## Chapter 133 – Attraction (9)
I practically run, weaving through people towards the beach Chanwoo mentioned.
Though the tall buildings obscure my view, I can feel ‘that bastard’ as I get closer.
Of all the fruits to be left in this country, it had to be his. This is dangerous. I need to tell Chanwoo.
I need to warn him to never fight that bastard.
“How is it? Did he pick up?!”
“No, it’s not connecting. Why? You said you’d tell me while we walked?”
Chaeyoon, who’s been following me, takes the phone from her ear and asks with an anxious expression.
I thought walking wouldn’t get us there in time, so I tried calling, but of course, it’s not working…
…Okay, calm down for now. If I show her this side of me, she’ll only get more anxious.
First, I need to explain the situation to Chaeyoon.
Lost in my frantic thoughts, the scenery around us has changed considerably.
The crowd that surrounded us has noticeably thinned, leaving only the two of us,
and a quiet, tree-lined street stretches out, with hardly any cars passing by.
I slow my pace and wait for Chaeyoon, who’s been trailing behind.
I gradually match her stride, and once we’re side by side, I quietly start to speak.
“…You know Chanwoo went to that lab because of the fruit, right?”
“Of course, I know that, but why…?”
“The guy inside the fruit at that lab is one of the three most dangerous guys among us.
The ones who stirred up trouble and caused wars among our old comrades.
I can feel his power strongly at the lab Chanwoo went to.”
“…Does that mean…”
“That bastard’s already been resurrected in this world. It seems like he’s in a human body, like me.
So, he’s ‘still’ safe, but we don’t know when he’ll fully emerge. We need to hurry.”
“Wait! Just a minute! Don’t you think you’re being too hasty?”
Chaeyoon grabs my wrist as I try to rush off again.
She seems to find my excessive anxiety strange.
“Ehm, even if he’s that dangerous, Oppa has Unni’s power and another person’s power, so he has the strength of two people…”
“Even then, he can’t win. Even Bill and I couldn’t beat him when we fought him together in the past.
He can never beat that guy with just the two of our powers.”
A long time ago, Bill and I joined forces to fight ‘that bastard’ to prevent a war.
The result was defeat, as I just said, a defeat that seemed almost pathetic.
If the Root King hadn’t come to help, I probably wouldn’t be here now.
No matter how much of our power Chanwoo has, he’ll lose if that bastard regains his complete form.
“Let’s go, we need to get the others.”
I grab Chaeyoon’s hand, her face pale and blank, and run down the deserted tree-lined street.
———————————————
“Ugh?!”
I felt like my body was floating because of a strong gust of wind. At first, I thought Rije had simply knocked me away.
So, I was waiting for the moment my feet touched the ground to prepare for a counterattack, but
no matter how long I waited, my feet didn’t touch the ground. Only then did I think it was strange and look down…
I was floating. Literally, my whole body was floating in the air.
But it’s not like my body was moving on its own. I couldn’t even twitch a finger.
“…You’re the same kind of guy.”
“Eek?!”
While I was panicking about my body floating in the air and not moving as I wanted,
I heard Rije’s voice, her expression cold, and the moment I looked ahead,
she lightly raised her hand and waved it as if she was chasing away a fly.
My body moved. Floating in the air, swaying along with her gestures.
I wish the intensity was as gentle as her movements.
“Ugh?!! Ugh!”
Following her gestures, my body crashed into the right wall, then the left wall.
My body was rapidly slamming left, right, left, right, and then left again.
Is this what it feels like to jump from a five-story building? The pain of my lungs being crushed makes it hard to breathe.
“You’re, the same, kind of guy.”
Rije’s eyes, which had been repeating those incomprehensible words from earlier, are glowing purple as she slams me around.
Is this the power of the man inside the fruit she ate? Damn, it’s awesome…!
“Ugh…! Cough…! Haa…”
Rije finally lets me down after slamming me into the right and left walls so hard that they’re almost collapsing.
She comes back to me, bends her knees, and grabs my chin, forcing me to make eye contact.
Her eyes, still coldly fixed, meet mine, and a brief silence flows.
“…How is it? Do you think you can beat me? Think carefully now. I’m giving you a second chance.”
“…No matter what you say, I’m not working with you.”
“No, not that. I’m giving you a chance to apologize.”
“What…?”
This woman is still spouting incomprehensible words. What is she even saying?
A chance to apologize suddenly given to me, what am I supposed to answer here?
Oh well, whatever.
I lie my body on the floor and quickly turn over, removing her hand that was grabbing my chin.
I roll my whole body once and raise one finger, aiming it at her face, then
I unleash all the electricity I had been gathering since entering this lab at once.
A finger emitting a light so intense that it could burn your eyes out, with an enormous amount of energy gathered.
The sharp current that started to pour out of that finger heads straight for her eyes.
“….Huh?”
“…”
As if time had stopped, the light froze right in front of her eyes.
The crackling current also stopped moving, frozen in place. What the hell…?
“You wasted your second chance, I’m not holding back anymore.”
Rije tilts her head to the side, leaving the frozen current in place.
Only then does the high-voltage bullet pass by the side of her head.
The bullet that missed Rije shows its power by melting through multiple layers of the lab wall.
I’m so dumbfounded that I’m staring blankly at the scene when I suddenly snap back to reality as a leg kicks me in the stomach.
I crash into the corridor, breaking through the wall behind me.
“Ugh…!”
I barely manage to lift my staggering body and cough out the dust I inhaled.
But sharpened steel shards fly towards me without giving me even a small moment to breathe.
I can’t possibly block them with my hands because of their speed, so I use my blue power.
The tree branches that sprouted from under my feet barely managed to block them.
I clench my fist and cover it with the remaining electricity, sensing a presence behind the wooden wall I created.
The fist I threw with all my might broke through the branches and hit what was behind it.
“…What is this?”
But I didn’t feel like I hit anything.
It felt like I was punching in deep water, like the power wasn’t being applied as I wanted…
I was about to pull my fist back because of that strange feeling, but my fist wouldn’t come out.
“…I was trying to be considerate of you.”
“Aaaaaaah!!”
My fist beyond the wooden wall, it wasn’t visible, but it was definitely twisted into a grotesque shape.
Rije’s soft voice, coming from beyond the wall, was buried and scattered by my screams.
I suppress my screams, leaning against the wall from the pain of my bones breaking and piercing through my flesh.
“You’ve lived a brighter, better life than me, but I didn’t hate you.
And you’re weaker than me, and nothing special, but I tried to treat you like a friend.
I was thinking of you and trying to be considerate of you this much, but you’re the one who rejected it.”
“…Ugh…!”
Just now, I finally realized the true nature of the power she possesses.
The power to lift people into the air and control everything at will without even touching it.
Having directly experienced the invisible power, a scene I saw on TV flashed through my mind.
Psychokinesis, the kind that magicians in black clothes use to bend spoons, that’s exactly it…!
“But that man told me that killing you would be too big of a loss.
I wonder if we can put the man in the machine that uncle made? If not, I’ll just ask him to make one like that.
I wanted to have a ‘human’ friend that I could talk to if possible, but I can’t help it if you don’t want to.
Like that kid I saw earlier, you’re also going to become my friend with an empty brain.”
Damn it, my arm won’t move, and I can’t even use my strength properly.
I barely figured out the nature of her power, but I can’t think of a way to deal with it.
I know it’s ‘something invisible’ like when I fought the butterfly, but
how am I supposed to block something that doesn’t even have a shape, unlike the butterfly’s hair?
“Don’t worry, I’ll cherish you properly. So, just stay still…”
I swallow hard and tense up at the sound of footsteps approaching me.
I was saving my strength for a last-ditch effort, but Rije suddenly trails off and stops walking.
“…How did you guys get here? NO. 1 was definitely blocking you…”
“We didn’t know the way, so we just smashed everything while coming, you bitch.”
“I told you something felt fishy, didn’t I? Unni?”
Familiar voices echo muffledly from beyond the wall.
It was Seohee and Nabi.
——————————————————–
“…Unni, is it okay for us to be like this?”
“I don’t know either, but what else can we do?”
“…”
Sua, Nabi, and I are sitting in a row on chairs in a fairly comfortable and cozy space.
That bastard Chanwoo followed that idol girl, so we’re stuck waiting here.
Seriously, why did he even bring us along if this was going to happen? He said, ‘It might be dangerous, so be careful.’ Seriously.
“…But, why are you guys still standing there like that?”
“Is there anything that is making you uncomfortable?”
“It’s uncomfortable that you guys are still standing there.”
I glare at the two robots standing in front of us guarding the door and say that.
…If you’re going to monitor us, do it discreetly, or at least make up a plausible lie.
Do they really think they look like they’re welcoming guests like that?
I scoff and express my absurd feelings. But would robots even understand this…
“…It’s taking a long time.”
“Yeah, how long has it been?”
“…30 minutes.”
“You were counting?”
Sua tells us the time that has passed in a room without a clock.
I thought she was sleeping since she had been quietly closing her eyes until now…
But it’s already been 30 minutes? What is that bastard Im Chanwoo doing…
“…!!”
“Agh, you scared me.”
I was startled by Sua, who suddenly opened her eyes wide and jumped up.
Why is she suddenly like this again? Her face looks pale…
“What’s wrong all of a sudden?”
“…Father.”
“What?”
“Father is in danger…!”
If it’s Father… Im Chanwoo…
“Hey, you guys.”
“Is there something wrong?”
“Get out of the way, we need to leave.”
“…I’m sorry, but guest, we were told not to let you out of the waiting room…”
I rush at the robot who is showing coercive behavior with polite words and cut it in half.
Sua turned the other robot into a pile of scrap metal in an instant.
We make eye contact with each other and then nod. It seems like something has gone wrong with Im Chanwoo.
I use my strength to open the sliding machine door and try to go outside.
“…You cannot leave.”
A man in a black suit was standing there.
At the same time as making eye contact with that man, Sua punched the man in the face.
“Go quickly!”
“Hey, Nabi! Follow me!!”
“Yes!”
After entrusting the man to Sua, I head to Chanwoo with Nabi.
————————————————
“…I see, so that’s what happened, then shall I test these kids on you guys too?”
Several women wearing the same outfits as that idol girl from earlier appeared around Rije as she said that.
All the same presence and reaction, about five of them, these women are all bio-weapons?
So, was that why they were having robots kidnap women?
“Kids, I’ll leave it to you. It would be nice if you could spare them if possible, but kill them if you really can’t.”
“Yes, I understand.”
“Good, then shall you come with me?”
Rije breaks the wooden wall with psychokinesis and grabs my neck, lifting me up.
Damn it, I can’t even move a finger. I can’t even use my strength.
I can’t breathe, and my brain is gradually running out of oxygen, so my vision is blurring.
Is this power stronger than combining Virgilago and Lapus’s powers?
Then how do I beat this, how the hell do I…
…..
