"Are you kidding, or did they call the wrong number?"
Jonathan stared at the phone in disbelief as he spoke into the receiver. His tone was filled with confusion, as if the conversation he had just heard made absolutely no sense.
"What? …Yes. Thank you."
He slowly hung up the phone while frowning deeply.
Martha, who was standing at the stove flipping pancakes, glanced over her shoulder with curiosity. The smell of breakfast filled the kitchen as she stirred the batter and asked, "What's wrong?"
Jonathan rubbed his forehead and shook his head.
"The credit card company just called to confirm a purchase," he explained. "Actually, a whole series of purchases. Someone used our card this morning and spent a lot of money."
He paused for a moment, looking troubled.
"But obviously—"
Jonathan reached into his wallet to check the card, only to suddenly freeze.
The slot where the credit card should have been was empty.
"Jonathan," Martha suddenly said, her voice rising slightly with surprise. "When did we install a satellite dish on the warehouse?"
Jonathan looked up instantly.
Through the kitchen window, Martha had noticed something new attached to the outside wall of the second floor of the barn-like warehouse. A shiny satellite dish had been mounted there, reflecting the sunlight.
Jonathan stared at it in confusion, then turned to look at his wife.
The couple exchanged puzzled glances before walking outside toward the warehouse.
As soon as they stepped through the door, both of them froze.
"Since when did the place where we store farm equipment turn into an arcade?" Jonathan muttered.
Behind them, a confused voice echoed the exact same thought.
"That's exactly what I was wondering."
The two parents turned around at the sound.
David stood at the warehouse entrance with his hands in the pockets of his coat. He had just returned from Washington and looked genuinely surprised by what he was seeing.
Inside the warehouse, the scene looked completely different from what it had been before.
Several large gaming machines had been installed along the walls. Stylish rock-band clothing hung from the rafters overhead, and a row of beautiful electric guitars had been mounted on display like decorations.
The entire place looked like a teenage fantasy—a private paradise for someone obsessed with video games and rock music.
Suddenly, a loud noise came from the second floor.
"Dong! Dong! Dong!"
The intense sounds of an action game blasted through the speakers above them.
David raised an eyebrow.
Clark's birthday was still weeks away. Even if it were his birthday, their parents would never spoil him like this.
"We… didn't win the lottery or something, did we?" David asked casually.
He had recently been thinking of a new method to collect emotional energy points. However, disappearing from home without explanation would be suspicious, so he had decided to wait until after the exams before taking a short trip.
Paradise Island wasn't too far away in the grand scheme of things. If everything went smoothly, the trip would only take about a week.
"I wish," Jonathan replied dryly.
He glanced toward the upstairs loft. Confusion and irritation flashed across his face as he began to suspect what had happened.
The three of them climbed the stairs together.
At the top of the loft, they found Clark sitting in front of a large television screen.
He looked very different from usual.
Clark wore a black leather jacket and leaned forward with an almost rebellious swagger. His eyes were locked on the game console as he hammered the controller buttons repeatedly.
The speakers blasted the sound of characters fighting violently inside the game.
"Die! Die! Let's see how long you can block!" Clark shouted excitedly while mashing the buttons.
Jonathan and Martha stared at him in shock.
Their son looked completely absorbed in the violent game, his excitement almost manic. The sight made them feel both confused and uneasy.
"Clark," Jonathan said firmly, "what's going on here?"
"How did all this stuff suddenly appear in our house?"
Clark didn't even look away from the screen.
"Eddie's Electronics in Metropolis," he replied casually. "Open twenty-four hours a day. Cheap prices and great discounts."
Jonathan's eyes widened.
"You mean you used our credit card to buy all this?" he demanded.
Martha stared at Clark in disbelief. The quiet, book-loving boy she knew would never secretly spend money like this.
"Clark… did you steal our money?" she asked.
Her voice rarely carried anger, but now there was unmistakable sternness in it.
David watched the scene with surprise.
Had Clark suddenly entered a rebellious phase?
A late teenage crisis?
"Clark, did you hear your mother?" Jonathan asked angrily.
When Clark continued playing the game without even glancing at them, Jonathan reached over and switched off the sound system.
The room instantly fell silent.
Clark's expression twisted with irritation.
"You're so annoying!" he snapped.
Without the explosive sound effects, the fighting game suddenly seemed boring. Clark threw the controller aside and stood up abruptly.
"Don't you have enough work on this pathetic farm already?" he said coldly.
"What did you say, Clark?" Jonathan demanded.
David frowned immediately.
Those words sounded completely unlike Clark.
Even a rebellious phase shouldn't cause such a drastic change. Could this be some kind of shapeshifter, like Tina?
"Clark, we never taught you to speak to your parents like that!" Jonathan said angrily.
Martha stared at her son, stunned.
"Clark… what's wrong with you?" she whispered.
The boy standing in front of her felt like a stranger.
Was it possible that being an alien with super strength, super speed, and super vision also meant going through some kind of superpowered rebellious phase?
Clark laughed mockingly.
"Stop talking to me like that," he said. "You're not my real parents."
The cruel words hit the couple like a physical blow.
"You're just the lucky farmers who happened to find me in a cornfield."
The warehouse fell into stunned silence.
Martha staggered backward as if struck. Tears filled her eyes while Jonathan's face turned pale with shock and anger.
"Clark Kent!" Jonathan shouted.
David's expression turned icy.
"I'd rather not end this vacation with a bruised face from school fights," he said coldly. "So apologize to them right now."
"Immediately."
Clark's hand moved slightly as he crossed his arms.
A ring with a bright red gemstone glinted on his finger.
David noticed it instantly.
The gem didn't glow like green kryptonite, but the color combined with Clark's drastic personality change made a possibility flash through David's mind.
His expression shifted.
"Who do you think you are?" Clark snapped angrily.
His voice carried years of suppressed resentment.
"I've been annoyed with you for a long time," he continued. "You do know who the older brother is in this family, right?"
His eyes burned with hostility.
Over the years, David had embarrassed him countless times and never showed proper respect. Clark had tolerated it for too long.
[Rage from Clark +112…]
"Take that ring off," David said calmly.
Clark's emotional state confirmed his suspicion.
"You're not yourself right now," David continued in a deep voice. "Don't let that ring control you. Take it off before I'm forced to do something."
It was red kryptonite.
Among all the forms of kryptonite, red kryptonite was infamous for altering Superman's personality.
Green kryptonite weakened Kryptonians.
Blue kryptonite temporarily suppressed their powers.
Gold kryptonite permanently removed them.
Black kryptonite could split a Kryptonian into two separate beings—one good and one evil.
Red kryptonite was different.
It stripped away restraint and morality, amplifying negative emotions until the Kryptonian slowly drifted toward darkness.
Clark could no longer be treated as the same person he had been before.
Because their parents were still nearby, David didn't act immediately. Instead, he quietly gestured for them to leave.
Jonathan and Martha realized something dangerous was happening. Although they were worried about Clark, they knew staying would only make things worse.
Reluctantly, they stepped back and went downstairs.
David narrowed his eyes.
"How did red kryptonite appear in this town?" he wondered.
Green kryptonite was the most common form, but red kryptonite was extremely rare. It only formed when green kryptonite passed through specific cosmic radiation clouds.
He had searched the town many times before and never found any.
"Are you scared, David?" Clark asked with a grin.
David's posture looked cautious, almost like he was facing a dangerous beast.
"So what if you try something?" Clark sneered. "Are you going to pull out a meteor rock ring and make me collapse like before?"
In a flash, Clark pulled something from behind his back.
It was a gray stone base with yellow crystals growing from it.
"What do you think this is?" he asked proudly.
David's face darkened.
"The Wish Stone," he said coldly.
"Looks like you didn't just steal the credit card. You stole something else too."
David had originally locked the stone inside his bedside drawer. After witnessing Akins' condition, he realized it was dangerous, but he hadn't expected Clark to take it.
"What are you planning to do?" he demanded.
Clark grinned widely.
"What else?" he said.
"Of course I'm going to erase my only weakness."
Clutching the stone tightly, Clark's eyes shone with excitement.
He still wasn't perfect.
"Good thing this stone exists."
Buzz.
"Don't do something you'll regret, Clark!" David shouted.
He raised his hand and fired a beam of energy, trying to knock the stone away.
But Clark was faster.
Especially now that the restraints on his mind had vanished.
In a blur, he disappeared and reappeared downstairs.
"My dear brother," Clark said from below with a mocking smile, "speed has never been your strength. Did you forget?"
From the loft railing, David watched helplessly.
Clark raised the stone and spoke clearly.
"I wish for all meteor rocks that weaken me to disappear."
Crack.
Crack.
The sky suddenly darkened.
Thunder rolled as black clouds swept across the horizon like a storm.
All around the world, every piece of green kryptonite vanished instantly.
Under David's bed, the box filled with kryptonite stones became completely empty.
"From today onward," Clark said proudly, "nothing can restrain me."
His vision scanned deep underground across the town.
Not a single green stone remained.
The wind howled around him as Clark looked up at the sky and laughed loudly.
He gripped the Wish Stone and stared at David with wild arrogance. His fists clenched, and the bones cracked loudly.
"Now it's time for me to teach you something," he said.
"Let me show you how a younger brother should behave."
In the distance, Jonathan and Martha watched from behind the house with anxious expressions.
"You've gone too far, Clark," David said quietly.
Seeing the wish had already been granted, his expression darkened as his eyes slowly narrowed.
....
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