Moving quickly, I took her pulse. Erratic. Unstable. Her wrist felt on fire, "What did she eat?!"
"Soo-mi…" Sooyeon kneeled beside her sister.
"Listen! What did she eat?!" I shook her shoulder.
"Oh? Uh… she had an apple and some water… t-that's it…" Sooyeon's eyes watered up.
I sighed, a little relieved. There would be no hope if it was more than that. Was there anything I could do right now? Would nourishing her with Pure Qi help?
No. It might even make it worse. My control over Qi was much beyond what a newbie should be capable of, but Qi itself was too strong. The body had to absorb it naturally to avoid terrible complications. Only a healer trail Qi or Ma Qi could help.
"W-will she be okay?!" Sooyeon's tears were about to fall, and I still couldn't get used to that sight. My master never cried, never wavered. Seeing her face with all those emotions shook me.
"I hope so. You shouldn'- sigh..." I stopped myself before scolding the girl. What would be the point now, after everything already happened?
"She needs to recover her strength," If Soo-mi weakened any more...
"Give her more food. We have enough," the middle-aged man from before approached, a merchant's smile on his face. The face of a politician.
"No." I brimmed with rage before, but was strangely calm right now. I had no time and energy to waste with pointless anger. With a mission in front of me, my focus would be on it.
"Young man, who are you? Do you know who I am? I was taking care of people much before you were even born!" The smile on his face was gone as soon as I went against his wishes.
"Shut up." Murderous intent rose within me, despite my calmness, and he backed away.
"What? How dare you!"
"How dare you say that to Mr. Albert!"
"Mr. Albert is our savior! Brat, apologize!"
The people around glared and cursed at me.
Savior? How foolish. What could he ever save you from?
"Sooyeon," Ignoring the man, I looked at her, "I told you before that food from our world was poison. Knowing that, do you still want to feed her?"
"That…" She glanced at the middle-aged man, then looked to the ground, avoiding me, "I believe in Mr. Albert. God will protect us."
I got up with the little girl in my arms, glaring at Sooyeon, who backed away in fear, almost falling on her knees, and walked to one of the empty corners.
"Ah, Soo-mi!!!" Sooyeon tried to reach her sister in vain.
"Zen! Calm down, man!" Jiwan was also scared. He knew me better than anyone else.
"Look, he looks like a criminal!"
"Who let this bastard in?!"
"Young man, let the girl go. What are you doing?!"
Ignoring the fools, I looked at the black lab. She seemed to understand and also sat in the corner. I laid the little girl gently beside her. The girl cracked her eyes open, with barely any strength to talk or move.
"Shh. Don't worry. Just rest for now. Uncle will find food to make you better." I gave her my best smile. Forcing a small and cute nod, she fell asleep again.
Three men hurried in because of the commotion, guns in their hands. Jiwan and the others worried things would get out of hand. I got up, turning around. All the semblance of a common young man was gone, together with the smile on my face.
"Blood. Shadow."
The huskies walked to my side, facing forward, looking docile and calm.
"From now on, KILL ANYONE WHO APPROACHES THAT GIRL," I commanded.
"What!?" Even Jiwan was slack-jawed. The others froze.
Shouts and protests broke out from the people. The three men pointed their guns at me, "Who the fuck do you think you are, brat?! Don't you see we have guns?"
"AWOOOOH!" Shadow howled.
"Gr…." Blood let out killing intent.
The men shivered, but still didn't back down.
"Mr. Haze, are you fine with this?" The middle-aged man called Mr. Albert asked.
"Zen…" Haze pleaded for me to calm down. The others saw his power before. In their eyes, I was just a brat, and Haze was someone that could fight a demon with only his fists. Yet Haze knew he couldn't stop me. And I knew it would be impossible for him to even dream of stopping me after I dived into the Path.
The class rep disapproved of my actions as well, but she didn't step forward.
"Give my sister back!" Sooyeon shouted.
"No."
"She is my sister!"
"SHE IS SOOJIN'S SISTER!" I snapped, taking a step forward, "I will not let her die because of your foolishness. Do you want to die? Go ahead! Do you want to believe in those fools? Be my guest! But this girl is under my protection. I would sooner kill all of you than let her die!"
Everybody froze and looked dumbstruck, the pressure from my Qi even making some of them shiver and cower.
"YOU!" Mr. Albert grit his teeth and frowned in anger.
*BAM*
Before anyone could move, one of them opened fire against me. A pistol round. People only heard the gun going off and couldn't believe someone fired.
"ZEN!!!" My companions worried about the worst, only to see something hit me, disappearing into nothing, just like a fake bullet.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! ARE YOU CRAZY?!" Haze shouted.
"... A fake bullet…?" Jiwan and the others looked lost.
"Sigh. You really shot," I sighed, breathing in. Items from the Old World were useless against the Ath'Taren, but even with less durability and power, they could still hurt people from the Old World without the Path.
The man raised the gun, checking if everything worked. He doubted whether the gun was fake, but it was still hot, and snapped in his hand, "Aaah!"
The anger that was gone before came back to me like a volcano.
"Wait-" Haze was the only one who could react before I moved, but was still too slow to do anything but watch.
I grabbed the shooter by the throat, lifting him much above my head.
"Stop, what are you doing?!" His friends shouted, but my gaze never left him.
For a second there, I wanted to just snap his neck and be done with it. Taking his life was as easy as turning my wrist. But I wasn't a monster. There were children around, and I didn't take people's lives without a second thought.
I let him go.
After breaking the arm he used to shoot at me.