章 37: A New Goal
Away from the fight, on the audience's side, Jiwoo watched the fight before him with amazement. His eyes were wide, afraid to blink and miss even a second of fighting.
After seeing Owen's fight against the older one of the Klein brothers, Jiwoo knew that the two of them had similar fighting styles.
They weren't the same, but a few characteristics are identical.
Both of their fighting styles involve rushing their opponents with incredible speed and overwhelming them with the number of attacks.
Which is why Jiwoo was completely engrossed in the fight.
He made the mistake of not focusing on the fight when it had begun. In less than a second after their fight started, Owen had launched an attack, covered the gap between the two of them, destroyed Jiyoung's barrier, and was then flung away like an insect.
All of that happened just a moment after the fight started.
Since then, five minutes have passed, and Owen has used almost all of his cards and failed to even come close to landing an attack.
But that was to be expected. After all, Jiyoung is one of the top 50 strongest awakened ones in the world.
She had been dominating the fight since the beginning and had not made even a single mistake.
However, the reason Jiwoo had been engrossed in the fight wasn't because he was enjoying the one-sided beatdown; that was the source of entertainment for Jisuk and Subin, who were enjoying the fight while eating popcorn.
He was focused on finding the similarities between himself and Owen. And was putting himself in his shoes and wondering how he would do if it were him fighting instead.
He was busy comparing himself to him, and after comparing himself over and over, he only had one thought in his head.
'Weak. I'm too weak right now.' Jiwoo thought as he closed his eyes.
The fight against the Klein brother flashed in his head.
What if Owen had not been there? What if they had no help? What would have happened then? Could he and his friends have survived?
No. They would have died.
He was powerless at that time. He had no hope of defeating his enemy and could only watch his friends suffer.
And sure, he would have attacked the enemy with whatever he had left without a second of hesitation had there been no intervention by Owen, but would his attack work? He wasn't sure.
No, he was almost certain that his attack wouldn't have worked.
'I need to grow stronger. That's the only option in front of me.'
Jiwoo had been wallowing in self-pity ever since he found out how weak he truly is.
Before, his goal was to become strong enough to stand side by side with his friend and not be a burden. Not to mention, he simply liked the feeling of getting stronger.
But now, when it came to combat power, he was on the same level as his friends, and even though he had a lower pool of energy and the duration of his combat efficiency was small, he was still strong enough to fight against someone on the same level as his friends, who were the top rookies in their country.
Yet, all three of them combined were defeated by a single enemy and were very close to losing their lives.
Jiwoo opened his eyes to again look at the fight and at the people around him.
Owen looked more battered than ever. His clothes were destroyed at several places, he was bleeding from his forehead and arms, and there was a shallow but long cut on his chest as well.
Jiyoung had been taking this fight incredibly seriously, as she was asked by Owen himself to fight without restraint.
Jiwoo looked at the people around him who were focused on this fight as much as him.
Even Jisuk and Subin, who were making fun of Owen getting beaten up and were enjoying the fight, were now silent as well. No one expected Jiyoung to go so overboard, nor did anyone expect Owen to last this long in the fight.
Jiwoo wasn't the only one feeling the difference in their strengths. As talented awakened ones, this much difference in strength while being the same age as him was also difficult to accept for Jisuk and Subin.
He looked at the battered figure of Owen falling from the sky after getting pulverised one more time by Jiyoung's attack and, yet again, not giving up and launching another attack.
So far, Owen has been hit by Jiyoung's attacks so many times that he has lost count.
But as he was falling down, he used his technique, Sky Walk, to prevent him from crashing into the ground, then used his speed to resume his attack. A combination he was forced to use many times since the start of this fight.
"What is that technique exactly?" Inhyuk asked Sung Jin Ah, Owen's mother.
"He calls it Sky Walk. Just like the name suggests, it allows him to walk in the sky." she answered.
"I see. But that's not what I was asking. This technique of his is awfully similar to Shinhwa's." Inhyuk said.
Jin Ah knew what he was getting at and said, "I didn't teach him Shinhwa's force control."
"So the Knight family just happened to have an eerily similar technique, then?" Inhyuk asked.
Even though he carries a lot of respect for Sung Jin Ah in his heart, she is not a member of Shinhwa anymore. Even though her marriage was arranged into the Knight family to create an ally in another nation, teaching them their force control is absolutely unacceptable.
Not to mention, since that incident a decade or so ago, Korea has almost completely cut them off from the outside world, and the distrust between them and every other group from a different country has risen sharply.
The only reason that the relationship with the Knight family is still in existence is because of Sung Jin Ah's previous contributions to their country.
Jin Ah looked at Inhyuk and then at Owen, who was doing his best in his fight, and smiled.
"It isn't what you are thinking. When Owen was a kid and he had just discovered his powers, he would often tell me to show him my ability or to carry him and take him flying. He asked me if one day he could do this as well, and I just taught him a basic level of force control. He figured out the rest himself." she said.
Inhyuk, Jiwoo, and everyone else looked at her in shock.
"A-Are you telling me that Owen created that technique himself?" Inhyuk was completely baffled at the notion of Owen developing a new technique by himself.
The reason he denies that notion is because it takes several years to create a technique, and it takes even longer to master it.
Anyone can just come up with an idea of a technique, but to create it, you need to practice for a lot of years, and even after learning it, you need to spend a lot of time incorporating the technique into your fighting style to be effective in battle.
"Yes. He learned that basic force control which was specifically designed to make people fly, and then he improved upon it, combined it with his own strength, and modified it in a way that would fit his fighting style." Jin Ah said.
"H-How old was he when he did that?" Inhyuk asked
"I think it was when he was 12," Jin Ah said, leaving everyone even more shocked.
Inhyuk released an exasperated sigh while Jisuk and Subin looked down at the ground.
"He is a true genius then." Inhyuk said
"Yeah. He is my little genius." Jin Ah said it with a warm smile on her face.
Jiwoo, on the other hand, looked at Owen and smiled.
"He is amazing." He blurted it out, making everyone else look at him.
"He is so amazing that I can't wait to fight him." he said
Till now, Jiwoo could not envision himself getting stronger than before.
He has only been following what his teacher, Kayden Break, has been teaching him.
He had only heard that he had done a good job reaching this level after only being active awakened for a few months and that he shouldn't look down on himself.
But is that really what he needs to become powerful?
To lose a fight and then tell himself that it's okay to lose since others had a head start?
Then what about Owen? He had a head start just like everyone else, yet he is the strongest awakened of their generation.
If he can leave behind all of these 'talented' people, then why can't he overcome such a small thing like a head start?
Jiwoo's eyes were now filled with determination.
He looked at Owen and only saw one thing.
His new goal.
That is the level he needs to reach.
'It may take me years, but I will reach and surpass you one day.' Jiwoo thought as he looked at Owen.
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