“So why me?” Lee Jun asked as he watched with boredom the scenery in the distance being left behind.
“…” Ji Woo didn’t answer back immediately. She was about to reply that she had been watching him forever….but then that would only sound so misleading. “Because you gave in so easily.”
Lee Jun turned and looked at her with skepticism. He understood somethings better than others. This was one of them. She probably took pity on him and thoughtlessly helped him, like when a little child tries to help a stray pup.
“I mean that you were being bullied and didn’t try resisting! Why didn’t you try resisting them!”
“You don’t know anything.” Lee Jun said as he turned away, he wasn’t really watching the scenery. His eyes were slightly dilated while he was lost in thoughts. The situation could still be salvaged. If he apologizes to Sam next week everything could go back to being normal…or at the very least the punishment won’t be as severe.
“I know you are a coward!” Ji Woo snapped. She was being nice and kind. She even went out of her war to help Lee Jun and this is how she was being thanked! She wouldn’t accept it.
“…” Lee Jun didn’t argue back. He could coolly analyze the situation and agree with her statement. He was indeed a coward. “I agree.” He replied his voice was steady not flowing with any emotion. It wasn’t cold either nor did it sound like a weakling giving in. It was just him in his most rationale of senses.
However, to a young outsider like Ji Woo, it had quite the opposite effect. She ended up thinking she bullied Lee Jun into agreeing with her.
“I didn’t mean it like that!” She replied while slightly flustered.
“Everything about the real world is unfair, so is it so wrong to be afraid of such a scary world?” Lee Jun asked while completely absorbed in his thoughts. He wasn’t even aware that he spoke out aloud his thoughts.
“…” Ji Woo had no reply. She felt that question had a more deeper meaning to it and it was something that just completely over her. As she stared at Lee Jun, her chest tightened in pain. Was it the painful look his eyes that she felt? Or something else? She did not know. She just wanted to hug him.
“Do we have the choice to choose whom we can be born to, or where or to what circumstances. All this is unfairly decided without our consultation.” Lee Jun grimly smirked.
Troubled by the darkness in Lee Jun’s heart Ji Woo searched for a retort, “Destiny is something we can created with our strength! Even if we are born into unfair circumstances, we can overcome it with our strength.”
“…” Lee Jun kept quiet. He really felt he was talking to a wall. ‘Where does that never ending flow of optimist thought come from’ He wondered.
“Have you heard of Lee Hyun?” Ji Woo asked Lee Jun.
Lee Jun looked at her suspiciously and nodded. He didn’t think that people took interest in developers anymore, no less an individual. Royal Road Elementarem Vim was an unpopular Korean game, if people knew the game title, he would consider it a big deal but to know the name of the developer is something else altogether… ‘Maybe this isn’t an ordinary girl?’ Lee Jun thought to himself. ‘Maybe she is some sort of VR gaming otaku?’
“Not many people know this but he did not have parents from young. He had an ailing grandmother and sister to look after. He worked from a young age to look after them and do you know what he has accomplished?” Ji Woo proudly went on. “He is CEO of Unicorn Corp. He became strong with his own strength. He wrote his own destiny!” There was a certain romantic look in her eyes every time she referred to Lee Hyun.
“…” Lee Jun had to hand it to her she just used an ace card. Lee Hyun was one of his role models, so this information wasn’t a secret to him; he dug up everything he could about Lee Hyun as stalker would. However, he could not see himself being another Lee Hyun. Not in this world, at least in RREV he had a chance.
“And what if you could never become strong? What if you are born weak?” Lee Jun asked, his expression revealed his apathy.
“Everyone is born weak. You just have to become stronger. How can you not become stronger.” Ji Woo coolly replied. Her dojo taught her more than just physical training. Training of the spirit was considered equally important. She had the some of the same questions Lee Jun did and through training she found the answers. She was more than happy to share her knowledge with someone so similar to her.
“You keep saying become stronger, so what is strength?” Lee Jun was past brooding over the past. Once he reached the conclusion that there was nothing that can be done about spilt milk, he decided to question Ji Woo’s mental optimism and break it down as punishment.
“Master said it’s something we must find out for ourselves and that not all answers can be spoon fed. So my definition of strength might not be the strength you are looking for.”
Lee Jun expressions eased and he smiled at Ji Woo. He was satisfied with her response. Most of the people he met would impose their ideals on to others eliminating free thought. However, this answer seemed most appropriate to him. ‘Strength is something I must discover myself. What an interesting thought.’
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
It had been a long time since he had smiled, his muscles almost hurt as he did. It had been a longer while that he found himself with someone he was comfortable with. Lee Jun wasn’t sure whether he could consider her a friend as yet, but he did know she wasn’t an enemy…though at the very least she was an idiot who would interfere in anyone’s life.
Seeing Lee Jun’s smile, eased Ji Woo too. She was finding it extremely difficult to encourage him and keep him away from depressing thoughts. “So why did you agree to come?” She asked slowly.
Lee Jun’s face turned red in embarrassment. He didn’t know how to tell Ji Woo that she was so strong that he could not break away from her grip and ended up being dragged into the taxi with her.
Ji Woo gave Lee Jun a perplexed looked. She did not understand Lee Jun.
“So this is it….” Lee Jun looked through the window of the taxi as it came to a halt outside two large wooden doors.
After paying the cab, they entered the dojang. Lee Jun had to wait for Ji Woo to push the door open as it was too heavy for him to push. Ji Woo didn’t notice that though, she just thought Lee Jun was being polite.
As they entered the dojang, Lee Jun saw many muscular men training inside. Some were practicing punches against a wooden pole and others were practicing balance on a single leg while standing on a pole. With their rhythmic and synchronized movements, they could have passed off as a circus had it not been for their bulging muscles and scars.
“They look like delinquents…” Lee Jun lowered his voice as he began to regret his decision to come here.
"Shhh" Ji Woo elbowed him in the torso. “I’ll go look for master." Ji Woo said as she ditched him. She handed him the new members form from the administration office and left him near the gate.
Lee Jun began regretting this. He looked completely out of place. Everyone present looked at least four to five years older than him. He began wondering if this was his funeral grounds where he would be buried. All the practitioners looked like they could make Tall Sam squeak like a mouse. Then what about him? He would be considered no more than an ant to them. Would he be squashed like an insignificant bug that hits the windscreen of a moving car only to be wiped of the wipers? As his imagination grew wild, the Dojang started looking less like a dojang and more like a bully haven. Suddenly, the rhythmic punches sounded a lot louder than they were. It was as if they were pounding the pole harder to send a message to him; that they would pound him hard like this.
As Lee Jun turned back and headed towards the exit. He heard a voice calling out behind him “Who are you?” Lee turned around to find a particularly nasty looking person calling out to him. The person was an instructor who had been watching Lee Jun since the time he entered the dojang with Ji Woo.
The man looked down at Lee Jun’s hand and saw the new members form. “OH, YOU MUST BE A NEW DISCIPLE TOO LET’S GO GREET THE MASTER!” The man shouted in a loud voice as he grabbed Lee Jun’s hand. He desperately looked around for Ji Woo but she was nowhere to be seen.
“Master I brought us a new disciple!” the person shouted as he excitedly dragged Lee towards the middle of the dojang.
Four elderly muscular men dressed in plain white keikogi stared at Lee Jun with rage. They too had been watching Lee Jun ever since he entered the dojang with their precious Ji Woo. There was anger in their eyes that Lee Jun did not comprehend, scarring the living wits out of Lee Jun. It wasn't just the masters but other practitioners too! Lee Jun could feel the killing intent of their gaze against his back. 'Why me!?'
Like a lost and frightened lamb that instinctively knew it was in danger of being killed by a ferocious predator at that moment all that was going through Lee Jun’s mind was “I’m screwed”.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Authors Note:
1. muahahahahaha....
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Connect to Royal Road – Elementarem Vim next Chapter?YesNo
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------