Suddenly a gust of fresh air tussled his hair. Something was coming. A monster, an ice-blue dragon flew pass by him. He could almost touch it. It wasn't there to attack, just to deliver a message. As it got closed to Seungho and started whispering, the fog rose up instantaneously.
Is it a trap?
It wrapped around him and solidified into an armor, his armor. Layer by layer, thickening. Tiny bridges connecting to his cells latched in between. It wrapped him with such warmth and comfort, he wanted to cry. The feeling soon replaced by a bursting sense of joy.
He kept running into the wind.
The machine came to a halt. Without realizing it, his body stopped running as if it was aware of what was happening around it.
Another hallucination...?
The scientist took a thick lens and put it onto Seungho's eye. The lens burned the surface of his eyeball, making it bleed.
"His eyes are twinkling vividly. Look at the underlining pattern." She said indicating the pattern to another scientist. Then she added like an afterthought.
"Don't worry your eyes will heal quickly."
Kept taking notes and walked away.
Seungho didn't mind. The feeling was amazing.
What just happened?
He wanted to ask but was afraid if he did the feeling would leave too.
He was sent home early with some juice he was made to promise to drink that very evening shoved into his hands.
He looked at it. It was the second thing shoved into his hands in the same day. He put it into his bag, next to the teddy bear. A visual reminder to be more considerate of his fans, the fans he was going to make. And also a hidden desire to connect with such feelings.
He wasn't tired, in fact, although not pumped like in the morning, he felt calm and self-confident. His body in one piece, like everything was exactly where it was supposed to be to work in full power.
Since the Apelox his armor hadn't hardened.
***
Seungho headed home, quiet and alone. His eyes had already healed.
Close to his home the bus started to fill with common people.
Common…
Aloof, looking out of the window, wondering about nothing.
The bus stopped abruptly to avoid an accident. A young girl wearing a school uniform bumped into him with all her weight. He grabbed her not to fall. He thought of the old lady in the park just a few days before. But he still held her, it was more important she didn't get hurt.
He looked at her, holding her.
"Are you hurt?"
She blushed. "ye-es…"
She kept staring at him. Still holding onto him.
He let her go. She stepped backwards slowly.
Seungho looked around, and more people were staring at him….in awe?
He rubbed his eyes. But they kept looking at him.
He turned self-conscious, and totally clueless of what he had done wrong.
The bus stopped and he got off, and ran away until the corner.
He didn't feel a shred of fatigue. His agitation was purely social anxiety. Too many people looking at him at the same time in a way he didn't understand.
Ahhh, how annoying. Ok, they don't like hunters, I get it.
He walked home, he wasn't far away.
At home he sat down and read all the messages that Yuna has sent him, reading carefully all her proposed events, suggested activities, updates on his fandom. And he saw it clearly, all the effort she and other fans he hadn't met yet had already put in him. Invested in him, bet on him. He wanted to cry, to think he received so much support and hadn't even noticed.
Just like Jiyoon and Minjae. He felt unworthy of their friendship.
I want to change that.
He immediately sent a message of appreciation to Yuna, telling her about the cooking event, and fleshing out some idea for the cooking.
Yuna's reply followed soon after.
.
Yuna: Did you see this?
.
She sent a link to a video.
He opened the video.
It was him. On the bus catching the girl. Someone had filmed it.
The comments were already flooding in.
.
— Who is he?
— Is he a hunter?
— He's so gentle.
— How cool! Did you see those eye?
— I am already dying! I must know his name already!
— What a considerate young man.
— Man or hunter, it doesn't matter. I am already a fan.
.
He stared at the screen. His face was red.
They're not afraid. They're watching.
He closed the video. His heart was pounding.
.
Yuna: the number of Puppy's Princesses is multiplying by the minute!
Yuna: between, the demographic is expanding.
Yuna: we should have a fan meeting, like small, a meet&greet. Soon.
Yuna: I will speak with Hwang-manager-nim.
Yuna: I am so excited!
Yuna: well done, puppy-ssi.
.
He put his phone down, just for a moment to wrap his head about what was happening.
Jaeha's stats slipped from his mind.
Seungho woke up the next morning to a flood of messages. Including from his teammates congratulating him on his success. From the Duke, still nothing.
What success are they talking about?
He couldn't check his stats, so there was no point in looking there. Yuna had sent him another link, to his fanpage on Weverse. His face blown up greeting visitors to the site.
He moved the phone screen away, his face contorting into shapes he didn't know it could make. He has never felt that embarrassed in this life. After he took a big breath, he dared looking at the phone again.
The page continued with a collection of facts, just life information, like date of birth, where he grew up, his favorite color, where he went to school, what job he used to do before becoming a hunter.
First of all my favorite color is not ice blue. Where did they get that from?
His job was a little off too, "lunchbox designer" made it sound like he designed the boxes, which was only partially true and by far not his specialty.
On second thought this is not so bad, I don't have to explain the taste issue, if Sangmin doesn't say anything.
He place his phone on the table and continued scrolling to the video and comments.
Seungho choked on his breakfast.
.
Views: 51,290
Likes: 11,077
Comments: 556
.
Yuna: Let's have a meeting today. What about 4pm?
Seungho wiped his neck with his hand, massaging his neck it helped him think.
Do I have to? I so want to skip it...
He leaned back, slouching in the chair.
Yuna: Hwang-manager said you will have time then.
Yuna: you shouldn't skip this.
Maybe...
Sangmin: please reply to Yuna-ssi, she has important plan updates.
Sangmin: I will be there too. At the meeting.
Yuna: it will be fun, Hana will be there too.
Ah, Hana-ssi...Maybe that is why Sangmin has agreed to be there too.
Seungho then replied, and agreed to meet out in a cafe which sounded more fun than being cooped up in the Hunter Complex.
On his way to the Entre he wore a baseball cap and sunglasses. He sat squeezing in the back of the bus, fitting into the seat better than before. He had to wear his tracksuit for fitting reasons. He promised himself to get some clothing online as soon as he was going to get paid. And although people noticed him, no one made a fuss.
He looked outside the window. And thought about it. Like his body was changing.
Could it be the stuff they pumped in his veins the day before did the trick? Or was the food in the cafeteria overall gave that effect? Or just normal transitional process?
All the same, he liked it better to look more like a regular-size dude than a buffed up hunter. It was easier to mingle among people. More freedom.
When he got to the gym again his training that day was simple running. Same routine as the previous day. Get hooked to machines and run staring ahead. No thinking just getting lost in the zone. And the hallucination came again, the same one. This time he felt like electric discharges all over his body, as if his nervous system was communicating and expanding. There was a little pain going over, but that pain became pleasurable. It tickled him. His body was healing faster.
Picturing started to make sense. It saved reaction time.
***
After the run, the scientists laid him in a hospital bed in an adjacent room and attached him again to different machinery. More fluid were injected into his body while making all sorts of measurements displayed on a set of monitors next to him.
Soon Seungho couldn't read what was displayed. He felt good and that was all that mattered to him at that moment.
A couple of hours passed.
To Seungho it had been a long sleep. He felt revitalized afterwards.
He had skipped lunch but wasn't hungry. And went straight to the address Yuna had given him to meet with her, Sangmin and Hana.