The news of the cripple’s enrolment travelled inevitably fast.

It started from the hallways where some students saw the cripple appear from the principle’s office wearing an unusual set and a lanyard. The set consisted of a navy blue cardigan, a white cotton button down and black trousers- a stark contrast to the usual royal blue blazers and silk shirts every other superhuman wore to exhibit their status. Cloaks made of silk and encrusted with real diamonds along the hem were designed for Ganghan’s megahumans, the rare kind. There were only two of those in the entire institute.

The new student had a wintry look in his eyes, his posture stoic as he made eye contact with the two girls curiously peeking out from behind a wall and the young boy standing by his locker reaching for his sports kit. His long black hair had been neatly gelled away from his face and his clothes were ironed and clean. He didn’t look like a cripple at first glance, but the girls had overheard some of their conversation and were more than aware that the new student standing before them was their inferior. The simplicity of the set he wore said it all.

Once the principle’s door was safely locked shut, the cripple was told to follow swiftly behind towards his new form base where he would be introduced to his tutor representative and form group. The two girls exchanged a look of mischief once the cripple’s back was turned and the boy by the locker spared no time before he was scarpering off towards the gym to tell the other boys .

In less than forty-five minutes, nearly every student was aware of Jung Daehyun’s arrival.

It was expected, since cripples hardly ever passed the entry requirements unless their grades were phenomenal. Being a cripple meant that you were the school’s punching bag, so achieving the said phenomenal grades in previous schools were difficult as a result of the recurring physical and mental torment inflicted by their peers of greater ability. Bullying was something hardly any cripple could escape from, which is why it came as a shock to the student body of Ganghan that the transfer student was a measly cripple from Alumni, another high-rank school in New Korea.

As the dormitories stirred to the break of dawn and the corridors began to overflow with students piling into early morning classes, the abrupt rustling of the intercom signalled the announcement of an important event leaving students and professors to put a pause to their doings and pay attention. Everything stills as they wait for the official confirmation of Jung Daehyun’s transferal. It’s a standard procedure for the students who newly transfer to the prestigious establishment to be formally introduced through an intercom built into every corridor and classroom for protocol and to avoid any complications following their identity. Now was the moment in which the rumours flying around Jung Daehyun were either deemed true or false, and everyone was greedy to know the verdict.

“Fresh meat,” chortles Kiko, the lilac-haired girl who overheard the principle’s conversation with the cripple in the corridor. She, and her sidekick Anda were sat in the common room with a few other students, eating some buttered croissants for breakfast when she smirked deviously at the girl beside her. Mirroring her expression, Anda cackles devilishly, anticipating the system’s robotic voice to confirm their findings. These girls represented the nature of the world outside and how cripples were helplessly preyed on despite their successes. They’d already concocted a few ideas on how to make life miserable for the transfer student if he really did turn out to be their inferior.

The loud siren that sounds prior to the message gets everyone in their dorms up and alert, even for those who had classes in the afternoon. The siren wasn’t a choice. It was an obligation. All the students needed to be awake and attentive to the news the system brought forth as it could signal an emergency or an important ceremony that could apply to any and all members of the institute.

“You better be telling the truth you moron, about this whole cripple thing,” Jackson seethes, hitting the boy sitting in front of him with his basketball. The ball rebounds and he catches it, earning a glare from Jinyoung— the one who had been standing around the lockers at the time Daehyun was escorted from the principle’s office.

“I know what I heard .” Jinyoung uses his towel to whip the older boy on the leg, annoyed that he had the slightest audacity to threaten him. All the boys in the gymnasium didn’t believe him when he came in with the news, but as the siren went on more and the more of the boys started to act like hyenas, becoming excitable over the possibility that the newcomer was a potential scapegoat. This was major news. This meant they had someone to prey on for once, someone they can play and toy around with until they were begging at their feet for mercy. Perhaps even someone to practice their abilities on, like a dummy. Jinyoung felt pity for the cripple, because he has no idea what was coming to him. The College of Ganghan was the last place any cripple dared to mess with, at any expense.

“Yah, get up. I’m not dragging your weight if there’s an emergency,” Himchan tiredly moans, smacking his roommate with one of his pillows. The siren continues to blare through the college, it’s tedious ring beating down the multiple hallways and forcing anyone asleep to wake immediately. “Yah!”

“Alright I’m up!” Getting another face full of pillow Minhyuk is finally sitting up on his elbows, squinting at Himchan who sat slumped over in the bed next to his. His eyes were still half shut, dirt sticking to the ends as he tiredly withdrew the pillow and placed it neatly back to where it belonged. The pair of them turn to the empty bed beside Himchan, each wearing a puzzled expression, as Zelo was nowhere to be seen.

“Where the f—?”

Suddenly the door is thrown open and Himchan’s question is answered before he could finish, staring tiredly at the third roommate.

“There he is.” Answers Minhyuk, glaring at the lanky first-year student who seemed to know what was going on.

“Guys, you’re not going to believe this.” Zelo interrupts, quickly closing the door behind him to block out the intensity of the siren coming from outside.

“What’s with the siren?” Himchan asks, groggily. Zelo makes a beeline around the dirty clothes, dishes and food packaging towards his bed where he quickly strips off his nightwear and slings on a fresh shirt from his sack. “There’s a new student,” he pants, slipping his thin arms through the sleeves and grabbing a pair of new boxer shorts. “But that’s not all,” he adds before Himchan could moan about his beauty sleep being destroyed for some ordinary, rich superhuman with average looks and a dull sense of style. “Apparently he’s a cripple.”

Despite the siren, Himchan heard Zelo loud and clear. He and Minhyuk share a look of disbelief. “Cripple? That’s impossible.” Himchan states, his eyebrows knitted together in concern.

“Cripples have never passed the entry requirements to Ganghan. It’s virtually impossible, this would make history!” exclaims Minhyuk, now fully alert.

“Well, we’re about to find out.” Zelo smirks, throwing them some clean towels. “Get up. Let’s go grab something from the canteen. We might be able to introduce ourselves.”

Himchan sends the two other boys in his room a perplexed look. “I’m not befriending some stupid, insignificant little cripple. Are you insane?” he barks, getting up to put on a shirt. Zelo and Minhyuk pause their excitement.

“I thought you would be more understanding, hyung.” Himchan sends Zelo a sharp look. He may be a healer, but he was never a cripple sympathiser.

“But who knows, he might be cool?” Minhyuk reasons, raising his eyebrows at Himchan’s icy response.

“Yeah, after all, he is the first cripple to step past the sacred thresholds of the most prestigious institute in the whole of New Korea, right? It takes a lot of courage to do that you know.” Zelo adds, sending the healer a pointed look. Himchan begins to think he is the only one with a reputation to maintain. Superhumans hardly ever associated themselves with their inferiors unless they were their servants or accidentally born into superhuman families. Friendship with a cripple was seen as ‘stooping to their level’ and Himchan had too much pride in himself to even consider doing such a thing. All he wanted was there to be a generous distance between himself and the cripple, if the rumour were to be true.

Before Himchan could bite back with another insensitive remark about cripples, the siren comes to an abrupt stop and the boys hold their breath, making eye contact with one another from across the room. This was it. This was part where the automated voice would crack through the system and reveal what they’ve all been waiting for. Minhyuk looks nervously between the two other boys in his room feeling the hairs on is arms and the back of his neck stand. Zelo swallows down a lump and Himchan breaks into a sweat despite the early morning chill. It was so quiet a pindrop could be heard across the entire institute.

“Good morning all.” Sounds the monotone voice of the system. The boys straighten up at the voice purely on instinct, tilting their heads up towards the intercom. “Today’s announcement is in regards to the new student who has just been enrolled into our beloved College of Ganghan. Please give a warm welcome to, Jung Daehyun. Transferred from, Alumni Technology College. Age, eighteen and three months. Bloodline, weak. Power level, null. Status, cripple. May your first day at Ganghan be a memorable one.” 

“Oh, it’ll be memorable alright.” Snickered Minhyuk. You didn’t need to be a cripple to know what would come once you’ve transferred into a place at this level of prestige. The cripple was like fresh deer meat to a pack of hungry lions. Dead. 

“Holy ,” Himchan gasps, disbelieving everything he’d just heard. This was impossible. This was not happening right now. “Did I just hear that correctly?”

“You damn did.” Zelo speaks, just as flabbergasted by the news as the others. The rumours were true after all. A cripple had made it into one of the greatest educatory institutes on the entire planet, despite being a nobody. Despite having a weak bloodline and despite being everybody else’s inferior. He was officially a student of Ganghan. But what did that mean for Ganghan’s reputation now that a cripple had torn their way through its walls and made it their own? Did it make him powerful too?

Minhyuk slowly grabs his towel as Himchan could be seen seething on top of his bedcovers, his strong brows forced together and steam literally blowing out of his ears. Minhyuk was going to take that shower now that the news has been delivered. He wanted a take on the hallway gossip that was probably spreading around the four blocks like wildfire. Zelo quickly hurries out of the room with his blazer leaving Himchan to reach desperately for his cell phone. He needed a word with the student management department upon this matter, for it strung along a series of repercussions.

“Has everyone lost their minds?!“ he barks into the reciever, making a hunt for his gown. He could already hear the students talking loudly through the walls over the matter. People were laughing, mocking and shouting over the fact that there was a cripple among them. The first cripple to ever pass the iron gates of New Korea’s most privileged institute of further education when it was seen as nothing but impossible. It was ridiculous.

Himchan gets carried away by the sea of students pouring through the tight corridors, cell in one hand and his robe in the other. He tries to speak over the noise, his cheeks getting redder by the minute because the person on the other end could hardly hear him and he was getting roughly shoved this way and that. There was commotion in every angle, students voicing their sinister plans for the inferior whilst others conversed purely from shock. Himchan could even hear some of of the girls doting on his apparently good-looks, claiming he’s one of the best looking cripples they’ve ever seen and that they would love to make a meal out of him, in whatever way they saw fit.

Himchan no longer knows what to make out of this situation other than a headache. “There needs to be a council meeting over this. Either he gets mauled to death by the surplus of elitists or we force him to leave by terminating his entry certificate. There’s no other way around this.” Himchan swiftly ends the call and forces his way into the common room that was now packed to the thresholds with bodies and filled with unrelenting gossip. He needed a coffee. An incredibly strong coffee, at that.

Meanwhile, amidst the hustle and bustle of the cafeteria, Zelo was busy skimming the crowds for the newcomer. He knew it’d be easy to spot him considering the difference in his set, but the chances of him being in here when the students were behaving like a pack of vultures were little to none. He was probably in a lesson or with his mentor having a briefing session about the school and its policies— a lecture every new student had the misfortune to bear in the beginning. Zelo is just about to take off in the direction towards the east wing when one of the megahumans saunter their way through the cafeteria doors. Without even needing to lift a finger, the students part like the red sea to make way for the megahuman who wore a bored expression with both hands stuffed into the front of his trouser pockets. His nose was held high and his entry screamed power as students scrambled around like rats to make sure they were out of his way. His name was Yoo Youngjae, the only male megahuman to grace the floors of Ganghan. The other megahuman was a dainty young woman called Han Sunhwa, the school’s goddess of both looks and power. Her whereabouts in the building were still unknown.

Youngjae stalks over to a table he claimed his own before taking a seat and whispering into the ear of one of his servants. At every megahuman’s side there were at least two servants ready to aid to their every need. They were specially programmed for that individual megahuman to cater to every command and fulfil their every wish, disobedience resulted in instant disposal, and that was hardly ever the case. In seconds, the scrawny young servant was scarpering off towards the salad bar where he skipped the queue and dived straight for the fruit bowl that Youngjae ordered, not a single superhuman batted an eyelash. When there’s a servant, there’s always a megahuman, and superhumans never messed with what belonged to the megahumans because they are the Alphas. They’re the ones who are in complete and utter control, leaving close acquaintances to hold some degree of power. Youngjae begins to pour himself a glass of water when he gets approached by the school’s publisher.

His name was Daniel, he wasn’t just a publisher but also a visual, nearly all the girls wet their when he did as little as walk by. He was obviously hungry for the king’s opinion on the latest news. Zelo watches closely as Kang Daniel smoothly slid himself onto the bench opposite the megahuman, his eyes lit and his face plastered with a joker-like smile. Youngjae gently collects his fruit from the servant that had just arrived to his table and he cracks open the lid with patience, listening quietly to Daniel’s question. He behaved almost as if no one was there, his every move graceful like a delicate white swan on an open blue lake. It was this very gracefulness about Youngjae that made him the most ethereal being to everyone in Ganghan. People often joked that he were the institute’s Goddess instead of Sunhwa. Even she sometimes couldn’t compare to Youngjae’s elegance.

“What do you have to say about the cripple’s enrolment, Youngjae-ssi?” Daniel confidently asks, causing a crowd of curious onlookers to surround the table. Youngjae doesn’t take a bite of his salad until he provides Daniel with an answer. After gently removing his fork from its packaging, he looks up and says, “I congratulate him for his unique fortune.” He then proceeds to eat before Daniel fires another question.

“Do you see yourself interacting with our new student?” he probes. Zelo freezes, also curious to hear the king’s answer. His words were the only words that mattered.

“I do not, and I will never have any business to do with the cripple. I will not defame my reputation for an inferior, regardless of his accomplishments.”

“I see. So what do you think this means for Ganghan’s reputation?” Daniel was really pressing his limits at this point. Youngjae sends the obnoxious publisher a look of pure annoyance.

“Was that not enough juice for your latest publication? I would like to continue my breakfast without further interruption.” The question is left unanswered as Youngjae continues his meal, ignoring Kang Daniel who smirked and leaned away from the table.

“Of course, Youngjae-ssi. I’ll leave you to continue.” He stands and exits, pushing through the small crowd of students who tittered softly between themselves. Zelo looks between Youngjae and the publisher in confusion, before turning on his heels and chasing after the latter.

“Have you met him? Do you know what he looks like? Do you know where he could be?” Zelo asks all too quickly, tailing behind Daniel like a lost dog. The elder turns around and sends the shapeshifter a small hiss between his teeth.

“Mind your own business, you imbecile.” Daniel starts the other way again, only to have the junior follow him persistently with a series of questions pounding into his eardrums. Daniel rolls his eyes and tries to avoid the corridors clustered with crazed superhumans reeling from the news by entering one of the emptier hallways. It was the longer route to getting him where he needed to be, but he’d rather be pestered by one superhuman than by a bunch of them. Being the college publishing leader had its perks— Daniel happened to be one of the very few students who knew of the cripple’s whereabouts. But unlike most superhumans, he was polite enough to keep that information to himself. He didn’t need a flock of nosey superhumans trying to squeeze out information until his bones went dry. 

“You’ll find him in your own time. He wont be hard to notice.” Daniel spits, before he is barging into the publishing team’s office. The door slams in Zelo’s face and that draws an end to his attempts at getting any details from the infamous publisher. 

“I don’t need you anyway. I’ll find him myself.” He huffs, angrily jabbing the door with his foot. 

Sunhwa strides into the cafeteria a few minutes after Daniel’s brief intrusion on Youngjae’s morning meal because she had recieved a letter from the vice principal. She enters with a herd of admirers and her own pair of servants before she places herself opposite her male counterpart. The latter mutters a small greeting, but his attention is drawn to his hand device that displayed an array of notifications coming from the college’s bulletin board.

Sunhwa is provided with a yoghurt pot and a spoon, to which she bluntly ignores. Her focus was on Youngjae who had been pretending as though he weren’t accustomed to the news flying around the whole school.

“A meeting has been arranged for all higher tier pupils to attend in order to discuss today’s events. I have been told that our presence is required without discussion.” Sunhwa starts, both palms settled in her lap. Her shoulders stood straight and her eyes were locked on the other megahuman, almost as though they were taunting him for some kind of reaction. He continues to scroll down the endless messages, seeing the words roll one after the other but not actually reading them for depth or meaning. Sunhwa decides to continue. 

“According to the vice principal he will encounter a series of tests to determine whether he really fits the school’s values and expectations—”

“There is nothing to discuss.” Youngjae sighs, slamming his phone down onto the table. The impact of the metal hitting the hard wooden surface makes Sunhwa jump in her chair.  “He succeeded the entry requirements, there’s nothing more to it.” Youngjae coldly adds. 

“He is a cripple.” Sunhwa laments.

Youngjae looks up from the bulletin and into Sunhwa’s eyes. “Being crippled does not correlate to being unintelligent.”

“But he will face a lot of criticism for being in this type of environment.”

“And that is for him to handle and for us to ignore. Now if you’ll excuse me,” Youngjae stands from his table and looks down at his double, his eyes flickering to a subtle shade of pink that does not go unnoticed by the female. “I have somewhere I need to be.” And with that, he takes his prompt leave with his cloak fluttering after him and his servants following suit. The low murmurs stir once again, filling the cafeteria with a mild hum until the megahuman is completely out of earshot. He and Sunhwa always fought for the last word, but unsurprisingly, he was always the one to have it.

He manages to find just who he was looking for almost immediately because they were just on their way to the cafeteria, their presence alone waking all the megahuman’s senses. He spots Youngjae and freezes, allowing the megahuman to swoop in and steal him away. Youngjae grasps him by the wrist when no one is looking and pulls him along into an empty classroom, locking the door from behind once they were both inside.

“I sensed you were nearby.” Youngjae breathes alluringly, pressing his body against the other until he was held captive against the door. “Your classes don’t start until mid afternoon.” Youngjae notes, knowing nearly everything about the man before him. He his lips and leans closer, forcing the other to retract until the back of his head met the wood in objection.

“My sleep was disturbed by the siren.” He mutters, looking down at Youngjae’s mouth fanning just over his own. He was too close. He tries to push the younger away, only to have him press harder. He was stronger, after all.

“I will have them adjust a new system to stop that from happening again.” Youngjae replies, his eyes still glowing from his obvious emotions towards the elder.

“No, you don’t have to do anything.” He asserts, his expression hardening at Youngjae’s willingness to do anything for him. He didn’t want things to be this way. He didn’t need Youngjae to hold him as his possession when he wanted nothing to do with the megahuman. 

He stares into the swirls of pink flaring in the megahuman’s eyes and quickly diverts his gaze to the ground where they were safe from Youngjae’s devious plan. He was not going to allow himself to fall victim to the younger’s use of hypnosis to lure him in. He did that often when to get what he wanted, but the traveller would never let him have his way with him. It has been several months since the megahuman grew unrequited feelings for the time traveller, and the male saw no way of getting him to stop his pursuit. When Youngjae wanted something, he would fight until he got it and to the traveller’s dismay, he somehow got tangled up in Youngjae’s web of infatuation. The pair were worlds apart in all aspects, not to mention that they are both of the same gender making things even more complicated by tenfold. Those two things were enough to cause a major scandal at Ganghan, especially where Youngjae was concerned. He was of a much greater level to the traveller, who was a lower-tier in all fields of superhuman ability. He was so out of Youngjae’s league that seeing a future with him was beyond all kinds of impossible.

The time traveller nearly goes cross-eyed from the proximity between their faces, his palms growing moist from sweat and his mind starting to reel at the possibility of them getting caught. It was becoming a routine— being dragged into cramped spaces and empty classrooms just to tell Youngjae no. He pitied the higher-tier for feeling the way that he did, but he knew of no way to overcome his emotions. At first he revelled in the pride of having Yoo Youngjae’s attention, the most powerful student in the institute, but as time went on, his pride began to wilt. The affection started to grow stronger and more problematic. Things escalated to a point where the pair found themselves using their abilities to harm each other. Youngjae became more desperate in his pursuit, despite the traveller’s reluctance to go forth and it began to scare him. He would travel into the future only to learn he would hurt Youngjae more and more with each passing day and he tried all he could to put a stop to everything not just for himself, but for the sake of Youngjae as well. He feared Youngjae might do things to hurt himself if this continued, but the traveller could only go so far into the future. No matter how hard the elder tried to convince Youngjae that it was impossible, the latter would insist that there was perhaps a slight sliver of a chance they could be happy together which the traveller refused to acknowledge.

“Youngjae.” He takes a hold of Youngjae’s shoulders and squeezes them until he has the younger boy’s full attention. He is tired and frustrated with this game of push and pull. He doesn’t want to be involved with the megahuman anymore. “How many times must I tell you for you to understand? It will never happen between us.” The hands holding his shoulders push him away and Youngjae is left watching his lover with dejection, the pink flare in his irises slowly losing their colour.

“Jaebum…” The said male shields his eyes from Youngjae’s large, devious ones and spins around, diving for the lock and freeing himself from the room. “Jaebum!”

Youngjae tries to follow after the traveller as fast as he could but like always, he loses him almost immediately to the sea of students moving in and out of lessons. With his vision blurred by tears and his mind laboured under a thousand thoughts, Youngjae bursts out of the classroom and into the arms of a tall figure in navy blue uniform and polished black shoes. He doesn’t need to look at the lanyard hanging over the cardigan to know who it was. The uniqueness of his attire said it all.

“I think your exit out of that classroom door just cost you a new headline.” The cripple whispers, making sure to say it right against Youngjae’s ear so that no one else could hear but him. The whole corridor was looking at them now, their eyes feasting on the way the cripple’s exceptionally large hands held the disoriented megahuman in place.

Unable to face the embarrassment, Youngjae keeps his gaze rooted to the floor, his pupils dilated and shaking from the shock of the situation. His grip tightens on Daehyun’s cardigan until his nails were scratching through the fabric. His fingers could be felt quivering against the seams. Daehyun looks from the students down to Youngjae’s luscious head of hair that lay against his shoulder. It was obvious that he was too scared to do or say a thing in case the students would begin to laugh and point fingers and snap pictures on their hand devices.  But something needed to be done, and Youngjae had no other choice but to take action as well as be fast about it. 

“Don’t move.” He finally whispers. 

The hall is suddenly submerged into a bleak darkness before a flurry of pinks surge out of Youngjae’s being. As if the sun ceased to exist for that particular moment, the hallway is solely lit by the bright beams of pink and white running along the walls and windows. Ribbons of dust fall over the eyes of the onlookers and in seconds the corridor is violently delved into a pink, dreamlike atmosphere. Shades of vibrant fuchsias drown out the white and yellow tones of sun streaming through the glass and in a sea of pink light, blinding streams of fuchsia glitters and scintillating hot pinks cover the walls and ceiling.

The onlookers stand as though they were turned to stone, their eyes glazed by the dust cast by the megahuman who simply stood motionless against Daehyun, fingers still gripping into the rich fabric of his blue cardigan. The cripple has to shield his eyes to be able to see what was going on around him, everything had appeared so bright and mystical that he couldn’t fathom it was reality, as if he had just fallen into some sort of world where everything was dyed a deep, shade of pink. Through the commotion of colours and blinding lights, the cripple slowly comes to terms with what was going on around him. He looks down at the culprit to the mass hypnosis taking forth and realises just how powerful Ganghan’s only male megahuman truly was. And how breath-taking he looked, too.

Yoo Youngjae, level 10, obtains the ultimate power of hypnosis and cognitive manipulation. Is often perceived to be a seductress due to his alluring style of speech, dress and his rose red lips.

After letting go of Daehyun’s cardigan, Youngjae disappears into another extravagant concoction of pink dust and light, leaving Daehyun in awe standing in the middle of the corridor with no qualms of the people standing around him. Everything goes back to normal, as if the hallways was not just submerged under Youngjae’s enchanting rays of hypnosis and as if their minds had not just been wiped clean of Youngjae’s embarrassing fall, or the way he clung to his inferior’s plain uniform. Daehyun lets go of the breath he didn’t know he was holding and watches as his surroundings gradually moulded back to how they once were. As soon as the students regained their consciousness, Daehyun heard his name being thrown around again in sheer animosity and disgust. But despite all the jeering, the mocking, the whistles and the name-calling coming from the other students who acknowledged who he was, only one thing lay on his mind after that incident and that was Youngjae. 

The pretty boy with the large brown eyes and lustrous dark hair. The boy he’d heard of but never seen up until that moment. The boy who held all the power in just one blink of a searing pink eye and feathery lash, Yoo Youngjae. 

a/n - willing to answer any questions you may have! 

what do you guys think of the first chapter? i've had this chapter up for agessss but i was too scared to post it (   /_\ )

im really rubbish at fantasy but i thought i'd give this genre a shot?

thanks for reading ^^