Trust

Ligi was suddenly thrown into chaos. He was just strolling through the forest when he got curious and looked at the two hunters.

The drunk man immediately noticed his stare, which he quickly drew back. He got scared when the drunk man started walking towards him and he subconsciously looked down at the drunk man's feet.

This apparently infuriated the drunk man even more as he felt a slap on his face. Although he braced himself, Ligi could not help but be shocked at the power that slap had.

He fell down due to the momentum and stayed there. This has been a normal occurrence for him. Someone always vents their anger to him. A scapegoat due to his uselessness.

He did not care bout the pain nor the actions that would follow. He just let his life flow in whatever direction it would go. If it led to his death, he did not care. At least this misery would be over.

He then heard a voice

"Are you okay? Can you stand? I'll help you get out of this mess."

This guy must be another one of those. One that pretends to help and then backstab you when the going gets tough.

He just ignored the hand that reached out to him and just let the time flow in it's course.

Closing his eyes, he was suddenly pulled in a direction. it was the guy offering help from before. Is he running?

Unprepared for that event, he stumbled on a rock. He was now expecting the guy to bolt without him, now that he had burdened the guy.

Unexpectedly, the guy threw something and kept running while pulling his arms.

Feeling uncomfortable, he let go of the hand and started to run by himself. He did not know anything about this guy but now it seemed that they were in the same boat.

They were both running away from a common enemy, which made him feel a little but perplexed. This was the first time someone had not abandoned him and instead joined him.

Unexpectedly, the guy was able to throw their pursuers. After running for a while, the guy stopped and took a rest. He also took a rest and looked at the ground.

While minding his own business, he heard the guy speak.

"What's your name?"

'Should I tell him my name? No, I don't know anything about this guy.'

"My name's Bang."

'But he did save me from those guys. Nothing bad will happen when I say my name right? Probably? .......Fine, I'll tell him my name'

"Ligi....."

The guy started to ask more questions and he felt flustered. They just met and already there was a barrage of questions coming his way.

'Why is this guy so talkative? Calm down man, you did save my life but it wasn't that valuable.'

Seeing that the guy turned quiet when he wasn't answering, he finally felt relieved.

Then he saw a weird thing that the guy did. The guy picked up a stone and throw it in a random direction. Feeling confused on the reason for that action, he followed the trajectory of the stone.

Then like a cold splash on his face, he saw the two hunters looking at their direction.

Frozen in fear, he suddenly heard a voice to his right. He turned and saw the guy speaking while reaching out his hand.

"Do you want to have power? Follow and trust me."

'Power?'

That word rang in his mind. Power. It was something that he wanted before when he needed it the most. It was a way to protect himself.

Then, cruel reality reminded him that it was impossible for someone like him. He had to bury that desire deep in his heart.

Now, he heard that word again coupled with a promise. He saw the thing that Bang was holding and saw the fabled essence. Maybe it was possible. Maybe he had a chance.

No. This guy has an ulterior motive, don't trust him. His mind once again reminded him of the cruel reality.

Deep in the recesses of his heart, there was a fire. This was nonexistent before but now, there was a fire as small as a match. This was his will to live. His own self-preservation. Ligi himself did not know this.

He subconsciously reached for the hand in front of him.

———————

'Stupid system, why would you draw their attention????? What now???'

Then like a flash of inspiration, Bang once again received a series of actions. Because they were in a risky place, he decided not to argue with the system. He might have complained, be he still asked for the system's orders.

He looked at Ligi and saw that he noticed the hunters. He recited the words in his mind like it was his own.

"Do you want to have power? Follow and trust me"

".........."

His reached out his hand but the guy was still unresponsive. The guy just stared dazedly at him as if in deep thought.

'What the hell is this guy's problem??? Take your time, its not like they'll be here any second now.'

Just as he was about to forcefully take the guy's hands, it unexpectedly took his hand.

Surprised by the gesture, he helped Ligi stand up and they started running.

——————

Ligi could not explain the feeling he had while running. It was as if there was some unknown force fueling his body. He wanted to run. Run and run to the ends of the world.

He had never felt this way before. He was excited, worried, and nervous at the same time. He wanted to survive. The emotions surged in him and allowed him to feel the spirit of self-preservation.

Where did he get all these emotions? Was it because he finally felt that someone is alongside him after being alone for a long time? Was it because of the prospect of gaining power? Or was it because of some other factor? He didn't know. All he wanted to do now, was run.

Feeling like his emotions were getting the best of him, he decided to cool down. He had to focus on the task at hand and just follow in Bang's footsteps while still keeping a wary distance away.

He still didn't fully trust the man who called himself Bang. He only knew that he had to get away from the hunters.

—————

Bang felt that he was traversing through the forest much easier than he thought. Without proper knowledge and experience, running through the jungle would have been a hard task.

He found that his movements were like second nature to him. It felt like this wasn't the first time he was running through here.

'Uhhh system? Care to explain?'

'It is the muscle memory of the previous owner of this body. This memory came from purchasing the 'past self' option in the store.'

This reply made Bang happy. This dim start to the adventure is finally starting to light up. The system is finally giving him something useful.

'Oh by the way system, where am I going?'

'.........'

The silence from the system was a bad omen. Bang felt like there was something going on. He frowned at the unexpected situation that was going to inevitably happen.

Right as he thought that, he jumped through the bushes and stopped in his tracks.

What he saw was the four muscle heads chasing him this morning.

He knew this was going to happen. He knew the system would pull out some card in it's sleeves and sabotage him.

The four muscle heads were surprised at the man who came back from the dead. They weren't expecting that after giving up and heading back home, their prey would inevitably bring itself to them.

As Ligi came down and joined Bang, he saw the unfamiliar figures that were doing a staring contest with Bang.

Ligi just stayed back in the rear of Bang and just watched the situation.

Before the muscle heads could move, they heard more rustlings coming from the direction that Bang came from.

They readied themselves as the two hunters joined the stand-off.

With the three parties staying silent and vigilant, no one moved. They all observed each other.

The leader of the muscle heads then noticed that Bang was holding on to a glowing sphere. As a veteran, he knew exactly what this sphere was.

All of a sudden, there was a glint of understanding in the leader's eyes. He suddenly flexed his muscles in an intimidating way and all the other muscle heads followed suit.

Before anyone could even do anything, the muscle heads moved to separate the two other parties. They formed a tight square with one of the sides facing Bang and Ligi, and the other on the two hunters.

They unfurled their biceps and and used it as a barrier between the hunters and Bang. Their biceps and deltoids flared in anger as they showed off.

Out of the corner of Bang's eyes, he saw Ligi come up to him. He heard Ligi whisper quietly.

"Let's run"

This was the first time that Bang saw Ligi initiate the conversation. He was surprised that in the end, the system was right. Ligi did end up trusting him.

There was a slight smile on Bang's face as he nodded his head. Looks like the system is useful after all.

'I urge owner to sell out Ligi in the negotiation.'

'Welp, fxxx.'