Chapter 24: Chapter 24- Plan And Date
"What?! President, please don't follow his recklessness. You're putting your life in danger." Chin-Hwa was shocked to see that Hyun-Jae was still adamant about going with Talon. No, she wasn't only adamant, she didn't even hesitate to say that even though she was clearly afraid of whatever could be lurking in that place.
'Why? Why are you still going?!' Chin-Hwa felt his throat tighten just from seeing Hyun-Jae act this way.
"I have to. I don't want to stay here forever. My mother is waiting for me. My fear isn't enough of a reason to not go. I will be fine." Hyun-Jae.
"But, pre-"
"Enough!" Finally, Hyun-Jae lost it and raised her voice a little as she replied with a harsh tone. Her eyes flashed with a hint of anger as she stared at Chin-Hwa. "This topic is over."
"Hold on, guys. What topic?" Soomin finally found the opportunity to speak. "Where are you going, president?"
"W-What is going on here?" Shin-Il was worried to see his two friends arguing. He had never witnessed Hyun-Jae and Chin-Hwa fighting like this before.
He knew that they were childhood friends and their families were close. Chin-Hwa also seemed to have a very deep respect and admiration for Hyun-Jae which was the reason why he became her vice president.
Hyun-Jae looked at them before she exhaled a long breath and finally revealed everything they were planning. When she finished talking, Soomin and Shin-Il's expressions changed.
"Are you serious, president?" Soomin murmured in disbelief.
"Yes. This is our only choice here. I and Talon will handle the matter and get the objective while you guys maintain this place."
"It's too dangerous..." Shin-Il added.
"I know. But, what's not dangerous in this current world? We are as good as dead if we stay stuck here. Perhaps there is already a safer and better place somewhere in South Korea where our families are. Are we really going to stay here simply and do nothing?" She asked.
"..." Shin-Il and Soomin looked away with a difficult expression. In reality, they didn't want to stay there.
They had people they were worried sick about. But, at the same time, the fear of what could be outside this warehouse was still looming over their heads.
Seeing Hyun-Jae's determination, they felt ashamed of their own cowardice.
"We're a team. Let's work together to survive, ok?" Hyun-Jae's tone became a little softer as she talked to them.
The two nodded their heads in understanding. They couldn't bring themselves to oppose Hyun-Jae's choice. She wasn't doing it only for herself but for them too.
As for Chin-Hwa, he could only swallow his dissatisfaction and stay silent. No matter how much he was worried about her, Hyun-Jae wasn't listening at all.
'It's all because of that guy!! He's pulling her toward the most reckless situations!' He thought to himself as he looked at Talon. He never thought it was possible but his hatred for Talon was only growing bigger and bigger by the minute. He simply couldn't bear to even look at him.
'Goddamit!'
***
"What do you think, Acrypha? What could that laughing or crying be?" Talon asked Acrypha as he sat down.
"The possibilities are endless. There are millions of creatures who can make sounds akin to laughing or crying. Trying to determine which one the Dimension Walker evolved into would be impossible." She replied.
"Sigh, I thought so." Talon shook his head as he ran his hand through his hair. "I guess my best bet is to just go there and deal with whatever could be there."
"You will have to be careful. The speed at which the earth is getting integrated is alarming."
"Hm? What do you mean?"
"That insect you fought. It should've only appeared after a few days, not on the same day. I've never come across something like this before." Acrypha said.
"Wait wait... You mean that there is something weird going on?" Talon asked in confusion.
"Abnormal is the right word. Everything that's happening is abnormal." Acrypha nodded her head.
"But why?"
"I don't know myself. I will have to look into it more. For now, keep in mind that Dimension Walkers are evolving faster than normal."
'Shit, that's really bad. If they're evolving fast that means that I might meet something far stronger than me way too early.' Talon cursed inwardly.
In fact, Talon has already met two enemies that were overwhelmingly stronger than him. The level 5 Dimension Walker and the level 7 Imagdurel Mosquito, both took him everything to beat, and was even heavily injured in both fights.
He was put against two stronger enemies in a matter of a few hours, that was already alarming as it is. So, hearing that this was simply the beginning and that things were going to get worse, he could only sigh.
"Talon?" As he was like that, he heard Hyun-Jae's voice which made him look up. The beautiful president was searching for him.
"Our princess came to talk to you," Acrypha said sarcastically.
"Your humor is odd, Acrypha." Talon commented as he stood up.
"My humor made billions of creatures laugh. What are you even saying?" Acrypha retorted proudly.
"You mean the same creatures that like to go out naked?" He asked back with a small smile.
"... Tsk!" Acrypha looked away with a dissatisfied expression.
"Haha, we're even now."
"Not for long."
"Yeah, yeah."
After that, Talon walked toward Hyun-Jae who seemed eager to talk to him about something.
"What's up? Did you change your mind?" He asked.
Talon was expecting to hear Hyun-Jae deciding to back out and although that was going to be unfortunate, it wasn't going to change Talon's plan. He was going to the university whether alone or with her.
However, much to his surprise, Hyun-Jae shook her head. "I'm still going. We already had an agreement, I won't back out of it because of something like this." She said.
"..." Talon blinked in surprise as he stared at Hyun-Jae silently.
"What?" The girl was confused by his reaction.
"No... I just thought you would decide to stay here with how bad the situation could be on the campus." Talon said.
"I'm not a coward, Talon. If we agree on something, then I'm fulfilling my side of it no matter what. Even if it means putting my life on the line." Hyun-Jae answered with a mysteriously harsh tone. It wasn't directed at Talon and instead seemed like it stemmed from something deep within Hyun-Jae's heart that he didn't know about.
"I see. I'm sorry for doubting you then. Let's do this." He nodded his head as he extended his hand for a handshake.
Hyun-Jae looked down at his hand for a moment as she seemed hesitant. Then, she slowly extended her hand and carefully shook his hand. Her anxious eyes seemed to relax when she touched his hand.
"Let's get everyone out of here." She nodded her head in agreement.
As the two stared at each other, they conveyed their intentions clearly through that contact. To survive and save everyone along with them and most importantly, for a better future.
"But before that, shouldn't we plan our route to the campus and how we're going to infiltrate it?" Talon asked as he titled his head.
"Yes, that's the second matter I came here for. We need to plan the path because I want to go the day after tomorrow if possible."
"Fine by me," Talon replied.
'Most of my injuries are already feeling way better and the rest should be healed by the time we have to leave.' He thought to himself.
"Good. As for the path, here." Approaching a wooden box, Hyun-Jae pulled out her phone and opened the map showing where they were.
Talon stood next to her as he bent down to look. Because the box was small and the phone only showed from one angle, they had to be very close to each other and their shoulders would touch every now and then.
Each time that happened, Hyun-Jae would look at Talon for a moment before she would look down.
"Ehem, I thought about it carefully and I think that the best and shortest path to the university isn't actually the neighborhood alleys. But, somewhere different."
"Somewhere different?" Talon raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, the neighborhood is already filled to the brim with Dimension Walkers, It is almost impossible to avoid them as they seem to move in hordes rather than individually."
"That's true."
Initially, Talon thought using the alleys and broken houses, they could move toward the campus with a technically safe route. However, after what he saw outside when Ryan Seok and his companions came to the warehouse, he was certain that it wasn't going to be as easy as that.
'It's as if their numbers multiplied tens of times in a matter of hours.' Talon thought to himself with a frown.
"So, what do you suggest?" He finally focused on Hyun-Jae again and asked.
"Our best route is not on the ground... Instead, we should go underground."
"Underground?" Talon squinted his eyes as he thought about her words for a second before he finally realized what she meant. "The Underground subway station." He murmured.
Hyun-Jae nodded her head. "Exactly. It's the safest route since there shouldn't be too many people there and we can also use one of the metros down there to cross the distance to the university in minutes rather than running on foot which could take way longer."
When Hyun-Jae finished explaining, she found Talon staring at her silently.
"What?" She asked with a subtly flustered look that she hid very well.
"You're really smart." He said in a serious tone. "No wonder you're the student council president. You live up to your name."
"..." Hyun-Jae was speechless for a second. Although these kinds of compliments were a daily occurrence to her, something about Talon's words felt rather different and she didn't know why. Her heartrate increased a little because of it.
"Mm, thank you."
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