Author's note;

WARNING: Character death. Mention of blood. Nothing too explicit but still, I rather put a warning just in case. Please enjoy!

Two months. Moon Byul had been in this institute for two months and she had already changed so much. Before being accepted here, she was very confident and even cocky on her abilities. What a fool she had been. In just two months, her teachers had been able to open her eyes to a whole new world of possibilities on how to use her portals. And although she had to attend general courses with the rest of her class, like physical training and survival skills, they were also separated into smaller groups to attend more personalized courses. Her favorite was tactical training, where they taught her ways to use her powers more efficiently by using her brain first, she could cover a bigger range of distance and even confuse her enemies like this.

She could see everyone in her class had made some progress. Her brother’s copies were faster and stronger now, he also took tactical training with her so he had learned new ways on how to use his power too, and how to mix it with Byul’s own power better. Same thing with Wheein, the short haired blonde had learned how to defeat her opponents by making them do things to knock them out without suffering the same consequences herself, it became trickier when she had to control two other people but she had been doing so well. Hyejin, or Hwasa as she asked to be called, received a specialized course with the other elemental kids from the other class. Elements could easily run out of control so they taught her a lot of self-control, techniques on how to control their element once it was out of their bodies. And so far they had only had two accidents where the whole institute had to be evacuated so Hwasa seemed happy with her progress.

Finally, the only one that didn’t seem to progress was Yong Sun, but that was only because there was no improvement to be made, or so Yong Sun told them one time during lunch. The girls didn’t speak to her for the rest of the day until she apologized for being so insensitive, as the other three had worked very hard to become better, while the older member of their little group barely had to try a little to impress their teachers. Despite this cocky attitude that annoyed Byul, she had to admit, Yong Sun was very far from the rest of her class when it came to their abilities. And it was very impressive to have seen her fly through the huge rock one of their teachers had built just for her, to see if she could do it. She came out the other side looking as perfect as always, earning the claps of everyone that seen her little test, while pieces of rock were still falling around the field.

 Speaking of Yong Sun, she had been the trigger of another huge change within Byul. The white haired girl had no idea how or why but the older girl had begun to make her feel…weird things. Things she shouldn’t be feeling for a friend. And it wasn’t like she didn’t have any experience, Byul had once had a boyfriend. And it had felt something like this. But not on this level, never on the level she was feeling right now, while she stared at her friend as she finished her lunch.

As always, Byul had finished her lunch practically after they all sat down on their favorite table. Surprisingly, Minseok had found his own group of friends and had become a little more independent from his sister, it made Byul happy to see his brother finally making some friends on his own. And Byul could see Wheein and Hwasa still in line to buy their lunch as they had come late from class. She had no idea how they were both identically late when they didn’t even share the same class this period. Those two seemed to be so in sync, it was a little scary.

Byul looked up at Yong Sun. She was sitting in her perfect posture, as always, eating slowly, chewing properly before swallowing, the older girl always made it clear how important chewing properly was, especially after witnessing Moon Byul eating. Her soft pink hair fell down her shoulders and she was focused on her food, or so Byul thought before hearing her speak. “Yes, Byul? Is there something I can help you with?”

Needless to say, this scared Byul to the point she jumped slightly, she really had not expected to be caught staring at her friend “Uh, no. I just…I really like your hair, that’s all” She managed to say with a soft smile and raised her eyebrow when the older girl stared at her for a couple of seconds before clearing and going back to eating. Byul decided not to test her luck again and instead focus on her phone rather than her pretty friend. Soon, they were joined by the two missing members and conversation began to flow naturally.

But things can never go so smoothly, something that disrupts the peace always has to happen, because that’s the world they live in. Nothing could have prepared them for what was to come.

An explosion was heard, Byul could not see from where but it had been a big one, enough to even shake them a little. But it wasn’t like this explosions didn’t happen at least once a week here in the Institute, right? Nothing to worry about. That was, until the principal’s voice could be heard throughout the school, letting students know they must quickly gather at the gym.

The girls didn’t have to be told twice, they quickly stood up but before they could start running towards the gym, Byul stopped them. She closed her eyes and suddenly, a strong sound of wind could be heard in the cafeteria “The gym is on the other side of the institute, this will be a lot faster. Go!” Wheein and Hwasa went in first while Yongsun shot up into the air, guiding the students in the cafeteria to Byul’s portal. Once everyone had gone through, Yong and Byul went in themselves and Byul quickly closed the portal. Just in case. They still had no information on what exactly was going on.

The gym was like they had never seen it before, the walls and even the floor were metal. It looked like a bunker. Suddenly, a weight settled in the bottom of Byul’s stomach. This situation seemed too serious, it was obvious something big was going on.

Professor Heechul quickly made sure all students were inside the gym and the two thick metal doors in the gym closed. Byul could barely think with how loud the gym was right now, everyone trying to talk over each other to look for a missing friend or panicking over what was happening. The white haired girl looked around the gym, trying to look for her brother when she felt someone grabbing her hand. She was about to turn and throw a punch at whoever it had been but she stopped when she realized it was Minseok. She sighed in relief and hugged her brother.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” She asked and her brother shook his head before saying “I’m fine Byul, we were on our way to the cafeteria to grab something to eat when we heard the explosion. We didn’t think any of it until we heard the principal’s words. Luckily ChanYeol brought us all here and he even managed to find the source of the explosion, Byul this is very serious. We have to stick together”

Before her brother could continue, the principal showed up in the gym, asking for silence from everyone. He went to stand up in a couple of wood boxes one of the teachers brought for him, so everyone in the gym could see him clearly. The first thing Byul noticed was the serious expression on his face. It did nothing to help her nerves. She knew she shouldn’t be this nervous, she was an adult now, on her way to finally becoming a super hero but there was something about today’s events, something was very wrong.

“Please, listen to me very carefully. We are under attack. We do not know by whom right now but the front gates of the school were blown up by a huge explosion. Thankfully no students were injured by it but we have lost contact with the security guards that patrol the entrance. The police and several supers have been contacted, I’ve been informed the nearest supers are just three more minutes away. We will let them deal with the threat. If necessary some teacher and I will assist them. I don’t want any of you to worry, everything is going to be fi-…”

Byul had never seen someone die, let alone someone she knew. It wasn’t like anything she had seen in the movies or TV. There was no light leaving their eyes. No dramatic stop of background music. One second they were alive and the next one they weren’t. That’s it. The only other thing Byul could remember aside from the blood that splashed the people standing at the front, as what seemed like a laser went through the principal’s head back to front, were the screams that followed just a few seconds after, when everyone had finally processed what had just happened. A body hit the ground and nobody knew what to do.

This was supposed to be a safe place, this dumb metal box was supposed to protect them, right? They were called here because this was the safest place to be. Then why did she just witness a laser going through the wall behind her principal like it was nothing. The same laser that was now carving an entrance on the same wall.

Byul, felt someone grabbing her arm and shaking it. She could hear someone talking. It sounded like Yong Sun "Byul, get us out of here…Byul Yi!” But why did she sound like she was so far away. Why couldn’t Byul look away from the wall? Just then, Yong Sun stopped shaking her friend, as everyone went quiet. From fear. From shock. Because it was impossible. What they were seeing was impossible. Not even the teachers dared to move. 

The piece of wall was kicked down. And in came four people. No one recognized them, except one of them. Who could ever forget that face, who could ever forget that name? A hundred years ago, a ray of sunshine fell down from the sky, giving everyone hope. She had defeated him. They had both died in that battle, everyone was sure of that. Then how come, she was standing in front of them. Ray. The problem was, Byul couldn’t remember reading anywhere that their favorite super, ever wore a maniacal smile on her face. An old looking man stepped forward, stealing some of the attention away from Ray. He looked down at the floor, where the principal laid. The man chuckled and looked up once more, staring at Byul for what felt like hours to her "Hello children...Please, do not worry, we only came here for him. We have no interest in hurting any of you...for now. My name is Doctor Kim. Remember that name, tell everyone what happened here today. What you saw. And also let them know, you haven't seen half our power." Byul couldn't keep looking into those cold black eyes any longer, so she dropped her glare. Something you should never do, never look away from your enemy. She heard the floor crack, as if someone had jumped into the sky with incredible strength and when she looked up again, they were gone.