When They Returned
Eight hours after vanishing, they reappeared in that same tent, and same location that they disappeared from
The difference was that Jae-sung's wounds were mostly healed, his face regained it's color, his movement back to almost normal, Ji-hye found them there at noon.
"You're back."
"Yeah."
"I... You look better."
"Yeah."
"Should I ask where you went?"
"Probably not."
She nodded. "Okay then, the baby needs to be fed, and you need real food, I'll get them both so just wait here."
She left without pressing further, she very well knew, nothing good came from sticking in everyone else's business, it would only double your existing problems, in other cases lead to unnecessary complications.
Jae-sung looked down at his son. The baby's eyes were open, still that disconcerting awareness.
"We need to talk," Jae-sung said quietly.
"Not now, you can't talk yet, don't worry, when you can, I think we need to discuss who you are and what you can do, because this?" He gestured at his healed shoulder. "This is beyond anything I've ever seen."
Yoo made a sound that might've been agreement.
"But for now, thank you, for saving me and possibly risking yourself."
"I'll do better than putting you in position to save me again, I promise.". You can't promise that, this world won't let you, Yoo thought nonchalantly, but that showed how serious he was about it,
They sat there, as father and son, their perception changed from their experience in the extras world, and even though they didn't say it out loud they knew that the world would demand more from them than just injuries, there would always be harder choices, and greater price to pay
That Afternoon
Dr. Choi received a report.
"Target and father disappeared for eight hours, no explanation, his father returned with injuries healed faster than normal, I recommend increased surveillance."
He immediately deleted the report.
"No," he said to his assistant. "No more surveillance, let's leave them alone."
"Sir, the baby's abilities—"
"Are his own business, not ours, Am I clear?"
The assistant hesitated.
"Am I clear?!"
"Yes...yes sir"
Choi watched them through security footage anyway, he couldn't help it, he saw the baby looking directly at the camera, meeting his eyes through the digital feed as if aware he was being watched, cold sweat ran down his face, Choi turned off the monitors immediately.
Some children are meant to become legends, he reminded himself, others are meant to become something more.
He didn't know which category Yoo fell into, but interfering would be disaster, so his only viable options were to watch, record and document.
But never touch.
He would never risk destroying something humanity might desperately need.
Three Days Later
The earth's core underwent awakening, deep beneath Earth's surface, in the planet's core, Earth's seal broke,
A seal that had held for long shattered, pure raw energy flooded outward, it took twelve hours to reach the surface, when it reached the surface, every human with even a fragment of hunter potential felt it,
Their Gi; the internal energy they'd been cultivating through combat and cores suddenly exploded.
Worldwide, simultaneously, instantaneously,
The Surge
Yoo was sleeping when it hit.
His infant body convulsed, as the energy poured into him from nowhere and everywhere simultaneously.
Not like absorbing a monster core, that was targeted and controlled.
This was drowning in power.
His cells drank it in greedily. His underdeveloped Gi pathways expanded violently. His bones, muscles, body system, everything reconstructed at accelerated rates.
"WARNING: Core SEAL UNLOCKED. GLOBAL PHENOMENON. ENERGY INFLUX: CATASTROPHIC LEVELS. HOST BODY ABSORBING AT RATE 847% ABOVE HUMAN NORM. RECOMMEND—"
Akasha's voice cut out.
Because even it couldn't process what was happening.
Yoo's consciousness fragmented. He saw:
His father screaming as Gold rank power flooded his system, pushing him toward Platinum threshold...
Ji-hye crying as Bronze rank manifested in her untrained body, years of suppressed potential activating all at once...
Dr. Choi collapsed in his lab, Silver rank achieved through pure cosmic accident...
Across the slums, people glowing with power they never earned and never trained for, suddenly possessing abilities that terrified them
And him.
Yoo felt his body changing, growing and evolving at a far faster rate than before.
His Gi pathways formed completely, Gi pathways formation that normally was meant to take years, finished in minutes.
His muscles developed density beyond human norm, bones hardened with trace minerals they couldn't possibly contain.
And most importantly: his age accelerated.
Not chronologically, physically.
When the Surge ended minutes after it began, Yoo's body had aged six months in physical development, he was ten weeks old chronologically.
He looked six months old.
Grrrrh
"I'm starving"
Aftermath
The world counted casualties.
Three billion humans had some level of hunter potential, most Bronze equivalent, dormant, never activated.
The Core Surge forced activation in all of them simultaneously.
Thirty percent died, their bodies couldn't handle the transformation, blood vessels burst, organs failed, burning from inside out.
One billion dead in fourteen minutes.
The survivors were different, stronger, faster, much more than they'd been before, bronze became Iron, Iron became Silver,Silver became Gold.
Every rank jumped at least one tier while some lucky ones jumped two and survived.
In the slums, people stared at their hands, at the energy crackling between their fingers, and the unfettered strength that let them punch through concrete.
What was meant to be a joyful event was a sorrowful massacre, more families, friends, even enemies, lost to the power of the supossed curse.
A world that kept taking and taking and never gave anything back except pain.
Yoo's Status
When Jae-sung found his son, he almost didn't recognize him.
The baby was twice the size, he looked six months old instead of two. His eyes glowed faintly, just gold and silver light visible even in darkness.
"What... what happened to you?"
Yoo stared up at his father. Tried to speak—
"H-hun... gry..."
The word came out, slurred, barely intelligible.
Jae-sung's blood went cold.
Do babies start speaking this early?
His son just did, then he muttered "How could I forget that he isn't normal, he was never normal to being with, let's just get used to it."
The Core Surge had accelerated whatever former development was already occurring.
"Okay," Jae-sung said, voice carefully controlled.
"Okay. Let's get you food."
He picked up his son, heavier now, much heavier and carried him to find milk.
"He's really become heavier too, hiding his true nature would be close to impossible in the future"
Very soon, hiding would be a waste of time, when that time comes there would be consequences.