""Rain...""

Stop. It was to make a wish. It wasn't just a wish. I really made a wish to stop. As I muttered, the sky that had been pouring rain began to spit out the sun again. The gloomy world was filled with sunlight. The sunlight reached my house and touched my slightly dry school uniform. My damp eyelids opened in the warm air. Only then did my ringing head calm down.

The way to school was refreshing. The clear sky after the rain. It couldn’t be bad. Everyone was holding an umbrella. They looked puzzled by the suddenly clear sky. Well, I guess so. I stopped the rain that was supposed to fall. The water that had gathered was lapping at the tips of my feet. My earphones dangled with every step I took. Old-fashioned band music flowed from the earphones. I hummed softly in my mind.

Oh, one question that comes up at this point. How did you stop the rain? It's nothing special. When I make a wish, the rain stops. I still don't know why. It's crazy. And this is a bit of a special, amazing life story of mine.

Clear Boy

01.

"Hey, Beomgyu."

""huh?""

""Are you that cool as a hero?""

""What the heck, so petty.""

""Answer quickly.""

"Why are you asking the obvious?"

It's the coolest thing in the world. My dream is to become stronger than Superman.

That's how I was when I was 5. The people I respected the most in life were my parents, and then Superman. He looked so cool flying around in his jumpsuit. It went without saying that he saved people and defeated villains. I always wrote Superman in the future aspiration column. I guess I wasn't embarrassed, because I played with a red cape. One day, I was trying to imitate Superman, but I fell off the bed and broke my arm. It hurt so much I couldn't stop laughing. That was a glorious wound. I must have been completely crazy back then. The next day, when I went to school wearing a cast, my friends clucked their tongues. You're really all sorts of things.

I couldn't stay still for even a moment. Every time I was told to stay still, my whole body would tremble. My legs would tremble because I wanted to go out and play with my friends. Oh, the weather is so bad today. Should I play tag or tag? I threw the dictation test paper with the bread marks on it carelessly at home and left the house in a hurry. I always stayed at the playground until the end. After all the kids left, I went home after playing on the swing by myself. My mom would nag me to wash up quickly because I was covered in dirt. The house always smelled warm and delicious.

When I entered middle school, I developed a bad temper. My dream changed from Superman to a blank space. I no longer ran around wearing a red cape. My motto back then was to be cool and cool. I chewed gum for no reason, hung out with scary older guys, and had the default look of a rebel. But I didn't do anything bad because I kept to the line. Despite being a delinquent, I attended class regularly and never smoked or drank. I got along well with my peers. We fought very rarely. If I didn't start a fight, I just smiled and got along.

My dream was gone, but I still longed for heroes. I watched every single Marvel or DC movie without fail. I had posters of heroes all over my room. I had a ton of action figures. My mom would always tell me to throw them away, but I couldn't. I always cried after watching a hero movie. I didn't cry much even when I watched a sad melodrama or a scary horror movie. It was only when I watched a hero movie. I was the only one who cried in a movie theater where no one was crying. My friends who went to the theater with me looked at me strangely on days like that.

""No, why on earth are you crying?""

""Fucking skinny little bastards...""

""A kid who falls asleep while watching a horror movie is a star...""

""Don't you have any feelings?""

When I screamed, everyone ignored me. Leave him alone. I wiped my stuffy nose and let the afterglow fade away. It wasn’t a concept, it was just really sad. It’s so cool that a hero saves the world with his own abilities, but it was so sad that a hero couldn’t live his own life. What’s that? He lost his family and friends. What’s the point of saving the world? The kids all looked at me strangely, but I was serious in my own way. It was the most sophisticated thought for a middle schooler who was immature and arrogant.

The distance between my middle school and my house was quite far. It took about 20 minutes by bus. So when I rode the bus, I had many thoughts. The most frequent thoughts were, of course, about heroes. I think I was a little crazy. I don't know why. It just kept coming to mind once I thought about it. If I had powers, would I be that unhappy? Would I be unable to sleep at night because of the responsibility to save the world? I blinked my eyes in the rattling bus. I was thinking about all sorts of things. First of all, if you have powers, you don't have to worry about it or not. At that time, I just thought it would be nice to have a special power. With the belief that nothing unfortunate would happen to me.

02.

Fate is always sudden. It appears unexpectedly at an unexpected moment, at an unexpected time, and turns our daily lives upside down. Fate came to me, who was just an ordinary middle school student, except for the flashy appearance. Not to a person, but to an ability I had longed for so much. If I may say so, it was a turning point in my life. It was really shitty.

The first day it stopped raining, I thought so. Maybe I was dreaming. Honestly, I did. Who could really stop the rain if they wanted to? But I could. The reason I stopped the rain was also incredibly absurd. I was just going home when it started to rain, I didn’t have an umbrella, and I was so annoyed that I muttered, “Stop the rain.” Really quietly. But then, as if it were a lie, the rain suddenly stopped. Not long after I muttered, the sun rose. I froze in place. The day I first learned of my ability, I thought it was just a coincidence. In fact, it was too incredible to be a coincidence. But I tried to think. The rain that would have stopped anyways just happened to coincide with my prayer. It was just… a coincidence. Yes. That’s all. But it wasn’t a coincidence. When I muttered again, “Stop the rain,” and when the sunlight rose again, as if it were a lie, I realized it.

"...It's not a coincidence."

The two hands that were clasped together felt tingly. An indescribable feeling came over me. This is crazy. If I just make one wish, the rain will stop? This isn’t a dream, is it real? I pinched my cheek hard and it hurt a little. The corners of my mouth went up involuntarily. From then on, I was anxious to show off my abilities. I wanted to brag that I had great abilities like the heroes in the movies. Thinking back now, this was the biggest mistake of my life. It was like inviting misfortune upon myself. Like the beginning of every movie, at first, it was nothing special.

""You know that, right?""

""what?""

"Can I stop the rain?"

""Just kidding.""

""Trust me. I'm telling you it's true?""

""Oh, yeah. You must be stupid.""

The face of the sullen man was so annoying that he wanted to win for no reason, so he threw a tantrum. Then I’ll show you on a rainy day. My friend had just smiled until then. Okay. I’ll be waiting for you? And when I showed him that I could really do that, my friend looked at me with his mouth wide open. My shoulders swelled at the sight of his eyes. I felt like I had become a really special person.

""crazy.""

""Look. I'm telling you, it's true.""

""No, you... what are you?""

I just shrugged. My friend kept muttering that it was a great hit. It definitely started off well. Awe-inspiring looks and compliments. I thought everyone would do that. I thought everyone would like it if they knew about my abilities. I watched a lot of hero movies, but I didn’t learn anything. The main character is happy at the beginning. He still lives his daily life. And then at some point, it all falls apart. At that moment, he loses everything. It didn’t take long for that to become my story.

He was definitely not a friend who kept his mouth shut. That's why I believed him and told him. Of course, it was a big deal to hide. The rain stopping was a funny rumor. The next day, when I went to school, five people already knew. I was flustered, but since they were all familiar faces, I just let it go. The next day, about ten people knew. I started to feel awkward. As the days went by, the number increased exponentially. Now, even kids I didn't know were gossiping about me.

"Hey, who did you tell this to?"

""uh?""

When I suddenly came to visit, my friend trembled as if his feet had gone numb. His mouth trembled, unable to utter a word. When I saw that, the back of my neck started to stiffen.

"Who did you tell?"

""Just... a few people I know."

""How many people do you know? But how come the whole school is talking about it?""

""that...""

"I told you to keep it to yourself."

"I didn't know it would spread like this."

The friend who spread the rumor felt wronged and instead acted in a negative way. Who knew it would spread like this? I was flustered too, Beomgyu. And there’s nothing wrong with you. Your abilities aren’t all that bad. I felt discouraged by his gaze as if he really didn’t understand why I was angry. Yeah, you would be like that… The strength left my tightly clenched hands. The stiff back of my neck also relaxed. I realized right away that getting angry was pointless. The rumor spread and spread, and even kids from other schools came to see me. Even though I liked people, I hated this kind of excessive attention. My nerves were on edge. Everyone whispered as I passed by in the hallways.

"Hey, that's him. The clear-sounding boy."

The kids had already given me the nickname Clear Boy. Clear Boy who would stop the rain if I prayed. I got tired of that attention. I thought I would be happy with the attention, but it was much more tiring than I expected. I was less indifferent to other people’s gaze than I thought. Fortunately, the groundless rumors gradually died down. My friend’s eyewitness account had no evidence. The kids who had been talking about Clear Boy soon lost interest and stopped paying attention to me. Only then did I feel better. Ah, I can live now. I collapsed on my desk and slept soundly. For a while, I couldn’t sleep properly because of the kids who kept coming to see me. I decided not to talk about my abilities as much as possible. The problem was that life didn’t go as planned. Not long after, I stopped the rain publicly. Because of that damn provocation. I would have let it go now, but Choi Beom-gyu at that time couldn’t.

""Can you really stop the rain?""

"".....""

""Are you just doing this because you want attention?""

"".....""

"That kid only talks."

One rainy day, a kid I wasn't on good terms with started a fight. I overheard him say that he hated me because I stole his seat. It was because I became friends with the so-called successful seniors. He said that he would leave because the seniors liked me. I didn't give a shit. Whether I left or not. He must have been more upset by my indifferent attitude and kept picking fights. It was to the point where I couldn't ignore him. Even I, who didn't think much of it, was starting to get annoyed. This was also a kind of fight. He woke me up while I was lying down and got on my nerves. It was bad enough just waking me up, but when he started picking fights, my teeth ground. Hey, you want to lose? He said with a scowl. The class atmosphere instantly froze.

"Then show me."

"".....""

""You're the Clear Boy or something, right?""

"".....""

""Or you'll just get screwed.""

Outside, the rain was pouring down. Enough to drown out my voice. My ears were stuffy. As if they were filled with water. I tilted my head and thought. Should I start by hitting him? I didn’t like the way he was laughing. After thinking about it for a few seconds, I quietly got up from my seat, thinking I shouldn’t waste my energy. A group of boys were laughing, saying, “Hey, hey, he’s going to pray.” I thought I should have hit him, but I didn’t care and put my hands together.

""Stop the rain.""

I closed my eyes loosely, clasped my hands together, and looked up at the sky. I didn’t need anything grand. All I had to do was ask the rain to stop. The laughter that had been smirking at me died down as the rain cleared. The kids in my class screamed loudly. Not long after I made my wish, the sun rose. I checked the weather and looked at the boy. He had a blank expression on his face, as if he hadn’t thought it would be real. I stood in front of him and smiled.

""Okay?""

"".....""

""Stop picking a fight and get out.""

After saying that, I lay down and went back to sleep. I thought to myself that it was pretty cool. I felt relieved because I had hit him once. The other half was still noisy. It took a while for it to die down. The boy who had been picking a fight had long since disappeared. Thanks to that, I was able to sleep comfortably that day. I didn't know it then. That this was the incident that would change my life.