Chapter 8 - Chapter 7

The bullies were now being confronted by Jisuk on the sidewalk. They had nothing to say as Jisuk asked them who was responsible for their state.

Jisuk looked at them pointedly.

Not being able to handle Jisuk's intense stare one of the bullies finally spoke.

"That kid,,,,,,,,,,from our school. "

"Our school,,,,?,,,,,,, who from our school would dare to mess with you. "

Jisuk asked, not quite recognizing who they were taking about.

"You know that kid from before. The kid who's always feeding the stray cats. He did this to us. " they added.

It didn't take long for Jiwoo's visage to appear in Jisuk's mind.

His expression darkened, a vein in his jawline bulging. A clear sign of anger.

"You messed with that kid ?" He growled.

He had already told them not to mess with the cat lover ever since Inhyuk told him Jiwoo was an awakener. His 'friends' were normal humans, they wouldn't stand a chance against an awakener. Not even in speed.

His sudden change in tone caused his 'friends' to panic.

They vehemently apologized and proceeded to put the blame on Jiwoo, claiming he was the one who started it.

Jisuk could only sigh at this, not knowing if he should believe them or not.

The wind blew his hair as he was in deep thought.

He let out sigh before a wicked smirk made it's way to his lips.

______________________________________

Hwa-Young and Yeona were going up the stairs to their apartment.

The albino slouched forward from the weight of the many grocery bags.

She was the one who refused to let the brunette carry anything since her right wrist is broken. She recalls how confidently she told the brunette she will be able to handle it.

Even though she now wanted to ask for help as her hands were red and hurting, her pride wouldn't allow her.

She can just imagine Yeona's teasing smile as she would take one or two of the bags and say "Not so strong now, are you? "

It's not like she is weak. It's just that even though she has a lot of stamina, is swift and skilled in many aspects. Her body has always been in the weaker scale.

"Hey,,,,, um,,, do you need some help? "

Hwa-Young looked up at Yeona who was now on top of the stairs, looking back at her with concern. It seems she had noticed how the albino had suddenly stopped walking.

"Nah. I'm good. " Hwa-Young responded as she pretend to be fine and continue up the stairs as Yeona watched a bit concerned.

Hwa-Young sure hopes the latter didn't notice.

Yeona sighed sadly as she watched Hwa-Young bite her lip and climb up stairs to her.

It's pretty hard to pretend like she doesn't see how red Hwa-Young's hands are but since she seems so determined to do it, Yeona let it be.

They had finally reached their apartment.

Putting the bags of groceries on the table the albino stepped into the bathroom to freshen up as Yeona sat down after locking the door.

~~~~~~~~~

Hwa-Young looked into the mirror as she ran her hands under cold water to relieve the pain, sighing at how good it felt.

Loosening her tie, sighing again, finally being able to breathe properly.

But then she froze. From the corner of her eye she saw something, a black dot moving in her direction.

She glanced in the direction of the dot, which was on the wall beside her. And surprise, it was a spider.

Her eyes widened, breath caught in her throat, fear crawling up her spine.

For some reason this spider reminded her of something, something she couldn't put her finger on.

\/\/\/\/

"WHY??,,, WHY??,,,, w-why?,,,,,,please stop,,,, "

She cried out as the giant tarantula with a woman's head stabbed her chest with one of it's 8 legs. It's face was unclear and blurry.

It cackled as she fell to the ground, dried tears making her cheeks sticky. Fresh blood seeping out of her, creating a puddle of red underneath.

"Why? Mother.  She whispered, gasping in pain as she looked up with tears in her eyes.

" What do you mean 'why?' Did think that we were going to keep a powerless child? And let it taint our name? Ever since you were born, Nasir has stopped noticing me. When you took too much time to materialize your awakened and became deemed as a non-awakened, I had been stripped of my title as Master's Most Favorite Mistress, He hasn't spared me a glance ever since. All you ever drought me is misfortune. Not to mention that you're a girl, even if you were an awakened you would have never been an heir and would have never been able to make me the the Head Mistress." It ranted as it transformed into the figure of a petite woman, face still blurry.

She was furious.

𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘶𝘭𝘵. 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘺.

"You won't get away with this. " she growled, venom laced in her voice as the woman approached her.

The faceless woman cackled wickedly at that, a malicious smirk taking over her lips.

"What? You really think Nasir cares about you? You so dumb. Ahahhahah. It's honestly pitiful that you still think he ever cared. "

𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦.

The woman crouched down to her level, hand wrapping around her neck. Laughing, wiping off the non existent tear with her other hand.

"In fact, Your precious father is the person who told me to get rid of you, I'm not sure if he knows yet but you're not he's child. He said that if I do, he'll get me pregnant. Which will give me the chance to become his favorite again. And even though your my child, I don't really have any hard feelings for you."

𝘐'𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘰.

The woman could be seen drooling at the mention of getting pregnant which grossed her out.

The woman lifted her head a bit by her neck, bringing it close to her face. The woman stared at her before banging her head on the ground and laughing hysterically while she cried for her to stop.

"Now I'll just leave you to die. Bye bye useless child. "

Before she could comprehend what was happening the petite woman had already vanished, leaving her to be picked at by the crows in the abandoned cemetery.

Her vision started to get blurry as water broplets fell from the sky.

\/\/\/\/

"aaaaaaAAAAaahhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhh(*」>д<)」───"

~~~~~~~~

Yeona's brown eyes glanced out the window, at the sky. A sweet little smile on her luscious lips. A sigh left her lips as watched the birds flying outside, comfortable silence engulfing her.

Which was cruelly violated by a shrill scream.

"aaaaaaAAAAaahhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhh(*」>д<)」───"

She almost choked on her spit.

She immediately rushed to the bathroom to see what's up.

She pushed the door open, it hitting the wall with a loud bang. There she saw Hwa-Young on one side of the bathroom floor, cowering in fear as she held the shower head in her hands. On the opposite side she saw a tiny spider about the size of her palm.

She looked back at Hwa-Young with a deadpan expression, who had turned on the shower head and had in pointing towards the spider, as if threatening it.

"Hwa-Young, it's just a spider. You're an awakened" Yeona said as she stared at her blankly.

It's honestly was kind of bizarre to her that such a powerful awakened like Hwa-Young who was the one of the highest female rankers in the world academy and even had her name in the top ten, is known to be ruthless and used to be an assassin, is scared of a small harmless spider. 𝘼 𝙎𝙋𝙄𝘿𝙀𝙍.

"So, what? I don't wanna touch that disgusting thing.." the latter cried out, glaring at Yeona with tears welling up in her eyes, flailing her arms.

"Fine." Yeona sighed as she took the spider in her hands and let it crawl out the window.

Hwa-Young backed away before Yeona could touch her and told her to wash her hands. Yeona shrugged mumbling a "Whatever you say. " before doing as she said.

"why are you so scared of spiders? " Yeona inquired, turning to the albino while wiping her hands on a towel.

"I,,,,,, don't know. It's,,,, just,,, always been this way. " Hwa-Young answered while staring at the floor and fumbling with the hem of her shirt, unsure as she herself is confused as to why she has weird blurry flashbacks whenever she sees a spider.

Yeona stared at her, feeling like there was something she was hiding but decided to not push it.

𝘐𝘧 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸.

~~~~~~~~

Hwa-Young sighed, her back hitting the sheets as she looked up at the ceiling above.

She lightly bit her lower lip, deciding to not tell Yeona about the flashback as to not creep her out.

She was confused at how her chest hurt as she remembered the words of that unknown woman.

𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩? 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳? 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘰 𝘐 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨? 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦? 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘰 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘪𝘳𝘥 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴?

Hwa-Young really doesn't know why but it's always been this way. She would have sudden flashbacks of memories she doesn't even remember happening. And at the most random moments.

Like that one time her grandpa gave a pat on the head and boom!

A flashback of her in the body of a 4 year old sitting on the lap of a blurry faced man who was patting her head and reassuring her that it doesn't matter if she doesn't have powers and that he promises that he'll always love her.

Then the background changed, like a time skip. There was the man with a short woman, heading towards what seemed like a bedroom as she watched from the sidelines, clutching her teddy bear. And it hurt, she doesn't know why but it hurt. Like that faceless man was someone who mattered. Like that stupid promise was something that mattered. And it's weird cause she doesn't remember anything of that sort ever occurring.

𝘕𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵, 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦.

She has had the same flashback many times. Sometimes the flashbacks are of violent things, sometimes it's comforting that soon turn into not so comforting. It's never anything good and it's driving her crazy.

The craziest thing is that in all the flashbacks the people and the person who's perspective she's watching from speak in Arabic. Which oddly enough, she understands and can speak in too but she doesn't remember ever learning Arabic.

It's weird really and she is planning on taking to Grandpa Seongik.

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘨𝘰 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱.

She sighed, releasing her lip and moving aside to give Yeona some space to lay down.

______________________________________

{Basement, Jiwoo's House.}

Kayden sat on the sofa in the basement as he slurped on his cat treat with Jiwoo sat in front of him on the floor, still in his school uniform.

"Jiwoo Seo, you have a problem,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, a serious problem. " said Kayden with a long pause in the middle to slurp up some more of his cat treat.

and proceeded to criticize Jiwoo's every move on when he was fighting with those bullies.

He commented on how it was only his speed that helped him knock them out, how his punches were so weak,  how bad his footing was, and just how unbalanced his body weight distribution was making the poor cat lover to just want to disappear.

Jiwoo shoulders slumped forward, he stared at the wooden floor and mused how it was his fault Wooin and Yeona had gotten hurt. He pondered how Wooin would've not gotten injured and Yeona wouldn't have had to step in to try and protect him and get injured too if only he was stronger.

He appreciates the fact that Yeona stepped in to protect him even though she seemed to have absolutely no combat skill and failed miserably, she still tried. The thought counts.

𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘐 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳?

Looking at Jiwoo's expression, Kayden threw the empty wrapper on the small pile of finished treat wrappers on the floor.

He then told Jiwoo that he's going to teach him combat methods making the latter light up in excitement.

This is unlike him as Jiwoo didn't even ask and Kayden never teaches anyone.

But anyhow, Jiwoo's training begins.

Jiwoo, now in a white t-shirt and sweatpants  was punching the punching bag repeatedly without stopping as Kayden, still slouched on the couch was explaining to him why combat moves are important.

He barked at Jiwoo the moment he started slouching. Stating how the opponent won't care if he is tried.

He then told Jiwoo about trying to use his awakened in his punches by bringing his energy from his heart to his fist at the very last moment before it hit the target but he then told him not to think about it too much as he doubts he will be able to execute it yet.

But it seems Kayden had spoken too soon as Jiwoo proved him wrong by delivering a powerful awakening infused punch that made the punching bag fly off and land a bit far away from them.

Kayden's jaw dropped to the floor as sparks of electricity flew in the air. Jiwoo turned to him, excited but out of breath. Asking him if this is what he was talking about.

Kayden had not expected that, he did not see it coming.

Jiwoo shouted how awesome that was and praised Kayden, making the latter blush and feel flattered which is unusual since Kayden is quite used to receiving praise.

______________________________________

{The Next Day, Hae Dam Private High School}

Jiwoo yawned. He had stayed up all night practicing and as a result has ended up being incredibly tired and sleepy.

He noted how Wooin was absent again, glancing towards the empty seat where the latter was supposed to be with a sad look in his eyes.

He yawned again, making his other classmates give him weird side glances before greeting Hwa-Young and Yeona as the girls took their seats.

" Hey, how's your wrist? " Jiwoo spoke, looking behind him at Yeona, who was sitting at the back of the class. Right beside Hwa-Young.

"Oh! It's fine, nothing to worry about. ヾ(❀╹◡╹)ﾉﾞ"

Yeona responded with a smile before the professor stepped in.

The professor was quite shocked to see Jiwoo asleep before class even started, this has never happened before as even though Jiwoo does fall asleep in the middle of class nowadays, he had never fell asleep before class even began.

The professor let it slide since he was bullied yesterday and a softie like Jiwoo might need some time to recover from the traumatizing event.

𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘸.

Hwa-Young mused as she watched Jiwoo bathe his desk in drool.

"Yeona, I've noticed that your right wrist, which is your dominant hand, is hurt. You can take notes from Hwa-Young, I'm sure she wouldn't mind since you two seem pretty close. " the professor said.

𝘚𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘐 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴  ┐(￣ー￣)┌

Hwa-Young thought, letting out a sigh.

Yeona glanced towards the albino who just shrugged her shoulders, giving her a monotone expression.

But then Yeona frowned.

"But what about Jiwoo? "

"I'm sure Hwa-Young won't mind sharing her notes with him too. "

𝘐'𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮.(눈‸눈)

______________________________________

{The abandoned warehouse Wooin and his professor used to reside in. }

Kayden had come in his feline form to check out the mysterious warehouse out of curiosity.

He trotted in, immediately noticing that it had been completely cleared out.

The sound of footsteps caught his attention.

Kayden turned, peeking at the mysterious people in all black clothing coming down the stairs from behind the door.

Before he could figure out who they were, the men entered the room he was in.

Their heads turned at hearing a hiss from a corner.

Kayden knew he couldn't fight them, it has only been a few days since he transformed. So, he settled with pretending to be a cat.

Which to his luck the men buyed.

As the men stepped out, Kayden's chest began to swell with pride.

He let out a huff, quite smug he was able to deceive them. But the two men following the leader, those two's next comments made him want to rip their heads off.

"Did you see? It's really fat. "

"That's the fattest cat I've ever seen. "

"But it's still so cute.(❁´◡'❁)" a soft feminine voice spoke.

"Ms. Seol, you're too nice. "

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