The Beginning of the End

Chapter 1

The sound of rain filled the entire city, covering the frantic footsteps of a fear-stricken man.

*Pant*

*Pant*

`I-I-I HAVE TO KEEP RUNNING`

A man who looks like he is in his late 20's, is running for his life while holding a bag full of money. He is dressed in a black suit and fancy shoes, as if he was getting ready for a job interview.

"I SEE HIM! OVER THERE!"

A gang member screams at the man's presence, causing several other gangsters to catch him after roughly tackling him to the ground. His face half ingulfed in the rain that flooded the streets, and with his movements restricted, he was forced on his knees.

"You bastard, who do you think you are?!"

As the gangster goes to lift up the man's head, he is found unconscious. And notices letters engraved onto the front of his teeth, reading, "Gangole". All the gang member's were infuriated at this sight, as if this was a reoccurring incident.

"Motherfucking Gangole Highschool BASTARDS!

...

"Say cheese!"

Gun Park, an average middle-schooler getting his picture taken by his mom.

"Cheese!"

Gun has no visibly good attributes, he isn't strong, he isn't tall, and he isn't good looking. But despite all this, he hasn't been picked on once in middle-school, not a single bruise, cut, or scratch.

"Oh, wow, that's a good picture. I think I'll frame it, what do you think Gun?"

Gun's mother, brown long hair with brown eyes, 5'5ft tall, and under unfortunate circumstances, a widow. Gun's father had gone missing 2 year's ago, Gun had just turned 13 and the last words he heard from his father was "I will be back soon".

Despite all these hardships, Gun's mother, "Swye Park", had a stable job and financial issues weren't a problem.

A woman in casual clothing approaches Gun's mother.

"Swye! Where is my adorable little nephew? Oh! There he is!"

Gun's aunt, "Sylvia Bome", walked over to Gun and gave him a passionate kiss on the cheek. A girl beside my aunt, my cousin, "Bell Bome", had groaned at this sight, she was 1 year old than me.

"Ugh! Mom, he's old enough for you to stop doing that, it's just weird now!"

"Aw, is someone a little jealous? Come here!"

A comedic scene unfolded, where Sylvia had been chasing her daughter.

"Son, let's go home now."

The smile on Gun's mother had seemed to put a smile on Gun's face, as they headed home, and night had come. Gun was awoken to the sound of sobbing.

`Mmm... what time i-is it, 6am? What is that sound?`

*Yawn*

Gun opens his door and the sound leads him to his mothers room.

*Sob*

*Sob*

"I'm sorry, Gun! I'm sorry!"

Gun's family had amounted a huge amount of debt, due to a contract written in fine-print signed nearly 10 years ago. Gun had reassured his mother it wasn't her fault and they would make it work, but a debt of 10 million dollars isn't cleared in a single day.

Nearly 5 days later, as they are packing to move out of their apartment, to go to a place that costs less rent, an aggressive knock had vibrated into the door.

*KNOCK*

*KNOCK*

"W-Who are you!"

Gun's mother's voice had seemed frightened, as if she was expecting this, but not so soon.

"We came here to collect the debt, do you have it, yes or no?"

"N-no, we need more time, please!"

An unsympathetic voice came from the man.

"1,000$ by tomorrow, or the interest goes up by 10%"

The man walks away from the door as Gun's mother falls to her knees, Gun had to witness this all for himself, leaving him heart-broken and traumatized.

Gun had relocated to a small building, and with him needing to enlist into a school quickly, he had no other choices but to go for the one he can get to by walking, as to not increase the burden on his mother for stuff like transit.

Gun had arrived in front of the school, his first day.

`Looks pretty normal, what class do I have first... History?`

As Gun walks into the school, several eyes can be felt glaring at him, he could of course feel it to but decided to ignore it. He eventually made it to in front of his History class's door.

`Okay, first impressions, first impressions...`

Gun opens the door, to see 15 out of 40 seats occupied. His eye glances to his left, where there are 3 gangsters using a person as a punching bag. Gun had never knew there would be such cruelty going unchecked in this school.

"Stop! What do you think your doing?"

As soon as those words came out of Gun's words...

*Slap*

It came so fast, Gun had never experienced a slap like this before, he was disorientated, a beeping static noise came out of his ear. Gun dropped to the floor withering in pain, but instead of peace, he was met with a fury of kicks.

"Hey! I think this guy is a bit more fun than the other guy!"

That's how the bullying began, it continued for 3 months, Gun had become an errand boy, despite complaining to the school, they buried it. The police ignored it, and I couldn't get my mother involved.

"Hey, Gun!~ Get your upperclassmen here some milk."

"Y-yes... can I get some money please?"

"Listen, Gun, we've been nice and had been giving you the money for these things, but now it's time you take accountability."

Gun knew he couldn't do that, he couldn't spend the money his mother was scraping together for him, on a thug.

"N-no, I can't, please!"

The upperclassmen raises his hand as if to slap Gun, and Gun tenses up as if to brace himself.

"It's okay, I can pay for Gun!"

"Jin Sem", a classmate of Gun's, and his only friend here, he is an errand-boy just like him.

"Alright, hurry up I'm thirsty."

Gun and Jin walk together to the cafeteria.

"Jin, I'm sorry..."

"Don't be, if it means helping you out, I don't mind it!"

Jin was truly a good soul, that's the thought that passed through Gun's mind. Gun got the milk and headed back to give it to the upperclassmen, but as Gun opened the door to the class, he see's a person in his same grade being beaten.

"I-I got your milk sir."

"Ah, finally! I was getting bored."

As Gun walks towards the upperclassman, a banana on the ground causing him to slip, causing the milk to fall and spill on the upperclassman's shoes.

Visible veins are shown in the upperclassman's face, his face was covered with the word "angry".

"T-t-this bastard, these shoes cost a fortune! Your dead!"

Gun is dragged into an alley-way and beaten by 6 different thugs, several thoughts raced through his head.

`Stop`

`Why`

`Go away`

`Mom`

`Help`

And Gun suddenly loses the strength to brace himself and is stomped onto the concrete.

*Thud*

Blood is leaking through Gun's head and the thugs run away.

*Ah, if I die here, mom will be sad...*

Those are the last thoughts that coursed through Gun's head until he loses consciousness and falls into a desirable dream.

"Son, why are you looking at me like that? It's like you've seen a ghost, now come here, let me tell you a story."

Gun's tears fell down, landing on the floor, he knew this was a dream but he couldn't help but walk towards his father. But the closer he got, the blacker it got, until all he saw was the back of his eyelids.

*Gasp*

Gun suddenly jolts awake in the same spot, the blood, thugs, and pain were all gone. The pain of the bruises scattered all over his body that were annoying him for several weeks had disappeared. And a blue screen popped up in front of Gun.

-" Activating Martial System "-

-" Initializing "-

`An hallucination? Maybe I'm still dreaming.`

Gun pinches his face and feels pain, a expression of confusion appears on his face, and the sound of thugs approach the alley.

"He's over here boss, I think he might be dead, it's been 15 minutes."

Gun is overwhelmed with fear, confusion, and the instinct to survive.

-" Initializing Complete "-

-" You've got a starter-pack, would you like to use it. "-

With the voices of the thugs getting closer, Gun knew this wasn't the moment to act confused.

`Yes! Open it! Act first, ask questions later!`

-" You got:

[Talent] - [Parkour] - "You're extremely adept at climbing surfaces, moving across obstacles, you have amazing flexibility and core strength!"

[Boost] - [Height] - "You have gained 2 inches, you are now measured as 5'8"

-"

`Parkour? Wait, this alleyway has some bricks extruding out of it's walls, I can get out of here!`

As Gun attempts to escape, he finds amazing mobility in his moves, as if his body is moving on his own, he swiftly escapes the 20ft wall that separated him from escaping previously.

Gun lands on the roof and hears the thugs approach the alleyway.

"I-I swear he was here, he must've gotten up or someone took him!"

"Listen bastard, don't waste my time again, find him, and deal with him."

A look of terror washed over Gun's face.

`What do I do? They are out to kill me for real! I have to drop out, I have to!`

As Gun is going over his choices, the blue screen from before flies through his mind after the adrenaline had calmed down.

`That thing, how do I use it again, if it's like before, than maybe...`

-" Inquiry detected, how many I assist you? "-

"H-how do I survive this predicament?"

-" You can get stronger by completing Martial Quests, would you like to see some? "-

chapter 1 end

If you made it here, leave a paragraph or chapter comment, thanks!