Lee said frankly, "Anyways, let's get to work now. I had a reason for making you."
"Okay, master."
It was at that time Lee Seung remembered hearing something crashed on the floor when he was summoning his clone.
"Ahhh!" He cried out on seeing that it was his monitor. He checked on it immediately, and thankfully, a minor scratch was made on it.
Lee Seung returned it to its original position.
He asked his clone, slightly smiling, "I am the only one that gets hungry, right? You are just a clone, aren't you?"
Considering his financial situation, feeding another mouth was going to be a big burden.
'I hardly have a nice meal on my own!' Lee Seung thought, his arms shaking as he waited for an answer.
At the moment, the clone's stomach growled.
'Aigoo! Second me gets hungry too. No problem, feeding him won't be too much once I secure a job with my ability.'
He gave the goodies which he had taken to the awakening company earlier, to the clone and opened the browser on his monitor.
There was a particular website called Awakened wiki, where metahumans could apply for either of the three available jobs.
Without skipping a second, Lee Seung launched into the bodyguarding section.
'This job is also classified into different categories based on the risk level. The most risky one is rated five-star and the pay per day is,' he stared at the monitor, his mouth widening in surprise, 'a million four hundred thousand won!'
(About one hundred thousand dollars)
However, he couldn't risk his life that much even though the money was one-quarter of how much he needed to rent a house.
A few moments later, he finally found a one-star rated category. The pay was twenty eight million won per day.
(About 20000 dollars)
Nevertheless, he applied for it; now that he had two bodies, he would earn fifty six million won a day.
He picked up his phone and dialed a number he found on the site.
Ding...ding....
"Hello, good evening. I am Lee Seung and I have called to apply as a bodyguard-"
A feminine voice cut in, "Oh, thanks for choosing to work for us. If you don't mind, come to Woosung Construction industry to start work tomorrow."
"Oh...I..I don't mind."
"Okay, see you tomorrow..."
"Yes, thanks."
Poof....
Lee Seung dropped his phone on the table and went to bed. He rested his head on his hands, facing the ceilings.
"I don't know why I think something is off with that lady. She sounded desperate, I don't know," he mumbled.
Anyways, he told his clone to work out early in the morning.
"Take my watch with you; return after three hours."
* * *
The morning unfolds as sun shines brightly in the sky, chirping of birds creating a balanced atmosphere.
"Good morning, Mr. Ma. Let's have a full length jogging competition; I am not going to lose to you.'
A masculine voice said.
'Oh, really? Let's have it for an hour — I have to go to work by nine o'clock,' the man referred to as Mr. Ma replied.
'Good morning, Miss Ju. Are you out here to work out too?' a woman having long blonde hair asked.
'What kind of a question is that? Don't you see what I am wearing?'
--------
'Mr. Ma, don't you think it's strange a lot of people are still indoors?'
'I don't know. They may be in bed till now or not interested; morning exercise is optional.'
Swoosh.....
Yee....yee....
A panting voice echoed across them. On looking at the front, they saw a young man clad in blue sweaters jogging.
The four of them looked away as if nothing had caught their attention. It was a usual thing for dwellers of the neighborhood to work out.
"Let's get to it, Mr. Ma. I have set the timer for us."
The two men started jogging and the women engaged in squat exercise.
Lee Seung woke up, yawning and stretching out. The first thing he did was take a sip of water, then brushed his teeth.
At the moment, he noticed his clone's absence.
"I think he has started working out as I told him to do."
Later on, the timer was up and the two men crashed in a chair by the roadside.
They pant hardly.
"There is no winner today, Mr. Ma," the other man said, smiling as he pant.
"Yes, yes, you have....you have improved a-"
He paused on seeing the same man who started before them doing push-ups in the middle of the road.
"What the heck is he doing?"
"Who?"
"The guy in blue sweater."
"Just ignore him. Whatever oppression he is trying to create, he can't do more than fifteen," the other man said sarcastically.
As a matter of fact, it was when the man told Mr. Ma to look away that he became more interested. Maybe he wanted to check how many the young man could really do.
'Wow, he just did sixteen,' Mr. Ma thought, becoming more intrigued.
'35,36,37,38,39,40.....!'
Mr. Ma told the man what he counted and he was surprised too.
"He has done more than forty and still haven't stopped," said Mr. Ma. He grinned, "I am jealous of that youthful energy!"
(Two hours later)
Lee Seung heard a knock and he opened the door. Outside was his clone sweating profusely and panting as if got chased by a monster.
"I am back, master."
"Yes, you are. Go in and get dressed, then meet me here after two minutes," Lee Seung said.
After the clone disappeared from his sight, he sat on the stairs and pondered how to view his stats.
He wanted to know if by making his clone work out, his stats would increase and someday, his cloning ability would be strengthened.
But he had no idea how to summon the screen since it appeared out of nowhere the other....
Beep..
The screen opened to life, shimmering with cerulean hue.
Lee Seung was surprised how it knew when to appear. He was thinking of it and in the next second, there it is.
"Does my mind control this thing?" He pondered.
There was no better explanation to this situation than the one he had just figured out — the screen was mind controlled.
Instantly, he thought of his stats and the icon switched. However, the icon was in different arrangement compared to its status the previous day.
[Stats]
[Strength: 0.12 * 0.62]
[...]
'Connecting the dots, all my stats increased by 0.5 just because my clone worked out for three hours. If I make him work out every day, I can't imagine how strong I will become in the next one month,' Lee Seung thought, a smile curling out from his lips.
'In a nutshell, my clone's pain doesn't transfer to me but his strength does.'
He believed there were many other things about his ability that he had not found out.
His clone soon arrived, standing behind him. He glanced at him, only to realise one thing.
If the both of them were to go out like that, people would have too many thoughts. Some would mistake them for twins or something else.
Most importantly, Mr. Song mustn't find out since he knew Lee Seung wasn't a twin so he went back inside and gave his clone a face mask and cap.
And then, they walked down the street.
In no time, a taxi dropped them in front of a large workplace called Woosung Construction Industry. Lee Seung sighed, feeling a bit tense as this marked the beginning of his journey as a metahuman.
He asked his clone, 'Do you feel a bit scared?' 'I am not,' came the reply.
He faced front, "Oh, you don't share my pain either. Let's get to work."
After venturing into the industry, he asked for the direction to the reception from a worker and the two of them were taken there.
"Good morning. I am, uhm, Lee Seung and-"
"Morning, Mr. Lee. I spoke with you yesterday, don't need to introduce yourself."
The 'desperate' lady then asked him to wait for the chief executive officer. Lee Seung complied, though feeling his heart in his hand as he imagined terrible things.
'I...I am going to guard a CEO?! Oh God, won't this job be more risky than aforementioned?!'