yay 20k readers ~

i'm going to be entirely honest with you: the last 21 chapters have been done out of spontaneity, none of the scenes are plotted out in detail so yeah, i'm quite proud of myself to be able to sort everything out now bc i've finally found a fixed plot. i hope it's interesting enough to keep you all reading :)

expect more suspense in the later chapters~

21 – AGAINST THE STRONG TIDES

the kid has the guts,
the personality,
and definitely the power to defeat all three.

however, why isn't he doing anything?

—

"an x1 since birth?"

seungyoun looks as afflicted as ever, but he knows his guesses aren't wrong. the only person he ever encounters that knows of his powers since birth instead of himself is seungwoo. even wooseok had his powers activated around middle school, so seeing another figure with the same circumstances as he did really had him checking twice.

"are you sure?" wooseok reprimands.

"positive."

"if he's aware of his powers, why isn't he doing anything?" minhee asks.

"probably he has his own reasons, maybe he's showing off vulnerability just for his own sake." hyeongjun utters.

"you're actually sounding like you're making much more sense, kid." wooseok pats hyeongjun in the back.

"uh.. thanks?"

"he's definitely hiding it with a purpose. he's trying so hard to keep control of himself, i wouldn't be surprised if he suddenly pops off in a second." seungyoun mumbles.

"this is infuriating to see. i get that he has his own reasons, but seeing an x1 getting belittled like that— ugh." wooseok turns around, catching a breath. "can't we just shove those kids away and take the tall annoying kid with us?"

before seungyoun gets to answer, he notices that the kid's eyes suddenly shift to his direction, gazing at him intentionally. seungyoun was more surprised when he took a peek of what the kid was thinking.

why are you talking about me? his thoughts were of strong motive, his message clearly was meant for seungyoun who still has his eyes locked unto his.

seungyoun stumbles backward, almost losing his balance because of the kid's sudden guest appearance, entering his thoughts without even trying. "wow, that was unexpected."

"what happened?"

"the kid knows that we're talking about him." seungyoun says in a whisper, testing the latter if he could somehow find his way of eavesdropping them again.

how did you know that i was thinking of you? i didn't even say anything! the kid explodes in confusion, the movement of his eyes grew rapid.

"he's now questioning how we know what he's thinking." seungyoun updates them again.

hyeongjun's head tilts. "how does he know that we know that he knows that we were just talking about him??"

"please stop with the mind games, this is not good for me and my last three brain cells." minhee begs as he caresses his own head slowly.

"he has magnified senses," seungyoun summarizes the situation real quick. "he can see, hear, and smell things of further distance than how we usually do. whilst i'm reading his mind, he's listening to our whole conversation right now."

how are you able to do this? the kid asks again, now in a more curious tone than frightened.

"yah kid, if you can hear me right now then you better make use of my advice!" wooseok says quite loudly, receiving a glance from the kid not long after so. "why are you holding back? kick those annoying kids asses if you have to, you don't have to suffer like this!"

"yeah, just throw a rock at them or something with your powers! it's a better method rather than just waiting there without a purpose," minhee fires back.

"prove yourself that you're stronger! what are you so scared about?" hyeongjun adds with a pinch of excitement in his face.

why are they targeting at me like that? the kid thinks to himself uneasily.

"okay, that's enough." seungyoun says to the boys.

"THROW A ROCK!" wooseok chimes.

"you're way stronger than you think you are!"

"don't try to chicken out!"

the three boys didn't seem to listen to what seungyoun had to say. it was to the point where the kid started getting frustrated by all of the screaming that he had no correlation with. the kid shakes his head vigorously. "shut up!"

as if they heard their moms getting insulted, the three boys who were circling the latter immediately lifted up their heads, intrigued by the sudden voice raise. "you want us to shut up, nam dohyon? we didn't even say anything!"

seungyoun groans. "great, now you just made the situation worse." he holds into hyeongjun and wooseok before they could end up doing anything unreasonable. "please let them solve this on their own while they still can."

the three kids got closer to the latter, glaring at him furiously. the one in the middle sneers. he raises his ankle, ready to kick him off. "nam dohyon, you really are that unbelievable—"

a strong gust of wind enthralls, sweeping the three boys off their feet away from the taller kid. with the clearly obvious use of element, seungyoun immediately turns to minhee. "yah, kang minhee!"

"i planned on creating wind for dramatic effects, but turns out it failed.. unfortunately," minhee reasons as he raises both of his hands as a sign of surrender.

wooseok laughs. "i think he's turning to more of a me than more of a you, seungyoun-ah— at least that's something to be grateful about."

ignoring wooseok's snarky remark, seungyoun immediately sprints his way towards the tall kid, checking if he's alright. the three boys who were encircling him earlier had now left the area, leaving as soon as they can after they encounter one 'supernatural' occurrence.

"you alright?" seungyoun asks as he lends him a hand.

the kid did not look amused. he ignores his hand and gets up himself, ignited by outrage. "are you out of your mind?! why did you do that?" rocks among his feet starts levitating up in the air, surrounding seungyoun in purpose.

"and you end up using your powers now.." wooseok sighs as he steps closer without a single thread of fear embellishing his face. "what a waste of talent you got there."

"for the record, i did it." minhee raises his hand. "so if you're planning on giving a rock massage, please do give it to me."

the kid's eyes light up furiously. "i'll do it to ALL of you!"

"okay, okay, calm down." seungyoun holds him by the shoulder, stopping him. "nam dohyon, right? we have no means to harm you. i'm sorry if those three rascals there bother you with their demanding remarks."

"they didn't bother me the most," dohyon mutters, facing straight at seungyoun. "you did."

"me?"

"you repeated every questions i had in my head."

"well, you did technically asked those questions to me," seungyoun points out. "i simply just voiced out the thoughts you had in your head, and i simply answered them for you. well, those weren't really clear answers so please do forgive me—"

"you can read minds?" dohyon asks, his eyes flutters out of curiosity.

seungyoun nods. "no, i'm not going to read your crush's mind and see whether she likes you or not."

"no, no, that's not it." he looks down. "i've just never encountered anyone with strange powers like me other than my brother.."

"your brother?" wooseok's eyes widen.

"a brother?" minhee chimes.

"you got an x1 brother too??" hyeongjun hops towards him, holding dohyun with his hands. "that's so cool, a whole family of x1!"

dohyon stares down his feet, now regretting the fact he had just said that out loud. seungyoun notices his sudden discomfort. he heads towards him. "you're very much hiding your identity."

"of course i am," he spits out.

"why?"

before he could answer, someone calls him from behind, distracting him completely. "dohyon-ah!"

they all turn to the owner of the voice. a brown haired male looking the same age as they are heads towards them, his eyes filled with concern. the boy immediately wraps his arms around dohyon. "yah, nam dohyon! aren't you supposed to be at school?"

seungyoun couldn't believe his eyes. the kid they've been trying to find, the one who walked with yohan that day when he got captured, it was him?

lee hangyul?

"aren't you supposed to be at school?" wooseok shoots back at hangyul, clearly recognizing him. "lee hangyul. you don't seem to be the type to bail out of school."

"seungyoun-ssi, wooseok-ssi, it's great seeing you again, but i kindly ask you to stay out of this for a while. this ought to be a conversation between me and dohyun only." hangyul turns to the younger boy, holding him back to avoid him from getting away. "what were you doing?"

"he was getting crushed by a bunch of his classmates," wooseok answers coolly. seungyoun hits him in the waist, threatening him to shut up.

"they threatened you again, did they?" hangyul asks him provocatively. "mom and i were so worried, please please tell me you interfered. you didn't do anything to them, right? you didn't threw him off the ground and break their bones or anything?"

"why are you concerned of that instead?" hyeongjun asks, raising his voice.

seungyoun glances at him. "hyeongjun-ah—"

"he got bullied by his friends and the first thing you ask about is the condition of the bullies? do you even care for him instead?"

"hyeongjun!"

"i told you to stay out of this!" hangyul snaps. "i'm doing this because i do care for him. his well-being! he'd be in big trouble if he were to expose himself, we would be in big trouble—"

"and that's why you forced him to keep his mouth shut?" seungyoun cuts off his sentence. "he did not do anything to defend himself because of you."

"he's not doing anything to defend himself because if he does, the other kids would put it against him." hangyul explains himself. "they are gonna blackmail his abilities, they threaten to expose it to public if he doesn't do what they command him to do. i know it's harsh.. but we can't risk our lives from getting exposed like that. he needs to stay put if he wants to survive the next three years."

"so you're saying he needs to live his life out of misery even until he grows older?" minhee spits out. "you're saying he needs to live out of fear of people exposing who he really is?"

"it's called playing it safe." hangyul reasons.

"no, it's called being a coward." wooseok says bitterly. "don't you dare control his life and who he's supposed to be when the boy clearly knows how to protect himself. if he fears the possibility of his bullies exposing the truth, then he needs to learn to make his bullies fear of exposing the truth."

hangyul sneers. "wooseok-ssi, you really do not know anything. there are bad, bad guys living among us. we cannot risk anything for our own sake of ego. not again." hangyul pushes dohyun away from them, preventing him from going anywhere. "so now if you could excuse me, i have an important issue to discuss with this little rascal here. we need to sort out ourselves before we could prepare for the next upcoming threats—"

seungyoun cuts him off. "yohan's alive."

hangyul stops walking. "what?"

"that's what holds you in concern, right? the fear of ending up like yohan, your friend— best friend who got captured because of what may have been your doing. your fault. you haven't gone to school nor meet your friends because you are so in guilt to the point you just wish that you were the one who gets captured, not him. not innocent yohan." seungyoun speaks out. "but you didn't kill him, hangyul."

tears stream down the latter's face. hangyul's voice breaks. "yohan's.. alive?"

—

HANGYUL HANGYUL HANGYUL
MY ULT BAE, MY SOURCE OF HAPPINESS, MY EVERYTHING

ok i'll go now

120 votes for next chap~