…..
The shocked silence was permeating. Jang-chun looked up at me, still on the floor. By the look on his face, I could easily tell that he still hadn’t processed what had happened. Just then, the announcement came on.
[Jang-chun is out. Jang-chun is out. You may return after five minutes.]
Jang-chun dropped his head to the floor. Luyoung and Sullin simply stared in disbelief. Their faces were the epitome of surprise. All of a sudden, Sullin hid behind Luyoung.
“Hehe.”
I gestured at Luyoung to come at me. I kicked Jang-chun as he was still on the floor in front of me.
“Move. You’re in my way.”
“Oh…r-right…”
Jang-chun crawled over to a space between desks as if to hide. He’s probably planning to wait out his five minutes here so he can carry out his revenge. Soon, Luyoung and I were facing each other as I stared at him. Luyoung, the pro-wrestler. He certainly looked the part. If an average guy had met Luyoung in the streets, that guy would’ve run away for sure. Unfortunately, not me. I’m Sian Lee, the best of the best. My body may be that of a girl, but that doesn’t mean I lost my strength. Soon enough, Luyoung muttered something in Chinese before he ran towards me. Now that I think about it, I understand Chinese as well. In case you were wondering, the guy was saying that he was going to avenge Jang-chun.
As he had his arms spread out, I spread out mine as well and grabbed both his hands. We pushed against each other. Luyoung initially planned to bend my wrists with as little strength as possible but found himself having to push more as my wrist didn’t go back as he’d planned. But even when he was pushing with all his might, he still couldn’t push me down. And so, he kept increasing the intensity of his strength. Unfortunately for him, I didn’t bend.
“Pfft.”
So I bent him.
Snap.
“Aaah!”
Luyoung’s sudden cry startled Sullin and the VJ. Sullin sped off while the VJ stared. They couldn’t believe what I had just done. Of course, the most surprised person was Luyoung. His eyes widened as he stared in disbelief. And then, all of a sudden, he fell on both of his knees.
“Er….ergh!”
“Heh.”
I reached down and ripped the name tag off his back.
Rip!
And this time as well, a piece of his shirt came off with it.
“Sorry.’
***
With the two name tags, I walked out of the library. Sullin had completely disappeared by now. Oh, you’re wondering about Luyoung and Jang-chun? Those two had sped out of the library the moment they were announced to be out. They looked embarrassed as well.
“Um, excuse me, Sian…” the VJ said, pointing the camera at me.
“Yes?”
“Did they…go easy on you perhaps…” the VJ asked, looking suspicious.
“Why? Is that what it looked like?”
“Well, no…it looked real, but…but it doesn’t make sense…you look so weak and yet…how did you…he’s a Hulk…”
“There’s more to a person than their size,” I said, giving the VJ a light jab in the shoulder. I almost considered giving him a taste of my real strength, but I held back as I thought about my old VJ Jun-jin.
“So you won with your strength alone?”
“Yep,” I answered with a firm nod. Does this man not watch the news? The shocking incidents I’ve caused have been on there more than once or twice.
“Wow…so the rumors are true.”
“Rumors? The stuff you heard is probably all true. Aside from the super outlandish stuff.”
Yeah. I know most of the stuff about me probably sounded unbelievable. It would be more realistic to just accept the fact that there’s stuff about me out there. It’s not like they can be any crazier anyway.
“Then could you hit me once?” the VJ asked, suddenly extending out his arm. Is he crazy? I suddenly had a flashback to Jun-jin doing the exact same thing.
“You really want me to? You’re not going to regret it later, are you?”
“Of course not. I’m a man! I stay true to my words!”
He’d just answered with more passion than necessary.
“I might break your bones,” I said, giving him one last chance to back out.
“Haha. Yeah, right,” the man scoffed. People are strange. Even when they see something shocking, they soon forget and go back to their skepticism. This man has heard all the stuff about me and yet he still puts his arm for me to hit. Ugh. People can be so frustrating sometimes.
“Alright, I’m going in.” I began to flex my fingers. The VJ put his camera on the ground.
“No regrets.”
“Of course. Go ahead and give it all you got. I’m pretty strong.”
“Okay, then.”
I hit his arm.
Snap!
Thud.
***
The VJ had passed out, so he had to be taken to the hospital. Naturally, that meant filming had to be stopped and I could take a rest.
“Your VJ is going to the hospital?” Yoo-gwang asked me.
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know,” I said with a shrug. I can’t really say it was because I hit him. The VJ was the one who asked me to.
“Weren’t you with him?” Yoo-gwang asked.
“You can ask him yourself later,” I suggested with a smile. The cast members all gathered around.
“But who got Jang-chun and Luyoung’s name tags?” Guk-jong asked in wonder. Not just him, either. Everyone was curious.
“Seriously, who? I was so shocked when I heard they were out,” Ji-jin muttered in surprise. Everyone looked at one another, trying to decipher who it was. Finally, they all stared at me.
“Huh?” I said.
“Was it you, Sian?” Ji-jin questioned.
“Yes,” I answered. Everyone gasped.
“Whoa! Really?” Ji-jin cried out. Then all of a sudden, he pushed Guk-jong aside to stand next to me.
“From now on, I’m going to be with Sian. You guys can have Guk-jong.”
“Nuh-uh! He’s useless!” Yoo-gwang said, simultaneously shading Guk-jong as he also ran over to me. But is it really okay for Yoo-gwang to talk like that about someone a lot older than him? Judging by the immensely angry look on Guk-jong’s face, I’m guessing no.
“Wow, you guys. I’ll get you for this later,” Guk-jong said, looking murderous. Ji-jin and Yoo-gwang suddenly looked nervous, though they continued to stand next to me. Just then, Mr. Seo waddled over to us, looking as easy-going as ever. He kind of looked like a penguin.
“We’re thinking of starting the game again,” the penguin said.
“Do it,” Ji-jin replied.
“Oh, uh, okay…”
And with that, the game resumed. Only this time, Guk-jong was plastered to me.
“Sian, let’s stick together.”
“What?”
Why does this muscular guy want to stay with me? I doubt it’s because he feels protective of me?
“I want to see how strong you are with my own eyes.”
“Oh, okay then,” I replied with a shrug.
“But did you seriously beat them with strength alone? They didn’t go easy on you, did they?”
“Uh…”
What should I say? This was how the VJ started the conversation that got him landed in the hospital…
“You should ask them yourselves.”
“Does that mean you did indeed win with strength alone or….”
“Yep,” I answered. Of course, I won with my strength, you spineless bastard. Oh, sorry. I’ve been cursing a lot these days so I hope you can be understanding. Being a girl has brought all kinds of situations that made me want to curse. The worst one being PMS. That’s hell. Anyways, Guk-jong continued to talk.
“Wow…I don’t believe it. You know very well that Luyoung is a pro-wrestler.”
“And I’m an idol.”
“….”
“But speaking of strength, work on your own muscles. What is this?” I said, poking Guk-jong’s muscles. They were firm, but not well-defined. To me, they simply looked like they were there for decoration.
“Hey, that’s mean.”
“Sorry,” I apologized. He was right. He probably worked hard for those muscles and it wasn’t right to downgrade his efforts like that. That was mean of me. But just then, Jang-chun and Luyoung came around the corner. At the moment they saw me, they immediately turned around to run away. Guk-jong seemed confused.
“Huh. Why did they do that?”
“I guess they’re scared of me,” I answered. I couldn’t blame them. After what I did to them, it was understandable. Especially after they knew just how much stronger I was than them. It would be best for them to stay away from me to avoid embarrassing themselves any further.
“No way. I bet they did go easy on you. There’s just no way you actually won against them,” Guk-jong said, eying my skinny arms. He also took that moment to steal a glance at my chest. I was immediately tempted to gauge his eyes out.
“Go ask them yourselves,” I said for what felt like the hundredth time. Go on, you bastard. I almost spat the words at him.
“Okay, fine. No need to get mad…” A look of fear passed over Guk-jong’s face.
“Oh, sorry. I’m on my period,” I said, switching over to a smile. But Guk-jong still looked scared. To be honest, he seemed a tad uncomfortable as well. Anyways, we continued walking down the corridor when we ran into Luyoung and Jang-chun again. Three other people were standing behind them. Sullin, Luwein, and Lee Sung. The entire Chinese team had come together. Jang-chun was standing in the front, looking right at me as he spoke up.
“Sian, it’s time for our revenge.”
‘You wish, you prick.’
Luckily, I had managed to keep that to myself. Just then, Guk-jong began to shout.
“Sian! Run!”
He grabbed my hand and started to run, so I ran with him. The Chinese team began to run after us.
“Let’s just face them, Guk-jong.”
“No way! There’s five of them!”
“So?”
Now we were running up the stairs. Guk-jong was running rather well for a man who was weighed down by all that muscle.
“What do…haa…you mean…ha…so?…ha…they…ha…are not….haa…like…Ji-jin or…Yoo-gwang!…haa haa…look…haa….at them!…haa haa…they’re so…haa…tall!…haa..haa…”
Guk-jong was now struggling to breathe.
“So you’re just going to run away? I doubt that will help.”
Jang-chun was right on our heels. We probably had about five seconds before he caught us. Guk-jong looked behind and they began to run even faster. I removed my hand out of his Guk-jong’s grip.
Snatch.
Guk-jong’s jaw dropped.
“Sian!”
But unlike Yoo-gwang, Guk-jong stood his ground. I stood on the stairs, facing the five Chinese team members. That made Luyoung and Jang-chun do a slight double-take. So now, it was five against one. Since the stairs were narrow, they couldn’t all come at me at once. That just made it harder for them to bring me down. Meanwhile, Guk-jong was watching this whole scene in disbelief.
“Wow, so the rumors were true…?” Guk-jong muttered under his breath.
