Seo Jiwoo

[Owen's POV]

So far, the trip has been going pretty well.

After we left the Sinhwa building, Jisuk told me to follow him, and we would meet up with his friends.

Though I found it hard to believe that anyone could have friends with that kind of personality, I decided not to voice my opinion.

There is no point in getting into an argument with him anyway. I am only staying here for a week or two, and I wouldn't gain anything by making more enemies.

I started to get a little suspicious 15 minutes after we started walking as we walked through more and more alleys, but my doubts were unfounded as we stopped in front of a good-looking modern design house. Though I was sure this neighbourhood wasn't normal.

I have never seen so many cats living on the same street.

"This is my friend's house. We will go elsewhere afterwards." Jisuk said that and rang the bell.

In just 5 seconds, the gate swung open.

'What's the point of having an intercom system if you just directly open the door?' I thought as I looked at the person coming out of the door, or rather, the group of people.

The first one to come out was a cream-haired boy wearing a light blue jacket over a white t-shirt and Nike shoes with black jeans. Then there was a girl dressed in complete black who I would have mistaken for a boy had it not been for her prominent breasts. The last one was another guy dressed in all black who was the only one that seemed 'normal' in this group.

"Why were you late? Did something happen?" The cream-haired boy asked with a concerned look on his face.

"Nah. The meeting in the office took longer than I thought it would." Jisuk said while giving me a look.

"And the fact that we walked all the way here for 15 minutes. I mean, honestly, why didn't we just use a car?" I asked while reciprocating the look towards Jisuk, which irritated him a little.

"Obviously, because we are minors. You tryna get us arrested or something?!" Jisuk snapped at me.

"Yeah, like you are a rule-following person." I said as I rolled my eyes.

"Uh, Jisuk, are you going to introduce us?" The cream-haired boy said while looking at the two of us awkwardly.

"Oh yeah. Sorry. This is Owen Knight, our guest. We are going to keep him company while he is in Korea." Jisuk said, which left me in shock because I just couldn't comprehend the change in attitude.

He turned towards me and continued saying, "This is Jiwoo, Subin, and Wooin." He pointed at the three people standing in front of me, one by one.

"Owen, is it? It's very nice to meet you." Jiwoo said with a bow.

"No, the pleasure is all mine." I said it with a smile and held out my hand for a shake, which he immediately reciprocated.

'Finally! One polite person!!' I exclaimed in my mind as I finally met an awakened one my age who isn't a jerk.

However, the other two standing there beside Jiwoo had completely different feelings about meeting me, I guess.

The girl named Subin just kept looking at the sky with an annoyed and disinterested look on her face. While the guy named Wooin just gave me a nod of his head without changing his facial expression.

Subin seemed like a female version of Jisuk, while Wooin just came off as an introvert.

"Anyway, where are we going?" I asked

"Oh, I thought we could go to the mall. They have outlets for most of our favourite restaurants. Then we could go to the arcade." Jiwoo said.

"Sweet. I was actually thinking of trying the street foods and a few good local restaurants and bars, but that works." I said

I actually wanted to just get more of a local's experience, but that thing is more fun when you are not alone or are not with a couple of strangers.

"Oh really? We can do that if you want to." Jiwoo offered to change the plan, but I rejected the offer for reasons I mentioned earlier.

"To be honest, I am a little hungry, so let's hit the food court first. Is that fine with you all?" I asked

"Yes. Totally!" Jiwoo said and started leading me towards the mall while the other three followed behind us.

'They have been way too quiet. They aren't even trying to hide the fact that they are just here to keep a watch on me. I can actually feel the hostility in their eyes.'

'I can understand why that girl, Subin, dislikes me already. And Jisuk is a jerk by nature, but what's with that guy?' I thought that as I looked at Wooin through my side eye, he was giving me quite an intense stare.

Though I suppose one chatty and friendly person is more than enough,.

I then looked back at Jiwoo, who had been talking nonstop while I was judging the others. He was looking at me expectantly for some reason.

Wait. Did he ask me a question while I was distracted with my thoughts?

"Um, were you listening to me?" Jiwoo asked

"Yeah. Yeah. I just missed the last part. What did you ask me?" I said

"The question was the very first thing I said; after that, I was just rambling." Jiwoo said it with a dead serious tone and a confused look on his face.

"Sorry. But could you please repeat that?" I asked

"I asked if it was true that you are ranked #1 in the WAA." Jiwoo said

"Oh that? Yeah. It's true. I joined it a few months ago and fought my way up to the top. I am also a member of the student council over there, though I haven't really begun my duties as a student council member yet." I boasted a little.

"Oh? Why's that? Also, it's pretty cool that you managed to secure the top position in only a few months." Jiwoo said

"Thanks. And I had to take leave shortly after becoming a member due to some family emergencies. It's not something I can talk about. Anyway, I haven't really been at the academy since I became a member." I said

He was asking a lot of questions, but I didn't mind answering them. Even if the conversations were a little awkward, it was still better than uncomfortable silence.

Judging from his personality, he hasn't been an awakened one for very long. He is most likely one of the talented rookies that Shinhwa is sponsoring.

"Ah! We are here!" Jiwoo said, and I stopped to look at the mall and observe my surroundings a little before following him inside.

And surely enough, I found even more people keeping their eyes on me.

"Was it your idea to come here?" I asked

"No. It was Jisuk and Subin's. They said it would be better since you could get comfortable first before actually touring the country." Jiwoo said as we stood in line and passed through the metal detector machines.

Even if it's a protocol, they need to give their members acting lessons before they send them to spy on someone.

I can't ignore it, even if I try to, when they are being so openly hostile.

"Hahh, let's just try to have some fun." I sighed loudly.

---------------------------------------------------

A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for such a huge delay. I was busy with a lot of other stuff. My midterms, college festivals, projects, assignments, and finals (engineering is hard -_-). But now they are all over, so I will begin updating this ff again.