A week passed. When food began to run low, Daehyun and Youngjae drove into town to buy groceries. They returned with terrifying stories of girls trying to hit on them as they walked through the “Fruits” aisle.

 

You and Jongup had a jolly good time laughing at the boys for that story.

 

Daehyun turned out to be right; Mr. Jung and Mrs. Lee really did leave a whole bunch of money in the drawer! They literally left a year’s worth of money. You could probably buy a brand new car with all that cash.

 

Himchan healed, and could now walk and run again. Yongguk, on the other hand, was confined to moving around with crutches, which the doctor had sent over two days ago. He could stand without them, but his legs would begin to tremble if he moved around too much without his crutches.

 

 

 

One day, you entered your room and discovered a stack of magazines piled on your bed.

 

Raising an eyebrow, you picked one up. It wasn’t a magazine, but a comic. X-Men Adventures, the title read.

 

A smile creeped onto your lips as you recalled your first conversation with Jongup. 

 

“It’s just from a comic I like. One of the characters has the same power that I have. You should read them. I’ll lend some to you, if you want.”

 

So this was the comic that he had mentioned last week… You flopped onto the bed, careful not to wrinkle any of the books, and flipped the comic open. The pages were thin and flimsy, like tissue paper, so you made sure to treat them with extra care.

 

You became so engulfed with the comic and its stories that you nearly didn’t notice the rapid knocking on your door. You took a quick glance at the clock before you twisted your door knob. An hour had already passed.

 

Zelo was standing there. “Hi, Zelo,” you greeted. “Is something wrong?”

 

He grinned widely. “Come with me,” he said. “Daehyun and I... We worked together on something. Be proud of us. Anyway, we redesigned a couple of rooms and made them power-proof. We are going to train. And you’re coming with us.”

 

You raised your eyebrow. “Train? Train what?”

 

He laughed and reached forward to take your hand in his. “Our powers, of course!” he smiled. He tugged at your hand. “Come on, let’s go!”

 

“Powers? But I don’t have any. I don’t see the point in me coming,” you responded honestly, cocking your head to the side. “I kinda wanna finish this comic Jongup lent me.. It’s really good.”

 

Now it was Zelo’s turn to his head. “You’re telling me you’d rather sit here and read… instead of being with six supernatural boys?”

 

“Well… not really,” you admitted. “It just.. It’d just feel weird if I went, since I don’t have any powers.”

 

“That’s another reason why we’re taking you!” Zelo grinned. He took the comic from your hands and set it down on a desk by the entrance of your room. “We’re going to see if we can make your powers come out! I won’t take no for an answer, noona! Come with me!” He pulled you out of the room and led you downstairs. He took you through the hall, and into an extremely large room. The other five boys were already there, dressed in athletic clothing. They were stretching and cracking their knuckles. They looked ready to exercise; or in this case, train their powers.

 

“Whoa,” you commented. “This place looks awesome!”

 

“It does, doesn’t it?” Youngjae grinned. “Zelo and Daehyun did this. There are three more rooms similar to it, so we can all have a lot of space. This room is for me and Daehyun.”

 

The walls were covered with some kind of silver wallpaper, probably to prevent anyone from burning the entire house down. The windows were boarded up with wood, and then reinforced with some of that silver paper. Outsiders would not be able to see what was going on inside this room.

 

Various pieces of equipment were strewn throughout the room. There were many bottles and bowls of liquids, random heavy furniture pieces, lighters, metal cubes, boxes, and more.

 

“And the next room is mine,” Jongup announced. “I get my own, because I don’t want to accidentally teleport into anyone… that would be really bad.” In his room, there were a bunch of solid objects. There was also an empty refrigerator sitting in the corner. The ground was marked with a bunch of straight lines.

 

“I’m trying to train the accuracy of my teleportation,” Jongup explained. “If I can teleport to each of these lines perfectly, then I should be fine. Until I can use my powers in public, this is the best I can do.”

 

“Neat,” you nodded. You noticed that his room didn’t have the silver wallpaper. Instead, the windows were simply boarded up. Probably because he didn’t have elemental powers. He couldn’t exactly destroy the room with his teleportation, after all.  

 

“Unfortunately, I have to share a room with Himchan and Yongguk,” Zelo explained. “Since Yongguk’s confined to the chair, he won’t take up much space, and Himchan and I don’t do things that require a lot of room, either. I’ll just be training my transformations, while Himchan practices his invisibility.” He took you by your arm and dragged you to the next room.

 

The silver wallpaper covered this room as well. “Because Yongguk has electricity,” Himchan explained. “Don’t want him frying anything.” There was a chair in the corner, probably for him to sit on. There was also a mirror for Himchan, so he could become invisible, and a punching bag hanging from the ceiling.

 

“Invisibility can’t really do much damage…” Himchan explained slowly. “But it can provide me a lot of stealth. I can sneak up behind my opponents and knock them out with physical attacks. So I’ve gotta train both my power and my punches.”

 

“Ooh,” you nodded. “You should take judo classes or something.”

 

“I already learned,” Himchan laughed. “My parents signed me up for karate, judo, martial arts, kendo, you name it. I know all the tricks and flips. All I’ve gotta improve on is pure strength.”

 

“Wow…” you breathed, impressed. Himchan certainly didn’t seem like the type of guy who could knock a person out, since he was so childish and all, but it was cool that he could do all these combative things. You continued to look around the room.

 

A bunch of pictures were taped to the wallpaper in a timeline fashion. It showed various animals, and their stages in life. Zelo saw you looking at the pictures, and stepped up to talk.

 

“As of now, I can only transform into this one,” Zelo sighed, pointing to a picture of a lion kit. “But I hope that I can train myself, and be able to transform into this one!” he pointed at the last picture on the timeline, a fully grown feline.

 

“Zelo…” you said, facepalming yourself. “That’s a picture of a lioness. There’s no mane, see? That’s a girl lion. The guys have manes.”

 

“..Oh.” Zelo said. “I just got a random picture off the internet.. I didn’t know…”

 

The boys began to snort with laughter. “Zelo is gonna transform into a chick lion! Hahaha!”

 

“Shush, guys,” Zelo mumbled, looking rather embarrassed. “Come on, Hana. Let’s go to your room.” He quickly led you to the final room. It was also lined with silver paper.

 

“Just in case you have elemental powers,” Youngjae nodded. “Daehyun and Zelo didn’t put it at first, but I insisted. You guys will all thank me when the paper prevents her from burning the house down!”

 

“Whatever,” Daehyun teased, rolling his eyes at Youngjae.

 

“I think...I need to go sit,” Yongguk groaned, wobbling back to the previous room. “See you later, guys. I guess I’ll start training early!”

 

“Okay!” everyone chorused.  “See you!”

 

“We should all start training,” Jongup nodded. He pointed to the center of your room. A single chair was placed in the middle. “Hana, this chair will be your opponent.”

 

You furrowed your eyebrows a little bit. “This chair.. will be my opponent? But it’s a chair…”

 

Himchan flashed you an adorable smile. “Your task is simple: destroy the chair. But you cannot touch it physically! You must use some kind of power,” he explained.

 

“Ohh,” you nodded. “I get it.” You raised an eyebrow. “But what if I don’t have a destructive power?” you asked. “What if my power turns out to be, like, healing or something? I can’t exactly heal the chair to pieces…”

 

“Well, technically, you can,” Daehyun responded, grinning. “You can overheal it to the point that it breaks. Like a laptop overcharging, or a balloon with too much helium. Healing is the same concept. Every power has its limits, and can cause some kind of destruction if used too much.”

 

“The point of the exercise is to try getting you to show some power, though,” Youngjae pointed out. “You don’t really have to destroy the chair, it’s just there to make things easier. People are more likely to accomplish things when they have a goal.”

 

“You just ruined the entire concept!” Zelo complained. “Now she knows exactly what the chair is for, and that defeats the purpose! Now she won’t be as motivated, because she knows the point isn’t to destroy the chair, it’s to demonstrate some kind of ability! Nice going, hyung.”

 

“Hey!” Youngjae protested. “I was just trying to help!”

 

“It’s okay, guys,” you laughed. “I’ll give it a shot. Hopefully, I’ll be able to see what my power is today.”

 

“Don’t be upset if nothing happens,” Jongup reassured. He looked at you and blushed slightly. “These things take time.”

 

You nodded and smiled back at him. “Thanks, Jongup. I’ll keep that in mind.”

 

 

 

The boys all left you to the chair, and focused on training their own powers.

 

You turned your gaze to the chair, and stared at it. How would you begin this..?

 

You tried to bring some power forth from inside you, and you held up a palm uncertainly, trying to move it with telekinesis. Nothing happened.

 

You frowned. How were you supposed to make your power come out? How did the other boys do it? You had forgotten to ask. Was it supposed to be triggered, or did it just react by instinct?

 

You opened your door and went out into the hall. Maybe one of the boys could tell you..?

 

You stopped by Yongguk, Zelo, and Himchan’s room, since theirs was the closest. You slowly opened the door and peeked inside.

 

Himchan was standing in front of the mirror, making certain parts of his body disappear. One moment his arm would be gone, and then next it was his head. He seemed to be really good at becoming invisible.

 

Yongguk was playing with an electric ball he had fashioned. He bounced it in his hands and against the protected walls.

 

Zelo was morphing so fast that you couldn’t really tell what he was becoming. In fact, different parts of his body was transforming into different things. His legs would elongate to form a giraffe’s, while his face became scaly like a lizard’s. Then it was all gone, and he was a completely different mutation.

 

You watched in awe for a few moments before opening the door wider and stepping in.

 

The boys all turned towards the sound of the door creaking, and grinned when they noticed you.

 

“Hey,” you greeted shyly. “Um. I was wondering.. How do I make my power come out? What does it feel like?”

 

Yongguk stood up slowly and walked over to you. “I don’t know,” he replied. “It just happens. I will electricity to form, and it does. I guess I kind of imagine that my hands are shooting out electric bolts, and they really do. Something like that.”

 

“Yeah, I will myself to turn invisible, and it happens,” Himchan nodded.

 

“I imagine myself as an animal, and then I just transform,” Zelo added.

 

“Hmm… so it’s all triggered by imagining it?” you asked. “I guess I kind of get it.”

 

Zelo smiled. “I think it’s just one of those things that you can’t understand how to do until you do it. Like whistling, or snapping your fingers.”

 

“You have to believe, though,” Yongguk added. “Believe you can do it, and you can. If you just half-heartedly hold up a hand and expect something to happen, nothing will. You really have to believe that you have power inside you.”

 

You nodded. “Thank you, guys. I”ll go try it again!” You smiled with newborn confidence. “Thanks.”

 

“No problem, Hana,” the boys responded. You smiled and left.

 

You were about to return to your own room, but curiosity got the better of you. You wondered what the other boys were doing.

 

Jongup was teleporting from line to line and passing through various solid objects, including the refrigerator. His teleportation was a bit shaky, and he was unable to teleport to the lines perfectly. He frowned in frustration, and you had to admit, he was really cute. You shook your head, smiled, and moved on to the next room.

 

Youngjae was lifting various items. Sweat was already beginning to bead on his forehead, but he continued to focus his power on hoisting the heavy objects up.

 

Daehyun was poking at the water bowls and manipulating them. You understood what he was trying to do immediately. Daehyun was  trying to evolve his powers, so that he could manipulate the water without having to touch it. He would touch the liquid, make it move, and very slowly remove his hand from the water. It did not work, though. The moment his hand lifted, the water would fall back into its container uselessly.  Daehyun looked really annoyed that he could only manipulate these things when he was actually touching them.

 

You felt motivated. All the boys were trying so hard. It was your turn. You had to “train” as well, so that you could develop your powers.

 

You returned to your own room, and focused on the chair again.

 

“You have to believe,” Yongguk’s voice spoke in your head. “Believe you can do it, and you can.”

 

You nodded to yourself and lifted a hand again. Believe. You tried to blast the chair with ice.

 

Nothing happened.

 

You tried again. Fire.

 

Again, nothing happened.

 

You tried everything you could think of. You tried to blast the chair with fire, ice, earth, plants, water, electricity, air, shadows, light, everything. The chair remained intact.

 

Next, you tried making it move with telekinesis again. When no results came out, you attempted to use another power.

 

No matter how hard you tried, you couldn’t destroy the chair. There wasn’t a single marking on it. You hadn’t damaged it at all. It’s as if you had no power inside you…

 

You became horrified at that thought and forced yourself to continue.

 

At least an hour had passed before you finally collapsed onto the ground, groaning with worry. Although Jongup had told you that it took a lot of patience, you couldn’t help but doubt yourself.

 

You must’ve groaned pretty loudly, because Yongguk opened your door cautiously.

 

“Everything okay?” he asked gently.  

 

You shot him a fearful look. “What if I have no power?” At your question, Yongguk opened the door wider and wobbled in. He sat down on your opponent, the chair, and appeared thoughtful.

 

“Well, if you have no power, then you have no power,” he said slowly. “But that doesn’t change who you are. You’re Lee Hana. And you’re still the prophecy girl, power or no power.”

 

“I guess,” you replied back. “But how can I possibly save the planet when I don’t even have a power? That means any old human can save your planet.”

 

“Not entirely human,” Yongguk reminded. “And don’t worry. You’ve got us. Maybe we’re your power, and you’re the brains. I dunno. You can do it, though. I know you can.” He smiled confidently at you.

 

“Thank you, Yongguk-oppa,” you smiled gratefully.

 

His smile seemed to grow wider when he heard you say “oppa”.

 

“No problem,” he replied. “I’m gonna get back now. I can’t let the boys get too ahead of me! Since I’m confined to the chair for a bit, I’ve gotta train twice as hard! Keep trying, Hana. Maybe something’ll happen. Or maybe nothing will happen. It all depends on luck and patience. Keep trying! Or… you could always go eat. There’s food in the fridge,” he grinned again.

 

“Thanks,” you laughed. “But I’ll keep trying for a bit. You’re right. I can’t give up. There’s no guarantee that something will happen, but I should at least try.”

 

“That’s the spirit!” Yongguk shouted happily. He saluted and left the room.

 

You continued to try for a bit longer. At one point, you could’ve sworn that the chair moved an inch, but it was just your mind playing tricks on you, probably.

 

Eventually, all the boys were done training for the day. They came to your room and discovered you staring at the chair intently.

 

“…Hana?” Jongup called. “What are you doing?”

 

“Trying to move it with my mind,” you responded without taking your eyes off the chair. “I’ve already tried everything else. I tried blasting it with an elemental power, and even with random things like paper or hair.. but nothing. Then, I tried yelling at it, using a super scream or something, but that didn’t work either.. I tried to heal it, disintegrate it, teleport it, walk through it, duplicate it, everything! Nothing worked, so this is my last hope. Telekinesis. But by using my brain. And so far… there’s nothing.”

 

“Wow,” Zelo breathed. “You’ve worked hard.”

 

“Yeah,” the other boys agreed.

 

“How about a break?” Himchan asked. “We’re done for the day, anyway.”

 

You noticed their appearances for the first time. They were all sweating like mad, with the exception of Yongguk. Youngjae was the sweatiest of them all. He looked like he had just run a marathon.

 

“How come you guys are all so sweaty?” you asked. “The room isn’t that hot, is it?”

 

“I don’t know why,” Daehyun responded. “I guess it’s because using our power depletes a lot of our energy, and we get tired and weak easily?”

 

“I think it’s because we don’t have much control over it yet, so it’s really energy consuming,” Youngjae nodded.

 

“Speaking of tired and weak,” Zelo piped up. “I’m starving.”

 

“Me, too,” Himchan whined. “Let’s go eat, okay?”

 

“Let’s,” Yongguk nodded. “You coming, Hana?”

 

“Sure,” you decided. “Might as well.”

 

 

After dinner, you practiced a bit more, but there were no positive results. Maybe it just took more time. Maybe you had to be more patient. You went to sleep in deep thought.