Yeah! Whirlwind Today Too
Opening your eyes underwater and looking ahead had always been terrifying.
Sahin, my companion, had always told me not to fear the water. Water only flows, he said — it doesn't attack you. If you could just open your eyes beneath the surface, moving forward wasn't difficult.
Just as my companion had taught me, I straightened my body as much as possible and undulated forward in waves. Think of piercing through the water with your outstretched fingertips, he'd said.
In my field of vision, Se-ah was being swept away by a massive current, her consciousness already gone. Fortunately the sudden wave was floating higher than the riverbed, so she hadn't crashed into anything.
I moved faster. Following the flow of the water, I pushed my speed higher so my fingertips could reach Se-ah where she lay limp.
Thud!
I seized Se-ah's wrist, pulled her in, and gathered her into my arms.
Now I had to escape this massive current. Holding Se-ah firmly with my right arm, I pressed my left arm against my waist to form a pointed artificial fin, then kicked my legs and spun my body as fast as I could.
Splash!!!
Still clutching Se-ah, I tumbled out beside the artificial wave. The instant we broke the surface, I wrapped her head with my left arm and rolled across the hard gravel bed.
"Haa… haa… Se-ah… Se-ah…!"
My whole body hurt. I was fairly sure some of the gravel had punched straight through my fragile skin. But more urgently than that, I checked on the girl in my arms. I pressed on Se-ah's solar plexus and kept calling her name over and over—
Cough!
Se-ah spat water from her mouth and started breathing again.
"Harang!!"
"Se-ah!!!"
My parents' voices reached me along with the sound of them sprinting across the gravel. I waved both arms to signal that Se-ah was all right.
So what if I couldn't use magic? Just because I didn't have superpowers didn't mean the journey and experiences I'd shared with my companions in the other world had vanished. I may no longer have been a hero — but I could still protect the people precious to me.
The road home from the hospital felt heavier than usual.
After saving Se-ah, I got slapped by my father for the first time. The man who had always smiled gently and only ever praised me since my adoption struck my cheek and burst into tears. After his raw, sobbing cry that I must never do something like that again, my parents abandoned the camping trip and drove straight to the hospital to have Se-ah and me examined.
Fortunately, neither of us had any serious problems. Se-ah said the intense muscle pain in her lower body had probably made her power control fail, and I'd picked up bruises all over from rolling on the gravel, but nothing else major.
"…Harang."
"Yes… Father."
Father, still gripping the steering wheel with trembling hands and red-rimmed eyes, called my name.
"You… you're a boy. I don't know what memories you carry — Mom and Dad may never fully understand them even if we live our whole lives…"
His voice shook as he spoke. Right after the adoption, I'd told Father and Mother about my memories of the other world, and they hadn't been particularly shocked. They seemed to take it as something like the contents of a child's dream.
"Please… don't do dangerous things. You may have been a hero in your dreams, but in reality you're just a child… Please… lean on the adults…"
"Yes, Father…… I'm sorry…"
After that, Father and I couldn't manage any conversation until we arrived home.
On the thirty-seventh day of summer vacation, our family and Se-ah's decided to go back to the riverside. I worried whether it would be okay after such an accident, but my parents said that if we left it as a bad memory, we'd never be able to go again. They packed even more supplies than before and set out.
"Harang, you remember what Dad said?"
"When I play in the water, I'll wear a life vest. I won't wander off on my own out of my parents' sight."
"Mm! That's my boy!"
Father had been so shaken by hitting me that day that for three days straight he hugged me and cried saying he was sorry — and since I knew I'd been partly at fault too, I apologized right back to the father who was apologizing to me. Mother watched the two of us clinging to each other, snorting a laugh as she muttered that men were too emotional and that was the problem, then walked past. Of course, on the evening of the day Father slapped me, I'd also overheard Mother's voice scolding him through tears, asking why he'd hit a child.
The car stopped and we arrived back at the riverside we'd visited before. Se-ah's family had come early and already prepared everything.
The sound of leaves rustling in the wind from the forest, the sound of the river flowing, the crackling of the campfire — none of it frightened me anymore. They were still sounds that brought back various memories of the other world, but I'd decided to accept the journey and experiences I'd shared with my companions.
"Harang~!!"
Se-ah ran and threw herself into my arms. I staggered a little, steadied myself, and caught her. After that day, Se-ah's parents had said they couldn't face me and wouldn't even let Se-ah come over to play.
"I'm sorry! And Mom and Dad wouldn't even let me come apologize, either! It's not that I didn't want to say sorry!"
"It's okay, Se-ah. I wasn't really mad. How's your leg? Is it okay?"
When I asked if her leg was all right, Se-ah bounced in place to show me firsthand that her legs were fine. The muscle pain from overusing superpowers seemed to heal faster than ordinary soreness.
"Yeah! Today too, a whirlpool—"
"Kang Se-ah!!!"
"—I can't show you, but it's still okay! Ehehe."
Camping was fun. Se-ah and I wore life vests and played in the water, and Seol-hee noona caught a bigger fish than last time and asked our parents if we could eat it — only to get turned down because of parasite risk. We also found the treasure Se-ah's parents had hidden in the nearby forest, and I made a bet with Seol-hwa over who could stack gravel higher. Of course, Seol-hwa couldn't beat me.
The meat and vegetables grilled on the grill were delicious, and looking up at the stars in the night sky brought back the sky I'd watched with my companions in the other world. The night sky was beautiful here and there alike.
Like that, on a night filled only with the chirping of insects, Se-ah's parents put the sleeping Se-ah in the car and left first, and our family carefully drove home so as not to wake the sleeping Seol-hee noona and Seol-hwa.
"Harang, are you asleep?"
"No, Mother. I'm awake."
"Really?"
Mother, who'd been in the driver's seat, spoke up. Looking at the passenger seat, Father was asleep too.
"Did you have fun today? After what happened last time I was worried — and Harang is so mature you don't really talk about things."
"It was fun. Fun enough that I want to come again."
What my parents had said was true. If last week had been the end of our riverside visits, I would have developed an aversion to going to the riverside to play at all. But today, having fun playing and eating at the riverside, the happy memories rose more strongly in my mind than the negative ones from back then.
"I see… Then someday…"
Mother swallowed her words. She seemed to be deliberating whether to say something to me.
"Someday… an amusement park too…"
An amusement park — the place of my last memory before going to the other world, and the place where the parents who gave birth to me had died…
My mouth, which had been speaking brightly just moments before, wouldn't move.
"I'm sorry, for bringing up bad memories… Not right now. Someday, when Harang can shake it off like today…"
Even though I wanted to say something, my throat felt blocked and my voice wouldn't come out. Noticing my state, Mother spoke again.
"No, Harang. Mom's sorry — that place really—"
"No! Mother…"
My voice came out reflexively at Mother's apology. Right. I just had to overcome it like today.
"The amusement park… let's go… later."
"…Yeah! When Harang is okay, Mom will definitely take the whole family!"
I couldn't manage any further reply to Mother's words, and leaned against the window looking outside. The forest rushing past no longer brought me the fears from the other world. I could only hope that someday the amusement park, too, would transform into a happy place for me.
On the forty-fifth day of summer vacation, Seol-hwa and I were playing in front of the house, blowing soap bubbles.
As I blew soap bubbles with a whoosh and sent them floating into the sky, I saw Seol-hwa running toward me from behind.
"Seol-hwa, be careful — you might fall if you run."
"Unnie! Look at this!"
Seol-hwa held a giant soap bubble in her hands and showed it to me. It was an incredible technique. She seemed to be using what Father had said when handing over the soap bubbles — that if you coat your palm with soap solution, they won't pop. I didn't put a soap bubble on my own hand, because the slippery feeling reminded me of touching slime.
"Amazing. Be careful not to get soap in your eyes when it pops~"
"Okay!"
Seol-hwa was playing, bouncing the giant soap bubble on her hand. It looked so much like she was playing with a water-drop ball that I playfully reached out my hand and said,
"Seol-hwa, pass it to Unnie!"
"Okay! Pass!"
Slap!
The giant soap bubble Seol-hwa threw floated through the air and landed on my hand…? Huh?
"Wait a second, Seol-hwa, this…! Ah… Father!! Father!!"
At my cry, Father, who'd been watching from the doorway, came running — and Father and I witnessed with our own eyes Seol-hwa creating large water droplets by pressing her hands together and pulling them apart.
It was the moment Seol-hwa awakened her superpower.