At GCU, standing uniformly outside the city gates. Many of the guards stood firmly at attention, except one.
Horun.
"Did you find anything on the guy inside the car with Alice?" He asked.
"Sir don't call her like that, what if she hears you!" A student close to Horun warned, immediately sweating bullets at the fear Alice might have heard them.
"Pft, In your dreams, Besides what's the big deal with anyway. I just wanna know who that kid is, so he doesn't think I'm some kind of a pushover. Hell and find out why the fuck was in that car with Alice too…"
He yawned wildly, being the only one daring enough to break the formation.
"How long until this joke of a test is over. The fact they haven't reached already is hardly impressive. Is this really what the school has watered down to? It's just a bunch of idiots with legs and half-decent skills scrambling everywhere."
"I think this is worth the look." Someone also broke their formation to show a feed that was being shown on a tablet.
Boom!
A loud cackle rang out from the tablet, making the speaker turn static for a couple of seconds.
Horun wasn't shocked but surprised to see that there was such action going on during the fitness test.
He narrowed his eyes sharply as he peered into the screen watching the explosion from afar. He could see many dashes around the screen, but being covered in smoke obscured what was happening.
"Hey, get the camera closer," Horun asked. The manned drone went in closer to get a better look plume of dust.
Through his narrowed eyes, Horun peeked into the commotion, multiple figures were fighting each other. It seemed intense, there was a duo chasing two others, while on the run.
'I guess this might get a little interesting. There isn't any kind of rule saying you can't weed out the competition so I will allow it'
Horun thought to himself before he laughed. "Bahaha, at least I won't be bored, there should be something entertaining."
"Send another drone with better quality, fast too, things are getting interesting and I wanna see what happening, we don't wanna take heavy casualties, It'll affect my 3.98 GPA I can't fall out of the top 200" Horun ordered casually. 'Besides, what good in spectating If you don't have the best view'
***
Junya had been dashing through the woods as fast as he could for the past 10 minutes. His desire to find the person who flew from behind him waned as the fatigue in his body spread from to his mind.
'This is taking much longer than usual. Following the trails of someone who might not know where they are going doesn't seem like the wisest thing to do either. I never came with any sort of plan in mind to finish the race, being first is definitely off the plate because I can't rely on speed if I don't know the way'
He inspected all the trails that people left on their way toward school, so he knew the general direction they were going in.
What was tricky, was knowing the best ones. Guessing was the only way he could measure if they were sure of what they were making the right decisions, break-offs would also happen frequently in which students would readjust their tracks perhaps to change their approach or direction entirely.
There were thousands of different trails and Junya's ability could only inspect all the information as he came in contact with them was limited, forcing him to cut down on following all the trails and followed the most likely which he broke down with intricate knowledge of how little or more they changed their directions.
'This one!'
Instinctively he trusted his senses and committed to the trail he was following. The group was around 6-7 people that were traveling at fast speeds, changing not their direction but their approach ever so slightly.
By understanding the depth of the footprint they left behind, Junya could tell that at least a few of them were very strong.
'Maybe 2 girls and 3 guys?' He guessed while following their trails. 'This group might know what they are doing, they haven't switched their direction too many times. That means they must be relying on something or f*cking blind, we'll see.'
In his mind, their tracks never seemed too far, and never wanted to trail too deep behind them so his time could be as best as possible.
'I hope this is over soon, because, the goddamn fiber of my being feels like its soaked in the mud'
It's hard for him to forget about his fatigue, in fact, he didn't and only learned to go at a moderate pace that would allow him to catch up without actually meeting the group.
"W-what are you doing!"
A few hundred meters later Junya heard a loud outburst, followed by a loud thump that sounded distant.
His eyes instantly looked a few meters in front of could see an altercation in front of them.
Whether he was finally too tired, he quickly sat behind a tree to rest and listened to the commotion to hear their conversation.
"Show us! Prove that you know where you're going!"
"Idiots, are you really going to betray me after coming this far? You guys won't be able to finish the test in time!"
The plea only fell on deaf ears. He continued to be constricted by his face with an ever-tightening grip.
At the next moment, one of the girls walked up and hugged her boyfriend's hand. "Don't take what he has to offer, I'm sickened at the thought of being in this same school as this freak. Everyone gives you a free pass but that doesn't mean I have to, you have to learn to face the consequences of your actions."
"Shut up! You guys can't understand the mind of a true genius. You'll regret this! You all will!"
Augh!
More strength poured into his captors' hands, which made it more painful and harder to move his jaws.
"Shake him down, I wonder what a weirdo like him has got on him."
The captor nodded and pulled away from his book and other rubbish from his pockets and trinkets barely of use.
"HHmmmm? These are all chest sizes dating back to a few years ago, I respect this guy's dedication-uh"
The leader nudged him by the shoulder and slapped the book out of his hand.
"If anything, It's disgusting that he is allowed to run around like this with no repercussions." He flipped all the pages and then closed it upon being properly disgusted.
"You wouldn't get it! Simple-minded idiots looking at my research would never be able to understand."
The leader crudely scoffed, "Strip him, break his legs and tie him onto that tree. Take pictures and spread them on social media with his location."
"Haha, say less Creig"
"No! you don't know what you're doing! I thought we had a deal!" Wenji shouted angrily. He shook his body vigorously and managed to find himself with a vial in his hand.
The movement from the area forced his captor to look. Immediately he was met with an eyeful of burning alcoholic mix, searing his eyes in disgusting pain.
"Arghhh! You bastard, I'll kill you!"
Wenji ignored his barbaric cry and his eyes looked to the leader, Creig, then over toward his book.
In a quick motion, the lunged toward his book. He never struggle far and was pinned back down to the ground by his captor whose eyes were brightly reddened and hazy. His eyes watered crazily, however, it was easy to find Wenji based on the sound he made.
"Prick, I'm definitely gonna break more than your legs now. I'll turn you into chum!" His foot pinning against his back pressed down, harder and harder, making his back pop and creak scarily, making Wenji shout in pain.
Creig's girlfriend was all too pleased and so was her friend. The other male was too busy looking out and watching for anyone incoming to enjoy watching but he was definitely pleased aswell that they finished their objective.
Wenji's Captor was about to break the tension on his spine, second later, not very far, a half-muffled cry echoed from their right where their lookout was stationed.
"I finally did it this time." A voice from afar could be heard, however, no one in the group knew who it was.
They all collectively looked, alas it was someone they never knew, Junya.
"The fuck? Who are you talking to?" Wenji's captor asked in a callous tone, noting that whoever Junya was, he probably wasn't here to talk.
Wenji who was pinned on the ground was glad for some relief now that his captor was slightly preoccupied. His eyes were closed, in an attempt to bear the pain but were still able to hear someone else had come to save him from his situation.
He opened his eyes eagerly to look at his saviour but his face soured.
"Con artists have a way of finding trouble, which works out well for me since I finally know how I'm gonna repay you. " Junya had a cheeky grin eyeing Wenji on the ground.
Wenji's mind collapsed completely and mentally sank into an abyss, when they locked eyes.