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The cherry blossoms fluttered in the distance, creating a whirlwind of pink petals that danced its beautiful waltz with the spring breeze. The city horizon that overlooked all of Seoul was bathed in bright, clear skies that were bluer than blue can be. While the defeat of Dr. Jay Why-Pee had brought a few months of momentary peace in the city, the world of darkness seemed to never run out of villains to dispatch on the earth and the solar system. Every week, another weaker entity would crash down to the earth like a meteor, either looking to fight the powerfully beautiful Emissary of Ruby or to start small by colonizing the most hated planet in the entire Galactic Alliance.
Now that the entire world was aware of Cure Pink Sunshine’s real identity, things had to change for Sunoo. First off, he had to deal with an onslaught of news reporters and cameras outside of his house every day, eager to interview him or catch a photo or two of him in his school uniform. They followed him everywhere in bright, blinding flashes of white, and they stopped at nothing to make his daily life a nuisance. You had stopped going to school with him for this reason—even if the two of you used to enjoy the comforts of catching up on conversations you’ve left off on the way to school or during lunch breaks with Jongseong.
“I can get you guys a helicopter to school if you two want to stick together that much,” Jongseong once suggested, causing you and Sunoo to remember the financial gap between your families and his. Flashy cars by the school gates and shimmering watches on his wrist aside, Jongseong’s wealth often flew past you and Sunoo’s heads whenever the three of you would spend time together. Sure, on his first few days of school, he did exude an air of rigidity and aloofness—but now, he’s learned to smile more, which definitely diminished any pre-existing boundaries that once existed between the trio.
Fame and infamy went hand in hand, and attaching a real-life identity to a somewhat fictitious, almost mythological alter ego meant unnecessary threats of violence that often came his way. While Sunoo did get a lot of love from the masses, there was a small minority of people who boycotted his actions as the so-called “Hero of Seoul.” Several petitions online had gained traction, all of which detailed the removal of Cure Pink Sunshine from South Korea.
“If Cure Pink Sunshine being based in Seoul is the reason for all the damage our city gets, then he should be the bigger man and move to another country. Maybe if he loved the earth so much, then he should just go back to space or something so we would stop getting all these villains and monsters destroying our infrastructure.” One of the leaders of the anti-Cure Pink Sunshine movement had said on live television.
“How can we trust the fate of the entire planet onto a single teenager? This is a shame to the South Korean government and the international political system as a whole!” Another angry commentator had lamented during a late-night debate show regarding the recent events at the Olympic Highway.
“Sure, Cure Pink Sunshine did defeat Dr. Jay Why-Pee and his organization, but why do we still have civil wars and conflict around the world? Where are his priorities as a so-called hero?” A separate voice from the same show had added, angrily advocating for Cure Pink Sunshine’s involvement in the United Nations. “Surely, if this child had all these powers to stop all evil, then he should have ended, say, the conflict in Syria by now! Hell, if he was truly someone who cared about our planet, then he should even use those powers of his to close up the ozone layer! Instead, he’s just wasting his time battling unnecessary monsters from outer space!”
Although you’ve successfully deleted Tinglers off the surface of the internet, there were new gossip forums that tried to mimic the total anonymity that your site had provided. Several private network circles had also begun to emerge in the aftermath of Dr. Jay Why-Pee’s defeat. From assassination plots to open threats of murder, these forum threads mainly existed to criticize and terrorize Sunoo on a daily. Of course, you did your part to help him by mass reporting all the malicious comments and discussion threads about him. Spending sleepless nights extracting site data and caches, you did all you could with your technical expertise to stop things from escalating further. Even then, the internet had branded itself as a diaspora of free speech; there was nothing you could do to stop the negative opinions from flourishing no matter how many comments you tried to delete in one go.
Jongseong also had to deal with the sudden publicity of his father’s alter ego as Dr . Jay Why-Pee. Many around him began scrutinizing his friendship with Sunoo, calling it mere damage control to recover from the financial damages that Park Industries had suffered. While the general public and the student body seemed to simmer down from their initial resentment and skepticism of him, the internet with its anonymity had begun to create a buzz around his connections to Cure Pink Sunshine. Some had even started spreading rumors of a giant conspiracy—that the disaster of the Olympic Highway was a massive publicity stunt planned between Park Industries and Cure Pink Sunshine.
“What kind of a father—a supposed evil mastermind at that—wouldn’t be aware of his own son being buddies with his nemesis? The entire thing had to be planned out!”
On top of all the polarizing opinions that the three of you had to deal with every day, there were also the typical moments of adolescence that began to take shape in your respective school lives. The emotional mood swings that often came to play, the fatigue that came with a rigorous academic schedule and an abundance of extracurriculars, and lastly, the emotional rollercoaster of sudden confessions, mysterious love letters, and peer pressure took a more significant toll on the three of you than it did on a regular teenager. While Sunoo was somewhat accustomed to the barrage of heart-shaped envelopes and perfume-laced sticky notes that he’d often find in his locker, you had begun to confide in him about your seniors at the newspaper club.
“Kang sunbae-nim keeps trying to get close to me—like, he always tries to touch my hands whenever he gives me articles to edit and proofread.” You groaned once during the trio’s typical lunchtime talks. “I don’t even know how to reject him or tell him to back off because I don’t wanna make things awkward or something, you know?”
Surprisingly, Sunoo kept his lips pressed in a firm, thin line, slowly chewing on the piece of milk candy you had given him on your way to school. Whenever you tried to ask him for his input on the matter, he would simply shrug his shoulders and turn his head away, aimlessly staring at the clear, blue skies, or the textured, dusty tiles of the staircase’s floor. He would then start to tap his sneakered soles on the staircase in erratic rhythms, just loud enough for you to stop talking. You didn’t know if it was a silent cue or Sunoo being rarely annoyed over something—but still, in these moments, Sunghoon would crawl out of Sunoo’s breast pocket and perch himself on top of his shoulder, stifling a burst of laughter while quickly glancing back and forth between you and the sulking boy.
“I can ask Heeseung hyung to do something about it,” Jongseong suggested, causing you to roll your eyes while popping a piece of milk candy in your mouth.
“I’m already getting enough rumors with you and Sunoo! If Heeseung sunbae gets wrapped up in this entire thing, then I’m just gonna suffer even more!” You retorted, continuing to wail at your woes of being a typical high school girl. Ironically, your endless bouts with dating rumors had managed to do more damage to your sanity than all the internet policing you had to do regarding Cure Pink Sunshine’s reputation.
“God, why is it so hard for people to understand that girls and boys can be friends too!”
“Hard.” Sunghoon said out of the blue. Then, just like that, the three of you continued to spend your lunch breaks without a single care in the world. Within the vicinities of the off-white ceiling and the rustic paint job surrounding the rooftop door, all three of you can let go of everything that was wearing your tiny, fragile bodies down. Here, you were just an ordinary girl with a fascination for journalism and sweet milk candies. Jongseong was free from his status and obligations as both an heir and a son to a notorious villain, proudly feeding his two best friends with his exquisite cooking. Sunoo, too, let himself forget about Cure Pink Sunshine and saving the world, focusing all his positive energy on getting the most out of being the best class representative that 1-C could offer.
Speaking of Sunghoon, he had decided to join in on the fun and finally started living life as a human being instead of a penguin. Under the guise of being Sunoo’s distant cousin, he transferred to the trio’s school as their senior. As he had expected, his looks became the talk of the entire school, prompting him to gain his own massive fan club. Everywhere he went, students would trail along at a certain distance—either hiding behind lockers or waiting by the staircase until he passed by. Unlike Sunoo’s innate charm and approachability, Sunghoon’s beauty was the type to be admired from afar. Those who tried to get too close only ended up risking themselves with an otherworldly enchantment that instantly petrified them on a cellular level.
“See, I told you I was too handsome?” Sunghoon retorted in his first day as a regular to the trio’s lunchtime talks.
Eventually, Sunoo used Sunghoon’s skyrocketing popularity as an excuse to finally start spending time on the school rooftop. Ever since Sunghoon had started joining the three of you at the staircase, there would always be a flock of students that blocked the way, making it difficult for bystanders to go along with their day. Although Sunoo did have his own burdens as someone with a large fan club, he managed to tame them by kindly telling them to stop following him. To his surprise, the fan club leader went along with his wishes, creating an official mandate for all members to respect Sunoo’s wishes. Since then, and especially after the revelation of his alter ego as Cure Pink Sunshine, the fan club was mostly an extracurricular activity for members to gather and talk about Sunoo. None of them had luckily stalked him on his way home, and they even barricaded the school gates to prevent news reporters from soliciting the entire student body.
The seniors who used to occupy their specific spaces and the couples who snuck kisses behind the rooftop garden had also finally graduated, giving the four of you the perfect opportunity to finally ascend the stairs and start eating lunches in the sun. There were still a few strangers here and there, but there was enough space and privacy in the benches of the rooftop garden for the four of you to unwind and sunbathe in the spring sun. Sunghoon also made use of his magic, creating magical barriers to guarantee quality time and privacy that the four of you could enjoy. The only caveat to his barriers is the lack of sunlight and scenery; while Sunghoon did try to make the relatively short lunch breaks feel timeless, but the white noise and ambiance of the soft breeze and the distant, vibrant voices of students playing soccer in the fields were a necessary element to cement a picturesque image of a flowery youth.
Jongseong still made an effort to make lunch and pastries via his home economics club activities, and you would always sneak in a pack of milk candies that you’d share with Sunoo.
“Hey! I told you not to eat those before we have lunch!” Jongseong often scolded. Despite this, he knew that there was nothing that could stop you and Sunoo the moment you laid your hands on the thin paper wrappers of hardened, condensed milk.
Sunghoon wasn’t much of a sweet tooth, but he would religiously stock up on cartons of coffee milk that he would gingerly sip throughout the entire day, making sure to stop by the convenience store on the way home for more. Whenever he felt like it, he would buy a one-liter, shareable pack and divide it up between the four of you. He would even begin using your milk candies as an impromptu creamer, tossing one piece in his mouth before gulping down a box of coffee milk for a gourmet experience in his tongue.
The more, the merrier seemed to play a role in your lunch breaks. Sunghoon as an addition made the atmosphere more vibrant, while simultaneously retaining the same wholesome atmosphere that existed prior. Perhaps it was because Sunghoon was, in a sense, already an essential part of your friendship—despite mostly being in his penguin form.
Just like that, spring had ended in full swing, welcoming the warm embrace of the summer sun. As the new season had unfolded with the lush greeneries of the rooftop garden and the melodic cries of the cicadas at the back of the school, little did the four of you know that a new figure would emerge in your daily lunch breaks.
In the corner of the plot of grass that the four of you often sat in, there was a boy who sat behind the abundance of neatly trimmed bushes and flower pots. He would always be sitting by the same spot alone, carrying a plushie of a miniature golden retriever wherever he went. While most onlookers seemed to view him as a lonely boy with no friends to share his lunch with, his decision to come to the rooftop was a strategic one. From the angle he was situated in, he had a clear view of the four of you, allowing him to keenly observe a particular, black-haired boy’s every movement. He took note of every laugh, sigh, and smile that could be captured within a certain distance, never forgetting to take a bite out of his store-bought kimbap in the process. A deep dimple would always manage to cut his cheek whenever he saw the beautiful camaraderie the four of you shared, but he preferred to keep his distance.
Why don’t you just go to them? There’s no harm in butting in, you know? The golden retriever would often ask after entering his headspace. To this, he replied with utter silence, shaking his head while taking another bite of his lunch.
“Can’t you see, Jake-hyung? Cure Pink Sunshine just wants to live out his life as a normal boy. If he got to know about me, then his school life would stop being somewhat normal for him again.”
Just like Sunoo, there was another Galactic Cure nearby that had just begun his journey into becoming a hero.
It was perhaps during Cure Pink Sunshine’s decisive battle against Dr. Jay Why-Pee, when a meteorite had struck down the Yang residence’s backyard. The impact was thought to have come from the commotion that took place nearby—after all, the Yang household had lived in a neighborhood that was right next to the entrance of the Olympic Highway. A young, first year high school student had just arrived home from taekwondo practice, only to be greeted by the destruction of his house’s foyer. Although he had expected some levels of damage considering the sudden evacuation protocols, what surprised him was the hypnotizing, neon blue glow that began to emerge from the back of his house.
Allowing his instincts to take over, he began surveying the house, sneakily slithering through every nook and cranny to make sure that everything was where it should be. So far, there were no suspicions of a robbery or a break-in. The rows of potted plants that adorned the linings of his house remained intact, the glass doors that led to his backyard were unbroken, and the only oddity within the premise was a harmless, supernatural blue glow that beamed with a blinding radiance. With each step he took towards his backyard, a white, misty fog began to seep into the atmosphere, surrounding him with a thicket of sheer, yet dense pale blue smoke that clogged his vision. He didn’t know what was at the end of the fog, but he continued to cut through the air with each, decisive step. Somehow, he couldn’t ignore the growing allure of the blue beam that rendered him in a trance-like state. Before he knew it, he was right in front of an iridescent, pearly white wand. Its centerpiece was a beautiful, sapphire gem cut in a shape of a perfect, crescent moon. Although he knew lavish jewelry and shiny trinkets never interested him, he found himself drawn towards the wand.
“Hey, you over there!” A panicked voice emerged in the fog. Underneath the blinding glow of the pale, blue light, he had slowly seen the emerging silhouette of a short, tiny golden retriever wag its tail in his direction.
Did this dog just talk?! He thought, shaking his head back and forth to see if he was dreaming or not.
“Do you know where I am?” The dog spoke again. Although its snout made it look like it was barking, he swore he heard a human voice enter his ear canals.
After a few minutes of silence, the dog whimpered and began to chase after its tail. As it continued to run in circles, the fog around his family’s backyard began to fade away in an instant. In a blink of an eye, the dog in front of him evolved into a regal-looking man that wore a neatly pressed, navy waistcoat that was opened to reveal a creme white top. A lacy ascot adorned his neck, with a crystalline, sapphire centerpiece stuck in the middle of the knot. His ochre, blonde hair swayed with the gust of wind that ensued from the decisive battle that took place in the background, and he carried a compact, circular mirror in his hand.
“So, do you know where I am?” The man asked. Even if he did carry an air of royalty around him, there was a lack of grace and poise in his every movement.
“I’m calling the police,” The boy quickly snapped after regaining his composure. He refused to believe that this man in front of him had the power to morph from a dog into a human being. Taking his smartphone out of his pocket, he quickly dialed 119 and held the device right next to his cheek. The cold, glass screen grazed the scar he sustained from practice, causing him to slightly flinch at the sudden contact.
“Wait wait wait!” The regal man pleaded, dirtying his creme dress pants as he knelt down on the grass bends of the Yang family’s garden. “I swear I didn’t break in! I mean, my ship just kinda crashed onto your house, see?”
“I don’t see any ships,” The boy retaliated, keeping the phone to his ears. In a bold move, he took his phone in front of him and put it on speaker mode, letting the monotonous dial tone slice through the chaos that ensued around them.
“What?! Oh no….” The regal man replied, snapping his head around him in a frenzy as he surveyed his surroundings. Sure, the large crater that demolished the Yang residence’s backyard can be used as surefire evidence of a comet or another type of massive, cosmic crash, but there was nothing among the debris that constituted for a futuristic or otherworldly explanation. “It was right there! I—“
“Wait a minute,”
The regal man in a navy waistcoat looked at the compact mirror in his hands, and then at the pearlescent, sapphire wand that shone with a neon blue glow amidst the rubble of the crash site. In an instant, his eyes lit up in fervor, lips curling into an ever-widening grin as he giddily tried to control his excitement.
“Alright, you’ve got a minute.” The boy said, impatiently tapping his foot. The dial tone ceased to a halt, playing an automated, female response that informed him of the telephone lines being down. He quickly tiptoed over the family garden’s fence, watching a gargantuan, reptilian monster tear through rows of telephone poles and chunks of the highway. Squinting his eyes even closer, he saw a hovering, pink figure in the sky with bright, glowing angel wings, using a radiant bow and arrow that matched his pastel pink hair to shoot continuous laser beams at the monster. Under this circumstance, it was to be expected that landline services and customer support would be temporarily down.
“You’re Yang Jungwon from planet earth, right?” The regal man asked, now pacing back and forth until he turned into a dog again. The compact mirror now hung loosely on the dog’s collar, gently swaying back and forth with his every move. His tail wagged back and forth as he used his snout to take in the boy’s aroma. Mustering a single bark, he then sat on the soft, grassy, yet destroyed garden beds of the Yang residence in satisfaction.
“Okay, that’s it. I’m—“
“Please hear me out!” The dog spoke again, standing up to pat his paw on the boy’s shoulder. “You’re Jungwon, correct?”
“What if I told you I’m not?” The boy scoffed, rolling his eyes at the dog. Despite all of the oddities he encountered in such a short span of time, all he could think of was to go back home to hopefully retrieve his gaming console and other precious items, then run back to the evacuation center to meet up with his family.
“Well… then, to be honest, I know you’re probably lying, because my spaceship had transformed into this wand and compact mirror.” The dog said, wagging his tail while shaking his head. The compact mirror glistened with an alluring, hypnotizing glow that tempted the boy to take it from the dog’s collar. The dog then jumped in excitement at the wand, impatiently waiting for the boy to follow while circling around its perimeters. Once the boy had stooped low enough to see the wand, he suddenly felt a looming urge to wrap his hands around its pearlescent, pristine handle.
“Very funny.” The boy replied, keeping his annoyance and nonchalance on the surface. There was simply no way a childish gadget such as the wand in front of him could entice him to such a degree.
“Head’s up!”
“What the hell—“
Without preamble, the dog dug his nose to the wand, tossing it up in the air. Jungwon used his quick reflexes to catch it before it crashed onto his feet, feeling a strong, magnetic pull that practically latched itself onto his palms. A blinding, neon blue glow had embraced his entire body, suddenly carrying him mid-air with swirls of silver glitter. His backyard and the dog were no longer in sight, and all he could see were gradients of blues, greens, and silvers that harmoniously blended into a beautiful display of an aurora borealis.
Feeling a strong gust of wind envelop him, he felt his body rise higher and higher until his feet dangled in the air. Although some parts of him started to fight back against the supernatural force that cocooned him, he knew that his kicks and screams were futile against such a bizarre wave of power. His rugged dobok suddenly evaporated into swirls of silver and blue glitter, replacing it with a frilly, collared shirt that had a bright, blue scarf tied around its laced, intricate collar. The scarf’s centerpiece had the same, glittering sapphire gem that was present in the wand he had just caught, emitting a hypnotic glow. His loose, messy trousers that were scuffed from practice transformed into the silky, velvet textures of black shoes with a blue satin sash tied around his waist, carrying with it a pastel blue purse holder the size of the compact mirror on the dog’s collar. A soft, blue baker boy hat was perched atop his head, and a long, silk scarf had adorned his neck—just long enough to reach his knees. His dirtied sneakers had been replaced with a pair of chunky, blue leather boots that rode up to his knees, matching the shade of pastel blue light that currently engulfed his entire body.
“Emissary of Sapphire, Cure Blue Cool!”
Once Jungwon landed back down to the ground, the dog immediately rushed towards him with the compact mirror in his mouth. Automatically taking it in his hands, Jungwon opened it and stared at his reflection, eyes widening in pure shock at the new color of his hair. Instead of the jet black hues that he was too familiar with, his hair strands were now a silky, deep blue, complementing the pastel blue baker boy hat that adorned his head.
“Wait… Cure Blue Cool?!”
It took all of the strength in Jungwon to prevent himself from dropping the compact mirror in his hands. By the time he had realized that his irises were a shade of sky blue, a piece of roadblock had been flung to the roof of his house.
“Now, do you want to hear me out?” The dog barked, circling around the new and fully transformed Cure Blue Cool.
“What did you do to me?!” Jungwon retorted with a mixture of bewilderment, anger, and pure intrigue. Facing the now shattered fragments of glass from the monster’s impact, he allowed his eyes to slowly take in his new form. He didn’t mind the frilly dress shirt of the intricate, silk scarf that complimented his face—instead, he refused to accept that he potentially had to assist Cure Pink Sunshine in defeating the enormous monster that wreaked havoc in the Olympic Highway. Up to now, he had lived an ordinary adolescence without all the hassle that a nationwide hero had to go through. To leave that mundanity and enter a life he wanted nothing to do was an utterly indigestible truth that he never wanted to face.
“I didn’t do anything! The wand did!” The dog replied in a panic. “Look, I was sent here by the Galactic Alliance to find a suitable candidate for the next Cure Blue Cool. My spaceship pointed, and… well… obviously crashed in this direction, so congratulations, I guess? You’re the next Cure Blue!”
“Oh great, I’m a knockoff Cure Pink Sunshine! Wow!” Jungwon retaliated, rolling his eyes at the ecstatic dog. To be fair, if he were to become Seoul’s hero, he would rather play a minimal role than deal with the weekly monsters that Cure Pink Sunshine had to go through.
“Well, you’re not a knockoff… you’re the real deal.” The dog replied, turning his snout into an upturned grin that displayed his white, pristine canines.
“So there’s what, twenty more or so of these frilly heroes around?”
“Well… actually… there are about three hundred Galactic Cures around the universe.” The dog explained. Before he could start to list all the existing cures off the top of his head, Jungwon interjected and raised his hand with a domineering command. Reverting into his animal instincts, the dog yelped in slight fear and sat himself back to the grassy beds of the Yang residence’s garden.
“So you’re probably a Cure or whatever too, right?” Jungwon asked, slipping the compact mirror on one of the pockets in his sash.
“Nope, I’m just an envoy tasked to find suitable candidates whenever a Cure either retires or dies in battle.” The dog explained. slightly whining in a high-pitched tone that most dogs let out when they were nervous or agitated. “The last Cure Blue unfortunately died in one of the planet-wide wars in the Triangulum galaxy, so we scattered to find someone fast.”
“So you’re saying I’m the chosen one?”
“Yep.” The dog barked with another lively yip.
Jungwon stared at the wand, feeling a sense of honor as his gloved hands wrapped their fingers on the handle. There was an excitement deep within him at the thought of his mundane, ordinary life suddenly turning into a typical hero’s journey, but as the commotion around his area heightened, his grip on the wand wavered. Truly, if he were to spend his weekends or free time fighting something as large as the kaiju that swatted Cure Pink Sunshine’s body back and forth, then he would instead revert into his daily routine of being an ordinary, teenage boy.
“Well, what if the wand chose me because I was the first one to touch it?” Jungwon asked. He didn’t know anything about Cure Pink Sunshine, and the recent forum ransom that revealed his identity was something the boy took with a reasonable skepticism. There was simply no way a high schooler just like him lived a double life as a part-time hero. Although the trope had been popularized by various cartoons and manhwas, he wanted to believe that it was all a childish myth—something that existed to entertain children, not a reality where uncompensated, voluntary child labor was regarded as a heroic act.
“I’d know if I got the wrong person when the wand shocks you to death.” The dog replied, turning his snout towards the wand.
“What?!” Jungwon exclaimed, immediately letting go of the wand. The dog quickly rushed and caught the handle with his mouth before it dropped to the ground.
“So you’re saying I could have died if I was the wrong person or whatever?!”
The thought of being electrocuted by something so beautiful didn’t occur to him. In fact, everything that went on in a flash only added more layers of surrealism to Jungwon’s perception of reality. Galactic Cures, battling giant extraterrestrial monsters, becoming a hero with magical powers, and the hypothetical scenario of dying had he been the wrong candidate for the role. To say that he was overwhelmed by it all was an understatement; it took several self-induced slaps on his face for him to wake up and accept his new reality.
“Thankfully, you’re not, I guess?”
“So what do I do now?!” Jungwon asked in a frantic panic. At this rate, the entire highway was on the verge of destruction. The giant kaiju that was perhaps taller than the earth itself continued to plunge through various cars, hurling it in a frenzy. The tiny speck of pink that floating in the sky now had three other companions next to him, causing Jungwon to believe that an entire team of Cures descended down the earth to aid the Pink hero in his task.
“Well… as you can clearly see, this city’s in total shambles. I don’t think Cure Pink Sunshine can handle this one on his own.” The dog replied, jumping up and down to create a bright, neon orange portal screen. Tearing through the grassy beds of the Yang residence’s gardens, the dog impatiently circled around until Jungwon kneeled in his level. The two of them actively monitored the chaos that unfolded, watching the four, tiny human-like figures raise their hands in front of the giant kaiju’s face.
“How do I even use this thing?” Jungwon asked, snapping his head back to the wayward wand that occupied the space between them.
“Just uh… touch the sapphire gem in the middle?”
Upon doing as he was told, Jungwon’s mouth had automatically uttered the phrase blue thunder beam. A bright, neon blue glow had suddenly descended from the skies in the form of a lightning bolt, tearing through the atmosphere in a whirlwind of a blue rain shower. The wand was now filled with the otherworldly powers that came from the heavens, and Jungwon picked it up to swish it in the direction of the kaiju, watching as a giant, blue tempest sucked in all the air around them. Taking the compact mirror that he had just placed in his pockets, he combined the gadget with the pearlescent wand to create a translucent, glowing outline of a futuristic shotgun that he’s only seen in video games.
“Blue tornado!”
In one, swift motion, alongside the four tiny figures that suddenly produced an ethereal, pink beam from their hands, Jungwon aimed the shotgun right at the kaiju’s head. A bust of glittering, neon blue light came out of the muzzle, weaving into an intricate braided pattern of a fiery, comet-like beam. While coordinating his second shot with the buildup of a blinding, giant, pink beam that shot out of the four figure’s hands, Jungwon watched his own attacks fuse right into theirs, turning the blue hues of his magical bullets into a purple rain of shooting stars. After a white flash of light had engulfed the entire city, the kaiju and the four figures were nowhere to be seen. In its place was the amalgamation of rubble that accumulated throughout the entirety of the highway.
Since then, Cure Blue Cool’s activities have been relatively dormant. Compared to the active role Cure Pink Sunshine had in saving Seoul from various monsters, aliens, and robots that descended from outer space, Cure Blue Cool often occupied himself with the aftermath of the defeat. Although he does assist Cure Pink Sunshine in defeating his weekly enemies, he does so in small, subtle ways that don’t reveal his full identity to the more experienced hero. Whenever there was a disaster, it was Cure Blue Cool who usually dealt with the protection of all citizens to minimize the damage that resulted in some of Cure Pink Sunshine’s battles. He would covertly wrap a specific fight scene in a sheer, blue bubble that contained damages within a particular parameter. Then, he would monitor the pattern of attacks that Cure Pink Sunshine’s villains would do, acting accordingly whenever a building or a street was on the verge of being crushed. Whenever he was feeling a little more confident in his skills, he would assist Cure Pink Sunshine and shoot covert, neon blue laser beams behind the kaijus and robots that the former would battle, letting his Pink contemporary reap all the prestige of saving Seoul again.
While Cure Pink Sunshine had decided to focus on earth, Cure Blue Cool mainly had been active in various intergalactic conflicts, staying as far away from his home planet as possible. He would find himself traveling with his canine companion—who usually transformed back into his human form to create intricate teleportation tunnels that led both of them into space. At first, Jungwon was anxious about the lack of an oxygen mask or a spacesuit, but upon arriving on the surface of Jupiter to assist a team of Cures that fought off an incredibly gigantic, snake-like monster that terrorized the Jupiterian citizenry, he realized that his magical powers also came with the ability to breathe without oxygen.
“Hey, that boy over there is always eating lunch alone,” Jongseong abruptly spoke one morning, subtly jerking his head towards a seated, cute boy that longingly gazed at the sky. There was a fluffy plushie of a dog on his lap, which the boy often pat or spoke to from time to time. One thing that Sunoo noticed was the sudden magnetism he felt when he stared at the boy—as if something was tugging him in their direction. You did the same and glanced at the boy in question, taking a sip of one of Sunghoon’s coffee milk as you noticed the eerie similarity the golden retriever plushie had with Sunghoon’s penguin form.
“Should we invite him?” Sunoo happily suggested, eyes eagerly awaiting the group’s approval. Before you could nod your head, the boy had suddenly disappeared. The four of you quickly got up from your seat and marched to the now barren, empty space of the school’s rooftop garden, staring in confusion and intrigue at what was in front of you all. Sunghoon was the only one who appeared calm, placing a hand on his hip as he rolled his eyes to the sky.
In the boy and the golden retriever plushie’s place was his school name tag, labeled Yang Jungwon. As all of you exchanged glances of bewilderment and shock, Sunoo picked up the name tag and gently shoved it in his pocket. The last school bell rang within your ears, indicating an abrupt end to your group’s routine rooftop breaks.