At approximately midday, Winston found himself wandering through the hotel's expansive grounds, his thoughts still deeply preoccupied with the recent events that had transpired. Annalise's soft lips, And her heavenly scent, Winston didn't pay attention to the people who were murmuring behind his back. A smile plastered on his face from ear to ear, some people looked at him weirdly. The weather was still on the cooler side—the sun was being covered by sporadic clouds here and there. Climbing the stairs into an upper hotel ground floor, the ground floor was spacious. It had different lounge areas—some had bars and food courts. Scanning the spacious floor, a woman laughing like a hyena jolted Winston, whipping his head in that direction. Oswin was tickling the woman on a purple, puffy couch placed on a dark tile area on the left side of the spacious floor. Oswin was on her neck—he nipped and kissed along her neck in quick succession., his hands slowly moving, stroking her crossed-legged leg. Winston hesitated for a while until he cleared his throat, moving his head from her neck—Oswin with a pissed look, turned his head, and his entire mood changed when he noticed it was his friend Winston. "Yoo, Wis, long time no see, Hows training?" Oswin brushed the thigh of the woman and said to her, "I'll be back, babe, don't go anywhere."
Oswin walked toward Winston, checking back at the woman, a lustful smirk plastered on his face. He said, "What's up bro, you see this woman? I found her here. Sitting around alone, and get this, she is feeling me, man."
Rolling his eyes and shaking his head, Winston replied, "I see her, bro. She is fine."
"Right, right? She smells good, too. Listen, I am thinking of either taking her to our room or her room. We shall see, though."
Seeing how lustful Oswin was, Winston just went straight to the point. He said, "Look, bro, can you come to the training ground next week around ten in the morning."
Oswin not paying attention to Winston, he was biting his lower lip. Blowing kisses at the woman, he replied, "aright, sure. I will be there. Right.."
Winston, seeing how Oswin was not paying attention to what he was saying, he tapped the side shoulder of Oswin trying to get his attention. Oswin turned his head toward Winston. "My bad bro, you said next week around ten am, right?,"
As he recognized Oswin's focused attention, he extended his hand to pat his back and, subsequently signaling with a gesture that Oswin could now proceed back to the woman. Without waiting, Oswin slid back to the couch. Throwing his hand around the woman's shoulder, resuming where he left off.
As the daylight hours receded, Winston found himself resting his weight against the steel balcony of his room, his gaze extended towards the distant cityscape, where the luminescence of the full moon mingled with the crisp, cool air of the night, creating a scene that felt both profoundly real and strangely ordinary, as if he were simply bathing in the gentle glow of the moon. From his room, his gaze scanned downwards, becoming fixed upon two individuals who were emerging from a section of the premises that customers were prohibited from accessing. One was chain-smoking with his pack in his hand, wearing casual clothes, and the other figure wore a black sweater from head and toe and black sneakers. Squinting his eyes curiously, he wished he could have eavesdropped on their conversation. They stood there for a while beaming his attention to him, trying to read their lips.
"How are you feeling?" a raspy, rugged voice said, blowing smoke with his hand in his pocket.
With a calm, deep tone, Maximilian said over his shoulder, "I am good, I can hear everything and my senses are all high."
"That's the purpose of that thing, remember not to overdo it. We only did a trial run with it on the training field. It will take two hours until the effect fully dissolves from your system."
"I can believe there is such a thing in the world, where it can give supernatural powers. And I am using a trial run."
Puffing out smoke, with a calm voice, "Basically, on the trail runs, you are the sixth person to use it."
Turning around to face the striker coach, in a curious voice, he asked, "What happened to those people?"
"From what I heard, they are doing fine," the striker coach said with a sinister look, puffing out smoke. He continued, "But if anything happened to them, I will tell you."
"Okay, I will crush….." Maximillian said, looking up, both Winston and Winston locked eyes. With a smirk, he opened his palm, pointing at Winston and clenched it. Winston, without flinching he smirks back at Maximilian. When the striker coach tilted up his head, letting out a smoke, he wasn't moved, he glanced with a natural look. Maximilian, without moving he asked, "You said it only for two hours."
Puffing out smoke, the striker coach said. "That what I heard, that when the full effect depletes,"
"Excellent, truly excellent," Maximilian commented with a sly chuckle as he leisurely ascended the steps, his hand tucked casually into his pocket. Winston watched them until they turned a corner, "I wonder what they are planning," muttered to himself, he felt his stomach twisting, he knew they were up to something, and it was bad.
After a period of time had passed, he positioned himself on his bed with his legs crossed and his head facing upwards, while he patiently awaited night to fall. He is still struggling to sleep, but this time he is starting to get used to it—and he didn't want to rely on sleeping pills. His method for passing the time consisted of him resting on his bed and reliving memories of what he had learned or the contests in which he had played. Following the successful restoration of the system, he would subsequently spend the entirety of each night gazing intently at it. He eventually grew tired of the system, particularly because it offered him very little new information beyond what he had already learned.
With the dawn of a new day, he commenced his usual routine by promptly washing himself and preparing his belongings before rushing down the stairs. Walking on the hotel's ground floor, glancing over the receptionist's desk. Both Winston and Annalise locked eyes, walking over to the receptionist's desk. Just as Winston was preparing to speak, Dumi unexpectedly emerged from the other side of the desk, thus interrupting him. "Good, you here let's go, the area we are going to will take us two hours to get there." said, Dumi patting back, he looked at Annalise, "honey we will be late, so take an Uber home. Okay, love you,"
"Drive safely," said Annalise in a soft voice
As they both made their way toward the entrance door of the hotel, he offered a gesture of farewell with his hand. Dumi asked, "I hope you are ready for the physical training."
As Winston gripped his gym bag, a question formed in his mind regarding the nature of the physical exercises Dumi intended to lead him through this time. He replied, "I am pumped, bring it on, I am ready."
"Attaboy, that what I love to hear, C'mon get in the car, we have to hit the highway before traffic."
As the car jostled Dumi, who was serenely humming a smooth jazz tune, Winston's gaze drifted to the side, observing the vehicle's surroundings, which included a distant house enveloped by untamed vegetation. Gazing out of the window, Winston observed the tree branches making contact with the car's glass surfaces, while the melodic strains of the smooth guitar jazz tune effectively drowned out the harsh, screeching noise. Dumi rhythmically tapped the steering wheel, feeling neither scared nor nervous, unlike Winston, who felt unnerved by the narrow, ragged road. The entire scene was like a tourist guide driving a tourist through the Amazon jungle—the road was narrow with sharp turns that made the car seem like it was driving on two wheels. "Oh, look, we are here."
Said Dumi head gesturing to Winston, the house he saw from afar was now a big house nearly similar to that of Dumi. Thick bushes fenced the house, and Winston tried to squint his eyes, but he could see nothing. Because the dense foliage obscured his vision, he experienced an intensification of his anxiety. Why do I feel like things are about to be hard, and Dumi hasn't said anything ever since we drove here?