Hyerin’s breath hitched as the tall figure of her father materialized from the double doors. 

“Dad?” she called shakily. “W-What are you...what are you doing here?”   

He softened as he turned to her daughter. “I’m sorry, love. I’ll explain everything at home. But for now,” his gaze hardened when he turned to the other man, “we shall clear things up with Agent Zero, yes?”

“Agent M, what is the meaning of this? I thought your association with M-LX was to be kept a secret as to your request?” Zero asked, baffled.

“Yes. Until I saw my daughter being dragged around in chains.”

Zero looked away in shame. “I did not intend-”

“Never mind,” Myungjae waved off. “Now is not the time to revel on that, agent. What matters right now is Hyerin and these boys.”

Agent Zero collapsed down on his chair, rubbing his forehead. “I don’t think you know what this situation is about.”

“Oh, I know, agent. I think you’re forgetting that this was originally my ex-wife’s mission,” he let out a low chuckle as he tossed Zero a big fat folder. “Read that. Then maybe you’ll understand,” he said, tucking his hands inside his pockets. “Now if it’s not too much to ask, please release Hyerin. It is not a very pleasant sight to see my own daughter in such a state.”

Immediately, the guards punched in the code for the handcuffs. It lit into a green color before freeing her arms completely. She shook her wrists to relieve the stiffness.

“I’m sorry for the trouble this place has given everybody. Before anything, I am Agent M, head weapon specialist of M-LX," he said. “I know some of you might still be in shock. It is completely understandable with the sudden turn of events, but I will waste no time. M-LX, as what they have told you, deals with extreme and dangerous situations that occur in our country from unknown regions. And what I mean by unknown regions, regions that are not exclusively from our planet.”

Everybody’s eyes widened. “Not from our planet?” Kyungsoo frowned, not sure if he heard right.

“Yes. We’ve been dealing with these kind of things for decades now. Not only supernatural beings, but also organizations like mafias and drug cartels that pose real threats to our community. We do pretty much everything."

“Wait. Did you just say supernatural beings? Like, aliens and ?” Xiumin asked in disbelief.

Myungjae nodded. “Sure.”

“Can’t our government forces just take care of stuff like that? And shouldn’t we be seeing you on T.V. or at least heard about you if you’ve been dealing with these so-called outer region forces?” Tao questioned skeptically.

Myungjae chuckled. “The government wouldn’t be able to handle what we’ve been taking care of. We never expose ourselves to the public and usually we deal with cases before anyone could even notice it was there in the first place. Heck, the government doesn’t even know there’s an organization like us taking care of for them.”

Kai paled. “How?”

“Technology. You have no idea what we’ve come up with for the past several years.”

“That’s impossible," Suho mumbled.

“Why us though?” Kris asked, brows furrowing.

“Why you?”

“Why us? What do we have to do with this?”

“Yeah.” Baekhyun nodded. “I don’t see how we can be a part of something like this. We’re nothing special. We’re just...kids,” he said, while the others hummed their agreement. They really were just a bunch of teenagers. Just kids who did stupid things. That’s all they ever knew.

Myungjae smiled, crossing his arms. “That’s where you’re wrong, gentlemen. You’re not just kids,” he said. “You, all of you, are special. You are the chosen ones,” he playfully rolled his eyes, “as corny as it sounds.”

“Chosen ones? What do you mean?” Luhan asked.

Myungjae sat on the other side of the table across from Agent Zero. “Each and every one of you were born with a special element that you are strongly and deeply connected to. It grows more powerful throughout the years. Let me show you.”

Myungjae placed his palm firmly on the surface of the table. A couple of seconds passed when the table suddenly produced an illuminating blue light, starting from where his hand was placed and stretching across the rest of the table. The boys backed away in surprise.

“Sorry if that scared you. It’s actually an identification-controlled device.”

The table was now a glowing led screen showing data of people, blueprints of buildings, and images of unknown creatures. Myungjae typed on the on-screen keyboard and a large-scale hologram materialized in the air.

Everyone was left in awe. Floating before them were 3D images of peculiar looking symbols woven together inside a sphere. It was circling around the table as if showcasing itself to everyone.

“Those are the elements I’m talking about. You may or may not be aware of this but in one way or another, you all have been deeply entwined with these elements since you childhood, possibly when you were still inside the womb even. Whether if it is just a strange fascination to the element or a deep attachment to it, it is enough of an indication that you are connected to it. A strange but fascinating part of your existence.”

Myungjae pressed something on the screen, and the symbols broke away from inside the sphere and stretched towards the boys. They watched in amazement as their individual elements gyrated in front of them.

“Woah.” Chanyeol reached out to touch his symbol, but his hand only passed through it.

“Lightning,” Chen whispered, looking like he was barely breathing. He turned to Myungjae, only to see the man already staring at him.

“So you know.”

Everyone’s attention turned to the boy.

“I’ve always been attached to lightning. And then on one rainy night when I was thirteen, I found myself being able to produce electricity with my own two hands,” he breathlessly explained. The reason why he was so scared to be a part of this was because he knew exactly why they came for him. He knew what was up even before Hyerin did.

“Wait a second. Produce?” Suho asked. “You’re saying you have the ability to make electricity?”

Chen nodded. “Yeah, but it’s nothing extravagant. Just a little speck of light.”

“Woah.”

“I can control mine too,” Lay spoke up.

Myungjae raised a brow. “Healing? Really?”

“Yes. Only minor scratches, though. The scars don’t really go away.” He shrugged, appearing casual but there was no denying the lack of color on his face. “I thought it was normal to be able to heal from wounds so quickly when I was a child.”

“Oh my god.” Sehun’s complexion got even whiter. “Are you saying we have abilities like…like that?”

Myungjae nodded. “Basically. I’m pretty sure all of you, aside from Lay and Chen, haven’t experienced anything abnormal yet. It depends on you and how your body and mind adapts to the element, so it is completely normal if you haven’t gotten your power. It just so happens that these two adapted fast,” he explained. “And it’s also because of your relation-”

“I’m sorry,” Hyerin who had been silent the whole time, interrupted. “But I still can’t wrap my head around this paranormal thing. I don’t understand. How did that happen? How did they get these powers?”

“Until this day on, it has remained a mystery.  All we really understand right now is that they’re they have these abilities. We have kept tabs on these boys since young and truly saw the development. Like for example,” he started. “We saw how Sehun was always out in the open, and how he always preferred the outdoors. How he reveled on the feeling of the wind on his skin whenever he was in the backyard of his home, such a simple and mundane thing for an eight year-old to hold dear. Or how Chanyeol would much rather play with fire when he was a kid instead of toys.”

“How did you know that?” Chayeol asked, eyes widening in bewilderment.

“Keeping tabs, I tell you,” Myungjae said. “D.O. has been helping his family with lifting and moving stuff effortlessly, and always finds himself getting into fights. And Kai was never able to stay in one place for long periods of time. You see, these simple things are what connects them to their elements, Hyerin.”

She shrugged helplessly. “Okay. Still, I don’t know what all this has to do with me.”

Her father gave her a knowing smile. “That was exactly what I was going to explain earlier when you suddenly cut me off.” He turned to the table again and pressed something that made the symbols go back to their original places within the sphere.

“You see that thing in the middle of the figure?” He pointed to a ball of light situated in the center that looked similar to the sun. They nodded.

“That, Hyerin, is you.”

Hyerin's eyes widened. “What?”

“Yes. As you can see, there are branches that connect the elements to that ball of fire." He turned to face her. “That represents you all and your relationship with each other. These elements are connected with one another, Hyerin, and they are, in a way, connected to you. And from further research throughout the years, we have discovered that you, Hyerin, are one of their sources of power. You are the one who pulled them in. The closer and intact they are with you, the stronger they’ll be.

“It is no coincidence that you’re all in the same country, same city, same school because you’re all attached to each other unknowingly. You draw each other in. It’s also the reason why Lay got his power the earliest—he was friends with you at such a young age.”

Hyerin clutched the armchair so tight her knuckles turned white. Everything was so unreal. “How?”

“We still do not know. I’m sorry for not telling you sooner,” he said, looking at her apologetically. “On another note, I have no idea why, but you don’t seem to have any kind of supernatural power. Nonetheless, your role in all this is still very important.”

Hyerin took a breath of relief at that. She wouldn't know what to do with herself if she had some kind of dormant superhuman ability somewhere inside her. 

Everyone was just still. They knew, somewhere in the back of their minds, that what Agent M was saying was true.

“I understand that we have individual elements of some sort,” Kai said, breaking the silence. “But what exactly are you going to try to make us do? Work for this organization? It’s not like we’re Lay or Chen that already have control over their power. Heck, I don’t even know what my power is.”

“Actually, we have found a solution to that. We have been experimenting and trying out different kinds of compounds that can trigger your power and physical strength even. After years of research, we finally came up with the right stuff,” he explained. “Regarding what we want you to do—it is entirely up to you. You can back out and go on with your life,” he started. “Or you can join M-LX and be an agent under a special unit for us. It may sound very overwhelming but we have planned many things for the twelve of you.” He looked over to his daughter. “And for you, too.”

There was a brief pause before he spoke again. “I know this is hard to take in, but I’ll dismiss you all so you can think about it. We need you more than you think and soon, you will realize that you’ll be needing us too,” he said, standing up from his seat. “Your abilities and the rest shall be discussed further when we meet again. I expect to see you all next week.”

- - - - -

Hyerin and Myungjae sat silently in their living room, lights dimmed and the air eerily still. Tonight’s happenings gave both of them a shock, especially Hyerin, who had no clue that this was what her mother had been up to when she was still alive.

Myungjae fumbled with his wine glass as he observed his unmoving daughter.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, looking at her apologetically.

Her eyes were downcast and permanently glued to the table. She didn’t know how to react or what to say, because truthfully at that moment, she felt nothing. “I didn’t know you were a part of M-LX, too.”

He nodded, the inside of his cheek. “Yeah. It’s kind of a side job. Government couldn’t afford it, so all the gadgets and weapons my team and I have created are under M-LX. We're still continuing to develop new stuff,” he said and Hyerin nodded. She knew her dad’s family owned the M company, which he is now the head of, but she only knew recently that it was actually a weapon developing company. She should have known way before that he had something to do with this.

“I really am sorry for not telling you about this sooner. I didn’t want to get you involved in this but seeing the situation, I had to step in,” he started. “Your mother was persistent about you being part of M-LX since you were a kid and that was one of the reasons why we split. It ended up with you living with her, and like what I have feared, she trained you to be a good fighter, just like how she wanted.

"I knew what you were up to for the past years even though we’ve never seen each other for so long. I knew that you and Jonghyun were training, I knew that you’ve met with Agent Zero and I knew why you were so stressed for the past week,” he ran a frustrated hand through his hair, “and I’m sorry I pretended to be dumb and clueless about it when I could have helped you through it. I just...I just couldn’t find myself saying it to you.”

Hyerin willed herself not to cry. There was no more hate left in her. Instead, there was just guilt and sadness with the realization that the reason why her parents divorced was because of her. She set her pride aside and sat down next to her dad.

“No. Don’t apologize, dad. I was stupid for not opening up to you about it. I was scared that you would abandon me if you knew because I was too much trouble. And I hate myself for thinking like that. I’m the one who’s sorry, because I’ve been lying to you all this time.”

Myungjae wrapped his arms around her, smiling slightly. “I’m glad we’re working this out thoroughly, Hyerin,” he breathed, ruffling her head. “Are you really up for this though? You sure you want to be a part of this?”

She nodded. “At first I thought M-LX was something like the CIA or something, and then suddenly it turned out be some kind of paranormal thing. I still can’t wrap my head around the thought of me being, being-” She couldn’t find herself saying it.

“Being somebody’s strength? Being somebody’s source of power?”

“Yeah. It’s crazy.” She shook her head in disbelief.  “Like, how did that happen?”

He smiled nostalgically, standing up from his seat. “Some things in life just happen, and you just have to go with the flow and not question it, you know?”