yay update at 0.00 am kst hehe ~

22 — MAN OF TRUST
hangyul, dohyun, and the rest of the shenanigans.

—

"yohan's.. alive?"

hyeongjun leans on minhee. "can you please explain to me this whole thing so that i know who to yell at next?"

dohyon, who is clearly able to hear their conversation, scowls in disbelief. "seriously?"

hyeongjun turns to him. "shut up, the adults are talking."

"you're barely one year older than me!"

"whatever your reason is, i'm still older than you. that means i won't feel guilty if i had to hit your head when you're being too much of a brat. because i, song hyeongjun, am older than you!" he stomps his way towards dohyon. "take that!"

dohyon sneers. "you can't hit me, i'm way taller than you."

"you've sunken low enough for me to reach!"

"alright, that's enough." minhee pulls hyeongjun away from him, not wanting to cause another tantrum when they are still in line with the one with hangyul. he whispers to hyeongjun. "ignore him. taunting him will never be worth it. the kid can levitate things, and he's technically a lot more of a senior than the both of us considering that he knows of his powers way before we do—"

"i can hear you, you know." dohyon says with a satisfied tone. "i know you're scared of me."

minhee turns around to him. "yah nam dohyon, i just saved your ass back there. you should be grateful. you want me to throw you off like the rest of your friends?"

hyeongjun grins. "what did you say about ignoring him?"

"yeah, that was a tough one." minhee sighs. "anyway, you said wanted a recap?"

hyeongjun nods. "please."

"hangyul and the ice cream stealer are brothers—"

"not by blood," dohyon adds.

"hangyul's the dude who was with yohan-hyung that day when he got captured, he's the earth guy—"

hyeongjun gasps. "the earth guy?!"

"yeah, the one who created that big hole in the vid," minhee replies, "and he thought yohan-hyung didn't survive after the capture that's why he feels guilty for technically being the one who's responsible for his death—"

"yohan hyung is dead?!"

"no— god, were you even listening earlier?!" minhee mutters in annoyance.

meanwhile, the actual argument was between the older boys, with hangyul being absolutely dumbfounded by everything seungyoun and wooseok had to say. "no, that's impossible. he was held captive by them, those monsters— now you're telling me he escaped without a single strand of hair damaged?"

"well, we didn't say that he did come undamaged.." wooseok mumbles. "he kind of lost his mind a bit when he returned back—"

"but isn't losing his mind something that kim yohan does regularly?" hangyul says with a completely serious face.

"well.. you're not wrong," wooseok huffs a sigh. "but as far as i'm concerned, he's coping well. too well to the point i wished something actually happened to him so that i wouldn't have to see him so frequently."

"that's why you should've gone to school, gyul-ah." seungyoun chimes. "i think yohan's officially back to school again, at least starting from today. if you came at least to prove your absence, you could've had passed by him."

"what? no.. no." hangyul still looks quite distrustful. he shakes his head vigorously, he wasn't going to let this slide off so easily. "you guys might be my seniors, but.. but i'm sorry. i'm not supposed to trust anyone."

"i'm sorry?" seungyoun utters, feeling slightly offended.

"after that incident with yohan, i promised myself not to trust everyone so quickly, even to the ones i've known for a quite while," seungyoun explains. "and you.. as much as i want to trust you.. a voice in my head forbids me from doing so."

wooseok definitely looks more in betrayal than seungyoun. he shoots a dissatisfied look. "seriously, i'm getting tired of this. first eunsang, then yohan, and now you? do people really need proof when i tell them i'm able to manipulate water? do I really have to dress up like aquaman or elsa all the time just so you people could believe me and my powers at first sight?"

"it's not your powers i do not believe of," hangyul corrects. "in fact, i believed that you were of empowered individuals the moment i saw you talking with dohyun. it just, felt like it. obviously based on the visual evidence truly you're able to manipulate water," he gestures at  wooseok's icy hands. "and you, you're a mind reader, right? you brought up yohan without me asking, when clearly he was the first thing that popped into my head."

seungyoun nods. wooseok doesn't bother to reply to the latter anymore.

"my point is, i know we are in the same page, but i don't know whether you're in the same side as me or not." hangyul sighs. "we never know. maybe you're a local spy hired to capture me because you're done milking up yohan."

wooseok already looks so disinterested. "can we just pepper spray him then drag him all the way to school? or should i just tell yohan to teleport his way here?"

seungyoun waves his hand. "no need. i think I know the way to solve this." he turns to hangyul, his taller figure looking down at the younger one in concern. "i know you don't trust me, but just for this bit, please do." he holds on both of the boy's hands. "i really don't know if this works because i've never tried it before. you were right about me being a mind reader, but that's not it. i have a flawless immune system, and i could take away other people's pain if i want to. after yohan's imprisonment, i took away some of his pain, even when he remembers none of it."

hangyul raises his eyebrow. "he doesn't remember? not even—"

"not even the moment you created that big hole in the ground, no he didn't." seungyoun points out. "we found out what really happened from a couple of footages found in the usb that he brought for evidence. and by those evidence i may have been able to correlate those memories he had with the pain i took away from him." he grips unto hangyul's hands tightly. "i may be able to show those memories to you, but please do not let go of your hands during the process, i do not want you to lose yourself."

hangyul looks doubtful, but he nods. wooseok leans closer to seungyoun. "are you sure about this?"

seungyoun sighs. "i'm not sure of anything."

and so he transfers the memories to hangyul, starting from the moment they discovered yohan in the ice, until to the point yohan disappears from the radar without a warning. the memories are bundled up neatly, and hangyul was able to get the whole of them just in a matter of seconds. they quickly disconnected, with a very shocked hangyul shaking in disbelief.

"now you know," seungyoun mutters quietly.

"yohan.. y-yohan.." hangyul stutters beneath his shaky breath. "that dumb shit, yohan!"

"are you sure you gave him the right memory?" wooseok whispers to seungyoun. "you didn't give him the one when he asks me to force water out of his mouth, right?"

"risking his life like that.. for me," hangyul's voice tightens. "when he could've just said my name and that could've end his misery all the way.. instead he gone through all of that.."

"sorry but if you don't mind me asking, what really happened that day? when yohan was made culprit instead of you, what made you done such huge act of defense?"

"my brother," hangyul answers shortly. "he got problems after a few neighbors witness him levitating a couple of his 'friends', but he originally did that because they were making fun of him. people ignored the real story, obviously, and focused on his levitation skills instead," he sighs. "because words spread fast, i feel like they were targeting dohyon instead. so in order to save him, i created that big hole as a distraction, i also quickly brought dohyon to a safer place where they won't search for him. unluckily yohan was with me when all of that happened, because it all happened so sudden. i had no time to prepare a proper plan." he looks down. "when i went to evacuate dohyon, yohan was the one who stayed behind. the people suspected him as the culprit because he was the last person to be seen with the hole."

"he protected you for a reason, then." seungyoun says.

"what do you mean?"

"he knows if you were the one who got captured, dohyon would indefinitely be in trouble. he'd be the next in line to be captured." he explains. "yohan knew nothing of his powers back then, so he must've thought if he gets captured, they would return him back as quickly as possible when they find out he's just as normal as everyone else. but faith works against him, and he discovers that he himself is an x1."

"he did that not to only save you, but to save dohyon." wooseok repudiates. "such act of heroism is definitely not in my dictionary, but.. it was nice for him to do that."

"nice? hell, he saved my whole family." hangyul says with a small smile creeping on his face. "that idiot.. should've ran away when he could."

"that idiot doesn't remember what he did for you, so you should come with us and tell him yourself," seungyoun chirps. "that kid too, that dream crusher?"

"are you referring to me, old man?" dohyon points at himself as he comes closer.

"dohyon," hangyul calls him intentionally. "at least try to be polite."

"before we go!" hyeongjun raises his hand to speak. "before we go, can we at least grab some ice cream? that's the reason why we were here at the first place, right?"

with the rest of the group agreeing, the six boys went back to the ice cream parlor before they continue on their way to school.

—

so everyone has been revealed! only one boy left to reveal his powers😊 are you excited to see the whole team interacting?

150 votes for next chap~