"I heard you were awake. It took you a while." A woman speaks by the doorway.

The noise dies down immediately and everyone gives their polite greetings as the woman enters the room. She sits beside Wonpil and takes his hand in hers.

"All patched up," she says with a sweet smile.

Wonpil thinks the smile looks familiar. He meets Younghyun's eyes and the boy gives him a somewhat sad smile that looked similar to the woman's.

"I was the one who healed you. But if it weren't for Jae and Younghyun, you would probably be dead by now."

"Y-You're Younghyun's mom? B-But I thought you were an empath?" Wonpil blurts.

Younghyun turns around to leave the room but Jae stops him.

"Thank you Jae," Younghyun's mom thanks the boy, as if she had seen what the boy had done. "If you would all stay, I would like to explain myself. Especially to you, Younghyun."

The door is shut and everyone finds a comfortable spot to sit.

"It's going to be a long day," Wonpil murmurs to himself.

+++++++

"I used to be a full empath, until I married Younghyun's father. He was a very powerful mutant. He could manipulate powers. Absorb powers, copy them, transfer them, name it he could do it."

Everyone listens in awe, especially Younghyun who's hearing this about his parents for the first time.

"He worked underground dealing powers. That was how I met him. I seeked him out, desperate to get rid of my powers. He practically saved my life when he turned me down. We fell in love and got married. But Younghyun was the turning point in our relationship, his father left the underground business for good and we chose to live a normal life. Until Younghyun started manifesting his father's powers..."

A pause. The loudest noise in the room is the pounding of Younghyun's heart.

Addressing Younghyun, the woman continues, "We heard rumors that there were people who were out to get your father. We feared for your safety more than anything. If they found out that you had his powers too, they would surely take you away from us, so we planned to move with the help of Jae's parents. But, we got into an accident and your father..."

Another long pause, this time there's heavy breathing.

"B-Before his last breath he swapped his powers with mine. He told me that I could protect you with it, that I could teach you how to protect yourself. You were going to grow up with your father's powers, you were going to be a very powerful mutant like him, b-but I was too afraid that you would end up with the same fate. I wanted to protect you but I wanted to do it my way. He had also passed on to me the different powers he had collected over the years, but I told myself that I would never use them. I never understood the need of having so much powers, until recently.

"When you moved out I wasn't too worried. I was sure your powers were suppressed enough that you could live a normal life like most young mutants and I could use my ability to track you whenever I wanted anyway. But then I lost track of you one day. I-I had a flashback of that day with your father. I immediately sent a vision to one of your friends, to Wonpil. I have been waiting here for you since then."

"Did you really have to lie to me..." Younghyun hesitates. "Mom?"

"Son, I did it to protect you."

"Protect me?" Younghyun stands up unable to deal with the emotional torture this story telling exercise was giving him anymore. "You did an excellent job with that, didn't you?" 

Slap. 

A chorus of gasps.

Silence.

Younghyun slowly touches his cheek, hands trembling, eyes filled with tears.

"Thank you mom." Younghyun turns to his mom before storming out the room.

"Is this the life you want to live?" She speaks up before the rest could follow suit. "Always looking behind you, preparing to run away from people hunting you? There's a way. My husband specifically gave our son the power to contain and destroy powers so that when he grows up he could decide what to do with the powers he had no choice in having.

"Please, think about it."