MARTIAL ARTS SYSTEM, CHAPTER-5

Yun sprinted out of the warehouse, feeling his heart pounding in his chest. He couldn't believe what had happened to him. He had been transformed into a superhuman, with enhanced speed, strength and intelligence. He wondered who was behind this experiment, and what they wanted from him.

But he was not alone. A shadowy figure watched him from a rooftop, smiling wickedly. He was the boss of the operation, and he had a special interest in Yun. He decided to test his new creation, and see how far he could push him. He snapped his fingers, and one of his henchmen vanished from his side. He had a special ability too: he could teleport anywhere he wanted.

Yun reached his home, and breathed a sigh of relief. He thought he was safe, but he was wrong. As he walked down a deserted alley, he heard a strange sound behind him. It was like a gust of wind, but it had a sinister tone to it. He turned around, but saw nothing. He shrugged it off, and continued walking. But the sound followed him, coming from different directions. It was toying with him.

Yun felt a chill run down his spine. He sensed something was wrong. He ducked instinctively, and barely dodged a flying object that whizzed past his head. It was a playing card, with a sharp edge. It embedded itself into the wall behind him, leaving a deep cut.

Yun looked up, and saw a man standing in the shadows. He was wearing a suit, a hat and a cane. He had a deck of cards in his hand, and a twisted grin on his face.

"Nice reflexes, kid. You almost made me miss." The man said, with a mocking tone.

"Who are you?" Yun asked, feeling fear and anger rising in him. He clenched his fists, and got ready to fight.

"You can call me Joker." The man said, as he tipped his hat and bowed politely. "I'm here to play with you."

"Play with me? What do you mean?" Yun asked, confused and suspicious.

"I mean, let's have some fun. You like games, don't you? I have one for you." Joker said, as he shuffled his cards.

"How do you know my name?" Yun asked, realizing that the man knew more about him than he should.

"That's not important right now. What's important is that you play along." Joker said, as he smiled wickedly.

He snapped his fingers again, and suddenly a poker table appeared in front of them. It had cards, chips and everything else needed for a game.

Yun gasped in shock. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. How did the man do that?

Joker ignored his reaction, and sat down at the table. He gestured for Yun to join him.

"Have you ever played Hanafuda?" Joker asked, as he dealt the cards."N-no." Yun stammered, as he sat down reluctantly.

He didn't know what to do. He wanted to run away, but he felt trapped by the man's power.

Joker explained the rules of the game to Yun, but he didn't tell him everything. He had rigged the game in his favor. He had hidden cards all over the alley, with tiny shards of glass attached to them. He had also tied thin threads to them, that only he could see and control. He could manipulate the cards to fly at Yun and slash through him.

Joker was playing for keeps. He wanted to see how long Yun could survive his deadly game.  Hanafuda rules:

1. The dealer or Oya (親, lit. parent) is decided via rock-paper-scissors or dice roll. However, there is a more traditional way to do this: everyone draws a single card, and the player who draws a card from the earliest month becomes the Oya.

2. If both players draw from the same month, the player with the higher value card becomes the Oya, while the other is the Ko (子, literally "child").

3. The Oya then deals eight (8) cards face-up to the Ko and deals the same number of cards to themselves, but face-down.

4. Then, both players add eight more cards to the "field" in two rows of four, face-up.

5. The rest of the cards are set aside in a draw pile.

6. Both players check all the cards in the field for "instant" wins:

  1. If all the cards match each other (aka "a full month"), the players cancel the round and deal the cards once more.

  2. If ¾ of a month has been dealt, then three of the cards are set aside in one stack, and both players reveal a card. Whichever one plays the final card wins that month.

7. The game then begins. In turn, each player matches a card in their hand with one in the field from the same month.

8. They can also add a card that matches none of the cards.

9. If there are any matches, the player wins that match.

10. However, if they want to double down, they can say "koi-koi" and receive another card to get multiple matches.

"They were in the 12th and final round of the game. Yun had 12 cards, while The Joker had 36 cards. They called out the final round. Yun shouted "Koi-Koi" and won the match and the game. The Joker was left speechless as he had never lost a game of Hanafuda before. He was so in disbelief and anger that he flipped the table, took out a dagger from his back, and swung his knife towards Yun's neck, but it didn't reach him. Yun grabbed the tip of the blade with his fingers and snapped it in two. "How? How did you do it? I saw your deck; you shouldn't have won," The Joker said in anguish. "I made you see and think what you wanted to see. I changed the deck mid-round while you were staring at your deck, shuffled with the other cards, and replaced my deck, hiding the others in the back and only keeping your focus on the front card," Yun replied with a charismatic and egoistic tone. He kicked The Joker's knife from his hand and punched him towards a car, shattering all the windows to pieces and leaving a human-sized dent on the side of the car. He walked up to The Joker and grabbed him by the collar. "Who do you work for? What do you know about this app?" Yun questioned a beaten, defenseless man. Yun's questions had no end for The Joker to answer all of them, so he decided to answer one question before he took a pill and bit on it, releasing a neurotoxin that killed him instantly. "We...are...the Watchers," The Joker said before dying. Yun let go of the man's collar and stood there watching foam coming out of his mouth as he struggled to breathe and couldn't stop shaking his entire body. Yun received a new update from the app: "Side quest completed: updating player stats." Yun stared at his phone as he got a new stats update: Player Won the Match, "ENHANCING PLAYER'S IQ". Yun was in distress but clenched his fist with a ferocious stare at his phone and had a new goal to achieve: "Find The Watchers and bring their organization to the ground."