11 — A SPECK OF GUILT
doing it is easy,
the aftermath isn't.

—

after they all part ways, eunsang finally finds himself making his way to the infirmary. he knows it's not the best time to meet his seniors, but he feels in guilt after seeing what happened to minhee to the point he just needs to see him himself so he could prove to himself that the latter's not in the verge of dying, and he's not going to be responsible for someone's death anytime soon. hyeongjun just as expected runs away again after he got scolded by seungwoo and wooseok, leaving eunsang without telling him anything. eunsang couldn't even bother to find him anymore because if he does catch a glimpse of him, he's probably gonna run off again in a split second.

eunsang reaches the infirmary, hoping to easily find minhee and perhaps his other seniors. he opens the door and walks casually, examining among the empty beds. what is left was the one in the furthest corner. before he could even take a look of what's going on there, he was stopped by a tall figure that appears from his right side. it's seungwoo. "eunsang, don't."

"i wanna see how he's doing—"

"he's fine, he's recovering. now please just go, you're done for today." seungwoo says in a soft tone. "the best you can do is to find hyeongjun and to tell him that minhee's alright, please also make sure that he doesn't do anything stupid. you should also go back to class, you don't wanna miss too many subjects."

"seungwoo-ssi, i—"

"eunsang?" a familiar voice calls him from the corner of the room.

eunsang eyes brighten. without thinking he walks pass seungwoo towards to where the voice comes from. "seungyoun-ssi, i'm so sorry, i really didn't know what i was thinking!"

what he sees beyond the curtains isn't as different as he expected. minhee's body laid down on the bed, clearly still unconscious. seungyoun sits on the edge, massaging the latter's head. he seems to be soaking away minhee's pain with his hands, because purple branches started appearing on his arms. he looks at eunsang thoughtfully. "kid, i need to talk to you."

"no, you're not talking to him until minhee wakes up," seungwoo prohibits quickly. "i'm sorry for intruding, but i encourage you to do one thing at a time. we can't take high risks after what happened."

seungyoun looks disappointed, but he doesn't argue; he was feeling too much pain that he couldn't exactly think of a good comeback. "alright. but eunsang, stay close. you're the first person i'd like to see the moment this kid opens his eyes."

eunsang nods. he was then escorted out by seungwoo, leaving himself alone outside at the front bench, pondering to himself of the things he had done and what he should have done.

if only he knew how unstable hyeongjun was..

if only he knew what hyeongjun meant when he asked him to meet him on the fourth floor..

if only he had the power to stop hyeongjun from pushing minhee down to the ground..

if only..

eunsang was looking down on his feet when he suddenly sees a shadow of a figure standing upon him. he lifts up to see the last person he wants to see.

wooseok's cold glare pierces his skin. there was no emotions left scarring the shorter boy, that makes him scarier. you never know what's going on inside his head. eunsang just felt like he wants to crawl into a hole and die; he was not ready to face wooseok's wrath, not like this.

"before you do anything to me, i just wanna say—"

the older boy puts his hand on his shoulder, then later on pats him gently. "apology accepted, kid."

eunsang couldn't believe what he just heard coming out from the boy's mouth. "what?"

wooseok sighs then proceeds to sit next to him, arm resting on eunsang's shoulder. "i have no reasons left to be mad."

"but you looked so mad earlier—"

"look, i know how it feels having a same-aged friend with a behavior nothing like their age, i understand it completely." he points out.

".. are you talking about seungyoun?"

"am i being too obvious?"

a little smile appears on eunsang's face. "i don't think he's that bad."

"trust me, he's as immature as he says he is." wooseok coos. "he's unstable, compulsive, and definitely hard to take control of. he sticks to what he believes, a little bit too hard to the point he sounds quite selfish at some times. hyeongjun, he definitely has his traits."

eunsang nods. "yeah, he does."

"and you know what's the worst part about them?"

"what?"

"you need them, that's the worst part." wooseok replies, emphasizing the word 'need'. "they dare to take risks. they think out of the box. alternatives that are considered insane are labeled quite sane in their minds. because of hyeongjun, we get to kickstart minhee's power. because of seungyoun, we get to meet you."

"me?"

"seungyoun's the only reason why we returned back to xigma. he begged us to come with him because he knew that this year, there'll be a difference. turns out he's right, and that makes me believe that i have to trust him more—"

wooseok stops talking, his eyes staring at the empty hallway. eunsang looks at him strangely. "what is it?"

"i swear i just saw something move." he mutters.

"are you sure?"

wooseok's eyes flutter, and then he shakes his head. "nah, probably it was nothing. where were we again?"

eunsang shrugs. "i have a question."

"go on,"

"are you easily emotional because of yourself or because of your powers?" eunsang asks, just a moment after that he regrets it. "ah, that's quite a sensitive question, i'm so sorry—"

"no, it's alright." wooseok utters. "well you see, i'm quite different than my other friends. i didn't know my power since birth, i knew my power a little after i got older, maybe around when i reached junior high school?"

eunsang nods as he listens carefully to the older boy's story.

"back then i really kept my emotions to myself. i never argue, never deny, never told anyone of what i really felt. turns out it wasn't the best idea, at least for me, because the longer i keep my emotions to myself, the colder i felt. it was like something a part of me, my heart— it'll only continue to freeze if i don't let go of my feelings. i'll freeze until there's nothing left in me. i realized that keeping my emotions to myself was really going to kill me sooner or later."

"that's why you usually turn things into ice when you get mad?"

he nods. "rather than having myself turn into ice, i do it to the things around me. that's the only way i could live longer— i need to exhilarate my emotions."

eunsang felt like he was seeing wooseok in a different perspective. the boy always looks like he has anger management issues, but it's only because he couldn't contain his feelings to himself— he needs to let go of them in order to restore peace.

"that's why i'm quite vulnerable if you compare me to the other guys, they're much more comfortable with their powers than i am. that's why i'm never the one who does decisions, i just usually sit at the corner and wait until a decision's been made."

eunsang smiles. "that doesn't sound too bad, you know—"

eunsang stops talking. his ears capture tiny sounds of footsteps walking towards him. "do you hear that?"

wooseok nods. "something's definitely wrong here."

the footsteps stop once they realize that they're not alone. wooseok stands up to his feet, scanning the empty hallway with his keen eyes. "it stopped."

"it knows that we know." eunsang whispers. he takes a step forward, and wooseok takes another.

then the footsteps are heard again, now it definitely sounds like it's running away.

wooseok sprays the whole room with water, making it easier to reveal its tracks. a loud bump that sounds like a person slipping is suddenly heard a few meters from them. without hesitation wooseok turns the water frozen, freezing the said person who fell to the ground alongside with it.

a figure of a person is on the floor frozen, yet the person is yet to be found. it somehow ends up looking like an ice statue of a person trying to get up. "i-it's invisible." eunsang stutters.

"seungwoo hyung!" wooseok runs to the infirmary.

petrified, eunsang manages to get up from his feet towards the invisible frozen person. he touches the ice figure with his finger, examining it quietly.

the moment his finger touches the ice, suddenly the figure of the person materializes, revealing the person beneath it.

"what..?"

—

who has the power of invisibility? who remembers? hehe

the minhee case will be explained on the next chapter so pls stay tuned!!

50 votes for next chapter~

- yuehwa