Ability Less

It has been a hundred years since the new era began and the fame of supernaturals had never faded. In fact, every little kid dreams of becoming a Supernatural one day.

Park Eun-jae was one of those kids too. After watching their heroic acts on-screen, he had always admired them and it was his life-long dream to become like them when he grew up.

However, reality was different.

-----Unity Medical Centre-----

Yongsan District, Seoul

"Mrs. Lee, it's unfortunate but your son is ability less." The doctor shook his head as he informed the young lady sitting right before him the results of her son, Park Eun-jae.

Being the only kid in the class who hasn't awakened his ability even though he was ten years old already, Park Eun-jae's mother was worried about him. With left no choice, she visited an ability specialist bringing Eun-jae along with her, for a body check-up.

Eun-jae still regrets that day whenever he recalls it. He was waiting outside the office nervously and his mom was talking to the doctor alone.

And, the first sentence that came out of his mouth was 'Your son is ability less.'

Upon hearing such sad news, her eyes widened in surprise and she kept staring at the doctor with clear disbelief.

However, the doctor maintained his calm posture in front of his client and tried to explain her about Eun-jae's current condition in detail without startling her.

"Mrs. Lee, the thing is-"

But before he could say anything, Eun-jae's mother went into shock and she couldn't hear what the doctor was saying.

"Mrs. Lee? Mrs Lee!!"

When she did not respond to him for a while, the doctor clasped his hands near her face so that she can wake up from the thoughts she was in.

"Mrs. Lee, you there?"

A few seconds later, she came back to her senses and replied immediately. "Oh, Sorry! It was a lot to take in...so..."

"I can understand. After all, anyone in your situation must have reacted the same way as you did. So, don't worry about it."

After taking a brief pause for her to calm down, he continued. "Mrs. Lee, let me assure you that we took multiple tests on your son's body before coming into a conclusion. Therefore, what I'm saying is accurate. Your son indeed has no ability within him whatsoever."

"But how is this possible, doctor? Me and my husband, both of us have abilities. I never heard of someone being born ability less without inheriting the abilities of their parents."

She was right. Every offspring inherits an ability from their parents, even if it was a weak one.

"What you're saying is correct but cases like your son's are extremely rare in our medical field. That's why, no one knows about it. Among the 1% of the population in the world, only few kids encounter such problems with their inheritance. In Germany, there was a similar case like your son's. It was also a hot topic among the doctors like us back then." The doctor replied enthusiastically without making it obvious.

"..."

After looking at her responsive look who was clearly not convinced, he sighed deeply. "To clear your doubts, let me just show it to you. Look here." He pointed out to the monitor screen of his computer.

It contained a 3d human anatomy with statistics at the right side. Eun-jae's mom shifted her gaze towards the screen.

"Do you see the brain here? It's your son's" The doctor zoomed onto the brain part and showed something.

"Normally, if a child is gifted with abilities, this hollow section of this brain would be filled with clusters of small blue particles. These blue particles are components of an energy called 'Zen'."

"What is Zen?" She asked with a curious gaze.

"Zen is something which helps in manifesting an ability within a human body. Even if there was an ounce of these particles present within your son's brain, he had a chance to manifest an ability at a later stage. However, in this case, this whole section is completely empty and hollow, no matter how you see it." He paused for a moment for her to digest everything he said and then he continued, "This phenomenon only happens when the body is not compatible with the abilities given to it. As a result, the brain rejects the energy 'Zen' to flow into the subject's body making him ability less." The doctor explained.

"Why!? Why my son though? Why did he have to become ability less..!?" she asked the doctor in a low and sad voice.

"That... we don't know either. We're still trying to find the cause but with our current knowledge and technology, it's hard to find the source of the problem. The only thing we found out is the difference between ability users and non ability users. That's all."

As soon as she heard the doctor's reply, she turned silent with no reply coming out of her mouth.

"I know it's hard to believe but it's the truth. We're still working onto it. Hopefully, we'll be able to find the cause soon." The doctor assured her.

Eun-jae's mother who was lowering her head down, raised her chin up and looked at the doctor with a little glint of hope.

"How long will it take for the cure to be made, doctor?"

Upon hearing her words, the doctor was a bit hesitant to answer but he was responsible to follow the duty of not misguiding his patients in any way. Therefore, he stated the exact truth to her.

"We don't actually know how long. It might take ten years or even fifty years. So, it'd be best not to have hope on this matter. It'll only hurt you more in the long run."

With that harsh statement, she suddenly started crying. When imagining the future of her son, she became scared. It was as if her son became blind and powerless from the start. In a world where abilities decides your future, being ability less was a curse for anybody. Therefore, she was in turmoil and confused about what to do from now on.

A few moments later when she calmed herself down, she wiped the tears off of her face and stood up from the seat.

"Excuse me, doctor! I'll take my leave, then. Thanks for everything." She slightly bowed down to him before turning around and started walking towards the exit door.

Click!

Park Eun-jae, who was waiting outside the office, heard the door open and reflexively lifted his head up to see his mom coming out of there.

"Mom!" he cheerfully called out to her before hugging her.

She faintly smiled and patted his head gently.

"Mom, how did it go? I waited for you for so long." He said in a cute voice.

She bent her knees a little and said, "Sweetie, let's go home for now. We'll talk about it later, okay?"

"Mm!" He nodded.

Park Eun-jae then held her index finger with his tiny hands and both of them walked towards the elevator.

****

Once they reached home, she didn't utter a word about anything. She was afraid that her son might react differently or get traumatized by the bad news she was about to give him.

Hence, she tried to stall as much time as possible before telling him the truth.

Later that night... after they finished eating dinner, Park Eun-jae got impatient while waiting for his mother to say something as he asked her directly about it.

"Mom, what did the doctor say? When am I going to get my ability? I really want to know. Please tell me."

"..." Upon hearing those words, her joyous face turned serious as she looked at him.

When his mother didn't reply to him for a while, he spoke again while tilting his head sideways in puzzlement. "Mom!?"

'How can a mom say to her child that he does not have any ability? That's too cruel.' She clenched her fists tightly.

After pondering for a while, she realised she couldn't hide the truth from him anymore.

She then gathered up the courage and spoke to him finally.

"Son, what I'm about to tell you is very important and please listen to it carefully. Promise me, you won't panic. You're a good boy, right?"

"Un!" The young boy nodded.

Afterwards, she started explaining things to him that the doctor had said to her without omitting any details or startling him in any way. She did add some false words in the end that they're trying to find a cure for the problem and one day, they might treat him, and he will be able to awaken his abilities.

'Very soon, you'll be all better' A false hope she gave to her son so that he won't break apart.

However, Park Eun-jae wasn't that naive to believe her words completely. He was pretty mature considering his age.

He knew that even If there is a cure for his condition, there's no guarantee that it will be discovered in his prime time.

It was a hopeless situation from the start. From now on, Park Eun-jae had to live an ordinary life and his desire to become a supernatural will remain an impossible dream forever.

It was a hard blow for a young boy like him. But, he had no time to cry over such things.

Currently, he was more worried about how he was going to survive in his school.

For him, the school had turned into a jungle where everyone was a predator and he became a prey. In every corner, he'll come across some students who will make his life miserable. Even his so-called friends won't be an exception.

As soon as he realised that, he lost all hope for his future and was too shocked to even cry. Not a single drop of tears came out of his eyes at that time. He just stared blankly into the space with no expression on his face at all.

His mother was dumbfounded by his reaction and embraced him in her arms while saying, "Don't worry, everything will be alright."

He didn't know if it was out of pity or just her way of consolation.

The only thing that was clear to him was that he will never become a supernatural in this life.

In a world where ability is everything, Park Eun-jae turned out to be ability less.

'Not everyone is born equally in this world.'

This was the lesson he learned that day when he was only ten years old.