The Shopkeeper

Kimchi and Ice Cream

Saturday afternoon in Gangnam is populated with a flood of shoppers. Sungmi and Sungyeol needed to buy their new school uniforms. The shopkeeper looked just a bit older than the siblings. His name tag said "Sunggyu". 

"Hi there! Which school are you guys going to attend?" Sunggyu took his notepad out.

Sungyeol paused and turned to his sister. "Wait what was the school name again?" Sungmi blinked back at him. "Did Umma ever tell us?"

"She only mentioned we'd be going to a school in Gangnam." Sungyeol scratched his head lightly.

There was a brief silence that tumbled in the air. Maybe if you squinted hard enough you could imagine tumble weeds. 

"Um, well..." Sunggyu looked at the stocks filled with over fifty different uniforms. 

"Heck no we're not buying one of each uniform!" Sungmi panicked. 

The shop door opened and the siblings saw a similar face. It was the same gum-chewing guy that lived on their floor. The two of them pointed at him. "Whichever school he goes to!" they both exclaimed. The guy stopped chewing in slight shock, but it was hardly noticeable. He walked past them towards the counter. 

"Another top." He counted the exact amount for the purchase. 

Sunggyu did a slight bow. "Thank you very much for your continued patronage hehe."

The guy left the store without taking a look back. "I swear if I end up in the same class as him I will burn every meal of his completely black." Sungmi whispered to Sungyeol. 

"You can't even use your powers!"

"I-I'll invest in some food blowtorches."

Sunggyu came back with some clothes. "Here are a few sizes to try on." 

"So exactly which school is this?" Sungmi took a look at the outfit. It didn't look that much different than the other ones on display - navy blue blazer, tartan skirt, etc.

"This uniform belongs to Zenith High. Strange name now that I think about it..." Sunggyu answered. "So what are your names? I think we'll be seeing each other pretty frequently from now on."

"I don't think we'll be destro- I mean we'll take good care of our uniforms." Sungyeol explained awkwardly. It would be a while until Sungmi would accidentally burn her clothes. 

"I'm Sungmi, and he's Sungyeol." His sister answered for him.

After their uniform purchase, Sungmi was happy to roam around on the streets. 

"I'll see you later bro." Sungmi waved her hand and disappeared into the crowd. Sungmi had always wanted to be able to do activities like normal people. Because of her hot temper, she wasn't allowed to go on her own. With the restrictive bracelet now, she could do whatever she wanted except for using her powers. Maybe now she could actually have some long term friends. 

She had overheard from her parents talking regarding others with special abilities also around Gangnam. They probably adapted to the society much better than the siblings, so they would be harder to identify. Having a friend who also has super powers would be pretty cool. At least Sungmi would able to truly be herself. 

There was a general rule that super powers cannot be shown to regular people even if they were close friends. There have been cases when someone reveals their powers to a significant other and they eventually broke up, usually resulting society to consider the normal person to be crazy. Sungmi's heart was the same as any other girl of her age. She longs for someone to accept her. On the other hand, Sungyeol believes he needs to improve on accepting himself before he can think about relationships. 

But hey, that's what high school drama is for.

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Comments

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ajlish16
#1
Hello!! I'm a new subscriber and I am looking forward to see this story unfold!

I like the concept, even though I find the story going quite fast. But I like it in general and I'll be looking forward to seeing the relationship between the mains grow and the meaning behind woohyun's braclet!
zxcvio
#2
Chapter 13: Well... this is quite interesting.