This man had a scruffy beard, wore a fedora, and sported gla.s.ses. His face had a scar on the lip, and had brown skin. Dragging his lanky body out of the airport, along with his suitcase, he hailed a taxi.

He was Kidlat, the a.s.sa.s.sin hired by Black Devil to kill Hayden in South Korea. In the taxi, Kidlat surprisingly spoke perfectly fluent Korean to the driver, expressing his destination to the taxi driver.

…..

Kidlat reached the Summer Dawn Hotel, where Black Devil gave him a reservation through connections. As he gained all of the information regarding Hayden, Kidlat knew that Hayden was similarly staying here in Summer Dawn Hotel, giving him a great advantage.

Settling down on his room, he started to work. He hanged out in the lobby, waiting for Hayden. He put up the façade that he was simply browsing the news on his laptop in the corner of the lobby.

While watching on his laptop, people came and go, but no sign of Hayden. He patiently waited as he thought, 'must be out, he's a tourist, after all…'

Patiently, Kidlat waited for hours, until 5:00, when Hayden popped up in the hotel lobby and walked straight to the elevators. Hayden merely took a glimpse at him as he drank his coffee, acting as if he was immersed in what he was watching on his laptop.

As a veteran, Kidlat was able to act like this with absolute composure and no gaps at all. Making contact with his target first and putting them under his surveillance was kind of his style of a.s.sa.s.sination, and not simply trying to shoot them down. He didn't want any unwanted factors getting in the way of his a.s.sa.s.sination.

Plus, all the information he was given on Hayden was only about his personal life, not his actual power, and all that he knew was that he beat five Level 2 wielders as a recently evolved Level 2 wielder.

This information alone put him in a state of wariness, cautious of Hayden's true combat capability. Although he thought it was unlikely that Hayden was a dual wielder, he wouldn't want to risk it one bit as it was still a possibility.

At the end of the day, if this one meager possibility were to be true, then all of his hard work would be for naught.

Without following Hayden, Kidlat waited for him to come back out. A few seconds later, Hayden went out, his parents in tow. That was his signal, putting away his laptop swiftly.

He augmented his senses with essence energy and listened carefully for the entrance of the hotel, the instant the sound of the door closing entered his ears, he started to move.

Stepping outside of the hotel, he found Hayden easily. Such a handsome man was conspicuous anywhere he goes. He saw Hayden and co hire a taxi.

Locking onto the plate number of the taxi, he went into an alley and activated his Ability. Bolts of electricity, or more specifically, lightning was emitted underneath his feet.

As if charging up, Kidlat crouched down. Abruptly, he jumped up, a loud thunderclap, or perhaps a sonic boom, was produced underneath his feet, startling people outside of the alleyway.

If one zoomed out far away and saw the scene of the alleyway Kidlat was in, they would see a lightning bolt coming up towards the sky, not from the sky. The problem was that the lightning bolt was too fast, making it appear as if it came from the sky instead of the ground.

Of course, this lightning bolt was Kidlat charging up into a cloud. In the cloud, he was surfing on particles as he tried to find Hayden's taxi down below.

A few seconds of observation of various taxis, he saw Hayden's taxi. Jumping from cloud to cloud with the help of his Ability, he followed them.

From buying cars, to buying groceries, to their house, Kidlat followed them silently, watching them from afar. Even the part where Hayden was drinking with his father and when he went out to enjoy the serenity of the eventide atmosphere.

"Is this person really one who killed those five people?" On the cloud, Kidlat muttered with a strange expression. It was all too tranquil! "He doesn't have the disposition of a person who killed at all, not a single killing intent is leaking out from him… There can only be two likelihoods if he did kill people, from Asw.a.n.g to Blade Dancer, and to those five people. The first one is that he's a natural, an a.s.sa.s.sin by heart, fated to be a true a.s.sa.s.sin, or maybe he just thinks that it was necessary…"

If it was easy to find such a talent, Kidlat would be more inclined to believe that it was the former. Needless to say, this was irrelevant, hence, he dropped the matter after minding it for a few measly seconds.

"Either way, he's powerful," Kidlat muttered one thing he was sure of. "Defeating a Level 2 wielder as a Level 1, and defeating five Level 2 wielders as a recently evolved Level 2, I wonder how you did it…"

As Kamay ng Lagim had no information at all of the events that had transpired during Hayden's fights, he had no idea at all what kind of powers Hayden used. That was another reason why he should be vigilant as he was literally fighting an unknown opponent.

"Idiotic Black Devil, what happened to you?" Kidlat uttered to himself, unable to believe that Black Devil had no data on Hayden's Ability whatsoever. "This was not the meticulous person I've met in the past. You've grown old…"

On that note, Kidlat grew silent as he scrutinized Hayden's peaceful eyes. He wanted to strike but was impeded by a bad premonition that if he were to strike now, he would instead be the one to suffer an injury, or worse, death.

"What is this feeling of being watched…" Kidlat s.h.i.+vered a little, staring at Hayden with a hint of fear. "Is it coming from him? What the h.e.l.l is this? Wait… No, this is his… This is his leaking killing intent!? I'm afraid of his killing intent?"

Shaking his head in disbelief, Kidlat decided to continue observing instead. "It would be the safer route to watch more instead of doing a preemptive strike... It's too risky…"

Thereupon, he opted to watch first as there were too many mysterious factors to this target of his. "This is the first worthwhile target I've encountered for a while…"

Kidlat's att.i.tude change, licking his lips. Evidently, he was invigorated, filling up with the desire to kill Hayden.

…..

Contemporaneous with Kidlat observing Hayden, inside the dormitory of CHORUS, Kim Eun-ha was in her room, watching a video of Hayden.

Her face didn't change at all even when Hayden was actually doing an astounding play as she never played MOBA games in her life, however, she does understand that Hayden was amazing with the continuous stream of kills of his character, and the continuous victories.

There was not a single loss on his belt at all in any of these videos. In fact, Hayden has never suffered any loss at all, as seen in every ending of his videos showing his win rate of 100% on all of his games.

"So this is what Mieko meant by saying he was amazing…" Eun-ha muttered. "Truly interesting…"

The next day, waking up, Kim Eun-ha stretched. It was the time for them to finally go back to their respective homes! It was their Christmas break! Was.h.i.+ng up, Kim Eun-ha exited her room and went downstairs.

The next second, the smell of food a.s.saulted Kim Eun-ha's nose. Mumbling, her stomach rumbled, "Jin-ae is cooking?'

Descending down the stairs, she saw her five foreign co-members sitting on the couch, s.h.i.+fting their positions every few breaths. Clearly, it was from the excitement of being able to see their families again. Simultaneously, Yang Jae-hwa was cleaning the house, pacing around the living room to look for dirt to clean.

Sitting down, Kim Eun-ha and the other five idly chatted with each other, making small talks here and there. A few minutes later, Jae-hwa joined them and Mi-sun went down, smacking her lips and rubbing her flat stomach.

"Let's eat!" A shout of a woman can be heard inside the kitchen. It was Bang Jin-ae, their leader, who finished cooking. "Set up the tables."

…..

On the dining room, the eleven of them were complete, eating for the last time together for the year. This was one of their traditions, eat breakfast prior to going back to their respective homes to celebrate Christmas and New Year's Eve.

"So, how is everyone faring?" Bang Jin-ae, at the end of the table. "Madoka? Sayuri? Mieko? Hsiao-han? Shu-ching? Have all of you packed all you need?"

"Yes, mom," they all answered in concert, earning some laughs from the other members.

"You…" Bang Jin-ae was a little speechless. Sighing before laughing, she continued to talk with the members. It was a familial and homey atmosphere. It was obvious that the eleven of them considered each other as family, especially since they've been together for five years already, living in the same dorm as well.

Half an hour later, the last breakfast of the year finished. Kim Eun-ha went back to her room to shower, then went to pack up her suitcase with a few clothes she wanted to take back home.

Checking everything, she bade her goodbyes the same time with Chung-hee and Mi-sun. They were the first three to leave on their respective personal cars, Kim Eun-ha's being a white futuristic model of a sedan.

Driving around, Kim Eun-ha went back to the village her family lives in and where she grew in Seongnam. Approximately half an hour later, she arrived at her house.

Parking outside of their house's allotted parking s.p.a.ce, she opened the gate and called out, "Mom, dad, I'm home!"

The front door of their house opened, two figures rus.h.i.+ng out to hug their daughter. It was her mother and father.

"How are you, oh my dear superstar?" Her mom chuckled, as she let go of Kim Eun-ha. "You go inside and catch up with your big brother."

On the side, her father stood their, beaming. Hugging him, Kim Eun-ha went inside and saw her brother on the couch, watching TV.

Sitting down, she conversed with her brother, catching up with each other and all that. Half an hour pa.s.sed, it was now 10:30 AM.

"Come with us in the grocery?" Kim Eun-ha's mom asked her and her brother. The two stared at each other shortly and came with their mother and father to go buy some groceries.

…..

Waking up, Hayden stretched his body a little. It was 3:00 in the morning. Itching to go and exercise, he changed into comfortable exercise clothes, went downstairs to the gym, and started to exercise.

Removing his Origin Limiter, Hayden started lifting the 300-kilogram barbell. For some reason, it was lighter than he thought it would be.

"Oh…" Realization dawned upon him as he remembered why the 300-kilogram weight would be pretty easy for him. "How powerful is this circulation exactly?"

Despite questioning it, Hayden didn't stop lifting the barbell, his muscles bulging at every lift as he listened to an upbeat and encouraging song from anime. 30 minutes of heavy lifting, Hayden started to squat with the 300-kilogram weights, which proceeded for the same exact half an hour.

Finis.h.i.+ng that, Hayden wanted to run on the treadmill, yet saw that the limit was actually 40 kilometers per hour. Disappointed, Hayden muttered, "Well, I guess I could only blame human limits for that, right?"

Hayden shook his head. The world record holder of the 100-meter sprint concurrently has, after all, only clocked at 50 kilometers per hour, 10 kilometers slower than Hayden's full speed post-evolution.

"Well, why waste time on that…" Hayden didn't want to waste time on something that would not benefit him at all. Moving on, he did 500 one-arm planche push ups on both of his arms, 500 tiptoe pistol squats on each of his leg, 1000 upside down sit ups, 500 pull ups each arm, and completed his exercise.

By the end of the exercise session, it was already 5:00 AM. Consequently, Hayden rested for a minute and was back in tip-top condition.

"Huh, the pa.s.sive's increase in healing capabilities is so obvious…" Hayden whispered without shock. He turned off the circulation prior to exercising, so he knew that his exhaustion was cured solely by Devil's Persistence. Regardless, he was, by now, numb to the surprises that his Abilities brought him.

Following that, Hayden took a shower measuring his body's improvements as he was curious as just how the circulation of essence energy improved his body the past few days.

Activating Divine Perception, Hayden saw that his strength indeed surged. Although it was not to the point that it was comparable to the doubling of his physical prowess that Hayden experienced during his evolution, it was still not an exaggeration to say that it wouldn't pale in comparison.

This circulation of his essence energy in conjunction with the exercises he did earlier increased his strength to 330 kilograms! On top of that, the toughness and density of his muscles can only be comparable to a thick cement wall, any regular person that would punch his body would definitely have their fists broken, even if it was a world-cla.s.s fighter!

"What the h.e.l.l is this broken s.h.i.+t?" Hayden uttered. "It seems that the effect of the circulation is much greater than I a.s.sumed…"

From the explanation of his lecturer back in Puting Araw and from the information provided by his Origin Crystal, the circulation of essence energy sounded as if it was not that overpowered, yet, experiencing it for himself, his view of it changed.

It was not that he thought that the increase in his strength was astonis.h.i.+ngly high, it was that this circulation of essence energy was everlasting, pa.s.sively and persistently enhancing his base strength!

In addition to the strength and toughness he currently possesses, his speed also benefited, increasing from 60 kilometers per hour to 64.4 kilometers per hour!

The current Hayden was not any different from a superhuman that cannot be killed. Basing from his previous fights, and then estimating the calculations for the increment on how a wielder usually increases his strength, without a doubt, Hayden could at least fight to a standstill against a regular Level 3 wielder!

Finis.h.i.+ng his shower, Hayden went out of the second floor bathroom. Subsequently, he put on clothes, took out his laptop, and checked Korean news platforms.

"What do you know? It is here!" Hayden exclaimed as he clicked on an article regarding strange sightings and sounds atop River Han last night. This was him and his fight with that cognizant. "Those eleven last night, if they're standing that close, they probably are from the same organization… I wonder who they are though… Furthermore, those four in the speedboat… If those eleven were that far from Han River, they're most probably not related to the four in the speedboat…"

Making sense of the events last night, he a.n.a.lyzed the most likely situation. His hypothesis is that the eleven animal-masked women belonged to one organization, and the four were from another one.

"The question is…" Hayden murmured, putting on a quizzical expression. "Which side is the evil one, and which side are the good guys?"

Unfortunately, his Heavenly Sense was unable to reveal the auras of the people from last night as the aurperception had the similar limitation of 50 meters. "Well, since I am new, they'd probably send people to investigate me, I just hope I wasn't followed…"

The next action Hayden took was to investigate more. Half an hour pa.s.sed, and Hayden couldn't dig any other peculiar news within South Korea. A little dismayed, Hayden switched to watching a series instead of mulling over it.

….

A few hours pa.s.sed, all Hayden did in this timeframe was eat with his parents, irregularly check his Streamlink account, watch a series and other boring things.

Unable to bear the boredom any longer, Hayden told his parents he'd be going out for a while to check out the neighborhood, as well as buy some things he wanted on the local grocery store, which he knew existed as he heard from the CEO he bought the house from.

Aside from buying something in the groceries, Hayden wanted to memorize the entirety of the village he was in, in case he ever needed it. Readying himself, Hayden ran around, keeping his speed controlled to not accidentally break the sound barrier, yet still be unperceivable to the human eye.

Within a few minutes, he has imprinted the layout of the entire village into his mind. The village was sizable, with a single huge grocery store, scattered convenience stores, and even a village square in the middle, where events are apparently held by the village committee basing from the posters from all around the square.

"That is pretty cool…" Hayden nodded his head with approval, stopping at an alley near a grocery store. "Let's see what we can get…"

Entering the grocery store, he was met with the typical grocery store, full of shelves, and were divided into different categories.

Walking around, Hayden wandered into the sweets section, checking the local chocolates he could buy. "Come to think of it, I haven't eaten chocolate the past few months…"

As he was busy the past few months, Hayden hasn't eaten any kind of sweets at all, merely eating meals he had to eat. "Wait, no, I haven't eaten any kind of sweet this year at all!"

Hayden was alarmed. Normally, he liked sweets, specifically dark chocolate. Recalling the events of this year, he did, in fact, not eat chocolate at all!

"Holy s.h.i.+t…" Shaking his head, he made a short trip to take a basket and put in some chocolates in it. Now that he was reminded of chocolate, his sweet tooth acted up. "Let's get this… Ooh, dark chocolate… Let's taste this… Let's get some for mom…"

While Hayden was shopping for chocolates, another person arrived into the sweets section, a cart was with her. Surprisingly, this woman was Kim Eun-ha!

The two didn't notice each other at first, standing at the opposite ends of the sweets section. That's when Hayden turned around and noticed Kim Eun-ha.

"What the f.u.c.k is she doing here?" Hayden's face displayed numerous emotions in a single second, changing from bemus.e.m.e.nt, to shock, to nervousness, to anxiousness, before reaching calmness when he activated Divine Perception. "What the f.u.c.k kind of coincidence is this?"

Even while calm, Hayden froze in his tracks, unmoving and stunned. It was truly an unexpected development as a memory popped up in his mind. Kim Eun-ha was born in the city of Seongnam!

"No… No way, don't tell me I bought a house in the village she lives in…" Hayden had a nigh-impossible conjecture, one that would seriously make him question the world he lived in. "Is the G.o.ddess of Fortune finally smiling at me?"

In that moment of elation, Kim Eun-ha noticed the man staring at her. She was similarly stunned to see it was the fellow she encountered at Nanlo. 'What the h.e.l.l is he doing here?'