Light had provided him a rented room just ten minutes from campus. He would use it until he completed his mission.

It really wasn’t anything special, but it was definitely better than his room back at headquarters. Though small, at least this room had a window.

Not yet hungry, Minhyun took a long bath, hoping for the warm water to help ease his nerves. He then got dressed in casual clothes— a simple white T-shirt and jeans.

He then flung a gray backpack over his shoulder. For a while, he stood in front of the mirror, staring at his reflection and wondering what it would feel like to be an actual student. To live an actual student life.

Then his mind went to thoughts of living just like a normal human being.

Yet it was an if only thought. Minhyun knew it was something that he could never have.

So he knew it was pointless to think about such things. He pushed the thoughts away and focused on the task at hand.

But when he left the room that day, he let his mind pretend that he was a normal college student, on his way to class.

The campus atmosphere was just the same as the day before. Minhyun found it pleasant, and wished it was something he could get used to.

As he walked, he called Jaehwan’s number. According to the notes provided by the client, Jaehwan would already be finished with classes at that time.

Jaehwan picked up on the third ring.

“Sunbaenim?”

“Hi.” Minhyun tried not to realize that his heart had skipped a beat. Or how it still continued to beat hard. “I was wondering if you have some free time today. Want to grab some lunch?”

There was a small silence, and Minhyun began to fear that he was being too forward. Wasn’t this how people asked others out for a meal? Or maybe he was rushing things?

But of course, for Minhyun it wasn't just a meal. That itself was just an excuse.

It was going to be another attempt of using his mind control on Jaehwan. That was, if the student accepted his offer—

“Oh! Yeah, sure! Sounds great. I’m free now.”

Minhyun almost let out a sigh of relief. “Great. How about we meet up at the café? The same one from yesterday. Then we’ll go somewhere from there.”

“Okay, sure! See you there!”

“See you, Jaehwan.”

It was only after the call that Minhyun realized he was smiling.

Minhyun was supposed to be professional. He knew it was a mission and that in the end, he would pretend as if nothing happened. Just like all the previous ones. Then he would continue with his life and start with the new mission.

So he tried to ignore the pounding of his heart. He tried to ignore how he felt an odd sense of longing. Of how excited he was to meet that certain boy again. He tried to ignore the fact that he lost sleep because he kept thinking about that boy, over and over again. He tried to ignore it all.

But the moment Jaehwan spotted him waiting in front of the café, with a big smile on his face that caused butterflies in Minhyun’s stomach, the older man knew that he was only lying to himself.

Chapter Text

The Light is an illegal organization that conducts nefarious missions. They accept any job as long as they get paid, and that includes hurting people and even murder. In the world’s eyes, members of The Light are nothing but criminals.

The unfortunate people with superpowers were kidnapped at a young age and brought to the organization. Their abilities would then be exploited to carry out the jobs from clients. Before starting on their missions, they were forced to undergo harsh and horrible training to hone their powers. No one was allowed to leave the organization or they would be tracked down and killed.

They knew that what they were doing was wrong, and they were tired of living in fear of the organization. If escape was impossible, there was only one way they could be free.

They had to take down the organization itself.

The story is split into intertwining story arcs between pairings of the characters. And all story arcs converge together at the end for the final rebellion against the organization.

(note: “Meteor Showers” was originally planned as a minhwan story with other pairings as secondary pairings, so that’s why the minhwan arc is more detailed.

In the end, I wanted all the pairings to be main pairings and they would all be equally detailed, but turns out I can’t continue writing the chapters. Sorry, guys!)

Minhyun and Jaehwan’s story

♪♪♪

Minhyun’s attempts at mind control on Jaehwan were still met with failure. Because of this, Minhyun decided that he had to become closer with Jaehwan and gain more of his trust, to lower the younger man’s defenses. To continue meeting Jaehwan without drawing suspicion, Minhyun asked Jaehwan to teach him how to play the guitar. They meet up regularly after this, becoming close. Using his powers to control the people around him and making it more convincing that he was a college student there, Minhyun tasted the everyday life of a college student with Jaehwan. Sometimes, they even went and explored the city together.

Although he denied it and tried to chase the feelings away, Minhyun eventually fell in love with the other boy.

Guilt ate away at Minhyun. He saw himself as a terrible person— a criminal with blood on his hands, a liar, a murderer, a monster. He felt that he did not deserve Jaehwan’s kindness or his friendship, knew that he wanted Jaehwan away from his own horrible world. Jaehwan himself lived in a world where there was no danger, where he was just an innocent boy wanting to get his college degree. Minhyun realizing how he had feelings for Jaehwan made the guilt overwhelming.

So Minhyun kept in mind that all he had to do was finish his mission, and then he would be out of Jaehwan’s life as quickly as he could. The mission itself would not inflict any harm on anyone, only Jaehwan’s pride as a musician. Although it was still a bad thing to do, at least Minhyun would not hurt anyone.

That was what Minhyun had thought.

The client then changed the objective of the mission. From a harmless request, to one that would take away a life and ruin another:

To control Jaehwan’s mind and make him kill the university dean.

The motive did not matter. No matter how petty the grudge that the client had for Jaehwan, an order was an order. Minhyun was obligated to carry it out.

Even if his powers would somehow work on Jaehwan, Minhyun would not do it. It would ruin Jaehwan’s life and he did not want Jaehwan to feel the horrors of having blood on his hands— to commit murder, just like Minhyun had done so many times, even if it wasn’t Jaehwan himself in control.

Minhyun knew he could not blatantly refuse to carry out the mission, or the organization would take him out and send someone else. So he prolonged the deadline of the mission by making excuses to both the organization and the client, at the same time trying to figure out what to do. And this went on for weeks.

One day, Minhyun was at a café with Jaehwan when it suddenly rained. It was a familiar rain. Minhyun glanced out the window, seeing a familiar figure in the distance who was holding onto an umbrella. Minhyun excused himself from the table and went out in the pouring rain to the figure.

Jisung gave the umbrella to Minhyun as he made the rain split around himself, the raindrops not touching him.

Jisung: “What are you doing?”

Minhyun: “Working on my mission, of course.”

Jisung: “That’s not what I meant.”

Jisung knew better. He knew what Minhyun had been up to, knew that what he had received were excuses. Knew that Minhyun saw Jaehwan as more than just a mission.

Starting to get exasperated, Jisung then asked if Minhyun would join the rebellion against The Light or not, and Minhyun talked about how he knew that the organization was bad, but at least they were still alive. If something went wrong with the rebellion, everyone could die. They were suffering under the organization, but at least they were still alive and with each other.

Then Jisung talked about how back at the organization, Guanlin was forced to strengthen his powers to the point that he almost fainted. And it wasn’t just Guanlin. Other kids were forced to go through such suffering as well.

Jisung: “I would give my life if it means I could free Guanlin and the others from any further pain.”

Minhyun: “But what if we fail with the rebellion? What if worse things happen to them? To everyone?”

Jisung: “Would you rather continue living with your powers exploited? To live in fear, every single day?”

Minhyun: “I’d rather live without any powers at all. I never asked for these powers. I just wanted to be a normal kid— to live a normal life.”

To go to college. Maybe meet Jaehwan under normal circumstances. To fall in love under normal circumstances.

Jisung: “But what’s real is now. The reality is now. Embrace your powers, then decide what you’re going to do with it. We need to go. We have a meeting.”

Heart sinking, Minhyun went back to the café, knocked on the window where Jaehwan sat at the other side.

The rain fell heavy around him, the umbrella feeling heavy in his grasp. Minhyun placed a hand on the window, mouthing “I gotta go” and “I’ll call you”.

Nodding, Jaehwan put his hand against the glass where the other’s hand was. At that moment, Minhyun felt that there was more than just glass separating him from Jaehwan.

Time passed by and Jaehwan took Minhyun out to the mountains to see the stars.

Jaehwan: “I’m going to say something. I’ve wanted to tell you a long time ago but I was afraid. But I want to take the leap. You’ll probably look at me differently. Things might not be the same between us. But please... please don’t run away from me after this.”

Minhyun: “I promise.”

Jaehwan then asked Minhyun to close his eyes, and Minhyun did so with a beating heart.

Seconds later. “You can open them now, hyung.”

When Minhyun opened them, there were dozens of golden lights in the shape of butterflies flying around. Minhyun wondered what they were. He felt a little nostalgic and it was very comforting, for reasons unknown. “They’re beautiful. What are... From where...?” He then looked at Jaehwan’s glowing hand. Minhyun watched in shock and awe as another butterfly emerged from the younger man’s glowing hand.

Jaehwan: “I am a Light. No one knows but my parents. They said I should embrace my powers but I hid it after a kid called me a freak when I was young. He was afraid of me... Are you afraid of me, hyung?”

Minhyun now knew why his mind control never worked even once on Jaehwan. Because his powers never worked on any other Light. It only worked on normal people.

With a smile, he hugged Jaehwan. “Of course not. Why would I ever be afraid of you?”

Jaehwan hugged him back, and Minhyun wished to never have to let go.

Minhyun thought about how the butterflies were familiar. And finally, the memory came back little by little. It turned out that he had met Jaehwan before when they were little kids. Minhyun was on the team to abduct Jaehwan for the organization, but after the organization reevaluated Jaehwan’s power and deemed it useless, they were asked to abort the mission.

While the team began to head back, Minhyun experienced heavy disorientation since he had yet to control his powers. He lost track of the team and ended up lost. It was late at night and his head was hurting and Minhyun was scared, hiding his face under the hoodie he wore. Then little Jaehwan came up to him and helped him climb to his feet, asking if he was okay and if he was lost. Jaehwan then let a golden light in the shape of a butterfly appear on his hand, lighting up the dark and comforting Minhyun.

“It’s okay,” little Jaehwan had said, a warm smile on his face. Even if the other kid still kept his face hidden. “It’s going to be okay.” They walked until Minhyun caught sight of his team and rejoined them.

“I wish we could have gotten to know each other more. Maybe be friends,” little Minhyun had said before leaving.

Soon the pain became excruciating, the intense emotions of fear Minhyun had felt earlier causing his powers to go haywire. He eventually passed out and was carried by his teammates back to the organization. When he woke up, he had no recollection of last night. His own powers had backfired on him.

But all this time, even from back then, Jaehwan had always guided him. Guided him home.

Jaehwan eventually found out about Minhyun’s lies.

He demanded to know the truth. He had asked around Minhyun’s claimed “college department” but no one there knew who Hwang Minhyun was. He even asked the staff and there was no record of any Hwang Minhyun at all. Jaehwan felt lied to, betrayed. He also wondered why people were willing to lie and help Minhyun with his façade.

Anger clear in his eyes, Jaehwan asked, “Who are you, Hwang Minhyun?”

Minhyun swallowed the guilt... and lied again. He claimed that he had long admired and liked Jaehwan from afar— (“Not in a stalker kind of way!” Minhyun swore)— and wanted to know him more. He was afraid if he came off as a creep.

It was a confession. Not in the way Minhyun had ever hoped (not that he had originally planned to confess), and not even the real story of how he fell in love. But Jaehwan reluctantly believed him, but would need time away to sort his thoughts because he didn’t know how to feel about it.

After days of not meeting Jaehwan because he wanted to respect the other’s space, Minhyun finally decided to join the rebellion. He wanted all of them to be free, and it was also his way of protecting Jaehwan. Because the organization would find out eventually that Minhyun was purposely sabotaging the mission. Sooner or later, they would send someone else to carry out the client’s plan on Jaehwan.

Minhyun made up his mind to leave without telling Jaehwan the truth. He went to Jaehwan’s rented room near campus, just to say a quick goodbye. Upon reaching the room, he saw that the door was wide open. And to his horror, a higher-up from The Light was there.

Panic and fury taking over, Minhyun used his powers to make the higher-up choke himself.

Blinded by his emotions, Minhyun yelled, “Where is he?! What have you done to him?!”

But getting no answer, Minhyun tightened the chokehold more and more until the higher-up eventually passed out.

It was then that Jaehwan’s closet creaked open, and there he was.

Jaehwan was in the closet, a hand tight over his mouth, eyes wide. He had quickly found a place to hide when he heard someone intruding his room.

Jaehwan had seen everything— and Minhyun’s whole world came crashing down.

Minhyun tried to approach Jaehwan, to give him a hug, to tell him that it was all okay. But Jaehwan shot to his feet, terror and fear evident on his face. Without a word, Jaehwan ran out the room and away from him.

The days after that, Minhyun waited outside the café— the place of their first meeting. On the third day, Jaehwan finally joined him.

Jaehwan: “You’re part of The Light are you? I figured much.”

Minhyun finally told him everything— about how he had been abducted by the organization when he was a kid, about how he had met Jaehwan before when they were little, about his years of working for the organization against his will and how much it pained him yet he admitted that it didn’t excuse him being a monster. He explained the mission he had and how it would ruin Jaehwan’s life, but he would never carry out. Minhyun also reassured him that he didn’t try to mind control him for the longest time, only during their first encounters. (Minhyun did not mention about the rebellion).

By the end of the explanation, Jaehwan felt like passing out over the barrage of information and the shock of it all.

Minhyun, after hesitating, asked, “You were scared of me. What made you change your mind?”

After a silence and a deep breath, Jaehwan looked him in the eyes and said, “Because I’m in love with you.”

Another silence.

“Are you going to leave me, Jaehwan?”

But despite everything, Jaehwan accepted it all and still wanted to stick with Minhyun.

Jinyoung and Daehwi’s story

♪♪♪

Before Jinyoung could start doing missions, he needed to be able to control his powers first. His lightning powers were extremely strong and he was unable to control it, having even less control when his emotions took ahold of him. He also had no confidence and was generally afraid of the world. Daehwi helped him with all this.

Lee Daehwi and Bae Jinyoung— two boys who were the complete opposites of each other. While Daehwi was bright and cheerful, Jinyoung held a darkness too close to his heart, and looked at the world as an equally dark place. But through the times they spent with each other, Daehwi’s contagious brightness and comforting words helped Jinyoung become a brighter person as well.

Jinyoung’s training was done at the headquarters, so they spent a majority of their first weeks together there. But Daehwi had begged Jisung to let them visit the city. (“Jinyoung hit a dead end,” Daehwi had reasoned, with very effective puppy eyes. “But I’m sure a change of setting will help him refresh his mind. And when we come back here, he’ll be recharged and ready to improve!”). And they finally had permission to go to the city.

In the city, they take the train and bus just to see the sights. After a quick lunch at a dog café, Daehwi brought Jinyoung to an arcade. They played games for a while, and in that moment, they let themselves feel like they were just a pair of normal kids. After making a light-hearted joke without the intention of even being funny, Daehwi made Jinyoung laugh. But Daehwi could only stare because Jinyoung was laughing and smiling. It was the first time he saw Jinyoung genuinely smile.

And Jinyoung did feel recharged to continue his training.

Days passed by. Jinyoung and Daehwi were at the organization again, but this time it was their free training time so they decided to do it outside by the sea. Jinyoung got frustrated at his lack of improvement, and Daehwi told him that things like this took time.

Daehwi: “Even I had trouble controlling my powers at first.”

Jinyoung: “Yeah, but I bet it didn’t take as long as me.”

Daehwi: “You’ll get the hang of it. See? I can control my powers just fine now.”

As Daehwi said that, he lifted his hand to the sky. Droplets of water fell out, and he let it all fall on himself.

Daehwi: “I’m sure you can do it too.”

Jinyoung: “Your power isn’t as destructive as mine. It’s not as hard as mine. It’s not the same.”

Daehwi: “Hey, it still took me a lot of effort to control it.”

Jinyoung: “Your power doesn’t look that hard at all.”

Daehwi: “What are you trying to get at, hyung?”

The two of them get into a heated argument, emotions rising. Sparks begin to fly out of Jinyoung’s hands, but he didn’t realize. The argument reached its peak, and Daehwi took a few steps toward Jinyoung.

Jinyoung lifted a hand to tell him to stop right there and to go away, but a bolt of lightning shot out and hit Daehwi right in the chest. Daehwi, who had been wet from his own water droplets, got severely electrocuted. And the electricity kept on shocking him, causing his body to convulse uncontrollably.

Daehwi passed out and Jinyoung felt his heart drop. He then rushed to the headquarters to look for help, carrying Daehwi on his back.

Minhyun had been at the headquarters after being asked about his lack of mission progress. He saw the two kids in the hallway and quickly ran over to help. Minhyun then took Daehwi to the infirmary.

Upon hearing the news, Woojin quickly arrived and saw Daehwi who was hurt and bedridden.

Horrified, Woojin lost it. Pure anger in his eyes, he grabbed Jinyoung by the collar and roughly shoved him against the wall, yelling in his face, “What the hell did you do? What the hell did you do to Daehwi, you monster?”

Woojin was quickly pulled back by Minhyun, who asked him to calm down. Jinyoung felt the guilt and shame and worry overwhelming in his chest, and he could not even look anyone in the eye.

The staff at the infirmary then told Jinyoung that if they wanted to save Daehwi, Jinyoung would have to withdraw the electricity from Daehwi’s body. (Something that Jinyoung did not know he could do.)

So Jinyoung tried to do so, thinking of the time that he spent together with Daehwi— their good times with smiles and joy, and the difficult times when they looked after each other and shared their worries to each other.

In the end, Jinyoung succeeded in saving Daehwi. The electricity was gone from the younger boy’s body, and he no longer convulsed. But Daehwi was still knocked out.

While waiting for Daehwi to regain consciousness in the infirmary, Jinyoung stayed by his side. He promised himself and the unconscious Daehwi that he was going to control his powers so he wouldn’t hurt those important to him. Daehwi was important to him.

Daehwi woke up to Jinyoung holding his hand. With tears of relief in his eyes, Jinyoung apologized for everything. Daehwi just smiled and hugged him, then burst out crying himself.

Afterwards while Daehwi was asleep in his and Jinyoung’s room, Woojin paid them a visit. He asked to speak to Jinyoung outside, and that was when Woojin told him about his and Daehwi’s past.

“Me and Daehwi go way back,” Woojin said. “We were from the same foster home, along with Lee Chaeyeon and Somi. Four kids with superheroes, all in one place. We grew up together. We tried our best to keep our powers hidden. But one day, we were discovered anyways. People from The Light came to take us. They promised us a bright future. Of course we didn’t believe them. We were young but we weren’t naïve.”

As he talked, Woojin kept glancing around the room, as if expecting a guard to come and suddenly hush him up. But the hallway was empty, so he kept going.

“Daehwi and Chaeyeon had no idea how to control their powers back then. They were the first to go down. Me and Somi tried to protect them and fight the bad people off. It worked for a bit. I tried all I could, but they got me. I was knocked unconscious. Somi fought till the end, but they eventually got her too. The Light acquired four kids in one go.”

There was a silence in which Jinyoung had no idea what to say.

“I’m sorry,” Woojin then said. “I really am. I shouldn’t have called you a monster. It was unfair of me to snap and get angry at you when you were probably just as terrified and worried as I was. I was angry because you hurt Daehwi. I never, ever want to see Daehwi hurt. And then I realized that I was angry at myself for failing to protect him again. I’ve been living with guilt all this time. I thought that maybe if I was a little stronger, I could have saved us from getting taken away. I was the oldest out of all four of us. I thought I was the strongest too. We should not have been kidnapped that day, and we should have been able to live normal lives.”

Jinyoung tried to reassure Woojin that getting kidnapped by The Light wasn’t his fault. That if The Light didn’t get them then, they would have later. No matter how strong anyone was, The Light had more power over them.

Woojin apologized again for snapping at Jinyoung, and Jinyoung apologized for unintentionally hurting Daehwi. They forgave each other and now had a better understanding of one another.

Later, Jinyoung met Minhyun and they talked. Minhyun gave him words of comfort, and Jinyoung realized that Minhyun wasn’t that scary after all.

With Daehwi’s help, Jinyoung finally gained control of his powers. Through the training process and also the missions they went on together after that, the two boys became closer than ever.

And Jinyoung started to see how sweet Daehwi was. He also started to realize the fluttering feeling in his chest. Out of all odds, Jinyoung had found his flower in the middle of a barren wasteland.

Daehwi and Jinyoung joined the rebellion with strength and bravery in their hearts. On the night before the final battle, they stood by the seaside again and held hands. Jinyoung told Daehwi how lucky he was to have met him. Daehwi smiled and pressed a short but sweet kiss to Jinyoung’s cheek. The two boys then hugged, feeling happiness for the current moment but uncertainty for the future.

Woojin and Jihoon’s story

♪♪♪

Jihoon and Woojin were best friends who grew up together after meeting at the organization. They were two peas in a pod, inseparable. Between their wild, chaotic, and crazy moments, Jihoon found that he had fallen in love with his best friend. (In the beginning of chapter 1, Jihoon was already deep deep deep in love).

But Jihoon also found himself unable to confess. Woojin never showed any sort of romantic interest in him, thus Jihoon was afraid of ruining their friendship. He would only confess if it seemed like Woojin had the same feelings for him.

So Jihoon would sometimes flirt in a joking way to gauge Woojin’s reaction. He tried to be more charming, but he would never ever use his charm powers on Woojin.

Different from Minhyun’s mind control that only worked on those without powers, Jihoon’s charm powers could also work on Lights. But it was immoral and downright wrong to use his powers to make someone fall in love with him, so Jihoon never even entertained the thought. It was wrong, and what was the point of Woojin being head over heels for him if it was all a lie?

Jihoon continued what he was doing but to no avail. (In Woojin’s point of view, however, Woojin was just way too oblivious so the flirting and hints all went over his head. Poor Jihoon.)

The two went on their missions where they did their crazy and dangerous things. But one day, Jisung summoned them to take part in a meeting of Lights. It was a secret meeting taking place in an abandoned subway tunnel, unknown to the higher-ups of the organization.

The ones who came to the meeting were the leaders of each group— Jisung, Taehyun, Nayoung, and Eunbi. Along with them were some members of each group, who would be representatives.

Jisung’s group: Woojin, Jihoon, Daniel, Seongwoo.

One blunder from the organization (that these Lights were thankful of) was the fact that they didn’t have tracking devices implanted in them. The organization was confident in their ability to hack into city cameras and scan for faces, along with many other dirty ways, which all had been proven successful throughout the years. But the leaders had found the safe place for a secret meeting, and that was where they would lay out their big plan.

In the meeting, the leaders explained it all: how through all these years they had seen the pains that all members went through, and knew that they had to put a stop to it. They would all work together to take down the organization. And they would finally be free.

At the end of the year, the head of the organization and the core higher-ups would gather to discuss how the business went throughout the twelve months, along with plans for the upcoming year. Not only did the group leaders gather information about this, but there was something else that they had discovered.

“We’re not alone,” Jisung said, voice slightly echoing in that empty tunnel. “The organization called The Light isn’t just us. It isn’t just our groups. It’s not just me, Taehyun, Nayoung, and Eunbi’s group of kids. There are more groups out there, based in other headquarters. But their missions are a lot more hidden than ours and they’re all kept in the shadows. This was to ensure that we did not know of their existence. All of the headquarters answer to the same head and core higher-ups.”

“All throughout these months,” Eunbi said, “We’ve been gathering every single data we can. Sightings of other superhero kids. All who were unknown. And gathering police reports that didn’t make sense. And finally, some leads.”

“They’re out there,” Jisung continued. “And they’re all just like us, being forced against their will to do crimes. Being exploited for their power and having their freedom taken away from them.” A pause. “And we’re going to find them. And together, we’ll have enough power to take down the organization.”

The representatives that were summoned to this meeting were then given the mission of finding those hidden Lights. Daniel and Seongwoo would be heading to the mountains in a foreign country for their search, Jihoon and Woojin to another city, Doyeon and Yoojung from Nayoung’s group were to go to another location. Meanwhile, Sanggyun and Kenta from Taehyun’s group would look for Taedong who they believed was still alive. Sakura and Chaeyeon from Eunbi’s group were in charge of collecting more data that would help them with the rebellion.

The leaders would deliver all this information secretly to the other members.

Jihoon and Woojin were then sent to another city to look for that hidden group of Lights. Jisung had ensured them that their movements weren’t suspicious to the higher-ups. He had purposely given them a mission from the higher-ups which would take place in the same city that Jihoon and Woojin would conduct their search.

More chaos happened during their official mission and secret mission. Jihoon and Woojin bickered as always, kicked enemy’s ass as always, and combined their wits and detective skills together to find that hidden group of Lights.

In between the missions, their friendship became strained. As the situation became extremely stressful and more life-threatening, the two ended up arguing more often and more intensely. But they managed it all in the end, and became even closer.

There was a moment where Jihoon did lose himself, though.

His logic was clouded by the stress and fatigue. He became exasperated and annoyed. His moral compass slipped.

Jihoon tried to use his charming powers of Woojin, to see what would happen if Woojin were to reciprocate his feelings. But to his dismay (and relief afterwards, when his mind was clear and he knew how morally wrong he was), the charms didn’t work. Woojin was the first and only person who was immune to Jihoon’s powers.

Feeling both ashamed and guilty, Jihoon didn’t tell Woojin that he tried to charm him. He would admit it later, when things weren’t so tense and when he was a bit more ready for the consequences.

They succeeded in both their mission from the higher-ups and finding the group of Lights. It was a group of seven people who called themselves Rainz.

Daniel and Seongwoo’s story

♪♪♪

Daniel and Seongwoo had dated for two years.

It had been a great time for the both of them. They made each other happy and were very much in love. Seongwoo thought that the world was messed up, but having Daniel by his side made him think that everything would be okay.

That was until Daniel broke up with him.

It was weird. Daniel’s affections were just as warm and felt just as genuine, but there was a sadness in Daniel’s eyes in the days before the breakup. Daniel’s reasoning was that he missed how they were as friends— how they felt more carefree and with less burden on their shoulders— and he simply wanted to go back to those days.

But even after two months passed and they both stayed as good friends, Seongwoo was sure Daniel was lying. There had to be another reason as to why Daniel ended it. He also knew Daniel well enough to know when he wasn’t being completely honest.

Plus, even after their breakup, the sadness in Daniel’s eyes never went away.

(In chapter 1, it had been two months since their breakup.)

Daniel and Seongwoo went on their separate missions and just carried on with life. Then Jisung had summoned them for the meeting about the rebellion against the organization, and they were sent to the mountains on a secret mission.

They were sent out of the country to a place where the snow always fell hard. Daniel had received a mission from the higher-ups around the same location, and Jisung had convinced the higher-ups to let Seongwoo come along as backup. (“Seongwoo can turn into animals that fit for the climate. He’d be much help to Daniel,” Jisung had reasoned.)

And Jisung did send him to help Daniel, but not just for the mission from the higher-ups. Jisung had sent him along because that was around the same place where he had received news of Light sightings. He believed another group of Lights were secretly there.

While doing the missions, Seongwoo and Daniel found themselves in situations that reminded them of old times. One particular moment was being huddled up against each other in a cave to avoid a particularly heavy snowstorm. They had fallen asleep and woke up in each other’s arms, like they had been back then when they were still dating and slept in the same bed.

It was those little moments that made Seongwoo finally ask Daniel the question again. And this time, he kept pushing forward until he got a clear answer.

“Why did you break up with me?”

“I told you this before, didn’t I? Because I missed our friendship—”

“I know when you’re lying. Please tell me the truth.”

And after so long, after so much more urging, after all the waiting, Daniel told him the truth.

Daniel didn’t realize it at first. And when he did, he thought it was just a simple cough or he caught a fever. But when the feeling didn’t go away for a long time, he knew something was wrong.

He felt a tightening in his chest, as if he was getting sick. It was just a slight bother at first, but it began to hurt so much. And it got worse, he realized, when he used his powers a lot. Especially after conjuring up a huge snowstorm, the tightening would become unbearable that he would nearly pass out.

(Back then during the mission to recruit Bae Jinyoung, after Seongwoo had left the vehicle and Daniel was all alone there, he felt his vision blur and every breath hurt him. But he held on, nearly losing consciousness in the process.)

Daniel had talked to Jisung about it before.

“Jisung-hyung,” he had said. “It feels like my organs are freezing over. And the more often and more intensely I use my powers, the colder I feel. I... I think I’m dying, hyung.”

Just like Jisung when Daniel had told him, Seongwoo cried as well. Daniel hugged him, the same comforting hug he would always give him. Full of comfort, full of affection, full of love.

“The reason why I broke up with you,” Daniel said gently, “is because I don’t know how much time I have left. I didn’t want you to hurt too much if or when this eventually kills me. I thought it’d ease the pain for you, if only a little. I’m sorry, Seongwoo-hyung.”

A silence. After Seongwoo had calmed down, he looked Daniel in the eyes and said, “I’m not going to let you die. I’ll find a cure. No matter what. I’ll find it.”

Now Daniel was getting teary-eyed. He nodded.

“Daniel.”

“Yes, hyung?”

“Do you still love me?”

Daniel could only smile, but it was tinged with sadness at the thought of the unknown future.

“I never stopped loving you, hyung.”

After a while, they found the location of the hidden headquarters. But just when they were nearing it, they were ambushed by enemies— guards of the organization who would not let them near the hidden group of Lights. Both Seongwoo and Daniel tried to fight them off, but Seongwoo was injured and became unable to use his powers. Incapacitated, he lay on the ground and tried to regain his strength. And the enemy continued to surround them.

In their desperate situation, Daniel used his powers to cause an avalanche. Seongwoo screamed at him to stop, knowing that using his powers to this magnitude could really freeze Daniel from the inside and kill him. But Daniel kept going, only having the thought of protecting Seongwoo in mind.

With his powers, Daniel built a dome that protected Seongwoo from the avalanche. When the screaming of the enemies stopped and everyone was buried deep, Daniel used the last of his strength to push Seongwoo to the surface. Seongwoo trudged through the snow and dug until he found Daniel. At that moment, Daniel was both unconscious and as cold as ice.

Still unable to transform, Seongwoo half-carried, half-dragged Daniel towards the location of the headquarters.

Eventually, Seongwoo ran out of all strength and collapsed on the snowy ground. Daniel regained consciousness and the two hold onto each other.

“I love you.” Daniel’s voice was weak and faint, barely heard over the wind. But Seongwoo was close enough to hear.

“I love you too, Niel. Always.”

Seongwoo then kissed Daniel, feeling his lips that were devoid of any warmth. It was weak and brief, but it might have been the last. He wrapped his arms around Daniel, as tightly as his trembling arms let him. Wanting to give Daniel the last bit of warmth that he had left. Daniel was so cold that he felt sharp against Seongwoo’s skin.

Then the world went dark for the both of them.

When Seongwoo and Daniel woke up, they were in what seemed to be an underground building. They had been saved by a group of boys and were taken to their leader— Han Seungwoo.

Daniel and Seongwoo had succeeded. They found the group of Lights.

(author’s note: yes. it’s X1. From the very beginning I had planned to have the new Produce group in this story as well.)

After regaining their strength and having their wounds treated, Seongwoo delivered the news about the rebellion. How they could all be free if they took out the head and the core higher-ups. The group of Lights agreed, ready to head back with them and join the rebellion.

During their stay there, Seongwoo and Daniel discovered something that changed their lives.

One of the Lights— a young man named Kim Yohan— suffered from a condition similar to Daniel. With constant and intense use of his powers of conjuring fire, Yohan felt that his organs were burning. And like Daniel, he felt like it would one day take his life.

Daniel had been showing Yohan the files of the higher-ups they would eliminate, and Yohan’s eyes widened when he saw the picture of a certain man.

“That man,” Yohan said. “That higher-up right there... He's the cause of my condition. And I believe he’s the cause of your condition as well. We’ve been looking for him all this time.”

Yohan then told them about how, after years of collecting data, they discovered that some of the core higher-ups had powers as well. And one of those higher-ups was the one behind Yohan’s pain. Back when they were young and freshly kidnapped, that certain higher-up had placed a hand over their hearts and injected his power into them. The power latched onto them, and was able to be controlled no matter how far away they were.

“This certain higher-up has the ability to intensify other people’s powers, but uses it against them.” Yohan explained, “Causing the victim to self-destruct. But that higher-up didn’t plan to kill us, not when we’re so useful for them. The self-destruct power they used against us is just to keep us in check. So that we don’t release our full potential due to fear of dying. To show us that they’re the boss. You and me, Kang Daniel, are too strong for their own good. But there’s no guarantee they’d always keep us alive, right? Once they think we’re a true threat, we could easily be killed. We’re never safe.”

A pause. Yohan’s face then turned even more serious.

“As you said, that higher-up will be in your city for the meeting. Don’t you see? If we eliminate that higher-up, we’ll be free. No more pain. We can use our powers without hurting ourselves. We’ll be free.”

With a newly emerged determination and hope, they return to the city together. Their next objective: taking out the organization.

Jisung and Sungwoon & Guanlin and Seonho’s story

(because their stories are heavily intertwined, they will be explained together)

Jisung & Sungwoon — ♪♪♪

Guanlin & Seonho — ♪♪♪

Jisung was not only the leader of his group, but was also the leader of the rebellion. Sungwoon was his second-in-command. Jisung held the heavy burden throughout all the years, trying his best to protect his boys and also planning the rebellion with the other team leaders, all behind the organization’s back.

With all the accumulated stress and worries, Jisung nearly broke down because of it. And all throughout the years, Sungwoon was there to help him, to reassure him that they could do this, and to share the burden. While at first Jisung was reluctant because he did not want to trouble others, he eventually accepted Sungwoon’s help and was more than grateful for it.

They learned to trust each other and lean on each other. Together, they were much stronger.

While Seonho had the freedom to roam the organization and meet with the other Lights, there was a majority of time when he was held in the underground floors. There, he would go through extreme training in hopes of bringing out his “powers”. The higher-ups believed that he had powers because he was Guanlin’s brother, and he had been with Guanlin during the meteor shower years ago.

Although Seonho assured Guanlin that he was strong and the training didn’t hurt him, Guanlin knew better. Seonho was hurting both physically and mentally.

Ever since they were little kids, Guanlin had promised to protect Seonho. It wasn’t just a promise to their parents, long time ago, but also a promise he had made to Seonho and himself.

The truth was, Guanlin had lived with guilt ever since they were kidnapped and brought to the organization. He was certain that Seonho didn’t have powers, and that Seonho could have lived a normal and simple life. If only he had been stronger and was able to protect Seonho back then. If only they weren’t spotted together. If only.

Guanlin himself had been going through harsh training. The organization wanted him to strengthen his powers. While he could control the sea’s waves, it was not powerful enough to satisfy the higher-ups.

One day, Jisung and Sungwoon went to the sea and saw Guanlin in the water. A large ship was in front of him, and behind him was a group of higher-ups.

Guanlin’s hands were glowing and he tried to conjure up waves big and strong enough to push the ship. It was clear that it was too harsh for him, and it was clear how he was in pain.

Unseen by the higher-ups, Sungwoon conjured up clouds in the sky and Jisung made the rain fall. The higher-ups decided to call it a day and left, not wanting to get themselves and their expensive equipment wet.

The two Lights quickly ran up to Guanlin, who finally collapsed from the exertion. Jisung was quick to catch him.

“They’re expecting me to drown whole ships later,” Guanlin said, voice weak and barely audible. “Enemy ships. I can’t do it. I could barely even make that one ship budge. How could I move a ship?”

His heart hurting, Jisung held the young boy close in a comforting hug. “It’ll all be over soon,” he said gently. “You’ll be free. Your little brother will be free. We’ll all be free. You won’t have to push another ship ever again. You won’t ever have to use your powers against your will ever again.”

The missions had been successful. The teams who had been sent out found their group of Lights. Now, they had 24 more Lights to join the fight.

(Daniel and Seongwoo found X1.

Woojin and Jihoon found Rainz.

Doyeon and Yoojung found I.B.I.

And Sanggyun and Kenta had found their friend who the higher-ups claimed were dead, Taedong.)

Along with that, Sakura and Chaeyeon obtained the layouts of the building where the meeting of the head and core higher-ups would take place. With the other information they gathered, Jisung and the other leaders finalized their battle plans. They would eliminate the head and core higher-ups, then blow up the headquarters, along with the enemies inside.

REBELLION AGAINST THE ORGANIZATION ARC

Minhyun and Jaehwan

Jaehwan had stayed at a hotel room in order to hide from the organization. On the night of the rebellion, he and Minhyun were on the balcony of that hotel room, dozens of floors from the ground. Minhyun said that he was happy and thankful to have met Jaehwan. He looked down the balcony and could see organization members ready to go up and kill them both. He needed to leave soon so they wouldn’t attack Jaehwan. Minhyun contacted Seongwoo through the in-ear, saying that he needed a ride.

Knowing that he wouldn’t have another chance and this was their last meeting, Minhyun kissed Jaehwan. He would have stayed like that— he wanted to stay like that— but he knew his time was up.

“I wish you a happy life,” Minhyun said, cradling Jaehwan’s cheeks in his hands. “You deserve only the best.”

“Hyung...”

Minhyun let him go and ran to the balcony’s edge. He easily jumped onto the railing and stood there, wind blowing at his hair and clothes.

“What are you doing, hyung?!”

Trying to pull on a smile, Minhyun turned back to give Jaehwan one last glance. The last time they would see each other. “Goodbye, Jaehwan. Thank you for everything.”

Without giving time for Jaehwan to answer, Minhyun jumped.

He tore through the air, whatever tears he must have shed were blown by the wind. He then landed on Seongwoo’s back, who was in giant bird form.

They flew to the ground and attacked the enemies, stopping them from getting to Jaehwan.

The rebellion was now in full motion.

Minhyun and Seongwoo made it to the building where the head of The Light currently held the meeting. They join in the fight, splitting up as part of the plan.

Somewhere in the fight, Minhyun was caught off guard by an enemy and received a heavy blow to the head. Disorientated, he was unable to use his powers. The enemy was ready to finish him off when light in the shape of butterflies attacked the enemy. With the enemy being temporarily blinded, Minhyun regains his senses.

Jaehwan was there. He rushed to Minhyun, making sure the latter was okay. Back at the hotel, he had avoided the enemies and ran down the streets where he met a mysterious man named Jisung.

Jisung, who always cared for Minhyun and sympathized with both of them, then told Jaehwan where Minhyun was.

Minhyun: “What are you doing? You could go back to a normal life, safe from the organization. A safe life if only you leave right now. Right here.”

Jaehwan: “Hyung. I’m staying no matter what. I’m staying with you.”

Jaehwan then joined the rebellion. His powers, which were previously deemed useless, were not useless at all. After he temporarily blinded the enemies, the other Light members could take them out. In the end, he used the butterflies to guide the members to their wounded comrades, where they could be saved.

Jinyoung and Daehwi

The head of the organization and the core higher-ups were located at the top floor of the building. Jinyoung and Daehwi were in charge of opening a path for the other Lights. They discovered that by combining their powers, Jinyoung’s lightning was even more destructive. Daehwi would shoot his water droplets at the enemy, getting them wet enough so when Jinyoung electrified them, the lightning would strike even fiercer.

The two reach the top and managed to take out one of the core higher-ups.

Woojin and Jihoon

Woojin and Jihoon were in charge of opening a path at the opposite side of the building. They were to strike from two different directions.

Woojin easily wiped out enemies with his explosive powers, while Jihoon used his charms to extract information from guards to get through password-protected doors and know the location of every obstacle.

In the midst of battle, Jihoon overworked himself and soon he was so drained of energy that it was difficult to even move. Woojin, worried sick for his friend, held his friend’s hand and reassured him that everything would be okay.

Woojin’s hands glowed, and to their surprise, the glow spread from their interlocked hands and all throughout Jihoon’s body. When the glow disappeared, Jihoon felt his strength replenished. He was ready to fight again.

“Did you just...” Jihoon almost laughed at how comical they both must have looked. Absolute shock on both of their faces. “Did you just give your energy to me?”

“I guess I did. I feel all fine though.”

“Huh. So your powers aren’t just destructive, after all. They could be replenishing as well.”

“Well, holy shit.”

Before entering the room where their enemies were, Jihoon knew that there was a possibility that both of them wouldn’t make it out alive. Not wanting to die with regrets, Jihoon told Woojin the truth— that he had liked Woojin for a long time. He also admitted that he had tried to use his charm powers on him once, though he regretted it.

Woojin didn’t have time to answer. The room’s door burst open, and the attack began.

In the midst of battle (again), Woojin yelled over the chaos. “Your charm powers don’t work on me because I’m already charmed by you, idiot! I like you too!”

While dodging attacks and punching enemies in the face, Jihoon yelled back, “WE’LL DISCUSS THIS LATER.”

Together, they eliminated a core higher-up.

Daniel and Seongwoo

One day before their big attack on the organization, Seongwoo took Daniel to an old neighborhood. It was the neighborhood where Daniel’s house was. Where his mother was.

In the cover of their car, Daniel saw his mother come out of the house. He saw her, but she couldn’t see him.

Daniel knew that this could be his last chance to meet his mother. He knew that their rebellion wasn’t a guaranteed success. But no matter how much he wanted to see her, he didn’t want any harm to come her way. He couldn’t go to her, couldn’t give her a hug and tell her that he was still alive. If any higher-ups saw him with her, it would put her in danger.

But... he found himself unable to leave just like that.

So he put the window down and let himself be seen. Even after all the years and Daniel no longer a little boy, his mother still recognized him.

“If I make it through tomorrow,” Daniel said to her, “I’ll come back to you.”

Not risking another second, he shut the window and Seongwoo drove them out of the neighborhood. Daniel never got to hear his mother’s answer.

Seongwoo had one higher-up in his mind— the one that trapped Daniel in his own powers. The one that kept Daniel cold and froze him from the inside out. And the one who also hurt Kim Yohan in the same way.

Jisung also told him how vital it was to eliminate that higher-up quickly, because Daniel and Yohan’s full powers were needed in the final fight.

Yohan’s best friend, Lee Hangyul, volunteered to help Seongwoo eliminate the higher-up. Hangyul’s powers was super strength. He was strong enough to punch and kick even through walls.

They succeed in the end. With the higher-up finally taken out, their loved ones were no longer imprisoned by their own powers.

Once they felt that they were finally free, Daniel and Yohan were able to go all out. They no longer had to fear about their insides freezing or burning. Now, they fought without restraint.

And together, the two of them took out the head of the organization. The head, who had powers himself and was the strongest of them all.

Both Daniel and Yohan were heavily injured by the end of the fight. Separated from the others and communication devices broken, the two lay on the ground and talked about what could have been.

“Must be nice to go to school,” Yohan chuckled, before wincing at the pain it caused him just to laugh. He then collected his breath, steadying himself. “To hang out with friends at a café. To just... live without worrying for your life. Me and Hangyul could have done Taekwondo together. Maybe joined a club.”

“I would have taken my mom to one of our cafés,” Daniel said weakly as his vision began to blur. “I would have introduced her to Seongwoo and everyone. It would have been great.”

They had hung on for as long as they could, but as the world begin to darken, they both tried to go with smiles on their faces.

Soon, two glowing butterflies flew towards them. Then they heard Seongwoo and Hangyul’s worried voices, and arms gently hauling them up.

Then they were carried out to safety.

Jisung and Sungwoon & Guanlin and Seonho

During the big fight, Sungwoon and Jisung caused large rainstorms inside the building to immobilize their enemies. While eliminating a particularly powerful higher-up together, Sungwoon watched in horror as Jisung crashed through the window and fell from dozens of floors above the ground, dragging the enemy along with him.

Heartbroken and unable to find Jisung, Sungwoon had no choice but to listen to Jisung’s last wish.

“If anything happens to me, you’re in command. Lead everyone, Sungwoon. I know very well that you can do it.”

Once the head and core higher-ups were eliminated, the Lights all gathered at the docks where a ship awaited them. Using the ship, they were to escape to an island and safehouse, where they would be safe for a while.

But when they tried to escape, the ship didn’t move. Meanwhile, both the authorities and small fries from the organization were drawing closer to the fatigued and injured Lights.

Guanlin stepped forward. Determined and putting his everything into it, he used his powers to move the waves. While he did this, an enemy had snuck on the ship and lunged to attack Guanlin. Seonho rushed forward, brandishing a lifeboat paddle. With all his strength, Seonho whacked the enemy in the face and knocked him unconscious, saving Guanlin. The two brothers shared a quick glance, Seonho’s eyes brightening at the fact that he didn’t need powers to protect people.

Guanlin then succeeded in pushing the ship, and soon they were all sailing out to sea.

Now that they were free, they would be able to start their new lives.

Epilogue

Sungwoon, along with the other team leaders, tried to negotiate with the authorities. With the CCTV footage and recordings from the now destroyed headquarters, they had proof that the Lights had been forced into committing crimes from a young age. All of these negotiations were done without meeting face-to-face, and always ensuring that the authorities had no way of tracking them down. Maybe a normal life was too much to hope for, but Sungwoon would keep doing whatever he could to make their lives as kind as possible.

Jisung wasn’t the only leader they had lost during the rebellion. Nayoung had gone missing as well, and although some of the members in her team tried to find her, they all came back with no results. The Lights tried to cope with this, but the loss of their leaders devastated them.

The remaining leaders discussed the possibilities of all of them moving to another country, one where there were better rights and protection for Lights. Or a country where no one knew them, and they could use new identities and start afresh.

A week after, a small boat appeared at the shore.

It was Jisung and Nayoung. When Jisung fell from the building, Nayoung had used her powers to catch him. But it had injured the both of them in the process and took out their communication devices. They were unable to go to the ship due to their injuries. So they found a hideout, treated their wounds, and finally went to the island after they had gained enough strength.

(The boys tackled Jisung in a tight hug. Sungwoon, with relieved tears in his eyes, said, “Hey, kids! Jisung’s still injured! Don’t hug him too tightly!”)

With all of them reunited, they continue living on with brighter smiles.

Woojin and Jihoon finally had that conversation. After lots of bickering of “you idiot, how could you not notice that I like you!” from both sides, and Woojin finally pulling Jihoon into a rough kiss that shut the both of them up, they finally got together.

Daniel and Seongwoo reconciled their relationship, healing each other’s hearts. They promised to not keep secrets, and to be more honest with each other. (Years would pass by, and Daniel would finally reunite with his mother again. And this time, Daniel was able to introduce Seongwoo to her.)

No longer ashamed of his powers, Jaehwan did self-training to control and rediscover his powers. Minhyun stayed by his side, feeling like the luckiest man alive. But no matter how happy Jaehwan was, Minhyun still wished that life could become kinder for the both of them. He wished that Jaehwan could go back to a life that was as normal as possible, because a chaotic world was not one that Minhyun wanted for Jaehwan.

Jinyoung and Daehwi, being the young boys that they were, learn more about each other— along with their emerging feelings for each other. As time passed, it would develop into something more. But what was sure was the difference in Jinyoung’s smile— brighter, happier, and now confident.

Guanlin finally talked to Seonho about his guilt throughout the years, about not being able to give Seonho a normal life. With a light fist, Seonho gave his big brother a gentle bonk on the head. Seonho told him how much of a great brother he was, and how he didn’t want a normal life if it meant they wouldn’t be with each other. They hugged, and Guanlin felt the heaviness in his chest finally melt away. In his heart, he vowed that one day they would return to their parents.

With the leaders from the new Light teams, Jisung was able to share his burden and responsibilities with them too. Sungwoon felt relieved and glad. Finally, he thought. Now you can really get your well-deserved rest.

The new Lights became friends with them. They shared their stories, their troubles, and the things that had kept them going. And they would keep giving each other hope. They would continue to carry on together.

They had each other and they were free. And that meant the whole world for them.