Taeyeon POV

I could tell the girl standing in front of me wasn’t the teacher because she looked too young… but I didn’t think she was the other level zero either. I mean this girl looked harmless… like I doubt she’d even hurt a fly.

“I didn’t think you were joining me until tomorrow, sorry,” the girl said softly. “I didn’t mean to look so shocked.”

Wh-what? Wait… it was the other level zero girl?!?  A-and she was apologizing? For that?!

Now I was beyond confused. The powerful level zero I’ve heard about would not apologize for something as lame as that… unless this was all a show.

Oh my god. I’ve definitely seen a movie like this.

What if she was putting on an act so she can get closer to me and-

“My name is Seo Joohyun, but the professors call me Seohyun. I don’t mind either so it’s up to you really.” I nodded and decided to play along… for now.

“Uhm, my name is Kim Taeyeon. I-“

“I know,” she smiled. My stomach flipped.

Oh god, I knew it.

She’s totally killing me later.

“You can sit there if you want.” I looked at the desk just a few feet away from hers and nodded.

Keeping me close, eh? I see how it i-

“Sorry, I know there aren’t many options but I’ve been the only Level Zero student for the past eleven years, I don’t think they expected you.”

I bet th- Wait… did she just say eleven years?! As in one more than ten?

It’s been that long? Heol… no wonder everyone was looking at me like I was in a zoo.

Was being level zero really that rare?!

“The professor should be in soon.” She flashed one more quick smile at me before turning back to the open book on her desk and- hold on was she… was she actually reading right now?

What the- Seriously? She didn’t have anything else to say? Even after dropping that eleven-year bomb on me?! She didn’t have questions or anything? Because I know I had at least seventy now.

Holy crap... I mean eleven years?! That had to make her what, five-ish when she found out she had abilities? I couldn’t even imagine…

I had to ask.

“You’ve been going here for eleven years?” She nodded.

“Well not here exactly, but I’ve always gone to these kind of schools and had my own classroom to study and practice in.”

That didn’t really answer my question, but it did make me think of a few more.

But wait… so she’s been here by herself for eleven years?!

Why? How?

I mean I didn’t really talk to a lot of people back in Korea, but I think I would’ve gone crazy if I had to be by myself for eleven years! Unless she wasn’t?

Crap.

“You still have classes up there though, right,” I asked curiously. She quickly shook her head.

What!? No? I-

“Oh no,” she replied in that same sweet yet calm tone. “It’s best for everyone if I stay down here.” I nodded again, but something about what she said made me feel really uneasy. I don’t think I’ve been actually scared of her until right now. Before I was nervous for sure, I mean most rumors have some truth to them… but this one seemed totally off the wall… until now.

It was all starting to piece together.

Wh-what if the reason she was kept away from everyone else is because she really did kill someone?

No that couldn’t be right either… Why would they keep her here though if she did that? Wouldn’t they have put her in some prison or something? Ugh, I started thinking about it and- Omo, I think my heart stopped.

If she was that dangerous did that mean I was that dangerous too? I couldn’t be… right? I mean I froze that teacher on accident but she- oh god. She was probably lucky to be alive, wasn’t she?

Oh my gosh. I could feel my breaths getting shorter and I started to panic.

What if they made me stay down here for years too? No, I didn’t even want to think about that. I-

“Hello girls,” a cheery voice from behind me said loudly, scaring the crap out of me.

Holy- he’s really lucky I didn’t know how to use my powers or he’d probably be an ice cube right now too. Mrs. Park was trying to help me and I almost killed her; I couldn’t even imagine what I’d do to someone jumping out at me like that… Oh my-

“I didn’t mean to scare you there Kim Taeyeon. I wasn’t expecting you until tomorrow, but I’m glad you came today. I was excited to meet you,” the man said as he walked in front of me. “My name is Ming Chaoxiang and I’m going to be one of your professors this year.”

“Oh um it’s okay… it’s nice to meet you,” I awkwardly greeted.

Talking was never my forte.

“Yes, it’s a pleasure to meet you too. We haven’t found another Level Zero superhuman since Seohyun here so everyone in our field is pretty eager to see what you can do.”

Them and me both, I wanted to say. How were all these people going to ‘see what I could do’ when I didn’t even know what it was I could do?

I mean I did freeze that teacher, but not on purpose… and I definitely don’t remember how I did it anyway so it’s not like I could add that to my skill set. Don’t even get me started on mind reading either because I know I definitely couldn’t do that.

That doctor must be crazy.

“We haven’t seen a new Level Zero telepath in even longer,” Mr. Ming said. “This is all very exciting.”

Oh great, he already told everyone that I could… awesome. Setting me up for failure from day one… thanks Dr. Snow.

“Telepathy,” Seohyun asked almost immediately. “I thought Professor Snow said she had cold and ice manipulating abilities?” Mr. Ming hummed.

“She does. Just like how your ability is complex Seohyun, Taeyeon’s has many parts to it too I’m sure. Most Level Zeros do.” Seohyun nodded. “The DNA test study results should be out soon to see if that tells us anything new, but we still need to help Taeyeon embrace her ability and figure all those parts out for herself.”

I had no idea what DNA test he was talking about and while I was all about figuring out what my power was and how to use it, hearing Mr. Ming call Seohyun’s power ‘complex’ made me even more curious than I was before. That was the one thing no one could tell me earlier.

I think someone said her name at lunch and the fact that she was level zero was definitely brought up, but no one knew what her power was. Sooyoung said-

“Why don’t we practice a little right now?”

Wait. What? Was he talking to me?

“Huh?” Mr. Ming laughed.

“Why don’t you take off all of your ARAs and show us what you can do.”

I almost laughed now. Was he on drugs?

“I don’t know how to do anything,” I admitted. “I don’t even know how to try.” He smiled at me now.

“That’s the point Taeyeon… it’s practice. We’re going to help you. Seohyun can show you and I’ll try to help you really focus on your inner power and help you bring it forth.”

Uhm… okay, so that didn’t make any sense but seeing Seohyun’s ability might be pretty cool…

“From what I’ve been told you’ve never even had all of your ARAs off, have you?” I shook my head.

Even before I knew what they were I’ve always had at least a few on… gah no wonder my parents never said no when I wanted to get my ears pierced again. They-

“Great. Then let’s try it.”

“What,” I accidently said aloud, clearly taken back by his ridiculous idea yet again. “I-I don’t think I should… What if I accidently hurt one of you or something?” He grinned again.

“We can handle ourselves Kim Taeyeon, don’t you worry.” I paused to think. His smug attitude definitely set off my curiosity again but I still didn’t like the idea of it.

I figured Seohyun could probably protect herself somehow since she was level zero and supposedly this super powerful person, but what about Mr. Ming? He wasn’t level zero too was he?

Ugh, I don’t know but I was still afraid… not afraid of my power of course because I was really excited to learn how to use it, but more so of the fact that I didn’t know how to use it in general. I couldn’t just jump into trying to use it like this without knowing how could I? That’s how Mrs. Park got frozen solid last time… This was seriously dangerous…

Shouldn’t I learn some techniques or like anything at all first?

“You really don’t need to worry Taeyeon. Trust me. I have a firm belief in the saying ‘practice makes perfect’ and that’s all I’m trying to do here. The more you practice the more you learn and the more you learn the more you understand. Who knows, if you quickly grasp your ability and demonstrate an enormous amount of control within the next few months you could potentially attend training classes with the Level One students next semester... if you’re comfortable with it that is,” he smiled. “I’m just trying to help you Taeyeon. You could do really amazing things.”

I felt sort of proud and inspired by his last sentence, but something else caught my attention instead.

If I could potentially go train with the level one kids in a few months, why wasn’t Seohyun training with them right now? She’s been here for eleven years… YEARS.  Was he totally lying or was she- oh my… or was she really a murderer? I don’t think I-

“Well Miss Kim?”

Oh right! I took a deep breath and finally gave him my split second decision.

“Fine.”

His little spiel about practice made sense and I figured it probably was better to do it here where I might be able to actually be stopped rather than up there with a hundred or so people around that I could accidently hurt … and Mr. Ming did tell me to do it so~!

I started with my earrings, taking them off one by one until finally my ears were bare… which was a really strange feeling actually. I felt kind of in a way.

“I don’t think I’ve ever taken all of my earrings off at once,” I said with a chuckle. “This is weird.”

“I’m sure it is,” Mr. Ming said with a grin. I noticed Seohyun smile too but I was just glad I didn’t feel this strange on the inside too. I didn’t feel coldness nor was I able to read anyone’s mind yet so I started taking off all my other ARAs too.

One after another piled up on the table and I could see Mr. Ming getting more and more excited with each one I set down.

I took a deep breath before taking off the last ARA on my body and exhaled as soon as it hit the table preparing myself for the worst.

I waited a few seconds for something to happen but besides being sort of impressed by the tan lines left on my wrist from my bracelets, I didn’t feel any different. Actually I might’ve even felt better than I did earlier.

I had a tiny headache during lunch but it was long gone now. I also didn’t notice when it stopped either so that could be totally coincidental too… I-

“Well,” Mr. Ming asked excitedly. “How do you feel?” I shrugged.

“I don’t know? Normal I guess?” He didn’t seem happy with that answer, but I didn’t know what to tell him. I felt just as I did an hour ago or even a year ago.

Normal.

If I didn’t already somehow shoot ice from my hands I would still probably be convinced that I didn’t have any abilities at all.

“You don’t feel different at all?” I shook my head and he hummed. “Okay then, how about trying to use your power,” he said. I froze.

Did he black out the last ten minutes or something? Why would he tell me to do it when I clearly didn’t know how?!

Ugh, I should at least give it a shot though… right?

“H-how do I do it?” He hummed.   

“I would advise you to hold your hands out in front of you with your palms facing each other and just really try to push your energy back and forth between them… imagine pulling all the water molecules out of the air and pushing them together to create a little ball of ice. Can you feel them?”

I shook my head again, but now I was even more confused…if that was possible.

Ugh, does this guy ever make sense?                            

What was I supposed to be feeling? I understood the bit about the hands so I did that, but how was I supposed to ‘push my energy between them’?

Crap.

“This is never going to work,” I said as I let my hands fall to the side. “I don’t feel anything.”

“Hey now, you can’t give up that easily Taeyeon,” Mr. Ming said encouragingly. “You just started. I remember it taking weeks before some students could use their power.”

I knew he was right, but it was just so frustrating. Everyone here expected me to be some badass level zero person and here I was not even able to give someone a freaking cold chill. I-

“Uhm,” Seohyun interrupted softly. “If it helps I remember early on the teachers used to have us do small movements as we tried to use our powers… to kind of get our energy flowing or something, right?”

“Omo, that’s right Seohyun,” Mr. Ming cheered. My classmate looked sort of embarrassed now and I had to grin.

She was one curious girl.

“How did I not think of that,” Mr. Ming asked… himself?

Heol… talk about curious…

 “Okay,” he snapped his fingers. “Let’s try this again Taeyeon, only this time move your hands and fingers around slowly… Like those fake magicians do when their performing their trickery.” I chuckled at his reference, but I guess it worked since I knew exactly what he was talking about. “Yes, just like that,” he encouraged as I moved my hands around crazily.

It felt really silly and I almost didn’t even do it, but since Seohyun recommended it I thought ‘what the hell’ and went with it yet again. She probably knew what she was talking about, right? I mean either way it couldn’t have a worse outcome than everything else I’ve tried so far so what could it hurt?

Besides everything I guess… ugh.

I gave it a good twenty seconds or so, but when I felt my arm starting to fall asleep I had to-

“Keep going Taeyeon, can’t you feel the room becoming drier?” I- wait!

“Really,” I asked excitedly.

Does that mean-

“Tha-that’s a good thing, right?” He nodded with wide eyes and I tried to do exactly what I had been doing before.

Oh my god.

Oh my GOD. Was I doing it?

I was totally doing it, right?

I was more excited than ever. My heart was racing and- I mean was this really happening?

I, Kim Taeyeon, was actually controlling my power? Well… kind of at least... whatever!

I kept moving my hands like I was kneading some invisible dough mid-air but there was still nothing. I tried to fight past that stupid tingly feeling of my arm falling asleep as I kept my motions up, but I don’t think it was working. I could feel the tingle spread down in my elbow on my left arm and it was even starting in on my right arm now. It didn’t hurt thankfully, but it was just kind of annoying. Holy crap. Was I seriously this out of shape that just moving my arms around like this made me-

Oh my- unless it was- could it be- no way, I said in my head excitedly.

Was this the energy he’s been talking about this whole freaking time? With the way he made it sound I thought it was some kind of zen, yoga, find your inner-energy kind of crap. He never mentioned once that I would actually, physically feel it. What the-

He was really going to drive me crazy this year I knew it.

Now that I actually had something to focus on, I concentrated on the tingle in my arm and I was seriously starting to feel the hairs on my arm stand up… Holy crap, I was really doing it.

I tried to mentally and physically will my ability outward toward my hands. I moved my arms in a slow pulse like wave motion and it- OH my god. It’s moving.

ITS MOVING. It’s actually moving!

The tingle spread into my forearms and even into my wrists. I was so excited. As soon as I felt it creep into my palm I stopped all my weird motions and used everything I could think to sort of push it out- an-

“AHHRG,” I let out as the- the-

That can’t be right.

My stomach dropped and I closed my hands almost instantly. I looked at Mr. Ming in hopes of an explanation, but he looked just as confused as I probably did too. I just…

What in the world?

Instead of ice coming from my palms like I expected, it was... oh my gosh, I don’t even know how to explain this. It looked like I had about fifteen or so tiny little purple lightning bolts shooting from one hand to another and now I just had no idea what was going on. I-

“Mr. Ming di-did she just-”

Our teacher held his hand up, quieting the girl beside me and my heart raced.

Did I what, I wanted to ask. Actually I think I have at least thirty more questions that I needed to ask now, but that was a good start!

“Taeyeon put your ARAs back on,” Mr. Ming said firmly. All traces of excitement were gone from his voice and I was really worried now.

Why did I have to put them back on? What about- Oh my god. Was he… was he afraid of me now?!

Was I not supposed to be able to do… whatever that was or something?!

I-

“We need to go see Dr. Snow… Now.”

______________________________________________

Finally, all of the members have been introduced! WOO~!
Some of you even called it!

This will probably be the last update for a while though. OTL

I need to work on a few other stories first, but I will be back! Don’t worry.
I have big plans for this story and definitely will not give up!
(I might even work on this one if I get stuck on one of my other stories)

<333333333333

Thank you for commenting, voting, and especially reading!
It means so much to me!!

​p.s. if you have an idea for a better cover picture PLEASE let me know.
The one I'm using only took me like five minutes to make and it kind of don't you think?