42. After the attack

At the dorm, Jiwoo and I lay unconscious on the bed next to each other as Kartein healed us.

"Well done", Kayden praised after the blond was done curing.

"Shut it!", yelled Kartein, angrily scowling at Kayden. "I have no reason to hear such a thing from you." He continued grumbling, "Who does he think he is to tell me I did a good job?"

'This kid... Even though I warned him not to try any new tricks... But that was impressive considering that he's still too young not to mention, a much late awakener. Ha! Who would've thought I could be such a great master?', Kartein thought, beaming evilly on his apprentice.

He then turned to Kayden with a poker face and asked, "Are you feeling okay, by the way? I don't have to ask you to know the state your body must be in right now after using that much power... Why did you go at him like that when you're not even in normal shape?"

"To send out a clear message to everyone and let them know whom they'll have to deal with in case anyone messes with me or Jiwoo", he responded proudly.

"Tsk! Ha, you loony tunes. But... You've made the right move this time."

"What about you? You let everyone there know that you're Eunwoo's mentor..."

"I'm tired of people looking down on him just because he awakened late. This will stop the unneeded offers anyone might bring such as the principal", he muttered the last of his statements.

"You did the right thing to protect your apprentice."

"I don't need YOU to tell me whether what I did is right or wrong. I'm not as reckless as you."

~~

It was evening and Jiwoo had just woken up from his slumber.

"Kayden", he weakly murmured.

His mentor glimpsed at him. "Hey, kiddo. How u feelin'?"

"I feel heavy, but... other than that, I think I'm all healed. How's Eunwoo?"

"He's asleep and you need to rest up more as well."

"Kayden."

"Yeah?"

"I wanted to save as many as I could. I thought I could get others off the attacker's radar by drawing attention to me... So I just... couldn't stay low. I thought if I got there, Eunwoo wouldn't get hurt like last time yet he still tried to protect me and got hurt."

"Yeah, I get it. It was a choice Eunwoo made because he wanted to protect you as well."

"You're not gonna scold me for stepping in? In the end, not only did I put myself in danger but also made you use your power..."

"Why would I scold you? Although it was only briefly, I was pleased to get a fighting chance with the world's top ten. You know, I've always been by myself in this world. I didn't have anyone. No one... I had to be responsible for my own self. But you don't have to. If you feel it's the right thing to do, then you go for it... Because you've got me."

~~

(AT THE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE)

"Once again, I'd like to thank you for your deeds", the principal expressed his gratitude.

Kayden answered, "There's no need. It's not like I stepped in to save you guys."

"I got in just to protect my apprentice, you being there had nothing to do with me", Kartein told not even paying attention to the principal.

Yet the old man continued, "Still, thanks to you, a lot of my students survived. In fact, the entire academy would've been wiped out by the Frame if not for you both. Too many organizations would've taken a huge loss."

"Don't worry about it", Kartein said not caring.

"What were you doing trapped inside that weird box thing, by the way?", Kayden raised a question. "If you'd been able to take action, maybe not Andrei but those other punks, you could've put them in their places."

"Um... I left my Phoenix at home, so..."

"What, are you serious? That's inconvenient. Super inconvenient."

"I would've never imagined Jiwoo Seo to be your apprentice", the principal said changing the subject. "Not to mention... Yesterday was my first time hearing about you both having an apprentice. Now I get why Eunwoo Seo is so good at healing."

"Yeah, well, it sorta happened. I didn't even expect things to turn out that way, actually..."

"Going forward, our academy will look after Jiwoo and Eunwoo in an official capacity. After all, not only is he our academy's savior, both are also your apprentice. Ah, and I will, of course, care for them on an individual level."

"Forget it. Just don't."

"Same goes for me. It's better for Eunwoo to not be bound somewhere but to be unrestrained to do whatever he likes. I'm sure he wants the same", Kartein declared remembering his apprentice's sour expression when the principal came to offer him the proposal and even at his own academy, he didn't look like he wanted to join anywhere anytime soon.

"This isn't something you should just brush aside like that. Countless organizations owe you and your apprentice big time. It's hard even to imagine what compensation they'd be offering. Maybe not you both, but to Jiwoo and Eunwoo, they'd be more than just helpful. And you want to turn that down?"

Kayden scoffed saying, "I don't care much about that stuff. I'm sure my apprentice and Eunwoo wouldn't, either. So don't sweat it and just do your thing."

With that, the two males left behind an astonished principal.

~~

Jiwoo and I went to visit the other kids who were hospitalised. Jiwoo felt guilty for being the only one healed by Kartein while his other friends were still injured. Jisuk angrily stomped out at this.

SLAM!

"Jiwoo. Honestly, I loved it", Subin expressed."The way we all fought together with everything we had, how we trusted each other without calculating things... I really enjoyed all of it. Although it was Eunwoo's first time fighting together with all of us, we were still in so much sync. I absolutely loved it."

"Me too", Wooin said.

Subin told Jiwoo why Jisuk felt hurt and my twin ran off to make up with him.

"Anyways, Eunwoo! Why do you keep hiding your strength?", Subin asked me.

"Oh, no! I'm lacking. I've got a lot to learn from you guys", I replied sitting on Wooin's bed.

"That's bullshit! How do you come up with so many new skills? That huge sword was as beautiful as you."

"He isn't called sleeping beauty for no reason", Gangseok joked.

"That's right", added Wooin.

"I still don't know how you guys came up with that name," I complained and they laughed at my reaction. "Well, anyways, how are your injuries?"

"There's nothing major. The docs said that we'll be perfectly fine in a week or so."

And we went on chatting for hours and together making fun of Sucheon before Inhyuk and Seongha informed that we had to depart sooner than expected.