Chapter 38

RICHARD

"Is it true?" a short girl next to me asks.

The girl with her flicks her glasses. "I've been telling you since yesterday. I'm one step closer to being his girl."

"How lucky. I hope that I'm blessed too!"

"What nonsense are you talking about?"

"Oh my god. Stop being a killjoy. Even though I know it's impossible, there's nothing wrong dreaming about him."

"Who's 'him' this time? You talked about so many boys I've lost count."

The short girl twirls. Although she's wearing pants, I can imagine her as a princess of one of those fairytales.

"Who else would it be? My future husband," she announces like a poet. "He'll going to propose to me and we're going to marry each other. Then we'll become a family together with my three kids!"

"Woong?"

"I'm not even into him."

"Eh? Just the other day you stalked him in the school, chanting his name like a crazy witch."

"Did I do that?"

"Let me guess. He got creeped out by you."

"You don't have to say it out loud." the short girl has glared.

However, due to the lack of height, she does not seem convincing at all.

"Pfffttt... Hahaha."

"What? Why are you laughing?" now, she quite looks like a sulking hare. "You're just jealous because Richard's going to propose to me. Don't worry, I'll send you the wedding invitation."

I stop in my tracks. That girl is infatuated with me?

"Who's that?"

"Gosh. You're living under a rock! He's the most powerful Sken in the city!"

The warmth of the masses creeps into my skin. A band of gold dazzles on my finger. Gazing at the front, the two girls prattling earlier have gone quite a distance from me. I need to take this opportunity.

A wave of energy sends shivers to my spine. The ring clinging around, I remove, and I hasten my way to the masses. Like an anemone avoiding a predator, they go to the side and provide a path for me.

The two girls are getting farther. Thus, I jump forward.

*Bang!*

I land on the floor. Pressure seeps into my limbs, and the sound I have created leads the masses to engender the turning of heads.

What's that? Woah! Is something happening? I can't see anything though.

Their voices interweave in the air, but above all, the girls I'm after are now facing my direction with perplexity. I aim at the blue paper bag in the hand of the short girl.

Then, I throw the ring into the air. It deflects light, but I'm not blinded because a purple aura is coating my eyes.

*Clunk*

It enters the paper bag.

"It's nothing." the girl with glasses says right after. "I'm a telepath and yet I can't see anything."

The frowns of the masses disappear. On the other hand, my own two feet move further. The wind lands on my skin with greater force than I have expected.

A concoction of colors shifts my vision. This must be what it feels like to have a great speed although I'm not that fast.

My legs are getting strained. Being influenced by my mind, the entirety of my body becomes light. My feet rise from the ground until the view becomes a scale between the balance of small and large. This is liberty. I'm a bachelor again.

After some time, the hot rays of the sun begin to cause discomfort. A small neighborhood is below me, and it is an ideal area to land.

Reaching the area, I notice that the neighborhood is uncrowded, which is probably because of the time of the day. Several stately houses stand with their classified architecture.

Ours would be the oldest looking around here.

"ARGH!" a scream pierces.

"Give up already." a monotone voice speaks.

Where does it come from?

"No way."

Shivers crawl all over my body so suddenly. It's a familiar voice.

"Fight me instead."

A wave enters my brain. The scream... it's from the playground. Shortly, my body charges forward on its own.

Before my witness unfolds the very scene. The sand and dirt from the ground mix into the air and anything behind the seething sandstorm are imperceivable. I close my eyes and let the energy flow.

Unhurriedly, every ounce of purple light flows on my skin. The black vision I have becomes clear. Dark black hair and tan skin, I am right, the boy is definitely Joshua. He's in a grave situation. I need to help. I dash through.

Dirt invades my path, but the purple field around me casts it all away, and although my outer vision is shrouded, my mind can see anything unobstructed. Every step I take brings me closer to my aim. Shortly, heat burns on the back of my head. A presage!

*Boom!*

The atmosphere grows heavier. An explosion?

In a fleeting moment, two figures present themselves before me. One of them is I already have identified as Joshua, while across him is a girl of bluish-black skin. Is she an aquatic Sken? Maybe a zombie? Either way, I'm going to provide aid.

I propel my body to let the purple energy.

The offense I throw consumes the girl. However, a tint of purple light arises, and so, I cast a field for Joshua and myself.

*Boom!*

The particles collide with each other. Everything becomes unexpectedly dull. With that, a white shadow has gone on my side. Rather than a white shadow, it's a forceful gust of wind that hits the girl ahead. Nevertheless, she remains protruding.

She narrows her eyes with a scornful sneer.

Joshua growls. Leaning forward, he proceeds to attack.

The back of my head promptly becomes heated. A presage—!

*Whoosh*

The girl reversed the offense once more. A body is being thrown mid-air; I cast where Joshua is supposed to land.

This is frustrating. How can she do that?

A broad grin is plastered on the face of the girl. She turns her head to the left.

"Die."

No. I'm powerful than you. Having control over telekinesis, I communicate with my energy. Blast behind her.

In a quick moment, a series of blasts appear in the thin air at the back.

I direct a punch to her face. "We'll see who will be six feet under the ground."

A dull sensation hits my fist. Then, it crawls up to my arms. It's no use. Her skin is as hard as concrete.

"Ugh!" she staggers backward.

At the same time, the blasts land on her back. She falls to her knees.

"Your death is assured," I say.

What appears on her features is a vile twisted smile.

The smile of death?

Instead of collapsing, she raises her hand in my direction. A sharp pain pricks my temples in a moment. I flinch. Being aware of another offense, I flee from my location.

My offenses aren't working. She keeps on repelling them, and the power level of the overturned offense is the same as what's thrown. I have to think.

In my peripheral vision, Joshua is leaning forward to advance onward.

So far, she's repelling the attacks that made contact on her skin. What will happen if it didn't come in contact? I can try telepathy.

The hair on my skin stands to its end. Creeping, crawling, and unifying— my aura and I become one. I close my eyes. The metallic sound I hear indicates that I gain access from her mind.

(Die! Die!), her roaming screams stab my head.

A headache pulsates in me.

Shortly, the headache throbs and washes all over. Both of my feet reel to the ground. I grabble for something to hold onto.

(Die! Die! Die!)

Her insults of threat gradually resemble a cry for help. A sharp wave hits my mind. A shiver prowls my senses. It goes in my chest, and then, in the pits of my stomach. It flows, relentless until the entirety of my body turns cold.

This... this is what she's feeling. Together with that despair and anguish is this dire coldness.

Surely, she has lamented.

However, nothing could save her current, status even if I attempted.

I give in to the darkness. A beat passes, and the image changes to several post stations of figures. Two figures are in front of me. Both of them are enveloped in an array of auras. A white aura of the wind, and a white aura of absorption.

Absorption? How in...

I cast all of the questions continuously welling up in my mind.

Focusing on the unfolding scene, a figure of flickering white aura recumbents on the ground. Joshua?

On the opposing side, a figure radiating a white aura is approaching him. He can't provide for himself... I'll provide for him instead.

The waves extend between me and the girl. Then, a jolt resounds as a signal of establishment. Like a thief, the all-familiar coldness fleets to me once more, but it only burns into the blaze of my own wrath.

Who would do such a thing?

(Die! Die! Die! Die!)

Die?

It's you who should be exterminated.

The purple waves succumb the girl's matter and coil around her to strain.

(Ngh!), she squirms.

I wreathe around her. The mush, the mixture of tissues, and different liquids are obvious. I can feel her brain while I crush it in my hands.

(D-d... Nnnggghhh!)

The radiant light she's showing before is now tarnished with gaps and holes.

(Nnnggghhh!!! Argh!)

I increase the wreathing around her brain, and in one final move, the white light of hers ebbs to the empty space. All that remains is a steadying light of wind. I close my eyes. It's finally over.

The sensation throughout my body escalates. My head is strained but not painful while my hands, my hands are wet and viscid.

Regaining my composure, I open my eyes. A slide, a swing set, bars, and a see-saw. I'm at the playground after all.

Four men are lying on the ground, including the girl, but the one who's rising from the graveyard is Joshua.

I run to him.

He stands although he's limping.

"Hey," I touch his back, "let me help you."

He swats my hand and faces away. "Don't come near me ever again."

All of the former sensations depart from my body. All that's left is the dry wind.

"Why?"

"I don't know who you are, and I don't talk to people I don't know."

The one on my skin isn't his wind. None of this is his wind.

His back fades, and I'm left to stare at his afterimage.

"He doesn't know who I am?"

The atmosphere of the room was suffocating. Each and everyone was watching. They were aware of the eventful happening, but they persisted in being an observer.

There's a touch on my shoulder. In front of me, a boy with a scar on his chin was smirking.

"You're really not fighting, huh?" Hwangbo asked.

I shook my head to deny.

He furrowed his eyebrows. "Show me who is really powerful between us!"

"No."

The grip on my shoulder tightened and his nail dug.

I shouldn't cause a fight. I threw a jab on his arm for me to escape from his hold and ran away.

Afterward, I was passing the corridor, and the stares of the masses resembled a blade. I even heard them talking.

"What happened?"

"Running away because of his looks."

I glared at them. They jolted.

Soon, I found myself in a field of greeneries. The vacancy seemed to beguile. On the other end of the greeneries was a wide grass field where I chose to sit.

Stupid. Why does everyone wish to instigate a fight against me?

What do they gain? Power? Status? Authority?

*Rustle rustle*

The grass at the very back made a noise. Although I couldn't activate my ability, another presence was lingering in the air.

"What are you? Sulking again?"

The voice was quite high but tinged with the depth of adolescence. I turned.

A boy in a blue tracksuit was behind me. His medium-length hair fluttered in the air while his tan skin glistened under the sun. The red pendant of his necklace shone.

"You're late," I spoke.

He chuckled. "Whatever. Stop moping around. And don't let those people bother you."

"I won't."

He offered his hand to me, and I took it.

I took it.

I took his hand, right?

How come he doesn't know me?