Chapter CXVII - Unleashed

“You’re up next, huh?” The teacher looked over the list of names and everyone’s time. “Let’s see. . . Okay, five-eight. Get it down to five-six, and you’ll get a better grade. Don’t let Jun’s time discourage you, okay?”

The teacher’s encouraging words weren’t needed, but Arthur still found them invalidated by the sigh he let escape at the end. Without holding back, Arthur wondered what his body could do without using Qi. Although he hadn’t been training the past few weeks as he was busy taking care of Ryung, transferring internal Qi still yielded an underlying benefit. By forcing his body to the brink of exhaustion and letting energy flow, he stimulated his muscles, strengthening them along the way. While it didn’t increase his overall strength, it helped improve his endurance and body’s durability.

Raising his hand, the teacher waited to give Arthur the signal, giving him enough time to take one last deep breath as his eyes locked on the finish line.

“Start!” He lowered his hand, giving the signal.

It happened in a moment. Arthur’s body awakened, and each step he took was faster than the other. Though it seemed no different than any of his previous attempts, the teacher caught himself surprised as he pressed stop sooner than expected as Arthur flew past him. Silence dominated the gymnasium as everyone waited to hear the result that left them staring awed.

The teacher looked down at the stopwatch, taking a second to process. His quiet voice announcing, “Park Arthur, four-three.”

Everyone watching gasped as a new school record got set, and soon after, joy overwhelmed Irene and his friends.

“Woohoo!” Nabi cheered first, followed by the boys.

Irene, who couldn’t be prouder, simply smiled affectionately, gazing into Arthur’s eyes as he exhaled while looking back at her. Soon chatter spread like wildfire, and everyone discussed Arthur’s record. Their interest piqued by the drama unfolding before their eyes, raising the question, what was going to happen next?

Though she didn’t say anything out loud, after the testing continued and Tjay achieved a stunning time of four-nine, Irene voicelessly whispered to her boyfriend, “You got this.”

Arthur nodded, giving her a reassuring smile before his attention got stolen away by the final runner, Don, who achieved his goal of six seconds. Despite not being record-breaking, the boys treated it as such.

Next up were pull-ups. The more they could do, the better. There was no time limit, and for a perfect score, they needed eight. Max was quick to approach, confident he could pull it off. Fifteen was his score, one that kept him in first place for quite a while, beaten only by Tjay, who did seventeen. On the other hand, Don was just happy he managed to do one, beating his last year’s score.

Naturally, after Arthur beat Jun’s score, everyone was intrigued who’d win the next challenge, leaving the two to have a go at it last. The girls went as far as to stop to watch despite having their own tests. Irene’s gleaming eyes kept track of Arthur’s every move, shyly smiling as she overheard a few girls change their minds as to who’d win in pull-ups, pointing out how strong-looking Arthur had become compared to the first semester.

“I see you’ve been holding back,” Jun said as they stood side by side.

He had his arms crossed and a coy smirk painted on his face, seemingly unphased by Arthur’s performance.

“Something like that,” Arthur commented, but his mind was still stuck on the time he felt he could’ve beaten had he reacted faster to the teacher’s signal. Allowing himself to be dazed by exhaustion delayed his reaction time, but he was slowly starting to get back into the groove. And had he used Qi, despite his lack of breakthroughs and training since reincarnating, he felt confident he could’ve cut the time at least by half, making him faster than any other known human. “Wanna go first?”

“Nah. You won last time, so now I gotta beat your score.”

It was a sound argument, making Arthur take the lead as he approached the bar. Considering Tjay managed seventeen, Arthur had no doubt twenty wouldn’t be enough, but with his current energy, he believed doing more might put him at risk. However, when Arthur jumped, grabbing onto the bar, his eyes flicked to Irene, whose enthralled gaze inspired him to push himself.

“. . .Twenty-seven, twenty-eight. . . twenty-nine. . .” the teacher counted as Arthur’s shirt drenched in sweat. “Thirty!”

Rounding up, Arthur let go of the bar and dropped down to one knee. He could’ve done more, but he began feeling tired, and there were still potential challenges waiting ahead, not to mention he hadn’t treated Ryung for the day. The teacher praised him, but Arthur’s focus was on Jun, who he slowly approached upon finishing.

“Your turn,” Arthur said, wiping the sweat tickling his chin.

“Damn, don’t think I can beat that. . .” Jun admitted, looking chill as he stepped past Arthur.

Somehow, Jun’s lack of reactions made Arthur feel silly, as if he were competing against himself despite Jun putting in the effort; however, as long as he could get a smile out of Irene and help quell some of the rumors, he was happy putting in the work.

Jun still managed to do twenty with relative ease but stopped without trying to reach thirty. It was more than enough to secure him a perfect grade, and it raised the question of if he tried, would he have done it? That move alone diminished some of the impact Arthur had made with his display of strength over him.

“Not even gonna try?” Arthur asked, genuinely curious as to why he didn’t go for it.

“No way. . .” Jun chuckled, turning his head toward the teacher, looking at the hand dynamometer he held. “Besides, it seems grip strength is next.”

Blowing his whistle, the teacher gathered everyone’s attention.

“Alright! Listen up, everyone. We got only one more test to go. Grip strength.” He raised the small hand-held device. “It’s pretty simple, same as last year. For those that forgot, just squeeze the trigger and wait for your score to appear on the screen. Thirty-five kilos and up is what you should be aiming for.”

“Ugh. . . I hate this one,” Max mumbled.

“I heard you flopped last year,” Tjay snickered.

“Shut up, asshole. . .” Max elbowed his side.

“Dong-sun!” the teacher yelled. “You’ll be in charge of keeping track of everyone’s score while I go grade the girls.”

“Yes, sir.” Don approached, taking a piece of paper with everyone’s name listed and an empty square to put in the score.

Passing the device around, it eventually ended up in Arthur’s hands. When he grabbed hold of it, it was a bit confusing if he had to press something or just squeeze down since he wasn’t paying much attention, losing focus whenever he glanced over at Irene, who was doing basic gymnastics.

“Dude, just squeeze it already. . .” Kun complained, clicking his tongue as Arthur took his time.

“Oi,” Tjay grabbed his shoulder. “Shut it if you don’t understand the importance of this test.”

“Importance?” Kun raised an eyebrow out of confusion as Tjay dwarfed him in size. “It’s just a damn test. . .”

“Yeah, I don’t get it either. . .” Don scratched his head, waiting to have a go as well. It happened to be one of the challenges Don was actually decent at, matching Max’s score last time.

“It’s two-to-two, meaning the winner of this is the strongest in class.” Tjay looked at Arthur and Jun as they stood side by side.

“So I just squeeze?” Arthur asked, doing just that.

While squeezing as hard as he could, he let go a bit early as he still had more in him, or so he believed, but Arthur’s score nonetheless blew past what was needed, reaching sixty-nine kilograms.

“Damn. . .” Tjay chuckled, having scored fifty-one himself. “Lay off the porn. . .”

“Dude. . .” Arthur sighed, handing it over to Jun. “Here.”

Jun took it without saying a word, squeezing down with all his might, the force of which made his face turn slightly red as it hovered in the late sixties. Just as it was starting to look like Arthur had won, Jun pulled off the same score, letting go with a sigh of relief. While the score was the same, the effort it took to get there wasn’t.

“Fuck. . .” Jun uttered, a bit gassed out, and despite their differences, Jun’s strength was no joke. “Guess it’s a tie.”

Jun handed the device over to Kun.

“Wait, a draw?” Max asked. “So what now?”

“We need to settle this somehow. . .” Tjay said.

“Aren’t you guys getting a little bit ahead of yourselves?” Arthur asked, wondering why they were forcing the subject.

“I agree with Art,” Jun finally spoke up, rubbing his nape. “We got good grades, so why does it matter?”

His confidence and calm voice made it painfully clear that he wasn’t backing out by making such a statement, but Arthur could tell there was more to it. He just couldn’t figure out what.

“Come on. . . That’s so boring,” Tjay mentioned, clicking his tongue a few times. “Where’s your competitive spirit?”

Jun sighed, looking at Arthur. “Fine. . . If you want to as well.”

The problem was Arthur wasn’t all that interested now that it was over. His focus quickly diminished, and his desire to lay in bed had never been stronger.

“Maybe some other time. I’m not feeling it if I’m being honest,” Arthur explained.

“I know!” Don yelled out excitedly as an idea came to mind. “Why don’t you guys have a swimming contest in two weeks when the pool opens up for us? We’ll have PE there, so. . .”

“Let me get this straight. Don was the one who suggested swimming, not Jun?” Irene asked, taking a sip of her smoothie she picked up at F&I on their way home. “Don’t get me wrong. You’re a good swimmer but not the fastest.”

“Yup. . .” Arthur sighed.

“Well, whatever, right?” Irene giggled, grabbing his hand, pulling him in for a kiss on the cheek. “Besides, you were awesome today.”

“Thanks.” Arthur shyly smiled.

“Though be honest with me. Did you push yourself?” She gazed into his eyes, soft-spoken as usual when worried. “Don’t do that, okay?”

“Honestly? I’m feeling a bit better now that I moved around a bit. Guess my body was getting stiff from resting all the time.” While true, Arthur knew it’d be impossible to wake him up when he finally hit the bed. “Maybe we could do something fun when we get home.”

“Well. . . Amelia went to my place, and Sophie’s staying at Ari’s, so I was thinking maybe we could cook dinner and watch a movie together.”

“Sure.” Arthur was happy with whatever as long as they did things together, and lately, as he was feeling more and more out of energy, he really felt like they could use some alone time. “But this time, I pick the movie.”

“Then I’ll be making us dinner cuz god knows you’ll take forever,” Irene teased, giggling as she wrapped her arm around his.

“By the way, I happened to catch a glimpse of you as well during PE. You–”

“Ugh. . . Don’t remind me.” Irene sighed, tugging on his arm. “If I wanted to compete for my life during PE, I would’ve gone to a sports school in the UK.”

“Moon’s been getting on your nerves, huh?” Arthur couldn’t help but affectionately stare at his girlfriend.

“Not as much as you’d expect,” Irene admitted, dropping her gaze. “But it’s annoying knowing she cheated.”

“So you knew she used Qi?”

“I knew it! Ugh!” Irene clenched her fist, cursing at the sky before turning to Arthur with a beaming smile while giggling.

“Well, she cheated, so you’ve pretty much won.” Arthur leaned in, cupping her face with his free hand before pulling her in for a gentle kiss on the lip. While looking into her eyes afterward, Arthur’s gaze softened, whispering, “I’m proud of you.”

Irene turned red for the first time in a while, lowering her gaze and uttering shyly under her breath. “Thanks. . .”

Their chatter continued along the way before finally reaching Arthur’s house. However, as they got closer, Irene became noticeably absentminded.

“You okay?” Arthur asked as he unlocked the front door.

“Huh? Yeah. . .” She said quietly, walking in, preoccupied with her thoughts. “Hey, Art?”

“Hmm?”

“Could I ask you something about Qi?” Irene finally made eye contact again.

“Sure?” Arthur raised an eyebrow, wondering what had her feeling down all of a sudden.

“Can anyone learn how to use it?”

“Theoretically, yeah. . . But it takes a lot of dedication and discipline. Not to mention talent is important.” It was a question he expected to hear much sooner but one she never brought up. “Why? Want me to teach you?”

Irene paused, stopping in place before letting out a sigh. “I’ll be honest, the thought did cross my mind, but I’m not sure.”

“Why not?” Arthur asked, curious as to what her reasoning was.

“Well. . . It’s cool and all, but with so much stuff on your mind, the last thing I wished for was to burden you more with helping me. It’s just that. . . today’s got me thinking.”

“You wanna beat Moon?”

“Yeah, but that’s not why I wanted to learn. Sure, the idea resurfaced because of her, but it’s been weighing on me for a while. You know. . . If I were stronger, I could keep Sophie and myself safe while you’re not around.”

“Then, would you like to start tonight?”

“Huh?” Irene furrowed her brows as if she expected he’d reject her request that was so half-assed. “But you refused to teach Tjay.”

“Tjay’s a close friend, but I’m sure you know the difference between you two. . .” Arthur chuckled, patting her head. “Besides, you know my secret, unlike him.”

“But what about you saying you didn’t want anything to do with your past? Training included.”

“Is that why you’re feeling guilty about asking?” Arthur sighed, shaking his head. “Irene. There’s nothing you should hesitate to ask me.”

“But–”

“Besides. . . With everything that’s happened recently, I’d rather you learn to use Qi, so I feel a bit more at ease when I’m not around. You already learned martial arts, so if you can learn to channel Qi into your kicks, I’m afraid even I might be in trouble.”

“Yeah, right. . .” She lowered her head, hiding the smile under her shirt as she pulled it over her nose.

Arthur stepped closer, putting his hand over her shoulder, pinning her to the wall while staring down with a coy smile. His other hand slowly reached up, cupping hers before pulling it to the side, allowing him to kiss her heart-shaped lips as the shirt slid down. Melted by his touch, Irene’s hand reached for his lower back, pulling him closer as the two ended up pressing their foreheads together while staring into each other’s eyes.

“Let’s take a bath, and we can start,” Arthur whispered, holding her hand gently as her fingers hooked around his thumb.

Irene nodded shyly before the couple embraced each other again with a passionate kiss.

Chapter End.

Thank you for reading.