I want to tear him to shreds.
Sae-Young stretched her body comfortably after she had finished disciplining him and dragged Jee-Han's corpse upstairs to where Sun-Il was staying. Once he had recovered enough to walk on his own, she let go of him and smiled contently.
Jee-Han rubbed his aching body everywhere as he stood a few steps away from Sae-Young. He knew she wouldn't let him off the hook easily for blurting out the secret but he didn't have a choice; she was going to kill him.
"You didn't have to be so rough you know..."
Sae-Young huffed as she crossed her arms.
"Blame yourself, I told you that if you brought it up again I wouldn't hold back".
"But that was the only way to get you to recognize me! Jeez, what's up with this clan, you guys need to learn some restraint"
"What? Isn't it natural to suspect people if they start talking about things they shouldn't know? How were we supposed to know that our loser friend Jee-Han was suddenly involved in the Abyss?"
There was that word again. Sun-Il had mentioned it too but Jee-Han still didn't know what they meant by it. Was it the name of some sort of organization involved with the super natural? He scoffed at the idea at first when he was in class but now, he wasn't so sure.
As Jee-Han was thinking while also still tending to his aching body, Sae-Young looked at him with a curious glance and had a warm smile on her face. She wouldn't admit it to his face but she actually thought he was a bit cute when he was talking about video games, just a little bit though. Of course, he was far from her ideal man but getting cute reactions out of him by teasing him was always fun. So she decided to do just that by throwing her arm around his neck and whispered in his ear.
"Hey Jee-Han, want to go on a date?"
"Why you...! Why does she always do that! Sneaking up on me and getting too close! I can only hold myself back so much!" His face felt hot and he was beginning to get flustered as he looked the other way.
"N-No thanks, I'm good."
"Aw come on, why not? You don't want to go on a date with a beauty like me?" She grinned with a hint of playfulness in her voice.
"I-It's not that, my mom just wants me to study is all. Gotta hit those books you know?" Even he wasn't believing the bull shit excuses he was giving her. But he couldn't help it, he didn't want to go on a date with her. A "date" in her mind was another term for "Let's Torment Jee-Han All Day" and he wasn't having that.
Hell to the no.
Sae-Young looked unsatisfied with that answer as she let go of him.
"Study? You just waste your time playing games anyways"
She wasn't wrong.
Jee-Han grunted before turning away.
"I have a life outside games you know..."
Sae-Young just shrugged.
"Anyway, I think it's about time you told me how you ended up knowing about Sung-Gong"
Jee-Han scratched his head as he sighed.
"Honestly, I'm still trying to process it myself. Sun-Il didn't mention anything to you?"
She shook her head.
"Figures, I guess I'll have to explain from the start. You see, apparently I became a natural ability user and-
"W-Wait a second! Your a natural ability user!? When!? How!?" She was practically up in his face asking all of these questions as Jee-Han was taken by surprise.
"Jeez, her reaction is alot different from Sun-Ils. Is being one such a big deal?" He wondered before edging away from Sae-Young to get some space.
"I don't know how or when exactly, it just kinda happened. It's called "The Gamer" and it lets me live life as if I was a game character. Gaia gave it to me because I liked games so much and yea, that's about... what the hell are you doing?"
Jee-Han stopped short as he noticed Sae-Young's snickering and laughing. Did she think this was funny?
"That ability sounds perfect for you. Our Jee-Han the "Gamer", hah!" She ridiculed, making Jee-Han look down in embarrassment. He should have expected this.
Once she had finished laughing, she decided to explain to something to the clueless boy.
"Look, since you don't seem to be aware of it I'll explain it to you. Among all of the ability users in the Abyss, very few actually become natural ability users. I mean, it'd be complete chaos if Gaia started handing out powers to everyone with needy problems, right?"
Jee-Han nodded in agreement and continued to listen.
"You also have to remember that if we're going to compare natural ability users and acquired ability users, the former will always be stronger because they have both the advantage of not only being born with powers but also being able to train them. You're very lucky to have been born with your power, don't forget that"
Jee-Han looked at his right palm and frowned. Though she was right that he was really lucky to have obtained such power, his life had become a storm of crazy because of it. If it meant choosing between living a normal life and living a life where he was constantly faced with the possibility of death, he would always choose the former.
Sae-Young sighed in content as she looked at the boy. He was slow and dimwitted but at least he understood the risks involved with his powers. This was good, natural ability user or not, Jee-Han just wasn't suited for this kind of thing.
"Anyway, you can talk to Sun-Il about it in more detail later. He's in this room" They had finally made it to the last door at the end of the hall and she grabbed the door handle that resembled a Chinese dragon. She opened it for him and as he walked in, he noticed she wasn't following.
"You're not coming in?"
She shook her head.
"I'm fine, you just go ahead."
"Well... alright" He found it odd but decided to ignore it and walked inside of the room. Instantly, a calm and relaxing aura surrounded his body as if he was being cleansed. He noticed several notifications pop up that indicated that he was standing in a [Life Recovery Zone] that was the opposite of the room he had been in before. This time, it granted buffs as opposed to debuffs.
"These are incredible... could I create things like these too when I level up?" He contemplated.
"Yo".
Jee-Han promptly snapped out of his day dreaming as the appearance of his best friend made his eyes widen. He was lying in a hospital bed, strapped up to a bunch of medical devices and was covered in bandages and stitches all over.
"What... what the hell is this..." Jee-Han could hardly believe his eyes. Was this a bad dream? Why was his best friend looking as if he had been hit by a truck?
"Don't be so melodramatic, it's not as serious as it looks. Sung-Gong had no intentions of killing me so there's no need for you to worry. Alright, Jee-Han?"
Killing.
Death.
Jee-Han knew these words well, better than he thought he would have. He had run into a few close calls not too long ago and never wanted to go through it again and yet, here his friend was facing death as if it was an everyday occurrence. He felt his grip on Sun-Il's bed tighten as he gritted his teeth.
"H-How can you talk about death so easily, Sun-Il?!"
"Because that's what it means to live in the Abyss"
Jee-Han's eyes broadened as he turned to look at his friend who had the same serious expression he did when he thought Jee-Han was an impostor.
"This is what I meant by danger, Jee-Han. Even as we stand here right now, people are being killed and hunted down everywhere. Whether it is on purpose or by accident, people die in the Abyss all the time."
"I-Is this why you didn't want me to come out yesterday?"
Sun-Il turned his head, which basically told Jee-Han that he was right. It made sense to him, Sung-Gong must have opened another Illusion Barrier yesterday and Sun-Il went to fight him.
"I know Sun-Il... I know the dangers of what you guys call the Abyss. I never asked to be a part of this crap, this isn't how I wanted my fantasy life to be!" He shouted.
Sun-Il faced his best friend and had a sorrowful expression. Unlike those born in the Chunbumoon, Jee-Han had no prior involvement with the Abyss until recently. His mind must have been in turmoil just thinking about all of these things. This is why Sun-Il wanted to keep him away from this; he didn't want to lose his precious friend to the hellish life that was the Abyss. As his grandfather had told him, those who get themselves actively involved in the Abyss can never go back to being normal again. It was just the law.
"B-But it's weird Sun-Il. I know I'm supposed to be afraid of these kinds of things but... for some reason... I don't think what I'm feeling is fear..."
Sun-Il's eye brows rose at what Jee-Han was saying and he noticed that his grip on his bed was getting tighter. Was it just Sun-Il's imagination or was he angry?
"What do you mean?" He asked.
Jee-Han let go of his bed and looked at his left palm and glared viciously at it.
"This feeling right now... it's making me feel like wanting to find the guy who did this to you and tear him to complete shreds... is that weird?"
Sun-Il was speechless. Of all the things that Jee-Han could have said in this kind of moment, that was the least thing he would have expected from Jee-Han. He, no everyone pegged him as a coward. So where was this coming from? Did Jee-Han have some sort of hidden personality he wasn't telling him about? Impossible, Sun-Il had known him most of his life and this had never come up before.
"W-What?"
"I know this Abyss thing doesn't have anything to do with me but now that I know about it, I just can't do sit by while my best friend is fighting some dangerous pedo!"
Sun-Il looked at Jee-Han awkwardly at the mention of the last word.
"P-Pedo?"
Jee-Han nodded affirmatively before grabbing one of Sun-Il's bandaged hands and giving him a determined look.
"I-I'm going to level up and learn how to fight!"
A brief silence filled the room before Sun-Il and even the voice of Sae-Young who was waiting outside erupted into hysterical laughing, shocking and embarrassing Jee-Han.
"When you say something like that so seriously... my stomach..." Sun-Il kept laughing even if it injured himself. This was priceless.
"Shut up! Don't treat my vow like some sort of joke!"
They stopped laughing after Jee-Han looked ready to cry and Sun-Il put on a warm smile.
"Well look at you Jee-Han, I thought you were terrified of this Abyss stuff. Since when did you grow a pair?"
Jee-Han snorted.
"Don't be stupid, I'm still scared shitless of dying and fighting but since Gaia gave me this power, I might as well do something with it, right?"
Sun-Il sighed before looking at his friend from top to bottom. He still had mountains to climb if he ever wanted to be something special but now that he was a natural ability user, his potential could be more than anything he imagined. He was actually starting to get anxious to see how Jee-Han would progress.
A/N: Yay for the long chapter! Consisting of 1994 words! Your author over here is slaving away right now, so please give him some support in the comments. Review, rate and comment please.