The Chosen

Mysterious Magic

"Jihoon-hyung?" Woojin faced Jihoon with his face tinged with pink, "Do you have any power?"

"Nope. I was born without any power." Jihoon answered with a smile. Woojin quickly turned his head towards the opposite direction.

"Really? Do you remember when your mark manifested, hyung?" Jinyoung asked for details.

"Well, I don't know exactly when this mark showed up." Jihoon confessed.

"Did anything unusual happened to you recently? Especially yesterday? We sensed the manifestation of your mark yesterday when we were battling X-O and Bulletproof Scouts." Seongwu specified.

"Well, actually yes." Jihoon remembered.

"Can you tell us?" Daniel requested.

"Well, after I selected my attire for today's photoshoot yesterday, the staff gave me lunch. As I was eating it, my driver informed me about the attack that was happening outside. We hurriedly went out and I was asked to stay near the entrance because my driver went to get the car. Suddenly, my driver called for me and when I raised my head, a group of different-colored balls were heading straight for me. I closed my eyes and thought I was done for. The next thing I knew was that the balls did not hit me but my surrounding area suffered intense damage." Jihoon narrated while Jaehwan broke into cold sweat.

"Aha. I see." Minhyun inquired while inching closer to Jaehwan, "If you can remember, what were the color of the balls?"

"One was blue. The other one was a lighter shade of blue but looked like it had electricity inside it. The third one was bright purple." Jihoon described through memory, "Jaehwan-hyung, are you alright? You're sweating so much."

"Well, that's because my sweet boy right here was the reason you almost got hit by those stray projectiles." Minhyun said while patting Jaehwan head vigorously.

"What do you mean?" Jihoon clarified.

"Those balls were attacks from Bulletproof Scouts. Out of the many, Jaehwan here returned three back to them while letting the others fly away. Now that I heard what happened to you, I realized it was a very dangerous decision." Minhyun continued to pat Jaehwan's head.

"I am so sorry, Jihoon." Jaehwan apologized.

"It's okay, hyung. You meant no harm, I guess." Jihoon answered.

"But I am curious as to how Jihoon survived that, not that I mind him surviving." Woojin stated in decrescendo.

"Did anyone else saw what happened, hyung?" Daehwi questioned.

"Yes. My driver saw it first-hand." Jihoon affirmed, "Should I call him?"

"Yes, please." Daehwi nodded.

The driver came as soon as he could. He was a little bit surprised by the number of people in the living room.

"Uhm, can you tell us what happened yesterday when I almost got hit by the stray projectiles?" Jihoon requested.

"Sure. After I called for your name, you saw the stray balls coming toward you. You raised both of your arms to shield yourself. Miraculously, it somehow did. The moment the balls made contact with your arms, they changed direction like they were reflected or something." The driver elaborated.

"Thank you for that. Please, go back to whatever you were doing." Jihoon said to his driver. The said driver bowed and left.

"The balls changed direction as if they were reflected." Kuanlin pondered, "I think Jihoon-hyung has a power. That is the only explanation I can find."

"We still can't confirm it." Jisung stated.

Suddenly, an energy ball flew past them and was heading straight to Jihoon. Jihoon, out of reflex, raised both of his arms and shielded his head with his palms. Out of nowhere, a light gold shield came out of Jihoon's palms and it reflected the ball toward Jisung. Jisung, slow to react, was hit by the ball directly on his face. Everyone was tense, but was relieved when Jisung laughed.

"What was that. It tickles." Jisung commented.

"Sorry, hyung. That was me. It was a super low-voltage energy ball. It can only cause a tickling feeling. No damage whatsoever." Jinyoung admitted.

"So, why did you throw it to Jihoon?" Woojin raised his voice in anger.

"It's okay, Woojin. He himself said it can cause no damage." Jihoon calmed Woojin down.

"Well, I thought Jihoon-hyung's powers might activate out of reflex and it did." Jinyoung shared his thought process.

"So, as we saw, Jihoon raised a shield around his palms that reflected the power. So, I guess his power is Shielding?" Sungwoon tried to fit the pieces together.

"Well, in times like this, we know what to consult to have our answer right?" Daniel said.

"Light! The book about magic." They said in unison.

"Yup, which I unfortunately did not bring with me. It's back in the hotel." Daniel clasped his hands as he said.

"I can get it!" Kuanlin volunteered.

Kuanlin sparkled out and sparkled back after just ten seconds and with him was the book.

"All right, let us find what we are looking for." Daniel muttered to himself as he opened the book.