“So, should we go in now?” Bomi asks, taking in the seedy looking bar.

“I’m not sure... I have a bad feeling about this place.” Chorong replies.

“Is it the bad sort of feelings that you usually get, unnie?” Namjoo asks, concerned.

“Why should we go in anyway when we don’t even know who invited us to come? We could get into so much trouble if we get caught in there.” Naeun says, crossing her arms.

“There’s someone coming." Bomi says,  "It’s a boy.” she adds, nodding in the boy’s direction.

He stops a few meters away from the girls, looking down at a piece of card and then back up at the bar, frowning.

Eunji, recognizing the card as the same the 6 girls had received earlier that day, approaches the boy, smiling.

“Hello! My name is Eunji. I notice that you received one of these cards too,” she continues, producing her card as evidence, “and I was wondering if you would like to join us?”

He stares at her for a few moments, silently studying her, then giving an almost imperceptible nod of his head before joining the girls.

“Everyone, this is … what’s your name?” Eunji asks the boy.

“CAP.” He says quietly, staring at his shoes.

“What kind of name is CAP?” someone suddenly asks.

Everyone turns their heads in unison to look at the boy that is standing next to them.

“How long have you been standing there for?” Chorong asks, taking a step back from him.

“Only for a few minutes. My name is Lee Chanhee, by the way. You can call me Chunji though!” he says, winking at Chorong.

“Why are you here?” she asks, wishing she could turn on her mind-reading abilities right now.

Without another word, he flashes the card that he had received that morning, instructing him to be at the bar at 4pm. It was now 4:15.

“You got one too?” Another voice asks.

“Who are you?” Naeun asks, sighing in frustration.

“My name is Anh Daniel, but my friends call me Niel!” Niel says, smiling at everyone.

“Let me guess, you all received a card?” Someone else says.

By the time the twelve of them have assembled out the front of the bar, it is already 4:30.

They enter the bar and are surprised at how it looked so seedy from the outside but so classy on the inside. Nobody asks for their ID’s and they are led straight to the VIP room.

Inside the room, there are multiple couches surrounding a long, rectangular table. At the head of the table, sits a very pissed-off looking girl, eyes closed and taking deep breaths, and a young guy in a black suit and sunglasses, standing close behind her.

“You’re late.” The girl says through gritted teeth.

“From now on, if I say to be somewhere at a certain time, you all had better come early because I will not wait for you anymore.” She says, her voice shaking from anger.

The twelve just stand there, not knowing what to say.

“Well, are you going to sit down?” she asks, finally looking up at them, her eyes ablaze.

The twelve file onto the couches, none of them particularly eager to sit next to the girl that looked ready to kill them.

“My name is Goo Hara and this is Lee Changsun. We are here to train you to use, control and block your powers, enhancing them in the process. Any questions?” she says in a monotone voice, as though reciting a script.

“What do you mean by powers, Hara-ssi?” Niel asks.

“Ugh, I did not sign on for this.” She mutters, before taking a deep breath.

“The twelve of you are Gifted. And I don’t mean that you are really clever, I mean that you have what are commonly referred to as superpowers. Some of you already know of your powers, but are unable to control them or use them at will. You will train every day after school with Changsun and I, and on weekends too, until you have total control of your Gifts. When you are powerful enough, you will be escorted to another place, where you will be safe.” And no longer my problem, she finishes, in her head.

“I, uh, I think you may have made a mistake, Hara-ssi.” Hayoung timidly says.

“I don’t make mistakes.” Hara says icily.

“But I don’t have any powers!” Hayoung says tearfully, “Chorong unnie says she can sense my powers but I don’t actually have any abilities!” she says softly, trying hard not to cry in front of these strangers.

“You can control the weather.” Hara says in a bored tone.

“Bwoh?”

“Using your emotions, you can control the weather.” Hara says very slowly, as though speaking to a child.

“When you are happy, the sky near you will be sunny. When you are sad, it rains. When you are angry, you cause storms. When you are scared, it’s cold. You never realized because you thought it was all coincidental. Anyone else need me to spell out their “powers” for them?” Hara asks.

Eleven hands shoot up in the air and Hara sighs once more.

“Fine. Going around, then.”

“Oh Hayoung: controls the weather, Kim Namjoo: technopath, So-”

“Wait, what’s a technopath?” Chorong asks.

“I’m good with technology.” Namjoo says quietly.

“You have the ability to manipulate technology with your hands and some day, with your mind. Was there anything else, or shall I continue? Hara asks, annoyed at the interruption.

Taking the silence as their response, Hara continues.

“Son Naeun: mind control, Park Chorong: mind- reading, Yoon Bomi: teleportation, Jung Eunji: Telekenesis.” Hara pauses to take a breath and notices the look of awe on the girls’ faces.

It’s like they had no idea what their powers actually were! Hara thinks.

“Bang Minsoo: super-strength and the ability to heal and regenerate, Anh Daniel: electricity, Choi Jonghyun: shapeshifting and cryokinesis – You can create and manipulate ice.” She adds, in response to his puzzled look.

“Yoo Changhyun: pyrokinesis, Lee Byunghyun: flight and acute telepathy and Lee Chanhee: Invisibility. And that concludes today’s introductions.” Hara finishes, turning around to smile proudly at Joon.

He smiles smugly in return and leans forward to whisper in her ear.

“Forgetting something?” he whispers.

Hara frowns as she wracks her brain, trying to think of what she forgot.

How about the fact that they will all be moving to a new school tomorrow? Joon’s voice taunts.

Get out of my head! You’re being totally unfair right now. Hara thinks, sending her thoughts into Joon’s mind.

“Also, tomorrow morning you will all report to your new school. Your belongings will be taken care of and moved into your new dorms. Changsun and I will be there to keep an eye on you during school hours, after school we will train for three hours, and then you will have dinner and then do your homework. Training for five hours on Saturdays and then Sundays off. If I feel that any of you are falling behind, you will be expected to train even more frequently. If any of you fail to comply with the rules and instructions that I give, you will be punished. Questions?”

“What if we don’t want to move schools? What if we’re happy where we are right now?” Changjo asks.

“You’ve been given the opportunity to move schools and make a fresh start because it makes things more simple. And as for being happy where you currently are…” she trails off, both of them understanding that he hasn’t been truly happy for a long time, “let’s just say that you could always be happier.”

Feeling a momentary surge of compassion, Hara uses her powers to send happy thoughts to Changjo. The smile that grows on his face makes her briefly forget to block her powers and Hara is suddenly overwhelmed with power as she is bombarded by the thoughts of everyone around her.

“Make it stop!” she whimpers, grasping the sides of her head.

The whole room shakes violently and the twelve trainees begin to freak out.

“EARTHQUAKE!” Ricky yells out.

Joon jumps into action, guiding them all out of the room and reminding them to follow Hara’s instructions. Once they are safely out of the building, Joon rushes over to Hara and lifts her into his arms, using his superspeed to take her to a secluded field, away from civilization.

Knowing of only one way to block her powers himself, Joon takes a deep breath.

“I’m sorry, Hara.” He whispers as he uses his telepathic skills to force all of his sad memories into her mind.

A stream of tears escape his eyelids that are squeezed tight as he relives every one of their shared heartbreaks and tragedies.

“I’m sorry.” He manages to say once more, before collapsing next to Hara in the field.

---

 

Hara regains her strength first and sits upright, taking in her surroundings, the rising sun casting a warm glow on the all too familiar field.

Why does he always choose this place? She wonders.

Sighing, she reaches out to Joon’s unconscious body, giving him a boost of strength and arousing him from his sleep.

“Yah! Wake up, babo!” she yells as he rolls over to turn his back on her.

“We have to go to school now!” she reminds him shaking his shoulder.

“I don’t want to.” He mumbles in his dream-like state.

“This was your idea!” Hara yells, incredulous.

Joon rolls back to face Hara, glaring.

“Fine. I’ll go, but you can’t make me wear a uniform.”

Hara just smiles at him sarcastically and stands up, brushing the flowers off of her dress.

Checking her watch, she notifies Joon that they have five minutes to get to the school. Grunting, Joon gets up and brushes himself off too, stretching in the process.

“I can run fast, but there’s no way I can run us to school in five minutes.” He says, factoring in getting breakfast on the way.

“It’s fine, I’ll teleport us there. And feel free to stop me if I lose control, as you always do!” she adds, before making a table, two chairs and a buffet breakfast appear before them.

“Eat up, I’ll give you twenty minutes so you don’t get indigestion, but I’m unfreezing time in exactly twenty minutes.” She warns, checking her watch.

Not needing to be told twice, Joon helps himself to all the food he can grab as Hara watches.

“You’re not eating again?” he asks through a mouthful of bacon.

“I’ve suddenly lost my appetite.” She says, pulling a face at him.

When his time is almost up, Hara stands up and makes her chair disappear. Joon follows suit and soon they are standing alone in the field once more.

“You ready?” she asks Joon as he brushes the last of his crumbs off of his wrinkled suit.

He smiles at her and nods, walking behind Hara and giving her a back hug.

“Joon, how many times do I need to tell you that I can teleport you without you touching me?” she asks, exasperated.

“One more time?” he says, using his aegyo to get to her.

She shakes her head and rolls her eyes at him, but he notices her break into smile as she turns her head away, when she thinks he’s not looking.

“Okay, get ready to go back to school again!” she says, giving him a few moments to mentally prepare himself.

He has yet to admit it out loud, but Joon loves these rare moments alone where it’s just the two of them. If it were up to him, he would make this moment last forever, just the two of them in their special place, Joon hugging Hara from behind, his head resting on her shoulder. Just in case a moment like this doesn’t come around for a while, he savours it, taking a deep breath and breathing in Hara’s scent that he knows so well, a scent that is unparalleled. A smell that he associates with every moment they’ve spent together, all of their trials and tribulations, their good times and bad… mostly bad. A smell that …

“Why are you sniffing me?” Hara asks, breaking Joon out of his thoughts with a weirded out glance.

Knowing he can’t lie to her, he just turns his head the other way so Hara can’t see his face.

Suddenly Hara stands before him, though, studying him. As he tries to avoid eye contact, he realizes that they’ve already arrived at their new school.

“Joon,” Hara says in a serious voice, making Joon give her his full attention.

She takes a step closer to him and puts a hand on his shoulder.

“You know, you can use my shampoo if you want, then you won’t have to sniff me anymore.” She says, seriously, before bursting into laughter.

“It’s not funny.” He says, quickly turning around to hide the deep blush that rises on his cheeks.

“But then you can always remember the times we’ve spent together, and your scent will also be unparalleled!” she manages to say, clutching her side as she laughs.

Wiping away tears of laughter, Hara sobers up and begins to walk up to the school, her clothes morphing from her old outfit to the new school uniform.

“You coming?” she asks Joon as he stares at her in her new uniform.

She breaks out into another fit of giggles as she looks at his blank face.

“You said I wouldn’t have to wear a uniform!” He cries out in indignation.

“I never said that! Besides, you look so handsome in your new school uniform!” she says, mimicking a boy-crazed teenaged girl.

Looking down faster than Hara thought possible, Joon cries out as he realizes that Hara has replaced his black suit with a school uniform, his facial expression eliciting another giggling fit from Hara.

“We had better go inside now,” Hara says, putting her icy façade back on, “the twelve of them ought to be waiting for us.”

Joon follows Hara into the school, regretting that yet another moment with the real Hara has just slipped by, and wondering when they will get another chance to joke around.

---

 

“Now this is much easier!” Hara says, satisfied, as she walks up to the 12 who are eagerly waiting for her.

The 12 bow to Hara and Joon as they approach, the two quickly sharing a look before bowing back.

“FYI, y’all will be in your final year here, just to make things easier. Don’t worry though, I'll give you the necessary knowledge so it’ll be like you finished your other years. And I’ll take care of everyone else so they don’t think it’s strange for, say, a 16 year old to be in her senior year.” She finished, looking pointedly at Hayoung who stares blankly at her.

Still looking at Hara, Hayoung slightly tilts her head to address her fellow trainees.

“Does anyone have any idea what Hara-ssi is saying?” she whispers.

Hara looks at Hayoung, confused, before it dawns on her that she was speaking in English.

“She said that to make things easier, we’ll all be seniors this year and that she will fill the gaps in our knowledge.” L.Joe replies, translating.

“She also said to not worry because she will make sure people don’t think it’s weird that we’re seniors, even though we’re younger.” Namjoo adds quietly.

L.Joe hears Namjoo and smiles at her, excited that someone else also understands some English.

Namjoo blushes and keeps her head down, letting her hair cover her face from L.Joe’s view.

Hara rolls her eyes at them before continuing, in Korean this time.

“You will each be partnered up: you are to keep an eye on your partner, help them if they need help, prevent each another from drawing attention to yourselves and keep each other from danger. Your partner will be in all of your classes so that you will never have to be alone. Stick by your partners at all costs: do you understand me?” Hara asks.

“Yes, Hara-ssi!” They chorus.

“Ew, what?” Hara suddenly asks, looking at Niel, “I’m pairing you up with people of the same gender, so you can forget about that happening.” She says, pulling a face at Niel. "Also, you may let me know if you have a preferred name or nickname.” Hara adds, before quickly raising her hand to silence the boys before they can answer.

“Don’t worry, I heard.” She says, having had all their thoughts come screaming into her head.

“CAP, you will be partnered with Niel, Chunji with L.Joe and Ricky with Changjo. Bomi, you will be partnered with Chorong, Namjoo with Naeun and Hayoung with Eunji. You will attend all of your classes, studying hard and we will meet after school in the gardens for practice. After practice, you will have dinner and then be taken to your new dorms. Then you will do your homework and then go to sleep. If you have any problems today, just ask for help in your head and either Changsun or I will help you. Now, you’re going to feel a weird sensation in your head now, but just bear with me for a moment.” Hara finishes, closing her eyes so she won’t laugh at their scared faces.

Within seconds, Hara has supplied them with more than sufficient knowledge to complete their senior year.

“Okay, done. Run along now, children. You wouldn’t want to be late on your first day. Also, it wouldn’t hurt to look a little bit more presentable.” She says as she sends them on their way, morphing their uniforms and hair as they leave.

“I think that there may be a slight possibility that ... one may think that you’re ... overdoing it?” Joon says hesitantly.

“You’re overdoing it.” Hara retorts, sounding like young child, flicking her hand dismissively.

Looking at the retreating 12, Joon notices their hair transform back to normal and he smiles, pleased with himself.

“I just think they should fit in with their classmates: everyone else at this school seems to take great pride in their hair. Is it so bad that I just want them to assimilate?  And maybe you should too! I mean, your hair is just so … bodyguard-like.” Hara says as they walk towards their first class.

“Oh really? I wonder why!” Joon says, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Hara stops in her tracks, causing him to stop too and just looks at Joon, not liking his attitude. All of a sudden, she breaks into a smile and laughs to herself, continuing to walk ahead of Joon.

“What’s so funny?” he asks, mentally vowing to not let the subject go until he finds out.

“Well, I guess you’re just going to have to break that vow! It doesn’t matter anyway, we have class now.” She says, stopping outside their classroom.

“Did you seriously just teleport us here so you wouldn’t have to answer me?” he asks.

Joon just shakes his head as the smirk on Hara’s face as she enters the classroom answers his question.

 

---

 

"Wow!" Eunji breathes, "These gardens are breathtaking!"

The others just nod in agreement as they take in their surroundings.
The gardens are huge with a several fountains and beautiful flowers everywhere.
The twelve of them sit in a grassy area, next to their partners, waiting for Hara and Joon to appear. They take it in turns, describing how their first day was and how they were ignored by the other students, as though they weren't really there.

Hara suddenly stands before them, carrying a bag and flanked by Joon, who carries a box.

"You're all ready to begin training?" Hara asks, bored.

The twelve were enjoying their time together just now and aren't willing to begin training just yet, so they try to change the subject.

"Nice hair, Changsun-ssi!" Niel compliments.

"Yeah, it really suits you!" Eunji says.

"You look even more handsome now!" Naeun cooes.

It suddenly dawns on Joon what Hara found so amusing this morning and he makes a mental note to ask her to change it back later.

"Yah! Are you here to practice or flirt?" Hara asks, angry that her time is being wasted.

"Can't we do both?" Niel asks, winking at her.

"Ugh, don't even start. And your "womanizing skills" won't work on me." she says, shutting him down.

"Now, we have five hours practice ahead of us today instead of three, just because it's the first day. All you will have to do is listen to me and follow my instructions. Is that too difficult?" she asks them.

"Five hours?" Niel repeats, shocked. The others groan simultaneously.

"Is there a problem, Daniel?" Hara asks icily.

"It's our first day here! And we haven't even seen our dorms!" he whines.

"Yeah, why the hell would we want to spend our first day in a garden listening to instructions?" Naeun adds.

"If you have a problem with the way I run things, you are more than welcome to leave at any time. Go back to your old school and the life you are to leave behind. Go back to the danger that is imminent and that you have no way of protecting yourself from. You're all just so brave, aren't you? Feel free to leave now." Hara says, gesturing for them to leave the garden.

"You don't have to yell just because someone else's opinion isn't the same as yours." CAP says to Hara.

"Was I yelling? No. And who are you to tell me what to do?" Hara says, rapidly losing control of her temper.

"If you want people to listen to you, maybe you shouldn't be such a ... a..." Chunji starts.

"Such a what?" Hara asks him, forcing herself to calm down, to hear his advice.

"You shouldn't be such a !" He snaps, immediately regretting it. The word had seemed fitting when everyone was yelling, but the hurt look on Hara's face now made him wish he knew how to be invisible whenever he wanted to.

L.Joe coughs quietly, breaking the awkward silence.

"So, uh, what's in the bag?" he asks, nodding at the bag Hara was still holding.

"It doesn't matter." she says dismissively, letting it drop to the ground. 

She suddenly disappears, just as Joon yells for her to stay.

"That was not cool, you guys." Joon says, disapprovingly.

"Seriously? How can you put up with her, Changsun-ssi?" Niel asks.

"She is actually the easiest person to get along with. And sure, she said that you would be training for three hours after school, but that time just flies by when you're with her. And she said that it would be five hours today just to psych you out because she was actually just about to go through the basics for like, ten minutes, and then let you do your own thing. She certainly wasn't trying to hurt any of your feelings." Joon concludes, looking pointedly at Chunji.

The twelve of them look down at the ground, ashamed of themselves.

"I get it, you feel bad now. Unfortunately, she won't be coming back until she feels like it and that could be days. In the meantime, just enjoy your free time and stick by your partners. And happy birthday Chanhee." Joon finishes, making Hara's bag fly towards Chunji.

"How did you know it was my birthday?" Chunji asks.

"I didn't. Hara did. She said you never get to celebrate your birthday and thought you might appreciate this." Joon says, using his powers to make Chunji not feel guilty anymore, as Hara would have wanted.

Chunji opens the bag to find a birthday cake made just for him and the new book that he wanted, his eyes stinging with tears as he is touched by the gesture. Joon then places the box in front of him before telling everyone that they had 4 hours to hang out, and that Hara had made sure they already know where their dorms are. He then walks away from them and lies down on a bench several metres away, looking exhausted.

Chunji slowly lifts the lid off the box and a wet nose pokes itself out of the box and sniffs his hand. The cutest little puppy jumps out of the box and begins Chunji's face, making him laugh harder than ever before. 

The 11 others sing happy birthday to Chunji and they eat cake and play with his new puppy for the next few hours, each enjoying the company of one another and having a great time.