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taejoon | superpowers | 7.2k words

In a world where at age 10 you pick your superpower, you picked the seemingly harmless one. Yet now at 26 you are considered the most powerful person in the world.

Empathy (n.) : the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.

A child’s tenth birthday is one of the most celebrated events around the world. It’s a milestone, being the moment when a child selects the power they will hold for the rest of their life.

Taehyung’s friends are excited as they are quickly approaching this age, and thrilled to finally get the powers they’ve dreamed of having since they learned what a power is. Anything from replication, to telepathy, to invisibility, to telekinesis, and more.

Taehyung would listen to his friends ramble about the powers they were going to wish for, but he never really said much about what he himself wanted.

He never spoke about it at home either, to either of his parents or his older sister. His father had superhuman strength, while his mother could teleport anywhere she wanted. His sister, who was five years older than him, was still getting a hang of her ability to control various elements and already mastered control of two of them.

The night before Taehyung’s birthday was a quiet one, and he laid in bed while staring out his open window. Midnight was quickly approaching and Taehyung turned the power he wanted over in his head just as he had for the past several years.

He pulls out his phone a few minutes before midnight, watching the time change with bated breath.

Midnight finally arrives and Taehyung quietly whispers the power he wants into the night. A wave of warmth cascades over him, and he lets out a long breath as his power settles into him. A small smile comes to his face as he slowly gains a new perspective of the world.

It’s the best sleep he’s ever had.

sixteen years later

Taehyung swings his feet where he sits on the ledge on the roof of his apartment building, looking out over the city. The sun is setting, golden rays disappearing between glass and stone, the final traces of warmth barely shielding him from the city’s steady hum.

The ledge is one of his favorite places, especially these days. It’s one of the few places he can be at peace, and truly be himself.

Here, he can escape being the most powerful person in the world.