Archive of Our Own ^beta

You folded the newspaper in front of you in half, marveling at the pink-haired boy that was pictured below the main heading of the article. He always wore a frilly beret that cast a dark shadow over his eyes, obscuring his true identity to those who kept up with current events. Gingerly sipping a lukewarm cup of hot chocolate that your mother had left on the table, you felt around your family’s small, four-seater dinner table to look for the television’s remote control. Once your fingers had curled around the familiar, glossy plastic, you instinctively pressed the larger, red button towards the top, hearing the booming voice of the morning announcer reporting on another one of the pink-haired hero’s victories.

This time, Seoul had undergone a massive attack at the World Cup Stadium. Rumor has it that an evil, underground organization called “JYP” had orchestrated the onslaught of daytime terror during a heated soccer match. Before the star player from the visiting team kicked the ball to the goal, he had suddenly transformed into a giant, reptilian monster, baring endless rough scales around his body. Growing to a height that was taller than the arena’s roof, the star player—or in his current form, the lizard kaiju—had torn through the arena’s doors, wreaking havoc around the Mapo district. Buildings were snapped in half, businesses were shut down, and people had to be evacuated to a safer location immediately, causing burgeoning amounts of traffic on the city’s most extensive highway. Access to public transport was also mired with the overcrowded and cramped train cars that broke down in the middle of the chaos that unfolded.

“While Seoul is still in shambles, never fret, because Cure Pink Sunshine has saved the day again!” A female announcer had exclaimed, failing to contain her excitement as both she and her partner ogled at the mysterious, pink-haired boy that was caught live on camera. Compared to the kaiju, he was a mere speck of dust. However, what he lacked in size was made up for the powerful, neon light beams that came out of his intricately decorated wand.

“Cure Pink beam!” He screamed at a volume where everyone could hear his special attack. You didn’t know how the camera crew was able to pick up his very distant voice, but you admired their efforts to accurately report Seoul’s number one hero’s battle with another kaiju of the week. After all, you had imagined yourself to be in their position one day, holding a microphone to report each incident with the pink-haired hero in front of the camera. Catching the small details such as microphone wiring, quick camera setups, and improvised commentary was one of the many things that kept your eyes glued to the morning news program whenever it aired.

Now, the footage had zoomed into a blurry outline; Cure Pink Sunshine, who had shielded himself from the kaiju’s spit attacks. Encasing himself in a protective, pink bubble, he dispelled his barrier to send another wave of glowing, neon beams that sliced through the thicket of white clouds in the sky. Then, he prepared for his special move. After transforming his wand into a large, golden staff with shimmering ruby jewels decorated on its tips, he swung the beautiful weapon towards the kaiju’s face. In an instant, a blinding radiance with tints of light, pastel pink gradients had overtaken the screen. Once the mysteriously magnetic glow of Cure Pink Sunshine’s staff had subsided, the camera panned to the fallen kaiju—who was now back to being the star player of the city’s local soccer team. Onlookers and those in the area all erupted in a loud cacophony of screams and cheers as Cure Pink Sunshine turned his large staff back into the heart-shaped wand that everyone has grown to love. Then, he bade his usual farewell, saluting to the camera and everyone around him before disappearing into thin air. A tail of sparkling, pink glitter left the outline of his silhouette suspended in mid-air, before it was blown away with the breeze that traveled Westward.

“Now onto the next news, today we—”

You turned the television off, taking a large chunk of sliced bread and stuffing it all inside your mouth. You folded the newspaper in fours, carefully creating gentle creases that kept the image of Cure Pink Sunshine in pristine condition.

“You know you’re gonna be late, right?” Your mother’s voice echoed across the room as she peeked her head out of the kitchen. Taking your lunchbox and shoving it in your schoolbag, you gave her a quick nod while keeping the piece of toast between your lips.

“It’s your entrance ceremony for high school, you know? At least chew and swallow before arriving at the school gates, yeah?” Your mother added. In her hands was an amalgamation of white foam and tiny, little bubbles that breathed out of the bright yellow sponge in her hands. You gave her another nod, quickly slipping your loafers inside your feet while hoisting your rather heavy bag on your shoulders at the same time. With a muffled goodbye, you gave your mother a single wave and headed out the door without looking back.

Before you had any interest in journalism or mass media communications, you were a listless student. You often spent your free time idly—either playing video games on your phone or sleeping after a long day at cram school. You had expected your life to take a rather mundane path, where you applied to a mid-tier university and worked a nine-to-five, dead-end job until the day you were finally able to retire. Compared to your peers, friends, or classmates, you were always a student that tried to protect your leisure time at the expense of excelling in academics or sports. You had no drive to achieve a particular goal, and your dreams were to simply live a life of good sleep, have a lovely husband who can give you half his income, and earn enough money to buy more video game cartridges.

There was really nothing to it. You just wanted a simple life with significantly more than half the hassle that most adults had to go through.

Everything changed the moment you met Cure Pink Sunshine. Back then, you had called him the pink-haired hero or pinky, and he was just another boring face in the news that you often skipped to arrive at school on time. You also made sure to toss the daily newspaper to your door in the trash, thinking your parents had forgotten to end their subscription due to a busy schedule of splitting work-related obligations and raising two teenagers. So, your mornings were spent sleeping until the last minute, quickly changing into your school uniform, and bolting out the door with a piece of toast or pancake in your mouth to make up for your empty stomach’s incessant growls. Of course, you managed to chew everything in the nick of time, and you survived your entire middle school years without a single warning from your respective homeroom teachers.

The fateful encounter with Cure Pink Sunshine had occurred during your last year of middle school. You were in charge of the semester’s cleanup duties, and you were—as always—running late. It was common for teenagers like you to forget such minute obligations in the first place, and who were others to judge? As important as it was for your peers to study for the winter exams, it was your top priority to catch every Pokémon in the red version that you played every night in your Gameboy Color.

It was one of Seoul’s biggest disasters to date, and you were surprised you had survived the entire ordeal. Before you could process everything, your train had suddenly been ripped apart by a gargantuan, arachnoid robot with eight, mechanical legs made of pure steel. One of its legs had crashed into the car you were in, breaking it apart to bring it high up into the air. It was at that moment where your strict, moral code of mundanity and a simple life had been surrendered to a somewhat dangerous obsession with keeping track of Seoul’s weekly calamities.

From the broken hinges of your train car’s doors and the rather steep angle, your body was paralyzed at the sight of watching strangers you’ve seen every day cling for their lives in their seats. Sure, you knew nothing about the people you rode the train with, and to a certain extent, you had loathed the morning rush hours with its squeezed, cramped suffocation techniques that turned each train car into a furnace—but now, as you tried to remember the hazy fragments of the daily bystanders you’ve encountered throughout your entire school life, you began to feel an indescribable sentimentality towards the little residential district and subway system you’ve been using for so long. Now, you can remember that the suited man who desperately cried for help, arms attached to his suitcase and the metal railings of the train, was someone who always stood behind you to make sure there weren’t any daytime perverts taking advantage of the lack of space. The woman whose feet were dangling in the open air, eyes filled with fear and tears, was someone who had once tapped you on your shoulder to give you your wallet and transit pass back. The older woman who had sacrificed her cane to keep herself glued to the priority seat, was someone who you often helped down the flight of stairs in the train station. All of these small clusters of daily occurrences created a collage in your head as you braced yourself for the end. You didn’t think your life would be cut this short, but with anything, you tried to accept it all with open arms and welcomed death.

Sorry, mom. I don’t think I’m coming home for dinner tonight.

Just you felt the entire train car shift to an angle where you were sure your fingers would lose their grip on the rubber texture of the train’s loop handle, and you felt the entirety of space and time shift. Slowly opening your lids one by one, you peered out the broken windows and the worn-out end of the car door to see a neon, pink glow that wrapped itself around the train car. Taking this as a chance to move around, you let go of the rubber handles and knelt on one of the soft, velvet cushions of the train’s seat as support.

There he was. Cure Pink Sunshine.

He still wore the same beret that cast a large shadow over his eyes. Still, given his close proximity, you were able to recognize some essential details about Seoul’s mysteriously beautiful hero. Perhaps the easiest thing to notice about him was the frills and layers of light, pastel pink ribbons that decorated his dress shirt. In the middle of his chest, there was a large ribbon with a shiny, ruby heart gem in the middle that glimmered under the winter sky. There were two, glowing pink angel wings behind him that fluttered and danced whenever he would dodge the arachnid robot’s laser beams—but perhaps the most notable thing about Cure Pink Sunshine was the wand that seemingly granted him all the powers that the heavens could offer. With just one flick of the wand, he had transformed it into a golden bow and arrow—complete with bright crystalline arrowheads that shot up like fireworks during a warm, summer night.

What struck you about the incident to this day wasn’t the fact that Cure Pink Sunshine had saved the city for the billionth time. You couldn’t care less about his accomplishments—although you were thankful that he gave you a chance to live out your youth to the fullest. What left you in pure awe since your first encounter with Cure Pink Sunshine was the mystery of his identity. Each attack that Cure Pink Sunshine had launched managed to keep his hat on his head, forever obscuring his true identity. Whenever he was at an angle where you could have sworn you saw his eyes, there would be two, sparkling pink glimmers that left you hypnotized and frozen still in your current position. The more you observed the intense, laser-beam-infused battle that played out in front of you, the more your feet had built up a static so animatic that your entire body jittered with exhilaration and excitement. At one point, when the collapsing robot had crashed on the concrete roads with a loud thud, you had hoped the impact would reveal Seoul’s savior to you.

Who could be behind the beret? Whose eyes would you see if one day, when you had the chance, the wind would knock his hat to the ground? Was Cure Pink Sunshine a middle schooler just like you? Or did he take the form of a much, older man who had used the light’s tricks? Perhaps he was a regular white-collar worker who had the ability to transform into a young, ethereal boy with pink hair and angel wings.

Thus, from then on, you had decided to dedicate your entire life to uncovering Cure Pink Sunshine’s real identity.

Maybe a crazy, noisy, bizarre life in this town isn’t so bad after all….

Now, you were zooming past the buzzing crowd of morning joggers, bike commuters, and dog walkers who never failed to yell strings of curses at each step you took towards the station. By now, your mother had desperately wanted you to fix your bad habit of sleeping in too much or staying up too late. On your end, you had proudly told her you quit your life of video games and late-night movies instead of using the time you had at night to watch footage of Cure Pink Sunshine’s most recent fights online. You made sure to look at each commotion from every angle—and if you were lucky, you forced yourself to leave your house on weekends to wait for something to happen. To this day, you weren’t sure if villains had coincidentally decided that Saturdays and Sundays were the perfect days to execute their master plan of taking the world, but it was a much-appreciated routine on your end. If clashes between Cure Pink Sunshine had been too spontaneous, you would have missed out on many chances to view him from all the angles that the earth could offer. Taking a bulky camera lens that you had bought from saving your allowances, part-time job earnings, and the white envelopes of money you received during New Years, you did your best to zoom into the hero as close as you could, taking pictures from every side and corner until you had enough to work out his identity.

As you finally reached the dim glow of the neon signs of the shopping district by the station, a sudden impact had pushed your entire body down to the cold, rough surface of the pavement. Before you could open your mouth to yell in anger, your eyes met the figure of a boy who wore the same school uniform as you—save for the skirt and the sailor shirt. From the embroidered insignia on his left breast pocket all the way down to the checked patterns of his pants, you figured the boy was going to be taking the same route as you from here on out.

“Oh my god, are you okay?!” The boy had exclaimed in a panic, dropping his backpack to rush to your fallen frame. You tried to muster a smile that hid your annoyance, waving him off to pick yourself back up. Patting the dust off your hands and your dirtied skirt, you picked up your shoulder back and carried it with both hands.

“We’re gonna be late! Come on!” You replied, keeping the half-eaten piece of toast between your teeth. Without hesitation, you grabbed his arm and sprinted down the station with an agility you’ve never had before, making it just in the knick of time to land into the cramped discomforts of the train car safely.

The robotic, female voice that announced the next station echoed inside your head with the rapid palpitations of your heart. You were used to running all the way from your house to the train station, but you didn’t think you would bump into someone from your school. First impressions were something you couldn’t care less about, but perhaps this was a sign that you were growing into the electric adolescent period of a flowery youth in the springtime. Without preamble, your cheeks had flushed with embarrassment at the thought of being seen with a piece of toast lodged between your teeth, and bumping into a potential classmate or schoolmate didn’t ease the terrible tremblings of your heart either. Instead of viewing this as a chance to find love, the only thing that spun in the depths of your head was the idea of being seen as a ditz or a klutz.

“Trust me, I’m not this clumsy. I just didn’t see where I was going,” You blurted out of the blue, averting your gaze from the teenage boy next to you. In response, he puffed his cheeks and did his best to keep his laughter to a lower volume, taking his backpack between his legs as the automated car doors opened to more workers and students who were trying to get their daily routines started.

“Sure…” He replied, widening his feline eyes as he turned them into crescent moons that glistened in the spring sun. “You’re totally not clumsy.”

He jutted his chin towards your feet, which were stepping on the straps of his backpack. There was a cute, tiny plush penguin tied onto the zippers of his backpack with a deadpanned expression on its face. As if the penguin was telling you to retract your feet, you immediately shuffled them back to your end of the invisible, spherical radius that kept the two of you apart in the jam-packed spaces of the train. You muttered a quick string of apologies to both the boy and the penguin plush on his backpack—even if you knew that the thing was a mere inanimate object.

“You should also ask people what year they’re in before speaking informally, you know?” He interjected, keeping the apples of his cheeks lit up in a bright, yet mischievous smile. Deep inside, you knew there was no malice to his playfulness, but it took all of the restraint in your body to stay where you were instead of running away to another car out of embarrassment. You continued to keep your eyes glued to the ground of endless pairs of shoes, concentrating your gaze on the dusted toes of your worn-out loafers.

“I-I’m sorry, sunbae-nim,” You whispered in response. From the corner of your eyes, you can see the blinding grin on his face as he gave you a firm, yet gentle pat on your arm.

“I’m just messing with you, don’t worry! We’re both first years, so it’s fine!”

Rather than feeling the anger slowly boil inside of your system, a wave of relief had managed to crash down into your psyche. Sure, an incident like this would turn your mood sour in an instant, but there was something about the way he spoke that made all your frustrations evaporate into thin air. There was the right tone and timbre to his animated voice—one that reminded you of the girls in middle school who gave you Valentines’ Day chocolates and birthday presents despite never talking to them. For people like the boy right next to you, kindness and positivity were an infectious aura that spread to whoever they ended up talking to, never failing to transform a frown into a pure, bright smile. You slowly found yourself grinding from cheek to cheek, keeping your eyes on your feet as your fingers curled on the rubber loop handles of the train.

“How did you know I was a first-year?” You asked. The boy gave you a slight hum, tilting his head from side to side with each tug and rattle of the train. He then snapped his glowing gaze to your cowering figure, using his pinky to point at the color of the lopsided ribbon around your collar.

“First years usually have red ribbons as a uniform,” He replied. “I have a sister who’s in her third year right now, and on her first day of school, I watched her tie her first ribbon before she left for her debut as a high schooler.”

Nodding your head at every word he said, you tried to remember your brother’s high school debut. Unlike the sacred ceremonies of teenage girls fixing their hair and donning a neatly pressed uniform with cute ribbons around their collars, your brother had accidentally worn sneakers instead of your father’s leather loafers. His hair was a mess, he barely ate any breakfast, and he forgot to wear his socks to school. You suppose the rushed, unkempt unruliness of your appearances ran in the family, because your parents were also the same. Despite your mother constantly berating you for forgetting to comb your hair or wash your face to school, she never had the time to put makeup on or straighten her hair. She wouldn’t even bother to tie her hair up into a ponytail or a bun, letting the waves of thick hair swish and flow with the breeze as she wore her flattened heels to work. Your father, too, was also a victim of this family phenomenon, and wearing mismatched socks became a part of his uniform as a member of the white-collared labor force.

“Do you need help with tying your ribbon?” The boy exclaimed amidst the automated announcement of your school’s station. Instead of giving him a reply, you jerked your head at the neon orange sign that displayed the Hangul characters of the station that marked your destination into a new page of adolescence. After squeezing down to reach for his backpack, he gently placed his hand on the small of your back, pushing you out of the automated steel doors of the train. Instinctively, you checked your wristwatch and heaved a long, deep sigh placing a hand on your chest to ease your breathing.

“It’s seven minutes before the opening ceremony, and I honestly couldn’t care less about this stupid ribbon.”

On cue, you hoisted your shoulder back up, pulling your drooped, black socks to your knees to dart past the blurry movements of uniform-clad teenagers, suited men and women, and university students in jeans who carried their laptops as they descended down the stairs. It was only after reaching the front gates of the school, covered in sweat and jaded breaths that you realized that the boy had suddenly vanished. While worries had swarmed your head and heavy heart at the worst-case scenarios of the boy’s fate, you swallowed everything down and rushed past the school gates to a new chapter awaiting your transient yet thrilling life as a high school girl.

His name is Kim Sunoo. Sixteen years old, currently in his first year of high school, a massive sweet tooth, and a self-titled ray of human sunshine in this dull, boring earth. He’s not afraid to say how he feels under any given situation, and Sunoo most certainly never shies away from the fact that he loves to be loved.

For him, love didn’t have to be a romantic emotion. Although he loved to hear stories of people falling in love at first sight, and he enjoyed the feeling of being giddy over someone he had a crush on, he knew that love was more than that. Love can be as big as the entire Korean peninsula, or it can be as small as the tiny sugar cubes he’d put in his coffee at the family dining table for breakfast. Love can be seen in the birthday presents he’d receive from all his classmates, teachers, and schoolmates, or it can be the silence that was shared between his sister when they studied for their exams together. Love could also be in the endless compliments he’d shower to his closest friends whenever they would idly talk at the school rooftop.

For Sunoo, love was everywhere. It didn’t need a shape or form, and it didn’t need to be anything too specific. Love was love, and as much as he wanted to receive it, he had his heart set on giving love back to the city he calls his home.

To simply put it, Sunoo loved love more than anything in this world.

Every morning, he tries to wake up early to eat breakfast with his mother and sister, idly passing the time by participating in the usual neighborhood gossip or his sister’s dramatic stories of young love, the power of friendship, and the struggles of being a teenage girl in this modern world.

“We girls have it hard, you know?” His sister would often say as she finished up her daily meal of honey-infused french toast and a cup of coffee with four sugar cubes. “We have to worry about cramps, bloating, and unexpected mood swings!”

His mother often nodded in approval, taking a calm sip of soothing Darjeeling tea to her lips. In a similar fashion to his sister, she would drop four cubes of sugar in her mug, gingerly stirring it until everything melted into the warm, marmalade hues of the tea. Sunoo believed he didn’t need caffeine to start his day, because he was already energized at the mere prospect of going to school and meeting his friends. For him, it was the simple joys of talking to everyone that managed to wake him up and push him out on his way to school. All the seemingly off-tangent conversations, card games, and fortune-telling he would do in the classrooms would one day end up becoming a bundle of memories he would grow to cherish in his later years. Since his philosophy on life had always centered around the idea of fostering love wherever he went, he tried his best to view everything through a rose-colored lens of transience and a momentary, yet electrifying bliss.

If everything was going to end one day, then you might as well live life with no hate, right?

One night, when he was in his last year of grade school, his entire grade went camping in the mountains. Amidst the crackling radiance of the bonfire, his friends had shared stories of shooting stars and wishes coming true. Sunoo, being a boy who loved to dream, took those tales to heart, and he waited atop a hill that overlooked the mountain ranges that protected South Korea from any calamities that were to fall in the land.

“Shooting stars are bits of stardust drifting in outer space! My grandma had told me that once I see a shooting star in the sky, I have to make a wish or else it won’t come true!”

As his small frame had rested atop the soft, grassy surface of the hilltop, he let his eyes trace the constellations of all the glittery stars that shone in the deep hues of the night sky. His teachers and parents would tell him many stories of the dangers of the night, but how can something so beautiful be so bad for you? To him, stars weren’t some hot ball of gas that floated far, far away from the earth. He liked to believe that stars shone brightly because they were loved by the heavens, and in their mission to spread love across the entire universe, they glow brightly in the dark skies, reminding those who had lost their blinding radiance to gain it back. Perhaps it was for this reason that Sunoo always felt his lips curl upwards whenever he saw a starlit sky from his window or the very hilltop he was currently in, because he felt the light and love of the heavens easing him into a state of peace.

Just then, a bright star had slowly begun to descend on the earth, creating waves of glittery dust that traced its trail across the sky. Sunoo had quickly stood up on his feet to see the shiny specter right before his eyes in total clarity, feeling as small as he could be under the vast, endless spots of sparkling light that surrounded him. Then, there were several showers of light that had entered the atmosphere, creating a rainfall of fireworks that whirred and swished as they passed by the pretty, blue planet that Sunoo was born into.

While various types of shooting stars passed by his line of sight, Sunoo was waiting for the one he wanted to place his wish upon. He didn’t know when it would come or what it would look like, but all he knew was that the brightest shooting star was yet to come. As if the heavens had answered his prayers, his eyes were blinded by a flashing set of lights that quickly dove down from the thin layers and barriers of the sky, aiming directly towards the hilltop that he was standing on. He happily chose this star as the one he wanted to wish upon, and quickly closed his eyes shut as he whispered his biggest wish three times under his breath.

I wish I could be someone that can bring love to everyone! If it’s too much, can I also wish that everyone will love me in return?

Before he was able to open his eyes, the entire hilltop had jolted back and forth, shaking the whole ground until he lost his balance. A loud crash had echoed across the silence of the mountains, prompting him to fling his lids open. Beneath the rubble of grassy rocks and chunks of tree roots lay a white, pristine wand. A shimmering ruby gem cut in the shape of a perfect heart had glistened underneath the starlit sky, dazzling a young Sunoo to inspect the crash site even closer. A white, misty fog began to seep into the air, surrounding the crash site and the larger, gaping crater on the once perfectly symmetrical shape of the hilltop. Sunoo slowly made his way down the hole, cutting through the dense fog that thickened with each step he took towards the center. The wand had enchanted him in ways where he found himself breathless, often sucking up a desperate amount of air while keeping a steady gaze on the wand that pulled his body closer. Taking a wayward tree branch from the impact of the crash site, he slowly poked at the wand. In a blink of an eye, the night sky was penetrated with an array of bright, neon pink rays that came from the ruby gem on top of the wand.

Underneath the blinding glow of the pink light, Sunoo had slowly seen the silhouette of a short, tiny penguin emerge in the shadows. Once the light had subsided, the fog around the crash site had dispersed in an instant. The penguin had spread its arms one by one, wrapping it around his body to evolve into a tall, handsome man clad in a royal waistcoat and knee-high boots. His platinum white hair glistened underneath the glimmer of the stars, and he had a compact, circular mirror in his hand. For a while, he remained seated on the surface of the crash site’s crater, eyeing his surroundings with a hint of curiosity and bewilderment. Gripping the golden, compact mirror tight, he slowly got up and turned his head on the young, small boy, eyeing him with a confusion so great that Sunoo felt somewhat offended.

“Hey!” Sunoo waved. The young man stood still, refusing to take a step forward. When Sunoo tried to walk closer, he inched back an equal distance, mindful of the rubble surrounding him.

“I-uh…” The regal man started, keeping his posture and grace while staring into the blank space between the background of the mountains and Sunoo. “What do you want?”

Using the branch’s tip to point at the glowing wand on the floor, the regal man immediately snapped out of his trance and bowed deeply at Sunoo. He kept his toes curled in a straight, neat form, arching his back at a graceful level where his head matched Sunoo’s former height as a sixth-grader.

“Great Prince Jimin from Planet Bighit, I have looked everywhere for you,”

“Who?” Sunoo replied. Now, it was his turn to back away from the strange man. A part of him felt giddy at the thought of being addressed as a prince, but even he knew at twelve years old that he needed to be the bigger person.

“I’m actually Kim Sunoo from earth!”

“Oh….”

Upon hearing the word earth, the man quickly regained his composure and cleared his throat, surveying his surroundings with an alert eye. The poise and rationality that dictated his every move transformed into spaced-out indifference as he slowly began to realize that he had crashed into perhaps one of the worst planets in the entire universe. His gaze quickly went from the lush greeneries of the forest, the navy blue skies that endlessly housed a plethora of the glittery cosmos, and the rows of symmetrical hills that overlooked and surrounded the entire crash site. Breathing in an unfamiliar air compound, he reverted back to his form as a penguin, encasing himself within the confines of the compact mirror he once held. The perfectly circular, golden frames of the mirror found itself in Sunoo’s tiny palms, and the man—or penguin—poked his head out of the mirror’s reflective glass to resume their conversation.

“I’m on earth….” He lamented with disgust.

“What’s wrong with the earth?” Sunoo asked, keeping his grip on the mirror while surveying the debris of the crash site. To his surprise, the wand remained in pristine condition, having no visible scratches or dust marks in its pearlescent, white handles. Transferring his hold of the compact mirror to his left hand, he slowly made his way towards the various, large rocks surrounding him, kneeling down to attempt to pick up the wand. A bright, flashing beam of light shot up to the sky, clearing all the dark, night clouds into a halo that descended back down to Sunoo. From the opened compact mirror, the penguin changed his form back to that of the regal, handsome man, using the reflection as a thin wall of communication with the rather peculiar boy. For the supposed power that the wand held, he expected a human mortal like Sunoo to have died on impact by simply walking within its one-mile radius.

“Kid, you do realize that the earth is the most hated planet in the Galactic Alliance, right?” The regal man replied, keeping his piqued interest for the boy at a minimum. Upon hearing the man in the mirror’s sudden profession, Sunoo tried his best to contain his shock, keeping his grip on the compact mirror tight while furrowing his brows in confusion.

“What’s a Galactic Alliance?”

“How old are you?”

“I’m turning twelve in two months,” Sunoo replied with an excitement that every twelve-year-old had about birthdays and growing one year older than before.

“Okay, whatever. Now—“

A gust of wind had suddenly swirled around the crash site. The glittery amalgamation of the skies above turned murky with a dark, ominous haze in a blink of an eye. The dense trees and forestry surrounding the mountain ranges were nowhere to be seen, save for a thicket of black fog that descended into the atmosphere. A toxic, hazardous blend of sulfur and gunpowder emerged, filling Sunoo’s nose with the acrid smell of a life-threatening premonition. While keeping his grip on the mirror, he slowly turned to face the regal man in the reflection, eyes wide in terror as the black fog continued to block his vision. The wand in Sunoo’s hand started to tremble with an electrifying shock, dimming down its once bright, neon pink glow to blend into the looming darkness. Amidst the harrowing mist emerged a strange, large silhouette of a man.

“Hold it right there!” A gratingly annoying voice said, slicing through the austere atmosphere with what could only be described as an ambiguous voice that either belonged to a prepubescent child or an old retiree.

“Hand me the wand!”

The black fog had dispersed with the snap of the silhouette’s finger, and now, the night scenery of the mountain ranges fell into full view again. The man in front of him had spiky, gelled hair that looked prickly enough to the touch. The one thing that caught Sunoo’s poor, innocent eyes was the transparent, plastic pants that the man had donned, exposing all the areas that a child shouldn’t see at that age. Although, he did wear an elastic, black speedo to cover his… nether? Regions (in his case, it was more so a region so cursed one look would petrify its beholders like Medusa’s curse)? He nonetheless had an appearance so despicable that young Sunoo at the time felt as if looking at the man alone warranted a lifetime of blindness and deafness.

“Oh no! It’s Dr. Jay Why-Pee!” The regal man—now back in his penguin form—had suddenly exclaimed. He shared the same, disgusted look that Sunoo had, furrowing his brows and gritting his beak while the man in the uncomfortable plastic pants mightily stood in front of them.

“Dr who?”

“We don’t have time, kid!” The penguin retorted, “You’re our best bet at the moment!”

“Wait, what—“

“You gotta transform now!”

The man lunged forward with his long, plasticky legs, flowing his cape around with dramatic flair. From up close, Sunoo was able to make out an overdrawn outline of eyeliner that lined the man’s lids, making him look like an ugly raccoon that scuttled in trash cans during the middle of the night. Although what he was doing seemed like normal walking, Sunoo saw each step that Dr. Jay Why-Pee took towards him as a ritualistic, odd dance performed by those ancient ones he saw on a television documentary about civilizations that worshipped the devil.

“What?!”

“Just touch the ruby and transform!”

As soon as Sunoo’s hands made contact with the wand’s handle, a pink glow had embraced his entire body, carrying him mid-air with swirls of gold glitter and rosy, neon lights. The odd, strange man was no longer in sight, and all he could see were gradients of pinks and greens that harmoniously blended into that of an aurora borealis that he only saw in the technicolor colors of his television.

“Aurora wave!” Wait, what did I just say?

Sunoo felt a sudden gust of wind embrace him, lifting his body higher and higher in the air. He didn’t know how far off he was from the ground, but he let whatever forces of nature or space take over him, surrendering himself to the supernatural waves of glitter and bright flashes of pink lights that cocooned him. The simple school shirt and shorts he donned owing to the entire ordeal taking place on a field trip suddenly evaporated into sparkly glitter, replacing his once mundane garments with a frilly, collared shirt that had a bright, pink ribbon in the middle of his chest. The ribbon’s centerpiece had the same, glittering ruby gem that was present in his wand, emitting a hypnotic glow. His school shorts slowly transformed into the silky, velvet textures of black shorts with a pink ribbon for a belt and a purse holder that housed the compact mirror that the penguin rested in. His dusty sneakers had been replaced with a pair of bright, pink, leathery boots that rode up to his knees, matching the shade of pastel pink light that engulfed his entire body. A soft, pink beret was perched atop his head, and a long, silk cape had adorned his neck, just long enough to reach the ankles of his feet. A pair of white, satin gloves delicately wrapped their exquisite fabrics on his arms, perfectly complimenting the dainty wand that was in his comfortable grasp.

“Emissary of Ruby, Cure Pink Sunshine!”

The boy that stood in front of Dr. Pee was not the typical, ditzy, yet adorable elementary schooler that timidly backed away at every step he made towards him. Now, Sunoo’s hair was just as pink as his entire outfit, bringing with him the air of a Galactic Cure.

“To think earth would find itself a Cure?!” Dr. Pee exclaimed in both curiosity and fear as the boy gracefully landed back to the ground, opening his eyes with a glint of fury and justice. Waving the wand in Dr. Pee’s direction, his ruby pink pupils glowed with a fervent desire to punish all the evils in this world.

“Master of Darkness, return to your home planet at once!” Woah… I actually transformed?!

It took some time for Sunoo to process everything, but by the time he had realized his hair was bright pink, Dr. Pee regained his composure and began to float mid-air, engulfing himself in a dark, murky whirlwind of smoky fog and evil air.

“You think I’m gonna fight some earthling? A child at that?! Even if he is the true heir to the Cure Pink Crystal, I will never forgive those who get in my way!”

Dr. Jay Why-Pee had unleashed one of his deadlier attacks—a barrage of plastic pants similar to what he wore began to fly from the sky in an avalanche of what could only be seen as pure environmental pollution. The pairs of plastic pants had gathered together and combined into one, giant ball of plastic, with animatic arms and legs to support itself. Two gaping holes had been carved out of the plastic ball’s face to resemble some form of eyes, glowing in the same, murky, dark violet shade as Dr. Pee’s speedo.

“I summon thee from my lab of ultimate evil! With all the plastic that could destroy your measly planet, I have created the perfect weapon of mass destruction: Plastic Pants!” Dr. Pee exclaimed with pride, swishing his poorly-designed feather cape in the large, artificial creature’s direction. The ball of plastic made a large, guttural growl before lunging itself onto Sunoo, swatting his tiny body onto one of the trees in the forest.

Are those actually plastic pants… but gigantic? What’s with the weirdness of these villains? Sunoo thought, doing his best to ignore the pains he felt throughout his entire body. Had it not been for the sudden access to magical powers, he swore he would’ve been suffocated with an endless barrage of non-biodegradable waste.

“Good job, P.P.!”

Dr. Pee was now levitating on air, crossing his arms as he admired the disheveled rubble of the crash site. Even if he and his plastic creature didn’t cause half the destruction, he still reveled in the total wreckage that occurred at the center of the mountain ranges. He watched his pride and joy, P.P., recharge for another attack—this time, the ball of plastic had spun itself like a tornado, accumulating all the oxygen that the trees could in the forest could offer. As a result, the greeneries that shimmered in the night sky had quickly turned into a shade of burnt ash, wilting into the ground until each tree trunk had lost its innate firmness. A mass of toxic, hard plastic began to swirl from P.P., which was then launched towards Sunoo and his penguin sidekick.

“Penguin man! I’m hopeless against that thing!” Sunoo exclaimed as he felt the blood and bile shoot up his throat. Never in his twelve years of existence would he have expected to feel such an immense pain. Dr. Pee continued to maniacally laugh from a distance, watching as P.P. prepared for another attack.

There were villains who fought for a cause—this could be equality, freedom, liberation, or a twisted vision of a seemingly idyllic utopia. Then, there were villains like Dr. Pee—those who really couldn’t care less about propaganda or amassing dedicated followers. People like Dr. Pee just simply wanted to watch the entire galaxy burn into a state of unimaginable chaos. There was really nothing to Dr. Pee’s so-called “masterplan”; it was as simple as wanting to see another big bang destroy all the planes of reality that existed in this universe. Perhaps it could be a longing for rebirth and reincarnation, or a desire to rule the new universe’s order. Whatever it was didn’t necessarily matter when the outcome and goal were the same. All Dr. Jay Why-Pee wanted was to stir everything up into a fine cocktail of destruction, chaos, and depravity.

“Okay, first off, I’m not Penguin man. It’s Penguin Emperor Sunghoon for you,” The regal penguin-man retorted from the comforts of his compact mirror. “And second, throw your hands up in the sky!”

“Why—“

“Come on! Just do it!”

Doing as he was told, Sunoo raised both his hands up in the sky. As his mouth had automatically screamed the words pink thunder beam, the skies had instantly cleared from the dark, murky, and dense fog that accumulated in the atmosphere since Dr. Pee’s arrival. A bright, neon glow had descended from the heavens in the form of a pink lightning bolt, tearing through the dark skies in a whirlwind of rose-colored beams.

“Cure Pink Sunshine shall crush your evil heart!” Sunoo exclaimed once his wand had been filled with the otherworldly powers that came from the sky above. Swishing his wand in one, graceful twirl, he pointed it at the ugly amalgamation of plastic pants. The more he twirled his wand in the sky, the more the winds followed his direction, gathering together to form a giant, pink tempest that quickly grew into a whirlpool that sucked in all the air in the atmosphere. Taking the compact mirror and clenching it with all his might, he combined the circular, intricate object with the pearlescent wand in his other hand, fusing them to create a large bow and arrow. In the process, he felt the winds carry his feet into the air, providing him with two, beautiful glowing pink wings that fluttered in the direction of the giant tornado that continued to grow.

“Pink tornado!”

In one, swift motion, Sunoo let the radiant arrow graze his cheek, aiming right into the middle of P.P.’s heart. The large, pink tempest had struck the ball of plastic, letting the creature burst into hundreds upon thousands of plastic pants. Using his wand, Sunoo swirled it one last time to change the material of the plastic pants into eco-friendly fabrics. He then pointed to the destruction of the forestries, restoring the dead trees and grass into its once lush, vibrant shade of vivacious green. Before he could direct one last attack towards Dr. Pee, he had vanished into thin air. Heaving a sigh, Sunoo examined the rubble of the crash site. It was just how it was before the arrival of Dr. Pee, and Sunoo touched the shining, ruby heart on the wand to revert all the damages that he could. The flying rocks and debris slowly merged back into the hill’s shape, stuffing the gaping crater where Sunghoon had landed with more soil to cover up any suspicious ruins that remained in the crash site.

“I guess you don’t have to go shopping for a while now, huh?” Sunghoon said, jumping out of the compact mirror in his princely, humane form. Picking one of the pants up, he inserted one of his legs inside, giving a satisfied hum at the smoothness of the fabrics.

“Who would wear these pants to school?!” Sunoo retorted, furrowing his brows in disgust at the design of each pair of pants strewn across the floor. “I’d get made fun of for sure!”

“It wouldn’t hurt to try it on though, no?” Sunghoon replied, comfortably jogging around the now restored premise of the hill with his new, loose-fitting pants. Sunoo simply stared at the grown man in bewilderment and aversion, hunching his shoulders back when Sunghoon tried to get close to him in such wacky trousers. Although the material of each pair of trousers had turned into a more eco-friendly variant of plastic, their design still retained the somewhat holographic, plastic-like look.

“Hey, Sunghoon,” Sunoo suddenly said, eyeing the man who reverted back into his penguin form. Sunghoon stopped in his tracks, restraining himself from jumping and playfully shuffling his flippers in the flurry of trousers that were now on the grass bed of the hill.

“That’s hyung for you, kid. I’m like, way older than you, you know?” Sunghoon retorted, puffing his white, fur-lined chest while flapping his beak with pride.

“You’re just a short penguin,”

“Okay, that’s it. I’m transforming into my Emperor form—“

“Bye!”

Taking the mirror and the wand, Sunoo gave him a bright, cheerful smile and started to run off in the distance. Night had already fallen, and he lost track of what time it was. Surely, by now, his teachers would have caught on with his disappearance, assembling the entire student body and staff to look for him. Before he could arouse any more suspicions, he knew he had to get back inside his tent.

“Wait! You can’t just leave me here! My spaceship is broken, and if you’re the chosen one, you’ll have to help me save the galaxy!” Sunghoon shouted. He was still in his penguin form, using his tiny flippers to waddle towards the young Sunoo.

“What?!”

“I guess it wouldn’t hurt to give you an explanation, even if you’re twelve,” Sunghoon said, plopping his body down at the bottom of the hill. He had suddenly transformed into his human form again, patting the empty space next to him.

“I may be a kid, but I can understand words and sentences, you know?” Sunoo replied, reluctantly taking the space next to him. The two of them watched the amalgamation of shiny stars in the sky slowly disappear with the steady rise of the full moon—which glimmered its dim, heavenly glow across the entire forestry.

“Anyway, from now on, you’re part of the Galactic Cures, an elite group of magic-wielding heroes who are tasked to save the galaxy from the evil wrath of Dr. Jay Why-Pee,” Sunghoon explained, pointing at the wand and the compact mirror that was in Sunoo’s hands.

“You mean, the ugly man that we just fought?”

“Yep.”

“But aren’t I just a kid?”

Sunoo stared at the two, beautifully designed gadgets in front of him with awe. To be holding both in his hands felt like an honor—and truth be told, his heart raced with excitement at the thought of being worthy to wield such powerful and enchanting devices. However, a part of him started to question his new role as a Galactic Cure. First off, he was just twelve. He didn’t know if the other Galactic Cures began their journey at the same age or younger, but to him, the responsibility of saving the galaxy was simply too much for his tiny shoulders to bear. What will happen to his friends? His school life? His family? Would he disappear all of a sudden to live out his destiny in space, fighting Dr. Pee and his creatures? Or would everyone he knew and loved forget his existence at the expense of universal peace? The more he began to think about it, the more his younger self began to resent what every child wanted to become—a hero.

“You are, but you’re gonna have to start somewhere, I guess?” Sunghoon replied in an attempt to reassure the young boy. Giving gentle pats on Sunoo’s back, he watched as the skies cleared, revealing the low beam of the bright, white full moon.

“I don’t like fighting, though,”

“I can see that,” Sunghoon responded with a light chuckle. “If you’re worried about the violence and stuff, then don’t be.”

“I’m not worried about that. I’m more worried about how this whole thing is the exact opposite of what I wished for!” Sunoo retaliated, standing up from his seated position in a quiet fury.

“What?!”

“I wanted the world to be filled with love, not fighting!”

Yes, Sunoo did wish to love and be loved—but does fighting evil monsters count? Is violence really a means to achieving peace and harmony? As young as Sunoo was, he realized the hypocrisy of it all. If his wish had been answered, then those with the same nasty disposition as Dr. Jay Why-Pee would cease to exist. Emotions such as jealousy and hatred would be non-existent in the human heart, which should only be capable of giving love to others.

“Well, I’m sorry to break this to you at your young age, but you gotta suck it up,” Sunghoon interjected, turning back into his penguin form.

“The wand had chosen you, and you had demonstrated a compatibility with it.” The stout and short penguin continued, waddling to point his fin on the wand that Sunoo held. “I mean, you were able to transform just fine without all the complications that others had to face.”

Using his flippers to shuffle back to the campsite, he beckoned for Sunoo to follow him back to where his tent was.

“If you think about it this way, you’re fighting for love, you know? Dr. Jay Why-Pee’s main goal is to bring the entire universe into a state of absolute chaos and destruction, so it’s our job to prevent that from happening. Isn’t saving the world and restoring peace an act of love?”

“Well, I guess you’re right….” Sunoo replied, trailing off into another train of deep thought. The boy tried to calm himself down, filling his thoughts with the pros of fully accepting his newfound destiny. In some ways, he was able to understand Sunghoon’s point. If he looked at the violence he committed as a necessary sacrifice to restore love and peace to the universe, then he supposed he’d feel less guilty about defeating monsters. Plus, if Sunghoon was correct, then it wasn’t like Sunoo was killing these monsters—in the same vein as his first enemy, P.P., they were artificial creations that Dr. Jay Why-Pee had reanimated into life. These creatures lacked any amount of sentience, with their only purpose being to become Dr. Jay Why-Pee’s pawns of destruction and chaos.

“So, what do you say? I mean, you don’t really have a say in this since the wand chose you, but—“

“I’ll do it.” Sunoo interrupted before Sunghoon could finish his sentence. Perhaps being a hero wasn’t as bad as he’d thought—after all, he would be receiving tons of love from humanity and beyond if he saved them from whatever evil plot Dr. Jay Why-Pee had conjured.

“If it means I can spread love to the world and have people love me in return, then I’ll do it. I’ll become a hero,”

“Great! That’s less work for me! Even though I have to stay on this crusty planet.”

Sunoo furrowed his brows and tilted his head in question, as if to tell the penguin that he, too, didn’t want to be stuck with the fellow.

“Also, I need to report and monitor your performance as the new addition to the Galactic Cures, so I’ll need to accompany you throughout the day,” Sunghoon continued, ignoring the silent insult that Sunoo had given him.

“How are you gonna do that?” Sunoo asked, quickening his steps at the sight of his bright yellow tent in the distance.

“I’ll stay in this form,” Sunghoon replied, giving Sunoo a cute twirl.

“But won’t people find you more suspicious now that you’re a penguin?”

“I can’t be seen in my regular form, you know? I’m too handsome.”

To prove his point, Sunghoon transformed into his more humane form, retaining the poise and regality that he once exuded when Sunoo had just met him. Sure, the man was, indeed, handsome—but Sunoo had seen enough of Sunghoon’s penguin form and his attitude to conclude that looks aren’t everything. No matter how gorgeous one may be, knowing what they’re like on the inside can make a huge difference.

“Right…” Sunoo muttered, rolling his eyes at the man.

“I can also shrink sizes, so just pretend I’m some plushie and strap me onto your school bag or whatever.”

Turning back into his penguin form, he shrunk himself into the size of a keychain, attaching his tiny frame into the ribbons of the wand. He did a little wiggle to show that he could still move despite having to act like an object in his current state.

“Are you sure?”

“While you don’t have a choice but to become Cure Pink Sunshine, I now have no choice but to stay on earth, so we’re even in some ways,” Sunghoon lamented, rolling his small, beaded eyes as he started to freeze himself into an inanimate trinket.

“Okay…”

From then on, Sunoo had dedicated his life to fighting off Dr. Jay Why-Pee and his creepy, evil critters. On rare occasions, he had the chance to join the other Galactic Cures in space, battling reptilian kaijus, oddly misshapen aliens who looked nothing like those depicted on television, or gigantic robots that were powered with high-speed rocket launchers. However, his home base was earth, and as such, most of Sunoo’s battles and fights as Cure Pink Sunshine were contained within the pretty, blue planet he was proud to call his home. Initially, Dr. Jay Why-Pee had targeted the solar system and the milky way, waging terror on other planets, but at some point, he began fixating his interests on earth. Before Sunoo knew it, punching monsters in the gut with his laser beams and striking robots down with his wand became a regular weekend routine. It seemed like every Saturday, Dr. Jay Why-Pee had another creature or robot ready for Sunoo to defeat—and each victory eventually propelled him into the joyous favor of the news and the internet.

Despite his hectic weekends as the hero that Seoul—and to a greater extent, the rest of the world—needed, he was still determined to live his life as a regular, high school boy. After all the stories he’s heard from his sisters and the endless mountains of webtoons and manhwas his friends told him to consume, becoming a high school boy had become a staple goal in his short-lived adolescence. While romance was the goal for many, he was more inspired by the lasting friendships that one would often make in a rather tumultuous time. The camaraderie in every shonen anime he would see where a group of high schoolers used the power of friendship to destroy all evil, the electrifying tremors and palpitations of the heart upon receiving a mysterious love letter, and the flowery moments of growth and development that many teenagers go through during their seemingly last years of being carefree—all of these sensations and experiences were what drove Sunoo to romanticize an ideal high school life that he would cherish until he was too old to remember his name. So far, his morning started just right with one of his endless, cliche scenarios coming to life. He had successfully bumped into a girl who had a piece of toast in your mouth. Even if he’s just met you, there remained a deeper hunch in his heart that you would be one of the many people in his high school life that would complete the experience he was direly searching for.

“I thought you didn’t tell anyone?” Sunghoon suddenly exclaimed telepathically. The two of them were now in the train station’s washroom, occupying the cubicle at the end of the row.

“What do you mean?” Sunoo retaliated, holding a slightly bigger, plushy form of Sunghoon in his hands. He jerked his head up to see if people were in the washroom. Using the compact mirror that usually housed Sunghoon, he titled the reflection around to examine the entirety of the lavatory. So far, the two of them were the only ones in the vicinity.

“The girl on the train! She totally bowed down to me!” Sunghoon replied, this time speaking directly to Sunoo. To this day, Sunoo couldn’t get used to the sudden shift in Sunghoon’s rather deep, mellow voice to his penguin form’s high-pitched squawks.

“What if that’s just her personality?”

“We better keep an eye out on her,” Sunghoon said, lowering his voice as he hopped onto Sunoo’s shoulder. “She might know something.”

“Is that why you dragged me all the way to the bathroom?” Sunoo retorted in annoyance, rolling his eyes at the tiny penguin. “I’m gonna be late for my high school debut, you know?”

“You know you can just teleport, right?”

Sunoo’s eyes had instantly lit up, smothering the penguin with light displays of affection and an endless string of incoherent gratitude. After giving Sunghoon’s penguin form a light squeeze, he placed him back on the straps of his backpack, taking his wand out in the process. Tapping onto the shimmering, ruby heart that served as the centerpiece of the wand, he closed his eyes and felt the all too familiar pink, soft, ethereal light engulf him. Once he opened his eyes, he was already at the back of the school gymnasium. Several students had already begun to make their way from the main building into the gymnasium’s front gate, and Sunoo caught a glimpse of you looking out of breath as you used the crowded, cramped lines to ease your breathing and relax. After you had finally entered the open doors, Sunoo quickly jogged to promptly join the line of students and seamlessly blend into the crowd.

“Why do you have your backpack with you?” A voice from behind him suddenly whispered. Sunoo jerked his head in its direction and came face to face with an intimidating boy with arched eyebrows and a tall nose. He had his back hair swept up to reveal his forehead, and he kept his hands stuffed in his pocket.

“I… uh… didn’t have time to put it on the hook?” Sunoo replied in light stammers, concealing any form of nervousness. He gave penguin Sunghoon a quick glance of fear before diverting this full attention onto the boy in front of him.

“Should I ask a teacher to put it back for you?” He asked with the same seriousness in his voice. Although the boy looked rather unapproachable and aloof, Sunoo knew that he meant no harm.

“It’s alright,” Sunoo happily replied, waving the boy off. “I’ll just bring it with me! It’s really no hassle!”

The boy quickly glanced at Sunoo’s name tag, nodding his head at every Hangul character his eyes read through. He then jutted his chin towards the door, prompting Sunoo to quickly gather his bag and rush inside the gymnasium.

“By the way, we’re in the same class.” The boy spoke again. “I’m Park Jongseong, but you can call me Jay or J.J.”

Sunoo kept his eyes on the boy while simultaneously shuffling his feet to find his seat. There was a foreign quality to the way he said his nickname, and the more Sunoo thought about it, the more he realized that Jongseong had an aura around him that didn’t match the rest of the students. Something felt slightly off about him—almost as if he came from another country.

For now, he cheerfully greeted his new friend with a large, bright grin, focusing his attention on the opening ceremony that unfolded before their eyes. Across the distance, he saw you standing up from your seat, keeping an earnest gaze towards the podium. The ribbon on your collar was still crumpled and lopsided—just as you’d left it when he bumped into you at the train station. However, he had noticed that you now fixed your hair into a half updo, leaving some strands to gracefully line the nape of your neck and your spine. Turning your neck to Sunoo’s direction, you mustered a small, awkward smile that turned your eyes into crescent moons. In return, he tilted his head and curled his lips upward, giving back all the sentiment that he could without riling any suspicion around him.

Once the opening ceremony had concluded, Sunoo had his eyes set on catching up with you. However, Jongseong had quickly tapped his shoulder, offering to guide him to their homeroom. Before he could catch another glimpse of you, your figure was nowhere to be found within the gym. Even if he used the compact mirror to survey his surroundings, he had a gut feeling that you were already swarmed into the crowd of students who pushed past each other, eager to quickly get into their homerooms. Heaving a sigh, Sunoo followed Jongseong’s quick stride, opening the sliding door to his flowery adolescence.

Fate had it, too, that Jongseong would become an important figure in Sunoo’s high school life. While you were someone who had fulfilled his idealistic cliche of a destined accident, Jongseong was a person he felt would be with him until he graduated. From warning him about his bag to suddenly becoming his assigned seatmate, Sunoo could perfectly envision the after-school hangouts and rooftop talks he would have with both you and Jongseong. In a sense, his romanticized vision of a friendship trio had already started to fall into place—Jongseong as the serious, cool boy, you taking the role of the clumsy girl, and he, the dreamer. Everything was too good to be true, and all Sunoo could do was endlessly send prayers to the heavens for granting his wish for a normal, yet youthful high school life. Between fighting monsters and saving the world, he really needed a typical and ordinary group of friends to fall back to whenever things got too hectic for him. Sure, he knew he could never reveal his identity to the two of you, but the least he could do was gain some form of emotional support for preserving world peace.

“Hi everyone! My name is Kim Sunoo! I’m sixteen, and I’ll continue growing so long as the number of people I become friends with grows too! I hope we can all get along!” Sunoo said upon being asked to introduce himself, reaching his hand out while waving to everyone in the classroom. When the first bell rang to signify his very first lunch break, a flock of students began to swarm towards his table, begging for his social media handle and his schedule. Jongseong, who had tried to talk to Sunoo, was, unfortunately, drowning in the avalanche of eager students who wanted Sunoo to become their friend. From the corner of the classroom’s sliding door, Sunoo saw you peek your head in the corner, quickly hiding behind the wall upon making eye contact with him. Taking this as a chance to escape the crowd of classmates who wanted to spend their lunch break with him, he excused himself to the bathroom. Jongseong closely followed behind, watching him as he zoomed past the impenetrable fortress of uniform-clad teenagers who trailed Sunoo’s every move. Once he was out of the classroom, he quickly grabbed your wrist and dragged you to the staircase that led to the rooftop.

“H-how did you get here on time?!” You nervously asked, shaking off the sudden contact. “I thought I lost you or something?”

“Oh, uh… I took the elevator?” Sunoo replied, stopping by his backpack to grab the penguin plushie that was loosely hanging on one of the zippers.

“Damn, that’s smart.” Jongseong suddenly spoke, making his presence known to the two of you. “I should probably do that next time.”

The three of you had stopped by the top of the staircase. Sunoo drew the compact mirror out of his pocket, pretending to fix his hair on its reflection. Keeping the mirror at an angle that didn’t reveal his true motives, he titled the circular glass around to check if there were students on the rooftop. Upon seeing a few couples and a group of seniors spending their lunch break in the inner garden of the school, he quickly shut the mirror and opted for the three of you to stay where you were. Taking a seat on one of the stairs, he watched as you bowed your head to occupy the seat next to his. Jongseong declined the offer and chose to stand up instead, resting his elbow on the staircase’s metal railings.

“What class are you in?” Sunoo asked.

“Oh, me? I think I was in 1-F? I was still tired from running all the way to school, so I didn’t have time to look at the class list properly,” You replied, “How about you?”

“I’m in class 1-C!” Sunoo happily replied. Jongseong nodded his head along, echoing Sunoo’s answer.

“We just had our introductions, and I was chosen as the class rep!”

“That’s great to hear!” You exclaimed, clapping your hands in celebration. Taking a piece of milk candy out of your skirt pocket, you tossed one to Sunoo and another to Jongseong, who calmly caught it mid-air. You jokingly waved your own share of milk candy towards the penguin plushy on Sunoo’s lap before taking it back to pop the small, sweet treat inside your mouth.

“How about you?” Jongseong asked on Sunoo’s behalf, who was too busy indulging himself with the burst of flavor from the milk candy you gave him.

“Our class didn’t really do much, and I was mostly at the back thinking about which club I want to join,” You replied, hanging your head high towards the dirty, off-white ceiling of the staircase.

“Aren’t applications starting next week?”

“Yeah, but there’s this one club I really wanna join before their slot gets filled up, so I need to keep an eye out on the current President to ask them about it,”

“Is it a sports club?” Jongseong asked. “If so, I can help out with that since I know a senior who’s currently the vice-captain of the basketball club.”

“You know someone in the basketball club?!” Sunoo interjected out of the blue despite his mouth being filled with candy. Holding a burst of laughter, you took another piece of candy out of your pocket and gently placed it on his lap. All Jongseong could do was nod his head in approval while waiting for you to answer his question.

“Nah, I’m not really the biggest sports person,” You replied, shaking your head in Jongseong’s direction. “It’s the school paper, and I really wanna join as early as I can,”

“That sounds cool! Is there any specific reason why?” Sunoo asked, taking the piece of candy you left on his lap to stuff in his pocket.

“Well,” You started, bringing your head back down to stare at your scuffed loafers. “Please don’t laugh at me, okay?”

“Why would I? I personally find it amazing that you have such passions for something!” Sunoo replied, giving your hunched back a quick round of gentle, circular pats. You tried your best not to shiver at the sudden contact, keeping your head low to let some of your hair strands cover your cheeks.

“Okay, so, I want to be a journalist one day in the future to investigate and hopefully find out Cure Pink Sunshine’s identity.”

Sunoo felt the penguin plushie on his lap pinch his thigh, and he snapped his head towards it, chewing on his lip to prevent himself from making a sound.

See? I told you she was dangerous! Sunghoon’s voice had echoed within the chambers of Sunoo’s head. Taking a deep breath, he regained his composure and turned to face you, who suddenly had a fiery aura of resolve surrounding your timid, yet ever so determined frame. Jongseong leaned closer, kicking his body forward to listen to what you had to say.

“Like, I personally think Seoul’s hero deserves recognition—even if he may end up being some old geezer or a salary man with free time.” You continued, your voice growing louder with each opportunity you had to talk about your unexpected obsession with the pink-haired hero. “How about you guys?”

“I think so too! He’s saving our city out of the kindness of his heart, and I’m sure that knowing his identity will finally put a face and a real name to someone who loves our city so much.” Jongseong replied, sharing the same, enthusiastic sentiment that you exuded throughout your little speech. The two of you exchanged a quick, firm high five, sealing your newfound friendship with an impromptu handshake. Sunoo stared in silence, feeling the iron-laced flavor of his lip spread into his tongue.

What do I do? Sunoo asked, closing his eyes to enter his headspace. There, he saw Sunghoon—who had still retained his penguin form.

Just agree to whatever they just said! Don’t make this any more obvious!

“But…” Sunoo accidentally whispered out loud. Both you and Jongseong snapped your heads towards him, anticipating his response. The once amicable air had suddenly turned awry with palatable tension, and Sunoo quickly darted his eyes between your sharp gazes. It was bad enough that Jongseong was born with the allure and edge of slanted, eagle-like eyes, but it was even worse when someone like you had joined in with your fragile, yet piercing gaze. For the first time in his life—even if he’d fought giant, reptilian monsters and extraterrestrial aliens—he felt scared.

On the one hand, there was really no harm in him revealing his identity to two mere high schoolers—besides, what can two teenagers do that could threaten his entire career as a Galactic Cure? On the other hand, Dr. Jay Why-Pee’s minions could be everywhere. Even if he wanted to believe that you or Jongseong had no ties to his nemesis and JYP, he still had to keep himself on high alert.

“But?” The two of you repeated in unison.

“Maybe he wants to continue being the Cure Pink Sunshine that everyone loves, because once he reveals his identity, he won’t really be Cure Pink Sunshine anymore, wouldn’t he?” Sunoo slowly responded, carefully choosing each word as he spoke. Heaving a long, drawn-out sigh, he closed his eyes and saw Sunghoon’s penguin form raise his fin in approval. Nice one, Sunoo!

“I guess that makes sense….” You replied, trailing off in thought.

“But I still think he deserves so much, especially for all that he’s done, you know?” Jongseong interrupted, causing Sunoo to freeze in place again. The penguin plushie began to shake subtly, and Sunoo held its body between his fingers to make sure the two of you didn’t see the plushie’s sudden animation.

“Right? I can understand how he won’t be Cure Pink Sunshine anymore, but that doesn’t mean I’ll love and support him any less, if that makes sense?” You continued, resting your head on your palm as you pierced your elbows on your thigh. “A hero’s a hero, and so long as they continue to save and love this city, I will be able to love them back tenfold.”

Before Sunoo could muster a single reply or react to the impact of your crystalline words, the piercing school bell had sliced through the tender comfort of your secret encouragement. Jongseong fixed his blazer and took both of his hands out to you and Sunoo. While you quickly dusted off your skirt and used his arm as a small crutch to stand up, Sunoo reminded seated, eyes staring off into blank space as he continued to let your words ring inside his head.

A hero’s a hero, and so long as they continue to save and love this city, I will be able to love them back tenfold.

Burying his hands in the warmth of his bright, flushed cheeks, he waved his arm as a signal for the two of you to go without him. Contrary to his wishes, the two of you had remained still, waiting for him to finally get up so you could go back to your respective classrooms.

Could this be… my shojo romance moment?! Sunoo asked, trying his best to keep his composure. Penguin Sunghoon tried to squeeze himself out of Sunoo’s grasp but to no avail. Within the confines of Sunoo’s headspace and the crushing weight of his lanky arms, there was no escape.

Just get up and go back to your goddamn classroom!

“Crap, we didn’t even eat our lunches, huh?” You asked, kneeling down once again to lightly tap on Sunoo’s shoulder. Jongseong impatiently tapped his foot to the rhythms of the last school bell, keeping his hands perched on his waist as he watched Sunoo slowly get up from his hunched position. Once he fixed his crumpled shirt and school trousers, he took both of you by your shoulders and ushered your bodies back to the hallway, careful not to trip on the staircase.

“Wait!” Sunoo exclaimed before you walked towards your classroom. “What’s your name?”

“It’s in my name tag, here,” You replied with a smile, pointing at the plastic tag on your collar. Sunoo repeated your name a couple of times, tapping his tongue on each syllable. There was a smooth quality to the way your name rolled off Sunoo’s lips, adding a miraculously alluring quality to your very being. Jongseong acknowledged you by saying your full name once, with the usual nice to meet you and please take care of me.

“And you’re Kim Sunoo and….” You trailed off, leaning closer to read the name tag of Sunoo’s classmate. “Park Jongseong! Nice to meet you two!”

As you quickly extended your hand to give the two boys a hasty, awkward handshake, you bowed your head and jogged back to your classroom—which was on the back end of the corridor. Sunoo continued to wave at your diminishing figure, with each of his arms widening the farther you went. Once you had officially disappeared into your classroom, Jongseong attempted to pull Sunoo back inside, where a sea of teenagers waited to swarm him with invasive questions and more requests to each lunch with him from here on out.

“I have to go to the bathroom,” Sunoo said as an excuse, leaving Jongseong to deal with the crowd. Instead of using the second floor’s restroom, he instead snuck into one of the faculty washrooms by the corner of the common sink area. Using the compact mirror again to survey his surroundings, he waited for one of the teachers to come out before quickly darting into the door to lock himself in one of the larger cubicles of the washroom.

“What the hell was that?!” Sunghoon exclaimed, leaping out of Sunoo’s pocket once he locked the door. “You almost blew it!”

“Girl’s super clumsy and dense! I don’t think she’d realize anything even if I transformed right in front of her!” Sunoo retorted, reminding the penguin of their first encounter at the train station and the train ride to school. “As for that Jay kid… well… I don’t know? He doesn’t really strike me as someone who’d be too invested in Cure Pink Sunshine, you know?”

“You have to stay away from her, Sunoo,”

“Wouldn’t that make it more suspicious?”

“And what if she finds out I can talk? Or if she sees the wand in your bag? What then?” Sunghoon proclaimed, reverting back to the size of a normal penguin. Using his flippers to waddle around the faculty washroom, he pointed his fin at the mirror in front of them.

“Then don’t talk! Easy!” Sunoo replied. “Also, I just turned into a high schooler, and I already have two friends! Two! And one of them’s from a different class! I can’t pass this up!”

“And risk being exposed as the very hero she’s desperately trying to unmask?”

“Well, okay,” Sunoo interjected, holding his hand up to calm the short, angry penguin down. “Say if I do avoid her from today. Wouldn’t she just be more suspicious of me knowing her whole schtick?”

“Good point,” Sunghoon slowly responded. He allowed himself to shrink back into the size of a plushie, plopping his tiny body inside Sunoo’s pocket. Using his fins as a hook, he slowly grabbed onto each crinkle on Sunoo’s dress shirt, climbing upwards until he was perched atop Sunoo’s shoulder.

“Plus, hyung, I know my limits. I can support her from the sidelines without revealing myself, and I feel like she’d love a challenge rather than immediately finding out that the cute hero of Seoul was in front of her all along.” Sunoo explained, arching his neck to his right shoulder.

“What if she finds out sooner?” Sunghoon asked, dangling his flippers back and forth as he counted the minutes until the final school bell rang again.

“Then it’s a plus for me because I get more love!”

“I swear, you and your obsession with love,” Sunghoon retorted, rolling his eyes as he dived into Sunoo’s breast pocket. “It’s not gonna do you any good; you know that more than anyone else.”

“I doubt she has anything to do with the JYP organization—I mean, she’s just a high schooler!”

“And? One of our most recent kaijus was a high schooler!”

True.

Technically speaking, Sunoo’s most recent enemy was the giant kaiju he fought at the World Cup Stadium. Although he was technically a professional soccer player, he was at an age where he would’ve been in high school had he declined the offer to become a professional at a young age. Adding to that, another kaiju that Sunoo fought two weeks ago was a teenage shut-in who was influenced by Dr. Jay Why-Pee’s dark magic. Sunoo and Sunghoon tried to investigate the culprit’s empty apartment after his demise, but they weren’t able to find anything that could lead them back to how the shut-in kept in touch with Dr. Jay Why-Pee. All they found was a couple of tabs open on his computer, all of which had the same gossip forum reflected on the darkened screen.

“Rumor has it that JYP is starting to recruit impressionable youngsters through an online gossip forum that claims to provide accurate fortune telling for free,” Sunghoon said, recalling their encounter with the shut-in kaiju. Unlike the other monsters they had fought so far, the shut-in was an extremely rare case. Rather than being created by Dr. Jay Why-Pee himself, there was some form of possession that took place instead. The same pattern could be seen with the star soccer player who had succumbed to Dr. Pee’s wrath, transforming into a large, reptilian kaiju capable of destroying cities and giant stadiums.

“So our goal is to find this site and whoever’s running it, right?”

“Yep, that’s why we’re here,” Sunghoon replied, using his beak to point at the school’s embroidered insignia on Sunoo’s breast pocket. “When I tried to delve into it, I found out that most—if not all—of the students who registered for this site were from this school, so the creator of the forum is most likely a student enrolled here.”

“How are we gonna check all the evil meters of everyone in this school?” Sunoo asked in a frenzy, getting the compact mirror ready to survey his surroundings.

Any sentient being with a proper conscience was born with two meters: a love meter and an evil meter. For humans, the love meter and the evil meter had to maintain a fifty-fifty ratio—in other words, love and evil had to be perfectly balanced. Of course, there were some who tipped the scale, but so long as the ratio remained relatively similar, there was no need to be too worried. Unlike love meters, a person’s evil meter was quite difficult to increase—as such, Sunghoon had concluded that a drastic rise in a human being’s evil meter meant that a third-party force such as Dr. Jay Why-Pee had meddled with human affairs. When human beings in particular reached a level of 98% or higher in their evil meters, that’s when Sunghoon would send an alert to the rest of the Galactic Cures. After receiving approval from the higher-ups, it was then Sunoo’s turn to transform into Cure Pink Sunshine to restore peace and balance within humanity.

A person’s evil meter could be closely examined through Sunoo’s compact mirror. Despite the many tasks it could perform—such as housing Sunghoon whenever Sunoo would engage in battle as Cure Pink Sunshine—it could allow Sunoo to teleport into various locations, let him see his surroundings through visions and clairvoyance, and it gave Sunoo access to a specific person’s two meters.

“I haven’t thought that far yet, but we need to act fast,” Sunghoon said with a gravity that immediately turned the faculty washroom’s atmosphere heavy. Sunoo hastily used the compact mirror and uttered your name three times, watching the reflection show a vision of you sitting at the edge of your classroom, talking to a few boys who had gathered around your table. To his surprise, your love meter and evil meter were perfectly balanced—letting both him and Sunghoon heave a sigh of relief. Before he could check Jongseong’s meters, the school bell had rung for the last time, forcing Sunoo out of the faculty washroom. Sunghoon returned to his inanimate state, lifelessly hanging by Sunoo’s breast pocket. Luckily, no teachers were present to scold him for either entering the faculty washroom or running in the hallway. However, what Sunoo and Sunghoon failed to notice was the presence of a looming shadow that hid behind the back end of the corridor, eyeing Sunoo as he apologetically entered the sliding door to his classroom.

Cure Pink Sunshine is making his move.

Copy.

It has officially been an entire month since the first day of school had passed. Sunoo continued his duties as the class representative of 1-C while juggling his hectic weekends as Cure Pink Sunshine. Jongseong was busy managing his role as an executive in the home economics club while simultaneously helping his senior, Lee Heeseung of class 2-A, with the culminating basketball tryouts. Since the three of you would always be too caught up in your conversations to the point of forgetting about lunch, Jongseong made it a habit to cook meals in the home economics classroom. That way, he got to fulfill his extracurriculars while ensuring that the three of you wouldn’t skip meals in school. While both Jongseong and Sunoo were rather busy for their first few weeks as high schoolers, they still had time to talk to each other—even in the swarming presence of Sunoo’s steadily growing official fan club.

As for you, the newspaper club had happily accepted your application, quickly appointing you into an executive position despite it being in your first year of high school. You continued to fill your mornings with news recaps of Cure Pink Sunshine’s endeavors against Dr. Jay Why-Pee and his evil minions without realizing that the very boy you went to school with every weekday dedicated his weekends to save the earth from destruction and chaos. Sometimes, Sunoo would invite you to stroll with him around your town’s shopping district, often sharing a pack of melon bread or cream puffs from the convenience store with you before making your separate ways home. Of course, both of you had your own respective schedules, and you would always manage to run back home before dusk. At some point, there were several anonymous pitches to the school paper regarding your potential relationship with the ever-so-popular Sunoo, but you ended up using your executive privileges to prevent such an article from being published and circulated within the student body.

Sunghoon would often try to squeeze himself into the fun by accidentally animating himself in Sunoo’s pocket or flapping his plushie arms with enough vigor for you and Jongseong to notice. At some point, you took the penguin plushie from Sunoo’s pocket, gently pressing its stomach to hear a soft, almost realistic squawk escape its beak.

“Wait, can you do that again?” Jongseong once asked, keenly observing the penguin as you lightly press your thumb on its soft, white stomach. Instead of seeing the penguin open its beak again, it remained still and lifeless. At first, Sunoo would enter a state of panic, doing his best to stay calm while hastily retrieving Sunghoon the penguin back from your grasp. However, he had grown too accustomed to your sneaky, nimble fingers slowly taking the penguin plushie out of his pocket, playing with its fins and flippers with Jongseong, who also marveled at its cuteness.

Sunghoon seemed to change his opinion of you in particular. Although it was hard, he eventually simmered down and swallowed his pride, admitting that he was wrong in his initial profiling of you. Sure, you still had a fascination towards finally uncovering Cure Pink Sunshine’s identity, but there was nothing about you that would come close to finding out anytime soon—even if you were right next to him this whole time.

Sunoo, you’re right. She’s really dense. Sunghoon had concluded within Sunoo’s headspace during one of the trio’s lunch breaks together.

The three of you made a promise to eat lunch together by the staircase that started it all. Even if it was rather uncomfortable to eat Jongseong’s lavishly cooked meals by the stairs, it was still an experience that all of you were willing to go through if it meant keeping your promise to each other.

Whenever you or Jongseong would ask Sunoo why he refused to go to the rooftop, he would simply reply with a cute shrug and a wink, taking the compact mirror to his face to fix his hair.

“Believe me or not, but I know when the rooftop will be perfect for the three of us, so for now, we just wait until I feel like the weather or season is just right.” Sunoo often replied with the mirror situated right in front of him to cover the nervous twitches on his upper lip or the slight tremors on his cheeks. The two of you would usually roll your eyes as a quick, silent reply, resuming the conversation from where you’ve left off. Whenever you took charge of the discussion, it would always be about Cure Pink Sunshine. Although Jongseong didn’t seem too particularly interested in your passionate bursts about a glimpse of the hero’s eye shape or an approximate guess of his height based on several cross-referenced footage, he would always manage to show you some amounts of intrigue and attention. Whenever he felt like it, he would also add his own insights into the matter, such as discovering patterns of behavior from each weekend battle that went live on both the internet and on television.

“Some of the internet footage seems to have a clearer view on Cure Pink Sunshine’s true form,” Jongseong would often add whenever you secretly brought your photo collection of the pink-haired hero in your lunch breaks with the boys of class 1-C. It would take all the nerves and restraint within Sunoo to stop himself from ogling at his own photos, so he limits himself to admiring your skills by showering you with endless praise.

“You’re really good at the camera, no?” Sunoo usually teased amidst his own nervous wreck. You had grown used to his overbearing yet playful nature, and you learned how to respond with an equally profound level of saccharine cuteness that somehow never failed to turn Sunoo into a bright, flushed mess.

“Do you want me to take your photo, then?” You teased back, aiming one of your compact film cameras to his face. Before you knew it, your physical albums had begun to be filled with images of Sunoo and Jongseong. While this meant less room for Cure Pink Sunshine, you started to pay no mind to fill your precious film rolls with your first two friends in high school. Even if the time you’ve spent with them was just another part of your daily lunch break, each hour and a half always managed to bring an infinite high of happiness that lasted until the end of the day.

Who knew having friends could be this fun!

It was clear that Sunoo was the type to view high school with pretty, rose-colored lenses that let the sky rain in pastel pink floral petals. For Jongseong, high school was all about obtaining the diploma he needed to fulfill his familial obligations as the next heir to an organization he refused to name. Although he did manage to have his fair share of fun, he took both his academic and kinesthetic performance like it was life or death. He was never satisfied unless he was first place in everything, but he slowly started to realize that being in the top five or ten was good enough. For you, there was really nothing to it. You came to high school expecting nothing. It was the same way your parents and your brother had spoken about high school—it was nothing special.

“It’s just another stage of your life, really,” Your brother often lamented whenever your younger self would ask him about his life as a high schooler. In some ways, they were right. It really was another phase in your life that repeated everything that you’ve been through in primary and middle school. You memorized textbooks, took tests, and forced your body to do sports—all of it was just a rinse and repeat process that was shackled onto your ankles until you were sent off into a lifetime of work. That was always how you viewed your life and your eventual endgame, and yet somehow, whenever you spent your lunch breaks with Jongseong and Sunoo, you let yourself revert into the stereotypical image of a giddy, high school girl. Sure, you’ve had friends before, and an even higher abundance of them online—but they never had the effect that the two boys had on you. In a sense, both Sunoo and Jongseong had shown you the true value of friendship—the kind that makes you forget the passage of time altogether.

And just like that, the three of you had bloomed into the flowery spring of adolescence.

With an entire month passing, spring break was now around the corner. The buzz about the secret online forum began to grow louder and louder, with most of the first years claiming to have access to the inner workings of the site. While everything had remained under wraps on the first week of school, there had been several suspicious events that all tied back to the website. Firstly, a young girl from class 1-E had disappeared for three days after the opening ceremony. The only trace of her that the police could obtain was her phone, which had access to the forum. She returned to school a few days later, her evil meter growing from net zero neutrality to a whopping 75%. Sure, it wasn’t an alarming level, but the sudden rise definitely kept Sunoo on alert.

“I heard she tried to get her fortune read in exchange for something,” One of the members of his official fan club had said upon being asked about the website. “As for what the something was, I really don’t know. People like to talk and say that she’s been living with a troubled family, so maybe that had something to do with it?”

“Thank you for your input,” Sunoo replied with a smile, tapping his fan’s shoulder before moving on to the next case. He sat next to the girl during both the opening ceremony and homeroom, so he was the closest Sunoo, and Sunghoon got to uncovering what truly unfolded within her three-day disappearance.

A week later, another girl had disappeared. This time, she was in Sunoo and Jongseong’s class. She was a rather talkative and popular girl who was the ringleader of Sunoo’s fan club, often exuding the same bubbliness that served as his natural charm. Her newfound group of friends had tried to involve the school in the matter—which unfortunately led to nil action. Instead of waiting for teachers to help them, they decided to open their own investigation on the forum. Sunoo had asked to join the investigation both as the class representative and, much to his chagrin, the so-called “apple of her eye.”

In a similar pattern with the girl from class 1-E, the same gossip forum was left open on her laptop. This time, instead of fortune-telling, there was a flashy poster that called for young girls to apply for an idol audition. From quick glimpses of the girl, Sunoo inferred that she would be the type to, unfortunately, fall for scam auditions such as the one displayed on the screen.

“Should we report it to the police?” One of her friends asked. Sure, there was an address and a telephone number written below the audition call, but both led nowhere. The address was made up and non-existent, while the telephone number simply dialed the nearest Pizza Hut.

The third incident was of a boy from 2-A—which was Heeseung’s class. Although Sunoo personally had no connections to any upperclassmen, he was able to get a word or two out of Heeseung through Jongseong.

“Honestly, I really don’t know much about him,” Heeseung started. “He was just… very reclusive? If that makes sense? There were many nasty rumors surrounding what he did after school, but the common pattern that’s circulating in our class is that he might’ve tried to get access to illegal drugs through the forum.”

With deeper research, both Sunoo and Sunghoon found out that the boy in question didn’t join any clubs. He didn’t have friends in school, and was often targeted by the third years for various forms of school violence. Most of the rumors surrounding him pointed towards being a lackey for a local youth gang, and it was evident in the decrepit vandalism of his desk that he was equally despised by his classmates. When Sunoo visited the forums himself to search up the boy’s name, he was met with two conclusions. First, he could’ve been cyberbullied and harassed by the several forum regulars who had uncovered his identity. Second, he could’ve disappeared due to several recent activities pointing towards him trying to access the forum’s black market—a place where select users who were worthy enough for the access code could barter goods that were branded illegal by the Korean government. The last page the boy had visited didn’t point towards drug abuse, but rather, violence. A rustic revolver was left inside a paper bag inside the boy’s room, which had been left untouched by his parents and the police. Sunoo kept quiet about his findings, carefully using his gloves as Cure Pink Sunshine to prevent tampering with the evidence.

Of course, the lunch time talks with the usual trio had also started to gain a rather tense, austere atmosphere. Jongseong kept his mouth pressed in a fine, thin line after accompanying Sunoo to Heeseung’s homeroom, and you were surprisingly quiet throughout the entire ordeal. It should’ve been a natural response for someone like you to start your own investigation on the matter, but you were either too preoccupied with Cure Pink Sunshine or too stunned by it all. Compared to your initial goal of uncovering Cure Pink Sunshine’s identity, the following string of student disappearances perhaps painted a darker reality for your future career path. Becoming a journalist wasn’t simply reporting on the news and victories of glamorous heroes anymore—it was to investigate and uncover the truth no matter how gritty or grotesque things might get. From the nervous look in your eyes and your frantic, yet subdued episodes of incessant fidgeting, Sunoo could tell that the three cases took a massive toll on you.

Secrets were meant to be kept under wraps, and as it turns out, Sunoo wasn’t the only one with an alter ego he had to manage.

What Sunoo and Jongseong didn’t know was that every time you went home from school, you would immediately log onto the forum and monitor every activity as the creator and main admin of the site. Truth be told, you had created the gossip forum out of boredom with your previous group of friends and called it Tinglers—in hindsight, the name was rather inappropriate and nonsensical. However, the original idea behind it was for those who were merely killing time to gather into a site and… well… kill some time. Later on, you’ve abandoned the site along with your friends to go your separate ways. For you, that meant focusing on your gradual obsession with Cure Pink Sunshine, submerging yourself into what could be a lifetime cat chase of being so close, yet so far away from discovering the identity of the man or boy—perhaps girl? Child? Who knows?—behind the frilly, pink beret.

The only reason you decided to stay as the admin and make it your daily routine to monitor the site was for two specific reasons. The first one was to lament at what it had become. With the site’s completely anonymous nature and untraceable IP system, it had unfortunately gathered various bad apples that twisted the site into its notoriety today. For this reason, the original founders had pulled out of the site one by one. You were supposed to finally pull the plug and put an end to the site before entering high school, but you had to test out your admin privileges to see if it still worked. After posting a quick greeting on the public discussion board, you were utterly surprised to find that billions of people flocked under the comment with either praise, scrutiny, or irrational hatred. While most of the comments under your status post marveled at you, the one and only admin of the site, there were a few, loud minority groups that tried to call your existence a hoax.

Nonetheless, you were able to confirm the power your role still held on the site, and kept being the sole admin for your second reason—which was to use the site to your advantage to finally uncover Cure Pink Sunshine’s identity. With the mass of people that were willing to follow your every instruction after one post, you were more than willing to bend these anonymous users to your benefit. You tried it once when you asked the same group of users who had caused the disappearance of the girl from class 1-E to find her again, adding a bonus tip for those who uncovered the identities of the culprits who lured her into the trap. With three times the speed of a regular police investigation, you had the location and address of where the culprits had kept the girl, sending all these anonymous tips to Seoul’s firefighting and police force. What surprised you even more was how some of these firefighters and policemen were also a part of the Tinglers community, using their anonymity to manipulate the municipal government’s decision to thoroughly investigate the case. Before you knew it, the girl was back in her class, and the culprits were given rather light, juvenile sentences owing to their age. Still, you had demonstrated the powerful stronghold you had as an admin of a widely spreading underground forum site, and you just needed to wait for the right time to unleash the hounds.

As hard as it was for Sunoo to keep his identity from you, it was even harder for you to stay quiet about your heavy involvement as the founder and main admin of Tinglers ever since he got himself invested in the three cases that wrought the entire school. Whenever Sunoo would bring up his findings and try to talk about the forums, you would either stay silent or quickly shut down the topic, opting to change it into something more light-hearted. Thankfully, your signs of visible distress were perceived with genuine concern by the two boys, but every little second of remaining silent turned the looming guilt within your chest louder.

Jongseong, too, had his own secret that he had to keep. Being the heir and the only child to a large, chaebol was terrible enough when considering his desire to live life as a mundane, high school boy. What made things worse was how he was the very son of Cure Pink Sunshine’s nemesis.

“Your job is to infiltrate the school and befriend Cure Pink Sunshine’s true identity,” Dr. Jay Why-Pee had commanded, slipping a paper folder filled with Sunoo’s information a few weeks before his first day of school. “Then, I want you to get close enough to destroy him from within.”

Initially, Jongseong had deemed this an easy task. With how untouchable he was in terms of status alone, he was sure that nothing could go wrong with befriending and eventually betraying Kim Sunoo’s trust. Owing to a life of isolation and ostracisation his whole life, he had managed to believe that he could never gain any emotional attachment towards those around him. Whenever he tried to make friends or reach out to his peers, they would either pretend to be his friend for the sake of a specific financial benefit or out of forced obligation from the teachers who had wanted to please the Park family’s only heir. All his life, his so-called friends were those who were instructed to befriend him because he was a Park—not because of his hobbies, his interests, or his eagerness to make new and lasting connections with others. Naturally, he had grown colder as each year went by, masking his loneliness with an aloof edge that made it difficult for anyone to approach him. That was how things always worked with Jongseong, and he had hoped for things to stay that way to obtain his father’s undying approval.

However, Jongseong quickly began to realize a fatal flaw in the plan that his father had sent him out to accomplish. For one, he never expected Sunoo to be so likable—like a ray of sunshine that cast all the dark, lurking shadows out into oblivion. From the moment the three of you began spending time together at the staircase of the rooftop, his mind began to make space for both Sunoo’s and your well-being. Did the two of you do your homework? Did you manage to eat a proper breakfast instead of stuffing a single piece of toast in your mouth? Was Sunoo handling his duties as the class representative just fine? Soon enough, the only thing he looked forward to was the first bell of the afternoon, trailing behind you and Sunoo’s back to the very place where he knew he belonged.

“A smile like that doesn’t look good on you, Jongseong-ah.” His father would often say whenever Jongseong would come home lately.

“Sorry, father. I’m just excited about your master plan.” Jongseong replied, trying his best to conceal any hints of joy with his usual, grave, and monotonous pitch.

As it turned out, Dr. Jay Why-Pee’s master plan was to let earth fall into a state of irreversible chaos through various subtle means. Since the Galactic Cures had always managed to thwart his plans and evil experiments, he’s thought of using soft power and influence to hopefully turn his desire for destruction into a moral dilemma. It was easier for the Galactic Cures to defeat his monsters simply because they were created in a lab. Sure, some of them bore signs of life, but in the end, they were mere creations that were bound to be destroyed in battle. However, when Dr. Pee would possess individuals by tempting them with earthly desires, so their evil meters to go up, that was when it became a lot harder for the Galactic Cures to intervene. It was almost hilarious to Dr. Pee how the sheer demolition of his sentient creatures and kaijus were valid, but once he had begun to possess humans and lure them into increasing their evil meters to the point of transformation, it was now deemed murder.

He had tried his hand at subliminal messages—which were the culprit behind the star soccer player and the shut-in. Then, he moved onto the internet, where he used the anonymity of Tinglers to his advantage. By disguising himself as a fellow Tingler, he began to create his own circle of fellow Tinglers who started to become more loyal to him than the official administrator of the site.

Of course, while you did keep a keen, sharp eye on the activities of your site, it was still difficult to trace the IP address of those who had managed to violate the unwritten rules of each forum thread. Adding to that, there was simply too much going on all at once, making it extremely difficult for you to manually keep tabs on every single discussion that sprung up out of the blue. For now, all you had were various usernames that consistently managed to appear on the top page—one of which who went by the alias @24_34_momma. Ever since the first week of high school had passed, the username had been pestering you with endless barrages of messages about Cure Pink Sunshine. Although you did post on the main page that any information on Cure Pink Sunshine was welcome, the information that @24_34_momma were ones that you already uncovered on your own—such as his schedule, where he’s likely going to appear next, and what district of Seoul would fall victim to the evil organization JYP’s wrath.

@24_34_momma : Good afternoon, admin! You want to find out who Cure Pink Sunshine is, right?

Staring blankly at the screen on your laptop, you ignored the message and tried to get on with your night of putting the bare minimum effort into your homework.

@24_34_momma : I know you’re still there, admin.

Briefly opening your laptop once more, you tried to click block. However, instead of finally being at peace, your laptop had glitched into a blank, black screen. A disco ball began to appear, spinning its holographic, geometrically circular surface around. No matter how hard you tried to look away from it, your eyes would always trail back towards the 8-bit, pixelated swirls of the disco ball on your laptop screen.

The last thing you remembered before resigning into what felt like a deep slumber was the main page of Tinglers. Your fingers had quickly typed and posted an important announcement to all the Tinglers on the site.

!! ANNOUNCEMENT !!

₩1,000,000,000,000,000 BOUNTY FOR : CURE PINK SUNSHINE A.K.A. KIM SUNOO. DEAD, ALIVE, OR DIGITAL.

Spring break had finally come into play, and both you and Sunoo had been absent for the past few days. Jongseong was the only one present in school, and when Sunoo’s fan club had swarmed the poor about their precious figurehead’s absence, all Jongseong could do was shrug his shoulders in confusion. Rumors had begun to spread that the two of your went on an early vacation in the beaches or the mountains for a romantic retreat. Jongseong rolled his eyes at each suspicion that arose within the classroom circles, keeping his head down along with the truth. As the son of Dr. Jay Why-Pee, he knew everything that was going on behind the scenes, and it was natural in his position to gain access to anything and everything his father was involved in.

Although he was fully aware of Sunoo’s identity as Cure Pink Sunshine since it was his original task to befriend and eventually betray the boy, Jongseong was utterly surprised and speechless at the large role you had managed to play in this entire ordeal. He had long believed that you were a mere bystander with a seemingly earnest and innocent goal of becoming a journalist for the betterment of humanity. What he didn’t expect was for you to become one of his father’s most crucial pawn in the first stage of his master plan. To think that someone like you would be the mastermind behind an anonymous, online network with no rules and regulations continued to send endless chills down his spine. Surely, there was no way to truly know who a person was.

When Jongseong had visited your house to talk to you about Tinglers and the bounty, he was greeted with your lanky, gloomy brother.

“If you’re looking for my sister, then she’s at the hospital right now.” He said languidly. “I can drive you there if you want. You’re her friend, right?”

“No need,” Jongseong politely declined, waving his palm in front of him while deeply bowing his head. “I can just take the train.”

Usually, Jongseong’s father would never allow him to take public transport. He went to school in a sleek, fancy black foreign car, and he left with a different model that awaited him by the metal, front gates of the school. The first time he’s dared to ride a train was when the three of you had decided to visit both you and Sunoo’s childhood town, exploring the shopping districts and various food stalls that lined the nearby station. That was the first time he had allowed his stiff shoulders to relax, loosening his permanently clenched jaw into a lax grin as he was whisked away into the endless coves of street food and local businesses. Jongseong could confidently say that walking around the shopping district with you and Sunoo was perhaps the best day of his life, but he knew that the happiest moments were always the shortest.

Before he knew it, everything came crashing down in a flash. You were bedridden since the day his father had manipulated you through the forum site, Sunoo was nowhere to be found, and all he had left was the empty staircase that led to the school rooftop. In both your absence, he still made it a routine to cook himself a meal at the home economics classroom, bringing it to the staircase the three of you had shared together.

Now, he was finally faced to face with one of the two people he knew he had to reveal the truth to. Replacing a wilting bouquet of flowers with the new one he had bought, he gently took the transparent, glass vase by the window and began rinsing the insides to prepare it for his fresh batch of flowers. Hearing your bedsheets lightly shuffle, he jerked his head to see you in a solemn and dreary state. You weakly tried to sit up from your flat position, slowly nodding your head in his direction to give him a small, subtle greeting.

“Hey,” Jongseong muttered while continuing to cut the stem of his bouquet.

“Hi.” You replied, allowing a moment of silence to ensue between the two of you. Taking a deep, sharp breath, you gathered all the energy you had left within you to crawl out of your hospital bed.

“Look, if you’re here to talk about—“

“I know you didn’t do it.”

“Do what?” You asked, gripping the railings of your hospital bed as a crutch to keep you standing. Once Jongseong was finished fixing his bouquet into your vase, he quickly jogged towards you and helped you back inside the thin, white sheets of your bed. After gently tucking you in, he grabbed a chair by your bedside lamp, allowing his tensed body to rest after a long, agonizing period of worried about both you and Sunoo’s well-being.

“The bounty announcement. I know you didn’t do it.”

“How did you know about the—“

“I guess all three of us had our own secrets to keep, huh?” Jongseong said with a bitter laugh. He took a laptop out from his backpack, propping the foldable table up to place it in front of you.

“What secrets?” You retorted with suspicion, taking the laptop to open its lid.

“Tinglers, Cure Pink Sunshine, JYP—it’s really funny how fate kinda tied all of us together in this tragic story,” Jongseong replied, taking the laptop in his direction to type the password. The first thing that popped up in front of the screen was the very gossip forum that you’ve grown to resent.

“Man, I really should have deleted that website a long, long time ago.” You said, scrolling through all the forum posts you have missed. While you do remember a few flashes of the bounty announcement in your memory, everything was too hazy for you to fully recall all the events in total clarity. Reading through each post, picture, and video had given you a clear idea of what went on in your bedridden slumber—all the Tinglers had been set up in an elaborate witch hunt to hunt a mere high schooler down.

Finding out about Cure Pink Sunshine’s true identity through an endless array of discussion threads was rather underwhelming. You had hoped that the glorious moment would be as dramatic as the first day you met him—a situation where everything was on the brink of full extinction. Perhaps a villain would tell him that he would destroy the universe if Cure Pink Sunshine didn’t reveal himself, or maybe Cure Pink Sunshine would have eventually removed his beret to show everyone that he was, as the media had portrayed him, a beautiful, young boy with a love so big and bright that the world wouldn’t have been able to handle him in his true form. Perhaps that was why he had to keep his identity under wraps—because as far as you knew, Kim Sunoo was the very essence of pure, unfiltered love, and Cure Pink Sunshine was just a way for him to give love to the world.

“And I should have come clean from the start,” Jongseong replied, keeping his head low. He fidgeted with his knuckles clasping his hands together in a tight grip.

“What do you mean?” You asked.

“I’m the next heir of the Park conglomerate,”

“Well, everyone kind of knows that already….”

“But I’m sure everyone doesn’t know that the CEO of Park Industries is also the leader of the evil organization called JYP,” Jongseong revealed, slowly raising his head to meet your glassy eyes.

“No way…”

“I’m supposed to be the next villain here,” He sadly said, heaving a long, drawn-out sigh as he hung his head low again. Instead of seeing you react with your worst, you lightly gave him a slap on the shoulder, patting his cheek to let him face you once more.

“You telling me about your entire double life doesn’t sound too villainy, to be honest.”You replied with a burst of laughter that echoed across the entire hospital room. The monotone, dull, white walls and the opaque curtains had suddenly brimmed with a radiant glow as the two of you continued to relive your life as young teenagers again.

“Well, I came here to right my wrongs, in a way.”

“I’ve been meaning to do the same, to be honest.”

“You know what to do, right?” Jongseong asked, jutting his chin towards the laptop. Giving him a quick, curt nod, you began to type away, logging into your account to create one, final post as the sole admin of Tinglers.

“By the looks of it, I still have admin control on the site, so I can issue another announcement with calling off the search.” You explained, keeping the rapid rhythms of your fingers at bay while you extracted all the files and information that you could on each forum post that detailed the witch hunt on Cure Pink Sunshine. “What will you do?”

“Fight my dad?” Jongseong replied, nonchalantly shrugging his shoulders as he slowly got up to stretch his arms and legs.

“Epic. I’m coming with you,”

“No, you’re not.”

Before you could shut the laptop and tuck it under your arms, Jongseong placed a firm hadn’t on your shoulder.

“Yes, I am.” You retorted, shrugging his hand off to slip on a pair of sandals that your mother had left you in her last visit. “I have a bone to pick with the asshole who ruined my fucking website.”

“Also, I need to see Sunoo transform or something like that. Wouldn’t that be cool?” You added, taking a wayward wool cardigan and hoisting it over your hospital gown. Jongseong knew that there was nothing that could stop you at this point—not even your health. Although it was in his best interest to keep you within the comforts of your hospital bed, he knew that you were needed in this impromptu plot to defeat Jongseong’s father once and for all.

“You better not do anything stupid,”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know, hurt yourself?”

Taking your phone out, you logged onto Tinglers, posting a new announcement. Even if Dr. Jay Why-Pee or whoever he was tried to kick you out of the site, it was still your creation. As such, you had all the rights in the world to do whatever you please with it. Now, you wanted everyone to join you in another witch hunt—one that could save the world.

!! ANNOUNCEMENT !!

₩ 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 BOUNTY FOR:  DR. JAY WHY-PEE, A.K.A. J.Y. PARK, PARK JINYOUNG. CEO OF PARK INDUSTRIES AND LEADER OF THE JYP ORGANIZATION. WANTED: PREFERABLY DEAD.

“Didn’t I just tell you not to do anything stupid?!” Jongseong retorted, losing count of how many zeroes you’ve written on the new announcement. He was somewhat confident that his father’s defeat could compensate for the reward you had inputted, but at the same time, it took all the energy he currently had to prevent himself from collapsing at the concerning amount. You scrunched your nose and stuck out your tongue, quickly regaining all the energy that you’ve lost in your once bedridden state.

The city’s skies were engulfed in a dark shade of murky violet, creating a dense thicket of fog that heavily rested on the atmosphere of Seoul. Crowds of people had begun to stop in their tracks, checking their phones at the newly updated announcement that jingled with the bells of revenge. You started with light, quick steps, slowly allowing your body to gain momentum into a full sprint. Jongseong found himself following along, trailing behind your smaller back as the two of you zoomed past the mob of people who had their sights set on a new target to hunt.

“We’re coming to help you, Cure Pink Sunshine.”

The bounty for Cure Pink Sunshine had been in place, causing all of Seoul to scour around in hopes of catching a glimpse of the hero in his unmasked form. Sunoo stayed inside his house, with no other choice but to lock himself inside his room. Sunghoon was now in his human form, pacing back and forth at the sudden turn of events. Using his own set of magical powers, he created several portals around the city of Seoul that acted as a larger version of what the compact mirror could do.

“This is bad….” Sunghoon whispered, eyeing the total love and evil meters of the entire city. With the massive spike in greed at the ample reward for Sunoo, the total evil meter had massively increased, toppling the once balanced and harmonious state of the city.

“What do I do?” Sunoo sighed, dejectedly twirling the closed compact mirror in his hands. He had quickly glanced at each of Sunghoon’s bright, glowing portals, watching the panic and frenzy that ensued in the city he used to love. People of all ages, young and old, had gone out of their way to resort to petty violence and theft, holding their smartphones in their hands as they searched through every nook and cranny for Sunoo’s presence.

Had it been one of Sunoo’s usual roster of giant robots, kaijus, aliens, or demons, then he would have transformed in a heartbeat, flying out into the city to defeat each and every one of them in one, fell swoop.

To prevent his family from getting involved in the entire ordeal, Sunghoon had temporarily barricaded the Kim household with a barrier made of aurora lights, hiding the house and whatever was inside from the public eye. Luckily, the spring break meant his entire family had remained home for a few days, allowing Sunghoon to successfully ensure the safety of the Kims. Despite this, both of them knew they were running out of time. At some point, his parents would have to go back to work. Given the rapid spread of information on the internet, the forums had already exchanged information regarding Sunoo’s official address, his family tree, and what school he went to. Although a good portion of the forum dwellers called the entire witch hunt a giant hoax, it was difficult to ignore when almost half the city’s population bought into the attractive reward.

“Honestly, I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Sunghoon trailed off, pensively watching each glowing portal with a keen eye. “I really don’t know what to do either…”’

“I don’t think there’s anything I can do!” Sunoo suddenly exclaimed, turning his rage towards the wand that started his journey as a Galactic Cure. “I mean, we could try to stop the mob, but we can’t kill them all!”

“I know, I know.” Sunghoon hushed the teenager with the best of his abilities while monitoring the citizenry’s total evil meter. “I’ve been trying to think about a method too, but to be honest, nothing comes to mind.”

Although the wand had initially made his wishes come true, Sunoo had always known that one day, there would be a tragic end to his journey as a hero. For as young as he was, he had already accepted the cold, hard fact that perhaps in a near, distant future, he would cease to be the Cure Pink Sunshine that everyone adored. There was always a chance that someone younger than him would awaken his current abilities through a shooting star, thus becoming the new Emissary of Ruby, Cure Pink Sunshine. Even if he wanted to, he knew that he couldn’t keep living this double life forever. It was already taking a toll on him as a high schooler, and he couldn’t begin to imagine how many more white lies he’d have to tell through his teeth at the expense of world peace and harmony.

Maybe this was it. For the past four years, he had served his time as the galactic guardian of the earth and the Milky Way, dedicating his youth to fight creatures, monsters, kaijus, and all the other giant critters that existed in the universe. Perhaps it was finally time for him to bestow the wand onto someone else—someone who was stronger, younger, and more worthy of the wand’s powers than he was.

“Maybe this is the end of Cure Pink Sunshine, you know?” Sunoo whispered to himself, gently placing the compact mirror back onto his study table. Although he still felt drawn to both the wand and the mirror, the initial spark of adventure and excitement was no longer there. Each time he was tasked with defeating a giant monster or two, he picked up the want with diminishing levels of exhilaration. Even if he tried to tell himself that he was fighting for love and world peace, he couldn’t shake off the fact that his journey as a hero felt more like a chore than an honorable duty.

“Sunoo…”

“I mean, all good things must come to an end, right?” Sunoo continued, keeping his eyes on the glimmering ruby heart that flickered with the fluorescent lights of his room. “And all heroes must eventually die at some point.”

Ever since Sunoo had begun to live his daily life with his penguin sidekick, he had never seen him cry. This moment would be the first instance of Sunoo seeing his mentor and, in a way, space guardian shed a single tear. Using his puffy, creme sleeves to wipe the corner of his eyes, Sunghoon deactivated all of the hovering portals at once, letting himself forget his obligations as a galactic envoy tasked to directly report all of Cure Pink Sunshine’s ventures to the council.

“I’m not saying I’m gonna die, but from what I can see, it’s really the end for Cure Pink Sunshine,” Sunoo retaliated in a slight state of panic, giving firm, yet tenderly gentle pats on Sunghoon’s back. For a while, the two of them stayed in a state of comfortable silence. Sunghoon’s sniffles reverberated across the dimly lit, small room, while Sunoo did his best to hold all the tears that began to pour down his cheeks. Although he had expected his journey as a hero to come to an end, he didn’t think that parting ways with Sunghoon would render him in a state of such intense sorrow. The thought of bidding Sunghoon goodbye as he searched for another worthy Galactic Cure made his chest tighten and ache with a terribly tremendous level of pain. Compared to all the times he’d been flung across skyscrapers, trees, and sports stadiums, the arduous reality of coming to terms with the end of being Cure Pink Sunshine and parting ways with someone who had watched over him throughout his entire hero journey was perhaps the most painful feat he had ever experienced.

“Then why don’t you fight as Kim Sunoo?”

“What?!”

Wiping his eyes of his last teardrop, Sunghoon stood up and fixed his intricate, creme top. Aligning his ascot in the middle, he maintained a regal air of grace and poise as he paced around Sunoo’s room. If this were the last time he would play the role of a galactic envoy, then he might as well play the part until the end.

“Every hero’s death comes with the birth of a new one. If Cure Pink Sunshine is gone for good, then it’s probably time for you to take the wand and fight for something you believe in.” Sunghoon said, taking the wayward wand that was left to rot on Sunoo’s study desk. Taking one of Sunoo’s hands in his, Sunghoon curled each of the boy’s fingers on the wand, letting his thumb rest on the heart-shaped ruby that had become the very symbol of his alter ego.

“I know I was very strict with reporting your every action to the rest of the Galactic Cures and all, but really, this is your fight. Go out there and fight for what you want to fight for,” Sunghoon continued. This time, he stayed in his princely form, removing his glove to tear a large portal that led to the outdoors. “If it’s love that you want back in the city, then love you’ll have to give.”

Gripping the wand tight, Sunoo closed his eyes and remembered the vow he made when he was twelve. Even if becoming a hero wasn’t what he initially wished for, he had fulfilled his goal of spreading love and peace in the world. Without Cure Pink Sunshine, Seoul and the earth would crumble in an instant, succumbing into the idyllically chaotic paradise that Dr. Jay Why-Pee had dreamed of building. Then, from there, he would quickly consume entire planets until the solar system would eventually come under Dr. Pee’s control. The more he thought about it, the more he began to realize that just like the other Galactic Cures that dutifully carried their heroic obligations to save galaxies and other planets, it was Sunoo’s ultimate onus to protect the earth that he loved.

With a newfound determination, Sunoo quickly got out of his bed, allowing the wand’s neon, pink lights to engulf his entire body. Feeling the same warmth from the heavens, he began to clasp his hands in a long, silent, and heartfelt prayer.

I wish I could be someone that can bring love to everyone!

“So, what are you waiting for?” Sunghoon interrupted, his body already halfway through the portal that he opened. His slender, nimble hands were hanging mid-air, waiting for the one and only hero of the earth to grab it to save the earth one too many times.

“You’re right, hyung! Let’s go!”

As soon as the two had entered the portal, they were immediately transported outside of the Kim residence’s backyard. Since a mob of people had swarmed the entrance to the house, both of them had to rely on secret passages and Sunghoon’s portals to get around the neighborhood.

“Wait,” Sunghoon suddenly stopped in his tracks, closing the portal that he had just opened. “Aren’t those your friends from school?”

Across the distance, Sunoo saw you and Jongseong walking around each house, ringing the doorbell three times before hiding in a nearby telephone stand. The two of you would crack the telephone stand’s murky, plastic door slightly ajar, spying on whoever came down to answer the doorbell. Using his compact mirror to get a closer view of his friends, Sunoo tried to restrain himself from feeling the tempest of rage that began dwelling inside his heart. Why were you in a hospital gown? Did someone hurt you? How did you end up like that? All of these questions had boiled into a furious fervor that pointed towards one, despicable person.

Dr. Jay Why-Pee.

Before making his presence known, the two of you had leaped out of the telephone box and rushed towards Sunoo, engulfing the boy in a suffocating, yet ever so tender group hug. Sunoo returned it with an equal amount of affection, holding onto the two of you as if the world depended on your hugs.

“Hey, hey, hey! Cure Pink Sunshine!” The two of you said in unison with a smile.

“How did you guys find me?” Sunoo asked, wiping his tear-stained cheeks with his sleeve. In some ways, the first and last thing he wanted to see was the two of you. Of course, he made room for his family, Sunghoon, and all of the friends he had made so far, but there was an exceptionally unique quality to the bond that the three of you had shared—almost as if the forces of the universe had decided to align your respective stars into one, intricate constellation.

“The power of friendship and all that bullshit,” You muttered, huffing your chest out while simultaneously checking the live feed of Tinglers’ forum posts. So far, your admin privileges reigned over Dr. Pee, and now, many participants in the witch hunt had begun to gather around the Olympic Highway. Several photos had already been posted, showing Dr. Pee in another one of his oddly designed outfits. This time, he wore a leather harness that hugged his body—with transparent, plastic boots to match. Somehow, Dr. Pee had a fascination with plastic and non-biodegradable items.

“Yes, and no,” Jongseong interrupted, shyly clearing his throat to reveal the truth. “We were about to ding dong dash on every single house until we got the right one.”

Sunoo’s mouth was agape, imagining all the angry neighbors that had probably threatened to call the police on the two of you. You guys have really outdone yourselves, huh?

“Sunoo, I have something to tell you,” You suddenly started, taking your phone to show him your admin status on the Tinglers forums.

“Well, save that for later because we don’t have time!” Sunghoon interjected, tearing open a large, glowing portal that had enough space for all of them to travel through. “We need to be by the crash site in the middle of the Olympic Highway before Dr. Jay Why-Pee does his worst!”

“Right,” You replied with a curt nod while monitoring the feed. So far, Dr. Pee was still on standby—perhaps waiting for the moment Sunoo would show up.

“Wait,” Jongseong suddenly interrupted, staring at the regal, prince-like man who opened the portal. “Who are you?”

“I’m the penguin plushie that you keep messing with,” Sunghoon replied, quickly reverting to his penguin form. He made an effort to shrink into several sizes before returning to his more humane, regal body.

“Why can’t you just pretend you’re a transfer student? Wouldn’t that make things easier?” You asked, furrowing your brows in confusion. If Cure Pink Sunshine was the hero, then you concluded that this man was perhaps a sidekick. Even if, by the rules of all the manhwas you’ve read, the sidekick was usually a talking animal, you’d think it would’ve been easier for both of them to pretend they were siblings. After all, Sunoo and the prince-like man shared a similar, ethereal allure to them that rivaled mythical gods and beautiful, otherworldly deities.

“Simple: I’m too handsome for this crusty ass planet,” Sunghoon replied nonchalantly, beckoning for all of you to hurry up and step inside the portal.

“Right…”

“If you call yourself handsome, then I’m practically a god at this point,” Jongseong retorted with a smug grin on his face. Before Sunghoon was able to snap back at the boy, the portal had already begun transporting them to the middle of the Highway.

By the time the group had arrived, a swam of people had already circled Dr. Pee and his amalgamation of gigantic kaijus and robots. There was a giant, death ray behind him that activated whenever a person or two had stepped beyond a specific boundary, turning them into a reptilian kaiju that terrorized all of Seoul. Some of the citizenry who desperately wanted the bounty had brought various, creative tools that they could use at their disposal—throwing knives, illegally smuggled shotguns, and a classic bow and arrow to maintain a specific range between themselves and their target. A part of the crowd who mostly stood on the roofs of their cars to fire at Dr. Pee understood the danger of coming too close—but in the end, all their efforts were futile. Dr. Pee had simply extended the reach of his death ray, targeting virtually anyone who attempted to attack him.

“You can’t defeat me! All of you are unworthy, lowlife scum! Pests! Absolute pests!” Dr. Pee exclaimed, manically laughing from the roof of his ugly spaceship.

“Hey, dad! Why don’t you try to fight people that are actually strong enough to defeat you!” Jongseong spat out of the blue, cupping his hands around his mouth for added volume.

“Wait… my nemesis is your dad?!” Sunoo asked, covering the roof of his head as a gust of wind began to blow in their direction. Instead of giving him a response, Jongseong hopped from one car to another, inching closer and closer towards where Dr. Pee had stood. Pulling a tiny, bird-shaped trinket from his pocket, he tossed it in the air and watched as it transformed into a majestic, robotic bald eagle. Taking one wing on his right, the eagle’s wings had delicately wrapped itself onto Jongseong’s arm, forming gauntlets that he used to boost himself up in the air.

“Quick, transform!” Sunghoon commanded, remembering the first time he had urged Sunoo to do so. You watched with eager eyes as Sunoo closed his lids shut, placing both his thumbs on the bright, ruby heart in the middle of his pearlescent wand.

“Aurora wave!” Sunoo exclaimed, raising the wand in the sky. The gust of wind that surrounded the group had cocooned Sunoo’s body, gracefully propelling him mid-air. Surrendering his body to the forces of nature and the heavens, he felt the supernatural waves of glitter and pink, neon lights surround him in a familiar warmth that made him feel protected. In a bright, radiant flash, his sweatpants evaporated into a sparkling amalgamation of glitter, replacing the dark fabrics with the silk, velvet textures of black shorts that went down towards his knees. His sweater swirled into a frilly, collared shirt with a glowing, pink ribbon in the middle of his chest. The same, shimmering ruby heart acted as the centerpiece to his uniform, activating with an enchanting sparkle as Sunoo continued on with his transformation. His scuffed sneakers were promptly replaced with his signature pink, knee-high leather boots, and his arms were delicately wrapped white, stain gloves that complemented his dainty wand. Lastly, the pastel pink beret had perched itself atop the crown of his head, dying his black hair into a shade of pure pink.

“Emissary of Ruby, Cure Pink Sunshine!”

The rest of the crowd watched in awe at the boy’s transformation. Jongseong, too, had stopped in his tracks to watch Sunoo become Cure Pink Sunshine. While he mostly wore the same uniform that the public had grown to love, Sunoo took his beret off and threw it on the floor, facing Dr. Jay Why-Pee with a brimming fury. Several bystanders were too enchanted to move from their positions, allowing themselves to submit to Sunni’s fox-like gaze. The usual amber hues that chromatically shone under the sun had miraculously transformed into a shade of ruby pink. A smoky, glittery glow lined his eyes as he swished his cape to fly even higher. In a mere millisecond, a neon, pink beam had shot out of his eyes, directly aiming at where Dr. Pee stood.

“Wow…” You whispered, burning the image of the entire transformation in your head. Even if you had already seen Cure Pink Sunshine fight monsters from a distance, there was a different feeling in knowing that the hero you’ve grown to deeply admire had been right beside you all along. The Cure Pink Sunshine was someone you went to school with, shared lunches with, and walked home with whenever the two of you had time—that realization alone gripped you with a surreal complexity that made it harder for you to discern reality from fiction.

“While Jongseong and Sunoo deal with Dr. Pee, we should also give our support,” Sunghoon suddenly interrupted, giving you a light pat on your spine and your scapula. Snapping your head in his direction, you gave him a curt nod, diving your full attention back onto Tinglers’ main page.

@admin_tinglers : Hello everyone! Admin here! If you can defeat the surrounding kaijus/robots/etc. and give your full assistance to Cure Pink Sunshine, your bounty will be doubled! Yes, doubled!

After a barrage of cellphone notifications had gone off at once, the crowd began to cooperate with the two heroes that started to fight Dr. Jay Why-Pee. Splitting themselves in half, the left side of the Highway had assisted in defeating the army of robots that arrived in droves. Some of the bystanders began to arm themselves with wayward weapons and whatever they could find, hurling them at the robots whenever Jongseong was at risk of being under attack. The same type of support was repeated in Sunoo’s area, where reptilian kaijus were shot with guns and arrows, bursting and oozing out a thick, gooey liquid whenever a vital nerve or region was successfully hit. Sunghoon also participated in the battle for the first time, strategically tearing portals in the sky that made it easier for Jongseong and Sunoo to bounce from whenever they needed to retreat from Dr. Pee’s death ray.

The two boys were now high up the stratosphere, taking turns as they each took a hit from Dr. Pee’s laser beams. Jongseong tried to launch himself higher, until he could see the balding crown of his father’s head. Sunoo had positioned himself on the other side, continuously shooting laser beams and fiery, pink arrows in Dr. Pee’s direction.

“Take this!”

A ball of artificial light had launched out of Jongseong’s gauntlet, piercing through the barricade of asteroids and thick fog that Dr. Pee had surrounded himself with. However, instead of causing any damage, Dr. Pee had deflected his son’s attack back in his direction. In one fell swoop, he sent his son flying back down on the ground, watching with a dangerous thrill as the friction from the air began to burn Jongseong’s skin. Before his body could crash down on the Highway, Sunghoon created a portal that safely landed him back to where the two of you were.

@admin_tinglers : Are there any doctors out here? Any doctors?

@admin_tinglers : If you’re a doctor, you get a 20% bonus for curing this man of his burn injuries!

Even if you didn’t have any magical powers or gifts like the rest of your group, the least you could do was use your expertise in technology to your benefit. After sending several coordinations and photos to the forum, three figures quickly emerged from the crowd.

“I’m a licensed pediatrician, now where’s the patient?” A woman asked. You quickly lent your hand to her and hoisted her up to the roof of a car that you and Sunghoon had barricaded. While you continued to examine the live feed on your phone, Sunghoon used his portals to continue assisting Sunoo in his decisive battle against his lifelong nemesis.

“Hoho! Didn’t you forget that your mechanical skills came from me?” Dr. Jay Why-Pee exclaimed, using one of his laser guns to slice through the barrier that Sunghoon had created. “We’re of the same blood, son! Your attacks are too predictable!”

“That’s not how you’re supposed to talk to your son!”

Through one of Sunghoon’s portal screens, you and Jongseong cheered on as Sunoo launched a lightning-laced kick on Dr. Pee’s cheek. He was sent flying out of the Highway and into the river. While the rest of the crowd had roared in victory at the supposed defeat, you and Jongseong dejectedly nodded at each other.

“It’s him we’re talking about,” Jongseong started amidst his treatment. “Even if I despise him, I can admit that he’s very resilient.”

As expected, Dr. Pee emerged out of the river with a few seaweeds sticking onto the crown of his head. In a burst of anger, he fished out the remote control to his death ray and aimed it at himself, turning the knob in the highest setting.

“You’ll regret this! Every single one of you!”

A bright flash engulfed the whole city instantly, turning everyone blind with the intensity of the white light. Then, a dark thicket of murky, violet fog had descended down onto the earth’s atmosphere—one that Sunoo knew too well.

So this is his final form, Sunoo thought, tracing the giant silhouette of a reptilian kaiju that slowly started to emerge from the deep, violet fog. Letting out a cacophony of cries and roars, the massive creature tore a portion of the Highway apart, hurling it in Sunoo’s direction.

“Sunoo!” You exclaimed. “We have to do something—anything! I don’t think he can defeat that creature alone!”

“It’s hopeless….” Jongseong lamented, knowing how much time and effort it took for his father to perfect the death ray. Dr. Pee had spent two generations fighting different Cure Pink Sunshines—with Sunoo being the third and most recent Emissary of Ruby. Between those decades of on-and-off fighting, Dr. Pee had curated the perfect weapon of mass destruction that could finally allow him to bring unbridled chaos in this universe. While his master plan had failed, resulting in the bounty being flipped to him instead, he had one, final measure—the last resort.

If Dr. Pee were to turn himself into a massive kaiju capable of all the dark magic that the universe had to offer, then he was unstoppable. With this in mind, he had crafted the perfect death ray, using citizens with a stronger evil meter as his test subjects until he was confident enough to use it on himself. In this form, the crown of his scaly, slimy head had peaked right at the stratopause, towering over the entire city of Seoul and beyond. When compared to the usual kaijus that Sunoo had battled so far, he was a mere, microscopic ant in the presence of the kaiju-fied version of Dr. Pee.

As Jongseong, you, and Sunghoon had expected, the odds were highly stacked against Sunoo’s favor. Dr. Pee was able to dispel each laser beam and arrow that Sunoo shot, while a simple roar was loud and strong enough to send Sunoo flying towards the Highway’s borders, severely hitting his back with a thud that echoed across the entire premise. All you could do was watch as Sunoo pathetically used the exact same string of attacks that once earned him his victories in his battles. Even the infamous Pink Tornado was ineffective, barely scratching kaiju Dr. Pee’s surface.

“Penguin man, can’t we do something?!”

Sunghoon tried to open several portals in hypothetical positions that Sunoo would have fallen into, but each guess was almost as erratic as the last. Given kaiju Dr. Pee’s size and strength, there was no telling if his portals even worked anymore. After Jongseong was patched up by the pediatrician, he limped towards the two of you, monitoring Sunoo’s every move through Sunghoon’s main portal. In the end, he averted his eyes from the portal, deeming it too painful to watch.

A hero’s a hero, and so long as they continue to save and love this city, I will be able to love them back tenfold.

Recalling one of your first lunch time talks with Jongseong and Sunoo, you immediately stood up from your position, tearing through the barrier of Sunghoon’s magic. Jongseong joined along, tuning out Sunghoon’s’ angry protests with the mechanical sound of his gauntlets.

“Jay, you can launch both of us to where Sunoo is right now, right?” You asked, propping yourself on Jongseong’s arm. He gave you a curt nod in response, holding your waist tight as he set his gauntlets into maximum overdrive.

“Fine, here you go, children,” Sunghoon interjected out of the blue, tearing a portal through his barrier. Hand in hand, the three of you had entered the portal and transported yourselves to Sunoo’s current position.

His body was filled with cuts, bruises, and scratches, tainting his once pale skin in shades of violet and red. Taking his arm on your shoulder, you hoisted him up. Jongseong took the other, giving the boy a warm smile. Sunghoon took the spot next to you, holding Sunoo’s hand to prop his body upright. Kicking his heel to the cracked roads, Sunghoon created another tear on the floor—this time, a portal that led them right in front of kaiju Dr. Pee.

“What was it again?” Jongseong asked, feeling a little bit of pity at his father’s current state. The man can no longer speak or feel like he used to—now, he was just like the kaijus and monsters he had created. Sure, he was technically alive, but everything that made him human had evaporated into thin air.

“Pink tornado,” You replied, recalling the countless footage you’ve rewatched of Cure Pink Sunshine. You still didn’t feel worthy of saying his special attack, but with Sunoo by your side, you knew that it would all be okay in the end.

Holding each other’s hands tight, the four of you levitated towards kaiju Dr. Pee’s reptilian face. Raising your free hands one by one, all four of you aimed your palms at the beast in front of you. A flurry of aurora lights began to embrace your bodies with the holy protection of the Galactic Cures above. A bright, radiant swirl of glittery pinks and gold had emerged from each of your palms, pushing kaiju Dr. Pee higher and higher into the air. Although the creature did its best to retaliate, it had eventually surrendered to the strength of your combined attack. With one last push, the four of you used all the energy within yourselves in a combined, laser beam that pierced through kaiju Dr. Pee’s heart. The murky, violet fog in the atmosphere of Seoul had quickly cleared up into a clear, blue spring sky. Sunghoon used the little energy he had left in him to create a portal that gently sent the four of you back on top of the roof of a car. There, the four of you lay in a deep, long, and peaceful slumber.

Whether it was really over or if things had just begun remained a mystery. Amidst the destruction and rubble that plagued Seoul after perhaps the biggest battle the world has ever seen, the crowd of people that remained on the Olympic Highway had a newfound, warm, and fuzzy feeling that expanded in their chest. The bounty for Dr. Jay Why-Pee had been set to zero, but the crowd didn’t mind anymore. Instead of letting earthly desires such as greed and pride take over, the people of Seoul had begun to hold each other’s hands to form a giant circle around their sleeping figures.

Destruction and chaos are both an inevitable part of life. Just because Dr. Jay Why-Pee had been defeated, nobody truly knew what tomorrow could bring. Who knows? A new villain might emerge from the depths of the universe, targetting the earth as their next destination. There could also be another villain that lived next door, plotting another scheme wrought with the ruination of civilization as we know it. There was really no telling what tomorrow could bring, and in retrospect, humans only lived to see today.

In the same way that destruction was necessary, it is important to note that love is all we need. So long as one continues to give love, those who receive it would love them back tenfold. No matter what enemy or threat humanity may face, there was truly, nothing more powerful than the power of love.