Ki-hoon stood in the shade of the awning, watching his grandson's morning training session. In his hand, he held a paper with notes from past lessons. The mastery of the previous generation was being passed on to the new, and he took pride in seeing Justin's development.

Suddenly, his attention was drawn to a flashing red light on the security system monitor. Ki-hoon approached it, pressed a button, and the screen displayed a view of the entrance gates. "Looks like you have some visitors, kid," he said, pointing at the monitor.

Justin, puzzled, headed towards the entrance. He was dressed in his training uniform and his face revealed mixed feelings of joy and hesitation. "It seems like Mom decided to pay a visit," he muttered to himself, his gaze tinged with sadness.

As Justin reached the gates, he felt his heart racing. "What should I say to her?" he wondered, trying to find the right words.

He slowly opened the gates.

And then, in the blink of an eye...

A punch to the jaw.

Something in Justin's mind seemed to explode. The speed and precision of the strike were unimaginable. He felt his body losing stability.

A second strike to the carotid artery.

He began to fall headfirst, but before the world plunged into darkness, he smiled...

Only one person could have done this, and he knew her name - Yumi Kimura, his beloved.

In the moment when he was regaining consciousness, he heard voices. Voices evaluating his weakness and lack of skill. Lying on a soft surface, he opened his eyes and saw an "angel."

"Am I dead?" he whispered, not daring to move.

Another blow to the head, but gentle.

"You won't get rid of me that easily," Yumi said, continuing petting his head as it rested on her lap.

"You have a very peculiar way of expressing love, you know..." Justin mumbled, trying to make sense of what had happened.

She smiled, gazing deeply into his eyes. "Why did you leave without telling me?"

"I had my reasons," Justin replied, attempting to conceal his unease.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Oh yes, of course, 'reasons,'" Ki-hoon sarcastically chimed in, trying to hide a smile as he prepared tea.

"What kind of reasons could this weakling have?" Ki-hoon chuckled, pointing at Justin.

Only Yumi remained composed, simply smiling. "Jas, I understand, but you could have at least warned me. You know there's no network access here," she said, gesturing toward Ki-hoon.

"Of course not! No tracking devices here," the old man proudly declared.

Justin knelt down, his head spinning. "So you came to visit me like this?" he asked, his eyes continuing to watch her every move.

"And how else?" she replied with a smile.

"How long will you be with us, miss Kimura?" Ki-hoon inquired.

"With your permission, until this fool decides to come back home," Yumi replied, setting her condition.

"I'd gladly welcome guests like you, dear," the old man said, reminiscing about old times. "My comrade's granddaughter can stay here as long as she wishes. By the way, how's that 'madman' doing?"

Yumi was cautious in her response, knowing why Ki-hoon called him a "madman." "It could be better, Mr. Ki-hoon," she said, sighing at the recent difficult times.

"Time spares no one," Ki-hoon said, affectionately patting her shoulder. He inadvertently placed a tray with tea on the table using his mechanical hand, catching her attention.

Yumi couldn't help but be amazed at how skillfully he managed his prosthetics. She pointed to them. "And how do you handle these?" she asked, surprised and impressed.

"Just like this," the old man said, now indicating his mechanical leg, tapping on it. "I haven't quite gotten used to it after several years, but I'm in the process."

"Ten years ago, this would have seemed impossible, and now look at me," the old man cheerfully rotated his prosthetics in different directions and axes. He even winked at Yumi, as if showcasing his skills.

"With these gadgets, you could take on the front lines," he added with a smirk.

"Will you be causing trouble out there again?" Justin asked the old man, laughing.

"I'd rather you not know the kind of trouble I could cause," the old man replied with pride, a spark of nostalgia in his eyes as he reminisced about the past.

----

Author's Note:

This chapter marks the end of my experiment with "short" chapters. For the past three weeks, I've been trying to release a new chapter every two days to avoid taking up too much of your and my time. However, I'm starting to face scheduling challenges, so I'm transitioning to one, more detailed and comprehensive chapter per week. This decision is driven by a lack of time, but I hope it will allow me to create higher-quality content.

Additionally, I'm in the process of setting up a Patreon where you can support my project with donations and gain access to additional chapters. I'll also provide illustrations for each chapter, possibly with multiple variations to immerse you further in the story. For a specific amount, you can even influence the storyline and add your own character to my narrative if that interests you.

Links to my Patreon will be included at the end of the next chapter in a week's time.

Thank you for reading my story, and please leave your feedback (even in dm) and suggestions for the upcoming chapters. Your comments are highly valuable to me.

Thank you!

P.S. All of this characters were just an INTRO)))