Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sooyoung doesn’t know how to explain it. 

To be fair, it’s not very common for people to be able to blink and end up on the other side of the world.  

It starts small in the beginning. 

The first time it happens, she's sixteen years old, hanging out in the park in front of her house. It had become kind of a routine after a tiring day at school, to go there, lie on the grass, look up at the sky, and listen to her best friend talk. 

“You’re spacing out again.” She hears Haseul say, her voice closer than she anticipated. When she turns to face her, she almost jumps at the proximity. Haseul looks like she doesn’t mind it one bit and just offers her a small smile, propping herself on one shoulder, hovering above her. “What’s going on up there?" 

“Nothing…” Sooyoung’s voice is softer than she likes it to be as she re-adjusts herself to keep some distance between them. “Just looking at the clouds.”

Haseul hums. “You could just tell me if I’m boring you with my stories, you know.”

It’s a joke, of course. Teasing Sooyoung seems to be one of Haseul's favorite hobbies. But the implication that Haseul could do anything that would  bore Sooyoung, or worse, the fact that Haseul might actually think she could do anything that would bore her, well it’s just ridiculous. And Sooyoung feels the need to tell her so. 

“Shut up, talking to you is the most interesting part of my day, you should know that.” Sooyoung says it confidently but still can’t manage to look at Haseul as the words leave her mouth. Sooyoung always feels a little awkward when she's too sincere out loud. Even with Haseul. 

(especially with Haseul.)

She doesn’t see as much as she feels Haseul lying back down next to her, but she can vividly imagine what kind of smile she has on her face right now. 

“Always feels good to hear.” She says as she lays her hand over Sooyoung’s. 

Sooyoung’s eyes close at the contact, feeling the warmth spread from her hand all the way to her chest. 

Her heartbeat makes everything around her sound so distant but she can still make out the noise of the wind blowing through the trees, some cars passing by the road behind them, and Haseul’s slow breathing next to her. 

Then suddenly, nothing. As if she was lying in perfect silence. 

And the moment she opens her eyes, instead of being greeted by the clear blue sky, the only thing she sees is… the ceiling of her bedroom? There’s no mistaking this plain, white egg-shell color she looks up at almost every day, especially with the considerable blueish stain that had been left there by a memorable ink incident she had a few weeks prior. 

She jumps up in a panic, just now realizing that she is lying down on her bed. She looks around and sure enough, she’s surrounded by the same messy room she had left this morning. For a good minute, she wonders if everything that happened before had just been a lucid dream. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d dreamt of Haseul, even in such an ordinary setting. Did she just completely black-out between the moment she left school and when she arrived home and went to bed? 

Her almost-panic attack gets interrupted by the ringing in her pocket, which she answers immediately when she sees Haseul’s name light up her phone. 

“I think I might be losing my mind.” Haseul sounds breathless on the other end. “What the hell just happened?” 

“What do you mean?" Sooyoung stutters, nervous butterflies gathering in the pit of her stomach. 

“ ‘ What do I mean’ ? I mean, what the hell happened? I was just lying down with you and then you suddenly disappeared? I’ve been freaking out for the last five minutes, where are you ?”

Sooyoung suddenly finds it hard to breathe, suffocating in her room. “I— I don’t— god that wasn’t a dream, then.”

“A dream? What, no, I— all your stuff is still here, with me.” Haseul now sounds thoroughly confused “I have your backpack and jacket here but you— where are you right now?”

Sooyoung likes to think of herself as a calm, composed, and collected kind of person. Even when she doesn’t feel like it, she always acts like it. But right now, everything is getting a little too overwhelming. She tightens the grip she has on her phone, her knuckles turning white, and closes her eyes as she starts taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm down. She can still hear Haseul’s voice over the phone, calling her name worriedly, and the sound almost soothes her completely, like Haseul’s voice is the only thing tethering her to the ground. To saneness. 

Once she feels calm enough she opens her eyes, meeting Haseul’s wild-eyed and concerned gaze as she stands, hair in the wind, in the middle of the same park she was at moments ago. 

“Well.” Sooyoung starts, the uneasiness in her stomach still present but now, along with it, a giddiness she didn’t comprehend fully yet. “That was something…”

                                                                                        * * * * * * * 

She never really meant to become a super-hero. (though vigilante might be a more appropriate term at this point). On the moral spectrum, Sooyoung always saw herself more in the grey area, she really didn’t plan for all of this. God knows her life would’ve been much,  much  easier without that. 

When it had just started, she didn’t even think to use it for anything other than quickly going back to her house to get the homework she forgot before class started, or maybe start the day by getting Haseul coffee from her favorite coffee shop that was on the other side of town.

(because really, what more would you expect from a teenager)

                                                                                        * * * * * * * 

“So, have you figured out what else you can do with that teleporting thing?” Haseul asks, seemingly out of nowhere as she’s lying down, her whole body sprayed over Sooyoung’s bed comfortably, and in this moment - this ordinary and meaningless moment in the grand scheme of things - she can’t help but think that Haseul just fits in her everyday life in the most normal and perfect way. 

The feeling stays with her, both weighing on and lightening her heart.

“Not really.” Sooyoung sighs, frustrated. “Still trying to figure out how to really control where I’m going, and how fast I can make it work. I’m not even sure I can do anything else but that.” 

Haseul hums lightly, her eyes still fixed on her phone. “Well…” She starts almost hesitantly. “If it’s anything like Nightcrawler from X-Men maybe you can also use it to teleport things to you. Like controlling masses around you and stuff.” 

Sooyoung quirks her eyebrow at her questionably. 

“What?” Haseul sits up and crosses her arms defensively. 

“Nothing, nothing… Didn’t know you liked those comic book stuff.” Sooyoung answers, a small smirk growing on her lips. 

“Well, someone has to do some research. I’m like, your best friend slash side-kick.” Haseul says it like it’s a title she’s most proud of.

Sooyoung shakes her head fondly. “I guess you are. So if you’re my side-kick, does that make a superhero then?” 

“Of course!” Haseul exclaims, then suddenly lets out a loud gasp. “Which means we have to find you a superhero name!” 

Sooyoung cringes at the thought. “…Yeah, I don’t know about that.” 

“Oh come on, that’s part of the job! The secret identity. The branding. The stage name.” She’s almost whispering those words, as she gesticulates her arms dramatically, trying to give it a flare of fantastic. Sooyoung is embarrassed that seeing Haseul being this excited about all this almost makes her warm-up at the idea of a stage name. ( almost ) She still tries her best to sound as unimpressed as she can when she responds. 

“A ‘stage name’? What are you, my sidekick, or my manager?” 

“Both. I’m  that  great.” 

“Can’t argue with that.” It sounds sarcastic when Sooyoung says it, but she truly means it. And she thinks Haseul can tell by the way she looks at her and smiles. 

She spends the rest of the afternoon watching Haseul incredulously as she spits out random comic book facts about superheroes and superpowers. And as she goes through a whole list of aliases Sooyoung could use, laughing at her different, ridiculous ideas, Sooyoung wishes she had the power to stop time instead. Wishes she didn’t have to grow up, that she could stay sixteen, laughing carelessly with Haseul, forever. 

                                                                                        * * * * * * * 

Sooyoung is exhausted. 

She’s exhausted as she teleports herself inside the safe of the Seoul National Bank. She’s exhausted as she stealthily knocks out the last of the robbers and quickly leaves before the cops show up. She’s exhausted as she teleports back to her apartment and throws her body on the couch. 

And she’s definitely exhausted as she remembers the paper she’s supposed to turn in tomorrow. She sighs and closes her eyes, letting herself sink further into the cushions. Maybe dropping out isn’t such a bad idea after all… Lots of people never graduate college, it’s not that big of a deal. Except Haseul would probably kick her ass, and she’d lose her only way to actually socialize. Because, surprisingly, the vigilante business hasn’t been the best way to make long-lasting friendships, Sooyoung had found out. 

Guess it’s just gonna be a problem for future Sooyoung then…. She thinks as she feels her mind drift off to slumber. 

Just as she was about to fully fall asleep, the sound of her front door opening and violently closing makes her jump from the couch. It’s promptly followed by a voice, seemingly talking on the phone, though she can’t clearly make out what is being said.

“Fucking hell, that could not have been louder.” Sooyoung curses, maybe a bit too loud as the sound of Sooyoung’s voice seems to cut through the phone call, and as the footsteps get closer to Sooyoung, her roommate finally comes into view.

She’s dressed in a casual over-sized sweatshirt, her bag still on her shoulder, holding a drink (probably coffee) in one hand and her phone in the other. Sooyoung can see some dark circles growing under her eyes, probably from spending hours at the library again (something Sooyoung admires but could never do, for multiple reasons). 

“Oh, Sooyoung. Sorry, didn’t realize you were home already.” Jinsoul smiles brightly, ending her call in a quick goodbye, and Sooyoung doesn’t have the energy to stay mad, so she just lazily shrugs and drops back onto the couch.

They’ve been roommates for around six months now since they’ve both begun university. Sooyoung needed someone to share the rent with after Haseul abandoned her for the student dorms, and Jinsoul was already posting flyers around the campus. After a coffee meet-up, they hit it off pretty much immediately. Jinsoul is the perfect mix of caring and laid back, the exact kind of roommate Sooyoung wants. The kind to propose a movie night casually huddled together on the couch, but that also knows what personal space means and when it’s needed. 

“You look really tired, are you good?” Jinsoul asks, and Sooyoung can  hear  her eyebrows scrunch worriedly. “At least go lie down on your bed, you’re gonna throw out your back here.”

“Too tired…can’t move…” Sooyoung slurs, then coyly adds. “…carry me?” 

Jinsoul pauses as she watches Sooyoung incredulously. Sooyoung supposes it’s because of her unusually cute - albeit mocking - tone, but then she hears Jinsoul scoff as she walks away. “The girl who can teleport asks  me  to carry her to her bed? Un-fucking-believable.” 

Sooyoung’s first instinct is to laugh at the joke, and she does genuinely find it funny. However, as Jinsoul’s words slowly sink into her brain, she realizes rather crucially that Jinsoul isn’t supposed to actually know that piece of information. No-one is supposed to know. Feeling her fatigue suddenly evaporate, Sooyoung jumps up from the couch to catch up to Jinsoul. 

“Wait, wait a minute….what? How - How do you know that?” Sooyoung asked, stepping inside Jinsoul’s bedroom right after her. 

“You mean you don’t remember that night a couple of weeks ago when you got absolutely wasted and kept teleporting across the different rooms of the apartment?” 

“…” Sooyoung can only stand there, silent from embarrassment and shock. “Obviously….I do not.” 

“I mean, it almost scared me to death, but that was definitely the highlight of my night. Thank god no one else was there, though.” Jinsoul says it in a way that wouldn’t sound serious if anyone else was saying it. 

“Oh my god.” Sooyoung slumps down on Jinsoul’s bed burying her face into her pillow. “Why did you never mention it before?” 

Jinsoul shrugs casually. “I don’t know, you didn’t really say anything the next morning even when I tried to drop some hints - and I’ve been dropping  a lot  of them since - so I just figured you either didn’t remember or didn’t want to talk about it yet.”

“Turns out it was both.” Sooyoung sighs, arranging herself in a sitting position. “Sorry I just… you’re, like, the second-ever person that knows about it and I don’t really know what to say…honestly, I just couldn’t gauge how close we were and what would happen if I told you, and this between all those others cliché reasons… ” 

“Listen,” Jinsoul starts, taking a seat next to Sooyoung, close enough so that their knees and shoulders touch. “You don’t really have to say anything. Just know that you can trust me. I mean it, we’re friends. I didn’t tell anyone before, and I won’t in the future either. But I’m here if you need anything, or if you want me to just ignore all of it, I can do both.” 

Sooyoung finds herself breathing a little bit easier, like a weight she honestly didn’t know was there had just been lifted. Maybe the burden of carrying this alone. Of course, Haseul knows about it - she’d been right there when Sooyoung first found out after all, and pretty much every other moment since - but now, with how busy both of their lives got, she did feel as though they were… well, maybe not drifting apart per se, but a gap clearly started forming between them. Sooyoung definitely could need another person to lean on. And it’s not like she never intended on telling Jinsoul anyway. She does trust the girl, and she did think that it would eventually come out, as they share a rather small living space. She just didn’t think it would be this soon, or that she would be too drunk to remember anything. 

(a part of Sooyoung’s mind - the logical, sober one - notes that it would probably better to be careful around alcohol from now on). 

“Thank you.” She says as she hesitantly rests her head on Jinsoul’s shoulder. “I was more stressed about it than I thought I was…and the fact that I’ve only slept, like, four hours the past three days probably hasn’t helped” 

Jinsoul laughs airily. “Yeah, you should probably go and just get some sleep already.” 

Sooyoung hums in agreement but doesn’t make a move to leave just yet, taking comfort in the warmth of Jinsoul’s side.

As the silence stretches out, Jinsoul is the one to break it. 

“So… if I hadn’t said anything, you were really gonna make me carry you to your bed, huh?” Jinsoul and Sooyoung’s eyes meet and in a second they’re both falling onto each other as Sooyoung tells her she just ruined the beautiful moment they were sharing, their laughter erupting and echoing down the hall of their apartment. 

                                                                                        * * * * * * * 

She eventually meets others like her. “Super-powered vigilantes” is what they’ve been called by the different news outlets that reported on them on a few occasions. 

(‘Super-heroes’ or just plain ‘freaks’ according to people on social media, depending on who you’re following. But really, Sooyoung is just happy to see that there are others like her, and it isn’t as rare as she thought it was.) 

It’s a bit awkward for her at first, talking so openly about this side of her life. It’s been a secret for so long, and even with the people that know she’s always a bit hesitant to talk about it. But here, it’s as common as talking about a day of classes, almost boring small talk. Except, of course, it’s everything  but  boring when Jungeun - or rather  Kim Lip -  talks about her super-speed, or when Sooyoung tries to understand how her simple teleportation power is different from Yerim’s trans-dimensional travel ability (and portal creation? She honestly still isn’t sure what Yerim can do, but it’s damn impressive). 

“Trans-dimensional travel makes it sound so fancy and complicated when it’s really not.” Yerim tells her. Well, not Yerim,  Choerry . She really should get better at using their nicknames now. It’s been a few weeks and she still has trouble answering to Yves. But honestly, what’s the harm when it’s only them? They don’t really seem to care that much anyway. 

“Come on Yerim, there’s literally nothing simple about what you do.” Jungeun interjects. “I’ve known you for years and I still have trouble explaining it.”

Sooyoung simply laughs quietly at their banter. She’s been acquainted with both of them for a just little while now - they ran into each other as Jungeun and Yerim were chasing after some random pick-pocket, and Sooyoung, who was just passing by, cut him off in an alley, appearing out of nowhere-. (because really how else do you meet other super-powered folks?) 

 She managed to learn a bit about them over time - well, as much as she possibly could have in the few weeks they’ve known each other, and all of them being naturally more closed off people towards strangers. She did learn that both Yerim and Jungeun have known each other for years, and discovered their powers almost at the same time when they were both a little younger, and they’ve had each other’s back ever since.

The little anecdotes that they both tell Sooyoung do make her a little bit jealous. Jealous to not have had that person that could have understood exactly what she was going through. She doesn’t dwell on it too much, but Sooyoung does, well  did,  feel a bit lonely from time to time, being the only one with powers around her until now, it was hard not to feel like a freak sometimes.

But well, she learned to love being this different, and she always had Haseul with her to share that secret, and it is almost impossible to still feel jealous of Yerim and Jungeun when she thinks about what she had. Has.  

She continues listening to Yerim argue with Jungeun for a bit longer, throwing in a few remarks here and there, until she sees her phone light up at the incoming text she receives, and she can’t help but smile as she reads it. 

   done with your hero meeting?   

Sooyoung looks up and glances around the room from her sit, towards Jungeun and Yerim. The room itself isn’t the biggest, though the high ceiling and the fact that it isn’t well furnished gives a nice illusion of grandeur. With the exception of a carpet thrown over the floor ( “for decor and ambiance”  Yerim had explained), the room doesn’t have a whole lot going on.

Sooyoung is currently sitting on the grey, coffee-stained couch on one side of the room, while Jungeun is on the opposite side, over the computer desk sitting on a very old and wobbly looking chair, with Yerim comfortably sitting in a small sofa next to her. Sooyoung has only been coming over to this little hide-out of theirs for a couple of weeks when they decided that they could trust and work together with her, and as far as vigilante hide-out goes, well it seems to meet all the criteria for the two other girls, so who’s Sooyoung to judge really. ( "We have a TV, a computer with Wi-Fi, and some more or less comfortable sits, what more could we wish for?”  Jungeun once said) 

As Yerim and Jungeun’s conversation seems to slowly die down, both of them instinctively reaching for their phone, probably to scroll aimlessly on their socials, Sooyoung takes her attention back to her own phone to type out a quick reply. 

  be there in a sec?   

She waits for a few moments to pass, her eyes not glancing away from her device. The second she gets a reply - just a simple  :) in lieu  of agreement - she stands up from the couch where she'd been sitting for the past couple of hours and clears her throat to catch the attention of the two other girls in the room. 

“Well.” She says as she puts her jacket on. “Not that I’m not having fun, but I should get going. It’s getting a little late.” 

The two other girls look at each other knowingly, then both nod back at Sooyoung. 

“I’ll text you if we have any news on the robbers we’re tracking.” Jungeun says, pointing at the computer in front of her. “We might need you for a recon mission soon.” 

Sooyoung just smiles and gives her thumbs up, before vanishing in a blast of dark red energy. 

(She’s been asked a few times how exactly it feels when she teleports, what she sees, what’s happening at that moment, but she can’t really find the words to correctly describe that feeling. When she starts to concentrate, the sensation is a bit like being surrounded by warm cushions of energy, it feels comfortable and peaceful. But as she feels her body shifting through her plane of existence, quickly and swiftly advancing towards the picture in her mind, there’s a surge of electric energy she can feel pulse through her body, like an adrenaline shot that keeps her awake and aware.) 

Once she feels her body physically appear in the place she had envisioned, she has to blink away the red, smoke-like residue of her teleportation energy that obstructs her vision. As she does so, she starts to take in the room around her.

It’s a familiar sight, she’s been here many times, especially since Haseul was lucky enough to get a single dorm room, Sooyoung did not really hesitate to show up here whenever, often staying the night. She looks around, confused at first that she can’t immediately see the girl she's here to see. She also can’t help but notice the state of the room. The room isn’t  that  messy by any means - in a sense that it’s  always  a little messy - but even to Haseul’s usual standard it does not look its best; the papers scattered across the small desk, clothes carelessly thrown over the chair that slipped down to the floor, and what looks like a few days old coffee pot and other dishes resting on the counter. 

She turns around and looks over as she hears the creak of a door opening, a smile naturally forming on her face when she sees Haseul emerge from her small bathroom. She’s about to call out her name when she notices her whole demeanor; her slumped shoulders, her short hair messily falling in front of her face, her feet dragging on the ground lazily. Once Haseul lifts her head and sees her standing in the middle of her room, Sooyoung can barely register Haseul’s red puffed eyes before she’s being pulled into a strong hug. 

With a surprised grunt at the force of impact, Sooyoung’s arms still instinctively wrap around her.

 “…Haseul?” She gently calls out her name, feeling Haseul bury her head in the space between her head and shoulder. After hearing her take an audible intake of breath, probably trying to compose herself once more, she feels Haseul pull away slowly, her head still hanged low. 

“Sorry, I…” She clears her throat, but her voice still comes out a bit choked up. “I was just freshening up a little. It’s been a while.” She finishes her sentence, looking up with a visibly forced smile on her face. Now that she can get a good look at it, Sooyoung can clearly see the last bit of dried-up tears on her cheeks, her lips quivering ever so slightly.

“What’s wrong?” Sooyoung asks gently, a hand coming up to cup Haseul’s cheek softly. She feels her lean into the touch, her eyes almost fluttering shut but still not breaking away from Sooyoung’s. 

“Sorry… I haven’t been feeling my best lately.” She says slowly, a smile trying to form on her lips, not forced like earlier but definitely tired. “Sorry, I didn’t want our hang out to be depressing. It’s really good to see you.” 

Sooyoung stays pensively silent for a second before she slides her hand away from Haseul’s face and to her hand.

“First of all,” She starts. “Stop apologizing, you didn't do anything wrong. And second…” Sooyoung pulls away from Haseul, looking around the room she’s so familiar with before making her way to a drawer, feeling Haseul’s eyes follow her around the room. She pulls out two blankets, takes a few steps back facing a confused Haseul, and drapes one of the blankets over the girl's shoulders. “Let’s take your mind off of things for a sec, ok?” She extends one hand towards her, smiling. “Do you trust me?” 

Confusion turns into intrigue as Haseul smile, genuinely this time, and takes Sooyoung’s hand. “Sure, Aladdin.”

The moment their hands touch, Sooyoung concentrates, and in another flash of red energy, they both vanish from Haseul’s dorm. As they reappear in the cold night air, she can feel Haseul lose her balance and tightens her grip on her shoulder. 

“ Ugh . I’ve only done this a couple of times, and it really doesn’t get any better.” Haseul keeps her eyes closed, seemingly trying to get her body to calm down. 

Truthfully, even Sooyoung still isn't really a hundred percent comfortable traveling that way with someone - especially with all the energy it takes. The few times she’s done it were all with Haseul, and the girl often complained that, “as cool as it is”, it also made her feel incredibly dizzy, like the world's weirdest roller coaster. 

“Sorry.” Sooyoung apologizes sheepishly. “I wish I could say that I’ll try to make it less uncomfortable but I honestly have no idea how.” 

Haseul laughs, standing up straight as her head gradually stops spinning. She slowly opens her eyes, immediately meeting Sooyoung’s at first, then darts around, now realizing where they are standing, a bewildered look taking over her face as she takes in the sight of the park where they spent so much time as kids, the place they would go to cut themselves from the rest of the world. 

“Oh wow. I haven’t been here since we left for college..." She says nostalgically, making her way over to the swing set sitting in the middle of the space, running her hand along the metal chain.

Sooyoung watches her from afar, taking her time to set down the other blanket on the grass and sitting on it, patiently waiting for Haseul. The girl eventually comes over and lies down next to Sooyoung, both of them just looking at the stars. Sooyoung doesn’t press for conversation. As she learned over the years, sometimes it’s better to simply offer company. So she just looks at the stars in the sky, embracing the silent and peaceful air she doesn't get to experience often in Seoul, and the comforting presence next to her. 

She eventually hears Haseul next to her take a breath. “Thank you, I really needed this.” She pauses, unsure of what she’s about to say next. “When did life become just…so much ?” 

Sooyoung gives out a small airy laugh in acknowledgment. “Somewhere between graduating and having to pretend that everything’s fine, that you got your life all figured out when you don’t really know what you’re doing?” 

Haseul looks over to her. “No sugar-coating, huh?” she says, letting out something between a laugh and a sigh. “Yeah, that’s exactly how I’ve been feeling…constantly, and for a while now.” 

Sooyoung hums as she turns to lie on her side to face Haseul, waiting to see if the girl had more to say. Once it becomes apparent that she is done speaking, for now, Sooyoung grasps her hand and squeezes it reassuringly. 

“I wish I had a solution to this, but honestly I don’t believe there is one that I can give you. But you know I’m always here if you need to talk. Or, you know, go to the other side of the country in the blink of an eye.” She offers, smiling. 

Haseul’s eyes stay on her, glistening in the moonlight, she opens her mouth wanting to say something but as nothing comes out she just presses her lips into a smile and squeezes back her hand harder, like she’s trying to convey all of the feelings she can’t quite put into words. Sooyoung likes to think that she knows exactly what she means. 

They stay there in comforting silence, exchanging words only in whispers - like being too loud would break the moment they’re in - for about an hour before the cold forces them to go back to Haseul’s dorm, where they finish the night falling asleep in front of a movie. An ordinary end to an ordinary night. 

Chapter Text

Beads of sweat fall from her forehead as she closely looks across the room, trying to anticipate the next attack. Her breathing is getting heavier and her reflexes slower; Sooyoung knows that she doesn’t have the upper-hand in terms of stamina or strength against the girl in front of her, but she’s been getting better at defending and taking her opponents by surprise. She’s not sure how many more punches she can take though, so when she sees the other girl approaching, she simply stands there, her arms raised in front of her in a defensive stance. 

Sooyoung notices as the girl’s eyebrows raise, expectant and curious, and, with a smile on her face that has not once wavered during their fight, she takes a running start once she’s a few feet away from Sooyoung. She uses that momentum to swing two fists towards Sooyoung who barely manages to avoid it. She dodges the first one with a quick side-step to the right and reduces the blow of the second one with her right palm as it impacts her left forearm. She manages to deflect a couple of other hits, trying her best to keep the attention right on her.

Then, just as a left strike is about to get her in the ribs - one that probably could’ve broken them too -  the punch is left swinging right through the space Sooyoung occupied as she disappears, leaving only a faint trail of red smoke behind her. She uses this momentary element of surprise as she appears behind the other girl to deliver a heavy sweeping kick under the girl’s feet, making her lose her already shaky balance, allowing Sooyoung to bring her down, straddling her chest to pin her on the ground. 

“I think we’ve had enough, no?” Sooyoung says smugly, though her guard is still up in case she claimed victory too soon.  

The tension dissipates once Jiwoo starts laughing, the muscles in her body relaxing underneath Sooyoung’s weight, “Don’t get too cocky now, I’m still five wins ahead of you.” She says confidently, but still gives Sooyoung an approving look as she continues “But I’ll admit, that was a very cool move!” 

Sooyoung smiles, both pleased and slightly embarrassed by the compliment. “Be careful, I”m catching up quickly.” 

“Yeah, I’m not too worried about that” Jiwoo winks playfully. 

It’s been almost a year now since Sooyoung joined Jungeun and Yerim’s team, and barely four months since she’s met Jiwoo, their newest addition, and her new sparring partner. Jiwoo might be the brightest, most positive person Sooyoung’s ever met in her life, which makes her powers all the more amusing and surprising to her.  Even after all these months, it still feels a bit unreal seeing Jiwoo, in all of her 5 foot 3 cheerful glory, being able to lift a car with her bare hands. 

(it was even more unreal and disturbing the first time Sooyoung saw Jiwoo break her arm, and simply walk away, casually pushing back the bone under her skin, as if nothing happened.)     

In the year she spent with them, they luckily had the chance to upgrade their whole set up, from their old worn-out hide-out with a ripped-up couch and one ever so slow computer, to this.

This being a medium-ish ware-house type building they were able to buy at a very low price (mainly because of how unkempt it was), and after a couple of months of redecorating and remodeling - made much easier with Jungeun's super speed -, they managed to get a more than decent place with a cozy living space furnished with two comfortable couches and a mini-fridge.

This space is connected by a makeshift wall to what they call the screens room; this makes it sound way more impressive than what it actually is - a room with two dual-screens computers and a projector pointed to a white wall - but it does the job well enough (and the fact that they can connect Jiwoo's Switch to the projector to play Mario Kart is a good bonus on its own).

The training room though, where Jiwoo and Sooyoung spend most of their time when they're not lying around the living room couches, now that room is the real deal. Located in the small underground part of the building, they completely covered it in gym mats, from the floor to the walls (the walls came later though, only after Sooyoung had already been flung from one side of the room to the other when Jiwoo was a bit too tired to fully control her strength). With a water fountain, air conditioning, and a small stereo system, it's easily the most well done room of their whole setup - and the most expensive one too. 

 But as it turns out, being a sort of superhero vigilante in this day and age doesn't have to be non-profit. All thanks to Jiwoo's ever-growing social media presence, engaging with the community she is protecting every day. Of course, she keeps it a hundred percent anonymous, going by the name Chuu, never showing her face, she's mastered the art of never revealing too much information that could be traced back to her. And with that they discover that, while some people are not very happy about them existing, a majority of the citizens actually want to help, and give back - and to be honest, with this vigilante gig taking such a huge part of their life, not being able to take part-time jobs, well let's just say the help is gladly accepted. 

Jiwoo clears her throat and brings Sooyoung out of her thoughts “Not that I don’t like you being on top...” Jiwoo adds a pause to let that sink in “...But could you stand up now, please?” 

Sooyoung rolls her eyes and playfully slaps Jiwoo’s shoulders as she moves off, but she still can’t help the small blush that creeps up her cheeks just like every other time Jiwoo teases her (not that she cannot give just as much as she gets). They both stand up and start stretching carefully, Sooyoung lets out a grunt as she lifts her arms and feels a small strain on her shoulder. Gonna feel this one tomorrow, she thinks with a sigh. 

"You alright ?" Jiwoo inquires from where she stands, or rather sits in a split, stretching her back from side to side "I don't think I went that hard, did I?" 

"Well, sorry, not everyone has an indestructible body," Sooyoung answers with a laugh.

"Not indestructible!" Jiwoo wines "I just heal quickly."  

Sooyoung scoffs playfully; they've had the same argument a few times already but Jiwoo still gets worked up about it.  "Same difference. Anyway, don't worry, nothing a good, much needed, night of sleep won't fix." 

"Then you're not gonna like what I have to say." Jungeun's voice rings from behind the girls as she suddenly appears in the entryway of their training room, her hair and clothes still a bit disheveled from the speed at which she traveled.  She and Yerim have been going around town gathering intel all week, and Sooyoung usually goes with them, but since Jiwoo joined she's been more focused on combat training with her.  

"What'd you found out?" Sooyoung asks, a sinking feeling that her chill evening's plans are about to fall out the window. 

Jungeun raises a dismissive hand "No need to rush, go take a shower and I'll debrief in the screens room" 

Sooyoung bites back a smile at how formal and serious Jungeun sounds, using words like debrief for what they do, it's kind of cute. But she also knows that it is serious, so she simply nods, taking her bag to go change. 

"Is Yerim not with you?" Jiwoo asks, mirroring Sooyoung and taking her own change of clothes. 

It's subtle but Sooyoung notices the slightest bit of hesitation in Jungeun before she responds "It's a bit complicated, and honestly I'm not sure I completely understood. Yerim and her damn portals" she mumbles that last part, then continues with a bit more conviction "She had to go somewhere to help a friend but she said she'll be back soon-ish. So we're on our own for this." 

Sooyoung and Jiwoo exchange a glance, both noticing the clear look of concern Jungeun is trying to hide. They were all, more or less, used to Yerim doing her own thing with her portals, sometimes not coming back for a few days, but that didn't make the worry go away. But there's no use lingering on this, other than making everyone feel bad, so they nod again and agree to meet back here in one hour, giving Sooyoung and Jiwoo time to freshen up, and Jungeun time to set up. 

Sooyoung sends a quick text to Jinsoul, making sure no one is at the apartment before teleporting Jiwoo and herself there. They take turns showering, getting ready quickly enough to still have time to grab something to eat at the nearby café where Jinsoul works part-time. Though they met more recently, Jiwoo is the only one from Sooyoung's other life who met her roommate, but to no one's surprise they get along great - Sooyoung is convinced that it's physically impossible for Jiwoo not to be liked by someone, and she has yet to be proven wrong.  

Once they're done eating, Jinsoul sneaks them into a back room, complaining to Sooyoung - as she does every time - that if she gets fired because of her they're gonna have a real hard time with rent, and Sooyoung tells Jinsoul - as she always does -  not to worry so much as she disappears with a wink in a red flash with Jiwoo smiling sheepishly at Jinsoul. 

They materialize in the middle of their screens room, Jungeun slumped on the computer chair, having seemingly dozed off waiting for the other girls. Sooyoung approaches the desk, gently shaking the girl awake as she puts down a cup in front of her. "Coffee delivery." 

Jungeun lets out a groan as she stands up straight on her chair, stretching her back as she mutters thanks before taking the cup and bringing it up to her lips. "God, this shop makes the best coffee." 

"They really do!" Jiwoo says cheerfully "And the staff is the nicest," she adds, with a wink to Sooyoung who simply rolls her eyes. This is becoming her instinctive reaction to Jiwoo's flirtatious habits. 

"So," Sooyoung says, not acknowledging Jiwoo's comment any further "What's up?"  

Sooyoung and Jiwoo both take a seat facing the white wall while Jungeun starts the projector, and Jiwoo whispers with a laugh that she feels like a kid in a classroom. 
Jungeun clears her throat, drawing attention to the screen now showing multiple pictures and videos, some taken by Jungeun and Yerim themselves, others clearly from surveillance cameras that they hacked. 

They all show the same three people, doing all sort of things across multiple days; a tall, muscular man wearing a bright orange construction worker uniform entering a tools store, another man, a bit younger and frailer, dressed in all black, the lower part of his face covered by a mask, pacing around an art gallery - the footage shows him taking the same path front to back of the building three days in a row, occasionally taking his phone to take pictures or text someone -,  and a woman dressed in beautiful expensive clothes, and though her face is not entirely visible on the camera footage, Sooyoung can tell that she's beautiful just from the way she stands. They see her entering and leaving the same art gallery, but never on the same day as the other man. 

"Meet Dongmin, Hyunsik, and Juhyun." Jungeun starts her presentation, each name is followed by a, more or less pixelated, close-up picture of the individuals "All the intel Yerim and I gathered pointed to these three. Dongmin and Hyunsik have repeated offenses; we're talking assault, B&E, all kinds of petty theft, and more recently armed robbery." She backs up her info with different video footage and copy of arrest records of the men, with clear pictures of their mugshots. 

"Juhyun, on the other hand..." Jungeun continues, this time only the shot of the woman exiting the art gallery is projected on the screen, a long black hat hiding part of her face, only a small smile on her lips visible. "No matter how deep we went, we never found anything on her. I think we even got lucky to learn her name through some of our connections. No criminal record, no one on the street knows her personally, but her name has been linked to some extremely high-profile heist." 

"I think we're all thinking it, but how the hell are those two dudes working along with that woman?" Sooyoung comments. 

Jungeun nods in agreement and her brow furrows a bit "And this is not even the weirdest part of this whole thing. This is from less than a month ago, check it out."

 She changes the slide and a video starts playing. A black and white shot of the interior of a convenience store shows Dongmin and Hyunsik enter, walking casually towards the back. The video fast forwards as they seem to do nothing more than look at different snack aisle, then it slows down and zooms in as Dongmin slips two liquor bottles in his bag, along with bags of junk food. 

"Right in front of a camera, genius" Sooyoung mutters, hearing an airy, agreeing laugh from Jiwoo on her right side. Jungeun shushes them and points to the screen as if to say wait for it.

 Just as she does, the cashier walks up to the two men, surely having seen them openly steal from his store. The lack of sound from the camera makes the next few minutes of watching the store employee argue with the thieves tenser than it perhaps should be. But it's when the clerk tries to stop them from leaving that it all goes wrong. 

Dongmin seems to not like being touched all that much because as he feels the hand on his shoulder trying to restrain him, he sweeps his arm in a circular arc and everything goes flying. The clerk is thrown back ten feet on his back, and two aisles of products tumble over in what would be a very loud crash if the video wasn't silent.

Sooyoung's eyes widen as she instinctively moves to the edge of her sit. Dongmin looks as surprised as Sooyoung as it seems he doesn't have that much control over what he does and almost falls back himself at the pure force of what came out of him. Hyunsik, who luckily is right behind Dongmin and steadies him, starts looking around the store and finally spots the security camera. With a scowl, staring dead eye at the camera, he raises his hand and an arc of energy shoots out, destroying it and stopping the video. 

While Sooyoung and Jiwoo start to process what they just saw, Jungeun presses play on another video, this one looking like a CCTV footage of the street in front of the store, where Dongmin and Hyunsik are exiting the shop and running towards an expensive-looking black car, all the windows tinted. They both enter through the backseat doors and the car immediately drives away. 

"Ok." Jiwoo starts after a beat of silence in the room. "So we're dealing with supers?" 

"Yes. I mean, no, but yes." Jungeun says, then sighs. "Those guys have been arrested so many times, they've robbed or try to rob who knows how many places. Point is, they've never had powers before. It's like they got theirs overnight, and not small stuff either." 

Sooyoung nods. They haven't met that many people with powers before, but all they had in common was that they usually start manifesting it at a young-ish age, and it takes months or even years to master it enough for it to be that powerful and that dangerous. This definitely didn't look natural. 

"And more importantly," Jungeun carries on, pointing at the picture of their getaway car; "This is the same car we've seen Juhyun come in and out of the past weeks. I can't help but think this is not a coincidence. This all leads back to her somehow. I just don't know the how." 

"Ok, so to recap," Sooyoung stands up in front of the projector. "Two D-class criminals meet with Mysterious-Beautiful-Woman no one knows anything about, they start working for or with her and suddenly have those powers? Do we think that she... what, gave it to them? Is that even possible?" 

Jiwoo and Jungeun exchange a look and shrug. It's not something they've seen before, but to be fair most things involving those powers are still new to them. 

"Ok, then. So we're a bit in over our head on this..." 

Jungeun interrupts with a scoff. "Understatement of the day." 

"So!" Sooyoung gives a pointed look at Jungeun, "Let's focus on what we know and can do." 

"Agree. Also, I'm still not really up to date with what they're trying to do and what we're trying to stop here." Jiwoo comments. "Like, what's the game plan?" 

"Right, my bad." Jungeun starts up the PowerPoint again and skips to a picture of the art gallery, alongside a map of the inside. "Basically, like I said, this Juhyun lady has been associated with several heists, but specifically art and jewelry. Over the next week, a new piece is going to be brought up and displayed to the gallery we've seen them case." She changes the slides once again, this time showing a picture of a beautiful painting "This is The Ruby of the Sea. Every intel Yerim and I gathered told us that it's a very expensive painting coming all the way from Italy and Juhyun wants it in her collection." 

Now, they're not usually in the business of stopping art heists (the classiest of all crimes, Sooyoung calls it), but something about this group of people didn't seem right. Especially this Juhyun lady, and her power-giving abilities. Sooyoung could only imagine the damage it would do to the city if random criminals started showing up with powers out of nowhere; not all of them would stick to low-casualties crimes like heists. If stopping this heist can get them some answers, then it's worth the risk. 

"Do we know how long the painting is staying at the gallery?" Sooyoung asks. 

"No idea. Which usually means for an undetermined period of time until people get sick of watching the same stuff." Jungeun answers. 

"And do we know when they plan on stealing it?" Jiwoo follows up. 

"Nope!" Jungeun replies with a feigned cheerfulness, "My guess would be either during the transfer of the painting from the airport to the gallery or at night once it's already up in the exhibit. Probably not during the day either way." 

"So literally any day from the moment the painting enters the country..." Jiwoo concluded. 

"Basically." Jungeun agreed. 

"Ok," Sooyoung starts confidently, trying to bring up morale. "So first we need to find out when the painting is supposed to arrive. Then I think it would make more sense for Jungeun to be on transport duty, you could probably follow the car and tell us if something happens." Sooyoung waits for Jungeun to nod before continuing "Great, and if it doesn't happen then, we take turns staking out the gallery. Sounds good?" 

They all nod, feeling a bit less down now that they have a plan. Maybe this will be over soon, Sooyoung thinks optimistically. 

.

.

.

Or maybe it's gonna take weeks of camping all night on a rooftop across from the gallery while nothing happens - after the painting's transit to the gallery also amounted to nothing (which is technically a good thing, Jiwoo reminds her).

It's been exhausting for all of them, but Sooyoung couldn't help but notice that on top of that, Jungeun has been more on edge because of Yerim. Two weeks of radio silence since she said she had to help some friends and disappeared through one of her portals. Even though she's technically an adult (one with powerful abilities too), Sooyoung knows Jungeun feels especially responsible for her, in an older sister/mom-type way. But there's not a lot they can do but wait for her to come back, so Sooyoung thinks better than to bring it up. And well, it's not like she doesn't have her own problems. Although they're still taking turns for the stake-outs, Sooyoung's body is not agreeing with the 'no-sleeping because of hero business' and 'no-sleeping because of school business' life she's been living. 

"Of all the reasons why I thought I'd be sleep deprived in college, this was definitely not one of them," Sooyoung complains to Jinsoul one evening while they're on the bus commute back from uni.

Sooyoung barely had time to come home and shower that morning after her night of surveillance, but the several coffees she's been drinking all day are doing the job of keeping her awake. 

"It's not like there's a ton of parties to go to these days either way." Jinsoul retorts half-heartedly, her eyes not leaving her phone as she types, a smile growing on her face. Sooyoung's curiosity is piqued so she leans over the girl's shoulder trying to get a peek at her phone. 

"Who are you talking to?" she asks, one eyebrow raised.  

Jinsoul whips her phone close to her chest, away from Sooyoung's prying eyes. She squints her eyes looking at her, as if debating telling Sooyoung about it or not, before answering curtly. "No one." 

"Oh come on, show me!" Sooyoung wines, tugging on Jinsoul's sleeve and she can see the girl trying not to smile. 

"You're so nosy when you're tired," Jinsoul says, turning around towards the exit. "This is our stop, by the way." 

Sooyoung follows closely behind as they get out of the bus and make their way towards their apartment.

"You know I have no social life, just help me live vicariously through yours!" she exclaims, throwing her arms around Jinsoul's shoulders, nagging at her while Jinsoul keeps her phone out of reach, calling her ridiculous the whole way home. They pause once they get to their apartment building for Jinsoul to take out her keys from the bottom of her bag, just as they hear someone clear their throat right next to them. Jinsoul's keys fall to the ground as she yelps. Sooyoung can't help but laugh at the scene, especially when she sees who's the person standing right next to them. 

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to scare you" Jiwoo's face is somewhere between apologetic and amused as she reaches down to grab the fallen keys and hands them back to Jinsoul, who still has hand up to her chest trying to calm her heartbeat. 

"No worries." Jinsoul smiles, taking another calming breath. "Hi. Do you want to come up?" 

"Oh, no sorry." Jiwoo replies, then at Sooyoung. "It's a bit of an emergency, actually. Kind of, maybe." 

Sooyoung raises a questioning eyebrow. 

"Well," Jinsoul chimes in. "I'll leave you guys to it, I gotta take a nap before my late evening shift. Still can't believe we're open 'till 2 AM, who needs caffeine at that time?"

"You'd be surprised." Sooyoung mumbles. 

They exchange goodbyes as Jinsoul enters the building, Sooyoung turns to Jiwoo. "What's up?" 

"We got news that the gallery is taking down the painting tomorrow morning and sending it back to the owners. Tonight is the last night they can attempt to steal it." Jiwoo smiles excitedly, and Sooyoung can see in her eyes that's she as happy as her to have something concrete to do. No more useless sleepless nights. 

They decide to have Jungeun stay behind, taking care of the communications and surveillance, while Sooyoung and Jiwoo sit on their stake-out rooftop across the gallery, hot coffee and blankets almost making it seem like a fun, outside sleepover. They sit in what Sooyoung considers to be a comfortable silence, but she sees Jiwoo from the corner of her eyes glancing in her direction every few minutes. 

"What?" She asks the next time she catches Jiwoo looking at her.  

"Nothing..." Jiwoo smiles sheepishly, and Sooyoung doesn't know her to be shy about conversation, but maybe her own demeanor made it seem like she didn't want to talk. 

So she smiles back at Jiwoo, eyebrows raised playfully. "Just say what you want to say." 

Jiwoo laughs quietly. "Nothing really, just wanted to make small talk..." she pauses, and Sooyoung waits to see if she would continue. "We haven't known each other for that long, and we mostly meet for like, hero business or whatever. I don't want to overstep or anything." 

Sooyoung sees this new side of Jiwoo, one she didn't even think existed - unsure, maybe even insecure Jiwoo who has a hard time maintaining eye contact. Maybe there's a bit of truth in what she is saying; it's only been 4 months since they met, and they do mostly meet at their hide-out, but it feels wrong to reduce their relationship as purely professional.

"Jiwoo." Sooyoung says to make the girl look at her. "There's no overstepping or anything. You hang out at my apartment and at the coffee shop enough that even my roommate likes you - roommate that you're the only one to have met, by the way. You're one of the few people I would call a close friend." 

Jiwoo blinks a few times, almost surprised, then she smiles, shy but delighted. "Thank you. And sorry, I didn't mean to sound pitiful or anything, I just." she pauses again, trying to find the right words, and when she does her voice comes out softer than usual. "I've had a bit of a hard time making friends since discovering what I can do. I mean, I'm a social person, I try and get along with everyone I meet. But long-lasting friendships built around secrets are usually, you know..." She trails off. 

And Sooyoung smiles at Jiwoo because she does know. She meant it when she said there were few people she would consider true friends. Jungeun, Yerim, and Jiwoo were a given, they spent so much time together, risking their lives, it felt inevitable. She knows she's also very lucky to have met Jinsoul - funny and loving Jinsoul who's always been so supportive of Sooyoung, helping her as best she can to balance both sides of her life (providing the best coffee possible for half the price). 

Then there's Haseul. Her relationship with Haseul is... hard to describe with words. Ambiguous might be one of them. She knows that her feelings are far from platonic, and sometimes she thinks it might not be as unrequited as she thinks. But these days, it feels like their lives are just oceans apart. Checking on each other almost exclusively through texts, barely seeing each other or hearing each other's voices.  And they might always be childhood best friends, but she doesn't want that to just be history, a memory of a person she'll remember fondly in vague details. Yet, the friendship she always thought of as a beautiful, ever-growing and glowing wisteria, capable of flourishing even on the driest of concrete walls, is starting to feel more like an old, forgotten house plant, withering with time in a dark corner. 

"So..." Jiwoo says dragging out the word, as she turns her body now facing Sooyoung completely. She already looks more confident and reassured, and the glint in her eyes almost makes Sooyoung regret this turn of events (not really). "How's it going with you and Jinsoul?" she asks giddily. 

Now it's Sooyoung's turn to blink slowly, taken aback by the question. "Um...Fine?" Her answer comes out as a question, not entirely sure why this would be so interesting for Jiwoo to know.  

But Jiwoo just smiles excitedly. "It must be so nice to be with someone who knows every part of your life! Like, you live together, you go to class together, being able to spend time chilling at the coffee shop while she works," Jiwoo sighs, almost longingly. "It's just all so cute!" 

Now Sooyoung is even more confused. Then it clicks, what Jiwoo thinks of their relationship, and every teasing comment, winks, and knowing looks Jiwoo gave Sooyoung when talking about Jinsoul suddenly make sense.  

"Oh no, no, no, no...no." She can't help but laugh as she clears up the air. "Jinsoul and I are- we're not dating. Just roommates. Friends." 

Jiwoo looks at her skeptically. "Are you sure...?" 

"Yes...?" Sooyoung copies her tone, dragging out the last syllable like she's answering with a question as well. 

"Oh," Jiwoo sits up straight, the excitement leaving her voice. "My bad, I just assumed." 

They let that sit in the air for a few, awkward seconds before Sooyoung inquires. "What made you think that...?" 

"I don't know, just the way you guys were comfortable with each other? And hanging out a lot?" Jiwoo's tone is unsure as she answers. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to make it awkward. Honestly thinking about it, it's just stuff you could do with your friend too." 

"No worries," Sooyoung reassures her. "Jinsoul would have a good laugh at this." 

Jiwoo laughs, reassured. "OK, good. So it's a no on Jinsoul, but are you dating though? 'Cause I've seen the way you look at your phone sometimes, and no way that's just for a friend." 

Sooyoung's smile falters the smallest bit, and she hesitates for a second. Jiwoo must notice because she immediately throws her hands up apologetically. "I mean you don't have to tell me! No pressure!" 

"No, it's just...complicated." Sooyoung sighs. Maybe it'd be good to let her feelings out, and what better place than a shady rooftop at night, while you're waiting for criminals to show up. And Jiwoo does look like a good person to confide in. 

So she does. She tells her about Haseul, how they grew up together. How they were always together, for each other's first kiss, first crush, first heartbreak, first love. How Haseul shared most of her firsts with Sooyoung, while most of Sooyoung's firsts were about Haseul.  How Haseul was the first person to know about Sooyoung's power, and all the nights they spent talking about it, making up crazy scenarios and stupid names. And Jiwoo sits there, a sad smile on her face as she listens attentively to Sooyoung's pinning story. And Sooyoung feels the same type of weight being lifted off her shoulders as when she talked about her powers with Jinsoul. It's liberating, really.

(A part of her brain wonders if it wouldn't feel better to have this kind of honest talk with Haseul, but the insecure, cowardly side shoves that idea to the side quickly.) 

They stay up on that roof for a while, passing the time talking in whispers about nothing and everything, and Sooyoung thinks that even if nothing happens tonight, she doesn't even mind the extra useless sleepless night. 

Still, she feels slightly relieved when Jungeun comes through their earpieces. "Girls get ready, I think I'm seeing some movement."

Sooyoung doesn't miss the "finally" Jiwoo whispers as she stands and stretches. Sooyoung mirrors her movements, letting out a satisfied sigh as she feels her back cracking. 

"OK, are we waiting for them to make their move on the painting before we enter?" Sooyoung asks in her earpiece. 

The sound of a distant explosion cuts off any answer that might've been given to her question. Sooyoung and Jiwoo's heads spin in the direction of the sound. 

"Where the hell was that?" Jiwoo asks, startled. "That sounded so far away." 

They look in the distance, and though a few tall buildings get in the way, from their vantage point on that roof they can see fairly far into the city. Yet, they can't see any column of smoke that should follow that type of sound. They hear a second boom, echoing the previous one, much quieter, but it doesn't sound farther away. That's when it clicks for Sooyoung. 

"It's not far away. It's below." She says as she points to the art gallery. She takes a few steps towards Jiwoo and grabs her by the arm, ready to teleport them at any moment, bringing her other hand to her ear and saying in her earpiece."Jungeun, are there any cameras to get a view on the inside?" 

There's a pause on the other side before Jungeun groans. "I can't get anything from them. I think they already turned them all off. I only have eyes on the back alley where a van pulled up but no one came out of it." 

Jiwoo looks back towards the gallery with a frown, then back towards Sooyoung. "I don't think we have time for this, we have to go in." 

Sooyoung nods, ready to teleport. She remembers the plan of the building they studied : the first level, minimum security as it is basically empty except for a front desk and a few art pieces (none of real interest); the second level, twice the size of the entrance floor, full of very different, very expensive art works, from classical sculptures and paintings, to contemporary virtual art, and in the middle of it all, the latest arrival to the collection, surrounded by rather impressive security that even Jungeun would have trouble hacking into, the painting they're here to protect. And above this, not really a floor per say, but a balcony over-looking the whole second story of the building. It's this balcony that Sooyoung concentrates on; she pictures it exactly as it is, and envisions her feet pressing down flat on its floor. 

"We're going in. If you don't have eyes on the inside, you might as well come here and keep a look out in the back alley in case the van goes anywhere." Sooyoung tells Jungeun before squeezing Jiwoo's arm, making sure she's ready, and with a nod, they disappear in a quick, red flash. 

They settle down easy and safe on the hard-wood floor of the balcony, managing to just avoid a stand-alone bar Sooyoung didn't know existed in this space. This bar does give some much appreciated cover as they immediately duck behind it - though it's almost pitch black on this floor, except for a few emergency exit fluorescent lights that give a creepy atmosphere to the place.

Sooyoung raises a hand in front of her, signaling Jiwoo to pause for a second, to listen for any noise coming from downstairs. A moment passes. Then a couple more of complete silence before Sooyoung lets her hand fall down, fairly certain that no one is in the immediate vicinity. 

 Sooyoung tries to communicate with Jiwoo using hand signals, motioning that they should try and flank the place, one person on each side of the room just in case.  She must not be as smooth as she thinks she is, because Jiwoo just looks at her with a puzzled look. She repeats the same hand signals, emphasizing each move, and Jiwoo tries to respond with her own messy, incomprehensible gestures, and Sooyoung has to stop herself from slapping her palm into her forehead in desperation. 

"I don't understand you, just talk!" Jiwoo whispers loudly, after a few more seconds of frustrating attempts at silent communication. 

Sooyoung rolls her eyes, "I'm saying we should try and flank the room so one of us is on each side, maybe try and catch them by surprise. Quietly!"

Jiwoo nods and turns to make her way down. Sooyoung is about to follow when Jiwoo turns back to face her. "Quick question," she says under her breath, "How the hell do we get to the second floor?" 

Sooyoung's brows knit, uncertain. She looks around the area they're in right now, and sure enough, except for the bar and two stools she doesn't see anything, much less a staircase.  Still crouching, she makes her way to a small alcove on the left, and finds a door behind a weirdly placed curtain. She looks back towards Jiwoo, a victorious smile on her face as she puts her hand on the handle and tries to silently open it.  Her smile falls short once she feels resistance from the door and realizes it is locked shut. Jiwoo looks like she's trying really hard to stiffle her laugh, and Sooyoung just sticks out her tongue at her, like the grown adult she is. 

She's debating trying to teleport on the other side of the door, not really liking the idea not knowing what or who could be behind it, when suddenly lights are being turned on and they hear voices coming from downstair. They both immediately drop to the ground and crawl towards the glass railing as the voices become clearer and louder. 

"Just focus on the task at hand, Dongmin. We're not here for this." She hears a stern but calm voice say. Hyunsik, Sooyoung assumes. 

"Man, fuck this mission!" This one, Dongmin she concludes, sounds harsher and angrier, and definitely not trying to be quiet. "I'm sick of doing whatever she wants. We have this whole place to ourselves and we're only coming out with one stupid painting?" 

The two men enter her field of vision and Sooyoung can see Hyunsik is clearly losing his patience with his partner. They're both wearing similar, all-back outfits, with masks currently hanging on their necks rather than hiding their faces. They're either very sure that they're alone and the cameras are off, or they simply don't care about being identifiable.

They make their way towards the wall on the opposite side of the balcony where the painting is, giving Sooyoung and Jiwoo a clear view of the show, and drop two duffle bags in front of it. Hyunsik starts going through them, taking out random tools to undo the alarm system and prop the painting out of the wall, while Dongmin stands there, his bouncing leg betraying his restlessness. He keeps looking around all the other artworks as if trying to decide which one he could afford to snag along the way. 

Sooyoung motions to Jiwoo to back up behind the bar, taking advantage of their distracted state. "OK, change of plan. Do you think you can jump from the balcony to the ground? Without breaking anything."  

Jiwoo looks back towards the railing, calculating the distance from afar. "Easily." She says with a confident smile. 

 Sooyoung nods, and can't help but appreciate the morale boosts she gets from Jiwoo's self-assuredness. "If you can get their attention for a few seconds, I can teleport behind them. We'll probably have a better chance if we take them separately." 

Jiwoo nods and pulls a peach color mask out of her pocket, putting it on to hide the bottom half of her face. She starts to stand up when Sooyoung holds her back by the arm. "Be careful, OK? We've never actually fought people with powers before." 

Jiwoo pats Sooyoung's hand with a reassuring smile she can only see reflecting through the girl's eyes. "You have powers and I take you down all the time," then says more seriously. "Don't worry, we got this." 

Sooyoung shakes her head affectionately and pulls out her own, dark red mask. She watches Jiwoo go to the edge of the balcony, still crouching as she looks at the men below. Hyunsik is still figuring out how to deactivate the alarm, and Dongmin has started wandering around the rest of the gallery. 

Jiwoo then jumps onto the railing, scaring Sooyoung as she almost loses her balance but she catches herself quickly, standing tall with her hands resting on her hips. She clears her throat theatrically loud, making the two men jump in surprise. 

"Gallery's closed, boys!" Jiwoo calls out. 

She takes a step in the empty space in front of her and lets herself fall off the balcony, not faltering for a second. She lands on the ground in a resounding boom and Sooyoung can see, even from where she's kneeling, Hyunsik draws slightly back away from Jiwoo, intimidated.  

Dongmin, on the other hand, doesn't back down, quite the opposite in fact as he takes a step towards Jiwoo, "Who the hell do y—" 

Sooyoung doesn't let him finish his sentence, appearing behind him in a blink, she immediately drops and sweeps his legs in a smooth, well-rehearsed move, making Dongmin fall on his back with a grunt and an even more confused expression on his face.

Jiwoo tries to take the opportunity of this second surprised drop and takes a running start towards Hyunsik, who's now pressed up against the wall on the other side of the room, eyes wide - but he snaps out of it quickly. He brings up his right hand and points it at Jiwoo rushing towards him, and just like she saw in the camera footage all those weeks ago, it starts to glow brighter and brighter, until the light that is concentrating at the tip of his fingers shoots out in a dangerously fast beam of white energy. 

Thankfully, Jiwoo's reflexes are slightly faster and she dives to the side, barely avoiding the ray of light that instead impacts against the wall on the other side, leaving a substantial hole in the concrete. Sooyoung lets out a sigh of relief as she watches Jiwoo stand up, only a minor graze on her shoulder - nothing that won't heal quickly with her inhumanly fast metabolism. 

Dongmin, who's still prone on the ground, blinks out of his stupor, jumps back on his feet, and spins to face Sooyoung. He rears back his fist and throws a punch directly at her face. She tries to lean back out of his range, and successfully does so, but even though the punch doesn't directly connect, Sooyoung feels herself being flung across the room by some powerful, invisible, wind-like force. Her back violently collides with the wall, and she feels the air being knocked out of her lungs as she lands face-first on the ground.

Everything around her turns black. She can make out Jiwoo's voice calling out to her, but it seems so far away and she feels so comfortable lying down right now, maybe she could just stay here. This doesn't seem too bad - the floor is cool and weirdly soft and she hasn't had a nice night of sleep in so long... 

Only this thought is cut short by the hand grabbing her by the back of her hoodie and lifting her up - Dongmin may not be as strong as Jiwoo but this looks pretty effortless for him. Sooyoung tries her best to blink away the concussion she probably has, but it proves to be a bit of a challenge as she is once again hurled across the room, although this time she manages to teleport mid-air right as she was about to hit the wall a second time. She reappears a few inches off the floor, falling next to Jiwoo who looks at her worriedly. Sooyoung takes a few quick breaths and attempts to rise from the ground, feeling her knees buckle as she does so; still, she powers through it and stands, nodding at Jiwoo that she's ok. 

Hyunsik and Dongmin also regroup on their side of the room, the initial surprise having dissipated, now they just look angry and ready to end this - or at least Hyunsik looks like this; Dongmin looks a bit...excited? There's something wicked in his eyes that really unsettles Sooyoung. 

Sooyoung's mind is racing as she struggles to come up with a plan; they're clearly at a disadvantage as both their powers don't actually do anything long-range, the exact opposite of the two men in front of them, and staying huddled together raises the chances of both of them getting hurt. Sooyoung thinks she probably has a better chance at taking on Hyunsik - being able to teleport out of the reach of his focused beam, rather than the wide arc of Dongmin's. But the problem stays the same, they need to get close to actually fight them. So she does the only thing she's good for and grabs Jiwoo's arm. 

Dongmin and Hyunsik both react at the movement, but still a step too late, as Sooyoung brings Jiwoo and herself to the far right of the room, avoiding the blast of another attack. Jiwoo then takes off running towards their opponents, and while Hyunsik's instinct is to back away quickly, Dongmin stays right there, his feet planted on the ground. He sends a couple of blasts that Jiwoo avoids by sidestepping or sliding under gracefully, and Dongmin almost looks like he regrets not following Hyunsik's lead and backing away because in an instant Jiwoo is in front of him, her left leg rising knee-high into the air, and as Dongmin goes to block it, she instead presses on her right leg to jump, using that momentum to front kick him in the chest, sending him flying past Hyunsik, who seems to think it's better for him to avoid the girl with the super-human strength and probably has a better chance against the girl who can only teleport.

 He walks away from Dongmin, and more specifically away from Jiwoo who is still focused on the guy she just sent flying, and heads towards Sooyoung. 

"I don't know who the hell you are," He says, venom in his voice, looking straight into her eyes, "But I'll make you regret playing super-hero like this." 

He lifts both his hands and throws them up towards each side of Sooyoung, and when he shoots his magic missiles he doesn't aim directly at her, but the explosion surrounds her so she doesn't have anywhere to go to avoid it.  She teleports at the last second, catching the beginning of the blast on her shoulder as she appears behind Hyunsik with a powerful kick to his lower back sending him to his knees. He spins around to face her but only meets a red smoke as Sooyoung is already gone and hits him again from the back, then from one side, then the other; some punches get blocked but she continues to do it as quickly and as much as she can to confuse him and tire him out. 

It unfortunately does get tiring rather quickly for her too; though teleportation is natural for her now and way easier than when she was younger, it still takes a lot of energy, and doing it continuously like she's doing now will definitely strain her in the long run. Still, she feels the pain from the hit she took earlier, and she knows the quicker they get this done the better. 

With another punch that sends Hyunsik lying on his stomach, Sooyoung rushes and presses her leg on his back, pinning him there. 

"How did you get those powers?" She musters her most intimidating voice as she interrogates him, pressing down on him harder. "What exactly does Juhyun want from you?" 

She sees a smile creep on his lips, a bit awkward as half of his face is forcibly pushed against the floor. "A bit late for questioning now, is it?" 

He tries to furiously wiggle his way out but to no avail as Sooyoung keeps him pinned there.  

"Oh, we got all the time in the world." Sooyoung looks up to Jiwoo dragging an unconscious Dongmin and flopping him in front of Hyunsik. She was too focused on her own fight to pay attention to them, but by the looks of it Jiwoo did a real number on him. "You on the other hand..."  

Hyunsik's widen for the briefest moment, before a sigh escapes his lips and he stops struggling all at once, his muscles slacking under Sooyoung; smart enough to not try to take on both of them by himself. 

"You got anything to tie their hands with?" Sooyoung asks Jiwoo, who in turn just pats her pocket theatrically as if to say where would I even have that?.

Sooyoung shrugs. "Well, I don't know. Look in their bags?"  She points to the duffel bags filled with tools that the two men brought in. "Or, actually wait." She stops Jiwoo before she starts walking away and points at Hyunsik "Take over for me. In case he gets any funny ideas, just keep him grounded." 

Jiwoo presses her foot against his back, letting Sooyoung let go of her grip on him and keeping him immobilized.  "With pleasure." 

Sooyoung gets to the duffel bags and starts rummaging through them for some sort of rope solid enough to tie them safely. She finds a few feet of rolled-up extension cords that might just do the trick - she pulls it out and holds it proudly in the air to show Jiwoo who nods and raises a thumb's up. She stands up slowly, her knees slightly trembling and her head throbbing when the lights abruptly go out all at once.

Sooyoung doesn't even have time to look around in the darkness before she feels something cold grasp the back of her neck. Immediately, her body goes completely stiff, paralyzed, and the only reason she doesn't fall over is the thing holding her by the nape. In the corner of her eyes, she sees something else move through the shadows, walking past her and towards Jiwoo - she can barely see her in the creepy, fluorescent hue of the emergency signs right above her as the only source of light.

"Yves!" Jiwoo calls out, almost instinctively running to her but she stops herself, not letting go of the man under her feet. 

Sooyoung tries to speak, to call out to the girl, but she can't seem to make any of her muscles move, only a strained whimper coming out. Whatever holds her by the neck lets go, and she drops to the ground, landing on her side, unable to move but facing where Jiwoo is standing on Hyunsik, still keeping him in place. She sees Jiwoo look around nervously, her fists raised in front of her, not knowing what to do. A loud, sudden thumping sound comes from her right, Sooyoung manages, with all of her willpower, to make her eyes move to the side, widening as she sees an equally paralyzed  Jungeun lying there. 

"J— Kimlip!!" She hears Jiwoo call out. The panic in her voice makes Sooyoung feel horrible and helpless as she tries in vain to stand up, or do anything. "Are you okay?"

"Don't worry, dear, everyone's gonna be just fine." A smooth, elegant voice, followed by the sound of high-heels, resonates throughout the floor of the gallery, and out of the shadow emerges a slim figure in a tight dress, and a wide black hat adorned on their head. 

"Juhyun..." Jiwoo whispers in shock.

It's at this moment that Hyunsik seems to have processed the whole situation and seeing that the advantage is now back in his court, he pushes back against Jiwoo's feet the second he feels her release the pressure and rolls out from under her to sprint towards Juhyun.

Though he doesn't quite make it there as another figure steps out of the shadow and holds him in place by the neck. Sooyoung can now see the figure; a bulk, easily over 6 feet tall individual, even as they stand under the faint light it's unclear to see if their clothes are all black or if they're actually made of shadows, which makes it extremely hard to make out any distinctive features, but she can still see their face is completely emotionless, and they do not budge as Hyunsik tries to wiggle out of their grasp. 

"Now, darling..." Juhyun pouts and approaches Hyunsik, running a gentle hand on his cheek "I'm just so disappointed in you. I mean, I didn't have that much hope in your big friend over there" She waves off-handedly at Dongmin's unconscious body on the ground. "But you...I had such high expectations for you. I just hate to see myself proven wrong." 

Her tone turns icy and her expression grim and stern. Hyunsik tries to speak, maybe to defend himself, or to curse at her, it's unclear to Sooyoung because no noise makes it out of his mouth as he also finds himself paralyzed  at the hands of this shadow-entity holding him. Juhyun steps closer to him and brings her lips near his ear.

"And I hate loose-ends even more." She whispers somberly.

For a moment Sooyoung is terrified of what they might all witness here, she can feel her heartbeat accelerate and get louder and louder in her ears as she watches Juhyun put a hand to Hyunsik's forehead. His eyes go wide with fear at first, then something glazes over them and they just go blank. Expressionless, emotionless, as if he was now just an empty shell of a man. Then, after a second, his eyes close, his body goes limp. Sooyoung has to strain her eyes really hard to watch his upper body closely; relief spreading throughout her body as she sees the rise and fall of his chest as he continues breathing. 

Hyunsik is being dropped to the ground once more, as Juhyun makes her way to Dongmin, walking past and winking at Jiwoo - frozen not by paralysis magic but simply in fear, sweat dripping from her forehead - she squats down to touch Dongmin's face in the same way she did to Hyunsik.

"All of you, on the other hand!" She suddenly stands up and turns around, a smile on her face, gesturing to Jiwoo, Jungeun, and Sooyoung. "I'm just so impressed by this little display here! I mean obviously, there's still a lot to learn, but overall, just... Wow!" Her tone is so bright and genuine, it feels even more unsettling to Sooyoung. 

Juhyun then snaps her fingers twice and the shadow-entity moves to the painting, not at all bothered by all the security measures surrounding it, and props it out of the wall casing it was sitting in. Juhyun smiles, satisfied and grabs the shadow's arms. 

With one last look at the girls she speaks. "Please, try not to see this as a loss on your part, now is really not the time to get defeated." She says ominously. The shadows seem to surround both of them now, swirling from their feet up their body, and right before they both disappear, she adds. "Oh, and don't worry. The paralysis should wear off any second now." 

It takes a second of complete silence for the lights to turn back on, and Jiwoo shakes out of her stupor. She runs over to Sooyoung and Jungeun, her voice shaking and frantic. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I couldn't do anything. Are you guys okay? What should I do?"

Jungeun's paralysis ends first, her body starting to loosen bit by bit until she can open her mouth "No, no..." She reassures Jiwoo, the words come out strenuously  at first "There was nothing you could do on your own. We... I got completely blindsided." Jungeun's jaw sets with frustration and anger. Jiwoo lowers her head. And Sooyoung feels it too. This growing sense of failure. Defeat. Still, once she feels herself slowly gaining back control over her body, she sits up and grabs Jiwoo's hand, giving it a comforting squeeze. 

"Sometimes the smartest thing to do is to do nothing. You did good Jiwoo."  

Jiwoo hums in acknowledgment, a weak smile on her lips - not exactly insincere, just not fully believing in the sentiment. Jiwoo stands up first and helps the two girls get to their feet. They walk over to Hyunsik and Dongmin's bodies, still unconscious. 

"What do you think she did to them?" Jungeun whispers, nudging the unmoving body of the man with her foot.  

"No idea..." Sooyoung mutters. "At least they're alive...?" They all pause, wondering how true this statement is, but there's no way for them to know what state they are in right now - they are admittedly breathing and their hearts are beating but who knows what happened past that -  so Sooyoung shrugs and tries to bend down to pick up the cord to tie them up, holding her bruised ribs with one hand. Jiwoo sees her struggling and takes the cords herself. Sooyoung nods appreciatively at Jiwoo. "Let's just tie them up and call Detective Park. I really need to lie down." 

Jungeun nods as she gets down to help Jiwoo tying the men down by their arms, she then takes out her cellphone and sends a text out explaining the situation to Detective Park - one of their intel inside the Seoul police station, one of the few who doesn't actually mind working with their kind of vigilantes.

After ten minutes or so, they hear the sound of multiple sirens approaching, and leave the gallery through the backdoor, waiting on the nearby rooftop to make sure nothing else goes wrong. They see three police cars and one ambulance pull up in front of the gallery and Detective Park stepping out of her car, commanding nearby officers to start a perimeter search around the gallery. After a couple of minutes, they come out with Hyunsik and Dongmin hand-cuffed, lying down on stretchers. 

They take this as their cue to leave for the night. Sooyoung tells the girls that she's heading to the café Jinsoul is working at because she should finish her shift anytime soon, and they decide to all go together, to take a short rest and have a drink - maybe bring the morale back up a little bit. 

"You're finally gonna meet Sooyoung's roommate!" Jiwoo says to Jungeun on the way to the coffee shop. 

"Still can't believe Jiwoo's met her before me when we've known each other longer, by the way." Jungeun retorts, making Sooyoung chuckle. 

It's another 10 minutes of bus and walking before they make it to the café. The door opens with a pleasant ding resonating announcing a customer's entrance. Sooyoung immediately spots Jinsoul in the far corner, cleaning the surfaces and pulling chairs on the tables. She turns her head at the sound of the door opening. 

"Oh, sorry we're about to cl—" she cuts herself off as she sees Sooyoung coming through the door first "Oh! Hey, how did it go?" 

"Exhausting!" Sooyoung complains, pulling a chair in front of the first table she reaches. "Are you closing alone?" 

"Yeah, there wasn't a lot do so the others went home." She sighs then smiles at Jiwoo walking in right after. "Hey, Jiwoo! What's—" She stops herself again, her eyes widening, this time as Jungueun walks in behind Jiwoo. As they make eye contact, Jungeun looks equally as surprised for some reason. 

"Jinsoul!?" Jungeun exclaims, at the same time Jinsoul gapes. "Jungeun...?" 

Sooyoung and Jiwoo find themselves looking back and forth between the two of them, extremely confused. 

"You guys know each other?" Sooyoung asks after a minute of silence. They both turn to look at Sooyoung, then back at each other.

. 

. 

. 

Laughter echoes throughout the empty café as the girls all sit on comfortable chairs around a table filled with the leftover pastries that weren't sold during the day and glasses of cocktails and tea infusions. 

"Wait, wait, wait." Jiwoo tries to speak through her laughter. "So every time we were talking about Sooyoung's roommate "Jinsoul" you never made the connection?" 

"You never said her last name! Do you know how many Jinsouls there are out there!?" Jungeun argues, a blush creeping up her cheeks from embarrassment. "I know at least two others just in my class..." 

"I can't believe the girl you've been texting all month was Jungeun....of all people." Sooyoung chimes in, shaking her head at Jinsoul, "And you," She turns to Jungeun. "I can't believe you're on dating apps." 

"What's that suppose to mean?" Jungeun asked, almost offended by her statement, making Jiwoo double over in laughter. The two of them start arguing back and forth - though it's mostly Jungeun doing all the arguing and Jiwoo just keeps giggling and teasing her - and Sooyoung can't help but feel better at the sight of them having fun after all that happened tonight.

Sooyoung turns her focus back to Jinsoul who's silently watching the scene a small smile on her face, but her brows furrow the slightest bit. 

"You okay?" She leans over to whisper. "We're just teasing, you know. I mean, it was really surprising, but you two actually look really nice together. I think your personalities weirdly fit perfectly." 

"Thanks." Jinsoul laughs quietly, "I'm good, I guess we just have a lot to talk about..." She trails off, turning back to watch Jungeun with a smile. 

It suddenly clicks for Sooyoung that, of course, they've only been seeing each other for a month, Jungeun probably hasn't even told Jinsoul about her other life, about having powers, and it either hasn't clicked for Jungeun yet, or she's simply waiting until they're alone to address it, but her showing up here with Sooyoung and Jiwoo - well that's the most obvious giveaway. 

She watches as Jungeun turns to look at Jinsoul, her eyebrows raised, a question in her eyes. Jinsoul answers it with a reassuring smile, wider and more heartfelt than the previous ones. And Sooyoung can't help but think they're going to be just fine. 

The conversation eventually quiets down, all of them are rightfully exhausted; still they all help Jinsoul clean up the mess they made. Sooyoung tells Jiwoo she'll teleport her to her apartment as she lives all the way across town, and Jungeun offers to walk Jinsoul home. They all stand up, ready to leave, and exchange good-byes when a sudden and strong gust of wind comes from behind them. Jungeun instinctively stands protectively in front of Jinsoul; Sooyoung and Jiwoo spin around, arms raised, ready to fight - though Sooyoung knows that one, weak hit would be enough to make her go down for the night. 

They stand there, waiting, as the wind becomes stronger and stronger, until a small rift forms into thin air, with purple-ish electricity sparkling out of it. They all watch as this familiar rift opens up, and becomes a familiar portal, and three figures come out of it all at once. 

"Hi, guys." Yerim smiles sheepishly as her portal disappears behind her. She's holding hands with a dark-haired girl whose mouth is set in a closed-off pout, her eyes are sharp and looking back and forth at everyone in front of her. Sooyoung notes that Yerim and her kind of look alike - not enough to mistake them for one another, but maybe enough that some people might think that they're distantly related. On her left is another girl, with blonde hair and doll-like features, gripping her arm nervously, not making eye contact with anyone here. Looking closely at them, Sooyoung can spot some bloodstains on their shirts and shoes, unclear whether or not it's their own. Either way, they've both clearly been through some tough times. 

"I brought some friends." 

Chapter Text

"Hi, guys!?" The anxious silence is interrupted by Jungeun huffing as she marches towards Yerim. She still has an easy smile on her face and the two strangers huddled behind her defensively - yet none of those things seem to stop Jungeun as she slaps Yerim on her shoulder frustratingly and repeatedly. "Two weeks without any news and all you have to say is "Hi guys"? Do you know how worried I was!?" 

Each word is accentuated by a slap, and though she's clearly not hitting to hurt, it feels a little bad watching Yerim cowering away from her, sputtering apologies (still Sooyoung knows better than try to get in Jungeun's way when she's like this). 

"I'm sorry!" Yerim says for the umpteenth time, catching Jungeun's hands in hers. "You know I would've called if I could've." 

Jungeun looks at her from head to toe - checking for any sign of injury or making sure she's really here, Sooyoung can't tell - her eyes softening with relief as she pulls her into a hug. "If you're gonna keep doing that you better find me a damn phone that can work across dimensions." 

Yerim laughs lightly, still, Sooyoung sees her sink into the hug and grip Jungeun's back tightly. Sooyoung smiles at the scene, her shoulders relaxing - were they that tense? She hadn't really noticed - she turns to look at Jiwoo who looks equally thrilled and relieved. Then Sooyoung's eyes catch those of the dark-haired girl Yerim brought with her. 

 She realizes that the girl's been eyeing her since they've appeared here with something between recognition and apprehension, maybe both, though Sooyoung is almost a hundred percent sure she's never seen either of those girls before. She takes a small step forward, about to say something, when she sees the girl step back into her other friend, her grasp tightening. Sooyoung's brow furrow, confused, and then she sees in both their eyes - fear, maybe anger? 

No one else seems to have noticed it besides Sooyoung, and she wonders if she's imagining it - she is incredibly exhausted so it's possible.

She's being paranoid. They've clearly never met before, and they simply must be nervous suddenly being in a room filled with strangers.

So Sooyoung steps back, giving them some space, and tries to give a reassuring smile, one saying "you have nothing to worry about here". Both girls seem surprised by this, but they must see Sooyoung's sincerity because they both loosen up and take a small step back forward, towards Yerim. 

Jungeun and Yerim both untangle from their hug, though Jungeun still keeps a hand on Yerim's shoulder. Then she looks back at the two strangers as if just now realizing that them being here isn't perfectly normal. She clears her throat, a little embarrassed.

 "Um...Hi?" She tries for a light tone, like she wants them to erase that first impression they had of her screaming and slapping, and replace it with this kind, quiet image of herself - Sooyoung almost laughs mockingly. 

"Oh." Yerim says nonchalantly like she also just figured that an introduction was in order. "My bad. This is Hyejoo," she points to the dark-haired girl who nods apprehensively, "And hiding behind her is Gowon," The blonde girl shyly waves from behind.

Yerim turns back to face the rest of them "Those are the friends I told you I had to help, and, um..." She thinks for a second. "Well, this is a very long story..." she trails off. 

Sooyoung nods, already agreeing with what she implied. "Yeah, and I think I can speak for everyone present by saying we've had a pretty long day." She says gently, looking back towards Hyejoo and Gowon who still seem uneasy around them (or just her?). "If you have a place to stay tonight, and we're not all in immediate danger, maybe we can pick this up tomorrow?" she asks Yerim, who immediately agrees. 

 "I'll take them back to the hide-out, we can all sleep in the living room it's gonna be nice!" Yerim says enthusiastically back to the two girls, who don't look all that convinced.

"Do you guys need a lift?" Sooyoung asks, more so to be polite than anything because she's not really sure if she even has the energy to teleport that many people right now. 

Yerim looks back at her friends for a second then smiles at Sooyoung. "Nah, we'll be alright don't worry." 

"Ok then," Jinsoul speaks up for the first time. "I'm so sorry, I don't mean to be rude - very nice to meet all of you, by the way - but I should've already closed the café, like, an hour ago, so if we could all just..." She waves towards the doors with an awkward smile. 

They all quickly make their way onto the street and let Jinsoul close off for the night. Jungeun comes up behind her and whispers something in her ear, making Jinsoul smile and nod, then turns to the rest of them. "I'm gonna walk Jinsoul home real quick. But you," she points at Yerim "You better not go anywhere. I'll see you in the morning."

The younger girl nods and lifts a thumbs up. Jungeun waves at Sooyoung and Jiwoo before taking off with Jinsoul. Sooyoung can see them hold hands before turning left onto another street and losing sight of the both of them. 

"Well then..." Sooyoung turns towards Jiwoo. "I guess I'll take you home. And we'll see you guys tomorrow." 

Yerim hums and Jiwoo turns to Hyejoo and Gowon with a big smile "Well it was nice to meet you, have a good night!" 

They look at each other with another unreadable expression on their faces before turning back towards Jiwoo and nodding politely. On that note, Sooyoung grabs Jiwoo by the arm, leads her to an alley next to the café, and takes a deep breath before bringing them both inside Jiwoo's small apartment. They land safely in, but Sooyoung gets a little light-headed and has to catch herself on a chair to prevent herself from falling over. 

Jiwoo instinctively reaches an arm out to steady Sooyoung "Woah there. You OK?" She brings Sooyoung to sit on the couch. 

"Yeah, thanks." Sooyoung closes her eyes and leans her head back. "Just got dizzy." 

She hears Jiwoo hum in the corner of the room. "You should sleep here tonight." 

Sooyoung considers her options for a second, but the mere thought of teleporting back home makes her feel sick - and it's not like she has the money for an Uber anyway. She opens her eyes and looks around the familiar space of Jiwoo's place. The living room, where the couch she's lying on is placed in front of a small TV, is only separated from the somewhat cramped kitchen by a table. The room isn't really decorated; the pieces of furniture are all a harmonious light ash wood color, minimalist but still giving a homey feeling to the place. 

From where she sits Sooyoung can see Jiwoo's bedroom through a half-open door. Now that room fits more with Jiwoo's personality: vibrant and kind of messy. Pink-ish, orange-ish bed covers barely visible under lots of fluffy pillows and cute plushies, white walls covered with various posters and polaroids, and a completely disorganized desk filled with papers and music sheets and homework she never has the time to finish early. The only two things that are kept clean and orderly at all times are the guitar and piano tucked away in the corner of her room. It is a relatively small room though; with a single bed, desk, and instruments taking most of the place, there's barely enough place to walk from one end to another without hitting something. 

"Yeah, you're probably right," Sooyoung sighs. "I'll take your couch." 

(she remembers the first time she stayed overnight and slept in Jiwoo's bed with her; she can still feel the bruises she woke up with on her legs from Jiwoo's very active sleep.) 

"Sure," Jiwoo shrugs, making her way to her bathroom to go through her bedtime routine, "Check the drawers in my room I think I have an oversized t-shirt that should fit you." 

Sooyoung hums, taking her time to stand up from her comfortable spot. She takes out her phone as she does, sending a quick text to Jinsoul. 

too tired to come home 

crashing at Jiwoo's place 

Sooyoung doesn't wait for an immediate answer, figuring that she's probably still with Jungeun, and makes her way to Jiwoo's bedroom. She squats down in front of the bed and pulls on the drawers underneath it. After ruffling through for a few seconds, she finds a white, strawberry print shirt that looks comfortable enough to sleep in, along with a pair of gym shorts.  She gets changed and comes back to the living room where Jiwoo is already setting up the couch with a pillow and a blanket. 

"Thanks." Sooyoung smiles and lets herself fall on the couch with a big sigh. She lets her mind wander back on the night they just had - how frustrating and weird and exhausting it was. A lot of things bother her, and a lot of things should bother her about tonight, but the one feeling she just can't shake off... 

"Jiwoo?" Sooyoung calls out. 

The girl hums from the kitchen where she just poured herself a glass of water. She walks back, and sits on the floor in front of Sooyoung, putting another glass of water before her. Sooyoung didn't ask for it but now that it's in front of her she finds herself parched. She takes a sip, trying to think about what exactly she wanted to say.

"Did you..." She starts off, tentatively. "Did you get a weird feeling from Hyejoo and Gowon?" 

She looks at her unsure - and Sooyoung thinks that she herself is not entirely sure what she means. 

"I mean," She clarifies, "More like, a feeling that they had a weird feeling about us?"

 (about me , she really wanted to say.) 

Jiwoo still looks a bit hesitant but nods. "I don't know why, I mean, we don't know them and they're clearly Yerim's friends. But when they looked at me it felt like they knew me." 

"So it wasn't just me," Sooyoung sighs, relieved, "I kept feeling their eyes on me - especially Hyejoo's - and the way she looked at me... It was like she was scared. Or—" 

"Angry?" Jiwoo finishes. She nods. "I had the same feeling. But it didn't look like they were eyeing Jungeun - or even Jinsoul - that way." 

Sooyoung agrees, it felt very...Targeted. 

They just sit there in silence for a moment, this question looming over their heads with seemingly no answer. It doesn't make any sense, but then again not a lot of things make sense these days Sooyoung thinks. She can see it very clearly bothers Jiwoo though. 

Actually, Jiwoo's been looking down since what happened with Juhyun, but Sooyoung isn't sure how to address that. She wants to lighten the mood. She thinks of making a joke about how it must be especially weird for Jiwoo to have someone she just met not immediately love her, but she thinks this might be of poor taste right now. 

Instead, she just shrugs it off, and says lightly, "Well, no reason to lose sleep over this right now. We've had a long day and an even longer night. Let's just go sleep it off and wake up fresh tomorrow." 

Jiwoo looks up at her with a small smile "You make a good leader, you know," When Sooyoung just looks at her, eyebrows raised skeptically - waiting for the punchline of a joke - she adds, "It's true. When you talk like that it makes me want to blindly follow you."  

Sooyoung is not sure how to answer this. She's never seen herself as someone who would take charge, or ask people to trust and follow her - mostly because she feels as lost as everyone else, if not more so. It's not like she has anything figured out herself. Though a small part of her sees that, as the oldest one of their group, she often finds herself being the voice of reason. The girls do look at her for validation and reassurance. And maybe they do it unconsciously, but Sooyoung finds herself trying to appear more put together than she is. She wants to be as close as she can to the person they think she is. To be worthy of being someone you want to follow blindly. 

She must've been silent for a bit too long because she feels Jiwoo putting a hand on her knee to bring her out of her thoughts. 

"Hey, no need to lose sleep over this," Jiwoo teases with a smile. "It's not like we expect more from you than you're capable, you know that right?" 

"Right..." Sooyoung clears her throat and repeats more confidently. "Right." 

"That's the spirit!" Jiwoo exclaims as she slaps Sooyoung's knee. 

Jiwoo then stands up, stretching her arms behind her head. "OK, time to sleep for real now." 

She's halfway through the door into her bedroom when Sooyoung calls out once more "Jiwoo." 

She waits for the girl to turn around and look at her. "You did great today, OK? You did everything right." She says it assuredly. Because she truly means it and she wants Jiwoo to believe it too. There's a pause.

"Alright, miss leader."  She laughs it off quietly but Sooyoung can see her eyes getting a little teary, and she barely hears the "Thank you" Jiwoo whispers before closing the door. 

Good enough for now, Sooyoung thinks as she lies down on the couch. She hears her phone vibrate on the table. She doesn't bother picking it up, just turns it towards her, and sees with her eyes half-closed a thumbs up emoji from Jinsoul. 

Her head barely touches the pillow and she already feels herself falling asleep. Now that she has a moment to breathe and rest, she can feel every muscle in her body ache, and her head throb.  Her last thought before she drifts off is that she probably shouldn't fall asleep with a possible concussion. 

. 
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That night, Sooyoung dreams of apples and strawberries. Of crowns being placed on blonde hair. Of large gates with larger locks. She dreams of running and running without turning back. Of forests and distant howls, of plum juice you could mistake for blood. But in the middle of all this, she feels like an intruder. She shouldn't be here. This dream isn't hers. She feels the ground opening beneath her feet - in this strange dreamland where she doesn't see anything but senses everything - and then herself falling through it. She falls and she falls, in total darkness, until she isn't falling anymore. Her dream ends with the feeling of wind in her hair and sun on her face, and lying down on cool, fresh grass, a warm hand holding hers. 

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Sooyoung wakes up dizzy and disoriented.

The feeling is a bit too similar to the morning after a particularly eventful party, and even though she knows she did not drink anything yesterday, she can almost taste cheap vodka in the back of her throat, her head pounding like the result of a bad hangover - or a minor concussion. She sits up with difficulty, her muscles stiff, but not hurting like last night. Her eyelids feel heavy as she rubs the blurriness away. The blinding light coming through the curtains tells her that it's way past morning, probably pushing noon, maybe even more. Sooyoung has never been happier realizing that it's the weekend and she does not have to run to class. 

She lazily stands up and drags her feet to the bathroom where she looks for some aspirin that she quickly takes with a sip of water. She quietly peers into Jiwoo's room to see the girl still fast asleep and closes the door. Sooyoung lies back down on the couch, scrolling through the different apps on her phone, waiting for Jiwoo to wake up. 

After a while, her phone dings in her hand, a text from Haseul taking up half her screen: "heyy i feel like we havent seen each other in so long i miss u :(((( are u busy this weekend?"

Sooyoung thinks for a second, and even though she really wants to see Haseul, between what happened at the art gallery and then with Hyejoo and Gowon, they probably have a lot to talk about today. She quickly types back: "i know i'm sorry there's a lot going on these days,,, i don't know about this weekend though but definitely the next one" 

Barely a minute passes before her phone lights up again. "dont worry it's ok i get it!! just tell me when :)".  Then another one: "stay safe" 

Once Jiwoo does wake up, they eat a quick lunch with what they can find in her fridge, then casually get ready to go meet the others at their place. Sooyoung thinks it's best for her to take it slow today so they decide to take public transports; their hide-out is on the outskirts of town, but it's only two bus changes from Jiwoo's place. 

So, forty minutes later they pull up in front of their remodeled warehouse and come in through a side door. They make their way to the living area, but they intuitively slow down their pace once they hear people talking hurriedly. 

"—Think I would bring you two here if it wasn't safe?" Yerim says exasperated. It sounds like an argument that has been going on for a little while now. 

"No, but..." A voice Sooyoung hasn't heard before says, trailing off at the end. The voice sounds a bit hoarse and low; the voice of someone who is used to arguing but doesn't like to. If she had to guess, Sooyoung would say this is Hyejoo. "It's uncanny." 

"Listen," Yerim continues, "I get it, I do. But you're safe here. I trust them, they're my friends. Both of them." Her tone is soft and understanding but makes it clear that this isn't up for debate. 

Sooyoung and Jiwoo exchange a look, both understanding that this is most likely about them. Typically, she might be a little bothered or hurt hearing someone talk about her behind her back, but Sooyoung also accepts that this is all more complicated than she could possibly understand on her own. Jiwoo on the other hand looks more worried that she might've actually done something to make those girls afraid or upset with her - which speaks volumes to her character; that her first concern is about the feelings of those two strangers rather than her own. 

Sooyoung gestures over at the door, Jiwoo nods, her frown already replaced by a smile as she swings the door open like she usually would. 

"Hi!" she calls out brightly, ending any conversation that was previously held. All three girls looking at them as they enter, Yerim with a big smile, Hyejoo and Gowon with neutral faces. 

Sooyoung follows closely, waving her hand behind Jiwoo. "Sorry, we woke up really late." 

"Hey!" Yerim says, going right away to Jiwoo her arms wide open. She laughs as Jiwoo lifts her up off the ground in a bear hug. "Don't worry," she says to Sooyoung, "You're here even before Jungeun." 

"Oh, now that's surprising," Jiwoo says, putting Yerim down. She turns to Hyejoo and Gowon who sit on the couch in the far corner of the room and waves politely from afar. Gowon, who seems less cold than yesterday, answers the wave with a small but genuine smile. Hyejoo, however, still keeps her distance and simply nods. 

"She texted me, she should be here any second now," Yerim says. "Literally." 

They all wait, eyebrows raised expectantly, for a few awkward seconds before hearing a gust of wind, followed by the door slamming open. 

"So sorry," Jungeun says, closing the door gently. "I, um, overslept. But I brought pastries!" She raises a bag triumphally and tosses it over to Jiwoo who puts it all on the table in front of the couch, talking excitedly with Yerim (and at Gowon and Hyejoo). 

Sooyoung walks closer towards Jungeun. "Same clothes as last night?" she whispers in the girl's ear, eyebrows wiggling teasingly. 

"Shut up," Jungeun says, pushing a laughing Sooyoung away, but unable to hide the blush creeping up her face. "It was late so I fell asleep. That's it." 

"Uh-huh," Sooyoung replies teasingly. She's definitely gonna make Jinsoul tell her everything the minute she comes home. 

The mood relaxes slightly as everyone digs into the pastry bag Jungeun brought in - a great variety of small fruit cakes, croissants, and different types of bread. Sooyoung reaches for the strawberry shortcake at the same time as Hyejoo, who holds her gaze for a second before retracting her hand. Sooyoung tries for a small smile as she picks up the cake and places it back in front of Hyejoo, and goes for a croissant instead.

She watches as Hyejoo hesitates slightly before taking the plate and going in eagerly - a small bit of cream ends up on her cheek and she doesn't seem to notice until Gowon cleans it up with a tissue whispering something Sooyoung can't hear but she sees Hyejoo stick out her tongue playfully and Gowon scrunches her face. And they just look so young and happy in their little bubble, and Sooyoung is impossibly curious to know what could have possibly happened to them in that other dimension, and how exactly it all relates to them here. 

After a time of everyone eating and beating around the bush, not bringing up the reason why everyone is gathered here today, Sooyoung internally sighs knowing that she's gonna be the one to start this off. 

"Before we get into whatever this is, I feel like I need to address the elephant in the room." Sooyoung pauses, grabbing everyone's attention. She looks directly at Hyejoo and Gowon. "If, for whatever reason, you two feel uncomfortable with me, or anyone else in this room..." She points not so subtlety at Jiwoo, who nods agreeing, "We would understand. And if it would make you two feel better about being here, we can just leave for now. Yerim brought you here to be safe, and we don't want to compromise that." 

"What she said." Jiwoo echoes. 

Sooyoung watches as Gowon looks down at her feet guilty while Hyejoo glances surprised towards her and then Yerim, who has a small smile on her face and an I told you so look. Jungeun, on the other hand, appears incredibly confused looking back and forth around the room, clearly having missed a few unsaid things. 

Hyejoo looks down with a sigh and formally addresses Sooyoung and Jiwoo for the first time since they met. "No, it's..." Her voice comes out smaller than Sooyoung expects. "It's not your fault, it's just..." 

Hyejoo pauses and looks over at Gowon, a question in her eyes. Gowon nods in response, squeezing Hyejoo's hand reassuringly, and turns to face the three girls.

"The alternate dimension we come from is a bit different than here," Gowon explains. Her voice catches Sooyoung a bit off guard; it's less shy and mild than she anticipates. Snobbish isn't exactly the right word to describe it but Sooyoung can't think of another one in that moment.

"There are many big cities like Seoul there, where a normal life for most includes studying to get into a good school to then get a good job and a decent home. Where we are from, though, is a little bit more..." She hesitates, searching for the right word. 

"Dystopian." Yerim offers, getting a look from Gowon she quickly adds "Sorry. Just the honest opinion of an outsider." 

"I suppose." Gowon sighs before continuing her story. "The Gardens of Eden." Sooyoung notices Hyejoo shivering ever so faintly at the name. "That's where we're from. The name refers to a small, delimited portion of a much larger land. This was our school, our home, our playground—" 

"Our prison." Hyejoo cuts in, her tone somber and her eyes still on the ground, the grip she has on Gowon's hand never faltering. 

"We weren't allowed to leave the grounds of the school and dormitories. Only a few "chosen" were allowed every decade or so, and those who didn't follow the rules were never to be seen again." Gowon carries on. "Me and Hyejoo were two of them. And with us..." She trails off now looking between Sooyoung and Jiwoo. 

"There were only ever two other girls in that hell place at the same time as us - other than the demon teachers." Hyejoo takes over, finally looking up, and Sooyoung cannot tell if she means literal demons or not. She points at Sooyoung and Jiwoo. "And you two look exactly like them. Perfect copies." 

Hyejoo's eerie tone sends chills down Sooyoung's spine. She was already aware of alternate dimensions, though only in theory hearing Yerim try to explain her powers to her; but this goes way past theory. The thought of another Sooyoung somewhere walking around makes her feel uneasy. 

"I'm guessing you guys weren't on the best terms, then..." Sooyoung finally says. 

"No," Hyejoo says with a dry laugh. "It's complicated..." Gowon answers at the same time. They both exchange a look, but Hyejoo is the first one to look away, her jaw tightening ever so slightly. 

"Anyway, long story short, we tried to escape but that didn't quite work out, and then got saved by Yerim who brought us here." Hyejoo wraps up quickly, and even though it's obvious this is barely half of the whole story, no one says anything. 

Sooyoung, Jiwoo, and Jungeun all look at each other, trying to take in and understand all that information. 

"Are the people from your world looking for you?" Jiwoo asks, her brows furrowed worriedly.

Of course, that would be her first concern, Sooyoung thinks fondly. 

"Probably not all the way over here," Gowon shrugs. "Besides, I don't think we're on the top of their priority list right now..." 

Sooyoung hums. "Because other-Sooyoung and other-Jiwoo also ran away?"  

Hyejoo and Gowon share another, unreadable look. Gowon simply nods, not going into details, and Sooyoung has a million other questions she wish she could ask but she doesn't want to push them too much and they've already shared more than enough for a first meeting.  

"OK...Well, we're definitely not them." Jiwoo says, for lack of better words. "You guys are safe here. And even if those people manage to get here, you got us now." 

"Right." Sooyoung says, still trying to wrap her head around the existence of a wicked alter-ego walking around somewhere. She can sense Hyejoo and Gowon's eyes on her so she swallows back any remaining questions and worries and smiles, probably awkwardly too, because this isn't about her right now. She isn't sure what to say beyond that, though. Any other reassuring words might feel insincere or over-kill, but no one else seem to have anything to say either.

"So..." Yerim breaks the silence. "Do you guys have any evening plans?" 

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If there's one thing Sooyoung relearns every day, it's how weird life is. One second you're learning about alternate dimensions and evil versions of yourself; the next you're playing Mario Kart with people who were so afraid of you the day before they could barely look you in the eyes. On top of that, Hyejoo seems to be a professional gamer- by Sooyoung's standards - keeping up easily with Jiwoo and Yerim who spent hours playing this game. On the other hand, Gowon and Jungeun seem content relaxing at the back, not nearly as serious as the other girls.  

At some point during the games, Jungeun's phone vibrates on the table. She gives her controller to Yerim and picks up her phone, her smile disappearing as she reads the message. 

"Everything good?" Sooyoung asks from the side - after a five-game losing streak, she decides it's better to just sit and watch (for being such a mediocre player, Sooyoung is still incredibly competitive). 

"Yeah, no, just Detective Park asking for a meet-up right now," Jungeun says. "I guess there's already news from Hyunsik and Dongmin." 

Sooyoung can see Jungeun is holding back a sigh, looking back towards Yerim and the rest. Though they've all met the Detective, Jungeun is usually the one speaking with and meeting their contact at the Seoul police station when they need some more official help or information. It's clear, though, now, that Jungeun doesn't want to go - and Sooyoung gets it. She's been incredibly stressed about Yerim's absence over the past few weeks, on top of everything else; she deserves a night off with her friend. 

"Oh yeah," Yerim interjects, her eyes still fixed on the screen. "I almost forgot, how did that go?" 

Sooyoung laughs at how nonchalant Yerim can be sometimes. "Long story, we'll catch you up later," She answers, then turns to Jungeun. "Hey, I'll go this time." 

Jungeun looks like she's about to protest, but her heart is definitely not in it. "You sure?" She asks instead.

"Yeah, no worries," Sooyoung affirms casually. "You do it all time, just take a break." 

"Alright," Jungeun smiles thankfully. "Texting you the address right now. It's just a rooftop behind the police station." 

Sooyoung stands up and nods, being familiar with the neighborhood. She walks behind Jiwoo and takes the cap off her head to put it on her own.   

"Hey!" Jiwoo calls out non-committedly, her expression flat as she concentrates on taking the first place from Hyejoo, sending out a green shell that misses the other girl's kart by barely an inch.

"You'll get it back later." Sooyoung pats Jiwoo's head. "Good luck!" She cheers as she leaves the room in a red flash, burgundy mask already on hiding half her face. 

Sooyoung lands quietly and steadily on the rooftop, her body not feeling the same level of exhaustion as yesterday, though the cold evening air makes her shiver slightly. The roof is enveloped in a red neon light coming from the large sign of a hotel in front of the building.

On the other side, she sees a silhouette, slumped shoulders and elbows resting on the edge, the faint sound of a phone conversation reaching her ears but not enough to understand what is being said. Even from afar, Sooyoung recognizes the over-worked and sleep-deprived posture of Detective Park.  

Sooyoung approaches her as silently as possible, not wanting to disturb her call. When she's a few feet away, and after waiting for about a minute, she clears her throat softly to make her presence known. Detective Park spins around startled, one hand instinctively going to rest on the weapon strapped to her hip. Sooyoung lifts her hands in the air with a friendly smile that she realizes cannot be seen through her mask. 

The detective relaxes once she recognizes the person standing before her and lets out a big sigh, regaining her composure. She lifts a finger in front of her, asking Sooyoung to wait a second.

"Yeah, I'm good. I'll call you right back." Park says to her phone before ending the call. She regards Sooyoung quickly, then around the roof. "I thought I was meeting Kimlip?" 

"Something came up last minute," Sooyoung answers, straightening her back to appear as capable as she can. 

Detective Park nods understandingly and points at her. "Eevee, right?" 

"It's pronounced Eve, actually," Sooyoung responds calmly; now thankful for the mask hiding the blush creeping on her face from embarrassment, and cursing Yerim in her head for choosing such a weird and unnecessarily difficult to read nickname. 

"Right...Sorry," Detective Park clears her throat. "First of all, thanks for helping in bringing Dongmin and Hyunsik in. Or just bringing them in, I guess. We didn't exactly do a lot." 

Sooyoung nods. If there's one thing she can always welcome it's some well-earned appreciation; especially when the job's been this hard on the team. "I'm surprised you were able to interrogate them so fast, they didn't look great when we got out of there." 

"Yeah, I'll say," Detective Park gives a dry laugh. "They woke up this afternoon in the hospital, completely disoriented. At first, we thought it was just due to the hits they took - especially Dongmin who had a serious concussion." 

"Yeah, well. They didn't exactly hold back against us either," Sooyoung says defensively, even though Detective Park didn't say it with any hostility. Still, Jiwoo and Jungeun's defeated expressions are burned in the back of Sooyoung's mind, and for that Sooyoung feels no remorse about the state those men may be in. 

Detective Park smiles sympathetically. "There's no judgment here. Anyway, as I was saying, we thought that was the reason. But even after the doctors cleared them for interrogation, saying they were conscious and aware, we couldn't get anything out of them." 

Sooyoung frowns, confused. "What do you mean? Like, no one could get info from the two men caught on camera committing multiple crimes?" 

To the detective's credit, she doesn't seem to take Sooyoung's tone personally. "No," She answers. "I mean we showed them every video we had of them preparing this heist - them casing the place, buying equipment, getting into that mysterious lady's car." 

"Juhyun," Sooyoung cuts in.

"Her." Detective Park nods. "And nothing. They barely have any recollection of the past two months or so." 

Sooyoung pauses for a second. "Sorry?" She says when nothing else comes after. "And you guys believed them? This has to be some kind of play." 

Detective Park shakes her head. "No, that was all real. They didn't deny any other crime. They actually remember planning a heist, thinking everything was their idea even though it's so unlike their usual MO. But they didn't recognize Juhyun in any picture we could show them, and intensely claimed that the video of them robbing the convenience store using powers was fake and edited. It's like they just couldn't remember anything surrounding Juhyun, including ever having powers. Dongmin even tried to use them after we showed him the video, attempting to escape, but nothing happened." 

Sooyoung is left speechless. How could this be possible? She's never heard of people losing their powers before - but then again she never heard of people gaining them so late in their life. Then she remembers what Juhyun did right before she disappeared in the shadows at the art gallery.

"Oh my god..." She whispers. She sees the detective looking at her questioningly. "When we were in that gallery... Right before she left, Juhyun did something weird to Dongmin and Hyunsik. It didn't look like anything much at the time. She just put a hand to their forehead, and we thought that was just her putting them to sleep but..." 

Sooyoung is interrupted by the sound of a ringtone coming from Detective Park's jacket - Sooyoung notes that it sounds like a popular song but she can't quite put a name on it. She takes the phone out of her inside pocket and looks at the caller ID, before looking back at Sooyoung.

"Sorry, I have to take this." She answers the phone and spins partially around, her profile turned towards Sooyoung who is left listening to one half of a conversation. "Hello?... Everything OK?... Yes...Uh-huh... OK, yeah, no. Just— Just wait for me. I'm on my way, just wait. Do not do anything rash." 

She hangs up the phone and faces Sooyoung again. "Sorry again, I have to go. This is an emergency." 

Sooyoung raises a hand. "No need to apologize. We'll do our own research and fill you in if we find anything on this." 

"Thanks. Will do the same." She replies, before taking off running towards the exit and down the stairs. 

Sooyoung is left alone on the roof, the sun setting on the horizon making the air colder and colder by the minute. She's still not sure if the shiver she gets is from the icy winter wind or everything she just learned.

She can't stand how frustrating it is, how every time they get close to actually learning something about Juhyun and her whole operation, everything just seems to get even more confusing. One thing is clear, though. If Juhyun not only has the ability to give powers but also to take them away, and with them any memories of her... She's even more powerful than they thought. 

Sooyoung's phone vibrates in her pocket, a text from Jungeun incoming. So? Is it bad? 

Sooyoung sighs, thinking that she'll probably have to cancel her plans for next weekend. She types back a quick reply before closing her eyes, letting her muscles relax, and her body starts to feel weightless as she lets her mind take her back to her friends. 

We got a lot to figure out.

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