Jun would proceed to have the worst and longest three hours of his life as he, Mei Mei and Shu'er trailed behind Shang as he went on with showing them to the person who could give them any information on Gavik.
Shang rarely shut up! He talked for minutes on end at a time, giving his often warped view on whatever topic came across his mind.
He talked on why women should not expose too much skin when in public because only men should be pretty as well as powerful. He spoke on how only strong and or pretty people should be in positions of power as they are clearly blessed by the gods. He explained to Jun, without prompting, about how the best way to be an ideal man was to ensure a proper harem of women could be acquired and dismissed as promptly as possible.
Jun felt his ear go numb. He had never thought such a thing could even be possible.
After an hour and a half of following Shang, Jun inquired about whom it was Shang was taking them to… and, he laughed, revealing that he was enjoying Jun's company so much that he had forgotten about it entirely and was actually taking the trio on a tour of the sewer city instead.
For politeness sake, and the fact that Shang simply wouldn't let his new friends go about the city without being shown the special treatment of being shown around the city by Shang himself, Jun endured another two hours of endless drivel.
At some point, Jun was shocked and impressed by Shu'er's ability to doze of as they walked, being led by Mei Mei's hand.
Finally, the trio were led to an office made of scrap that sat on the second floor of a large scrap building. Although, this building appeared more well-built than the standard, bearing several metal moldings ranging from animal forms to angelic designs, all indicating that whoever operated from here had greater influence or authority within the city.
Three guards were posted at the entrance of the building. Once they recognized Shang, he explained a few things to them after which they hastily ushered all of them inside, where they were asked to wait for the master of the premises.
For twenty agonizing minutes, Shang informed Jun and the girls about the necessity of properly finding an ideal tailor to make a series of special suits where at least one must be kept in a sealed state for emergency uses.
Eventually, a silver haired man in a business suit entered the room. He wore white gloves making him look a bit like a butler of the premises.
Shang burst forth when he spotted the man. Rushing to him and showing off a new brooch he had recently acquired. After listening to him for a few moments, the man spoke.
"Shang, this is really great. You do have a good eye for things." He paused briefly, quickly speaking before Shang could respond. "But now Shang, I should talk with these people you brought to me, right?"
"Oh. It is true. And this one is strong too. You will like him, but not as much as you like Shang."
"Thank you Shang." He finished. He inhaled and turned to Jun. "Greetings." He gave a small bow, placing his palm over his chest as he did.
"Good morning." Replied Jun.
"Hello!" smiled Shu'er.
"Hey." Nodded Mei Mei.
"I hear you had a problem with one of our residents, but I'm glad our resident protector has resolved the matter peacefully." Jun and Mei Mei shared a look. The man continued. "So. Since we're all on good terms now. I must ask. What is it you want to see me for?"
Jun inhaled as he began to speak. "Sir, I came looking for someone in this neighborhood. Thet lived in the apartment building Number 17 Jonche street." The man was nodding along until he heard the address at which his eyes widened briefly but Jun caught it. "I am just looking for this person. That is all."
The man stroked his chin as he thought. He glanced at Jun as though making considerations, then he sighed.
"So… you have powers and you have a loved one from that building." He calmly made these statements as though he was talking to the air. "Have you heard of Gavik?" he directly asked Jun.
"I have heard only the name. No one says anything further about him." Jun replied.
"With decent reason." He drew in breath as though steeling himself for what he was about to say. "Gavik is a mad man!"
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Hwan felt his consciousness slowly return to him. First he became aware of his existence in the form of a warmth and a hunger, next, he heard the sounds of the forest creatures scurrying about in the foliage, he pushed himself up to his feet.
He opened his eyes, seeing many random things simultaneously; the forest floor, a pile of corpses, forest trees, a rising sun, gray skies.
This made his head ache. He shut his eyes, yet somehow the images didn't go away. Instead, the images began to change. He saw himself come into view from several different perspectives and for a few moments Hwan watched the changes to his body.
His body was sickly gray, gaunt and glistening, more so than ever before. His hair had all fallen off and a stream of gray ichor ran down his eyes, while his body seemed to sweat the same substance continuously through his skin. Beneath his feet, the grass was dead and rotted.
As he watched himself, Hwan was initially taken aback, yet the more he saw his own body through his own eyes, the more he began to relax.
Opening his eyes, he winced once due to the many points of view he perceived. Slowly, Hwan raised his left hand. He watched as every walking body there did the same, with the exact same limb even where the limb was severely rotted.
He jumped. They all did.
He tried to speak, but all that came out were groans and mumbles as most throats were severely rotted.
'I am. What am I?' he thought to himself.
Then, Hwan tried to remember how he had gotten here. Immediately he was swarmed with tens of different view points. He saw himself having a tryst with a guard who then stabbed him in the gut during a nightly hook up before dumping his partially alive body in a dark pit with maggots and rats; he remembered setting a trap for a few soldiers in the jungle only to be overwhelmed and shot in the back and bleeding out in a rumbling van. Hwan saw himself dying again and again and again from different ways and in different identities and his anger grew. It grew and spiraled beyond his control as he swore to kill, to murder and destroy until more would have died to his hand than he would have died to theirs.
GGGRRRROOOOOOOAAAAAAWWWWWWLLLLLLLLLLL
The primal roar was picked up by many different rotted throats and it reverberated across the morning forest.
Moments later, a few armed men rushed out of the bushes surrounding all of 'Hwan.'
He counted seven of them. Armed with AK-47s and shouting commands and gesturing for the 'people' to get on the ground.
Hwan watched through another set of eyes as one soldier took a proper look at 'him.' Fear spread over his face and he raised his weapon and without waiting, he began to fire. Several of Hwan's body was hit and they fell like ragdolls. The leader then grabbed the gun out of the panicked man's hand, yelling at him about waiting for orders, but the frightened soldier barely listened. He gestured to the bodies of the ground, insisting they were terrifyingly abnormal.
For a moment, when the soldier began to fire, Hwan felt great fear. He involuntarily flashed back through his myriad deaths, most involving being shot in some way, and he cowered in fear. He was hit. Hwan felt the bullets tear into his 'body.' He felt as the velocity of the bullets knocked a few bodies to the ground, yet, he perceived these bodies as being completely fine.
As he watched these soldiers argue with themselves, he made his 'desperate' gamble. Hwan rushed the soldiers within his 'sight.'
All at once, every standing body, rushed towards the nearest soldier, grabbing at them, trying to wrench their weapons from their grasp. A few succeeded, tumbling with the soldier onto the ground.
Three other soldiers reacted on time, opening fire before their attackers got too close. The bodies crumpled to the ground, yet, in moments, they rose again, lunging at their targets and dragging them to the ground.
Suddenly, Hwan felt a new sensation. The groups that had tackled the soldiers had kept them pinned to the ground, now, Hwan could feel a certain sweetness emanating from them, it was similar, yet, so much greater than what he had perceived from the tree.
His 'main' body turned, taking a few involuntary steps to the pinned soldiers. His 'mouth' watered in anticipation of that delicious substance. He grabbed a random soldier and searched for that substance. The strange fluid he always secreted suddenly became animate, flowing from his skin and washing over the soldier. Gray sparks surged into Hwan's body as the soldier began to wither, drying up in under a minute, becoming a skeletal corpse.
The other soldiers, watching the horror, began to struggle with greater conviction, yet the hold that 'Hwan' had over them was too great.
Hwan stepped away from the skeletal corpse.
Delicious. So sweet. I need more. More! MORE!!!
His head snapped to the pinned soldiers.