“So, what is it?”

Jay frowned, twirling the pen between her fingers.

“I’m not sure. I couldn’t see whatever he saw, but it definitely had something to do with the black miasma. I tried to talk to the man Soonyoung pointed at, but he wouldn’t give me the time of the day. I put a tracker on him and told Tablo to check up on him.”

Jungah sighed. “Soonyoung’s going to be ok, right? I was afraid he was going to have an anxiety attack. Maybe I shouldn’t have let you guys go out.”

Jay stopped fiddling with her pen, looking at her friend with concern. “Do you think I made a bad decision?”

“I don’t know. I never heard of someone seeing that before, that’s why I wanted to ask you.”

Jay started to play with the pen in deep thought. Jungah herself couldn’t see the miasma, but she was aware of it. Jay, being introduced to her a long time ago, got along with her well. With their friendship, Jay would come over to the hospital and look at the patients Jungah thought had the eyes to see. Jay usually would come a few times a year, but she had been preoccupied for the last few years due to other priorities and wasn’t able to come down as often and not as long so there were some patients that had to wait until she had time. She felt bad that she wasn’t able to help out earlier.

Jay sighed too. “It’s the first time I’m hearing it too. If I had to make a guess, I think Soonyoung has more sensitive eyes than the regular person who can see.”

Her phone chimed, indicating she had a text message. She pulled it out and read through the contents quickly, before pocketing it back.

Jungah noticed the furrowed eyebrows on the other girl’s forehead.

“What is it?” she asked.

“It was one my colleagues. I asked him to look into the man Soonyoung saw. He told me that he had some of his guys look into the guy I put the tracker on. It looks like he’s a businessman under a lot of pressure and stress because of a big project he’s on.” She paused. “And it looks like he’s been accumulating a lot of miasma. He was on the verge on becoming one of them.”

“Is he ok?” Jungah asked worriedly.

“Tablo said they intervened. He also asked how I knew.”

“So, it was…” She trailed off.

Jay looked up at her and gave a curt laugh. “Guess the boy is more powerful than I thought.” She looked down and back up, appearing like she came up with a decision. “Can I request something from you?”

When Soonyoung woke up, the television was on. Which was odd to him because he didn’t remember turning it on the day before.

And then he heard something crunching, like someone was eating chips.

He rolled over to see Jay sitting next to his bed, munching on a bag of chips with her legs propped on a stool.

She must have heard him because she stopped eating and looked at him. “Good morning. Or like good afternoon, I suppose, considering how late it is.”

He groaned, propping himself up so that he was sitting right side up. He looked confusedly at her. “What are you doing here?”

She turned to look at him before continuing to eat her chips. “It felt weird if I just left like that. I wanted to see how you were doing.”

He looked down and pursed in his lips. “I’m doing okay. I feel a little drained. I guess I was more affected seeing that than I expected.” He looked at her. “Were you able to see it too?”

She shook her head, opening before closing it with a frown. “You should see Jungah before I say anything else.”

“Right now?”

“The sooner the better, I guess. But take your time.”

Soonyoung shook his head. “No, I’ll go now.”

He left the room and headed to the doctor’s office.

He was hoping that Jay would be able to see it too. He wanted some kind of confirmation that he wasn’t seeing things. He was glad that the misty black swirls he saw on people was something others saw, but it seemed that the one that scared him the most appeared to him only.

He knocked on the door and entered when he heard her voice.

“Soonyoung,” she said softly, a small smile on her face.

The boy immediately knew something was off.

He sat down and waited for the bad news.

“We are letting you go.”

He was not expecting this news. At all.

“Really?” he shouted, standing up with a burst. “You’re not kidding, right?”

She shook her head. “No, not at all. You’ll have to stay a few more days more some more tests, but you can go back home.”

“So, this means I can go back to my family? And see my friends? Go back to school?”

She looked down. “It may be harder than that, but if that is what you wish, there is nothing stopping you from that.”

Soonyoung couldn’t keep the wide smile on his face. He finally could see his family and friends. He could return to his normal life.

Jay was there the day when Soonyoung was allowed to go back home. He had requested her to be there.

He was excited, fiddling with his fingers and bouncing on the balls of his feet.

She stared at him with an amused expression.

"You that excited?"

He looked and gave her look that said Duh. "Of course, I am! It's been almost a year since I last saw them. I miss my siblings the most though."

She continued to watch him. "Soonyoung," she started to say.

"What's up?"

She paused, starting to form the words she wanted to say but stopped. She couldn't. She couldn't ask him.

"Were you always this hyper?" she asked instead.

He grinned excitedly. "I guess. I wasn't able to express myself that much cause, you know, I was considered not mentally sane. But now that it's all good, I don't give a hoot on what people think now. I shouldn't have before." He stopped and looked at her in concern.

"Why? Is it that bad?"

Jay snorted. "I thought you just said you didn't care what people thought."

He looked away. “Well, yeah. But, you know, we’re cool now.”

"But nah, I think I like you like this. Hate to think you weren't able to be yourself before."

As she finished her sentence, a car pulled up.

Soonyoung whipped his head towards it, eyes gleaming with excitement.

Two older people came out of the car.

"Soonyoung," the woman cried, rushing towards the boy.

She gave him a large hug, murmuring words to him.

The man stood next to them and when the woman finally released Soonyoung, he gave him a short but warm hug.

Soonyoung turned back to Jay who was silently watching them. She gave him a brief smile and waved.

He glanced at his parents before running back to Jay.

"Hey, um. I just want to thank you."

Jay blinked at him and smiled. "No need for thanks. I just need what I had to do. But Soonyoung,"

"Yeah?"

"Don't be afraid of your abilities. Not even the one that others don't have. Embrace it. Don’t think of it as something to be ashamed of."

"So, I should use my powers for good, right?" he laughed. "Like a superhero."

She chuckled. "Hmm. Only if you want to. It's up to you what you choose to do with it. I'm sure you'll find a way to make it useful. Just...nothing evil, yeah? I don't want to find you robbing banks or anything like that."

He laughed. "I can't promise you that! Who knows what'll I do. But when that time comes, we'll see."

She snorted. "Fine. Go on now. Be with your family. You deserve it."

He paused and looked at her. "Can I have a hug?"

She blinked at him in surprise but laughed. "Of course."

He practically threw himself into her arms, almost causing them to fall.

"You're...going to...squeeze the...life...out of me," she groaned.

He let go and grinned like a little boy. "Got to make a lasting impression. It was either that or I do something more drastic."

Jay let a laugh. "I hate to think what that could be."

They said their goodbyes and Jay waved to his parents politely. And finally, she watched them all get into the car and drive away.

She sighed, feeling something akin of uncomfortableness. She wasn't sure why. It felt like she was leaving a bad taste in .

"You didn't ask him?"

She turned her head slightly to see Jungah next to her.

Jay smiled sadly. "I couldn't."

"Why not?" Jungah asked. "You even asked me. Aren't you all about consent and choices and opportunities and all that? Aren't you denying him of that opportunity?"

Jay looked down at her feet. "He...he was excited to see his family. I couldn't ask him. At least not now."

"Wait. If they join your group, are they not allowed to see their family?"

She shook her head. "Yes, well, no.” She sighed. “In certain cases, we let them, but not as often. Most of the times we don’t let them except for certain occasions. We discourage it. They might get their families involved and nobody wants anything to hurt their families. They have to be willing to do so."

"Alright, fine. But if not now, when are you? Didn't you say that his ability to see the precursor before a nibra transition would be beneficial? Isn't that what you hoped for? Stop these things before the inevitable happens?"

Jay smiled wistfully. "Yeah, it was. But I couldn't do it. I couldn't break his happiness to satisfy myself."

"You're not! Isn't it the good for everyone? Aren't you missing the opportunity?"

Jay laughed bitterly. "Guess I'm more of a hypocrite than I thought."

"Jay," Jungah murmured. "I didn't mean that..."

"No, but you're right. I'm all about giving opportunities and here I am denying all of us of one. Selfish, aren't I?"

Jay sighed. "I'm going to go. Call me if there is anything else you need."

Jungah could only nod, watching the other girl leave.

She was tired. And she didn’t know what to do.

She thought about asking for the other leaders’ advice, but she could imagine their responses already.

All of them would agree that Soonyoung’s ability would be a great asset to everyone. To be able to recognize people who were corrupted to a large degree before they even started their transition to a nibra, it was something that no one even thought possible.

And yet, here she was.

Jay knew that she should have done her best to persuade him to join their group.

But when she saw how happy he was to go back home, she couldn’t do it.

Family. He had a family.

It was easier with the other guys since they didn’t have people to call that anymore, same as her.

It as easy to offer them a place where they could call home.

She sighed.

She wondered if she was qualified to even lead. She put her own personal feelings over the good of everyone.

But she couldn’t change her feelings.

She was tired. And all she wanted to do was go home.

It was obvious to the boys that something was wrong.

They didn’t hear the loud call of her arrival.
Instead the soft swinging of the front door eerily caught their attention.

Seungcheol and Jisoo were sitting on the couch watching the television. Jihoon was sitting on the stool eating an apple, also absently watching the show.

They all turned to look when the door opened, revealing a solemn looking girl.

“Welcome back, Jay,” Jisoo said as usual.

She turned and gave him a small smile. “Hey. Sorry, guys. Long day. I’m going to head to my room.”

And with that she walked up the stairs and was gone from their sight.

It was quiet. Jihoon spoke up first.

“What do you think happened?”

“What do you mean?” Jisoo asked.

Jihoon rolled his eyes and scoffed. “Don’t be stupid. It’s obvious that something’s wrong with her.”

“I’m surprised you care,” Seungcheol retorted back.

Jihoon looked a little flustered and scowled. “Don’t get me wrong. It’s weirder when she’s not like her usual self. Everything gets thrown off. But I suppose you are right. She won’t bother me when she’s like this.”

Jisoo frowned. “I’m worried. Do you think we should check up on her?”

Seungcheol stared at the stairs before returning his eyes back to the television. “I don’t know what we can do. The only thing we can do is be there for her when she needs us to be.”

“You guys can do that,” Jihoon muttered. “Leave me out of this.”

Jisoo grinned. “Don’t be like that. We all know that you secretly care deep in that cold heart of yours.”

Jihoon glared at the boy. “Don’t make me hurt you.”

Jisoo widened his eyes and put his hands up in surrender. “Ok, ok. Your heart isn’t that cold. It’s like lukewarm.”

The boy glared even more intensely as Jisoo chuckled and turned back to the television.

And even though the whole room seemed normal, all three boys had something else on their mind.

When Jay heard a knock on the door the next morning, she didn’t know what she expected. But she didn’t expect the sandy colored haired boy to be behind it.

He didn’t look at her. “Food’s downstairs.”

“You cooked?”

Jihoon scowled. “No. The other two did. But since they did, they said I had to make myself useful and get you.”

Jay laughed softly. “I’m surprised you listened.”

His scowl deepened. “Trust me. I didn’t want to. But...I made a temporary truce for today.”

“Truce?” she echoed.

He didn’t respond, already heading down the stairs. “Just hurry up, will ya?”

She grinned, following the boy downstairs.

When they arrived at the foot of the stairs and entered the kitchen, she could smell something burnt.

She coughed lightly. “Well, I’m glad you didn’t burn down the house. Not that it would matter, but still.”

Jisoo eyed Seungcheol. “I wasn’t the one who set the toaster on high.”

Seungcheol coughed. “Didn’t think it would burn it.”

Jisoo sighed. “No matter. The eggs and bacon are fine. Thanks to yours truly.” He paused. “You want the toast?”

Jay smiled. “Yeah. Why not?”

“It’s burnt though,” Jihoon sniffed disapprovingly.

“Scraping off the burnt parts won’t hurt.”

“I’ll do without it, thank you very much,” Jihoon muttered. “Don’t want to die that early.”

“It’s not going to kill you,” Seungcheol grumbled. “And stop acting like I ruined it. It was a freaking accident.”

Jay couldn’t help but to laugh a little at their exchange.

They all turned at the sound, smiled threatening to appear on their faces. Jihoon busied himself with eating, Seungcheol coughed, and Jisoo let it happen.

As they were eating, Jisoo brought up their plan.

“We were thinking of going to the city today.”

Jay paused mid-bite. “Ok,” she answered simply, finishing her food.

“Yeah, we want to personalize our rooms a little. I mean, we live here now. So, we thought we should make it ours now. Plus, we need to get us on a family plan. It’s hard living without phones.”

Jay froze slightly before slightly smiling. “Of course. I don’t know if I mentioned it before, but I can customize your rooms. However, you want it to look, I can do it. But all the personal belongings I can’t do anything about. But I don’t mind. You guys can go ahead and have fun.”

“You’re coming too.”

Jay looked at Seungcheol in surprise. “I am?”

“You don’t have a choice,” Jihoon added.

“I don’t?”

Jihoon gave her an exasperated look. “If I’m not able to get out of this stupid , you don’t get to either.”

“How nice of you.”

“Stuff the sarcasm,” Jihoon muttered, “And let’s get the hell out of here.”