"What kind of gift should I get…?"
Nicholas muttered to himself as he wandered, trying to think of something that could outdo what his dad had made for Evan.
The three thugs he had run into after school barely counted as a problem. He had not even needed to use his powers. After checking their pockets and confirming they were just ordinary street thugs, he let the victim call the cops and left before they arrived.
Now, however, he found himself facing a far more difficult situation.
"Seriously… how am I supposed to top that?" he sighed. "Dad made him that. Unless I somehow make something similar but different, there's no way I'm beating it…"
He frowned, stuffing his hands into his pockets.
He wandered through the city for another half hour before stumbling upon a strange shop. Multiple buildings crowded around it from every side, sealing it off from the street. The only way to reach it was through a maze of narrow alleys.
It almost felt as if the place was deliberately hidden from the world.
The sign above the door read Junk Cove, with some kind of flower painted behind the letters.
"Huh… isn't it usually Treasure Cove?"
With nothing to lose except time, Nicholas decided to step inside.
Soft bell chimes rang as he opened the door.
The lighting and atmosphere were… pleasant, to say the least. Comforting. Neither too bright nor too dim. The shelves were packed with all kinds of items, ranging from everyday necessities to strange, unfamiliar collectibles.
It's like a store that sells random things…
"Ay, ay. I'm ere, I'm ere."
A lighthearted yet grumpy voice echoed from somewhere deeper inside the shop.
Nicholas turned and saw a short Asian man approaching from an angle he could not see. The man had black hair streaked with grey strands, giving him an oddly distinctive look.
"What you want, kid?" the man demanded.
Despite his oh so cheerful voice, there was authority in his tone. His face was scrunched up, eyes sharp, as if Nicholas were an intruder who had wandered into forbidden territory.
It was a little hard to take him seriously, given his short stature and oddly casual demeanor.
"I was just curious," Nicholas replied honestly. "I've never seen this store before, so I wanted to take a look around."
The man rolled his eyes.
"Always the same. Sightseeing only. Never buying."
He let out a tired sigh.
Nicholas frowned.
"Well, that depends," he said. "If you have something I'm looking for, I'll gladly buy it."
Something about the man's tone rubbed him the wrong way.
"Oh? So you no tourist, but a customer?" A sly smile crept onto the man's face.
For some reason, Nicholas felt like he had just stepped into a trap.
"Now then," the man said, clasping his hands together. "What exactly are you looking for, dear customer?"
"A gift," Nicholas answered. "Something with emotional value."
The smile vanished instantly.
"Pah! How should I know something like that?" The man turned his back on him. "Emotional value, he says."
Nicholas sighed and covered his face with his hand.
"…Something related to space, maybe?"
The man paused, then slowly stroked his nonexistent beard in thought.
"Hmm… come hither."
Nicholas followed the older man without complaint.
They walked for only a few seconds, yet those seconds stretched into something that felt closer to minutes. Even after noticing this, Nicholas did not say a word.
"Perhaps something from here?" the man said, gesturing toward a shelf packed with strange objects of all shapes and sizes. There were tools, orbs, cylinders, and pyramids, each one more unusual than the last.
At first, Nicholas was intrigued. That feeling quickly vanished when he noticed the prices.
There were so many zeros that he briefly wondered if the man was running some sort of elaborate scam.
Then, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted something he could actually afford. It had only one zero on the tag.
A small astronaut figurine.
The glass of its helmet was cracked, leaking a dark substance from within, or perhaps it was smoke? It was solid; he tapped it twice.
"Resin maybe…?" Whatever it was, it was purposefully placed there, a part of the design.
Its suit was completely orange, save for the white helmet. The figure was small enough to rest comfortably in the palm of his hand.
What puzzled him was what the figurine was based on. A game? A movie? Or an actual person?
He recalled that some years ago, humanity had successfully built a small research station on the moon. It was meant to be the first step toward colonization, an attempt to make the moon habitable.
Yet in the past few years, there had been no public reports at all. Most people assumed something had gone wrong, but world governments stubbornly refused to comment.
There was just… silence.
"I wonder if someone awakened up there…" Nicholas muttered as he examined the figure again.
The older man gave him an unreadable look, his eyes narrowing slightly as he glanced at the figurine.
"I'll take this," Nicholas said firmly.
The man nodded. Whatever warmth he had shown earlier was gone. If anything, he seemed eager to see the item leave his store.
As they completed the transaction at the counter, the man spoke again.
"Boy… what is your name?"
His tone was somber, for reasons Nicholas could not quite place.
"Isn't it common courtesy to introduce yourself before asking someone else's name?" Nicholas replied.
He did not actually mind giving his name. It was not as if he had anything to hide. Still, he preferred to hear the man's name first.
"Didn't anyone teach you to respect your elders?"
"And I may call you Elder…?"
The man sighed, looking like someone who had dealt with far too many troublesome youths in his lifetime.
"You may call me Mr. Lien."
Nicholas smiled faintly.
"Was that so hard?"
He dipped his head slightly.
"Nicholas. Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Lien."
Mr. Lien waved him off. "Yes, yes. Now go. And take that bad memory with you."
He slid a neat little bag across the counter.
Nicholas accepted it gratefully.
"Goodbye, Mr. Lien."
With that, he exited the strange shop.
"What a weird place…" Nicholas muttered. "I'll definitely swing by again."
A small smile tugged at his lips.
It seemed that the strange and the bizarre stirred something in him that felt suspiciously like excitement.
…
Click.
Nicholas unlocked the front door and stepped inside.
"Huh… no one's here to greet me. Shouldn't Evan be having a party?" he muttered as he took off his jacket and hung it on the rack.
"Dad should be home too… Ah."
A few seconds later, it occurred to him that they were probably in the remodeled basement.
When he focused, he could faintly hear laughter coming from below. With that confirmation, he decided to leave the gift in his brother's room before going downstairs to announce himself.
After taking off his shoes, he headed up the stairs. He knocked once on Evan's door just to be sure, then stepped inside.
The room was slightly messy. Comics and toys were scattered across the floor. The bed was unmade, and the desk was cluttered with random things. The wardrobe stood slightly open, and a few pieces of clothing caught in the gap, preventing it from closing properly.
Otherwise, the room was spotless. Nicholas allowed himself a small measure of pride at that.
The walls were painted a dark blue, and the wooden floorboards were clean and polished. In the center of the room lay a large circular carpet patterned after the moon.
Nicholas cleared a small space on the desk and placed the gift where it would be easy to notice.
After leaving his brother's room, he paused in the hallway.
He wondered if he should go downstairs at all.
He did not want to interrupt his little brother's birthday.
'What's the matter with you? Scared of a bunch of kids or something?'
Nicholas grimaced. Sometimes it felt like the voice in his head had a will of its own.
Still… there was some truth to it.
He did not want to embarrass himself. If he did, it would reflect poorly on Evan, too.
And knowing his luck, he would probably trip down the stairs or something equally stupid.
"Still…" he muttered under his breath.
He had to let at least his father know he was home, and whether he planned to head out again.
…
"Oh, son. There you are, where've you been?"
His father's calm voice greeted him the moment he stepped into the basement.
He stood near the stairway, leaning against the wall, watching the kids gathered around the large television as they played a game.
"In the city," Nicholas replied, a faint smirk tugging at his lips. "I might head back out later. Just came to say hi."
His father frowned. "Why not stay for a while?"
Nicholas's smile turned strained.
"Well… I would not want to accidentally ruin things just by being here. With my luck and all…"
"How many times do I have to tell you?" His father raised a hand, cutting him off. "I do not want to hear about your luck."
He straightened slightly, his tone firm but not harsh.
"Nicholas… this is why I expanded the house. So neither of you would feel the need to leave just because the other has company. And besides, it is your brother's birthday."
The look he gave him was not angry.
But it was not proud, either.
Nicholas unconsciously clenched his fist at his side and looked at his father with furrowed brows.
"It is precisely because it is his birthday," he said quietly. "That I do not want to ruin it."
His father sighed.
"Do what you want… whatever you think is right." His gaze drifted back to the children, as if the conversation had already ended. "Just make sure you take responsibility for it."
Nicholas stared at him for a moment, then let out a quiet breath and turned back toward the stairs.
"Like I don't know what responsibility is…" he muttered.
…
"-Unknown remains at large, without so much as a hint of the heroes uncovering his identity or bringing him to justice. Multiple student witnesses have reported his presence during the supposed terrorist attack at the TraitShare-owned school. Reports also confirm that the overseas hero, Slash Draw, was dispatched to the scene. Yet even then, Unknown somehow managed to escape.-"
The host leaned on his desk with the camera zooming in on him, his expression grave.
"-I cannot help but question the strength of our so-called heroes. How is it possible that a single vigilante has managed to evade them for weeks? People are beginning to doubt. I am one of them. And I will seek the truth, because I am a man of the people.-"
He straightened, voice rising with conviction.
"-I swear it upon my name. Hank Khan, signing out.-"
"Just put a sock in it, will you…" Nicholas muttered, glaring at the television through the shop window.
'The explosion had nothing to do with me.'
It seemed the police had not managed to track down the thugs he had encountered that day.
"Didn't think those guys were carrying explosives…" Nicholas muttered, pulling his jacket tighter around himself.
Despite it being summer, the night air felt cold.
Maybe that was his fault, too.
Nicholas clenched his teeth, saying nothing.
He did not particularly care about his reputation as "Unknown," but what bothered him was the way everything was being twisted.
"Not to mention… Slash Draw's reputation is probably taking a hit because she let me go."
The thought left a bitter taste in his mouth.
He felt guilty.
'What are you feeling guilty for? She was the one who let you go. She knew what would happen.'
The voice in his head, his own voice, tried to reason with him.
What a shitty job it was doing.
Nicholas dragged a hand down his face in frustration.
For a brief moment, he entertained the idea of Slash Draw cutting him down the next time they met.
He let out a quiet laugh. It was not pleasant. Bitter, more than anything.
"I really need something to vent this frustration on…"
Without thinking too much about it, he turned into an alleyway. Not the smartest decision, especially this late at night, but there was a reason so many alleys existed.
They were shortcuts.
More importantly, for Nicholas, they were where trouble liked to gather.
"Oi… boy. Wanna have some fun? Khehehe…"
Nicholas stopped and glanced to the side.
A dirty, disheveled man sat slumped against the wall. He looked to be in his late forties, with an unkempt beard and a beanie pulled low over his eyes. His clothes were ragged, stained, and clearly unwashed for far too long.
Nicholas might have felt some pity for him. Might have even given him money.
If not for the object in his hand.
A tiny vial. Inside it, only a few drops of a strange black liquid.
Nicholas stilled.
Then he turned fully toward the man.
…
The man did not bother looking up. But when he noticed the boy's shoes had shifted to face him, a crooked grin spread across his lips.
"Oh? Interested in the black stuff, kid?" he rasped. "This one's a bit pricey. You sure you can afford it? Maybe if you do me a little favor…"
His hand began to move downward.
A thin line appeared across it.
"—!"
His cry was cut off.
A strip of his own clothing was shoved into his mouth, muffling the sound. He gagged as the filthy fabric pressed against his tongue.
His eyes shot upward.
And froze.
A figure loomed over him.
A pitch-black mask. Two faint blue flames burned where the eyes should be. A dagger, formed from pure darkness, rested against his throat.
The man's body trembled. Tears welled up in his eyes.
"Stay still," the masked figure said.
The voice was wrong.
Too deep. Too heavy. It felt like something pressing down on his chest.
"Move, and you die."
The man did not hesitate.
The cloth was pulled from his mouth, but the blade did not move.
The vial was taken from his hand.
"Where did you get this?"
The man tried to speak, words stumbling over each other as panic took hold. The blade pressed slightly closer.
"Slower."
"Y-yes! It's… It's standard! We get these samples and s-sell them around!"
Nicholas suppressed a sigh beneath the mask.
"I understand that," he said quietly. "I want to know where it comes from. Who's giving it to you?"
The man swallowed hard.
"F-from a warehouse—"
"Which one?"
Nicholas's voice dropped even lower.
The man flinched and quickly spilled everything he knew.
The moment the pressure lifted, he scrambled away without looking back.
Nicholas watched him go, silent.
He was reluctant to let him off so easily. But with the vial taken, the man was no longer a real threat.
There were bigger problems tonight.
Nicholas exhaled softly as the mask faded away.
A faint smirk tugged at his lips.
'Looks like I'm quite lucky today.'
Hopefully, his luck wouldn't run out anytime soon.