Second Day of Training (1)

After taking a shower to remove the slimy black liquid that covered his body, Thomas stepped out of the bathroom wearing a set of clean clothes.

'What the hell even was that stuff? It just started coming out of my body randomly and took forever to come off.'

Thomas walked back into the living room only to notice his plate of chicken still resting on the table and thought. 'Damn, I forgot to eat the rest of the chicken, well, might as well finish it off now rather than waste it.'

Walking over to the table and sitting down in front of his plate, Thomas grabbed his fork and started eating the rest of the now room temperature chicken.

'I should have finished my chicken before taking a shower, now it's not warm and doesn't taste as good.'

Thomas shoved the last piece of chicken into his mouth before gently setting his fork on his plate. 'Well, at least I'm not hungry anymore, even if I made the last of the chicken tasted a little weird.' Thomas thought as he stood up from his chair and grabbed his plate before walking into the kitchen.

After setting his plate and fork in the kitchen sink, Thomas stretched out his back and yawned before turning and looking at the microwaves displayed time.

4:19 pm

"Wait, it's only four pm? Geez, going into those dreams really messes with my sense of time. Wait, I ate dinner at four pm, does that mean I'm going to be hungry again when it's time for family dinner?"

Thomas let out another yawn as he grabbed a plastic cup out of the cupboard and walked out of the kitchen towards the bathroom. However, even though Thomas was yawning, his mind was anything but tired.

'What was that slimy stuff that came out of my body? And why was it coming out of my body? Since the dreams affect my body, did something happen there that caused it to happen? If it did, why did it happen when I was eating rather than when I was asleep?'

Entering the bathroom and walking up to the shower, Thomas looked down at the tub that was covered in slimy black splotches.

'Since this stuff came out of me it must be something biological, or some kind of waste that couldn't be taken care of through using the restroom. Maybe I could look at it while in Anatomy class on Monday.'

Thomas bent over one of the black splotches and scooped it up with the plastic cup, but when he lifted the cup back up, he wretched from the stench of slimy liquid as it slowly slid down the inside of the cup.

'I'm definitely putting plastic wrap over this, otherwise I'm going to smell this stuff even when I sleep.'

Thomas walked away from the shower and set the plastic cup down on the sink counter as he didn't want to spread the slimy liquid's stench into the house and walked out of the bathroom towards the kitchen.

---

Setting the now covered plastic cup down next to his alarm clock, Thomas jumped onto his bed and let out a long yawn.

'I keep yawning, is it because I only got an a few hours of sleep total? Or is it because of that training I had to go through with Jin Tang?'

Thomas turned his head towards his alarm clock and looked at the display time.

4:23 pm

Thomas turned his head back towards the roof and sat up in his bed. 'I think I can go back to sleep until dinner time, it should only be two more days of training until then.' Thomas thought as he reached down the side of his bed to make sure that Fallen Star was still there.

Clack!

Hearing Fallen Star's sheath clatter as he touched the sword, Thomas let out a sigh of relief as he slumped back into his bed and let his eyes slowly drift into the darkness of sleep.

---

Drip! Drip! Drip!

Opening his eyes to the roof of his and Sung Ho's room within Jin Tang's palace, Myeol Mang slowly sat up and rubbed his eyes as he heard rain dripping off the building's red tile roof.

'It's raining? Does that mean Sung Ho and I don't have to train today?'

Thud!

As if he was waiting for Myeol Mang to think about not having to train, Jin Tang slammed open the door and woke Sung Ho from his sleep in the process.

"IT'S TIME FOR TRAINING YOU TWO! GET OUT OF BED!" Jin Tang exclaimed as he looked at Sung Ho who had fallen onto the floor from the shock.

"Yes…. Master…." Myeol Mang yawned out as he slowly slid out of his bed.

"Wait Master, how are we going to train today since it's raining?" Sung Ho asked while struggling to stand up off the floor.

"You will have the exact same training as you did yesterday, something as simple as rain shouldn't stop you from training, it certainly won't stop other martial artists from training, so get dressed and meet me at the same place as yesterday."

Watching as Jin Tang turned around and walked out into the pouring rain, Myeol Mang let out a long sigh and walked over to Sung Ho.

"Here, let me help you. Your legs are shaking from just trying to stand so it's going to be rough on you today." Myeol Mang said as he helped Sung Ho completely stand up.

"Thanks, Myeol Mang, you've always had my back. And besides, it isn't just fatigue from yesterday that's making my legs shake, it's excitement."

"Excitement? You're excited to push yourself to the point of passing out again?"

"How are you not excited!? This is our chance to not be bullied anymore! If we successfully complete Master Tang's training, we can stand up for ourselves against bullies like Dae Hyun."

"Yea you're right, but training to the point of passing out doesn't help nearly as much as training and staying awake, so instead of trying to make yourself pass out, keep yourself awake at all costs."

"You can't say that when you also passed out from yesterday's training, I saw you drop dead at Master Tang's feet."

"I didn't pass out after the running; you can ask Master Tang he'll say the same. But we need to hurry so we don't get yelled at."

Stepping away from Sung Ho as he was able to stand by himself now, Myeol Mang walked over to the end of his bed and grabbed the freshly folded clothes and began changing into them.

---

Myeol Mang and Sung Ho stepped out into the pouring rain in jet black robes and began walking to where Jin Tang was standing in the yard. However, Sung Ho's face didn't show the same excitement it held earlier, as the cold rain began and his aching legs began to work against him.

"Shit this rain is cold, how are you withstanding this Myeol Mang?"

"I'm kinda cold here too, but it's more of a refreshing cold than an annoying one to me."

Sung Ho let out a sigh as they arrived in front of Jin Tang, who was standing still in the middle of the pouring rain.

"Master Tang, we've arrived." Both boys said in unison to announce their presence.

"Good, now that both of you are here you can begin your training. You will be doing the same workout as yesterday, I will inform you when it is time to stop since the rain is covering the sky. Now begin."

"Yes Master." Sung Ho replied enthusiastically before turning and beginning to run.

After watching the distance between him and Sung Ho widen, Myeol Mang turned towards Jin Tang.

"Master Tang, yesterday after I passed out, did anything weird happen to my body?"

"Hmmmm, so you did notice it. Yes, after you passed out a change did occur in your body, it started expelling the toxic materials in your blood pathways from your body."

"Ah, thank you for telling me Master, I would like to talk more about this after the running is over." Myeol Mang said as he took off running after Sung Ho.

'Did he wake up in the middle of the night and notice the small amount of the liquid on his clothes?' Jin Tang thought as he watched Myeol Mang slowly catch up to Sung Ho.

As Myeol Mang continued to close the distance between him and Sung Ho, he noticed something odd about his legs.

'Wait, why can I feel my legs better than I could yesterday? Did the blood flow in my veins become smoother since that toxic stuff came out of my body?' Myeol Mang thought as he felt the blood rushing through his legs.

Hhhhhhhhhssssssss!

Letting out a forced exhale as he put more power into his legs, Myeol Mang suddenly sped up his pace for a short moment before dropping back down to his previous pace.

'Holy crap, I couldn't even come close to that speed yesterday! What the hell happened to me!?'

Remembering that he had several hours worth of running to complete, Myeol Mang set himself into a slightly faster pace than yesterday, letting him slowly catch up to and pass Sung Ho.

---

Splosh!

"Haaaaaaaah... Haaaaaaaah... Haaaaaaaah..."

Myeol Mang trudged his way through the rain and muddy ground as he continued to run with Sung Ho barely keeping up behind him. However, neither of the boys could continue for much longer as their clothes were heavy from the rain.

Crash!

Startled by the sudden sound of a lightning strike, Myeol Mang looked up into the greyish black sky.

'We're training in a thunderstorm!? Fuck, how much longer until we're done!?' Myeol Mang thought as he tried to speed up his pace.

"MYEOL MANG, SUNG HO! You may stop running now!"

Hearing Jin Tang announce that they could stop running, both Sung Ho and Myeol Mang dropped onto their knees and hands as they sank ever so slightly into the muddy ground.

"Haaaaaaah….. You still awake back there….. Haaaaaaah... Sung Ho?" Myeol Mang asked as he gasped for air.

'Barely….." Sung Ho coughed back.

In the middle of trying to stand up, Myeol Mang felt himself rise off the ground like he was being carried.

"Master Tang?" Myeol Mang asked as he looked to his right and saw Jin Tang holding him up by his robe.

"Go clean yourself off, I'll bring Sung Ho to the washrooms, after that we'll have lunch once more. I'm going to introduce Sung Ho to Seok Hwan and the others once lunch starts."

"Yes Master." Myeol Mang said as Jin Tang set him down.

After watching Jin Tang walk over to Sung Ho and pick him up, Myeol Mang slowly walked towards the washrooms as his fatigued legs wouldn't let him move as fast as he wished.

'A nice warm bath sounds really good right now.' Myeol Mang thought as he arrived at the entrance to the washrooms.

However, as he was about to reach the doors, Myeol Mang noticed a servant start to panic more and more with each step he took.

Turning and facing the servant to the left of the door, Myeol Mang asked. "Is there something wrong with the washrooms right now?"

"No there is not, but the washroom that Master Mang usually uses is currently occupied, so if you wish to use the same room as usual, you will have to wait." Said the servant with a panicked yet serious expression.