บท 43: Arrival

Within the mountain, filled with coniferous trees, a young man is hiking up the steep slopes, one step at a time. His breathing quicken, chest tighten from exhaustion.

Sato has been at it for over 2 hours, climbing over a half of the mountain already. His previous prediction was correct, if he had followed and walked up the gravel road, he would have to take more than a day to ascend. By then, who knows if Gray would still be there waiting.

As he hiked higher up, the air got thinner and thinner. It became harder to breathe and he climbed up with the help of the trees. Sato would always have one hand on a trunk of a tree to increase his balance. In addition, he would make sure to stabilise his foothold before ascending further along.

The part about all of this was that he had no water. Thirsty and dehydrated, Sato was nearing his breaking point. Yet, he pushed through it with his unbreakable willpower. If I can't even ascend such a simple small mountain, then what was the point in living. This hike will be over in no time!

Sato's constant psyching allows for him to continue his hike onwards. His muscles ached from the constant climb, but he never stopped. I will not dissapoint Gray, I mustn't!

As of now, Sato has been climbing for over 6 hours. It was already the middle in the afternoon. At his current height, he was already at 4000 ft elevation, resulting in slight altitude sickness. Sato's head throbbed, stopping the youth in his ascend. He was 90% complete, with the sight of a small stone compound a hundred meters above him.

Sato decided that walking along the gravel road now would be ideal. The circumference of the mountain was not as large as before, making it a smoother climb now.

With the sun glaring on Sato from above, there was only two sounds present. The shuffling of the gravel and Sato's deep long heaves. The young man was close to becoming delirious. His whole shirt was drenched in his sweat, eyes lifeless, back slouching. He resembled a zombie.

This experience feels rather familiar. The feeling of eminent death, where all forms of pain have disappeared and you have a peace of mind. Your body starts to feel like it's floating in air. Your heavy breathing melts into the quiet atmosphere. Your vision starts to blend and blur with the environment.

Sato eventually stood still. At 5pm, Sato arrived at the compound. His whole face was pale, body all haggard looking. Sato could not actually tell what was in front of him through out the walk up, but when he had arrived at the gates of the compound, he noticed something. A dark blurry figure looming and looking at him. The figure gradually got bigger and bigger. Eventually, Sato collapsed. The dark figure caught him from his fall and immediately brought him into the compound.

"Master! Take a look at him please!" The dark figure was Gray. Embracing Sato in his arms, he called out to master Choi.

"Bring him in." The old man spoke calmly. Unlike Gray, he was not panicking at all. For a person to even ascend this whole mountain by him or herself, required the willpower of 10 oxes. Things like fainting won't pose a threat to Sato.

On the wooden deck, Gray's master took out several thin needles. With extreme precision, he inserted them into Sato's face. He was carrying out acupuncture. While he was doing that, Gray had inserted an IV drip for Sato, providing him the required nutrients and water content. The acupuncture took several minutes, before the old man removed all the needles.

After a few seconds, Sato tilted his body to the side and cough out blood. The blood was darker than normal, a smelly scent accompanied it.

"The young man spat out the impurities that he accumulated during the climb from his system." Master Choi explained to the worried Gray. "He will be fine now."

"Okay." Gray held Sato's hand as he remained unconscious. Sato's complexion had recovered back to a normal pink glow.

Gray was regreting his decision of bringing him here to undergo the test.

"So he passed the test?" Gray asked his master.

"Yes. He did." Master Choi answered.

"Okay. Good. Good." Gray continued to look at the unconscious young man. His adoring gaze never lose sight of him as he watched over Sato's slumber.

The incident just now reminded him of a point of time in the past. A time when Sato and Gray were younger.

It was when Sato was 17 years of age and Gray was 25. Sato was sleeping restfully in bed. Gray laid beside him as he watched him rest. For some reason, Gray couldn't sleep that well. Sato on the other hand, as per usual, slept the instant he got in bed.

Just then, Gray heard a beeping sound on his phone. He knew what it meant. Intruders were in his home and there were many present. Swiftly, Gray got out of bed, waking up Sato.

"Sato.. Sato.. Sato! Wake up! Wake up!" Sato felt fuzzy. He rubbed his eye innocently as he looked at Gray. "You have to leave!"

Gray held the sleepy boy's hand as he took him outside. Luckily, Gray found the boy a taxi and he placed him in it.

"Why do I have to leave?" Sato was worried for Gray. This was the first time he had seen Gray this nervous.

"Something came up and now there are bad guys in the house. You have to be safe." Gray spoke to Sato before talking to the driver. "Hey driver, drive as far as you possibly can from this place. For the safety of this boy and for you!"

"No!" Sato wanted to get out of the car, but Gray stopped him.

"Leave now!" The driver drove off on his command. A gunshot sound rang in the background as the taxi drove off into the distance. A black car followed behind them closely.

In the case of Gray, the gunshot was for him. He barely managed to dodge the bullet as he hid behind a housing pillar. The enemies were targeting him and they wanted him dead.

"Fuck..." Gray cussed as he looked at the taxi that already dissapointed into the distance. He was more worried about Sato than he was for him.