COLORS:
Woori
Boy (Sunggyu)

Chapter 4: Psychic?!

I managed to escape from school, but not without making a huge scene. Hearing people’s thoughts could be cool if I could control when I heard them – not being able to make them stop is definitely a problem, though. I could have never anticipated that would happen to me. So many thoughts at once, all random and hard to understand. Is this really all because of my concussion? I’ve never heard of anyone being able to read minds after hitting their head except for in movies or novels. It’s possible that I got brain damage from hitting my head and now I’m just insane, but . . . I think I’d rather accept the fact that the voices I’m hearing are real. I should tell someone. But it isn’t likely they’ll believe me. Then again, I could just prove it to them by repeating their thoughts. Ugh . . . This ! And now I’m a delinquent, skipping classes! I take the long way home. The streets are empty because everyone is at school or work at this hour. I think I’m going to go home and jump off of my staircase. Maybe if I hit my head again, this new ability will go away. Finally, I make it home. There’s no car in the driveway so my parents must have left to do whatever they are planning. Wait a minute, who is that? An unfamiliar boy is standing in front of my house. At the sound of my approaching, he immediately turns around to face me. He doesn’t speak to me. He just watches as I stand a good distance back. Although he’s wearing the same uniform that belongs to my school, I’ve surely never seen him at SM High before. Maybe he’s a new student and he got lost. But . . . the hair covering one eye gives him a mysterious appearance. And with the expose eye he doesn’t stare at me kindly – it looks as if he’s glaring at me. Is he some kind of delinquent, too? I look around and realize we’re both alone. There would be no one to save me if he tried anything . . . Is he trying to break in? Is he going to mug me? Not good. . . Maybe I should run away . . . If he chases me, I don’t know what I would do . . . He’ll surely be able to catch up to me. In the middle of my mental dilemma, the boy opens his mouth and speaks with a harsh voice.
“Hey, you – “
“No, please don’t hurt me! I’ll give you money!”
“. . . . .  . . . . . . . Why do you think I want money?”
 “I’ll give you whatever you want!”
“Are you mistaking me for a criminal?”
“You’re . . . not?”
“Not remotely.” So I made a fool of myself by jumping to conclusions.
“Sorry, you’re standing suspiciously in front of my house, so I thought you were breaking in.” He doesn’t respond, clearly unimpressed.
“Can I help you?”
“I’ve come to get you. That is if you choose to come.”
“What? Who are you . . . ?” And then it suddenly hits me. Something’s different here. There’s no thought. I can only hear what he’s saying. But why?! This maybe the one moment when I wish I could hear what a person is thinking, and I can’t! Something about him I can’t trust. I don’t know him, but he’s come for me?
“Do you think you have the wrong person? I don’t know you.” The boy sighs impatiently.
“No. It’s you.”
“Could you be a . . . a death god?”
“Do I look like a death god to you?”
“Uh, well, I’ve never seen one so . . .”
“You’re not very smart, are you?”
“Hey!”
“I’m not here to take your soul, so calm down. I knew about what’s happening to you.”
“You mean . . .?”
“You’re a psychic!”
“A . . . what?”
“You can use psychic powers. Since yesterday, right?”
“How do you know about that?”
“Your energy level. It’s complicated, but we are able to track psychic users by their energy.” We? Who the heck is ‘we’? Does this guy work for the government? Is he part of a cult – or some kind of underground psychic organization? I can’t trust him at all.
“Anyway, I’m going to get to the point. People with psyches don’t belong in normal society, at least they know how to properly control them.”
“Yeah, I kind of figured that out at school.”
“So you understand. The point is, if you ever want to return to a normal life, you have to learn to control your psych. Otherwise you will probably go insane.”
“I can see that happening. . .”
“You’re different than other psychics. So I don’t know if your power will last forever. But unless your powers go away, you have to learn to control them. Also, I can tell that you’re a telepath. A mind-reader.”
“How do you know . . . ?”
“Because I can feel you trying to penetrate my thoughts. I ‘m blocking you from reading my mind.”
“Wow! How can you do that?”
“I learned it. Just like you’ll learn how to block other people’s thoughts from coming in.”
“How can I learn?!”
“The academy, Woolim. A school for psychics.” No way! A place like that actually exists?! This is wild! I didn’t even know psychics were real until yesterday, and now I found out that there is a whole academy devoted to it! But wait . . . This guy is trying to get me to go to a brand new school in who-knows-where. I’d have to be crazy to just leave everything behind to go to a place I know nothing about. Though, maybe I am crazy. Psychic and psycho are two very similar words.
“Where is this academy? Far?”
“It’s far away from here. It’s actually somewhere in the mountains. It was built in that location to be hidden from most people.”
“And no one has ever stumbled across it before?”
“If anyone finds it on accident, the administrator usually erases their memory.”
“You have got to be joking. How is that even possible?”
“That’s too complicated to explain. But it doesn’t matter anyway. So? Are you going to go?”
“I . . . I don’t know. . .” How can this guy expect me to go to a place where they erase people’s memories? He is right about one thing though: If I go to school while having to hear everyone’s thoughts, I won’t mentally survive. I will have to learn how to control my new power. That much I know for a fact. But to just drop everything and move like that . . . I just don’t know . . .
“How do I know you’re telling me the truth?”
“Well, I knew you were a telepath, didn’t I?”
“That’s true . . . But who are you, exactly? A student at Woolim?”
“Yes. I go there myself.”
“And what’s your name?”
“Sunggyu.”
“My name is Shin Woori. Are you also a telepath?”
“No. My psych is different from yours. There are a lot of different types.”
“Then show me yours, so I can believe who you are.”
“No. I can’t do that.”
“But why? Doesn’t that make sense?”
“It does, but I still can’t show you. It isn’t my problem if you don’t believe me.”
“Hey, isn’t that too harsh?”
“Not really. If you want to be miserable, it won’t affect me. My job is to give you the opportunity to come. Whether you take it or not doesn’t matter to me. I can’t stay here much longer, so make your choice.”
“But that’s not fair! How can I make a choice when I don’t know if I can trust you?”
“Ask yourself that question. It’s not up to me.” Ugh! The nerve of this guy . . .
“I’m sorry, but before I could go I need more proof. I just don’t know that I can believe you.”
“Okay, have a nice life. Oh, and I recommend you not to tell anyone about your powers. That can cause all kinds of . . . complications.” Sunggyu looks away from me then starts to leave. As I watch his retreating figure, I start to think about this entire situation as a whole. I have a power that I can’t control . . . My parents actually hates me . . .
“Uh, wait!” I call after him, and he looks over his shoulder.
“What? Change your mind?” . . . What do I have to lose?
“Yeah, I think I’m gonna go there. . ." “I’ll have to check with my parents first, but if they don’t care about me, then they’ll surely let me go. My only sadness is leaving Sungjong behind.
“Then go pack your stuff.”
“R-right now?”
“I’ll come back for you in one hour. So hurry up.”
“But what about my school? I can’t just disappear.”
“The administrator of Woolim will take care of all that. Our uniform is the same as your school, so take your uniform with you."
“The same? Really?” That’s weird. . . Sunggyu gives me one last serious look before he turns around and starts walking the other direction. He doesn’t even look back. This is so bizarre. And what a serious person. I never saw him smile even once. Things began to happen so fast that it doesn’t feel real yet. First I got the ability to read minds, and now I have to go to a new school. There’s still time to change my mind, but. . . If I have to leave in one hour, how will I say goodbye to my parents and Sungjong?