CH 12: Fight

Sleek, automatic glass doors slid open smoothly, revealing catastrophic situations and noises. Children were sobbing. Cashiers beeped. The floor polishers whirred. Outside, the rumbling cars and twittering birds were insignificant compared to the chaos within. Customers pushed and shoved as they tried to squeeze past one another to get to the aisles. The scorching golden rays of the sun, would have been alluring to many if it hadn't been for the cool breeze oozing through the gaps between each customer.

It was that day of the month where 20, 30, 50% discounts were offered. Jinwoo's mother was one of the many men and women, boyfriend and girlfriends, mothers and fathers, who blindly followed it's command. He was forced to tag along because his sister was out with her friends. He sighed in resignation as he pushed the stuffed and colorful, red trolley forward. His mother side glanced at him and continued racking her hands on the cold-pressed shelves. Inspecting the produces expiration date. She was trying to buy milk but her favorite milk brand, Diamond were close to expiring. She clicked her tongue. "Some store this is..."

She shook her head and walked away. Jinwoo followed along.

Wheels turned and shifted to follow his mother's dramatic U-turns and skedaddling's. He wasn't tired, just bored. The cart got fuller and fuller as time went on. He was becoming worried of the amount of time he would have to spend just to put the items in the fridge and the shelves.

Jinwoo sighed and closed his eyes. Mind wandering to a far away, magical land. His thoughts formulated a story where, he and a group of people dressed in foreign, and fantasy like clothing ruled the ruined, apocalyptic world. They were made up of powerful kings and queens. Jinwoo wasn't part of the assembly but he was praised and recognized for being the most powerful outer God. He conversed with them in his thoughts and although he wasn't entirely sure what to say, his heart and mind did their thing and tricked himself into believing he said the necessary words.

He smiled and almost laughed to himself, but forced it in, so as to not look like a psychopath.

Back at the house, he dropped the bags and immediately went to work; putting them in their places. The rustling of his feet, suck and slap of the fridge, heavy thuds of items being aggressively placed on the ground, clattering utensils, plates, pots and pans being put in the dish rack, mixed in with Jinwoo's father loud voice echoed during his zoom call with the board, were heard throughout the apartment like a broken orchestra. Jinwoo didn't complain about the extra load of work as he thought of it as simple training.

15 minutes have passed and his ears suddenly perks up when his mother yelled from across the room, asking him to buy some chips and root beer at the nearest convenience store. Jinwoo shouts a, "Yes mom!" before shuffling though his bag for his wallet and exiting his home.

Sky is dark, streets lights flickered; barely worked, people were enemies, and the night is dangerous. He's wary of everyone he meets. His posture straight, arms stiff yet lax enough to block and dodge attacks efficiently and swing a fist quickly. Jinwoo's feet were soft and heavy. Thugs would always come out of those shadows, robbing anyone they deemed weak and easy.

Jinwoo has been fighting them for a couple of days now and what surprised him the most is the system. It 'saved' him again after he was beaten to a pulp. Embarrassing as it is, the man was pretty strong. His slanted eyes, deceiving smile, white suit, and black glasses, looking at him coldly like he was an insect. How offended Jinwoo was when he saw those eyes, underestimating him. Not even he would do that. [A/N: Are you sure about that?]

Jinwoo was quite firm in his resolve to be strong, to get stronger, and to become the strongest to survive. It was the only way, especially with a world without manna and the only manna he could feel was the Earth's core and the System. He didn't feel a shred of manna from Kim Dokja, which is strange, because Kim Dokja is a being that is on par with Sung Jinwoo; Ashborns successor; the Strongest Outer God. It was odd and he didn't like it. His strongest theory regarding this is, it's sealed, but even then he wasn't sure. Usually the unknown was a great mystery he would gladly venture but not this time. This time he didn't like its mystery. He wanted it to be known; uncovered. Unveiled.

His feet etched closer and closer to a glowing light, something he unconsciously followed. He blinks and realizes that he is in front of a convenience store. It's glass door push open and it's decently clean, grey floors reflected the ceiling lights. The aisle to the right were stocked up and organized as well as the fridge, with very little missing. Jinwoo turned to his left and saw the cashier, a fat and plump, little man with circular glasses and a goofy outdated haircut.

He's wearing a grey uniform and smiles at him nervously. "Welcome!" he eagerly said. Fidgeting in his spot. Jinwoo just nods and walks away and scans the shelves. Just as he was about to walk back to the counter to pay his bills, he hears a ding and a neon-blue screen pops up.

[System #032]

[Defeat the delinquents that are going to cause trouble at the convenience store!]

[Earn 20 EXP points]

[10 stat points]

[Gain trust from Little Daniel]

Jinwoo stares at it blankly and then frowns. He still didn't know much about this system. It looked like the dokkaebi and constellation system screens, but it didn't have any of it's features...In terms of features, it resembled that pricks model or his old system more.

He huffs and waits. Picking and choosing the colorful packaging's of chips and candies. A few seconds past and he hears the doorbell ring. Customers have entered the store. Lovely ones too.

He spies on them from behind the rack and observes the gang. Jinwoo eyeballs, the Leader of the team, a big, medium height teen, dressed in baggy jeans and a Guns and Roses T-shirt. Despite being big, Jinwoo knew he was probably a rugby player in the past till he got violent. The Leader had sagged muscles, overlapped biceps and would definitely pack a heavy punch. The rest of the gang, two boys and a girl. They weren't a problem, but they are dangerous as a pack. Lackey boy no. 1, wore a black cap backwards, converse shoes, baggy green jeans, a grey hoodie, and carried a skateboard. Lackey boy no. 2, was probably his twin brother in terms of fashion. The two wore the exact same thing, just different color pants, hoodie, and a different cap. Lackey 2 wore a Nikes basketball cap and angled it at the 'too cool for you' on his bleached pink and blonde. The female of the gang, definitely an emo Chinese immigrant, who put on emo make-up with all the dark eyeshadows, hair styling of her jet-black short bob hair, and a piercing through her nose.

The first thing the Leader did was swerve over to Daniel. He towers over Daniel and looks at him condescendingly as he watches Daniel tremble and just as he was about to yank Daniels shirt up to throw him on the floor, Jinwoo runs at lighting speed to catch the Leaders arm before anything goes wrong and delivered a powerful punch to the guts. Usually the strike should've knocked him out immediately but Jinwoo knew that in his current state, the punch's force and pressure would only be absorbed by the lump of fat in the belly of the Leader. The Leader merely grunted and came back at Jinwoo with a combination of jabs, crosses, and an upper cut. Jinwoo went on the defense. He blocked each attack and as he studied the attacks, it became obvious that the boy in front of him was a trained boxer.

Jinwoo decided to change his tactics to jujitsu. His opponent is a big boy and has the advantage of power and reach, but using jujitsu he could be defeated by using his strength against him. Jinwoo is taller and stronger than he was months ago but that didn't mean his current body could match up with his thousands year experience. He so badly wanted to just put his hands in his pockets, block all the attacks with a smug face, and knock him over by kicking him over, but he couldn't. He'd just be sent to the hospital if he ever got him by those sledgehammer punches. 'I miss my prime'

He snapped out of it and focused on his opponent. The Leader let loose a deadly punch that could knock out a bull, aiming at his head. Jinwoo caught his arm, pulls his elbow to his right, places his right hand over Leader's shoulders, and places the inept of his left foot against his opponents right ankle. He then lifts the right ankle up while pulling the Leaders elbow to his right as he pushes his right hand downwards. Jinwoo did all this in lightning fast speed. The opponent was down and Jinwoo mounts on him and does a complete gi choke on him, knocking him out.

The lackeys rush into action. Lackey no. 2 charged at him with a flying side kick. Jinwoo leapt backwards and Lackey no. 2's foot struck the assumed Daniel and Jinwoo's eyes widened. Not because Two kicked Daniel, but because Daniel blocked it with his arm. Jinwoo narrowed his eyes. 'Its weak but with enough training...he could become a strong fighter.' At the corner of his eye he could see Two preparing another spinning kick and he did. Two launched a furious tornado of spinning kicks and Jinwoo backs away again.

The hairs on his back sprung and his instincts warned him of a simultaneous attack from behind. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw One appearing behind him and swings the skateboard at his head. Jinwoo managed to duck at the last second, the edge of the deck missed him by a strand and strikes Two instead, at the face. Two's lips swelled, a mixture of blood and mucus gushed out of his mouth, before collapsing with a thunderous thud.

One, terrified of his mistake was now an open target. Jinwoo took advantage of it and pulled out a side kick at One's direction. But One reacted fast, using the board as a shield. Jinwoo begrudgingly decided to use one of the skills given by the system called 'Broken Bridge' which gave him the skills to break wooden blocks. He didn't like it but he knew that if he tried to do it without any experience or understanding of the technique he would break his leg. Gritting his teeth, he drive on through, the board shattered against his might instead of his foot. From there, he used a simple palm strike to knock out One. He breathed in and disabled the skill.

With all three boys out of action, it was the girls turn now. She advanced on him and attempted to punch Jinwoo straight in the mouth but he dodged it and with barely a pause the girl followed through with a kick to the thigh, her heavy shoes gave him a dead leg. He crumpled on the floor and just as she was about to stomp his face with those wide heels, he slightly lifted his weight to propel forward, arms wide, snatching her leg. He grabs behind China's knee using his left hand to grab behind her ankle. He completes the takedown by driving his shoulder forward as he pulls up on her ankle till she's down. Jinwoo continues to grip her leg. He then stands up and quickly kicks her in the face. All four men were down and Jinwoo stands tall. He breaths in and out. 'God this took me a while. A really long time too.' He only did his fighting in a small narrow space, afraid to mess up the shelves, but still, it shouldn't have take him that long. Gosh he needs sleep.

He looks over at Daniel who looks at him surprised. Mouth agape. Its as if he couldn't believe someone would save him. 'I would've helped regardless. What kind of person does he think I am? A thug?' he walks back to grab the stuff he needed and dropped it on the counter, while also sweeping aside the bodies as he walked.

The silence has fallen from the ceiling and covers them both. It was awkward. Jinwoo didn't even know why he felt this way. He then looks up from his wallet and saw his name tag, "Daniel Park".

"Huh." 'So he is Daniel.' Daniel Park looks up nervously.

"T-thank you."

"Hmm? For what?"

"You know, fighting them" he said, stumbling his words a little as he scanned the items.

"Oh. Not a big deal." Jinwoo replied as he shuffled through his wallet, taking out some cash. "You alright?" he asked as he saw his left arm was bruised blue. Daniel looks down at the injury and looks up and nods with a small smile.

"5,000 won please." Daniel said in a more confident, happy tone. He took out 7,000 won and received 2,000 won as change. Jinwoo walked out of the store and Daniel smiles to himself. 'He's not that bad...He was quite rude back then but I shouldn't have expected anything civil considering my school is filled with a bunch of rednecks.' his smile flattens as he thinks about Vasco when he was dragged away, unconscious. 'Rumor has it that Jinwoo and that guy are friends now...Another is, Jinwoo is a thug that works for some gang. Hmm...well, I don't know him very well but from what I saw, he's a good guy. He's just a bit rough around the edges, like Zack! Probably has some difficulties in expressing himself. Maybe I should try befriending him, using my other body? Yeah, that should be fine!' Daniel finalized with a beaming, close-lipped smile. It soon disappeared when he realized he needed to clean up a big mess. He sighed. 'I'm tired.'

Jinwoo could hear the taping of his feet as he walks on the wet, murky pavement. The street lights flickers and the the stench of unfiltered trash burns his nose, along with the smoke leaking from the pipe's, stinging his eyes. The rustling of the plastic bag, smacking his leg with each step he took, echoed the quite street. Not a lot of cars drove by, no motorcycles, only the sounds of distant celebration from delinquents, can be heard. His phone ringed, he takes it out of his pocket and press it against his ear. Kim Dokja is calling. He smiles.

It's been three weeks since Jinwoo met Kim Dokja. They've been keeping in touch and he felt as a if a heavy weight has been lifted. The worries, the anxieties are long gone. If he has her than he knows he could adapt to this world just fine. If not- no...He didn't even want to think about the possibility. Jinwoo would usually text her, call her, and she'd answer with long or short sentences. Depending on her mood. Jinwoo is fine with that, because, he does it too.

"He-"

[I'm going to kill someone...] she says with utter seriousness and intensity. Jinwoo pauses with a frozen smile, then walks again with a chuckle.

"Who are you going to kill?"

*Sony*

"The TV company?"

*Yes*

"Sue them?"

*No. I mean kill.*

"How are you going to destroy an entire company?"

*I don't know, I'll figure something out.*

"Then...do you have a plan?"

*No.*

"Why do you even want to destroy Sony? What did Sony even do to you?"

*They glitched. Killed my mood and I'm out here for revenge.*

"So, the TV from Sony glitched and that's why you're up, calling me at 8PM, and telling me about your unrealistic ambitions to take down, a leading and powerful; well-known company like SONY."

*Yes.*

"I'm in."

*You're in?*

"Yes."

*...You're fucking with me.*

"I'm not."

*Bullshit.*

"What do you mean, bullshit?"

*It's BS because, I don't believe that you will come. You're just not the type.* Jinwoo stayed silent for a while and then a mischievous grin, crept up on his face.

"How would you know?" he said, ominously, but it didn't seem that Kim Dokja caught on.

*Well, do you have a plan?*

"It's your idea though...why are you asking me?"

*...Should I just kill the landlady?*

"You can, but you have to plan out the murder properly. If not, the police who are so biased, will immediately assume that you killed her, which you did, and you'd be in jail, snuggling with your mom and dead dad." the line when silent and the quite breathing of Kim Dokja could be heard. Jinwoo stopped on his tracks. Wondering if he went to far and then proceeds to overthink. 'Will h- she leave me? Will they block me? Will I be unable to see her? What if she moves away, to a far away country? Oh Jesus...'

"Too far?"

*Too far.*

"I'm sorry..."

*It's fine*

"I went to Greece one time, and tried their coffee."

*That's random*

"Mine as well be."

*...Well, what did it taste like?*

"Amazing."

*Really?*

"Yep! Surprisingly, it was healthier than any other coffee."

*Coffee is healthy? Since when?*

"It's a bean, is it not?"

*Doesn't mean it's healthy, dumbass*

"Well, if it's a bean it's healthy. In my book, all beans are healthy." His voice slightly echoed throughout the silent street. She scoffed and Jinwoo could imagine her eyes rolling. He smiled. Jinwoo then came to a halt. There was a four way conjunction.

As much as he would like to continue talking to her, he knew it wouldn't be wise to do so. Instead he stood still and leans against a rustic pole.

"Hey, how do you keep an idiot in suspense?"

*I don't know...how do you keep an idiot in suspect?*

Jinwoo breathed in and out. Kim Dokja asked him what was wrong. He only grinned and left her hanging.

*Helloooo?*

A minute later. He didn't end the call and Kim Dokja was getting annoyed and frustrated. Until it hit her. *Fuck you, you asshole.* Jinwoo went into a fit of laughter. He didn't think a stupid joke like this would actually work.

"Wanna meet up some time?"

*Sure.*

"Where?"

*Don't know. I'm not very good with directions.*

"Aw are you sulking?"

*What?! Of course not! Why would I be?*

"I don't know maybe because you're in your house, thinking about murder and wondering who, how, and when you should execute the crime."

*Shut up Jinwoo!* he could hear a smile. He smiled too. *By the way, your voice sounds horse. Did you fight someone with a saddle or something? Or are you injured.*

"You worried?"

*Yes.*

"Yes I did fight with someone (some people to be exact) but I'm fine."

*Really?*

"Yep."

*Not a scratch or an ankle biter in sight?*

"Maybe a little bit?"

*A LITTLE BIT?! HEY, YOU ASSHOLE! I ASKED IF YOU WERE INJURED AND YOU SAID NO! I'M FINE! BITCH!* he giggles, causing Kim Dokja who was on the other side of the phone to blush red.

He suddenly felt a static buzz. His mother was calling him. 'She's probably worried.'

"Darling I need to go now~"

*You need to go?*

"Mhm."

*Hmm k. Bye babe~*

His heart skipped a beat. The two weren't dating but they decided (wordlessly) to do a playful roleplay of a dating couple in love~. Ok he seriously needed to get back home.