Treasure tales

Short 2: Hello Stranger

"Finally time for..?" I asked quizzically. "Anyhow, how are you able to fly?"

"Shhh," Hyunsuk said, placing his right index finger onto his lip. He winked. "That is a state secret. I am a secret agent, armed with top secret equipment build by the most prominent of experts around the world."

"Really?" I asked, half excited and half skeptical. It sounded cool, but at the same time this sounded a little too cliche and movie-like. And was secret agent work in real life really as cool as it was depicted in movies? I highly doubted that.

"I wish," Hyunsuk laughed. "Listen, this may sound outlandish to you, but believe me. I have superpowers."

"How is that any more believable than your secret agent fairytale?" I objected.

"You saw me fly, didn't you?" He asked perfunctorily, placing his hands into his jean pockets. "Want more visual proof?"

Before I could reply, his clothes changed. Now he wore a blue bucket hat, a red, blue and white striped jacket, a white shirt covered in fake paint splashes, trouser pants and canvas shoes. And his necklace chains never left. He must like those.

"You changed your clothes. How could that be? Scientifically having superhuman powers is theoretically impossible!" I exclaimed in disbelief. "Unless there is some form of morphological or anatomical structures with the right adaptations, but if that were true how--"

"It be like that," Hyunsuk interrupted, although his eye smile had returned. "What other proof could you possibly ask for? This should by right be convincing enough, right?"

"Unless I am in some simulation and the simulation theory was correct," I muttered under my breath.

Hyunsuk laughed. It was a very cheerful laugh. "Simulation or not, this is the reality you must live in now," he said. "Accept it. Will you allow me to explain the rest?"

I nodded thoughtfully.

"You see, I happen to be the leader of a group--we call ourselves a faction. Our faction's name is Treasure, to be more specific. We all have superpowers," he said.

"Let me guess, you have a specific goal in mind, probably something to do with saving the world, and I have some underdeveloped potential waiting inside me that will be crucial in helping your plan work," I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What have you been watching?" Hyun suk asked in confusion. "This is reality, not some sort of fantasy movie. You're right on one thing though. If there was a major threat, we do have enough power to save the world--or crush it. But we're not interested in that."

"Then...what?" I questioned.

"Oh, nothing much," Hyunsuk giggled. "To be very honest we're just a bunch of normal teenage boys just trying to live our lives. We're more of a support group rather than a superhero organization. We get together so that we don't have to feel lonely about having powers no one else should know about."

"Then what did you mean by 'it's finally time'? Am I misunderstanding something here?" I asked.

"I don't know what's your understanding of that statement," Hyunsuk said. "But I can explain what I meant. You see, we were kind of bored with our lives, so Jihoon came up with a brilliant idea. Pick a random stranger from within 3km radius of our headquarters, preferably our age, and see if forcibly bringing change can spice up our lives a little. So it just happened that you were in a precarious position within 3km radius, so we decided to pick you."

"And why should I accept?" I argued.

"Come on, why shouldn't you?" Hyunsuk laughed. "You get to be friends with 12 fabulously attractive boys. We're a fun group to be with. I can guarantee that."

"You said life got boring."

"It does if it's the same thing everyday, even with a good group of friends," Hyunsuk argued.

"I have exams to study for."

"And I can help you. In fact, most of us only graduated recently! Oh and Yedam is taking the same exam as you, I think. A levels, right? He's the top student of his school," Hyunsuk said.

"Which school," I asked immediately.

Hyunsuk told me the name. I widened my eyes. Whoever Yedam was, he studied in the top school of the entire country. I had to get to know him. I narrowed my eyes. I just hope he wasn't a jerk, because most boys were. Still, I was willing to give this a chance.