Jinx loosened herself, unwrapped her arms from Kai, and leaned back just enough to look at his face.

"So it's really you," she said, squinting one eye. "I thought my eyes were lying to me." A smile tore on her face as she brushed the hair from the boy's face.

Leaves drifted upward when Kai smiled faintly.

Jinx gasped and stretched herself up. "You grew taller," she murmured, her voice echoing in a playful, soft tone. "Or maybe I just got smaller."

The smile on Kai's face widened when he lowered his head and scanned Jinx's outfit.

Dust swirled up the moment Jinx's boots scraped softly against the ground as she circled the boy, inspecting him from head to toe.

"What's that around your left shoulder to your back?" Jinx echoed in a tone that made her happy expression tense.

She tickled the boy as she brushed her index finger on his body, and when she stopped in front of him again, she poked his chest.

Jinx placed her finger on Kai's mouth the moment she saw it open. "Sssshhh."

"That's a scar. Don't argue, I can tell." She pulled her finger back and turned to Lena and the white-haired man's direction.

Jinx stared at the manner in which Lena and the man's conversation increased in weight, then wrapped her right arm around Kai's shoulder.

She pinched Kai the moment her fingers touched where the dirty white cloth covered the scar.

"Show me around." Jinx tapped on Kai's cheeks, forcing a smile to appear on the boy's face.

"Idiot," she whispered and turned her face away quickly. "Don't smile like that."

Her legs forced themselves forward as she pushed the boy, who kept on resisting, to move.

Reaching the front of the raised bridge, Jinx stopped forcing the boy and dashed forward. Her chest rose in a tight inhale, then loosened as she exhaled sharply.

She pressed her waist against the metal fence on the side of the bridge and spread her arms wide.

"This place feels like heaven." She screamed heavily as cool air from the pool of water beneath the bridge brushed on her face.

"Come on, don't stand there and watch me." Jinx tilted her head toward Kai and frowned.

Seeing the lady's reaction, Kai sighed, then took two steps forward. But the moment he stopped by the lady's side, water splashed on him.

"Haha," Jinx laughed and pointed a finger at Kai, teasing him. "Look at you—standing there like you've been personally offended by water."

Kai wiped his face slowly, letting the droplets slide down his jaw. He glanced at her from the corner of his eye, then lifted a brow.

"Oh?" Jinx said, resting her elbows on the fence. "You're giving me that look now?" She squinted at him. "Is that supposed to scare me?"

A loud sound echoed as she clapped her arms together and laughed heartily.

"Tch." Jinx clicked her tongue and scooped water on Kai the moment they reached the end of the bridge, where they could touch the water with their palms easily.

After blocking the sprinkle with his left arm, Kai pulled his arm down and glanced at her with a calm expression and steady eyes.

"What's in that building?" Jinx asked, pointing toward the large building they stood beside.

Kai hesitated and stared at her, then smiled. "That's the meditation chamber."

"Meditation chamber?" Jinx folded her arms on her chest and squinted at the building. "I can't wait to enter."

A smile tore on her lips as she tilted her gaze from the building to Kai.

...

Meanwhile, about ten kilometers away from Kai and Jinx, Lena and Yung Mai walked side by side in the large courtyard.

Moving past Jack, Yung Mai placed his arms at his back until they stopped by a long bench.

He stretched his arm and made the lady sit before he also sat beside her.

"Thank you for accepting him as your own," Lena said, clicking her fingers together and smiling at the man.

"I know you came in search of the boy, but I don't really know the reason behind that. Can you elaborate more?" Yung Mai's smile faltered as he stared at the lady with a still expression.

For a split second, Lena's smile stiffened. "He's… important to me," she paused. "I didn't come here without reason, as you stated."

Yung Mai sighed, then leaned back against the bench and lifted his gaze toward the bright early afternoon sky as if the answer barely concerned him.

"Many people say that," he replied, then smiled. "Very few understand what it means."

He turned his head slowly and looked at the lady. "I forgot to ask your name. What's your name?"

Yung Mai's eyes lingered on the lady's lips until he saw them move.

"I'm Lena, Yung Chin G's wife."

At the mention of the name, Yung Mai's expression shifted from the lady to the far distance, where there seemed to be two figures entering the meditation chamber.

Noticing the man's reaction, Lena cleared her throat. "I know you now know why I'm here."

"I want to take him with me to the city. To start schooling and not become the weapon he's being trained for." Lena paused, then stood up and sighed.

Yung Mai also stood up, walked two steps forward, then turned and stared at the lady.

"You think education is better than growth," he paused and laughed. "That's your first mistake."

"He's still a child and needs to be enrolled in an institution to know more of the world," Lena said and frowned.

A smile tore on Yung Mai's lips. "He was a child," he corrected the lady calmly.

"That ended the moment he survived what should have killed him."

For minutes, silence ruled between the two, and when the sound of the water dropping echoed, Lena inhaled in sync with the moving leaves.

"Then let him leave. If he's already crossed that line, keeping him here will only push him further into someone you wouldn't be able to control."

Hearing the lady's voice, Yung Mai's eyes sharpened. "You want to take him away."

"Yes." Lena's voice echoed like solid rock. "I want to take Kai with me." Lena paused, letting the wind calm the pressure in her tone.

"…You want to hide him? To slow him down? Or to make yourself feel lighter?" Yung Mai said, his voice echoing in a tense tone that seemed to make the water around them boil up.

Leaves spun between them for a minute, and as the last leaf rested beside Lena, she shook her head.

…

Meanwhile, on the street leading to the Western Temple, groups of black cars with a big G symbol inscribed on them moved hastily on the road.

Dust jolted upward, followed by a crashing sound, and a bone-cracking sound as the tyres rolled over a raised object.

Screams tore from the sides of the road as blood sprayed on the sides of the road after the last car hit a small girl and drove off without stopping.

"NO!!!"

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