Super

66. silvertongue

Kai hated his job.

While the rest of his team had been allowed to leave the messy, broken dimension controlled fully by Irene and her cronies (and ex-cronies, thankfully), he had been left behind to handle the most dangerous part of the plan.

He remembered a time life had sucked less.

Of course, no matter how great he said his life had been before joining the Supers, it had never really been extraordinary. Kai had always lived on the wild side, drinking and partying his life away, but even then, it hadn't been exactly memorable. One might take a look at his life history and be impressed about the number of crazy stories he had to share, but it really wasn't all that.

Only after joining the team had he realized how utterly and desolately pointless his entire existence had been before that. The only thing Kai used to trust himself about was not getting run over by a car while running naked and drunken on the streets, but that had changed. His entire life he had subdued and suppressed his curiosity about what he was capable of, his emotions about what he could have been. He had been dreamless, goalless, aimless. A piece of driftwood in the empty ocean.

Not anymore.

The fire raged all around him, circling him as if he were standing on a raised platform, but Kai barely paid it attention. Sure, it stung like hell and he felt like if he stayed in the same place too long, he was going to choke to death, but that was nothing compared to his fear of the task that lay in front of him.

Taemin stood high above him on one side of the chasm, looking badly scratched-up as if some rabid kitten had taken its claws to his face. Where there was once flawless skin and perfect fabric were now long, red scratches and rips in the cloth. Worst of all was the expression on his face—lost, desolate, as if he had given up all hope except for a frail thread that could break at any moment.

The sight was so convincing and real that Kai almost lost his composure for a bit, but he controlled himself by looking away. Maybe it was for the best that seeing Taemin like this affected him so much. It would make his powers work better, more resoundingly.

Apparently, he wasn't the only one affected by the sight. Irene stood at the other balcony, all haughtiness and cruel smiles gone as if melted away by the fire. She was staring at Taemin with a look of pure disbelief in her eyes—perhaps even more hopeless than Taemin himself, so lost was her expression.

Use that.

Kai winced at the thought, hating how uncaring it sounded. Yes, he was a silvertongue or whatever the hell it was called, but it wasn't simply a manipulative power. He knew that now. His powers were extraordinary, unlike his old life. It was sensitive and aware and emphatic the way other powers like cloning or super-speed could never be.

That was what made it so hard to wield.

"Irene," Kai said, and Irene's eyes seemed to glaze over a little. She didn't look at him, but Kai knew she was listening, simply from the way her muscles twitched and the way her hands tightened into fists. "I give up."

Now she looked at him, flabbergasted. "Give up?" she murmured, her brow furrowing as if he were speaking a language she had once known but long forgotten.

"Yes," Kai said. It was a wonder that she could hear him over the roar and crackle of the flames. Jeonghan had long since disappeared from his side, but Kai could still feel a cold prickle down his spine, as if the man was standing behind him and breathing down his neck. "I give up. I couldn't get out of here and I couldn't help my friends, so I give up. I surrender. Please, just help me."

She said nothing, but her lips parted slightly. Kai let his power flow in his words, telling her exactly what she wanted to hear, but twisting it so he could use it against her instead. "Help you?" she echoed.