John finished taking care of everything that same day.
But by the time they were done, it was already too late. If they drove back now, they wouldn’t reach home until the middle of the night, and driving that late was dangerous.
So they decided to leave early the next morning instead. If things went smoothly, they could even make it back in time for lunch.
With such good news weighing lightly on his heart, Daniel was in an unusually cheerful mood.
The whole ride back, he chatted happily with Carol. The two of them laughed nonstop, and even John, who had been exhausted from driving for hours, felt less tired listening to them.
Right now, everything in Daniel’s eyes looked beautiful.
One moment he thought the roadside trees looked especially majestic. The next, he found the clouds in the sky strangely mesmerizing.
But the most beautiful thing of all...
Was the sun hanging high above them.
The moment they got home, Daniel had already decided he was taking out his savings and treating Carol to a huge meal. He wasn’t even going to let her pay him back anymore.
’Your brother’s basically Superman now. Who cares about money?’
At this point, the sun had officially surpassed money in Daniel’s heart.
Stretching his wristwatch out the car window, letting it bask under the sunlight, Daniel could clearly feel it, every second under the sun made him stronger.
The cells inside his body practically felt alive with excitement.
Daniel loved this feeling.
He couldn’t wait to spend more time in the sun and grow stronger as quickly as possible.
He wanted to fly.
He wanted to soar through the sky freely.
After all, who didn’t dream of flying at some point? If humans didn’t want to fly, airplanes would never have existed.
As for fear of heights...
If you could stand in midair as steadily as walking on flat ground, what would there even be to fear?
All fear came from insecurity.
At least, that was how Daniel saw it.
If you fell from hundreds of meters in the air and walked away unharmed while the ground cracked open beneath you instead...
Then every fear would quietly disappear.
...
Accompanied by warm sunlight and laughter, the three of them finally returned to Smallville around lunchtime.
Then they returned home.
Mary seemed almost capable of predicting the future. She had already prepared lunch ahead of time, a meal for four people, waiting for them to come back.
The moment Carol got out of the car, she rushed forward and threw herself into Mary’s arms.
"Mom, I missed you!"
Mary kissed her gently and smiled.
"I missed you too."
After Carol had clung to her long enough, Daniel walked over as well.
Mary leaned down and kissed him too.
"Welcome home."
"Come on, lunch is ready. I’ve been waiting for you all to get back before eating."
She grabbed one child with each hand and started leading them toward the house.
Behind them, a certain someone had already opened his arms wide, clearly waiting for a hug.
Unfortunately...
He seemed to have been completely ignored.
"Ahem."
The middle-aged man coughed heavily in protest.
Mary knew her husband too well.
Sometimes he acted more childish than the kids.
Left with no choice, she turned around and gave him a quick hug before saying against her conscience.
"I missed you the most..."
Only then was John satisfied.
He stopped coughing immediately, shot the two kids a smug glance, and strutted into the house proudly like a victorious general returning from war.
Mary exchanged looks with Carol and Daniel.
The three of them silently shook their heads together.
...
After lunch, John returned to his favorite spot on the couch and opened the newspaper.
The Smallville Daily, as always.
Meanwhile, Carol sat chatting with Mary nearby.
Mostly Carol talking.
Mostly Mary listening.
From time to time, Mary would respond with a few amused comments, and the two of them chatted enthusiastically.
Daniel quietly looked at the three people before him.
The most important people in this life.
Even though he wasn’t participating in the conversation, there was still a warm smile in his eyes.
He liked this family.
He liked the atmosphere here.
And he swore he would protect it.
No one would be allowed to destroy this home.
No one would be allowed to hurt his family.
If anyone dared...
Daniel would make them understand what Superman truly meant.
He would show them how terrifying an angry Kryptonian could be.
He would make them repent in hell.
...
Of course, that wasn’t possible yet.
Daniel lowered his head and looked at his tiny body, silently estimating his current combat strength.
He clenched his little fists.
Then turned around and went outside to sunbathe.
He needed to become stronger.
Strong enough to protect everything he cared about.
Noticing him heading out, Mary called after him.
"Where are you going, sweetheart?"
Carol stopped talking too and looked over.
"I’m going to the yard," Daniel replied.
"To sunbathe again?"
Mary instantly understood what he was planning. After all, Daniel spent so much time lying under the sun that practically everyone in Smallville knew about it by now.
"Yep."
"Alright, go ahead. Just don’t run off anywhere."
Even though she knew Daniel wasn’t the type to wander around recklessly, she still reminded him out of habit.
"Mhm..."
Daniel nodded obediently before heading outside.
He lay down on the grass as the blazing sunlight poured over his body.
Now this... this was the good stuff.
He could clearly feel it.
His strength, speed, eyesight, hearing, even the toughness of his body, everything was improving.
The Kryptonian race really was absurd.
You practically didn’t have to do anything.
Just lie around in the sun every day like a lazy bum, and after ten years, that lazy bum would evolve into some kind of monster capable of destroying worlds.
"What an enviable power..." Daniel muttered smugly. "As if being unbelievably handsome wasn’t enough already, now I also have unstoppable strength?"
"I’m only five years old!"
After narcissistically admiring himself for a while, he sighed dramatically.
"My greatest flaw is simply being too outstanding."
Daniel shamelessly praised himself without even blinking.
At this point, he didn’t even care about becoming some business tycoon anymore.
It was too boring, so he quit the idea.
Now he just wanted to become a professional couch potato.
A sunbathing couch potato.
Even his dream of getting rich had faded away.
From now on, he’d just lie around under the sun and barely scrape through life.
"Tomorrow I’m finally spending the seven dollars hidden under my bed," Daniel thought happily.
"I’ve wanted to use it forever. If I leave it there any longer, it’s gonna grow mold."
"I’ll take Carol somewhere nice to eat. She’s always craving snacks."
Daniel absolutely refused to admit that he himself was craving good food too.
In this period, seven dollars still had pretty strong purchasing power. Combined with the low prices in town, it was more than enough for Daniel to take Carol out and have a great day.
"You’ve gotta go out more. Have a little fun and enjoy life."
Now that the pressure weighing on him was gone, Daniel felt incredibly relaxed.
Almost like he was treating life itself as a game.
Time passed quickly.
Before he knew it, the sun had already begun to descend.
Evening had arrived.
Looking at the golden-orange sun hanging low in the sky like a giant egg yolk, Daniel clenched his fist tightly. He felt power surging through his body.
"I could totally punch a cow to death right now," Daniel declared confidently.
Of course, that was wildly exaggerated.
It was just the illusion created by his rapidly increasing strength. Realistically, he was maybe twice as strong as he had been at noon.
"Hah!"
He punched the tree in the yard with all his might.
Instead of leaves exploding dramatically everywhere like he imagined...
His own hand hurt so badly he nearly cried.
"Owowowow!"
Daniel jumped around clutching his hand in pain.
Right now, he looked exactly like a dumb monkey who got too full of himself too quickly.
Seriously.... he’d only awakened his powers less than a day ago.
How strong did he think he was?
Give it another month and that tree would probably be the one suffering instead.
After all, adult Superman was absurdly powerful, even capable of moving planets.
That meant his strength probably grew at a terrifying rate.
Maybe even exponentially.
But Daniel didn’t know any of that yet.
All he knew right now... was that his hand really freaking hurt.
’The road ahead is still long,’ Daniel thought silently.