----
Jiwoo trained until his arms shook.
Then he kept training.
Kayden did not let him move much because of his leg, but that somehow made the training worse. There was nowhere to hide the mistakes. No speed to blur over bad form. No footwork to distract from weak punches.
Just Jiwoo.
The bag.
His fist.
His breathing.
Kayden's voice.
"Wrist."
Punch.
"Shoulder."
Punch.
"Too much energy."
Punch.
"Too little."
Punch.
"You're still apologizing to the bag."
"I'm not—"
"Again."
Jiwoo punched again.
The basement filled with the dull rhythm of impact.
At first, each hit felt clumsy.
Then painful.
Then frustrating.
Then, slowly, something began to align.
Jiwoo felt it in his core first.
Asuka's force control remained steady beneath everything, quiet and cool, preventing his energy from spilling too violently into his injured leg. Kayden's force control moved differently, sharper and more explosive, waiting near the point of output like a spark wanting direction.
Jiwoo inhaled.
Kayden's earlier words circled through his head.
Energy moves through the arm, not just the fist.
Loose until impact.
Condense.
Release.
Recover.
Not all at once.
Not randomly.
Do not throw power.
Guide it.
Jiwoo lifted his fist.
His knuckles lined with the bag.
Wrist straight.
Shoulder loose.
Jaw relaxed.
He drew energy from his core, not too much, not too quickly.
It flowed better this time.
Smoother.
A thin thread of electricity flickered beneath his skin.
Kayden's ears twitched.
Asuka, eyes closed in meditation, did not move.
Jiwoo punched.
The impact cracked through the basement.
Not loud enough to break the room.
Loud enough that every cat upstairs probably lifted its head.
Blue-white electricity flashed around his fist for one sharp instant.
The punching bag snapped backward.
The chain groaned.
Then the entire lower mount tore loose.
The bag crashed to the floor.
Dust jumped.
Silence followed.
Jiwoo stared.
Kayden stared.
Asuka's eyes remained closed, but the corner of her mouth softened.
Jiwoo slowly lowered his fist.
His hand tingled.
Not painfully.
Not like injury.
Like something had opened at the point of impact and released exactly when he wanted it to.
"I…" Jiwoo blinked. "I did it?"
Kayden did not answer.
His mouth had gone slightly open again.
Jiwoo turned toward him quickly.
"Was that wrong?"
Kayden still did not answer.
That made Jiwoo panic faster.
"I tried to do it exactly how you said," Jiwoo explained, words spilling out. "I kept my wrist straight, and I didn't tense my shoulder too early, and I let the energy move through my arm. Then when I hit, it felt like my punch was swinging faster, and there was this exploding feeling at the end."
Kayden's whiskers twitched.
Exploding feeling.
Output release.
Controlled acceleration through the strike.
Electricity at the point of impact.
Already?
After this little training?
Kayden looked at the fallen bag.
Then at Jiwoo.
Then at the bag again.
This was absurd.
No beginner should be able to do that so quickly.
Not cleanly.
Not safely.
Not with a broken leg and almost no combat experience.
Jiwoo's talent was worse than he thought.
No.
Better.
Worse because Kayden would now have to account for it.
Better because—
Kayden lifted his chin.
A smug expression spread across his cat face.
"Well."
Jiwoo waited nervously.
Kayden's tail curled.
"Of course."
Jiwoo blinked.
Kayden sat straighter on the crate.
"I am a pretty good teacher."
Asuka's mouth curved a little more.
Kayden continued, confidence inflating by the second.
"No, not just pretty good. I'm a genius when it comes to explaining things. Naturally, if I explain something, a talented student will eventually grasp it."
Jiwoo's eyes widened with admiration.
"That makes sense."
Asuka opened one eye slightly.
Kayden caught her expression.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"You're amused."
"I am fond."
"That is worse."
Jiwoo smiled brightly.
"Thank you, Mr. Kayden."
Kayden looked satisfied despite himself.
"You should be grateful. Most people would kill for instruction like this."
"I am grateful."
"I know. You say it constantly."
"Sorry."
"Stop apologizing."
"Sorry."
Kayden groaned.
Then glanced at the fallen bag again.
His smugness dimmed just enough for bewilderment to show through.
Still.
That had been fast.
Too fast.
Not Asuka-level, thank whatever sanity remained in the world, but still ridiculous.
Kayden hopped down and inspected the bag.
"The output released too sharply," he said. "If you do that against a person, you may injure them more than intended. If you do it wrong, you may injure yourself."
Jiwoo looked at his fist.
"It didn't hurt."
"Because you got lucky."
Asuka's voice came softly from across the room.
"Not luck."
Kayden turned.
Her eyes were closed again.
She sat with her hands resting lightly on her knees, posture still, breathing even. Electricity and flame had both faded from her palms. She looked as if she were meditating.
Only meditating.
But inside her mind, the future had already opened.
It came quietly.
A ripple first.
Then a thread.
School.
Afternoon light.
Jiwoo walking home with his bag and crutch, leg nearly healed but still weaker than usual.
A white-haired boy waiting near the path.
Sharp eyes.
Bored expression.
Jisuk.
The name surfaced with certainty.
He was amused at first.
Curious.
Then challenging.
Jiwoo looked confused.
Then startled.
Then the air shifted.
Power.
Jisuk's awakened pressure sharpened, and Jiwoo's eyes widened as he realized the truth.
An awakener.
The boy from before was an awakener.
The duel began before Jiwoo was ready.
Jiwoo moved fast.
Too fast for ordinary eyes.
But Jisuk was not ordinary.
Jiwoo dodged the first few attacks, using Kayden's lessons clumsily but earnestly. He tried to defend, tried to understand, tried not to hurt him too badly because that was Jiwoo.
Always Jiwoo.
Then Jisuk adjusted.
He struck with experience.
With training.
With the confidence of someone raised in the awakened world.
Jiwoo lost.
Badly enough to hurt.
Not badly enough to break him.
But enough.
A hit to the shoulder.
A blow across the ribs.
A forced stumble.
Jiwoo hitting the ground, breath knocked out of him, eyes wide with frustration and pain.
Asuka's jaw tightened in the real world.
No one saw it.
Her eyes remained closed.
The vision continued.
Jisuk stood over Jiwoo, not cruel in the way Delein had been.
Arrogant.
Careless.
Annoyed that Jiwoo was weaker than expected but also pissed that he was sparing an injured person. With that, Jisuk left.
And back in Shinhwa, Inhyuk no surprised found out and gave him a lecture.
A sharp one.
Jisuk looking away, irritated and embarrassed.
Another thread.
A sparring room.
Jiyoung Yoo.
Calm.
Elegant.
Terrifying.
Jisuk across from her, already regretting his life decisions.
Then impact.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Jisuk getting beaten so thoroughly that even Kayden might have approved.
Asuka's fingers relaxed slightly.
Good.
The vision blurred.
Paths branched.
If she interfered, Jiwoo would be safe.
But his confidence would soften at the edges.
He would learn that Asuka would always arrive before the pain became meaningful.
He would look over his shoulder.
He would hesitate.
And Jiwoo wanted to get stronger.
Not because he wanted power.
Because he wanted to protect.
Because Wooin had stood for him.
Because Kayden had scolded him.
Because kindness had shown him the cost of being weak.
Asuka wanted to protect him from everything.
Of course she did.
That instinct sat in her like a blade.
Jiwoo was her brother.
Her warm home in this second life.
Her soft place after a world of blood and shattered concrete.
But she could not baby him forever.
Not if she wanted him to survive the awakened world.
Not if she wanted him to stand when she could not be there.
Her jaw tightened again.
Jisuk did not beat him too badly.
That mattered.
Jiwoo would hurt.
But he would live.
He would learn.
And as far as Asuka was concerned, Jisuk would receive consequences.
Inhyuk's lecture.
Jiyoung's spar.
The older sister's version of discipline, which was apparently less a spar and more a graceful execution performed repeatedly until Jisuk understood humility.
Asuka was not too angry.
Not yet.
Not enough to change the path.
The future faded.
The basement returned.
Dust.
Concrete.
The fallen punching bag.
Kayden still lecturing.
Jiwoo watching his own fist with bright, uncertain hope.
Asuka opened her eyes.
Blue.
Clear.
Quiet.
No one could tell she had just watched her brother fall.
No one could tell she had chosen not to stop it.
Not because she did not care.
Because she cared enough to let him grow.
Kayden glanced toward her.
"Not luck?" he repeated.
Asuka looked at Jiwoo.
"He followed the route properly," she said. "His output was too sharp, but the circulation was clean. The impact accelerated because his core synchronized with your release pattern at the last moment."
Kayden stared at her.
Jiwoo blinked.
"That sounds good?"
"It is good," Asuka said.
Kayden snapped, "It is good in the way a child finding a grenade is good. Impressive, but dangerous."
Jiwoo's face went pale.
"A grenade?"
"Metaphorically."
"Oh."
"Mostly."
Asuka's expression softened.
Kayden looked at the fallen bag again.
"We need to reinforce the equipment."
"I can do that," Asuka said.
Kayden stared.
"With what?"
"Distance."
"That is not an explanation."
"It is accurate."
"Stop using accuracy as an excuse to be vague."
Jiwoo smiled faintly.
Kayden pointed at him.
"And you. Don't look so pleased. You are nowhere near competent."
Jiwoo nodded quickly.
"Yes, sir."
"But," Kayden said, and the word made Jiwoo freeze, "you did grasp the beginning of impact release."
Jiwoo's eyes widened.
Kayden looked away.
"Barely."
Jiwoo smiled.
"Thank you."
"I told you to stop thanking me."
"I know."
"You're going to do it again."
"Probably."
Asuka stood.
The air around the fallen punching bag shifted.
Not visibly.
Not to ordinary eyes.
But the space beneath the mounting bracket lengthened and folded, redistributing weight, reinforcing the weak points, quietly making the structure stronger than it had any right to be.
Kayden watched.
His expression soured.
"You realize when you say you're hiding your abilities, you are still doing impossible things every five minutes."
Asuka tilted her head.
"We are in the basement."
"That is not the point."
"No one else can see."
"I can."
"You already know."
"That somehow makes it worse."
Jiwoo laughed softly.
Kayden scowled.
"Again."
Jiwoo looked at the repaired bag.
His hand tightened.
He thought of Wooin.
Of the way Wooin had stood shaking in front of Delein.
Of Asuka arriving with cold eyes.
Of Kayden revealing himself.
Of all the times people had protected him before he could protect them back.
His expression changed.
The brightness remained.
But beneath it, something steadier formed.
"Yes, sir."
This time, when he raised his fist, Asuka saw the difference.
Kayden did too.
Not strength.
Not yet.
Resolve.
Kayden's tail flicked once.
"Good."
Jiwoo breathed in.
Asuka sat again, folding her legs beneath her.
Kayden climbed back onto the crate, grabbed another cat treat, and pretended the motion was dignified.
"Start from the beginning," he ordered.
Jiwoo set his stance as best he could with his injured leg.
Asuka watched with eyes that saw too much.
The future waited.
Jisuk waited somewhere ahead.
Pain waited too.
But so did progress.
And if the future insisted on testing Jiwoo Seo, then Asuka would do what she had always done for the people she loved.
She would prepare him.
She would watch the line carefully.
And if the world crossed it—
Her gaze softened into something colder beneath the warmth.
Then it would learn what happened when it mistook restraint for permission.
"Oppa," she said softly.
Jiwoo glanced at her.
"Yes?"
"Relax your shoulder before the release."
He smiled.
"Okay."
Kayden clicked his tongue.
"I was going to say that."
Asuka's mouth curved faintly.
"I know."
"Annoying."
"Yes."
Jiwoo laughed.
Then punched again.
This time, the bag did not fall.
But it swung harder than before.
Kayden's eyes sharpened.
Asuka's hands folded calmly in her lap.
And somewhere in the branching path of tomorrow, Jiwoo Seo began walking toward his first real duel.
Jiwoo came home quieter than usual.
That was the first sign.
The second sign was that he did not call out immediately.
The third was that the cats reached him before anyone else did, and even then, Jiwoo only smiled faintly as he lowered himself carefully near their bowls.
His school uniform was dusty.
His hair was messy.
There was a scrape near his cheek, a bruise darkening at his shoulder, and his posture was stiff in a way that had nothing to do with his broken leg.
Not badly injured.
Not like with Delein.
Not like when Asuka had arrived to find him on the ground with pain carved into his breathing.
But hurt.
Enough.
Jiwoo opened the cat food container.
The black cat meowed.
"Hi," he said softly.
The tabby rubbed against his side.
Jiwoo's smile wavered.
"Sorry. I'm a little late."
The black-and-white cat nudged his wrist.
Jiwoo gently scratched under its chin, then filled the bowls one by one while sitting on the floor because standing took too much effort.
Asuka watched from the kitchen.
Quiet.
Still.
Her eyes were covered again by tinted glasses, but Kayden had already learned that meant very little.
Kayden lounged on the couch, front paws crossed, sunlight warming the orange fur along his back. He had been pretending not to wait for Jiwoo.
Badly.
His eyes tracked every movement.
The stiffness in Jiwoo's shoulder.
The careful way he turned his ribs.
The disappointment sitting heavy around him.
Kayden sighed through his nose.
"Did you, by any chance, get beat up by another guy?"
Jiwoo froze with the scoop still in his hand.
Kayden's eyes narrowed.
"Is that why you're feeling down?"
Jiwoo looked down.
The cats ate around him.
Kayden continued, voice dry.
"He said he was testing your rank?"
Jiwoo's shoulders sank.
"Uh-huh."
Asuka's fingers tightened once around the handle of the cup she was holding.
Only once.
Then she relaxed.
Kayden noticed.
He did not comment.
Instead, he stretched lazily on the couch like none of this surprised him.
"Well, it's obvious he was a troublemaker trying to pick a fight with you."
Jiwoo frowned faintly.
Kayden flicked his tail.
"It makes sense the fight was one-sided. It would be weird if you had won, to be honest."
Jiwoo's head lowered further.
"I know, but…"
Kayden's eyes sharpened.
"But?"
Jiwoo said nothing.
Kayden sat up.
"What do you mean, but? Did you honestly expect yourself to become an expert after practicing for a couple days?"
Jiwoo flinched.
Kayden did not stop.
"Compared to normal people, you're amazing. Against ordinary thugs, your body reacts fast enough that you can beat them even with bad technique. But against an awakened user? You're a newbie."
Jiwoo's hand curled against his knee.
Kayden's voice grew firmer.
"Be thankful you came out of the fight alive."
Jiwoo did not look at him.
The room quieted.
Then Jiwoo said, very softly, "I didn't want to lose."
Kayden stared.
Asuka's gaze shifted toward him behind the tinted lenses.
Kayden's brow rose.
"Seriously?"
Jiwoo's expression did not change.
Kayden's tail flicked once.
"What's wrong with you, Jiwoo? Saying you want to get stronger and saying you don't want to lose are two different things."
Jiwoo finally looked up.
His eyes were not angry.
They were upset.
Deeply, earnestly upset.
"I just…" His voice caught slightly. "I'm really upset about not being able to do anything."
Kayden's expression stilled.
Jiwoo looked down at his hands.
"I couldn't land a hit. I couldn't protect myself properly. I knew I was weaker, but…"
His fingers curled tighter.
"It felt terrible."
The cats ate quietly.
The apartment felt smaller.
Kayden hummed.
"So the kid's abilities were similar to Mr. Inhyuk, whom we met the other day?"
Jiwoo nodded.
"Yeah."
"Wind?"
"Yup."
Kayden's eyes narrowed thoughtfully.
"He increased his speed?"
Jiwoo nodded again.
"It was about as fast as mine. But he looked better overall at using his abilities. He was using it to attack and move at the same time. I couldn't even land a hit on him."
Kayden stared at him.
"You're absolutely sure about that?"
Jiwoo frowned.
"Why? Is there something wrong?"
Asuka's voice came from the kitchen, quiet and plain.
"What Kayden is asking is whether you are absolutely sure his speed was on par with yours."
Jiwoo looked at her.
Then back at Kayden.
"He was able to catch up to me, so… yeah. I think."
Kayden closed his eyes.
Asuka nodded faintly.
Jiwoo blinked.
"What?"
Kayden opened his eyes again.
"It's more likely that he was only able to catch up with you."
Jiwoo's brows furrowed.
"What does that mean?"
Asuka set the cup down and came closer, sitting near him on the floor. The cats shifted around her easily, accepting her presence as part of the room.
"It means he matched the speed you showed him," Asuka said.
Jiwoo looked confused.
Kayden continued, "That's it. He was able to match that level. But did you actually move at your fastest?"
Jiwoo opened his mouth.
Then paused.
He thought back.
The duel.
Jisuk's sharp grin.
The wind rushing around him.
Jiwoo reacting, dodging, trying to conserve energy because his leg still hurt and because Kayden had told him not to waste output.
He had not gone all out.
Not fully.
Not even close.
"I…" Jiwoo blinked. "No. I don't think I did."
Kayden flicked his tail.
"Exactly. You adjusted your speed so you could conserve power and fight longer."
Jiwoo's eyes widened slightly.
Asuka nodded.
"You were also limiting yourself because of your leg."
"Oh."
Kayden looked almost annoyed that Jiwoo had not understood sooner.
"It sounds like that bastard was using two skills at once. One to attack, one to increase his speed. I don't know how strong he is as an awakened user, but if he's dividing his energy into two outputs just to keep up with you…"
His eyes sharpened.
"Then he's slower than you."
Jiwoo stared.
"I'm… faster?"
"Of course."
Kayden said it like this should have been obvious.
"Your speed is so incredible even I'm amazed."
Jiwoo went still.
That was not a casual compliment.
Not from Kayden.
Kayden continued before Jiwoo could react too emotionally.
"And on top of that, Asuka's force control is laced with time. It stretches your speed farther than it should naturally go. Stabilizes your body. Sharpens your perception. Keeps your core from tearing itself apart when you move."
Jiwoo looked at Asuka.
She lowered her gaze slightly.
Kayden watched them both.
"It's better than amazing. Honestly, it's ridiculous."
Jiwoo's mouth parted slightly.
Asuka said softly, "It only supports what you already have."
Kayden scoffed.
"Don't undersell it. If he moves fast enough, everyone in his eyes could probably look like they aren't moving at all. Like the world stopped."
Jiwoo's eyes widened.
"What?"
Kayden's gaze flicked to Asuka.
"Probably a result of your force control."
Asuka did not deny it.
Kayden added, "The only one who would still be able to move normally is Asuka, since she manipulates time directly. But that's beside the point."
Jiwoo looked down at his hands again, but this time the disappointment had shifted.
Not gone.
Changed.
Kayden leaned forward.
"The point is, your speed doesn't compare to that bastard's."
Jiwoo looked up.
Kayden's eyes sharpened.
"You're faster."
The words settled in Jiwoo's chest.
Slowly.
Carefully.
Not enough to erase the loss.
But enough to make it hurt differently.
"He said he'd come back," Jiwoo said suddenly.
Kayden's ears twitched.
"What?"
Jiwoo straightened slightly.
"He said he'd challenge me again once my leg is healed."
Kayden looked down at his paws.
One.
Two.
Three.
He seemed to count silently.
Then he looked up.
"At most five days."
Jiwoo blinked.
"Five?"
"Maybe less. Your leg is recovering quickly because of Asuka, but not instantly. He probably expects you to be healed enough by then."
Asuka's hand moved lightly over Jiwoo's bandage, checking the stabilizing energy beneath it.
Kayden's expression grew serious.
"It's impossible to drastically increase awakened ability within such a short amount of time. So we won't try to force your overall power."
Jiwoo listened carefully.
"We focus on controlling your strength. Basic skills. Movement. Timing. Output release. How to hit without wasting energy. How to evade without panicking. How to use the speed you already have properly."
Jiwoo's eyes brightened.
Then, with absolute sincerity, he asked, "Are you going to help me, Kayden?"
Kayden stared.
Deadpan.
Completely.
The room went silent.
Even Asuka paused.
Kayden's eye twitched.
"What do you mean, am I going to help you?"
Jiwoo blinked.
Kayden pointed a paw at himself.
"When have I ever not helped you?"
Jiwoo's face softened.
Then brightened.
A grin spread across his face, warm and cute and so unguardedly happy that Kayden felt physically attacked by it.
"Right."
Kayden huffed and looked away.
"Don't smile like that."
Jiwoo smiled brighter.
"Thank you."
"I told you to stop thanking me."
"I know."
"Then stop."
"I'll try."
"You won't."
Asuka's expression softened as she watched them.
Kayden snapped his gaze toward her.
"You too. Stop looking fond."
"I am fond."
"Do it less visibly."
"No."
Kayden groaned.
Then hopped down from the couch.
"Training will only get harder from now on."
Jiwoo grabbed his crutch with new determination.
"Yes, sir!"
"That excitement will die."
"It won't."
"It absolutely will."
Jiwoo only smiled and followed him toward the basement.
The basement smelled faintly of dust, old concrete, and the punching bag Jiwoo had knocked down the day before.
Asuka had reinforced it again.
More thoroughly this time.
Kayden inspected the setup with narrowed eyes while Jiwoo carefully stretched his shoulders nearby.
Asuka stood beside the stairs, her tinted glasses hiding her eyes from view.
Kayden glanced at her.
He waited until Jiwoo moved toward the bag, far enough away that he would not hear easily.
Then Kayden said quietly, "You knew this would happen."
Asuka did not pretend not to understand.
"Yes."
Kayden watched her.
"You saw him lose."
"Yes."
"And you let it happen."
The words were not accusing.
Not exactly.
But they were sharp.
Asuka's fingers rested lightly against the railing.
"I did."
Kayden studied her face.
Most people would have defended themselves.
Explained quickly.
Softened the truth.
Asuka did none of those things.
She simply stood there and accepted the weight of what she had chosen.
Jiwoo punched the bag lightly across the room.
Thump.
Kayden's voice lowered.
"Why?"
Asuka's gaze moved toward her brother.
Even through the tinted lenses, Kayden could feel the direction of her attention.
"If I stopped every pain before it reached him, he would learn to look back for me every time danger came."
Kayden said nothing.
"He wants to get stronger," Asuka continued softly. "Not for pride. Not for rank. Because he does not want others to be hurt in his place."
Thump.
Jiwoo adjusted his stance.
Thump.
Asuka's mouth softened, but her voice remained steady.
"I do not like seeing my brother hurt."
Kayden believed that completely.
There had been something in her eyes when Delein injured Jiwoo that even Kayden would not carelessly provoke.
"But I cannot shelter him forever."
The basement quieted around those words.
Kayden's tail stilled.
Asuka continued, "I know enough of the awakened world now to understand the shape of it. Rankings. Territories. Families. Organizations. Power deciding worth."
Her expression turned colder.
"It is not so different from other worlds."
Kayden didn't know why, but he heard what she did not say.
Other lives.
Other battlefields.
Other systems where the strong stood above the weak and called it natural.
"At the end of the day," Asuka said, "it is survival of the fittest. The strong rule. The weak obey, or they are used."
Thump.
Jiwoo punched again, unaware of the conversation, brow furrowed in concentration.
Asuka's hand tightened slightly on the railing.
"I would rather have him capable than hold him back because I am afraid."
Kayden looked at her.
Really looked.
She was fifteen.
She looked fifteen when she made tea for Jiwoo.
When she folded bandages.
When she quietly smiled at cats.
But then she said things like that, and Kayden remembered that Asuka Seo carried the weight of someone who had already learned too much about war.
He respected that.
Silently.
Reluctantly.
But he did.
"You're colder than your brother," Kayden said.
Asuka did not deny it.
"Yes."
Kayden's eyes narrowed.
"But not less kind."
For the first time, Asuka's expression shifted.
Barely.
A flicker of surprise.
Then something soft.
"Thank you."
Kayden looked away immediately.
"That was not praise."
"It sounded like praise."
"It was analysis."
"Of course."
He scowled.
"You sound like him now."
"My oppa is kind."
"Your oppa is ridiculous."
"That too."
Across the room, Jiwoo turned.
"Did you call me?"
"No," Kayden snapped.
Jiwoo blinked.
"Oh. Okay."
Then he went back to training.
Asuka's mouth curved.
Kayden sighed.
This house.
This family.
This impossible pair of siblings.
He climbed onto the crate near the punching bag and raised his voice.
"Jiwoo!"
Jiwoo straightened immediately.
"Yes, sir?"
"From now until that white-haired brat comes back, you train like your life depends on it."
Jiwoo's expression turned serious.
"Yes."
"Not yes. Yes, sir."
"Yes, sir!"
Kayden nodded once.
"Good. Now show me your stance."
Jiwoo set his feet carefully, compensating for the healing leg.
Kayden stared.
"That is terrible."
Jiwoo wilted slightly.
Asuka said gently, "Your left shoulder is too high."
Jiwoo adjusted.
Kayden huffed.
"I was going to say that."
"I know."
"Stop knowing."
"I cannot."
"Annoying."
"Yes."
Jiwoo smiled despite himself.
Kayden snapped, "Don't smile. Punch."
Jiwoo punched.
The bag swung.
Kayden watched closely.
Asuka watched closer.
And beneath the old apartment building, with five days at most before Jisuk returned to test him again, Jiwoo Seo began preparing to become the kind of person who could stand in front of danger without needing someone else to bleed for him.
----