"You… Gh! You Have no idea what you're getting yourself into…" Through the pain and being pressured to the ground, Junhyeong still bit out his words, fear was nothing compared to his goals.
"You don't know how it feels… How miserable someone's life is."
Years ago
Junhyeong was a small child, just as weak and defenseless as Dohwa once was, except, no one was there to help him.
"M…mom…?" a tiny voice shakily called out into the living room.
A ruined living room, tables and chairs littered, pills scattered across the floor and a woman on the floor begging three men who surrounded her for time.
"I-im so sorry… I'll pay you back soon…" a scared voice resonated from the room, it was Junhyeong's mother, "I just have so many hospital fees to pay… please, just this once…"
My mother was often sick, and she had me at too young an age. It was hard for her to make ends meet.
Of course, none of the men were listening to what she had to say.
"You filthy little bitch! "
SMACK-!
"Then go sell your body and bring me my money!"
SMACK-!
"Being sick won't get you off the hook!"
SMACK-!
The weak and defenseless Junhyeong ran in to save his mother, latching onto one of the adult's legs.
"STOP IT!!!"
Sadly, this had no effect on the men.
"What the fuck is this?" said one of the men, grabbing and bringing the little Junhyeong outside.
The weak are always exploited.
Junhyeong clawed and scraped as hard as he could but he couldn't escape the man's grasp.
"You and I are gonna go play outside."
If only I had been strong…
The last thing the small Junhyeong saw before the door closed was his mothers eyes. Soulless, as if she had just lost everything. Her jaw shook, fear drowned her face.
It was clear that she wasn't concerned for herself.
But her son.
"Your mama's gonna be a little busy today."
Then the door closed.
…I could've saved my mom.
THUD-!
If I had my powers just a little bit sooner we could have been happy.
—
All of a sudden, Junhyeong managed to escape Do-Hyeok's grip and stood a distance away from him.
Do-Hyeok let him say his piece, he was a lot of things but he wasn't unempathetic. He had a vague idea as to why someone like Junhyeong pursued such a path, even if he was going about it wrong.
'Still hate the guy though…'
"That's the truth… life is a tragedy without any power." Junhyeong continued, stinger seemingly sprouting out of nowhere.
"For Dohwa…" the stingers began to coil dramatically, "...And for all those children."
"I'LL SAVE THEM!" Junhyeong looked dazed, almost possessed by a grand ideal, "I'LL MAKE THEM ALL HAPPY!!"
The defense mechanism of the tarantula
The Hydra
The stingers floated like long snake-like heads, and Junhyeong began to hover in the air slightly, it really looked like a hydra. But on the other hand…
'...Okay even I gotta admit that's cool.' Do-Hyeok wasn't taking this seriously at all!
He just stood there, without a care in the world. The stingers wouldn't affect him anyway, he was ready to take it head on.
Tap-!
Tap-!
Tap-!
All of a sudden, small footsteps reverberated behind Do-Hyeok. He turned to see who it was and his eyes went completely wide.
The stingers began to rain down, but before they could reach the ground, Do-Hyeok ran over to Dohwa's unconscious body and grabbed it tight, seemingly defending her from the rain of stingers.
At this, Junhyeong smirked, "Stupid bastard. Dohwa's developed a tolerance to my stingers. Did you think I'd attack without considering her?"
"That rash hero mentality will kill you one day, and that is here and now." Junhyeong was clearly in some kind of delusion.
He was aware that his stingers had no effect on Do-Hyeok so where was his confidence coming from?
Do-Hyeok on the other hand, was pissed, "Bullshit!" He got up and moved the unconscious body away from the blast zone then looked up at Junhyeong, viciously.
"ARE YOU FUCKING BLIND?!" Do-Hyeok pointed at Dohwa in a fit of unrestrained rage.
"Tch…! Did you not hear what i-" Junhyeong began to retort, but the words died in his mouth when he actually looked at what Do-Hyeok was pointing at.
On top of Dohwa's body, clinging to her like a vice and refusing to let go was a small, scared yet brave little girl.
It was Yerim.
She had regained consciousness while the two fought, and saw what the stingers did. So Yerim, noticing that Dohwa was unconscious, climbed out of the toppled van and got on top of Dohwa to protect her from getting hurt.
Even if she was just as scared as the next person, she still moved to protect someone.
Junhyeong was distraught. After all he had said, he almost killed a kid. Accident or not, it was still an action he chose to take.
"You want to 'save them'? To 'make them happy'? Take a good look at what you almost did." Do-Hyeok clenched his fist so hard the exoskeleton almost broke.
"Before you claim to save others…" Do-Hyeok moved from where he was, sprinting at Junhyeong, "Maybe consider that you aren't the only one who suffers."
And then Do-Hyeok leapt, incredibly high, certainly higher than what his complex could originally produce.
Primitive Jumping Ants
Unlike most ants, they can leap up to 20cm to pounce on prey or escape danger.
"You of all people should know that everyone has their own struggles."
A human-sized jumping ant could leap roughly 18 to 20 metres straight up. This is high enough to clear a 5-storey building with ease.
Do-Hyeok pulled his arm back, "I'm done with your sob story." And slammed his fist straight to Junhyeong's jaw.
BOOM-!
Junhyeong's eyes rolled to the back of his head and fumbled to the ground pathetically. Do-Hyeok landed next to the semi-unconscious emo and pulled him up by his hair.
"It's over. For real this time, but before that…" Do-Hyeok slapped him awake and dug his fingers into his shoulder, "Lets see how you like getting bit."
Bullet Ant
Possesses the most painful sting of any insect, described as feeling like being shot;
"AAAAGUUUUGH!!!" Junhyeong screamed his heart out, the pain was overwhelming.
The pain can last a full 24 hours.
But Do-Hyeok wasn't done with just this…
Maricopa Harvester Ant
Possesses the most toxic insect venom in the world. Just 12 stings are enough to kill a 2kg (4.5lb) mammal, making its venom roughly 25 times stronger than a honeybee's.
Junhyeong's skin felt like it was burning, he was nauseous and the pain was mentally obliterating.
His focus was blurred and his muscles locked up, "whatgh.di d…diddd y..oouuu.u ddd..dooo?" his voice was slurred.
And then, Do-Hyeok smiled sarcastically, "Don't worry. I didn't give you enough to kill you, thank Dohwa when you wake back up, crazy bastard."
And not even a second later, Junhyeong was on the ground trying his hardest to stay awake but his body continually betrayed him.
"Haah… alright then, let's sort out this mess, shall we?" Do-Hyeok turned to look at the little girl who was staring back in awe and slight fear.
"Hey kid." Do-Hyeok greeted Yerim, as if it was the most casual thing to do at the moment.
"..." Yerim was still in stunned silence.
"Ah." Do-Hyeok noticed that the girl was in hospital robes and stood barefoot on the road, "Here, put this on."
Do-Hyeok took off his Nest jersey and handed it over to the little girl. It was slightly ripped but what can you do?
"Thank you, Mr.Ant…" Yerim muttered under her breath, she had an inkling of who this was, but his face was covered so she had no way to prove it.
"Mr.Ant…? Oh." Do-Hyeok noticed his entire face had been covered since he decided to leap in to protect Yerim, "Sorry if I scared you kid."
'It's probably better this way…' he thought silently, pulling out his phone, 'Nest should be able to clean up this mess right?'
"Hey, mister." Yerim called out as Do-Hyeok was about to phone the school.
"Hm?" Do-Hyeok turned
"Thank you for saving me." Yerim smiled warmly, "You were right, Ants are way cooler than dragonflies!"
That small gratitude drew a smile onto Do-Hyeok's face, "So you knew it was me?" He said withdrawing the exoskeleton.
Yerim nodded silently and Do-Hyeok patted her on the head, "Don't worry, I'll get in touch with Nest and see if they can help you. From what I've seen, it'd be weird if they didn't have some kind of child protection program."
"First though, we should probably check on the two sleepyhea-" Do-Hyeok's words stopped dead in their tracks as he looked up and saw…
Nothing.
Dohwa was nowhere to be seen. Suchan was still slumped on the ground, however.
"?!"
'Where did she…'
"What an interesting development." A voice spoke behind Do-Hyeok. He turned to see, for a split second, a man holding Dohwa in his arms, and almost immediately after, he disappeared.
'What?!' Do-Hyeok could only shield Yerim.
Then in front of the spasming, in and out of consciousness, Junhyeong, the invisible man said, "So… you lost, Junhyeong."
'This voice…!' Junhyeong turned all his attention to the man as hard as he could through the pain, 'It's Breeder's Transporter…!'
"Lying there pathetic like a squished bug…" the transporter was now sitting in the trees as he spoke, "...Hilarious."
"Breeder knew you'd fail in convincing them, which is why he sent me to bring her back myself, so that later today…"
"He can tame her through feed training."
"!!!" That last part set Junhyeong off, the pain was barely relevant anymore, "N-no… I haven't failed just yet. I can convince her to join us…"
"...so just put Dohwa down…" Junhyeong mustered everything he could.
"Just…"
"GIVE HER BACK TO ME!!!" Junhyeong used whatever strength he had left on his stingers and launched them at the transporter.
FWISH-!
But sadly… they never hit their target. Junhyeong fumbled to the ground and the transporter disappeared
"Shit… lost… them…" he blurted out.
Junhyeong was more fatigued than he let on, he was in so much pain he could give spiderman a run for his money.
But he persisted, turning to Do-Hyeok, "Hey… I know you want to go after her too… so just cure me take me with you, I'll show you the way."
"...you know where they went?" Do-Hyeok asked coldly.
"No, but… I know how to find them…"
—
END OF CHAPTER
A/N: I'm slowly realising an update schedule with more than one fic at once is insanity… especially as a beginner.
So for now, im just gonna update whichever i want whenever i want, fuck an update schedule.
BUT i promise you that one of my fics will be updated at least once every week so i apologise in advance dear readers.
Also go check out my new hero killer fic. It's a little less serious than this one so check it out.
Alright thats all.
…
…
…
What? I said I'm done.
Oh. Right, I forgot.
What do you call a 100 year old ant?
ANTique.
Lol
Ok bye now.