Jun was led to an apartment building where the main entrance was a large hole where remnants of an iron door hung. Sitting by the side, two men with rudimentary melee weapons tucked beside them played a round of cards while exchanging a bottle of cheap liquor. They shouted greetings out to Howlang, who's face; buried in the gaming console, grunted in reply. Jun nodded at them in greeting, which they returned, before resuming their game.
Jun looked around the inside. Aside from the entrance, the place looked fairly normal; there was even working electricity. He spotted a few people in the hallways between apartments, chatting.
Howlang led Jun to an elevator. He didn't even wait for Jun, immediately keying in his floor as soon as he was inside, leaving Jun to scramble to enter. He flashed an annoyed look at Howlang.
They arrived at the second floor and got out. While irritated initially, Jun came to somewhat be surprised at how Howlang was able to navigate effortlessly with barely any glances at where he was going. He didn't even stop playing his console to open the doors, somehow timing using the key with a point in the game where Jun watched him furiously button mash as he inserted the key, turned it and went inside. Jun hurriedly entered, certain Howlang would absent-mindedly lock him out.
The apartment was … normal. Again, Jun felt his expectation short-changed. There was a TV, living room, room divider between the living room and the kitchen. A hallway led to the bedrooms where Jun could spot several hung portraits of the rat seller's family members.
Jun stopped to look around. He noticed Howlang move to the fridge and open it, Jun caught a glance of a few items, mostly canned goods, nothing fresh, nothing grown.
Howlang turned and found Jun watching him, he was stunned and asked, "You want something?"
"Bathroom." Jun said. He really didn't want to stay more in this guy's presence.
"Yeah, this way."
Howlang led him down the hallway towards the room he'll be using, along the way, Jun noticed a graduation picture he initially mistook for a high-school graduation yet quickly realized was Howlang's college graduation picture. There was a sharpness in those eyes that seemed absent in the current Howlang.
"You can use that one." Howlang barely gestured toward a room. Jun was about to speak when he simply left the room, still back to playing his console, shutting the door behind him. Jun looked around and quickly figured this was the master bedroom.
He'll really just leaves a stranger in his parents room alone?
Jun shook his head.
He took a shower, washing dried sewer filth off him. He sampled a few bottles of shampoo and various liquid soaps he had never heard of before. Whoever this rat seller was, she invested heavily in her cleanliness.
Once he was through, Jun walked with only a towel draped around his waist to what he assumed was Howlang's room. Inside, he ignored the two shelves carrying an absurd amount of figurines and statuettes but was unsurprised when faced with an untidy mess; empty noodle containers, empty canned drinks, empty snack wrappers, discarded chopsticks, crumpled paper napkins. This guy lived in his own filth.
"Ugh!"
Jun one-sidedly decided to trade some of the rat meat for some fresh clothes. He entered a closet and found several clothes, many untouched and neatly folded, there were even a few brand new jeans. Jun dressed in sneakers, jeans, t-shirt and a hoodie he left zipped down.
He found Howlang sitting on a couch, his console pulled close to his face.
"We're going." He said stiffly. There was no response. Howlang was fully absorbed. Jun grunted so Howlang looked up.
"You just-."
"I said we're going!" Jun startled the guy with his sudden aggression. He turned around and waited. He could hear Howlang grumble and drag his feet. Jun wanted to drop him off back with his mother.
This trip, it was Jun who led, while Howlang dragged his feet slowly behind.
The rat seller watched the stranger return with Howlang, wearing clothes she had bought for her son. A part of her hoped Howlang had made a new, proper friend, but as they got close, she caught the look in the stranger's eyes; the look that meant they were thoroughly irritated by her son. She had seen that look countless times and could easily recognize it. Despite that, she smelled an opportunity.
The stranger walked faster than Howlang. He thanked her for the wash up and seemed eager to leave, gazing at one of the newly acquired carcass being expertly roasted.
"Look, do you have a place to stay?" she suddenly asked, before he could respond, she added, "I can tell, because you needed a place to wash up… Look, if you can hunt more of these rats, you'll have a place to stay with us. We can even share some of the profits from the sales. How about it?"
As she spoke, she quickly cut a sizable portion of cooked rat, placed it on some newspaper, sprinkled extra spices over it and handed it to the stranger. He said nothing and instead began to wolf down the meat. When he was almost through, she handed him a bottle of water which he drained in a series of gulps.
"I'm Ahnjong by the way. If you'll be staying with us, we should at least exchange names."
"Jun. Lee Jun." he said simply. He rose dramatically, then said, "is there a curfew?"
Ahnjong turned her attention to the roasting before answering him. "Try not to come in too late. But you can do whatever you want. You will have to share Howlang's room though."
Jun cast a glance at Howlang, still playing his console. Irritation flashed across his face, then he shrugged.
"Fine." Jun began to walk away, "I'll go hunt more rats now."
Jun hurried along the streets. He stopped suddenly. Turned around and hurried to Ahnjong. He whispered something into her ear. She then put Howlang as his guide again, as the 'security' at the apartment wouldn't know him enough to let him into the building on his own. Jun then asked for an extra-large wrap of meat.
Jun rushed past the guards, pointing to Howlang behind him when they attempted to stop him. He rushed ahead again, making his way to the apartment, where he had to wait for Howlang with the keys.
Once opened, Jun rushed into the apartment, heading for the nearest toilet facilities.
Feeling refreshed, Jun asked Howlang to sit in the living room and wait for him, he added he didn't want to be disturbed for a few minutes and shut himself in Howlang's room.
Jun made some space for himself as he sat on the floor. He took a few breaths to steady himself.
If he wanted to continue fighting rats, he needed to continue his circulations so he could increase his strength. So he did just that.
In a few moments, Jun felt for his constellation. He began. As the constellations moved, he felt a burning discomfort along the trail where the constellations travelled. It hurt, but not to a level he couldn't cope with.
Down along his throat then his shoulders next, immediately, he felt an extra node of the constellation had parked in the same location. It was like that for the rest of his energy. Every-time the constellation reached a zone where it would stop, Jun felt more than one node stop in a small cluster.
He continued in silence for a few more minutes. Towards the end of its journey, the strain became more intense. Each time a node cluster was setup, his body felt heavier and heavier, as though he carried more of an invisible weight that threatened to shatter his muscles and crush his bones.
The trail along which the constellations travelled; which Jun referred to as his Meridians, felt like they were on fire - he swallowed hard many times just to distract himself from the pain as he persevered through the experience.
Jun didn't relent. He dug his feet in. Soon, he felt his muscles begin to tighten involuntarily. The process wasn't immediate, yet he could feel, first his feet then thighs seize up and slowly begin to painfully tingle in the sort of way when blood has stopped flowing properly through its vessels.
Jun panicked and put more effort in the movement. He accepted the burning pain, which had reached greater intensity and pushed the constellations faster than ever.
Just as he felt his spine stiffen and he lost all sensation below his waist, the constellation finished its journey. Looping through the system and reaching his temple once again.
Like before, it was as though something had burst inside of him. He felt and heard a subtle boom. His body shook as a wave of energy raced through every node cluster in his Meridian. As the energy hit each one, it would light up, setting up a chain of energy laid prior by the constellations trail.
Jun grunted as the energy being released felt almost uncontainable.
"Gah!"
He shouted all at once. Taking heavy breaths.
An energy pulse escaped Jun's body in a flash of light. The room shook causing Funko-pop dolls, statuettes, assembled figurines, anime models ranging from modest to smutty to be knocked off the shelves.
Now, Jun felt breathless, yet ecstatic, he sensed the constellation rush back to his temple, but he was didn't immediately focus on the process. Instead, he continued taking deeper breaths, stabilizing himself.
After catching his breath, he shut his eyes and checked; as he hoped, it had grown larger.
Not just larger though. His closed eyes tightened as he peered deeper at the constellations.
They're thicker!
"It's not just that there are more of them now." Jun spoke absent mindedly out loud.
"They are- no, some… Some of them… at – at the center of the cluster. There!" he shouted suddenly and excitedly, "It's much thicker than before!"
"What's thicker," came a lazy voice that shocked Jun out of his focused state.
"Twa!" Jun cleared his throat, "Nothing. Just, meditating."
Howlang snorted derisively, "You do that sort of thing?" he mockingly asked.
"Ugh." Jun groaned, hating every interaction he had with this guy. "Could you get me a key for the door. I'm gonna be going out for a bit."
Howlang shrugged, asked no further questions and left.
Jun looked back to his constellations. He felt practically giddy.
"I have to find a place to practice. That thing I did when that Xia girl stabbed me. I need to learn how to do it on command. Eh!?"
He had mostly forgotten. Jun began to pull off his sweat drenched clothes as he dashed for the bathroom in the Master bedroom.