Alura's rather simply put words came out jarring on Jin's end.

He gulped down the food in his mouth, "What do you mean by you like me?"

Sylvia remained silent; staring listlessly at him. But on the contrary, he could hear Flint giggling uncontrollably, and choking on the food in his mouth as if Karma took action right then.

"I like you," she said, smiling at him.

Jin grimaced, "Didn't we just meet each other a few minutes ago?"

"Yeah, we did. But that's got nothing to do with it. What's wrong with telling a guy you like him on the day you meet him?

"So you don't see a problem with that?"

"Of course I don't. I like you. I like you. It's not like I asked you to marry me on the day we met…"

'But this is no different though…'

Jin sighed, "Okay…"

"Let me start over," she turned her body to him, sitting in the seat, "Hey, Jin. You're hot. I like you…"

Quickly, Flint and Sylvia directed their eyes at Jin; as if they were expecting a response out of him. But he had no idea what he was going to say, provided that this was the first time a girl, out of all the girls who liked him, just looked him straight in the eyes, and confessed out of the blue.

Sure, he could just say 'I like you back', but he couldn't find a way to just tell her. He feared that telling her he liked her too would stem a relationship. He didn't want to start a relationship with anyone at this time.

Even if he wanted a girlfriend, he wouldn't find the time to interact with her. Plus, he was far too awkward when it came to these things. Far too awkward. Even if he had the time, bravery and patience to get into a relationship, he felt like it wouldn't go smoothly since he had the system running its course every so often.

After thinking long and hard for a while, Jin had come up with a feasible response that he hoped would rid himself of the predicament he stood amidst at the moment.

He looked at Alura, finally with a serious facial expression. Then, he gave himself some good mental pep-talk, and he blurted, "Alura. You've been seducing me all along…"

Everyone was shocked.

"Ohh really?" she bit her lips.

"Yeah...I uh...I like you too."

She cocked her head while peering at him, "That's great…"

"I like you, but I don't think I wanna get into a relationship…"

"Totally understandable," Sylvia jested, "You're taken by Flint already…"

"Woah-woah-wow," she raised an open hand, "You're speeding Jin, slow down…"

He knotted a brow, "Huh?"

"I never said I wanted to be your girlfriend, Jin. I just decided to get the fact that I liked you out of the way…"

Jin immediately crimsoned, turning as red as blood, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

"Hold your horses, cow boy," joked Flint, grinning perpetually, "Don't rush the brush there!"

Alura punched Jin's arm gently, "Yeah, Jin. Slow down. We'll get together some time...not yet...there's always time for that."

As soon as she had punched him, a screen suddenly manifested, appearing before his eyes.

[Malicious intent detected]

[Defeat your enemy]

[Reward: 500 Exp]

A grimacing nuance stretched accross Jin's face as he skimmed through the information before him. The Exp mentioned on the screen was but mouth-watering to him alone.

'Why so many experience points for this one person!?'

'What in the bloody hell!'

Seeing Jin roving at the air, Flint couldn't help but ask, "Jin, you okay there, bud?"

"Yeah, I am."

He then quickly thought about removing the screen from his view, and it suddenly disappeared. Apparently, the screen had more than one thing to do with the word 'left'. Because it left after Jin's command, and it also left a load on his mind.

'500 hundred exp…'

"Jin, are you sure you're okay there?" asked Alura this time.

Jin forced a smile, "Yeah," he looked at Alura, "I'm fine, guys," he looked at Flint, "Are you guys okay?"

"Of course we are."

Flint then stood, "Are you guys finished eating? Jin's got a grandma to take care of back at his place and it's getting a little late. Let's hurry up and take him to our block quickly."

"You live with your Grandmother, Jin?" asked Alura, peering at him.

"Yeah I do."

Sylvia then questioned, "What about your parents?"

Jin gazed elsewhere, "They died…"

"Guys, I'm gonna go use the bathroom for a bit. Gotta go pee…" said Flint; killing the whole 'parents' topic.

This 'parents' topic managed to slightly shift Sylvia's dull facial expression. Her curious eyes edged away from Flint, and focused on Jin's face, "Your parents. When did they die? Recently?'

"No," he looked at her, "they died six years ago…"

This was the first time he had stared into Sylvia's silver eyes for this long. They were shimmering radiantly as if they had been enchanted by some sorcerer. In Jin's entire life living amongst people of the most bizarre races, never had he ever seen eyes like hers.

Having realized that he was staring at her, her head veered away from his direction, and suddenly that dull, unfathomable facial expression of hers took form again. While the new one withered away in seconds.

'These eyes. They can't be that of a human, can they? No way. Can't be…'

Even Alura managed to notice that Jin had been staring at her. To kill the silence, she turned to him, and said, "You poor thing. No parents any more, huh? My extremely late condolences…"

"Thanks. But no thanks at the same time. They're in a better place now. And like you said before, the condolences are extremely late."

They cleaned up their table at the restaurant, and sat in their seats, waiting for Flint to return to them.

They waited for a whole nine minutes for Flint. When finally, he returned.

"Sorry, guys. Had some bathroom problems…"

"Bathroom problems like what?"

"Long story," he folded his arms.

"Okay, boss…"

"So....you girls ready to go to our little block with this fine young man here?"

'No, I'm just ready to know where you're gonna take me in more detail…"

"Sure…we're ready. You ready, Sylvia?"

"Yeah."

"Then," Flint smirked, "let's go!"

***

They all left the restaurant, and walked upon the pavements of the grim New York City, following Flint.

As to where they were going—it was to a 'block'. As to what this block was, Jin obviously had not a clue.

He simply went with the flow, following them to this 'block' of theirs. What he realized was that there were quite a number of people staring at them as if they were some celebrities.

A little bit again, and Jin would've thought that they would rush after them for pictures and autographs.

But he already knew why citizens were staring. It was because a group of human teens all walked closely together wearing attractive clothes while looking attractive.

Most, if not all, of the old troll and goblin men were only gawking at the two alluring women to check their behinds out a bit. Then again, this was always the case. No rocket science here.

Jin was just a bit nervous about getting all this attention, because clearly, he wasn't accustomed to it by any means. Sure, he would get a few gawks at school. But those were at school.

This time, they were on the streets and people of all different kinds of fantastical races had their eyes glued to him. What's more, he feared that someone like a hobgoblin might try picking on them.

Everyone knew that the city hobgoblins were the last race you would want to attract attention from.

Nonetheless, Jin, alongside the girls, followed Flint.

Flint had taken them to a dark alley in the streets. Reminds you of something?

Jin immediately grew apprehensive. After what that backstabbing goblin lured him into. He didn't want to experience anything like that ever again.

'Not this again! I can't afford to get into trouble…not now. My grandma needs me more than ever. When I was probably the one to make her sick.'

'Okay, Jin. Calm down. Just…keep your distance, and don't let your guard down. Keep looking behind you. You're not getting ambushed today.'

Flint and the others were further down the dark alley, whereas Jin kept his distance from them.

Suddenly, Flint turned around and peered at him, "Do you like magic, Jin?"

The girls turned around as well.

"I d-do…"

"Wanna see something cool?" He smirked.

In truth, he didn't. He just wanted to go home to his grandma.

He shifted on his feet, "I don't know. Maybe?"

"Okay," Flint's smirk turned into a grin, stretching the widest it could.

This mischievous smirk came out as nothing but trouble on paranoid Jin's part.

Suddenly, Flint raised a hand, while peering over at him. Slowly, he then raised his index and thumb fingers. He then loudly snapped these said fingers.

And finally, as the snap sounded, a magical portal conjured up itself; manifesting from what seemed like thin air.