Chapter:9

BANG!

The bullet hit a little above the X mark on the dummy's forehead.

"Yes!!" Han Ji exclaimed and jumped up and down in joy.

"Well-Well you're improving, but..." Bella looked at the dummy and saw that there was only one hit that was on the face of the dummy while the others were on the body.

'Never mind if I say something, it might hurt him, not like I care but I might look like a heartless person.'

"But?" He asked.

"Ah. Nothing just keep practising."Bella said patting him on the back.

"Ow..!" he exclaimed as the force made him almost fall flat on his face.

She looked at him with wide eyes and pursed lips.

She was almost surprised at how strong her hit was or maybe it was him who was weak.

'Chad is gonna have some hard time...' she thought as she looked at him.

***

Dab.Dab.Dab.Dab.Dab.Dab.Dab.

"Haah, Haah, Heok..." Han Ji breathed heavily while he kept steadily running next to DRC.

DRC who was the most athletic among the squad was impressed by the growth of his friend.

Even though he wasn't running at his top speed, he knew that competing with him in running wasn't an easy job.

"Dude you have improved, You haven't gotten a single shock today.." DRC whispered.

"...Really!?" Han Ji gasped and looked at DRC with a smile, but that was the moment when DRC regretted telling him about it.

Zapp!

"Argh!!" he gasped as he got the first shock of the day and ended up tripping and falling.

'Crap'

DRC stopped and moved a step closer to him, so Han Ji might not get another shock.

"Ouch.."

Han Ji groaned as he tried to recover from the shock and rubbed his knee.

DRC sweatdropped as he looked at him moaning in pain like a kid.

'Needs more work..'

***

"Haah!"

Punch.Punch.Punch.Kick.Punch.

Han Ji kept on hitting the punching bag in the training room.

Chad looked from a distance at the man whose stance has improved a lot and can tell by his looks that his hits have improved too and are gaining more and more strength.

Chad looked at him with the same cold expression.

Even though his expressions were cold, one can tell he wanted to test out Han Ji's capabilities himself.

Chad tapped on Han Ji's shoulder from behind.

"Huh?"

Han Ji looked at Chad and raised a brow, in reply Chad handed him a small piece of paper.

Han Ji looked confused and without a second thought read it.

The first thing he noticed was the perfect cursive handwriting, he almost gasped at such beautiful handwriting.

'Man...Judging from his handwriting I can tell even as a kindergartener, he might have had better handwriting than mine...'

[Consecutively punch my hands.]

The note said.

Then the latter looked at the former again whose palms were facing him.

"Ok.."

Han Ji flicked both of his arms and cracked his knuckles one by one.

Han Ji let out a breath and then cocked his arm back.

"Harrrgh!!"

Thud.Thud.Thud.Thud.Thud.Thud

The sound of his punches sounded like satisfying music to Chad's ears, he could feel that there was some difference in his strength.

A soft smile broke onto his lips.

He even didn't remember when was the last time it happened.

Maybe after a successful raid with his team?

A party after they found some massive amount of metal?

It didn't matter that much right now, since he wanted to savour this moment.

But then...

"Aaah!" Han Ji whined in pain and started swatting his hands.

Chad's smile disappeared as he looked at the reactions of the man, whining in front of him.

It wasn't abnormal to feel pain, but Chad expected him to at least, endure the pain.

His impressed look turned into disappointment and soon returned to his cold and calm demeanour.

Even though he didn't say anything, it was clear he wanted to say, 'Gotta put more effort.'

***

"Ok Copain, Now can you look at these images and identify these quiddities?"

Leo said and showed him a picture of a dark corner that had a pair of glistening eyes.

The picture reminded him of the quiddity he faced back outside the base.

He almost shouted 'It's a Frowner' but then paused as he saw that as the name went the creature wasn't frowning, but rather it had a huge grin that can be described as disturbing without any second thought.

But Han Ji studied about it already and it won't be hard for him to recognise the creature.

Not like it had an obvious name.

"A Smiler!" he said as a kid would reply to a question asked by his favourite teacher.

"Voila! Well done!" Leo said with a thumbs up.

"Tell me more about it."

"Well...Smilers are creatures that lurk in dark and their bodies are always invisible, it is considered that they don't have any physical forms and they are docile creatures and follow predatory instincts, they look for signs of weakness in their targets before attacking them, they get hostile when being pointed at by a light source, to deal with them it is recommended to keep staring at it without panicking or blinking and wait till the creature disappears," he replied.

"Nice one!" Leo said and showed a new picture.

"Now this?"

The picture had a small child in it around 8 years old, the child wore a purple skirt with pink flowers. If you looked at it, it looked like a normal kid in the first place but...

Its face was blurred and it was not blurred by editing, the face was a blur from the very beginning, and again it had a pretty obvious name too.

"It's a Faceless, A Child Faceless, they are perfect human-like quiddities but the only thing that makes them different is that they have no faces, the child Facelesses are mischievous and tend to attack Wanderers with them and Adult Facelesses are more mature and usually friendly but sometimemes attack when agitated or while trying to defend Child Facelesses, They are as strong and intelligent as an average human and can't use complex machinery or weapons."

"Correct!" he said and gave Han Ji a high five.

"Well well, you're doing good!"Leo said.

Leo was pretty happy to hear that, he heard that in other things like shooting, running and fighting he was still lacking.

But to know he was able to perform better in at least one thing was a breathtaking thing to know.

But his performance wasn't bad in other things.

Since he just started learning and was performing better than a regular person.

'Seems like is a quick learner.'

***

Even though the concept of Day and Night doesn't exist in this world, according to Han Ji's body it was supposed to be night right now and that means his body needed to rest.

He returned to his room, took off his grey jacket and placed it on the coat hanger next to his backpack that never left that place since he arrived here.

Now since Han Ji has developed a new habit he can't sleep without writing an entry in his journal.

[Journal Entry:4.]

[Today was the 3rd day of my training, according to my INSTRUCTORS I have made some improvement, Now I can hit the dummy every time and I managed to get a near miss from the X mark, My running speed has increased too, I only got 2 electric shocks from the restraint cuffs and My fists are getting stronger too.

Maybe in a couple of days, I'll be able to go for raids with Leo and the squad.

Well and I need to rest now, since if I don't get enough rest the 'Forsaken Circle' may start.]

With that, he closed the Notebook and placed it next to his bed

Soon he collapsed on his pillow and drifted into the territory of sleep.

***

BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG!.click.

"C'mon! 2 seconds! Reload right now!" She yelled.

flick.

Han Ji flicked the gun to the side pushing the chamber out,he pointed the barrel up.

Empty shells were ejected, before they could even hit the ground, he pointed it down.

1 second passed.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a loaded speed loader.

clink.clink.clink.

The shells fell to the ground.

click-chick.

The bullet was loaded and the chamber was closed.

2 seconds passed.

BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG!

"Well done!" she yelled with a smile.

Han Ji stopped shooting and stared at the dummy's face.

All the bullets hit on its face there was even one in the centre of the X mark.

"Molto bene!" she exclaimed.

Han Ji looked at his work with a satisfied look, a small smile appeared on his face.

"Very good!" Bella yelled and then patted his back.

"Ow!" Han Ji exclaimed in pain from the hit.

This time she ignored his pained expressions.

She was too happy.

She didn't expect this man to show such a dramatic improvement.

A few days ago he never was able to touch the dummy but now he was pulling straight headshots.

"Well done! Han Ji!" She said and looked at Han Ji with a proud smile.

Han Ji awkwardly smiled back, seeing this woman smiling wasn't an everyday thing.

So it was awkward to see a person who is always mocking him or throwing rants at him, smile warmly at him.

"Thanks..." he managed to reply after ignoring all the awkwardness in the atmosphere.

"I mean It was expected after all I am the one teaching you." She said while swatting her shoulder.

'So now she's trying to flex on me, for my hardships?'

Han Ji raised a brow at her.

"Yeah-yeah, you're right, Mademoiselle.." the whispered with a fake smile.

***

Dab, Dab, Dab, Dab, Dab, Dab.

Consecutive footsteps echoed through the room as Han Ji and his other trainer continued to run at a pretty formidable pace.

"Hah...Hah.." DRC panted while running and turned around to see Han Ji, he was trying his best to keep up with him with his trainer.

And his efforts weren't futile, the distance between them was around 4.2 meters.

The best runner on the squad was running at his top speed and Han Ji was able to stay on his tail, it was quite a commendable feat.

They continued running until DRC can't move another inch.

He sat down on the floor, breathing heavily trying to catch his breaths.

"Hah..hah...ha...man..you got some strong legs there...hah" He panted and wiped the sweat away from his forehead.

He turned around and saw his apprentice lying on his back on the ground, sweating like a pig.

He was almost coughing while trying to catch his breath.

DRC gave him an apologetic look. Even though he was out of breath himself, Han Ji's condition made him look like, he was completely fine

'Well...looks like he lacks stamina..'

***

Thud, Thud, Thud, Thud, Thud, Thud.

Chad attacked Han Ji consecutively.

Han Ji kept blocking almost every punch he received.

Chad was strong and experienced at fighting too, it won't be any effort for him to single-handedly knock out Han Ji.

He was clearly holding back but he was a person known for his strength in their squad, it wasn't easy for any amateur to withstand him even if he was holding back.

He stopped.

"Huh?"

Han Ji looked at Chad confused when he stopped attacking.

Chad then showed him his palm.

Now that Han Ji has been training for long enough with Chad, he already knew what that gesture meant.

"Ahh! Aye-aye Sir." Han Ji replied and took the stance.

He had trained a lot by now, and it felt like his body moved on its own.

Thud.Thud.Thud.Thud.Thud.Thud.

The punches were stronger.

Chad can tell that if landed on a vital area these punches were capable of doing a good amount of damage.

He remembered his training completely and recreated every strike he made on the punching bag.

Punch.Punch.Punch.

Chad smiled softly.

He was proud, looking at his apprentice.

Even though he didn't speak a single word, his smile was more than enough.

No words were needed to define how happy he was.

Punch. Punch. Kick.

As every moment replayed in his mind.

Out of sheer instinct, he ended up kicking on Chad's palm.

His smile disappeared and his hands moved a bit.

He was a little surprised, That his legs were twice as strong as compared to his fists but...

Crack...

"Oww!!" He exclaimed as he held his ankle laying on the ground.

"Argh...! My ankle..!" he fell to the ground.

Again, it happened again every time he starts getting impressed by him something like this happens.

Chad placed his hands on his hips and let out a sigh of frustration.

***

It was almost sleeping time most of the shops were closed, and Wanderers returned to their rooms to rest.

Han Ji was no different, after another tiresome day, He needed a good rest.

Except for guards, that had switched shifts with their colleagues, almost everyone was asleep, a semi-curfew had been placed for the time being, so everyone rests they can't risk someone entering the 'Forsaken Circle'.

But at this moment there was one Storage Locker that was pretty lively.

There were still 4 people

"Man...why did you call us at this moment, Leo?" DRC said while rubbing his eyes, his tone was more than enough to tell he just wanted some sleep.

He was wearing a red tank top and a pair of dark shorts.

"Oh Dio! Can't you even let us rest Frenchie?" It was Bella.

She seemed annoyed and was wearing a brown hoodie and grey woolly trousers.

Chad stood there with the same cold demeanour and wearing black half sleeves and olive green cargo.

"Guys! Let's just sit together first, then I'll tell you everything."

The place they were at was Leo's home currently and soon to the office of the 'All-Stars' Clan.

It was three times the size of Han Ji's room, there was a small bookshelf, a small office filter, a small cabinet, a coffee table in the middle and 7 chairs around it.

"Huh.. fine..." she sighed and sat down on of the chairs.

There was a metallic kettle on the table Leo reached out to the cabinet and pulled out 4 cups and poured the contents of the kettle into them.

The dark liquid from the kettle released a warm aroma that everyone was familiar with.

"Is that coffee?" She asked.

Leo nodded

"Got it from Tom." he placed a cup in front of everyone and sat down himself.

"Man...I wish I could have some Chai," DRC commented and blew some air into the cup.

"Come on, you always say that before drinking anything, can't you think anything aside from Chai?" Bella said jokingly.

"Oh... is this coming from a person who gets mad if someone breaks pasta while making spaghetti?"

DRC replied with a goofy smile

"It's not my fault, doing that is a moral crime," she said with a goofy smile too.

"Pffft, true," Leo commented and sipped from the coffee.

"So guys I have called you here to tell you that we should go on raid soon because we need just a little more money to make our clan."

"Bro, we already know that." It was DRC.

"Yes we do, so I need to ask you all how is Han Ji's progress and rate him out of 10, I shall be first, I'll give him a 10."

"Well, he is doing awesome with me too, he manages to pull a lot of good shots and can reload in 2 seconds, So... I shall... give him, an. 8."

"Hmm."Leo hummed in and turned to his best friend.

"Oh well he's doing fine with me too just needs to build more stamina... Mmm Yeah, I'll give him 8 too.."

"Ok, Chad?" he turned at the strongest guy in the squad.

Who just showed him 5 fingers?

"Heh?" Leo exclaimed."He is that bad in close combat?"

Chad nodded.

"What I thought he knew Karate?" DRC said with a mischievous smirk.

"Pffft..!"

"Kekeke!"

"Haha!"

The trio busted out laughing.

"D*mn," Leo said while controlling his laugh.

.He thought for a second and then said.

"Hey, guys you know what are the most important things for a raid right?"

"Yeah, Aim, Intellect and Speed," Bella replied.

"Correct Bella, And according to that logic Han Ji doesn't really need many skills in Hand-To-Hand combat."

DRC who was sipping his coffee stopped in the middle because he guessed where his friend was trying to get right now.

"Wait...wait.. dude are you thinking, what I am thinking, You are thinking right now?"

Leo looked at him and smiled.

"Perhaps real skills only get matured when in real action," he commented.

Bella looked at him with a raised brow.

"Do you mean--?"

"We'll take Han Ji for raid tomorrow."