Chapter 29

"STRIKE!!"

"Ha ha! Suck on that!" I said as I walked back to my seat while pointing at Jisuk and Subin.

Both of their faces turned foul, and they gritted their teeth in annoyance.

"Don't get on a high horse, you bastard! It's 3 against 2 anyway, so you don't get to act so smug!" Jisuk yelled.

"Yeah! We would have beat your ass if Wooin was on our team!" Subin joined him.

The two of them started creating a big scene inside the mall in front of other people, which was quite embarrassing, but Jiwoo told me it was normal with them and I couldn't stop them even if I tried to, so I decided to ignore them.

Though Wooin being amazing at bowling was clearly a surprise,. I just thought of him as the kind of person who never showed off in front of other people, even if he was good at something.

But anyway, we were beating Jisuk and Subin's asses, and that's all that mattered.

"You are the ones who decided to play this way to give us a "winning chance," so you don't get to complain." I said as I munched on the nachos in front of us.

"Urghh! You know it's your fault that we are losing. Who the fuck misses the entire lane?!" Jisuk now turned to Subin to pass the blame on her.

"Huh?! You were the one who was constantly distracting me with your weird cheering, "Go Subin! Strike them with your balls!!"Who the fuck says that?!" Subin yelled back at Jisuk while kicking him in the stomach.

"It was funny!" Jisuk yelled, and to be honest, I agree with his defense; it was really funny.

They both forgot that it was their turn now and started pulling on each other's hair.

"Are they always like this?" I whispered to Jiwoo

"Only when they are awake." Jiwoo said it with a helpless smile on his face.

"I see." I said and turned to look at Wooin, who was just quietly eating all of our snacks.

He stopped as soon as he saw me looking at him as if he were caught committing a crime.

"You are pretty good at bowling. We are winning thanks to you." I said

"It's nothing."

"....okay?" I said and chugged the last can of soda. It's a shame I couldn't have beer because bowling while you are drunk is a lot more fun.

"Well, have we covered everything we planned to do today?" I asked Jiwoo

"Huh? Oh yeah! Bowling was the last thing I had planned. We already ate jajangmyeon, fried chicken, bibimbap, and tteokbokki. And we have already tried all the games here in the arcade."

"Well then, let's just call it a day since these two aren't going to stop fighting." I said that and got up from my seat. "Hey, let's go!" I called Jisuk and Subin, and then we left the mall.

Jiwoo and Wooin went back to Jiwoo's house, while Jisuk, Subin, and I went to the Shinhwa's building.

If I am being honest, I actually had a lot more fun than I thought I would. I haven't really been to an arcade in a long time, and maybe it's because I haven't had the time to relax in the past few months, so even these two's company was bearable.

Jiwoo and I exchanged numbers due to his insistence on saying that we would meet if he ever came to America.

I don't think that will happen, and even if it does happen, I probably won't meet him unless he comes directly to our group for some official business. We are not that close after all. I mean we have only been hanging out for a day. 

Jisuk and Subin were fighting even while on our way back to the building, so I just put on my earphones and played music to drown them out.

***

"Have you had time to think over my proposal?" I asked Jiyoung.

"I have."

"And?"

"I accept your request for the duel." I felt a shiver run down my spine since she said it with a scary look in her eyes.

"I requested a spar, not a duel." I said

".....Yes. Sorry for my misunderstanding. I will let you know when I will be free." She said this as she stood up from her seat and guided me out of her office.

Pretty cold and unnecessarily rude, but I can understand how she feels; after all, I really did hurt her pride when I asked her for a spar. She is an awakened one as well, and one with even more pride than a normal one since she possesses the tile of the country's number 1.

Maybe pride isn't the right word. She comes off more as a dignified person than a proud one.

But anyway, I am just happy to get what I wanted.

I went back to my room, chatted with my mom, and then decided to focus on my future plans.

My strength is already top-notch for a person my age, and I am stronger than Jisuk, Subin, and Wooin combined since I checked their power level while I was with them. Jiwoo was, as expected from his personality, extremely weak. Even his aura wasn't intimidating.

So now, it is official that in my age group, even in the entire world, I am the strongest.

But this isn't enough.

I don't know when I might encounter someone much, much more powerful than me in a death battle, so I need measures to guarantee my survival.

I created Soru with this intention as well: that even if I can't win the battle, I should at least be able to escape. But even with this, guaranteeing my survival isn't possible.

I need a method to heal myself mid-fight without having to spend a lot of energy or concentration on that task.

The healing technique I have now is only useful for small injuries and isn't much different from most of the healing techniques used by others.

If I wanted to, I could heal a major injury with this method, but that would drain me completely of my energy and make me unfit for fighting anymore.

So what I need is instant regeneration at a low cost.

Unfortunately, there isn't a single person in this world who has managed to accomplish this.

Even those with the ability to heal are not this powerful. So I have to create this method from scratch.

'Aghhhh!! I really didn't want to do this, but I guess I have no choice but to study biology and actually conduct research about this.'

Why couldn't have I just got the ability to heal instead? 

I could have just mastered my family's force control to it's maximum limit while having healing as my main ability.

I mean, look at Wolverine. That guy is powerful only due to his Adamantinum skeleton, but even if we remove that, he is still a threat because of his instant regeneration.

I love Haki. But having instant regeneration is much more useful.

Now, I have to study the subject that I have been avoiding for all my life, in both of my lives.

"Fuck" I grunted in frustration.

***

In a dark alley in the city of Seoul, a tanned man with long green hair and black sunglasses could be heard speaking on the phone.

"Yes. I will finish this task as quickly as possible. I just ran into a few pests on my way to the union." He said it on the phone.

It was hard to see from the outside, but in front of him lay the bloody dead bodies of many agents from the Korean Awakened Union.

"Hahh," he exhaled sharply. "I can't believe I had to fly over to this country all because of that damned doctor."

-Beep

He received a new message on the phone, and as soon as he read what it was, a wicked grin appeared on his face.

The message was from one of the spies their organisation had installed in Korea to help them infiltrate without the authorities knowing about it, and the message he received was a photo.

"I was wrong. It seems that coming here was fortunate after all. I didn't think that I would get to meet this bitch again." He said and started laughing maniacally as if possessed.

The photo on his phone was of a woman with purple hair and dark eyes.

It was none other than Sung Jin-ah, Owen's mother, who had an encounter with this man in the past where he was defeated and managed to escape all because of reinforcements and luck.

At that time, the fight between them was even, with Jin-ah only slightly overpowering him, but now, after 10 years, he finally has the opportunity to exact his revenge, and he will 100% take it.