"Alright, we’ve covered Defense and Reinforcent," my dad said. "Attack... you don’t really need for that. Your dagger handles it just fine."
He crossed his arms. "Now for the hardest part. Regeneration."
"Most Awoken never learn it. It’s a very fine control of Aura. It’s about using your energy not to destroy, but to repair. To order your own cells to rebuild faster."
He took a small knife out of his pocket. Not a weapon. Just a pocketknife.
Before I could react, he stepped forward and made a small cut on my forearm. Not deep, but enough for blood to well up.
"Ow! What the—"
"Focus," he cut off. "Don’t think about the pain. Think about the wound. Send your Aura to that exact spot. Don’t let it escape. Make a cocoon of energy around the cut and tell your skin to close."
It was the hardest thing I’d ever done.
My Aura was dark, destructive. Using it to heal felt unnatural. It was like trying to put out a fire with gasoline.
I tried. The Aura focused on the cut. For a mont, the pain seed to get worse. It was as if my energy was trying to make the wound worse instead of healing it.
"Softer," my dad insisted. "It’s not an enemy. It’s you. Be kind to yourself."
Kind. That was a concept I had almost forgotten.
I took a deep breath. I thought of the water in the oasis. Calm. Soothing. I tried to give that quality to my Aura.
Slowly, very slowly, the burning sensation faded. I felt a slight tingling.
Before my eyes, the edges of the cut began to pull together. The bleeding stopped. In less than a minute, all that was left was a thin red line where there had been an open wound.
It wasn’t perfect. But it had worked.
I looked at my arm, then at my dad, completely stunned.
He nodded. "You learn fast. Very fast. You have a natural talent for this."
It was the first real complint he had ever given . And it was worth more than all the points at the academy.
Night had completely fallen. The only light ca from the moon, which lit up our ruined training ground.
I was exhausted. Every muscle in my body ached. But it was a good pain. The pain of progress.
"That’s all for today," my dad announced. "You’ve learned the four pillars in a single day. That’s a record, even for the best students at Apex."
He sat down on a concrete block. I did the sa, next to him.
"But don’t get wrong," he added. "Knowing the technique and mastering it are two different things. It’s going to take you months, years of training for it to beco second nature."
We sat there in silence for a mont, watching the stars.
"Why are you doing this?" I finally asked. "Why are you helping ?"
He sighed. "Because I promised her. And because... this world is going to need people like you. People who aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty."
He pulled a terminal out of his pocket, a military model I had never seen before.
"I have to leave. I have my own mission. I can’t stay in Seoul for long."
My heart sank a little, but I didn’t say anything. I expected it.
"But before I go..." he said, holding sothing out to .
It was a data chip. Small and black.
"It’s a training program. The sa one I followed. It has everything I know. Combat techniques, strategies, information about the creatures of the Abyss that no one else has."
I took the chip.
"Train. Get stronger, Ji-Hoon. Not for the academy. Not for the governnt. For you. And for her."
He stood up. "I don’t know when we’ll see each other again."
He put a hand on my shoulder. It was the first ti he had touched since he ca back.
"Be careful."
And he disappeared into the shadows, leaving alone in the ruins, with new knowledge and a new determination.
I went back to my apartnt late that night, my body sore but my mind clear. I inserted my father’s data chip into my terminal. Gigabytes of information began to transfer. It was a treasure trove.
Just then, my terminal vibrated. It was a call from Min-Soo.
"So, you’re still alive?" he asked, his voice full of cautious relief.
"For now," I replied.
"Listen, tomorrow is the last day of the break. I have to go shopping with my little sister. Want to co with us? My parents would love to et you. They keep hearing about their son’s ’mysterious partner.’"
The idea of eting a normal family, of doing sothing normal, was strangely appealing.
"Okay," I said. "Why not."
After hanging up, I collapsed onto the couch. Out of sheer curiosity, I opened the social dia on my terminal. I typed in Yoo-Na’s na. Her profile was public, a perfect "hero" page, full of pictures of her smiling, saving people, with thousands of admiring comnts. It made sick.
Then, out of boredom, I typed in the na of the girl I had t in Hongdae. Ji-Soo.
Her profile was private, but her picture was visible. It was her.
I looked at her public friends list. And my heart skipped a beat.
Only one na was visible in her family.
Kang Yoo-Na.
I clicked on Yoo-Na’s profile again. I searched through her old photos. And I found it. A family photo from several years ago. A younger, smiling Yoo-Na. And next to her, a teenager with shorter hair but a familiar face. Her little sister.
Ji-Soo.
The normal girl. The artist. The "Stagnant." She was the sister of my sworn enemy.
I looked at the number she had given . It wasn’t a coincidence. Nothing was ever a coincidence with these people.
It was another trap. Or maybe... sothing else.
My world had just gotten a lot more complicated.
The revelation about Ji-Soo spun in my head all night. I finally fell asleep, exhausted from the training and the shock.
The next morning, my terminal buzzed. A ssage. It was Ji-Soo.
"Hey. Still up for that coffee? There’s a new place I want to try. It’s a ’Maid Café.’ Looks like fun. Free tonight?"
A Maid Café. It was the kind of place I would never set foot in. But curiosity won out over my suspicion. It was a perfect opportunity to figure out her ga.
I replied.
"Hey. Yeah, why not. Tonight works for ."
We set the ti for 7 PM.
So I had the whole day. First, I called Min-Soo to tell him sothing had co up and I couldn’t make it. He sounded a little disappointed, but he understood.
Then, I looked at my wardrobe. The worn-out clothes from my apartnt. The academy uniform. The simple clothes Mrs. Lee had given .
None of them were right. Not for eting Yoo-Na’s sister. Not for the role I had to play.
I was obsessing over my clothes. It was stupid, but it was important. Appearance was a form of power, I was learning that the hard way.
I still had so convertible points in my account. I took the subway to a big shopping mall.
I found a simple store, kind of like a Subway for clothes. No luxury, just good quality basics.
I tried on a few things. In the end, I bought a simple but well-cut black jacket, a dark gray t-shirt, and black jeans.
Looking at myself in the store mirror, I barely recognized myself. I looked... normal. Almost respectable.
It was the perfect costu for an infiltrator.
With my new clothes in a bag, I left the mall. I still had ti before seeing Ji-Soo. I decided I could at least stop by and say hi to Min-Soo.
I stopped at a bus stop and called him.
"Hey, it’s again. I’m in the city, after all. Can you give your address? I can stop by for a few minutes."
Min-Soo sounded surprised but happy. He gave the address of his building in Mapo-gu and explained how to get there. I hung up and waited for the right bus.
I sat on the bench at the bus stop, watching people go by. Normal life. It was still so strange.
Suddenly, a group of young n walking on the sidewalk stopped short.
I looked up. And I smiled.
It was Choi Jin-Woo. The blond guy who had harassed on the first day. And his two friends.
They looked at . Their faces went from surprise to pure panic. They started to tremble.
And then, to the astonishnt of the other passersby, they did sothing incredible.
They knelt. All three of them. Right there on the sidewalk. They bowed their heads to the ground.
"K-Kang Ji-Hoon-sunbae!" Choi stamred, his voice full of terror. ("Sunbae" is a term of respect for soone with more experience).
"We... we’re sorry! We were stupid! We didn’t know!"
"Please, spare us!" one of the others cried. "We’ll never bother you again!"
I just sat there, not moving, watching them. I hadn’t even threatened them. I hadn’t even spoken to them. My reputation alone was enough now.
The situation was so absurd it was funny.
I gave a small smirk.
"Get lost," I said simply.
They scrambled to their feet and ran off like rabbits, not daring to look back.
Fear really was the best power.
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