In normal days, Hyun-Jae would always wake up at around 5 am every single morning. Her routine in the past few weeks has been the same. Every morning, she would leave the bed, take a shower where she could clear her mind and get herself ready for whatever insanity they would have to deal with that day, and then eat breakfast and get to work.
Handling the matters of the survivors was a tough job even if it didn't require much physical work. The responsibility of every single life was on her and Talon's shoulders. Each death, even the ones where it wasn't their fault, still weighed their backs.
After that, she would usually spend the rest of the evening till night training and honing her fighting abilities till she couldn't move anymore. Every day was the same with varying degrees of craziness every now and then that made her life far more eventful than it ever was.
However, that day was a little different from her usual days. Waking up, Hyun-Jae felt a complete lack of desire to work. Her mind was simply too focused on something else to bother with the other tasks.
Sitting on her bed, she stared outside the window. "Should I go visit him? Or is it too soon?"
Frowning at the dilemma she had, she tried to think it through. It had been exactly a day since Talon came back and she didn't talk to him yet. The news of his mother's death came like a train and it messed her up. She didn't know how she was able to go through yesterday normally with Talon in her mind.
Now that a day passed, she couldn't wait to see him any longer. She was simply too worried about him to even care.
"Sigh... I should just check up on him. I don't want him to do anything foolish in the spur of the moment." With that excuse in mind, she changed her clothes and fixed her hair to look presentable before she left her room and went upstairs to where Talon was.
As she took the turn, she noticed someone coming from the other side.
'What is she doing here?' Squinting her eyes coldly, Hyun-Jae glared at the blonde girl.
The girl was obviously Sophie who also noticed Hyun-Jae and had the same reaction as her. The two eventually stopped right in front of Talon's room as they stared at each other. The tension was immediately heavy after what happened yesterday. The entire corridor dropped a few degrees in temperature just by them standing there.
Eventually, Hyun-Jae sighed as she closed her eyes. "You came here to check on him I suppose?" She asked with a sigh.
"Yes. Are you?" Sophie asked back.
"Yes..."
"Sigh, the timing is so awkward." Murmuring under her breath, Sophie turned around with a frown.
The last person she wanted to meet here was Hyun-Jae since she was really pissed after what happened. Still, in reality, she understood why Hyun-Jae stopped her from following him. In that kind of state, Talon probably didn't want any human contact at all. Not even from people close to him.
When she thought about it, she was relieved she didn't do that and now she felt annoyed that she wronged Hyun-Jae and yet also still didn't want to admit it out of embarrassment.
Hyun-Jae noticed that shift in the girl's expression and rubbed her temples. "Listen, let's put this pitiful argument aside for now. Since we are here to see Talon, let's just do that. Ok?"
"... Yeah, that sounds like a good idea."
With that, the two finally faced the door as they nervously stared at it. Even though they were there, actually knocking on the door was the hardest part.
"... I'm fine. You don't need to worry. I'm going to get better soon." He replied as he forced a smile.
However, the two girls could easily see through it.
"Are you sure? We will always be here if you need us." Sophie spoke with a worried tone.
"Thank you, I appreciate it. But, I'm really going to be fine. I have to set my priorities straight or my mom would be really angry. She doesn't want my life to stop here because of it. I would be lying if I said that I didn't consider giving up on many things yesterday. But... My mind is clearer now.
I'm not going to stop."
At first, Talon felt like he had lost his path. But, now that he thought about it, this was but another reason why he should work even harder. He had lost his mother and it was going to remain a hole in his heart for the rest of his life. So, to make sure that it doesn't happen again to any other person he loved, he was going to become even stronger.
'I will become the strongest to ever live... So strong that no one will dare to mess with me. So strong that nothing could do anything bad to me... Not even fate itself. I will work harder than anyone for the sake of the people I care for. I will be a monster in the eyes of everyone that tries to stop me... No, not a monster, a demon...
I will spare no one.' Clenching his fists, Talon felt another fire ignited in his heart.
It wasn't a fire of optimism or hope like the other one. It was a far stronger one and also far darker. He knew that hope wasn't enough to break through and reach the peak of this world as he wished to do. He needed to be far more monstrous and brutal to actually break through the wall that was facing him now.
He had to be different from everything else so that no one could ever rival him. It might be extreme and it might be very hard, but he had made up his mind and no one was going to change that now or ever.
The two girls noticed the change deep within his eyes and they could only wonder what he had made up in his mind. Still, it was better to see him regaining the light he had lost yesterday even if it was a little different.
"Tomorrow, we are going back to work. Let's make sure things go well this time." He added. "I still would need your help. So, I'm going to ask for it again. Would you two help me?"
The two girls didn't even take a second to think it through before they nodded their heads.
"Hmph, you aren't getting rid of me any time soon." Hyun-Jae smiled.
"I'm going to do my best!" Sophie replied with a determined expression.
Seeing that, Talon blinked in surprise before he sighed. For some reason, seeing this made him feel a little bit better. The words his mom said to him in the letter resonated in his head again.
'Even if this world turns dark, there will always be people that you can rely on and care for. Don't push those people away, Talon. Give them your true self and they shall do the same.' Those words didn't take long to manifest in reality.
Talon was never alone, he had good people around him. People were ready to ride it with him till the end, even if the end was dark. People that he could call friends and lifelong companions.
'I didn't have to take long to find them, Mom... I already did.' He smiled softly as he closed his eyes.
"I feel at peace then..."
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