Chapter 14
Immense Talent
Ha-Jin fluttered awake, looking at the bright morning sky. He pushed himself off the ground, resting on his elbows as his gaze landed on Jae-Woo sitting on the ground near the lake, catching fish for them to eat. He was lost in his own thoughts, mindlessly sitting there.
Ha-Jin decided not to disturb him as his gaze drifted to Alex sprawled out on the ground right next to him. The blood from their noses had long since dried up, leaving Ha-Jin to wonder how long it had actually been since they fell unconscious.
His mind drifted back to the memory of the mysterious man with those… terrifying wings covered in dark scales, so dark that they could even be compared to space.
A shudder ran through his body, the presence of the man and the man himself with his dark wings, face covered with the hat from The Arena and his long, sharp and pure black claws.
Ha-Jin let himself fall back onto the ground, biting his lip in frustration. It was infuriating, really it was. He had trained so long, drained his body and pushed it to the brink just to be defeated by the presence of some random guy that wasn't even serious and whose malice was not even directed to him.
Ha-Jin relaxed himself, at the very least he now knew that there were peopl—beasts much stronger than those "S-Ranked Beasts" everybody fears.
He let out a long sigh of relief, relief that he was now safe to some extent, though never fully as the world was surrounded by danger of these Beasts and people.
However infuriating, Ha-Jin knew he had to bear at least this much to attain his goal—to drag down the maker of this accursed cold Interface that cared for nobody and only led to hierarchy and discrimination in the world. Just thinking about it made him angry, reminding him of the days spent as a slave, a prisoner of the same Interface that he was now using to try and drag down the maker with his very creation.
He got up from the harsh ground, balling up his fists before walking up to Jae-Woo for whom he had a newfound sense of respect after seeing the unnatural amounts of power he had displayed against the mysterious beast.
He gently tapped him on the shoulder, making him jump a little, jolting him out of his thoughts. "Oh! You're awake!" He exclaimed, putting up a smile on his face which was very obviously forced.
Ha-Jin couldn't help but be worried at Jae-Woo's actions, he looked like the burden of the world rested upon his shoulders, like he could break any moment.
"What was that beast?..." Ha-Jin asked calmly, a shudder running through his spine as the memories of the overwhelming power that emanated from the beast.
Jae-Woo let out a sigh and got up from the ground. Ha-Jin was now a lot taller than when Jae-Woo and he had first met. Jae-Woo couldn't help but smile, it was almost as if Ha-Jin and Alex were his own children. Ha-Jin was now 5'11 now, taller than his previous 5'6 2 years ago. He had become this tall through the use of a few [Wow, You're Taller!] cards over the 2 years he had been in the "cursed" region.
"You're not ready for that burden yet, kiddo." Jae-Woo told Ha-Jin, patting him on the head. Ha-Jin had had enough of his act. His face twisted into a scowl as he finally lashed out the frustration pent up inside him from losing to that beast after spending so much time training.
"Quit treating me like a kid! I train so hard everytime! Every fucking single time! But I still end up losing, losing, losing and fucking losing to these goddamn monsters! What the hell am I supposed to do to have you stop treating me like a child?! I've spent my entire life fighting for it, to live a peaceful fucking life! Just shut up and tell me what all of this is about!"
Jae-Woo was stunned at the sudden lash out by the boy standing in front of him who was not even an adult. Jae-Woo remembered the painful truth of the world that he wanted to change. Children kept as slaves to do the bidding of the rich. The poor were abused by the nobles just because they were unfortunate enough to be born with a low grade Main Skill.
Even though Jae-Woo knew that Ha-Jin had been through a lot, he still could not bring himself to tell him the harsh truth. He finally spoke after a moment heavy with silence had passed "You do not need to know— yet."
Ha-Jin was about to lash out once again but bit his lip, stopping himself. He did not know what Jae-Woo was going or had went through, yet he was lashing out on him without knowing anything. He realised how foolish it was, to lash out on the person that had helped him train.
He let out a reluctant sigh and turned around to take a stroll around the forest.
***
A few hours filled with uneasiness had passed until Alex finally woke up. Alex was just as shocked as Ha-Jin was and immediately started throwing questions at Jae-Woo the moment he woke up.
Alex took Jae-Woo denying his questions much better than Ha-Jin who was sitting by the river, having taken Jae-Woo's job of catching fish. He silently sat there catching fish as Alex composed himself, though it was clear that even he was annoyed at his defeat by the beast who wasn't even trying to direct his intent towards him.
Jae-Woo walked towards Ha-Jin and lightly tapped him on the shoulder, making Ha-Jin finally turn his head back to face Jae-Woo. His face was much calmer now, he had pulled himself together the past few hours.
Jae-Woo smiled at Ha-Jin before speaking. "How about we have a spar to lighten the mood?" He asked before speaking once more. "Let us see how much better you have gotten after so long, Ha-Jin."
Ha-Jin's lips curled into a smirk before he got up, dusting off his clothes, his eyes glinting with excitement and confidence before he spoke. "Alright." He said before walking up to Alex. He had to look down slightly to look at Alex.
Alex looked up directly at Ha-Jin's face, his gaze determined and confident—maybe overconfident—because of the humiliating defeat he had made Ha-Jin experience the first time they had fought.
Jae-Woo looked at the both of them, he felt proud. Both of his disciples—whom he had thrown into the hellhole of a realm—now looked so confident and determined.
Ha-Jin had a sort of charm, even though they had not known each other for a long time at all, he felt like Jae-Woo's own son. He was so good of a child, no one could have imagined that in just twelve years from now, he would become the monster that walked before them…
Jae-Woo let out a sigh, raising his hand in the air before he began the countdown. "1!" He yelled "2…! And… 3!"
As the countdown reached three, both Ha-Jin and Alex rushed towards each other. Ha-Jin ducked to dodge a straight punch from Alex. A notification appeared in front of Alex as he prepared to give it all he had.
[You are using WTF Taekwondo (Grade S)]
The notification appeared before Ha-Jin as he raised his right leg to hook it around Alex's neck. Alex moved his head to the right at the last second, dodging Ha-Jin's attempt of grabbing him.
However, he did not realise he had fallen right into Ha-Jin's trap. Ha-Jin spun around 180 degrees, showing his back to Alex before extending his right leg backwards, gathering all of his strength into his leg before exerting all of it in one blow.
Flower of Taekwondo: Back Kick
Albeit, it did not do nearly as much damage as Ha-Jin had expected, as Alex took a stance that Ha-Jin had seen him use before in his fight with him in The Arena. Alex's lips curled into a smirk as a notification appeared before him.
[Active Skill: Kyokushin Karate (Martial Art) has been activated]
[Kyokushin Karate: Parallel Stance has been used]
Alex hit Ha-Jin with a straight punch right in the face. He hit Ha-Jin on the thighs with a low roundhouse kick. Alex quickly followed up the strike with an overhand punch which Ha-Jin ended up dodging by moving his head backwards and grabbed Alex's arm. He pulled Alex closer and headbutt him—hard.
As Alex was disoriented, Ha-Jin hooked his right leg around his neck and pulled him towards his left knee before hitting him with a strike with his knee right on the nose. The strike was powerful, it rang throughout the entire forest. Jae-Woo couldn't help but wince in pain at the sound, albeit the strike would do no damage to him if he were to be hit with it.
[Strength →SSS]
Alex took advantage of Ha-Jin's knee-strike, he made a grab at his hamstring, making Ha-Jin fall over before positioning himself onto him. Ha-Jin looked genuinely shocked as he felt a sharp pain resonating from his face as Alex's elbow hit him right on the face. The beatdown continued for a moment, Ha-Jin at the clear disadvantage.
Ha-Jin suddenly grabbed Alex's waist as his eyes widened. Before Alex could twist out of his grip, Ha-Jin planted his feet on the ground, his grip tightening around his waist before Alex's face met with the ground, blood spilling onto the ground from Alex's nose.
Before they could continue their fight, Jae-Woo intervened, pulling the both of them apart before they could end up killing each other for a friendly spar to test their strength.
After they had calmed down, Jae-Woo had them settle down before he spoke. "We're going to the Capital of the empire." He spoke calmly, like this was just another day of his life.
Ha-Jin and Alex looked at each other and then Jae-Woo, grins creeping up their faces as excitement coursed through their bodies.
"The Capital?! Seriously?! The place where the emperor and the 3 princes reside?!" Alex cried out, his eyes practically twinkling with excitement.
Alex's childish behaviour made Ha-Jin remember that both of them were still children and not adults carrying the burden of the world on their shoulders. He reminded himself that he should have fun once in a while.
Though, he wasn't very thrilled about going to the very place where the emperor of Drakrath resided as he was the one who did not do anything to fix the problems of the continent. The poor people being abused and child slavery all because they had a Low-Grade Main Skill decided by whom? Some almighty absolute being?
Though not thrilled, he decided to enjoy the moment as it was rare to be able to travel to that prestigious and highly developed part of the continent and even rarer was the fact that he could get a break from training and travel with Alex (whom had never seen so happy before) and Jae-Woo for the first time.
After calming the overexcited Alex down, they set out on their journey to the Capital. They walked for miles before finally finding a carriage led by tamed Mana Beasts. "Where would you like to go, my good sir?" The driver of the carriage asked politely, looking intently at Jae-Woo.
"The Capital." Jae-Woo answered, his voice cool as he ignored the intent gaze of the carriage driver.
The driver's eyes widened as he looked at the man standing before him as if he were some crazy drunk. "Er, my good sir you do know that that's a big distance right? It's gonna take a fortu-" The driver spoke once more but was quickly cut off by Jae-Woo taking out a handful of gold coins out of his bag.
The driver's jaw slacked, his eyes filled with greed as he saw the sheer amount of gold coins in front of him as he spoke once more, stuttering as he refused to tear his gaze away from the gold coins shining under the bright daylight, almost as if they were going to disappear if he turned away from them. "R-R-Right away sir! Get right in!"
Hours passed of Ha-Jin and Alex staring out of the windows of the carriage as it continued its steady journey through the various regions of the continent to reach the Capital before the carriage came to a sudden halt , throwing both of the boys onto the floor as the sound of the bustling streets filled the carriage.
Ha-Jin and Alex's jaws slacked as they took in the beautiful sight in front of them. They were here. It was the Capital.