Mixed Blood

42: One Up

After the very eventful day in Hall University, the Paragons and their respective soulmates were all gathered in the palace. After hearing that Chan will be having his first training for today, the other soulmates rushed to see Chan in action.

"Nice to see, everyone," the King chuckled. "Are you here to see Chan-ya train?"

"Yes, dad," Mingyu smiled.

"By the way, I have heard that Jihoon-ya already got his power yesterday. Is this true?" the King recalled.

"Ah, yes. I accidentally froze a pool of water yesterday in Hall University. Thankfully, we were able to defrost it before anyone noticed," Jihoon shyly confessed.

The King laughed, "It's okay, Jihoon-ya. It's normal for everyone when their powers first manifest. However, I already informed the Royal Defense Force about this so ARMY, ERI and WANNABLE will be present this afternoon and we will assign your trainer later as well."

"Oh, that's fine by me," Jihoon shrugged. "By the way, who is your trainer, Chan?"

"It's Luhan-hyung from ERI and Jisung-hyung from WANNABLE. They both have Advanced Telekinesis so they will be helping me control my power," Chan answered.

Lunch was served in the dining hall. The King was happy seeing his sons and their soulmates together. While having their desserts, three people teleported in through flames. It was Hoseok, Luhan and Jisung.

"Hoseok, Luhan, Jisung, why are you here early?" the King inquired. "Have a seat."

"These two hyungs want to be early for their first day," Hoseok explained. "As for me, I have an explanation to finish."

"Explanation?" the King's eyebrows furrowed.

"Ah, yes. He needs to explain about his doppelganger that we saw yesterday in Hall University," Vernon recalled.

"Doppelganger?" Luhan was confused.

"Let me explain," Hoseok started. "I guess everyone here know about K-Pop right? Now, as you might know, Republic of Korea, or previously known as Goryeo Kingdom, is the origin of K-Pop. Has any of you heard about the K-Pop groups BTS, EXO, Wanna One and Seventeen?"

"Well, duh. They are K-Pop's four biggest boy groups right now," Seungkwan stated.

"When we, ARMY, first got there for a courtesy visit, the HallUniversity's president back then was highly surprised when he saw us. Turns out,we looked extremely similar to the members of BTS," Hoseok revealed. "We even had thesame names and nicknames."

"Really?" the Princes and their soulmates gasped. "How could that be?"

"We don't even know ourselves. That is why the president was surprised because he thought BTS was in his office," Hoseok explained. "Delving deeper into the mystery, we found out after some research that ERI and WANNABLE have doppelgangers, too. ERI members were similar to EXO and WANNABLE members have uncanny resemblance to Wanna One."

Hoseok showed them a picture and everyone's eyes widened. The similarities are mind-blowing.

"Now, take a look at this. Some of the members of K-Pop group Seventeen look exactly the same as the Princes." Hoseok continued and showed them another picture.

"Goodness, you're right. They do look like the Princes," Jisung commented.

"Wait, isn't that Jeonghan-hyung, Joshua-hyung, Jihoon-hyung, Mingyu-hyung, Minghao-hyung, Seungkwan-hyung and me with them in the picture?" Chan pointed out. By now, the Paragons and their soulmates were experiencing major déjà vu feels.

"Oh, that's creepy," Soonyoung rubbed his arms.

"Even the Dreamies that we appointed as your proxies have doppelgangers too. They were part of the boy-group NCT," Hoseok added. "That is the reason why I had you wear face masks all day. It was to avoid misconceptions. Your doppelgangers are famous and we don't want their fans crowding on you."

"Oh, wow. What is even going on?" Seungcheol was baffled.

"Don't worry. Someday you'll understand everything," the King said.

"Why? Do you know anything about this, father?" Jun queried.

"Yes. I understand how you have doppelgangers. It's the Secret of the Arcanus Alliance," the King claimed. "But it's not yet the appropriate time for you to know. One day, when Seungcheol takes over the throne, I will tell everyone, including the Royal Defense Force and the Mystics, about the Secret."

"Sorry to interrupt but Chan-ya, we need to start your training," Jisung prompted.

Everyone went out the large backyard of the palace. Chan was standing in in the middle of the open field and in front of him were five empty cans on a table.

"So, for you to gain control of your power, we need you to use your power, whether through your eyes or hands, to keep the five cans afloat for a minute," Luhan explained.

"The goal of this activity is to have you control the strength output of your Telekinesis. You should be able to adjust how strong or weak is the effect of your Telekinesis at will," Jisung added to Luhan.

Chan had difficulty performing the task. At first, he was hurling the cans off the table or hurled the table itself. But he improved significantly enough that he was able to make one can float for few seconds. Seeing Chan getting frustrated after nearly an hour of attempts, Luhan and Jisung decided to give him a short break.

"I'm so terrible," Chan leaned on Seokmin.

"Don't worry. You will get better," Seokmin ruffled Chan's hair.

During the break, the rest of the Royal Defense Force arrived. The soulmates were about to greet them when suddenly they froze in place.

"What's wrong?" Seungcheol told them.

"Can't you feel it? We felt a power boost as soon as we entered the backyard," Seokjin of ARMY mentioned.

"I thought I was the only one who felt that," Jinyoung of WANNABLE clutched his chest.

"We felt it too," Junmyeon said.

"That's strange. We feel normal," Jisung, Hoseok and Luhan agreed.

"By the way, Xiumin, here is your student, Jihoon. He has Cryokinesis just like you," the King introduced.

"Oh, I get to have my own student? Nice," Xiumin smiled.

"Me? I don't have Cryokinesis," Jihoon of WANNABLE blurted.

"Not you Park Jihoon, the King was referring to Lee Jihoon, Prince Soonyoung's soulmate," Jisung from WANNABLE clarified.

"Oh, you mean Jihoon-hyung? Can't blame me. We have similar names," Jihoon from WANNABLE defended himself.

"Let's just call my soulmate Woozi whenever they are both around to avoid confusion," Soonyoung established.

"Please take care of me," Jihoon bowed. Jeonghan excused himself from the crowd in the background.

"And now, it's gone. That's strange," Namjoon of ARMY referred to the power boost that they felt.

While Jeonghan went to the bathroom, Chan resumed his training. Just like before, he was having considerable success in making one can float erratically. Meanwhile, Xiumin asked Jihoon to create an ice ball in his hand. Everything was going well until Jeonghan returned from the bathroom. The floating tin can has skyrocketed toward the sky while Jihoon's ice ball grew so dangerously large and out of control that it flew towards Jeonghan's direction.

"Hyung, watch out!" Jihoon, the soulmate, warned.

Jeonghan raised his arms to defend himself but the ice ball bounced off just a few inches from his arm and right back to Jihoon. Quick on his feet, Xiumin dispersed the ice ball into powdered snow.

"What just happened?" Jeonghan asked no one in particular.

"That is a good question," Joshua managed to mutter.