What Doesn't Kill You / Side Story: Sungmin
Title: What Doesn't Kill You / Side Story: Sungmin
Pairing: None in this chapter
Genre: Superhero AU, action
Rating: PG-13
Chapter 9 < ----- > Chapter 11
Character Profiles
Siwon's Story
Hangeng's Story
Yesung's Story
Henry's Story
---
Since the day he was born, Sungmin had been hated. The result of an unfaithful husband, Sungmin’s life was plagued by the overshadowing presence of his stepmother, whether she was there physically or not. His mother had never spoken of her, but even growing up he’d sensed her presence-choking, pervading, poisoning what could have been a pleasant childhood.
He and his mother grew up without a lot, but they had each other and it was enough. They weren’t starving and they had a roof over their head and beds to sleep in-a bed, one, but his mother was a comforting warmth at night-and the necessities were all they needed.
He tried hard because his mother worked hard. He studied and came home from school and made dinner so that she’d have something to eat when she got back from work. Sometimes she would be too tired and would go straight to bed so she could wake up in a few hours for her next shift.
Sungmin rarely saw her, but he knew that he was loved, and he contented himself with that fact.
His mother was always smiling.
When he wanted to cry he would remind himself of her smiling face, of the bright gleam of her white teeth as she welcomed him home with a hug even when she looked ready to collapse from exhaustion. She always smiled to assure him that everything was alright.
As he grew up, he truly thought everything was fine. Other boys and girls had fathers but to him they were unnecessary. True, he grew up cooking and sewing and liking pink and stuffed animals-they were his mother’s old toys-but he’d never thought that it was wrong to do so.
He played sports at school, but that was school stuff. When he came home he did the things he enjoyed doing at home with his mother. Other boys played catch with their fathers on the weekend. Sungmin cooked dinner.
It was different, but it was what Sungmin knew and he cherished his little world despite its simplicity.
When he was thirteen, he learned how to hate.
It was the day he met his father for the first time…
He remembered getting home from school on that Friday to an expensive car parked in front of their apartment building. He’d stood there at the corner, watching the growing crowd of neighbors that had gathered to look at the foreign vehicle.
Then he’d heard yelling, and the door to their apartment was thrown open and a man stomped out, followed by his mother. His mother was the one screaming. “Get out of my house! Don’t ever come here again! He’s my child!”
The man turned back abruptly. “He’s my son, and he’s my heir. I’m taking him with me.”
“You can’t take him from me!” His mother screamed, a heart-wrenching sound. “I won’t let you!”
Sungmin’s grip tightened on his backpack. Who was this man yelling at his mother? He should go up and help! He couldn’t let this man yell at her like that! He took a few steps forward and met the man as he reached the bottom of the stairs.
The man looked up at that exact moment and Sungmin paused.
He looked like him.
“Sungmin!”
He was jolted out of his revelry by his mother’s shout. She had come down the stairs and latched onto her son’s arm tightly. Sungmin could feel her nails digging into his skin through his jacket. “Sungmin, go inside.” She whispered hoarsely.
Sungmin shook his head. “He shouldn’t be yelling at you, mom.” He swallowed and looked back at the man that looked like him. “Apologize to my mother.”
The man eyed him for a moment. “Didn’t your mother teach you to respect your elders?”
“Only when they deserve it, sir.” Sungmin answered back stiffly.
The man’s eyes widened, before he gave a harsh laugh. “You’ve got a backbone. That’s good.”
Sungmin stared at him as the man turned back to the car. A driver got out of the front and opened the side for him. He looked at Sungmin and then to his mother one last time, “I’m going to get my son from you.” And then the door closed.
The next morning, the man returned with a lawyer. Sungmin’s mother was announced unfit to care for him, and he was taken in by the man he discovered was his father. His last memory of his mother was her screaming as he was led into the car, hand outstretched.
She committed suicide a week later.
His stepmother told him.
The next seven years of his life seemed a blur. He hated, and he harbored that hatred silently. His stepmother hated him because he was not her child, and he took most any opportunity he could to remind her that she couldn’t have children of her own-with a smile, always with a smile-and it would end in her slapping him and his father yelling.
He certainly didn’t care.
But even though he hated his stepmother and father, a part of him hated his mother too, and that made him hate himself. His mother had left him, abandoned him. Why hadn’t she come to tried and get him back? He certainly would have gone with her. No…she had simply let him be taken and had gone somewhere he could not follow.
He was twenty years old when he contracted GAM, and as he lay there in the most expensive hospital room that money could buy, his only regret was that he hadn’t given his sickness to his stepmother and father first.
As he closed his eyes and took one last, shuttering breath, he imagined his stepmother’s twisted, triumphant smile. Then there was nothing.
---
Everything was too loud.
There was a buzzing in his ears that sounded like a jackhammer, and a systematic ‘tick’ of a clock that reverberated in his skull. He let out a groan of pain and clutched at his ears.
“Ah, he’s awake sir!”
Sungmin forced his eyes open to a man standing over him with a clipboard. He smiled, “Good morning, Lee Sungmin.”
Sungmin found himself sitting up, and the sound of the sheets rustling was unbearable. The man’s voice sounded like a roar. And the beeping of the monitor beside him-wait, where was he? He glanced around the room in confusion, his brain muddled with what he guessed were painkillers. His hypersensitive hearing must have been a complication of the medication.
He tried not to wince as the man in the lab coat spoke again. “I’m sure you’re wondering what you’re doing here.”
He was. The man wasn’t the usual doctor at his father’s hospital. This also wasn’t his hospital room. It was wide, spacious, and much too white. There were no windows and the only furniture in the room were the monitors, the bed he was lying on, and a stainless steel table in the far right corner with a fold-up chair and a computer.
“My name is Dr. Jang.” The man continued with a chipper smile that didn’t seem to fit his voice. “You’re currently in the medical bay of GAM Training Facility # 3.”
---
The explanation of what had happened to him had been…oddly reasonable. Perhaps it was because he didn’t care, and so he took it all in stride. Perhaps it was because he simply wanted the man to stop talking because his ears felt like they were going to start bleeding. He didn’t know, he simply nodded at intervals and listened.
The GAM virus, huh? The doctors at the hospital had thought he’d had some other disease. Or maybe they’d lied about that to his father and stepmother. Wouldn’t the hospital be condemned now, for fear of an outbreak?
Oh well, perhaps his stepmother and father had gotten the disease after all. It was a comforting thought, as long as they had died from it. They weren’t here, so if they’d gotten it, it meant they hadn’t made it right?
Dr. Jang had explained the premise of his new life to him: he would live and train at the facility until it was time to go on missions. Until his power appeared he would simply have to do physical training to get his body in shape.
Before that, however, he needed a room.
Dr. Jang led him down a narrow hallway to the last door on the left. He knocked, but was met with silence. He gave a grunt of annoyance before opening it and walking in, “I have someone I need you to meet.”
The room reminded Sungmin of a boarding school dormitory. Along both walls were beds, with a dresser between them and a trunk at the end. A table with four chairs stood in a corner next to a TV.
Aside from the furniture there was no one there, and Dr. Jang frowned, “I was told at least one of them would be here…”
A door near the last bed opened and someone walked out, towel slung around thin hips.
“Ah! Kim Heechul-ssi!”
At first glance, Sungmin thought the person was female. Their hair was long and black and plastered against a pale neck. When they turned their face was feminine, and their figure was slender. If it wasn’t for the fact that the man was shirtless and the Adam’s apple he sported, he could have been a girl.
The other thing that Sungmin noticed were his gloves that he wore, even as he brought up the towel hanging around his neck to begin drying his hair. He didn’t spare Dr. Jang and Sungmin more than a passing glance as he walked toward a bed that Sungmin assumed was his.
He began rummaging through the drawers for something to wear.
Dr. Jang cleared his throat. “Kim Heechul-ssi, this is Lee Sungmin.”
The man turned, pinning them both with an annoyed glare, “And?” He pulled a shirt, underwear, and a pair of skinny jeans out of the dresser and threw them onto his bed before sitting down as well.
“He’ll be the last member of your squad.” Dr. Jang didn’t look entirely comfortable around the other man, and Sungmin wondered why. He did seem intimidating, Sungmin supposed, for all of his feminine looks. There was something very dangerous in the way he moved and eyed both of them with apathy, in the way a predator feigned disinterest until its prey came close enough to devour.
Heechul leaned his cheek against his hand and looked Sungmin over again. “Is that so?” Sungmin shifted a bit uncomfortably. Should he introduce himself? They would be living together after all. He gave a meek smile, “Hi.”
Heechul stood, “You smile too much.” He grabbed the clothes he’d taken from the dresser and walked out of the room.
---
Sungmin’s second meeting with Heechul went slightly better than the first, or at least, he liked to imagine it had. He’d stayed in the dorm until a taller, princely looking man had walked in and introduced himself as Choi Siwon. He’d told him they would be on the same squad and suggested they head to the cafeteria together.
The cafeteria was hell. The buzzing in his ears had never fully stopped but he’d assumed that it had lessened. That delusion was shattered when he left the quiet dorm room and found himself in a crowded mess hall. Everyone was talking, and his head began to swim as his ears rang.
“You alright? Come on,” Siwon smiled at him and led him toward a table in the back, “The pain killers must be making you dizzy.”
Sungmin nodded absently. He wanted to find something to stuff into his ears to block out the sounds. He could hear the grinding of teeth as people chewed, each slurp of ramen broth. He reached up his hands to place them over his ears but stopped himself. He didn’t want to seem like a complete freak. He allowed himself to be led forward through the crowd.
At the table he was introduced to the other members of their squad: Yesung, and Donghae. And then there was their leader…Kim Heechul.
As they were introduced, Heechul didn’t look away from the person he’d been talking to. The person looked up at Sungmin, however, and gave a wave, “Hey,” He nudged Heechul in the ribs. “Princess, aren’t you going to introduce yourself?”
“We’ve met already.” Heechul replied blandly, grabbing for his coffee.
“Hyung…” Donghae pouted, “Why are you so grouchy?”
“We have a mission tonight. You know how ruffled princess’s feathers get when we have a job.” The other man wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and Heechul rolled his eyes in response.
“Now that we’ll have a full team we’ll go on team missions too, won’t we?” Siwon asked hopefully, having guided Sungmin to a seat.
“Probably.” Yesung nodded, twirling his chopsticks.
Sungmin cast a sideways glance at the man sitting with Heechul and was surprised at the look on his face. At Yesung’s words his smile had faltered, and there had been a cold gleam in his eyes. But it was gone within seconds and he’d put his arm around Heechul’s shoulders, turning him away from them and toward a group of people that Sungmin hadn’t been introduced to.
“That’s Typhoon.” Donghae pointed at the man with his arm around Heechul. “He and hyung have been here forever.” He looked to Yesung, “Are you going to finish your pork?”
“Don’t worry, Heechul hyung is like that with everyone when they first arrive.” Siwon supplied at Sungmin’s crestfallen face. “…it’s a lot to take in, isn’t it?”
“When did you get here?” Sungmin asked softly. He didn’t really care if Heechul liked him or not. He’d accepted the reality he’d been given because he was no longer with his father and stepmother. He didn’t care about anything else.
“About six months ago.” Siwon replied with a smile. “I just started my squad training a week ago.”
“Hyung is also grouchy because he and Typhoon are going on a mission with Squad 7.” Yesung murmured. He was eyeing Sungmin, his gaze centered on Sungmin’s lips. Sungmin shifted uncomfortably.
“Squad 7?” Siwon’s brow furrowed. “But there are only 5 active squads at the facility.”
“They’re from facility 2.” Yesung answered through a mouthful of rice. “I’ve only ever met one of them though.” His face scrunched up a bit in a look of discomfort. “Something was off with that guy, seriously.”
Donghae shrugged, “I didn’t think he was bad. He smiled a lot.”
“He was a freak.” Yesung pointed with his chopstick in warning, “And that’s coming from me. No one should be that cheerful.”
Siwon shook his head with a disbelieving smile before looking back at Sungmin, who still looked confused. “Do you think you can eat? Sometimes the medication makes you nauseous.”
He wasn’t nauseous, he just felt like his eardrums were going to rupture at any moment. He didn’t say that, however. He simply took a sip of the banana milk that Donghae offered him with a bright smile.
As he watched Donghae relay a story and Siwon lean in expectantly, all ears, and Yesung’s soft smile, he thought that maybe he could like it here.
---
The ringing in his ears wouldn’t stop.
Two weeks after waking up at the facility, Sungmin was seriously contemplating cutting his ears off. He tried not to show how much pain he was in, but he avoided the cafeteria like the plague. He ate out of the vending machines and slept most of the day when he wasn’t at training.
He spent his waking hours at night, when it was quiet and he could think clearly. But even silence was loud, and he wondered if he should ask Siwon for a set of earplugs. He would know where to get some, right?
His late night walks gave him time to think and mull over why he was here. He had no one waiting for him, no one he cared about in the outside world, so the idea of leaving never crossed his mind. He didn’t suffer homesickness because he had no home to go back to.
Training to be a soldier gave him a sort of purpose, and the knowledge that he had a power, something special about him that no one else had, was different. It made him oddly happy. He missed his pink and his rabbit stuffed animals and his two kittens at home, but those feelings were brief, fleeting, and he wondered how long it would take before he forgot about his past life completely.
Except the hatred. He would always hate.
Since waking up and introducing himself, he’d spoken about three full sentences to Heechul. The other man brushed him off or ignored him most of the time. If not, he would grace him with a level look, “Why do you smile so much? It’s annoying.” And then he’d walk off, leaving Sungmin confused and a little hurt. He didn’t know why he sought Heechul’s acknowledgment-he was his leader. That had to be why. He needed the leader of his squad to accept him.
Or maybe it was because he, like everyone else, seemed to believe that Heechul’s acknowledgment was some kind of blessing. He saw the way everyone’s eyes followed him, awed but too scared to talk to him. Kim Heechul drank in their idol-worship with a smirk and a cold glare and the indifference of one who knew he was better.
Whatever it was, acceptance had not been achieved, and he didn’t feel like it ever would be.
Sungmin had taken to working out at night because it was difficult to do during the day when there were a million machines clanging and banging and people grunting and yelling and just too much noise altogether.
He was in the locker room changing back into his regular clothing when he heard footsteps. He turned to see a man-tall, muscular, vaguely familiar, someone he’d probably passed in the cafeteria or hallway at some point.
“Uh, hi.” Sungmin gave a small, uneasy smile. The man’s gaze followed him as he walked to his locker and pulled it open to grab his shoes.
“So you’re the new guy, huh?”
Sungmin blinked, before shutting his locker to find the other man right beside it. He jumped slightly at their proximity. “Uh, yeah.” He didn’t know why he still constituted as the “new guy” after two weeks at the facility, but he figured that they didn’t get new additions very often.
“You’re pretty thin.”
Well, now the conversation was definitely awkward. Sungmin began to feel a bit uneasy, and he didn’t want to bend down to pick up his shoes from the floor where he’d dropped them.
The man took another step forward and Sungmin took a step back, but an arm blocked his escape. As the man’s hand hit the metal locker it rang and Sungmin found himself gasping as pain lanced through his head. He put his hands to his ears to stop it but the man grabbed his wrists, pinning them to his side. He hit the locker and the sound echoed, even louder this time. He was certain his ears were bleeding.
White dots danced in his vision as he blinked wearily. What was going on? What was wrong with him? It was loud, too loud, it needed to STOP!
And there was silence.
Sungmin coughed, opening his eyes. He blinked in surprise. He could see the man’s lips moving but no sound was coming out. Why was there no sound? And then the sound came rushing back-the man’s voice, the banging of metal, his own harsh cry as the man’s fingers dug into the skin of his wrists.
“Don’t go touching others so casually.”
Sungmin blinked back a wave of pain at the voice. The man holding him had stiffened, and they both turned slightly to see Heechul standing in the locker room entryway, eyeing the man coldly. Sungmin had never been so happy to see another human being in his life.
“What’s it to you?” The man’s voice shook slightly, but he didn’t back down, nor did he loosen his grip.
“Let go, or do you want me to make you?” Heechul opened and closed his palm suggestively, and the man’s eyes remained glued on his gloves, knowing full well what it meant if those gloves came off.
“Hey, hey, it was just a joke.” The man let go and took a few steps back, holding up his hands with a forced grin.
“No one is laughing.” Heechul replied coldly, and took a step forward.
The man booked it, nearly tripping over his own feet as he ran out of the room, giving Heechul a wide berth.
Sungmin swallowed, and his legs gave out on him. He slid down the wall with a shaky exhale, and winced as the lockers rattled. He could still feel where the other man had touched him. He hiccupped once and reached up a hand to rub his eyes, afraid he was going to start crying. “…thank you…” He managed.
“Just kick his ass next time. Just because you’re new doesn’t mean you have to do anything for anyone else.” Heechul replied.
“…why…?” Sungmin questioned softly.
Heechul gave him a sideways look. “They go after the pretty, weak-looking ones first.” He stretched, brushing imaginary dirt off of the back of his pants. “Once your power appears they won’t try anything. But now that he knows you’re one of mine he won’t mess with you.”
“Now that he knows you’re one of mine he won’t mess with you.”
He began crying in earnest, and he wasn’t even sure why. Heechul raised an eyebrow at him in question and gave a small laugh and a shake of his head before turning, “You coming? We have training in the morning.”
Sungmin nodded, bright smile plastered on his face as he stood.
---
Sungmin hadn’t realized his power had appeared that night until later, when Heechul questioned him.
“I yelled at you but no sound came out. You were screaming but I didn’t hear anything either. What the hell did you do?”
He’d gone to the medical center and they’d run some tests. They’d put him through a few hearing exams and he’d ended up blasting a hole through one of the walls with a sound wave when they’d turned the frequency up too loudly.
The next day, a pair of noise cancelling headphones was lying on his bed when he returned from training. Donghae, Yesung, and Siwon had no idea where they came from.
Heechul never said anything, but he’d looked rather smug the rest of the week.
---
Sungmin’s first mission wasn’t with his squad as a whole. Instead, it was Sungmin, Siwon, Heechul, and Typhoon. Their mission was simple: get the GAM user out and take him back to the facility. The reason they’d been called in was because the family refused to give up the body or vacate their home and they’d become quite vocal about it. There were news crews outside, and a crowd had gathered on the street.
The police were too afraid to make a move for fear of bad press.
The four of them had arrived with government ID’s and gas masks-no one was sure whether or not the virus was airborne, so they played the part of a bio-hazard team coming to inspect the home and check for any further signs of the virus.
They passed the growing crowds until they were standing at the door. From what the firemen had said, there were six people in the house: the GAM user, his mother, father, older brother, older brother’s wife, and his niece.
Typhoon looked bored as Siwon knocked at the door. “Hello? Is anyone there?”
“Idiot, of course someone’s inside.” Typhoon rolled his eyes, but Heechul silenced him with a glare.
“We’re here to talk.” Heechul held up his hands. “We’re not soldiers.” The curtain rustled and a face peered out from the corner of the window. The four of them were dressed as civilians, and aside from Siwon they didn’t look particularly tall and muscular. Unthreatening.
The door slowly opened.
As they walked through the doorway, Heechul tugged on his mask, and his voice crackled in Sungmin’s earpiece. “Mute the house.”
Once they’d all entered the door slammed shut behind them. Sungmin jumped, wincing. Even though he’d learned how to mute sounds somewhat, it was difficult to control when he was already silencing the whole house from the outside.
The father was the one who had opened the door.
Heechul looked at the others and nodded. The four slipped off their gas masks and Siwon gave a smile, “Hello sir. Would it be alright if you took us to where your son is?”
The man looked hesitant, but nodded.
He led them down the hallway to a back room. Inside a young man was lying on a bed, motionless. Seated at the edge was the mother and his sister-in-law. His older brother was standing, “What are you doing here?”
“They’re here to talk.” The father looked at them. “Aren’t you?”
They nodded.
“We won’t give him to you! He’s just…he’s just sleeping. He isn’t dead. Just sleeping.” A traumatized mother. Sungmin wondered if his mother had been alive when he’d contracted GAM, would she have grieved like this?
“You’re right. He’s just sleeping. We’re going to take him to somewhere safe so that he can wake up.” Siwon smiled kindly, and the woman seemed to relax. Siwon had a way of making people feel comfortable around him. “We don’t work with the police. We’ll take him somewhere safe.”
Heechul said nothing, merely leaned in the doorway and watched.
“Will you bring him back?” The mother finally asked.
“They’re lying! They came to kill all of us!” The older brother snapped. “Mother, don’t listen to them.”
“But…”
Typhoon let out a low laugh. “Heh, you’re pretty smart ajusshi.”
Siwon turned to Typhoon with a worried gaze. “Hyung!”
“He’s right.” Heechul answered coldly-not meanly, just with a crisp finality that brooked no argument. “We’re here to get your son’s body. Then all of you will be checked to see if you carry the virus. Please cooperate.”
“If we don’t?” The brother asked archly.
“The house will be condemned.” Typhoon answered back with a sharp smile, “And you will be condemned with it.”
“You bastard!” He looked ready to fight, but seemed to think better of it as Typhoon stepped forward.
“Hyung…” Siwon looked to Heechul, as if hoping he would say something to deflate the situation.
Heechul let out a soft sigh-whether it was from annoyance or fatigue Sungmin couldn’t tell. “Your son won’t be coming back. Whether you believe that we’ll keep him alive or not is none of my concern but you should think of him as dead to you either way.”
“We have another mission. We need to get going.” Typhoon glanced down at his watch. “Give us the body.”
“You’ll kill us either way.” The older brother hissed, and his wife let out a frightened cry.
“None of you seem like carriers of the virus. You’ve been in contact with it for a while. No one is going to kill you. Just please cooperate.” Siwon held up his hands, still smiling his gentle smile.
“I won’t let you take my son!” The mother wailed, collapsing atop his body like a shield. Her daughter-in-law stared helplessly, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Don’t come near my family!” The brother stood in front of them, protecting them. The father looked on from the sidelines-old and feeble and frightened. Sungmin’s throat tightened. A family willing to die for one another. A family that loved one another. It was something he’d never experienced, save for his mother, and he wanted to cry.
He didn’t need this reminder or what he’d had-or never had-and lost.
“We don’t have time for this.” Typhoon let out a sigh. “Give us the body.”
“Nooooo!” The mother wailed, sobbing.
“Che.” Typhoon gave an annoyed glare before a piercing wind shook the house and the woman was thrown backwards, off of the GAM user. She hit the wall and there was a snap before she slumped to the ground.
“Mother!”
“Hyung!” Siwon looked on in horror, as the family rushed toward the mother. “Hyung she…”
“She’s dead! You killed her!” The son looked up, face twisted in fury. “You BASTARD!”
Typhoon had already gone to the bed and grabbed the GAM user. He hefted him over his shoulder, “Let’s go.”
“YOU KILLED HER!” The son rushed forward. Typhoon didn’t look back as the man charged. A gush of wind hit him before he could attack, and he crashed into his father.
“They refused to cooperate.” Typhoon turned a level stare at Heechul. “If this continues, you know what will happen.”
“Give the body to Siwon.” Heechul ordered, his gaze never leaving the family. The daughter-in-law was shaking her mother-in-law, trying to get her to awaken even though they all knew she was dead. The father and brother had stood.
Typhoon practically threw the man to Siwon, who caught him numbly, eyes trained on the woman’s corpse.
“Go Siwon.” Heechul whispered.
“Hyung…”
“Just take the body!” Heechul snapped, and Siwon flinched, before moving. He disappeared, faster than Sungmin could catch with his eyes, and then the brother was lunging at him.
“Sungmin!”
The man let out a yell and Sungmin threw up his hand just in time. There was a moment of silence and then a squelching sound followed by a splatter. Sungmin slid to the ground and stared at the wall in front of him, now painted red with blood and entrails.
The sister-in-law let out a horrified shriek.
“Sungmin! Is the house still muted?”
Heechul’s voice sounded like it was coming through a fog. Sungmin just stared at the body parts that remained. Part of the man’s large intestine slid down the wall and landed at the bottom with a ‘plop’.
The woman was still screaming, until Heechul ripped off his glove and placed his hand over her mouth. She bucked once, before her body began to dissolve.
Sungmin vomited.
By the time he’d emptied his stomach completely, the room had gone silent. He wiped his mouth with the back of his gloved hand and looked up. There were two piles of ash on the ground by the remains of the brother-in-law. Heechul was slipping on his gloves. “…come on Sungmin.” He grabbed him by the arm and pulled him to his feet.
“…appa? Appa what’s going on?”
Heechul moved before Sungmin could turn at the little voice. By the time he looked Heechul was already leading the little girl out of the room, his hand over her eyes. “It’s alright.” Sungmin had never heard Heechul use such a gentle tone.
“I don’t like the dark. Where is my appa?” The girl cried out.
Typhoon pushed Sungmin through the doorway and closed it as he followed Heechul into the hall. Heechul took his hand off of the girl’s eyes and paused. Her eyes were glazed over and glossy.
Typhoon noticed it too. “…Heechul.”
Heechul remained silent, before he looked up at Typhoon. “She’s burning up.”
“She’s contracted it.” Typhoon nodded. He knelt down next to the girl. “Do you want to go with your daddy?”
The girl brightened. “Yes! I want to see my appa!”
“JAY!” Heechul yelled, just as Typhoon grabbed the girl’s head in his hands and twisted. There was a snap and she went limp in his hold.
There was a moment of silence, as Sungmin stared in horror at what Typhoon had just done and Heechul stared down at the little girl that Typhoon had just killed. “…she didn’t see anything.”
Typhoon sighed, “Heechul-”
Heechul stood up and grabbed Sungmin’s arm. His grip was tight, painful, as he dragged him toward the door. Sungmin tripped over his own feet but managed to keep up. They exited the house to find Siwon standing outside next to the car.
“What’s the status of the house, inspector?” One of the firemen walked up to them. “What about the family?”
“…dead.” Heechul replied dully. “Burn it.”
He let go of Sungmin and walked toward the car, his steps stiff. He looked small, and for the first time since he’d met him, Sungmin realized just how thin Heechul really was.
“He won’t be mad for long.”
Sungmin turned to see Typhoon walking toward him, gaze trained on Heechul’s retreating figure. “…he won’t be mad for long,” he repeated, as if trying to convince himself, before he stepped past Sungmin and toward the car.
Sungmin followed silently.
---
The ride back to the training center was made in silence. Siwon had asked what had happened and Heechul had snapped at him and told him to shut up. After that, no one had spoken.
The moment the vehicle was parked, Heechul stepped out.
Typhoon got out hurriedly from the front seat and ran toward him, stepping back only when the door slammed shut, nearly on his foot. He let out a sigh and wrenched it open, Sungmin following behind. Siwon stayed with the car and waited for the scientists to get there for the body.
Heechul was halfway down the hall when Typhoon caught up with him. He grabbed his arm and wheeled him around. “She had the virus. She didn’t look strong enough to live.” Typhoon spoke for the first time since they’d left the home. “I saved her from suffering.”
“Don’t touch me.” Heechul grunted, shrugging off Typhoon’s hand.
Sungmin watched him stomp off and turned to follow when Typhoon spoke, “We were just doing our job.”
“That doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do.” Sungmin answered back. It was the first time he’d spoken that afternoon, and his voice cracked a bit from disuse.
Typhoon sneered, “I expected that from Siwon, not you.”
“Why not?” Sungmin bristled. Was Siwon the only one allowed to have a conscience and morals?
Typhoon’s sneer disappeared to be replaced by a tired, knowing smile. “Because you want to kill someone, don’t you?”
“…what do you mean?”
“Your stepmother, right? You hate her. You want her to die.”
“I-I never-how do you know about her?”
“She and your father killed your mother. They’re bad people.”
Yes. They were. But that didn’t mean he had a right to kill them. In all the years he’d hated them, he’d wished them dead more times than he could count, but he’d never once thought of killing them himself.
“If you kill them, you’ll be happy don’t you think?”
“What?”
Typhoon looked at him seriously for a moment. “There’s someone I want to kill. When I think about killing that person, it makes me happy.”
Sungmin swallowed. Someone that Typhoon wanted to kill? Who could he possible hate?
Typhoon must have read the question in his eyes. He gave a crooked smile. “They left before you came.” Typhoon shrugged. “But one day I’ll kill them. And then I’ll be happy.” He seemed so sure of himself, so confident that if he really killed them, he’d be happy.
As he walked off, Sungmin found himself wondering…would he be happy if he killed his father and stepmother?
---
Sungmin tried to forget about Typhoon’s words, but they stuck in the back of his mind for the rest of the next two weeks. He was given some relief by the beginning of their squad training. Because they were Heechul’s team, Sungmin soon learned that the expectations were higher. Mistakes were looked down upon, and the scientists were over-critical.
Squad 15 was meant to be the elite.
Failure was not tolerated.
Oftentimes, Heechul would end up snapping at the scientists when they pushed them too hard-Siwon fainted once because he he’d burned more calories than he’d consumed after they forced him to train overtime.
The worst times were when they trained with Squad 12, Typhoon’s squad. Sungmin didn’t know what Xmas’ problem was, but he seemed to have it out for Heechul. Not only that, but Heechul still wasn’t talking to Typhoon and took their training as an opportunity to take out his anger.
Once, after a group training session, Donghae twisted his leg dodging one of Sungmin’s sound blasts. Heechul had called training off but their instructor insisted they continue with their session.
Instructor Hwang looked up from his clipboard. “Continue.”
“Donghae needs to go to the medical room.” Heechul answered back tersely, checking the boy’s ankle. Donghae winced as he applied some pressure. “Siwon, take him.”
“Donghae is going to need to learn how to continue despite pain. The chances of you fighting while injured are high.” Instructor Hwang began scribbling down some notes. “Continue.”
“Fuck you.” Heechul snapped. He turned to Siwon, “Take him.”
“Kim Heechul-ssi! You must obey my orders. Donghae needs to develop a tolerance to pain.”
Heechul gave him a cold smirk and pulled off his glove. “Do you want to try and develop a tolerance to my hand?”
Instructor Hwang paled, before he began scribbling something else on his clipboard.
Heechul glared. “Stop taking fucking notes! You’re always scribbling whatever the hell you want about us. We’re not lab rats.” He pulled on his glove and stalked to the door. He kicked it open and stormed out.
There was a moment of silence, as Instructor Hwang seemed to get control of himself. He, like the others, had assumed Heechul was going to attack him. “…ungrateful…” He muttered to himself, going back to his notes.
Sungmin helped Donghae stand. “…let’s get you to the medical center.”
“No.” Donghae shook his head. “I don’t want to get hyung in trouble.”
“I think we’re past that point.” Sungmin looked toward the door Heechul had kicked down, before he gave Donghae a smile, “If you can handle it, should we continue?”
Siwon stilled looked doubtful. Yesung eyed the instructor for a moment, before turning to them. “Alright, we’ll continue with evasive maneuvers.”
“Right hyung!” Donghae smiled, but it was tinged in pain as he tested his footing.
Sungmin got into place, ready to begin shooting so the others could dodge, but his mind was elsewhere. What were the instructors writing about them? Why was Heechul so edgy lately? Even when he snapped at the instructors he rarely raised his voice and he’d never walked out on a session before.
Was he still emotional over that girl’s death?
Did Heechul hyung have someone he wanted to kill? Did he think killing them would make him happy? Sungmin figured that Heechul certainly wouldn’t mourn Instructor Hwang’s death.
That night, after training, he met Typhoon in the cafeteria. “I want to do it.”
Typhoon had merely smiled with a nod.
---
The next day Typhoon walked into Squad 15’s dormitory with an apologetic knock.
Yesung, Donghae, and Sungmin were in the middle of a game of goblin’s world rock, paper, scissors and Siwon was giving Heechul a much-needed back massage. Everyone paused, and Heechul opened one eye lazily before he leaned forward with a stoic glare. “What is it?”
Typhoon took a seat at the table and eyed the half-empty beer can there. “I have a mission.”
“Then you should go.” Heechul replied coolly. He leaned back against Siwon, “I want a scalp massage next.”
“Sungmin can come with me, right?”
Heechul paused, eyes narrowed. “Why do you need him?” He’s a part of my team, not yours.
“I’m noisy.” Typhoon grinned.
Sungmin, by this point, had stood up from Yesung’s bed. “It’s alright hyung, I asked if I could go.”
Heechul was sitting up fully at this point. He looked from Sungmin to Typhoon and looked oddly betrayed. Sungmin ignored the look and walked to the door, “Are we going?”
Typhoon nodded. “Yeah.”
Heechul’s gaze burned into the back of his head, even after the door had closed.
---
The mission went by quickly-routine, Sungmin didn’t remember the details of it-and it wasn’t long before Rose had pulled their van in front of a large gate that Sungmin remembered with vivid clarity.
“You can take a bus back, right?”
Sungmin nodded, and watched as they drove off. He stood outside the gate for a few moments, staring at the intercom. He lifted his hand to press the button and stopped. He eyed the wall for a moment before he climbed over it.
He silenced the area, and as his feet hit the paved driveway they made no sound.
The driveway was unimaginably long, but at the same time, he found himself standing on the porch in a matter of seconds. He grabbed the knocker. Once, twice, it was unnaturally loud, even after he’d dampened the sound. Even through his headphones it rang, like a countdown.
“…coming!” The voice was faint, but coming closer. Footsteps. Heels. He knew who it was before she opened the door.
“…S-Sungmin?”
His stepmother didn’t look any different. There were no signs of grief upon her face. She was wearing a nice dress, and had been in the process of pulling on her coat. Getting ready for a night out.
“Honey, who is it-” His stepmother opened the door a bit more and Sungmin spotted his father coming down the staircase. “…Sungmin?”
They were fine. They looked happy. They hadn’t missed him at all.
Sungmin gave a bright, cheerful smile. Smile. Always smile. Just like mom. Then he lifted his hand in front of his stepmother’s face. “I’ve wanted to do this for a while.”
“What are you-” The spark of fear in her eyes was satisfying, but then all he saw was a spray of crimson in front of his eyes as her body dropped and his eyes landed on his father.
His father bolted, and Sungmin gave a cold smile, stepping over his stepmother’s lower half, careful not to slip on the blood pooling out of her midsection as he headed toward the stairs.
His father got halfway up them before he was knocked to the ground by the magnified vibrations of his own footsteps. Sungmin watched him tumble to the floor, where he stopped at Sungmin’s feet.
“P-please…what are you doing? Sungmin, what’s going on?”
I’m happy. I’m happy. This makes me happy. “…you killed my mother. I’ll never forgive you.”
His father panted, panicked, and he shook his head with a frantic, high-pitched laugh. “Your mother killed herself.”
“You took her away from me!”
“She gave you to me! I paid off her debts in return!”
Sungmin placed his hand over his father’s mouth, “LIAR!” He slowly began to build up the vibrations around his father’s ears. His eyes bulged, and blood trickled down the sides of his head, sliding down Sungmin’s fingers.
“I’ll kill you.” Sungmin repeated. “I’ll kill you.” I’ll be happy. You’re lying and when you’re dead I’ll be happy.
Brain matter and bits of hair coated the stairs, and Sungmin took a step backwards. What had he just done? What had he just done!? He waited for the happiness to bubble up. His breathing began to quicken and he swallowed, taking another step back.
Where was it? Where was the happiness? He couldn’t find it. Where was it?
He didn’t hear the door open, or Heechul’s footsteps. It was only his voice that told Sungmin he was there. “What did you do?” Heechul whispered hoarsely. “Sungmin, what did you do?”
Sungmin took another step back. When he spoke, his voice was steady. “I killed them. I killed them hyung and I don’t feel any different.”
Heechul nodded slowly. “Get in the car. I’ll get rid of the bodies.”
Sungmin’s shoulders shook. “He said I’d be happy when I did it but I’m not.” And he finally began to sob. “I’m a horrible person, hyung!”
Heechul’s hand was warm on his back. “No.” He answered steadily. “If you were a bad person, you would have felt happy.”
“…did you…?”
“Yeah.” Heechul replied. “Yeah. I did.”
Pairing: None in this chapter
Genre: Superhero AU, action
Rating: PG-13
Chapter 9 < ----- > Chapter 11
Character Profiles
Siwon's Story
Hangeng's Story
Yesung's Story
Henry's Story
---
Since the day he was born, Sungmin had been hated. The result of an unfaithful husband, Sungmin’s life was plagued by the overshadowing presence of his stepmother, whether she was there physically or not. His mother had never spoken of her, but even growing up he’d sensed her presence-choking, pervading, poisoning what could have been a pleasant childhood.
He and his mother grew up without a lot, but they had each other and it was enough. They weren’t starving and they had a roof over their head and beds to sleep in-a bed, one, but his mother was a comforting warmth at night-and the necessities were all they needed.
He tried hard because his mother worked hard. He studied and came home from school and made dinner so that she’d have something to eat when she got back from work. Sometimes she would be too tired and would go straight to bed so she could wake up in a few hours for her next shift.
Sungmin rarely saw her, but he knew that he was loved, and he contented himself with that fact.
His mother was always smiling.
When he wanted to cry he would remind himself of her smiling face, of the bright gleam of her white teeth as she welcomed him home with a hug even when she looked ready to collapse from exhaustion. She always smiled to assure him that everything was alright.
As he grew up, he truly thought everything was fine. Other boys and girls had fathers but to him they were unnecessary. True, he grew up cooking and sewing and liking pink and stuffed animals-they were his mother’s old toys-but he’d never thought that it was wrong to do so.
He played sports at school, but that was school stuff. When he came home he did the things he enjoyed doing at home with his mother. Other boys played catch with their fathers on the weekend. Sungmin cooked dinner.
It was different, but it was what Sungmin knew and he cherished his little world despite its simplicity.
When he was thirteen, he learned how to hate.
It was the day he met his father for the first time…
He remembered getting home from school on that Friday to an expensive car parked in front of their apartment building. He’d stood there at the corner, watching the growing crowd of neighbors that had gathered to look at the foreign vehicle.
Then he’d heard yelling, and the door to their apartment was thrown open and a man stomped out, followed by his mother. His mother was the one screaming. “Get out of my house! Don’t ever come here again! He’s my child!”
The man turned back abruptly. “He’s my son, and he’s my heir. I’m taking him with me.”
“You can’t take him from me!” His mother screamed, a heart-wrenching sound. “I won’t let you!”
Sungmin’s grip tightened on his backpack. Who was this man yelling at his mother? He should go up and help! He couldn’t let this man yell at her like that! He took a few steps forward and met the man as he reached the bottom of the stairs.
The man looked up at that exact moment and Sungmin paused.
He looked like him.
“Sungmin!”
He was jolted out of his revelry by his mother’s shout. She had come down the stairs and latched onto her son’s arm tightly. Sungmin could feel her nails digging into his skin through his jacket. “Sungmin, go inside.” She whispered hoarsely.
Sungmin shook his head. “He shouldn’t be yelling at you, mom.” He swallowed and looked back at the man that looked like him. “Apologize to my mother.”
The man eyed him for a moment. “Didn’t your mother teach you to respect your elders?”
“Only when they deserve it, sir.” Sungmin answered back stiffly.
The man’s eyes widened, before he gave a harsh laugh. “You’ve got a backbone. That’s good.”
Sungmin stared at him as the man turned back to the car. A driver got out of the front and opened the side for him. He looked at Sungmin and then to his mother one last time, “I’m going to get my son from you.” And then the door closed.
The next morning, the man returned with a lawyer. Sungmin’s mother was announced unfit to care for him, and he was taken in by the man he discovered was his father. His last memory of his mother was her screaming as he was led into the car, hand outstretched.
She committed suicide a week later.
His stepmother told him.
The next seven years of his life seemed a blur. He hated, and he harbored that hatred silently. His stepmother hated him because he was not her child, and he took most any opportunity he could to remind her that she couldn’t have children of her own-with a smile, always with a smile-and it would end in her slapping him and his father yelling.
He certainly didn’t care.
But even though he hated his stepmother and father, a part of him hated his mother too, and that made him hate himself. His mother had left him, abandoned him. Why hadn’t she come to tried and get him back? He certainly would have gone with her. No…she had simply let him be taken and had gone somewhere he could not follow.
He was twenty years old when he contracted GAM, and as he lay there in the most expensive hospital room that money could buy, his only regret was that he hadn’t given his sickness to his stepmother and father first.
As he closed his eyes and took one last, shuttering breath, he imagined his stepmother’s twisted, triumphant smile. Then there was nothing.
---
Everything was too loud.
There was a buzzing in his ears that sounded like a jackhammer, and a systematic ‘tick’ of a clock that reverberated in his skull. He let out a groan of pain and clutched at his ears.
“Ah, he’s awake sir!”
Sungmin forced his eyes open to a man standing over him with a clipboard. He smiled, “Good morning, Lee Sungmin.”
Sungmin found himself sitting up, and the sound of the sheets rustling was unbearable. The man’s voice sounded like a roar. And the beeping of the monitor beside him-wait, where was he? He glanced around the room in confusion, his brain muddled with what he guessed were painkillers. His hypersensitive hearing must have been a complication of the medication.
He tried not to wince as the man in the lab coat spoke again. “I’m sure you’re wondering what you’re doing here.”
He was. The man wasn’t the usual doctor at his father’s hospital. This also wasn’t his hospital room. It was wide, spacious, and much too white. There were no windows and the only furniture in the room were the monitors, the bed he was lying on, and a stainless steel table in the far right corner with a fold-up chair and a computer.
“My name is Dr. Jang.” The man continued with a chipper smile that didn’t seem to fit his voice. “You’re currently in the medical bay of GAM Training Facility # 3.”
---
The explanation of what had happened to him had been…oddly reasonable. Perhaps it was because he didn’t care, and so he took it all in stride. Perhaps it was because he simply wanted the man to stop talking because his ears felt like they were going to start bleeding. He didn’t know, he simply nodded at intervals and listened.
The GAM virus, huh? The doctors at the hospital had thought he’d had some other disease. Or maybe they’d lied about that to his father and stepmother. Wouldn’t the hospital be condemned now, for fear of an outbreak?
Oh well, perhaps his stepmother and father had gotten the disease after all. It was a comforting thought, as long as they had died from it. They weren’t here, so if they’d gotten it, it meant they hadn’t made it right?
Dr. Jang had explained the premise of his new life to him: he would live and train at the facility until it was time to go on missions. Until his power appeared he would simply have to do physical training to get his body in shape.
Before that, however, he needed a room.
Dr. Jang led him down a narrow hallway to the last door on the left. He knocked, but was met with silence. He gave a grunt of annoyance before opening it and walking in, “I have someone I need you to meet.”
The room reminded Sungmin of a boarding school dormitory. Along both walls were beds, with a dresser between them and a trunk at the end. A table with four chairs stood in a corner next to a TV.
Aside from the furniture there was no one there, and Dr. Jang frowned, “I was told at least one of them would be here…”
A door near the last bed opened and someone walked out, towel slung around thin hips.
“Ah! Kim Heechul-ssi!”
At first glance, Sungmin thought the person was female. Their hair was long and black and plastered against a pale neck. When they turned their face was feminine, and their figure was slender. If it wasn’t for the fact that the man was shirtless and the Adam’s apple he sported, he could have been a girl.
The other thing that Sungmin noticed were his gloves that he wore, even as he brought up the towel hanging around his neck to begin drying his hair. He didn’t spare Dr. Jang and Sungmin more than a passing glance as he walked toward a bed that Sungmin assumed was his.
He began rummaging through the drawers for something to wear.
Dr. Jang cleared his throat. “Kim Heechul-ssi, this is Lee Sungmin.”
The man turned, pinning them both with an annoyed glare, “And?” He pulled a shirt, underwear, and a pair of skinny jeans out of the dresser and threw them onto his bed before sitting down as well.
“He’ll be the last member of your squad.” Dr. Jang didn’t look entirely comfortable around the other man, and Sungmin wondered why. He did seem intimidating, Sungmin supposed, for all of his feminine looks. There was something very dangerous in the way he moved and eyed both of them with apathy, in the way a predator feigned disinterest until its prey came close enough to devour.
Heechul leaned his cheek against his hand and looked Sungmin over again. “Is that so?” Sungmin shifted a bit uncomfortably. Should he introduce himself? They would be living together after all. He gave a meek smile, “Hi.”
Heechul stood, “You smile too much.” He grabbed the clothes he’d taken from the dresser and walked out of the room.
---
Sungmin’s second meeting with Heechul went slightly better than the first, or at least, he liked to imagine it had. He’d stayed in the dorm until a taller, princely looking man had walked in and introduced himself as Choi Siwon. He’d told him they would be on the same squad and suggested they head to the cafeteria together.
The cafeteria was hell. The buzzing in his ears had never fully stopped but he’d assumed that it had lessened. That delusion was shattered when he left the quiet dorm room and found himself in a crowded mess hall. Everyone was talking, and his head began to swim as his ears rang.
“You alright? Come on,” Siwon smiled at him and led him toward a table in the back, “The pain killers must be making you dizzy.”
Sungmin nodded absently. He wanted to find something to stuff into his ears to block out the sounds. He could hear the grinding of teeth as people chewed, each slurp of ramen broth. He reached up his hands to place them over his ears but stopped himself. He didn’t want to seem like a complete freak. He allowed himself to be led forward through the crowd.
At the table he was introduced to the other members of their squad: Yesung, and Donghae. And then there was their leader…Kim Heechul.
As they were introduced, Heechul didn’t look away from the person he’d been talking to. The person looked up at Sungmin, however, and gave a wave, “Hey,” He nudged Heechul in the ribs. “Princess, aren’t you going to introduce yourself?”
“We’ve met already.” Heechul replied blandly, grabbing for his coffee.
“Hyung…” Donghae pouted, “Why are you so grouchy?”
“We have a mission tonight. You know how ruffled princess’s feathers get when we have a job.” The other man wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and Heechul rolled his eyes in response.
“Now that we’ll have a full team we’ll go on team missions too, won’t we?” Siwon asked hopefully, having guided Sungmin to a seat.
“Probably.” Yesung nodded, twirling his chopsticks.
Sungmin cast a sideways glance at the man sitting with Heechul and was surprised at the look on his face. At Yesung’s words his smile had faltered, and there had been a cold gleam in his eyes. But it was gone within seconds and he’d put his arm around Heechul’s shoulders, turning him away from them and toward a group of people that Sungmin hadn’t been introduced to.
“That’s Typhoon.” Donghae pointed at the man with his arm around Heechul. “He and hyung have been here forever.” He looked to Yesung, “Are you going to finish your pork?”
“Don’t worry, Heechul hyung is like that with everyone when they first arrive.” Siwon supplied at Sungmin’s crestfallen face. “…it’s a lot to take in, isn’t it?”
“When did you get here?” Sungmin asked softly. He didn’t really care if Heechul liked him or not. He’d accepted the reality he’d been given because he was no longer with his father and stepmother. He didn’t care about anything else.
“About six months ago.” Siwon replied with a smile. “I just started my squad training a week ago.”
“Hyung is also grouchy because he and Typhoon are going on a mission with Squad 7.” Yesung murmured. He was eyeing Sungmin, his gaze centered on Sungmin’s lips. Sungmin shifted uncomfortably.
“Squad 7?” Siwon’s brow furrowed. “But there are only 5 active squads at the facility.”
“They’re from facility 2.” Yesung answered through a mouthful of rice. “I’ve only ever met one of them though.” His face scrunched up a bit in a look of discomfort. “Something was off with that guy, seriously.”
Donghae shrugged, “I didn’t think he was bad. He smiled a lot.”
“He was a freak.” Yesung pointed with his chopstick in warning, “And that’s coming from me. No one should be that cheerful.”
Siwon shook his head with a disbelieving smile before looking back at Sungmin, who still looked confused. “Do you think you can eat? Sometimes the medication makes you nauseous.”
He wasn’t nauseous, he just felt like his eardrums were going to rupture at any moment. He didn’t say that, however. He simply took a sip of the banana milk that Donghae offered him with a bright smile.
As he watched Donghae relay a story and Siwon lean in expectantly, all ears, and Yesung’s soft smile, he thought that maybe he could like it here.
---
The ringing in his ears wouldn’t stop.
Two weeks after waking up at the facility, Sungmin was seriously contemplating cutting his ears off. He tried not to show how much pain he was in, but he avoided the cafeteria like the plague. He ate out of the vending machines and slept most of the day when he wasn’t at training.
He spent his waking hours at night, when it was quiet and he could think clearly. But even silence was loud, and he wondered if he should ask Siwon for a set of earplugs. He would know where to get some, right?
His late night walks gave him time to think and mull over why he was here. He had no one waiting for him, no one he cared about in the outside world, so the idea of leaving never crossed his mind. He didn’t suffer homesickness because he had no home to go back to.
Training to be a soldier gave him a sort of purpose, and the knowledge that he had a power, something special about him that no one else had, was different. It made him oddly happy. He missed his pink and his rabbit stuffed animals and his two kittens at home, but those feelings were brief, fleeting, and he wondered how long it would take before he forgot about his past life completely.
Except the hatred. He would always hate.
Since waking up and introducing himself, he’d spoken about three full sentences to Heechul. The other man brushed him off or ignored him most of the time. If not, he would grace him with a level look, “Why do you smile so much? It’s annoying.” And then he’d walk off, leaving Sungmin confused and a little hurt. He didn’t know why he sought Heechul’s acknowledgment-he was his leader. That had to be why. He needed the leader of his squad to accept him.
Or maybe it was because he, like everyone else, seemed to believe that Heechul’s acknowledgment was some kind of blessing. He saw the way everyone’s eyes followed him, awed but too scared to talk to him. Kim Heechul drank in their idol-worship with a smirk and a cold glare and the indifference of one who knew he was better.
Whatever it was, acceptance had not been achieved, and he didn’t feel like it ever would be.
Sungmin had taken to working out at night because it was difficult to do during the day when there were a million machines clanging and banging and people grunting and yelling and just too much noise altogether.
He was in the locker room changing back into his regular clothing when he heard footsteps. He turned to see a man-tall, muscular, vaguely familiar, someone he’d probably passed in the cafeteria or hallway at some point.
“Uh, hi.” Sungmin gave a small, uneasy smile. The man’s gaze followed him as he walked to his locker and pulled it open to grab his shoes.
“So you’re the new guy, huh?”
Sungmin blinked, before shutting his locker to find the other man right beside it. He jumped slightly at their proximity. “Uh, yeah.” He didn’t know why he still constituted as the “new guy” after two weeks at the facility, but he figured that they didn’t get new additions very often.
“You’re pretty thin.”
Well, now the conversation was definitely awkward. Sungmin began to feel a bit uneasy, and he didn’t want to bend down to pick up his shoes from the floor where he’d dropped them.
The man took another step forward and Sungmin took a step back, but an arm blocked his escape. As the man’s hand hit the metal locker it rang and Sungmin found himself gasping as pain lanced through his head. He put his hands to his ears to stop it but the man grabbed his wrists, pinning them to his side. He hit the locker and the sound echoed, even louder this time. He was certain his ears were bleeding.
White dots danced in his vision as he blinked wearily. What was going on? What was wrong with him? It was loud, too loud, it needed to STOP!
And there was silence.
Sungmin coughed, opening his eyes. He blinked in surprise. He could see the man’s lips moving but no sound was coming out. Why was there no sound? And then the sound came rushing back-the man’s voice, the banging of metal, his own harsh cry as the man’s fingers dug into the skin of his wrists.
“Don’t go touching others so casually.”
Sungmin blinked back a wave of pain at the voice. The man holding him had stiffened, and they both turned slightly to see Heechul standing in the locker room entryway, eyeing the man coldly. Sungmin had never been so happy to see another human being in his life.
“What’s it to you?” The man’s voice shook slightly, but he didn’t back down, nor did he loosen his grip.
“Let go, or do you want me to make you?” Heechul opened and closed his palm suggestively, and the man’s eyes remained glued on his gloves, knowing full well what it meant if those gloves came off.
“Hey, hey, it was just a joke.” The man let go and took a few steps back, holding up his hands with a forced grin.
“No one is laughing.” Heechul replied coldly, and took a step forward.
The man booked it, nearly tripping over his own feet as he ran out of the room, giving Heechul a wide berth.
Sungmin swallowed, and his legs gave out on him. He slid down the wall with a shaky exhale, and winced as the lockers rattled. He could still feel where the other man had touched him. He hiccupped once and reached up a hand to rub his eyes, afraid he was going to start crying. “…thank you…” He managed.
“Just kick his ass next time. Just because you’re new doesn’t mean you have to do anything for anyone else.” Heechul replied.
“…why…?” Sungmin questioned softly.
Heechul gave him a sideways look. “They go after the pretty, weak-looking ones first.” He stretched, brushing imaginary dirt off of the back of his pants. “Once your power appears they won’t try anything. But now that he knows you’re one of mine he won’t mess with you.”
“Now that he knows you’re one of mine he won’t mess with you.”
He began crying in earnest, and he wasn’t even sure why. Heechul raised an eyebrow at him in question and gave a small laugh and a shake of his head before turning, “You coming? We have training in the morning.”
Sungmin nodded, bright smile plastered on his face as he stood.
---
Sungmin hadn’t realized his power had appeared that night until later, when Heechul questioned him.
“I yelled at you but no sound came out. You were screaming but I didn’t hear anything either. What the hell did you do?”
He’d gone to the medical center and they’d run some tests. They’d put him through a few hearing exams and he’d ended up blasting a hole through one of the walls with a sound wave when they’d turned the frequency up too loudly.
The next day, a pair of noise cancelling headphones was lying on his bed when he returned from training. Donghae, Yesung, and Siwon had no idea where they came from.
Heechul never said anything, but he’d looked rather smug the rest of the week.
---
Sungmin’s first mission wasn’t with his squad as a whole. Instead, it was Sungmin, Siwon, Heechul, and Typhoon. Their mission was simple: get the GAM user out and take him back to the facility. The reason they’d been called in was because the family refused to give up the body or vacate their home and they’d become quite vocal about it. There were news crews outside, and a crowd had gathered on the street.
The police were too afraid to make a move for fear of bad press.
The four of them had arrived with government ID’s and gas masks-no one was sure whether or not the virus was airborne, so they played the part of a bio-hazard team coming to inspect the home and check for any further signs of the virus.
They passed the growing crowds until they were standing at the door. From what the firemen had said, there were six people in the house: the GAM user, his mother, father, older brother, older brother’s wife, and his niece.
Typhoon looked bored as Siwon knocked at the door. “Hello? Is anyone there?”
“Idiot, of course someone’s inside.” Typhoon rolled his eyes, but Heechul silenced him with a glare.
“We’re here to talk.” Heechul held up his hands. “We’re not soldiers.” The curtain rustled and a face peered out from the corner of the window. The four of them were dressed as civilians, and aside from Siwon they didn’t look particularly tall and muscular. Unthreatening.
The door slowly opened.
As they walked through the doorway, Heechul tugged on his mask, and his voice crackled in Sungmin’s earpiece. “Mute the house.”
Once they’d all entered the door slammed shut behind them. Sungmin jumped, wincing. Even though he’d learned how to mute sounds somewhat, it was difficult to control when he was already silencing the whole house from the outside.
The father was the one who had opened the door.
Heechul looked at the others and nodded. The four slipped off their gas masks and Siwon gave a smile, “Hello sir. Would it be alright if you took us to where your son is?”
The man looked hesitant, but nodded.
He led them down the hallway to a back room. Inside a young man was lying on a bed, motionless. Seated at the edge was the mother and his sister-in-law. His older brother was standing, “What are you doing here?”
“They’re here to talk.” The father looked at them. “Aren’t you?”
They nodded.
“We won’t give him to you! He’s just…he’s just sleeping. He isn’t dead. Just sleeping.” A traumatized mother. Sungmin wondered if his mother had been alive when he’d contracted GAM, would she have grieved like this?
“You’re right. He’s just sleeping. We’re going to take him to somewhere safe so that he can wake up.” Siwon smiled kindly, and the woman seemed to relax. Siwon had a way of making people feel comfortable around him. “We don’t work with the police. We’ll take him somewhere safe.”
Heechul said nothing, merely leaned in the doorway and watched.
“Will you bring him back?” The mother finally asked.
“They’re lying! They came to kill all of us!” The older brother snapped. “Mother, don’t listen to them.”
“But…”
Typhoon let out a low laugh. “Heh, you’re pretty smart ajusshi.”
Siwon turned to Typhoon with a worried gaze. “Hyung!”
“He’s right.” Heechul answered coldly-not meanly, just with a crisp finality that brooked no argument. “We’re here to get your son’s body. Then all of you will be checked to see if you carry the virus. Please cooperate.”
“If we don’t?” The brother asked archly.
“The house will be condemned.” Typhoon answered back with a sharp smile, “And you will be condemned with it.”
“You bastard!” He looked ready to fight, but seemed to think better of it as Typhoon stepped forward.
“Hyung…” Siwon looked to Heechul, as if hoping he would say something to deflate the situation.
Heechul let out a soft sigh-whether it was from annoyance or fatigue Sungmin couldn’t tell. “Your son won’t be coming back. Whether you believe that we’ll keep him alive or not is none of my concern but you should think of him as dead to you either way.”
“We have another mission. We need to get going.” Typhoon glanced down at his watch. “Give us the body.”
“You’ll kill us either way.” The older brother hissed, and his wife let out a frightened cry.
“None of you seem like carriers of the virus. You’ve been in contact with it for a while. No one is going to kill you. Just please cooperate.” Siwon held up his hands, still smiling his gentle smile.
“I won’t let you take my son!” The mother wailed, collapsing atop his body like a shield. Her daughter-in-law stared helplessly, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Don’t come near my family!” The brother stood in front of them, protecting them. The father looked on from the sidelines-old and feeble and frightened. Sungmin’s throat tightened. A family willing to die for one another. A family that loved one another. It was something he’d never experienced, save for his mother, and he wanted to cry.
He didn’t need this reminder or what he’d had-or never had-and lost.
“We don’t have time for this.” Typhoon let out a sigh. “Give us the body.”
“Nooooo!” The mother wailed, sobbing.
“Che.” Typhoon gave an annoyed glare before a piercing wind shook the house and the woman was thrown backwards, off of the GAM user. She hit the wall and there was a snap before she slumped to the ground.
“Mother!”
“Hyung!” Siwon looked on in horror, as the family rushed toward the mother. “Hyung she…”
“She’s dead! You killed her!” The son looked up, face twisted in fury. “You BASTARD!”
Typhoon had already gone to the bed and grabbed the GAM user. He hefted him over his shoulder, “Let’s go.”
“YOU KILLED HER!” The son rushed forward. Typhoon didn’t look back as the man charged. A gush of wind hit him before he could attack, and he crashed into his father.
“They refused to cooperate.” Typhoon turned a level stare at Heechul. “If this continues, you know what will happen.”
“Give the body to Siwon.” Heechul ordered, his gaze never leaving the family. The daughter-in-law was shaking her mother-in-law, trying to get her to awaken even though they all knew she was dead. The father and brother had stood.
Typhoon practically threw the man to Siwon, who caught him numbly, eyes trained on the woman’s corpse.
“Go Siwon.” Heechul whispered.
“Hyung…”
“Just take the body!” Heechul snapped, and Siwon flinched, before moving. He disappeared, faster than Sungmin could catch with his eyes, and then the brother was lunging at him.
“Sungmin!”
The man let out a yell and Sungmin threw up his hand just in time. There was a moment of silence and then a squelching sound followed by a splatter. Sungmin slid to the ground and stared at the wall in front of him, now painted red with blood and entrails.
The sister-in-law let out a horrified shriek.
“Sungmin! Is the house still muted?”
Heechul’s voice sounded like it was coming through a fog. Sungmin just stared at the body parts that remained. Part of the man’s large intestine slid down the wall and landed at the bottom with a ‘plop’.
The woman was still screaming, until Heechul ripped off his glove and placed his hand over her mouth. She bucked once, before her body began to dissolve.
Sungmin vomited.
By the time he’d emptied his stomach completely, the room had gone silent. He wiped his mouth with the back of his gloved hand and looked up. There were two piles of ash on the ground by the remains of the brother-in-law. Heechul was slipping on his gloves. “…come on Sungmin.” He grabbed him by the arm and pulled him to his feet.
“…appa? Appa what’s going on?”
Heechul moved before Sungmin could turn at the little voice. By the time he looked Heechul was already leading the little girl out of the room, his hand over her eyes. “It’s alright.” Sungmin had never heard Heechul use such a gentle tone.
“I don’t like the dark. Where is my appa?” The girl cried out.
Typhoon pushed Sungmin through the doorway and closed it as he followed Heechul into the hall. Heechul took his hand off of the girl’s eyes and paused. Her eyes were glazed over and glossy.
Typhoon noticed it too. “…Heechul.”
Heechul remained silent, before he looked up at Typhoon. “She’s burning up.”
“She’s contracted it.” Typhoon nodded. He knelt down next to the girl. “Do you want to go with your daddy?”
The girl brightened. “Yes! I want to see my appa!”
“JAY!” Heechul yelled, just as Typhoon grabbed the girl’s head in his hands and twisted. There was a snap and she went limp in his hold.
There was a moment of silence, as Sungmin stared in horror at what Typhoon had just done and Heechul stared down at the little girl that Typhoon had just killed. “…she didn’t see anything.”
Typhoon sighed, “Heechul-”
Heechul stood up and grabbed Sungmin’s arm. His grip was tight, painful, as he dragged him toward the door. Sungmin tripped over his own feet but managed to keep up. They exited the house to find Siwon standing outside next to the car.
“What’s the status of the house, inspector?” One of the firemen walked up to them. “What about the family?”
“…dead.” Heechul replied dully. “Burn it.”
He let go of Sungmin and walked toward the car, his steps stiff. He looked small, and for the first time since he’d met him, Sungmin realized just how thin Heechul really was.
“He won’t be mad for long.”
Sungmin turned to see Typhoon walking toward him, gaze trained on Heechul’s retreating figure. “…he won’t be mad for long,” he repeated, as if trying to convince himself, before he stepped past Sungmin and toward the car.
Sungmin followed silently.
---
The ride back to the training center was made in silence. Siwon had asked what had happened and Heechul had snapped at him and told him to shut up. After that, no one had spoken.
The moment the vehicle was parked, Heechul stepped out.
Typhoon got out hurriedly from the front seat and ran toward him, stepping back only when the door slammed shut, nearly on his foot. He let out a sigh and wrenched it open, Sungmin following behind. Siwon stayed with the car and waited for the scientists to get there for the body.
Heechul was halfway down the hall when Typhoon caught up with him. He grabbed his arm and wheeled him around. “She had the virus. She didn’t look strong enough to live.” Typhoon spoke for the first time since they’d left the home. “I saved her from suffering.”
“Don’t touch me.” Heechul grunted, shrugging off Typhoon’s hand.
Sungmin watched him stomp off and turned to follow when Typhoon spoke, “We were just doing our job.”
“That doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do.” Sungmin answered back. It was the first time he’d spoken that afternoon, and his voice cracked a bit from disuse.
Typhoon sneered, “I expected that from Siwon, not you.”
“Why not?” Sungmin bristled. Was Siwon the only one allowed to have a conscience and morals?
Typhoon’s sneer disappeared to be replaced by a tired, knowing smile. “Because you want to kill someone, don’t you?”
“…what do you mean?”
“Your stepmother, right? You hate her. You want her to die.”
“I-I never-how do you know about her?”
“She and your father killed your mother. They’re bad people.”
Yes. They were. But that didn’t mean he had a right to kill them. In all the years he’d hated them, he’d wished them dead more times than he could count, but he’d never once thought of killing them himself.
“If you kill them, you’ll be happy don’t you think?”
“What?”
Typhoon looked at him seriously for a moment. “There’s someone I want to kill. When I think about killing that person, it makes me happy.”
Sungmin swallowed. Someone that Typhoon wanted to kill? Who could he possible hate?
Typhoon must have read the question in his eyes. He gave a crooked smile. “They left before you came.” Typhoon shrugged. “But one day I’ll kill them. And then I’ll be happy.” He seemed so sure of himself, so confident that if he really killed them, he’d be happy.
As he walked off, Sungmin found himself wondering…would he be happy if he killed his father and stepmother?
---
Sungmin tried to forget about Typhoon’s words, but they stuck in the back of his mind for the rest of the next two weeks. He was given some relief by the beginning of their squad training. Because they were Heechul’s team, Sungmin soon learned that the expectations were higher. Mistakes were looked down upon, and the scientists were over-critical.
Squad 15 was meant to be the elite.
Failure was not tolerated.
Oftentimes, Heechul would end up snapping at the scientists when they pushed them too hard-Siwon fainted once because he he’d burned more calories than he’d consumed after they forced him to train overtime.
The worst times were when they trained with Squad 12, Typhoon’s squad. Sungmin didn’t know what Xmas’ problem was, but he seemed to have it out for Heechul. Not only that, but Heechul still wasn’t talking to Typhoon and took their training as an opportunity to take out his anger.
Once, after a group training session, Donghae twisted his leg dodging one of Sungmin’s sound blasts. Heechul had called training off but their instructor insisted they continue with their session.
Instructor Hwang looked up from his clipboard. “Continue.”
“Donghae needs to go to the medical room.” Heechul answered back tersely, checking the boy’s ankle. Donghae winced as he applied some pressure. “Siwon, take him.”
“Donghae is going to need to learn how to continue despite pain. The chances of you fighting while injured are high.” Instructor Hwang began scribbling down some notes. “Continue.”
“Fuck you.” Heechul snapped. He turned to Siwon, “Take him.”
“Kim Heechul-ssi! You must obey my orders. Donghae needs to develop a tolerance to pain.”
Heechul gave him a cold smirk and pulled off his glove. “Do you want to try and develop a tolerance to my hand?”
Instructor Hwang paled, before he began scribbling something else on his clipboard.
Heechul glared. “Stop taking fucking notes! You’re always scribbling whatever the hell you want about us. We’re not lab rats.” He pulled on his glove and stalked to the door. He kicked it open and stormed out.
There was a moment of silence, as Instructor Hwang seemed to get control of himself. He, like the others, had assumed Heechul was going to attack him. “…ungrateful…” He muttered to himself, going back to his notes.
Sungmin helped Donghae stand. “…let’s get you to the medical center.”
“No.” Donghae shook his head. “I don’t want to get hyung in trouble.”
“I think we’re past that point.” Sungmin looked toward the door Heechul had kicked down, before he gave Donghae a smile, “If you can handle it, should we continue?”
Siwon stilled looked doubtful. Yesung eyed the instructor for a moment, before turning to them. “Alright, we’ll continue with evasive maneuvers.”
“Right hyung!” Donghae smiled, but it was tinged in pain as he tested his footing.
Sungmin got into place, ready to begin shooting so the others could dodge, but his mind was elsewhere. What were the instructors writing about them? Why was Heechul so edgy lately? Even when he snapped at the instructors he rarely raised his voice and he’d never walked out on a session before.
Was he still emotional over that girl’s death?
Did Heechul hyung have someone he wanted to kill? Did he think killing them would make him happy? Sungmin figured that Heechul certainly wouldn’t mourn Instructor Hwang’s death.
That night, after training, he met Typhoon in the cafeteria. “I want to do it.”
Typhoon had merely smiled with a nod.
---
The next day Typhoon walked into Squad 15’s dormitory with an apologetic knock.
Yesung, Donghae, and Sungmin were in the middle of a game of goblin’s world rock, paper, scissors and Siwon was giving Heechul a much-needed back massage. Everyone paused, and Heechul opened one eye lazily before he leaned forward with a stoic glare. “What is it?”
Typhoon took a seat at the table and eyed the half-empty beer can there. “I have a mission.”
“Then you should go.” Heechul replied coolly. He leaned back against Siwon, “I want a scalp massage next.”
“Sungmin can come with me, right?”
Heechul paused, eyes narrowed. “Why do you need him?” He’s a part of my team, not yours.
“I’m noisy.” Typhoon grinned.
Sungmin, by this point, had stood up from Yesung’s bed. “It’s alright hyung, I asked if I could go.”
Heechul was sitting up fully at this point. He looked from Sungmin to Typhoon and looked oddly betrayed. Sungmin ignored the look and walked to the door, “Are we going?”
Typhoon nodded. “Yeah.”
Heechul’s gaze burned into the back of his head, even after the door had closed.
---
The mission went by quickly-routine, Sungmin didn’t remember the details of it-and it wasn’t long before Rose had pulled their van in front of a large gate that Sungmin remembered with vivid clarity.
“You can take a bus back, right?”
Sungmin nodded, and watched as they drove off. He stood outside the gate for a few moments, staring at the intercom. He lifted his hand to press the button and stopped. He eyed the wall for a moment before he climbed over it.
He silenced the area, and as his feet hit the paved driveway they made no sound.
The driveway was unimaginably long, but at the same time, he found himself standing on the porch in a matter of seconds. He grabbed the knocker. Once, twice, it was unnaturally loud, even after he’d dampened the sound. Even through his headphones it rang, like a countdown.
“…coming!” The voice was faint, but coming closer. Footsteps. Heels. He knew who it was before she opened the door.
“…S-Sungmin?”
His stepmother didn’t look any different. There were no signs of grief upon her face. She was wearing a nice dress, and had been in the process of pulling on her coat. Getting ready for a night out.
“Honey, who is it-” His stepmother opened the door a bit more and Sungmin spotted his father coming down the staircase. “…Sungmin?”
They were fine. They looked happy. They hadn’t missed him at all.
Sungmin gave a bright, cheerful smile. Smile. Always smile. Just like mom. Then he lifted his hand in front of his stepmother’s face. “I’ve wanted to do this for a while.”
“What are you-” The spark of fear in her eyes was satisfying, but then all he saw was a spray of crimson in front of his eyes as her body dropped and his eyes landed on his father.
His father bolted, and Sungmin gave a cold smile, stepping over his stepmother’s lower half, careful not to slip on the blood pooling out of her midsection as he headed toward the stairs.
His father got halfway up them before he was knocked to the ground by the magnified vibrations of his own footsteps. Sungmin watched him tumble to the floor, where he stopped at Sungmin’s feet.
“P-please…what are you doing? Sungmin, what’s going on?”
I’m happy. I’m happy. This makes me happy. “…you killed my mother. I’ll never forgive you.”
His father panted, panicked, and he shook his head with a frantic, high-pitched laugh. “Your mother killed herself.”
“You took her away from me!”
“She gave you to me! I paid off her debts in return!”
Sungmin placed his hand over his father’s mouth, “LIAR!” He slowly began to build up the vibrations around his father’s ears. His eyes bulged, and blood trickled down the sides of his head, sliding down Sungmin’s fingers.
“I’ll kill you.” Sungmin repeated. “I’ll kill you.” I’ll be happy. You’re lying and when you’re dead I’ll be happy.
Brain matter and bits of hair coated the stairs, and Sungmin took a step backwards. What had he just done? What had he just done!? He waited for the happiness to bubble up. His breathing began to quicken and he swallowed, taking another step back.
Where was it? Where was the happiness? He couldn’t find it. Where was it?
He didn’t hear the door open, or Heechul’s footsteps. It was only his voice that told Sungmin he was there. “What did you do?” Heechul whispered hoarsely. “Sungmin, what did you do?”
Sungmin took another step back. When he spoke, his voice was steady. “I killed them. I killed them hyung and I don’t feel any different.”
Heechul nodded slowly. “Get in the car. I’ll get rid of the bodies.”
Sungmin’s shoulders shook. “He said I’d be happy when I did it but I’m not.” And he finally began to sob. “I’m a horrible person, hyung!”
Heechul’s hand was warm on his back. “No.” He answered steadily. “If you were a bad person, you would have felt happy.”
“…did you…?”
“Yeah.” Heechul replied. “Yeah. I did.”