As a child, she used to think that having superpowers is such a cool thing. She had read several stories and childhood fairy tales about ordinary people who got supernatural abilities out of the blue. Manga characters that could fly or transform into dragons seemed also appealing as they always won against villains and saved their friends and families, no matter what. They were heroes whom she could look up to and they made her believe that there’s always something good in everything bad.

However, reality was far more terrifying than those stories and having a superpower was no longer a cool thing. In fact, it was the worst thing that could happen to her. She caused more harm than she had ever imagined she would and had to bear more shame than she was able to handle. After a while, she was accustomed to hurting herself – getting bruises and little scratches from time to time – and she got used to the sight of blood on her hands but there was one thing that she couldn’t shake off, no matter how many days had passed. Yerim’s startled and hurtful expression when her fragile body fell to the ground still haunted her in her nightmares when she was even able to sleep. The flashback stung her right at the heart and made her weaker and more cautious whenever she recalled the sorrowful memory. It was like a scary ghost that constantly followed her; even if it couldn’t be seen, she still felt its presence.

Yoongi suggested that she should start worrying less because the more terrified she felt, the more her power responded in such unwanted ways. Freezing a room wasn’t one of her hidden intentions, neither was her hair turning almost completely white. She hated everything that came with her power; it was like her own body was trying to remind her of the consequences.

“Well, blondish white is not a really bad colour,” Yoongi stated one day with neutral facial expression when she frantically noticed that all her locks turned exceptionally light.

It was easy for him. He had been living like that for 300 years but for her it was a whole new world. She couldn’t be bothered to attend her university classes anymore, going back to her flat or visiting Yerim in the hospital. She was undeniably terrified of hurting others, even though she was a work in progress. She learnt a lot from the manga-like Guardian but Mark also taught her how to be patient due to his inability to speak yet she had to understand him one way or another. It was kind of confusing at first because of his his sand images but she got used to it after a while.

Nonetheless, she wasn’t able to see the other Guardians despite her greatest efforts. I mean, who can really believe in Santa Claus these days? Or Easter Bunny. Not to mention Tooth Fairy who I never once believed in. Faith was an interesting one. It was something that showed the real side of people because they couldn’t pretend that they believed in something when they obviously didn’t. And seeing the Guardians was almost like a lie detector; it revealed everything.

Luckily, Yoongi didn’t seem to mind that Joohyun wasn’t able to see the others. Ever since the night she ‘met’ all of the Guardians (and had her first real breakdown), they started to get along pretty well. They weren’t besties though, it wasn’t to that extent. On the other hand, they had significantly less quarrels and they both tried to be more patient with one another. It wasn’t odd when they started talking night after night, after Yoongi finished teaching her and before they both went to sleep. Or at least, Joohyun assumed that the boy was also sleeping, although she never once saw him close his eyes for more than a few seconds.

“Isn’t it boring? Living for 300 years and doing the same thing every single day?” she inquired with genuine curiosity after one tiring afternoon which was full of attempts and fails, laughs and cries, smiles and shouts. They were standing in front of the broken window of the abandoned warehouse, looking at the boysenberry sunset with a little bit of a tangerine-orange sparkling.

It was almost an ordinary scene as the warehouse became her second home and she realized that she was fond of watching sunsets and sunrises. Somehow they gave her hope and testified that a better – and undeniably colder – day would eventually come, no matter what kind of hardships she had to deal with day by day. Yoongi was usually beside her at times like that but it couldn’t bother Joohyun, it rather reassured her. She believed that the reason for that was because he kept her company, so she didn’t have to be alone with her exceptional fear and anxiety.

“To be honest, it’s rather sad,” Yoongi pondered for a thought, with no sign of annoyance in his voice this time. “The more years go by, the more depressed people get. It’s harder and harder to cheer them up and make them believe in us. They don’t even know how desperately they need hope and joy in their lives. They constantly stuck in the negativities and affect their own kids who no longer believe in Santa, Tooth, Sandman, Bunnymund or me.”

His voice was laced with remorse and disappointment, his dissatisfaction and commiseration showing in his icy-blue eyes. They were sparkling with solemnity and reminded her of the Han River before a terrible storm; they displayed both perfect calmness as well as undeniable chaos. It was again a very different image that he was portraying before but there were so many sides to Min Yoongi. She still couldn’t elucidate them all.

“But there are also exceptions,” Joohyun pointed out while her eyes were staring far ahead. The boy had told her about Jamie who helped the Guardians to win over Pitch as he was the only child who didn’t give up on them. It was kind of creepy to know that faith almost disappeared from the world while she hadn’t even known about that. There was a world hidden within the real one which she couldn’t see before. However, after realizing that she was no longer an ordinary twenty-one-year old girl, she crossed the border between the two worlds. After that, there was no turning back.

“Yeah, you’re right.” Yoongi nodded in agreement and his voice was so expectant that she decided to sneak a glance at him. His cheekbones immediately exploded as he didn’t even try to suppress a proud smile. “I’m still surprised that you believe in me. I mean, we were good buddies when you were young−“

“Really?” Her jaw dropped hearing the casual comment of Yoongi who started grinning from ear to ear. She even bounced a little in surprise, causing a hoarse laugh escaping the boy’s mouth. “No way! I don’t remember meeting you before!” she protested and her voice was so subtle that she mentally cursed herself for being so childish. He must be kidding. We couldn’t have met before. If so, he probably can’t remember me.

“Yeah, because you were little and probably thought that I was just an imaginary creature. When kids no longer believe in us, they forget the times we spent together,” he explained with hushed voice and shifted his attention towards the broken window. As he looked out of it, he looked just as fragile as a snowflake shakily falling from the sky.

It wouldn’t have been an exaggeration to say that her heart broke a little. Sadness suddenly approached her and a pleasant kind of bitterness rushed through her body. Out of the blue, she felt sympathetic towards Yoongi because now she understood why he had that kind of mysterious wisdom lingering around him. He had to live for all those years, through wars and famine, deaths and miseries, still trying to give hope for people.