44: You Pass!

•~•~•~•~•~•~•

-Beeeeep!!!-

Before Subin could say anything more, she was hit by an explosion to her cheek, flinging her back a few meters.

As that happened, two certain teenagers started laughing loudly.

"She said all that, but she got one-shotted!" Shinji laughed, pointing toward her.

"He always does the first move as soon as the fight begins, and that moron was just there, babbling away!" Jisuk laughed along with Shinji while munching popcorn.

Jisuk then turned to Wooin, "Good job, good job. I knew you'd do it! Pfft."

"Shut up, you assholes!"

They seemed to stop, but not even a second later, they laughed uncontrollably again.

"Get good, sis!" Shinji shouted, chuckling.

Subin then stood up, saying, "You're dead meat."

But, she was stopped by Seongha.

"Stop right there. This is Wooin's win."

Subin got irritated and retorted, "He only got me once while I was off guard!"

"That may be the case, but that unguarded moment could've cost you your life if this was a real fight," he responded.

"Ugh, this is ridiculous," she said with clenched fists.

But, suddenly, Wooin said, "If you're that upset, then we can do it again."

"Are you sure about that, glasses?" Shinji asked him.

"It's alright. She won't accept this outcome no matter what," he replied.

"Hah! I'm starting to like you. Okay, let's get it on!" Subin commented with excitement.

...

The timer started once again. But, this time, as it was counting down, Subin looked serious and stayed quiet.

-Beeeeep!!!-

An explosion was sent toward her, but already knowing the attack, she dodged to her left, sending some ice shards at the same time.

Wooin dodged, and Subin sent him a confident smile while conjuring several shards of ice.

"You've got a strong Ability and some good moves. But, is that all? With Seongha's offer, it'd make me sad if you were only that good!" she yelled, sending the shards toward him.

Wooin simply raised his hand, and the shards shattered.

'He hit my attack...?' Subin thought with wide eyes.

She attacked him once more, testing if she was right. She confirmed it once they were shattered.

Composing herself, she somersaulted out of the way of an incoming attack.

...

"Wooin is responding very well to Subin's attacks. However, she's doing well herself." Inyuk commented.

"Of course! I trained her, after all." Shinji voiced out with a grin, but a sigh later escaped his mouth as he thought, 'She's not even trying yet... But then again, Wooin's holding himself back...'

...

Subin bombarded her opponent with ice shards. Wooin tried to shatter them all, but a few escaped his sights.

He dodged out of the way, but Subin, seeing this, retracted her hand. The shards came back, shallowly stabbing the teen in the back.

He winced, and that's when Subin got close to him, with ice daggers in her hands. She attacked him, forming some lacerations on his body.

As blood splattered, Wooin knelt, holding his wounds.

"Hey. Are you kidding me?" Jisuk spoke, looking at Wooin with small disdain.

"What are you talking about, Jisuk?"

"Before, you jumped at me with malicious intent. What the hell are you doing right now?!" he shouted.

Wooin replied, starting to stand up, "I was just... figuring her out."

"That's what I'm talkin' about," Jisuk said with a grin, eating some popcorn.

Shinji then said a hint of seriousness in his voice, "Hey, Subin. You better fight seriously, now."

"Yeah, even I don't bullshit it when I fought him." the white-haired teen chimed in.

'Jisuk's saying that he needs to use his full power to fight Wooin? Well, that's surprising. Hohh... Then...' she said inwardly.

She turned to look at Wooin, who was exuding red energy, his face was stern.

"Hmph, you passed my test. I'll allow you to join the Union. The test was just to check if you were solid for Seongha's offer. And, I've seen enough, you've proved your worth." Subin decided, pointing at her opponent.

"About that... I'm not going to join the Union." Wooin said.

"How dare you reject-!" she started yelling but Shinji appeared and covered her mouth.

"Why?" the raven-haired teen asked calmly.

Wooin replied, "It's just that, I don't know what belonging to a group really means yet."

Muffled screamings could be heard from Subin. Shinji just responded, "Hmm, just keep the offer in your mind."

After looking thankful, he turned to Seongha, and bowed.

"I'm sorry, sir. Thank you for the offer, but I'm not looking to be part of a group, for now." the teen said, apologetically.

"What happened will-..." the man responded, but Shinji tuned them out when he was approached by Jiyoung.

"Shinji, I want to tell you something," she said, dragging him away from the group.

"Huh? What is it?"

"Jiwoo Seo has only recently found out that he was an Awakened One. I know your nature. I hope you take it easy on him on your spar today." Jiyoung said.

Shinji put a finger on his mouth, acting as if he was thinking about it.

"Hmm. Alright, but only because a beautiful woman told me." Shinji said with a smile.

"Who?" she asked with an expressionless face, but with a curious tone. The teen just stared at her blankly, not expecting her to be slow.

"Who else? You, of course,~" he replied with a charming smile, not noticing the deadpanned stares of everyone else from the group, who was once watching them with curiosity.

*****

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