The Rise of the Defender of the Public

Vision: A Neo Era

Jae Hyun was running late for class. Jae Hyun was never late for class. But it just so happened that Tae Yong and Johnny wanted to discuss some extra matters with him the night before and he wasn’t able to go to sleep until two in the morning. Not that he minded that much, but he still had his summer classes to attend early in the morning and he ended up missing his English class. Now he was running late for his business class.

Knowing his professor from that class already hated him, he figured it would be best to not show up at all than to show up late. But then there were also the matters of his project that he had to discuss with Do Young since they had already gone a lot of days without working on it. That was what had him using his super speed as soon as he woke up and saw how late he was running, having him rushing through the halls until he was running at average speed and crashing into someone. 

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” Jae Hyun apologized, quickly bending down to pick up the objects the person had dropped. “I’m running late for class and I didn’t see where I was going so-”

Jae Hyun stopped rambling when he saw who he had run into. He was tall, handsome, dark-haired, and had the most beautiful, sparkling, doe-shaped eyes he had ever seen. He was completely and utterly in awe. “Uh-I-” Jae Hyun began to stutter as he handed the stranger his things back.

“Thank you,” The stranger said, a warm smile appearing on his face. “I wasn’t looking where I was walking either.”

Jae Hyun just nodded, unable to say anything else. The stranger cleared his throat, maintaining his smile and extending a hand out. “I’m Gong Myung,” He introduced himself.

“I-I’m Jae Hyun,” He introduced himself back as he hesitantly took the guy’s hand and shook it. And it wasn’t until that moment that it hit him that he was still running late for class and he let out a small gasp. “Oh my gosh I’m late for class!”

And before Gong Myung could say anything else, Jae Hyun had already run away, as fast as the speed of light, while praying his ears weren't red.

 

When Jae Hyun walked into class, the loud chatter he could hear from outside the classroom died down.

“Why are you late?!” His professor demanded.

“I overslept.” Jae Hyun responded casually, but deep down he was scared of his professor. Everyone laughed at his response to their professor, well, all but one.

The professor sighed, rolling her eyes.

“Take your seat and please don’t disrupt the class for your mistake. Next time I won’t be so lenient.” She said sternly and continued her lesson.

Ouch.

Jae Hyun walked to the back of class with a sheepish expression on his face. He could feel a specific pair of eyes on him but ignored it since he could already feel his ears burn. He hesitantly took out his journal and textbook for that class and tried to absorb as much as he could from the lesson but he missed a good chunk of class (his excuse instead of saying he ). He felt strangely drowsy and ended up falling asleep after trying to pay attention in class.

He only woke up after realizing the main reason why he even showed up, and right on time it seemed; Do young was just done packing up his things. Jae Hyun just shoved his journal and whatever he was writing with and ran to catch up to Do Young.

He gently pulled his arm. “What?” Do Young asked, almost glaring at the boy.

“W-we haven’t worked on our project yet and-” Do Young cut Jae Hyun off in the middle of his sentence.

“Call me tomorrow after five, I already told you I’m busy Mondays.” Do Young said and left. Jae Hyun stood there for a while before getting yelled at by his professor to leave.

 


 

“Honestly, I don’t need the break!” Jae Min had pleaded, throwing an arm up in the air to make himself look more convincing while holding his death drink in his other hand. “I’m really okay!” Everyone in the room had only looked at each other, exchanging knowing looks before they turned back to him and shook their heads. And that was how he had ended up sitting in a park bench with Jeno, reading other people’s minds and emotions as a sort of superpower therapy because everyone was worried he would have another power freak-out.

“Those two seem to be in love,” Jeno said, eyes focusing on a couple that walked by the pond.

“Nah, he just wants ,” Jae Min said, shaking his head disapprovingly as he leaned back on the bench. “Poor girl.”

“Ew, I just read his mind and you’re right,” Jeno said as he quickly turned away, shivering with disgust written all over his face.

“What about them?” Jae Min said as he looked over at two guys that were laughing loudly at something they watched on one of their phones. “They look like two dudebros who sometimes makeout.”

“Hmm,” Jeno hummed as he concentrated on reading the guy’s minds. “I can only hear their thoughts on the video they’re watching.”

“Oooh, now is a good time to practice reading further into people’s minds,” Jae Min said, lightly shoving the other boy’s shoulder.

Jeno nodded. “Okay, but if I go too far, make sure to snap me out of it,” He said and the other boy nodded. With a breath, he closed his eyes and began to concentrate, trying to focus on his target. When he was located he began to concentrate further, trying to reach far into his mind, past his current thoughts, looking through older thoughts, memories. And he stayed like that for a few seconds, eyes closed and a concentrated look on his face.

“Jeno?” Jae Min asked, and Jeno snapped out of it, blinking up at the boy.

“Yeah, two dudebros who sometimes makeout,” Jeno confirmed with a nod.

Jae Min smiled proudly, not at how his predictions about the guys were correct, but at how Jeno seemed to have much better, further advanced control of his powers these days. It was like day by day he was finding new abilities and techniques with his powers. It only made sense though, because he actually tried developing them. But Jae Min still remembered one of the first times he tried and had gone too far and began to have that same overwhelming pain from hearing too many things at once. Luckily Jae Min was able to snap him out of it though.

“You’re doing so good with your powers,” Jae Min said, bumping his shoulder against Jeno’s.

“Of course.” Jeno smiled proudly. “With practice maybe one day I’ll become like Charles Xavier sunbaenim.” Jae Min snorted. “But you should also try developing your powers too, you know?”

“I try,” Jae Min pouted as he crossed his arms. “I just don’t try as much.”

“Exactly.” Jeno shook his head disapprovingly. “You could do so much more than just read people’s emotions. What if you could make people really feel things? Or see people’s auras like in that one drama!”

“Really, you think I could do that?” Jae Min asked with raised eyebrows. “Hmm, let me try.”

Jeno nodded, and began to look around the park before finding a target; A middle-aged man sitting at one of the benches reading the newspaper. “Him!”

Jae Min nodded and began to concentrate. He stared at the man, eyes focusing like a camera. His fingers started to move, wriggling like waves, helping his powers remain under control. See his aura, He thought as kept his focus. See it. . .

And then he blinked.

One moment it was there, and the next it wasn’t. The faint, almost foggy, pink surrounding the man had appeared, making Jae Min gasp. But as quick as it came, it disappeared.

“I saw it!” Jae Min said with a smile as he turned to Jeno. But then he frowned. “And then it disappeared. I wonder why.”

“Maybe you need to work it up?” Jeno suggested with a shrug.

Jae Min sighed, mumbling a smile ‘maybe’ as he turned around once again. His eyes lifted from the ground, deciding to not give up yet. And then he saw it- him. The very same boy that had him falling to the ground the last time he had seen him. He gasped once again, eyes going wide as he turned to look at Jeno.

“That’s him!” Jae Min yelled as he pointed at the boy. “That’s the pretty boy I saw last time!”

“The one that made you lose control?!” Jeno asked, almost as shocked as Jae Min was. They ce again, looking for the boy until they found him sitting on the soft grass by the pond, leaning against a tree as he scribbled something into a sketchbook. “Oh, you’re right, he is pretty.”

Jae Min sent Jeno a look, but didn’t say anything. Instead the two boys stood up and began to walk over to the guy. They were slow, as if they were scared he was going to run off. And when they finally got close, they exchanged a look and fully walked over to the boy.

But as they were walking over, it was like he could feel their presence, and his head snapped up. And that was the first time Jae Min was able to look at him clearly. His dark eyes and round eyes, his soft skin, his pink lips. He really was pretty. And he was completely sure this was the same boy that he had seen the other day, no doubt about it in his mind.

Jae Min hadn’t noticed he was staring, looking straight into the stranger’s eyes, until Jeno was inside his mind telling him to snap out of it. He then cleared his throat, taking a few steps closer to the stranger, and going down to his knees because he didn’t feel comfortable just looking down at him the whole time. Jeno followed along.

“Hi, uh,” Jae Min didn’t know what to say. Many times over the past week he had imagined what it would be like to encounter the pretty boy once again, but never had actually thought about what he would say. Was he supposed to just introduce himself? Or get straight to it? He mentally shook his head and decided to just speak. He was always a smooth talker, after all. “I’m Jae Min and you must be the pretty boy I saw the other day around here.”

Jeno facepalmed, and Jae Min smiled wide; his infamous toothy grin. The boy didn’t react though. Instead he scanned him, and then glanced at Jeno. And he didn’t say anything and Jae Min was starting to feel like an idiot, but he didn’t drop his smile. He just stayed there uncomfortably.

“I don’t think so,” The boy finally spoke. Jae Min frowned, taken back by the unexpected answer. Was this not that pretty boy? No, it had to be him. Jae Min was 100% sure of it. So, did he not remember him? How could someone not remember an incident like the one that had happened? Jae Min clearly remembered this boy kneeling down besides him, a pained expression on his face while he was passing out. They had a moment! How could he not remember that?!

And Jeno, being as nosy as he was and obviously reading his mind, snorted before bursting out laughing.

Stop laughing and read his mind, Jae Min thought, sending the message to Jeno.

Sorry, already tried but I couldn’t. And this is just too good, Jeno sent a message back, still laughing silently by himself at his side.

“You really don’t remember me?” Jae Min asked, sounding more disappointed than he wanted to show.

The boy shook his head. “I don’t know who-” And then it happened. His voice halted and he leaned back against the tree as if someone had just shoved him against it. And then he groaned. A loud, painful groan. The boy’s eyes shut tight as he began clutching chest, a move Jae Min and Jeno were all too familiar with. They exchanged a quick, worried glance.

“Hey,” Jae Min said in alert, reaching out to grab the guy’s arms. But before he could do that, pretty boy’s eyes shot wide open, looking more gray than brown. And he stared deep into Jae Min’s eyes as if he was able to read right through him.

“Are you okay?” Jeno asked the boy, oblivious to Jae Min’s tensed up body.

Pretty boy let out a shaky breath, still backed up against the wall. His eyes went back to dark brown. “Yes,” He panted, breathing hard and closing eyes once again. But this time it was more in a resting rather than pained way.

“What was that?” Jae Min asked sounding more demanding than he intended.

The boy’s eyes shot open, a hint of glare and annoyance in them. “My life is none of you business,” He said as he began to gather his things.

“Maybe not,” Jae Min said as he watched him stand up before he followed along, and then Jeno too. “But I just watched you experience something similar to what I experienced, and you still claim you don’t remember?”

“It really,” The boy said through gritted teeth, “Is none of your business.”

And then he turned around sharply and began to walk away. But Jae Min wasn’t going to let him get away that quick. No, not when thought he had just figured things out. Rushing over to step in front of the guy, he placed his hands on his shoulders and leaned in, staring straight into his eyes. And then he flinched and instantly let go. He took a sharp breath, eyes softening. “You have them too?” It was more of a statement than a question.

The boy’s eyes narrowed and his head tilted. He looked up at Jae Min with something that was no longer a glare, but still not a very happy look. And Jae Min couldn’t understand why he wasn’t able to feel a anything from the boy. No single emotion. It was as if he had no soul.

And then pretty boy scoffed, leaning away from Jae Min. “Is that why you had that freak-out in the middle of the park last week? You lost control of your powers?” The boy asked, and Jae Min was taken back once again.

“W-well,” Jae Min stuttered, eyes looking at anything but the boy, suddenly feeling a sense of shame, “Yes?”

Jeno began to laugh once again and Jae Min sent him a glare.

“So what kind of powers do you have that made you lose such control?” Pretty boy asked, a more teasing but unfriendly look on his face. As if he was making fun of him like a bully in middle school.

“Well I can’t tell you if you don’t tell me yours,” Jae Min said defensively.

“Not happening,” The boy replied, crossing his arms. His expression once again turned into one which Jae Min was not able to read. “Anyways, I should get going,” he spoke once again. “Try not to run into me again.” And then he began to walk away.

“What just happened?” Jae Min asked, turning to Jeno who held a teasing smile on his face.

Jeno pursed his lips, looking at ‘Pretty boy’ who was walking away. “Well, you, my dear friend, have just been played by someone who also seems to have powers.”

Jae Min groaned, falling to his knees. “He didn’t even tell me his name.”

 


 

“Jae Min is whipped,” Jeno told the others when they returned to their small shack room. “Pretty boy is definitely pretty, and Jae Min is whipped.”

Hae Chan shook his head, clicking his tongue disapprovingly. “We have lost a precious 00’ member to the social construct that we know as ‘love.”

Jae Min rolled his eyes, grabbing a pillow from the couch and throwing it at Hae Chan. “Shut up. I’m not whipped or in love. I’m just curious about him and his powers.”

Mark who was sitting in the corner of the room quietly processing everything cleared his throat. “So, this boy is the same one that was there when your powers went haywire?” Jae Min nodded. “And this time it was him that seemed to be in pain?” He nodded again. “Hmm,” Mark hummed to himself as he leaned back in his seat. “Interesting. And Jeno was there, but he couldn’t feel anything?”

“Well,” Jeno spoke up, sitting up from his seat with an unsure look, “I tried reading his mind, but it was all blank. As if his brain was in lock, preventing me access.”

“What about your powers, Jae Min?” Mark asked, turning to the other boy.

“I didn’t notice before, but thinking about it now I don’t recall feeling any sort of emotion from him,” Jae Min said with a shrug. “I didn’t try hard on him, though, but I didn’t feel his presence.”

“Interesting,” Mark hummed once again. “So you powers don’t work on him, and his and your powers go off around each other only, but not Jeno.”

“What are you trying to say?” Chenle spoke up.

Mark looked around the room, all eyes on him. He let out a breath. “I’m not really sure. But I think his powers may have some sort of contrast from yours.”

Jae Min’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “Contrast?”

Jeno snorted. “Well, obviously his must be stronger. While ‘pretty boy’ only seemed to have a few seconds of pain, Jae Min was completely on the floor, powers out of control, slowly dyin-”

Jae Min sent his best friend a look, immediately shutting him up. “Anyways, whatever his powers are, they certainly are stronger than mine.”

There was silence in the room. Mark was getting ready to say something while everyone else was still processing the new piece of information, trying to figure out what to make out of it. And then the phone ringing was heard throughout the entire room.

“Sorry, that’s mine,” Jeno said, taking his phone out of his pocket. He frowned, looking at the contact. “Hello?” He answered. There was a moment of silence, and his eyebrows raised. “Really? Wow, thank you… Yes, I’ll show up Monday.”

Everyone watched as Jeno hanged up and put his phone back. He looked up, seeing how everyone was looking at him expectantly. “I got a callback for that internship.”

“Really? The fake interview we set up for you?” Hae Chan asked. “You actually went?”

Jeno shrugged. “Yeah, after everything went south and Jae Min almost died, I thought, ‘why not?’”

Ji Sung shook his head, turning back in his seat and going back to his typing. “Well, maybe we could use that to our advantage.”

“How so, Sung?” Chenle asked from his seat.

“Because now we have an in.”

 


 

“We have noticed a pattern,” Johnny said as he moved on to the next slide. “Doctor Death seems to only attack on Mondays and Fridays.”

Jae Hyun frowned, looking at the list of all the attacks that were listed on the powerpoint. Had there really been a pattern this whole time and he had just spent all those days worrying about the villain’s next attacks when there was a schedule he could have been using this whole time? He groaned, stuffing his face into his hands. Then the realization hit him and he looked back up with wide eyes. “Today is Monday.”

Tae Yong nodded, leaning back on his chair with his hands stuffed into the pockets of his red hoodie and his feet resting on the table. “So you should be prepared to head out at any moment now.”

“But I have an assignment to work on,” Jae Hyun groaned.

“It’s summer,” Johnny said with a frown.

“I’m taking summer classes.”

“Oh. I didn’t really need college.”

“Must be nice.”

“Doctor Death is attacking,” Tae Yong spoke up, sitting up as he handed Jae Hyun his phone so he could see the live news airing of the villain attacking the city. “It’s time.”

Jae Hyun sighed, standing up and slamming his hands down on the table. “Where’s my super suit?”

After that he changed into his blue suit and walked out into the room to say goodbye to Johnny and Tae Yong. But the older of the two led to him to another room, saying he had something to give him first. And there, standing in the dim room with nothing but a light that shone over the glass case illuminating the room, Jae Hyun found himself in awe.

“Is that mine?” He asked, completely awestruck at the gadget in front of him.

Johnny nodded. “Specifically designed to suit you, and you only.”

 


 

Doctor Death zoomed through the city with a huge chunk of metal underneath him for dramatic effect. He loved terrorizing the citizens of the city when he was bored. He loved to tease the small hero that called himself ‘Captain J’ because Doctor Death knew he’d always win against him. At any moment Captain J would appear with poorly designed rags from a shady alley.

“Ugh, he’s not showing up,” The villain mumbled to himself. “Should I destroy a building just for him to make an appearance?” He asked himself as he laid back on the chunk of metal he was on top of with flames underneath him.

“Stop right there!” The sweet and addictive voice yelled, catching Doctor Death’s attention. He turned to lay on his stomach and looked down at the flames that surrounded the hero and found himself surprised to see his change of outfit. The hood he always wore was replaced by a fancy new suit that was befitting of his image; And he was gliding through the air on a silver board with some sort of logo at the center which he could not see clearly.

Doctor Death smiled at the sight. “Finally”, he said with a hint of solace in his voice. He lowered the chunk of metal and chucked it away when he reached the ground. “About time, I was about to take over Japan!” Doctor Death said clearly exaggerating.

“Very funny, but I won’t let you get away!” Captain J yelled courageously and dashed towards the villain on his board.

Doctor Death was able to dodge his attack just barely. It seemed like Captain J had finally learned how to take stronger control over his speed powers. The villain was impressed. So, deciding he could finally go harder on the boy, he used his powers to lift a series of empty cars and began to launch them at the hero, testing out his super agility.

As expected, Captain J was able to zoom past all the cars on his board, zooming past each one with much grace until he was standing right in front of Doctor Death, panting. It seemed he could only use his super speed for small moments before his stamina ran out.

“Impressive,” Doctor Death mumbled, staring at the guy who stood right in front of him. “You have really grown your powers.”

Captain J looked at him, his breath slowing down. And he realized this was the first time the two had ever gotten this close to each other; And he was finally able to get a good look at his foe. Through his mask, he could see his doe shaped eyes. His dark, raven hair was split down the side, his bangs covering one of his eyes. And he was tall. Almost as tall as him, but falling shorter by two centimeters or so. And he was young, probably around the same age as him. And all that time he had spent thinking he was fighting a middle-aged man.

Jae Hyun gasped, sensing the slightest bit of movement from the villain and immediately jumping up from his board, making a complete spin, going over his enemy as the board went under, and he landed on it. His back facing the villain’s back. Had he really just done that? Was his agility really that powerful? To allow him to make such flips? And his board had just followed his movements even when he left it.

“Impressive,” Doctor Death barely whispered as he and Captain J both turned to face each other once again.

“I didn’t know I could do that,” Jae Hyun, quite stupidly, said out loud.

Doctor Death snorted. “Sometimes you powers come automatically when you need them the most. It’s like, deep inside they know you better than yourself.”

Jae Hyun raised an eyebrow, confused by the others sudden wise words. “Are you getting soft?” He, once again, stupidly spoke out loud.

Doctor Death scoffed, and Jae Hyun was sure he saw him eye roll. “Please, I’ve been going soft on you since the first day we fought.”

Jae Hyun moved to the side, dodging an attack from him before making one of his own. “Well maybe I don’t need you to treat me like a baby,” He said right before he zoomed towards the villain and jumped, throwing him a side kick in the middle of the air before landing back on his board.

Doctor Death groaned, spitting at the floor as he hovered back up. “Let me guess, you didn’t know you could do that either?”

“Not really, no,” Jae Hyun mumbled right before dodging another flying car. “But like you said, its like my powers know best.”

Doctor Death chuckled. “So, since I’ve been going soft on you can I finally stop treating you like a baby?” He asked, a mischievous tone to his voice.

‘When you can, let him show you deeper into his powers. He won’t hurt you, trust me, but we need to see what he can do.’ Jae Hyun remembered Johnny’s words and nodded. To be quite honest, he was terrified of Doctor Death. He was quite aware he had been going very easy on him this whole time, seeing how he had no problem levitating things and launching them at him, while also manipulating them in some way to seem like they were on fire or bigger than they actually were. He had some sort of illusion manipulation powers and that really freaked him out. But he knew he wouldn’t hurt him. Too much.

“Let’s go.” He sounded confident. He wasn’t.

Doctor Death smiled, bringing his hands up and swinging them down, a magical, electrical, purple force coming out of his hands. He pulled his hands back, as if getting into a fight position, and Jae Hyun wasn’t quite sure what to do.

“Scared?” The villain asked.

“No way,” Jae Hyun responded.

And then Doctor Death launched forward, using one of his magical shields to hit Jae Hyun’s arm just barely before making a full spin and throwing a kick at him. The hero was sent flying back, immediately regaining posture when he felt his feet land on the board once again. But he didn’t have much time to relax when Doctor Death did another spin and launched at him once again, his purple shields morphing into one, long, blade. Jae Hyun jumped, his senses kicking in and time slowing down for a split second as his board went up and morphed into a silver shield, the red and white logo clearly visible at the center, right before Doctor Death’s blade crashed against it. And then time cached up and the magic blade’s force against Jae Hyun’s shield-turned-board sent him flying back, but not before his shield turned into a board once again and caught him.

“I told you, I can handle it,” Jae Hyun said, landing on the floor with a proud smile on his face.

Doctor Death had an amused look on his face, also lowering down to the ground. “Impressive,” Was all he was able to say. “Very impressive.”

And the public watched in awe as the villain made a bow, right before vanishing and leaving the great defender of the people, Captain J behind. Everyone cheered and shouted, surrounding the hero and thanking him for keeping the city safe. Somewhere back in a small room, the Dream Team were clapping in awe. Somewhere, in an old abandoned building, Ten was shaking his head and rolling his eyes. And somewhere, back at their headquarters, Johnny and Tae Yong were high-fiving.

“He has the people on his side now.”

 

--

I think it's been a while since we last updated? Maybe not long, but usually we updated like every two days. Anyways, I really liked writing that fight scene so I hope it was enjoyable. And also, I think the plot is really going to progress after this. Anyways, I really hope everyone enjoyed. -J

FuN fAcT One of the scenes in here wasn't supposed to be here. Can ya'll guess what scene it is? 

{No vine}

~Nae

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Jackiedp00
We're not dead. Updates will come soon. Many drafts in the works. Thank you.

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Spiritwarrior27 #1
Chapter 20: This chapter is good, can't wait to read the next chapter. I hope you update soon author-nim.
HannahMooMoo
#2
Chapter 20: You may have been away for a while but the long chapter makes up for it and Taeil is me when someone mentions exercise!!! Also Boom is Sooo good and so is the whole album tbh, but apart from all that I can't wait to read the next chapter!!!
laurashipssaida #3
Chapter 17: Lol I'm looking forward to Haechan and Mark working with 127
I think I'll catch up on the next chapters tomorrow :)
laurashipssaida #4
Chapter 16: woohoo, so much to read! And you probably know what I voted for, hehe
laurashipssaida #5
Chapter 15: "Taeyong?" aaaaaa
laurashipssaida #6
Chapter 14: "That sounds like an au" lol

xdhbsclhbdshvb Mark needs to wake up and realize his feelings aaaaaaaaa

This was a really entertaining chapter! And same I cried so hard watching Endgame haha
Spiritwarrior27 #7
Chapter 19: This chapter is good, i hope you update soon.
Jun_ley
#8
Chapter 19: So three things happened when I read this chapter (I think it might be one of my favorites):
1) Satisfaction- was checking off my list of theories that came true
2)Laughter- I snorted so hard with Jaehyun and Yuta as a dúo, specially magician Yuta ❤️ (Honestly my favorite moment, along with Yuta’s five dollars *sigh*)
3) Realization- I totally forgot about Gongmyung... he was under my nose this whole time I-
Also the dreamies are smarter than people think
ON a different note~
Happy Birthday Nae!!
HannahMooMoo
#9
Chapter 19: I really liked this chapter and I couldn't stop laughing when Jaehyun said that Dr.D winked at him, that's the best!!
BangtanM8
#10
Chapter 18: Oh no.... I'm out of chapters... :(