Jin began his speech once more but was cut short by the little girl: "I don't give a fuck, Jin! I'm going!" Jin was grinding his teeth and clenching his fists. This little girl was really a pain in the ass. Why couldn't she understand the dangers of war?! Sang-Kyu, on the side, remained silent. He was terrified by both of them and feared he would be swatted if he intervened.

Jin asked her: "Why are you so hell-bent on going there?!" and she retorted angrily: "The rewards are awesome! We aren't all inner sect disciples fawned over by hundreds! Some of us have to work to get ressources!" By now, she had had enough of Jin's antics too. How dare he try stopping her? She was going there to become stronger. How could he not understand the great opportunity it was?

While she might not have wanted to go this far, she ended up doing so. From there, they began to hurl insults at each other non-stop until Jin left in a hurry, slapping the door so hard behind him that it broke in a few pieces. Soo-Hyun was fuming to the point that she picked a piece and threw it at his back. It was a headshot. But Jin didn't even turn around.

He had been angered hard.

He did not even go to the morning lesson this day. Neither did Soo-Hyun. As for Sang-Kyu? He went to it. He was smart enough to know that he could never stop the girl. She was stubborn like a donkey... and stronger than him. He told Jin who was the only guy who might care about it and the results were bad so... He gave up. It was better to focus on becoming stronger himself.

Jin only exited his house at lunch. He had promised Chong-Oh to join him for the meal and decided to bring Han-Bi and Sang-Min on the way. He also offered In-Hye to join them. She was the new neighbour on the other side after a new wave of entrants joined the inner sect. There were a lot of other new neighbours but she was the only one without a broom up her ass. The others were too arrogant and not good company.

As the four joined Chong-Oh, they had quite the nice meal. After they finished, In-Hye couldn't help but ask Jin about something. She was quite the curious type and loved rumors. She wanted to know more about this morning's fuss: "What happened this morning, little brother Jin? You rushed out so early and came back so angry"

Jin sighed before he recounted the events to his friends. How Soo-Hyun was joining the war and how he tried to prevent it. As well as how it ended up in a fierce word battle and him being shot in the back of the head by a door piece as he left. He believed the others would be behind him on this.

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They weren't.

Han-Bi told him: "We did participate in one with Sang-Min and Chong-Oh too, what's wrong with it? There are a lot of benefits, even considering the bountiful sect rewards aside. Especially if you win" Song-Oh developped: "There are so many border areas that if there was to be real battles every time...The whole place would be nothing like it is now and no one could prosper. This format is rather good. It reduces the damage to the areas and gives ample experience to the youth. It's worth joining it while you can"

Even Sang-Min added: "You likely won't be able to join more than one in your lifetime so why don't you go too? Anyways, if you want to protect the girl, just go protect her there. You're strong enough after all"

To Jin, it felt like betrayal. How could they be on her side? Damn it! But as he listened to their words, he began to rethink his opinion. This was a different world, maybe a war was not a tragedy but an opportunity here? No, it didn't seem likely... But he kept the idea at the side. The possibility did exist.

He stopped entertaining that idea as soon as he asked them: "Are you saying there are no risks?" and was answered by " You could die of course, and many will but the ones coming back will have earned a lot "

There was no way a war could benefit people. In the end, only a few would profit. The others would die or be injured to the point that their future might be compromised.

After the meal, he didn't go back to his house nor did he go to the arena as usual. He went to the outer sect mission hall. The war recruitment posters were affixed right by the entrance in big letters.. Yeah, it was true, the rewards were good for outer disciples. It was salivating. Many would be tricked...

Jin walked to an elder supervising the missions and told him: "I want to join the war" the elder, slightly taken aback by seeing Jin, took a few seconds to react. Then, he took a paper, stamped it and gave it to the kid. There weren't many elders who did not know him. He was the young prodigy of the year who got a statue at the arena grounds. Testing his ability? Pointless. He was strong enough to join.

Jin had thought about it and found this to be the only solution. Sang-Min was right. If he was so concerned about the little girl's safety, he should go protect her himself like a man. And that's what he would do. She had been very good to him every since they met and frankly, he already considered her as someone close to him.

In the end, he didn't want her to die. Those were his true feelings. He truly felt like a big brother having to deal with his little sister's shit and protect her. He chuckled at the thought. Who knew an old man like him would join a war solely to protect a little girl?

Well, that's how it was. He knew that he would never be able to forgive himself if she died there while he had stayed here.