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Memories flashed through Mark’s mind, fluttering by with increasing speed like a tornado across his thoughts. Whenever one began to play out, another took its place. Mark could barely sort through the barrage of images and voices, but he somehow knew that they were all his. The memories had been inside of him all along, but they had been pushed to the back, locked away, written over, tampered with so that he would never be able to recall them on his own.

He felt the traces of Yugyeom’s ability sweeping through his consciousness, unlocking all of his hidden memories. Scenes of his childhood, of going to school, of playing with friends he never knew he had. Other memories, ones that had created themselves to cover the empty space in his timeline became fuzzy at the edges. When Mark tried to recall them, it was like watching a movie, the plot and the actors unreal, just a fabrication of Mark’s life.

Even through the craziness, one person stood out in his memories. This person was a young, bright kid, one year Mark’s junior. He smiled at others without reservation. He pulled at Mark’s hand as he dragged the other around, always looking back and laughing giddily at Mark. Whenever his bangs stuck to his forehead in little spikes, Mark would that his hair looked like a monster’s teeth, to which he would reply by leaping onto Mark with a growl and tickling him until Mark begged for mercy.

“Jinyoungie, s-stop! Stop, please!”

Jinyoung was relentless in his teasing, knowing exactly where to poke Mark in order to have the older laughing and thrashing on the ground.

When Mark could not take it any longer, he surprised Jinyoung by having a copy of himself pull Jinyoung off of him. He laughed at Jinyoung’s startled face before his friend began to laugh with him again, ceeding victory to Mark only this time.

After that memory came another one, several months later. Mark’s parents had warned him to keep his abilities a secret from Jinyoung, saying that non-supernaturals would not be able to understand the abilities of supernaturals. They would be scared and intimidated, and could cause harm to supernaturals by alerting authorities.

Mark remembered nodding along to his parents’ speech. He remembered promising to keep the world of supernaturals a secret.

It was all an act, though. Jinyoung already knew. Mark’s abilities were their own little secret.

Jinyoung stretched his arm to its full length. The jar of sweets was just a fingertip away, but it was a fingertip length that neither Mark nor Jinyoung possessed. When Jinyoung sighed in defeat and gave up in his efforts, he asked Mark to put him down. The younger climbed off of Mark’s shoulders with a disappointed face.

“Let me try,” Mark said.

Jinyoung shrugged and leaned down so that Mark could get on his shoulders, the tall refrigerator the only obstacle between them and the snacks they so desired that were resting on top. Mark never climbed onto Jinyoung, though. When the younger looked up, Mark was on the shoulders of himself. Two of himselves, actually. With the added height, the Mark on top was able to grab the jar and toss it down to a surprised Jinyoung.

The two other Marks disappeared until it was just one Mark smiling at Jinyoung. The latter looked between the jar and Mark several times before smiling widely.

“Whoa! Are you magic?”

“Not magic. Just supernatural,” Mark responded triumphantly.

Jinyoung laughed happily as he dug into the jar of sweets, tossing Mark the other’s favorites and stuffing his pockets with his own selections.

“So can you help me put it back?”

Jinyoung accepted Mark for who he was. Even though his friend was not a supernatural, Jinyoung never thought he was weird. They were best friends. They did everything together. Nothing could tear them apart. Jinyoung promised that he would keep Mark’s abilities a secret from everyone because that was what best friends did.

It was not Jinyoung that let Mark’s secret get out. This fact pierced Mark like a sharp knife. It made his head throb in pain and regret.

Mark watched in shock as the other boys pushed Jinyoung to the ground. He shouted angrily at the bullies, trying to make his voice sound grown up and not squeaky like the young child he was. The bullies were a couple years older, already in middle school. They were notorious for picking on everyone, especially those that stood up to them.

Jinyoung was never one to back down.

When the bullies pushed Mark to the ground, too, Jinyoung scrambled up and launched himself at the other boys. He would not let anyone hurt his best friend. His little fists tried to punch the bullies, but the other boys did nothing but laugh at his attempts to fight.

“You meanies! You horrible, horrible mean bullies!”

The largest of the boys grabbed Jinyoung’s arms roughly, and the young kid let out a cry of pain.

Suddenly, there were three Marks surrounding the large boy and grabbing at his arms. The bully let go in shock, blinking in surprise at what he thought was a hallucination. But then there were four, five, six, seven Marks surrounding them all. Some of the Marks were smirking, some were laughing, and some were glaring in hatred.

Whereas Jinyoung looked on in fascination, the bullies looked all around them in confusion and fear. They screamed with high-pitched, unmanly voices before trying to run away. A couple more Marks appeared in order to trip them during their escape, some of the bullies stumbling and one even falling flat on his face.

When they were gone, the real Mark immediately kneeled down by Jinyoung and helped him stand up. The younger gave his friend a big, teary hug.

Rumors began to spread quickly among the kids at school. Mark was a magician, a wizard, a monster, an alien. He could make clones of himself that grew fangs and possessed super strength. He bullied kids twice his age into doing whatever he asked them to.

Everyone except Jinyoung was scared of Mark. Jinyoung therefore became part of the rumors as well. Mark manipulated him into being his friend. Jinyoung was one of Mark’s clones but made to look different. Jinyoung was an alien, too, that probably had weird powers of his own.

After the rumors had spread around school, they began to spread to the children’s families as well. Soon, even the adults were scared of Mark and Jinyoung, warning their kids to stay away from the two freaks. Those that brushed off the rumors as childhood imagination began to question things when nearly every child was saying the same thing. Even Jinyoung’s parents became wary, questioning Jinyoung every time their child spoke of playing with Mark.

The rumors of Mark’s ability became too widespread to control, but they were still passed through hushed voices and whispered conversations as if saying it any louder would make the rumors real. It was not until more people experienced Mark’s ability that the situation became out of control, and Mark’s life was changed forever.

The outdoor market was busy with people shopping, the narrow path between the two walls of stalls and street vendors barely wide enough for the crowd of people. Mark and Jinyoung, however, were racing between people’s legs to see who could reach the end of the market street first. Because Jinyoung’s body was still smaller than Mark’s, the other glided through the shoppers with ease while Mark kept unintentionally bumping into crotchety old ladies.

Not wanting to lose to his younger friend, Mark created a couple clones of himself to throw Jinyoung off and to forge a path up ahead for Mark to weave through. Before Jinyoung could yell at Mark for cheating, though, they heard a scream from a young girl.

“There-There’s two of him!” she said breathlessly, pointing to two of the Marks. In a split second, everyone had turned around to stare at the Marks, backing away until a circle began to form around the multiple copies, fingers pointing and screams echoing between the buildings. Mark recognized many children from his school out shopping with their families. If the adults did not believe their children before, they did now.

As camera’s began to flash, Mark instinctively raised his hands over his face. He did not see, but he could hear his mother and father shouting, pushing through the crowd until they, too, were in the small clearing with Mark and Jinyoung. The people surrounding them became angrier, converging on the Tuan family and Jinyoung, demanding an explanation. Mrs. Tuan held onto the now singular Mark and Jinyoung, all of their hearts beating rapidly in fear.

The field officers called in for their emergency service said the job would take over two months. They would have to Memrase all the children at Mark’s school, including their families. All the vendors and spectators at the market were on the list as well. The official count was well over 1,500 people. Their services were not cheap, either. The incident cost Mark’s parents so much money that they even needed to beg distant relatives to help them out.

A couple days later, Mrs. Tuan invited Jinyoung over and sat him and Mark at the table across from Mr. Tuan. Her eyes watered with unshed tears. While Mr. Tuan tried to look intimidating, he more so looked worn out and sad. He explained the situation slowly to Mark and Jinyoung, emphasizing the consequences of people finding out about supernaturals and the financial burden that was now placed upon the Tuan family.

Jinyoung began to cry after just a few sentences from Mr. Tuan. Mark could tell he felt responsible for what happened. He wished his friend did not feel that way.

Hearing a knock at the door, Mrs. Tuan wiped at her eyes and hurried to greet the visitor. A low voice offered a polite greeting before following Mrs. Tuan into the room where everyone was gathered. The man walked in, dressed in a full black suit and black bowler hat. To young Mark and Jinyoung, he looked larger than life, his features too sharp and his gaze too intense and intimidating.

“Boys, this is Mr. Choi Dongwook, the Chief Privacy Officer at the company that protects people like us.”

Mr. Choi took of his hat and offered a small smile and a bow to the young boys, as well as to Mr. Tuan. Mark could tell his smile was forced. He squeezed Jinyoung’s hand even tighter to reassure his sniffling friend.

“I’m not one to offer much small talk, so I will get straight to the point,” the intimidating man began once everyone was seated once again. “All of you should understand by now the widespread consequences of this accident and the burden it has pl