"Whose child was that?" Wang said, pointing in the direction the soldiers were heading, as he and the remaining senior soldiers stayed behind, arranging themselves around the round table.
All the eight chairs around the sleek round table, which had its wooden stand screwed to the cemented floor, were occupied, but one chair remained empty, and on its back was Max's name.
Rodney, the junior soldier—at first a junior soldier when Kai first visited the barracks—stood up, passing sheets of paper across the table and making sure everyone had one of their own.
"Why is that kid's photo part of those to be officially promoted?" Wang said, moving the sheet on his table and squeezing Kai's picture, then turning toward Gray, who sat there unmoving and not speaking.
"Won't anyone answer me?"
"Lieutenant Wang, that kid is one of the soldiers leading the recruits; not only the recruits, but his strength even surpasses most of us, the soldiers who have been serving in the military for the past ten years."
"WTF! Are you saying he's strong enough to challenge you, Junior Corporal?"
"Yes, sir, he is. Not only me, but he can even stand head to head with Lieutenant Gray, if I'm not mistaken. He even disgraced Senior Corporal Max the first day he set foot in the barracks."
"WTH! How should a mere kid be allowed after disgracing a senior corporal?" Wang said, slamming his fist on the table and making one side screw break and rise above, only to be slammed back by Gray, who sat at an angle, watching as Wang showed his anger.
"Sir, but the boy is stron…" Rodney began.
"SHUT UP! What do you know about being strong? So that's what you've all been doing here! I bet that's why the headquarters have stopped the supply of equipment and food."
Everyone remained quiet, including Gray, who was the person to forcefully add Kai's name to the recruitment list, but kept smiling every time Wang slammed the table.
"I'll deal with you; I'll make sure each and every one of you pays for that! Call me that kid…" Wang said, rising from his seat and walking into the boxing ring used for testing the fighting spirit of others.
Gray stood up, walked to Wang, and placed a heavy hand on his shoulder.
"Man, care to see how you fight that kid till the time elapses?" he said, chuckling as he walked to the sand timer and pressed the light switch, igniting the bulbs and letting them brighten the room.
…
Chatter stirred in the dining room the soldiers were in, enjoying their bread, meat, milk, and freely engaging in close, companionable conversation.
Rodney walked into the room with a straight face, walking toward the seat where only one person sat, with only one loaf of bread on the table.
Kai raised the bread, trying to take a bite, but ended up biting both the bread and his hair; he pulled his hair out, cleared the flour from it, and curled it behind his ears.
"Kai, follow me," Rodney said, stopping at Kai's table and continuing the moment he saw Kai stop eating and stand up.
He followed Rodney without asking why or saying a word, and when they reached the courtyard—the very one Wang, Gray, and the other soldiers stood in—their hands clutched to their chests, watching Wang as he tore his shirt into pieces and wrapped the boxing gloves on his hands.
Rodney stopped, gesturing toward Kai and directing him to the square ring, laughing; then threw a black boxing glove to him when Kai climbed the ring and touched the top rope.
"Let's see how that kid bleeds under the hands of the person who'd been the best warrior for the headquarters for the past ten years."
"Are you sure? Huh, let's see who ends up bleeding."
Wang looked at Kai with great disgust in his eyes as he watched him wrap the gloves on his fists and chuckled.
"Hey kid, just stop and use your fist. I need to feel the power they say you have. Before we start fighting, what's your age?" he said, leaning on the rope, shaking his hands and cracking his neck.
'Why is he having a black glow around him? He's the first I've ever seen to have that kind of glow,' Kai thought, seeing the glow on Lieutenant Wang, who stared back at him grinning and clutching his fists, slamming them into each other.
The ropes and the round metal of the ring shook heavily every time Wang's fists touched each other, sounding like a blast.
Rodney and the other soldiers stood there, hailing Wang as they bet on him becoming the first to draw blood or stand still after the fight was over or the time elapsed. Gray, on the other side, kept smiling as he looked at Kai, who seemed confused as to why they were coming to fight.
"Why don't you make your first move?" Wang said, throwing his hand in the air and tapping his boots on the ground, doing all he could to make Kai surge so he could show him what it meant to be a soldier, let alone a corporal.
Gray walked to the sand-timer, flipped it upside down, letting the loose grains fall in slowly, then stepped back, smiling while clutching his palms.
The soldiers circled, staring at the ring with wide eyes and calling on both of them to throw a punch.
Kai moved his tongue, licking the flour from his lips, and swallowed, letting it vanish. Then, moved both his right leg and arm a step back and began steadying his breathing.
After two minutes of yielding any result in making Kai move first, Wang moved, his black glow pulsing with every strike he threw. Yet Kai didn't back up; he slipped under Wang's fist and stopped reaching the spot Wang had stood in before making his first move.
Cheers stirred in the air as the soldiers exchanged glances after witnessing Kai's first dodge, but before their cheering could die down, Wang moved his elbow, slamming it toward Kai's face…