“’Cuse me. Can you show me the lady you are holding in your arms?” the man said behind the Jin’s group. Everyone in the group stopped and turned around to the group of men except Jin who was still walking. Jin, being himself, didn’t want much trouble. But he couldn’t just showed Meracle to a random group of strangers. Jin just stood silently with his back facing them. He feigned ignorance.

“Hey. He was talking to you” Kyle rushed up and tapped Jin’s shoulders. Only then did he turned around but a good distance away from the group of men. Rosa, Gisela and Mirana, recognized the man who called out Meracle’s name, frowned in anger. “What do you want Jason?” Rosa was the first to speak.

“I was just wondering if she was okay. She hasn’t been contacting me after my wedding.” The man named Jason said. “I left a message just a few days ago but she still did not respond.”

“Why do you need to talk with her? I thought things ended between the two of you after the wedding” Gisela said in a flat tone. “Just live your life and stop chasing after her. You’re a thorn in her side and should disappear from her life”

“B*tch! F**k off! He was not speaking to you!” a man standing near Jason shouted. “H-hey” Jason was trying his best to stop the fire. But this made Gisela fumed up.

“B*tch? Come over here and I’ll show you who is the real b*tch!” profanity escaped Gisela’s lips and she rolled up her sleeves, and placed them on Akira’s arm. Maybe it was the alcohol that made her more sensitive. But the two rushed up and tussled with each other. The man threw three punches at Gisela. *Woosh*Woosh*Woosh. The first flew but hit nothing but air. Gisela swayed back and forth while ducking the blows. Not a single punch touched her. But after the third punch, not many people could see what happened to the vicious man. But Jin saw the body blow to the abdomen that knocked all the wind out of the man. He fell down with little resistance after that but was not unconscious.

“I may not look like it but I was the state’s female boxing champion. Don’t you dare call me a b***h, b***h!” she proudly exclaimed. 'I had my period a few days ago so that was why I couldn't fight against those rapists' she thought back to that time. It was a shameful moment in her life but she shook off that thought a few moments later. “Let’s see if any of you try to get any closer to her. The next person will have their teeth and jaws broken” she threatened them with unknown strength coming from who knows where from those delicate arms. She turns around and started to walk back to Jin’s group.

“Wait Gisela. I just wanted to apologize to her!” Jason said. He grabbed her left arm to get her attention with his right hand. But this was a mistake. The moment he touches her arm, she turns right around, steps towards him, and gives him a right straight to the face due to height difference and a left to his body making him crouch down in pain.

Kyle and Akira shivered in fear. She was fiercer than she appeared to be. Her good looks were backed up by her hidden strength she cultivated. ‘Wait! If she was this strong, why did she need help with the other two rapists the other day? Dear almighty heaven. Please don’t let this woman find out who I am’ Jin dearly prayed in his mind. But Jin’s instinct sent a crawling feeling all over his body. “Hey Kyle. Carry her for a while” Jin quickly said. Jin’s body already flashed away from his view.

“Fine! F*ck you and all you ugly wh*r*s!” Jason’s attitude took a full 180 degree turn. The entire group of men rushed towards Gisela with malicious intentions. Gisela could not handle all four at once. All four of them were the same height as well. At best she could take three on and still come out wining. But the fourth person was able to get back up to join in the rush. Gisela was also frozen in place because of the unexpected attack. When she thought it was all over, a body zoomed right in, shielded her from all the incoming attacks. The entire group of men, was astonished. When was there a second person? Because they were in a fit of rage, they could not see that another person came and shielded Gisela and only knew that there was a figure in front of them.

When Gisela saw that Jin rushed forth to protect her, she felt that knew who he was. The shadow from that day aligned with his body. “Are you alright?” Jin asks her. “Ah? I’m fine. But are you okay?” Gisela was worried because he took a lot for her. “I’m just fine” he said and releases Gisela from his arms and turns around to the group of men.

“As of now, I don’t know or care or even want to care about your situation with Meracle. I’ll asks you all to leave us alone. Men should not get violent with women either.” Jin’s eyes grew sharp and his voice went flat as he said this. This felt familiar to Jin’s group. It was the same pressure emitted during the poker game. Even the group of men did not know why they were scared.

“Shut up and move out of our way!” Jason roared. Threw barrages of punches and kicks but Jin was unaffected. One step by one step, Jin pushes Jason’s group back with just pure will. The pressure of determination was something different from the pressure of everyday fights. “Once more, I’ll asks you guys to leave us alone. Be on your way” Jin’s voice got deeper and deeper with each word.

But they still came at Jin. This time, they pulled out weapons such as knives. Pocket knives were still a famous hidden weapons. Jin’s group were worried because he did not chose to fight. But Jin did not a single sign of worry on his face. He only lets out a sigh and used his other method of fighting back. The “gambler’s luck” fighting style. What was this style you ask? He simply avoids the blades to the best of his abilities to keep himself alive and forces them to the point of exhaustion.

“Damn! He is just so fast! What’s up with this guy? Doesn’t he ever get tired?” One of the men said. They panted hard and drained of strength after thirty minutes. “Of course I won’t get tired. Not until all of you guys leave” Jin’s voice, still deep, but now louder. ‘Of course I won’t get tired. I was bullied for nearly my entire life. If I didn’t have this level of endurance, I would’ve died a long time ago’ Jin thought to himself.

“Go to hell!” Jason, pulled out a stun gun and drives it into Jin’s stomach. Jin just stood there and let him hit him with the stun gun. The other three also pulls out stun guns as well and a total of four stun guns electrified Jin. ‘Heh. This guy is finished’ They thought. But to their surprise, Jin moved. ‘What the f*ck?’ their eyes went wild with disbelief.

He moves forward as if nothing happened. But the stun gun was set to max. Jin was like a steady moving fortress. His body, in the eyes of Jason’s group, looked as if it grew tall as a mountain and wide as the ocean. “Is this what you wanted to show Meracle?” Jin said.

“What?” Jason couldn’t believe it. How was he still moving and speaking?

“Is this what you wanted to show Meracle? I’m not a person who should judge others. I am a coward, I am spineless because I avoid fights. But I am not a person who does not admit my wrongs viciously as you” Jin said. He moves forward still pushing them back. “All I wanted to apologize to her. To show that I am sorry and a better side of myself! You were in my way!” Jason strongly cried out.

“You say that you wanted to apologize to Meracle. To show a better side of yourself you say. But you and your friends tried to hurt her friends and had no care nor concern for her current conditions. You were scolded by a woman but you and your friends took it as an insult. She taught you a lesson but it took four of you to be even with her out of anger?” Jin said. Although he was still taking the electrocution, he showed the difference between the two. Both in ideal and will. “You took out bladed weapons with malicious intent and used them on a person who did not fight. Not only did you used bladed weapons, you used overcharged scraped junks and yet you still claim that you wanted to apologize? You could’ve came to her and apologized to her properly at any other given time. All you’ve shown was that you’re just another person not worth her time!” Jin roared.

“Who are you to her!? What are you to her!? Huh!? I’ve known her a long time! Better than you would ever know! Let me through!” Jason continues barking at Jin.

“What am I to her? Who am I to her? Like hell if I know! I may not know much about her, but I do know that she means worlds to me. If something means that much to me falls in another person’s unworthy hands, I would never forgive myself!” Jin shoves all the stun guns away. The first time in a long time he showed strength in front of others.

Jin accidentally hissed in a low voice. Only then did they see the devil himself behind Jin. They could feel the darkness everywhere around them slowly creeping up their necks with hands of shadows. There was an unknown pressure emanating from the man in front of them. A pressure so strong that they thought that they would die if Jin was truly angry and would kill them on the spot. It was only then did all of them ran away.

Akira, Kyle, Gisela, Rosa, and Mirana saw the entire thing from start to finish. When Jason’s group took out stun gun, everyone was about to run in and save Jin. Mirana was a karate expert and Rosa was great in jujitsu. Kyle main strength was in boxing and Akira was good at tae kwon do. But something kept them back telling them that he would be fine. When they heard him hissed, they too could see the devil. The hair on their necks stood straight up.

Jin turns around, took Meralce back from Kyle and walked straight towards the car saying nothing while the others trailed behind. ‘Was this the same person I knew a long time ago?’ Rosa thought. She never saw Jin fighting. She was scared to see him fight. Everyone else thought the same. A man so passive can only be strong when he is needed and does not need his fists to fight. They were just in awe of his indomitable spirit for the rest of the walk.

When they finally reached the car, Jin asked in a sweet voice, “Alright guys. Please take her home and watch out for her okay?” They could see that he was being strong. His kept his body moving forward unwaveringly in front of them for so long that they felt pity. But they said nothing. Jin’s pride was stronger than anything they’d ever seen.

Rosa opens the door to let Jin put Meracle in and attached seat belts on her. Jin the takes off his woolen outer layer and place over Meracle like a blanket, took off the bottom part of his mask and gave her a kiss on the forehead with closed eyes. “Sorry about that Meracle. I got your woolen coat messed up” he apologizes to Meracle and smiled inside the mask. When he re-opened his eyes, he notices something was wrong. ‘Oh man... I was afraid this would happen’ he thought but showed no visible signs of fear.

“Hey Jin” Gisela came up and said. “Hm?” Jin turns around to the neon haired girl. “What is Meracle to you?” She ask him. She had to ask. Everyone had this very question in mind. Who was Meracle that made him go so far? Even Rosa, knowing Jin as a coward for a long time could not believe the great change. “Hmmmm…. A savoir and a great person that is close to a friend I guess? Ha ha..” He embarrassingly answered.

“A savior? A person close to a friend?” Rosa winced at his answer. “Mmm If there was something I’ve never had in my life, it would be a friend. Those that got involved with me in my school days all were scared to be bullied because they hung out with someone weak as me. So I’ve never had a friend in my life except the books I’ve read and the money I’ve earned through working” He honestly answered them.

“Then what is the savior part? Do you even love her?” Gisela quickly asks him. “Oh that? I did say that I was on a trip. But I was robbed and was completely naked. So she founded me taking her clothes and shot me in the eyes and legs with BB pellets. Ha ha…” Jin rubs his eyes because he could still feel the pain from those bb guns. “As for love… Having someone close to a friend is already hard enough. Love? I could never dream of that rose colored sky in my life. But I do know that she means worlds to me. All I know is that it just hurts me if I know she is in pain” Jin griped his chest to show that the pain itself was real. As many people who saw him a few minutes ago, they knew that she meant a lot more to him than he’d thought.

“Then we’ll be your friends” Mirana spoke up. After hearing his story, she felt that Jin was a person that was alone for far too long. “Sorry. I can’t” Jin sighed. “What do you mean you can’t? You don’t like having more friends?” Kyle asked politely. Akira was slightly surprise at the change of attitude. Even Kyle never spoke this nicely towards him. “I pick and choose my friends. I’ve been betrayed too many times to call someone a friend or a lover. I once had a person that said that he was my friend. But I found out that he was not my friend and was just pretending. He ended up backstabbing by leading me to a group of bullies and abandoned me because he saw me as a weak and easy person to bully. Even when he and his family got into a horrible car crash accident. I was the only person out of all his friends who visited besides his family. But even then he would back stab me using a scalpel slashing at me while screaming, ‘I hate you’ over and over” Jin sadly said. “Thus I’ve learned that I never had a friend to begin with. So I won’t trust anyone saying that they are my friend. I might never have a true friend in my life. So something close to a friend is more than enough for me”

“But that is just unreasonable! He was just a bad person! We’ll prove it to you that we can be counted as a friend” Akira protested. “Is it unreasonable? It was the depression was it not? I grew up being betrayed countless times. There were people who said those same exact words but they came back as liars and traitors. I’ve always done my best to protect them and to show that I was their friend. But the only things I’ve learned was that the only things that won’t betray me, other than family, are the materialistic objects I've earned, the spirit I’ve cultivated and strength I’ve gained while growing up. So betrayal is a normal thing. The last thing I want to do is to hurt others with my strength.” Jin said. The sadness in his eyes grew deep and a visible darkness seeps out of his eyes.

“Ah sorry. I didn’t mean to tell a whole story. Just take care of Meracle when I get back okay? Ha ha…” Jin laughs the sadness off. The three girls did not say anything and just got in the car and just drove off. Akira and Kyle also got in their car not saying a thing.

“Hey Akira?…” Kyle didn’t know what to say. To live a life of being bullied and still comes out smiling. He had the strength to fight without even needing to use his fists and still came out as the victor. "We were really uncool there weren't we?" Akira bitterly laughs.

They turn their head to see that Jin was walking off. They saw the man’s shadowy back slowly disappearing into the darkness and only then did they drive off saying, "We'll show him that we can be trusted." in their minds.

“Hey Meracle. You heard that? I know that you were awake the entire time that fight went on.” Mirana said. “You heard what he said right? That you meant worlds to him”

“…” There was no answer coming from Meracle. She pulls the ruined woolen coat to cover her face. But under the coat, she was smiling. A deep red blush ran across her face making the inside of the coat steamy.

“Meracle. Even if you are something close to a friend. He may not be your lover, but he is still better than anyone I’ve ever seen in my life. Just don’t hurt him. He proved that he cares more for you than anybody that you will probably meet for the rest of your life.” Rosa said softly and turns to Meracle. She saw the hidden smile under the coat and she too also smiled.