Chapter 12: The First Contact with the Darkness of This World

If it is one of those situations where Fate and Causality are at play, it means that the only way to change things is to let the causes happen but use an external force to change the effect.

For example, if there is a Destiny where a house will be set on fire, it does not matter if you try to eliminate all the sources that could cause the fire, Fate will find a way for the fire to occur. So that can't be changed, but there are things that can be changed, like the damage the fire will do. If you know it will happen, you can act at the moment it occurs and reduce the damage or help extinguish the fire. After all, Fate dictated that there would be a fire, but the consequences of it are another matter.

And in this case, Fate dictates that they will suffer an accident, no matter how I try to prevent it, they will suffer it. So instead of preventing it from happening, I have to let it happen, but at the same time, I have to use an external force, in this case 'mine', to avoid a tragic end. But these are only conjectures based on fictional stories where the protagonists fight against Fate, I have no real proof that this theory is true, but for now, I have no other option so I will guide myself by these theories...

The only thing I know for sure is that they are not strictly doomed to die, because their color is Yellow which means that the outcome can be changed based on external actions, in this case, my actions. If instead it was the color Black, which would mean an imminent or certain death, then there would be almost nothing I could do to change the outcome.

"I'm getting late to for my preparation to go to school, so I have to go prepare now. uncle Jung, aunt Seonmi, take care and have a safe trip," I told them as I ran out to my house, but obviously, I'm not going to get ready, instead I quickly snuck into the house and without letting anyone see me, I wrote a note and stuck it on the dining room table. The note says that I got a lift from uncle who offered to take me to school.

This is so that my parents don't look for me and won't worry about not finding me. Usually, it is my parents who take Seonhwa and I to school, the uncles have to leave earlier for work and don't have time to take Seonhwa.

Once I left that note, I left the house without anyone seeing me. I stayed hidden whilst observing the uncles as they finished getting ready to leave. They then got into the car and started driving off to work.

I activated my [Physical Reinforcement] and started chasing the car, running through all the shortcuts I found like a parkour expert.

I did not mind that some people noticed me and were amazed by the inhuman display of skills I was performing, after all, I wasn't within anyone's sight for more than a few seconds, and at this moment, I can't worry about being stealthy.

I have to keep up with my uncles' car and assess any source of danger towards them, so I activate and deactivate the [Nine Eyes] at intervals of time and distance to save mana, which I am consuming to maintain the reinforcement.

At this moment, the only thing I've seen in Yellow is their car, but nothing else.

Several minutes passed and finally, I saw a change; they stopped at a drive-through, and as I activated the [Nine Eyes] once more, I saw it... A black van was parked across the street and was also glowing in Yellow. From it emerged an individual who seemed to be hiding something in a backpack he was carrying in his hands. He looked somewhat nervous, but there was no doubt he was suspicious, and the Yellow color on him only confirmed it...

**Black van 5 minutes ago**

"Be ready, the targets will arrive at any moment. You just have to kill them, and with that, you will pass the test to join our group. If you fail though, you know what awaits you," said a voice through a cellphone.

"Yes boss, don't worry, we will take care of them, they won't see a new dawn," replied the driver of the van with a slightly nervous voice.

While his companion who was sitting in the passenger seat was much more nervous, he did not speak and kept holding a backpack tightly in his hands.

"You better, because if you fail, those who won't see a new dawn will be you," said the voice, and with that, the call was cut off.

"Phew, I tell you, every time I hear the boss I feel like I'm going to have a heart attack. Getting into big gangs is something else, but once we complete this task, they will allow us to officially join them and get the group tattoo, with that we will start a new life of success and wealth," said the driver with a calmer tone since the call was cut off.

"I don't know Hyung, I don't know if I can do it, this is getting out of hand," said the individual in the passenger seat with clear nervousness and fear.

"Hey, look at me, don't be a chicken! We are already in deep shit, and if we don't do this, the ones who will end up dead aren't the targets but us, do you understand idiot? So take a deep breath, go to the targets, grab the gun and just pull the damn trigger until there's not a single bullet left in the weapon, it's that easy. If you don't do it, I will run the car over everyone, including you! I won't let you drag me to the grave with you, do you understand?" said the driver angrily.

His companion could only nod with fear and helplessness.

"Look, there they are, get ready! If the information is correct, they stop every morning to buy coffee at the drive-through, that is your chance, and if they don't stop, we will follow them until we find an opportunity."

To the relief of the two individuals, the car of their targets stopped at the drive-through, confirming the authenticity of the information they were provided.

And so, the individual in the passenger seat gripped the backpack tightly in his hands and exited with some hesitation towards the drive-through where the targets he has to kill were located.

**Seol Jihu POV**

I can't allow this wretch to get close to my uncles; I immediately moved at maximum speed and knocked him down, making sure to grab the backpack he was holding and threw it as far as I could. If what he was carrying was a weapon, then it would have served me to take it and use it to my advantage, but I don't have time to check if it really is a weapon, and if on the contrary, they are explosives, I want them as far away from here as possible, and that is why I decided to throw the bag far away.

I grabbed the guy, and with my clearly superior strength thanks to my [Physical Reinforcement], I subdued him to the ground without much effort.

"Tell me, what is your purpose? What were you going to do to the people in that car?" I asked him while pressing him hard to the ground, causing him pain and harm.

"I don't know what you're talking about, I wasn't going to do anything, lo- AAGH"

I didn't let him finish and broke a finger on his hand.

"I won't ask again, answer or I'll break more fingers next time," I said as intimidatingly as I could while holding two more fingers and applying pressure so he understood I wasn't joking.

"No, please, I'll talk, I had to kill them, I didn't want to but they ordered me to. It was the Nightmarish Gang, they gave the order, I don't know why, I don't know anything, I just do what they told me," using my observation I could see he wasn't lying, he doesn't even have the gang's title, but he has an alias of "gangster aspirant."

I was about to knock him out and go after his companion before he could escape, so I wouldn't have to waste more energy following him in his car.

But the wretch's companion in the car not only didn't try to escape, but he also accelerated the car as much as possible and steered it at us. He didn't care that his companion was in the way; he just drove over towards us. I tried to dodge it but didn't expect him to steer the car at me. Luckily, he had just accelerated and had therefore not gained high momentum, and my [Physical Reinforcement] also enhances the toughness of my body, so I received almost no damage. However, the force of the car still sent me flying through the air and disoriented me for a few seconds.

When I fully stabilized, I saw two things; the first is that the guy on the ground, because of his position, didn't fly through the air like I did, but the car ran over him and killed him, or at least I think he is dead. I don't have time to check after seeing the second thing; the car is moving on a collision course with my uncles' car parked at the drive-through.

Clearly, if it impacts, it could cause them serious injuries or kill them. Damn it, at this distance, I won't make it in time to them. I activated [Physical Reinforcement] to maximum capacity and ran. My brain, trained to calculate and measure mathematical problems gave me the answer to my efforts before I completed my task.

I would not make it in time, I knew it. I was several seconds off from the arrival of the car, and even if I arrived in time, with my current capabilities, I couldn't change the direction of the car or save my uncles from the impact.

I saw everything happen second by second; my [Physical Reinforcement] also enhances both my sight and my processing ability, which allowed me to see everything in slow motion. The wretch's car crashed head-on into my uncles' car.

I saw aunt Seonmi and uncle Jung thrown forward by the force of inertia from the impact of the two cars. Fortunately, aunt Seonmi had her seatbelt on and I only managed to see that she hit the dashboard not too lightly but also not too heavily. But uncle Jung, who was paying at the drive-through, didn't have his seatbelt on, and the force with which he was thrown forward and hit the steering wheel was many times greater than aunt Seonmi's.

Time began to move normally again; it didn't take me even a second more to reach them. I saw that the wretch was unconscious inside his vehicle, and as much as I would like to finish him off at this moment, I have no time to lose. I went over to my uncles' car.

I opened the doors, which luckily worked, and checked on both of them. The situation was not good. Damn it, it wasn't just 'not' good, it was very bad.

Uncle hit the steering wheel very hard, and without the seatbelt to cushion the blow, it was very strong, and his skull is broken, and there is surely serious brain damage. He is not dead, but he is not far from it. If he does not receive immediate attention, he will die, and even if he is treated and lives, with the damage suffered from the blow, I can't say that he will return to normal.

Aunt, on the other hand, did not receive a strong blow thanks to the seatbelt, but her head still suffered from the force of inertia from the crash of the vehicles and was rendered unconscious, but the problem is not that... Below, protruding out of the car's dashboard cabinet there is a metal bar that is buried in her abdomen, and due to the crash of both cars, that bar somehow became deeply embedded in her, and this aggravates her condition.

Without wasting a second, I took the phone from aunt's purse and immediately called emergencies and asked for an ambulance at this address, I said it was a car accident and there are several seriously injured people to hurry up. I'm sure that from the drive-through they will also call emergencies, but every second counts, so I called and if I called a second earlier, then better.

I sat in the back seat of the car and from there I touched both uncle and aunt without moving them a millimeter. In the condition they are in, moving them would only cause more damage, so touching both without moving them, I concentrated on my mana and began to send it from my body to theirs.

I really never used my mana to heal anyone else and now I regret it. I have no idea if it works or not, but even if I can't heal them, if I can delay or stabilize their situation so that they endure until medical help comes, then it will be enough.

For some reason, I could feel that it is working, their situation is stabilizing but the amount of mana I am consuming is enormous, at this rate, I can only last five minutes with the mana left in my body.

But every second that I can gain until the ambulance arrives increases the chances of survival for the uncles, so I concentrated and kept the rhythm, seconds keep passing and then minutes. It was when the third minute passed that I began to feel terror, I can only maintain my mana for two more minutes and if I leave them without my assistance and without the ambulance arriving, they will die.

If after those two minutes the ambulance does not arrive, it will be their end. I have to think of a way to save them, to persevere.

I know I can force myself and continue sending mana over the two minutes but if I do, I will be overexerting my mana circuit and I will end up breaking it like the original Seol Jihu. In my current position, overexerting my mana circuits to the breaking point does not guarantee that I can save my uncle and aunt, but it does guarantee that I will fail in all my future plans.

There must be a solution, something I have not thought of, something that can help me get out of this situation.

I began to review all my memories and knowledge up to now at a frightening speed. In a few seconds I analyzed every little piece of information in my brain to look for a possible solution, but given the current conditions, only negative thoughts and ideas come to mind, like there are immutable Destinies and no matter what you do you can't change them or that to do so you have to pay huge prices and I thought I would have to sacrifice my future plans for the hope of prolonging my uncle and aunt's lives until the ambulance arrives.

I began to feel impotence and despair when I only had 30 seconds left before overexertion and there are no signs that the ambulances are near.

And then I began to feel anger, pure and unbridled anger, anger at my weakness, if I were stronger I could have diverted the damn car instead of letting it send me flying.

Anger at my ineptitude, if I had stopped the wretch in the car instead of interrogating the other.

Anger at Fate, how dare it be so obstinate and not give the freedom of life to good people who don't deserve these tragedies to happen to them.

An unbridled anger was invading me and I entered a trance where I told myself that one day I would be strong enough to break Fate at my whim, so strong that if there is a deity, entity or power that governs Fate, I would make it pay.

In my trance and anger I could see an idea that I had not contemplated, a way out. If the problem is that my mana is running out I just have to gather more, I always thought that the relationship of the body with mana is like that of the body with air, we can only inhale or exhale, one at a time.

We cannot do both at the same time because the diaphragm muscle is in charge of assisting the lungs to fulfill both functions and can only perform one at a time, so we either inhale or exhale, plus we only have one conduit through which air enters or exits, so biologically it is impossible to do both at once.

But is it the same case with mana? Can we only expel it or absorb it or can both be done simultaneously?

There are several mana channels, several circuits. Even now I am only using those in my hands and part of those in my trunk to send mana to my uncle and aunt.

The mana channels in my legs, head, and the rest of the trunk are not in use. I then divided my concentration, half to continue with the task of continuing to send mana to my uncle and aunt, and the rest to try to absorb the mana from the environment.

I learned to do it a few years ago, continuous meditation created an ability that allows me to recharge mana whenever I'm meditating, so the part of my concentration that I set aside to recharge mana began to activate this ability using the mana channels that I'm not using and I could feel it, the mana from the area began to enter my body, not at as fast a rate as normal because I'm only using the free mana channels, but still good enough to offset the expense of channeling mana to my uncle and aunt.

But since I divided my entire concentration on both tasks, I lost the ability to perceive my environment, practically remaining in a trance, constantly sending and receiving mana, which creates an overexertion in my mind since I'm operating my brain at 100% to maintain both tasks, and after an amount of time that I cannot determine, I felt someone pull my hands strongly, forcing me to let go of my uncles. I don't know who it was, nor did I have the strength to try to find out, at the moment my mind relaxed from stopping sending mana when they let go of me, I felt a terrible mental exhaustion and simply passed out.