Chapter 52: Encounter 1

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After work, he was heading to his studio apartment when he saw some people gathered in front of a unfinished villa. They were male and female students from a nearby high school. Sanghoon Hyun, himself, used to smoke cigarettes when he was in high school.

"They must be having a good time."

Sanghoon spoke, continued walking and, suddenly, he heard a scream.

"Gahh!"

Sanghoon took a good look at them and saw a female student among the male students. She looked really scared, and the buttons of her uniform were undone. He walked toward them.

"What's going on here?" Sanghoon asked them while walking, and two male students looked at him.

There were five male students and one female student. All of them were surrounding another female student. At once, the full picture came into view.

"Mister, go about your way!"

A high school student went over and looked at him, and Sanghoon laughed at the boy.

"Let the girl go. Then, I'll be on my way."

Sanghoon spoke, and the students laughed.

"Mister, the world is a scary place."

"I know."

One of the students threw a punch really fast, but Sanghoon dodged it easily and hit the student's stomach.

"Ugh!"

That student fell down, and another screamed and also tried to punch him.

"Why this son of a bit…"

Sanghoon tilted his head, escaped the punch and hit the student on his stomach. The two fallen students couldn't speak and were just holding on to their bellies.

"You never heard of Youngdeung District's crazy dog?" Sanghoon asked.

When he was in high school, he used to get in a lot of fights. After finishing school, he tried to fit into society, but he wasn't well educated or had any certificates. In the end, he worked as a laborer.

However, he had no regrets. Without his past rough experiences, he would not have survived that nightmare that had been pure hell.

"Kill him!"

The remaining three students attacked him, and Sanghoon couldn't dodge all of their attacks. Their punches grazed him, but he paid them back each time with a punch of his own. He hit one on the chin, and then, there were only two left.

One of them grabbed him by the waist, trying to tackle him to the ground, and another went behind him. Sanghoon kneed the one trying to tackle him.

When the student fell over, Sanghoon grabbed him by the shirt and threw him at the one who was coming from behind. Then, he punched the student on the pit of his stomach.

"Ugh!"

The student was drooling as he fell.

There were two female students, and only one of them had her shirt unbuttoned.

The other female student took a picture of Sanghoon's face with her phone and said:

"You should be more careful."

Sanghoon took her handphone, threw it on the ground, stepped on it and replied:

"No, you should be more careful. If I meet you again, I will kick all of your asses."

The female student stepped back and ran away.

"Take your friends with you," he shouted after her.

Sanghoon looked at the five fallen male students and looked at the girl with the unbuttoned shirt. She was crying, and he walked up next to her and asked:

"Are you OK?"

"Th-thanks."

"Be more careful. Don't come out late at night."

The student gave him a big bow and ran away. Sanghoon yawned and lit up a cigarette.

Thunk!

He felt a shock to the back of his skull, and the whole world shook. Sanghoon dropped to the ground, and everything turned red. Then, he saw one of the male students holding a brick.

He laughed at Sanghoon.

"Son of bitch! He thinks I'm a loser."

Sanghoon staggered while trying to get up. The blood on his neck felt warm.

"I went easy on you."

"Die, you son of a bitch!"

He swung the brick, and Sanghoon frowned.

Usually, one doesn't use a brick in a fight unless one is trying to kill. He swung the brick, so he meant to kill me.

Sanghoon already knew everything about his opponent's character.

He tried to grab the arm holding the brick, but his eyesight was shaky.

Thuck!

His forehead was torn, and he staggered again.

"Get the hell up! Stomp him!"

All five students began kicking and stepping on Sanghoon. He covered his weak spots and tried to get up, but he was losing consciousness.

Am I dying like this?

Soon, he realized that something had changed in him. He was suddenly feeling well and he pulled out a dagger from his jacket. The dagger looked red, and he swung it at the ankle of one of the students kicking him.

"Argh!"

He cut a wide gash on the student's ankle, and the high school student stepped back. The other four were surprised, looking at the scene.

"What? You are bleeding!"

"That asshole has a knife on him!"

The four remaining students all went for him. They meant to take the knife away from him, but his own wounds were healing fast. Meanwhile, the one that had his ankle slashed was bleeding out and losing consciousness.

Sanghoon got up and laughed.

"Holy shit! Yeah... Why should I be forgiving?"

His eyes were filled with madness, and the students didn't know what to do. Sanghoon walked toward them like a beast.

---

There was no work on Saturdays.

Junhyuk used the entire morning to practice using his powers and his swordsmanship. He even browsed the internet for dual-wielding swordsmanship and practiced those moves. At noon, he took his lunch, lay on his bed and checked out his tablet.

He checked his emails. The inbox was full of emails from Somin, mostly about the company. He studied them and thought he owed her a meal.

He was an expert and had survived again, so his concentration was surprisingly high. Within two hours, he had read the equivalent of one book and could point out the importance of what he had read.

He sighed.

"I have work to do."

Now, he saw the full picture on the collaboration project between ST Capsule and Robotics and he understood its impact.

It required an astronomical amount of money, but it would be a giant step for mankind.

Mechanical prosthesis would become possible.

It wasn't like creating the Six Million Dollar Man*. If man had a 'one' in a power scale, that power would increase to '1.5.'

If they increased the power output any higher, there could be accidents. The subjects would be like speeding cars. If two people held hands, one shouldn't break the other's hand, and they'd tuned the power output down for such occasions.

Junhyuk moved slightly and turned on the TV. It was time for the news.

"Breaking News: This morning, on a playground, five bodies of high school students were discovered. The cadavers looked mummified, and the National Crime Scene Investigation joined the case."

The screen was blurred to cover up the graphic content, but the report was still creepy.

"Mummified?"

Junhyuk checked it out on the internet. The news was all over it.

Someone had posted a picture of the cadavers, and they sure looked like mummies. They were skinny, only skin and bones, and there were five of them.

"Are they shooting a movie? Is this even possible in real life?" There were many comments like that on different blogs.

Junhyuk looked at the TV and frowned.

"What is the world coming to?"

Something wasn't right.

"The Dimensional Battlefield exists. I shouldn't be so surprised."

Junhyuk shook his head and got up. He would move around, develop his powers, empty his head, and think about what his opinion would be on the collaboration project.

Jangho pointed to the fact that Robotics was a military contractor, but was now involving itself in the medical industry. It couldn't be called a medical project, but it renewed people's hopes.

It wasn't cheap. It usually cost the same as a sedan, but the people who were hurt by abnormal narcolepsy would be covered and be able to get it for cheap. It was just the beginning.

Junhyuk summoned his swords and swung them, thinking it was all possible because of a new battery.

Robotics had created the new battery It worked for twenty-four hours and it was electrically rechargeable. Due to this new battery, Robotics could become the world's leading corporation.

The battery worked for military situations and for people's daily life. A smartphones' battery life was short. With this new battery, one could use a smartphone for over a week.

"It's really something else."

If they were only after profit, they wouldn't have collaborated. When this collaboration became a success, the effectiveness of the new battery would be known worldwide, and so would the Robotics' brand.

Just by selling batteries, their profits would skyrocket.

Junhyuk used spatial relocation, swung his swords and said:

"I must focus."

He was thinking of what to say about the project and wasn't focusing on his swordsmanship. He had to become stronger to survive.

When he had time, he had to focus on his powers' evolutions and on mastering his swordsmanship. He had to concentrate.

Junhyuk closed his eyes, focused and swung his swords. He was swinging them a little differently from before and he liked what he was doing, so he continued swinging.

Junhyuk was swinging his swords like there was no tomorrow when he heard a noise.

Click.

He sent his swords away and teleported to the door.

Creak.

The door opened, and Sarang was holding two bags with her. Junhyuk stared at her blankly.

"What are you doing here?"

"Big brother!"

Sarang smiled and gave him both bags, Junhyuk took them, and she took off her shoes.

She wasn't wearing her school uniform, but it was still very surprising.

"Why don't you answer me?"

"I am here to train!"

"On a weekend?"

"It's because it's the weekend," she said and took his arms. "When can I train if not on the weekend? On weekdays, I have to study till late at night."

Junhyuk knew she was speaking the truth.

"But my room is so small. We can't train here at the same time!"

Sarang merely answered:

"I have to focus my mind and I can do that on a bed."

Junhyuk sighed.

"All right. By the way," Junhyuk looked at the two bags and asked, "what's all of this?"

"It's our dinner."

Junhyuk was surprised again.

"Here?"

Sarang took off her coat. Junhyuk placed the two bags on the countertop and hung the coat.

She jumped on the bed.

"Ah! That feels good."

Junhyuk looked at her blankly. Sarang rolled on the bed and made an energy orb with her hands, and Junhyuk didn't complain anymore.

"Right. I told you could come here, so I won't complain. Practice hard."

Junhyuk checked on the door, summoned his swords and began swinging again. Sarang had a smile on her face.

She played with the energy orb in her hands and looked at Junhyuk. Her eyes were dull.

------

Six Million Dollar Man - The Six Million Dollar Man was a movie from 1973 in which an astronaut is seriously injured in a spaceship crash and gets rebuilt using robot parts.

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